God Tests Before He Promotes - Part 1

Right from the beginning of scripture, throughout the Old Testament and the New Testament, we see God choosing certain people for a task. And we also know that God is not partial. There's no partiality with God. So, any wholehearted disciple of Jesus, when he reads the stories of these men whom God chose, will begin to ask himself, Is it possible that God can choose me also to do some task for him in my earthly lifetime before I leave this earth? If you don't ask that question, you can just drift along without any purpose in life. You know, it's like if you put a log of wood out in the ocean. It doesn't go anywhere, but it moves. The waves will move it one way, another way, and you never know where it will end up. I think most Christians are like that. There is no purpose in their life. There is no understanding of anything particular God has called them to do. They just come along to the meetings. They don't commit any gross sin. They read their Bibles and maybe they give a little money for God's work. But, at the end of their life, if you ask, what did God do through them? The answer is probably nothing. God's work and God's purposes, it wouldn't have made a difference if those people hadn't even lived. Isn't it terrible that you can live on this earth and leave it? As far as God's kingdom is concerned, it wouldn't have made a difference whether you lived or died, or whether you never lived. And that's terrible, but that's the sort of life that most Christians live. And yet, I want to say to all of you that that is not God's will for anybody. For every single person who has had the opportunity to hear about Jesus Christ, and who has responded, from that moment, God has got a plan for that person's life. You know, when you come to the end of a year, companies take a stocktaking to see how much profit they have made. In schools, they conduct examinations to see whether the student has learned something and is ready to be promoted to the next class. All enterprises on earth do that, schools, companies. Christians also need to do that, to see, what has the Lord taught me this year? I don't mean head knowledge, but in my life. Are there sins that I have overcome, or is it just the same as it was a year ago? I mean, most people wouldn't be happy to sit in the same class in school the next year. They'd be terribly disturbed. Many Christians are quite happy to live with the same old defeated lives that they've had for many, many years. So, just like schools conduct examinations, and examinations are good. We know they're good, they're difficult, but they're good, because at the end of every examination, there's a promotion. And that's why we don't allow our children to miss examinations. Because if they miss examinations, they don't get promoted. And what we read in the Scriptures, is that God also tests His people. That's something that has been coming to my heart more and more, as I've considered the reason why so many Christians, even in our churches, who have heard truths for many, many, many years, sometimes, or very often, don't seem to make as much spiritual progress as people in a lot of other churches who haven't heard all these truths. Now, how is that possible? One would think that the more of God's truth we hear and understand, the more blessed our life should be, the more powerful, the more full of joy and victory and purpose. But I have discovered through many, many years of observation, that that is not true. Sometimes people who have very little, accomplish more. I mean, that's like saying, you would think that the student whose father is very rich, to get him all the textbooks and CDs and connect to the Internet and everything else, and has got a car to take him to school and bring him back, should come first in the class. But he doesn't. Sometimes such people come at the bottom of the class. And some other poor boy who walks to school and doesn't have any computer at home, and whose parents can't buy him a whole lot of books and all, comes first. How is that? It's very much like that in the Christian life too. You know, in this church, I believe, spiritually speaking, we have to compare ourselves with children from rich families, spiritually speaking. Because we have got so much information, so much knowledge. And just like a lot of children from rich families are thoroughly spoiled, I have discovered that many churches that have got so much information, the people are thoroughly spoiled. They pamper, everything is done for them, and they depend more on people, not upon God. And what is happening, they are not realizing. It's year after year, they are failing test after test after test after test. They are sitting in the same class. And if there is a reason why people are sitting in the same class, it's just because they are failing the tests. Immediately after the Lord delivered the Israelites from Egypt, I want you to turn to Exodus in Chapter 15. In Chapter 14, we read about the deliverance from Egypt and how the Egyptians were buried under the Red Sea. We read in the end of Chapter 14. And Chapter 15 begins with Exodus 15, with this tremendous time of praise and worship to God for what He accomplished. And that's a picture of our redemption, by the blood of the Lamb, from Satan, and we've come out of the grip of the devil. And then, we read here that the first thing that happened, immediately after they came out of Egypt and they had this time of praise, and they sang in verse 23, Miriam was leading the singing and saying, the horse and the rider, the Lord is thrown into the sea, sing to the Lord. Okay, so they've just come out, and the Lord led, Moses led Israel from the Red Sea, verse 22, into the wilderness. And there, they were tested. Just like Jesus was tested in the wilderness. So the first thing that happened, as soon as they came out, God began to test them. Many, many times through the wilderness journey. A picture of our life on earth, where as soon as we are redeemed, God begins to test us to see how much He can commit to us. And we read there that they came to the waters of Marah, and that was a test. When something doesn't work out the way you expect, you expect God to provide everything, right? He's done some wonderful thing for you, just delivered you from Egypt, so therefore you should have no more problems in your life. And, sure enough, there's a problem. There's no water to drink, the water is bitter. It was a test.