APPROVED OF GOD  

Raphael Oye Taiwo

Unity Christ Evangelical Ministry (UCEM)

www.ucevam.com

Lesson Seven

God Tests People (continue from lesson six)

1.1.1.   God tested Joseph. God promised Joseph, through a prophetic dream, that he would become a great man of honor (Gen. 37:5-10).  But rather than move up the ladder of success to the promised position, he began to descend into the pit of failure, or so it seemed. Joseph was sold as a slave into Egypt (Gen. 37:19-28; Gen. 337:36). As if slavery was too good for him, he was falsely accused and flung into the prison (Gen. 39:6-20). But Joseph remained faithful to God. His spirit remained in tune with the Spirit of God (Gen. 41: 14-38). He passed God’s tests and received God’s certificate of approval, with the result that he received all the good things the Lord had promised him (Gen. 41:39-46). Joseph might have wondered what was going on as things began to go wrong. I can imagine him thinking, “But I thought God said He would promote me to great honor? Now, what’s going on? Why did He allow me to be sold into slavery? And why did He let the devil get me into this horrible dungeon?” What would have happened if Joseph has spoken against the Lord and forsook the Lord in discouragement? He would have been rejected and God’s promises to him would have failed

1.1.2.   God allowed His Son Jesus, to be tested. Jesus, God the Son, stripped Himself of the glory of heaven and came into the world as a human being. Since He had become man and was about to take on a great responsibility as God’s Prophet and Lamb, He had to be tested. The Holy Spirit came upon Him and led Him into the wilderness. For forty days, the Tempter was working hard on Him (Mat. 4:1; Mark 1:12-13).

1.1.3.   Satan tried to get Him to abuse His God-given power to satisfy his personal need - Mat. 4:3-4. If Jesus had obeyed the devil He would have proved Himself unworthy of the great, selfless deed He came to the world to do and of the ‘Spirit without measure’ He had received.

1.1.3.1.               Satan tempted Him to commit the sin of presumption (pride-motivated behavior that is too bold) - Matt 4:5-6. If Jesus had complied, he would have proven Himself unworthy of the His God-given role, which only a humble Lamb of God could play.

1.1.3.2.               Satan tempted Him with covetousness and love of the world - Matt 4:7-11. He was ready to give up to Jesus his stolen ownership of the world to Satan in return for the worship of the Son of God. But he also knew Jesus would come under his authority like Adam did if the Holy One was foolish enough to obey him. Please, beware of these ‘money, money’ messages the devil is using to trip up many people of God today (1 Tim. 6:5, 9-10; Mat.13:22; Luke 12:15; Col.3: 5).

But Jesus could not be fooled by the devil. If Jesus had complied with just one of Satan’s request, He would have proven Himself unworthy of His position as the Son of God because He would have done the will of the devil. But why must the Son of God be tested. Jesus, as man, had to be tested like any other man of God to prove Himself worthy of the task before Him and of God’s certificate of approval.

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