Part 5: Walking With Longsuffering
Notes
Transcript
INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
When discussing the Fruit of the Spirit, I mentioned in the first message I believe, that you can divide these attributes, or graces, into three categories:
The first category contains those graces which turns one’s thought toward God…
a. Love (for love is of God)
b. Joy (for we rejoice in the Lord)
c. Peace (for from God comes the peace that surpasses understanding)
The second group contains those graces that direct our attention to our fellowman…
a. Longsuffering
b. Gentleness or kindness
c. Goodness
The third group of graces refer more directly to oneself…
a. Faith
b. Meekness
c. Temperance or self-control
Keep those categories in mind when studying this because it’ll help you better understand what the Lord is telling us.
Tonight, we have found ourselves at what’s probably the toughest of the nine graces that are the singular Fruit of the Spirit...
In our text, Paul mentions the fruit of the Spirit, longsuffering...
The Greek word for longsuffering is made up of two words: makro, meaning “slow” and thumos, meaning “wrath.” - Simply put, looking at that, the english word longsuffering means “slow to wrath.”
Vine’s Bible Dictionary says, “Longsuffering is that quality of self-restraint in the face of provocation which does not hastily retaliate or promptly punish. It is the opposite of anger and is associated with mercy, and is used of God.”
I’m going to go ahead and praise the Lord right here that patience is an attribute of God! Everyone here should say amen concerning that!
6 And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,
Here’s the tough part, I’m glad that God is patient, or longsuffering, but because He is, He commands the same in His children:
26 Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:
Believers are commanded to be angered with certain conditions and with certain people. A Christian should hate the lying and gossiping tongue, especially of another Christian. However, we should not hate or loathe the person with an innate hatred or malice, as Peter calls it. Malice is something that should not be in the life of the believer.
1 Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings,
We live in a day of quick retribution. Not enough people practice the patience of the Bible because most of us aren’t born with a lot of patience...
Longsuffering is an attribute, like the others we’ve discussed, that is developed by the Holy Spirit.
So, what does longsuffering do?
THE PERSEVERANCE OF LONGSUFFERING
THE PERSEVERANCE OF LONGSUFFERING
The first thing that longsuffering does is enable us to persevere on a difficult day!
4 But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses,
10 Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience.
We persevere because of God’s Purpose:
We persevere because of God’s Purpose:
To Correct Us:
To Correct Us:
6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?
To Challenge Us:
To Challenge Us:
71 It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.
The Use Us:
The Use Us:
20 But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.
We’ve been looking at Joseph for a few Sunday mornings, and one of the first things we learned about him was that when he was sold into slavery by his brothers, he had no idea how God would one day use him! Joseph’s longsuffering through trials and testing allowed him to be used by God in an amazing way!
We persevere because of God’s Priority:
We persevere because of God’s Priority:
What is God’s priority? It’s to conform us into the image of Jesus Christ, His Son and that will help us persevere!
28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
When we face adversity, we want God to do a removing job, while what He wants to do is an improving job!
The willingness to wait on the Lord is an expression of our faith!
THE INFLUENCE OF LONGSUFFERING
THE INFLUENCE OF LONGSUFFERING
When we exercise longsuffering, we will have a godly influence with the people in our lives!
When we have longsuffering, we will have a godly influence:
With Our Family
With Our Family
Sometimes we seem to have the least amount of patience with those closest to us. Instead of acting, we react.
The fact is though, the Holy Spirit can enable us to have patience with our family...
I love one quote I found, it said “A good marriage is not the result of finding the right person, but it is a result of being the right person.”
Let me give you a command from Scripture:
29 Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.
The mouth and heart are connected.
34 O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.
When you become a Christian, there’s a change in speech, and I’m not just talking about cleaning up filthy words.
You ought to want to edify with your words instead of break down with them!
Wisdom and longsuffering is a requirement to see problems from someone else’s point of view...
When we have longsuffering, we will also have a godly influence:
With Others Around Us
With Others Around Us
Like most attributes concerning the Fruit of the Spirit, patience is a product of love.
4 Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
Charity will suffer with the weakness, ignorance, and error of others.
It waits for god to accomplish His divine purposes.
19 Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.
Longsuffering will give you godly influence with:
Your Neighbors, your coworkers and your friends:
1 I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called,
2 With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;
3 Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
People may not be telling you this, but they are evaluating whether you are a real child of God through faith in Christ.
The only way they can tell is by your walk. It’s not so much how you walk as it is where you walk.
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
Walking in “the light” is in the light of the Word of God. How much time do you really spend in the Word of God? Your children know how much time you spend in the Bible. Your grandchildren know. Your neighbors know, and the people in the church know. Your pastor knows…You know how? You can tell by your walk how much time you spend in the Word of God. If we wish to walk in fellowship with God, we must walk in the light of the Word of God.
Remember in the introduction, I said that longsuffering meant, “slow to wrath...” The greatest example of this, like all things was our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ:
23 Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously:
We need to be longsuffering so we can have that godly influence, but lastly, we see:
THE DELIVERANCE OF LONGSUFFERING
THE DELIVERANCE OF LONGSUFFERING
What has longsuffering delivered to us?
The Deliverance of Salvation
The Deliverance of Salvation
9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
God’s desire is for every lost person to repent and receive Christ!
Because of His patience, we have been saved and so can others!
16 Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting.
The Deliverance of the Second Coming
The Deliverance of the Second Coming
8 Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.
The Bible tells us in this verse to establish our hearts in patience, because it won’t be long before the Lord comes back!
We are to live in a continued state of expectancy of the Lord’s coming, as an event always nigh. Nothing can more “stablish the heart” amidst present troubles than the realized expectation of His speedy coming.
13 Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.
14 Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.
15 And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you;
“The longsuffering of our Lord is salvation.” That is, His patience in delaying His return in judgment is providing an opportunity for men to be saved. Our patient waiting is a mental adjustment to the present world situation. We do not need to be alarmed today. God is in His heaven. Things are not right in the world, but He is going to make them right someday.
CONCLUSION
CONCLUSION
We all face challenges every single day, but the Holy Spirit has power to give patience for every situation…Through the longsuffering we obtain by the Holy Spirit, we can persevere, allowing us to grow in God’s purpose. We can have a godly influence on our family and friends. And we can have deliverance through salvation and Christs’ return.
