A True Christian or a False Convert?

Every believer, at some point in his or her walk with Christ, questions whether he or she is truly saved. This is known as the security of the believer. 

How secure are we in Christ?

Once Saved, Always Saved

The short answer is, completely. 

We are completely secure in Christ. Trusting in him as Savior means that we believe he has done whatever was needed for us to be saved.

We may not fully understand this, but we simply trust in Christ. On the day of judgment, we will simply stand before God and ask for Jesus to represent us. We trust him as our Savior.

To flesh that out a little further, we would need to discuss a few things.

1. We are not saved by works. We are saved by what Christ accomplished through his death and resurrection.
2. Salvation is an undeserved gift. We didn't work to achieve it. Rather, God saved us despite our sinful choices. As a result, we cannot work to un-achieve this gift.
3. God is bigger than our failures. He loves us and offers us salvation despite our shortcomings. If we submit to Christ as Lord, our salvation is guaranteed through the promise of his word. 
4. Believing that we could lose our salvation but haven't is not only arrogant, but is a works-based salvation. We are righteous enough that we haven't committed "too many" sins, or that we haven't committed "too bad" of a sin, so we are still in right-standing with God.

Is Repentance Necessary?

Repentance is vital for the believer's eternal life. Heart transformation is the evidence of the Holy Spirit's work in your life. 

We don't obey to be saved, but we obey because we are saved.

The Holy Spirit works in our hearts to turn us from sin and lead us to obedience. While this is a process, we should see a definite change.

Things we used to brag about are now shameful to us. We now find joy, not in sin, but in God's word. We long to practice the spiritual disciplines of the faith: prayer, Bible study, worship, missions, evangelism, discipleship, etc. We find ourselves filled with love, joy peace, patience, etc.

We are born again as new creatures. The old is gone. We are transformed into Christ's image.

If, however, you have not seen these evidences in your life, it is time to examine yourself.

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

What if I Still Struggle with Sin?

We all do. 

Spend some time in Romans 7. There you will see Paul wrestle with his desire to obey God but his failure as a human.

The question is ultimately if you desire to kill your sin or embrace your sin.

Am I a True Christian or a False Convert?

First of all, have you made a public profession of faith? If not, you need to do so. You need to submit to Jesus as Lord (Romans 10:9), and go to church to share your profession with other believers. You then need to follow up with baptism to identify with Christ's death and resurrection. 

None of those things, however, mean you are saved. You cannot just say the right words, do a couple of things at church, and then return to your sin. 

No, to truly submit to Jesus as Lord means that he has the authority to tell you how to live your life. If you "prayed a prayer" but reject Jesus as Lord, you are in eternal trouble. To confess that Jesus is Lord means that you submit to him and his will, not your own. 

So if you have submitted to Christ and been baptized, you need to spend some time reflecting on if you want to crucify your sin or embrace it. 

An emotional experience, a difficult storm, or an inspirational sermon can be tools God uses to draw you to him. However, if you never repented of your sin, you are just like Pharaoh promising to free the people only to keep them in bondage once the plague has lifted (Exodus 8:25-32).

No person can judge whether your conversion was legitimate. This is something between you and God, and I pray this post helps you find security as a believer or draws you to true repentance.

To examine yourself, ask the question of if you desire sin or Christ. Don't answer what you WANT to be true. That is of no value at all. Be honest with yourself.

Conclusion:

So repentance is necessary for salvation, but we still struggle with sin. How can this post help us?

My closing thoughts on this is that God is more interested in your devotion than your perfection.

Yes, his standard is perfection, and no, none of us meet it.

However, he saves us through Christ's blood.

The cross does not give us a license to sin. Rather, we live in obedience to God's word knowing that we have grace when we do fall.

We are not perfect beings. But we can be devoted to Christ.

So are you devoted to him, despite your failures? Do you pick yourself back up and run back to him?

Or do you love your sin? Do you celebrate others as they engage in sin or do you call them to repentance?

How you answer those questions can be very helpful in examining yourself to see if you are in the faith.

But, again, no person can make that judgment. It's between you and God. 

This post was intended to help you examine yourself, but it is not the final authority. God is.

Seek his word and ask him to reveal the deep things in your heart.

Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!

Psalm 139:23-24