Adrian Rogers: Christlike Attributes of Born Again Christians

When we got saved, God put some indelible marks upon us. 1 John 2:3-10 reveals three traits of those who are born again. In this message, Adrian Rogers reveals the birthmarks of the believer.

Now ask yourself this question and ask it honestly, ask it sincerely.
Do you have in your heart right now a desire to live by the word of not.
If not, put a big question mark over that thing, you call salvation. You listen to me.
Fran, if a person is saved is gonna show in his life. You’re not saved by keeping the commandments.
You’re not saved by walking as Jesus walk.
You’re not saved by loving your brother, but if you are saved, you will do these things.
Profound truth simply stated This is love worth finding with pastor, teacher, and author, Adrian Rogers.
Turn to first John. Find the second chapter and find verse 4 and then look up here.
And let me tell you this, that when you were heaven born, You became heaven bound, but when you were heaven born and heaven bound, god puts some indelible marks upon you.
These are traits of the twice born. These are the birthmarks of the believer.
And god wants me to tell you that if you don’t find these birthmarks, if you do not discover these traits, then you need to ask yourself, have you ever really been born from above?
And are you really heaven bound?
Because you see it’s one thing to talk religion it’s another thing to have it. Is that not true?
As a matter of fact, let’s just look here in the second chapter.
And look if you will in verse 4. See how it begins.
He that saith, I know him, and keep us not as commandments is a liar. Oh my.
John, you’re you’re certainly not, uh, you’re not very discreet there. I mean, you’re a little blunt on to John.
He said, that’s right. You say you know him and you don’t keep his commandments, you’re just a liar.
And then look again in verse 6, he that saith he abideth in him, ought himself also so to walk even as he walked.
Look in verse 9, he that said he is in the life and hateth, his brother is in darkness until now.
Do you see how each of these verses begin?
He that sayeth, he that sayeth, he that sayeth, It’s one thing to talk to talk.
It’s another thing to walk to walk, isn’t he that’s safe.
Now, I see a lot of talk a good religion, but everything we say is not necessarily so.
I heard of a psychiatrist who was in his office and the nurse.
The nurse came back there and said, doctor, There’s a man out here in the office who wants to see you.
He says he’s invisible. Psychiatrist said to the nurse, go tell him we can’t see him.
Not everything that people say is true.
And certainly when it comes to this matter of of being saved, but what are some traits of the twice born?
Each of these phrases, he that sayeth introduces a trait of the twice born.
It introduces a birthmark of the believer.
So I want us to look at these traits right here and see, first of all, what a true believer is?
Number 1, a true believer. Are you listening?
A true believer submits to the lordship of Jesus Christ.
A true believer submits to the lordship of Jesus. Look in verses 34.
And hereby, We do know that we know him.
If we keep his commandments, he that says I know him and keep us not as commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
Now nobody can be saved without receiving Christ as lord.
The Bible says, believe on the lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.
The Bible says that a thou shall confess with thy mouth, the lord Jesus, and shall believe in thine heart that god hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
And so you don’t, uh, you don’t receive Christ as savior and let him and later make him lord.
You receive him as lord and savior all at the same time.
And so if you say that Christ is your lord and yet you don’t keep his word, well, that’s a contradiction.
Jesus Christ himself said, why call you me? Lord lord. And do not the things that I say.
The lord means master, and he has every right to give his commandments. So let me ask you a question.
Have you been born again? You say, yes, I have. Are you keeping his commandments?
Well, you’re saying, no, I don’t think I’m keeping his commandments.
Then John says, not Adrian, but John says, you are a liar.
He that says I know him, and keepeth not his commandments is a liar.
Are you trying to tell me, Adrian, that I have to be perfect in order to go to heaven? No.
If it demands perfection, nobody is going because we don’t have perfection.
What does this mean when it says he to sayth, I know him and keep us not as commandments is a liar.
It’s all wrapped up in that word keep. Now what does that word keep mean?
Well, first of all, it means to guard as you would guard a treasure.
You would say to somebody, you would give them something. You would say keep this for me.
And so when you treasure god’s commandments, The commandments of the lord Jesus Christ, when they are precious to you, when you guard his commandments, you take and set value in those commandments, then you can say perhaps I know the lord, or, yes, indeed, I do know the lord.
Also, the word keep is a word that was used by sailors in ancient times where they didn’t have, uh, global positioning satellites as we have.
They would steer by the stars.
And a sailor at nighttime would look up to the stars, and he would steer by those stars, and they call that keeping the stars, keeping the stars.
That is he would set his course by keeping the stars.
Now you as a Christian, set your course in life by keeping the commandments.
You treasure those commandments, and you steer by those commandments.
That doesn’t mean that you could never get blown off course.
That doesn’t mean in a time of carelessness, you may take your eyes from the stars, but I’m here to tell you this, folks, that if you have no desire to live by the word of god, if you can sin carelessly, flippantly, without any compunction, without any conviction, and you just go your merry way and let god’s commandments go the other way, You need to get saved.
I didn’t say that.
The apostle John said that He that saith, I know him and keepeth not his commandments is what? A liar.
Now are you steering by god’s stars? Do you treasure god’s word? Are you keeping god’s commandments?
Now why do we do this? Listen very carefully. We are not saved by keeping the commandments.
He’s not teaching here salvation by works at all. He he is look if you will in verse 4.
Look at it. He that sayeth, I know him. Now that friend is in the perfect tense.
He said, oh, Adrian, I’m so blessed. No. Alright. Here here’s what it says.
It it speaks of something that is done in the past. Perfect tense.
Uh, he that sayeth, I have known him. I I I know him. That’s in the past tense.
It is something that is done and settled.
And then, uh, because he keepeth the commandments because he is now keeping that is present tense.
Now what what is he talking about?
He is saying, because I have known him, I am now keeping the commandments.
It doesn’t say because I’m keeping the commandments, I know him. Don’t get it backward.
The only way that you can keep the commandments is to know him, but if you know him, If you have him in your heart, if you have known him perfect tense, you will be keeping his commandments present tense.
You’re going to be steering by god’s stars you’re going to be treasuring god’s word.
Now ask yourself this question and ask it honestly. Ask it sincerely.
Do you have in your heart right now a desire to live by the word of god if not put a big question mark over that thing you call salvation.
He that saith, I know him and keep if not his commandments is a liar.
That’s what John says. And so what’s the 1st trade of the twice born? It is folks right here.
A true believer submits to the lordship of Christ.
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Number 2, not only does a true believer submit to the lordship of Jesus, but a true believer seeks the lifestyle of Jesus.
Now look in verse 5. Look at it.
But whoso, keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of god perfected, uh, hereby know we that we are in him, he that saith he abideth in him, ought himself also so to walk even as he walked.
Now here he’s not talking about his lordship, but his lifestyle.
You see, you you submit to his lordship and you seek his lifestyle.
You are to walk as Jesus walked.
Now, uh, folks, if being saved doesn’t make you like Jesus, then, I mean, if what you call being saved doesn’t make you like Jesus, you haven’t been saved.
Uh, being saved makes you like Jesus. It makes you to walk as Jesus walk.
Look in verse 6. The key is he that sayeth he abideth in him, ought himself also so to walk even as he Now underscore that phrase, even as he.
That is my life is to be even as his life was.
1st, John 4 verse 17, you might turn to it and look at it.
The last part of that verse says, as he is, So are we in this world, even as he as he is, so are we in this world?
Now what was the lifestyle of the lord Jesus Christ like.
Uh, how how am I going to walk as Jesus walked? Well, his lifestyle was a life of honesty.
Go back to first John 1 verse 7 and look at it.
You’re gonna pick up this phrase even as he.
If we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another.
Well, what does it mean to walk in the light?
It means to be honest, go back to verse 6, chapter 1 verse 6.
If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie. And do not the truth.
And so what is the lifestyle of Jesus? It’s a life of honesty. I’m honest with god.
I’m honest with myself. I’m honest with you.
If if you have a life that is built on dishonesty, you’re not walking as Jesus walk.
And you’re not walking in the life.
And if you’re not walking in the light, you have no right to call yourself a child of god, but not only a life of honesty, but a life of purity, look in 1st John chapter 3 verse 3.
Uh, every man that had this hope in him, purifies himself even as he is pure.
Now don’t miss the phrase. The phrase I’m working on in all of these is even as he.
Even as he as he is. So are we, 1st John 417.
Uh, we ought to walk even as he walked as he did this.
My life is to have the lifestyle of Jesus. His lifestyle was a lifestyle of honesty.
His lifestyle is a lifestyle of purity.
Every man that hath this hope in him purify himself even as he is pure.
Now if if you are feeding on filth, If you’re a lover of pornography, if your heart is full of filth and dirt and debauchery, Don’t call yourself a child of god.
You can’t live that way and be saved. You just can’t do it.
You need to get saved if this is the way you are.
Now I’m not saying that you cannot slip into sin.
We’ll deal with that later on in this series of messages. But if this is your life style.
If this is the way you live, you’re not walking as Jesus walk.
Can you imagine Jesus watching some of the things that people watch today when they tune in on the television and hell’s box office and see all this filt that comes in there and they feed and feast on that, let their little kids You know what?
I feel like telling those folks, hey, turn that thing off and get saved. Get saved.
I mean, why are you watching that field?
Would would you sit there if Jesus were there with you and watch it?
I mean, if Jesus were sitting in your living room, Listen. Jesus life was a life of honesty.
He walked in the light. Jesus life, a life of purity.
The Bible says even as he is pure, and his life was a life of righteousness.
Look if you will in first John 3 verse 7, little children, Let no man deceive you.
He that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he, here it is again, even as he is righteous.
You see, Jesus is honest. Jesus is pure. Jesus is righteous. And what is righteousness?
Rights is not merely the abstaining from doing what is wrong.
It is said of the lord Jesus Christ that he went about doing good.
Now you say, well, pastor, how can I How can I have the lifestyle of Jesus?
When I submit to the lordship of Jesus, how do I seek the lifestyle of Jesus?
Well, the key is in verse 6. And there in verse 6, look at it. He mentions abiding.
Do you see it? He that saith he abideth in him off himself also so to walk even as he walked.
Jesus was a master teacher. Now most of us have a little fuzziness when it comes to abiding.
We say, well, Well, pastor, what does it mean to abide? Well, one thing about Jesus is this.
He was so easy to understand.
If you listen to him, He took those those difficult phrases and terms, and he made them simple.
And he says in John chapter 15, we’re in first John now, but in the gospel of John in chapter 15, Jesus tells us what abiding is.
He says it’s like a vine and a branch. He says, I am the vine. You’re the branches.
He that a bideth in me and I and him the same bringing forth much fruit.
Without me, you can do nothing. So now we understand what it means to abide.
It’s it’s to have the relationship to Jesus Christ that a branch and a grapevine has to the main stem, uh, in the grapevine.
I am the vine Jesus said, ye are the branches.
And so how how do I if I’m gonna walk and and live the lifestyle of Jesus, how do I buy it in Jesus?
Well, just think of just imagine yourself now as the branch and Jesus is the vine.
First of all, a the life of a branch is a life of full reliance.
That that branch completely, totally, relies on the vine. The branch can do nothing of itself.
All that the branch needs is in the vine, and so the branch clings to the vine grows out from the vine, and it receives whatever it needs.
In the summertime, if it needs moisture, uh, the vine gives moisture.
In the fall, when it’s time for the grapes, are in the spring when it’s time to begin to produce the grapes, uh, the the little, uh, branch doesn’t worry about how many grapes, what size, what color, how sweet, That’s none of the the branch’s business.
All the branch does is just abide in the vine. You see, the branch does not produce the grapes.
The branch only bears the grapes.
And, uh, all that the branch does is just simply relinquishes everything to the vine.
It it is a it is a life of reliance It is a life of relinquishment.
It destroys from the vine. Uh, people could not understand the life of Jesus.
They they said to Jesus, how do you do these things? How do you do these works?
Now Jesus came here as a man to live before us as men And so he set the example of abiding.
And Jesus said, I’m not doing this. The father does it. What the father says, I say.
What I see the father do, I do.
Jesus is abiding in the father, and you’re seeing the life of god reproduced in the human Jesus, here upon this earth.
Now what is abiding? It is a life of absolute dependence, complete relinquishment.
Uh, a branch has no other side issues. It cleans completely to the vine.
It rests in the vine, and the life of the vine comes into the branch.
Now folks, if you’re going to have a lifestyle of the lord Jesus Christ, you’re gonna have to abide in him.
And when you abide in him, when you are to Jesus, what Jesus was to the father, Jesus will be to you what the father was to Jesus.
You just simply abide in him Now, folks, are are you listening? Listen to me. Listen to me now.
Uh, he that said, I know him and keep if not his commandments is a liar.
There is friend a submission to the lordship of Christ, and there is a seeking of the lifestyle of Christ.
He that says I know him and and doesn’t want on also himself to walk as Jesus walked.
You see, you walk as he walked. Because you abide in him in verse 6.
Now here’s the 3rd mark of the believer. Here’s here’s the 3rd birth mark. Are you following me?
The first one is you submit to his lordship. The second is you seek his lifestyle.
The third is you show his love. You show his love.
Look, if you will now, again, in verse 10, he that saith, he is in the light.
And hateth his brother is in darkness, even until now.
He that loveth his brother uh, bideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him.
Now that’s the 3rd birthmark of the believer. You you just simply share his love.
Now notice, uh, if you will, he he says this love is both new and old.
Well, why is it why is it both new and old?
Well, It’s old because Jesus said love is the 1st in the in the 1st in the great commandment, so it goes all the way back in the old testament.
But why is it new? Well, I’ll tell you why it’s new because Jesus says over there in John chapter 13, a new commandment I give to you That’s your loved one another, even as I have loved you.
And do you know when he said that in John 13? You know what he’d been doing?
He’d been washing his disciples’ feet. They’d come into the upper room.
Other disciples were sitting at the table.
And Jesus took off his garments, put a towel around him, took the sandals off those old, smelly feet of those disciples, and Jesus washed his disciples’ feet.
And then Jesus said, Jesus said, a new commandment I give you, as as I have loved you, you’ll love one another.
Now folks, do you know who’s in that room? Do you think they were lovely?
Do you think old big mouth Peter was lovely?
About the only time Peter uh, he just opened his mouth to change feet.
Peter Peter was a braggard, crude, Arega. Who else was in that room?
James and John. You know what? They were called sons a thunder. They had a hair trigger. Temper.
They got in Samaria, and they said, lord, bless NuCom, these Samaritans.
Uh, a little heavenly napalm will do them good. Let’s call down hire from heaven. That’s James and John.
Who else was in that room? Simon The Zelleach, this guy.
This guy knew nothing but hatred uh, for the Romans before Jesus Christ got hold of him.
Who was in that room? Um, Andrew was in that room uh, Andrew, who was quiet and sensitive.
Who was in that room there? Well, Philip was in there. He was calculating. Who was in that room?
Uh, cynical Thomas was in that room, and Jesus loved them. Let me tell you something, folks.
He doesn’t love us because we’re lovely. He just loves us. And look around in this room.
You think we’re also lovable? Sitting between two people.
You know, they say only one out of every three people is beautiful or handsome.
Look on either side of it. It’s not them. It’s you. Volks, listen. Listen.
How do I know that I know him If I say that I love him, know him, And don’t have love.
Don’t love my brother. If I hate my brother, he says I’m a liar.
The truth is not in us. What are the birthmarks of the believer? We submit to his lordship.
We seek his lifestyle. We shares love. That’s it. That’s it.
Now if these things are not there, don’t call yourself a Christian. I was in Israel.
I went to the Holocaust Museum. My heart broke.
I’ve been there for, but never was I as deeply moved as I see the atrocities that were committed upon the Jewish people.
If there’s a Jewish friend watching this program right now, I want to tell you in the name of Jesus.
I am so sorry for what has happened.
I wanted to take every Jew in the world and put my arm around them and just say, I am so sorry.
I am ashamed Some of those who were doing that came from a, quote, Christian nation.
That was not Jesus.
That was somebody saying I know him, but the apostle John says they are in darkness. They lie.
And never hold that against Jesus Christ. It wasn’t Jesus.
It was some liar who said I know him. Listen, folks. I am telling you the truth.
You listen to me. You listen to me.
Friend, if a person is saved, it’s gonna show in his life You’re not saved by keeping the commandments.
You’re not saved by walking as Jesus walk.
You’re not saved by loving your brother, but if you are saved, you will do these things.
Come out of your life that has met the lord Jesus.
And if your religion hadn’t changed your life, you better change your religion.
Because you don’t have the new testament kind. Find a man’s in Christ Jesus.
He is a new creature. Let’s bow to give him prayer.
Lord god, I pray that you will help us to make our walk match our talk, and lord that we might not say one thing and do another.
Now while heads are bowed and eyes are closed, how do you know the lord?
Well, you know him by faith You trust him as your lord and savior by faith.
And if you’d like to trust him today, you can do it right now.
If you just bow your heads in prayer and pray a prayer like this sincerely out of your heart.
Dear god, I know that you love me. And friend, he does love you.
Dear god, I know that you love me. Pray that. I know that you love me.
God, I know that you want to Me friend, he does want to save you.
The lord is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
He longs for you to be saved. There’s no one here so good.
He doesn’t need to be saved, and no one here so bad he cannot be saved.
Lord, I know you want to save me. Jesus, you died to save me.
Brenda did die to save you. Say that, Jesus, you died to save me.
You promised to save me if I would trust you. I do trust you, Jesus.
Pray it from your heart. I do trust you right now, this moment, with all of my heart.
Come into my heart. Forgive my sin, save me or Jesus.
Pray that in me. Save me, lord Jesus. Then pray this. Thank you for doing it.
I receive it by faith I don’t look for a sign. I don’t ask for a feeling.
I stand on your word.
Thank you for saving begin now to make me the person you want me to be in your holy name.
Amen.