God’s Tests

Introduction

Good evening. Welcome everyone back out tonight. We have a good crowd, good strong crowd, Sunday evening. Glad that you saw Fitz come back out and to worship God a little bit more on the day that we have dedicated to Him and to listen to more about His Word. And invite you to be opening in your Bibles to Genesis chapter 17. And we’ll start there in just a few moments this evening. Genesis chapter 17, if you’re reading along your Bibles.

Go back to college. So I’m going to be starting classes here starting next month. So fun times, that is going to be.

Do some good for me. But it’s it’s a scary thing. Especially when you haven’t been in school for seven years. There’s gonna be lots of tests. And I’m a bit excited. I’m a bit nervous. I know it’s gonna be hard, especially still working a full-time job, having a kid, and all the responsibilities that go along with life. But it is, I think, something that will be good. And it’s going to certainly test me. Life seems to be full of tests, doesn’t it? We before we go into college, we take the SATs. We see you know, how good a score we can get on that. We might take it a couple of times, try and get a better score. Our employers, they test us for our job, try and get us to be more proficient at that.

Tests all the way through school. And why do we do all that? We take tests so that we might find out where we are, to find out where we stand. And that’s an important book for us as the student or employee to know, and it’s important for those who are trying to teach us. To know where we are. How am I doing? How am I progressing? How good am I at what I’m trying to accomplish? And in life, of course, God tests us in many various ways. In fact, it’s not a question of whether we’ll be tested, but how we’ll be tested. As Tony pointed out this morning, of course, in James chapter 1, verses 2 and 3, James writes, counted all joy, my brethren, when you meet trials of various kinds.

For you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.

And I think a lot of times we like to think of it as, you know, well, it’s these trials, these temptations, all these problems that I’m having, that’s all Satan’s fault. It’s always, it’s always Satan come after. And many times that’s true. But you know, I think a lot of times God tests us as well. I think God has something to do with it. Sometimes it’s both. I mean, just look at the story of Job. God and Satan are conversing, and he and God says to Satan, have you considered my servant Job?

It’s okay. He’s allowed to be tested. Many different examples in the Bible besides that of God testing his people. Many of the heroes of faith that are listed in Hebrews chapter 11, Abraham and Sarah, Enoch, Moses, Jacob, Joseph, David, Gideon, and all the judges, Samuel and the prophets, Elijah and Elisha, even the greatest prophets possibly that we read of, the apostles, they were all tested. God tested them for various reasons and in various ways. They didn’t always know why. They didn’t even necessarily always know that it was a test. We don’t necessarily know that. The same is true for us today as Christians, but yet we know God tests every one of us. But we can know that there is always a purpose. God has a reason in mind.

And his hope is that we succeed and pass those tests so that we might grow in our relationship with him. Indeed, we should consider ourselves lucky to be tested as those people of faith were. Maybe it is that God has said of us in a conversation, have you considered my servant? Noah. Have you considered my servant Tony?

1. God Wants to Find Out Something About Us

He is an upright man. He is not going to turn against me. So God tests us. What I want to answer, though, is why. Why does God test us? How does he test us? What does he want me to learn from those experiences? And how do we do the best we possibly can in every situation? I just want to suggest three things to you this evening, and the lesson will be yours. One, God, when he tests, wants to find out something about us. He wants to find something out. He wants to know how strong is my faith in him. And if we’re looking at an example of a test in the Bible, I think we need to look no further than here in Genesis chapter 17.

We read about Abraham and Sarah. In Genesis chapter 17, beginning with me, if you would, in verse 15. And God said to Abraham, As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her. And moreover, I will give you a son by her, and I will bless her, and she shall become nations. Kings of people shall come from her. And then Abraham fell on his face and laughed. And said to him, Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is nine years old, bear a child? And Abraham said to God, Oh, that Ishmael might live before you. And God said, No, but Sarah, your wife, shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac.

I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him. Now, remember here that God had already made basically the same covenant with him two chapters prior, in chapter 15, and he had made this promise that he would bear a son. And of course, throughout the course of this, and Abraham’s waiting for this to happen, and he tries to circumvent God’s ways, and he goes and he has Ishmael by his by Sarah’s handmaiden Hagar. He doesn’t trust fully in God’s will. You know, I think we always try to look at Abraham as being perfect in this. but he’s not. Because we just looked at what we’re going to get to in a second, of when he goes and sacrifices Isaac.

And that shows his great faith. But here we see that he has a little bit of doubt. And we continue on in chapter 18. It’s not just him, but Sarah as well. In chapter 18. There’s some angels that come and they visit in, and in verse 9, it says there, where is they asked, where is Sarah, your wife? He says, She is in the tent. He said, I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah, your wife shall have a son. And Sarah was listening at the tent door behind him, and Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years, and the way of women had ceased to be with Sarah. So she laughed to herself, saying, After I am worn out, and my Lord is old, shall I have pleasure?

After all this time. Both Abraham and Sarah laughed at the idea of having children at their advanced ages. And then we get to chapter 21, and we read that Isaac is born just as the Lord had promised. In chapter 21, verses 1 through 7. But that wasn’t the end of the test. And we get on to chapter 22. And after all of that, chapter 22, God says to Abraham. Chapter 22, verse 1, after these things, God tested Abraham. And said to him, Abraham, he said, Here am I. He said, Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you. So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him and his son Isaac.

And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. If it were me, I’d be like, you want me to do what? After all of that? After all the promises you made to me? You know, I had Ishmael, and he said, No, that’s not the way this is going to work. This is the way it’s going to work right here. You’re going to have a son through Sarah, and here he is, a year later, just as was promised, and now, oh, you know, now I want you to sacrifice. Excuse me. That’s what would be going on in my mind. And yet it says nothing of the sort of Abraham. Not to say that maybe something wasn’t in the back of his mind, but we know what his actions bear out.

That he arose early in the morning and went exactly to where God told him to go. And prepared to do exactly what God told him to do. Skipping on verse 7, it says, Isaac said to his father, My father, here I am, my son. He said, Behold the fire in the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? And Abraham said, God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son. And so they both of them went together. And when they came to the place of which God had told them, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. And Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son.

But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, saying, Abraham. And he said, Here am I. He said, Do not lay your hand on the board or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God. Seeing that you have not withheld your son, your only son from me. And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. And we read there about how Abraham had the faith that God was going to provide the sacrifice. And we read the reason why. God tested him. He tested him because he wanted to know. Do you fear me?

And he said, Now I know that you do. And that you have shown me that you were willing to give your son, your only son. And so in the fact that Abraham was willing to offer his son, just as God was willing to offer his son for us. He knew that he feared Jehovah. God wants to know how strong our faith is in him. He wants to know if he is our master. He wants to know if we are willing to do for him what he was willing to do for us. To give up everything, to give up the most important thing that could possibly be in our life, what is most precious to us in the world in order to follow and obey him. Do we trust in him that he will provide in our lives?

That’s much easier said than done, isn’t it?

But God wants to know where our heart truly lies.

Mentioned a few weeks ago, and unless I presented about commandments fit for a king, about how the kings of Israel were to write a copy of the law for themselves when they became kings. They were to sit upon the throne and write this law down so that why? So they might know the Lord. The very same reasons. That knowledge of him and his righteousness, his standards might lead them to fear God and to obey him. How much we know about him is very much going to determine how much we trust him, how much we obey him, how much we fear and love him and want to be with him. I’m reminded of Jesus’ temptation in Luke chapter 4 in the wilderness. And every time Satan comes and tempts him, how is it that Jesus deals with that temptation?

He deals with it by quoting Scripture. God tests us so we might find out how much do I know about him? How much do I, how much time do I spend in his word? How much do I rely on it for my everyday guidance? How much do I rely on it to resist the temptation of the devil? We need to follow the example of Jesus in Luke chapter 4. The knowledge of God’s word helps us to know and conform to his will. He wants to find out how much we want to be like him. We are supposed to be his quote. We’re supposed to be able to be molded by his hand, to be like him. And we read about how Paul imitated Christ. 1 Corinthians chapter 11 and verse 1, he says, be imitators of me as I am of Christ.

And again, in Ephesians 5 and verse 1, he admonishes the Ephesians to be imitators of God. Paul’s model for life was Christ. That is who he was trying to be. He was trying to be a reflection of, a spinning image of Jesus Christ in every way. How badly is that what we want our life to be? God tests us to find out. How much do I want to be like him? Because if I’m not like him, how in the world can I go and live with him? He wants to know how badly I want that. He wants to know how badly my goal is heaven. How strongly I am striving to get there. He wants to know if I’m truly laying my treasures there. We are supposed to be kingdom citizens.

Philippians chapter 3 and verse 14 and verse 20. We press on towards that goal. What are we willing to sacrifice in order to get there? Tony mentioned in his lesson this morning in Matthew chapter 10, verses 38 and 39. That we are going to have to put aside some things that may make us uncomfortable. We may have to go against our family. That may not be fun. That may be extremely difficult. In fact, it’s probably the most difficult thing we might ever have to do to go against our family. But Jesus says if you love father or mother more than me, you’re not worthy of me. If you don’t take up your cross and follow me, you’re not worthy of me.

And yet, Jesus also tells us in John 14 that he has prepared a place for us. And if he has prepared a place for us, if he hadn’t done that, he wouldn’t have said so. And yet we know that he is the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father but through him. How badly do we want to follow that way?

2. He Wants Us to Find Out Something About Ourselves

God wants to know. And secondly, he wants us to find out something about ourselves. And really the same could be true about the other things. Those are questions that not only does God want to know about us, those are the things he wants us to know about ourselves. Those are questions we need to be asking ourselves to evaluate where I am. I need to test myself. I need to see if I’m passing. But I need to find out some other things as well. One, how much do I trust God? How much do I fear him? Turn over with me if you would to Proverbs chapter 3, verses 5 and 6.

Don’t really need to turn there. It’s about my favorite scripture. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. And lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him. And He will make your paths straight. He wants to know if we’re willing to give it all over to Him. He wants to know if we are willing to trust in His divine wisdom. It says there in verse 7: Do not be wise in your own eyes. Fear the Lord and turn away from evil. There’s that phrase again, and I keep stressing that. We are to fear Him. He tests us to know if that’s the case.

Be not wise in your own eyes. Who are you relying on? Are you relying on God? Or are you relying on yourself? Are you relying on others? Are you relying on the wisdom of man? Where does your faith rest? That’s what God wants to find out. He wants to find out who is the true Lord of your heart. You know, at this point, I was going to try and teach you a song that I wrote. Some of you have sung it before, but when I put it up there, the words were really tiny. So it was not going to work. But I will try it another time. But it goes along with all of this. It fit perfectly. And it’s something that has just been on my mind a lot lately.

With everything that many of us in this congregation has been dealing with lately. That we need to put our trust in Him.

Matthew chapter 5. We not need to be anxious about our life, what we’ll eat or what we’ll wear. Because God knows the things that we need. But who is the true Lord of your heart? And back to this morning. I mean. The song that I led, I’m passion for my God. Is that truly descriptive of the state of my heart? Is that truly descriptive of my submission to his will? Do I have a passion for him that leads me to seek him first in all that I do? He is first in my heart. He is first in my life. He is first in all I do. The essence of all good, the source of all that’s true. He’s the all of my heart. He’s the all of my life.

He’s the all that I pursue. He is everything that I am seeking. And the last line there says, My God, my every breath and thought must be for you. Is that true of me? Is he my everything? My every breath, my every thought. Is it for him? How much do I trust Him? Romans chapter 8, verse 28 tells us that if we trust and love Him, that He is going to take care of us. Secondly, how determined are you?

Over in Philippians chapter 3, again, we’ll read there, made mention of it briefly earlier, but in Philippians chapter 3, verses 12 through 14. Paul writes, not that I’ve already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus had made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I’ve made it my own, but one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind, and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. If there’s nothing pressing against you don’t have to press that hard to move forward, do you? See, Paul understood that we have so many things pressing against us, trying to stop us from getting to heaven.

Trying to stop him. But he says, I press on. I’m moving forward. I’m determined, straining to get to what lies ahead. God is going to send trials our way to see just how determined we really are to make it to heaven. Are we really going to keep pressing on through the tough times when it seems that everything is lost? When it seems that everything is not fair, everything is too hard. Are we going to give up? Or are we going to strain forward? He wants us to find out just how much heaven means to us.

He doesn’t want us to be like the crowds that came to Jesus as he was ministering, and they came. They wanted to see his miracles. They wanted to be fed. But that was the only reason they were there. They just wanted to see something. They want to eat the loaves to be filled, but then when he started asking the hard questions, they went away. Are we going to be like them? Or are we going to be like the disciples? Who said, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. How much does heaven mean to us? How much do we trust in Jesus to be our master? God wants you to know that. He wants you to evaluate that about yourself. And he wants you to look at yourself and see what I can do for him.

What can I do for his kingdom? What skills has God given me? You know, a lot of times when we get down and we start thinking about how hard everything is, and we just start thinking about how, you know, why I just wish that someone would come and make this easier for me and then people would help me out. You know a lot of times how to fix that? Go and do that for someone else. Go and search. Go and see what it is I can do that. What does God want me to do? In 1 Corinthians chapter 12, he talks about how we are each part of this body. In verse 14, he says, For the body is not consistent of one member, but of many.

If the foot should say, because I’m not a hand, I do not belong to the body, that would not make it any less a part. And if the ear should say, because I’m not an eye, I do not belong to the body, that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members of the body, each one of them as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts and yet one body. He designed it so where we all play a part.

3. How Do We Pass These Tests?

And we are all important. And he has given us all roles to play. He wants us to look and see how valuable we are in the family of Christ. God sets us so that we can find out what it is we’re capable of. And chances are it’s a lot more than we think. So finally, how do we pass these tests? First and foremost, as has been mentioned, we need to fear God. We need to trust in his authority. And we need to submit to his will. Believe in him. In his word and what he has said to us. But we also need to use our knowledge and the skills that he has given us. The word of God, all important. In following out, completing that goal.

Again, making reference to Deuteronomy 17, where those kings, they had to write down that copy of the law for themselves. In 2 Timothy chapter 3, verses 16 and 17, Paul writes and tells us that all scripture is profitable. So that we might be thoroughly equipped, so that we might be complete. We need to use the skills that He has given us His Word to effectively carry out our mission here. God has given us abilities, and He expects us to use them, especially in the resistance of sin, in passing these tests. Use what He has given us. Number two, we need to be determined. Remember that nothing in the world can separate us from God. Romans chapter 8, verses 38 through 39, I think one of the most powerful explanations of what Christ accomplished through his sacrifice.

When it says there are no in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor death, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. And he is there to help us. He is able to do abundantly beyond all that we could ask or think. And so do not give up. James tells us in James 1 and verse 12. Do not give up. For if we are patient, if we endure these trials, we will receive a crown of life. So let nothing deter us from that goal.

We do that by looking unto Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, Hebrews chapter 12. He gave us an example to follow. When we’re presented with these tests, how do I pass it? I pass it by thinking simply, what would Christ have me do? What would Christ have done? And follow that example. He understands what we’re going through, and he is able to help us. Hebrews 4, verse 14 through 16. He is our great high priest. He was able to sympathize with our weaknesses.

And therefore we try to be like him. In all that we do. Christ needs to dwell in our hearts through faith. Ephesians chapter 3, verses 14 through 19. If you look over there just briefly, Ephesians chapter 4, verse chapter 3, verses 14 through 19. For this reason, Paul writes, I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family on heaven and earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory, he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints, whether it’s the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

When we come to know him, and we come to mold ourselves after him, we can know the love of Christ that fulfills us. And he will strengthen us to pass these tests. So, what does the life of the Christian look like? We’re trying to imitate him. It looks like Ephesians chapter 4 and 5.

We are walking no longer as the Gentiles walk. We’re putting away all these things, sensuality and impurity, putting away falsehood. We’re building up one another. We’re putting away sexual immorality, foolish talk, crude joking. We’re walking in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us. A fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. Brethren, we have to pass the test that he gives us by trying to be like Christ. That’s who we are. That’s who we say we are. We wear that name. We rare his name of Christian. If I am saying to the world, I am a Christian and I’m not living like it, then I’m disgracing him. But if I truly clothe myself with him, I put him on. From the moment I put him on in baptism.

And every day when I wake up and I walk out that door that I’m going to wear the name of Christ. Then we’ll be able to pass the test. And finally, look to the goal. Look to the promises that he has made us that he will give us a home in heaven. That we strive towards that goal. Press on towards it. That he will be faithful to his promises. You know, that’s how those in Hebrews said were able to stand fast. In Hebrews chapter 11, it talks about how all those heroes of faith. They looked for another home. They were looking for something else. Something greater. Something better. We would do well to follow that example. To look not at the things that are seen, as Tony mentioned again in 2 Corinthians chapter 4.

Another one of my favorite passages. Not to the things that are seen. These things are transient. They are perishable. But to the things that are unseen. Things that are eternal. Those are the only things that are going to last. And that is so much harder to do than I wish it were. It’s so easy to look at what’s right here, what I can actually see. But we have to look beyond that. We have to look to heaven. We have to make that earth. And not look at that which is enticing us, what is right in front of us, what Satan puts in front of us is tests us. We cannot focus on that. We have to focus on Him. If we do that, we can be pleasing to Him.

Conclusion

So what are we going to do when God tests us? You know, when you think about just about every decision we make, everything that we do, every day in our life, we are going to be tested by God. He’s trying to find out if He is Lord of our lives. He’s trying to find out if we are ready for heaven. And He wants us to see the same things in ourselves that He sees in us. He wants to see ourselves as we truly are, because that’s how He sees us. So how are you this evening? Where are you? Where do you stand? Do you pass or do you fail? You know what you need to do. You know. Everyone knows. Everyone knows if they’re competent or not.

Everyone knows if they’re doing what they ought to be doing. Brethren, this is one test that you don’t want to fail. You need to respond to the gospel. Won’t you come now while we say this?