EXAMINE YOURSELVES

 

“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, except you be reprobates ?”  2 Corinthians 13:5 

The Apostle Paul wrote these words to the Corinthians who were engaged in improper conduct as 1 Corinthians 12:20-21says;

 “For I am afraid that when I come I may not find you as I wish and you may not find me as you wish. I fear that there may be quarreling, jealousy, arrogance, and disorder. I am afraid that when I come again my GOD Will humble me before you and I will be grieved over many who have sinned earlier and have not repented of their acts of impurity, sexual immorality and debauchery.”

This letter is the third time that Paul wrote to the Corinthians and Paul was very disturbed by their behavior.  Paul told the Corinthians to “examine” themselves or look at their behavior and compare it to that of someone who had Christ living in them.  

This examination was to “see if they were in the faith or not”.  To prove to themselves if Christ was in them or were they unconverted.  From the sins Paul listed the problems were serious and some of the people had not repented of these sins the last time Paul wrote to them concerning the man who had his fathers wife.  

GODS elect must take time to mediate on their spiritual condition.  We honesty confront our weaknesses and sins which we all have to include even those sins we don’t even know we have done or as scripture says, our secret sins.  We pray to GOD for HIS mercy and forgiveness knowing that HE will forgive a broken human spirit a broken contrite heart.  Psalm 51 is an excellent example of how King David faced the sins he committed by his adulterous affair with Bathsheba and the premeditated murder of Uriah, Bathsheba’s husband.

  These sins were not immediately recognized by David until Nathan the prophet confronted David by saying, “You are the man.”  Then all the weight of David’s sins came crashing down on him and he genuinely and sincerely repented of his sin and GOD forgave him.

David failed to examine himself , and one sin led to another and another, so GOD sent Nathan the prophet to do the examination.  Sin can deceive us so that we don’t recognize it and we try to justify it in our minds and this is when an examination is needed.  In the example of David, who committed a willful sin by planning it out, GOD intervened because David failed to examine himself and sent Nathan.  If David had examined himself he would have repented when he saw Bathsheba taking a bath naked from his window, but instead in his lust David lost control.  GOD had to then intervene.  This is proof of what Hebrews 7:25 Says, 

“Therefore he is able to save to the uttermost those who come to GOD, since he always lives to make intercession for them.” 

GOD will through Jesus place the weight of our willful sins upon us as to make them very obvious to us so that we can’t bear to carry them any longer and we then repent and ask for forgiveness just as King David did.  Psalm 19:12 even mentions our hidden or secret sins; 

 “Who can discern his own errors ?  Cleanse me of my secret faults. Keep you servant also from willful sins (sins that we are aware of or fail to examine ourselves to see them); may they not rule over me. Then I will be blameless and cleansed of great transgression.”

So then, we should always examine ourselves to see if we have sinned and then truly repent asking GOD to forgive us.  Those sins that are SECRET or unknown to us GOD will also forgive.  It is only when we commit a willful sin and fail to examine ourselves that GOD will intervene and cause us to be aware of the sin and then we repent and ask forgiveness.  Secret sins are not willful and are done through ignorance, we are unaware we have sinned but a willful sin that we commit and get caught in its grip, failing to examine ourselves for what we have done, GOD will see to it that we come to our senses so that we can repent.  

2 Timothy 2:25-26 “In humility correct those who are in opposition, if GOD perhaps May grant them repentance leading them into the knowledge of the truth, That they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the Devil who had taken them captive to do his will.”

Being in the faith is being in the gospel that offers grace for the forgiveness of our sins and GOD will go to the uttermost to give us the opportunity to repent.  All of GODS elect should be of a mind to repent in either type of sin. We examine ourselves, take note of our thoughts, words and deeds to see if any are sin and do not hesitate to repent and ask for forgiveness.  

The examination of ourselves can only be with willful sin, sin we are aware of.  We can not examine ourselves for sins we don’t even know we have done. However, we should ask for forgiveness of both willful and secret sins.