Examine Yourselves

Q: What does the Bible say about examining ourselves?

The Bible instructs believers to examine themselves to see if they are in the faith. In 2 Corinthians 13:5, Paul encourages the believers in Corinth to 'examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves.' This examination is not about how well we perform certain actions or adhere to moral codes, but rather about recognizing if Christ is truly in us as genuine believers. This self-examination allows individuals to reflect on their relationship with Jesus Christ and to discern whether their faith is genuine. The call to examine oneself is crucial for understanding our standing before God and ensuring we are truly resting in His grace.

Q: How do we know our faith is genuine?

Genuine faith is evidenced by a true love for Jesus Christ and a desire to follow Him. The authenticity of one’s faith can be determined by examining how much we know, love, and trust in Jesus Christ. As mentioned in the sermon, Paul asserts faith is not merely intellectual assent to doctrines but is a personal relationship with Christ. Those who have Christ in them will naturally exhibit love for Him and a desire for His word and people. This love can be seen in how believers interact with the gospel, the church, and their fellow Christians. If you find joy in these things, it is a good sign that your faith is genuine.

Q: Why is being in the faith important for Christians?

Being in the faith ensures a true relationship with Christ and the assurance of salvation. The importance of being in the faith cannot be overstated as it signifies belonging to Christ and receiving the promises of salvation. Paul's statement, 'examine yourselves whether you be in the faith' emphasizes that being in Christ is the foundation of our assurance and relationship with God. Without being in the faith, we risk being reprobates, as Scripture states. To be in the faith means to trust entirely in Christ and acknowledge Him as our Savior, which secures our eternal life and relationship with the Father. Therefore, it is essential for believers to continuously engage in self-examination to affirm their faith in Christ.

Q: What is the nature of faith according to the Bible?

Faith in the biblical sense is a personal trust in Jesus Christ for salvation. According to Scripture, faith is not merely a belief system or adherence to doctrines but is fundamentally about knowing and trusting a person—Jesus Christ. Faith is described as believing and having confidence in who Christ is and what He has accomplished for sinners. This personal trust acknowledges that it is not our works that save us but Christ's work on the cross. As Paul states, 'I know whom I have believed,' underscoring the relational aspect of faith. Real faith manifests in love for Christ and a desire to know Him more deeply, leading us to be transformed into His likeness.

Q: How can believers comfort one another in faith?

Believers comfort one another by reminding each other of God’s promises and love. In the Christian community, it is vital that believers encourage and comfort each other in faith. One practical way to do this is to remind one another of God's promises, such as the assurance of salvation through Christ. In Isaiah 40, God calls us to 'comfort ye, comfort ye my people,' emphasizing our duty to uplift those who may be struggling in their faith. By sharing Scripture, praying together, and affirming each other’s experiences with Christ, believers can help one another persevere, find strength in trials, and grow deeper in their faith. This mutual support fosters a healthy faith community that reflects the love of Christ.

If I had a single verse which served as a text, it would probably
be verse 5, which says, examine yourselves, whether you be in
the faith. Prove your own selves. Know you not your own selves? How that Jesus Christ is in you,
or whether he is in you, except you be reprimanded. Now, I have already said this,
but it's necessary that we know who
he is writing to here. He talks about you, and we, and
so forth. You need to know who he's talking
to. He addressed this letter to the Church of God, which is
at Corinth. and all saints in Achaia." So this letter is written to
believers. Church, saints, those are believers. This letter is written to those
who profess to know and love Jesus Christ. But Paul didn't
know who they were. I mean, he didn't know every
one of He didn't know their hearts, either. And neither do I. And though some people give a
good evidence that they know Christ, and others give clear
evidence that they do not, yet it is addressed to believers.
This is part of the difficulty in preaching. This is part of what makes it
so difficult to preach. I'm supposed to warn unbelievers
of the danger that they face, yet I'm supposed to comfort believers. My pastor says that the scripture
is full of promises, lest we despair. Full of promises to
believers, lest we despair of hope. But it's also full of warnings,
lest we presume. It has both. And I'm supposed
to warn the unbelieving, which I'm certain there are some in
here, I don't know, and I'm certain of it. I don't know who they
are, that is, but I don't want to discourage a young, seeking
believer. I don't want to discourage you.
And I'm supposed to comfort, I'm supposed to comfort, as Isaiah
40 says, comfort ye, comfort ye my people. I'm supposed to
comfort God's people, comfort ye my people, he said. without
making people who are not his people comfortable. You see the difficulty of this
thing? And this is the reason I preach,
and should preach, verse by verse. The Word of God will take care
of it. The Word of God is his power,
and he's able to accomplish whatever he sends it to do. And I do not
prepare messages for particular individuals. Because, as I said,
most of the time that person won't be there. And you can't be a respecter
of persons. I can't change a message because
I see a new face. Huh? then that means the message
I got wasn't given to anyone. Well, but to everybody here,
this is written to believers. This passage is written to believers.
And I have some words of comfort, probably, if you're a believer.
I think you are. I don't know. I don't know your
heart. God does. But if you are, there's some
real comforting words here. Some exhortations. There's some
warnings. There's some real comfort for
you. If you're a believer, whoever, Gladys, there's some real comfort
here if you're a believer. There's some warnings, some admonitions. We need that, too, don't we?
Correction. We need that, too. And there's
some unbelievers in here, and God can use anything, I'm telling
you, as it relates to Christ, that is. All right, so the word
comes to all of us in verse 5. Look at it. The word of God comes
to all of us to examine yourself. Examine yourself. It doesn't
say examine yourself whether to see if you measure up. A lot
of preachers We'll be preaching this morning in that way. Examine
yourselves to see if you've quit this and quit that. You've quit
your drinking, quit your cussing, quit your smoking, and therefore
you have reason to believe that you're saved. No, it doesn't
say that, does it? It doesn't say examine yourselves
to see if you've quit anything. It doesn't say examine yourselves
to see if you're doing anything. Have you done this? Have you
tithed? It doesn't say that either. It doesn't. Examine yourself. See if you've done this or that.
Examine yourself. See if you've prayed enough.
Have you prayed enough? It's not saying that. Examine
yourself. See if you've prayed enough.
See if you've repented enough. See if you've read your Bible
enough. I'm not making light of those things at all. But this is not saying examine
yourself. See if you've done anything.
or not done anything. Does it, John? You're looking
at the same verse I am. It doesn't say, look at yourself,
see if you can find some evidences. Does it? See if you measure up.
Look at yourself, see if you look like or feel like or are
a good Christian. Does it say that? What does it
say? It says, examine yourselves, whether
you be in the faith. In the faith. Now, if we look
at ourselves, everybody in here, if you take an honest look at
yourself and come to some conclusion, especially from the Word of God,
you ought to conclude that, in my flesh dwelleth no good thing.
Right? That's what the Word of God says
about everybody in here. I don't care. The most moral
woman up to the preacher. The scripture says there's none
that doeth good, none righteous, none holy. Doesn't it say that? None. It says every man at his
best state is altogether one. Vanity. Empty. Void of anything good, anything
God will approve of. Nothing. Tell you what it does
say, though, Stan. It says without faith, you can't
please God. So it says here, not to examine
yourself, see what you're doing or what you're made of, or if
you're doing this or not doing that. It says, see whether or
not you're in the faith. All right? Whether you're in
the faith. And it doesn't say this. Now,
that's not saying whether or not you have enough faith. Examine
yourself and see if you've got enough faith. Boy, every child of God would
have to say, Oh, Lord, I believe it. Oh, I'm so full of unbelief.
Help my unbelief. One day you feel like, Oh, I
believe. Next day you don't feel like you have any at all, do
you? Huh? If you're honest, you believe
that. You'd say that. It doesn't say, examine yourself
to see if you have enough faith, but what it is saying is whether
or not you do know, you do believe, you do love Jesus Christ. That's what faith is, or rather
who. Be in the faith. How many times
in scriptures does it talk about being in Christ? Read it from
Colossians. Go through the book of Colossians,
Ephesians, all the rest, where it talks about those that are
in Christ, who are accepted in the Beloved, in whom we have
redemption, the promise of forgiveness. In whom? In Christ. Salvation
is to be found in him, not having my own righteousness, but found
in him, in Christ, in the faith. Knowing, trusting, loving a person. The faith is not a creed, the
faith is not a denomination, the faith is not a system of
doctrinal beliefs, theology. Faith is a person in Him. In Him. Christ in you. The hope of glory. And you in
Him. Right? Like a bottle and smoke,
and a smoke in the bottle. Christ in you. And so it's saying
here, examine yourselves to see whether or not you be in Christ. In the faith. The faith. The
faith. Paul summed it up in one phrase. Paul said, and this is the faith,
people. This is the faith. This is saving
faith, OK? Listen to me. Paul sums it up.
He says, I know Not what I believe. He didn't know what. He didn't
know. Paul was a theologian. He knew
exactly what he believed. But he said this. He said, I
know whom I have believed, and I'm persuaded that he's able
to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. That's
faith in a sentence, John. I couldn't say, I'm going to
preach now for thirty minutes or so, and I'm not going to be
able to say what he said in that one sentence. I know whom, I know a person,
I know whom I have believed. Faith is, your faith better be
in a person. Now, Paul said there's some out
there who were preaching another Jesus, didn't he? You say, I believe in Jesus.
You've got to know the right one. Paul said they'd come preaching
another Jesus, who we had not preached, Paul said. We hadn't
preached this Jesus. And you heard them preaching
him, hadn't you? Jesus did all he could do, and now it's up
to you. He died for you. He's knocking
on your heart's door. Won't you let him into your heart?
It's not in the Scriptures. It's not in the Scriptures that
he shed his blood indiscriminately for anybody and everybody, and
everybody that disbelieves that that means the blood saves them.
That's not in Scripture. He tried, and he failed, and
he did what he can do, and now it's up to you. That's not the
Jesus Christ of the scriptures. If you believe that one, you've
got the wrong one. You're not in the faith. Be person. Be person. You ain't
got faith in. is the omnipotent Lord and Savior,
the one who came down here to save the people, and he said,
I give unto them eternal life, and they'll never perish. The
one that came down here and said, I didn't die for you, you're
not of my sheep, said, I laid down my life for my sheep. And every last one of them are
going to hear my voice and follow me. They're going to be saved
for eternity. Why? Because that's my name.
Jesus, call his name Jesus, he shall save. God said, call his
name Jesus, it means something. He's going to save my people,
my chosen elect people from their sin. He's going to save them.
I don't know why anybody bothered to believe in that other Jesus
anyway. Do you? What's there to trust about him?
Huh, Sherry? What's there to trust about this
Jesus that the world is preaching that has done all he can do and
now the rest is up to you? What's there to trust about him?
If he's done all he can do and I have to finish the rest, I'm
stronger than he is. He's not going to do me any good,
is he? If God loves me and yet I might
go to hell anyway, what do I need the love of God about that? That's not the Bible, is it,
Dan? That's the wrong God. That's the wrong faith. There's
a lot of people who want to go to hell believing in a God like
that, who is no God at all. Paul says, I know whom I have
believed. He's the one that met me on the road to Damascus, not
the one that I found. See these bumper stickers? People
say, I found it. You found what? Salvation is for somebody to
come to the conclusion, He found me. Huh? Only that I might win Christ
and be found in Him. I'm the one who's lost, He's
not, God's not lost. Huh? God's not hoping somebody
find Him. I'm lost. The world's lost. Somebody in here's lost. What's
salvation? It's when He comes to find you.
And lost means lost. If I've ever known anything of
the English language, it means lost. That you can't take the
first step. You don't know where the first
step is. If you're lost, then, right? If you're lost, you don't
know where north, east, south, or west is. If you could take
the first step, that means you'd go the rest of the way, doesn't
it? If Lazarus in that time could have taken the first step, he
could have taken the rest. Why couldn't he? He was dead.
That's what the scripture says about us. You have to question
who were dead in first person. And he came in the gospel one
day and said, You're a dead sinner, aren't you? And he opened your eyes and your
ears and your heart and said, Yes, I am. All of a sudden, you're
made alive. And you heard his voice. That's
the first thing you heard, that you're a dead sinner. What's your name? He came to
old Jacob, didn't he, Stan, and said, What's your name? It's
the first thing he demanded. It's the first thing we're going
to hear from this guy, from the ears of God. It's not, I loved
you and I died for you. It's, What's your name? What
was Jacob's name? Sinner. No good. Unworthy. Cheat. Rebel. It's
the first thing that we're going to hear. from the word of God.
That's the first thing the prophets came preaching. That's the first
thing the apostles came preaching. That's the first thing Jesus
Christ himself came preaching. Repent. Only sinners need repentance,
right? So the first thing we're going to hear is what sinners
we are. Not how much God loves us. No,
what sinners we are, and how we've rebelled against the Holy
Then we're going to hear the love of God. Then this is going
to be a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners, even the chief. Even the chief. So what I'm trying
to say is, we come to know a who. Paul says, I know who. This is
a God that reigns and rules among the inhabitants of the earth
and of heaven, and none can stay His hand and say, you can't do
that. the God in whose hands our breath is and all our weight,
the God who is God. You've got to know and believe.
This is eternal life, Christ said, that they might know thee,
the only true God, the only God that's God, not the one that
men let be God, the one that is God, the one who lets them
know he is God. God is God. This is eternal life,
that they might know thee, the only true God, and who? Jesus Christ, who he sent. Not
we called for it. Not we wanted to come. Not we
were seeking. The one God sent to do something for a particular
people. And he got the job done. And
Paul said, I know whom I have believed. And I'm persuaded he's
able. He did exactly what he came to do. To save. To keep. Why should it be thought
of as incredible? Huh? that God actually saves
people. Why? Why should it be thought
of as incredible that the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, actually
cleanses us from all our sins? So he's talking about the person
and work of Christ. Examine yourselves whether you
be in the faith, in Christ. Now, faith cometh by hearing,
hearing by the word of God, doesn't it? Well, where's all that coming
from, ultimately? In other words, we decide one
day to go here, and we decide to believe, and we decide that's
not in our decision. But it's a gift of God. Ephesians
2 says, By grace are you saved through faith, and you didn't
produce that. It's not of yourself. It's a
gift of God. It's a gift of God. So this faith is a gift, and
we do not make ourselves a son of God, not of the will of the
flesh. John 1.12 says, John 1.13, not of the will of the flesh,
not the will of man, but you're born of God. God decides who
is in his family. That's his prerogative. That's
what makes him God. And he puts us in Christ by faith. We hear his voice. Some of you,
your eyes lit up. You smiled when I was talking
about this. God who's God, and this Christ
who's actually Lord, and does what he will, and sexually saves
whom he will. You didn't argue it. You didn't
get mad at it. You didn't grit your teeth. You
actually smiled. I saw your teeth, but they weren't
gritting. You were grinning. Who makes you feel good? For
some people, grit and say, I don't need my God like that. But I wish you did, because you
better. To be saved, you're going to have to. That's the only God
there is. Some people grit their teeth and say, I don't believe
in a Jesus like that. I believe in Jesus who loves
everybody. Well, I'm sorry, because the ones who Jesus Christ loved,
they're going to be saved. And this other Jesus who wants
to and couldn't and can't and tried and failed, and you're
going to go to hell right along with him. Like I said, why should we believe
anybody else? Why would anybody trust anybody
else? Huh? Except God, who's God. Except the salvation actually
saves you. Huh? Not, I hope, I wish, I hope,
I can't, oh, maybe, maybe, sure, I hope, cross my fingers, rabbit's
foot, hope to die like that picture said. They said, why, how come
you're such a good picture? And they said, well, he said,
well, A little prayer and a lot of
luck. A little prayer and a lot of luck. That's about most people's
theology, you know? A little prayer, I've got a little
God, and I hope I have a lot of luck, and maybe someday I'll
make it by the skin of my teeth. I don't want salvation like that.
Why would you trust? That's what faith means to Henry.
It means to trust Christ. Why would you trust a Christ
like that, who loves you but is wringing his hands and hoping
you'll do this and that and the other when the scripture says
you can't do anything without him? Without me, you can do nothing.
But not this one. He's saying, I want you, want
you, want you. And he said, you will not. No man can come unto
me except the Father which sent me, God. Why would anybody trust
Jesus? I tell you who I'm going to trust.
I want to trust the one who came down here on a mission to save
a people that God sent to save, and he came down here and shed
his blood and established the righteous and has saved every
last one of them. And he said, I'll send my Holy
Spirit in the form of the gospel like you're hearing right now,
and my sheep will hear it and nod their heads like devil right
there and love it and go to heaven in the sweet by and by, trusting
Christ. He said, I'll save them, I'll
give them eternal life, they'll never perish. Once saved, always
saved, you better believe it, because who's saved, though? If I believe, therefore I'm saved,
I'm going to be lost. If Christ shed his precious blood
for me, therefore I'm saved, I'm going to be saved for eternity. That's who I'm trusting. I'm
not trusting me. I'm not trusting my preacher.
I'm trusting Christ who's Christ, God who's God. And God's Word
that said it, and that settles it, whether we believe it or
not. Are you in this faith? Are you
in this one? Is this the one you believe?
Is that the one you're trusting, Nancy Copp? If so, oh, blessed are you. Flesh and
blood didn't reveal it to you. But my Heavenly Father showed
you the right Christ, the right Jesus, and he put you in him
by faith. Trust him. Like a little child,
trust their parent. They don't call their parent into question.
They trust him. And according to the power of
the parent, they're safe. My Heavenly Father hath all power.
My Christ who came to save sinners, he said, All power is given unto
me over all flesh. That's my Christ, John Davis.
That's who I'm trusting. Christ is Christ, a Lord who's
Lord. And, Buddy, I'm just going to
get to heaven by Him, in Him. Examine yourself, whether you
be in this faith. Is that your Christ? If not,
you'd better throw that faith in a trash can. It's not going
to get you anywhere. I won't say it can't save a flea. in the faith, the faith. Prove
your own selves. Prove your own selves. He says,
don't you know? Know you not your own selves? Hath Christ be in you, except
you be reprobates? Do you not know? You know, the word reprobate
there, if you don't know what it means, Paul talked about it
over in Romans 1, verse 28. Let me just quote it to you,
okay? He said, some who were reprobates, they did not like
to retain God in their knowledge, so God gave them over to a reprobate
mind to do those things and so forth. Some who did not like
to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to become reprobates in their
mind. In other words, they didn't care.
They didn't care. They were left alone. They were
left to themselves. Now, you say, Preacher, you're
contradicting yourself. No, I'm not. You see, every one
of us, by nature, every one of us, by nature, are without God,
without hope, without strength, without help, do not like to
retain God in our knowledge. Was there not a time? Teresa,
let me pick on you. Was there not a time when you
could give a big flip about this gospel? When this Bible, you
thought, well, who needs that? Huh? Well, here you sit. Well,
here you sit. Why, Teresa? Because one day
you decided you were going to get religion? You see, you were
without God. You didn't care about God. You
weren't interested in the things of God. But thank God, from all
eternity, He was interested in you. So this God who is God, this
Christ who is Christ, came one day in the Word and said, Teresa
Patterson's coming to hear this gospel. And she's going to hear
it, she's going to believe it, to the saving of her soul. She's
going to love me, whom having not seen, she loves. It reveals
Christ in her. and puts her in Christ for safekeeping. You're in Christ for the eternity.
You're sacred. She's smiling. What about you?
She's smiling. Oh, boy. Well, if he'd have left
you alone, that means you'd have had a mind void of judgment,
right? You did before, but he didn't. He didn't leave you alone.
That's the prodigal son he brought to himself. It's called a heavenly calling.
The Scriptures call it, you saved us and called us with a holy
calling, a heavenly calling, doesn't it? Heavenly calling.
It means God called from heaven and caused us to think about
things in heaven. We're like swine, staying swine. You know, pigs, they just look
around, look down. Root in the mud, you know. And one day he turns their eyes
heavenward. They hear a call from heaven in the form of the
gospel, and they look heavenward. Huh? They set their mind and
their affection on things above. And it's God that makes us to
differ. And he says, Don't you know?
Don't you know? Do you? If you do, don't you
care? Is there anybody in here who
doesn't care? I know there is. Somebody's looking
at their fingernails like this. They don't care. They don't care. But there's others that are sitting
here like men. They care. Who makes a difference? You know, I need to quit getting
upset with people who are doing that. And call on God. And they're
either reprobates or God hasn't sold them yet. Right? But if you care, if you care,
you better give diligence, the scripture says, to make your
calling and election sure. If you care, if you're in the
slightest bit interested in what I'm saying this morning, give
diligence to make your calling and election sure. Can you know? Can you know if you're saved?
Well, if you know Him, that's what I've been saying. If you
know him, you can be sure if you've got a surety. Huh? You can be sure if you've got
a surety. You can know your election's sure, can't you? The gospel comes,
you hear it, you love it. If you're interested, you hear
it, you love it. Huh? No, you're not, if Christ
be in you. How is Christ in us? Let me,
let me, I've got to hurry. I'll give you a few exhortations
here and quit. How is Christ in us? Well, how
is it he and I? Well, many ways. Scripture talks
about faith, talks about hope and love. I've already talked
about faith. You're trusting him and him alone,
not anything about you. Him. Nobody but him. And you believe him. You know
something about him, and you believe he's able. And so, therefore,
you trust him. You commit your hope, your soul,
to him. Hope. Hope. You believe he's willing, and
therefore you have a hope. The only reason it's called hope
is because you're not in heaven yet. Well, hope will someday
give way to reality. But that hope's just as good
as being there, if it's in Christ. Right? Just as good as if it's
in Christ. Now, if it's in your baptism,
no. If it's in your decision, no. If it's in your denomination,
no. But if it's in Christ, then you've
got a good hope through grace, a sure hope, an everlasting hope. And in love, it talks about love,
if love for Christ be in you. And I just quoted that in Turings.
I said, "...whom having not seen you love." And I agree. Well you're either
for or a believer. Right. Do you love this one you've
never met before, never seen with these eyes, never actually
physically run into and touched him? Do you love him? Can you
say that I love this one when I hear about him? I love him. I love the things about him.
I love his ways. When I hear about him, I love
his word that he spoke. Every word I love. His gospel,
it talks about him. His people that come to hear
it. I love them. Can you say that? Don't you know how the cross
will be in you, except you be revered by love? Faith, hope,
and love. He said the greatest of these
is love. Faith and hope can be faked. I can stand up here and
I can talk a good talk. I can bring out good theology,
and you think I'm a saved person, right? You can fake that. You can't fake love, can you? It'll come out somehow. Husbands
and wives do that quite often. They profess, oh honey, I love
you till the day I die, and this and that and the other, and they
fake it a while, but they find out they never really loved one
another. Right? You can't fake that. It's either
there or it's not. Right? Scripture says prove your own
self. It also says prove the sincerity of your love. So we
need to examine our hearts, not so much what we believe as to
who we believe and whether we really love him or not. Now, you may quote Jeremiah 17.9,
a heart is deceitful above all things. You tell us to examine
our hearts, preacher. No. God did. He said, in another place, I'd
give them a new heart. God's people don't have a deceitful
heart. They want a hard heart. He gives them a new heart. He
puts the fear of God in them. He said, I'll put my love in
them. He said, I'll shed abroad my
love in their hearts. And don't you know, John? Don't
you know, buddy? This Christ I'm talking about?
No, you don't know him as you want to know. You're a peanut. And he's the infinite God, right?
We're like little children, and he's the everlasting Father. What can we really know about
him? But do you know him? You've got to. You know whom
I have believed. Right? Do you love him? Why,
Lord, when he asked Peter, he said, Peter, do you love me?
What did Peter say? Well, I hope so. I'm not really
sure. One day I'm going to." No, I
didn't know what he said, did I? What if you asked your wife
that? Hey, do you love me? And she
said, well, I hope to. One day I'm going to. That's
what most of them ought to say, shouldn't they? I'm trying my
best. Huh? I'm trying my best, but
you're not very lovely. I'll tell you what, he's all
together lovely. If you don't know whether or
not you love him, you don't. Huh? What did Peter say? That old rotten, wretched sinner
who denied his Lord? Huh? Peter was nobody. He was a rotten, wretched, no-good
coward. That's what he was, Stanley,
wasn't he? Now, the Lord said, Peter, do you love me? The Lord
knew. Do you love me? The old good-for-nothing wasn't,
he didn't say that, but he should have. Peter said, Yes, Lord. Yea, I love you. You know. You
know everything about me. You know how I denied me. You
know how I denied you. You know how I failed so miserably.
You know what a rotten fellow I am. You know how Unlovely I
am. You know everything, and you
know that I love you, because if I do, you can put it there.
Because we love him because he first loved us. But I do. Look over Colossians
1 real quickly. Keep your place there. Colossians
1, real quickly, all right? I can see it. You've got an extra
hour of sleep this morning. So I'll give you a little extra
time to teach. You know, love to Christ is known
and shown by a love for the gospel, a love for the things of God.
What we're doing right now, these are the things of God. You know,
this is what heaven's going to be. This is what heaven's going
to be. One big worship service. If you
don't like it now, whew, you don't want to do it for an eternity. The amazing thing is, you take
an old rotten gutter snipe like me, once a gutter snipe, he's
able to say to the gutter most, you know, a fellow that literally
laid in the gutter, and take him and sit him under the gospel
for hours on end and make him love it? Now that's a miracle. That's salvation. That's what
that is. Love, that's what these things
are. What we're doing right now is the things of God. We're studying
Christ. We're studying the Word of God. We're worshiping God.
We're singing. That's the things of God. Do you love them or not? I mean, you can't fake this,
can you? You can't fake. We try, we do sometimes, don't
we? But not all the time. You can
fool, what's the saying say? Some of the people, some of the
time. And all the people some of the time, but not all the
people all the time? You can't fool God ever, but
we can fool one another some of the time. But not all of the
time. We'll go out from us because
we'll not be of us. It may be made manifest eventually.
This is why John, he says, examine yourself. Doesn't it? Look at Colossians 1, it says
in verses 2 through 4, Paul says, "...to the saints and faithful
brethren in Christ." Now, who's faithful in Christ? I'll tell
you who's faithful in Christ. The one who believes Christ and
the one who faithfully comes around to hear the things of
Christ. Now, that's just all there is to it. That one who
is faithful in a few things. There are very few things we
can really be faithful about concerning Christ, Deborah, but
I'll tell you the one who is faithful in Christ is the one
who just likes to be around Christ. When he's being preached, when
his people are together together, that's what the faithful in Christ,
that's where they're going to be. Huh? They're the faithful brethren
in Christ. The family, they like to be around the family. You
know, grace be to you, and peace from God our Father, and Lord
Jesus Christ. We give thanks to God and our
Father, and that's who gets the thanks, and who gets credit.
followed our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, since
we heard your faith in Christ," here it is, "...your faith in
Christ, and of the love which you have to all the saints."
Here Christ said, Here is the way that all men will know that
you are my disciple. By this shall all men know that
you are my disciple. If you have love one to another,
Gennady said that carefully, not if you say you love one another,
but if you have love one to another, fervent love, active love, actual
love, love that proves itself, love that shows itself that you
love one another. Right? Now, you love God's people. It's a sign. It's an evidence. Do you? You can't fake it. I was sitting
there last night, and I'm not, I'm not calling attention to
myself, I'm just, this is what God does. This is what got all
my sitting beside old Charles Ross there. Old, he is old. And that's what I was thinking.
He's old. I'm not trying to be funny, really,
I'm not. I looked at him and I said, he's old. He's going
to die soon. That's what I was thinking, Charles.
Remember when I was sitting between you and Rebecca over there on
that picnic table, I was looking at you, and, you know, I mean
this. I kept, I was thinking in my
heart how much I loved that man. And when he's gone, how much
I'm going to miss him. I mean that. Forgive me, show
of emotion, I don't like that. Really, I don't like to do that.
I wouldn't give you a plug nickel for somebody's love who doesn't
show a little emotion. Hmm? And that man's going to
be gone one of these days, and I'm going to miss him. Why? Because I love him. Why? We ain't
got nothing in common. He's a hundred years old, and
I'm young. I'm thirty-something. And he
comes from who knows where, and I come from up there, and he's
got this, and we're just poles apart as far as what we've come
up to. Right, Charles? But I just loved
sitting beside him last night. And here we are again. This is
what it is all about, Charles, isn't it? This is what it's all
about. And if it were not for the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ, I wouldn't even know that man, let alone
if I met him, I wouldn't hang around with that old man. He wouldn't hang around with
me either. He said, I don't want to hang around with that young
smart aleck. Do you see? Do you love these
brothers? That's a sign of it. You'd like
to be around them. If you love somebody, you'd like to be around
them. That's just all there is to it. I said, I love Mindy,
and I rarely home. Well, I'm a liar. Right? Examine yourself. Don't you know? You love Christ, boy, I tell
you, somebody's going to talk about Him. You're going to be
there. You're going to hear it. And
you're going to love it. And you're not going to be able
to get enough of it. There are other examples and other evidences. When you are in the family of
God, the sons of God, brotherhood, brethren, sisters, it's easy
to say that, isn't it? Well, many reasons. We are in
the family of God because we are born of God and we have the
same Father, and I could talk about that for a long time. Our
God is God, and our Father is all-powerful. I already did,
didn't I? I said that. He is God. He's all-powerful.
Our Father actually loves, and he actually saves those he loves.
Everybody our Father loves, he saves them. Just like if I could,
I'd love my daughter if I could. I'd never let anything happen
to her. Well, God loves his people, and he can and he does. And he
never lets anything happen to him. That's the God you better
be loving. That's the Father that we have. Is that your Father,
Stan? Who needs a father to stand by idly and watch him go to hell,
huh? Who needs a father to stand by
idly while her daughter gets run over by a car, huh? That
ain't my Father, and that ain't the Heavenly Father. Is that
your Father? No, the Heavenly Father, he saves
all those he loves. Huh? We got the same Father,
John? same family resemblance, you're
looking like Christ, buddy, more all the time. Huh? They say I look like my dad in
my family, and I look in the mirror and I don't look like
my dad. But some of you may think I do,
don't you? Huh? You see a resemblance, don't
you? Well, I don't see a resemblance. And you look like Christ, some
of you. You do. Well, you look in the
mirror of God's will and you say, I don't look like Christ.
Yeah, you do. Yes, you do. If you don't, you're
not a son of Him. He has predestinated us to be
conformed to the image of Christ. He's willin' everything off that
don't look like Him, though. I don't have time to tell the
illustration. He's winding everything off the dross and everything.
It doesn't look like Christ. You don't see it so much, but
other people do. Same family resemblance. Same
speech. We talk alike. God's people, if they're in Christ,
in the family of God, they talk alike. You know I come from Kentucky
by the way I talk, right? Called somebody on the phone
this morning and said, all I said was one word. Ralph? Ralph Dale. I called him this
morning. He said to tell y'all hello. I said, Ralph? He said,
Paul. I said, does he have one of those
television phones now? Just said one word. I said, you
recognize my voice? He said, can't help it. Huh? And you recognize God's people's
voices. When you hear them, I'll tell
you what it sounds like. There's very little I in it.
See, there's a big I in pride, isn't there? Right in the middle,
the middle of things. I. I. And there's an E, a me. Huh? God's people talk about Him.
Him. Huh? Him. God. Christ. They don't say, I did
this or I did that. Or you say, yeah, one day I,
I, I, I, I know. They say, one day he, he, he,
he. Or you say, yes, he, he, he loved me and washed away my
sins in his own blood. Yea, he established a righteousness
for me and imputed to me. Yes, he, the Holy Spirit came
and saved me and called me with everlasting life. Yes, he, he.
That's family talk. They talk just like that. not
themselves, not what they've done for him. They talk about
what he's done for them. That's family talk, right? That's what they're going to
be talking about throughout eternity. Not mama, not daddy, not the
preacher. Him. Unto him who loved us and
washed us. Thousands of births, sons of
the first. Unto him who loved us. Huh? Yeah. They weren't worthy. Sing it again. They weren't worthy.
Not going to be a mention of Mama. No, no. Said there's going to be some
people there that are going to talk about what they did. Remember
that? Why, we did this. We preached. We cast out devil.
Didn't anyone? Get out. You don't, you're not
family. Family. God's family talking
about Christ. You're talking about yourself.
Get out. This is a place where we worship
Christ. You get out. You're not worshiping him. You're
worshiping yourself. Preacher is preaching yourself, making
a name for yourself. Get out of the pulpit. Let a
man in that's talking about Christ. Oh, my. I had a lot more to go. But let me just close with that. Maybe I'll pick up the last part
of it. another message. But he says,
examine yourself. Know ye not your own selves,
how ye be in Christ, except ye be reprobates. And all God's
people have the same pursuits. They want to know him. The same
love. Him. Him. Him. It's all about him. That's what
we're doing here. That's what this is all about. These hymns
we sing, they warm about him. worshiping in hymns, H-I-M's.
What we're doing is worshiping hymns. What I'm endeavoring to
preach is hymns. Salvation is to know hymns. Examine yourself, whether you
be in hymns. Prove your own self, don't you
know? Unless you be reprobate, has
it Christ be in you? He said it's love to him, the
things of him, and the love for the brethren. It's either there
or it's not. And for the sake of all those
weak and young and tender believers, and there's just a spark there,
faithful as he that called you will also do it. He that has
begun a good work... Now, you don't love him like
you want to, do you, Teresa? No, you don't at the time when
you feel like you don't love him at all. But you can say this. You've got to be able to say
this unless you're a reprobate. I do love him. I love what you've
just preached, Preacher. Him. If you can say that from the
best of your heart, no matter how much it is, how little it
is, he that hath begun a good work in you will perfect it.
That'll grow, that'll keep growing, that love, until one day you're
with Him. That's what you want, isn't it?
That's what heaven's all about. That's what salvation's all about,
knowing Him. All right, Joe, you have that. you

Examine Yourselves

What does the Bible say about examining ourselves?

How do we know our faith is genuine?

Why is being in the faith important for Christians?

What is the nature of faith according to the Bible?

How can believers comfort one another in faith?

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Examine Yourselves

What does the Bible say about examining ourselves?

How do we know our faith is genuine?

Why is being in the faith important for Christians?

What is the nature of faith according to the Bible?

How can believers comfort one another in faith?

Sermon Transcript

About Paul Mahan

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