Studies show that there is around 2.4 billion people in the world that say there are Christians. That’s around one third of the world. If that was true, our world would be different, so we know that everybody who say that they’re a Christian are not Christian. Even Jesus says this.
“Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall. enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.” – Matthew 7:21
Just because you say that you’re a Christian doesn’t mean that you really are even if you say I believe that God exists. Demons also say they believe in God but that doesn’t mean they are Christians.
What makes you a true Christian? Is it because you are trying to be a good person or is it because you grew up in a Christian home or because you read your Bible or because you’ve said a prayer here and there? We must look at what the Bible says. The Word of God tells us everything we need to know. It is our basic instruction. A lot of Christians like to add their own rules to the Bible or some of them just read what they like and ignore the parts that they do not like. If that’s you, do you realize that you’re creating a God in your own head that doesn’t exist? If you don’t follow the whole Bible as it is written in Scripture, then you’re worshiping a made-up God.
“For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book.” – Revelation 22:18
That’s a huge warning to all Christians and especially Christian leaders, preachers, and pastors. Don’t preach in a way that you changed a little bit of the Bible or overemphasize just a certain part of it to just tell people what they want to hear. The Bible must be read and taught in a balanced, truthful, and honest way. A true Christian will abide by this. The Apostle explains very well what you need to do to be a true Christian:
“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” – Romans 10:9
If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved. The heart believes unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. If you truly believe that Jesus Christ died in your place for your sins on the cross, you become a true Christian at that moment. You cannot save yourself by trying to be a good person. Only God can save you. It is a gift from Him if you accept it.
“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.” – Ephesians 2:8
If you really believe in Jesus through real faith you are saved through God’s grace, but it doesn’t stop there. It doesn’t mean that you have your ticket to heaven, and you can go back to your old sinful lifestyle. If you truly believe in Jesus Christ, if you truly believe in God, it means that you had a real encounter with the God of this universe, and He opened your spiritual eyes and made you a new person at that moment. When you confessed that you believed in Jesus, when you asked Him to forgive all your sins, He gave you the Holy Spirit to come and live inside of your spirit and you became a new creation.
“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” – 2 Corinthians 5:17
God has reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. This new nature of yours will slowly change the way that you look at the world, the way that you look at God, and the way that you look at other people. You are now a child of God and that means you are part of the the Christian family. Now you worship Him through your spirit because you can only worship God through your spirit. You cannot continue to live in sin as you did. You cannot go back to your old lifestyle. You will fall because we all still have a sinful nature but when you fall the Holy Spirit will convict you and tell you what you did was not right, and you need to go and repent of God and make this right.
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” – 1 John 1:9
If you sin and you don’t feel the need to ask God for forgiveness it is a very big sign that you might not be a real Christian. Sin will be a daily battle because you have two
natures. Now, you have a sinful nature, and you have your new spiritual nature. You need to learn how to live through your new spiritual nature and to reckon the old sinful nature as dead.
A true Christian is justified by Jesus at the moment when you believed, and you confessed it with your mouth. You are justified by grace through real faith and what Jesus Christ did for you on the cross. That happens only once but then a whole new journey starts where you are on a journey of growing more spiritually and to become more and more like Jesus. This is the journey of sanctification. You need to learn the difference between the old sinful nature and the new spiritual nature.
16 “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.18 But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.” – Galatians 5:16-21
If you continue with the old, sinful lifestyle you’re not a real Christian. You need to turn away from this lifestyle into the new life that Jesus gave you.
22 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.24 And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.26 Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.” – Galatians 5:22-26
It is clear to see that there’s two different natures and a true Christian received a new
spiritual nature and that is very easy to identify when we look at the lives of Christians. Jesus also says that you will identify them by their fruit, meaning, the way that they live their lives and their actions. A true Christian cannot continue to live in sin, for this sinful world, or for the pleasures of this sinful world. You need to draw a line and you need to decide. You can either choose to live for this world and its sinful pleasures which can never give you peace and is only temporary and will ultimately bring you for all eternity into hell. Or you can fully live for Christ who will give you peace and give you the living water that you need to never thirst again. You will be transformed by his power. That is something this world cannot offer. Money, relationships, nothing can give you that kind of peace in this world but God in this peace that surpasses all understanding.
God is very clear that He does not love the world or the things of 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, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the Father but is of the world and the world is passing away and the lust of it but he who does the will of God abides forever.
In the age that we live in, there is a lot of lukewarm Christians, but God warns us that being lukewarm is not good.
15 “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.” – Revelation 3:15-16
Lukewarm Christians focus too much on this world and just use God as a crutch whenever we need help, or we just use him select some piece of jewelry, or when we feel like being a Christian. Some people are just a Christian on Sunday. They go to Sunday church and then the rest of the week live the same sinful lifestyle.
If you are a real Christian, you had a real encounter with the living God. There is no way that you can still stay the same because now you start to see that there’s so much more to God then what you ever knew because now, with your new spiritual nature, you start to really see for the first time what is the truth of life itself and your purpose in it. You start to see it more clearly as you grow more spiritually by reading the Bible and meeting with other real Christians. God then also starts to show you your real identity in Christ, who you really are, and how you can use your spiritual gifts for his glory. As you grow more mature as a Christian, you realize that you need to fully surrender every single aspect of your life to God because you know if you put God first you don’t need anything else because you already have everything else if you have God. You have everything you need, and he will take care of you and only then when you fully surrender to God, the Holy Spirit can really empower you to use you for God’s glory. For those of you that don’t fully trust God for your lives, trust his promises:
“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” – Romans 8:28
“But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” – Matthew 6:33
The closer you get to God and the more he reveals himself to you, there will be a fire burning in you for God and for other people because you start to understand what real love really means because now you have a relationship with the essence with real love itself because God is love and he shows you what love really means. Do you love him with your whole being? Is he sitting on the throne of your heart or are you still moving toward your selfish ambitions?
A lot of Christians are just Christians because they want God to help them with success and with their selfish ambitions. What is really going on in your heart? You can deceive a lot of other people and you can even deceive yourself, but you cannot deceive God. God sees what is going on in your heart and he’s the one that you must answer to on judgement day. The day when you come to the end of your life, and you stand in front of God. You don’t know when that day will be. It can be in 10 years, it can be tomorrow, it can even be today.
There will be a lot of people that will think, “I am going to heaven because I am a Christian I lived a Christian life,” but God will say to them, “I never knew you depart from me you who practice lawlessness.” You don’t have to be in that position. You can still give your life to God if you truly believe in your heart that Jesus died for your sins. This is a real decision to follow Jesus because he saved your life, and he becomes the center of your life. You still have time to choose God.