Answering Hard Questions (3): The problem of tests
Answering Hard Questions • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Scripture Reading: 1 Corinthians 10:13
Scripture Reading: 1 Corinthians 10:13
No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
Let’s begin with a quick recap of what we’ve covered so far.
We’ve already answered the question: How can there be evil and suffering when God is all-good and all-powerful. The answer is that we don’t know the reason, but we know what the reason is not: the reason is not that God doesn’t love us, and the reason is not that God doesn’t care about evil and suffering. What we do know is that unless we believe in God, we cannot even begin to ask for a reason.
You wouldn’t ask a rock why evil exists, so why would you ask a much bigger rock, aka, the universe? It doesn’t make sense.
Then we asked the question, “Why would a God of love send people to Hell?” And the answer is that God sends people to Hell because He is a God of love. God loves every person as much or even more than a parent could love their own child.
The problem is that all of us have sinned against God and God’s children, and so God’s infinite love toward His children translates into infinite wrath toward sinners. God’s love is God’s wrath.
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.
And so unless we believe in Jesus Christ and that on the cross He bore the infinite wrath of God in our place, we will be the ones to bear God’s infinite wrath in Hell.
This afternoon we’re looking at a different question. You might have guessed it from the scripture reading, but here it is.
If God is all-knowing, why would He test Christians?
If God is all-knowing, why would He test Christians?
To be honest, before preparing for this Bible study I never liked the idea that God tests His people. It sounds very much like an insecure girlfriend, boyfriend, or spouse who has trust issues, and so he or she deliberately does things to make you prove your faithfulness and love. It’s not a flattering picture for God to be known as a God who tests His people. Furthermore, the attribute of God that seems to run the most contrary to this idea is God’s omniscience: God is all-knowing.
Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.
So if God is all-knowing, why would He test us? He already knows whether we’re going to pass or fail the test. So why bother? The answer’s actually really simple.
God tests us not because He’s all-knowing, but because we aren’t.
God tests us not for His own sake, but for ours.
What does this mean? This means that there’s a certain benefit from proving our faith. There’s something to be gained. The Apostle John uses the word πιστευω, meaning ‘to have faith’ or ‘to trust’ about a hundred times in his Gospel. Can you guess how many times he uses the word ‘faith’ (πιστις)? Not once. Why is that? It’s because faith is not a thing on its own, but a thing proven and a thing lived out. And here are some benefits that we receive when God gives us tests to prove our faith.
God tests us so we can grow in assurance
God tests us so we can grow in humility
God tests us so we can grow in assurance
God tests us so we can grow in assurance
What do we mean by grow in assurance? To grow in assurance is to grow in confidence, certainty, and faith. Assurance in what?
When I was five, my parents told me I was adopted. That meant that my birth parents, for some reason, could not or did not take care of me. However, Mama and Papa Chiang wanted me as their son. And until I was five, I had no clue that mama and papa Chiang weren’t my birth parents. Why is that? It’s because they loved me, cared for me, provided for me, and disciplined me as their child. I never questioned my identity as a son of the Chiang family.
The story of the Gospel is that we were all spiritual orphans, estranged from our heavenly Father. But our heavenly Brother Jesus Christ came to us to tell us the Good News: we have now been adopted as God’s children. See what Jesus says in the Gospel of John.
“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.
And so what that means is that we are now adopted into the family of God. From the perspective of the genealogies, we have been adopted into the line of Seth, which has the image and likeness of God.
But if you’re like me, sometimes you would go through a rough patch in your spiritual life. Sometimes it feels like a spiritually dry season, and you start to wonder, “Am I really a child of God?” Do you know what I mean? Thank you. I’m glad I’m not alone in this. So what does God do to deal with our doubts? Let’s have a look at what God does.
No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
God helps us through our doubts by letting us get tempted and tested. Wait a minute. You mean God helps me gain assurance by testing me? That sounds very counterproductive. But look at what the Apostle Paul says.
No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man.
What does this mean? I always get confused when there are too many negatives in a sentence. Let’s restate the sentence in the positive.
Your temptations are the same as everyone else’s.
The temptations you face are the same temptations everyone else faces.
That means that the tests God gives us are the same tests that every human being goes through. All people are tested, but not all people can do well. All people are tempted to sin, but not all people give in to sin.
And who are the ones who have the ability to overcome temptations? Those who have been adopted into the family of God and have received a new identity as a son and daughter of God.
The Lord tests the righteous,
but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence.
So why would God give us tests that everyone else gets?
Fitness coaches on social media always take before and after photos of their clients to advertise how good they are. But what you’ll see many times is that the before photo has very bad lighting, and it makes the person look bad. But in the second photo, the lighting is usually straight down from the ceiling and makes all the muscles look very big and juicy.
That’s not what God’s doing. God’s doesn’t change the lighting. God’s saying this, “Compare your life before and after you believed in Jesus. The lighting’s the same. The test is the same. But it’s you who has been changed and spiritually transformed.”
Is this true, or am I just spouting nonsense? Look at what the Apostle Paul says next.
God is faithful, and He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability.
What does this mean? This tells us why God puts us to the test. It’s not so that we can fail, but so that we can exercise our newfound ability as sons and daughters of God to pass the test which everyone else will fail.
God tests us to give us opportunities to live out our new identity in Christ; to prove, not to God, but to ourselves and those around us, that we have been adopted into God’s family.
But what does it mean to pass the test? What’s so different between the before and after? Look at what the Apostle Paul says:
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins
A dead body can’t do anything until God breathes life into it. But now that we are alive in Christ by grace through faith, now that we are in Christ and no longer in Adam, we can obey or disobey God’s Word.
That’s why the New Testament writers keep telling us not to sin. What’s the point of warning someone who has no free will or no free choice? They’re just going to do what they were going to do anyway.
And so what’s the difference between the before and after? The difference is this: love and obedience; two sides of the same coin.
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
What does this mean? This gives us a clear picture of what God’s children do. They love Him and obey Him.
Jesus modelled this example for us. As the Son of God who loves The Father, He is perfectly and completely obedient to The Father. He is our example of what it means to be a son of God.
Sonship looks like loving obedience to one’s father.
God tests us so that we grow in humility
God tests us so that we grow in humility
When we first come to Christ and receive the Gospel, we learn of how great God is, and how great we are because we belong to Him. But sometimes we mistake assurance of faith with assurance of IQ. And so we think our way of doing things is better because we’re holier or because we’ve contributed more to the church. We think other people should honor us for our spiritual prowess.
And so God, even when He knows we’ll fail the test, tests us for our benefit. Why? So that we would be humbled by coming face-to-face with our sin. That is what God did with the Israelites in the wilderness.
And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not.
God tests us so that we can realize our sinfulness and grow in humility before God and before others. In fact, this is what the Psalmist asks for.
Prove me, O Lord, and try me;
test my heart and my mind.
Psalm 139:23-24 “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!”
So God gives us tests to help us stay humble and dependent on Him.
Conclusion: God tests us to let us grow in faith
Conclusion: God tests us to let us grow in faith
No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
The Apostle Paul says that with the test or temptation He will also provide the way of escape, that we can endure it. What does this mean? This means that we must depend on God alone not only for our justification, but also our sanctification. Sanctification is a process in which we manifest more and more of our identity as children of God in Christ. This identity is like an oversized shirt, and the more we grow, the more it fits.
When we are tested, we can exercise our newfound ability to refuse sin and choose God. Tests are an opportunity to prove to the world and to ourselves that we are God’s children. We grow in assurance of faith.
Furthermore, even if we fail the test and give in to temptation, we come face-to-face with our own sinfulness and repent.
If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
The Apostle Peter and James calls such tests a refiner’s fire that purifies our faith and makes us stronger than ever before.
so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.
The great preacher Charles Spurgeon once said this about the Christian life.
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—
Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.
For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.
Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth.
and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.
Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience,
No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
The keyword here is this: He will also provide the way of escape.
Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth.
No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
The Lord tests the righteous,
but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence.
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.
Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,
“The Christian is on a boat of salvation on the way to heaven. You can’t fall off the boat, but you can fall on the boat, break all your bones, and spend the whole trip in the infirmary.”
let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.
We are all on a boat to heaven. You can stand up tall and enjoy the view, or you can fall and hurt yourself. But you will never fall off the boat. Let us therefore give thanks and count it all joy when tests and trials come our way.