Examine Yourself
(anonymous)
It is faith that is at the heart of our Christianity. Now, I want to give you a little test that
will help you examine your faith. I am
convinced that churches are filled with people who have a kind of faith that
doesn't save them. James called it a
"Dead Faith." 2 Corinthians
13:5 says, "Examine yourselves, whether you be in the faith." You want to be sure your faith is real. Now, as you look at yourself and you're
asking, "Am I really a Christian?
Have I really appropriated this gift that God gives? Have I believed genuinely?" What do you look for in your life to discern
whether your faith is real? What are
the marks?
First of all, let me show you
some things that neither prove nor disprove saving faith. OK?
I am going to give you a little list of things that don't prove
anything. You could be a Christian; you
could not be a Christian, and still have these things. They don't prove or disprove saving faith,
but you need to know what they are so you're not deceived.
THINGS THAT DON'T PROVE OR DISPROVE SAVING FAITH
1.
Visible Morality
What do I mean by that? Well some people are just good people. Some of them are very religious like Mormon
people who on the outside appear very moral, or Roman Catholic people, or any
other kind of cult or religion. Some
people are just good people. They're
honest, they're forthright [trustworthy] in their dealings. They're grateful people, they're kind
people, and they have an external visible kind of morality. By the way, the Pharisees certainly rested
on that for their hope. They are
'loving' people and some of them are tenderhearted people. But of loving and serving God, they know
nothing and feel nothing. Whatever the
person does or leaves undone does not involve God.
This person is honest in his
dealings with everybody except God. He
won't rob anybody but God. He is
thankful and loyal to everybody but God.
He speaks contemptuously and reproachfully of no one but God. He has good relationships with everybody but
God. He's very much like the rich young
ruler who says, "All these things have I kept, what do I lack?" This is visible morality, but it does not
necessarily mean salvation. People can
"Clean up their act" by reformation rather than regeneration.
2.
Intellectual Knowledge
Secondly, another thing that
doesn't prove or disprove saving faith is Intellectual knowledge. This doesn't prove true faith. Knowledge of the truth is necessary for
salvation and visible morality is the fruit of salvation, but neither equals
salvation. You see, you can know all
about God. And you can know all about
Jesus, and who He was and that He came into the world and died on the cross,
and that He rose again, and that He's coming again. And you can even know more of the details of His life. You can understand all of that and turn your
back on Christ.
The writer of Hebrews writes to
those in chapter 6, who knowing all of that, refused Christ. In chapter 10 he says, "You're treading
underfoot the Blood of Christ by not believing what you know is
true." There are many people who
know the Scripture and who have knowledge but are bound for Hell! You will never be saved without that
knowledge, but having that knowledge doesn't necessarily save you.
2.
Religious Involvement
Thirdly, religious
involvement. Religious involvement is
not necessarily a proof of true faith.
There are people who have, according to Paul writing to Timothy, 2
Timothy 3:5, "A form of godliness, but powerless." --An empty kind of religion. Remember the virgins in Matthew 25 who were
waiting, and waiting, and waiting for the coming of the bridegroom, who is
Christ. And they are waiting and
waiting, but when He comes they don't go in.
They had everything together except the oil in their lamps. That which was most necessary was
missing. The oil is probably emblematic
of the new life, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. They weren't regenerate.
They were religious but not regenerate.
You can have external visible morality, intellectual knowledge, and
religious involvement, and it may not indicate genuine faith.
3.
Active Ministry
Fourth is active ministry. Balaam was a prophet. Saul of Tarsus thought he was serving God by
killing Christians. Judas was a public
preacher. Judas was an Apostle. Remember Matthew 7, "Many will say to
me, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, and done many wonderful
works? Cast out demons in Your
name?' And He says to them, 'Depart from
Me, you workers of iniquity, I never knew you.'" Ministry activity, that's not necessarily a proof of saving
faith.
4.
Conviction of Sin
Lots of people feel bad about
sin. Listen, this whole world is full
of people that are just guilt ridden to the core. You know, fifteen years ago, we used to talk about people going
to the Psychologist, and we used to say, and it was pretty true from tests,
"That most of the people who went to the Psychologist were suffering from
guilt." People used to write books
about that. I remember the Menniger
(sp.) Clinic put out tremendous amount of material on the fact that all these
people were suffering from guilt. Well,
the Psychologists of the world have absolutely no answer for guilt, because the
only answer is the Gospel.
Now what has happened in the last
fifteen years, is that you don't have any people at all today who feel guilty,
because we have come up with a new Psychology that eliminates the guilt. Now what we do is we displace the guilt on
somebody else. And the new therapy is
to make the person utterly irresponsible for any of the guilt that they might
feel inside, and to free them from that guilt.
And you do that by making the ultimate virtue pride, the ultimate virtue
self-fulfillment, self-aggrandizement, self-glory, self-esteem, and that
eliminates the need to feel guilty. So
we really have come up with an utterly ungodly, unchristian, unbiblical
Psychology, that has taken the guilt issue and eliminated it.
Now what happens in the Church,
instead of the Preacher standing up to preach, "Freedom from guilt to
guilty sinners," they expect him to preach self-esteem to egocentric
people. The whole climate has
changed. And we have been skewed in our
message, because we have allowed the philosophy of the day to create a new kind
of sinner who thinks he feels no guilt.
And the most important thing you can preach to a bunch of sinners is the
sin of their lives, and the law of God, which they fall short of, and the
impending judgment they await. But that
message is not popular because the new philosophy and the new psychology have
long ago eliminated guilt.
We don't have people feeling
guilt anymore, because they've learned that therapy can tell them they can put
that guilt on somebody who did something to them. And now I don't care whom you talk to, when they go into that
kind of situation of counseling they will inevitably say, "I have been abused! I am a victim! I am not responsible for the way I am!" And so the sinner is dispossessed of his
guilt and dispossessed of a direct approach of the Gospel. I liked sinners better when they felt
guilty. They were much easier to deal
with. But there are some people who do
feel guilty. Some people who do feel
guilty about sin. Felix trembled under
the preaching of Paul, but never left his idols. The Holy Spirit convicts many of sin, righteousness, and
judgment, and many that He convicts don't respond with true repentance. Some may even confess their sin. Some may even abandon their sin and say,
"I don't like to live this way. I
want to shape up." Amend their
ways, but not necessarily come to saving faith. That's reformation, not regeneration. And no degree of conviction of sin is conclusive evidence of
saving faith. Believe me, even the
demons are convicted of their sins, that's why they tremble, but they are not
saved.
6.
Assurance
Some people say, "Well, I
must be a Christian, I feel like one. I
think I am one." Listen, just
think it through. If to think you're a
Christian makes you a Christian, then nobody could be deceived. Right?
Because as soon as you thought you're a Christian--you'd be one! So you could never be deceived. The whole point of Satan's deception is to
make people think they are Christians who aren't! That's the whole point.
Many people feel sure they are saved--but they're not. I'll tell you, there are millions of Mormons
and Jehovah's Witnesses and Christian Scientists who believe they are on their
way to Heaven! They're not.
People say, "God won't
condemn me. I feel good about
myself. I have assurance. I'm ok." That means nothing, necessarily.
7. A
Time of Decision
I hear people say, "Well, I
know I'm a Christian, because I remember when I signed the card. I remember when I prayed a prayer. I remember when I went forward in a Church
service. I remember right where I
was." I heard people say, "I
remember right where I was the moment I did that." Oh really?
Listen, because you remember a moment doesn't mean that moment meant
anything. It doesn't mean that decision
was valid. Nobody's salvation is
verified by a past moment. People have
prayed prayers, and gone forward in church services, and signed cards, and gone
into prayer rooms, and been baptized, and joined churches, and never had saving
faith.
So those are some of the
non-proofs. They don't really prove
anything. You say, "Well, what
does prove saving faith?" Well, let
me give you quickly a list.
1. Love
For God
Now you're talking! Now you're talking down about the heart,
because Romans 8:7 says, "The carnal [sinful] mind is enmity [hostile]
against God." The non-Christian resents
God; rebels against God down inside, but the regenerate mind is set to love the
Lord with all heart, soul, mind, and strength.
His delight is in the excellency of God, who is the first and highest
affection of his renewed soul. God
becomes his chief happiness. By the
way, there is a great difference between such love for God and the selfish
attitude that focuses only on my own happiness and sees God as a means to my
end, rather than as me to the end of glorifying Him. In fact Jesus said, "If you love your Father and Mother more
than me, you're not even my disciple" (Matthew 10:37).
Do you love God? Do you love His nature? Do you love His glory? Do you love His name? Do you love His kingdom? Do you love His holiness? Do you love His will? Supreme love for God is decisive evidence of
the true faith. Is your heart lifted
when you sing His praises--because you love Him?
2.
Repentance and Turning from Sin
A proper love for God must
involve a hatred of sin. Well, that's
obvious. Who wouldn't understand
that? If I love somebody, you assume
that my loving them means that I seek their wellbeing. Right?
If I said to you, "I love my wife, but I could care less what
happened to my wife," you'd question my love, because true love seeks the
highest good of its object. So if I say
that I love God, then I will have to hate sin, because sin offends God. Sin blasphemes God. Sin curses God. Sin seeks to destroy God and his work and His kingdom. Sin killed His Son. And if I say that, "I love God, but I
tolerate sin," then you have every reason to question my love. I cannot love God without hating that which
is set to destroy Him. So true
repentance involves confession, it involves turning from sin. I should be grieved over my sin.
I should ask myself, "Do I
have a settled conviction of the evil of sin?" Does sin appear to me as the evil and bitter thing it really
is? Does conviction of sin in me
increase as I walk with Christ? Do I
hate it not merely because it is ruinous to my own soul but because it is
offensive to my God whom I love? Does
it more grieve me when I sin then when I have trouble? In other words, what grieves me the most--my
misfortune or my sin? Do my sins appear
many, frequent and aggravated? Do I
find myself grieved over my sin--more than the sin of others? That's the mark of salvation. True saving faith--it loves God and it hates
what God hates, which is sin.
3.
Genuine Humility
It manifests genuine
humility. This obviously comes through
in the Beatitudes. The poor in spirit;
those who hunger and thirst after righteousness; those who, in Matthew 18, are
like a little child, humble and dependent; those who are in self-denial,
willing to take up their cross and follow Him.
The Lord receives those who come with a broken and contrite spirit. James says, "He gives grace to the
humble." We must come as the
Prodigal Son. Remember what he said in
Luke 15, I think about verse
21, he said, "Father, I am
not worthy to be called your son."
There is no pride. There is no
ego about religious achievement [or] spiritual accomplishment, but genuine humility.
4.
Devotion to God's Glory
There is a devotion to God's
glory. True saving faith that manifests
genuine salvation shows devotion to God's glory. Whatever we do, whether we eat or drink, we are literally
consumed with the Glory of God. We do
what we do because we want to glorify Him.
Oh sure, we fail in all of these things, but the direction of our life
is in loving Him and hating sin, and being genuinely humble and self-denying,
and knowing our unworthiness and being totally devoted to the Glory of God.
5.
Continual Prayer
Humble, submissive, believing
prayer marks true faith. We cry
"Abba, Father" because the Spirit within us prompts that cry. Jonathan Edwards once preached a sermon titled,
"Hypocrites are Deficient in the Duty of Secret Prayer." It's true.
Hypocrites may pray publicly, because that's what hypocrites want to do
is to impress people, but they are deficient in the duty of secret prayer. A true believer with true saving faith has a
personal prayer life; private prayer life; seeks communion with God.
6.
Selfless Love
Another mark of saving faith is
selfless love. John says, "If you
don't love your neighbor, your brother, or one in need, then how are we to
believe the love of God dwells in you?"
And also in 1 John 3, John says, "If you love God you'll love whom
God loves. And we love Him and others
because that's the response to Him loving us." John 13 says, "By this men know that we are true
disciples--by our love for each other."
7.
Separation from the World
Paul told the Corinthians that we
haven't received the spirit of the world but the Spirit which is from God. And John put it this way, "Love not the
world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in
him." A true believer is separated
from the world. Again, I say, we fail
in all these areas, but these are the direction of our lives. We aren't perfect. We haven't arrived, but we love God and want to love Him
more. We hate sin and want to hate it
more. We have a genuine humility and
want more of it. We are devoted to
God's glory. We have a prayer life that
is private and personal. We have a love
for others that comes from God, and we find ourselves disassociated from the world,
as a general rule.
8.
Spiritual Growth
If you are a true Christian you
are going to be growing, and that means that you are going to be more and more
like Christ. Life produces itself. If you're alive you are going to grow,
there's no other way. You'll
improve. You'll increase. You'll grow, because whoever has that new
work begun (Philippians 1:6), is going to see it perfected. It's going to go on; it's going to keep
moving. The Spirit is going to move you
from one level of glory to the next. So
you look at your life. Do you see
spiritual growth? Do you see the
decreasing frequency of sin and the increasing pattern of righteousness and
devotion to God?
9.
Obedience
Obedient living: "Every branch in me bears
fruit." "Bears fruit,"
says John 15. In Ephesians 2:10, Paul
says, "Look, you are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good
works, which God has before ordained that you walk in them." That's obedience. We are saved unto the obedience of faith.
Look at your life. Do you see all those things? Including Selfless Love, Separation from the
World, Spiritual Growth, and Obedience?
If so, that's evidence of a saving faith.