Our first scripture reading this morning is Jeremiah chapter 24, verses 4 through 7. Jeremiah 24, it's page 652, if you're using that blue Bible. This is the vision that Jeremiah saw of a basket, of two different baskets. One had good figs, one had bad figs. And in verses 4 through 7, God is talking about the good figs. And I want you to notice the promise God makes. It kind of fits in, I think you'll see, with our New Testament reading. Jeremiah 24 verse 4, Then the word of the Lord came to me. Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, let these like these good figs so I will regard as good the exiles from Judah whom I have sent away from this place to the land of the Chaldeans. I will set my eyes on them for good, and I will bring them back to this land. I will build them up and not tear them down. I will plant them and not pluck them up. I will give them a heart to know that I am the Lord, and they shall be my people. And I will be their God, for they shall return to me with their whole heart. I will build up I will not tear down. I will plant and not pluck up. Our New Testament reading is 2 Corinthians chapter 13. It's on page 971. As we draw to the close in our series in 2 Corinthians, we are almost at the end. We're just picking up right where we left off. 2 Corinthians 13 verse 5. Paul wrote, 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, I hope you will find that we have not failed the test. But we pray to God that you may not do wrong. Not that we may appear to have met the test, but that you 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. For we are glad when we are weak and you are strong. Your restoration is what we pray for. For this reason I write these things while I am away from you that when I come I may not have to be severe in my use of the authority that the Lord Jesus has given me for building up and not for tearing down. The word of the Lord. Let's pray. Oh Lord Jesus, we come to examine ourselves and to see if we are in the faith and to test ourselves. Help us to do so honestly and to flourish in the assurance that you, Lord Jesus, truly are in us. Amen. You may be seated. By the way, for those of you visiting, there are sermon notes on the back of the worship guide and lots of space for jotting down notes. There's even a fill in the blank, and I'll try to remember to point it out to you when we get to that place. Well, they came in, They sized up our bathroom in the master bedroom and then they began to take out the sink and pull out the cabinets and take out the false ceilings and cut them all out and exposed all the insulation and all the rafters and everything. They began to cut out the sheetrock in places. They pulled off the tiling here and there around the shower and so forth. Oh, it was quite a mess. A glorious mess, right? So messy that they had to put that plastic sheet up between the bathroom and our bedroom to keep the dust from blowing into our bedroom. But overall, there was a goal to all of the mayhem and all of the destruction, what appeared to be destruction. And the goal was this. to remodel what was very dated, inefficient, and causing us trouble, and to make the bathroom nicer looking, safer, and more functional. In fact, we actually only gave the remodelers the authority for building up and not necessarily tearing down. Everything torn down and torn apart and walked away. Oh, it'd have been a far less wholesome environment and our relationship would have been horrible. Anyways, but we commissioned them to build up, build beautiful and build better. So keep that remodeling image in your mind, because it all actually kind of plays a part here in this portion of 2 Corinthians, Paul's second letter to the Corinthians, as he beckons them to engage in examination, verses 5 through 7, engage in examination while he works for their exaltation, verse 8 and 9, and their edification, verse 10. There's the three points. So the examination, verses five through seven. Well, since the Corinthian brothers and sisters, many of them, not all of them necessarily, but many of them had begun finding themselves questioning Paul's integrity and Paul's authority. That's what he says back in verse three, you may remember. Since you seek proof that Christ is speaking in me. Since some of the Corinthian brothers and sisters had begun to find themselves questioning Paul's integrity and authority, And since the apostle is deeply concerned about the end result of what that means. We talked about that last week. Jesus said, whoever receives the one I send, receives the one that I send, receives me. Whoever receives me, receives the Father. We went back the other side of that as well. He's concerned about the end result if they continue to be pulled away from Him. And since he has written 12 chapters of this letter evidencing the meekness and the gentleness of Christ, he now invites them to become suspicious of their suspiciousness. That's what he's doing. Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. And those are synonyms, examine yourselves and test yourselves are synonyms. It's not like a midterm exam and college exam, right? It's not like a midterm exam or a college exam written on paper meant to test all those things about you, but instead it's a test, it's an exam of credible actions. It's an exam, a test of credible actions. I'm going to give you an example where the word test is used in the Greek. The Greek word test is used in the 2 Corinthians. Just an easy place. If you would turn over, hold this, and turn over to 2 Corinthians chapter 8. In 2 Corinthians chapter 8, you remember, Paul is encouraging the Corinthian Christians to follow through on the generous gift that they had promised a year before. And so he says in chapter 8, verses 1 through 7, he says, look, the Macedonian Christians were all roused up and encouraged by your promise of this generous gift, and they have given abundantly beyond all that even their poverty could have stopped them from doing. They gave abundantly. And then Paul says in verse 8, chapter 8, verse 8, I say this not as a command but to prove. There's the Greek word. To test by the earnestness of others that your love is also genuine. To test that your love is also genuine. How will you know if a love is genuine? Because they will follow through. Credible actions. They will follow through with the generous gift they gave. Just drop your eyeballs down to verse 22 there in chapter 8. Paul was certifying that the team he was sending to the Corinthians to collect the monies would help him to hold everything accountable. And then he says this in verse 22. And with them we are sending our brother whom we have often tested, there's the test word, and found earnest in many manners, but who is now more earnest than ever because of his great confidence in you. We've tested him, he has shown himself by his actions to be a reliable person. So notice it's a test, an exam of credible action, of a genuine earnest commitment. And so Paul says, examine yourselves to see if you are in the faith. Test yourselves, look for that genuine, that credible action to see if you are in the faith. And then he goes on, and notice he says that it is a test of genuine, earnest commitment. The last part of verse five he says, or do you not realize this about yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you? And before I read the rest of this, do you not realize this about yourself that Jesus Christ is in you? Probably more often than not that's where most of our problems lie as humans in a church and in our relationships with other Christians is that we often forget that Jesus Christ is in us and that means in you. Right? You see what I'm saying? Sometimes we often forget that part. And notice that Paul is coming to the gospel and he's laying that out here, that Jesus Christ is in you. Do not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you, unless indeed you fail to meet the test. Now why would Paul put that last line there? Unless indeed you fail to beat the test. Remember the context, right? If you take a verse, it's gotta be in context, because if not, it's a pretext. We talked about that in class this morning, right? What's the context? The context are the super apostles. What are the super apostles trying to do? We've been seeing this since chapter 10, clearly since chapter 10. They are trying to detach, to pry the Corinthian Christians away from Paul, and by doing that, they are trying to pry the Corinthian Christians away from Right, remember that connection? So even back in chapter 11, verse 3, Paul said, look, just like Eve was deceived by the serpent, I'm really worried that you're gonna be led astray, led away from your sincere and pure devotion for Christ. That's the context. And so his point is very subtle, but it is very sure here at the end of verse 5. Something like this. Look, if you continue to give in to the suspicion spreaders and the doubt distributors and follow their program and get pulled away from me and thus Jesus, you will have shown yourselves to have failed the test. That's the point of verse 5. But Paul, notice, is very, very certain that they will not fail the test. And He is very, very certain that they will reconfirm their confidence in Him. Verse 6, I hope you will find that we have not failed the test. And He is clearly certain of them, that they will not fail the test. He started clear back in chapter 3. You may remember. I tried to bring it out there. He says, look, you are our letter of recommendation from Christ delivered by us. You don't say that about people you doubt. You know what I'm saying? He's confident of them from the very beginning. In chapter 7, He says, look, our heart is wide open to you. You are our joy. You give us assurance and comfort in the midst of all of our afflictions. You don't say that about somebody. You're a doubter, right? And then you look back at verse 5. You've got to listen to verse 5. He is utterly confident in them. Again, in verse 5, He says, examine yourselves to see if you're in the faith. Test yourselves, or do you not Realize. Paul realizes it. Do you get it? Paul realizes it. He wants them to remember it. Or do you not realize that Jesus Christ is in you? He is clearly confident that the Corinthian Christians will not fail the test because Jesus is in them. He's been confident of them all along. Now to be clear, once more, his concern is not a concern for himself. He is not concerned for his self-vindication. He is not concerned for his self-protection. Rather, he is concerned for their enduring and endearing faithfulness to Jesus. Look at verse 7. but we pray to God that you may not do wrong, not that we may appear to have passed the test. I really don't care if it looks like we passed the test. I'm not worried about it. That's what he just said. We pray to God that you may not do wrong, not that we may appear to pass the test, but that you may do what is right, though we may seem to have failed. My friends, sometimes verse five, gets totally misused. Examine yourselves, see if you're in the faith, test yourselves, right? It gets horribly misused. I'm going to tell you a terrible secret. I have misused it years ago using that verse more than once. It often can be totally misused. It is not, verse five, is not a two by four for the pastor, the elders to take out and wallop along people along the heads to get them to doubt their salvation and then to get them to complete and utter loyalty to the pastor and the elders, right? That's how it gets misused. It's not a two by four to wallop people with and it's not a two by four to be handed to you for you to wallop yourself with. It's not to be used that way. When you begin to gaze into the deepest, darkest, dankest depths of our navels and begin to wonder, oh, I wonder if I'm elect. Oh, I wonder if I'm a saint. It's not what it's for. It's really an invitation. Paul is inviting these Corinthian Christian believers to survey their house. We're back to the remodeling image here. To survey their house. To see what it is in their house that needs to be remodeled. What has become ungainly. What has become unkempt. What has become unwieldy. So that changes can be made. That's how verse 5 is to be used. And so Paul beckons them to turn their discerning eyes onto their own actions, giving themselves a wholesome examination. He then goes on to remind them that he is confident of them. And he is all about their exaltation. Verse 8 and 9, he is all about their exaltation. Now as Paul prepares, verse 8, as Paul prepares to remind them that he is all about their exaltation, notice that he recounts his own apostolic stewardship. It actually kind of begins at the end of verse 7. But that you 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. He's talking about his apostolic stewardship. It's the same kind of thing he said clear back in the first letter, 1 Corinthians 9, verses 16 and 17 when he said this. Let me paraphrase what Paul is doing in verse 8. Something like this. Now remember, I'm a man under commission. I am an ambassador under authority. And though the super apostles and others under their sway may pronounce me a failure, so be it. because I am being led in triumphal procession. I'm being led in triumphal procession by the victorious, conquering general, Jesus. Do you remember the procession language back in chapter two, verse 14? We're being led about in this triumphal procession by the general, right? He's talking about Jesus there. This is what he's saying. We can only do what the truth says. The conquering general has us apostles. We can do no other than this. And it may look to the world that we have failed. Who cares? Who cares? And that's one reason then why He can be freed up to be all about the Corinthian Christians' exaltation because the conquering General Jesus is about their exaltation. It's one reason Paul can be freed up to be all about the Corinthian Christians' exaltation because the conquering general Jesus is all about the Corinthian Christians' exaltation. That's verse 9. For we are glad when we are weak and you are strong. Your restoration is what we pray for. There we are. We're back to where we were in verses 3 and 4 here in chapter 13. We're back to the liberation of Christ who in his strength has freed Paul up to become weak with the Corinthians. To be slow and plot along and be patient with them. He can be weak with the Corinthians because Christ is the one who has liberated him and strengthened him. My friends, this kind of weakness, we're glad when we are weak and you are strong. This kind of weakness, releases a person, a 20-year-old, a teenager, an older man, an older woman releases a person from self-importance and swagger, from pride or prejudice. And notice that Paul's prayer then in the midst of this, we're glad when we're weak so that you may be strong. Notice in the midst of that, Paul's prayer at the very end of that verse is a prayer here for their restoration. And if you let the Greek word have some fun with you and play out a little bit more, you have to think about remodeling. It means things like completion and wholeness. We pray for your restoration, not that you failed, but that you may grow on into wholeness and completeness, that the remodeling will finally be done. The remodeling will finally be done. It's the same kind of thing he was saying back in chapter 11, verse 7. Remember when he said, Look, have we sinned against you because we humbled ourselves that you might be exalted in Christ and bringing the gospel free of charge? So notice Paul's cross and resurrection ministry, strengthened by Christ, allows him to be weak with the Corinthian believers so that they might be filled out. with maturity and strength and faithfulness and godliness. And Paul says, we are glad when we are weak and you are strong. I'm gonna say, for someone to say those three words, it takes, it takes a conversion. Remember Paul's past. He never could have said those words before until Jesus caught him up, closed him down, cleaned him up and cast him into a new mold. We are glad. Paul is all about their exaltation and it all goes with edification, verse 10. Once more, in verse 10, as Paul draws to a close in this letter, he reminds them that the ministry of the apostles is actually the outworking of God's promises in the Old Testament. For example, the one we read in Jeremiah 24. about the good figs and how God was going to talk to them and how He was going to relate to them. I'm going to build you up and not tear you down. Plant you and not pluck you up. So you will always know that I am your God and you are my people. And notice that Paul, in a way, references that promise again here in verse 10. So Paul writes, for this reason I write these things while I am away from you that when I come I may not have to be severe. Right there, Paul just told you why he wrote 2 Corinthians. If that's your Bible, you need to put a pen mark around that. I wrote this letter for this reason. So when I come, I don't have to flex my mandate muscles. I don't want to do that. That's what Paul's saying. But this is the reason why I wrote this letter. For this reason, I write these things that while I'm away from you, that when I come, I may not have to be severe in my use of the authority that the Lord has given me for building up and not for tearing down. Notice Paul's statement. This is the reason I write this, that I may not have to be severe. Do you not hear his bleeding heart? Oh, if only the super apostles would but change. Oh, if only the Corinthian brothers and sisters who have come under their suspicious sway and their doubtful devices would but change. Oh, if only. Why is that? Because the authority that Christ gave him is not for beating down, but for building up. Paul has said this now three times in these three chapters. Ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen. Four chapters. In these four chapters, sorry. He said that three times. Flip back with me very quickly to chapter 10 and verse 8, and notice how Paul puts it there. He says in 10 verse 8, He said it in chapter 12 verse 19 that we looked at last week, the last sentence of verse 19. It is in the sight of God that we have been speaking in Christ and all for your up building beloved. And he says it again here in chapter 13, verse 10, that I may not have to be severe in my use of the authority that the Lord Jesus gave me for building up and not for tearing down. And so as I said last week, let me just say it again. I love repeating myself. I don't actually, but I do a lot of it, right? If Christian leadership is going to follow the path of Christ and His hand-picked spokespersons, then that Christian leadership won't be known for how much it is a beat down, but how much it is a build up in Christ. If that Christian leadership is going to follow Jesus and His hand-picked spokespersons, it will not be known for how much it is a beat-down, but how much it is a build-up in Christ. Dear brothers and sisters, being a hellfire and brimstone preacher is no honor to Jesus, and it is no badge of honor to wear. Now, I've preached about hell, and some of you actually heard those sermons. It's a real place. There is a day coming. when those who have rebelled against Jesus will be cast into the place that is prepared for the devil and his angels. But to be known as a hellfire and brimstone preacher, tearing down and ripping up, ain't no glory to God, and it's not a badge of honor. But then on the other side, Always being happy, clappy all the time and never, ever, ever, ever, ever saying, hey, your house needs to be remodeled here is not good either. Listen, brothers and sisters. You can be about build up in Jesus, but there are times you have to bring out the holy, the biblical crowbar and the Holy Ghost hammer to do some remodeling. When things get unwieldy or unkept or ungainly, but ultimately, the overarching tenor and feel of the whole thing should be like all good remodeling, where the aim and the ambition is always to build up, build beautiful, build better. If Christian leadership is going to follow Jesus and his handpicked spokespersons, that Christian leadership will not be known for how much it is a beat down, but how much it is a build up in Christ. And that, brothers and sisters, is why Jesus keeps sending Paul back to Corinth to speak for him. That is why Jesus has Paul send this letter to Corinth. Because this is what our Lord Jesus wants for His people, for His church. A church built up, built beautiful, built better. A church built in wholeness and healthiness. Where? Those who utterly by the grace of God have been commended and approved by God will love and care for their fellows who have been commended and approved by God and together remain loyal to the one who has made them commendable and approvable to God. That's why Jesus made sure We still have 2 Corinthians 2,000 years later. Jesus is saying to heritage, and I could go to Bridgeway, I could go to Faith Bible and say the same thing there. This is why Jesus made sure we had 2 Corinthians, and it survived the weather of time, fires, burnings, and all those things, so that we will always know this is what Jesus wants for us. Hallelujah. And so as I end, I actually have listed here two things. I may have a third thing. Things just come. As I end, maybe you're thinking, let me just do this first. As you're thinking about this passage, you may be thinking, well, that's all about the apostles. What has that got to do with us? And those super apostles, what has that got to do with us? I mean, if we don't have apostles, then do we have people who run around calling themselves acting like super apostles? Oh yeah, we do. We do. Let's own that. Let's realize how contemporary 2 Corinthians chapter 10, 11, 12, and 13 are, right? There are those who are spiritually abusive. Go back to chapter 11 when I talked about spiritual abuse. They are spiritually abusive. They want to pull you away so that you're completely loyal to them and ultimately not in the end loyal to Jesus at all, right? They want to draw us away. They want to pull us off. So you need to spend time listening again to chapters 10, 11, 12, 13. It is there for our good, right? So it is very contemporary. Here's the second thing. As I mentioned last week, 2 Corinthians is probably the most pastoral letter in all of the New Testament. And it gives healthy and health-giving interpretive matrices for us to use to gauge Christian leadership by. I say that because wherever you end up, over time, who knows, right? You may move, whatever happens, right? Here's a good place to go, looking at 2 Corinthians and saying, is that a good church to be a part of? Look at how the leadership works. Is it a cross and resurrection ministry? Are they known more for how they are a beat down or a build up? But are they also still willing to pull out sometimes the crowbar and the hammer to do some remodeling? Things like that. Is it warm hearted? Do they care about their reputation more than they care about the well-being of God's people? There are all kinds of things in there. It's a beautiful matrix to use to gauge Christian leadership by. But here's the last. This, brothers and sisters, is a good time to ask the master builder and remodeler to help us all to look at the house of our lives and to assess What is unwieldy, what is unkempt, what is ungainly that needs to be built up, built beautiful, and built better? As we come to the Lord's Supper, that's what I think verse 5 is what we need to be hearing and thinking of. Examine yourselves, see if you're in the faith, test yourselves, or do not realize Jesus Christ is in you. Every time we come to the Lord's Supper, it should be some examination. Don't get lost in your heads. There should be some examination. Lord, do I need to remodel this part of my life? Do I need to pull this down and build this back up? What do I need to do that I will always know that Jesus Christ is in me? And so I invite you, as the bread and the wine come around, to do that, to examine yourselves, to test yourselves. But don't stop there getting lost in your navel or something. Remember that next line, or do you not realize that Jesus Christ is in you? And so I invite you, each and every one of you who believe that Jesus Christ died for your sins, was raised for your justification, you've professed Him as Lord, you've been baptized with water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and you're a member of a Bible-believing, God-fearing, Christ-loving church. I invite you to join with us as together we examine ourselves and together we receive the Master Rebuilder and Remodeler. We receive Jesus in our hearts by faith with thanksgiving.