What You Did When You Were Saved:

On that day you realized that you were born into this life separated from God by sin; that you could never satisfy your personal debt of sin or escape Hell no matter how hard you tried to be good or do the right thing from now on:

“Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin: and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” – Romans 5:12;

“They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one.” – Psalms 14:3

But the Holy Spirit opened your eyes! You came to realize that God gave His only Son as a sacrifice to pay your sin debt in full; but in order to apply God’s payment to your sin account you had to first willfully repent: that means you had to decide to change your mind and agree with God about your sin condition and your need of His forgiveness. Your heart had to be broken and emptied of any idea that you deserved His gift. You had to turn from your sin and yourself and be spiritually born again.

That repentance and brokenness of spirit led you to believe with your heart that Jesus Christ, who was the Son of the Living God, sacrificed Himself for you; and that He rose again from the dead conquering sin and death for you! This repentance and heart belief compelled you to confess with your mouth in prayer that you needed Christ’s mercy and forgiveness:

“That if thou shalt confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” – Romans 10:9-10

“Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” – John 3:3.

If your prayer was genuine and you truly placed your full faith and assurance in the blood of Jesus Christ as able to cleanse you of your sin, then you were indeed born again! It was an immediate and eternal transaction of salvation which can never be lost, rejected, undone, or stolen.

“And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.” – Ephesians 4:30.

“And hath raised [us] up together,and made [us] sit together in heavenly [places] in Christ Jesus:” – Ephesians 2:6

“Blessed [be] the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” – I Peter 1:3

Did You Fool Yourself?

Did you bow your head and pray just to fool someone like your probation officer, the jail staff, a judge, your significant other, or any other person? Did you do it just to make yourself feel better in a moment of crisis in your life? Did you do it just to “try religion to see if it works?” I hope not!

The Bible warns us about asking God for things when we really don’t believe He can or will give them to us:

“But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.” – James 1:6-8.

You’re already too familiar with the personal consequences, emptiness, and pain that your past choices and beliefs have brought you so far in your life. Do you want the power that will produce a real change that will last? That’s what God wants for you too! But for it to happen you have to start doing something with your new life in Christ: start living it for real! In other words, surrender your whole life to Christ and begin making Him your Lord as well as your Saviour.

Christ will not Save any Man He Cannot Also Command:

He cannot be your Saviour if He is not also your LORD! If all you did was add Him to the shelf along with all the other “gods” in your life, then He isn’t really there at all. He must be given complete and total sovereignty in your life. He will share His authority with no one. He alone must be God! If you make Him anything less in your heart and life, and you’ll just be like all the other people you’ve seen playing all of those phony, worthless, impotent religious games. And you’ll know it’s a joke because your life won’t be changed at all! It’s up to you.

I Know I’m Born Again, but How Do I Develop and Strengthen the Relationship?

To develop a powerful, intimate personal relationship with Christ that will begin to produce evidence of your salvation, you have to start regularly reading and studying the Bible, feeding upon Its Truth. Maybe you’ve tried to read it before but it just didn’t make any sense to you. No wonder! You didn’t have His Holy Spirit living in your heart then. But now you do! And He promises to lead and guide you into all Truth. The only source of God’s Truth is the Holy Bible. Books and religions founded upon the so-called “wisdom” of man, opinions, and traditions are not the same thing as God’s Truth.

As you begin to read and study the Bible, look for things it tells you to stop doing; and stop doing them! Look for things it tells you to start doing; and start doing them! Look for promises it makes to believers, and start standing on those promises, trusting God to be faithful! Look for things it warns you to stay away from; and stay away from them! This is called obeying God! It was by your trust in Him that He saved you; but it will be your obedience that will smooth out your life and bring you His blessings instead of consequences!

“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart ; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” – Proverbs 3:5-6

The Evidence:

The natural results of a changed heart through a relationship with Christ will be a gradual change in every aspect of your life as you learn to obey Him in all things. The change will produce noticeable differences in your language, attitudes, actions, and desires. As you conform to the image of Christ through obedience to His will, you will become more like Him.

· A Truly Changed Heart – see II Corinthians 5:17
· A Truly Loving Heart – see John 13:35
· A Truly Obedient Life – see John 14:15
· A Truly Chastened Life – see Revelation 3:19

When you trusted Christ and were saved, God did not turn you into a mindless robot who is no longer able to commit sin. Christians are not sinless; but they begin to sin less as they learn to trust and obey Christ. Along with your salvation came some power that you must learn how to use in spiritual battle to overcome temptations to sin.

Staying in fellowship with God keeps you in his perfect will. When you sin, you break fellowship with God and place yourself outside of His will, open to the attacks of the Devil.

Forgiveness of Sin/Staying in Fellowship with God:

When you realize that you have sinned against God, beware! The Devil will begin to harden your heart and use pride to try to keep you from repenting and confessing the specific sin to God. DON’T ALLOW SATAN TO DO THAT! Keep accounts of sin very short! Immediately confess to God in prayer exactly what you did and why it was wrong! Ask Him to forgive you. He will!

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” – I John 1:9

Committing hidden or secret sins places you out of fellowship with God. As a loving heavenly Father, God will use consequences and even attacks from the Devil to chasten you into repentance and confession. But while you are out of Fellowship with God through sin your relationship with Him does not change. If you were to die while out of His Fellowship, your eternal destiny remains secure. You do not lose salvation, but you will have allowed the Devil to cheat you out of many blessings that God had for your life. DON’T LET SATAN DO THAT TO YOU!

When you are out of Fellowship with God, you have “hung up the phone” on Him, breaking your communication link. The only prayer He will hear from you at this point will be one of specific confession that comes from a broken and repentant heart (I John 1:9 above). That alone will restore the Fellowship once again. But while you were out of Fellowship, you have brought upon yourself more consequences. Do not mock the LORD. Choosing to sin, knowing that you can always confess it and get forgiven, is taking advantage of God’s mercy. He will not put up with that for long! Would you even expect Him to?

Growing in Faith

“I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world; but be ye transformed by the renewing of our mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God.” – Romans 12:1-2

Growing deeper in your personal relationship with Christ does not happen automatically! You must start regularly and faithfully attending a solid, fundamental Bible-believing and preaching church. BUT BEWARE! The Bible says that most churches will not teach correct doctrine in the “last days.” Some churches will say anything to make people feel good. Others will do all kinds of good deeds for people while they will starve them spiritually because they have neglected to teach solid biblical Truth, calling it legalistic.

“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine: but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears: And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” – II Timothy 4:3-4

Some churches will use emotion to draw the people in, having worldly sounding musical “praise and worship teams” that put on a good show. Others will boast of the “moving of the Holy Spirit” within their church with people “speaking in tongues” or “uttering words of knowledge or prophesy.” Others will be purpose-driven and outcome-based that attempt to meet the emotional needs of the “church seeker.”

But emotion is no substitute for a born-again relationship with Christ. They’ll tell everyone that they won’t judge and that Jesus loves them just as they are! This easy-believism is not biblical. The Bible is full of judgments against both sin and unrepentant sinners. God demands repentance, obedience, and spiritual growth.

“Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.” – II Timothy 3:5

“Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven: but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. ” – Matthew 7:20-23.

So How Do I Find a Good Solid Church?

No matter where you end up, you may contact us for a referral to the nearest fundamental Bible-believing and preaching church which will nourish your spirit! We’ll find one for you where you will be instructed in how to live a life of victory over sin! You won’t be entertained, but you will be equipped and you’ll grow strong in the LORD!

Start Today!

Even if you are still in custody in a jail or prison you can still follow these steps:

1. Begin each morning with quiet time in prayer and Bible study! Read a chapter from John, Romans, Psalms, and Proverbs each day.

2. Learn to trust and obey the LORD in all things, letting Him speak to you through His Word and through prayer.

3. Learn to be on constant lookout for Satan’s tricks and temptations. Resist them!

4. Call us if you need help in your spiritual growth!

To find a good church in your area, please contact us here at In PURSUIT! Ministries. You may also Click Here for more brief Tactical Studies for Officers.

Thanks for spending time on our web site!

-Tim.

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