God's Testing — Manley Beasley

Are you again, by the way, of a cassette tape? I'm here in Euless, Texas, seated in my office, just back from Germany and Switzerland, a trip that I'm sure that many of you prayed for, a trip that God mightily, mightily honored in several ways.

He honored the trip by giving, that's a good trip, good health and so on, and he honored the trip by using the trip to open up many, many, many, many doors in Europe. In fact, I will come back to this a little later in the tape.

But he honored the trip by giving us power to preach the Word of God to many people, and he just blessed the trip in the fact that many, many people that went on the trip really had an encounter with the Lord.

And you pray for them that they'll be able to maintain their walk with the Lord. You know, to start walking with the Lord and maintain that walk is two different things, and so I trust that you'll pray that the many people that made decisions on this meeting, on this trip and in the meeting in Switzerland will be able to maintain their walk with the Lord.

The Lord showed himself strong and mighty in the fact that not one person had a serious injury while in Switzerland, and that in itself is a miracle because many of the people did go skiing in the afternoon when we had off time.

But I can say that the trip was a crowning glory. I must say that I have never been fought more in my life in some ways than I was fought in relationship to this trip. Of course, many of you that just hear us talk and see the mail out and so on and so forth about the trip to Switzerland think that this trip is a time where we just go to Europe and play and, you know, that it's a waste of money.

But I'll tell you, the trip is a time when we get along, we're shut up with each other and we're shut up from the world in many respects. You can't get a telephone call through unless you just really work at it, and it costs you about $30, $40, and the cultural barrier there or the difference shuts you up somewhat in the fact of the language and so on.

You're just shut up to each other, and I'll tell you, and there's a lot of people that really rest and a lot of people hear God, and I think one of the number one strategies of Satan is to keep us so busy and active in such things that we can't hear God when he speaks, and so this trip turns out each year to be a very spiritual blessing, but I'll tell you, each year we definitely have the Lord bless us, but I believe this year God really blessed in the spirit of revival.

I mean, we saw people go to Switzerland with real needs, and we saw God meet those needs, and I just praise God for that. In fact, I became conscious this time that the trip to Switzerland was a ministering trip beyond anything that we'd ever had, and that from here on, everything is to take second place to the fact of the ministering of the Word of God.

So, I just really praise the Lord for that. Now, let me just tell you something that I've not shared with anyone, not shared with anyone at all. After being in Europe, after preaching to all the Americans, well, the convention that relates to all the Americans in Europe, European Baptist Convention, and seeing the heart of those pastors, seeing the need of those churches, and also seeing the need and the heart of the German people, and seeing the opportunity, I'm convinced even though my health is a factor and people, doctors especially, would say, man, you're stupid.

I believe God wants me to spend more and more time in reaching people throughout the world, and I believe that God has put it on my heart to make it possible to have conferences not only in Europe but all over, wherever they need them, for the teaching of the Word of God, where people can become more acquainted with the Word of God, where they can become more acquainted with how the Holy Spirit leads people, where they can be left with a burden for revival, and friends, where they can come face to face with life, life that will change them forever.

And I, for a long time, have been dedicated to this particular ministry, and we've been working, working in the direction of this ministry, but this past trip to Europe opened up the opportunity for us to minister to hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people through conferences and through tapes and books.

Prayer and Support for the Tape Ministry

And here's what I want to ask you to do, because you people on this tape ministry, of course you feel that, you know, that you're paying for the tape and that each month the tape is coming to you and that you're receiving it and you're hearing some things, but one of our biggest problems with people that receive these tapes is they let them pass by and do not listen to them and they get cold and indifferent and they stop listening and they stop praying and they're not involved any longer and after a while it's just, you know, it's not difficult to just push it aside.

And I know that we need to pray for people on this, on the tape ministry, but you people that do listen and respond to the Word of God and listen to what we have to say, I want you to know that I really depend on you to pray.

And so I'm asking you to do some things. I'm asking you to pray specifically for us here in this office that God will raise up the finances and the equipment and the personnel that's needed to accomplish what's on my heart.

I want you to start praying now for us. I want you to start believing God now for us. In fact, as I talk to you, I'm believing that God will touch your heart and literally put a burden on you to join with us in prayer and be obedient to the Lord as He speaks to you because we are immediately launching an effort to reach these people with tapes and books and personnel.

And there's some details that can be spelt out here, but I feel like that those details would put people under bondage. And I'm not interested in you being put under bondage. I'm just interested in you seeking the face of the Lord and obeying the Lord and the things that He says do.

Ministry to Americans in Europe

It was just a real experience to go and see the need. In fact, as I stayed, well, Martha and I stayed in Stuttgart, Germany and preached at the Temple Baptist Church on Sunday. And we saw people make decisions, move out to a house that was, the main floor was packed out.

We were just overcome. And I was just so confident that if I stayed there in that church, stayed there in that meeting for several days, that God would send a mighty revival to those American people in that church.

And I really became aware, and one of the reasons God has allowed the Americans to stay in Europe is for a ministering purpose. Now, I realize that our government has commitments, and we want to protect America by having Americans in Europe.

And I realize it's a costly experience, but friend, I tell you, while the government has one idea, our eternal God has another idea. You know, our Lord used the Roman Empire to get Paul wrong. And I'll tell you, God in our hour uses a lot, uses the government a lot of times to get men and women into the place of witnessing.

And I believe the European, I believe the Christians and Americans that are in Europe are there appointed to the Lord, but I do not believe they believe that. I do not believe they even know that. And some of them are being fairly faithful, but it's amazing, it's a faithfulness to a church honesty rather than a Christianity.

And they need a strong burden there, and they need to be fired up by the power of God. And I have not made a decision to leave the United States and go there, but I have made a decision to come back to the United States to people like yourself who's capable of praying and seeking the face of God on their behalf, and stir your hearts and get you to move out with God and enable us and others that we know to actually get out there and meet the needs of these people.

So I pray that the spirit of the living God will touch your heart and touch your life. The family here is just doing so fine. God is especially blessing in the family. Next month, you know, Martha and I will become grandparents, the Lord willing.

And the Lord has given some promises in relationship to the blessed event. You pray for us. Some have been asking me, well, doesn't that fulfill the promise to you? And I'm just so glad that the promise to me is children's children, plural, you know, not singular.

So we're looking forward to this grandbaby. And I know that you'll pray for us. I think Martha will be going up to join Bubba and Charlene in this blessed event. But you pray for us. You pray for Stephen Scott, the boy that's now 19.

The Lord's dealing with him. And each day that I'm home, he's spending time and time with me concerning the matter of preaching. And I know the Lord is really dealing with him. You pray for him. When he's not spending time with me, he's spending time with Dudley Hall.

And just seeking the mind of God, it's just beautiful to see how he's working. You also pray for Deb. She's probably having the most difficult time of finding the mind of God and doing what God wants her to do.

So you pray for her. And you pray also for John. We wouldn't want to leave John out. But the Lord is blessing. Now, this is a plus. This is something that you may really want to get into. In the past six months, the Lord's been doing a great deal in Martha's heart.

And as he's been working in her heart, she's been getting some speaking engagement. And as she shared, she shared how God encouraged her in the time of trouble. Like, you know, when I was so near death.

And the Lord has blessed us. And so we now have a tape of her testimony about how God dealt with her and how she sought the Lord in that hour when I was so near death. And if you would like to have one of these tapes, you can order a tape from the office here in Euless, Texas.

I believe the tape will cost you $4. I'm almost certain of that. We can make those things cheaper, but we do not have equipment. And they have here, so we have to buy them, you know, right off the market, the best way we can.

So if you want one of these tapes, you write us. And we'll be glad to get you one of these tapes. I think it will minister to a lot of people. So let us hear from you about that. Pray for us as we're coming up this next couple of months with a newsletter, something that we've never done before.

And this needs your prayers. Well, you know, it's just good to chat with you. As I'm talking here, I'm looking out two big windows, out across hundreds and hundreds of miles into space, out into a beautiful sky, and looking out, watching people pass by.

And I think about just dozens and dozens and dozens of people on this tape ministry. I think of people in Europe that we just were able to spend a few hours with. And I think of people here. And as I'm thinking about different people, by the way, you pray for us, because it's very likely that we're going to be able to start putting these tapes into French and German.

Now, don't get excited. I'm not going to be speaking the French and speaking the German, but we can have these tapes put into French and German. And as we do, then we can start ministering to people in those countries.

So you just pray for that, by the way. Well, most of the time that I've spent with you thus far, for about the first 15 minutes, it's been spent on the matter of just announcements and things that I want you to pray for.

Israel as an Example for the Christian Life

So from here on out, I want to spend some time talking to you about the Word of God. And I trust leaving you with somewhat of the message that the Lord's placed on my heart. Now, in the 10th chapter of the book of 1 Corinthians, we have the Lord revealing to us that we are to study the history of the children of Israel, that we might learn from them what's going on in our own personal lives.

And so, let me read you the sixth verse, or let me read you from the 10th chapter of the first six verses. Woe, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and were all and all passed through the Red Sea, and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and the sea, and did all eat the same spiritual meat, and did all drink the same spiritual drink, for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ.

But with many of them God was not well pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now, these things were our examples to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted.

And you might want to go ahead and read on through the greater portion of that 10th chapter, because it certainly deals with the children of Israel and with us as believers in relationship to the children of Israel.

Now, here is what I'm going to do. I'm going to send in the notes actually a reproduction of the pilgrimage of the children of Israel from the land of Egypt to the land of Canaan. And this is taken out of the Thompson Chain Reference Bible.

And of course you may have a Thompson Chain Reference Bible and you can go there and get some more details out of this map than we're going to be able to send to you. But I want to take this map and point out some things to you that will relate to you in your Christian life.

Because as I really talk to people, in fact just a few weeks ago I talked to a great Christian man. And this man for five years almost was so filled with the Spirit of the Living God that he just lived in the power and the glory of the Holy Spirit.

And then one day he began to have some adversity. And when he began to have this adversity, he went under. He became confused and he actually got enslaved again by the power of the world, the flesh and the devil.

Now, not in a very abnormal way, but a very subtle way, nevertheless it was so. And now for five years he's lived in confusion. And when I begin to show this man what I felt that the Bible taught about the Christian life and how to grow and what it really meant to be filled with the Spirit of God, then I believe he began to see how the Lord just really had worked in his life and he wasn't aware.

So since he was not aware that the Lord was working in his life, he became confused. And when he became confused, he became defeated. When he became defeated, naturally he became ineffective. He just wasn't able to move in the power of the glory of the Lord and have his own needs met and needed the needs of others.

So, I want to deal with you on this particular message that relates to the children of Israel from the land of Egypt to the land of Canaan, or at least to a great measure the land of Canaan. I don't think that we can get any farther than from Egypt until Kadesh Barnea.

I think that's as far as we're going to be able to get in this message. And as we get into the message, you will note on the map from place to place. Now, I will not stop and start as the children of Israel did.

In fact, I'm going to deal with four definite points in relationship to the children of Israel from Egypt to Kadesh Barnea, four distinct points. And you might take these down. Now, they are not listed in the map, but you can relate them to the map.

Redemption Through the Passover Lamb

And first of all is I want to deal with the point of redemption in relationship to the children of Israel. And second, then I want to deal with the point of identification in relationship to the children of Israel.

Third, I want to deal with the point of temptation or testing or the word proving may even come out and be better there. The word proving may just really bring something to your heart, may minister to you more distinctly.

And then the fourth point in relationship to the children of Israel will be that of failure or the fact that they flunked the course that they've been prepared for. Now, this is a very interesting study.

And many of you have heard me refer to these people many, many times. And many of you will pick up little points that I've brought out from time to time in my ministry. And so you'll put a lot of things together, but we're talking, we may even get into a principle of spiritual growth here.

And if we do, I trust that I'll be able to stop and say, listen, this is a point of spiritual growth. Now, let's establish one thing on this first side of the tape. And that is the first point. And that is the point of redemption.

Now, if you study the word of God, you realize that the Lord gave the Passover down in the land of Egypt. Now, you can find this truth in Exodus 12, where the blood, the message was given about the lamb and the blood taken from the lamb and the blood applied to the doorpost and the lintel.

Now, I believe any theologian would agree with us that this is the point of redemption, is the point of redemption. Without the shedding of blood, there's no remission of sin. And of course, many of you that get these messages can identify with this.

And of course, you've learned enough that you can go in the word of God and realize that this is redemption. Now, the reason why I illustrate the fact that this is redemption, it's so important that you realize that this is where these people were saved in the sense that we have salvation as a type in the Old Testament.

Okay. Now, this is so important because we are going to identify points in the life of the children of Israel that will be very significant to you in relationship to the total walk. I might just throw this in because the time will not allow us on this side of the tape to get into the second point.

So, I might put it this way, that the little lamb that they were to take the blood from was without spot or blemish. Ain't that beautiful? Because the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God, was without spot or blemish.

A perfect lamb. A perfect lamb to take away the sins of the world. And it's wonderful to know that the shedding of His blood, the Lamb of God, that we can have our sins washed away. And you know, not only are our sins washed away by His blood, but our whole conscience is purged from dead work to where we become conscious of the fact that we know the Living Christ, that we know the Living Savior, that He's our Redeemer, and that we can be conscious of Him.

And, you know, at the point of redemption, at the point of redemption is also the point of consciousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. It really is. That's where we should become conscious of Him. Now, the children of Israel received a cloud by day and a fire by night, the presence of God at this point in Egypt.

Now, in Egypt, not in Canaan, not on the other side of the Red Sea, but here in Egypt, there was the coming of the cloud by day and the fire by night. And I really call that the consciousness of His presence.

Friend, they could just look up. They could look up. Not within, by the way. They could look up. And they could see, they could see the cloud by day and the fire by night. My, what an experience that must have been, to have been conscious of His presence.

Well, we do not have a cloud by day and a fire by night over us, but in our consciousness, we are, in our conscience, we are conscious of the fact that He's there. And you know, you can't explain that.

That's a mystical knowing, but it, oh, it's so beautiful to know that we have a cloud by day and a fire by night. The consciousness of the Lord is, without question, one of the greatest heritages of a child of God.

Identification Through the Red Sea

All right, after we leave the matter of redemption, and we follow the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt with a cloud by day and a fire by night, we see that the Lord leads them directly out to the Red Sea.

Now, of course, you know, you're probably familiar with the Word of God enough to know they could have been led directly across to Kadesh Barnea without being led to the Red Sea. So, we find that there was a purpose in leading them to the Red Sea.

And so, we want to see this purpose. And it might help you, for me, to throw this in, that it's, that it's a confusing thing to a lot of people when they give their lives to the Lord and get saved, and then the Lord leads them to some difficulty.

I've heard some great people say, well, I wouldn't turn back on the Lord for anything in the world, but I do know this, that it's tougher now than it was before I got saved. And of course, they realize, you know, that they're having more adversity than when they were on the devil's side, you know, there was, he's a good leader, he makes things easy, he doesn't want to lose his hold on people, but nevertheless, the Lord led the children of Israel to the Red Sea.

And there was a reason for that, and of course, it was to, the reason, the overall reason was to mature them. And of course, maturity is a very important factor. But now, let's look at this Red Sea experience.

They came into the Red Sea, and you find the experience of the Red Sea in Exodus 14 and 15, and by the way, if you turn to 1 Corinthians 10, the first three verses, you will find that they were baptized in the Red Sea there.

And I want to call this the point of identification, a point of identification. Now, this is very significant, because they went through the Red Sea, and they had a point of identification. Now, after this point of identification is discussed, you're going to see that my conviction about the feeling of the Spirit of God is the same as that as the point of identification.

Now, I'm going to wait to get you into some New Testament scripture to bring this out very clearly, but I am going to bring it out. And so we have the point of identification here at the Red Sea. Now, we've dealt with two points.

Now, I haven't dealt with the point of identification too thoroughly, the matter of redemption and the matter of identification. Then when they left the Red Sea, the point of identification, they went into a wilderness.

It's called a wilderness. But in the Christian life, it is a legitimate wilderness. Now, this was a point of deep significance in relationship to the Christian life. And of course, you find this after the crossing in Exodus 14, and in Exodus 15, you find them beginning to face difficulty, the bitter water.

And then you find on in Exodus 16, the manna and quails. And then in Exodus 17, you find the hands of Moses being supported as there was a battle going on. And in Exodus 17, you find water coming from the rock.

And in Exodus 32, you find the golden calf being worshipped. And of course, in Exodus 40, you find the tabernacle being erected and sawn. And then you find in Numbers 11, more quail is given. And then in Exodus 12, you find Miriam smitten with leprosy, of course, and you remember that story.

And then they move on in up to Kadesh Barnea. Now, you realize that the Bible refers to the fact that the children of Israel had ten miracles performed for them. Actually, the way this particular Bible has this outline here, you know, they've gone through 12 events up to this point.

Testing and Proving in the Wilderness

Now, what I want to do is discuss for a few moments this time of temptation or testing or I said earlier, proving. Now, see, they were exposed to these different occasions for the purpose of humbling them and for the purpose of exposing their hearts and to teach them that they were to only live by the word of God and not by bread alone.

And they were to learn the ways of God, the strategy of God, how to care on war. In other words, this time here was a time where they were proven to see how they would act. And there was a genuine purpose for this.

It was to be subjective and objective. It was a time when they would see what kind of shape they were in. And it was also a time to prepare them for a greater day because, you see, the whole objective of this trip was to take them into the land of Canaan.

And the land of Canaan was the heritage of God for these people. It was what God had prepared for these people. In fact, it was the reality of God for these people. Now, do not get Canaan mixed up with heaven.

I think that's almost that's not even needed as far as telling you that Canaan is not heaven. I'm sure you know that. But their objective was to get into the land of Canaan. And so the Lord was preparing these people for the land of Canaan.

And this time of temptation, of testing, of proving, was an absolute necessary time. And it's a necessary time in the lives of His people. And so when they got to the land of Canaan, at Kadesh Barnea, you remember how they sent the spies over into the land, they came back with a report.

Israel's Failure at Kadesh Barnea

And the people the people doubted God. They doubted God. You remember in Numbers 13, in Numbers 14, we have the tragic story of how the Israelites allowed the people to go up and bring back the reports.

And when they got the reports back, the preachers preached, and ten of them preached doubt, and two preached faith, and they got in trouble. The people believed the doubters and even picked up stones to stone the two that refused to doubt.

And you remember the story. And then, of course, what happened here. The key thing that happened and there's so much that's happened in this story that I can't tell you in detail but the thing that really happened was this, that the glory departed.

Now, friend, that's something. You see, there's one thing about the Christian life that must be found in all of us, and that's the glory of God. Now, if the glory of God's not in your life, I do not care how busy you are or what you are doing.

Friend, you are not a person that's satisfied with Jesus. You are not a person that's satisfied with what you're doing for Jesus. And you are a person that's not satisfied with what Jesus is doing for you, if the glory of God has departed.

Now, you see, all of these events that God gave these people, leading them up to Kadesh Barnea, was for the purpose of when they got to the final examination they would not fail. And you know what? They fell.

They fell. They turned back. They doubted. They said, can God set a table in the world? And the thing that happened to them was the glory of God departed. Now, of course, they were turned back into the wilderness.

And then the wilderness became an illegitimate place. They wandered for forty years until the old congregation died out, so the new congregation would be taken in. And now, of course, you know, that's a new story.

Redemption and Identification in Romans

Here's what I want you to see as we have gone through this portion of Scripture. Definitely, point one, the redemption is identified as the blood being applied to the doorpost of Melano from a lamb without spot or blemish in the land of Egypt.

Then the point of identification, that point is identification is where a person takes on the realization, they recognize that they are one with the Lord and that they are one with him and in union with him.

And not only do they take on the fact that they were buried with him, raised with him, enthroned with him, but friends, they allow him to have his way in their life. Now, when you look at this identification in the light of the New Testament, you take Romans, for instance, the whole book of Romans, Romans 1 through 5, talks about redemption.

But Romans, Romans 6, is identification. Now, any teacher on the Spirit-filled life will tell you that Romans 6 is the classic book on how to be filled with the Spirit. Classic, it's classic. Not only is it classic because it teaches the Spirit-filled life, but it's classic because it gives us the proper order.

It shows us what has already happened. It shows us to believe the truth, and then we experience the truth, and it keeps us out of error in relationship to the Spirit-filled life. And most of all, Romans 6, in the light of what we are talking about, is identification.

Identification with Christ in his death, his burial, his resurrection, his enthronement. And so identification. And in every sense of the word, Romans 6 would be talking about the Spirit-filled life.

Now, what I'm saying to you is this. You see, a lot of people say, well, the children of Israel were only filled when they entered into the land of Canaan. Well, you see, you're dealing with two groups of people here.

And in that you're dealing with two groups of people here, you may have a little problem with that. And so I believe that the Spirit-filled life really was entered into in relationship to the Red Sea.

And I believe then they were set out to be tested and proven and tempted to let them be exposed, to let them be prepared for entering on in to Canaan up there. And I believe the Canaan land life is the anointed life.

You see, to the children of Israel, from the land of Egypt to Kadesh Barneithah, God worked for them. But when the children of Israel finally went on in to the land of Canaan, God worked through them.

Now, the principle of operation here is very different, and it's very important to see this because, you see, a lot of people really turn their lives over to the Lord. And He becomes Lord of their life.

And Lordship is a very precious thing to people. And then as they get filled with the Spirit of the Lord or turn their life over to the Lord and just really let Him have His way, they go out and they begin to hit all kinds of adversity.

And as they hit this adversity, they do not understand it. They thought, wow, when I got filled with the Spirit of the Lord and, you know, the Lord's so real, then why all these problems? And all this is the Lord training them even for a greater day, a day when they will enter into the enthroned life in the land of Canaan, where He will work through them, work through them, not for them alone.

Now, I'm not saying that He doesn't continue to work for them, but I believe He works for them and He adds to that through them. He doesn't take away one and put one in his place. He just takes away...

He doesn't take away one at all. He just puts one on top of the other one. And so I feel with all of my heart that this would save a lot of people from being confused and probably even failing, because when they really get identified with the Lord and really get filled with the Spirit of God, when they really turn their lives over to Him to be Lord, then they are taken out to be proven, proven.

And then when they are proven, then they are ready to go into the land of Canaan. They'll be given one big last test. And friend, if they fail, just like the children of Israel did at Kadesh Barnea, then they're headed into the wilderness for wandering.

And you may say, well, that's not grace. Well, I believe it is grace. And I believe with all of my heart that God is dealing in this area a great deal today. And I believe if you can find out that you're not in Canaan, but that you are somewhere this side of Canaan, I think that you're going to find out that there's a victory now.

I cannot say who or who is not in Canaan, but I know this, that I have seen hundreds and hundreds of people helped as they realize that when they're really filled with the Spirit of God, then they're set out there to be tested and tried and proven to see whether or not they will walk with God and to see what's in their lives.

And I do know that when they realize that these things are nothing in this world but opportunities to humble them, expose their hearts, teach them to walk by the Word of God, and to mature them in order for a greater ministry, then I realize, friend, they are really helped.

Now, I've been asked, and I have seen men asked, and I've read about men who have been asked, such as Watchman Nee was asked, how long does it take to make a preacher? And he said about 40 years, about 20-something years in the ministry.

So this is a very significant point, don't you think? And I notice that men have things to do, and they do a lot of it, a lot of things, and then at the end, in their last 20 years, there's a state of maturity about them.

And some men think they have gone off wrong, but there's a firmness in their life and a glory in their life that is different. So I just pray that as we've talked about this, that some way, somehow, God has dealt with your own heart and your own life, and He's brought this thing out to you.

Jesus' Baptism, Testing, and Ministry

Let's just look at the life of Jesus for just a moment, in that we deal with the Lord Jesus. We do not have to deal with certain phases for Him being the Son of God, and the matter of the redemptive phase, we do not have to deal with that and establish that.

I don't think it would be a problem with any of us believing that the redemptive phase of the Lord's life was strictly taken care of, but He leaves us a perfect example of the other phases here. He took on His identity at the Jordan River, and as He took on that identity, you remember the Lord said, this is my Son in whom I am well pleased.