Examine Yourselves

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

The Bible encourages self-examination to ensure we are in the faith (2 Corinthians 13:5). In 2 Corinthians 13:5, Paul exhorts believers to examine themselves to confirm their faith. Self-examination is vital for Christians as it encourages introspection regarding one's relationship with Christ. It is not enough to rely on outward appearances or past experiences; true faith must be alive and active in a person's heart. By examining ourselves, we ensure that we recognize the evidence of Christ's work in us, confirming we are not reprobates or hypocrites, but genuine believers.

Q: How do we know if we are genuinely in the faith?

We know we are in the faith through evidence of transformation and reliance on Christ (2 Corinthians 13:5). Understanding whether we are genuinely in the faith involves looking for specific fruits of the Spirit in our lives. In 2 Corinthians 13:5, Paul prompts believers to assess their spiritual condition and observe the transformation that faith in Christ brings. Genuine faith produces a heart that is broken over sin, a hunger for Christ's righteousness, a recognition of total dependence on Him, and an acknowledgement of His lordship in every aspect of life. Therefore, when we see these characteristics, we can have assurance of our standing in the faith.

Q: Why is examining ourselves important before participating in the Lord's table?

It is crucial to examine ourselves to ensure we properly discern the body and blood of Christ (1 Corinthians 11:28). Participating in the Lord's table without proper self-examination can lead to unworthy participation, which Paul warns against in 1 Corinthians 11:28. Self-examination before communion ensures that we recognize the significance of Christ's sacrifice and the new covenant. This practice not only reinforces a believer's faith but also fosters unity within the body of Christ as we approach the table together in acknowledgment of our shared need for grace and forgiveness. It is a call to reflect on our lives and relationships, ensuring that we are aligned with the gospel we profess.

Q: Why should we focus on our own relationship with Christ rather than others'?

We should focus on our own relationship with Christ because personal accountability is essential for genuine faith (2 Corinthians 13:5). Focusing on our own relationship with Christ rather than others strengthens our walk with Him. In 2 Corinthians 13:5, the apostle Paul emphasizes that we should prove our own selves rather than scrutinizing others. This is vital because our spiritual condition is personal and not defined by others' actions or beliefs. It promotes humility and teaches us to rely on God's grace in our own lives, ensuring that we acknowledge our need for salvation and ongoing growth in Christ. By focusing on our walk, we are better equipped to help others without judgment while fostering unity and love within the body of Christ.

Q: What are the characteristics of true faith according to the sermon?

True faith is characterized by a brokenness over sin, a hunger for righteousness, and total dependence on Christ. According to the sermon, true faith manifests through several key characteristics. Firstly, it involves a genuine understanding of one's sinfulness and the need for God's grace, leading to a heart broken over personal sin. Secondly, true faith includes a deep hunger and thirst for righteousness, recognizing that one's own efforts are inadequate. Thirdly, it acknowledges total inability and dependence upon Christ for salvation and sanctification. Furthermore, it embraces the lordship of Jesus Christ, surrendering all areas of life to His authority. These traits help distinguish genuine believers from those with false faith.

So many of you mentioned the
blessing that you received Sunday evening from the message I preached
from 2 Corinthians 12, that I thought tonight we would follow up with
a message from 2 Corinthians 13. And the direction Paul is going
here is very similar, very similar. You'll notice the similarity
as I go through these verses, and I hope to cover all of them
in the time we have. He says in verse 1, chapter 13,
2 Corinthians, this is the third time I'm coming to you. Now,
everyone agrees that Paul did not go to Corinth but once. He did not personally, in person,
visit that church but one time. So, and those who write on this
verse agree that he's referring to this fact, that he visited
them the first time in person. You remember he was going to
leave Corinth And the Lord spoke to him during the night and said,
don't leave. Remain here and preach. I have
much people in this city. I have many elect people in this
city. Don't leave. So Paul stayed there
and preached to them almost two years, and during which time
God revealed Christ to these people in a most powerful manner. And at this time the church was
established in Corinth. The second visit was by an epistle. He wrote 1 Corinthians, the first
epistle to the Corinth Church. And this, he says this is a visit,
it's a personal visit, you know. What better visit could Paul
the Apostle make with them than to send them an epistle dictated
by the Holy Ghost having to do with their problems. with their
conflicts and with their struggles and troubles. So he sent this
epistle down to them and that was his second visit with them.
Now the third time he said, this is the third time I'm coming
to you. So no question about that, this
is the third time that I'm coming to you with these words which
God's given me for you. This is the second general, the
second epistle to the Corinth Church written by the Apostle
Paul. That's what he's saying here.
And then he quotes Moses in that first verse. He said, In Deuteronomy
chapter 19 verse 15, Moses wrote, in the mouth of two or three
witnesses, let every word be established. And that's what
he's doing, these three visits. First time in person, the next
time with an epistle, and then here with another epistle. Our Lord quoted this writing
of Moses, let every word be established by the mouth of two or three
witnesses. He said, If I bear witness of myself, I'm the only
one who is the witness of what I'm saying. And my witness is
not true. Even the Son of God said that.
But he said, the Father has given me many witnesses. John the Baptist,
I just read from Isaiah 40, the ministry of John the Baptist.
He bore witness of me. The Father has borne witness
of me. This is my Son, in whom I'm well pleased. The works that
I do, they bear witness of me. No one can deny that God is with
me because of the works I do. And then the scriptures bear
witness of me. And that's when he quoted, let
every word be established by the mouth of two or three witnesses. And we do well, we would do well
to use this rule in all matters, all the days of our lives. Let's
not say things that cannot be witnessed by two or three. Let's
not contend for anything that's not witnessed by two or three. Then he says, I told you before,
verse 2, I told you before and I foretell you as if I were present
the second time, and being absent now from you, I write to them
who hithertofore have sinned, and to all others, that if I
come, if I, you know, he kept, he wanted to come. He wanted
to visit them. He wrote to them, told them he'd
like to come, but he's hindered, he couldn't come, wanted to come.
But he said, if I do, and these people that are causing these
problems don't correct them, I'm not going to spare them.
That's what he's saying. And you're familiar with the
first epistle. of the problems of this church. They had so many
problems, sins, and things that existed among them. Divisions. There are divisions among you,
he wrote in chapter 3 of 1 Corinthians. Divisions among you. You're divided
over your preachers. Some say, I'm of this preacher,
and I'm that preacher. And then they had false preachers
risen up among them. Then they had fornication in
the church. They had divorces in the church. And they were going to law with
one another. They were taking one another to court, suing one
another. And then they had the misuse
of the gifts. Paul dealt with all these things.
He's referring to, I told you before and foretell you as if
I were present the second time. And being absent now, I write
to them who hithertofore have sinned. They've done wrong in
these things. They've done wrong in these things.
There was a misuse of gifts, there was bad behavior at the
Lord's table. Some people were getting drunk
at the Lord's table. And he said, now I'm absent,
but I'm writing to you, and I warned the guilty parties, I warned
them, that if these matters are not corrected, that I'll come
down. and use apostolic powers. Now
preachers today don't have this kind of power, but I'll give
you an example of apostolic power, what he's talking about. Turn
to Acts chapter 5. You're very familiar with this,
but this is apostolic power. And this is what he's saying.
Paul had this kind of authority. And we must be careful. Preachers
today have to be very careful. about assuming powers that are
not theirs in any shape, form, or fashion. These men were apostles,
they saw the Lord, the Lord taught them the gospel, the Lord sent
them with this authority and this power while they were writing
the word, while the churches were being called out and brought
together. You remember when Ananias and
Sapphira, verse 1, chapter 5, a certain man named Ananias with
Sapphira, his wife, sold their possession, kept back part of
the price, his wife also being a party to it, brought a certain
part and laid it at the apostles' feet. And Peter, an apostle,
said, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the
Holy Ghost, keep back part of the price? While it remained,
was it not your own? And after it was so, was it not
in thine own power? Why have you conceived this thing
in your heart, and then lied unto men? Not lied unto men,
but to God. And Ananias, hearing these words,
fell down and gave up the ghost, and great fear came on all them
that heard these things. His wife came in and told the
same story. And down here in verse 9, Peter
said to her, How is it that you have agreed together to tempt
the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of them which
have buried your husband are at the door and carry you out
too." And she fell down. And this is what Paul is talking
about. When he says something like this,
if I come, I will not spare. He's speaking as an apostle.
We don't talk that way. But an apostle can talk that
way. That's true. All right, verse
3. Verse 3, he says, And here we
go back to where I was Sunday night. Since you seek a proof of Christ speaking in me, you
remember I told you there were certain people down there said
Paul's not an apostle. He wasn't in the original twelve,
so you don't have to listen to him. But since you seek a proof
of Christ speaking in me, which to you it is not weak, he said
I'm weak, I told you that. I've told you that again and
again. Let me just turn to it and read what he has to say about
that. He says in, Bradbury, when I came to you, I came not with
excellence of speech or wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony
of God. I was with you in weakness, in
fear, and much trembling. My speech and my preaching was
not with enticing words of man's wisdom. And then over here in
2 Corinthians 4, Verse 7, he says, We have this treasure in
earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God, not
of us. We're troubled. I'm troubled on every side. I'm
not distressed. I am perplexed. But I'm not in
despair. I am persecuted. I am cast down. He said, I told you I was weak.
Told you I was weak. But here's proof that God's speaking
to me. Listen. This gospel I preach
to you, to you is not weak, it's mighty in you. He says, though
I'm weak, my gospel's not. Though I'm weak, my gospel's
not weak at all, because it came to you in power. in the Holy
Ghost, like the Thessalonian Church, and in much assurance.
The gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that
believe it. And so, true converts are living proof of a true preacher. False converts are living proof
of a false preacher. That's what our Lord said in
Matthew 7. In Matthew 7, the Lord Jesus said this, Beware
of false prophets. Beware of false prophets. They
come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they're ravening
wolves. How will you know them? By their
fruits. What's their fruits? Their conduct? Oh, they may be
the most polished men on the place. By their misbehavior? Oh no. Satan's ministers are
ministers of righteousness. How do you know them? By their
fruits. What's the fruit of a man's vineyard? It's his converts. It's the people that are the
products of his preaching. And that's what Paul is saying
here in verse 3. You seek proof of Christ speaking
in me? This weak man, this fearful man,
he said the proof is in you. The gospel came to you in power. Changed your life. Gave you a
new heart, a new nature, new spirit, new hope, new peace,
new confidence in God. That's the proof. He said you
people have the least reason of all to question my ministry. You see, you have the least reason
at all to doubt Paul's ministry. That's what he says. Because
Paul was God's instrument to save your soul. And our gospel
came to you, it was mighty in you. The gospel was mighty in
you. God revealed his son in me and
in you. You see what he's saying here?
Since you seek proof of my ministry, I'll give it to you. You're the
proof. You're the proof. Then he talked about this weakness.
He said our Lord was weak. He was crucified through weakness.
He was weak as a man. Jesus Christ, the man, was weak
in the flesh. He died, didn't he? That's right. He said he grew up as a tender
plant, tender plants pretty weak, a root out of a dry ground, despised
and rejected of men, a man of sorrows, acquainted with greed,
healed as it were our faces from him, despised him, and he was
crucified through weakness. He didn't offer any resistance
at all, like a sheep led to the slaughter and nailed him to a
cross. But he lives by the power of
God. Christ was crucified through
weakness, but he lives by the power of God. And we also are
weak with him. We are a reproach of men. Didn't
he say God had chosen the foolish things of the world? The things
that are despised, the things that are not, the things that
are foolishness to men, that's what we are. But we're, what
do you say, we live by him, we live with him, we weep with him,
but we also live with him by the power of God toward you. The worth of the gospel is not
determined by the value, strength, and attractiveness of the vessel
in which God serves it. That's a good statement made
by somebody, I forget who. The worth of the gospel is not
determined by the value, the strength, or the attractiveness
of the vessel. The power of the gospel is in
itself. In itself. The beauty of the
gospel is in itself. We come to you in weakness, in
fear, and trembling, that your faith should not stand in us,
but in the power of God. That the excellence of the power
may be not of us, but of God. Not of the vessel, not even of
the church building, not of the surrounding, not of the elders
or the people who support it and who encourage it and who
insist upon it. The power is in the gospel itself.
That's the beauty. We'll wait. Let it be settled
once and for all. We're nothing. I've labored,
Paul said, more abundantly than you all, though I be nothing.
John, who are you? A voice. What are you? Nothing but a voice. And our Lord was crucified through
weakness, yet he lives by the power of God. And we are weak
with him in this human flesh, but we live with him by the power
of God toward you. We're strong in the fellowship
with Christ and strong in the ministry of the gospel. Our gospel
is I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, it's the power of
God, the very power of God. Actually, meet weak people are
the only people God can trust with this powerful dynamite. Others misuse it. The only thought
can be trusted with this power, this gospel, is a man that knows
he's nothing and God's everything. It's the only people God ever
uses. And as we become something, we
lose our strength. As we become important, we lose
our power. God doesn't. We go on doing it.
We go on acting out the part. They do. Preachers go on acting
out the part. Promoting themselves and promoting
their programs and promoting all this. Go on acting out the
part and using the language, but the power's not there. What
he said in verse 3, our gospel was weak in us, but mighty in
power in you. And God's going to, he's going
to save his people in such a way that he gets all the credit,
all the praise and all the glory. It has to be that way. So verse
5, instead of examining me, this is what he's saying, instead
of examining me and seeking proof of God speaking through me, examine
yourselves, whether you be in the faith. Don't seek to prove
my relationship with Christ, prove yours. Don't seek to know my heart,
know your own. Know you're not your own selves.
You see, this is what Paul is saying. Examine yourselves whether
you be in the faith. He tells us that every time we
come around the Lord's table. This is the prerequisite for
participating in the Lord's table, is a self-examination. Let a
man examine himself, so let him be. Examine himself for what? His relationship with Christ.
Does he discern the Lord's body? I do. You do. Does he discern
the Lord's blood? Yes, we do. Do we believe Christ? Do we love him? Yes, we do. Well, so let him eat. But let
him examine himself. That's what he's saying here.
Prove your own self, not others. That's not our capacity. It's
not our work. Because we don't know other people's
hearts, but we do know ours. We do know ours. All men do not have the same
experience or the same feeling, but there are some things common
to all people whom God saves. I found this outline yesterday. There are four things that false
faith cannot produce. It just can't produce these four
things. False faith can do a whole lot of things, but it can't produce
these four things. And this is the mark of true
faith. Now listen to this. Listen to
this. False faith cannot produce a
heart broken over my own sin. Now the false religionists, they
talk about sin in general terms. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. That's right. But I have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. That's a different language. The religionists talk about other
people's sins and how awful the world is and how awful people
are and terrible things people are doing. But you know, David
said, Lord, my sins are ever before me. Against thee and thee
only have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight, that
thou mightest be justified when you charge, and clear when you
pronounce me guilty. Lord, purge me with hyssop, and
I'll be clean. Wash me, and I'll be whiter than
the snow. Now that's true faith, isn't
it? That's true faith. The prodigal son came home and
said, Father, I've sinned against heaven and in your sight, and
I'm not worthy to be called a son. Make me a servant. False faith
doesn't talk to us. True faith does. Secondly, false
faith never hungers and thirsts for the righteousness of Christ.
False faith has its own righteousness. They go about to establish their
own righteousness. This is not the language of false
faith. Listen to this in Philippians
3. Philippians 3, Paul says in chapter 3 of Philippians, he
said, Philippians 3, in verse 8, doubtless I count all things
but loss. all things, all my religious
zeal and all my religious traditions and all my religious accomplishments,
I count it but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things. I do
count them but dung that I may win Christ and be found in him,
not having any righteousness of my own, none at all which
is of the law. but that I might have that righteousness
which is through the faithfulness of Christ, the righteousness
of God by faith. Oh, that I may know him and the
power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his suffering.
That's not false faith. Blessed are they that hunger
and thirst for righteousness, they'll be filled. Here's the
third thing. False faith can't produce that.
Here's the third thing. False faith will never own Total
inability. Never. It'll never own total
inability and total dependence on Christ. But Job did. Job said this, though he slay
me, I'll trust him. Whatever he does is right. The
Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of
the Lord. In all of this, Job didn't charge
God foolishly. He said, I know whom I redeem
are living. And he'll stand on this earth,
and by his grace one of these days I'll see him myself. These eyes will behold him and
not a nothing. The worms destroy this body.
Total inability, but total dependence on him. Christ is all and in
all. That's what Paul said. Fourthly,
false faith will never own the absolute lordship of Jesus Christ. Now, false faith may talk about
Jesus Christ as a personal Savior, but false faith never talks about
Christ as a sovereign, almighty Lord. If thou shalt confess with
thy mouth Jesus to be Lord, Lord of what? Creation, Lord of providence,
and Lord of salvation. Thou shalt be saved. But with
the heart man believeth on the righteousness, and with the mouth
confession is made unto salvation. That's just so. False faith cannot
produce a heart broken over my sin. False faith cannot produce
a heart that hungers and thirsts for the righteousness of Christ
and discounts any of my own. False faith can never produce
a total inability. Without thee I can do nothing.
And total dependence upon Christ who is all. And false faith will
never bow and own the absolute Lordship of Jesus Christ. False faith has got to share
some way in the glory. Know ye not your own selves?
Listen, let's go back to the text, see if I can finish here.
Examine yourself, whether you be in the faith. Prove your own
self. Know ye not your own selves?
Do we know ourselves? Paul knew himself. Here are three
statements that Paul made that let me know he knows himself.
And I'm going to make these three for myself. You do too. I know,
he said, that in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. He knew himself,
didn't he? That sums it up. I don't need
anything else. I know, he said, I know that. No, you're not your
own self. But I know this, in my flesh dwelleth no good thing.
He said, I know nothing of myself. I know in part, I prophesy in
part, I see through a glass dimly, but one of these days, face to
face, I'm going to know like I've been known. It's all of
God. I know nothing of myself. Thirdly,
I know whom I have believed. I know whom I have believed,
and I'm persuaded that he's able to keep that which I've committed
to him. Do you know yourself? There it is. All right, verse
6 and 7. I've got to read the last line
in verse 5. He said, don't you know yourself how that Christ
is in you unless you are reprobate? What's a reprobate? It's a counterfeit. It's hypocrisy. A counterfeit. But he says in verse 6, I trust
you'll know that we're not counterfeits. Paul and his friends, Paul and
Timothy and Silas and Barnabas and these men, he said, I hope
you know we're not counterfeits and hypocrites. And then the
second thing he says, I pray to God that you'll do no evil,
that you'll walk in truth and love, not in evil and in the
flesh. But not that we should appear
approved. I'm not looking for approval of my ministry. Not
in order that our ministry might look good. That's not my motive
at all. That's not my motive. You see,
motive is an unusual thing. He says, he's making three, four
requests. One, I trust that you know I'm
not, I'm genuine. I want you to know I'm genuine.
I'm not a reprobate. I'm not a hypocrite. I pray to
God that you'll walk in truth and love and you won't be found
doing evil." But then he adds, and I'm not asking that so I'll
look good. You see, not that we should appear
approved, but thirdly, but that you should
do that which is honest. Even if I am a reprobate, you
know what he says there? That's so interesting. I tell
you the word of God is so beautiful and the true servants of God
are beautiful. How beautiful are the feet. But
he said, I hope you don't think I'm a reprobate. I hope you know
I'm genuine. And I pray to God that you walk
in truth and love. But I'm not praying that so I
look good. I want you to walk in truth and
love if I look bad, he said. In other words, I want you to
walk in truth and love even if I'm rejected by everybody. That's
not the main point. The main point is not my acceptance.
It's not the main point. It's not the approval of men,
as far as I'm concerned. That's not the point at all. I want you to know God, whatever
it costs. whatever price I have to pay
or anybody else. That'd be all right. If we're
rejected and disapproved of me, then that's all right. But I
want you to do that which is honest. See, Bonner said one
time, honest people don't wind up in hell. That's right, honest
people. They're honest before the Word.
They're honest before God. They're honest before the scriptures.
They're honest before men. They're truthful. I was holding a meeting
in North Carolina one time, and I don't remember where it was.
I can't remember where it was. I just remember what happened.
The pastor and I went to have dinner with three old maids. They were all in their Eighties. Is that a safe number to say
old man? They were all in their eighties.
I forget their name. Cutest, I mean they were just
cute as they could be. They lived together, sisters.
They'd been in this church where I was preaching all their lives.
Literally all their lives. Like some of you have been in
this church here all your life. They'd been there all their lives.
They knew everything. I had dinner with them and we were sitting
around talking after dinner and I said, they got out their church
history, this little church that had twenty some odd pastors in
their lifetime. They knew them all. And they
got out their little church history and I was looking at all these
preachers. This man was here two years,
this man three years, this man four years, this man one year. was the best preacher, best preacher
of all these men. You knew every single one of
them. You sat down with their minister, every one of them,
who was the best preacher of all these men. Well, they got
their little gray heads together and they started talking. And
finally one of them came up and said, Brother Edwards, I believe,
said you could hear him a block away. He had the most powerful
voice I believe I've ever heard out of a human being. Said he
just rocked the windows and the doors. He preached loud. I said,
well that's not what I asked you. Who was the loudest preacher? I said, who's the best preacher?
Well, they went back to their book and they came up with another
name. I believe he is. He was just one of us, just common
as no shoe. He said if you was having dinner
and he came by, he'd just sit right there with you and have
dinner. He wasn't proud or just common as an old shoe, just one
of us. Visited everybody and everybody liked him. I said,
I'm still not getting through to you. I said, I didn't ask
you who was the friendliest or the loudest. I said, who's the
best preacher? And they named another one or
two and talked about these different traits. I said, ladies, what
I want to know is what man here taught you the word of God, took
you through the scriptures, preached to you the gospel of Christ,
magnified the grace of God. What I'm trying to do while I'm
here this week, preaching to you and taught you the scriptures,
which one of them? Folks, I'm telling you the truth.
They looked up and they said, I don't believe we ever had a
preacher like that. That's the truth. I don't believe
we ever had a preacher like that. But Paul said, I'm not
looking for fame or gain or praise. I covet not yours, but you. That's
what he's saying in those verses. I pray to God. that you walk
in truth and love, not that I should be approved, but that you should
do that which is honest no matter what happens to me or what folks
think of me. It's not a beauty contest. This is not a popularity
contest. This is a gospel preaching place. That's our charge. Preach the
word. Be as the in season, out of season.
Reprove, rebuke with all long-suffering patience. But we can't do anything
against the truth. We can't do anything against
the truth, but follow the truth. You know what that's saying?
The gospel's true. God is sovereign. The will of
God in covenant mercies will be accomplished. The redemptive
work of our Lord Jesus Christ will be exalted. All that my
Father giveth me, they're coming to me. And him that cometh to
me, I don't know who I was cast out. I came down from heaven
not to do my will, but the will of him that sent me. And this
is the will of him that sent me, that of all which he had
given me, I'll lose nothing. We can do nothing against the
truth. I'll lose nothing. nothing, but I'll raise it up
at the last day." He said, other sheep I have which are not of
this fold, I'm going to bring them. They're going to hear my
voice. They're going to hear through a preacher, a faithful,
God-loving, God-honoring, gospel-preaching preacher. They're going to hear
that gospel, and they're going to be one fold and one shepherd,
and you can't do anything to stop it. We can do nothing against
the truth. Not Paul, not the Corinthians,
not any man, not all men, not nations or people, not Satan,
not principalities, not powers, not forces of evil can do anything
to defer or defeat God's purpose of the glory of his Son. Whether
in obedience or rebellion, we're going to serve his purpose. That's the truth. We can do nothing
against the truth. Only Father's truth. That's what he said over here
in Romans 9. He said to Moses, I'll have mercy
on whom I'll have mercy, I'll have compassion on whom I'll
have compassion, so it's not of him that willeth, not of him
that runneth, it's of God that showeth mercy. But the scripture
said, Pharaoh, you can't do anything against the truth, but for the
truth. And for this purpose, for the
truth, I raised you up to show my power. that my name might
be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore hath he mercy
on whom he will, and whom he will be hardened." I'm not being
hard. I don't ever want to preach the
gospel in hardness, but God had created all things for himself,
even the wicked, for the day of evil. God will restrain all
evil that he's pleased to restrain, and the rest he'll use for his
glory. And in verse 9, Paul, verse 9,
I'm glad, I'm glad when we're weak and you're strong. And this
is also what we wish, even your perfection. Paul's not being,
I looked at that and I thought he's being a little sarcastic
here, and no he's not. I looked at it carefully, he's
not at all, he never was. He's not putting them down. He's
not saying, well I'm weak but you're strong. Now that's not
what he's saying. He's saying, I'm glad when I'm
weak. Here's what he's doing. He's purging himself of any vain
glory, self-seeking. He knows that our Lord will not
glorify this flesh. And only when he knows and realizes
he's weak before God can he be used of God. So he says, I'm
glad to know that I'm weak. I'm glad God has shown me that
I'm weak. I'm glad that God has even put
me down by some men, even some in Corinth. I appreciate that.
I receive that. I accept that, because if God
will use me and my gospel and my preaching to make you strong,
that's what he said, it's worth it. I'm glad I'm weak, because
that's the only post God uses. And I'm glad I'm weak toward
you, because through this experience he's made you strong. Strong
how? In faith. strong in the gospel. I really believe that this man
Paul's reputation meant nothing to him as far as men are concerned.
I really believe that. Because he said, I wish nothing, this is my wish, your perfection.
Therefore I write these things, being absent lest being present
I should use sharpness according to the power which God hath given
me to edification, not to destruction, but to edification for your good.
And here's in closing. Finally, brethren, let me give
you this. Farewell. Be perfect. That is, be mature. Be men and women in Christ, not
babies. Not always in need of correction, rebuke. In malice
be children, but in understanding be meaner. That's what he said. Be perfect. Be mature. Be of
good comfort in your afflictions and trials, knowing they're given
of God for his glory and our good. Be of one mind. Be united
in mind and heart and purpose and affection. Live in peace. Live together in unity as much
as possible with all men. And the God of love and peace
will be with you. Greet one another with a holy
kiss. What does that mean? It means show your love for each
other openly. Don't hold grudges, express your
love for one another openly. Greet one another with mutual
love and genuine friendship. And all the saints here with
me salute you and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the
love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit. Grace of
our Lord Jesus, love of the Father, communion of the Holy Spirit
be with you all. Amen. I hope that's a blessing.

Examine Yourselves

What does the Bible say about self-examination?

How do we know if we are genuinely in the faith?

Why is examining ourselves important before participating in the Lord's table?

Why should we focus on our own relationship with Christ rather than others'?

What are the characteristics of true faith according to the sermon?

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Examine Yourselves

What does the Bible say about self-examination?

How do we know if we are genuinely in the faith?

Why is examining ourselves important before participating in the Lord's table?

Why should we focus on our own relationship with Christ rather than others'?

What are the characteristics of true faith according to the sermon?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

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