Good evening. Let's open tonight's
service with hymn number 37. Number 37, How Great Thou Art. Let's all stand together. Number
37. O Lord my God, when I in awesome
wonder Consider all the works Thy hands have made, I see the
stars, I hear the rolling thunder, Thy power throughout the universe
displayed Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee ? How
great Thou art, how great Thou art ? Then sings my soul, my
Savior God to Thee ? How great Thou art, how great Thou art
? When through the woods and forest glades I wander ? ? And
hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees ? ? When I look down
from lofty mountain grandeur ? ? And hear the brook and feel
the gentle breeze. Then sings my soul, my Savior
God, to Thee. How great Thou art! How great Thou art! Then sings my soul, my Savior
God, to Thee, How great Thou art! How great Thou art! And when I think that God, His
Son not sparing, Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in. ? That on the cross my burden
gladly bearing ? He bled and died to take away my sin ? Then
sings my soul my Savior God to thee ? How great Thou art ? How
great Thou art ? Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee
? How great Thou art ? How great Thou art ? When Christ shall
come ? With shout of acclamation ? And take me home ? What joy
shall fill my heart ? Then I shall bow ? In humble adoration ? And
there proclaim ? My God how great thou art Then sings my soul,
my Savior God, to Thee. How great Thou art! How great Thou art! Then sings my soul, my Savior
God, to Thee. ? How great Thou art ? How great
Thou art Please be seated. Good evening. We're going to
read from Psalm 86, one of my favorite Psalms. I think maybe
we've read it recently. But let's read it again. Psalm 86. A Psalm of David. Bow down thine ear, O Lord. Hear me, for I am poor and needy. Preserve my soul, for I am holy. O thou my God, save thy servant
that trusteth in thee. Be merciful unto me, O Lord,
for I cry unto thee daily. Rejoice the soul of thy servant,
for unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. For thou, Lord, art
good and ready to forgive and plenteous in mercy unto all them
that call upon thee. Give ear, O Lord, unto my prayer,
and attend unto the voice of my supplications. In the day
of my trouble I will call upon thee, for thou wilt answer me. Among the gods there is none
like unto thee. O Lord, neither are there any
words or works, I'm sorry, like unto thy works. All nations whom
thou hast made shall come and worship before thee, O Lord,
and shall glorify thy name. For thou art great and doest
wondrous things. Thou art God alone. Teach me thy way, O Lord, and
I will walk in thy truth. Unite my heart to fear thy name.
I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart. I will
glorify thy name forevermore. For great is thy mercy toward
me, and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell. O
God, the proud are risen against me, and the assemblies of violent
men have sought after my soul and have not set thee before
them. But thou, O Lord, are a God full of compassion, gracious,
long-suffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth. O, turn unto
me, and have mercy upon me. Give thy strength unto thy servant,
and save the son of thine handmaid. Show me a token for good, that
they which hate me may see it and be ashamed. because thou,
Lord, hast opened me and comforted me. Let's pray together. Our gracious heavenly Father,
thank you for revealing Christ to us in this psalm. Thank you for showing us, Lord,
that he is the one who has poured out his soul unto thee, and you
have given him that token, that sign of his resurrection, and
received him back into glory, that we might have a savior,
an advocate, seated at thy right hand whoever lives to make intercession
for us. Father, we pray that you would
cause your word to be living and effectual in our hearts tonight.
We pray, Lord, that you would reveal more of Christ to us,
that you would cause us, Lord, by your spirit and by your grace
to bow in worship. to trust Christ for all of our
salvation. For surely there are no works
like the work which he performed. Father, we pray for Jeff and
ask Lord that you would bless his studies and his preaching
this Sunday and that you would give light and hope and encouragement
to our brethren in St. Pete. but we ask it in Christ's
name, amen. Number 352 from your hardback
teminal, 352. Let's stand together again. ? Jesus, lover of my soul ? Let
me to thy bosom fly ? While the nearer waters roll ? While the
tempest still is high ? Hide me, O my Savior, hide ? Till
the storm of life is past ? Safe into the haven guide ? Home receive
my soul at last ? Other refuge have I none ? Hangs my helpless
soul on thee Leave, ah, leave me not alone, still support and
comfort me. All my trust on thee is stayed,
all my help from thee I bring. Cover my defenseless head with
the shadow of Thy wing. Thou, O Christ, art all I want,
more than all in Thee I find. Raise the fallen, cheer the faint,
heal the sick and lead the blind. Just and holy is thy name. I am all on righteousness. False and full of sin I am, Thou
art full of truth and grace. Plenteous grace with Thee is
found, Grace to cover all my sin. Let the healing streams
abound, Make and keep me pure within. Thou of life the fountain
art, freely let me take of thee. Spring thou up within my heart,
rise to all eternity. Please be seated. We saw in the psalm that we just
read that our God is long-suffering and he reveals himself that way
many times in his Word. Tonight I'd like to begin with
2 Peter chapter 3, if you'd like to turn with me there in your
Bibles, 2 Peter chapter 3. And we're going to be looking at the long-suffering
of our God. Aren't you thankful that he is
a God who is long-suffering? That word means that he's steadfast,
he's patient, he's slow in avenging, he's not hasty to retaliate. Long-suffering is just the opposite
of being short-tempered. and I need a God that's long-suffering. Here in our text in 2 Peter 3,
at verse 15, the Lord tells us to account, to consider this,
account this, reckon it to be so. Account that the long-suffering
of our Lord is salvation. The long-suffering of our Lord
is salvation. I have four points I would like
to make about how it is that the long-suffering of our Lord
is salvation. The first one is that his long-suffering
in judgment against this world is the salvation of his elect. The second point is that his
long-suffering with his children is for their salvation. The third
point is that his long-suffering is not eternal suffering. There
will come an end to the long-suffering God when it comes to the judgment
of this world. And the fourth point is that
his long-suffering experienced by God's grace and by his Spirit
will manifest itself as a fruit of the Spirit which we know in
Galatians chapter 5 is long-suffering. I want to be long-suffering,
I want to be patient. I don't want to be hasty, short-tempered. I don't want to be quick to take
things into control. I have enough experience of having
done that and know the bad result that comes as a result of that.
May God give us a spirit of long-suffering. In Exodus chapter 34, when the
Lord speaks to Moses on Mount Sinai, he says, the scripture
says, and the Lord passed before him, before Moses, and the Lord
proclaimed his name to Moses. And here's the name that he gave
Moses, the Lord, the Lord God merciful and gracious, long suffering
and abundant in goodness and truth. Here the Lord is revealing himself
to us as a God who is long-suffering. It is God's long-suffering as
we just read in 2 Peter chapter 3 that is salvation. Why has the Lord not brought
his wrath and judgment against this world yet? Well, because
there's still some of his elect that have not yet been brought
to faith in Christ. And when the last of his children,
his lost sheep are found, his long-suffering will end. Scripture tells us, turn back
with me just a couple of pages to 1 Peter chapter 3 and look
with me at verse 20. Peter's using the example of
Noah. And he's saying, which sometimes
were disobedient when once the long suffering of God waited
in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing wherein few,
that is eight souls were saved. Why was God long suffering during
the days of Noah? We don't know exactly how long
it took Noah to build the ark. Probably from what we can tell
in the scriptures, near a hundred years. and he was preaching the gospel
to that generation. And he did not bring judgment,
the deluge did not come, the judgment of God and the destruction
of the world did not come until the ark was prepared. So Peter's
not saying that God was being long suffering toward the generation
of Noah, he was being long suffering to Noah until there was a an
ark that would bring salvation to Noah. And so the judgment
of God could not come until Noah had a safe place to have refuge. In the same way, the wrath of
God could not fall on Sodom until Lot was taken out of the city.
So the long-suffering of God is the salvation of his people. God is long-suffering right now
in pouring out the full fury of his wrath against a rebellious
unbelieving world until the salvation of his elect. We might be tempted to think
sometimes, Lord, what are you waiting for? Well, there's what
he's waiting for. He's waiting for the fulfillment
of his purpose. Turn with me to Revelation just
over a few pages from where you are, Revelation chapter 6. And
look with me at verse 10. These are the saints in glory. And they cried with a loud voice
saying, how long O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge
and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? So the
saints in glory are waiting for the wrath of God. And the Lord
answers their question in verse 11. And white robes were given
unto every one of them. And it was said unto them that
they should rest yet for a little season until their fellow servants
also and their brethren that should be killed as they were
should be fulfilled." So it not until the Lord's answering the
question of these believers in glory. Lord, when are you going
to bring this rebellion against you to an end? When the last
of my elect is brought into my house, then the end will come."
So the long-suffering of God, the restraining of his judgment
and wrath against this world is the salvation of his elect. If the Lord was to destroy this
world before His elect would say they wouldn't be saved. So
the Lord's just saying, I'm long suffering as I was in the days
of Noah. One reason, one reason only,
there's still lost sheep to be saved. One reason why the Lord
hasn't yet returned and brought an end to this whole
thing is because those whom the Father has chosen and those whom
the Son has redeemed, the Spirit of God has not yet regenerated. This world exists for one reason,
scriptures are clear, exists for one reason, the salvation
of God's people and the salvation of the Lord, of the long-suffering
of the Lord in bringing judgment against this world. is our salvation. He's not gonna lose one of his
sheep. All of them will be saved. They'll all be brought in. Why didn't the Lord destroy Israel
in the wilderness? Because Joshua and Caleb had
to bring the children of God into the promised land. And it
wasn't until that happened that generation would die off. Why was he long suffering toward
the rebellion of Israel? He often punished them and he
often called them a stiff neck people. Why was he long suffering
for all those years? Well, the Messiah had to come.
the Messiah had to come. So the long-suffering of the
Lord is salvation. Without his long-suffering, we
would have no hope of being saved. Secondly, his long-suffering
toward his elect is their salvation. How God is long-suffering many
of us were not called by his grace until adult years. Why? The Lord should have justly,
justly, we look at our lives before the Lord called us, we
think, Lord, why didn't you kill me? Why didn't you? You know,
there's so many times that, no, the long suffering of God is
your salvation. You belong to the Lord and he,
and he, and he, held off his wrath and judgment until you
were brought in faith to Christ. The Lord allowed that thief on
the cross to spend his whole life in rebellion against God.
He was long-suffering toward that thief and then the Lord
Jesus hanging there next to him speaks his truth and compassion
and love to him. and gives him a word that's more
assuring than any other believer that we know of in the scriptures.
This day, thou shalt be with me in paradise. And the Lord
was long suffering all the way to then, wasn't he? That man's salvation purposed
of God and God was long suffering toward him to bring glory to
Christ and encouragement to God's people. The man who was born blind, the
disciples said, Lord, is it because of his sin or because of the
sins of his parents? Neither, but that the works of
God might be manifest in him. I've been long suffering with
him all these years, but now I'm gonna show him my mercy. I'm gonna show him my grace.
The long suffering of God is salvation. The Lord was long
suffering towards Saul of Tarsus. Saul of Tarsus breathing out
threatenings, arresting believers, taking them and having them condemned
to death. God was long suffering toward
him until that appointed hour, that day in which the Lord had
ordained to reveal himself. Aren't you
thankful that the Lord was long suffering toward you Before that
day of light and life came, when the voice spoke from heaven and
said, what did the Lord say to Saul of Tarsus? Saul, Saul, why
persecutest thou me? Who art thou, Lord? I'm Jesus
of Nazareth, whom thou persecuted. Oh Lord, what would you have
me to do? The long suffering of God brought
Saul, Paul, the Apostle Paul said, I was a blasphemer. I was an injurious man. I was
worthy of God's wrath and judgment infinitely times over. And yet
the Lord was merciful to me and he was long suffering toward
me. He had an appointment with God,
didn't he? He just didn't know it. But the Lord was gonna make
sure he kept that appointment. And one day, as he was on the
road to Damascus, it is God's goodness and it is
God's long suffering that leads us to repentance. Turn with me
to Romans chapter two. It's not the, the threatenings
of God's wrath. What is it that broke Saul of
Tarsus' heart when the Lord spoke to him from heaven? He realized
what he had been doing. I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. I'm the son of God. And Saul
knew right then that it was only by God's long-suffering that
he had been preserved to that moment. He knew right then that
God should have killed him many times over. So it was It wasn't,
the Lord didn't appear to him and make threatenings toward
him. The Lord appeared to him and revealed his goodness to
him, his long-suffering to him. Look at Romans chapter two at
verse four. Or despiseth thou the riches
of his goodness and forbearance and long-suffering, not knowing
that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? It's his
love that leads us to repentance. It's his long-suffering. When
we hear the gospel and the Lord shows us what we're worthy of
and what we're deserving of, and we realize that it's only
by his goodness and mercy and long-suffering that he's preserved
us to that moment to reveal Christ in us. That's the love of God. Turn with me to 1 Timothy 1.
It's the goodness of God that leadeth to repentance. Look what
Paul says about himself here in 1 Timothy 1 at verse 15. And this is a faithful saying
and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners. of whom I am chief. Chief. Now look at the next verse. How
be it for this cause I obtained mercy that in me first, Jesus
Christ might show forth all longsuffering. What smote Saul of Tarsus' heart
was how God would have put up with him in what he was doing.
And Paul saying, my salvation is a pattern for all believers
and how God in his long suffering preserved you to that time, that
appointed hour when he would be pleased to reveal himself
in you. It's his long suffering. When we are brought to see how
patient the Lord has been with us in our hearts, our hearts
are broken. We're brought to see that he
remembers that we're made of dust and he delights in showing
mercy and that he withholds that which we deserve justly, condemnation. We know that it's his long suffering,
it's his goodness, it's his mercy that leads to repentance. How
many times the Lord told the children of Israel, said, it
doesn't do any good for me to whip you anymore, to beat you,
you don't repent. The wrath and judgment of God,
it never brings a man to true repentance. It might curb his
behavior for just a little while, but the law doesn't, the law
doesn't really Doesn't really change the heart. Only grace
does that. The long suffering of God is
salvation. It is salvation. Turn with me
to Isaiah chapter 63. Look at verse seven. I will mention the
loving kindnesses of the Lord, and the praises of the Lord,
according to all that the Lord hath bestowed on us, and the
great goodness towards the house of Israel, which he hath bestowed
on them according to his mercies, and according to the multitude
of his loving kindness. For he said, surely they are
my people, children that will not lie, So he was their savior
in all their afflictions. He was afflicted. And the angel
of his presence saved them in his love and in his pity, he
redeemed them and he bare them and carry them all the days of
old. It is the goodness of God. It
is the long suffering of God. It is the love of God that leadeth
to repentance. And that's what Peter's saying.
Peter's saying the long suffering of the Lord is salvation. His long suffering in not yet
destroying this world with fire is the salvation of his elect
that have yet to be brought to Christ. And our salvation, our
salvation, when it comes, is a result of the fact that God
was long-suffering toward us before we believed. I carried you, I bore you as
a shepherd would his sheep. I spoke
kindly to you. The Lord has no need to, well,
you're in Isaiah, turn back with me just a couple of pages to
Isaiah chapter 42. He has no need to raise his voice
or to threaten his children in order to get them to succumb.
That's not how the Lord, that's, you know, we do that because
we're trying to We're trying to get control of a situation
that we feel like we've gotten out of our control, don't we?
So we use anger and threats and all sorts of things in order
to try to, the Lord doesn't have to do that. Look at Isaiah chapter
42 at verse two. He shall not cry nor lift up
nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. He doesn't have
to go around making threats. in order to get men to bow to
him? A bruised reed shall he not break? And a smoking flax shall he not
quench? There we are, weak. You know, the lights almost out,
brokenness and he said, I'm not going to take you and discard
you or make things worse for you, I'm going to treat you with
loving kindness and gentleness and that will cause you. We love him because he first
loved us, don't we? We don't love him because he's
threatened to condemn us. If we don't, we love him because
he first loved us. When the Lord, the bridegroom
in the Song of Solomon speaks to his bride, what gentleness
he uses, what kindness he uses in speaking to his bride. He tells her how, he speaks to
her with tenderness and encouragement and when the Lord spoke to his
prophet and told him how to preach. He didn't say, you know, beat
the sheep. He didn't say threaten them and whip them into shape. I've never
really understood that style of preaching. He said, comfort
ye. Comfort ye my people, speak ye
comfortably unto Jerusalem. Tell them their warfare is accomplished. Tell them their iniquity has
been pardoned. Tell them they've received of
the Lord double for their sin." There's no need for God to raise
his voice or threaten us to get us to succumb, that never works. All the All the times of God's
judgment that he exercised on the unbelieving Israel, they
never repented. When Nathan went to David, God
had been long suffering to David. David had been going nine months
at least. hiding his sin of having killed
Uriah and taken his wife. And Nathan comes to David. Nathan didn't have to raise his
voice to David. He didn't have to stick his finger
in his chest and make threats to David. He said, oh, David,
don't you see that you're the man? Thou art the man. It stole the sheep from his neighbor. And David was broken. And David
wrote Psalm 51 as a result of that. He was broken by that. It's love that breaks the heart,
isn't it? When the Lord had just told Peter
that night, before the cock crows, you're gonna deny me three times.
And now before the cock crows, and after Peter had denied the
Lord three times, our Lord comes out. Well, the scripture says
his appearance was not of a man. They had beaten him, pulled out
his beard, flogged him. He was a bloody mess. I can only
imagine that his eyes were swollen and yet he fixes his gaze on
Peter. And it wasn't a look of judgment
or disappointment or anything that would shame Peter in that
sense. It was a look of affection, it
was, oh Peter. And what's the scripture say?
And Peter went out and wept bitterly. He wept bitterly. He saw in our
Lord's eyes, a look of compassion and love. And the Lord treats
his children the same way today. You know, when we find ourselves
in need of God's long suffering, he speaks with kindness and gentleness
and tenderness to us. You don't need to do anything
else. How oftentimes the disciples were afraid and the Lord would
appear to them and say, be not afraid. Why not? Because it is I. That's why you
don't need to be afraid. I'm not here to hurt you, I'm
here to save you. In first Kings chapter 19, when
Elijah was fleeing from Jezebel, he was afraid and he went to
Mount Horeb, which is the mountain of the law, same as Mount Sinai.
And he goes up on a mountain and the scripture says that God
sent a mighty wind so that it broke the rocks and the Lord
was not in it. And then the Lord sent an earthquake
so that the ground was shaken and the Lord was not in it. And
then the Lord sent a fire and the Lord was not in it." All those things that Elijah
may have been, you know, we look for some great demonstration
of God's power and how did the Lord speak to Elijah? A still,
small voice. Elijah, what are you doing here? Why'd you run back to the law?
I was long-suffering. I've been long-suffering toward
you, Elijah. And you've run to the mountain of the law in order
to try to find a place of escape. Now, oftentimes you and I do
the same thing. And when the Lord speaks, it's
a still small voice and he shows us his mercy and his loving-kindness
and his long-suffering. And the long-suffering of the
Lord is salvation. It is salvation. Well, my third point is that
the long-suffering of God is long, and thank God that it is,
but it's not eternal. There will come a time when all
salvation will have been accomplished and the long-suffering of God
will end. For individuals, for churches,
for nations, for the world, the Lord has made it clear that Well
2 Thessalonians chapter 2 speaks of the Lord letting, or as the
word is, restraining the man of sin. He's restraining the
man of sin until the coming of Christ. And then he's going to,
and then the full fury of God's wrath will come against this
world. The Lord is clear on that. When
we read in Revelation chapter six, Lord, how long? How long? Well, until salvation is finished,
until it's completed in all those that the father chose and all
those for whom Christ died, God's long suffering is gonna continue
until salvation is accomplished. The long suffering of the Lord
is salvation. And my final point is, and every
believer wants this spirit, don't we? It is the spirit of God. Galatians chapter five says,
and the fruits of the spirit is love and joy and peace and
long suffering. Oh Lord, I want that. I want to be long suffering.
I want to be kind and forgiving, even as God, for Christ's sake,
hath forgiven me. You see, the experience of God's
longsuffering in our hearts is the means by which the Lord enables
us to show some longsuffering toward one another. It always
works that way. We're only able to forgive because
we've been forgiven. We're only able to love because
we've been loved. We're only able to be patient because God's
been patient with us. He'd been patient with us. Turn
with me to Ephesians chapter 4. Ephesians chapter 4. Verse one, I therefore, the prisoner
of the Lord, beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation
wherewith you are called with all lowliness and meekness, with
long suffering, forbearing one another in love, endeavoring
to keep the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace. There's
one body, one spirit, even as you are called, and one hope
of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and
father of us all who is above all and through all and in you
all. But unto every one of us is given grace. That's what I
need. I need more grace. Every one of us is given grace
according to the measure of Christ. One last verse, turn with me
to Matthew chapter 18. You know the story, the parable
that our Lord tells about a king who goes to collect from one
of his servants who owes him 10,000 talents and the servant's unable to pay
and he begs for forgiveness. And then that servant turns around
and insist that his servant pay him a penance, a piddling amount
compared to what he owed the king. And here's what the king
says to that man in chapter 18. Look at verse 33. Then his Lord, after he had called
him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that
debt because thou desirest me. Shouldest not thou also have
had compassion on thy fellow servant, even as I had pity? That word pity is the word longsuffering. Even as I had pity on thee, I
was long-suffering toward you. I was pitiful toward you. I showed you pity. I was compassionate
toward you. Should you not have been that
way to your brother? The long-suffering of the Lord
is salvation. It is salvation. by his grace
be long suffering toward us and enable us to be that way to one
another. Our Heavenly Father, thank you
for your word. Lord, thank you. For being. Long suffering. Toward us. We would not be saved. Except
that you are long suffering. Lord, might we rejoice in that
grace, trusting Christ and give us your spirit with all his fruits
that we might be long suffering to one another. We ask it in
Christ's name, amen. 290 and the hard back 10, 290.
? Be still, my soul, the Lord is
on thy side ? ? Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain ?
? Leave to thy God to ordain thy salvation ? ? And provide
? In every change ? Ye faithful will remain ? Be still, my soul
? Thy best, thy heavenly friend ? Through thorny ways ? Leads
to a joyful end Be still, my soul, thy God doth undertake
to guide the future as He has the past. Thy hope, thy confidence,
let nothing shake. All now mysterious shall be bright
at last. Be still, my soul, the waves
and winds still know His voice who ruled them while He dwelt
below. Be still, my soul, the hour is
hastening on, when we shall be forever with the Lord. ? When disappointment, grief
and fear are gone ? ? Sorrow forgot, love's purest joys restored
? ? Be still my soul when change and tears are past ? All safe
and blessed we shall meet at last.