THE DUTY OF SELF-EXAMINATION
Text: 2 Corinthians 13:5 a – c
· Didn’t check work in high school; made many simple mistakes; learned to check myself in college
· A good employee always proofreads before giving to the boss
· Checking and rechecking taxes
· We need to check ourselves spiritually to maintain a close relationship with God
· Prove means to test the worth, quality, or genuineness of
I. What Should We Check Ourselves For?
A. That we have no unconfessed sin
i. Sins of commission
ii. Sins of omission
B. That we have Godly motives
· Glorifying your church should not be your objective
· Making sure that God called me to preach and it wasn’t just something that I wanted to do
C. That we are faithfully doing God’s will
· Sign on the way to church: “What have you done for the Lord today?”
II. How Does It Need to be Done?
A. Honestly (1 John 1:8)
i. We can’t hide from God, why hide from ourselves?
ii. Sometimes we just need to admit that we are wrong or lacking in an area
· Fonz on "Happy Days": couldn’t say “wrong”
B. Thoughtfully (Psalm 119:59, 60)
i. Compare yourself to a standard
ii. May come out on top if you use a worldly standard
· Some people look at others and say, “I’m as good as the best hypocrite down there”
iii. In light of God’s Word
C. Daily
· Every day, first thing in band class was to tune instrument (compare to standard)
i. We need to daily tune our hearts and
minds to God and His work
ii. Keeps our relationship with God in
order, does not allow sin to fester or hinder our work for Him
D. Cooperatively (Psalm 139:23, 24)
i. In conjunction with the Holy Spirit
· Song: “Heart is Like a House”
E. Willingly (Lamentations 3:40)
· Finding my own mistakes in Algebra was a lot better than letting my teacher find them
i. If we don’t examine ourselves willingly,
God will chastise us
F. Prayerfully (Psalm 26:2)
i. Prayer is much more than just telling God
what we want
ii. Prayer should involve listening as well as telling God our needs
iii. God will show you areas that you are deficient in and reveal wrong motives and secret sins
CLOSE: James 1:21 - 25
