Does Your Faith Transform?

After this talk about temptation, sin and confession, some might ask if all that is necessary after salvation. What role does that play in faith? If I am already forgiven, and can’t be saved by what I do, does it matter what I do? Isn’t faith enough so that I don’t have to worry about the rest?

Does It Matter?

The answer is that it does matter. The difference is the motive and goal. Without faith and salvation, obedience and confession are driven by a need to gain something, or by duty. With faith and salvation, we still need to obey and confess, but now we do it out of love for God.

God hates sin, it is what nailed Jesus to the cross, it is what sealed our sentence to hell. God cannot be in the presence of sin. That is why it is so important for us to obey; by sinning we separate ourselves from God. If a person is saved, that separation does not result in a loss of salvation, but it does put a barrier in our relationship with God and hinders our prayers to Him. Of course we cannot obey perfectly, that is where confession comes in. The way that we repair that relationship when we do sin is by confessing and repenting of that sin. If a person loves someone, they will do whatever they can to not hurt that person, do their best to keep the relationship strong and make amends when they need to. Does that reflect your relationship with God?

What Is The Difference?

That brings us to the question of what is true faith. Many believe in God, but is that enough? Even the demons believe, probably with greater conviction than we ever could, that Jesus is God. But they are not saved. So with is the difference?

First, the demons do not submit to God. They acknowledge Him as God, they know that He is the King of the universe, but they do not submit to Him. They do not obey Him which shows they have no allegiance to Him. Our obedience shows our allegiance. That is why it is important to obey God, not because we are saved by our obedience, but our obedience shows who’s we are. True faith prompts submission.

Romans 6:16 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?

Second, the demons are not transformed by their faith. The demons believe, but because they do not submit, that faith does not influence them. We prove who’s we are by our fruit, what we produce.

Matthew 7:17 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit.

John 15:8 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.

Again, it is not our fruit that saves us, it proves that we are saved.

Saving Faith

So the demons believe but are not saved, can humans believe and yet not be saved? This is a difficult topic and I want to be clear that salvation is between a person and God, no one can claim to know if another is truly saved or not. This is meant to be for personal reflection, not interpersonal judgment.

1 Corinthians 15:2 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. (emphasis added)

Belief in vain is what I am talking about. The demons believe but it does not save them. That is belief in vain. But people can do that too. They believe but it is intellectual. It does not produce a love for God, a desire to honor and obey Him, nor does it produce godly fruit in their lives. There are many people in churches around the globe who attend every week, participate in church functions, give generously, and live moral lives who are not saved. They don’t have horrible sin in their lives and are basically good people, but they are not saved. Their belief in God has not transformed their lives.

I know so many people who grew up in church, know all the right answers and do all the right things, but when it comes down to it, they live for themselves. It’s not obvious unless one looks closely, but they have no true love or passion for God. They behave well, but they are not producing godly fruit. They treat others well but they are not growing in or pursuing godliness. They don’t commit any terrible sin, but they have no desire to eradicate all sin from their lives.

Because we can’t know with certainty if a person who claims to be Christian is really saved, we shouldn’t even try. That is between them and God. All we can do is pray for them.

Again this is meant to be a personal exercise. Use this information to examine yourself.

2 Corinthians 13:5 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

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?

This is not meant to cause people to be ever fearful of losing their salvation, or to cast doubt on whether you can ever know fully if you are saved. We can know with full assurance whether we are saved. Jesus doesn’t want us to live in fear and doubt. The point is to examine your life. The Amplified clarifies this point better:

2 Corinthians 13:5 Amplified Bible, Classic Edition (AMPC)

Examine and test and evaluate your own selves to see whether you are holding to your faith and showing the proper fruits of it. Test and prove yourselves [not Christ]. Do you not yourselves realize and know [thoroughly by an ever-increasing experience] that Jesus Christ is in you—unless you are [counterfeits] disapproved on trial and rejected?

Obedience and fruit are proof of our salvation. If you are only mildly obedient, if you are not truly producing godly fruit, if your obedience and fruit are only skin deep, then you have cause for concern. It may mean that you have put so much of a barrier between you and God that the Holy Spirit is immobilized in your life, or it may mean that you never submitted your life to God in the first place. Rather than living in fear and doubt, wondering if you were truly saved before, focus on now.

At this point, it doesn’t matter if you truly believed before, what matters is whether you truly believe now. Examine yourself. If you have reason to doubt, deal with it. Take this time to give your life to Christ, even if you have before. Deal with your sin, repent and be forgiven. Renew, or make a new, vow to live for Him. Restore your relationship with your Lord and Savior. Be transformed!