The Tests of a True Christian

It is possible to profess to know Jesus, and yet not truly know Him. It is possible to speak the language of Christianity, attend Christian gatherings, know the doctrines, and even have a measure of biblical knowledge -- while the heart remains a stranger to the saving power of God.

The apostle John gives us searching tests by which the reality of our profession may be examined. He does not tell us merely to look at what we say we believe. He tells us to look at the life that flows from our profession.

1 John 2:3-5, "By this we can be sure that we have come to know Him: if we keep His commandments. If anyone says, "I know Him," but does not keep His commandments, he is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone keeps His word, the love of God has been truly perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him."

Here is the first test -- obedience to God.

John does not say that we are saved because we keep God's commandments. Salvation is entirely of grace. We are justified by faith alone, in Jesus alone, and never by our works. But saving faith never remains alone. The grace that pardons, also transforms.

A person may say, "I know Him." But John asks, in effect, "Does your life bear witness to what your lips profess?" A profession of faith that produces no obedience, is a dangerous profession indeed.

 

Here is another test -- what governs the direction of our life?

The world is passing away. Its pleasures fade. Its honors disappear. Its treasures perish. Its lusts consume themselves. Everything that belongs to this present evil age is under the sentence of death. But the one who does the will of God remains forever.

Christian, where is your heart?
What occupies your thoughts?
What commands your affections?
What are you living for?
A man may profess to belong to Jesus, but if his heart is enslaved to the world, John gives him solemn reason to examine his profession.

1 John 3:24, "And whoever keeps His commandments remains in God, and God in him. And by this we know that He remains in us: by the Spirit He has given us."

The Christian does not obey, in order to become God's child. He obeys, because God has made him His child. The Holy Spirit has entered his life, and the presence of the Spirit produces a new disposition toward God, His Word, and His Commandments.

The true Christian may stumble grievously. He may fall into sin. He may need continual repentance and confession. But he cannot make peace with sin. There is a new principle of life within him.

1 John 1:6-7, "If we claim to have fellowship with Him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin."

Here is the test of a holy life.

John does not say that Christians never sin. Indeed, he has already declared, "If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves" (1 John 1:8). The Christian still battles remaining sin.

But there is a vast difference between falling into sin, and walking in sin.

The believer may fall into darkness, but he cannot be content to remain there. Grace brings him back into the light. The Spirit exposes his sin. The Word pierces his conscience. Repentance turns his heart again toward God.

The blood of Jesus cleanses His people from every sin -- but that cleansing grace never teaches us to love the darkness from which Jesus came to deliver us.

1 John 2:6, "Whoever claims to abide in Him, must walk as Jesus walked."

What an astonishing test!

If we say that we abide in Jesus, our walk should increasingly resemble His walk. We are not saved by becoming like Jesus. We become like Jesus, because we have been saved by Him.

The question is not whether we have reached perfection. We have not. The question is whether there is a growing likeness to Jesus in our lives -- increasing hatred of sin, increasing love for holiness, increasing obedience to God, increasing love for His people, increasing humility before Him.

Where there is no likeness to Jesus, there is reason to question the reality of the profession.

1 John 2:29, "And if you know that He is righteous, you also know that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of Him."

The new birth produces a new life! Regeneration is not merely a change of religious opinions. God does not merely give His people new information -- He gives them a new heart. The man who was once content to live for sin, now begins to desire holiness. The woman who once loved the world's ways, now begins to love the ways of God.

A holy life is not the root of salvation -- it is the fruit.

We are not born again because we practice righteousness. Rather, because we have been born again, we increasingly practice righteousness.

1 John 3:3, "And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure."

Even our hope of heaven becomes a test.

The genuine Christian longs to see Jesus. And the more he longs to see Jesus, the more he longs to be delivered from the sin that dishonors Jesus.

True assurance does not make a man careless about holiness. It makes him hunger for holiness.

The thought of seeing Jesus face to face should cause us to cry, "Lord, make me more like You!"

A hope of heaven that produces no desire for holiness, is not the hope John describes.

Then John brings the matter to its most solemn point:

1 John 3:6-10, "Everyone who remains in Him does not keep on sinning. Everyone who continues in sin has not seen Him or known Him.
Little children, let no one deceive you: The one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous.
The one who practices sin is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the very start. This is why the Son of God was revealed: to destroy the works of the devil.
Anyone born of God refuses to continue in sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God.
By this the children of God and the children of the devil are distinguished: Anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is anyone who does not love his brother."

These words should make every careless professor tremble.

John does not leave us in a comfortable gray area. He draws a line between two kingdoms, two families, two kinds of people -- the children of God and the children of the devil.

The issue is not sinless perfection. If it were, no Christian could stand, for every believer still carries remaining sin. The issue is the characteristic direction of life.

Does sin reign -- or is sin resisted?

Is holiness desired -- or despised?

Is repentance welcomed -- or resisted?

Is God's Word obeyed -- or ignored?

Is Jesus treasured -- or merely professed?

The true Christian can say, "I hate the sin I still find within me. I grieve over it. I confess it. I long to be free from it. I flee again to Jesus."

The false professor says, in effect, "I know Jesus," while continuing to walk comfortably in darkness.

This is the great burden of John's message: do not deceive yourself.

Do not build assurance upon a past profession, while ignoring the present condition of your life. Do not rest upon a prayer you once prayed, while refusing to examine the fruit that has followed. Do not silence the warnings of Scripture, by telling yourself that grace means your manner of life does not matter.

Grace matters precisely because grace changes those whom it saves.

The blood of Jesus pardons the guilty.
The Spirit of God indwells the redeemed.
The Word of God transforms the believer.
The grace of God teaches His children to deny ungodliness.
The new birth creates new desires.
And the true child of God, though imperfectly, begins to walk in a new direction.

Look, then, not merely at your profession -- look at your life.

Do you obey God?
Do you love holiness?
Do you hate sin?
Do you repent when you fall into sin?
Do you desire to walk as Jesus walked?
Do you practice righteousness?
Do you love God's people?
Do you long to be purified?

These things do not purchase salvation. Jesus alone saves. But they are precious evidences of His saving work in those whom He has redeemed.

And if, upon honest examination, you discover sin and weakness, then do not despair. Run to Jesus. Confess your sin. Look again to His cross. Rest again upon His sin-atoning work. The believer's hope is not his own righteousness, but the perfect righteousness and sufficient sacrifice of Jesus.

Yet if you discover instead that you can live comfortably in sin, despise holiness, disregard God's commandments, and have no genuine desire for Jesus -- then do not soothe your conscience with a mere profession of faith.

Eternity is too long.
Your soul is too precious.
Hell is too terrible.
Jesus is too glorious.
And the Word of God is too plain for us to play games with our profession.

"Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves." 2 Corinthians 13:5

The great question is not merely, "Have I professed Jesus?"

It is this: "Has Jesus truly changed me?"
(The above article was AI generated.)