Examining Ourselves

the scenario that played out at what we commonly refer to as the last supper uh this was in fact the passover meal but jesus had to eat the passover early because during the actual time of the passover he would be on the cross and so he called his 12 disciples close to him and they ate this last supper which is now a type it's really the original communion service when we take communion in the modern church it has really been templated by the last supper that the disciples shared on this night with jesus christ and it says beginning with verse 20 of matthew 26 now when evening was come he speaking of jesus sat down with the twelve and as they did eat he said verily i say unto you that one of you shall betray me and they were exceeding sorrowful and began every one of them to say lord is it i let's pray father we just thank you for the written word of god lord it is a lamp and to our feet a light unto our path we thank you today that you've given us this record and lord we ask you today that by virtue of your holy spirit that you would move in our hearts and our minds that you would open our ears and that you cause our hearts to receive the engrafted word which is able to save the soul we ask this all in jesus name and the church said amen this was the darkest hour for the man that we call judas iscariot he had been with jesus for three years three and a half years he had seen all the miracles he had he had heard all of the sermons but yet during the entire course of that time the holy spirit points out that he held the bag he was the treasurer for jesus's ministry and the holy spirit records in numerous places he held the bag he was a thief meaning that he would embezzle money from jesus's fund from the ministry's fund to use on whatever that he used it on and in this hour this is the last time jesus is reaching out for judas's soul he's reaching out trying to keep him from making the biggest mistake that he could ever possibly make and so at this supper he calls the 12 and they're all sitting there at the table and he makes the surprising announcement that one of you sitting here will betray me and the scripture says every one of them including judas every one of them begin to ask lord is it me could it be me now i'll talk about judas in a minute but let me talk about the 11 first because 11 of these 12 men were absolutely innocent there was no treachery no betrayal in their heart whatsoever but yet they still ask the question could it be me could i be the one that is going to fail lord is it i and it sets a good example i think for every christian even when you think you're right it's good to say lord could it be be could i be the one when you're having a conflict on your job or conflict in your house or a conflict anywhere to go to the lord and say lord is it me am i am i operating correctly here because sometimes you may not be the one that started it but you're the one that didn't finish it right sometimes someone else can be wrong and it provokes us and we end up with the wrong attitude the wrong mindset the wrong direction and if we would just as christians learn how to ask the lord is it me and don't be surprised if you ask god he's going to tell you so whenever you ask the lord anything you might hear what you didn't want to hear it's a requirement for mature christianity that we always be willing to examine ourselves that we never come to a place of such self-righteousness and self-perceived holiness that we think that we can do no wrong how many can just admit it i i'm still prone to mess-ups i still i miss the mark sometimes and you know what when you miss the mark here's what will help you stop missing the mark go verbally apologize to that person humble yourself i know it's a little tight huh humble yourself and go to that person and say i was wrong you were right i apologize please forgive me you know i used to uh as a younger christian i'm i've had always a problem with impatience and uh sometimes my wife would be saying something and and i would just snap something out and sometimes you know i would say it without really thinking about the impact it would have i'm just whatever's on my mind there it is uh and and it would hurt her feelings and the lord began to deal with me about that and that's how i learned to stop doing that because i would snap and i would realize oh man and i would go back to her with crocodile tears flowing down my face because it's not easy that's why you don't do it go and say i'm sorry it was me but if we're not willing to examine ourselves we harden ourselves in a position that may not be consistent with the will of god it may be a position this is just the way i am that's just how i roll well you'll never mature as a christian like that you'll never mature until you become tenderhearted until you're able to say i'm wrong and you're right now paul when he wrote both of the epistles to the corinthians the corinthians were known for their immaturity they were they were the most immature church that paul established to be honest with you and both of the epistles are long epistles and both of the epistles are filled with correction every gift they got from god they misused it and and even though they had been converted they were christians yet there was such wickedness within the house of god that one of them was having sex with his father's wife and they were saying praise the lord isn't this great liberty so so they were messed up they were upside down and here what paul wrote i'm gonna just read a verse from both of the corinthian letters uh chapter one uh i'm sorry first corinthians chapter 11 verse 31 says for if we would judge ourselves do you notice that word if it it it means that it is possible but not necessary it it should happen but it doesn't mean it would happen if we would simply judge ourselves we should not be judged and what that means is that uh judgment is coming it just depends on where that judgment comes from see i like to do i like to judge myself and i i try to judge myself harshly and so when i find there's something in me i take that thing immediately to god and there's things i've been bringing to god for years saying lord this thing is still here i'm still struggling in this area it's still here but if we would judge ourselves if i die today and i go to heaven i don't i don't have to worry about the lord telling me something that i hadn't already told him about if i go to heaven today and say lord i was just praying about that this morning that you would give me deliverance from that if we would judge ourselves we should not be judged but it is not the default position for the human condition to judge ourselves now here's what's funny about it i can look at you and in five minutes i got you i got you i know exactly where you're at i can see all your warts all your blemishes i can see everything but i gotta fast and pray to see myself [Laughter] you're laughing at me but i'm made out of what you're made out of and you you're the same way you can look at somebody else and you can sum them up quickly man i see all your issues but yet we can walk around with our own issues and never really judge or examine ourselves he wrote again a second epistle to the corinthians chapter 13 of second corinthians verse five he said examine yourself that means search your own life when there's friction in your life look at that friction that occurred in your life and figure out how did that how did that happen what lord was it me did was there something in me that produced that friction he says examine yourself whether you be in the faith prove your own cells that word prove means test the greek word it means test test yourself put yourself to the test don't just give yourself a a plus because it's you amen lights have you ever known how easy it is to pat yourself on the back it's kind of quiet in here this morning you know we we don't even sometimes take a a second thought as to whether or not we're right of course i'm right it's me but the scripture is telling us no don't do that you may not be right because right and wrong is not based on your personal emotion right and wrong is founded in truth and the truth is unchangeable it doesn't go up and down with your emotion it doesn't change over time where uh three years ago i thought i was right today i i'm maybe not i this is more right today well that wasn't the truth because the truth is always the same examine yourselves whether you be in the faith prove your own selves now since this is not a message for the sinners out in the world we we know this is for the house of god this is for god's people because we are just as apt to operate without really considering our own culpability in issues we are just as apt to do it and we always have to examine ourselves we always have to search within there was a man by the name of david he was the king of israel david was a as a little boy he would be out on the backside of the pastures with the sheep he was a musician he played a harp and i could just see david learning the experiences in god out there worshiping the lord on that harp till tears would run down his face as he washed his father's sheep the bible defines david as a man after god's own heart he god raised him up to be the king of all of israel and raised his son up even higher than him but even david had this same problem he had this exact same problem he was on his balcony one day and he happened to look over and he saw a beautiful bathsheba taking a shower on the adjacent rooftop and it inspired a lust in his heart because the bible says she wasn't beautiful she was very beautiful and david called her over knowing that that was the wife of one of his mighty men of valor uriah the hittite it was his wife and he called her over and they slept together even though everybody was saying david don't th that's ryan's wife he knew full well what he was entering into so he committed adultery with bathsheba and to cover it up so the kingdom would not know he he sent death orders that uriah the hittite might be slain now we all know that was wrong and david knows it was wrong but when the word came back from joab that uriah is gone well bathsheba i'm gonna marry you it's cool gonna make it seem like it never was we'll get married and some commentators think that it might have been 18 to 24 months that david lived in this situation never examining what he just did i'm the king i put people to death all the time you had to in those days as the king and he went all of these many months and he never examined himself until one day god spoke to a prophet by the name of nathan i said nathan give david a visit and david was at home this thing is not on his mind anymore as a matter of fact bathsheba is pregnant at the time with the with the child between them too it's over it's done it's finished until one day who is it is nathan the prophet and nathan came in and told the king of a horrendous thing that happened within the kingdom he said one man had a whole flock of sheep and his neighbor had one little lamb and that man with all those sheep had a visitor come to town and instead of taking one of his own he took that man's only little sheep and he served it up for dinner to his visitor what do you think should be done to such a man and david blinded to his own culpability he says such a man doesn't deserve to live tell me who he is we'll deal with him promptly [Laughter] i mean we'll take his head off we're killing yeah sometimes we can be blinded we see it in someone else but we can't see it in us and nathan through the holy ghost told him david you're the man you took you took your wire's only little wife and you slew uriah since you and i we have the same fault we have the same need to constantly examine ourselves how glorious it would have been even if david did these evil deeds these evil things if he had just got on his knees before god and said lord i don't know what came over me i messed up i did this and then i did that and oh god please help me forgive me but when the holy ghost has to bring it to you if he were to judge himself he would not have been judged so harshly god said because and it's because not just what he did but because he wouldn't bring it to god he said the sword will never leave your house david and the baby that she's birthing now will die sometimes we bring hardships upon ourself because we simply won't admit that we're broken creation that our hearts are desperately wicked that we are we are always deceitful you you have to try to not be deceitful you have to try to walk in righteousness it's not the default if you're not putting forth any effort at all turn to your best friend and say do you see any faults in me do you see any issues at all turn to your husband or your wife you say i think i'm perfect what do you think make a list you see david david knew he was walking with god he knew god's anointing was on him but that doesn't stop what we have inside of us is a problem even after conversion even when you have the baptism of the holy spirit you still that sin nature is still in there now hopefully it's laid dormant so it's not cutting up every single day but we need to always be on guard and what that means is that we are examining ourselves to see has the sin nature showed out in anywhere in my life am i am i walking it out i need to test prove my own self to make sure that that i'm not messing up now if we go back to the last supper the disciples are there and they're all saying every one of them the scripture said ask the question lord is it i but if we move to verse 23 it says and he answered and said he that dippeth his hand with me in the dish the same shall betray me now don't you know if i had to be one of the disciples i'm done eating because my hand is not going my hand is not going in the dish but i believe that satan supernaturally moved on judas and his hand without regard to his own volition caused him to dip the son of man jesus goes on the son of man goeth as it is written of him but woe misery anguish unto that man by whom the son of man is betrayed it had been good for that man had he not been born now brother when when jesus says that about you that's the worst thing you could possibly hear judas is sitting there listening now he's got 30 pieces of silver already in his pocket as he sits there he's already covenanted with the pharisees but he has not yet done the deed and he could have stopped right there he could have changed right there but he was unwilling to really examine just how wicked of a deed you have done how absolutely ungodly that it was good for word for that man if he had not been born then judas which betrayed him again the money is in his pocket you know we can be so dishonest come on you guys lighten up i mean all of us we have the capacity to be totally dishonest and still be saved sometimes we don't speak alive we just act it out and sometimes the lie that we speak is what we didn't say it's what we didn't admit it says then judas which betrayed him answered and said master look at the deception 30 pieces of silver in his pocket but he yet still calls him master to cover what's in his pocket master is it i and then jesus said thou hast said which means exactly you are you are the one but he had not yet done the deed he had not yet betrayed him he got paid to betray him he made an agreement to portray him and jesus is reaching out for his soul and saying just simply examine yourself just look at what you're about to do but if you know this story he went out and he led the men to come and to arrest jesus and praise god he got his 30 pieces of silver i'm sure he counted it multiple times he might even use it to buy the rope that he hung yourself with since you and i don't have to do that the word of god is here and it lets us know that we can examine ourselves we can const this it's not a once a month thing it's not only when you take communion it's not only when you take communion every day examine yourself every time there's friction in your life and listen the most friction that occurs in most of our lives are within our own household because we live so closely with the people in our house and so that's when you really want to examine am i right and what is my position that i've taken right and even if my position that i've taken is right did i declare my position properly or was i antagonistic in my rightness i know when you're right it can sometimes mess you up you're right but you're so right that your confidence is too high your humility is is non-existent and you say things sometimes i say you i mean we we sometimes can say things that maybe that wasn't the right way to declare your rightness you know if you don't say anything at all you're still right that's a good method you know because you can just be talking that one person says i think it's a and the other person says it's b and you know it ain't b you don't have to fight that battle time will tell just let it go sometimes silence is your is the best thing to do just keep it silent pilate is another one that would not examine they finally they arrested jesus they brought him to his the kangaroo court that they had set up for him and finally they could not crucify him the jews themselves they could not put anyone to death they had to go to the roman authority to pronounce the death sentence and so they took him to pilate and and pilate's wife came to him and said have nothing to do with that just man leave him alone but yet the jews put political pressure on pilate and said if you're you're no friend of caesar's if you let this man live who said he was a king and so in matthew chapter 27 verse 24 says when pilate saw that he could prevail nothing but rather that a tumult was made he took water and washed his hands before the multitude saying i am innocent of this man's blood of the blood of this just person see you to it so get this now he's still going to do the deed he's going to pronounce the death sentence on god incarnate and he's looking for an out so he comes up with an external ceremony that all the people see watch bring water out i'm washing my hands i want you to know that i'm innocent of this deed i've washed my hands if you was innocent don't do the deed don't have nothing to do with it and incidentally water doesn't wash away sin only the blood of jesus christ only the blood of the lamb so today says i'm going to ask our musicians would you please come back so today things i want to emphasize be willing to take a good look at yourself there's no one in this room there's no one watching by webcast that can say i am perfect everything i do why even question the fact i'm insulted that you question my sinless perfection thou fool because if we don't examine ourselves sooner or later god's going to send a nathan to our house he's going to send a nathan circumstance you know what divorce is divorce is a nathan's circumstance now i'm not saying it was this one's fault or that one's fault i'm simply saying it's not the will of god not an amen anywhere did you notice that and many times there can be friction but both parties need to go to the opposite side of the ring and let the holy ghost referee in the middle to god deal with my heart if lord if if you tell me if it's wrong i will go back and apologize i will go back and admit i just want to be right with god i i don't care what is right or what is wrong i i just want to know what god wants and he wants right and if i could just find that whatever it takes i walk in that saints examine yourselves prove your own selves and see whether you're really walking out this faith correctly amen would you bow your heads please all over the room this morning father we just love you so much for your goodness we love you for your honesty we love you for your truth we love you because you're a good father and as a loving father you send your word to heal us and to deliver us we thank you today father the lord right now across this congregation i'm going to ask you if you would stand to your feet this morning and let's just pray together father right now across this congregation let holy ghost conviction just settle upon our hearts lord bring correction to our lives start with mind father start with my life find me oh god search my heart search my life as david said when nathan came to his door i acknowledged my sin unto thee and my iniquity have i not hid i will confess my transgressions unto the lord and now forgive us all my sin father we confess this morning we're not perfect we're still frail we still have missteps lord lay your conviction upon our hearts that we might bring our brokenness to you that we might examine ourselves just seek the lord's saints just seek the lord father we just ask right now that you would continue to come in and guide us and direct us lord so that we're able to bring our faults right to the foot of the cross that we know that we can boldly come to you lord boldly come to the throne of grace and obtain mercy for our sinful acts our sinful thoughts father we just ask right now that you continue to keep your hand upon us [Music] continue lord to help us to examine ourselves daily to humble ourselves lord under the mighty hand of god and father right now we just lay our lives in your hands and god we give you all the praise and all the glory and your holy name amen praise god again we we thank god for all of you that are here this morning and i just want to ask as we depart this place continue to hold up max and simone skinner in prayer if you did not get a chance to on your way in we have two cards out there they're going to both of them they're recouping from kidney surgery so we want to continue to lift them up in prayer asking god to to help them to recover and again we thank god for all of you we appreciate you being here with us those of you who are tuned in on webcast we appreciate you being with us today what i say unto one i say unto all watch pray examine yourself every day amen we're dismissed thank you for watching and please subscribe you can also find more of our videos in our archives at christunvale.org we'll see you next time you

Channel: Christ Unveiled Ministries

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Id: VWZODgf2uno

Length: 29min 56sec (1796 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 10 2021