The Almost Christian Discovered

By D.R. Brooker @ http://drbrooker.net

Preached as a series of “summer sermons” for his congregation at St. Sepulchre’s in London, in 1661, the Puritan Matthew Mead’s book The Almost Christian Discovered is one I would consider “must reading” for all those who profess Christ. The natural tendency of the heart is towards self-deception, hence the many admonitions in scripture to examine ourselves regularly to make sure we are in the faith (2 Cor. 13:5). One cannot read this book without turning to such self-examination. Mead’s purpose in preaching these sermons was to cause his hearers to look at the state of their heart so “that the formal sleepy professor may be awakened, and the close hypocrite discovered.”

It was also Mead’s contention that, “every grace hath its counterfeit, and that the highest profession may be, where true conversion is not.” Or, as he put it more simple to his people, “there are very many in the world that are almost, and yet but almost Christians.” One need only think of that awful scene pictured in Matthew 7:21-23 of those who will one day stand before God, calling Him ‘Lord’ and pleading their own works before Him, yet being told to depart from His presence. Knowing this is the fate of some within the church, it is a necessity for us to examine the state of our own hearts continually to see if we are self-deceived into thinking we have a true interest in Christ.

Mead highlights 20 graces that he believes all have their counterfeits which may trick or fool the heart. He develops these more fully in the book; I only give but a brief statement as to the author’s intent in each point. This is but merely an appetizer; for the full buffet one must secure a copy of Mead’s sermons.

1. A man may have much knowledge, much light; he may know much of God and His will, much of Christ and His ways, and yet be but almost a Christian. “There can be no grace without knowledge, yet there may be much knowledge where there is no grace.” In other words, one may be illumined to the truths of the Word, yet no conversion follows.
2. A man may have great and eminent gifts, yea, spiritual gifts, and yet be but almost a Christian. By way of example, Mead says that “a man may display the gift of prayer, yet the grace of prayer may be absent.” According to scripture, men have prophesied in His name and have cast out devils, yet remain unknown to the Lord.
3. A man may have a high profession of religion, be much in external duties of godliness, and yet be but almost a Christian. Not everyone who says ‘Lord, Lord’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven. Not everyone that professes Christ shall be “owned of Christ as a disciple.” Mead later says that, “Most professors are like lilies, fair in show, but foul in scent…The finest lace may be upon the coarseth cloth.”
4. A man may go far in opposing his sin, and yet be but almost a Christian. Conviction may be rational only and not move the affections to true repentance. Conviction of sin does not necessarily entail conversion from it.
5. A man may hate sin, and yet be but almost a Christian. Every man that has grace hates sin to some degree, but that does not necessarily entail that every man that hates sin does so because of grace. “A man may hate sin from other principles.”
6. A man may make great vows and promises—he may have strong purposes and resolutions against sin, and yet be but almost a Christian. It is not new promises against sin but a new nature that helps us against sin. It is not a vow of mortification, but rather, actual mortification, that shows the reality of a true disciple.
7. A man may maintain a strife and combat against sin in himself, and yet be but almost a Christian. There is a striving against sin which is of grace, and a striving which originates in the will of man. The latter remains ineffective in the soul.
8. A man may be a member of the Church of Christ, he may join himself to the people of God, partake with them in all ordinances, and share of all church privileges, and yet be but almost a Christian. “Many may be members of the church of Christ, and yet not members of Christ.”
9. A man may have great hopes of heaven, great hopes of being saved, and yet be but almost a Christian. Everyone has hopes of heaven, yet “strait is the gate and narrow is the way which leads to life, and few are they that find it.”
10. A man may be under great and visible changes, and these wrought by the ministry of the Word, and yet be but almost a Christian. External appearances do not necessarily mean internal change has taken place. Demas appeared to have been a true convert, yet in the end walked away.
11. A man may be very zealous in matters of religion, and yet be but almost a Christian. While zeal for the Lord is a necessary fruit of salvation, one may be religiously zealous and yet be unconverted.
12. A man may be much in prayer—he may pray often, and pray much; and yet be but almost a Christian. The Pharisees prayed much, yet were hypocrites in the eyes of God.
13. A man may suffer for Christ in his goods, in his name, in his person; and yet be but almost a Christian. “Every man that bears Christ’s cross on his shoulders doth not therefore bear Christ’s image in his soul.” In other words, one may even suffer martyrdom, and yet be unconverted.
14. A man may be called of God, and embrace this call, and yet be but almost a Christian. Judas was called by Christ Himself, yet he perished in his sin.
15. A man may have the Spirit of God, and yet be but almost a Christian. By the Spirit Judas cast out demons, yet he was not a Christian.
16. A man may have faith, and yet be but almost a Christian. These are alike the stony ground hearers of Matthew 13. Those who have heard and believed, but only for a time.
17. A man may have a love to the people of God, and yet be but almost a Christian. “Love to those who are saints is not proof of our saintship.”
18. A man may obey the commands of God, yea, many of the commands of God, and yet be but almost a Christian. One may obey as a means of commending oneself to God and not from a true love of God.
19. A man may be sanctified, and yet be but almost a Christian. Many are sanctified that are unrenewed. There is a common, yet ineffectual, work of sanctification spoken of in the Scriptures which resides in the power of man. This may help restrain sin, but not truly mortify it.
20. A man may do all, as to external duties and worship, that a true Christian can; and when he hath done all, be but almost a Christian. If the external duties are not done because of an internal reality, then one is a hypocrite in the eyes of God.

Examining the heart continually is an absolute necessity for all of us. It is only through an earnest striving after holiness that we are able to determine if the Spirit’s at work in us. I hope these thoughts of Matthew Mead’s will cause some to locate a copy of this book to read and examine. As the author rightly notes, “most men are good Christians in the verdict of their own opinion,” but this will mean nothing come the judgment.

As a word of caution, Mead feared that this book would be read by “weak believers” and would thereby be a discouragment to them. When I first read it, I was myself in that category and it really caused me to despair (for several months). It was only after meditating on the various promises of God, and re-reading Psalm 51 over and over, that I finally found peace. This is a hard book to read honestly, yet one that may be of eternal profit.

[Soli Deo Gloria reprinted this work in several editions and it is readily available. 19th-Century editions are also not too hard to come by.]

“As many go to heaven by the very gates of hell, so more go to hell by the gates of heaven; in that the number of those that profess Christ is greater than the number of those that truly close with Christ.” -Matthew Mead