James 5, verse 7-9. We're going to be dealing with the subject of patience. Patience. James 5, 7-9. We have been working our way through this book for quite a while with all the hit and missing going on on Wednesday night, but the next Wednesday night we'll be doing this and then we won't be meeting the next Wednesday night because of VBS, but anyway, you know how it is. Summer schedule. James 5, 7-9. Let me read it for you. Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman... What is a husbandman? Not all these fellows have got a wife. He's a husbandman. Anyway, he's a farmer. Yeah, that's what it means. He's a husbandman. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth and hath long patience for it until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient, establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned or judged. Behold, the judge standeth before the door. We're sort of nearing the end of the book, and we have had a number of warnings given to the rich, and presumably the rich who are lost. Now we turn to an encouragement for patience from the saints. This plea for patience is what is going to be the subject matter for the next little bit. Somebody give me a definition of patience Long-suffering. In fact, the Greek word makro-thumeo, makro means long, thumeo means to anger or be long angry. That is, to put up with stuff for a long time. It is to be long-suffering or perhaps a word forbearing. Putting up with stuff. Putting up with people. To persevere is a good way of defining patience. It's the idea of continuing on in spite of difficulties. It means to stick it out, to hold on to the end. If you notice in our text, verse 8, it says, Be ye also patient, establish Establish your hearts. That means to have your heart unmoved, unchanged, unswayed by the things and the people that surround you. In other words, you hold the course. You keep things steady. You go the same direction no matter what comes. It means that you are then grounded, rooted, firm. in your stance. You're not easily swayed or moved away. All those things are involved in the idea of patience. And this is just one of many places where this topic is raised. It probably does not get the emphasis in many quarters that it deserves, and we need to give it serious consideration tonight. First of all, Let's start in verse 7, the first phrase there, the first sentence, the need for patience. The fact that we are taught that we need to be patient tells you something about the Christian life. Doesn't it? Tell me, what does it tell you? What do you derive from the fact that you're being urged to be patient? You're going to have trials. I'm thinking about teaching our children to have patience waiting for a Christmas present or a birthday present. Something like that. Yet you have to have patience. Laura, you know, just had a birthday. You had to wait for your birthday to roll around. Okay? Normally, if you're going through something good, you don't have to urge anybody to be patient. Yeah, it's when problems crop up that the urge to be patient suddenly appears. In other words, that the Christian life is not a life where all your problems are going to disappear, where you don't have to worry about unhappiness, where you don't have to worry about a difficult marriage, your kids going wrong, financial problems cropping up, things breaking down, things falling on your house or Josh Brown on his car, cancer, disease. In other words, the Christian life then is not intended to be a life free of those kinds of difficulties. We are urged to be patient, which means that we are to strive to hold the course, to stand our ground, in spite of the circumstances that surround our life. It is a life whereby we are given grace. And grace, I think we make a mistake of always thinking of grace as simply unmerited favor. Sometimes it is unmerited ability. It is supernatural ability to do, to bear up under situations where you normally couldn't. That's what grace is. It's the power to keep on, faithful, to the end in spite of the trials that you face. We don't normally think of grace that way, but a lot of times in Scripture it is clearly that. It is unmerited ability. The ability to stand things that you normally couldn't stand. To be faithful in the face of things where normally people just couldn't do it. I keep saying there are a few things I can guarantee you in the Christian life, but one of which is, I can. And that is, if you have faith in Christ, your faith will be tested. You might ask the question, why is it that God designed the Christian life that way? Why couldn't He have made it easy street, where you just sort of grease right into glory? What is He doing by bringing these things into your life? You got an idea? What's He doing? Yeah, Charles? Yeah, I was thinking about this the other day, that sometimes we think, well, I obey Christ in the things I like, I want to do, the things that I think are the right things. And those aren't the test of obedience. That's all you're saying is, I do exactly what I want to do. I like these laws, so I keep these laws. The real test of your obedience is when you're commanded to do something you don't want to do. I knew a particular group of grace preachers that they basically taught that the sanctification worked like this, that you just naturally want to do everything you're commanded to do. The problem with that is, then when I don't want to do something, that becomes the defining of what I'm commanded to do. Obviously, I'm not meant to do this because I don't want to do it. You see the problem? And the whole test of your obedience is when you're commanded to do something that you don't want to do, that you've got to face something unpleasant, something you wouldn't have chosen to have come into your life, and you've got to work through this thing. That make sense? That's the test. Yeah? Hold that thought, Al. You're stealing my thunder here. But we're going to get to that. Exactly that. It's not just circumstances. It's people. That is our problem. So hold that thought. Okay, that's one issue. Charles has pointed out that this is what really is the test of obedience. The great test of Christ's obedience was where? Well, but prior to that, the Garden, Gethsemane. Did Christ want to go to the cross? Humanly speaking, no. This is not what He would have chosen. That's what those words mean. If it's possible, let this cup pass from me. This is not what I would choose. Did He obey and go to the cross? Yes, He did. You see, that's the test of obedience, is when you're facing something, you're commanded to do something, that your flesh just revolts against. And yet you must do it because it is the will of God. Those are the test of our obedience. All right? That's certainly one thing God is doing. Anybody have any other thoughts of what this does? Let me read to you 1 Peter just to cut to the chase here. 1 Peter 1. 7, let me break into the conversation here, that the trial of your faith being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, there's the trials, testings, that it might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. Notice that your faith might be found unto praise, honor, and glory. My question is whose praise, whose honor, and whose glory? It's Christ. In other words, this is not so that you can receive praise and glory. This is so that Christ can receive praise and glory. And it sort of goes back to the book of Job, where God is pointing out to the moral universe, look at My servant Job. Even though all of this has happened, and to Satan you've turned Me against him, you've brought these things into his life, look, he still honors Me. In spite of all of that, this is how strong, this is how true and faithful His faith is. And therein lies what Peter is saying here. That when we stand these tests, these trials, in the face of difficulties that the natural man just wouldn't stand. These things then bring praise and glory and honor to our God. They demonstrate what His grace has done in our life. Well, let's go on. in our text to the next phrase of chapter 5, verse 7. And notice here we have in the last half of this verse an example of patience, and it is the example of the farmer. Somebody explain to me how a farmer is an example of patience. What's that? They're waiting on the crop to grow. They're waiting on the rain to fall. Is there any such thing as an instant crop? We're so used to instant this and instant that. Somebody said it's like we stand in front of the microwave screaming, hurry. We're so impatient. We want it and we want it now. I want patience, Lord, and I want it now. That's exactly our motive. That's our reaction in our culture. We're so used to getting what we want, instant gratification. It's just, you know, farmers, David, are just naturally godly people, I guess. I think that's, of course, not true, but I think there was something about growing up on a farm that taught you your utter dependence on God, didn't you? Did you sort of feel that way growing up? I mean, you can't control the rain. You can put seed in the ground, but if it doesn't rain, the seed's not coming up. You are utterly dependent on God. If ever someone in the natural world knows that, the farmer knows it. He can't create the conditions for a fruitful harvest himself. He's dependent on power outside of himself. Now, that's true of everybody, but the farmer has, I think, a more sensitivity to that thing. So, notice the sense here in this verse is that the farmer puts seed in the ground and then has to wait. Wait months until the time of harvest. And there are no shortcuts to that. That's simply the way farming works. There's one payday and that you must wait for. The thing that strikes me about farming and in general is that there is no investment without divestment. Now, this is true of any area, but it's certainly true of farming. In other words, you must divest yourself of the seed before there can be an investment in the harvest. I'm probably not explaining that. You've got to turn loose of something. Now, that's going to be true in every area of life. It's true in the stock market, right? You've got to turn loose If you're going to invest, you've got to divest. You've got to turn it over to somebody else. That's true of any kind of business endeavor. You put your money into something, you're forfeiting the money. You're forfeiting the use of that money. You say, I want to invest in this business, but I want to have full access to my money anytime I need it. I'm sorry, it doesn't work that way, does it? Nothing works that way. And certainly in the farming. You remember the old painting I described to you one time about the farmer? This is the old days. The fellow has a sack of seed, and he's out in the field slinging his seed left and right, and his wife and his children are following him, pleading with him, tears streaming down their face, begging him to stop. And you suddenly are struck with the fact that this is their food supply. I mean, in the olden days, you wouldn't dare eat the seed you plant. I mean, David, we've got pre-emerge and all these insect-resistant stuff it's soaked in. I mean, it'd probably kill you to eat. bread from the seed you plant for wheat today. But in the old days, you kept back part of the harvest of the year before. That's your seed stock to plant the next year. And so you have to understand that this is their food supply, that this guy is out here slinging left and right, and his family are begging him to stop. And you begin to realize this. He can either give them an immediate gratification and let them eat the seed and die in the long run, or they can do without in the short run that they have a harvest in the long run. Anyway, this is a wonderful painting and I've not been able to find it. If anybody ever stumbles on this, please let me know where you find it. But the title to the painting was, They That Sow in Tears Shall Reap in Joy. And it's a powerful image of what we're being shown right here. That's exactly what the farmer, the husbandman does. It's what the Christian is required to do. To forfeit the here and now. To forfeit this life in view of the next. You remember the encouragements of Jesus to His disciples. Not a one of you who have left family, father and mother, houses, lands that will not receive a hundredfold. in the world in the life to come. So there is this urging to divest yourself of this life, of what you can have here and now. Divest the temporal for the eternal, the earthly for the heavenly. And then notice in verse 8 this plea for patience. The farmer does it, as I've said, for temporal and worldly gain. We are to do for eternal heavenly gain. And he has a hope. The word hope doesn't appear here in this text, but it appears in many other places where this idea of patience is discussed. And unfortunately, the word we have for hope is like I wish, you know, I hope it doesn't rain tomorrow. Whereas the Bible word is much stronger than that. It means an expectation, a strong expectation. And therefore, we have the hope of eternal life. We're not just hoping and praying and wishing. We have the expectation of eternal life. And notice that that's what's going on here, is that the farmer is putting seed in the ground, not just wishing for a crop, He is hoping in the biblical sense. He is expecting to reap a crop. Makes sense, doesn't it? That's what he's doing. He has a strong confidence that his action of divesting himself of seed now will indeed pay off in the long run. Now, he's dependent on a lot of sources, outside sources, that he can't control. In the case of the Christian, we are to divest ourselves of this life to invest in the life to come. And we have the Word of God. We have the promises of Christ to bank, to be the buttress, the foundation of our hope, our strong expectation that what we're doing is not in vain. In fact, turn to that passage, 1 Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians 15. Towards the end of that chapter, verse 58. 1 Corinthians 15. 58. He says, Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable. There's that establish your heart business we were talking about a moment ago. Always abounding in the work of the Lord. For as much as ye know, that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. That whatever you do now is not for nothing. There's a reason you are to do it, so keep the course, stay where you are, strong in the faith, rooted and grounded in Christ, and let nothing move you away from it. And notice the encouragement. The Lord's coming, he said, is near. The One who delivered us from sin. The One who defeated death. The Lord of glory. Our Lord is near. Now, we look at that and we say, well, how could that possibly be? James wrote these words probably somewhere around 60 A.D., almost 2,000 years ago. But as I've said before, one way or the other, the Lord's coming is near. You may meet Him in the clouds, as we talked about this past Sunday. You may meet Him at death. But either way, it's near. It's gotten a lot nearer for me. It's gotten nearer for you. In fact, today is a day nearer for you to meet the Lord than it was yesterday. I don't know how many days you've got left, Whatever is the case, it's one less than it was yesterday. And in this sense, the Lord's coming is indeed near. In Hebrews 10, if you'll turn there a moment, there's a very interesting passage, and I always think of Dan Hall and Matteo and me. There is this big mountain outside of Cordoba, Pico de Orizaba. It's the third highest peak in North America. Y'all got a good view of it while we were there. Beautiful, beautiful mountain. And for years, Dan and Mateo and I talked about climbing Pico. And if talking about climbing Pico would get you up Pico, we'd have been there several times. But talking about it and doing it are two different things. And in fact, after having some conversations with some guys who had actually climbed it, we decided that It was a little bit out of our league. It looks like it'd be pretty simple, but no, it's almost 19,000 feet above sea level, and you've got to have ice gear and technical climbing skills and so forth. It's not nearly as easy as it looks. So we gave up on climbing Pico. But suppose that you're climbing a mountain with somebody, and that somebody is being tempted to quit, to turn back. And you think about what you would say to this person to encourage them to keep going. That's exactly what we find here in Hebrews 10. Hebrews 10 verse 35. Here he's speaking to those who have, in the previous verses, point out they've been Christians for a while and they have suffered the loss of a lot of things. He speaks of the spoiling of their goods in verse 34. They've been reproached. Became a gazing stock in verse 33. Anybody like to be a gazing stock? You know what that means? Look at that. Look at them. In other words, you have suffered the loss of your reputation. You've suffered the loss of friends. You've even suffered the loss of property. So then he says in verse 35, read this in that light now, cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. In other words, don't give up. Don't quit now. For ye have need of, and here's our word, patience, endurance, forbearance, perseverance. You have need of patience that after you have done the will of God, that you might receive the promise. You've got to keep going. That's the point. for yet a little while, and he that shall come will come and will not tarry." In other words, the point being, if I'm with you and you're being tempted, we're almost to the top, and you're saying, I just can't go any further. I've hit the wall. What would I say to you to encourage you? Number one, I'd say, look how far you've come. Look what you've gone through. And notice that's what he's just done. He's pointed them back to all the things they've suffered as a Christian. Look at how far you've come and all the things you've had to do. And then the second thing I say, look how close it is to the top. And that's the second thing he does here. It's just a little while. I don't care about what time frame you're talking. It's just a little while till He that comes shall come. So then verse 38, here's the punchline. Now the just shall live by faith. That's a verse out of Habakkuk chapter two, and it's quoted three times in the New Testament. And each time it's quoted, an emphasis is placed on a different part of the verse. The just shall live by faith. That's what Romans is telling us. The just shall live by faith. That's what Galatians is telling us. But here in Hebrews, the emphasis is on the word live. The just shall live by faith. This is not a one-time church decision because the preacher or the evangelist got you down the aisle and you believed back yonder one time. This is a life of faith. That's the just live by faith. You say, well, it can't possibly, you mean I've got to continue in the faith to the end? That's exactly what he means and it's what I mean. And if you don't think that, read what follows. If any man draw back, my soul has no pleasure in him. You want to turn around and go home? You know, Bunyan wrote Pilgrim's Progress. Was it optional that he reach the heavenly city? Hmm. Now you'll notice he didn't title the book Pilgrim's Decision. It's this pilgrim's progress. And he must reach the goal, the heavenly city. He cannot turn back. You say, well, are you adding works to salvation? No, that's the nature of true saving faith. It never ends. It never quits. You don't get over it. That this work of grace that God does in the heart that brings us to trust Him is a work that continues to the day we die. And then verse 39 puts the nail in the coffin, but we are not of them who draw back unto perdition, means destruction, but of them that believe to the saving of the soul. In other words, the true saint doesn't ever turn back. He keeps going. He endures to the end. And that's the doctrine of perseverance, which is the other side of the coin of the doctrine of the preservation of the saints. Do you see the relationship between perseverance and preservation? God preserves us in grace to the end. How does He do that? He keeps us persevering to the end. He doesn't drag us to glory. He gives us the grace to keep on keeping on to the end. And then finally, in verse 9, he gives us the reason for patience, and if that wasn't enough, the judge, he says, is coming. And you'll notice that it is not just our doctrine that is tested here, but you'll notice in verse 9, where we're still clearly under this idea of patience, he says, grudge not one against another. And this is getting to what Al was talking about a moment ago, that sometimes our greatest test on this idea of patience is not situations and circumstances. I mean, I'll be honest, there are a lot of situations and circumstances that come into our life that are great tests. Trials, sicknesses, and poverty, and all kinds of unpleasant things. But the thing that is being emphasized here is not just here. is unpleasant people among the people of Christ. So, Al, it's not just being surrounded by lost people. It's being surrounded by saved people. Because saved people are going to test you. Can I drop a bombshell? That saved people are needy people. Isn't that what we confess? That we don't have our act together. This is not the place for healthy people. This is a hospital for those that need grace, that need help. And so saved people are needy people. Saved people are faulty people. They're not perfect. They're going to rub you the wrong way. They're going to get under your skin. Notice he says, grudge not. The word grudge here in Greek is an interesting word. It means to sigh. To sigh. I look at Tony as he... You know, what is a sigh? A sigh is a way that you let the world know that you're suffering in silence. Right? In other words, it's a sigh of exasperation. In other words, it's not necessarily that you come out and say it and do it. It's that you sigh. You're exasperated. And notice who you're being exasperated with. Sigh, grudge, not one against another. It's your fellow brother. It's your fellow Christian. Now, I said this is not the only place this pops up. Look over in Matthew 24. Matthew 24 in connection with Christ's second coming. Matthew 24, verse 45, he defines the faithful servant. His master makes him ruler over his household, and he does his job. He gives the household food when they're due and so forth. And verse 46, he's the blessed servant. When the Lord comes back, he finds him doing what He told him to do. You're going to hear a lot of this come Sunday morning when we deal with 1 Thessalonians 5. But notice verse 48, but and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, my Lord delays his coming and shall begin to smite his fellow servants, who in this context, who is his fellow servants? It's other servants of Christ. And he begins to eat and drink with the drunks, with the drunkards. In other words, he goes out with the lost. He gets exasperated. with his brethren, and he takes his place among the lost. Then it says, the Lord of that servant will come in a day when he looks not for him, and in an hour that he's not aware of, and shall cut him asunder, appointing him his portion with the hypocrites." I think something's going on here besides just losing his reward, you know, not having as many stars in his crown. He's appointed his portion with the hypocrites where there's weeping and gnashing of teeth. I don't know what that is. I don't want to wind up there. And notice, who is he beating? His fellow servants, his other servants of Christ. Now, why would he be beating the other servants of Christ? Why do you beat somebody? You're mad at them. Well, why do you get mad at them? Okay, you lose your patience. What's going on that you get so impatient? They're not doing what you're supposed to be doing. They don't do what you think they ought to be doing. And that means they're not working as hard as you think they ought to work. They're not treating you with the respect and deference that you think you deserve. In other words, they're not doing what they're supposed to be doing. Therefore, I'm going to beat them because I'm angry. I've lost my patience. And notice, I'm losing my patience with the people of Christ. And that thought hit me because that's exactly what James is pointing out here. Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned. The one another here means it's the people of Christ. And to be exasperated, to be angry, to lose your patience with fellow saints. And fellow saints are going to give you plenty of opportunities to lose your patience with them. Give me some examples. Don't name names, okay? I don't want you to name names. But give me some examples where Christ's people drive you nuts. And we do that, don't we? Give me some examples. You're afraid to because you're going to figure out who you're talking about. Well, do you find sometimes the servants of Christ, it's their ignorance that gets to you? They're supposed to know these things, and they don't. In other words, they ought to be further along. They ought to know these things. And they don't know them. John? Yeah, they're not as serious or as excited about spiritual things as you are. They're not on your spiritual level, at least by your definition. They're not on my level. They ought to be excited about this and they're not. I mean, look at these, you know, immature, you know, and Paul talks about the weaker brethren and there are weaker brethren, which he says, what, beat the weaker brethren? Is that what he says? Or does he say defer to them? Does he say, you give up your liberty for their sake. And you begin to think, why do people leave Christianity? What is the stumbling block that often is the final straw? And I tell you, in thinking back over the years, the one thing that I see time and time again is people get disillusioned and disappointed with the people of God. They don't get mad at Jesus, they get mad at Jesus' people. And may I say, in a lot of cases, there's a reason why they're upset. They've been mistreated. They've been abused. That's true. I mean, I'm not trying to say that's just one-sided. But yes, that is a huge thing that we have to overcome in the Christian life. It's the fact that God's people are going to disappoint us and going to disillusion us. But Jesus told us to love one another as I have loved you. In other words, my love for Christians ought to be due to the fact that Christ is lovable, not that they are lovable. I am to take care of His sheep because they are His sheep. Not because I love sheep, because I love Him. You see the difference? And the great test of whether I love Him or not is whether I keep His number one commandment. Love one another. as I have loved you. And you can make all kinds of excuses of why I don't have put up with this anymore. I've had it. You lose your patience with God's people. The question is, you can be disappointed in God's people. That happens a lot. Are you disappointed in Christ? And who do you really love here? I mean, it's easy to love people that are lovable. It's back to obedience. It's easy to obey what you want to obey. It's easy to love lovable people. The real test of whether you love Christ or not is when you love the unlovable, because that's what He did. Yeah? He said it a little more... That was Ralph Barnard. And he said it a little more brutal than that, actually. I can't say what he said. Oh my, yeah. What does he learn at the end of all these years in the ministry? People are no good. God's people are no good. That's what you learn. Well, surprise, surprise. I feel like Gomer Powell. Surprise, surprise. We're a bunch of sinners saved by grace. And the Christian community is not because somehow we've got a perfect environment, a perfect situation, a perfect setting. We're all perfect people, loving, perfect people. But we are sinners learning to love as Christ loved us. Jennifer? Oh, yes. Ministry is messy. And it's dirty. It's unappreciated. Yes, if you are ministering to Christ's people because of the feedback you get from them... I've told you many times about me rescuing my old ewe down in the deep end of the pasture in the middle of the storm. She's going to freeze to death. And I kick her back to the barn. And does she show me any appreciation? Now, I saved her life. She doesn't have a clue. And Christ's people are the same way. Oftentimes, what is being done for them is completely unappreciated. But it comes back to the question, what is our driving impetus? Well, let me leave you with this example from Moses since we're talking about Moses in our Vacation Bible School. It's in Numbers 20, if you'd like to read it. Numbers 20, starting in verse 7 down through 11. The Lord spoke unto Moses. Well, I need to back up. Verse 2, there was no water for the congregation. And the people said, would God we had died when our brethren died before the Lord? Why have you brought up this congregation of the Lord into this wilderness that we and our cattle should die there? Wherefore have you made us come up out of Egypt to bring us into this evil place? It is no place of seed or figs or vines or pomegranates, neither is there any water to drink." Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly of the tabernacle of the congregation, they fell on their faces, and the glory of the Lord appeared unto them. And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying, Take the rod, and gather thou the assembly together, thou and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes, and it shall give forth its water. And thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock, and so shalt thou give the congregation and their beasts drink. And Moses took the rod from before the Lord as He commanded him. And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock. And He said unto them, Here now, ye rebels, must we fetch you water out of the rock?" Now notice, Moses has lost his patience. He's had it. He is exasperated. God has not lost his patience. He's given them water out of the rock. Well, what happens? Moses lift up his hand with the rod and he smoked the rock twice and water came out abundantly and the congregation drank and their beast also. And the Lord spoke unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them." Moses lost his patience. We say lost his temper. Anybody know where that expression comes from? What is temper? It's a metallurgy term. It's the flex. You temper steel and it's able to bend. When it loses its temper, what does it do? It snaps. And so do you when you lose your temper. Moses snapped at the people of God. Exasperated. Had it up to here. And God says, because you did that, you're not going in. This is a big deal. And the greatest test we'll ever have in the Christian life is other Christians. Well, there's your lesson for tonight. Don't you wish James would hurry up and get through with this stuff? My, my. Tough reminders, but this is down where the rubber meets the road. of dealing with the infirmities of Christ's people. And the problem is, as I was trying to say earlier, God's people are faulty, and they're not just faulty once. They're faulty over and over again. They keep falling into the same trap. You know, we could almost say, well, I can put up with almost anything once. But you did this last week, and you're probably going to do this again next week. And yeah, they probably are. That's true. That's the nature sinful people. It's not just once. You know, we could deal with it if they realize what they're doing and repent and never let it happen again. You know, the problem is we're probably going to have to deal with the same thing next week. That's where the difficulty in loving God's people comes in. Well, let us pray about these things