LAWTON CHURCH OF GOD, LAWTON, OKLAHOMA

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58 SELF EXAMINATION

TEXT: Examine yourselves, whether ye are in the faith; prove your own selves . . . Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates? 2 Corinthians 13:5 .

Self examination may not be a pleasant task, but is certainly most essential and profitable. The text does not say that we should examine other people, but “examine yourselves.” The questions of our relations to God and eternal destiny are of such solemn import that we can not afford to be mistaken or deceived.

I. UNION WITH CHRIST

The union of the believer with his Lord is a reciprocal one. “Abide in me, and I in you.” This means more than assent to truth, or faith in a historic Christ, or subscribing your name to a creed; it means a personal contact and a vital union with Christ, as the vine and its branches, as the body and its members, as the head and the body. Then, as Luther has said, “All that Christ has, now becomes the property of the believing soul; all that the soul has becomes the property of Christ. Christ possesses every blessing and eternal salvation; they are henceforth the property of the soul.”

II. SOME EVIDENCES OF THIS UNION

1. Saved from sinning. “Whosoever abideth in Him sinneth not; whosoever sinneth hath not seen Him, neither known Him.” 1 John 3:6 . Whosoever is not saved from sinning is not saved at all. A sinning religion is the devil’s religion. “He that committeth sin is of the devil” 1 John 3:8 .

2. No condemnation. “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.” Romans 8:1 . Sin and condemnation are inseparable. Whosoever commits sin is necessarily under condemnation, even though the soul does not realize its guilt all the while. “He that believeth not is condemned already.” John 3:18 .

3. A new creature. “If any man be in Christ he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” 2 Corinthians 5:17 . To be in Christ means more than turning over a new leaf, the passing of a new resolution, or mere reformation; it is a new creation; a regeneration and transformation inwrought by the Holy Ghost.

4. Spiritual life. “He that hath the Son hath life.” 1 John 5:12 . There is no such thing as a dead Christian. “And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins.” In Christ the soul will know the throbbings and pulsations of divine life. Jesus said, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it move abundantly.” John 10:10 .

5. Fruitful. “He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit.” John 15:5 . Fruit is the spontaneous result of life. As Gordon has said, “The method of grace is precisely the reverse of the method of legalism The latter is holiness in order to union with God, the former, union with God in order to holiness.” We need to distinguish between works and fruit. “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance; against such there is no law.” Galatians 5:22, 23 .

III. THE EXAMINATION

“Christ in you” excludes all that is not Christly. The soul may be compared to a seven story building, as follows: The will; the affections; the thoughts; the appetites; the tempers; the motives; and the secret life. The investigation and examination should go through all these various departments and see that the Christ attitude dominates and fills each department. Only the light of the Holy Spirit, by the Word of God can disclose to us our real inwardness. “Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts; and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.”

A reprobate is one abandoned as hopelessly wicked, or to a hopeless doom.