The Perfect Patience of Our God - Pastor Daniel Batarseh

Good morning. Are you excited to be in God's house? Yeah. I hope so. I don't know about you, but I believe church is an essential.

Would you agree? Yes. Yes. Amen. I was hoping you would agree.

In a moment, we're gonna open the scriptures, but we're gonna pray one more time and ask God to help us. And Paul prayed that. He prayed that we would receive the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him. And so we need God's help to even know God's word. Therefore, we pray.

Let's pray. Father in heaven, we thank you for the grace that you have given this church for the doors to be open. We don't take it for granted, Lord. We give you all the credit and all the glory. And in this morning, as we are gathered together, we come for one reason, to hear from you.

And we pray, Father, that you would grant us the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Christ. Speak to our hearts, Lord. Change us, conform us into the very image that you desire. And we pray that we would have the humility to bow down to the truth that we hear, and to live it out. Lord, we give you all praise, not just in our song, but through our lives.

Enable us to do so. In the precious name of Jesus we pray. Amen. A couple of weeks ago, we discovered the greatest and the highest calling of a Christian. It is not preaching to mass crowds.

It is not being an author of many books. It is not even being identified as a gifted church member in your local body. The greatest and highest calling of the Christian is the practice of biblical, lifelong, unwavering love. Love is defined in so many ways by so many different people, but the Bible gives us a standard of love, and it is nothing short of self denying, truth exalting, and God reflecting. If one wants to know if they measure up to that standard of love, if you were with us a couple of weeks, there's a simple experiment that you can just try yourself.

In that precious paragraph in first Corinthians 13 that gives us that definition of the manifestations of divine love, all you have to do is put your name in the place of love and see if your heart posture reflects what God wants from us. And that simple experiment alone is enough for us to crumble before the feet of Jesus, is it not? To say, Lord, I lack love. I lack love in this area. But the point I wanna make this morning is that there is a name that you can put beside every single one of those manifestations of love, and that name will never fail to meet those standards consistently.

And it's the name of our God and the person of the Lord Jesus Christ who himself displays what love is. For God is love, John tells us. And in God is the perfection of what love is. He is the substance of love. He's the example of love.

He is where love comes from. For us to be created in his image and to know what it's like to love or to experience love, that comes from somewhere. I can tell you this, it doesn't come from from our fallen heart, it comes from his perfect heart. God is love. And so when you look at that scripture, you can see that this is who God is.

That helps us understand that beautiful concept, that beautiful theological truth that our God doesn't just love, he is in fact love. But we hear that, and what do we think? Does he feel a certain way about us? I'm sure that the first place all of our minds go to when we understand God is love is to the cross, and it should. It is the ultimate expression of his love.

But we have to understand that God is love. God didn't just love humanity at one point in history. God didn't just express himself in love at one point, and now he's less loving then, or he was less loving before Calvary. He always was love. He always will be love.

And what we see in our scriptures, and what we have heard when we got saved was exactly that. God showing his love, manifesting his love in the ultimate way. But again, God's love is more specific than that. It is way more specific than that. Is it ultimately seen in the sacrifice of the cross?

You better believe it. Is it limited to that? Not necessarily. When you and I think about that description of love according to Paul inspired by the Holy Spirit, you and I are invited to explore the specific ways that God loves you and me. And all we have to do is park at the first definition, the first expression of love.

Love is patient. Love is patient. And if God is love, then you have all the right to say God is patient, because God is love. Is not patience an example of love? Is not patience motivated by love?

So when we think about God being love, you can believe that God is very patient. Can I ask you a question this morning? When you think about God, I hope you take time at some portion of your day to give some meditation to who he is. He'll do you a lot of good. When you think about the attributes of God, what springs forth in your soul?

What rushes into your heart? He is holy, should. He is just, there's no doubt about it. He is love, absolutely. But can I ask you, and when you meditate upon him, do you ever think, oh, he's so patient, He's so long suffering?

He is so easy to approach. We should, And our time together will be to explore that aspect of God with the aim that we would also reflect that patience in our own lives, but more importantly, that we would all the more worship him in light of that characteristic that he has. God is patient. What does it mean for God to be patient? On a human level, when we think of patience, we often relate it to remaining in a in a calm state of mind when circumstances or events are not cooperating with our preferred timing.

Right? If you wanna know what that means, just stay in traffic long enough. Patience generally is understood to be able to tolerate problems or delays without being overcome by anxiety or agitation. That's what it means to be a patient person. But for us, we have limited patience to being in the DMV for more than we want to be or being in rush hour traffic, but the way the Bible describes God's patience is beyond that.

It's actually has nothing to do with timing of events. God is in eternity. He sees all things. He doesn't require that type of patience like you and I do because we're in a realm with time. Therefore, what does it mean for God to be patient?

Well, the object of his patience, the very thing that causes him, for lack of a better word, to exercise his patience is the very thing that was created in his image, you and I. We are the very reason why God is patient, so to speak. And that's important to understand because his patience is specific and it is glorious. Remember that wonderful story of Moses, a man who knew God more than anybody else in his day and arguably throughout history. You can put him in the top roster.

Moses knew God face to face. And when you read of his relationship with God, it reads like a friendship of two lifelong friends. Yet Moses, no matter what he experienced in God, had come to a point in Exodus thirty three thirty four where he looked at God with everything within him and he says, oh God, would you just show me your glory? I've seen so much but I know that there's so much more. Would you just please peel back my eyes and let me behold something of your glory?

And God did not withhold that request. He said, I will show you my glory, but it's amazing how God shows his glory. He doesn't just show him himself. He does in a portion. He shows him his back because if he saw his face, he would be consumed by the very glory that shines through his face.

But the glory of God wasn't just shown in some splendid manifestation of power or light or illumination. He brings Moses to that top of the mountain. He hides him in the cleft of the rock. He shows him his back, but he does something else. He declares his name, and he describes his attributes as he walks past Moses and puts his hand above his eyes, before his eyes rather, and walks by him.

So the glory of God is not just what you see, it's more what you hear and understand concerning God. And when God describes his own name and his own attributes, manifesting his glory in a way where Moses, though he got a glimpse of this powerful, majestic being, he also heard something. This is what he heard. The Lord passed before him in Exodus 30 four:six, and you can turn there if you'd like. 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.

Slow to anger. That's the focus of our time together. It is the opposite of being short fused. God demonstrates a self restraint though he is continually being stirred to anger. This does not mean that God is holding himself from sinning when he says he is slow to anger.

He's not trying to resist the temptation of given over being given over to some kind of wrath that is unrighteous. No. His anger is perfectly just, perfectly righteous, perfectly pure, and perfectly holy. But for God to be slow to anger just means that he patiently forbears. He endures and he is not quick to punish or retaliate.

Now, some would hear that and in defense of the holiness of God would say, hold up. There's something else that the Bible describes God, and it sounds like a contradiction. It's in Psalm seven eleven where we are told that our God feels indignation every day. In the King James, it says that God is angry with the wicked every day. How can you be slow to anger, but you feel a righteous anger towards sinners?

Do you wanna know how God feels this morning? Here's one thing he feels, he's angry. He's angry towards the sin of man, towards the rebellion, their constant law breaking, and he has every right to have that emotional stirring because he is holy. Do you watch the news and get angry? Don't blame God.

He's much holier than you and I are. Do you see the behavior of sinful men? Does it not stir a sense of justice within you? You should. Because in some portion, if it's true justice, it reflects God's character.

So is there a contradiction that we have with the nature of God? Absolutely not. There is no contradiction here. What are we being told then? We're being told this, though he is provoked, though he is stirred as a judge that wants to execute justice, there is something that withholds him.

There is a prolonging to the execution of his justice, and it is due to his patience. He is more eager to see mercy experienced than judgment unleashed. And so when God is slow to anger, it means that he is not quick to punish. He's not quick to consume. And his glorious patience is something that we need.

Because if you remove that attribute of God, we would have been gone a long time ago. The mercy that has been extended is due to this attribute of God. And notice that being slow to anger according to Exodus 34 is attributed to his glory. It's glorious. It's marvelous.

It's wonderful. It's precious. It's splendid. When you and I consider the glory of God, we should not fail that tied up in his glory is the fact that he is very slow to demonstrate punitive justice. When you say God is glorious, you know what we're saying?

In part, God is patient. He's so patient. Why is God's patience so glorious though? Let's consider one point. God is gloriously patient with sinners.

For God to be slow to anger does not mean that God is accepting of sin. That is a gross misinterpretation of what it means for God to be patient. But unfortunately, for many who have enough sense to believe that there is a God who exists, they have unfortunately misinterpreted God's patience to be something, listen, as a means to create a God in their own image. As marvelous as the patience of God is, people have taken that aspect of God, they've cut it out from his character and nature, and they've used it to throw it into a fire and create a golden calf. That is not something that is our opinion only.

The psalmist describes it in Psalm 50. Turn your Bibles there, please. I want you to see here how God's patience is so wonderful, but unfortunately, it can be abused and distorted to be a motivation to cause fallen men to do what? Worship a God that doesn't exist. Psalm 50 verse 19.

This is God speaking in the Psalm, and look what he says. You give your mouth free reign for evil. He's now indicting the sinners of that generation. And your tongue frames deceit. You sit and speak against your brother.

You slander your own mother's son. These things you have done, and I have been silent, you thought that I was one like yourself. He says, even before these verses, he describes the sin of his people, and he makes this observation. He says, you've interpreted my silence in the midst of all your sin, in light of all your rebellion inappropriately. God's silence, the stretch of absence of any intervention, his withholding of outpouring wrath, his unceasing common grace that is continually lavished upon all men is the expression of his patience.

And it's synonymous with the word silence. He's not speaking. He is not commanding for judgment to come. He is keeping himself in a state of restraint. And what you have here is a dangerous thing.

This is how sinful we are. We're able to take something that's so good and awesome and glorious and make it dangerous. The danger is that sinful man will continually turn their back and walk in the opposite direction without hearing the cries of heaven condemning his soul, and think surely God approves of this. Surely God is one of us. He interprets righteousness like us.

He interprets evil like us. He takes these specific sins and we measure it a certain way, and he agrees with the measurement of what these things are because there is no sense of interruption or divine wrath or immediate consequences. It shouldn't shock us to believe that many, many fallen men, lawmakers, false teachers, churchgoers, have buried much conviction of the conscience with the false notion that God interprets righteousness and wickedness the way we do. Do you know why so many churches are turning to the LGBT movement? Do you know why so many denominations now are changing their stance on what the biblical definition of marriage is?

In part, they believe that God agrees with them. They believe that God changed his mind. And so they convince themselves, and God goes into their thinking, you thought, you've conjured up, you've built an idea that I'm like you. You're wrong. I'm nothing like you.

I'm far more holy than you. My standard is far greater than yours concerning righteousness and uprightness. I'm nothing like you. That's what it means to be holy. He is otherworldly.

He is transcendent. He is above and beyond. And what does man continually do? Try to bring him down to our level. That's what it means to create a God in our image.

He is like me. And he says, you thought I was silent because I approved of it, and the danger goes further than that. It's heinous enough to think that God's standard of right and wrong is on par with ours. That's evil enough, but our hearts are more evil than we think. Because in other portions of scripture, not only is it a way to bury our conscious thinking this is something God approves of, it actually becomes fuel for more evil.

Turn your Bibles to Ecclesiastes eight eleven for the point that I'm trying to make. King Solomon, the author of Ecclesiastes, a man who received wisdom from heaven, unlike any other man apart from the person of Jesus Christ, studied the ways of man and his wisdom. He observed. He recorded patterns, he could almost in his wisdom be a mind reader. He wasn't a mind reader, but he continually saw how men behaved, and he made many conclusions in Ecclesiastes and Proverbs, and here's one of the things that stood out to him that was common amongst fallen man.

He makes this observation that you and I are probably familiar with. Ecclesiastes eight eleven, because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed speedily, the heart of the children of man is fully set to do evil. You know what he noticed? Something that stood out to him. One of the incentives for man to continue in their sin is that they cannot discern or experience immediate retribution, and they think, let's just keep going.

If we don't think this is true, all we have to do is meditate upon our previous life before we came to Christ. Think about who you were before you came to Christ, and think about how you made your decisions. And I can tell you this with many people who are still in sin, one of the reasons why they continue in sin is because there's no consequences. I can tell you that ministers counsel enough to realize that what jolts a person to actually reconsider their way of life is when they see that there's consequences to their actions. Reconsider their way of life is when they see that there's consequences to their actions.

Brother, it was a close call. I think I should change my life and give it to God. I had a near death experience, brother. I'm never gonna do that again and drink while I do it and drive while I do it. I'm thinking I'm gonna change the way I live, brother.

And it's what jolts them is when they realize that there are consequences to our sins. There is a wage, there's a payment, there's a receipt. But you know what often happens? When that danger dissipates and those consequences evaporate and the and the the threats seem to pull away, they go right back into it. They go right back And I'll tell you this, they don't just go right back into it, they dive deeper into it.

And so listen, people have interpreted God's silence not just as a way to create a God in their own image comforting their conscience. No. They've also used the silence of God, the patience of God. The glorious long suffering forbearance of our king to say, I'm gonna go more into wickedness. I'm gonna fling myself further into depravity.

I'm gonna stick my face in deeper mire and drink as much as I can. Why? Because they look on the horizon, they don't see a messenger of death on their way. Why? Because they see that there's a clear sky and a bright shining sun over them, and they think, let's drink, eat, be merry, for tomorrow we die.

And Solomon says, because there is an immediate judgment, sinners sin all they want and as long as they can. And so this causes us to think, doesn't it? Well, why doesn't God execute immediate judgment? Wouldn't that be a wonderful lesson for the world? Would not more sinners turn to God if they saw that the the plight of the wicked was disaster every time?

Wouldn't that win more people as they saw the pattern? If you live apart from Christ, here's danger, here's disaster, here's destruction. If you live for Christ, look at all the peace and joy, why wouldn't God do it? Why wouldn't God manifest himself that way? And I'll tell you why.

Because he's patient. God is motivated by something that caused him to endure the provocations of the sons of Adam. There are strings, cords of love that hold back the cup of his wrath being poured over the balcony of heaven. The sentence of sins is slowed down by the gracious space of God's patience. In other words, God's silence towards the sin of man, in actuality, is a cry for them to repent.

Silence is actually a plea. Silence is actually an invitation. Silence is actually an open door with open arms. God's silence isn't approval. God's silence is an invitation for sinners to realize he is good and he is kind.

He's not giving me what I deserve, but there is a cross that I can come to and bow before and be changed by. That's what God's silence means. And that silence is experienced from Genesis to Revelation. You see the same thread. God is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

In every generation, he does not change. He gives people a chance. He's eager. He delights in mercy. And so listen, he is even willing to endure the very things that, listen, would cause you and I in that place to have judged this world long ago.

Want proof of that? Look at Jonah the prophet. Aren't you glad that Jonah wasn't the determiner of Nineveh's fate? Because according to his sense of righteousness and holiness, you know what Jonah wanted to do? Wipe them out in one slate.

And it was God who proved to be more merciful and loving and patient with rebellious people than men. And here we are. Right? The sons of Adam and the daughters of Adam telling God that he doesn't know how to execute judgment. You're too harsh, God.

That's a little too intense, God. I assure you that if a man like Jonah who was a prophet and who walked with God and heard from God and lived a holy life, if he was willing to press the button and take that place out, you and I would as well. Here's an example of God's consistent blessing in his glorious patience. Turn your Bibles to first Peter three twenty, and see what it says concerning the days of Noah. We're talking Genesis six, all the way from the beginning.

Because they formally did not obey, when God's patience waited in the days of Noah, When God's patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared in which a few, that is eight persons, were brought safely through water. God's patience waited in the days of Noah. You know, this verse is glorious as it stands alone. You know why? Because when God called Noah, he didn't just call a builder to create an ark.

He called a preacher, and he ordained a man who would declare righteousness. We think of Noah as a guy who just had a private estate and tried to mind his own business and build this thing so that he can get out of there as fast as possible. No. God called him to build an ark, a big ark, by the way, a long building project for a reason. And then he ordains him and says, I want you, while you're building, to preach righteousness.

I want you to preach righteousness. And guess what? You wouldn't wanna go to his conference because he preached the same message all the time. Repent. You you still have a chance.

You still have a chance to escape God's wrath. God has appointed a day. He has appointed a moment. But I'm telling you, God is willing to make space for you to escape. We almost interpret that story as though God had selected eight people and that was it.

The rest were doomed. No. He ordained a man to preach with the hope, with the stirring in his heart that maybe even one, maybe even one would turn and change their mind and realize that the violence that was exploding in their day and the perversions were grieving God's heart. You know what makes this verse so glorious? When it says God's patience waited in the days of Noah, you know how we interpret that?

We interpret that as God going, come on Noah, preach preach because I can't wait to flood this place. But when you look at Genesis six six, you see a different heart posture. And this is the heart posture that God had during that entire period of waiting for maybe one, maybe one sinner, maybe one unrepentant soul will turn. This was his heart. Genesis six six, and the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.

Grieved him. You know what that means? Pain. Hurt. There was an ache in his heart when he looked upon the earth and he saw all of the depravity, and he endured that pain.

He endured that pain. He didn't relieve himself of that regret. He didn't relieve himself of that grief by judging them quickly. No. He endured it, hoping maybe one will turn, hoping that maybe one will repent.

And so he waited decades upon decades upon decades, and he held back the floodwaters, and he energized a man who preached righteousness, and he created a massive building project because he is patient, because he is love. And now God is executing that same patience by raising up many preachers of righteousness all across this world to point people to the greater ark in the person of Jesus Christ who is the shelter from the floodwaters of God's wrath. Come. Come. God wants you.

Is God angry with the wicked every day? Yes. But it is mingled with a grief that, oh, if they only knew how good it was to be in me and I in them. Some do respond to God's glorious patience. You know who did?

Somebody that you and I benefit from every single day, the apostle Paul. Paul said in first Timothy one sixteen, listen to these words. You don't have to turn there. But I receive mercy for this reason, that in me as the foremost, foremost what, sinner, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. You know what Paul is saying?

Remember Exodus 34 where it says God is slow to anger? Yeah. Jesus Christ is God in the flesh, and he displayed his perfect patience towards me. You wanna know how God is slow to anger? Look at my life.

Number one terrorist against the early church. He didn't even wait for the church to grow. He wanted to eradicate him at the its infant stages. He was bloodthirsty. He was inflamed with a hatred.

And you know what the church would have rejoiced at? For God to just take him out and give him some relief to just exercise their freedoms to believe and to walk in faith. Oh, the church surely would have somewhat rejoiced to know that God has come in his justice and his wrath, and he flicked off the scene, Saul of Tarsus, terrorizer of our faith. But God is not like us, and God has a greater joy. Instead of meeting Saul on that road with a ball of fire to consume him, or a plague to eat up his flesh, or to just make him disappear altogether, he shows him mercy, and he wraps him with his love.

And Paul tells those who contemplate whether they are worthy enough to be saved, worthy enough to be a child of God, worthy enough to be used by God. And he says, I am the trophy of his patience. And unfortunately, instead of responding to that patience, many have painted a god in their own image with the brush of their own hands as they've dipped it into the beauties of god's patience, and they will be judged for that. God's patience will come to an end one day. God's patience isn't forever, though it is long.

His forbearance is stretched out, but it is not eternal, so to speak. And for those who have misinterpreted God's love through his patience, there will be retribution at one point. But oh, God, he wants them to respond before that time. He's eager. See, God can't let his patience go on forever because then he'll forfeit another aspect of who he is.

He can't. He can't do it. Wouldn't we like that? But he can't because he is a judge. And here's the thing, if you're here this morning and you're a believer, you have responded to his patience.

You have responded to that long suffering, that forbearance. God has waited and waited, though you've grieved them and though you've grieved them over and over. Though you've made vow upon vow upon vow that you would turn your life, you would repent, you would give your life one more time, God. Just give me another chance only to go back fulfilling the prophecy, so to speak, of Ecclesiastes eight eleven. But here's the thing that we believe.

We get saved, we experience God's patience, and we think God's patience is done. We think that God's patience is limited to salvation, when in fact God's patience extends as we walk with him as his children. God's patience is glorious not because it is only towards sinners. God's patience is all the more glorious because it is extended to us as his children. How is God patient with you and I as believers, as born again children of God?

Isn't his patience experienced? I'm adopted. I'm saved. I'm secure. But we walk with him and we have a calling and we have a mission in life, and guess what?

God's patience is experienced in that, specifically in our growth, specifically as we are being transformed slowly but surely. And if any of us need to see something of God's patience, all you need to do is look at the person of Jesus Christ with a group of young adults that were believed to be in their twenties or late teens. Peter probably being the oldest. Jesus himself being 30. Think about that.

Jesus was a year older than me. All those guys, all those band of disciples, they were young adults. They were not 40, 50 year olds running around. Teenagers. Teenagers need patience.

Young adults need patience, even Christian ones. And you wanna witness Christ's patience? Praise him for the honesty of the scriptures that don't put the disciples in some holy light that never made a mistake. Oh, no. You see mistakes.

You see faults. You see shortcomings. And guess what? They invite us to put ourselves in their shoes to say, you know, I'm like that. What do you see?

You see Jesus Christ inviting these 12 men to walk with him, live with him, travel with him, be trained to be future apostles and writers of the word of God. And what do you see? An imperfect training process. What you and I see are disciples who have witnessed God incarnate performing miracles, teaching truth, listen, living sinlessly. Whenever they traveled, whenever they saw him reacting, interacting, all they can come to the conclusion was, He's sinless.

And even with all of that evidence, even with all of that proof, even with all of that power, on more than one occasion, they argue who's the greatest. You know, I think I'm gonna be the best one. I think I'm gonna sit closer to Jesus when he comes in his millennial reign. What do you think? Think?

No. No. No. I'm the greatest. In more than one occasion, Jesus is saying, okay, boys, come on in.

Let me define to you what greatness is. He's patient. You have these disciples who've constantly shown lack of faith. I mean, right after a miracle. If the juice of faith is going to be up at any time, surely it's going to come after he multiplies bread to feed thousands of people right before your eyes, not knowing where the bread came from, where the fish came from.

And in the same scene, you have people worried about what they're going to eat. When they are in the same place, traveling with a person who can make bread come out of thin air, so to speak. On more than one occasion, how long am I gonna have to be with you until your faith is exercised to maturity? By the way, patience doesn't mean that Jesus doesn't rebuke. What does it mean?

Jesus displays his patience in this, that though he recruited them and though he had to teach them and correct them, he would never abandon them. He would never have said, you can't find one place in the entire gospels where Jesus says, hey, James and John, why don't you go back to Zebedee and fish? I don't think this thing is cut out for you. Ministry is not made for you guys. Go, go, go.

You're not getting it. Not once. Not once does he say, I think I picked four of you in the wrong light. I misinterpreted your sincereness. I'm gonna look for four others.

Not once. He kept them. He trained them. He was patient with them. He sat with them.

He rebuked them. Yes. He disciplined them. Yes. But he had never one intention for them to be abandoned.

And here's the wonderful thing. They had the choice to walk away, like you and I had the choice to walk away. In fact, Jesus presented that option in John six where he says, you wanna go as well? Because thousands walked away when Christ set the standard of discipleship. And he looked at his 12, he says, what do you think?

You wanna go? But never did he say, you go. And Jesus, so patient, we see it in so many places, do we not? Here's one of his disciples in John fourteen nine, near the end of Jesus' ministry, as he's giving his final discourse to them. Philip said to him, Lord, show us the Father and it is enough for us.

Jesus said to him, have I been with you so long and you still don't know me, Philip? Philip, you've seen everything you need to see to know that I am God in the flesh. Because what does he say? Whoever has seen me has seen the father. Philip, it's been years.

Did you not see the miracles? Did you not hear what I said about myself? I and the father are on Where were you Philip? Were you sleeping? Do you know what Jesus said to Philip?

I'm sure he can say to many of us. Have I been with you so long, and you still don't know me? Not that you don't know Jesus Christ as God, but maybe in the aspect of who Jesus is. His goodness, his promises, his favor, his faithfulness, his providence, his sovereignty, his wisdom. Do you still not know me?

You've been saved for ten years. You've been saved for five years. You still don't trust me? You still don't think I'm good towards you even though all of this is happening? And he calls him by his name.

And from that point, he goes on to teach Philip and teach the rest of the disciples. He's so patient. He didn't rush out against him. He didn't say, oh, Philip, you know what? I'm gonna go out for a hike for three days.

You guys think this over, and I'll get back to you and we'll just resume. Never. Philip, it's been so long. Fill in your name. It's been so long.

You still don't think? You still don't believe? You still don't trust? He might say that to your heart and mind, but he'll never say after that, just go. Now he'll work with that.

He'll work with that lack of faith, lack of understanding. How many of us have lack of understanding? How many of us have lack of revelation of who God is? Not because God doesn't reveal, but we're not hungry enough to know, no, we're not careful enough to study, we're not longing for him to be known. How many of us?

And Jesus looks at us, not with hatred in his heart, but with a fatherly love to say, you know, it's been a while. Stretch your faith. Expand your understanding. And he challenges and he invites to come. See, every time there was a rebuke from Jesus, it was always an invitation to go further.

It was always a call to go deeper. It was never a means to cut you off. See, these very guys that didn't get it were the very men that he was gonna use to change the world. What I love about Jesus is that he had in mind when he'd called them their fallen nature. When Jesus Christ called you, he had in mind the potential of your failure and your shortcomings.

He had that in mind. I know that might be shocking to us as though when we got saved, we think that Jesus thinks that we're gonna be perfect. Does he call for perfection as his father is perfect? Yes. But does he know that we are but flesh?

Absolutely. And so his patience is there in light of that truth. Philip, it's been a while. You should know this. Philip?

No. It's not just Philip. James and John. Jesus set his face like flint towards Jerusalem. Oh, Jesus was focused on the mission.

Oh, Lord, would you make our face like flint for your kingdom? He faces Jerusalem and he sends two of his disciples to go ahead in a town of Samaria. And when they go in, they are rejected, James and John, sons of thunder, appropriate name for their attitude especially in light of this text, in Luke nine fifty four. 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? And here's James and John thinking that they understand the character of God, especially in this dispensation, and they said, hey, Jesus.

They don't want you to go through. I have an idea. You remember what Elijah did, that trick that he let's do that. And Jesus rebukes them. In one translation, it is given where he says, you do not know what spirit you're operating in, and you don't know why I even came.

I didn't come to send fire on them. I came to save them. You can just imagine James and John. You don't understand. You are lacking in your understanding, and you don't understand who I am clearly, and he rebukes them.

And you know what he doesn't do? James and John, go back fishing with your dad. No. He uses them to write in the New Testament about love and about being slow to anger, about knowing the grace of God. You know, John, go to Acts very carefully, and next time you read it, look at eight nine specifically.

And what do you see? Samaria has revival. And who's there to go to Samaria to lay hands on those Samaritans to receive the Holy Spirit? John. John.

The same John who wanted to call fire down from heaven years later or a time later rather, you have the same John approaching Samaria to lay hands on the Samaritans so that they can receive the blessing of the Holy Spirit. Jesus is patient. He's not just patient with sinners. He's patient with the saints that don't get it right away. If you were Jesus, would you have recruited somebody else in line with these guys?

I mean, it didn't just happen in the first two years. It went up all the way to his arrest. There he is arrested, and they all abandoned him. And when he comes back, he doesn't tell them that you're off. He has a barbecue with some of them, and he talks with them.

I can attest to my own life one of the ways I get stirred quickly to worship. You wanna know one of the ways I get stirred quickly to worship? I just think about my early years as a Christian. A lot of zeal, but not a lot of wisdom to match that zeal. Happens to a lot of people who first get saved.

They get fired up. And sometimes their lack of experience of truth or lack of experience in Christianity itself catches up to that zeal. And sometimes you just think back who you were when you were first born again, the things that you said, the decisions that you made, and then you look at where you're at today and you think, Lord, you're patient. Very patient. And for many of us, and understanding God's patience is absolutely necessary, because we might think that Jesus Christ is patient, but God the father is not patient.

It's almost as though Jesus Christ being the mediator is the one that calms the father down when we mess up. It's okay I died for them. It's okay I forgave them. When in fact, Jesus said in that scripture that if you've seen me, you've seen the father, and that includes the patience found in Jesus Christ. Do you know why that's so hard for many Christians to believe?

Because their experience of their earthly father or earthly mother has been nothing close to slow to anger. And so they take that along with many other things, and they interpret the father in the same light. And so what happens when a sinner sins? God is patient. What happens when a saint sins?

You know what happens? Here is an example of how many, again, according to John, are not perfected in God's love yet. They sin, they mess up, and what do they do? They stay away from God long enough hoping that he's gonna cool down before Sunday service, or before they go back into their bedroom and open this word again, or before they seek him in prayer. I'm just gonna wait a few days until God cools down, and then I'll approach him again.

When God is a type of father that causes our hearts as a reflex to run to him in that moment of failure. And some of you known that perhaps when in your teenage years especially you've made great mistakes, and one of the first people you've called in your mistakes was your parent. One of the first people that you've called for rescue was your father or your mother or your older brother. Because you knew, although I'm in this state where they're not gonna be happy to hear where I'm at, I know one thing, that they're gonna take me in. They're gonna heal me.

They might correct me, but I know that I will experience their love. You can come to the point in your walk with the father that as you follow him and you make mistakes, you don't have to run like Peter did. He's like, I'm going fishing. Come on, boys. Let's go.

And they go fishing. You know who was waiting on the shore? Jesus. Where are you going? Come here.

There's a barbecue ready. Let's talk. You can come to the point where when you mess up, even if you mess up this afternoon, and in your heart, because the spirit has convinced you through truth, in your heart, you tell yourself, I can't wait to go talk to my father. I need him to change the way I talk and joke around. It wasn't Christ like.

I reacted this way to my brother and sister. It wasn't it wasn't Christ like. It lacked patience. I was angry. I need to go to my father and talk to him.

Is that how you feel about God? Or do you think he's waiting with his arms crossed for you to come through that front door so that he can whip you, whip you right. Now he he's there waiting to commune with you like he did with Peter, to ask you some sobering questions only to heal you as a result. Do you love me? So tender.

You know, Jesus could've says, you don't love me because look what you did. So prove your love. Go feed my sheep. No. Do you love me?

Amazing. Amazing. He is the glorious radiance of the father. Now, I must say this before we close. Like the outright sinner, there are some professing Christians who misinterpret the patience of God and use it for fuel for their own willful for compromise.

I believe that. A message like this is not for you. I apologize. The message that is being declared today is for those like the disciples who have abandoned everything to follow Christ, but in the pursuit of following him, you stumble. There are many other verses for those who profess to be Christians but willfully sin and willfully walk away from Christ or profane the name of Christ with no sense of conviction or repentance.

There are different verses that we can point and spend the next hour talking about. But this message has been prayerfully prepared for those who want to follow Jesus, but look at themselves and they see the imperfections and they see the inconsistencies and they see the mess ups and they don't understand God's patience. Let me say it one more time. God had in mind the potential for failure as you chose to follow him. And god will meet those failures with a heavenly patience a heavenly patience.

You know, conviction doesn't feel good. Have you ever felt it? It doesn't it stings. But that conviction should be quickly met with the comfort to know that it's not gonna stay like this. And there are times you can be so convicted about something, it can last for days.

That could be crushing. But ask God what Moses asked God, show me your glory. And when God shows you his glory, he's gonna show you something of his patience. And when you are exposed to that glorious patience long enough, it will change the way you relate to him. And it is wonderful.

It is wonderful. Why is God's patience so glorious? Because it is the invitation for sinners to come to him. Why is God's patience so glorious? Because it is the very means by which you and I can comfortably and peaceably grow in Christ.

That's why. He's glorious. Let's pray. Father, we ask you this morning to show us your glory, and you did through your word. You are slow to anger.

Lord, we rest in that truth, and we are encouraged to love you more and worship you more, because although you're so holy, you are so kind and so compassionate. Lord, you're more patient than we are patient with one another. And we know, Lord, that as we choose to follow you and we long to be used by you, you're gonna be patient with us. You are committed to us, and you will work in us what you started for your glory and for our good. And so that at the end of the road, we can look to you, and for all eternity say he was patient, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.

Lord, we just worship you in light of that truth. Thank you for marinating this truth in our hearts. May it remain with us, especially in times of failure. We can run to you. Thank you, Lord.

In Jesus' name, amen.