Joseph: Faith Put To The Test
Matthew 1:18-25
Joseph stands as an outstanding example to every believer as he exercises extraordinary faith in submitting to God’s plan.
Introduction - What Is Faith?
According to Webster:
1 a allegiance to duty or a person: LOYALTY.
b fidelity to one’s promises.
2 a (1) belief and trust in and loyalty to God.
(2) belief in the traditional doctrines of a religion.
b (1) firm belief in something for which there is no proof.
(2) complete confidence.
3 something that is believed especially with strong conviction.
The Biblical Definition: Hebrews 11:1
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
§ Faith is the foundation (substance) for everything we expect (hoped for) from God.
§ Faith is the proof (evidence) of the unseen deeds (things) God will perform.
Illustration: The Cliff
A man fell off a cliff, but managed to grab a tree limb on the way down. The following conversation ensued:
“Is anyone up there?”
“I am here. I am the Lord. Do you believe me?”
“Yes, Lord, I believe. I really believe, but I can’t hang on much longer.”
“That’s all right, if you really believe, you have nothing to worry about. I will save you. Just let go of the branch.”
A moment of pause, then: “Is anyone else up there?” (Bits & Pieces, June 24, 1993, p. 3.)
I. GOD MAY CHOOSE NOT TO IMMEDIATELY REVEAL HIS WILL. Matthew 1:18-20a
Note: Gabriel appeared to Mary before the conception took place, but Joseph was not informed until after the conception. Luke 1:26-31
A. God May Test My Faith With Impossible Circumstances (18).
Illustration: I Can’t See You
One night a house caught fire and a young boy was forced to flee to the roof. The father stood on the ground below with outstretched arms, calling to his son, “Jump! I’ll catch you.” He knew the boy had to jump to save his life. All the boy could see, however, was flame, smoke, and blackness. As can be imagined, he was afraid to leave the roof. His father kept yelling: “Jump! I’ll catch you.” But the boy protested, “Daddy, I can’t see you!” The father replied, “But I can see you and that’s all that matters.” (Donner Atwood.)
1. Faith does not operate in the realm of the possible.
2. There is no glory for God in that which is humanly possible.
3. Faith begins where man’s power ends. (George Muller.)
B. When God Tests My Faith I Am To Submit To His Will (19).
Illustration: Alter Your Course!
The captain of the ship looked into the dark night and saw faint lights in the distance. Immediately he told his signalman to send a message” “Alter your course 10 degrees south.” Promptly a return message was received: “Alter your course 10 degrees north.” The captain was angered; his command had been ignored. So he sent a second message: “Alter your course 10 degrees south—I am the captain!” Soon another message was received: “Alter your course 10 degrees north—I am seaman third class Jones.” Immediately the captain sent a third message, knowing the fear it would evoke: “Alter your course 10 degrees south—I am a battleship.” Then the reply came “Alter your course 10 degrees north—I am a lighthouse.”
In the midst of our dark and foggy times, all sorts of voices are shouting orders into the night, telling us what to do, how to adjust our lives. Out of the darkness, one voice signals something quite opposite to the rest—something almost absurd. But the voice happens to be the Light of the World, and we ignore it at our peril. (Paul Aiello, Jr.)
Note: Joseph didn’t yet have all the facts, but he was willing to submit to God’s will.
C. When God Tests My Faith I Am To Exercise Patience (20a).
Illustration: You’ll Git All You Can Hold
The following letter was found in a baking powder can wired to the handle of an old pump that offered the only hope of drinking water on a very long and seldom-used trail across Nevada’s Amargosa Desert:
“This pump is all right as of June 1932. I put a new sucker washer into it and it ought to last five years. But the washer dries out and the pump has got to be primed. Under the white rock I buried a bottle of water, out of the sun and cork end up. There’s enough water in it to prime the pump, but not if you drink some first. Pour about one-fourth and let her soak to wet the leather. Then pour in the rest medium fast and pump like crazy. You’ll git water. The well has never run dry. Have faith. When you git watered up, fill the bottle and put it back like you found it for the next feller. (signed) Desert Pete. P.S. Don’t go drinking the water first. Prime the pump with it and you’ll git all you can hold.” (Keith Miller and Bruce Larson, The Edge Of Adventure.)
II. GOD MAY TEST ME IN ORDER TO FULFILL HIS WILL. Matthew 1:20b-23
A. God Works His Plan Through His People.
“…for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.”
Illustration: Stalled Engine
There is no situation I can get into that God cannot get me out of. Some years ago a man was learning to fly. The flight instructor told him to put the plane into a steep and extended dive. The student was totally unprepared for what was about to happen. After a brief time the engine stalled, and the plane began to plunge out of control. It soon became evident that the instructor was not going to help at all. After a few seconds, which seemed like an eternity, the student’s mind began to function again. He quickly corrected the situation. Immediately he turned to the instructor and began to vent his fearful frustrations on him. The instructor very calmly replied, “There is no position you can get this airplane into that I cannot get you out of. If you want to learn to fly, go up there and do it again.” At that moment God seemed to be saying to the student, “Remember this. As you serve Me, there is no situation you can get yourself into that I cannot get you out of. If you trust Me, you will be all right.” (James Brown, Evangeline Baptist Church, Wildsville, LA, in Discoveries, Fall 1991, Vol. 2, No. 4.)
B. God Works Out All The Details.
“And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.”
Illustration: GM Research
Charles F. Kettering relates, “When I was research head of General Motors and wanted a problem solved, I’d place a table outside the meeting room with a sign: Leave slide rules here. If I didn’t do that, I’d find someone reaching for his slide rule. Then he’d be on his feet saying, “Boss, you can’t do it.” (Charles F. Kettering in Bits and Pieces, December 1991, p. 24.)
C. God Works According To His Word.
“Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.”
Illustration: The Skydiver
In April 1988 the evening news reported on a photographer who was a skydiver. He had jumped from a plane along with numerous other skydivers and filmed the group as they fell and opened their parachutes. On the film shown on the telecast, as the final skydiver opened his chute, the picture went berserk. The announcer reported that the cameraman had fallen to his death, having jumped out of the plane without his parachute. It wasn’t until he reached for the absent ripcord that he realized he was free falling without a parachute. Until that point, the jump probably seemed exciting and fun. But tragically, he had acted with thoughtless haste and deadly foolishness. Nothing could save him, for his faith was in a parachute never buckled on. Faith in anything but an all-sufficient God can be just a tragic spiritually. Only with faith in Jesus Christ dare we step into the dangerous excitement of life. (When God Was Taken Captive, W. Aldrich, Multnomah, 1989, p. 91.)
III. GOD EXPECTS ME TO EXERCISE MY FAITH. Matthew 1:24-25
Quote: The true, living faith, which the Holy Spirit instills into the heart, simply cannot be idle. – Martin Luther
A. I Am Justified By Exercising Godly Faith.
“Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife:”
James 2:21-24
Illustration: Gold Medallist
Olympic gold medallist Darrel Pace was to give an archery exhibition in New York City’s Central Park, and the event received coverage by all the news stations. Shooting steel-tipped hunting arrows, Pace punctured bull’s-eyes without a miss. Then he called for a volunteer. “All you have to do,” said Pace, “Is hold this apple in your hand, waist-high.” ABC correspondent Josh Howell took a bold step forward. He stood there, a small apple in his hand, a larger one in his throat. Pace took aim from 30 yards away as we all held our breath. Then THWACK-a clean hit that exploded the apple before striking the target behind. Everybody applauded Howell, who was all smiles—until his cameraman approached with a sheepish look. “I’m sorry, Josh,” he said. “I didn’t get it. Had a problem with my viewfinder. Could you do it again?” (Bob Teague, Live and Off-Color: News Biz.)
B. I Am Obligated To Exercise Godly Faith.
“And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS.”
James 2:17-18
Illustration: A Bottle Of Medicine
To illustrate dead faith, “It is that kind of faith which would lead a man to take a bottle of medicine from his medicine cabinet. Looking at the instructions on it, he says, ‘I’m sure they’re correct. I have all confidence in the source of the medicine. I know who wrote these directions. I believe everything about it. I know this will relieve my headache, if I just take it.’ But he takes the medicine bottle and puts it back on the shelf. He doesn’t lose his headache. It continues on. Yet he can say I believe that medicine. I believe all about that medicine. But still he won’t take it. That’s dead faith.” (Warren Wiersbe, Wycliffe Handbook of Preaching And Preachers, p. 242.)
Conclusion: Misplaced Faith
Philip Yancey, in his book Disappointment With God, writes:
Even back then I was searching for hard evidence of God as an alternative to faith. And one day I found it—on television, of all places. While randomly flipping a dial, I came across a mass healing service being conducted by Kathryn Kuhlman. I watched for a few minutes as she brought various people up on the stage and interviewed them. Each one told an amazing story of supernatural healing. Cancer, heart conditions, paralysis - it was like a medical encyclopedia up there.
As I watched Kuhlman’s program, my doubts gradually melted away. At last I had found something real and tangible. Kuhlman asked a musician to sing her favorite song, He Touched Me. That’s what I needed, I thought; a touch, a personal touch from God. She held out that promise, and I lunged for it.
Three weeks later when Kathryn Kuhlman came to a neighboring state, I skipped classes and traveled half a day to attend one of her meetings. The atmosphere was unbelievably charged—soft organ music in the background; the murmuring sound of people praying aloud, some in strange tongues; and every few minutes a happy interruption when someone would stand and claim, “I’m healed!”
One person especially made an impression, a man from Milwaukee who had been carried into the meeting on a stretcher. When he walked - yes, walked - onstage, we all cheered wildly. He told us he was a physician, and I was even more impressed. He had incurable lung cancer, he said, and was told he had six months to live. But now, tonight, he believed God had healed him. He was walking for the first time in months. He felt great. Praise God! I wrote down the man’s name and practically floated out of that meeting. I had never known such certainty of faith before. My search was over; I had seen proof of a living God in those people on the stage. If he could work tangible miracles in them, then surely he had something wonderful in store for me. I wanted contact with the man of faith I had seen at the meeting, so much so that exactly one week later I phoned Directory Assistance in Milwaukee and got the physician’s number. When I dialed it, a woman answered the phone.
“May I please speak to Dr. S_____,” I said.
Long silence.
“Who are you?” she said at last.
I figured she was just screening calls from patients or something. I gave my name and told her I admired Dr. S_____ and had wanted to talk to him ever since the Kathryn Kuhlman meeting. I had been very moved by his story, I said.
Another long silence.
Then she spoke in a flat voice, pronouncing each word slowly. “My... husband... is... dead.” Just that one sentence, nothing more, and she hung up. (Disappointment With God, Philip Yancey, Zondervan, pp. 38-40.)
