2 Cor 13:1-10 Examine Yourselves

Examine Yourselves

2 Corinthians 13:1-10

Each time I preach a sermon with similar content, I am asked as to whether I think that someone can lose their salvation. The answer is no. Deeper considerations and questions…Profession of faith and possession of faith can be two different things…All people who possess faith, profess their faith in Christ. Not all who profess faith, possess faith.

Who causes salvation? Salvation is the work of God…it is by grace that you have been saved and this not of yourselves so that no one may boast. Salvation is entirely a work of God or it is not salvation.

Main Idea: Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith.

Why does Paul raise the issue? Unrepentant sin among the professing members of the church...

Transition from 12:14, 19-21…Paul coming for the 3rd visit…concerned that he may find unrepentant sin among the professing members of the church.

Unrepentant sin must be dealt with.

1 This is the third time I am coming to you. Every charge must be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. appeal to Deut. 19:15 and Matt. 18

Matthew 18:15–17 ESV

15 “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. 16 But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. 17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.

Paul is saying that he will not receive accusations of sin based on rumors and hearsay. Never confront someone on hearsay. “...it is better for someone who is guilty to go unpunished because of a lack of the requisite number of witnesses than to harm an innocent person’s reputation with reckless charges.”(Garland 540)

2 I warned those who sinned before and all the others, and I warn them now while absent, as I did when present on my second visit, that if I come again I will not spare them— 3 since you seek proof that Christ is speaking in me.

Paul warns them that they may gain the proof of his apostleship in the manner that he deals with the unrepentat sin when he returns…What does he mean?

At a minimum reference to discipline and turning someone over to Satan.

1 Corinthians 5:5 ESV

5 you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.

Severe action of the Holy Spirit in the book of Acts…Ananais and Saphira, 1 John 5:16 sin unto death.

Christ will have his way. He will not allow unrepentant sin to continue in the life of a believer...

He is not weak in dealing with you, but is powerful among you. The power must not be thought of primarily as punitive, the power of Christ is redemptive.

4 For he was crucified in weakness,Weakness does not mean impotence. (Garland 544)

4 For he was crucified in weakness, but lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but in dealing with you we will live with him by the power of God.

“God’s power is present and operative only within weakness. It overcomes it without removing it.” (Seifrid 478)

The evidence of the power of God in our sanctification.

Romans 6:5–11 ESV

5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For one who has died has been set free from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

True believers see their sin and repent. They do not harbor and continue in sin with hardened hearts…they may continue for a season in misery. However, the resurrection power of Christ overcomes the power of sin. Why? Followers of Christ are dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Illus: Young woman beaten down by the effects of sin both done to her and choices of her own making…redemptive work of Christ serving Him—wife, mother, physician serving those in desperate need.

She had to travel down the pathway that all who pursue sin must go...

Self examination and repentance go hand in hand.

5 Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!

“Test” (πειράζω) - Present Active Imperative 2pl. “to endeavor to discover the nature or character of something by testing, try, make trial of, put to the test” (BDAG 792)

second person plural…not simply individual, shared personal examination…shared gospel faith…one faith once and for all delivered to the saints.

In the case of the Corinthians, their flirtation with false apostles and immoral living constitute question marks over their spiritual condition, whether they are “in the faith,” that is, in a state of right belief, right convictions, and true devotion to Christ. (Guthrie 639)

Not self-validation of good outweighing the bad… whether you are in the faith

Are you trusting in Christ alone for salvation?

Do you realize that Christ is in you?

Is there evidence that you are dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus?

Colossians 1:21–23 ESV

21 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, 23 if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.

“if indeed you continue in the faith”

“stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel”

6 I hope you will find out that we have not failed the test. 7 But we pray to God that you may not do wrong—not that we may appear to have met the test, but that you may do what is right, though we may seem to have failed. 8 For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth.

The truth is best understood here as the gospel, and what Paul asserts is that he could never act in a way that is contrary to the gospel or its implications. (Kruse 282)

Am I for the truth or against the truth? Followers of Christ are for the truth.

Illus: people caught in sin start questioning their faith....my question for them is that so you can sin or do you really not believe. Anger among young adults held down by their parents and church.

Today the warning stands over the church, and especially those who have transmitted the present cultural values into the church, so that church is little more than a Christianized version of modern culture. (Hughes, 230)

What do we do with those who are against the truth? v. 7 pray that you may not do wrong...

So What?

The so what is not that we offer judgements of who are christians and who are not

Is restoration what you pray for?

When dealing with someone who is living in unrepentant sin...

When dealing with yourself when you are caught up in sin...

9 For we are glad when we are weak and you are strong. Your restoration is what we pray for. 10 For this reason I write these things while I am away from you, that when I come I may not have to be severe in my use of the authority that the Lord has given me for building up and not for tearing down.

being severe and hard with people is not Paul’s goal nor should it be ours...

Tearing down or dismantling is not the goal but building up the body of Christ.

Ch. 4 of Ephesians focuses on the share building up of the body of Christ…the chapter ends with the following verses...

Ephesians 4:29–30 ESV

29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

v. 29 when dealing with someone living in unrepentant sin...

v. 30 both to the person dealing with someone and the actual person caught up in sin.

v. 9 Pray for restoration…restored in mind and heart before God…rest in Him, find joy in Him, find joy with his people.

Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith...

Pastoral help available after the service…down front or with those in blue shirts in lobby.

Pray: restoration and examination

Communion next Sunday

International mission offering Dec. 13

Christmas on the Lawn…Christmas Eve

END