Well hello church, if you would open to James chapter 5. James chapter 5. We are continuing this series on neglected virtues and today we'll look at the virtue of patience. James chapter 5 and I'm going to read in verse 7 through 11. We'll be studying the life of Job tonight. And we'll see what James has to say about Job. related to patience. It says in verse 7 of chapter 5, Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth being patient about it until it receives the early and the late rains. You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged. Behold, the judge is standing at the door. As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. Behold, we consider those blessed who remain steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful. And so, Father, we just pray for Your Spirit as Kent just did. We ask again, Holy Spirit, to come and be our teacher and to teach us from the life of Job this type of patience that this world knows not of. It is a very distinct, supernatural patience. And we need it. And so Lord, teach us about it and then give it to us in increased measure, we pray for the glory of your son. And we pray it in his name, amen. Well, we are living in what I would call an age of impatience, maybe more than any age before us. And that's partly, as always, there's impatience in the world because of our fallen nature. We are naturally impatient people. But there are cultural factors that contribute to impatience. And, you know, you think back to even the beginning of fast food restaurants, microwaves, Internet. And what have they done to us? They've made us expect speed. And even McDonald's old slogan, have it your way right away. You know that what was a fast food slogan has now become the vision and mission statement of every organization. The standard. No wait time on anything. Because why? People are impatient. They don't want to wait. And we see it affect so many things. Some people can't wait, so they rack up credit card debt. Some can't wait, so they have sex before marriage. Some can't wait, and they end up in ungodly relationships. It affects so many things. Every time I go to a sporting event, I think of how impatient we are. You know, back in the day, I remember as a young kid going to baseball games or basketball games and in the halftime or in between quarters or at timeouts, you would just wait. You would just wait until they played again. Now, the second they blow the whistle or the game stops, there's some little game in between the game. There's some entertainment. Because why? We are impatient people. Nobody wants to wait. And one way I've seen actually impatience affect the church, even in my short, you know, I've only pastored 13 years, but I've seen the cultural shift even reach the church, especially at one level, and that's the preaching level. When we first started the church, I would preach for an hour to an hour and 15 minutes, expositional sermons, and people were still listening. You know, I kind of wanted to keep going because people were still engaged. And now I feel like I have to end at about the 45 minute mark, because I'm losing people. And you say, well, pastor, maybe you're boring. You know, maybe that's why. And I would just say this. I was more boring, you know, 13 years ago, I promise you. It's us that have changed. And I love my cell phone, but I will tell you this, to quote Tony Ranke, our phones are changing us. Our phones are changing us. They are ruining our ability to focus in ways that we don't realize. And I am included in that. And you think about even much of the new technology, it seems to be just improving the efficiency of things that we already have. Because we're so impatient, we want the same product and we want it to move faster and faster. And many of the new technologies are like that. Think about even 4G, 5G, I guess they'll have 6G type things soon. I mean, we get impatient watching a video, right? We'll turn on a video and then we'll see the little circular thing and we'll go, why is my phone so slow? And we forget it's going 23,000 miles into a satellite out in space and then 23,000 miles back in a second. But we wait three seconds and we say, why is my phone so slow? I mean, it's amazing. It's absolutely amazing how impatient we are. Patience is a neglected virtue and we as Christians can't afford to neglect it. You know, when we look at Scripture, we really do see people who display the virtue of patience and commendable ways. You know, I think about Noah building an ark for 120 years. Just think about it, because God told him to. Not because there was rain or water or any logical reason other than that God said to. 120 years. I think of Rebecca, Baron, until it says she was as good as dead. She was old. An old age. That's how the Bible describes her. She waited for a child because God promised. We think of Abraham, who is certainly an example of patience because of as he waited for the land and the offspring that God had promised. But there's a hermeneutical principle that I didn't want to just pick anybody in the Old Testament to look at regarding patience. There's a hermeneutical principle that's important here. And I want to remind us of this. We interpret the Old Testament in light of the new. That's a hermeneutical principle. So if the New Testament apostolic author says something about the Old Testament prophetic author, then I need to pay attention to that, because revelation is progressive, so that the latter part of Scripture is teaching me about the former part, the earlier part. And so if James, that we're looking at in chapter 5, says something about Job being the man of patience, I want to pay attention to what James is saying about Job. Because there are no other New Testament authors that mention any other Old Testament person other than James mentioning Job regarding patience. Job is the patient man in the Scriptures, and that's what the New Testament author James said. The book of James, I'll remind us, is written in a really difficult time in the life of the church. This is the early church. There's a lot of persecution happening. Stephen has already been killed as the first martyr in Acts 6. Saul has been arrested. Saul arrested many of the Christians in Jerusalem in Acts 9. By Acts 12, that's approximately A.D. 42, James, not the writer of this epistle, but a different James, had been killed. Peter barely escaped death. And James is now writing this epistle in 44-49 A.D., which is only about 10-13 years after Jesus resurrected. This letter is being written. And so this is a difficult time of suffering for the early Christians, not just because of persecution, but they were going through the same sufferings that we go through. They were having their marriage struggles. They were having their parenting struggles. They were having their work struggles. They were having health struggles. And so what James says to them is very significant. and let's look at it again, chapter five, verse seven, he says to them actually three times, verse seven, verse eight, and verse 10, he says, be patient. Be patient. Be patient. And this virtue is like the other virtues. A non-Christian can be patient at some level. There's a type of general patience that all people can display, but there is also a very distinct Christian type of patience that Job displays. So let me show you both of these. The general type patience is in verse seven. So it says, see how the farmer waits, the farmer. So can a nonbeliever be a farmer who's patient? Yes. See how the farmer waits for the precious food of the earth, bringing being patient about it until it receives early and late rains. You also be patient. So he's saying Christians learn from a farmer who may not even be a believer how to be patient. That's a general type patience available to everyone. The farmer illustrates that. But then Job illustrates what I think is a very distinctly Christian type of patience. And so look back at it. Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. So he's speaking to Christians about this type of patience. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth being patient about it until he receives the early and late rains. Early Christians and us, you also be patient. Establish your heart for the coming of the Lord is at hand. Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so also that you may not be judged, so that you may not be judged. Behold, the judge is standing at the door. As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. So he's not just talking to the culture at large. He keeps saying this word brothers. He keeps speaking to the church about this patience and commanding us to be patient. And then he points to Job and look at verse 11. Behold, we consider those blessed. Who remain steadfast? You have heard of the steadfastness. Of Job. Now here's the question I want to ask. How was Job patient? Because that's not immediately noticeable to me when I look at the life of Job. I don't immediately go, oh yeah, of course Job's patient. So let me remind us a few things about patience. First of all, patience is synonymous with endurance, steadfastness, perseverance, and long-suffering. In the Greek and Hebrew, they're often interchanged. So depending on if you're using an ESV version, NIV, New American Standard, or an ESV, some of the words will be interchanged. Steadfastness, endurance, perseverance, patience. So I love the KJV though, it says, ye have heard of the patience of Job. I'm gonna use that translation for that phrase tonight. The patience of Job. Now here's the second thing about patience. And here's actually what it means. It means to hold back anger. Why do we call someone impatient? Why would we call someone impatient? It's because they don't have the ability or they're not holding back anger. They're not restraining their anger. 2 Peter 3.9 says, The Lord is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. So macarithumia is the word for patience. It means slowness and avenging wrongs. Macro meaning large, thermos meaning anger. Together, God has this massive capacity to hold back or restrain His anger. That's what it means. And guys, when we read the Scriptures, I mean, that should be one of the things that we see nearly anywhere we read. God is withholding His anger. And He has the capacity to do that that we can only call patience. Romans 2 says the unrighteous are storing up wrath for the day of judgment. Romans 11.25, God is patiently waiting until the full number of the Gentiles come into the kingdom. So He's holding back His judgment. He's holding back the sending of the Son to the earth until the full number of the Gentiles come in. Until the ungodly are stored up enough wrath before He lets it out. And some people, they misunderstand God's patience because they think, oh, God's patient, therefore He doesn't care about sin. But that's a terrible mistake. The Bible actually says that God is withholding His, He is being patient, He's withholding His anger in order to lead you to repentance. God's patience is meant to lead you to repentance, Romans 2.4. God calls us to be patient. Like He is patient. Which means we need to hold back anger. Which I'm not good at. Especially in parenting. James Clavel, I think I'm saying that right. He was a British novelist. He said it this way. Patience means holding back your inclination to hate or be angry. If you don't give way to these, you're patient. And so I did this this week. I looked through the New Testament and tried to find all of the times that the New Testament tells us to be patient. And what categories is this working in? What areas do we need to be patient? So let me read these quickly. Patiently bearing with one another in love, Ephesians 4.2. Bear with one another in the body, in the church. Be patient with those who are idle, faint-hearted, or weak. 1 Thessalonians 5.14. Reprove, rebuke, and exhort with complete patience. So all of these at 2 Timothy. This is patience with difficult people. We need patience with difficult people. Patience in tribulation. Be patient in tribulation, Romans 12, 12. Patiently enduring sufferings, there's another category, 2 Corinthians 1, 6. Patiently enduring evil, 2 Timothy 2, 24. And then here's the last category, and this is a large category. Patience related to God's providence. This is where Job becomes important. But here's what it says in the New Testament. Be imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him. Psalms 37.7 Be patient until the coming of the Lord. James 5.7 So again, here's the question. How was Job patient? How is He an example to us of being patient? And I would say, because He held back His anger against God and His providence, against evil, against difficult people in His life, like His wife and the three friends that were very annoying to Him. Just read Job. If you don't think you have good friends, read Job, the whole book of Job, and see worse friends than your friends, I can promise you. Let's actually look at Job. Go to Job 1. Let's flip over there. I'm going to just walk through this first chapter very quickly. We need to remember. I'm going to skip through parts of this, but you can try to follow along. Job chapter 1. Listen to how it starts out. There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. A man blameless and upright who feared God and turned away from evil. Another word we could call this. He was virtuous. And his suffering was extreme. Listen to this. Verse 2. There were born to him seven sons and three daughters. Keep that in mind. He has ten kids. He possessed 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, 500 female donkeys, and very many servants. This man was the greatest of all the people in the East. Verse 4 describes this feast that his children would have. Okay, this is significant to remember. They have this feast, his kids. Now, when it was done, after the feast, Job would consecrate them. He would rise early in the morning, offer burnt offerings according to the number of all of them. For Job said, it may be that my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts. Job did this continually. Verse six, Satan came before the Lord and the Lord said to Satan, from where have you come? And Satan answered, I've been walking up and down on the earth. And the Lord said to Satan, listen, the Lord said to Satan, have you considered my servant Job? I thought God was supposed to protect us from Satan. Especially if we're godly. He says, have you seen my servant Job? There's none like him on earth. A blameless and upright man who fears God and turns away from evil. And then Satan says to the Lord, does Job fear you for no reason? He fears you because you bless him and make him rich and healthy. If you take it all away, he'll curse you. And verse 13 describes the worst day of Job's life. God tells him, go and do to Job anything you want, just don't touch him. Verse 13, it talks about the cattle and the servants. They're all killed and this man comes and he says, I alone have come to tell you. While he was still speaking, verse 16, there came another and said, The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants, and I alone have escaped to tell you." While he was speaking, another said, the Chaldeans killed your other servants, not a few thousand people. I mean, look, we're talking, this is all Job's wealth. This is all his servants. We're talking modern day millions and millions of dollars he just lost. He lost years of work in a moment. Gone. Verse 18, while he was yet speaking, another came to him and said, your sons and your daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother's house. So not one or two of the kids were there. All ten of his kids were in this house. And a great wind came across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house and it fell upon the young people and they're dead. And I alone have escaped to tell you. That is every parent's worst nightmare. And Job's response is staggering in verse 20. Then Job arose, tore his robe, shaved his head, fell on the ground, and worshipped and said, naked I have come from my mother's womb, naked I shall return. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. And then look at his patience in verse 22. In all this, Job did not sin or charge God with wrong. And you'd think, man, could it get any worse? And listen, it can always get worse. And it does get worse for Job. Because Satan didn't take out his wife. who did not just ignore his pain, but made it 10 times worse, who said, curse God and die. I mean, Satan could have taken out his wife. God gave him permission. Satan actually left his wife because he thought it would bring more suffering on Job. And Job then doesn't just struggle with a headache or maybe a broken ankle. His whole body, top to bottom, is covered with painful sores hurting painful in every part of his body. Then, on top of that, his three closest friends, they don't even recognize him from a distance because of the physical suffering that he's going through. They should have come to try to comfort him. They only make matters worse. And literally the rest of the book of Job is Job and his friends going back and forth And chapters 4 and 5, Eliphaz tries to comfort him a little, but then tells him your suffering is because of sin in your life. Chapter 8, Bildad calls Job to repentance. And then his other friend Zophar in chapter 11 makes Job, makes sure Job understands you think that you have it bad, but actually you deserve worse. And through it all, Job patiently endured. He withheld his anger. Now, this leads to the second question. I have three questions and they all build on each other, so here's the second one. How did he withhold his anger? How do you not get mad at God? How do you not get mad at all these people? How do you withhold your anger? And here's the answer, and then I'll defend it. He trusted in God's merciful providence. That's the answer. Look at Job 5.11 again. And you can actually turn back there. Job 5.11. You have heard of the patience of Job. You have seen the purpose of the Lord. How the Lord is compassionate and merciful. So the Bible calls the God who afflicted Job with suffering, merciful and compassionate. The Bible calls God that. The God that brought this upon Job. And you say, well, how is it compassionate and merciful for God to treat Job like this? And the answer, again, is in verse 11, he had a purpose, a good and wise and compassionate purpose. So if I, as a father, allow my child to go through any measure of suffering, I better have a good purpose for that, right? I better have a good reason why I would do that or else I would relieve them from that. Our God is a good God. And if He allows some sort of suffering in our life, He has a purpose. And it's a merciful and compassionate purpose. He says, you have heard of the patience of Job. You have seen the purpose of the Lord. The Lord is compassionate and merciful. I really hope you believe that. Here's why I felt weighty about this sermon. Because here's what I'm doing right now. I'm just preparing you for suffering. It is coming. I'm just telling you, you better believe that you have a God who's merciful and compassionate when it comes. Not if it comes, but when it comes. Be like Job. Lean into the Lord, trusting He's merciful and compassionate. You know what Job doesn't do? He doesn't blame Satan. Even once. Which is interesting because Satan's the one that initiates it. God is the one Job speaks of. Hundreds and hundreds of times, Job makes his complaint to God. Chapter 19, he says, have mercy on me, oh my friends, for the hand of God has touched me. You know, people go, oh, I want God to touch me, I just want God to touch me, I want God to touch my kids, I want God to touch the co-workers. Do you? You know what you're saying? He may touch you with a blessing, and he may touch you with sickness. The hand of God touched Job. And Job knew it. And he said, oh friends, have mercy on me for the hand of God has touched me. Chapter 12, verse 7, Job is making a defense and he says, even the animals and the creation know that God has done this to me. So he's saying to his friends, how are y'all thinking that this is just me? God did this to me. Chapter 6, verse 4, the arrows of the Almighty are in me, Job says. My spirit drinks their poison. The terrors of God are arrayed against me. And then in verse 11, he says, what is my end that I should be patient? Why would I even be patient? He knows. He knows two things. He knows God has done this to me. His arrow has struck me. And it's for the purpose of patience. He's trying to do something in me. And this is explicitly taught earlier in the book of James. James 1 verse 3. This isn't my interpretation. This is explicitly said. Look at it. James 1 verse 3. The testing of your faith and produces steadfastness. Same word as patience. We can interchange patience. The testing of your faith through trials, through suffering, produces patience. And let patience or steadfastness have its full effect that you may be what? Perfect, complete, lacking in no good thing. So if we want to be virtuous, we can go, oh God, make me Christ-like. Make me virtuous. And then God goes, I have ways in which I'll do that. Be careful what you ask for. You know, you can't learn patience in places of comfort. Only discomfort. You can't learn it in the Garden of Eden. You can only learn it in the wilderness. And many of you know that. You can't learn patience when your kids are always obeying, but when they're disobeying. You can't learn patience when your spouse is perfectly loving you and serving you and doing everything you want them to do for you. You learn patience when they're not. And James 1.3 says, the testing of your faith produces patience. and patience must have its work in you so that you will be virtuous and Christ-like. And that's whether you get stopped at a red light when you're in a hurry or you stub your toe or you get diagnosed with cancer. It's irrelevant how severe or small the affliction is. God is doing something in you. He was doing something in Job, and He's doing something in you. God is doing that in you. In any of your suffering. He has a purpose. A good, good purpose. You know, we often say, well, I need to work at being more patient. And that's true. There are things we can do to work at patience. But here's the comfort for the sermon tonight. God is more concerned about you being patient than you are concerned, and He's at work in you. Especially when He puts you in difficult things. When you feel His rod, when His thorn pricks your side, that is a merciful purpose to make you patient. And many of you know this more than I do. that it is in those hard times in your life that God produced patience, and steadfastness, and endurance, and grew you into the image of Christ more. And here's the third question that leads to this one. What does this patience look like practically? Or maybe a better way to say it, what does God's providence look like practically? Trusting God's providence, saying, God, you have a purpose in my pain. How do I respond to that? What does this look like practically? And let's start with Job, because the short answer is we imitate Job. Job has 10 children. They all died at the same moment. And the first thing out of his mouth is what? The Lord gave. The Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. His wife says, curse God and die, and he responds patiently. Shall we receive good from God and not evil? What a response to your wife in your worst moment. Honey, how can God be so good to us and give us so much, but not also give us a difficult trial? What a patient response to his wife, with his friends, who are saying, God's giving you less than you deserve. You deserve worse than this, Job. And Job says, though He slay me, yet shall I hope in Him. Though He slay me, I will hope in Him." And this is a gospel hope because Job also says, I know that my Redeemer lives and He shall stand at last on the earth. That's amazing. He had a gospel hope. He was looking forward to a Redeemer in his suffering. And then the book ends. showing how deep his trust in God's providence is. In chapter 42, he says, I know that you can do all things, O Lord, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. So he knows God can, he could stop my suffering because he can do all things, but he has a purpose. It's what it sounds like to trust him. I want to make this a little more practical, and I'm going to quote John Piper on this, because he said something very helpful unpacking this reality. He said, just think what practical effect it would have on our lives for patients if we believed our frustrating delay at the red light was God keeping us back from an accident that was about to happen. And if we believed that getting our leg broken in that accident was God's way of revealing an early cancer in our leg. which we wouldn't have discovered unless we got in that wreck. And it kept our life for 50 more years instead of dying within a year. Would we be angry that God ordained the breaking of our leg? If we believed that the frustrating phone call in the middle of the night that made us so angry because it interrupted our sleep woke us up because there was smoke in the house and we smelt the smoke, would we be mad about the phone call? Piper says, God is always weaving together something wise out of the painful, perplexing threads that look like a tangle in our lives. God says in His Word, that's what He's doing in all of our frustrations. And then Piper says, the key to patience is faith in the all-embracing, all-guiding, all-wise, all-gracious providence of God. to transform all the interruptions of His children into rewards? Can we not then write in big letters as a heading over our lives and over every frustration what Satan meant for evil, God meant for good? Or Romans 8.28, that God, this all-wise, all-gracious, providential God is working everything together for the good of His children. Guys, when it comes to questions of suffering, you know Job was wondering, why me? And he spent most of the book asking God, why me? Why would I get this suffering? Why not this guy? Why not him? Why am I getting this? And you know what? You're free to ask God those questions as well when that suffering hits you. Just don't expect clear answers. You get big, right answers, but you don't get specific answers on those questions. At least Job didn't. Job was comforted with God's providence. And he was able to say, I know that you know all things and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. And then he ends, this is the last thing Job says, and then he's done. We don't see him again in the Bible. This is the last thing that comes out of his mouth. He says, I have uttered things I do not understand. Things too wonderful for me. and then he zips it, and then he puts his hand on his mouth, and he doesn't say another word. So if Job didn't get all the answers he wanted to the suffering in his life, we would be very wise, guys, to bring our questions to the Lord, to put our desires and our pain before Him, but don't expect more clarity then God is good, He is merciful, He has purposes, He's working, and we won't see it all until glory. You know, there are other people to look at. I'm going to put one other person besides Job before us. There's a man, B.B. Warfield. Many of you have heard of him. He was an old Princeton professor for 34 years until 1921. Most people know of B.B. Warfield for his theological writings. But in 1876, at 25 years old, he was married. And then went on a honeymoon to Germany with his bride. And during a storm there, Annie was her name, she got struck by lightning. And she was paralyzed. She never recovered. For 39 years, she lay in her bed and then she died 39 years later and passed into the arms of Jesus. And what's amazing about that is, well, one of the amazing things is that B.B. Warfield never left his house for more than two hours for 39 years because the needs of his wife were so massive. And then one day he was writing about Romans 8.28. And here's what he said. He said, the fundamental thought is the universal government of God. Providence. All that comes to you is under His controlling hand. The secondary thought is the favor of God to those that love Him. He governs all. That no good would befall those No evil would befall those without Him bringing good. He will so govern all things that we shall reap only good from all that befalls us." Warfield understood what Job understood. Patience comes through faith in God's providence. that old hymn by William Cowper says, Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, but trust Him for His grace. Behind a frowning providence, He hides a smiling face. You believe God is good even when bad things happen to us? You know, the book of Job actually does end on a high note. a really high note. There's a reward for the patience. Job 42, and we'll close with this. Job 42.10, it says, the Lord restored the fortunes of Job. He gets all his money back. When he had prayed for his friends. And the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. Then came to him all his brothers and sisters and all who had known him before and he ate bread with them in his house. And they showed him sympathy and comforted him for all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him. And each of them gave him a piece of money and a ring of gold. And the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning." He died a happy man. He died a blessed man. The Lord brought him out of that dark trial. And you know, we don't always have that promise. We don't always know that the Lord is going to bring us out of some temporary suffering that we have on this earth. We don't know. But this is a picture. There is a picture in Scripture, a very clear picture. Suffering, then glory. Suffering and then extreme blessing. I think about Romans 8. It says, if we suffer with Him, we will also be what? glorified with Him. There's a picture in the life of Job. Extreme suffering, which is what we will know in this life. And it may not get better in this life always. At least not as good as we would want it to get. But we do have the hope glory is coming. And it says in that passage, the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. So a patient God is working in our sufferings to produce in us a patience that is necessary to get to glory. This is the only path for us. It is a good path. It is a hard path. And it ends in a life where there is no pain and no suffering and no death. And we're with God forever and it's worth it. It's worth it. Let's pray to the Lord. Father, Lord, in this room, in this room right now, Lord, there are some here who have experienced a lot of suffering from your hand. And Lord, in this room, there are some who have experienced very little suffering yet. This is a fallen world. We have fallen bodies. We have an enemy. There's diseases, there's natural disasters, there's so many things that make this life hard. And yet we have you, Lord, working in and through them, turning what Satan means for evil for good. And you're taking us to glory. And so, Father, we pray that we would cling to this merciful and compassionate God that you are. and that we could be like Job and lean into you in our hardest times rather than turn and curse you and be angry. And so, Father, would you give us the grace to be patient like Job? We pray it in Jesus' name, Amen.