In Gary Shepard's sermon titled "True Self Examination," he focuses on the examination of one's faith as it relates to salvation and the doctrine of grace, as articulated in 2 Corinthians 13. Shepard argues that self-examination is crucial for believers, emphasizing that such reflection must not rely on personal feelings or experiences but should be grounded in the objective truth of Scripture. He cites Paul's instruction to "examine yourselves" (2 Corinthians 13:5) and stresses that true faith is not merely a personal belief but is rooted in the gospel—the singular, divinely revealed faith. The sermon highlights the significance of recognizing our sinful nature and Christ's redemptive work, ultimately reinforcing the Reformed doctrine of salvation by grace alone. The practical takeaway is the importance of aligning one's self-examination with God's Word, rather than subjective feelings or societal traditions.
“He does not say, examine yourselves, period. There's not a period after those words. There's a comma. There's a further explanation.”
“Salvation is by the grace of God. Christ is the Savior of his people.”
“Examine yourselves whether ye be in the faith. An old preacher said this concerning this verse: The only caution, the only caution to be observed in doing this, we have to have one caution, and he said the only caution to be observed in doing this is to form our conclusion by God's standards, by the Lord's standard and not our own.”
“If you ever find anything in your life or your experience or you're doing or not doing to give you an ounce of hope that you're a Christian, there'll come an hour when that hope will crumble beneath you.”
Auto-generated transcript • May contain errors
Comments
Your comment has been submitted and is awaiting moderation. Once approved, it will appear on this page.
Be the first to comment!