Good morning and welcome in everybody. Today I’d like to take a look at a passage of scripture, but before we do that I wanted to tell you a little story.
Many years ago when I was in high school, I took a class that I really enjoyed. If I remember correctly I got pretty good grades because at the time, the subject matter interested me greatly because it dealt with living creatures and organisms. The course was biology. A lot of our class time was spent outside because we got to go into the woods doing environmental studies or finding different plants and insects. There was one aspect of the class that was difficult for many of us to do. Occasionally we are requested to dissect frogs or rodents on our examination table so that we could look at what was inside.
This reminds me of the Christian Life.
Even though it was difficult for many of us to examine one of these little creatures, it can be much more difficult to examine the inside of one’s own heart. Many times when someone peers inside of their own soul they are not going to like what they find. Buried deep within, if someone willingly ventures into that chasm, they might find unconfessed and secret sins. To be followers of Jesus we are required to depart from sin and to transform our lives. This is why if we are going to confess Christianity as our faith, we need to regularly inspect our hearts, looking deep inside the place where other people cannot see. We must judge ourselves, performing a self-examination, to know if we are truly walking in the faith.
2 Corinthians 13:5 Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?
If you examine something it means to inspect in great detail, so as to determine the condition of something. It means to look at something very closely, to probe or to investigate. Spiritually, this is what each of us need to do. We must look inside of our own hearts, and examine if our personal beliefs genuinely line up with the truth of scripture. We must consider what we are doing, and how we are living our lives for the Lord.
Haggai 1:5 – Now therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways.
Haggai 1:7 – Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways.
If someone is honest with themselves, and humbly takes a good look inside of their heart, sinful mannerisms can be changed and backsliding can be corrected.
Lamentations 3:40 – Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the LORD.
Psalms 119:59 – I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto thy testimonies.
Have you ever taken an examination while in school? A teacher occasionally would give us a test to see if we were retaining the knowledge in the subject that we were being taught. Although numerous tests are administered by the teacher, at certain times, we could test ourselves. We would read a chapter, and on the final page, there would be a self test that you could take. It wasn’t given to you by the teacher, it was an exam that you gave to yourself, and all of the answers were written right in the back of the book. You corrected and graded it yourself. This self-test was a way of looking inside of your own mind to see if you really had learned the things that you had just read. In the end, you were the only one who really knew if you were progressing, or failing the course. Christians need to walk and abide in the truth of our faith. If you were to take a moment right now and examine yourself, what kind of grade would you receive? Would you be passing, or would you be failing?
1 Corinthians 11:28,31 – But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.
There are hidden things inside, that other people cannot see; things that need to be changed, bad habits that need to be corrected, and ungodly behaviors that needs to be altered. Not everything that someone sees on the exterior, is actually what’s going on inside. When you examine yourself it means to judge yourself, and it’s always easier to be judgmental of another person than yourself. It’s always easier to find the faults in someone else than your own. It’s always easier to call someone else a sinner then yourself. Many people in the church were doing that very same thing by looking at the Apostle Paul’s activities, rather than taking a hard look at themselves.
A lot of people don’t want to look inside themselves, because if they started turning over rocks inside of their heart, they would find a lot of hidden sins underneath. So instead, they choose to find faults in others, because it takes the attention off of the things in their own life that need to be corrected, changed and repented of. It is one thing to be rebuked by another, but a completely different matter when you rebuke yourself. It’s one thing to be reproached by someone, but a completely different matter when you are filled with self-reproach. When you look into your own life and pick out faults and problems with your own behavior, this is called a self-examination, which was commanded by the Apostles.
Jesus taught this concept in Matthew chapter 7.
Matthew 7:3-5 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.
Our faith is derived from the teachings of God’s Holy Word. It is scripture that forms and molds our faith in our conscience and hearts. There is only one gospel, which was originally handed down from Jesus to His own disciples. Each day the Apostles were right next to Him, listening and absorbing everything that He taught. Later, the disciples handed down the teachings of our faith to the church. So when someone claims to be in the faith, they need to examine themselves whether they are walking in the true faith that was once delivered to the saints.
Jude 1:3 Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.
Have you ever ordered something through the mail? Maybe it was something that was considered very fragile or breakable such as glass, computer parts or even a new cell phone. When you finally got the box delivered in the mail, did you inspect and examine the contents closely? Did you look everything over to make sure that nothing was broken or missing? As eagerly as someone checked out the contents of that box, we need to look inside our hearts in the same manner. We need to open them up and take a look inside, making sure that our faith is intact, and that nothing is misplaced or damaged. Just as a package is addressed and belongs to you, so does your heart. You are going to be the one who needs to open up that package, and check it out.
Paul was not with the church every day, just as a dad is not with his children all the time. We have numerous moments in our life that are private, that no one else sees or knows about. We cannot read people’s minds and we cannot see inside their hearts. This is why it’s up to you, to critique, and judge yourself whether you are truly in the faith. Today is the day to put yourself under the microscope of God’s Truth, and begin doing your own……
….. Self-Examination
Let’s think about these things for right now. We can be found on your web browser by searching, tlkjbc where you can find our diaries distributed through various platforms. We are not associated, nor affiliated with any other religious groups. You can get our entire podcast feeds directly, along with transcripts at tlkjbc.com or I suppose that you could find us somewhere up here, in the Great Northern Minnesota woods. Peace to you, and Lord willing, we will talk with you some more tomorrow. Till then, bye bye everybody. ❤️
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