7-12. Hear the Word of God. 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 is at hand. 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 to endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord, that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful. But above all, my brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath, but let your yes be yes and your no, no, lest you fall into judgment. Amen. Father, we thank you for your word and it is our desire to live it out and I pray that you would give us illumination of your Holy Spirit to understand it and to love it. We pray it in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. It's always nice to have definitions, and we're going to be having a bunch of definitions on our first elder training meeting. But for today, somebody sent me some definitions that might help out and might not help out for what we're talking about. He said, here's three definitions. Irritation, is when a man calls on the telephone at 1 a.m. and says, I want to speak to Joe. You say, wrong number, this is not Joe, and you're a little bit irritated. Aggravation is when the same voice calls back at 2 a.m. and says, are you sure Joe does not live there? Frustration is when a voice calls at 3 a.m. and says, hi, I'm Joe, do I have any calls? Patience, what is patience? A lot of times people will define patience in ways that do not resemble what the Bible talks about. I saw a plaque that says, Lord, give me patience, and I want it right now. That's a patience American style. There are people who think that patience means the ability to wait for something without feeling uncomfortable. Well, you can have biblical patience and still feel uncomfortable to still feel pain. In fact, it's the very idea of patience that you are feeling the pain, but you're persevering anyway. John Sanderson in his excellent book, The Fruit of the Spirit, which is a book I highly recommend you have on your shelves. It's just a short book going through the fruit. But he talked about some counterfeits of patience. He says some people are just too lazy to react. Others may be so proud that they will not dignify their attackers with a response. Some of us are by nature more insensitive to criticism than others and hence have an appearance of long-suffering. Some, by ordinary human calculation, will endure a temporary hardship to gain a long-range advantage. But Paul is calling true patience a fruit of the Spirit, unattainable by any merely human contrivance. And so he is saying some of the people we may admire as being very patient actually may just be too lazy or too proud or too calculating. you know, to have any kind of an outburst over the thing that has been troubling them. And so we want to look at the issue of patience, but I want us to keep in mind what we talked about in chapter one. That's where he dealt with how we can have joy in any circumstance that we face. And I want you to have that joy. So you may, if you've not had that sermon, you may want to review what he's talking about there. We're not going to repeat. But, God, when he gives patience, gives it in a way that is different than the world. It's not something that the world can have. The world might think that patience, in fact, somebody once defined patience as the ability to count down before you blow up. Well, it's not having a Mount Vesuvius inside that you're holding in check. Biblical patience is the ability to have a peace inside that reflects the apparent outer peace that you are displaying out there. There was a mother and a father who was in a grocery store and The son, a little toddler, was obviously very undisciplined and in a bad mood. The mother went to a different aisle and left the child with dad, and the kid just started screaming bloody murder and was pulling things off the shelf. The father kept saying, now take it easy, Willie. We'll soon be out of here and back home. Now, Willie, don't boil over when everybody can see it. Take it easy. Anyway, they get out to the checkout line and There was a grandmotherly type that came up, and the kid's still screaming, so the mother sticks a lollipop in Junior's mouth to keep him quiet, and the grandmother says to the mother, I certainly did admire the patience your husband showed while he was comforting Willie. The mother said, Comforting Willie? My son's name is George. My husband's Willie. His patience was trying to talk himself out of blowing up. Now calm down, Willie. We're going to be out of here soon, Willie. Now that's obviously a fictional story, but it illustrates how many times what we are thinking about in terms of patience doesn't take God into the picture at all. And the biblical definition of patience is really a God-directed patience. It's something God not only gives, but it focuses upon God and his control of our circumstances. And so I've put into your outlines a little definition. Patience can be defined as steadfastness in waiting on God's timing, even when tempted to give up on God's providence. Let me repeat that. Steadfastness is waiting on God's timing, even when tempted to give up on God's providence. Now, one of the things you're going to find is a common theme all throughout this book is God's providence, His sovereignty, and its impact upon our lives. In just the last three lessons, we've already seen that. Your view of God's sovereignty impacts your view of law, law anywhere. It impacts your view of time, it impacts your view of judgment, and here it impacts how you engage or don't engage in patience. Now, the first point I'm just going to briefly touch on today, And that is that patience is not an option for you. Some people will excuse themselves, and they'll just say, well, I'm high strung. That's my personality. I can't help it. And James does not let you off the hook. He says, it doesn't matter who you are. We are all called to have patience. And the first commandment could be seen in verse 7. Therefore, be patient, brethren. Verse 8, you also be patient. Now God's the one who gives this patient. He's the one who plants the tree and he's the one who gives life to the tree and brings the fruit forth. But what he expects us to do is to plow and to fertilize and to be cultivating this fruit of the Holy Spirit. We can't produce it in ourselves, but we can produce it and we can cultivate it. And so what he is saying is you have a responsibility to cultivate what God by his spirit is granting within you, that life, that tree that is there. Apart from his sovereignty, we cannot have it. But he puts us in circumstances where he is seeking to produce that patience within us. And there are certain things that we need to have in place, some of which have already been mentioned in James chapter one. Now, If you look at the word, therefore, at the beginning of verse 7, you see that he is connecting this passage logically with the preceding passage. You see that there, verses one through six are tied in with this, which to me indicates a number of things that patience is not. Patience is not indifference. Those are two totally separate things. If you look at verses one through six, God was not indifferent to the plight that these people were going through. He was not indifferent to the sin of those wicked people who had been persecuting them. In fact, he speaks his judgments against them. He is upset with the things that they are doing, but he is still patient. So it's not indifference that he is talking about. What is going on with that, therefore, is that the reason we have to put up with all of these scoundrels that are coming against us is that God is putting up with those scoundrels. His patience necessitates our patience. His patience tests our patience. Can you see that there? Verses one through six show that these Christians had been hurt, they had been royally ripped off, and God does not take a who cares attitude. Christians have a right to pray for vindication. In fact, many of the Psalms are prayers that the Lord will protect us, will bring judgment against those who persecute us. And we see an example of David's kind of imprecatory prayers in verse four. Indeed, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth." Now, the way some people treat the imprecatory Psalms of the Old Testament, you would think that God would say, no, I'm going to be deaf to those prayers. Those are ungodly prayers. I'm not going to hear them. But God says, no, when they cry out for vengeance, I will answer. In fact, he commands it in Luke chapter 18. There's a number of other scriptures as well. So the second thing that patience is not, is patience is not passivity. It's not indifference. It is not passivity. We can do something. We can pray for vindication. Even when we are not able to resist because it's maybe people who are in government who are coming against us, we can still not be passive. We can ask the Lord of the Sabaoth to do something about this, the Lord of armies. And why don't we go ahead, just for review, go ahead and read through some of these verses in verses one through six to see how God's providence plays in here. Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches are corrupted and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver are corroded and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have heaped up treasure in the last days." And we pointed out last time that the last days is a reference not to the last days of history altogether, but the last days of the old covenant that they were living in, the last days of Jerusalem, last days of the temple, last days of the priesthood, and all of the sacrifices. And it's in that context that he says, indeed, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out. And the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. You have lived on the earth in pleasure and luxury. You have fattened your hearts as in a day of slaughter. You have condemned, you have murdered the just. He does not resist you. Now, I'm going to do something that preachers are never supposed to do. I'm going to go down a long rabbit trail, and Travis and I'm sure a number of others will be happy that I'm going down a rabbit trail here. And I want to deal with a whole pile of references that deal with the second coming, because there's all kinds of questions nowadays that have come up as to which coming is he talking about. And some people will say, what do you mean which coming? There is only one coming I ever hear about on radio or on TV, and it's something in the future, right? It's the second coming of the Lord. It's the final advent of the Lord. And what I want to do is I want to give you just one sample scripture for each of five different ways in which Jesus comes to the earth. Okay, and then we will evaluate which of these fits the context best in in James And I want you to flip to these with me first of all look at Matthew chapter 16 Matthew chapter 16 and verse 28 and this is a a coming that He says happens in the lifetime of His disciples. Matthew 15 verse 28, Assuredly I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom. Now, I'm not going to deal with the meaning of this term right now. Whatever your interpretation is, it has to fit within the lifetime of those disciples, and it has to be a coming they can see. Okay, it has to be a coming they can see. He says, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the son of man coming in his kingdom. Well, that's obviously not a coming that's future to us. Okay, turn next to Isaiah. John chapter 14 and verse 18. Here's a totally different coming and it's not one that they see This is a coming that is invisible to their eyes John chapter 14 and verse 18 Okay, he says I will not leave you orphans I will come to you Jesus is going to come to them. How does He do it? Well, you read the whole context and you see He comes to them by His Spirit. If you take a look, for example, down at verse 23, Jesus answered and said to him, If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. And so it's a spiritual coming. into the life of the believer. Now, I believe it initially happened at Pentecost, but from that time on, Jesus comes to his people through his Holy Spirit, okay? But it's using the word to come. It's a coming of Jesus. Okay, the next one that I want to look at is Acts 23 and verse 11. This is yet another kind of coming. Now, earlier in Paul's life, Christ had come to him in a blinding light, had spoken to him, knocked him off his horse and converted him. But look at Acts 23 in verse 11 as one example of many for a personal bodily coming of Jesus to an individual. Not to all of society, but just to an individual. And now indeed, do I have the right verse here? Verse 11. Oh, wrong chapter. Acts 23 verse 11. That's what I said, but that's what I was not turned to. And the following night the Lord stood by him and said, be of good cheer, Paul, for as you have testified for me in Jerusalem, so you must also bear witness at Rome. Now it doesn't say he had a vision of Christ there. It doesn't say he thought Christ stood by him. It says, But the following night, the Lord stood by him. And so there was a personal coming of the Lord Jesus Christ to the Apostle Paul. Just like there were several appearances of Jesus to individuals as well as to groups of people immediately after his resurrection, there's at least a few personal comings of Jesus after the ascension of Christ to the right hand of the Father. That's not the one James is referring to, obviously, and we're just trying to establish there are various types of coming. Now, turn with me to Revelation chapter 2 and verse 5. And Revelation 2. Verse 5 says, Remember therefore from where you have fallen, repent and do the first works or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place unless you repent. Now here is a coming to a local church and If you look at, there's a couple of other verses that do the same thing. In verse 16, you see, repent or else I will come to you quickly and we'll fight against them. And in chapter 3, verse 3, there's another coming to another one of the churches. And we need to ask the question, did Jesus come and did He remove their lampstand? And if you study church history, you realize, yes, indeed, He did. Now, He didn't do it in the first century. It came later, so it wasn't a 70 A.D. coming that Jesus talks about, but Jesus did indeed come to them and very suddenly removed their lampstand and removed their presence from the area of Turkey completely. And so the Lord's promise there, I think, was very literally fulfilled. Now, there are other examples of God coming in judgment. Isaiah 9, verse 19, verse 1 says, Behold, the Lord rides on a swift cloud and will come into Egypt. The idols of Egypt will totter at his presence. Now, that was an old covenant coming in judgment on Egypt. But there are a number of New Testament passages that speak of him coming against Jerusalem in judgment. For example, Christ told his accusers, well, actually, this is multiple comings. From now on, you will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven. An example of repeated comings. I believe every time a nation is cast down, it is Christ smiting that nation with the rod of iron. It is Christ who raises up, it is Christ who casts them down. Now one last coming is Acts 1.11, it says that at the end of time Christ will come down visibly and bodily just like He had left, and it would be something to abide with them. That's the final coming. Now, here's the frustration for me. Many people are reductionistic. As soon as they see the word coming, they immediately assume, oh, it's in the future. It's the final coming of Christ. Or they immediately assume it's in 70 AD, like the full Preterists do. But there really are nuances of meaning to the term the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. And there's a lot more that you could read on this subject, and I've got some handouts that relate with that. But it's in that context that we see in verses 1 through 6 of James that we have a number of clues as to seeing which kind of coming that he is referring to. First of all, he indicates it's a coming that's about to happen. It's a judgment that's about to happen, verses 1 through 6. Verse 8 says, for the coming of the Lord is at hand, or literally, it has drawn near. If you look at verse 9, It says, do not grumble against one another, brethren, unless you be condemned. Behold, the judge is standing at the door. Now, those are all indications or clues that he's not talking about a coming that's going to be some 2,000 plus years later, because I don't think on anybody's timetable 2,000 years is near. It's at hand. It's at the door. when Christ and the apostles were talking about the second coming over and over again in the gospels, they talk about it being a long ways away. In fact, Matthew chapter 24 is divided into two parts. I think it's around verse 34. Everything previous to that, in terms of the judgment on Jerusalem, is said to be near, at hand, upon this generation, soon. But everything after that, dealing with the second coming of Christ, uses language of a long ways away. It's far, it's distant. Let me give you some examples. Matthew 25 verse 5 on the parable of the wise and the foolish virgins. It says, while the bridegroom stayed away for a long time, they all slumbered and slept. Earlier he had said, it's a short time. Now this is something that's a long time. And so if James is saying this is something soon, that's different than the coming that Christ talks about that is a long time away. Matthew 25 verse 19, after a long time, the Lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them. And so the final settling of accounts, again, is not short or soon. Luke 20 verse 9, Christ compares himself to a vineyard owner and he says, he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country for a long time. Can you see that? So don't let anybody tell you that the second coming of Christ was always imminent. It was not imminent. It was prophesied to be a long time away. A long time is not imminent. It's the very antithesis of imminence. Now, some people say, well, yeah, what is a long time? In God's eyes, one day is as 1,000 years, and 1,000 years is as a day, and so it's short in God's eyes. Well, the point of that passage is that God is above time, and for God, 1,000 years is just like a day. In other words, time is irrelevant to God. But when God speaks about time, he knows how to communicate about time. And a long time is not eternity. A long time deals with time, and God perfectly communicates. So how long is distant and far away? Well, we've got some examples. Daniel 8, verse 26, gives a prophecy of Antiochus Epiphanes in 164 BC. And God tells him this, seal up the vision, for it refers to the far off future. Let me quote that again. Seal up the vision for it refers to the far off future. How far off was that future? It was 387 years later. That's from 551 BC to 164. So I would say by God's definition, Anything over 387 years is a long ways away. In fact, it's such a long ways away, he told Daniel, don't even worry about it. Close the book, seal it up. In contrast, Revelation says, do not seal up the book of the vision for the time is near. Now, here's the odd thing. You've got people who say in Daniel when they're commenting there that 387 years is a long time away. And yet when they get to a passage like James, they say, well, in God's eyes, that's not a long time, that's soon. So 387 years is a long time, 2,000 years is soon. It destroys any ability to interpret the scriptures because all time references are unreliable if that is the case. I think God knows what he's talking about. He's the guy who created time, right? He knows what is soon. He knows what is a long ways away. And so, in terms of the dating of this book, the coming against Jerusalem, I think, is what he is talking about. That happened just a few years. It was very, very short. Now, that's the end of my long rabbit trail, and I get an F on homiletic structure, and I don't care. But let's go back into the passage and let's see how it relates. The word, therefore, I think has the same purpose in James' writing as it did for Peter in 2 Peter chapter 3. What James is trying to do and what Peter was trying to do was, well, let me just take Peter first. Peter was answering the question, how come God is taking so long before he comes back, the second coming? And Peter says, he's not slow like you count slowness. Yes, he is slow, but not like you counted. The reason that God is slow is not because there won't be any judgment, but because he is not willing that any of the elect should perish, but that all should come to repentance. And until the last elect person is saved, Jesus is not coming back. I think that's the point. And that's why he goes on to say in 2 Peter 3.15, consider the long suffering of the Lord as salvation. anytime God averts judgment, it's probably because He's got elect people that He wants to save. And if He wiped out this family and their children or their grandchildren were elect, or maybe one of them is elect, He would be countering His purpose. And so He is being patient for the purposes of salvation. Now, if you can wrap your head around that, wow, the reason God is putting up with all of these people despising him and despising us and persecuting us is because God's got the elect among them. It can help us to be patient as well. Now, it's not just the pagans that we need to be patient with because in verse 9, He says, do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned. Behold, the judge is standing at the door. God is infinitely patient with believers. And believers can be sometimes nasty with each other. Not in this church, of course, but you look through church history and you realize that the church is full of people who are sinners who have not yet made it. And there's all kinds of grief that requires us to be patient with each other. It's true even of husbands with wives. I read a cartoon in which the husband said to the wife, I've got to get rid of my chauffeur. He's almost killed me four times. And she says, oh, give him another chance. Now, sometimes, you might succeed next time, hopefully. Sometimes husband and wives can be so much at each other's throats or one person can be at the other's throat, that it really does take patience. But when you realize, you know, God has put up with all of the imperfections that are in my life, and the reason he is putting up with the imperfections in my wife's life or my husband's life or my child's life is because God has not finished with them yet. His patience necessitates my patience. I think of the parable of the master who had forgiven his servant of, you know, millions of dollars. And then the servant goes out and he shakes down his fellow servant and throws him in jail because he owes him a few bucks. And he says, that's the kind of incongruity when we fail to have patience with one another, when you see the enormous patience that God has in our lives. He says, I want you to get a little bit of perspective and be considering why it is that God, remember in chapter one, he said, one of the main things that we need to do to gain that joy in the Lord in those circumstances is to be thinking right. We need to consider certain things. We need to know certain things. And one of the things we need to wrap our brain around is that God, has a purpose in being patient with them. Now, the phrase there, the judge is standing at the door, is to remind them, don't worry about it. God can handle those brothers. He's not talking even there about unbelievers. He is saying, judgment begins at the house of God. Some people say, anytime the word judge occurs and judgment occurs, it's just dealing with unbelievers. And the scripture says, no. God brings judgment into the church as well. And here's the attitude he wants us to have. He's saying, you're not sovereign. You're not the judge. You are freed up in knowing that I am the judge and I'm going to be able to settle the accounts with these people that you're dealing with. I want you to love them. I want you to minister in the way that you have been called to minister and leave the judgment to me. And he says that will help you to begin to enter into patience because when we are impatient with people, one of the things that may be present is that we are trying to be the judge and the changer of people. And we're also doubting that God is the judge or that God has the ability to judge. We're saying, God, you're not doing your job. And so I've got to take that job to myself. And what ends up happening is you either become arrogant or you become frustrated. And you become frustrated because you can't change people's hearts. Only God can change their hearts. And so even with the brethren, God says there needs to be patience. Now, the last example that James gives for the need for patience is in verse 12. And the situation is this. You've said something. Maybe it was outrageous, maybe it wasn't. And people don't believe you. And you're raising your voice, and that doesn't help. And they still don't believe you. And you finally say, I swear by heaven that this is true. And James is saying, you know what you're doing there? You're violating the whole principle. You are trying to hurry up God's timing of gaining credibility in these people's eyes. And he says, God's the one who in his own timing is going to build that. In fact, many times when we have lost the trust of our spouse or we've lost the trust of a friend, it takes time to build that. And we should not get frustrated when we've been working. We've been working in that individual's life. We're planting seed into their lives. And they're not responding right away. He says, what we need to do is have patience. And we'll be looking in a moment at why that is so credible. But he says, let your yes be yes. Let your no be no. Don't get bent out of shape. And for sure, don't be swearing that you are true. In time, God will vindicate you. And he will build your credibility. But it does take time. OK. Then he goes on and he says that there is hope. There is hope for your growth and patience. In these verses, he basically says other people have learned to endure, and if they have learned to endure, you can learn to endure as well. Let's look first of all at the case of the farmer in verse 7. 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 the latter rain." And I think this is such a great illustration because it's an illustration nobody can get around. I think anybody would think a farmer was an idiot. If they were impatient over their grain, you know, they plant the grain and two weeks later, they haven't gotten a harvest and they're fuming and fussing, you know, what is wrong with this thing? I'm having to wait so long and a month later, they're still fuming and fussing. We'd say, you know, get over it. It takes a while to get a harvest. In fact, we recognize sometimes farmers miss, you know, one or two years, they've got bad crops, and it takes some time to really get the payoff from all of the hard, hard labor that happens. And so I think that's a great illustration that he gives. Now, James's point is in the spiritual realm, it is very similar. God has made us to be spiritual farmers. And maybe again, you know, in terms of your spouse, they have been planting dandelions through the negative comments of tearing you down in your life. And instead of throwing dandelion seeds right back at them, you blew some at me, I'm gonna blow some at you. And before you know it, your whole yard is just covered with dandelions. He says, no, just quietly dig those up. God can change them. God can deal with those. But you be a farmer. You keep planting the seed, and planting the seed, and watering it, and nourishing it, and ministering in the life of your spouse until such time that you get a harvest from your spouse. In Galatians 6, it says you need to persevere. You need to keep at it. You need to keep at it. And eventually, if you do not grow weary, you will get a harvest. And so the illustration of the spiritual farmer, I think, is great. Next, he looks at the enduring component of patience. Verse 10. My brethren, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord as an example of suffering and patience. If God could help them to endure, he can help you to endure. Now, this also helps to define what patience is not. Patience does not mean, OK, you're just going to shut up. Okay, if you're going to be that way, I'm not going to say anything. Now, that's not what he is saying. These guys were speaking God's word, right? But they were patiently speaking God's word. And so our tendency is always to go to extremes on this issue of patience. And then the last example focuses on hope, and that's verse 11. Indeed, we count them blessed to endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord, that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful. Job couldn't see how nicely things would work out later on, but he knew by faith in God's theology that God was good, that he was merciful, and he so firmly trusted in God that Job said, even if he slays me, yet I will trust him. Now, he did get impatient sometimes, but he kept coming back, God is good, I've got to depend upon him, I've got to be patient. Paul told the Corinthians, 1 Corinthians 10, 13, no temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man. But God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape. that you may be able to bear it. He's basically saying, hey, I don't want any excuses out of you. There's been many other people who've gone through exactly what you have gone through, and they have successfully gone through it. Don't say, I can't, because I can enable you. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, should be your refrain. Now, the little phrase at the beginning of verse 11 is helpful as well. Indeed, we count them blessed who endure. The people that we most, I think, look up to are people who have endured. People like Shackleton and his men who just went through the unendurable in the Antarctic, you know, when their ship all broke up and they were walking on these ice packs. Amazing, amazing story. And things like that inspire us. We say, that is incredible. I want to be like a person like that. Let me read you the advertisement that Shackleton gave in the London newspaper when he was looking for a crew. Men wanted for hazardous journey, small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful, honor and recognition in case of success. And then the ad was signed, Sir Ernest Shackleton, Antarctic Explorer. You know what? There were thousands and thousands of people who applied to go on that mission with him. They were inspired by this guy. There's something about people like that that make us say, that guy is different. I want to be like that person. We count them blessed. Now, we don't want to go through all the suffering that they went through, but it inspires something within us. When I read a book like Peace Child, it makes me want to be like Don Richardson. If you've never read the book Peace Child, that's a fantastic mission biography, one of the funnest reads that I've had on mission biographies, Peace Child by Don Richardson. Now, I prefer not to have to go through all of the difficulties that Don Richardson went through to become what he became. I want to be like him and God says, no pain, no gain. I want to be like Darlene Rose. If none of you listened to her tape, she was interviewed, I think, well, it wasn't an interview, it was her testimony. that was aired on Dobson's program. I've got a copy of that. That is a thrilling account of what this missionary lady went through when she was thrown into a labor camp by the Japanese during World War II. But people like that, I mean, it just makes the tears come to your eyes. Those are the biographies that inspire me. Those are the people I count blessed. Those are the people I want God's grace to be working as supernaturally through in me as it was in them. And yet, what do we do? We're constantly trying to escape from discomfort. And if you think about it, this notion that James gives you know, of looking to the greats who are out there. Read the biography of Job, you know. Look at the prophets, what they went through. I think it's a brilliant move on his part because it's appealing to a desire within us to be successful. And he says, well, look at the people who are successful. They are people who learned patience. It is something that is worthwhile putting on. And then notice the phrase in verse 11 that says that we have the advantage of hindsight. We can see what Job was not initially able to see. the end intended by the Lord. Indeed, we count them blessed to endure who have heard of the perseverance of Job. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord. The Lord is very compassionate and merciful. At the end of the story, he's richer and he's got more daughters and he's got all kinds of things that the Lord poured out into his life. But Job didn't know that at the beginning, but we can have confidence all things work together for our good, and it can encourage us to persevere. Darlene Rose, her testimony was that she would not exchange the time that she had in that Japanese labor camp for anything in the world because during that time, she learned a dependence upon God, a closeness to God, the reality of God's presence in her life, that lasted her the rest of her life in a way that she would never have known otherwise. Now, she didn't like the pain, and yet it was through that that God brought her into tremendous victory. And so the end goal is always worthwhile. Job found it so, the prophets found it so, and even farmers do. And then finally realize God loves us and cares for us even when we're in the midst of that painful tribulation. Verse 11 says he is very compassionate and merciful. God's too good to ever do anything that would turn out for your bad. Okay. Now you might think this is bad. It's your responses maybe that are leading to the bad But God is actually intending through the difficulties. He's brought into your life. He's intending good out of it He's too good to ever bring anything into your life Sovereignly that is not for your good and he is too wise to ever make a mistake in your life And he's too He is too powerful to ever let anything slip through His fingers. And so it really is something that we need to trust. Some people say, don't pray for patience without meaning it because God's going to bring up the heat. I do not buy into that philosophy at all. God's going to bring up the heat anyway because He wants you patient. And He's determined you're going to be patient. And so I say pray for patience, cultivate patience, do respond to those things as you ought, and you're not gonna have to go through as many trials as the person who refuses to pray for patience because I don't want things to heat up. Now don't buy into that philosophy. God wants you patient, so he's gonna guarantee you're gonna have the difficulties. How you respond determines how quickly you get through it. And so it's my prayer. that coupling what we looked at in chapter one with this chapter, that you would be absolutely bound and determined to be mature in your patience. Amen. Father God, we thank you for your word. And Father, sometimes your ways with us are difficult. They are tough. But as your children, Father, we trust you and we will not blaspheme your name by saying that what you give is too much. and call you a liar, because you have said you will never give us too much. We will not blaspheme your name, Father, by grumbling and murmuring against you. Father, it seems like most of your judgments against Israel in the wilderness were because they grumbled and murmured against you. And Father, if we are a murmuring and a grumbling people, I pray that you will completely remove that curse from our hearts. Father, help us to be a people of faith, a people that praises you even in the midst of tribulation, a people, Father, who learns this issue of patience and comes through. We become heroes even like the people in Hebrews were and the people like Job and the prophets were. Father, help each one in this congregation, young and old, to learn what it means to taste of your patience that flows from your Holy Spirit And by the empowering that comes from you, enters into the glories that you have promised to those who love you, to those who are patient, the end that you intend for us. And we pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.