2 Corinthians 5:17 – “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”

I’m still going back to Romans at some point to finish up that, but I’m diverging a bit into other areas, because that’s where God has me right now.  The question that has been pressed into my own heart, and therefore, what I’m going to be seeking to answer through scripture over the next few messages is “Am I truly a Christian or just deceived?”.  I’m going to do that by positing that there are three marks of someone who is genuinely a Christian.  Before I do that, I have to lay the groundwork for why we should seek assurance of our own salvation, even when we have professed Jesus, maybe been baptized, and maybe been in ministry even for a while.  My hope is that in seeking personal assurance of salvation, God will show you where he wants you to grow, and also that you would be encouraged in the genuineness of your faith and the Holy Spirit that dwells in you.

We are called to test ourselves to see if our faith is genuine.  2 Corinthians 13:5 – “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!”  Being a follower of Christ does not mean that you’re perfect.  Being a follower of Christ does not mean that you’re always progressing in your faith.  There are marks, however, that the Bible tells us give evidence of true salvation, and therefore we should look to them both for encouragement and edification of our faith where our lives and heart’s affections line up with scripture, and to be righteously challenged when honestly our lives and heart’s affections do not line up.  First – Can someone be deceived about their salvation?  Absolutely.  I don’t want to spend too much proving this point, so I’ll limit myself to three examples:

Matthew 7:21-23 – “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.  On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.”  Jesus’ example here clearly indicates these are people who know God, call Him Lord, and believe they have been doing the work of God in their lives.  They were deceived in believing they were actually saved.

Luke 8:5-15 – ““A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the air devoured it.  And some fell on the rock, and as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture.  And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it.  And some fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold.” As he said these things, he called out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” And when his disciples asked him what this parable meant, he said, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but for others they are in parables, so that ‘seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.’ Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.  The ones along the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved.  And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away.  And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature.  As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.”   Jesus’ parable here lists multiple people who hear the Word of God, and respond in some positive way.  Specifically those persons on the rock and thorns.  Both hear the word of God, respond positively, and even perhaps have some works to evidence their belief, but ultimately both were deceived in believing they were saved.  Both types of persons fell away either over time or during a period of struggle in life.  To be clear, these people heard the same Word of God (the seed), the same gospel, both people proclaimed belief and showed visible signs of that belief, but their faith was fraudulent.  They were deceived.

In Colossians 4:14 we are told -“Luke the beloved physician greets you, as does Demas.”  In Philemon 1:23-24 – “Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends greetings to you, and so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers.” In both of these passages we are told of Demas who is not only a professing believer in Christ, but performing work along with Paul to such an extent that others were aware of him and it was worth noting his name.  Later in Paul’s ministry, however, when Paul was close to being martyred, he wrote this in 2 Timothy 4:10 –“Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica.”  Demas was deceived.

There are many other examples, but 3 is sufficient to show that there are definitely people who believe they are saved, when in fact they are not.  Now, having shown that, I want to turn to illustrate what I believe are three marks of a true Christian:  1)  Maintaining a constant vigilance to put to death sin and increase affections for God  2)  Being captivated by the grace of God in Jesus Christ  3)  Pursuing the growth of the Kingdom of God with other Christians.  I’m going to take the first one today, and then go through the other two in separate messages.

The first mark of a Christian, is a constant vigilance to put to death sin and increase affections for God.  We’re all sinners, and we all fall to sin from time to time.  It is one thing to fall to sin, it is another to defend that sin, to seek safe harbor for it, to try to justify it and at the same time keep it away from the people of God so that no one can unmask your own deception.  A Christian, with the Holiness of the Spirit of God indwelling them, should feel very uneasy and uncomfortable when they find this type of sin in their life.  By the mercy of God, they will repent of their sin, and seek to put it to death, no matter the cost.  That is the mark of a Christian.

James 4:4 – “You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”

Romans 8:5-8,13-14 – “those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.  For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.  For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot.  Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” “if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.  For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.”

There is cost to following Jesus, it will cost us those things that we run to for comfort apart from God – those are the idols God is seeking to free us from, and He is able to see us through all trials to do so.

Luke 14:27-30 – “Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.  For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?  Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’”

When we turn to trust in Jesus, God begins to work on our hearts.  As He does, we will come to points where God asks reveals sin in us, idols, that are difficult to give up.  The comfort from relationships, the comfort from physical pleasure, the comfort from drugs or alcohol, the comfort of money, the comfort of other’s approval, etc.  I know I hit at least 2 or 3 of those buckets, and my guess is that all of you reading this can find yourself finding comfort in at least one of them still.  When we seek to be comforted by the things in God’s Creation, rather than our Creator, habitually, we’ve exposed an idol in our life.  Now, let’s speak plainly as friends – giving up something that you have found comfort in for a while, maybe a long while is not easy.  This is part of counting the cost of following Jesus per Luke 14 – you always have a choice, who will you follow?  Let me be even more blunt, giving up things you have found comfort in, is going to hurt, badly.  It won’t be easy.  You will have a hole where those things used to be, and you will need fellow Christians brothers (for men) and sisters (for women) to help encourage you through.  As you turn from the things you sought comfort in previously, there will be a hole that needs to be filled.  That is why we must be in the Word of God, seeing and savoring Jesus with the eyes of our heart and mind – finding new deeper affections for Him and comfort from Him.  Christians do not take the easy road in life.  We seek for Jesus above all things, and His Kingdom, no matter the cost, because Jesus is worth it.  He’s worth giving up everything for.

Matthew 13:44 – “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.”  

We’re all in this together.  We all have our weaknesses, and it will take strength, courage, and faith to step out and be willing to give up those things we have found comfort in previously, to trust Jesus fully.  That’s where we need to go.  You can’t have one foot in your sin, and one foot in the church, following Jesus – sin and Jesus are opposed to each other.  You have to decide which you really want more, and press forward.  My hope is that you’ll press forward with Jesus, trust Him as you venture into waters you have been afraid to previously, to give not just a piece of your heart’s affections to Him, but your whole heart.  You won’t regret it, God is faithful, as you turn to Him, He will run to you.  Luke 15:20-24 tells us a parable about a son who rejected his father for the world, but returned – “he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.  And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet.  And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate.  For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.” The vigilance to put to death sin and grow your affections for God is a mark of an authentic Christian.  It’s tough, but I know this, that if you trust God, if you put your faith in Him into action, you will never regret it.  He loves you more than you can possibly imagine.

Grace and Peace,

Adam