Examine Yourself!
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EXAMINE YOURSELF!
As this time of year, just prior to Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread, we traditionally, in the Church of God, take the time to seriously “examine ourselves.” This is done for multiple reasons, some of which are to see if we are still established in the true faith, to evaluate ourselves about our attitude toward, and need for taking the New Testament Passover, or to evaluate whether we were truly overcoming this past year - in short, it is a spiritual check up or report card on ourselves. But, the key to effectively examining ourselves at this time of year, is to make sure we compare ourselves with Jesus Christ, not one another!
The book of Revelation is full of incredible promises from God concerning our salvation. For example, Jesus Christ says, to each of the seven churches in Rev. 2 and 3, “To him that overcomes,” will receive whatever reward He goes on to mention in the context. To the final church, the Laodiceans, Christ says He would grant the overcomer the opportunity to sit with Him in His throne,” (Rev. 3:21). But, Christ goes on to mention, or qualify His statement, “¼even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in His throne.” It appears that something is expected of us!
We, as God’s called out ones, are promised a shared rulership with Jesus Christ, IF we overcome! Our future rule with Jesus Christ will be part of the “great salvation” that the Apostle Paul mentions over in Heb. 2:3. The big question is, will we make it - will WE be “overcomers?”
Salvation, however, is not a group affair. Philip. 2:12 tells us to, “...work out your own salvation, with fear and trembling.” Each one of us has the individual responsibility to respond or not respond to God! Following Christ is an individual matter. Being in a particular splinter Church of God, no matter how large they are, can be meaningless without this understanding. Christ is knocking on our spiritual door! How are you and I responding to Christ? The one who responds positively receives the awesome reward of Rev. 3:21! No other human being or human organization can obtain salvation for us. No favorite minister or corporate Church organization can get us into the Kingdom of God. Each individual - each one of us - must obtain salvation through Jesus Christ! We all must “work out our own salvation with fear and trembling,” as we just saw in Philip. 2:12.
Peter taught this same fact to the Jews of his time. We will break into the answer he is giving to some of the rulers and elders as to how and by what authority he had healed a certain man; Peter tells them, “¼let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole,” (Acts 4:10-12). Peter is talking about a lame man in the previous verses whom they had laid hands on and healed in the name of Jesus Christ. They had also been preaching to the crowds about Christ, faith, repentance and the resurrection, which didn’t sit well with these Jewish rulers. Peter continues, again speaking of Christ, “This is the stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone. Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved,” (vs. 11). So obviously, the important factor for us is how well we follow Jesus Christ - or how well we overcome in our own personal lives. Since this article is to help us all to prepare better for the Passover, let’s quickly review a few scriptures relating to Passover: God, speaking to Moses about the month of Abib, “Now the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, ‘This month shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you,’” (Exo.12:1-2). Moses tells us in the book of Leviticus, “These are the feasts of the LORD, holy convocations which you shall proclaim at their appointed times. On the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight is the LORD's Passover. And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD; seven days you must eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall do no customary work on it,” (Lev. 23:4-7). And, in Deuteronomy, “Observe the month of Abib, and keep the Passover to the LORD your God, for in the month of Abib the LORD your God brought you out of Egypt by night,” (Deut. 16:1). We can clearly see that God expected Israel to observe the Passover and Days of Unleavened Bread. Anciently, the Passover - the blood of the sacrificed lambs - marked the beginning of the Israelites’ exodus from Egyptian slavery. Egypt is a type of sin, as you can see in Heb. 11:24-25. All firstborn (man and beast) in Egypt that did not have the blood of the Passover lamb on their doorposts died!
Although we no longer kill a Passover lamb, as the ancient Israelites did, God commands all Christians to observe a New Testament Passover service. The Apostle Paul referring to the Feast of Unleavened Bread, tells us that Jesus Christ is “our Passover.”
“Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth,” (1 Cor. 5:7).
Today’s Christian Passover is an annual memorial of the sufferings and death of Jesus Christ for you, me and all other human beings! Why did Jesus Christ have to die for us? After Adam and Eve sinned, God decreed that only shed blood could remove that sin. “And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission (of sin),” (Heb. 9:22). Here on the same page in my Bible, in Heb. 10:4, it says about this blood of animals, “For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.” But what blood was valuable enough to pay the penalty for human sin? The blood of lambs, bulls or goats could never remove the penalty of human sin. Man is not an animal, in the sense that dumb, brute beasts are - although that may be a questionable point! Only the blood from a very special Being made in God’s image could pay the penalty for human sin. That being was Jesus the Christ. “Therefore, when He came into the world [speaking of the One who became Jesus Christ], He said: ‘Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but a body You have prepared for Me.’ In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You had no pleasure. Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come - in the volume of the book it is written of Me - to do Your will, O God,’ Previously saying, ‘Sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings, and offerings for sin You did not desire, nor had pleasure in them’ [which are offered according to the law], then He said, ‘Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God.’ He takes away the first that He may establish the second. By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all,” (Heb. 10:5-10).
Why Jesus the Christ? “¼God who created all things through Jesus Christ,” (Eph. 3:9). And, “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him,” (Col. 1:15-16). Jesus Christ is our Creator. As the Logos, He shared great glory with God the Father. Only our Creator’s life-blood was valuable enough to provide adequate payment for the remission of all human sin. “Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross,” (Phil. 2:6-8). Jesus Christ was God! He gave up everything and died a painful, miserable, bloody death to pay the penalty for OUR sins!
God the Father and the Logos had a magnificent plan to atone for the sins of man, from Adam to the present and on into the immediate future: The Logos would become God’s Son, after being born of the human Mary. The Father would then give up, or sacrifice His only Son so WE would not have to suffer the penalty of eternal death. That is the commonly quoted John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” But how many people, including us, truly comprehend that statement? Actually, at creation, the One who became Jesus Christ knew He would have to die to save mankind. Christ was ordained as the Lamb of God to be “slain from the foundation of the world,” (Rev. 13:8). That sacrifice was done willingly on the part of God the Father and the Logos - Who was born as Jesus the Christ. God wants to bring many sons to glory and Jesus Christ is the first of the first fruits, the author of salvation, (Heb. 2:10). Therefore, the Passover season requires that we put our focus on the life of Jesus Christ. It is a special time of year when we remember our personal Savior. Unless we have the blood of Jesus Christ covering our sins, we will die in spiritual Egypt, or in bondage to our sin. Just as the shed blood of the lamb marked the beginning of ancient Israel’s salvation from Egypt, Jesus Christ’s shed blood marks the beginning of our spiritual salvation. He died so WE could gain eternal life and obtain rulership with Him in the Kingdom of God.
If we are going to be a disciple or follower of Jesus Christ, we must come to fully understand His sacrifice. There is only one way, brethren that we can come to a full knowledge of the importance of Christ’s sacrifice: Keeping the New Testament Passover properly requires that we examine ourselves!
A thorough spiritual examination of our own selves will show us how desperately we need the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
Paul warned the Corinthians, “For as often as you eat this bread, and drink this cup, you do show (or proclaim) 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. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup,” (1 Cor. 11:26-28). How do we eat and drink unworthily? The RSV translates this verse “in an unworthy manner.” Obviously, no human being is worthy of Christ’s sacrifice. The book of Romans tells us, “¼for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God¼.” (Rom. 3:23). And, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood [as our Passover sacrifice], we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life,” (Rom. 5:8-10). No matter what we do, we will never be worthy of one drop of Christ’s blood; however, we can be worthy in our attitude! Taking the Passover “worthily” means we participate in the Passover service with reverence and deep respect for Jesus Christ’s sacrifice. A casual, “ho-hum” attitude about Christ’s sacrifice makes us unworthy to take of the Passover!
Again, what is OUR responsibility, given Christ’s sacrifice? Paul says we must examine ourselves. Besides putting a focus on Christ’s sacrifice, we must also take a good look at the way we are presently living our Christian lives. We must ask ourselves, ARE we overcoming sin? And, for that matter, just what IS sin? “Whosoever commits sin transgresses also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law,” (1 John 3:4). Unrepented of sin separates us from God. It was our individual sin that required the blood of Jesus Christ to pay the death penalty for us! We have the responsibility to be sure that we are constantly in a repentant attitude. “This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.” (1 John 1:5-10). Jesus Christ’s sacrifice can only redeem us from the death penalty, IF we continually repent of breaking God’s law and turn away from our sin. If we don’t repent of our sins, we are going to be held guilty of the blood and death of Jesus Christ as Paul warned the Corinthians in 1 Cor. 11:27!
When we examine ourselves, we should measure ourselves against Jesus Christ, not another human being. Paul repeated to the Church in Corinth, “Examine yourselves, whether you be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know you not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, unless you be reprobates?” (2 Cor. 13:5). Our character is being assayed now, to see how pure it is and whether it will pass the test and be usable to God! At this time of year we are to be proving our own selves - not our friends or other members. Some Corinthians were having great personal difficulty with Paul. They focused on his weaknesses and sins. These Corinthians practically had Paul under a microscope. Essentially Paul was telling them, “Stop examining me and examine yourself!” These people put a wrong focus on Paul’s shortcomings and ignored their own!
We are told plainly that we should not judge others, but we should judge ourselves! “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you,” (Matt. 7:1). And, “For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged,” (1 Cor. 11:31). If we use Jesus Christ as the yardstick to measure our own spiritual lives, we will see that we fall very short of His perfect example. Jesus was in complete submission to His Father. Jesus Christ was flawless in obedience: “Though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him,” (Heb. 5:8-9). Everything Christ did, He did to please God the Father. How often do we fail in our efforts to obey and please God? Jesus Christ led a completely sinless life. Unfortunately, we can’t say the same about ourselves. Properly examining our own selves will show us that we need to be more like Jesus Christ. If you think about it, not living as Christ lived is sinning! We need to ask ourselves - where in our lives are we not acting like Jesus Christ? We need to focus on those areas and put those sins out of our lives!
That brings us to the next stage. Immediately after the Passover comes the Days of Unleavened Bread. This period of seven days shows us that we must continue to put sin out of our lives.
“Purge out therefore the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, as you are unleavened. For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us,” (1 Cor. 5:7). Sin is like leaven. If it is not eliminated from our lives, it grows and expands rapidly. Sin brings curses and sorrow into our lives and the ultimate curse of sin, is eternal death. In that state, we are no different than the billions of other humans in this world that are, at this time, cut off from God and salvation. God will not compromise with His law. It reflects His righteous character. If we are not patterning our lives after Christ, if we continue in sin, we will not make it into God’s Kingdom! We will die for all eternity. It will be as if we never existed. Therefore, we must heed the Apostle Paul’s admonition and take responsibility for our spiritual lives, examine ourselves and put the sin out!
One of the sobering lessons of the Spring Holy Day season is that we are remindedthat God holds each individual responsible for his own salvation. God the Father and Jesus Christ have done their part. We must do ours. We need to constantly remind ourselves of this: Paul taught the Philippians, “Wherefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,” (Phil. 2:12). This is a very serious scripture - that is why I have brought it up three times in this article. Paul is telling all who will listen, that they must take responsibility for their own actions. Christ’s sacrifice opens salvation to us. We, through obedience and overcoming, work out the details of that salvation. But today, it seems that everyone in our society is a “victim.” No one is held responsible for anything. Just ask any lawyer. We often hear people blaming their faults or sins on others. Some adults still blame their parents for their weaknesses and shortcomings. We need to recognize one fact that all human beings share in common - no one has had perfect parents! God is not going to allow us to use this as an excuse to not overcome sin.
Another scripture we commonly turned to in years past at this time of year is found in Ezekiel: “Behold, all souls are Mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is Mine; the soul who sins shall die,” (Ezek. 18:4). After listing quite a few traits in the next verses, God says in vs. 8-9, about the just man, who has “¼withdrawn his hand from iniquity and executed true judgment between man and man; if he has walked in My statutes and kept My judgments faithfully - he is just; he shall surely live!” Our parents (or any other human being) are not responsible for our sins - WE are! We truly reap what we sow. God expects us to deal in reality. When we sin, God holds us responsible for that sin. “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap. For he that sows to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that sows to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not,” (Gal. 6:7-9). We must not allow ourselves to be deceived when it comes to sin. If we don’t put sin out of our lives, God is going to allow us to reap the consequences of those sins. God will allow sorrow and curses to enter into our lives. We must take the blame when we break God’s laws ...and repent. When we blame others for our sin, the sin stays with us. Putting the fault where it belongs - on our own shoulders - will motivate us to get rid of the sin. When we take responsibility for our sin, repent and change, God promises us great spiritual blessings - not the least of which is everlasting life. Never forget, we are going to be rewarded - to make it, or not make it, into God’s Kingdom based on our own individual efforts. No one else is going to do it for us. No one will ride someone else’s coattails into the Kingdom and likewise, no one else can prevent our success, unless we allow it. God’s laws will either work for us or against us. It is our choice. I hope you understand my point, I’m not talking about “grace” here. I think you understand that we are not “once saved, always saved.” We are in a long, hard race - even a battle if you will. It’s not over until we take our last breath.
We can never give up when it comes to overcoming sin. We must live a life of constant overcoming. Because of Satan, our own human weakness, and this world, we are constantly bombarded with temptation to break God’s laws. What we must realize and what the Bible teaches, is that we are tempted through our own lusts. “But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed,” (James 1:14).
Occasionally we fail; yes - all of us fail. But the failures should not continue to be repeated over and over again. Christ expects us to overcome - to grow and mature spiritually. When we truly strive to overcome a certain sin, Jesus Christ will help us succeed, but we must be working, making an effort to overcome our sin. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness,” (1 John 1:9). The way we do that is to stay attached to the “true vine.” When we recognize our failures, repent and strive to overcome sin, God abides with us and cleanses us from sin. “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vine dresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned,” (John 15:1-6). That “fruit” being spoken of here, is the fruit of God’s Holy Spirit in your life, that is listed in Gal. 5:22-23. True, we are under grace and God is leading us. But, when we overcome sin, it means that we are actually allowing Jesus Christ to live His life over again in us. If we allow Christ to live in us, either until our death or His return, then we shall be saved by Christ’s life!
Jesus Christ commands all of us, “Become you perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect,” (Matt. 5:48). Christ wants us to become perfect - righteous and spiritually mature - just like our Father in Heaven. The word for “perfect” in the Greek is “teleios” and can mean “complete, of full age, and mature.” We must become complete, of full age and mature spiritually. Examining ourselves, keeping the Passover and the days of Unleavened Bread, and all of God’s laws is essential to attaining this spiritual perfection.
In preparation for the Passover, let us be sure to put our focus on Jesus Christ’s life of sacrifice. Let us also examine our own selves and then strive to overcome our sins. Jesus said that it would be by their “fruits” that you would recognize His disciples. The fruits are what reflect OUR true character and standing with God - whether it is wood, straw, precious gems or gold. So, let us all do as Paul admonished the Corinthians, “Therefore let us keep the Feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” E
Pete Fleming
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