you commune with God, regularly, in

prayer? If not you may well question

whether you know the converting pow-
er of God which brings men to become
His true children.
Finally, a characteristic of
the true child of God is a new
heart and a definite change of
character. In verse 46-47 of Acts two
we see that these converts gave atten-
tion to their faith with "gladness and
singleness of heart", and their new way
of life was evident. to all.
A true child of God is one who not
only knows Christ as his Savior but be
is committed to Christ as his Lord as
well. The true Christian, in whom God
has worked a genuine work of grace,
knows that God created all things for
His own purposes, for His own glory.
He knows that all of God's creation
owes allegience to Him and must please
Him in all things. Anything which
does not conform to God's will, God's
law, and which does not please Him is
an abnormality, and deserves and invites
only God's curse, condemnation and
judgment. The child of God knows he
has been delivered from the power of
this world and of Satan, and has come
into actual and real communion with
almighty God, through Jesus Christ.
Therefore, the Christian lives entirely
for God. His job, his family, his re-
creation, his thoughts, his behaviour,
his goals, his motives, his whole life is
for God. He knows that to whatever
degree he lives for himself, without re-
gard for God and His will, then he sins
against a holy God and subverts the
whole purpose for his existence.
Do you have a new heart? Do you
have a genuinely different character
from people who are not Christians?
Do you have different interests, different
tastes, and a different way of life? Are
you living, to a substantial degree, for
God alone? Is it your desire to serve and
please and glorify Him above all else,
both in this life and in the life which is
to come? If not, you are no child of
God
If you have read this far, and you
realize, after examining yourself honest-
ly by God's standard, that you are not a
true child of God, would you like to be?
You may, if you acknowledge the awful-
ness of your sin and your hopelessness
apart from Christ and His death, and
repent of your sin and receive Christ,
by faith, as your only hope for salva-
tion. If this truly happens the.n you will
come to a new understanding and love
for God's Word, the Bible. You will
want to be with God's people. You will
become a person of prayer. You will
have a new character which will show
iiself in the way you think and live.
You will see every aspect of your life
in relation to Christ and His Kingdom,
and seek to live accordingly, by the
power of His Holy Spirit. H all this
does happen, then you will have reason
to believe you are, indeed, a true child
of God. Until this does happen you are
deluding yourself if you think you are
. one of God's true children in right rela-
tionship to Him. Until this happens
you are hopeless. Your life is meaning-
less and you have nothing for which to
look forward except a Christless, God-
less eternity of misery and pain and suf-
fering.
For my part I feel as Paul did when
he said, "For I am not ashamed of the
gospel, for it is the power of God for
salvation to every ooe who believes."
(Romans 1:16) 0
The Counsel of Cbalcedon, February, 1987 -------J
Sound Words from
Bishop Ryle
There are two points in religion on
which the teaching of the Bible is very
plain and distinct. One of these poiniS
is the fearful danger of the ungodly; the
other is the perfect safety of the righ-
teous. One is the happiness of those
who are converted; the other is the mis-
ery of those who are unconverted One
is the blessedness of being in the way
to heaven; the other is the wretchedness
of being in the way to hell.
I hold it to be of the utmost m ~
portance that these two points should
be constantly impressed on the minds
of professing Christians. I believe that
the exceeding privileges of the children
of God, and the deadly peril of the
children of the world, should be con-
tinually set forth in the clearest colours
before the Church of Christ. I believe
that the difference between the man in
Christ, and the man not in Christ, can
never be stated too strongly and too
fully. Reserve on this subject is a posi-
tive injury to the souls of men.
Wherever such reserve is practised,' the
careless will not be aroused, believers
will not be established, .and the cause of
God will receive much damage.
-J. C. Ryle