Examine Yourself Regularly

Have you examined yourself? Every year before Passover, we tend to hear a passage of Scripture pop out, and we think, well, this is the season to examine ourselves, because the Apostle Paul speaks about examining ourselves, and he was speaking to the Church at Corinth about their Passover observance. So let me ask you a question. Have you examined yourself? When? Did you examine yourself? Why? Maybe a better question is, how? Anybody ever tell you how to examine yourself? How often? Is it a one-time-a-year pre-Passover examination? You sort of get that annual certificate of good to go, and we'll do that again next year. Examine yourselves is a phrase used by the Apostle Paul. It's only stated one time in the Bible, in the plural. Examine yourselves. Let's go to 2 Corinthians 13, verse 1. I want to give you the context, right? The context here. So in 2 Corinthians 13, verse 1, Paul says, this will be the third time that I am coming to you. If we sort of back up in time, the Apostle Paul here had spent quite an amount of time building up, raising up the church at Corinth. And then he had left the area, and some three years later he wrote 1 Corinthians to them, and then later on now he's writing 2 Corinthians to them. So here it says, this will be the third time I'm coming to you. And he says here in verse 4, For though Christ was crucified in weakness, yet he lives in the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but we shall live with him by the power of God toward you. Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. See, this is the plural, examine yourselves. He's talking to the Corinthian church. Something is happening here that the Apostle Paul is challenging them throughout the epistle of 2 Corinthians to get back to becoming real church members. They had drifted, you see, they were drifting. And throughout the the second book of Corinthians you'll find that he's even needing to convince them he's an Apostle. They have become so smart in their own eyes. They have drifted to the point where he says, examine yourselves as to whether you're in the faith. Something was amiss with that congregation, and the whole congregation didn't realize it.

You know, there was a congregation, and all congregations can be like this, where you're a bit insulated, and the people in that congregation, they're friends or they share or there's kind of a mindset that goes around. And this congregation, sort of like the congregation in the wilderness, Israelites, they were led by God, right? They were baptized in the Red Sea, but how did they themselves conduct themselves? At some point, God declared that that congregation in the wilderness was not his congregation, and they would all die there. The Apostle Paul is raising an important question here. How did you get so far off on off track from where you started, from when you were baptized, when this is a congregation that was growing? How did you there in Corinth, with your, if you've ever been in Corinth, in the archaeological site, and you see the various religious sites and the things that were going on there, how did you sort of get into a mindset that takes you to this place? They thought their congregation was exceptional, and we can do that ourselves. We can think that we, as whatever group we're in, whatever clique we're in, whatever, you know, friend set we have, or even a congregation in the church that's influenced by society around it, that's influenced by politics, influenced by news or whatever types of influence, or those who are well off and well educated. You see, all those things can come in to where a congregation can feel it's exceptional and feel that it spiritually must be really strong.

We see Jesus Christ evaluating seven churches and giving us, if we have ears to hear, messages about how exceptional we can feel in our own eyes, and yet in his eyes to find out we need to examine ourselves. Is there anything about your congregation that you don't realize you just take for granted? You know, Jesus even said there'll be false teachers in his church, right? False apostles. Do we need to pay attention and examine from God's Word and using his Spirit and test not only false teachers and sort of crowds or groups, but individually our own minds?

Is there anything amiss in your and my personal life that we don't realize? Now, how would we know? Well, you know by performing an examination. Let's examine today Bible passages that state examine yourselves or examine yourself and look at the context of those. We're going to see how vital examination is to our salvation, both before the Passover or throughout the year or throughout our ever-changing lives as we go through the various phases of life. The title is examine yourself regularly. Examine yourself regularly. Now, this isn't probably the most exciting topic to think about, about examining ourselves, but it's probably the most important one to think about. If you don't think so, consider how would you pray daily for God to forgive you your sins as you forgive others their sins if you don't know you have any sins?

Do we just sort of say, well, if I have some, let me know. Oh, no, forgive them. Don't let me know.

Would we ask God for correction? Ooh, no, not really. We ask Him for blessings. We ask Him for stuff. We ask Him for healing, but what does God really want from us? He wants holy, righteous character. He wants perfection. He wants us to be like Christ. And how would we know if we are achieving that? If we don't ask for His help, recognize the faults that we have, clean those up, repent of them, be forgiven of them, and move forward.

Now, let's talk about life for just a moment. You probably think that your life is pretty static. You are who you are. You've been who you've been. You're all cleaned up. You're good to go. Life isn't like that at all. Life is an ever-progressing experience. You have been progressing and continue to progress through various stages of development. Consider this, that we were all once a fetus. A fetus is that which is in a mother's tummy until it comes out. And we had a certain amount of development there. Once we were born, the first year of life is called a baby or an infant. That's year one outside. And a baby goes through a very different stage once it's born, once it's outside in that first year. It grows. It develops. And then we enter the next phase, which is called a toddler. That's from age one through age three. Age one to age three. And you know, the terrible twos are in there. There's quite a bit of development going on. There's quite a bit of change. And then childhood. Childhood runs from age three to age eight. You know, those very formative years and the beginning of education, you leave home for most of your day and you're with some other group of people in school. You begin to get educated. And then you have middle childhood. That phase is from ages eight through eleven. And again, you begin to take on more autonomy, as it were, a little bit more than you did in those early years. You're beginning to do a few more things, be educated a little bit more, take on some other responsibilities, some chores. You're beginning to grow up. And then you come through adolescence, the 12 through 18 years. Your body changes. You shoot up like a rocket at some point. You go through those developmental processes that your hormones change and your thoughts change and your abilities change. Everything changes through there. Then from 18 and above, you reach adulthood.

Adulthood. Finally, I'm an adult. At age 18, legally, in this country at least, you're an adult.

Surprisingly, at age 45, you enter middle age. Ready or not? Age 45 through 64 is considered middle age. Hang on to that because at 65, you are elderly. You ever wonder when you turn elderly, age 65 is officially elderly. The National Institutes of Health defines elderly in multiple categories, believe it or not. You're not just, you know, elderly at 65. You're actually younger old, elderly. It's the younger old phase from 65 to 74.

If you want to feel young again, well, among that peer group, you're younger old. At age 75, however, you're considered middle old until you're age 84.

At age 85, you are oldest old. At 85 and above, you're oldest old. But wait! We have some more terms for you. In that group, of course, you're an octogenarian if you're in your 80s. In your 90s, you're nonogenarians. Sounds like non, but I think it's nonogenarians, the nona referring to the number nine or 90. In the hundreds, you're centenarians. But wait! If and when you get to your 110s, you are super-centenarians.

In the news in recent weeks, there was a lady in Europe who was, I believe, 123 years old, born, I believe, in 1899 and still living right here with us in this year, 1899. There was no term that I found for if you're in your 120s. But nevertheless, when you think of her life, I was thinking of her life this morning. Born in the 1800s, there was no electricity yet. Where she lived. There was no cars, no public transportation as we would know it. What a life to live all the way to today and think of not only the things that changed around, but think of the societal changes and the impressions on her mind that she went through. And also, as she matured and went through life, all the different thoughts and patterns of life that she had. The point is, our growth, our development, our thoughts, our desires, these are constantly changing. They're never static. But what are they changing into? The answer to that question can only be known through examination. You know, this Bible has a record from beginning of end of people changing. Adam and Eve in the garden with God and then, Jake, what about some of the changes that have been made? See, there are always changes, but really this biblical record shows that people tend to, people of God tend to change away from God. People of God growing closer to God is not the biblical model. We just saw this with the Corinthian church, for instance. And you could probably look at many other things that come to mind in Scripture, both the Old Testament and the New Testament. People tend to change away from God. And so, with such a great calling that we have, such a great opportunity to be in the family of God now, the sons and daughters of God, to ultimately reign with Christ, to be one of the five wise virgins in that parable, one of the sheep, not the goats, one of those who have maximized that investment God has made in them and produced five or ten times. The opportunity is there, and God wants that for you and me. However, there are many distractions, and there are some group sort of shifts that people will feel comfortable with as long as it's in a group or with a certain human being that they say, oh, I'm with that human being, so I will go along with that. Or they'll just get all full of themselves and say, oh, I'm just smarter than everybody else, so I'll just go with me. So we have to realize that those changes are not always positive changes.

An ongoing change that we are going through in life in this winding, narrow, difficult road, just right there, tells you about changes. Are our changes what God wants? Can we ask what Paul said to the Corinthian church as a congregation when he says in verse 5, examine yourselves, plural, as to whether you're in the faith.

We could look at individually then, examine yourself within that group, am I in the faith? Am I really in the faith? Am I growing in that direction? That's a good question. We certainly have been in the faith. Israel was certainly being led by God. David was led by God and called by God. But what did he tend to do in his life? What did Solomon, who was placed by God as the king and given the temple, what was his tendency? What were the disciples' tendency? What was the churches as they were called and all the people that came in over the period of the New Testament time? What was the tendency of those vibrant individuals that God put his spirit in? So we have been in the faith, but are we growing deeper in it or growing away from it? Let's see ongoing change taking place at the church in Corinth. If we go back to 1 Corinthians chapter 1—get a little bit of history here—1 Corinthians chapter 1. Look at verse 4. After his introduction, Paul says, I think my God always concerning you for the grace or the divine gifts that God, which was given to you by Jesus Christ—they have been given all of these things—that you were enriched in everything by him in all utterance and all knowledge, even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you, so that you come short in no gift, eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will also confirm you to the end that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ, our Lord. That's where they began. Now three years later, Paul is writing this epistle, probably three years after he had left them. He's now, I believe, writing from Ephesus, and he is writing to them, and he's saying, here's where you started. Here's where you started.

If we look down in verse 11, for it has been declared to me concerning you, my brethren, by those of Chloe's household, that there are contentions among you. Hmm. Things have deteriorated here. Instead of all of this about God the Father, Jesus Christ, led by Christ, enriched in everything by him with all knowledge, you shifted to people. Verse 12, I say that each of you says, I am of Paul, I am of Apollos, I am of Cephas, or Peter, or I am of Christ. Whoa. So now he begins to get into some things here that are a little off base. Chapter 2 and verse 5, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. How did you change to where your faith is in the wisdom of these men? Paul and Peter, whoever. We look down to chapter 4 and verse 6. Now these things, brethren, I have figuratively transferred to myself and Apollos for your sakes that you may learn in us not to think beyond what is written. Don't go beyond what is written in the Bible. Don't say, oh, I'm going to do more, I'm going to think more, that none of you may be puffed up on behalf of one against the other.

In verse 18, now some are puffed up as though I were not coming to you, but I will come to you shortly if the Lord wills, and I will know not the word of those who are puffed up, but the power, for the kingdom of God is not in word but in power. What do you want? Shall I come to you with a rod or in love and a gentle spirit? This congregation is growing, yes, but it doesn't seem to be growing strongly in what God wants them to. We can grow into tangents. We can grow into personal ideas. We can grow off into splinter groups or into men admirers. We can look at human beings and latch onto them. Some form of churches around a single individual, like they're something great. Something great. We need to do as Paul says and focus on Jesus Christ. We need to get away from ourselves as the knowledgeable one. Go back to chapter 1 and find out that, oh, this knowledge came to us of Christ, of God. Paul here says, I don't want to know about all of these individuals. I just want to know Christ and Him crucified.

In chapter 3 and verse 3, he says of the congregation, For you are still carnal, for where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men? This congregation thought it was doing great.

For when one says, I am Paul and another of Apollos, are you not carnal?

In verse 11, For no other foundation can any one lay than that which is laid, which is Christ Jesus, the Messiah Joshua. That, the Apostle Paul, brings this congregation back to. In the beginning, God was with man. God directed Adam. God directed the Israelites. Jesus Christ came. He directed. He's the head of the church. And so, there are these other growth things that we do. We can kind of grow into sort of a political alliance almost with some elements, either in the church or with society or with a certain news channel or with a certain, I don't know, podcast person. And we begin, you see, we begin to buy into that individual. What about God? What about Christ? And we can begin to get full of ourselves as it is.

When a congregation or person here is puffed up, if you notice the word in the margin from puffed up, it is, it says arrogant. Arrogant. The Apostle Paul is the only one who uses the term puffed up in the New King James Version. That's the way it's translated. And it comes from the Greek word fusio. Fusio. And it's only used in 1 Corinthians, the book of 1 Corinthians, and one other place. That's Colossians 2. Let's go to Colossians 2 just to see his other use of it to the church at Colossae. Colossians chapter 2 verse 18 and 19.

He says, let no one cheat you out of your reward. That what you see, change you into something, and we would not have that reward. Taking delight in false humidity and worship of angels, including those things which he has not seen, notice, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind.

In examining ourselves, this is a good thing, especially as we're coming up to the Feast of Unleavened Bread each year. Good reminder to examine myself and see if I'm puffed up in my fleshly mind. Again, that word would come over to being arrogant. The word arrogant in English means exaggerated self-importance and abilities.

Exaggerated self-importance and abilities. You know, I know best. I'm smarter. I've got this worked out. I know what I'm doing. I know how things are. You know, I'm exaggerating this a little bit, but we all are human and we all do this, and it's good for us to examine ourselves to see. Is it Christ that I'm really following and looking to, or have I come to the place like Eve? I'm growing here. I'm seeing other opportunities. I'm seeing other ways. I'm seeing myself. I'm seeing opportunities for self. I want to be like a god, knowing good and evil. I'm smart. I look at some of these other people and compare myself. You know, you know how it goes. And we can all do that. Male, female, young, old. In all of our growth phases, it's easy. Just ask a two-year-old. You know, it's easy to think that I know best and become arrogant.

Reminds me of Hottie here. He's a real Hottie. You know how we like bread. Bread is, oh, get you by the smell, right? Hot bread, ah, right out of the oven. That's the best, right? That's why he likes to be called Hottie. He doesn't realize it's spelled H-A-U-G-H-T-Y, but he thinks he's real hot. Okay, now, what's different about Hottie and a little cracker humble on leaven bread? What's the difference? Well, actually, the only difference is gas, because wheat bread and on leaven wheat bread is exactly the same thing sans gas. So, Hottie here is really all puffed up, isn't he? But he's nothing more than this.

If we go to grow in self-confidence, do we have any more than somebody who is humble and trusting God, or do we actually have something less? Funny thing about leaven bread is it is actually corrupted. It has actually taken this, and the yeast has gone in and putrified the wheat, putrified it and made it. Well, it kind of goes through and ingests it and then excretes a putrified kind of tangy substance that we would say is sour, we call it sour bread. A naturally fermented bread would tend to be that way. So, they're not the same. One is actually corrupted, and we kind of have gotten a love for that. You know, you really like that little bit of bitterness and the tanginess. We've gone away from the sweet. You know, if you look in the Old Testament, whenever you see the words unleavened bread or feast of unleavened bread, there's no Hebrew word there for bread or unleavened. It's rather the Hebrew word meaning craving sweetness. It's about sweetness, right? This is uncorrupted, and it has a sweetness to it. And the Hebrew words are kind of emotional words, and they speak to things through a very descriptive way. So, when we say the days of unleavened bread, we might as well be saying the days of craving sweetness, of craving the real bread, the uncorrupted, that which is not full of gas and corrupted and changed into something else, and it's just haughty and trying to sell itself through smells and all this stuff. But it has no more nutritional value than this. In fact, this is going to mold in about a week. This will never mold. Okay? So it's an everlasting nutrition.

So, when we think of, then, this self-confident, exaggerating feeling of self-importance, we can see in Revelation 2 and 3, for instance, these are elements of the church at Laodicea. Well, what a great church we are! We are working in the financial area. We're rich. We've got water coming in from various places. We're good. We are in need of nothing. And yet, Jesus said, you are poor, blind, miserable, naked. In fact, I'm about to vomit you out of the body of Christ. Just spew you out. They would not know that unless they had an examination. He gave them an examination, or He gives us an examination, because that's partly us. Those are seven lessons, and that one involves us. But we won't know that unless we are examined. If you look at Ephesus and Thyatira and Sardis, you know, He examined those churches. And yes, they're churches. They're the true church of God. But one was ready to die. The others had drifted off, some into various other types of worship, or brought in some elements of false religion and elements of society around them. In 1 Corinthians chapter 5 now, if we look in verse 1, 1 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 1, it is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you. This pillar of a church in Corinth, probably about, I don't know, 40 miles from Athens, this church was in a city that was so great, they even carved a, right through the bedrock, they carved a long canal from over at Athens so that you didn't have to sail around the bottom of Greece to get to it. You could just cut right through. What a great trading route to Athens, right to Corinth. I mean, it's just, they were just great. Now, what we see here in chapter 5 is there is, there are things here not even named among the Gentiles. Verse 2, and you are puffed up as a congregation. You are accepting that you're puffed up. You should rather have mourned in, in verse 4, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. You need to be told this strongly. When you are gathered together along with my spirit, which is with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, deliver such a one to Satan. Wow.

Verse 6, your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?

You know, a little leaven, this glory, self-glorying, has puffed you up.

We need to look at that in chapter 10 and verse 1. Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be aware that our fathers all were under the cloud and passed through the sea. What a great event! Wow. That was just spectacular. To go through the sea at night, lit by light and who knows what they may have seen down under the ocean. About, I don't know, three, four thousand years before scuba diving was invented and anybody could actually go down there. So they went through the sea. They ate the same spiritual food. They drank the same spiritual drink. They drank of that spiritual rock that followed them. The rock was Jesus Christ. Great. They're in the church. Verse 5, but with most of them, almost all of them, God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. Now these became our examples to the extent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted.

So when we then examine ourselves, we are told here some things.

First of all, do not become idolaters. It doesn't just mean making a little idol. They didn't probably have many idols with them, but they made themselves the one who was directing. They decided. They wanted. So idolatry just means replacing God. Don't let anything or anyone come before God in your life. Nor let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them did. Verse 9, nor let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted and were destroyed by serpents. Verse 10, nor complain, as some of them also complained and were destroyed by the destroyer.

In verse 11, now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. Therefore, here it is, let him who thinks he stands examine himself or take heed lest he fall. We can be in that place where we think we're just ready to go and we can fall.

So this is an important thing for us to consider in life as we grow through various not only physical and mental changes, but also through various stages of society around us and the influence that that brings upon us. We need to come out of the society, detach from the society, really come to know God and follow God and be led by his Holy Spirit. We have a need to examine ourselves as we see in verse 13. No temptation has overcome you, such as common to man. We are tempted on all sides. We need to examine that and see what effect it's having on us. Examination involves yourself and who you keep company with, either in person or in your social sphere or in your entertainment sphere or in your work sphere, your school sphere, your congregational sphere. We can be tempted to step aside or follow another type of reasoning other than Jesus Christ.

Ask yourself before each gathering of live people or what you're going to see on television or books or social media or what you're seeing on the internet, what you're hearing or going to hear from news commentators, will that person's mindset improve my holy righteous character?

Or will that person's mindset diminish it? And if we don't examine that before we launch into it, we're going to be affected in non-constructive ways. I'll give you an example. In my opinion, one of the worst things I have seen in church arrogance sprung up during the last, say, three years. You might call it during the COVID time or during the political times in the United States. Influencers in the news largely promoted the end-time mindset that we see in 2 Timothy. Let's read this, 2 Timothy chapter 3 and verse 1. They promoted this among church members, and I saw too many church members dive in and take parts of this mindset on. 2 Timothy chapter 3 and verse 1.

1 Timothy chapter 3 and verse 1. 2 Timothy chapter 3 and verse 1. But know this in the last days, in the last days which we feel that we are either nearing or in, dangerous times will come, for men will be lovers of themselves. Notice down here, verse 3.

These boasters in verse 2 and proud, verse 3, are slanderers without self-control, despisers of good, headstrong, haughty. Hmm. See any of that in the last three years, in the news and society around? People just came unglued. They decided how things were. There were commentators on television saying, well, this is how it is and we're not taking it. Turns out some of those commentators were actually lying and have been found by their written text that they knew they were writing, but it made money for that particular station. But nevertheless, we saw within our congregations, individuals who had been friends for life split up now because they had competing views, and they weren't going to take it anymore, and they weren't going to do this, and they weren't going to do that, and they didn't care about this, or they didn't care about that.

In came this mindset of proud, unthankful, unloving, slandering authorities without self-control, despisers of good, headstrong, haughty.

It happens to us, brethren. We grow, and I hope that we have not grown into a new phase to where we can't see, even before Passover, we can't see in our daily life, the need to get unpuffed and go back to what Jesus Christ said and go back to thinking and doing what Jesus Christ said for us to do. I may feel that I'm in the faith and I'm spiritually sound, but when we look in Revelation 3, verse 16, Jesus says, Jesus says to His church, Jesus says to His church, so then because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of my mouth, because you say, I am rich, I have become wealthy, I am in need of nothing, and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. Verse 19, As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten, therefore be zealous and repent. So what Jesus wants us to do is examine ourselves, and certainly in advance of the Passover, to cleanse and get things out of our minds, get actions and thoughts and deeds reoriented back to Him, reoriented back to what the Bible teaches. And that is not just a once-a-year thing, but that's a daily thing. It's in the model prayer outline. It's daily as we're led by the Spirit of God. It's whenever we need to fast and humble ourselves, you know, to de-gasp and get back to, you know, who we really are and what we really can be.

I'd like to come back to 1 Corinthians chapter 10 in verse 19. 1 Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 9. So we continue on here with the Corinthian church. Let's notice the context. They had succumbed to temptations.

Nor—it says here, nor let us tempt Christ as some of them also tempted and were destroyed by serpents, nor complain. Okay. So when we look at this now, they feel that they are God's people as Israelites, and they are tempted. Some like to say, well, test a trial. Who is there to test and try them? The Egyptians were dead in the Red Sea.

They're out there by themselves in the wilderness with God. Okay. They're destroyed by serpents, nor complain as some of them complained. So we begin to look at this now.

Now let's drop down to verse 13. No temptation has overtaken you, such as is common to man. There are a lot of temptations. Remember, Israel was out there by themselves. They didn't have some great trial brought on by the Philistines or somebody yet.

No temptation has overcome you, except such as is common to man. All these influences, all these opportunities, all these temptations that Satan might want you to follow is common. But God is faithful who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able. But with the temptation will also make the way of escape that you may be able to handle it. Why? Because you have the Holy Spirit. Jesus was tempted in all things, and yet without sin. He's saying you can be tempted in all things without sin as well. Now notice verse 14. Therefore, because you're not going to be tempted above that which God's Holy Spirit has no power, therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. See? Didn't say flee the persecutor. There was no persecutor. Flee idolatry.

Put those temptations away. Put away those things that make you feel, you know, like doing something and growing a direction that God does not support.

If we drop down to verse 21, 21. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. Don't be tempted. Don't try to co-mingle those. You cannot partake of the Lord's table and the table of demons. He's talking here about the Passover.

Or, verse 23, do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He? Are our temptations so strong that He living in us cannot do righteousness? Put those away.

That depends. That depends on us. It doesn't depend on Him. He'll give us the armor of God. But do we put it on? That's a good thing to examine. Good thing to examine. How can examining ourselves help us grow holy righteous character and prepare us for the judgment that will come from God? Well, the answer is by participating in godly thoughts, godly deeds every day, through every change that we go through in life, never deviating from knowing what God says, depending on God, being led by God. In chapter 9, in verse 24, do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. That means we have to participate. Everyone who competes, verse 25, for the prize is temperate in all things. So that is what we need to be doing, not just sitting back and saying, oh, I hope I'm okay and I hope the kingdom comes. No, we have to be judging every thought. All the influencers in our life, we have to be selecting them and putting others away.

We need to assess ourselves and see how much Satan is encouraging us to be influenced, to be proud and elevated, puffed up.

These examinations get stronger through dedicated practice, as Paul is saying here. You run, you work, you succeed, and you can win. You can conquer. How often should we examine ourselves?

Well, again, the model prayer outline says, give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts or our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.

How can you know your sins without examining, asking God for help? And, as I mentioned, fasting. If we go to Jeremiah 17 and verse 9, we'll find that we, by ourselves, cannot know. We cannot know of and by ourselves, even through examination, what we're like without God's help.

In Jeremiah 17 and verse 9, we find that we're blind.

The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked who can know it. Because it's all about me. It's supporting me. And those people have hurt me. And, you know, and I am okay. I'm good. But everybody else hurts me. Everybody feels that way. So everybody feels like they're being hurt, and we're all sort of independent little islands of me. So we have to go and ask God. And he says in verse 10, I, the Lord, search the heart. I test the mind, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings. So God knows, Jesus Christ knows, he can help us. He is our judge. We go to 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 10. Kind of ramps it up a bit because we're not just sort of hanging around good to go. 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 10. Here's what Jesus Christ himself says. Or what Paul says about Jesus Christ. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body according to what he has done, whether good or bad. It's the same statement that God made back there in Jeremiah 17 verse 10, that he tests the heart and the mind to give to those. He can help you and me examine ourselves. Hebrews chapter 4 and verse 11. Hebrews 4 and verse 11.

Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience. For the Word of God—this is Jesus Christ, if you have a pen you might capitalize that W in the Word of God in verse 12 of Hebrews 4. The Word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even the divisions of the soul and spirit and the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. We saw him say that in Jeremiah 17.9. We just saw that in 2 Corinthians. He is the one that discerns the heart. Now continuing on, verse 13, and there is no person hidden from his sight. He's not talking about the Bible here. He's talking about Jesus Christ, the Word of God. That's his name in Revelation 19 and also in John chapter 1. There is no creature or person hidden from his sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of him to whom we must give account. This speaks just the same as Jeremiah 17.10, just the same as we read back in 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 10. So he's there to help us. He can help examine ourselves. Verse 14, seeing then that we have a high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.

In verse 15, for we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are yet without sin. So there we have it. We have this life. We're growing. We're developing, but we have temptations along the way that can lead us at any point in time. We all will continue to grow, but we can, verse 16, come boldly to the throne of grace. But we can, verse 16, come boldly to the throne of grace and obtain mercy and find favors to help in time of need. He can show us. He can help us. He can forgive us.

He can change us. God and Christ are very, very powerful tools for us, but we will continue to grow. The question is, in what am I growing? In what am I growing? In Galatians 6 and verse 7, we can be prompted to consider what we are growing in. Do not be deceived, it says. Galatians 6, verse 7, God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, that will he reap.

So Jesus knows our heart. He can help us know it, and we should know that whatever we're sowing, that's what we're going to get. Verse 8, for he who sows to the flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the spirit will of the spirit reap everlasting life.

So the examination should be able to tell us, am I sowing to my flesh? Am I sowing to me? Is it about me and my stuff and my life and my beauty and my prestige, you know, my honor, my glory? Is that what it is? Or am I sowing to the spirit of agape love for God and fellow man and joy and unity, long suffering, gentleness? So we need to examine ourselves, and pre-passover is a special time to assess the mindset that we are developing in light of the precious gift that God gave us through his Son, Jesus Christ.

Passover is not a celebration about the self. It's not a, oh, remember yourself, I remember growing up in the church. I've been in this church for over 70 years, and Passover has been a downer, because too many times people will say, oh, start thinking of yourself now.

You start examining yourself and really get yourself in your mind, and then you come to Passover crawling in the door, and you're reminded how Jesus Christ had to die because you're such a miserable, you know, human being. So there you go, there's piece number one. It's about you being miserable. Just remind yourself of that. God did not create a festival to celebrate sin. That's not what the first festival of the seven is about. God didn't create festival number one to celebrate sin or you. Passover is a celebration of Jesus Christ's sacrifice for us, pure and simple. It's a celebration of His sacrifice. It's a celebration that He delivered all humans in advance from the penalty of eternal death for sins.

Let's go to first screen these chapter 11 and verse 17. First screen is chapter 11 and verse 17. Here to this church, what was getting the Passover all messed up, He says here, now in giving these instructions, I do not praise you. Okay, this is always present, that humans will drift, okay? But now we drop down to verse 23. For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread.

Okay? So whatever your thoughts are about the Sinai or pre-Sinai covenant Passover, right, the timing of the new covenant Passover takes place on the evening of the 14th at the beginning when Jesus Christ was betrayed, right? All the next day was Passover day. The Jews were doing whatever they did. And remember, Jesus had to be buried quickly before the first day of unleavened bread or the night to be observed began. And when He had given thanks, He broken and said, take eat. This is my body which is broken for you.

Do this in remembrance of me. What an uplifting, wonderful festival to begin the Holy Day season about all of humanity having an opportunity to live forever in the divine family of God. Wow! Do this in remembrance. This is my body broken for you. In the same manner, He took the cup after supper saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood.

Again, this is new covenant. This is how we keep the Passover in the new covenant. This do as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.

For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes. Well, that's wonderful.

Remembrance of Him. Don't grow off into thinking Passover is about you. Come to Passover, in fact, not going beyond Scripture and creating drama about how much He must have gone through, and you develop that up into Jesus Christ crucifixion so you can feel, personally, some extraordinary feeling about yourself, about how bad I am, how unworthy I am, all my sins, my shortcomings, my, my, my, my, my. See? And you kind of build this into this horrible, you know, massive scene that goes beyond what Scripture says.

What about this my, my, my? Remember, you're not what the Passover is about. Jesus Christ is. And if we think it's about me and my sins, stop for a moment. Haven't you been baptized? Right? We all been baptized? What happened to baptism? Sins were washed away, gone. We stood before God sinless. And every time we ask, Father, forgive me my sins as I forgive those that sin against me, we're sinless in God's eyes. Right? Your sins are paid for, and God forgot them. Don't bring them up again. Keep working on the new ones that he shows you. You now abide in God, and God in you. You are His special treasure. Right? Special treasure is holy people, His sons, His daughters. If not, well then verse 27, therefore who eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord, and then unworthy, the word should be irreverent, not revering God. Maybe thinking of yourself or just taking it casually. Taking it in an irreverent manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. That's not you. That's not me. Right? Verse 29, for he who eats and drinks in an irreverent manner, as they were, just casually coming in and eating, eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. We discern the Lord's body. We treasure that. We appreciate that. We are so thankful for that. We want to imitate that, in fact, in being a type of a sacrifice of our time and efforts and thoughts and help for others. So yes, this time is a wonderful time, and it is through proper pre-passover examination that we can take the Passover worthy in God's eyes. Not that any of us are worthy, but in God's eyes we're counted worthy. Just like Jesus said, you know, when the end times come, be a person of prayer and a person of character so that you can be counted worthy to escape the things that are coming. It doesn't mean we are, but in God's eyes he said, that's what I wanted you to be, and that's what you are becoming. In verse 28, let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. That's where we want to be, and that's where we want to be every day with God. Every day of our life, waking up, getting on our knees, asking God for direction, examining ourselves as we go through the day, what's this, what's that, who is this, who is that, should I have this, should I not have this, what should I have, what should I do? And that examination then results in a person who in God's mind is worthy to be in his kingdom forever. So in conclusion, Jesus Christ transitioned through his life, through the changing seasons of his life, as a fetus, as an infant, and all those other things. And he did it in a perfect, godly way, and he set us a wonderful example. At his end, as a human being, he was wrapped appropriately in a clean linen cloth and put in a grave. I'd like to conclude that you and I similarly, our goal in living our daily lives is to transition as he did, and get his help to help us transition through all of life's changes. You know, the goal of our preparing for the Passover and preparing for each day to do it in a godly way is summarized in Revelation chapter 19 and verse 8. Let's conclude with this scripture, Revelation chapter 19 and verse 8. This is what we are examining ourselves, and with God's help cleaning ourselves and developing character in ourselves to become. Revelation 19 and verse 8. And to her, it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. So, brethren, let's be examining ourselves regularly.