December, 2002
by: Jack Hughes
In the previous Calvary Review we began to look at a very important but often neglected topic, “How do you know you are saved?” Most Americans call themselves Christians, because after all, we are a Christian nation. There are many who call themselves Christians but are not and often get offended if you question their salvation. Yet, the Bible commands us to examine ourselves to see if we know the Lord (II Cor. 13:5). Because of this, we should not be offended when asked to examine ourselves or when questioned about our relationship with the Lord. Those who truly know and love the Lord long to bear witness of how the Lord saved them and changed their life. Our salvation, our relationship with the Lord is not a private reality to be hoarded in the recesses of our own mind, it is a testimony, a witness, a truth to be proclaimed to those who are deceived and on their way to hell. Therefore it is always in fashion for Christians to examine their relationship to the Lord, to bear witness of how the Lord saved them, and to proclaim God's saving grace in their life.
In the last Calvary Review we began looking at four different false assurances of salvation. First, we learned that growing up in a Christian home does not give us assurance we are saved. Second, your parents' estimation of you does not give you assurance you are saved. Third, you don't have assurance that you are saved based on the good works you have done, or because you went forward at an altar call, or because you asked Jesus in your heart, or even because you prayed the sinner's prayer. Fourth and finally, you cannot know you are saved because the pastor assured you that you were. Let's examine a few more false assurances of our salvation.
False assurance #5: “I Speak, Therefore I am”
Some have in their minds that being a Christian is like claiming allegiance to a certain political party. Once you say you are a Democrat or a Republican, then that is what you are. Why? Because of what you said. But being a Christian is not merely professing to know Christ. God is not looking for those who will merely claim to be followers of Christ. In fact, He is not even looking for those who claim to be followers and serve Him diligently.
A good example of this is found in the Sermon on the Mount in Mt. 7:21-23. In the preceding context Jesus explains that there are two gates that say “this way to heaven” but only the narrow gate actually gets you there. Then He explains how there are two kinds of teachers that both claim to be teaching the right way to heaven, but only one teaching will actually get you there. Then Jesus addresses a false assurance of salvation and says “not everyone who says to me 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven.” Jesus describes those who call out His name saying, “Lord, Lord, have we not…” and they begin to tell Jesus all they have done for Him. But tragically, Jesus says, “depart from me, you workers of iniquity, I never knew you.” This triad of examples teaches us, that there are those who think they are going to heaven on the right road through the right gate but end up in hell. There are those who are convinced that the teaching they have received is the right teaching but they are trusting in damning doctrines. Finally, there are those who claim to know Jesus, who are actively serving “in His name” and yet they too are going to hell because they really don't have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. They are merely professors of Jesus, not possessors of salvation. They are deluded into thinking that merely saying “I know the Lord” makes them a Christian. The Apostle John, in the book of I John, addresses the common delusion of those who “say” they love the Lord, but do not obey Him (I Jn. 1:6, 8, 10; 2:4, 9; 4:20). Texts like this teach you that verbal profession does not give you assurance that you are saved.
False assurance #6: “I Go to Church and Serve Faithfully”
Another false assurance that many cling to is what we might call “Churchianity.” Those who practice Churchianity are faithful churchgoers and are often involved in some sort of ministry. Maybe they grew up going to church. Maybe it is part of their heritage or maybe they started going to church because they felt it was the moral thing to do, or because they wanted to be perceived as religious or because they thought it would be good for their children. Whatever the reason, they are faithful churchgoers and have a good track record of attending church. Many cling to their faithful church attendance as “proof” they are Christians, after all, why would an unbeliever go to church?
Well, there are many reasons unbelievers faithfully attend church. Some do it to please their parents, others do it to look good, some to appease a guilty conscience, still others go to church out of habit. There are many reasons why unbelievers go to church but none of those reasons are legitimate reasons. As someone once said, practicing Churchianity doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car. Consider what Jesus said in the parable of the tares and the wheat (Mt. 13:24-30). Jesus said the Kingdom of Heaven is like a farmer who sowed good seed, but at night an enemy (Satan) came and sowed bad seed (tares) among his good seed. When the crop started to grow the servants of the farmer wanted to try and rip up the tares, but the farmer said that the tares should be left alone among the wheat and not ripped up lest the wheat be damaged in the process. Tares, when they are young, look very much like wheat but when they mature, they reveal their true identity. Jesus' parable teaches us that there will always be tares (unbelievers) among the wheat (believers) and that at the end of the age the reapers (angels) will sort them out.
Paul, when speaking to the elders of the church of Ephesus said this in Acts 20:30, “from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.” Even though the Church of Ephesus had some of the best teachers, Paul said false teachers would arise “from among your own selves.” Unbelievers, false teachers, dwell among the saints and go to church regularly.
Jesus, in the seven letters to the churches found in Rev. 2-3, reveals that many false teachers and unbelievers associate themselves with the church. This is one of Satan's strategies to corrupt sound doctrine and holy living by the influence of unbelievers masquerading as Christians. He infiltrates the church with those who say they are saved, who may even be convinced they are saved, but are not. Texts like this teach you that going to church and even serving in church is no assurance that you are truly saved.
False assurance #7: “I Am Faithful to Pray”
Another false assurance that people trust in to give them assurance they are saved is prayer. Yet think about it, many unbelievers pray. Just look at the false religions around the world. Many, who are deceived, who have bought into false and damning heresies, are more diligent to pray than those who actually know Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior! When our nation went through the 911 crisis, unbelievers all over the world started to pray. There were all sorts of prayer vigils and moments of silent prayer, and many, who have never even darkened the door of a church, prayed.
When you look at the Scriptures you see many examples of those who prayed but did not know God. Jesus rebuked those whose selfish prayers revealed an unbelieving heart in Mt. 6:5, “When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.” In Mt. 23:14 Jesus said this to the Pharisees who were faithful to pray, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you devour widows' houses, and for a pretense you make long prayers; therefore, you will receive greater condemnation.” “Woe” means damned, judged, guilty of condemnation.
Many unbelievers, in times of pain, in times of desperation, in times of religious “feeling” cry out to God in prayer, but this does not mean they are saved. Gardener Spring in his work Distinguishing Traits of Christian Character, describes those who cry out to God in desperation, “Seamen in a storm and landsmen in distress will confess the sins of their whole life and promise amendment, but as soon as the storm is over and the health and mercy return, they forget their vows and become tenfold more the children of hell than before.” Jesus, quoting Isaiah 29:13 in Mk. 7:6 reminds us, “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.” Remember that false assurance is no assurance and sincerity of heart may be sincerely wrong. It is true that those who know Christ will pray, but prayer, as an activity alone, is no assurance of salvation.
What are you trusting in to give you assurance that you are saved? Are you trusting in a mere profession? Are you trusting in your faithful church attendance? Are you trusting in the fact that you pray? Christians will profess to be Christians, they will go to church, and they will pray, but those activities in and of themselves should not be trusted in as assurance that you know Jesus Christ. In the next Review we will look at a few more false assurances and then examine assurances of the truly saved and transformed heart.