Traits Of A False Believer
by Dan Lirette
Theme Text: Titus 1:16 “They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.”
1- A false believer is one who believes he's of God and yet by his works shows that he's of the devil:
John 8: 41-44 “Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him , We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God. Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me. Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word. Ye are of your father the devil , and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. “
In verse 41 we see that a false believer claims to be of God yet in verse 44 we see that Jesus states that they are in fact the children of their spiritual father,l the devil.
Thus we see two components in the lives of a false believer:
- Self delusion (vs 41)
- A lifestyle of sin (vs 44)
2- A false believer teaches contrary to truths found in Scripture (Grace through Faith, the Atonement, etc):
2 John 1: 9-11 “Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ , hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ , he hath both the Father and the Son. If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.”
- Verse 9 shows us that those who deny any of the essential truths of the Word of God such as Salvation by Grace, the Atonement of Christ, etc, do not have God.
- Verse 10 commands us to reject anyone who perverts the truths of the Gospel
- Verse 11 tells us that if we don't properly judge a false teacher that God will properly judge us by holding us guilty of the very thing the false teacher teaches.
3- A false believer displays a love for first place, a refusal to acknowledge and to receive those in authority and is one who goes around speaking evil of those whom God has made righteous and forbids the Children of God to receive those whom God has set in authority in the Body of Christ through malicious words (slander, gossip, talebearing, etc).
3 John 1:9 “I wrote unto the church: but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not. 10 Wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds which he doeth, prating against us with malicious words :
and not content therewith, neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and forbiddeth them that would, and casteth them out of the church.”
- We see from this passage of Scripture that a false believer is filled with pride and believes that “he” is the one who God set in the church to “lead it” and slanders and gossips about true leadership in the Body of Christ and actually forbids God's People from associating with and submitting to true Biblical authorities.
4- A false believer is one who appears to have godly fruit but ultimately time displays their lack of the true Fear of God. They are “clouds without water”, meaning that they as well as the disciples they produce are sinful and spiritually dead. Their outward actions of sinfulness always show themselves sooner or later:
Jude 12-13 “These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water , carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit , twice dead, plucked up by the roots; Raging waves of the sea , foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.”
- The term “twice dead” shows us that a false believer was once alive in Christ.
- “Plucked up by the roots” shows that at one time the false believer was in fact a true believer with roots planted in Christ Jesus. Perhaps they, as a true believer, failed to examine their lives and teachings? Perhaps they once had a fiery passion for Christ but failed to heed the warnings of Scripture concerning turning from Christ?
5- A false believer is one who claims commitment to Jesus Christ and His Word and yet secretly holds on to personal sins which he/she has no intention of mortifying:
Colossians 3:5-6 “Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience.”
- A false believer, then, is one who holds to sin and yet claims to know and love God when Scripture makes it clear that God's wrath, rather than love, comes on the “children of disobedience.”
- A false believer is one who says with their mouth “I know God” and yet in their daily lives...when no one is looking...they indulge in secret sin such as hatred, pornography, lust, lying and all sorts of wickedness. The Book of Titus makes it abundantly obvious that such people are “abominable”.
Concluding Note:
2 Corinthians 13:5 “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?”
Here we're commanded to “examine” ourselves. When an individual is properly examined by a physician, that individual is examined to see if their health is intact. If not, the physician then prescribes the appropriate medicine to deal with the issue affecting that person's health.
Jesus Christ is our Great Physician.
Mark 2:15-17 “And it came to pass, that, as Jesus sat at meat in his house, many publicans and sinners sat also together with Jesus and his disciples: for there were many, and they followed him. And when the scribes and Pharisees saw him eat with publicans and sinners, they said unto his disciples, How is it that he eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners? When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
Do we have sin in our lives? Have we examined ourselves in light of God's standard of Holiness rather than what we think Holiness and righteousness are? Do we tell the Great Physician that we can prescribe to our unhealthy and sinful lives our own spiritual medicine or do we swallow the bitter pill of God's Word and experience sweet wholeness once again?
Let us examine ourselves to see whether we're truly in the Faith.
