Patient Endurance Till The End | Sermon 7/10/2022

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Turn with me and your Bibles to James chapter 5. James chapter 5, we're going to be in verses 7 through 11.

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Believe it or not, next Sunday is our last sermon for James chapter 5, for the whole book of James.

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This is it. So, just one more after this. It's been a glorious about six months going through the book of James.

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I think this has been very edifying. It's really showed us, as a brand new church plant, what it is to look like to be a

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New Testament church, what it looks like to be Christians in a covenant community.

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James has been such a blessing. So, the title of the sermon today is,

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Patient Endurance Until the End. Patient Endurance Until the

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End. And starting in verse 7 of chapter 5, Again, hear now the inerrant and infallible words of the living and true

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God. Behold, the judge is standing right at the door.

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As an example, brethren, of suffering and of patience, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. We count those blessed who endured.

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You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord's dealings. The Lord is full of compassion and is merciful.

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Ascending the ring of God's Word, let's pray quickly again. Father, would you please speak through me today,

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Lord? Would you please illuminate the Scriptures? Would you edify your church today, Lord?

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Would you grow us in your Word? God, would you help us to see the glories of being patient and waiting, especially for your return, the most glorious event that will ever occur?

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So, God, please be with us now. Help us to be focused on your Word. Speak through me, Lord. Let me decrease and you increase.

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And as always, Lord, I pray that all that I would say would be helpful and clear to your people.

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And let it always be true. Let no error ever be said out of my mouth, Lord. So I pray this all in Christ's name.

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Amen. Patience, according to the Bible, is a fruit of the

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Spirit. Patience is a virtue, they say. It is often easy to practice patience when things are comfortable, right?

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But as soon as trials come, there lies the real test for patience.

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And really, from the very beginning, mankind has been on one long test of patience.

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The test is harder for us creatures who operate in time in a world that's on a trajectory.

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And James is going to touch on the Lord Jesus' second coming but I think, as I started this,

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I thought about His first coming. Jesus' first coming. From the moment

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Adam and Eve fell in the garden, time and patience then became a factor for them.

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How long would it be until the promised seed of the woman would come and crush the head of the crafty serpent?

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Adam had his children with Eve and he waited. He waited 930 years of his life, but he didn't see the coming of the promised one.

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Noah had undoubtedly heard about the seed who would end all the wickedness he had seen, but it says evil only increased in Noah's day.

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The Lord commanded Noah to build an ark to bring two of every kind of animal upon it and to bring his family on it as the

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Lord would destroy all life upon the earth through a flood. Noah was faithful.

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Noah was patient. He didn't know when it would come and how it would affect the promise of the coming one.

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It says that he was 600 years old by the time the flood came upon the earth. He waited.

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He waited. God commanded Abraham to leave his relatives in the land of Ur and was promised in his youth that God would make

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His posterity a great nation and one would come from his family in whom

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God would bless the whole nations for all time. But Abraham waited.

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He waited. He traveled to Egypt and was impatient. He didn't trust God. But the

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Lord reinforced His promises time and time again and Abraham waited even until he was 100 years old and a son was born to him.

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His patience and faith were tested as the Lord commanded him to offer up the one and only son of His love upon the altar.

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He knew God had promised something great through His lineage, so it says

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His faith didn't waver. The substitute for Isaac would be a shadow to point to the substance of the serpent crusher to come.

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The Hebrews then, they grew in size. They grew in size in Egypt and they were enslaved under a pharaoh who did not have favor upon them.

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They toiled under the hot desert sun. They waited in slavery desperately for 430 years.

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They waited for the Lord their God to send a Deliverer, the Promised One.

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Moses, who was used by God to rescue God's people, but in the end, even Moses and what he did pointed to a divine

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Deliverer who was not yet on the scene. Then the people wandered and waited in the wilderness for 40 years.

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Groaning, waiting for the Promised Land and yet, this

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Promised Land would only be a taste of the heavenly Promised Land that is to come.

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The heavenly garden that even we are promised. Then David rose to power and although a seed of the woman and a descendant of Abraham, he would only receive a kingly covenant that turned his eyes towards the future of time.

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The Promised One would reign from a throne forever and ever. He would not die, so it couldn't have been

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David. So they waited. The people waited. Through wicked kings and foreign oppressors, the people of God waited.

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The prophet Isaiah declared the words of God that a child would be born of a woman, a virgin woman, and his name would be called

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Emmanuel, God with us. Isaiah said that the people who have walked in darkness will see a great light.

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A child, a seed will be born unto us, a son will be given and the government will rest upon his shoulders and his name will be called a wonderful counselor, mighty

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God, El Gabor, eternal Father and Prince of Peace. And there would be no end to the increase of his government, of his kingdom, and he will reign not for a time, but forever and ever upon the throne.

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And those in Israel who didn't practice the harlotries, the idolatries, the adulteries and abominations that the majority engaged in, this small remnant that God mentions in Scripture, they would no longer have to wait as they came close to the end of the century.

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The seed of the woman, Jesus Christ, came. He crushed the head of the serpent in less than 30 years.

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It was finished on that cross. But now the people of God, you and I, would face a new waiting period.

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We must practice a new kind of patience. King Jesus desires for his kingdom to grow.

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He desires for the gospel to go forth, for the news to spread that many, many myriads more will join his forever kingdom.

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That's Christ's desire right now. He wants all of us to share the good news that his kingdom would grow more and more, that we would go out to the highways and byways and say, have you heard the news that there is a

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Christ? That he died for sinners and he rose again, and he's giving eternal life to anyone who will come to him by faith and repentance.

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Come! Come join! He wants us to do that. He calls us to do that.

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And that's why we wait. We wait as Christ grows his kingdom until his second coming.

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But the waiting can be difficult. And it comes with trials. It can come with pain.

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It can come with suffering. But we get to taste a bit of that expectant longing that our brothers and sisters experienced before his first coming.

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So the question is, how do we practice patience? How do we wait for all that God has promised as we still live in the realm of time?

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How do we do all that with all the opposition we face?

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Let's take a look at that now in our text. In James 5, verse 7, I'll read it again.

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Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious produce of the soil, being patient about it until the early and late rains come.

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So if you remember from last week, James just finished his indictment upon the wicked rich who have been oppressing these

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Christians as James endearingly once again calls them brothers.

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He hasn't called them brothers for quite some time, but he'll mention brothers four more times in the rest of the letter.

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He comes back to them like a pastor, like the heart of a pastor. Brothers, brethren, listen.

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He appeals to them again. You have been defrauded.

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They've stolen your wages, he says. They've persecuted you. They have had you put to death or put in prison.

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But listen, James says, despite all that, be patient.

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Despite all that you're going through, be patient. And he says, the Lord is coming again.

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Christ will make good on His promises and deliver you from your affliction. This section of Scripture is very similar to the beginning of the letter of James where in chapter 1 it says, immediately in verse 2, it says,

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Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.

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So it almost seems like James is going back to where he started. Back to the endurance through trials.

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As far as the letter goes, this may be the beginning of the end. He's wrapping it up. But in contrast, we can see this is more of a consolation to these

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Christians who have been oppressed by the wicked rich. We especially can see that by the connection point, therefore.

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So He had just laid out this indictment upon the wicked rich for their treatment of Christians, and then

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He says, therefore be patient. All this has happened to you, now therefore be patient.

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And that seems to fit a bit better, but it is providential that He's ending where He started.

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He makes an imperative. This is an imperative. It is a command in the Greek, be patient. We are to be patient, to endure until the end to the coming of the

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Lord Jesus. Makra fumeo. It is not just a regular sort of patience.

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This isn't simply telling your child who comes up to you and they tug your shirt and you're talking with an adult and you're like, be patient, buddy, just one second.

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That's not that kind of patience that we're talking about here. But kids, that would be good if you were patient when you ask your parents if they can talk with you.

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This is demonstrating patience despite the difficulties you endure while waiting for resolution.

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Makro fumeo. Makros means large or long.

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Think about makro, large, long. While fumos means anger.

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So to be patient is to be long -angered, long -angered as opposed to short -tempered.

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So you could call this actually long -tempered. A patient person is a long -tempered person.

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A patient person's fuse is long. When the lighter comes up to it, it takes a long time to get them blown up.

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That's what a patient person is. They don't get angry easily. They don't get frustrated easily.

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They don't blow up easily. They are long -tempered. That's what the Greek demonstrates here.

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They don't react. They don't get emotional very easily just after a short period of time.

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They can endure what is coming at them. God shows He is patient, especially when it says

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He is slow to anger. Humanity deserves His just anger and wrath, but He is patient toward us.

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He is long -suffering towards us. Many people desire patience, but only a few seem to possess it.

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We're just an instant sort of culture. You got like instant messaging, instant pots,

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Instacarts, instant mashed potatoes. Those are not that bad. Minute rice, right?

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Mom made that. Videos are called shorts on Facebook. They're called TikToks from some

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Chinese company. Um, that I've heard about. Right? There's these quick microwave sort of things in our lives.

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Such things are indicative of our inability to wait on things.

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But patience, get this, patience isn't simply passively waiting for time to pass.

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It's not. In the context James gives us, patience is the ability to find contentment and peace while enduring someone or something that is oppressive or produces suffering for you.

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That's the patience he's talking about. Psalm 37 says, Rest in the

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Lord and wait patiently for Him. Do not fret because of Him who prospers in His way, because of the man who carries out wicked schemes.

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Cease from anger. Be long -tempered. And he says, Forsake wrath.

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Do not fret. It leads only to evil doing. For evildoers will be cut off, but those who wait for the

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Lord, they will inherit the land. Psalm 37 says,

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Do not fret. You yourself, when the evil one prospers, don't get over to anger yourself.

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Don't commit evil as well, he says. Because it will only lead to more evil doing.

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Wait on the Lord. God will act for you. Wait and blessing will come.

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So James likens this to a farmer who waits for the seed he has sown to turn to precious produce or fruit.

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The word means fruit. I remember in Arizona, I've said it plenty of times, you guys,

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I love gardening. I really do like it. We had a lot of fruit trees in our backyard.

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And then I would plant them sometimes in people's backyards for them. I just loved growing fruit trees.

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And every year, as the blossoms would set and the fruit would set, you know, about every day, you know, the peaches would be about this big and they'd be kind of green.

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And my daughter would go, Dad, are they ready yet? And you go, no, not yet.

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Wait a little longer. And then they get a little bit bigger and they'd start to blush a little bit with orange and red and yellow.

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Say, are they ready now, Dad? No, they're not ready yet. We got to wait. Okay. Then finally, they get to this size.

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They'd be a little soft, a little tender. You could smell the sweet aroma coming off of the peaches or the oranges that we had.

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And my daughter would say, is it time now? Yeah, it's time now. I said, why did we wait so long?

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Well, you see, we had to wait because in God's design, if we're patient, if we wait, the fruit would only get better.

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The fruit would only become sweeter. It'd only be that much better when we wait.

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And so this is what the farmer is like. James honestly has truly revealed his love for God's creation in this epistle.

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I counted 35 times in this short letter that James makes a reference to creation or makes a point of using creation here.

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He loves it. The farmer must learn that everything comes in its due season.

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There is a season for everything. Maybe you are in a season of plowing.

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Keep working. Maybe you're in a season of suffering. Keep enduring.

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Maybe you're in the season of waiting. Keep seeking God's timing. Because the farmer has to wait.

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There's nothing he can do about it. He can't speed up this process. He can't speed up the seasons.

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He can't speed up the early and latter rains. He has to wait on God. He has to wait on the

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Lord. He is eager and expectant, but he is patient.

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He is largely uncertain of how good the rains will be this year for germination and growth.

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The farmer in Israel was greatly dependent upon the rains. It would literally make or break their harvest.

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Every mention actually of early and latter rains in the Old Testament denotes a sort of blessing and abundance from God.

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If you received rain, you were mightily blessed. If there's drought, you're not blessed.

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That's what God's Word would show. So the farmer knows roughly when the spring and autumn rains come, but will they be enough?

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He has no certainty of the harvest. And it reminds me, you know, we've only just been here a year about now.

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All the cherry and peach orchards that are south of here, south, even further south of Utah County, we got to drive through there and there's just trees and orchards everywhere.

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And everyone goes and they take their instant chat or snapgrams and they take a picture, you know, with all the flowers behind them.

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And it's just such a popular thing here. They take their special photos, which of course is pretty cool.

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But essentially, they had to plan that out. They had, when those trees were in the dormant period, they had to trim off the dead wood.

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They had to trim off the wood that was pointing inward towards the trunk. You don't want that. You want to kind of create this moving out sort of vase type thing for these cherry and peach trees.

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And then they had to fertilize. They had to maybe redo the berms around the tree.

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So the workers had to prepare these trees, but they can't perfectly predict when the last frost will be.

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And I remember that, you know. Some of them were saying, I couldn't believe it.

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There was another frost and a lot of the blossoms fell off. We're not going to get as good of a bumper crop this year.

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And there's really no prediction on the frost, the rains, the success rates of bee pollination.

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So you don't trust the process. You don't trust the season you're in. You learn to trust the

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God who made the process and made the seasons. God made your current season you're in now.

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God made the season you're in. God made the season you're walking through right now.

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And He will also be the one to bring you into the next season. Will you lean on Him until then?

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Will you lean on Him when you leave a season of suffering and enter a season of prosperity?

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Because you know what? A lot of times when we're in a season of prosperity, we begin again to trust the season and how great it's going rather than God.

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So that when suffering may come again in the next season, we're caught off guard. Wow, things have been going really, really good.

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And we've forgotten that God is the one who gave us that season of blessing. And we are not to do that.

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We must always be dependent on Him. Sowing seed in this is also points to ordinary and mundane work.

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Sowing seed. I don't know if you've ever done it before. Maybe for your parents. Sowing seed can be a little boring.

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You're putting it in the ground. You're just like nothing happens. It's got to take time for something to happen.

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So really, sowing seeds points to faithfulness. Just a faithfulness that you have. Do all that you are supposed to do.

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Don't stop. Keep sowing seed. Keep doing what God has called you to do and be patient with it.

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So if that's work, if that's homeschool, if that's managing your household, if that's being consistent in leading your family to follow

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Christ, if that's being consistent in reaching your neighbors with the gospel, if that's just enduring the very next medical treatment that you have to go through, keep going.

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Just keep going. Be patient. Keep going in the season you're at. Just faithfulness.

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So go to verse 8. He says, You too be patient. Strengthen your hearts.

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For the coming of the Lord is near. James repeats himself here for a reason.

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He says almost the very same thing, except omits the farmer illustration.

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However, he makes a new imperative. He says, You too be patient.

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But then he says, Strengthen your hearts. Sterizo your heart.

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Once again, this is agricultural. Sterizo is to support and fix down a new young plant.

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Think of a new fig tree or a new olive tree that they would plant in Israel, and it would just be this tiny little twig in the ground, right?

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And there would be storms, and there'd be wind, and there'd be the hot desert wind. And what did they have to do?

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They had to sterizo the tree. They had to stake it. They had to make sure that that tree wouldn't vacillate in the wind.

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And that's the same word he uses here for your heart. Stake down and anchor your heart.

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Strengthen your heart. Because the hardships of this life are going to come, but you don't want your heart to be carried away with those windy hardships.

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It's anchored by the anchor of our soul, Jesus Christ. Strengthen your heart so it will not be moved by what it sees, but firmly planted by what it knows by faith.

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Paul told the Thessalonians, May the Lord strengthen your hearts. Sterizo your hearts without blame in holiness before our

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God and Father, the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints. What James is trying to convey here is to keep a firm commitment to the faith.

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Through that term, strengthen your heart. During trials, during persecutions, during affliction from the wicked, maintain your faith.

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Keep your faith. Don't lose it. Don't allow your grip on it to slack even one bit.

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Hold the faith. As is when a hurricane is coming, and the windows have to be boarded up, and the doors are reinforced, and a firm stance is taken, and you go to the strongest area of the house, reinforce it.

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Do the same with your faith. Fortify your faith. And don't deny your

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Lord. Don't deny Him because the coming of the

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Lord is near. And the question is, too, how do we strengthen our hearts? We saturate our hearts with God's Word.

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We test our hearts and see that God is faithful to continue to build up and strengthen the heart.

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So in a way, James wants to charge them, don't lose heart. Your Messiah is coming.

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Don't lose heart. Just as the farmer waits for the rains and the harvest, so we as followers of Christ wait for His coming and for His justice.

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We can say with the utmost confidence, listen, we can say with the utmost confidence that Christ is going to return.

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We can. But what we can't say with the same confidence is when that will be.

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When will that be? We have to gain the maturity to be okay with that statement.

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We have to learn how to exercise patience in the small things so that we can have patience in the bigger things.

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You see, the glorious aspect about our call to patience in the Bible is that it isn't waiting without end or without relief.

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Can you imagine that? In verse 7, He had the hopeful word, until.

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It doesn't just say be patient with nothing behind it. He says, be patient until the

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Lord Jesus returns. And when the Lord returns, deliverance, relief, blessing, respite, liberation will all be ours in Christ.

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That means we aren't patient in vain. We are patient and we are expectant.

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That's the amazing thing. He doesn't just say, be patient and wait. And you're like, okay.

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But He says, be patient and wait because Christ is coming. Your Lord is going to return and that changes everything.

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That makes the waiting, the patience, worth it all. You don't wait for nothing.

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You wait for something that is greater than all that we've ever seen with our own eyes. Glory. Glory.

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So for that reason, we don't have to worry about delivering and saving ourselves in ways that only

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God can. And we don't have to worry about vengeance and judgment on the wicked in only ways that God can.

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This truth should give us peace in the waiting. If you are oppressed, wait on God.

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He will give perfect vengeance. That is true. If you are eager to do something, wait on God.

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His timing and arrangement are much better than yours. If you need

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God's favor, wait for His blessing to come. Because His blessing that is coming is going to be far better than any blessing you could artificially create up for yourself.

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And He says the Lord is angizo. Angizo, the word is near.

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The Lord is near. This is the same word used in Mark 1 .15

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that started the kingdom. When Jesus says the time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is at hand.

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That is angizo right there. So this word is used in reference to the beginning of Christ's kingdom in His earthly ministry.

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And then it's also used in eschatological terms. Eschatology meaning the study of last things or final days.

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James has also used the word perousia twice here. Perousia.

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Perousia means presence or coming or advent. I spoke at the very beginning in my introduction about Christ's first perousia.

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His first coming. So is James talking about Jesus coming spiritually in judgment?

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What the Scripture typically calls a coming day of the Lord? Or is he talking about the second perousia?

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Is James talking about the second coming? So I'll tell you what

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I believe he's talking about based off of the context and of course Jesus' words. I think

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James is most likely pointing to the prophecies of Jesus in the

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Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24 that point to an immediate and coming judgment upon the first century covenant breakers.

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Jesus said some of you here won't even taste death by the time all these things happen.

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A time of calamity and tribulation was coming and it did. It did and it was fierce brothers and sisters.

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The invasion upon Jerusalem, the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD by the

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Roman armies was pure terror. There was crucifixions by the thousands.

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Crucifixions everywhere. There was death and disease and blood filled the streets in that first century.

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Famines were so bad that Jews were resorting to cannibalism. It was horrible.

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And just as Jesus said, all the bricks of the temple were cast down.

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It was destroyed. So that would explain the nearness that James was anticipating.

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And yet Jesus is still near. The principle still stands. His return is still imminent.

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So I have to say I think this principally points to a first century judgment, a coming day of the

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Lord and Jesus' climactic second coming that we are all still waiting for.

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I think principally we can see both in this text. Jesus' return will be the pinnacle of salvation history.

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It will honestly be the pinnacle of all human history, church. And so besides strengthening your heart to gain patience, one way we are able to gain patience is by anticipating the

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Lord's coming. That's how you gain patience. By anticipating the Lord's return.

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There is a light at the end of the tunnel. The hymn says, Because He lives,

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I can face tomorrow. But it also could say, Because He is returning,

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I can face tomorrow. Because He is returning, I can face tomorrow. So go to verse 9.

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It says, Do not complain, brethren, against one another, so that you yourselves may not be judged.

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Behold, the judge is standing right at the door. Like I said,

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James touches on the prominent theme that has been in his letter, the theme of perseverance through trials.

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But now we see complaining, which is along with the other prominent theme in the letter of James that is taming the tongue.

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Especially from James chapter 3 and a part of James chapter 1. Taming the tongue has been a big part of this letter.

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And this is another imperative that is made in the command form in the Greek. Do not stenazo.

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It means to groan in a complaining -like manner. And how easy is it, right, for us to groan, complain, grumble, especially with the closest with us?

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Even though they're going through the same suffering with us, we typically groan or complain or are angry with those who are going through the same thing with us.

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The groans aren't without cause. And they are not necessarily caused by individual offenses.

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But this type of groaning is a result of the oppression they've been receiving, but then they dump it on each other.

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So the wicked rich have been oppressing them, and they've been oppressing all these

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Christians, and then they're tempted to then take out their frustration and their impatience towards other

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Christians with them. That's the picture we have here. And that's, again, typically what we do.

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We will dump our groanings on the closest ones to us, and we will sin against them.

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We want, of course, people to be with us in our times of misery, meaning we want someone to go through things with us, right?

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We don't want to be alone. And yet we can take our frustrations out on those who are with us in that season.

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When the tire blows and you're on the side of the road, guys, don't groan and yell at your kids and your wife.

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They're there with you. They're sitting in the hot car because you got to turn it off because you got to get the tire from underneath, and so you don't want the exhaust to be hot.

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So the windows are down, and they're suffering with you. So when you're changing the tire, you don't start yelling at them.

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They're suffering with you, right? When you're going through health problems, and you have to go to another round of this, you have to go and get this, and your kids say something to you where they're like, don't worry, mommy, you can be healed.

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And you start yelling at them. You don't get it. God has desired for me to carry this affliction until my death.

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Well, number one, you don't know that. But your little daughter just told you to be encouraged that the

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Lord can fix this. That's a good thing. So don't take out your frustration on the family who's trying to help.

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When you're being treated wrongfully at your work for your faith, don't blow up on the brother in Christ who sends a prayer and an encouraging word your way.

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Well, you don't know what I'm going through. This is harder than what you're going through. You work for a

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Christian company. You work for the church. How would you know what I'm going through? So we don't do that.

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We don't do that. We don't groan. We don't do that as we suffer.

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We're suffering together as a body. James' admonishment goes well with Paul's, where it says in Ephesians 4, bear with one another in love.

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Or 1 Thessalonians 5 says, don't pay back wrong for wrong or evil for evil.

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When you're in the thick of it, when you're both suffering, don't start grumbling at each other.

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Don't start complaining at one another. And so what are several ways we can complain against one another in the church?

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We can turn personal convictions into commandments, and we complain that others don't see things the way that we do.

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Well, I think this is the way it should be done. Why don't you do it my way? Well, principally, that's a good thing.

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But what I'm doing isn't prohibited by Scripture. I have the freedom to do it. So we complain.

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We complain about each other's lack of commitment to certain things.

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We get upset towards who we feel isn't serving in the church. We are not long -suffering with various personality types.

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I love that person, but I'll never be friends with them. Sounds like it, buddy. Sounds like you love them real good, right?

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I love them, but I'll never be friends with them. That's not long -suffering with your brother or sister.

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Don't complain just because your sister is different than you. We complain when those in our church lack biblical maturity or understanding.

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Why don't they just get it? Why don't they get in the Word? Why don't they know as much as I do?

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And so with all this, we forget who is actually oppressing us, right? We make each other the enemy, and yet there is an enemy out there who seeks to destroy all that we're doing.

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An enemy out there who's seeking to destroy your faith, and yet we turn against each other.

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We need to remember who is actually oppressing us. Who's actually against us.

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And not that we should start complaining against our oppressors, but the person going through this with us doesn't deserve more ill treatment than what you and them are already going through.

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And get this, when you're groaning, you're not rejoicing. And He says to rejoice always.

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When you're grumbling, you're not thankful. Always have hearts full of thanksgiving. When you're complaining, you're not content.

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And when you're doing any of these things, you're not patient. Impatience is a sin.

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It is a work of the flesh and not of the work of the Spirit, according to Galatians chapter 5.

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And get this, every time we are impatient, every time we groan, grumble, or complain, or are discontent, we of course wrongfully condemn others, but ultimately we are accusing

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God. We are accusing God by saying He is not as good as He says

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He is, and what He could be doing now in this season of my life could be better. What you are doing now,

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God, isn't good enough for me. We become judge. But once again, just as James chapter 4 says, there is only one lawgiver and judge, the

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Lord God Almighty. And it says He is right at the door. He is right at the door.

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He warns us again to avoid being judged for our hypocritical judging. You could be one final breath away from the judge who is at the door.

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Everyone, every single person in this world will have to open that door one day.

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Everyone will face the judge. The Bible says so. And although you may have grumbled in your suffering,

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Christ never did. Christ never grumbled in His suffering. And that's maybe why

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He calls Himself the doorkeeper. In John, Jesus says He is the gate.

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Jesus says He is the way in. Jesus grumbled not once under what would be known to be the most ultimate and supreme suffering that we could ever imagine, so that we could abstain from sufferings and groanings and temporal afflictions.

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Peter H. Davids, a theologian, says of this, the nearness of the eschological day is not just an impetus to look forward to the judgment of sinners, but is also a warning to examine one's own behavior so that those whose footsteps are nearing, when finally knocks upon the door, one may be prepared to open it.

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He says the coming Lord is also the judge of the Christian. The Bible says that. No doubt we have the imputed righteousness of Christ, but the

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New Testament writers still told us to be aware and be ready for His coming. Be ready for the second coming.

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The point is every believer ought to live with the reality that the parousia, the second coming, could occur at any time.

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And we need to base all of our decisions and commitment to holiness on that imminent reality.

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The Lord is going to come. So if the Lord was coming to your own home for dinner,

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I know some of you would go nuts. You would go crazy in your house to prepare a great feast. You would clean your house for the

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Lord. You'd maybe even ask the guy with the bigger house down the street if you could borrow his house. Think about all that you would do to prepare if the

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Lord knocked on your door for dinner, but he's going to knock on the door and judgment will begin. So the principle is there.

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Be ready. Again, not to say that if you're in Christ you could lose that, but it's there.

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A thousand years is like a day to the Lord. Be patient. He will come.

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That's the promise. Let's move on to verse 10. As an example, brethren of suffering and patience, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the

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Lord. So James doesn't just give commands now. He doesn't just give imperatives.

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He gives them something to model after. Examples are helpful, of course.

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Jesus says in John 13, 15, For I gave you an example, that you should do as I did to you.

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Examples are for us to do as they did when it was done righteously.

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So remember the martyrs. Remember their fortitude. Remember their strength. Remember the prophets who spoke in the name of the

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Lord and they did not renounce their Lord. The word example is hupadaigme, hupadaigme.

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And it actually appears even three times in the Maccabees. During the

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Maccabean revolt against the Seleucid Empire, a priest led a Jewish uprising to restore the temple back to the ancient ways, to upright ways.

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And they were successful. And they reconsecrated the temple during the

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Maccabean period. This was the period after Malachi and before Jesus Christ.

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This is like an intertestamental period before Jesus Christ came on the scene. You have this

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Maccabean revolt. This priest led it along with other Maccabees. They were righteous men.

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They were zealous for God. They would encourage each other, actually, to remember the example of the prophets who endured suffering long before they did.

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The Maccabees would get strength by thinking about the prophets. The prophets were examples of those who were patient even while suffering.

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That is so true. The Old Testament was read in Jewish synagogue. It was read in Christian churches.

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And at one point, those things were kind of the same. They would meet at synagogues very early on. They were well acquainted with the prophets since birth as Jewish Christians.

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Now, he could mean specifically and only the prophets, the majors and minors.

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Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, or the minors,

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Obadiah, Habakkuk, Amos. Those are the minors.

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He might be thinking just those, but it's likely he means prophets as in the

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Old Testament heroes altogether. I think that's true. Elijah endured great persecution from Ahab.

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Jeremiah suffered at the hands of the Judean kings. And if you remember, Jeremiah was thrown into a pit, into a dark pit.

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Daniel was cast into the lion's den during the exile of Judah. Hosea was commanded to take a prostitute as his wife.

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It was believed that Isaiah was sawn into with a large metal saw. And we're reminded of what they suffered in Hebrews 11.

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Listen to this. It's in Hebrews 11. The hall of faith, essentially, it says this, who by faith the prophets conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, they obtained promises, they shut the mouths of lions, they quenched the power of fire, they escaped the edge of the sword.

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From weakness, they were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.

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Women received back their dead by resurrection at the power of these men. And others were tortured, not accepting their release, so that they may obtain a better resurrection.

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And others experienced mockings and scourgings, yes, also chains and imprisonment.

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It says they were stoned, they were sawn into, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword.

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They went about in sheepskins, they wore goatskins, they were being destitute, afflicted, ill -treated.

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And it says this, men of whom the world was not worthy.

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Men of whom the world was not worthy. It says they wandered in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground, and all these having gained approval by their faith.

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They did what they did because they feared God and they knew what He promised them.

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The prophets were dear to God, they were loved by God, and yet they went through some of the most affliction we have ever seen, but they knew what they stood to gain.

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They knew it. They knew it'd be much better to fear Yahweh than fear their enemies.

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And it's just a fact. It's just a fact that we need to wrap our mind around doing God's will, like the prophets did, can, and Jesus said, will likely lead to suffering in this life.

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And yet great reward in the next. My last thought on James mentioning the prophets is that he may have spoke of them because even though they suffered injustice for doing what was right, they also spoke out against injustice and corruption.

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They spoke out against it. As followers of Christ, we need to suffer patiently, absolutely.

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We need to not revile in return, but as the prophets did, we should boldly speak out against injustices and sin and evil in this world.

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For too long, people in the church has said, that's not our role. Are you kidding me?

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That is our role. John the Baptist was beheaded because of it. Prophets were killed because of it.

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But we have so much to gain. We stand for so much to gain when we honor God in that. Go to the last verse.

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Verse 11. We count those blessed who endured. You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the

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Lord's dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful. So those who endure under suffering are blessed.

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This is wonderfully articulated by our Savior in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus says in Matthew 5, 10 -12,

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Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs, their inheritance, is the kingdom of heaven.

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He says, Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.

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Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great. For in the same way they persecuted the prophets before you, they will persecute you.

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That's what Jesus says. Those who were persecuted for Christ, number one, will be saved.

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And number two, those who are persecuted for Christ will get to dwell with Christ forever in heaven.

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Those are honestly the two greatest rewards in all of existence.

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It sounds so simple. Christ will save you and you'll get to dwell with Christ forever.

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The most glorious things that could ever be given to you are the reality there.

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This life is a vapor. This life is brief. James talked about that. Therefore, our suffering is brief compared to the eternal glory of heaven.

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The infinite rewards dramatically outweigh the afflictions of this life.

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You can't even compare them. Think, Jesus is blessed forever because He suffered and endured patiently.

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So we will be blessed for our patient endurance. That's the promise.

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And just to be clear, blessed doesn't just simply mean to be happy.

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Happy is, of course, concerned with our emotions. But the status blessed is a position we are put in by God.

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And this absolutely points back to James 1, verse 12, when he said, Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial, for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which the

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Lord has promised to those who love him. That's the crown of life. He mentions the patience of Job.

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Many people, even non -religious people, use that phrase, the patience of Job.

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You ever heard that before? When someone demonstrates great endurance through annoyances or provocations or various trials, we say that person has the patience of Job.

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Wow, you have the patience of Job, man. You really endured that for a long time.

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And if you don't know the account of Job, let me tell you real quick, I'll give you a quick account of Job.

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The book details that he was an upright man who feared the Lord and he taught his children to do the same.

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It details that God was boasting of his servant Job when Satan approached

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God and he accuses the Lord that the reason Job serves God so righteously is because God's hand of blessing was upon Job.

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So, Satan challenges God that if he were to remove his hand of blessing, if he would allow

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Satan to oppress the life of Job, that Job would curse

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God. If you remove your hand of blessing from Job and all that you've given him and remove the hedge of protection around him,

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I bet you after some suffering, I can get him to curse you to your face. That's what

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Satan says to Job. The Lord accepts the wager, if you will, and Job is then tested.

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He is tested. So it says he loses all his wealth, he loses his home, he loses his health, he's covered in boils, and it's so pitiful, he's scratching his boils open with like a broken pot, like a ceramic pot.

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He's scraping off the boils. It's just a pitiful, kind of disgusting sight if you think about it.

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And worst of all, it says that Job, a calamity, came upon his house and all ten of Job's children were killed all at once.

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He lost all his land, he lost all his animals, he lost all his wealth, and his ten children died and all that was left of him was his wife and his wife goes, we just curse

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God and die. We just curse God and die and thankfully he didn't have the same attitude as his wife.

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Wives don't do that. So he then, after all this, he then has three friends that argue back and forth with him trying to say that these calamities came upon him because of his own sin.

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Job, these things are happening to you because you've sinned against God. It's clear no one gets punished like this unless he's done something wrong, which we know wasn't true.

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Ezekiel puts Job and Noah and Daniel in the same class calling them all righteous. So impatience, one could say, when regularly practices the mark of an unrighteous person.

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And yet there were moments for Job when he displayed impatience. So people have said, you've got the patience of Job, but even he wasn't perfect.

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It says here in chapter 3, verse 1, that Job cursed the day of his birth.

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If only I'd never been born. It's not showing a lot of patience. And in 16 .3,

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it says, he couldn't bear to hear his friends' long speeches about him and his supposed sin anymore.

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He was tired of it. Job may have complained about God's dealing of him, but here's the thing.

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He never lost his faith. Job never lost his faith and trust in God.

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Despite not knowing why God allowed all that devastation, he would not stop seeking the

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Lord. He persevered to the end. He endured the false accusations of his three friends and the afflictions that God allowed

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Satan to put upon him, and he was mightily blessed in the end. And I don't think the blessing was solely the return of his wealth and then he got ten more kids.

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I don't think that was solely the blessing that Job got. I think he had faith in God and it was credited to him as righteousness.

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I think Job was someone who looked forward to the coming Messiah, someone who would save him. He had faith in God.

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I think what Job actually gained was heaven. Job gained heaven, and that's his example for us.

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You may despair in your suffering from time to time, or sometimes you might question

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God, or sometimes you might question others, or be short with others, but the

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Christian life is the long game. Will you repent?

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Will you patiently endure what you're going through? And we can really beat ourselves up when we analyze the day -to -day.

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Job did show moments of impatience, but the whole of his life showed faithfulness. So I'm not telling you to pick yourselves apart.

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Maintain your faith, though. Strengthen your faith. Strengthen your heart. So if God allows

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Satan to oppress Job and the wicked rich to afflict Christians, is God not concerned about His people?

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James reminds us despite all this that the Lord is compassionate and merciful.

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Actually, this phrase, full of compassion, is one word in the Greek, and it's the only time it's used in the whole

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New Testament. The word is polyusplachnos. A strange word. It's a long word.

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Polyus is actually poly, like many, poly. And splachnon is affection or inward feelings.

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It means that God is filled up with many feelings of love towards us.

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And He uses many means to send that love to us. Job's ultimate blessing, like I said, was

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God's compassion and mercy. Because the truth is, faithful, patient endurance of trials in the life of a believer will not merit

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God's blessing. It won't. Only Christ's death, burial, and resurrection will merit

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God's blessing. Only His work will merit God's blessing. Okay? But despite all that, in His compassion and in His mercy,

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He gives blessing. He gives it. It says, we have assurance.

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Why? He says the outcome, the telos, telos, the end, the purpose of all this, all that you're going through, is that the compassion and mercy of God would be poured out upon you.

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Affliction may seem unrelenting and rigid, but hope is ours. We have hope in the end.

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We have hope in Christ's coming. Afflictions are a vapor. Persecutions are short.

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Sufferings are but a little while. But the kindness of our God through Jesus Christ is eternal.

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Sin and death have an end date, but grace is everlasting. So let's summarize this real quick.

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Okay? I want to leave you with a few things here. Very short here.

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We're almost done. Listen up. How, according to James 5, can we be patient?

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How can we be more patient? Six things. Six things to consider from James 5.

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One, you can be more patient by anticipating the Lord's coming. If you focus on Jesus and His glorious return and all the benefits that will be a result of that, deliverance and salvation, then you can be patient in what you're enduring here.

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Number two, strengthen your heart. Firm it up.

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Anchor your heart from the wild seas of this life with the

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Word of God, with prayer with God, with communion with God, then you will find patience.

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Three, number three, to be patient, follow the examples that the

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Lord has given us. Follow the example of the prophets, the example of Job, the examples of the heroes of the faith, and especially follow the example of Jesus Christ.

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Number four, be patient by considering the blessing of the

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Lord. Like a runner who sees the trophy at the finish line and he's working through all the pain and suffering.

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I don't know if any of you have run a marathon before. Lord knows I haven't. But you just see that trophy,

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I guess, right? And you just keep running and there's pain and there's suffering and your muscles ache and your legs are giving out and you see at the very end and you just keep going.

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That's what we do. We consider the blessing, we see the trophy behind the finish line.

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Number five, find patience in considering the Lord's purpose for the trials in your life.

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That as James says, they are bringing you to completion and increasing your endurance now.

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Consider His purpose. That's what the Word, the outcome. Consider the outcome. Consider the purpose.

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Consider the telos, consider the end of all things and you will find patience.

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It is crucial for us to always remember these things. And the last thing, the sixth thing on how to be more patient and very important, you will experience patience when you consider the

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Lord's character. That the Lord is full of compassion and mercy.

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That He has many feelings towards you and that He Himself is patient, not wanting any to perish, but is merciful.

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And in that, we may have patience with one another. We must have patience in the current season.

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We're in patience for the Lord's vengeance on those who oppress us. Pray for their salvation and patience for His glorious return.

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And that's what makes this call, again, so powerful. We're not simply waiting just to wait.

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We are waiting much like the Old Testament saints waited for Jesus, but in a new and better way.

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We wait for the blessed hope. The consummation of all things when our exalted

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King returns to this earth. And that makes all the waiting worth it all.

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Let's pray. Father, please bless the message that went out.

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For Your glory, for Your namesake. God, I do pray that it was edifying to Your body. God, I pray that it would be something that sticks with us.

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That we would remember, Lord, during our times of suffering or different seasons.

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God, to have patience. To have patience. That You will return.

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You promised You are coming back and this world will be changed. So, God, strengthen us.

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Give us more perseverance. Help us to endure to the end. And Lord, help us to have more patience.

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this all in Jesus' name. Amen. All right. So, it's now time to...