Ways that God tests us

John chapter 6. Sometimes it's hard to find the line between what you've gotten from the Lord for yourself or what you should share with God's people and I trust that this has touched my heart and hopefully yours as well. John chapter 6 we'll read at verse number 5. John 6 verse number 5. When Jesus then lifted up His eyes and saw a great company come unto Him, He saith unto Philip, when shall we buy bread that these may eat? And this He said to prove Him, or prove Philip, for He Himself knew what He would do. To the Old Testament please to Deuteronomy.

Deuteronomy chapter 8 verse 2. Deuteronomy chapter 8 verse number 2. And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep His commandments or no. And He humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know, that He might make thee to know that man doth not live by bread alone, but by every word. That's what we've been hearing already this morning.

But by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live. And finally Genesis chapter 22. Genesis chapter 22 verse 1. It came to pass after these things that God did tempt Abraham and said unto him Abraham and he said behold here am I and he said take now thy son thy only son Isaac whom thou lovest and get thee into the land of Moriah and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.

And the Lord will bless to us the reading of His Word and what we've listened to already. I've been trying to consider the Lord Jesus Christ in recent weeks and we considered Him as as the thankful Christ and I've been thinking of Him as a teacher just recently and we read together three places where God proves or God tests His people. God tests His people.

We're going to look at some different ways in that in which He has done that. And I was thinking why does God test people? Why does God test us? Well if we were in school you know the teacher would test us to find out what we know. But God already knows what we know.

And so there's got to be another reason that God tests His people and I believe it's just this that we might understand really what we know. You know you can be in school and maybe you can do well in your homework or maybe you maybe were like some of us and you did a little cheating or something like that to get through and the test came. And there you were alone.

And really when the test came back you found out really what you did or didn't know. And so I'd like to look at the Lord Jesus Christ today as as the teacher. We were sung about their divine instructor.

And so we come to John chapter 6 and the Lord is testing Philip here isn't He? And the Lord did it to prove Him or to test Him. We know that the Lord doesn't tempt people to sin but the Lord is testing this man. And it says this, for He knew Himself what He would do.

What was Philip's test? It was a twofold test. The Lord Jesus wanted to see or wanted Philip to realize who He was with. Who He was with and what He was capable of.

Who He was with and what He would do. And really you know that isn't that really what our our goal is in this lifetime? It's to understand God really who He is and what He can do or what He is doing. And so here in this little in this little simple story the Lord knew what He was going to do but He wanted Philip to understand who He was with.

The test of the Lord's presence. Who are you with? You know we think of the Lord's presence and we we preach it as the gatherings of His people. The Lord where two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the midst of them.

But really every day the test of the Lord's presence. He's with us every day. I love that.

Trying to appreciate that afresh. Trying to let that sink down into my soul. The test of who is with me.

The Lord is with me. In whatever circumstance of life. In the joys He is with me.

In the trials He is with us. The test of the Lord's presence. How are we doing? Do we know who we're with? Do we know who's with us? Not just in the assembly gatherings and we can apply it that way.

There's people there's Christians today and they're missing out on on the gatherings of the Lord's people. And you know what I think? I think they've lost sight of who they're with when they're gathered together. It's a real test of the Lord's presence you know.

It's really the acid test. If He has promised to be with us and we don't go. Do we really understand who we're with? It's the acid test of the Lord's presence.

And here's this man Philip and he's looking at the circumstances and he's over he's just he's in awe look at all the people. And we have no money to buy bread. But the Lord knew what he would do.

The Lord knew. And so we've got the test of the Lord's presence. How are you doing in the test? And as I mentioned in my opening this has been speaking just to me.

You know sometimes you don't know if you should share it or not. Because you're really bearing out your soul to a group of other people. Do I really know a real sense of the Lord's presence and who I am with? Do you come to the prayer meeting? Sounds like a broken record doesn't it? Wednesday night, Thursday night, Sunday night, before the gospel meeting.

It's a test of the Lord's presence. How about in private? It's hard to find that little quiet closet isn't it? Just to come into the Lord's presence and just to think and meditate as we've heard and to read and to pray. But yet in the course of our day if you're like me it's the first thing to go.

I'm just being honest. There's so much to do. You could get up at three in the morning and not get it done.

And you can go till midnight and not get it done. And what happens? In the test of the Lord's presence you and I give the Lord the scraps of a wasted day. Because we forget who we're with or who's with us.

It's a test of the Lord's presence. His whole point was that he would know God. The Lord wanted Philip to really know him in more detail.

To know him in more reality. Because the Lord knew what he was going to do. Tremendous.

And the Lord knows what he's going to do when you're in your circumstances, in your life. And so just very quickly we'll move on to the second one. In Deuteronomy.

Deuteronomy chapter 8. And there's lots of places that we could have gone for the sake of time. We'll stick to these three. Now shall remember verse 2, the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness to humble thee and to prove thee, to test thee, to know what was in thine heart.

See God wanted to know what was in their own heart. God knew it. God doesn't have to send us difficulties to know what's in our heart.

He knows. And so the whole point of this, God wanted the people of Israel to really know what was inside of them. What was really going on in their hearts.

He knows what's in your heart today. He knows what's in mine. And you know what he wants? He wants us to know it too.

What does it say? He said he led them to humble them. Verse 3, he humbled them. He wants to test them.

What does he talk about in that context? About the manna that they knew not and that neither did their fathers know. But verse 3 is really the point here. It's a test of the Lord's promises.

That he might make thee know. See there was something that they were missing in their heart, wasn't it? There was something that was lacking in this test. God knew it the whole time.

And God's whole purpose here, just like for Philip, his purpose for Philip was that he would know who was in his presence. Who was the power? The real him. The real living and the true God.

And now God is wanting to instill into the hearts of the children of Israel and our hearts today as well. What is it? That he might make thee know that man does not live by bread alone. Yet that's our focus in life.

It's work. It's providing for our families. It's going about daily life.

And God wanted these people to know that we don't live by bread alone. But by every word, every God-inspired word, everyone that proceedeth out. There it is.

Of the mouth of the Lord doth man live. The test of the Lord's promises. It's personal, isn't it? He wants to make me to know.

And he wants to make you know that man does not live by bread alone. It's a dependence on him, isn't it? It's a real knowledge of the promises of God. God's test to the children of Israel.

And quickly to Abraham. Genesis 22. Abraham had a lot of tests.

He had to leave the land, you know. Come out from the Ur of the Chaldees. He had to deal with Lot, you know.

I think of the Lord's test with Lot. It's the test of the Lord's people. That's a good one, isn't it? The test of the Lord's people.

You know, that's probably one of the biggest tests you and I'll face in assembly life. It's the test of the Lord's people. How would you be like Abraham with Lot? Here's Lot.

He's a young man. He's a self-centered man. You got any self-centered Christians in your assembly that just drive you crazy? Here's Lot.

He's a tag-along, isn't he? He's always riding on Abraham's coattail. He's just going along. He's a tag-along.

You ever had someone that just tagged along? My little boy, he's two years old. He's a tag-along. It's a blessing and it's a curse.

I'll tell you. It's the sweetest thing on earth as far as having a little son. But to get something done.

You try to fix the sink. He's sitting on your chest with a screwdriver in your belly button. It's hard to get anything done.

But it's sweet. But Lot, he was a tag-along. He was a self-centered man.

He wanted the best. Abraham says, you take your pick. He takes the best.

He's a carnal man. Any carnal Christians in your assembly? How about careless Christians? Lot was a careless man. Step after step, he's going towards Sodom.

One after the other, he's going down. He's going away from God. What do you do when you encounter those types of God's people? Detest of the Lord's people? Well, I know some, they just quit coming to meeting.

That's the answer. Our personalities clash. We don't see things the same.

I'm just going to avoid that person. How many Christians you know do that? How many times have you done that? You thought, oh, so and so is going to be there. I don't even want to go.

I'll confess, I've done that. If you're honest, you've thought that too. Detest of the Lord's people.

Abraham's all sorts of tests. God wanted him to see what was in his own heart. And we come to chapter 22.

Offer your son. Yeah, it's a test of God's promise. God give him a promise.

But it's bigger than that to me. It's a test of the Lord's purposes. And with that, how could he do it? How could Abraham do it? Come to me like this.

There's only one way that Abraham could do this. And after his life and the things that he had went through, he realized this. That he is the Lord.

He is the Lord. The Lordship of Christ. There's only one way that he could do it.

It's because the Master said to do it. The Lord said it. And his purposes are for good.

And what he has promised, he will fulfill. And what he has said will come to pass. And since the Lord said it, he does it.

Let me ask you this. The test of your own heart is Jesus Christ, Lord. It's heavy, doesn't it? Or am I the Lord of my life? And I do what I want to do.

And I go where I want to go. And I listen to the Word of God what fits my schedule. Or fits my, what's the word people use? Their conviction.

No, Abraham was faced with a test. Am I Lord? God wants to know, am I Lord, Abraham? Do I have first place in your life? And here's Abraham with the test. You see, there's attack on Lordship today.

There's attack on the Word of God. There's attack on Lordship. The attack goes clear into the Gospel.

The reason that the Gospel is watered down and people water the Gospel down, God forbid, not in our assemblies. But they want to make the Gospel more appealing to people. They want to magnify grace.

And they want to promise a person an awesome life. A stress-free life. A life that they could never imagine.

And being saved is just that. But it's not a bed of roses. And there are things that we have to give up.

And there are things that we have to change. And there are things that we have to do. Because He is Lord.

And Lordship is left out of the preaching of the Gospel often times. And there's attack on it. And there's an attitude against it.

I'm speaking to my generation. How do you like people telling you what to do? You know employees I just read the other day? They're telling their bosses that they want to bring pets to work. Because they can get more done.

Silliness. Who's in charge? Who is responsible? And there's attack on the Lordship of Christ and there's an attitude against it. And it's an attitude of a general rebellion against authority.

And it comes from the devil himself. It's rebellion against God. And the Lordship of Christ.

And here is Abraham and he's faced with that. I often wondered what went through his heart. He said, offer up thine only Son.

And we enjoy the picture as it points forward to the Lord Jesus. And how God spared not his own son, Romans. But there needs to be an appreciation of Lordship today.

And with this I close. What is your attitude on the Lordship of Christ? Is it something that is a burden? It just brings you down. It disgusts you.

It irritates you. That someone would want to have full control of your life. Or is there an appreciation? It's one or the other.

And usually the difference is in how we perceive it. He is in charge. He is responsible for me.

You look at it in that light for a while. The Savior is responsible for me. It's not a burden anymore.

It's a relief. It's a relief. Philip.

Test of the Lord's presence. Who is with me? And what can He do? You think about that wherever circumstance in life you are. The children of Israel, a test of the Lord's promises.

He wanted them to know that men do not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. And we come to Abraham. Test of the Lord's purposes.

Is He Lord of my life today? And I've been asking myself this question for months and years. That's why it's personal to me and I hope it's personal to you. The test of the Lord's purposes.