The End Of My Old Self

When I received Christ, I came to the end of my old self, trusted Him to give me a new beginning and He did. There are people I know well enough to believe they are saved who say some rather vague things about how and when they became saved. But I am convinced they are saved by the fruit they bear.

Matthew 7:20: Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.

John 3:8: The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.

When others tell me they have received Jesus but are not bearing any visible fruit I become doubtful that they are saved. When some tell me that they have always been a Christian or that they cannot recall any certain time or place or circumstance when that happened I am troubled about their testimony. I have the questions: How can they not recall coming to the end of their old selves or how can they not recall when Jesus gave them a new beginning? One individual that may have been saved in a false church told me about Jesus: I never left Him. It would be easier to believe if they had said I came to Him.

Receiving Jesus into my heart and life was the most cataclysmic thing that ever happened to me. While I don*t know the date I do know it was in November of 1985 at the Moraine Valley Postal Facility in Illinois while listening to a radio preacher when I was 43 years of age. Some who do not recall a cataclysmic work of God on them bear so much fruit I do not doubt their salvation. Spiritually dead individuals could not grow like they have or produce fruit like they do. The Bible calls the end of our old selves a death.

Romans 6:4: Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 8 Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:

Ephesians 2:5: Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)

Colossians 2:20: Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances, 3:3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.

Romans 6:11: Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

2 Corinthians 5:17: Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

Romans 8:16: The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:

I am thankful that the Holy Spirit quickly bore witness to me of my salvation and also that He has born some fruit in my life. Perhaps there was some ignorance in me that needed both kinds of evidence. Perhaps some saved individuals lack assurance because they quench the Spirit and grieve Him.

Care to discuss The End Of My Old Self with Ron?

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