The 7 Counterfeits No One Warns You About
The red lines in the sand every believer needs to draw
All Christians and, more importantly, new believers face a constant threat.
The world, religion, and well-meaning people will all push counterfeits your way.
To discern true Christianity, you need to know what it isn’t.
There are seven contrasts here. Seven lines in the sand.
1. Religion vs. The Gospel
This is the most important distinction you can ever make.
Religion is man’s attempt to get to God through moral performance, ritual, and membership.
The Gospel is the truth that God reaches us through the perfect and finished work of Jesus Christ.
MacArthur makes his entire case in The Gospel According to Jesus on this single distinction: religion demands something from you; the Gospel declares something was done for you.
There is an absolute distinction here.
Religion says: “Do better. Try harder. Earn your standing.”
Jesus declared: “It is finished” (John 19:30).
Ephesians 2:8–9: “For by grace you have been saved through faith... not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
Your church attendance and moral achievements will never save you. Good deeds may prove salvation. They will never produce it.
2. Intellectual Belief vs. Saving Faith
Many people believe about Jesus. That is not the same as trusting in Jesus.
Belief means acknowledging facts: the historical Jesus, the Resurrection, the existence of a God.
Saving faith is the complete surrender of your mind, will, and affections to Christ as Lord and Savior.
Sproul leaned heavily on the Reformers’ distinction between assensus (intellectual agreement) and fiducia (personal trust) to argue that saving faith is not knowing facts about Christ; it is resting the soul upon Him alone. (Faith Alone)
“Even demons believe and shudder,” according to James 2:19. And yet, they remain condemned.
Romans 10:9: “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”
Have you accepted facts about Jesus, or have you surrendered your life to Him? That is the real issue.
3. Guilt vs. Godly Sorrow
Not every feeling of guilt leads to repentance.
Guilt is the sense of condemnation when someone catches you doing something wrong. Godly sorrow is grief over offending a holy God through your sins.
Washer’s entire case in The Gospel’s Power and Message is that true repentance is not based on sorrow over consequences. It is sorrow over sin as a direct offense against a holy God.
Guilt drove Judas to sorrow and even suicide, yet he was still condemned (Matthew 27:3-5).
Godly sorrow led Peter back to Christ (John 21:15–17).
2 Corinthians 7:10: “Godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.”
When you sin, the response is not worldly guilt. Mourn that it displeased Him; then repent and turn away from it.
4. Justification vs. Sanctification
These go together, but they are separate realities.
Justification is God’s legal declaration of your righteousness; based on Christ’s perfect righteousness, which you received through faith alone. It happens once. It is complete. It never changes.
Sanctification is the ongoing process by which the Holy Spirit transforms you into Christ’s image. It is a gradual, progressive process that involves struggle, growth, and perseverance over your lifetime.
Sproul consistently argued that justification is the permanent ground of the believer’s standing before God, while sanctification is the ongoing evidence of that standing: the two are inseparable but still totally distinct concepts. (Faith Alone)
1 Corinthians 6:11: “You were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.”
You are not justified because you are becoming holy. You are becoming holy because you are justified.
5. Conviction vs. Regeneration
Many experience conviction without ever having saving faith.
Conviction is God using the Spirit to convict someone of sin, righteousness, and judgment (John 16:8). However, it can be ignored and rejected.
Regeneration is God using the Spirit to give new birth. Only God can regenerate. It is a transformation of the whole person from the inside out.
Lloyd-Jones wrote that “conviction must always precede conversion; the gospel of Christ condemns before it releases.” But conviction is not the same as the new birth. One is the Spirit pressing on the outside of a closed door; the other is the Spirit opening it from within.
John 3:5–6: “Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”
Having a conviction of sin never saves anyone. You need to seek out the signs of genuine regeneration; namely a new passion for Christ and a hatred for sin, along with a newfound hunger for God’s word.
6. Assurance vs. Presumption
Assurance is a gift. Presumption is a trap.
Assurance is knowing that you are a child of God with a confidence based on Scripture, the internal witness of the Spirit, and the spiritual growth in your life.
Presumption is assuming you are saved based on a past prayer experiences, church membership, or family heritage; without ever examining whether genuine faith is actually present.
Washer stated it plainly: “The greatest heresy in the American Evangelical and Protestant church is that if you pray and ask Jesus Christ to come into your heart, He will definitely come in.” That sermon became a book. The indictment has not changed. (Ten Indictments Against the Modern Church)
Self-examination is even commanded by Paul in the Bible (2 Corinthians 13:5).
2 Peter 1:10: “Be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election.”
Don’t presume you have the assurance of salvation; examine yourself to see if anything has changed in light of the Gospel.
7. Fear of Man vs. Fear of God
This contrast will shape every day of your Christian life.
Fear of man is ordering your life around what people think of you.
Fear of God is reverent awe and respect of God’s holy nature, sovereignty, and rights. This awe frees you from needing the approval of man.
MacArthur wrote in his Proverbs introduction that wisdom “is built on the fear of the Lord and the Word of God” not one virtue among many, but the foundation beneath all the others. (MacArthur Study Bible)
Fear of man is a snare (Proverbs 29:25). Fear of God is the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 9:10).
Matthew 10:28: “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”
People will pressure you. Family, friends, and the culture will all tempt you to live contrary to the Gospel. The cure? Fear God more than you fear man.
These Contrasts Will Cost You Something
Even long-time believers fail to discern all the above contrasts.
They accept whatever the culture hands them, sit in churches that never address them, and build their worldview around false assumptions.
Ignorance is no longer a defense.
You know the difference between religion and the Gospel. True regeneration from mere conviction. Present assurance from past presumption.
That knowledge demands something: now you must act.
Examine yourself. Go deep in Scripture. Refuse to be deceived by counterfeits.
“He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” (Philippians 1:6)
He is faithful. Are you?
To His Glory,
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Thank you Thad, this is such an important message, pointing out the core truths of salvation, and the lies of false faith, which proliferate today. Because they aren't being taught, they are rarely understood.
It grieves my heart to see (and know) so many people who have convinced themselves they are going to Heaven; that is what their faith is about, going to Heaven. If they don't love God, if they don't hate and want to be completely free from their sins, if they don't want to be like Jesus and to spend eternity with Him face-to-face, and if they don't feel the conviction and direction of the Holy Spirit with gratitude and humility, then why ever would they want Heaven?! That IS Heaven!
Your quote of Lloyd-Jones "But conviction is not the same as the new birth. One is the Spirit pressing on the outside of a closed door; the other is the Spirit opening it from within"
resonates! Unless one is truly born again, this saving event is mysterious and confusing, and lamentably, those sentences makes no sense. But for Believers it is the glory of the gospel in our souls, the core of our miraculous rebirth!
Before I was saved, I too was one of those people who believed if I said 'the prayer' and spoke highly of Christ then I was safe from Hell. Nothing could have been more wrong, so I sympathize with the as-yet-unsaved. However, I can see now that I am awakened and among the elect, the Holy Spirit was placing His effectual call upon me and He didn't stop until I completely surrendered to Him. I was a very tough case. PRAISE THE LORD FOR HIS GRACE AND HIS PATIENCE!!! He alone deserves all the glory for our salvation!
The difference in a person before and after regeneration is clearly supernatural. We are simply not capable of doing this for ourselves...as the Bible says, we are utterly DEAD in our trespasses and sins. Dead people can't do anything.
It is humbling and wondrous to experience and understand what the Lord does to the heart, mind and soul when He SAVES us! We irreversibly and obviously become new from the inside out. Paraphrasing the Apostle Paul, I hate what I used to love and my love for this world is gone.
Being aware of all of this, I pray and yearn for everyone who claims salvation in Christ to someday become truly saved. Most won't because the Lord warned us that the road is narrow and the gate is small, but that is my prayer.
YES! Faith is more than mere agreement with facts. It’s a genuine response of faith in and trust in Jesus Himself. James 2:19 shows that bare acknowledgement (like demons = even satan who tempted Jesus in the wilderness and quoted scripture to Him) isn’t saving faith. Romans 10:9 affirms that believing from the heart that God raised Jesus and confessing Him as Lord results in salvation.
As stated, “Complete surrender of your mind, will, and affections” is not a biblical definition of saving faith. It may be a “bible belt” derivative, however, as it implies there’s a works-based bar for salvation based on the intensity of “surrender” (which is also not accurate*). In the New Testament, salvation is a gift received by faith in Jesus—period. Faith is trusting the Son and His completed work for us, evidencing a change of mind about sin and about our having lived in opposition to the LORD.
Jesus called faith “the work of God… that you believe in Him whom He has sent” (John 6:29). That’s trust, not performance readiness.
Making “complete surrender” the litmus test erodes assurance and points people back to themselves. The gospel points us instead to Christ’s finished work.
James 2 is not teaching progressive forgiveness or a lifetime of evidencing proof program. James contrasts dead faith (mere assent) with living faith that responds. His examples (Abraham offering Isaac; Rahab opening the door) are decisive responses to God, not a lifelong scorecard. The point: saving faith receives and responds to Jesus; it’s not merely acknowledgement (James 2:21–26; cf. John 6:29).
“Have you accepted facts or surrendered your life?” sets up a false choice, because the issue is whether one has believed in Jesus—who He is and what He’s done—and received Him? Whoever believes has eternal life (John 3:16). Salvation is not achieved by a promise of ongoing, life-long surrender but by trusting the crucified and risen Christ. After salvation, we “offer our bodies” to God because we’re already holy and acceptable in Christ (Romans 12:1), not to get or stay saved.
Romans 10:9 doesn’t add a works hurdle. Confessing “Jesus is Lord” (HE IS whether we acknowledge or completely apprehend that or not) is aligning with the truth of who He is; believing in our heart God raised Him is trusting His finished work. That’s faith. And when we believe, God saves you, forgives us once for all, gives us a new heart, and unites us with Christ forever (Hebrews 10:10,14; Colossians 2:13–14).
Once we’ve believed, we are forgiven of ALL our sins, we are thoroughly and completely cleansed, we are sealed with the Spirit (we are His dwelling place or sanctuary AND The Spirit is the seal of ownership and a claim on the redemption already secured of us), and eternally secure and sanctified, justified and made righteous in Him. There are no exceptions for those in Christ (Ephesians 1:13–14; Romans 8:1,38–39).
1 John 1:9 is an invitation to unbelievers (in context, specifically, gnostics who did not attribute sin to the things done in their physical bodies, and they regarded spirit only, not body as being spiritual – that Jesus was a phantom of sorts who opened them to higher knowledge, hence John’s reference to “handling the word of life, etc.) to acknowledge sin and receive cleansing; believers are not chasing forgiveness over and over again because it is the blood of Christ, not confession that takes away sin and Jesus died only once then rose again. We confess in agreement with God about sin, not to get re-cleansed/forgiven or “restored to fellowship.” We’re already washed (Ephesians 1:7; Hebrews 10:14).
Growth is renewing the mind to what’s already true and learning to depend on Christ in us, not trying to “surrender enough” to prove something (Romans 12:2; Galatians 5:22–23). Saving faith is simply trusting the Lord Jesus—who He is and what He’s done—and calling upon Him to save. God does the saving; we do the receiving. From that moment, we’re fully forgiven, made new creations, and become one with Christ forever. Then, by His Spirit, we walk it out.
*Surrender implies we’re opposing God. Surrender is what we do to an enemy after a fight. But in Christ, we’re not God’s opponent, we’re His child, united with Him forever (1 Corinthians 6:17; 2 Corinthians 5:18–19). It suggests the possible need for ongoing re-acceptance. Surrender fuels the idea that we fall out of favor and must “get back in.” But our forgiveness and acceptance are once-for-all through Jesus’ blood (Hebrews 10:10,14; Ephesians 1:7). It centers on our resolve instead of Jesus’ finished work. The gospel points us to trust Christ’s indwelling life, not to gauge the intensity of our surrender (Galatians 2:20; Romans 6:14).