Your Spiritual Checkup

Let me see a show of hands. How many of you ever been to a doctor?

Oh, quite a few of us. When you go to a doctor, generally what happens, he'll say, how are you doing? And you say, it hurts over here. And you try to tell him where you're hurting or what's wrong. A doctor many times is a life of detective. He's trying to find out what is wrong. He doesn't always know immediately, and it's a discovery process. You could call it the discovery channel. He's looking. A doctor will test you, and sometimes by simple observation, he'll say, you got a cold. He's going around, take this, and you're out of the office. Or he says you've got a broken leg. I remember I was in high school, and I missed the bus, and my siblings got home and said they heard that I'd had an accident. Well, that day, playing softball, somebody threw a bat and broke my leg. And so I ended up at the hospital. And thankfully, we lived 15 miles out in the country. There was somebody there who had a car who could take me home. Otherwise, I'd been walking. My dad was in Chattanooga working. No way to reach him, and I was sort of stranded there. Now, when it comes to a complicated problem, a doctor may take a series of tests to try to find out what's going on. They may do blood work. They may take a scan inside the body and say, uh-huh. And they'll look at you. They may take an x-ray, because they're trying to detect what's going on. We take physicals, or we should occasionally take a physical to try to find out what kind of shape we're in, what our physical state might be. You might go to a doctor. He might examine you, and he might say, well, you've got a deficiency in iron, or you need to take vitamin B12. Or if you're a woman, maybe your thyroid is not operating the way that it should, and it's defective or deficient, and you need something to help you. Although the doctor may also say, you're doing great. You've had a physical. Everything's doing well. Your blood pressure is 120 over 80. Your cholesterol is 160. Your weight is fine. All your vital organs and signs are functioning well. Your heart is as strong as granite. So you don't have anything to worry about. And you walk out, and you think, boy, you know, that's really comforting to know that I don't have any type of major problem. Now, the test could also reveal you have high cholesterol, high blood pressure, you've got diabetes, you know, any number of things that you might come up.

If you have something wrong health-wise, I think most of us would want to know so we could take counter measures. We could do something about it. You might be, it might be suggested to you, need to change your diet. So you need to eat better. Or the doctor may say, you need to exercise. And so you start exercising. He may put you on a regiment of taking vitamins, or, you know, of course, he'll want you to take some type of pill. But let's say some vitamins. A physical can either be reassuring or distressing, depending on what the results are, depending on your health and your physical conditions. I remember once in the 90s, I went and saw a doctor, and he said, well, your cholesterol is 298. And two months, I was able to lower that to 170 without taking any type of medication. So I appreciated knowing that so I could work on it and get it down.

I think all of us, you know, when we have something like that, we try to do what we can do. We had a prayer request today from Mr. Shannon. He goes in on a regular basis to talk to his doctor to find out his health, you know, what's going on. We've had a number of men here that I've talked to who've had heart attacks or who've undergone open-heart surgery. Bell Douglas here recently, you know, went through that, and they occasionally have to go back to be checked on to find out, you know, how are they doing? In some cases, the medical profession has been able to diagnose that you have a problem before you actually have a heart attack. And therefore, you're operated on. This is what happened with Harold Rhodes. He didn't actually have a heart attack, but he was able to correct the problem before he did. And they said, if you don't do this, you will have one. Sometimes a heart attack might occur, and as a result, drastic measures have to be implemented to be able to deal with the situation.

Today, I want us to have a physical. I'd like for us to take an exam, so to speak. We need to take a thorough examination of ourselves. And what we want to do is to get the x-ray machine out and the scanner out, and we want to scan the inside of our minds, our attitudes, and our approaches to see the state of our spiritual health. Because our spiritual health is more vital to us than even our physical health. As the Passover comes, as we heard in the sermonette, how do we stand before God? How do we stand with one another? What is our relationship with God, with one another, with the Church? So, we need to know. What I'd like to do is to take a look at David, King David. David was a man after God's own heart, the Bible says. And I think we can focus on David and see his attitude and his approach to God. I believe there are a lot of valuable lessons that you and I can learn as a result of that, especially his relationship with God. Because you find that David had a relationship that sometimes we might shy away from when it comes to God. In Proverbs 26 and verse 2, let's begin there. Excuse me, Psalm 26, not Proverbs. Psalm chapter 26 and verse 2, let's notice David's approach. He asked God to do something. He said, examine me, O Lord, and prove me. Try my mind and my heart. So, he asked God to take a look, to examine him, to prove or test him. And the word there for test is like testing metal. You put the metal to the test. And so, he wanted God to test him. If you had a heart problem, who would you go to? Would you go to a gynecologist, a urologist, or would you go to a heart specialist?

You go normally when it comes to a doctor, you go to the person who's the expert or the specialist in that field, whether it's the kidneys, the lungs, the heart, or whatever it might be. Well, in this particular case, God is the expert.

He knows us. He knows our state. He knows our attitude. He knows our approach. And so, he's the one to reveal to us what we need to look at, or what might be wrong with us. As it says here, try my heart and my mind. God sees into the heart. He sees into our mind. Today, we take scans. You can have a scan, and it can scan your brain, and it tells you if there's a tumor there, that there's something wrong. Or, it tells you if there's anything up there. You know, there are various things that those scans can reveal. We need to pray to God and ask Him to show us what our mind and our heart are like. Now, this is what David did. Sometimes, I think, we're afraid that if we ask God too much, He might reveal a lot of things to us. Now, we always ask God to do it in mercy, and by His or through compassion. The word heart here refers to the affections, the emotions, of an individual. The mind refers to the intellect and to the motives. We're asking God to help us to evaluate our motives, to help us to evaluate how we respond to others. You find that God knows all these things, and David realizes that. Turn back to chapter 7 here in the book of Psalms, and verse 9, and you'll see that David once again expresses the same thing. Psalm 7, verse 9.

He said, O let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end, but establish the just. For the righteous God tests the hearts and the minds. God Almighty, brethren, tests our hearts and our minds. God knows every man's true character. He knows your true character. He knows my true character. He knows the thoughts and the intents of the heart, and He sees right through the disguises that we have. I didn't write this down, but let's go over here to Jeremiah 17. I think it's very apropos in this situation. Jeremiah chapter 17, verse 9.

Where we find there's a problem when we begin to examine ourselves, and God reveals it. He says the heart, that's your heart, that's my heart, is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? So what you find is we're deceitful. In our minds and our hearts, we deceive ourselves. And we throw up all kinds of roadblocks, and we do something wrong. And we say, well, God, you have to understand this is the reason why. And we have all kinds of reasons and excuses. We try to sugarcoat it. And God cuts through all of that, and He says, this is the problem. And He shows us. So in verse 10, God says, I the Lord search the heart. I test the mind even to give every man according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings. So God Almighty knows our mind. He knows our ways, and He will evaluate us. So when it comes to the examination process, brethren, it begins with understanding a simple principle, but a cardinal principle. And that is, God is the one who must reveal to us our spiritual state.

The natural man does not pick up on his spiritual state, not to the degree and not in the way that God wants. 1 Corinthians 1 and 1 Corinthians 2 reveals that spiritual awareness, spiritual understanding, comes from God, from His Spirit. And it's not something that just comes naturally to a human being. So to begin the examination process, we've got to go to the expert. We've got to go to God Himself and ask Him to begin to examine us and to begin to show us what we're like. Now let me show you what I mean. In John chapter 2, John 2 and verse 23, we read this about Jesus Christ when He walked the earth. We know He was God in the flesh.

So notice this beginning here in verse 23 in John chapter 2.

Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover during the feast, many believed in His name, and they saw the signs which He did. So okay, they believed because they saw signs. Now notice, but Jesus did not commit Himself to them because He knew all men.

And verse 25, He had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man. Now you might ask yourself, why is this written in place right here? We'll go on to chapter 3, verse 1. There was a man named Nicodemus, and so what this is telling you, He knows what's in man, and the man Nicodemus shows up. He knew Nicodemus, and He knew his heart and his mind and his approach. Jesus Christ could discern the attitude and the approach. He did not need a human being to come along and tell Him, well, let me tell you about this person. I know this person, and this is his fault, or this is his weakness, or whatever. He didn't need another human being to help Him to evaluate humans. As God, He saw beyond the superficial to people's hearts and people's minds.

In 1 Kings 8 and 39, I'll just refer to this, 1 Kings 8 and 39, we read this, Here, then here in heaven your dwelling place, and forgive, and act and give to everyone according to all his ways, whose hearts, or heart you know, for you alone, talking about God, know the hearts of all the sons of men.

So God Almighty knows my heart.

He knows your heart. He knows all of our hearts. He knows what's in all of us. He knows our character. You might remember when the disciples, after Judas had betrayed Christ, had died, and they were trying to select somebody to replace Judas, they had selected two individuals who had gone with them. In verse 24 of Acts 1, they prayed and they said, You, O Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which of these two you have chosen. So since God knows the heart, they were asking God to reveal to them which one he wanted to be the Apostle to replace Judas. And so God is the one who knows our hearts. Now, in Matthew 9, we have another example of Jesus Christ. Matthew chapter 9, beginning in verse 1.

We have Christ's example here. It says, So he got into a boat, Matthew 9, verse 1, cross over and came to his own city.

Then, behold, they brought him a paralytic, lying in a bed. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, Son, be a good cheer. Your sins are forgiven you. I forgive your sins. And at once, in other words, immediately, some of the scribes said within themself, this man blasphemes, but Jesus knowing their thoughts. See, they might have thought, you know, he doesn't know what I'm thinking, but he knew he could see right through their facade. He knew what was going on up here.

He said, Why do you think evil in your heart? For which is easier to say your sins are forgiven you, or to say, arise and walk, but that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins? Then he said to the paralytic, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house. And so, you find that Jesus Christ knew their thoughts. Who better to tell us our spiritual condition than the expert, the one who knows us, the one who made us, the one who created us, the one who's been around for all eternity, the one who has supreme wisdom and understanding. He's the one who can help us. Now, going back to David's example, back in Psalm 139, Psalm 139, verse 23, we read this again about what David had to say. Verse 23, he says, Search me, O God, know my heart, try me, and know my anxieties. Ever get anxious about anything? Concerned about things? Upset? Worried?

I think we all experience those type of feelings, don't we? He says, See if there's any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. Now, are we not wanting to go into God's kingdom, to have everlasting life, to live for eternity, immortality? David wanted God to know his heart.

Are there things that we would not want others to know about us?

You just think about what you do, how you think, perhaps some of your actions, how you treat other people, and ask yourself, What if others, other church members, knew that I was like this? What would they think? Are there any actions and attitudes that we try to hide from God?

We try to, again, sugarcoat them, paint them a different color, dismiss them, disguise them, and think maybe God doesn't see. But you see, God sees all through that and knows. See, the only problem is, God knows us. He knows how many hairs are on our head, how many steps we take. He sees every sparrow that falls. So, do you think he doesn't know what's going on up here? What's in here? What our motives are? What our approach is? Our attitude is? Certainly, he does. Back to Psalm 19 and verse 12. Psalm 19 and verse 12. Let's notice this.

David said, Who can understand his errors? Can you and I understand our errors, our mistakes, things that we do wrong? He says, Cleanse me from secret faults. So, there are faults. There are things that we do wrong that we don't understand. How many times have you thought you were doing something right? Thought you had the right motive, the right approach. And then, later on, as you're studying and praying or you hear a sermon, you begin to realize, Uh-oh, that's not right. I thought I was doing this right, but it's not right. And you have to repent of it. Well, God will cleanse us from our secret faults. Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins. Now, the word presumptuous here means arrogant, proud, insolent.

Now, that wouldn't describe any of us, would it? Have we ever been arrogant? Have we ever been proud? Have we ever been motivated by vanity? Have we ever been insolent, wanting our own ways? So, He says, well, keep me back from these type of sins and let them not have dominion over me. Where dominion means to dominate, to rule over, to control. So, you don't want these type of faults or sins to dominate, to control, to rule over you. And then He goes on to say, then I shall be blameless and I shall be innocent of great transgressions.

And verse 14, a very famous verse, verse 14, let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer. So, what we say, what we think, you know, things that we meditate on, reflect on, that all of these be acceptable in God's sight. So, in the morning, do we get up and we pray and we say, Father, please help me today that everything I do, everything I say, everything I think, that it will be acceptable to you according to your standards. Because, again, what are the standards that we have to go by? Well, they're God's standards, His way. And so, you know, that's what we have to look to. Now, in Romans chapter 6, beginning in verse 14, Romans 6, we find, as we all know, Romans the sixth chapter is the chapter that deals with baptism. And you find this whole chapter is talking about the approach. When you and I are baptized, God, first of all, had to call us, had to open our minds, had to grant us repentance. We had to start repenting and changing. And then we were baptized. Our sins were forgiven. And what occurs at that point? Well, verse 14, sin shall not have dominion over you.

What did David pray? He asked God that sin not dominate him or have dominion over him. So how do we begin to deal with sin ruling us, sin controlling us? Well, we have to be baptized. We have to be forgiven of our sins. We have to receive God's Spirit. Because, see, when you were baptized, the one thing that you said that you were willing to do is that you were not going to go down the path of sin, where it would dominate you, but that you would begin to rule over it. It says, you are not under the law, but under grace. Now, people totally misunderstand that. Under the law means under its penalty. Now, when you're baptized and you have the sacrifice of Christ applied to you, you're no longer under the law, under its penalty. That's been forgiven. Now, when we sin, we can go to God and ask God to forgive us. And so, therefore, we're not under the law. We're under grace, meaning God's mercy, God's forgiveness, God's nature is that he wants to forgive us based upon our repentance. So that's why he says you're not under the law, but under grace. Now, let's back up to verse 1 here. Verse 1 says, What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Now, since grace is God's loving mercy and forgiveness, should we just continue to sin so that God can extend more grace to us and, therefore, God be very gracious to us? He said, absolutely not, certainly not. That's even stupid to think about. How shall we, who died to sin, live any longer in it? So you and I, brethren, we were baptized, we died to sin.

Now, somebody who dies and is buried, that's it. They're dead. They don't have any more life. Six feet under. Now, when you and I are baptized and we're put under the water, symbolically, the old man, the old way of life, dies. He goes under. And then there's a new creature, a new person, who rises up. And we are to be like someone resurrected. We rise up to live a new life. Verse 3, do you not know that as many of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus, were baptized into his death? And therefore, we were buried with him through baptism into death.

It pictures the death and burial, the old man. The just as Christ, who was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so, we should walk in newness of life. There's a new life that we live. A new way of life. A new approach. A new way of thinking. A new heart. A new mind. Instead of the old way. For if we've been united together in the likeness of his death, certainly we shall be in the likeness of his resurrection.

So if we planted the old man, we come up. And then one day, just like Christ was resurrected, so will we be. Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him. That the body of sin might be done away, and that we should no longer be slave of sin. So you and I are not to be slaves of sin. What is a slave? Well, a slave has a master. He has a ruler.

He's got somebody who's over him. His life is not his own. He's under the authority of his master. Well, you and I are no longer to be under the authority of the master we had in the past, which was sin, which was human nature, which was Satan the devil. We are to be different. So we're no longer to be slaves to sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin.

Free from its juris, diction, or grip or hold over us. Now verse 11. Likewise, you also reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal bodies, or rule, that you should obey it in its lust. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.

For sin shall not have dominion over you. See, sin is not to dominate us or to control us. Now in verse 16, he says, do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey? Now notice, here's the definition. Whoever you obey, whatever standard you go by, whatever you think, you are that one's slaves whom you obey. Whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness. Now think of it as a highway.

You go down the highway, and here is the way of sin. You're going that way. And at the end of that highway, the bridge is out, and you go over, you die. Now God has said, don't go that way. Turn around, go the opposite way, which is the way of life. And so we turn around and we go in the way of obedience that leads to righteousness, doing what is right.

And verse 17, and God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, this is the way we were before our conversion, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. So I want you to notice, brethren, what God is looking for when he looks down and sees us, sees our heart, sees our minds. God is looking for people who obey him from the heart.

Not just superficially, not just going along, not an act, not pretending, but who obey God. Their whole heart, their whole being is what God wants. See, God won't accept anything else. We have to, with our whole being, obey him. Obedience that flows from the heart. Now God is also looking for holiness in us, that we be holy, set apart, and that we obey him. When God looks down, God is looking for himself in us. He wants to see himself, his character, his basic values, his principles. He's looking for Jesus Christ in us.

Can he see Christ in us in the way we live, how we think, how we react? It's like Galatians 2.20 says, Galatians 2.20, I've been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live. See, we're no longer alive. But Christ living in me. In the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God. Or as King James version says, the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

So Jesus Christ is to live within us. When God looks down, guess what he's looking for? God is looking to see if we're living by faith. Hebrews 11.6, without faith, it's impossible to please Him. We can't be pleasing to God unless we have faith.

Now, let's go back to Psalm 17, again to David's example. And you'll find this constantly throughout the writings of David. Chapter 17 here, verse 3.

We find that there is a positive side to examinations.

David said, you have tested my heart. Psalm 17, verse 3. And you visited me in the night. You tried me, and you have found nothing. You haven't found any evil, he says. I have purpose that my mouth shall not transgress.

So there is the positive side of an examination.

You know, if you have a physical, one of the main organs of your body you want to check would be the heart. So you go to a doctor, he examines you, and he says, your heart is strong as an ox. What about my arteries? You have no hardening of the arteries. What about my liver? Sound? What about my other organs? You're in great shape. He might tell you, you've got a corn or something that you need to deal with. But overall, you're in great shape, and you walk out feeling good. You know, I had this examination, he didn't find anything wrong. Well, brethren, do we, when we examine ourselves, take the same perspective?

You'll find that David said God tried him and found no evil. Now, what does that indicate? Well, we know from David's life he made a lot of mistakes. He sinned. It implies a repentant attitude, doesn't it? It implies that David had repented in his approach to God. When we repent, God covers our sins and forgives them. We're made right with him. So, isn't it great if you start looking at yourself and you're examining yourself and you say, yes, I'm keeping the Sabbath. Yes, I'm tithing. Yes, I'm striving to keep the Ten Commandments. Yes, I'm treating my wife properly, and I'm trying to be a better husband. Yes, I'm trying to live by God's laws. I'm applying these principles. So, you look and you see, well, yes, there are a lot of things that I'm doing right. So, it's not always bad. We tend to always be negative in how we approach it. But remember, a physical can reveal what's good. It can also reveal something that might not be good. So, when God examines us, sometimes he will say, well, today your heart's fine. You're doing well. Then there may be times God looks down and he begins to wonder and shake his head at us. And we have to get right with God. We want our spiritual health to pass the test. There's always something we can work on. I mean, you will never run out of things to work on, right? I hope you haven't, because we all have things that we need to work on. But let's notice over in Psalm 119, why David and how David was able to go about doing what I'm talking about here. Beginning in verse 57, Psalm 119 verse 57. We read, You are my portion, O Lord.

I have said that I would keep Your words. I entreat Your favor with my whole heart. Be merciful to me according to Your words. I thought about my ways. Okay. I examined myself. I thought about my ways, what I'm doing, my actions. And I turned my feet to Your testimonies.

Brethren, do we do that? Do we think about our ways? And then we begin to say, well, now, is that the right way? And we turn to God's Word. We turn to His law. We turn to the principles here. Maybe you and your neighbor are not getting along together, as an example. And you say, yeah, we're just not getting along. It's my neighbor's fault. And maybe it is. But do you stop and think, now, am I being the best neighbor? You consider your ways. Am I treating my neighbor properly? Is there anything that I could do better? And so you start thinking about the principles of God's law. Maybe you go through the Proverbs. You study how to treat your neighbor. You look everything up. You can find. And then finally, you say, aha, there is something that I could do. And you go out of your way to try to be a better neighbor. That's what he's talking about. We think on our ways. We find that there are principles. We turn our feet to God's law. His testimony. We read it. We study it. We think about it. He said, I made haste and did not delay to keep your commandments. The cords of the wicked abound me, but I have not forgotten your law. At midnight, I will rise up to give thanks to you because of your righteousness or your righteous judgments. I am a companion of all who fear you and all those who keep your precepts. The earth, O Lord, is full of your mercy. Teach me your statutes. So we need to ask God to teach us, to show us, to reveal to us what we need to be doing.

So David understood that we look at our ways. We turn to God's law, and then we decide you get the help there. In verse 97, there was another principle that he clearly understood. And that is that we need to meditate on God's law. He says, Oh, how I love your law. It's my meditation all the day. Now, you find a lot of people have a lot of ideas about meditating. I want you to notice what David meditated on, God's law. Now, there are those who will follow, say, some of the Eastern customs, and they think, well, what you have to do is have one thought and just think that. Or you have some type of a noise.

You just hear that and you try to clear your mind and, that's all you're thinking about. That's not what we're talking about when it comes to meditation. Meditation is actively thinking about a principle, a virtue, a law. A commandment. And applying it to yourself, applying it to your family, applying it to the world, church, whatever. You meditate on it. You reflect on that scripture. He says, You, through your commandments, have made me wiser than my enemies. So by doing so, you gain wisdom. So this is how you gain wisdom. I have more understanding than all of my teachers for your testimony or my meditation. I understand more than the ancients because I keep your precepts. I have restrained my feet from every evil way that I may keep your word. I have not departed from your judgments, for you yourself have taught me. Brother, we want God to teach us. So we have to ask. We have to study. We have to study. This is God teaching us right here. This is His word. And He teaches us the right way.

Now, through your precepts, 1-04, I get understanding. Therefore, I hate every false way.

Then, verse 1-05, your word is a lamp to my feet. See, God's word gives us light, directs us. It's a light to my path. In verse 1-08, He says, Teach me your judgments. My life, 1-09, is continually in my hands. 1-11, your testimonies I have taken as a heritage forever, for they are the rejoicing of my heart. I have inclined my heart to perform your statutes forever. At the very end. So that's what we want to do. Is to hold on to God's law in His way forever. See, it's got to be a conviction. Too often, people are not really convicted. How many of us remember back to 1994-95, when people heard one video, and immediately, boom, they gave up everything they had ever been taught. They went out and started eating pepperoni and shrimp, and everything you can think of. Obviously, God's law was not etched in their minds or their hearts. Or they wouldn't have done that. But there was a problem. So you find the Scriptures are God speaking to us. It reveals our innermost thoughts and intents. Now, in Hebrews 4, we find that this same principle is very clearly outlined in the New Testament. Beginning in Hebrews 4, verse 12, notice what the Bible clearly tells us.

For the Word of God is living. So first of all, even though these are just words written on a page, these principles are living principles. They're not dead. They're alive. And they carry weight. So the Word of God is living, and it's powerful. And it's sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even the division of the soul and the spirit.

And of joint merrell, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

You study the Word of God, you can't get away from it. I mean, it tells you plainly what is right and what is wrong, and it shows attitudes and approach. But notice verse 13.

There is no creature hidden from his sight, so you can't get away from God. But all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him, to whom we must give account.

All things are open to the eyes of God. We are stripped naked before God.

Now, how embarrassed would you feel if you were sitting there naked right now? We'd all be embarrassed, wouldn't we?

We put clothes on to hide our embarrassment, and so we don't embarrass others. But we are stripped naked before God. We're laid bare. We are exposed. We're unclothed. Anything you want to say, God can see us. I'm not talking about the physical anatomy. I'm talking about the mind, the heart, the spirit, the intent, the approach. All of those things are laid open before God. We need to pray to God and ask Him to reveal what we're doing right and where we may fall short. It is the Spirit of God working with our minds as we study the Bible that gives us understanding.

There have been thousands, maybe millions, of people who have studied the Scriptures for generations, for a millennium, and had absolutely no real spiritual discernment. Why? Because the Spirit of God was not opening their minds. 1 Corinthians 2 talks about how it takes the Spirit of God to reveal spiritual truths. Otherwise, physical knowledge and understanding comes through the five senses. Spiritual understanding comes through God's Spirit working with us before baptism and in us.

As you study the Scriptures, read it, and you have the Spirit of God and you're praying and asking for God's direction. You're meditating on it. God reveals knowledge to us. It is the wisdom of the ages. It is the wisdom of God. 1 Corinthians 3 tells us that there's not a person sitting here, beginning in verse 10, who God will not test at some point to know our hearts. We can say, well, God knows our hearts, but how does God know how we're going to react in a trial? How does God know what we're going to do when the pressure is put on? We can always say, I will react in a certain way, but we don't know until we're confronted with it. Notice in verse 10, according to the grace of God, which was given to me as a wise master builder, Paul said, I've laid the foundation, and another builds on it, but let each one take heed how he builds on it. He's talking about the ministry, but this is a general principle that applies to all of us. For no other foundation can one lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. So our life has to be built on Christ. Now, if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stone, wood, hay, stubble, or straw, each one's work will become clear, for the day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire. Fire is trial and testing, and the fire will test each one's work of what sort it is. If anyone's work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. Okay, what happens when you put straw in the fire?

Burns up immediately. What happens when you throw hay on the fire? Almost the exact same thing. What happens to a wooden house or structure if fire takes hold? It burns down very quickly. What happens to gold, silver, and precious stones? Well, they are purified. They're smelted. The dross is eliminated. They become more pure. And so what he's talking about here is our character. If our character is wood, hay, and stubble, it will be tried, and it will burn up. Our character has to be gold, silver, precious stones that will endure the fire and grow stronger as a result of the fire, grow pure as a result of the trials and the tests that come along. Now, back here in chapter 9 of this book, we find that the church in Corinth had a problem. In fact, they had a lot of problems, but this was one of them. 1 Corinthians 9 verse 3, My defense, Paul said, so he's having to defend himself, to those who examine me is this. Notice, they were examining Paul, not themselves.

They were examining him. He says, don't we have a right to eat and drink? In other words, can't we take tithes and offerings and eat of that? We don't have to work. Don't we have a right to have a wife, like the other apostles? Verse 6, are we the only ones that have to work? He goes on to show that they had certain rights, but they didn't always exercise them. We all have a tendency to examine others and not ourselves. It's easy to judge another human being to see their faults. I mean, you can see mine all the time. We see each other. We see each other's weaknesses, shortcomings, faults, and it's easy to judge, but it's very difficult to turn that around and to look at ourselves and to get down to the nitty-gritty, because again, the heart is deceitful above all things. And you find that we do deceive ourselves.

In 2 Corinthians 13, verse 3, Paul had this to say, "...since you seek a proof of Christ speaking in me..." See, here's what they were examining Paul about. They doubted that God was speaking through Paul. He said, "...since you see a proof of Christ speaking in me..." In other words, that I'm an apostle.

"...who is not weak toward you, but mighty in you, for though he was crucified in weakness, yet he lives in power..." So, you know, he goes on to show that they were examining him and even wondering if he were an apostle. The key for us, especially as we approach the Passover, we need to examine ourselves and not others. The Bible doesn't say, examine your brother and then take the Passover. It says, you examine yourself. It's much more difficult for us to see ourselves rather than seeing others, isn't it? Over here in chapter 10 and verse 12, 2 Corinthians 10 and 12.

Well, notice verse 10 just ties in for what we're talking about. "...for his letters, they say, are weighty and powerful." Boy, he writes these strong, corrective letters, but his bodily presence is weak and his speech is contemptible. They didn't have much good to say about Paul's speaker. But verse 12, notice he says, "...we dare not class ourselves or compare ourselves with those who commend themselves." So some of them were commending themselves, patting themselves on the back how great they were, or how good speaker they were, or whatever it might be. But they measuring themselves by themselves and comparing themselves among themselves are not wise. Now, why are they not wise? Can you answer that? Well, the basic reason is they're using a false standard, are they not? If I compare myself to another human being, and if I can find all kinds of faults without other human beings, all kinds of weaknesses, then I can puff myself up and say, you know, I'm pretty good. Look at me. Look who I am. I'm not as bad as this person. Isn't that what the Pharisees and Sadducees did? You remember the one who went before God and prayed, I thank you, I'm not like this sinner over here, this publican. You know, I fast twice in a week, you know, I give tithes of all and the publican couldn't even lift up his eyes, but said, God, have mercy on me as sinner. You see the difference, and that's exactly what we're talking about here. It is a false standard when we compare ourselves to another human being, because all human beings will sin and come short of the glory of God. What is the standard? It's God. It's His law. It's His principles, His values, not comparing ourselves to others. So they were measuring themselves by themselves and commending themselves and patting themselves on the back. In fact, in verse 17, he said, but he who glories, letting glory in the Lord, for not he who commends himself is approved, but whom the Lord commends. So it's God. He's the one that we're looking for to commend us, not another human being. Now, over here in chapter 13 again, in verse 5, let's notice. Paul finally hits the nail on the head when he says, examine yourself as to whether you are in the faith. So notice what we're to look for. Are we in the faith?

Are we converted? Are we faithful? Are we doing what's right? Test yourself. Do you not know yourselves? In other words, don't we know ourselves that Jesus Christ is in you unless indeed you are disqualified? I want you to notice what Matthew Henry says about verse 5, quoting from his commentary, about examining yourself. He says, hereby he intimates that if they would prove their own Christianity, that would be a proof of his apostleship. For if they were in the faith, if Jesus Christ was in them, this was proof that Christ spoke in him, because it was by his ministry that they believed. He had been not only an instructor but a father to them, because he had begotten them again in the gospel of Christ. Now the Greek word here for examine is parazo, and the word for prove or test is docimazo. So you have two different words here. I've mentioned this in the past, but Westward study shows that docimazo is a word that means actually to approve. It's like somebody who's gone through school, and they use the example of a physician, because this is the example you find anciently, and he comes down, he has to pass the exam. And if he does, then he's approved to be a doctor. And the word can be translated, approved, or sanctioned. The same thing is true about putting money to the test. It means that you hope this person passes the test and that they are approved. And so when it says here, test yourself, God wants us to test ourselves to see, and he wants to see that we are approved. God, we are his children. He approves of us. It doesn't mean he approves of everything we do, but we are his children, and God is concerned about us. Now the word parazo, though in the Greek, was first translated to peers, search, or attempt. Later, it came to mean to test intentionally with the purpose of discovering good or bad weaknesses or power. Then later on, since men began to break down under test, it came to be translated temptation.

So, diacamos is generally used of God that God wants to approve us. He's seeking to approve us, and we should seek God's approval. But Satan the devil, the word is never used of Satan the devil. Satan's not trying to approve us. He's trying to discredit us. He's trying to put us down. The word parazo is always used of Satan the devil because it can be translated to test, and when it's used of God to test, it means that he's trying to see where we need to grow and overcome our weaknesses and our faults so we can change and he can reveal it to us. But Satan is trying to get us to do what? Well, he's tempting us to sin. He's tempting us to disobey. He's tempting us to rebel against God. And so what we find, then, is God says that we are to examine ourselves, we're to look at ourselves, we're to see our weaknesses, our faults, and then we are to know that we have been approved by God. You know, that's what God is looking for. The word here, disqualified, is ad hocimos, and it means not standing the test. You don't stand the test. You fail the test. You become a reprobate. So God wants to know, brethren, are we sincere? Are we honest before Him? Are we honest with ourselves? That we're not just acting or pretending or putting on a show. It's so easy to act one way around people, around the church, and then to be different when we're private. You know, our private life should be the same as our public life and everything that we do. So we are to examine ourselves all year long, we know. But we're told to, especially at the Passover season, to examine ourselves. We need to be honest with ourselves. God approves us. We're His children. When we're lacking, God will bring that to our attention and help us to overcome it. He gives us the strength. He gives us the power. Satan is out to destroy us. He's out to tempt us. He's out to undermine us in every way. God may try us, but it's always for our good, for our betterment, for our improvement. Back here in 1 Corinthians 11 and verse 31, one last scripture, 1 Corinthians 11 verse 31, we're told this.

If we would judge ourselves, we would not need to be judged. Rather than what we need to realize, the process starts with us. If we judge ourselves, correct ourselves, look at ourselves, evaluate ourselves, then God doesn't have to come along and judge us or correct us, because we're already doing it. As a rule, I'm not saying that God won't ever do that, but He does say if we judge ourselves, we would not need to be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord. Now, why does God chasten or correct us that we may not be condemned with the world? God doesn't want us to go down the tubes, so to speak. He wants to give us eternal life. So if there's something that we're doing wrong, God looks at us. And just like the trajectory of a rocket, if it's just off a hair, or going from here to the moon, that hair will take it way out here. There has to be a course correction. And so God corrects us and keeps us on course so that we hit the bullseye, which is His kingdom. So God always has our best in mind, our good in mind. And as we read here in verse 28, let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.