Profession of Faith but Still Lost

Before I start the sermon, I want you to know that I love and care for each one of you. I say this because you might characterize the sermon as a tough love sermon. But for the sake of some who may think they are saved but are not, I feel compelled to preach it.

My sermon today is for those who profess to be or claim to be a Christian.  What is a Christian or what defines a Christian? The Bible says a Christian is a person who has been born again, who has received the gift of eternal life, who has had all their sins forgiven, and who will go to heaven when they die.

If you claim to be a Christian, you likely know what the Bible says is the way to become one. The Bible is very clear on that. It is in an attitude of repentance believing that Jesus suffered and died on the cross to pay for your sins. Believing to the point of trusting in or relying on what Jesus did to pay the penalty for your sins. Jesus said, “Truly, truly, he who believes has eternal life.”  Is that how you became a Christian? If not, then by the Bible’s definition, you are among those who are not truly a Christian, not really saved. If you thought you were on your way to heaven, then you need to take action and as the Bible says to do “work out your salvation with fear and trembling.”

For those others of you who claim to be Christians, who professed to believe in Jesus, does your life reflect the attitudes and behaviors of true believers? You see when we genuinely repent of our sins and trust in Jesus as our Lord and Savior, a radical change occurs in our life. So radical that Jesus says you are born again, and the Apostle Paul says we “are a new creature, old things are passed away, behold all things are become new.” In other words, you have a new self.

So, what does the Bible say are the characteristics of the new self?

– First, at the moment of conversion the Spirit of God indwells you

+ To help you understand Spiritual truths

+ To protect you from Satan and his demons

+ To intercede for you to the Father

+ To provide the power and strength to live the way God wants you to live

– Second, your desires change because of the gratitude and love you now have for Jesus. Instead

of just pleasing yourself, your desires are now to do what pleases Jesus and God.

If you desire to please self more than pleasing God, your salvation is in question.

So, what pleases Jesus and God? From scripture, they have given us some guiding principles and some specific commands:

Guiding principles:

+ Love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. In other words, love Him with all of your being

+ Love your neighbor as yourself. Don’t be concerned with just your own needs, but about others’ needs as well

+ Do unto others as you would have them do unto you – The Golden Rule Specific commands. These will fall under the category of at least one of the general principles.

+ Share your good news of God’s forgiveness through Christ with others

++ Through believer’s baptism you tell the world (make it public)

++ Tell others about what God did for you and what He can do for them. Jesus said, “You will be my witnesses.”

+ Obey God’s and Jesus’s commands and standards for living

++ First: Stop sinning or, quoting Jesus, “Sin no more.” That means beginning the moment after conversion you stop        sinful habits, and with the Spirit’s help, strive not to sin in any way. God knows you won’t be able to be perfect, but He expects you to try. And when we fail in a moment of weakness, He has given us this promise, “If you confess your sins, God is faithful and just to forgive you and cleanse you of all unrighteousness.”

++ Next: Start serving God through a local church. Worship and fellowship with other believers and study, learn, and meditate on scripture

++ Also: Spend personal time with God in prayer every day. God desires an ongoing personal relationship with you.

++ Learn and practice the good virtues (humility, courage, prudence, kindness, gratitude. patience, etc.) and shun bad ones (cowardice, laziness, being judgmental, arrogance, etc.)

++ Live moral and ethical lives. Don’t lie, cheat, steal, etc., and live by God’s sexual standards

I think disobedience to God’s standard for sex is where many fail the test of true Christianity. They don’t want to be limited by God’s standard for sex. In case you have forgotten, God’s standard is very explicit – sexual relations are to be only between a husband (man) and his wife (woman). All other sexual relations are against God’s standards and are sinful. These include pre-marital sex, other sex outside marriage, and sex with someone of the same sex. We are to have self-control over our sexual urges, make no provision for the flesh, and flee sexual temptation.

In this area, an unintended slip-up where you ended up doing what you did not want to or did not intend to do is one thing. Ongoing, willfully disobeying God is a different thing. Confess the unintended slip-up with genuine repentance and genuine intent not to fail again, and God will cleanse you of all unrighteousness.  But the ongoing, continuing practice of sex in violation of God’s standard is continually putting your desires above God’s desires. This is not the behavior of one who has been truly saved and whose aim is thus to put God’s desires above their own.

If this describes you, then I am fearful you may not really be saved.  There may be others guilty of habitual sin in other areas like cheating on your income taxes or consistently mistreating others.  I am fearful for you too. Why am I fearful? Listen to what scripture has to say:

John 3:10-21, “19 This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21 But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”

John 3:36, “36 He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not [a]obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”

Note [a] The original Greek word means belief evidenced by obedience

These verses tell us this: Jesus and His payment on the cross for the sins of man is the light that has come into the world. When you truly trust in Jesus, you go to the light and forsake evil deeds (sin) and practice the truth (righteousness). If you refuse to obey Jesus by not quitting your sinful behavior, rather than being saved, your belief was likely not genuine, and you will receive the wrath of God.

There’s more:

John 13:15, 23-24, “15 “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” “23 Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him. 24 He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me.”

These verses tell us that if you love Jesus because He has saved and forgiven you, then you will keep His commandments, you will not keep practicing sin for example.

And still more:

1 John 2:3-4, “3 By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. 4 The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.”

In Matthew 7:21-23 Jesus says, “21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ Lawlessness is sinfulness – those who practice sin.

This could not be more clear.

Now, do you see why I am concerned for you? You claim to be a Christian, but your willful, sinful practices betray you as a liar and one who does not love Jesus, one who is not truly saved, one who has not been born again!

How could you have thought you were saved? Perhaps it was because you never repented of your sins – just believe in Jesus and you will be saved. “Easy believes” it has been called. It is the idea that you can get your ticket punched to heaven without giving up your sin. Just believe in Jesus and you have a ticket to heaven and a license to keep on sinning.

But, the Bible makes it clear that saving faith must be with an attitude of repentance – genuine repentance. In Acts 20:21, the Apostle Paul preached “repentance toward God and faith in Jesus Christ.”

In John 2:23-25, there is an occasion where Jesus did not accept a group of people’s belief in Him because He knew what was in their hearts. They had not believed in an attitude of repentance. Listen to what Jesus said about repentance in another passage from Matthew:

Matthew 11:20-23, “20 Then He began to denounce the cities in which most of His miracles were done, because they did not repent. 21 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles had occurred in Tyre and Sidon which occurred in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. 22 Nevertheless I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you. 23 And you, Capernaum, will not be exalted to heaven, will you? You will descend to Hades; for if the miracles had occurred in Sodom which occurred in you, it would have remained to this day.”

In Matthew 4:17, it reads, “17 From that time Jesus began to preach and say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

(Pause)

After hearing this message, you may realize you are not really saved. Maybe you never repented and you are practicing sin. If that is you, you can repent and trust in Christ and be saved today.

Everyone, please bow your heads. Let me explain what repentance means. Then in a prayer to God, you can repent and believe and be truly born again. Repentance means a couple of things. First, it means you admit to yourself and to God that you have been doing things you know are wrong. The Bible (Romans 3:23) confirms it. None is righteous –without sin –all have sinned. Sin is a wrong action, ugly words, or an impure or evil thought. Repentance also means that with remorse and contrition, you want to and choose to turn from wrongdoing and start living the way you believe God wants you to live. It is a change of heart and mind. It has to be genuine; it can’t be faked because God knows your heart.

Everyone with your heads bowed and no one looking around, if you thought you were saved but now realize you are not or may not be saved, please slip your hand up and then back down.

(Acknowledge each who does)

To each of you, the Bible says “Today is the day of salvation.” You can nail down your salvation today by first repenting of your sin. That means you confess it to God with the commitment to stop sinning and start living by God’s standards.

(I’m going to give you a moment to do that.)

Now, having genuinely repented, place your trust in what Jesus did for you on the cross. When He suffered and died there, it was to pay for your sins and mine. Accept His gift of forgiveness and eternal life. I invite you to do that right now in a silent prayer to God.

(Pause, then ask Have you done that?)

If you have, then thank Jesus and God for what they have done for you and pledge that with God’s help you will start living in the ways that please God.

We are going to have a hymn of invitation. If you have repented and trusted in Christ today, I invite you to come forward and make it public as Jesus wants you to do. Every Christian here has taken that step forward to make public their trust in Christ and will rejoice with you when you come.