To be in Christ
The most serious question that any man can put to himself is, Am I in Christ? To be in Christ is to be safe in life and death, in time and in eternity; to be out of Christ is to stand exposed every hour to the most appalling danger. To be in Christ is to be in a hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; to be out of Christ is to stand defenceless before that storm which will, ere long, burst forth to consume his adversaries, and to sweep away every refuge of lies; to be in Christ is to be reconciled to God, pardoned and accepted; to be out of Christ is to be at enmity with God, guilty and condemned; to be in Christ is to be adopted into God's family as children, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Jesus Christ; to be out of Christ is to be aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, without Christ, and therefore without God, and without hope in the world; to be in Christ is to be a new creature, renewed, sanctified, and made meet for glory; to be out of Christ is to be dead in trespasses and sins, polluted in our own blood; to be in Christ is to be prepared for death, and judgment, and eternity; to be out of Christ is to have nothing but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation.
Would you come to a safe decision as to your present state, so as to be able to answer the question, Am I in Christ or no? Permit me to suggest another question, Are you a new creature? 'If any man be in Christ,' says the apostle, 'he is a new creature;' he is converted and changed, 'so that old things pass away, and all things become new.' It is by faith that we are united to Christ; and wherever that faith exists, it works; it works by love, and thereby produces the peaceable fruits of righteousness. The particulars which have been illustrated may aid you in arriving at a safe and satisfactory answer to this inquiry, if, in the exercise of serious self-examination, and with fervent prayer for the guidance of the Spirit, you apply them closely each to his own soul. Are you conscious of having undergone any such change as has been described, any change in your views, any change in the object of your affections, any change in the prevailing bent of your desires, any change in the sources of your most cherished enjoyments, any change in your outward habits or in your inward experience, such as corresponds with thee account given in Scripture of the 'new creation,' or 'the second birth? In prosecuting this momentous inquiry, permit me to caution you against the danger of either requiring more, or being satisfied with less, than the Bible declares to be implied in this great change. Nothing short of a new birth, a radical heart change, will suffice; for 'except a man be born again, and born of the Spirit, he cannot see the kingdom of God;' and this should be a solemn thought to the careless, and to mere nominal Christians, to those who are at ease in Zion, having a name to live while they are dead. But on the other hand, in seeking to ascertain the state of your soul, you must not insist on finding more than what is, in your experience or character, essentially implied in conversion, for thus you may unwarrantably deprive yourselves of the comfort which God has provided for you in the Word.
Would you come to a safe decision as to your present state, so as to be able to answer the question, Am I in Christ or no? Permit me to suggest another question, Are you a new creature? 'If any man be in Christ,' says the apostle, 'he is a new creature;' he is converted and changed, 'so that old things pass away, and all things become new.' It is by faith that we are united to Christ; and wherever that faith exists, it works; it works by love, and thereby produces the peaceable fruits of righteousness. The particulars which have been illustrated may aid you in arriving at a safe and satisfactory answer to this inquiry, if, in the exercise of serious self-examination, and with fervent prayer for the guidance of the Spirit, you apply them closely each to his own soul. Are you conscious of having undergone any such change as has been described, any change in your views, any change in the object of your affections, any change in the prevailing bent of your desires, any change in the sources of your most cherished enjoyments, any change in your outward habits or in your inward experience, such as corresponds with thee account given in Scripture of the 'new creation,' or 'the second birth? In prosecuting this momentous inquiry, permit me to caution you against the danger of either requiring more, or being satisfied with less, than the Bible declares to be implied in this great change. Nothing short of a new birth, a radical heart change, will suffice; for 'except a man be born again, and born of the Spirit, he cannot see the kingdom of God;' and this should be a solemn thought to the careless, and to mere nominal Christians, to those who are at ease in Zion, having a name to live while they are dead. But on the other hand, in seeking to ascertain the state of your soul, you must not insist on finding more than what is, in your experience or character, essentially implied in conversion, for thus you may unwarrantably deprive yourselves of the comfort which God has provided for you in the Word.
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