Three Examinations

Psalm 26:2

  • Intro:
    • You are going to be subjected to three kinds of examination in your life: providential examination, personal examination, and peer examination. 
    • We’ll discuss each of these in this study.
  • Providential Examination – Psa 26:2 –
    • David said, “Examine me, O Lord, and prove me; try my reins and my heart.” 
    • David wanted God to check him out on the inside. 
    • Your reins are the seat of your affections. 
    • They are that place inside of you that’s settled when you are on the right path and disturbed when you aren’t. 
    • In Psa 16:7, David wrote, “… my reins also instruct me in the night season.”  
  • You annually have a physical examination and you ordinarily take exams at the completion of courses in school.
    • They prove whether you are in good health or whether you have mastered the material in a subject well enough to advance to the next course level.  
  • Likewise, you want God to check you out to let you know where you are in your spiritual growth. 
    • Bible reading and Bible preaching will search you and try you. 
    • Through these two principle means, God will show you where you are and where you need to improve. 
    • He said, “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten,” [Rev 3:19]. 
    • He wants us to partake of his holiness and bear the fruit of his righteousness. 
    • Of course, he’ll search deeper as you grow and expect more from you, than when you first got saved.
  • Personal Examination – 1 Cor 11:28-31 –
    • We are to examine ourselves and judge ourselves. 
    • This passage is in the context of taking the Lord’s supper. 
    • However, personal examination is something that you should do more often than that. 
    • The idea is that you should recognize sin in your life that God has been dealing with you to get out of your life.
    • In 1 John 1:9, you confess your sins so that God can cleanse you of your sins. 
    • He wants you to confess and forsake them [Prov 28:13]. 
    • We know that we won’t be sinless.
    • Nevertheless, we have certainly quit many sins that we used to do without even thinking about them. 
    • And we should continue to grow in this grace.
  • According to 2 Cor 13:5, you are also to examine yourself, “whether ye be in the faith.” 
    • You want to be absolutely sure that you are saved. 
    • It is common for some young adults to recognize that the profession of faith they made when they were children was not salvation. 
    • Often, as adults, they respond to the gospel because, upon personal examination and conviction of the Holy Spirit, they realize that they aren’t saved.  
  • Peer examination – 1 Cor 9:3 –
    • Paul was being examined by some folks who disagreed with him. 
    • Our problem, generally, is that we’re more concerned with what others think of us than what the Lord thinks of us. 
    • So, when you are subject to examination, remember that we are not here to look good to men, as men-pleasers. 
    • We are here to please God. 
    • If someone calls into question what you are doing, you should be able to give them the answer right out of the Bible.
  • Though we are not men-pleasers, we must be concerned that we abstain from all appearance of evil. 
    • This doesn’t mean that you can do evil when others aren’t looking. 
    • It means that you don’t do evil and you don’t even appear to be doing evil. 
    • We cannot let our liberty be a cause that others might stumble. 
    • We don’t want to do anything that will offend a brother.
  • Conclusion:
    • You should examine yourself right now while your mind is on the subject. 
    • Is there anything in your life that God wants you to deal with and change? 
    • If so, take care of it now.