Day #240: Hebrews 4:16

Can you believe its been nine years since the terrorists attacks on the world trade center, the pentagon and the downed plane in Somerset, PA? It’s my sense that those events were a test for all of us – a test to see how our faith would grow – a test to see what would become most important to us – a test to see what would change. Hers the question: How did you do on that test? Today we're going to look at Abraham and the test that he went through, so you can get a better grip on how to pass the future test you will face.

Understand this: Life is a series of tests. James says that the problems that we have that come to us are actually tests. In the life of Abraham we're going to see four tests. Even though your circumstances will vary, God will test you in the exact same four areas that He tested Abraham.

After 20 years of formal education, I have learned that it is helpful to prepare for tests. In fact the tests I like the best are the tests where the teacher gives you the questions in advance. Like an open book test. I learn more.

But the fact of life is, some teachers are downright mean. They like to trick you. They like to keep the test questions hidden. They want to get you into the room, throw up the screen and the questions are on the blackboard and you're in utter panic.

That's not the way God is. God wants you to pass His test. In fact He wants that so much He tells you in advance the way you're going to be tested. You can count on it. You will be tested these four ways in life. He wants you to pass so He tells you in advance. There's only one thing about God's tests. You don't know the timing. God specializes in pop quizzes. Some of you are going through a test right now. You don't even know it but you are. We're going to look at Abraham and the tests he went through and how do you find out if you're a real believer.

#1. MAJOR CHANGE. Hebrews 11:8 says, "By faith Abraham when he was called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance obeyed and went even though he did not know where he was going."

The first test of life is a major change. God asked Abraham to pick up every thing he had and move to another place. Abraham asked "Where?" That's the question.

The first test is the “Where” question. God, where am I going? I'll tell you later. I'll let you know. How long is it going to take? I'll let you know. How do I know when I get there? I'll let you know. Would you follow God like that?

A major change. That was difficult for Abraham. In the first place he was 75 years old, an older man. When he was ready to retire, God said, “You're ready to aspire”. When he's ready for social security, God says, “You're ready for social insecurity”. When he's ready to hang it up. God says, “Get it down and dust it off”. When he's ready to sit back and take it easy, God says, “You're ready for the biggest adventure of your life”.

Not only that but he was wealthy. He had a lot to move and they didn't have Beacon's in those days. He had camels, cattle, sheep, servants. He was a fat cat in the Mesopotamian city of Ur. God said "You're going to leave Ur and go to a place you don't know. But follow Me." And he picked up everything and immediately, without excuse, he took off.

Here is the first test of a real believer. A real believer will follow God's leading without knowing where.

Some of you are asking the “Where?” question right now. Lord, where do You want me to work? ... Where do You want me to live? ... Where do You want me to go to school? It's the “Where?” question. It's a major change and this is a test.
God says, “Start moving and I will direct you”. If your faith hasn't led you to take any risks it's not faith. First test -- major change.


#2. DELAYED PROMISE.

This test causes us to ask "When?" "By faith he made his home in the Promised Land like a stranger in a foreign country. He lived in tents as did Isaac and Jacob who were heirs of him of the same promise." There's a word that's used twice in that sentence -- promise. Circle it. Promise is a very important word in the vocabulary of faith. The question is “When?”

God said, “I'm going to give you the Promised Land”. And Abraham wanted to know, “When?” God wants us to base our lives on promises not explanations. God promised him the Promised Land but after he got there, there was a delay. In fact Abraham not only waited his life, he waited Isaac's life and Jacob's life -- three generations and they still were living in tents. There’s not a much more temporary way to live. They couldn't even settle down. How would you like to live in a tent for three generations? Can you imagine Sarah. "Abraham, when are we going to get a real house?" said Sarah intently.

I can handle a test in life if I know there's going to be an end to it, if I can see out there at the end. But the hardest kinds of tests to handle are the tests in life when you don't know if they're ever going to end. That's difficult. The delayed promise.

Abraham never gave up. He never went back to Ur.
Here's the lesson: A real believer will wait for God's timing without knowing when.

Some of you are going through the “When?” test right now. When are things going to get better in my family, Lord? When am I going to get a boyfriend or girlfriend? When am I going to get well? When are You going to solve my problem? When are You going to answer my prayers? The second greatest test of life is a Delayed Promise. When?

What have you been expecting God to do in your life that hasn't happened yet? Abraham had to wait three generations. What are you waiting for? I think of this applying to our land. We've been waiting and waiting, and everybody's saying, "When, God? When are You going to give us the land?" I think God wants to put up a sign: This is a test! It is a test and when we pass the test the land will come. But there is always a delay. All God's saints had a delay. Moses waited eighty years. Noah waited 120 years. Abraham waited his lifetime. God always gives His believers the Waiting Test.


#3. AN IMPOSSIBLE PROBLEM.

"By faith Abraham even though he was past age and Sarah herself was barren was enabled to become a father because he considered God faithful who had made the promise."

Abraham is 99 years old and he still doesn't have a kid. And God says he's going to be the father of a great nation. He had already changed his name to "Father of many nations." How embarrassing!

What's your name - Father of many nations. How many kids you got? - Zip! How old are you? - 99…..Right!

An impossible problem. It was physically impossible. Sarah had already gone through menopause. The Bible says when God said you're going to have a child, they laughed. They named their kid Isaac which means "laughter". They said, "This kid's a joke!" The Bible said Abraham looked at himself and said, "No way!" And Sarah looked at her body and said, "Double no way!" Abraham laughed and Sarah laughed, but God had the last laugh!

An impossible problem is when you wonder “How?” Not when, not where, but how? How are you going to do it, Lord? Abraham is 99. It's comical, a major problem, an impossible situation.

An impossible problem -- the “How's” of life. Some of you are worried and discouraged and down and you're saying "I just don't know how God's going to do it." And you don't know how God's going to help you. "God! How am I going to make ends meet this month? ... How am I going to pay for college? God, how are You going to heal me? ... God! How am I going to find time for a ministry. I'm too busy already." It's a test in life just like Abraham. You're thinking "How in the world are You going to change my parents? ... How in the world are You going to change my friends? How in the world are You going to get through to unbelieving friends" The “How” questions of life.

The test of a real believer? A real believer will expect a miracle without knowing “How” God intends to do it. There is one more test, and we see it in Abraham's life and it is the greatest test, the ultimate test. I'm so thankful that God tells us in advance it's going to come because it will come in your life. You can count on it.


#4. A SENSELESS TRAGEDY.

It's not the “When?” It's not the “Where?” It's not the “How?” It's the Why? question of life. Why is this happening, God? It's the ultimate test. Abraham faced it. It will be yours too. And this is the test that causes us to ask “Why?” Why did the 911 terrorists attack happen? Why did you let my grandma die? Why did my mom and dad get divorced?

The fact is a lot in the world does not make sense. People say "It's not fair!" Who said the world is ever going to be fair? God never said it would be fair. That's why there's going to be a heaven and hell. One day God's going to settle the score. The things that are unfair now will be settled then. It would be unfair for people like Hitler to get away with what they did. I believe in a hell because of the fairness of God, just as much as there's a heaven.

Senseless tragedy. Why? There's an issue here that more people question in the Bible than any other thing in the Bible. It's when God asked Abraham to sacrifice his own son, Isaac. Isaac, the miracle boy, the miracle baby, the promised child, the one in whom all of Abraham's hopes and dreams are going to be fulfilled. God says, “That's the guy I want you to sacrifice!” He represented everything Abraham held dear.

Our response to that is typical. It's unfair. We're in shock. Is this cannibalism? It doesn't even sound like Christianity. Why would God even require something like that? Let me encourage you to eliminate “it’s not fair” from your vocabulary! My bout with cancer – “why not?”

"By faith, Abraham when God tested him..." It is a test. "... offered Isaac as a sacrifice. And even though God had said to him, `It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.'" Abraham was having a test and it was a test of his commitment. It didn't make sense, it was ridiculous, it was tragic. There was no precedent for this. Abraham didn't know about God like we know. He didn't know the nature of God. He had never seen Jesus. He didn't know God was loving and compassionate. All he knew was God was saying, "Kill your son!" It didn't make sense. There's a lot in the world that doesn't make sense. It's a test. It's a test of his commitment.

Abraham had no assurance that God would save Isaac or spare him. He didn't have any assurance of that. But look what he did have.

v. 19 "Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead and figuratively speaking he did raise Isaac back from the dead." What was Abraham's confidence? If God can give me a son at age 99 when my wife and I are already physically incapable of bearing children, if God can do that kind of miracle, He can raise him from the dead after he's been sacrificed. That was his confidence.

But here's the point of Abraham's life. This is why he was such a great believer. Abraham decided that God has a right to make any demand on my life He so chooses.

That's true for you and me too. Because God is God He has a right to make any demands on your life just because He says so. You wouldn't even be alive without God. You wouldn't have anything without God, and He has a right to do as He pleases. It's a test.God did raise Isaac from the dead, as you know. Here's the point: A real believer will trust God's purpose without knowing “Why?” even in the contradictions of life.

Some of you right now are going through the “Why?” test in life. And you're asking God, "Why?" God, why did I get fired? Why did you let my spouse have an affair? Why did my kid run off and get on dope? Why am I going bankrupt? Why? Why did I have a miscarriage? Why did my parents die? Senseless tragedy.

There's nothing wrong with asking questions. I think Abraham did just like we do. There's nothing wrong with asking "When, God?" There's nothing wrong with asking "How, God?" There's nothing wrong with asking "Where?" or "Why?"

A real believer will follow God's direction when he doesn't know where. A real believer will wait on God's timing when he doesn't know when. A real believer will expect a miracle when he doesn't know how. A real believer will trust God's purpose and love and character when he doesn't know why. That's the test.

God never gave Abraham any explanation for these tests. Do you know why we have so many spiritually immature people, spiritual midgets? Because we always demand an explanation for everything. We think God owes it to us. We want an explanation for everything. If you have got all the “Why’s”, and the “How’s”, and the “When's”, and the “Where's” figured out in your life, you are not living by faith. It's that simple. If you've got it all in a nice little tight box and all figured out you're not living by faith.

Are you a real believer? The thing about human tests is when you take a human test the key to acing a human test is knowing all the answers. But in God's tests -- the way you ace God's tests is you keep on believing when you don't have the answers, and you don't know where you're going, and you don't know how God's going to accomplish it, and you don't know why it's happening. But you keep believing and trusting. That's the test. The test is you hang in there when you don't have the answers.

SO WHAT?

Which of these tests are you dealing with right now? Some of you are dealing with a major change and you're asking the “Where?” question in life. “God, where? Where do you want me to live? Where do you want me to retire? Where do you want me to work? Where do you want me to go to school? Where do you want me to put my kids in school? Where, Lord? Where should I serve You in the church? Where?" God's asking you to make a major change and you know that you cannot stay where you are but you have no idea where you're going. It's a test.

One of the hardest things in life is knowing when to hold on and when to let go. Only God can tell you that.

Some of you are facing the second test in life, and you're dealing with this Delayed Promise, and you're saying, "God, when? When are You going to meet my need? When are You going to help me to get out of debt? When are You going to help me with my problem? When are You going to heal me? When are You going to save my parents? When are You going to reconcile me with that person I'm at odds with? When? When is it going to happen? When are things going to turn around? When are You going to answer my prayer?" It's a test.

Maybe you're dealing with the Impossible Problem, and in your own viewpoint you think there is no way. Just like Abraham looked and said, "There's no way I can father a kid at 99." How? "How are You going to do it, Lord? How are You going to help me? How are You going to change me? How are You going to get me out of this mess? It's a bad one."

Some of you are grieving, because you've had a tragedy. In the deepest part of your heart you're saying, "Why? Why is this happening? I don't understand it. Why did my wife/husband get sick? Why did they run out on me? Why did I get fired? Why did I raise my kids the best I know how and their lives are a mess? I'm embarrassed. Why?" God says it's a test.

How do you rate as a believer this morning? How do you rate as a real believer? Some of you are saying, "I flunk! I don't pass the test at all." One of my favorite verses in the Bible is Mark 9:24. "A man comes to Jesus and says, `I want you to heal my son.' Jesus said, `If you have faith to believe, I'll heal your son.' God acts in our lives according to faith. He says, `Lord, I believe. Help me with my unbelief.'" I love it because Jesus healed the boy on the basis of that. It was enough. "God I want to believe. I do believe. Help me with all my doubts." God said, "That's enough! He's healed." It doesn't take a lot of faith. It's just a little faith in a big God that gets big results. I don't have a lot of faith. I'm filled with fears most of the time. But it's a little faith in a big God that gets big results.

In what area does you faith need to grow this morning? How have you been fairing with Gods tests? How have you been changing? I love you guys. Stay faithful. Stay the course. ENDURE!