Adrian Rogers - Birthmarks of the Believer
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 put some indelible marks upon you. These are traits of the twiceborn. 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 of First John, and look if you will, in verse 4. See how it begins, "He that saith, 'I know Him,' and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar". Oh, my. John, you're certainly not very discreet there. I mean, you're a little blunt aren't you, 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 First John 2 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 saith he is in the light and hateth his brother, is in darkness until now". Do you see how each of these verses begin? "He that saith, He that saith, He that saith". It's one thing to talk the talk; it's another thing to walk the walk, isn't it? "He that saith".
Now, see, a lot of us 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 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". And the 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 being saved. But what are some traits of the twice-born? Each of these phrases, "He that saith," 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 one: a true believer, are you listening, a true believer submits to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Look in First John 2 verses 3 and 4, "And hereby we do know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He that saith, 'I know Him,' and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him". Now nobody can be saved without receiving Christ as Lord. In Acts 16:31, the Bible says, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved". The Bible says in Romans 10:9, "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved".
And so you don't receive Christ as Savior 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 in Luke 6:46, "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 say, "No, I don't think I'm keeping His commandments".
Then John says, not Adrian, but John says, "You are a liar". "He that saith, '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 that saith, 'I know Him,' and keepeth not His 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 and 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 when they didn't have 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 called that 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. Look if you will in First John 2 verse 4. Look at it, "He that saith, 'I know Him.'" Now, that, friend, is in the perfect tense. Now you say, "Oh, Adrian, I'm so blessed". No. All right, here's what it says. It speaks of something that is done in the past; perfect tense. "He that saith, 'I have known Him,'" "I know Him," that's in the past tense. It is something that is done and settled. And then, because, "He keepeth commandments because he is now keeping," John 14:21, that is present tense.
Now 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 honesty, 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 keepeth not His commandments, is a liar". That's what John says. And so, what's the first trait of the twice-born? It is, folks, right here. A true believer submits to the Lordship of Christ. He has His Word. He says, "This is what I want you to do". And if Jesus Christ is not Lord of your life then you're not on the road to Heaven. You see, this is not legalism; this is love. Do you know why I keep the commandments of Jesus? Because I love Him. Let me give you some verses. Jesus said in John chapter 14 verse 15, "If ye love Me, keep My commandments". He says in John 14 verse 21, "He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me".
You see, if you don't keep His commandments, you don't really love Him; and if you don't love Him, you're not saved. I don't keep the commandments in order to be saved. When our children were little, Joyce and I wouldn't wake up in the morning, say, "Well, what time is"? "It's 8 o'clock". "Well, time for breakfast. We'd better get the kids now. We better feed them, because, Joyce, you know, if we don't feed the kids, they're going to come and arrest us for child abuse, so we have to feed the kids". No, that's not why we fed them, not because the law says. The law does say that you can't abuse your children. But that's not why we feed our children. We feed them because we love them. We keep God's commandments because we love them. Jesus says, "If a man love Me, he will keep My Word".
Now let me give you a second trait of the twice-born. First of all, it is a person who is twice-born submits to the Lordship of Christ. He keeps His Word. Jesus said in Luke chapter 6 and verse 46, "Why call ye Me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not the things that I say"? Number two: not only does a true believer submit to the Lordship of Jesus, but a true believer seeks the lifestyle of Jesus. Now look in First John 2 verse 5 and 6, look at it, "But whoso keepeth His Word, in him verily is the love of God perfected; hereby know we that we're 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 submit to His Lordship, and you seek His lifestyle. You are to walk as Jesus walked. Now 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. Being saved makes you like Jesus. It makes you to walk as Jesus walked. Look in First John 2 verse 6. The key is, "He that saith 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. First 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? 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 going to 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 chapter 1 verse 6, "If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth".
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 you have a life that is built on dishonesty, you're not walking as Jesus walked, and you're not walking in the light. 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 First John chapter 3 verse 3, "Every man that hath this hope in Him purifieth 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." First John 4:17.
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 purifieth himself, even as He is pure". Now 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 lifestyle, if this is the way you live, you're not walking as Jesus walked.
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 filth that comes in there? And they feed and feast on that and 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 filth? 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? Righteousness is not merely the abstaining from doing what it wrong. It is said of the Lord Jesus Christ that He went about doing good. Now, you say, "Well, Pastor, 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 First John 2 verse 6, look at it, He mentions abiding. Do you see it? "He that saith he abideth in Him ought 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 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 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 and chapter 15 verse 5, 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 abideth in Me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. For without Me you can do nothing".
So now we understand what it means to abide. It's to have the relationship to Jesus Christ that a branch and a grapevine has to the main stem in the grapevine. "I am the vine," Jesus said, "ye are the branches". And so, how do I, if I'm going to walk and live the lifestyle of Jesus, how do I abide in Jesus? Well, just imagine yourself now as the branch and Jesus is the vine. First of all, the life of a branch is a life of full reliance. 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 the vine gives moisture.
In the fall, when it's time for the grapes, or in the spring, when it's time to begin to produce the grapes the little branch doesn't worry about how many grapes, what size, what color, how sweet. That's none of 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 all that the branch does, it just simply relinquishes everything to the vine. It is a life of reliance. It is a life of relinquishment. It just draws from the vine. People could not understand the life of Jesus. 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. A branch has no other side issues. It clings 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 going to 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 you listening? Listen to me now. "He that saith, 'I know Him,' and keepeth 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 saith, 'I know Him,' and doesn't walk, ought also himself to walk, as Jesus walked".
Now, there was a man who wrote a novel called; "In His Steps". And the theme of that novel is a lot of people in a particular town got the idea that they would ask themselves this question before they took any course of action: "What would Jesus do"? And there's been a revival of that book, and you see a lot of kids and adults wearing a little bracelet, W.W.J.D. Have you seen that little bracelet? Means, "What Would Jesus Do"? And so they ask themselves in any situation what would Jesus do, and I think that is wonderful. But let me just put a little caveat here and help you a little bit when we're talking about the lifestyle of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Number one: when you ask yourself what would Jesus do in any situation that assumes you know what Jesus would do. You know, Jesus will surprise you. As a matter of fact, Jesus will often do what you would not think He would do. You can't put Jesus in a box and just run Him through the grid of your own rationalism. So, when you ask: what would Jesus do? That presumes that you know what He would do, and you may not.
Number two: that also presumes that if you knew what Jesus would do, you could do it. Do you think you could? Just all you have do is know what Jesus would do. Now I can come to the plate, and I can take a bat in my hand and see that baseball coming at me at a hundred miles an hour, and I ask myself, "What would Mark McGwire do"? So, what's that got to do with it? I mean, even if I knew what Mark McGwire would do, do you think I could do it? No!
Now, here's the third thing. Look. We ask ourselves what would Jesus do if He were here, He is here. He is alive in us. And we need to let the Jesus in us be Jesus. He's the one who knows what He would do, and He's the one who can do it. And living the Christian life is a life of supernatural reliance upon the Lord Jesus Christ. There's only one person who has ever lived the Christian life, and His name is Jesus. And if He lives it in your house, it'll be Him in you still living it. You see, you walk as He walked because you abide in Him, in verse 6. Now, here's the third mark of the believer. Here's the third birthmark. 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 First John 2 verses 9 and 10, "He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now. He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him". Now, that's the third birthmark of the believer. You, you just simply share His love. Now, notice if you will, he says this love is both new and old. Well, why is it both new and old? Well, it's old because Jesus said in Matthew 22:36, "Love is the first and the first and the great commandment".
So it goes all the way back to 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 and verse 34, "A new commandment I give to you, that you love 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, the 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, "A new commandment I give you. As I have loved you, you are to 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, he just opened his mouth to change feet. Peter was a braggart, crude, arrogant. Who else was in that room? James and John. You know what they were called? Sons of thunder. They had a hair-trigger temper. They got in Samaria and they said, "Lord, let's nuke 'em, these Samaritans, a little Heavenly napalm will do them good. Let's call down fire from Heaven".
That's James and John. Who else was in that room? Simon the Zealot. This guy knew nothing but hatred for the Romans before Jesus Christ got hold of him. Who was in that room? Andrew was in that room; Andrew, who was quiet and sensitive. Who was in that room there? Well, Phillip was in there. He was calculating. Who was in that room? 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. You think we're all so loveable? You're sitting between two people. You know, they say only one out of every three people is beautiful or handsome. Look on either side. If it's not them, it's you.
Folks, 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 share His love. That's it. That's it. Now, if these things are not there, don't call yourself a Christian. I went to Israel and I went to the Holocaust Museum. My heart broke. I'd been there before, but never was I as deeply moved as I see the atrocities that were committed upon the Jewish people.
Now 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 and 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 going to show in his life. You're not saved by keeping the commandments, you're not saved by walking as Jesus walked, you're not saved by loving your brother; but if you are saved, you will do these things. They come out of your life that has met the Lord Jesus. And if your religion hasn't changed your life, you better change your religion, because you don't have the New Testament kind. "If any man's in Christ Jesus, he is a new creature".
Let's bow together in prayer. Lord God, I pray that You'll 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'll 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. I know that You love me. God, I know that You want to save 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. Jesus, You died to save me. You promised to save me if I would trust You. I do trust You, Jesus. I do trust You right now, this moment, with all of my heart. Come into my heart. Forgive my sin. Save me, Lord Jesus. Save me, Lord Jesus. 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 me. Begin now to make me the person You want me to be. In Your holy name, Amen.