Patience and Grumbling

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ, based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the Apostle Paul said, �But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.

In short, if you like smooth, watered-down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn�t for you. By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we�re called by the Divine Trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her King.

Here�s our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth. Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry.

My name is Mike Abendroth. Funniest junk mail I ever received was Mike Hafferhorf. Anyway, if you�d like to email me, Mike at NoCompromiseRadio .com. I get some emails these days, but not as many as before.

Obviously, we don�t have any way to trace the Arbitron ratings and how great our show is in terms of reach and output and all that other stuff. And so, we just do what we do. I think we�ve got some listeners who regularly listen.

Some have listened to every show. I should have special prizes for you. I think I�d like to get new intro and outro, but I�ve been wanting to do that for like five years. Oh, man. I think we used to have segments on the show.

We�d burn books, I mean, figuratively. We would, I don�t know, it was back in the day when, you know, it was low-hanging fruit to say something that, you know, critique what Beth Moore said or Ann Boskamp.

I don�t know. I think it�s even probably getting worse now with all these, you know, social justice warriors and things like that. I�m saddened to just watch evangelicalism spiral down. It�d be one thing if, you know, people, you know, if Arminianism was the new kick, the new fashion, the new fad, right?

We had the new, you know, the hipster reformation, right? The new Calvinist deal, the young restless and reformed. That was like a fad. At least, you know, it had some negative things, but that wasn�t too bad because at the core, if you believed in the five solas or doctrines of grace, okay, fine.

I mean, we had, you know, beards and fountain pens and IPA and all that other stuff that went around with it as a promotion. You can have whatever you want, obviously. But just kind of like, this is how we identify as hipster and cool, and then now it�s social justice stuff and critical race theory and discussing racism and white privilege and discrimination and essentially it�s the social gospel, which is no good news at all.

It�s more law. It�s extra law. And you can never be forgiven. You can never do that enough. You can never do this, that, and the other, and it�s just, as you know, I don�t talk about it much, but it�s neo-Marxism, Marxism, but in terms of no-co-land, it just boils down to me, to more law, and law isn�t good news.

If you say to me, God is wrathful and just and he will by no means let the guilty go unpunished and we are enemies of God. That�s not the gospel. That might prepare my heart for the gospel, but that isn�t good news.

That�s not a joyful announcement. It�s a true statement, it�s a fact, that�s right, but it�s not good news. It�s also not good news to hear from people that you have to have a certain amount of ethnic minorities in your church elder board.

That�s not good news, that�s not gospel. They call it the social gospel, but it�s probably neither social, and certainly it�s not gospel. And when Matt Chandler says, you know what, if I have to hire an associate pastor, he said something in the words of, if I have to hire an associate or another pastor, and I�ve got a black guy that�s a 6 or a 7 on the scale of 1 to 10, and a white guy who�s one number higher, I�d hire the black every time.

It�s just that kind of thing in evangelicalism that�s just crazy these days. And you know, if memory serves me, you have Al Mohler, and he�s on Dividing Line, which I don�t listen to. I know a lot of you still listen to it, I don�t listen to it, I don�t care to listen to it.

I�m sure he says some things on there that are fine, but when you come across and interview James Lindsay, which I think he did, and then you still have whoever that guy is, Jarvis, somebody at his school teaching, you know, critical race theory and all that, I�m just like, what?

Why? I just don�t get it. So evangelicalism and No Compromise Radio, I could spiral into all these kinds of discussions and talk, and the thrill of Theonomy for many now, and Apologia, and Durbin, and Doug Wilson, and James White, and all these guys up there.

I�m not saying they�re all the same brand and flavor, but it�s just not my deal anymore. Most days. At least it�s not my deal today. My deal today is what in the world? My deal today is, I�m trying to think through James 5 before I preach it tomorrow, and I�d like to do that, and then I�d like to go on a long bicycle ride and listen to some preaching.

Some Christ-centered preaching. That�s what I like. I have been listening to Victor Davis Hanson once a week on his podcast. I don�t know what he�ll say about the whole debate and everything else. It just seems like it�s all bad news.

But I like to listen to Bound in Grace, and Him We Proclaim, and shows like that. I like to think about who Jesus is and what He�s done. Somebody gave me a sermon to critique, or to listen to, or a link, which happens often and regularly.

And by the way, I do have that service. It�s a paid-for service at sermoncritique .com. If you�d like to have me watch your sermons and have an hour Skype and talk about it, I�d be glad to do it. Sometimes I just do it for free.

Or just somebody says, �Hey, check out this sermon. It�s like a guy preaches a whole psalm air quotes preaches a whole psalm, and did he say Jesus once maybe? And he�s not a rabbi, although he plays one on TV.

So, there�s my little sidetrack there for 6 minutes and 44 seconds. What�s James doing in James chapter 5? James is a book written so that Christians know how to live in light of their risen Savior. It�s mostly law 54 imperatives, 108 verses.

But it�s not all law, and especially in chapter 5, there�s much talk about the Lord Jesus and His return, and who He is, and the purpose of God, and the compassion of God, and the mercy of God, and the soon return of God.

And therefore, I don�t want you to just go, �Oh, it�s a bunch of law. I mean, it is law. Be patient. That�s his whole point. When you�re getting persecuted, when the government�s overreaching, what do we need to do?

Well, the government people, who the Lord put in those responsible places, they�ll answer to Him one day. In the meantime, know, Christian, that those people will be judged, and then you can rest, and you can wait, and you can be long-suffering when it comes to His return.

You can be patient. That�s what God calls you to do, to be patient. And so, we even know that the Lord is patient. The patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah. We know God is patient toward His people.

We know there�s regards of patience of the Lord to be salvation, and so He says, �Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. There�s a time period. You don�t have to be patient forever.

Doesn�t that get nice? Think about that. I mean, that is so nice. Patient, patient, patient, patient. How do we have to be patient? Well, you don�t have to be patient forever. The Lord is going to come back.

You don�t have to be patient in heaven. Oh, I�m just losing my patience in heaven. Trials don�t last forever. Persecution does not last forever. But the Lord lasts forever, and so does your soul, and then you�ll get a resurrected body and it�ll last forever in heaven.

Think about James for a second. James sees the ascension of Jesus, and I don�t think he ever forgot it. Do you think you�d forget it? I don�t think James, the half-brother of Jesus who was writing the book of James, ever forgot it.

And he knows, okay, Jesus ascended, and he said He�s going to come back. Okay, let�s live in light of that. Acts 1, and after he had said these things, talking about Jesus, �He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.

And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was departing, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them. They also said, �Men of Galilee, why are you looking in the sky. Okay, I see something, we see something, and I�m going to need revelation to understand it, because you can�t believe your eyes.

This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go up into heaven. That does sound kind of ghoulish. James knew, James never forgot. Don�t you forget.

You can be patient. We want instant coffee, instant oatmeal, instant everything. Right, there�s timers when you drive up to the Dairy Queen. I haven�t done this for a while, but I sure could use a dipped cone right about now.

Actually, you know what I would like, and maybe it just reminds me of my girls and my son, going to Dairy Queen on a Sunday night after church on the Shabbat, and you get dipped cones and get some fries, right?

That�s about all Daddy could afford back in those days, and you get some dipped cones and some fries, and then the kids would dip the fries in the ice cream part of their cone. It tastes good. I would not go normally to a place and order fries.

I would not go to Wendy�s and order fries unless I was going to dip it in a Frosty. Extra salt. I�ll just get the salad or coleslaw instead of the fries. Although, you know what? The other day, where was I?

I ordered onion rings. They said, well, for a dollar, you know, you have fries or a salad, or maybe just fries or fries, and then if you want to upgrade for a buck, you can get onion rings. They weren�t too bad.

And why do my girls like the Funyuns? Funyuns, is that it? The fun onion rings? Kind of the chips. Long suffering. Jesus is going to come back. You�re not going to be persecuted forever. So this is the kind of attitude you should have.

Farmers have that, don�t they? They wait for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it until it receives the early and late, and filled in in English, but not in the Greek, reigns. Figures of speech in James, analogies in James, wonderful agricultural imagery in James.

You know what the farmers do, they have to wait, and they can�t control anything, right? They can do their digging, they can do the weeding, they can do the fertilizing, but they can�t, especially back in those days, they can�t water it or anything in terms of from the sky, maybe some irrigation systems.

But you can�t hurry love, and you can�t hurry the harvest. You might be able to weed, you might be able to feed, but the growth is from the Lord. He causes the growth. So that�s the little idea here. It�s not a little idea, but it�s the idea.

So then he says, �And you too be patient. Our life is going to be filled with troubles. This is not heaven, but God�s in charge, and He has His Son coming back, and that day is fixed. In case you think this patience might be passive, and laying back and letting God, he says in verse 8, �Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.

You need to have your hearts strengthened, and IV says to stand firm. This seems to be more active, and some have translated a steely resolve. Luke says in chapter 9 verse 51, �Jesus set His face to go to Jerusalem.

That�s the idea. That�s the exact same word. It�s talking about stability and support and firmness and courage and stout-hearted. Hubert says, �To put iron into your hearts. This is a resoluteness on the inside.

�My heart is steadfast, O God Psalm 57. Stand firm, in other words. May He strengthen your hearts, so that you may be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father, when our Lord Jesus comes with His Holy Ones, 1 Thessalonians 3 verse 13.

Jesus is going to come back. It�s near, and therefore you want to make sure you�re standing firm. Doesn�t that make sense? Yes. The coming of the Lord is at hand. �Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand, or near.

When Jesus comes back, you�ll be rescued, and all wrongs will be righted. The end of all things is at hand, 1 Peter. The kingdom of God is at hand, that kind of thing. Jesus is coming back. It�s near.

It�s close. And even Jesus said, �Therefore be ready, for the Son of Man is coming in an hour you do not expect. And now it�s even closer. And when the Son of Man comes in His glory and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne.

Before Him will be gathered all the nations, and He will separate people from one another as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And He will place the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on His left.

Then the King will say to those on His right, �Come, you who are blessed by My Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. That�s what�s going to happen, so be patient.

He�s coming in the clouds with great power and glory. This powerful God, this infinite God, this eternal God, power belongs to the Lord. Unlimited power. And there�s a verse in Habakkuk I like, �His radiance is like the sunlight.

He has flashing rays from His hand, and there�s a hiding of His power. That�s just a little glimpse of His power. The Lord omnipotent, He�s self-sufficient, He�s powerful, and this Lord is going to come back, and He�s going to be powerful and full of glory.

So strengthen your heart and encourage you as to your faith, 1 Thessalonians says. Now here�s the tricky part. When you get persecuted, when I deal with trouble, I sometimes, I regularly, I often, I at times, take it out on people that are close to me.

That�s not like you. Why do we do that? So James says, verse 9, �Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged. Behold, the judge is standing at the door. The Lord�s coming back quickly.

By the way, the Lord sees everything even now. So don�t complain against other Christians. Don�t complain against other people. Don�t grumble. Grumble. Jesus is coming back. It could happen any time. You want to be caught grumbling when you�re doing it?

I�m not saying you�re going to lose your salvation if you do that. That�s not the point. You�re supposed to be patient with people, not lose patience and then grumble. Now there�s a grumbling, complaining in the Bible, gungusmus, and you�re complaining with words.

This is more your sign. This is almost like a wordless dissatisfaction. I�m irritated and I�m just like... The Philippians 2, don�t complain, is with words. This is with actions. This is with breath. This is with, oh man, maybe audible, maybe just under your breath, sighing, groaning.

This is like Israel groaning to God during their slavery. One guy called it a muffled mutter. What about a muttered muffle? Haley, my older daughter, she works a late shift for assisted living and she�s caring for people there and she�s driving home and I don�t know, she gets off of work late.

It�s a late shift and close to midnight and I get the phone call, �Daddy, a car fell apart. I said, �Are you okay �Yeah. �Where are you �Oh, I�m down at the parking lot of this ice cream place or whatever.

�You�re safe, right �Okay, good. You�re off the road. �What do you mean the car fell apart �What does that mean? The car fell apart? Like it fell in half �Yeah, it fell out. I said, �Facetime me.

Show it to me, but it�s too dark. The good news is it was only about eight minutes away and so I quick zipped down to the next town and pick her up. What happened was the muffler and the tailpipe, both, with the New England roads and rust and all that stuff, fell off, was like grinding underneath the truck, split the brake line.

Yes, part of the car did fall off, not half of it. I just crawled underneath the truck and I pulled the muffler off all the way. There�s a little hook there, a little J hook, and so I took that off and I threw the muffler and the tailpipe in the back of the truck, the bed of the truck.

I thought, �Well, let�s just see because she said the brakes, I could see the brake fluid dripping because it just sliced it. I wanted to see how bad it would be and I thought, �Well, maybe I can make it down to my car shop because it�s probably about a mile away where I get my cars fixed.

It was not good enough, so I backed it up in the parking lot space and then we went home. Anyway, muffled muffler, muttered muffled. People bug us, we�re not patient, we grumble, especially when we�ve got a lot of pressure and it�s really difficult to groan, to sigh, frustrated, that�s the idea, I�m frustrated.

I�m going to speak harshly and I�m going to take it out on somebody else. The judge is supposed to do that. We don�t have any right to judge. Chapter 4 had already talked about this, and of course with this kind of thing, if the church is persecuted and we take it out on each other, it�s horrible for brotherhood, for unity.

It is perfect for Satan to divide and conquer. The focus is on other people, not the Lord is coming back, this destroys marriages. The judge is at the door, don�t judge other people. James appeals to the Supreme Court justice standing at the door, the judge of all.

Don�t complain, sigh. This is not going to be beneficial. And ultimately, if you like conviction, I�ll convict myself as I say this, if you want to be impatient toward others and groan and grumble, you�re ultimately impatient and grumbling against God.

A, because he said it, don�t do it, all sin is against him primarily. B, you�re saying, you know what Lord, I can�t take it, too much persecution, you�re not sovereign over all that, you could stop it, and you should have had your son come back early, amongst other things.

I don�t want to do that. You know, my wife, Lord, that you gave me, you�re not sanctifying her fast enough for my likings. People have been patient, people have suffered in a godly way. Prophets did that, and Job did that, that�s what�s the next section.

Chapter 5, verse 10 is an example of suffering and patience, brothers. Take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord, behold, we consider those blessed to remain steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job.

We�ll stop there. What�s he say, brothers, pastorally? Hey, you can do it, other humans who have been tainted by Adam�s fall, who are less than perfect, they�ve done it, you can do it too. And by the way, the prophets in Job have suffered a lot more, and they�ve done it, and so you have the same Lord, and you have the same promises of God, and you even have more revelation than they did, more than Job did, since there was no revelation when Job was written.

Prophets, you know, I�m sure he�s talking about Old Testament prophets, and now we have all the New Testament. It can be done. You�ve got examples, humans, who spoke in the name of the Lord, these prophets.

And they suffered, Isaiah suffered, Jeremiah suffered, Hosea suffered, Elijah suffered, and they had hostility poured out toward them, and they responded by the grace of God with long-suffering. And so, you see these examples?

Imitate them. That�s the idea. It�s a copy to be imitated. Lots of prophets, that you look at them and you go, �Hm, it had to be the Lord. It had to be the Lord who was doing that. Well, we�re going to have one more show today, which you�re not going to hear, but I�ll do one more on James 5, and then we�ll be off to I want to talk a little bit about the power of God in the next few shows, after the next one.

So, my name is Mike Abendroth. This is No Compromise Radio. If you�ve been encouraged, would you please write me? That would encourage me, and I probably would read some of it on the radio, not with your last name or anything, but if you�ve been helped by the show, or encouraged by the show, or you like the Christ-centered nature of the show, or whatever it is, it�d be good if you would write info at nocompromiseradio .com.

No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible-teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life-transforming power of God�s Word through verse-by-verse exposition of the sacred text.

Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 1015 and in the evening at 6. We�re right on Route 110 in West Boylston. You can check us out online at bbchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.