Times of Testing

 

Times of Testing

 

*Isaiah 58

 

Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins. Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God: they ask of me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching to God. Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labours. Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high. Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the Lord? Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh? Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the Lord shall be thy rereward. Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity; And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noon day: And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not. And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in. If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.

The Epistle
2 Corinthians vi. i.

WE then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain; (for he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation;) giving no offence in any thing, that the ministry be not blamed: but in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in watchings, in fastings; by pureness, by knowledge, by long-suffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned, by the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, by honour and dishonour, by evil report and good report: as deceivers, and yet true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and, behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed; as sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.

 

The Gospel

St. Matthew iv. 1.

THEN was Jesus led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred. And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, and saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; and saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.

The Collect

 

O LORD, who for our sake didst fast forty days and forty nights; Give us grace to use such abstinence, that, our flesh being subdued to the Spirit we may ever obey thy godly motions in righteousness, and true holiness, to thy honour and glory, who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen.

The Sermon. Times of Testing.

Being led into the wilderness for Lent

1st Sunday in Lent Matthew 4:1-11

" Most of the grand truths of God have to be learned by trouble; they must be burned into us with the hot iron of affliction, otherwise we shall not truly receive them...there are many things to be learned in the depths which we can never know in the heights." Daily Help by Charles H. Spurgeon. Every day I try and start out the day with a reading, and this was one. Somehow I think I had glossed over it----it fits the lesson for today.

 

We read that Jesus our Lord was led up the Spirit of God for the purpose of testing. It was a time of trial . Pierce is the origin of the word. Certainly He was the Son of God as shown in chapter 3 at His baptism where we hear, " This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." That baptism too was as Jesus said, " to fulfill all righteousness" 3:15 when John said he should be the one being baptized. The same thing is occuring in chapter 4. Jesus , the Son of God, could never sin, yet he like us was truly human, and it was for us that He endured these temptations.

 

This shows us the dual nature of who we are as well. We are tested and tempted . We are not divine, yet because of the Holy Spirit of God , we too have a new nature in us. Yet we too experience testing for a reason. It is for us to know this life shall pass away, and one day we shall be " in the likeness of his resurrection." Romans 6:5 Is it possible that Jesus could sin? Of course not, but He was Hebrews 4:15 tested in all " points like as we are, yet without sin."

 

"TESTING THE GENUINE

 

All sorts of things are tested to prove that they are genuine. When you go to a bank and give a $20 bill to the cashier, she holds it to a special light. Why would she do that? Because she is testing it to make sure it is genuine. During the time when the Philippines was not using a special light to determine the genuineness of the dollar bills. The bank tellers would just hold the dollars close to the light and then examine the pictures that were printed on the dollar bills. I was so curious what the teller was doing and I asked him how to know that the dollar is genuine by just looking at it. He told me that if the hair of the picture of a man on the dollar is not combed properly the dollar is fake.

 

We expect EVERYTHING that has value to be tested. The faith that is not tested is the faith that can not be trusted. "

sermoncentral.com

 

JI Packer in his book, Knowing God reminds us in quoting from the hymn by John Newton:

" Lord, why is this? I trembling cried, Wilt thou pursue thy worm to death? 'Tis in this way' , the Lord replied, ' I answer prayer for grace and faith'

These inward trials I employ, From self and pride to set thee free: And break thy schemes of earthly joy, That thou may' st see thy all in me."

 

" And Jesus was led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil." 4:1

Each morning, a woman walked to her front gate and shouted, "Praise the Lord!" And each time the atheist next door would yell back, "There is no Lord!" One day she prayed, "Lord, I'm hungry. Please send me some food." The following morning, she discovered a big bag of groceries on her front porch. "Praise the Lord," she shouted. Suddenly, her neighbour jumped from behind a bush. "I told you there was no Lord," he said. "I bought those groceries for you." "Praise the Lord!" the woman said. "He not only sent me groceries, He made the devil pay for them." - : http://hotsermons.com/sermon-illustrations/sermon-illustrations

 

All of us have experienced the testing and temptations that God wishes us to go through. Through them we learn we wish to trust, pray and depend on His provision. What testing are we going through now? We pray that the time of testing will end , and that our faith as Peter says, " Wherein ye greatly rejoice though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perishes, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto the praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ." I Peter 1:6

 

As we go through this Lent be encouraged that it is God who leads us as He led our Lord by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness. If it is the case that He is leading, we can be assured of His Divine presence in our journey.

 

 

We should pray the prayer that we used the beginning of our Service today and look to Him for strength, love and endurance.

" O LORD , who for our sake didst fast forty days and forty nights; Give us grace to use such abstinence, that, our flesh being subdued to the Spirit, we may ever obey thy godly motions in righteousness, and true holiness, to thy honour and glory, who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen."