Introduction:
* God did not end his creational work with merely a perfect creation, but HE ended it with a TEST for his image bearer <Ge 2:16-17> .
* The Lord Jesus was led by the Spirit to be tempted by the Evil One prior to His ministry. <Mat 4:1>.
* The Apostle James told us there will be trials of all kinds to test our faith. <James 1:2-3>.
* We are tested every single day, with every decision and choice we make.
* Learn to see the pandemic as a test also.
<Genesis 22:1-14>
1 Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!”
“Here I am,” he replied.
2 Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”
3 Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. 4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5 He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.”
6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, 7 Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?”
“Yes, my son?” Abraham replied.
“The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”
8 Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.
9 When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”
“Here I am,” he replied.
12 “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”
13 Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram[a] caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”
The whole idea in God’s testing
1) Because God is the judge and it is in his nature and prerogative to judge.
<Isa 64:6> tells us: All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags;
2) Because God has decided to send His Son to receive judgement for all the failed tests by His people.
3) To draw us to more humility and thus have more reliance on the grace of God.
4) To refine to our faith and to bring it to maturity and completion.
<James 1:2-4>: 2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
5) To receive the promised reward after every test
<James 1:12>: 12 Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.
6) To be a living testimony to those who come after us
<Heb 11:39-40>: 39 These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, 40 since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.
7) To affirm God’s faithfulness and perseverance
<1 Cor 10:13>: 13 No temptation (or testing) has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted (or tested) beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted (or tested), he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.
