How May I Know I Am a Christian?

How may I know I am a Christian? The
emphasis is on the word God’s

Word is so marvellously complete that it never leaves us either in doubt or in despair. If you are troubled to-day, you have only to turn over the pages of His Word with your eyes open and your heart responsive, and you will find help. If you have been questioning whether or no you are a Christian, then you have only to turn to the pages of the Bible and study carefully the words spoken by Jesus, and the messages given by the Apostles, and you will know that you are a Christian; at least God meant that you should.

While holding a series of meetings in a Western city, one of the personal workers, passing through the audience, came to a gentleman who was quite well known as a Christian, and the personal worker, not knowing him, said, “Are you a Christian?” The gentleman said, “I hope so.” The Christian worker said, “Can you not say more than that?” “What would you have me say,” said he. The worker replied, “I would have you say that you know you are a Christian.” The gentleman hesitated a minute, and said, “I think it would be presumptuous on my part to say that I know I am a Christian. I question if I may know that with certainty until I see God face to face.” It is not presumptuous for you to say that you know you are a Christian. It is a lack of faith to say anything less. You may know whether you have passed from death unto life.

How may you know? I. John, 5:13: “These

things have I written unto you... that ye

may kn#w.” What things? All that has preceded this statement in this epistle. Study the Epistle of John carefully, and you may be sure that you have passed from bondage to freedom, from darkness to light, and from death to life. The Gospel of St. John was written that we might know that Jesus is Christ, the Son of God; in the twentieth chapter and thirty-first verse we read: “But these are written that ye

might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing, ye might have life through His name.”

What things were written? Go back to a careful reading of St. John’s Gospel and study the statements carefully, the parables, the miracles, and when you see the water blushing into wine at the command of Him who holds the seas in the hollow of His hand, you will understand the statement. When you behold Nicodemus, with a heavy heart, pushing his way into the presence of Jesus, notwithstanding the fact that he had kept the law all his life, and was <4 a member of the Sanhedrin; when you see him step- jl ping out of bondage into light and freedom, and going away with faith in Jesus as the Messiah and thei Saviour of the world, you will understand. When you see the woman who steps out of sin into service, with her face all agdow, and her voice having in it the ring and the power of the command of Jesus Himself, as she cries, “Come, see the man that told me all things that ever I did,” you will understand.

When you look into the eyes of the man who was blind from his birth, and see him groping his way through the darkness until he comes close enough to Jesus to hear the words of the Master as He commands that sight be restored to him; and, later, when you hear this man saying, as they ask him whether Jesus was a sinner or no, “Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not, one thing I know, that whereas! I was blind, now I see,” you will understand. Whenj you look on that scene where Lazarus, who is dead and has been for four days, lies in his tomb, and you hear the sobs of his sisters, and you see the tears of the sympathizing Saviour, and you hear Him say with that marvelous voice of His, “Lazarus, come forth.” He simply says “Lazarus,” and the moment He speaks his name, the touch of life comes into the cheeks of Lazarus, and his eyes open. “Come forth,” He says, and he stands upon his feet, bound with his grave clothes — then, when you hear Jesus say, “Loose him, and let him go,” you will understand the statement of the Scripture. When you see Jesus passing through the shadows of Gethsemane and on to the scourging, and up to the smiting, and fainting beneath the cross; when you see Him crucified for the sinful world, saying, as He passes away, “It is

/finished,” you will understand what St. John means when he says, “These things are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.”

Now, if the Gospel of John was written to prove the deity of Jesus, the Epistles of John were written that we might know that we have passed from death unto life. I. John, 5:13: “These things have I

written ynto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.” So in this epistle of five chapters and one hundred and five verses, the whole subject of assurance is stated very clearly. Doubt is always disturbing. Any one who is in doubt and encourages that doubt, will be always unsettled. Sometimes doubt is due to inheritance. Your father was a sceptic, your mother a doubter, your grandfather or great-grandfather turned away from Jesus. You inherited your scepticism, but you need not hold to it. There is a way to overcome unbelief. Sometimes doubt is due to ignorance. If any one has shut his eyes to the Epistles of St. John, I do not wonder that he is in doubt about his salvation. If he has turned away from the Gospel of St. John, I do not wonder that he is questioning the deity of Jesus. Sometimes doubt is due to stubbornness. We simply will not be convinced. But any thoughtful person who will put aside his prejudice for a little, and accept the Scriptures as at least worthy of thoughtful consideration, reading with open eyes and open heart, will come in time to a clear conception of God, and a right understanding of Jesus, as well as to an appreciation of what it means to be a Christian.

Out on the Pacific Coast an old gentleman wrote toe a letter, in which he said, “For fifty years I have / been an infidel. A sentence I read in the report of the meetings which appeared in the newspaper set me thinking. I made up my mind that I would spend ten minutes of each day honestly studying the New Testament. I only got through the third day, when I had accepted Jesus Christ as my Saviour.” Then he concluded by saying, “I believe that any thoughtful man who will consider carefully the claims of Jesus as recorded and substantiated in the New Testament, may come to know Him before a week has passed.”

Doubt is always disturbing. But I do not know any doubt that disturbs us more than that which has to do with our assurance, for if we do doubt, it is because we have not fully accepted God’s Word. If one does not fully accept God’s Word, then he has little or no peace, because when temptations come, when trials beset him, when burdens bear heavily upon him, he has no such message as this: “Let not your heart be troubled. Ye believe in God, believe also in me.” Or such as this: “I will never leave

you, nor forsake you.” If you do not doubt God’s Word you may meet with all the storm and stress of life, and yet have peace. If you doubt God’s Word, you have no power. Indeed, the secret of power is our close identification with Jesus Christ. It is not a question as to who I am, or what I am, it is a question as to whether or not I am absolutely surrendered to Him. He has promised to live in me, and to speak through me.

Up in the northern part of the State of New York! lives an old man who was disappointed in politics,! and who, in early life, had also been disappointed ini love. He made his way out from the city of New! York to the Adirondack Mountains, where he live a as a hermit. He was embittered with the world, and he would* allow no one to enter his house if he could prevent it. But one night, when a terrific storm was sweeping through the mountains, three men came to the hut, and rapping at the door, they sought admission. When the hermit saw them standing without in the storm, he did not have the heart to turn them / away, and they came inside. When they had had the evening meal and were seated before the fire talking — about the events of the past, one of the men saw an old violin on the shelf above the fireplace. He said to the hermit, “May I play that?” and the old man rose, and taking the violin in his hands, fondled it affectionately and said, “I don’t think I could allow you to do so. It is my companion of years. It took me a long time to learn to play it, and I don’t want a stranger to handle it.” They talked a little while longer, and then, because the evening was long, and the hours dragged wearily by, the hermit finally consented to allow the stranger to play. He took the violin, and without even tuning it, put it to his chin, drew the bow across the strings, and soon the instrument was singing like a nightingale, crying like a child, and sobbing like a man in distress. The violinist, who was a master, played on and on. He played “America”; he played “Nearer My God to Thee,” and the old man dropped his face in his hands, and sobbed as if his heart would break. When the violinist finished, the hermit took the instrument, placed it on the shelf above the fireplace, and said, “I never knew before what music was. I never knew what was in this instrument. I shall never touch it again.”

But all this harmony was not in the violin, it was in the master. For the man who put that violin to his chin and drew the bow across the strings, was a famous player, the greatest violinist of his day. The story suggests the secret of power. No matter how poor, how uncultured, we may have power if we know God’s Word, and are absolutely surrendered to Jesus. Doubt God’s Word, and you are shorn of power.

Again, if you doubt the Word of God in the matter of assurance, there is no such thing as constant victory. Of course, you are not seeking an easy journey through life; if you are, God pity you. Great souls graduate from the school of conflict. The greatest musicians have been men who have almost had broken hearts. The greatest leaders of men are those who have come out of darkness after a great struggle. You are sure to have trials, for men are born unto trouble as the sparks fly upward, but you will have no victory if you doubt God’s Word. With His help you may accomplish all things, and endure every sort of trial. I do not know anything that disturbs a Christian more than to be without assurance. If. you lack assurance of your salvation, you are on the mountain top to-day and in the valley to-morrow. You are preaching with power this morning, and to-morrow you are questioning if you were ever a Christian. Your influence in your home is like heaven to-day, and to-morrow you are hurting everybody about you. Without assurance, you are first hot and then cold, possessed of power, and then without it. “These things re written that ye may know.”

Our lack of assurance is revealed in so many ways. Sometimes in our praying. How many times have you prayed, “And save us at last.” That is certainly un-Scriptural. God’s promise is a present promise.^ Tohn, q ;24: “Verily, verily, I saw unto vour he| that heareth my word and believeth on Him that sentft me hath everlasting life.” /

Salvation is not a matter of slow progress. It is| not stopping one sin to-day and another to-morrow.^ It is not just cleaning up on the outside. A man swears because there is something wrong withmTTie steals because his heart and life are not right. He hurts his wife because he is a brute, and he is a brute because of an inward condition. All the cutting off of individual sins cannot touch the trouble which is within. A woman was one day sitting in Central Park, New York, while her little girl was playing on the grass not far from her. Suddenly a great St. Bernard dog came bounding through the park, barking furiously, and rushing past this little girl. She naturally became very much frightened, and sprang into her mother’s arms, sobbing as if her heart would break. The mother spoke soothingly to her, but she would not be comforted. Finally, when everything else had failed, the mother turned to her little child, and said, “My dear, stop your crying, the dog has stopped his barking.” The little girl looked around with her sobs still uncontrolled, and said, “Yes, mother, but the bark is still in him.” And that is the trouble with the average man. Becoming a Christian is not cutting off one sin to-day and another to-morrow. Becoming a Christian is stepping instantly out of darkness into light. When S. H. Hadley staggered drunk and in rags to the penitent form, and knelt there asking God’s forgiveness, he rose up a Christian. So let us not say again, “And save us at the last.”

Sometimes our lack of assurance is revealed in our thinking. The average Christian expects to stand before the great white throne. He expects, some day, that the books will be opened, and he believes that when the books are opened it will then be decided finally whether he will stand on the right hand or the left. There is no thought that you could have that is more un-Scriptural, more unfair to Jesus, more dishonoring to God’s plan of salvation. John, 5 -.24.: “He that heareth my word, and believeth on Him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation And the “condemnation” is “judgment”! Romans, 8:1: “There is therefore now* no judgment to them that are in Christ Jesus.” You will never appear at the great white throne, for your judgment is passed if you are a Christian. You have your faith in a Saviour who appeared in your behalf before God, and bore the penalty of your sins. He staggered under the weight of your sins, “and the

Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” You will not stand at the judgment because He stood there in your stead.

Do you know you are a Christian? You may know, first of all, by your confidence in Him, and in Hisj Word. I. John, 4:15: “Whosoever shall confess’ that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him and he ip God.” You have only to determine whether you have confessed Him as the Son of God. I. John, 5:1: “Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and every one that loveth Him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him.” You have only to decide whether or not you believe that Jesus Christ is born of God, and is really the Son of God. I know that I am a Christian — and I speak for you now, as well as for myself — because I have confidence in His Word. He told me, and I believe Him.

A friend of mine, who used to live across the sea, told me that his father lived on the estate of an English nobleman, a man of high standing, and a great friend of the late Queen of England. This titled gentleman was not strong in constitution, and, although the food upon his table would tempt a king, he could not partake of it. But he would slip away to a little house where dwelt an old woman, a saint of God, by the name of Betty. Betty had known this nobleman from the days of his youth, and she loved him. She knew his illness, and she baked for him a peculiar little oat-cake, which the nobleman would eat at her house, and which he said prolonged his life. One day the Queen came to visit this nobleman, and while she was staying at his house, he went down to this old-fashioned woman and said, “Betty, Her Majesty, the Queen, is at the palace to-day, and I would like you to come up and see her this evening.” You may well believe it was a day of excitement for Betty. She went through all her boxes, and put on the best garments she had. Then she took a little, old-fashioned shawl, which she pinned down over her head, and made her way up to the great house. When she appeared at the door, the servant looked at her, and said, “What is it?” and Betty said, “I want to come in.” “But you can’t come in,” said the man, “The house is full of guests, and the Queen is here. The master cannot see you now.” Old Betty stood there a moment, then she said, “But he felt me to come.” The servant was not easily persuaded, but finally he went and saw the master of the house, and he was told to admit the old woman.

They brought her into the drawing-room, and the nobleman led her over to the Queen, and said, “This is Betty. She has helped to keep me alive, and I thought I would like to have her see you.” Old Betty dropped on her knees, and was almost ready to kiss the hem of the Queen’s dress. Then she withdrew, and when she came to the man at the door, she looked up into his face and said, with a good deal of snap in her voice, “I felt you he felt me to come.” My blessed Saviour told me if I was weak He would give me strength; if I had doubts, He would banish them; if I would confess my sins, He would pardon them. I believe Him. He told me to come, and so I came.

“Just as I am without one plea,

But that thy blood was shed for me,

And that thou bids’t me come to Thee;

Oh, Lamb of God, I come, I come/*

That marvelous book, “Twice Born Men,” was written by an English novelist, and is really a story of the work of the Salvation Army in the slums of the great cilfy of London. One of the chapters is entitled, “The Lowest of the Low,” and that is the name given to the man whose story is told in the chapter. May I describe it? His mother was a drunkard, his father was dead. When he was a baby his mother used to take him to the public house, and to keep him quiet she would dip her finger in the glass of gin and rub it across his lips, so that before he could walk he had the taste for strong drink. When he was but a little boy he was staggering drunk upon the streets of London. Besides being a drunkard, he was a thief. He was all that was bad. He was one of those shivering, dirty creatures that creep along the streets of the great city, with naked feet, with clothing in rags, and with the rain wetting his hair. A little, pale, blue-lipped, shivering child, more like a homeless dog than a motherless boy.

In his young manhood he became a soldier in the British army, and while there he broke the laws of the army and was sentenced to prison. When he came out of prison he was discharged from the army in disgrace, and he then drifted into the very lowest depths of iniquity and sin. Finally, when he could bear his burden no longer, he came to the Salvation Army hall to listen to the hymns. He heard the testimonies, and he listened to the officer who stood upon the platform asking poor lost men and women to turn to Jesus. One night, in the midst of a great crowd of fallen men like himself, he rose up and staggered to the penitent form. Dropping down on his knees, he buried his face in his hands, and said, “God be merciful to me, a sinner,” and quick as a flash he was changed.

At once he began to seek for his old mother. She had gone deeper into sin than ever. We have heard of the father seeking for the pro’digal son; but here was the son seeking for his prodigal mother. At last he found her. When he entered the room where she lived, he found it little better than a hovel. He walked across the room, and putting his arms around his mother, he kissed her, and said, “Mother, I have come to take you back to the home I have prepared for you.” She would not believe him. Her mind had become affected by her sin, but she went, pleased as a girl. In God’s own good time her mind was restored, and to this day in the city of London, she sits by her son’s side, a changed woman, and presides at his table. He never has married. He said he was married to his mother, and she to him. When the people say to him, “What does it all mean?” He always makes this reply, “figfj p’ave nie another chance.” Oh, what a salvation, what a Saviour! T know if He can save that man, He can save me.

There is another reason why I may know I am a Christian. Because of my obedience and love to Him. I. John, 2 :3: “And hereby we do know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments.” What are

His commandments? First, follow Him. If you are following Jesus, you will know whether you are a Christian or not. A gentleman once made his way over the Rocky Mountains in the company of a guide. They camped for the night, and during the night there was a heavy fall of snow. When the gentleman rose in the morning, he said to the guide, as he stepped outside tjie door, “Somebody has passed in the night,” for he saw a footprint in the snow. But the guide looked down and studied it carefully, and he said, “Not one person, sir, but fifty.” They had all stepped in the leader’s footprints. That is being a Christian, just following Jesus when you have accepted Him.

If we are to xpbey Him, we must go out after th.e lost. I do not know anything that would strengthen your faith so much as this. I shall never forget one night when my associate, Mr. Alexander, and I, with a party, went to one of the Salvation Army halls in the city of Philadelphia. It was midnight, but a crowd thronged the building. Mr. Alexander had been leading the singing, and I had done my best in telling the story of Jesus, then we went through the audience to try to rescue the perishing. As I went through the crowd I saw Mrs. Alexander — I saw her down in the crowd with her arms around a fallen woman, and I heard her whispering in her ear something that is too tender and sacred to repeat. Then I saw that fallen woman rise to her feet, and stagger down to the penitent form. Pretty soon she brushed away the tears from her eyes, and said she would accept Christ as her Saviour. I looked at Mrs. Alexander, and her face was radiant. And you could not persuade me (that any woman who had turned away from Christ to the fascination of society could have in her face the look that she had. I know what can strengthen faith. It is to follow in His footsteps.

A man was making his way over the mountains j through a terrible snow-storm. He gradually got weaker and weaker, until at last he stumbled and fell. He said to himself, “This is the end. I shall never be found.” He was too weak to rise, but as he fell his hand struck the body of another man who had fallen in the same place. This first man was unconscious, and the man who had just fallen rose to his knees and, bending over the prostrate form, began to chafe his hands and to rub his face, until by and by the man’s eyes opened. He had saved another’s life, but he had also saved himself, for the exercise had kept the life in his own body. And when you have a passion for souls, when you go seeking the lost, when you lift the burdens of others, your own vision of Jesus is clearer, your own hope of eternity is stronger, your own assurance of salvation is greater.

We may know that we are Christians, by doing His will. John, 7:17: If any man will do His will, he shall know.. So do not sit in doubt,

begin to do something. Do not sit in darkness, push out into the light. Do not mourn because you are so weak, strengthen somebody else.

We may know whether we are Christians or not by

our habits. I John, 3 :g: And this is a mysterious Scripture, which seems to condemn us — “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin, for his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.” Does not that condemn you? But a literal translation will make the passage read thus: “No on° who is a child of God is habitually guilty of sin.!! “I we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and th truth is not in us.” “If we confess our sins He i faithful and just to forgive us our sins.”

There are three marks of the Christian as touchyou are a child of God and find yourself sinning, you will want to get back to God instantly.

Second, a willingness to confess to the people whom you have injured. You cannot be unjust to your children, and atone for it by saying, “I will be kind to-morrow.” You must make the wrong right. Many a home has been hurt, many a husband’s influence has been injured, many a mother’s power has been lost, because they were not right with those about them, and did not confess the wrong. I do not know anything that makes a home more like heaven than just to say you are wrong, when you are in the wrong. Say to your wife or children, “I didn’t treat you fairly. You will forgive me, won’t you?” That is the way to hold your boy.

Third, a readiness to confess your sins to God. I do not know how far to go in a public confession to the world. I do not know how much I am justified in placing my reputation in the hands of men whom I am not sure I can trust. If I have a sin in my life, I am not quite sure that I ought to go to this man or the other, and tell him. But I do know this: if I

have a sin in my life, I must go to God, and make it

ing sin. llie first is a desire for quick recovery. If right with Him. I may know I am a Christian if I follow closely the leading of the spirit of God. a I may know that I am a Christian by my interest fin others for Him. <^L John, 3:14: “We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth ‘in death.” When you become a Christian you are changed, but the old characteristics which came to you in natural birth are very likely to remain in your disposition.

For example, here is a man who is very selfish; when he becomes a Christian he must fight that thing. Or here is one who is especially intellectual, and when he becomes a Christian it is very easy to understand that he will be rather disposed to be critical of the man who is dull and slow in that respect. Here is another who is really possessed of greatness. He is apt to be harsh in his thinking of another man who is not to be compared with him in this respect. Another is very weak. He has very little sympathy with the man who is possessed of strength. These things all enter into Christian character, but there is a way to help out in the matter. Paul gives it to us. Colossians 3, beginning at the 12th verse: “Put on therefore as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness and long-suffering; forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any; even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.” Now, here is the way: “And above all things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.” It is the old idea of the Oriental garment. This was a loose garment which hung from the shoulders, and as the Oriental walked across the fields, or over the mountains, this garment flapped in the wind. So the apostle says, “Just put a girdle round you, and hold it tight to you.” What is the girdle for the Christian? Love — love that stops criticism, love that lifts the burden, love that reaches out the hand to help, love that syaks a word of kindness and gentleness, love, true love, that is the mark of a Christian.

In “Twice Born Men” the author tells of a Salvation Army officer who was known as the “Angel Adjutant,” and from what we read, she was worthy of the name. She loved Jesus, and she loved the lost. One day in her wanderings through the slums she came to a man who was known as “Old Born Drunk.” This man used to go into the factories, selling little sheets of paper giving the betting news from the public houses round about. The Angel Adjutant had always been accustomed to sinful men, but she says until she saw him she did not realize the hideous and repulsive abomination to which vice can degrade. This man was the child of drunken parents. He was conceived and born while his parents were mad with drink. When he first opened his eyes they taught him to drink. When but a baby boy he used to sleep ofF his drunken stupor. When a boy able to walk he used to stagger through the streets in an intoxicated condition. He was a true “Miserable.” He was short and thickset in stature, misshapen in face and form — a creature whom ragged children used to mock at, and the very dogs of the streets used to bark at. One day the Angel Adjutant met him, and looking into his old, sin-scarred face, said, “You don’t look very happy.” He made no response. She came a little closer, and said again, “You don’t look very happy.” Still no response. She came closer still, and putting her hand upon his shoulder, said, “I would like to help you. I love Jesus. Jesus loves you,” and there was a trace of a tear in his eye.

She found out where he lived, and she went into his home that was vile in the extreme. His wife was as great a drunkard as he. But there was one bright spot in their lives. They had a son, and this little boy was kept away from the home, so that he, too, might not become a drunkard. They had fallen into the lowest depths of sin and shame, but one night they made their way, at the request of the Angel Adjutant, to the Salvation Army meeting. They heard the testimonies, and, still drunk, they staggered to the penitent form, and got down on their knees. It seems that a man called Joe had just risen to give a testimony, and “Old Born Drunk” knew him. And while still on his knees the man called out, “Oh, Jesus, I would like to be like Joe.” Then turning his face to his wife, he said, “Do you think I could ever be like Joe?” And the Angel Adjutant, coming nearer, said, “Jesus can make you like Joe.” And the old man rose up, staggering from weakness, and said, “Then I will take Him.” And his life became perfectly beautiful. His temptations were terrific. One day he made his way to a public house where his business called him, and the men there tempted him to drink. When “Old Born Drunk” refused to take the liquor they jeered and mocked him. When he still refused, one man picked up the glass of beer and threw it in his face, saying, “If you won’t take it inside, take it outside.” And the old man, who had been born drunk, and to whom the smell of alcohol would be a terrific temptation, just brushed it away, and looking up with a smile, went on with his work. When he came down to the end of life, the Angel Adjutant came fco him, and bending over him, she said, “Is it all well with you?” And the old man looked up with a smile, and said, “I am without fear.”

I know this — there is among us not a person who would ever doubt himself to be a Christian if he would reach out to help the suffering. Such a spirit of service and love will drive away all doubt and you will know that you are a Christian.