Reference: I Timothy 1:5-6 and I Timothy 1:18-19
Have you ever noticed my friend how so many people today have such a casual confession of being a born again child of God? A confession of being a christian is taken for granted thinking that to be one is the most easy thing in the world to become. This only proves the fact that most people are void of the truth as to what true faith actually is as described in the word of God. The apostle Paul is telling us in the above verses of scripture that many people have made shipwreck or went astray concerning the fact as to what true faith is. There are utterly thousands and thousands of people today that confess to be christians, but if the truth were known, very few people truly know and understand what faith is and what it means to live by faith. The common teaching today in the religious world is that confessing belief on Christ and accepting him as Lord and Saviour is all there is to salvation. The word of God tells us that we become children of God by faith in Christ, but very few people understand what it means to have faith in Christ in order that we can be saved. Most people are led to believe that faith in Christ means to believe on him and to accept the fact that his finished work on Calvary makes them born again christians when they confess and acknowledge this. My friend your confession of saying you believe in the finished work on Calvary cannot and does not save you in the very least. You no doubt have been taught that you become a child of God by believing that Christ died and shed his blood for you on the cross.
You no doubt have also been taught that there is absolutely nothing else for you to do in order that you may be saved. Please allow me to inform you that your confession of Christ accepting the finished work on Calvary does not save nor make you a child of God. Are you aware of the fact that Christ came to this earth and revealed the plan of salvation to his disciples and he then commanded them to go and preach the gospel to every creature and those that believed the gospel would be saved, but those who failed to believe the gospel would be damned? (read Mark 16:15-16) How can your believing that Christ died for you and shed his blood impart his righteousness to you? If you believe that Christ died and rose again then you can be saved, but just to say that you believe that he did is not what saves you. In order for you to be saved you must receive the knowledge of the truth that the gospel reveals. The gospel is the covenant of God that will redeem you back to God if you receive and obey its contents. To live by faith, as all must, means that you must live by every word of God that the gospel reveals. False teachers will tell you that all you have to do is to confess belief on Christ saying that you accept the fact that Christ died for you on the cross. They tell you that your faith in the finished work of Calvary is what saves you and that this is all that you have to do, but please allow me to tell you that this is only a false concept as to what true faith actually is and what it means to live by faith. Thousands of people today say they believe on Christ and that he died for them on the cross, but have they been converted and made a new creation in Christ? If you are honest with yourself then you will have to admit to the fact that converts in today's churches are not filled with the Spirit living a life opposite to their old nature of sin. Would you believe it if I told you that confessing to believe on Christ, accepting him as your personal Saviour, will not make you a born again child of God no more that thinking you are Abraham Lincoln by changing your name to his? Whether you believe it or not I am very much telling you that it is a fact. You no doubt will say that thinking you are a character of the past, by changing your name to his, will not make you to be what you think, but then you may tell me that belief on Christ is different than belief on any other individual because of the fact that there is power in the name of Jesus Christ. Yes, there is power in the name of Christ but his name has no power whatsoever if you have not been baptized into his body, which is the church, by the one Spirit as stated in I Corinthians 12:13. Some people get the mistaken idea that they can perform miracles in the name of Jesus Christ based on the fact that they claim to be what the Bible calls a believer. Most people do not know what a true believer is. A believer is not a person that claims to believe in Christ and that he died for the sins of the whole world. A believer is a person that BELIEVES the GOSPEL. Jesus very plainly tells us that the ones that believes the preached gospel will be the ones that will be saved. You are not a true Bible believer based only on the fact that you may believe on God and that he exists. You are proven to be a true believer "if" you believe the gospel of Christ as it is revealed by the Spirit. Many people say they believe the Bible, but you can't be proven to be a true believer until you come in contact with the contents of the revealed word. The Bible says that you can be saved if you believe in Christ and that he rose again, but this doesn't mean that you are saved just because of the fact that you believe in him and confess it. Your belief on him only proves that you believe that God exists, but then you must seek for him believing he is a rewarder of them that do seek diligently for him as stated in Hebrews 11:6. You can only be saved by your receiving with meekness the engrafted word which is able to save your soul. (James 1:21) Do you think that to confess Christ accepting him as your personal Lord and Saviour is all there is to receive from the gospel? False preachers today tell you that to accept Christ as Saviour is all there is to the gospel. This is all they teach because this is all they know. This is all that they know because they failed to continue on in the word after they confessed to believe on Christ. They denominated around this teaching cutting themselves off from the revealed truth that the gospel reveals. They failed to realize that man must live by every word of God that the gospel contains. If you believe that you are saved based on the fact that you have accepted Christ as Lord and Saviour, can't you see that you are denominating around this single teaching alone? How then can you possibly receive any more truth revealed in the gospel? It takes the engrafted word to save you but if you think that confessing belief on Christ and that he died for you makes you a born again child of God, then what is the purpose of the rest of the Bible made up of many books? Can't you see the small percent of the gospel that today's preachers are proclaiming behind the pulpits of the churches today? Can you show me a church that has advanced farther than the teaching of the belief in Christ accepting as Lord and Saviour? This teaching has cut the religious world off from the knowledge of the truth of God's word.