In Matthew’s gospel, chapter 7, Jesus makes very clear that false prophets and false Christians will be recognizable. “Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them” (Matthew 7:20).

What fruits? Well, the Apostle Paul makes this abundantly evident in his epistle to the Galatians. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.” (Galatians 5:22-23). In the verses preceding these, he warns us of works that are of the flesh thus are not, therefore, fruits of the Spirit — “Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these: Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: … ” (Galatians 5:19-21).

In John’s Gospel, the disciple whom Jesus loved (John 13:23, John 19:26), records Jesus’s words as, “If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned” (John 15:6). According to Oxford, abide means accept or act in accordance with (a rule, decision, or recommendation). The commentary in The Reformation Study Bible on this verse states, “Those that do not remain (i.e. abide in Christ) show that they never had a saving relationship with Christ, although they may have been members of the visible church for a time.”

The remainder of Galatians 5:21 (not typed above) emphasizes, ” … Of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God” (emphasis mine). This is not just alarming but extremely serious and incredibly frightening and calls for frequent, strict self-examination that we who profess to be in Christ remain in abidance of Christ.

Are you abiding in Christ, and if not, why not?