Jesus' Warning And The Gospel's Urge For Self-Examination

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Introduction
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My greatest concern for evangelical churches is the church. What do I mean by that? The church that I am describing is the people who professes to be Christians, but does not bear any kind of fruit. There are many, or too many, so-called Christians out there who are not living out their faith in a genuine way. I spoke about this concern in this entry, "Judas in the church". I want to revisit this topic, but this time putting our focus on the perspective from the eyes of Jesus. How did Jesus see his followers? What kind of warnings did He give to them? 

Surely, Jesus spoke about this concern in the Gospels. His teaching perhaps has a terrifying effect when I remember hearing one of my buddies said this, "Jesus said not every 'believer' will go to heaven." When he said "believers", I think he's talking about Christians who simply know the language of the Bible, who have intellectual faith, who practice good deeds to be saved, and who commit part-time for God. There are teachings from Jesus that warn us about these matters. I will provide five points with a brief description (I'm sure there's more) of what Jesus explicitly taught, and I invite you to read those passages for yourself. 
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What did Jesus say?
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1. There are false disciples in the church who think they are saved, but Jesus never knew these people. (Matthew 7:21-23) 
2. This does not just apply to Christians. There are two gates: narrow and wide. Many choose the wide one, but only a few finds the narrow one. (Matthew 7:13-14; Luke 13:22-30)
3. When the Word of God is spoken, there are two kinds of disciples who will respond differently. One will hear it, apply genuine saving faith, and do what our Lord commands. The other will hear it, and this being the false disciple, will not do it. (Matthew 7:24-27; Luke 6:46-49)
4. There are four different types of soil: hardened path, rocky soil , thorny soil, and good soft soil (Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23: Luke 8:4-15).
5. There are false disciples who are not willing to forgive even though they "received" God's forgiveness. Such false disciples who do not offer forgiveness never genuinely experienced God's forgiveness of sin (Matthew 18:21-35).

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Conclusion
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Paul Washer has a viral video that has at least a million views called "The Shocking Youth Message". Washer's tone is very strong and very passionate. Not everyone would like him, but he surely gets his point across. Somewhere in his opening speech, as he was preaching to the youth, he said, "Majority of the people in this room will go to hell." Now, if you're appalled, angry and shocked already, try not to make any further accusations, but go and check out that video.

In conclusion, I will allow John Piper to provide three lessons that we could take away from this entry:

1. “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; prove yourselves” (2 Corinthians 13:5).
2. “Enter by the narrow gate…For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few” (7:13-14).
3. This is not justification by works! This is indispensable evidence of justification by faith—“you will know them by their fruits!”

"Judas" in the church

Last week, there was a conference held in Louisville, Kentucky called Together For The Gospel. It's a conference that is held once every two years for two days. This year's theme is called "UnAshamed". Some of the speakers are well-known in the evangelical-circle. Nonetheless, all of them have made great contributions to the Kingdom of God.

I listened to one of the messages preached by John MacArthur. The title of his message is called "Mass Defection: The Great Physician Confronts the Pathology of Counterfeit Faith". His main passage was on John 6:60-71, plus other passages. This was not a typical sermon that he preached. It was not like his Sunday sermons. This message is spoken out of his personal life and heart. It was a pastoral sermon. 

Before I explain, let me tell you a story that happened today. My brother recently bought two water jugs. This afternoon, my brother got very upset because he thought someone spilled tons of water and did not clean up after himself, so he had to clean up everything. Later on in the afternoon, while I was making lunch, I wanted to get some water. I noticed there was still a flood of water on the counter. I thought my brother already cleaned the mess that was made. I took one of the jugs, and I saw water leaking out a tiny bit at the bottom of it. I checked the other one, and it was perfectly fine. Hence, my brother said it correctly, "One of them is a defect." It is somewhat precisely what the message is.

In the description of the message, it says, "there are unconverted disciples like Judas in our churches even today". This is a powerful, frightening and heart-felt statement. It is a calling for all of us to, as Paul said to the Corinthians, to "examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!" (2 Corinthians 13:5)

John MacArthur distinguishes two types of people that are lost: the unreached and the "reached". The reached? What kind of ludicrous is this? Aren't the reached usually called saved people? How are "saved" people lost. Here, in this message, MacArthur focuses on the "reached". He carefully explains and clarifies what he means by that. There are those who are true disciples of Jesus Christ. Those true disciples were those that followed Him, loved Him, obeyed Him and worshiped Him. During and after the Pentecost, those true disciples were willing to give up their lives for the sake of the gospel and forsake worldliness. These disciples are truly reached for Christ. However, there also those who are false disciples of Jesus Christ that are "reached". And one of them is called Judas Iscariot. 

Judas is one of the characters in the Bible that is challenging to comprehend. Why? Think about it. He spent three years in ministry with Jesus. He saw Jesus performed miracles. He himself went out did a short-term missions trip.  John MacArthur goes more in-depth in his message, so you can check it out by clicking here. 

In my experience and personal reading of the Bible, I can definitely say that there are false disciples in churches. I've seen far many people who loved and walked with the Lord turn away from their faith. There are those that profess to be Christians, but do not walk with God. There are those who profess to be Christians, but do not love Jesus (John 14:21). There are those who profess to be Christians, but do not have a deep and innate desire to know the LORD. There are those who profess to be Christians, but love the world. There are those who profess to be Christians, but continually practice sin and not repent.

After listening to this sermon, I needed to check my heart and pray. I remember making this plea in my other entry so you can click here. I do not want to be a "Judas" or a "Demas" (2 Timothy 4:10). Not only that, it's a call for me to pray for the church that Jesus would continue to "sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish." (Ephesians 5:26-27).

Indeed, there are false disciples. There are those that are defects. There are those who have a counterfeit faith, and not a genuine faith. I believe there are defects in churches, especially Oakridge Baptist Church. You might think you're saved, but maybe you're not.

I do not know where you are at in your relationship with God. I do not know your heart. You know your heart better than I do, but God knows your heart better than you do. I say this because I do love you. Therefore, my prayer for you, brothers and sisters, is that you would take your faith seriously, that you would love Jesus, that you are a true follower of Jesus Christ, and that you will finish the race at the end of your life. Do not play games here. This is life and death. I humbly submit to you, DO NOT BE LIKE JUDAS.

Check your heart.