God’s Purpose in a Variety of Testings: Conclusion

God's Purpose in a Variety of Testings: Conclusion

Alright, let's take our Bibles again this evening. Please turn to Romans chapter 8. This is where we began a number of weeks back when we started looking at God's purpose in a variety of testings that He brings to our lives. Romans chapter 8, and I just want to read verse 28. How many times have we seen this verse? How many times? But what a powerful truth. Romans chapter 8, and I just want to read verse 28. How many times have we seen this verse? How many times? But what a powerful truth. Romans chapter 8, and I just want to read verse 28. How many times? But what a powerful truth. That we need to be always conscious of. I need to be always conscious of in my life. It's in Romans 8.28. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose. Let's pray.

Father, take these moments together and bless them, Lord. May our hearts be challenged and strengthened. May we be edified through Your Word. that we may go out this week and make application as we draw aside and think back over things that we've learned from your word and principles that we gain from how you tell us to think about and approach the trials that you bring to our lives. What is your purpose in it? What is on your mind for even putting it in our life in the first place? And so we pray that you'll get the glory through this time together. In Jesus' name, amen.

So we've taken the time to look at why does God take loved ones from us? We've taken the time to look at why does God allow disappointments in our lives? We thought in taking loved ones, Job certainly had loved ones taken from him. We saw that many examples. But Job is one that comes right to our minds as we think of loved ones. Took all of his children at one time. Think of the disappointments. And we learned in that message that disappointments, we must see them as his appointments. His ways are higher than our ways. His plans are we must always make our plans in pencil, not in stone, right? We must pencil them in rather than engrave them. Leaving them in stone.

We saw that liberty can be a test. Liberty. Testing. What are we going to do? How are we going to use the liberty that we have? We might have, you know, sort of a freedom to make choices in a number of things. What are you going to do with the choice? I think so many times what we do with matters of conscience even. Are we taking? Are we taking just the good? I want to live as close to the world as I can with this liberty that I have. Or do we say, I want the best for the Lord, right? Do I take the highest road and not just enough to get by? You know, if you've got Brother Kiki coming over and putting siding on your house, you don't want him cutting corners. You don't want him doing just enough to get by. You don't want Brother Ronnie doing your electrical work just good enough to get by. No, we want to do the best, right?

And so when we have liberty, that's really a test of our heart. You know, I get to make the choice. Like Lot, with his liberty, he chose, he didn't choose the best option, did he? He chose what looked good to him, but not asking what will most glorify God in this situation. There are a lot of issues that I think about so many things. If we choose to glorify God with the right heart, he's pleased in that. You know, we could legalize, we could become legalistic and say, you must, you know, give me your W-2, let me see how much you're giving. Or, you know, exactly pinpoint every little final minutia about what exactly you're supposed to wear. Or all these things. If your heart's right with the Lord, you're going to want to give the best to him anyway. It doesn't need to be, let's have this legal code. Because at the end of the day, if you're just following checking boxes and following some kind of code, then your heart is not right. About it anyway, in the first place.

We see that, so liberty, what do we do with that? Well, that's a test that God gives us. We solve financial laws, material laws. How do we handle that? How do we handle it when God takes, like Job, takes all those herds and flocks away from us? What do we do about it when someone lies to us or we're deceived in something? How do we handle that? Do we grow bitter as a result of what's been done? What's been said to us? The wool was pulled over our eyes? Or we were, you know, there's some things we simply, we must not be deceived and be ignorant about things God has already told us. You're not ignorant of the devil's devices. But there's some things that we may be led on to believe this is a good thing. And yet the person's intentions may be other than what they said. And we need to even respond well when that happens.

There's physical sickness. There's pain. We said this morning, weakness, right? There's weakness that comes to us in our bodies. There's things that, you know, we might say that my mind, like we said this morning, is just not as strong as it used to be. Somebody could suffer a traumatic injury where they have memory loss. I have some weakness in my life that is beyond my control. And, you know, I'm not going to say that. And yet, what am I going to do with that? How am I going to view that? We see transitions in life. There's transitions from one place, geography, to another place. There's transitions from one stage of life to another stage of life. From one job to another job. There's so many different kinds of transitions. How do we, those are tests, aren't they? How are we going to handle the transitions of life? A lot of times people fail in transitions. And lose ground because they don't handle the transition very well.

I think about a pastor that's been pastoring a church many years. He needs great grace to step, to make that transition and not become a burden to the church moving forward as pastor emeritus. Or, you know, not to try to run the church via proxy or something like that. There's a lot of grace needed there. You know, transition into grandparenthood from parenthood. You know, all those things. Not that you'll ever not be a parent. But, you know, going into that new stage of life. There are opportunities that are presented to us sometimes like we saw with David. Where he had the opportunity to get even with the man who had been chasing him. The man who had thrown javelins at him. Saul. And yet, David had a right heart toward God. He knew that God must judge the situation. He only cut off, I guess, was it the hem of Saul's garment and did not take his life. Even though he had the opportunity to do that because that was God's prerogative. It's not our place ultimately to do that. And so he handled that opportunity to get even well.

How do we handle failures? When we tried and failed. Well, what do we do with the failure? Do we learn from it? Or do we make excuses for ourselves and just live in continued failings and failure in that thing? Or do we actually grow as a result of the thing that we had to learn? We said that trials not only reveal character like hot water reveals what's in the teabag, but trials and the heat of those trials also become like a blacksmith with the anvil, the heat, and the anvil to shape us. Now that you're in the hot water, now that you're in the heat, it's the perfect time for God to shape and change things and remove things and purify things, whatever the case may be, to bring you through this and shape you into what He wants you to be through the difficulty.

I've been thinking back over some time ago, I also, we went through a study of a man who was a man of faith. He was a man of faith. We have lessons in specific lives, the testing of God's saints and what they learned through and what we can learn through those specific lives that went through. And of course, we've picked up on some lives. We obviously, by default, have looked at people's lives like we mentioned Job and David and these different ones as we've gone through this study here recently. But God never takes something from us without intending to give us something better in its place. I don't mean that the second set of children Job got were better than the first in a matter of speaking, but it's more so, I'm not just talking about so much the physical aspect of it, but He's wanting to bring us forth as gold, I guess is what I'm trying to say. He, we'll always, if we go through the trial with the Lord first and forefront in our lives, we're going to always come out with God's love. Good. There will be good in our lives.

You have, you know, we've said things like a woman can explain what it's like to give childbirth to another woman, but you can never know until you give birth. You know, you can explain to someone what it's like to have Brother Kiki this morning or after the service, we were just talking about kidney stones, talking about Sister Brenda, but talking about kidney stones. And, you know, he can, he can describe to me what it's like to have a kidney stone, but unless I have one myself, and then I'll say, I know exactly what you're talking about. If, I mean, if that, if that occurs and everything in life, you know, and while it's good for us to tell others and to encourage others, there's a certain degree, our children, they can hear me preach it. They can hear mama teach it. They can hear us talk about it, but they have got to walk through their own trials. They've got to walk through their own test of faith so that they might grow closer together. That's, that's the only way. That's the only way we can know God better. Others can point us, but we ourselves must draw an eye to God and he will draw an eye to us. Humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God. He will exalt us. He draws, he gives grace to the humble and he resists the proud, the scripture says. So it's a very personal relationship and a very, very unique set of things that God wants to teach each one of us.

As he puts us through those things, we can sing hymns. But you know, have you ever noticed when we sing hymns, it's sometimes when we're going through certain tests in life that a hymn, spiritual song, psalm, just almost jumps off the page at you and you think, wait, did he see what I was going through? Or did they, no, they, that person was going through something similar. The same, same, tests and trials, similar trials were being accomplished in those people. God's word became so personal and precious to them as they were going through those tests and now it means more to me.

I can talk to, I mean, I think about Rebecca. She's eight years behind me. I mean, you know, Andy's ahead of me. Different ones of you. You could talk about, I know how I felt on the morning of 9-11 when I saw that on the screen. On the news or something, you know. I know how I felt, maybe somebody will say, when JFK was assassinated. Or I know, I can remember where I was and all of this when so-and-so happened. And it may not mean anything to the other person that wasn't there. Like you say, JFK to me, I wasn't alive. I mean, I've seen the video of it. But you live through, and that's sort of a big, you know, on television sort of thing, but there may be something you live through. I think about those that, live through World War II. They can tell us about what the Depression was like. But I didn't go through it. And yet, things that individuals, the point is, things that God teaches us individually as we walk through different tests and different trials.

But whatever the test, Romans 8-28, we know that all things, and all means all, every single thing that touches our lives, it is working together in God's plan for good. It may not seem good. It may not seem joyous. It may not seem pleasant. But it's good for those that love God who are the called according to His purpose. And His purpose is very much what Job said it was. When He hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. He's wanting to purify our faith so that we, James says, have nothing doubting. Not like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed, but nothing doubting. Trusting Him. Trusting Him completely in the various circumstances and trials of life. So, as we walk through those trials, God solidifies truth in our hearts. He, He, confirms it in our hearts. So, really, now He wants us, as we're going through the trials of life, to just think the way He thinks about it. Not think about the way we feel in the moment, but think His thoughts after Him about this. He says, this is how you need to view it, and this is how I need to view it. I just know by faith this is what God is doing. I don't know why every answer to exactly why this particular thing, but, He knoweth the way that I take. And that's, that's all that matters to me.

Job, Job is a great example for us in that he recognized the true source of every trial in his life. He recognized, he never blamed Satan. He said, you know, Satan, he's the blame for these trials that are coming into my life. I never read that anywhere about Job. He never, he never said anything that I think that I remember reading. But he said, when he hath tried me, right? When he, when he's done trying me, I'll come forth as gold. I'll come forth as gold. I remember Frances Havergill, how she wrote in that hymn, every joy or trial falleth from above, traced upon our dial by the Son of Love. How many times have I referenced that hymn, like a river glorious? Every one of those trials, the devil is instrumental, he's very much in the details, isn't he? He has, he has his fingers and everything and he has his desires for us to fail and for us not to, not to learn what it is God wants us to learn, of course. But God means it for good. Remember Joseph said that, wasn't it? Joseph said, you meant it for evil, but God meant it for good. And so the purpose, the origin of the trial, we might say, is from God and the purpose of God in that trial is for good.

And as we walk through those trials, how do we need to think about Satan? How do we need to think about the enemy of our souls? We said he has a purpose. Well, we don't need to get too focused on Satan, but we do need to be aware that he is lurking. We need to be aware that he has, he has some good, he has some good devices and he has some schemes and he has some plans and Peter tells us about that. Peter tells us not to be, not to be ignorant of the fact that, you know, he's very much involved in trying to, trying to turn what God means to be good into something bad. In fact, in 1 Peter chapter 5, let's look over there in verse number 8. 1 Peter chapter 5 and verse number 8. It's in that verse that we read this. Be sober. Be vigilant. Because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, seeketh whom he may devour. So how are you supposed to, how are you supposed to confront him? How are you supposed to think about him? Well, we're supposed to resist him steadfast in the faith. Well, well, stand on the promises of God's word. Stand on God's word. Do not, do not give an inch to the devil, we might say, for he will take a mile. Well, face the devil with God's word. Steadfast in the faith. 1 Peter chapter 5 here says this. Resist him steadfast in the faith.

We're told in James 4 as well, verse 7, we are, to submit, submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. It's all in light of what we see here in verse 8. Draw an eye to God. He will draw an eye to you. As you draw an eye to God, part of resisting the devil is drawing an eye to God. Draw an eye to God and resist the devil. The devil cannot stand it when we draw an eye to God. He can't stand it when we quote God's word. One little word, one little word shall fail him. Martin Luther said, we tremble not for him, that prince of darkness grim. His rage we can't endure, for lo, his doom is sure. One little word shall fail him. Well, ultimately it will be by the word of God that he will be judged. He will be ultimately cast out into the lake of fire. But, all he can do is try to distract us, deceive us, intimidate us. He has all kinds of poise and tactics. Draw an eye to God. He'll draw an eye to you. Whatsoever is, you know, lovely, good report, if there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things. Think on God's word. Draw an eye to him and resist the devil with God's, resist him steadfast in the faith with God's word. Pastor Peacock used to say, stick the word of God in the devil's ear. Now, that's not a verse of scripture, but he said, stick it. Just, just take God's word when the devil comes to you and quote it to him and say, I am not going to believe your lies. I believe God's word alone.

Well, this is, this is how the, this is how the devil would, would defeat us. He would try to get our minds off of God's word, wouldn't he? He would try, he'd try to get us thinking selfishly, thinking foolishly, thinking, you know, how Job's wife thought. She said, Job said to her, you're speaking like one of the foolish women. You're not thinking right about this trial. You're, you're thinking about it from a very, you know, just a selfish standpoint. God, I know God's behind this trial. I just don't know exactly why. I don't know why, what exactly he's doing in this.

Remember Noah. We talked about Noah and how he endured mocking. Well, he could have just folded up and said, you know, I just give up. I give up. I have so much opposition. I feel like I'm, I'm the only one out here doing this. And, and the opposition is just overwhelming to me. But, you know what Isaiah said? They that wait upon the Lord shall, you know, run and not be weary, walk and not faint, right? And, and they'll mount up with wings as eagles. So Noah continued to preach righteousness. He continued. He was moved by the fear of the Lord to build that ark. And he did it because he, by faith, he feared God. He, he feared God more than men.

We certainly should fear God more than we fear, fear men. And even though men mocked and scoffed at him, he understood even before Jesus came and spoke these words, but he understood that, well, the servant is not above his master. Really, he understood the concept that it's not really even me that they hate so much as it is God. They'll have to answer to him one day. They'll have to answer to God for what they've done with this, with this morning. They've rejected it. That's not my response. That's not my responsibility.

My responsibility, our responsibility is just to speak truth, right? Our responsibility is just to sow seed. Our responsibility is not to make people do anything because, because we can't, you'll be very, very frustrated if you try to make people do something that you want them to do, because only God can change the heart. But God is, God is going to prevail. Ultimately, God is going to get the last laugh. God, God's going to get the glory ultimately in all of it.

Job and Job's. When we looked at Job, we saw that some of the most difficult things we'll, we'll face in life. The most, the greatest disappointments will come from people that are close to us. They'll come from people that maybe we thought we could trust or, you know, we thought more highly of them. And yet don't, don't put your, don't put your hope in man. Well, all disappoint each other at some point in time. Maybe not to the, perhaps, hopefully not to the degree that Job's friends did, but nonetheless, even in that he learned what he learned to pray for his friends. He learned to pray for them. You know, and, and, and we've disappointed our own family members. We disappoint one another at times. And yet, and yet, uh, this is God's purpose. And this is to what is to strengthen our hope in him. Our hope is not in one another. God can use us to be a blessing to one another, but our hope is ultimately in him. Our hope is not in our leaders in Washington. Our hope is not in our local leaders. We pray for them. And, uh, thankfully, you know, among ourselves as brothers and sisters, we have a closer relationship. Thank God for Christian politicians. Those that are Christian in politics. But, um, even, even no man, we can't put our full confidence in any man, but we, but we certainly can pray one for another and, and seek to be a blessing one to another, but trusting God.

So as we go through these tests, as we go through these trials of life, um, God has a plan. Once again, we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose. His purpose is to empty us of all self confidence, any and all self-confidence. You know, I think I've got this, you know, I think I can handle this. No, you can't. Sometimes we say, you know, God will not put on us more than we can bear, but he will. That is what the understanding, not more than we can bear in our own strength, right? More than we can bear because he will always give us with, with the, with the trial. He will always give us, he will always give us the grace. If we'll call out to him, Lord, help me, Lord, help me. I remember pastor Peacock would say when he had that stroke, all he could think was, you know, he couldn't really speak help, help. And the Lord is very near unto those that call upon him, that weakness, that dependence, but the Lord is always there.

You know, the Lord touched Jacob's thigh, didn't he? He put it out of joint. So to speak, he touched the sin you have the in his thigh to two, and so that he would hobble even on that thigh. When the, when the angel of the Lord wrestled with him there and he, he clung to, he held on tightly. I will not let the go until I'll bless me. Help me. I'm afraid of my brother. I'm afraid of Esau. I'm going to have to, I'm going to have to meet him tomorrow. I can't do this. And the Lord blessed him there. The Lord blessed him. The Lord strengthened him.

You know, the Lord put Moses, didn't he? He put him up against the Red Sea, the enemy behind him, closing in and the vast sea in front of him. Where are we going to go? We got to look up, got to look up to the Lord because we, there's nothing we can do. The Lord very well, may put us before we die in a situation that is, and then we've all gone through a variety of different situations, but he may put us in a situation where we, there's absolutely no help. Not only maybe from the medical world, from the, from our own government, from people. Perhaps we thought we, you know, were our friends. They abandoned us or somehow something to that effect. God, God can put us in some very precarious situations, where there's no help in earth below. There's no help. Where can I turn, but up to the Lord and this dire straight that you've put me in.

Talked about this, you know, the Crickmore family and the things they're going through though. Yes, God, God can use doctors, but he's the ultimate healer. He alone can bring us, bring us through.

Um, and it's in those moments where our testimony is forged. Sister Vicki, you mentioned that four and a half year old, that young one being a prayer warrior, you know, things that she's learning now about, um, about trials are going to help, help her and how she thinks about things she faces even down the road in her life. And certainly she's got, it sounds like she has a great example in her, her, her grandmother. I don't, I don't know those people personally. Donna, you do. And, and, and Vicki, you know them as well. So thank the Lord. What seems to be a curse is God turns it into a blessing. God turns it into something that is actually good. We know that all things work together for good.

And look in second Corinthians chapter one, please. Second Corinthians chapter one, verse three, verse three says, blessed be God, even the father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the father of mercies and the God of all comforts who comforted us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them, which are in any trouble by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. God never moves without purpose or plan. When trying a servant, and molding a man, he wants us to do what he wants us to pray without ceasing to him in everything. He wants us to give thanks. This is his will for us in Christ Jesus. He wants us. He wants us as we're going through the trials to be emptied of, of all self confidence, even confidence in any, anyone else. But, he wants us to lift up the sacrifice of praise to him continually as he tells us the fruit of our lips giving praise to his name. Thank you, Lord, not only for saving my soul, but thank you for what you're doing, because I would not have chosen this path of difficulty. I would not have chosen the sickness. I would not have chosen this, but I know that you're working it out for good. I can't see it right now. That's called faith, right? I can't see why you're bringing this into my life. But Lord, thank you. I praise your name for doing what's best.

There's moments when people are going through that. I know Sister Donna was speaking about Donna Crickmore, and this could be said of many, but at times it just seems like so much. Lord, I don't doubt you, but give me the strength to get through this. Well, that is what the Lord wants, that confidence in him, that praise. And may we, as we go through these trials, not as William Cooper says, judge not the Lord by feeble sense, nor scan his work in vain. I'm sorry, but trust him for his grace, rather. Behind a frowning providence, he hides a smiling face. Don't, don't, don't, don't attribute any wrong to the Lord as you're going through this. Knowing weeping may endure for a night, but joy will come in the morning. There's always hope for us as Christians. I think that word, that truth, hope, hope in the Lord. He is the health of thy countenance, right? Hope in the Lord. Don't, don't hope in man. Don't hope in merely tomorrow, but hope in the God of tomorrow. Hope in the one who holds, holds the future in his hand.

And as we go through these trials, I think it's God's plan for it, and it is that we will not come out the same person we were last year, or the year before, or the ten years ago. He wants to change us, as we said. He wants to shape us. He wants to purify us. That is his plan. Look in Psalm 100, verse 3, please. Psalm 100, verse number 3. Someone told me recently that, you know, even talking about a pastor, leadership of a ministry, we must not view the ministry as ours. We must, it's ownership. Like, we own it. No, it's, we're stewards. Each one of us are stewards. This is not our, my ministry. This is not my life. This is not your life. We're just stewards of everything we have. And we're just here for a time.

But, David acknowledges this, Psalm 100, verse 3. Know ye that the Lord, he is God. It is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves. And the sheep, we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. I belong to him. My life is not my own. I am just a steward. I'm not the possessor of my own life. I'm not the owner. I'm just a steward.

Paul said in 1 Corinthians 6, 20, for a year bought with a price, therefore, glorify God in your body and your spirit, which are God's, which are his. Francis Havergill said, take my life, let it be consecrated, Lord, to thee. Take my moments and my days, let them flow in ceaseless praise. And you know the, you know the song well. It's not my life to live. Esther had to come to that realization. You know, I can hold my peace. But God may put me aside and raise up deliverance from another place. It's not, God's put me in this position, not so I can say, look how great I, Queen Esther am, but what is it God wants to use me to do? That's stewardship. That's what God puts us in these positions for. He didn't cause us to be born in the year we were born and live in the time we live in by accident. We're here for such a time as this, aren't we? God has a specific plan for us where He's put us in the time frame He's put us in.

And so, He wants to use us, but really the way that He can use us, we said tonight, God uses the most unassuming and sometimes the most unusual means. We might say, well, why would God choose little Mary from little Nazareth to bear the Savior of mankind? Because that's how God works. We might say, I don't know how God could ever use me. I'm just a nobody. I just, I just feel like I, you know, I'm not educated enough or I'm not strong enough or I'm not, you know, whatever enough. That doesn't matter to God. He wants a willing heart, a teachable heart, a meek and lowly. How God can use that so greatly and what, what He wants all of us to become is like little children, doesn't He? He wants us to all be, well, frankly, with that heart and spirit of someone like little Presley, right? Well, little, what did he say? Except you be converted and become as little children. That's what, that's what he's looking for. The faith of a little child. That's why he took that child and set them in the, in the midst of the disciples. Be like this little child. Be like this little one.

And, and, and, and just have that. What do children have? Children have a, just a, a tendency just to naturally just trust, right? They, they trust. They, they are curious. But they are, they are thankful many times for so many things that they, they are given. But, God is, God is shaping us so He can use us, isn't He? He's shaping us. He's trying us. He's purging us. He's purging us so He can use us. Have you considered my servant Job? Have you considered my servants Daniel, Esther, Andy, Donna? Have you considered my servant? God is wanting to get the glory through our faith. Simple faith in Him. Not our strength. Not our wisdom. Not, you know, He's just a really special, better than everybody else kind of servant. No, He's a humble, trusting child. That's what He wants.

Paul said, I have learned whatsoever state I am in and whatsoever state I am to be content. I had to learn it. I didn't naturally think that way, but God is teaching me to think His thoughts after Him. He's teaching me to trust and to know that when I face these things, He's fully in control of it and He's behind it. And not to be given to fear and, you know, the emotional vacillation of life. And this is that confidence that we need to have. The ultimate purpose in the trials of life is that we might come not to rely on ourselves, but 100% rely on God. Have the faith of a little child. Praise the Lord. Give thanks to Him. Pray in everything by prayer. Casting our care on Him. Knowing He cares for us. That's the theme we see running through all these different trials. Taking a loved one. Disappointment. Being lied to. Transitions in life. All these different things. God is shaping us.

Very simply put, these things we've talked about, they're just the currency that God uses to change us. They're just the currency that God uses, the expendables that God is using. And you know, when you're doing a job, you know, you're painting, you might have to throw away a, you know, you might have to throw away a paint tray. You might have to throw away, you know, tools for the tray that you use eventually. But the work is being accomplished through those things. And that's what God's doing in our lives. Shaping us to be what He wants you to be.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank You for what You're doing. Thank You for Your Your sovereign wisdom in all the tests and appointments for our lives. We pray, Lord, that we would respond better. I would respond better to the tests and the trials that You bring. Help us to remember we're stewards. We're children. We're to be like little children in our faith toward Thee. Lord, Lord, purify our hearts. Cleanse the inmost part. Grace and truth in part. Lord, we pray. Help us to be filled with praise, with thanksgiving as we go forward knowing that You're in control. Help us to realize we're here for such a time as this. Not to think highly of ourselves, but to think highly of our Savior who appoints these things with praise. With purpose and with plan. We pray and ask this now in Jesus' name. Amen.