So over the past few days, we have heard a couple of lessons or messages on Elijah's discouragement and deliverance. And we also had a message yesterday morning on pressing on in the Christian life. And I'm sure we've all been edified and encouraged and instructed in our Christian journey. Now in the book of James, the fifth chapter, James says, take my brethren, the prophets who have spoken in the name of the Lord for an example of suffering, affliction, and of patience. Behold, we count them happy, which endure. Now, James does not mention which of the prophets he had in mind, but what he says in these verses are certainly applicable to the prophet Elijah, who spoke in the name of the Lord and who had to patiently endure much affliction over the course of his ministry. In fact, James goes on to explicitly mention Elijah towards the end of this chapter. But James mentions the prophets as an example of patience, which is such an important virtue and aspect of the Christian life. And so I'd like us to consider this portion of his epistle from verses 7 to 12, dealing with patience. And we know that this passage is about patience because the word appears many times. Verse 7, be patient. Verse 8, be also patient. Verse 10, take the prophets for an example of patience. Verse 11, you have heard of the patience of Job. But besides patience, another key idea in this passage is the return of the Lord Jesus. And so verse seven says, unto the coming of the Lord, verse eight, for the coming of the Lord draws nigh. Verse nine, the judge standeth before the door. And so we can entitle this passage, Patience in View of the Lord's Coming. Patience in View of the Lord's Coming. And so there are three parts to this portion. First, the Call to Patience. Second, Three Examples of Patience. And finally, the End of Patience. Call to Patience, Three Examples, and the End of Patience. CTE for those who drive, you might want to use that acronym. First, the Call to Patience. Be patient, therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord." Now, in the immediate context, this call to patience is directed to Christians, especially, who are suffering great injustice and who are being oppressed by the rich and the powerful in those days. So James encourages these Christian brethren to exercise patience, and that would certainly include not taking revenge or taking matters into their own hands and trying to right the wrongs. The Lord Jesus teaches us in the Sermon on the Mount not to return evil for evil, but to love our enemies and to do good to them and even to pray for those who persecute us. But this call to patience is really one that is given to all Christians. may not be necessarily those who are oppressed or treated unjustly by evil men. All Christians everywhere, regardless of our state and situation, need patience. Why? Because all of us will face trials and challenges and difficulties in one way or another. A preacher once said that this call to patience is the universal call of God to all his children. As long as we live in this fallen world, with fallen people around us, with a fallen nature ourselves, there will be the need for patience. As long as sin has not been completely eradicated and this world not fully restored to what God intends it to be, as long as the kingdom of glory has not come, we will have to be patient. Be patient, therefore, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. The coming of Christ, of course, will remove all injustices, all oppression, all persecution. The coming of the Lord will wipe away every trace of sin and suffering from our lives in this world. But until then, until the Lord comes, we need patience. We need to exercise this Christian virtue. What is patience? How should we define it? Well, the Greek word translated, be patient, is made up of two words, long and anger. The patient person is long-tempered, or he is slow to anger. He is not hot-headed, but has a long fuse, as it were. The word patient is similar in meaning to another word, endure, which we find in verse 11. Both words have the sense of persevering and pressing on right all the way to the end, despite all the difficulties and trials that one may be experiencing. But perhaps the main difference between patience and endurance is that whereas endurance has to do with trying circumstances, patience has to do more with trying people. For example, in 1 Thessalonians 5.14, Paul says, Now we exalt you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feeble-minded, support the weak, be patient toward all men. So patience has to do more with our relationship with other people, while endurance has to do with how we relate to circumstances around us. But both are very important, both virtues that we must seek to cultivate and to have. And hopefully later on our way back to Singapore, where our patience and endurance is not too severely tested at the causeway or the second link. But regardless, we pray for grace whenever we are faced with difficult circumstances to exercise endurance or patience. But verse eight says, be also patient, establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord draws nigh. is a very similar thought to what James has said in verse 7, but he adds two things in verse 8. First, besides calling Christians to be patient, he also calls them to establish their hearts. The word establish or establish means to strengthen or to make firm and stable. And a good example of this is found in Luke 9, 51, where we read of the Lord Jesus, it came to pass when the time was come that he should be received up, he steadfastly, or that's the same word as endure, he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem. I'm sorry, not same as endure, but same as establish. The Lord Jesus was absolutely determined to go to Jerusalem to finish the work that his father had given him, despite knowing all the sufferings and pain that he would have to endure. So James calls all Christians to stand firm, to hold their ground in the face of all kinds of difficult people and difficult circumstances. They are to make their hearts strong and stable and not to allow the trials to throw them off or to move them off course. And so just imagine a person who is walking on the streets in the midst of extremely strong winds blowing against him. But this man is determined to keep going on because he wants to get home. And his home is just a few houses away. And so what he does is he leans forward, he tries to reduce his his drag, his profile drag, and he shifts his center of gravity forward in order to make himself more stable. And he edges forward one step at a time. And he resolved not to allow the wind to blow him back or to throw him off course. Now, the fact that his home is not too far away, it's just a few more houses away, is very strong motivation for him to press on to the end. Now, that is precisely what James goes on to say in the second part of verse eight. He says that the coming of the Lord draws near. And so James roots his instruction to be patient, to establish our hearts in the reality of the near or soon coming of the Lord. And then in verse 9, he states the nearness of the Lord's coming in another way. He says, Behold, the judge standeth at the door. What does it mean that the coming of the Lord is at hand and that the judge is standing right at the door? Well, first, we need to understand that the coming of the Lord will be sudden and that no one will know when it will happen. Yesterday we were talking to Deacon Kelvin and he was saying that he was talking to another Christian from another church who somehow knows about when the Lord will come and he predicted that the Lord will come in October, just he doesn't know which day. But also which year was not specified, just the month of October. Matthew 24, 36 tells us, but of that day and hour knoweth no man, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. So we do not know when the Lord will come. And furthermore, we do not know the time of our death. And death, you see, will be a coming of the Lord for us. Jesus tells us in John 14, 3, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, for where I am, there you may be also. So either the Lord's second coming at the end of history, or our death will be the Lord's coming for us. But regardless of how old you are right now, whether you are six, whether you are 16 or whether you are 60, remember that line that we formed up from the youngest to the oldest, doesn't matter where you stand in that line, our life would soon come to an end. And if we are believers, then we will be with the Lord in glory. And that thought should really motivate us to be patient, and to press on in our Christian journey. Patience is waiting for the Lord to come for us. And not only that, but waiting well. I mean, after all, anyone can wait. But to wait well is another thing, which naturally leads to the next verse where James says, grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned. This instruction is really part of the wider command to be patient. And it's not difficult to see the connection between being patient on the one hand and not grudging or grumbling or complaining on the other. We all tend to grumble, don't we? We complain against people, against things, especially when difficulties come our way. It could be that we grumble against those who are making things difficult for us, or it could simply be that we are suffering or experiencing certain trials, and we vent our frustrations on those around us by speaking unlovingly and sarcastically and so on to them, or even about them. Perhaps we are jealous that they are not suffering or at least do not appear to be suffering as much as we. They seem to be having a much easier time and we are unhappy. We are discontent about that. And so we grumble against them. And you know what? It actually makes us feel better after a good grumble. It seems to get rid of some of the unhappy feelings or negative emotions. But James tells us that all such grumbling and complaining is wrong. When we grumble against someone, we are in effect judging that person. We are saying that they are not what they should be, and we condemn them for that. But ultimately, all grumbling is really a sin against God. For grumbling is saying that God has not done such a good job after all. As the sovereign ruler of all men and of all circumstances, God can do better than that. It is to show dissatisfaction for the plan and the sovereignty of God. It is to judge God by our own standards. And that's a terrible thing to do or even to suggest. And so James adds the second part of verse nine, behold, the judge standeth at the door. The picture is that of a judge standing just in front of the door with his hand on the handle or the doorknob and he's about to turn the handle. It's hard to imagine him nearer than that. Now imagine that you are in the room and you are grumbling, and you are complaining about someone, and that someone walks in on you the very moment you are complaining about him, and he hears what you're saying about him. Wouldn't that be embarrassing or even awkward? But it's now here not just any person who is standing at the door, but it is the Lord Jesus Himself, the Great Judge of all men, We'll be thoroughly ashamed of ourselves if we saw him walking in on our evil speech, especially if that person that we are speaking against is one of our brothers or sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so James calls us to remember that the judge is indeed standing at the door. He may not have entered in yet, but he's well within earshot of everything that you are saying. And the judge himself tells us in Matthew chapter 12, But I say unto you, every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned. If you are a true believer in the Lord Jesus, then you will not be condemned in the day of judgment. Nevertheless, you will have to face a judgment of your works and your words and your thoughts, as we read in 2 Corinthians 5, verse 10. And so James is telling us the nearness of the Lord Jesus should not only be an encouragement for us to be patient, but also to examine ourselves to prepare for the coming of the Lord by waiting upon Him and refusing to give in to all kinds of grumbling and complaining. But next we look at verse 12. where James says, But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath, but let your yea be yea, and nay be nay, lest ye fall into condemnation. And the Lord Jesus says something very similar in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter 5. But what our Lord and what James is saying is simply that we should be so reliable in our speech that under ordinary circumstances, there should be no need for us to swear or to take an oath in order to guarantee the truthfulness and the reliability of our speech. Apparently, in those days, it was quite common for people to make all kinds of oaths, to swear by all kinds of things in their day-to-day speech. A simple yes or a simple no was deemed to be insufficient because people frequently spoke falsehoods or half-truths in order to deceive others. Let me give you an example of a half-truth spoken to deceive. Recently, I asked someone if he had taken something that I had bought and left there, and his reply to me was that he did not have it. I said, do you take it? He said, I do not have it. Apparently what happened was that he had indeed taken it and then thrown it away. So his answer, while technically true, he doesn't have it, doesn't answer the question. And in fact, it is a response that is meant to deceive. That's a half-truth, which is actually a lie. But that ought not to be for God's people. For God's children should be known for integrity and honesty because the God whom they worship is a God of faithfulness and truthfulness. The Lord never speaks deceitfully, neither does he go back on his word or break his promises. Well, verse 12 ends with a warning when it says, The implication is that Christians who continue to take God's name in vain, and even blaspheme God's name through their ungodly oaths or dishonest speech, will prove themselves to be false believers and face the judgment and condemnation of the Lord. This is not to say that Christians will never sin with their lips or that there is no forgiveness if we had lied under an oath. The Apostle Peter sinned grievously when he denied the Lord Jesus under oath in the courtyard of the high priest. but Peter found forgiveness. But what James is saying here is that the true believer will not continue in this unbroken pattern of dishonesty, of careless and rash speech. If he does so, he shows himself to be a child of Satan, who is described in John 8 as the father of lies, and he will be condemned with the devil himself. Another question we need to ask is, what is the connection between verse 12 and this subject of patience? I think the connection is simply this, that no matter what you are facing in life, no matter how great the trial may be, how grieved you may be feeling, we should always seek to be people of integrity. We should speak what is clear and what is truthful. This is part of what it means to be patient and to wait well. We will not grumble, we will not complain, and we will not compromise on the truth. We will not resort to rash oaths and so on in order to get out of our difficult situation. Which brings us then quickly to the second part, of this passage where James gives us three illustrations or three examples of patience. The first is that of a farmer, verse seven. The second part, behold, or look, the husband man waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth and has long patience for it until he received the early and latter rain. Each year, the farmer would plant his field and he would wait for the fruit or the crop. He knows that the fruit will not appear instantly. It will not even appear after just a few days or even a few weeks, but he waits for months. And we know that it will take months because of the reference to the early and the latter rain. In Palestine, the early rains would normally come around late October and early November. And that rain, that early rain is important to soften the soil and to prepare it for sowing. Then several months later, the latter rain comes. and it comes sometime in the month of April, just before the harvest. This rain is important in that together with the warmer temperature and weather, it helps to mature the crop. Now the farmer has to wait patiently for the rains to come and for the crop to emerge. It doesn't mean that he is doing nothing during this time. He would still need to tend the ground, to keep the weeds at bay and so on. But it does mean that he cannot hasten the process or to accelerate the harvest. He needs to wait patiently. The phrase precious fruit in verse 7 is very instructive because it reminds us that the farmer is not indifferent about the crop. It's not as if he plants something and if it grows, it grows. If it doesn't, well, it doesn't matter. No, the farmer's livelihood is dependent on it. His family and the survival and the well-being of his family is dependent on the fruit. It is precious fruit to the farmer. He needs it for his living. But what does the farming illustration teach us about patients? First, it teaches us that our patient waiting is not in vain. The period between the sowing and the crop or the harvest is not meaningless. But secondly, it reminds us that the period of waiting is not indefinite. It will come to an end at some point. In fact, as we saw earlier, it will come to an end very soon. And thirdly, this illustration reminds us that God is involved in the entire process, the entire period of our trials. The Lord is not absent, but He is actively involved. He is the one who sends the rain. He is the one who gives the increase. on the part of the farmer, he must learn to wait upon the Lord." Now, we must understand that James was not just using a secular analogy or an example drawn from nature. I think it's more than that. You see, the first audience of James were Jewish Christians, Jewish believers. And they would likely have understood James as referring to Jewish, or better still, covenant farmers. farmers who did their work in the promised land, God's people farming in the land of promise. And so, verses like Deuteronomy 11 might have come to mind, where we read Moses saying, And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments, which I command you this day, to love the Lord your God, to serve him with all your heart and all your soul, that I will give you the reign of your land in due season. The first rain and the latter rain that thou mayest gather in thy corn, thy wine, and thy oil, see just as there is a relationship between loving the Lord and receiving the fruit, so there is a relationship between waiting patiently upon the Lord and receiving the fruit of patience. So when we are tempted to give up, patient, being patient, or to become impatient. Remember the farmer. Remember that the wait is not in vain. It will issue in fruit. Remember that the wait will not be forever. Remember that God is not absent or inactive in all of this, and that if we wait well, we will receive the Lord's blessing and reward. And the second example of patience comes from the prophets of old. Take, my brethren, the prophets who have spoken in the name of the Lord for an example of suffering, affliction, and of patience. Most, if not all, the Old Testament prophets suffered persecution and affliction on account of their faithful labors in the name of the Lord. The most famous example, I think, is probably Jeremiah, who was falsely accused, was imprisoned, was ill-treated, and almost killed because he prophesied about the fall of Babylon, the fall of Jerusalem, I'm sorry, to the Babylonians. And then there was the prophet Amos, who was falsely accused by Amaziah the priest before King Jeroboam for conspiring against the king, speaking lies about the king and the nations. And Amaziah said to Amos, O thou seer, go, flee away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread and prophesy there, but prophesy not here again anymore at Bethel, for it is the king's chapel, it is the king's court. And then there are other prophets like Elijah, whom we have been considering about, persecuted by Ahab and Jezebel. Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and others faced opposition and suffered in one way or another. And then the last of the Old Testament prophets, John the Baptist, was imprisoned and eventually executed. These prophets, James says, are an example to us of patience. And one of the reasons is this, that very often, these prophets were speaking or prophesying of things that would only be fulfilled in the future, and that they themselves would not even live to see the fulfillment. Nevertheless, they believed the word of the Lord. They continued to speak in His name, and they waited patiently upon Him for the fulfillment of those things. The opposition that they faced did not cause them to give up or cause them to change their message so as to be more acceptable to the people or the king. And thus, James tells us, these prophets become an example to us of patient waiting in the face of suffering. But then the third example is Job, verse 11, the first part. Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job. The phrase, behold, we count them happy or blessed, which endure can be taken as a summary of the patience of the prophets, as well as an introduction to the specific example of endurance that we find in Job. And interestingly, this is the only reference to Job that we find in the whole New Testament. The phrase, the patience of Job is probably better translated, the endurance of Job, since the word is really the noun form of endure in verse 11. Job is well known for his endurance and his perseverance in the face of very, very trying circumstances. Remember how he lost all his wealth and all his children in a moment, and he suffered greatly in his own physical body. His wife vilified him, and his so-called friends falsely accused him of things." Now, if you have read the whole book of Job, not just the first two chapters and the last chapter, then you might be wondering, How can Job be considered a good example of endurance and patience? After all, did not Job, in the midst of all of that, curse the day of his birth, insist on his own innocence, sharply dispute with his friends, complain that he deserved none of his woes, and practically demanded that the Lord give him an explanation for all his sufferings? Well, it's true that Job was by no means a perfect and flawless sufferer. And in Diora, we have to look to the Lord Jesus for the perfect sufferer. But at the same time, we should also note that Job did not forsake God at any time. He did not take his wife's advice to curse God and die. In fact, the author of Job explicitly tells us that he never charged God with sin or wrongdoing. And furthermore, we find scattered throughout the book of Job, and especially his discussions with his friends, we find wonderful statements of Job's faith and hope in the Lord. Which brings us then to the third part of the message this morning, on the end of patience. The end of patience. After mentioning the patience or the endurance of Job, James immediately says in verse 11, And have seen the end of the Lord, that the Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy. We know that the word N, E-N-D, has two distinct meanings. It can either mean the final part of something, or it can mean the goal or the purpose of something. now there is some uncertainty as to which of these two meanings James had in mind. Was he referring to the final part of the story of Job, the one that we find in chapter 42, and what the Lord did for Job after the trial and so on? Or is James referring to the Lord's purpose and the Lord's a plan and goal in putting Job through all of that trial. I think most people would just naturally think about the first meaning of the word and thus focus on how the Lord restored Job's health and Job's prosperity and Job's children. In fact, not only did the Lord restore to Job what he had before the trial, we read in Job 42, verse 12, these wonderful words, Now, it's certainly right and proper for us to understand the phrase, the end of the Lord, as referring to what the Lord did for Job at the end of the book, how the Lord blessed him abundantly, how the story ended on a happy note, if you like. But at the same time, we would be missing something important if we did not also consider the second meaning of the word end, that is, the goal or the purpose of Job's trial. What I mean is this. Before you come to chapter 42, verse 10 and onwards of Job, we need to talk about the first five verses of Job 42. And perhaps we can turn to that passage this morning. Job chapter 42, and we read the first five verses. Job 42, 1-5, I'll read for us. Then Job answered the Lord and said, I know that thou canst do everything, and that no thought can be withholden from thee. Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? Therefore have I uttered that I understood not things too wonderful for me, which I knew not. Here I beseech thee and I will speak, I will demand of thee and declare thou unto me. I have heard of thee by the hearing of the year, but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I uphold myself and repent in dust and ashes. See, the great trial of Job did something to Job as a person. It changed him. It made him a different person. Different, of course, in a good sense. It enabled him to see God more clearly. In theological terms, you could say Job grew in sanctification. He grew in spiritual knowledge and maturity. He was literally reformed by his trial. And that is certainly one of the ends or one of the purposes in the Lord's trials upon our life. Job himself acknowledged in the midst of his suffering, but he knoweth the way that I take. When he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. Job 23 verse 11. And that's certainly true. Job stands as a wonderful example of one who went through the furnace of affliction and came out purified as gold. The end or the goal of patiently waiting upon the Lord in the midst of trials is not just what we will receive after the trial is over. Yes, that's certainly an important part. But it is also what the Lord is doing in us and doing to us and doing for us in the midst of it all. The goal of the trial is to make us more like Christ. to draw us nearer to the Lord Jesus, to enable us to experience His love and His goodness and His presence. And so after James says he has heard of the patience of Job and has seen the end of the Lord, he goes on to add these wonderful words, that the Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy. The word translated very pitiful is interesting. It appears only here in the New Testament, and it literally means many bowed, which speaks of how God has an enormous capacity for compassion and pity and kindness, an enormous capacity for compassion. The word tender mercy is a common word in the New Testament, and it speaks of God's benevolent dealings, kind dealings with his people. Why does James tell us that the Lord is full of compassion and of tender mercy? Well, most likely it's because in the midst of trials, it's very, very easy for us to question whether God is really good, Does the Lord really care for us? And so James encourages us, be patient, endure, and indeed to take comfort in the truth that the Lord is full of compassion and of tender mercy. We see that in the story of Job. We see that too in the story of Elijah, especially in last night's message, the Lord dealing with Elijah in mercy and in kindness, despite Elijah's impatience and responses that were not always good. And so this morning, we have considered the call of our God to all his people in this world, a call to be patient, to wait well in the midst of trials in light of the Lord's soon coming, whether at our death or at the second coming. We've also looked at three examples of patience, the farmer waiting patiently for the fruit, the prophets faithfully preaching the Word of God and suffering affliction as a result of faithfully preaching, not giving up, even though many of the things that they were speaking about would only be fulfilled after their lifetime. And then we have Job. Job, who endured immense affliction, but never gave up his faith. And finally, we have seen the end of patience, not only the great blessing that awaits us at the end when the Lord comes again, but the goal, the purpose of our sufferings to transform us into His image and to make us near and close to Him, to experience for ourselves firsthand that the Lord is truly very great in compassion and mercy. Brethren, let us have then this right perspective on all the difficulties that we face or will face in life and be enabled by the Lord to wait well upon Him. The Lord is coming for us soon, and thus let us run with patience the Christian race. The Lord is coming to us. Let us look to Him. Let us run toward Him, the author and the finisher of our faith, for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. And so if we could combine yesterday morning and this morning's message, pressing on with patience in the Lord. Amen. Let's turn in our Psalter to Psalm 37. Psalm 37, and we sing the verses 7 to 11. Psalm 37, 7 to 11. Rest in the Lord and patiently wait for him, do not fret, for him who brought spring in his way, success in sin doth get. Do thy from anger, cease, and wrath see thy forsake also. Fret not thyself in any wise that evil thy should do, For those that evil do ashore Shall be cut off and fall But those that wait upon the Lord The earth in heritage shall For yet a little while, and then the wicked shall not be. This place thou shalt consider well, but it thou shalt not see. But by inheritance the earth a meek one shall possess, They also shall delight themselves in unabundant peace. Let's have a short word of prayer together. You may remain seated as we pray. O gracious Father, we are so thankful for these days that you've given to us and these precious truths that we have heard and be reminded of out of your word. And this morning, particularly, we are reminded of the need for patient waiting and endurance in the face of difficulties. O Lord, we know that as we journey through this life, we will experience things that will try our patience and our endurance. And we pray that you will be merciful, that O Lord, you would give us the grace that we need to press on and to know that the Lord Jesus is near. And if we can see the Lord Jesus coming for us, O grant that we may run with patience toward him. Give us strength, help us in our day-to-day life, Lord, that our minds may be fixed upon the Lord Jesus, our hearts drawn closer toward him, that we may believe that all that you send into our life is good for us. You are the God who is full of compassion and of tender mercies. Help us to trust in you and to believe, even though things may not seem to be so outwardly. Oh, we pray that each one of us may be on that path of journey that leads to life. And if there be any yet who is out of the way, who has yet to begin the Christian race, oh Lord, that you would bring the gift of regeneration. a grant that all of us may be born again, that we may be running on the track of the Lord Jesus and running toward him. So bless us, we pray, as we come to the end of this conference, enable us to still have your word in our heart, a grant that we may continue to learn and grow and indeed be more and more like the Lord Jesus Christ. For we pray these things in Christ's name. Amen.