The Almost Christian Discovered
by Matthew Mead.
Soli Deo Gloria Books, 1997. 166 pages.
ISBN 1877611727
If you call yourself a Christian, how do you know for sure whether you really are? How do you know whether you really are saved? That is the question confronted by Matthew Mead in The Almost Christian Discovered. Scripture commands us to “examine [ourselves], to see whether we are in the faith” (2 Corinthians 13:5), and to “be all the more diligent to make [our] calling and election sure” (2 Peter 1:10-11). This is not an academic question. Nor is it merely a point for argumentation. Indeed, our eternal fate is at stake.In this book, Mead attempts to demonstrate “how far it is possible a man may go in a profession of religion and yet, after all, fall short of salvation.” In this day and age of easy-believism, where many think that they are saved for eternity because they prayed a simple prayer or walked an aisle, the book is a powerful reminder that not everyone who says to Him, Lord, Lord, finds the narrow way to heaven.
The Examination
The bulk of the book is an enumeration, with discussion, of the various ways that a man may be almost, and yet but almost, a Christian. In other words, Mead gives a number of evidences for faith, and differentiates between evidence of true faith, and evidence of false faith. For example, a man may hate sin and be only “almost a Christian.” If a man hates sin because it is “an offense to God, a wrong to His majesty,” then this is as the Christian hates sin. But the almost Christian hates sin only because of “the shame that attends it,” or he hates sin in others but not himself, or he hates one sin because it interferes with another sin. All hatred of sin is obviously not equal.
Most of the distinctions, then, that Mead makes between true and false faith are based on the attitude of the heart toward our duties as Christians, even “duties” like the hatred of sin. The altogether Christian (the true Christian, who is saved for eternity) attends to his duties as a Christian out of sheer joy and willing submission to his Lord and Savior Christ. The almost Christian (the false Christian, who is still condemned to hell for their sin) relies on their duties to save them – i.e., if I go to church, if I read the Bible, if I pray, then God will save me:
And, when you are most in your duties, as to your use of them, Oh, then, be sure to be above duties as to your resting and dependence upon them!… He who is altogether a Christian looks to the manner as well as to the matter of his duties; not only that they are done, but how they are done.
The Warning
Mead warns, as we did earlier, that our very eternal life is at stake here. He warns that how we approach God is just as important as whether we approach Him. Too many, he says, approach God on their own terms, with their own conditions. They don’t approach God on the terms that He requires of us:
Not coming up to God’s terms is the ruin of thousands of souls. Nay, it is that upon which all who perish do perish. A naked sinner to a naked Christ, a bleeding broken sinner to a bleeding broken Christ: these are God’s terms…
Our response to Christ Himself is also a factor. As one Baptist preacher has said, too many people want “to follow Christ around” as we would follow a sports figure or a movie star, but not enough people want to follow and emulate Him in true discipleship. They want to profess faith in order to be saved, but they don’t want to demonstrate obedience afterward. Or, as Mead puts it (emphasis mine),
Now many embrace Christ as a Priest but they do not own Him as a King and Prophet. They like to share in His righteousness but not to partake of His holiness. They would be redeemed by Him but they would not submit to Him. They would be saved by His blood but not submit to His power. Many love the privileges of the gospel but not the duties of the gospel. Now these are but almost Christians, notwithstanding their closing with Christ; for it is upon their own terms but not upon God’s. The offices of Christ may be distinguished but they can never be divided. But the true Christian owns Christ in all His offices. He not only closes with Him as Jesus, but as Lord Jesus. He says with Thomas, “My Lord, and my God.” He not only believes in the merit of His death but also conforms to the manner of His life. As he believes in Him, so he lives to Him. He takes Him for His wisdom as well as for His righteousness; for His sanctification as well as His redemption.
The Symptoms
Mead also examines how and why people do this – why it is that they become “almost Christians.” The main reason is that people are not thoroughly convinced of their own sin. If this was true in 1661, when Mead wrote this book, how much more true is it today in 2007! Then, at least sin was preached from most pulpits. Today, in some megachurches, the pastor will admit that “sin is not on the menu” and in mainline churches, sin is not only ignored, it is accepted with a worldly view as psychological deficiencies and diseases or even “lifestyle choices.”
A friend of mine, who many years ago converted to Roman Catholicism, once told me that the reason they chose the Catholic church was because it was the first church that “didn’t make them feel bad.” They told me this before I myself was saved, and the statement seemed perfectly reasonable at the time. I’ve since had a falling out with that friend, and been saved by Christ in the meantime, and oh, how I wish I could show them today the problem with that statement! A church that “makes you feel bad” is more likely (though not always) to be a church which is preaching the deadly danger of sin! Feeling bad about sin is not only acceptable, it is absolutely necessary for our conversion. We can’t “repent and be saved” if we don’t know what it is we’re repenting of.
If a man is not thoroughly convinced of sin and his heart truly broken, whatever his profession of godliness may be yet he will be sure to miscarry…
Till the sinner is convicted of sin, he can never be converted from sin. Christ’s coming was as a Saviour to die for sinners, and the Spirit’s coming is to convince us as sinners that we may close with Christ as a Saviour. Till sin is thoroughly revealed to us, interest in the blood of Christ cannot rightly be claimed by us. Nay, as long as in is unseen, Christ will be unsought. “They that be whole need not the physician, but they that are sick.”
Too many churches today welcome the sick, without trying to heal them. They say “Christ hung out with sinners and tax collectors and prostitutes.” But they neglect to read on, that Christ only accepted them with a command to repent, and to “go and sin no more.” We are all sick without Christ. We are all the sinner, the tax collector, the prostitute. We need Him to welcome us. And when He does, we must allow Him to show us our sin. We must welcome Him as the payment, and we must repent as He commands.
The Application
Now, then, examine yourself by these characters. Put the question to your own soul. Do you close with Christ upon gospel terms? Is grace in the heart the principle of your performances? Do you look to the manner as well as the matter of your duties? Do you do all in sincerity? Is there an answerableness within to the law without? Are you much above duty when much in duty? Is your obedience universal? Lastly, is God’s glory the end of all? If so, then you are not only almost, but altogether a Christian.
Mead encourages us to look at our own soul. He encourages us to use his book as a way to examine ourselves. He does not want us to worry unnecessarily about our own faith, and he fears that the weaker believer will question their own assurance of salvation. “I could wish that this book might fall into the hands of such only whom it chiefly concerns, who have a name to live, and yet are dead…” he laments.
But while we ought not worry much over our own salvation, we ought to examine our faith regularly. We ought to examine our spiritual health. We ought to examine our motivations, and how we are responding to Him. We ought to be examining ourselves, just as Paul told us to do in 2 Corinthians, and as Peter does:
2 Peter 1:5-115 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, 7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. 8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. 10 Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. 11 For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. (ESV)
He who has been nearest to conversion, being not converted, shall have the deepest damnation when he is judged. Capernaum’s sentence shall exceed Sodom’s for severity because she exceeded Sodom in the enjoyment of mercy. – Matthew Mead
Note: A special thanks to all of the men and women who took part in the Puritan Book Club at my church this summer. They have been an inspiration to me, and their thoughts and reactions to this book have helped me in my own examination of my faith. God bless you all.