Download Audio<\/a>\n\tText: Hebrews 12:4-14<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I. God knows the hearts of men<\/p>\n A. I Samuel 16:7 “The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at\nthe outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”\n B. Luke 16:15 “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of men, but God\nknows your hearts.”\n C. God knows whether we have chosen to follow Him or to follow Satan -Psalms\n139:1-16\n
II. Then, what is the purpose of the tests God sends our way?<\/p>\n
A. If God already knows where we stand, who benefits from the test?<\/p>\n
B. We are the ones who benefit.<\/p>\n
1. We may claim to believe<\/p>\n
2. We may think we follow our Savior<\/p>\n
3. But until we have to stand with Him in the face of trial, we cannot be sure.<\/p>\n C. But we must also keep in mind that we are free moral agents. We have been given\nthe right to choose – Proverbs 16:1, 9\n
1. Until a choice is made, where a person stands is not known<\/p>\n
III. Examples<\/p>\n
A. Abraham’s offering of Isaac was a test by God – Genesis 22:1<\/p>\n 1. Hebrews 11:17-19 says Abraham considered the command a sentence of\ndeath\n
a. He intended to carry it out<\/p>\n
b. He believed God could raise Isaac from the dead, if necessary.<\/p>\n 2. God knew the strength of Abraham’s faith before putting Abraham and\nIsaac through this pain.\n
a. But notice the statement: “Now I know” – Genesis 22:12<\/p>\n
b. Until that point, Abraham had not committed to a decision<\/p>\n c. Abraham made a choice and God understood all the reasons and\ndepth behind that choice – Genesis 22:16-18\n 3. But could Abraham, or Isaac, or anyone else be sure of Abraham’s faith\nuntil Abraham raised the knife to carry out God’s command?\n
a. We talk about the great faith of Abraham<\/p>\n b. But we cannot see into Abraham’s mind. We aren’t privy to his\nthoughts.\n c. Rather, we recognize his faith by the deeds recorded for us. –\nRomans 4:16-25\n
B. God could have delivered the promise land to the Israelites<\/p>\n
1. Intact, with no work on their part.<\/p>\n a. A disease could have wiped out the entire population and the\nIsraelites could have settled in the empty cities.\n
b. There would have been no risks of battle, facing the enemies.<\/p>\n
c. But God said it would be little-by-little – Exodus 23:27-30<\/p>\n 2. God wanted each man’s faith tried, so he would know where the land\ncame from.\n
a. They wandered for 40 years to be tested – Deuteronomy 8:2<\/p>\n b. When Israel stopped following God, God withdrew His help.\nWhy? – Judges 2:20-22\n 3. It could not have been easy facing larger, better-equipped soldiers who\nwere fighting to preserve their homes.\n
a. They needed to be brave – Judges 3:1-4<\/p>\n b. Even believing God’s promise of victory, does that mean I will\nsurvive my particular battle?\n
c. Am I destined to enjoy the promised land?<\/p>\n d. If God just handed them the promised land, would they have\nknown for sure where they stood and on whom they must rely?\n 4. Yet, even with their effort, they didn’t earn the land. It was given to them –\nJoshua 24:11-13; Psalms 44:1-8\n
IV. Baptism<\/p>\n
A. Most of the religious world sees no necessity for baptism.<\/p>\n
B. After all God already knows the condition of each man’s heart.<\/p>\n
C. So when we say we believe, is that not enough?<\/p>\n
1. Abraham had to act on his faith to show where he stood.<\/p>\n 2. Each Israelite had to face the enemy to let it be known where he had\nplaced his faith.\n 3. We must act on our faith to perform what may seem to be an unnecessary\nact to receive salvation.\n D. Abraham could have declared his faith in God from every housetop, but if he\nfailed to sacrifice his son, he would have failed the test.\n E. We too may declare our faith in Jesus, but if we cannot perform the simple act of\nbeing baptized for the remission of our sins, then we too fail the test – Romans\n16:25-27\n
V. Not the last test<\/p>\n
A. Our tests only begin with our baptism<\/p>\n B. Each day, in many ways, the Christian, like the early Israelites, must face daily\nbattle and declare his faith in the Son by standing with Him come what may.\n C. If an Israelite’s faith failed, he might die physically. If a Christian’s faith fails, he\nmay die spiritually – Hebrews 3:14-19\n D. When a Christian passes the test, he is made stronger. Even failure can show a\nChristian his true condition, his need to rely on God, and make him stronger –\nHebrews 6:11-15\n E. If a Christian will ask forgiveness and try again, God will make him to stand. In\nthis way, trials purify as fire. – I Peter 1:6-7\n
VI. Trials are never easy or enjoyable<\/p>\n
A. View them as an opportunity to show where we stand.<\/p>\n
B. To find out where we need more work<\/p>\n C. There are some here who have yet to obey God’s calling to become a part of His\npeople. \n
1. I don’t know why each of you hesitate. <\/p>\n 2. Perhaps there is some sin in your life that makes you think you are not\ngood enough. I would rather not know what the sin is, but I do know this:\nthere is no past sin that God cannot wipe out for an obedient child of His\nand there is no future temptation or sin that is not easier to deal with\nwithin His church.\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Download Audio Text: Hebrews 12:4-14 I. God knows the hearts of men A. I Samuel 16:7 “The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” B. Luke 16:15 “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[119,32],"tags":[52,49,182,188],"class_list":["post-63627","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-audio","category-sermon","tag-baptism","tag-faith","tag-suffering","tag-trials"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":95647,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/trials-of-life-3\/","url_meta":{"origin":63627,"position":0},"title":"Trials of Life (Behle)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 14, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jack Behle via\u00a0Sentry Magazine, Vol. 21 No. 2, June 1995 If it is not certain that God knows the condition of our hearts at all times, it is certain that He could know. In I Samuel 16:7 we find, \"The Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":91394,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/disciples-overcome-unexpected-trials\/","url_meta":{"origin":63627,"position":1},"title":"Disciples Overcome Unexpected Trials","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 19, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeremy Dehut Download Audio Acts of Disciples","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":39677,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/god-knows-my-heart\/","url_meta":{"origin":63627,"position":2},"title":"God Knows My Heart","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 11, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"by Marilyn LaStrape Those of us who have evangelistic courage for the lost and continuing concern for the unfaithful probably have heard the title of this article in defense of their lifestyle choices. 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For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen,\" seems to imply that God might lead us into temptation. But James 1:13 says God doesn't tempt people with evil. 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