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Questions to Examine Yourself to See if You are in the Faith (2 Corinthians 13:5)

by Marci Ferrell
Christian Living Encouragement Evangelism Mentoring Prayer Spiritual Discipleship

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It is possible to profess faith in Christ and still be unsaved. Paul exhorts us in 2 Corinthians 13:5 to examine ourselves because the outcome of real faith will show that Christ is indwelling in us by the Holy Spirit and it will result in godly lives that desire to be obedient to the Word of God. @mferrell #examineyourself #2corinthians13:5 #truefaith #christian

 

We know that going in for a yearly physical, especially as we age is a good thing. It can catch early symptoms of a health issue before it becomes a problem. Even more important than a physical check-up is a spiritual check-up. It determines the matter of where we spend eternity. It's one of the most important examinations we will ever take.

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!

~ 2 Corinthians 13:5

In the above passage, the apostle Paul is calling on the Corinthians to examine themselves to see if their faith in Christ is genuine. He wants them to determine if their walk matches their talk. 

Many profess Christianity by knowledge about God or their morality or by their involvement in various ministries within their church. They may base is it on a prayer they once said, or look to things like their baptism as a basis for saving faith.

It is by grace alone we are saved through faith in Jesus Christ but as Martin Luther stated it, “We are saved by faith alone, but the faith that saves is never alone.”

[clickToTweet tweet=”It is by grace alone we are saved through faith in Jesus Christ but as Martin Luther stated it, ‘We are saved by faith alone, but the faith that saves is never alone.'” quote=”It is by grace alone we are saved through faith in Jesus Christ but as Martin Luther stated it, ‘We are saved by faith alone, but the faith that saves is never alone.'”]

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It is possible to profess faith in Christ and still be unsaved. Paul exhorts us in 2 Corinthians 13:5 to examine ourselves because the outcome of real faith will show that Christ is indwelling in us by the Holy Spirit and it will result in godly lives that desire to be obedient to the Word of God.

I recently read Jerry Bridges' book, Who Am I? Identity in Christ and chapter 5 had some excellent questions for us to examine our hearts that I want to share with you below. Do we show evidence of being new creations in Christ? Take some time and pray through the questions from Who Am I? Identity in Christ:

Questions to Examine Yourselves:

What is my attitude toward God? Do I gladly acknowledge my dependence on him and my accountability to him?

What is my attitude toward my sin? Am I concerned or indifferent about it?

What is my attitude toward Jesus Christ? Do I trust him as the one who dies for my sin on the cross?

What is my attitude toward the Bible? Do I truly want to grow in my understanding and application of it in my life?

What is my attitude toward prayer? Do I also want to grow in this area of my life, or am I quite content to see prayer as an occasional call out to God for help?

What is my attitude toward other Christians? Do I appreciate being with them and learning from them, or do I actually prefer the company and lifestyle of my non-Christian friends?

Mr. Bridges writes, “These are important questions that we should seek to answer truthfully. The stakes are too high to ignore them or play games with them. Our eternal destiny is at stake and eternity lasts forever. There is no end to it. All of us will spend eternity in the blessed presence of God, or we will spend it under the never-ending curse and wrath of God.

So the question each of us should honestly face is this: Do I have some evidence that I am a new creation? Can we say something such as this: Yes, I still struggle with remaining sin and I see my frequent failures, but as I look at these questions I can truthfully say that, though I have a long way to go, I believe I'm headed in the right direction.

Having examined ourselves, we should also be concerned for friends and relatives who consider themselves to be Christians, but who show little or no evidence of being new creations. At the very least we should pray that God will lead them to a genuine saving knowledge of Christ. And then, depending on our relationship with them, we can seek to graciously challenge them to examine themselves.”

Scriptures to Examine Your Heart:

Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.

~ Matthew 7:20

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

~ Galatians 5:22-23

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

~ Ephesians 2:8-9

So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.

~ James 2:17-18

More Signs of True Genuine Faith:

The book of 1 John was written so we can know we have genuine saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. These scriptures below (taken from GotQuestions) are a great series of tests and be reminded we won't fulfill them all perfectly all the time but the pattern of our lives will continue to show a love for God and spiritual growth.

1. Do you enjoy having fellowship with Christ and His redeemed people? (1 John 1:3)
2. Would people say you walk in the light, or walk in the darkness? (1 John 1:6-7)
3. Do you admit and confess your sin? (1 John 1:8)
4. Are you obedient to God's Word? (1 John 2:3-5)
5. Does your life indicate you love God rather than the world? (1 John 2:15)
6. Is your life characterized by “doing what is right”? (1 John 2:29)
7. Do you seek to maintain a pure life? (1 John 3:3)
8. Do you see a decreasing pattern of sin in your life? (1 John 3:5-6) [Note: this refers to not continuing in sin as a way of life, not a total absence of sin.]
9. Do you demonstrate love for other Christians? (1 John 3:14)
10. Do you “walk the walk,” versus just “talking the talk”? (1 John 3:18-19)
11. Do you maintain a clear conscience? (1 John 3:21)
12. Do you experience victory in your Christian walk? (1 John 5:4)

What about you? Do you see a love for God and fellow Christians, a hunger for the Word of God and desire to depend on the Lord in prayer? Separation from the world and spiritual growth? Obedience?

Does your life show evidence of true saving faith?

True salvation is not to be found through the mere reception of any creed, however true or scriptural. Mere ‘head notion' is not the road to heaven. “You must be born again,” means a great deal more than that you must believe certain dogmas. The study of the Bible cannot save you! You must press beyond this; you must come to the living, personal Christ, or else your acceptance of the soundest creed cannot avail for the salvation of your soul. Salvation lies in Jesus only!

~ Charles Spurgeon

Related Resources:

The Gospel

Who Am I? Identity in Christ by Jerry Bridges

Two Ways to Examine Yourself to See if You are in the Faith – @ Rick Thomas

What Does it Look Like to Confess Our Sins?

Self-Examination Speaks a Thousand Lies – @Desiring God

SaveSave

SaveSave

Related posts:

  1. 9 Questions to Examine Your Heart
  2. Evangelism – Frequently Asked Questions
  3. 10 Questions to Ask Yourself at the Start of a New Year
  4. Christmas Love – 1 Corinthians 13 Style


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Comments

  1. Christina @ Keeping Home says

    at

    Someone needed to say it! 🙂

    I love those two quotes (Spurgeon and Luther).

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  1. Favorite Finds Friday: 03-16-18 | A Narrow-Minded Woman says:
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Marci Ferrell
I know we can all relate to self-pity as women, wi I know we can all relate to self-pity as women, wives, and mothers.  How many times do we focus on our needs that aren’t met?  Unfair situations or circumstances?  Self-pity is a selfish tendency that takes our eyes off Christ and puts them on ourselves.  We forget that “God works all things together for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.” Are we able to give God “thanks in all things”?⁣
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Come take a listen to EP 105: Practical Steps to Overcome Self-Pity at the link in my profile (click on the link under the blue arrows and then this image).
"Your household is the most important schoolroom y "Your household is the most important schoolroom your children will ever know. And the lessons they learn don't begin and end when you crack open the family Bible. They are always watching and learning from your example—often without even realizing it. That's a tremendous responsibility and opportunity for Christian parents—one that we must make the most of, for God's glory and our children's good."⁣
 ~ John MacArthur⁣
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Come listen to EP 20: The Blessings of Loving Our Children at the link in my profile @thankfulhomemaker (click on the link under the blue arrows and then this image).
"The visible church is where you will find Christ' "The visible church is where you will find Christ's kingdom on earth, and to disregard the kingdom is to disregard its King."⁣
~ Michael Horton⁣
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Read - Building Loving Relationships In Your Church Family at the link in my bio @thankfuhomemaker (click on the link under the blue arrows and then this image).
Isaiah 48:10:Behold, I have refined you, but not a Isaiah 48:10:Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver;  I have tried you in the furnace of affliction.⁣
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Israel is being refined for the honor and glory of the Lord. I need the reminder that everything the Lord allows in my life is for my good and His glory. All that He does and allows is to further His eternal purposes. ⁣
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He continues to remove the dross from my life in the furnace of affliction, and through each trial and circumstance of my life, the hope is I'm becoming more and more molded and shaped into the image of Christ. ⁣
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Susan Huntington shared on this passage:⁣
"...if our blessed God sees that the disciple, like his Master, must be made perfect through sufferings, ought we not to welcome every means which will conduce to this blessed end? Can we desire to be babes in Christ all our days? If it is a proof of sonship to be chastised, may it not prove a special favor to be greatly chastised? ⁣
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If we were asked what the greatest good is, should we not answer that it is conformity to God? If we were asked what the best circumstances are for the Christian to be placed in, should we not answer that they are those that will, most constantly and most effectually, promote his conformity to God? Shall we then pray for afflictions? By no means. We are weak, and are crushed before the moth. We should not pray for what we do not know that we could bear. ⁣
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We should habitually pray for conformity to God, and quietly leave it to Him to determine by what means He will effect this blessed end."⁣
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-Excerpt taken from my favorite devotional - Seasons of the Heart: A Year of Devotions from One Generation of Women to Another by Donna Kelderman (link to the book is in my profile @thankfulhomemaker - click on the link under the blue arrows, and then this image).
Preaching the gospel to yourself. It's a phrase we Preaching the gospel to yourself. It's a phrase we've all heard, and we all agree with, but deep down, we're like, okay, what does that look like? Or how do I make that practical in my day-to-day life when my marriage is hard? Or the kids are out of control? Or there's an illness in my family, or I'm just stuck in a sinful pattern? Or the house is in chaos, and I don't know where to begin? ⁣
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The reality is we're always saying something to ourselves in our minds, especially in those moments of chaos or difficulty. ⁣
Is what we're speaking to ourselves centered on the truths of God's Word, or are we buying into the lies of the world? ⁣
We need to be talking to ourselves and not just listening to ourselves. But what do we need to be talking to ourselves about? ⁣
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This is what we're going to work through together in EP 69: Preaching the Gospel to Yourself - link in my bio @thankfulhomemaker (click on the link under the blue arrows and then this image).
"Your worst days are never so bad that you are bey "Your worst days are never so bad that you are beyond the reach of God's grace. And your best days are never so good that you are beyond the need of God's grace."⁣
~ Jerry Bridges⁣
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Read more at God's Blessing Does Not Depend On Our Performance at the link in my bio @thankfulhomemaker (click on the link under the blue arrows and then this image).
How many times at church do you find yourself disc How many times at church do you find yourself discussing non-spiritual things? As believers, our relationships with others in the body of Christ are unlike anything non-believers will ever experience. It is such a joy when you come across another Christian that you haven't met before, and because of the common bond of Christ, it is as if you have known them forever.⁣
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I have a favorite book that gets used quite often by Donald S. Whitney called Simplify Your Spiritual Life. In the section, Simplifying our Spiritual Life with Others, he guides us to drive the conversations into the spiritual. Wouldn't we all as believers like our conversations with other believers to be directed towards things related to knowing God, Bible reading and application, theology, evangelism, and prayer, to name a few.⁣
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Mr. Whitney shares some questions that are a natural help in directing your conversations with your brothers and sisters in the faith to the spiritual.  This is a handy list to keep in your Bible, planner, or purse.⁣
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The link to the questions is in my bio @thankfulhomemaker (click on the link under the blue arrows and then this image).
"If there is one maverick molecule in all the univ "If there is one maverick molecule in all the universe, then God is not sovereign. And if God is not sovereign, He is not God."⁣
~R. C. Sproul
Thoughts to ponder on the resurrection from John M Thoughts to ponder on the resurrection from John MacArthur:⁣
The basic truth of the resurrection undergirds a number of other truths.⁣
⁣
1. It gives evidence that the Word of God is totally true and reliable. Jesus arose precisely when and in the way He had predicted (see Mt. 12:40; 16:21; 17:9, 23).⁣
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2. The resurrection means that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, as He claimed to be, and that He has power over life and death.⁣
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3. The resurrection proves that salvation is complete, that on the cross Christ conquered sin, death, and hell and rose victorious.⁣
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4. The resurrection proves that the church has been established. Jesus had declared, “I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not overpower it” (Mt. 16:8)… His resurrection proved that death itself could not prevent Christ from establishing His church.⁣
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5. The resurrection proves that judgment is coming. Jesus declared that the heavenly Father “has given all judgment to the Son” (Jn. 5:22), and since the Son is now risen and alive, His judgment is certain.⁣
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6. The resurrection of Jesus Christ proves that heaven is waiting. Jesus promised, “In My house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you” (Jn. 14:2). Because Christ is alive by the resurrection, believers have the assurance that He is now preparing a heavenly dwelling for them.⁣
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~Above via John MacArthur - Matthew Commentary 24-28, Moody, 1989, p. 314-315.
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