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Are You a Christian?

Dear L,

At the end of our meeting on Monday you made the suggestion that you might not be a Christian. It is important to find out because if you find out you are not a Christian then it is possible to become a Christian. If you think you are already a Christian, it is impossible to become one. Jesus said it this way at the end of John 9: “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains" (John 9:41).

In the weeks that I have listened to you, you say more things that describe you as not a Christian. The evidence has piled up so that it seems to me you are not a Christian. I may be wrong, but if I am, you will have to show evidence by confessing and preaching the following:

1. Anger: Even if it is righteous anger, it may not last past sundown. You have been angry for years.
2. Lack of self-control: You admit that, but not in repentance.
3. Love yourself: You admit that, but not in repentance.
4. Brutal: You admit that, but not in repentance.
5. Profanity: You admit that, but not in repentance.
6. Not loving: You say your wife is unlovable. Your boss is an “unlovable" jerk.
7. Conceited: I have seen this.
8. Boastful: I have seen this.
9. Proud: I have seen this.
10. Abusive: You admit this.
11. Unforgiving: Matt. 18:35: “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”
12. You have a form of godliness, you are religious, but you deny the reality of godliness - its power. 1 Timothy 3:5, "If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God’s church."
13. Prolonged bitterness
14. No joy
15. You do not love God. Jesus replied: “Love the Lord you God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.”
16. You do not love your neighbor. Matthew 22:39, “And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
17. You do not love your brothers. John 13:34-35, “A new command I give you; Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.”
18. You do not love your enemies.
19. You do not love Jesus. John 14:15, “If you love me, keep my commands.”
20. You do not rejoice in bad circumstances. Matt. 5:11, "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.” 1 Thess. 5:16-18, “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
21. You complain and argue. Phil. 2:14, “Do everything without grumbling and arguing.”

There are assurance of salvation. Here are a few:

1. 1 John 2:14 “I write to you, dear children,
because you know the Father.
I write to you, fathers,
because you know him who is from the beginning.
I write to you, young men,
because you are strong,
and the word of God lives in you,
and you have overcome the evil one.”
2. 1 John 2:3 “We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands.”
3. 1 John 4:17 “This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus.”
4. 1 John 2:15 “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them.”
5. 1 John 2:5-6, 9 “But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did... Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother is still in the darkness.”
6. 1 Corinthians 2:14 “The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.”

If you think you are okay, you are deceiving yourself. I know you have reasons for not obeying. They are self-justifying. You may think, “Why pick on me? Other Christians sin, too.” Yes, other Christians sin. When they sin, their conscience bothers them, and they confess the sin and are forgiven and are back in the joy of the LORD. You have not had the joy of God for years.

You self-justify your sins, and consequently you think you have no sins to confess. You say that you are under the attack of Satan. True, you respond to the temptation and think it is a virtue to sin because you have been attacked. You think it is a virtue to be attacked. You know a lot of Scripture. However, you do not think to find out how to obey the Scriptures. You think of ways for the Scripture to fit you. You succeed, and then think that you have obeyed it. You haven’t thought of ways to make yourself to fit the Scriptures. “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven" (Matt. 7:21).

You do not love those you love you. “If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matt. 5:46-48). That is what pagans do. There is nothing particularly Christian in that.

These weeks I have listened to you carefully. You have told me all of this yourself. If you get angry with me, that is another way of telling me it is all true. "Then the LORD said to Cain, 'Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it'” (Gen. 4:6-7). “But to Jonah this seemed very wrong, and he became angry” (Jonah 4:1). "But God said to Jonah, 'Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?' 'It is,' he said. 'And I’m so angry I wish I were dead'” (Jonah 4:9).

Please stay with me. I can help you get back into the joy of salvation if you are saved. I can help you receive the joy of salvation if you are not saved.

With love and respect,

Jim Wilson

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