Turn, if you would, to Galatians
chapter 5. Beloved, today we're going to
look at another one of the fruit of the Spirit. Remember, it's
like a cluster of grapes. One is love, one is peace. Today
we're going to look at long-suffering. I was going to look at long-suffering
and goodness together, but then I started doing a Bible search,
a word search, for the word long-suffering, and it's brought forth in the
Old and the New Testaments, so I want us to look at a couple
passages in both Testaments about long-suffering, the long-suffering
of our great God. He is so long-suffering towards
us, it's amazing. It's absolutely incredible. And then the Holy Spirit of God
works in us, long-suffering for others, for our brethren, for
people that we rub shoulders with. And we might say, well,
I'm not very long-suffering. I'll tell you what, if you're
a believer, you're more long-suffering than you were when the Lord first
saved you. You might not feel that way.
But see, God works that in us. We don't see it, do we? We don't
ever see it. We see it in other people, but
we don't ever see it in ourselves. Because I can always look at
myself and go, man, I don't, man. I'm not very long-suffering,
especially when I'm in a car and somebody cuts in front of
Vicky. I'm not very long-suffering at all then, right? So, my oh
my. We're all the same, aren't we?
So, Zane and I were talking about that, you know, a couple weeks
ago, you know, coming out of church. Hey, Zane, coming out
of church, just high, just lift it up and somebody cuts you off
on the way home. Oh, man. Our flash just kicks
in just like that, doesn't it? Just instantaneous. And it's
so true. And I heard the golf course is
real good for that too, right? I heard that, yeah. I heard hockey
rink too, same thing. It's real, yeah. Okay. Have you ever considered how
long-suffering the Lord is with us? Have you ever considered
that? Just how long-suffering he is with us. Before we're saved,
we can look at that and go, oh my gosh, he's so long-suffering
with us. But you know, even after we're saved, he's more so, amen. Now we know how we are. Now we
know, now we understand a little bit more of the long-suffering
of our great God towards us. So before we're saved and even
after, the Lord is long-suffering. Today I'd like us to look at
some Old Testament and New Testament scriptures which actually testify
of the Lord's long-suffering. So let's look at our text today
in Galatians 5, verses 22 and 23. But the fruit of the Spirit
is love, joy, peace, long suffering, there's
today's, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance against
such as there is no law. Now again, the fruit of the spirit
is that which is referenced that the Holy Spirit works in us.
It doesn't come natural to us, does it? It's not natural. And it's created in all believers.
We might say, well, I don't have much long suffering. I'm not
very gentle. And well, that's all being worked
in us by the Holy Spirit of God. What does the scripture, who
does the scripture say we're being conformed to? Christ. Amen. The image of Christ. That's
right. We're being conformed to the image of Christ, right? That's what's happening to us.
We don't see it because we still see the old Wayne. Put your name
in there. And we think, boy, I'm not. But
we are. We are more long-suffering. We
have more love. Think of this, too. One of the things that the Lord
works in his people is love for one another, and we have that,
don't we? Isn't that wonderful? Love for one another, love for
Christ, love for the gospel, and enjoy unity, yeah, unity
in Christ. And enjoy, oh, what joy we have
in Christ, and peace, peace knowing that all our sins are forgiven,
that we now have peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ,
and then now longsuffering. Oh, longsuffering. Long-suffering
in our text is defined in the Greek as patience. Patience. I'll tell you what, don't pray
for patience. This is something that the Holy
Spirit has to work in us, right? Because we're not patient by
nature, are we? We're not patient by nature.
It says this too, a patient enduring of evil is also in the Greek.
What do we have while we're in this world? We see evil all around
us, don't we? We have a patient endurance of
that. And that comes from the Holy
Spirit, beloved. That's why when people say, well, how can you
be so calm in the midst of everything going on? It's because God, the
Holy Spirit's working in us, you see? Because by nature, we'd
be freaking out like everybody else, right? But see, the Holy
Spirit works that in us. And that comes, as we're sitting
under the gospel, That comes more and more, right? Because
we're being taught by God the Holy Spirit. Oh my, it's wonderful. It also means this. Fortitude. Fortitude. It also means slowness
of avenging injuries. That's the total opposite of
the flesh, isn't it? Because if someone does us wrong,
the first thing naturally, I remember in my natural state, I want to
get them. But not now. Vengeance is mine, saith the
Lord. I will repay. It also means this, too. Long-suffering,
forbearance, and clemency. Clemency. My, oh, my. And then I looked it up in the
English dictionary, and this is defined as having or showing
patience in spite of troubles. Same definition, pretty much,
as the Greek. Especially those caused by other people. Again,
that would tie in with the enduring evil, right? My, so the furthest
spirit is long-suffering. Again, this doesn't come by nature.
And let us never forget how long-suffering God was with us before he saved
us. We sinned against him, didn't
we? That's who we sinned against, right? We sinned against God. How long-suffering, he didn't
destroy us. Do you know, we're gonna see, in putting this together,
do you know that he's long-suffering with the wicked as well? There you go. Yeah. He, you know, and people shake,
we did it, we shaked our fist in our natural state at him,
right? Scripture says we were enemies with God in our minds
by wicked works. And think of that long-suffering.
See, we didn't know we were his sheep, but he knew we were. Oh, you know he's long-suffering
towards his people, too? More than he's long-suffering
to the wicked. Oh, my. Oh, my. He's so long-suffering.
And marvel at his everlasting love, which has been manifested
towards us by his long-suffering. He won't destroy us. My, oh my. And then he seeks
us out. We don't seek him out, we're
going the opposite way. He seeks us out because of his
everlasting love. Now the opposite of long-suffering
is to be short with others. We're all good at that, aren't
we? To be curt. We can do that. When that happens,
I get so convicted when I'm short with people. I don't want to
be. I don't want to be that way anymore.
But we can still do it, can't we? Especially to the ones we
love. So that's the opposite of long
suffering. To be impatient and without much
tolerance towards others is the opposite of long-suffering. They're characteristics of the
old flesh. And the reason we still do them
is because we're battling this flesh every day, beloved. But
see, God's working this long-suffering in us. Isn't it amazing? What
mercy, what grace that he does that. He's changing us, beloved. He's conforming us by his almighty
power to the image of the Son. Now, when we are like that, we
get convicted now. And we cry out, usually, Lord,
forgive me. I'm so sorry. And we go to the person we've
offended, and we say, I'm sorry. If I offended you, I'm very sorry.
I had no way meant to offend you. My oh my. Turn if you would to
Exodus chapter 34. Exodus chapter 34. Do you know
we're a work in progress, beloved? We're a work in progress. We're
slowly being conformed to the image of the Son by the mighty
working of God the Holy Spirit. Look at this in Exodus chapter
34. Exodus chapter 34. We'll look
at verses 5 to 9. Oh, how long-suffering our great
God is. How long-suffering he is with
his people. Look at this, Exodus 34, verses 5 to 9. And the Lord descended in the
cloud and stood with him there. He's standing there with Moses
and proclaimed the name of the Lord. Now, this is Christ appearing
to him. It's a pre-incarnate appearance
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Lord passed by him. The
Lord passed by before him and proclaimed the Lord The Lord
God, there's Jehovah Elohim right there, beloved. Merciful and
gracious, long-suffering. Now these are characteristics
of our great king. He's merciful and he's gracious. And look at this, long-suffering
and abundant in goodness and truth. Now we've experienced
that, haven't we? We've experienced all those things
as born-again, blood-washed believers. We've experienced this. Keeping
mercy for thousands. Oh, a number no man can number,
beloved. Forgiving iniquity and the transgression
and sin. That's what he's done for us
in Christ. who that will by no means clear
the guilty. So his justice must be satisfied. Visiting the iniquity of the
fathers upon the children and upon the children's children
unto the third and the fourth generation. And Moses made haste,
here's Moses, bowed his head toward the earth in worship.
Here is a picture of Christ. And he said, if now I have found
grace in thy sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray thee, go among
us, for this is a stiff-necked people, and pardon our iniquity
and our sin. and take us for thine inheritance."
What a picture of Christ there. He's the one mediator between
God and man, isn't he? But did you notice it said in
here, in verse 7, I mean, sorry, verse 6, that the Lord is merciful
and gracious, and look at this, long-suffering. That's what He
is. And we're living proof of that.
Now turn to Numbers chapter 14, if you would. I did this in order
so that we wouldn't have to run around a whole lot of places.
And before you go there, I'm going to read part of Psalm 86,
15. It says this, but thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion,
and gracious, long-suffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth. That's our God, isn't he? Long-suffering,
gracious, and plenteous in mercy and truth. See, this just keeps
getting repeated to us, right? How do we learn things? Henry
Mahan, somebody came up to him one time and they said, how is
your ministry so successful? He said, well, first off, God.
God. And he said, repetition, repetition,
repetition. Just keep playing that one string
fiddle. The gospel, Christ and him crucified. Right? And that's what God's
preachers do. Scott did the same thing, right? Scott did the same
thing. I love when he, I mentioned this last Wednesday, another
thing, when Scott said, somebody said, all you do is preach Christ.
He said, put that on the tombstone. Oh, I love it, because it's true,
right? It's true. He preached Christ
and Him crucified. My, oh, my. Give all the glory
to God. Give it all to God. Look at this in Numbers chapter
14. Moses is interceding again with a picture of Christ. It
says here in verse 13, And Moses said unto the Lord, then the
Egyptians shall hear it, for thou broughtest up this people
in thy might from among them. And they will tell it to the
inhabitants of this land, for they have heard that thou art
Lord For thou, Lord, art among this people, and thou, Lord,
art seen face to face, and that thy cloud standeth over them,
and that thou goest before them by time in a pillar of a cloud
and a pillar of fire by night. Do you know the Lord still goes
before his people? He still goes before us. He doesn't appear
in a pillar in a cloud, but he still goes before us. Oh, it's
amazing. Now if thou shalt kill all this
people as one man, then the nations which have heard of thy fame
will speak, saying, Because the Lord was not able to bring this
people into the land which he sware unto them, therefore hath
he slain them in the wilderness. So he's saying they're going
to doubt your power. Pagan nations will doubt your power if you
slay them all. Now I beseech thee, look at this intercession,
this is incredible. Let the power of my Lord be great according
as thou hast spoken. The Lord is what? Long-suffering,
look at that. and of great mercy. Oh, we've
tasted that, haven't we? He's a great mercy, beloved.
Forgiving iniquity, here we go, and transgression, and by no
means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of fathers upon
the children unto the third and fourth generation. Pardon, I
beseech thee. Oh, pardon. Pardon, I beseech
thee. The iniquity of this people,
according unto the greatness of thy mercy. Oh. And as thou has forgiven this
people from Egypt even until now. Look at that. Is that not
our prayer? Oh Lord, pardon my iniquity.
Yes, isn't it? He pardoned all our iniquity.
Oh my. You know the Hebrew word for
long suffering in those texts means this, long and patient. Long and patient, slow to anger. My, oh my. I remember hearing
Brother Joe talk one time. He was preaching a message and
he said, you know, I woke up startled in the middle of the
night. He said, the verse came to me. If thou, Lord, should
mark iniquity, who shall stand? Which one of us would stand?
None. No one. But praise God, His mercy
is great. His mercy is great, isn't it?
In Christ Jesus our Lord. Isn't that wonderful? And he's
long-suffering. He's so patient with us. We can
be the most impatient people, all of us humans. We're so impatient
by nature. And God is so patient with us.
He's so patient with us. It's absolutely incredible. And think of this, too. Think
of how long-suffering he is to those he gave to Christ. Think
of how long-suffering the Father is to those he gave to Christ.
He's so long-suffering to us, beloved. He's so merciful. He's so patient with us. And
why? What's the source of that? Well,
his everlasting love for us. He's loved us with an everlasting
love. We're patient with those who
we love, don't we? Well, we try to be. Yeah, we
try to be. But we know that that's what
we're supposed to be. But the Lord's working that in
us, isn't he? He's working that in us. He's making us more patient
with everyone. See, that's the work of God,
the Holy Spirit in us. Oh my. Think of how long suffering he
was. Our sins are set before him. And he sends his son, the
Lord Jesus Christ. He sends his son, the Lord Jesus
Christ. Oh my, to redeem us. to redeem
us with his precious, precious blood. Oh, we're his bride, beloved. And we see that God is long-suffering
with his people in the Old Testament there, haven't we? He's so long-suffering
with his people. Now turn to the book of Romans,
if you would. Romans, chapter 9. Oh, my. Our great God is so
long-suffering in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. My,
oh, my. Romans chapter 9, starting in
verse 20. We'll read to verse 26. Romans
chapter 9, verse 20 to 26. Nay, but, O man, who art thou
that replyest against God? Who are we? Who are we? Who are
we to say, well, God, I don't like what you're doing? Who are we? We're nothing, ain't
it, Brother Travis? We're nothing. We're just dust.
That's all we are. We're just nothing. My, oh, my. My, oh, my. Who are we? Shall the thing formed say to
him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus? My, oh, my. Had not the potter
power over the clay of the same lump to make one vessel unto
honor and another unto dishonor? The potter has power over the
clay, right? The clay is just an inanimate
object in the hands of the potter. He can make a teapot. He can
make a candlestick, right? He can make a wash bin. He can make anything. He can
make whatever he wants. Make a clay pot to hold water,
another one to hold sewage. Right? He can do whatever he
wants. Can't he? He's got the power.
He's got the power over the clay. What if God willing, now look
at this, what if God willing to show his wrath And to make
his power known, his almighty power, endured with, look at
this, much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction.
Look at that. God is even longsuffering to
the vessels fitted for destruction. Think of how many people say,
I don't believe in God. You know, sometimes I read comments
on different sites I'm at, and sometimes the comments are quite
funny. But there's some of them, the things they call God, and
I just get off them when they start doing that, is absolutely
awful. And it just shows you. Now, I'd
have been right there if the Lord hadn't saved me. All of
us would have been. Except for the grace of God.
The only one who made us to differ from anybody like that is God,
right? He's God and God alone. He's the only one. My oh my. He's the only one made us to
differ. And what longsuffering he showed us. What if God, willing
to show his wrath and to make his power known, endured with
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? So he's longsuffering? Think
of this. My parents, as far as I know,
weren't saved. But I sprang out of them. Think
of how long-suffering he was with them. Before they even had me, right? They're sinning against them.
And I come out of the womb, and I'm a child of their flesh, and
I'm sinning against God. But I didn't know I was one of
God's elect, and he's long-suffering with them. They raised me, fed
me, took care of me, and God's long-suffering with them. We
are going to find out. We're going to find out. I'm
going to let a little something out here. We're going to find out in the main
service. I want you to think about this. If you're a child
of God, right, you know what you were created for? The glory
of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're created for the glory of
the Lord. We're vessels of honor. Now we
don't always feel that way, do we? We're created for the glory of
Christ. We're going to see that in the
main message. That lame man you're going to
read about, Brother Dave? He was created for the glory
of Christ. And so were we. Man, when I saw
that yesterday, I was about ready for the roof to lift off the
house. I would never think of myself
like that, would you? But it's true. It gives so much meaning to our
lives. All the things we've went through, they all glorify Christ. Even the bad things, because
he pulls us out. He sustains us through them all.
Think of the darkest place we've been. He sustained us through
all that. to manifest his power, to manifest
his love for us. And that he might make known
the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had
aforeprepared unto glory. When did he prepare them? When
were we chosen in Christ? Thank you, brother. Before the
foundation of the world, right? We were prepared before we were
even born. We were vested in honor before
we were even born. We had no idea. Look at this. Even us, whom he
called, so now Paul's bringing it home, right? Not of the Jews
only, but also of the Gentiles. As he has say in Isaiah, I will
call them my people, which were not my people. We were not his
people by nature. We were not his people by nationality.
We were not his people by birth. Scripture says he came unto his
own, his own received him not, right? The Jews. We were not his people by birth,
by nature, but we were his by choice. Isn't that wonderful? Oh my, says it, look at this,
and he saith, you know, see, I will call them, I will call
them my people, which were not my people, and her beloved, which
was not beloved, and it shall come to pass. There's that word
again, it shall come to pass. That little shall, I'll tell you, it shall. If God
says it shall come to pass, what's gonna come to pass? That in the
place where it was said unto them, ye are not my people, there
shall they be called the children of the living God. That's us,
beloved. Isn't that wonderful? Oh my, how longsuffering our
God is with us. And now, here we are, worshiping
him. We weren't worshiping in our
natural state, were we? And here we are. That promise
came true, didn't it? See, this is the hope. As the
gospel goes out, God shall save his people. That message will
go to where it will. It'll either harden someone in
their sin or the Holy Spirit get a hold of it and convict
someone. That's our prayer A. Lord, draw them to Christ. Draw
them to Christ. Please save their souls. Oh my. Now let's look at 2 Peter. Turn over to 2 Peter if you would. Now this portion here in 2 Peter
has been, there's a verse that we're gonna look at that's been
twisted by false preachers that say, look, Christ died for everyone.
He doesn't want anyone to perish. Context, context, context, right? God is not willing that any of
His sheep will perish. And as a matter of fact, He won't
let one of them perish. He's going to save them. They're
not going to die in their sins. We're living proof of that. Aren't
we? We're living proof of that. Look
at this. 2 Peter 2. Chapter three, God will simply
not allow anyone for whom Christ died for to perish in their sins. It's impossible. He shall save
his people from their sins. And we just saw, he's gonna call
the people and they shall be his people, right? That's by
effectual grace, God the Holy Spirit. Look at this in 2 Peter
3, verses 8 to 16. But beloved, now see, who's he
talking to right there? He's talking to the beloved.
Who are the beloved? Well, they're God's people, aren't
they? They're not the whole world. The whole world's not the beloved
of God. This letter is written to God's elect. But beloved,
be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord
as a thousand years, and a thousand years is one day. Now here's
the verse that people take and they use it to promote universal
salvation. That everyone has an opportunity
to be saved and God doesn't want anyone to perish. Well, we just
read in Romans that there's vessels of what? Honor and dishonor,
right? We just read that. What do you
do with that verse? Oh my, look at this. The Lord
is not slack concerning His promise. Who is His promise to? His people,
right? Who is it in? Christ. All the
promises of God are in Christ, yea and amen, to the glory of
God the Father. The Lord is not slack concerning
His promises. Some men count slackness, but
is what? There it is, long-suffering,
same Greek word. Long-suffering to usward. Okay,
so who's the usward? Well, go right back up. But beloved,
in verse eight, the usward are God's people. The usward are
the elect of God. The usward are the born-again,
blood-washed saints of God. He's not slack concerning his
promise, but his long-suffering to usward, not willing that any
should perish, but that all should come to repentance. That means
all the sheep of God will come to repentance. You know why the
Lord, what men say, well why, they say he's delaying this coming.
He's not delaying this coming, he's right on track. He could
have come back when the last sheep saved. It's over, beloved.
It's over. Right? He's what people would
say delaying. I don't think he's delaying,
I think he's right on time. He's running right on his clock,
isn't he? But men would say, natural men
say, well, he's delaying. Where is he? Where is he? He
can't be real. He's not coming back. He's coming. But he's long
suffering. He's long suffering and patient
until that last sheep is saved. Then it's done. Look at this. And how do we know that? Well,
look at what the next verse says. But the day of the Lord, that's
when the Lord comes back, shall come as a thief in the night,
in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise,
and the elements shall melt, fervent heat, the earth also,
and the works that are therein shall be burned up. This is the
second coming of Christ. This is, it's over. And you notice there's no gap
in between there. You know, people say, well, there's
a rapture and there's all this. I don't see that at all, do you? No. He's patiently, he's being
long-suffering for his people, and then he's coming back, beloved,
seeing that all these things shall be dissolved. What? That
means the heaven and earth is all going to burn up. It's going
to dissolve, actually. You ever watch a pill dissolve
or something? Remember the Alka-Seltzer you used to put it in? I used
to like to play with those as a kid, just to watch them. And
mom and dad, well, where's my Alka-Seltzer? Oh, it's all gone,
right? But you'd put them in there,
and they'd dissolve in the water, right? They'd just dissolve. What manner of persons ought
ye to be in holy conversation in godliness? looking for and
hastening unto the coming of the day of god that's the second
coming where in the heavens shall be being on fire shall be dissolved
in the elements shall melt with fervent heat nevertheless we
according to his promise look for new heavens and a new earth
wherein dwells righteousness wherefore beloved seeing that
you look for such things be diligent well keep looking to Christ beloved
be diligent that you may be found of him in peace without spot
and blameless and account in account that the long-suffering
there, look at this, the long-suffering of our Lord is what? Salvation. He's long-suffering because he's
saving his people from their sins. Do you know he's daily
adding to the church even today? You know, before we got here,
there was 300 people that had already tuned into our church
overnight. Isn't that amazing? To God be
the glory, right? To God be the glory. Oh my. The account that the long suffering
of our Lord is salvation, even as our beloved brother Paul,
also according to the wisdom given unto him, hath written
unto you. As also in his epistles, speaking
in them of things, these things in which are some things hard
to understand. which they that are unlearned
in unstable rest, as they do also the scriptures unto their
own destruction. When you come to a scripture
you don't understand, don't wrestle with it, just leave it. You know why? I remember Norm
Wells telling me, if the Lord not illuminating that scripture
for you right there, it's not time to be illuminated for you.
But I'll tell you why. You ever had, well, is this ink
still dry? Is this ink wet? You ever had those moments? Wow,
I never saw that before. That's the time it get illuminated
for you. Isn't that wonderful? There's lots of scriptures we
read we don't understand, but we don't have to wrestle them.
We just say, no, well, I just don't understand that right yet.
And the Lord might never give us light on it, but he might,
but he might one day. I'll tell you in heaven, I think
we're going to be learning a lot of stuff. Oh my, that's just
my opinion, I'm not preaching that, that's just my opinion.
I think we're going to learn a lot more. Because there's no sin
there. My, it would be wonderful. Notice
in verse 8 there, that he addresses the believers, calling them again
beloved, and then brings forth that, let these men scoff and
mock all they will. The length of time since God
promised His coming is only being two days. Remember the angel
said, this same Jesus will come back? It'd be in 2,000 years.
Well, we just read 1 day to the Lord is 1,000 years to the Lord. It'd only be in two days. Two days is nothing, is it? When
we want to go somewhere and we're waiting for them two days to
come, they fly by, don't they? And then you ever notice when
you go on a trip, two weeks goes, zoom! You go, where did I all
go? Right? One day for the Lord is like
a thousand of our years. My, my oh my. Well, again, let's just close with
this too. The reason that God is long-suffering, I'll have
to continue next week, but the reason that God is long-suffering
is because he's still saving the sheep. The message is still going on.
And see, that which God is by nature, he's working in us now.
Isn't that amazing? We can't work in ourselves long-suffering. You ever try to be patient? Say,
I'm going to be more patient. Someone told me a long time ago
when I first was a believer, he said, never pray for patience. Because you know what happens?
Yeah, you get bombarded. God will show you, you are patient
at all, just like me. Oh, isn't our great God, he's
so good, isn't he? He's so good, isn't he? So long-suffering,
so merciful, so gracious, full of truth. My, pray for this morning. I'm so excited about this next
message too. And isn't God so good to us?
He's so, so good to us, isn't he? Oh, he's marvelous. Brother
Steve, could you close us in prayer?