First Baptist Church Vernon
Monday, September 06, 2010

What is a Christian?

A Christian is a person who receives God's gift of holiness through Christ Jesus because he or she knows that God is Holy, and that He requires us to be holy, perfect, spotless, and blameless in order to be saved from destruction.

 

 God has shown us what is true about the world

  • Genesis 1:31          God created man and woman in His image (Holy, among other things) and called us "very good."
 
  • Genesis 3:1-6          Man and Woman declared their independence from God and did their own thing.
 
  • Judges 21:25          People always do what is right in their own eyes.
 
  • Romans 3:10-18     All have sinned, so no one can say that they have lived a holy and righteous life like they were created to do!
 
  • Leviticus 11:44        But we are supposed to be Holy, because God is Holy.
 
  • Matthew 5:20          Jesus says, unless we are more righteous that the most righteous people who ever lived (the Pharisees), we will not be saved from destruction!
 
  • Romans 6:23          What sin earns each one of us is death . . . and we can't escape it by doing good!
 
 

We have a big problem!   

 
We can't be with God forever because we're not Holy like He is, and we have no way to be Holy like God!
 
  • John 3:3                    We must be born again, this time by the Spirit who lives in us!
 
  • Romans 2:11-12      God doesn't give anyone a pass on sin, whether we know what to do or not!
 

God has a big solution-to make us Holy like He is!

 
  • Romans 6:10          While we were still enemies of God, God made a way for us to be Holy - He sent Jesus to be our sacrifice for sin!
 
  • 2 Cor. 5:21               God made Him  (Jesus) who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Christ.
 
 
God's solution for us is to make us holy. Our response to God's gift is to receive it by faith! 

  • Receive it!     Ephesians 2:8-9 We are saved by grace through faith, and this is not of yourself, it is a gift from God.

 
  • Walk in it!       Ephesians 2:10 We are His workmanship created for good works.   
Faith means not only receiving God's gift and being born again, it means living God's way now that we have a new start in life!

 

     Read these verses carefully:

     1. Colossians 2:6-7     "Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude."

 

     2. 1 Peter 1:14-16     "As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, "YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY."

  

 We are made Holy by God, but we are to walk in Holiness as our response to God! Baptism is the symbol of starting that new walk!

 

But what if we sin?

  • 1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness (unholiness).
  • 1 John 2:1 If anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Christ Jesus the righteous.
You and I don't have to worry about maintaining our holiness, it was granted to us by faith and if we sin He is faithful and just to forgive us when we confess our failure to Him. All we have to do now is listen to the Spirit (Romans 8:5-8) so that we can please God with our new, redeemed life!

 

What a Christian is NOT!

 
  • Someone who confesses a set of propositions but shows their disbelief by not living by them.
  • Someone who is familiar with information about the Bible but has not surrendered their life to Christ.
  • Someone who was born into a family of Christian parents but has not personally sought forgiveness from God through Christ.
  • Someone who considers Jesus to be a great teacher, or even a prophet, equal among many others.
  • Someone who attends church, gives money, and is a generally good person but has no personal witness about a life-changing and inter-personal relationship with Christ.
  • Someone who claims to have a special channel to God as a living prophet whose word is to be taken as equal to the Bible.
The moral cliamte in America is in decline because of the spiritual state of it's citizens. The vast majority of people living here have no idea that God wants them to be holy as He is holy. Salvation is a by-product of holiness. Salvation is a gift given to God's holy people. Again, we cannot be holy without God's intervention in our lives. He makes us holy by cleansing us with the blood of His Son, but we are saved so that we can live lives that are pleasing to Him!

We have a simple fact before us: 

The simple fact is that God offers you and me a full and meaningful life because He loves us.
 
Jude 20-21 gives praise to Jesus “who is able to keep us from stumbling and to make us stand in the presence of God blameless, with great joy. To the only God our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, dominion, power, and authority before all time, now and forevermore.”