Disclaimer:
Due to the large amount of sermons and topics that appear on this site I feel it is necessary to post this disclaimer on all sermons posted. These sermons are original to the author and the leading of the Holy Spirit. While ideas and illustrations are often gleaned from many sources including those at Sermoncentral.com, any similarities and wording including sermon title, that may appear to be the same as any other sermon are purely coincidental. In instances where other minister’s wording is used, due recognition will be given. These sermons are not copyrighted and may be used or preached freely. May God richly bless you as you read these words. It is my sincere desire that all who read them may be enriched. All scriptures quoted in these sermons are copies and quoted from the Authorized King James Version of the Holy Bible.
Pastor James May
CAN YOU PASS GOD’S TEST?
Psalms 26:1-12
David was in exile and being pursued by King Saul. Even though David knew that he was to be next King of Israel, he would not lift his hand against Saul. Saul had already been rejected by God and his reign was coming to an end but, in David’s eyes, as long as God allowed Saul to reign, he was still God’s chosen man and David would not fight against God’s anointed. David had integrity. Integrity meant that David would be as steady as a rock in his obedience to God whether circumstances where in his favor or not.
Even though David was a man who walked after God and a man who Paul refers to in
Acts 13:22 “…David the son of Jesse, a man after mine (God’s) own heart, which shall fulfill all my will. (I added “God’s”, yet the reference is plain), David was not perfect in all his ways, as we know from the studies of his great sin and failures.
Yet, even in all of his sin, David is still a man of integrity! Integrity doesn’t mean that we will never make mistakes or stray from our mission to serve the Lord. It does mean that our ultimate goal and our final decisions always lead us back to the same place, a place where we will follow the Lord.
David, now in exile and running from Saul, writes this Psalm to God, asking God to put his heart to the test.
HOW MANY OF US REALLY WANT GOD TO TEST OUR LOYALTY, LOVE, COMMITMENT AND INTEGRITY TO HIM? I don’t know about you but it is a fearful thing to know that God will test us by examining the motives and integrity of my heart. I can only pray and trust that I could pass that test! I can only hope and pray that all of you would pass it too.
ILLUSTRATION:
God does not grade on a curve as many of our present day teachers do. His tests are absolute with only one answer that will be right. Too many of our youth today are graduating from high schools across America without the basic knowledge and skills to even get a mediocre job. Teachers who grade on a curve actually cause the standard of excellence and integrity to be lowered until no one is required to learn much of anything. It is as though we are measuring ourselves against ourselves and we decide that, since we are as good or perhaps a little better than we were last year, we are doing well. What a deceptive practice that is.
I can remember my days in school and college when it seems that very few would pass a certain test in mathematics or chemistry and the teacher or professor would decide to grade on a curve. That would just seem to make my day. (It was always in my favor when grading on a curve was done because “I was always at the “top of the curve.”) No, I need to guard my own integrity and say that I really wasn’t always at the top, in fact, there were a few times when, if it had not been for the curving of grades, I would have failed instead of passing by the skin of my teeth, so to speak.
The real questions that must be asked are these! When do we learn the most? When are we challenged to be the best that God intends for us to be? How can we ever hope to become a man or woman of integrity?
We learn the most and are challenged to change only when we are held to the highest of standards without compromise! THAT’S THE WAY THAT GOD’S TESTS WILL GO!
With God, it’s either right or wrong and it’s never multiple choice or fill in the blanks!
Vs 1-2, “Judge me, O LORD; for I have walked in mine integrity: I have trusted also in the LORD; therefore I shall not slide. Examine me, O LORD, and prove me; try my reins and my heart.”
David was willing to stand up to God’s test: are we? Is our heart right with God? Are our motives for “serving Jesus” righteous and holy? Do we serve God because we love Him or out of a sense of duty and fear? Do we really love Jesus or not? Am we coming to the House of God because it is a place to meet friends or to show how “godly” we are, or are we coming to God’s House because we want to praise Him, worship Him and serve Him and serve His people?
In what do I place my trust? Is it in my “works of righteousness” that I do in God’s House? Do I come to church with the thought in mind that, if I just keep coming, and being faithful, then surely God will allow me to enter into Heaven’s gates one day?
Sure, it is a wonderful thing to be faithful to God’s House and to work “faithfully” in the ministry and calling that God has given to us, but we must never forget that doing so is just fulfilling our “reasonable service” and that unless we come simply because we love Jesus and want to work for Him then our motive isn’t right and our work will bring no reward in the end.
My cry is this, “Lord, I want to be faithful because I love you! I want to serve you and your people because I know that is what you want me to do. I don’t want any glory, any recognition, any praise of men for that all belongs to you. I just want to be what and where you want me to be with a clean heart. Let me not slide into self-gratification. Don’t allow me to slip into the pride and love of the praise of men. Keep my motives pure before you and my heart right in your sight, oh Lord!
Can you pass the first question on God’s test of your heart and life? If you can honestly say, like David, that I have never coveted what another person has and I have never sought after the job or ministry that God has given to another person, then just maybe, you can get this question right. If not, there is no need to answer anymore questions because failing only one question on God’s exam means that you fail the whole test, no matter how you may answer the rest.
ILLUSTRATION:
In 1968 I was enrolled as a trigonometry student a Louisiana State University. I rather enjoyed the class and I was certain that I knew and understood how the mathematical equations and formulas worked for trigonometry. I didn’t seem to have any problems with working out the questions on any test and I thought that surely this would be a course that I could pass with a high grade average.
What a surprise it was when I received the results of my Mid-Term Exam! I had failed the test completely. In fact, out of a class of 240+ students, there were only 6 students who didn’t fail the test and 5 of those six made a D. The 6th student, if I remember correctly, passed with an A. So much for “grading on a curve.”
When we examined the test, the professor, a former mathematical genius from the NASA space program, explained why so many had failed. Like most of the students, I had come to the right answer. There were only 5 problems that we had to solve and I had solved each one perfectly with answers to the 6th decimal place. However, we were required to show each and every step of our working of the equations to arrive at the correct answer.
That professor was such a perfectionist, with mathematical problems, that if we had left out a decimal point anywhere in any of those steps, then the whole question was wrong regardless of the answer. She explained that in NASA, there was no margin for error and no excuse for imperfection. That’s why all of us failed her exam.
I hate to be the bearer of such bad news to you, but that’s the same way the God grades your heart! There is no margin for error and no excuse for imperfection.
HOW MANY WANT TO TAKE GOD’S TEST NOW?
David asked God to test his motives and test his heart. “Try my reins and my heart” was his statement to God. Now there’s a brave soul who will not shy away from God’s testing but actually step up and ask for it!
Are you willing to let God try your reins? What are reins? Well, if you have ever ridden a horse, or driven a horse drawn carriage, or watched an old western movie, you will know that the reins are like a steering wheel for the horse or whatever animal is providing the power for you to move along.
Are you willing to allow God to steer you? God will surely test your steering! He will try you and allow you to face some great obstacles in life and some huge potholes in your road. He may even allow a few of the “road signs” in your life to disappear so that you will really have to let Him do the steering of your heart and life or you will wind up some place where you don’t want to be!
ILLUSTRATION:
If you have ever purchased a “pre-owned” vehicle, especially a front wheeled drive model, no doubt you have tested its steering thoroughly. You get in that car and turn the wheels back and forth and you are driving forward and backward to see if there is any slack, or clicking noises in the wheels and to see if the brakes and everything else works the way they should. Any abnormalities in the steering could mean expensive repairs in a short time and none of us want to pay for new CV joints and brakes right away.
Psalms 23:2-3, "He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake."
If there is one thing that you must remember, it’s that God will never steer you away from the right path. You may not always see it with your eye or feel it is there, but God will never lead you wrong and the paths of righteousness and peace are always there. If we just learn to allow Him to do the driving and then learn to completely trust in Him then we will always pass His test. We fail that test when our trust disappears and we try to take the reins back into our own hands. That’s when we begin to stray from God.
26:3 For thy loving kindness is before mine eyes: and I have walked in thy truth.
26:4 I have not sat with vain persons, neither will I go in with dissemblers.
26:5 I have hated the congregation of evildoers; and will not sit with the wicked.
David was confident that his heart and his motives were right and he was not afraid of God’s examination. He had kept the love of God and of man in his heart. He had walked in the path of righteousness that God had placed before him, even though that path sometimes seemed dark, dangerous and even deadly as Saul was ever pursuing him.
David had kept away from those who would lift his heart in pride through their vain praise of his leadership ability. He had not listened to the voices of those men, in his own ranks, who had encouraged him to attack and destroy Saul and take what God had already said was his anyway. He would not listen to those voices that would bring war, strife and disunity to the nation of Israel. He hated sin, in any form, whether it was from within his own life, his own army or from the camp of his enemies. He would not listen to the advice of those whose hearts were not right with God, no matter how logical or reasonable their counsel may have been.
That’s how we can be prepared for God’s tests! Keep unspotted from the sin of the world around you. Walk in holiness and sanctification before the Lord. Don’t allow pride to rise up within your heart and convince you that you have the “right” to cause division or strife in the church. Don’t let Satan convince you that you need to hear the “voice of reason” above the “voice of loving the brethren and keeping unity within the church”.
Satan loves to draw us aside, either through direct spiritual intervention with the heart and mind, or through the use of our friends and associates. He loves to make us think that we are right and everyone else is wrong. He loves to make us think that we have it all figured out. He loves to make us start pulling on our own reins and doing what we think in best instead of what the Holy Spirit wants us to do.
26:6 I will wash mine hands in innocency: so will I compass thine altar, O LORD:
26:7 That I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving, and tell of all thy wondrous works.
Washing of the hands was frequent among the Jews, and was sometimes an action by which a man declared his innocence of any wicked deals. Pilate did so, to protest his innocence of the mal-treatment and death of Christ. Also, the priests that served in the Tabernacle in the wilderness were required to wash their hands, signifying the washing of sin from their hands before they could serve in the Holy Place.
David knew that his hands were innocent and that he was cleansed from sins of rebellion and hatred against Saul. He wanted God’s test to show that he was right. David would stay around God’s altar, placing his confidence, trust and respect in the awesome God of Israel who was able to deliver and to perform that which He had promised to David.
Because he had stayed right with God and had stayed on his face before God in prayer and confession and allowed God to steer his thoughts and his heart, David’s testimony was intact. His salvation and innocence was not compromised. He had remained faithful and true and therefore he was not afraid of God’s testing of his heart. He could testify of God’s mercy and love because he had personally experienced it, not because of some head knowledge of God but because He knew God with His heart and had personal relationship with God.
How can we witness that which we have not seen, felt, heard or know first hand? How can we tell others about Jesus unless we know Him intimately? How can we lead others to the testing of their hearts before God if we have not passed the test first ourselves?
When you have passed God’s test and you know that your heart and motives are right, its not hard to tell others the right answers so that they too can pass the same tests. But, if we can’t pass God’s test then we can help anyone else to do so either.
26:8 LORD, I have loved the habitation of thy house, and the place where thine honor dwelleth.
26:9 Gather not my soul with sinners, nor my life with bloody men:
26:10 In whose hands is mischief, and their right hand is full of bribes.
Again, the question arises – Why do we come to the House of God? I hope we come because this is where God meets with us and we desire to be in His presence and in the presence of His people. I hope we come to learn more about Jesus; more about His ways and to learn more of how we can become more like Him.
If we are come to church for the right reason then we will have the same attitude as David did when he wrote in Psalms 122:1, “I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the LORD." If we don’t have the right attitude and we fail God’s test, then our desire won’t be for the House of God and eventually we won’t attend at all. I hope that we all will pass that test and remain faithful to the House of God.
Again David says that he won’t hang around with the world’s crowd. He doesn’t want anything to do with those who would be guilty of having the blood of lost souls on their hands at the judgment.
David knows, as we should know, that if we hang around with worldly people, we will become like them. Not only will they bring themselves to destruction but they will drag us down with them. If we hang around them long enough we will not fell the Holy Spirit convicting us any longer and we will be deceived into believing that all is well when it isn’t.
Illustration:
Several years ago I listened a tape that was titled “Pigs Don’t Know That Pigs Stink”. In that tape, the speaker eluded to the fact that when a pig in down in the pigpen long enough, the only thing he wants to do is find more mud and filthiness to wallow in. He isn’t happy unless the mud is deep and the stench in terrible. If one pig decides that he wants to get out of the mud, the others will often force him back in as if to say, “who do you think you are. Do you think that you are any better than us? Get back down into the mud with us, that’s where you belong!”
I don’t know whether pigs actually behave that way or not but it makes a valid point. People often won’t allow us to leave their circle easily. They don’t like it when someone tries to leave them and make a better life because it makes those who won’t change look bad. They may claim that they love you and that they will miss you, but in reality, they just feel guilty and refuse to make the change that you are willing to make. Don’t let those lies keep you from rising out of the muck and mire. Let Jesus help you. Give him the reins and let him lift you out of the miry clay and place you on the rock where you can experience God’s best for your life.
Once you leave the pigpen of sin, then you will be able to look back and clearly see just how bad that life was. Only then will it begin to stink to you too. Only then will you see the reality of the filth and sin that was there. God has to open your eyes and clean you up before you can realize just how bad you smelled too.
26:11 But as for me, I will walk in mine integrity: redeem me, and be merciful unto me.
26:12 My foot standeth in an even place: in the congregations will I bless the LORD.
That’s the answer to God’s test for you! God, bring on the test, take hold of my reins and I will walk uprightly. Lord, in will maintain my integrity and I will love you and serve you with all of my heart!
You have redeemed me, bought me with your own precious blood and you have shown me such great mercy. I am founded upon the solid rock. I am standing on solid and level ground through the power of your Spirit.
I will pass that test God! I won’t fail your examination! I will obey your judgments and commands and I will stand and praise the Lord for all that He has done for me!
Then I will step out and tell others about Jesus. Everywhere I go and everyone I meet will know that Jesus is Lord for I will shout it to the housetop that I have passed God’s test and you can too!
