will have to do with the patience
or the long-suffering of God. Let me read in Numbers chapter
14. I'm going to read the first 17
verses. It says here, And all the congregation
lifted up their voice and cried, and the people wept that night.
And the reason they're weeping is because they went in and spied
out the land, and they came back And all the men, except for a
couple of them, said, we can't go in there. We can't go take
that land. These are giants. But Caleb,
back in verse 30 of chapter 13, he stilled the people before
Moses and said, let us go up at once and possess it, for we
are well able to overcome it. Well, they didn't want to do
that. Said, all the congregation lifted up their voice and cried,
and the people wept that night. And all the children of Israel
murmured against Moses and against Aaron. And the whole congregation
said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt,
or would God we had died in this wilderness. You know, if you're
going to die, you might as well die fighting, shouldn't you?
You don't need to die a coward. They said, we should have died
here in the wilderness instead of going up and defending or taking this
land that God's given us. And wherefore hath the Lord brought
us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and
our children should be a prey? Were it not better for us to
return into Egypt? And they said one to another,
let us make a captain and let us return into Egypt. Then Moses and Aaron fell on
their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children
of Israel, and Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of
Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land, rent
their clothes, Joshua and Caleb. And they spake unto all the company
of the children of Israel, saying, The land which we have passed
through to search it is an exceeding good land. If the Lord delight
in us, then he will bring us into this land. and give it us,
a land which floweth with milk and honey. Only rebel not ye
against the Lord, neither fear ye the people of the land, for
they are bread for us. Their defense is departed from
them, and the Lord is with us. Fear them not. But all the congregation
bade," listen to this, "'Stone them.'" Stone them. They wanted to stone Joshua and
Caleb. Stone them with stone. and the glory of the Lord appeared
in the tabernacle of the congregation before all the children of Israel.
And the Lord said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke
me, and how long will it be ere they believe me, for all the
signs which I have shown among them? I will smite them with
the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of thee a
greater nation, and mightier than they. 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 among this people, that thou, Lord, art seen face to
face, and that thy cloud standeth over them, and that thou goest
before them by daytime in a pillar of a cloud, and in a pillar of
fire by night." If thou shalt kill all this people as one man,
then the nations which have heard the fame of thee will speak,
saying, Because the Lord was not able to bring this people
into the land which he sware unto them, therefore he hath
slain them in the wilderness. And now I beseech thee, let the
power of my Lord be great, according as thou hast spoken, according
to your word, saying, The Lord is longsuffering." He's reminding
the Lord in his mediation here, Lord, you said, you said you're
a long suffering and that you're a great in mercy, forgiving iniquity
and transgression and by no means clear the guilty. Visiting the
iniquity of the fathers upon the children and to the third,
fourth generation. Turn over to Exodus 34. Moses
is talking to God and he's using the word of God. He's not just
arguing. He's just saying, Lord, this
is your Word. This is your Word. You said this. Exodus 34. Look in verse 5. In Exodus 34. And the Lord descended in the
cloud and stood with him there and proclaimed the name of the
Lord 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, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity
and transgression and sin, and that were by no means clearly
guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children
and upon children's children unto the third and to the fourth
generation. Moses, Moses said, Lord, You
said you're long-suffering. According to your word, you're
long-suffering and you're merciful. What does long-suffering mean?
Let me give you some synonyms of it. It means forgiving. It means tolerant. It means accommodating. It means patient. Patient. And it means selfless. Selfless. I must say that this attribute
stands out to me more and more the older I get. I do stand amazed
at the long-suffering, the patience of God. It's amazing. It is amazing. He puts up with
the sinfulness, the ingratitude of this human race daily, daily. Not to mention, not to mention
the ingratitude of believers at times, our own ingratitude. How often we forget to return
proper praise and thanks to him. How often do we do that? But I thank God that he does
not leave us alone, but he chastens us and brings us back to our
senses. Now Numbers 14, 17 says, The
Lord is long-suffering. Moses appeals to the power of
God and the patience of God. Now when you think of power,
when you think of the power of God, What do you think of? What do you think of, Mike? Creation? Salvation? Providence? His control over all things?
Never really dawned on me until I got into studying this. The greatest display or one of
the greatest displays of God's power is over Himself. It's over Himself. We call it self-control, don't
we? Self-control. Have you ever met
anyone who has no real self-control that's ever been patient? Have
you ever met anybody? No, they're quick to anger, hasty. One of the greatest displays
of God's power is His self-control, which is displayed in His patience,
His long-suffering. Look over in Nahum chapter 1. Nahum chapter 1. We looked at this, I think, last
week. They said the Lord is good in verse 3. Stronghold in the
day of trouble. But look in verse, I mean, verse
7. We looked at verse 7. But look in verse 3. Nehemiah
chapter 1. He says, The Lord is slow to
anger. The Lord is slow to anger. The
Hebrew word for longsuffering Translated is slow to anger. He's slow to anger, and notice
this, and he does the same thing Moses does, he speaks of God's
power. He's slow to anger, he's long-suffering, he's great in
power. And that power is first exercised
on himself, self-control. Slow to anger, self-control.
Patience has to do with what? one's self. Pink said mercy has
to do with us. Patience has to do with God's
self, himself. It is exercising control over
yourself, not rash, not hasty. It's self-control. Patience in
a believer is a sign of maturity. It is a fruit of the Spirit.
But in God, it is a divine perfection. It is a divine perfection. God's long-suffering is seen
with this world. Turn over to 1 Peter chapter
3. 1 Peter chapter 3. Let's look in verse 18. For Christ also hath once suffered
for sins, and just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God,
being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit,
by which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison, which
sometimes were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God,
the patience of God, waited in the days of Noah. 120 years Noah
was in building that ark. And God waited. He waited while
the ark was preparing for him that his eight souls were saved.
God put up with, he put up with that evil generation. He said
God, the scripture says, God looked down from heaven. And
what does it say he saw? That the imagination of men was
evil in that continually. No break in it. No break in it. It was evil continually. They breathed his air. They ate
his food. They drank his water. They enjoyed,
listen, every day was a tropical day. It hadn't even rained yet. They didn't know what a flood
was. I mean, every day was a tropical day. And yet, they gave glory
to gods that didn't even exist. Turn over to Romans chapter 1.
We're over here to Romans chapter 1. Oh, the patience of God. It's amazing. In Romans chapter
1, look in verse 19. It says, "...because that which
may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it
unto them, for the invisible things of him from the creation
of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things
that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they
are without excuse, because that when they knew God, they glorified
him not as God." This is what he put up with. This is his long
suffering. "'Neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations,
and their foolish heart was darkened. professing themselves to be wise,
they became fools and changed the glory of the incorruptible
God into an image made like to a corruptible man and to birds
and four-footed beasts and creeping things. God put up with that. Wherefore, God also gave them
up to uncleanness through the lust of their own hearts to dishonor
their own bodies between themselves, who changed the truth of God
into a lie and worshiped and served a creature more than a
creator who is blessed forever. This is the long-suffering of
God. Long-suffering. But you want
to see some more of His long-suffering, turn over to the book of Acts
14. Acts chapter 14. Now this is
what He put up with. This is the long-suffering of
God. The patience of God. In Acts 14. Listen to this. In verse 15, and they're saying,
sirs, why do you these things? We also are men of like passions
with you. See, they were going to worship
Paul and Barnabas, and they stopped them because they saw a miracle
that Paul and Barnabas did. And he said, we are men of like
passions with you and preach unto you that you should turn
from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven.
and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein, who
in time past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways." I
just read that to you in Romans, what they did. Now listen to
verse 17, "'Nevertheless, he left not himself without a witness,
in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven and fruitful
seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.' It still
rained on the just and the unjust, His son still shined on the just
and the unjust. Oh, the patience of God. Patience is another way of describing
God. Look in Romans 15. We say God is holy, God is just,
God is gracious, God is love. Look in Romans Let me get back
over here. In Romans 15, look in verse 5. Now the God of patience. That's how he's described. The
God of mercy, the God of grace, the God of love, and here the
God of patience. Now the God of patience and consolation. grant you to be like-minded one
toward another according to Christ Jesus." But he's called here
the God of Patience. That's who he is. That's a description
of God. Now, because God is patient,
it leads to the salvation of his elect. It leads to our salvation. Look over in 2 Peter. In 2 Peter chapter 3, it says here in verse 9, the
Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count
slackness, but is long-suffering, patient to us-ward. God's long-suffering and his
patience is toward his elect. Not willing that any should perish. Not willing, listen now, not
willing that not one of his elect should perish. He's not talking
about every son of Adam. He's talking about every son
of God. Not willing that any of them should perish, but that
all should come to repentance. Look over in verse 15. And account
that the long-suffering, the patience of our Lord is what?
Salvation. Our salvation, our salvation,
even as our beloved Paul, our brother Paul, also according
to the wisdom given unto him, hath written unto you. But account
that the long-suffering of God is salvation. How long? How long? Did God put up with
you before He called you by His grace? How long did He put up with you
and my rebellion, our rebellion? How long did He put up with our
rebellion? How long did He put up with our
hatred? Long-suffering to us, not willing
that any of us for whom Christ died should perish. That's what
that means. Not willing that we should perish.
He puts up with our shortcomings. He puts up with our worldliness,
even now. We've got too much of it now. There's more of it than we even
know, really. But He's long-suffering. He's
long-suffering. Prone to wander. Lord, I feel
it. Prone to leave the God I love.
Don't we sing that? Now, seeing that our God is patient,
we are, too, to be patient. We are to be patient. The Scripture
says this, Be ye perfect even as your Father which is perfect
in heaven. Be ye perfect even as He's perfect.
Look over at Colossians chapter 3. Colossians chapter 3, look at
verse 12. Put on therefore, as the elect
of God, holy and beloved vows of mercies, kindness, humbleness
of mind, meekness, longsuffering. Patient. Be patient with one
another. Kind to one another. Humbleness
of mind. Refer one another before yourself. Listen to these scriptures. I
wrote these, I copied these down here. I'm going to read them
to you. Ecclesiastes 7, 8. Better is the end of a thing
than the beginning thereof. And the patient in spirit is
better than the proud in spirit. In Romans 2, 7, to them who by
patience, continuance, and well-doing seek for glory and honor and
immortality, eternal life. How do we seek it? By patience.
In Romans 2, 12, rejoicing in hope, patience, and tribulation. Trouble. Trouble. Continuing
instant in prayer. 1 Thessalonians 5.14, Now we
exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the
feeble-minded, support the weak, be patient toward all men. Remember this, God was patient
with us. May you be patient with all men. 2 Thessalonians 3.5, And the
Lord direct your hearts unto the love of God, and into the
patient waiting for Christ. Here's the qualifications of
a pastor. Not giving to wine, no striker,
not greedy, a filthy lucre, but patient. Patient. Lord give me patience. I know
how that comes. It comes by tribulation. Does it come any other way? But he's got to be patient, not
a brawler, not covetous. I tell you what, if he's not
patient, he'll be a brawler. I guarantee you. He'll stand
up here in the pulpit and he'll fight everybody. You want somebody patient. 2 Timothy 2.24, And the servant
of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle unto all men, apt
to teach and patient. It's in there every time, isn't
it? I tell you what, I couldn't write down as many times as this
is used in the scriptures. Patient and patience. Establish your hearts, for the
coming of the Lord draws nigh. Be patient. As I say, the longer I live,
the more I stand in awe at the patience
of God. The long-suffering of God. His patience is perfect. We can wear ours pretty thin.
Pretty quick, too quick really. But he's so patient with us,
so patient with his children. We ought to learn to be that
way with our children. Patience. Let us rejoice in this divine
attribute of the patience of God. All right.