Tested…By God?!

I don’t think I was as a kid. I really didn’t the costume was incidental to me because I just wanted Hello That obvious or what I just give me the candy baby and we had some apartments that weren’t far from our home and I don’t know if you knew this I don’t think it was a secret that my brother and I discovered but you go to apartment That’s where you score big, you know because you can haul fast and you didn’t have to haul far right?

Normal neighborhoods you have to put in 30 feet to get to the next house or 40 feet now. This is like five feet we calculated it and we came home with a A pillowcase half full anybody else do that? Anybody else got diabetes – nudge kidney It is a fun time and we have we literally in our neighborhood have Bus loads they there are vans and buses that have pulled in near us and It’s for sure cars that we have never seen and kids that we

have no idea where they are or where they came from or frankly where their parents are at that moment But it’s it’s good.

I want to talk about family for a second the My family we refer to ourselves as the Mac 5 Debbie and I and our three kids young adults now We loved camping as the kids were growing up. It was a big part of our lives In fact so much so that we bought a bunk house Travel trailer it had quad bunks so our kids could decide and we had creative ways to do that who got to bring a friend Because there are three of our kids

and then they got to bring a friend So and the door closed to their bunk house on one end of the trailer So it was literally like a fort like a getaway fort and that was good for everybody as you can imagine so And we went out a lot we actually logged in wrote about 60 more than 60 camping trips in 12 years that we had the trailer It was amazing. We have all kinds of fun memories, but we We eventually our kids grew up and

moved into sort of the next phase of their lives and we found Debbie and I that a trailer a lot with those configurations is just too Too much and it really belonged in a family with a family of little kids and guess what God brought us we couldn’t sell it of course Because we were too attached to it so we found a family that wanted it and we found the way we described the transactions we found a new home for And a new family for our

trailer and they are as I as I know or as I understand they’re still enjoying that today that same Experience I hope But to the present Debbie and I have begun to dream again about RVing It gets in you and you love it and you have a hard time letting it go and so we’ve had our eyes on a brand that boasts build built mountain tough All right on three say that with me and you’ll feel like like more adrenaline right now ready one two three

built Mountain tough, right? There you go Yeah, like my truck. Thank you very much.

That’s also true, but their promotional material actually goes on to say this that our trailers are designed built and tested in the mountain that cool they actually build them in Lagrand and the mountains they’re referring to are the blue mountains and all those beautiful tall mountains the rugged mountains of Oregon What does it mean then to? Hear that something has been tested. I want you to think of that word this morning That’s what I want to talk about and I think what God has for us

Think about something that’s tested among us Other things it means that the product has been proven to perform, right? So if something’s been tested, you know that effort was that went in and to that end manufacturers Give a lot of effort and go way beyond just designing. That’s a drawing board and building in order to say built Mountain tough Test it you got to go past designing and building it you got to put it through its paces and Serious paces or people will laugh at your

label someday.

They’re going to go. No, that doesn’t work a nice sells thing, but nothing behind it So they they begin to test this thing in order to find whether it will stand up to kind of prove that it will stand up to the challenges that the family or individual that Has this trailer will face in the rugged mountains and in the wilderness if you will So that makes sense so right now think of an engineer that you know, maybe you are that engineer So I got to

thinking about their work. They actually are in the work of testing and and retesting actually design and build Testing and then retesting and they do it again and again and what’s their end game? They hope That the product that they’re working on will actually hold up under such scrutiny And that how it works. I don’t usually bring my phone with me and it’s not on right now So some of you that are texting need to knock it off just kidding But anyway, I brought it with

me because I thought this is a product How many of us have one of these raise your hand?

Okay, there you go everybody all right and And there’s a lot of money riding on this thing and you have demands of this thing and it accounts To me that this is tested to death. I mean they drop things on it. They slam it They do all kinds of stuff the engineers do to make sure that they drop it in water It goes on and on they want to make sure that this thing works. That’s their that’s their purpose also brought another I’ve been doing this lately. I don’t know.

It’s kind of fun sermon props if you will But I’ve got a mug that I like to drink out of its Alaska Airlines and it’s got a lot of Cities they fly to fly Alaska anyway It’s it’s a it’s a mug that gets full of it’s pretty good size So it gets full of coffee on a regular basis by me All right, I guarantee you somebody took a lot of time in the design and the build and then the testing to make sure guys like me

don’t fill it full of coffee sit down and open their Bible and have it the handle break off And go all over my Bible and worse the carpet and everything. I mean it no You don’t want that You want it to work and you want it to that’s what that’s what they’re doing and their purpose these engineers is to reveal and and refine this mug and this phone To make sure that their product works well So it strikes me What you’re already thinking that that’s a

very helpful picture of God and and it’s not God working with products Working with the using means the people His tests you can write this down if you want to write something down his tests have a purpose and that is to reveal and refine His people the character of us his tests do that if you’ve been long long enough in this life You know that to be true you can point to some if you haven’t been and they will always tell you yep That’s how it

happened in my life. That’s how I went deep with God my roots went deep And usually it was from testing So I want to show you several examples this morning of that I want to begin just for Something that’s fairly familiar to most not everybody and it’s it involves someone Who’s a I would call him a biblical personality and I’m giving you some hints here He answers to the name Job if you’re new in the Bible It’ll it re it’s the same spelling as job, but

that’s not him. Okay. He’s Job just for information sake so right out of the gate This standout person the reason I drew my attention to him was to point to the very first verse in his 42 chapter story It’s in the Old Testament.

You don’t have to turn there. I’m just gonna capture something for you First verse right out of the gate nothing else said about this man except this Job was blameless and upright Think of those qualities if you saw those in in anybody yourself You know whoever he was blameless. He was upright and two more attributes he feared God and Shund evil Shund evil is like it’s not tasteful to me. I Stay away from it. It takes me places.

I don’t want to go and on and on the reasoning might be So that’s what we know about him. He’s that kind of guy that you would Love to have over for dinner If he were single he’s the guy you wouldn’t have any problem dating your daughter You with me now, that’s what you look for He’s got it going Now imagine I’m you’re taking in everything. I’m telling you your eyes are on this man Job and You’re standing there. We’re right in front of your eyes

He gets hit by a bus So that brings him to the modern right he’s up, but you know the highway near us and standing there waiting for to cross and a bus takes him out just barrels into him and You you can’t even believe your eyes moments later the world changes around you and eventually a he has rushed to trauma center barely breathing Okay, and and you can’t even believe it your your heart breaks for him Who in that moment was was reduced to life support?

Blameless innocent feared God Shund evil and here it’s happening right Right around you your thought is I Can’t I can’t believe that would happen to him You might even think the dark side I’ve actually had people say this to me and I think they’re apologetic when they say it but it comes out of their lips, you know, I can think of others I Wouldn’t mind they got hit by the bus I Only bring that up to tell you you’re not the only person that thinks that

way from time But not job For some reason you had a little friendship I didn’t mention so it allowed you to go to the hospital and We’re not limited by COVID restrictions to visit and stuff so you make your way in to the ICU and there he is He is purple He’s really beat up, but he’s alive and You’re actually kind of relieved you’re anxious my hands get my palms get sweaty thinking about that moment I’ve been there with other people, but here’s this guy and

you get up there and You’re actually kind of relieved because he can’t talk.

He’s into baby. He’s he’s on oxygen. He’s He can’t talk Which gives you a little relief because you don’t have anything that you could imagine saying in that moment And then finally he in the in that setting Manages to convey something you know, he’s trying to communicate and you know in that moment You’re not likely to understand What he’s saying but more deeply than that you’re not likely to comprehend But you’re listening and you lean in closely to him and Then he says something that somehow

in your soul in that moment you knew That is I don’t get it, but you knew that is profoundly true So you quickly grab your phone and put these words in it as He spoke God knows where I’m going And when he has tested me I will come from As pure gold When I get out of here I’m gonna be better for it I’m broken But there’s a better future ahead for me said Joe Of all people he seemed to be an exception to the truth

That God tests his people to reveal and refine their character everybody knew he was a stand-up guy Why him? But in Job’s own words, that’s exactly what God was doing Which can I say this let’s will you allow me this image for a second longer? Let’s pretend that God wears hats.

How many of you wear hats? I mean if you have more than one hat if you raise your head you got a lot of hats, okay? So but each hat God wears is a hat With a label like my dad when he was at camp tad more Directing the place he could have had just H on his hat which stood for honcho meaning I’m in charge here You better do what it no he was just that was his camp name honcho made sense Mine was gyro because I was crazy, but he was honcho So God wears hats let’s give him a hat right now with T on it capital T which means teacher Now I want you to think about what you know today about teachers. How many of you have been a teacher? Oh Look at that.

Wow. Okay, so you know what it’s like to be a teacher What do we know about teachers? Well, we know that they test their students, right? Some of them test them all the time, you know, I don’t mean it that way so teachers test their student some of the things they do is a lecture and then they give assignments both written and and maybe reading assignments, okay, and then sometime along the way in the term or semester they administer a Test right exams in college they

call them midterms and finals and there the teacher is using that and To find out if you got it What he or she was trying to teach you So good teachers I think I didn’t interview any of them But the good ones in my life when I didn’t do so well on the test They didn’t just go, you know, you’re not going anywhere in life Idiot, you know study next time McCracken no they were they took their time Because I think I know why they wore

the hat they really cared that in fact are Hope was I would do well. I Would get what they taught and it would become something for my benefit and And so even if I didn’t do so well, they would stay with me and work with me to help me Improve am I right?

If you’re a teacher here right now, I mean Brad I could call some of you guys out John There’s different teachers that would say that’s exactly what I wanted in my students No pleasure in a kid that went home and failed the test Isn’t that what God does To make his people come forth as Gold I Believe it is and I believe the Bible is shouting this message God the author of the Bible wants us to get it My Bible is open to judges chapter two.

Would you just start there? We’re going to go three places real quick this morning, but I’ve taken a good amount of time to establish some some facts about God and You’re familiar with these words But I want to return to them just quickly because there’s a word that we keep bumping into already in the story of the judges It’s it calls attention to the extensive role of testing By God in the Bible throughout the Bible so God’s people just to kind of give this a place

of reference For failing to remove the idolatrous people that lived in the land God led them to they’re called the Canaanites They fell into a repeated pattern of sin we talked about that recently and it and it lasted a long time they were to Instead of driving the people out They actually moved in and lived among them and it didn’t turn out well and God knew it wouldn’t But they did it anyway as a result Things things turned out poorly and verse 20 kind of picks

up on that right away. I want you to circle Or write this word down. You’ll see it throughout our morning verse 20 therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel.

I Told you to do something. I had good reasons behind it and you didn’t and For a very long time you haven’t and so verse 20 says Describing God he was very angry with Israel and he said because this nation has violated the covenant. I ordained For their ancestors and has not listened to me. I Will no longer drive before them any of the nations Joshua left when he died watch this now verse 22. I will use them to There’s the word I Have a purpose

now a different purpose it wouldn’t have been the purpose but it’s necessary because I want to be a teacher that makes you better Through this so I will use them to test Israel see whether they will keep the way of the Lord and walk in it as their ancestors did drop down to verse 1 of the next chapter verse chapter 3 These are the nations the Lord left to he repeats himself to test All of the Israelites who had not experienced any of the wars in

Canaan and he lists off those nations drop down to verse 4 They were left.

He says it a third time. They were Left to test the Israelites to see whether they would obey the Lord’s commands which he had given their ancestors through Moses so quickly we see three times in a row right chapter 2 verse 22 chapter 3 verses 1 and 4 the word test keeps coming up You need a definition and it really will transform what we’re saying here say a test in Hebrew the word test in Hebrew means To prove through trial To prove With pain if I

can put it trial in a different word Just getting close to home for you now To not to don’t to fall you not to kick you to the curb not to you know move on from you know People dragging their feet and go to People that get it no no tests in your life in my life in their lives was to prove them by trial This particular test would tell whether his people would keep to his ways or adopt the ways of the world around them

and We know how that turned out. It’s a problem that persisted. I said they were tested again Again and again actually ten generations of them one after the next after the next for 325 years. I’m talking about something that was a serious serious problem and They didn’t they they resisted proving And then it happened again, and it happened again.

It happened some more You know, I wondered about those people a lot in this series and I actually wondered What was their conversation is here we go again? It’s happening again, you know I wonder if they thought you know what? Why is this happening to us? Or Maybe they got more honest and said why am I why do I have this thing that makes me want to wander from God? What’s my problem?

I’ve talked about that Why did I dismiss God’s Command there’s no mystery here. God directed his people in This opening example. He directed his people to do something. That’s called a command You ready for this and he still does This isn’t just about them in fact, I believe it’s in the Bible for us Whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instructions that during That’s through the encouragement and the word of God. We might have hope it’s for us So God directed his people to do something he still does that and his people often disobeyed him and We do that too And the result is a test that revealed a problem that needs attention I want us to probe some more into this testing idea this morning I want you to think about Testing a little bit differently.

I know it’s it’s got that difficult Trial feature to it But I want you to concentrate on the word gold for a sec They know most people get the value of that when they think of that in the sentence that we quoted from It’s a it’s a it’s a it’s a true thing they Test may in fact involve likely do involve trials but they will bring about Significance and success if we’ll learn from them That a way that it’s been sort of dummy down a little

bit there’s there’s There’s pain but it brings gain Yeah, I don’t want you to get too much into that because this isn’t a locker room and we’re not in a football game. This is life, okay, so But I got to thinking about a Statement that a mentor of mine Made many years ago and it’s probably known as one of his signature sayings He used to say it at the church and that I pastored at before with him and under him and and I’ve read it in

in fact you could Google it and it just pops up everywhere and clearly it was something that people resonated with when Chuck Swindall said listen to these words we are all faced with a series of great opportunities Brilliantly disguised as impossible situations That’s there’s no exception to that we are all faced with a series not just one It’s not a you know, it’s a lot of them a series of great opportunities which point to gold stuff like gold but brilliantly disguised Meaning it’s hard to see

Because they’re impossible situations they come dressed that way Halloween’s ago Good data say they’re accustomed again his words. We are all faced with a series of great opportunities Brilliantly disguised as impossible situations So for the balance of our time in the Bible this morning, let’s learn from the experience of others and how God used testing Which I would call impossible situations So again and again for gain in the lives of people that he loves and he still does that All right, so Here’s a couple of

examples one is an individual of the others a group the first one comes out of Genesis So you just have to back up the bus a little bit here pardon the bus analogy again, but Genesis would you find your way to like Genesis 22? All right, and we’re talking of course about Abraham He was the founder of the Jewish nation And he’s a big deal to God and should be in our minds For reasons that I think will come out very quickly He was the founder

of the Jewish nation as I said and his story in Genesis spans And he’s referenced all over the rest of the Bible that his main story spans like 15 chapters from chapter 11 to 25 So there’s a lot here about him He was told by God that he would be the father of the faithful And this is all in Genesis 15. He’s told in fact God takes him outside says look up at the stars you’re you you’re gonna have a nation of faithful people That out

members the stars in the sky That’s Genesis 15 and it’s not till Romans chapter 4 way over in the New Testament That we understand those words to be more than just about Jewish people It’s about people of faith It’s about Jews and Gentiles alike and in that moment stand with him on that shoreline when God said look up and see the stars Abraham’s like well, I don’t even have one son.

I’m not sure how this nation’s gonna get built and and yet somehow in there he said Okay, God I don’t get it But okay and I believe that verse 6 of Genesis 15 tells of the salvation of Abraham He said that the text says he believed God Saving faith and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. We would say today he was saved He came to faith in a God that makes and keeps promises All right, so that’s starting point but the problem was as I

said he was old and as a Man with no children of his own no no biological children He was way past the age of becoming a father Then he’s visited Chapter 17. He’s visited by a couple of angels were told three actually and They tell him that he and his wife are about to have a son Their own son Important detail at this time in their lives. She was 89 years old and He was 99 So when I said he’s too old to have babies you

get it, right? And she’s like a half-life past having babies just doesn’t happen that way It didn’t then it doesn’t now Unless you’re God so the angels addiction comes true and They become the first They become first-time parents later that year They both had a birthday in between and when they welcomed their son into their world and into their arms and lives They were 90 and a hundred respectively All right, so that’s the setup here And that illustrates in chapter 18 because well Their reaction would

have been my reaction For real God I mean, you know in fact the text says they both laughed I think people try to make a lot about one laugh was different than the other I think they laugh like any husband and wife 89 and 99 I Got lots of reasons Lord to tell you why this won’t work so well right and and they laugh and you could go places with that but chapter 18 verse 14 reads this in response to their laughter is anything too hard

for the Lord Your age is irrelevant If God’s the teacher of your life and the one leading the way So the answer is obviously not so here in chapter 22 This is where the impossible situation shows up in Abraham’s life up to this point he’s got a son and not much else and we’ll see what happens and This represents what we’re about to read these two verses Introduce the trial at the beginning of chapter 22 And I’m gonna just call it what what I think it

is It’s the most brutal trial outside of Jesus Christ on the cross in all of the Bible You’re saying well including Joe, but I said yeah, yeah, I think including Joe Sometime later God here’s the word again tested Abraham He said to him Abraham Here I am came his answer the Lord God said take your son your only son who would be Isaac Whom you love?

That gives you a lot to go on but we don’t have time to go there so this son Isaac and go to the region of Moriah Okay, we’re gonna go on a field trip road trip Not the way verse two in sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain. I will show you Unbelievable test Unbelievable test every time I read it every time I pondered it I fail it I I don’t know how to do that. I don’t know how to and and Then

and then incredibly I have to believe I’m gonna interject something like speculation But I got a guess he didn’t sleep at all between verse two and verse three If I had that on my mind and I knew it came from God I still know how I could possibly sleep But by morning somehow his mind was made And he began a three-day trek north He’d live in down in Bathsheba. He heads north to Moriah about a three-day trek 50 miles and Then we read his response to

the test where he was proved by trial verse three early the next morning Abraham got up loaded his donkey and he took him took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac When he had cut enough water For the burnt offering he set out for the place God had told him on the third day Abraham looked up and saw The place in the distance and he said to his servants Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there We will

worship and then interesting words and I think there were the pondering we will worship and then we will come back to you Could that be a little leaking out of his faith that God was gonna pull something off here Let’s read on verse six Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac and he himself carried the fire and the knife As the two of them went on together Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham father, yes my

son The fire and wood are here Isaac said but where is the lamb for the burnt offering? So evidently he’s not just Walking with dad knowing that he’s about to die He has this sense that this isn’t about him at all perhaps Abraham answered God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering my son and the two of them went on together When they reached the place God had told him about Abraham it all changes here built an altar there and arranged the wood on

it and then he bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar on top of the wood Don’t know how to even read those words with any possible alternate interpretation then he reached out his hand and took his knife to slay his son But the angel the Lord Called out to him from heaven Abraham Abraham.

There’s a there’s an intensity in the repetition here. Here am I he replied don’t lay a hand on the boy He said do not do anything to him or you’ve passed the test Now I know that you fear God because you have not withheld from me your son your very own one and only son His trust and God was strong By the way Mount Moriah Was a place where God proved Abraham’s faith we just read about it It has another name that’s more familiar to us

It’s called Jerusalem And it’s the exact location where God much less Later sent his son To be sacrificed and nothing and no one stopped it from happening And I have Forgiveness and salvation in a future in heaven Because I believe in what Jesus did That’s why we sing so much about his love so much to sing about isn’t there? The Apostle John would go on in his writings in first John 4 verse 10 Not surprising to me at all that he would refer to Jesus who

actually went to Mount Moriah sacrificed himself and this is love He said in chapter 4 verse 10 not that we love God But that he loved us and sent his son To be an atoning sacrifice for our sins that is to cover us in his blood Forgive us and fit us for heaven Can I just say something to a church that It’s heard messages from me forever if that has not been a settled reality for you You’re stopping short of what it need what’s needed for

you in this life and in the life to come And that is a relationship where you acknowledge you believe that that really happened for you And if you’re watching someplace else and you’re joining us this morning, you know, there’s there’s there’s Great worship great teaching here great church great people, but nothing trumps this truth. Nothing Give your heart to Jesus Christ. I know it.

I know it’s a struggle You’ve maybe even tried before you thought about it and it just didn’t take hold You know Been to that rodeo pastor don’t don’t turn to the Person Jesus not religion Jesus I Have more to go on but I want us to respond this morning, and I’ll I’ll pick up on the rest later if the Lord prompts me to but I am I’m aware that You and I have tests In our lives and there they come in lots of forms They come

in physical afflictions They come in financial struggles Maybe in those cases related to jobs or no jobs or whatever Life’s just expensive and you don’t have enough They come in relationship problems And you’re just like you know talk about a test I Have learned this over the years that when I’m about to talk about something I Had better be prepared for God to bring about the relevance of that thing in my life And last night was rough and I spent a lot of time with Jesus

in the middle of the night And when I did I kept I kept hearing that conversation that Jesus had With Simon he called him Simon. We know him as Peter They had just finished a great meal I Mean we have communion here every month, but can you imagine it’s not pastor Steve leading us? It’s Jesus be so cool and Peter is one of those guys and They finished this meal and Jesus says what he says about communion and then and then Peter says I’m all yours

Jesus anything you say I’ll do anywhere you point I’ll go and Jesus shocks me when I read the words in Luke 22 Like verses 31 and 32 he said Simon Simon Satan has some translations say demanded others say sought permission To sift you And I pray for you Simon and once you pass the test You will rise up and Simon had no way of knowing the extent of that test no way I Don’t think any of us would have But it became true and I shared

with somebody early this morning and I’ll finish with this it’s not surprising to me that if you asked me pastor What’s the what’s the New Testament book on suffering? We know Job that’s Old Testament was what’s the New Testament book? I’d tell you two of them both by the name Peter first and second Peter Because he was sifted And and some of you I know I’m looking at you.

I’m talking to you that that are sifted right now And I’m not gonna guess that why I’m just gonna tell you that it’s it’s it’s a practice that goes on and God’s people are not exempted from it But you have a God that says I I will Give you what you need to survive the sift And then you’ll tell people about me and I Guess that’s where I want to leave it today Insifting right now He’s using your name not Simon’s name And he loves you

and he knows you can be proven Through pain through the trial And that will get people’s attention more than just about anything you can do And So I’d like you to bow with me and let’s let’s respond song is such a part of our lives the Lights are gonna come down. I’m gonna give this moment to make this a very tender moment for all of us, but We’re we’re like people that we’ve read about today The Job the Abrahams the Simons They fill this room And

the Israelites are another group that could talk about the impossible Situation that they faced it was hard on them But you made a way for them Lord He made a way through the sea It was a test It was very involved and took a lot of long time, but it proved his people So we’re gonna sing a song that captures that Will you hear me hear my heart you’ll never walk alone never If you’ve never answered Jesus call to come to him I want you to

do that today At home will you invite him in here in the house where you do the same Will you say Lord? I know it’s hard. It’s a sift in my life, but I want to I want to pass the test. I want to come fourth is pure gold and I can’t do that and Unless you go with me on the Red Sea Road Let’s stand and let’s sing together and worship you

Transcript machine-generated from the sermon audio, so it may contain errors. 6,242 words.