69 in your hardback timbral,
number 69. Safely through another week.
Let's all stand together. Safely through another week,
God has brought us on our way. Let us now a blessing seek, waiting
in His courts today. Day of all, the week the best,
Emblem of eternal rest. Day of all, the weak, the best. Emblem of eternal rest. While we pray for pardoning grace,
Through the dear Redeemer's name, Show thy reconciled face, Take
away our sin and shame. From our worldly care set free,
may we rest this day in Thee. From our worldly care set free,
may we rest this day in Thee. Here we come, thy name to praise,
let us feel thy presence near. May thy glory meet our eyes,
while we in thy house appear. Here afford us, Lord, a taste
of our everlasting feast. Here afford us, Lord, a taste
of our everlasting feast. May thy gospel's joyful sound
Conquer sinners, comfort saints May the fruits of grace abound
Bring relief for all complaints Thus may all our Sabbaths prove
till we join the church above. Thus may all our service prove
till we join the church above. Please be seated. Good morning. hymn is my prayer this morning. I hope that the Lord will be
pleased to comfort our hearts with the accomplished work of
our Savior. We're going to be looking at
a passage of scripture in James chapter 5, James chapter 5 this
morning. It's good to be home. We missed
you all, and I'm so very thankful for Robert and Bert stepping
in at the last minute last Sunday. I apologize we weren't able to
get here, but the Lord was merciful to bless you through them, and
I'm thankful for that. God's blessings on his word.
Our Heavenly Father, we're grateful that you've afforded us a blessed
opportunity to be here in this place, to be able to join our
hearts together in song and express the desire that you've put into
our hearts that Christ might be made all to us, that we would
be comforted, that you would Assure us once again that our
sin has been put away once and for all through sacrifice of
thy dear son, and that you remember them no more. We pray, Lord,
that you would fulfill that promise that you've made, that where
two or three are gathered together in thy name, there you are in
the midst. And Lord, that we would experience thy presence,
and we would hear your voice. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. In James chapter 5 at verse 7,
the Lord says to his people, be patient therefore. Be patient therefore. And the word there is endure. It's used down in in verse 10,
behold, we count them happy, which are patient, which endure
unto the end. In Matthew chapter 24, verse
13, the Lord said, he that shall endure to the end, the same shall
be saved. The only true and faithful evidence of salvation
is faith in the end. Faith in the end. That the Lord
would enable us to endure to the end. When in time, death opens the
door to eternity. Will I believe the gospel? Will I be found in Christ? Will I be trusting Him for all
my righteousness before God? Will He speak for me? Will God's justice be satisfied
through the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ for me? Is
Christ the one that I'm trusting? Is he my all? And is he in all
before God for me? That's what James is talking
about. He's talking about finishing the race, keeping the course,
being faithful to the end. Will I be able to say with the
Apostle Paul, I've kept the faith? I've finished the race. That's what it's all about. And I want you and I to be encouraged
by God this morning to endure. To endure. To be patient. To wait on the Lord. And to keep believing Him. About 20 years ago, Trish and
I had an opportunity to go to Hawaii, and unbeknownst to us,
we showed up in Kona the day after the Ironman competition.
The media had packed up all their equipment and left. The fanfare
was over. The crowds had dispersed. Everybody had gone home. There
were a few paper cups still laying around. The banners were taken
down. And as we drove around Kona,
we noticed the day after several men who could barely get one
foot in front of the other still running the Ironman race. The
finish line was still painted on the road, and they had that
in mind. I didn't see anybody encouraging
them. Had that been my brother, I would have been right alongside
of him. Don't give up now, you're almost there. Keep going. That's what he's talking about
here, enduring, finishing the race. We live in a society where
there's much fanfare for the winner. God says, finisher, the
finisher, the one who is able, by God's grace, to remain faithful
to Christ to the end. That's what counts. And I know
if you're like me, there are times when it's hard to put one
foot before the other. James speaks of, look with me
in our text. Be patient therefore, brethren,
unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman, that's
the farmer, The farmer, he waits for the precious fruit of the
earth and have long patience for it until he received the
early and the latter rain. Now, what is the early and the
latter rain? Israel is on the same latitude
as we are. The difference is that their
climate is much more arid than ours, yet their farming season
is like ours. It's in the wintertime. They
plant in November and trust rains to come at that time of the year
to germinate the seed and to get the plants started in their
growth. Those plants struggle all throughout
the winter because there's very little rain in that part of the
world until March. And March is when God opens the
windows of heaven once again, and the rain comes, and the plants
reach their maturity, and the fruit is born, and the people
rejoice. So that's the early and the latter
rains. Now, what is the spiritual implication of that? When is
it that God opens the windows of heaven for you and for me,
and pours out his grace and his mercy, his blessing? I'll tell
you when it is, the early rain. is when the seed of the gospel
germinates. It's your conversion. It's when God brings you to faith
in Christ. It's the moment of your regeneration
when God opens the windows of heaven, gives you eyes to see,
and the plant begins to grow. And yet between the early rain
and the latter rain, the plant struggles to stay alive, doesn't
it? It does. I mean, we live in a dry and
thirsty land, much like that arid landscape over there, and
it just struggles to survive until that day when God opens
the windows of heaven again and pours out his grace and his
mercy and calls us home. And then the fruit of all the
labor, the fruit of all our faith is experienced in its fullness. Wait for that. The farmer, oh,
it rains a little bit during the winter, just sparse showers
here and there, just enough to keep the plants alive. But unless
that March rain comes, the plants will not produce the fruit that
they need to produce. Isn't that our experience? The Lord was pleased to call
us to himself and show himself to us in salvation. And yet he
leaves us in this place where we struggle to stay alive. Wait, be like that farmer. Trust
God that in March the windows of heaven will be opened again
and the showers of God's blessings will fall. and they'll be so
much better than anything that you could possibly imagine. Possibly
imagine. You know, I thought, if you take
a three-year-old and put them in the corner for time out because
of misbehavior, To them, you've sentenced them to a life of solitary
confinement. I mean, your purpose is to give
them 10 minutes of time out. But in their minds, I mean, they're
just sentenced to life in prison. They're never coming out of there.
And they'll wail more than a convict who actually does get convicted
of solitary confinement for all their life. Why? Because of their
immaturity. because of their lack of concept
of time. All they can see is the immediate
circumstances. They can't see beyond that. And
we don't treat them with anger. We don't speak harshly to them
because they're feeling that way. We understand. We pity them. We're merciful towards them,
aren't we? Because we know that they're just small children and
they need to learn. I am just sure that that's exactly
the way the Lord looks at us. You know, when that window of
heaven is opened and we're received into glory, we're going to realize
then how insignificant all the things of this life that so disturbed
us, that so concerned us, they're going to be nothing. And yet,
right now, we're like that three-year-old. We're so immature. We have no
concept of time. You know, the Lord said, oh,
child, if you only knew. If you only knew. And he remembers
our frame that we're made of dust, and he's pitiful toward
us, and he's merciful toward us, because we measure everything
by this experience of time that we have in this world. And yet
God's standing on the other side of time, and he's prepared an
eternity of glory for us. And he's saying to us, be patient,
wait, endure. The latter rain's coming. The
windows of heaven are going to be open. If you've experienced
the former rain, then you have hope. If the plants have begun
to grow and they're taking root as struggling as they are, you
have hope that the latter rain will come. And when it does,
you're going to be ashamed of how childish you were in your
estimation of this world and the time that you had in this
world. Isn't that the way it is? And the Lord's speaking to
us as His children, as we would speak to our little child and
say to them, you know, that 10-year-old that you take his toy away from
for 24 hours, well, you know, they think, well, their whole
life is lost, you know? And isn't that the way we are? Child of God, your redemption
draweth nigh. It is sooner than you think. It's sooner than you think. And
if you can't receive those words with joy, if that kind of talk
seems negative and morose to you, if it seems like, well,
what are we talking about death for? Then I fear that you've
not experienced the former rain, the early rain. If you're not
anticipating the latter rain, We don't think about the coming
of the Lord Jesus Christ and the end of our life in this world
with negative thoughts. Oh, we rejoice in the day. We
say with John in Revelation, come, Lord Jesus, even now, come. That's what James is saying. Be patient therefore, brethren,
unto the coming of the Lord. The only way to be sure that
you will have faith in the end is to have faith now. That's
the only way to be sure. Now faith is the gift of God. And yet the Lord, what God requires
and what God commands, God must provide. Nevertheless, he speaks
to us in these words of exhortation, doesn't he? In these words of
admonition. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be
saved. Lord, I can't believe unless you give me faith. Turn. And what does the believer say? Oh Lord, turn me and I shall
be turned. Call upon the Lord Jesus Christ.
Come to Christ. Lord, I can't. You're gonna have
to enable me. Repent and be baptized every
one of you Lord. I can't change my mind. I can't
change my heart Lord I'm to God God commands these things in
order to expose our inability and cause us to depend upon him
for that and So when he says be patient wait Endure to the
end Lord. If you don't keep me, I won't
be capped. I Lord, if you, turn with me
to Romans chapter 16. Look at verse 24, Romans chapter 16. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
be with you all, amen. Now to him, that is of power
to establish you. And that word establish is used
in James chapter five. We're gonna see it. He's the
one who establishes you. He gives you a firm footing.
He gives you a rock on which to stand. He gives you the ability
to endure and to believe to the end. How does he do it? How does
he do it? according to my gospel and the
preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery. The gospel is a mystery to the
natural man. He can't receive it. He can't
see it. He can't understand it. He comes into this world with
such a works mentality. He's just convinced that somehow
he's got to present something to God in order to earn God's
favor. He's got to do something at some
point. And the Lord says through the preaching
of the gospel, the good news, The good news is that God, according
to his own will and purpose before time ever began, chose a particular
people, etched their names in stone, dipped his finger in the
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, and wrote their names in the
Lamb's Book of Life. Unchanging, our God is. Unchanging. There's our hope. that when the
Lord Jesus Christ came into this world, He lived out a life of
perfect righteousness. He satisfied the demands of God's
law. Every jot and every tittle, in
action, in word, in thought, in deed, the Lord Jesus Christ
pleased God. He did something that you and
I have never been able to do. Not for a moment. He did it his
whole life. And after having pleased God
with perfect faithfulness and perfect obedience on behalf of
his people, he went willingly to Calvary's cross and suffered
the full wrath of God's judgment in order to satisfy divine justice,
in order to put away our sin so that he who knew no sin was
made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in him." Oh, trusting. This is the gospel of God's free
grace. The Lord Jesus Christ was not
allowed to remain in the tomb. God Almighty must raise him from
the dead. He must receive him back into
glory. And the Lord Jesus Christ ascended
unto glory and took his rightful place at the right hand of the
majesty on high. And he ever lives, right now,
making intercession on behalf of his people so that the gospel
of God's grace is the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
This is the means by which God establishes us. Oh, I have to
keep hearing the gospel? Why? Because there's something
in me that gravitates back towards works. There's something in me
that keeps looking to the law. There's something in this world
that keeps drawing my flesh and I need to hear about Christ in
order that God might, now to Him that is of power. Paul said, I'm not ashamed of
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ in the first chapter of
Romans, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone
that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Gentile. This
is the message of God's salvation, the work of Christ, the preaching
of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery. Oh Lord, would you reveal to
me? Would you make Christ known to me? Would you enable me to
set my affections on things above, where Christ is seated at the
right hand of God? Lord, if you'll do that, then
I'll have hope that when the latter rain comes, the heavens
will be opened, the fire of God's wrath won't fall, it's been quenched. The fire of God's justice and
wrath fell on Calvary's cross 2,000 years ago. And that's the
only thing that makes the latter rain, the latter rain, something
to look forward to. When God once again opens the
windows of heaven and pours out his grace and calls us home. Oh, it's soon, my little child. I know you're like that three-year-old
who's been given time out. I know you're like that plant
struggling to stay alive. But endure to the end. Wait,
be patient, therefore, brethren. Be like that husbandman, trusting
God to send the latter rain. You can see the last part of
verse 25, which was kept secret since the world began, but now
is made manifest by the scriptures of the prophets according to
the commandment of the everlasting God made known to all nations
for the obedience of faith. God considers faith obedience. You say, you want to obey God?
Do you want to obey God? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
You see, for the obedience of faith. Did you get that? God considers your faith that
he gave you in the Lord Jesus Christ, your obedience. That's glorious to me. You see, God's not pleased with
half-hearted obedience. He's not pleased, and that's
all we can ever accomplish, isn't it? That's all we can ever do.
We could just do our best, and our best is never really our
best, is it? God's not pleased with that.
He's pleased with Christ. And when God speaks of obedience,
He's not talking about doing your best. He's talking about
keeping the law perfectly before God. How are you going to do
that? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. It's the obedience of
faith. And that's what gives us hope
in knowing that in just a little while, I know young people, you're
looking at me and you're thinking, well, you're an old man and you're
close to the end and I'm young and I've got my whole life before
me. Well, let me tell you something, your whole life is not as whole
as you think it is. It's not. I promise you, it's
not. It's a flash in the pan. Here's
what James says, what is your life? It is a vapor here today
and gone tomorrow. It's a vapor. That's what this
life is. Oh, we get so tied up in investing
all of our energy and all of our resources and all of our
efforts in this world, don't we? We're so worldly. And we are. We are. That's why we have to eat beer
in the Gospel. And you're a new man. We'll acknowledge that old
man for what he is. And you'll say, oh, yes, Lord,
that's me. Oh, give me the faith to look
to Christ and to endure to the end. Verse 8 in our text, James chapter
5. Be ye also patient. Now, he's not talking about just
being patient with your circumstances, we ought to be. And if we're
trusting the Lord, believing that everything he has sent into
our lives is good for us, then we'll be patient. But he's talking
about enduring to the end. Be patient, establish your hearts. Why? For the coming of the Lord
draweth nigh. It's near. It's nearer than you
think. Peter put it this way, he said,
a day is as of a thousand years, a thousand years is as of a day
with the Lord. I would not have you to be ignorant,
brethren. Turn with me to 1 Thessalonians
chapter 3, please. 1 Thessalonians. Verse 12. Now I know James, the
way the Lord words this in James, it's a command. It's a command. Establish your hearts. Be patient
to the end. Endure. Keep putting one foot
before the other. And remember what God commands,
God must provide. And so let's compare those verses
with 1 Thessalonians chapter 3 at verse 12. And the Lord make you to increase
and abound in love one toward another and toward all men even
as we do toward you to the end that he may establish your hearts
unblameable in holiness before God even our father at the coming
of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints. He's the one that must establish
us. He's the one who must keep us
faithful to the end. Turn with me to 1 Peter 1, right
after James, 1 Peter 1. Beginning in verse 2, this is
to the elect. of the elect according to the
foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the
Spirit, for obedience. Remember that little preposition
unto is actually for. It's not talking about unto your
obedience, unless your obedience is to trust Christ, that's your
obedience. But it's for the obedience of
Christ and the sprinkling of his blood, Grace be unto you
and peace be multiplied. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy
hath begotten us again unto a lively hope. What is your hope? What is your hope? I know Adam and Rachel right
now are hoping to get married this week, and Lord's timing,
that hope's gonna be fulfilled, and that's a good hope. But that's
not the hope of their heart. Not the end hope, is it? What
is your hope? Hope for a new house, a new whatever. Men place all kinds of hopes,
don't they? This is a lively hope and it's
given to us by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
What evidence does God give us to know that he's going to raise
us to glory? The firstborn among many brethren. The Lord Jesus Christ's resurrection
is the first fruit. And we look to his resurrection
as evidence that God was satisfied with what he accomplished. and
raised him from the dead and received him back into glory.
And there's our hope. We're enduring to the end, hoping
that we'll be found in Christ. To an inheritance. Look at verse
4. To an inheritance. Are you hoping for an inheritance?
Are you hoping for a rich uncle to leave you a bunch of money?
Is that what you're hoping for? Oh, this inheritance is so much
better than that. To an inheritance incorruptible
and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven
for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto
salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. Is that your hope? Is that your
hope? Oh, like those poor guys trying
to finish that race in Kona, I want to come along beside you
and put one foot before the other. Keep believing, keep trusting,
and ask the Lord to keep you until that latter rain comes. Lift up your heads, for your
redemption draweth nigh. Let not your heart be troubled.
I know things of this life are so disappointing sometimes, and
oftentimes we become so frazzled with the circumstances we're
in. God's ordained them, every one of them. Let not your heart
be troubled. You believe in God? Believe also
in me, for in my Father's house are many mansions. If it were
not so, I would have told you, I go and prepare a place for
you. And if I go, I will come again
and receive you unto myself so that where I am there, you may
be also." It's all prepared. It's all prepared. The wedding feast has been, the
table's spread. There's nothing for you to bring.
Nothing for you to bring. The Lord Jesus Christ prepared
it all. When he ascended back into glory
and presented himself before the Father, the word of God did
not return unto God void. He took with him the names of
those for whom he lived and died, and he presents them right now
before God. He is our advocate before the
Father. Jesus Christ is the righteous
one. Oh, are you anxious for him to
come? Endure. Wait. Establish your
hearts. Turn back with me to James. David put it like this. Can you
pray with David and say, Lord, make me to know my end. The number of my days. Can you
say that? Thou hast made my days as a hand
breath, and my age as nothing before thee. That's what David
said. God says your age, three score
and ten, and if by a matter of strength it's four score, those
last years are going to be with much pain and sorrow. It's nothing. It's nothing. Verse 10, take my brethren, the
prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord for an example
of suffering, affliction, and of patience, endurance, waiting
on the Lord. Behold, we count them happy,
which endure. If you're not happy right now,
it's not because of your circumstances. It's not. That doesn't make happiness. Not real happiness. Not the happiness
of your soul. Not the rest of your heart. Not that peace of God that passes
understanding, that enables you to wait on Christ. That's a work
of grace in the heart. That has nothing to do with your
circumstances. That has everything to do with
endurance. It has everything to do with
patience. It has everything to do with God working in your heart,
enabling you to look to Christ. Behold, we count them happy,
which endure. You have heard of the endurance
of Job? Same word. You've heard of the
patience of Job? Now you read the book of Job,
and Job was not a patient man. I mean the longer his sufferings
lasted, the more angry he became, the more accusative he became
towards God. Let me bring my case before your
throne of justice. I'll prove to you that I'm innocent.
I'll prove to you that I don't deserve this. This isn't fair.
That's what Job said. And yet the scripture says you've
heard of the patience of Job. Job, like you and me, was like
that three-year-old stuck in the corner, weeping and wailing
because he thought that he had been sentenced to a life of solitary
confinement. And the father's looking at him. Job was a believer. And just
like in Hebrews chapter 11, all those believers that are mentioned
in Hebrews chapter 11, the account of them in Hebrews 11 and the
reality of their circumstances in the Old Testament are much
different. Why? Why? Because Hebrews 11 is the
way God saw them. And their experience is what
they went through. And what God sees is the way
it is. So God talks about the endurance
of Job, the patience of Job. That's because Job was a believer. And the Lord had mercy upon him.
He remembered that he was made of dust, just like you, just
like me. He pitied him. He felt sorry for him. He knew
that he couldn't understand what God was doing. He knew that he
couldn't comprehend eternity. He was stuck in this thing called
time. And he thought, you know, just
all is lost. You have heard of the patience
of Job and have seen the end of the Lord. It was the Lord that stopped
Job from complaining. It was the Lord that intervened
in Job's life. It was the Lord that spoke peace
to Job's heart so that The Lord is very pitiful and
of tender mercy, just like you are when your little
children can't comprehend the time that they're in. So
the Lord is pitiful and merciful toward you and toward me. Endure. Wait. Be patient. The latter rain's coming. It's
coming. All right, let's take a break. Thank you very much.