Are You Really a Christian?

Part 1 Todd Friel

examines 10 signs of salvation from 1John

“Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this
about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you--unless indeed you fail the test?” (2 Corinthians
13:5)

1. Do you like hanging out with Christians?

“But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the
blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.” (1 John 1:7)

2. Do you recognize to your core how filthy your heart is?

“If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” (1 John 1:8)

3. Do you know the Ten Commandments? Do you strive to keep the Ten
Commandments?
“And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments.” (1 John
2:3)

4. Do you love the world, God’s enemy?

“Do not love the world or the things in the world If anyone loves the world, the love of the
Father is not in him.” (1 John 2:15)

5. Do you know who Jesus Christ is?

“No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also.”
(1 John 2:23)

6. Can you say that you ‘can’t wait for Jesus to come back?
“Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know
that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.” (1 John 3:2)

7. Are you growing in holiness?

“Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the
beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one
born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on
sinning because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God, and
who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is
the one who does not love his brother.” (1 John 3:8-10)

8. Does your love for other Christians show?

“We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever
does not love abides in death.” (1 John 3:14)

9. Do you love the preaching, teaching, and hearing of God’s Word?

“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)

10. When was the last time you intentionally proclaimed Jesus Christ?
“Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. (1 John
4:15)
 Are You Really A Christian? Part 2

God hates sin, and he won’t allow it into His presence. If you don’t understand this, you can never
understand the other lesson of the cross. So here we go. We’re going to take a test to see how much of
the thing God hates, we possess.

(1.) Where is God in your life? Here’s a question for you that is
penetrating. Is Jesus Christ precious to you? Is He really, really, the focal point
of your affections?
(2.) How about making a graven image, ever done that? Have
you ever thought, “My God is not angry at sin. And my God is not wrath filled.
And my God is not going to send anybody to Hell.” If you have, you’ve
created a “god” in your mind that is a figment of your imagination... because
the God of the Bible is wrath filled and He’s angry at sin every day. He does
not just wink at sin, or say “it’s ok.” He will crush sinners on the Day of
Judgment.
(3.) How many times have you taken His name in vain? Not just in
cursing or swearing, but also in calling yourself a Christian and then acting like someone who is
not a Christian and allowing the world to say, “Yeah, some Christian!” That is blaspheming the
name of the Lord.
(4.) The Bible says, “All liars will have their part in the lake of fire.” God is keeping
tabs. Every secret sin done in darkness is known to him. “The one who made the eye, shall He not
see?” He knows it all and He is storing up wrath for the Day of Wrath.

Jesus said, “Be perfect, even as your Heavenly Father is perfect.” That
should crush us all. Lying, and taking things that don’t belong to us, and cov-
eting, and desiring things… It should bury us! We should take this little test,
based on the Ten Commandments, and cry out to God, “I have failed
miserably. And you have every right to send me to Hell. It is reasonable. It is
just.” That’s just lesson one of the cross. But I will say this, if we don’t
understand lesson one, we’ll never appreciate lesson two. If your Christian
walk is a little “flimsy” it’s because you haven’t spent enough time focusing
on lesson one. “Oh, what I’ve done to God! What I have done to my God.
How I’ve lived for me, me, me, the filthiness of my life!” Dwell there. Let it
crush you. And then when you can hardly breathe, consider the second
lesson of the cross.
Turn and look to the Savior dying on the cross because God so loved
this filthy, foul, sinful, rebellious, world, that He gave His only begotten Son,
that whoever would believe in him would not perish, but have everlasting
life! That’s not good news, that’s stunning news! That’s shocking news!
How do you get there? It’s simple, and yet so hard. Consider the test
that we took here. Then get alone in the privacy of your heart. Get alone,
with yourself, and with God. Examine your life. You know what you’ve done…
the thoughts, the deeds, the actions, the lack of praise, the lack of
thanksgiving to God. Dwell on it. Let it crush you, and let it bury you, and
when you think that you can’t stand anymore because of your filthy
sinfulness, take a look at that cross, and your God hanging there to forgive
you of your sins. And it will break your heart. And you’ll cry out to him, “God,
I’m sorry! I didn’t know. I didn’t know how much you hated sin. I didn’t know
how much you loved me. Would you please have me? Would you please
forgive me.” That’s the heart that God desires, a childlike faith. And when He
saves you, you’ll know it. And you’ll be on fire. And you will never fall away.
I’m telling you, you will never be snatched from His hand.

And you will stand before him, and you will inherit eternal life, not because you’re a
good person, but because you’re a bad person who’s been forgiven by a good God.