The Power of Self Examination

Healing Part 1

INTRO: Healing Series-backdrop for Matt. 8

KEY: Healing is done thru God’s Power: by His authority; by His Spirit ; in His time. . .

Most churches are prone to extremes:

• ‘False fire’ and ‘Prideful hearts’

NEWS: Jamie Coots, ‘Snake Salvation’ reality star, dies from snake bite

• Dilemma: What was normal in the N.T. is now bad.

John MacArthur and Jack Deere; Sproul and Piper

• All say, “After reading the Scriptures, I’m fully convinced…”

“Too much of the church today has more confidence in Satan’s ability to deceive than in God’s ability to speak to us and lead us.” ~Jack Deere

“I loved to say that I lived by the Word of God, not by my feelings. I had preached so many sermons on this theme that I had come to regard feelings and the Word of God as mutual enemies.” ~Jack Deere

MESSAGE: The Power of Self Examination. (cf. 2 Cor. 13:5)

• Saved: The Fruit of Authentic Faith: http://vimeo.com/85251543

• Saints: The need for self examination

Unconfessed Sin can lead to sickness.

• O.T. Moses, Gehazi, David,

• N.T. James

Most say, “I’m good,” without spending time in the presence of God.

• It’s often not until genuine confession takes place

PSALM 51

1st Step: Heart Examination

James 5:13 Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. 16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

• Prayer is the focal point…the answer [married to holiness]

• There is humility involved in “calling” for help

• Elders don’t have supernatural power: it maybe be part of the submission / humility factor.

• Oil (anoint w/ oil): it was precious; it was costly; it was a source of fuel.

      *Medicinal purposes

• Faith is exercised: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Heb. 11:1

• Sickness related to sin; “the power of confession”: Isaiah 59:1-2, “Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.”

⇒How often do we run to the pharmacy, physicians, or psychologists?

“As a psychiatrist who has studied shame and humiliation for eight years, I became interested in apology for its healing nature. I am perpetually amazed by how many of my friends and patients–regardless of ethnicity or social class–have long-standing grudges that have cut a destructive swath through their own lives and the lives of family and friends. So many of their grudges could have been avoided altogether or been reconciled with a genuine apology.” Psychology Today: http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200909/go-ahead-say-youre-sorry.

• The prayer of a righteous person (e.g., a right standing before God because of repentance) is powerful and effective.

= Prayer, Humility, Submission, Cost, Faith, Repentance, Right standing before God = Healing.

17 Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. 18 Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops. 19 My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring that person back, 20 remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins.

• Context: 16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.

• Sinner is caught in sin

Leave the right path & wander on to the broad road

(cf. Mt. 18:12–13; Mt. 24:4–5, 11; Mk. 13:5–6; Rom. 1:27; Eph. 4:14; 2 Thes. 2:11; Tit. 3:3; 1 Pet. 2:25; 2 Pet. 2:15, 18; 1 Jn. 2:26; 1 Jn. 4:6).

• Death: thanatos-the sensation of life.

?   Don’t Live with a Question Mark Here  ?

Sin takes us farther than we want to go, costs us more than we want to pay and keeps us longer than we want to stay.

Now lets tie it into Communion:

1 Corinthians 11:23, For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; 24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” 25 In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying,“This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.

Examine Yourself

27 Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. 28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. 30 For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep. 31 For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. 32 But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world.

1. Selfish, sinful behavior mocks the atonement.

2. Disciplined when we dishonor: This covenant cost Jesus

Hebrews 12:6, “…the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.”

1 John 2:1-2, “My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.”

• EXPIATION: reconciliation; the removal of guilt.

Remember Me…the power of remembering

Children, Marriage, God, Christ

Someone died for you…you’re going to let sin reign?

Examination and Remembrance and Repentance aligns our heart with the heart of the Father.

• “SARDIS: you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead.”

THE HEALING POWER OF SELF EXAMINATION: Remember…Repent, Return = RENEW

PSALM 51