Many times the question has been asked, "What is the one mark by which we may know that we are true Christians?" I think that all would agree that this is a question of paramount importance. No one can be unconcerned about this, whether he be Catholic or Protestant. All who profess the name of Christ must be vitally interested in the answer to this question, seeing that their eternal state depends on it.
Normally, the answer one receives from anybody that is acquainted with the Holy Scriptures is, "Why, we must have the witness of the Spirit that we are children of God." And this is certainly true according to Romans 8:16. But what is the witness of the Spirit? This is no unreasonable question because the answer given above really was no answer at all. It merely changes our question to, "How can I know that I have the witness of the Spirit that I am a true Christian?"
While meditating on this question one day the answer was given to me by the eternal Spirit so that I plainly saw that His sheep hear His voice. Could anything be more simple? When I understood, I was overcome by the simplicity and wisdom of God. He speaks to his children just as any good father does. It is not possible to be a child of God without hearing His voice and being told how to please Him. Now at last everything made sense.
Although some may argue about it, it certainly appears to me to be clear from the Scriptures that one must obey God in order to enter into heaven. For instance, in I John 2:4 we are told that, "He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him." And, again, in Revelation 21:8 we are told that, ". . .all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death." The logical connection between these two verses certainly indicates that obedience is a prerequisite for entry into heaven.
However, in order to be obedient one must know what it is that God wants him to do. The great confusion and the great differences that exist among the various groups of so-called Christians is found right here. They do not agree on the answer to the question, "What are His commandments and what is His will?" Yet, the very fact that obedience is required of us is the clearest indication that His commandments and His will can be known by anyone and everyone. For it is a self-evident truth that God, who is all just, could never require from us that which is impossible for us to render to Him.
So how can we know the will of God without error? How can we know how to please Him? Most so-called Christians think that we know His will from the Bible. But how can this possibly be since many men do well to read and understand the funny papers, let alone the Bible? As a matter of fact, some men cannot read at all. And though this may be inconvenient, I cannot say that it is a sin. No, God's means of communicating His will to us must be available to all men everywhere and in all ages. In addition, all men of every intellectual capacity must have the same opportunity to know His will, whether smart or dumb, whether quick or slow, for the prophet Isaiah said,
And an highway shall be there, and a
way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but
it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein.
Isaiah 35:8
But how is this possible? Everyone knows that fools almost always err when they must reason or interpret. Thus, we must conclude that the only way that it is possible that they would not err is if they need not reason or interpret. Hence, if they must only obey the clear directions of the Holy Spirit that are spoken directly to them in their hearts (do this or do that), then they need not err even though they are fools. Therefore, if one is born again so that he is alive spiritually, he will hear the voice of his heavenly Father directing him along the Highway of Holiness.
Do we have reason to expect such a thing? Let us see what the Bible says.
But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him. I John 2:27
But the comforter, the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things. . . John 14:26
Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak. . . John 16:13
Can anything be more plain than these clear words of Scripture? It does not sap that the Bible will teach us, although the Lord many times uses it for our instruction. It does not say that the preacher or Bible teacher will teach us, although they are often used also to instruct us. It does not say that there will be leaders of the church, such as apostles or a pope, that will teach us all things. But instead it clearly and plainly says that we are to be taught bp the anointing, that is, by the Holy Spirit Himself. And it as clearly and plainly says that He will teach us by speaking to us.
Now then, wouldn't one think that so plain a testimony of the Scriptures of truth would be sufficient to convince all who profess a very high regard f or the Bible? Yet, I am afraid that that is not the case. And the reason is very simple. It is simply because they that are not convinced have never heard the voice of God nor have they been instructed by Him directly and personally. Thus, to confess to these clear Scriptures would be to confess that they are not true Christians.
Many preachers and laymen will fight this truth with all of their might because it would be more than they could bear to admit that in reality they are strangers to God. Nevertheless, they are strangers to God if He has never spoken to them. Let us consider the following imaginary dialogue:
"Hello, Bill, how is your father?"
"I don't know. He never speaks to me."
"What, he never speaks to you?"
"No, he hasn't spoken to me since I was born."
"Then your father must have died when you were just a baby."
"No, nothing like that."
"Well, then, your parents must have divorced when you were little."
"No, he has always lived together with us."
"Ah, then the poor fellow is mute."
"No, nothing like that either. It is just that my father never has spoken to me or any of us children. But, he loves me a lot because he has sent many fine teachers to instruct me and also he has given me a book in which he has told me all of his will. But I don't know why he doesn't talk to me."
Now really, would this not be a strange conversation? All of us would think that to be the most peculiar thing we had ever heard. Yet, most people do not find it to be at all peculiar that their supposed heavenly Father never speaks to them. Why is that so? Well, they say, "We have the Bible" or "We have the Pope." But I must ask, "Did God replace Himself with the Bible or with the Pope? Do I mean so little to Him that He would leave my eternal happiness in the hands of others?"
Let us ask ourselves a very important question. Is it reasonable that our earthly father would be more interested in us than our heavenly Father? My parents were vitally concerned with my health, my attitudes, and my activities. They tried to instruct me how to eat, dress, think, and act. If I did not follow these instructions, my father would sometimes punish me until I would change. So is it reasonable that, although my earthly parents never left my upbringing to chance nor in the hands of others, nor even let my behavior depend on my own understanding of written instructions, yet my heavenly Father would leave my eternal welfare and happiness in the hands of men or dependent on my own faulty understanding?
Does my earthly father love me more than my heavenly Father loves me? Is it possible that he would be more concerned about my welfare than the Lord? Does he have greater desires for my moral perfection than God? Would my heavenly Father leave my spiritual development to chance and human means while my earthly father took an active, personal interest in my moral and mental development? Do not I have a low opinion of God if I believe that man is more careful and thoughtful of his children than God is of His children?
I cannot help but believe that all honest persons will acknowledge that this is not reasonable. Although my parents were afflicted with human frailties and those shortcomings inherent in human wisdom and although they made many mistakes in my upbringing, they cared and they tried. But God is not so limited, and He cares much more and He tries much harder than they. He can and will guide His children unerringly in the path of righteousness, the only road that leads to heaven.
But one might argue that a doctrine so important as this would surely be backed up by many Scriptures. I agree with this contention and for the convincement of all such people we shall examine several verses. Already we have looked at three verses that bear directly on this question, i.e., I John 2:27, John 14:26, and John 16:13. So let us examine them a little more closely.
The first thing that we must notice is that the Scriptures of Truth say that the Holy Ghost is to be our teacher, not man and not even the Bible itself. Though God may, and often does, use men and the Bible instrumentally to guide His children, they are merely that, i.e., instruments, and they were never meant to take the place of the direct teaching of the Holy Ghost as the primary rule of our faith. This is the common error of the two great divisions of Christendom. The Catholics have replaced the Holy Ghost by man, that is, by the supposedly infallible edicts and pronouncements of the Pope. The Protestants have replaced the Holy Ghost by the Bible. The first opens to great error and darkness. The second tends to divisions and schisms resulting from the great multiplicity of interpretations that must result when many different individuals interpret the Scriptures. After all, it stands to reason that if one puts the Bible into the hands of ten men there will be ten different interpretations. So both attitudes are in error, one to the right and the other to the left. But in this writing we are only going to concern ourselves with Protestant error.
Although I highly esteem the Holy Bible as the greatest of all writings, yea, divinely inspired and worthy of the appellation "the Book," yet I consider it to be extremely inconsistent and illogical, if not downright blasphemous, to ascribe to it that which it itself ascribes only to the Holy Spirit. The Bible is an infallible record of many of God's words and dealings with man. And, yet, it would be very naive to think that every word that God ever uttered, every command that He ever gave or would want to give, every tenet laid down by Jesus in His ministry of a little more than three years, and every wholesome and practical direction that He ever gave to His disciples and apostles or would ever want to give are contained between the covers of the Bible. The Bible is a declaration of the truth and everything in it is true, but it is not the fountain of all truth and it is not the truth itself. As we see from the above Scriptures, the Bible ascribes to the Holy Spirit, and to Him alone, that most important role.
The Bible is not at all silent about itself. It confesses and declares that it is "profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect." II Timothy 3:16. But we see that it ascribes to the ministry the same role, "And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ." Ephesians 4:11-12. In both cases, the Scriptures and God appointed ministers, we can see that their purpose is the perfecting of the saints.
But, please tell me, what Protestant would consider this verse in Ephesians to be a justification for papal authority? And if they do not believe that it justifies papal authority, and they certainly do not, then why would they think that this verse in II Timothy would justify Bible authority, that is to say, that the Scriptures are the only reliable source of all truth that God has made available to us? We can easily see that the Bible describes itself as a help, as a comfort, as being profitable, but not as being absolutely necessary. It says that we can learn from the Bible, but it does not say that it alone can teach us all things. This it ascribes only to the Holy Spirit.
I hope that no one will misunderstand what I have said as though I have no regard for the Scriptures and their authority. On the contrary, I have more regard than most people. I don't just say that I believe them, but I really do believe them. And when the Bible says that the Holy Ghost is the source of all truth and knowledge and that He will teach us all things Himself, I believe that it means what it says. I cannot see that I will do God service by attributing to the Bible that which God does not attribute to it. If God has decreed in the Bible that the Holy Spirit is the source of all truth, how is it possible that a sincere Christian could say that the Bible is that Sacred Source chosen by God, thereby contradicting the clear statements of God Himself?
I confess that in all disputes among Christians on points of doctrine and morality, the Bible must be the sole arbiter. Christian love demands that I be charitable on all points of doctrine and morals that are not clearly stated in the Bible. In other words, in our relations with the brethren we must take the Bible as the only universal revelation of God to man. Because the Lord has revealed something to me concerning personal behavior, that is no reason why someone else must do it. I can know that God has shown me such and such, but my brother cannot know it. He must have the same revelation himself if he is to have no doubts that it is the truth. And I have no right to force my revelations on my brother.
Naturally, everything the Holy Ghost reveals to me must, by its very nature, be consistent with the Scriptures. God cannot contradict Himself. A personal and direct revelation of truth cannot possibly contradict the universal revelation of truth as contained in the Bible. I do not mean that one must verify a personal revelation by the Bible. That would be as if I were to say that God must verify God, a rather nonsensical idea. Nor do I mean that the revelation must be actually found in the Bible, but it must be consistent with everything taught in it.
I think that one must admit that there are many things that the Bible cannot tell me. It cannot tell me if I am saved. It cannot tell me if I am to be a minister. It cannot tell me where my field of labor is to be. It cannot tell me how to dress or eat or comb my hair, because the mode of these things changes with each passing generation. It cannot tell a woman how to dress so that she is modest. As a matter of fact, I cannot even know what the Bible means merely by reading it. All such things must be revealed to me by the Holy Spirit or I will remain in the darkness of my own interpretations and ideas or in bondage to the ideas of others.
For instance, it is true that the Bible says that a woman must dress modestly. But that does not tell a woman what modesty is and how to dress in order to be modest. After all, what is modest and what is not modest? The Bible does not say. Stop any woman on the street and ask her if she is dressed modestly and she will probably say yes. I may be sure that she is not modest, but she may really think that she is. The plain truth is that if you have ten women together there will be ten different ideas of what modesty is, unless they have received a revelation from God. God alone knows what it really is since He invented it. Without this revelation from the Holy Spirit, they will never agree.
I am rather certain that no one who reads this book dresses in conformity with the beliefs of the Friends of Jesus Christ as described by the author in another of his books. Yet, we know by direct revelation from God that it is right. Nevertheless, we recognize the necessity for each reader to receive this revelation from God before she can also know without any doubts that it is true and conform herself to this standard of modesty.
It is a fact that the Bible cannot reveal all truth to me for the simple reason that it was not given to us for that purpose. The Bible clearly tells us that the Holy Spirit is to be our teacher. It says that it itself and preachers are given to us for our profit, but it nowhere implies that they are to replace that personal instruction that comes directly from God by His Holy Spirit. On the contrary, as was shown above, the Bible very expressly ascribes to Him the pre-eminence in all things.
But getting back to the above Scriptures, it further says that He will speak to us. Now this cannot possibly mean the Bible, seeing that the Bible is not speech, but writing. There is a church named "The Bible Speaks." Of course, this is absurd. Books cannot speak, not even the Book of books. We read books and our own minds speak their interpretations to us. It is for this simple reason that no two people understand the Bible exactly the same.
In John 6:45 Jesus says, "And they shall be all taught of God. Every man that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me." In other words, God Himself will teach us and we will hear Him. If we do not hear Him, we cannot come to Jesus. And if we do not truly come to Jesus, He cannot save us. Oh, one may come to his own conception of Jesus without hearing God's voice, but he can never come to the true Jesus. By now it should be very clear that we must hear the voice of God to the end that we be taught by Him and it should be equally clear that He Himself and He alone will teach us all things. Moreover, it ought to be very clear that we cannot come to Jesus Christ without hearing Him and without learning the way of life directly from His mouth. By and by we shall see what He will teach us, but right now let us examine more Scriptures on the question of the necessity of hearing His blessed voice.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me. Matthew 11:29
He that is of God hears God's words. John 8:47
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. John 10:27
Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice. John 18:37
Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. John 5:25
From these words spoken by Jesus Christ Himself we can readily see that 1 ) we must go to Jesus so that He can teach us; 2) we do hear Him if we are of God; 3) if we are Christ's sheep, that is, if we are true Christians, we do hear His voice; 4) if we are of the truth, in other words, if we are true Christians, we will hear Him; and finally, 5) the dead in sins and transgressions will hear the voice of Christ and they shall live. No voice, no life. I can testify that I have heard the Lord's precious voice and I am now alive. It is not my imagination, but it is real. I lie not, but I speak the words of truth, God spoke to me, I heard Him, I yielded to Him in true repentance and I received eternal life which is only in the Son, and it has changed me completely. Now my heavenly Father speaks to me in order to direct me along the way of life, the Highway of Holiness.
Let us hear what Paul has to sap about all of this.
But ye have not so learned Christ; if so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus. Ephesians 4:20-21
Wherefore as the Holy Ghost saith, today if ye will hear His voice... Hebrews 3:7,15 and 4:7
See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him who speaketh from heaven. Hebrews 12:25
Several times when I have discussed this doctrine with individuals, they have told me that they also have heard the voice of God. But when I have pressed them about what God said to them, they were always very vague. They were somewhat uncertain about what God had spoken to them, but only that He said something. But isn't this rather absurd? If the President of the United States said something to them, they would quote it word for word because they would be so thrilled at the thought of speaking to him. But He who created the President and He who will one day bring the President into judgment can speak to them and they do not know what He said. I repeat, is not that absolutely absurd?
On rare occasions there will be someone that will tell me that God has spoken to him and he will even tell me what God supposedly said to him. Almost always these supposed Christians will say that He said something similar to the following: "He told me that He loves me," or "He told me that He is going to return to the earth very soon," or "He told me that I should be a minister and go to Africa as a missionary." Naturally, it is reasonable that God should say such things to His children from time to time. But seeing that the purpose of salvation is to change a sinner into a saint who is made to conform to the image of Christ, it appears to me that God would have many others things to say to the new convert, such things as concern his conduct in this life. However, He never says anything at all to them about righteousness or holiness.
The above quoted Scriptures assure us that He will teach us. And I believe that all would agree that if He is going to teach us He must of necessity have something definitely in mind that He wants to teach. I am sure that all would also agree that the Bible would surely tell us what it is that He is going to teach us. Well, if we will read the second chapter of Titus, we shall see exactly what He will teach us.
For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world; looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ; who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. Titus 2:11-14
These verses, whose numbers are given in parentheses, are rich beyond expectation because they contain in seed all of the doctrines pertaining to salvation. Let us make a detailed study of these amazing verses. There are five specific doctrines revealed to us in this veritable gold mine of spiritual truth.
1) In verse 11 we see that salvation always comes by the grace of God. However, since we are told that this grace of God teaches us, we must conclude that this expression "the grace of God" is just another name for the Holy Spirit in His office of Savior and Teacher. In other words, this expression cannot mean, as we are always taught by the theologians, "the unmerited favor of God," that is to say, that God out of His infinite goodness and kindness overlooks our sins, because that would not be an active agent actively operating in us to save us and to teach us. But this Grace of God is an active, working, teaching agent who works salvation in us and changes us. Thus, we can conclude that almost everywhere that the term "the grace of God" is used in the Scriptures in connection with salvation it is referring to the blessed Holy Spirit.
2) In the same verse we are told that this Grace of God comes to every person in the world in order to save him, proving that every person will have an opportunity to be saved. Thus, this verse denies the Calvinistic doctrine of election. 3) In verse 13 we are told that Jesus Christ is not only our Savior, but also that He is God. This puts the lie to that pernicious doctrine of the so-called Jehovah's Witnesses that denies the Godhood of Christ. 4) In verse 14 we see why Jesus Christ died. It is not as is commonly thought, that is, so that we can go to heaven. Rather, Jesus died so that we should be free from all iniquity and that we should be a pure people belonging especially to Him, which is what true salvation is all about.
Finally, 5) according to verse 12 this salvation that the Grace of God brings is worked in the believer by means of personal teaching, putting the lie to the doctrine of "once saved, always saved." We must always keep in mind that according to this verse conversion is only the first step in salvation. Redemption from all iniquity is the fulfillment of salvation and it is produced by obedience to the pure teachings of that blessed Grace of God who not only informs us that we must deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and that we must live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world, but also teaches us how to live in this present life so that we may actually fulfill these things. Oh, the riches of the wisdom and mercy of God in Christ Jesus are truly past finding out!
Let us take special notice that in these verses the Bible commands us to deny or eliminate from our lives ungodliness and worldly lusts. But what is ungodliness? Which of my desires are worldly? Every man has his own ideas about these things, but are his ideas correct? We must remember that no two people will ever agree on everything, and even many of their interpretations of the Bible will differ.
In addition, we are commanded to live soberly, righteously, and godly now in this life. But, what is sobriety? What is righteousness? What does it mean to be godly? How can I know? Obviously, if the Holy Spirit does not teach me these things, I can never know them for sure. I may believe some- thing very strongly, but I can never know unless God Himself teaches me directly apart from my own understanding and the teachings of others. Let us remember that every man has his own ideas, but the ways of God are not the ways of man.
I am sure that all would agree that it is absolutely impossible to do that which one does not know nor understand. It is simply impossible to conform myself to the image of Christ without knowing what that image is. Although the Bible tells me many things, it should be obvious from the multiplicity of Christian sects that the Bible can do no more than instruct me in generalities. The fact that, for example, there are some who believe that the Bible plainly teaches the necessity of water baptism by immersion while at the same time there are others that are just as sincerely convinced that the Bible plainly teaches baptism by sprinkling shows the inability of the Bible to teach us about the details.
After I repented and the Lord infused divine life into my soul, He immediately began to talk to me about righteousness. Because the divine love of God was within my heart, I had burning desires to be righteous and holy. But I did not know anything whatsoever about true holiness because I had been in thick darkness all of my life. But, as I said, God began to talk to me about many, many things.
He did not speak to me in vague generalities, but in specifics. The plain truth is that every aspect of my life had been contrary to the holy image of Jesus without me being aware of it. Conversion did not make me holy. It only made me spiritually alive and gave me strong desires to be holy. Thus, from my conversion forward I fervently desired to separate myself from everything that was contrary to holiness so that I could walk with Jesus Christ my Lord and Savior. Nevertheless, I did not know what I had to separate myself from.
Allow me to tell you a little bit about my new life in Christ. Perhaps in this way you will get a better idea about what and how God speaks to His children. I never knew that smoking was an offense against God because in those days it was not yet known that smoking caused cancer. In addition, my mother and father, many of my relatives, and even my Catholic priest smoked. But only two hours after my conversion the Grace of God that had brought salvation to me and that now dwelt in my heart commanded me to stop smoking. Five days later, when for the first time since my conversion I turned on the television, God powerfully spoke to me and told me to turn it off immediately and never to watch it again. Of course, I knew that some programs were filthy and unfit for human consumption, but I did not know and it had never even entered my mind until that moment that God is opposed to the whole television industry. I can safely say that if He had not revealed it to me I would never have arrived at that conclusion.
Prior to my conversion I had been a very patriotic man. I had been a paratrooper in the army in my younger years and had even been wounded in the Korean War. I had always felt that by fighting to destroy godless communism I was rendering God and my fellow man a great service. But about two weeks after my conversion the Holy Spirit commanded me to become a man of peace like my Savior, denying all violence and wars. This surprised me more than I can possibly put into words because I had never so much as considered the possibility that a war against wicked men like Hitler or the communists would be a sin. As a matter of fact, I had never known a conscientious objector in mp entire life, and I did not really believe that there was such a thing. I was persuaded that there were only fighters and cowards. But what Jesus showed me was that although war is not illegitimate for people of the world, since they often have no other recourse, the true Christian, because he has ceased to be a citizen of this world and has become a pilgrim and a stranger merely passing through it, cannot fight for it. Since this present world belongs to the devil, how could a man of God fight to preserve any part of it?
About a week after I converted, the Lord began to teach me how He wanted me to dress. First, He commanded me to wear only long sleeves and that they must be buttoned. After a couple of weeks He told me that I must always button my collar. A little later He told me that I was to wear only black, white, and gray. In all of this He taught me that nakedness and the adorning of the body with colors is an abomination to Him. In the past I had never believed nor had it so much as entered my thoughts that to be incompletely clothed and to adorn one's body with colors were sins. That which God had taught me was totally contrary to all that I had ever believed. If it were not for the fact that the Lord taught me these things, it would have been impossible for me to have believed them since I did not know anyone that did believe them and I am not a man of a fertile imagination.
When I relate these things, all are amazed except true Christians that have also experienced like divine instructions. It is not only the confessed unbeliever that does not believe me and that rejects my testimony, but also even the so-called Christians. It is obvious that they are so only in name because in order to believe me it would be necessary to admit that thep had never experienced the true new birth. Nevertheless, what I have said is the truth and I lie not. The Lord speaks to me and He alwaps speaks to me about very practical points of righteousness. There is nothing vague in His contacts with me nor in the topics about which He speaks to me. In the beginning I was very surprised to learn that very few professors of Christianity and of the new birth were acquainted with the inward teaching of the Holy Spirit.
Why is there so much confusion today amongst the professors of Christianity? No one really seems to know anything for sure. The young people see nothing certain in their elders and are themselves, then, tossed to and fro. Even in the very churches that profess the most knowledge of God, there is no agreement about righteousness and holiness. It is enough to make the unbeliever wonder if there really is a God when he sees such disunity among the professors and such disparity in belief. But where the voice of God is known, this situation will not exist. Just as there is but one God, there is but one truth, and that one God will teach nothing else.
Considering everything that has been said, I hardly see how it is possible to deny this truth. It is not based on an isolated verse of the Scriptures where the meaning is ambiguous. Not only have I furnished an abundance of Scriptures, but the interpretation is natural and easy, without any twisting or straining at the words and without doing violence to logic. If a person does not believe, it seems to me that the problem is in his heart. After all, if a person does not want to believe, he never will, in spite of what the Bible says and the clarity with which it says it. But if he wants the truth more than anything else, the truth will convince him. It is only a question of being willing to believe and to bear the cross.
Perhaps you have always claimed with vehemence that you believe the Bible, but do you really believe it? Are you willing to believe it even if it implies that you are a Christian in name only? To hear the voice of the Lord and to learn from Him is an unquestionable fruit of the new birth. If you are found wanting on this question, if you have never heard the voice of God, if you have never been taught by the Holy Spirit directly how to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and how to live soberly, righteously, and godly here and now in this present world, are you going to face up to your condition or are you just going to ignore it and take your chances? It is your choice and yours alone, and in both cases the consequences are absolutely mind-boggling because they are eternal.