Tested By God…Some More!

in the name of jesus the one we love we pray all god’s people said amen that’s for sure go ahead and have a seat this morning and let me say I see kids already making this hardly needs to be an announcement anymore I do need to tell some of you grown-up kids get back in your seats and stay here with us just kidding I I want you to know I’m coming off a pretty big high this past weekend was my birthday and my my family was

in creative ways able to kind of just the lord made it happen that debbie wasn’t able to go back and return for her fourth and we hope final chemo week in the hospital and that’ll make 60 almost 60 days in the hospital since june 10th that was delayed because her numbers had not come back up and so it allowed for kind of a special surprise that we could be together and share the time that we did this weekend even our son checked in from perth australia

and that was really kind of a bonus all across the board and I’m living high on that and also an in-n-out burger we had in and out burgers this weekend yes yes is it is it going too far to praise god for in and out burgers I don’t know I don’t I’m just going to say but there are there are bible verses on the bottom of the cup so that might sanctify what I just said but I I do want to tell you quickly that debbie’s

numbers were low and her final return was postponed to the 15th of november that was changed over the weekend because like we’ve seen before her numbers stay down hard and low and it’s difficult and then they kind of pop up out of nowhere and they did over the weekend we’re still in the weekend but saturday was a good day and we hope that the numbers will show that she’s ready actually the doctor has now scheduled it for wednesday so we will return for a very significant

week and it’s it’s a conflict if you’re on chemo I know chris is my debbie a lot of people they can tell you that you start to just feel better like she said honey if you don’t have a huge afternoon can we go for a walk I mean is that I mean that sounds little to maybe most of us but it’s something we can’t do and and I said absolutely I will we will walk as long as you want to walk and she knows that knowing

that wednesday we go back in and then we repeat and it’s it’s heart so anyway thank you for your prayers for chris wilson my debbie debbie o’connor I could list a lot of people but these are people in a in a very significant fight for you know their lives so thank you and thank you for supporting us I want to tell you about somebody I thought about in preparing this message I continued today with a study that began last week on being tested I called that

tested by god which for some people might be a little bit on the edge as far as a title is concerned I don’t think so I think it’s in the bible but I felt like it was important to continue that conversation today so this is part two if you will and it got me thinking about imagine being asked this question what’s it like to live with jesus and you’re being asked that not as a disciple you’re you’re actually being asked that as a younger brother or

sister of jesus christ there were six of them you know at least six matthew 13 and mark chapter 6 both allude to four brothers by name and then the sisters were told so we can guess that’s at least two we just don’t know but these would some have called them half brothers half sisters which is correct to say but nonetheless he had under the same roof presumably of joseph and mary siblings brothers and sisters and now you’re one of them for just a moment in your

imagination what would it have been like to have somebody say hey I know where you live and I know who you live with your big brother is jesus you know what was it what is it like living with him I I thought about that and I one thing’s for sure my homework grades would have improved if he was my big brother right I don’t get this can you fix this for me real quick you know on this but there is a brother we know and he’s

the one that stands out from the rest because he actually became a significant well-known leader in the so-called church of acts or the first century or the early churches it’s sometimes dubbed his name is james and he was the one that stood up and stood out in acts chapter 15 which was kind of a watershed moment if I could take you there for a moment he the gospel was going out jesus has died and been buried and rose again and returned to the right hand of

the father in heaven where he is to this day but there was a expansion plan that was underway to take this good news of of sinners having a chance before a holy god because of the forgiveness offered by jesus christ that’s still true today that’s the gospel all right so if you’re a sinner but you’re turning to jesus you’re making the right next move your first move was a bummer sin is no good for you or me or anybody but when you turn to jesus you

turn to the one and only fix right amen that true I mean you know it to be true if you’ve turned to jesus and you’ve found yourself forgiven but james is one of these he shows up at this gathering where there was a conflict between some of the jews of that day who were steeped in judaism and they grew up believing things like the ten commandments and the law of moses and circumcision as being an essential to a right relationship with god so naturally when they

met jesus some of them rejected him right away but others kind of went that’s this is good but those things aren’t bad well no one said those things were bad circumcision keeping the law but this group of jews was saying no those things are actually as essential as jesus you got to do both and you could sense right there that there’s a great divide it’s continental divide you don’t end up in the same place and there was a breakthrough in that meeting known as the jerusalem

council that came down in chapter 15 verse 11 that salvation is a free gift and hear this and write this and would you do me a favor would you do jesus a favor tell everybody you know this okay because it’s the gospel in a nutshell and that is jews and gentiles gentiles is just a fancy word for non-jews so jews and probably most of us in our gathering today gentiles are all saved the same way all there’s no exception there’s no exemption I used to think

I was the exemption you have a nervous chuckle a couple of you right there right but I’m the pk my dad had an end with god I figured that was good enough for me and that’s not true there’s no exception so here’s the deal jews and gentiles are all saved the exact same way and here and how in what way is that the undeserved grace of the lord jesus christ that’s it and if you have him you have what he gives forgiveness for the thing in

the way of your relationship a normal relationship with him he’ll forgive the sins so there’s one other way I want to quickly point to point out with james I think because I think james was significantly influenced by his time under the same roof with his big brother jesus no one knows how long that time was but I I draw this from the letter in the new testament bearing his name it’s a five chapter letter known as james and right out of the gate he rocks it

okay that’s the language today that teenagers say like it’s on it’s like whoa you hit it hard and it it’s it’s gonna in baseball terms it’s gonna clear the fence you hit a home run and james does he doesn’t waste any time and by the way you we went much deeper when teacher john moore was here and giving me a break along the way he’s presented a deep dig in james and by the way john’s not quite done so that’s coming up this christmas and it’ll

be the wrap up and don’t miss it because there might be eternal consequences but anyway anyway it’s been really good but I’m gonna take you just in your memory back to james chapter 1 verses 2 to 5. Okay he said this and most of you have put this to memory because it’s worth it’s what we live today consider it all joy brothers and sisters when you encounter various trials knowing that the testing of your faith is producing let me stop and say that sentence again knowing

that the testing of your faith is producing endurance he says and let endurance have its perfect result in other words don’t call a timeout don’t give up and quit and go away let the process go on okay james 1 chapter 3 and 4. So that the result of that you might be perfect complete lacking in nothing that’s verse 4. By the way I’d like to throw in verse 5 for this reason I don’t know a single person that’s going through a deep time of suffering that

doesn’t lack understanding at times you asked steve and debbie today we’re gonna we’ve been in it our family’s been in it you’ve been in it in your own way and you probably have something of a response to the question why is this happening to you but I don’t know anybody that can say oh let me tell you get your notepad out here’s three points and it tells everything no because there’s a lack in times of suffering peter creeped in his great book making sense out of

suffering requires god in heaven to visit us with an answer to that prayer in james 1 5. If anyone lacks wisdom in other words can’t make sense out of the test let him or her ask of their heavenly father who will give to them freely and without reproach it’ll be given to them so wisdom it’s broader than that but it certainly works in times of testing so let me let’s walk through those words quickly how can you count it consider it joy when trials come how

can you do that well j.b phillips by the way has a great way to say it in his translation when all kinds of trials crowd into our lives don’t resent them as intruders what do you do when an intruder comes and you resent them you turn your back on them and you you’ll have nothing to do with them you get them out of your life as quickly as you can he says don’t do that when trials come into your lives don’t treat them as intruders he

says instead welcome them as friends now you’re not hearing that from a guy that does that very well if you’re good at that I want I want to have coffee I’ll buy you coffee because I want to hear how to do that better than I do it because I’m I’m not the first that’s the first thing out of my mouth isn’t why god but it’s in there or how come or more personally because I’m the third born and we get picked on why me you know

my dad’s going right he it’s called historical revisionism right there but all right how is that possible to consider it joy well the answers found in that little next word that james uses knowing having something clear in your mind another translation says realizing I don’t realize most things unless I’ve thought about him a while that’s what james is saying I bet he learned that from his brother knowing knowing what what’s required to know in order to have joy what is it it’s knowing that trials come

our way you ready for it to test our faith and produce gain and good in our lives that’s why there’s probably a million other lessons in it but in james words that’s how he answers it knowing knowing what james well knowing that the this test you’re going through is is for your it’s going to bring good it will produce gain god as we said last week and I’ll repeat it here again god tests our faith which by the way I hope this isn’t too much to

rock you but he still does that and he does it repeatedly he does it’s why when you go through a hurricane in your life who do you naturally turn to I know some people say well I go to the bar or whatever you know but most people they go to the the person that’s known this truth the longest in their life I do that I go to somebody that I know they are worn they got beaten bad in a in a terrible test but they lived

to tell about it and they got something to say it’s knowing that that’s ongoing and it’s continuing and his purpose is to prove our faith through the test you get that let me make sure you get that in other words god the the tests are sent with a bias built into them he wants me and you to pass the test isn’t that good god’s not throwing you a test and going wow man he’s swung and missed you know wow that was a lousy performance steve you

know god says okay we’re going to keep working on this because I want you to be successful and I want you to be proven through the test so today is testing some more there’s a there’s a value that god puts on testing in our lives and it’s it’s a value that we captured last week when we talked about you know the most tested human I’m going to call him in history yeah job he stands out for most of us and you probably know that his story

covers 42 chapters but that makes almost midway point in his trial in his test chapter 23. Job says something that sort of stopped all the reporters and they took notes and went whoa in chapter 23 verse 10 he says job’s words he knows the way I’m going he’s referring to god and when he has tested me and he was in the middle of it when he has tested me I will come forth as pure gold that’s in chapter 23 the story doesn’t end till chapter 42.

The test to which he’s referred we’re referring to is correctly thought of as as the image of a furnace heat or fire though he puts me through furnace heat or fire it has a purifying effect in my life you you’ve heard the image it’s a it’s a simple one and it it’s worth remembering it’s that smeltery smelting gold and and yeah we have a great song we sing to it refiners fire and it’s that smelting of gold how does that happen high high heat some other

chemicals some other little splash of this and that but heats the core and and from that the impurities rise to the surface and guess what remains more and more gold pure stuff the stuff we we want in our lives if that’s a picture of our lives don’t we I do so I just don’t like going through the test to get it by the way for the record I I quoted his words from job’s words from chapter 23 verse 10. He job was responding in those words

to a critic one of his three critics they posed as friends but they became critics that were picking him apart trying to find the reason for his testing and this guy’s eliphaz and eliphaz had just told him the previous chapter you may not know this this is amazing if you return to the almighty and clean up your life you will be restored were his words so I don’t know if you’ve got a friend like that but they’re not doing you a favor if you have been

a friend like that you’re not doing anybody a favor so stop guessing that something sour in their lives that may be but isn’t that god’s to figure out I’m not convinced that’s he needs a lot of help with that because somewhere in the testing process eliphaz was certain he had it you know here’s the deal job it’s kind of simple just turn back to god clearly you’ve wandered from it and by the way on the way there clean up your act and it’s all going to

get good for you you’re going to be restored relationship fixed party on job no no actually that’s not true by the way that may be true in some cases I don’t want to leave that behind david comes to mind he was the one in psalm 32 talking about his very bad night with bathsheba of his own doing he committed adultery with her and killed her husband to cover his tracks that was a bad time for the glorious king david so he says in psalm 32 all

day long I kept silent about my sin and my body withered away as with the fever heat of summer I don’t know how you interpret those words except I was going through a real serious bummer in my life so it’s true sometimes but I have to remind you how job’s story began in chapter one verse one job was blameless and upright we’re told right out of the gate he feared god and he shunned evil that’s job may I be blunt for a moment job never left

god eliphaz had it wrong job never left god god wasn’t testing job for the purpose of purging the sinful dross from his life there’s no indication of that even in his own words at the end he’s going god I’m clearly a mess I I thought I had it all figured out and I don’t did his testing make sense I I think it’s fairly obvious it didn’t not to job so job was tested and proved as gold last week we talked about abraham and he too passed

the test and I would say he came forth as gold that gets us to who I want to talk about for a few moments this morning a little further he’s a person on my mind because I’ve always liked him he’s famous in the old testament he’s one of judah’s kings and he stood out for a lot of reasons but he was he’s someone I would like to have lived with I’d like to have grown up maybe had him as a brother but that won’t be true

when I tell you who he is he was he was the son of a bad dad a dark and dangerous man named ahaz you can read his story it’s all in second kings and second chronicles when you read ahaz you will find that he’s everything you want to avoid they belong in prison or worse they’re not good people his but he was so bad that he actually as a as an offering of sacrifice to his pagan gods he sacrificed we’re not told how many but several

of his sons that’s the kind of bad one of his surviving sons is who I admire his name’s hezekiah and I’ve been in the tunnel he built in israel in jerusalem but that’s a side story he’s a good guy in fact he’s as good as as bad as as his dad is bad okay it’s that classic story where you look at some person that didn’t walk well and you find out their dad did and you go what in the world happened here or flip it hezekiah

did much as much good as judas king in the south during just right around the time he took the throne the north folded assyria northeast of israel to the north came and captured them but his testing is told in second kings 18. So turn there I just want you to see him and then we’ll read something in the new testament and have communion and be done okay so second kings 18 he hezekiah was one of actually only two kings in the southern kingdom the kingdom divided

way back when solomon died there was a north called israel the south called judah he is a king one of only two good kings they’re noted as actually says in the text of the bible he was a good king the other good king was his great grandson hezekiah’s great grandson josiah really cool guy so in fact it’s it’s believed by many that as a result of those two hezekiah and his great-grandson josiah we’re in second kings 18. Some of you are still turning there because of

their obedience to god and their commitment to renewing the nation spiritually and changing things up boy do we need that huh and and because of that judas survived the south survived a full 135 36 years later or longer than the north their neighbor to the north israel indeed in second kings 18 look at verse this this assessment of hezekiah hezekiah trusted in the lord the god of israel there was no one like him among all the kings of judah either before him or after him that’s

a verse that is so cool I mean don’t you aspire doesn’t make you want to be somebody in every way with god’s help to to turn out like that it it if I’m reading that right it’s saying hezekiah had no equal talk about a guy that stood out for for righteous reasons it’s a great picture so when he ascended the throne he was he was 25. You know somebody that’s young don’t dismiss them we have a 25 27 and 29 year old and somebody blessed our

lives years ago when they said to one of our kids that I could be said of all of them you know I would you’re on my short list of the most likely people to change the world isn’t that great I want to be the guy that says stuff like that so hezekiah 25 becomes king and almost immediately he implements not a few safe reforms vast reforms and he did it immediately including the removal of pagan practices and it’s all kind of captured in the verses just

before what we just read he did what was right verse 3 in the eyes of the lord just as his father david that’s going way back did he remove the high places smashed the sacred stones he didn’t put him in storage he got rid of them and he cut down the asher repoles these are all articles of pagan worship he broke into pieces the bronze snake moses had made why did he do that because a lot of things that seem really spiritual become iconic and sort

of lifeless and turn in sort of inspire idolatry it was supposed to stay in the in the ark of the covenant this this these are these are important things that tell a story of god only people just start to worship the snake don’t worship the snake worship the god that sent the snake and the story that represents your deliverance because of the snake no power in the snake anyway so that would explain why he even broke it into pieces and he and he and he smashed

it and took care of it okay so and then he reopened the temple that’s probably the moment everybody stopped and stared because his dad ahaz he didn’t have any need or use for the temple so what did he do he closed it and nailed it shut the front door shut I’m tempted to make comparisons in our world today but when a when a political leader does crazy like that like like ahaz hey you know what we don’t need religion anymore the state’s the religion I’m the

I’m the god you should look to you know that kind of nuts and b to guarantee that none of you actually go to that god of israel I’m going to nail the door shut what kind of person does that well that’s that’s what his dad did so he reopens the temple look down at verse six he he held fast to the lord this is hezekiah he did not stop following him he kept the commands the lord had given to moses and I love verse seven he

and the lord was with him he was successful in whatever he undertook he rebelled against the king of assyria and did not serve him assyria had already taken out the north I told you up in samaria and hezekiah said no I’m not going to I’m not going to bow down to you king it was seneca rib at the time I’m not going to because he lived for the true god and then 14 years after he arrived on the throne if you’re doing your math he’s 39

years old he and judah faced the country he led a great threat and it came in the form of a test from a foreign foe who had conquered israel as I mentioned many years earlier and he had conquered many other nations if you take the time and I hope you do it’s in your notes where you can read all the details of this unfolding you will find there were lots of other nations that said yeah we were powerless against this massive king seneca rip I mean

powerful you couldn’t resist them we just caved that year king seneca rib came planning to conquer the south judah where hezekiah was in charge and jerusalem its capital that was the plan his plan was to conquer them and he had the firepower to do it prompting a prayer that you have to turn the page if you go to chapter 19 and that like I told you there’s a ton of stuff in between this senneca rib was a master of guerilla warfare he knew how to get

into the spine of most of judah and make them scared out of their minds he was that kind of menacing threat that you just went you you cringed you stayed away from you you avoided eye contact with he’s that guy and he came with we would call it leaflets today and drop them from helicopters right or planes saying hey you know what we don’t mean you any harm but if your king doesn’t wake up and smell the coffee you’re going down and everybody in judah is

going to go with him he was that kind of dirty warfare guy and then all of that was true so it prompted a prayer from hezekiah chapter 19. Look at verse 17. It is true this is his words lord that the assyrian kings have laid waste all these nations and their lands this guy’s not making this stuff up they have thrown their gods into their fire into the fire and destroyed them for they were not gods but only wood stone fashioned by human hands so his

prayer now lord our god deliver us from his hand so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are god that’s his simple prayer and god’s answer came through isaiah the prophet because he was the holy man at the time hezekiah was the political leader they were contemporaries we would say and god later in the same chapter sends isaiah to the king and look at verse 32 this was isaiah’s report from god to hezekiah this is what the lord says concerning this

this king of assyria seneca he will not enter this city or shoot an arrow here he will not come before it with shield or build a siege ramp against it by the way that he came he will return he will not enter this city declares the lord I will defend this city and save it for my sake and for the sake of david my servant so you’ve got two superpowers not hezekiah and king senecarab you’ve got this foreign king and the living god and the greater

power came that night that night and I get a smile on my face because it’s one of my favorite verses in this whole story so you have this king that’s going to come with massive armies right and we’re told that a greater power than all of the assyrian army would send an angel did I mention one angel okay massive numbers on the assyrian side one angel sent on god’s side a single guy not sure I’d call him guy if he walked in here right now but

a big massive angel okay so anyway you gotta now you’re set to read with me that night everybody make some noise like your knees are knocking because you’re scared to death that we’re going down and this is the last this is the end for us all right that night the angel of the lord went out and put to death 000 in the assyrian camp right when the people got up the next morning they were all they were all they could see were dead bodies now I

know that’s gross but this is one angel that goes here we go yes is that just the coolest oh my gosh well if you’re sennecrib you more than wet your pants I’m just not going to go there but and verse 36 gives us a little hint of what’s on your mind seneca of king of assyria broke camp and withdrew this is the next morning I’m sure he left a lot of stuff behind he just plain hightailed out of there and returned north east and stayed went

home basically think tail between your legs okay got home and went that was a close one wow we’re safe now oh yeah well you got some bad kids because they greeted you this way one day while he was worshiping sennecrib in the temple of his god nishrok his sons adremelek and charizar killed him with the sword and they escaped into another land and another of the sons took over bottom line is he ran for his life and he and it cost him his life and you

have a a god that does something great so epic you and I would have talked about it forever but I want to quickly call attention to this point hezekiah stood strong he walked well with god and right on the heels of this my bible says in bold print that starts chapter 20 hezekiah’s illness wow this is the time to dance a victory dance and he gets a diagnosis from the hospital you’re going to die and you’re going to die soon I just don’t get that this

is the time do you see that how personal that gets for so many people you were walking well you just came off a huge victory it’s all going great and he’s told you have a terminal illness this is all of chapter 20. And he did exactly what we have done he pray he cried and he cried and cried and then he prayed and if you look at chapter 20 verse 5 you’ll see exactly how it happened god tells isaiah go back and tell hezekiah the ruler

of my people this is what the lord the god of your father david says I have heard your prayers I have seen your tears and I will heal you and the healing came in the form of 15 more years 15 more years I’m not going to hold back and tell you that was so good for him but theologically it can’t be true of debbie or chris or whoever that’s the scripture that has come back to us from the very first days of this am I am

I over speaking no I don’t think so I’m just simply saying god we sang it already you have done these mighty things before we’re asking you to do it again you allowed your son to die on a cross and life after life after life for thousands of years have been changed have been made new because of what it cost him jesus who knew no sin became sin on my behalf so that I might become the righteousness of god in christ says paul in second corinthians 5

21. That’s truth I I want to tell you one other I’m going to call this an epilogue we don’t have time to go there but if you went and looked at this whole story over in second chronicles you would see that a different superpower rose up because assyria got her wings clipped right what we just captured there’s another superpower that came from almost due east of jerusalem it’s known as babylon and babylon with a kind of a newfound swag came and wanted to know hey hezekiah

we understand you were sick but we hear you’re better and man it went really well with you against those assyrians and we want to have you give us a look around and hezekiah fumbled he says oh sure let me tell you let me show you around he showed him the treasuries he showed him the armaments he showed them all kinds of stuff but there’s this one verse would you write this verse down because you need to study it and think about it okay second chronicles 32

verse 30 says hezekiah I’m sorry not 32 30 32 31 this was on the heels of god or of his of the scripture saying in verse 30 hezekiah succeeded in everything he did next first ready so god withdrew from hezekiah to test him and to see what was in his heart how did he do it’s kind of one of those epilogues you just wish wasn’t there he probably shouldn’t have shown him in fact isaiah went you did what showed him all this stuff you know what

the day’s coming when babylon’s going to come and take you out and that happened years later 586. It really did that make hezekiah bad no I think I think hezekiah was a good man like I said throughout this but it’s a it’s a fact that even good people will continue to be tested they may pass most of the tests and then fumble or stumble doesn’t make them bad just means god’s got more work to do in their lives one thing I know from this testing theme

not only that we’re approved by testing but that testing is painful I think inherently it kind of goes when you hear the definition proved by trial kind of makes sense it sounds painful doesn’t it and that means this message this morning and last sundays this isn’t a message that’s needed at disneyland right unless you want to call long lines of trial and it is really actually but I mean it’s just not I mean this is real life this is when life gets raw and you’re tested

I’m test we’re tested and it’s a god who says you know what I’m gonna I’m gonna be with you through the test he said it this way in romans and it’s the other passage I want you to look at and take in as a devotional assignment today I want you to take in these words in romans chapter 8 because it talks about mass summarize it verses 17 to 30. It actually talks about the the creation the created order is groaning you and I are part of

that order right we live in a world that groans it’s not out there it’s true out there but it’s true with us too it’s true physically it’s true for some spiritually it’s true for people that I know very well and love relationally and even financially we groan that’s established but paul said in the middle of this description of how creation has been groaning the tests that we go through are part of that he says this for I consider that the sufferings his word for tests of

this present time are not worthy to be compared ready for this to the glory that is to come what’s that mean next month maybe a little bit next year soon sometime in this life I don’t know about all those but I do know this the glory to come is when we are in the presence of the king of kings we are safely at home he says to us welcome home and he uses words in romans and elsewhere to describe what it takes to persevere through the

test and that’s the word hope we’re going to sing a song in a moment when we take communion it’s hope has a name it’s a great song you’re going to like it but he says we exalt in our tribulation another place in romans chapter five knowing that tribulation let’s call that a test tribulation brings about perseverance we’ve heard that word this morning and perseverance proven character he’s not done verse 5 romans 5 verse 5 and proven character hope and hope does not disappoint for the love

of god was poured out in our hearts through the holy spirit who was given to us I want you to ponder those words as you bow your heads with me this morning and servers join me here at the front to bring the bread and the cup to all of us the worship team the lights are going to come down they’re going to they’re going to draw you into a song that you you know the name of the hope hope has a name you know it his

name’s jesus and I would have failed badly this morning if you left here or you’re watching from home and it doesn’t become profoundly clear to you this is not a religious talk this isn’t this is not a pep rally this is a a presentation of a person named jesus who is our hope in trials in tests in fact he’s so present I’ve said this so many times but I believe it as as much as I know I’m now 63. I know I know jesus doesn’t stand

on the other side of your trial or your test and look back and call your name and say hey keep coming keep coming I’m waiting for you that is not helpful he’s the god that says I’m going to enter that test with you and we’ll walk it together I’ve been through that test this table represents that test but I persevered and I want nothing less than that for yo

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