When Am I Ready to Become a Christian?
00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)
00:00:02.580 | - We open the week with an email from Carla,
00:00:07.960 | who writes in with a very short question,
00:00:10.520 | and to the point, "Pastor John, how does a person know
00:00:14.200 | "when he or she is ready to become a Christian?"
00:00:18.780 | What would you say to Carla?
00:00:20.120 | - It's a good question, because Jesus told a story one time
00:00:28.200 | that really emphasized the importance of counting the cost
00:00:33.200 | before you become one of his followers.
00:00:38.000 | Here's what he said, "Whoever does not bear his own cross
00:00:42.340 | "and come after me cannot be my disciple."
00:00:45.060 | In other words, it's not easy.
00:00:47.460 | "For which of you, desiring to build a tower,
00:00:52.320 | "does not first sit down and count the cost,
00:00:55.740 | "whether he has enough to complete it?"
00:00:58.160 | Otherwise, "When he has laid a foundation
00:01:01.560 | "and is not able to finish,
00:01:03.680 | "all who see it will begin to mock him, saying,
00:01:06.080 | "'This man began to build and was not able to finish.'"
00:01:10.080 | So that's Jesus' story, and I think it means,
00:01:14.040 | in other words, being a Christian is not a bed of roses.
00:01:19.040 | Believing and living the truth cost Jesus his life,
00:01:25.280 | and the same may be true of anyone who follows him.
00:01:28.720 | I just read this morning about Christian missionaries
00:01:31.880 | being crucified and beheaded in Syria.
00:01:35.780 | That's what he meant when he said,
00:01:37.720 | "Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me
00:01:42.440 | "cannot be my disciple."
00:01:45.040 | So I am glad that Carla is taking this
00:01:48.800 | as seriously as she is.
00:01:52.220 | And I think the question,
00:01:54.220 | when is a person ready to become a Christian,
00:01:57.600 | will become plain, the answer will become plain,
00:02:01.640 | if we define what becoming a Christian means,
00:02:06.440 | or what a Christian is.
00:02:08.700 | So let me try, and I'm gonna base all,
00:02:11.620 | I'm not gonna quote a lot of passages of Scripture,
00:02:14.160 | but virtually every sentence that I speak now,
00:02:17.120 | I have thought through from particular parts of the Bible.
00:02:21.080 | So this is not just, I hope, and I believe,
00:02:24.360 | John Piper's opinion, but really what the Bible teaches
00:02:28.320 | about what it means to be a Christian.
00:02:30.580 | Jesus Christ, the eternal, divine Son of God,
00:02:35.580 | who was never created, but who always existed,
00:02:40.920 | along with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit,
00:02:45.420 | in a mysterious unity, as one God,
00:02:50.680 | this Jesus Christ came into the world about 2,000 years ago,
00:02:55.480 | conceived in the womb of a virgin
00:02:58.200 | by the power of the Holy Spirit,
00:03:00.860 | not with God like some celestial man
00:03:04.300 | shacking up with a virgin,
00:03:06.300 | like some religions say we believe.
00:03:08.540 | That's not what we believe.
00:03:09.640 | The power of the Holy Spirit will overshadow you.
00:03:12.720 | And a God-man was conceived in the womb
00:03:17.180 | in a most spiritual and holy and pure way,
00:03:20.460 | and he came, grew up in order
00:03:25.460 | to solve the biggest problem in the universe.
00:03:30.220 | And the biggest problem in the universe
00:03:32.240 | is that all of us human beings,
00:03:34.800 | and every one of us knows this in our heart,
00:03:37.200 | from the beginning have failed to love God,
00:03:40.060 | failed to trust God and obey God
00:03:42.340 | and live in a way that treats God
00:03:45.300 | as the supreme value in our hearts and in the universe.
00:03:48.240 | We have failed.
00:03:49.660 | And so we've dishonored God
00:03:52.400 | and belittled his infinitely beautiful glory
00:03:56.840 | as though it weren't worth anything.
00:03:59.360 | And as a result of this, and it's treason,
00:04:03.160 | as a result of this treason against our creator,
00:04:07.680 | God's justice and holiness demands
00:04:11.260 | that we be appropriately punished.
00:04:13.560 | And given the fact that God is an infinitely worthy God,
00:04:17.440 | therefore our punishment in order to be just
00:04:19.800 | must be infinite, and that's why hell exists.
00:04:24.360 | But God is not only holy and just, the Bible reveals.
00:04:29.360 | He is also gracious and patient and loving,
00:04:34.840 | and therefore he planned a way
00:04:37.880 | to solve this biggest problem in the universe,
00:04:41.380 | namely the massive chasm that exists
00:04:45.000 | between us sinners and God in his holiness
00:04:48.560 | and justice and purity.
00:04:50.600 | And the solution that he designed
00:04:55.120 | was that God sent Jesus Christ into the world
00:04:58.740 | to become a substitute for everyone
00:05:02.520 | who would believe in him.
00:05:03.560 | In other words, when Jesus Christ died on the cross
00:05:08.060 | as the God-man, he bore, this is an exact quote,
00:05:14.200 | he bore the sins of all of those who would trust in him.
00:05:19.200 | He bore our guilt, he bore our punishment,
00:05:22.260 | he bore the wrath that we should receive
00:05:26.480 | and don't have to receive if we are hiding by faith
00:05:31.000 | in Jesus as our asbestos protection,
00:05:34.700 | because he bore it for us.
00:05:37.780 | And then he rose again from the dead
00:05:40.160 | to vindicate the success of his saving work on the cross.
00:05:44.760 | And so everyone who trusts Jesus
00:05:47.800 | is viewed by God as united to Jesus
00:05:51.680 | so that the death of Jesus counts as our punishment
00:05:56.000 | and his resurrection guarantees our eternal life.
00:05:59.800 | And so the chasm between us and God is overcome
00:06:03.080 | and we are enabled to live with overflowing joy
00:06:07.480 | in the presence of infinite beauty,
00:06:10.000 | namely God, forever and ever.
00:06:12.600 | And the reason this is possible
00:06:14.880 | is not only that God took our guilt away through Jesus,
00:06:19.560 | but also because when we're united to Christ by faith,
00:06:22.960 | we receive that other person of the Godhead,
00:06:27.640 | namely the Holy Spirit.
00:06:29.120 | So all three, the Father, the Son, the Spirit
00:06:31.560 | are at work in our salvation.
00:06:33.640 | We receive the Holy Spirit who begins to work in us
00:06:38.120 | new desires, new passions, new loves,
00:06:40.840 | so that we're actually able to enjoy the God
00:06:45.360 | that we once were so afraid of or hated or didn't believe in.
00:06:49.960 | Now, what all of that means
00:06:53.240 | is that becoming a Christian involves something
00:06:56.960 | more than a mere decision to believe certain doctrines
00:07:01.220 | or perform certain behaviors.
00:07:03.060 | This is so crucial.
00:07:05.000 | Becoming a Christian also involves
00:07:09.120 | a miracle of a changed heart.
00:07:12.800 | Before we become Christians,
00:07:15.800 | our heart does not embrace Christ.
00:07:19.600 | It doesn't see him as Savior and Master
00:07:22.620 | and supreme treasure of our lives.
00:07:25.120 | Before we're Christians, we feel self-reliant.
00:07:28.140 | We feel like we're the masters of our own fate.
00:07:31.200 | We treasure many things more than we treasure Jesus.
00:07:35.560 | That's the condition of my heart before I was a Christian.
00:07:39.960 | And the change from self-reliance to Christ-reliance
00:07:44.960 | and from being master of my own fate
00:07:48.840 | to being utterly dependent on Jesus
00:07:52.040 | and from treasuring the world and a zillion things in it
00:07:56.640 | more than I treasure Christ or God the Father,
00:08:01.640 | that change is a miracle.
00:08:05.040 | It is a miracle.
00:08:06.380 | It is so beyond me.
00:08:08.700 | I can't snap a finger and change all those passions
00:08:12.040 | and desires and loves in my life.
00:08:14.420 | It's called in the Bible, the new birth.
00:08:17.480 | Jesus said, "Unless we're born again,
00:08:19.440 | we can't see the kingdom of God."
00:08:21.680 | And that new birth is what makes us a Christian.
00:08:24.800 | It's a change of heart so that we love to trust Christ
00:08:29.800 | as our substitute and we love to trust Christ
00:08:33.080 | as our master and Lord and guide in everything.
00:08:36.600 | We love to receive Him as our supreme treasure in our lives.
00:08:41.160 | And nobody can make that happen to themselves.
00:08:44.960 | But we can listen to the Word of God
00:08:47.920 | and we can pray that God would come and open our eyes
00:08:51.480 | so that we can see Christ for who he really is
00:08:54.680 | and want to be drawn to Him.
00:08:57.760 | And the Bible says that faith comes by hearing.
00:09:00.440 | Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God
00:09:03.620 | so we can listen to the Word of God.
00:09:06.160 | So the real answer to the question,
00:09:09.800 | how can I know if I am ready to become a Christian,
00:09:14.800 | is this, as you listen to the Word of God,
00:09:21.000 | as you read your Bible, or as you listen to a sermon
00:09:23.560 | about the Christian gospel,
00:09:25.760 | do you find yourself being changed?
00:09:30.680 | Do you find yourself being changed
00:09:34.120 | so that Christ now is appearing as true and beautiful
00:09:39.120 | and your sin is starting to appear ugly
00:09:42.720 | and God-dishonoring and shameful
00:09:44.720 | and God is starting to appear to your mind and your heart
00:09:48.600 | like a loving father pursuing you
00:09:50.760 | and having you as his child and the death of Jesus
00:09:54.320 | is no longer foolishness or a myth.
00:09:57.040 | It's now precious and utterly needed.
00:10:00.400 | If this is happening, yield to it, yield to it.
00:10:05.400 | Give thanks that God is at work in your life.
00:10:09.400 | Lean into this new condition with all your heart.
00:10:13.660 | You are ready.
00:10:16.240 | Don't resist.
00:10:17.520 | Welcome the work of God when that is happening.
00:10:21.640 | Jesus said, and I'm gonna quote now,
00:10:24.480 | Jesus said, "To all who received him,
00:10:28.200 | who believed in his name,
00:10:29.840 | he gave the right to become the children of God,
00:10:33.360 | who were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh
00:10:37.080 | nor of the will of man, but of God."
00:10:39.520 | And the last chapter in the Bible says,
00:10:42.480 | let the one who is thirsty come.
00:10:45.720 | Let the one who desires take the water of life freely
00:10:50.240 | without price.
00:10:51.480 | It is absolutely free.
00:10:54.000 | Come and drink.
00:10:55.600 | So that's how you know that you're ready.
00:10:59.240 | It is happening to you.
00:11:00.720 | Find your eyes being opened to the beauty of Christ.
00:11:04.120 | And just one last thought.
00:11:06.380 | At desiringgod.org, there's a free book
00:11:13.340 | called "Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ."
00:11:17.160 | It's the one book that I wrote explicitly
00:11:21.060 | with Carla-type people in mind,
00:11:23.480 | people who were on the outside looking in,
00:11:26.680 | wondering, who is this Jesus?
00:11:29.320 | How do you get to know him?
00:11:30.980 | And how might I be shown to be ready to become a Christian?
00:11:35.980 | Amen, yes.
00:11:38.080 | And you can find "Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ"
00:11:40.200 | at desiringgod.org/books.
00:11:43.320 | And look for the title, "Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ."
00:11:47.100 | You can keep up with the daily Ask Pastor John podcast
00:11:49.920 | online or through our free apps, of course.
00:11:52.800 | For more, go to our online home at desiringgod.org/askpastorjohn
00:11:57.800 | Well, tomorrow, a listener wants to know
00:11:59.960 | if God directs our lives in part
00:12:02.460 | through feelings of anxiety,
00:12:04.260 | which cause us to avoid certain choices,
00:12:07.040 | even non-sinful ones,
00:12:09.060 | should we be led by our anxieties and how?
00:12:12.680 | Pastor John will look at that question
00:12:13.960 | and a series of complex related issues
00:12:17.120 | and entanglements with it.
00:12:18.680 | I'm your host Tony Reinke.
00:12:19.720 | We will see you tomorrow.
00:12:20.960 | (upbeat music)
00:12:23.540 | (upbeat music)
00:12:26.120 | [BLANK_AUDIO]