The God who tests us

Matthew 1:18 says this: “The birth of Jesus Christ was like this. When Mary, his mother, was betrothed to Joseph, before they were joined, it was found that she had conceived of the Holy Spirit. Joseph, her husband, as he was fair and did not want to slander her, wanted to secretly leave her and thinking about this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to receive Mary, your wife, for what has been begotten in her of the Holy Spirit is and she will give birth to a child and will call his name Jesus because he will save his people from their sins.”

Father, thank you, that you are wise, Lord, and you know how to do things. Thank you that your ways are sometimes not our ways nor are your thoughts like our thoughts but you know what you are doing. Thank you for the wise way that you organized your Son to be born in this world and thank you that you are the same yesterday, today and forever and that you also deal with us with wisdom and with a special plan for each one of us. I ask you to bless this time, that we listen to the voice of the good shepherd in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Joseph, the earthly father of Jesus, the stepfather, the one who raised Jesus and cared for Mary. When we think of this story as the divine pregnancy happened, the angel Gabriel visited Mary and told her that you are going to conceive a child. The Holy Spirit will fall upon you and the creature within you will be called the Son of God, a son conceived supernaturally by the Holy Spirit. The angel told her and Mary was scared but she resigned herself to God's plan and accepted the plan that the angel told her.

So she did conceive. I want to start this reflection with a question. Why did the angel speak to Mary and not take a trip to the next street to talk to Joseph that same night? Why did the Lord do the work of making her pregnant by the Holy Spirit without telling Joseph? Have you ever thought about that? The Bible says that she was found pregnant, was found, and had conceived of the Holy Ghost.

Imagine the suffering of José. A man of God, a man committed to a good lady, a daughter of God, and thus he finds out that she is expecting a baby, that she is pregnant. I imagine they had a conversation about it. And Dad, God. Imagine the conversation between José and his friends in the workshop. What happened? It seems that everything was fine between you and she gets pregnant. Who is the dad? She says that God is the dad. Go figure.

José, imagine the long nights. Sir, how come this has happened? The pain, the shame, and much more danger. As we know in that society under the law a woman who is found in adultery can be punished. So I could have punished him, at least cut off from the synagogue community, exiled from all of society, if nothing else, and maybe worse.

And José in agony thinking, I don't want him to suffer but I don't know. Offended, hurt, betrayed. God, why don't I understand why this is happening? In that long night, maybe at 2 or 3 in the morning, he decides, well, I want to protect her, even though she has cheated on me. I don't want her to suffer, so I'm going to get a divorce because he had to get a divorce, under the law he couldn't marry her. I am going to divorce her but quietly so that she is not exposed to suffering or any harm, that she is not harmed by society for that.

I don't know if it was that night or the next day or soon after, but there the angel Gabriel finally visits him and tells him, “Joseph, don't be afraid to marry her, because what is truly from the Holy Spirit in her, he's not lying." If I were José I would say, "Now you tell me?" You're an angel, it's not like there's traffic between that house and mine, you can go straight… Why did the angel wait?

I believe that God wanted to know what Joseph was going to do in this situation. Whether he was going to demand his rights and exact revenge against her or whether he had an impulse to protect her. Because think about that, the Lord was choosing the man who had to take care of his Son on earth and the mother of that Son and he is not going to accept just any man. That man has to be tested.

I imagine that God said to Joseph, “Congratulations. This has been a test and you passed. A+, you won the job of raising my Son on earth.” Because what is José's job? To care for and protect that baby and Mary and this is nothing compared to the dangers they were going to face later with Herod trying to kill the baby and him fleeing to Egypt protecting the girl. He had to pass that test to show that he is an approved man.

But we cannot be approved or proven without being tested. This sermon is titled “The God Who Tests. The God who tests us.” Because we cannot be proven without being tested. And the Lord knows that he has a call for Joseph and he went through a test to show what was in his heart, that he was a man worthy of the call that he was going to receive and also to strengthen his faith, for him to remember, I went through Through that long night, I learned how to protect this woman and that is how I will continue to protect her.

The Lord makes us go through trials. Proverbs 17:3 says:

"The crucible is for silver and the furnace for gold, but Jehovah is the one who tests hearts."

Satan tempts us to trap us, to fail, to fail but God tests us to shine. The bigger the test, the bigger the victory. The more difficult the fight, the more glorious the victory afterwards. The Lord deals with us the same. If you are a son or daughter of God you will go through tests. The Lord is not going to protect you from everything, but you can be sure that God knows what he is doing, that he tests us to train us, to prepare us, to polish us so that we shine like gold.

Our God knows what he is doing to test our faith, to ask us the question, do you really trust me? Because I am your God. I don't know if there is someone here that you like exams at school. Don't raise your hand. There are 2 or 3 I know because I see husbands watching. You liked exams because you always did well. People don't like the kid who likes tests, but most of us don't. Because? Because sometimes we hang the exam. We failed. It doesn't feel good. We burn the exam. Nobody likes that.

And Lord, would he allow us to be tested and maybe burn some evidence? Someone here who at some point in your life has gone through a test and perhaps did not get an A before God. Will there be someone? Sometimes the Lord pushes us and lets us fall a little, but not so that we remain fallen, but so that we learn from it.

There is a saying in English no pain, no gain. That is something universal. Without pain there is no gain. The Apostle Peter had visions of greatness. I am the rock, on me the church will be built. I am the one who walked on the water, at least a few steps.

When Jesus spoke of his surrender and his suffering, he said to Peter, "Simon, Simon, I am not going to call you Peter because you are Simon, Satan has asked you to sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you so that your faith does not fail and once you return confirm your brothers." But Peter said to him, “Yes, Lord, I know that I am weak and maybe I can fall. Help us because I am weak.” Is that what Pedro told you? No. He told him, “Sir, I am willing to go with you not only to jail but also to death.” And he said to him, "Pedro, I tell you that the rooster will not crow today before you deny 3 times that you know me." "No never."

He had to learn that he was not the last Coca Cola in the desert. He had to learn that he wasn't the whole, he had to eat a little bit of humble pie. Humility cake. Go figure. If Pedro had never had his slip, his problem, what kind of man would he have been? Imagine pride with people in sin, “Fix yourself up.” But a sinful man can shepherd sinful people, which is all of us.

Sometimes we think, oh, Lord, I failed, I have things from my past. The Lord uses these things to make you more understanding with others. The humility that enriches you, that teaches you how you want to walk with the Lord, not to be repeated. The Lord still uses failure for our victory.

He also uses it to teach us that we are not as strong as we think we are. The prophet Jeremiah, how many here have studied the life of Jeremiah? If you haven't done it, you have to do it, there are beautiful lives in the Old Testament, there are biographies, there are stories of what God has done.

The prophet Jeremiah was called to confront God's people during a time of terrible idolatry. He had to be a firm man, like a column of bronze because the whole world was going to be against him. And he had to be a strong man, challenged, determined and steadfast when the whole world was against him. Nice job, right? I call you to serve me, no one is going to listen to you, everyone is going to help you, but you have to be faithful. They are going to throw you into a pit with mud, they are going to punish you, they are going to beat you and then you are going to go into exile with them. Congratulations. You are accepted in this business.

But poor Jeremiah had no choice. But I believe that he had the happiness of being someone who experienced suffering as Jesus himself experienced it. He had a beautiful closeness to God. But at the beginning of his ministry with some little problems, the people against him, he began to complain to God. and he wrote his complaints in the Bible. Some here have complained to God at some point? You don't admit it?

Look what he says in Jeremiah 12, I think verse 1 or 2. He says, “You are just, Jehovah, yet I will plead my case before you. Why is the way of the wicked prosperous? But you Jehovah know me. You dress me and you have tried my heart with you. The Lord replies, “You think you can run with horses? If you ran with those on foot and they tired you, how will you contend with the horses and if in the land of peace you were not safe, how will you do in the thickness of the Jordan?"

Things are going to get tougher and you have to be tougher and stronger, because otherwise they will defeat you and you will not fulfill your mission. I am punishing you and making you go through the test now so that when the real battle comes you will have the strength to survive and fulfill your mission. You think you can run with horses and this little man tires you, things are going to get stronger.

"Even your brothers, says the Lord, and your father's house, even they, have risen up against you." Don't trust them even if they tell you good things. A good coach makes you suffer sometimes so that you are stronger. There is a brother from the church who was a soldier, who learned a saying that was "you have to sweat in training so you don't bleed in battle." If you're not sweating today maybe you'll be bleeding later.

The Lord prepares us. He tests us so that we put down deep roots in him. The test is the medicine for a superficial Christianity. The Bible says that there are superficial Christians, that their land does not go deep. Jesus said it like this, they are like the seeds that fall on the stony ground and those that are on the stone are the ones that having heard the word receive the word with joy, but they have no roots. They believe for some time but in the time of the test they move away and later they learn, it is necessary to remove some stones so that I can be good soil for the Lord.

The Lord is committed to your spiritual depth, to your spiritual strength. We don't want us to be soft Christians, easy Christians to beat, but for that he puts us through some hard training. Like a good coach who makes his football team practice in the snow, in the cold. If it is very ugly outside we go outside, why do you think that the game is played when everything is beautiful? No, it's when it's snowing, when it's raining, when it's windy. I'm going to train you in that so you're ready to win the Super Bowl again. But you have to suffer.

A good coach makes you suffer and you love him for it. the Lord is a coach who will train you with tests. The Bible calls it various tests that God gives us. He has a variety of trainings. We talk about some. First, the Lord tests us with certain decisions that we have to make. If we are going to follow his instructions or if we are going to take the easy path. One instance of that, the pastor once spoke of the Rechabites in the Old Testament also from the book of Jeremiah. It was a group of people who were descendants of a man named Recab and that man put his descendants under an oath, promise me you will never drink wine or live in normal houses. They are going to travel and they are not going to drink wine and God is going to bless them. It was a vow that they took with their grandfather, with their father.

The Lord commanded that Jeremiah invite the Rechabites to the temple of the Lord and that he put some of the best wines there is on a table in front of them, from Chile or Argentina. He put some good wines there in front of them. And then Jeremiah tells them, “Take it,” this is not the little friend at the bar, this is Jeremiah telling you to drink wine. They said, "No, please, we made a promise, we have to follow the instructions." And the Lord says, “you passed the test,” and he uses it as an example for the people of Israel. If you are going to follow my commandments or not.

In the Bible, he gave manna in the desert and it says like this, “The Lord said to Moses, ‘look, I will rain bread from heaven for you. The people will go out and collect a day's portion daily so that I may test them whether they walk in my law or not." You can only collect bread for one day, if you save for two, except Saturday, which is the day before the Sabbath, but on normal days, you collect for one day. If you have more it will get ugly, rotten. Let's see what they do. What do you think? Oh, we are going to save a lot. And it gets ugly, I already knew.

You are refusing to obey my instructions. We will have proof. They start with little tests and if we pass, God entrusts us with more. God is also going to give us responsibilities and see if we are faithful with little so that we can be confident with much. The Bible says like this, he who is faithful in the very little is also faithful in the most. And he who is unfair in the very little is also unfair in the most.

One of the little things, believe it or not, that God entrusts to us as a spiritual test is money. Sir, try me with a lot of money, please. Everyone says, but it is so. Sometimes earning more money is proof of what you are going to do with this money. Are you going to be faithful to God with this money? Because the Lord answers and says, if you were not faithful in unjust riches, who will trust you with what is true? Faithful in little, faithful in much. Faithful in the earthly, faithful in the spiritual. Faithful, proven, confident more.

Sometimes in my life I have seen the Lord pull us, and here in the church, the Lord throws us a small situation to know what we are going to do with this person or this situation that the Lord brought us. He sends us one person and to see if we are going to be faithful to this person, then he sends us more. That is why we have to have eyes of faith.

We say, Lord, we want to minister to such a person. The Lord sends it and we reject it. What is going to happen? I have seen this. Years ago, 15 years ago, seeing how the pastor decided to minister to certain people who came to us from the streets, who were homeless and how the pastor and the church received them and treated them with respect, we made a lot of mistakes and all that, but faithful. The Lord sends more and more and now every Saturday there are 100 homeless people in our basement receiving ministry, because the men of this church and the women of this church have proven faithful.

The Lord says, I am not going to trust my precious people if I do not know if you are trustworthy. You have to try it. Love is without conditions, but trust is earned. Trusting a person who is not trustworthy is not love and it is not wise. And to know if a person is trustworthy, the person has to prove it with actions to show that he is faithful and then one trusts more.

The Lord does it with us. And he does the same with the deacons. In the Bible, in the New Testament, the Bible clearly says, someone cannot serve as a deacon before being put on trial. I do not know what is it. I believe that it is not a written test, I believe that it is to see his life for a time, that he did not come yesterday and we put him in leadership. The person has to earn trust.

What did Joseph do with his brothers? Do you know the story? In the Old Testament, a young man named Joseph was thrown into a well by his brothers and later sold into slavery. Then Joseph goes to prison and then he ends up in Egypt as number 2 of Pharaoh himself. And his brothers come after 15 years and I being José, I would hug them, oh, my brothers are here, look. No. Joseph put his brothers through certain tests. have you read that? he puts a golden vase in the bag to see what they do, if they are going to return it or steal it. He puts them to the test so that they can prove that they are honest men, for their good, for Joseph's good, so that the relationship can be restored. The Lord put them through a test.

And the Lord does it with us too. If we are faithful God gives us more, faithful in little, faithful in much. The Lord also tests us and that is the hardest part, and I enter into it with a certain amount of fear and trembling, but we have to talk about it. The Lord sometimes releases the devil himself to test us. The Bible says that Jesus said, Satan has asked you to sift you like wheat. And Jesus let the enemy tempt them for a while.

I don't know if you have read the book of Job, but the Lord allowed the enemy to attack Job for a while, within limits, but allowed the furnace of affliction against him. The Holy Spirit himself pushed Jesus into the desert so that he would be tested and tempted by Satan for 40 days and he passed the test. Jesus says, do not fear what you will suffer, to the Christians in Smyrna. The devil will throw some of you in prison so that you may be tested and you will have tribulation for 10 days, be faithful until death and I will give you the crown of life. Because although the devil always has certain actions, in the life of the believer he ends up serving God's intentions.

Satan's actions cannot cancel God's intentions for the believer. The Lord brings good even out of evil. The Apostle Paul spoke of that, that the Lord gave him a thorn in my flesh, do you remember that? a messenger of Satan to slap me so that I do not exalt myself. The Lord knew that pride was going to kill Paul. He needed medicine for his pride, sting in the flesh.

It is better not to be proud so that the Lord does not have to give you the medicine. Amen. I prefer to humble myself so the Lord doesn't have to. Because he loves us too much to let the soul go to stone. My grace is sufficient for you, he said, for my power is made perfect in weakness. The Apostle Paul was more useful to the Lord because he was still tested by the enemy. Our God wins. Our God knows what he is doing and he is going to do it in our lives too.

Classroom, the test room, the classroom that the Lord prefers to use in the Bible is the desert. The Lord always chooses his best and sends them to the desert to be tested. He did it with Jesus, he did it with the people of Israel, and he says to them, 'You will remember all the way where the LORD, your God, has brought you.' These 40 years in the desert to afflict you, to test you, to find out what what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commandments. He afflicted you, he starved you, he sustained you with manna. Why does he suffer in the desert? because it is the only way to let you know that man will not live by bread alone, but by everything that comes out of the mouth of Jehovah, man will live.

You are going to live a miracle that can only be lived in the desert. The Lord demonstrates his power in trial in ways that we cannot live in the place of peace. What happened in the oven when Daniel's 3 friends were there? They found an angel, a divine being, someone like the son of man who says, 'when you go through fire I will be with you, and even if you go through water I will be there with you.' The Lord tells you, I meet you there, I will not leave you only.

Jesus also did it with his Apostles. Many of you are thinking, look, I lost an hour of sleep for that. I don't want tests, I want victories. There is no victory without proof, that's why they are talking about it. Jesus in the desert with the Apostles, there was no food, crowds coming. The Bible says in the Gospel of John that Jesus already knew his plan, he already knew what he was going to do, but he tested his Apostles. He looks at Felipe who was from that area and asks him the question, Felipe, what are we going to do with all those people? Where are we going to find food for all those people? What does Philip do? Passed the test? Jesus did not make things very easy for him.

How many moms, dads, grandparents, granny know that if you don't do your child any favors if you solve all their problems for them, if you do their homework for them. Jesus made them suffer a little. Felipe takes out his phone, where is there food near here? How much does it cost? Siri, food nearby, where? Nothing.

But there was another, there is an Apostle named Andrés, many nice things happened with him and we never talked about him. Andrés did not take out his phone, he took out a child who had 2 little bellies and some little fish, he says, 'look here there are some loaves and some fish, I don't know what he is going to do, but here they are.' What are we going to do? But Jesus put them through this, because he knew… look, you are going to be in situations, when there are going to be crowds in front of you and you are not going to know what to do, how am I going to serve so many people and give them food from the word. And I want you to remember this day and not try to do it in your own strength, but rather do it with my power, never forget that I can multiply loaves among 5,000 men and 10,000 other people. I am the God who can give bread in the desert through you.

The Lord is not cruel. He does it to teach them, to prepare them for their destiny. God has called each one of us to serve the Lord. And we are all in the school of preparation. If we let ourselves learn, the Lord will use us. What is your desert? we all have one. I don't know what situation you are experiencing but I know that God wants to use you as your school, as your gym, as your training ground.

Do not harden your hearts, says the word, as in the provocation, on the day of temptation in the desert, where your parents tempted me and put me to the test and saw my works for 40 years. Being tested gives us muscles of faith and it starts small and grows.

One more example, and we are finishing, Abraham was tested when the Lord told him, Abraham, you have to leave your home, leave your country, leave your family and go to a place that I will show you. Leave all your blessings here and I will bless you and you will be a blessing to the nations.

A test. Abraham had to decide if he is going to be a man of faith. To be a man of faith he had to start with a step of faith, a small step. And so begin and the Bible says that Abraham obeyed and went even without knowing where he was going. God won't tell you fate sometimes. He is not going to explain to us how everything is going to be resolved.

He says, I want you to follow me today, take a step of faith and then I'll show you the other step. It starts with one step. But the life of Abraham, and we know, that Abraham was tested several times and he did not pass all his tests. He only has to ask his wife, because when he was afraid he would say, oh, my wife, the pretty one you love is my little sister, twice. Scoundrel. And so she like… what are you doing here? He didn't pass all his tests but in the end the Bible says, in Genesis 22, it came to pass that God truly tested Abraham. Says Abraham, here I am, take your son, your own son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, go to the land of Moriah and offer him as a holocaust on one of the mountains that I will tell you about.

Now, I don't want you to do this in the house, please. This was Abraham once in history. But God tested him big. First it was a test, then it was a final exam. And this requires not only a little step of faith, but a leap of faith, a leap of faith, where you are going to throw yourself and trust that God is going to hold you in his hands. As it did?

All God's promises to Abraham depended on this child, all his offspring, the land, all the blessings, everything depends on Isaac. How could God ask him to offer it to him? You know the Bible gives us the answer. The book of Hebrews is a complete explanation of what happened in the Old Testament and the Bible says that Abraham had a logic. I don't think he expected God to interrupt him and grab his hand. I believe Abraham expected to kill him and then God would raise him from the dead.

The Bible says, because Abraham thought that God is powerful to raise even from the dead. Abraham knew, my God can do anything. I have been tested and I have seen the hand of my God and there is nothing my God cannot do, even raise the dead.

To be a Christian what do we have to believe? That God is powerful to raise the dead, that he raised a man from the grave and will also raise us with him. When we are tested we know that God is great, that God is faithful. We can say like Moses, over and over again I have passed through the desert and many of you can say that. I have passed through the desert and I have seen that God walks in cloud and fire. I have been hungry but I know from experience that man will not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord man will live because I have lived.

Many of you have seen the mighty God and you can say, I was in the desert between a rock and a hard place and I saw the Lord part the waters. He can take down an entire army. The Lord is powerful, more powerful, more faithful, more trustworthy than anything else in this world and when I am tested I know that my God who helped me before will help me again.

He is the same yesterday, today and forever. My brothers, says Santiago, rejoice deeply when you find yourself in various trials knowing that the test of your faith produces patience, perseverance. But be patient with his complete work so that you may be perfect and complete without lacking anything.

Each time we are tested we find God in a different way. On that mountain Abraham met God as Jehovah Jireh, my God will supply every need that I have. Jacob wrestling with the angel all night, learned that my God is the mighty of Israel. Joseph in prison in Egypt, even though he had done nothing wrong. He learned that for those who love God who are called according to his purpose, all things work together for good, that the enemy cannot cancel God's plan with me. He knew it from experience.

David running in the desert with his enemies behind, he learned, Jehovah is my shepherd, I will lack nothing. Certainly good and mercy will follow me all the days of my life because he was tested and he was cared for by God. Finally Jesus, the Bible says that Jesus is the foundation of the church building, a tested stone, cornerstone, precise, stable foundation. Jesus was tested in the desert. Jesus was tested by the Pharisees. Jesus was tested in that long night in the Garden of Gethsemane and he is faithful, trustworthy, tested by death itself and came out of the grave. Not only tested, but proven, approved, the one who can accomplish anything in our lives and we too will be tested with him.

Stronger the test, more glorious the victory. Blessed is the man who endures temptation because when he has resisted the test, he will receive the crown of life. Better than any soccer or world cup trophy, in heaven there will be a celebration before the throne and every trial will be celebrated in God's victory.

So the Lord is with us. Job said the following, he says, but he, God, knows my way. If you try me I'll come out like gold. There are people, many, who shine like gold and it did not happen out of nowhere because they have been tested and know a strong God. I have something to tell you, those who have already been tested a lot, the best is yet to come.

The God who made victory before has more victories. And if there is more evidence, well, you know that your God is great and he is with you in this too. We are going to see the hand of God like never before.