Faith Bigger Than Your Mouth

It's easy to say, "I am a Christian." But what does it actually mean to live like one? Many of us have felt the gap between the faith we profess with our words and the life we live with our actions. This space between believing and doing can often lead to uncertainty and doubt.

You walk walks and your talk talks, but your walk talks louder than your talk talks.

This article explores a few surprising and challenging ideas from the book of 1 John about how genuine faith is demonstrated. The goal is not to cause you to doubt your salvation, but the very opposite: to help you find true assurance. By examining our lives against the Bible's standard, we can strip away any false assurance and build our confidence on the solid ground of a transformed life. We will look at three key takeaways that serve as diagnostic tools, challenging common assumptions about what real faith looks like.

1. The Proof of Salvation: Obedience Confirms Faith.

1 John 2:3 - Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments.

The primary evidence that you truly know God isn't a past event, a specific feeling, or a verbal claim. It is a present, ongoing lifestyle of obedience. The original Greek text emphasizes this continuous action, suggesting we know that we know Him if we keep on keeping His commandments. This is an ongoing, experiential knowledge, not a one-time realization.

This isn't about earning salvation; it's about the evidence of a life genuinely changed by it. Salvation is evident through practice more than profession. This doesn't mean believers achieve perfection or never sin. We still struggle and will inevitably fall. However, for a true believer, the new nature given by God "cannot habitually practice sin" or make it a defining lifestyle.

Consider the analogy of a football player who tells everyone he knows the coach and understands his system. But when practice starts, he ignores the playbook and refuses to follow instructions. His actions prove he doesn't truly know or respect the coach. In the same way, the Bible is the Christian’s playbook. Just as following the playbook proves a player knows the coach, keeping Christ's commands proves we know Christ.

2. The Problem: Claims Without Obedience are False.

This is a difficult but crucial truth. The apostle John uses stark, uncompromising language to address the contradiction between what a person says and what they do. To understand his urgency, we must know the context. John was directly confronting a dangerous false teaching known as Antinomianism—the belief that Christians are free from all moral laws. In response to this heresy, he leaves no middle ground.

1 John 2:4 says "He who says, ‘I know Him,’ and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him."

This strong statement isn't referring to occasional failures but to an ongoing pattern of disregarding God's commands. The purpose of this blunt language is to serve as a serious warning against the danger of self-deception. A false diagnosis is far more harmful than an uncomfortable truth, and Scripture would rather unsettle us now than deceive us forever.

Imagine a man who claims to be a licensed electrician. He talks confidently about wiring, but when he works, he ignores the electrical code. His actions completely contradict and invalidate his words, making him dangerous. Similarly, a person may say, "I know Christ," but if they continually ignore His commands, their claim is exposed as empty and potentially damning.

3. The Purpose: A Christlike Life.

1 John 2:5-6 But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.

Obedience isn't about begrudgingly following the rules of a "big policeman in the sky." Instead, it is an expression of love for God that leads to spiritual maturity.

This maturity changes our relationship with sin. A believer no longer loves sin as they once did. They can never fully enjoy their sin as they once did. Think of a child learning to ride a bicycle. At first, every action is forced and conscious. Over time, however, what required constant effort becomes natural and instinctive. In the same way, spiritual maturity looks like God’s love moving from instruction to instinct. A mature believer obeys not because they are told to, but because God’s love has taken root within them.

The final goal of this maturity is conformity—to "walk like Christ walked." This is beautifully captured in an illustration of a father and child in a field of deep snow. The snow is too deep for the child, so the father walks ahead, creating a path with his footprints. The child follows behind, stepping exactly where his father stepped. To walk as Jesus walked is to place our feet in the path He has already cleared for us. This raises a piercing question: What if a large part of the struggles and difficulties in this life are because you are trying to trample your own path in fresh snow when Christ has already cleared the path for you? All you need to do is walk in his steps.

Ultimately, we are not the source of our own spiritual light. We are like mirrors reflecting the light of the Son, Jesus Christ. A mirror cannot generate light; it can only reflect a source. It is not our own goodness that shines, but Christ's goodness reflected in us through our actions.

Conclusion: What Is Your Life Reflecting?

Genuine faith is not a passive statement but an active, life-changing reality. It is a transformation proven not by a single moment of profession but by a lifetime of practice, which in turn becomes the foundation for our assurance. As we've seen, salvation is evident through practice more than profession.

So, take a moment for honest reflection. If the way you live your life was the only evidence presented, what would it say about what you truly believe?

This is an excerpt from a sermon delivered by Pastor Tim Lewis on December 21, 2025. It has been edited using NotebookLM, and the complete sermon can be accessed at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMwJMRHCJW0