DOES CHRIST DWELL IN YOU?

Charles H. Spurgeon (1834-1892)

“Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?—Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith” 2 Corinthians 13:5

Examine yourselves, first, because it is a matter of the very highest importance. Small tradesmen may take coppers1 over the counter without much examination; but when it comes to gold, they will ring it well, for they could not afford to lose a sovereign out of their little gains...

What a frightful hazard is that which you and I are running if we do not examine ourselves! It is an everlasting hazard. It is a hazard of heaven or of hell, of God’s eternal favor, or of His everlasting curse! Well might the apostle say, “Examine yourselves.” Again: Examine yourselves because if ye make a mistake ye can never rectify it, except in this world. A bankrupt may have lost a fortune once, and yet may make another. But make bankruptcy—spiritual bankruptcy—in this life, and you will never have an opportunity to trade for heaven again. A great general may lose one battle; but with skill and courage, he may retrieve his honor by winning another. But [if you] get defeated in the battle of this life, and you can no more gird on your armor, you are defeated forever! The day is lost, and there is no hope of your being able to gain it again, or so much as to make the attempt. Now or never, man! Remember that. Thy soul’s eternal state hangs on the turn of today. Loiter thy time away, waste thine abilities, take thy religion at second hand, of thy priest, of thy minister, or of thy friend; and in the next world thou shalt everlastingly rue the error, but thou shalt have no hope of amending it...

Self-examination is the safest cure for one half the doubts and fears that vex God’s people. Look at the captain over yonder. He is in his ship, and he says to the sailors, “You must sail very warily and carefully, and be upon your watch; for, to tell you the truth, I do not know where I am. I do not exactly know my latitude and longitude; and there may be rocks very close ahead, and we may soon have the ship broken up.” He goes down into the cabin, he searches the chart, he takes an inspection of the heavens, he comes up again, and he says, “Hoist every sail, and go along as merrily as you please. I have discovered where we are. The water is deep, and there is a wide sea room. There is no need for you to be in any trouble; searching has satisfied me.” And how happy will it be with you, if, after having searched yourself you can say, “I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him” (2Ti 1:12). Why, then you will go along merrily and joyfully, because the search has had a good result. And what if it should have a bad result? Better that you should find it out now than find it out too late...

First, if you would examine yourselves, begin with your public life. Are you dishonest? Can you thieve? Can you swear? Are you given to drunkenness, uncleanness, blasphemy, taking God’s name in vain, and violation of His holy day? Make short work with yourself. There will be no need to go into any further tests. He that doeth these things hath no inheritance in the kingdom of God (Eph 5:5). You are reprobate; the wrath of God abideth on you. Your state is fearful. You are accursed now, and except you repent, you must be accursed forever. And yet, Christian, despite thy many sins, canst thou say, “By the grace of God I am what I am; but I seek to live a righteous, godly, and sober life, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation”? Remember, professor, by thy works thou shalt be judged at last... Let us... fall upon our face and cry again, “God be merciful to me a sinner” (Luk 18:13)...

Again: another set of tests—private tests. How about your private life? Do you live without prayer, without searching the Scriptures? Do you live without thoughts of God? Can you live as a habitual stranger to the Most High, having no love to Him, and no fear of Him? If so, I make short work of the matter: you are “in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity” (Act 8:23). But if thou art right at heart, thou wilt be able to say, “I could not live without prayer. I have to weep over my prayers, but still I should weep ten times more if I did not pray. I do love God’s Word; ‘it is my meditation all the day’ (Psa 119:97). I love His people. I love His house. I can say that my hands are often lifted upward towards Him. And when my heart is busy with this world’s affairs, it is often going up to His throne.” A good sign, Christian, a good sign for thee…

Say, hast thou ever tried to save thyself and found it a failure? And hast thou been driven to rely simply, wholly, and entirely on Christ? If so, then thou hast passed the test well enough. And hast thou now faith in Christ— ... though thy heart sometimes be so dark that thou canst scarcely tell He is there, yet thou art accepted in the beloved, and thou mayest “rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory” (1Pe 1:8).