Good morning and welcome in everybody. Today, we are going to take a look at a passage of scripture, but before we do that, I wanted to tell you a little story.
When someone chooses to become a soldier in the military they are going to need to go through some extensive training, and will have to endure many different types of inspections. Even in boot camp, they claim that the inspections are quite stringent as instructors look at them and their activities in great detail. They will inspect things such as your locker box, your hair length, the appearance of your uniform, along with your own personal cleanliness. These are done on a regular basis and failed inspections can result in consequences such as intense training, loss of privileges or other types of remedial work. But in the end, inspections are meant to enforce the strict guidelines of the military. They are designed to make sure that the new soldiers will obey orders precisely, so they can follow through on the things that the commander wants them to do.
This reminds me of the Christian Life.
Our Lord Jesus Christ is our Spiritual Commander, and in order to serve Him perfectly, we will also need to undergo regular inspections. But rather than being inspected by somebody else, we will have to take a good look deep inside of our own hearts, and inspect ourselves.
2 Corinthians 13:5 (KJB) Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves.
Whenever you examine something, you are going to look at it very closely in order to find any problems or check its condition. It is to make careful inspection by studying something in great detail. For example, many times before heading out on a long trip across the country, people will take their vehicle into the local car shop where the mechanics will look over the vehicle to see if it is worthy of making the long trip. They will check the engine, the tires, and even the brake lines to determine if there is anything that is in need of attention and repair. Well, the Christian Life is no different because we need to really take a good look into the depths of our hearts to see if the faith that we profess is genuine and sincere. We have to essentially see if we have got what it takes to get all the way to the finish line of eternal life. When someone is “in the faith”, it means that their life lines up with the teachings of Holy Scripture. To be “in the faith” means that you are walking in the will of God rather than your own.
We examine things everyday but you probably don’t even think about it. You might tell your child to go into his bedroom and clean it before he can go outside and play, and when he finally tells you that it’s clean, you will walk in there and do an inspection to see if everything has been picked up and put away in its proper place. But the Christian Life requires self-examination, to see if you truly are walking according to God’s purpose. Even before partaking of Holy Communion, the Apostle warns that you must first examine your own heart in the presence of God before doing so. You must make sure that you have reconciled with those whom you have wronged. You must bring a humble heart of repentance and be willing to turn away from any of the wickedness that you have committed. The cup of Christ can produce eternal life but it will also produce Eternal damnation to those who don’t look deep inside of their heart before they partake of it. When people refuse to repent and choose to continue to abide in their sins, partaking of Holy Communion only becomes an act of religious hypocrisy.
1 Corinthians 11:27-32 (KJB) Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.
The Apostle teaches that we must prove ourselves, which actually means to put something to the test. Many times when people go to a used car dealership the customer will take the vehicle that they are interested in out for a test drive first, to see if it operates properly.
When we are walking through the woods and looking for some berries to eat, most of the time you will test them by taking a tiny nibble first to make sure that they don’t have any harmful side effects.
Even in high schools, a teacher will occasionally hand out tests in order to see if the student actually possesses and retains the knowledge that they have been given.
Well, the Christian Life requires the same types of activities, the only difference is that we must test ourselves.
1 Thessalonians 5:21 (KJB) Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.
It kind of reminds me of the self-tests that I would take in school that were found at the end of the chapter that you were studying. There was no teacher around, and there was no parent, it was only you. A lot of students never bothered doing them simply because they were not mandatory, but the students who seriously considered their education would take a few minutes to test themselves on the materials. When you corrected your test, you would find out the questions that you had answered wrong, indicating what you needed to work on in order to pass the course that semester. Likewise, in order to pass the course of this life and someday graduate into the kingdom of heaven, we must test ourselves diligently and make our calling and election sure.
2 Peter 1:10-11 (KJB) Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
We must regularly examine the way that we are living our lives, an activity that is so important that the prophet Haggai repeated it twice.
Haggai 1:5 (KJB) Now therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways.
Haggai 1:7 (KJB) Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways.
You have to remember that there is a way that seems right unto a man but the end thereof leads to death. This is why we must regularly examine ourselves to make sure that we are following the way of Christ Jesus. The heart of man should never be trusted, but rather, it must be placed completely on Christ Jesus and His teachings.
Lamentations 3:40 (KJB) Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the LORD.
Psalms 119:59 (KJB) I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto thy testimonies.
To get to heaven will require being very critical of the way that you are living your life. This is to make sure that you are abiding in the will of God. It’s going to be up to you to take a good look deep inside of your own heart, to make sure that you really have what it takes, to pass your own,……..
……..Drill Inspection
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 all, and Lord willing, we will talk with you some more tomorrow. Till then, bye bye everybody.♥️
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