In Matthew 16:24 Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." It is not just intellectual faith, but is also a way of life. Many confuse “intellectual faith” with the true “saving faith” that the Bible teaches. “Intellectual faith”--knowing and believing that Jesus Christ is the son of God, that he died on the cross for our sins, and then rose again (proving he is God), but keep in mind that is not a saving faith because of this…
The Bible says, ‘the devil believes’ (James 2:19) and if anyone in this creation knows who Jesus Christ is, it’s Satan… and yet the Bible says what God has in store for him. "Intellectual faith”—knowing facts and statistics about Christ, and believing them to be real, is NOT enough. And in reference to the verse in Matthew 7:21... In my opinion, it is one of the most fearful verses in Bible. It states that on “judgment day” NOT everyone that claims they know Jesus Christ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but ONLY those that DO THE WILL of the Father who is in heaven.” So many people are mistaken when they say that the most important thing on the face of the earth is to know Jesus Christ—that is actually not true… The most important thing on the face of the earth is that Jesus KNOWS YOU. For example, I’m not going to get into The White House if I walk up the gate and tell everyone I know George Bush, but they will let me in if George Bush comes out and says, “I know Justin (me).” As I continued to read a few more verses (in Matt 7:23), it tells us what Jesus will actually say to these people that think that they know him. Jesus says, “I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you! Depart from me you who practice lawlessness.’” In an accurate translation of this verse, Jesus is saying, “Depart from me, those of you who claim to believe in me, who confess me as Lord and, yet, you live as though I never gave you a law to obey.” Unfortunately this describes the great majority of Christianity today (and devastatingly, my so called “Christianity” at one time). Now I also want to make it clear that this does NOT mean "salvation by works," because in Ephesians 2:8-9 it says, “For by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God—not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” You see, there is absolutely nothing we can do to try to earn God’s favor. However, the Bible also says, “that faith apart from works is dead.” (James 2:20). So what does this mean? It means that you cannot “earn” your salvation, by being a “good” person… However for a true Christian, who puts his faith in Jesus Christ, and really desires to be like Him, those “good deeds” will just come (but not in a way that we are trying to “buy” our way into heaven, but in our response of "taking up our cross and
following him" ...Because Jesus says, “If you love me, you will keep my commands.” (John 14:15). This is just evidence that your “faith” is genuine.
So how do we know if we “truly believe” in Jesus and aren’t just misled? How do I know that God has a place for me in heaven? One of the most important things about understanding the Bible is understanding that entire Bible encompasses what it means to be a true Christian (so we cant just take key verses that sound good out of context and think we know what they mean). The message of the Bible is that genuine “saving faith” is this… It is a “relationship” with Christ. Meaning that not only do you repent of your
sins and completely turn from them, but the main focus of your life is to talk daily with God, to try to be more Christ-like, to continue to know him by meditating daily on the Bible, and to desire with everything in you to serve Him. To essentially make Him “Lord of your life.” In a way of speaking,
falling in love with God… where God is sincerely your ALL! Where you think about Him constantly… Where He consumes you… And as a result of this new relationship, one will strive to be holy as He is holy (1 Peter 1:16)—in gratitude for him choosing to save me, not as a way to “earn” salvation. This is true “saving faith.”
So, how can one be assured and know that they’re a true believer?
Many would respond, “Well, I just know that I know.” The Bible says, “there is a way that seems right to a man, but its end leads to death.” (Prov. 14:12)
Many would also respond, “Well, I know in my heart of hearts that I am saved.” The Bible says, that “the heart is deceitful above all things.” (Jer. 17:9)
Even some would respond, “Well, I know I’m saved because the priest/preacher told me I’m saved.” Since when did men have such authority? Jesus clearly states, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” (Matt. 28:18)
And, the most dangerous response of all—“I know I’m saved because at one time in my life, I prayed a prayer and asked Jesus to come into my heart.” You’ll will not find this in any scripture... and this somewhat “superstitious” response can lead to many “false converts.”
In 2 Corinthians, Paul came to a church and spoke to the many of them who were professing Christ, but living a life of sin. Note that he doesn’t say to them, “When was the time that you first accepted Christ into your heart?” He doesn’t even refer to their conversion experience. He goes right to present tense and says “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 the test” (2 Cor. 13:5)
For illustrative purposes, if I were to let’s say, for three or four years seem to have walked with God, endeavored to pray, to know the Bible, to congregate with other believers, and claimed to be a man of faith… and then I began to fall away gradually, allowing the world, and sin back into my life… I can’t expect someone to say to me “You know you’re a Christian and you needed to avoid backsliding,” They would actually be more justified to say, “You have ‘declared’ among many that you are a Christian, but now you are beginning to live just like everyone else again. It is very possible that you never knew
Him.” For up until this point, I had been deceiving myself into thinking I was actually saved... because we can easily fool ourselves into thinking that we are still saved, because we feel it's just that we got “lazy” in our faith. However, an important thing to realize is that if a “work of God” does not continue, it never was a “work of God.” The Bible says that if God begins a work in someone, He will finish it until the end. (Phil. 1:6) So if someone becomes a “true” Christian, as taught in the Bible, he will remain a “true” Christian. For Jesus says that all those who truly follow Him, “will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of [his] hand.” (John 10:28) The Bible also makes it clear that if you’re a Christian, “Neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate you from God.” (Rom. 8:38-39)
So again, Paul says, “Test yourself!” This is not just some whimsical thing. This is not just something that we should worry about for a day. We’re talking about eternity. If we were to test ourselves in the light of Scripture, will we be found whole and complete, a true Christian, born again (as described in
John 3:3), kept by the power of God? So many people need to stop relying on emotions, and stop comparing themselves to other people who call themselves Christians, because the great majority of people in America who call themselves Christians are lost! We must seriously examine ourselves—daily. And this is not something to take lightly. If you ever visit South America, in the Andes Mountains, you would find that everywhere you go, you have to cross footbridges––gorges that you almost couldn’t see to the bottom. You have to test the ropes and test the wood… You have to ask yourself, “Is this a sound bridge? You must examine it carefully. Why? Because if you get out in the middle of that thing, and it breaks, you’re dead! In the same way, the salvation that people hold onto, that they trust in, is not rooted deeply in scripture… and when they swing out into eternity, many people are going to swing out on this superficial salvation… and it will turn out to be as weak as a strand of hair, and when the fires of hell blast up, it will wither and they will fall. I learned that we need to take the Word of God, and what the Word of God says about a true Christian, and examine ourselves in light of it. And if we fall short of the test, we should continue to repent and believe. I’ve learned to throw myself upon the mercy of God. As a human, I am so weak… and I continually let God down …but I continue and will continue to cry out to Him until he has molded me into one of His “children” …I will cry out until a work is done—a true work, a finished work, a complete work… (which, of course, will never be fully completed until the end).
There are so many people today that are still being persecuted for being a Christian. I heard about a child who the Muslims shot five times through the stomach and left him on the sidewalk simple because he cried out, “I am so afraid but I cannot deny Jesus! Please, Please don’t kill me, but I cannot deny Him!” He then died, laying there in his own blood… And so many people in our country call themselves Christians simply because they go to church every week… and looking at them during the rest of the week, there is no substance to their faith… they have NO IDEA what it means to be Christian. At that time, even looking at my own life made me feel like such a hypocrite.
When I think about how sinful and depraved we are, it is incomprehensible that God sent his son to die in our place. In light of this, it is a desire of my heart to give him everything. Now again I’m not saying that a Christian has to be perfect because the Bible says that even Christians still sin. What
I’m saying is this… If a person is a genuine Christian, “born-again” (as it is referred to in John 3:3), and a child of God, he or she will walk in the way of righteousness as a style of life. To the point of being so aware of your sins that the second you commit one you say, “Lord, please forgive me for that
sin and help me to catch myself before I commit it next time.”--That is true repentance. And in doing so, if you ever step off that path of righteousness, God will come for you, discipline you, and put you right back on that path. The Bible says that in doing all of this, you can test yourself. You can
compare your present-day life to the Word of God and if you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, where he is truly the center of all you do, you can be assured that “you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom” that is heaven. (2 Peter 1:5-11)
I just realized that so much of our nation is deceived by others telling us what the Bible “really” says, without reading it for ourselves. So much of my so-called “Christianity” was based on key verses, well known passages, Christian song lyrics, and even misleading sermons, and not the Bible. I was
guilty of never really opening my Bible much and truly studying the Word of God. I basically relied on people who have studied the whole Bible to “tell me” and “interpret” to me what certain passages of scripture say. Don’t get me wrong, however, because going to church is a very important building block
for instruction, but that is why it is crucial to be in a strong church that is preaching the real gospel—the good and the uncomfortable verses. Since making a commitment to truly follow Christ, my life has never been the same. Although I still fail at times, God continually lifts me back up because he
knows the sincerity of my vow. And it is a wonderful thing to be able to examine my life daily and know that if I were to die at any moment that I will be spending eternity with God, because he “knows” me!
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