Is your faith in Christ real? Examine yourself with these 2 Lists

In light of the fact that we’re covering James 2:14-26 at CrossView Church tomorrow, I wanted to post these lists for our members and friends.

The two lists that distinguishes saving faith from dead/damning faith [1]

• Stuff that neither prove nor disprove the authenticity of one’s faith
  • Visible morality- Matt. 19:16-21; 23:27
  • Intellectual knowledge- Rom. 1:21; 2:17ff.
  • Religious involvement- Matt. 25:1-10
  • Active ministry- Matt. 7:21-24
  • Conviction of sin- Acts 24:25
  • Assurance- Matt. 23
  • Time of decision- Luke 8:13-14

• Stuff that is proof of authentic faith.
  • Love for God- Ps. 42:1ff; 73:25; Luke 10:27
  • Repentance from sin- Rom.7:14ff; 1 Jn. 1:8-10
  • Genuine humility- Matt. 5:1-12; Jam. 4:6, 9ff.
  • Devotion to God’s glory- Jer. 9:23-24; 1 Cor. 10:31
  • Continual prayer- Eph. 6:18ff.; Phil. 4:6ff.
  • Selfless love- 1 Jn. 2:9ff, 3:14; 4:7ff.
  • Separation from the world- James 4:4ff, 1 Jn. 2:15-17, 5:5
  • Spiritual growth- John 15:1-6; Eph. 4:12-16
  • Obedient living- Matt. 7:21; John 15:14ff. 1 Jn. 2:3-5

If list 1 is true and list 2 is false, there is cause to question the validity of one’s profession of faith.  Yet if list 2 is true, then the top list will be also.

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[1] Taken from John MacArthur, The MacArthur Study Bible, (Nashville: Word Publishing, 1997), p. 2191.