Necessities For Endurance

Transcript

GR 1657
11/04/2012
Necessities for Endurance
James 5:7-11
Gil Rugh


We're going to James 5. Sometimes when you read the different letters in the New Testament you sort of get in your mind, what kind of person is this. And I have to say in my mind I see James as somewhat of a stern individual, serious. He led the Jerusalem Conference in Acts 15 and he's the half-brother of the Lord. In the tenor of his letter there is warmth in it, but a warmth with firmness.

We've noted that there are numerous commands given. In Greek it's easier to recognize a command, in English when we write a command we put an exclamation point or something there to denote there was force to it. And in other languages the very form of the word can tell you whether you are dealing with a command. And we're coming to a section in James 5 beginning with verse 7 and down through verse 11, and there are five commands in these verses. We haven't noted all the commands as we've gone through the book but sometimes we have noted, sometimes he piles these together, reminding his readers, these are things you must be doing. This is serious business.

The first part of James 5 pronounced woes on the rich, and the indication as we noted in those first six verses is that he was talking to unbelievers. We're talking about unbelievers to these believers so that they would be encouraged to know God was aware of the situation. A reminder of the seriousness of those without Christ. They may have much material wealth, they may be prospering in the world and living as he said in verse 5, a luxurious life on earth. But there is a day coming when they will stand before the Judge of all and then they will experience condemnation for their godless lives. God is not a part of their lives, they do not acknowledge Him, they do not bow before Him.

Good reminder, and this is going to be drawn to our attention again in the verses before us in a few moments, but at the end of verse 3, it is in the last days you have stored up your treasure. And this emphasis is woven through James' letter, this emphasis on the last days, the nearness of the coming of Christ. We talked about the fact that with the first coming of Christ and His death and resurrection, that moved us now to the next event which is the coming of Christ again. And so in the last days, what foolishness. We are moving very quickly to the climax, and here you are concentrating on amassing as much riches as you can, getting as much of this world and living a life not taking God into consideration. And it's the last days. What blindness, what foolishness.

Now when you come to verse 7, it starts with the word therefore. And he's going to address believers here three times he is going to call them brethren. Note verse 7, therefore be patient, brethren; down in verse 9, do not complain, brethren; verse 10, as an example, brethren. So there is the warmth here as he speaks firmly to them and exhorts them. They are under pressure, they are under trial, life is difficult. He is writing to believing Jews and as we have noted, they have a double difficulty. They are Jews in a Gentile world. And because they are part of the people God has chosen for Himself, the nation Israel, then they face the animosity of Satan and the people of the world. Now you add to this that they are believers in Jesus Christ as well as Jews, they are saved Jews. So now they are not only the outcasts among Gentiles who are antagonized toward them, but also they are rejected by their own people. So it makes life difficult. Many of them have suffered the loss of their possessions. When the writer to the Hebrews writes, he talks to them about the things they lost. And they gladly suffered the loss of their possessions. So here these Jewish believers have been living difficult lives. Rejected by Gentiles, rejected by fellow Jews, persecuted not just as Jews but now a believers in Jesus Christ.

So he has some words to encourage them, and those words to the rich would remind these Jews that perhaps have lost their jobs, perhaps have had life made very difficult and they are being persecuted for their testimony for Christ.

He's going to pick up and say, therefore, brethren. So that ties to what he has said. Address the rich, address the comfortable, and we all know what that is like, looking around and saying, why do I have these problems? Why am I doing without? Why is life so difficult for me? Well he has reminded them, those who seem to be doing so well and have so much and life is so good, without the Lord they have nothing.

Therefore, be patient, brethren. Be patient, a compound word literally you'd take it, long-tempered. The opposite of short-tempered. And it means to be patient, a person who has self-restraint, who doesn't lose it under the pressure of the time. And it's a command, a sharp command. He addresses them warmly as brethren, but he tells them something they must do. They must be patient, brethren.

Until the coming of the Lord. So he picked up and continues that theme that we mentioned at the end of verse 3, it is in the last days that the unbelieving rich have stored up possessions and will testify against their godless lifestyle. But you be patient until the coming of the Lord. For the rich who do not know the Lord the coming of the Lord is a disaster. But for the believer the coming of the Lord is deliverance. It is the realization of God's blessing for them. So be patient, brethren, don't lose it. Be patient until the coming of the Lord. When God saves us as we were talking about earlier in our study today, He transforms us on the inside, He deals with the heart, the inner person which has to be transformed. We have to be made new. If any man be in Christ he is a new creature, a new creation. Old things pass away and new things come. We become conformed by the grace of God to the character of God. We become partakers, as Peter writes, of the divine nature. We don't become God but God's character now is developed in us. And one of the characteristics of God is He is patient.

Turn over to 2 Peter, and Peter is writing to the same kind of audience as James is, to Jews who are believers in Jesus Christ who are scattered outside of their homeland. In 2 Peter 3, and in this context we are talking about again the coming of the Lord, the return of the Lord. And the unbelieving world lives without any consideration, but Jesus Christ is coming and will bring all things to God's appointed end. And believers can get discouraged because you're telling people Jesus Christ is coming again. And they say, yes, we've heard that before. And they make cartoons, you see them on the editorial page periodically of the old guy carrying a sign, Repent, the end of the world is near. And it's just a joke. So Peter is writing to encourage his readers that they not get weary in this context. 2 Peter 3:3, in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, saying, where is the promise of His coming. They are saying, nothing has changed. People have been talking about the coming of the Lord for hundreds of years, for thousands of years and He hasn't come. It's just a way people have to make themselves feel better. Peter reminds them, no, it's true. And they ignorant of the judgment God has brought to the world at different times.

Then verse 9, he says, the Lord is not slow about His promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you. And there is our word, same word we have in James when he commands the believers there. Be patient, just as God is patient, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. And we want to manifest the character of God. And we do that during difficulty. I mean, I don't have to be patient in the best of times, I'm enjoying it. You don't tell me when I'm having a great meal with a wonderful dessert and relaxing and everything is good and I've gotten a big pay raise and everything. And you say, be patient. Yes, I am. No, when do you need patience? You need patience during difficulty, when you are being stressed, when you could lose it. Be patient. God is patient and we're manifesting His character.

Back up to 1 Peter 2. In verse 18 he's talking about in here the areas where we have to be submissive. In verse 13 he talks about being submissive to governing authorities, in verse 18 he's talking about servants being submissive to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and gentle but also to those who are unreasonable. In those days you had to serve often as a servant or a slave and life could be difficult. You'd have unreasonable people, our parallel today would be working for a boss that is unreasonable and unfair. And what do you do? I just can't walk away, I just can't quit. I have responsibilities, bills, family, whatever. So he's encouraging them and he tells them, verse 19, this finds favor when you manifest the proper attitude, even when you are being treated unreasonably, unfairly. This finds favor if for the sake of conscience toward God a person bears up under sorrows when suffering unjustly. This is pleasing toward God. For what credit is there if when you sin and are harshly treated you endure it with patience, but if when you do what is right and suffer for it and you patiently endure, this finds favor with God. Again, the pressure that comes when you are not being treated fairly, when life is caving in on you, when you are being taken advantage of.

That doesn't mean we don't have rights that we can express and so on, but the fact is sometimes we are just in that position. And often as believers it is compounded. We say, did I get passed over for that because of my testimony for Christ? Are they treating me this way and saying these things about me because my job is not being done well or is just because I'm a believer and I may be doing the best that could be done and better than others and yet I get no credit for it. The pressure that comes. You are being treated unfairly but I want to function patiently because I want to manifest that which will please God. So that idea, we're manifesting the character of God. God, enable me to manifest your character under the trial.

Come back to James 5. Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. I love that James puts in how long because you know what we say. I've been patient long enough. Oh, I didn't know the Lord had come. Because he says be patient until the coming of the Lord. We think we've been patient long enough. You don't know what I've been through, you don't know what I've had to put up with. No, I don't. None of us know really what another person is going through. If you knew what I had to put up with, if you knew what I had to go through. But James puts it all in perspective—be patient. How long? Until the coming of the Lord. I guess I haven't been patient long enough, have I. And that's what we're looking for and it is a reminder as we've seen at different times in James, put your attention where it should be. The coming of the Lord is our focus. You know what happens when we take our attention off the coming of the Lord as the realization of all that we hope for, then we become irritated with the situation and circumstance in which we find ourselves because I'm measuring it day by day. And I don't know how much longer I can put up with this. I'm running out of patience. I think I'm going to lose it if it doesn't change soon. Wait a minute, I have to be patient until the coming of the Lord. That's what I'm looking for, that's when it will all get resolved. We're not looking for fairness, justice, good treatment in this life. Sometimes we are blessed with it, we live in a prosperous society, we have benefited from that prosperity, we enjoy a good life and compared to much of the rest of the world we are very well off. We can be thankful for that, but we as believers need to be careful. In our testimony for Christ there can be consequences and we want to handle ourselves properly. We don't want to just be annoying people by saying, we're going to present the gospel and then doing it improperly. But we don't want to mute our testimony, either, in an improper way.

So under the pressure be patient. Some of you are going through difficult situations. You are manifesting the patience that you have by God's grace because you want to please the Lord. And the situation may not be getting better, maybe it's getting worse. You say, Lord, I want to honor you, be pleasing to you. Being patient is pleasing to the Lord. James commands it here, be patient until the coming of the Lord.

Here is an example. That word coming of the Lord, incidentally, I just want to mention the word coming there. We use it in English, parousia, so we talk about the parousia of the Lord, that's just the Greek word we use here. It means to be present. So it's used and translated the coming, the presence of the Lord. We are going to be patient until the Lord is present, we are in His presence. Until He comes is the idea. So when people talk about the parousia, they just carry over the Greek word to talk about the return of the Lord as many of you are familiar with.

He wants to give an example, he's going to give three examples through this section. The first one is the farmer. The farmer waits for the precious produce of the soil, being patient about it until it gets the early and late rains. The farmer is an example of patience. We've been talking, talked the last couple of weeks in our morning studies on the ripening to judgment. And God's time, you don't hurry. Individuals, nations, the earth is ripening for judgment. And we saw in our study earlier today in Revelation 14 when the time finally comes and then the command is to thrust the sickle into the earth and harvest it because it is ripe. The patience, God's timing.

So here an example, the farmer. He wants a crop, he has to plant. In Palestine in biblical times they had the early rains when they would sow the seed, for a good crop. And then the later rains that would enable the finishing of its development, to bring things to maturity. There is no way to rush it. You just can't plan and say, two months later I'm going to harvest, I'm not waiting. You just have to wait. They had to wait, they had to do the fall rains and then wait for the spring rains, then the crops matured, then they harvest.

Simple illustration. It takes patience. You get the blessing at the end. We've just finished a harvest, there was no way to hurry it up. You have to be patient and wait. The idea is God is at work, we understand He is at work so we are not frustrated. It's not, why doesn't this end? I mean, what kind of farmer would it be that you're only halfway into the season of the crop and he is wringing his hands and all upset because he doesn't have the crop yet. You say, you have to wait. You have to understand you have to wait now for the late rains, the latter rains. And then the crop will come to maturity and then you harvest it. So it's a simple illustration they could all identify with. Patience. The point is everything is under control, everything is on schedule. Not my schedule, God's schedule.

So follow-up on that, you have another command, same one he gave at the beginning of verse 7. You, too, be patient just like the farmer is. You understand, the farmer understands how it works. You can't rush it, you have to, so to speak, wait it out patiently. So believer, you can't rush it, I can't rush it. We have to wait it out patiently.

Then he gives another command. Strengthen. Strengthen your hearts. They are to be firmly established in their hearts, they are to be settled in their faith. You know, we can look calm sometimes on the outside. All of you look pretty calm, some of you so calm you are about to pass from this life. And yet we know what it's like, we're churning on the inside. And we're trying to put on a veneer but you try to hold it in because you say, I'm going to lose it. What does James say? Strengthen your hearts, settle them, have a firmness within. I know God is in charge, I know this is His will for me, I know I am where He has placed me, in the situation He has placed me. I am sure and stable in that. You see James is saying the external circumstances aren't what should be controlling our lives. It is that settledness within. Strengthen your hearts, have them firm and sure and settled. Then the external things come, the pressures, the unpleasant things, the unfair things and I am settled in my heart. Strengthen your hearts. What God commands us to do, He enables us to do.

So if my heart is not settled and firm because I am unwilling to have God do that. Sometimes I get so focused on the situation or the circumstance or what is making my life unpleasant that pretty soon I am frustrated. I need to back up, strengthen my heart, get it focused where it should be, my confidence in the Lord and His work.

Verse 7 said, be patient until the coming of the Lord. Verse 8, be patient, strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near. You see everything is in light of this. You know the difficulties of your life, and we don't know what one another is going through, some of the pressures. Some of you are thinking, tomorrow is Monday, I have to deal with this or that or the other thing or whatever. We don't know. But we are focused on the coming of the Lord, that's what makes the difference. If the Lord is coming tomorrow, doesn't matter. It doesn't matter, does it?

I'm going to go to the lab to give blood tomorrow to get it tested. Good or bad. Well, if the Lord is coming tomorrow, who cares? In fact if the Lord is coming tomorrow, I'm not going to the appointment. No need to have an extra needle in your life, is there. If you're living that way, doesn't mean we become careless of indifferent because we have responsibilities to fulfill. But if the Lord is near, I can keep going. Sometimes we think, there is no end to this. Oh yes there is, the Lord is near, the Lord is going to be present, He is coming. Strengthen your heart. One of the tragedies that has happened among believing churches is we've moved away from an emphasis on prophecy and the coming of the Lord. We say, we just have to be concentrating on living our lives now and not always talking about prophecy and future things. I think we ought to talk more about it. James says that's the encouragement we have, the Lord is coming. Don't be discouraged, don't get weary. The Lord is coming. But you don't know what I'm going through. Yes, but the Lord is near. If the Lord is near, I can hang on. You say, it's been 2000 years, but this is the Lord's way of giving us encouragement. We don't know when He is coming. He is going to return, some day it will be a reality. The next event on God's revealed schedule is the return of the Lord—tonight, tomorrow. I don't know, why hasn't it happened? Well remember we saw in 1 Peter that the Lord is patient. He's not willing that any should perish. So I'm thankful the Lord didn't come before I was saved. What a gracious God we have that He gives opportunity for people to be saved, to hear the gospel of His Son. So we can be thankful He hasn't come yet, but I don't want to then think, I don't expect He's coming anytime soon. We are to be living, if we're going to be living biblically, expecting Him very soon. You can't strengthen your heart if you don't. So you strengthen your heart for the Lord's coming is near. Goes together. Be patient, strengthen your heart. For the coming of the Lord is near.

Turn over to Mark 13, talks about the return of the Lord and anticipating His return. He assures them, verse 31, heaven and earth will pass away, My words will not pass away. But of the day and the hour no one knows, not the angels in heaven, not the Son but the Father alone. Take heed, keep on the alert for you do not know when the appointed time will come. It's like a man going away on a journey who upon leaving his house puts his slaves in charge, assigns each one his task, commands the doorkeeper to stay on the alert. Therefore, be on the alert. You do not know when the master of the house is coming, whether in the evening, at midnight or when the rooster crows or in the morning in case he should come suddenly and find you asleep. What I say to all is to be on the alert. That's the way we live. Not the way the world lives. We live on the alert. Why? We're expecting the return of the Lord very soon. I'm living in light of that. Sometimes can be an opportunity to share the gospel with people. Why aren't you frustrated in the situation you are in? Why aren't you complaining about this? Why aren't you wringing your hands? I'm expecting the return of the Lord very soon and these things won't matter. I mean, we don't want to be like the world, they are wringing their hands, they're all caught up in what's going on in the world and the turmoil. We're settled, our hearts are firm, they are strong. Why? We're on the alert, we're watching for the coming of the Lord. But what about this here? What about that there? Well, that doesn't affect my peace. I want to be on the alert.
Come over to Philippians 4. Back up to Philippians 3, you see what Paul has been talking about. Look at Philippians 3:13, he has given his testimony and what it cost him when he became a follower of Jesus Christ. It cost him everything that the world would hold value, but he says, I count it as dung, it's worthless. What I have in Christ now is what is of value. Then verse 13, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet. One thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore as many as are perfect have this attitude. That's the way we are to live. There are those living as enemies of the cross, he says in verse 18. And verse 19, their end is destruction, their god is their appetite, their glory is in their shame. They set they minds on earthly things. But for us our citizenship is in heaven from which we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory by the exertion of the power that He has to subject all things to Himself. Therefore, my beloved brethren whom I long to see, my joy and crown, in this way stand firm in the Lord, my beloved.

Come down to Philippians 4:5, let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. Preceding that, verse 4, rejoice; following that, verse 6, be anxious for nothing. I mean everything is put into context—the Lord is near. Our citizenship is in heaven, we're eagerly awaiting the Savior from heaven to call us into the presence of His glory and transform these bodies. So rejoice, let your gentle spirit be known to all men. Be anxious for nothing. The Lord is near, the Lord who is going to transform our bodies into conformity with the body of His glory. He is near, we're citizens of heaven. That's what brings strength to our hearts and enables us to go through the trials, the difficulties, the hardships, being mistreated and untreated, not treated fairly. My heart is settled in the coming of the Lord, that puts everything into perspective. We lose sight of that, pretty soon life begins to take on the inner turmoil that characterizes the world around us.

Come over to 1 Peter 4. And the chapter opened up, Christ has suffered in the flesh. Arm yourselves with the same purpose because He has suffered in the flesh, He ceased from sin, so live as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for the lust of men but for the will of men. We are to follow the patter of Christ and we have been identified with Him in His death, burial and resurrection. Now we are to be living new lives in Christ. The time is already past that was sufficient for you to carry out the desires of the Gentiles, their sinful way of life. They are surprised you don't continue to pursue this lifestyle with them. So the end of verse 4, they don't admire you for it, they malign you. A godly life is a testimony against an ungodly life.

But they will give, verse 5, account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. Verse 7, the end of all things is near. Therefore be of sound judgment, sober for the purpose of prayer. Keep fervent in your love for one another, be hospitable to one another. Use your gifts in serving one another. I mean, it's all about the Lord that we love and serve and He is coming again for us. And the end of all things is near. The way they live, expecting the return of the Lord. I don't know when but it's near. You get up in the morning, you have a difficult day ahead, stop and think, the Lord may be coming at the end of this day, before the day is over. I want to govern my thinking and my thoughts, the turmoil of life around me doesn't have to put my heart in turmoil. I am settled. The Lord is coming. I'm living for Him today. Maybe in difficulty and trial but He provides stability.

Come to 1 John 3. John writes about the amazing truth that we are the children of God. The love that God bestowed upon us, verse 1, that we would be called children of God. And we are. So the world doesn't know us, it didn't know Him. Beloved, now are we children of God. It has not yet appeared what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him because we will see Him just as He is. That's what Paul wrote to the Philippians that when Christ returns He'll transform these bodies of a humble state into conformity with the body of His glory. We will be like Him, verse 2, because we will see Him just as He is. Everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself just as He is pure. Keeping our attention focused on that, the Lord is returning, the Lord is coming. He will be present, I will be in His presence. He's going to transform this body and the suffering this body is going through, like Paul could write to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 4 and say, though our outer man is decaying, deteriorating, yet our inner man is being made new day by day. And it's all in the context we're looking not at things which are seen but at things which are not seen. That's where he goes in 1 Corinthians 5, what we have in Christ, the focal point.

You understand what God has promised us and that Christ is coming again for us. That changes life completely and when I get my focus off that pretty soon I am absorbed in the trouble I am in, the difficulties I have. They seem overwhelming, I don't know whether I can go on with this. I say, what's wrong? Wait a minute, the focus is the Lord is coming, His coming is near. When He comes, He's going to transform me into conformity with His body. It's good to know, I hope it's today. Changes everything, brings stability to a life.

Come back to James. Do you know what pressure does? It frustrates us. When things don't go our way we get frustrated. So we come to the command in verse 9, do not complain, brethren, against one another. Don't complain, brethren, fellow believers, against other believers. But when things aren't going right pretty soon we are frustrated with one another. And it would have gone better for me if they had done this, if they had cared. I went through this but nobody cared, nobody contacted me, nobody came to help me, nobody cared that I was having such difficulty. Wait a minute, don't complain, brethren. That's what pressure does. I mean, I don't complain when there is no pressure, when there is no difficulty, when everything is going the way I would like it to go. What do I have to complain about? But it's when things aren't going well, people perhaps have failed or worse than that, they have contributed the difficulty I'm going through. Brethren, don't complain against one another.

So that you yourselves may not be judged. That word complain denotes primarily, well you have a note in the margin. You have a little #1 in front of complain, over by verse 9 it says literally groan. That word denotes first primarily the inner feeling of bitterness, dissatisfaction within. That's why they say literally groan. But then it manifests itself in expressing. So it's a reminder we are to strengthen our hearts with the right focus and the opposite of that would be don't complain, brethren, against one another. Don't have that bitterness, that dissatisfaction in your heart that will be expressed in grumbling or complaining against someone else. I mean, how often have we complained about someone and spoken in ways we shouldn't. Then after we thought about it, that really was probably, I was just all worked up. It wasn't so much them or what they did or didn't do, it was that I was worked up on the inside. It started in my heart, the groaning in there, the dissatisfaction. I lost my focus.

Do not complain, brethren, another command, against one another. He's talking primarily here about believers. We are not to be complainers anyway about anything, but particularly here his concern. How many times churches get divided not over doctrinal issues even, but personal things that we become dissatisfied with, unhappy about. And we brood on that and pretty soon it's going to come out and then we're complaining about one another and we've lost our focus.

Do you know why you don't do that? It's so you do not be judged. Behold, the Judge is standing right at the door. What kind of idiot are you? What kind of fool am I? I mean, the Judge is standing right at the door. He says He'll judge me for such activity. It's just like the people in verse 3, it is in the last days that you have stored up your treasure. What kind of fool are you? I mean, it's the last days and you are storing up the treasure that is going to testify against you before the Judge. Now he has to tell believers don't complain against one another because we're going to give an account to our Lord as well. Right? He is standing right at the door. The picture is He's just about to open the door and there I am complaining. And He will call me to account for that. Do not complain against one another, the Judge is standing right at the door.

Back up to 2 Corinthians 5. And I referred to the end of 2 Corinthians 4 a few moments ago where the outer man is decaying, the inner man is being renewed day by day. The momentary light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen but the things which are not seen. We walk by faith, not by sight as he'll say in 2 Corinthians 5:7.

Verse 8, we are of good courage I say and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. Therefore we have as our ambition, whether at home or absent to be pleasing to Him. Paul says, whether I live or die I belong to the Lord. The passion of my life is to be pleasing to Him, whether it's through continuing to live or whether it's through my death. Now note verse 10, for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body according to what he has done, whether good or bad. Therefore knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men. That's a motivation. I am going to give an account to the Lord. Well, what were you complaining about, Gil? Why were you complaining against those fellow believers? Well, Lord, you know the stupid things they did and you know how they treated me. You know how they didn't do what they should have done to me. What does that have to do with what you were supposed to do? I told you don't complain against them, I didn't tell you to judge them and then give me a report. I told you don't complain. Do you think we're going to stand there and argue it out with the Lord? I don't think so. We know the fear of the Lord, that motivates me. Proper respect that some day I will stand before Him and give an account and He will do the evaluating and the judging.

So you come back to James 5. Behold, the judge is standing right at the door. You see this verse 7, the coming of the Lord; verse 8, the coming of the Lord is near; verse 9, the Judge is standing right at the door. We are to be living in light and with the expectation of the coming of Christ.

As an example, brethren, there is a second example in verse 10. An example, brethren, of suffering and patience. Take the prophets. That word translated take is a command, it means telling you have to consider them. The prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. They are an example for us of suffering and patience. We count those blessed who endured. What do we look at the prophets of Scripture, we say, too bad they were so faithful to the Lord in their ministry. No, they are blessed. We count them blessed who endured. I mean, they are an example to us of suffering and patience. Jeremiah, what is he known as? The weeping prophet. You talk about a difficult life, no one to stand with him. Even his friends were looking for him to have trouble and hoping for it. Everyone turned against him. We count Jeremiah, what a great prophet. Remember what Jesus said in Matthew 5, woe to you when all men speak well of you. That's the way they spoke of the false prophets.

You are blessed when you suffer persecution for the name of the Lord. That's a blessing that most of us try to avoid. It's an honor to suffer for the Lord, to be so open and clear with our testimony that it brings persecution. Doesn't mean we just walk around getting in people's faces in a wrong sense, but we are bold and clear with the gospel and our testimony for Jesus Christ. There is no doubt everyone knows who we are, that we are committed to Jesus Christ, that we have a message of salvation. And they say, they are strange people, they are people who think they are always right. I want to do it with the best spirit I can, but the unbeliever is going to be offended by the gospel unless by the grace of God there is a softening done.

Consider the prophets. We think, wouldn't it be wonderful to be an Isaiah? To be an Elijah or an Elisha? Jeremiah? Ezekiel? What did God tell Ezekiel when He sent him off? I mean, the poor guy hasn't even begun his ministry and what does God say to him? They are not going to listen to you. Well, Lord, I think I'll just stay home. No, you go because you know what's going to happen when you tell them? They're going to not like it. And do you know what the example is? Have you ever seen the programs on scorpions, the animal programs. And they say that sting hurts. Do you know what God says to Ezekiel? Well, even if you have to sit on scorpions, you do what I tell you. Lord, that doesn't sound like it's going to be an easy or fun ministry. I don't mind sitting on stones but scorpions. Why Lord? Why do I have to go? You go because I told you to go and you tell them what I told you to tell them. And they won't listen to you.

I mean, what would I have thought when I was in Philadelphia if the Lord said, you go to Nebraska and tell them what I tell you to tell them. But they're not going to listen to you and they're going to persecute you and they're going to make life difficult for you. But you go. Why? We do it because the Lord tells us. Life is simple when we obey Him.

The Judge is right at the door. The example of suffering prophets. We count those blessed who endure. We have to do verse 11. You have heard of the endurance of Job. You see this section is about patience, it's about endurance. It's about being faithful. You have heard of the endurance of Job and you've seen the outcome of the Lord's dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and mercy. See he carries us to the end again. You have to keep that in mind. We're not going to take the time to go back to Job, the man had a difficult life. It started out wonderfully, the book of Job opens up and he is the richest, most well off man in the East. Has a great family, they get together regularly, the brothers put on feasts, they take turns going to one another's house. They invite the sisters to come and it's just a great family life. Job has an abundance of wealth but he is not one of the unfaithful rich. God's testimony given in heaven is he is a righteous man. There is not a man like him on the earth. Do you know what's going to happen? He's going to lose all of his kids at one time. Dead. Some of you know the pain of losing a child. Now here Job, they are all gone. Here comes a report, they all died. They were in, they were all celebrating a great get together, your kids enjoying it. Aren't you so glad your kids get together so well? Then the roof fell in and they are all dead. All dead? All dead. Now your wealth is gone, all your possessions, they were carried away. Do you know what happens the next chapter? It gets worse. Then he loses his health, he is covered from the bottom of his feet to the top of his head with boils and in excruciating pain. If you're just going to focus on that, I just can't do it, Lord, I'm overwhelmed. If I lost one of my kids that would be terrible, if I lost two. But they are all dead. Even his wife said, you ought to just curse God and die. Then not only that, now I don't have any possessions. I have been reduced to poverty. Not only that, look at me. I am such a miserable sight, I can't do anything but here with a piece of pottery and try to scrape the boils a little bit. I mean, I can't walk, I have them on my feet, I have them on the top of my head. The people who used to be my friends, now they speak against me, everybody makes fun of me. Even the kids . . . I just can't do this.

What did Job do? Kept going, kept going, kept going. In all of this, we are told, Job did not sin with his tongue, did not speak. He said, should I have received good things from God and not bad? He didn't deny that God was in this, that we receive good things from the hand of the Lord and not bad, not evil. That's amazing. What kind of God would take all my children at once? What kind of God would take all my wealth? What kind of God would take all my health? I am reduced to nothing. All this Job didn't sin with his tongue, didn't speak against God. He had questions but he didn't speak against God. And what's the end? In the end God brought blessing to his life. Job 42 closes with Job having a family again.

Does that mean the end of my physical life? No, but it is a reminder that God is, James 5:11, full of compassion and merciful. So I can see in this God's hand is at work in my most wretched of times, the most overwhelming grief that comes into my life, the most unbearable situation where I don't have anyone to turn to. Even the three friends that Job ends up with just add to his burden. They tell him, you must have sinned. God wouldn't have done this if you hadn't done something grievous. Just what I need to hear, my kids have all died, I'm reduced to poverty, my health is gone and now my friends tell me I caused it all. Just endure. Just keep going, just keep going. I know when it is all said and done I will see God. He doesn't have the answer, he doesn't know why. The interesting thing is God never does tell him why, never does give him a reason why He had to do it that way. But at the end He brings blessing to him.

The reminder to us is He doesn't promise us the physical restoration of things but He has promised us blessing. What is the blessing? This is in the context of verse 7, the coming of the Lord; verse 8, the coming of the Lord is near; verse 9, the Judge is standing right at the door. We are in the last days. Lord, I don't know why you are taking me through what I am going through. I don't know why the misery and difficulty that has come into my life now is happening. But I know that you are God and I belong to you. I know in the end I will enjoy the glory of your presence for eternity and blessings that cannot be measured. That's what I know and I'm looking for your return. That carries me through the day. I don't have answers. Often I talk to people, I can't tell you why and I can't tell you when the end will be. I can't tell you, cheer up, it will be better tomorrow. It may not be better tomorrow, it may be worse. I don't know. We sometimes think we have to say something encouraging. That doesn't mean I have to tell them, it's probably going to be worse tomorrow, I'm glad I'm not you. But it may be. I don't control tomorrow, I don't know. But I know the Lord is sovereign. Right? He is in control. What does the song say? I don't know what the future holds, but I know who holds the future. That's right, that's our hope. The Lord is coming, the Lord is near. I want to be faithful to Him. I have to endure.

But I know the end, I've read the last chapter, its glory. He will transform the body of this humble state into conformity with the body of His glory. That's what He promises me. I have an inheritance that He has stored up for me in glory. I know that's true. I know the breaking down of my health or the trials or the loss of loved ones, the end is glory and it is near. And that's the way I live. Are you expecting the Lord this week? Won't really matter who gets elected, will it. Maybe He'll come on Monday, maybe He won't come until Wednesday and then we'll know. It really won't matter, will it. The Lord is near. That's the way we are living our lives. We want to be careful we don't sink down into the instability of the world. Strengthen our hearts, be patient, don't complain and be reminded of the examples of those faithful ones that God has recorded for us.

Let's pray together. Thank you, Lord, for your greatness, your grace, your sovereignty and your love. Thank you, Lord, that as you children we belong to you and all the turmoil, the difficulties, the trials, the pain, the grief, we belong to you. And while we may not understand the reasons for our present circumstance or situation, we do know you are at work. We do know that you are preparing us for glory, that glory is sure. We know Jesus Christ is coming again, that we are living in the last days, that He is near. We want to be on the alert, we want to have our hope fixed on Him so that in the deepest trials, the most difficult situations we can strengthen our hearts and have that inner assurance and inner peace. Bless us as we serve you in the days of the week before us until Christ comes. We pray in His name, amen.