Our Participation in the Test

Lesson 4 - Our Participation in the Test

Wednesday, May 24, 2017

5:21 PM

Today we are going to get away from Job a little bit and look at another scripture although we will come back and talk about Job after while I want to read this morning from 1 Peter chapter 1:1-9 While on a short-term missions trip, Pastor Jack Hinton was leading worship at a leper colony on the island of Tobago. A woman who had been facing away from the pulpit turned around.

"It was the most hideous face I had ever seen," Hinton said. "The woman's nose and ears were entirely gone. She lifted a fingerless hand in the air and asked, 'Can we sing "Count Your Many Blessings"?'"

Overcome with emotion, Hinton left the service. He was followed by a team member who said, "I guess you'll never be able to sing that song again."

"Yes I will," he replied, "but I'll never sing it the same way."[1]

I used to love hearing the poem on a recording I have at home, sometimes we forget in our sufferings that one of the greatest ways out is to praise and thank the Lord for our blessings. They were talking about this last night in the service.

Today, upon a bus, I saw a lovely girl with golden hair.

I envied her, she seemed so happy, and wished I was as fair.

When suddenly she rose to leave, I saw her hobbled down the aisle.

She had one leg and wore a crutch.

And as she passed... She smiled.

Oh God, forgive me when I whine.

I have 2 legs, the world is mine

And later on the way to work, I stopped to buy some sweets The lad who sold it had such charm.

I talked with him awhile

If I were late, it'd do no harm.

And as I left, he said to me, "I thank you sir, you've been so kind.

It's nice to talk with folks like you. You see," he said, "I'm blind."

Oh God, forgive me when I whine.

I have 2 eyes, the world is mine.

Later while walking down the street,

I saw a child with eyes of blue.

He stood and watched the others play.

Seemed He didn't know what to do.

I stopped a moment and then I said,

"Why don't you join the others, dear?"

He looked ahead without a word. And then I knew,

he couldn't hear.

Oh God, forgive me when I whine.

I have 2 ears, the world is mine.

With legs to take me where I'd go.

With eyes to see the sunset's glow.

With ears to hear what I'd know.

Oh Lord.. Dear God, forgive me when I whine.

I've been blessed indeed, the world is mine........[2]

You may wonder why I have been using so many poems and songs in this study, I don't usually include so many, but the book of Job is basically poetry, and is categorized as such by most scholars.

Elisabeth Elliott whose husband was martyred back in the 1956 defines suffering like this - "Suffering is having what you don't want, or wanting what you don't have." [3]

I think that is a pretty close definition of what suffering is.

Malcom Muggeridge a British poet and journalist wrote: "Supposing you eliminated suffering, what a dreadful place the world would be! I would almost rather eliminate happiness. The world would be the most ghastly place because everything that corrects the tendency of this unspeakable little creature, man, to feel over-important and over-pleased with himself would disappear. He's bad enough now, but he would be absolutely intolerable if he never suffered." Now while I don't agree with everything Malcom Muggeridge says, I think there may be some truth to this statement. Since the fall, suffering is inevitable. [4]

We expect bad people to suffer: when we hear things like the story of Al Capone a mob boss back in the 1920's in Chicago. He ran a multimillion operation in bootlegging, prostitution and gambling. He employed over 1,000 gunmen in his service and had up to half of the city's police force on his payroll. In his final years, he descended into a frightened quivering mess, who would scream out at night for 'Jimmy' to leave him alone. Many think 'Jimmy' was the ghost or at least the haunting of a guilty conscience of one of the seven gunned down by Capone on Valentine's day 1929 [5]

We tend to think - "He got what he deserved."

But what about Kingston Frazier a 6-year-old Mississippi boy who's Mom had left him in their running Toyota Camry at about 1:15 am. in Jackson MS. while she went in to a local Kroger. At some point during the 10-15 minutes Ebony the mother was in the store, a Honda Civic pulled up and the driver got out and busted into the Camry where the 6 year old was, and drove off with the car. Sometime later Kingston the small boy was found dead from a gunshot wound in the back of a car that had been stolen from his mother hours earlier

We ask why? What a senseless act. I don’t know that I will ever get the picture that was included with the article of the Mother Ebony being carried by family members after she collapsed from hearing the news. out of my mind. [6]

Again I don't think I have all of the answers. Sometimes the only answer is that God is the answer.

REVIEW: We have been studying Job's suffering so we can comfort those who are suffering, and to find relief in our own suffering.

We have seen that Job was prepared for his test with a sure testimony, a solid temperament, and A trust in a safe tester. We studied Job's participation in the test. His test while one great test was in three phases, wealth, health and help. We have seen that Satan uses people to try to accomplish his plan, That God cared about Job in his sufferingTODAY I want us to look at some of OUR PORTRAITS OF THE TEST. Some modes and means of suffering.

There are different modes and means of suffering. The Bible gives us a few pictures types of suffering. Three of the main ways people suffer are pictures as:

The Fiery Furnace - The image of suffering as a fiery furnace is a rich biblical metaphor. Fire is, of course, a well-known image for torment and pain. The Bible calls trials and troubles “walking through fire” (Isa 43:2) or a “fiery ordeal” (1 Pet 4:12). But it also likens suffering to a fiery furnace (1 Pet 1:6–7). The biblical understanding of a furnace is more what we would call a “forge.” Anything with that degree of heat is, of course, a very dangerous and powerful thing. However, if used properly, it does not destroy. I like what Timothy Keller in his book, "Walking With God through Pain and Suffering" wrote, "Things put into the furnace properly can be shaped, refined, purified, and even beautified. This is a remarkable view of suffering, that if faced and endured with faith, it can in the end only make us better, stronger, and more filled with greatness and joy. Suffering, then, actually can use evil against itself. It can thwart the destructive purposes of evil and bring light and life out of darkness and death" [7]. Probably the most well-known story of a fiery furnace is found in Daniel chapter 3. We find three young men who were faithful to God and refused to bow to the idol found themselves thrown into the furnace. While the furnace was supposed to kill them, an amazing thing happens. A mysterious figure appears beside them. And they walk through the fiery furnace without any hurt or harm. We know of course that mysterious figure to be God, Himself no doubt in the form of the pre-incarnate Christ. In the New Testament the bar of God walking with us in the furnace is raised to a whole new level. Not only was he according to Isiah 7:14 called Immanuel but he literally was "God With Us" He came down to face the furnace himself.I love Heb. 2:9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. The image of the ancient rite of execution by drinking poison. Timothy Keller goes on to say, "He plunged himself into our furnace so that, when we find ourselves in the fire, we can turn to him and know we will not be consumed but will be made into people great and beautiful.The songwriter put it this way, “Fear not, I am with thee, O be not dismayed, For I am thy God, and will still give thee aid; I’ll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand, Upheld by My righteous, omnipotent hand.”

“When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie,

My grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply;

The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design

Thy dross to consume, and thy gold to refine.”

Peter who is writing to "the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia…" Now they are not scattered because they want to be they are running for their lives. They have seen and faced the horrors of Nero's persecution. He would:Crucify them on crossesDip their bodies in oil and light them on fire and put them in the gardens as torches.Put them in coliseums while the crowd laughed and jeered while lions ripped them from limb to limbMommas had their babies pulled from their arms and fed to pigs right in front of themSome were sown up in bags with poisonous snakes and thrown into the river Some were Sawn asunder and tortured in various ways. Peter is telling these kinds of Christians in 1 Peter 1:6-7 6 Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:

7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:

There are several things about gold and faith and suffering that are interesting. There is no known natural substance that can destroy real gold - Every bit of real gold that has ever been mined out of the earth still exists today in some form. Gold is a great conductor of Power - Used in NASA Spaceships, USA Navy Ships & Submarines even in sound equipment to conduct energy and sound. God is looking for real faith without it we can't please God according to Hebrew 11:6A little bit of Gold goes a long way - I've been told you can take an ounce of gold beat it into a cord so thin it can be stretched for fifty miles. Three main tests of Gold vs Fool's GoldShine Test - Fools gold doesn't shine consistently when you hold it up to the light. It will shine but as you turn it the shine will change. Real gold will shine shine shineThe Scorch test - Placing fools gold in heat will cause a sulferic smell, like rotten eggs, and it will become dirtier. Real Gold will lose the earth (worldliness, dross) and shine until the refiner can see his reflection in it.The Hardness Test - Place gold on an anvil and hit it with a mallet. Fool's gold will shatter. Real gold may dent and bend but it will never shatter. This was the test of Job. In reality the book of Job is a contest between God and Satan over the faith and integrity of Job. God asks Satan if he has considered his servant Job, there is no one like him. Satan says, Job serves you because you bless him. Let me at him and he'll curse you to your face. So Satan does the hardness test on Job. Takes him to the anvil and throws down the mallet and he loses all of his livestock, then comes another blow and his children all of them are gone, then another blow and he's covered from head to toe with sores and boils then another blow and his wife says just curse God and die, then another blow and the three miserable comforters come by and say Job if you hadn't sinned this wouldn't have happened. Job sets there bloodied, bent, pressed beyond measure, and says, "I can't find God." I go forward, but he is not there, and I can't see him behind me. I feel on the right hand and he isn't there, I feel on the left and I can't see Him." and he staggers to his feet. And takes a deep breath and opens his mouth to speak It's almost as if Satan rubs his hands together eagerly and says, "alright here it comes. He's going to curse God." "Are you listening God here it comes."

And Job starts talking - 10 But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. -[8]

An old song I heard one time and fell in love with called,

God's Anvil

Pain's furnace-heat within me quivers, God's breath upon the flame doth blow, And all my heart in anguish shivers And trembles at the fiery glow

He comes and lays my heart all heated On his hard anvil, Minded so;

Yet in his own fair form to beat it

With his great hammer, blow by blow

He takes my softened heart and beats it

The sparks fly off at every blow He turns it o'er and o'er and heats it, And lets it cool, and makes it glow.

He kindles for my profit purely, Afflictions glowing fiery brand

For all his heaviest blows are surely

Inflicted by a Master hand

I will not murmur at the sorrow

That only longer-lived would be The end may come, and that tomorrow When God hath wrought his will in me

Refrain: And yet I whisper, "As God will," And in his hottest fire hold still. And yet I whisper, "As God will,"

And in his hottest fire hold still.

The STORMS - Then there is the metaphor of storms. I think two of the greatest examples of this are Noah and the Disciples. Noah faced a storm as a test to his faith when God said to build an ark. He obeys and builds and just as God said he put in the upper window. Maybe for many reasons but I think so every once in a while he could look up and know that God was still there. I like how one preacher put it to song:

The storms may come, but fear not

Oh, Noah, I am nigh.

And through the upper window,

You'll see me standing by. Rev. John Bieri (PD)

Then there were the disciple out on the boat in Mark 4 as they were on their way to the other side, that a great storm of wind arose, the waves poured over the side of the ship so that it was full of water. As I studied this passage - one scholar said that this seems to be the working of Satan. That he brought this storm upon the disciples. Jesus goes to the back of the ship and falls asleep. They cry out to Him Master, "Carest thou not that we perish?" And Jesus gets up and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, "Peace, be Still. And the wind ceased. And there was a great calm.I love that song - "It's just like Jesus to roll the clouds away." But sometimes He choses not to roll them away and we go through the water, go through the storm. What then?It's like another hymwriter put it -

“When through the deep waters I call thee to go, The rivers of sorrow shall not overflow; For I will be with thee, thy troubles to bless, And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.” Or there is the storm of persecution - Some Facts about Persecution of ChristiansMore Christians were martyred in the 20th century than in all other centuries combined [christianity.com]It is claimed that 105,000 Christians are martyred for their faith each year [Deseret News, 2011]Currently over 100 million Christians are being persecuted worldwide [Reuters, 2013]70 percent of the world's population lives in a religiously intolerant environment [Pew Forum, 2011] [9] Stripped to his waist and forced on his stomach by the authorities, Paul shut his eyes. A pair of sandals shuffled in the dirt behind him. He heard the crowd quiet down, heard the breath taken, the whistle of the leather, and—snap!—felt its bite. The guard found his rhythm and the beating began in earnest. The flogging was characteristically Jewish: thirty-nine applications of a triple lash. Thirty-nine, not forty. Mosaic law permitted up to forty, but better not to risk overstepping the bounds. By the thirtieth blow, Paul’s tongue lagged in the sand. Before his career’s end, he would taste the dust outside of five such synagogues. He would also know scar-opening sessions under the rod of Rome, barely elude assassination, cling to ship’s wreckage in the open sea for a day and a night, mark years in chains, and be left for dead after stoning-by-mob (2 Corinthians 11:24-27). The apostle confided to them in a letter. He described what fueled his remarkable spiritual life and what he craved:

Philippians 3:10-11 (KJV)

10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;

11 If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.

All I care for is to know Christ, to experience the power of his resurrection, and to share in his sufferings, in growing conformity with his death…(Philippians 3:10, NEB) “All I care for is to know Christ,” Paul wrote. Yes, we say in our best moments; we want the same. Life is happiest when we’re on good terms with our Maker. “All I care for is…to experience the power of his resurrection.” Absolutely! Bring it on. We want to rise above our circumstances just like he rose from the dead. We could use a good soul-scrubbing. Heaven knows the help we need to wrestle down our vices. We all want to do better. “All I care for is…to share in his sufferings.” Uh, wait. Perhaps the apostle overstates himself a bit. We don’t actually want a share of sufferings, Christ’s or anybody else’s. On further thought, however, we grant that hard times in moderate doses can be a good tonic for the soul. This topic of suffering, no doubt, is an important part of Christian living that we all should know more about. Just keep the heat down to a manageable level. “All I care for is…growing conformity with his death.” What? Becoming like Christ in his death? we ask. As in martyrdom by crucifixion? As in a living death where we “carry our cross” and God slowly wrenches from us everything we hold dear? You mean likeness to Christ’s death as in being force-fed things I don’t want while wanting things I don’t have? Having suffering shoveled down my throat by God-who-says-he-loves-me? Ugh! Wait a minute, you say. If the apostle Paul is our prototype, if God points to Paul to show us we can do the same, does he—or the God he represents—have an inkling of the pain I have endured? [10] The Fiery Trial

An early confessor of the Lord Jesus was summoned to the presence of the Emperor of Rome, and threatened with banishment, if be dared to remain a Christian. "Me thou canst not banish," was the noble answer, "for the world is my Father's house." "But I will take thy life," said the Emperor. "Nay, but thou canst not, sire, for my life is hid with Christ in God." a I will deprive thee of thy treasures," continued the Emperor. "I have no treasures that thou canst seize," was the response, "for my treasure is in heaven, and my heart is there." "But I will drive thee away from man, and thou shalt have no friend left," "Nay, that thou canst not," replied the bold and faithful witness, "for I have a Friend in heaven, from whom thou canst not separate me. [11]

The DARKNESS - WE can't always see where we are going or see our way out. It's dark, gloomy, and just when you thought you had seen a light at the end of the tunnel you realized it was a freight train.

All three of these metaphors have one thing in common - TRUST IN GOD. FAITH IN JESUS. One book that made quite an impression on me is the book by Hannah Hunnard. It's an allegory called "Hinds Feet on High Place."

It is the story of a young woman named Much Afraid, and her journey away from her Fearing family and into the High Places of the Shepherd, guided by her two companions Sorrow and Suffering. It is an allegory of a Christian devotional life from salvation through maturity. It aims to show how a Christian is transformed from unbeliever to immature believer to mature believer, who walks daily with God as easily on the High Places of Joy in the spirit as in the daily life of mundane and often humiliating tasks that may cause Christians to lose perspective.

The book takes its title from Habakkuk 3:19, "The Lord God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds' feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places."[12]

I want you to listen to one conversation between Much Afraid and the Great Shepherd

He (the Great Shepherd) asked, “Do you love Me enough to be able to trust Me completely, Much-Afraid?”

She looked at Him in the usual startled fashion so natural to her whenever she sensed that He was preparing her for a new test, then faltered, “You know that I do love You, Shepherd, as much as my cold little heart is capable. You know that I love You and that I long to trust You as much as I love You, that I long both to love and trust You still more.”

“Would you be willing to trust Me,” He asked, “even if everything in the wide world seemed to say that I was deceiving you— indeed, that I had deceived you all along?”

She looked at Him in perplexed amazement. “Why, yes,” she said, “I’m sure I would, because one thing I know to be true, it is impossible that You should tell a lie. It is impossible that You should deceive me. I know that I am often very frightened at the things which You ask me to do,” she added shamefacedly and apologetically, “but I could never doubt You in that way. It’s myself I am afraid of, never of You, and though everyone in the world should tell me that You had deceived me, I should know it was impossible.

“O Shepherd,” she implored, “don’t tell me that You think I really doubt You, even when I am most afraid and cowardly and despicably weak. You know—You know I can trust You. In the end I know I shall be able to say Thy gentleness hath made me great.”

He said nothing for a little, only looked down very tenderly, almost pitifully at the figure now crouching at His feet. Then, after a time, He said very quietly, “Much-Afraid, supposing I really did deceive you? What then?”

It was then her turn to be quite silent, trying to grasp this impossible thing He was suggesting and to think what her answer would be. What then? Would it be that she could never trust, never love Him again? Would she have to be alive in the world where there was no Shepherd, only a mirage and a broken lovely dream? To know that she had been deceived by One she was certain could not deceive? To lose Him?

Suddenly she burst into a passion of weeping, then after a little while looked straight up into His face and said, “My Lord—if You can deceive me, You may. It can make no difference. I must love You as long as I continue to exist. I cannot live without loving You.”

He laid His hands on her head, then with a touch more tender and gentle than anything she had ever felt before, repeated as though to Himself, “If I can, I may deceive her.” Then without another word He turned and went away.

Much-Afraid picked up a little icy-cold pebble which was lying on the ground where He had stood, put it in her bag, then tremblingly rejoined Sorrow and Suffering, and they continued their journey.[13]

The Sufferer Is RealIt really hurts, it's really painfulThe Experience might feel like a nightmare -but you never wake upI don't know why a young mother I know had to wait until it was practically too late to find out her husband had been molesting her daughter for years. I don't know why a young couple loses their job, and then everything else seems to go backward. I don't know why an accident claimed the memory and some body functions of a mother and wifeI don't know the answers but I know that suffering is real. The Sufferer Feels I took a survey from those I mentioned a few moments ago as well as several others, and these are the top three things that people mentioned was some of the hardest part of their suffering. Listen to these. Pain - often from the loss of a loved one or some other form of pain. Sister Willa Moore shared with me a little poem that helped her face the trial of losing her mother Sister Turner several years ago. I thought it was so good and wanted to share it with you today. Grief never ends… But it changes. It's a passage, not a place to stay. Grief is not a sign of weakness not a lack of faith… It is the price of love. Loneliness - Sometimes people don't know how to relate or what to say so they just stay away. Or you don't feel like they understand. Misunderstood - Sometimes I think the church and especially the Holiness people have for far too long ignored the reality of Anxiety and Depression. It is not a spiritual problem it is a natural problem. Now I am not a doctor but I have been told by several physicians as well as my own personal research that The problem with Depression comes from the brain not producing enough dopemine????

It is a serious illness caused by changes in brain chemistry. Research tells us that other factors contribute to the onset of depression, including genetics, changes in hormone levels, certain medical conditions, stress, grief or difficult life circumstances.

https://www.google.com/search?q=what+causes+depression< From&oq=what+causes+depression&aqs=chrome..69i57j69i64.23541j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8>

Symptoms may vary but are often misunderstood and can be thought of as proud, grouchy, better than everyone else. When in reality they are hanging onto a thread just to keep their heads above water.Yes people in the Bible suffered from depression too, Elijah was depressed that he was the only one left, Solomon seemed to have suffered from bouts of depression. Jeremiah seemed to have lived under the dark cloud of depression. Probably many others too. I've seen depression put people in bed for days. I've seen Panic and Anxiety practically paralyze people with fear. I'm not talking about a little nervous feeling about getting up in front of people, a serious anxiety and panicky feeling. These symptoms do not have anything to do with a spiritual problem. I understand that yes carnality can make people act and react in selfish ways, these are not self-centered or self-preserving symptoms. And yet it is so easy to look at someone going through these hard times and say, "If they were more spiritual God would heal them." Or "If they were where they needed to be they wouldn't go through that." Do you know who that sounds like?It's not something that is talked of frequently, and even now it is hard to talk about this morning. While I may not suffer much my wife suffers tremendously at the hands of depression and anxiety. Panic attacks are a frequent thing at our house. The least little thing can set them off, being in crowds, being put in the center of attention, going to the grocery store, the heart races the mind flies into fight or flight modes, adrenaline kicks in, Feelings of inadequacy, not just a feeling of not being as good as so and so, but a feeling of not being good enough. Not measuring up to everyone else. A Lonely feeling that no one understands.This is why sometimes you will see us sit in the back, or leave without explanation, or act strange or different. It is not that we are angry or offended or upset, but it's because she has to get to away from whatever is causing the panic and anxiety. Yes medicine works temporarily, yes all kinds of things have been tried. No they haven't worked for good. I believe in healing. I have seen God heal my wife of terrible terrible headaches. I have prayed and fasted for healing for this. and yet it doesn't seem that God is going to answer with healing. Part of her suffering also includes a fear that every ache and every pain or every symptom is going to lead to death. We have hashed over funeral arrangements many many times. But one day she was suffering from this and she got somewhat tired of it and she went to go pray. As she was praying God gave her a promise that we stand on quite frequently when she is under these attacks

Psalm 118:17 (KJV)

17 I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the LORD.

We don't always understand our Fiery FurnaceOur StormThe DarknessAnd yet I whisper, "As God will," And in his hottest fire hold still.

Now tomorrow I want to talk about the promises in the Bible that teach us that we can pass the test.

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[M]Pastor's Update (5/96) Edward K. Rowell, ed., 1001 Quotes, Illustrations, and Humorous Stories: For Preachers, Teachers, and Writers, (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2008), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, 275. [M]~ Red Foley [M] Elisabeth Elliot: Suffering is Not For Nothing Lecture 1 15:58 [M]Elisabeth Elliot: Suffering Is Not For Nothing Lecture 1 16:48 ://www.ancient-origins.net/unexplained-phenomena/final-insanity-al-capone-was-notorious-gangster-haunted-hapless-victim-003005found [M]http& [M] From <https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/18/us/mississippi-boy-6-is-killed-after-car-is-stolen-from-his-mother.html?mcubz=1_r=0> [M]Timothy Keller. Walking with God through Pain and Suffering (Kindle Locations 177-183). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Editionhttps://youtu.be/SGqqQ5JZzAM[M] From <http://www.seekingtruth.co.uk/persecution.htm> [M] Citation (APA): Tada, J. E. (2017). When God Weeps: Why Our Sufferings Matter to the Almighty [Kindle Android version]. Retrieved from Amazon.com[M] (from The Biblical Illustrator Copyright © 2002, 2003 Ages Software, Inc. and Biblesoft, Inc.)[M] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinds%27_Feet_on_High_Places[M] From Hannah Hurnard - Hinds Feet on High Places p 220- 224 Destiny Image® Publishers, Inc. P.O. Box 310 Shippensburg, PA 17257-0310