The Lord’s Work – Part 9
Prove yourself
Now back to 2 Cor. 13:
2 Corinthians 13:5 Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, …
How can you prove your own self that you are not a reprobate and your works are not fake??
What does it mean to prove one’s self? What does it mean to prove a person?
Psalms 26:2 Examine me, O LORD, and prove me…
To examine, to try, to inspect, to test.
Pass (proven and approved) or fail (proven and disapproved).
1st instance of “prove” in the Bible:
Genesis 42:15-16 Hereby ye shall be proved: By the life of Pharaoh ye shall not go forth hence, except your youngest brother come hither. 16 Send one of you, and let him fetch your brother, and ye shall be kept in prison, that your words may be proved, whether there be any truth in you: or else by the life of Pharaoh surely ye are spies.
To prove them was to try them. To determine if they were true men, or liars (FAKE). Were they full of truth or deceit?
Proving someone is testing them to know who they are. To know if what they say they are (true men/Christians) is true or false.
A man is proved by proving his words, whether they are true or false. If there is deceit in them, then surely he is a spy.
If a man presents himself as a Christian, he is one of two things, true or a spy.
“prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, …” How??
Spy/spies – 25 times in the OT, but only 3 times in the NT.
Luke 20:20 And they watched him, and sent forth spies, which should feign themselves just men, that they might take hold of his words, that so they might deliver him unto the power and authority of the governor.
Who is a true man and who are spies today? Those that feign themselves just men.
This is what spies (the unsaved) are: FAKE just men. We should prove ourselves to find out if we are true just men, or fake!
You say, “Oh I get it, so we should watch our words and our actions to see what we and other people do! And if we say and do bad things, then we are spies!” No! I’m not giving you more ammo to do what you’ve been doing your whole life: judging based on works. Don’t watch their works.
Spies don’t say and do bad things. Spies assimilate. Spies are very skilled, very subtle liars.
Jesus “perceived their craftiness”, and “knew their hypocrisy”.
You won’t know based on works. Works are the very thing they use to fool you!
Galatians 2:4 And that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage:
A true man does not take away liberty and bring men into the bondage of the law. That is the exact opposite of what a true man does. A spy looks to see what he can take away. A spy takes away liberty and bring others into bondage.
We should prove ourselves, and we should prove others (especially our teachers) to be either true men, or false brethren. Believers or unbelievers. Real Christians or Reprobates (Fakes).
Deuteronomy 8:2 And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.
The Lord proved Israel in order to know, not what they did, but what they would do (good or evil – obey or disobey) by trying their heart… to know what was in their heart (obedience or disobedience).
The Lord tries (and will try) a man’s heart. Pulling out (manifesting) what is in a man’s heart (their fruit) is how we prove a man. We need to see whether there is any truth in you. Not if you can say a true thing. Is there truth in you?
What a man truly is, and what a man has, and subsequently what he does and says, proceeds from his heart. You’ve got to try the heart, to know the person. Otherwise, you will not know whether they are true men, or spies – reprobates!
Psalms 26:2 Examine me, O LORD, and prove me; try my reins and my heart.
To prove a man is to try, test, examine his heart. To know what is in his heart.
We need to get to the source!
2 Chronicles 32:31 Howbeit in the business of the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, who sent unto him [King Hezekiah] to enquire of the wonder that was done in the land, God left him, to try him, that he might know all that was in his heart.
Psalms 66:10 For thou, O God, hast proved us: thou hast tried us, as silver is tried.
Proverbs 17:3 The fining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold: but the LORD trieth the hearts.
The Lord is going to try your heart. And He is going to try it with FIRE, to know all that is in it. To see what sort your work is. Whether it be good silver, or it be reprobate silver.
You better prove/try it first. You better know all that is in it, what comes out of it, and of what sort it be.
Psalms 139:23-24 Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: 24 And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
If he finds wickedness in your heart, then you will be judged as a spy (wicked).
If the Lord tries (proves) your heart and finds ANYthing evil in it, you will be disapproved, and not approved. You will be found a spy, a reprobate!
You need to have a heart with NO evil in it.
Psalms 17:3 Thou hast proved mine heart; thou hast visited me in the night; thou hast tried me, and shalt find nothing; I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress.
I don’t think this is David in the flesh (liar, adulterer, and murderer just like all men) talking. This is David in Spirit. This is Jesus Christ speaking.
You need to have His heart. You need to be given a new heart from Him.
This is what we are examining… the sort and contents of the heart!
2 Corinthians 13:5 Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, …
So how do we prove (try) a person? How do we search, try, test his heart as silver and gold? How do we draw out what is in it? How do we prove it, to see which sort it be?
.
.
.
1 Kings 10:1 And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the LORD, she came to prove him with hard questions.
You need to be proven (prove yourself) with hard questions! We have 2 we like to ask.
“Who are you to ask me that? I don’t have to answer to you”, they say! Why are they so offended?
Because it’s a hard question, and they don’t have the answers.
If you fail those hard questions, you have manifested yourself as a reprobate. Just like reprobate SILVER.
Psalms 66:10 For thou, O God, hast proved us: thou hast tried us, as silver is tried.
How is silver tried… Silver is tried in a furnace with FIRE of course. So how do we try the heart? With FIRE, of course!!
The word of God is that fire.
Jeremiah 23:29 Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?
Want to know if one’s heart is good silver or reprobate? Put fire to it!
Want to know if one’s heart is good ground or stony ground? Take a hammer to it!
Try them with FIRE. Prove a man, with FIRE.
Jeremiah 5:14 Wherefore thus saith the LORD God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.
Jeremiah 20:9 Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.
Man’s spirit is a candle. Which sort of oil do you have? Which fire burns within you?
Either that light is inside a man’s heart, burning with oil.
Test them with the Lord’s fire, and see if they consume or they abide.
Hebrews 12:29 For our God is a consuming fire.
Test them with the Lord’s wrath, and see if they abide, or they die.
Ezekiel 22:21 Yea, I will gather you, and blow upon you in the fire of my wrath, and ye shall be melted in the midst thereof.
Our questions are hard questions of the Lord’s wrath.
Prove yourself (and others), whether ye be true men or spies/reprobates, with hard questions of the word of God.
This is not new. This is not unprecedented. In the OT, there was the precedent of this.
Daniel 1:12-15 Prove thy servants, I beseech thee, ten days; and let them give us pulse to eat, and water to drink. 13 Then let our countenances be looked upon before thee, and the countenance of the children that eat of the portion of the king’s meat: and as thou seest, deal with thy servants. 14 So he consented to them in this matter, and proved them ten days. 15 And at the end of ten days their countenances appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the children which did eat the portion of the king’s meat.
A man is proved with bread!
This is the precedent. The figure of the true. And the precedent is the pattern of the spiritually true.
If we were to prove a man according to this pattern, we’d examine his bread. We’d prove him with his choice of bread. We’d offer him good bread or the bread of the king of Babylon. We’d attempt to learn which bread he desires/trusts. We’d present both, and watch what happens. We’d see whether he eats pure and true bread (Jesus) and grows by it (receives life), or if he eats defiled bread (leavened) gets lean (retains death).
Exodus 16:4 Then said the LORD unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no.
He said don’t leave of it until the morning, but they did.
He said don’t go out on the 7th day to gather, but they did.
A man is proved by bread.
That is how The Lord is proved. By His meat!
Malachi 3:10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
We should look at a man’s offering to the Lord. We should prove The Lord by His MEAT.
We should prove a man with his own bread. Has his bread been blessed? Has his bread given him eternal life?
Psalms 95:8-9 Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness: 9 When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work.
How was God proved? By his meat and drink. What did the people see as the result? His work! What??? So when we are proving a man we should look at his work? Well, yes. But, what work?
His work was bringing forth bread from heaven. His work was bringing forth water out of a rock.
When they tried God, they saw His work: His meat and His drink.
Of course, that manna in the wilderness was not the true meat and drink,
John 6:32 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven.
But we now have the true:
John 6:35-58 And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. … 55 For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. … 58 … he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever.
This is the bread, the meat, the drink that one should be proved by.
Prove yourselves with THAT work, with THAT bread. Have you eaten THAT bread? When you give others to eat, is it of THAT bread?
When you give others to drink of your water, do they thirst again?
When others eat of your bread, do they hunger again? Shall they live for ever? Or maybe not???
“I trust that ye shall know that we are not reprobates.” How do we know ourselves? By meat and drink.
1 Corinthians 10:4 And [Israel] did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.
That is how God was proved. And it’s the same for us. We prove ourselves by that same work: by bringing forth water out of a Rock. Can you do that?? Can you? … Speak to the rock.
A man is to be proved by the bread that he eats. By the water that comes out of his well.
Your mouth is a well, drawing water out of your heart.
Proverbs 18:4 The words of a man’s mouth are as deep waters, and the wellspring of wisdom as a flowing brook.
The water in your well, is the DOCTRINE that comes out of your heart.
Deuteronomy 32:2 My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass:
Jesus “perceived their craftiness”, and “knew their hypocrisy”.
If you want to prove a man, pull his water out of his heart, and see what sort it be.
Matthew 15:18 But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man.
It is the source. It is the bitter water that is in your wicked heart that proves you a reprobate.
I didn’t intend to explain any of this in this lesson, but how can I not? Its difficult to thoroughly teach one thing without tying it in with all the other pieces of the greater structure. I can’t dig down deep here without digging areas close by. I may not be able to open one door for you without revealing the key to all the others.
John 6:5-6 When Jesus then lifted up his eyes, and saw a great company come unto him, he saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat? 6 And this he said to prove him: for he himself knew what he would do.
Here is how Jesus proved Philip: by bread.
Here is how you can prove a man: with a hard question about bread. Ask him where he should buy his bread. Find out where his bread comes from. Find out if his bread comes from heaven or from the earth. Find out if its pure, or if it is leavened. Does he even know there is an heavenly option??
Sep 20 2020
The Lord’s Work – Part 9
Downloadable Word document:
The Lord’s Work – Part 9
The Lord’s Work – Part 9
Prove yourself
Now back to 2 Cor. 13:
2 Corinthians 13:5 Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, …
How can you prove your own self that you are not a reprobate and your works are not fake??
What does it mean to prove one’s self? What does it mean to prove a person?
Psalms 26:2 Examine me, O LORD, and prove me…
To examine, to try, to inspect, to test.
Pass (proven and approved) or fail (proven and disapproved).
1st instance of “prove” in the Bible:
Genesis 42:15-16 Hereby ye shall be proved: By the life of Pharaoh ye shall not go forth hence, except your youngest brother come hither. 16 Send one of you, and let him fetch your brother, and ye shall be kept in prison, that your words may be proved, whether there be any truth in you: or else by the life of Pharaoh surely ye are spies.
To prove them was to try them. To determine if they were true men, or liars (FAKE). Were they full of truth or deceit?
Proving someone is testing them to know who they are. To know if what they say they are (true men/Christians) is true or false.
A man is proved by proving his words, whether they are true or false. If there is deceit in them, then surely he is a spy.
If a man presents himself as a Christian, he is one of two things, true or a spy.
“prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, …” How??
Spy/spies – 25 times in the OT, but only 3 times in the NT.
Luke 20:20 And they watched him, and sent forth spies, which should feign themselves just men, that they might take hold of his words, that so they might deliver him unto the power and authority of the governor.
Who is a true man and who are spies today? Those that feign themselves just men.
This is what spies (the unsaved) are: FAKE just men. We should prove ourselves to find out if we are true just men, or fake!
You say, “Oh I get it, so we should watch our words and our actions to see what we and other people do! And if we say and do bad things, then we are spies!” No! I’m not giving you more ammo to do what you’ve been doing your whole life: judging based on works. Don’t watch their works.
Spies don’t say and do bad things. Spies assimilate. Spies are very skilled, very subtle liars.
Jesus “perceived their craftiness”, and “knew their hypocrisy”.
You won’t know based on works. Works are the very thing they use to fool you!
Galatians 2:4 And that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage:
A true man does not take away liberty and bring men into the bondage of the law. That is the exact opposite of what a true man does. A spy looks to see what he can take away. A spy takes away liberty and bring others into bondage.
We should prove ourselves, and we should prove others (especially our teachers) to be either true men, or false brethren. Believers or unbelievers. Real Christians or Reprobates (Fakes).
Deuteronomy 8:2 And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.
The Lord proved Israel in order to know, not what they did, but what they would do (good or evil – obey or disobey) by trying their heart… to know what was in their heart (obedience or disobedience).
The Lord tries (and will try) a man’s heart. Pulling out (manifesting) what is in a man’s heart (their fruit) is how we prove a man. We need to see whether there is any truth in you. Not if you can say a true thing. Is there truth in you?
What a man truly is, and what a man has, and subsequently what he does and says, proceeds from his heart. You’ve got to try the heart, to know the person. Otherwise, you will not know whether they are true men, or spies – reprobates!
Psalms 26:2 Examine me, O LORD, and prove me; try my reins and my heart.
To prove a man is to try, test, examine his heart. To know what is in his heart.
We need to get to the source!
2 Chronicles 32:31 Howbeit in the business of the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, who sent unto him [King Hezekiah] to enquire of the wonder that was done in the land, God left him, to try him, that he might know all that was in his heart.
Psalms 66:10 For thou, O God, hast proved us: thou hast tried us, as silver is tried.
Proverbs 17:3 The fining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold: but the LORD trieth the hearts.
The Lord is going to try your heart. And He is going to try it with FIRE, to know all that is in it. To see what sort your work is. Whether it be good silver, or it be reprobate silver.
You better prove/try it first. You better know all that is in it, what comes out of it, and of what sort it be.
Psalms 139:23-24 Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: 24 And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
If he finds wickedness in your heart, then you will be judged as a spy (wicked).
If the Lord tries (proves) your heart and finds ANYthing evil in it, you will be disapproved, and not approved. You will be found a spy, a reprobate!
You need to have a heart with NO evil in it.
Psalms 17:3 Thou hast proved mine heart; thou hast visited me in the night; thou hast tried me, and shalt find nothing; I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress.
I don’t think this is David in the flesh (liar, adulterer, and murderer just like all men) talking. This is David in Spirit. This is Jesus Christ speaking.
You need to have His heart. You need to be given a new heart from Him.
This is what we are examining… the sort and contents of the heart!
2 Corinthians 13:5 Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, …
So how do we prove (try) a person? How do we search, try, test his heart as silver and gold? How do we draw out what is in it? How do we prove it, to see which sort it be?
.
.
.
1 Kings 10:1 And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the LORD, she came to prove him with hard questions.
You need to be proven (prove yourself) with hard questions! We have 2 we like to ask.
“Who are you to ask me that? I don’t have to answer to you”, they say! Why are they so offended?
Because it’s a hard question, and they don’t have the answers.
If you fail those hard questions, you have manifested yourself as a reprobate. Just like reprobate SILVER.
Psalms 66:10 For thou, O God, hast proved us: thou hast tried us, as silver is tried.
How is silver tried… Silver is tried in a furnace with FIRE of course. So how do we try the heart? With FIRE, of course!!
The word of God is that fire.
Jeremiah 23:29 Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?
Want to know if one’s heart is good silver or reprobate? Put fire to it!
Want to know if one’s heart is good ground or stony ground? Take a hammer to it!
Try them with FIRE. Prove a man, with FIRE.
Jeremiah 5:14 Wherefore thus saith the LORD God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.
Jeremiah 20:9 Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.
Man’s spirit is a candle. Which sort of oil do you have? Which fire burns within you?
Either that light is inside a man’s heart, burning with oil.
Test them with the Lord’s fire, and see if they consume or they abide.
Hebrews 12:29 For our God is a consuming fire.
Test them with the Lord’s wrath, and see if they abide, or they die.
Ezekiel 22:21 Yea, I will gather you, and blow upon you in the fire of my wrath, and ye shall be melted in the midst thereof.
Our questions are hard questions of the Lord’s wrath.
Prove yourself (and others), whether ye be true men or spies/reprobates, with hard questions of the word of God.
This is not new. This is not unprecedented. In the OT, there was the precedent of this.
Daniel 1:12-15 Prove thy servants, I beseech thee, ten days; and let them give us pulse to eat, and water to drink. 13 Then let our countenances be looked upon before thee, and the countenance of the children that eat of the portion of the king’s meat: and as thou seest, deal with thy servants. 14 So he consented to them in this matter, and proved them ten days. 15 And at the end of ten days their countenances appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the children which did eat the portion of the king’s meat.
A man is proved with bread!
This is the precedent. The figure of the true. And the precedent is the pattern of the spiritually true.
If we were to prove a man according to this pattern, we’d examine his bread. We’d prove him with his choice of bread. We’d offer him good bread or the bread of the king of Babylon. We’d attempt to learn which bread he desires/trusts. We’d present both, and watch what happens. We’d see whether he eats pure and true bread (Jesus) and grows by it (receives life), or if he eats defiled bread (leavened) gets lean (retains death).
Exodus 16:4 Then said the LORD unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no.
He said don’t leave of it until the morning, but they did.
He said don’t go out on the 7th day to gather, but they did.
A man is proved by bread.
That is how The Lord is proved. By His meat!
Malachi 3:10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
We should look at a man’s offering to the Lord. We should prove The Lord by His MEAT.
We should prove a man with his own bread. Has his bread been blessed? Has his bread given him eternal life?
Psalms 95:8-9 Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness: 9 When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work.
How was God proved? By his meat and drink. What did the people see as the result? His work! What??? So when we are proving a man we should look at his work? Well, yes. But, what work?
His work was bringing forth bread from heaven. His work was bringing forth water out of a rock.
When they tried God, they saw His work: His meat and His drink.
Of course, that manna in the wilderness was not the true meat and drink,
John 6:32 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven.
But we now have the true:
John 6:35-58 And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. … 55 For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. … 58 … he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever.
This is the bread, the meat, the drink that one should be proved by.
Prove yourselves with THAT work, with THAT bread. Have you eaten THAT bread? When you give others to eat, is it of THAT bread?
When you give others to drink of your water, do they thirst again?
When others eat of your bread, do they hunger again? Shall they live for ever? Or maybe not???
“I trust that ye shall know that we are not reprobates.” How do we know ourselves? By meat and drink.
1 Corinthians 10:4 And [Israel] did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.
That is how God was proved. And it’s the same for us. We prove ourselves by that same work: by bringing forth water out of a Rock. Can you do that?? Can you? … Speak to the rock.
A man is to be proved by the bread that he eats. By the water that comes out of his well.
Your mouth is a well, drawing water out of your heart.
Proverbs 18:4 The words of a man’s mouth are as deep waters, and the wellspring of wisdom as a flowing brook.
The water in your well, is the DOCTRINE that comes out of your heart.
Deuteronomy 32:2 My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass:
Jesus “perceived their craftiness”, and “knew their hypocrisy”.
If you want to prove a man, pull his water out of his heart, and see what sort it be.
Matthew 15:18 But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man.
It is the source. It is the bitter water that is in your wicked heart that proves you a reprobate.
I didn’t intend to explain any of this in this lesson, but how can I not? Its difficult to thoroughly teach one thing without tying it in with all the other pieces of the greater structure. I can’t dig down deep here without digging areas close by. I may not be able to open one door for you without revealing the key to all the others.
John 6:5-6 When Jesus then lifted up his eyes, and saw a great company come unto him, he saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat? 6 And this he said to prove him: for he himself knew what he would do.
Here is how Jesus proved Philip: by bread.
Here is how you can prove a man: with a hard question about bread. Ask him where he should buy his bread. Find out where his bread comes from. Find out if his bread comes from heaven or from the earth. Find out if its pure, or if it is leavened. Does he even know there is an heavenly option??
By Pastor • Individual Lessons, Salvation • 0