I think perhaps the church at
Corinth was like many churches that are around us today. People
came because it was Sunday, time to go to church. It's a phrase
I learned growing up. We get up, it's time to go to
church. The church is the people of God. The church
is not a building. And the church is not an activity. The church is the people of God. And we come to this building
to worship our God. We come to worship. forsake not
the assembling of yourselves together as the manners of some
is, but assemble, assemble, and help one another, love one another,
get together and worship God. This is the one common ground
that we have, that we all love Christ, we love our God, and
we gather to worship Him. And this is the way I think it
was there at that church of Corinth. I think they were just meeting
there, it was Sunday, and things were going on in the church,
and everybody's aware of it. You can't get a bunch of people
together and everybody not know what's going on. You just hide
things so long. But they didn't want to disrupt
the people. They didn't want to disrupt the,
and so they just kind of covered it over and everybody didn't
talk about it. And there was some serious things
going on in this church. And Paul deals with it through
his letters. And then he comes down to verse
five here in 2 Corinthians 13, and I want to read this again
to you so it'll be fresh in your mind. Examine yourselves. He didn't say, pastors, you examine
your people. That's not what he said here.
He said, examine yourselves. I can't see what's on your heart.
I can't see what's on your mind. If you don't say something to
me, I don't know anything about it. Examine yourselves. That's what
Paul told him. Whether you be in a faith, Prove your own selves. Know you're not your own selves,
how that Jesus Christ is in you, except you be reprobates. Now I want to ask you a question
this morning, and it's one which we ought to ask ourselves often,
and one which is asked often in the scriptures. What is your
hope? What is your hope this morning? That which you trusted to cleanse
you. And if you don't need cleansing,
you don't know God. So we're talking about people
who know God. What's your hope? What's the hope of your cleansing?
That which you trusted to cleanse you and save you and keep you,
that which is able to keep you from falling. And to present you faultless
before the presence of God's glory. And if you have any hope
whatsoever of eternity, this is how you're gonna have to be
presented before God, faultless. Faultless. Not faultless based
on this man's life or this woman's life, but faultless in the presence
of his glory. So if you should die today and
go out to meet God, what's your hope? What's your hope? Now this is not a math test.
This is not a science quiz. I'm not just searching for the
correct answer. I'm asking you to ask yourselves,
what is my hope before God? A man told me on the telephone
not too long ago, he said, I've got this assurance before God
concerning my acceptance and hope of God's favor that I've
done the best I can do in my life. I've done the best
I can do to live an honest life before me and keep the Ten Commandments
and help those around me that are in need, those that I can
help. That's my hope. My own mother once told me this,
I'm as good as any person down at that church and better than
some. And that's sad, but that's probably
true. Probably true. Thousands believe
that very thing. And in most cases, they're probably
right. But that kind of hope will not
gain for men what they hope it will. The Bible said, all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. The Bible said, by the deeds
of the law, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight. So your best attempts at keeping
the law is not going to do you any good, because by the deeds
of the law, no flesh is going to be justified in his sight.
For by the law is the knowledge of sin. Do you seek to keep the
law? Do you seek to hear what the
law? Paul said, you that desire to
be under the law, do you hear the law? Do you hear what the
law says? The law says guilty. You say, I've kept the law. The
law said, no, you haven't. You're guilty. You're guilty. You seek to honor the law. The
law says you're guilty. That's all the law has to say
to men. You're guilty, you're guilty,
you're guilty. By the deeds of the law, there
should no flesh be justified in his sight. For the law, by
the law is the knowledge of sin. Well, preacher, that ain't my
hope. My hope is I made my decision to accept Jesus as my personal
savior. I exercised my free will. And
I chose salvation, really. God said to Moses, I'll have
mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I'll have compassion on whom
I will have compassion. So then, so then, it's not of him that
willeth. You can exercise your will and
you will exercise your will right now here this morning as you're
hearing me, but it's not a free will. And even if it was, it's not
of him that willeth. I kind of just throw that whole
argument out the window, don't I? What's the point of arguing
over free will or not free will? It's not of him that willeth. And I'll tell you something else.
Well, I've determined. I made a determination and a
commitment. Really. Well, it's not of him
that runneth either. It's of God that showeth mercy. Now what I'd like to do this
morning is to help you and to help myself, the Lord willing,
to examine ourselves in the light of the scriptures and in the
light of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And I want to begin by
defining what this examination is all about. Examine yourselves
whether you be in the faith. We're never told to examine ourselves
to see if we're good enough, or righteous enough, or wise enough, or willing enough. God's already made that examination,
and he said there's none righteous, and there's none that understandeth. and there's none that seeketh
after God. God himself looked down from
heaven and made that examination. You can read about it in Psalm
14 and you can read about the same thing in Romans chapter
three. The examination here is to see if we be in the faith. What faith? The faith of God's
elect. Paul said in Titus chapter 1
verse 1, he said, I'm a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus
Christ according to the faith of God's elect. And the acknowledging of the
truth which is after godliness. Somebody asked me one time at
a meeting what faith I belong to. Brethren, there's only one faith. They're just one faith. Oh, you
say there's Catholics and Protestants and there's all kinds of faith. No, they're just one faith. They're just one body, the church,
one spirit, the spirit who moved men to write the scriptures and
the spirit who regenerates, teaches, makes intercession with groanings
that cannot be uttered. They're just one spirit. I never
have understood this argument about, well, you're coming from
here, and he's coming from here, and I've got this belief, and
you've got that belief, and we're all working together, we're like
folks. No. No, they're just one spirit. If there's one spirit, and that
spirit teaches, will he teach you one thing and teach me something
different? Now come on, the spirit of God
is one, one spirit. And he's the teacher, he's the
one who's gonna take this word and enlighten with it and make
us to understand. Now is he gonna make you understand
one thing and me something else? There's just one spirit. Isn't that how Paul starts that
chapter there in Ephesians, chapter four? to keep the unity of the
Spirit and the bond of peace. And there is a unity with the
Spirit of God. So there's just one Spirit. One Spirit. And he said there's
one Lord, one faith, and one baptism. Just one. In all the multitudes of religion
and all their variations and their doctrines and all their
ideas and concepts, there's but one true hope, set before men
by the Spirit of God, Christ in you, the hope of glory. That's it. That's it. So how can I know if the faith
I have is the faith of God's elect? Well, first of all, because
this faith is the gift of God. It's the gift of God. How did
you acquire it? Huh? You say, I have faith. Where'd it come from? Tell me
that. How did you come about this faith? Did it just come to you in the
night? You was in your closet and afraid? And it just come
to you, where'd this faith come from? How'd you get it? How'd you come to have it? It's the gift of God. God did
what he did in Christ. And he rose from the dead and
he ascended into glory, that, Ephesians 2, 7, that. in the
ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace. What's he going to show in this
gospel? The exceeding riches of his grace. Now watch this. In his kindness toward us through
Christ Jesus for by grace are you saved through faith and that
not of yourselves it is the gift of God not of works lest any
man should boast. And I don't care what the religion
is and what they believe If it's something other than the grace
of God, they'll boast in their profession of faith. He said in verse 10 of Ephesians
chapter 2, for we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto
good works. And he's not talking about tithing
there and all these other things. He's talking just good works
he's talking about are good works performed by God. He's talking
about his workmanship in us. And these good works are the
ability to believe, the ability to love, the ability to be merciful
and kind. We're his workmanship. God hath from the beginning chosen
us to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the
truth. So how do I know if the faith I have is the faith of
God's elect? Well, the faith of God's elect
is the free gift of God. He gives it. He gives it. Now,
if somebody gives you something, I dare say you know that you've
been given it. You might not know I'm going
to give it, but once I've given it to you, you know that I've
given you something. You've acquired it. And then
secondly, because this faith was brought to us by the means
that God ordained. I know this is a controversial
issue even among the true churches of God, but it's so anyway. And
it's important, and I'll tell you why. We're told plainly in
Ephesians 111 that God worketh all things after the counsel
of his own will. And James tells us that every
good and perfect gift comes from God, who not gonna change, no
chance of variableness with him, and of his own will begat he
us with the word of truth. Now, if God works all things
after the counsel of his own will, and his will is to beget
children through the truth, how are they begotten through the
truth? Huh? I don't know about folks who
say, well, this is important and that ain't. If God said it,
it's important. Huh? It's important. They're not going to be any begatting
apart from the hearing of the word of truth. This gospel, I'll
go a step further, is the seed of regeneration. Paul said in
1 Corinthians 5 verse 15, though you have 10,000 instructors in
Christ, yet you have not many fathers. For in Christ Jesus,
I have begotten you through the gospel. Faith of God's elect is the free
and sovereign gift of God's grace. He gives it to whom he will. And it's born or brought to pass
through gospel preaching. And then thirdly, the faith of
God's elect is justified by the works it produces in them to
whom it's given. James says, what does it profit,
my brethren, if a man says he has faith and have not works? Is that how this thing works?
We just go around and say, well, I have faith. Huh? So does everybody else in this
world. No asking. Huh? I have to tell you real quick.
I'm a believer. I'm a believer. Well, what does
that profit if a man says he has faith? That doesn't profit
anything. That doesn't prove anything. What does it profit
a man if he says I have faith and hath not works? Because the
faith of God's elect produces works in men. It produces a change
in men. It creates in him a new creature.
This faith of God's elect has works. And if it doesn't, James said
it's dead being alone. That is, all it has is your profession. He said the faith of Abraham
was justified by God when he offered Isaac, his son, on the
altar. God justified his faith. He had faith before he offered
his son. And in fact, God withheld his
hand so he didn't have to offer him, but in his mind and heart
he did. He offered him up on that altar and it justified his
faith. It declared that he really believed
God. God justified the faith of Rahab
the harlot when she received God's messengers and warned them
about men in that city that were going to put them to death and
send them out another way to preserve their lives. So then
as the body without the spirit is dead, James said so faith
without works is dead also. Now I'm not talking about you
justifying your faith, I'm talking about God justifying His gift
of faith in you. If God gives you faith, He's
gonna justify it. Write it down. He's gonna justify
that faith. The faith of God's elect is justified
by God through the works that it produces in those to whom
He gives. Let me tell you something. To
be a believer is to be called from death unto life. I hope you understood what I
said earlier about this is not a math quiz. I'm not searching
for the right answer. I'm trying to help us, every
one of us, examine ourselves to see if we'd be in the faith. And faith, a man don't have faith
who's not born of God. He has to be born of God. Believers
are called from death unto life. It's a new creation. If any man
be in Christ, he's a new creature. Old things are passed away, old
restraints. The restraint of his old nature,
that's gone now. You see, you can't believe unless
God enables you to. That's what Paul, he was constantly
thanking the Father, thanking the Father, that he hath made
us meet to be partakers with the enlightened saints. How'd
he do that? Through a new birth. Old things are passed away, those
old restraints, that old restraint of nature's gone. Old ideas,
old ways, old inabilities, old things are passed away and behold,
all things have become new. The natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God, for they're foolishness unto
him, neither can he know them because they're spiritually discerned.
But that's not true of a believer. Believers do receive the things
of the Spirit of God, don't they? Why? Because them old things
passed away. And the old things become new. A live man can do
things a dead man can't. He can think. He can reason. He can repent. He can believe
he's alive. You can talk to him. But a dead
man, you're wasting your time. A live man can hear, he can see,
he can walk, he can worship. And the faith of God's elect
is justified by God through the works produced in them that have
it. And then fourthly, the faith
of God's elect looks to, hopes in, rejoices in, and rests in
Jesus Christ, their Lord and their God. That's all my hope. Now, there's a lot of things
attached to that. Like, who is this man, Jesus
Christ? What did he do? Where is he now?
There's a lot of things attached to that. But in its essence, that's what
it is. Christ is my hope. Colossians chapter 2 verse 4,
he said, and this I say, lest any man should beguile you with
enticing words. You reckon there's some out there
that would? I run into it every day. For though I be absent in the
flesh, yet I'm with you in the spirit, joying and beholding
your order and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ. As you
have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, How did you receive
him? You received him as God sent
him forth. Now, walk in him the same way. Rooted, built up in him, and
established in the faith as you've been taught, abounding therein
with thanksgiving. And beware! Beware! lest any man spoil you, take
you captive through philosophy and vain deceit after the tradition
of men and after the rudimentary or basic principles of the world
and not after Christ. Now listen to this. For in him
dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. In this man
Christ Jesus dwells all the fullness of the Godhead, the fullness
of His righteousness, the fullness of His justice, the fullness
of His goodness, His kindness, His mercy and His grace, His
longsuffering and His gentleness, His sovereignty and His eternality. all the fullness of god's glory
his authority and acceptance and favor in him dwelleth all
the fullness of the godhead bodily are you listening? and you're
complete in him what kind of faith you got? are
you complete in the christ you believe in? are you trying for
something more? Paul warned, this is not one
of them things, people warned, they built straw men and beat
it to death before people, and the people just said, oh, I just
love that preacher. He deals with something that
ain't even a problem. This was a problem. And Paul
warned them, and he said, you beware. You beware. They'll try to beguile you. They'll
try to draw you away. They'll try to pull you. They'll
use anything in their power to do it. But you're complete in
Him, which is the head of all principality and power. Complete. What's that mean? That means
I'm completely saved. That's what that means. I'm completely
righteous. I'm completely forgiven. I've
known so many over the years that have done something really
bad in their past and it's haunted them and haunted them and haunted
them. Brethren, if you're forgiven, it's all gone. All your sins,
they're gone. God doesn't hang on to one. You're completely saved, completely
forgiven, completely accepted, completely loved, completely
justified, completely preserved, completely righteous. Ye are
complete in Him, in whom also ye are circumcised
with the circumcision made without hands into putting off the body
of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ. Christ
was cut off for us. He's our circumcision. Buried
with him in baptism wherein also you're risen with him through
the faith of the operation of God who has raised him from the
dead. That same power that God exercised
when he raised his son from the dead, he exercises when he gives
a man faith in Christ. And you being dead in your sins,
And the uncircumcision of your flesh hath he quickened together
with him, having forgiven you all trespasses. What's that mean? That means let no man judge you
because you eat a pork chop instead of a lamb. Don't let any man judge you because
you have a cold beer and he's a teetotaler. Don't let any man
judge you because you don't keep the Sabbath. Christ is our Sabbath. Go down there and read those
verses there in 2 Corinthians chapter two. Don't let anybody hold you and
judge you because you don't keep a holy day. Faith of God's elect looks to,
hopes in, rejoices in, and rests in Jesus Christ the Lord. And
he's our God, and he's our Redeemer. Now going back to our text in
2 Corinthians 13, 5, he tells us to prove our own self. Your faith doesn't have to be
proven to me. A lot of pastors, they won't
baptize a man until he proves his faith. When I baptize you,
as many as I baptize back here, I always tell you, upon the profession
of your faith, I baptize you. not because you proved it to
me. I can't see your heart. I don't
know if you believe or not. So you come to me and you say,
I believe. Prove your own sales. Faith doesn't
have to be proven to me, but it's necessary to having any
assurance before God to prove it to yourselves. Well, how can we prove it to
ourselves? Listen to this. Surely if we've seen the glory
of God in the life, death, and resurrection of Christ, we know
whether or not we've seen it. Surely if you've heard by the
gospel that Christ is the propitiation for our sins and through the
redemption which he's accomplished, God is righteous in his remission
of our sins, surely we know it. Surely you know whether or not
you believe this. Surely if you've received Christ
as the only way of salvation, you know that. Nobody else know
it but you. Surely if you've bowed to his
lordship, you know whether or not you bowed. Surely if you
receive the doctrine of Christ and understand it, you know whether
or not you've done so. Know you not your own selves,
how that Christ Jesus is in you, except you be reprobates? Know you not that he's in you
by faith, being your hope of glory? Know you not how he's
in you by regeneration, having in yourselves the power to become
sons of God and to believe on his name? The ability to hear
the truth, the ability to reason, the ability to be willing to
be taught, the ability to bow and serve, God hath made us meat,
and those who have been made meat know they've been made meat. Know ye not your own selves how
that Jesus Christ is in you, except you be reprobates? Well,
what is a reprobate? A reprobate is a man given over
to himself to believe a lie and be damned. That's a reprobate. You can give him all the tests
and examinations you want to. His conscience has been seared
like with a hot iron. He doesn't feel anything. He
doesn't question anything. You never see this man in trouble. He's not in trouble, ever. A reprobate is a person given
up to follow the natural lust of his flesh, to even go against
the nature of his own body. A reprobate is a person who is
held in chains of darkness and gonna be left shackled that way
under judgment. And then let me read this last
verse of our text and I'll close. 2 Corinthians 13, six. But I
trust that you shall know that we're not reprobates. That's what he said. I've got
hope in you. I got hope in you. Reprobates don't rest their souls
on Christ. Some of you do. Reprobates do not worship God
in the spirit, but some of you do. Reprobates do not hope to
be like Christ. They're not striving to be like
Christ. There's no race being run. There's no new man being put
on. There's no striving to be conformed
to the image of his son. And reprobates do not serve the
king of glory. They're not worried about serving
anybody. They serve themselves. Whatever
they want, they do. Examine yourselves, whether you
be in the faith. Know you not your own selves,
how that Christ dwelleth in you? You know. You know. And I tell you, I don't say that
to try to cut you in half or cut you all up or make you worried
or wonder. I'm saying that that we might
have some hope before God. You get a worry and a doubt and
a this and a that and pretty soon you don't know what to believe.
Well, he said to me, he said, where did your faith come from?
Did God give it to you or did you work it up on your own? It
was given to God. Huh? And all of these things,
and we see those things and we know that that's the way those
things come to us. We know that that's how we acquired
it. We know that God keeps us. And we know what Christ did and
who he is and why he came and where he's at. And we're not upset about it,
we're happy about it. Men get upset and start talking
about the sovereignty of Christ. Well my soul, that's nothing
less than a sovereign Christ could do me any good. When he said, you're complete
in Christ, that last little phrase he said, and he is the head of
all principality and power. And if he wasn't, you'd be gone.
And so would I. May God give us some understanding,
what I said here this morning, that we could truly examine ourselves
and find ourselves, as Paul said, not reprobates, but believers
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you.