Let's seek God once again in prayer and ask for his blessing upon our time of the study of his word. So let's pray. Our gracious Heavenly Father, we thank you for the truths which we have read in your holy word this day. We thank you for the hymns of praise that we've been able to offer up unto you. And we thank you for the presence of your gracious Holy Spirit. And we pray, our God, that you would even now pour out your Holy Spirit upon us, that we would all learn from your word and that we would not only learn from your word, but be transformed by the hearing of your word, mixing the hearing of the word of God with faith. But Lord, we do not have faith residing within our own breasts by nature. So we come to you, the giver of every good and perfect gift, and ask that you would give this gracious gift of faith to every one of us, that we would indeed receive the word of God, believe the word of God, and then act upon the word of God and live according to your holy word. We ask that Jesus Christ himself would be present and that he would be exalted in our midst. So please answer these prayers that we bring to you now in his worthy name, amen. The life which every Christian lives in this world is a mixture of blessings and troubles due to the reality of God's grace on the one hand and the reality of man's sin on the other hand. And as a congregation here at Trinity, we've had the joy of weddings, even yesterday, and the joy of the births of babies. And we have also had the sorrows of prolonged sicknesses and the sorrows of the death of loved ones. The scriptures reveal this dual reality in its accounts of history and its teachings, admonitions, and exhortations. For example, in Romans chapter 12, verse 15, we are exhorted to rejoice with them that rejoice and to weep with them that weep. So in this life, there are times of rejoicing and times of weeping. And James the Apostle, whose letter we have been studying in a number of messages, he understood the reality of this mixture in this life, both from the scriptures and from his own experience, no doubt. and he understood the challenges that such a mixture of good and ill gives to Christians. And therefore, in his letter, he instructs, corrects, and encourages believers so that they will persevere in their faith in and obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ throughout their lives. In our previous study of verses one through six of chapter five, we saw that James instructed Christians about a common negative reality, specifically that the unconverted and ungodly rich men and women of this world often oppress and abuse Christians. And in those verses in chapter five, one through six, we learned previously about the identity of the unconverted rich. We learned about their doom and we learned about their sins. And with these sobering realities before his mind and the minds of the Christians who heard James' letter read, James then turned his mind and heart to other truths in order to encourage these Christians. He was still very conscious of the fact that Christians live in a world with difficulties and sufferings. But he was also fully aware that this life is not the final resting place for genuine Christians. And it was for these reasons that James uses the word, therefore, in verse seven of chapter five. And I would have you turn now in your Bibles to James chapter five, and we will study verses seven through 11. So please turn there in your Bibles, James chapter five, verses seven through 11. So you'll notice there in verse seven, the word therefore, James used that word to connect what we're going to study today with what he had already written in the previous verses. So notwithstanding the oppression of Christians by the ungodly in this life, Christians must be patient and think on a future reality, even the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. So please, again, follow in your Bibles as I begin reading at verse 5, excuse me, verse 7 of James chapter 5, verse 7. Be patient, therefore, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. Behold, The husbandman or farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient over it until it received the early and latter rain. Be you also patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. Murmur not, brethren, one against another, that you be not judged. Behold, the judge stands before the doors. Take, brethren, for an example of suffering and of patience the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. Behold, we call them blessed that endured. You have heard of the endurance. Some Bibles say patience. You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the end of the Lord how that the Lord is full of pity and merciful. And there we stop our reading. Notice from this passage, first of all, changes, changes in this passage when compared with the previous verses. Notice a change of audience. As I've already stated by way of reminder in verses one through six of chapter five, we observe that James specifically addressed the sinfully oppressive, unconverted, rich people of his day who were not the recipients of his letter, and indeed, it was unlikely that any were present when that letter was first read. James wrote in this way, in verses one through six, imitating many of the Old Testament prophets who rebuked the ungodly who surrounded the people of Israel. He penned these words of rebuke to the ungodly rich in the hearing, as it were, of the Christians who received James' letter so that they would learn to not envy the rich amongst other lessons. But now in verses seven through 11, there's a change of audience. Three times in verses seven through 11, James calls his readers brethren. So he's not addressing the ungodly around him, he's addressing the brethren. And although he was an apostle, James placed himself in the same spiritual family as his readers. They are his brothers and sisters in the Lord, whom he loved very deeply. But notice not only a change of audience, notice secondly, a change of tone and focus. A change of tone and focus. In verses one through six of chapter five, James' tone in his writing was strident and abrupt and direct and reproving as he thought of the coming day of judgment and the terrors that that day will bring to the wicked. But now, in verses seven through 11, James' tone changes. His words now express warmth, tenderness, and love for his brothers and sisters in Christ who live in a world of trial and suffering. James' focus also shifts in these verses specifically to the essential need of patience by Christians as they live in this world of troubles. and to the reality of the return of the Lord Jesus Christ for his people at the end of this present age. And with this change of tone and focus, James sought to encourage every believer. And today, that is God's purpose with this passage, to encourage every Christian in this auditorium. But now notice, secondly, in our passage, the appeal for patience in the lives of Christians. Notice, first of all, under this heading, James appeals for patience in Christians by using two specific words. James began his letter all the way back in chapter one and verse four with these words. You don't need to turn there, I'll read it. In chapter one, verse four, James wrote, and let patience or endurance have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and entire, lacking in nothing. And now at the close of his letter, he uses similar words and similar appeals. In verse seven, James writes, be patient, therefore, brethren. And in verse 11, James writes, behold, we call them blessed that endured. So these are the two families of words that James uses in this passage in order to appeal for patience in the lives of Christians. Two different Greek roots to appeal for patience and endurance among all believers living in a world with many troubles and many griefs. Our English translations of the New Testament usually reflect this reality with the words patient and patience, and with the words endured and endurance. So the first word, patience, in verse seven of chapter five, it denotes long-suffering, a long-suffering attitude which believers are to manifest toward other people, whether Christians or unbelievers. Christians are to be long-tempered, not short-tempered, to be long-suffering. Christians are to exercise, by the power of the indwelling spirit, self-restraint that enables them to bear insults, to bear injuries from others. without resorting to retorts. You know what a retort is? A sassy answer, a smart aleck comment, or just a very piercing set of words. So self-restraint, long-suffering, so that we do not resort to such speaking, or retaliation, or permitting bitterness to take root in the heart. Christians are to be like God himself, because longsuffering is an attribute of God. And we read of that in Romans 2, in verse 4. Do you despise the riches of God's goodness and forbearance and longsuffering? There's the same word in Romans 2, 4, as James uses in verse 7. Do you despise the long-suffering of God, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? So that's the first word there, a family of words, patience or patient. But James' second word is endure. which denotes a strong, determined fortitude which we need in order to persevere through difficult circumstances. And this word means that Christians are literally to remain under. That is, even when your hardships and injustices which you have received and persecution which you have experienced, even when they continue and do not relent, do not stop, the Christian perseveres in his faith in Christ under those hardships and injustices without seeking vengeance or harboring resentment or bitterness toward whoever is doing the wrong. So those are the two words that James uses to appeal for patience in Christians. But secondly, James appeals for patience in Christians by reminding them of the coming of the Lord. Someone may still ask, How long must I as a Christian exercise this patience towards others who continually mistreat me? How long must I endure hardship, suffering, and wrongdoing? Well, James tells us in verse seven that we must be patient until the coming of the Lord. The Christian must exercise patience and endurance from this very present moment in time until the day of his death or the coming of the Lord in clouds of glory. There is no other choice, dear Christian. There is no other way. Christians must exercise patience living in this world of trouble, living in this world of persecution. They must exercise patience as they look for and anticipate the coming of the Lord. That is the timeframe that every Christian must have before his or her mind. He or she must persevere under and through trials and suffering until the Lord returns and makes all matters right. But thirdly, James appeals for patience in Christians by reminding them also of the imminent return of Christ. Previously, the coming of the Lord, now the imminent return of Christ. In verse eight, look there in your Bibles, James chapter five, James reinforces his appeal to these Christians to be patient in the midst of life's troubles and suffering by reminding them that the Lord's return is imminent. You see that verse eight, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. And with these words in verse eight, James urges believers, and you here this morning, to be patient and to persevere in view of the nearness of the Lord's return to this earth. Yes, the nearness of the Lord's return to this earth. In verse seven, James already told us about the fact of the Lord's coming again to this world. But now in verse eight, his focus is upon the nearness of the Lord's return. It's at hand. With the death and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. We are living in what the New Testament calls the last days. And James understood that reality. He and the Christians to whom he wrote were living in the last days, and that the Lord's return was at hand. It was imminent. Now, you may look and you may think, well, maybe they were a bit foolish. Maybe James and those believers were a bit foolish to think that the Lord's return was imminent. It could happen any moment. Because obviously, 2,000 years have passed and the Lord has not yet returned. That, my friend, is a very wrong way to be thinking. Very wrong way. The word imminent means that the Lord, His return to this earth, it could be this afternoon. Do you, dear Christian, sincerely and truly believe that? Or do you just say, yeah, I know that's theologically correct. I know I should believe that, but that's not gonna happen. It's a wrong way of thinking. The Lord's return could be tomorrow. The Lord's return could be a week from now, a year from now, it could be 50 years from now, 100 years. We do not know the day of the Lord's return to this earth. But whenever the Lord returns, would we want him to find us? with a spirit or words or behavior of chafing, irritability, impatience, complaining in the midst of our real trials? Or would we want him to find us? patiently persevering, patiently enduring under and through the trials and griefs that God in his sovereign wisdom has been pleased to give to us. James' instruction to us is that we must daily remember the imminent return of the Lord to this world and persevere with patient endurance through life's troubles. But fourthly, James appeals for patience in Christians by commanding them to establish their hearts. See that in verse eight. That's what he tells us to do, establish our hearts. Well, what did he mean by that? James understood that a Christian will not be patient in the midst of troubles, a Christian will not endure afflictions and persevere in the faith if his heart is not firmly and constantly rooted in gospel realities. You see, gospel realities, believing in the gospel of Jesus Christ, believing in Jesus Christ himself, that is like a huge, enormous anchor for your soul and your heart in the midst of all of the troubles in this world. And James understood that. Your heart needs to be firmly and constantly rooted in gospel realities revealed in the scriptures and in the truth that the Lord Jesus Christ is coming again. How easily we as Christians can become unhinged by troubles that come into our lives. How easily we can become flustered when something happens we didn't expect. A friend says something that was unkind and you weren't expecting it. How easily we are discouraged by the troubles around us, the troubles within us. how easily we are fearful, doubting, hopeless, and even at times depressed by trials and sufferings. We become like David in the wilderness on one occasion, being relentlessly pursued by King Saul who wanted to kill him. And David exclaimed, surely I'm not going to live, surely I'm going to die at the hands of King Saul. That was unbelief on David's part. It's unbelief on our part when we are that way. We need to remember biblical truths in order to establish our hearts in the midst of trials, such as justification by faith alone. James doesn't mention that truth. I'm suggesting it. It is a truth that you as a Christian should meditate upon. It will help you to be firm in your faith that I am accepted by God the Father because of the merits and the blood, the doing and the dying of Jesus Christ alone. Even as we have just sung Two wonderful, wonderful hymns. Actually, all four were wonderful, but two especially. My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought. Can you, dear Christian, sing that from the heart with great joy? My sin, not in part, but the whole, has been nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more. Praise the Lord. You see, biblical truths will establish your heart enabling you to be patient and enduring through the most grievous trials in this life. But fifthly, James appeals for patience in Christians by remembering that the judge of the world is at hand. Verse nine, look there please at verse nine. When you read this section, verses seven through 11, and you read verse nine, you might think at first, this is out of place. This seems odd. Murmur not, brothers, one against another, that you be not judged. Behold, the judge stands before the doors. In times of great trouble, intense emotional and spiritual pressures or persecution. It is very easy for Christians to become impatient with other Christians. And anyone who has been married for more than a year as a husband and wife, you know from experience that when you've had financial pressures or when you've had trials, the pressures of trials specifically coming into your lives, maybe it's a trial for the husband at work where he is being persecuted by his employer for being a Christian. And that trial comes into the home and the husband and the wife find themselves at times basically impatient with each other. See, James understood this and he said, do not murmur brothers one against another. It's easy for Christians to become impatient with other Christians. It's very easy to murmur. to grumble, to complain, to criticize, to groan about your fellow believers. Oh, I can't believe that he is doing that again. Why doesn't somebody go talk to that brother? Why don't you go talk to that brother instead of groaning and complaining? It's very easy to do that. But instead of giving vent to such groaning and grumbling, the Christian must exercise patience within his heart and then with his words by remembering a reality that will happen, that the judge of the world, the Lord Jesus Christ, stands before the doors. poised to thrust them open and then call every individual to account for his thoughts, words, and deeds. Would you dare to murmur against your Christian brother or sister with the judge of the world standing before you right now? Then ask God for grace to exercise patience and endurance with your brethren in Christ, remembering that the judge of the world is at hand. So those are James' appeals for patience for you as a Christian. But now notice in the third place, We saw changes, first of all. Secondly, James appeals for patience in Christians. And thirdly, the examples of patience. And I'd like you to still look in your Bible so you can see these examples in verses seven, 10, and 11. First of all, in verse seven, B, the example of the farmer. Behold, the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient over it until it receives the early and latter rain. Notice, James begins here with this example with that word behold. Look, observe, study, and learn from the work and behavior of every competent farmer. And you can do that even here in northern New Jersey. There's a huge farm over by Black Oak Ridge Road. You can see what they do to their fields there. Observe, study, and learn. Before the farmer plants any seeds, he plows up the soil of the field. He prepares it to be ready to receive the seed. He then sows the seed into the furrows of the field. He then waters his fields regularly until he receives the early rain for Israel that was October or the latter rains that would have been May. The farmer diligently weeds his fields. He fertilizes the soil. And then, He waits and waits patiently and perseveringly. If it was wheat that he had sown into his field, depending upon the type of wheat that is sown, the farmer could wait anywhere from four to eight months in order to have a crop for harvesting. So you see, James is telling us, learn from and follow the example of the farmer as a Christian living in this world. Be patient with your fellow believers. If you are an older, mature believer here this morning, you've been a Christian for 15 years, 20 years, 30, 40 years, you need to be patient with a Christian who's been a Christian for one year or two years. He or she will make mistakes. He or she will at times act foolishly. You need to take the farmer perspective. You need to wait. I don't mean by that that you should never speak to the individual, instructing, encouraging, or even reproving, but you need patience to see God produce fruit in that young believer's life. Be patient with your spouse. If you have a Christian spouse, Even if you've been married for 30, 40, 50 years, be patient with your spouse. Be patient in the midst of disappointments, trials, and persecutions. Be patient for the return of the Lord. Be like the farmer who waits. That's what James wants us to understand. But notice in verse 10, the second example, the example of the prophets. Take brethren for an example of suffering and patience, the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. Now, as you can see from your Bibles, James does not name any specific prophet. but he assumed that his readers would immediately recall the histories of more than a few prophets who were persecuted, who suffered greatly, who persevered in their faith in God. I'd like you to consider one. I'm not gonna have you turn there, but you can hear this. It's a prophet you probably wouldn't have thought of. I happened to think of him right away. I don't know why, but I did. The example of Micaiah in 1 Kings 22. He was a prophet during the reign of King Ahab of Israel and King Jehoshaphat of Judah. He boldly and faithfully proclaimed God's word, even predicting King Ahab's death in a battle against the Syrians. But King Ahab, we are told in the scriptures, he hated He hated Micaiah. He said it publicly. And here I read from 1 Kings 22, verse 27 and following. Thus says the king, King Ahab, concerning Micaiah, put this fellow in the prison. Feed him with a bread of affliction and with water of affliction until I, King Ahab, come back from war in peace. And Micaiah said, if you, King Ahab, return it all in peace, Jehovah has not spoken by me. And Micaiah said, hear you peoples, all of you, what I say. But of course, Micaiah was correct. It was God's word. King Ahab was killed in battle. But you see, he was persecuted, he was hated, he was abused, he was suffering. But Micaiah manifested a bold, courageous, gracious, patience, a firmness of faith, a constancy in God's grace. He is your example here today. We pray for our politicians. We did this morning. Pastor Carlson prayed for our governor, prayed for our needs. We should do that. But your hope should not be in politicians or in politics. We may be given a very rotten ruler in our land at one point or another. What are we to do? We are to have a firm faith in Jesus Christ. We are to be constant in the grace of God. We are to have the patience of the prophets. Or consider the examples of Elijah. Jeremiah, Daniel, all of these faithful prophets, James tells us, they are an example of suffering and of patience. And their sufferings were experienced because of their faithful discharge of their God-given duties. And therefore, they are a model and a pattern which we are to imitate. Behold, behold, We call them blessed that endured. You have heard of the endurance of Job. Here's the last example that James gives us in verse 11. You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the end of the Lord, how the Lord is full of pity and merciful. So does it strike you when you read this in James' letter, do you ever say, as one Puritan has said, because I've read this, he said, yes, we read of the patience of Job, and yes, we can read and see of the impatience of Job. Well, really, the right word there, according to the original language, should be endurance, the endurance of Job. That's why I read it that way. You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the end of the Lord. Job sometimes gave vent, maybe more than sometimes, he gave vent to impassioned outbursts of frustration. He gave vent to his confusion and even irritation. And the Scriptures are not at all saying this is okay that Job did this. The Scriptures are not telling us it's okay to copy Job in that way. No, it's telling us the truth of what Job went through, what he experienced. He manifested self-righteousness at times. As you read the book, you see that he was also often insistent on having explanations from God himself as to the reasons for his numerous sufferings. So how can Job be an example to us of endurance? Well, notwithstanding all of his trials and suffering, Job maintained a persistent trust in God. Though he slay me, yet shall I trust him. He never abandoned his faith in God. The Lord gave and the Lord took away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. And I have never experienced what Job experienced. And I'm not aware that anyone in this auditorium has experienced the same numerous, extensive, grievous trials and troubles that Job received. It's very easy for us to sit, fold our arms and say, huh, Job, I can't believe the way he spoke. No, notwithstanding all of his trials and suffering, Job maintained a persistent trust in his God. He never abandoned his faith in God. In the midst of his confusion, perplexities, heartache, physical afflictions, temporal disasters, loss of loved ones in death, in the midst of his inability to understand God's sovereign purposes, in the midst of all of his emotional turmoil, what did Job do? He held on to God by faith. and he continued to hope in God by faith. Job endured, he persevered in his faith in God through some of the most severe difficulties and heart-wrenching sorrows that any human could experience, a mortal human, excluding Jesus Christ. And why? Ultimately, James tells us, It was because the Lord is full of pity and the Lord is merciful. It was the Lord who was full of pity for his servant, his son, Job. It was the Lord who was merciful to Job. And dear Christian, this is what you must think. If you are presently in the midst of deep waters of trouble and trial and heartache, you must hold on to your God and Savior by faith. You must not let go. You must patiently endure through the difficulties, through the troubles, through the heartache like Job, and you must remember The truth revealed in the scriptures, revealed in experiences as well, that the Lord is not partially a heart of pity, but full of pity. The Lord is merciful, and he will be to you. The day may be tomorrow, the day may be a week from now, may be months from now, may be years from now, but you must be like Job and hold on to your God and Savior by faith. So in this passage, James has given us numerous, substantial, trustworthy reasons to be patient and to endure through all and any of the trials and sufferings that we may experience. I'm not a prophet. It may be that God will give us up as a nation yet more and more, and real persecution may come. The persecution we experience in America is really nothing compared to what Christians in many other parts of the world experience. It really isn't nothing, I shouldn't say it that way, but comparatively. But it may get a lot worse. So what do we do? Wring our hands, worry? No, no. Lord, give us the faith and the patience and endurance that we see exemplified in the prophets, exemplified in Job, and most importantly, exemplified in the Lord Jesus Christ. How patient How patient the Lord Jesus was with Peter. How patient the Lord Jesus was with James. James, the brother of John. How patient the Lord was with John. Thomas. How patient the Lord was with Judas. How patient the Lord was with the Pharisees and the Sadducees. How patient has the Lord been with you, dear Christian, sitting here this morning? How many times have you been like a pig returning to the mire of your sin? And yet you've returned again to the Lord begged for his forgiveness and he has forgiven you and washed you in the blood of Christ. How many times have you as a Christian been like the dog who's returned to his vomit and eaten that vomit up off the floor, having returned to some sins of the past? But being convicted, you returned to the Lord. You begged and asked for forgiveness, mercy, and cleansing. And through the scriptures, the Lord came to you, and the Lord revealed to you, not special revelation, but through his word that indeed If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And as John wrote, I write these things that you may not sin, but if any man sin, we have an advocate with the father, Jesus Christ, the righteous, and he is the propitiation for our sins. and not for ours only, but for the whole world. We need to remember that the Lord indeed is full of pity and merciful to sinners. And so those of you who are sitting here this morning, And you know you are not a Christian the way the Bible describes a Christian, or the way your Christian friends or parents have described and shown forth the life of a Christian. Why do you stay in your sins? Wouldn't it be wonderful to be rid of a guilty, nagging conscience? Wouldn't it be wonderful to eat the food, spiritual food, of God's table instead of the vomit of your sin? Wouldn't it be wonderful to be clean in your conscience, in your mind, in your heart and soul, rather than to have the filth and mire of a pig's trough, your sin defiling your conscience, mind, heart, and soul. You can have that cleansing, dear friend. You can have that washing, dear friend. You can have all of your sins forgiven and pardoned freely and fully in the blood of Jesus Christ. But what must you do? You must cry out to the Lord right now where you're seated. Lord, be merciful to me. I have been worse than a pig. I've been worse than a dog eating its vomit. Lord, others do not know the filth of my heart. Others do not know the sins of my life. And Lord, I have been very impatient with others, very irritated with others, very self-righteous in my impatience with others, but you, Lord Jesus, are the living Savior. And because you died on the cross and shed your blood to redeem sinners, you can save and redeem and cleanse me from all of my sins. Lord, do that I plead with you even now. But I have another word. Christians, You need to think frequently on the truth that the Lord Jesus Christ is going to return to this earth. You may be dead in your grave, you may be alive at his coming, but hear these words from the Apostle Paul. Behold, I tell you a mystery. We all shall not sleep, but we shall all be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet, for the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. But when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law, but thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, for as much as you know that your labor is not vain in the Lord. Dear Christian, think frequently about the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. Think frequently of that instantaneous change that will happen miraculously to you as a Christian, spiritually in your soul. If you're alive at the Lord's return in your very body, or if you've already died, your body will be raised incorruptible, reunited to your already glorified spirit, and we shall be forever with the Lord, with unsinning hearts, worshiping Him forever. Think frequently on the return of the Lord." That's what James urged these dear Christians to do, to think about the return of the Lord, and then be patient as you persevere through this veil of tears and sorrows here on this earth, rejoicing that this is not the end of it all, but heaven awaits you. Let's close in prayer. Lord, we come to you and we thank you, our God, for giving us the Bible in our own language. Thank you for your revelation in your word. And Lord, we pray that you would help us as Christians to be patient with one another, to be patient in the midst of trials, persecution, griefs, whatever the heartache may be, help us to remember the example of Job. Help us to remember the example of Micaiah. Help us to remember the supreme example of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we pray our gracious God and Father that you would save sinners this very day here in our midst. And we ask that you would enable us as your people to think frequently about the coming return of the Lord Jesus Christ and to live in the light of the Lord's return. Receive our petitions and our thanksgiving as we come in Jesus' name, amen.