Detective Kolt was just half a block from the First National Bank when the burglar alarm went off. As its shrill blast sounded out, he saw two young men running from the bank. Another young man in a car which had been cruising around the bank, slowed down. The two young men hopped in and off they went. It looked like the perfect crime.
But the detective, alerted by the alarm, drew his gun and stopped them. In the car were three scared young men, and $210.00 in cash. At that moment three more squad cars screamed up, and the young men were all taken to headquarters. As they arrived they received a report from the First National Bank that their burglar alarm had gone off by accident. One of the young men said that he had just withdrawn the $210.00 from his own account.
The police apologized for their error and the scared young men departed. So you see—everything is not always what it appears to be. Circumstantial evidence has wrongly convicted many.
This is likewise true in spiritual matters. For instance, you see a young man respond to a preacher's invitation to "join the church." He shakes the preacher's hand, answers all questions intelligently, and is then voted into the church. According to form and ceremony, and to all appearances, he is a Christian. But wait a moment.
If he realizes his lost condition and confesses his need to God, puts his trust in the finished work of Christ on the cross and receives the Lord Jesus as his personal Savior, he is born again. He is now in the family of God, and he is a real Christian. But without this basis of the true believer, redeemed by the shedding of that precious blood, he is not really a Christian, no matter how many preachers' hands he shook, or how many churches he was voted into.
And how do you stand in this matter, dear friend? Have you been saved by His grace and regenerated by the power of God? Or did you just join some religious organization? How can a person tell?
When you are born into the family of God through faith in Christ Jesus, you receive a new, divine nature-God's own nature. Then, He tells us, "Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world,... even our faith." 1 John 5:44For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. (1 John 5:4).
Reader, are you born again? Have you received Christ into your heart?
"Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me." Rev. 3:2020Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. (Revelation 3:20).