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{The Application
Application for the Godly
The Right Performance of Holy Duties
Directions for the Duty of Self-Examination}
The third special duty I will direct you in is that of self-examination.
In order to carry on in a holy course it is very useful to know our state. There are two reasons for this. First, by the knowledge of our state we will better know what work we must do. When we know what we are we will know better what we have to do. If the question is, “What must I do to be saved?” then the answer to that will depend on another question: “How far have I come already?” Am I converted or unconverted, in a state of sin or in a state of grace? Let that question be answered first, and the answer to the other will be easy.
Second, by the knowledge of this, that we are in a good state, we will have much encouragement to hasten on. Assurance will enliven and encourage us on in the way of holiness. Those who affirm that the doctrine of assurance is a licentious doctrine and that it serves for nothing but to maintain people in a loose, lazy, and idle life, understand neither what they say nor what they affirm. It is the same as if they asserted that the more assurance a person has of the love of God, the less he will love God, or that the more he loves God, the less care he will take to serve or please Him. Those who know no other motive to duty but fear may preach such doctrine. But those who have found the enlivening and constraining power of love must lay down both their reason and sense before they can believe it.
The way to know ourselves is to search and examine ourselves. “Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified” (2 Corinthians 13:5 NKJV).
Now, to help you in this duty of self-examination, I will give you these two directions. First, before examining yourselves by any marks or signs, examine your standards by which you would try yourselves. If you would test yourselves as to whether you have true grace or not by any mark that is proposed, examine that standard by the Scriptures to see if it is a certain and infallible sign of grace. You may thus be bold to conclude that if you can find this mark in you, you are undoubtedly in the state of grace. This is a valid mark of true grace: whoever has it has grace and whoever does not have it does not have grace. However, if you take something for a mark of true grace, but which mark is common to both saints and sinners, you may think you have grace when you have none. And if you would try yourselves by a mark that is characteristic of saints, but not common to all saints, you might think you have no grace when you actually do have grace. This mistake may cause you to lose peace, but the former mistake may cause you to lose your soul. Therefore, Christians, be wary here; try your marks before you try yourselves by them.
Second, let the topic of your inquiry be:
Whether you have gotten into the way of life or not. That is, whether you were translated out of a state of sin and death into a state of grace and salvation. And if so, then …
Whether you are in a thriving and flourishing state or in a languishing and decayed state.
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