Bible Reading: 1 John 1:5-10; 2:3-5; 2:9-11; 2:15-17; 2:22; 3:6-10; 3:13; 3:14-19; 4:2-3; 4:5-6; 4:7-13;
This month we’ve examined ourselves. We’ve looked for any evidence of hypocrisy in our lives. We’ve asked ourselves whether or not any of the distinguishing marks of a hypocrite are evident in our lives.
1. Are we convicted over our sin and confess it or do we deny our sin and defend it?
2. Is our love for Christ proved by our obedience to Christ?
3. Do we struggle to sin against the Spirit’s constraint and afterward struggle with the Spirit’s conviction or do we sin without a struggle and continue in sin without contrition?
4. Is the presence of Christ’s love in our heart proved by our love in action toward a needy Christian brother or is the absence of Christ’s love in our heart proved by our absence of love in action toward a needy Christian brother?
5. Do we live our lives in compliance with God’s Word and will or do we live our lives in conformity to this world?
6. Are we ever-willing and ever-ready to publicly confess Jesus Christ or are we hesitant and reluctant to do so, lest we incur the furious ire of an unbelieving world?
If we struggle to sin and can’t continue in it, if we are convicted over it and always confess it, if our love for Christ translates into our obedience to Him, if Christ’s love in our heart moves us into action on behalf of a needy Christian brother, if the temporal things of the world have lost their luster, and if we are willing to incur this world’s hatred over our public professing of God’s Son and proclamation of His Gospel, then, we may be assured of our salvation. Otherwise, our salvation is suspect and we have in our lives the distinguishing marks of a hypocrite.