Continuing the Reformation Means Warning People That Church Attendance Doesn't Make Anyone a Christian
Some "former Christians" will say that they were once Christians because they once went to church, some of them even used to teach Sunday school or do whatever activities are associated with church. These were Christians in name only. Remember Judas Iscariot spent 3.5 years of his life working with the Lord Jesus. From the surface, it looked like Judas Iscariot gave his life to Jesus but he never did. If he did, he would have never sold Jesus for thirty pieces of silver and continue to the path that led to his suicide. When John wrote 1 John 2:19, he probably had Judas Iscariot in mind when he said:
John emphasized that such people looked like they were Christians but they weren't. Some of them may have attended church services. If you remember the parable of the sower, there were four types of soil but only one produced fruit. The rest were sham conversions. When people supposedly attend church but have their own motives, they don't produce fruit and leave. They are not four types of believers but three types of false convert contrasted with the false convert (Matthew 13:3-9, Mark 4:2-9, Luke 8:11-15). No Christian can ever get saved and remain barren for the rest of their lives.
The logic that being inside a church makes you a Christian is stupid. You go into the garage you aren't a car. You can enter into any sectarian school but if you're not practicing that school's religion then you're not a member of that school's religion. You can enter into any places of worship of unbelievers but that doesn't make you a member of their religion. You can enter into any church but if you're not a Christian you're not a Christian. The same goes for those churchgoers who aren't saved. They aren't Christians just because they're inside a church building. They can attend church all they want but if all the proofs of false conversion such as trusting in one's self or a lifestyle of unrepentant sin is present then I have no reason to think they're Christians.
While evangelizing people also means inviting them to Bible-believing churches so they can hear the Gospel, it doesn't mean that these people became Christians when they entered and stopped becoming Christians when they went out. Church attendance was made for redeemed sinners and to help spread the Gospel. Becoming a Christian means receiving Jesus Christ as one's Lord and Savior then it results to people having changed lives. True Christianity endures to the end while fake Christianity is destined to crumble. Even if Christians may fall into states of carnality and sin but they can't remain in there because they're already saved (Romans 3:31, 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, Titus 2:11-14, Ephesians 2:10).
See also:
They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.
John emphasized that such people looked like they were Christians but they weren't. Some of them may have attended church services. If you remember the parable of the sower, there were four types of soil but only one produced fruit. The rest were sham conversions. When people supposedly attend church but have their own motives, they don't produce fruit and leave. They are not four types of believers but three types of false convert contrasted with the false convert (Matthew 13:3-9, Mark 4:2-9, Luke 8:11-15). No Christian can ever get saved and remain barren for the rest of their lives.
The logic that being inside a church makes you a Christian is stupid. You go into the garage you aren't a car. You can enter into any sectarian school but if you're not practicing that school's religion then you're not a member of that school's religion. You can enter into any places of worship of unbelievers but that doesn't make you a member of their religion. You can enter into any church but if you're not a Christian you're not a Christian. The same goes for those churchgoers who aren't saved. They aren't Christians just because they're inside a church building. They can attend church all they want but if all the proofs of false conversion such as trusting in one's self or a lifestyle of unrepentant sin is present then I have no reason to think they're Christians.
While evangelizing people also means inviting them to Bible-believing churches so they can hear the Gospel, it doesn't mean that these people became Christians when they entered and stopped becoming Christians when they went out. Church attendance was made for redeemed sinners and to help spread the Gospel. Becoming a Christian means receiving Jesus Christ as one's Lord and Savior then it results to people having changed lives. True Christianity endures to the end while fake Christianity is destined to crumble. Even if Christians may fall into states of carnality and sin but they can't remain in there because they're already saved (Romans 3:31, 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, Titus 2:11-14, Ephesians 2:10).
See also:
- Believing in Christ Is Not Just Superficial Belief
- Can A Truly Saved Christian Sin All They Please? NOT A CHANCE According to Scriptures!
- Charles Spurgeon on People Thinking Lightly of Sin
- Charles Spurgeon's Quote on the Gospel Troubling Sinners
- Debunking the Idea That Reformed Theology Makes Salvation "Complicated"
- Declare a Spiritual War Against the Heresy of Teaching the Possibility of a Fruitless Christianity!
- Declaring War Against Easy Prayerism
- "Easy Baptists" Are Insulting Old Fashioned Christianity!
- "Easy Christianity" Churches Are Also Leading People to Hell
- "Easy Christianity" Seeks To Separate Itself From Sound Doctrine!
- Examining The Greek Words For Carnal and Justify To Understand Scripture And Dispel Heresy!
- Exposing False Conversions from Easy Prayerism
- If Your Gospel Is Celebrating Sin, Then It Is Not the Real Gospel of Jesus Christ at All
- It's Impossible to be a Christian and Not Bear Even ONE Good Fruit for the Lord Jesus Christ
- It's Not About Church Size, It's About Church Substance!
- Jesus Died For Sin Because Man is Not Basically Good
- Jesus Christ is the Lord of EVERY Christian
- Many People Will Die in Their Sins Because of Pride!
- Proud Sinners and Their False Conversions
- Struggling with Sin
- The Call of Salvation Is Salvation FROM Sin, NOT Salvation to Sin!
- The Dangers of A Watered Down Repentance
- The Dangers of Preaching the Lie That Jesus Doesn't Save People From Their Sins
- The Doctrine of Antinomianism Attempts to Turn Heaven into Hell!
- The Danger of Preaching Without Preparing the Hearts of the Hearers!
- The Great Baptist Preacher Charles Haddon Spurgeon Will Never Be Popular With The "Easy Christianity" Crowd
- The Lukewarm Church Hates the Commandment to Execute Righteous Judgment!
- The Need For Spurgeonistic Hard Preaching!
- Why Are Some Evangelicals/Protestants Becoming Roman Catholics?
- Why the Doctrine of The "Perseverance of the Saints" Is NOT Works Salvation!
- Why Do Christians Do Good Works Even If They're Not Saved By Good Works?
- You Cannot Be a Christian and Hate the Doctrine of Christian Sanctification
- You Can't Be a Saved Person and Remain Perpetually Disobedient to Christ!