SO YOU THINK YOU ARE A CHRISTIAN?
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Only by setting aside all that we originate ourselves and by trusting completely and utterly in the merits of our faithful Saviour alone can we be saved.
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Right with God, but without our own works
Our right standing with God is not established by our own exertions, nor even by that which God works in us, what we may become, but by that which He has done for us in Christ, apart from us and our behalf. Righteousness exists without the works of the Law, how much more then without the exertions of our will? This demolishes all moral work as being of standing before God or contributing in any way to our relationship with God.
“But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” (Isaiah 64:6)
Not only do we as Christian believers receive pardon for sins on the basis of what Christ has done by shedding His blood, in addition we receive by faith as a gift the righteousness of Christ accounted to us in the place of our own filthy rags of righteousness. It is the work of Christ on the cross objectively and His righteousness objectively, not our own works that we have done, not even the righteousness that God works in us, but Christ’s own righteousness apart from us that He puts to our account that justifies us before Him. All is a gift of His grace; all comes to us by faith. Not only can we never meet God’s righteous demands, there is no need for us to even attempt to do so. Christ has done all that is necessary for us on our behalf.
The righteousness of God
Any suggestion that salvation can be in the least based on personal merit must be emphatically rejected. It is gross error and contrary to the teaching of the Bible. Such a proposition will generally begin with a faulty understanding of the real nature of the human will.
“But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.” (Isaiah 64:6)
“Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost.” (Titus 3:5)
The Gospel of Christ throughout Scripture is the proclamation of the grace and mercy of God through Jesus Christ, merited and procured alone through His death.
“Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.” (1 Peter 2:24)
Through the death of Christ things are turned around for all who believe in Him. Once we were dead in trespasses and sins, now we are dead to sins. Not simply is it that we have pardon for sin, but we are made to be before God as though we never ever had any sins at all. Why should we try to cobble together our own righteousness to bring before God, when God also puts Christ’s perfect righteousness to our account? It is an insult to God. Furthermore, being already made acceptable before God by virtue of Christ’s work, now relieved of the need to produce our own righteous works, yet we have the potential not to continue in sin but to live a life that is pleasing to Him.
Knowing the love of God
“And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” (John 17:3)
Knowing God in this verse is more than intellectual cognition; it speaks of salvation. The natural man in and of himself is not able to comprehend or to accept Christian truth. He is devoid of spiritual life. He is insensible to the realities of the spiritual world and is in no position to receive the things of God.
“But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” (1 Corinthians 2:14)
Eternal life is light and knowledge. Godlessness is darkness and ignorance. This knowledge comes as the effect of regeneration within the soul, when translated from darkness to light. We need a new heart and mind, if we are to understand anything spiritual.
“In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.” (2 Corinthians 4:4)
“We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you.” (Colossians 1:3)
The whole soul ― mind, emotion, and will all need regeneration.
Every single natural birth is preordained by God, as is every spiritual birth. Every single event in history, in fact, is an enactment of the eternal counsel of God. This does not mean in any sense that as a result God treats us like a block of stone. Quite the contrary, what God desires above from us above all else is our unfettered and unconditional love. The great end of all His work of grace is that He might have a people for Himself who understand and reciprocate His love for us. Love is not something that is obtained by cold coercion.
“Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” (I John 4:10)
God has first demonstrated His love towards us in that He who was God and was with God from the beginning (John 1:1) in unfathomable love dies for us individually on the cross.
“But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved).” (Ephesians 2:4-5)
God longs to see that day when His love in us, then fully perfected, shall be glorified in us.
“The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.” (Romans 5:5-6)
God knows from eternity into whom His light will shine, who will be the recipients within of His grace and love. We were never unknown to God. It is not that we were only discovered with the passage of time and then assessed as to whether we were worthy or unworthy of His grace. That is not the way God works. God does not stand before us as would a stranger. He created and ordained each and every one. He knows us altogether, better than we know ourselves.
“O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether. Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.” (Psalm 139:1-6)
The work of God’s grace is eternal in character. The day of our natural birth, the day of our new and spiritual birth is also known to Him. It is not that God has neglected us between these two events. Quite the reverse, He has gently led us, watched over and cared for us each step of the way, provided for us, protected us until that moment we should find Him. Whilst His countenance may have been previously hidden from us, there He is is in the hour of His grace revealing Himself to us.
The salvation of the individual soul is an act of God’s grace within His eternal counsel that reaches its fulfilment and completion in our glorification before the throne of our Saviour.
“Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.” (1 John 31-2)
The preparation of God’s grace is not uncertain. God’s grace does not have a vague or unknown goal or outcome.
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will.” (Ephesians 1:3-5)
He chose us in Christ before we were, so that we would then come into being, and having come into being, He would lead us to Christ, His Son. Even when living in rebellion against Him and He was forced to turn His back on us, yet His hand still led us until we found a Saviour.
“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.” (Romans 8:28-29)
This is nothing cold and distant, but an act of love shedding itself abroad in our hearts. Passing over many obstacles and much resistance and opposition this love that does not stop until it pours itself out in our heart. It is not our love, but His through His grace He makes us understand and brings us to drink and taste of that love.
Justification by faith alone
Sadly these days, fed on a diet of fluffy entertainment, empty emotionalism, and pop-style ‘worship’ ― all stones in the place of the bread of life― congregations are left ignorant of the basics of the faith. Serious Bible teaching on such matters as justification by faith has become almost extinct. Doctrine is perceived as divisive rather than edifying. As a consequence, church members are left unable to identify error, apostasy, and left dangerously exposed to the enticement of alliances with the Roman Church. Those insisting upon sound doctrine are labelled inflexible, negative, even unloving and schismatic, although the Bible is full of doctrine from Genesis to Revelation. Professed conversion is often based on little more than misleading and meaningless expressions that have no basis in Scripture: ‘Let Jesus come into your heart’ or ‘Accept Christ as your personal Saviour.’
The biblical teaching about justification by faith answers the question as to how a holy God, who demands perfection and holiness in His creatures, is able to allow guilty sinners into His presence to have fellowship with Him.
“Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them, Ye shall be holy: for I the LORD your God am holy.” (Leviticus 19:2)
“Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48)
“But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.” (1 Peter 1:15-16)
First of all, the penalty for our sin and guilt must be paid in full. Second, God’s demand for perfect obedience and holiness must be met. What ought to be clear to us all is that we can do neither of these things. We need not only pardon for sin but also to stand as righteous before God if we are to receive the reward of eternal life. With respect to the penalty for sin, it is the expiatory death of our Saviour on the Cross that delivers the believing sinner from the punishment for sin we all justly deserve. With respect to our standing before God, it is the perfect obedience and righteousness of the Lord Jesus that God sees and not our own, bringing to us eternal life. At the moment of faith in Christ, God declares the sinner to be righteous and free from the penalty of sin on account of Christ.
Justification is not something that happens within us to change us. Nor is it a process that God begins within us to make us gradually more righteous. It is a judicial declaration by God that on the basis of Christ’s sacrificial death and perfect obedience believers are declared righteous. It is a serious error to imagine that justification is an operation God works in us; it is not. The Council of Trent perfectly describes the Roman Catholic teaching held to this day that justification is “not remission of sins merely, but also the sanctification and renewal of the inward man, through the voluntary reception of grace and gifts by which an unrighteous man becomes righteous.” This process, it is taught, may even continue after death in purgatory.
“But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.”(Romans 4:5)
The word ‘justify’ means to declare righteous not to make righteous. A judge does not make a criminal guilty, he only declares him to be so. Equally, he does not make him innocent, but declares him to be innocent. Something similar applies to our justification. God declares us righteous. There is no question here of soul being purified or of righteousness being poured in or infused such as is taught in the Roman Church. Justification is external to us and has nothing to do with making us subjectively righteous, making us thereby accepted with God. Rather than an infusion of righteousness, the Bible speaks of imputation, an important and significant difference. Sometimes the Bible also says negatively that a person’s sins are not imputed to him:
“Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity” (Psalm 32:2).
“To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.” (2 Corinthians 5:19)
The apostle Paul writes of Abraham’s faith, where Christ’s righteousness is accounted to him:
“And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead.”(Romans 4:22-24)
The removal of guilt and the imputation of righteousness happen at the same moment. Imputation means that God reckons the believing sinner as perfectly righteous on the basis of Christ’s righteousness even although he is not personally righteous. This is shown clearly by the fact that God declares the ungodly to be righteous.
“But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.”(Romans 4:5)
If ungodly men are regarded as righteous, it cannot be on the grounds of their personal character. It is also clear that justification does not consist of making anyone inherently holy as it is the ungodly who believe that are justified for Christ’s sake.
“Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.” (Romans 3:24-26)
Justification is not being made righteous because no one can be saved by his own works or by keeping God’s Law. In addition, justification is also an instantaneous event not a process over many years. When a person believes he has eternal life.
“He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” (John 3:36)
“Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Romans 5:1)
Justification is something God does on His own. He removes the guilt of sin and clothes everyone who believes with Christ’s perfect righteousness.
Justification comes to us alone through faith. Faith is not the ground of justification. It is simply the means or route by which that which Christ has already accomplished for us comes to us. Faith is not something virtuous in itself causing God to justify us. We are not accepted by God because of our faith, but through or by means of faith. The Scriptures, Old and New Testaments, are full of passages dealing with being justified by faith.
“Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.” (Habakkuk 2:4)
“For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.” (Romans 1:17)
“Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.” (Romans 3:22-28)
“Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.” (Galatians 2:16)
“But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.” (Galatians 3:11)
“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)
“And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.” (Philippians 3:9)
Faith is the instrument laying hold of the Lord Jesus and His merits. Men are enabled to believe by God through His regenerating power. Receiving the gift of faith the person is enabled to believe in Christ and receiving all His benefits. Regeneration, or the gift of the new birth, comes alone from God. Faith, on the other hand, is not an act of God. God does not believe in Christ for salvation for us; we believe as sinners. However, it is of His grace that we are thus enabled to believe, but faith is something we do whereby we rest solely upon Christ for salvation. Nevertheless, faith cannot be construed as a meritorious work of man, it is the gift of God. We are accepted with God not because of our faith, but because of the Lord Jesus. He is the object of our faith. We are saved by believing not for believing. True faith always looks away to the Lord Jesus alone. We are saved as we cry out to Him for mercy, believing He will save us. That cry itself has been enabled by God. The conviction that we know God saves in Christ likewise has been given by God.
There are many who consider themselves Christians, but they have no real understanding of the biblical meaning of faith. Without doubt, most who call themselves ‘Christians’ know little or nothing of saving faith. Some think of faith as a leap in the dark, not knowing what lies on the other side. Others see it as believing something that cannot be proven by reason, is absurd or illogical. Yet another view sees faith as mental assent to something that may or may not be true ― faith is a risk. Biblical faith knows nothing of probability only certainty.
“For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God.” (Job 19:25-26)
“I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.” (2 Timothy 1:12)
Biblical faith is assurance, certitude, confidence.
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1)
This verse means that genuine Christians believe implicitly what they read in the Scriptures although they have not seen anything of the historical events or miracles described there. Some try to draw a distinction between believing in the person of Christ and His written word. This is, of course, doesn’t make any sense. If we trust and believe in Christ, we shall also believe every word He has given. Faith in the Word of God is faith in Christ. We believe Jesus to be the Christ because God has given testimony in Scripture that this is who He is. We believe the promises in Scripture and in God’s ability to perform them; we believe everything He has revealed about Christ and His work.
Not everyone who claims he ‘believes in Jesus’ has saving faith. There are many who believe in a Christ who does not exist, who is a figment of their own imagination, is not the Christ of the Scriptures. Those who deny the doctrine of Christ as taught in Scripture worship another Jesus, believe another Gospel, have a misdirected faith and such faith cannot save. Another Christ is no Christ at all, no Saviour.
“Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.” (2 John 9)
There are those who confess the Lord Jesus with their lips, but deny Him by their actions. From the epistle of James it is clear that faith that does not demonstrate its reality by godly works afterwards is no faith.
“What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? … Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.” (James 2:14, 17)
Dead faith also presents itself as cold orthodoxy, accepting a series of doctrinal statements as being true. Demons possess this kind of knowledge and belief in the truth of the Gospel, but they certainly have no personal and saving trust in Christ.
“Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.” (James 2:19)
Demons know and believe the truth, but hate Christ. This kind of faith accepts that the Scriptures are true, but knowledge or mere intellectual assent is not trust. Many go through the motions, but do not really believe. Ask them whether they are Christians and they will say they are, but by the way they live they deny everything they confess with their lips.
There are many who start well, full of enthusiasm, excited about hearing the Gospel and trusting Christ, but then their faith trails off and dies.
“They on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away.” (Luke 8:13)
These types go to Church, get involved, but after a time they return to their old sinful ways. Maybe they give up after some difficulty or problem presents itself. Everything they profess is superficial, unreal, they are not genuine believers.
“They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.” (1 John 2:19)
Such ‘faith’ comes from a still unregenerate heart.
“Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.” (Hebrews 3:12)
The faith that saves, although we are told in Scripture it is an act of man, comes to us as a direct consequence of the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit in the heart. That which is worked by the Holy Spirit cannot fail. Reading the Word of God brings about conviction of sin as the Holy Spirit illumines its pages. Convinced of the truth of Scripture and the Gospel in particular, he will place his trust in the Christ revealed in Scriptures.
“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” (Romans 10:9)
Saving faith does not come about as a result of the persuasive words of men, philosophical argument, historical or scientific proofs, but alone from the inward testimony of the Holy Spirit.
Saving faith presumes some knowledge of the Gospel as revealed in Scripture. No trust can be placed in a Christ, in a Gospel of which one knows nothing.
“How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? … So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (Romans 10:14, 17)
Can a person believe when he or she does not know what is meant by God, or Christ being the Son of God? Can they believe when definitions of God, Christ, sin, salvation, and much more are based on human speculation instead of the Christian Scriptures? There are those who ask how little it is necessary to know in order to believe and view doctrine as off-putting and not significant. Instead of asking how little teaching is necessary we ought to be expounding the Gospel as broadly as we can. Instead of winding people up with emotion in Christian gatherings so that they hardly know to what they are committing themselves, there ought to be good and straightforward preaching of the Word of God.
Knowledge on its own is not sufficient. Many have a good grasp of the Gospel and the Bible, but do not believe. Many who been brought up on the Gospel have rejected it. Saving faith believes the Word of God implicitly. But neither is it simply a mental acceptance of the truth of the Gospel revealed in Scripture. Saving faith drives us to rely with total confidence upon Christ alone in the sure hope of salvation, relying upon His meritorious work and nothing of our own works, receiving His gracious promises, knowing that He is ours and we are His. The focus must be on Christ and not upon our faith, He it is who saves us.
"And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart." (Jeremiah 29:13)
Finally
The very idea of a Christian having no regard for sin, of treating it lightly now all sins are dealt with, continuing as before, is utterly unthinkable. Paul also begins to explain how sin, the flesh, has no ultimate hold over us. Few professing Christians these days have any real understanding of justification. Fewer still know anything about sanctification, or how we should progress in Christian living. Many never give the matter a thought, or do not even care. It is a topic seldom spoken of, and then only very reluctantly and in confused terminology often riddled with error. It is far better not to raise any issues that will make any practical change to our lives or single us out as being different from those around us!
First and foremost, it needs to be stated most clearly that those who show indifference to personal sin are not just weak or so-called ‘carnal’ Christians, or even inconsistent ones, they are not Christians at all.
“Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God. (2 Corinthians 6:9-11)
This passage excludes: idolaters, adulterers, sodomites, homosexuals, swindlers, thieves, drunkards and plainly says that anyone whose life is characterized by any such sinful behaviour should not be received as Christians. All too often they are. Those who continue throughout their lives to be ruled by such sins, not even seeking deliverance, know nothing of salvation.
It is unthinkable that we should be indwelt by God’s Holy Spirit and yet lead unholy lives.
“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)
There are many who, believing their sins to be pardoned, now pay scant or no attention whatever to how they should be living. Their own self-centred desires, ambitions and aggrandizement always take priority over everything else. Inevitably, they view with disdain and even despise those who do seek to live differently. Of course, it exposes them to a charge of hypocrisy. Their thought is, the premium has been paid on a heavenly insurance policy and ‘we are all Christians now’. In many circles to raise doubts about personal salvation on any grounds is cardinal sin far worse than ungodly living. Yet, many are standing on a very shaky foundation. Say the ‘sinner’s prayer’ and we can all relax, nothing more to worry about, the convert is won and on the road to heaven, no need to worry about anything else, move on to the next. After this nothing is to be questioned. Wrong, so wrong. Every profession of faith needs to be set under the searchlight of God’s Word.
All too often there is little to distinguish professing Christians from those around them. Nothing has really changed. Their interests and general way of life continue in much the same way as they always did. Rather than demonstrating that they live under the authority of Christ and His written Word, their lives are much the same as any other relatively good-living, decent, upright citizens of the realm. However, if we claim that there has been within us a divine work of God, there will be something about us that cannot be reproduced by those whose lives are ruled by the flesh. Even as the wonders performed by Moses in Egypt could only be replicated up to a point, equally there will be some qualities about Christian believers that cannot be imitated by unbelievers however hard they may try. The Christian life can only be faked to a certain degree. Like whitewashing coal, eventually the black underneath will show through.
If we have truly trusted Christ for salvation, then there will be inevitable changes, some immediate, some more gradual. Thieves will stop thieving, gamblers will stop gambling, drunkards will stop drinking, adulterers will repent, the dishonest will become honest, liars stop lying, gossips and evil-speakers will stop their tittle-tattle, homosexuals and sodomites will change their lifestyle, the arrogant will now show godly humility and meekness, and so on. Positively, there will be an ever-increasing love for God, for His Word, and something often overlooked — also for fellow believers, seeking their good. We will turn from being men-pleasers to God-pleasers, living in utter submission to Him and receiving without question the authority of His Word. If there has been no such outward change, if these things are missing, if everything carries on much as before, there is then no evidence whatever of a genuine inward change of heart and experience of Christ.
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