Born Again or Just Baptized? The Evidence That Matters

So many today, though, y'all, are convinced that they're saved because they

were baptized or prayed a prayer at an altar call or signed a church membership card.

But the new birth, I want y'all to know this morning, it's not about a moment.

It's about a miracle, y'all. It's about a transformation that leaves evidence.

Think about it. I shared with the Wednesday night crowd a couple of weeks ago.

Someone once said, if you were arrested for being a Christian,

would there be enough evidence to convict you?

And we're saying here, according to God's word, that a spiritual birth,

being born again, that transformation leaves evidence, church.

And one of the clearest signs, y'all, that someone has not truly been born again

is that they have no hunger for the Word of God. None whatsoever.

They might go to church, y'all. They might own a Bible.

They might even quote a verse here and there, but deep down,

there's no craving for truth.

There's no real desire, y'all. Think about it, to be shaped,

convicted, and changed by scripture, by God's holy word. Let's be honest.

You can tell a lot about a person's spiritual condition by what they feed on.

A healthy body is going to crave this healthy food, right?

A healthy soul, a born again soul craves spiritual nourishment.

That nourishment comes from where?

The Word of God. You got it. The Word of God. 1 Peter 2,

1 Peter 2:2

verse 2 says this, Like newborn babes long for the pure milk of the Word,

that by it you may grow in respect to salvation.

A newborn baby doesn't need to be trained to cry for milk, do they?

It's instinctive right if there's no cry no hunger something's seriously wrong.

Well the same is true spiritually y'all a person who has truly been made alive

by the spirit will naturally long for the voice of their shepherd they want

to hear him they want to know him,

and most importantly, y'all, they want to obey him.

They will delight, scripture says, in the word, not ignore it.

Now, I'm not talking about some emotional high when reading a verse.

I'm not talking about checking off a devotional box just to feel spiritual.

I'm talking about a real consistent pull toward the word of God because you

know that's where your life is.

That's where your strength comes from amen that's where your heart gets corrected

your eyes lifted and your soul renewed jesus actually said in matthew chapter

Matthew 4:4

4 verse 4 y'all know this passage man shall not live by one alone but by what.

You got every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. So I ask you today, what are you living by?

What feeds your thoughts? What your decisions, your worldview?

Is the word of God, is it that or is it the culture?

Is it social media? Is it news or just simply your own opinions?

See, one of the dangers, I believe y'all, in today's church is that people are

being taught to rely more on feelings than on truth.

They think if they feel close to God, they must be saved. But y'all,

feelings come and go, don't they?

You know what remains? Truth remains. And the one who is truly born again,

according to God's word, clings to that truth even when they don't feel it.

Amen? when they don't feel it. They don't skip the word when it's inconvenient.

They don't avoid the word when it convicts.

You know what they do? A born-again believer, they run to it.

They humble themselves under it. They don't argue with it or twist it.

They don't revise it either.

Ultimately, They submit to it because they know it's the very breath of God on a page.

God's holy inspired word. It is God breathed these wood.

And you know what happens when there's no hunger for scripture? You know what happens?

People start chasing voices, dreams, emotional experiences, so-called prophecies.

They get swept away by anything that sounds spiritual because they don't have

a foundation, y'all, in the word.

That's what Paul told Timothy, by the way. Preach the word.

That's what my mom told me before she passed away. Three times she told me,

Stephen, preach the word, preach the word, preach the word. And I'll never forget it.

Not stories, not trends, not opinions, but what? The word.

Because that's what true sheep respond to.

Jesus said, my sheep hear my what? And I know them and they what?

Follow me. they follow me. Don't you love how God makes his word clear?

If you never hear his voice in the pages of scripture, are you truly one of his sheep?

Let me press this a bit deeper, okay? When the word of God is preached,

do you listen with a teachable heart?

Do you come under its authority, or do you just nod alone out of habit when

your heart stays unchanged?

You know, I think it's easy for us in today's culture to just go through the

motions. Y'all ever, you ever seen that?

You ever experienced that? Just go through the motions.

Some people hear the Bible week after week, and they remain spiritually dead, y'all.

Why is that? Because they're not born again.

You know, the same sun that melts wax actually hardens clay, doesn't it?

The problem is not the Word of God.

It's the condition of your heart.

And that's not a small matter, y'all. That's a matter of life and death,

according to God's word.

Eternity actually hangs in the balance. If you can live, if I can live,

excuse me, day after day,

week after week, without feasting on scripture,

without an inward desire to actually grow in truth, then you and I have to face

the possibility that you've never truly been born again, according to God's Word.

One of the most sobering signs that a person has not truly been born again is this as well.

They are comfortable, church, living in sin.

They're comfortable living in sin. I'm not talking about somebody who struggles.

How many of you here struggle?

Hallelujah. Yeah, I had a friend of mine once say, you know,

I'm glad you have a problem with sin.

You know, like somebody was telling me, man, I don't know, but I have a problem

with pride or I have a problem with lust.

That's a good thing in a sense, because you got a problem with it. Okay.

You see, it's the real heart problem comes when you don't have a problem and

you become comfortable in it.

So I'm not talking about somebody who struggles, repents, wrestles,

and cries out for holiness and repentance.

I'm talking about the one who sins without sorrow, who rebels without any remorse,

and who actually walks or lives their life in disobedience to God's word without

the slightest conviction in their heart.

That kind of person, y'all, don't miss this today,

may be baptized, they may sing in the choir, they may serve on a ministry team

in the church, But if sin doesn't grieve them,

it's a terrifying indication that the Holy Spirit is not dwelling within them.

You see, when the Spirit of God regenerates a soul, something changes on the inside, y'all.

Sin no longer feels like home. The things you used to do with ease now cut you.

The jokes, the habits, the thoughts that once entertained you now disturb you.

A born-again believer, y'all, may stumble, may still stumble,

but they won't stay there.

They may fall, but they'll weep.

They'll cry. Why? Because their heart has been made new, according to God's

Word. And a new heart, you know what?

Doesn't enjoy what God hates.

Scripture, Eastwood, is crystal clear on this.

1 John 3, verse 9 says this, No one who is born of God practices sin because

1 John 3:9

his seed abides in him and he cannot sin,

or literally in the Greek, keep on sinning because he is born of God.

That doesn't mean believers become perfect in this life.

It means, y'all, they can't make peace with it.

They can't make peace with sin in other words you're not according to god's

word i'm not going to continue to practice sin i'm not going to continue to

live in unrepentant unconfessed sin because that shows i don't know jesus plain

as day you can't make peace with sin.

They can't, you can't, I can't keep doing it if you're a true born-again believer

without being convicted, corrected, and drawn back to repentance.

The child of God, Eastwood, has a new nature, a new desire, a new war that's waging within us.

But when somebody lives in habitual sin and it doesn't bother them.

When there's no fight, no sorrow, no repentance, there's no evidence of the Spirit.

And when there's no Spirit, guess what else? There is no salvation.

We're living in a time, y'all, where sin is being rebranded as freedom.

Y'all have heard that, right?

I don't need my freedom, right? Where conviction is actually labeled as shame

and holiness sometimes is dismissed as legalism.

But I want to tell y'all something this morning. I want to tell you the truth. Is that okay?

If you can lie, cheat, gossip, lust, deceive, harbor unforgiveness,

watch filth, speak filth, and think filth, and it doesn't crush your soul,

then your baptism means nothing.

Your church attendance won't save you, and your profession of faith means absolutely nothing.

God sees our heart.

He knows who's been changed and who's just pretending.

Y'all, don't mistake God's patience for approval.

Just because you hadn't been struck down in your sin doesn't mean you're safe.

Romans 2, 4 actually says, do you think lightly of the riches of his kindness

and tolerance and patience?

Not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance.

You see, God's patience, aren't you thankful he's patient with us?

Hallelujah. His patience, y'all, is supposed to melt your heart, not harden it.

But if you keep resisting, keep excusing, keep pretending, it may be that you've

never truly repented to begin with.

I have to be honest with y'all from scripture today.

You may have gotten wet in the baptismal waters, but you were never washed in the blood.

And I want to just say this plainly. I think y'all are okay with me preaching

truth, right? I'm going to preach it anyway, whether you're not.

I'll say this plainly. Grace does not give you and I permission to sin.

Grace actually gives you power to overcome sin.

Titus chapter 2, verse 11 and 12, Titus 2, 11 and 12, tells us that the grace

Titus 2:11

of God teaches us to deny or literally to renounce ungodliness and live righteously.

If the message of grace you believe in allows you to continue to sin without

conviction, then that's not the grace of the Bible.

It's a counterfeit gospel, and it's damning souls to hell all across this nation and the world.

Real salvation, Eastwood, breaks the back of sin, and if you're sitting there

thinking, but I believe in Jesus, let me remind you, as I did the Wednesday

night crowd a couple weeks ago, so do the demons.

They believe, and they actually tremble. The question is not whether you believe

with your head or your lips.

The question is, has the belief transformed your life?

Are you crucifying the flesh daily or are you feeding it?

Are you carrying your cross or are you hiding it, y'all, behind a fake smile

and a religious routine?

Remember I talked about how sometimes we can go through the motions?

Think about it. Why do you come to church on Sunday morning or Sunday night

or any other time, why are you here?

Why are you here? You may fool the church. You may fool your family.

You may even fool yourself, but you know who you'll never fool? That's God.

If sin is your companion and holiness is your stranger, then you and I would

have to face the reality that you may have never truly been born again.

One of the undeniable marks of the new birth, you know what it is?

The presence of spiritual fruit.

Come on, fruit, not just talent, not just church activity,

not just head knowledge, but fruit, evidence that the Holy Spirit has taken

up residence and is producing in you what the flesh could never manufacture.

Galatians 5, y'all already knew this passage. I know you were thinking of it.

It lays it out so clearly, y'all.

Think about it. Y'all could probably say this by heart. The fruit of the Spirit is what?

Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

gentleness, and self-control.

That's not a list of personality traits. That's the supernatural result of being born again.

If you got Jesus, if you got the spirit, you got the fruit. If you don't, you don't.

And if that fruit, again, is absent from your life, no matter how religious

or what religious boxes you've checked off, no matter how many times you've

been dunked underwater, you are not saved according to Scripture.

A person who's truly been regenerated by the Spirit will not be perfect,

but they will be different. Amen?

You can't encounter the living God and remain unchanged.

Let me say it again. You cannot encounter the living God and remain unchanged.

You can't be indwelt by the Spirit and still live in the works of the flesh.

Before Paul, by the way, listed the fruit of the Spirit, he described what the

flesh produces. You know what the flesh produces? Let me go through the list.

Sexual immorality, impurity, idolatry, strife, jealousy, outburst of anger,

divisions, drunkenness, and the like. That's the fruit of the flesh.

And then he said something that ought to shake us, church, to our foundation.

Those who practice such things are you ready will not inherit the kingdom of

god does god keep you guessing about who's going to be in heaven no it's plain

do you believe his word or not.

Let that settle in for a moment. It's not about a label.

It's not about how you present yourself. It's not about what,

you know, all those things. It's about what is being produced in your life. What is the fruit?

The Spirit of God doesn't just come in quietly, in other words,

according to Scripture, and just sit quietly in a corner.

That's not how it happens. when he comes in, he transforms everything, Eastwood.

Your desires change. Your responses change. Your relationships change.

If those things have not changed, if you still, in other words,

walk in pride, bitterness, rage, impurity, worldliness, then you have to ask,

what has really changed.

We have a generation, y'all, of people today who want the benefits of salvation

without the evidence of salvation.

You know, I talked to y'all about a favorite band of mine coming up as a teenager,

Petra. Y'all ever heard of the Christian rock band, Petra?

They had a song some years ago, and I thought I'd share a little bit of the

lyrics today because it ties in with this.

It was called Seen and Not Heard, all right?

It says, too many black sheep in the family, too many stones from a house of glass.

They've heard the story. They've heard the lines, but talk is too cheap to change their minds.

They want to see some vital signs, convictions in the way we live,

convictions, not a narrative, actions, speak a little louder than words.

Seen and not heard, seen and not heard.

Sometimes God's children should be seen and not heard. There's too much talk and not enough walk.

Sometimes God's children should be seen and not heard.

Delayed reaction to hostility brings us into reality because when we answer

in our defense, they can see through the false pretense.

They want to see some evidence.

Commitment. No more alibis. Commitment. Not a compromise.

Actions speak a little louder than words. Seen and not heard. seen and not heard.

Sometimes God's children should be seen and not heard. There's too much talk and not enough walk.

Sometimes God's children should be seen and not heard.

Let your light so shine in all you do with an answer near when they come to you.

Don't let your mouth start talking until your feet start walking.

They want the assurance of heaven without the life of holiness,

but the Bible never separates the two, y'all.

You hear what I said? They want the assurance of salvation and heaven without

a life of holiness, but the Bible never separates those two.

If the Holy Spirit is truly in you, he will not be silent.

He will not be inactive. You know what he's going to do in your heart and life if he's inside of you?

We talked about it. He's going to bear fruit in your life. Come on.

He's going to bear fruit in your life. He will shape your character to reflect who?

God, Christ, right? And if that process is not happening, then you're not in Christ.

His power does not go with you. You can fake a spiritual gift.

You can fake a position in ministry even.

You can fake spiritual language or talk.

But you know what you can't fake? You can't fake the fruit of the Spirit.

You cannot fake consistent love for difficult people. You cannot fake real joy in trials.

That kind of life, church, only comes from one source, and that's the indwelling Spirit of God.

That's it. And if He's not there, the fruit won't be either.

There are people in churches who've been baptized, who've served for years,

who know how to act the part, but there's no real fruit. They're easily angered. They're bitter.

They're unforgiving. They gossip. They slander.

They chase worldly pleasures, and they have no desire for holiness.

And yet they assume they're saved because of a past religious experience.

But Jesus didn't say, y'all, you will know them by their church attendance, did he?

What did he say? You will know them by their fruits.

If the evidence of the Spirit is missing, then you have every reason to question

whether the new birth ever occurred in your life.

Examine your life honestly this morning, y'all. Not how you act in public,

but who you are in private.

Not what others think about you, but what God actually sees in your heart.

Are you more loving than you used to be? Do you have a joy that circumstances just can't shake.

Wow. Do you pursue peace or do you stir up strife?

Is your heart growing in goodness and kindness and self-control?

If the answers are no, then you need more than a revival.

You need to be born again because no amount of water can produce fruit in your life.

Only the Holy Spirit can. And if the Spirit is not bearing fruit in your life,

it's because he's not living in your heart.

And another clear sign that somebody's not truly born again,

even if they have been baptized, is that they love the world more than they love God.

It's one of the most dangerous deceptions, I think, in the church today.

The idea, y'all, think about it for a minute, that you can cling to Christ while

at the same time clinging to the world.

You can follow Jesus without letting go of your idols that we sang about this morning.

But scripture is unambiguous. In 1 John 2, verse 15, you know what it says?

1 John 2:15

Do not love the world or the things in the world. Listen up. This is God talking.

If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

God doesn't hide this from us. That's not a suggestion, by the way.

That's a dividing line, church.

You can't have it both ways. If the love of the world still rules your heart,

then the love of the Father does not dwell in you.

The world and God are not allies together. They're enemies.

And James 4, 4 actually puts it even stronger in case we need it.

It says, friendship with the world is enmity with God.

That basically means if your heart is still attached to the world's values,

the world's pleasures, the world's systems, and the world's applause, then you're at war.

You're at war with the very God you claim to serve.

People who have truly been born again will feel out of place in this world.

Come on, they will. They'll feel like a foreigner because their citizenship is now where?

And heaven, and the things of earth no longer satisfy.

But the tragedy is this, church. We got multitudes in our churches today who've

never truly left the world.

They bring the world into the church, they try to. They dress like the world,

they talk like the world, they chase money like the world, and they throw a

little Jesus on top to soothe their conscience.

They love entertainment, popularity, success, comfort more than they love truth,

more than they love righteousness and obedience to God's word.

Their social media is filled with worldliness. Their conversations revolve around vanity, pride.

Their decisions are shaped by their self, not by Jesus.

And yet, because they were once baptized, y'all, they assume they're safe.

But they're not safe according to God's word.

You know what they are? They're deceived.

Deceived. You cannot serve, Scripture says, two masters.

You can't sit at the table, in other words. You can't sit at the table of demons

and the table of the Lord at the same time.

The born-again life, Eastwood, is a surrendered life.

It's a severed life. It's a life that has died to the world and been made alive to Christ.

Paul said in Galatians 6, 14, y'all, the world has been crucified to me and I to the world.

That's not poetic language, by the way. That's reality.

The cross cuts you off from the old

life it marks the death of your

allegiance to this world if that hasn't happened then you have not truly come

to the cross one of the things that we got to understand is that the world doesn't

just tempt us with sin does it it tempts us with what distractions with substitutes

with things that seem harmless right.

But they slowly pull our hearts away from God.

Think about it for a moment. Sports, careers, relationships,

hobbies, none of those are evil in themselves.

But when they dominate your affection, even when they consume your energy,

when they define your purpose, they become what? Your God.

Remember that song we sang, Lily of the Valley? All my idols torn away, right?

The Lord will not share his throne, Eastwood, with anyone or anything.

If your love for the world is greater than your love for God,

according to the God's holy word, your soul is still dead in sin.

So many people say they believe in Jesus, but their life tells a different story.

They worship at the altar of comfort, convenience, control.

They follow christ as long as

it doesn't cost them anything but the new birth is

costly isn't it it costs you your old life

your old loyalties your old loves jesus actually

said this whoever does not take up

his cross daily and follow me what

is not worthy of me that's not radical y'all that's basic christianity 101 if

you're not willing to lay down the world then you've never picked up your cross

don't be deceived baptism doesn't sever your ties to the world repentance does.

Don't be deceived. You see, Satan, on one hand, he doesn't care how many of

you come to church on Sunday morning, as long as he can deceive you.

Some of y'all may be coming to church and you never had a radical heart change.

You don't have that fruit we're talking about. At the same token,

Jesus doesn't really care if his church is filled or not this morning. Do you know that?

He wants believers here who are following him, sold out, carrying their cross,

affecting this world for Jesus, for him, for his kingdom.

He is taking care of the rest. God's going to take care of the rest.

If you've never truly repented, never truly turn your back on this world and

fixed your eyes on eternity on Jesus, then you might be religious,

but you're not redeemed. You're not redeemed.

Now, I think a powerful sign that someone is not truly born again,

even if they've been baptized, is there's no real transformation,

like I said, in their life, no ongoing change, no visible growth in holiness.

No moment or movement from darkness to light, no fruit.

They look the same, talk the same, act the same, think the same way they did

before they made a profession of faith.

Maybe they cried during a sermon.

Maybe they actually walked down an aisle. Maybe they got emotional when they came out of the water.

But once that moment passed, that went right back to who they were before.

That's not salvation, y'all. That's not the new birth described in scripture.

The Bible makes it absolutely clear.

When God saves a person, he doesn't just improve them. He makes them brand new.

Y'all know this verse. We've quoted it many times. 2 Corinthians 5, 17, right?

It says, therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a what?

The old has passed away. behold the

new has come that doesn't mean

sin disappears overnight it means the direction of your life changes things

you once loved you now hate the sin you once justified now breaks your heart

you grieve over it the holiness you once avoided guess what you now pursue it

it's not about perfection.

It's about progression. It's about direction.

A true believer is on a narrow road and they're moving forward on it.

And if you're standing still, or worse yet, going backward, you need to seriously

ask if you were ever really born again.

People love to say, only God can judge me. You ever said that?

But they ignore the truth that Scripture gives us standards to examine our lives.

In fact, veronically, in that very passage, Jesus said in Matthew 7.

That a good tree bears what kind of fruit?

He didn't say some trees do. He didn't say occasionally.

He said every good tree bears good fruit.

If there's no fruit, if there's no growth, if there's no change.

Y'all, don't miss this. something that's deeply wrong at the root.

Too many people confuse conviction with conversion.

They feel guilty for a moment, but their heart's never really broken.

Have you ever wept over your sin?

Has your heart ever been broken before God?

You might be moved emotionally, but not transformed spiritually.

Go to church, maybe even get baptized, like I said, but never ever surrender. Never repent.

Never receive the life of Christ that produces real change. That's why we're here.

And here's the danger. We're closing, but here's the danger.

You can surround yourself with Christian language, Christian friends,

even Christian music, and still not be born again.

Think about it for a moment. Judas spent three years walking next to Jesus,

listening to every sermon, watching every miracle, he blended in with the other disciples.

But he was never truly transformed.

He never truly surrendered. And in the end, y'all.

He actually betrayed the very one he claimed to follow. Don't assume that proximity

to the things of God, church, equals a relationship with God.

External appearance means nothing if there's no internal transformation.

We have people in church who've been baptized 10,

20, 30 years ago, and they're still stuck in the same sinful pattern,

still harboring the same bitterness, still gossiping still lusting still lying

still living for self and yet they think because they once prayed a prayer they're

fine but the word of god tells a different story eastwood,

philippians 1 6 i'm gonna leave you with this don't miss it philippians 1 6

says this it says that he who has begun a good work in you what is he going

to do will carry it on to completion,

that means if the work hasn't continued

it may have never truly begun bow

your heads for a moment as you stand together i want

you to ask yourself a few questions this morning do i

have a genuine hunger for god's word or do i avoid it do i just read it when

it's comfortable to me do i obey it when it's comfortable am i comfortable in

any sin that should grieve me is the fruit of the spirit evident in my life.

Do I love the world more than I love God?

Has my life been genuinely transformed or am I merely just religious? Y'all.

Today can be a wake-up call for you. Y'all, I would hate to think,

I would grieve, my heart would be broken if after all the sermons that have

ever been preached here, that any one of you would ever walk out of here lost in your sin.

But y'all, if you've seen in God's Word today, if there's been no real change

in your life, if you have no fruit in your life, you don't know Jesus.

But the good news is you can know Him today. You can stop pretending.

You can stop living a lie.

You can actually come today in repentance and faith and cry out to your creator

and say, God, forgive me a sinner in need of a Savior, Lord.

Change me from the inside out, Lord.

And let his spirit break your heart over your sin.

And I promise you when you do that, you'll be brand new in Jesus.

And the fruit will be evident in your life. Jesus said you'll know them by their fruits.

Do you have the fruit of the Spirit?

It's not just a piece of it. It's all of it. It's all or nothing.

Or are you ruled by the passions of this world? Is that the fruit you bear?

Y'all, let the Holy Spirit shine his light on your heart today.

Don't walk out of here religious. Walk out of here born again.

Walk out of here saved, sealed, delivered. Be born again. This could be your last chance today.

Some of you have been coming here for ages. This could be your day.

Don't walk away in your sin. Repent. Give Jesus the will of your life. Give him control.

Let him bear real fruit in your life where your loves are changed. Your heart is changed.

You love his word. You don't avoid it.

If all of God's word you get is on Sunday morning, you're in trouble.

That's evidence you don't know Jesus because you don't have love for his word.

Y'all, I'm here to tell you the truth today.

There's hope for you. There's salvation for you. But you got to take that first step.

You got to say, Lord, forgive me. You got to humble yourself at the foot of

the cross. And by the way, the ground is level, like D.L. Moody said, at the foot of the cross.

Everybody's in the same position, y'all. Bow your knee to the King of Kings.

Repent. Let him know you're sorry for your sin. that not only sorry in the sense

you got caught, but Lord, it breaks my heart. Forgive me for this, Lord.

God, I trust. I surrender everything to you. Do that today. That's the challenge. That's the call.

Don't assume because you've been coming to Eastwood, you can fill in the blank

for the number of years that you know Jesus.

Church attendance don't cut it.

A transformed life a new heart the fruit of the spirit,

That's when you enter the kingdom of God because your heart,

your life has been changed.

Let Jesus do a miracle in your heart. It's not about a moment.

It's about a miracle. It's about a miracle.

Let God radically change your heart. Father God, right now, as your Holy Spirit

moves in this place, God, I

pray, Lord, that Satan would not be allowed to deceive people today, Lord.

They would not be comfortable in their sin. But, Lord, today they would be uncomfortable

in Jesus' name. Father, I pray that the Spirit, Lord, that you would make them

uncomfortable, Lord, to the point, Lord, where they can't get out of here.

Lord, I pray they will not be able to rest, God, until they do business with you.

Father, today, I just pray that your conviction would so fall upon this place.

God, lives would be transformed for you, Lord.

God, people who are living in sin would repent.

God, who would want to give you the keys, give you the control in your life. in Jesus' name.