21 16 Can the Lord Depend on You?

16 Can the Lord Depend on You?

16. Can the Lord Depend on You?

INTRODUCTION

From the above Scriptures, it is perfectly plain that temptations are experiences God permits or allows to come into our lives to test us and prove us. He does not do the tempting, but only permits or allows it to be done for our good. This is in perfect harmony with these words from 1 Peter 4:12-13 : "Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: but rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy." And Paul, in telling Timothy about his own persecutions and afflictions, declares to him: "Yea, and all that will live Godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." (2 Timothy 3:10-12). This leads me to make the following proposition and undertake to prove it:

SATAN SEEMS TO HAVE THE RIGHT TO CALL INQUESTION OUR FAITHFULNESS OR LOYALTY ATWHAT EVER POINT HE CHOOSES AND, WHEN THECHALLENGE IS MADE, GOD MUST LET US BE TESTEDAT THAT POINT

1. Here Job Is Presented as an Example. Turning to Job 1:6-22, you are asked to read it carefully. Satan’s claim was that Job feared God and was a good man because of the way God had hedged him about on every side with the good things of this life. It is easy for some to believe that if you had everything that heart could desire in this life, it would be easy to live the Christian’s life. Satan challenges Job’s strength and faithfulness at this point. He claims that if God would allow Job to be tested at this point, he would curse God to his face. So the challenge is made, and God permits the testing to be done. You read it for yourself and learn the results. After all his earthly possessions were taken from him, along with all of his children, the record says: "Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped, and said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord. In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly." And it is a little hard to convince the devil that he is wrong in his accusations against us. After this defeat, he claims that a man will give anything for a good, sound, healthy body; that- Job is blessed with perfect health, a body free from any kind of disease or aches or pain, and that if God will permit him to put forth his hand and touch his bone and flesh, he would curse God to his face. Read this in Job 2:1-10. You will note that God permitted Satan to test him here, but allowed him to go just so far and no farther; he could not take the life of Job. You know this story. Job was smitten with "sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown. And he took him a potsherd to scrape himself withal; and he sat down among the ashes." And, in the midst of it all, his wife failed him and upbraided him for still holding on to God who would allow such a misfortune to come to him. She advised that he curse God and die. It is too bad, when these challenges come, that Satan has his "fifth column" in our own homes and in the person or persons of those we think are our dearest friends. It would hardly be the thing to do not to give the exact words of Job in answering this wife of his. Here they are: "But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips." And it is well that you turn to Job 42, the last chapter in this book, and read it. God allowed not him to suffer in vain. And Job declares that he had heard of God By the hearing of the ear, "but now mine eye seeth thee." That is, out of that experience, he had come to know God as never before. Be certain to read this chapter. The friends who went to Job to comfort him turned out to be tantalizers instead of comforters. They contended that Job had some secret sin in his life and that all of this came upon him because of such. These three friends compare favorably to many church members today. But the all-important question to you is: Can the Lord depend on you when the challenge is made? Your temptations come because of challenges Satan has made. Did you stand the test? Or was Satan right in his claim against you?

2. The Words of our Lord to Simon.Let us now turn toLuke 22:31-32. Here is the way it reads: "And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren." our Lord knew all about Peter’s misunderstanding of the nature of the kingdom he came to establish, and that because of this misunderstanding, when he allowed himself to be bound and led away as a thief, that Peter would become bewildered, and that Satan would take advantage of this and strive to capture him absolutely. Satan was correct in part in his challenge of Peter’s strength and loyalty. But our Lord knew that at heart he was honest in his misunderstanding, hence prayed for Peter. Is it not good to think that when our testing time comes, the same Lord is praying for us? (SeeHebrews 7:25). But he not only prayed for him; he gave him a little inside information about just when the cock would crow—viz., after he had three times denied that he knew Jesus. Then when the cock did crow, our Lord, instead of shouting out loud, as many in the church today would do, saying, "I told you so," and thus expose Peter to the mob, he gently "looked upon Peter." How those eyes did beam with love and spoke volumes to that faltering disciple! Peter went out and wept bitterly. He came out of the sifting a better and stronger man, and able to strengthen his brethren. But the point here is that Satan made the challenge and Peter had to be tested, but our Lord provided a way of escape and helped Peter to see it. I suggest that you read Luke 22:31-62.

3. The Final Word About This old Accuser. It is in order here to read Revelation 12:10 : "And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. ” This certainly should settle the question with all who will let God be true and every man that speaks to the contrary a liar. This is exactly what we are commanded to do in Romans 3:4. Satan is the accuser of the brethren, and he accuses them day and night. Can the Lord depend on you when the accusation is made, is the practical question for us to study.

4. Some Reflections.

(1) We can easily meet the temptations of life and overcome them when we are conscious of the fact that each temptation comes because of Satan’s challenge of our strength or loyalty at the point of temptation. As a rule, Satan approaches us through the just of the flesh. "But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own just, and enticed." The question of practical importance is: When we see the temptation, will we allow it to turn out that Satan is right in his judgment of us? Or will we be such beings as was Job on whom the Lord can depend to put the tempter to flight? "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you," says James 4:7. Paul says he brought his body under and kept it in subjection: lest that by any means, when he had preached to others, he himself should become a castaway. (1 Corinthians 9:27). A minister who had only one son, in whom his very life was wrapped up, which son lived to be thirty years. No two souls ever got more out of each other’s companionship than they; but the dreaded sarcoma began its deadly work and took this son from him. During his sickness, the father prayed most earnestly that this son be taken not from him. Oftentimes he would get out of his bed at night and pray to the Father to spare the son; but the inevitable came, the son died. But knowing well the lesson given in this chapter, he at once saw Satan behind it all, that his loyalty to Christ had been called in question, and that if God would allow Satan to touch that son, he would cease to preach the glorious gospel of Christ. This very thought caused this father, after the body was embalmed and the casket placed in the living room and the lights adjusted, and the nurse who had so patiently stood with him and his wife through it all, came and stated, "You may see him now," and gently led them to the casket, to lay his hand upon the son’s folded hands and say, "Phil, you shall not die, for your father shall from this day till he dies live two lives—one for you and one for himself." And that father doubled his work as a minister instead of quitting as Satan thought he would. Instead of our becoming discouraged when tried and tempted, we should get a thrill in the consciousness that Satan is being overcome and put to flight.

Expand on this, if time permits, with other exemplifications.