“…THOU SHALT KNOW HEREAFTER”

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DO NOT LOOK FOR THE ANSWER UNTIL THE TEST
IS OVER


John 13:7, “Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now; but
thou shalt know hereafter.”
Job 35:12, “There they cry, but none giveth answer, because of the pride of evil
men.”
None of us can make it alone in
life. None of us can keep on going alone in life. We need our God and we need
each other. There is a great mistake being made in Christianity in America for
we have divided the laity from the so-called clergy too much in our nation. 
The
truth is we have in each local church a man chosen to spend more time in the
Scriptures and with God than the rest of the people. However, the one who is chosen is
weak himself.  
Preaching is one
doubter preaching to a bunch of doubters attempting to convince all of us not
to doubt. Preaching is an imperfect man preaching a perfect book to imperfect
people attempting to perfect them. Preaching is one weak man preaching to a
bunch of weak people attempting to cause all of us to lean upon Jesus for strength.
So, the preacher comes as at his best
a man to preach God. When I preach on joy I do not have joy all the time, but I
work at it and as a result I have joy most of the time. When I preach on
strength I do not come as one that always has strength, but I know where to go
to receive strength and I do go there most of the time.
I do not come to the congregation
with all the answers, but I do come to them with a Bible that has all the
answers. I have the same fears, doubts, apprehensions, temptations, and trials
that the congregation has.
The Bible says Jesus was tempted
in all points like as we are. The Bible says, “There is no temptation taken you such as is common to man.” Every
testing I have you have and every testing you have I have. The great preachers
of the past such as Jack Hyles, John R. Rice, Bill Rice, D. L. Moody, C. H.
Spurgeon, Lee Roberson, and Billy Sunday were all human beings. To find fault
in them is to find fault in you and the rest of the human race.

When I was in grade school we use
to have schoolbooks that had the answers in the back of the book. We would
grade others papers by going to the back of the book and look up the answers.
When we would take a test I can still hear the teacher saying, “Don’t look at
the answers until the test is over.”
Think about that? We all need to
think about that. It is not time to look at the answers now in life while we
are being tested. During the testing time it is not time to look for the
answers. Why, because you will not learn anything if you get the answers before
the test is over. I use to say to myself, “But that is when you need the
answers the most.” However, the teacher would say, “You will not learn anything
by getting the answers before the test is over. Wait till it is over and then look
at the answers to find out how you did.”
Here we are today being tested
and we want to know the answers. I find myself getting on to a plane sometimes
saying, “Why?” I check into a motel sometimes asking myself, “Why?” and I can
hear my grade school teachers saying, “Wait till the test is over before you
look for the answers.” All of us want the answers during the test, but the
answers do not come till the test is over. The truth is none of us will learn
anything. We must wait until the test, the trial, or the testing time is over.
John 13:7 Jesus said, “I’ll tell
you hereafter” for it is not time now to tell you. It is not time to look at
the answers.” I pastored for 33 years and have been honored to be in the
ministry going on 46 years and I knew the dear people God gave me to pastor. I
knew their testing and I knew they were asking why just like I was asking why
for all of us do it. They had their airplane moment, motel moment, and they all
wept as we all asked why.
May I tell you what my grade school
teachers use to say to us. “Don’t look for the answers until the test is over
because you will not learn anything by knowing the answers without the test.”
There is no great merit in trusting God if you have all the answers. God wants
you to trust him without the answers. God wants you to work your way through
the problem. 
Once the test is over or the problem is worked through then you
can look at the answers. Only then will why be answered, but we all are so
prone to fuss at God telling him we want to know the answers now.
However, God says in Job, with
Elihu speaking to Job, that Job was tested and asking God for the answers. He
was asking why did my ten children die, why is my health gone, why is my wealth
gone, why are my friends turning on me, and why did my wife lose her faith and
loyalty in me. Job was asking God why? “There has to be an answer why all ten
of my children died, my health is gone, my wealth is gone, my so-called friends
have forsaken me, and my wife said, ‘Curse God and die!’ God why?”
Elihu comes to Job and says, “God
is not interested in you.” Oh, Elihu you are so wrong! God is interested in Job
and in every one of his people. God knows your name, your house number, your
social security number, you blood type, your telephone number, your blood
pressure, your heighth, your weight (ouch), your heartache, and your personal
pain. You and I are not an uh oh with God. All of a sudden a cloud comes and
the presence of Jehovah God appears to Job.

“Why God?” asks Job. Why my
health, wealth, ten children, disloyal wife, and so-called friends who became
disloyal. I can hear Job say to himself, “Wow! God is here and God is going to
tell me why.” He heard the voice of God and God is going to tell him why he
thought, but God did not tell him why.
In the 39th, 40th,
and 41st chapters of Job when God came to Job he never told Job why
one time. God said, “I want to show you something Job. Look at the streak of
lightening across the sky. Can you do that?” Job felt that mighty rush of wind
and God asked Job, “Can you do that?”
God gives him a display like no
one could imagine. God shows his power, omnipotence, wonders, and creation then
he says to Job, “If I can do all of that then don’t you think there is a why?”
“If tornadoes are my footprints, hurricanes my breathe, snow comes from me, I
can cause the rain to come then stop, and I can put on a lightening show of
electricity in the sky don’t you think you could trust a God like me? Don’t you
think Job I have a reason for every thing?”
Why don’t we quit looking for the
answers while the test is being given? Why don’t we just work through the
problems? Why don’t we just work our way through the trials, tribulations, and
tests? Why don’t we just learn something’s? It’s not answer time for it’s trusting
time. It’s time to trust God not to find answers from God. If you and I found
the answers it’s not going to help us until the test is over.
God says to us, “Trust me.” When
you can’t see your way through just trust God to guide you through. Tell God
you do not need to know why because your God knows why.
LESSONS
  • ·     
    We waste
    our time guessing at the whys or the answers
  • ·     
    We may
    guess wrong
  • ·     
    We may
    make a wrong decision based on a wrong guess
  • ·     
    We cannot
    know the answer until you work through the problem
  • ·     
    If we
    knew why in the middle of the test we would disagree with the answer
     
  •     The
    testing time is more help to us than the answer time

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