Examine Yourself

There was on an old clock, in
a cathedral in England, this written. When I was a child, I laughed
and wept, and time crept. When as a youth I dreamed and
taught, time walked. When I became a full-grown man,
time ran. And later, as I older grew, time
flew. Soon I shall find, while traveling
on, time gone. Will Christ have saved my soul
by then? Those are challenging words. I want you to look at the 13th
verse, if you will. The first Corinthians chapter
13. And now, about your faith, hope, charity, or love, these
three, the greatest of these, is love. There are many pressures upon
the preacher of the gospel. I was not able this morning to
say much about that, but I do know that there is a tremendous
pressure to find the message of the Lord for the hour. Many things that could be preached
But do we have that message which the Lord would have us to have
today? Do we have that message? Well,
we trust God this morning that we do have. Many times upon reading
of the Word of God, the meditation of all the scriptures, we oftentimes
are greatly challenged in our hearts. We find things that just
literally astonish us and cut the ground as we're out to linger
our feet. And we're made to wonder about
our own experience, our own situation, as to whether or not we truly
know the Lord or not. Now, we love to sing with John
Newton, as he, you know, wrote that old song, Amazing Grace,
Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like
me. I once was lost, but now I'm found, was blind, but now
I see. But every sober-minded child
of God realizes that there's multitudes of people that sang
that song while they were on earth. When they woke up after
they left this life, they woke up in hell. Realizing that fact
and knowing the sin and the deceitfulness of my own heart, I have also
been compelled to sing with John Newton. The base notes of another
hymn which he wrote, and these are the words, to the point I
long to know, often causes anxious thought. Do I let the mortar
go? Am I his, or am I not? We know that the vast majority
of religious people in this world this morning are lost, having
neither understanding of the gospel or having true love in
their hearts for the Lord Jesus Christ. Many profess faith in
Christ, but there are few who actually possess faith in the
Lord Jesus in Luke 13 23 and 24 Jesus said Then said one to
him Lord are there few that be saved? And he said unto them
strive to enter in the straight gate for many I say you will
seek to enter in and shall not be in Are there few that be saved? And certainly, there are other
texts and scriptures that indicate, like the scripture says in Matthew
7, 13, and 14, that strength is being errs away. Few there
be that find it. Few there be that find it. Now most, I believe, have been
deceived by false religion. Most have had a gospel preached
to them which is a false gospel contrary to the truth of God. They walk in that broad way which
the Bible says leads to destruction. And I am equally certain that
many who profess and practice the same things that we profess
and practice are yet under converted. Now, they are conservative, I
suppose, and very orthodox, but they have missed Christ. They've just simply missed the
Lord Jesus Christ. They embrace the true doctrine
of Christ, but they do not embrace Christ himself. Their religious
devotion is but a form of godliness without the power of life. Mere orthodoxy is not Christianity. And I have seen many whom I have
seen stronger, wiser, and more zealous, more devoted, and more
useful than myself, forsake Christ and his gospel altogether. They had assurance, I suppose,
but it must have been a false assurance. They had peace, I
suppose, some kind of peace, but it must have been a false
peace. Mere religious devotion and outward
righteousness, outward morality, is not Christianity. It is not. How then can anyone have religious
virtue that is savingly joined to the Lord Jesus Christ? But
I believe this morning that it's most meaningful for all of us
here to profess faith in the Lord Jesus Christ to examine
ourselves by the word of God, to carefully examine ourselves
by the word of God to see whether or not we may be mistaken about
our experience in grace. Honestly and sincerely, we ought
to ask God to show us whether or not we're in the way of life
and whether or not we're in the way of eternal bliss. or in the
way of death and eternal destruction. We ought to ask the Lord to show
us whether we are or not, to sincerely examine ourselves. In Psalm 139, verses 23 and 24,
David said, Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and
know my thoughts, and see if there be any wicked way in thee,
and lead me in the way everlasting." Those are the words of David.
In 2 Corinthians 13 and verse 5, the scripture says, examine
yourself. Whether ye be in the faith through
your own selves, knowing not your own selves, how that Jesus
Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates. So we must prove
ourselves by the Holy Scriptures and make our call to that election
and ensure that if we do these things, if we're God's children,
we shall never fall. We surely will never fall. Now
I cannot give you a certain formula by which assurance may be gained. All of us are mightily interested
in this matter of assurance. I can't give you, this morning,
just a certain formula by which you can get gospel assurance.
But I know this. I know it beyond the shadow of
doubt that there are three graces that are pre-ordained in the
heart of every child of God by God the Holy Spirit. And if you
and I possess these three graces, If they are really and truly
created in us by the power and grace of God, then we are born
of God. Truly, we are born of God. The
Apostle Paul said, and now I have one, faith, two, hope, and three,
love. But the greatest of these is
love, he said. That's in verse 13 of our text
this morning. Now, here are three questions
by which you and I must examine ourselves before God. And I hope
this morning that God, the Holy Spirit, will help us to do this. The first question is this, do
I have the faith of God's elect? If faith is one of those three
graces which God works in the hearts of all of his children,
then do I have the faith of God's elect? Now, beloved, true faith
is the gift of God. It is not merely a logical or
emotional decision, though it is both logical and emotional,
it is much more than that. Saving faith is created, something
that is created in the heart of the power of God the Holy
Spirit. It is an gift of almighty grace. We believe according, as Paul
said in Ephesians 1 and 19, I want you to understand the wording
of this verse, we believe. you Paul said, we believe according
to the working of his mighty power. Now he didn't mean to
say that we believe in the working of his mighty power, but he said
we believe according to the working of his mighty power, which means
that if a man believes God and has faith of God's elect in his
heart, it is because the mighty power of God created there in
his heart. It's there because God brought
him. there and put it there in his
heart. That's why it is. And so we're
denied to Christ, Paul said, in Colossians 2 and verse 12,
by the faith of the operation of God. By the faith of the operation
of God. How's a man joined with Christ?
He joined with Christ because there had been an operation of
God in his heart, and faith was placed there. Faith was put there
in his heart. And this was the work of God.
God alone can create faith in the heart of a sinner. a sinner
whose heart is divided and bedded, a sinner who doesn't believe
anything about what God said in His Holy Word, a sinner who
has no concern or care for the things of God. Only God can create
faith in his heart. God alone gives man faith. And He does it through the preaching
of the Gospel, Lord, by which Christ is revealed in the heart. Romans 10. And verse 17 says,
so that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. By a word from God, faith is
planted in the heart. God will speak to the soul. It's
not that somebody just read the scriptures to you or that you
read them yourself. It is that there was a word from
God into your soul, and through that word coming into your heart,
faith was begotten there. And James 1 verse 18, of his
own will, begat he us with the word of truth, that we should
be a kind of firstfruits 23 through 25 Peter said, being born again,
not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word
of God, which liveth and abideth forever. For all the flesh is
as grass, and all the glory of man is the flower of the grass,
and the grass quivereth, and the flower thereof fades away.
But the word of the Lord endures forever, and this is the word
which by the gospel is preached unto you. So true saving faith
is concerned with but one thing. Do you believe on the name of
Jesus Christ? of the Son of God. Now there
is one issue which is of eternal importance and that is this matter
of the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. What can be
of Christ? Nothing else really matters.
What do you think about the Lord Jesus Christ? Do you love Him? Have you centered around Him?
Have you singled Him out as the object of your soul's confidence
and faith? Is Jesus Christ your own Lord? Now true faith is taking God
at His word. It's believing what God says
about His Son. It's believing exactly what God
has said about His Son. It is submitting to the revelation
of God in the Scriptures concerning His Son, Jesus Christ. I believe
that if there's one thing that the Holy Scriptures do, it is
that it sets forth the Lord Jesus Christ as the only name under
heaven by which men and women can be saved. That's the revelation
of the scripture. It sets you up to the fact that
there is one door. Jesus said, I am the door. And there is no other door. There
is one door. And that is the door of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And so we must submit ourselves
to the revelation of God. in the scriptures, and that is
that Christ is the way. Now he is trusting, believing,
receiving Christ as he is revealed in the scriptures, as he is set
forth in the Holy Word of God. Whosoever believeth that Jesus
is the Christ, is born of God. He that hath the Son hath life,
and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. 1 John
5 and 13. Saving faith is a work of the
heart. It's a work that takes place
in the heart. Paul said in Romans 10, 9, and
10, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus,
and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from
the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth
in the righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made. of the salvation. True faith
is a hard faith. It's a hard faith. Now, John
Owen made the statement that he thought that, in his day and
time, that he were being greatly misled because it was indicated
to some preachers in his day that all that was necessary to
save was to have a mental ascent to some of the facts of the gospel.
And, of course, he pointed out that this was not so, that there
must be a word coming from God into the soul and into the heart
of a man. The salvation is the work of
God in the soul of a man, and that takes an operation of God
in which vein is implanted in the heart. And so, Paul said,
with the heart, man believeth under righteousness, not with
his head, but with his heart. And the heart God can touch.
Now a man might be able to touch your head. He might be able to
impress you intellectually. He might be some way or another
be able to plant some facts into your head. But only God can give
you a heart faith, a faith that's going to lead unto righteousness. Now, true faith, you hear me
out, is the willful, it is the deliberate, voluntary confidence
of my heart in the power and grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,
is what it is. It is trusting the merits of
His blood and His righteousness as my only grounds of acceptance
before God. And it involves the bowing and
the submission of my heart to Him as my Lord. You can't get out of it, beloved.
This saving faith, if it's the faith of God's elect, is the
faith that grabs Abraham and tells him, Abraham, get up out
of your country. and go out into the place that
I shall show thee." And faith takes him out of his homeland,
takes him away from his kinfolk, and it moves him out into that
place where God will show him. True faith, the faith of God's
elect, is a faith that moves the heart to submission and to
bow the knee to the will of God as it's revealed in the heart
of the believer. Well, apart from this, there
is no saving faith. You cannot have the faith of
Abraham and not be brought to bow to the Lordship of Christ
by it. The faith of Abraham makes one
bow his knee to the Lordship of Christ. Say what you will.
I know we've got a rebellious heart. I know that our nature's
a contrary thought. I know that we'd rather not bind
the Lord. I know that we'd rather not walk
in the fear of God. I know that we'd rather throw
off all restraint and do our own thing. But, beloved, let
me tell you this. The man of the world that has
the faith of God's elect is one who is brought to see that he
must bow his knee and his neck to the solemn purpose of God
and His life, and that the word of God says what it says, and
that we must bow our knee to it. There's a submission required
in those that have the faith of God's elect. We must bow to
God. He owns us, and we're His, and
we must bow to Him and to His will. You cannot live in rebellion
against God as your ordinary daily bench and be a child of
God. You just can't do it. You must
bow to Him. Now then, Let me say next that
true faith, this faith that abides, this grace that God works in
the heart of his children, that this faith of God's in act is
a persevering faith. Hebrews 3 and verse 6 says that
Christ, as a son over his own house, Whose house are we if
we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm
unto the end? And verse 14 says, for we are
made partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence
steadfast unto the end. King said, Arthur King said,
God's elect will persevere, but they must. Persevere. That is to say that if a person
truly believes on Christ, he'll continue to believe on Christ. Faith is not an event in the
life of a child of grace. It is not. It is the believer's
continual way of life. This faith of God's nature, it's
the way you live. You live by faith. You live by
trusting God. Galatians 3.11 tells us that.
The true believer never ceases to live by faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ. God's elect begin in faith, they
live in faith, and they die in faith. Hebrews 7 and 13 says
these all die in faith. You've read the 11th chapter
of the book of Hebrews. It is the chapter there that
reveals to us the faith by which the people of God lived and walked
in their travels here in this world, serving the Lord's choice
people. These all died in faith, not
having received the promises, but having seen them fall and
were persuaded of them and confessed that they were strangers and
pilgrims on the earth. Proofing never quits. It just don't quit. It will not
permit or allow that one who possesses it to quit. Does it
mean that we never come to a place where we would not do, or where
we wouldn't feel that our graces are so weak that maybe we just
will fold up? The true faith never quits. It just keeps right on. It's
not the man who begins the race that has been well said wins
the prize. It's the man who finishes the
race. So the true faith that God's
elected is a persevering faith. It's not a faith that you can
have. It's like I said, it's not an event in the life or childhood
of God. It's the continual walk. It's the continual faith of God's
people. Now then, so much said about
faith this morning, and this is grace that's essential. Ask
yourself the question, do I have faith of God's elect? Do I have this faith that abides? Do I have it? Alright, the next
thing is do I have the hope of the gospel? Do I have it? Where
there is true faith in the heart, there is also confident hope
of the gospel. Paul says in Colossians 1 and
23 that a man is slaved who cannot be moved away from the hope of
the gospel. This is exactly how he put it.
If you continue in the faith, round you and settle, and be
not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which he heard
and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven,
whereof I fall and made a miniature. That's the way he put it. Faith
unites us to Christ. Faith brings us all the blessings
of grace and salvation in Christ, but hope anchors my soul in the
stormy sea of life. Hope is the anchor of the soul. Hope inspires my courage in the
midst of a troubled world, in this wasteland wilderness, in
this pilgrimage. Hope. Brother, sister, you've
got to have gospel hope. If you don't have gospel hope,
What will you be able to answer to? What will enter your heart?
What will enter your soul? And hope causes a child of God
to persevere, looking beyond the things of time and eternity.
Hope, it lays hold of those things which you cannot see. We're saved
by hope, the scripture says. Not something we've seen already,
but something that we believe in. Now, there's some precious
verses back in the book of Lamentation, chapter 3. If you wouldn't permit
me to read from verse 21, down to verse 26, I'd like to read
you. This I recall to my mind, therefore
have I hold, said the lamenting prophet, Jeremiah. It is of the
Lord's mercies, this is what he calls to mind, and that gives
him hope. He said it's of the Lord's mercies
that we're not consumed. because his compassions fail
not. They are new every morning, greatest
are his faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, saith
my soul, therefore will I hope in him. The Lord is good unto
that that waiteth for him, to the soul that seeketh him. It
is good unto the man that both hope, and quietly wait for the
deliverance of the Lord, for the salvation of the Lord. Beloved, I say that hope causes
us to persevere when it looks beyond the things that are happening
to us right now and makes us play hold of the faithfulness
of God for time and eternity. Well, for what do the people
of God hope? What is it that you hope for?
as a child of God. Well, I believe that there ought
to be acceptance, finally and last, before God. My friend,
this morning, if you sit down and think a little bit, our time
will soon run out, the hourglass will run out, sand will run through
for us. Will we be accepted of God? Do
you expect for God to accept you? Well, on what grounds, what
basis? Well, I'll answer that in a few
moments, but listen to it this morning. That's my hope. I hope
that a Christ-only God, who is so holy that He cannot look upon
sin, I hope that I will be accepted before that God. I hope to be
fully pardoned of all sin and completely acquitted of all charges
before God's holy throne. I hope to be. Well, that's a
tremendous hope, isn't it, for a sinner? Somebody who sins every
time he breathes. Isn't that a tremendous hope
for somebody who was born in sin, received a nature that was
fallen and corrupt, and that everything is impossible for
him to live an hour without unholy and sinful thoughts going through
his mind? Well, bless the Lord, to be able
to hope that we're full and part, and that we're completed with
all charges before God's throne. Isn't that a tremendous hope?
And also, I believe the people of God hope to inherit all the
glory and the bliss of Emmanuel's life. I think we hope that. We
desire that. We want that. That's our hope.
And I think they hope to be found in Christ at last, not having
the righteousness of their own, which is after the law, but the
righteousness of God, which is by the faith of Jesus Christ. I believe that's what I hope
for. I believe that's what I hope for more. Well, what is the basis
of the foundation of the hope of the child of grace? What is
the basis of this hope? Well, the answer is, all my hope
before God, for all things, rests entirely and alone among the
blood and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is my
all-sufficient substitute. I have absolutely no confidence
in the flesh. I don't have it. And you might say, well, if I
had yours, I wouldn't have any confidence in it. But if I had
yours, I wouldn't have any confidence in it. And I don't know all about
you, but I don't have any confidence in the flesh. I don't know about
the flesh, but I don't have any confidence in it. Nor do I have any confidence
in anything I've experienced. And I've experienced a few things
that's been unique. But I don't have any confidence in that.
Neither do I have any confidence in anything I've said. And I've
felt some things that I was sure in my heart at times were wrong. But I don't have any confidence
in that. And it don't take to have any
confidence in the things you feel or don't feel. I don't have
any confidence in anything I've done. No confidence whatsoever. I don't even complain about it.
Somebody said, well, don't you think that preaching for 35 or
40 years would count for something? It counts for nothing. It counts
for nothing. Not when it comes to the salvation
of my soul. And when it comes to the end
and I run through the cell, I don't expect for the wires to meet.
I don't think that the cell's going to catch me. I think it
goes right out the door. That's what I think. 40 years
of preaching, or if it's 50 years of preaching, it all goes right
on out yourself. It ain't gonna catch you. I'll
tell you that. I don't have any confidence in
anything I've ever done. And I suppose that I've done
probably as much as the rest of you have in a religious way.
In a spiritual way, maybe as much as the rest of you, but
don't have any confidence in that. My soul's hope is Christ
the Lord. That's my hope. Jesus Christ
the Lord. The poet said when he sang it
this morning, my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood
and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but only lean on Jesus' name. He is covenant! He is blood! Support me in the
whelming flood! when all around my soul gives
way, he then is all my hope and strength. This is the basis,
the foundation for our hope is the blood and righteousness of
the Lord Jesus Christ. His oath is the covenant, his
blood, that's it. That's it. Do you have a hold
of the gospel? Do you have it? Now the third
thing, there's another question which I must answer. There is
one thing which I must have if I'm truly born of God, and in
some ways, I believe this is the most telling of the three,
because this question searches deeper and tells more about me
than either of the other two. Now, you hear me out. You hear me out. Paul said, now
the Bible, faith, hope, and charity, these three. The greatest of
these is charity. Now, the word charity, as we
all know, is love. It's love in the original. Now,
do I have, and here's the question, do I have the love of Christ
in my heart? Do I have it? Do I have the love
of Jesus in my heart? Do I have it? Is my heart rooted? Is it governed? Is it motivated
by the love of Jesus Christ? Do I have within me the kind
of love that Christ produces in the hearts of these people? That's the question. Now let
me say this, that love is absolutely essential to true godliness. Cannot be godly and not have
the love of Christ in your heart What he says here in the first
part of the chapter so the absence of love is payment it's a Now, as you re-meditate on this
chapter, I don't want you to think to yourself, love is a
very great virtue, and it's most commendable and useful, and wouldn't
it be a great thing if all the children of God had it? I don't
want you to think that way about it. We must have it. It's not
that would be a great thing in all the children of God and we
must have it. Oh, we're not a child of God.
We must have it. We've got to have the love of
Christ in our hearts. The Holy Spirit tells us that
this love is something which characterizes all who are born
of God. We read in 1 John, we know that
we pass from death to life because we love the brethren. We know
it. Now we know that we pass from
death to life, but we have love to the brethren. We must have
it or else we're not born of God. We don't have this love
which Christ produces in the heart. Now if I do not have this
love, no matter what else I may have, no matter what else I may
do, if I do not have the love of Christ in my heart, I'm a
lost man. And the same is true of me. The
same is true of me. Charles said this he said this
love is the common everyday living of the people of God. It is not the prerogative of
the few. It must be the possession of
all. Now that's pretty plain. That's
pretty plain. That's pretty plain. Now this
love is not a condition. to be met in order to get salvation,
but it is the sure result of God's saving grace in Christ. It's the sure result of it. and
get around. It's the sure result of God's
saving grace in the Lord Jesus Christ that we have His love.
Now, Christian love is greater than all other spiritual gifts
and graces, and I'll explain that. Paul said what? He said
the greatest of these three is love. Now, it's greater for this
reason, for without love, all other gifts and graces are meaningless
and useless. uh... uh... uh... uh... uh...
uh... Now that's pretty plain. That
shows you why love is greater than faith and hope. Now the
next thing is this. For this one thing, love is the
fulfilling of the law of God. The only thing that can fulfill
the law of God in a believer's heart is the love of God. Let me read it to you in Romans
chapter 13 and verses 8 through 10. Romans 13 verses 8 through
10. Oh no man anything but to love
one another. For he that loveth another hath
fulfilled the law. For this, thou shalt not commit
adultery, thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt
not bear false witness, thou shalt not covet, and if there
be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this
saying, namely, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Love worketh no ill to each neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfilling
of the law. And that's the only thing that's
been fulfilled. The Lord Jesus Christ fulfilled
it. Because he loved God and obeyed
God. And every John 10 fulfilled the
law completely and entirely. And the people of God fulfilled
the law when they had love in their hearts. One toward another. That's why it's greater than
anything else. Now then that's Love is the one
sure mark and evidence of a saving union with the Lord Jesus Christ. In John 13 and verse 35, Jesus
said, By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, that
you have love one to another. I'm showing you why this is great. Now where this love is absent,
grace is absent. No man is born of God who does
not have the love of Christ implanted in his heart as a ruling principle
of life. I want you to turn to the book
of 1 John. There are a few verses there I want you to read. The book of 1 John, turn to the
second chapter if you will. Look at verses 9 through 11.
He that saith he is in the light and hated his brother is in darkness
even until now. He that loveth his brother abideth
in the light, and there is none against him stumbling in him.
But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in
darkness, and knoweth not whether he goeth, because that darkness
hath blinded his eyes. Now look if you will verse 14. I have written unto you fathers
because you know him that is from the beginning. I have lived
and I will live and I will live. Is that the verse? No, that's
not the verse. Let me skip on here to verse
23. Let me see what, verse 23, is
that it? Well, that's not it. I must move
to another chapter here. Look, if you will, Paul Hicks,
look in chapter... For let's go to chapter 4 and
let me let me just read a couple verses here in 4 chapter verses
7 and 8 First of all verse 7 let us love one another for loves
of God And everyone who loveth is born of God and knoweth God
and he that loveth not knoweth not God for God is love now look
at verse 16 of this chapter and And we have no one to believe
the love that God hath to us. God is love, and he that dwelleth
in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Then we'll look at
verse, I think it's, well, let's see, verse 20. If a man sayeth,
I love God, the same chapter, Hated his brother. He's a liar
For he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he
love God whom he hath lost? Now that's pretty plain, isn't
it? The love of Christ, or the absence of the love of Christ,
is a thing that is easily identifiable. Easily identifiable. This is
also some profound, mysterious point of theology. Now what is
it? it is not some sweet-sounding
but useless emotion that I'm talking about. I'm talking about
love here. The love of Christ is a gift of divine grace that
is clearly demonstrated in the lives of God's elect. Look at
verses 4 through 7 here. Look at it. Back in 1 Corinthians
13. 1 Corinthians 13 verses 4 through 7. I'm saying that it's easily
identifiable. Charity Suffer wrong love suffer
wrong, and it's time Jerry Love India not love only thought itself
is not fucked up does not behave itself unseemly Seek of not her
own is not selfish. He's not easily provoked thing
of no evil rejoices not in liberty, but rejoices in the truth there
are all things and Believe us all things, hope us all things,
and endure us all things. Does it sound to you lot that
the love of God is to be demonstrated and that it is certainly something
that is identifiable in the life? of a child of God, certainly
indicates it here to me, that if you have it in your life,
that it serves as something that will be out where people can
see it, because there's going to be a whole lot of opportunities.
to display it, if it's there, you can't live in this world
and not have opportunity, shame on you, not to show that you
have these things of this characteristic, this love, this grace in your
heart. You can't live a day without
having the opportunity to show what you got this in your heart,
this love of God in your heart. Well, Lastly let me say that
love is practical for all other gifts and greater than all other
graces. Because love is the only thing
that will last forever. It's the only thing. Verses 8
through 13. Here I just want to read verses
8 and 13. Look at it. Charity or love never
fails. Never fails. But what there be
prophecies, they'll be fulfilled. Whether there be tongues, one
day they'll see something they haven't had long ago. Whether
there be knowledge, knowledge is the word of God. Knowledge,
whatever kind of knowledge you want to talk about, it shall
vanish away. But look at verse 13, and now
abides faith, hope, charity, and peace for you. That's what
abides now. That's what abides. But the greatest
of these is charity. All other gifts will come to
an end. All other graces will cease. But love will go on in
heaven. It will go on in heaven. Faith
will be no more. We will see him in whom we have
believed. And hope will be no more when
we have that for which we have hope. It will be no more. But love will continue and come
to perfection when we enter Heaven. Love is the only thing we have
in this world which we can carry into the world to come. It's
the only thing we can carry out in this world. is love. Heaven
is a world of love. It's perfect, unceasing, glorious,
Christ-like love for all eternity. No one will lessen your peace
and a world of love except those who have the love of Christ in
their hearts down here. Mark it down. Mark it down. You don't have any right to think
that if you hate your brothers and sisters in Christ here, and
if you have no regard for them and their welfare here in this
world, that you're going to go off yonder when you depart this
life, and you're going to spend eternity in that heaven of bliss,
and that glorious land of love and peace, when you had no desire
for peace here, and you had no desire for the brothers and sisters
of the Lord in this life. I'll tell you more detail now
in a lot of these free for the searching questions this morning
that everyone honors and honors examine His self, his own self
before God. Do I have the faith of God's
image? Do I have the hope of the gospel?
Do I have the love of Christ in my heart? Do I have it? All said, now abide in faith,
hope, and love, these three. These three abide. And they abide
where? They abide in the church of the
Lord Jesus Christ. They abide in the heart of the
people of grace. I haven't heard about it in a
long time, still a little bit. But I know that There are other things too that's
involved in this. We have some Mennonites and Mennonite
preachers who've been across a little of nothing. And he said
that man loves Christ. He loves men. And never will
war. Never will it be free. Well,
I just don't believe that. I said, well, what's going to
happen if we just turn back over to these Mennonites? Turn it
over to him. What he told me that the Israelites
told me that they, it's because they run the world, that's the
reason why, that they were allowed to go out and, you know, destroy
their enemies and kill those that oppose God and the truth
and drive the Canaanites out of the land of Canaan and all
the other people out of the land of Canaan. He said their reason
was because they run the world. God put them over the world in
that day. Well, I said, well, let's just
give it all to the Mennonites. Let's just give America to the
Mennonites. And then what will you do? What will you do about
our freedom? What are you going to do? He
said, well, I don't follow that. I said, well, you better come.
Because somebody may have to fight for freedom. We've had
to do it before. Somebody may have to fight for freedom to
this nation. Somebody may have to do that. And I do not believe
the love of Christ means that a person ought to sit down, if
somebody tried to break into his house, ought to sit down
and say, well, listen, you can get through the lock, just turn
around here and do whatever you want to do. I don't believe that's
the love of Christ at all. I don't think it is. I don't
think the love of Christ says, well, whenever this fellow comes
over here with a gun, he's coming after you, shoot you, and you
ought to just walk out of the room and say, here I am, shoot
me if you will. No, I don't believe that. I don't believe that's
what the Word of God teaches at all. I believe it takes some
discernment. I believe it takes a little bit
of spiritual understanding. And I'm certain this morning
that it takes a great deal of submissiveness to God to be able
to understand what God teaches in all these areas. But I'm here
this morning to recommend to you that you examine yourself
and find out what these three phrases in your heart want right
there and now. Because if they're not, you're
not a child of God. You're not a child of grace.
And you have a false hope and a false peace. May the Lord be
pleased to give you an understanding of these things and to apply
these things to your heart this morning as He would, as He would. May the Lord bless you.

Examine Yourself

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Examine Yourself

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