Ascension Presbyterian Lord's Day Worship

Good morning, my brothers and sisters in Christ. Grace and peace be unto you from God our Father and the

Lord Jesus Christ. Welcome to the corporate worship of our God. Please stand and hear

God call you to worship through his word. The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer.

The God of my strength and whom I will trust. My shield and the horn of my salvation.

My stronghold and my refuge. For who is God except the

Lord? The Lord lives.

Blessed be my rock. Let God be exalted, the rock of my salvation.

Therefore I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the Gentiles and sing praises to your name.

Let us pray. Eternal, immortal, invisible God, infinite power and wisdom and goodness, dwelling in the light which no man can approach, where thousands upon thousands minister to you and 10 ,000 times 10 ,000 stand before you, yet dwelling with the humble in contrite and taking pleasure in your people.

You have consecrated for us a new and living way, that with boldness we may enter into the holy place by the blood of Jesus and have bid us to seek you while you may be found.

We come to you at your call and worship at your footstool. Look upon us in your tender mercies.

Do not despise us, though unworthy. You are greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints and to be held in reverence by all that are about you.

Put your fear into our hearts, that with reverence and awe we might serve you.

Sanctify us that you may be treated as holy and honored by us when we draw near to you.

Give us the spirit of grace and supplication to help us in our weakness, that our prayers may be faithful, fervent and effectual.

Let your name be the desire of our souls. Let us draw near to you with our hearts and not only with our lips and worship you who are in spirit and in truth.

Let your word be spoken and heard by us in the word of God. Give us attentive hearing ears, open believing and understanding hearts, that we may no longer refuse your calls nor disregard your merciful outstretched hand, nor slight your counsels and reproofs.

Let us be more ready to hear than to give the sacrifice of fools.

Put your law into our hearts and write them in our minds and let us be taught of God.

Let your word be for us, living, active and powerful, a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart, mighty to pull down strongholds, casting down imaginations and reasonings and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.

Let us magnify you with thanksgiving and triumph in your praise. Let us rejoice in your salvation and glory in your holy name.

Open our lips, O Lord, and let our mouths show forth your praise and let the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight.

Through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, we pray, amen. Please kneel as you are able for the corporate confession of sin.

Let us join together in confessing our sins. Almighty God, we acknowledge and confess that we have sinned against you, thought, word and deed.

We have not loved you with our whole heart, soul, mind and strength. We have not loved our neighbor as ourselves.

Deepen within us our sorrow for the wrong we have done and the good we have left undone.

Lord, you are full of compassion and gracious. Slow to anger and plentiful to mercy.

There is always forgiveness with you. Restore to us the joy of our salvation.

Find out that which is broken. Give light to our minds, strength to our wills and rest to our souls.

Speak to each of us and let your word abide on us. For the

Lord is with us. Amen. Please stand and receive with great comfort this assurance of pardon.

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law so that we might receive adoption as sons.

My brothers and sisters in Christ, although our sins were as red as scarlet, they have been made whiter than snow.

Rejoice for those who are in Christ Jesus. Your sins are forgiven.

Amen. Please take up the hymnal and turn to hymn number 38,

Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise, Hymn 38. Amen.

Please take up the insert and look for our Psalm of the Week, which is listed as Psalm 119 in the page number, but it is

Psalm 63, Oh Lord, my God, most earnestly. This was a

Psalm of the month some time ago, but in recent memory. Brother, any words of encouragement or instruction?

Amen. Please remain standing for the reading of God's word from Revelation chapter 16.

Revelation chapter 16. Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, go and pour out the bowls of the wrath of God on the earth.

So the first went and poured out his bowl upon the earth and a foul and lonesome sword came upon the men who had the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image.

Then the second angel poured out his bowl on the sea and it became blood as of a dead man and every living creature in the sea died.

Then the third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and the springs of water and they became blood.

And I heard the angel of the water saying, you are righteous, oh Lord, the one who is and who was and who is to be because you have judged these things for they have shed the blood of saints and prophets and you have given them blood to drink for it is their just due.

And I heard another from the altar saying, even so Lord God almighty, true and righteous are your judgments.

Then the fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun and the power was given to him to scorch men with fire and the men were scorched with great heat and they blasphemed the name of God who was power over these plagues and they did not repent and gave him glory.

Then the fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast and his kingdom became full of darkness and they gnawed their tongues because of the pain.

They blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores and did not repent of their deeds.

Then the sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates and its waters was dried up so that the way of the kings from the east might be prepared.

And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet for they are spirits of demons performing signs which go out to the kings of the earth and of the whole world to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.

Behold I am coming as a thief, blessed is he who watches and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame.

And they gathered them together to the place called in Hebrew Armageddon. Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air and a loud voice came out of the temple of heaven from the throne saying, it is done.

And there were noises and thunderings and lightnings and there was a great earthquake such a mighty and great earthquake as had not occurred since men were on the earth.

Now the great city was divided into three parts and the cities of the nations fell and great

Babylon was remembered before God to give her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.

Then every island fled away and the mountains were found not founds and great hail from heaven fell upon men, each hailstone about the weight of a talent.

Men blasphemed God because of the plagues, because of the plague of the hail. Since the plague was exceedingly great, this is the word of God.

Let us continue our worship now by confessing our common

Christian faith in the singing of the Apostle's Creed. I believe in God the

Father, all in Jesus Christ his only begotten

Son, our Lord. Who was conceived by the

Holy Spirit, born of the virgin

Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified dead and buried.

He descended into hell, the third day he rose again from the dead, he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the

Father, all to judge the living the

Holy Spirit. I believe the holy catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body.

Please take up the hymnal once more and open to hymn 460, amazing grace, hymn 460.

Well please take up in the insert for the hymn I bind myself today, which we commonly refer to as St.

Patrick's breastplate. Just a note here as you open up the insert you'll notice verses one and nine, so we'll sing verse one, then you'll flip it over and we'll sing two through eight, and then verse nine is on the back side and we will get it perfect next time, but for this week that's how we'll go,

St. Patrick's Breastplate. Amen.

Please now make preparations for the prayers of the people, let us pray together,

Almighty and everlasting God, in whom we live and move and have our being, we your beloved children offer to you our humble praises for having preserved us from the beginning of our lives to this day, especially do we praise you for having delivered us from the dangers and uncertainties of this last week, for these mercies we bless and magnify your glorious name.

Humbly beseeching you to accept this our morning sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving, for his sake who laid down the grave and rose again for us, your

Son our Savior Jesus Christ. Fulfill now, O Lord, our desires and petitions that may be best for us, granting us in this world knowledge of thy truth and in the world to come life everlasting, amen.

I ask your prayers for God's people throughout the world, for our denomination, for this church and for all ministers and missionaries, pray for the church.

I ask your prayers for the poor, the sick, the bereaved, the burdened and for the widows, orphans and prisoners, pray for those in any need or trouble.

I ask your prayers for those who do not know Christ and for those who seek a deeper knowledge of him, pray that they may find and be found by him.

I ask your prayers for our children and future generations which will be born to them, pray that the knowledge of the

Lord will fill the earth through them, pray that we may have grace to glorify

Christ in our own day. Finding ourselves in agreement with all these things, we join our voices together and say, amen.

Please stand and take up the insert once again and look for our Psalm of the month,

Psalm 51, Psalm 51.

Amen. Please turn in your

Bibles to the epistle of James in chapter 5. I'm going to read verses 1 through 11.

Be reminded that this is God's holy end in faith. 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. 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 our section today. 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 who 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.

May the Lord be pleased with our consideration of his most excellent word. Please pray with me.

Oh, Lord, we are not patient. And we ask in the power of your spirit that we would become patient, that our long suffering would be yielding a great fruit of righteousness in us, that these trials and hardships would be used to make us mature and complete and lacking no good thing.

Oh, Lord, we pray for a work in our lives for your glory and namesake.

And we ask this in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. Please be seated.

The title of the message today is Enduring Patience, and that is found in the bulletin

Enduring Patience. And I have four points that you could use to have some notes about the message.

I will not be following it too strictly, but this could divide and help you.

The first is very simply be patient. Number one, be patient.

Second, establish your hearts. I'm going to add in steadfastness. Those are kind of synonymous, but I want to add that language.

Establish your hearts in steadfastness. And third, do not grumble against one another.

Do not grumble against one another. And fourth, follow the examples of the prophets

Job and the Lord Jesus Christ. You are inculcated in a world that demands instant gratification.

All of your devices supply a constant stream of instant dopamine bumps that wet your appetite for even more increasing, unsatisfying gratification.

Those who send you a message in any way they do it via text or email, they really expect and demand an instant response.

You and I have been sucked into the whirlpool of this cultural rot that, like a one oared rower, we we spin in circles sometimes because we're so caught up in the movement of all that happens around us.

The progressive culture longs for progress, but regresses continually into a deeper sea of damnable carnality.

Oh, church, we need to grow in patience, in Christlike patience that we might be instructed by the trials and the providential care of God, that we might grow up to that full maturity that James has called us to in chapter one and be sharp instruments in the hand of God for the triumph of his kingdom.

It's going to require patience. Look again at our text in verse seven.

Therefore, be patient, brethren. This word is riddled and conceptually in two other ways is throughout the section.

It's about six times that the idea of patience is invoked in this section. And to be patient is to be of a long spirit, to not lose heart, to persevere patiently and bravely, courageously.

It is forbearance. It is long suffering. It is embedded in the definition of love, isn't it?

Love is patient. It's characteristic of our father of faith,

Abraham, in Hebrews six, it said, and so after he patiently endured, he obtained the promises, our faith, our religion, our union with Christ requires that we be patient.

That we might be long suffering, I want you to turn back to James chapter one.

James, it seems, has a very good rhetorical mind also.

He starts and introduces a subject in chapter one, if you will remember,

I said this subject was very important to understand the theme of James and he continues it and completes it in our section today.

Look again at James chapter one in verse two. My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials.

The trials are the things that need to be patiently endured in chapter five.

The hardship of life as a follower of Christ demands patience.

Listen to James again, verse three, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.

We must have these trials and we must have this testing to see what kind of resolve, what kind of faith, what kind of commitment we have to Christ.

Our circumstances, our trials are going to put pressure on us and it's going to reveal something about the character and the qualitative nature of our faith in him.

It says in summation in verse four, but let patience have its perfect work.

That you might be, you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

James has bookended this idea, the centrality of patience.

Now let's go back to our text in chapter five. James does something here that's quite powerful.

He invokes the notion of patience and then he attaches the language of the parousia here in the coming of the

Lord at the end of verse seven. James says, be patient, brethren, until the coming of the

Lord. Now, this language, this word for us most often first causes us to think of the final return of the

Lord in the sense of the consummation of all things. And that's certainly legitimate. And it's, it's definitely in view here in some measure in James.

When you dig into the meaning of this word, it is also meaning the presence of the

Lord. It means the coming, the arrival in Advent.

Especially the second coming of the Lord, but also a coming in judgment, and I believe 80, 70 is very much in view here and in chapter five, the

Lord is at the door. Judgment is at hand and the Jewish nation, the oppressors of the church are going to be smited by God.

Of course, that picture is a microcosm, that judgment of rebellious Israel is a type of the final judgment that would come.

And we'd see at the end of the book of Revelation, in ancient classical

Greek, and I really love this, it referred to the royal visit of a king.

That's what this word means. The king is coming, he's coming beside his people, his church, his personal presence is going to be known.

In a very practical sense, one of the other glorious attributes of this language is the arrival of the owner who alone can deal with the situation.

Daddy's home can be a dreadful thing for little sinners. The owner, the one responsible, the one in authority, the one who has the power, he's come home and he's going to make a judgment.

My wife and her siblings talk about their dad and his country western belt, had his name on it, buckle and it being unfurled, you can hear it going through the jeans.

And they came home to discipline the children after their mother gave a bad report of their actions.

James does something very strong and powerful here. And I want to give this to you so you think about it.

And it's something that you meditate maybe even today and through the week, the idea that the creator, the king of glory, the one who holds all of this together, he's coming and he's coming in judgment.

It's true for the audience who heard this originally, and it's true for us.

The owner who has the responsibility and the power to act, he's coming.

And this should give us great hope because you and I, if we be in Christ, are reconciled to him.

We are his people. When the judge stands at the door, we rejoice to open the door because he's our savior and our lord.

And then we delight in his presence. This is not a fearful thing for the people of God, but oh, those who do not know

Christ, oh, the the nation of Israel who rejects the savior who comes to save them.

Oh, the woe, the horror, the howling that comes upon them.

You and I can be patient because the king is coming.

You and I can endure all kinds of trials and temptations and sufferings because we have been united to Christ.

We have to learn this lesson. We have to be reminded of this lesson. We have to become exemplary students and practitioners of this notion of patience.

James gives, I think, the most amazing illustration of this principle.

Look at the second part of verse seven. He says, see how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain.

The farmer, it's the word that we get

George from. I don't know if you know that. You probably knew that over there. That that language, that man of the earth, he knows two things.

He must be diligent to do his job and his duty, that there's work that he must do, but he's utterly dependent upon the

Lord for the results. The farmer is the perfect illustration of the

Christian living the Christian life here. The farmer has to wait for the rains.

This time of year in March, stretching into sometimes April, the early rains come in Israel and this follows a,

I'm sorry, this is the latter rains. This is the end. This is the season of harvest.

In October, there are the early rains. So it's kind of the opposite of Florida.

Doesn't rain much in the winter here. It really only rains in the winter.

They're heaviest in October and March and April, some sporadic rain through that period.

Now, this is what happens with the farmer. In October, he waits patiently for the rain to come because that dry soil must be plowed and the crops must be planted.

He can't do it until those rains happen. But when it happens, he moves into action and begins to work and cultivate and labor in the soil, in the dirt in order to plant his crops.

And he waits. But while he's waiting, he's pulling weeds, he's hoeing, he's keeping the animals away.

He's checking all of the surroundings. He's considering the wind and wondering how his crops are doing.

And trickles of rain come from October and but then March comes.

And the latter rains come and they finish the job and those latter rains come and the fruit begins to come and the harvest grows when that March rain comes.

I love the picture of this for our lives. We need the reigning work of the

Holy Spirit to make us alive. We need him to continually to drip on us that we might walk in righteousness and empower.

And in the end, he has a sure promise. But there will be a harvest, a harvest of fruitfulness, a harvest of righteousness, a harvest of completion, he's working in you, his people to to make you perfect and complete.

You have to be patient, wait eagerly, patiently that you might receive the early and latter rain, you need to be patient.

Well, there's another element, and this would be the second point that I gave to you.

The second half of verse eight, it says, establish your hearts.

You see, even in context. The Jewish believers probably thought they could get work from their

Jewish brethren and they would work for them, and though they've had this fissure and division over the person of Christ, that that they would be able to work in their fields.

And it seems that part of that first section for the howling rich who have kept back by fraud is probably

Jewish believers who have dealt treacherously with God's people and not paid them for the work that they did in the harvest.

The reason the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth is this is his livelihood.

It's not just the fruits are beautiful or something like that. The preciousness is this is how his family is going to survive.

He's diligently laboring, but he's also in faith, he says, oh, Lord, please send the early in the latter rain.

So true for us. Oh, Lord, may we mortify sin, maybe charge hard after righteousness, maybe love all of your holy things.

But in the end, we cry out to say, Holy Spirit, do a work in us.

We do our part, but God has to do his. And so we're patient and we wait.

This idea of establishing your hearts has a military connotation. Coming to Christ was salvation and it was joyful and it was exciting.

It's probably true for you. But then some hard realities have come upon the people of God.

James says you need to hold the line here. Discouragement has come.

They've been mistreated. Hold the line. Confirm your faith, be determined not to waver one inch to the right or the left, but steadfastly remain in Christ and and following after him.

This requires great patience, great determination, great resolve, a steadfastness.

Establish your hearts. And again, he invokes the idea. Parousia, the coming of the

Lord is at hand. The righteous judge is coming. You are reconciled to him.

The wicked David laments in the Psalms prosper. And the people of God suffer, and this requires the establishing of steadfast hearts, a patient trust that for us, the

Lord is going to vindicate his name and his people. But that may happen later.

He's going to do it, but we may have to suffer now. But the

Lord's coming, the eschaton, the parousia is at hand.

The end of the ages is upon us. It was upon them. And how much more so for us now, 2 ,000 years later?

Establish your hearts, confirm your faith, be determined not to waver.

Are you struggling under your trials today? Be patient.

Establish your heart. Hold this line. And march forward.

Build your wall and draw your sword. Keep going.

Keep persevering in the faith. We will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

Verse nine is very powerful because I believe it really speaks to our experience.

If I put circumstantial pressure upon you. There's a very good chance you're going to start mistreating people around you.

The trials cause us great angst. The guy who flips out on the road when you cut him off.

It's the manifestation of all of the wretchedness of his life in that moment.

Your offense was very minor. And he explodes in anger because he has no sense of this.

You and I cannot grumble against one another. And this is what we do when the trials come.

Our grumbling is a discouragement to all of those around us.

It plants a seed of resentment in us and in them.

And it cultivates and it grows up negatively. That fruit of grumbling and that troubled spirit.

You and I have to be mindful today. We probably have to repent that we have allowed our trials and our circumstances.

To cause us to mistreat the ones for whom Christ dies and those who who love us the most.

Do not grumble against one another, brethren. Lest you be condemned.

You say, well, I just don't have any patience. Well, you better get some because it's a fruit of the spirit.

If you are utterly devoid of this, it could be an occasion for you to examine yourself.

We all maybe need to grow, but if you have zero patience. And we have to wonder, does the

Lord, has he been at work in you? Are you filled with the spirit? We need to cultivate this fruit of the spirit.

And what's interesting here. Is this idea of patience is very closely tied to faith.

I already invoked that language from Abraham in Hebrews six. After he patiently endures, then he obtained the promise.

And then even in a sense, he doesn't really get to see it. He just knows it's coming to pass.

If we're not patient, then we are grumbling against the providence of God.

We're saying in our arrogance that, God, we do not like your plan or your purposes.

I don't like where I am. I don't like what you've done. How dare you? It's not a good place to be.

I don't believe James is trying to kick people, excommunicate people out of the church. But there's a warning here that this grumbling is not consistent with the genuine faith he's been harping on throughout the epistle.

You would be condemned if you grumble against one another, brethren.

And again, the parousia, the idea of the righteous judge, the judge is standing at the door.

He's right there. And in this period of time, when depending on when you date the book of James, it's not very long before the upheaval and the anguish and the terror and the horror of the

Romans in Jerusalem. And blood running through the streets. Why do the wicked prosper?

We could cry out today. I mean, I think every Christian at some point in their lives has said, oh, Lord, when will you act?

They're killing babies down the street. All the wretchedness. Oh, Lord, when will you act?

It requires patience. His vengeance is sure. The vindication of his honor and his holiness in you, his people, is sure.

You have to wait. The judge is standing at the door. When the door opens.

All will be made right. One of your favorite.

British authors. One of his essays said the play is over when the author comes on stage.

There's a lot that's happening. But then the author. The king comes.

It's a royal visit. The play is going to be over.

And there's another element to this that's really startling in our time and in our culture is that God has not created an evolutionary world.

He has created a world that has a start and a finish and a redemptive purpose in Christ and a people that are redeemed.

But it's finite. And there's a start and there's a finish. There's going to be a judgment day.

Our friends walking the streets around us. They have no sense of this.

Think about this in the micro level. People die all the time. I'll think about the things of the

Lord later. The judge is at the door. The people in Israel, these

Christians, this is just a little movement that's going to go away. No, the covenant lawsuit given by the prophets now finds its execution.

The people have rejected the Messiah, the prophet, priest and king. And vengeance is going to come upon Israel.

I think this is obviously what is talking about in the Olivet discourse in Matthew 24. Well, time is short today.

It's considered the last part of this. The example. Of the prophets and of Job and.

Those leading up to Christ. Indeed, we count them, the brethren, the prophets, we count them as blessed, who spoke in the name of the

Lord as an example of suffering. Patience, let's turn to instead of tracking this through the prophets themselves, let's get a summation of this in the book of Hebrews chapter 11, please turn to Hebrews 11.

This great testimony of the faith of the people of God, kind of a history of Israel. I'm going to start in verse 32.

What more shall I say? The time would family to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises.

Stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword.

Out of weakness were made strong. Became valiant in battle, turned to fight the armies of the aliens.

Women received their dead raised to life again. Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance.

That they might obtain a better resurrection. Still, others had trial of mockings and scourgings.

Yes, of chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two.

Isaiah, you know, pause there. When you think about these great men of God, they all suffered for Christ.

We think the blessing of God would be the absence of suffering and comfort in this life. The people closest to Christ, they go through a lot of suffering, a lot of trial.

They have to exercise a lot of patience. They were tempted.

They were slain with a sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented.

Of whom the world was not worthy, they wandered in deserts and mountains and dens and caves of the earth.

And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise.

God, having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us.

How can we not be patient who have received the precious promises in Christ?

The great people of the Bible, they see it in faith from afar. But it's our present possession.

Salvation in the Lord, the only thing left is the vanquishing of all of his enemies.

That's it. All of redemptive history is unfolded in the sense of all the things that had to happen.

The death, the burial, the resurrection, the ascension, the reign from on high.

The only thing left is the coming of the Lord. And the last things, we of all people should be the most patient.

We should be the people of a long spirit. We should be the people, you should be the kind of people who do not lose heart.

Who persevere with bravery and courage and long suffering in two weeks, we will remember the prophecy of the triumphal and the actual triumphal entry of Christ.

And I think that feeling and that sentiment is here. Can you imagine the coming of the

Lord for us, his people? We're his people, the object of his affection, the one who's given all of this to us as joint heirs with him.

Can you fathom the love of God for us as people? We can be patient. We can wait when the job promotion doesn't come through and the hardship comes in our life.

We can be patient. We can wait to the very end.

I'm going to continue really quick in chapter 12 of Hebrews. And I'll have one more text and we'll close due to time.

Therefore, we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, one of whom is

Job, who's invoked in our text. And there's something very interesting about Job.

If you need something to do today, read through the book of Job. And Job is one who never denies the

Lord, ultimately, in a sense, he patiently endures to the end, he will not curse

God, he only praises him. He knows that his redeemer lives. He knows that in his flesh, an incredible statement at the time of Abraham or before, he understands the doctrine of resurrection and glorification.

He understands it. Job struggled in his trial.

I think it should be an encouragement to us. He doesn't quit, though. He doesn't give up, he perseveres to the end, the patience of Job is his endurance and all of these things continuing in chapter 12.

Let us lay aside every weight, the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance, the race that is set before us, looking unto

Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.

And for the joy that was set before him endured the cross. Despising the shame.

And I sat down at the right hand of the throne of God for consider him who endured such hostilities from sinners against himself.

Lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. The servants aren't greater than the master.

The final word to be thoughtful about who Christ is. No need to turn there. This is from First Peter, chapter two.

Servants. Be submissive to your masters with all fear. Not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh, for this is commendable if because of conscience toward God, one endures grief, suffering wrong wrongfully.

And here's something we have to acknowledge. Verse 20. Some of our suffering is self inflicted, in fact, probably more than you realize.

What credit is it if when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? This isn't the kind of patience that we're looking for.

It should be pointed out to you also. Patience can never be associated with laziness and inaction.

Those are not going together. Patience demands diligence and work and grind.

We say, oh, I'm under all of this persecution for my righteousness. No, you might be getting beaten for your faults.

But when you do good and suffer. If you take it patiently, this is commendable before God.

For to this you were called. That's something for you to embrace today.

You've been called to suffer and to endure it patiently. And this glorious description of Christ and a good place for us to close, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that we should follow in his steps, who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth, who, when he was reviled, did not revile in return.

When he suffered, he did not threaten, but committed himself to him who judges righteously.

I think that same principle is here in James, who himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness by whose stripes we are healed.

For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned. To the shepherd and overseer of your souls, brethren.

I want you to think about this, and this is very speculative, more of an exercise.

If Jesus Christ, since Jesus Christ is the lamb slain before the foundation of the world.

And he looked upon his people and said, I need to redeem those people.

But the time was not yet. He was patient in coming in the incarnation. And we're here in Jesus's earthly ministry, several times, he says, it's only a three year ministry, a public ministry of three years.

He said, now is not the time to reveal this, that I'm the Messiah.

He waits patiently. I mean, it seems like things are urgent. It's only three years.

We've got to do this, but he's patient. No one knows the times or the seasons he's ready, but but he has to wait because of his redemptive purposes.

He's patient. The wicked are prospering. He laughs in heaven. His honor will be vindicated.

He patiently endures. You and I were also a call to this.

May the Lord and the power of his spirit remarkably and dramatically transform us to cultivate this fruit of the spirit that we would be patient.

That we would accept his providence and his lordship over all things and that we would delight in his good purpose.

It says at the end of our text, you've heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the

Lord, that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.

We can be patient because of the character of the Lord. Amen. Let's pray together.

Oh, Lord, we are a self -willed people.

We are an arrogant people thinking we know best about what we should do with our lives, and we look upon situations and say this cannot be right.

But oh, Lord, you've called us to patient endurance. Oh, Lord, we have absolute confidence in your reign and rule and your victory.

Allow that truth, oh, Lord, to to sink in so deep that it manifests itself not only in large and grand s belief and promises, but in the smallest details of our lives and our dealings with our wife and our children, with our our parents, our our extended family, our neighbors.

Oh, Lord, help us to show forth the virtue of patience that we would never be rattled over small matters, but we would have this quiet confidence in the purposes that you are revealing.

Lord, I pray that your people would repent of sin and. Would run under your wings for comfort and protection and delight.

And oh, Lord, we pray that this promise in James, that you would make us perfect and complete, that you would work here in this area of our lives, that we would have the enduring patience that has done its work, that we might not lack any good thing.

We ask all this in Jesus name. Amen. Let's continue our worship through the presentation of tithes and offerings.

Please stand. Oh, Lord, we thank you for the work you've given us to do, the stewardship over these talents.

We ask, oh, Lord, that we would give in faith and also cheerfully. And that the church would be great stewards of the offerings for kingdom work, and this would all be pleasing in your sight.

And we ask this in the name of Jesus, our Lord. Amen. Let us now give glory to God, who is patient with us in every respect.

Let us sing now the glory of pottery. Lift up your hearts.

Let us give thanks to the Lord. It is right and a good and joyful thing that we should at all times and in all places give thanks to you.

Oh, Holy Lord, Father, almighty, everlasting God, because you sent your beloved son to redeem us from sin and death and to make us heirs in him of everlasting life.

That when he shall come again in power and great triumph to judge the world, we may without shame or fear rejoice to behold his appearing.

Therefore, with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven, we praise and magnify your glorious name evermore, praising you and singing.

Oh, please be seated and let's pray together.

Oh, Lord, we thank you that you have bound yourself to us in the incarnation and you have bound us to your righteousness by your sinless life and you have bound us to the judgment of your crucifixion that we might not be judged again.

And we thank you, oh, Lord, for giving us bread and wine that that convey to us, as your scripture says, the incredible salvific notion of the body and blood of Christ crucified for us.

Oh, Lord, I pray that your people would be nourished and strengthened and built up as they partake.

They are bound to you by covenant and to one another, that this would be a delight to their souls.

And I ask all this in Jesus name. Amen. Our Lord Jesus, on the night in which he was betrayed, took bread.

We have given thanks. He broke it. Blessed give it to his disciples saying, take it.

Likewise, he took the cup after supper, saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood.

For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup and proclaim the Lord's death. Therefore, we proclaim the faith.

Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again.

Let's approach the table now with humility on the one hand, but with great exuberance and delight on the other.

We do not presume to come to this your table. Oh, merciful

Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in your manifold and great mercies.

We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under your table.

But you are the same Lord who always shows mercy. So to eat the flesh of your son,

Jesus Christ, that our sinful bodies may be made clean by his body.

And our souls washed through his most precious blood. That he may evermore dwell in him.

He and us. Amen. Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.

The gifts of God for you, the people of God. Let us now make this commitment together with one voice.

Almighty and ever -living God, we thank you for feeding us with the spiritual food of the most precious body and blood of your son, our

Savior, Jesus Christ. Bring us in these holy mysteries that we are living members of the body of your son and heirs of your eternal freedom.

And oh Lord, grant us this other benefit, that you will never allow us to forget these things.

But having them imprinted on our hearts, may we grow and increase daily in faith, which is at work in every good deed.

Now, Father, send us out to do the work you have given us to do. To love and serve you as faithful witnesses of Christ our

Lord. To him, to you, and to the Holy Spirit. In honor and glory now and forever.

Amen. Please stand. Receive now the blessing the

Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you.

The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and grant you peace. Amen.

Thanks be to the