This one thing I want to know - Am I a true believer? Am I a child of grace? Am I born again by the Spirit of God? Am I redeemed by the blood of Christ? Am I united to Christ by a living faith? These are the questions which lay heavy on my heart. I desire to be neither presumptuous nor unbelieving. But I know that multitudes are now in hell who lived and died with an assurance of salvation. They hid themselves in a refuge of lies and never questioned the matter again.
I do not want to wake up in eternity and find out then that my hope all these years has been a false hope and a vain delusion. I do not want you to meet God in that great day without the wedding garment of Christ’s righteousness. Therefore I urge you, as I urge my own heart, to take this matter seriously.
I know that God has a people in this world whom he has chosen and determined to save. There is a remnant according to the election of grace. But am I one of God’s elect?
Everything is in Christ. All spiritual blessings come to men through him. All that God in heaven can or will do for any sinner upon this earth, he has done for every sinner who is in Christ. But this is just the point of my concern - Am I in Christ? Are you in Christ?
Paul admonishes us to examine ourselves in this matter. "Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your ownselves. Know ye not your ownselves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobate?" (2 Cor. 13:5). Peter says, "Wherefore the rather, brethren, give deligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things ye shall never fall" (2 Pet. 1:10). Am I in Christ? Are you in Christ? We must not take this issue lightly. There is a false faith in which multitudes are confidently resting. There is a false faith by which multitudes are deceived and perish for ever in hell.
If you have the faith of God’s elect, it will bear examination. If you do not, if you are resting in a false faith, you need to be awakened so that you may flee to Christ in true faith.
Proposition: All who profess the faith of Christ and call upon the name of the Lord need to examine themselves, lest any perish in a false faith.
Divisions: In our text we have set before us a beautiful example of the believer’s faith. The Church, the Bride, speaks about herself to the Daughters of Jerusalem (5-6).Song of Songs 1:5-6 "I am black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon. (6) Look not upon me, because I am black, because the sun hath looked upon me: my mother's children were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the vineyards; but mine own vineyard have I not kept."
Then she speaks about herself to her Beloved Lord (7).Song of Songs 1:7 "Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon: for why should I be as one that turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions?"
Taking these three verses for my text, I want to call your attention to Four distinguishing Characteristics of True Faith.
NOTE: True saving faith is a work of God upon the heart. It is not merely mental assent to doctrinal truth. It is not merely a reformation of life. It is not merely devotional piety. True faith is a heart work (Rom. 10:9-10).
Romans 10:9-10 "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."
If any of us miss Christ, it will be right here. Let us examine ourselves by these Four Distinguishing Characteristics of True
TRUE FAITH ACKNOWLEDGES AND CONFESSES SIN."I am black." The people of God are charged by both the world and by self-righteous religionists with many evils. But none of our enemies have such a loathsome view of us as we have of ourselves. Do any charge us with evil? It is true. "I am black…My own vineyard have I not kept." I am black in myself, by nature. I am black in the eyes of others, because of my actions. I am black in my own eyes. True faith does not defend herself, she does not seek any excuse for sin. True faith acknowledges and confesses sin (Job 40:3-5; 42:5-6 ; Psa. 51:4-5).
Job 40:3-5 "Then Job answered the LORD, and said, (4) Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth. (5) Once have I spoken; but I will not answer: yea, twice; but I will proceed no further."
Job 42:5-6 "I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. (6) Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes."
Psalms 51:4-5 "Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest. (5) Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me."
Illustration: The Believer’s Inward Warfare (Rom. 7:14-24; Gal. 5:17).Romans 7:14-24 "For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. (15) For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. (16) If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. (17) Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. (18) For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. (19) For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. (20) Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. (21) I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. (22) For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: (23) But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. (24) O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?"
Galatians 5:17 "For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would."
Sin is not to be measured by our actions, but by our attitude. Sin is not to be measured by our deeds, but by our principles. Sin is not so much what I do, but what I am.
Old man Adam is still present with us. He is no longer master. But he is still present. That is a fact from which we cannot escape.
Before you were converted, did you ever think that you could love God so little as you do?In ourselves we are black; but in Christ we are comely (suitable, beautiful, seemly). In our own eyes we are black; but in the eyes of God we are comely (Song of Sol. 4:1; Ezek. 16:9-14).
Song of Songs 4:1 "Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair; thou hast doves' eyes within thy locks: thy hair is as a flock of goats, that appear from mount Gilead."
Ezekiel 16:9-14 "Then washed I thee with water; yea, I thoroughly washed away thy blood from thee, and I anointed thee with oil. (10) I clothed thee also with broidered work, and shod thee with badgers' skin, and I girded thee about with fine linen, and I covered thee with silk. (11) I decked thee also with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon thy hands, and a chain on thy neck. (12) And I put a jewel on thy forehead, and earrings in thine ears, and a beautiful crown upon thine head. (13) Thus wast thou decked with gold and silver; and thy raiment was of fine linen, and silk, and broidered work; thou didst eat fine flour, and honey, and oil: and thou wast exceeding beautiful, and thou didst prosper into a kingdom. (14) And thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty: for it was perfect through my comeliness, which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord GOD."
The Lord Jesus Christ has made us beautiful in the eyes of God, through his righteousness and shed blood; and we trust his merits alone for our acceptance with God.
In Christ every true believer is perfect and complete (Col. 2:10; 1:28). "In him is no sin!" Colossians 2:10 "And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:" Through the merits of Christ’s blood and righteousness He will present us before the Father in the perfection of holiness (Eph. 5:25-27). We trust the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ alone for our entire, complete, absolute, and everlasting acceptance with God. I am nothing. I have nothing, and I can do nothing in myself which God will accept. All my hope before God is in Christ (Lam. 3:22-26).Lamentations 3:24-26 "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."
TRUE FAITH LOVES CHRIST SUPREMELY. Notice the title which is here given to our Lord, "Tell me, O Thou whom my soul loveth."1 Corinthians 16:22 "If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha."
Matthew 10:37-39 "He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. (38) And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. (39) He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it."
True faith never becomes self-confident and self-sufficient. It continually seeks Christ (Heb. 12:1-4; Phil. 3:7-14). Faith is not an act of life. Faith is a way of life.
Hebrews 12:1-4 "Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, (2) Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. (3) For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. (4) Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin."
Philippians 3:7-14 "But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. (8) Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, (9) And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: (10) That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; (11) If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. (12) Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. (13) Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, (14) I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."
Jeremiah 29:10-13 "For thus saith the LORD, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place. (11) For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. (12) Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. (13) And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart."
Application:AMEN.
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