I want to talk with you today about the great need of our time, and that great need is for Christ to be formed in the believer. Let me begin by saying there is but one gospel and many counterfeits. There is but one people of God and many masquerading as the people of God. How are you to know? How are you to know which is of the Spirit and which is simply Satan's masterpiece? The simple answer is this. That which produces the righteousness of Christ within the believer is of the Holy Spirit. This is the true Gospel and these are the true people of God. And as I will show you today, this is the clear testimony of Scripture. So in this brief exhortation today, you will hear that it is the righteousness of Christ in one's thinking, affections, and character that provide evidence that a person belongs to Christ. And yet, this point, this essential principle of the Christian faith is seldom heard from our pulpits. What is popular today is to boast, at least in conservative circles, of the imputation of Christ's righteousness, while dismissing infused or imparted righteousness. And here's the irony. This is how we know Satan's counterfeit gospel and people. When we emphasize anything that dismisses even imputation, even the new birth, and then dismiss imparted practical righteousness in the life of the believer, we must understand that that old angel of light, Satan, who operates through human agents, is at work advancing his false gospel. Now, I realize my words may shock some of you. You may have been taught that it is one's view of justification and not sanctification which determines whether one is a true Christian or not. After all, did not Luther say that the justification by faith alone is the doctrine upon which the church stands or falls? You may have therefore become somewhat apathetic regarding inward righteousness. Some may have even told you that sanctification is not a necessary aspect for salvation. You might have been told, just get saved and leave sanctification for later. If that is the case with you, My dear friend, you have been deceived and your eternal soul is in great peril. The truth is, sanctification, meaning conformity of life and conduct to Christ, is a necessary correlate to justification. Any life devoid of Christian or Christ-like character cannot be said to stand justified before God. I don't care how much you believe in the doctrine. I don't care what confessions or doctrinal statements you subscribe to. You must show forth the life of Christ. to evidence that you possess the life of Christ. It's a reasonable statement. Now, because my words may shock you, let me hasten to say, justification by faith alone is indeed an essential part of the gospel. Let me be clear, there are no good works the sinner can do that in any way contribute to his justification. The five solas of the Reformation remain a beacon of light into the religious darkness of man-made religion. Salvation is indeed by grace alone, through faith alone, in the finished work of Christ alone, as revealed in Scripture alone, and to the glory of God alone. And yet, and please hear me now, Apart from the new life that by necessity follows being born again, all our formulas regarding justification ring hollow. Steve Lawson is correct when he says justification is, quote, just paperwork in heaven. It's a change of status from condemned to justified. It does not in itself change you, end quote. So justification is but one part of the gospel. And we must remember ours is a Trinitarian faith, and this means that all that Christ secured on our behalf must also be appropriated to the believer by the Spirit, else Christ has died in vain. Indeed, the entirety of the Christian life is best defined as life in the Spirit. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit." Galatians 5, 25. And to walk in the Spirit is to walk in progressive Christ-likeness. This is the great need of our time, to recapture this emphasis, to recapture the essence of the Christian life as becoming like Jesus. Okay, now back to my main point, the purpose of the new birth. Let me address that. It is Christ formed in the believer that is the great need of our time. For centuries, Protestant evangelists have rightly declared the new birth to be absolutely necessary. You must be born again, declared the great George Whitefield, and untold numbers since him. but too often we have failed to move from new birth to new life. It is essential to note that Jesus did not declare one must be born again in isolation. Rather, he declared one must be born again within the context of the kingdom of God. That kingdom being what D.A. Carson rightly defines as God saving and transforming reign. God saving and transforming reign. It is the transforming part we too often dismiss and too are peril. This ought to be a deep concern for all professing Christians. Deep concern. No, let me just re-correct myself. I ought to say an alarming, frightening, sobering concern. For we are talking here of one's eternal destiny. Listen please, salvation is not an invisible work of God. Rather, genuine salvation will be evidenced in a lifestyle modeled after Jesus. In other words, to legitimately claim to be born again, that new birth must blossom forth into new life due to the indwelling Spirit of Christ. Indeed, we're told in Romans 8-9, if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. And how can you know that you have the spirit of Christ except that you're becoming like Christ in thought, word, and deed, and character? You are expressing the life of Christ in you must come out in your conduct, in your thinking, in your affections. As you are about to hear from scripture, growing in Christlikeness is the essence of the Christian faith. And apart from progress in Christlikeness, one is simply not a Christian at all. Now, note, I did not say we ought to expect perfection in Christlikeness. That will not happen in this lifetime. But what met me hastened to say, we ought to pursue it as though it were possible. and not simply concede as many do these days, well, I'm just a sinner saved by grace. That one is a sinner saved by grace is true enough. But we are saved with a purpose, and that purpose is to be conformed into the image of Christ. to the greatest degree possible in this lifetime. In fact, that is how we ought to pray. Rather than just shrugging our shoulders and dismissing the sins of others by claiming to simply be sinners saved by grace, we ought to pray, quote, Lord, conform me into your image to the greatest degree possible in this lifetime, end quote. But, alas, our churches are filled with people who believe they have been born again, but are virtually devoid of Christ-like character. Something is terribly wrong. Clearly focusing on remaining simply a sinner, saved by grace following conversion, is a fallacious and unbiblical approach to the Christian life. Saying a simple prayer and signing up for church duty does not save anyone. And is there any worse state than to believe one's eternal destiny is secure when it is not? To be building on sand? To be placing your eternal soul in the hands of a false doctrine? the churches have become mission fields. Because the chief evidence of the new birth is not tied to having once recited the sinner's prayer, or to baptism, or church attendance, or reading the Bible, or giving one's giving record, or ordination. These things are fine in themselves, but they cannot be relied upon as evidence that you've been born again. What I'm about to prove to you from scripture is the only certain evidence that one is born again is ever increasing conformity to Christ. And beloved, if this is not present, there is no reason to believe that one has in fact been born again. You can see now why I say that Christ formed in the believer is the greatest need of our time. Okay, that's my introduction to my heartache, my heartfelt, and my great passion to address this need of our time. And in part two, we'll pick up where I will show you from scripture repeatedly that this is the great concern for Jesus and for the apostles. The great concern is not that you simply be born again. The great concern is that you'd be born again, birthed into new life, new life that is manifested in the life of Christ himself in you in such a way that it transforms your thinking, it transforms your life, transforms your affections, and transforms you into a person who images Christ into your family, into the church, and into the greater society. That's God's will for you. And anything less than that is not Christian faith. So I hope you come back for part two. I'm trying to keep these in short segments so you can process it, you can hear me, you can mull around on it, you can pray about it, you can speak with others about it, because this is the great need of our time. Amen.