Search Me, O God, and Try Me

Psalms 139:23-24

“Search me, God, and know my heart;

    test me and know my anxious thoughts.

See if there is any offensive way in me,

    and lead me in the way everlasting.” NIV

“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!” ESV

As followers of Jesus Christ we are to live holy lives pleasing to God, for this is why Jesus died on that cross, that we might die with him to sin and live to him and to his righteousness; that we may live for him and no longer for ourselves. For when Jesus shed his blood for us on that cross it was to buy us back for God (to redeem us) so that we would now be God’s possession and so he would be our Master, and so we would honor him with our lives.

But we still live in flesh bodies, and so we are still subject to sin and to failure, and we still have the propensity to sin, and we are still tempted to sin. But Jesus, through his death on that cross, put our sin to death with him so that we might now live in freedom from slavery to sin. It doesn’t mean we will never sin again (1 John 2:1-2), but that sin should no longer be our master. We should no longer live as slaves to sin but as slaves to righteousness.

There are many people today, though, who are professing faith in Jesus Christ who are still living like they did before they professed faith in Christ. Sin is still their master. They are still living as slaves to sin. Deliberately and habitually, and often premeditatedly, they give in to the sinful cravings of their flesh, they deny Jesus Christ, they refuse to obey him, and they do what ought not to be done and what hurts other people.

According to the Scriptures, those who make sin their practice, and who deny Christ as Lord (Master) of their lives, who deliberately and habitually live in (walk in) sin, and who do not live to obey the Lord or in righteousness and holiness, they are not saved from their sins, and heaven is not their eternal destiny unless they repent and they turn and they follow Jesus in obedience. So please know this (Matt 7:21-23; Gal 5:16-21; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10).

But what I talk about here in this video is addressed mainly to those who are walking in holiness in obedience to the Lord and who have forsaken their lives of sin, but because they still live on this earth and in flesh bodies they may, from time to time, sin, not usually deliberately, and definitely not habitually in the same way. Sin is not their practice. But they may say something with a wrong attitude or whatever it may be sometimes.

It is important that we regularly check our hearts. We need God to search us, not because he needs it, for he knows, but we need him to let us know if there is anything we are doing that is displeasing to him, or if we said something we shouldn’t have said, or if we had a bad attitude about something that we didn’t see at the moment that it happened but later, or perhaps not until he reveals it to us. We need this for our daily cleansing.

Search Me, O God

Video Talk

October 30, 2022

https://youtu.be/ji57tEUyfQU

Caution: This link may contain ads

"Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.  Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me..." Psalms 139:23-24 NLT