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[0:00] All right, before we start in our passage, let me just throw out a reminder. This is four months into the year. We're about to turn the little corner here to May.

[0:11] And if you started the year off strong in your Bible reading, and you slipped a little bit or you started to fade, let me remind you to pick it back up, to not let that go by and just feel like you lost it.

[0:25] You're a failure. Yes, maybe you did fail, but so what? You got a tassel in your Bible? Pick it up and start reading again, wherever you're at. Just let me encourage you and remind you to be in your Bible and read your Bible and read your Bible and read your Bible.

[0:39] If that's one thing I can instill in you or help to instill in you, rather, is that you need to be Bible reading, Bible readers. Yeah, I'm not going to make up words today.

[0:50] Some people do that. I'm not going to do that. All right, find in the Bible 1 Corinthians chapter 11, please. 1 Corinthians chapter 11. 1 Corinthians chapter 11.

[1:00] 1 Corinthians chapter 11. And so we're going to come toward the end of this passage.

[1:19] This chapter in the context of what we're going to read is where Paul is instructing the church, even rebuking them, but instructing them in the manner of taking the Lord's Supper.

[1:32] And within this context, he makes a statement that I want to kind of point out and then really draw out. And let's read verses 23 and 24.

[1:43] It says, For I have received of the Lord that which I also delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread. When he had given thanks, he break it and said, Take, eat, this is my body which is broken for you, this do in remembrance of me.

[1:58] So I trust you're familiar with the passage and where we're at and what's going on here. So we'll continue. After the same manner also he took the cup. And when he had supped, saying, This cup is the New Testament in my blood.

[2:09] This do ye as oft as ye drink it in remembrance of me. For as oft as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he come. 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.

[2:27] And so now here's a command here, a thought that I want to drive home. Verse 28. But let a man examine himself. And so let him eat that bread and drink that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body.

[2:44] For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. Verse 31 says, For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.

[2:55] But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world. Wherefore, my brethren, when ye come together to eat, tarry one for another. If any man hunger, let him eat at home, that ye come not together unto condemnation.

[3:07] The rest will I set in order when I come. Let's pray together. Lord God, please, as we meet, and as we sit here and gather around the word of God, please help this time to be beneficial to every single one.

[3:21] And I pray that your spirit would speak this truth, and that would speak to each heart, and that no one would hear, no one would leave here untouched. And God, just please take away distractions, take away the thoughts of this day, and the cares of this life, and just let the Bible minister to each one of us right now.

[3:41] We ask in Christ's name. Amen. Amen. So Paul tells us this in verse 28, Let a man examine himself. Later he says in verse 31, For if we would judge ourselves, we'd not be judged.

[3:54] And now there's an examination that believers are to take. In this context of receiving the Lord's Supper, and doing it in a manner that is not unworthy, that's what unworthily means.

[4:06] It's an adverb. It describes the manner which you take the Lord's Supper. And he goes back earlier, talks about them eating and drinking, and not tarrying for one another. And he had to set it in order.

[4:17] He had to set some things that, they were out of order. Let's put it that way. Now, when he talks about a man individually examining himself, it's something that believers really ought to be doing.

[4:30] All of us ought to be taking a self-examination, looking, a good hard look at ourselves, quote-unquote, in the mirror. In the mirror.

[4:41] This Bible is likened to a glass, a looking glass. And when a man examines himself, he's going to find out if there's something wrong. He's going to find out, hopefully, that there's something that needs to be addressed.

[4:54] And it's probably the good reason why a lot of people, Christians included, don't want to examine themselves. And why they'd be afraid to take a look into the mirror and really, really try to discern if there's something wrong.

[5:09] Christians like the things the way they are. They like things just not to have to deal with things. Let's just, one day after another, keep moving forward, glad to be saved and on my way to heaven. But there's a command to examine and to judge in this passage.

[5:24] And I wanted to try to illustrate today in a way that you're familiar with what this means, spiritually speaking. And I wanted to help us today to have a self-examination and to consider it in a way that we're probably all very familiar with.

[5:42] I'm assuming that everybody in here at some point in time has gone to the doctors. And you've probably had a physical examination. Now, whether it was for school or for sports or for work, whatever the case was, a variety of different reasons why, you've had a doctor filling out paperwork and charts and checking boxes to decide if you, in fact, are healthy enough to proceed on in life or to proceed in this vocation.

[6:10] I had to get one done when I, at a previous ministry, had to drive a bus. I had to have a license, a CDL, to drive a bus with a passenger endorsement. And whether it was filling in, driving the Sunday school buses or taking them home all the time, or whether it was driving the school kids to their field trips or to their sports runs, that was just something I had to get and had to upkeep.

[6:32] And it required a yearly physical examination. It wasn't something I really cared to do, but I had to do it. The state required it. Therefore, I had no choice.

[6:44] And so when I went to get this examination, I found that there were several steps that they took and things that I thought, as I thought upon it, I thought this really, really well illustrates what God is telling us to do when it says let a man examine himself.

[6:59] And so what I want to do this morning is just you can go with me in your imagination and step you through one of the physical examinations that I had and illustrate what God's asking us to do spiritually when he tells us to judge ourselves.

[7:13] So I went to the doctor and went into this little room and sat there and waited and waited. And, you know, it's part of it, waiting.

[7:24] And while I'm waiting in this room, finally a knock comes to the door and a nurse comes in and says, hi, I'm such and such and you're such and such. Okay, we're good. You got the right person, the right place.

[7:35] Let's begin. And so she says, would you please unbutton your shirt, roll up your sleeve, and straps this thing around my arm and there's this Velcro and she gets it good and firm and she starts squeezing, squeezing.

[7:50] And while she's squeezing, I can just feel it swelling up and tightening and tightening and tightening on my arm. And the first time this was done, I had no idea what was going on. Like the first time it ever happened, just like I felt like I was Superman, like I could just flex and just break the thing right off of my arm.

[8:06] And they said, just relax your arm, just sit there and relax and pump, pump, pump, pump, pump. And then, okay. And that's the end of that.

[8:18] A little note over here. And then she says, now look, just give me your wrist. And she takes my wrist and I'm just sitting there and she puts her hand and she looks at her watch and she's looking and I'm just sitting there looking at her, looking around, waiting, waiting, just waiting some more and then, okay.

[8:35] And then, what just happened? What was she doing? What was the point of that? Well, she was checking my blood pressure, right? Put it on my arm and tested that and wrote the numbers down that her gauge told her.

[8:49] And then she was taking my pulse, checking the heart rhythm and things like that. And what would I summarize? What would I put that? I'm going to say that the first thing she did when she came into the room was she decided, I'm going to check his vitals.

[9:01] I'm going to check and, you know, if there's no heartbeat, chances are you're not going to pass the physical examination. Sorry, sir, you're dead. I can't let this one go on any further. So she decided she's going to check my vitals.

[9:15] Turn your Bible to the next book, to 2 Corinthians chapter 13. And what would that be? What would the vitals be if you're going to examine yourself?

[9:26] What is it that you need to check first and foremost? 1 Corinthians chapter, or 2 Corinthians chapter 13.

[9:38] And now Paul writing to this church a second time. He says this in verse number 5. Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith.

[9:49] Prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates? But I trust that ye shall know that we are not reprobates.

[10:02] Prove your own selves. There's a test, an examination being administered to yourself to determine if you're in the faith, to determine if Jesus Christ is in you.

[10:14] Do you not know your own selves that Jesus Christ is in you? Let's start right there this morning with the vitals. I'd say that's pretty vital, to know that you're in the faith.

[10:24] This morning. Examine yourself where you sit in the pew today and determine, am I saved? That's the term we use a lot. Am I saved? Am I born again?

[10:35] Is Jesus Christ inside of me right now? You need to examine yourself. Now you could say, well, how am I going to know? I can't put my finger on my wrist or pump something on my arm to determine.

[10:49] Well, they were checking to see signs of life with me and that would be something that you would have in you if you're born again. You'd have life in you. You'd have Jesus Christ in you.

[10:59] How do you know if Jesus Christ is in you? The Bible says, he that hath the Son hath life. And he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. And the question is, is Jesus Christ in you?

[11:11] Turn back to Romans chapter 8. I just want to read a verse or two here along this thought. Are you, quote unquote, in the faith? Is Jesus Christ in you and how can you know?

[11:29] Romans chapter 8. Let's look at verses 9 and 10. Where the Bible reads, but ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you.

[11:43] Now, if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

[11:56] Now, backing up in the passage, here's one indication, one thing that's strong to me that you can tell, tell, if you will, that Jesus Christ is in you. Verse number 5 says, they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh, but they that are after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.

[12:15] For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God, it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be, so then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.

[12:28] Now, my thought here is that in verse 5, if you have the Spirit of Christ in you, you have now the ability to mind the things of the Spirit.

[12:42] If you only have the flesh, you're only lost. The Bible says, the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God. They're foolishness unto him, neither can he know them. Yet here in Romans chapter 8, we see that if Christ is in you, that you have the ability to discern spiritual things, or to mind the things of the Spirit.

[13:02] And that's a great indication to me that I'm born of God, and that I'm saved because there's a new mind in me that can think and receive spiritual truth, that can see light and darkness, can recognize good and evil.

[13:18] And not just in the sense of doing bad things versus doing good things, but in the sense of spiritual things, in the sense of my own life, my own thinking. The Lord God inside of me is quick in my mind to understand and to receive truth, and to discern between good and evil.

[13:36] I can mind the things of the Spirit. The devil doesn't tell me and inform me or help me to do things that are right. But the Spirit of God within me does tell me, you need to be doing this, and this, and this.

[13:50] The devil doesn't tell me to pass out a track. He doesn't tell me, spend time in your Bible today. He doesn't tell me, shut the TV off. He doesn't tell me, make the list in your own life.

[14:04] But if the Spirit of Christ is in there, he'll tell you. He'll tell you, and you can mind spiritual things. Another way that you can know or perceive the Spirit of God in you is when you have conviction of your sin.

[14:16] Now, you can resist it. You can shut it off. Eventually, God may, that conscience may become seared. And God may just turn you over to the destruction of the flesh. That may happen if you consistently tell God, I'm not interested.

[14:30] But when you hear preaching or when you're, even on your own, in your own private life, do things that are wrong and feel guilty about it and feel like you messed up and you're not pleased and you feel this disconnection from God, that's a blessing to have conviction over your sin.

[14:49] Now, not just feeling bad because you have a moral value inside of you, not just feeling bad like, oh, I shouldn't have stole that from that person. It's something deeper inside where you've sinned against God.

[15:02] You can worship God in the Spirit now when the Spirit of God's inside of you. You can sing and get stirred in your spirit. And that's enough, by the way. For the believer, that's enough to get stirred in the Spirit, not to get stirred in the flesh.

[15:17] The carnal man needs to get stirred in the flesh. He needs to hear things. He needs to be stimulated outwardly to feel that goodness and to enjoy it. But the new man inside gets stirred up on the inside by just the words that praise Jesus Christ.

[15:33] That's something you can't emulate or replace with certain kinds of music. Anyway, you can worship God in the Spirit because God's in you.

[15:44] And it's not just an emotion that you're feeling with your flesh, but rather you have God in you stirring you up. So number one, examine yourself. Whether you be in the faith. Determine right now, do I know for sure that if I died today in this pew that I know that I'm going to heaven?

[16:02] Do you know that? Is Jesus Christ in you? Then you're going to heaven. Do you have a new man in you? Are you born of God? Examine yourself.

[16:13] Whether you be in the faith. This examination doesn't have to go any further if you can't check that one off. If there's no life on the inside, you failed.

[16:25] Now, the nurse told me to take off your shirt and put this weird-looking gown on and try to tie it with your hands behind your back.

[16:35] And then I'm going to leave the room and the doctor will be in to see you in a little bit. And so, sure enough, I just sat there and waited and waited and waited. And a doctor showed back up and introduced themselves and said, okay, first thing I want to do, I want you to just sit there up straight and I want you to breathe normal and I'm going to be listening and I put this thing on your back.

[16:55] And I don't know about you, and I may be exaggerating just a little bit here, but I think they must keep those stethoscopes not in their pockets but in the freezer. And they go to the freezer and get the stethoscope, then put it in their pocket because they come behind you and say, just breathe normal.

[17:11] And you know what I mean. That feeling of that cold metal on your back, right in the middle, just kind of gets you. Maybe not you, maybe it's just me. Maybe I have sensitive spot back there.

[17:23] So, they put this stethoscope there on the back and say, breathe normal and there take those big breaths in and out, in and out, and then says, okay, what's the doctor doing there?

[17:34] What is exactly going on? Well, if I could say it like this, they're searching for something that might be wrong on the inside but is not visible on the outside.

[17:47] They're listening with this instrument to hear what's going on inside. Why could I just breathe and they could have listened to my breath but that wouldn't have done exactly what they needed. But rather, use this instrument, use this instrument to get a better look inside of something that maybe isn't apparent or revealed on the outside.

[18:07] Something you can't detect with your senses. Come back to the Psalms. I want to show you a couple verses here. Psalm 26 is where we'll start. speaking about an examination.

[18:30] Searching, listening for something that's undetectable on the outside but looking closer to see if there might be something wrong.

[18:40] Psalm 26, look at verses 2 and 3 where the Bible reads, examine me, O Lord, and prove me. Try my reins and my heart for thy loving kindness is before mine eyes and I have walked in thy truth.

[18:57] That's a bold statement to say, God, examine me. Go ahead and check me out because I'm walking in thy truth. Examine me. Look at chapter 139.

[19:13] Yeah, Psalm 139. Calling for God to examine the inside, the heart and the reins. Psalm 139 and the end of this psalm, verse 23 and 24, search me, O God, and know my heart.

[19:35] Try me and know my thoughts and see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting. You may look healthy on the outside, you may talk big, you may dress nice, but there could be, there could be on the inside that's invisible to the naked eye, to the pastor, to the family member, to the church member.

[20:01] There could be something that's wrong, something that's wicked inside, a wicked way that's in you. And so there needs to be a searching, an examination that gets down below the surface, down to the inside where no one else can see, to where only God can see, only the word of God can pierce to the dividing of sundering, get all the way down in there and expose it and hear it and reveal it.

[20:30] There was a time in my life, I can remember just, it was weird to me, I'm not trying to make it sound like this is going to happen to you or to everybody, but it was just a time where I just was getting dissatisfied and I felt, I felt like God was distant, I felt like something wasn't right and it was just doing the day-to-day in the ministry, full-time, just go, go, go, go, go and I felt like I was getting stale and it wasn't because I wasn't reading my Bible, I'm like, what am I not reading it, reading it, am I just checking, you know, and I'm trying to find what's wrong and I just felt like you need to talk to God about this, you need to pray about this and so I remember one night just getting on my knees late at night and just saying, God, what the world, I don't know what's wrong, what's going on and I said, is there something that's wrong that I've done or haven't done and just immediately just like, boom, a person came to mind and something about that person that I was guilty of came to mind just as soon as I asked, there it was on the table and I don't know that that was like

[21:42] God, you know, like, I don't know if you remember in the days of David when he was king there was a famine and he says, God, he inquired of God, why is there this famine? He said, it's for Saul because of what he did to the Gibeonites and so he's withholding rain and David has to inquire of God, why is this happening?

[21:58] That's how I felt and so I prayed about it and the Lord revealed something to me right away and so I determined, I was like, Lord, if that's what it is then you're right, you brought that to mind, I'm wrong, I need to talk to that person and get this right because it's affecting me and I don't want this and if there's something that needs to get cleaned up, let's get it cleaned up so we can be back where we need to be and thank God I was able to take care of it and I had to swallow some pride and had to humble myself but it was worth it, it was the best thing I could have possibly done and furthermore, to get that off my shoulder, I didn't even have it in the forefront of my mind, I didn't even think about it but it was there and I needed to get out and so you know what it took, it took a prayer to say, God, search me and that could be a scary prayer because most of us know how sinful we are and our tendencies and our guilt and it's a scary thought to say, God, I'll just be an open book and you point out to me what's wrong with me so that we can get it fixed, so that I can go forward living for you and pleasing you and have nothing between, it's a scary thing but it's something that ought to happen, a self-examination, well, back there into the doctor's room they put the stethoscope back into the freezer and came back with some other weapons in their hand and the doctor said this, he said, sit here and just relax yourself and pulled out this little weird looking tool with a triangle-shaped mallet to it that looked like a little hammer and said,

[23:41] I'm going to start hitting you and what I'm going to do is I'm going to tap you right there on this knee and we'll just see what happens but the doctors probably know better, they get out the side of the way, sit over here and tap and what's that all about?

[23:59] What is the doctor checking when they're hitting me on my kneecaps? Why do you have to hit me on my kneecaps? Why did I come in here to get hit on my kneecap?

[24:10] Well, they're checking my reflexes. Apparently, you need to have the right reflexes to pass the test. Apparently, I have to be able to drive or to be able to hold children around or whatever.

[24:24] I need to have reflexes that are right. Let me take you to a place. We were here Wednesday night. Turn to Romans chapter 12. And you can keep, get another place.

[24:38] Keep your place there and then get 1 Peter chapter 3. Romans 12, 1 Peter chapter 3. Let's look at two passages here that deal with this thought about your reflexes.

[24:49] because if we're going to have an honest evaluation and an examination of ourselves, then this is something we ought to check.

[25:01] In Romans chapter 12, we spent most of Wednesday night on this verse and we'll try to continue it this coming Wednesday. Verse 17, the Bible says, recompense to no man evil for evil.

[25:13] In verse number 21, it says, be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good. That's a reflex. That's a reaction to evil.

[25:27] Is number one, don't recompense evil for evil, but instead, recompense good. Look at 1 Peter chapter 3 and verse number 8.

[25:45] 1 Peter 3 verse 8 says, finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous, not rendering evil for evil or railing for railing, but, contrarywise, blessing, knowing that ye were there unto called that ye should inherit a blessing.

[26:07] So you're to recompense good. You're to recompense or render blessing in the place of evil, in the place of railing or cursing. That's the reaction.

[26:20] If your reactions or your reflexes are right, there's going to be blessing and good coming out of you rather than evil. When? In the context of when somebody else does something wrong to you.

[26:30] That's when. Well, people like to hide behind this. Well, I have a temper. Or, I was brought up this way and you just don't understand. Yeah, I understand and it's not really up to me to understand at all.

[26:43] You have to answer to God and you have to stand there with the word of God in your hand and tell God, you don't understand, I have a problem that's not my fault. No, you have a problem, all right, and it is your fault and you're going to have to answer to God for it or you can submit it to God and through his spirit and through his strength get it conquered and be victorious in your reactions, in your reflexes.

[27:09] The reflexes are the ones that are fast, the hit and the boom. You don't get to think it through. It just comes out and your reflexes tell a lot about what's inside.

[27:20] They answer. That's your testimony right there. Examine yourselves. Don't make excuses. Examine yourselves. So the doctor wants to check your reflexes just like you ought to check this morning and make sure that you're following the example of Jesus Christ.

[27:37] Earlier in 1 Peter in chapter 2 it says, when he was reviled, reviled not again. When he suffered, he threatened not. But what did he do? He committed himself to him that judgeth righteously.

[27:50] That's our example that we're called to follow. His reflexes were keeping his mouth shut, answering not a word. Not threatening. Not reviling.

[28:02] So I'm back at the doctor's office and the doctor finished beating on my knees and said, alright, I'd like you to stand up and what I want you to do now is I want you to just, there was like a piece of tape on the ground.

[28:17] I said, I want you to walk a straight line just putting one foot in front of the other, toe to heel, all the way until you get to the end of the line and while you're doing that put your arms straight out.

[28:28] And so I'm literally walking the line one foot after the other in the doctor's office and then if I look down she said, look up, look up. And I felt like I was getting, like at a DUI checkpoint and just me and the doctor.

[28:45] And so she said, walk this line and then after that she said this, she said, alright, now I want you to close your eyes, I want you to hold both of your arms straight out and put your pointer fingers out, I want you to bring your finger just to the point of the tip of your nose when I tell you to and close your eyes and I want you to look at this, I want you to just do it blind.

[29:04] And so that was another thing, touch the tip of my nose with my finger, that's what she had me do. And then there was a time where I had to stand on one foot and then I had to stand on one foot on the other side and what is all this about?

[29:17] Do you have to touch your nose to drive a bus? Is that really a requirement? And do I have to walk in a straight line when I'm seated behind a wheel? Is that really a requirement for this CDL or for this physical examination?

[29:30] But what in fact is the doctor checking out? Well, she's checking my coordination. She's checking out to know if I can do simple things that every human body ought to be able to perform if they're coordinated.

[29:49] Unless, and this is why the police do this, unless there's something inside of me that's impairing me or that's in my blood or in my brain that's going to keep me from doing something that's so simple I ought to be able to do it.

[30:02] It's not hard at all. Touch your nose. Come on. That's not a big deal unless there's something impairing me. And God calls us to examine ourselves.

[30:14] And I wonder if you could examine yourself right here on some simple, simple things that you're called to accomplish and to do for Jesus Christ in the Christian life.

[30:24] What's one of them? This is so simple. You're to read your Bible. Now, how hard is it to read English? If you have a sixth grade reading level, then you can read this book.

[30:41] Don't make the excuses. I'll take it right away from you if you say you don't understand the these and the thous. That's not true. I know it's not true. And if you'd be honest, you know it's not true too.

[30:53] And this book is beyond just amazing. It is formulated and it has such a subconscious rhythm to it that it blends with your very body, with your makeup, your human makeup, the beat and rhythm of the way these syllables hit and read.

[31:13] You can memorize this book a lot more than you believe. It's phenomenal. Now, my question is, is there something that's impairing you from doing something so simple as to pick this up every day and read it?

[31:29] What could that be? What's keeping you from your Bible? What about praying? That's easy. Is it hard to pray? I mean, is it hard for you as a person to talk to God and to converse with Him?

[31:44] Do you talk to people? Do you talk to people? Or are you a total recluse and just hide in the corner and unmute all of your life? No, you talk to people.

[31:55] Why can't you talk to God? Is there something impairing you? Is there something that's inside of you that's keeping you from doing that simple thing of talking to God?

[32:07] What about when you stand in church and you're among the people of God and we all open up a song book about a fountain that's filled with blood and how there may I, though vile as he, wash all my sins away.

[32:23] Is there something keeping you from opening your mouth and praising God for washing you of your sins in His blood? That's simple.

[32:36] Singing is simple. I don't have a good voice. Who cares? It's simple to let praise out of your mouth to God and to worship Him. Maybe you need to examine yourself.

[32:51] There was an illustration. I saw this done once in a chapel service that kind of blends with this thought of walking that straight line, that straight and narrow and the thought being that this young man was blindfolded and spun around in all these circles and then the speaker said, okay, now I'm facing you down the middle aisle.

[33:14] You're facing the middle aisle and I'm going to go about 15 steps in front of you and I'm going to tell you to walk toward me and you can't see, you can't tell anything, everybody's quiet and the person's just listening to the voice.

[33:25] But what he doesn't know is if there's anything in front of him. What he doesn't know if that speaker turned him around and he like snuck through some of the pews and he's standing over on the side. He has no idea. All he has is a blackness in front of him and he's just hearing a voice told to walk toward it.

[33:41] And the illustration was pretty good and it was pretty evident that to follow the right voice and the one that you can trust, whether you can see it or not, whether you understand it or not, it's going to lead you, the voice of God is going to lead you in the right way every time.

[33:56] And there could be other voices, there could be other things pulling and telling you to do things like that and they can be wrong. And getting back to this thought here, to walk that straight line, you're going to have to have a voice you can trust.

[34:08] You're going to have to know which voice you can trust and follow. Now examining yourself this morning, there's some easy things that you ought to be doing, some simple things that just should come natural to the new man unless, unless you're putting something else in that's going to keep you from those easy, easy things.

[34:31] And it's easy to find other things to put in, isn't it? Now, the doctor then told me to have a seat and pulled out this little box and put some headphones on me and decided that I want you to listen and when you hear a sound, I want you to raise your hand.

[34:55] And so the doctor decided to test my hearing and there was these, there was these super high pitched beeps and these super low tones and some were faint, some were strong.

[35:07] And the doctor decided to see if I have ears to hear. You know that sound, that phrase Christ repeated over and over and it's even repeated in Revelation to those seven churches, he that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

[35:22] A wise man will hear and increase in learning. My son, attend to my words and incline thine ear unto my saying. And the thought being that our hearing is to be checked or tested.

[35:38] But not everybody has ears to hear. And the thought with all of that is whether you're going to receive, not just catch it with your ears but to receive it into your heart and to incline your ear unto it.

[35:51] I think hearing is a big part of the Christian life. It's a huge part. You want to read your Bible, you're going to be hearing whether you're going to receive or not what's coming off of that page.

[36:01] Coming to church, you're going to make a decision whether you're going to receive or ignore what's coming forth from the pulpit. I think it's a big part of the Christian life. And you need to be able to hear and receive instruction.

[36:13] You need to be able to hear and receive reproof. Do you have ears to hear? There's a people in the Bible that are rebuked because they're dull of hearing. When they ought to be teachers, instead they have need that somebody teach them the first principles of the oracles of God.

[36:29] Why? Because they're dull of hearing. They haven't received the instruction. So they checked your hearing. The last thing and this will be where I close is they took me out into the hallway and said, come here and stand on this line and I want you to look down to the end of the hall.

[36:46] There's a chart on the wall and there's things on that chart, letters, and when I tell you to, you cover this one eye and you read these letters, you read this line and tell me what you see. And so what are they doing?

[36:57] They're checking my vision. And they're checking to see if I can determine and decipher between the letter F and the letter E. Between the letter O or is that a C?

[37:09] Because from a distance it looks like a G. And now I'm not so sure. And now I want to cheat a little bit and determine if a, nobody wants to fail that one, right?

[37:21] There was another thing they did in checking the vision. They opened up this little book. And in that book was all these designs and colors just all over the place and underneath all of that was a shape of a letter and it was the letter R.

[37:33] And they said, what letter do you see? I said, R. They turn a page, what letter do you see? I see an E. And I said, what in the world is that all about? The first time I said, I didn't get it. I didn't understand what was going on. And they said, oh, well, here, look.

[37:45] This is the check to see if you're colorblind. If you're colorblind, you won't see the tail of that R, you'll just see the letter P. And if you're colorblind because of the assortment here, the way it's laid out, you won't see that bottom leg of the E, you'll just see an F.

[38:00] And so they're testing my eyes. And this is a place, church, this is a place where Christians need to examine themselves. They need to examine if what they are seeing, what they are perceiving is accurate or if they're deceived.

[38:19] If it's true according to the word of God and the spirit of God or if it's just something that they're saying, it's okay, it's good, it's fine, everybody's okay with it.

[38:30] The church has been doing this for so long. It's got to be fine. It's a P. When God says, no, it's an R. I have it printed in black and white exactly the way I want it.

[38:44] Don't call evil good and good evil. Woe unto them. Turn back to Proverbs chapter 30. This will be the last verse I'd like you to look at. Proverbs chapter 30.

[39:01] Some Christians will see things one way and some will see them another way. And some have their excuses and their justification for why and what they accept.

[39:15] And then there's a Bible verse that says that friendship of the world is enmity with God. And some will say, no, that's not it. We need to reach them by being like them and acting. There's all kinds of angles.

[39:28] Proverbs chapter 30 and look at verse number 12 where the Bible says, there is a generation that are pure in their own eyes and yet is not washed from their filthiness.

[39:42] Do you see that thought? The truth is they are filthy. They're absolutely filthy. And they need to be washed from it. But they perceive we're pure.

[39:56] Everything's fine. Everything's just the way it should be. But the truth is it's not. Their vision is off. It needs to be examined. In Proverbs chapter 3 he warns a man of being wise in his own eyes.

[40:10] Now, the examination that I receive ended and thankfully year after year I pass these tests. But this morning we're not talking about a physical examination and any doctor at all.

[40:26] We're talking about examining your walk before God. And if we would judge ourselves we should not be judged. Let a man examine himself.

[40:37] This morning I want you to consider these thoughts and consider the examination that I'm asking you to make today. Number one examine the vitals. Do you know your own self that Jesus Christ is in you?

[40:51] Are you in the faith? Surely you're not just playing games here. Surely you didn't just show up to church just to please somebody here. What good's that going to do?

[41:02] Do you know that you're saved? If you're not saved let's get that taken care of. Hell is not worth it. Just to play a game. Do you know you're saved?

[41:13] What about searching down on the inside? What about asking God to reveal to you what's inside that you can't see and others can't see but deep down in there if you said Lord search me reveal to me if there's a wicked way in me I want to get it out.

[41:27] I want it to be clean because I want to walk with you. I want you to try my reins try my heart prove me. That's a scary prayer but if the Lord leads you to that this morning it's a good one.

[41:40] It's one that you won't regret especially if the Lord does put his finger on something and you have the humility and the courage to acknowledge and say God you're right let's do something about that today.

[41:52] Let's talk about that right now. That's a great feeling. It's a great thing to walk into church content and happy to be here but it's even better to leave knowing that you're right with God across the table.

[42:10] It's a relieving and a sweet feeling it's like you have you can get a full breath into your lungs. It's an incredible feeling. You know getting right with God shedding some tears is an incredible feeling is to have that emotion with the Lord and to just humble yourself it's such an incredible feeling that's so relieving.

[42:32] Maybe that'll happen if you pray and ask God to search you. What about those other thoughts of your reactions your reflexes or your hearing or your vision?

[42:44] Are you perceiving the truth according to the word of God or are you just deceived and believing a lie and walking according to the course of this world according to the spirit that now worketh into children of disobedience and you're fine with the way that is.

[42:58] Not if you get your eyes checked not if you go to the word of God and allow this book to be your guide and the light that lightens your path. So let a man examine himself.

[43:10] I'm thankful that I have as far as I know a healthy body and can enjoy life with that ability but I know it's not going to last forever and I know that my eyesight is going to go my hearing is going to go if the Lord allows me to tarry my knees are going to give out or my hips are going to hurt or things are going to start showing up but that doesn't have to be the case with what we're talking about this morning.

[43:38] It can be actually the opposite. The older you get the more you walk with God the cleaner you can be the wiser you can be the stronger you can be it's the complete opposite.

[43:50] So let's examine this one because this one goes out into eternity whereas this one goes into the dirt. Let's not waste our time worrying about this one and let's focus on the examination of our spirit and soul.

[44:05]  Father this morning I pray that you'll deal with your people and that you'll reveal to each one of us those one of us through and I agree to that you're you'll start with your people going to be to life in a little because this oneüyor of the or the way to not流 of one through to have a situation and apply on that you'll show up and go and watch and come