Take our Bibles once again and go back to Numbers chapter 14.
This time I'll read it to you with an Aussie accent so you guys can understand it.
But uh Numbers chapter 14. As you're tuning there I'm just going to read to
you quickly from Galatians chapter 5 verse 22.
Once again it says, but the fruit of the Spirit is
love, joy, peace, and what are we up to this time?
We're up to the fourth series on the fruits of the Spirit. Long suffering,
gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, against such there is no law.
So we're up to the topic of long suffering. What does it mean
to be long suffering? That's a long word. It's a long word. It's got a long
suffering in it. What does it mean? I think the definition
can be found within that that same word there.
But let's just have a look at Numbers 14 once again. We read through that.
Numbers 14 verse 18. You see when you look up the the phrase
long suffering, the the one in the Bible who has this
attribute you know given to them time and time again is our Lord God. You
see our Lord is a God who is long suffering. Thank God
for that. Okay because if we if we are just honest
with ourselves we are deserving of death. We are
deserving of eternal judgment, eternal hellfire.
But it's because of the long suffering of God that we can be called the
children of God. Now let's have a look at this Numbers 14
verse 18. These are words of Moses to God.
All right and he says to God, he says, the Lord is long suffering.
He's reminding the Lord, Lord you're long suffering.
He says, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression,
and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity
of the fathers upon the children unto the third
and fourth generation. Just a reminder there that the sins we commit in our
generation can have lasting effects on the
generations to come. You know we need to be mindful as parents
about the sins we we commit in our lives but that's not so much a topic today.
Right now the topic is about the long suffering of the Lord.
Now I just want you to backtrack there. Look at verse number 17 and sorry I
should say the title of the sermon tonight is the
Lord is long suffering. Okay those first four words there in
in verse 18. The Lord is long suffering. But just backtrack to verse 17.
This is of course Moses speaking to
to the Lord and as you if you were paying attention to that chapter reading
we once again saw the Israelites rise in rebellion again against the Lord.
Rising and murmuring against the Lord. You know why have you brought us out
here complaining to Moses thinking that God
had brought them to the wilderness to kill them to slay them and it
angered the Lord. It angered to see the rebellion of his people.
Okay and the Lord just tells Moses look I'm just going to wipe them out.
You know they've gone too far. It's time to wipe them out.
It's time to start again. You know I'll bring forth a new nation
coming through you Moses. You know I'll use you Moses
and we'll establish a new nation through your loins through your generations.
And it's interesting you know we see the anger of the Lord and then we see
Moses and by the way Moses is a great picture of an Old Testament pastor.
You know he pastored the church in the wilderness you know
and we see the long suffering of Moses play out as well.
And he goes and he beseeches the Lord. He goes and begs the Lord
and here in verse number 17 he says you know
and now I beseech thee Lord listen to me you know
let the power of my Lord be great according as
thou has spoken saying. So how does Moses appease the Lord?
You know it's always made me have you ever wondered you know God's about to
wipe out Israel. You know how could Moses have you know
changed the heart of God to not destroy them after all? What does
Moses do? Do you notice what he did there in verse
number 17? He says Lord you said these words. You see
the Lord is bound by his word. If you want to know the Lord God
we've got the word of God right here in our King James Bible.
You see we know that our Lord God keeps his promises.
He keeps his word. He does not go back on his word. He does not go back on his
promises and that's what Moses is counting on.
He says Lord you know he's not saying Lord you should be long suffering.
He says Lord you told me in verse 17 remember you told me
you were long suffering. You know you need to be more merciful
to these people. If we just drop down to verse 19
he says Moses says to the Lord pardon you know
I beseech thee the iniquity of these people according to the greatness
of thy mercy as thou has forgiven this people
from Egypt even until now and the Lord said
I have pardoned according to thy word but as truly as I live all the earth
shall be filled with the glory of the Lord. Now if you're
curious just um yeah what actually you can turn there.
You can go to Exodus 34 now. Go to Exodus 34 verse 5. Exodus 34 verse 5.
Just to show you that Moses memorized the scriptures.
You know Moses memorized what God had said to Israel
and he brings that word before the Lord. You know
and like this is what we need to remember sometimes and
if you're like me you're going to go through this when you've sinned against
the Lord. When you're going through a
difficult time spiritually and you're ashamed for your sins you
might be you know just too ashamed to go before the Lord and seek his
forgiveness. You know you might be too ashamed to go
and seek you know his mercy you know but here's the thing we've got
the the words of the Lord and he promises us if we go and confess
our sins to him that he will do that. If we just ask for
forgiveness he will cleanse us from all our
unrighteousness and we can have great fellowship with the Lord.
Hey we can take that promise of the word of God and bring that to the Lord.
Even when we feel inadequate we know that the Lord will stand by his word we
know he'll stand by his promises. Look at Exodus 34 verse 5. This is after
Moses creates the stone tablets with the 10 commandments.
It says and the Lord descended in the cloud
and stood with him there and proclaimed the name of the Lord
and the Lord passed by before him and proclaimed
the Lord the Lord God merciful and gracious long suffering and abundant in
goodness and truth keeping mercy for thousands forgiving
iniquity and transgressions and sin and the will by no means clear
the guilty visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children
and upon the children's children unto the third and to the fourth
generation. So I just wanted to bring you there and show you
these were the words of God right and Moses
memorized this scripture he knew the promises of God
and when God you know was you know taken up in his wrath
he was going to bring you know the his curse upon Israel
Moses appeals to that word. Moses appeals to long suffering
of God. You see our God is a God that is long suffering.
Now what I get to do guys is go to 2 Peter chapter 3.
Go to 2 Peter chapter 3 and I just want to show you a few examples
of how this attribute of long suffering is commonly given to our Lord God.
But I'm going to read to you from Psalm 86 while you're turning there Psalm 86
verse 15 it says but thou oh Lord
art a God full of compassion and gracious
long suffering and plenteous in mercy and truth you'll often see these same
words coupled together with long suffering
compassion gracious mercy okay because you must have these
qualities in your life in order for you to be long suffering
toward others okay but but one thing I want you to notice this is something
specific about the Lord there's a reason why this is called a
fruit of the spirit because the natural man has no capacity
to be long suffering no capacity whatsoever it must come
from the spirit of God it must come by you walking after the
spirit and allowing the Holy Spirit to work in your life you guys are in
2 Peter chapter 3 look at verse 15 2 Peter chapter 3 verse 15 why is the
long suffering of God so important you know why is it yes so
he doesn't destroy us but most of all I guess the most
important part for us is that we remember it's by the long
suffering of God that we can even have salvation
look at that in 2 Peter chapter 3 verse 15
it says and accounts that the long suffering of our
Lord is salvation you see the reason you have salvation is because of his long
suffering because he's he's you know he's seeing
you in a position of a sinful creature someone who
deliberately goes and breaks the laws of God
someone who has your own pride and your own will you know disobeying the Lord and
yet he puts up with it you know and and thank God for those of
you that are saved you know that he was able to send
someone a soul winner to you to preach the gospel you know and you
believed and thank God for that long suffering
otherwise you wouldn't have these opportunities that you did have to
believe in the Lord God and if you guys can just drop to verse
number nine drop down to verse number nine
just once again it says the Lord is not slack
concerning his promise as some men count slackness
but is long suffering to us word not willing that any should perish but
that all should come to repentance you see in
order for you to be a soul winner in order for you to have a passion
for the lost community here on the Sunshine Coast you must develop
long suffering as well and notice that it says but is long suffering to us
word you see long suffering is something
is a is an attribute of relationship with another person
okay from the Lord to us but then from us to other people
and I'm going to read to you very quickly from Romans 2 verse 4
it says or despise us thou the riches of his goodness
and forbearance and long suffering hey that's another word that's very similar
forbearance you know bearing bearing uh you know
our trials bearing difficulties and forbearance and long suffering
not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance
so it's such an important attribute guys the reason we're saved
we can count it based on the long suffering of God now something very
important for you to turn to is first timothy chapter one please
first timothy chapter one verse 15 because you see it's great to
acknowledge that the Lord is long suffering
but he wants to develop this fruit in your life
okay and it's one of the hard ones i reckon out of all the
fruits of the spirit i would say long suffering is one of the toughest ones to
to uh to do well at okay and we'll see why
okay
first tim first timothy chapter one verse 15
first timothy chapter one verse 15 you see the apostle paul is a prime
example of the long suffering of God a really great example and it's it's
it's uh said here in verse 15 this is a faithful saying and worthy of
all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world
sinners of whom i am chief what does paul say about himself
he says look out of all the sinners in the world i am chief
i am the worst you see paul just was able to see his condition
and we know what paul was like don't we we know that he was persecuting the
church of God we know that he hated the name of
Christ we know that he saw the follower the Christians the followers
of Christ as this cult that he had to destroy
that he had to trample down okay he hated christianity as it were
and that's why he calls himself a chief of sinners
but let's keep reading verse number 16 how be it
for this cause i obtained mercy that in me
first jesus christ might show forth all long suffering for a pattern to them
which should hereafter believe on him to life
everlasting you see we need to be a mindful that god was long suffering
with paul someone who hated the church of god
someone who persecuted his believers someone who persecuted the children of
god and this is why i'm very cautious we've
thrown the label reprobates around okay because let's be honest i mean if we
had a pool right now on the sunshine coast you know causing
believers to be put in jail you know trying to destroy us
trying to destroy our church it would be very tempting to say man
this guy's a reprobate i mean look at him he hates the lord he hates these
things but you know what he's an excellent
example of someone who god was was long suffering with you know we need
to remember you know not to give up on our loved ones
you know you may have given them the gospel our friends our family
you know people that you really care about you know and i hear stories where
you say man i've been given this person the gospel
time and time again in fact i'm just reminded this morning i was
i was speaking to a friend of mine whose father passed away
and i i said to him you know it must have been sad because you know
you knew he was not saved and he goes no no i have hope
you know i have all these years you know i was giving him the gospel i was i was
showing him you know i was trying to get him away
from the roman catholic church and time and time again he would reject
it he would reject the gospel reject the gospel
he goes but one day you know he was reading his bible
and he said to me you know it's by faith isn't it it's just by believing
and he's like yes it is and he's like well then i'm saved
you know can i go to church and get baptized now you know so he had this
hope and you see some people give up on their
families way too early sometimes you need you know you need
time to hear the gospel sometimes it take it's not just believe
in the gospel but quite often it's letting go of what you used to know
the deception that you used to have you know it takes time for people to let
that go in order to fully understand and appreciate the gospel at hand
you know we've been we've got to be careful not to just throw everybody
under the reprobate bus i'm sure we would have done that to paul
if he was around today all right now of course i'm not trying to excuse
there definitely are people that are reprobates but we should make sure that
we keep it within the scriptural parameters that we have in the bible
all right now one thing you i want you to notice
there it's not just that paul is an example of
long suffering of salvation but that he himself is an example he
says there in verse 16 for a pattern to them which should
hereafter believe on him to life everlasting you see paul was not
just an example of the long suffering of the lord
but he was also an example of a long suffering of a believer
okay it's almost like god gave him so much
you know so so patient with paul and paul just appreciated it so much
and then he was able to show forth that long suffering
with others because we know the persecution that he faced
and i won't get you guys to turn there i'll just read it very quickly second
corinthians 11 23 just again when an example of the
sufferings of paul second corinthians 11 23 it says but
they ministers of christ i speak as a fool
i am all in labors more abundant in stripes above measure in prisons
more frequent in depths that deaths oft of the jews five times received i 40
stripes save one thrice was i beaten with rods
once i was stoned thrice i suffered shipwreck
at a night and a day i have been in the deep
in journeys often in perils of waters in perils of robbers in perils of my
known countrymen in perils by the heathen in perils in the
city in perils in the wilderness in perils in
the sea in perils among false brethren in
weariness in painfulness in watchings often in
hunger and thirst in fastings often in cold
and nakedness beside those things that are without
that which cometh upon me daily the care of all the churches
so this is look you know we have this great example of paul
you know who appreciates the long suffering of god
and then he's able to apply that in his own life we see this was a fruit
that paul developed in his life and even through all the trials and difficulties
that he went through hey he suffered long didn't he and he
says it's not just the sufferings of the physical body
but also the care of all the churches that were put upon him and we know
obviously that he was an apostle to to many of the churches in the new
testament period there but i want you to now think about what
does it mean if we want to be people that are long suffering we need to
develop this fruit in our lives through the work of the holy ghost what
does it mean what does long suffering mean and i think
it's quite simple i mean it's kind of defining the word
itself it means to suffer long doesn't it it means to suffer
long now when you think about the word suffer
in the bible in our king james bible quite often there's two definitions
and it's interesting because in in the phrase long suffering
both these definitions kind of make sense under under the under the under the
scope of long suffering so for example to suffer you know the
most common application of that that word
is to to feel pain or to bear pain right when you're suffering you're
feeling that pain all right but then we also have the word
suffer like when christ said you know suffer the little children
you know what was he saying let the children bear pain you know of course
not he was saying allow the little children
allow the little children to come unto me okay so we have these two
definitions of the word suffer but in some way
some ways the term the word long suffering both of these definitions
apply both of these definitions apply you see
because uh suffer means to allow and that's what it
means it's to allow others to cause you to
suffer you know it's allowing others to bring
some pain upon you and suffering long bearing that okay
not you know not uh not being someone that is you know
impatient not someone that flies off your you know
of your rocker you know but but forbearing
long with other people this is why it's so hard because when someone does wrong
to us immediately the flesh just wants revenge
immediately the the flesh wants to destroy that person you know especially
if you've been treated unfairly you know unrighteously or some
enemy has come against you but you see we were all enemies of god
at some point when we were unsaved you know and once again just a reminder
you know god could have just wiped us out
you know just like he was desiring to wipe out israel in the passage that we
read and yet we see that with his long
suffering who's able to bear bear well with it
it's such an important quality to have because it's going to keep you grounded
in life it's it's not going to get you to
overreact and it's going to bring peace in your life it's going to bring a lot
of peace in your life if you can be someone
that suffers long now um another word that's commonly used
for long suffering is the word patience okay so if you if
you look wanting to study this out you know look up the word patience in
your bible in fact a lot of the modern version i'm not supporting the modern
versions but a lot of the modern versions change
in the fruits of the spirit from long suffering to patience
okay and uh you know they are very similar words
you cannot suffer long unless you have patience you know those two things
go hand in hand but you see the term long suffering
is a much harder word it's a much harder word than patience
and i can give you an example you know just today
just today i had to take six of my kids to the dentist
okay so they they got a checkup they got a clean
so i'm sitting there you know one one goes and then another one going
and another one i'm thinking man i've got to get home i'm going to prepare a
sermon for tonight you know but was i was i suffering
you know what was i was i suffering long you know was i bearing pain
i mean if anyone was bearing pain it was probably my kids you know with the
drills and stuff that was going into their mouth
but you know no no you know but i had to be patient you know i had to be patient
but hey i was in in you know in an air-conditioned you know place
you know i was sitting down i had my phone i was thinking about the sermon
tonight you know i i i i had patience but i
didn't really need long suffering i wasn't bearing with pain you know it
wasn't something that was difficult for me to just sit there
and wait for six children to have their dental dental work done
and so you see long suffering is more than patience
it's patient it's being patient with pain
it's being patient with other people that are wronging you
tribulation that has come your way that's why it's so hard
patience in of itself is kind of hard but what about if you have to be patient
and suffer at the same time so much harder i mean i've had people say you
know i'm just not a patient person if you're not a patient person you're
definitely not going to be long suffering
okay you're definitely not going to be able to uh bring that forth that fruit
and that's why you need the holy ghost you need to ask the lord to help develop
this into your life can you guys please go to
ephesians chapter four ephesians chapter four
you see forbearance or long suffering is necessary for us to have peace in our
church to have peace with other people but
especially with our church all right because we spend time together not only
in the church service we fellowship with one another and i've
mentioned this before we all have different backgrounds
we're all at different places in our spiritual walk you know and sometimes
it's tempting to look at other believers in the church
and say wow look they're really failing this area of life
why aren't they a bit more like me you know and that can cause problems that
can cause divisions you know within the church but look at
ephesians chapter 4 verse 1
paul writes i therefore the prisoner of the lord and i
i love how he just does that because he's like by the way guys i'm in prison
right if i can suffer along with you and with other people in the church while in
prison how much more you that's kind of the
idea that right i therefore the prisoner of the lord
beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation
wherewith ye are called you see we need to be counted worthy in our
spiritual walk the lord desires that we would walk
after our calling verse number two how do we walk he says
with all loneliness and meekness meekness is another fruit of the spirit
but again like i said to you guys a lot of these things overlap we've all
loneliness and meekness with long suffering and now he says
it another way forbearing one another in love hey you're
gonna in church you have to bear with one another
say why man this is this is meant to be a believer we're meant to be able to get
along we have all these things in common we're
like-minded in faith why would i ever have to get to a position
when i have to put up with other people if you think that you've not spent time
with people right if you think if you think that you
know being gathered together with with other people is not gonna
there's not going to be conflict and strain it's always going to happen
and paul knows this but see we need to forbear
one another in love we need to have long suffering look at verse number three
endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit
in the bond of peace how do we make sure that this is the church of peace
how do we make sure that there's peace within the brethren it says we have to
endeavor endeavoring it's something we need to
strive to do it doesn't come naturally okay it
requires work it requires you to suffer long with others okay be
patient with others you know instruct others in
love so they can grow and mature give people time
i mean how much time has god given you you know how much time did god give you
to be saved and you say well i got saved at a young
age all right well how much time has god given you to mature
and to grow and to be more like christ and he's still forbearing with you
okay i'm sure there's a lot of chastisement that i've
i probably should have had by the lord but because of his forbearance
because of his long suffering you know he's he's allowed me to
work through that before he's brought down
that you know that that rod of chastisement i'm sure it happens
now here's the thing one thing that i've and maybe this is just me but
when i think it's just me i'm reminded that we're made of the same flesh and
blood so it's probably the same for all of us
but one thing i've noticed about myself and i'm just being honest you know i'll
tell you one of my sins is that i've realized that i'm not very i
don't i don't suffer long with the people that i'm closest to you
know my family my wife my kids you know more more often than not i'm
more patient you know i suffer long with strangers you know with other people my
work colleagues friends things like that and i'm i'm
i'm probably expecting a lot of you are kind of the same
and especially with kids you know you give them instruction and they don't
carry through what you've asked of them exactly how you intended you know and
and you know you might it might cause you to get upset with them might cause
you to get angry you know but you see if you're going to be a
teacher if you're going to have authority over people
you have to develop the skill of long suffering
okay and if you're a parent you're a teacher you're teaching
children to become adults you teach them to be christian to be
lovers of the lord and lovers of the word of god you know and we need to make
sure that as parents we suffer long with our
children you know especially kids get to a certain age and i'm sure
you've experienced this where it's like they ask every question
you know every little question you know why is the sky blue
you know why is the tree green you know like oh man i need to ask yes answer the
questions you know suffer long you know their
minds are like a sponge and they're ready to learn
and the lord has given you those little minds so you can influence them
you know so you can instruct them in the ways of the lord hey if you're not going
to teach your children someone else is okay it's going to be
the world it's going to be the tv it's going to be the public school system
it's going to be their non-christian friends non-christian relatives
if you don't give them the answers if you don't be patient with your kids
they're going to learn it from someone else okay it might as well come from you
it might as well come from you okay because you're going to make sure with
you who love them the most you're going to make sure that they
receive the best instruction hey we need to learn to be
long suffering with our family members with our wives with our husbands
with our children
please turn to luke 17 luke 17
luke 17 verse 3
long suffering is a necessity for forgiveness
okay in order for you to be able to forgive somebody
for the wrong that they've done in your life you need to be long suffering
and i'm just reminded and i know we've already covered this while we're going
through the book of luke but just as a reminder
luke 17 verse 3 it says take heed to yourselves jesus speaking to
his disciples if thy brother trespass against thee
rebuke him and if we repent forgive him and if he
trespass against thee seven times in a day
and seven times in a day turn again to thee saying
i repent thou shalt forgive him and the apostles also said sorry and the
apostles said unto the lord increase our faith how can i forgive
my brother seven times in a day if he wrongs me again and again and
again all in the one day they were seeking for an increase in
their faith you see what jesus christ even though the word's not used here
what jesus christ was teaching is long suffering to the brethren
long suffering to those that do you wrong and come and ask for forgiveness
hey be ready to forgive others you won't be able to forgive people look
you you i'm sure you've done this because i've done this
when someone's wronged you they've said sorry
and you've accepted the apology by word but not in your heart
by word you said yep that's fine i accept it but you're still bitter
you're still bitter against them for what they've done hey that's wrong
that's wrong the bible says here that if they ask and they apologize forgive
them and they do it again what do you do and
they and they ask they repent once again you forgive them again
you do it seven times in a day you do it again
and again you and look we need the lord to increase our faith
in order for for us to bear well with others
you know the lord just asks us to suffer a little bit
to put up with some pain from other people
you know put up with i won't go through some examples but i'm sure you
guys can think of examples in your life where you've lost patience
with people you know it's not that they were wicked
it's not that we're necessarily trying to hurt you or annoy you
it's just that because you're lacking long suffering
you know you've got an bitterness in your heart toward other people
no you know what god has shown long suffering to us
we should do the same to our fellow brethren can you guys please turn to
romans chapter 5 romans chapter 5 verse 3
romans chapter 5 verse 3 and this is one of my favorite portions of scripture
i've preached from it before
but the question always is how do i gain this patience
how can i be patient and we're going to see the word patience here but again
like i said you can't forbear or you can't suffer long unless you
have patience first okay so how do we develop patience in our
life romans 5 verse 3 has the answer and you
see it's not easy look what it says and not only so
but we glory it's so hard but we glory in tribulations also
when's the last time you've gloried in tribulation
i'm sure you've gone through tribulation i mean
let's just think about this like think about the the latest tribulation you've
gone through the the latest trials you've gone
through can you honestly say that during those
tribulations i was glorying i was joyful i was rejoicing i hope you
can say yes because if you can say yes then you're
mature in the lord you know you've developed
this fruit of the spirit into your life but i think quite often we'll say no you
know no we uh we complained we were like the
israelites of old we murmured we complained you know we
asked the lord why is this happening you know we were downcast we were
depressed instead of glorying in the tribulation
that came and then let's keep reading there verse number
uh sorry yeah verse number three the end of verse number three
knowing that tribulation worketh patience you see sometimes the lord allows you go
through tribulation just so you can learn some patience just
so you can develop patience in your life okay and he said i don't want i don't
want to go through tribulation well how else are you going to get
patience okay let's keep reading and verse number four and patience
experience and experience hope and hope maketh not
ashamed because the love of god is shed abroad
in our hearts by the holy ghost which is given
unto us you see you need to experience hardships in your life in order for you
to learn patience you know the reason why the apostle
paul had so much patience why he was long
suffering through his ministry in the lord is
because he suffered so much tribulation himself
he gained experience you know and he rejoiced
he rejoiced in the trials knowing that it was for the name of the lord
knowing that he stood up for the lord knowing that he was applying you know
uh laying up treasures in heaven that's what his mindset was
the winning of souls are laying up treasures his mindset was eternity
not just the tribulations that come in this temporal life
i'm going to read to you quickly you don't need to turn the colossians 1 11
it says strengthened with all might according to his glorious power
unto all patience and long suffering with joyfulness with joyfulness
okay now you might say you know what i'm someone that has gone through a lot of
trials i've gone through a lot of tribulation
why do i not have patience why am i not long suffering
even though i've gone through trials and tribulation because you see it's not
just going through trials but it's going through trials
with joy it's going through trials with joy
that'll work patience in your life that'll cause you to suffer long in your
life to forbear with others you know you might be going through
longer tribulation than you need to because instead of being joyful about
it you're downcast you're murmuring you're
complaining and the lord's like well i'll keep you there until you can find
joy in your tribulation and we can find joy in your tribulation
that's when you'll be able to long suffer that's when you'll have the
patience that you need to develop so look guys when you go through trials
and difficulties rejoice the lord wants you to work on
patience and if you can get that patience down
we saw the world then it's experience and then it's uh what was it experience
hope and then the lord that makes you know
he's developing you maturing you so you would not be ashamed for the cause of
christ and it's helping you strengthen your
spirit strengthen that inner man inside of you by developing this fruit of the
spirit you know in pastors you know if you
ever have a desire to be a pastor a church leader
pastors need to just like we saw with moses pastors must be people
with long suffering like i said you know i'm i think i'm pretty good at it
i think all right but i do struggle a little bit with my family you know and i
need to work on that okay you know because i guess sometimes
you have a higher standard with your own family
a higher standard of your own children you know than you do with others
but you know i need to remember that you know my family comes first you know my
family is my ministry without my family i do not have a
ministry you know but hey as a pastor we need to
learn or if you have a desire to be a pastor
you know you need to learn long suffering
uh where are you guys are you guys in romans
can you just okay just go back to uh let's go yeah go to second timothy
please second timothy chapter four verse two
second timothy chapter four verse two
this is an instruction to pastors preach the word
yep got that one locked in preaching the word
be instant in season out of season you know just
just preach it regardless if it's in fashion or not if it's in season
just do so reprove rebuke hey i love that i love to call out sin
right i love to rebuke the false prophets and to rebuke
you know sinful ways and and to you know teach people the commandments of god
awesome then it says exhort what does it mean to
exhort so we need to build up okay build up
believers don't just tear them down when they're
sinners but then build them up in love right
says here exhort look how we've all long suffering and doctrine
you see it's not just doctrine that needs to be preached
a pastor is more than just someone that gets behind the pulpit and preaches
doctrine he needs to be someone that can suffer
long that can bear well with others that can be patient with others you
know and like i said sometimes with your children
you know you get frustrated because you give them direction
and they might even do it but they don't do it to you know the level you're
expecting to do and you know you can get frustrated but
really what should happen is you should bring your children and
teach them hey you have not done that right this is where you've
you know this is where you where you're lacking and we've loved we've we've
forbear and we've long suffered instruct them to do what's right you
know and it's the same as a pastor you know
the pastor is to look out for the souls of the people here
you know and sometimes you know i might i might get frustrated because i see
something happen right but then i need to be reminded
hey no i need to be long suffering i need to teach with doctrine i need to
remind people the fundamentals of the faith
you know we need to go back sometimes and and and you know lock in
certain doctrines lock in certain truths lock in certain characteristics that we
should have as christians you know and it's an important quality
for a pastor to have
now there is something else i want to talk about when it comes to the long
suffering i've pretty much covered and i hope you
guys realize just how important it is but you see long suffering is not only
for us to see the love of god but it also serves to see his wrath okay
so we need to make sure that when we think about god you know yes he's a god
of love we know that but he's also a god of
wrath and his long suffering plays a part in this
all right let's have a look at this if you guys can uh i'll get you guys to go
to first peter chapter three first peter
chapter three verse 20 first peter chapter three verse 20
and uh we know that the lord's going to destroy this earth
you know it's coming the day's coming but we also know that in the past
he also destroyed the earth remember how he did it he did it with a flood
in the days of noah you guys remember that let's have a look at this first
peter chapter 3 verse 20 first peter chapter 3 verse 20
it says here which sometime were disobedience
when once the long sufferings of god waited in the days of noah
while the ark was a was preparing wherein few that his eight souls
were saved by water now notice that notice here that it's talking about the
days of noah and that the lord was long suffering
during these days and well how did he destroy the earth
by a flood by water right he destroyed everyone
that was outside of that ark you say well how long suffering was god
well how long did it take noah to build that ark does anyone remember
it's 120 years 120 years you know the world was already wicked
god had already decided it's i've got to destroy this earth
you know i've got to destroy all living things but thank god
you know noah found found grace in the eyes of the lord
you know noah and his family and he instructs noah you need to go and build
that ark and he does but it takes him 120 years
i mean can you imagine the lord seeing the wickedness of this world of the
world day in day out for 120 years
until noah finished off that ark we see two things there
we see the love of god that he waited for noah to be finished
okay we wait he waited for noah to be safe before he pulled out his wrath
that's a great thing but we also see see the long suffering
how every day was the wicked you know uh cause the lord to get angry you know and
this is why the lord forebears with the wicked
because he allows the wrath of god to be built up
and on the day of his judgment the day of his wrath it comes down like a ton of
bricks you know when god pulls out his wrath
it's not just a little it's the entire portion it's the entire
portion why because he was long suffering to
begin with okay and we know also that no was a
preacher of righteousness so god did instruct noah to preach
to get them right with the lord he gave them time 120 years
hey we talk about the sunshine coast being not receptive imagine preaching
for 120 years and no one getting saved all right no
one getting on the ark with you except the animals right i mean that
that was an unreceptive place all right at that time no wonder god had
to destroy the earth but we see how long suffering
plays a part in the wrath of god i'll get you guys to turn to colossians
chapter 3 colossians chapter 3 and while you're
turning there i'm just going to read to you from romans 9 22
it says what if god willing to show his wrath
and to make his power known and due to much long suffering
the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction
you see the lord wants his wrath to be known
he wants the power of god to be known okay
and part of that is not just the expression of his love
part of that is the expression of his wrath you know
to show the world his holiness to show the world that he is without sin
that there is no darkness in him in him at all that when people are wicked
you know he he pours out his wrath but he he takes his time
with his long suffering he allows the the vessels of wrath to be filled up
so he can pour it down and destroy the wicked this is the truth of the god we
worship you know make sure you always have the
balance the love the wrath but both places you know
it's built up by long suffering you know long suffering plays a part
in the love of god as well as the wrath of god make sure you're on the side of
the love of god make sure you're on the side where you
come to repentance you acknowledge jesus as your only savior
and you believe on him that you realize that it's by faith alone and without the
deeds of the law and when you've done that you can rejoice in the in the long
suffering of the lord but can you imagine if you you face the
wrath of god and you've allowed all the sins all the
weakness of your life build up and the lord's been patient the lord's
given you time but as he's given you time his wrath
has built up time and time and time again till he casts
you into that lake of fire i mean i don't want to be there you
know we don't want our loved ones to be there
that's why it's so important for us to get that gospel message out
you know to to our friends family and to our community
so let's just wrap it up now guys um colossians chapter 3 verse 12
let's just finish on this instruction by paul
he says put on therefore see you need to put it on it's not
natural you need to actually make an effort
to put this on put on therefore as the elect of god
holy and beloved vows of mercies kindness humbleness of mind meekness
long suffering now again look at this verse 13
forbearing one another that's what it means to
suffer along with others to forbear one another
and forgiving one another you see like i said the only way you can forgive each
other is by suffering along with them okay
and then it says look if any man have a quarrel against
any even as christ forgave you so also do ye
i love that how much should you forbear okay how much should you long suffer how
much should you forgive as much as god has forgiven you as much
as god has been long suffering to you okay that's how you should treat your
fellow brothers in the lord so we can make sure we have peace
uh in this church and look this is a great
this is a great fruit of the spirit to develop in your life
it's a great one okay it's going to cause you to have peace
you know in your life rather than being frustrated being flustered every time
someone annoys you you'll be like you know what i'm just
going to suffer along with this person i'm going to exhort this person i'm
going to forgive this person it's going to get you through life and
have you know life more a life with much more joy you know a
life with much more abundance you know as you walk in the spirit of
the lord let's pray