Sermon
#1365[1] Miscellaneous
Notes
Title: THREE
SEARCHING QUESTIONS
Text: 1 Corinthians 13:13
Readings: Lindsay
Campbell & Bob Poncer
Subject: Self-examination
Date: Tuesday Evening – September 14, 1999
Tape # V-45a
Introduction:
1 Corinthians
13:13 "And now abideth faith, hope, charity,
these three; but the greatest of these is
charity."
It is delightful to soar with Newton in that sweet
song of assurance:
"Amazing grace, how
sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me;
I once was lost, but now am
found,
'Twas blind, but now I
see!"
But every sober minded
person realizes that multitudes have sung those lines with joy upon the earth,
only to wake up in hell at last. They
made lies their refuge. They made a covenant with death. They assured
themselves that salvation was theirs. They went to hell singing…
“Blessed assurance, Jesus is
mine,
O what a foretaste of glory
divine!”
Realizing that fact, and
knowing something of the sin and deceitfulness of my own heart, I have often
been compelled to sing with Newton the bass notes of another hymn which we
wrote:
"'Tis a point I long to
know,
Oft it causes anxious
thought;
Do I love the Lord, or no,
Am I His, or am I not?"
I know that the vast majority of religious people in
this world are lost. Many profess faith in Christ; but few possess faith (Matt. 7:13-14,
21-23; 22:14; Luke 13:23-24). Most have been deceived with human religion. They
walk in that broad way which leads to destruction.
I am equally certain that many who profess and
practice the same things I profess and practice are yet unconverted. They are conservative and
orthodox; but they have missed Christ. They embrace the true doctrine of
Christ, but not Christ himself. Their religious devotion is but a form of
godliness, without the power of life. Mere orthodoxy is not Christianity!
I have seen many whom I
esteemed stronger, wiser, more zealous, more devoted, and more useful than
myself forsake Christ and his gospel altogether. They had assurance; but it was
a false assurance. They had peace; but it was a false peace. Mere religious
devotion and outward righteousness is not Christianity!
How then can anyone have real assurance that he is
savingly united with Christ? It is needful for all who profess faith in Christ
to examine themselves by the Word of God, honestly and sincerely asking God to
show them whether they are in the way of life and eternal bliss or in the way
of death and eternal destruction (Ps. 139:23-24; 2 Cor. 13:5).
Psalms
139:23-24 "Search me, O God, and know my heart:
try me, and know my thoughts: (24) And
see if there be any wicked way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting."
2
Corinthians 13:5 "Examine yourselves,
whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves,
how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?"
We must prove ourselves by Holy Scripture and make
our calling and election sure. I cannot give you a certain formula by which
assurance may be gained. But I know this:
Proposition: There
are three graces created in the heart of every true believer by God the Holy
Spirit. If you and I possess these three graces, if they are really and truly
created in us by the power and grace of God, we are born of God. If these three
graces do not live in our hearts, we are yet under the wrath of God.
The apostle Paul said, "And now abideth faith, hope, love,
these three; but the greatest of these is charity (love)” (1 Cor. 13:13). Here are three
questions by which you and I must examine ourselves before God. May God give us
grace to do so, lest we miss Christ and perish.
I.
DO I HAVE THE FAITH OF GOD'S
ELECT?
A. True faith is the gift of God.
It is not merely a logical
or emotional decision, though it is both logical and emotional. It is much
more. Saving faith is created in the heart by the power of God the Holy Spirit.
It is the gift of almighty grace. We "believe
according to the working of his mighty power” (Eph. 1: 19). We are united
to Christ "through faith of the
operation of God” (Col. 2:12). God alone can create faith in the heart of a
sinner. God alone gives men faith. And he does it through the preaching of, the
gospel, by which Christ is revealed in the heart (Rom. 10: 17; James 1: 18; 1
Per. 1:23-25).
B. True saving faith is concerned with but one thing;
the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Do you believe on the Son of
God? That is the one issue which is of eternal importance. "What think ye of Christ?" Nothing else really matters.
True faith is taking God at
his Word. It is believing what God says about his Son. It is submitting to the
revelation of God in the Scriptures. It is trusting, believing, receiving
Christ as He is revealed in Holy Scripture.
"Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God ... He that
hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life” (1
John 5:1, 13).
C. But saving
faith is much more than mental assent to the truth of divine revelation.
"Of all the poison
which at this day is diffused in the minds of men, corrupting them from the
mystery of the gospel, there is no part that is more pernicious than this one
perverse imagination, that to believe in Christ is nothing at all but to believe
the doctrine of the gospel!" (John Owen).
D. Saving
faith is a work of the heart (Rom. 10:9-10).
Romans 10:5-13 "For Moses describeth the righteousness
which is of the law, That the man which doeth those things shall live by them. (6) But the righteousness which is of
faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into
heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from
above:) (7) Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up
Christ again from the dead.) (8) But
what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even
in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we
preach; (9) That if thou shalt
confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that
God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. (10) For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with
the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
(11) For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be
ashamed. (12) For there is no
difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich
unto all that call upon him. (13) For
whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."
True faith is the wilful,
deliberate, voluntary confidence of my heart in the power and grace of the Lord
Jesus Christ. It is trusting the merits of his blood and righteousness as my
only grounds of acceptance before God.
E. True faith involves the bowing and submission of my
heart to Him as my Lord (Luke 14:25-33).
Luke
14:25-33 "And there went great multitudes with
him: and he turned, and said unto them,
(26) If any man come to me, and
hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and
sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. (27) And whosoever doth not bear his
cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple. (28) For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not
down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? (29)
Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him, (30) Saying,
This man began to build, and was not able to finish. (31) Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth
not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him
that cometh against him with twenty thousand? (32) Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth
an ambassage, and desireth conditions of peace. (33) So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all
that he hath, he cannot be my disciple."
F. And true faith, the faith of God's elect is
persevering faith (Heb. 3:6,14).
Hebrews 3:6 "But Christ as a son over his own house;
whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the
hope firm unto the end."
Hebrews
3:14 "For we are made partakers of Christ, if
we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end;"
That is to say, if a person
truly believes on Christ he will continue to believe on Christ. Faith is not an
event in the believer's life. It is the believer's continual way of life. "The just shall live by faith"
(Gal. 3:11). The true believer never ceases to five by faith in Christ. God's
elect begin in faith, five in faith, and die in faith (Heb. 11: 13). True faith
never quits. It is not the man who begins the race who wins the prize, but the
one who finishes the race.
II. DO I HAVE THE HOPE OF THE GOSPEL?
Where there is true faith in
the heart there is also the confident hope of the gospel. Paul says that a man
is saved who cannot be moved away from the hope of the gospel (Col. 1:23).
Colossians
1:21-23 "And you, that were sometime alienated
and enemies in your mind by wicked
works, yet now hath he reconciled (22) In
the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and
unreproveable in his sight: (23) If
ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard,
and which was preached to every
creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister."
Faith unites us to Christ.
Faith brings us all the blessings of grace and salvation in Christ. But hope
anchors my soul in the stormy sea of life. Hope inspires my courage in the
midst of trouble. And hope causes me to persevere, looking beyond the things of
time to eternity (Lam. 3:21-26; Rom. 8:24-25; 2 Cor. 4:16-18).
Lamentations
3:21-26 "This I recall to my mind, therefore
have I hope. (22) It is of the LORD'S
mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. (23) They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. (24) The LORD is my
portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. (25) The LORD is good
unto them that wait for him, to the soul that
seeketh him. (26) It is good that
a man should both hope and quietly
wait for the salvation of the LORD."
Romans
8:24-25 "For we are saved by hope: but hope that
is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? (25) But if we hope for that we see
not, then do we with patience wait
for it."
2
Corinthians 4:16-18 "For which cause we faint
not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.
(17) For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a
far more exceeding and eternal weight
of glory; (18) While we look not at
the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things
which are seen are temporal; but the
things which are not seen are eternal."
A. For what do I hope?
I hope to be accepted before
God. I hope to be fully pardoned of all sin and completely acquitted of all
charges before God's holy throne. I hope to inherit all the glory and bliss of
Emmanuel's land. I hope to be found in Christ at last, not having my own
righteousness which is after the law, but the righteousness of God which is by
the faith of Christ
B. What is the basis, or foundation, of my hope?
For me that is an easy
question to answer. All my hope before God for all things rest entirely and
alone upon the blood and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, my
all-sufficient Substitute! I have absolutely no confidence in the flesh, in
anything I have experienced, in anything I have felt, or in anything I have
done. My soul's hope is Christ alone!
"My hope is built on
nothing less
Than Jesus' blood and
righteousness;
I dare not trust the
sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus'
name.
"His oath, His
covenant, and His blood
Support me in the whelming
flood:
When all around my soul
gives way,
He then is all my hope and
stay."
But there is another
question which I must answer. There is one other thing which I must have if I
am truly born of God. And this is the most telling of the three. This question
searches deeper and tells more than either of the other two.
III. DO I HAVE THE LOVE OF CHRIST IN MY HEART?
Is my heart ruled, governed, and motivated by the love of Christ? Do I have within me the
kind of love that Christ produces in his people! Love is absolutely essential to true godliness.
Paul tells us that if we have all other things, and have not love, they
shall profit us nothing. The absence of love is fatal. As you read 1 Corinthians 13, do not
think to yourself, “Love is a very great virtue, most commendable and useful,
it would be a great thing if I could obtain it.” Oh, no! We must have it!
The Holy Spirit tells us that this love is something which
characterizes all who are born of God. We must have it, or else we are not born of God.
If I do not have this love,
no matter what else I may have, no matter what else I may do, if I do not have
the love of Christ in my heart, I am a lost man; and the same is true of you.
C. H. Spurgeon said, “This love is the common, everyday livery of the people of God. It is not the
prerogative of a few. It is the possession of all. It is put before you not
only as a thing greatly desirable, but absolutely needful; for if you excelled
in every spiritual gift, yet if you had not this,
all the rest would profit you nothing whatsoever. You must attain it, or
you cannot enter into eternal life.”
This love is not a condition to be met in order to
get salvation; but it is the sure result of God’s saving grace in Christ.
Christian love is greater than all other spiritual
gifts and graces. Without love, all other
gifts and graces are meaningless and useless (1 Cor.. 13:1-3).
1
Corinthians 13:1-3 "Though I speak with the
tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. (2) And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all
mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could
remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. (3) And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not
charity, it profiteth me nothing."
This one thing, love, is the fulfilling of the law of God
(Matt. 22:36-40; Rom. 13:8-10). And love is the one sure mark and evidence of a
saving union with the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, “By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if ye have
love one to another” (John 13:35).
Where this love is absent grace is absent. No man is born of God who
does not have the love of Christ
implanted in his heart as a ruling principle
of life (1 John 2:9-1 11; 3:14, 23; 4:7, 8, 16, 20; 5:1).
1 John 2:9-11 "He that saith he is in the light, and
hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now. (10) He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is
none occasion of stumbling in him. (11) But
he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth
not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes."
1 John 3:14 "We know that we have passed from death
unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death."
1 John 3:23 "And this is his commandment, That we
should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he
gave us commandment."
1 John
4:7-8 "Beloved, let us love one another: for
love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. (8) He that loveth not knoweth not God;
for God is love."
1 John 4:16 "And we have known and believed the love
that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God,
and God in him."
1 John 4:20 "If a man say, I love God, and hateth
his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath
seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?"
1 John 5:1 "Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the
Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also
that is begotten of him."
The love of Christ, or the absence of it, is a thing
easily identifiable. This is not some profound, mysterious point of theology. It is not
some sweet-sounding, but useless, emotion. The love of Christ is a gift of
divine grace that is clearly demonstrated in the lives of God’s elect (1 Cor.
13:4-7).
1
Corinthians 13:4-7 "Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not;
charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, (5) Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not
easily provoked, thinketh no evil; (6) Rejoiceth
not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;
(7) Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth
all things."
This love causes a person to
be kind, patient. content, gentle, even tempered, humble, self-denying,
generous, honest, truthful. forbearing, and forgiving toward others, both in
the church and out of it.
Love is preferable to all other gifts and greater
than all other graces, because love is the only thing that will last forever (1 Cor. 13:8-13).
1
Corinthians 13:8-13 "Charity never faileth:
but whether there be prophecies, they
shall fail; whether there be tongues,
they shall cease; whether there be knowledge,
it shall vanish away. (9) For we know
in part, and we prophesy in part. (10) But
when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done
away. (11) When I was a child, I
spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I
became a man, I put away childish things.
(12) For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I
know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. (13) And now abideth faith, hope,
charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity."
All other gifts will come to
an end. All other graces will cease. But love will go on in heaven. Faith will
be no more, when we see him whom we have believed. Hope will be no more, when
we have that for which we have hoped. But love will continue and come to
perfection when we enter heaven. Love
is the only thing we have in this world which we can carry into the world to
come. Heaven is a world of love, perfect, unceasing, glorious,
Christ-like love. No one will enter
that city of peace and world of love except those who have the love of Christ
in their hearts.
In the light of these three
searching questions, let everyone honestly and earnestly examine his own self
before God: Do I have the faith of God’s elect! Do I have the hope of the
gospel! Do I have the love of Christ in my heart! “Now abideth faith, hope, love, these three; and the greatest of these
is love.”