“The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies.” (Psalm 58:3). Jeremiah also helps us understand the condition of unregenerate men; “The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.” (Jeremiah 17:9). Remember also the devil’s influence on people. Jesus said the devil is a liar and the father of lies (John 8:44). Combine man’s wicked and deceitful heart and his lying ways with the devil’s deceptive lies and you have a world of sinners who are deceived. Some deceived people don’t believe God exists. Most believe in a god of their imagination: a false god or idol. The worst deception is a person who thinks he is a Christian but has never been born again.
The Bible tells us how a person becomes a Christian: “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit.” (Titus 3:5). God saves the ones He chose in Christ in eternity past of His own good pleasure. (Ephesians 1:4). The elect hear the Word of God at some point in their life and the Holy Spirit regenerates their heart and enables them to exercise faith in Jesus. The entire work of salvation is God’s work of grace, supplying faith for the sinner so he can believe in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The born again sinner is a new creation in Christ with a new nature, a new love, and new abilities to live righteously. God works in the Christian constantly to make Him more like Christ in words, thoughts, and deeds. The more the believer is conformed to the image of God’s Son, the more God is glorified. When God saves a person, there is a desire to do God’s will and please the Lord who rescued him from eternal hell. This produces the good works that were “Before ordained that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10). The Holy Spirit enables the Christian to produce the fruit of the Spirit mentioned in Galatians 5:22-23: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, and self-control. These internal attitudes and virtues placed in the believer at the time of the new birth become the basis for the righteous works or spiritual fruit that God wants Christians to produce in their lives.
There is no such thing as a Christian who does not produce spiritual fruit. All Christians are indwelled by the Holy Spirit and they will produce fruit; some more than others but all will be fruit bearers. There are many people who profess to be Christians but they do not produce any fruit. These are the ones Jesus spoke about in Matthew 7:21-23. They had a superficial and external relationship with Jesus in church associations and religious activities but they never produced the fruit that characterizes genuine Christians. In other words, they did not do the will of God as revealed in the Scriptures. Jesus will say to those false professors one day, “I never knew you; depart from me you that work iniquity.” (Matthew 7:23).
We need to check ourselves. Have I been deceived by my own heart and by the devil thinking I’m saved and going to heaven one day when I have never been changed radically by God’s love and power? Or, am I truly saved and the evidence is clear: I have a love for God that motivates me to do righteous works (fruit) that will please Him.
Love in Christ,
Pastor Dennis
