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PERSONAL PROM
Christianity
Isa
Growth Process
H ow many t imes have you
heard non-Christians, judging one who
professes Christ, say in disgust, "Well if
that's
Christianity, I don't want any
of
it!"
How many judge
Goo
by the way professing
Christians live? How many assume that one must
live a
perfect
life, before he can become a
Christian?
How many say, " l f 1 could give up smoking, I'd
become a Christian."
How many
thiok
a Christian is supposed
to be
perfcct, never doing anything wrong? Suppose you
do sce or hear about a Christian doing something
WRONG. Does that mean he is a hypocri te- that he
is
not
really a Christian, after aJI?
/ s
il
possib/e
for one to actually SIN, while he is a
Christian, and
sti/1 remain
a truly converted
Christian?
1
suppose many would reply in the negative. But
here is a vital point
you need to
UNDERSTAND!
l t's hard to believe-but TRUE! Few know just
what
is
a Christian. _Few know uow one is
convcrted- whether suddenly, all at once, or
gradually. Does conversion happen
immediate/y,
or
is ita PROCESS? IT'S HJGH TIME WE UNDERSTAND!
The TRUTH is that tbere is a sense in which true
conversion
does
take place
at a definite time-al!
at
once. But it is also true that in another sense
conversion is
worked out gradual/y-a
process of
development and growth.
September 1983
Now NOTJCE CAREFULLY!
WHEN does one really become a Christian? It is
whcn he receives God's Holy Spirit. In Romans 8:9,
we read that
unless
we have the Holy Spirit, we are
not Christ's- not Christians.
There is a definite TIME when God's Spirit enters
into one. At the
very moment
he receives the Holy
Spirit, he is, in this first sense,
converted.
Y
es,
al/ at
once!
lf he has Christ's Spirit, he is CHRIST's-he is a
Christian! He has been begotten as a child of God.
But does that mean bis salvation is complete? Is
he now fully and finally "saved"? ls that all there is
to it'? rs he now suddenly
perfect?
ls it now
impossible for him todo WRONG?
NO!
FAR FROM IT! But
WHY?
What's the
answer? Why do so many Mlsunderstand?
Here is the PLAIN TRUTH you need to know.
First, there are TWO
conditions
to becomjng a
Christian: REPENTANCE, and FAITH. Tbese two we,
ourselves, must perform. Yet no one can, of himself,
say, " Oh now I see-1 must repent. All right,
1
hereby repent." One does not just decide casually, as
a matter of routine, to repent. WHv?
J esus Christ said that none can come to him,
exccpt the Spirit of the Father draw him. God
grants
repentance. God calls one, and convicts the
mind and conscience by his Spirit, working on the
mind extemaliy. Usual/y a real struggle goes
on
within. The person has been shaken to
know
he has
done wrong- be has sinned. He is not only
sorry- he abhors himself! He is brougbt to real
REPENTANCE not only for what be has done, but for
what be now sees that he
is.
Yet he, himself, must make the decision.
If
he
does repent, surrender to God and in FAITH accept
Jesus Christ as personal Savior, then, upon
performance of these TWO conditions, God
promises
to put within him the GIFT of the Holy Spirit. This
is the very
lije
of Goo-SPIRIT life. It imparts to
him the very
divine nature!
Then
what,
at that stage,
has happened?
This new convert has only been
begotten
of
God- not yet BORN. He has not received the full
measure of God's Spirit Christ had- he is only a
spiritual babe
in Christ- he must now GROW
spiritually, justas a newly conceived fetus in its
mother's womb must grow
(Continued on page 39)