"Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove you on selves" (2 Corinthians 13:5)
A Christian is what he is not be ecclesiastical manipulation but by the new birth. He is a Christian because of a Spirit which dwells in him.
Only that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. The flesh can never be converted into spirit, no matter how many church dignitaries work on it.
Confirmation, baptism, holy communion, confession of faith - none of these nor all of them together can turn flesh into spirit nor make a son of Adam a son of God.
"Because ye are sons," wrote Paul to the Galatians, "God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father" (Galatians 4:6) ... And to the Romans: "But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his" (Romans 8:9).
A sinner cannot row into repentance. God's power puts him there, and being there, then he grows in grace.
~A. W. Tozer~
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