I know I shall see in his beauty
the king in whose law I delight, who lovingly guardeth my footsteps
and gives me songs through my depression. Turn with me, if you would, to
Exodus 34. Exodus 34 and let's read our
verse which is our text which is verse 6 And the Lord passed by before
him and proclaimed the Lord the Lord God Merciful and gracious
Long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth. We looked at mercy. We looked
at grace. Tonight we're going to look at
longsuffering. I'm going to do a word study
on longsuffering, which means patience. The longsuffering,
the patience of our Lord. Through these attributes that
our Lord has given us in his word, attributes that describe
his character and describe his ways and describe his desires. Through all of these things,
we know more and more of him. We are going to spend eternity
getting to know him. You get to know somebody. And
we're going to see him and we're going to hear him and we're going
to learn of him and we're going to get to know him. And we start
that through the attributes that he's given to us in his word. We are going to see the fact
that he is patient. He's patient. This is something
that will strike us forever. He's so patient, so patient. He's merciful, He's gracious,
and He's patient. Turn with me to the back of the
Bible, Revelation chapter 1. Revelation 1. Verse 9 says. I, John, who also am your brother
and companion in tribulation. And in the kingdom and patience
of Jesus Christ, he said, I'm your brother in the patience
of Jesus Christ. It's the patience of Jesus Christ.
Alright now, go with me to Romans 15. Romans 15 verse 5 says, Now the God of patience and consolation
grant you to be like minded one toward another according to Jesus
Christ, the God of patience, the God of patience. So this
describes to us a little bit more of what he's like. He is
patient. He's not just very patient. He's
not just extremely patient. He's the God of patience. He's the God of patience. There
is no patience like his patience. And we're going to see this is
really good news. There is no patience like his
patience. He's the God of patience. He
controls patience and he gives. patience. Now, I thought about
quoting a lot of this to you tonight. We've been doing these
word studies and studying the verses in the scripture and turning
a lot lately, and I thought I would give you a break. But to me,
the enjoyment of the study is reading it with my own two eyes.
So if that's you, turn with me to 2 Peter 3. 2nd Peter 3 verse 15 says, and account that the long suffering
of our Lord, the patience of our Lord is salvation. The patience of the Lord is a
sinner's salvation. That is a sinner's salvation. I want us to see that in three
ways tonight. And I hope this will help us
understand a little bit more about his patience, why he is
so patient, And I hope it'll be a blessing to our hearts.
I hope we will honestly learn something, and I hope we'll be
blessed by it, truly blessed, and have a greater appreciation
for his patience. The first way that we can see
our Lord's patience is salvation is right here in this chapter,
verse nine. It says, the Lord is not slack
concerning his promise, as some men count slackness, but is long-suffering
to usward. He's patient toward usward, not
willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. He's not slack. He's not being
lazy. He's not putting it off. He's
not slack. Not in any way. He's being long-suffering
to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should
come to repentance. The usward are those that he
said he was writing to in 1 Peter 1. You can look or listen. 1
Peter 1, verse 1, he says he is writing to the strangers scattered
throughout. Strangers scattered throughout.
Verse two says, elect according to the foreknowledge of God. That's who he said he was writing
to. Now, second Peter chapter one, verse one, he said, Simon
Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ to them that
have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness
of God and our savior, Jesus Christ. That's the us word. That's who the us word is. And
he said that he is not slack concerning his promise as some
men count slackness. We are constantly wanting God
to move now. We always want the Lord to move
right now, right now. David said in Psalm 13, how long
shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? How long shall mine enemy be
exalted over me? How long? He said in Psalm 74,
how long shall the adversary reproach? Shall the enemy blaspheme
thy name forever? He said in Psalm 89, wilt thou
hide thyself forever? He said in Psalm 94, how long
shall the wicked triumph? How long shall they utter and
speak hard things and all the workers of iniquity boast themselves? How long, Lord, how long? We
see the wickedness of sinful men and women. And just like
James and John, we're ready to call down fire right now. Right now, let's call down fire
right now. Let me show you something in
Romans 2. Go with me over to Romans chapter 2. I believe this is something that
every child of God ought to strive as hard as he or she can to remember. This is something I would love
to remember. Romans 2 verse 1 says, Therefore
thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest. For wherein thou judgest another,
thou condemnest thyself, For thou that judgest doest the same
things. But we are sure that the judgment
of God is according to truth against them which commit such
things. And thinkest thou this, O man,
that judgest them which do such things, and doeth the same, that
thou shalt escape the judgment of God? or despises thou the
riches of his goodness, and forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing
that the goodness of God's patience was what led you to repentance?" He said, don't despise his patience
towards sinners. We're so ready to call, don't
you see what they're doing? He said, you did it too. Don't you see how they're acting?
He said, you acted that way too. And he said, don't despise his
patience towards sinners. When is he just going to kill
all these sinners? I'm just getting tired of sinners.
He said, you are a sinner too. His patience, that's what saved
you. That's what saved me. His patience. Look at Romans 9. Verse 22 says, What if God, willing
to show His wrath, and to make His power known, endured with
much patience, much longsuffering, the vessels of wrath fitted to
destruction, and that He might make known the riches of His
glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto
glory." The wheat and the tares are mixed together. This is what
he's saying. The wheat and the tares are all
mixed together. And God is patient with the tares
so he can have mercy on the wheat. So that's the first way that
we see that the Lord's patience is salvation. His long suffering
to us. He's not willing that any should
perish, but that all should come to repentance. All right, now
turn with me, if you would, to Psalm 40. This is the second way that we
see salvation in his patience. This whole chapter, Psalm 40,
the whole chapter is our Lord speaking. This is our Lord speaking. Verse seven, then said I, lo,
I come in the volume of the book it is written of me. This is
Christ speaking. And this is him speaking from
the grave, on the cross, headed to the grave, bearing the sin
of his people in his body. In verse 12, he said, For innumerable
evils have compassed me about. Mine iniquities have taken hold
on me, so that I am not able to look up. They are more than
the hairs of mine head, therefore my heart faileth me. He said, my body died, my heart
stopped because of the sin, bearing the sin of my people. Verse 16, he said, let all those
that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee, Let such as love
thy salvation say continually, the Lord be magnified. He said, Father, let all your
people rejoice when they see this. Let them all rejoice when
they see this salvation. After three days of bearing wrath
that could never be described for the sin of his people. He
said in verse one, after three days, he said, I waited patiently
for the Lord. And he inclined unto me and heard
my cry, enduring something that no human being could endure for
a fraction of a second. He endured it for three days. And he said, I waited patiently
for the Lord. He cried to his father. He said,
you you will not leave my soul in hell. And in verse two, he
said, he brought me up also out of an horrible pit. Out of the
miry clay and set my feet upon a rock and established my goings. And he hath put a new song in
my mouth, even praise unto our God. Many shall see it and fear
and shall trust in the Lord. His patience in enduring the
punishment and the penalty for sin, that was our salvation. He endured it patiently. His
patience with us before our repentance, Him being long-suffering toward
us, that was our salvation. Seeing His patience through the
cross and in the grave, that is our salvation. And here's
the third way. Turn with me, if you would, to
Hosea chapter one. It's 11.26 in my Bible. It's after Daniel. You have Ezekiel,
Daniel, Hosea. While you're turning there, let
me quote this verse of scripture to you. Second Corinthians 13 verse four
says, love suffereth long. It suffers long, it's patient. It is not easily provoked. It is not easily provoked. David
said in Psalm 145 verse 8, the Lord is slow to anger. He's patient. He's patient. All right, look at Hosea chapter
1. Hosea chapter 1 verse 2. beginning of the word of the
Lord by Hosea. And the Lord said to Hosea, Go
take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms for
the land hath committed great whoredom departing from the Lord. So he went and took Gomer the
daughter of of Debalaim, which conceived and bare him a son. He married her. This woman, who
I don't need to describe, he married her. They were joined
together in a union with each other. They had children together. He was her husband. She was his
wife. All right, chapter two, verse
two says, plead with your mother, plead,
for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband. Let her therefore
put away her whoredoms out of her sight. She was unfaithful
to him. She was unfaithful to him. She
knew he was her husband. This is the part I want to emphasize.
She knew already. She already knew he was her husband. But she was still unfaithful
to him. They were joined. They were in
a union, but she was still unfaithful to him. Now, how patient has
the Lord been with us all the days of our life up to this moment
right now? How patient has the Lord been
with us? We know that we have been joined
together into a union with him. We know that. We know that. But it's like we spend our time
chasing everything but Him. We continually do the same thing
to our Lord that Gomer did to Hosea. We do it daily. It's continual. But look how
He treated her. While she was running after all
of these others, going on after all of these others, verse 8
says, she had no idea For she did not know that I gave her
corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold,
which they prepared for Baal." She's running around, running
around. She comes home, and there's corn on the door, and some money
on the door, and she thinks, that's my friends. that I'm committing
all this with. They take, my friends take care
of me. That's why I'm running with the world. The world takes
care of me. The world provides what I need. It gives me corn,
it gives me wine, it gives me money. And she's running all
over the place. She said, he said she had no
idea I was the one setting corn. I was the one setting wine. And
I took care of her all of her days. She was unfaithful to me,
but I never stopped being faithful to her. Never, never. He supplied her with all of her
need. And he went on to say, I'm gonna open her eyes to the
wickedness of her ways. He said that in this chapter.
I'm gonna open her eyes to this. But through that, he said in
verse 14, therefore, behold, I will allure her and bring her
into the wilderness and speak comfortably to her. And I will
give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a
door of hope. And she shall sing there as in
the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out
of the land of Egypt." And he said down in verse 23, I will
sow her unto me in the earth, And I will have mercy upon her
that had not obtained mercy. And I will say to them, which
were not my people, thou art my people. And they shall say,
thou art my God. Is his patience not absolutely
beautiful? It is so beautiful in spite of all the sin that
we continually commit against him continually. In spite of
the fact that our affection is constantly on other things constantly. In spite of the fact that our
thoughts and our priorities are constantly somewhere else. He
still has not left us. He has not left us. He will not
leave us. He has not put us away in anger. He is still feeding us still
to this moment in time. He's feeding us, comforting us,
supplying all of our need. The long suffering of the Lord
is salvation. It is salvation. It's easy to
see why patience is a fruit of his spirit. It's very easy to
see why. When his spirit comes to a center,
his patience towards us, when a center sees it, understands
it, enters into it, that center wants to be patient just like
him. His patience towards us makes us want to be patient with
each other. Patience. And he said in his word, be that. Be patient. Be patient. He said, let patience have her
perfect work. Be patient with each other. In life, in the gospel. He said,
this is how you are to declare the gospel. This is how you preach
the gospel to people. This is the manner you are to
preach the gospel. He said, preach the word. Be
instant, in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with
all long-suffering. Do it. Be patient with people. That's what he said. Be patient
with people. God is. God is. Be patient with them.
Preach the Word with all long-suffering and with doctrine. Revelation 3 verse 10 calls this
Bible The word of his patience. The word of his patience. So
let's close with this final word of exhortation. Go to James Chapter
5. James Chapter 5. Verse 7 says, Be patient therefore. And if you have the center margin,
you see that it says long patient. Be long patient. Or suffer with
long patience. Be patient therefore, brethren,
unto the coming of the Lord. Behold The husbandman waiteth
for the precious fruit of the earth and hath long patience
for it until he received the early and latter rain. I believe there is going to be
a latter rain. This is just me speaking. This
is just my heart. I honestly believe that there
is going to be a latter rain. I believe that the Lord is going
to rain on His vineyard and produce fruit. I do. And He's waiting patiently for
it. He's waiting for the first and
last rain. Every rain and every batch of
fruit that He's going to bring in. So verse 8 says, Be ye also
patient. Establish your hearts For the
coming of the Lord draweth nigh. Just be patient. Just be patient
and wait. It's coming. It's coming. May
the Lord help us to be patient. All right, let's all stand together.