Last weekend, Joshua Harris shocked evangelicals with his announcement that he had left the Christian faith. Harris’ faulty theology that led to his spiritual downfall has been discussed previously, but many questions are raised when someone who seemed to be a believer for so long falls away.
Harris’ walk played out much like Paul’s companion Demas. Demas was a fruitful helper of Paul, but later in his second letter to Timothy, Paul writes, “Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica” (2 Timothy 4:10). Harris, Demas, and countless others started off well but were self-deceived and unconverted. This can then lead to questions of our own lives. Am I really a Christian? How do I know I’m not self-deceived? How can I be confident that I will finish the race? We are warned, “Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God” (Hebrews 3:12). How can we know that this is not the state of our hearts and that we will not be found to be outside the faith like Harris?
Although the Bible does tell us that we can have assurance, we are also told not to blindly assume that we are Christians. We are told, “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 Corinthians 13:5)!
Though much more can be written on this topic, there are four questions that we can ask ourselves to see if we are truly followers of Christ.
1. What do you practice?
The first thing we should do is take a look at our lives. How are we living? Are we being obedient to God or are we following after our own sins and lusts? We are warned, “Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning” (1 John 3:7-8a).
What does this verse mean? We all sin every day, so does that mean that we’re all destined for Hell? Apart from Christ, yes, but something will mark the life of the believer and the unbeliever. The unbeliever will practice sin and will take pride in it. If they do stop a particular sin, it’s not because they’ve sinned against a holy God, but because they have worldly sorrow about the temporal consequences of their actions.
The Christian’s life will look different. We all will struggle with sin until the day we die, but the trajectory of our life will be a life of ongoing sanctification and putting sin to death. When we put sin to death, we have the godly sorrow that leads to repentance – sorrow at how we have sinned against a Thrice Holy God. Our lives will be characterized by practicing righteousness and a hatred for the old man that clings to us.
2. Who do you love?
Another way we can determine whether we are in the faith is by taking stock of the people that we love. The primary people that God has given us to display his love to are fellow believers, most notably those in the local church. Do we love those in the family of God or are we constantly harboring bitterness and resentment, or are we ignoring them entirely? John tells his readers, “Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling… By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers” (1 John 3:9-10, 16).
We can say that we love those in our church, but the way we treat them will reveal what’s really in our hearts. Are you loving and gracious to all, even to those who you think (or know) are in the wrong? When there are people in need at your church, do you meet their needs and pray for them? Are you actively serving in your local church? As Calvin explained, loving other believers is “when we transfer the love of ourselves to our brethren, so that every one, in a manner forgetting himself, should seek the good of others.”1 When we sacrificially love other Christians, this is a way that we are able to model Christ’s sacrificial love to each other.
3. Who do you listen to?
All of us get our guidance from somewhere. Whether that be popular culture, philosophy, ourselves, our faith – all of us are listening to something to help us direct our lives. Ultimately, there are really only two options for us. Either we listen to truth or error. John writes, “We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error” (1 John 4:6). As an apostle, John spoke on God’s authority, so to listen to him and the other apostles was to listen to God.
If we trust the Word of God and let it direct our lives, this is another sign that we are born again. If we truly love the God who saved us, then we will desire to be obedient to him. Whether it’s reading our Bible, hearing the preaching of the Word on Sunday, or talking with other believers, the Christian will listen to God’s truth being proclaimed and will strive to put it into practice.
If you call yourself a Christian and do not follow the Bible, you have no right to call yourself one. Jesus questions the crowds, “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you” (Luke 6:46)? It is the epitome of hypocrisy to claim to follow Christ, and yet deny it with our lives. Following Jesus isn’t simply liking him because we think he was a good moral teacher. Following Jesus means surrendering our lives to him and striving to obey and live in light of what he taught.
4. Who do you confess?
Finally, we must ask ourselves what we do about the Person of Jesus. Do we confess that he is God Incarnate who came into the world to pay for the sins of all who would believe? Have we placed our faith in him as our only hope of salvation or do we rejected him as Lord and continue to attempt to save ourselves by our own efforts? We are told, “Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son” (1 John 5:10).
This verse presents only two choices. Either we will confess Jesus is the Son of God, or we will call God a liar. Those who believe in him are told they will have the testimony of Jesus in their hearts, which is “the true testimony concerning [him] which they…have accepted and internalized.” 2 Those who believe the testimony of Jesus will confess him to be who he said he was and will submit to him as Lord.
Conclusion
Although someone may truly believe in Christ, it is still possible to not have assurance that one is truly in the faith, but this is not what the Lord wants for us. Not only does he desire us to be his children, he wants us to know that we are his children. At the conclusion of his letter, John writes, “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. And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us” (1 John 5:13-14). One of these things is asking for assurance that we are in the faith. By examining Scripture and praying for this confidence, Jesus promises us that we will have the assurance of faith that we are his sons and daughters.