Self Examination Is Good For The Soul!

Temple Baptist Church - 5-25-2011

Psalm 26

Introduction:

A. One of the greatest men of God recorded in the Bible is David: a man after God’s own heart.

B. Much can be learned, both good and bad, by studying the life of this man. He, like all men, made his share of mistakes but he had a heart for God. Some of my favorite verses in the Psalms describe David’s love for the things of God.

C. Here in the 26th Psalm, we find his heart:

1. David’s appeal - appealed to the Lord for judgment – vs. 1

2. David’s desire – walked in mine integrity – vs. 1

3. David’s trust – not in self, but in the Lord – vs. 1

4. David’s confidence – I shall not slide – vs. 1

D. From this Psalm, I believe that David knew the importance of self-examination. Too many times, we “forget what manner” of men that we are. We begin to slack off on our Bible reading and prayer; slip in our daily walk with God; and lose sight of where we are spiritually.
James 1:22-25 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. (23) For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: (24) For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. (25) But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

1. In verse 1, we find the importance of reflection. “I have walked” We need to examine where we have been spiritually in order to see what changes need to be made.

2. In verse 11, we find the importance of resolve. “I will walk” We need to examine where we desire to be spiritually the remainder of our lives

3. In verses 2-10, we find the importance of realization. Without self-examination, the past becomes only history while the future becomes unsure.

E. From these verses, we see that it is important for the child of God to examine him or herself. Self-judgment is a time of honesty before the Lord in which the believer is willing to allow the Holy Spirit to point out the spiritual failures and a willingness to honestly correct them. The Holy Spirit used three words in verse 2:

1. Examine – “with God’s Word”

2. Prove – “through divine testing”

3. Try – “to refine” Job 23:10

Psalms 139:1-6 O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether. Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.

a. God Knows My Emotions – “downsitting…uprising”

b. God Knows My Thoughts – “thought afar off”

c. God Knows My Deeds – “all my ways”

d. God Knows My Words – “word in my tongue”

1. There Needs To Be A Self-Examination Of Walk – vs. 1 (Unbroken fellowship through honesty)

Luke 6:42 Either how canst thou say to thy brother, Brother, let me pull out the mote that is in thine eye, when thou thyself beholdest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to pull out the mote that is in thy brother’s eye.

James 4:11 Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge.

2. There Needs To Be A Self-Examination Of Motivation – vs. 3 (Why we do what we do)

Matthew 10:37-38 He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.

3. There Needs To Be A Self-Examination Of Associations – vs. 4-5 (Who we talk with; who we walk with; who we agree with)

Psalms 1:1 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

Psalms 119:63 I am a companion of all them that fear thee, and of them that keep thy precepts.

Jeremiah 15:17 I sat not in the assembly of the mockers, nor rejoiced; I sat alone because of thy hand: for thou hast filled me with indignation.

4. There Needs To Be A Self-Examination Of Confession – vs. 6 (I will wash…I will compass)

Isaiah 1:16-18 Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

Psalms 51:1-4 Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.

5. There Needs To Be A Self-Examination Of Witness – vs. 7 (A debt of gratitude)

Psalms 116:12-14, 18-19 What shall I render unto the LORD for all his benefits toward me? I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the LORD. I will pay my vows unto the LORD now in the presence of all his people… I will pay my vows unto the LORD now in the presence of all his people, In the courts of the LORD’S house, in the midst of thee, O Jerusalem. Praise ye the LORD.

6. There Needs To Be A Self-Examination Of Faithfulness – vs. 8 (We live in days of unfaithfulness and lame excuses for unfaithfulness)

Psalms 27:4 One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in his temple.

Hebrews 10:25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

7. There Needs To Be A Self-Examination Of Integrity – vs. 11 (I will walk instead of I have walked in verse 1)

Psalms 26:1 Judge me, O LORD; for I have walked in mine integrity: I have trusted also in the LORD; therefore I shall not slide.

8. There Needs To Be A Self-Examination Of Steadfastness – vs. 11-12 (Consistency in both personal walk with the Lord and fellowship with the saints)

1 Corinthians 15:58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.

9. There Needs To Be Self-Examination Of Salvation - 2 Corinthians 13:5 Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?