WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:01.120 I appreciate that very much. 00:00:01.199 --> 00:00:05.759 I'd like to ask you to turn, if you would, please, to James chapter 5. 00:00:06.160 --> 00:00:13.119 Believe it or not, we are working our way surely but slowly towards the end of this book. 00:00:13.759 --> 00:00:21.760 Really only have two or three more Sunday mornings as we focus on this portion of the scriptures. 00:00:22.719 --> 00:00:39.200 When we are finished with that, as September draws around, I'm going to begin a series, a five or six-week series on a topic of what really happens when we die. 00:00:40.079 --> 00:00:42.240 You are going to, by the way. 00:00:42.799 --> 00:00:43.759 We all are. 00:00:44.000 --> 00:00:46.240 Scriptures talk a lot about that. 00:00:46.399 --> 00:00:50.000 And as Christians, the best is yet to come. 00:00:50.079 --> 00:00:57.759 So we're going to take five or six weeks and just talk about something that we need to talk about and often hesitate to talk about. 00:00:57.920 --> 00:01:00.560 What really happens when you die? 00:01:02.000 --> 00:01:09.760 This morning we're going to turn to James chapter 5, verses 7 through 9. 00:01:10.560 --> 00:01:16.560 It's a passage that deals with one of our least favorite subjects. 00:01:16.879 --> 00:01:17.760 Patience. 00:01:19.519 --> 00:01:25.599 Have to laugh at God's sense of humor to have me speak on patience this morning. 00:01:25.920 --> 00:01:29.280 I am not, by nature, a patient man. 00:01:29.840 --> 00:01:32.879 Are you, by nature, patient people? 00:01:34.239 --> 00:01:41.680 And yet, and yet God calls us and he commands us to be patient. 00:01:42.079 --> 00:01:51.840 And it's in view of the sure and certain reality that Christ is coming again. 00:01:52.879 --> 00:01:54.400 Have patience. 00:01:54.879 --> 00:01:57.519 He is coming again. 00:01:57.840 --> 00:02:04.079 He will most assuredly set right all of the wrongs. 00:02:06.719 --> 00:02:12.000 Untangle all that is untleable for us. 00:02:13.199 --> 00:02:15.360 Dry every tear. 00:02:16.719 --> 00:02:21.759 Encourage every somber heart. 00:02:22.319 --> 00:02:34.479 Fulfill every desire that we have ever had, or the reality of that which we think we desire now, but may actually have another fulfillment. 00:02:34.800 --> 00:02:40.240 He is surely and certainly coming again, and that is our blessed hope. 00:02:40.479 --> 00:02:49.120 And in this passage, we are said, have patience, for the Lord is coming. 00:02:50.319 --> 00:02:52.879 Going to look today at verses 7 to 9. 00:02:54.879 --> 00:03:12.560 Just as I was gone last week, just parenthetically here, one of the arrangements that we have in this role is once a quarter, Jane and I go back to Indiana, where we have a home and where we have a number of practical affairs to deal with, where all of our doctors are and that kind of stuff. 00:03:12.800 --> 00:03:18.719 And in this past week, we had the privilege of having all three of our kids, all of their spouses. 00:03:19.120 --> 00:03:21.759 Each one has one, by the way, spouse. 00:03:22.800 --> 00:03:24.560 And all of the grandkids. 00:03:24.639 --> 00:03:27.520 And we have eight or nine, something like that. 00:03:29.039 --> 00:03:30.639 Jane says we have eight. 00:03:30.719 --> 00:03:32.800 I think coming on nine, but that's all right. 00:03:33.039 --> 00:03:35.599 Well, wonderful time to be back together. 00:03:37.680 --> 00:03:41.199 We got back together this week for a very special purpose. 00:03:41.360 --> 00:03:50.879 One of our kids, our son, who's been a lawyer in Milwaukee in the corporate law firm for the last six years, has felt the call of God on his life. 00:03:51.039 --> 00:03:57.840 And about a year ago, they made application to and were accepted by a missionary organization called World Venture. 00:03:58.000 --> 00:04:01.360 And in this past year, God has raised all of their support. 00:04:01.599 --> 00:04:12.080 And in less than two weeks now, they will depart for long-term church planting service to the Albanian people in Albania and Macedonia. 00:04:12.159 --> 00:04:16.560 And next Sunday in their home church, they're having a commissioning service. 00:04:16.720 --> 00:04:22.959 And it will be my incredible privilege to speak to them in their commissioning service. 00:04:23.120 --> 00:04:24.879 So I love being here, folks. 00:04:25.120 --> 00:04:26.079 I really do. 00:04:26.560 --> 00:04:29.839 But next Sunday, you're on your own. 00:04:30.560 --> 00:04:31.600 No, not really. 00:04:31.759 --> 00:04:34.879 But just so that you know, that's where we'll be next Sunday. 00:04:36.480 --> 00:04:40.000 Let me read James 5, 7 through 11. 00:04:40.160 --> 00:04:42.720 We're going to just look at 7 through 9 this morning. 00:04:44.000 --> 00:04:48.319 This is God speaking to his people. 00:04:48.720 --> 00:04:51.519 Let's listen to what God is saying to us. 00:04:52.319 --> 00:04:53.439 Be patient. 00:04:54.800 --> 00:05:01.040 Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. 00:05:01.360 --> 00:05:11.519 See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. 00:05:11.839 --> 00:05:14.480 You also be patient. 00:05:15.839 --> 00:05:21.680 Stand firm, establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. 00:05:22.560 --> 00:05:28.720 Do not grumble, do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged. 00:05:28.959 --> 00:05:31.439 Behold, the judge is standing at the door. 00:05:31.680 --> 00:05:38.639 As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 00:05:38.879 --> 00:05:43.680 Behold, we consider those blessed who remain steadfast. 00:05:44.000 --> 00:05:53.519 You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful. 00:05:54.319 --> 00:06:00.079 Have patience in light of the coming of the Lord. 00:06:01.279 --> 00:06:07.839 Patience is not exactly a dominant characteristic of our age, is it? 00:06:08.319 --> 00:06:15.600 It's not a major sought-after value that is affirmed on every side in our society. 00:06:16.399 --> 00:06:21.519 It is not something that grows by nature within most of our souls. 00:06:22.000 --> 00:06:34.480 It is something that in an instant age we're used to instant messages, we're used to quick things happening, high-speed internets. 00:06:35.680 --> 00:06:41.279 We get upset if we have to wait for the slightest thing, or when something goes wrong. 00:06:41.519 --> 00:06:47.120 I have to confess, this morning I woke up and I was an incredibly impatient husband. 00:06:47.680 --> 00:06:55.680 I was thinking about our car that yesterday broke down, and how are we going to get to Milwaukee on Thursday when we drive? 00:06:56.000 --> 00:07:01.279 And then our apartment was hot and sweaty, and I don't do sweat very well. 00:07:01.600 --> 00:07:07.040 And I just I got I found myself just so irritated over silly things. 00:07:07.600 --> 00:07:17.519 With the full realization that God was calling me this morning to sit under the teaching of God's word along with you, where God says to us, have patience. 00:07:17.839 --> 00:07:21.600 Oh, we need the help of God in this area. 00:07:21.920 --> 00:07:32.560 You realize, of course, you will remember that patience is one of those characteristics that God, the Holy Spirit, is seeking to develop in our lives. 00:07:32.800 --> 00:07:34.959 It's one of the fruit of the Spirit. 00:07:35.120 --> 00:07:39.759 Love, joy, peace, patience, patience, patience, patience, patience. 00:07:39.920 --> 00:07:42.079 It goes on and does other things as well. 00:07:42.399 --> 00:07:43.839 We think a lot about love. 00:07:44.000 --> 00:07:53.199 We want to be loved, we want to love, we want to be joyful, we desire peace, and then we kind of stop at that point. 00:07:53.360 --> 00:07:58.800 And the very next fruit of the spirit that God is trying to cultivate in our lives is patience. 00:07:59.120 --> 00:07:59.920 Patience. 00:08:00.800 --> 00:08:16.399 And a passage like this one causes us to ask ourselves, is this fruit of the spirit ripening in your life and in mine? 00:08:18.079 --> 00:08:19.680 It's really that simple. 00:08:20.000 --> 00:08:24.480 Is this fruit of the spirit ripening in your life and in mine? 00:08:25.040 --> 00:08:26.879 Is it even budding? 00:08:28.319 --> 00:08:34.879 That's the kind of thing that we have to ask ourselves when we look at a passage like this. 00:08:35.919 --> 00:08:47.759 Throughout the scriptures, including in this passage, we find that God has his ways of developing patience in his people. 00:08:50.480 --> 00:08:53.679 And he rarely does it the way we want it. 00:08:54.320 --> 00:08:56.559 Quick and pleasant. 00:08:57.840 --> 00:09:28.879 The reality is the way God, in his wisdom and grace, wants to develop patience in your life and in mine, as he has for his people throughout the millennia, has been in a context of circumstances we don't like, situations over which we have no control, things going wrong in our lives, difficulties, trials, persecutions, things that we don't like. 00:09:29.519 --> 00:09:41.679 Those are the things that God, in His wisdom and grace, intends to use in your life and in mine to cultivate patience. 00:09:42.159 --> 00:09:45.919 We may want the result of God working in our lives. 00:09:46.080 --> 00:09:48.320 I want the result of God working in my life. 00:09:48.480 --> 00:09:49.600 I trust you do too. 00:09:49.759 --> 00:09:51.679 I hope that's why you're here this morning. 00:09:51.840 --> 00:09:53.679 Why else would we bother? 00:09:54.320 --> 00:09:57.600 We want the result of God working in our lives. 00:09:59.279 --> 00:10:03.360 When it comes to patience, I'm not sure we want the process. 00:10:04.159 --> 00:10:05.120 I don't. 00:10:06.320 --> 00:10:07.279 I don't. 00:10:08.559 --> 00:10:18.159 But I so deeply love and cherish the results of a process that bugs me. 00:10:20.320 --> 00:10:22.080 Can anybody else identify with that? 00:10:25.200 --> 00:10:31.039 You see, we don't have much patience for the process of developing patience. 00:10:31.440 --> 00:10:33.679 It's really just that simple. 00:10:34.480 --> 00:10:43.919 James Garfield, who was our 20th president, uh before he became president, was the president of a small college in Ohio. 00:10:44.720 --> 00:10:52.159 And he tells the story of having a discussion with a prospective parent, prospective parents of an incoming student. 00:10:52.639 --> 00:10:55.360 Parents of a prospective incoming student. 00:10:56.559 --> 00:11:03.120 And he explained all the requirements that there would be for this young man to uh to earn his degree. 00:11:03.360 --> 00:11:07.840 And at one point the father said, Mr. 00:11:08.000 --> 00:11:20.000 Garfield, isn't there a shorter, easier way for my son to get his degree? 00:11:20.879 --> 00:11:23.759 They had helicopter parents back then, I guess. 00:11:25.120 --> 00:11:30.480 And Garfield correctly replied, certainly, certainly. 00:11:30.960 --> 00:11:35.840 It all depends on what you want to make of your boy. 00:11:37.120 --> 00:11:44.080 When God wants to make an oak, Garfield said, he took he takes a hundred years. 00:11:44.320 --> 00:11:47.679 It only takes a couple of summers to make a squash. 00:11:47.759 --> 00:11:49.440 What do you want of your boy? 00:11:52.080 --> 00:11:54.960 I would vote for Garfield as president. 00:11:56.240 --> 00:11:57.440 What do you want? 00:11:57.840 --> 00:11:59.679 What do you want of your life? 00:12:01.360 --> 00:12:03.440 Don't be content with squash. 00:12:05.200 --> 00:12:16.639 Persevere and seek after the solidness, the stability, and the beauty of resolute hope as a character of your life. 00:12:17.360 --> 00:12:18.320 Have patience. 00:12:43.519 --> 00:12:44.399 Isn't that what we want? 00:12:44.480 --> 00:12:45.679 Isn't that what you want? 00:12:47.759 --> 00:12:51.600 The reality, my friends, is in the world of the Bible. 00:12:51.759 --> 00:12:56.960 I'm not talking about in our evangelical circles, I'm not talking about in the preaching in our pulpits today. 00:12:57.039 --> 00:13:08.879 I'm talking about in the biblical world, the deep working of God in our lives is rarely either instant or pleasant. 00:13:11.039 --> 00:13:26.720 We get the idea that somehow or another, because we've got a broadband internet and high-speed connections, that God's going to give us a high-speed download of spirituality just like that. 00:13:26.960 --> 00:13:28.799 And it doesn't exist. 00:13:30.879 --> 00:13:32.159 It just doesn't exist. 00:13:32.320 --> 00:13:33.759 That's a false gospel. 00:13:33.919 --> 00:13:36.720 That is not the message of the scriptures. 00:13:37.519 --> 00:13:56.399 What God uses to grow us to maturity, the gifts and the grace of God working in our lives do not appear instantaneously, and a life that has come to maturity in Christ is not a life of ease. 00:13:57.120 --> 00:13:59.279 It just doesn't work that way. 00:14:00.799 --> 00:14:03.039 It doesn't work that way in your life. 00:14:03.279 --> 00:14:05.679 It doesn't work that way in my life. 00:14:05.919 --> 00:14:07.600 It has never worked that way. 00:14:07.759 --> 00:14:09.759 That's the American gospel. 00:14:09.919 --> 00:14:11.919 It is not the gospel of God. 00:14:13.279 --> 00:14:24.879 The deep working of God that restores our soul and transforms us into the kind of people that you really want to be. 00:14:26.159 --> 00:14:30.720 That requires time and it requires tribulation. 00:14:30.879 --> 00:14:32.799 It's just that simple. 00:14:33.039 --> 00:14:40.480 And a passage like this is helping us, seeking to help us, get in touch with that. 00:14:41.840 --> 00:14:48.559 We're likely to be confused and impatient when it doesn't happen instantly and easily. 00:14:59.440 --> 00:15:07.039 You picture an Autobahn of being able to go 160K an hour, and actually it's a wonderful thing to do when there's not a stau, a traffic jam. 00:15:07.200 --> 00:15:10.799 Now, I've never seen a traffic jam in Grand Forks. 00:15:13.200 --> 00:15:25.759 But we would be going down the expressway at 160 kilometers an hour, and suddenly we would be stuck in a stau, a traffic jam, for hours on end. 00:15:26.639 --> 00:15:32.000 Now, maybe you can't relate to this, but here's the way most people experience that. 00:15:38.000 --> 00:15:40.720 You begin to roll your eyes. 00:15:45.679 --> 00:15:53.360 If I'm driving, my hands alternately squeeze and then release the steering wheel as though that's going to do anything. 00:15:53.919 --> 00:16:00.240 If we're not careful, we start looking around at those other obnoxious drivers that are keeping us from what we want. 00:16:00.480 --> 00:16:07.679 We begin to ease up so we're about two inches from the rear bumper of the car in front of us, as though that's going to help anything. 00:16:07.840 --> 00:16:19.519 And then when the traffic begins to move, we look behind us for the first chance to zip over in the left-hand lane and go ahead two car lengths, as though that's going to change anything. 00:16:20.080 --> 00:16:21.840 Isn't that the way we are? 00:16:22.159 --> 00:16:23.759 Isn't that the way we are? 00:16:24.240 --> 00:16:27.600 Isn't that the way we are in our spiritual lives as well? 00:16:29.840 --> 00:16:35.919 Today's passage urges us to not try to take things into our own hands. 00:16:36.240 --> 00:16:38.720 He said that in the last section as well. 00:16:39.919 --> 00:16:46.639 Not taking it, not Carpe DMCs the day, but Deo Volente, the will of the Lord. 00:16:47.039 --> 00:16:49.039 Let God have his ways. 00:16:49.279 --> 00:17:03.919 And in a very real sense, he's moving to the same thing as it relates to the things that irritate, frustrate us, and trouble us, and the things that are indeed wrong with the world and wrong with our life, and all of the injustices and all of the things that are wrong. 00:17:04.079 --> 00:17:09.359 He says, brothers, sisters, be patient. 00:17:10.400 --> 00:17:13.920 Look to the coming of the Lord. 00:17:14.720 --> 00:17:24.480 Submit yourselves to a process, a long process, over which you have no more control than a farmer has control over the weather. 00:17:24.720 --> 00:17:25.759 Hey, Mike. 00:17:27.839 --> 00:17:29.359 We'll come to you in a few minutes. 00:17:29.519 --> 00:17:31.680 I'm glad you're sitting in the front row. 00:17:32.319 --> 00:17:34.480 I'm glad you're my friend, too. 00:17:39.200 --> 00:17:50.160 What the people of God have found throughout the millennia is that our hope and our help is in the Lord. 00:17:50.480 --> 00:17:57.759 And when it relates to circumstances beyond our control in our lives, circumstances we cannot change. 00:17:58.160 --> 00:18:04.400 There's many things the scriptures point us to for help and hope with that frustrating problem. 00:18:04.880 --> 00:18:10.240 This particular passage focuses on the return of the Lord. 00:18:11.440 --> 00:18:14.240 We need help and hope. 00:18:14.720 --> 00:18:16.799 Now, other sources, certainly. 00:18:17.119 --> 00:18:21.279 The presence of God, the Holy Spirit in our lives gives us help and hope. 00:18:21.839 --> 00:18:23.279 God's working. 00:18:23.519 --> 00:18:24.480 God's working. 00:18:24.640 --> 00:18:29.920 Just as we heard some things that he was doing with some of the teenagers, God is at work. 00:18:30.319 --> 00:18:36.480 The Holy Spirit is present and real, and whoever it was said, not just a little part, but the whole thing. 00:18:36.720 --> 00:18:44.559 God, the Holy Spirit dwelling within, transforming, changing us over a long period of time and through great difficulties. 00:18:44.720 --> 00:18:46.319 But the Holy Spirit is present. 00:18:46.559 --> 00:18:57.359 We have the body of Christ which gives hope and help because when I'm struggling, then maybe one of you are not struggling, and we can help each other, and then the next day it may be the other way around. 00:18:57.680 --> 00:19:07.039 We have God's word which transforms us from within as we hide the Word of God in our hearts. 00:19:10.720 --> 00:19:44.319 But in today's passage, the hope and help for impatient people is a solid conviction, an unshakable persuasion of the reality of the fact that a time is coming in which our Lord will return and He will right every wrong, He will flatten out every valley, He will resolve all of the problems that we face, and that is to be a very real hope. 00:19:44.559 --> 00:19:51.599 An understanding of the Lord's return is designed to teach us to live in a godly way. 00:19:53.519 --> 00:19:58.640 Verse 7 Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. 00:19:58.799 --> 00:20:07.119 See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it until it receives the early and the late rains. 00:20:07.359 --> 00:20:08.960 You also be patient. 00:20:09.200 --> 00:20:12.960 Stand firm, establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. 00:20:13.119 --> 00:20:16.559 Don't grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged. 00:20:16.720 --> 00:20:19.920 Behold, the judge is standing at the door. 00:20:20.720 --> 00:20:24.400 The Lord's return is a reality. 00:20:24.799 --> 00:20:33.759 And our understanding of patience from this passage is rooted in a conviction of the Lord's return. 00:20:33.920 --> 00:20:35.359 It's mentioned twice. 00:20:35.519 --> 00:20:41.119 Once in the beginning of verse 7, be patient until the coming of the Lord. 00:20:41.279 --> 00:20:42.400 It's mentioned in verse 8. 00:20:42.559 --> 00:20:46.799 You also be patient, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. 00:20:47.200 --> 00:20:54.240 The return of the Lord and the development of patience in our lives are intimately tied together in this passage. 00:20:54.480 --> 00:20:58.720 So we need to talk a little bit about the Lord's return. 00:20:58.960 --> 00:21:02.720 We don't talk about that very much these days. 00:21:05.359 --> 00:21:15.680 What I have found is that a focus, a biblical focus on the Lord's return, tends to be like a pendulum that goes over here or goes over there. 00:21:15.920 --> 00:21:31.680 We either absolutely ignore it or we misuse it by getting so focused on it satisfying our curiosity and us setting dates and making charts, which is not what the teaching of the Lord's return is all about. 00:21:31.839 --> 00:21:37.200 Neither to be ignored nor to be misused to satisfy our curiosity or fill our notebooks. 00:21:37.359 --> 00:21:41.839 That's not what the teaching of the Lord's Return is for. 00:21:42.000 --> 00:21:48.400 I grew up in a church that apparently ignored the whole teaching on the Lord's Return. 00:21:49.200 --> 00:21:54.400 I sat there for 18 years and I never once heard, I didn't even know it existed. 00:21:54.559 --> 00:21:56.880 Now, maybe I was asleep for 18 years. 00:21:57.039 --> 00:22:01.599 Actually, there's a pretty good chance that I was asleep in church for The first 18 years. 00:22:01.839 --> 00:22:07.920 I found out later that that particular group, particular group, doesn't talk about it because they don't believe in it. 00:22:08.079 --> 00:22:10.319 They don't really believe in what the scriptures say. 00:22:10.559 --> 00:22:16.480 I got off into college, came to faith, and I got involved in a group where the pendulum went all the way over in this side. 00:22:16.559 --> 00:22:27.200 And we spent hours and weeks and months trying to figure out and understand the chronology of the Lord's return, as though that's why that revelation is there. 00:22:27.359 --> 00:22:29.359 And it's not why it's there. 00:22:29.599 --> 00:22:32.640 It's not so that we'll know the date or the time. 00:22:32.880 --> 00:22:36.880 In fact, the scriptures make it clear we won't know the date or the time. 00:22:37.039 --> 00:22:47.920 We know it's coming and we know it could come at any moment, but the focus on when and date setting is trying to think of a pulpit-polite expression. 00:22:48.160 --> 00:22:50.880 It's probably not the best thing for us to do. 00:22:51.279 --> 00:22:51.599 Okay. 00:22:56.880 --> 00:23:00.960 Yet it is clearly revealed in the Bible. 00:23:01.119 --> 00:23:05.839 There are at least 300 New Testament teachings about this. 00:23:05.920 --> 00:23:12.319 I want to just briefly look at one in Acts chapter 1, verses 4 to 11. 00:23:12.559 --> 00:23:13.920 It's very interesting here. 00:23:14.160 --> 00:23:22.960 Before Jesus was ascended to the heavens, after the resurrection, he was with his disciples in Jerusalem. 00:23:23.200 --> 00:23:31.839 And while staying there with them, verse 4, he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait. 00:23:35.119 --> 00:23:36.079 Interesting. 00:23:36.640 --> 00:23:38.880 He ordered them to wait. 00:23:41.680 --> 00:23:45.599 Wait for the promise of the Father, which he said, You have heard from me. 00:23:45.839 --> 00:23:51.200 And he had taught them, he had taught them that he would go to the cross. 00:23:51.519 --> 00:23:54.799 He had taught them that after three days he would be raised. 00:23:54.960 --> 00:23:57.839 And he also taught them that he was coming again. 00:23:58.000 --> 00:24:04.720 And he said, Now go and wait, in anticipation of the things that are to come. 00:24:06.480 --> 00:24:07.759 Verse 6. 00:24:08.480 --> 00:24:14.160 So when they had come together, they asked him, Lord, will you at this time now restore the kingdom to Israel? 00:24:14.319 --> 00:24:15.279 Is this the right date? 00:24:15.440 --> 00:24:16.960 Have we got it straight? 00:24:19.680 --> 00:24:31.839 And he said, It's not for you to know the times or the seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority, but you'll receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you'll be my witnesses. 00:24:32.079 --> 00:24:40.480 And he went on, and in effect he's saying, I am coming again, and yes, I will teach you a great deal about it. 00:24:43.039 --> 00:24:53.759 But the time and the chronology and the date and the precise sequence, while we can learn some things and we need to learn what is revealed, that's not the point. 00:24:54.079 --> 00:24:59.039 The point, the point really, is what we are doing in the meanwhile. 00:24:59.279 --> 00:25:01.759 In this case, they were to be as witnesses. 00:25:02.079 --> 00:25:10.960 Also, as in James' passage, quality character traits are to be developing while we wait. 00:25:12.720 --> 00:25:15.440 We know lots of things about it, just real simply. 00:25:15.519 --> 00:25:23.039 It will be preceded by a time of great opposition, intense persecution, painful tribulation, and personal difficulties. 00:25:23.200 --> 00:25:24.400 That's promised. 00:25:26.240 --> 00:25:30.240 That will precede the coming and the return of the Lord. 00:25:30.400 --> 00:25:40.799 Take what we call the Olivet Discourse, Matthew 24, 25, given on the Mount of Olives, hence the term Olivet, the Olivet teaching. 00:25:40.960 --> 00:25:45.440 And there are two entire chapters about the return of the Lord. 00:25:45.759 --> 00:25:48.799 Lots of data that is revealed. 00:25:49.200 --> 00:25:54.559 Among other things, the fact that it will be preceded by a time of great difficulties. 00:25:54.799 --> 00:26:01.200 In this world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. 00:26:01.839 --> 00:26:03.839 Lots more that could be said about that. 00:26:04.000 --> 00:26:07.519 It will come suddenly like a thief in the night without warning. 00:26:08.000 --> 00:26:11.119 Lots of passages that talk about that. 00:26:14.559 --> 00:26:20.720 And it will result in his being with us again. 00:26:21.119 --> 00:26:26.240 The real focus on the coming of the Lord is not the date in the chronology. 00:26:26.480 --> 00:26:31.759 The real focus on the coming of the Lord is He's gonna be with us again. 00:26:32.240 --> 00:26:33.599 He's going to be with us. 00:26:33.680 --> 00:26:51.119 The word parousia, which is one of three of the New Testament terms that is used for the return of the Lord, it's talking about his appearance, his presence with us, as though you are anticipating the return of a loved one. 00:26:51.759 --> 00:26:57.279 I hope you're anticipating the return of your beloved Lord. 00:26:57.599 --> 00:27:00.000 And the day is coming in which you'll be here. 00:27:00.160 --> 00:27:08.559 And the focus is not on the timing, the focus is on the reality of the presence of God with us. 00:27:09.119 --> 00:27:19.839 Just as he was with the early disciples and then left, so he will one day be with us, here on this earth. 00:27:20.079 --> 00:27:39.200 Just as he walked in the garden in the cool of the day with Adam and Eve before the fall, so after the consummation of all things there will be a new heaven and a new earth, and he will walk with us and talk with us and tell us that he is our own, the wonderful old hymn. 00:27:39.599 --> 00:27:46.000 The presence of God, whatever else we know about our future, Christ will be with us. 00:27:46.240 --> 00:27:52.559 The very best thing about heaven is not that I'm gonna get a mountain valley that I can explore. 00:27:52.799 --> 00:27:54.559 I'm looking forward to that. 00:27:55.200 --> 00:27:56.799 Private heresy of mine. 00:27:56.880 --> 00:28:00.000 I just think God probably is gonna give that to me. 00:28:02.000 --> 00:28:07.359 But the best thing about heaven is that Jesus will be with us. 00:28:08.880 --> 00:28:15.119 And it's a hope that it blesses us and purifies us. 00:28:17.839 --> 00:28:20.160 So he says, wait patiently. 00:28:20.640 --> 00:28:23.920 The interesting thing about this is that it's a command. 00:28:24.240 --> 00:28:26.640 Have you ever commanded a two-year-old to be patient? 00:28:27.200 --> 00:28:28.160 Be patient. 00:28:28.640 --> 00:28:30.319 A lot of good it does, right? 00:28:31.119 --> 00:28:35.759 How's God doing with us two-year-olds spiritually? 00:28:36.079 --> 00:28:37.519 It's a command. 00:28:37.920 --> 00:28:39.200 It's a command. 00:28:39.440 --> 00:28:42.880 It's not something that we can take or leave. 00:28:43.279 --> 00:28:51.359 In the good purposes of God, he is commanding us, and what he commands, he also enables. 00:28:51.759 --> 00:28:53.920 We're not left to our own strength. 00:28:54.240 --> 00:28:59.440 But this isn't a, I'll take category four for 500. 00:29:00.880 --> 00:29:02.079 That's not the way it works. 00:29:02.160 --> 00:29:03.119 This is a given. 00:29:03.279 --> 00:29:09.599 It's an assignment, it's a command, it's an instruction, it's an exhortation, it's an imperative. 00:29:09.839 --> 00:29:10.799 Be patient. 00:29:11.839 --> 00:29:16.160 And he goes on and says a whole bunch of other things about it. 00:29:17.519 --> 00:29:19.920 But it is a command. 00:29:20.160 --> 00:29:30.319 And the command is to look forward, and the example will be given of a farmer, but to look forward to the appearing of Christ. 00:29:30.559 --> 00:29:38.960 That is tied up with the practical, life-changing process of sanctification and transformation. 00:29:40.240 --> 00:29:46.240 The doctrine, the teaching of the Lord's return is practical, not theoretical. 00:29:46.319 --> 00:29:56.000 It's meant to change our lives, among other things, to engender patience as we patiently wait. 00:29:56.319 --> 00:30:04.720 The context in which this is given for these believers are the difficulties and trials that they were facing in their life. 00:30:04.960 --> 00:30:06.559 We have seen that throughout. 00:30:06.720 --> 00:30:12.559 He started out in chapter one and said, Count it all joy when you meet various trials. 00:30:12.720 --> 00:30:18.480 And he said in chapter one, verse 12, Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial. 00:30:18.720 --> 00:30:25.200 For when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised. 00:30:25.359 --> 00:30:37.920 And the focus is constantly on that future thing that God is going to do that works its way backwards by cultivating in our lives a godly patience. 00:30:54.640 --> 00:31:05.440 We are told to submit ourselves to what God is going to do in the future, and we do not control what God is going to be doing in the future. 00:31:06.400 --> 00:31:14.880 We are instructed to look forward to what God is going to do and to have that motivate us now. 00:31:15.440 --> 00:31:23.839 And we don't have any control over the return of the Lord, the timing, or the circumstances, or anything else. 00:31:24.000 --> 00:31:29.519 And yet he says, have patience as a farmer. 00:31:30.160 --> 00:31:36.000 And James is a master of taking practical illustrations out of everyday life. 00:31:36.160 --> 00:31:41.039 He learned that, I suspect, from his older brother, Jesus, who did that all of the time. 00:31:42.079 --> 00:31:46.960 And so what he says, be patient until the coming of the Lord. 00:31:47.039 --> 00:31:52.400 And then he says, see how the farmer, this is his illustration, this is how to define patience. 00:31:52.559 --> 00:31:56.720 This is what to expect of patience in our life and how it is developed. 00:31:56.960 --> 00:32:07.920 See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it until it, the earth, receives the early and the late rains. 00:32:08.079 --> 00:32:09.839 You also be patient. 00:32:10.160 --> 00:32:12.400 Establish your hearts for the coming of the Lord. 00:32:12.559 --> 00:32:14.400 Now what is he talking about here? 00:32:14.640 --> 00:32:20.960 Well, he was talking to an agrarian society, very familiar. 00:32:21.200 --> 00:32:26.079 It wasn't the 5,000-acre farms that we know of today. 00:32:26.160 --> 00:32:28.079 This was subsistence farming. 00:32:28.240 --> 00:32:35.200 They did not have all of the advantages that the farmers among us have. 00:32:35.680 --> 00:32:36.480 Where's Brian? 00:32:36.640 --> 00:32:38.160 I just saw him somewhere in other. 00:32:39.200 --> 00:32:40.240 There we go. 00:32:45.200 --> 00:32:48.960 You had no genetically modified seed. 00:32:49.680 --> 00:32:51.680 You had no irrigation system. 00:32:51.839 --> 00:32:54.720 You were totally dependent on the weather. 00:32:54.960 --> 00:32:59.759 Now, I totally get, Mike, our dependence on the weather. 00:33:00.000 --> 00:33:02.640 But this is magnified a number of times. 00:33:02.720 --> 00:33:06.240 And he talks about the early rains and the late rains. 00:33:06.480 --> 00:33:13.599 In the growing cycle in the ancient Middle East, in those days, here's the way a farmer's year went. 00:33:13.759 --> 00:33:15.519 He plants his seeds. 00:33:15.839 --> 00:33:18.880 I'm assuming he prepares the soil in some way. 00:33:19.680 --> 00:33:23.119 I'm getting out of my knowledge base when it comes to farming. 00:33:23.359 --> 00:33:27.200 But he prepares the soil, plants the seeds, and then he waits. 00:33:27.440 --> 00:33:28.640 What does he wait for? 00:33:28.799 --> 00:33:31.039 He waits for the early rains. 00:33:32.319 --> 00:33:39.039 The early rains, they came in October and November in the growing season. 00:33:39.119 --> 00:33:46.799 And what the early rains did is they provided moisture to the soil, which would allow the seeds to germinate. 00:33:47.279 --> 00:33:54.000 Without those early rains, you could plant all the seeds you wanted and you would get no results. 00:33:54.240 --> 00:33:56.799 And there was no irrigation system. 00:33:57.119 --> 00:34:05.519 And it was only when the storms of the early rains came that the seed of God, or the seed that the farmer planted, would germinate. 00:34:05.680 --> 00:34:12.239 And there are things in our lives that God is doing that only germinate in times of storms. 00:34:12.800 --> 00:34:14.079 We don't want it that way. 00:34:14.239 --> 00:34:15.840 That is the way it is. 00:34:16.079 --> 00:34:23.199 There are things we will only learn, qualities that we will only develop when it's a time of storm. 00:34:23.519 --> 00:34:27.039 So the early rains came and then there was a long wait. 00:34:27.119 --> 00:34:34.159 They had to wait for the early rains, but there was a long wait for the later rains. 00:34:35.280 --> 00:34:38.400 And they came in April and May. 00:34:38.639 --> 00:34:50.000 And what those later rains did would give moisture so that the germinated seed would flourish and there would be a harvest. 00:34:50.159 --> 00:34:51.440 But they had to wait for that. 00:34:51.519 --> 00:34:53.440 There was nothing they could do. 00:34:54.000 --> 00:34:58.480 It was totally there is nothing more out of our control than the weather. 00:34:58.880 --> 00:35:07.039 So what he says is take the example of a farmer who bets his life on a long wait. 00:35:09.199 --> 00:35:13.519 Who bets his life on a long wait. 00:35:16.880 --> 00:35:24.800 There are things that are going on in your life over which you have no control, and those are the things we get impatient about. 00:35:27.119 --> 00:35:30.159 And what he says is, trust me. 00:35:30.719 --> 00:35:32.159 I've got it covered. 00:35:32.400 --> 00:35:33.679 I am working. 00:35:34.800 --> 00:35:35.440 Wait. 00:35:37.280 --> 00:35:38.719 A four-letter word. 00:35:40.400 --> 00:35:41.039 Wait. 00:35:43.519 --> 00:35:50.079 The Christian's hope is found in submitting to something outside of his control. 00:35:50.239 --> 00:35:56.880 Like a farmer, the Christian bets his life on the outcome of a long wait. 00:36:00.639 --> 00:36:07.599 Do we know what it means to bet our lives on the outcome of a long wait over which we have no control? 00:36:07.920 --> 00:36:23.599 Namely, the working of God in our lives over the days, the months, the years, the decades, that we can barely, we don't influence what God does, we don't move God's hands, we don't make things happen. 00:36:23.760 --> 00:36:26.639 We submit to a God who works. 00:36:27.039 --> 00:36:38.800 And unlike the farmer who had a hope, he hoped that the rains would come, but they didn't always come. 00:36:39.840 --> 00:36:48.000 Our hope is sure and certain because it's a promise of God, and God does not go back on his promises. 00:36:48.400 --> 00:36:56.079 So we have a sure and certain hope of something that is not yet here, from which everything else depends. 00:36:56.480 --> 00:36:58.239 That's what faith is. 00:36:58.639 --> 00:37:03.360 Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 00:37:03.599 --> 00:37:06.559 Things that we see we don't have to have faith about. 00:37:07.360 --> 00:37:09.280 That's what Paul said in Romans 8. 00:37:09.360 --> 00:37:13.280 That's what the writer of the book of Hebrews said in Hebrews 11, chapter 1. 00:37:13.440 --> 00:37:28.159 Faith has to do with things that we can't control and things that we don't see, and we bet our lives, we walk by faith, we are dependent upon things we cannot produce and we cannot speed up. 00:37:29.920 --> 00:37:33.280 Welcome to the biblical Christian life. 00:37:33.519 --> 00:37:35.440 And so we're called to persevere. 00:37:35.599 --> 00:37:52.079 We're called to be faithful, we're called to trust, just like the farmer trusts the early rains to cause the planted seed to germinate, the later rains to cause that planted and germinated seed to flourish. 00:37:53.920 --> 00:37:58.000 There's nothing instant and there is nothing easy about it. 00:37:59.920 --> 00:38:05.280 I'm really hesitant to talk about not grumbling this morning because I woke up grumbling. 00:38:06.719 --> 00:38:07.920 Verse 9. 00:38:08.639 --> 00:38:13.679 Don't grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged. 00:38:13.840 --> 00:38:16.960 Behold, the judge is standing at the door. 00:38:17.119 --> 00:38:19.840 Real quick, a few things about grumbling. 00:38:21.440 --> 00:38:25.679 This is said in the context of the teaching of the Lord's return. 00:38:25.840 --> 00:38:29.440 I just want to underscore for about the 14th time in this message. 00:38:29.679 --> 00:38:37.280 The teaching on the Lord's return is not given to fill our minds, make charts, or ignore. 00:38:38.559 --> 00:38:46.320 It is given to change our lives and particularly to cultivate patience within us. 00:38:46.559 --> 00:38:55.679 The New Testament teaching of the Lord's return is invariably linked with practical exhortations to godly living now. 00:38:56.320 --> 00:39:03.599 So immediately on the heels of talking about the Lord's return, he says, Don't grumble so that you're not judged. 00:39:03.760 --> 00:39:06.880 Behold, the judge is standing at the door. 00:39:07.840 --> 00:39:13.920 The exhortation to grumbling is painfully pertinent to all of us. 00:39:17.679 --> 00:39:26.719 Squeezing the steering wheel, nice positive Christian gesture to the cars or get around, get 50 feet ahead as though that's going to do anything. 00:39:27.119 --> 00:39:28.239 Those stupid drivers. 00:39:31.199 --> 00:39:32.880 See, I do that really well. 00:39:34.480 --> 00:39:35.920 You do too. 00:39:37.039 --> 00:39:39.840 We do, as the people of God. 00:39:40.639 --> 00:39:49.360 Whenever things don't go the way we want them to, or things are out of our control, the tendency is to grumble. 00:39:50.480 --> 00:39:52.000 That's just the reality. 00:39:52.239 --> 00:39:54.159 Lots of things are out of your control. 00:39:54.320 --> 00:39:56.480 Decisions get made that you disagree with. 00:39:56.639 --> 00:39:57.360 I get that. 00:39:57.599 --> 00:40:00.159 Decisions are made that I disagree with. 00:40:01.280 --> 00:40:04.000