Examine Yourselves

Q: What does the Bible say about self-examination?

The Bible instructs us to examine ourselves to confirm our faith, as stated in 2 Corinthians 13:5. In 2 Corinthians 13:5, the Apostle Paul commands believers to 'examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves.' This call to self-examination is aimed at helping individuals assess their true standing before God. It is not merely a superficial look inward but a thorough investigation of one's faith and relationship with Christ. The exhortation emphasizes that believers must honestly reflect on their spiritual state and sincerity in their commitment to Jesus.

Q: How do we know our faith is true?

We know our faith is true through sincere self-examination and the presence of evidence of Christ in us. To determine the authenticity of one’s faith, we must look for the evidences that confirm Christ is indeed in us. This includes observing our attitudes towards God, His Word, and the gospel. The Apostle Paul encourages believers that if Christ is in them, it will be evident through their love for God and others. If someone is indifferent to spiritual matters or exhibits no signs of life in Christ, it raises questions about their faith. Thus, true faith manifests itself through a heartfelt trust in Jesus and a commitment to follow Him, supported by knowledge of biblical truths.

Q: Why is self-examination important for Christians?

Self-examination is crucial for Christians as it helps clarify our faith and brings assurance of our salvation. Self-examination serves as a vital tool for Christians to discern their spiritual state. As instructed in 2 Corinthians 13:5, it provides an opportunity to take an honest look at one’s relationship with Christ. This process not only challenges complacency but also encourages believers to confront doubts and fears regarding their salvation. By examining evidence of spiritual fruit, affection for the gospel, and a genuine love for Christ, believers can experience assurance of their faith. Furthermore, true self-examination can lead to conviction and ultimately point unsaved individuals towards Christ.

Q: What does it mean to be 'in the faith'?

Being 'in the faith' means having true belief and trust in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. To be 'in the faith' signifies active belief not merely in doctrinal facts, but in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. True faith encompasses more than intellectual assent; it involves heartfelt trust and commitment to Christ. Romans 10:10 states that 'with the heart man believeth unto righteousness,' indicating that faith is rooted in love and devotion to God. Furthermore, being 'in the faith' means being part of Christ, who is now in us, transforming our hearts, and leading us to a life that reflects His character and love.

Q: How can I truly commit to Christ?

Truly committing to Christ involves giving Him your heart, mind, and soul, trusting Him as your only hope. Committing to Christ is a profound act of surrender, where an individual acknowledges their need for His grace and mercy. This commitment goes beyond surface level belief; it requires total reliance on Christ as the sole source of salvation and righteousness. It is about saying, 'Lord, I give my life to You. You are my only hope and my only righteousness.' As the message conveys, it's about coming to God with a heart willing to submit and follow His ways. Just as Noah had to enter the ark, we must take the step to fully trust and engage with Christ, participating in a living relationship that grows through prayer, study of the Word, and fellowship with other believers.

This message. You can be turning to 2nd Corinthians
13. 2nd Corinthians 13. The. Exhortation or the command that
is that comes to preacher. And Isaiah 40. If you preach
on that Terry, you said we talked about. Comfort ye, comfort ye,
he says. There's a double command there, comfort. The preacher
is to give. But he needs to use exercise
care in that he doesn't make those who need to be a little
uncomfortable too comfortable in not being committed to Christ
yet. We're not to make those who have
never truly committed to Christ too comfortable, because they're
not in a comfortable position. So my message is twofold purpose. Number one, to warn those who
either have no interest in Christ and the gospel or are maybe presumptuous
to think that they're all right when they're not. And secondly,
it's to comfort those who do have a true saving interest in
Christ and who know and love Christ, but yet have some doubts
and fears about their state, about their relationship with Christ. So
there's something for everyone here, because there's one of
those two sorts, one of those sorts of people in here. some
of both. He says in 2 Corinthians 13,
look at verse 5, and I'll use this one verse as a text. He says, examine yourselves, whether you be in the faith.
Prove your own selves. Know you're not your own selves? How that Jesus Christ is in you? except you be reprobate. He says, examine yourselves. And I want to deal with this
need for self-examination. Some people will say when they
hear this, well, it's not good to be looking within. It's not good to look for evidences.
We shouldn't try to find something in ourselves for encouragement. God's word says here in 2 Corinthians
13, verse 5, examine yourself, doesn't it? God's word tells
us over and over again, words like this, try yourself, examine,
prove, know yourself. The word examine means to you. Any of you have been to a physician
you've had and had an examination. It means he or she the doctor
gives you a thorough going over right. They search your body. Well the scriptures tells us
that we're to examine ourselves our hearts our souls our minds
search judge Try when you make an examination. Say a man is
on a witness stand and the prosecutor or defense attorney comes up
and examines his testimony. He goes in great detail, doesn't
he, to see what that man knows. He's searching him, he's trying
him, proving him. This is what it says to us. We're
to search and judge. Try, prove, come to some conclusion
about ourselves. Is that what it's saying? Come
on now, this is a needful message, vital. I couldn't preach a more
important message this morning. Now, it's true that we're not
to look to ourselves. We're not to look to ourselves,
but we are to look at ourselves. You know something about the
difference? We're not to look within for evidences to try and
commend us to God or certain things that we can find, say,
there, now. See, God? But there are certain evidences
that must be there. And if we're to have any assurance,
those evidences must be there. Now, stay with me. Here is what
Charles Spurgeon said about this text. Listen. He said, Self-examination is
the safest cure for half the doubts and fears that vex God's
people. And I added this. And it would convict the unsaved
and point them to Christ. A real self-examination. Now,
you've got to know what I mean, what is meant by this, in order
to understand. Self-examination is the safest
cure for half the doubts and fears that vex God's people,
and it would convict the unsaved and point them to Christ. All
right, let's look into it now. What does this mean, self-examination? What does it mean? Well, let
me tell you, like Gil would do, what it's not. First, self-examination. He says, examine yourselves.
It's not trying to find something about yourself, as I said, something
about yourself to commend you to God. Got to find something,
and that is enough repentance. Well, here, I made it. I've got
enough repentance, so now surely God will accept that. Or here,
I've got enough faith. Surely God will accept this.
I'm believing now. Or here, I've got enough morality.
Surely God will accept that. I've come up to that. Enough
sincerity. I'm real sincere now, and surely
God will accept that. No, that's not it. It's not trying
to see if you have reached a certain standard. You say, well, I've
lived up to that. Now I've made it. That's not
it. Let's see if that's it. Not it.
But it is. Self-examination is a sincere,
a true looking at, searching of your own heart and mind a
sincere looking at and searching of your own heart and mind to
see if, and our text goes on to say, you be in the faith. Examine yourselves whether you
be in the faith. Based on God's command here.
This is God's word. We must be willing to take an
honest, we better, let me put it a little stronger, we better
take an honest, hard look at ourselves. If we're afraid to do so, if
we're afraid to look within and examine in close scrutiny our
own heart and mind and soul, then we're probably a hypocrite,
or a reprobate, or one that doesn't care. Someone may be in here
right now thinking, I sure wish this was over with, or I'll be
glad when I get out of here, or whatever. That person who
has no desire whatsoever to know themselves, to get to the heart
and soul of their state before God, that person is lost. We're going to be examined by
God someday, right? And it's not
going to be for what we profess to be, but it's going to be for
what we are. Notice I didn't say what we do,
did I? I said what we are. what we are,
not what we profess to be, not what we want people to think
we are, but what we are, the reality. In other words, we are
a certain way. What manner of man and women
and people we really are, we are before God. God knows us. Then we shall know
even as we have been known, as Scripture says. And he says,
examine yourselves whether you be in the faith. What is it? What does that mean? Are you
in it? Are you in the faith? Now, I could not preach a more
important message this morning. Please give me your undivided
attention. Turn with me to John, chapter
2. Now, John, chapter 2. What does it mean to be in the
faith? In the faith. Well, the word faith simply means
belief or trust, right? We all place faith in certain
things and people at various times. Belief, trust. Look at John chapter 2. John
chapter 2. But there is a faith. There is a faith which is not
the faith. There is a counterfeit faith.
There's a faith that won't save you. And a multitude of people
have it. Look at it here in John 2, verses
23 through 25. Our Lord, now when it was in
Jerusalem at the Passover, when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover,
in the feast day, many believed in his name. when they saw the miracles which
he did. But Jesus did not commit himself
unto them, because he knew all men. He knew their heart and
soul, and needed not that any should testify of man, but he
knew what was in man. See, faith is the gift of God,
and he knows when it's there and when it's not, right? He's
the one that gave it. But there are many people who
believe facts. Many people have feelings. Faith is not in facts. Faith
is not to be in feelings. Faith in miracles. Many people
see things they can't explain, so they believe. Believe what?
Faith in religion. A lot of people put faith in
religion, just being religious. It makes them feel good and makes
them feel accepted. to God. The fact that here I
am, all dressed up, Sunday morning, and I'm not out there running
around, and I'm a good church folk now, and therefore I'm all
right. That's not faith. Faith, many
people have faith in faith. And our Lord said here that some
believed when they saw the miracles, but he did not commit unto them,
he knew what was in them. Do you believe there's one God
Now, I preach, we preach, men preach from this pulpit and others
that God is God. Do you believe there's one God?
The fact that there's one God. James said the devils do that
and the more they tremble. Do you believe in the death,
burial and resurrection of this man named Jesus that walked there?
Do you believe that? Facts, that won't save you any
more than believing 2 plus 2 is 4. It won't save you. Facts. You believe in faith,
you've got to have faith. I know you've just got to have
faith. Believe in miracles, religion, that won't save you. That won't
save you. True faith, true faith is in a person. True faith is not in a thing
or in fact, it's in a person. I want to try to make this as
plain as possible. There are facts to be believed. We must believe certain facts
that God has given. We're to believe everything.
I'll go so far as to say that we got to believe everything
God says. everything God says, questioning
none of it. Let God be true and every man
a liar. That's faith. God believing those
facts, yes. Turn to Romans chapter 10 with
me. Romans chapter 10. Whatever God says in this book,
faith says that's true, that's right. I believe that. Right? Certainly we're to believe facts.
We must know what we believe, right? You remember, Terry, when
the Lord said that to that woman at the well? He said, you don't
know what you believe, didn't he? He said, we know what we
believe, didn't he? He said, salvation is of the
Jews. In other words, what he said, we believe God elects a
people. Well, you don't go preach an
election. Somebody's never, you know, that's not the way you
witness people who preach election. The Lord did. He said, we know
what we believe. We believe in election. But that
didn't stop there, and that's not where you stop either. And
there's a doctrine to be believed. There's doctrine to be believed,
yes. There's the doctrine of faith. Do you know what you believe? Do you know what you believe? If you don't know what you believe,
you probably don't know who. You believe. You know something
about God, about Christ, about his work, then you don't have
faith. You don't know. There's some
kind of feeling you're having, right? Some kind of emotional,
sentimental feeling. Faith is based upon the Word
of God, isn't it? This is the foundation of faith,
what God says in his Word. We believe those facts about
the person, the character, Attributes of God? Oh, we could go into
this, couldn't we? Whatever God says about Himself,
Joe, faith says that's right. Right? That's what God said it,
and that settles it. Thank God I believe it. It doesn't settle it when I believe
it. But thank God that He settled it in my own mind, that God's
holy, God's sovereign, God's The fact of what God says about
us, dead in sin, corrupt. The fact of what God says about
Christ, that he's the only way, election by the Father, that
God elects a people. The fact. You've got to believe
that fact. I can't emphasize that any stronger. People that don't believe the
fact don't have faith. Right? Whatever God says is true. It's just. It's right. I don't
understand it all, but I believe it. Right? Walking with God is
faith. Walk by faith. The just shall
live by faith. We walk by faith, not by sight.
Can two walk together? Do we walk with God unless we
be agreed? God says this. God says that.
We say, I don't know if I believe that or not. That's not faith.
So we must believe fact. All right? The fact that God
elected a people, that redemption is by the Son, the fact that
salvation is in the blood of Christ. That's what Paul said
in Romans, faith in his blood, justified by faith in his blood.
The fact of regeneration by the Spirit, that there's no other
way, salvation is of the Lord. All right, all of this is truth. This is the gospel. doctrine
of the gospel, the doctrine of Christ, the doctrine of salvation,
the truth of who God is and what man is and who Christ is and
what the Holy Spirit must do for us. Facts to be believed,
but it goes deeper than that. Come on now, come on. Stay with
me. It goes deeper than that. I'm
trying to be as clear, simple, keep your, hold you. as I can. It's God's Spirit up to him. Look at verse 10, Romans 10.
Here's what he says. Here's what God says about faith. Romans 10, 10. With the heart,
man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession
is made unto salvation. Modern religion's got this backwards,
don't they, Joe? They talk about the word of faith.
They talk about speak it. Just speak it and it'll come.
No, that's superstition. With a heart, you can't confess
what you don't believe. You can't confess what you don't
believe. Truly, from the heart, with the heart, man believeth
unto righteousness. True faith, listen to me now. True faith. To be in the faith
is, like I said, number one, it's the doctrinal knowledge,
yes. But number two, it's to have a heartfelt, heartfelt knowledge
and belief and love for Jesus Christ. A heartfelt love for
him. And let me say this for your
comfort, for some people's comfort. I know we are flesh. We are flesh
and blood. God is spirit. And that which
is flesh is flesh. And that which is spirit is spirit. And as high above flesh as the
heavens are above the earth. And no man has seen God at any
time. Nobody in here has seen God. Nobody in here has seen
Jesus Christ with these eyes. Nobody in here has handled Jesus
Christ. Some men did, thank God. Some women did, but we haven't. But he said, Peter said to us,
Whom have ye not seen ye love? Can you love somebody you've
never seen, never touched, never handled, never felt? Huh? Has
never actually spoken an audible word to you? Sure you can. I've
told you that story before about that book about the man who was
corresponding with a woman, writing letters back and forth. And he
never met her and she had never met him. They never laid eyes
on one another. And they fell in love through their letters. And you know that and that finally
that man died. And the woman scraped up enough
money to go over there where he had been and she. But they
fell in love with one another. They never met. They never met.
Yet they truly loved one another. How? Through the correspondence. And this is how God reveals Christ
to human beings. Through this Word, it's called
the written Word, but it's also called the incarnate Word, or
Christ himself is called the Word. The Word made flesh. In the beginning was the Word.
The Word was with God. The Word was God. And that Word
was made flesh and dwelt amongst us. And we beheld his glory as
of the only begotten of the Son, of the Father, full of grace
and truth. And we've never seen him. But yes, I have. Where? In a dream? In a vision
at night? In my closet? In my bed? Huh?
No, you're not going to see him that way. Right here. And this picture is much more
accurate than these ones people have hanging on their walls.
Those are counterfeits. Those are forgeries. They don't
look anything like him. But Revelation 1 does. And Genesis
3, verse 15 does. Huh? In all those verses of Scripture,
Genesis 24 and so on, 22, the pictures of Christ, I've seen
him just clearly. Have you seen him? Is he real
to you or what? Another figment of your imagination.
And I'm not trying to get mystical here. This is real. The Holy
Spirit, this is how he And he bears witness with your spirit.
How? A special dream, a special revelation, a voice in the night,
an experience through the Word. Have you seen him? Terry, he's
more real than you are. You might be a figment of my
imagination right now. I might be dreaming this, but
I'm not dreaming this. And I've not followed cunningly
devised fables. Men didn't dream this up. It's
too deep. It's too mysterious. It's too
glorious. It's too complex. It all comes
together. It's just too... I can't put it into words. It's
too, as I said before, too much Christ in it. And He's real, I'm telling you.
He's real. And that's how He's revealed
to us through this book. And if you don't see Christ,
don't blame me. Especially if you don't look
into this book, if you don't call upon him, if you don't ask
him to reveal himself to you. He said, ask and you'll receive. He said, seek and you'll find. Didn't he? He said, knock. What
is that asking, seeking, and knocking? What we're doing right
here. It's prayer. It's reading the
Word of God. It's seeking the Lord. Where
is he to be found? Right here. Right here this morning. Trying to impart to you just
about everything I know about faith, what it is. Faith. Do you love God as God? Do you? As he's revealed in the
Word. Not like you think he is, but
as he is. Do you love God as God? Like
he's revealed in the Scriptures, huh? When you read those verses
that he doeth according to his will in the armies of heaven,
and God is holy, holy, holy, and just, and righteousness,
whatever. Do you love God like that? Oh, yes, you say. In the heart,
you say, that's my God. Do you say that? With the heart? Not in the head. You say, well,
it says that, so therefore it must be so. No, in the heart. That's my God. That's my Christ. Oh, there's me. That's me. Oh, there's Christ on the cross. Yes. Huh? See what I'm trying
to say? But the heart man believes. Do
you love the truth? Do you love it? Paul said there
were some people, told the Thessalonians, there were some people who didn't
love the truth. Didn't love the truth, so God
sent them strong delusions, sent them what they were looking for.
Delusions, miracles, wonders, signs. He said, that's for the
unbelievers. I'll let them have it. But those that are looking
for truth, I want to know God. I want to know the true God.
I want to know how I know the true God. I want to know Christ.
I want to know how men are saved. I want to know the truth. Tell
me the truth. God tells it to you, what do
you do? What's your reaction? Huh? He tells you the truth.
What's your reaction to it? Well, I don't like that. Lost. You're lost. When he tells you
the truth, you say, that's right. That's right. I believe that.
And that's so. I love it that way. That's faith. Do you truly believe in the heart?
Do you truly love the gospel? Huh? Man, the gospel is just
talking about the glories of Christ, the excellency of the
knowledge of Christ Jesus, your Lord and Savior, and what he
did. Do you love that? How could anybody
have any argument with the gospel? Particular redemption, particularly
particular redemption. Huh? Joe Harroff. They're not
in the faith, that's how. Not in the faith. But do you love it? You say,
that's all my salvation. Covenant. Do you love the gospel
of God's glory? Huh? Well, you get none at all. He gets it all. Do you love that?
Do you love the gospel of electing grace? Do you love particular
redemption? I told Brother Ralph, I said,
Ralph, I've got to preach this gospel. Paul said, woe is unto
me if I don't. Plus, he said, you know, I see
in the faces, the reactions of people when I preach the old,
old stories, same old thing they've been hearing all those years.
I see the same enthusiasm, the same joy, the same thing they
heard in the very beginning that thrilled their hearts, that turned
them from darkness to light. that took them out of captivity
and set them free, the same thing that they heard back then is
the same thing they rejoice in now. They get just as excited
about it. I see that, and people have been
hearing it for 30 and 40 years. You think, haven't you heard
this before? Yes, but tell me one more time,
they say. Just one more time. Do you really believe and trust
and depend upon Jesus Christ as your only hope, your only
righteousness? The only way God could accept
an old sinner like you is because Jesus Christ came down here as
a man and lived for you, and because He did, God accepts you. Do you really believe that, Joe?
Do you believe that in your heart? Do you love that? How could you
not? How could you not love that?
That it's not dependent upon what you do. It's done. Why I
love that. I love him for doing it. Do you
trust him for that? He just says, just sit back and
watch me work. He said, just rest on that. Now
I can do that. I can do that. Can you do that?
Sometimes you have to labor to enter into that. We're so self-righteous. I had to labor to dismiss all these
notions, everything but rest. Do you believe? Do you depend
upon Him? Well, in the faith is not only
the doctrine of it, but a heartfelt belief, trust, love for Christ
in here. And this is vital, vital. Thirdly,
to be in the faith is to be joined to and committed to Christ. I put down lock, stock, and barrel. You've heard that. Commit lock,
stock, and barrel. Where'd that saying come from,
Rick? You know a hunter. Has something to do with a gun.
Huh? Something to do with a gun, you
know, lock, stock, and the barrel. I think, this is what I think,
It has something to do with surrender. Isn't it? That's what old Scott
used to always say. Stack your arms. Turn in your guns. Stack your
arms. Surrender. Complete surrender. I know the world uses that term,
but it's true nonetheless. Complete surrender. Mind, body,
and soul maybe says it better. Heart. Mind, body, and heart.
See if I can illustrate this, what it means to commit to Christ,
what it means to surrender to, what it means to be in Christ. Let me see if I can illustrate
that. Three stories high, wasn't it? And a huge boat. And it could
have been there's some people standing outside, standing outside
of that ark saying, boy, that looks like a strong boat. Yeah,
that's a good boat. I believe in that boat. I believe that boat, look at
the pitch. Oh, it's pitched well. I believe
it'll shed water. I believe it'll float. I believe
that boat floats. I believe that boat's strong.
I believe that boat will hold anybody up out of the water.
I believe there's safety in that boat. I believe in that boat. Strong, firm believer in that
boat. What is it to be, believe in
that boat? Stand there and say it? It's
to be in the boat. Huh? Now you show me the man,
Noah, is standing in the boat. He's in the boat. He said, I
believe that boat, and I'm going in the boat. You ain't going
to keep me out of the boat. And he goes in the boat. God
brought him in. God sovereignly drew him in there,
didn't He? God said, Noah, come thou, didn't
He? And there is a point where God
comes to us and draws us and says, Will you come in? Will
you? But we are made willing in the day of His power. He gives
us the will to do so. He gave Noah the will. Noah found
grace, didn't he? And he came in and says, God,
shut him in. So salvation is to be, is to
commit to Christ, not just believe facts. I believe God's sovereign,
I believe Christ is my, it's to commit to him. And I'm not
sure I can explain that. I just believe it has to be done. I'm at a loss for words as to
what that means, really. To come to Christ, commit to
it. I will say this. Anybody who
just stands out and says that's good doctor. Yeah I believe that
and that makes sense and yeah if I'm going to be saved Christ
is going to have to do it and all that. That's one thing. That's
not salvation. Another thing is I believe that.
Lord help my unbelief. It's another thing to say I believe
Christ is my only hope. Christ will you be my hope. I believe the blood of Christ
saved. Lord, God, I need saving. Would you shed your blood and
make propitiation for my sin on the mercy seat? That's committing. Lord, here I am. Here I am. Here I am. I'm coming. Here I am, Lord. You know what it means to commit
to somebody. It's a committal in heart, unconditional. Lord, I'm nothing. I'm nobody.
I don't know anything. I can't do anything. Please,
take me. Take me. Take me. I'm your committal in life, seeking,
studying. Nobody's committed to anything
or anyone who's not about that thing. In other words,
I'm going to study to be a lawyer. I'm going to go to school and
study to be a lawyer. If I don't look at my books and
study and give diligence, I'm not ever going to be a lawyer,
am I? I'm not committed, am I, Jenny? What if you're going to
be a nurse and you've got to go through nursing school and
it's difficult? Microbiology and anatomy and physiology and
chemistry and all this sort of thing. What if you never looked
at a book? What if you said, I'd like to be a nurse and you
never did anything? Huh? You'd never be a nurse,
would you? Well, I'd like to be a Christian, would you now?
I'd like to know Christ, would you now? Oh, I wish I had faith,
would you now? Was it how you get it comes by
hearing and hearing by the Word of God. This person said, I'd
like to have an answer to this question on Sunday morning. I
said, would you now? And Sunday night turns up, where
are they? Must not have been too serious, they weren't committed.
That's what I'm talking about being committed. How serious
are you? It's like that person said, hearing
that fellow play the piano so well, you know, he said, I'd
give anything to play like that. And the fellow said, Would you
give eight hours a day for ten years? He said, That's what I
gave. Commitment of life, seeking,
these are scriptural terms, seeking, studying, walking, talking, calling,
calling, call, right? It's vital. Young people, you're
not going to be saved by mama and daddy's profession of faith.
You're going to have to call. Mama can't pray you through.
Jesus Christ don't want to pray you through. You're going to
have to call on Jesus Christ and say, pray for me. Lord, pray
for me. Lord, save me. Mama can't do
it. Daddy can't do it. Preacher can't
do it. The reason I don't tell you to come down here and shake
my hand, you might as well shake anybody's hand. You might as well come
to any bench. Get in your closet and pray to
your Father, which is in secret. Lord save my soul. And I really like to say that
I can explain that I believe only those who are in the faith. No, Paul said, I know this. This sums it up. I know whom
I have believed. And I'm persuaded he's able.
I know about him, too. I know who he is and I know what
he's done. I'm persuaded he's able. The salvation is in him to keep
that which I have committed unto him against
that day." And he says, Prove yourselves.
Look at the text again. He says, Prove yourselves. Prove. Prove the sincerity of
your love. Examine yourselves. Take inventory. Is this there? Is this knowledge
there? Is this true sincerity there? Am I playing? Let me sum it up
by saying this. Are you playing games or are
you serious? Are we playing games or are we
serious? All right, read on. He says,
No, you're not your own selves. Don't you know your own selves
how that Jesus Christ is in you, except you be a reprobate? We say, Preacher, I thought the
heart was deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.
It is, the natural heart is. God said, I'll give them a new
heart. Didn't He? The natural heart is. It's hard
as stone. But He said, I'll give them a
heart of flesh. They'll feel. They'll be sensitive. They'll
hear. Carnal heart is. But He said,
I'll give them a heart of God. My heart. I'll shed abroad the
love of God in their heart. Huh? Is that right? But didn't
he say his spirit was ours? We're sons of God, huh? God said,
look over at 1 John 3. I told you to keep that point,
keep that place. 1 John 3, 1 John chapter 3, he
says, I'll give a new heart. I'll give my heart to love me.
I'll give my heart to love my ways. I'll give my heart to love
the truth. I'll give my heart to love others. 1 John 3. Let's hurry. 1 John 3, verse
16, he says, Hereby perceive we the love of God. We know something
of the love of God through the gospel. Look at verse 14. We know that we have passed from
death unto life. John says this all through his
epistle. We know that we have passed from
death unto life because we love the brethren. He that loveth
not his brother abideth in death. Look at verse 18. My little children
Let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in
truth. Hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure
or persuade our own hearts before him." Read on. If our heart condemn us,
God is greater than our heart. In other words, In other words, we say, I don't
know, and my pastor brought this up, didn't he? He used John Newton's
poem, "'Tis a point I long to know, oft it gives me anxious
thought." Well, the Lord asked Peter, Peter, do you love me?
Peter says, well, "'Tis a point I long to know, oft it gives
me anxious thought." Peter said, yea, Lord. And this is what Paul
is telling us to do, don't you know? Huh? Granted, now, and
I have that poem still in the back of my Bible. Granted, there
are times when you feel like That you have. Denied the Lord
and feel so sinful and rotten and low down, you don't know
if you're in Christ or not or love. We know. We got to know this is what Paul
is saying, doesn't he? He's saying, and don't ever don't
be satisfied till you come to that conclusion. He said, if
your heart condemn you, I don't know if I love the Lord. I don't
know if I know the Lord. He says God's greater than your
heart and your conscience. He knows, and if you have some
doubts. Beloved, don't look, read on.
Verse 20, If our heart condemn us, God's greater than our heart
knoweth all things. Beloved, if our heart condemn
us not, do you love Christ? These things I've been saying
to you, they've either been a comfort to you, or they've haunted you. They've either rebuked you and
corrected you and convicted you. I don't have that. You've either
sat here, if you've examined yourself, and said, I don't have
that. I don't have that. I don't have
that knowledge. I don't have that belief. I don't have that
love for God and the things of God. And I just, I don't have
that. Or you've sat there and you've said, I have that. Huh?
Some of you have. Some of you have been sitting
there. You've been examining yourselves here. This is what
I'm doing. This is what Paul is telling
us to do. Examine yourself. Know ye not your own selves,
how that Christ be in you. What is it for Christ to be in
us, huh? No, Paul says it's the hope of
glory is what it is. It's the hope of getting in heaven.
Christ in you. You see that, Joe? He said you're
in him and he in you. Bottle and smoke and smoke in
the bottle, you know. If any man be in Christ, he is
a new creature. All right? A new creature in
Christ. Christ in him, he in Christ. But someone says this, now listen,
don't lose me. Someone says, but I feel so sinful. Now, this is a person who has
agreed with everything I've said thus far. Yes, that's God. I
see, that's God. That's the way I worship Him.
Yes, I see Christ as my only hope, and I've called on Him,
and I am calling on Him. I've come to Him, I am coming
to Him, but I feel so sinful. I feel so unholy. I don't feel
any different than I used to be before I heard the gospel
and before I was supposed to have been saved, regenerated. I don't feel any different. But let me ask you this for your
company. Did you ever even think about seeing before you heard
the gospel. Did it bother you at all. Before
you heard the gospel did you even think about. And for some people. Now, some
people, their conscience bothers them, and well, it should. They
should be convicted of their sin. They haven't yet come to
Christ. But for some people, the fact that sin bothers you,
the fact that you loathe yourself and hate yourself, that means,
listen now, this is comforting, that means that there's another
law in your members. against the law of your mind
and your flesh." Huh? He didn't have that before. Remember? Remember I gave you the illustration
of like two men, believers like two men, and I'm blowing my,
another message, Rick, but I, all right, it's a good illustration.
Like two men living in the same house. Before, one man lived
in the, in the house, and he had free reign and free rule,
you know, no enemies, no problems at all. He lives, his He could
do as he pleased, no problem. Well, here another man comes
in and he sets up residence there. There's a fight all the time.
This one man lives up here and the other man lives down here
and every now and then they meet on the middle floor and have
a fight. Well, Christ comes. This is what
happens to a child of God. Christ comes to him. Whereas
before, Satan, sin, and self had reigned in their heart and
their life, reigned and ruled, and there was no problem, you
know. Perfect allegiance. Total commitment. No problem.
Conscience didn't bother. Sin, sin, sin. No problems whatsoever. Then Christ comes. Conscience
convicts. He comes in, and there's a war.
Christ comes in and sets up residence there. He comes in now and he
says, sin shall not have dominion over you. He says, a greater
than he is here. I'm here, Christ says, I've come
to live, to reign, to rule. A stronger than Satan, a stronger
than you is here, now ruling and reigning and in residence. You know, he's called the Christ
in you. That should have been some comfort for you, the fact
that sin plagues you. If it's not just your conscience,
the fact that sin bothers you, that means there's another law
of warring in your memory. It wasn't there before, was it?
And then, you know, he's called the spirit, the comforter. Christ
said, I'll not leave you comfortless. I'll come to you. Remember he
said that? And John, I didn't write it down,
John 14, I believe it was, he said, I'll not leave you alone,
comfortless, I'll come to you. He's called the Spirit of Christ.
Christ in us, the Holy Spirit comes, gives repentance, continual
repentance. Faith in Christ, faith in Christ,
the Holy Spirit, when Christ is in you, when the Holy Spirit
of Christ is in you, he continually reminds you. You can't come to
God without without the blood. He keeps reminding you that he
never let you forget it, Joe. It's blood. It's blood. It's
blood. You ever forget that Christ is not in you. Another spirit will tell you,
well, you believe now rest is up to you. Now you you go on
about your way. And a fake faith will do that,
not true faith. True faith keeps reminding you,
keeps pointing you to Christ, keeps pointing you to the blood.
To whom coming, no matter how sinful you get, keep coming back
to Christ. It gives a love for God, His
ways, His word. Do you love what we're doing
here this morning? Is this a drudgery to you? Huh? Examine yourself! Is this a drudgery? Is this Sunday
going to meet? Is this the joy and rejoicing
of your heart? Huh? You want to come back and hear
it again? It just would delight my heart
for you to do so. I'd just be pleased as pudding. Tell it all again. I'll start
over. If you want to start over here in about ten minutes, I'll
go back to page one. Is this a drudgery to you, or
do you love this? Examine yourself. You see, I'm not giving any standards,
anything for you to do, I'm just, you see, just examine yourself.
And this is what the love of God shed abroad in your heart
is, a love for, a love for worshiping God. I love, Henry, there was
a time when it was like pulling teeth for me to be in the house
of God. But now I truly say from the
heart, can you say it? I was glad when they said unto
me, let's go to the house of God. Where did that come from?
Well, I didn't drum it up. That's Christ in you. Spirit
of adoption. You come to God like he's your
father. Fruit. Yeah, there's fruit. There's
fruit. There's an actual change. Some
people say, I don't feel any different. You are. I've observed
it in a short period of time in some people in here. I've
observed a marvelous, miraculous change. They don't feel it. We don't feel it, do we? It's
like looking at your child every day. You don't see much growth
in them. When somebody hasn't seen them for years comes back
and says, Boy, he's grown. And I see that in some of you
all. You say, I don't feel any different. You are. I can see
it. And you can tell you all know what I'm talking about.
You look at it and others. You say, I see this. They are
not. And you say, I'm not what I ought
to be. I'm not what I'm going to be.
I'm not what I want to be. But you are not what you used
to be. There's no doubt, don't you know? Don't you know? I do now, listen,
my sins plague me more than ever. But Henry, I'm not in the gutter
anymore. I'm just not there. I don't get
any credit in England. I'm giving God all the glory.
I'm just stating facts. And I do have thoughts for God.
I'm not getting any credit or giving myself any glory or patting
myself on the back. I'm just saying, God did that.
It's there. And he says, examine yourself. Examine yourself. Now you take
this message, if you didn't hear it this time, you take it, you
go home and you get you a tape player and you examine yourself
again, OK? You take this, you say, I didn't
hear it that time, I didn't understand it. Get it and listen to it again. I couldn't preach a more vital
message. No, you're not your own self. And the crash be in
you. If you be a reprobate one on
the record. And one proof of reprobacy. If
people don't care. Good sermon preacher. All right. I've been through the word of
God. I hope you'll hear me hear the
word of God. Joe, what was the number? What
did I give you, buddy? 228. Sherry, if you'll come up,
sing a couple of verses of this in closing. 228. Has your faith found a resting
place? Not in devise and accreed, I trust to every living one whose
wounds Me she'll play. I need no other argument. Come
on up here, Joe, if you would, please. And please, in singing
this. Whichever this is, let's sing
the first. First and third verses, OK? OK,
first and third, please stand. My faith has found a resting
place, God in me, my soul free. I trust the everliving One, in
the world He shall be. I need no other argument, I need
no other plea. It is enough that Jesus died,
and that He died for me. My heart is leaning on the Word,
the Risen Word of God. Salvation by my Savior's name,
salvation through His blood. I need no other argument, I need
no other plea. It is enough that Jesus died
and that He died for me.

Examine Yourselves

What does the Bible say about self-examination?

How do we know our faith is true?

Why is self-examination important for Christians?

What does it mean to be 'in the faith'?

How can I truly commit to Christ?

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Examine Yourselves

What does the Bible say about self-examination?

How do we know our faith is true?

Why is self-examination important for Christians?

What does it mean to be 'in the faith'?

How can I truly commit to Christ?

Sermon Transcript

About Paul Mahan

Comments

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