Anyone who calls himself by the Christian name and does not perform or act the least part of what they thereby profess as believers in the Word; Christ and His teachings are denied and brought into ridicule, contempt, and blasphemed in the sight of the lost in this world. Paul expressly declares, that some persons "crucify the Son of God afresh." Heb. 6:6.
Would to God that Christ were not crucified again and again among those who call themselves after His name, honoring Him with their lips; and yet, by their anti-christian lives and actions, utterly reject and deny Him as the lost of the world look on in amusement. Christ's most holy, humble, and exemplary life is, in our day, found among but few true believers; The Christian faith without a Christian life is a tree without fruit.
Christ said, "But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven." Matt. 10:33.
This denial of Christ is not only made in words (as by those who renounce Christ and the Word outright), but it is also done when, by our lives and actions, we willfully sin against the Savior and grieve the Holy Spirit. Paul speaks of some who "profess that they know God, but in works deny him" (Tit. 1:16); This is strikingly illustrated by our Savior's parable of the two sons, who were commanded by their father to go and work in his vineyard. The one (openly denying) said, "I will not;" while the other (professing obedience) said, "I go, sir," and went not. Matt. 21:28-30.
This is a clear representation of those Christians who make their claimed beliefs to consist of empty profession without any example of obedience. They will cry "Yea, yea," and "Lord, Lord!" (Matt. 7:21), and yet are worse than others, because they pretend to be children of the Father, and yet do not, in any respect, obey his Word. Their character is thus given by Paul as "Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof." 2 Tim. 3:5.
These are "the children of unbelief and disobedience, in whom their spirit is not of Christ, but of this world" Eph. 2:2.
Those who claim a Christian's name, and yet do not live a Christian life, shall be in danger of being denied, in their turn, by the Savior when he shall pronounce the sentence:"I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity." Matt. 7:23.