Pastor Caleb Gordon: Can a 'Christian' walk away from Christ?
In the last couple of years, there has been story after story of a “Christian” artist claiming to have lost their faith in God. You might be tempted to think, “Well, that person just lost their salvation.”
I contend that this person was never really saved to begin with. How do I know this? I rely on the authority of God’s word. According to Scripture, people who profess to know Christ at one time but later deny Him were never really saved to begin with. They never possessed what they professed. 1 John 2:19 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, in order that it might be shown that they all are not of us.”
A true believer will never depart from the faith (Phil. 1:6), so those who do so are revealing that they were never truly saved (John 8:31; Heb. 3:14).
Though saved, Christians still sin. As a result, you may be tempted to doubt your own salvation. You may lack assurance due to the presence of sin in your life (Psalm 51:12). A failure to grow spiritually can also rob us of the confidence that we are God’s children (2 Pet. 1:9). However, anyone indwelt by the Holy Spirit is secure eternally because He is the “deposit guaranteeing our inheritance” (Eph. 1:14). Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). He is the one who holds us and none can snatch us from his hand (John 10:28).
Thomas Watson once said “Saving faith lives in a broken heart. 'He cried out with tears, Lord, I believe.' True faith is always in a heart bruised for sin. They, therefore, whose hearts were never touched for sin, have no faith. If a physician should tell us there was an herb that would help us against all infections, but it always grows in a watery place; if we should see an herb like it in color, leaf, smell, blossom, but growing upon a rock, we should conclude that it was the wrong herb. So, saving faith always grows in a heart humbled for sin, in a weeping eye and a tearful conscience.”
Paul Washer says “You say you have a relationship with Jesus Christ? What is your relationship with your sin?”
It is not the lack of sin that validates our salvation, but the attitude toward the sin that persists. Do you pursue righteousness? Is your life marked by a desire to please Christ? Or do you continue in your pursuit of the same sins hoping that having your “grace card” punched you will escape judgement?
The person who is saved or redeemed “has everlasting life, and … is passed from death unto life” (John 5:24). Since eternal life is eternal, then it cannot be temporary. It is the present possession of all those who have truly trusted Christ.
When you read stories of those who have “deconstructed” and walked away, know that their faith was not grounded in the truth of the identity and work of Jesus Christ. It was not faith that believes in the finished work on the cross and the authority of Christ as Lord. Rather, it was based in their own experience and their own ability. It was grounded in a deceitful heart and the ever changing waves of emotions. They had “faith” only when they felt like they did. This is why we “take every thought captive to obey Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5). Salvation is not based on a feeling. It is grounded in the truth of God’s word and relies on the authority of Christ, who He is and what He has accomplished. It’s this BIBLICAL understanding of who Jesus is that will transform and save.
The bottom line is that we can know for a fact that this ‘Christian’ rock star never truly loved Jesus. Why? Because if you love Christ, you keep His commands (John 14:15). If you love Jesus, you pursue a relationship with Him. You die to self, daily. You take up your cross and follow. Paul describes those who leave the faith as having “the appearance of godliness,” but they “deny its power” (2 Timothy 3:5).
What should we do in response to news such as this? Pray that he will repent of sins and trust the Gospel. Pray that the Holy Spirit does a redemptive work in his heart and that his life will be transformed by the power of the Gospel rather than being entertained by Contemporary Christianity.
Caleb Gordon is a longtime Bartlesville resident and pastor of the First Baptist Church of Cedar Vale, Kansas.
This article originally appeared on Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise: Pastor Caleb Gordon: Can a 'Christian' walk away from Christ?
