Episode Transcript
[00:00:02] So if you've been coming to these classes, you've probably got a gist of what we're trying to accomplish here. We are talking about the fruit of the Spirit in the life of Christ.
[00:00:12] And this is from Galatians 5, which says, but the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control.
[00:00:28] And for our newcomers, or just to help drill this idea into all of our heads and all of our hearts, we've said this is less like looking at a bunch of different kinds of fruit, like a fruit inspector, and it's more like looking at one beautiful, radiant diamond. And we're turning it around and looking at all the different facets, because this is a singular fruit produced by the Spirit. So there's one, a harmony or a unity to these things.
[00:00:56] And then we're not just discussing these things in theoretical dictionary terms.
[00:01:02] Instead, we're looking at them in the life of our perfect fruit bearer, Jesus Christ.
[00:01:08] And then we don't just simply put a rubber band on our wrist and snap it every time that we're unkind or every time that we're impatient.
[00:01:17] We don't just tell ourselves, be more loving, be more loving, or just be more kind, be more kind instead.
[00:01:25] One of the main points of this class comes from one of my favorite verses in the Bible, 2nd Corinthians 3:18.
[00:01:33] It says, and we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.
[00:01:45] For this comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
[00:01:49] So see here that beholding leads to transforming.
[00:01:53] So we aim to behold the glory of the Lord in the character of Christ.
[00:01:57] And since we are united to Christ as we commune with Christ and behold him, we're transformed by his spirit into the same image from one degree of Christlikeness to another. So we're made more and more Christlike, because that's what fruit bearing really is.
[00:02:15] So my goal this morning is to help us behold the patience of Christ.
[00:02:22] And how awesome is it that we get a whole hour set aside this morning to just meditate on the patience of Christ?
[00:02:28] I'm excited.
[00:02:30] So let's start with defining the fruit, because I think we're all pretty familiar with the word patient, at least in the way that the world uses it.
[00:02:39] So I'm going to ask for some class participation.
[00:02:42] Just give me some examples of some stereotypical scenarios where you would need to be patient.
[00:02:48] Just the first things that come to your mind. You can just yell it out.
[00:02:53] Mlk yes.
[00:02:56] The dmv. Yes. You're hitting the exact examples I've got ready children. You guys have hit them in the order that I have them on the slides. Next.
[00:03:06] Yeah, here I said traffic. So every morning on i49 on the way to work, I have to grow in patience or the dmv, the stereotypical example, especially if you get dash children throwing a tantrum. I don't have my own children, but I've worked at church camps with a lot of young children and I've heard dads tell me that they didn't know just how impatient they were until they had children.
[00:03:33] So there's countless examples that we could give.
[00:03:36] I think we're all aware to some degree of our need for patience to get through a fallen world.
[00:03:43] But we want to look at how the Bible defines and talks about this word patience.
[00:03:48] Because the world might simply define patience as the ability to remain calm even through long stretches of discomfort or inconvenience.
[00:03:58] And that definition is certainly included under the umbrella of patience. Patience is no less than that.
[00:04:05] But if that's all it is, then the remedy that people sometimes give is everyone just needs to kind of take a chill pill, just be more unbothered, just zen out and just pick the longest line at the grocery store to practice.
[00:04:22] But the Bible has a more powerful and more full definition of real heart level patience that the world can't produce.
[00:04:32] And so Jonathan Landry Cruz and I think that it's helpful to define patience in two other words, and those are forbearance and long suffering.
[00:04:45] So in the book that this class is inspired by the character of Christ, Jonathan Landry Cruz defines forbearance as the loving tolerance showed toward the weaknesses, failures and sins of others against us responding in compassion and mercy and not retaliating in judgment or vengeance.
[00:05:09] So the emphasis here with forbearance is on patience with other people.
[00:05:14] And where do I get this from? I'm not just making it up, but I get it from a few different places in the Bible where the same word patience is used.
[00:05:23] So first we can look at 1st Thessalonians 5:14 and we'll go through a bunch of verses. I'll have most of them on the screen. I'll tell you when we're going to camp out in a passage so you can turn there yourself.
[00:05:34] But first, Thessalonians 5:14.
[00:05:37] And we urge you brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the faint hearted, help the weak, be patient with them all.
[00:05:47] So Paul uses the same word, patient, to instruct us in dealing with the weaknesses of those in the church.
[00:05:54] It's dealing with people that are discouraged in their hearts, the spiritually immature, the idle or lazy who can make it feel like they're not pulling their weight.
[00:06:04] Are we supposed to just cast them out or scream all of their flaws at them or just roll our eyes?
[00:06:12] Should we break the bruised reed?
[00:06:15] No. Paul says we must help them with patience.
[00:06:21] Colossians 3:12, 13 says, Put on then as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience bearing with one another.
[00:06:36] And if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other, as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.
[00:06:45] So for God's chosen beloved people, patience looks like bearing with one another.
[00:06:51] It's a continuous attitude of freeing debts, refraining from vengeance, and refusing bitterness.
[00:06:58] The word Paul uses here, bearing, means to hold up underneath something, underneath its weight.
[00:07:05] So forbearance is choosing to not keep a record of wrongs and not to make every irritation an issue, but to bear under it.
[00:07:13] First Peter 4:11 tells us that love covers a multitude of sins.
[00:07:19] And importantly, as Paul points out, patience is dealing with Christians in the same way that Christ has dealt with us.
[00:07:27] As the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.
[00:07:31] So in light of Christ bearing with and forgiving us, we ought to do the same for others.
[00:07:39] That's forbearance.
[00:07:41] The second word is longsuffering, and we can define long suffering as the ability to endure trials and hardships with joy without losing faith in God or his good purposes.
[00:07:55] So the emphasis here is on trials and hardships, patience in those.
[00:08:00] And this is that blessed quality of waiting on the Lord that the Psalms talk about constantly.
[00:08:07] Psalm 41 says, I waited patiently for the Lord. He inclined to me and heard my cry.
[00:08:15] So it's waiting on the Lord's deliverance and trusting that he will hear and answer our cries.
[00:08:23] There's also Romans 8:25.
[00:08:26] But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
[00:08:31] So see that our hope produces waiting with patience.
[00:08:36] And since we have a great hope in Christ, we ought to have a great patience too.
[00:08:44] Last one for long sufferings. Colossians 1:11 and this is Paul is praying for the Colossians. This is part of his prayer, he says, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy.
[00:09:01] And so notice what it takes for us to endure with patience and joy.
[00:09:07] It takes the full strength and power and glorious might of God himself working within us so that we can endure not just to endure, but to endure with joy.
[00:09:21] So pray.
[00:09:24] Pray for endurance with joy.
[00:09:28] So now that we've defined the fruit, we're going to look at the fruit in the patience of Christ, our perfect spirit filled fruit bearer.
[00:09:39] And we're looking at the character of Christ in this class.
[00:09:42] And we know that Jesus and the Father are one.
[00:09:46] Hebrews says that Jesus is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature.
[00:09:53] So if we want to understand the character of Christ in the Bible, we can start with the character of God in this quote from James Montgomery Boice.
[00:10:02] He says God is the supreme example of patience in his dealings with rebellious people.
[00:10:11] So if we want to see God's patience in the Bible, we can start at the very beginning of the Bible.
[00:10:17] God has been patient since the very first sin in Genesis 3, when Adam rebelled against God and led all of humanity into sin.
[00:10:27] And I'm just going to steal RC Sproul's commentary here because there's a pretty famous clip of RC Sproul during a question and answer panel.
[00:10:36] And he gets this question.
[00:10:38] The moderator asked him, if God is slow to anger and patient, then why when man first sinned, was his wrath and punishment so severe and long lasting?
[00:10:51] In RC Sproul, you can see him think, and he answers like this, that God's punishment for Adam was so severe, this creature from the dirt defied the everlasting holy God.
[00:11:05] After that, God said that the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die.
[00:11:11] And instead of dying that day, he lived another day and was clothed in his nakedness by pure grace and had the consequences of a curse applied for quite some time. But the worst curse would come upon the one who seduced him, whose head would be crushed by the seed of the woman.
[00:11:31] And the punishment was too severe.
[00:11:34] And he continues passionately, he says, what's wrong with you people?
[00:11:38] I'm serious.
[00:11:40] This is what is wrong with the Christian church today. We don't know who God is and we don't know who we are.
[00:11:47] So, church, do we know who God is?
[00:11:50] God would have been just to smite Adam down to hell in that very instant. But God is patient.
[00:11:57] So I pray this morning that we would know better that God is patient.
[00:12:03] Next, let's look at Exodus 34, 6, 7.
[00:12:08] And we're going to get a clear declaration of God's character from God himself.
[00:12:13] So some context is that God has led the Israelites out of slavery and he's cared for them and he's established his covenant with them, and they instantly break it.
[00:12:25] They violate the second commandment by remaking God into an image of a golden calf.
[00:12:31] And Moses in Exodus 33:18 cries out to God, please show me your glory.
[00:12:38] And God says, I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name, the Lord.
[00:12:45] And in the Bible, someone's name often refers to their entire person.
[00:12:50] It's all of who they are.
[00:12:52] So God says, I'm going to show you who I am, Moses.
[00:12:56] So Moses goes into a cleft of a rock and he's only going to see God's back, because if he saw God's face, he would die from all the glory. It would just be too much glory.
[00:13:06] And so when God reveals his character in shining, radiant glory, look at who God says that he is.
[00:13:17] The Lord passed before him and proclaimed the Lord the Lord, a God, merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty.
[00:13:39] And this is one of the most repeated passages throughout the Old Testament.
[00:13:43] God reminds his people of this in Numbers, Nehemiah, Psalms, Joel, Jonah, Nahum, and other parts of the Old Testament. Because God wants his people to know that he is merciful and slow to anger.
[00:13:58] Not just because sin doesn't matter to him. He will by no means clear the guilty, but it's because he's patient with sinners, slow to anger.
[00:14:10] Romans 3:23 25. This is where the title of this section in your handout comes from.
[00:14:17] It says, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood to be received by faith.
[00:14:34] This was to show God's righteousness because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.
[00:14:43] So the whole Old Testament is a testament of God's divine forbearance.
[00:14:50] He wasn't just ignoring former sins, but in patience. He didn't pour out all of the wrath that they deserved in that instant, because it was in patient anticipation of his ultimate act of both justice and grace, when he would send His Son as a substitutionary sacrifice in our place to be received by faith.
[00:15:13] So we see God is divinely, cosmically patient with all of sinful humanity. And his beloved Son, Jesus Christ is the exact imprint of his nature.
[00:15:25] So now let's look and see what it was like when patience became flesh.
[00:15:31] And we could give a lot of examples throughout the Gospels of Jesus being patient with sinful people.
[00:15:38] He was constantly tested by the Pharisees, trying to trap him and trip him up with questions.
[00:15:43] And yet he continues to carefully teach them and warn them and plead with them for repentance.
[00:15:50] Or there's the repeated failings of his disciples, such as when Jesus was praying in the garden on the night before his crucifixion, and instead of his disciples praying for him, they just keep falling asleep.
[00:16:04] Or after Jesus resurrection on the road to Emmaus, when Jesus says, the two men that he talks to are slow to believe, and yet he walks them through all of the Scriptures and interprets to them all of the things concerning himself in a very thorough, patient Bible study.
[00:16:23] But so there's a lot of examples. I want us to zoom in on one particular instance of Christ's patience. And look at Luke 9:51,56, and this is one that we're going to spend a little more time on. So you can turn there.
[00:16:49] So Luke 9:51 56.
[00:16:53] Let's walk through it.
[00:16:58] When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.
[00:17:04] And what does Jesus know is going to happen in Jerusalem?
[00:17:09] Ed. Ray. Crucifixion, it says, the day is drawing near. It is coming soon, when he will be delivered up to evil men to be spit upon and crucified and killed in order to save guilty sinners.
[00:17:23] And yet he sets his face to go there.
[00:17:26] He's committed to it in perfect love for sinners, and he's on his way.
[00:17:32] And he sent messengers ahead of him who went and entered a village of the Samaritans to make preparations for him.
[00:17:40] And then you think it would say, then the people heard his message, and they rejoiced and they worshiped him, and they bowed down with thankful tears for his love for them. And they loved him back.
[00:17:54] But that's not what happens.
[00:17:57] Instead it says, but the people did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem.
[00:18:06] Jesus Christ, the good shepherd, the King of love, has come to the Samaritans in the flesh, and they reject him.
[00:18:15] The Samaritans and the Jews at the time had serious beef over where the true place of worship was, and they hated each other.
[00:18:23] And so if Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem to save Jews, then they hated Jesus too.
[00:18:29] And think about it. The day is drawing near where Jesus will shed his blood for These Samaritans, and they reject him.
[00:18:38] And so his disciples, they react in a way that you or I might react in this moment.
[00:18:44] It says, and when his disciples, James and John saw it, they said, lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?
[00:18:55] And first, it's funny to note that a few verses earlier in Luke, the disciples failed to cast out a demon for their lack of prayer. And suddenly now they think they can pray down a destructive fire from heaven.
[00:19:06] But clearly they are enraged.
[00:19:09] Their blood boils up within them, and their sense of justice is piqued.
[00:19:14] When I was growing up, my mom always used to say that I had a very strong sense of justice, which was a nice way of saying anger issues, really, because when my brothers did anything wrong, like they just didn't fold their laundry when they were supposed to, I just couldn't even comprehend it. Just, how dare they? How could they break this rule? And I would be fuming because me and James and John and I can assume a lot of us are often quick to anger rather than slow.
[00:19:47] We can be eager to pour out judgment, and if we had the power of God, in those instances, we would pour it out in full destructive force.
[00:19:57] And so the disciples, they're like, this village is wicked and hateful. How dare they reject you? Jesus, Jesus, do you want us to obliterate these people for you?
[00:20:08] But see how Jesus reacts to his disciples.
[00:20:12] But he turned and rebuked them, and they went on to another village.
[00:20:18] Colossians says that all things were created through Jesus. And for Jesus, he is the supreme being in the universe, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.
[00:20:29] And these people that he created and gave life and that he's on his way to die for, rebel against him.
[00:20:37] And what's mind blowing is that instead of pouring out the full destructive power of God's just wrath, he turns and rebukes his disciples for being unchristlike.
[00:20:50] Because Christ is patient.
[00:20:53] And some translations include a line here from Jesus that says, for the Son of man did not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them.
[00:21:03] But it's not in some of the oldest manuscripts, so it's debated. It's not included in every translation, but that's okay because there are a lot of similar verses, such as John 3:17, which says, for God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
[00:21:22] I know that Christ has been exceedingly patient with me.
[00:21:27] He was patient with my unbelief in my rebellion before I put my faith in Him.
[00:21:32] He's patient now with my slow, slow sanctification.
[00:21:36] He's patient with my fears and my doubts even after he's proven his faithfulness to me over and over and over.
[00:21:44] He's patient in correcting and disciplining me instead of casting me out when I sin.
[00:21:51] If I could lose my salvation, I surely would have by now.
[00:21:55] But Christ is committed to patiently keeping me and slowly shaping me into more and more Christlikeness.
[00:22:03] One day Jesus will come again in judgment. But how patient is it of Christ to come first, pleading with sinners to repentance and belief and dying to save them?
[00:22:15] So ask yourself, how has Christ been patient with you?
[00:22:20] Paul says in 1 Timothy 1, 15:16 the saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.
[00:22:34] But I receive mercy for this reason, that in me as the foremost Christ Jesus might display his perfect patience as an example to those who are to believe in him for eternal life.
[00:22:48] Perfect patience.
[00:22:52] So how should we respond to Christ's forbearance?
[00:22:56] I've got two applications, alliterated, of course.
[00:22:59] The first is repent.
[00:23:02] Second Peter 3, 9, 10 tells us, the Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
[00:23:18] But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.
[00:23:30] So it's important for us to know that Christ's patience is not apathy towards sin.
[00:23:36] It's not like he just doesn't really care, it's just not a big deal to him.
[00:23:41] No, he's slow to anger, but his anger is coming.
[00:23:45] Romans says that those apart from Christ are storing up wrath for themselves on the day of judgment, and it is only Christ's patience that is holding it back.
[00:23:56] He's not just slow to fulfill what he promised. He's not just procrastinating until he finally gets around to it, but he's patient.
[00:24:05] So every single morning that we wake up is a result of God's patience with us, with sinful humanity.
[00:24:13] Think about after all of the sin that was committed on the earth last night, after all of the sin that we committed last night, what a miracle it is that we're still here.
[00:24:26] The Air we breathe is a result of God's patience towards us also Romans 2:4.
[00:24:35] Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?
[00:24:46] Christ's kindness toward the Samaritan village was intended to lead them to repentance.
[00:24:52] Christ's patience with us is from a desire that all should reach repentance.
[00:24:57] So know that the day of judgment will come surprisingly, like a thief.
[00:25:02] So don't presume that his patience will last even one more day.
[00:25:06] Today is the day of salvation.
[00:25:11] Second application is to represent represent Christ.
[00:25:16] Matthew 8:21 23 says, Then Peter came up and said to him, lord, how often will I forgive my brother?
[00:25:26] Will my brother sin against me and I forgive him as many as seven times?
[00:25:31] Jesus said to him, I do not say to you seven times, but 77 times.
[00:25:38] So we've seen that we should bear with our brothers in their weaknesses and their sins, and when they repent, we should forgive them.
[00:25:45] But how many times? Peter asked, surely there's a limit, right?
[00:25:50] Peter says, should we set the limit at two, three times? You know what? I'll give you seven. Then that seems like a generous amount.
[00:25:58] But the question of where to limit our forgiveness is really a foolish question in light of the limitless love and grace that Christ has poured out for our infinite sin.
[00:26:12] And right after this, in Matthew, Jesus tells the parable of the servant who owed ten bajillion dollars to the king, and the king forgave him all of it. And that same servant turned around and throttled his buddy who owed him $10.
[00:26:26] And I'm paraphrasing of course, but when we feel a lack of patience within ourselves, when kids or co workers or fellow church members are difficult to bear with, think about how much worse you've been to Christ and then meditate even longer on how patient and forgiving Christ has been with you.
[00:26:52] And by His Spirit, that same patience should overflow out of us towards other people.
[00:27:00] So we spent some time talking about the forbearance aspect of Christ's patience.
[00:27:05] Now let's look closer at the long suffering aspect.
[00:27:10] And again, there are many examples of Christ enduring a sinful world with perfect trust in God the Father.
[00:27:18] Jesus perfectly endured temptation from the devil in the wilderness. In Matthew 4.
[00:27:24] Mark 3:20 says that Jesus and the disciples were so busy with ministry that they didn't even have a chance to eat.
[00:27:32] In John 4 it specifically says that Jesus was weary from his journey and as we talk about long suffering, there's going to be a lot of overlap with Christ's faithfulness, which I'll teach on in a few weeks.
[00:27:46] But we can't talk about Christ's enduring patience without talking about his passion.
[00:27:53] So remember in Luke 9, when the Samaritan village rejected Jesus, it said, the day is drawing near.
[00:28:00] Well, now we'll see. In Matthew 27, the day is here.
[00:28:04] The day that Jesus has been prophesying throughout his ministry where he will be crucified and killed by the hands of evil men has come.
[00:28:14] And I'm just going to let Scripture do most of the preaching for me because this is a longer passage.
[00:28:20] But I think it'll be good for us to just read the whole passage slowly. And as we read, I want you to think about the forbearance and the long suffering of Christ.
[00:28:30] So I'll give you a second to turn to Matthew 27:27:46.
[00:28:51] So let's read and think about Christ's forbearance and longsuffering.
[00:28:57] Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor's headquarters, and they gathered the whole battalion before him.
[00:29:05] And they stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him. And twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and put a reed in his right hand.
[00:29:15] And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, hail, King of the Jews.
[00:29:20] And they spit on him and took the reed and struck him on the head.
[00:29:25] And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him, and led him away to crucify him.
[00:29:34] As they went out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name. They compelled this man to carry his cross. And when they came to a place called Golgotha, which means place of a skull, they offered him wine to drink mixed with gall. But when he tasted it, he would not drink it.
[00:29:50] And when they had crucified him, they divided his garments among them by casting lots.
[00:29:56] Then they sat down and kept watch over him there, and over his head they put the charge against him, which read, this is Jesus, King of the Jews.
[00:30:05] Then two robbers were crucified with him, one on the right and one on the left. And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, you who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself.
[00:30:18] If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.
[00:30:22] So also the chief priests with the scribes and elders mocked him, saying, he saved others. He cannot save himself.
[00:30:31] He is the king of Israel. Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him.
[00:30:36] He trusts in God. Let God deliver him now if he desires him.
[00:30:40] For he said, I am the Son of God.
[00:30:43] And the robbers who were crucified with him also reviled him in the same way.
[00:30:50] Now, from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice saying, eli, Eli lama sabachthani, which is my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
[00:31:07] So I don't think I need to add much commentary here for us to understand just how much the suffering servant is suffering in our place.
[00:31:17] He is enduring pain and mocking and the full wrath of God poured out upon him for us.
[00:31:25] How could he possibly endure?
[00:31:29] Well, out of the heart the mouth speaks, and in Jesus mouth on the Cross is Psalm 22.
[00:31:36] He says, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
[00:31:40] He's referencing Psalm 22, and he wants us to look at the whole psalm to get a look into his heart during his greatest hour of endurance.
[00:31:49] So we'll spend time here, turn to Psalm 22, We'll walk through it, read the whole thing, and I'll stop and point things out as we read.
[00:32:04] So Psalm 22 says, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
[00:32:10] Why are you so far from saving me from the words of my groaning, oh, my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest.
[00:32:21] If we're honest, I think many of our hearts have made this same desperate cry in times of deep sorrow and groaning and restlessness.
[00:32:31] But it says, yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. And you our fathers trusted, they trusted and you delivered them to you they cried and were rescued in you they trusted and were not put to shame.
[00:32:47] So the psalmist and Jesus here, they look back to those who trusted in God and remember how God always delivered and rescued them.
[00:32:56] Those who trusted in God were never put to shame.
[00:32:59] And so we can look back and see, since God was worth trusting then, he's worth trusting now.
[00:33:06] But I am a worm and not a man.
[00:33:08] Scorned by mankind and despised by the people.
[00:33:12] All who see me mock me.
[00:33:15] They make mouths at me, they wag their heads. He trusts in the Lord, let him deliver him, let him rescue him, for he delights in him.
[00:33:25] So. Scorn, despised, mocking. How many times did we just read in Matthew about people mocking and deriding and reviling Jesus?
[00:33:34] And we just Read. People make this exact same claim from Psalm 22, that it's foolish to wait on the Lord.
[00:33:41] Maybe you've been hearing Satan say the same thing to you over and over.
[00:33:46] If God is worth waiting on, then why hasn't he delivered you yet?
[00:33:50] He'll never deliver you. He'll never rescue. He'll never answer, give up hope.
[00:33:57] Yet you are he who took me from the womb.
[00:34:01] You made me trust you at my mother's breast.
[00:34:04] On you was I cast from my birth, and from my mother's womb you have been my God.
[00:34:10] Be not far from me, for trouble is near and there is none to help me.
[00:34:14] Many bulls encompass me. Strong bulls of Bashan surround me. They open wide their mouths at me like a ravening and roaring lion.
[00:34:22] I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint.
[00:34:26] My heart is like wax, it is melted within my breast. My strength is dried up like a postured, and my tongue sticks to my jaws.
[00:34:36] You lay me in the dust of death, for dogs encompass me. A company of evildoers encircles me.
[00:34:44] They have pierced my hands and feet.
[00:34:46] I can count all my bones.
[00:34:48] They stare and gloat over me.
[00:34:51] They divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.
[00:34:57] And then, in this intense suffering. We just got a long description of this intense suffering.
[00:35:04] Where does Christ put his trust?
[00:35:06] Who does he cry out to?
[00:35:08] He cries out, but. But you, O Lord, do not be far off.
[00:35:13] O you, my help. Come quickly to my aid.
[00:35:16] Deliver my soul from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dog.
[00:35:22] Save me from the mouth of the lion.
[00:35:24] You have rescued me from the horns of the wild oxen. I will tell of your name to my brothers in the midst of the congregation. I will praise you. You who fear the Lord, praise him.
[00:35:36] Can you imagine Jesus saying this while hanging on a cross?
[00:35:41] Imagine his mother and his disciples tempted to hopelessness hearing this from Jesus as they watched their Messiah be killed.
[00:35:50] You who fear the Lord, praise him, all you offspring of Jacob, glorify him and stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel. For he has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted. He has not hidden his face from him, but has heard when he cried to him.
[00:36:10] For you comes my praise in the great congregation. My vows I will perform before those who fear him. The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied. Those who seek him shall praise the Lord. May your hearts live forever.
[00:36:25] And as we read next, look at the promised outcome that Jesus looks to in his waiting on the cross in the midst of the most suffering ever inflicted on anyone ever, when by all earthly reason it looks like Satan will win, when you or I would surely doubt that God will ever deliver us.
[00:36:46] See how Jesus perfectly trusts in God's promises.
[00:36:52] All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord and all the families of the nations shall worship before you.
[00:37:00] For kingship belongs to the Lord and He rules over the nations.
[00:37:05] All the prosperous of the earth eat and worship.
[00:37:08] Before him shall bow all who go down to the dust, even the one who cannot keep himself alive.
[00:37:15] Posterity shall serve him.
[00:37:17] It shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation. They shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn that he has done it.
[00:37:29] So our perfectly spirit filled, fruit bearing Savior perfectly patiently waits for that day when it shall be told that God has done it.
[00:37:41] Kings and nations and everything in existence bows down to the will of God and He will accomplish all that he has promised.
[00:37:53] So in light of Christ's long suffering, I have two applications.
[00:37:57] The first is consider Christ's endurance.
[00:38:03] Hebrews 12:3 says, Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself so that you may not grow weary or faint hearted.
[00:38:15] So Christian, if you were growing weary and faint hearted, consider him who endured behold Jesus in his long suffering and be transformed into that same image.
[00:38:29] But we must remember that Jesus isn't simply our example of endurance, but he is our endurance. We are united to Him. So our source of endurance is the person of Jesus Himself.
[00:38:43] The next application is continue in Christ endurance.
[00:38:49] Revelation 1:9.
[00:38:51] It says, I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus.
[00:39:02] So since we are united by His Spirit to the one who endured the cross with perfect patience in God's promises, then we can endure the trials that God has appointed for us.
[00:39:14] When it feels impossible, we remember it's possible by the power of the same spirit that raised Jesus Christ from the dead.
[00:39:22] So we can endure another day at a draining job with a difficult boss, or we can endure the repeated letdowns of a friend who is slow to change.
[00:39:33] We can endure seemingly failed ministry efforts.
[00:39:38] We can endure sickness or chronic pain or or lies about us or mockery or weariness or the loss of a loved one while we patiently wait for that promised day when Christ will come back and he will take us to an eternal home where sickness and sorrow and pain will be no more and he will wipe away every tear and it will be proclaimed by every tribe, tongue and nation that the Lord has done it.
[00:40:10] So, Church, let's look to Christ and go to him in prayer as we patiently wait for that day.
