The Challenge and Blessing of Self-Honesty

[Music] if you'll turn to second Corinthians chapter 13 we read there in a minute 2nd Corinthians in chapter 13 and before we do I want you to imagine that you were traveling somewhere say to Asheville North Carolina you're traveling to Asheville North Carolina now in the days before GPS there were something a lot like GPS you'd fold it up and put in your pocket it was called a map and you would use maps to get places and if you were a triple-a member like my mother was you could actually if you had a quite a trip you could call triple-a and they would send you directions that actually gave it was the equivalent of GPS it was a list it was Google Maps Google Maps used to be spelled AAA you would call triple-a and they would actually give you a turn-by-turn list of where you wanted to go I'm mi my mother had a big trip home to Kentucky and it was one of the first trips that my my father wasn't going to be on as well and so she was anxious too they got this this great detailed list of directions from Triple A so imagine you want to go to Asheville North Carolina but you don't know how to get there so you call triple-a and they send you a list of directions but then as you open up the envelope there's there's two sets of directions like maybe there was a mistake of some sort and one set of directions says you want to head out west generally and after a while you're gonna turn a little north and it's about two hours and 130 miles in the other set of directions says you're gonna head south east the trips gonna be about 71 hours and you'll cover about 4,300 miles which one is it right I mean I remember which one those are two radically different sets of directions and I tell you if from this place if you were to take one of them you would arrive in the neighborhood of Asheville and the others you would actually land someplace I tried to find it on the map roughly it's a Guinea Bissau in Africa assuming your car can drive on top of the water like Herbie if anyone ever seen Herbie did that you know you drive on top of the water because one of those directions is correct right we all know which that might be but actually if we think only one of those directions is correct we're wrong both of those directions are correct both of those instructions are correct depending upon where you're leaving from one is a set of directions to get to Asheville from Charlotte North Carolina and the other is a set of directions to get to Asheville from Anchorage Alaska it's not enough to know where you want to go you have to know where you are you have to know where you are now otherwise the directions gonna actually make any sense and we see that reflected here in second Corinthians chapter 13 second Corinthians chapter 13 and verse 5 the Apostle Paul commends all of us examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith test yourselves do you not know yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you unless indeed you are disqualified now we often think of self-examination as a pre passover activity and it certainly is it certainly is before Passover comes we have an obligation to examine ourselves we often make that connection because of what Paul says in 1st Corinthians in Chapter 11 we won't turn there but but we'll get to it eventually this year if we if we haven't yet in our preparation for Passover season and examining ourselves but it's not so much that examining ourselves is a once-a-year activity and we shouldn't think of it that way rather examining ourselves think of it this way is so in horton that God commends it to us explicitly every year at before Passover so we don't forget at that time it absolutely is crucial you don't want to to go to the Passover and be unprepared the Bible says it's not a wise thing to do but think of it that way that it's so important it's such a vital part of a Christian life that it's actually woven into the things that we do we often ask why are you here it's one of my favorite questions I actually don't get tired of it you think I would you know but we don't you know we ask it a lot you know why are you here it's one of the most important things you can reflect on is why am I here but if we don't ask the question where am I it's of questionable value it's actually another very important question we should ask ourselves where am I where am I in my life where am I in my relationships with other people where am I in my relationship with God what are my actual hopes and dreams and aspirations what are my fears what are my illusions the things I'm holding on to that aren't actually real and what is my reality we have to know who we actually are where are we you know if you don't have a relatively good sense of who you are if I don't have a relatively good sense of who I am if you think about it we say rightly so that God should be the center of our world and spiritually God should be the center of our world but in terms of a very physical sense and how I come to understand the world physically who's at the center of my world it's me right everything around me is what surrounds me and if I ever try to get away from that the center of my world follows me right because it's me it's it's it's my perspective here's where I am and if I don't understand properly the eyes through which I see the world the ears through which I'm hearing the world the mind my mind and how I'm processing the world then all the world becomes to a certain extent and to a certain degree a deception to me it becomes not true because as much as we like to think we're purely dependent on facts all those facts get filtered by this thing we have in our noggin that God has given us to filter facts and to process facts and if I don't really understand what's going on I'm a great risk of self-deception examining ourselves is absolutely vital to the Christian walk we all want to make it to the kingdom of God well I don't know maybe there's some here who don't if not have a good day you know you're in the wrong place because everyone's come here hoping to be a part of the kingdom of God and live forever and and enjoy life in the presence of God doing the things of God the things that he wants us to do but it's not enough to know where we want to go we have to know from whence we start we have to know the beginning place and we have to know where we are and I want to say we I hope it's accurate we often don't give self-examination the kind of attention it really deserves and the reason I want to be able to say we is not because I wish ill of all of you because I want to feel better about myself I don't always give self-examination the effort and the passion that it really deserves and I just hope that I'm not alone otherwise you've probably got some apps on your phone that you could play with there's something while I essentially just give a sermon to myself it's something deserving of our best as deserving of our time is deserving of our of our passions in our effort and it can be a little scary if you don't think that plumbing the very depths of who you are good or bad you know you don't think that's at least a little bit intimidating I don't think you know yourself very well you know one of the examples that was that I heard someone talk about once that really impacted me was the question may I ask you the question I got to ask myself like Wes were I in Germany in World War two and all of these things were happening around me to the Jews would I have behaved differently what I have been one to stand up and be bold and risk my life and say this is wrong I like to think I would I like to think I would but I have to admit there were a lot of people in Germany with character who were educated who didn't do that we need to be not so sure about ourselves and recognize that it's not an easy thing to understand who we are and where we actually are and that's what I want to discuss today I want to discuss the challenge and rewards of examining ourselves and to do it rigorously without compromise without making excuses just being completely open to the truth and seeing ourselves as God does and the title of the sermon today is the challenge and blessing of self-honesty the challenge and blessing of self-honesty and I understand that words won't use them over and over again they sometimes do we don't hear them anymore and self-examination has a risk of being one of those words and so I'll probably use it a lot myself because it's woven into our DNA and the church to talk about self-examination but if it helps I hope you'll think of it as self-honesty as being honest with yourself an obligation that we have really when you look at the commandment we're told in Exodus 20 to not bear false witness you have an obligation not to bear false witness to yourself you're included in that can we actually be honest with ourselves we can we absolutely can but it's not necessarily easy so the challenge and blessing of self honesty first briefly I'd like to discuss there it is a special challenge today that is in 2020 if some reason someone's the sermon later in 2021 it's sure it's a challenge there too but in the modern day it's a it's a real challenge in particular it's prophesied to be a challenge I would dare say have you turned to Revelation in chapter 3 revelation in chapter 3 coming to see ourselves honestly is difficult and we see that in Revelation chapter 2 and 3 various eras of the church are depicted and really if you if you read it carefully they're letters to the churches their letters to particulars and groups of people that represent the dominant spirit in that age so it doesn't mean everyone in every age fits that description but it does mean it's the dominant description of most of the church at that particular time it's an era of dominance for a particular church if you will have a certain approach and it says here speaking of the last air of the church delay to see an era beginning in verse 14 Jesus Christ says to the angel of the church of the laodiceans write these things says the Amen the faithful and true witness the beginning of the creation of God I know your works that you are neither cold nor hot I could wish you were cold or hot one of the other right one extreme or the other he's saying I could do something with that but you're right smack dab in between that lukewarm verse 16 so then because you're lukewarm and neither cold nor hot I will vomit you out of my mouth because you say I'm rich have become wealthy and have need of nothing and do not know that you're wretched miserable poor blind and naked then he tells them I counts you to buy gold buy from me gold refined in the fire that you may be rich white garments that you may be clothed the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed and anoint your eyes with salve that you may see because you're not seeing right now there are things that I've allowed to be right in front of your face that you're not seeing we often talk about how one of the dominant aspects of the final era of the church as a lukewarmness but understand it's not the only thing we're warmed about one of the dominant characteristics of the final heir of the church is an inability to see itself rightly to see itself through the eyes of reality through a lens of reality the way that God actually sees it and it's yeah it's easy sometimes to depend on labels and to think well if if I look at my spiritual name tag it says hello my name is Wally I'm a Philadelphian right you know I can look down at the name tag and be comfortable with that one I got the name tag right I mean it says right there I'm a I'm a Philadelphia and I I don't belong in this group of people and yeah perhaps that's true hope I hope it's true of most of us that we are but the one thing I like to highlight and I hope it no it's helped my mindset is to remember that not only were these cities on a a mail route that is the Seven Cities of Revelation chapters two and three but the fact that they were on a mail route means there was a road running between them to and fro and no one's forced to live in Philadelphia no one's forced to live in Laodicea we can repent and we can change or we can degrade we our character can lessen if we're not careful the person who's on fire on Tuesday can be laxed a days ago on Wednesday hopefully not that fast but still that we have the ability to change it's not like well you know I'm going to the right Church I'm hearing all the right messages and therefore I'm blank I don't know about you but I changed over time I don't always feel on fire I don't always feel like sad days ago and we do need to examine ourselves all the more understanding that this is according to God the dominant spirit of the age the dominant spirit of the age and the idea that somehow I've been given some kind of inoculation that says Philadelphia that's going to protect me from the dominant spirit of the age tells me why does God have to have a warning in here why don't we all just cut that part out of our Bible and just leave the warning to Philadelphia I would say warnings are for all of us all of us could stand to take a look at these and make sure we understand there's other passages of the Bible that warn us the Apostle Paul says therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall listen first Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 12 now let's test ourselves real quickly does that warning apply to me well if I'm currently falling and stumbling and I'm aware of it well I'm currently falling and stumbling and I'm aware of it so perhaps it doesn't apply to me let's say well no I'm not I'm actually standing I'm standing firm I'm standing strong well then the warning applies he said let him who thinks he stands lest he'd a sorry take heed lest he fall in other words if we're confident in our spiritual state then the Apostle Paul says you know hello without talking to you if you're really confident that you're standing then that's wonderful I hope it's true he says but take heed take heed because you need to be careful of falling actually there's another famous teaching let's turn to Luke chapter 21 Luke 21 and let me admit as we do to another human failing that hopefully I say hopefully we all share makes it's not like I want you all to be terrible people to make me feel better but hopefully it resonates with you in some kind of way because otherwise it means here's a warning Christ as given that we're not paying attention to I think one of the worst ways to read the warnings of the Bible is to read them from a perspective that we just think they're for other people that they're only for other people because that means if there's anything there I need to learn I'm not going to I'm just gonna sit back like an observer and wait somehow for other people to pick up what they need to understand in Luke chapter 21 starting in verse 34 Jesus Christ says take heed to yourself there's that phrase take heed it means turn your attention to you know point your face toward this so that you're paying attention to it but take heed to yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing drunkenness and cares of this life and that day come upon you unexpectedly for it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth watch therefore and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass and to stand before the Son of man now it's easy to simply read this passage and think of watching the signs and we do need to watch the signs hopefully you have seen mr. Ames's recent telecast on seven signs of the second coming it's doing really well with my understanding actually it's done phenomenally in terms of responses online on YouTube best I can tell watching it seems to be doing really well but hopefully not just people viewing it hoping they're paying attention and we do understand we don't water that down we should be watching for signs but if you look at what Jesus Christ is trying to impress on people in this passage it's about trying to make sure we're worthy trying to make sure we're in a proper place with God when that time comes not just watching for the signs but watching ourselves understanding ourselves taking heed to us you know going back to verse 34 says take heed to yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing now you might think I'm not a carouser and then I look down on carouse errs when I seek rousing on Facebook I close the app right no carousing for me you know perhaps that's the case for you or drunkenness it's like drunkenness absolutely not you know I'm not gonna be a party to that I'm not going to do that I say if anyone here is partaking in drunkenness you absolutely need to repent the Bible is filled with AB initials about where the drunken go and it's not that they're celebrated in the kingdom of heaven is that they're forgotten as the rest of us move on and enjoy eternity and it also doesn't count as not drunkenness if it's just not in front of other people I know some people think if well if I just go home and nobody's watching it's Miller time you know and all of a sudden yeah I can drink all I want you know as long as I'm well no it's it has to do with your mont what are you doing are you really imitating God's mind in that space are you abandoning your obligation to reflect God because somehow you're alone you're never alone Jesus Christ is in the room God is in the room are they looking forward to you getting blotto you know for the rest of the evening until you fall asleep but still you might think well no carousing drunkenness that's not me I'm in good shape and then at least for me personally I get to cares of this life and I think Oh as well as these again to think of that's just partying and stuff right it's just that but honestly the cares of this life can be while the cares of this life when we've got deadlines to me we've got things to do we've got people that depend on us we have babies that aren't gonna change their own diapers right I mean it'd be a miracle and we'd thank God for it for the rest of our lives if that happened but it doesn't happen right we have kids to take to soccer practice that we have parents perhaps that are older now and we have to take care of them and these are cares of this life but they're not bad but they're also not the top priority they're not the thing that should be taking us away from the thing that is far more fundamental in terms of a relationship with God and I know when I come across the words cares of this life I find that I enter a realm in my own life where it's very easy for me to make excuses it's very easy for me to put off the things that self-examination might want to show me with a but this or but that prophecy assures us that all over the world today if you understand the era in which we live all over the world today there are men and women sitting in Sabbath services listening to a sermon or watching a video and they fit the description of Laodicea they are absolutely clueless about the truth of their spiritual state and I can't say I'm not I can't say that I'm saying that I'm not saying that to scare you because I am I want to scare you just a little bit is to take heed and to think you know I don't want to take for granted that that's not me I don't want to think well you know I know the way are the corporate churches designed and I met services and the living Church of God so I'm good again let he who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall this is the day and age where God seeks to characterize the church with the words that they need a salve because they can't see so let's never take it for granted but that's it let's also have take for granted that it's easy I'd like to talk about why it's hard it is hard to examine ourselves and we think it's easy we there's several things we don't really understand our natural state that has just given our carnal bodies and then the human spirit not not God's pure but our human self our natural state is to be ignorant of ourselves in the most significant ways now you might know yourself in a lot of ways I know myself I actually went to have a beer I don't have a lot of beers so for the history of my family is one that doesn't encourage one to actually drink beer and I kind of miss it I wish that I see guys having a beer and I'm sitting there with you know water or something think oh you know it would be nice to be able to have one so I was finally offered a beer I was able to really enjoy because it tasted like peanut butter and jelly seems like that's against the laws of nature right you know for beard it tastes like peanut butter and jelly but I did I had a whole five ounces it was very nice why bring that up so I know that about myself in fact the moment I saw it on the menu and I saw and it said peanut butter and jelly and I said does this beer really taste like peanut butter jelly under myself well enough to go give me those five ounces you know I want to try that you know I'm gonna enjoy that but if I think that just because I know that somehow I know myself deeply and thoroughly that I can somehow understand myself as as thoroughly as God does or even if I back off and think that I know myself thoroughly enough thoroughly enough to be able to figure out what I need to do and where I'm going then there's some things I don't understand one of my favorite passages and I've often overused it in the past I've tried to back off a little bit but as the one that says the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked or sick who can know it it's Jeremiah 17 and verse 9 the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked again or sick is a better translation who can know it you know think of the greatest liar in the world you've ever known maybe not known personally maybe you don't know any liars hats off but maybe think of someone in the world someone in politics gives us a lot of choices there right think of someone who is the greatest liar that you think deserves the crown man king of liars that's this guy and then remind yourself the natural state of your heart and my heart is described here in Jeremiah 17:9 the heart is deceitful above all things no one whispers to you the things you want to hear or sometimes the things you don't depending upon the mood you're in perhaps like your heart no one is more capable of causing you to think of reality as other than it is than your heart now that was Jeremiah 17 let's actually turn to Jeremiah chapter 10 we'll come back to Jeremiah 17 later but Jeremiah chapter 10 and verse 23 Jeremiah 10 in verse 23 a very blatant statement that I hope we all accept Jeremiah writes Oh eternal I know this verse 23 Oh a turtle I know the way of man is not in himself it is not in man who walks to direct his own steps we're not good at it though the way we should go is not a part of who we naturally are at all not at all we're hard to understand we're complicated it's actually a quote I'm a kind of a Jordan Peterson fan he doesn't understand everything I wish he was sitting here in the church and he's not but he does understand a lot think some of his insights in terms of psychology I've actually been fascinating and one of the things that that he said this Jordan Peterson said human beings are unbelievably complicated and were nested in systems that are also unbelievably complicated there are more patterns of connections between neurons in your brain than there are subatomic particles in the universe by the way I haven't checked that but it sounds pretty plausible I can't help it now I want to get a calculator and check it I haven't done that yet but he says the probability that you can understand yourself and anything approaching totality is extraordinarily low and he's saying that just from his clinical experience how many people come in to to talk to him how many clients has he had when it's obvious they're so clueless about themselves as part of his job is to help them understand themselves many of us surely if you're on your own experience you've known someone in your life that you recognize everyone understands that Bob ceiling wall has a problem there's no such person as Bob ceiling wall I've ever meet someone with that name I'm gonna have to change my default you know generic person but everyone everyone around him what we try to tell him Bob's ceiling wall you have a problem you've got an issue or maybe it's a gift Bob stealing a wall you have a gift you've got a talent it's remarkable what you can do regardless and Bob's ceiling wall just doesn't see it and it's just we don't understand why doesn't he see it do we think Bob ceiling wall is unique no he's human he's human and it's hard to see things about herself it's not easy we are subject to forces and such that we often have no idea are working on us or subject to influences we have no idea are influencing us one of the things I appreciate that mr. Weston focuses on when he's talking to younger people and I I'm sure it's difficult because you hear the same thing you start to tune it out but it's so true and I'm so sympathetic to his desire to press it upon them is that they and I would say all of us but in his messages talk to younger people they probably don't appreciate how much they're being influenced by the world around him but they don't give it a fraction of the credit it deserves and I would say that's true of all of us all of us are influenced to a greater degree than we tend to think that we are I can think of my own experience as a younger person and I remember as an older person getting to find it out explicitly and I may have used this example before but it involves mr. Pibb there was a time when I really decided yeah like mr. Pibb you know why do I like mr. Pibb I'll tell you why I like this me like it 15 or 16 or 17 here's why I like mr. Pibb you know I don't see a lot of people drinking it you know so I'm kind of different than everybody else as in Texas it was pretty much dr. pepper everywhere you know so you're kind of mr. pill was created by coca-cola to compete against dr. pepper if you're not aware of the the cola history but anyway they had this cool can - it wasn't smoothly round like most aluminum cans it had facets about 30 or so so I had these kind of ridges and when you like this can't is different than everybody else's right you know what that means I'm different than everybody else now did I actually think those thoughts no that would really be problematic you folks actually oh this can means I'm different but as an adult I've been able to look back and recognize that is what I thought that is part of the joy when that when it would drop out of the Machine and roll out and I see this multifaceted can it's like different just like me right well then as an adult I'm studying marketing and such and I find this this discussion from coca-cola this is a fish this is actually there this was their little description of their marketing strategy during that time with mr. Pibb and what did they say they gave it this multifaceted can because they knew it would appeal to young people who want to feel different they don't want to feel special and just somehow set apart from everyone now at the time I didn't realize I was I'm making a young person decision based upon the decisions of actually sixty and seventy year old men I had been manipulated but I didn't recognize that but here's what I hope we all understand just because we survived puberty and we've reached I'm about to turn 50 in March we've reached our 50s our 60s or 70s doesn't mean we've become any less complicated doesn't mean that somehow we're no longer susceptible to influences if anything if the devil has to work harder don't you think he's working harder for me I was easy I though I'm a can he'll be sucking at sugar water you know for you know for the next however many years but don't you think he steps up his game if it's harder you know if you combine these things you mind Jeremiah 17:9 s self-deception and you combine throw in Jeremiah twenty ten twenty three Zig neurin cebause elves that I think you kind of get what's in Proverbs sixteen turn to proverbs 16 proverbs 16 and again it's so easy to think of these verses as verses that apply to other people if it would help for me to get on my knees and beg all of us to think differently about that I would but I doubt that it will plus like I said I'm turning 50 I'm not sure I'd be able to get back up and and come to the lectern but proverbs chapter 16 and verse 2 verse 2 all the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes but the eternal ways the spirits don't we all think we're right I mean really don't we all think we're right about the things we think in fact I dare say if you didn't think you were right about the things you believe go get help right go talk to dr. to dr. Scott right if you if you think I'm wrong I'm wrong about everything fact let me give you an opinion it's totally wrong right why what that doesn't make any sense most of us are pretty sure we're right ignoring the fact that we disagree with each other on so many different things and the odds that somehow I'm the one that's a hundred percent right on everything regardless of how I'm sure I came across to my wife in the first 20-something years of our marriage I'm not right about everything that's easy to say that behind the lectern it's harder to say that when something I care about is on the line or I'm talking about someone's perception of me or I've been challenged with a disagreement it's suddenly a lot harder to fathom the idea that I might be wrong about something and the fact that it's important to me doesn't guarantee that I'm right the way all this is speaking of carnal people right because it talks about how the eternal can make a difference we'll get to that but if you're saying all the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes is there anyone here who thinks that somehow the physical me or the physical you this doesn't apply to me or Jeremiah 17:9 that the heart is deceitful about all things you know even apart from God's Spirit that verse doesn't apply to me it's just not me is anyone else who think that because if so it's like an invitation for God to take us out to the woodshed a little bit because he needs us to understand this you know there's a king solomon rose something I was surprised this morning as we're talking about it in the living room King Solomon once wrote truly the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil madness is in their hearts while they live and after that they go to the dead that's the most debbie downer verse i think i've ever seen you know in the bible that is that is a buzzkill right you're having a nice party with friends you say hey everybody just wants to hide and say you know truly the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil madness is in their hearts while they live and after that they die all those orders look good can i go ahead and have one right it is not a happy verse if you haven't actually listened to mr. rod McNair's sermon about the book of Ecclesiastes that he gave really a number of weeks ago it's is fantastic it really helps you get a perspective on the book and understand where Solomon was coming from I guess what surprised me this morning is I was reading it and then my son Jonathan started reciting it as I read it he goes oh yeah Cleese st's 9-3 yeah that's a good one it's like wow you memorized the whole Bible that's crazy and he hadn't but you know like me that verse grabbed him like oh that's a real winner yeah we're gonna we're gonna remember that one so anyway it's Ecclesiastes 9 3 where that is now sometimes Solomon could be the mayor of bummer town that's very true but while his language is dramatic he's expressing a truth he's trying to express a truth there that if you're taking God's perspective and watching humanity and I dare say we're still a part of humanity everybody's kind of crazy just a little bit you know you just see irrational things being done how many people would watch a television program that may be a documentary on the terrible things that smoking does to you and the terrible ways in which most people who smoke die and will sit there smoking while they're watching and if we think that somehow we're immune to those kind of Iraq Janell ''tis we haven't lived with ourselves for very long it's just part of the human condition here reference Ecclesiastes let's actually turn to another verse in Ecclesiastes Ecclesiastes chapter 7 I'm gonna get another pronouncement from the mayor of bummer town please yes tease chapter 7 visions standing around Solomon and his heyday said hey you know sire just so you know someone's having a party you know over there and so-and-so's house you know they're they're celebrating their son's achievement and it just sounds like it's gonna be great you want to go and Solomon saying you know where you want to go the House of the Dead that's where you want to go Wow okay you're the king I guess I better go yeah next thing you know you're just walking around the funeral home I was really go to a party but he has a point to make and in Cleese yesyes chapter 7 starting in verse 2 he says better to go to the house of mourning than go to the house of feasting for that is the end of all men and the living will take it to heart what does he mean it doesn't mean you can't have a party doesn't mean next time is Charlotte family weekend we're all gonna host it at the funeral home down the road and that's it it doesn't mean you can't have a good time what he's saying is that there's something about the time of mourning the place of mourning that wakes you up if if good things are to happen to you that wakes you up to think about things differently recognizing this is my end - I remember the first time it hit me just like that I was asked to be a pallbearer in my step grandmother's funeral I'm just sitting there amongst the pallbearers and some Baptist fellows kind of going on about how you know I guess I'm gonna be living in heaven and rolling around you know for the rest of eternity and the rest and and I remembered it's not true by the way if you're new that's not true we have a booklet about that you need to read your Ultima destiny but still all the more I was sitting there it really hit me I'm not getting younger every year that comes by it's not subtracted from my age it's added to my age and I don't know if I'm gonna walk out there this coffin and a plane land on me or something like that isn't it I can literally guarantee nothing and have a family to care for I have have things I've wanted to achieve I have a God that I don't feel close enough to yet you don't think those kinds of thoughts at parties right hey there's great music you know I sure wish I were closer to God right it just doesn't tend to happen and that's what he's saying that as human beings we need to be woken up and he's saying as times of seriousness that tend to do that it puts all the distractions that kept us from examining ourselves in this world is increasingly full of those distractions it sort of puts them in their place and gives us room to see things we should why don't we do that enough not go to funeral homes why don't we examine ourselves deeply enough why don't we take the time to ponder these things we'll talk about perhaps a few reasons but one thing I would like to highlight because I know it was true of me is it honestly it's a little scary it can be intimidating and I don't just mean because it's always bad things that's one thing I hope it's sort of a side point but I think it's a point that's that's important to get across examining yourself is not just about finding all the dead dog dirty deeds about your life now if you don't find any dead dog dirty deeds you're probably not looking at that right there gonna be some there's going to be mistakes that you and I are making there's going to be things that we are that we don't realize we're doing wrong that we need to know that God can show us so we can repent it's also about finding good things perhaps I know people you know people that I know people who have dumb thing to say I know many people of the people I know many of them are unwilling to recognize some of their talents are unwilling to recognize some of the gifts that God has given them to help other people and that's just as damaging because it means we're not seeing ourselves accurately someone who doesn't recognize they have a gift for something is often someone who's not using that gift to its fullest to honor God with and serve other people with and so it's self-examination think of it of the word exam when your professor or your teacher gives you an exam if it comes back to him and you've missed every problem the exam it's like oh that was the purpose my whole goal is to show this person he's an idiot so I want to make sure he missed every problem on the exam if that's your class get another class right no one should be trapped in a terribly abusive classroom like that but let's say you get your exam back after it's been graded and you made an 85 well what does that mean that means you've mastered 85% of the material and 15% of the material you haven't an exam the purpose of an exam is to help you understand where you are clearly an objective way not that you think you understand everything or you think you don't understand things but to let you know here's the reality if you made a 25 on the exam you got a lot of work to do right if you made a 95 on the exam that's great don't sit on your don't rest on your laurels though work on that 5% and build on the 95 percent that you have done well with the purpose of self examination is not just to beat ourselves up is to see ourselves the way God sees us to the fullest extent that we can but the problem is with our deceitful heart it tends to push us towards the positive we're often far more willing more often than not but more willing to accept good things judging ourselves based on our intentions and not see the things we truly need to change actually examining our actions but even with that in mind it shouldn't be scary I turn to Psalm 103 let's talk about that briefly examining yourself should not be scary for a number of reasons Psalm 103 we read this of God there's so many beautiful things in many of these songs I'm just gonna focus on a little bit for the sake of time but I hope you'll explore these things Psalm 103 and verse 11 we'll start there we read for as the heavens are high above the earth so great is his mercy toward those who fear Him as far as the east is from the west so far he has removed our transgressions from us as a father pities his children so the eternal pities those who fear Him now before we move on understand the word pities can seem very negative but it's not meant to be negative you can actually look at other translations even this same Hebrew word in other verses and it's it's often translated mercy that as a father has mercy towards his children or compassion compassion is a very common translation in other translations as a father has compassion on his children so the eternal has compassion on those who fear Him that he's not looking for a reason to just disown you or kick you out of the family but he has compassion for all of us the next verse verse 14 says he knows our frame he remembers that were dust but yes he wants us to grow into the fullness of Jesus Christ day by day moment by moment and is pouring himself and his son is pouring himself into that effort in us but he recognizes you're not there yet I'm not there yet he knows that there's no need to be fearful in examining ourselves in trying to line up with how God actually sees us that's part of we have to recognize he already sees it whatever it is he's already aware and we could be honest with ourselves if you'll turn to Romans chapter 5 another passage that encourages me and examining myself remember a couple of times and so the best self-examinations the type that just kind of slaps you in the face and you weren't expecting it it's a little difficult to take them but you have to be ready for it and you have to have a mindset that that wants to hear it and I've had a few moments like that I remember I think I've told one recently I won't repeat that one again but one maybe I've told longer ago was when I was I was doing some meditating and reflecting and we'll talk about that as one of the tools before we wrap up we'll get to that but as that was I was doing some meditating and reflecting and I was thinking action about a guy that I knew back in high school it's actually a really nice guy what I'm gonna say sounds terrible but part of the message should be that it isn't he wasn't terrible he was a real nice guy he's actually really successful he's a blast I saw he's actually a author of some popular young adult you know fiction and such actor eyes for some comic books too very easy is doing pretty well that said young adults you may think man you know this this book sure as well yes pie written by a guy my age just so you know so keep that keep the head in mind but anyway I remember I was reflecting on him and our time in high school and I this is gonna sound really strange but this is how the font developed in my head I remember baked ringing him at home I wish I could say why I can't remember why but say he was on a beach walking on a beach and just picking up a rock and throwing it into the water and I remember thinking you know that guy I like him and everything but if he did that you know why he'd do that because that's what you're supposed to do when you're on a beach not because he's a person of depth right because he's a shallow person and that's what he cares about right is that he's he's doing what people would expect him do well you know people are looking at me what a deep guy do oh that's what he'd do he'd pick up a rock and throw it on the ocean and look at it as it went out for a while and then like just being slapped in the face by a wet towel it hit me you could say that about him but that's you that's you what are you picking on him for that's you and I remember where I was I was in College Station Texas I was still finishing my degree and I was baptized and that does make a difference it makes a difference having God to health and it just was woken up to my own hypocrisy 'he's my own shallowness in places and I didn't like it I wanted to shut that door as fast as possible forget that I was writing things down as I want not gonna dot writing anymore uh I'm not here to think about myself I'm here to condemn other people that I know that are not as good as I am and all the rest and it hit me know that that's me that's me and then suddenly you don't feel worthy Beata he's like you're so enraptured at first of all of course God called me look at me um I got this and I got that next thing it's like well great me and the Pharisees a bunch of hypocrites right you know why did God call me and then we have to remember that he didn't call us because of how stellar we were he remembered we were dust when he did the calling he majors in working with dust if you will in Romans chapter 5 when did he choose to give everything for us it was when we were in that Unforgiven State Romans chapter 5 and verse 6 for when we were without strength in due time Christ died for the ungodly for scarcely for a righteous man will one die yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die but God demonstrates his own love toward us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us they might think you're off the hook because you weren't born in 31 ad well I wasn't there you know when he died and yet there's a reason this is recorded in the present tense because we have to recognize that you and me Christ didn't choose to die for us because we were all that if you will Christ didn't choose to die for us and because we were already on the way to righteousness and we just needed that extra boost we chose to die for us while we were still filling your noun you know pond scum or or just getting by but failing more often than we're succeeding that's when he to make the sacrifice to give everything he could possibly give you know for a never leave living being the most you can give is life as you give it all and he did there's nothing about us that deserved it it's just that he loved us would then understand he did that and also he would stay there so he could rescue us from that and begin investing in us to make us better bit by bit but if we don't see the need to grow and be better then we don't embrace that help he's providing so easily if you're intimidated by the idea of examining yourself encourage you to listen to a sermon from about a year ago by mr. Ames called your identity and calling I think he's given mr. Ames more than one message on terms of your Christian identity and I've always found it encouraging understanding who you are in Christ it should be encouraging because we should be emboldened to do these things in fact turned to Hebrews chapter four Hebrews chapter four hebrews chapter four and towards the end of the chapter we'll start in verse 14 we read here seeing then that we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens Jesus the Son of God let us hold fast our confession for we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses but was in all points tempted as we are yet without sin regardless of what you or I may discover in our self-examination day by day there's not a thing you and I can find that he won't sympathize with that they won't think well well you're a dirty speck and just thump us out of his family but no things he'll respond to and say I already knew that that's why I died and live now to work in you to take you by the hand and lead you forward there's not a need to be afraid of doing that now he continues verse 16 therefore I started let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need you know it's often easy to picture this boldness before the throne as simply being for trials that were in that well god they're about to take my house away or god it's been a year and I can't I can't find a job I can't support my family and think of this verse is encouraging us to be bold before God and to ask for those things in faith and don't get me wrong that is a part of this boldness we have times of need in which we need help it's not saying that but if you look at the context of these passages it also includes this idea to obtain mercy the context is that we're going before God and that while our our sins are the things we discover in our self-examination that might want to keep us down if you're young you know you've got um David talks about him you know he talks about it in his song we sing the sins and faults of youth right we've all got them I wish there's a lot of acorns I planted in my youth that I wish I hadn't because the oak trees I have to cut down at 49 which I just go back to my 13 to 18 as I cut it out what are you doing but it's too late you know I done did it but I can still go before God boldly he says I don't have to let that make me timid but go boldly before the throne and ask for that grace and ask for help to chop down God I'm willing to cut it down but make every swing worth 2 swings you know that help that ax to bite you know help to make it sharp because I want that tree cleared in my life cuz it's not a tree that you wanted to be there in the first place we can go boldly and we don't have to fear we don't have to be afraid dive in and as you dive in and as I dive in to examine ourselves God has given us a lot of tools that we can take advantage of he hasn't just said figure out how to do it he's actually given us things and as we wrap up in the last portion of the sermon I want to review those really quickly it won't take long because surely none of them are going to be a surprise at least not a big surprise tools that God has given us one that he has given us for examining ourselves a tool he's given us is prayer just simple prayer praying to God you know if we're not actively inviting God to help us see ourselves on a regular basis we're fools because we can't do it on our own we need his active help how many of us will ask God to help help me find a job God help me grow in the skills I need help me feed my family help me find a few thousand dollars to fix my plumbing we'll ask God for those things and you know what those things are easier to achieve than understanding ourself accurately how much more should we ask him for that kind of help God help me in your mercy I've often qualified that know when I ask at least in your mercy the stuff I'm ready to see they won't just cause me to drop dead on the spot help me to see the things about me that I need to see and he will answer that you know in Psalm 19 the Psalms are such a gift to Christians because they're really a peek into a converted mine and King David understood that he didn't fully understand King David understood that King David was potentially in some ways a mystery to him and that he didn't see everything he needed to see and we see in Psalm 19 and asked one thing of many prayers that David offered to God we see in Psalm 19 and verse 12 he talks to God and says who can understand his errors cleanse me from secret faults King David recognized there were faults he had he did not understand and wasn't even aware of you know it's funny sometimes you do marriage counseling or something with a couple our family counseling and someone will say look I know I'm a difficult person or I know I can be hard to live with and you recognize as the person says it they don't know they don't know the depth of how hard it is to live with that person they don't understand the depth of the sacrifices made by other people to keep that family member in the family and David recognized that he said cleanse me from secret faults he asked God's active help and participation will save a little time and turn straight to Psalm 139 but as I do I do want to make sure I comment on Jeremiah 17:9 we're going to Psalm 139 but I quoted Jeremiah 17:9 earlier when I said the heart is a deceitful above all things and desperately wicked who can know it it's verse 10 that gives the answer the eternal waves of the hearts how do we get past Psalm I'm sorry Jeremiah 17:9 is by going to verse 10 the eternal tests the hearts he weighs the hearts he can give us the information we need but we're going to Psalm 139 and there's this marvelous passage explaining how how God knows and David finds Wonder in this fact how thoroughly God knows him starting in verse 1 he prays to God Oh eternal you have searched me and known me you know my sitting down and my rising up you understand my thought afar off you comprehend my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways there's not a word on my tongue but behold Oh eternal you know it all together he knows it before you've said it says verse 5 you've hedged me behind and before and laid your hand upon me that is the god of all things has deigned actually personally involve himself in David's life and he says in verse 6 such knowledge is too wonderful for me it is high I cannot attain it the idea that the creator of all things omniscient omnipresent right that he the omnipotent one is actually involved in little o David there's something that he can barely comprehend he says in verse 16 he says your eyes saw my substance being yet unformed and in your book they all were written the days fashioned for me when as yet there were none of them God knows us thoroughly thoroughly nothing about you or me as a mystery to him he's never going while wonder why he did that I just don't get Mike DeSimone want to pick on ones you know could take it yeah I just don't understand that guy no he knows he knows and he's the ultimate source of what we need to know and David takes advantage of that to pray what I call a scary prayer there are scary prayers you can pray and this is one I think's a little bit scary David says for the end of the chapter knowing all of this knowing how God knows him verse 23 he says search me O God and know my heart try me that means test me and know my anxieties and see if there's any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting I remember reading that and being nervous about it because I saw David as a good example of someone praying to God and what a converted man would want in that relationship and I saw this and I I'll be honest I didn't i didn't want to pray that because tests I mean I've known people going through very terrible tests right all of us have and I didn't want one of those so I'd come close and I'd kind of hedge this in your mercy you know this and that and then I remember a particular moment and it wasn't a brown couch this case it was a green one and I remember realizing you know what I need to know I need I don't understand myself enough I need to see myself the way God does and I and I did pray that and thankfully at least so far this was years and years ago it's not like all of a sudden you know the car blew up you know or something or I was you know diagnosed with some terrible disease but the same time we recognize the stakes are high and we want God to have the freedom he needs in our life to show us these things and so we should ask so prayer is a vital key to knowing ourselves because if we want the one who knows us best to reveal anything to us at all we need to ask and so prayer is a key secondly one a lot of people don't like but it's still very true as friends and family friends and family can be a remarkable key and aid a tool for understanding ourselves turn to 2nd Samuel for what's going to be I'm sure a strange example 2nd Samuel and as we do so let me just say that a lot of us and I know I've done this myself when it comes to things our spouses think our friends think about us like ah they always say that no oh you're such you're so-and-so why do you do this I you always say that and we just kind of dismiss those things sometimes you know if most of the people around us think something is true and we don't it still might be true I've used the example before and I don't mean to over use it but the bald spot the very strangely shaped bald spot on the back of my head I've never seen with my own eyes I know it's there cuz I saw it in a mirror once and freak me out and I think I've mentioned that I told my wife honey there's a it's all of what's going on like oh we know it's okay it's okay we know we know it's there but I didn't know and it had been there for years I felt it was thin it's like all kind of thing back there I didn't think there was nothing you know in some of those places and there are things and if we're constantly dismissing say what a spouse says what our parents say you know what our children say you know children we all have to learn right but you know we're constantly dismissing those things we need to recognize that we're not good at understanding ourselves and they might be right friends and family the fellowship we've been provided is given to us and can be a tool for understanding ourselves now I turn the second Samuel this is not a happy occasion for David but I it's always been illustrative to me second Samuel in chapter 16 and we'll begin in verse 5 says when King David came to bahu rim there was a man from the family of the house of Saul whose name was shimmy I the son of Gera coming from there he came out cursing continuously as he came now the scene is that David is fleeing from his son Absalom things have gone very poorly for the house of David and he's fleeing from his own throne if you will things are not going well and this fellow shumai comes out it says he threw stones at David and all the servants of King David and all the people and all the mighty men were on his right hand in his left so show me I said thus when he cursed come out come out you bloodthirsty man you rogue the eternal has brought upon you all the blood of the house of Saul in whose place you've reigned and the eternal has delivered the kingdom into the hand of Absalom your son so now you're caught in your own evil because you were a bloodthirsty man now you have to understand he's throwing rocks and such but he's you know he's not his name isn't perfect he's hitting the guys around David - and so one of them responds verse 9 says Abba Shai the son of zeruiah said to the king why should this dead dog curse my lord the King please let me go over and take off his head and let's be clear shamea is later executed under solomon for this very thing no one has the right to go up to God's anointed and curse them like a dead dirty dog I'm picking on dogs today but God takes that seriously and shimmy I but God took advantage of shimmy eyes terrible attitude to say some things that he needed David to hear at the time because what was David suffering from if you go back far enough there was a blood thirsty in a sense moment in his life he did allow actually cause a man to be killed for his own gain and his house didn't work quite right after that so what his day here's the thing how does David respond when the king said what have I to do with you you sons of zero ayah so let him curse because the eternal has said to him curse David who then shall say why have you done so and he goes on to explain don't you understand a circumstance I'm in this is a time when I should be hearing testimony like this it's not like things are just peaches and flowers and roses for me right now I need to know things and he didn't have this person who really was guilty of death as we do find out later and the reason this is instructive for me because sometimes things come our way from people that hate us people that insult us and tear us down could be a sibling often the younger you know the worse it could be a boss it could be a co-worker and they're terrible things and they're ugly things and the fact that maybe they're doing in a sinful attitude and the an attitude that God will hold that person accountable for because it's wrong doesn't mean that I might not need to listen and the seventy-five percent of it that is just nasty bitter and vechta or personal ambition or hate or whatever it is am I going to allow the 25 percent there that maybe I can benefit from that maybe there's something there that I need to see we're gonna allow that to pass David didn't and so it's not exactly friends or family I was a real jerk he wasn't supposed to do this but if David can listen to shimmy I can I listen to my wife can't listen to my kids who are almost always wrong but still you know can I listen to them kind of listened to my parents I think we should our friends and family are given to us as tools for self-examination the last few I want to go through that much more quickly meditation meditation in fact feeding on that if we don't take the time to think about the things we hear we won't learn from them a third tool is meditation that's why one reason I used to love long drives when I was out in the field I used to love long drives to visit church areas or a go to or those times that's why I'd like to take long luxurious showers that's my excuse not really I like time when you're kind of busy doing something but your mind is free and it's an opportunity to to turn things over not like Eastern meditation where the goal is to empty your brain you empty your brain some demons gonna find a nice clean room in which to take up occupancy you want to fill your brain you want to give it something to chew on and meditation is a wonderful gift in that regard and our society is distracting it in every way you can I'll be honest one of them of my biggest temptations right now I have a free moment is Twitter man I jump on that faster and I can blink an eye you know what's going on next you know wonder who said something oh ho look look what the celebrity is doing that's hilarious I used to spend that time differently and I want to make sure I'm spending it differently now but meditation itself has to be fed by something as well and that's the Bible the Bible has given been given to us as a tool for self-examination as well return to Hebrews chapter 4 it's a remarkable description of the Bible in Hebrews chapter 4 hebrews chapter 4 and verse 12 we read for the word of god is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword even to the divisions are piercing even to the division of soul and spirit and of joints and marrow if you look at a bone there's the marrow that's obviously the marrow there's the bone part that's obviously the bone but boy gets real fuzzy it right there at the border right where is the marrow start it's like a watermelon which part is the rind that I don't want to eat and which part is the yummy delicious sweet watermelon flesh I want to eat because you want to bite psyche on it that looks like that might be the rind it's kind of bitter like I'm gonna do it oh yeah that was a bitter Ryan that wasn't wasn't very good he's saying the Word of God is powerful enough to pierce through and even carve out those hard to make distinctions he says at the end of that verse it is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart James in the book of James describes God's Word of his law as a mirror it's in James chapter one he describes it as a mirror and says that God's law has been given to us so we can look into it and see ourselves they says don't be someone who looks into the mirror and finds something he needs to fix and just walk away how many of us don't use the Bible as a mirror we use it as a lens through which we examine others it's tempting to do it's always easier to examine others when God's Word describes it more as a mirror through which if we're careful and we're diligent and willing we can use to examine ourselves again not just finding the bad but finding the good sometimes we do sometimes been in places where I've actually done something good but I felt kind of guilty about it so at least guilty of faith sinned in that sense I thought it was wrong thing and I look in the Bible later if I know is the right thing to do I wish I'd read that earlier you know I wouldn't have gone against my conscience then wish I had known right but we need God's Word to highlight those things to us and to make them plain the last tool I'll mention before you conclude is fasting fasting we need occasions where we especially devoted to seeking the mind of God in a right perspective on ourselves if you read the first volume of mr. Herbert W Armstrong's autobiography he talks about his first fast they specifically says why he did it it wasn't trying to force God's hand he says it was to find out what was wrong with me he writes in there was to find out what was wrong with me fasting adds a perspective to our self-examination when you're hungry it kind of reminds you you're pretty much one breath away from just being a bunch of dirt again or you're one meal away you might think well no I can skip one meal that's not the meal I'm talking about it's the meal you never get if the meal you never get ever arrives in your life you're going to die we have to have food to continue and it's a reminder to us that we're not God rather we need God and fasting as a tool that God has given us to understand ourselves if you find fasting intimidating and a lot of people do a lot of people do yeah feel free and use training wheels it's okay sometimes we think oh it's got to be a friend of mine said once and I know it sounds strange anything worth doing is worth doing poorly which is the opposite of what you normally hear anything worth doing is worth doing well and that's also true but his point was some people are so devoted they want to make sure they they get it absolutely perfect they never even begin if it's something that's truly worth progressing on then it's worth an awkward start maybe you can skip a lunch so now people take an extended lunch take an extended anti lunch I remember something really pressing in my life once it was something I was very concerned about it was before I was in the ministry and I was really concerned I did not have the freedom to just spend a day and honestly fasting all day I would have been doing a lot of spreadsheets and programming anyway and but I what I did I determined I didn't take a lunch to work and instead during lunch I went out to my car my old beloved 72 Nova I missed that car so much and I I remember because I'm in the parking lot I didn't really want to take the time to drive to a park so I I just sort of squatted down on my knees between the driver's seat or the past seat in the desk I could fit back then between that you know in the glove compartment and just hope someone didn't notice why is weird wall-e sitting in the passenger seat of his own car right but I have my Bible there and I was able to give God not the tension he deserved but more than I had been giving him and I needed something I needed to understand me better it was important to me and so training wheels nothing wrong with training wheels training wheels are a step right so fasting is intimidating you know just it's important to get started you know in conclusion the famous saying of Jesus Christ known even out into the world is something he said where he said you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free just in John chapter 8 you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free you know part of that truth to be known is the truth about you the truth about me yeah I'll quote Jordan Peterson just one more time something he said that that I didn't really enjoy when I read it even though it's a bit harsh he says the truth is something that burns it burns off the deadwood people do not like having their deadwood burn off often because they're like 95% Deadwood and it was rough to read but I liked it because it was true at least of me and we need that truth you know there's a freedom in seeing yourself truly and rightly its freedom from lives it's freedom from illusion and it's freedom to begin that walk toward the kingdom of God and toward a closer relationship with our Father rooted in a real knowledge of where we are it's worth doing it's worth seeing the truth because truly that truth will make us free [Music] you

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Length: 75min 32sec (4532 seconds)

Published: Fri May 01 2020