Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of Proverbs, chapter 25. Proverbs 25. I'd like to look at one verse
of scripture, verse 15. The scripture declares, by long
forbearing, is a prince persuaded, and a soft tongue breaketh the
bone." Our passage today sets forth
the principle that man by nature, and few people at least that
I know, especially me, seem to have mastered this principle. that is known as patience, long-suffering. We're naturally prone to overreact,
to jump the gun, and to do as my dad used to say, as I've told
you so many times, this was his phrase, we're going to do something
today, boy, if it's wrong. But the scripture declares It's unfavorable to the natural
man and it's quality that is needed, desired by God's people. And when taught by the Spirit
of God, it is honoring to the Lord. How many times are we admonished
in the scriptures to wait? to be patient in long suffering,
to wait on the Lord. He who worketh all things after
the counsel of His own will. He whose will is going to be
done. Wait. The scripture declares, now we
exhort you brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the
feeble-minded, support the weak, and be patient toward all men. Patient. Colossians 3.12, put
on therefore as the elect of God, holy and beloved, vows of
mercy, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering. So a heart made to be patient.
made to be quietly waiting and trusting that the Lord is going
to do that which he pleases, a heart that honors and respects
him and his way, is a good thing. Think of the anxiety that we'd
be delivered from. Boy, I'm telling you, I'm so
prone to, I'm going to handle this thing right now. I'll pick
up the phone. I'll make a phone call. I'll
get it taken care of. The scripture declares in verse
15, by long suffering, is a prince, and that is, actually it means
one in authority, or in our verse, I'll show you, one who thinks
he's in authority. By long suffering is a prince
persuaded. Like I said, when it comes to
natural things, those things that one would desire to have
a hand in persuasion, a mild and gentle way, thought, forbearance. That's right. That's the right
way. Patiently waiting. By patiently waiting, the scripture
sets forth that one might be persuaded. But a proud, haughty, uncontrolled,
argumentative spirit will probably have the wrong result. Solomon declares in Proverbs
15, 1, a soft tongue breaketh the bone. A soft answer turneth
away wrath. but grievous words stir up anger. So while this verse truly sets
forth, naturally speaking, that we can handle so many situations
in our lives in a very honoring way, waiting, patient, long-suffering,
trusting. Talk to the Lord about it. That's
the right way. Talk to Him about it and wait
on Him. But when it comes, and this is
where I'm going to go, you know, the Proverbs always has a natural
meaning. You know, we've said it so many
times. We've been in this book now since 09, trying to go verse
by verse. And Proverbs is naturally understood. But if we don't see the gospel
in it, then we don't see it. We miss it. If it's just the
natural understanding, anybody can understand that. But let's
look at this thing and just think in this verse of scripture for
just a minute concerning salvation, how God saves a sinner, how the
Lord saves a sinner. Whenever it comes to salvation
for a believing parent, a believing husband, wife, or someone, what
believing loved one doesn't desire that God show mercy to one of
their own. You parents that believe, you
husbands, you wives that believe, that have unbelievers in your
family. How many of you truly fail to
desire that God have mercy? The Apostle Paul said in Romans
10, 1, Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel
is that they might be saved. He truly desired God save his
brethren. For years, before the Lord was
pleased to reveal Christ to me, I was taught and I believed that
salvation could be obtained by my ability to go out and set
forth a presentation. Now, I mean, I'll just be real
honest about it. I mean, we were taught, we had
classes on how to go out and take a set of scriptures. I had my Bible marked. I could
turn here, and I could turn to Romans 3, 23, and I could, you
know, all of sin to come short of the gift of God's faith. And I truly thought that I could
go and methodically set forth a presentation before someone,
and I could convince them from the scriptures. I could show
them the scriptures and lead them to the Lord. I had the ability
to do that. And if I detected that there
was some interest there, or it appeared as though there was
some interest there, we were actually told, this right here,
while the iron is hot, strike while the iron is hot. And if
I could get them on their knees and get them to pray a sinner's
prayer, because I'd pray it for them, you know, and I'd say,
just repeat after me. I'd get them to pray and pray,
pray, you know, and ask, you know, to say the words, you know,
Lord, I ask you to come in my heart. And I truly believe if
they asked that, that the Lord would then save
them. I don't know if anybody else
in here believed that, but I did. I believed it. And it's wrong. Salvation is of the Lord, not
of me, not of my ability. I know this, the Lord is going
to have mercy and compassion on whomsoever He will. And we can, we do, we're encouraged. I tell you, invite somebody to
come. They're going to have to be under
the sound of the gospel of God's free grace. Not by works, not by man's works. It's not something we do in order
to be saved. God's people do believe, but
they believe after the Lord's given them life, given them faith,
then they believe. We get to cart before the horse,
and we encourage men to come, and sit, and listen, and we pray
for them. We read the scriptures together,
but we're going to have to wait on God. Concerning salvation, God's word
absolutely eliminates any ability of man to do something to cause
men to believe. The scripture says concerning
salvation, listen to John 1.13, which were born, born again,
Not of blood. I've told you so many times,
just because my parents may have been believers, that doesn't
actually mean I'm a believer. Not of blood. Doesn't run through
the blood. Nor the will of the flesh. What
does that mean? It means not of the will of men. Instead, I have a free will.
The scripture says we don't. That's what that scripture means.
Nor the will of man. I want God to save my kids, my
grandkids. I pray God saves them. Paul prayed
that his brethren would be saved. So salvation, men and women are
born again, not of blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor the
will of man, but of God. We never give up hope. As long, you heard Brother Scott
say this, how true, as long as there's breath in somebody's
lungs, there's hope, there's hope. Think about that thief
on the cross. He was leaving this world and
leaving soon. And God saved him. He saved him. What? By his own ability? No. He pleased
the Lord. Salvation is of the Lord. So
when we consider the Lord's exhortation, in this scripture right here,
to be forbearing, by long forbearing, that is, we waiting on the Lord. Yes, that's true. Forbearing,
calm patience. This is what forbearing means,
calm patience under provocation, slow to express Resentment or
acts of punishment, we wait on God. We wait on the Lord. But oh, think of the glorious
forbearing and patience of God. Almighty God, do you think God
knows who He's going to save? Known unto the Lord are all His
works from the beginning. Does God know all of His sheep?
He knows them. He's going to call them out.
Why did he not call any of them out before he did? I think of
the forbearance and long-suffering of God. How many times have I
told you this? Oh, there was a time in my life
that I could have been labeled a scoundrel. Same heart right
now, it's just the Lord's restrained it. But the scripture says in
2 Peter 3.15, an account that the longsuffering of our Lord
is salvation. I think if the Lord would have
taken me out of this world before He called me by His grace, I
bet you a bunch of you could say the same thing. How merciful
God was to me. Longsuffering, longsuffering.
When I deserved, I deserved condemnation. I deserved it. But the Lord was
pleased to not send it. by the forbearing and long-suffering
of God toward His own. The Lord who beheld the Lamb
slain from before the foundation of the world. The Father who
first trusted in Christ to save His elect. Oh, the forbearance of God toward
His sheep before they were converted. How long by His mercy and compassion
did He withhold deserved judgment? And while many, even God's elect,
ignorantly question why the world and the things that we're going
through or the way they are, let's remember that Almighty
God is allowing this world to continue because He's still got
some sheep. He's got some sheep in this world.
He's going to save them. They were chosen before the foundation
of the world in Christ, and God's going to save them. That's what
the Lord said, John 6, 37. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. If there's some sheep that haven't
been born yet, Oh, the forbearance of God, putting up, just wait,
wait on the Lord. 2 Peter, here's a verse that's
been misquoted so many times. I've heard people say, well,
the Lord is not willing that any should perish. That's not exactly what it says. 2 Peter 3.9 says, the Lord is
not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness,
but is longsuffering to usward. Who is Peter talking to? Go back
and look. He's talking to God concerning
the elect. He's longsuffering to usward,
not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
God Almighty is God of people. that he's everlastingly loved
and has entrusted to the Son and Christ laid down his life
for the sheep. That's what he said in John 10,
15. I lay down my life for the sheep. He prays for the sheep. He said in John 17, 9, I pray
not for the world. I pray not for the world. But
I pray for those that you've given me out of the world. Look
that up. Be like those at Berea. Search
the Scriptures and see if these things are so. And those for
whom Christ died shed his blood. You think one drop of that blood
was shed in vain? Nope. He shall not fail. The scripture
declares, by forbearing, waiting on the
Lord, is a prince persuaded. Concerning that prince, now I'll
wrap this up. Concerning that prince, is a
prince persuaded? When the Lord wrestled with Jacob
in Genesis 32, the Lord asked Jacob, supplanter, trickster,
hookster, men by nature, what is thy name? What's your name? And Jacob said, Jacob, that's
my name. And the Lord replied in verse
28, Genesis 32, thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but
Israel. For as a prince, thou has power
with God and with men and has prevailed by faith. No, your name's not trickster,
huckster, rebel, liar, cheat. It's not your name. And if God
says that's not His name, that's not His name. Your name is Israel,
a prince with God. I got to thinking as I looked
at that, I wonder how long the Lord looked upon Jacob as being
a prince according to God's will and God's purpose, God's mind. God's heart. How long do you
think Jacob was a prince with God? Always. Always. Always. 2 Timothy. Remember that? I'll just read
this to you. It's not in my notes so I'll have to look at it quite
quick. I know what it says but I want to read it to you. 2 Timothy
1.9. Who has saved us and called us. with a holy calling,
not according to our works, but according to his own purpose
and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world
began. How long has all of God's Jacobs
been princes to the Lord? They've always been his princes.
He gonna call them out of darkness in time. According to God's will
and purpose, good pleasure, His counsel, He said, I've loved
you with an everlasting love. Therefore, therefore, have I
called you. By long-suffering, by forbearing
as a prince persuaded, waiting upon the Lord to do that which
only the Lord can do, those that are His, He's going to have. So instead of us trying to manipulate
men and, you know, browbeat them and shame them, what do we do? We preach the gospel to them,
Mark. We just preach the gospel to them. Just preach the gospel. Tell them what the Lord has said
He's going to do. Tell them that God's got a people.
Tell them that God has mercy and compassion on whomsoever
He will. Tell them that. and then wait on God to do what
God's going to do. By long forbearing is a prince
persuaded, and a soft tongue breaketh the bone. A soft tongue
breaketh the hardness. That's what it means. That's
what it means. The hardness. The tender word of the gospel,
heard by that new heart, in regenerating grace, that word that is truly
the voice of the shepherd. That's what the Lord said. My
sheep hear my voice. I've told you so many times,
how does the Lord speak? He speaks through His Word, by
His Spirit. I can't make anybody hear. The hear and hear, the see and
I, God gives that. I can't make anybody, but I can
do what he told me to do. I can preach the gospel to you.
I can tell you the truth. And by that soft tongue, that
tender, tender tongue, the tender words of the gospel, when they
come in power, it's like the same word that's a hammer. The
same word that is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged
sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, of
the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and
intents of the heart. That word breaks the hardness. That's the word. That's the word. That uncompromising rebellion
of man, God knows how to break him. God knows how to obey him. He does it by His Word. So when
the Spirit blesses His Word to the object of His mercy, He breaks
them. He said, I'm going to take that
heart of stone out. I'm going to give you a new heart.
And they hear. They hear. I remember years ago
when the Lord was pleased to reveal Himself to me. I'd read
these scriptures, and I'd read them, and I'd read them, and
I'd read them, and I never saw, I never saw, I never saw God's
sovereignty. I never saw electing, I never
saw that. But it's an amazing thing. Once
God gives a seeing eye, you can't but see it. Once he
gives a hearing ear, you can't but hear it. I mean, this book
is complete concerning the glory of God and the salvation of His
elect. He's going to save them. Wait
on Him. Wait on Him. Pray for them. Pray
for them. That's what Paul said. Brethren, pray for us. Pray that
God be pleased. Who knows? That's what the apostles
said. Pray for adventure. The Lord
may be pleased. Call Him up. I pray so. I pray
God bless this word to our heart and to his glory. Amen.