they seek not thy statutes. Great
are thy tender mercies, O Lord, quicken me according to thy judgments. Many are my persecutors and mine
enemies, yet do I not decline from thy testimonies. I beheld
the transgressors and was grieved because they kept not Thy word.
Consider how I love Thy precepts. Quicken me." How many times does
he say this? Quicken me. That's what I want
him to do tonight. Quicken us. Make Your Word live
in our hearts tonight. Quicken Your Word in our speech.
I don't want to just have a service. I want God to speak. I want to
go home with something. It says, Consider how I love
thy precepts. Quicken me, O Lord, according
to thy lovingkindness. Thy word is true from the beginning,
and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth forever. Turn to the book of James. I'm going to pick up where I
left off a couple of weeks ago, James 1st chapter. But let us pray. Ask the Lord
to guide us. Our Father, which art in heaven,
hallowed be Thy name. Father, bless Thy Word to us
tonight. Instruct us by Thy Holy Spirit.
Enable us to worship You in spirit and in truth. Arrest our attention. Enable us to set our affection
on things above where our Lord sits at Thy right hand. Enable
us to give unto You all the glory due unto Your name. And Father,
You know the trials, the heartaches of all Your children. We pray
for them. Lord, bless. Give grace. Enable us, Lord, in all things
to look to You. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. The lesson The message this evening is, the title of
it is, Let Patience Work. Let Patience Work. I remember
when my grandson was about five or six years old, we were flipping through some
channels looking for cartoons. And I was flipping, and he looked
at me and said, Pawpaw, patience. He said, patience. And I'm surprised
that at six years of age, five or six years of age, that he
would have some understanding of the need of patience. Just hold on, just wait. That someone at that age would
know that you need it. It says here in James, James,
and I'm just going to try to pick up on verse 4 and 5 mostly,
but James here is a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ
to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting, my
brethren, count it all joy when you fall into different types
of trouble, different types of trouble, You know, the Word of
God is full of instruction for us. I was reading the Scripture
today. It says, these things were written
for our learning. These things in the Old Testament
and all that we have now throughout the Scriptures is written for
our instructions, for our learning. And it has much to say about
patience. I mean, I looked it up in a concordance.
Patience, long-suffering, endurance. It has a lot to say about that.
Without the exercise of patience, no believer can mature. You can't mature. You can't grow
up. You can't grow up. The fruit of the Spirit cannot
ripen without it. And our attitude in trials is
to be one, he says here, of joy. It's looking at it. It's an attitude. I tell you what, attitude says
everything, doesn't it? Attitude is, someone said to
me once, attitude is everything. We look at this as joy and gain. Not that the trial itself is
joyful. That's what Peter says. He says
no trial, no temptation is joyful when you're going through it.
But the blessings that come out of it is to be rejoiced in. The
maturity that comes out of it, the glory that we give Christ
in our conduct, that's what we rejoice in. It's a product of
it. Knowing this, he says, verse
3, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. Knowing by
experience, you know this, that trials work patience in you. They teach me to wait on God. To wait. To wait on the Lord. What is patience? And why is
it so important? What is it? And why is it so
important? And why do I need it? Well, patience,
first of all, is an attribute of God. It's an attribute of
God. and we want to be like our Heavenly
Father. Our Lord said this in Matthew
5.48, "...Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is
in heaven is perfect." We desire to be like our Father. We desire
to be holy, to be righteous, to be long-suffering. Shall God
be patient with us? Shall God be long-suffering with
me and me not be long-suffering with others? Listen to this. Well, turn over to Romans chapter
15. Romans chapter 15. Let me read the first six verses
here. We then that are strong, that
is, the faith is stronger, ought
to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves.
Let every one of us please his neighbor for his good to edification. For even Christ pleased not himself,
but, as it is written, the reproaches of them that reproached thee
fell on me. For whatsoever things were written
aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience
and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. Now, the God
of Patience. See, I said it's an attribute
of God. The God of Patience and Consolation grant you to be like-minded,
to be the same way, one toward another, according
to Christ Jesus. It's an attribute of God? It's
of God? The Scripture says, for example,
back in the Old Testament, speaking about the days of Noah, it speaks
of the long-suffering of God in the days of Noah. 120 years
the ark was being built, and Noah, a priest, was called a
preacher of righteousness. And God, it says, was long-suffering.
He put up with that. He put up with that. Look over
in 2 Peter. Chapter 3. I want you to see
some verses here tonight. In verse 9, The LORD is not slack concerning
His promise, as some men count slackness, but is longsuffering,
patient, to usward, His elect, not willing that any should perish,
that any of His elect should perish, but that all should come
to repentance. But His long-suffering, His long-suffering
is to usward, that you and I would come to faith, that you and I
would be saved by His grace. That's the long, long-suffering
of God. You know, when Moses asked God
to show him His glory, I want you to listen to one of the attributes
that the Lord points out in Exodus 34, 6. And I've got it written
down here. And the Lord passed by before him and proclaimed,
The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering. That's part of His glory. Longsuffering. Patient is what that is. And
abundant in goodness and truth. Aren't you glad God's longsuffering? I'm glad God's long-suffering. The Scripture says in Proverbs,
a man who has no control over his spirit as an impatient man. That's what that is. It's like
a city whose walls are broken down. In Numbers 14, 18, it says, the
Lord is long-suffering. He's patient and of great mercy. Forgiving iniquity and transgression. He's long-suffering. Patience is waiting on the Lord. I mean, not just like what we're
doing now. I mean, under a heavy trial,
under a heavy heartache, it's waiting on Him to deliver. It's
waiting on Him to act. It's waiting on Him. Listen,
in Psalm 41, 40 verse 1, I waited patiently for the Lord. I waited
patiently, endured. In one place he says, in waiting
I waited. I waited patiently for the Lord
and He inclined unto me and He heard my cry. Proverbs 8, 34,
Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates,
waiting. Happy is that man. Happy is that
man waiting at the post of my door, waiting on me. And then patience is a fruit
of the Spirit. Turn over to Galatians chapter
5. In Galatians chapter 5, it's a fruit
of the Spirit. In verse 22. But the fruit of the Spirit is
love, joy, peace, long-suffering." That's patience. Patience. Long-suffering. Gentleness, goodness,
faith, meekness, temperance. Against such there is no law.
But one of the fruit is long-suffering. It's patience. Waiting on the
Lord. Waiting on Him. It's not a doctrinal
matter. This is not a doctrinal matter.
It's a spiritual matter. It's what's going on in me. And why is it so important? Why is patience so important?
Patience, that James is speaking of here, enables the believer in time and by experience, to
accept a trial as from their Father's hand, and to quietly,
quietly submit to it." When God killed the two sons
of Eli, He said, it's the Lord, let Him do as He pleases. It enables you to quietly submit
to it, realizing Recognizing that, listen, all things are
of God. Do you believe that? Do you really believe that all
things are of God? I don't mean some things. You
know, someone said to me one time, that was providential.
What is it? Really, what is it providential? Absolutely everything. I don't care how minute it is. It's of God. It's providential. And He brought it my way. And
He purposed to bring it my way before He ever created the heavens
and the earth. Every tear God will ever wring
out of me, He purposed it long before creation. He saw the good
in it, the wisdom in it, and purposed it to be so. And in
time, He sends it my way. I believe it was David that said,
Thou hast appointed all my afflictions. All of them. And then patience. Well, let
me tell you about patience also here. It's a learned behavior. You know, the Apostle Paul said,
I have learned that in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content.
He said, I learned that. You know how he learned it? God
took everything away from him. He said, I have suffered the
loss, in Philippians 3, I have suffered the loss, for Christ's
sake, I've suffered the loss of all things. He said, I've
learned how to abound when God has blessed me, when things are
going fine, I know how to handle that. Not many know how to abound graciously. And when I am abased, He said,
I know how to handle that too. And I've learned that. That's
a learned behavior. And then patience enables you
to grow in all the other graces. The ones I just read to you,
the fruit of the Spirit. It doesn't say fruits. It's a
fruit. It's all one tree. It's all growing
on that one tree. It enables you to grow. In time,
the trials that God sends our way, the heartaches, whatever
they are, some light, some heavy, but eventually and in time, they'll
make you kinder. It'll make you more loving. It'll
make you a better husband. It'll make you a better wife.
It'll make you a better son or daughter. It will. That's what it will do for you. And then through patience, enduring
of trials, we are being conformed to the image of Christ. There
is no other way to be conformed to the image of Christ except
through the fire and through the water. He said when you go
through the water and when you go through the fire. And that's
the only way that you and I are going to be conformed to the
image of the Lord Jesus Christ. There's no other way. Someone said that God had one
Son without sin. No sons without suffering. None. Then patience will make you long-suffering
with others. Patient with others. I think I said this last week,
I'm a whole lot more patient with my grandchildren than I
were with my two sons. I'm telling you, I'm a whole
lot... and they bring it up to me. I
mean, my boys are in their thirties and they'll say, you didn't do
that when we were little. I did not have nearly the patience
with them that I have with my two grandchildren. And I assure
you that Job, those second ten, had a much wiser, a much tender-hearted
father than the first ten had. Patience will make you long.
It will enable you to endure the weaker one. The weaker vessels. The one weaker in the faith.
You know, I look back now and I don't see how in the world
Henry put up with me. I don't know why he ever let me in the
pulpit. I look back now and I said, I told him once, I said, I had
to embarrass you. I look back now at all those
young men who was in that preacher school. Patience. Patience. Waiting. Just like you said about
these young men who was coming here preaching. Let them develop.
Let them have time. Patience with them. And then patience makes you fit
for the Master's use. It makes you fit for His use. You know, experience, there is
no other teacher like experience. It's a brutal teacher. It can
be a tough teacher at times. But brethren, you've not really
learned anything until you've really experienced it. You've really experienced it.
And that's what makes you fit for the Master's use. That's what enables you. to tell
another sinner about the grace of God. That's what enables you
in time when someone else is going through something, you
can put your arm around them. And you can pray for them like
you can't pray for any other way unless you've experienced
it. But you can pray for them. And your heart, you can feel
for them. And you can help be a guide to them because you've
already experienced it. You've already walked that road.
I don't know how many times I've
said that to my boys. Especially my one son, he has his own business. He's called me three times today
about a job he's wanting my experience. I've been down that road. And he calls and talks to me
about it. He's not going to call and talk
to me about something. If he calls and talks to me about
differential equations, I say forget it son. You need to call
somebody else. He can handle that kind of stuff.
I can't. But if he wants to call me about
something that's going on in that business, I can talk to
him. That's experience. That's experience. And that makes
you fit for the master's use. Then patience will ripen you
for heaven. This endurance, this long-suffering
that God puts you through, through trials, it will ripen you for
heaven. Someone said this, there are
no green apples in heaven, just gold and delicious. Just gold
and delicious. God does not pick green fruit.
He ripens it. And the way He ripens it, and
James is telling us here, and we are to expect it, is through
different, he says, different, diverse, which is many different
trials. Many different trials. Then patience, it says in Romans
5, 3 and 4, gives experience, see? If I start something, and
I stop, I lose the experience of it. I didn't complete it.
I don't have the experience of it. But endurance gives you the
experience of the grace of God. It gives you the experience of
the love of God. It gives you the experience of
the sovereignty of God. Now it's not something you read,
it's something you know by experience. You know it. You've experienced
it. What you have is real. And God tries our faith to prove
to us the genuineness of it. That it's real. It's like trying the strength
of steel. If you do certain temperatures
to it, you make it stronger. You know, when I was in a machine
shop, I would take certain metals and I would send them to heat
treat. And they'd put that in heat treat and they would harden
that thing until it was hard. You couldn't even cut it. You
had to grind it. But it got that way through heating
it to a certain temperature, then they'd quench it. And that's how you test the metal
of it. But it says here now, but let
patience have her perfect work, that you may be perfect and entire,
wanting nothing. And what he's saying here is
don't get an early release. I told you this the last time.
Don't go after an early release. That's just natural to want to
do that, isn't it? James knows that. It's just natural
for us to want the pain to stop. It's natural for us to want to
suffer. That's a natural response. That's why we go to the hospital.
I went to the hospital. I had a hernia. And I was doubled
over. I mean, I was doubled over. And
I wanted some relief. And that doctor, he came in and
just gave me a shot. And I just relaxed. And I said,
I know now why people do drugs. That's what I told him. I said,
now I understand why they do drugs. That pain just went away
like that. But it didn't fix the problem.
The problem was still there. He said, I have to wait until
the swelling goes down so I can fix it. All it did was give me
relief. But God's not into giving us
relief. He's giving us fixing the problem. God's always fixing
the problem. So don't seek a quick release. Let the trial work its intended
effect. That's why he's saying, let it
work. Just let it work. Just stay in
the furnace. Go ahead and stay in the furnace
a while. You're not done. You're not done. It says in Hebrews 5.8, Though he
were a son, speaking of Christ, yet learned he obedience by the
things which he suffered. Now that being so, shall we learn
any other way? Am I going to learn any of it?
Is God going to teach me? If that's the way He taught the
man, listen, as God, He knew all things. As a man, He learned
everything. He grew in wisdom and in stature
as a man. Let it mature you. You know, I don't want to be,
you don't want to be 40 years old, 50 years old and act like
you're 12 years old. That's just not even normal.
And that's why I say, let the fruit ripen. And for medicine to work, we
need to take all of it. I've been on an antibiotic. I
had a sore throat this past week, and I started taking some antibiotics.
And it started bothering me. Vicki said, the day, she goes,
you've got to take it all. I said, I can't. I'm going to
have to stop taking it. She said, you need to take it
all. I do. I need to take it all. I need
to take it. For it to work, we need to take
it off. The great physician, now listen, the great physician
prescribes all the trial that I need, when I need it. It's like medicine. It's just like medicine. I'll
tell you something else it is. It's a teacher. The Scripture
says that He has given us pastors, teachers to instruct us for the
perfecting of the saints. Trials are teachers, just like
I'm standing here teaching you. And what He sends my way in the
way of trials is nothing but a teacher. And I want to be,
listen, I want to be sensitive to that. I don't want them to think, Lord,
what are you doing to me? He's mad at me. No, He's teaching
me. He's instructing me. He's doing
it because He loves me. Because He loves me. The promises of God, listen now,
listen. The promises of God belong to
those who finish the race. That's why we need patience.
That's why we need long-suffering. That's why we need endurance.
Hebrews 10.36, For ye have need of patience, that after ye have done the will
of God, ye might receive the promise. You have need of patience. You have need of endurance. Endurance. We need patience in order to
run the race. If you think you're gonna run
the marathon in 15 minutes, you're out of your mind. Somebody's
really messed with you. If you think you're gonna run
one in 15 minutes, it's a long race. Henry, 91 years old. It's been a long race. I know a lady right now in Ashland. Now she's living in assisted
living. She's 103. And she was 13th Street
and believed the gospel all these years. She still does. Still
a strong supporter of the gospel. She's 103 years old. It's been
a long race. She just said, I can't understand
why I can't die. That's a great attitude to have.
She said, I just can't understand why I just can't die. Listen to this. Hebrews 12.1,
Wherefore, seeing we also are encompassed about with so great
a cloud of witness, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin
which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience,
endurance, the race that is set before us. Run it with patience. And the perfect work of patience,
he says here, will make you entire wanting nothing. It will make
you mature. Brethren, I can say that I like
being around mature believers. I like sitting down and talking
to people who've been around the block a few times. I've been
wanting, and I haven't had the time to do it, but I've been
wanting to go over and talk to Norma. Tell me, because she's got a
sharp mind. Talk to me about your life. 103 years old, talk to me about
your life. Tell me how the Lord has brought you along. It'll
encourage me. It'll encourage me. It'll make you complete. It'll
make you well-rounded. The trials that God will send
to work and exercise your patience, your endurance, it'll make you
well-rounded. My grandson and I, the other
day, I took him out to shoot target practice. And I said, you excited about
going back to school? I knew that was going to hit
a nerve. And he goes, no. He said, I don't
know why we have to go and learn so much stuff. He said, Paw Paw,
how much do you remember? I said, what's that matter? I told him, I said, Cole, he
said, what do I need to learn about people in China? I don't
live in China. He said, I live in America. And I said, well
it will make you well-rounded. I said, you won't remember all
this stuff, but I said it will help make you well-rounded, you
know. And well, that didn't do anything to him. He's still 13
years old. But it will make you well-rounded
as a believer. And in time, when certain things
come along, you say, okay, I've been there. And you've watched
the Lord deliver. And you've tasted that the Lord
is gracious. Don't you want to taste that?
You really want to taste that the Lord is gracious. You really
want to be conformed to the image of Christ. And Lord, whatever it takes,
whatever it takes to bring me to that, I submit to. I submit to. It makes you entire. It makes you complete. Complete. Now someone may ask, how do I
handle what I'm going through? Because I know, you know, I look
at you out here, I know some of you have got to be going through
things I don't even know about. Heartaches. I can name off different
things. Things you're going through,
I don't know about. But God knows about it. God knows about it. And I know this. I've been in
situations where I did not know what to do. I don't know what
to do. I don't know which way to turn.
You know Job said this in Job chapter 10. He said, I am confused. I'm confused. What's going on?"
That's what Job said. I'm confused. Well, here's what
he says to do. If any of you lack wisdom in
handling the situation that you're going through, that the Lord
has sent your way, as Job said, I'm confused, let him ask of
God. Pray. You know the Scripture
says, the fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. And you know,
if you're in Christ, you are a righteous man, you're a righteous
woman in Christ. You are righteous. And He said,
it avails much. Ask of God. Christ said, whatsoever
you ask in My name, We know it's according to God's
will." And he said, I'll do it. Let him ask of God to give it
to all men liberally. And that breaks not. And it will
be given him. That's a promise. That is a promise. He said, I'll give it to him. Someone said that wisdom is the
right combination of truth and spirit, faith and conduct. That's
what he said. If any man lack wisdom. Let's ask God for wisdom in handling
what He sent our way. How do I handle this? Give me
wisdom. Direct me. Guide me. And I know
this, when it comes to wisdom, when I'm asking God for wisdom, who has made unto us wisdom and
righteousness, sanctification and redemption? Christ. I'm asking
for Christ to guide me. Christ is called the wisdom of
God. All the wisdom of God and knowledge
of God dwells in Him. And He dwells in us. He dwells in us. And I ask the
Lord, guide me. Direct my steps. I don't know
what I'm doing. Confused. I've been there. Confused. And we have His promise. He'll
give it liberally. As much as I need. He's not going
to just a little bit here, a little bit there. He'll give it liberally,
freely. All that we need, upgrades and
all. He's not going to say, well I gave it to you before, look
what you did. God never brings up the past. He's not going to
bring up my past failings to me. Fall at His feet, ask for wisdom,
He's going to give it. It's like forgiveness. He'll
give it every time. But it says, let him ask in faith. Not wavering now. Ask believing. Believing. You know, the Lord
said, I think it was a blind man asked for his sight. The
Lord said, Do you believe that I'm able to do this? Do you believe? You're asking. Lord, I'm asking.
Do you believe I'm able to deliver you? Do you believe I'm able
to guide you? Do you believe I'm able to bring
you out of this? Not wavering. Not wishy-washy. For he that wavereth is like
the wave of the sea, driven with the wind and tossed. He said,
Ask in faith. Ask in faith. Make up your mind.
Make up your mind. Now here's something I want you
to get a hold of this. If you want God to reveal His
will to you, You want to know His will, you better make up
your mind that you're going to do it, whatever it is, or He's
not going to make it known. He's not going to make it known.
It's not going to be, well, because it could be something that's
very difficult on the flesh. It usually is. But if you want
to know the will of God, you're going to have to be absolutely
determined That's the way I felt about this place. It took me
a good while because I had to be absolutely determined if it
was the Lord's will, if He revealed it and made it really known to
me, I was going to do it. It wasn't, I might do it. I might. If it suits me, if it's going
the direction I want to go. Nope. Asking faith, not wavering, you're
going to do. If God reveals His will, when
He reveals His will, you're going to do it. Or it ain't going to
happen. He's not going to make a no.
For let not that man think that he's going to receive anything
of the Lord. You're not going to receive anything. No communication. It ain't going to happen. Not
going to happen. Listen, don't take asking God for anything lightly. I hate when I hear somebody say,
let's have a little prayer. I ain't never had one of those. To call on God, if you just said
two words, is monumental. If we really understand who it
is we are calling on, God of heaven and earth, Creator, One
who has all power, All power. There's no like matter. There
must be no wavering, no staggering at the promise of God through
unbelief, but firm. Whatever it is, Lord, I'm going
to do it. A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways.
A double-minded man is like a man with two faces looking two directions.
That's a double-minded man. He's looking two directions at
the same time. And it's an insult. It's an insult
to God. Now he says, "...let the brother
of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted. Poverty does not
change my position as a son, nor do riches advance my position
as a son." What he's saying here, let the poor man rejoice that
he's exalted, he's been lifted up in Christ, and the rich man
has been brought down to realize what he is. And he's the same
in Christ. God said, I make rich and I make
poor. I lift up and I bring down. How the Lord do all these things. The rich man is to thank God
for bringing him low as much as the poor man for lifting him
up. But let me close with this. Blessed, happy is the man that
endureth, stands up, that's what he's saying, under trials. He
stands up under temptation, trial. For when he's tried, he shall
receive the crown of life. That's the end result, life,
which the Lord has promised to them that love him. What he's
saying here, brethren, we are blessed When we endure trials, the Lord said this in Matthew
10.22, And you shall be hated of all men for My name's sake.
But he that endureth to the end, he that endure patiently, endures
to the end, shall be saved. That's the end result of patience.
Your salvation. Salvation of your soul. It's
written in Luke 21, 19. In your patience possess ye your
souls. Let patience have her perfect
work. Just pray for the grace. The
grace to go through it. Alright, I think we've looked
at that enough now. I'm going to do the same.