All right, take your Bible this morning and turn with me to the last chapter of Paul's letter to the Corinthians, the second of those two letters, 2 Corinthians chapter 13. We're going to be looking this morning at verses 5 through 9. And considering the important question, is Christ in you? someone told me last week uh... that this congregation cares about what goes on in my family little details and so on and so forth and so i figured i would be remiss this morning if i didn't share with you uh... some uh... item of news that came about this past week about aerial You know that in December she graduated UWM with a nursing degree. And you probably know that in January she faced toe-to-toe with the NCLEX, the National Nursing Exam, and she survived. And just this past week she accepted a job offer from Children's Hospital. and God's hand has been evident in all the steps along the way. I was talking with Linda Groves this morning and just about from the day we arrived so you could even go back from the time before we were in Wisconsin to all the things that God did to change the direction we thought we were on to divert us northward to Wisconsin in the senior year of high school. of a young lady who had been in the same school for a number of years and yet God brought her here, put her in circumstances that just directed and guided her path so that today she's on the road that she has been on and we're just praising and thanking God for all his goodness in his leadership and in his direction and his provision and his plan for the future. Well, speaking of nursing and speaking of medical care, I know a lot of you are like me and every year you have a physical exam. Not something I look forward to, but something I do. And the point of a regular physical exam is to subject yourself to a test and to a careful examination by your health care professional. and you do this in order to identify underlying problems that you might not have been aware were there and in this way preventive care can help ensure better overall health and so that some sickness down the road doesn't catch you off guard when it's so far gone that it's gonna get you quicker than you had hoped you would get you quicker than you thought and in our text this morning the Apostle Paul is advocating an exam It's an exam, however, of a spiritual sort. It is an exam of the heart to provide an important indicator of our spiritual health. So let's stand together and read God's Word and read what Paul has to say about this important exam. II Corinthians chapter 13 beginning with verse 5. examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith test yourselves or do you not realize this about yourselves that christ is in you unless indeed you fail to meet the test i hope you will find out that we have not failed the test But we pray to God that you may not do wrong, not that we appear to have met the test, but that you indeed may do what is right, though we may seem to have failed. For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth. For we are glad when we are weak and you are strong. Your restoration is what we pray for. Let's pray together. Our fathers, we come to this text this morning, we come to hear from you, and we pray that you will speak with power and clarity, and that you will speak in spite of the one who stands in front this morning, that you will speak in spite of all of our weaknesses, in spite of all of those things that clamor together for our attention. Would you cut to the quick in our hearts this morning, we pray, and make clear where we stand as we seek, Lord, to examine our own hearts before you this day. Would you help us just to be honest with you and honest with ourselves about the truth. and help us respond to the truth in a way that glorifies and honors you. I pray that people who are sleeping spiritually this morning will be awakened by a test that will open up to themselves the nature of their hearts so that they can do something about it before it's eternally too late. We pray it in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. Now we are getting near the conclusion of Paul's letter to the Corinthians this second of the two that we have in the scriptures. To this point in the flow of the context of 2 Corinthians Paul has warned that he is coming again to Corinth for another visit. And he has expressed that when he comes, he is concerned that sin that he had already addressed when he was there before might still be present and pervading the church. He's also warned that when he comes, if that is the case, he will be severe and he will confront them in the resurrection power of Christ. But that's not what Paul wants. I mean he wants a happy reunion. He wants brother to greet brother when he returns and everything to be joyful. And so he has written these things to the Corinthians in the hope that he will not have to be severe when he comes. So if they will listen and if they will pay attention and if they will take careful stock of their hearts. it can be a glad reunion instead of a severe encounter when he comes back. Now in this epistle as a whole it is clear that the Corinthians have been putting Paul on trial They have put Paul up there and they have basically been examining him and judging him concerning whether or not he is genuinely an apostle of Jesus Christ and someone that they should follow. They were judging Paul also according to criteria that were set forth by the leaders, the false apostles, some pseudo apostles who had come to Corinth and tried to take over the church. And they began teaching the church that a true apostle ought to be somebody who doesn't have problems. And a true apostle ought to be someone who speaks eloquently. A true apostle ought to be somebody that really impresses the masses. And they were saying that is not the apostle Paul. And Paul, as he writes back to them, says, you know, it's not how you speak. It's how God works. It's not what you look like. It's not how bright the lights and how flashy the service. It's truth. And you've heard that from me. While they had charged that Paul was unimpressive in his demeanor, he experienced all sorts of hardships and struggles, et cetera, et cetera, so now Paul is turning the tables back on the Corinthians and say, you know, if anybody ought to be on trial here, if anybody ought to be examined, it's not me. I've set forth all of these qualifying evidences that demonstrate I'm called of God and I preached you the truth. Who needs to be on trial here is not me, but in fact, Corinthians, it is you. You need to look in your hearts and examine yourselves. They're the ones who need to perform an examination on their own hearts since they seem to be so good at examining, and they need to answer the question whether Christ is in them. And so this morning we're looking first I just kind of want to walk through this thing in a little bit different way than I usually do when I preach, but this morning I just want us to look at the overall structure of the text that we read this morning. Paul states an imperative, he states a hope, and he states a prayer. And the imperative is two-fold. He urges the Corinthians to examine themselves, to test themselves. He wants them to come to a conclusion regarding whether they are actually in the faith. And we'll come back to that imperative in just a moment to focus on it. Following the imperative we come to Paul's hope. And the hope has to do with him. Paul says, I hope you find out that we have not failed the test. What he's saying is that his hope is that as the Corinthians test themselves, as to whether they are in the faith and whether Christ is in them. His hope is that as they come face to face with this, they'll realize that Paul himself has passed the test of being a genuine apostle of Christ. But this hope is not his greatest concern. He's not concerned on whether he appears strong or whether he appears weak. What he's concerned with is the truth. And this comes out and is reflected in his prayer. The prayer that he utters is that the Corinthians will do what is right. He wants them right. He wants them standing in the truth. He wants them strong in the faith. And He wants them restored in His relationship together with them. And for these things He prays to God. And He is glad when they are strong even if He is weak. He is driven by a concern for these dear saints. They are precious to Him. He wants them to arrive in heaven. He doesn't want them to be deceived, falsely thinking that's where they're headed, only to hear Jesus say in that day, Depart from me, I never knew you. The concern that drives Paul's prayer then also prompts this striking imperative that they examine themselves. And so we come back then to the, I'd say the heartbeat of what Paul would want, I think, if he was here today, he'd say, is there one thing you really want to be stressed as you wrote this? Yes, it is this important matter of self-examination. The imperative stands as central to the message of these verses, and Paul uses two words to give this exhortation, this command, this imperative to the people. The first word, in the ESV anyway, is examine, and the second one is the word test. Now those are different words in the context, but they basically carry in this context the same meaning. They are so close that some translations interchange the placement that we see here in the ESV. Some, instead of saying examine yourselves, test yourselves, say test yourselves, examine yourselves. The word for test is used back in 2 Corinthians 8. In verse 8 of chapter 8 Paul explains to the Corinthians that he is putting them to the test. The opportunity that he is talking about in that context is the opportunity to take up a collection and to support the saints in Jerusalem. and he talks about how the Macedonians had just been overwhelming that even in their poverty they had poured out and given a great a great great offering and God had been so generous through them and he's pointing the Corinthians and saying now we're testing your love and your fervency by the opportunity to give and it will therefore then out of that test will be proven Whether you have a heart, genuine love, whether you genuinely want to give generously to the saints who are in need. Now there's another place in 2 Corinthians where this word happens as well. And down in verse 22 of that same chapter, chapter 8, Paul points out that he is sending a brother along with this group who is coming to take that collection and take it down to Jerusalem. And he mentions this one particular brother that he's found trustworthy. Paul says that he has tested that brother in many matters and found him to be earnest. That brother by the test was proven to be genuinely trustworthy. So we see some of an idea here about the nature of this test yourselves, examine yourselves. You are looking for evidence that demonstrates the genuineness of the matter. That's what Paul is doing with both of these words. And the fact that he uses two different words just ought to underscore that this is earnestly important and it stands out so importantly in our passage this morning. Paul is speaking of performing a careful and exacting inquiry in order to determine the genuineness of the Corinthians. You know often what looks like one thing turns out to be another. I think I've used this picture before, but it's the one that comes to my mind first. You're looking at a picture in a restaurant of what's going to come on the plate or in the wrapper and you order it and you go to your table and you unwrap it and think you compare that with what was in the picture and it's not the same. And there's more than one object that looks like a diamond, but is not. and you can have a small round white piece of plastic a ball that could look like a pearl but is not and there's health things you know sometimes we think we listen to somebody talk about their symptoms and we all know what it is but it turns out to be something entirely different and there's a thing called fool's gold it's called iron pyrite I remember as a kid seeing iron pyrite when out I was out with my dad on a rock hunting trip and thinking, man alive, the lanes are going to be rich now. But my dad had to show me that this was not real gold. It was fool's gold. It's only too common and it's basically worthless. in order not to be fooled oftentimes we need to examine we need to perform tests careful test you you can test the diamond with a probe you may not be you may not have the eye of a of an experienced jeweler but you can buy a little instrument that will test the genuineness of a diamond. A diamond tester works by sending heat into the stone and it measures how fast, how rapidly the stone conducts the heat away from the probe with which you touch it. Each type of gemstone has its own characteristic rate for conducting heat. So put cubic zirconia to the test. Apply the probe and it will indicate that this is not a diamond because it doesn't conduct the heat away from the probe at the same rate that a diamond, a genuine diamond, does. So you perform a test whenever there is a risk that is associated with being wrong. So if you were a jeweler and somebody comes into your store and wants to sell you a diamond, you could not afford to resell this stone at the price of cubic zirconia if it is not a real diamond. You can't afford to pay the price for a real diamond if it is cubic zirconia. And so this test will be very helpful for you. To make sure it's the real thing. Because you couldn't turn around and sell it as the real thing if it's not. You could lose a lot of money. And so you examine the stone. You put it through the test to be confident that it is genuine. Well that brings us to the risk here for the Corinthians. And Paul wants them to understand the urgency of testing themselves to see whether they are in the faith. because it matters. In fact, it matters so much there is not a greater gamble you could take. There is not an investment where you could lose more. in your life than this question of whether you are really in the faith. And so they need to perform a test, they need to do an examination, and the focus of their examination is their own heart. Paul has something in particular he wants the Corinthians to put to the test, to apply the probe to, to put under the microscope for examination, to take for a test drive, and it is themselves. Examine yourselves. test your cells Paul wants the Corinthians to look deep within themselves and perform the exam to perform the test that will reveal whether they are genuine or not it is striking how they have been questioning whether Paul is a genuine apostle or not he's taken great pains in his letter to demonstrate that he passes the test he is genuine those other guys are the imposters Paul is indirectly given the Corinthians measures by which they should be testing those guys and found them lacking who are so focused and enamored with the surface with the appearance with the look but now he emerges from all that he has said to demonstrate that his apostleship is genuine and says that you... you Corinthians are the ones who need to face the test. You are the ones who need the examinations and you are the ones who need to do the examining. So examine yourselves. But what should they determine? What are they seeking to figure out? by examining themselves. What's the point of the test? Here it is, Paul says, it is to see whether you are in the faith. In other words, it is to see whether you are genuine in your profession of faith in Christ. It is to see whether you are walking in the sphere of true faith in Christ. And so this question, this test applies across the board. It is an examination that they should take with reference to everything in their life. And there's three components that come to my mind right off the bat. It pertains to their doctrine. It contains to what they are convinced as true. It also pertains to their practice, how they live, and it pertains to their relationships. So it's doctrinal, it's practical, and it's relational. See, the test here applies to what they believe. And testing our own selves will mean applying to ourselves the test of what is true and what we believe. If you believe what is false about God, if you believe what is false about Jesus and the rudimentary or the basic and fundamental elements of the gospel, if you wrongly believe, if you believe that's what's not true, then you fail to pass the test. If you don't believe, for example, that Jesus died on Calvary as a substitutionary sacrifice for sinners, if you for some reason think that Jesus set a good example and you're just going to follow His example to heaven, you've missed it! You must believe in His death on the cross satisfying God's just demands for sinners if you are to have a hope that He has taken your place and you are right with God. So see it is doctrinal in part. I'm not saying that you have to have every doctrinal matter correct. God knows that we have all got some doctrinal matters incorrect, but the fundamental ones concerning the person of God, His holiness, His justice, His love, His mercy, that He is the only God, that He is a God who is three persons. You must come to grasp this and embrace it with your heart. The truth of sin and of the need for forgiveness and the hope of a return of Jesus to gather his people to himself forever to have them with him. These are fundamental truths. And if you don't believe them, you do not pass the test. So it's doctrinal. But it's also practical. The test applies to your practice, how you live, how you walk. There are sins which the Bible declares that if you are practicing them as a way of life, you fail the test. You are not genuine. You will not inherit the kingdom of God. Paul says this in two places with all virtually the same list of sins, including some like gossip. And if you practice these, it's evidence that you are not in the faith. And so it is how you walk as well. And then it's also relational. This examination applies relationally. God put Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden to work, but He made Adam and Eve and all humanity in the image of God so that His creation of humanity could have fellowship with God. And we see this displayed even in the garden when God would come to walk with them in the cool of the day. And so, part of what Christ has worked to restore in His death on the cross is this relationship that was broken by sin. Christ died to bring reconciliation, which is a restoration in relationship. So, living a religious life may look like genuineness, but careful examination will reveal that religion is empty. God doesn't want people who kneel, stand at the right times. He's not looking for people who check off a box I got on my knees for five minutes today. He's looking for genuine relationship, which may be evidence of us in getting on our knees, but not to fulfill some religious requirement. We get on our knees because we want to humble ourselves before God in our relationship with Him. Now it's hollow to do things and think that the form of things accomplishes the worship of God. It's from the heart or it's not at all. God rebuked Israel and Jesus scorned the Jews of His day because they had a form of righteousness, but they lacked a vibrant heart-to-heart connection with God. And so Jesus quoted what the Lord had said through Isaiah in chapter twenty nine. This people they draw near to me with their mouth and they honor me with their lips while their hearts are far from me. And the fear of me is the commandment taught by men. it's a mere commandment to believe to try to oh yes we should fear god i fear god obey this commandment but no the fear of god is a heartfelt part of a relationship or it's nothing and so this test this test is something that reaches into what we believe how we live and how we relate to god yes being in the faith means all three of these furthermore the test is to see whether christ is in you If you are in the faith, then Christ is in you. And if you do not pass the test, then you're not in the faith and Christ is not in you. And you have no hope of forgiveness, no hope, no real valid hope of heaven, no hope of eternity with God, no hope that all things work together for good in your life. And no matter what you have professed about yourself, you are under the condemnation of God. The wrath of God is abiding on you. And the most important matter in your heart and life this very moment is to come to Him, come to Christ and get things reconciled. Now, that brings us to the message here. What is it that Paul is saying to the Corinthians? The message of this text is that it is possible to be misinformed in your own heart about whether you are really in the faith or not. About whether Christ is in you or not. It is possible to fool others and it is possible to fool yourself about whether Christ is in you. So I'm asking you this question this morning. Is Christ in you? Because if he is not you are not in him. You are in your sins and you stand condemned before God. You are not reconciled with God. You are at odds with God. Your sins are not as white as snow. They are red like crimson. If you are not in Christ you are without God and without hope in the world. Your sins are crying out for his justice to fall. sure and steadfast upon your own life because of your rebellion against God." This is an important question. There is not a more important question that could be directed to your heart this morning than, is Christ in you? It's so important that as Paul is coming to the conclusion of 2 Corinthians here in this letter, he says to these dear precious people, examine yourselves, test yourselves to see whether You are in the faith because it is possible for you to be mistaken in what you think. So be careful and examine and test yourselves. There's a number of other examples in which Paul takes the same kind of care as he does in our text this morning. And I want to look at a couple of those instances together or just think about them. together for a few moments one is Romans 8 and in verses 8 and 9 Paul says this those who are in the flesh cannot please God you however are not in the flesh but in the spirit If, in fact, the Spirit of God dwells in you, anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him. In addressing the believers at Rome, Paul explains that persons who remain in their natural-born state are unable to please God. But these Roman Christians are able to please God since they are in the Spirit. And yet Paul leaves room for the possibility that not everyone who is associated with the church in Rome is converted. And not everyone that's there is the Spirit in them and them in the Spirit. And the Spirit of God comes to indwell the one who believes. So if one does not have the Spirit, he does not belong to God. It doesn't matter what he does or what he tries to do. If there is one who thinks he belongs to God, but does not possess the Spirit, then he does not in fact belong to God. And Paul puts that in there to say, you know, don't just hear what I'm saying and assume that that's the way it is with you. Because you need to think about, are you in the Spirit? You need to think about, are you in the faith? You need to be sure about that. before you apply what I'm saying to you without any thought or without any consideration. And then in that same chapter, Romans 8 verses 16 to 17, Paul writes this, the Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. And if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ. Provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him See how Paul is doing the same thing Now you could you know I want everybody who hears me saying this there in Rome when you're reading this letter When I say that the Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God and if children heirs Of God and fellow heirs with Christ. I don't want you to automatically think that there is that that applies to everybody across the board because it applies only to those who also suffer with Christ in order that we may be glorified with Him. And so, here the hope of being glorified with Christ as fellow heirs with Him is contingent on whether we suffer with Him. It is false to think that we're going to be glorified with Christ if we do not deny ourselves and take up our cross and follow Christ, thus suffering with Him. You might read that and say, well, I've never suffered. I've never been persecuted. Well, if you're a believer, In some way, shape, or form you have been. But the whole thing is suffering with Christ goes back to this picture that Jesus said, If anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. Death to self. Suffer in this world for the sake of Christ. There's a third place in Romans where Paul does the same kind of thing. In chapter 11 verse 22 Paul says this, Note then the kindness and severity of God. Severity toward those who have fallen, but God's kindness to you, provided you continue in His kindness. Otherwise, you will be cut off. You may assume that you are a recipient of the kindness of God. But if you do not continue in the faith, if you do not persevere in God's kindness, you will be removed from among God's people. You are not one of them. And the time will come when He will extract you and cut you off. The point is that there are those who associate outwardly with Christ Jesus and His church. But if they do not persevere in the faith, they do not truly belong to Him. One more passage, this one in Colossians chapter 1. Colossians chapter 1 verses 21 to 23. And Paul says, and you, who once were alienated, he has now reconciled in his body. in order to present you holy and blameless before him. And guess what comes after that? If indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel. So a person can assume that they've been reconciled and will stand holy and accepted before God on that day. But if they do not continue in the faith, they rather should be assured that they will not stand in that day. Does that mean you won't ever sin? If you sin, you've lost it? That's not what that says. Especially that passage accents the attention of the heart on the hope of the gospel. It assumes that as believers we're going to struggle with sin. And we are going to rebel against God from time to time because the gospel continues to be our hope. Not that we have arrived. and somehow become perfect, but that's what we're shooting for. And all the while, while we're shooting in that direction, we hold fast to the hope of the gospel, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Christ's work on the cross is your hope, not your work, because your work cannot save. Your work can't even come close, but your work can please God. and so obey, and so love, and so continue in the faith. These examples from Paul underscore this extremely serious warning. When something does not stand up under testing, it fails the test. Ariel called me back in January when she got out of the NCLEX. Well, she didn't call me first, she texted me. I texted her first. I said, I knew it should have been maybe coming to a close, and I said, are you out yet? My phone made a little jingle. I said, what'd she say? I'm pretty sure I failed. I had to call her. Honey, it's okay, it's all right. She felt like she failed because it was so grueling. A couple hours later, I got a call from her. Dad, I got an email. I passed, I passed. Why'd she pass? She answered the sufficient number of questions you had to answer to pass. But it mattered really a whole lot, pass or fail. Fail means you can't take it again for like 60 days. Here I'm going to sit around waiting to even apply for a job for another two months. Oh, we're just already thinking about how dismal the next couple of months are going to be. What a joy when you pass. You know, it's the same joy that isn't at the same time, but to an exponentially greater level. When you know, you look and you examine your heart, you pass. But you should look in your heart. If you fail the test, you know what? You don't have to wait 60 days to ask God for forgiveness. You don't have to put it off. He's right there right now to receive you at His heart. If you will call upon Him, if you fail the test. But how bad to know you fail the test and never even take it. And you meet up with the test giver on the day of judgment and he says, depart from me. I never knew you. See this is critical. It's not for no reason that Paul says examine yourselves. Test yourselves. Oh, Paul is unwilling to assume that everyone is going to pass the examination. Some are going to conclude that they're not in the faith and they need to come face to face with that right now. It's no different in our day. And even perhaps in this very church this morning, there are some who associate themselves with the church, but who are not in the church. We should therefore examine ourselves. Well, what will it look like if you pass the test? What does the test look like? What is it that tells you you're in the faith or you're not? Are you looking for some sensation? The Bible doesn't point to sensations as being the telltale things, but people all the time, when you talk to them, oh, I felt, you don't know how I felt. I just know it's true because I felt that thing." Well, feelings are great. But there's times in the lives of the wicked who are running in complete and absolute and obvious rebellion against God where they feel things. You can't let a feeling be your evidence because feelings come and go and they they're sometimes high and they're sometimes low so how do you pass the test it's not how you feel first of all you go back to some of the things i've already mentioned it's truth do you believe the truth and so you have to constantly make sure you're not following after liars and false prophets just like first john 4 1 says test the spirits to see whether they are from God because many false prophets many false teachers Corinthians many false apostles gone out to the world and they're trying this is the devil's way of pulling you back and he pulls you with falseness with with lies just like he did when he came to the garden he's always trying to divert people from the path God is saying walk this way and they say Oh, there's 10 other ones. I want to check each one of them out. And the devil says, this one's the best. This one is really good. So it's truth matters. What do you believe? But this question, what will it look like if I pass the test or what is the test I take? Just remember this. We're not testing whether God is faithful to his word. God is faithful to His word. He keeps His promises and everything He says is true. We're not saying that God might promise salvation but not deliver. That is not what is going on here. The test is not about God. The test is about you. It's not whether God will save you or not. If you trust Him, it's about whether or not you trust Him. It's about whether or not you genuinely have come to Him and planted your life in His care and entrusted yourself to the death of Christ and are pursuing Him with your heart. So again, how does this look? If I'm testing the genuineness of my faith, what does my faith look like that can give me some hope that I really have it? There's an entire book of the Bible written to answer that question. It's the book of 1 John. Here are a few marks which identified those whose claim to truly believe in Christ is true. And I don't have time to elaborate on these, but I've got about 10 things here. If you don't get it all written down and you want it, well, come see me later. Okay? Number one, we walk in the light and have fellowship with God. Test yourself. Do you have fellowship with God? You walk in the light means in the light of His understanding, in the light of... You're pursuing Him and you have fellowship. It's about a relationship. Test yourself. If you don't... I am elaborating. I am elaborating. If you're not hungering and thirsting for God to sit down heart-to-heart, face-to-face with Him, then how can you say you know Him? How can you say you love Him? How can you say you care about Him? You see? John also says this. Here's another thing. If we say we have no sin, we lie. So one of the things is not that we pretend we're not sinners. We admit it. We don't go around pretending to be perfect. We don't claim not to have sin, but instead we confess our sin to God, which means not only do we say, God, I've blown it. We say, God, what I did is defiance against you. We agree with him about it, and we take sides with him against that sin. That's what confession is. Confession is not, God, I'm sorry I got caught again. Confession is God. I defied you again. I set my heart against you, and I hate it. That's confession. Please forgive me. Read Psalm 51 if you want to know more about that. Confess your sins. That's a sign. You want to bring... It's not that you don't sin. It's when you sin, you've got to get to Him to say, God, help me. Number four, we keep His commandments and try to live like Jesus. Oh, but you don't know how many commandments I broke. Yes, but are you trying to keep them? It's the same. It goes with this confessing of sin. You try to keep his commandments and you live like and try to live like Jesus. Number five, we love our brothers and sisters in the faith genuinely. With actions, that's what John says, you don't just say, oh, be warmed and filled. See you later. Our brothers in need. Oh, how can I help? One of the greatest needs brothers and sisters have is the need to be held countable, to be loved and accepted even when they come and confess sins to you and hold them up and love them in the midst of that. And don't be afraid to ask them, are they spending time with God? Are they memorizing His Word? Are they fleeing from the sins that so desperately dog them every day? We love our brothers and sisters in the faith, genuinely and with actions. Number six, we do not love the world, but we seek the will of God. 1 John 2, 15 to 17, Knights of the King's Table. Do not love the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. So do you love the world or do you love God? Jesus says you can't serve money and me at the same time. You're going to love money if you think you're going to be connected with wealth, then go after it because you can't have me and that at the same time. Do not love the world. Number seven, hold fast. We hold fast to Jesus as the Christ. We say He is the way, the truth, the life and no one comes to the Father by Him. I only have one hope and it's Jesus. Number eight, we purify ourselves just as He is pure. We seek to be pure in our thinking, in our lives, in our hearts. Number nine, we love God. We love the idea that we have a God and we don't love God to be for us and do whatever we want and we love God for who He is and we want to be what He wants us to be. We love God. And number 10, We do not keep on sinning. 1 John 5, 18. Anyone who has been born of God does not continue to practice sin. Does it say never sins again? That's not what it said. The idea is of persistence in sinning. That is what Paul was concerned about here with the Corinthians. I'm afraid that when I come back, I told you guys you need to deal with the sin. And if you haven't, when I get back, I'm going to be severe. Because if you are really in the faith, you'll deal with these things. So these remarks reveal that people who hold to the truth, who are earnestly seeking God, who love Christ, who seek to keep His commandments, but who when they sin confess and accept forgiveness and start again, who love the brethren, and who walk with God, that these should not go around consumed by fear that they are not right with God. So I'm not trying to put fear in your life unnecessarily this morning. You got these marks, then you shouldn't be going around with fear. And some people, it seems like, I want to talk to you guys who tend to be the ones who fear and who just, oh, they're concerned, I may not be a Christian, I may not be a Christian. Look to Jesus. And don't let go of Him. Pursue Him and seek to be like Him. And let Him give you assurance. It will come through the Spirit. It's not like we have to get a hold of some, oh what's the word for it now? Some superstition. It's not superstitious. It's either you're following Him and you love Him or you don't. Or if you don't care, you don't. But these marks also reveal that if you are complacent about God, selfish, if you are absorbed in this world, asleep to the things of God, am I speaking to anyone in here this morning, that you need to wake up and the fear of God needs to come upon you and you need to recognize that you aren't taking up the cross of Christ and that you don't really love Him and you haven't really set your hope on Him and you are not in the faith. Now you need to rise up like the prodigal. You need to rise up from the mess of your life. You need to put the feet of your heart in high gear. And you need to run to the father and God and confess that you have sinned against him and you have despised his grace and you have wasted all his generosity and you have nothing to show for it. You need to fall on your face before him and confess to him your sins and repent of these things. And I have good news for you. He will not come to you with a sledgehammer. He will not come to you with a rifle. He will not come to you with a whip. He will come to you with open arms. As Jesus depicted in the parable. And He will grab you on the outside of town before you even made it there. And He will pull you to Himself. And He will shower you with kisses. And He will say welcome. And He will bring you into a party. And heaven is rejoicing. He will bend down to wrap His arms around you and receive you gladly and welcome you. That is why Jesus died. He died in order that God could welcome into fellowship sinners who will submit to God, trusting in Him. His death on the cross paid the price of this reconciliation. The Lamb of God was slain and did purchase for God sinners from every tribe and tongue and nation, everyone who will call upon the name of the Lord. Want to know that you are reconciled to God today? want to know that you are in the faith, draw near to God by repenting of sin and trusting in Christ and He will draw near to you. Our Father, as we bow after such a sense of urgency, earnestly we beseech that your Holy Spirit is active in this place, convicting hearts that are far from you and unconcerned, or who have been unconcerned perhaps until this moment today, And we pray, bringing comfort to those who are tender, not letting them be overwhelmed because you died for the sins that they've committed. Rather, overwhelm them, Father, this morning with the welcome that every sinner will receive when they turn and trust in you. And we pray, Father, just for joy in the lives of every believer who passes the test and knows we're in the faith. We pray for serious fear and terror to come upon the hearts of those who, Lord, who are just mesmerized by following a pattern, by getting in a rut, by getting in a habit of going to church or go because they're drugged, and that they would be here next week because they want to be. And they would be here because they want to join with God's people and sing praises to God. that they would be a part of the family with exuberance and joy, the joy of genuine repentance and genuine conversion. So, Father, we thank you for your mercy, and we thank you for the warnings, just as you provided over and over and over in the Old Testament to the Israelites, warning after warning after warning that they should stop following after false gods, stop putting their hope in the wrong nations, any nation, that they would put their hope in anything but you, and yet over and over and over. And eventually the day came when you said that's it. We know that day's coming in this age when you'll say that's it. All warnings are over. Lord, those that are hearing those warnings today who need them most desperately, as they're examining themselves, I pray you work and we commit it to you for your glory and honor. And we pray it in Jesus' name. Amen.