Our growth in Christ and our fruit-bearing are dependent upon our volition; however, we must not fail to see that our volition is dependent upon our natures, which have been radically changed through the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit.
There is not a godly remnant in the true church; that true church is the godly remnant.
The person who professes faith in Christ and yet finds beauty and joy in the things that oppose the will of God should be concerned about the validity of his profession.
The validity of our confession of Jesus Christ’s lordship and of our conversion is evidenced by our obedience to the Father’s will.
The former work is accomplished through the cross. The latter work is accomplished through the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit, who radically transforms or recreates each member of God’s new covenant people.
God uses these false prophets to draw out the unbelieving and unregenerate from among His people so that their poison might not spring up and defile many.
Contemporary evangelicalism has been grossly affected by a “once saved always saved” teaching that argues for the possibility of salvation apart from sanctification.
So many pastors are trying to keep together a bunch of wicked people, while a little flock in the midst of them is starving to death and made to go in directions they don’t want to go. They are made to go along with the carnal majority!
We live in a world that is hostile to the gospel of Jesus Christ and holds it in contempt. Furthermore, this world is under the power of the evil one, who opposes the gospel above all other doctrines and would eradicate it from the universe if he could.33 In fact, the devil would gladly lay a Bible in the hands of every man and promote obedience to every command if in exchange we would give him the gospel.
Our society considers a man careless if he does not have a backup plan or an alternative escape route, if he has not diversified his investments, if he has put all his eggs in the same basket, or if he has burned bridges behind him. Yet this is the very thing that the man who receives Jesus Christ must do.
We must renounce the present-day methodologies that lead people to trust in a sinner’s prayer and bring them to a persevering “looking unto Christ” in faith.
However, the most frightening thing about many of the individuals and churches that identify with evangelicalism is not that they struggle against sin, but that they do not struggle at all.
It is a comfort to know that we will not remain as we are, and yet it is sometimes frightening to think of the fires through which we must pass on the narrow way in order to be rid of what God will not tolerate in us.
Very few have heard that without holiness or sanctification no one will see the Lord.
Those who choose the broad way boast that they have freed themselves from the Tyrant of heaven, but in doing so they have subjected themselves to the tyranny of their own depraved hearts.
Those who identify themselves with Christ but exhibit an ongoing disinterest in His Word are in as great danger as those who live in open defiance and shake a clenched fist in the face of God.
However, to the degree that the inclinations and aspirations of our lives bear a striking resemblance to those of the unbelieving world, we should be concerned. If we share the same goals with the world, and if our thoughts, time, and resources are spent on the pursuits of this age, we have cause for fear.
However, a person’s singular and sincere desire to save his own skin does not prove a work of conversion in his heart.
The question then is not whether a person wants to pray and ask Jesus into his heart but if God has so worked in his heart through the preaching of the gospel that he is now repenting of sin and believing in Jesus Christ for the salvation of his soul.
First, whose company do you most enjoy? Do you seek fellowship with other believers and delight in conversations about Christ? Or do you prefer the company of the world and rarely speak about the things of God?