• Table of Contents
• Introduction
• CHAPTER 1. Perverting the Gospel - The Ultimate Sin Against Humanity
• CHAPTER 2. The Gospel of Salvation - Part I - Faith and Obedience
• CHAPTER 3. The Gospel of Salvation - Part II - A Righteous Life by Faith
• CHAPTER 4. Regeneration: God's Creation of the Righteous
• CHAPTER 5. Sanctification: Set Apart for Righteousness
• CHAPTER 6. The Neccesity of Coming Under the Lordship of Christ - Part I
• CHAPTER 7. The Neccesity of Coming Under the Lordship of Christ - Part II
• CHAPTER 8. We Walk By Faith - Part I - Every Believer Overcomes the World
• CHAPTER 9. We Walk By Faith - Part II - Every Believer Takes up Their Cross
• CHAPTER 10. The Fallacy of the "Carnal Christian"
• CHAPTER 11. Bear or Burn: The Fate of the Fruitless in the Parables of Christ
• CHAPTER 12. Righteousness vs. Self-righteousness
• CHAPTER 13. Saint or Sinner?
• CHAPTER 14. Can a Christian Backslide?
• CHAPTER 15. Sin and the Misinterpretation of Romans 7
• CHAPTER 16. Examine Yourselves as to Whether You Are in the Faith

Clinging to a Counterfeit Cross

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Over 75 Online Commentaries

by James P. Shelly

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Conclusion: Examine Yourselves as to See Whether You Are in the Faith

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!

As we have shown throughout the preceding chapters, the gift of salvation brings with it the necessary consequence of obedience to God to the extent that without it there is no salvation. The primary aim and purpose of salvation is the restoration of man’s relationship with God which was established from the beginning. Therefore, this gift of God includes within it, not only the forgiveness of sin, but a renewed and cleansed heart wherein the Spirit of God, taking up residence within it, acts as the source and effectual cause of an obedient love relationship with Him (Ezek. 36:26-28, Deut. 30:6, Phil. 2:13, 1 Jn. 3:9, etc.). It is not the slavish, reluctant, legalistic obedience of the flesh under the law, which can never please God, but the liberating, voluntary, Spirit wrought, joyful obedience that comes from a heart of faith, which is indeed pleasing to God (Rom. 8:4-9). It is exemplified in the righteousness of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Job, Noah, David, Peter, Paul, etc., as opposed to the so-called righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees. It is the distinction between the “filthy rags righteousness” of backslidden Israel (Isa. 64:6) and the one “who joyfully works righteousness,” who remembers God in His ways (Isa. 64:5). It is the contrast between the apparent righteousness of a superficial faith with the authentic righteousness of the true believer. In failing to recognize this distinction between the works of the Law (Rom. 3:20) and the works of faith (Jas. 2:14) many have fallen into the error of Antinomianism resulting in licentiousness which is one of the most pernicious and destructive errors that has ever crept into the church (Jude 4). It divides God’s gift of grace in that forgiveness can be received while all the other aspects of grace are optional; Lordship, discipleship, sanctification, love, obedience, righteousness, etc. It is a teaching that erases the clear line of distinction Scripture draws between the sheep and the goats, the believer and unbeliever, the saint and the sinner, the faithful and faithless, the righteous and unrighteous. The standard whereby one might identify as a Christian is then reduced to a mere profession of faith in Christ and therefore it is not to be questioned irrespective of how one lives. In other words, what James defines as a dead faith (James 2:17), these would argue is saving faith, albeit with fewer rewards in the kingdom. Subsequently, we hear terms like “committed Christian” or “devout Christian” as though commitment and devotedness to Christ were optional in salvation. The number of souls destroyed by the error of this misunderstanding of God’s grace is incalculable. Its widespread impact has, in all probability, brought more disgrace, dishonor, and disrepute to God and His true church than any error in ecclesiastical history. Moreover, it incites division rather than unity within the body of Christ as it allows its members to walk in two opposite directions, which according to Scripture, makes Christian fellowship impossible (2 Cor. 6:14). Some walk in the Spirit others in the flesh — Some in the light others in darkness — Some under Christ’s Lordship, others under their own — Some sow to the Spirit while others sow to the flesh yet they both reap the same harvest of everlasting life — Some are good and faithful servants while others are wicked and slothful servants yet both will enter His kingdom — Some are walking in the narrow way others in the broad. They mistakenly imagine that the imputed righteousness of Christ makes their own righteousness unnecessary, the lack thereof resulting only in diminished rewards enjoyed in the kingdom while entrance into the kingdom is assured. Justification is not merited but sanctification is. This teaching has inundated the visible church resulting in the perception to the outside world that the church is filled with hypocrites, notwithstanding the fact that according to Christ a hypocrite is not a Christian and therefore not actual members of His church at all (Matt. 24:51, Acts 10:35). But does Jesus not speak of the wheat and the tares growing together? Yes, but the point of Christ’s analogy is that the tares are difficult to discern as there are no outward and visible distinctions between the two in the early stages of their growth. In other words, the tares appear to be righteous before men even as the wheat but it is merely outward and therefore only God is able to truly discern the hypocritical state of their hearts (Matt. 23:28). Therefore, they, even as Judas, may go undetected even by those in close fellowship with him (Matt. 26:21, 22). Adam Clarke writes,

Every Christian society, how pure soever its principles may be, has its bastard wheat - those who bear a resemblance to the good, but whose hearts are not right with God. He who sows this bastard wheat among God’s people is here styled God’s enemy, and he may be considered also as a sower of them who permits them to be sown and to spring up through his negligence. Woe to the indolent pastors, who permit the souls under their care to be corrupted by error and sin!¹

Many have become so overtaken with an unhealthy and crippling fear that they might be thought teaching a “salvation by works” that they have abandoned entirely, or have twisted the true meaning of, the myriad of verses that accentuate the necessity of obedience in salvation. Because of their lack of understanding of grace and the “power of God” in salvation, they can never reconcile the two. Thus their followers are “always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth” (2 Tim. 3:7); often deceived to the extent that those who would insist on obedience are met with the accusation of being “of the devil” and “Pharisaical.” When, in fact our obedience, or lack thereof, is the single most concerning issue to God throughout Scripture. Moreover, the Pharisees were not rebuked for their insistence on obedience, but for a superficial obedience as a result of a mere external, heartless and mechanical adherence to the “works of the law” (Matt. 23:23). Jesus Himself said,

Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 5:19, 20).

His commission was to, “Go therefore and make disciples…teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (Matt. 28:19, 20, NIV, emphasis added). In contrast, this relatively new gospel is “Go therefore and make a people who profess a faith in Me, teaching them to say a prayer for the forgiveness of sin, being careful not to mention any obligation to obey My commandments lest they think that salvation is by works.”

As a consequence of this so-called gospel, we are told that we should never look to our own behavior when considering the assurance of our salvation as we “need only look to the finished work of Christ.” Where again they fail to understand that “the finished work of Christ” has as its primary objective the bearing of the fruit of righteousness to all who receive it. Thus, we are constantly warned throughout Scripture of the deception of a bare profession of faith that does not result in a righteous life;

Ezekiel 33:31 - So they come to you as people do, they sit before you as My people, and they hear your words, but they do not do them; for with their mouth they show much love, but their hearts pursue their own gain (NKJV).

Matthew 15:8, 9 - ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me’ and in vain they worship me.

Matthew 7:21 - 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.

Luke 6:46 - Why do you call me‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?

1 John 1:6 - If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.

1 John 2:4 - Whoever says“I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

Titus 1:16 - They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.

James 2:14 - What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?

James 1:22 - But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves (all emphasis added).

How can any one of these verses have their intended effect without us personally examining our own behavior and manner of life? How can we know if we are doing the will of the Father, keeping His commandments, walking in the light, doers of the word? By looking to the finished work of Christ? No, for it is not possible, in light of these and a myriad of other passages in Scripture, to evaluate the state of our own souls and to seek the assurance of our salvation, without taking into account our behavior — Examining our lives in regard to how we live, think, and act in this present world — Testing ourselves as to whether or not Christ is truly living in us and we in Him — Identifying with, and comparing our own lives, with those men and women of faith we find throughout Scripture (Heb. 11ff). In other words, how can we know if we are doers of the word without evaluating what we do? The obvious answer is we cannot. It is certainly true that we must look to the finished work of Christ on the Cross wherein we find forgiveness and reconciliation, but moreover, we must look to the ongoing work of the resurrected and living Lord whereby we are endowed with spiritual life, motivation, strength, and the capability to accomplish His will — mindful that we are indeed doing so, lest we be deceived and find ourselves in a worse state than those who make no profession of faith at all. The Cross is a means to an end and not an end in itself. The end being that of a right relationship with God which consists of love, worship, and obedience to Him; the God-ordained relationship for which we were created. The good news of the gospel is that the sin which nullified that relationship, leaving us without any possibility of restoration, can be forgiven through the means of the cross with the end being that of the reestablishment of a faithful and obedient relationship with God through the resurrected Lord. A gospel of the means without the end is a gospel of a crucified Savior without an ensuing relationship with the living Lord. It is a gospel devised, not by God, but by men. It is “another gospel” which is no gospel at all. It is a half-truth, a falsehood. We find as far back as the garden that half-truths have been Satan’s most effective means in perpetuating error and therefore it should be of no surprise to discover that a gospel apart from an obedient relationship with God or a so-called obedience apart from the gospel, the half-truths of license and legalism, are among his most potent and efficacious lies.

Again, it is relatively rare to find a page in Scripture, from Genesis to Revelation, wherein our obedience to God is not uppermost in the inspired writer’s mind. We are commanded, as in Ezekiel 18:31, to “Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed, and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit,” and we are then offered God’s grace that it might be fulfilled, “I will give you a new heart and a new spirit I will put within you” (Ezek. 36:26). This is the gift that comes with salvation. It is not so much us “giving our hearts to Christ,” a phrase not found in Scripture, as it is our asking God to graciously give a new heart to us. He does not want our filthy hearts but wants to renew and cleanse our rebellious hearts through faith, Acts 15:9, that every Christian, even as David, would be a man after God’s own heart. This necessity of cleansing and purifying the heart is found throughout Scripture:

O Jerusalem, wash your heart from evil, that you may be saved. How long shall your wicked thoughts lodge within you? (Jer. 4:14).

First clean the inside of the cup and the plate [the heart], that the outside also may be clean (Matt. 23:26).

And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live (Deut. 30:6).

But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God (Rom. 2:29).

I will give them a heart to know that I am the Lord, and they shall be my people and I will be their God, for they shall return to me with their whole heart (Jer. 24:7).

I will put my laws on their hearts (Heb. 10:16).

Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart.... He will receive blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation (Ps. 24:3-5).

Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded (James 4:8).

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God (Matt. 5:8).

My shield is with God, who saves the upright in heart (Ps. 7:10).

Be glad in the LORD and rejoice, you righteous; and shout for joy, all you upright in heart! (Ps. 32:11).

The righteous shall be glad in the LORD, and trust in Him. And all the upright in heart shall glory (Ps. 64:10).

Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart (Ps. 97:11).

Those of crooked heart are an abomination to the Lord, but those of blameless ways are his delight (Prov. 11:20).

The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil (Luke 6:45).

Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us, and he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith (Acts 15:7-9).

The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith (1 Tim. 1:8).

So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart (2 Tim. 2:22).

But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness (Rom. 6:17, 18).

Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive (Jn. 7:38-40).

(Emphasis added in all the above).

We find in these verses that the primary aim of the gospel is “love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith” — the obedience of a cleansed and upright heart — the gift of God in salvation. Forgiveness is the means to this end and therefore anyone who would make the end optional makes the means to no avail. When God says of the new covenant, “I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more” it is inseparably joined with, “I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people” (Heb. 8:8-13). Grace is not to be viewed through the narrow lens of forgiveness but through the much broader lens of faith in God whereby He becomes our Father, the authority which reigns in our hearts, giving us a newfound desire to walk in His ways as His law is written, not as an external set of rules, but on the heart, that which governs our passions, desires and the way in which we walk. We are not saved by forgiveness alone but by faith alone. If we imagine that we can be saved without receiving this new heart and new spirit resulting in a new life, a life characterized by righteousness, we make a mockery of the new birth and pervert God’s plan of salvation. Again, “The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil” and therefore “an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment” (Jn. 5:28, 29). How can we discern which one describes us? How do we know if we are bringing forth good? Not by professing a faith in Christ, but by the evidence that the risen Christ is abiding in our hearts and thus bringing forth good. If we are bringing forth evil things, no matter what we profess or look to, Christ is not in us. What then? Do we then need to do good that we might be saved? No, we need a new heart, a cleansing of the inside by God, which then brings forth good, as the outside will be cleaned also (Matt. 23:26). Any means of outward cleansing without first cleaning the inside will result in nothing more than filthy rags in the sight of God. The heart cannot be cleansed by the works of the law but only through faith. Again, we are not justified by the fruit of this inward cleansing but if there is no fruit there is no inward cleansing and therefore, we are not justified. “Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith” (Romans 3:27). “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” (Eph. 2:8, 9). How can we boast as though we earned our salvation by being good when we can only be good as a result of receiving the free gift of inward cleansing in salvation? How can we boast in the work of the Spirit as though it were our own work and not a gift? “Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?” (Gal. 3:2, 3). No, to the contrary, we boast of the good news of the free gift which we seek to make known to all that they too might receive it by faith.

It is often said as well that we are not to question anyone’s faith. Yet again, we find throughout Scripture the opposite to be true. Did the prophets not question the faith of Israel? Did Jesus not question the faith of the Scribes and the Pharisees? Did not Peter, James, John, and Paul often question the faith of their hearers? When we read in Titus 1:16, “They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work,” is he not evaluating their faith based on behavior? When Paul says, “I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people” (1 Cor. 5:9), are we not then to question the faith of those involved in such behavior? Was Paul not questioning the faith of the Corinthians when He wrote, “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!”? (2 Cor. 13:5). Those to whom Paul writes were professing a belief in Jesus and gathering with the church, but this was not sufficient to prove the genuineness of their faith. Would Paul have asked them to make this self-inquiry if they were not exhibiting behavior unbefitting of a Christian? Paul is saying, examine yourselves as to whether or not you are in the way of faith, the way of righteousness, abiding in Christ and Christ in you, walking in the Spirit, bearing the fruit of the Spirit, unless indeed you fail to meet the test! For, “Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him” (Rom. 8:9). Adam Clarke writes,

The flesh, the sinful principle, dwelt in them before; and its motions were the proofs of its indwelling; but now the Spirit dwells in them; and its testimony in their conscience, and its powerful operations in their hearts, are the proofs of its indwelling. God made man in union with himself, and his heart was his temple. Sin being committed, the temple was defiled, and God abandoned it. Jesus Christ is come by his sacrifice and Spirit to cleanse the temple, and make man again a habitation of God through the Spirit. And when this almighty Spirit again makes the heart his residence, then the soul is delivered from the moral effects of the fall. And that this is absolutely necessary to our present peace and final salvation is proved from this: that if any man have not the Spirit of Christ — the mind that was in him, produced there by the power of the Holy Ghost — he is none of his; he does not belong to the kingdom, flock, or family of God. This is an awful conclusion! Reader, lay it to heart.²

Calvin states,

This qualifying sentence is fitly subjoined, by which they were stirred up to examine themselves more closely, lest they should profess the name of Christ in vain. And it is the surest mark by which the children of God are distinguished from the children of the world, when by the Spirit of God they are renewed unto purity and holiness.... He subjoins this to show how necessary in Christians is the denial of the flesh. The reign of the Spirit is the abolition of the flesh. Those in whom the Spirit reigns not, belong not to Christ; then they are not Christians who serve the flesh; for they who separate Christ from his own Spirit make him like a dead image or a carcass. And we must always bear in mind what the Apostle has intimated, that gratuitous remission of sins can never be separated from the Spirit of regeneration; for this would be as it were to rend Christ asunder.³

Scripture describes Christianity as “the Way.” In Acts 9:2 we find that Christians are those who are “belonging to the Way.” Paul gives us an overview of “the Way” in his defense before Felix against the accusations of the Jews in Acts 24:14-16,

But this I confess to you, however, that in accordance with the Way.... I worship (serve) the God of our fathers, still persuaded of the truth of and believing in and placing full confidence in everything laid down in the Law [of Moses] or written in the prophets; Having [the same] hope in God which these themselves hold and look for, that there is to be a resurrection both of the righteous and the unrighteous (the just and the unjust). Therefore I always exercise and discipline myself [mortifying my body, deadening my carnal affections, bodily appetites, and worldly desires, endeavoring in all respects] to have a clear (unshaken, blameless) conscience, void of offense toward God and toward men (Amplified Version, emphasis added).

So then, those in this “Way” are said to faithfully serve and worship God, to be persuaded of the truth, believing in and placing full confidence in everything laid down in the Law and written in the prophets, that there will be a resurrection of the righteous and the unrighteous, and in the hope of being resurrected with the righteous, they always exercise and discipline themselves, mortifying their body, deadening their carnal affections, bodily appetites, and worldly desires, endeavoring in all respects to have a clear, unshaken and blameless conscience, void of offense toward God and toward men. It is the narrow way described by Christ. “For the Lord knows the way of the righteous [the narrow way], But the way of the wicked will perish” [the broad way] (Ps. 1:6, emphasis added).

It is abundantly clear throughout Scripture that God sees all the people of the earth walking in one of two ways; the way of salvation or the way of destruction; the way of righteousness or the way of sin. We have examples as in Proverbs 2:1-17 describing the way of faith in contrast to the way of the faithless — the way of good men in contrast to the way of evil men. In Psalm 37 we have a description of the contrast between the righteous and the wicked. In these passages, we find that the redeemed, those preserved forever, are referred to as the righteous — the upright — the blameless. Those of wisdom and understanding, of integrity, discerning righteousness and justice and equity and every good course. Walking in the way of good men, and keeping to the paths of the righteous. They trust in the Lord, do good and feed on His faithfulness. They delight in the Lord and commit their way to Him. They wait on the Lord. They are meek and merciful. They depart from evil and do good. The law of God is in their heart. These alone are said to dwell forevermore. In contrast, those not walking in this way are said to be cursed by Him,and will be destroyed and eternally cut off from His presence. These are among those descriptive texts describing the believer in contrast with the unbeliever, whereby we can examine ourselves as to which way we are in.

In 2 Thess. 2:9-12 believers are described as those who love the truth and thus have no pleasure in unrighteousness:

The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

The contrast here is between those who take “pleasure in unrighteousness” and those who “believe the truth.” The one will perish the other will be saved. To believe the truth is to believe in Christ — To love the truth is to love Christ — To love Christ is to obey Christ — Those who obey Christ take no pleasure in unrighteousness. In other words, righteousness rather than sin is what brings pleasure to the believer. If pleasing, honoring, and glorifying God — seeking first and foremost His kingdom and His righteousness, “that holiness of heart and purity of life which God requires of those who profess to be subjects of that spiritual kingdom,”⁴ is not our primary aim and chief pleasure in this world, we simply have no reason to believe that we are Christian.

In the epistle of 1 John the writer draws a very clear and distinct line to contrast the true Christian and a false professor. His epistle was written primarily to comfort believers in the truth of the faith as well as warn them of the false teachings that they were constantly being exposed to. “I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you” (1 John 2:26). What was the primary deception he was concerned with? Salvation by works? No, he says, “Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous” (1 John 3:7).What possible words could John use to make the case for the necessity of obedience any clearer? He says anyone, Gnostic or otherwise, who would teach that you can be righteous in Christ without being righteous in practice is a deceiver. Albert Barnes writes,

This is laid down as a great and undeniable principle in religion — a maxim which none could dispute, and as important as it is plain. And it is worthy of all the emphasis which the apostle lays on it. The man who does righteousness, or leads an upright life, is a righteous man, and no other one is. No matter how any one may claim that he is justified by faith; no matter how he may conform to the external duties and rites of religion; no matter how zealous he may be for orthodoxy, or for the order of the church; no matter what visions and raptures he may have, or of what peace and joy in his soul he may boast; no matter how little he may fear death, or hope for heaven - unless he is in fact a righteous man, in the proper sense of the term, he cannot be a child of God. If he is, in the proper sense of the word, a man who keeps the law of God, and leads a holy life, he is righteous, for that is religion. Such a man, however, will always feel that his claim to be regarded as a righteous man is not to be traced to what he is in himself, but to what he owes to the grace of God.⁵

John tells us in 1 John 5:13, “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.” What does he write that we might know we have eternal life? He says in 1 John 5:18, 19,

We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him. We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one (emphasis added).

Here, John tells us that one way we can know if we are born of God is if we do not keep on sinning. He says we know that we are from God because we are not under the power or dominion of Satan, the evil one, meaning the Christian is under the power and lordship of Christ, the Righteous One. In other words, one can know they are a Christian by determining whose power they are under, the rule and dominion under which they live, which is evidenced by whom they obey (Rom. 6:16). He says in 1 John 3:24,

Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.

Here, John says we can know if Christ is in us, not by our profession of faith, but by the evidence of that faith in the keeping of the commandments of God as a result of the power and influence of the indwelling Spirit of Christ. We read in 1 John 3:14,

We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death.

Here, we know we have eternal life because we love the brethren which, again, is manifest in our conduct. For the love John speaks of is not in word but in deed. He says in v. 18,

Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him.

He says essentially the same thing in 1 John 5:2,

By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments.

(Emphasis added in all the above).

He says, “By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him.” We see then that genuine love, evidenced by our deeds, does in fact play a vital role in our assurance. Christ said, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35). What does Jesus say in Matthew 25:31-46 to those who do not love the least of His brethren, in deed and in truth? “Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” It should be clear to all that Jesus leaves us without option; Either we love the brethren in deed and in truth or we perish. He is not speaking of our unbelieving neighbors (though we are required to love them as well) but of His followers (Luke 8:21). This, furthermore, contradicts the common notion that one can be a Christian without being intimately and consistently joined in fellowship with other believers, gathering with the church as the body of Christ. How else would it be possible to love our Christian brothers and sisters in deed and in truth without being in regular fellowship with them? When we do assemble with the church do we love the brethren by singing a few songs, listening to a sermon, and then going home? No, Scripture paints an entirely different picture. We are to come together as a church to “build one another up” (1 Thess. 5:11), to “exhort one another” (Heb. 3:13), to “stir up one another to love and good works” (Heb. 10:24), “teaching and admonishing one another” (Col. 3:16), to “serve one another” (Gal. 5:13), to “bear one another’s burdens” (Gal. 6:2), to “love one another with brotherly affection” (Rom. 12:10), looking not only to our “own interests, but also to the interests of others” (Phil. 2:4). That the church may“grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love” (Eph. 4:15, 16, emphasis added). Simply “going to church” to listen to a sermon fulfills none of these exhortations. If our coming together is not conducive to the participation in and practice of these Biblical directives, the Spirit will be quenched and every member will suffer the spiritual consequences thereof. On the other hand, when coming together biblically, as the family of God, in intimate fellowship, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, each member will flourish and grow, building itself up in love. Charles Heinze writes:

Since holiness is the highest good, the ultimate aim of every act of kindness, charity, or good will should be to lead or assist the recipient to true holiness. Contributing to another’s physical well-being may be kind, but true love looks beyond the temporal, physical need to the eternal, spiritual need. Love must have this long-range view to act in harmony with truth. Love acknowledges the true situation or need. Love, therefore, has as its objective the holiness of the recipient.

Of course, this kind of love is impossible for an unregenerate man to demonstrate. Acts of kindness may be present, but a desire for the holiness of its beneficiaries is absent. No one can love with godly love until he has first received God’s love in salvation. Then, with a regenerate heart, he can love others in the context of truth.

Holiness is the source, expressed in truth, and demonstrated in love. Love in the Christian brotherhood is not a mere sentimental feeling. It is far more real and practical. ‘By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep his commandments’ (1 John 5:2). All God’s commandments are truth (Ps. 119:151) and obedience to them is holiness. This alone is loving the children of God. This is the pathway of blessedness.⁶

In such a fellowship love for God and neighbor will be the chief aim and thus sin the primary foe and those who are spiritually mature will lovingly attempt the restoration of those who fall into it (Gal. 6:1). The command to discipline those involved in flagrant sin will be imposed in the loving fear that a little leaven leavens the whole lump (1 Cor. 5:6). The church will not be thought of as a hospital for the spiritually sick, as is often asserted, but rather the assembly of those spiritually healed through the blood of Christ by whose stripes we were healed (1 Pet. 2:24). It is a congregation of those who have been transformed by the power of God in regeneration with the love of God being poured out in their hearts by the Holy Spirit (Rom. 5:5). They will aspire to do all things with love (1 Cor. 16:14); a love without hypocrisy, abhorring what is evil and clinging to what is good (Rom. 12:9). Seeking above all things to have a fervent love for one another with a pure heart (1 Pet. 1:22, 4:8), bearing the fruit of the Spirit to the glory of God. This is the true biblical church of the Lord Jesus Christ; The salt of the earth and the beacon of hope, love and light to a dark, crooked and twisted world (Phil. 2:15). On the other hand, the preaching of a counterfeit cross that allows for continuance in ungodliness and worldly passions, indulging “the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life,” produces a people that are not the salt of the earth, but salt in his wounds, offering a false hope, a hypocritical and superficial love, a feigned light without illumination with barely a spark that distinguishes itself from a fallen world (Jer. 23:16, 2 Pet. 2:2, Rom. 2:24, Matt. 6:23).

Many will experience doubt in regards to the assurance of their salvation particularly in their earliest years as a Christian. This is when indwelling sin is at its peak and the ability to discern spiritual truth is at its lowest ebb. This is when they are most vulnerable to false teachings that tend to offer them solace in their sin. They do not doubt the promises of God, but rather or not they themselves are partakers of them. However, grace brings with it an inherent love and hunger for God’s truth which will lead a genuine convert to carefully and diligently seek it out from the Scriptures, comparing all that they hear and read to the words found therein. We have God’s law written on our hearts and are therefore endowed with an impassioned longing to please God and any teaching that seems contrary to these inherent desires will increasingly be judiciously discerned and rejected. The Christian’s passion is to keep His commands knowing that God loves them and has their best interest in mind (Deut. 5:29, Ps. 119:45). We soon find that there is no contentment or satisfaction in our sin and thus we seek victory over it rather than comfort in it. We seek to put to death the deeds of the body and therefore any teaching that tends to water down the seriousness of sin or diminishes the necessity of overcoming it is soon recognized as an adversary to our own happiness and well-being, saying in our heart, “Depart from me, you evildoers, that I may keep the commandments of my God” (Ps. 119:115). This love for His commandments intensifies as we experience the satisfaction, peace, and joy of obedience to our God as opposed to the sorrow and dissatisfaction that results from sin. We will increasingly be able to say with Job, “I have not departed from the commandment of his lips; I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my portion of food” (Job 23:12). Therefore rather than His commands being burdensome, we can say with the Psalmist,

With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments! I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. Blessed are you, O Lord; teach me your statutes! (Ps. 119:10-12).

The Christian’s thought is not, “Jesus kept the commandments so that I don’t have to” but rather, “I find my delight in your commandments, which I love” (Ps. 119:47). “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome” (1 John 5:3, 4). Our mind is set on things above — our eyes fixed on Christ and His kingdom — our hearts filled with the love of God — our feet led by the Spirit, and thus we walk in the way of righteousness to the honor and glory of God Who is our hope, sustenance and life. Our former manner of life is now looked upon in disgust. It is repugnant to us, and when in times of weakness, particularly in the early stages of our walk, there be any attempt to go back to it, we are expeditiously met with Spirit-wrought misery and despair (Matt. 26:75). We are not like dogs that return to their own vomit (Prov. 26:11) but of those who “press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:13-15). Therefore, in time, we become increasingly confident in our assurance as we come to realize that this longing to know God, this love for truth, this desperate heartfelt desire to be holy, just, and righteous before the God we love and fear, can only be explained by the new birth spoken of by Christ (Jn. 3). This work of the Spirit of God witnesses with our spirit that we are indeed children of God (Rom. 8:16) and that Christ truly abides in us. The true believer will not rest satisfied until they find this assurance knowing that the loss of eternal life is the loss of the only thing of any true and lasting value. They take heed of the charge to “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” (Phil. 2:12). The false convert, on the other hand, will not experience such struggles, for they are never fully persuaded of God’s promises and therefore the sober reality of what is at stake never takes root in the depths of their heart. So it is, oftentimes, that the one who never wrestles with their salvation is the one in the greatest danger of a false assurance.

It would seem that in much of the professing church of our day there is more concern over the person who may doubt their own salvation than the person with a false assurance. However, the temporal angst over the doubt of our own salvation can never be justly compared to the horror of being found in the last day with a false assurance. It is a mere light affliction which is but for a moment compared to eternal condemnation. “The sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Rom. 8:18). This principle holds true for all temporal sufferings, trials, pain, and distress. Surely we will come along side one who is agonizing over doubt with a sense of empathy and compassion, as well as encouragement. However, we must be careful not to give anyone a false assurance through mere human consolation when their true need is the witness of the Spirit. Once this witness is obtained the joy of it far surpasses the temporary distress of doubt. Subsequently, they will experience a strengthening of their faith and an even greater intimacy in their relationship with Christ. Spurgeon states:

We are perilously likely to rest satisfied with a slight healing, and by this means to miss the great and complete salvation which comes from God alone. I wish to speak in deep earnestness to everyone here present upon this subject, for I have felt the power of it on my own soul. To deliver this message, I have made a desperate effort, quitting my sick-bed without due permit, moved by a restless pining to warn you against the counterfeits of the day.... I am now speaking straight to every one of you, and I am setting myself in the middle of the pew that my keenest sentence may enter my own bosom as well as yours. I say, we are all of us in danger of being the subjects of a false healing: ministers, deacons, elders, church-members, aged professors, and young beginners alike.... The devil, who knows the exact bait for poor human nature, finds it easy to pacify an anxious mind by presenting a false salvation, and persuading the heart that all is well, while in fact nothing is well.⁷

Don Kistler wrote:

So many today base their ‘assurance’ on things that are not Scriptural: praying a prayer, signing a card, walking an aisle, or raising a hand in a meeting. But when you ‘go to the mat with them,’ you find out that they have given their lives to a god that doesn’t exist. Mark Twain once said that God created man in His own image, and man has returned the favor. Consequently, in our churches men are able to exercise a faith that is not from God, that is not a saving faith, and have not repented of sin, but merely of its consequences.⁸

In the first book of the Bible Adam was commanded, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Gen. 2:16). Adam failed to obey and therefore the Lord God said,

‘Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever’ — therefore the Lord God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken.

Adam forfeited his access to the tree of life by his disobedience. We then find in the last book of the Bible those who regain access to the “tree of life,”

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God (Rev. 2:7, emphasis added).

All the warnings to the churches in Revelation chapters 2 and 3 have to do, not with what they profess to believe, but with whether or not they overcome, which is as Barnes writes;

This may refer to any victory of a moral character, and the expression used would be applicable to one who should triumph...over his own easily-besetting sins; over the world and its temptations; over prevalent error; over the ills and trials of life, so as, in all these respects, to show that his Christian principles are firm and unshaken. Life, and the Christian life especially, may be regarded as a warfare. Thousands fall in the conflict with evil; but they who maintain a steady warfare, and who achieve a victory, shall be received as conquerors in the end.”⁹

In other words, only those who overcome in this moral conflict by persevering in the doing of God’s will receive His promises (Heb. 10:36). Therefore, it is written,

Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city. But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie (Rev. 22:14, NKJV, emphasis added).

Clarke writes,

That they may have authority over the tree of life; an authority founded on right, this right founded on obedience to the commandments of God, and that obedience produced by the grace of God working in them. Without grace no obedience; without obedience no authority to the tree of life; without authority no right; without right no enjoyment: God’s grace through Christ produces the good, and then rewards it as if all had been our own.¹⁰

So it is that we find this common thread throughout Scripture; Those who live in disobedience “shall surely die” and those who live in obedience shall surely live. Regrettably, many in the church today would marvel at such a statement and understand it as legalism and teaching a “salvation by works.” However, they would have to take it up with Christ for He says plainly and without any ambiguity;

Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment (Jn 5:28, 29, emphasis added).

That this is the teaching of the church from the beginning is evident in the following quotes from the early church:

Ignatius (A.D. 35-107):

“Faith cannot do the works of unbelief, nor unbelief the works of faith.” “The tree is made manifest by its fruit. So those who profess themselves to be Christians will be recognized by their conduct.” (Ante Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, pg.53, 55).

Polycarp (A.D. 69-156):

“He who raised him (Jesus) up from the dead will raise us up also - if we do his will, and walk in his commandments, and love what he loved, keeping ourselves from all unrighteousness.” (Ante Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, pg.33).

Barnabas, Epistle of (A.D. 70-100):

“Take heed, lest resting at our ease, as those who are the called, we fall asleep in our sins.… If anyone desires to travel to the appointed place (heaven), he must be zealous in his works.” (Ante Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, pg.139, 148).

Clement of Rome (1st century):

“We are justified by our works, and not our words.” (Ante Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, pg.13).

2nd Clement (A.D. 150):

“This, then, is our reward if we will confess him by whom we have been saved. But in what way will we confess him? We confess him by doing what he says, not transgressing his commandments, and honoring him not only with our lips, but with all our heart and all our mind…Let us, then, not only call him Lord, for that will not save us. For he says, ‘Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will be saved, but he that works righteousness.’ For that reason, brethren, let us confess him by our works, by loving one another…Therefore, brethren, by doing the will of the Father, and keeping the flesh holy, and observing the commandments of the Lord, we will obtain eternal life.” (Ante Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, pg.518, 519).

Clement of Alexandria (A.D. 150-215):

“It is the will of God that he who repents of his sins and is obedient to the commandments should be saved.” “To obey the Word, whom we call the Instructor, is to believe in him, going against him in nothing.” “And he does not believe God, who does not do what God has commanded.” “For by grace are ye saved – but not, indeed, without good works.” (Ante Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, pg.263, 350, 416, 445).

Cyprian (A.D. 258):

“He follows Christ who stands in his commandments, who walks in the way of his teaching, who follows in his footsteps and his ways, who imitates that which Christ both did and taught…To put on the name of Christ, and yet not go in the way of Christ – what else is this but a mockery of the divine name! It is a desertion of the way of salvation. For he himself teaches and says that the person who keeps his commandments will come into life.” (Ante Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, pg.494).

Hermas (1st or 2nd century):

“Only those who fear the Lord and keep his commandments have life with God; but as for those who do not keep his commandments, there is no life in them.” (Ante Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, pg.25).

Irenaeus (A.D. 130-200):

“Those men who are devoid of sense [i.e., the Gnostics]...keep silent with regard to his judgments and all those things which will come upon those who have heard his words, but have not done them. For it would be better for them if they had not been born.” “Those who do not obey him, being disinherited by him, have ceased to be his sons.” (Ante Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, pg. 501, 525).

Justin Martyr (A.D. 100-165):

“Let those who are not found living as he taught, be understood not to be Christians, even though they profess with the lips the teaching of Christ. For it is not those who make profession, but those who do the works, who will be saved.” “‘Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute sin’ (Ps. 32:2). That is, having repented of his sins, he can receive remission of them from God. But this is not as you [Jews] deceive yourselves, and some others who resemble you in this. For they say, that even though they remain sinners, the Lord will not impute sin unto them, because they know God.” (Ante Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, pg. 168, 270).

Melito (A.D. 170):

“He has set before you all of these things, and shows you that, if you follow after evil, you will be condemned for your evil deeds. But, if you follow goodness, you will receive from him abundant good, together with immortal life forever.” (Ante Nicene Fathers, Volume 8, pg.754).

Theophilus (A.D. 180):

“To those who by patient continuance in well doing seek immortality, he will give life everlasting.” “So, by obeying the will of God, he who wants to can procure for himself life everlasting. For God has given us a law and holy commandments. And everyone who keeps them can be saved (Ante Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, pg.93, 105).

Tertullian (A.D. 160-230):

“Grace with the Lord, when once learned and undertaken by us, should never afterward be cancelled by repetition of sin.” (Ante Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, pg.660)

The truth is, we find nowhere in Scripture anyone ever admonished for putting too much emphasis on or being too strict in their obedience to God. We do, however, find on almost every page a rebuke to those who are disobedient. Again, Christ did not rebuke the Pharisees for their emphasis on the necessity of obedience but for their own lack thereof. He says,

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone (Matt. 23:23, emphasis added).

Christ says they were negligent in the more substantive matters of the law, matters of the heart; justice, mercy, and faith. In other words, they were faithless in their law-keeping and were in need of an inward cleansing of the heart, v. 26, in order to do what they ought to have done. They were hypocrites which by definition are play-actors and pretenders. These were pretending to be righteous but it was as filthy rags in the sight of God. For, “without faith it is impossible to please Him” (Heb. 11:6). Again, this is why we are told by Christ that our righteousness must exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees otherwise we will never enter the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 5:20). We must actually become righteous before God, a righteousness of the heart, and not merely appear righteous before men.

William Law, in his book, “A Serious Call To A Devout And Holy Life” writes:

Our blessed Savior and His Apostles are wholly taken up in doctrines that relate to common life. They call us to renounce the world, and differ in every temper and way of life, from the spirit and the way of the world: to renounce all its goods, to fear none of its evils, to reject its joys, and have no value for its happiness: to be as new-born babes, that are born into a new state of things: to live as pilgrims in spiritual watching, in holy fear, and heavenly aspiring after another life: to take up our daily cross, to deny ourselves, to profess the blessedness of mourning, to seek the blessedness of poverty of spirit: to forsake the pride and vanity of riches, to take no thought for the morrow, to live in the profoundest state of humility, to rejoice in worldly sufferings: to reject the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life: to bear injuries, to forgive and bless our enemies, and to love mankind as God loveth them: to give up our whole hearts and affections to God, and strive to enter through the strait gate into a life of eternal glory.... If our common life is not a common course of humility, self-denial, renunciation of the world, poverty of spirit, and heavenly affection, we do not live the lives of Christians.

But yet though it is thus plain that this, and this alone, is Christianity, a uniform, open, and visible practice of all these virtues, yet it is as plain, that there is little or nothing of this to be found, even amongst the better sort of people. You see them often at church, and pleased with fine preachers: but look into their lives, and you see them just the same sort of people as others are, that make no pretenses to devotion. The difference that you find betwixt them, is only the difference of their natural tempers. They have the same taste of the world, the same worldly cares, and fears, and joys; they have the same turn of mind, equally vain in their desires. You see the same fondness for state and equipage, the same pride and vanity of dress, the same self-love and indulgence, the same foolish friendships, and groundless hatreds, the same levity of mind, and trifling spirit, the same fondness for diversions, the same idle dispositions, and vain ways of spending their time in visiting and conversation, as the rest of the world, that make no pretenses to devotion.... We are told, that ‘strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, that leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it’ (Matt. 7:14). That ‘many are called, but few are chosen’ (Matt. 22:14).... If I am seeking everything that can delight my senses, and regale my appetites; spending my time and fortune in pleasures, in diversions, and worldly enjoyments; a stranger to watchings, fastings, prayers, and mortification; how can it be said that I am working out my salvation with fear and trembling? If there is nothing in my life and conversation that shows me to be different from Jews and Heathens; if I use the world, and worldly enjoyments, as the generality of people now do, and in all ages have done; why should I think that I am amongst those few who are walking in the narrow way to Heaven.... Weak and imperfect men shall, notwithstanding their frailties and defects, be received, as having pleased God, if they have done their utmost to please Him. The rewards of charity, piety, and humility, will be given to those, whose lives have been a careful labor to exercise these virtues in as high a degree as they could. We cannot offer to God the service of Angels; we cannot obey Him as man in a state of perfection could; but fallen men can do their best, and this is the perfection that is required of us; it is only the perfection of our best endeavors, a careful labor to be as perfect as we can.... And when we cease to live with this regard to virtue, we live below our nature, and, instead of being able to plead our infirmities, we stand chargeable with negligence. It is for this reason that we are exhorted to work out our salvation with fear and trembling; because unless our heart and passions are eagerly bent upon the work of our salvation; unless holy fears animate our endeavors, and keep our consciences strict and tender about every part of our duty, constantly examining how we live, and how fit we are to die; we shall in all probability fall into a state of negligence, and sit down in such a course of life, as will never carry us to the rewards of Heaven.¹¹

Every act of obedience tends toward our own best interest, happiness, comfort, and well-being, both temporal and eternal, while every act of disobedience is wholly contrary to our best interest inevitably resulting in unhappiness, ill-being, discomfort, pain, suffering, and destruction. In other words, there is nothing but gain in our obedience to God and nothing but loss in our disobedience. Any perceived gain from sin is short-lived at best and unavoidably ends in injury to ourselves and others. As we read in Deut. 5:29 God always has our well-being in mind; “Oh, that they had such a heart in them that they would fear Me and always keep all My commandments, that it might be well with them and with their children forever!” Thus, in His love, He has formulated a way whereby we can be set free from sins bondage and the misery it brings with it. He says in Jer. 32:39 “I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for their own good and the good of their children after them.” He freely offers us the very heart He speaks of that His words, that it might be well with them, would come to fruition in all those who, by faith, seek after such freedom (Ezek. 36:26-27). His love and concern for our well-being is to such an extent that He was willing to sacrifice of Himself for our sake (Jn. 3:16). What then have many done in response to such a loving and gracious plan? They have trampled it underfoot and perverted it in such a way as to have the opposite effect as though permitting us to remain in bondage was the “good news.” As though a Loving, Holy, and Righteous God would devise a plan that would allow His beloved Son to endure the humility of being beaten, bloodied, ridiculed, mocked, nailed to a cross; suffer the physical and spiritual fury of His wrath, for the purpose of forgiving us that we might continue in the sin which caused such suffering. This is the epitome of evil and the pinnacle of deception. How tragic that so many so-called shepherds in the professing church have embraced such a wicked scheme and how heart-wrenching that so many have trusted them with their souls. Never taking to heart the words of Christ, “If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell” (Matt. 5:30). “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more” (Jn. 8:11) “See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you” (Jn. 5:14). “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it” (Luke 8:21). Or those of Paul, “Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law” (Rom. 3:31). “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?” (1 Cor. 6:9) “Wake up from your drunken stupor, as is right, and do not go on sinning. For some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame” (1 Cor. 15:34). Or those of Peter “As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy’” (1 Peter 1:14-16).

For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell…if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly… then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment (2 Peter 2:4-9) (emphasis added).

And those of John “Whoever says ‘I know him’ but does not keep his commandments is a liar” (1 Jn. 2:4). “No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him” (1 Jn. 3:6). (Emphasis added in all the above.)

Those who come to realize that they have embraced a false gospel or who find after examining themselves that they come short of true and saving faith, can take comfort in that as long as we still have breath it is not too late. If God is willing to pour out His grace on even the “foremost” of sinners (1 Tim. 1:15), He is ready and willing to pour out His grace on anyone who would turn to Him in faith. Do not be like the fool-hearted and play loose with your soul. For you can be assured that at the moment of death, from which there is no escape, nothing else will matter to you but your relationship with God. “I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him!” (Luke 12:5). Therefore, while there is yet time, look to Christ and hear His words, “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance” (Luke 5:32).Are you a sinner? Then Christ’s call is to you.If you have any thought of being good enough to gain heaven without Christ, by the merits of your own self-righteousness, then you will never hear His call. You bring the justice of a righteous and holy God down to the level of sinful man, which is a most contemptible place. You make a mockery of all that Christ suffered on our behalf as though it were wholly unnecessary. There is coming a day when you will stand before a God that abhors all that resembles evil, whether in thought, word, or deed, and this holy God has never forgiven one sin without exacting punishment for it. You will either pay your own sin debt to Him with eternal death, or you will look to Christ who died in your stead, that you would have the opportunity to be reconciled to God that you might have the relationship with Him that was intended from the foundation of the world. If you will repent of your sins — have a change of mind in that you loathe yourselves in your own sight, for your iniquities and your abominations (Ezek. 36:31) with a “godly sorrow” and deep detestation of spirit in that you have lived in rebelliousness to your Creator and now desire to make peace with Him — turning to Him with a heartfelt resolve to live for Him, for His righteousness, purpose and will — His promises will become your own. You will have His forgiveness for all your past iniquities (Jer. 33:8), no matter how heinous they might be. Strive to enter in at the narrow gate and let not the deceitfulness of sin keep you out of the way. By treachery, it promises pleasure and happiness and yet ultimately brings nothing but emptiness and despair. Rather choose to “live and believe” in Christ, and by His grace, He will declare you justified, have your sins blotted out, create you anew, grant you the gift of His Spirit that He might work in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure and you will find a peace that surpasses all understanding (Jn. 15:1-8, Jn. 11:26, Lk. 11:13, Rom. 8:13, Phil. 2:12, 13, Phil. 4:7). He will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; He will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. He will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; He will put His Spirit within you and cause you to walk in His statutes, and you will keep His commandments and do them (Ezek. 36:25-27). He “will circumcise your heart…so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live” (Deut. 30:6, Col. 2:11). He will write His law on your heart (Heb. 8:10), you will be sanctified and set apart for His own possession and begin the process of spiritual growth, growing in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ (2 Pet. 3:18), renewing your mind that it might be conformed to His mind (Rom. 12:2, 1 Cor. 2:16). You will then ask according to His will, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you,

For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him! (Luke 11:9-13).

He will fulfill all the newfound desires of your purified heart which finds its happiness and contentment in Him; “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart” (Ps. 37:4). He will be your God and you His beloved child. His word will be that which now governs your heart. He will lead you and care for you as a shepherd for His flock. He will come and make His home with you (John 14:23, 24), abiding in you and you in Him and therefore your life will be characterized by righteousness, bearing fruit to God. This, and nothing less, is the consequence of God’s grace in salvation. That this obedience is by grace and neither optional nor of our own unaided effort is made plain by Christ in John 15:4-10. Adam Clarke writes,

On considering this glorious scheme of salvation, there is great danger, lest, while we stand amazed at what was done For us, we neglect what must be done In us.... Christ has done much to save us, and the way of salvation is made plain; but, unless he justify our conscience from dead works, and purify our hearts from all sin, his passion and death will profit us nothing.... We must beware of Antinomianism; that is, of supposing that, because Christ has been obedient unto death, there is no necessity for our obedience to his righteous commandments. If this were so, the grace of Christ would tend to the destruction of the law, and not to its establishment. He only is saved from his sins who has the law of God written in his heart; and he alone has the law written in his heart who lives an innocent, holy, and useful life. Wherever Christ lives he works: and his work of righteousness will appear to his servants, and its effect will be quietness and assurance forever. The life of God in the soul of man is the principle which saves and preserves eternally.¹²

Christ leaves us with no doubt as to the fate of the unrighteous when He says,

The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear — Matthew 13:40-42 (emphasis added).

He will gather out of his kingdom on earth all causes of sin and all law-breakers, and say to them;

Depart from me, all you workers of evil!’ In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets [the righteous] in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out.

Dear reader, take a moment to contemplate these words of Christ and imagine the experience of seeing the kingdom of God in all its grandeur, brilliance and majesty — The righteous inhabitants exceedingly joyful, happy and exuberant, praising their God, overwhelmed with the presence of His inconceivable love. No more death, sorrow or pain, with pleasures forevermore at His right hand (Ps. 16:11), and you yourself thrust out. Allowing the error of fallible men joined with the “deceitfulness of sin,” to keep you from ever coming to “the knowledge of the truth” that the Son might set you free. Professing Christ while continuing to walk in the broad way, “in love with this present world.” “Lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God” and therefore preoccupied with “the cares, riches and pleasures” of this temporal life which you now must leave behind, never to be enjoyed again. Taking “pleasure in unrighteousness” rather than believe the truth. This at the expense of a timeless, endless life in a world restored in all its glory. Having never had “ears to hear” Christ’s words while living in the world, you now have no choice but to hear Him say to you personally, “Depart from Me, I never knew you.” All is now lost and there is no going back. There are no second chances and thus rather than God lovingly wiping away every tear from your eyes you will be weeping profusely while you gnash your teeth in anger and dismay. Can you sense in your own soul the exceedingly foolhardiness of such an unfathomable loss? When God offers us, by His unmerited mercy and favor, all the necessary means to equip us that we might meet His conditions for the salvation of our souls? For, “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness” (2 Pet. 1:3). To anyone with ears to hear this is exceedingly good news. If we submit to Him with our whole heart, receive the gift of His Spirit, coming under His Lordship, following after Him as His disciples, having a heart to obey Him in all things, we can have complete confidence and assurance that we are in right standing with God — And in that day when we come into His Holy presence, rather than being called a wicked, slothful, and worthless servant (Matt. 25:26, 30), we can rest assured that we will hear the sweetest words our ears will ever hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master” (Matt. 25:21).

If a single grain of sand represented our entire lifetime on this earth, all the grains of sand on all the shorelines in the entire world would represent not even the first hour of our eternal life in the Kingdom of God. Considering then the profound implications of the loss of such endless blessedness, let us take the words of Scripture to heart — “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith.” “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” (Phil. 2:12) and “be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election” (2 Pet. 1:10) — that we might never have to experience the dire and ineffable fate of those found standing before the great white throne in the Day of judgment clinging to a counterfeit cross.

AMEN

Furthur Study - Quotes from the early Church on Obedience
Creeds and Confessions Throughout the History of the Church