Why We Examine Ourselves Prior to Passover

A few weeks ago, I gave a sermon which started a series in San Antonio, and the series is Going On to Perfection. In Acts 6, it lists our basic fundamental doctrines. In there, it says one of them is that we are to go on to perfection. I basically covered an overview. What does it mean to be converted? I don't really have time to go through that entire sermon. If you want access to that sermon, it's on the San Antonio website. For time's sake, I don't think you need it. I gave the second sermon today, and that's the one I think that you need, and that's the one I'm going to give here today.

I'm just going to give an overview, brief overview, of the first sermon. Then we're going to launch into the second part of that today. The word conversion means change, and in context of a church, it means to change to become exactly like Jesus Christ. And you cannot be converted unless you commit to live a godly life. Very similar to what Mr. Martin said today in the first half of the sermon.

Jesus says, Not everyone who said to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father in heaven. A converted mind is a truthful mind, and it seeks the truth. A converted mind recognizes that the church is the ground and pillar of truth. And don't worry if you don't get these down, just get the concept so that we can get into today's message.

The converted mind recognizes that the church is the ground and the pillar of the truth. The converted mind does not deceive others, and it is careful not to be deceived. The converted mind seeks the truth in the group, not alone. And I showed all of the scriptures that back this up.

Nor, in a small pocket of division, you don't break off and form your own little Bible study and think you're now the ground and pillar of truth. That is not the way the converted mind works. And if you want more details on that, go listen to the sermon. God will only accept a person to eternal life who accepts His truth. And that's just the groundwork, the beginning discussions of what it is to be converted. Today, I want to go through something that's just before Passover, that we go through every year.

And in matter of fact, I went through it last year. I went through it differently last year. Now I'm going to go through it the way some ministers have gone through it in the past, the way you've heard it, and I know you have heard it if you've been in this church area for any number of years, and yet you forget this information. And today, I want you to remember this from now on.

Because a lot of us dread the Days of Unleavened Bread. At least the time coming up to the Days of Unleavened Bread. You dread it! And I know you do, because I've been here for 20 years. But I have also dreaded it.

I've been right there with you. I know the feelings. Oh, we're supposed to examine ourselves. Oh, no! Not that again! Each year before taking the Passovers, the symbol, the bread and the wine, we're asked to examine ourselves. And notice what Paul wrote, and this is where the nervousness comes from. This is where the anxiety comes from, and partly, rightly so.

But partly, we really approach this in the wrong way. 1 Corinthians 11, verse 26. I don't know why I got my watch out. I don't really care what time it is. Did I say that out loud? 1 Corinthians 11, verse 26. For as often as you eat of this bread and drink of this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. Therefore, who eats the bread and drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner is guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord.

Don't we just dread this time of year? But we shouldn't. But let a man examine himself. And so let him eat the bread and drink the cup, for he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. We read that every year before Passover and every year we feel a bit nervous.

And yet, we have heard this sermon that I'm about to give over and over again. And we miss it! Let's not miss it this year. Let's get this down. God planned this from the beginning. Why did God plan this from the beginning? Why did God plan an annual checkup, Passover, and the Days of Unleavened Bread?

There is a seriousness and a sovereignness about Passover. But there is a very positive side also. Why does God plan this thing for you and me every year? We can often make the mistake of thinking that he wants us to be down on ourselves. Examine yourself because I am worthless, I am bad.

I'm not going to stand here and blow sunshine where it doesn't belong and say you're all good. None of us are. He who says he's without sin is a liar. Right? We are not supposed to be down on ourselves. The purpose of self-examination is not to put yourself down. That's actually trying to penalize yourself and trying to penalize yourself is trying to save yourself. You can't save yourself. You can't do it.

You don't have enough, forgive me, value to save yourself. Why are you trying to punish yourself? That is not what God is looking for. God's plan does not include children who loathe themselves. His plan is much more positive than that. Let's look at God's plan. Don't believe me?

Read it for yourself. Jeremiah, let's go back to the prophets. Way back to the beginning. Let's go to Jeremiah. This is kind of in the middle, not really at the beginning. This is when Judah was being carried off, attacked by Babylon. The prophet Jeremiah was warning them the whole time and nobody was listening to Jeremiah. In chapter 29, verse 11, he says, new living translation, for I know the plans that I have for you. He has plans. He has made plans. Passover in the days of 11, bread, are part of his plan. What do his plans contain?

Brethren, read it for yourself. I know I have plans for you, says the Lord. They are plans for good and not for disaster. To give you a what? A future and a hope. Why does God ask you to examine yourself if he doesn't want you to loathe yourself? We're going to get down to the seriousness of examining yourself in just a moment. But know that it is a positive thing. It is not something that you have to go, oh no, the Passover's coming up again.

I have to loathe myself for about a week. It's not what God's looking for. And if you're doing that, you are so missing the point and missing the growth that needs to happen. Examine yourself is not about beating yourself up. Stop doing that. God planned this season as an annual diagnostic tool.

It is a way for us to bear our own responsibilities and take our calling seriously. Let me give you some examples. If you don't maintain your car, change the oil and the other fluids, and fix the little things like when the timing is off or any little thing that isn't working, eventually your car is going to break down. If you don't do regular maintenance, your car will stop working. Then what do you have to do? Buy a whole other car. Right?

What about your health? If you ignore your health, you don't exercise, you don't eat right, you don't get a regular exam, your health will break down. In fact, you might die early. People do! If you do not regularly clean your house, for example, then the dirt, articles of clothing, trash, food, other things, they start to build up. You won't even be able to navigate through your own dwelling. But if you just do little maintenance, it doesn't matter how big or small your house is, it'll be a nice place to live. Passover and examining yourself is the same thing!

From a spiritual point of view, it is a diagnostic tool. What's missing? What isn't working? What needs to be working better? I need to be getting on these things because God has a plan. And that plan is for my good. It is for your good. It is so that we have a future and a hope. Hey, guess what?

That's a good thing! That's not a bad thing. Self-loathing, self-loathing gets in the way of that. Self-examination is not self-loathing. It's an honest look at what's missing and what's wrong, so that things can get better. You don't loathe your car because you notice the tires are low or it's missing oil. You add oil or air. And yet, every year during Passover, we loathe ourselves.

Oh, I did that same sin over and over again. Here I am again. I'm doing the same thing. Woe is me. I'm so bad. And you're really thinking in the back of your mind, God wants me to do this, so I'm going to do it. No, He doesn't. No, He doesn't. He wants us to honestly look at where we are so that we can cooperate with Him to fix us.

Notice I didn't say so that we can fix ourselves. We'll get to that in a minute. If you examine your car, you find something wrong. What do you do? You fix it. If you examine your health, you find something wrong.

What do you do? You fix it. If you examine your house, you find something out of place, you put it back in place. If you find something missing, you replace it. The same with our spiritual life. God has planned for us to examine your spiritual walk with Him, together you and Him, regularly. This is not a short period of time where God expects you to do some kind of a pinnit sting.

And yet we read that Scripture in 1 Corinthians 11, and we want to be extra careful that we're taking the cup in a worthy manner so we loathe ourselves. You're getting in the way of what God wants you to do, and you are actually wasting your time. I'm not trying to be harsh. I'm actually trying to help. God puts a load on you and me, and it's the load He puts on us that He expects us to carry. We put a load on ourselves. As the Apostle Paul said, there's a godly sorrow, and there's worldly sorrow. Worldly sorrow does not lead to salvation.

And yet, when we get anxious and nervous about the Days of 11 bread, and when we get anxious and nervous about examining ourselves, we're actually using worldly sorrow. We're not using God's version of sorrow, God's version of repentance. We're actually harming, getting in the way of God and harming ourselves.

But we do have a load, and it's that load that God puts on us that He expects us to carry. He doesn't ever give us more than we can handle, but He does expect you to bear your load. Galatians 6, verse 5. We'll come back to this in a little bit, but for right now, let's just read verse 5. And it says, For each one shall bear his own load. When it comes to salvation, you and I are on our own, not our spouse and not our family. And it is rather warm in here. Feel free to take your jackets off, because I'm going to be talking for a while, it's only going to get hotter.

But the load that God has us to bear is for the purpose of getting ready for eternal life. Let's notice in James, chapter 1, verses 3 and 4. James 1, 3 and 4. And if I don't say what version it is, it's going to be New King James. James 1, verse 3.

Knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience, but let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect, in other words mature, or grown up, complete and lacking nothing. God gives us tests and trials to get us ready for eternal life, but also to see if you and I are ready, are we ready and willing to answer everything that He asks us to do? The point of self-examination is that it's a process that each of us have to make sure that we are faithfully carrying out our commitment that we made at baptism.

Baptism is the occasion on which you make a commitment and you accept the death of Jesus Christ as a substitute for your execution, but if you made that commitment with sincerity, then you were buried with Him. Let's go to that passage. Whenever I do baptismal counseling, I ask people to read Romans 6, 7 and 8, because that's where Paul talks about the commitment that we made to God. What exactly was that commitment that you made? Let's go back and do a little quick reminder. Romans 6, verse 1.

Romans 6, verse 1. What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! Some people will say that. They don't literally say we need to continue in sin, but they literally say, God is such a gracious God, you really don't have to do anything after you're baptized.

That's one of the reasons for this self-examination that we have to go through. God does have a plan for us. That plan is for our good. That plan is for our future. And to give us hope, self-examination should be giving us hope. But we must not think that we don't have to bury our load, and that we can continue in sin. Now, none of us do, but it's just an interesting point. Certainly not, he says in verse 2. How shall we who died to sin? Interesting statement. Live any longer in it. Or do you not know that as many of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? That's why we do submersion baptism. That's why we don't just sprinkle. Because baptism isn't a bath. It's not just sprinkling with water representing the Holy Spirit. It is a burial. A burial of what? Going down in the water represents death. Being submerged in the water represents burial of what? You. You are literally saying to God, my life is now yours.

You now own me. And when you come up out of that water, you come up through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Not your own person. Not living by your own will. So Paul makes a very strong point here. When you were baptized, you were baptized into His death. Does it stop there? No. Paul goes on to say, therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death. That just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should do what? Walk in newness of life.

How are you doing in that? Are you walking in newness of life? I'm sure you are. Do you have a few things you could do better? I bet you do. I bet you do. I know I do. Boy, how do you ask my wife?

She could give you a whole list, and I probably couldn't deny one of them.

How are you doing? You stop and you examine. You diagnose. You look at yourself.

Because you said, my life is not mine anymore. It is yours. Lead me, take me, mold me into what you will have me be.

Okay, so let's get practical. So if it's progress that we're supposed to be evaluating, what is it actually that we're supposed to evaluate? What exactly do we look at when we examine ourselves? I think if we get pretty specific in what it is we're supposed to look at, we will have a far less chance of just doing self-loathing. Because I think a lot of self-loathing comes from the fact that we have no idea what we're actually supposed to be examining. So we go, you know, we sit in church and we're supposed to examine ourselves. We know we're supposed to become to the stature and the fullness of Christ. And we know that we're supposed to be, you know, like God whose thoughts are higher than our thoughts. And so we just sit around and we think, well, I'm not that, so I'm bad. Okay, I'll take the passover now. Well, yeah, what are you bad at?

What are you bad in? What's missing? What do you need to fix? Let's get specific so that we can actually examine ourselves and not loathe ourselves, but make a diagnosis. Brethren, self-examination is something that we should actually, a mature Christian, runs towards and doesn't shy away from. Now, every human being has human nature, and we'll get into that in just a second. And human nature tells us to run away from self-examination as fast as we possibly can, and blame somebody else if at all possible. Hey, you're not alone. That's what we all do. I'll show you. It's what we all do. It's what we all do.

There are three basic areas that we need to look at when we examine ourselves. The first two are pretty easy. The second one, the third one, not so much. It gets a little personal. I know I'm going to get into meddling. Hey, that's because I love you. If we were to walk in newness of life, in other words, our life is supposed to be different than we were prior to baptism. We're supposed to react better, treat people better, give instead of always getting. So what are we supposed to examine? Three basic areas in your life should you look at and say what's missing, what's wrong, what's missing, what's wrong, what needs to be fixed. Area number one, your actions, including your words. Area number one is your actions. Pretty simple, right? This is not complicated. The gospel is not complicated. Difficult to do, not complicated to explain. Good water. Area number two, your thoughts. The things that precede your actions. Yes, it counts.

A lot of people will say, well, I didn't say that, and everybody knows you meant it because you were thinking it. It still counts.

You still just lost all your friends. Your thoughts, they matter. They make you who you are.

And the third is your motives or your heart. The first two, kind of easy to figure out.

The third one, we're going to go through something that you may not have considered before about your heart, about what's missing, and about what we need to do about it.

This time of year is a wonderful time of year. It's a diagnostic part of the year.

It's not a self-loathing part of the year. I'm not sure if I said that or not. I'm trying to make a clear point.

So, let's take a look at all three things. Actions, often called reactions. These are the things that we do or say. It's easy to see when you commit a sin. You know why? Because you did it.

You know you did it because you did it. You know you said it because it came out of your mouth.

It's easy to see when you commit a sin. It's often an action or something you do to yourself or do to somebody else or with somebody else. That's wrong. That's damaging. That makes your life fall to pieces. Those are pretty easy to examine. We need to shore those up and stop committing sin. But sin doesn't happen in a vacuum. That's why we need to examine the second part, the second aspect of our lives, and that is everything that we think. Because our actions come from a thought. First you think it, then you do it or say it. Just consider driving, right? Someone cuts you off. First thing you do is you think it, and then you say it, and then you hope your window's not down. But the other person didn't hear you say it.

The things that we think matter to God. We're supposed to become like Him. How different is He from us? You remember Isaiah 55? Please turn there. Isaiah 55 verses 8 and 9. How different are we to become when we are self-examining, when we're looking at our diagnostics of where we're at?

How different are we from God?

Isaiah 55 and verse 8. My thoughts are not your thoughts.

Boy, howdy! No kidding. Nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. That word ways doesn't just mean actions. It includes actions. It does. But the Hebrew word, according to Brown Driver Briggs, actually means your moral character. The habits that you have. It's not just a single action. It's actually your moral character. So God is saying that my thoughts are not your thoughts, and my character is not your character. We'll get into a little bit more of that in just a minute.

Verse 9, for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Remember the Sermon on the Mount? Almost the manifesto of Jesus Christ. A lot of people read the Sermon on the Mount and think it's a Sunday school lesson. I read it and I see Jesus Christ saying, this is why I'm here on the earth. This is what I'm here for.

And in Matthew 5, verse 21, he says about your thoughts and how much they matter to God.

Matthew 5, 21, you have heard it said, to those of old, you shall not murder, and whoever murders is in danger of judgment. Yeah, that's the action. That's the easy thing to see. But that's not enough for God. He says, but I say to you, whoever is angry with his brother, that's the thought.

That's in your head. Without cause shall be in danger of judgment. You're just as in danger of being condemned for a bad thought as you are a bad action. Where did both of those come from? That's what we're going to get to in just a minute. Whoever's angry with his brother without cause shall be in danger of judgment. Whoever says, rock us shall be in danger of counsel. We'll skip down to verse 24. No, just 23. Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar and there, remember, your brother has something against you. Not that you have something against your brother, something you have done to them. You owe them something, and you have it made it right.

Don't bring a gift to God. Oh, you know, I just love Jesus. Here, have my gift. That's a stench in his nostrils. Don't treat your brother poorly and then go pretend to worship God, because your brother or your sister is the child of God. Make sense? It's your thoughts.

Leave your gift there before the altar. Go your way. First, be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. The first two, your actions and your motives are pretty, or your actions and your thoughts are pretty easy to see, because your actions are something that you do or say, and your thoughts is the conversation that's going on inside your head, and you can hear that. The third is very difficult for a man to see, and it's something that our nature doesn't want us to see. We don't want to look at this one. It's difficult, and that is our motives, our heart, our innermost being that must be changed, that we must examine, and that's what drives our thoughts and therefore our actions, and this is the critical thing that needs to be examined. Notice that David examined himself, but I want to tell the backstory first.

You remember when Adam and Eve, I'm going to unbutton my jacket, it's warm. You remember when Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden, and they took of the tree, and God says to Adam, Adam, did you take of that tree? What's the first thing he did? He blamed Eve. That wasn't me! It was that woman you gave me. He wasn't really blaming his wife, and there was blaming God. It was God who created her out of his rib, put me to sleep, give me a rib. She talked me into it. It wasn't my fault.

Reminds me of a Jimmy Buckets song. Then what does Eve do? Oh, don't look at me! It was that snake that you allowed in the garden.

What does human nature do? Oh, we hide, right? We put fig leaves over that sin.

Don't wait. And we run and hide, and then when we're caught, we blame somebody else. Don't blame me. You can't prove it. King David did that. King David did that. You do that.

I bring up King David's fault. The poor guy. His sins are just out there for us to see, right? So that we will see and be encouraged that we're going to be okay. Do you realize he did exactly what Adam and Eve did? Exactly what you and I do? Here's a man after God's own heart.

He had God's Holy Spirit, but he was letting his carnal mind. Oh, was he ever? Okay, fast forward to King David's time. He's tired of going to war. He's now the king, and he's been the king for a great number of years, decades, and all he has done is war.

When he was a young man, King Saul sent him out to war. Then he was anointed king by Samuel. King Saul chased him around, and all he got was war. And then he gets kicked out of the country and has to go to war for the Philistines. And then the Philistines kill Saul. King David comes back in and becomes king, and what does he get to do? War! He's sick and tired of going to war. He says, Joab, you go do the war. I'm going to hang out in the palace. And then he's bored. He doesn't know what to do with himself, because all he's known, all his life, is war. So he goes out on the balcony one evening and sees a beautiful woman taking a bath. He's the king. He invites her up for a little misconduct. She gets pregnant. What does he do? Write Psalm 51 and repents, because he's a man after God's own heart, right? Wrong! No, he tried to hide it. First thing he does is, oh no, she's pregnant.

He calls Uriah, her husband, back. Uriah, you're such a good soldier. He was a good soldier, by the way. He was one of the commanders of the mighty men. And this was one of the awesome men he had.

And yet David had him try to, you know, go be with your wife and make it look like you're the father. He wouldn't do it! He was an honorable man. His men were straight out in the field. He wasn't about to do that. So David sends him with a note that says, have him killed. Then he had him killed.

And then, so here's David trying to cover it all up, you know? When we send our human nature, the carnal side of us that's warring inside with God's Holy Spirit says, don't pin that on me.

I'll do anything I can do to get away from that. So having him murdered makes it now legal for David to marry Bathsheba and make it look like it's a legitimate child. He's still trying to cover up his sin. And then Nathan the prophet comes and tells him a story. Hey, David, there's something really bothering me. There's this rich man in your kingdom who has all these sheep. And the visitor came and he wanted to throw a banquet for him. Instead of taking one of his sheep, he takes this one sheep that this poor man had. It was the only lamb he had. And he loved that lamb. And the rich man took that lamb and slaughtered it and fed it to his guests. And he didn't take one of his many out of his flock. David got really mad. He said, that man should be put to death. And Nathan said, you are that man. And then God's Holy Spirit kicked in. And David examined himself. And that self-examination is written for your and my instruction. So that when we come up to the Passover, we see how to examine ourselves. So we're going to go through part of that today at Psalm 51. And he wrote Psalm 51 right after Nathan left the palace. That's when he wrote Psalm 51.

Okay? So we're going to go through part of it. We're also going to go through part of this during the days of 11 bread. At least that's the plan. God willing.

Let's look at the self-examination side of Psalm 51. Brethren, you might read something here that you've never read before. Especially if you're in the habit of self-loathing during the time of self-examination. This is self-examination. This is admitting who I am, but not loathing myself at the same time. Instead of loathing myself, I'm trusting God to fix it. There's a huge difference. Self-loathing is you trying to fix it. Trusting God is letting God fix it. And King David really got it right here. But you still go through a low point. Don't get me wrong. This isn't easy.

You still have to bear your burden. Just saying, brethren, bear the burden God puts on you.

Not the burden you put on yourself. Psalm 51, verse 3, he says, For I acknowledge my transgression, my sin is always before me. We can read that. It's kind of awkwardly phrased there. My sin is always before me. Like he's always beating himself up over sinning. That's not what that means. It's more of a Hebrew idiom. Okay, and what it really means, and it's better translated in the New Living Translation, says, For I recognize my rebellion, it haunts me day and night. The rebellion that I just did will not leave me alone, because I haven't repented of it yet. That's what it means.

It doesn't mean throughout his whole life, he never goes a day without going, I am such a bad man.

That's not what that means. It means I have really goofed, and I acknowledge it, and I own it.

It's talking to me so loud that I cannot ignore it. Verse 3 tells us that we are to own our sin.

For I acknowledge my transgression, or New Living Translation, I recognize my personal possession, rebellion. He owned it. You have to own up to your own sins, not just your actions and your thoughts, however. Like David here, we have to go further. Go inside your heart. Notice this.

A lot of people misread this, and I'm going to straighten this up right now. Psalm 51 verse 5.

Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me. What does that mean? King David wasn't saying his mother was an adulteress, and therefore the blame was on her or someone else for his actions. King David was not criticizing his mother here, as we will read in future verses. He was criticizing himself. So what did that mean?

Well, let's read it in the New Living Translation. Verse 5. For I was born a sinner, yes, from the moment my mother conceived me. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. He was saying that he was corrupt, not on the day he was born, on the day he was conceived. Is King David picking on babies? What did a baby ever do? Baby never did anything.

What was he saying? What was he getting at? Here he's writhing in pain. Is he just talking gibberish? Or does he really get something important and profound that you and I need to get, that you and I need to own, if we're going to self-examine? Human nature is in us from conception. From the moment we are conceived, not created. Creation happened in Genesis 1.1. The Hebrew word bara means something from nothing.

But we are begotten. And the moment we are begotten, first of all, that answers the question. When does life begin? Life begins at conception. At conception. Some people want to move it to implantation of the embryo in the womb. According to Psalm 51, it's at conception.

Because at conception, he was already corrupt. Something was already missing in his brain, in his mind, in his heart. He was already, by nature, selfish. Already, by nature, he was one who would be willing to kill Uriah the Hittite to cover his own sin. And he got it. It wasn't just his actions and his thoughts. He wasn't just repenting of what he did and what he thought.

He was repenting of what he was. Can you see that? Because if you can see that, then you can see the solution and you can cooperate with God on the solution. If you can't see that, God has to drag you along like dead weight. You're not running along with Him, reaching your potential, going as fast as you can go. And once you get this, brethren, you will not hate the self-examination period before Passover. You will love it! You will sprint towards it! You will say, what can I do next? Because I've already gotten past the fact that I'm corrupt. I was corrupt from the time I was conceived. And I have accepted that, and I own that, and I own my sins. If somebody else offended me, if I'm offended, shame on me! Oh, yeah, they may have done something wrong. That's shame on them.

Right? But I'm not judged by their faults, their sins, their actions. I bear my own load.

Galatians chapter 6. If I'm offended, I'm at fault.

If I can't forgive, I can't expect to be forgiven.

I own my own corrupt human nature. That's intense! What King David says there is the inspired Word of God from the moment I was conceived. Me, Rod Foster, your pastor.

I was corrupt! Something was missing. I wasn't a complete godly being. I was sure cute.

Babies are cute. Corrupt human nature. It's in us. Right? It's in us. Do you see that in yourself?

The thing that we should take from this passage in Psalm 51 is not to blame other people.

It's what Adam and Eve did. It's what King David tried to do until God brought him right up to the point of self-examination. I wonder if this was near the Passover. I have no idea, but I wonder if it was. David took responsibility for his actions, his thoughts.

He even took responsibility for his corrupt nature, his motives. He owned it. And when he owned it, he solved it. God solved it in him, but it was solved. That's how we should examine ourselves.

Why loathe yourself?

Examining yourself is just like maintaining a car, or your health, or your dwelling place.

It needs maintenance to grow. So do you. This is something to be looked forward to, not dreaded. And David understood that examining self came down to a matter of the heart.

I have no idea what Passives that is. We'll skip it.

Okay, so let's go to chapter 51. We're still in Psalms 51, and then verse 6.

Behold, you desire truth in the inward parts. In the hidden part, you will make me know wisdom.

David didn't just leave it there. He didn't just say, oh, woe is me. That's not what he was doing. He was owning his own problems and then placing them completely on God to say, fix me.

Our part is to acknowledge what's missing or what's wrong. God's part is to fix it.

Get that brethren.

He says, you desire truth in the inward parts and in the hidden part, you will make me know wisdom. Who will make him know wisdom? God will.

You have to obey. You have to follow. You have to comply. That's not fixing you, because you're a human being and there's something missing.

God is the one who puts that missing peace in you.

It is God who does the will inside you to do what is right.

And then in verse 10, what is our response when we examine ourselves?

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast, in other words, loyal spirit within me. To be loyal to God.

So there are three basic areas that we need to look at when we examine ourselves. Our actions, but that's pretty easy to see.

Our thoughts, still pretty easy to see, because that's the conversation that's going on in our head. And we hear that.

The one that's harder to see is our motives, our hearts.

You know, brethren, we look forward to the kingdom of God. My two favorite scriptures are Romans 8, 28 and Revelation 21 and verse 4. And I don't have a split personality.

Those are actually the same exact thought.

One is before, and one is after it's completed.

Romans 8, 28, all things work together for good. All things.

What's not included in all, every bad thing you go through.

Everything.

All things work together for good.

For those who are called of God, those who love God and are called according to His purpose. Don't even know my favorite scripture.

Yeah, you can read it. I can't.

And then in Revelation 21 and verse 4, it says, God will wipe away every tear.

And that's when all things have worked together for good.

That's when it comes to fruition.

That's when there is peace.

No more anxiety.

No more thoughts of, creating me a clean heart because you have one.

And we all desire that.

That's the goal where we're going. Well, guess what?

We read it in Jeremiah.

That's where God wants to take us.

He has a plan for us. And that plan is not for disaster.

It is for good.

It is for a future for you and I.

That we would have hope.

And the Days of Unleavened Bread are part of that plan. And even though they are serious, and even though they are heavy, they are not loathsome.

They are wonderful.

Wonderful!

It's something we need to look forward to, not dread.

If you take the Passover seriously, if you take your commitment to God seriously, if you take your baptism seriously, take the Passover with gusto, with thanksgiving, with gratitude.

It is not a time to be like the Druids.

And just go, why oh yeah, it's the Passover.

It's not!

It's not!

We stop every year to examine ourselves.

And then we present ourselves once again to God.

And what do we do next? And this is where I want to end.

Is that it? Sin? Yeah, well we do that too.

That's not what we're supposed to do next.

What do we do after that? What are we supposed to do?

What do we do after that? Guess what? The examination doesn't stop.

You don't get to examine yourself, and that'd be enough.

I wish I would be so easy on myself.

I really would.

I mean, honestly, where's the couch? Where's the clicker? You know?

No.

God then examines us.

And we want Him to.

And we want Him to.

So He can fix us.

King David also did this.

Let's read a couple of Psalms. And let us notice that King David did not dread self-examination, and he didn't dread God's examination, because he trusted God. He followed God. And so do we.

And so should we.

Psalms chapter 26, verses 1 through 3. Psalm 26, verses 1 through 3.

Turn there. I'll drink some water.

Oh, we're only 30 minutes over.

Psalm 26, 1. A Psalm of David.

Vindicate me, O Lord.

For I have walked in my integrity.

Do we sin that grace may abound? Certainly not, Paul said.

King David says, I'm walking in Your way.

I'm following what You told me to do.

I have also trusted in the Lord, and I shall not slip. Listen to the trust that's there, the confidence that's there.

I know that all things work together for good, and I'm not going to slip, because I trust God is what David is saying.

Examine me, O Lord, and prove me.

Try my mind and my heart.

Why does he trust God to do this?

Because he's so sure that he's righteous?

No. Read the next statement. He's so sure of God's love.

That's why he's so open to God examining himself.

He says, examine me, O Lord, and prove me. Try my mind and my heart for, in other words, because Your loving kindness is before my eyes, and I have walked in Your truth.

Before he even says, because I follow Your ways, he says, because I know You love me.

So we open ourselves up to God because we trust that He has a plan for us, and that plan is for good, not disaster. And David trusted that.

Now let's go to Psalm 139.

Verses 23 and 24.

A famous Psalm.

Psalm 139. Psalm 139. 23.

King David, again, absolutely puts his trust in God. After he examines himself, he asks God to examine him. He says, search me, O God, and know my, what, my actions and my thoughts? No. My heart.

Try me and know my anxieties.

And see if there be any wicked way, and that word way means moral character.

It doesn't mean action, it means heart.

See if there be any wicked moral character in me.

Why? To get it out!

And lead me in the way everlasting. And that's what we're going through and going for, is the way everlasting.

And not to just continuously repeat our sins over and over and over again, and make complete shambles of our life. Over and over. Continuously offending other people. And hurting ourselves. Constantly.

But instead, we stop. And we just do a little maintenance every year. What's missing? What's broken? What's missing? What's broken? It needs to be fixed. And then we take it to God and we say, well, you also examine me, and show me the way to peace. Because once God puts His Holy Spirit in us, you know, we live in an evil world out there, and the Kingdom of God is not here yet. But it is. Because it's inside of you.

At least it's supposed to be. And there's going to be peace. And no more tears. And no more pain. Do you know, brethren, that's supposed to be being built inside of you right now? And every time we sin, it's like we scramble that all up. Every time our nature goes astray, every time we fight against God, we build anxieties, and all kinds of pressures, and doubts, and fears. But what we're supposed to be building is this peaceful mind inside us. That no matter what hits us on the outside, we are this stable individual that helps other people get through the hardest of trials. Are you there yet? Am I there yet? I say nay nay. Not yet. But we will be one day. The Kingdom of God is to be built inside of all of us. And so once a year, we stop, and we examine ourselves. Not to loathe ourselves, right? Just to see what's wrong, so that we can fix it. So that God can fix it in us, so that we can have peace.