We know this by their arrogant and angry reaction to being challenged to follow the Word of God.
Matthew 7:15-20
You Will Know Them by Their Fruits
15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.
16 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles?
17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.
18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.
19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them."
The Fruit of the Spirit of Christ:
"Galatians 5:22-23 - But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law."
There are those who care more about appearing special and superior to people than they are about seeking Christ to cleanse their hearts. They do not care about holiness, only that they do enough in their own power to be seen by men as good people.
Legalism is following man's rules God never made, based on man's thinking and not God's principles and commands. Pretenders operate from rules more than love.
Holiness can only come through confessing sin to be cleansed as God tells us in 1 John 1:9. Those who are prideful place all their trust in their own deeds determined by them, rather than on Christ Who transforms hearts.
Those who are stubborn and legalistic always act superior to others, hoping that they can perform better to elevate themselves. This is someone who has not been humbled desiring to be changed by Christ. They remain fixated on their appearance without conviction of the sin of pride. They grow worse over time as the heart hardens there is an inability to repent. But the good news is if they do become weary of the emptiness they have inside they can repent and be cleansed and transformed by Christ.
Their heart remains hard and staunch as they seek to expose flaws in others without evidence of wrongdoing. They call things sin that are not sin making up their own rules, even twisting the Bible to fit their rules. The aim of such people is to remain loftier than everyone else.
The fruit of the Spirit are the character qualities of Christ that reflect an inner heart of love, the actions are more than just deeds, they flow from the heart of Christ, the first of this fruit is LOVE.
Those who attempt to have the actions without the fruit operate from the standpoint of arrogance without love. The rules are more important to them than the love of Christ.
Matthew 22:36-40
36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”
37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
38 This is the great and first commandment.
39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
When love is first in our hearts then everything else, words, and actions flow out of that love. When there is no love then the words and actions depend entirely on the emotions in the moment, without accuracy and purpose other than elevating self.
May each believer evaluate their own heart to see if it lines up with the loving principles of Christ in all things. Picking and choosing scripture to follow while ignoring other scriptures is not an option for the one who loves Jesus Christ.
Matthew 22:37 "And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind."
It is not possible to love God with all your heart while ignoring the scriptures we don't like and taking out of context the ones we do like. This is lying against God steeped in dishonesty.
My prayer is that many "pretenders" will repent and become saved. The churches are full of cultural Christians who have never been transformed but believe they are going to heaven.
I do not want pretenders to hear this from the Lord; "I never knew You."
Matthew 7:21-23 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’
23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’"
