Are You Really A Christian? | Paul Washer

[Music] one day each and every one of you will stand naked before a holy god and you will be judged life and death heaven and hell some of you will hear my voice and go to heaven when you die and others of you will hear warning after warning after warning and you will not listen and you will die under the wrath of god and spend eternity in hell young people listen to me and you need to be very very careful this christianity is not a cultural thing this christianity is is not something that just should

be a small part of your life it is not something that you do on sunday christianity is not about you living in the world six days a week and coming to church christianity is not about you being just like the world all the time and then coming to church on sunday if that is your christianity you have no christianity you are not christian young people let me ask you a question how do you know that you're christian how do you know that you have truly come to know christ how do you know that if you

died right now you would go to heaven and be accepted by god almighty before his throne how do you know you say well it's all of grace yes it is all of grace we are not saved by works we are saved by grace we are saved by believing the promises of the gospel that is true but what you need to understand is grace is a powerful thing that he who has given you grace to repent and believe gives you grace to continue repenting and to continue believing he who gives you grace to believe unto justification

also will give you grace for your sanctification that you might grow in holiness as a matter of fact listen to me one of the greatest evidences that you have truly believed in christ unto salvation is that god has begun a good work of sanctification in you he works and works and works to make you holy now let me ask you is that a reality in your life but can you honestly tell me that your great desire is to be holy can you honestly tell me that your great desire is not to be like the world

to not be like what you see here in the west in many other places but to be like jesus christ can you tell me that because if you cannot you should be afraid you should be very afraid those who love the world do not have the love of the father god's motive for saving people is not found in that people the bible says that all of us have sinned and fall short of the glory of god when the holy god looks at sinful men the only thing their sin motivates god to do is judge them

to condemn them so if god is going to save men it is not because of men it is in spite of men god does not save us because we deserve to be saved god saves us because he is a savior god does not love us because we deserve to be loved we do not deserve the love of god we deserve his wrath god saves us because he himself is love when a church lowers the standard of the gospel in order to get more people to come in when a church does not preach on holiness and

what it means to be truly converted then christianity in the church fills up with a lot of ungodly people and because of their actions the unbelieving world blasphemes the name of god but what we need to understand is that the people who claim to know christ and yet live in a way that contradict the word of christ and the character of christ they are not christian we are saved by faith alone we are not saved by works but what you need to understand is that a person who has been truly saved has been born again

they have become a new creature god has done a tremendous work in them to demonstrate his power he has made them into new creatures with new affections new desires to serve christ and to be holy has he done that to you let me ask you a question do you look at the world and long to be like the world act like the world talk like the world dress like the world have the world's respect and the world's esteem if you're that way you ought to be terrified because that just could be evidence that god has

not done a work in you if god's power cannot be seen in your life leading you to greater and greater holiness then maybe there is no power of god in your life that he has not regenerated your heart you are not born again you are not a christian because he says i am going to save people why to demonstrate to the world how powerful i am not only in saving their souls but in transforming their lives is god transforming your life christians are not sinless christians are not perfect christians will struggle with sin and christians

can even fall but in the midst of that weakness it will be evident that god is working god is teaching god is disciplining and god is bringing them to greater and greater heights of christian maturity and holiness is that you since you professed faith in christ are your desires for christ growing are your desires for holiness growing is god's power in transforming your life evident are you becoming less and less like the world and more and more like christ or are you becoming more and more like the world when god truly saves a person what

does he do he begins to work in them with what purpose to pull them out of the world to pull them out of worldliness to pull them out of sin and to bring them to himself now let me ask you a question is that obvious in your life do you see god working in your life to get more and more of the world out of you and is god drawing you more and more to himself and conformity to his image if you have truly believed in christ unto salvation then god will be working in you

to make you holy if there is no evidence that god is working in you to make you holy there is a good chance that you have not truly been converted when god saves a person he is cutting them off from what from the world what is the world everything in on this planet every idea every thought every word every action that contradicts god's will in god's nature everything on this earth that opposes god when god truly saves a person he cuts them off from that and he begins to separate them little by little changing their

life getting the worldliness out of their life and drawing them unto himself holiness means to be separated from the world christian one of the purposes of the scriptures is to teach us what god hates so that we will run away from it make no mistake there can be no friendship with god in the world and between the believer there can be no friendship between the believer and the world if god is truly working in you he is going to use his word and the power of his spirit to do what to reveal to you what

is wrong in this world and to draw you away from it if you want god you're going to have to let go of the world and if you do not want to let go of the world because you love the world then know this the love of the father is not in you i know how deadly my culture is you live in a land full of all kinds of things that glitter but they're not gold you live in a land full of all kinds of promises that are lies you live in a land that will

do everything in its power to turn you away from christ but you live in a land that tells you you can have god and the world too you live in a land that tells you you can love the world and love christ and i want you to know it is a lie it is a lie do not think i'm trying to be angry do not think i'm trying to have a mean spirit i am saying this to save you from the monster that has killed more people than any political tyrant that has ever ruled this

land this planet if you love the world be afraid because that could just be an evidence god has never worked in you you have never believed unto salvation you have never truly been converted because if he truly saves you he who began a good work in you will finish it remember god saves people to demonstrate how powerful he is and so if he begins a work in you he will finish it i want you to know that if god has brought you from the condemnation of sin if he has truly saved you if he has

truly justified you then the evidence of that is he will continue working in you to transform you why because every christian is a demonstration of god's power he is going to finish the work he has begun because his reputation depends upon it can you say can you prove that since the moment of your conversion there is evidence that god is working in your life to make you holy can you see that can you tell me that you are truly a christian because when you look at the world and it maybe deceives you and draws you

to it that god comes and disciplines you that when you participate in sin you can't stand it because the holy spirit is so convicting you or can you simply call yourself christian and yet look like the world act like the world talk like the world dress like the world do everything the world does one of the things that the lord will do when he has truly saved a person is again he will begin to do a work of cleansing them the moment we believe in jesus christ we are justified and we are right with god

through faith but if we have truly believed god is going to begin to do a lifetime work of sanctification in us of changing us of cleansing us from all our filthiness and from all our idols and i want you to know something he can do it he is sovereign over the believer and he can work in that believer's life to make that believer clean one of the evidence is young people that you truly belong to god that he truly is your father is that he is involved in your life to make you clean if you

have truly been converted god has a claim on you you belong to him he is going to change you for his own glory and he is going to change you because he loves you he is not going to let you stay the way that you were and he has the power to change you if you can live in sin live in the world with all your worldly friends doing all your worldly things and you can get away with it and there's no conviction of the spirit there's no discipline from god it is evidence that you

are an illegitimate child you are not truly a child of god if you love the sensuality of the world and you love all its boasting its pride of the eyes and it's it's boasting in the flesh and all the things that glitters in this world and you can participate in it without the discipline of the father it is because the father is not your father the goal of god in your life is not prosperity it's not health it's not wealth and it's most certainly not your best life now god's goal if you belong to him

as a child is to make you holy to conform you to the image of christ he will cleanse you from your filthiness he will cleanse you from your idols and he will be very zealous in doing that he will do anything that is necessary to make you conform to the image of his son is he doing that in your life the evidence that you are truly converted is not that one time in your life you prayed a prayer and asked jesus to come in the evidence that you are converted is that one time in your

life you repented of your sins and you continue repenting today the evidence that you're saved is one time you believed unto salvation and you continue believing today the evidence that you're converted is that one time god began a good work in you and he continues working in you today changing your life transforming you by his power my dear friend when the apostle paul says if any man be in christ he's a new creature have you become a new creature have you when you fall into sin does it break your heart and afflict you or do

you love it do you relish it we were born and by nature we were sinners we did not want the good food of god we would rather have the sin and the disgrace the debauchery of this world we ran to it we fed on it we ate it we loved it we desired it but when a person is converted what does god do he changes them into a new creation a new heart recreated in the image of god and true righteousness and true holiness and with that new heart they have new desires and they can

no longer stomach the sin of this world and they're ashamed that they ever participated in it and they begin to walk no longer as a sinner but begin to learn to walk as a saint is this you has god changed your heart does he continue changing your heart do you long to be free from the filth of this world do you long to be like christ if you can say yes that is a great evidence that you have been born again [Music] you