Gospel-Centered Self-Examination

We're taking a pause tonight from our study in the book of the Revelation to give attention to the Lord's table.

And that's why I read from 1 Corinthians chapter 11. We have these instructions, rather detailed instructions, on what we're to do to prepare ourselves for participation at the Lord's table. It is a memorial service. It is first and foremost a memorial in that we are to remember the Lord Jesus.

Do this in remembrance of me, he says. But one of the prerequisites for participation in the Lord's table is self-examination. And that second part of the passage that I read that begins in verse 27 down through 34 deals with that subject of self-examination. There are blessings pronounced upon those who engage in serious self-examination and there are warnings of judgment upon those who fail to do so. So we have a command here, a strong admonition in relation to the Lord's table. And let me read it again, verse 28. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. We have other places in the scriptures where we're exhorted to examine ourselves. 2 Corinthians 13, 5. Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves.

Do you not know yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you unless indeed you are disqualified? Well, there's more here than meets the eye. The command is simple enough but has some very challenging aspects to it. And what I mean is this admonition of self-examination. So let's consider tonight what it means and see if we can't learn profitably for our preparation for the Lord's table service tonight.

The first thing I want you to see is that this is classroom language. It's a tool of evaluation. It's designed to measure our progress. Now there's a strong element of subjectivity here, but we're to examine ourselves to determine our mastery of the subject being studied.

The challenge here is to submit oneself to a thorough and stern examination. Unlike the quick glance we take in the mirror as we're leaving the house to make sure everything's in order, or if we fail to do that, we get in our car and flip the visor down and look at that little mirror. It's about that big to make sure everything's in order. That's not what's in view here. What's in view here is the idea of a soldier standing at attention alongside other soldiers who are also standing at attention as the platoon sergeant walks up with his scrutinizing, meticulous gaze.

That's the idea here. Not a quick glance. I attended a funeral of a relative who committed suicide, and the man had darkened the door of the church maybe once in two years at a Christmas service, and the minister who was presiding over the funeral service wanted to assure everybody that Bill was okay, because on that particular Christmas Eve service, he had a brief word with him as he was leaving the service, and the man said, Don't you worry about me, preacher. We're not talking about that kind of self-examination.

It was a sad occasion. Listen to what Charles Spurgeon says at this point on this matter of self-examination. Self-examination is not the simple thing which at first sight it might appear.

No Christian who has ever really practiced it has found it easy. Is there any exercise of the soul which any of us has found so unsatisfactory, so almost impossible as self-examination? The fact is this, that the heart is so exceedingly complicated and intricate, and it is so very near the eye which has to investigate it, and both it and the eye are so restless and so shifting that its deep anatomy baffles our research. Just a few things here and there, broad and open and floating upon the surface, a man discovers, but there are chambers receding within chambers in that deepest of all deep things, a sinner's heart which no mere human investigation ever will reach. It is the prerogative of God alone to search the human heart, end of quote from Charles Spurgeon. And that quote ends, it is the prerogative of God alone to search the human heart, and I say, well, I understand that, but this says, let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. So we're going to have to reconcile what the word of God admonishes concerning and what Mr. Spurgeon says.

But suffice to say, when we're talking about examination, we have in mind to scrutinize our actions, our behavior, our motives, our thoughts, our ambitions, our struggles, our temptations, and it takes serious thought to do that. I've mentioned from time to time that the Lord's table is a means of grace, and there are some who have spoke to me and said, should we really think about the Lord's table as a means of grace? I thought the word of God in prayer and the assembly of the saints, those are the means of grace. No, this is a means of grace.

This is ordained of God, he's instructed us, he's commanded us to observe the Lord's table, and there are these serious instructions around it that are a means of grace for us to pause and think seriously about our soul state. Now obviously, left to ourselves, we can easily do this and do it in an unprofitable way. What we're being exhorted about here comes with some challenges. And what makes this admonition challenging?

Let me mention some things. Number one, the deceitfulness of the human heart. Examine yourself, let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. Well, Jeremiah 17, 9 says, the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.

Who can know it? There's more, right? I hope you understand there's more after that period.

And I'm glad there's more after that, and listen to the rest. I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings. The heart is deceitful. What is deceit? Deceit is the concealment or the perversion of the truth for the purpose of misleading. We have this propensity, this defect in our hearts that would mislead us away from truth, the truth of the matter, of our true soul's condition.

It's part of our anatomy, it's part of who we are. The heart is deceitful above all things. Lou Priola speaks about this issue in his book, The Complete Husband, and he speaks about pride and how deceitful it is.

Listen to what he says. He says, the sin of pride, it blinds you and me to other sins in our lives and hinders us from repenting of them. Pride blinds you, not only to itself, but to every other sin tucked away in the recesses of your heart and life.

It causes you to hate correction and reproof. It hides your sin from you, it justifies your sin, it excuses your sin, and it keeps you from repenting of your sin. It deceives you into thinking that you're spiritually well when, in fact, you have a deadly cancer and are in desperate need of the great physician's balm.

So says Lou Priola. Not only do we have a heart that's deceitful, but we're living in a world of deceit. Listen to 2 Timothy 3 verse 13.

Paul is writing to Timothy, he's describing the latter days. He says, but evil men and imposters will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. So there is this challenge of the deceitfulness of the human heart. There is the deceitfulness in the hearts of others around us.

And listen also to this challenge. One of the nuances, one of the characteristics of sin is its deceitfulness. Hebrews 3 verse 12. Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God.

But exhort one another daily, while it is called today, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. Sin is deceitful. It conceals truth.

It promises you something it cannot deliver. So we have a heart that's deceitful. We're living in a world of deceit that's going to grow even more deceitful. We're trying to identify sins in our own lives and the very nature of sin is to deceive.

And if that weren't bad enough, what else complicates this matter and makes this matter very challenging? We've got the evil one who is the deceiver himself. Revelation chapter 12 verse 9.

So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old called the devil and Satan who deceives the whole world. So you see what we're up against. We're being commanded to examine ourselves and yet we do that with this awareness. I have a heart that's deceitful. And if God doesn't help me, if God doesn't turn the light on, if God doesn't reveal sin in my life, if God doesn't help me see me for who I really am, I will deceive myself. I will tell myself I'm fine when in fact I am fatally flawed. And we have the deception of this world in which we live.

We have the nature of sin and it being deceitful and we have the devil himself who's deceitful. So that makes this admonition very, very challenging. And then there is this subtle danger that I want to call self-absorption.

Self-absorption. Let a man examine himself. One of the challenges here is that while we are being obedient to that command in preparation for participation in the Lord's table, self-examination, while we're doing that and trying to be faithful to that, we don't want to lose sight of the whole purpose of the Lord's table.

And what is that? Remember Him. Don't lose sight of Him. So how do I not lose sight of Jesus? Remember Jesus while I'm gazing within, looking within, doing this intense evaluation of self.

How do I do that? Because introspection is deceptive. Because it looks like we're doing the right thing. We're not indifferent to sin.

We're serious about this matter. I know my own heart. I know how it can easily be deceived.

So I want to go about this in the right way. But the more I give myself to that, the more inclined I am to introspection, self-absorption. And is not the Lord's table, not to be a time of self-absorption, but a time of Christ-absorption, that we're focused on Christ. So there's this subtle danger that being obedient to this exhortation can easily turn us inward and self-absorbed instead of Christ-focused.

Now, Thomas Chalmers was a Scottish pastor in the 19th century, and he spoke on this matter of self-examination. He once compared self-examination to a dark room full of objects. We can't see what's there because the room is pitch black. This darkness is the reason looking at ourselves is often so unfruitful, he says.

How do we brighten the room? Not by straining our eyes or taking more time and effort to examine the darkness. We will never see ourselves clearly simply by focusing more intently on ourselves.

Chalmers says we must go to the window and open the curtains. Let the light of Christ break into the darkness of our souls. The sunlight in Chalmers' imagery is the truth of God's word. And if we're going to derive good from self-examination, it's only going to be as that self-examination is informed by the word of God. So we need this self-examination that remains gospel-centered and at the same time shines light into the areas of our hearts that need attention. And I believe that that is one of the critical takeaways that this admonition for self-examination is found here in the context of the Lord's table. In the context of not forgetting Jesus, remembering him.

Because you can see how easily this thing can turn inward and become very unprofitable. I think of what Paul said in Romans chapter 7. I know that is within myself dwells no good thing. The Apostle Paul speaking personally. The more he looked within, the less hope he had.

And if that's true of Paul, that's true of us. If our only look and our only gaze is on ourselves looking within, we're in serious trouble. There won't be much hope. There won't be much confidence.

There won't be much joy in your life. So what do we need to do? We need to soak in the sunshine of God's truth. So let me give you some truths about the gospel and how it informs and makes fruitful and profitable this business of self-examination. Number one, the gospel brings proportion to our examination.

The gospel brings proportion to our examination. As we learn to treasure Christ, we will spend far more time looking to Christ than to ourselves. Because if we've learned anything as a Christian, we've learned that we are not changed by beholding self. We are changed by beholding Christ. 2 Corinthians 3 verse 18. And it was Robert Murray McShane who made famous these words, For every look at yourself take ten looks at Christ. Now that's not dismissing this admonition of self-examination.

I'm not setting that aside. I'm trying to give honest credence to this command, but in the context of the gospel that is set before us here in the Lord's table. We are proclaiming the Lord's death here at this table until he comes. So number one, the gospel brings proportion to our examination. Number two, the gospel brings pardon to our examination.

What do I mean about that? Well God knows the worst about us and he loves us still. He does not deal with us according to our sins.

That's good news tonight. If God kept a record of wrongs, who of us could stand? He promises that if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. The gospel brings pardon to our examination. And it's only when we are secure in the love of God for us in Christ that we are empowered for self-examination.

That is humble, that is confident, that is fruitful. Because if God knows me better than I know myself, I should have no fear in opening myself up to God and allowing God to examine me, allow me to see myself as I really am because I'm not going to discover anything that he doesn't already know about me. It's not going to drive me away from God.

It's going to cause me to draw near to him. But I think too often we relate to God the way we relate to one another. We hide our faults. We hide our sins. We think, well, if he or she knew me the way I really know me, they'd have nothing to do with me or they would back up.

They'd put some distance between me and them. But it's not that way with God. He knows us. He knows the depravity of our hearts. It is a mind-boggling thing to think that when Christ died on the cross of Calvary and paid our sin debt, he was paying the penalty, the just penalty, for all the sins I created in the past, creating in the present, and will ever commit in the future.

They're all paid for. So is there anything that I should be afraid of discovering? Is there anything you should be afraid of discovering? And why do you need to discover it?

Why do you need to see what's there? So that you can acknowledge it. You can confess it.

You can repent of it. And you can grow in holiness and godliness. So the gospel brings proportion to our examination. It brings pardon to our examination.

Number three, it brings perception to our examination. Because the most important things we need to know about ourselves are not found by looking inward, but by looking to Christ. In his death and his resurrection, our identity comes into focus. We see how precious and honored we are in God's sight. We see the seriousness of sin.

Sin is so serious that it costs the Lord Jesus Christ his death that we might be forgiven. It draws attention to the glory of our new identity in Christ, and the future that we have in Christ. So the gospel brings perception to our examination. And then the gospel brings power. It brings power to our examination.

You say, how so? Because grace transforms examination from a tyrant and a burden into a means of faith, love, and hope. It doesn't throw buckets of cold water on our faith. It fuels our faith. It helps us to see where God is at work in us. That we might move forward with confidence of knowing that he who began a good work in us, will bring it to completion.

And this is part of the unfinished work. So as we come and open ourselves up and allow the word of God to enlighten our minds, and we pray, Lord, help me not to be deceived by my own sin, by the evil one, by the very nature of sin, I want to see myself for who I really am. Because I want to know those areas of my life that you are working in, that I might be able to rejoice in, and see progress in. So the gospel brings power to our examination. So do you see how important it is that the gospel informs our self-examination? If you remove the gospel from this component of self-examination, you're hopeless.

Because even with a deceptive heart, even a little bit of honesty, you're going to look within and say, oh my, oh my, I'm selfish, I'm this, I'm that. But we're not to fear and despair, because God knows all these things that are there. And God wants to put the spotlight on those things. God wants to work in us, to conform us more to the image of Christ. So let the gospel inform your self-examination.

That's the hope. So what's the challenge? The challenge is always look up before you look in.

That's pretty clear, isn't it? Look up, focus on Christ, rejoice in the gospel. Get yourself centered, get yourself grounded, get yourself anchored before you begin to look in.

Because if you're going to be serious about looking in, you're going to see things that aren't going to be very flattering. You're going to be humbled by it. It should produce contrition and humbleness and repentance. And you're only going to be able to get that if you get the gospel centered first. So always look up before looking in. And never, never leave the foot of the cross.

Never leave the foot of the cross. Welcome the sunlight, welcome the word of God as it informs and instructs and illuminates. And as you do, watch the darkness scatter.

I love that imagery of Chalmers. Let's not be like in the basement in the dark, squinting trying to see as we're looking within. Let's see as he says, open up the curtains, let the light of God's word come in.

And darkness will scatter. Well that's my challenge tonight as we're going to be gathering around the Lord's table. I've thought a good bit about this issue of self-examination and it seemed a bit unprofitable if it was not anchored to the gospel. It has to be hope-filled. It has to be directed in the gospel.

Because I know myself and I think most of you are as honest as I try to be as you look within you say, whoa, this is a painful exercise. So I trust that this will help us tonight as we gather around the Lord's table and obey our Lord's command. It's a time of communion. It's a time of fellowship. It's a time where we're nothing between my Lord and the Savior, that we keep short accounts with the Lord when He directs us to thoughts and motives and ambitions and things we've done that we shouldn't have done and things we've failed to do that we should have done, that we quickly own those and realize that those things are not, our relationship is not predicated on the absence of those things or the presence of those things, that we are accepted in the Beloved.

And there's such security in that, that I'm in Christ. I don't have to fear this ugly business of self-examination. I can face my sin.

I can say, I see God what you see. It's ugly. I hate it. I hate it because you hate it.

And if I don't hate it, help me to hate it. But I'm secure in Jesus because I'm not learning anything about myself that God hasn't known when He said His affections on me in eternity past and determined to save me and give His Son for me. Well, the gospel is powerful, isn't it? Isn't that gospel powerful when we think about these things?

And then we're invited to this table. We're invited to come and commune and remember our Lord, remember what He did for us, remember His love for us, that He has set His affections on us. And if He loved us when we were unlovely, when He loved us when we were ungodly, He loves us more now than He loved us then because we're in Christ. He loves us for Jesus' sake. So much good came to people because of Joseph.

As you read that story in Genesis, well, so much good comes to you and I because of Jesus. I would strongly suspect that we'll hear Don Theobald say when he comes to be with us in a short time. I remember him saying so often from this pulpit, folks, all we got going for us is Jesus.

Remember him saying that? And that's the truth. Let's pray. Father, thank You. Thank You for the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank You for what He's done for us in redeeming us and saving us. Thank You that we're part of the family of God. Thank You that we are an heir of God and a joint heir with Your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, I thank You for this means of grace, the Lord's table, and this time that affords us self-examination. Lord, protect us from an over-preoccupation with ourselves and introspection. And as we are looking within, to be honest about ourselves, would You help us to see ourselves as You know us to be? And then grant us grace to own our sin and to repent of our sin and to confess our sin and rejoice in fresh cleansing and fresh progress in our walk with You. Bless this time around the table, I pray in Jesus' name. Amen.