Alright, James chapter 5 verses 7-11, these are God's words. Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain? You also be patient. Establish your hearts for the coming of the Lord's end. Do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned. Behold, the judge is standing at the door. My brethren, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord as an example of suffering and patience. Indeed, we count them blessed who endured. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord, that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful. So far the reading of God's inspired and inerrant word. So on the Lord's Day we'll be singing number 532, Be Still My Soul. in which we will sing about the Lord being for us, and the Lord soon returning, and the Lord's goodness, even in hard providence, and how these things should train our hearts to be patient and not grumbling and groaning under the providence of God. And in James chapter 5, he's been dealing with some of the disparities, some of the fact that there's a wide variety of experience in this world. And there are those who are rich and have good things in this life. And in the first six verses, he has dealt with them and he told them to weep and howl because of the miseries that are about to come upon them instead of, you know, so instead of being satisfied with themselves and their position and their wealth, they should be weeping and howling. And then he turns to believers who are suffering, and he tells them to be patient, to establish their hearts, because the Lord is soon coming for them. And we are like a farmer who has done what he can. He puts the seed into the ground and maybe he weeds or whatever, but he has to wait. And in that climate and that culture, they especially just had to wait for the seasons of rain to come at their proper times. And there's nothing that they could do to make that happen. And so, we are those who are to wait. But what are we supposed to do while we're waiting? Or, to put it another way, what does this waiting look like as we're patient under suffering until the Lord comes and gives us all that He has determined for us and earned on our behalf? And you see in verse 8, the Explanation of be patient. He says verse 7 be patient. He gives the illustration of the farmer and then in verse 8 He says you also be patient establish your hearts For the coming of the Lord is at hand so strengthen and gladden your hearts, but why do our hearts need to be strengthened and not gladden, strengthen and make firm and encourage your hearts. That word established means. So why do our hearts need to be strengthened and made firm and encouraged in order for us to wait or as we wait? And part of the reason is that we have suffering and it's a great amount of suffering. because the example that he gives us is the prophets of the Lord, verse 10, who suffered and were patient, and then he picks one in particular, Job, in verse 11. You've heard of the perseverance of Job, and then he endured, right? Indeed, we count them blessed to endure. He starts verse 11, you have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end. Intended by the Lord and you remember the end of the book of Job. Oh, he received twice back everything that That he had lost and the Lord Jesus Tells us even more than that hundred times back more than we lose with persecutions But if God is picking Job as the example of then we're to expect not a small amount or an easy experience of suffering. If Job is the example, then we should expect that there's gonna be a fair amount, a large amount of suffering, and a difficult experience of suffering. And so what is so hard? One another, verse nine. Do not groan or grumble against one another, lest you be condemned. The hardest part of being in the fallen world is not the misery of the world, unless by that misery you mean primarily the sin of the world. In God's providence to you, you have, as your catechism questioned this week, into what estate did the fall bring, is it mankind? Yes, and what a state did the fall bring mankind? The fall brought mankind into an estate of sin and misery, and the greater part of the misery of life in this world is sin. And your brothers and sisters in the Lord are still sinners, and you are still a sinner, and we're going to be sinned against. But we must remember that that even being sinned against by other Christians who are the ones from whom we'd expect not to be sinned against. that that comes in the providence of God. And if we complain, if we have complaining, grumbling, groaning, bitter hearts about the sin that others commit against us, then our hearts are grumbling against the providence of God. I have time in a short family worship to go back and look at this, but you can go back and see in chapter 1 verse 12 and following the more general warning against grumbling against God's providence. Well, our brothers and sisters sin against us is also in God's providence, and he's told us to do what when our brothers and sisters sin against us? Something we pray for in the Lord's Prayer, don't we? Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And then, after the Lord's Prayer, the Lord Jesus says, for if you do not forgive, neither will your Heavenly Father forgive you. And the apostle writes the same in an epistle. And this apostle says, do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned. A forgiving heart. is one of the hallmarks of a believer. And an unforgiving heart is one of the hallmarks of someone who is not saved, even if they are members of the church. And so how can we establish, strengthen, make firm, encourage our hearts in such a way that we receive even our brother's and sister's sin against us as coming in God's providence. The answer to that is at the end of our passage, at the end of verse 11. The Lord is very compassionate and merciful. So it's not just property that we remember the end of the book of Job and we say, see Job got twice as much, Jesus said a hundred times as much, Yes, I will strengthen and establish my heart with that. But it's especially a person that the Lord is the one you have. The Lord is the one who has earned for you every blessing in heaven and earth and a new heaven and a new earth forever and ever. And you already have him who is very compassionate and very merciful. And of course, he has forgiven you. Therefore, you also. forgive others and don't grumble and groan against them. Now, where do you think this might be the hardest thing to practice? Remembering that your brother or sisters, oh, those words are very helpful, aren't they? sin against you comes in the providence of God, and that even if they are being wicked to you, He is still being compassionate and merciful to you, right? He didn't suddenly stop being compassionate and merciful just because your brother or sister sinned against you. That came in His providence, which is compassionate towards you and merciful towards you. And He is soon returning. And so you can strengthen your heart in Him for the purpose of not having a grumbling, bitter heart, but having a forgiving heart. It doesn't mean that there aren't consequences. It doesn't mean that you have to trust someone who sins against you all the time, or intentionally put yourself in places to be hurt by them, or that you can get out of doing Matthew 18 in order to help them. but in order to establish and strengthen your heart in a way that is waiting upon the Lord until the misery of sin is done and the Lord Jesus has returned. Remember that it comes in God's providence and that He is very compassionate and merciful. May the Lord help us as a family be forgiving towards one another because we're remembering the Lord as we interact with one another. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, help us to remember that you are always on our side, even and especially when that means that you are against our sin. Help us to be patient. Help us by your word and by these particular truths to establish our hearts. Grant that we would bear patiently with one another. that we would bear patiently with our griefs, bear patiently with our pain, but especially with one another when we are sinned against, grant that we would forgive and that we would see that gospel fruit, that we might be encouraged, that you are the one who has produced forgiveness in our hearts. We pray especially, Lord, that our home would be one in which There are not extended conflicts and storings up of bitterness and the kinds of things that would indicate that we have been forgetful of you and that you are very compassionate and that you are very merciful and that it is in your providence that even others' actions against us come. So make our home a sweet and forgiving place where we know you and know your providence and are confident of your great compassion and mercy. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.