Does Your Life Match Your Profession?

Excerpt from the message Doers Not Just Hearers by Pastor Ron Bridge

Having or knowing the law requires one to glorify God (Romans 2:23-24).

Paul quotes Isaiah 52:5 which was a reference to the Captivity. Israel boasted in an all powerful God. But because they did not obey God they were defeated and taken from their land. The Assyrians and then the Babylonians blasphemed God as being weaker than their gods. The Jews did not consider that God's reputation was either glorified or despised by their conduct. They boasted in the law and in their relationship with God and yet the history of Israel is a tragic tale of constant failure - of running after other gods, of being self seeking instead of God honoring, of arrogance instead of humility.

Church people can, and do the same thing. I have had several experiences over the years of knowing people who insist that they are born again, but it is obvious that their lives do not match their profession (as an aside I think that the more a person insists - protests - that they are saved, the greater the likelihood that they are not). But, it is also obvious to unbelievers as well. This, my friends is the most serious thing. If you profess to be a Christian but fail to live up to that profession the world will soon recognize your hypocrisy - and rightly so. In fact, is that not one of the most common reasons why unbelievers won't enter a church?

When life and profession fail to correspond, the potential exists for God to be blasphemed. No one wants to stand before the judgment seat of God to answer to that charge! Therefore it is incumbent on each one of us to make sure that our lives do not bring discredit to God. Listen to what William Hendriksen writes about the life of a genuine Christian: "Precisely because they have been delivered from [judgement], they are all the more deeply obliged not only to hear but to obey the gospel. By their good deeds, resulting from gratitude, they show that by God's sovereign grace and power they have given their hearts to Him. In Him alone do they place their trust. From Him alone they have received their status of being righteous in God's eyes."

If we are truly saved, our lives will match our profession. Our aim will be to bring honor and glory to God in all that we do. The thought of causing God's name to be despised or blasphemed would be just about the worst thing we could imagine. We will be doers of the word and not hearers only, not to be right with God, but because we are right with God through His grace and our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Are you right with God or have you been playing the hypocrite? Does your life match your profession? Do you love the gospel and the law and love to obey His word? Are you right with God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ?

Listen to the full sermon here.