THE ART OF SELF-EXAMINATION

7/21/85

THE ART OF SELF-EXAMINATION
II CORINTHIANS 13:1 - 5

"Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Prove
yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in
you? -- unless you are disqualified (false professors)" verse 5.

JESUS CHRIST either is or is not in your life.
Jesus Christ either is or is not in control of your life.
Examine yourself! Is He in? Is He in control?
Our text indicates the Corinthians had been engaged in an art at
which most believers are most adapt. They were engaged in
examination of others not themselves. Verse 4 forms a
parenthesis in the text. They had been attempting to examine the
life of Paul. Paul instead urges them to examine themselves.
In the text "yourselves" is emphatic both times it is used
meaning "Yourselves be testing...yourselves be proving."
Suppose someone were to say to you: "Prove to me that Christ is
in you." Can you do it? Prove it.
As we engage in self-examination on this occasion, I want to
appeal to you not to make it morbid. A miner doesn't look for
dust and dirt but gold. There may be a lot of dust and dirt
equivalents in your life and if so they should be gotten out but
just now let's search for the main load, the real gold, Jesus
Christ.
Systematic self-examination for the purpose of correcting faults
and gaining a perspective of one's spiritual condition is a
worthy ancient craft.
Paul's contemporary the Stoic Seneca wrote of his habit in
this regard: "When the day was over and Sextius had gone to his
night's rest, he used to ask his mind: 'What bad habit of yours
have you ...

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