I want to remind you that we
won't be having services this Wednesday evening. When Paul was speaking of walking
worthy of that calling wherewith we're called, he said to do so
with all lowliness and meekness. And here's what we're going to
consider tonight. with long-suffering for bearing one another in love. Now, the key to long-suffering
and forbearance is love. You will be long-suffering and
forbearing with people you love. You will be if you really love
those people. It's the absence of love that
will cause longsuffering and forbearance to be absent. Longsuffering and forbearance,
forbearing one another in love, is so beautiful. It is graciousness. That's the best way to describe
it. It's graciousness. Now longsuffering, is an attribute
of God. God is long-suffering. He describes himself as long-suffering,
and it is a part of what Paul calls the fruit of God the Holy
Spirit. Love, joy, peace, and I think
that has to do with our fruit towards God. Long-suffering,
gentleness, and goodness. That has to do with our fruit
before man. Faith, meekness, and temperance
has to do with self. Now would you turn with me for
a moment to Matthew chapter 18. Long-suffering and forbearance
in love is being patient with the inconsistencies contradictions
and others, but it goes further than that, being long-suffering
when you're sinned against. And this passage of scripture
will tell us exactly what that means. Matthew 18 verse 21, then
came Peter to him and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin
against me and I forgive him? Till seven times, and I have
no doubt that Peter thought he was being very generous in that.
I mean, if I forgive him seven times, I'm doing something. This
is special. He felt like he was magnanimous
in this way of forgiveness. Seven times. And I'm sure he
felt good about himself when he said that. And look what the
Lord said. Verse 22, Jesus saith unto him,
I say not unto thee until seven times, but until 70 times seven. And what that means is all the
time. It doesn't mean after 491, you
can start quitting being forgiving. It means all the time. Now, read this parable. Therefore, verse 23, Therefore is the kingdom of heaven
likened to a certain king which would take account of his servants.
And when he begun to reckon, one was brought unto him which
owed him 10,000 talents. Now, I read everything I could
about how much money that was, and it could be as much as $1
billion. The point behind this is this
was something no one could pay back. No one could pay off this debt. Verse. Twenty five, but for as
much as he had not to pay this one who owed him ten thousand.
Talents and he had nothing to pay. He couldn't even pay a dime
on this. He had nothing to pay. His Lord
commanded him to be sold and his wife and children and all
that he had and payment to be made. He was to be put in debtor's
prison. His wife, his children were to
be put in debtor's prison and they were going to stay there
till the payment was made, which it wouldn't be made. He didn't
have anything. Now, how could you come up? Think
about this. How could you come up with a
billion dollars right now? If you owed a billion dollars, is
there any way you could come up with that money? I'll start
saving. Well, you won't make that much money in your lifetime.
It's not going to happen. But look at this man's response. The servant, verse 26, the servant
therefore fell down and worshiped him saying, Lord, have patience
with me. Now that word patience is the
word that's generally translated long-suffering. That's the same
word that we looked at in Ephesians four, be long-suffering toward
me, have patience with me, be long-suffering toward me and
I will pay thee all. No way. There's no way he could
pay him back. He doesn't have anything. And
he says, be long suffering toward me and I'll pay you back. Why?
You know that that man knew that he couldn't pay him back. This was beyond his ability. Verse 27, then the Lord of that
servant was moved with compassion and loosed him, set him free
and forgave him the debt. Now, I tried to put myself in
the place of this man and I would have been irritated. I'll have
patience with me. I'll pay you back everything.
There's no way. And that's the point behind this
figure. This was a debt that could not be paid. Have patience with me. I'll pay
every nickel of it. But this glorious person who's
representing the Lord himself, he was moved with compassion. The Lord's gracious and compassionate. He delights in mercy. He was moved with compassion
and set him free and forgave him the debt. Now, can you imagine
what that must have felt like to be a billion dollars in debt,
not having a penny to pay, and all of a sudden it's gone. You're
debt free. You do not owe a thing anymore. Can you imagine? Whatever money
you owe now, what if you didn't owe it anymore? It was just forgiven,
set free. Verse 28, but the same servant
went out and found one of his fellow servants which owed him
100 pence. About $15, about $15. You know, there's not a lot you
can get with $15. You can't, it's not much money. And he laid hands on him and
took him by the throat saying, pay me that thou owest. And his fellow servant fell down
at his feet and besought him saying, have patience with me,
be long-suffering toward me. Same thing that he had said to
the man he owed a billion dollars to. have long-suffering, be long-suffering
toward me, have patience with me, I'll pay you back. Now, this
man could have done that. $15, everybody in here, you can
come up with $15 somehow. I'll give it to you if you need
it. Don't anybody ask me. Verse 30, and he would not, but
went and cast him into prison till he should pay the debt. After being forgiven a billion
dollar debt, he would not forgive a $15 debt. I had the fellow
thrown into debtor's prison. So verse 31, when his fellow
servants saw what was done, They were very sorry, and they came
and told unto their Lord all that was done. Then his Lord,
after that 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 on
thee? And his Lord was wroth. and delivered him to the tormentors,
till he should pay all that was due unto him. So likewise shall
my heavenly Father do also unto you, if you from your hearts,"
not just saying it, but from your hearts, forgive not everyone,
his brother, their trespassers. Now, if the Lord, here's the
way the Lord forgave us. We had a debt that we couldn't
pay possibly. He frankly forgave all of that
debt for Christ's sake. Christ put it away, all my debt
is gone. And I'm to be long-suffering
like He is. For somebody that owes me $15,
I'm to forgive it quickly. Now when the Lord proclaims His
name to Moses in Exodus 34, and this is God's description of
Himself, He says, the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious,
long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy
for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and
that will by no means clear the guilty. I love that about the
Lord. He forgives iniquity and transgression
and sin, yet He will by no means clear anyone that's guilty. Now, only the gospel shows us
how that is. Because of what Christ did for
me, I'm not guilty. That's what justification is.
When Christ put away my sins and gave me His righteousness,
it means that I have never sinned. I stand before God without guilt. If I've been guilty, He won't
cleanse me. Christ put it away and I stand before Him without
guilt. Now, turn with me to Psalm 103. We can't understand anything
about longsuffering unless we see what the Lord means by longsuffering. Psalm 103, verse eight. The Lord, Psalm 103, verse eight,
the Lord is merciful and gracious slow to anger. Now that's the
same word that's translated long suffering. He's slow to anger. I think of the Lord getting mad
at me. Don't you? He seems some thing
I do or some attitude I'm espousing. I think he gets mad at me. Not
in Christ. He's slow to anger. Long-suffering and plenteous
in mercy. He will not always chide, neither
will he keep his anger forever. And here's what long-suffering
is. He has not dealt with us after
our sins. nor rewarded us according to
our iniquities. Aren't you thankful for that?
That he hadn't dealt with you after your sins? Or rewarded
you according to your iniquities? For as the heaven is high above
the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As
far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions
from us. Like as a father pitieth his
children. Everything about your children
is important to you. So the Lord pitieth them that
fear him, for he knoweth our frame. He remembereth that we're
dust. Aren't you thankful for that?
The long suffering of God. He knows my frame. Now, I don't
even know my frame. I know a little bit about how
bad I am, but I don't even realize how bad, how weak, how contradictory,
how sinful I am. I've got to admit one time, it's
been years and years ago. I don't think I'd say it now,
but years and years ago, Lynn and I were speaking negatively
about somebody, which I was, she wasn't, it was me. And she
said, what do you think people would say about you or me? I
said, what would they say? Everybody's sitting there thinking,
did you really say that? I mean, are you that blind? Yeah,
at the time I meant it. It shows how stupid and blind
I was and am. The Lord remembers our frame. He knows that we're nothing but
dust, weakness, sinfulness. And we ought to remember that
about each other. That's what longsuffering is.
That person is like me. They got problems. I feel sorry
for them. I pity them. That's what longsuffering
is. Turn with me to 2 Peter 3. And remember, what we're talking
about is what Paul calls the worthy walk. We've already considered
humility and meekness. And here he's talking about longsuffering
and forbearance in love. Now in 2 Peter 3, verse 9, the Lord is not slack concerning
his promise, As some men count slackness, but as longsuffering
to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should
come to repentance. I think it's amazing people try
to use this verse to prove that God wants to save everybody.
Why? It says he's longsuffering to
usward, not willing for any of us to perish, but that every
one of us come to repentance. Well, who's the usward? The usward's
the elect of God. He's long-suffering to usward.
And He's not willing for any of His elect to perish. But come
to repentance. Come to a complete change of
mind about who He is, who they are, how He saves. Look in verse
15. And account that the long-suffering
of our Lord is salvation. Everybody He is long-suffering
toward He saves. Aren't you thankful for this
attribute of God? Those he loves, he's long-suffering,
slow to anger, not willing for any of them to perish. And if
he's not willing for you to perish, you know what? You're not gonna
perish. His long-suffering is salvation. Now, long-suffering
is also the fruit of God, the Holy Spirit. It's a attribute
of God, an attribute that he possesses when he describes himself,
long suffering. And it's also a part of what
is called or what Paul calls the fruit of the spirit. Love,
joy, peace, long suffering. Long-suffering. If I have the
fruit of God, the Holy Spirit, I am long-suffering for bearing
one another. And that means to put up with
one another. To put up with one another. Not
because you have no choice and simply have to live with it,
but in love. In love. Love or charity, as
the King James Version calls it, is a supernatural thing that
only a believer possesses. It's not found in the heart of
a natural man. Oh, he loves people who love
him, but he doesn't know anything about this thing of charity.
John said, beloved, let us love one another. That's the same
word charity, because love is of God. Everyone that loveth,
without exception, everyone that loveth is born of God. and knoweth God. He that loveth
not knoweth not God, for God is love. Now I'm going to give
you about 25 or 30, I'm not going to even comment on them, but
just portions of scripture that deal with this thing of loving
one another and forbearing one another. The Lord said, by this
shall all men know you're my disciples by your love. one to another. Now catch this
phrase, one to another. If I, the Lord, your Lord and
master have washed your feet, you ought also to wash one another's
feet. This is my commandment that you
love one another as I have loved you. So we being many are one
body in Christ, and members one of another. Members of the same
body. Be kindly affection one to another. In brotherly love, preferring
one another. Be of the same mind one to another. Let us not judge one another
anymore. Romans 14, 10. Be like-minded one to another. Receive one another. As Christ
received us, how did he receive you? That's how you're to receive,
and how to receive one another. Salute one another with a holy
kiss. Defod ye not one another. Tarry for one another. Have the
same care one for another. By love, serve one another. Be kind one to another. Bear ye one another's burdens,
and so fulfill the law of Christ, submitting yourselves to one
another. Let each man esteem another as better than himself. Lie not one to another, forbearing
one another and forgiving one another. Comfort one another
with these words. I like this. Provoke one another.
To anger and irritation? No. Provoke one another to love
and to good works. Speak not evil of one another. Grudge not one against another. Use hospitality one to another. Be subject to one another. Confess your faults to one another. That doesn't mean confess your
sins. Joe Terrell said something to
me a couple of weeks ago when he was at the house, and I thought
this was good advice. What's in the closet, keep it
there. That's good advice. You don't want to confess your
sins to somebody, but you confess your faultiness, your weakness,
Now, the people we love are all, without exception, like us. Very
imperfect. Very contradictory. Flawed. Sinful people. Amen? That's the truth about
every one of us. To forbear in love is to accept
them as they are without being judgmental. Let me repeat that. To forbear in love is to accept
them as they are without being judgmental, being keenly aware
that the log in your own eye the logs in your own eye, render
you incapable of being judgmental toward anybody else. That doesn't
mean you condone their sin, doesn't mean you think something's okay,
but you accept them. I want to be accepted, don't
you? You accept them without being judgmental. Now, the older
I get, The more sinful I see myself
to be. Is that your experience? I know
it is if you're a believer. The older I get, the more sinful,
the more weak, the more dependent upon Christ I see more of my
need of Him than I ever have. It has to be for me that all
God looks to is Christ. That's it. I can't deal with
anything else. You know, forbearing is not condoning sin,
but that person's sin is a burden to them. Is your sin a burden
to you? Is it a burden to you? Sure it is if you're a believer.
It's a horrible burden. bear ye one another's burdens. Is it a burden to him? Put up
with it. You're a burden to him too. Bear
ye one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. Now you want the Lord to be long-suffering
to you, don't you? Oh, you want the Lord to be long-suffering
to you. I think it's interesting when
Paul gives us the great definition of charity in 1 Corinthians 13,
that glorious chapter regarding charity. What's the first thing
he says about charity? Charity is long-suffering and
kind. If you love somebody, you'll
be long-suffering toward that person. Now, I know that I want
the Lord to be long-suffering toward me. You know what? I want
you to be long-suffering toward me, too. I'd like for you to
give me the benefit of the doubt, put the most positive construction
on anything I do. Don't judge my motives. Be long-suffering. You want that for yourself, and
may God give us grace to be that way toward others. Turn with
me to Colossians 3. Colossians 3. Verse 12, put on therefore as the elect
of God, holy and beloved. You know, that describes every
one of the elect, holy and beloved of God and beloved of each other. Every single one of God's people,
holy. Put on, therefore, as the elect
of God, holy and beloved, vows of mercy, kindness, humbleness
of mind, meekness, longsuffering, forbearing one another and forgiving
one another. If any man have a quarrel against
any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. That's forbearing one another
in love. Now, that's being quick to forgive,
not holding people's feet to the fire, not trying to bring
them under law, not trying to hold them to a standard that
you yourself don't really hold yourself to. Now, what I thought
about when I thought about this was I thought about David. David
gives us so many good examples, but he gives us so many bad examples,
too. I thought of David. Let me tell you the story. David
was a man after God's own heart, and he was not fulfilling his
responsibilities. When kings were going out to
war, he stayed at home. He wasn't doing his duty. He
was loitering. He was not doing what he should
do. I think that statement is true, although it
doesn't tell enough of the story. An idle mind is the devil's workshop.
Well, it is. It is, but a full mind is the
devil's workshop also. I mean, we're easy fodder for
him. If he wants to tear us apart,
he can. Thank the Lord. He protects us
from him. But at any rate, David was walking
on the rooftop when he should have been out with the armies,
and he spies a woman by the name of Bathsheba, a beautiful woman,
and she's bathing. And he sees her, and in a horrible
abuse of power, because he was the king and he could do whatever
he wanted to, he said, go get her and bring her to me. And
she just happened to be the wife of one of the mighty men of David,
a very fine man by the name of Uriah, who's listed in that list
of David's mighty men in 2 Samuel chapter 23. It is David's Uriah. He was a faithful man. He'd been
loyal to David. good to David, one of David's
mighty men. And you know what David does?
He commits adultery with his friend's wife and she becomes pregnant. And so he's going to try to cover
his sin. And he calls Uriah back in. He thought, well, he'll sleep
with his wife and He'll think that he's the one who did this
and everything will be okay. But Uriah wouldn't do it. He said, my buddies, my friends
are out there fighting, sleeping on the ground right now, and
I'm not going to come in and sleep with my wife. I'm loyal
to these friends. I mean, you see the loyalty and
the courage of this man. And so when David saw that wouldn't
work, then he Next day, he got him drunk, and he thought, if
I can get him drunk, he'll go in, his inhibitions will be gone,
and he'll go in to his wife then, and everything will be okay.
And he still wouldn't do it. And he comes up with a plan.
And this is so cold-blooded. He comes up with a plan. He said,
I'm going to give you a letter, and you take it back to Joab.
He knew this man was so faithful that he wouldn't open that letter.
And he gave that man a letter which was regarding his execution. And he wasn't worried about Uriah
opening it, reading it, and not going through. He delivered it
faithfully, this faithful man, Uriah. He delivered it faithfully
to Joab. And in this letter, David said
to Joab, he said, now here's what I want you to do. I want
you to go to the hottest place of the battle with Uriah. Then
I want everybody to retreat to make sure he gets killed. And
he even implicates Joab in his wicked scheme. Now this is David.
This is the man after God's own heart. And how cruel, how cold-blooded
to give this man the letter, this faithful man for his own
execution. So Joab goes through with it. They get up to the hottest point
of the battle. They all retreat and let Uriah be put to death. Murder. What hypocrisy, what horrible abuse of power. David
was a mess here. And so nine months later, Bathsheba
has that baby. So he had gone a year at any
rate, business as usual. He doesn't demonstrate any remorse,
any repentance. Hey, I'm the king. I can do what
I want. God's put me in this position. And he demonstrated
such a horrible attitude. You can read about this in 1
Samuel 11 and 2 Samuel 11 and 12. And then the Lord sends him
a prophet. His name was Nathan. And Nathan
tells David a story. There was a man who had one sheep
that he loved dearly. That sheep actually ate from
his table with his kids. Now how that happened, I don't
know. I don't know, he was up on a stool and would just eat
food off a plate, but that sheep actually ate with him and he
loved his sheep like a daughter. And there came traveler to his
neighbor who was a very wealthy man who had many flocks. And that man thought, I don't
want to give up one of my sheep to this guy. So he went and stole
that man's lamb, killed it, and served it for dinner to his guest. And David was listening to that.
He said, as the Lord liveth, that man is going to be killed.
He was so angry. He was furious. That man's going to be killed.
You know, he could see so clearly the sin in others. And that's when Nathan said,
David, you are the man. You're the one I'm describing.
You're the man. that can see so clearly the sin
of others and refuse to have a long-suffering attitude, and
you want to kill them. And that's precisely what you
are guilty of. I don't think he said, David,
thou art the man, in a real, well, I don't know how to say
it. David, that's you. And it broke David's heart. But
you know what he said right after that? But the Lord hath put away
your sin. That's when David went out and
wrote Psalm 51. That's when his heart was broken.
When he heard the Lord had put away his sin. And have mercy
upon me, O Lord, according to thy loving kindness, according
to the multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out my transgression. The absence of longsuffering
can be so hard on others, killing, and so easy on ourselves. Now may the Lord enable us to
be longsuffering, patient, slow to anger, not holding people's
feet to the fire, Not even judging them. That doesn't mean you're
condoning what they're doing, but you know that whatever they
do, you know deep down that you're worse than they are. You really
believe that. Forbearing one another in love. And that is how we're to endeavor
to keep the unity of the spirit. With all humility, with meekness,
with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love. I'd like to end with a passage
of scripture in Ephesians chapter four. Now, the gospel simply stated
is found in this verse of scripture and how every believer is called
upon to conduct themselves is stated very clearly in this passage
of scripture. Ephesians chapter four, verse
32, Ephesians chapter four, verse
32. And be ye kind one to another. This is the one I didn't read
when I read you all the one another's in the New Testament. I didn't
read this one because I wanted to save it for last. Be ye kind
one to another, tender hearted, not hard hearted and judgmental
and harsh, tender hearted, forgiving one another. Now, if
you're going to have a relationship with me, you're going to learn
how to forgive. If I'm going to have to have
a relationship with you, if I'm going to have a relationship
with you, I'm going to have to learn how to forgive. Isn't that
so? Now look what he says. forgiving
one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven you. Why did he forgive you? Well,
because I was so sorry, because I promised I wouldn't commit
that sin anymore. Because I can be so helpful in
his kingdom, all these silly things people would come up with.
He forgives me because I, you missed it. If I comes in there
at all, you have missed it. He doesn't forgive you because
you did anything. Now here's the gospel. God, and
this is the only reason he needs, and it's the only reason he uses,
God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. So be kind one to another. tenderhearted, forgiving one
another. That's all encompassed in this thing of being long-suffering, forbearing
one another in love. May God enable us to be this. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you that salvation
is for Christ's sake. How we thank you for your long
suffering, for your forbearance of us, for Christ's sake. Lord,
how we thank you that you're so glorious that you can be merciful
and forgiving and compassionate and long-suffering and yet by
no means clear the guilty. Lord, we stand amazed at thy
gospel. Lord, enable us by your grace to be long-suffering as you're
long-suffering to us for bearing one another in love. In Christ's
name we pray. Amen.