James in chapter 5 and verse
10 writes, Take my brethren the prophets who have spoken in the
name of the Lord for an example of suffering affliction and of
patience. Behold we count them happy which
endure. Ye have heard of the patience
of Job and have seen the end of the Lord that the Lord is
very pitiful and of tender mercy. But above all things, my brethren,
swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither
by any other oath, but let your yea be yea and your nay, nay,
lest ye fall into condemnation. Take my brethren the prophets
who have spoken in the name of the Lord for an example of suffering
affliction and of patience. Behold we count them happy which
endure. Ye have heard of the patience
of Job and have seen the end of the Lord. That the Lord is
very pitiful and of tender mercy. The brethren to whom James writes
knew something of the suffering that the prophets knew and that
Job knew. They knew what it was to be afflicted. They knew what trial was. They
knew what persecution was in a way that many today perhaps
don't know. Some do, some don't. But these
were perilous days in which to confess Christ These were hard
days in which to be a believer. This was a generation in the
days of Christ and following his lifetime in this world. He lived amongst the Jews and
the Romans and the people of this world who had taken the
Savior. and had accused him falsely and
had brutally slain him. And their enmity and their hatred
for Christ extended to all those who confessed his name and followed
him. To believe on Christ was to risk
your life. This people who had been delivered
from their sins through the gospel, who had been brought to faith
in Christ to know His righteousness and life eternal, had been delivered
from all that which is temporal and fleeting and passing. They
had the greatest riches and the greatest joys in Christ. But
in this world, They knew the greatest of peril. The gospel
indeed had turned their world upside down. All that they understood, all
that they fought and believed and followed before they came
to know Christ was shaken up. They came to see things as they
truly were. They came to see that which is
eternal. everlasting, heavenly, outside
of this world, outside of the things that you can see, touch,
handle and feel, outside of what people in the world think is
reality, merely that which is physical, which they see here
below, which is actually fleeting and passing. They saw something
which cannot be seen with the natural eye, cannot be sensed
with the natural senses. They saw that which is eternal
and everlasting. They saw Christ by faith. And they saw themselves in Christ. In such a way that they could
endure that which they were brought to suffer in this world. They
could endure it because God gave them that grace. And that faith,
that set their gaze upon Christ, seated on high, at the right
hand of the Father, victorious as their Saviour. They looked
beyond what they could see. They walked by faith, not by
sight. And yet, what could be seen outside
with the natural senses was frightening. was fearful,
was perilous. They endured great suffering. They endured great persecution. They met in upper rooms for fear
of the Jews. They knew that they could be
set upon, accused, taken, beaten, stoned, persecuted, put to death. for confessing Christ and their
faith in him. The trials they endured were
very real and very deep. They lived in perilous times. Many believers that followed
in the times of the Romans were put to death, were thrown to
the lions, were made a mockery of, and yet their faith caused them
to stand and to look up. Being a believer in these days
was not easy. The trials they suffered were
great trials, which is why James points them to those that had
suffered as they did, to those that had suffered worse. Take my brethren the prophets
who have spoken in the name of the Lord for an example of suffering
affliction and of patience. Behold we count them happy which
endure. Ye have heard of the patience
of Job and have seen the end of the Lord that the Lord is
very pitiful and of tender mercy. Yes the trials they endured were
great trials. But they had a Lord who was very
pitiful and of tender mercy, a Lord who was gracious. They
had Christ. And in Christ they had their
all. They had life, righteousness, peace with God, the love of God
shed abroad in their hearts. They had salvation, they had
all riches in Christ. They could look up beyond the
trials. beyond the persecution and to
know that they were safe in his hands. But the trials that God sent
them in this world were sent for their good. through which
they learnt patience. They learnt to wait upon the
Lord. They learnt to wait for His coming. They learnt to look through all
their circumstances, all their trials, all the difficulties,
daily unto Christ. They looked up by faith. They
waited for Him to come unto them. They waited for Him to speak
unto them. They waited for Him to move.
They looked to Him. Believer in your trials, do you
count them joy? Do you count them blessings to
be sent unto you for your good, through which you will patiently
wait upon the Lord and for his coming? Has God given you faith
to look and to see the Saviour victorious from battle, victorious
from the battle at the cross, riding unto you with blood-stained
clothing, having wrought a great victory. Crying out, it is finished. You are mine. Who is this that
cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bosra, This that is glorious
in his apparel, traveling in the greatness of his strength. I that speak in righteousness,
mighty to save. Oh, we may live in terrible times. We may endure great trial as
Job did. The Lord may choose to put us
through the fires. But He gives His children faith
to look and to see that Saviour with dyed garments, coming from
Bosra, glorious in His apparel, travelling in the greatness of
His strength. He that speaks in righteousness,
He who is mighty to save. He who rules the world and everything
in the world, every event and every person, every circumstance,
no matter who may come upon you, He is at your side. He is in charge. None can harm
the child of God. They may take our earthly lives
away, but we will rise again in power with Christ. None can
harm us. So James points his brethren
away from their circumstances to look to the prophets and to
Job. as an example of suffering, affliction,
and of patience. Behold, we count them happy which
endure. Ye have heard of the patience
of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord. That in the end,
the Lord delivered him from all his trials. In the end, the Lord
blessed him greatly. In the end, the Lord gave him
great mercy, great grace. and great faith. Throughout the
trials, the Lord was at his side. Throughout the trials, the Lord
strengthened Job. Throughout the trials, the Lord
showed him great mercy. We read earlier from Job, chapter
1, There was a man in the land of Oz whose name was Job, and
that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God and eschewed
evil. And there were born unto him
seven sons and three daughters. His substance also was seven
thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of
oxen, five hundred she-asses, and a very great household, so
that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east. He
was a great man. But when Satan came before the
Lord, having wandered up and down in the earth, and the Lord
said unto him, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is
none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that
feareth God and is sure of evil? Satan answered and said, Doth
Job fear God for naught? hast not thou made an hedge about
him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every
side? Thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance
is increased in the land. But put forth thine hand now,
and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.'
And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in
thy power, and he upon himself put not forth thine hand. So
Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord. Satan's accusation
was that, well, Job worships God, Job is upright because he's
so blessed. He has such an easy life. Take
everything away from him, put him through persecution and trial,
and then he'll curse thee. So God grants Satan leave to
take what Job had away. We read as the chapter goes on
of the enemies that came in and destroyed all that Job had, his
oxen, his sheep, his cattle. And of how a great storm came
and destroyed the house in which his sons and daughters were,
and all were slain. Everything that Job had was taken
away. Each messenger comes unto him
and says, All have been destroyed, and I only am escaped alone to
tell thee. But what did Job respond? Then
Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell
down upon the ground, and worshipped, and said, Naked came I out of
my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither. The Lord gave,
and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
Nor this, Job said not, nor charge God foolishly. What a response. What grace God gave Job in this
trial to be able to speak thus. That's not a natural response.
That's not the way that we would respond by nature when such trouble
comes our way. We grumble and complain at far
less. But God gave Job the faith, the
grace to bless God, even when everything was taken away. However, his trials grew deeper. Again, there was a day when the
sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came
also among them to present himself before the Lord. And the Lord
said unto Satan, From whence comest thou? And Satan answered
the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and
from walking up and down in it. And the Lord said unto Satan,
Hast thou considered my servant Job? that there is none like
him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth
God and escheweth evil. And still he holdeth fast his
integrity, although thou movest me against him to destroy him
without cause. And Satan answered the Lord and
said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give
for his life. But put forth thine hand now
and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy
face. And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine
hand, but save his life. So went Satan forth from the
presence of the Lord, and smote Job with sore boils from the
sole of his foot unto his crown. And he took him a pot, so as
to scrape himself withal, and he sat down among the ashes.
Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine
integrity? Curse God and die. But he said
unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh.
What, shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we
not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with
his lips. How great the patience of Job,
even when he suffered in his body. He'd lost all things, he'd
lost his family, he'd even lost his health and still he praises
God. Now of course we go on to read
of how his so-called friends come under him and reason with
him and reason why these events have come upon him and accuse
him of having done great sin that God is judging him for.
And we read Job's wonderings but in the end God's grace unto
Job is such that Job rises up above all the accusations above
all the trouble in the loneliness of being cast out by all being
rejected by all being accused by all in the midst of it all
he rises up and can say I know I know that my Redeemer liveth. Whatever might be happening to
me now, I know that my God reigns. I know that my Redeemer liveth. Job endured. He endured trial,
unlike any that you and I will likely endure. He endured trial
physical, emotional, in the body, financially. He endured the opposition
and the hatred and the accusation of all those around him. And
yet the Lord kept him through the trial. The Lord kept him. The Lord showed great mercy unto
him, great grace unto him. And the Lord put his words into
his heart. I know that my Redeemer liveth. What would cause James' brethren
to endure similar? What would cause them to stand
when the Jews could put them to death? The fact that God had
given them the same grace and the same faith that he gave unto
Job. that they too could say in certainty,
I know, I know that my Redeemer liveth. What will bring you and
I through trial? The same faith and the same grace. We see the Lord's mercy unto
Job in the end, that in the end he brings him out of all the
trials and he restores unto him many things. He stores under
him his wealth, gives him more sons and daughters, blesses him
greatly. And Job knew the blessing of
God despite all that he suffered in this world. But we may know
of the patience of Job and we may know of the suffering of
the prophets who are an example of suffering, affliction and
of patience. We may have these presented unto
us in the scriptures as those whom the Lord has used and those
whom the Lord has blessed through the gospel. But they themselves
are but pictures of another. Who gave Job the grace to stand
in the midst of his trial. Who gave him the faith that he
could look unto God and say the Lord gave and the Lord has taken
away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
Who gave him that faith? Christ did. His Redeemer did. I know that my Redeemer liveth. He looked unto Christ. Job in
his sufferings is simply a picture of that servant of God who would
endure all opposition, all hatred of all men, who would endure
the taking away of all things. Job's sufferings, great though
they were, are nothing compared to the sufferings of Christ. When the Lord said unto Satan,
Hast thou considered my servant Job? In truth, he points to his
servant, the Son of God, Jesus Christ. There is none like him
in the world, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth
God and escheweth evil. He endured opposition, hatred
and trial like no one else has ever endured. Throughout all his years upon
this earth he was born a man in a world that did not want
him. At his birth there was no room
for him in the inns of Bethlehem. No one made space or made way
for the arrival of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.
There was no room for him. So he was born in a filthy stable
amongst the animals. King Herod sometime after, hearing
from the wise men that they sought the king of the Jews who was
born in Bethlehem. Herod was moved to decree that
all the firstborn should be slain for he sought to put Christ to
death. And Mary and Joseph warned of
God, took Christ, took their son, took the youngster down
into Egypt. to escape the sword of Herod. This world sought to put Christ
to death from the day he was born, as an infant, until he
was a man. When Christ went forth as a man
preaching the gospel, he stood up the opposition and the hatred
and the anger of the Jews, the Pharisees, the scribes, all those
that should have been looking for him, all those that should
have been waiting for him, all those that should have received
him, they rejected him, they rejected his gospel, they rejected
his message, just like you, and just like I, we've all put him
to death in our hearts. As he preached, they tried to
stone him, As he preached, they found fault with every word he
uttered. As he preached, they accused
him of blasphemy. They found everything they could
charge him with. And in the end, they took him
and delivered him up to be slain. He endured suffering like no
man. He had no place to call his home.
He had no place to lay down his head. He went about unwelcome,
unwanted. There were those he called to
follow him, his disciples who believed. But how long-suffering
he was with their lack of faith and their doubts and their fears.
how long-suffering he is with our lack of faith and our doubts
and our fears. We read of Peter who denied the
Lord three times when Christ was taken away to be tried and
to be crucified. And how Peter desiring to stand
firmly by Christ's side, fell greatly. And how grieved he was. But how
often we have denied our Lord and our Saviour, even as believers. How often we doubt. How often
we act like He's not sat upon the throne. How often we go off
to solve our troubles and our problems with our own strength.
How often we turn from grace back to works, back to the law,
back to our own wisdom. And how long-suffering He is
with us. We're all like those friends
of Job gathered around. saying as it were unto Christ
our Saviour, saying even unto Him in our hearts, well these
things have come about because of something you've done. How
essentially we accuse Him and blame Him. Why has this trouble
come upon me? Why have you not delivered me
from it? Why is this like this and that like that? How gracious
the Lord is. under his children. How long-suffering.
How in his lifetime he endured the continual opposition and
hatred of men. Every one. Even at the end his
disciples forsook him. When they led him away to be
crucified he was alone. Alone. In the whole world, alone. Have you ever felt alone? Have
you ever felt rejected and set aside? If you speak of Christ
and your faith in Him, does the world turn away? Does it accuse
you? In your circumstances, in your
trials, do you feel alone? Do you feel abandoned even of
God? Do you feel like you're alone? Christ endured the suffering
of the cross with no man to help and taking
and bearing the sins of his people as he entered the darkness of
the hours upon the cross because of the sin he bore. God judged him. The Father poured out his wrath
and his fury upon him. How alone Christ was in the darkness,
in death, in hell as it were. He cries out from the cross,
my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Oh what he endured. How he endured
the opposition and hatred of men. How he endured the suffering
of the cross. He endured an eternity of wrath
in those three hours upon the tree. Offered up as the sacrifice the
lamb for his people. God's priest, Jesus Christ, took
the Passover lamb himself, prepared as a sacrifice for the offering.
And he was consumed under the fires of God's wrath upon the
altar alone. To whom should we look as an
example of suffering, affliction, and of patience? The prophets,
yes. The patience of Job, yes. But
through them, Christ our Savior. As the writer of the Hebrews
exhorts, wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with
so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight
and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with
patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus,
the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was
set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set
down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him
that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest
ye be wearied and faint in your minds. Consider him that endured
such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied
and faint in your minds. Whatever we may endure, whatever
rejection we may suffer, Whatever contradiction of sinners may
come upon us, it's nothing like that which Christ endured. Whatever suffering we may endure,
it's nothing like the suffering upon the cross that He endured. For the joy that was set before
Him, He endured the cross, despising the shame. and is set down at
the right hand of the throne of God. He was made a curse. He was made sin. He was made
shame. He was at that moment the most
shameful one upon the earth, the most guilty. He who knew
no sin was made sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. He was a curse, cast out, rejected,
despised, and He endured it, He went towards it, He set His
face like a flint towards Jerusalem to go to this place of execution. to go to the cross, to go to
this place of suffering. He went there and he endured
this suffering there for the joy that was set before him. Because he loved that people
whose sins he would bear. He loved that company for whom
he must die. And he knew that through his
death He would wash everyone clean of every sin. Everyone for whom He suffered,
everyone for whom He hung there upon the cross, He would wash
them perfect, righteous, clean. And one day, they would be with
Him, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. One day they, having run with
patience the race that was set before them, would follow Him
into glory. Having looked unto Jesus, having
looked unto the offerer and finisher of their faith, one day they
would be with Him, sat around His throne, looking upon Him
forevermore. Everyone. Oh, what a joy. was set before him. You've heard of the patience
of Job. What patience we see in Christ our Savior. What love,
what mercy, what grace he has for those for whom he died. Oh, what think ye of Christ?
What think ye of Christ? Where are you headed in this
world? Do you deny Him? Do you reject
Him? Do you say, I don't know Him?
Do you try to get away from Him? Or do you seek to be with Him?
Do you look unto Him and see His suffering, His death? and something he suffered. As
a deaf, he died. For you. Oh, those hours that Christ endured
on the cross. When the Jews took him and took
him unto the high priest, brought him before the high came into the courtyard of the
high priest, and there was lit a fire in that courtyard, a fire
outside the palace of the priest, around which the men there warmed
themselves. And Peter stood warming himself
by that fire, as Christ, the Passover lamb, was brought before
the priest inside the palace. As Christ prepared to be offered
up upon a fire as a sacrifice for sinners like Peter. As Christ, the Son of God, the
triune God, prepared to go to the cross as the Father laid upon the Son
the sins of his people, as the Spirit watched on, as the triune
God prepared the sacrifice for sinners like Peter. Outside in
the courtyard, Peter the sinner, like you and I, warmed himself
by the fire. And when asked whether he knew
Christ, whether he was with him, at that hour he denied him three
times. Three times around the fire he
denied his Lord and Saviour. Have you denied him? Have you denied this triune God
three times? Have you denied Father, Son and
Holy Ghost? Have you denied his gospel? Yet, warming yourself around
the fire of the priest. The fire outside the palace of
the priest, where the Passover for sinners was prepared to be
brought forth and offered up. We've all denied him. What Peter
did, we've done. But in the end, Peter was brought
to see Christ offered on the cross, upon the fires of God's
wrath. In the end, Christ endured those
three hours in the darkness for Peter. Peter denied Him three
times, but three times over, Christ endured the hour for Peter
and his sin. God poured down His wrath upon
Christ for three hours and eternity upon the cross. For every time
Peter denied Him, for every sin that Peter ever committed, for
all his unbelief and all his hatred and all his rejection
of Christ, Christ endured it all. And Peter, as it were, warmed
himself upon the fire of God's sacrifice. He took the heat,
he took the warmth that came from Christ as Christ suffered
for him and Christ warmed him and blessed him and brought him
life. Peter came out of the cold of
this world, the darkness of this world unto the light of God.
And though he rejected by nature, God blessed him. God saved him. God took the warmth that came
from the sacrifice and warmed Peter. God took the light of
God and shone it into Peter's heart. God took Peter's sins
and bore them away and made him to be the righteousness of God
in Christ. Christ endured for the joy that
was set before him. Christ would save the sinner
Peter, despite all that he did against him. Peter was Christ,
and in the end he lifted Peter up to a great height. and blessed
him greatly, and sent him forth to preach the gospel with great
power. Just as Job was blessed, just
as the Lord was very pitiful and of tender mercy to Job, so
he was to Peter, and so he was to every child of God, who's
brought by faith around the fires of God's sacrifice, out of the
cold, Though they may deny him free fold, yet they're brought
to know the warmth of God's love through the sacrifice of Christ
upon the cross. Have you been brought by God's
grace patiently to endure, but have you been brought out of
the coldness of this world, unto the feet of Christ, unto the
cross, to look unto him and to see he who suffered for you. Was he suffering for you? Did he endure for you? Was he
consumed Under the fires of God's wrath for you, will you be lifted
up with Christ at the last day to live and reign with Him forevermore? Oh, the sufferings of this world
are but for a moment, but for a moment. And if God gives us
grace to look unto Christ, and to see Him as our Saviour eternally,
then we will know what Peter knew, we will know what Job knew,
that the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away, blessed be
the name of the Lord, but we will know that my Redeemer liveth. that he liveth, that he's victorious,
that he's come with dyed garment from Bosra, that he's glorious
in his apparel, that he travels in the greatness of his strength,
that he speaks in righteousness, that he's mighty to save. Has
he come unto you? Have you seen him? If you have,
you'll fall down at his feet and praise and worship him forevermore. no matter how many times you've
denied Him, no matter how much you've rejected Him, no matter
how far away you've gone in your sin and opposition, no matter
how hard your heart may be, you will come to know a Saviour who
loved you when you hated Him, who died for you when you cared
not for Him, who endured all things for you when you'd rather
destroy him, you will know a saviour whose love knows no bounds, whose
grace abounds unto sinners like you and I. You will know a saviour
who is mighty to save. Mighty to save. You will be able
to cry out with Job, I know that my Redeemer liveth. Amen.