Perlustration - 2019
by Chris Cumming                                          printer-friendly   MP3

We are currently just nine days away from taking the Lord’s Supper in this calendar year 2014.  It is in this time that we are all finding ourselves in Perlustration.  Let us take a look at this word for a moment.  This word will be your companion right up to our taking of the body and blood of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

 

Perlustration: 
1] to go through and examine thoroughly.
2] the act of viewing all over.

The synonyms for Perlustration are:  audit, check-up, exploration, inquiry, interrogation, scrutiny and review.

The purpose of my sermon today is to encourage all of us to examine ourselves thoroughly.

Invoke Perlustration.

The opposite of, “examine thoroughly” is “ignorance” and “neglect.”  We cannot allow ourselves to neglect this personal examination prior to the Lord’s Supper.  Notice a key scripture:

Hebrews 2:1-3
1 Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.
2 For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward;
3 How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him.

Verse one:  The admonition to give heed to the things you have heard.  Give heed to your high calling.  Give heed to Perlustration.

Verse two:  The Word given to us from the beginning was stedfast, meaning it was so confirmed by Divine authority and is strict.  It will not tolerate any offense.

Verse three: We cannot and will not neglect so great a salvation.  We will not be ignorant and we will not neglect.  We will accomplish this, in part by invoking Perlustration.

Invoke Perlustration.

From this point on, this will not be so much a sermon as a prep sheet for you to carry out your Perlustration or self-examination as you prepare for the Lord’s Supper, the Night to be Much Remembered and the Days of Unleavened Bread.

First, I will give you some quotes on self-examination.  Then we will discuss four sets of scriptures:

1] Scriptures on self-examination
2] Scriptures to take to God in prayer
3] Related scriptures for study and meditation
4] Scriptures on Boldness

Quotes on Self-Examination
"There is no greater delight than to be conscious of sincerity on self-examination."

“For the wise have always known that no one can make much of his life until self-searching has become a regular habit, until he is able to admit and accept what he finds, and until he patiently and persistently tries to correct what is wrong.

“There is still a need for those of us nestled deep within the Christian bubble to look beyond the status quo and critically assess the degree to which we are really living biblically.”

"The greatest explorer on this earth never takes voyages as long as those of the man who descends to the depth of his heart."

"All men should strive to learn before they die what they are running from, and to, and why."

Scriptures on Self-Examination:
Haggai 1:5 ...the prophet Haggai to Judah but clearly an admonition to all firstfruits.
Now therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways.

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?

Let us do some immersion into this one.

---Examine Yourselves, Whether Ye Be in the Faith---

Examine yourselves - Yourselves is emphatic. Instead of putting Christ to the test, test yourselves. “Try”, is better than examine. Trial implies a definite intent to ascertain their spiritual condition. ~Vincent's Word Studies

Examine yourselves - see the note on 1 Corinthians 11:28. The particular reason why Paul calls on them to examine themselves was, that there was occasion to fear that many of them had been deceived. Such had been the irregularities and disorders in the church at Corinth; so ignorant had many of them shown themselves of the nature of the Christian religion, that it was important, in the highest degree, for them to institute a strict and impartial examination to ascertain whether they had not been altogether deceived. This examination, however, is never unimportant or useless for Christians; and an exhortation to do it is always in place. So important are the interests at stake, and so liable are the best to deceive themselves, that all Christians should be often induced to examine the foundation of their hope of eternal salvation. ~Barnes Notes

Quoted verse:
1 Corinthians 11:28
But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.

Continuing now with the commentary on 2 Corinthians 13:5

Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith - Try yourselves; pierce your hearts; bore yourselves throughout; try yourselves by what I have written, and see whether ye retain the true faith of the Gospel. ~Adam Clarke

Examine yourselves whether ye be in the faith - he directs them to self-examination, to look within themselves, to try, prove, and recognize their own souls; where if things were right, they would find a proof of Christ's speaking in him, to them: he advises them to examine the state of their own souls, and see whether they were in the faith; either in the doctrine of faith, having a spiritual and experimental knowledge of it, true love and affection for it, an hearty belief of it, having felt the power of it upon their souls, and abode in it.~John Gill [Emphasis mine]

The summation of this commentary is to ask yourself whether you are in the Salvation Process.  You know you are when you feel the power of it upon your souls.

---Prove Your Own Selves---
Prove your own selves - Put yourselves to the test, as you would try gold or silver suspected of adulteration. No more take that for Gospel which is not so, than you would take adulterated money for sterling coin. This is a metaphor taken from testing or assaying adulterated metals. ~Adam Clarke

---Know Ye Not Your Own Selves---
Know ye not your own selves - Are ye not full of wisdom and understanding? And is it not as easy to find out a spurious faith as it is to detect a base coin? There is an assay and touchstone for both. If base metal be mixed with the pure you can readily detect it; and as easily may you know that you are in the faith as you can know that base metal is mixed with the pure. Does Jesus Christ dwell in you? You have his Spirit, his power, his mind, if ye be Christians; and the Spirit of Christ bears witness with your spirit that ye are the children of God. And this is the case except ye be reprobates; base counterfeit coin; mongrel Christians. This metaphor holds excellently here. Reprobate silver, adulterated coin, shall men call them, Jeremiah 6:30. And thus, when they were brought to the test, they were found reprobate; that is, adulterated with this mixture of bad doctrine. There is no other kind of reprobation mentioned here than that which refers to the trial and rejection of adulterated coin; and, by way of metaphor, to the detection of false Christianity. This reprobation came of the people themselves: they, not God, adulterated the pure metal. Man pollutes himself; then God reprobates the polluted. ~Adam Clarke [Emphasis mine]

Quoted verse:
Jeremiah 6:30
Reprobate silver shall men call them, because the LORD hath rejected them.

---Except you be Reprobates---
Except you be reprobates - An unfortunate translation. A reprobate is one abandoned to [utter destruction]. The word is kindred to the verb prove and means disapproved on trial. ~Vincent's Word Studies

Note: Let us put the verse all together again:

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?

Summation:  Make sure you are in the Salvation Process.  The unction of the Holy Spirit will confirm this for you.  You know anyone ultimately outside the process will not be in the Kingdom of God.

Now to Psalm 119 for a verse.

Psalm 119:59
I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto thy testimonies.

---I Thought on My Ways--- …the assumption here is that something negative is found

I thought on my ways - I deeply pondered them; I turned them upside down; I viewed my conduct on all sides. ~Adam Clarke

I thought on my ways - What they were, whether right or wrong; whither they led, what would be the consequences of walking in them. The Targum is, "I thought to mend my ways", or "make them good". Hence he took the following step: ~John Gill

---And Turned My Feet---
And turned my feet - Changed my course of life. He himself did this in fact; and he does not hesitate to say that it was he who thus turned. His own agency was employed. He does not say that he “waited” for God to turn him; or that he found he could not turn of himself, but that he turned; he paused; he reflected; he changed his course of life. This is true in conversion always. There is an actual turning from sin; an actual turning to God. The sinner turns. He leaves an old path, and treads a new one. That is, he does something; he changes; he repents; he believes; he turns to God; it is not God that changes, that repents, that believes, that turns; it is the man himself. It is, indeed, by the grace and help of God; but the effect of that grace is not to make him idly wait; it is to rouse him to effort; to lead him to act. ~Barnes Notes  [Emphasis mine]

---Unto thy Testimonies---
Unto thy testimonies - Thy law, considered as the divine testimony in regard to what is right. ~Barnes Notes

And turned my feet unto thy testimonies - Having made the above discovery, and finding himself under the displeasure of God, he abandoned every evil way, took God’s word for his directory, and set out fairly in the way of life and salvation. ~Adam Clarke

And turned my feet unto thy testimonies - betook himself to the word of God, which testifies of his will, and directs to those ways he would have his people to walk in; and he steered his course of life and actions thereby; he turned from his own ways into the ways of God; under the influence of divine grace, he turned, being turned. ~John Gill

Scriptures for your Prayers to God:
Psalm 26:2 
Examine me, O LORD, and prove me; try my reins and my heart.

Notice the commentary:

Examine me, O Lord - The meaning of this verse is, that he asked of God a strict and rigid examination of his case. To express this, the psalmist uses three words - “examine; prove; try.” These words are designed to include the modes in which the reality of anything is tested, and they imply together that he wished the most “thorough” investigation to be made; he did not shrink from any test. He evidently felt that it was essential to his welfare that the most rigid examination should be made; that the exact truth should be known; that if he was deceived, it was best for himself that he should not be left under the delusion, but that, understanding his own case, he might be led to secure his salvation. The word rendered “examine” means, “to try, to prove,” and is applicable especially to metals: Jeremiah 9:7. It means here, “Apply to me such tests as are applied to metals in order to determine their genuineness and their value.”

Quoted verses:
Jeremiah 9:7
Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, Behold, I will melt them, and try them; for how shall I do for the daughter of my people?

For the phrase, "I will melt them" the John Gill has:

"Behold, I will melt them, and try them - as the refiner does his gold and silver, by putting them into the fire of afflictions, and thereby remove their dross and corruption from them. ~John Gill

Now more commentary on Psalm 26:2.

And prove me - A word of similar import. In the original meaning of the word there is a reference to “smell;” to try by the smell; to ascertain the qualities of an object by the smell. Hence, it comes to be used in a more general sense to denote any way of ascertaining the quality of an object.

Try my reins - The word here rendered “try” (test) is one that is most commonly applied to metals; and the three words together express the earnest desire of the psalmist that God would examine into the evidences of his piety - those evidences to which he immediately refers - and apply the proper kind of tests to determine whether that piety was genuine. The word rendered “reins” means properly the “kidneys,” and hence, it is used to denote the inward part, the mind, the soul - the seat of the desires and the affections. See Psalm 7:9. We speak now of the “heart” as the seat of the affections or of love. The Hebrews more commonly spoke of the heart as the seat of intelligence or knowledge, and the reins or the “bowels” as the seat of the affections. In itself there was no more impropriety in their speaking of the reins or kidneys as the seat of the affections than there is of our speaking of the heart in that manner. Neither of them is strictly correct; and both modes of speech are founded on popular usage. ~Barnes Notes

Quoted verse:
Psalm 7:9
And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God.

Now to the other scriptures for your prayers to God.

Psalm 139:1-3
1 To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me.
2 Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off.
3 Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.

Psalm 139:23-24
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:
24 And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

Psalm 17:3 
Thou hast proved mine heart; thou hast visited me in the night; thou hast tried me, and shalt find nothing; I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress.

Psalm 66:10 
For thou, O God, hast proved us: thou hast tried us, as silver is tried.

Scriptures for Meditation and Study:
1 Corinthians 11:28-32  …the scriptures speaking directly to the Lord’s Supper
28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.
29 For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body.
30 For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.
31 For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.
32 But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.

Romans 8:1
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

Lamentations 3:40
Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the LORD.

Ezekiel 18:28 
Because he considereth, and turneth away from all his transgressions that he hath committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die.

Zechariah 13:9 
And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God.

Galatians 6:3-4
3 For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.
4 But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another.

Hebrews 4:1 
Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.

With self-examination, prayer, study and meditation comes Boldness before God.  Notice…

Boldness:
Hebrews 4:16 
Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

2 Corinthians 3:12
Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech:

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