When you encounter fake Christians
“These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.” (Matt. 15:8)
Being Religious vs being Born Again
There are so many “religious” people in the world and it can be very confusing trying to sort them out. I think you would waste a lot of time trying to. There is a difference between being “religious” and being “born again.” Someone put it this way, “Religion” is what man does to reach God, but “Jesus” is what God did to reach man. Jesus stated it this way in John 14:6, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” And in John 3:3, He said, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.” In other words, there is only one way to God, and that is through faith in Jesus.
Be wise and careful
You don’t want to go around judging people, yet you do need to practice a certain amount of caution with good sense. The Bible says, “Man looks on the outside appearance but God looks on the heart.” There has to be a changed heart in order for a person to be a Christian.
Many fake Christians are fooled
“Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'” (Matt. 7:22-23 NIV)
What the Bible says about fake Christians
• They follow man made rules - “And so the Lord says, “These people say they are mine. They honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. And their worship of me is nothing but man-made rules learned by rote.” (Isa. 29:13)
• They hate other believers - “Those who say that they are in the light but hate other believers are still in the dark.” (1 John 2:9)
• They are detestable and disobedient - “They claim to know God, but they deny him by what they do. They are detestable, disobedient, and unfit to do anything good.” (Titus 1:16)
• They disobey God’s commands - “Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person.” (1 John 2:4)
• They practice sin - “The person who practices sin belongs to the evil one, because the Devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason that the Son of God was revealed was to destroy what the Devil has been doing. No one who has been born from God practices sin, because God’s seed abides in him. Indeed, he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born from God. This is how God’s children and the Devil’s children are distinguished. No person who fails to practice righteousness and to love his brother is from God.” (1 John 3:8-10)
• They do what is evil - “Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil but what is good. Anyone who does what is good is from God. Anyone who does what is evil has not seen God.” (3 John 1:11)
• They don’t obey what God says - “Why do you call me Lord but don’t do what I tell you?” (Luke 6:46)
• They produce bad fruits – “You will recognize them by their fruits…” (Matt. 7:16)
Therefore…
“I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.” (1 John 5:13 ESV)
“If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.” (Rom. 10:9-10)
“Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.” (John 1:12-13)
Quote:
“Let him then, who would be indeed a Christian, watch over his ways and over his heart with unceasing circumspection. Let him endeavour to learn, both from men and books, particularly from the lives of eminent Christians, what methods have been actually found most effectual for the conquest of every particular vice, and for improvement in every branch of holiness. Thus studying his own character, and observing the most secret workings of his own mind, and of our common nature; the knowledge which he will acquire of the human heart in general, and especially of his own, will be of the highest utility, in enabling him to avoid or to guard against the occasions of evil: and it will also tend, above all things, to the growth of humility, and to the maintenance of that sobriety of spirit and tenderness of conscience, which are eminently characteristic of the true Christian.” - William Wilberforce