I know that you ladies looked at this scripture last Saturday, but none of us men were there. I feel led of the Lord to share with the rest of us, what you all learned the other day. Some people like to say that Job is “a picture of patience.” Despite what our scripture says, I’m not sure that he really was a great example of patience. If we grant that he was patient, it was something that was forced upon him. While pointing to Job, James urges us to be patient voluntarily and with a purpose.
Jumping over this man, this evening I’d like to share several other “pictures of persistent patience.” I’ll try to keep this short, keeping in mind a quote that I found yesterday. Protestant, Henry Ward Beecher once said, “There is no such thing as preaching patience into people unless the sermon is so long that they have to practice it while they hear.” Hopefully I can keep you engaged long enough you won’t have to exercise your patience muscles tonight.
Picture number one: the HOUSE upon the ROCK.
The Lord Jesus said in Matthew 7:24-25 – “Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not; for it was founded upon a rock.” With the Lord’s permission I’d like to change His illustration just slightly, giving it a different emphasis. The believer in Christ is not just a house built upon the Rock of Christ. He is a lighthouse built on a rock standing just off shore, with a message of salvation to share. He is like the Tillamook light not far from Cannon Beech in Oregon. And against that lighthouse the wrath of the sea, pounds and pounds and pounds relentlessly. But he patiently and firmly stands where the Lord has planted him, faithfully sharing the light of the world.
Patience is not indifference; it is not stubbornness; it is not inactivity. Scriptural patience goes places and does things. James says, “Be patient brethren UNTO the coming of the Lord.” Stand firm until that day when the last storm passes and the eternal calm begins. “Be ye also patient, stablish your hearts; for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.”
When John was introducing himself and the Book of Revelation he said, “I, John who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the KINGDOM and PATIENCE of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos…” What did he mean “companion… in patience?” He was pointing out that he was only one among many who were awaiting – and proclaiming – the return of Messiah. They were patiently awaiting Christ’s return. Then the Lord Jesus said to the Church in Thyatira, through John, “I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith (all of these are action words), and thy PATIENCE, and thy works…” – Revelation 2:19. Binding together all the members of those early churches was the glue of Christian patience. And to the Church in Philadelphia the Lord referred to the same sort of thing: “Because thou hast kept the WORD of my PATIENCE, I also will keep thee…” They didn’t “KEEP the patience of God’s promises,” under lock and key or deep in a cave. They were people of faith and faithfulness, standing like a lighthouse in the midst of storms of doubt and denial.
Among several other scriptures that we might apply to this illustration there is Revelation 14:12. After describing the pounding of the relentless waves… After telling John, “Write, blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth; yea saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.” The Lord also said, “Here is the PATIENCE of the saints here are they that KEEP the COMMANDMENTS of God and faith of Jesus.” Biblical patience – godly patience – is active and even proactive. It anticipates the onslaught of the world, but continues to shine for the glory of the Saviour.
Picture two: Three NAILS driven into the wood of the CROSS.
Biblical patience is more than being rooted onto an island of granite. It is deliberately clinging to something which is guaranteed to hold for ever. Again, it isn’t passive, but an active choice to be nailed to something more than permanent. Even granite can be eroded over time by the relentless pounding of the waves. But the Saviour, the eternal God, illustrated by that rock, can never be weakened or eroded. And our stability is not simply that we have been embedded into His eternality, but we have been nailed even more firmly. We have been nailed to the very substance of His heart.
We have all met those religious people who refuse to give up doctrines and philosophies of man-made religions. They may be tenacious, and they may be endued with extraordinary patience in awaiting their personal deification, or their gift of eternal virgin brides, or whatever. That religious tenacity is not the same as Biblical patience, because they are nailed to nothing but air. It is one thing to be nailed into a big 4×4 post, and it is something else to be nailed into a sheet of dry-wall.
We might use Romans 5 to illustrate this point. “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And PATIENCE, experience; and experience, HOPE: And HOPE maketh not ashamed…” The patience which the Lord would like us to have is related to hope, and Biblical hope will never cause embarrassment.
Another scripture might be found in the introduction to II Thessalonians. Grace unto you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth; So that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your PATIENCE and FAITH in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure” The saints in Thessalonica were for the most part not Jews residing in pagan Macedonia. They were formerly the pagans. But the grace of God had fallen on them, converting their souls and changing their lives. They had by faith nailed their souls to cross of Christ, through His hands and His feet. And in that nailing their faith had grasped substance and eternality. They could endure all the persecutions of their neighbors, and they could patiently wait through whatever time it took to receive God’s promises. They had “turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; and to wait for his Son from heaven…”
We can illustrate Biblical patience with a house built upon the rock, or as nails through the hands of the Saviour and driven into the wood of the cross.
Picture Three: a BOW and a ARROW.
It was through this thought that tonight’s message first arose in my heart. It was in one of my devotional books that I read: “A saint’s life is in the hand of God like a bow and arrow in the hands of an archer. God is aiming at something the saint cannot see, and He stretches and strains. And every now and again the saint says – I cannot stand any more. But God does not heed; He goes on stretching till His purpose is in sight, and He let’s (us) fly. Trust yourself in God’s hands. For what have you need of patience just now? Maintain your relationship to Jesus Christ by the patience of faith. ‘Though He slay me, yet will I wait for Him.’
It was Job, the man whom the Bible describes as being patient… It was Job who said, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him; but I will maintain mine own ways before him. He also shall be my salvation…”
Christian patience contains an element of the unknown and yet still with a guaranteed solution. Because God has made us His children, we know that He loves us with an unquenchable love. We know that He not only has a guaranteed outcome for us, but a guaranteed plan to reach that outcome. Because “we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose,” we have the reason and the means to be patient. We may not understand why it is that we are being pulled back and stressed, but we know that God knows what He is doing. We are going to miss the Lord’s intended mark, if we are not willing to patiently wait for the precise moment when God’s finger pulls away and the arrow of our lives are released to fly.
God has invested His everything in our salvation through Christ Jesus. Now He wants us to invest all that we have in Him. We may be surrounded with questions, and those questions may, from time to time, raise doubts. Job was certainly filled with them. But those scriptures which talk about patience, praise the Christian whose faith remains firm in the God who loves us.
The Lord Jesus said in prayer, “This is life eternal, that they might know Thee” Father. As long as we patiently keep our eyes, minds and hearts on the triune God, life will not only be tolerable, it will be glorious. It is important toward enjoying our eternal life, while still living in this short earthly life, that we infuse our days and our moments with Biblical patience. The Lord is going to let us fly here in the not too distant future.
I’ll wind things up with the words of Paul from Romans 8 – “We know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.” We naturally tend to be impatient, groaning within ourselves for our glorification in Christ our Saviour. “For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it. Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities…” We have the perfect help in the midst of our anxious yearning. We have the Holy Spirit to comfort, bless and even to fire up that very helpful divine gift of Biblical patience.