Last week, I didn't get to finish
the message last week in the James study, so I'm going to
go over a little bit and then we'll continue where we left
off. We'll be looking at the second
coming of Christ. Last week's message was called
The Return of the King. This could be Return of the King
Part 2, since we didn't finish all of last week, so... Our Lord
Jesus Christ is coming back. There's not a doubt. Now, there's
a lot of mockers in this world. A lot of people say, where is
He? It's been thousands of years,
where is He? Well, He who causes the sun to
rise every day, and lights our way at night by
the moon, He who controls all things visible and invisible.
If He says He's coming back, you can be sure He's coming back.
And all through the Scriptures it talks about, in the New Testament
it talks about the Lord's coming. But this time He won't be coming
as a lamb. This time He's coming as a lion.
The lion of the tribe of Judah. He came as a lamb the first time,
didn't he? Give his life for his people. Scripture says he
came to save his people from their sins. His incarnation,
the whole reason he came was to die. But this time he's coming
back as a lion. He's already victorious. And
there be a great day of reckoning. For all those who mocked Him
and said, I don't believe in Him, well, they're going to see
Him. They're going to see Him at His
coming, and they're going to see Him at the great wide judgment
throne. My, they're going to see the very One they mocked
is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. And at all judgment,
the Father has given all judgment into His hands. into his hands. Think of this. The one who has
all power, the one who has all might, the one whose all judgment
is in his hand has saved we who are his people from our sins.
My, isn't that wonderful? That's so comforting to know
that the very one who holds everything together by the word of his power
holds us in his hands. keeps us by his almighty power.
The scripture says that God's people are kept by the power
of God. See, religion tells you it's
you who keep yourself. That's a lie. That's a lie from the
pit of hell. I'll tell you what, I can't keep
myself at all. But I trust in the one who can keep all who
flee to him, can save all who flee to him. You're never too
much of a sinner to flee to Christ. Never. My Lord, we see in the
scriptures, saved an adulterer, a murderer, a killer. And we say he saved us. He can
save anyone, can't he? If he pleases. He saved drunkards through the
years. He saved prostitutes through
the years. He saved supposed good people.
through the years, who find out that they're not so good? My. We find out, don't we? We suppose that good people,
before the Lord saves us, we find out, as He reveals Himself,
that we're worse than the worst. And then we find out, even after
He saves us, that we're still sinners. desperate need of Christ more
need of Christ now than we ever have been before because now
we're aware of our sin now we're aware of what we are by birth
nature and choice look at James chapter 5 James chapter 5 and
we're continue reading in this section here and James chapter
5 verses 7 to 12 The scriptures declare, be patient,
therefore, brethren, unto the coven of the Lord. Verse seven,
behold, the husband man waiteth for the precious fruit of the
earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the
early and latter rain. Be patient, establish your heart,
look at this, for the coven of the Lord draweth nigh. You know,
every day it's closer. People say, well, when will he
return? Well, every day it's getting closer. People say, well,
he's been gone for 2,000 years. Yeah, but the scripture says
that one day to the Lord is like 1,000 years. So you know what?
He's been gone for two days. It's not very long, is it? Not very long in the sight of
God. Remember, he's the ancient of days. Ages and ages have passed
by. 1,000 years is nothing to him. Nothing. My, oh, my. Grudge not one against
another, brethren, lest you be condemned. Behold, the judge
standeth before the door. Take my brethren, the prophets,
who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering,
affliction, and impatience. Behold, we count them happy,
which endure. You have heard of the patience of Job and have
seen the end of the Lord. But the Lord is very pitiful
and of tender mercy. Of all things, my brethren, swear
not, neither by heaven, neither by earth, neither by any other
oath, but let your yea be yea and your nay be nay. So again,
these words are words written to God's born-again blood-washed
church. They're not written to everybody,
but they are written to God's church, those who are born again
by the Holy Spirit of God. And again, as we looked at last
week, the word patient in our text there, means long-suffering
in the Greek. Long-suffering. Is not the Lord
long-suffering with us? He is, isn't he? Think of how
long-suffering the Lord was with you before he saved you. Think of how long-suffering,
through the choices we've made, good and bad, think of how long-suffering
the Lord is with us even after we're saved. I made some pretty
bad mistakes and bad choices. Before the Lord saved me and
after the Lord saved me, but you know what? He still keeps
me. Keeps me by His almighty power.
Oh, it's wonderful. Look at verse 7 again. Be patient
therefore, so patiently wait unto the coming of the Lord.
Be long-suffering, just wait for His coming. Wait for His
return. People may mock, let them mock.
I was amongst the mockers before the Lord saved me. I was. I used to mock the Lord's people
before I was saved. I used to say all kinds of things
I wouldn't want to repeat. But here I am now, a preacher
of God's righteousness. Isn't that incredible? All by
his mercy and by his grace. My, he can stop the mocker's
mouth, can't he? And he will one day. Either if he saves you, you'll
stop mocking just like that, or your death. Your lips will
be quiet then. Right? My, oh my. Oh my. So look at this. Be patient therefore, brethren,
unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husband and man waiteth
for the precious fruit of the earth, and have long patience
for it. So great restraint is brought
forth in this verse. These verses are great restraint,
just to wait on the Lord. I was talking to somebody in
Oregon, and he was real frustrated with people leaving the church
and all this stuff that he's seen. The restrictions are a
lot more harder out there than they are here. They're just starting
to get back to meeting, from what he was saying. And I guess
it's been really difficult out there. And I said, you know what? The hardest thing for us to do
is just rest. Just trust the Lord. Just wait on Him. Like
Norm said, at least they didn't take away video meetings. We were still live streaming
through the whole thing. The gospel was still going out.
Although we couldn't meet and it was hard, it was hard. But
the gospel was still going out. They can't put a seal on that,
can they? Until, maybe the Lord will let
that happen one day, but let's hope it's, I hope it's not in
my lifetime, but if it is, I'm just gonna keep preaching the
gospel. Right, that's all we can do, isn't it? That's all
we can do. My, oh, my. And again, note in
verse seven, this is written to born-again, blood-washed saints
of God, this text. It's written, be patient, therefore,
brethren. Divinely loved ones. Do you know that if you're if
you're one of God's people you're divinely loved one? My that's incredible loved by
God Chosen by God redeemed by God. Yes He's loved you with
an everlasting love I'll tell you I never knew what love was
until I found out that the Lord died for my soul on Calvary's
cross. It's nothing compared to the
love that we experience on this earth, is it? That someone who's
sinless would give his life for me, a sinner, and me who's still
a sinner, even after I'm saved, that God would do that for me?
That he did that for me, the one who at one time used to curse
his name? My, oh my, greater love hath
no man than this, than a man lay down his life for his friends.
He takes rebels, and that's what we are at heart, he takes rebels
and turns us into ones who praise him. It's amazing. And that's all according to God's
grace and mercy in and through Christ Jesus our Lord, right?
All through him. We have nothing to boast in.
Turn if you would to Galatians chapter five. You know that patience
is one of the fruits of the spirit. And patience, I mean in the text
here, is long-suffering. The word patience isn't amongst
the Spirit, but again, the underlying Greek word for patience here
is long-suffering. So let's see what Galatians chapter
five says. Look at this. And remember, okay,
now in religion, you ever experience this when you were in religion,
those of us who were in religion, you ever experience this? Man,
I just wish I could be more joyful. I wish I could be more patient
with people. I'm going to try to be more patient with people.
I'm going to try to be a better person. Now, there's nothing
wrong with wanting to be a better person, is there? But we always did it
in the guise of gaining merit and favor with God. Well, God
will certainly bless me if I become more long-suffering. It's so
hard to work in the flesh. It's such duty, and such work,
and it just grinds you down. I remember going in, I'd hear
a sermon. I felt worse. I felt worse when I came out
in religion than when I went in. And then this, the preacher
would say something like, well, you've got to be more long-suffering.
So right off the bat, you leave, and you think, I'm going to be
more long-suffering this week. And what happens? You're driving
a car, and you get mad at somebody right away. And then you feel like, oh, man,
I'm such a failure. Right? That was my experience in religion.
Oh, my. Look at this. Note that this
is the fruit of the spirit. See, that which I was trying
to do was the fruit of the flesh. We can't muster up these things.
It's called the fruit of the spirit. God must work in us these
things. And he does. He does. And we know it's gradual for
us. But if you look back, you're
not the same person you were five years ago in Christ. The
things you've learned, we grow and we don't even see
it ourselves. Look at this though. Again, it's
the fruit of the spirit. Galatians 5, 22 and 23. But the fruit of the Spirit,
capital S, the Holy Spirit, this is what the Holy Spirit works
in us, is love. Love for the gospel, love for
the brethren, love for Christ, love for the scriptures, love
for one another, things we never had before the Lord saved us.
Joy, this is not fake joy, this is true joy. that amidst all
the turmoils that happen in our lives, we still have that underlying
current of joy in the Lord. Then it says, peace. This is
the peace that passes all understanding, that keeps our hearts and minds
in Christ Jesus. See, when I keep my eyes on Christ,
I have more peace, personally, than when I'm looking at the
world. If I start looking at the world, I lose my peace just like
that. My, so peace, and again, the
Holy Spirit has to work this in us. Think of this, we're looking
at a situation in the world, we're gonna get all, we do, we
get riled up, and then when we get our mind focused on Christ,
we get a peaceful feeling, right? You know what, that's the Holy
Spirit working that in us, beloved. Giving us that ability to look
away from the things of the world and look to Christ. See, the
world doesn't have that. It has no peace. I know, because
I was there. My. And then it says gentleness,
or no, then it says long-suffering, which is patience in the Greek,
or in our text, patience is long-suffering in our text, so long-suffering. Putting up with things, right?
Being more gentle with people. And
then it says gentleness next. Goodness. Faith. Oh, faith's a fruit of the Spirit?
Yep. Faith's a gift from God. And
then we see that it's a fruit of the Spirit. When God increases
our faith, that comes from God. We don't increase our own faith.
How, what happens sometimes when we're reading, we're going, oh
my gosh, and we just glean something from the scriptures, right, that
we never saw before. It gives us a strength. And we
think about it for a month or two sometimes. And man, we just,
we get so much out of it. Well, that's strengthening your
faith, beloved. And it makes us look to Christ even more.
See, so that's the fruit of the Spirit too. Meekness, quiet strength,
quiet strength. Temperance, not going one way
or the other in things. Temperance. Against such, there's
no law. So who do we wait upon? We wait
upon the king of kings and the Lord of lords, don't we? We wait
upon the Lord Jesus Christ. So be patient, brethren. unto
the coming of the Lord." Be patient. James here is exhorting the brethren
to be patient. And remember, they're suffering.
These brethren are suffering, just like the saints at Thessalonica. They're suffering through trials
and tribulations of this life. They're being persecuted for
their faith. And James here says, just be
patient. Be patient under the sufferings and afflictions until
their death or the coming of the Lord. We're either gonna
die before his coming or we'll be here when he comes back. We
don't know which, God knows. And that's good enough for me.
I know it's good enough for you too, isn't it? We're just gonna
trust him. And we are here on this earth
and we have trials and we wait patiently through them. We're
not to murmur, against his providence were not to seek vengeance on
other people? No, no. It says this, for we
know that, for we know him that has said, vengeance belongeth
unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, the Lord
shall judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall
into the hands of the living God. Oh my. And then the scripture says here,
behold, the husband man waiteth for the precious fruit of the
earth and hath long patience for it until he received the
early and latter rain. Let's go back and read that verse
seven of James chapter five again. And see, we see the second part.
It says, behold, the husband man waiteth for the precious
fruit of the earth and hath long patience for it until he received
the early and latter rain. Well, this is a reference to
our great God and king. Our Lord Jesus Christ. And we're
to be like the farmer or the gardener who sows the precious
seed and then waits patiently until God gives the increase.
Brother Neil, he sows seed for corn, right? And he just waits
for God to give the increase. He waits for God to give the
rain. He waits for God to give the increase. Brother Tom, he's
a gardener, and he plants all kinds of vegetables and stuff,
and he plants the vegetables and waits for God to give the
increase. So that's what's being brought
forth here. We're to wait patiently and expectantly for the harvest. And we see here that James uses
a metaphor which the people of those times were well acquainted
with, and we still are today. A farmer or a gardener. The husband,
man of the farmer, waits for the fruit to come, and waits
in patience. Turn, if you would, to Joel,
the book of Joel, chapter 2, verse 23. And we see here a reference
to the former in latter rain, which speaks of Christ. Which speaks of Christ. Joel 2 verse 23. Be glad then,
ye children of Zion. So this is written to God's people
again. And rejoice in the Lord your God. Rejoice in Jehovah
Elohim. It says there in Hebrew. For
he hath given you the former rain moderately and will cause
to come down for you the rain, the former rain and the latter
rain in the first month. So the farmer and gardener waits
for the early rains and also waits for the latter rains in
the season. And they do not fret. You know,
you plant your seeds and the earth doesn't immediately give
fruit, does it? No. You got to wait. And you wait
patiently. You plant a tomato plant, you
can't wait to eat one of them tomatoes, right? I used to like
radishes. I couldn't wait till mom's radishes
came up. I'd go out there and tell her, I'll pull every radish
you want, Mom, but I ate half of them, too, while I was out
there. Take a little salt shaker in your pocket and, right? My, it was awesome. I loved it.
But we waited patiently for that increase to come. And I'll tell you what, our Lord's
coming back. There's no one on this earth
who knows the time of the day. As I said last week, if someone
makes a day and says that this is the certain day the Lord's
coming back, you can rest assured that the Lord is not coming back
that day. Not at all. No man knows the hour of the
day. The Father knows. And then look at verse 8, it
says here, be ye also patient, again, long-suffering. Establish
your hearts, for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. So establish
your hearts in Christ. Keep your hearts set upon him.
Because the coming of the Lord is coming closer. It's closer. It's closer today than it was
yesterday, isn't it? And people mock, let them mock.
Maybe the Lord will save one of them like he did with me.
That's our hope, eh? They do it ignorantly. Some of
them do it knowingly, but some of them do it ignorantly, too.
Just keep them in your prayers. Be ye also patient, long-suffering,
establishing your hearts. For the coming of the Lord draweth
nigh. So here's an exhortation again by James to the church
to be patient. Be patient for the one who redeemed
us is coming back. Be patient because the one who
saved our souls is coming back. He's coming back. We don't know
when. We might go home to be with him before he comes back.
But we might be here when he comes back. We have no idea. So we wait patiently. for the
return of the king, the king of kings and the Lord of lords,
the one who holds everything in his power, mine. So like the farmer who waits
patiently for all the means that are necessary for a full and
fruitful harvest, which is the rains, let we who are the people
of God wait patiently for the means of divine grace which are
necessary to try our faith, So let us keep our hearts established
upon Christ through the trials that come our way. And they will
come and they do come. But let us keep our eyes on our
King. He's ordained those. He's ordained them for us to
go through. And I find that when I'm suffering trials or persecution
or anything like that, I'm drawn closer to the Lord than I did
before. Whether it be health problems or heart problems or
suffering for our faith, we're drawn closer. As Sister Barb
said one time, all those things make us homesick for heaven. They make us long for home. My,
oh, my. And our Lord is mindful of every
situation we go through. The very hairs of our head are
numbered, so He's aware of every single tear that falls from our
eyes. He's aware of every cry that comes from our heart. He's
aware of it all. All of it. And He gives us comfort
and strength, doesn't He? Through the preaching of the
Gospel, through the reading of the Word, sometimes just fellowshipping
with another believer. And our hearts are lifted up
in joy to our King. Oh, He strengthens us through
these circumstances. And the Scripture declares they
all work for His glory and for our good. Now, we don't always
see that. We usually do after the circumstance. We usually do after them, but
before that, well, we're going through it where it hurts. And
it's hard. My, oh, my. And it says here, establish your
hearts, which in the Greek means to set fast. Set your heart fast. Fix your heart upon Christ. Fix
your heart upon the Redeemer. It also means to fix firmly. So firmly fix your mind upon
Him who is the only hope for sinners. And firmly fix to the
fact that the Lord Jesus Christ is coming back. And you know
what? It's not going to be a private
secret thing. It's gonna be very public. Very public. My oh my. Well, why does James write these
words? Why does the Holy Spirit have
James write these words where it says, establish your hearts?
Because we're so prone to forget. We're so prone to question God's
love and providence. Scripture says this, like as
a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that
fear him. He knows. For he knoweth our frame, he
remembereth that we are dust. So how then is the heart of the
believer set fast and firmly as our text brings forth? By
the word of God. By the preaching of the gospel
of God's free grace and salvation in him, a complete, full salvation
in Christ. My fellowship with one another,
encouragement with one another, makes our heart be of good cheer,
doesn't it? And we are to, again, just keep looking
to Christ's return. Turn, if you would, to 1 Thessalonians
4. Lift up your heads, beloved,
and hearts, for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. It's coming. He's coming. Every day is getting
closer. There's a text here I want us to look at. Now, when I was
in Oregon, I had a young man that attended church with us
out there who grew up in a grace church. His dad was Gene Harmon
out in California. He called me one day and he says,
Wayne, I keep hearing this stuff about the rapture and all this
stuff. And he goes, I've never really heard of that stuff. He
goes, I've heard people talk about it, but I've never heard
it preached. And I said, okay. I said, well,
that's understandable, being in a grace church, that you wouldn't
hear that. And he goes, well, what's the
scripture that they use to bring forth the so-called
rapture? And I took him to this passage we're going to look at
today. You know what he said to me? Now remember, he's not
been trained in any kind of eschatology, which is end times stuff. He doesn't know about dispensationalism
or post-millennials. He doesn't know about post-,
pre-, and amillennial. He doesn't know about any of
that stuff. He's never learned it. All he's been taught is from
the scriptures. And I read him this portion of
scripture, and you know what he said? That's the second coming of Christ.
And I said, amen, brother. Let's look at this. First Thessalonians, chapter
four verses, we're going to go all the way into chapter five,
we're going to start in verse 16 and we're going to go all
the way into 511. First Thessalonians. Chapter four, verse 16, for the
Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout in the voice
of the of the archangel and the trump of God and the dead in
Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain
shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the
Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore,
comfort one another with these words. So these words are supposed
to bring us comfort. Because the Lord is not going
to leave any of his sheep behind. You notice that? The ones that
are dead, their bodies are going to be raised. The ones that are
alive, they're going to be caught up at his coming. There's not going
to be one sheep of God left behind. So comfort one another with these
words. Look at this, but of the times, look at verse one of chapter
five. But of the times and the seasons,
brethren, you have no need that I write unto you. Why? Because
it's none of our business. This is God's calendar. No one
knows when the Lord's coming back except God the Father. He's the only one. He's the only
one. He's in full control. For yourselves
know perfectly that the day of the Lord still cometh as a thief
in the night. So people have taken that and said, well, this
is a secret coming. No, it just means he's coming
like a thief comes, and you don't know when he's coming. That's
all that means. It'll come upon people, and they
won't expect it. Because the world's not looking
for him. For when they shall say, Peace
and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them as travail upon
a woman with child, and they shall not escape. Think of the
days of Noah. Oh, they were eating and drinking.
They were mocking Noah. They were mocking him, right?
What happened? Destruction came upon them. That's
exactly what's talking about here. When the Lord comes back,
it'll be sudden destruction for the ungodly. Sudden destruction
for all who are not safe in Christ. That's what that says. They say,
peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them
as it prevailed upon a woman with child, and they shall not
escape. Look at that. Not one will escape
the wrath of God. People say, I don't believe in
God. I don't believe in Him. You're not going to escape His
wrath. Do you think God's up there wringing
His hands when people say, I don't believe in Him? Scripture says
He laughs. laughs at their calamity. We think we're so much and we're
nothing. Oh my. My oh my. Look at this though. All this
means is that it's going to come quickly and people won't expect
it. But ye brethren, look at this
now, look at this, look at this. But ye brethren are not in darkness
that the day should overtake you as a thief. You are all the children of light.
We're born again by the Holy Spirit of God. And the children
of the day, we are not of the night nor the darkness. Therefore,
let us not sleep as others do, but let us watch and be sober.
For they that sleep shall sleep in the night, and they that be
drunken are drunken in the night. But let us, who are of the day,
be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith. And for in Helmut,
the hope of salvation, Now, you know I use that scripture all
the time for who made us to differ, and what do we have that we didn't
receive? Look at this next verse. I never saw this verse until
we did the study of 1 Thessalonians. And I think I repeated this verse
100 times to y'all after that, because it's just absolutely
incredible. For God hath not appointed us
to wrath. Who made you to differ? God's
not appointed you to wrath. God's were vessels of honor,
not vessels of dishonor. It's God who made the difference.
Isn't this beautiful? For God has not appointed us
to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. Where's
man in that? Where's man's supposed free will
in that? When did God not appoint us to
wrath? In eternity! I didn't have a
clue. When I was younger and a rebel
and doing whatever I wanted to do, I had no idea that I wasn't
appointed to wrath. I was out doing whatever I wanted
to do. And I'll tell you what, if it
wasn't for God's preserving grace, I probably would have destroyed
myself. By my drinking and other stuff that I was doing, I probably
would have destroyed myself. But God's not appointed me to
wrath. And if you're a believer, God's not appointed you to wrath.
Isn't that beautiful? That's absolutely incredible.
He's not appointed. And this, again, is written to
God's people. For God has not appointed us to wrath, but to
obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. In Him, through
Him, completely, He's did it all. He is the perfect Redeemer,
beloved. It's all through Him. Who died,
what? For us. Oh, Christ died for us,
beloved. Whether we wake or sleep, whether
we're sleeping or whether we're awake, right? We should live
together with him. Wherefore, now it says, wherefore
comfort yourselves together and edify one another, even as you
do you also. Oh my gosh, what a blessing.
God had not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation all because
I'm going to stop here all because it pleased him to do so. Hallelujah. Praise his mighty name.