John MacArthur on the marks of genuine faith:
Clearly, not all who claim to know the Lord actually do. Those who truly “belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (Gal. 5:24). Rather than walking in the flesh, they now “walk by the Spirit” (v. 25), being characterized by a growing desire to obey the Word of God. As Jesus told the crowds in John 8:31, “If you continue in My Word, then you are truly disciples of Mine.” After all, “each tree is known by its own fruit” (Luke 6:44); and genuine conversion is always marked by the fruit of repentance and the fruit of the Spirit. Loving obedience is the defining evidence of salvation, such that the two are inseparably linked; as the author of Hebrews explains: “he became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation” (5:9).
The rest of the New Testament issues similar warnings to anyone who might claim to belong of Christ while persisting in unrepentant sin. The first epistle of John is especially clear in this regard. There John wrote, “If we say that we have fellowship Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth” (1 John 1:16). And later, “Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices Sin is of the devil. . . . No one who is born of God practices sin. . . . By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother” (3:7–10). Though many call themselves “Christians,” the true condition of anyone’s heart is ultimately seen in how he lives. As the saying goes, actions speak louder than words. The profession of faith that never evidences itself in righteous behavior is a “dead” faith (James 2:17), being no better than that of the demons (v. 19). This is not to say that true believers never stumble. Certainly they do. Yet the pattern of their lives is one of continual repentance and increasing godliness as they grow in sanctification and Christlikeness.
—John MacArthur, Slave (Thomas Nelson, 2010), 91–93.
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