Evidence of a True Believer - Part 2

In last month’s newsletter, we began to look at the characteristics that should be seen in the life of a true believer in Christ. In someone who has been born again by the Holy Spirit and has been made into a new creature (2 Corinthians 5:17). One of the biggest scandals today are those who claim to be a Christian but demonstrate no fruit of having an actual faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Those who, as Paul warned Titus about, “profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed” (Titus 1:16). So, we would do well to look at the characteristics that God gives us in His Word that we should expect to find in the life of one who has been saved by God’s grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.

1 John is a great book to turn to for this since his specific purpose in writing his letter is to give assurance to believers that they have eternal life (1 John 5:13). He does this by pointing out the characteristics of one who has been given a new life in Christ. We have already examined two of these characteristics: being obedient to Jesus’ commands and having a genuine love for other believers. Now, we will look at three more characteristics that John points out to us.

John tells us that a true believer can be seen in their denial of the world. He states, “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world” (1 John 2:15-16). Now what does it mean to love the world? Steven Lawson describes it well when he states, “To love the world is to seek the world’s applause, adopt its values, crave its pleasures, and follow its philosophies.” The true believer should not buy into the world’s system. They should be more concerned about the things of God than the things of the world. More concerned about seeing God’s kingdom built instead of establishing their own kingdom. Seeking to store up treasures in heaven instead of those on earth (Matthew 6:19-20). Actually, whether the treasures that one desires are on earth or in heaven demonstrate where one’s heart truly lies. “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21). In fact, John goes so far to say that if one does love the world, that it is evidence that they do not possess the love of God. One cannot love both. As James puts it, “do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God” (James 4:4). It should be found in a Christian a heavenly mindset instead of a worldly mindset.

Another evidence that John provides in his letter of one who has been born again and is a true believer in Christ is that they remain in Christ. In describing the group of those who had left the church and began to teach false doctrine, he says, “They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us” (1 John 2:19). Read this carefully. John tells us that the group that left the church never really belonged to the church. The reason he knows that they actually were not part of the body of Christ through faith is because they left. In fact, it was their leaving that demonstrated the truth that they were never truly a part of the church in the first place. In other words, those who are in Christ will remain in Christ. They are the one in whom the seed of the gospel has been sown upon good soil and who do not fall away when the affliction or persecution for their faith comes (Matthew 13:1-9; 18-23). John presents a nice contrast in his second letter where he says, “Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son” (2 John 1:9). This means that those that we know who have left the church and renounced the faith, according to Scripture, never actually had faith in the first place. Their leaving revealed that they lacked true saving faith and hence never truly were a part of the church. As the saying goes, “Faith that fizzles before the finish was flawed at the first.” A true believer in Christ will remain in Christ through thick and thin because God will be working in them to keep them (John 6:39; Philippians 2:12-13). A fair-weather Christian, one who is a Christian in fair weather only, proves themselves to not be a Christian at all. But a Christian which perseveres in the faith shows the reality of their conversion and of the ongoing work of God in their life.

So here we have two other characteristics that should be expected to be present in a believer’s life. Not perfect but present. In fact, we will fall short of these every day in our lives but we should at least notice them there. Along with a desire to be obedient to Jesus’ commands and having a genuine love for other believers, do you see in yourself a love for God or a love for the world? Are you continuing in the faith and growing in your walk with Christ? Rejoice if you are and give God the glory for His ongoing work. Keep relying on Him to continue such a work in your life. We’ll come back next month and look at a few more evidences of God’s work in a believer’s life in order to provide assurance to those who have truly repented and trusted in Christ that they indeed have a new life in Him.

Love in Christ,
Pastor Lee