Counterfeit Faith
Sermon notes from Bryan Jones at Brookwood Church on counterfeit faith, following Jesus, and placing confidence in His grace rather than ourselves.
Opening worship
The service opened with an invitation to worship the Father in spirit and in truth, setting aside distractions to hear His voice and experience His presence.
Counterfeit Faith
Bryan Jones returned from sabbatical after spending time slowing down and evaluating his heart, motives, and life. This message invites us to hold that same mirror up to ourselves.
How do you know your faith is real?
22 Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’
23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness!’
Real on the outside
A counterfeit watch can look genuine at first glance. Bryan recalled playing middle-school football: he wore the jersey, attended practices, and sat with the team, but his heart was not committed.
Jesus warns that people can look like followers on the outside while their hearts are not surrendered to Him. They may read the Bible, pray, attend church, and serve, yet have a counterfeit faith.
A warning to religious people
The closing sections of Matthew 7 contrast what is real with what is counterfeit: sheep and wolves in sheep’s clothing, good and bad fruit, and houses with different foundations.
Jesus is addressing people who think they are already in. He loves them enough to tell them the truth.
How do you know you are really following Jesus?
1. Belief in Jesus does not necessarily make you a follower of Jesus
Some people point to a childhood prayer, a camp experience, or a moment when they acknowledged Jesus as God.
Belief matters. Bryan wants people to encounter Jesus and believe that He lived, died, rose again, and can change their lives. But belief is a first step.
You can believe something without building your life around it.
More than a past prayer
Jesus challenges the assumption that someone can pray a prayer and then live however they want.
Bryan described two invitations to the cross: come and experience grace, and climb up on it and die.
Brookwood’s commitment is to teach the whole Word of God, not simply what people want to hear. As Bryan put it, it takes a whole Bible to make a whole Christian.
2. Feelings for Jesus do not necessarily make you a follower of Jesus
Bryan explained the repeated address, Lord, Lord, as an expression of affection and connection.
Someone may feel stirred during worship or convicted when Scripture is taught. Those feelings can be good, but they do not necessarily mean that person has built their life around Jesus.
Repeated names and affection
Bryan pointed to David crying out for Absalom and Jesus addressing Martha by name twice as examples of care and connection.
In the account of Mary and Martha, Bryan emphasized Jesus’ loving redirection of Martha as she worried about many things.
Faith at home
Bryan encouraged men to help raise the next generation in faith: face pain rather than suppress it, show affection to their families, worship openly, and speak about Jesus.
If this has not been your pattern, today can be day one. Pray over your family, text your child, write a letter, or let a friend know you have been praying for them.
Preach to your feelings
Feelings can become louder than the voice of God. Fear, anxiety, and worry can fill the night and interrupt the day.
Bryan described the psalmist as turning to his own soul and reminding it that God has been faithful, is faithful, and will always be faithful.
There are moments when you must stop listening to your feelings and start preaching to your feelings.
What are you carrying?
What wakes you in the middle of the night? What concerns keep sounding alarms in your mind?
Bryan invited listeners to spend five days finding a biblical promise related to what they are carrying and speaking it over their souls in the morning or before sleep.
Feelings are not wrong, but they need to come under Jesus’ rule rather than lead us astray.
3. Works for Jesus do not necessarily make you a follower of Jesus
In Matthew 7, people point to prophecy, casting out demons, and miracles as evidence that they belong to Jesus.
They are not uncertain about being accepted. They are surprised, and they argue their case by listing what they have done.
Even impressive religious activity does not necessarily mean someone has built their life around Jesus.
Appearances can mislead
We might assume someone is saved because they preach, offer spiritual insight, or do remarkable things in Jesus’ name.
But Jesus’ warning is not merely about people outside the church. It is about people who appear to be fully involved and are convinced they belong.
Believing, feeling, and working are not substitutes for knowing and following Him.
4. Following Jesus makes you a follower of Jesus
Jesus’ words, I never knew you, bring the issue back to relationship.
Real faith means knowing Jesus, being surrendered to Him, and building your life around Him.
The point is not perfection. The point is commitment and surrender.
Commitment is not a percentage
Bryan used marriage as an illustration: offering a spouse 165 hours of commitment each week while reserving three hours to live as though single would not be faithfulness.
Marriage includes mistakes and failures, but commitment cannot mean reserving the right to step outside the relationship whenever it is convenient.
Likewise, following Jesus means a surrendered heart, not selected hours of loyalty.
A part of life or the center of life?
When self is at the center, Jesus becomes one part of life alongside career, family, hobbies, values, and finances. He may even be a very important part.
When Jesus is at the center, every part of life comes under His authority.
The outside may look similar, but the inside is entirely different: one follows when convenient; the other is committed to Him.
No terms in surrender
Are there areas of your life that are off limits to Jesus? Is He Lord, or simply a part of life when it suits you?
Bryan emphasized that everyone makes mistakes and fails. The question is whether the heart keeps returning to King Jesus.
Jesus’ invitation is not to add Him to a self-directed life, but to surrender that life to Him.
25 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.
The cost of following
Jesus says that anyone who wants to follow Him must deny themselves and take up their cross. Bryan emphasized that taking up a cross means dying.
A life that alternates between Jesus being Lord and self being lord does not work.
We worship not because we are good, but because we are forgiven. Understanding that forgiveness changes our priorities and draws us back to Him.
28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them out of My hand.
Where is your confidence?
How do you know you belong to Jesus?
Bryan warned against answers centered on ourselves: what I felt, what I believed years ago, or what I did for Jesus.
Our confidence rests in Him: His love, His forgiveness, His broken body, and His shed blood. We cannot save ourselves.
Grace enables surrender
Why can Jesus ask us to lay everything down? Because He first laid down His life for us.
Following Him grows from receiving His grace. Even when we fail or wander, we return to Him as Lord rather than making Him merely one part of our lives.
Our confidence belongs in Jesus, not in our ability to make ourselves right with God.
Remembering through communion
Jesus gave ordinary elements to remind His followers of His body and blood.
When we drift or begin making faith about ourselves, communion brings us back to what He has done. His sacrifice makes relationship with Him possible and enables us to follow.
A moment to respond
- If you have been religiously active but are not following Jesus, acknowledge that before Him.
- If you are skeptical, pray: God, if You are real, continue to reveal Yourself to me.
- If you are following Jesus but withholding an area of life, surrender it to Him.
- If you are in a good place, thank Him for His grace.
Bryan invited the church to pause before taking communion and respond honestly to God.
Take, eat, and remember
The bread symbolizes Jesus’ body given for us. The cup reminds us of His blood and the victory of His sacrifice.
We do not work to repay the debt or strive harder to make salvation certain. We turn from confidence in ourselves to childlike trust in Him.
Through His body and blood, we are forgiven, changed, and brought into relationship.
Closing prayer
Father, wake us up to encounter Your grace and follow You. Teach us to put our complete trust and confidence in You, to know You, and to live surrendered to You.
Give us a deeper delight in You and a hunger to know You more. Thank You for first laying down Your life so that we could be made right. Thank You for Your grace. Amen.
