Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for gathering us together again this morning as your family to meet with us, to set aside a day to rest from our normal activities and to be gathered by you to feed us and to nourish us, to give us that which we need, a pilgrim meal, as we journey through this present evil age. We pray that your word would be effectual in our lives, that it would accomplish everything that you have for it to accomplish, that we would embrace it and receive it by faith, and that your spirit would be effectual in our lives, conforming us evermore and more to the image of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. It's in his name that we pray. Amen. Approaching the end of our study and the look of this epistle written by Jesus's half-brother This morning we'll be looking at verses 7 through 11 Verses 7 through 11, but let me start at verse 13 of chapter 4 to remind us a little bit of the context in which we're talking about the various trials and tribulations of life which today then we're calling James is calling forth the patients and We know how patients would be so necessary in some of these situations. So here now, James chapter four, starting in verse 13 through 511. Come now, you who say today or tomorrow, we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit. Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life for you are a myth that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, if the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that. As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it for him, it is sin. Come now, you rich, weep and wail for the miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth eaten. Your gold and silver have corroded and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days. Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you. And the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in the day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you. And we looked last week that that's really talking to non-Christians. It's warning them about the way that they not only treat Christians in the church, but also by the way that they treat image bearers, by the way they treat humanity, by the way they treat humans who are made in the image of God. And now, in light of the persecution of others against us, James writes, Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth. Being patient about it until it receives the early and late rains. You also be patient. Establish your hearts for the coming of the Lord is at hand. Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged. Behold, the judge is standing at the door. As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful." So far, the reading of God's Word. Well, patience is something that comes up a lot, and some people may be thinking, another sermon on patience? But it's important. It's something that we all struggle with, isn't it? And so I titled the sermon, Patience, again. Yes, because we need patience again and we need to be reminded of it. And we don't want to just do it as a patience, as a way to life or a way to obtain life, but as a way of life. You see, patience is a fruit of faith. Patience is a fruit of the spirit in our lives. And so the spirit is constantly conforming us more and more to the image of God. And it's going to require patience. We actually live in an instant society, just in a casual search. Online I found that you can learn a language in 10 days. I Don't think you can really learn a language in 10 days, but it's sold to us. We're sold it We want everything right now, right? You can have white teeth some said in a week some said even in an hour So yeah, I can undo 47 years of coffee in an hour with what this white teeth in her right wait Yeah, this whitener One other one says you can transform your kids in 90 days. Really? It's a lifetime. It's a lifetime of discipleship. We're all children of the Lord in this church, right? And it's not a 90 day program. It's a lifetime program of the Lord conforming us more and more. Also, you can be financially free in 90 days. That's just not true. It may happen now and then for some people, but if that's what we're banking on or you send your money after that, That's a fool's errand, right? That's like replying to the ad that says, avoid rip-offs, send $10, right? And then instant grits, right? Any self-respecting southerner would tell you you cannot have instant grits, right? Grits take a while. Good wine takes a while. Good beef takes a while. Things take a while to do, you see? And we live in a society that's constantly wanting everything right now. And this text in particular is telling us how are the righteous oppressed? The people, the righteous people, the church, when they're oppressed, how are they to respond? How are they to live in this present evil age? And James is telling us the Lord is telling us through James, through patient endurance, through trusting in the Lord of hosts that we talked about last week, that when it's used there, the Lord of hosts is talking about the Lord God Almighty, the Lord in all of his glory, the Lord in all of his might and strength. And here, James is starting to wind down the love letter. If you still have your Bibles in hand or open turn, if you will, the James chapter one. And you'll notice that James is going back to some things that he had introduced earlier in the letter as he brings the letter to a close. In James, chapter one, verses two through four. James, chapter one. Two through four, we read this. Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds. For, you know, that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness and that steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. And then look at James 1, 12. So blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. Let no one say when he is tempted, I am being tempted by God, for God cannot be tempted with evil and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desires. Then desire, when it has conceived, gets birth to sin and sin. When it's fully grown, it brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above coming down from the father of life with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change of his own will. He brought us forth by the word of truth. that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. So this is just to remind us that we're not talking about trying to have patience as a way to obtain life, but that patience is part of the new life, that we were already worded by God into new creatures, that the word was implanted into us. It was actually gives birth to us. God speaks us as Christians into existence. And that Christians are a special people by God, in God's eyes, but we're not a protected species. We still have to endure all the trials, all the sufferings, all the pain and the misery that is in this incursed world between the first and second comings of our Lord Jesus Christ. So being a Christian doesn't exempt us from pain. It doesn't exempt us from trials. As a matter of fact, sometimes because of Christ, we actually endure more. And so the theme here in this particular passage is stated in verse 7, it says, Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. So we want to look at the examples of patience, exercise of patience, and the foundation of patience this morning. Examples of patience, exercise of patience, and the foundation of patience. And we notice one theologian said that the very circumstances which call for patience are actually the very ones that beget impatience. It's a very difficulty of those situations where patience is needed that brings about our impatience. But the Lord is actually doing something in us and calling us and reminding us again to be patient and the need for it. And so first, the examples of patience, he offers three. He offers farmers, he offers the prophets and he offers Job. The first example of patience, then, is the farmers. He says, in verse 7 through 8a, he says, See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it until it receives the early and late rains? You also be patient. The early and late rains here refer to the Palestinian climate, that 75% of the rain in that region falls between December and February. But the crops, their actual livelihood and their life itself was dependent on the early rains and the late rains that came before that. Seventy five percent of the rain came between December and February, but they needed an autumn rain at the time of their sowing. And they also needed a spring rain just before the harvest. And they had to depend on the Lord for that. Right. Because there's nothing that they could do about it. They could do their work diligently. They could sow. They could plant, they could do all of those things, but the rain itself needed to come from the Lord. And so it's recognizing that the farmer is utterly dependent upon the Lord. The Lord is the one who maintains the soil. The Lord is the one who maintains the sun and the moon and its cycle and the rain and the natural order of seasons. Fruit is inevitable, but it's not instantaneous. You can talk to, we have several farmers in our congregation, right? They don't go out and plant it. And the next day there's a harvest. That's what we would like, and even sometimes that's what we think we wish life was like or teeth whitening was like or education was like or discipleship was like. Just do it once and then it's done rather than the process of of coming to fruition and fruitfulness and tending to it and watering things and taking care of those things which the Lord has given us. You see, no matter how hungry the farmer is or no matter how anxious the farmer is, he can't stop or start the rain. He needs to look to the Lord for these things. And we are to wait for the coming of the Lord as the farmer waits for the fruit of his land. We're to wait with patience, we're to wait with trust, we're to wait with hopefulness and we're to wait with busyness, going about the things which the Lord has called us to do. You know, it's interesting that in Scripture, in every context of when it uses the phrase, the early and late rains, it's always in the context of affirming God's faithfulness. that God will show up. But you know what? God rarely shows up in our time, does he? God has never once looked at my Google calendar and thought, that's a brilliant plan. I'm going to do it that way, right? It's always conforming Chuck to God's plan, not trying to get God to do Chuck's plan, right? It's having to learn trust, it's having to learn patience and to walk with the Lord in these things. So the first example he gives is of the farmer. The second example he gives is of the prophets, he says in verses 10 through 11. He says, as an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. Behold, we consider those blessed who remain steadfast. Suffering here is a bit more passive, as you see, the prophets suffered at the hands of other people. They were mocked. They were beaten. Some of them were killed. They suffered at the armies of the Lord. And it's kind of like passively taking it in terms of suffering. But patience is a little bit more active. It's in the situation of suffering. They were called on to endure. They weren't called on to trust, to be active about the things that the Lord had called them to. They were neither pacifist, just letting life go by. Oh, there's nothing we can do about it because the Lord uses our involvement. The Lord uses means. And they weren't anarchists trying to overthrow other people. They were faithful. We can think of Noah, Moses, Daniel, Elijah, Elisha, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, all of their lives in terms of the suffering and patience that they had to endure. Turn with me, if you will, to Hebrews chapter 11. Hebrews chapter 11. Starting in verse 32, we read this. Speaking about this very thing, and it says, And what more shall I say for time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah of David and Samuel and the prophets who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received back their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release so that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and flogging and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned. They were sawn in two. They were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated, of whom the world was not worthy, wandering about in deserts and mountains and in dens and caves of the earth. And all of these things and all of these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us, they should not be made perfect. This is just a remarkable short history of the prophets, noting how often they were mistreated, how full of life and trouble that their lives were. It says the world wasn't even worthy of these people. And note that when it commends them, it doesn't actually even commend them for the things that they did. What does it commend them for their faith? It commends them for their faith, they believed God, they believed his promises, they believed what the Lord had said, and that was manifested in how they lived and how they went about their lives. But ultimately, their resting place, ultimately their triumph, ultimately everything came down to their faith. They believed God. A prophet par excellence. The ultimate prophet that you can think of who suffered and was patient under that was who? Was Jesus, right? And that's who This text in Hebrews actually goes on to command, right? Hebrews 1139 again, it says, and all of these all of these prophets, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised since God had provided something better for us that apart from us, they should not be made perfect. So how are the saints in the Old Testament going to be made perfect through Jesus Christ? The same way that we are and their faith was looking forward to Christ, our faith is looking back on Christ. And so here what Hebrews 12, one says, therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witness, let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. who, for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God." You see how the Old Testament prophets were looking forward in faith. They endured because they believed the promise. They believed God. They believed that he was going to send a Savior, that he was going to send a Messiah. And that Messiah has come. Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, and he's the author, perfecter and finisher of our faith. Our whole life is in Jesus Christ, and he is the one who endured. He is the one who was patient. He is the one who endured the shame and the mockery. He was put on a cross for us. He was crushed for our sins. The wages of sin is death, and Jesus Christ died for us. The wrath of God was poured out on Jesus Christ. And then throughout all of his life, Which was not easy by any means. Through all of his mockery, through all of his suffering, through all of his pain, he never once disobeyed his father. And his obedience in all of that is credited to our account as if we had never done it. And that's why he's the one who is the author, the perfecter and the finisher of our faith. And Christ's work isn't going to go undone. It's not going to be. He's going to have no incompletes. All of his children will not only come to faith, but they will grow in faith. They will manifest the fruits of faith because that's what Jesus Christ purchased for him. That's what Jesus Christ accomplished for us. And then the Holy Spirit is given to us to make sure that that happens. It's the spirit of holiness who causes us to walk more in light of the newness that we have in Jesus Christ. So the first example you see was the farmers. The second example was the prophets. And then the third example of patience was Job. He says, you have heard of the steadfastness of Job in verse 11. Sometimes you've even heard we use it as a proverbial saying, oh, he's got the patience of Job. Well, actually, when you read the book of Job, some people debate, was he really that patient? There's different opinions on that, but if you look at Job's life, not so much as a snapshot, like just take a picture of Job at one place and see, he's not very patient. But if you look at it as a film. over the long haul rather than just one shot. You see, you know, in all of that, James ultimately did. I mean, Job ultimately did persevere. He ultimately maintained his faith and his trust in the Lord. He demonstrated perseverance in some of the most harsh suffering that any of us would ever have to face. He was ultimately yearning and looking for another. He was looking for the Lord to vindicate him. He was believing in the promise. He was not passive or idle. He clung to God. And he also didn't cave into the folly of his friends. His friends were constantly giving him bad advice. And in James, one of the things that the book is trying to do is to inculcate wisdom. And so Job, during all these trials, during all these tribulations, he wouldn't listen to the folly of his friends, even though he couldn't see what was going on, even though he couldn't know what was going on behind the scenes. He didn't have access to it. He clung. He clung on to God. He clung on to the promises. He didn't have merely a passive acceptance of things of, oh, well, you know, come what may, what can I do? But he had an active steadfastness. He had an active faith. He had staying power and constancy and endurance and stickability, if you will. He was going to cling to God and to the God of promises. You see, our current circumstances are not the end of the story. Just as our current circumstances weren't the end of the story for the prophets, they weren't the end of the story for Job. And when we pray out to God, God may not change our circumstances, Christian, but God will change you. That's his promise. That's what he's talking about here in James. He's going to use these things in our life to perfect us, to conform us more and more to the image of our Savior, Jesus Christ. So often when we pray, we're asking for God to change our circumstances. I want to encourage you that's an OK prayer, but also ask God to change you so that whether the circumstances change or not, that you become more and more like your Savior. The second thing we want to look at is not only the examples of patience, but the exercise of patience. The verb to be patient contains really two nuances. The first one is to wait and not be overly zealous. turning to violence or retaliation against a wrong or a wrong suffered. And that's what James is saying here. He's talking about the people have been persecuted by outsiders. So instead of going and getting vengeance, instead of getting into a fight, an argument about it, be patient. Don't don't be overcome by that. Don't turn to violence as a recourse. And the second thing is to preserve, not to be passive, but active. In other words, it's someone who doesn't easily succumb under pressure. Have you ever noticed someone who really does have a lot of patience? They've really matured in this area of their life. Don't you find them admirable? Don't you find them delightful? Aren't they the kind of person that you want to go to? Isn't there something aspirational about their patience and about their endurance that's endearing to you? Conversely, sometimes, have you ever been in a grocery store and you see a child that's ranting and throwing a tantrum because they didn't immediately get their way. And it's kind of ugly, isn't it? Or even in that same situation, you see a parent who's harshly chasing a child for a mistake or an accident, not something that they did of willful disobedience, but just an accident or mistake, and the parent just goes off on them. And it's just ugly, right? It lacks patience, it lacks love. And when we contrast that with someone who can endure, with someone who can bear up, with someone who doesn't fly off the handle and overreact, it's endearing to us. And that's what it's saying here, that this this idea of patience, this virtue of patience needs to be exercised. In other words, God doesn't come like Tinkerbell. You're all just patient and you have it all. It's in the crucible of life. It's in the difficulties and the trials of life that that muscle of patience is exercised. And it's going to be exercised over and over and over. You don't get to a point where now you're done with patience. Patience is needed in almost every situation. Patience is needed in our homes. It's needed in our churches. It's needed in our workplace. It's needed with ourselves. It's needed with others. And the Lord is patient with us. And patience, again, is something that's given to us by the Holy Spirit. It's part of the fruit of the Spirit. And so he says twice, he says, be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. You also, like the farmer, be patient. First, he says, establish your hearts for the coming of the Lord is at hand in verse eight. In other words, to establish your hearts needs to stand firm in the faith in Christ, not to be double minded. This is something that James has talked about throughout his letter is not to be distracted by other gods or by other things or the spirit of this age. But can you trust Christ? Can you trust the Lord, even though you can't see everything that's going on? Can you trust him? You see, Christian, we do not have the option as Christians of avenging ourselves. We don't have the option of giving up and we don't have the option of giving in to this present evil age. It's calling us away from all of those. It's calling us away. Faith is calling us away from retaliation, from giving in and giving up and saying, oh, well. Or from giving into the way of the world, say, you know what? Well, the Lord's way really doesn't work. It's tough. But the Lord is working. And so it's really calling us to trust the king. The king is coming in, the harvest is coming, the rains are coming. The spring rains are coming. Relief is coming. Trust that the Lord has your best interest at heart. Establish your hearts for the coming of the Lord is at hand. You see, I was trying to assure you that this life, you just said in an earlier verse, right, is short. It seems so long and laborious at times, particularly during the suffering of the trial, but it's nothing compared to eternity. So keep on keeping on. Establish your hearts in the Lord. Stand firm in your Christian conviction. Stand firm in the strength and the power of the might. Stand firm in the word of the Lord. These are the things that he is using to comfort you, to promise you, to nourish you, to encourage you, to sustain you. So run to the Lord. Run to the Lord in these things. And then the second thing he says is to not grumble against one another. Don't grumble against one another, brother, so that you may not be judged. Behold, the judge is standing at the door. So in terms of the exercise of patience, first is telling us to establish our hearts, to trust, to run to the Lord, and then second is not to grumble against one another. Grumbling here is really the word for moaning, and it's the flip side of patience. A patient person isn't a moaner or a grumbler. But the person who isn't patient often grumbles and moans. And what do they most often grumble and moan about? Others. What's the biggest problem in your life? Others, we think, right? And so we complain about them. God gave me the wrong pastor. God gave me the wrong wife. God gave me the wrong children. God gave me the wrong employers or employees or the wrong teachers. And he would have just done it different than I'd be patient. Nope. In that situation that God has called you and be patient, don't grumble against one another. This is actually a sin of speech, isn't it? And that's that's something that James has been concerned about throughout the whole letter is how we speak, because what we say reflects what's in our heart. And when we grumble against others, we're actually grumbling against God who made them. And we're grumbling against that person who's made in the image of God. And so it really reflects our heart here. But it's very easy to do. That's why James and Scripture cautions us about it or reminds us about it so often, doesn't it? Because in the midst of trial, in the midst of suffering, in the midst of persecution, it's easy to rip on the community. It's easy to tear one another apart. He says, Behold, the judge is standing at the door. Just a reminder that our words matter. What we say, what we do matters. God is actually serving our neighbor through us. He hasn't given us new life so that we can go about judging or condemning or partially treating one another. He's given us as ministers of grace and mercy to love one another, to serve one another, to be patient with one another as God has been patient with us. Not so that God will be patient with us because God has been patient with us, because God has been merciful to us. You see, we grow. We mature in our faith and our fruits. We do not inadvertently drift into maturity. We do not have maturity in one day. Like I said, we're cultivated and we need to cultivate these virtues over a lifetime. And God sometimes prunes us. And sometimes that pruning hurts. When the Lord cuts away something that we really wanted or that we were clinging on to, that the Lord thinks it'd really be better for you if you didn't have this. We're hanging on to it because we think it's really important and we need it. And God will sometimes trim those things away because they're actually bad for us. And then other times he waters us and refreshes us. But all of that is because he's a gracious heavenly father, because he loves us. And can we trust him in those things? That's what James is calling for here. Faith meets life tests through patience, not without it, and it grows into full maturity of settled character. One theologian said faith meets life's tests through patience, not without it. Are you going to have tests and trials, Christian? Yes. Your faith is going to be tested. Not to see if it exists. But to enlarge it, to perfect it, to grow it. And that is going to be done through trials, through patience. And that will grow to full maturity, because that's God's purposes for you. And the last thing we want to look at is the foundation of patience. We looked at some examples of patience. We looked at the exercise of patience, really calling us to stand firm, establish our hearts in Christ, and to not grumble against one another. And then third, the foundation of patience. This Christian patience, ultimately, is not waiting for something, is it, but for someone. We're waiting for the Lord. Notice how many times just in this passage that it talks about what we're anticipating. We're anticipating the return of the Lord. In verse seven, it says, Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. Until is a pregnant word suggesting both a goal and a time period. In other words, you have to be patient, but that patience isn't going to need to go on forever. The end of your waiting, the end of your longing is coming. You're waiting for the Lord. All of your need for patience will be removed at the coming of the king. But now you need to endure. Now you need to have patience. But that day is coming to an end. So be patient until the coming of the Lord. Establish your hearts for the coming of the Lord is at hand. Do not grumble against one another, brother, so that you may not be judged. Behold, the judge is standing at the door. Verse eleven. Behold, we consider those blessed to remain steadfast and verse later in verse eleven. And you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful. You see here both the fact of his coming and the nearness of his coming are in view. In other words, we're to live our lives in light of the last days purposefully and intentionally. And the foundation for all of this is because the Lord is compassionate and merciful. Don't miss that. We consider those blessed to remain steadfast, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful. Well, where has the Lord demonstrated very clearly to us his compassion and his mercy? It's in the person and work of Jesus Christ, isn't it? Manifested when he came for the first time, and it's consummated ultimately when Christ returns. You see, Calvary for us is in the past. Jesus Christ already came. Jesus Christ already died for your sins. Jesus Christ cried out on the cross, it is finished. There's nothing for you to do to merit or contribute or earn your salvation. Jesus Christ accomplished that. And now that message of Jesus Christ person and work and death and life, life and death and resurrection is announced to you. And if you believe that, that's a gift of grace. God is telling you that what Jesus Christ did was for you. He died for your sins. He lived for you, and that righteousness is given to you as a gift. So what James is calling us to is to live between the tick of Christ's first coming and the talk of the second coming with Calvary in the background and glory in the future. And so we can endure during this present evil age, not only because we have Jesus Christ as an example, but because we have Jesus Christ dwelling in us. Because we are united to Jesus Christ, his life and death is our life and death. We're free. He conquered our enemies, he conquered sin, he conquered Satan and he conquered death, and we're already new creatures. We're not done. We're being sanctified, but in our future, we know. We know that the same king who came and died for us is the same king who's coming to take us home. So that gives us hope. That gives us confidence, that gives us comfort as we endure the suffering in this present evil age. As Jesus suffered, so too will his people suffer in this present evil age. He doesn't leave us in the dark about these things. So the Lord is going to accomplish his purpose, you see. The Lord Jesus Christ has come. He is coming again. He is near and he has accomplished his purpose for us and in us. And he uses the trials of life to do that. And then just briefly, what are the purposes of the Lord? Well, James said, Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness and steadfastness when it has its perfect effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. So, in these things that are going on, it's that the Lord is perfecting you. Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. So, you see, can you trust God's purposes in these things? Can you trust that he has your best at heart? And sometimes when we hear blessed, we think of happiness. But it's not really the same thing. Happiness is an emotional state and it's subjective. It can go up and down. I'm happy when the Red Wings win the Stanley Cup and I'm sad when the Red Wings don't win the Stanley Cup. And I have no control over that. Right? But blessedness is a settled, objective state. Blessed are you. But I don't feel blessed. I know. You're happy enough to go like this, but it's a settled objective state. Blessed are you. Your sins are forgiven, Christian. Blessed are you. There's no more condemnation for you because Jesus Christ took it. Blessed are you because Jesus Christ's righteousness was credited to your account. And you stand holy and righteous before God because of him. Blessed are you. You're adopted. God's not going to adopt you. You're adopted. I don't feel adopted. I know here faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ here. Blessed are you. Blessed are you. These things are true of you, Christian. You know, Peter lacked patience at times. He often tried to rush God's purposes and God's timing and to do things his own way, yet he wrote at the end of one of his epistles, he wrote, But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is a thousand years and a thousand years are as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promises, as some would count slowness, but as patience toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. You see, so what seems like that to us sometimes about God's inactivity and God's uninvolvement is that we need to remember that God is not slow to fulfill his promises, first and foremost, and second, that God's timetable and ours aren't necessarily synced. And we want to try to sync ourselves to his timetable, not expect him to sync to ours. And finally, that the delay by the Lord when he seems slow to us, it's not because he's punitive. It's not because he's mean. It's not because he's evil or hateful or lazy or uninvolved, but ultimately because he's merciful. He's not wishing that any of the sheep would be lost. He's not wishing that any will perish. And so he's going to wait until he has gathered all of his sheep together in the church and until he accomplishes the purposes for each one of us and conforming us more and more to the image of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Then. Our compassionate and merciful Lord will return. In the interim, we walk in humble faith. In the interim, we walk with eager expectations, looking and longing for that day. In the interim, we walk with enduring patience, knowing that whatever comes in our life, it isn't all good, but the Lord will use it for good because he's promised to do so. And can we hear and can we trust the promises of this merciful and compassionate Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ? Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for another day. We thank you for the opportunity to hear again your promises about how your mercy and compassion was shown to us in the person and work of Jesus Christ, that you did something for us which we couldn't do for ourselves. You saved us. You endured the death penalty that laid upon us. You lived the perfect life of righteousness that we should have lived, and you credited to our account. And Father, now in light of that, In light of the fact that we have been reborn, in light of the fact that we are forgiven, in light of the fact that we are indwelt by your Holy Spirit, please help us to endure. Please help us to be patient, Father. Please help us to be long-suffering. Please help us to bear up under the trials of this life, to befit the people who bear the name of Jesus Christ, who have been baptized by and into the Holy Spirit, Father. Help us to be patient with one another. Help us to be long-suffering. Help us to encourage one another. Help us to bear one another's burdens, Father. Help this to be a church where sinners can come. And they can come and hear the good news about Jesus Christ. Not about what they need to do to climb a ladder to you, but what you did in coming down to them to seek and to save the lost, to rescue us all. We ask that you'd help us to walk