Understanding the Trial of Faith
“Every way of man is right in his own eyes: but the LORD pondereth the hearts” – Prov. 21:2
You see, God already knew Abraham by sovereign, eternal election. He said of him, "For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him" (Genesis 18:19). The Lord already knew he would persevere, already elected him to persevere, but within time, God related to him in a manner which is not according to God in the ways of God. God sought to know him in another manner, as a man would seek to know something: through
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works, experiences, and trials. So the question is: Does God know you by trial? Though the Lord already knew Abraham (God in the ways of God), though he was the elect of God (God in the ways of God), God sought to know him through trial (temptation), thus it is written, “God did tempt Abraham” (Gen. 22:1). This is when He commanded Abraham to offer up Isaac, who was the promised child, and the Lord was going to see if Abraham still believed that by God’s word He would bring life from the dead. This time it was not the deadness of Sarah’s womb which tried him; rather it was the death of Isaac. Abraham believed that he was going to kill Isaac, but because he believed that Isaac would be killed, he was assured that Isaac would be raised from the dead according to the promise – “Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead” (Heb. 11:19). In this manner Abraham continued to believe the gospel, passed the trial of faith, and as if God didn’t already know Abraham, God said: “Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou FEAREST God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from Me” (Gen. 22:12). God said “now I know” (God in the ways of man) because He was seeking to know Abraham according to his works, to prove (test or try) him as if He didn’t already know his heart. God was operating as a man would when a man would seek to know another man, which means that God would seek to know another man by works and experiential relationships. This is the trial of faith in the condescension of God. Remember the thoughts of God toward Israel and all the ways that He sought to know them? “And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep His commandments, or no” (Deut. 8:2).
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This knowing of God through trial, proving, and fire is a consistent theme throughout the scripture, for this is the hinge of the Covenant, promises, and salvation. The end of passing the trial is salvation because salvation is rewarded to every man who has saving faith. The question is: How will God find your faith to be when He tries you? Will He find it saving or staggering, enduring or fainting? The furnace of fiery trials is the course predestined for all God’s twice-born children. It is written, "That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: Whom having not seen, ye love; in Whom, though now ye see Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls" (1 Peter 1:7-9). God must find your faith out by works, then such a one will have the “praise and honour and glory,” as Peter declares, or the “glory and honour and immortality, eternal life,” as Paul declares (Rom. 2:7), both are indicative of Divine acceptance before the Judgment Seat of Christ. After Abraham was tried, and he passed, he did receive the assurance of his salvation through God’s swearing in of the Covenant promises (Gen. 22:16-18). The writer of Hebrews applies this to the NT experience, pressing Christians to obtain a real assurance of their faith in the same way Abraham did. God said, “By Myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son…I will bless…I will multiply…in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; BECAUSE THOU HAST OBEYED MY VOICE” (Gen. 22:16-18). What did saving faith look like? OBEDIENCE to the VOICE OF GOD! This is the repeated reasoning of God for why He performed the Covenant with Abraham, see Gen. 17:1-2, 18:19, 22:18, 26:5, and Romans 4:18. Therefore now, to us the burden of God is, as Genesis 17:1-2 states -->
"And we desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end: That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises. For when God made promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no greater, He sware by Himself, Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee. And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise" (Hebrews 6:11-15).
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My reader, God will find you out. He must find you out, and though He knows your heart right now, though He knows your destiny by election, in condescension after the ways of man He seeks to try you and know you as if He has never known you for sure. Now consider your works, His voice of command, the hardness of your heart, and thus ask yourself the question, will He say to you, “now I know that thou FEAREST Me”? If you are regenerate, Christian, though God knows you eternally, and though He knows your heart right now, even though nothing is hidden from His sight so that He would never have to test anything or anyone to find anything out, God will do to you as He has tried Abraham’s faith. He will, in this way, find you out. Will God find you faithful as “faithful Abraham” (Gal. 3:9)? God “foundest his heart faithful” through the trial of his faith, and therefore, He “madest a Covenant with him” (Neh. 9:8). “Be diligent that ye may be found of Him in peace, without spot, and blameless” (2 Peter 3:14).
Many would make the accusation that the doctrine of losing salvation is based upon a misunderstanding of grace, a reliance upon works, and a negating of faith. Ye hypocrites! If we believe we have received salvation, not apart from but through saving faith, how then is the loss of saving faith a salvation based upon works? The sovereignty of God is evidenced by a man’s inability to come to Christ, because the man has an inability to believe, and because faith “is the gift of God” (Eph. 2) “according as God hath dealt to every man” (Rom. 12:3). But what if God, in His sovereignty, does show forth those who are elect as “vessels of wrath fitted to destruction” by their eventual discontinuance of faith and repentance, while formerly they were able to obtain salvation through faith and repentance, and conclusively, God glorifies His own eternal integrity before, during, and after their fall though it is an exultation of judgment outside the realm of our logical comprehension and understanding! Thus, it is a glorification of God’s sovereignty. Of this glory, it is written, “no flesh can glory in His presence”; therefore these attributes of judgment are to be wondered at from below, a looking up at the loft of infinite purity in God’s sovereign and just pleasure.
Many would make the accusation that the doctrine of losing salvation is based upon a misunderstanding of grace, a reliance upon works, and a negating of faith. Ye hypocrites! If we believe we have received salvation, not apart from but through saving faith, how then is the loss of saving faith a salvation based upon works? The sovereignty of God is evidenced by a man’s inability to come to Christ, because the man has an inability to believe, and because faith “is the gift of God” (Eph. 2) “according as God hath dealt to every man” (Rom. 12:3). But what if God, in His sovereignty, does show forth those who are elect as “vessels of wrath fitted to destruction” by their eventual discontinuance of faith and repentance, while formerly they were able to obtain salvation through faith and repentance, and conclusively, God glorifies His own eternal integrity before, during, and after their fall though it is an exultation of judgment outside the realm of our logical comprehension and understanding! Thus, it is a glorification of God’s sovereignty. Of this glory, it is written, “no flesh can glory in His presence”; therefore these attributes of judgment are to be wondered at from below, a looking up at the loft of infinite purity in God’s sovereign and just pleasure.