Victory Through Patience — Billy Strachan

The Lord’s Coming and the Call to Patience

Victory Through Patience chapter 5 verses 7 to 9. Victory Through Patience chapter 5 verses 7 to 9. Let's read those verses. Be patient therefore brethren unto the coming of the Lord. Behold the husbandman waited for the precious fruit of the earth and hath long patience for it until he received the early in the latter rain.

Be ye also patient establish your hearts for the coming of the Lord nigh. Grudge not one against another brethren lest you be condemned. Behold the judge standeth before the door. Now these are the earliest references to the second advent proclaimed by any member of the church.

The earliest references to the second advent to the coming again of the Lord and you'll notice that there is a progression of declaration here. The first says that he's coming. He's coming. The coming of the Lord draweth nigh.

In other words he's coming. Number two is he is drawing nigh. He is drawing nigh. Verse 7 was the coming of the Lord. Be patient unto the coming of the Lord. Verse 8 he's drawing nigh and verse 9 number three he's before the door.

Now do you see the progression there? Just always it says encourage your hearts. Those of you who in the trials of life are being misused by other Christians. Those of you who are being robbed by other Christians.

Those of you who are being persecuted not only by the pagans but by Christians and you feel that life is tough. You can't explain some of the things you're going through and some of the pressures you're having to face.

It says to encourage yourself by a reminder that the Lord is coming. Now of course in those days just as is typical of people in scripture they thought that he would come prior to the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70.

This is typical of people misinterpreting the promises of God not listening to them properly and that's something you must learn to do. Listen to what God really says. Read what God really says and don't read into it and don't read out of it.

The Promise of the Messiah and the Danger of Premature Expectations

You see when God said to the serpent on thy belly shalt thou be and he cursed the serpent because of the fall of man. He immediately announced the first great promise of the coming of the Messiah and he said that you shall bruise his heel but he shall bruise thy head.

The seed of the woman, the promise of the coming Christ and he'll be a boy and he'll be the seed of the woman. Well the funny thing is as soon as Eve gave birth to Cain she thought that was Christ and she was holding in her hands a murderer.

In the sort of language there I have gotten a man from the Lord. In Hebrew it's indicative I've got thee one. I've actually got the fulfillment of the promise already and little did she realize that was all the ages in between Cain the murderer and the coming of Christ the second man on earth.

It was the same with David. God reiterated the promise that of the line of David of the seed of David would come forth he that would be God's king and ruler over God's people forever and David jumped the gun and assumed it was Solomon but it wasn't Solomon.

It wasn't Solomon at all and when the Lord said and that son of mine is going to build an everlasting temple David prepared silver and gold and great wealth and they built an earthly temple and the minute Solomon finished it he just took one look at this thing saw the glory of the Lord fill it and he said how can you put God in that?

How can you contain God in a temple even if you've made it the biggest most expensive and beautiful thing in the world it's impossible. Earth is his footstool heaven is his throne and even he saw that this isn't what father was talking about and little did he realize the reference was to Christ and of course when the church was formed they assumed that when the Lord said he would come back again that it would be just a matter of years and then there would be the great coming again of the Lord but you'll notice that the Apostle here encourages them in that attitude of always behaving as though the Lord's return was imminent.

Now of course that's the very attitude we have to teach people to live in today. I preached on it Sunday night in Stafford and it's amazing the reaction Christians have to this idea when you're reminded of it you see in that church they told me that was the first time somebody had spoken about the second coming as far back as any of them could remember in years in that place and it was almost frightening to hear somebody talk about the imminent return of the Lord it could be this year and they said it really does make you sit back and reevaluate your life.

I said yes I know I remember once being in a conference in San Diego and I started the convention by saying wouldn't it be interesting if instead of preaching tonight I was able to say to you I've just received a postcard from heaven and it says dear Billy please don't preach tonight but just stand perfectly still because within 30 seconds it'll all be over and you'll all be in heaven.

Your Lord is coming in the next half minute. I said wouldn't it be great. You should have seen their faces they look like some of you look just right now you know unprepared for it. And then people you know this is why we have this attack on worldliness.

Everybody's so caught up in a world you see that if you suddenly say yes he is coming back tonight oh we can't haven't finished the summer house. Oh god. And I was planning a boat. Oh what a swizz to come back right now.

Couldn't you come after my holidays. You know there's so much I've planned so much I've insisted that has to happen so much I want to see done. Oh god couldn't you come after the holidays. It's cheating.

It's cheating to rob me like that. I want to enjoy life. What you are saying is I want to enjoy the world you see. And so that's why all through this epistle he's been talking about this business are not holding on to things too tightly.

Hold on to your materialism. Hold on to your wealth. Hold on to your empire building your idea of what you're going to do in the future. And you're in for trouble because the Lord should have the right to come back at any minute.

And we should be living always as though his return were imminent at any time. Now. Of course this would clear up a lot of problems if we live like that instead of holding on better for you. And here he's encouraging them to use this idea of the Lord's approach.

He's coming he's near. He's at the very door to make you hold on and hope to make you say well so far I'm being misused by Christians today I get better treatment from the pagans. But the Christians are misusing me.

Okay. I'll hold on because the Lord could come back. And using this imminent return of the Lord can be a means of building up in yourself a hope and patience and endurance. And remember that the scriptures do exhort Christians to endure.

Enduring Hardship as a Soldier of Christ

You know we don't believe in that. You look just flip over to Paul's epistle to Timothy 2 Timothy chapter 2. Look at verse 3. Thou therefore endure hardness. It doesn't say hard heartedness. It doesn't say be hard in yourself.

But it says endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. Endure hardness. Learn to stand up to the elements. Learn to take the bumps. Learn to take the bruises. And if you can't take it you're no use anywhere.

And if you can't take the bumps I'm know exactly what you'll do. You'll go and you'll get yourself a job. And it'll be nice as long as the jobs nice. But the minute you have a personality clash. The minute there's somebody in there you don't like they don't do two things.

The way you want to do them because you want them done the way you want them done. If it gets tough you'll just run out and go for a new job. You'll just keep running and keep looking for places where it's going to be easy and there's going to be no problems.

Well you'll never find it because everywhere you're going to get a job your biggest problems there when you walk through the door you and honestly half of your trouble in any corner that you're going to work in is not them rubbing you up.

It's you rubbing them up. And so you've got to learn to endure hardness as a good soldier of Christ. Temper yourself for a battle. Learn to take a knock. It's amazing what people can endure in a time of real testing.

And you never think about it. You'd never think about it in an emergency. You don't question it. If you see a person drowning in a river you never stop and think about the coldness of the water. You're in you're pulling them out with the scuff of the neck.

And then you think about it. But if you hesitate and think about it oh is it winter. You know can I put me toe in. Oh it's chilly cold. Can you hold on to it. Spring. You know when it reaches a Florida temperature I'll think about it.

I know you've been down twice but just hold on. There's better weather coming. You'll find that in an emergency you never think about you just jump in. I remember as a lad my sister we used to play around the farmyard and they had a sunken pit for horse manure and they had no drain and they used to flood with water.

And so there was this sort of it looked like oxtail soup and we were playing around there. And I just remember turning around. I must have been 10 at the time and I turned around and my sister couldn't swim.

Neither could I but I was at least a little bit bigger than she was. But she just stepped right back and was right in and under. I didn't stand there and say oh heck. You know I was in there like a shot and had her out and then we both combed it out of her hair.

You know you never think about it. You just learn to be hard about these things. Then you think about it later or you'd never get it done. And Christians you know I want to do this a little bit about the knocks that you have to put up with in life.

Never be as bad as that. And yet the minute somebody I mean look at today. I bet you in here. Somebody today's been in tears because he didn't smile at me. You know all it takes is an expansion of your gums and the showing of your dentures to make some people feel happy today.

And if you don't do it they're ready to go home. They didn't love me passed me and didn't notice me. That's all it takes to make some Christians pack up and stop being Christian. No hardness about them.

They don't mean hard-heartedness but the ability to take a few knocks. I mean what would your reaction be to train in an army. You get a fella all equipped with his tin hat his rifle give him his hand grenades all around his belt a bazooka over his shoulders.

Paraphernalia he needs for self-defense. And you say to him you are a soldier. And he says yes commander. Now to the battle. He opens the door runs out two minutes later and comes in to who's not very nice out there.

Fella shot me. I got a hold my tin hat. They're not being very nice out there. Yes. But it's a battle. Well you know it's nice to sing in the hut. You know. Onward Christian soldiers. I thought you meant to the kitchen to make coffee and have a prayer meet.

Not out of the battle. You know. And don't you think you need a prayer warrior. I'll stay behind and pray for the fellas as they go. I remember one coffee bar when this gang leader came in. They had 24 fellas behind them in leather jackets and jeans.

Reaching People Beyond the Church

It was over at Liverpool and he had a top hat and tails on marched right down to the front and they pushed everybody out to make a space for him. Brought him a chair and as he sat on it he just looked like that.

And they lifted the tails of his coat up till he sat down so he didn't crush them. Put his feet on a barrel brought him a coffee and the church worker ran on the stage to me and kicked me and said hey.

And I said oh stop that. And he nudged me again. I say will you stop kicking me. He says have you seen him. I said what's the matter with your mouth. Be normal. What's your problem. He says well have you seen him.

I said seen who. The place is full of people. I knew who he meant him down there. I said what's the matter with him. He said well look at him. I said well look at him. I said well look at him. What's the matter with him.

He said well look. I said I have looked. I said well look at the way he's dressed. I said come on. I've seen Christians dressed worse than that. He's pretty decent. Looks like he's gone to 11. He's seen the gang he brought.

I said well that's what the coffee bars for. He's reached the last. He's brought the whole lot to hear. It said well what are we going to do. I said well you see the steps at the side. You walk down there walk across hold out your hand introduce yourself to him.

Sit down and talk to him about Jesus. Why wouldn't know where to begin. I see you can only preach in the pulpit with your surplus and cassock on with a wee candle behind you in a stained-glass window.

You want to chuck your job up. If you can't come down amongst the people and speak to the people and reach the people. Get alongside people. You may as well throw the job up. I said go and talk to him.

If you don't want to talk to him send one of the Christ... Send one of the Chri... Where did the team go? Couldn't find any Christians. They barricaded themselves in the kitchen. Of course they were praying in a moment like this.

We really need prayer. You can hear their prayers for their knees going like a set of maracas. No hardness. Always running away always running away. But if you were if you were such a pretty sure that Jesus Christ was coming back tonight you'd learn to put up with any emergency to reach people.

And I think that's one of the blessings of this business of learning to have victory through patience just knowing that this can't go on. It can't last long. You know one of the phrases I like in the Bible is and it came to pass didn't come to stay.

Learning from Joseph, Job, and the Prophets

You know again and again the Old Testament. Some big crisis comes into somebody's life. Abraham you know and it came to pass. It never came to stay. And you know it's amazing what just a few minutes does to some problems.

I like Joseph you know I like that fella in comes this lass and he's got his heart made up to marry her. She's much younger than he is and it's been a marriage that's been arranged. And at last he's thankful he's getting a partner and they're betrothed to be wed.

They're rushing towards the marriage day. And she comes in one day and says Joseph something to tell you. Sit down dear till I break it to you. You know how we pray and all that. Yes. Well I just want you to know that spiritually I'm all right but I'm pregnant and I'm gonna have a baby.

And I know we've never been together. But don't worry it's of the Holy Spirit. Would you have believed her? Joseph didn't. He was faced with a crisis. Now what do you do in a crisis panic. You know what he did.

He went to bed and slept. It's amazing what a good night's sleep does for some problems. He just went to bed and said well we'll take the action tomorrow. And in the middle of the night the Lord came to him and said don't be afraid.

Take her to be your wife. It is the Holy Spirit. And he said thanks. I believe you. And his problem was solved with a decent sleep. Now the trouble with us is we've got that many problems. We can't sleep.

If you just learn to get to bed and have a good night's sleep you'd find that you'd write a different letter tomorrow about today's problem than you would write today when the problem occurs. I think one of the greatest things I learned about dr. Billy Graham is that when people send them nasty letters he gets a dictating machine and he dictates an end letter right back.

Then he puts at the end of his dictation type file and do not send. That's smart. He gets it right out of his system and he says type file and do not send. And he never bothers. And the things filed and forgotten.

And he gets on with his ministry. Enduring hardness. The jobs too big for any of us to get in the way and start getting in a hassle. We start fighting about our reputations and fighting about this that and the other thing and justifying ourselves.

What's it say here. When you're misused by other Christians. When you're being mistreated by other Christians. When you're being mucked around. What's the best action. Patience. Just say okay it's coming to pass.

Let's go to bed on it. The Lord could be here by tomorrow. No need for panic. And learn to develop a patience in the face of adversity. Knowing that the Lord is coming. You shan't be left behind. No matter what people to do.

You know even if it's Christians are doing to you. And you'll come out on top. See in your outline the examples of patience. The examples of patience. Verses 10 and 11. Take my brethren the prophets who have spoken in the name of the Lord for an example of suffering affliction and of patience.

Behold we count them happy. Which endure. You have heard of the patience of Job and have seen the end of the Lord that the Lord is very pitiful and of a tender mercy. Consider. Consider the prophets. Consider Joseph.

Consider Job. They're there. If you want to know what it means to endure hardness. If you want to know what it means to let me take a few knocks. If you want to know what it means to go through the mill and come out on top.

Just go back and read Job. Just go back and read about Joseph. Just go back and read about what a lot of the prophets went through. Every one of them counted for nothing. Isaiah a washout guy was off his head streaking through the nation.

Nothing on. For three years everybody was utterly disgusted with a fella. They just couldn't get me dressed. It's supposed to be a priest from one of the aristocracy. We remember when he wasn't invited to the diplomatic parties.

We remember whenever there was a big do on and the ambassadors and diplomats were invited. Isaiah was sure to be there. Nobody wants him anymore. He counts as the scum of the earth because he's gone a bit off.

He was doing what God told him to do. And Ezekiel he's for the birds. You see him sitting in the square shaving his head chopping some of the hair up and throwing other bits away at the wind. You know.

And Jeremiah. He's forever digging holes in riverbanks and stacking his clothes in there. He must be kinky. He went down there and he dug a hole in the riverbank and took off his loincloth. And everybody.

How can a man that calls himself the prophet of God do such a stupid thing. He must be orphaned. And they get fed up. Listening to Jeremiah every time he preached he was in tears. They couldn't stick his preaching prophet of doom.

A write-off. You look at some of these minor prophets. They moved on to the scene preached one message and were never heard of again. Write-offs. Look at the fella we looked at the other day. There gets smashed in the mouth for being honest.

A write-off. Best thing you do if you ever feel you're having a rough time and is to sit down. One day I tell you do this sometime. I've done it. I sit down and I write down what I consider are all my present pressures.

I write down all my biggest problems. I try to skip the wee ones. I try to miss out the little ones. And I write down all the great big problems. He didn't speak to me today. You know. I put them down.

And then I go back and read the first chapter of Job. You know it just makes you want to crumple the thing up and put it in a basket back and read about Joseph. You just want to take your little petty list and burn it.

You've never in your life gone through what these men have gone through. And the majority of you will never go through what these men have gone through. And so it's time you stop having such tender hearts and doing such easy crying and learn to endure hardness and come out on top.

And if you want to find out how to endure hardness read the Bible. It'll show you how to endure hardness what to go through. And it'll teach you how to have patience and come out on top. D in your outline.

Prayer, Singing, and the Ministry of Healing

Victory through prayer and song. Victory through prayer and song. Verses 12 to 16. All things my brethren swear not neither by heaven neither by the earth neither by any other oath. But let your yea be yea and your nay nay lest ye fall into condemnation.

Is any among you afflicted. Let him pray. Is any merry. Let him sing Psalms. Is any sick among you. Let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.

And the prayer of faith shall save the sick and the Lord shall raise him up. And if he have committed sins they shall be forgiven him. Confess your faults one to one other and pray one for another that ye may be healed.

The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much in verse 12. Another way to have victory over the trials of life is to remember this. God takes our promises seriously. God takes our promises seriously.

And so you better not make any the best advice almost too many times to God that I'd never do this again and that again. And I'm just too weak. I keep doing it. He doesn't have to beat me. He doesn't have to chastise me on the issue.

What it says in the Old Testament is true enough. Your own sins shall punish thee and transgressions shall chastise thee. It's true. You hurt yourself more than God needs to hurt you. Here there's an exhortation in the face of all this pressure misuse from other people.

Don't make promises. Just yes and no. Don't make promises. Watch your speech in the face of adversity. In verse 13 the afflicted should pray. The Mary should sing. Now please note that there is a time for tears.

There is a time for tears for Christians as well as a time to sing. And too often we seem to think that synonymous with Christian maturity is a lack of crying and that if you're really in the Lord and resting in the Lord you should never shed a tear.

That's rubbish. There's a time for Christians to cry. And one of the reasons so many people as Christians get screwed up in their nervous systems is they never let it go. They've never let it go. They figured it's brave to keep it in.

You have to suppress tears. You have to be big men big women. So there's no times for tears in the Christian experience. And there's many a time you just want to bawl your eyes out. There's a lovely wood up there.

I cried up there. I have many a time. All right. Save your nerves. Save your nerves. There's a time for tears and to let it out just as there are time for being angry. The Bible says be angry and sin not.

It doesn't say never be angry. It's being angry. Let it come out but don't let it develop build on it. But there's a time for anger for a justified buster to clear the air boy. You learn something through it.

You always learn from it. But look at the people that must never be angry. Whereas if you were prepared to come out and admit that you have a temper that you can get angry. You don't have to live at its mercy anymore.

You don't have to live at its mercy. And it's the same if you feel really hurt deep in you can cry your heart out inside and never show it outside. And it tells in your health. It's rather interesting that these verses progress into a discussion on sickness if you notice that there's a progression on into sickness.

Because if there is a disharmony in spirit and an upset of the emotions in the Christian that's being misused by other Christians. And that's what's being talked about here in this particular portion of the epistle you will find that the ends up in having a telling effect on your life physically emotionally mentally.

For lots of people one of the basic problems is they never cried. I know a Christian that's going to be with the Lord now and his whole problem stemmed from the fact that he never cried disaster and he lost his parents because he's one of his relatives was a preacher and of renown as it were in his own estimation and that he was living in and amongst loads of Christians who not only knew him and knew his own father but his father-in-law it was obligatory to show that you are enjoying the victorious Christian life in the face of adversity persecution and above all tragedy.

And here was the biggest traumatic smack his whole system had ever had in his life. A fella who just worshipped and hung on to and needed his mum and dad day in and day out and both taken away in one instant in a crash.

And so he puts on the big show of victorious Christian living. I don't care how victorious you are if you lose a loved one and you don't cry you're heading for a breakdown. And this idea of well they've gone home to be with the Lord.

Hallelujah rubbish. There is a human attachment with human reactions are humanly necessary. Or you're going to be sick. And anybody that loses a loved one and does what this fella did suppress it. And he never cried the matter of fact.

He danced down the street in front of the coffin on the way to the cemetery singing chorus. Everybody was impressed. And you know I had them give a testimony a week later and I looked at that fellow as he gave a testimony and I said to myself in my heart I'll give you two years three years.

But you're heading straight into the tube straight into the black hole because this is just an absolute facade and you ought to have cried and he didn't. Now he ended up taking his own life within a few years I tell you and I've discussed it and they suddenly looked at me when I said it and said you know we never thought of that.

But you're right. He never did cry over the loss of his loved ones. Suppression to give the impression of victory. There's a time to cry your eyes out. Okay. If you're embarrassed crying in front of people go to the wood but let it out to go.

If you want to lose your temper too. I sometimes go and I let it out with the Lord. You know I really lose my temper. You know he's the only one that lets me. He just says there there. I understand I can take it.

I'm God still love you. Go on. Have you ever got angry with God. Tell you I've told him a thing or two. And afterwards when you see the compassion and the understanding and the way he picks you up and then starts using you more than he's ever used you before.

You just wish he'd punish you. There are times you go around saying I want to be sick. There's times you go around you say I want to feel guilty. I want to feel remorseful take my peace away make me feel really chastised.

And he says no I love you good for you get that out. So if there's a time for tears exercise it. Don't be ashamed sometimes. It's a great step forward for fellas to have their first tear. And for girls and I mean real ones not the crocodile ones that you turn on.

Ladies there's a time when all is well rejoice. You'll find that it really puts harmony to the whole body. I liked it when the psalmist said you know and he has put a new song in my heart many shall see it in fear and trust in the Lord.

I used to think see a song. You can't see a song. You hear a song. And no you see it. Because if spiritually you're in tune with God and everything's well it tells through your very behavior your whole life's in harmony.

It permeates your mind will emotions and physical health. And lots of the breakdown. Physically in Christians you can trace it back to some of these things. Because there's misuse. Because there's pressure to be what other people expect you to be.

And everybody's got wonderful plans of what you ought to be. They've never got one for themselves. But they've got wonderful ones for you. You'll be so pressurized in to do it living up to standards doing what people demand of you.

They'll misuse you to get their own ends. As we read there this morning and you know you'll bottle it all up. You learn a time for tears. Pray in the midst of that affliction let there be that sorrow of heart.

And read in the Old Testament and many times men had sorrow of heart and it was godly sorrow. It was permitted sorrow. And if you're merry sing be happy. But don't expect everybody to be happy the day you're happy.

And so if you see somebody alongside you in your room that happens to be in the condition where in their particular moment they're going through the mill and it's their time for tears. Try to have a little bit of compassion and understanding on them.

You don't sort of go up and nudge them and say are you prepared to meet thy God. Christians are most loving people in the world. Try to learn to sit and sympathize for a change. Try crying with somebody being happy with them.

Then he goes on to this business of sick. Now you need to know a few things that this business of sickness and the Christian. First of all a categorical statement of fact from Billy Strachan. I believe in divine healing.

Got that I do. I believe in divine healing. I believe in divine healing according to the Word of God. And remember that too. I also know that in my Bible there is nowhere where we have a mandate to use healing as an inducement to bringing people to believe in the existence of God.

Let me repeat that nowhere in the Word of God do we have a mandate for using miracles of healing as a means of inducing the pagans to believe in God. In other words now you've seen a miracle of healing.

That's proof that God's exists. So please get converted receive Christ and become a Christian. Be very wary of that. In nine chapters of Mark's gospel covering a year and a half to two years of the Lord's three-year ministry you will find that everybody wanted these miracles and nobody believed his message.

They wanted his miracles not his message. And remember miracles are temporal. Jairus's daughter raised to life Lazarus raised to life. But they had to die all over again. Once will be enough for me. Thank you twice.

Wonder how those people felt coming back through it to know that to face all that again. And you see there is a tendency today that because the preaching of the word doesn't seeing the results you want you have to learn to use gimmicks to get people converted.

And so like a salesman using the set of sugar on the pill. If we have a big campaign of healings and people see people getting healed then they'll flock in to believe in God rubbish. They'll flock in to get temporal benefits but not to have the eternal issue settled.

And if you put on the Ashton Hall Lancaster and the outside a big notice that says next week Friday night Billy Strachan healing campaign it'll be. And then say Sunday he'll talk about your personal sin.

It'll be empty. So if you want to be a successful evangelist don't preach the gospel about Jesus Christ have a healing campaign. And there's nowhere in the world where we have a mandate for a healing campaign nowhere anywhere at all there is a as far as healing is concerned in Scripture and it's here.

But notice before we look at it this divine healing is for Christians. For Christians. And if any Christian is sick and very often there are reasons for that sickness. And if that sickness is going to destroy your fulfillment of God's program and will for you you can expect God to intervene to raise you up until your program's finished.

Because you will not die one day too early or one day too late. Christians die on time always. Christians never die early or late. If they're in the will of the Lord they always die on time. And so if your program's not fulfilled and the adversary's been getting at your body attacking it to try and reduce you to impotence so that he cannot get using you.

God cannot get using you for his program and the devil feels happy. You have every right to find healing from the Lord to get on with the program. And it says here is any sick among you. Let him that is sick call for the elders of the church.

And if him that is sick does not call. They've no right to come. And this business of pastors walking around and preachers and evangelists walking around with a little pot of oil in their pocket carrying out a ministry of healing and looking for people to anoint with oil and pray over.

It's not in the word it's not in the word I go by the book not by people. And it's sad to find people running around looking for people to heal. There is a strict order here if you're sick and it looks like it's fatigue and service the adversary stopping God's program.