A Test for the Ages

I hope that’s a good thing. Now, it’s very interesting. Last
week when I arrived here, I looked in the bulletin and saw the title
of Trey’s message and it said, Self Examination. And I immediately
went after that and I looked at the Scripture because I had
known for a little while in advance I was to prepare a message this
week. And interestingly enough, I was going to entitle my message
the exact same thing using the exact same principles with a
different passage. So appreciate it, Trey, for keeping
me on my toes and letting me learn how to go on the fly. But
in realism, I’d like to ask you a question in lieu of what we
learned last week to now what we study this week, to ponder
a question. And the question will be this.
How is it that we can know for certain whether or not we genuinely
love God. How is it that we can know that
for certain? Or possibly, better yet, rephrase, how is it that
God measures if we truly love Him or not? How is it that He
measures? That’s interesting. The Scripture
that Trey used last week was in 1 John 2. Let’s go there for
just a brief moment this morning. 1 John 2, and we’ll look at verses
3-6. And it says this, we know that
we have come to know Him if we obey His commands. The man who
says, I know Him, but does not do what He commands is a liar
and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys His word,
God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know that
we are in Him. Whoever claims to live in Him
must walk as Jesus did. There’s clearly an objective
standard here that we see of what is that dividing line of
how God measures how much our commitment is really a true one
towards Him and Him alone. Now, 80 percent of the United
States in a recent poll claimed Christ, claimed to be Christian.
I think we look at that statistic and say, wow, I don’t know about
that. I’m not sure. I’m not sold that
four out of five people that I meet walking around every day
really doesn’t just profess Christ, but truly possesses Him in his
hearts. And today, what we’ll do is we’ll
look and we’ll search our own hearts and say, wait a second,
am I one who merely professes Christ? Am I one who just talks
the talk or am I truly one inside that walks the walk? The old
saying that ignorance is bliss. might seem more true than ever
this morning. It’s tough to sit down, be honest with yourself,
be humble, and have to examine yourself in light of God’s Word
and in light of God’s Spirit. And it’s going to be clear that
the torch of God’s Word will shine brightly this morning.
And so my prayer and my anticipation is this experience will be a
wonderful one for us all, a tough one for us all. That we will
all at the end of this time, and hopefully at the end of this
week, be able to contemplate our hearts and say, You know,
I fall short in certain areas, realizing that none of us have
arrived and every one of us has a long way to go. Specifically
today, we’ll look at three things, three questions. If you look
in your bullets, you have three spaces. I’ll give them to you now because
this is not a crossword puzzle. You don’t have to play along
just to figure those out. The first question is this. Why should
we examine ourselves? Why should we even do this? Then
the second question. What factors do not necessarily
prove a saving faith? What factors do not necessarily
prove a saving faith? And then thirdly and lastly,
what is the true evidence of saving faith? What are the true
evidences of saving faith? So we’ll spend significant time
with each of those three points. And I thank Barb a lot for leaving
a lot of room in your bulletin there in the insert for notes. Before we get started this morning
with the first point, let’s pray and ask for God’s help this morning
with this message. Let’s pray. Father God, we, this
morning, come and consult Your Word. We desire to have open
hearts and open minds. Lord, let this just not be another
time where we are resolved to just sit and listen, but a time
where we desire to be actively engaged from the magnification
of Your Word on our hearts. Help this, Lord, to be a significant
time where when we leave this place, we are transformed by
the renewing of our mind from then when we had first walked
in. So help us this morning, Father, help me by Your Spirit,
for I know that I fall short of many of these points. And
it is by Your Spirit and Your power that we are able to communicate
this and search our hearts. Grant us the grace and peace
to carry on this morning and to resolve to do all things for
Your glory. In Jesus’ name, Amen. Okay, the first point, why should
we examine ourselves? Good question. Well, what is
the purpose of the test? First of all, with many of the
things we talk about, we are all going to see that we fall
short of many of these qualifications, many of these evidences of grace.
So what is the purpose? Why are we doing this? Well,
first and foremost, it’s not to tear us down. It’s not so
we can walk out of here and feel like Isaiah did. Woe is me. I
am ruined. That is not the purpose. The
purpose, rather, is actually to build up, to encourage, to
see how we fall short, to take the blinders off of our eyes
and say, where do I go from here? What do I do? Because often when
we ask ourselves the question and we pray those empty prayers
of God, make me like Christ, we don’t know what that entails
and we don’t know the seriousness of that prayer. Now, teachers
really give exams for two different reasons. You have bad teachers
and you have good teachers, which is nothing new to anybody. But
I would say the first, a poor teacher would primarily give
tests for one reason. They’re required to. That’s the
way they can hand out grades and get their paycheck. That’s
why they give it. Rather, a second or a good teacher might give
an examination to really test themselves to see how well of
a job they’re doing to communicating what they are trying to communicate
and then evaluate themselves based on the comprehension of
their students. So hopefully today we will come at this test
with the attitude of we’re going to evaluate ourselves not just
for a grade, not just for a final exam merit, but rather to test
and see where are we in this journey with the Lord. Now, as
many of you know, also, there’s college courses and high school
courses and many others that are just pass fail. There’s no
A, B, C, D, F. Just a pass and fail. And most
of the time, these courses, you just have one exam at the end
of the class. It’s just attendance. And then
did you learn it or not? Pass or fail? If you only have
one test, odds are, if you don’t do well on that one test, you’re
not going to pass the class. You get one shot. Now, it’s oddly
similar to the test of God on our lives. Now, no, God is not
sitting up there with a check sheet. And when you do something
good, He gives you a check. And when you do something poorly,
He gives you a minus. And then if you have more checks than
minuses, He lets you in. Not the way it works. Sorry.
But the consequences of that test are a lot more than the
one of the college class. If you fail the pass fail one
credit course in college, you can still graduate. You can retake
the course in summer school. Your GPA might still be high
enough, you might have the required credits, but if you fail the
test with the Lord, the consequences are eternal because we’re all
immortal. It’s just a matter of where we’re
going to end up. Now, the Lord is going to say
one of two things to us when we give an account on our judgment.
He’s going to say, go away. I never knew you or what we would
all hope to hear is well done, good and faithful servant come
into the joy of your master. Now, if you were to go to a store
now and your bill was to read $100.03, and you handed the clerk
three pennies, the clerk would look at the pennies, and I doubt
they would take a second look at them. But when you hand them
a $100 bill, it’s interesting how they hold it up to the light
and examine it for impurities and look at such detail with
it. Now, why do they do that? The pennies are of no value.
So you counterfeited three cents. Big deal. No one’s going bankrupt.
But a $100 bill, rather, They want to make sure that since
it is such an important value, that they pay such careful attention
to examining that bill. And that’s the same type of attitude
we should take this morning. If we are going to be the ones
that hold the money up to the light, then how much more so
should we be concentrated in looking into our own souls for
the value and the worth of what really we contain? Are we a counterfeit
or are we for real? Another purpose that we examine
ourselves is because this examination will hopefully bring fresh perspective
on our relationship with the Lord. Where are we? What are
we doing to try to walk day by day? It is called a Christian
walk, putting one foot and four in front of the other. And that’s
a question we’ll have to examine today. Now, our main text this
morning will be 2 Corinthians 13, 5. So join with me there
very briefly this morning and let’s look at that. One verse,
2 Corinthians 13, 5, Paul says this, examine yourselves to see
whether you are in the faith, test yourselves. Do you not realize
that Christ Jesus is in you? Unless, of course, you fail the
test. Interesting challenge. Now, why
would Paul? insert this right here. Is it random? Is it arbitrary
or is there some reason? Well, the letter of Second Corinthians
has an interesting history to it. Paul wrote this letter and
it wasn’t the first time he had written to this Corinthian church.
The first time he wrote regarding specific issues of blatant immorality. And he wrote and he saw just
blatant sins that the people were involved in. And he asked
him to repent of those things. And then the Corinthians responded
with further desire, so on clarification of certain matters. And so they
wrote back to him. But after this point, several false teachers
emerged. Several people challenged the
authority of Paul and they slandered his reputation and they slandered
his credentials. And as soon as Paul got wind
of this, he was in Ephesus at the time. He left right away,
came back to Corinth and began to try to rebuke people. And
you would think that that would be all that was needed to restore
and reconcile the people to God. It was not received well at all.
The door was slammed shut on Paul and he was forced to leave.
He was run out of town, but he didn’t stop there. And he wrote
one more letter to him. And that’s the letter of Second
Corinthians. And really what he does here in the first half
of the book is he really exhorts the church to take up a collection
for the poor in Jerusalem. But the second half of the book,
what he does, is he challenges these false or super apostles. He challenges them and calls
them liars. And he gives his own credentials and he just pleads
with the people to repent and trust in Christ. So here in his
final warning, he draws the line in the sand and he says, you’re
either on this side or you’re on that side. And there’s no
middle ground at all. And yes, he’s writing specifically
to the Corinthians. But does this message not apply
to us today? I think If anything other, the
fault of the Corinthians is the same exact fault of us today.
There are so many false idols that we trust in. There are so
many false teachers that we look to, because the best lies are
the ones that are mostly true. And we are deceived. And also,
we spend so much time, if you think about it, evaluating pastors
or preachers and their credentials, and then sermons and books, rather
than realizing that we’re accountable for every word that is preached
and taught to us, if it is in line with the Word of God. We
can become biblical or Christian critics rather than Christians
very, very easily. And so the hope is today, the
reason we’ve come to God’s house is not just to sing songs, is
not just to evaluate the message, but merely to take the Word of
God and to sit from the chalice of grace and examine our own
lives and examine, are we in the faith? Do we pass the test? Because the consequences are
severe. Now, again, the first word here
in verse five is to examine yourselves. That word examination has an
interesting connotation here. To me, it brings up three ideas.
One is a kind of a scholastic idea of we’ve talked about with
the pass and fail. It’s clear cut. It’s an examination. Secondly,
a military idea. Now, Trey spoke to us last week
briefly about what the expectations were. And then how the test was
going to be given. And there’s nothing that is left
to be in the dark. You know what is expected of
you and you will give an account for it. And it’s the same thing
here. We have an examination on ourselves. And thirdly, it’s
a legal idea. Imagine yourself on a scale and
the weight of godliness will be put on one side and either
we will sink or we will rise based upon what is within us.
Paul just really had enough of the wish washy, weak sauce Christianity
of the Corinthians. And I think if you look today,
many of us are on the same page with that, that we look and we’re
sick of what the name evangelical means today. We’re sick of how
that works. And we want to examine ourselves
instead of being critical of the entire world or other churches
and say, what about my heart? What about our church? Where
are we? Where do we go from here? And so now we’ll begin to shift
the components of the exam to ourselves. The second point,
things that do not necessarily prove saving faith. Now, I’m
going to give you a list of things here. I think when I asked you
that first original question, how does God measure how much
he loves us? We might look at some of these
attributes at first and say, yeah, that seems right on. That’s
how I would evaluate myself or how I would evaluate others.
Let’s look at some of those things. The first thing is a visible
morality. There are many people that we
meet and greet and have fellowship with every day that are genuinely
good people, we call them. They’re not criminals. They haven’t
killed anyone. They haven’t stolen anything
major. They’re overall a good contributor to society. But this
is the question. Is outward morality can sometimes
be extremely deceptive? If you look at a culture like
Mormonism, for example, extremely clean. But in the inside, is
there a passion for God or is it the desire to just be a good
person? See, we can engage in the same
act of opening and reading God’s word for two completely separate
reasons of one being to glorify him and the other to learn and
be a good person, to do our Christian duty. So examine yourself to
see if one, you are just concentrated on being visibly moral to your
friends, family, your church, your neighbors. The second thing
is interesting. It’s a biblical knowledge. biblical
knowledge. There is many that possess a
profound biblical knowledge, but that remains in their head.
If you ever watch the History Channel and you watch the studies
they do on certain biblical passages, there’s these professors that
get up there and they can spout chapter and verse about anything
you would ever want to hear. But to them, it’s still academia.
It’s just merely hearing the word and reading it as if it
is your U.S. history book. There’s no difference
at all. And then second, notice the example of the Pharisees,
the Jews would know the scripture inside and out. They would have
it memorized. They would know the letter of the law to a T
and constantly they confronted Christ in the law and asked him
and his response to them was what on the outside you are clean,
but on the inside you are vile and disgusting. So, so often
we look at somebody with a profound biblical knowledge and automatically
anoint them as a super Christian in our society. They must be
placed in a position of leader. They must know God really well
because they know the Bible. They attended Sunday school growing
up, so therefore they must really be a spiritual authority. Not
so. Thirdly, is a religious involvement. I call past friends often and
keep in touch with them. And I just ask them a simple
question. How are you doing? How’s life? And oftentimes the first
thing they want to tell me about is how they’ve been going to
church recently, every week, as if I’m going to look at that
and say, well, you know what? I had you all wrong. I had you
pinned as a loser. You are great. That’s not the
way it works. Just because we’re sitting in
the pews today does not mean anything more than we are here
in attendance. This passage requires much more than just listening.
It requires active participation in our hearts. Once again, I
said the majority of the United States goes to church, at least
on Christmas or Easter. Now, does God acknowledge that
as something that is pleasing to him? That’s questionable.
That’s debatable because it’s not just mere attendance that
counts. It’s activity as well. The fourth point is an interesting
point. It’s the conviction of sin. Many people in this world
are full of guilt for the things they do wrong. I would argue
that we all have a conscience that has been ingrained in us
as kind of our moral compass that God has given us. And when
we violate that, believer or not, we know it’s wrong. There
is guilt there for some. For others, there is conviction.
What is the difference? Guilt is not biblical. Guilt
is a standard of judgment that is placed upon us, which evokes
an emotion of feeling bad, of like a dog with his tail between
his legs. What is conviction? Conviction is different. Conviction
is something given to the heart of the believer by the Holy Spirit,
which points us and basically in a symbol is God tugging on
us saying, don’t be involved in that. Come and turn from that
and follow me. There’s many a people that when
we hear this message today will be convicted of many of the things
in our life. We will feel terrible about some
of the things we’re involved in, some of the things that we’re
doing. But that’s not the question. The Lord doesn’t ask us to feel
bad for the things we’ve done. He asks us to confess and repent. There’s a huge difference. Many
of us could say that we want to be godly. We desire to be
godly and truly believe that our intention is to be godly. But it doesn’t matter what we
say. I challenge you with this. If you wanted to come to church
this morning, you had to, at some point in time, jump on Prospect
Road to get here. You could not go on I-25 and
head north from Fort Collins and get to Providence Bible Church.
No matter how bad you wanted to, if you don’t get on the right
road to get there, you’re not going to get here. It’s a clear,
simple fact. And the same thing is, if you
desire to know God, if your intention is to love Him and to be in fellowship
with Him, but you don’t do the things that are required and
necessary of us to do that, then if we’re not on the right path,
then how are we going to ever get to the right destination?
The question to examine today. So I ask you this morning not
to feel bad for the things that you’re doing, but to take action
for them. Fifthly, is an assurance. Many people would presume that
I have an assurance of my salvation. I believe and I know where I’m
going, where I die. What is different from that than
if I were to say, I know and I believe that that piano right
there is God? I believe it. The only way you
could respond to that if there was no objective truth in the
matter was, well, you believe what you believe and I believe
what I believe. There’s no objective truth. We can be sure of something
and still be dead wrong. That’s a possibility. Don’t take
our assurances of where we are to be our standard of truth and
how we are. As well as a time of decision, many people will
go to a Christian camp or have that moment, that mountaintop
experience where they really feel as if they’ve met God through
his word or through worship and they know him. Or they come up
and they put their hand up in an altar call and automatically
it means the kingdom is open to them. We are called that we
will give an account. The parable of the talents is
there were three servants that were all given a different amount
of treasure and the same master called each of them to give the
same account and some buried it because they were afraid and
others used it and multiplied a crop a hundred times of what
they had been given. And so the question is, is our
assurance a false one that just leads us to being dead? Or is
our assurance one that provokes an emotional, physical and spiritual
reaction towards pursuing the Lord? Now, where do we have to
start? Well, we have to start with theology
of who Christ is and what is the gospel. Let me ask you this
question. Do you believe that Jesus Christ
was born of the Virgin Mary without sin lived without sin, died on
the cross for our sin, and because of that, and because of our faith
in Him, imputes His righteousness to us? Let me ask you if you
believe that question. Second of all, do you believe
that Christ Jesus died on the cross, rose three days later,
and now frees you from the bondage of sin? Delivers you from the
weight and the guilt of your sin? If you answer yes to those
questions, Then we’re on the right track. But so often we
give those two questions as the prerequisite to whether God smiles
upon our lives or not. That is not the case. That is
the starting block. So thirdly, the third point this
morning that we will spend most of our time on is this. What
are the attributes of true saving faith? What is the true evidence
of a changed heart by God? The first point. is just merely
a love for God. Now, you might say, well, I love
God. Of course, I’ve never hated God. I would challenge you with
that thought. Romans 8, 7 gives us the idea of this total depravity
that the sinful soul, the sinful mind is enmity of God. We hate
God. Now, you might say to yourself,
no, I’ve never hated God. Even when I was three years old,
I never hated God. Well, I bet you might have been indifferent
to Him at one time. And to steal the worship that
is owed to Him, is no different than hatred. It is no different
at all. C.S. Lewis writes, a Christian
is guilty of trying to love his neighbor as himself and the world
hates him for it. It’s a very simple thing. Are
Christians benefiting the world or tearing it down? That’s why
I cannot understand when you look at many of the current events
or the things that happen in the world and the persecution
of Christians. What is a Christian guilty of? A Christian is guilty
of loving their neighbor and loving God. If we all believe
that, would the world not be a better place? But yet we are
persecuted and attacked for that. There’s only one explanation,
is our inherent nature is one of sin that hates God and hates
the things of God. Romans 1 tells us that in our
own unrighteousness, we try to suppress the truth to hold it
down. Ask ourselves the question of,
are we still doing that? Or do we have an encouragement
that maybe at one point I was like that? But now I can see
a distinct difference of I truly love God. And if so, there’s
only one explanation for that, and that’s the spirit of God
in your heart. So be encouraged with that. The second thing,
as we alluded to before briefly, is a repentance from sin. Now,
I talked about a guilt that many of us have when we blow it, when
we do it wrong, the bad feeling. I’m not exhorting you or encouraging
you to not feel bad for your sin. Quite the opposite is there
should be a deep emotional response to our sin that we hate that.
But the question is, again, does the feeling remain and we will
walk out of here. Life continues as usual. We come
back next week in the same conviction arises or. Do we truly desire
to be in right relationship with God, not just positionally through
the cross, but practically through living every day? That’s a tough
challenge for us. And think about this, a proper
love for God must require the proper view of sin, which is
hatred. The sinfulness of sin, J.C. Ryle writes, of how dark
and deceitful it really is. So challenge yourself, what is
your view of sin? Because if you’re involved in something
habitually over and over and over, the problem is a simple
one, is you love sin more than you love your God. Until it changes
to the opposite formula, you will continue in the same pattern
of unrighteousness in your life, and which eventually leads to
death. Sin blasphemes God, sin curses God, and sin destroys
God, and sin killed God’s only son. How can we claim to love
God, but love the same sin that killed Him? It’s an interesting
question. Now, as well, is repentance.
Seems a lot easier said than done. How do we go about doing
that, practically speaking? Well, very simply, there must
be a confession. I alluded to Isaiah chapter 6, and Isaiah
sees the glory of God in Isaiah 6. And he sees the angels covering
their eyes and shouting, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty.
And what is Isaiah’s response to God’s glory? Is it, that was
cool? No, there’s a deep heartfelt
reaction of woe is me. I am ruined. I am a man of unclean
lips and I live among a people of unclean lips. And he comes
and he confesses his sin. There is a realization, a revelation
of his sin and he confesses it. And then God asks him, who am
I going to send to the nations? This is recently after King Uzziah,
the ruler, had died. Who am I going to send out to
be my guy in this earth? And Isaiah, after his confession,
immediately following, God cleanses him. Sends an angel down with
a hot coal and tongs from the altar and cleans it and says,
your lips are clean. You have been forgiven and your sin is
atoned for. We feel as if we are unworthy to ask for forgiveness
of God. John tells us, if you confess
your sin, God is faithful and just to cleanse you from all
unrighteousness, not some, all. Let that be an encouragement
to you today. Now, a question about sin as
well. Why do you want to repent of your sin? Is it because you
feel bad for what it does to you? Or there is a conviction
of the reproach it brings upon God vastly different? Many people
fear poorly for the affairs that they have, the marital affairs.
And what is their response to that? And they quit and they
feel guilty for what reason? They don’t want to get caught.
There’s a vastly different reason to quit that, as well as realizing
that my action is a defilement of the covenant between Christ
and His church, which I am a representative of through my marriage. Vastly
different reason to ask yourself, do you hate your sin because
of the misfortune it brings, or do you hate your sin because
of the reproach it brings upon your holy God? That’s a tough
question to examine on our hearts, but it’s critical to examine
our motives in that. Thirdly, and maybe most importantly,
is a genuine humility. Humility is a difficult thing
to talk about. Now, why did I write genuine
humility? Is there any other kind of humility? Well, sure
there is. There’s easily a false humility. When someone comes
up to you and tells you what a great job you did playing the
song or singing the song, and you respond with, no, no, or
Mrs. So-and-so, that was the best
meal I’d ever had. Oh, no, it wasn’t. Stop it. Meanwhile, thinking
in your mind, I know it was. That was great. Arrogance is
better than that, because at least when you’re being arrogant,
you’re flat out honest about your pride. With a false humility,
you’re trying to mask humility in the midst of the worst kind
of pride and arrogance you can have. Now, there’s a few things
that I hate in this world. I’m going to be vulnerable with
you. I hate the University of Colorado. I hate CU. And it’s
nothing against anybody that goes to CU. It’s like my dad. My dad hates the Yankees. He’s
probably upset that I have a striped suit on this morning. He hates
the Yankees. Does he hate anybody on the Yankees?
I don’t think so, maybe. But there is a hatred for the
institution itself. Now, as much as I hate the University
of Colorado, as much as my dad hates the Yankees, we could never
hate those things as much as God hates pride. There is no
clearer point in Scripture of the things that God hates than
our pride. If you look in Proverbs 6, It
lists the things that God hates that are an abomination to him.
Pride is the most significant one. James 4 6 God gives grace
to the humble but opposes the proud. Pride has one means and
one end and that is to place yourself on an equal pedestal
from God and to dethrone Christ and to challenge him for your
own self glorification. That’s the only reason that pride
exists. Many times we don’t think of a lack of humility being discouragement
as well. Think about this. When you are
discouraged, generally, it is a faith in yourself that you
don’t believe you’re living up to. So many of the times we are
discouraged because we’re just not walking the walk or living
the walk or for whatever reason, or someone didn’t think I did
a good enough job or I didn’t think so and I’m discouraged
about that. That is a pride. And the hardest thing to do is
to humble yourself. and be convicted of your pride
and then repent of it. It’s quite another deal to feel
bad again, but it’s something quite differently to repent of
it. If you look at the prodigal son when he returns home after
he lived in wild living, he knew what he had done. It says he
came to his senses. And what did he say? He had this
scripted apology he was going to have for his father. I’m going
to go to my father, I’m going to tell him I’m not worthy to
be his son, that I’ve sinned against heaven and against him,
And I want him to make me like one of his hired men. I can’t
even bear his name anymore. And he comes home with his head
down and he starts his confession to his father who came out running
towards him. And he didn’t even get to finish his apology because
the father threw his arms around him, had compassion and kissed
him and put the ring around his finger which symbolized the family’s
name. The moment he realized he was unworthy to bear his father’s
name was the same moment he became worthy of it. And ask yourself
that question. Are you someone that you think
about as a tremendous asset to God’s team? Or do you view yourself
sometimes as one that is the anchor holding it down? It’s
a question. Paul had a thorn in his flesh. And in 2 Corinthians, we read
that three times Paul asked God to take away this thorn. And
he says, no, he left it in him so that he might not boast in
himself, that he might remain humble. Is there a thorn in your
flesh that God would willingly and lovingly remove to the same
moment that you humbled yourself so he might exalt you? Or maybe
we’re at the place where we’re still exalting ourselves, so
we continue to be humbled. Difficult question. Number four,
a devotion to God’s glory. The saved, regenerated heart
desires to mirror the glory of God. First Corinthians 10 31. says, whatever you do, whether
you eat or drink or in all things, do it to glorify God. Now, it
doesn’t just give us the example of to eat or drink. It says,
whatever you do, everything we do, do it to glorify God. There
are many Christian things that are approved of the spiritual
disciplines, which God approves of and loves when we do. But
when we don’t do them faith, it’s just as filthy as anything
else we can do. It’s possible that we crack open God’s word
this morning in sin with wrong motive. It’s possible when we
sit down to pray that our prayers are consumed by nothing other
than our glory. And I wouldn’t say not is it
just possible, but it’s more likely that we fall into this
more than we think. Is our motivation to do things
to glorify God or is it for ourself? This is the biggest indicator
for me when I evaluate my motive that tells me am I really having
a passion for God or am I just doing things because I know I’m
commanded to do them? Do you come to the Lord’s house
this morning because you’re commanded to, because you think you should
or because you desire to be changed and transformed into the image
of Christ so that you might be his light and his beacon in our
dark world today? That is a big difference of why
we’re sitting in the pews. Next, a continual or passionate
prayer. And many of you say, well, I
pray all the time. That’s great. We’re commanded to pray for all
things on all occasions. That’s great. But why do we pray
and where do we pray? And I went into this in length
last time I visited with you all. But just to reiterate, are
the things you pray for generally naturally for you or are they
supernaturally to align your heart with God? There’s a big
difference. If I’m praying in the car because it’s looking
cloudy and I ask God to just clear up the day because I’d
love to play outside. Is He honored in that? Maybe. But what does
that do to magnify his glory in my life? Nothing. Or rather,
I pray for him to align my desires with his so that I might be his
workman created in Christ Jesus to do the works that he’s prepared
for me in advance. Big difference. Mark Driscoll,
a pastor in Seattle, has an interesting take on prayer. And he says,
so many of us Christians have this prayer attitude that we’re
either praying in public or when we’re praying by ourselves, it’s
just this lay me down to sleep type of prayer. He says, you
know what I love about charismatics? He says, I’m not a charismatic,
but at least when they pray, they pray as if God is listening
and he’s really going to answer it. And that’s convicting for
us, who many of us claim to follow the letter and the spirit of
the law. But do we worship in spirit and in truth? In the circles
that we run in, I’d say the much more neglected is the spirit.
And we have to examine, is our faith a dead faith or do we love
to pray and spend time with God? Not when people are around, but
do we love to go in our room, close the door and spend time
with the Lord? Convicting. To what degree we pray in secret
could be a true indicator of to what degree do we truly love
God in our hearts? Sixthly, selfless love. Another mark of saving faith
is truly the selfless love that we have to others. And John says,
if you don’t love your neighbor, your brother or one in need,
then how do we believe that the love of God dwells within you?
It’s very clear. And what was the indicator that
Christ told his disciples that how the world will know you?
They said the world will know you by the way you love one another. When you go into circles of nonbelievers,
which I would encourage you to do, do you notice that there
is just a hurt in your heart because of the lack of love shown
to one another. And if not, A, we might not be
sensitive to it. And then B, is it because we’re
not showing the love to those around us and there’s nothing
but commonplace when we see that behavior as well. If you love
God, you’ll love whom God loves. And we know that to love him
and love others is the response only of him loving us. So to
examine the way you love others, do you like it because you’re
a good person and you’re called not to hate each other? Or is
it because the love of Christ compels you to love one another?
Seven. We’re almost done. There’s only
nine. Seven. Separation from the world. This is tough for
many people. This is tough for all of us because
there are these gray areas. But we know that we’re in the
world, but we’re not of it. There’s a big difference there.
The example of the rich young ruler is the one I bring to you.
Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.
If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in
him. The rich young ruler came to Christ and he said, what must
I do to have eternal life? What must I do? And Jesus said,
just obey the commands. And he says, that’s no problem.
I got that handled. That’s no big deal. And Jesus
says, all right, go and sell your possessions. And he goes
away mad. Why? Because the things He loved
were not the things of Christ, but the things of the world.
And examine your heart. Are you one that places your
faith in the world, the things of the world, your comfort is
measured in them? If you know next month’s bills
are paid before this month’s are over, that you feel comfortable
and life is more jovial? Or is it a faith of Psalm 23
that the Lord is my shepherd and I shall not lack? It’s a
big difference. Number eight, spiritual growth.
Now you say, what does this have to do with anything? This is
what we’ve been talking about all day, spiritual growth. Why would there
be a point specifically about spiritual growth? Well, fruit
exhibiting the evidence of salvation is evident in sanctification.
Christ promises through Paul in Philippians 1, 6, that if
you started a good work in your life of this gospel, then he
promises he will carry it on until the day of completion.
We might be bummed because where we are in this process and getting
convicted of where we are right now and saying, you know what? The frequency of my sin as I
walk doesn’t decrease. And if anything, it maybe even
becomes more severe. Where am I? I’m lost. Maybe you
are lost, but also maybe there are seasons that we need to understand.
And so be encouraged that today might be the end of a season
and the beginning of a new one. Do you see an increasing pattern
of righteousness and devotion towards God? Is your soul satisfied
with anything less than the meat of God’s word, the treasure of
his prayer and the acknowledgement of his grace? If it is, be scared. Number nine, obedience. The final
point. An obedient heart is exactly
what God calls us towards. First, John 2, I’ll read that
again. The passage we started off with. We know that we have
come to know Him if we obey His commands. The man who says, I
know Him, but does not do what He commands is a liar and the
truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys His word,
God’s love is truly made complete in him. And this is how we know
we are in Him. Whoever claims to live in Him
must walk as Jesus did. It is not what we profess. It is what we possess. Evidence
of a spirit filled believer will be truly manifested toward the
desire to obey him. Obedience is greater than sacrifice.
So many of us blow it in some way. We don’t read our Bible
today and we promise God we’ll do it doubly tomorrow to wake
up and make up for it. We make sacrifices, we make deals,
we make compromises with God when what he expects of us is
very clear. It’s very difficult, actually impossible, and that
we need his spirit to do so. Ephesians 2.10, look, you are
His workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which
God has before ordained that you walk in them. And James 2.26,
as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works
is dead. So examine your faith and obedience.
Do you walk the walk? Are you on the right path? Or
are you never going to arrive? Now, I know this is tough. All
of these points, we feel like we get hammered. I started this
study on Monday afternoon and I opened it up and began to examine
myself like Paul exhorts us to do. And about a half hour after
hours, I had to close the Bible because I just felt as if I was
a piece of trash knowing that I fall short of all of these
points, that I am a miserable failure in God’s eyes based on
this perfect law. But the law which Moses gave
us was not to merely condemn us, but it was to point us towards
the gospel of Christ, which reassures us that we can’t live the law
perfectly, but there was an atoning sacrifice on our behalf. I’ll
leave you with some words from George Whitfield, a great pastor.
Reading the old saints is refreshing to my soul because in the 1700s,
they couldn’t turn on the TV. Their passion, their confidence
was really in the Lord. And he wrote this, The blood
which Cain spilt from Abel cried aloud for vengeance. But Jesus
Christ cries, Mercy, mercy upon that guilty sinner. If he comes
to Christ, confesses and forsakes his sin, then Jesus will have
mercy upon him. And if, my brethren, you are
but sensible of your sins, convinced of your iniquities, and feel
yourselves lost, undone sinners, and come to tell Christ of your
lost condition, You will soon find how ready he is to help
you and to give you his spirit which shall last forever and
ever.” This guy gets it. He gets it and understands that
Jesus Christ is not something to be bargained with, but rather
that the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings is a pearl of great
price which we should be willing to lay out all that we have.
For there are many fleeting passions and pleasures of this life. But
what are they worth if a man should gain the whole world but
lose his soul? Let’s examine ourselves this
morning and see, are we willing to pay the price? Do we understand
where we are now in light of God’s perfect word? And do we
understand that there is a heavy price to be paid? But that Christ
eagerly awaits us with open arms and says, run to me, confess
and repent. And I am here to lavish you with my love, my grace,
which you are so unworthy of, but I freely give to you. And
he will give us sandals on our feet and a ring around our finger
to make us feel at home. And he will throw the biggest
party for us that has ever been seen in heaven. Let’s pray this
morning. Father God, we are miserable at times. We fall
so short of your glory. We understand that all have fallen.
And that many of us continue to fall. But Lord, let us be
encouraged that the reason you offer this test is to not tear
us down, but Father, to get our eyes away from the blinders and
then to build us up as adopted sons who have received the righteousness
of Christ from where there is no more guilt. Help us this morning
to have that freedom, that confidence and that boldness that we are
here for a specific reason, to honor and glorify you in all
that we do. Help us this morning as we deal
with pride, as we deal with conviction of sin, and as we deal with a
lack of devotion to your glory. Thank you this morning for showing
us why we need to test ourselves, what indicators we should not
be paying attention to, and then finally, what are the true evidences
of that I can test myself to see if I am truly in faith, if
I truly pass the test. The consequences of the test
are forever. And so help us, Lord, to be the
people that you smile on and that you desire to say, well
done, good and faithful servants, come into the joy of your master.
Help us to do that this week. Help us to be obedient and to
love you, not because we’re just commanded to, because it is the
greatest desire of our heart. And we pray all these things
in Your name, Amen.