I have the great privilege of spending time usually once a month via Zoom with two pastors from Belarus and one from Maine who is connected to one of the pastors in Belarus. I do not meet with all three at the same time. I meet with them one at a time. They set the agenda for our conversation which is intended to address issues in their lives and their ministries. I had when I met with each of them two weeks ago one of those “wow” moments.
Each of them wanted to talk about the same issue. All three phrased it in different words but the focus was the same. It was phrased by one this way: “I am so frustrated in my work of discipleship. I am having the same thing happen over and over again: I work with a man who seems at first so hungry and thirsty for the Word of God, so eager to learn and to grow, but we always seem to come to a point when they walk away without any reason for doing so—I mean walk away as from everything and go back almost entirely to the way they were.” I heard that from a man in Maine who is so devoted to Jesus as Lord and good disciple-maker and from two pastors in Belarus. And in the interests of full disclosure, it has been far more the norm for me over fifty years of being a pastor than I even want to admit.
It has led me into the cave of cynicism far more times than those who know me would know. It has drug me often into the depths of despair. And it has often caused me to question my own ability to help people grow as followers of Jesus. What keeps me at it is the sure knowledge that God is sovereign in salvation. He knows who are His. What has also kept me with my hand to the plow is the truth of Scripture that many who profess faith in Christ are not truly believers and it will come out over time. What reveals the true heart of a person comes when confronted with the biblical truth about what it really means to be a follower of Jesus. Many do in fact walk away at this point which proves the point that they were never truly believers. They were unbelievers living in unbelief.
I am convinced that there are far more unbelievers who profess to be believers in our churches in our culture than there are true believers. I am convinced that this reality is far more prevalent in mega-churches than in smaller churches. Unbelievers can hide who they really are while attending and enjoying the programming that is provided by the mega-church. I must be clear here: I do not think unbelievers in the church know that they are unbelievers. They are certain beyond any doubt that they are true believers. That is why we need to know what marks an unbeliever who professes to be a believer.
Paul addresses this issue a lot. So does John. But I want to point you in this post to Hebrews 3:12-19 where Paul gives us seven marks of an unbeliever who professes to be a believer. I will identify them for you. You can go read and reflect on them. Paul makes clear in verse 12 that these are people who identify as “brothers/sisters” but who in fact are unbelievers marked first and foremost by desires that take them away from the living God (12). They are occupied with idols. They are living almost entirely for themselves and the fulfillment of their desires. The worship of God with the people of God, for example, is not a primary priority but purposeful when it does not intrude into Sunday plans that are more pleasurable for them than gathering with the people of God. Two, they turn away from the living God. To turn away from the living God implies that at some point for some period of time, at least with our words, we had turned toward Him. We gathered with His people. We sought to serve Him. We were in the Word and eager to hear it preached and taught. That is now all changed. Three, it has changed because we have been deceived by sin (13). Sin is simply turning from living in obedience to the Word of God to living the way we conceive and perceive is best for us. It typically in our culture is expressed in whatever brings us the most pleasure. Four, We turn away from feasting on the food that God feeds us to feasting on what most satisfies us (14-15). Our hearts get set on a different way of living that might neither be immoral or criminal, it is just different and includes little of what is simply the basic diet of every true believer. A hard heart biblically is simply a spiritual disease that is developed over time when we stay away from the means of grace that God has given us to shape and make tender the heart of everyone who is His. Five, we rebel against God (16). Here is a sad fact: most unbelievers who rebel against God do not know that they are rebelling and would be astounded to hear it because they do not know that they are unbelievers. Six, Paul makes clear that the unbelievers who profess to be believers are a large number of people; true believers are among the few. Unbelievers are according to this text those who disobey the Word of God in the most basic ways but would argue with true believers that their disobedience is not that at all (17-19)! Seven, These six marks lead to a very clear conclusion: they are the marks of unbelievers who profess to be believers and the result is that there will be no entry into the eternal rest of God either in heaven now or as a citizen of the new heaven and the new earth forever. God have mercy!