Are You Worthy?

Let's not have our church telegraph. All right, in 1 Corinthians, you have to turn there. In 1 Corinthians chapter 13, it says that there be no schisms in the body, but that the members should have the same care one for another, and whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it, or one member be honored, all the members rejoice with it.

So you have this idea of rejoice with them that rejoice, and weep with them that weep. Because truly in a body, the body is all connected. And I've used the illustration, if you hit your hand with a hammer, your thumb with a hammer, the place that hurts the worst is the thumb.

But every part of the body feels it. And not quite as bad as the thumb does, but we all are connected, and therefore we all feel some of that pain. And I wanted to share something with you here.

I don't often do this, very rarely do it, but I'd like to do it here. I received a text this morning, and I share this because we're all part of the same body. And if the hand is out ministering, and the hand is rejoicing, then the whole body can rejoice together with the hand.

I know a number of us, Brother Wolf and some of the families there, Brother Merlin were up in, what's that, where were you at? Nova Scotia. And I was right up there a few weeks ago in New Brunswick. And then last week was there in Bangor, Maine, and for a tent meeting there.

But the week I was in New Brunswick, had a good meeting there, and I received this text here this morning. And just for an encouragement for us, all of us, and to see God's hand. Good evening, Brother Jerry.

It was actually sent last night. This is Jeremiah Vermont from New Brunswick. Brother Jake Simons gave me your contact.

Brother, I just wanted to share a testimony with you to encourage and bless you. Brody, my friend and employee that I had worked, or no, brought with me to the meetings, was born again. He had gotten to the place of great uncertainty about anything, but a place of understanding, but a place of understanding what it meant to follow Christ, and was not sure he wanted to commit.

Sunday evening, while you were preaching, he stepped outside for other reasons. But while out, the Holy Spirit got a hold of him, and he was under deep conviction, and he surrendered his life to the Lord. My phone here, let me see.

I could tell the difference the next morning in the field. He certainly had assurance and knew for sure he was born again. About two weeks later, he was in the field and was weeding.

I don't know what kind of work he did, but he was in the field. About two weeks later, he was in the field and was weeding my garden, and was doing a one-meal fast. And the Lord met with him.

He was so full of joy, and when I drove up, he was hollering, praise the Lord. Brody was so mentally unstable when I began to hire him, and the change in him is very real. I'm full of joy just seeing how God has been working in his life.

I praise the Lord that he worked through you in this way when you were here. I don't have time to share, but I have been changed also from that last message, and I give God thanks for his grace. May the Lord bless you richly.

And so I share that with you as an extension of the ministry here. And, you know, when someone reaches out, others are holding him. And so I was encouraged by that to see how the Lord is working on hearts, and bringing help and deliverance.

Well, let's look at 2 Corinthians, and as I did last time, I'm going to try to combine these two because the message and the Lord's Supper, they fit well together. And you'll see this as we go down through the message here this morning. 2 Corinthians chapter 13, for some of you who are visiting, we've been teaching through the book of 2 Corinthians, and we're almost finished.

We've come down to the last chapter. We'll probably have the message here this morning and then one more, and then we'll be finished with 2 Corinthians, the book of 2 Corinthians. So I'm going to give you a little review.

And if you know anything about the church at Corinth, there's major issues here. And I'm not going to go through all the ones that we've addressed, but the church is having difficulties. There are people who are not walking in the fear of God.

They're not walking according to the word of the Lord. And if you jump back here where we finished off in chapter 12, starting in verse number 20, Paul is writing them here some admonition. Verse 20, he says, For I fear lest when I come I shall not find you such as I would, and that I shall be found unto you such as you would not, lest there be debates, envyings, wrath, strife, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, and tumults, and lest when I come again my God will humble me among you, and that I shall bewail many which have sinned already, and have not repented of the uncleanness, and fornication, and lasciviousness which they have committed.

So here is our introductions to chapter 13. Paul is concerned here that he's about to come, and he's about to visit them. And his heart, truly his heart is that he would not visit them while they're in a sinful state, but that they would find a place of repentance, and that he could visit them and have joy.

And he is not one who desires to be quick to condemn, or quick to destroy. And we've seen this throughout these two letters. He's even delaying his coming to them to give them an opportunity to repent, and yet he is warning them, he's admonishing them, and he's admonishing them regarding destruction.

If you look over here at chapter 13, verse 10, he said, Therefore I write these things being absent, lest being present I should use sharpness, according to the power which the Lord hath given me to edification and not to destruction. And we learned this last time, doing all things unto edification. And that's really the purpose of the Spirit of God in each one of us, the gifts, the power, all the grace that God has given to us is for the edification of the body, the building up of the kingdom of God.

But there comes a place when there is disobedience and rebellion, we're going to see it here this morning, in which that same power can be used for destruction. It can be used for destruction. So let's have a word of prayer, and then we'll consider here in 2 Corinthians, verses 1 through 6. Lord, help us to this morning, may the word of the Lord find place, may we find admonition and warning and caution.

Lord, may it increase the fear of God in our hearts as we examine the Scriptures, Lord, and open up our hearts, and may you direct our thoughts here today. Minister Grace, even as that little boy, he put his loaves and fishes in that bag, whatever it was, and you took it and multiplied that, and fed 5,000 people, Lord. May the Spirit of the Lord multiply what I have here and feed us where we're at in our locations.

May you edify and strengthen us here this morning. We humble ourselves under your mighty hand. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Amen. So edification. Edification.

Edification is the goal for the believers, not destruction. And you might remember that Jesus said, I have come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly, but the devil has come to steal, to kill, and to destroy. And that word destroy, you know, that seems to be on the side of the enemy.

When you think of the Lord, he is one who has come to bring life, one who has come to edify. And I don't know how this all works theologically, I know there's some examples in the Bible, but when there is a need for judgment, when there is a need for chastisement, we've already seen here in 1 Corinthians chapter 5, deliver such an one unto who? Satan, for the destruction of the flesh, that the Spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. So, when there are issues in the church, and there's rebellion in the church, there is sin, and there is unrepentance, then there is a need to deliver that individual unto Satan for some form of destruction.

Here in 1 Corinthians, it's chastisement to the flesh. In 1 Corinthians chapter 11, we saw that when they made a mockery of the Lord's Supper, that some of them were sick, some of them even died, or they slept. And so, God is capable of, in a sense, destroying or delivering someone to destruction.

1 Corinthians also says that you are the temple of the living God. And if you defile the temple, Him shall God what? Destroy, the same word. Him shall God destroy.

And so, I'm here today to encourage edification. I like edification. I like it when we can come together, and the power and the Spirit of God within us, edifying one another, using our gifts, exhorting, teaching, discipling one another for exhortation and edification, and that is the goal.

Although, there are times when, and grievously, and Paul is very grievous about it here, he says, God will humble me amongst you. It's like, I don't like this kind of thing. Let me just throw this out.

You know, I think there's a lot of people today in the churches that like this judgment and condemnation idea. And I don't think that's the Lord's heart. You know, those two disciples, as they were with the Lord, and one city did not receive the Lord, and these two disciples, they said, why don't we call down fire from heaven and destroy them? You know, destroy them.

And Jesus said, you know not what manner of spirit you're of. And so, we are of the edification spirit, with the possibility of those who are continuously in rebellion, and unwilling to repent, to then have to deal with destruction. And that's the way the body is.

You know, the body will do everything it possibly can, and God has worked in the body to heal, and to address sicknesses and problems in the body. But on occasion, and I've only known just a few people throughout my life, on occasion, there needs to be an amputation. An amputation is the last straw.

I mean, it's the last option for someone to lose a member. And so, if you just keep that in mind, we want to love one another, edify one another. Some groups, some people are taking, you know, the casting off, and disciplining people out of the church.

And they're using it far more than what God ever intended. Cutting people off for the simplest of things, and not for the issues that the Bible here brings to mind. So, destruction is not in the heart of God.

You know, the Bible says He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. God is not, oh, oh, oh, I get to destroy the wicked. Wonderful.

No, He doesn't take pleasure in the destruction of the wicked, neither does He take pleasure in our destruction. He takes pleasure in our edification. Any more than you mothers take pleasure in the destruction of your children, your sons and daughters, even though they may be rebellious.

You don't take pleasure in their destruction, and neither does the Lord take pleasure in our destruction. And so, God is long-suffering. And Paul here has been representing.

I think it's amazing, you know. Paul writes these two letters. We've been following his letters here, the second one.

And it's not like he's writing these people off. It's not like he's speaking to them like they're not even Christians. He is exhorting them.

He is speaking to them as he would any other church. But there is issues. There's issues that are happening here that need to be addressed.

So, God is long-suffering. He's long-suffering toward the lost. But the flood does come.

Amen? The flood comes. He was long-suffering toward Sodom and Gomorrah. But the fire comes.

The fire comes. And yes, God is long-suffering toward His children. But chastisement is coming.

And if chastisement doesn't work, then 1 John says there is a sin unto death. And Ananias and Sapphira found out that you don't push the Lord too far. Because there's a power that can judge and can chasten.

As a matter of fact, Hebrews chapter 10 says, If we sin willfully and presumptuously against the Most High, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin, but a fearful looking for judgment and fiery indignation, which shall consume the adversaries. He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under one or two witnesses. Of how much sore punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who has despised the Son of God? And it goes on to say, The Lord, it's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God, because the Lord shall judge His people.

So, judgment is something that God is not, any more than a father enjoys disciplining children. We'd much rather see our children obey and do the right thing. But God is not one who takes pleasure in judgment.

So, with that introduction, let's look here at these first couple of verses, as Paul is closing his letter here in chapter 13. He says this in verse number 1, This is the third time I am coming to you. In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established.

This is an Old Testament principle, two or three witnesses. One person cannot rise up and make accusation, and that accusation stand. As a matter of fact, like for elders, receive not an accusation, but before two or three witnesses.

It takes two or three as a testimony, so that one person cannot destroy another. He says here, everything is going to be established on the basis of two or three witnesses. Verse number 2, I told you before, and foretell you.

I'm giving you plenty of time here, as if I were present the second time. And being absent now, I write to them which heretofore have sinned, and to all others, that if I come again, I will not spare. Now, one thing that God is good at, and praise the Lord He's good at, and He is working through Paul, this is not just Paul saying these words, but God is one who gives warnings.

God is one who gives warnings. You know, hell? Someone has said hell is paved, the road to hell is paved, or it's cluttered with danger ahead. Stop all kinds of signs and warnings before you actually end up getting there.

So, I encourage all of us that we would heed the warnings of the Lord. My sign that I made up last fall for college campus preaching is basically a sign that says on the top, danger ahead. It's like a street sign, danger ahead.

And danger and eternity ahead. And then underneath the verse, prepare to meet thy God. And just a theme of letting young people think about eternity, have eternity upon their mind.

And I think it's a good thing. If you don't think much about eternity, you probably don't have much of a fear of God in your heart. But we need to be thinking about eternity.

There is caution and danger ahead. Now, not for the child of God who's walking with the Lord, but there is caution and danger ahead for those who are outside the will of God, those who are not truly born of the Spirit of God. And God is one who is His warning.

That's why before the judgment comes and the Lord returns, there's going to be plenty of warning. Warning. Jesus said, when you shall—He gives all these signs.

He says, when you shall see all these things come to pass, know that my coming is near. I'm warning you. And I'll give you ample warning before the final judgment comes.

And so, God is one who warns us. He doesn't just sneak up on us and say, Oh, I'm going to just pound on you for a while. He warns us.

He gives us—He gives us— You sit in—or I sit in services, and a preacher is preaching, and he warns you through the preaching. He warns you through admonition. As a matter of fact, in 1 Thessalonians 5, it says this, Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly.

You know, sometimes a brother or sister comes by and says, Hey, brother, hey, sister, what you're doing is not good. You need to consider turning from your way. You know, that's something we ought to be doing, is warning the unruly.

The Bible says that Paul warned men there in Ephesus day and night with tears. You know, it's something that I know in many churches, in many liberal churches, warning is something put out. You know, we don't want to scare anybody.

We don't want to make people uncomfortable. But we are encouraged here. I exhort you, brethren, to warn them that are unruly.

Comfort the feeble-minded, but warn the unruly. And so if there are people here in the congregation who are living an unruly life, an undisciplined life, a life of open transgression and sin, it's our responsibility to warn them of what they're doing. Now, here's a passage I've shared with you in the past, but it's a good one for here this morning.

The Lord speaks to Ezekiel, and we're all watchmen for our brothers and sisters, but he says, Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel. Therefore, hear the word at my mouth and give them warning. For me, Ezekiel, I want my people to be warned.

And so I'm going to raise you up as a prophet, and I want you to warn them. But we're told in the New Testament that we're to warn the unruly. All of us.

Brethren, we exhort you, brethren. When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die, and Thou givest him not warning. So yes, God can say through His word that the wicked is going to die, the sinner is going to die and go to hell.

However, the sinner, though his conscience would testify that to him, the sinner needs some warning. And by the way, that ought to throw out this lie that, well, God can take care of it. You know, if God wants to warn the wicked, He can warn the wicked.

No. God says, I'm going to have you warn him also. As a matter of fact, we just read there in 2 Corinthians, in the mouth of two or three witnesses.

I want another witness. So when I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die, and Thou givest him not warning. Nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way to save his life.

The same wicked man shall die in his iniquity. But his blood will I require at Thine hand. Meaning there'll be some guilt upon our heart for not warning.

Yet if Thou warned the wicked, and he turned not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity. But Thou hast delivered Thy soul. Again, when a righteous man turned from his righteousness and committed iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die.

Because Thou hast not given him warning. That's your brother, a righteous man. He's going to die.

He shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered. Nevertheless, if Thou warned the righteous man that the righteous sin not, and he doth not sin, he shall surely live. Because he is warned, also Thou hast delivered Thy soul.

And so, the idea of warning our brother. So when you feel like, you know, I should go and talk to that brother. Maybe you saw something, ah, it's not very good, I should talk to that brother.

It's probably the Lord convicting you and saying, hey, exhorting you to warn your brother and admonish your brother. And let your brother know that the direction he is heading is not a good direction. So, here we are.

Let's keep reading here. Verse number 3, Since you seek a proof of Christ speaking in me. Now, Paul is getting back here again to this idea, do you think I'm an apostle? You embrace these false apostles which we've talked about already.

But since you seek a proof of Christ speaking in me, which to you it is not weak, but is mighty in you. For though he was crucified through weakness, yet he liveth by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but we shall live with him by the power of God toward you.

Now, I want you to realize something here this morning. Paul mentions here this power that is in them. He says it's mighty in you.

That that same power that God has given us for edification, that same Holy Spirit, you know, Jesus said you shall receive power. After that the Holy Ghost has come upon you. When God gave the Holy Spirit to us and planted the Holy Spirit within us, he did so for the sake of power and primarily for the sake of edifying you.

That power to sanctify you, to make you holy, that power to gift you and give you grace to help you function in church life. But that same power within you can also bring judgment and destroy. As a matter of fact, I have no doubt when Ananias and Sapphira stood before Peter and Peter asked them, did you sell the land for so much? And they said, yeah, for so much.

All of a sudden, you know, that power that was within them, that power that God gave them for edification and for ministering to the body, not for deception, that same power that in them took their life. You know, Peter didn't have to come up there and hit him over the head with a stick or they didn't have to stone them. That power that was in them for their edification actually then turned to be for their destruction.

And as the Scripture says here, that power which is mighty in you can be mighty on the good side, but it can also be mighty on the bad side, the negative side. And that same Father who can take you aside and give you a hug and love on you children can also be a father who can take a whip and scourge you. So preferably that we want that power for edification.

And that's what Paul is entreating them. But if necessary, that same power God can use for destruction. And you saw that, we saw that in 1 Corinthians there, the Lord's Supper.

There's no indication that, you know, anybody brought any personal harm to those who are sick and those who died, but the power that was in them actually brought chastisement to their life. It's like, I thought of this illustration, it's like carrying a hand grenade around. Those hand grenades are good if you're in the war, Brother Chad can tell you that.

Hand grenades, you can use them to destroy the enemy. But if you play around with it, misuse it, what can happen? It'll blow up on you, right? And it can be destructive. And so we need to have caution of the power, because the Lord says if you defy this temple, Him shall God destroy.

And so the Spirit of God is powerful in us, both for the good and if need be, for the destruction. Look with me to 1 Corinthians 1, chapter 5, the story that we talked about a while back here. And 1 Corinthians chapter 5, this is the story of this individual who was committing fornication there in the church, and he wasn't coming, you know, in brokenness and humility, he was actually glorying in it, others were glorying in it, the church was a mess.

And so God had to bring some judgment here, and so Paul takes the place here, and he gives some admonition and some direction in verse number 9, in chapter 5 of 1 Corinthians. I wrote unto you an epistle not to company with fornicators, yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters. For then must you needs go out of this world.

Now, it's like the Lord says here, I know that you're going to have to participate with some of these people. You know, you're going to be participating with those who are, sometimes they're fornicators, or the covetous, extortioners, that if you couldn't participate in things with them, you know, go to their stores, buy their products, even live next to them as neighbors, then you couldn't even be in this world, because they're all over the place. But they don't have the power in them.

They don't have the Holy Spirit. Well, let's keep reading here. But now, I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner, with such in one know not to eat.

Now, this is a special one, because we're talking about people inside the fellowship here, people who are believers, who profess to be believers. It's a different response. Verse 12, For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? I take care of those.

Do not you judge them that are within? But them that are without God judges. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person. Now, this idea is, I use a crude illustration here, and the one I use, but if someone in the church has got a hand grenade, and they're here in the church walking around and goofing on with a hand grenade, how comfortable are you going to feel about that? You're not going to feel too comfortable about that, because they're inside the fellowship, and they're playing with fire.

They're playing with something that is destructive, and instead of going up and embracing that destructive individual, and this grenade, because you put yourself in danger, God says, put them out. Put them outside. And I think all of us would say, yeah, get them out of the building, before this thing explodes, and we all have some collateral damage.

And so the Lord gives us that responsibility. So when we see people who are willfully and openly just being negligent, and being presumptuous with sin, and going their own way, and disregarding the Scriptures, disregarding the commandments of the Lord, then it's some concern, an admonishment by an individual, taking a second one and warning the individual, you're holding a hand grenade, you're messing around with it, you need to do something, and then finally bringing it before the church, and putting them out of the church. And so we have the idea of church discipline.

And then once they're outside, then God judges them. Boom! Things go wrong. And you can see that throughout the Scriptures.

It says, them that are out, God will judge. And so we need to be wise. We need to be wise with that.

No, we don't need to discipline every little thing, and those who are seeking to do the right thing, and trying to repent, and maybe they're weak, and maybe they're feeble, and maybe they're immature, and maybe they're struggling for a little bit. We're talking here about someone who is purposely unwillful. Now let's keep going here.

Let's go back to 2 Corinthians. 2 Corinthians 13, in verse number 5. And I want to spend most of our time here, in verse number 5. It says this, Examine yourselves, whether you be in the faith. Prove your own selves.

Know you not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you? Except he be reprobates. Now Paul, having observed, he was there, what, two times? He says this is the third time I'm coming. And he's had Timothy and Titus there.

We've seen that on different occasions, and probably there's letters going back. As a matter of fact, Paul said there in 1 Corinthians chapter 5, I've heard this from others, that these things are going on in the church. There's probably letters going back and forth from different people to Paul, about things that are going on.

But Paul understands this congregation. I don't know how long a time. It's probably been 3, 4, 5 years.

There's been this attempt to help the church there at Corinth. But having observed their life, over these years, as he finishes this letter, and by the way, he's inspired by the Spirit of the Lord. He asks them this question.

He says, Examine yourselves, whether you be in the faith. Prove your own selves, know you not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except you be a reprobate. Now, I remember many years ago, I preached at a youth Bible school, and I asked that question.

Is Jesus Christ in you? You know, that's not a bad question to ask, because Paul asked that question. Don't you know that Jesus Christ is in you? You know, there ought to be enough evidence in our lives to convince us that Jesus Christ is in me. He's in me.

I hope you know here this morning that Jesus Christ is in you. There seems to be the reality, I mean, to the power of God, the Lord Jesus moving into your residence, there ought to be evidence of that. Would you agree with me on that? Amen.

And so, that's the question he says. Don't you know? Don't you even know that Jesus Christ is in you? Now, when I thought about that passage here, there's a couple of lessons I think we can learn from it here in verse 5. Examine yourselves. Now, I think that's a good admonition for all of us, and I encourage you here to examine yourselves.

I don't like this idea of some preacher or prophet going around and saying, oh, you're a Christian and you're not. You're a Christian and you're not. Jesus Christ is in you.

He's not in you. The Bible never tells us where to do that. Now, the Bible says we're to be discerning and make some evaluations, but we're not to go around and tell people whether or not they are a Christian or whether they're not.

Now, if someone says to me that I'm trusting in my righteousness and I'm good enough to go to heaven, I'll say to that person, you're probably not a child of God, or you are not a child of God. But as far as us believers, someone says they're a believer, it's not my place to say, no, you're not. You're not a believer.

First of all, I'm not the judge. And even Paul, I mean, Paul's a wise man and he knows these people. He even says, I'm not going to make the call.

You examine yourself, whether you be in the faith. And that's something that we ought to be doing. The Bible says the Lord knows them that are His, and I don't.

I'm assuming here, and I look at all your faces, I'm assuming we're all going to be in eternity together because we're all sheep, and we don't have any goats in our midst, and so praise the Lord for that. But, I'm sure as I'm standing here, there are some of you in this building here today that are not sheep. You're goats.

Right? Even amongst Jesus' 12 disciples, there was one that was a goat. And I don't even know if Judas knew it. There seems to be no indication.

I mean, maybe he was deceived himself. But, so don't expect me to go around and say, brother, you're not saved. Maybe you're insane.

Brother, you're not saved. Well, Paul doesn't say these people have problems. We just had the list there of all the things, biting and devouring and whispering and fornication and uncleanness.

He doesn't say, well you, you're not a Christian. Get out of the church. There's a man, Doctor, if he's there in 3 John, who casts people out of the church.

He's one of these that takes control and tells everybody whether they're saved or not. Well, that's not for us to do. You all know that probably we would have thought that Lot wasn't a Christian, the way he was behaving there in Sodom and Gomorrah.

How can you be a Christian and live in this place? And then most of us would have thought Judas was. And even the disciples thought Judas was. He was in a good place because, you know, the Lord Jesus there on the Lord's Supper, when they got together that last night, he said, one of you is going to betray me.

And all of them looked around like, who is it? Like nobody said, I know who it is. It's obvious. And so I'm very cautious.

I'm very cautious about giving people the idea that they are or they are not. If they have a profession of faith in Jesus, I give them the benefit of the doubt. And if anything, if they don't show fruits or they don't have any witness to that account, I would do the same thing Paul does here in verse 5, and I'd ask them to examine yourself whether you be in the faith.

I've said this before. It's one thing for another person, a false prophet to deceive you. It's another thing for you to deceive yourself.

Don't deceive yourself. That's awful. Look what it says here in verse number 5. Examine yourselves.

And I realize, I think, I realize a lot of people like to examine other people. And yes, we need to admonish one another and warn one another. But let's just make sure we keep our eyes on ourselves and examine ourselves.

We're going to do that this morning here as we look at 1 Corinthians. But examine yourselves whether you be in the faith. Make sure you get in, amen.

Make sure you get in. By the way, you're not going to get anybody else in if you're not going to get in yourself. If you're not a child of God.

So examine yourself. Notice how many times it says that in verse 5. Examine yourselves whether you be in the faith. Prove your own selves.

Know you're not your own selves. Look inside. Is Jesus Christ in you? Who knows you any better? Any human certainly doesn't know you any better than you do.

You know the motives of the heart. You know your own thoughts. You know your affections.

Look at yourselves in an honest way. Examine yourselves whether you be in the faith. It's a self-examination.

Can you be honest with yourself? We're going to go back to this passage here in a little bit when we have the Lord's Supper. A very familiar passage. But it says in 1 Corinthians 11, But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup.

I think the church would be a whole lot better off if people would give 95% of their examination on their own self. And about 5% on everybody else. Unfortunately, it's like 95% on everybody else and 5% on ourselves.

We're so much concerned about what everybody else is doing. How about you? How about me? Examine yourself. Now, verse 5 says this.

Examine yourselves whether you be in the faith. Prove. That word means to test your own selves.

Now it would be great if we could hand out a questionnaire here this morning. And it would have about 20 questions. And if you got 15 right, then you're a Christian.

If you got 14 or less, you're an unbeliever. We could just prove it today, and everybody could know and leave the doors and know whether they're a child of God or whether they're a goat. I don't have that test, so don't expect me to hand it out today.

But the Bible does have some simple tests that will help us to determine or prove our own selves whether or not Jesus Christ is in us. And I'd like to just give you briefly a few of them, this evidence. This evidence.

By the way, God's looking for evidence, and we need to have some evidence. And you know that tree? It's there, fully mature. Branches are rustling in the wind.

Someone says, you're a peach tree! And that tree looks down at the branches and says, no, look at all these apples. I'm an apple tree. And there's evidence.

There's a lot of evidence on the branches. And so when you look at, you test yourselves, when you prove yourselves, God does not just leave you with no test. So I have a test for you here this morning.

Just a few questions, a few things that are found here in 1 John. And so some of you, we've gone through this in the past, but let's look at 1 John 2 again. And here's the test that the Lord gives us for whether or not you are, Jesus Christ is in you.

I'm just going to read down through these briefly and comment on them. Here is the evidence of truly being born of the Spirit of God. You can take the test.

There's four. I hope you get at least three. And by the way, the Bible doesn't say you need three out of the four, but it does say these ought to be a part of you and be working in you.

So 1 John 2 is the first evidence. In verse number three, it says this, and hereby we do know that we know Him. We prove to ourselves that we know Him if we keep His commandments.

He that saith, I know Him and keeps not His commandments is a liar. Hey, hey, you're disproving your authenticity. As a child of God, you're lying to yourself.

It's one thing to lie to people. It's another thing to lie to yourself. He's a liar.

And the truth is not in Him, but whoso keepeth His word in Him, verily is the love of God perfected. Hereby know we that we dwell in Him. So here is one of the tests.

Question number one, is my heart to obey His commandments and to keep them? Does this mean that I keep everyone perfectly? No, it does not. Even Paul, who wrote most of the New Testament, said I am not perfect. I have not yet attained, but I am pressing toward the mark.

Amen. So, so the first test for us to prove ourselves, whether or not we're in the faith, is whether or not we truly have a heart to obey His commandments, keep His commandments. Right? And some of us, when we think of commandments, we think of certain things.

just like the Pharisee. Oh, I fast twice a week. I give tithes to all the possessed.

How about giving thanks in everything? That's a commandment, right? How about bringing every thought into captivity? That's a commandment, isn't it? And there's many commandments. How about loving your wife as Christ loved the church? That's one of those commandments, right? Keeping His commandments. How about going to all the world and preach the gospel to every creature? That's a good commandment.

And so, so yes, our hearts are, are leaning, are desirous of keeping His commandments. I don't think you ought to have guilt complex. I was with a young lady up there in Bangor, Maine, after the meeting.

She, she and her children was going to drive me to the airport about a half hour away and, and I could tell she was really, like, really wanting to take me to the airport. And so, another man had come by and he'd asked whether or not we had a ride to the airport and she said, I'll take him. And in the process, she talked, she wanted to talk.

And you could tell that she had a perfectionist spirit about her. Everything had to be done perfectly and if she didn't do it perfectly, then she felt like she was not a part of the kingdom. And, and just to, just to also balance this out with, yes, you're in, in pursuit of His commandments.

You're adding commandments on a regular basis, but you're not perfect. You don't have to be perfect. Yes, head for that.

That's your goal. Be perfect, even as my Father, which is in heaven, is perfect. But unless you're ahead of Paul, who has not yet arrived, and so keeping His commandments.

Let's look at the next, next one here. It's in chapter 2, verse 15. Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.

If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passes away, and the lust thereof, but he that does the will of God, abides forever.

This is talking about your affections. You know, your affections, your heart. Is your heart here? Is your heart with the kingdom of God? Is your heart with the people of God? Is your heart with the Word of God? Is your heart with communion and fellowship with the Lord? Is your heart there? Or is your heart out there? I love, I love, you know, television, movies.

I love the sporting world. I love money. I love pleasure.

Lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. That's what's in the world, and there's so many things we could talk about, but do you truly love the Lord, or do you love this world? That's the question you need to examine yourself. What's my affections? What's my love? What drives me? And here's the third one in chapter 3. This is a, this actually book was written to show you that you're a child of God.

It closes there in chapter 5, with these things have I written unto you, that you might know that you have eternal life, that you might know that you're a child of God. First John chapter 3 verse 14. Here's another one.

We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loves not his brother abides in death. Whosoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

And as Jason mentioned a few weeks ago, hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoso has this world's goods, and seeeth his brother of need, and shuts up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him. So, do you love the people of God? And that's a real good one.

Do you know? Do you have the genes of the family of God? This is the place I'd like to be. You know, when I was a kid, I wasn't a child of God, and I wasn't a, I was a goat. And when my parents said, let's go to church, I said, no! Not only did I hate the clothes I had to wear, you know, those dressy things with a jacket and everything, and a tie, I was a young kid, but I didn't like being around those kind of people.

I liked being around my friends, my party friends. I liked being around them. I did not like being around people who were pursuing holiness, people who wanted to worship and sing praises to God.

I just had no desire for it, right? But now, these are the people right here. These are the people and all the people around the world who are Christians. I want to be with them.

If you don't like being here, then that's a real concern because you've got to think ahead. In the next about 200 million years, you're going to be with them forever. So, you better start liking them now.

And so, loving your brother, that's a good sign. When you really have affection for the brotherhood and the people of God, then you're on the right side of eternity. And then the last one here, this one doesn't get as much attention, but 1 John 4, verse 13, Hereby know we that we dwell in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit, that's the power that is within us, and we have seen and do testify the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.

Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in Him and He in God. And so, this power was given to testify, to bear witness, and one of the things that every child of God does is to testify. How can this treasure be in us and we understand the Gospel and have a love for the Lord and not want others to know it, right? How can we live silently? And so, 1 John has tests.

Is there evidence? Let me ask you this morning, is there evidence that Christ is in you? Know you not that Jesus Christ is in you? Well, prove your own selves. Do you keep His commandments? Do you love this world? Do you love the brotherhood? Do you share your testimony and you share the good news with others? And by the way, you can hear me say that in two different ways. You can hear me say, well, the only way you can really be saved and know you're saved is to do these things.

No, that doesn't work. How you need to hear me say it is this, I need to look at my life and if I'm doing these things, then I am a child of God. I am a child of God.

And if I'm not, then I need to really question. And by the way, that's an important question to get resolved because eternity is a long time. And me and Zach, we were out yesterday and we borrowed my neighbor's car and we were out of the car for a few hours and it was sitting in the hot sun and the car is dark colored.

And we got in that car and I told Zach, Zach, hell, it's a lot hotter than this. Can you imagine being in eternity with this kind of heat? Oh, this is hot. And yeah, it's something to make sure.

If there's anything you need to be sure of, you ought to be sure of your soul salvation. You don't need to be sure about your bank account. But make sure about your soul salvation.

So Paul is saying here to prove your own selves. I want to read another passage that goes along with this. And it's oftentimes spoken of with regards to this subject.

You can just listen as I read here in the book of James. It says, What does it profit my brethren though a man say he has faith and has not works? And that word works there is evidence. He doesn't have any evidence.

Can faith save him nor can faith without evidence save him? If a brother or sister be naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you say, this is a basic level here, one of you say, depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled, notwithstanding you give them not those things which are needful to the body, what does it profit? Even so faith, if it has not works, is dead being alone. If a man may say, thou hast faith and I have works, show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works. O vain man, don't you know that faith without works is dead? Faith without evidence is dead.

In other words, the faith that you think you have is a dead faith. And the last time I checked, dead faith doesn't qualify for eternal life. Dead faith.

Show me your faith. Where is the evidence of that? Now some people are so caught up with this passage, and this is what happens when you over exaggerate, but some people get so caught up with this, that people get so consumed with works, works, works, works, works, works, that now they have to work in order to have enough faith to be saved. And the whole thing gets turned on its head.

And now their emphasis is not on faith, but it's on works. But faith in the Lord Jesus, true faith, will cause the Spirit of God to be imparted to you. He in you will produce obedience.

He in you will produce a love for the brethren. He in you will produce a love, a disdain for this present world, and will testify as you yield yourself to Him. My question to you this morning is this.

Is your faith a living faith? Is it a living faith? Right? The just shall... What? Live by faith. And faith ought to be a living faith. And then James goes on to say this.

For as the body without the Spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. So you go to the casket there, and you see this body. It's a body.

You know? Someday when James dies here, he's going to be laying in a casket. Hopefully it won't be for a long time. Laying in a casket, we'll all walk by and say, there's James.

Yep, there he is. But he's dead. He's got a shell.

Looks like James. But he's dead. There's no spirit.

There's no motivation. There's no energy. There's no power.

There's no drive. He's just dead. For as the body without the Spirit is dead, even so faith without works is dead.

You sit there and you say, I have faith. I believe in Jesus. But you have none of the evidence.

Well, it's dead. You need to change course. Amen.

And get a living faith. And truly humble yourself and say, Lord, I'm a sinner. I'm going to hell.

I'm in trouble. I need mercy. And thank you, Lord, you've given me all this time to open my eyes, to see the truth.

But this is the problem in Corinth. Paul is beginning to question all the things that are going on here. And you seem to have a love for the world.

You seem to have all kinds of issues. And you're living in sin. And I want you to start looking at yourselves to see whether you're even in the faith.

Prove your own selves. Well, let's examine ourselves here this morning. I thought we would just jump into the Lord's Supper here because, and I know oftentimes this verse is used a lot, but let us examine ourselves.

The Scripture says this. I want to read to you here in 1 Corinthians. And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, Take, eat.

This is my body which is broken for you. This do remembrance of me. After the same manner, also he took the cup when he had supped, saying, This cup is a new testament in my blood.

This do ye as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he come. Wherefore, whosoever shall eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily.

You know, they had it. Oh, this is something good to eat. Give me some more of it.

I didn't eat my lunch today. I want to eat some more. And they just made a mockery.

But let a man examine himself and so let him eat of that bread. Let me ask you this question here as we partake of the Lord's Supper. Maybe it's a good time to think about this.

Am I worthy to partake of this? Am I? Am I worthy? Am I truly a child of God? Yeah, this thing passes by me every week and I pick up that grape juice and I pick up that piece of bread and I take it. But here's a good time to examine yourselves whether you be in the faith. Prove your own selves.

Know ye not that Jesus Christ is in you? Can you imagine? I'll just give you one thought and then we'll take the Lord's Supper. Can you imagine the power within you? Christ in you? This is what happened here in 1 Corinthians. Just picture the Lord Jesus Christ in you and you coming to His remembrance.

His cross. He is suffering. And Him laying His life down for you and you take it with a mocking attitude.

And He's in you? No wonder people got sick and the power within them said, Whoa! And many of them slept. So let's remember that as you take it, He's in you and He desires that you would honor Him and reverence Him. Let's have some young people come up to help and we'll pass out the bread here first.

Can I get a few volunteers?