Examine Yourself – part 5 of 6

God doesn't want half of your heart. He wants all of you. He doesn't want weekend worship and weekday rebellion. He doesn't want lip service and life compromise. He wants the kind of faith that causes you to burn the bridges to your past, to set fire to your idols, to walk away from sin without looking back. True salvation is costly. It costs your pride, it costs your control, it costs your plans. But oh, what it gives in return...

Peace, Joy, Power, Purpose, Eternal Life. And don't be deceived... this world has nothing to offer that can compare. You cannot be saved and still love the world. The Bible says, “friendship with the world is enmity with God.” You cannot drink from the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot serve two masters, you cannot be lukewarm, you cannot ride the fence. Choose this day whom you will serve because neutrality is rejection, silence is rebellion, complacency is corruption.

And let me tell you something else that many have forgotten -- salvation produces fruit, real fruit, visible lasting spirit-filled fruit. Not because you're earning salvation, but because salvation has changed the very root of who you are. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit. If you claim to be saved, then where is your fruit? Where is your compassion for the lost, where is your hunger for the word of God, where is your love for holiness, where is your desire to please God above all else?

This isn't legalism... this is evidence. A saved soul is a changed life, not a perfect life, but a pursuing life, a pressing forward life, a turning in the spirit life, a walking in the spirit life... and yes, the walk is narrow; yes, it's hard, but it's worth it, because He walks with you, He empowers you, He strengthens you. He doesn't leave you in your weakness, He fills you with His power. He doesn't leave you in your failure, He lifts you up again, but only if you're truly His.

And there's one more thing I must say. Don't confuse conviction with condemnation. If your heart is stirring right now, if you feel exposed, if you feel uneasy, don't push it away. That's not the enemy - that's the Holy Spirit... that's mercy calling out to you; that's God refusing to let you settle for deception; that's grace shaking you awake. You ought to thank God if you still feel conviction because that means your heart hasn't been fully hardened. That means there's still time, there's still hope, there's still grace available. But you must act! You must respond, you must repent. Don't let pride hold you back, don't let fear stop you, don't let shame silence you. There's room at the cross for you; there's cleansing in the blood for you; there's a robe of righteousness with your name on it. But you must lay down the rags of your own goodness.

Religion will tell you you're fine; the culture will tell you you're good enough; the enemy will tell you you've already done enough. But the word of God is a mirror and when you look into it with honesty, it will show you who you really are. And if what you see isn't Christ in you, then don't stop at the mirror. Fall to your knees, cry out for mercy, cry out for cleansing. Ask God to truly save you, to transform you, to fill you with the fire of His spirit because when you're truly saved, you'll know it.

There will be no doubt. The chains fall off, the scales drop from your eyes, the burden of guilt is lifted, the weight of sin is broken, and your heart... your very heart will be made new. And that new heart will love what God loves, it will hate what God hates, it will long to please the Father, it will burn with desire for His presence, it will overflow with gratitude for the cross, it will not be content with compromise, it will not make excuses for sin, it will not seek applause from men because it lives for one thing... to glorify Jesus Christ. 

So I ask you again. Are you truly saved? Not according to tradition, not according to feelings, but according to the word of God, according to the fruit of your life, according to the witness of the Spirit. Don't play games with your soul. Don't wait for a better time. Don't settle for shallow religion. Don't mistake exposure for transformation. Come fully; come broken; come desperate; come honest. Lay your life at the foot of the cross and don't pick it up again. Let the blood of Jesus do what no sermon, no song, no ceremony can ever do... cleanse you, heal you, raise you from death to life. And if you do, if you surrender fully, you will never be the same; you will never look at sin the same; you will never look at the world the same; you will never look at yourself the same, because you won't belong to “you” anymore. You'll belong to Him!

You'll walk different, talk different, think different, because now it is no longer you who live, but Christ in you... the hope of glory. That my friend is salvation! That is the gospel! That is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes, not just mentally not just emotionally, but with their whole life. Believe like that, surrender like that, and then you will know beyond the shadow of a doubt that you are truly saved.

You can wear the cross around your neck and still not carry it in your heart. You can quote scripture and still not be submitted to the author. You can say the name of Jesus and still not know his voice. The most dangerous deception is not the one that lures you into obvious sin, it's the one that lets you feel spiritual. Don't let a false sense of peace be your undoing. The enemy is a master at forging peace in the souls of those who are asleep. He lulls them to sleep with gentle lies. You prayed the prayer, you walked the aisle, you've done enough. But the Bible does not say by one prayer you are saved, it says by Grace through faith, and real faith bears real fruit.

Real grace transforms, real salvation results in obedience. You cannot remain in rebellion and claim redemption. You cannot walk in darkness and declare you are in the light. And I say it again... don't trust your feelings. They will lie to you. The heart is deceitful above all things. But the word of God never lies. It cuts sharper than any two-edged sword. It divides soul and spirit; it discerns the thoughts and intentions of the heart; it will tell you who you truly are, even when you don't want to hear it.

Let me ask you, do you weep over your sin? Does it grieve you or have you grown numb? Do you excuse it, tolerate it, pet it? Because a saved heart will mourn what God mourns. A saved soul will not justify what nailed Jesus to the cross. You can't love the Savior and protect the sin that killed him. I'm not talking about perfection. No, not perfection, but direction, pursuit, hunger. A heart that cries out "Create in me a clean heart oh God and renew a right spirit within me; a spirit that repents quickly and deeply; a spirit that longs for the refining fire of God... even when it burns; even when it hurts."

(Billy Graham)