Amen. Go ahead and grab a seat. Well, I invite you to take your Bibles and open up to Psalm 139. We're going to look at the last two verses of that psalm for our time in God's Word this morning, and I'm really thankful to be here with you this morning. I guess it's a big privilege to preach at the last nine o'clock service of 2024. I didn't realize that ahead of time, but I'm glad to be here. And you know the end of the year provides a good opportunity for some personal reflection, some spiritual evaluation, and who is better to guide us in our examination than the All-Knowing God? And that's what we're going to look at today, and we're going to talk about today. So, if you're there in Psalm 139, let's stand for the reading of God's word, out of honor for his Word. And I'm just going to read those last two verses, verses 23 and 24 where David says,
Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!
Please be seated and let me pray for our time in God's Word together this morning. Father, we're thankful that as we come to the end of the year, and as we look into the next year, when there's so much chaos and confusion in our world around us, we're thankful that we have a sure Word from you. We can be confident that what we have in front of us is the true Word of God. It came from you. It comes with all your authority. It comes without any errors. We can trust it completely. It's absolutely infallible. It'll never lead us astray, and it is sufficient for us in our day to guide us through all the things that we need to deal with in this life and to lead us eventually, all the way safely home to you because of what you've done through your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. So, we pray that as we look at your Word this morning, Lord, that you'll help us to pay close attention, to give your Word the attention that it deserves. And so, we commit this time to you in our Savior's name. Amen.
The Psalm was written by David, and it highlights the omniscience of God. And by God's omniscience, we mean more than just he knows everything. Specifically, we would be saying God's knowledge is perfect and complete in every dimension. Perfect and complete in every dimension. And this is highlighted throughout this psalm. Let me just read you portions of it, starting back in Psalm 139:1-3. He says, “O Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways.” I have some amazing statements made just in those four verses. It tells us that God knows what we're going to do before we do it. He knows what we're going to say before we say it, and he knows even what we're going to think before we think it. That's how far ahead of us he is. That's how complete and perfect is his knowledge. He's not learning anything. He knows everything.
These are amazing statements about the knowledge of God. Look down at Psalm 139:11-12 says, “If I say, ‘Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,’ even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.” Nothing is hidden from God. There's nothing that he can't see, nothing that he doesn't know. It's all there right before him, down in Psalm 139:15-16, he says, “My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me when as yet there was none of them.” So, God's involved in the creation, the bringing into the life of a new person. He's intricately involved in the formation of that new child. And it tells us here that he knows how many days that child is going to live before they're even born. That's how complete, how perfect, how comprehensive God's knowledge is. And then in verses 17 and 18, David just says, “How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with you.” What he's basically saying there is God, you're amazing, and I'm amazed. I'm amazed at how comprehensive, how perfect, how complete your knowledge is. His knowledge of you is extensive and it is intimate. He knows everything about you.
So, you and I should be encouraged to do what David is doing here in this Psalm and ask God to apply his knowledge of your heart for your benefit. God, I want to know what you know about me. That's basically what he's asking here. So, let's look at what he says here and apply this to ourselves and do some examination and some evaluation of our own lives. And as we look at those two verses, I just want to show you three exhortations that come right from the text.
So, exhortation number one would be that you should “Invite God's examination.” Invite God's examination. That's what he's doing. In verse 23 he says, “Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts.” David invites God to search him and try him. God already knows everything about David. He's already said that in verse 1, but David's asking God to help him know himself, that he might know what God knows. And that's something really, that every Christian should pray on a regular basis, every day, if possible, if we want to be really diligent in our spiritual life and in our walk with the Lord. Apparently, this was a common thing for David to do this. We could show you examples. One would be in Psalm 26:2. He says something very similar. He says, “Prove me, O Lord, and try me; test my heart and my mind.” So, he is inviting this examination from God. He's basically saying, God, I want to know what you know about me. I want to live in the light of God's presence. That's what he's getting at here. I want to live in the awareness that the Lord is watching my every action, my every word, my every thought. I want to live like I know that God knows everything about me. That's what he's saying here. And he says specifically. He says, “Know my heart,” know my heart. And in the Bible generally, when it uses the word heart, it's talking about the inner man. It's talking about the mission control center of man. The Bible says that that our heart is where our desires and our thoughts come from. As a man thinks in his heart. And it talks about the desires of a man's heart, the thoughts of his heart, they all originate in our heart, the mission control center of man. God, he says, I want you to show me my heart. And he says, try me and know my thoughts. And the idea there is that these are anxious thoughts. These are a particular kind of thoughts. These are cares that you and I might have, doubts, fears, and they're brought out through God trying us, testing us, putting us through trials. And these are the things that are squeezed out of us. What kind of thoughts are we having when we're in the midst of those trials? And it could be distracting thoughts, thoughts that keep me from trusting God like I should, thoughts that keep me in fear when I don't need to be. He says, I want to know what you know about me. Show me what you know you and I need to have God examining everything that's running around inside of us. This is saying, in essence, I want to walk in the light. This is saying that I really do want to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.
As it says in 2 Corinthians 10:5, this is an invitation, an invitation for God to examine. And it is a very serious thing. This is inviting some painful exposure. If you're going to invite God to reveal to you what's going on inside of you, get ready for some painful moments as he reveals your sin to You. And it's also inviting some necessary surgery, because once those things get exposed by the light of God's truth, then they need to be removed, and that could be painful as well. And so, it is a very serious thing. You wouldn't take open heart surgery lightly, and I would suggest to you that this invitation to have God search your heart is more important. It is more important. Your spiritual condition is way more important than your physical condition. You and I need God's perfect knowledge of our hearts so that our condition is exposed and dealt with. And this really isn't an option. This isn't here for you to consider. This isn't here for you to say, well, that's a pretty good idea, David. I might try that sometime. Now, this is a must. This is a requirement. It's not an option. This kind of examination is required by God. Let me show you some from the New Testament. 2 Corinthians 13:5 five. Let's turn to 2 Corinthians, chapter 13, verse 5, where it's stated as a command. 2 Corinthians 13:5, which says, “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!” He's calling on us to examine ourselves. Test ourselves to see if we're in the faith, which is a way of saying test yourself to see if you're really a Christian, if you really are a true follower of Jesus Christ. Expose yourself to what the standards presented in the Bible and see if you match up to how it describes a true Christian. And you know, the Bible tells us that there are many more people who think they are Christians than truly are Christians. The broad road has a lot more people on it than the narrow road. You and I need to test the reality of our claim. If you're claiming to be a Christian, can you stand the examination?
Many claim to follow Christ, but they apparently do so for wrong reasons, and they never enter into salvation. They never enter into true salvation, and tragically, because they've never examined themselves, they remain in and die in their unsaved condition, and they will face the consequences of that. You and I need to examine ourselves as to the reality of our Christianity. Another place where we're called on to examine ourselves is back one book in 1 Corinthians, chapter 11, and Paul there is talking to them about the Lord's Supper and what this Lord's supper means. And he's dealing with problems that they were having in the church. They were divided. There was conflict. And they're coming to the Lord's table, which is a remembrance of Christ's sacrifice. And in one sense, it's the remembrance that we all have become one in Christ. It's celebrating our unity in Christ, as we all partake of the elements. And yet he's saying you're doing it in an unworthy manner, because you've got all this conflict and division going on amongst you. And so, here's what he tells them to do, starting in verse 27 he said, “Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.” So, there's the warning to Christians regarding taking the Lord's Supper in an unworthy manner and suffering the consequences of doing that. And again, you can see the seriousness of the issue. Some of the people he saw, and some of your people are sick, and some of them have died. And here's the reason why, because they took the Lord's table, the Lord's Supper, in an unworthy manner, an unworthy manner, and what's the cure to taking it in an unworthy manner. Self-examination. He says in verse 28, let a person examine himself. And in verse 31 he says, but if we judged ourselves truly. He's calling for us to examine ourselves in this kind of context. And the examining there and the judging that are there, those verbs are both in the present tense, which means this is supposed to be a regular part of your practice, that you're examining yourself and your walk with the Lord.
This is important, and we could point to lots of other passages that talk about this. For example, Proverbs, 4:23, you might be familiar with that. It says, “Watch over your heart with all vigilance,” or diligence. That's what we are to do. We are to invite God's examination. It's required. And just to fully make this point, not only do we need to remember that it is required, we need to remember why it's so necessary. Why is this so necessary? Why all this diligence? Why all this examining? Well, let me give you some thoughts to help you process that. One reason that this is necessary, this kind of examination, is because we're in a fight with sin. We are in a fight with sin, whether you want to be or not, you are in a fight with sin. Believers have been set free from sin, but sin remains. Sin has been defeated, but it hasn't been destroyed. And as long as we live in these bodies, we the sin has a beach head to get into us through the desires of our bodies, we are in a constant battle with sin. And so, scripture is full of commands for us to put it away, for Christians to put away sin in their life. Romans 6, Ephesians 4, Colossians 3, just list commands for us to be dealing with sin, putting it away, putting it aside, killing it. We are in a fight with sin, and that's why it's necessary for us to do this examination.
Another reason why it's necessary is because we live in a world full of temptations and snares, temptations and snares. Satan is constantly at work. In fact, let me show you some one place would be 2 Corinthians 11:2-3. Apostle Paul, he's having a lot of problems with this Corinthian church. Lot of issues there, and he has great concerns about them. And so, he says this in 2 Corinthians 11, verses two and three. It says, “For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.” Satan is constantly at work, and he is cunning, he's crafty, he's clever, and he's at work to try to get you Mr. and Mrs. Christian, to try to get you distracted, away from a pure devotion to Christ, to make you ineffective in your Christian life. And he is subtle. He is crafty. And at this point in history, he is very experienced. He's been watching people for a long time now, and he knows where to set the traps. And in fact, it says in 2 Corinthians, 2:11, it talks about his schemes, the schemes of the devil. He's got plans, and he's got effective plans. He knows what he's doing. He knows how to go after people. He knows where to attack them. He knows what he is doing, and he's not taking a Christmas break. He is at this nonstop. This is what he does. He is out to destroy you and me.
Look at 1 Peter, chapter 5. 1 Peter. Chapter 5 describes the activity of Satan. 1 Peter 5:8 says, “Be sober minded. Be watchful. Your adversary, the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” He would love to devour you. He would love to ruin your life. That's his mission. That's what he's out to do. And he is dangerous. He is proud. He's like a roaring lion. I don't know if you've ever heard a lion give a full roar. These ones at the zoo, they're not cutting it, but I've been to South Africa, and we went to an animal preserve, and I was standing maybe 100 feet away from a lion. There was an electrical fence in between us. I was sitting about 100 feet away, and he roared. It was that time of the day, his sun was going down, and it's like they're taking attendance, and you heard this guy roar, and then somebody out there roared, and somebody over there, they're like, all checking in. And this guy 100 feet away from me, when he roared, the ground underneath me shook, and I was glad. I was thanking God for electrical fences. And I was told that that roar could be heard a mile away. I believed it. That was a powerful thing. They are powerful animals, and they are killers. They are born killers. They had another place at this preserve where they had lion cubs, and they look so cute and cuddly, and they'll come up to the fence and they'll rub against the fence, and they purr. These lion cubs are purring. Sounds kind of like a chainsaw when a lion purrs, but they're purring, and they would just love for you to put your fingers through there, scratching behind the ears. I mean, it was like you're having a great time there. But in our group, we had some children. Every time the children moved, these little lion cubs moved. They are born killers. They know who the weakest elements are in the pack, and they will go for them. It was amazing to watch them do that. Satan is like a lion. He's out to destroy you, and he can do it. You need to be on guard. You need to be alert. You need to be examining yourself so that you're not leaving yourself defenseless in any way.
You know, in Ephesians 4:26, it says, “Don't let the sun go down on your anger.” Dealing with the sin of anger, don't let the sun go down on your anger, which is meaning, resolve the problem as fast as you can. And the warning there is, if you don't do that, in verse 27 it says, “and give no opportunity to the devil.” That is like one of the scariest verses I've ever heard. If you’ve got unresolved anger going on at your house, you might as well open up the front door, roll out the red carpet, and say, devil, come on in. Would you let a lion come into your house? Satan's more dangerous than a lion, and there are houses that are filled with Christian people that are giving the devil an opportunity. Well, you need to watch yourself. This is necessary. This is real life. This is what's really happening. You’ve got to be sober. You’ve got to be alert, because we're in a fight with sin, and we live in a world full of temptations and snares.
Another reason why it is necessary that we examine ourselves, because we are blind, often very blind, to our own sin, our own sin. We can see it really I can see your sin really well. I have trouble seeing my own sin. Psalm 19:12 talks about hidden or secret faults. Well, who are they hidden from? Hidden from God. They're hidden from me. They're hidden sins. There are sins that I am guilty of that I'm not even aware of. Sin is a very deceitful thing, and I don't know about you, but I am very biased towards myself. I am all in favor of me, and I will cut myself as much slack as I want. I can be very biased towards myself, and sin will trick me into thinking I'm okay because I did. It didn't seem like anything happened. Guess, it's no big deal. It can trick me. It can deceive me. In Ephesians, 4:22, it talks about the deceitfulness of sin, and it says that also here in Hebrews 3:12-13, where it says, “Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.” So, what are we supposed to do about that? Verse 13, “exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.” Sin makes promises that it never delivers on. It's. Deceitful, and I need to be on guard. I need to be examining because I can be very blind to my own sin. We can be very slow to condemn ourselves. A couple of verses that talk about that, about how blind we can be. Proverbs 16:2 says, “All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, the Lord weighs the spirit.” My evaluation isn't the final decision. Proverbs 21:2 says, “Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the heart.” Yeah, I want to know. I need to know what the Lord is seeing in my heart. I need to know that it's necessary because I'm in a fight with sin. It's necessary because there are temptations and snares. It's necessary because of the deceitfulness of sin. It's necessary too because I can be fooled by the culture. Some things are just accepted by our culture. And even though they are sinful, our conscience can become numb to it, and we can get involved in going places, doing things, watching things that are sinful, but we think it's okay, because it's what everybody else is doing, and what I'm doing isn't as bad as most people. We can be blind to the sin of it. That's why we're warned to not be “conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” in Romans 12:2.
Another reason why this is necessary is because I can be blinded by the examples of others, people in positions of spiritual leadership do it. It must be okay. Must be okay. The fact that these those who should set the example practice such things, whether it's leaders in the church, or whether it's parents in a home, can blind our eyes to the sin of it, which is a warning to leaders, anybody in a leadership position. So, we should invite God's examination into our lives, because it's commanded for one thing, and because it's necessary, because I'm in a fight with sin, and I have to deal with all these temptations and snares and the deceitfulness of sin and the culture and the examples. I need this examination by God. I should see it as a blessed thing. I should want it all the time. I need God's help, and he's offering it. I need to invite his examination.
There's a second exhortation that comes out of our text, 139:24 and this exhortation is that you should “Value God's examination.” Value God's examination, he says in verse 24 “and see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” There's the value of it. This is what I want to do. I want to walk in the way everlasting. And so, I value God's examination of my life. David wants to know if there's any grievous or hurtful way in him, literally any way of pain. The desire here is to put away anything that's grievous to God. It's tantamount to asking God to show me the sins and so that they might be removed from my life. Help me to see them. This is dealing with sin seriously. This is seeing sin for what it is. It is grievous to God because it is an act of disobedience. Every sin is an act of disobedience against God. Every sin is an act of rebellion. It's the creature rebelling against the Creator. Every sin is displeasing to the Lord. And in Ephesians 4, where it's talking about some of the common sins that we might practice, it says that “by doing that, we grieve the Spirit of God.” Why? Why would I want to do that? I mean, why would I want to open the door to give Satan an opportunity? Why would I want to grieve the Spirit? I should value God's examination. I don't want to displease him. I don't want to hurt him, and it hurts me too. My sin hurts me. Sin can be covered. Meaning, sin can be forgiven. How many sins can be forgiven? You could have said that with more gusto, and some of you didn't say anything.
God can forgive all of our sins. He can forgive all of our sins forever. He's a forgiving God. But that doesn't mean that our sins still don't have consequences. Consequences, for example, let's just think about this for a minute. I could go out on New Year's Eve and get drunk. I'm not planning to, just in case you're wondering, but I could, I could do that. I could go out, that's a sin. That would be a sin. I could go out get drunk, that's a sin. And if I did that, if I committed that sin, there would be a whole list of consequences I'd have to deal with after that. But then I get in my car in my drunken condition, and I drive away, and I hit somebody and I kill them. Well, that's a sin, and now the consequences have just gotten even worse. I can be forgiven of the sin, but the consequences are still there, and I can hurt other people by my sins. It's a grievous way. I can hurt others if I get involved in gossiping or slandering. I am trying to hurt somebody, and the sins I commit could hurt my marriage, hurt my family. It's a grievous way.
This is realizing that sin, it's not something trivial, it's not something you ever want to just play around with. This is declaring war on everything that pains the heart of God, that I should value this examination, because I value my Lord, and I want him pleased. I want him honored in my life, because he left heaven and came into this world, lived as a man, and was put to death on my behalf. He took my penalty upon himself. He rose from the dead, and that by believing in him, I have all of my sins forgiven forever, and I have eternal life.
Why? Why would I want to displease him for all that he's done for me? And I want him, as it says here, leading me in the way everlasting, as only he can. I want to walk down that way with him as a believer. We have everlasting life, but we don't always live according to that way. Do we? This is church on Sunday morning. You can be honest here. We don't always have an eternal life, but we don't always walk that way. We stray, we step off the path. We do that. We're learning, we're growing. Our desire should be that I want to learn and grow. I want the Lord to examine my heart so that I can deal with things in my life, so that I walk more consistently in that way. I want to walk down that path. I want to walk on that way. And this way, here in the verse, is in contrast to the way of pain. And this way is the way that pleases the Lord, the everlasting way. This is living life as God has designed for it to be lived. This is the way of holiness. This is a life of repentance. Repenting isn't something you just do once. When you get saved, you enter into a life of repentance, where now the practice of your life is to be turning away from sin. It's walking in the light of the Lord. You know, the way that pains the Lord is painful for us too, but the way that pleases the Lord is a way that brings joy and pleasure for us. I want to walk that way, so I value this examination. And there are only two options that are presented to us here. You can walk the hurtful way, or you can walk the everlasting way. I want to value God's examination because he's so good to me, and this is such a good way to go. So now I understand.
The need to invite God's examination, and understanding the value of this examination, I have a third exhortation for you, and that is, you need to “Apply God's examination.” You need to apply it. In fact, the first question you might be asking yourself, which would be a good question to ask, if you're looking at this scripture and you're saying, search me, O God, and know my heart. Well, how does this searching thing happen? How does that even go about it? What am I exactly inviting him to do? How does this take place? Do I just pray this prayer and go on my way and realizing that if God has something to say to me, he knows where to find me? Is that how I do it? Or does it involve something on my part? It involves something on our part. We are always responsible to apply the truth to our lives. We are to be diligent, as it says in Proverbs 4. In 1 Timothy 4:7, it says we're to discipline ourselves for the purpose of godliness. And in 1 Timothy 6:11, it says that we're to be pursuing, chasing after, running after a godly life. That sounds like it requires some work on my part.
So how does this work out? How does this searching take place? Well, it begins by you studying the Scripture, studying the Scripture, we cannot say that we sin because God hasn't made the everlasting way plain to us yet. Yes, he has. If you were to say to God, God, I want you to examine my heart. How are you going to do that? He's going to say, I gave you a book, open it up and let the exam begin. He's revealed his way to us in his Word. What a treasure that is! And his Word is perfectly suited for our condition, because it's comes from the God who knows everything. It's totally sufficient to lead us in the way of life. The problem nowadays is that we’ve got lots of Bibles, but they're not very well known. What's in those Bibles? A lot of people don't really know it very well. They take a superficial approach to the Bible, if they approach it at all, and often they misinterpret what it says. You know, God has given us his Word. It's timeless. It's full of timeless truth. And I tell people all the time that whatever it meant when David wrote these words down, that's what it means, and our job is to understand what it's saying. It takes some work. So, if we are inviting God's examination, we have to know his standard as his standard is revealed to us in his Word. That's how it happens.
The Word shines the light that shows us the way. In Psalm 119 the writer says this in verses 9 through 11. Psalm 119:9-11. It says, “How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments!” Why would he say that if that wasn't a possibility? He doesn't want to do that. And so, he says in verse 11, “I have stored up your word in my heart, hat I might not sin against you.” I've stored it up in my heart, and certainly that would involve memorizing Scripture. But it doesn't do you any good to memorize Scripture if you misinterpret it. You need to understand what it is saying. You need to make every effort to really get to know God's Word, and you have abundant resources available to help you do that in our day, and don't ever take those for granted. Take every advantage you have to learn from God's Word. And as you read God's Word, you know David, he wrote this in a language that you're probably not familiar with. He wrote in Hebrew. He wrote it in a time that's very different than the time you're living in. He was living in a culture very different than the culture you're living in. And so, there are some gaps there that you have to close. Well, we have resources that can help us close those gaps and understand put ourselves in David's sandals and understand what he's saying. And that's what we need to do. We need to take every advantage to learn God's Word. I mean, what else are you going to do you want to waste your time doing something else? Or do you want to really get serious about learning God's Word? If you don't think you need more Bible, then you've deceived yourself. You've deceived yourself.
You know, we have a Bible class. Some of you have gone to that Bible class and you've endured that teacher, and there for a long time now, but don't worry, they're getting a new, improved, upgraded, more energetic teacher starting next week. So, there's hope. There's hope for that class yet. But there's a slogan attached to that class that I don't know who came up with it or when. It was before my time. The Bible class is a ministry of Compass HB for people who want more Bible. Makes it sound like it's an optional thing. Hey, would you like some more Bible? It should be. It's a ministry for people who need more Bible, and who would be in that category? Every one of us. Every one of us. I've been studying the Bible at a fairly intense level for the last 35 years, studying it in order to for my own life and be able to teach it to others. I mean, I get paid to study the Bible, and I need more Bible. I need more Bible. We all need more Bible because you can't live out what you don't know and understand. You can't live out something that you don't know or you don't understand. And in the Hebrew way of thinking, which, by the way, the Bible was written by a bunch of Hebrews, except for maybe Luke, a bunch of Hebrews wrote it. And in the Hebrew way of thinking, you don't know anything if you can't do it, which is way different than our day. I mean, there are people who think they know the game of golf, but they don't know it until they go out there and hit the ball and deal with the consequences. You don't know it if you can't do it, that's a Hebrew way of thinking. Well, you can't do it if you don't know it, or don't understand it. If you're not fully acquainted with God's Word, it's impossible for you to do an accurate self-examination, and you really can't say that you're inviting or valuing God's examination.
Bible is the tool that God has given you to reveal his thoughts on your condition. To make the invitation and value the examination means I’ve got to pick up this book and labor to learn it and take advantage of all the resources, all the teachers, all the books that God has provided to help me in studying and understanding his words so that I might walk in it. Psalm 119 again, in verse 105 says this. The writer says, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path,” a lamp to my feet, a light to my path, which means a lamp for my feet. It shows me the next step. It shows me what's right in front of us, so that I take the right steps. It's a light for my past so I know where I'm going. It's comprehensive. It's sufficient. It's a light, and I need that light. It is displeasing to God, for you and me to not be diligently studying the Scriptures. I mean, how many times did Jesus say, recorded in the gospels, have you not read like he expected people to have read that? This is a treasure given to us from God. He would have expected people to read it and understand it, and so if we're not studying the Scriptures, our sinful ways are then inexcusable because they're done out of ignorance, and it's a willful ignorance. And you need to study if you're going to apply this what we're talking about here. You need to study the Scripture.
Another way to apply this would be to study yourself, study yourself, compare yourself to the Scripture in order to purge out the hurtful way, and to walk in the everlasting way. And how do I do that? Well, by actively applying what you're learning in the Scripture. And as you read it or hear it, the first question you should ask yourself is, what is this scripture telling me about God? And then maybe a second question could be, what does this tell me about myself? Is there an example here in this text that I need to follow, like the text we're looking at, David's example. Would that be a good example for me to follow? I think so. Is it warning me of a sin to avoid? Do I have that sin in my life? Is that something I need to deal with? In what ways do I fall short of the standard that I'm seeing in the Scriptures? Those are the kind of questions I should be asking myself.
And, you know, as we read through the Old Testament, we've been doing a lot of reading in the Old Testament. In the Scripture of the Day recently, and you can look at what Israel is doing, and you can shake your head and say, how dumb are you people? How many times are you going to do this? What you need to realize is that we're just like them. They're just as dumb as we are. And you could, every time you read about Israel's faults or somebody else's faults in particular in the Bible, you can just thank God. You should just stop right there and thank God that your life isn't recorded in the Bible. Thank God for that. I thank God for that all the time.
Another thing you can do in applying this and studying yourself is to listen to what others say to you, because, like I said, we can be so blind to our own sin. So, listen to what others say to us. If a friend exhorts you, accept that. Listen to that. Be thankful for that. Welcome that. Proverbs 27:6 says, “Faithful are the wounds of a friend.” Yeah, you should be thankful for that, that you have a friend that cares enough about you to help you in that way. And you should even listen to what your enemies say about you, because there's probably something in there that is true. I mean, they're trying to attack you at what they think is your weakest point. There might be some real truth to what they're saying. You should listen to what they say, reflect on what they say, and you should realize that people like that, those troublesome people in your lives, those people that cause you problems, those people that are criticizing you all the time, you need to realize that they are a part of what God is using to refine your life. He brings trials into our lives to refine us. That's the trying. Try my thoughts. My thoughts are getting tried. And what kind of thoughts am I having here? So even my enemies attacking me is, is God using them for my own purification? I should thank God for my enemies. That God is even using them. God is so good, so powerful, so all-knowing to even use enemies for my good.
Another way, under kind of studying yourself and helping you to understand yourself, would be to study others. When you see their faults, is that something that you're guilty of, too? You know, we've all been in the room where there's this one person. One person that has this problem, everybody else knows about it, except the one person who has it. Have you ever been in that situation? Sometimes you're that person. So, when we see the faults of others, we might ask, is that something that I need to deal with, too? And you should watch godly people. What can I learn from them? Where we're told to follow the example of godly people in Hebrews 13:7, it says, for that we're supposed to remember our leaders and the things that they taught us, and we're to imitate their ways, because they provide living, breathing examples for us.
So, if we're going to apply what we're learning about this invitation to God to examine us, we need to study the Bible. We need to study ourselves. And the end of the year might provide a time for you to do some thinking, some reflecting over this past year. And as you think about heading into a new year, you might look back over this past year and ask yourself, am I guilty of the sin of hating or the sin of anger? There are times this last year when I displayed a sinful anger, a time when I was envious or lustful or proud. Times when I was guilty of lying or being discontent or just being irresponsible and lazy. Look back over this last year, and hopefully you'll see areas where you have grown, but you'll see areas where you still need to work, and you can make plans so that in the future, in 2025, when these same kind of situations come up, where our last time I sinned in response, I responded out of my flesh. What will I do differently next time? How will I respond the next time that this comes up? So that I can take what's being revealed to me and put it into practice. What will you do differently? This is really a serious matter, this idea of examination, but it is a blessed one. It's a blessed one. It's so much better to be walking down everlasting way, the way of real life, than it is to be walking down the hurtful way. I mean, just see yourself at the crossroads of these two streets. You got the everlasting way and the hurtful way. Do you want to live at 123 hurtful way? Nobody does. You need to say what David said, “Search me, O God.” Search me, O God.
And just one more thought under the applying it to yourself. You want to study the Bible. You want to study yourself, but you also want to study the Lord Jesus Christ. Study the Lord Jesus Christ, if you're in the Word, well, the Word is going to continually be pushing to him. He said, it testifies to me. It's about him. Get to know him. Make that the desire of your heart be like the apostle Paul in Philippians 3:10 that I might know him. That's my desire. And look at examples. If you're following good examples, they'll be pushing you to Jesus Christ. They'll be able to say what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 11:1, “Follow me as I follow Christ.” That's what I want to do. I want to follow Christ more closely. I want all the help I can get so that I can be closer to Christ and so focus on him. Worship him. Become more like him. We are so thankful, are we not, that we have a Savior that can forgive us. Now Montoya is going to make you talk in two weeks, so I'm warming you up here. Are we thankful we have a Savior that can forgive us? We also have a Savior that can change us. That's what we're talking about here today, a savior that can change us, and that change comes by us getting to know him better. What a wonderful Savior, what an amazing Savior we have.
In these last few days of 2024 you should set aside some time and invite God to examine your heart, and you might ask yourself the questions, am I a real Christian? Have I really been born again? Have I really come out of death into life? Have I really come out of darkness into light, or am I just a nice church person? And then evaluate your walk with him. Are you walking in any hurtful ways or the everlasting ways? Value this examination. Eternal life can only be found in Christ. Walking in the everlasting way can only be found in Christ. It's all about him. It's Christ, in me, as one of his followers, that makes the difference which puts me on and helps me stay on, walking on the everlasting way. What a great blessing that is. What a way to end one year and think about a new year. Let's pray together.
Father, we thank you that we have your word and that it is so powerful, so complete, and it speaks so directly to us and the issues of our lives. Lord, I thank you for this time. I thank you for this church and for the opportunity that we've had. I thank you for everybody here today that we just wanted to come and worship you and hear from your Word. And So, Father, I pray that this will be a helpful, fruitful message that will help us in doing what David said, when he said, search me. O God, know my heart. Lord, show us what only you know about ourselves, so that we might bring honor to you, that we wouldn't do anything that would be grievous to you, anything that would bring pain to you, but that it would only bring blessing to you. And so, Lord, we recognize that we can't do this on our own. We're thankful for your Word. We're thankful for your Son, our Savior, who leads us in the way. And I pray, Lord, that we might follow him all the more closely this coming year. And so, we give you thanks in his name, amen. Amen.