Part 1

 

Introduction: We looked at the first parts of the fruit of the Spirit.  In the next few weeks we will look at the next three.  These are longsuffering, gentleness and goodness.  I will try to make this as practical as possible.  All theory makes poor living. 

      Before getting into this message, let me remind you of a few truths that I mentioned last week.  Love is the color of the fruit of the Spirit.  Joy is the bloom of the fruit.  Peace is the skin that binds all together.  If you don’t have joy in your Christian life, you have a leak.  If you don’t love, then you are not like God.  If there is no peace in your life, then it is most likely that you have sin in your life.

      Alexander Maclaren, in his work called "Expositions" outlined the nine manifestations of the Spirit as: 

(1) The life of the Spirit in its deepest aspects is love, joy, and peace. 

(2) The life of the Spirit in its manifestations to men: long-suffering, gentleness, and goodness. 

(3) The life of the Spirit in its relation to the difficulties of the world and of ourselves: faith, meekness, and temperance. 

      Let me interject this nugget of truth help us. There has to be a healthy atmosphere in order for the fruit to grow.  Galatians 5:25-26

“If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.”

1. It is conditioned. "We live in the Spirit"

2. It is Consistent. "Walk in the Spirit"

3. It is Charming. Verse twenty-six gives us the charm of the healthy atmosphere.  There cannot be any Blustering Pride.  Neither do we need any Stormy Provocation.  Or we surely must not have any Chilling Envy.  The Healthy Atmosphere is to be the Sunshine of His love and the rains of blessings.

      One person has said these three virtues are what the world admires.  It has always admired longsuffering, gentleness and goodness.  They may make fun of them at first but when the real trials come and these virtues are seen, they cannot help but admire them.  These virtues really show Christlikeness that is under suffering and irritation.  As I was studying and preparing for this message, I realized that I lack these in my life.  This was especially true about longsuffering.  So I am only going to deal with this part in the message.  The more I know about this subject the more it becomes an “AMEN” or “Oh, me” situation.  Knowing some of you as I do, I believe that this will be the same for you too.  These three ascend higher and higher as you grow in Christ.  It seems when longsuffering becomes a part of your life, that gentleness and goodness are greater qualities in your life.

      Let’s see what God wants us to learn about this part of the fruit of the Spirit.  These three elements of the fruit of the Spirit that is manward.  Today we look at  Longsuffering.  If love is the color of the fruit, and joy is the bloom and peace is the skin, then longsuffering is flavor of the fruit.  Flavor is a virtue fruit possesses, but which others must taste if it is to be realized and praised. 

      If you would assign a theme to longsuffering, it would be thus: The Holy Spirit that dwells within us gives us to the ability to be patient not only with circumstances but also with people.  Let me say this from the onset, there are many times that these next three virtues are not as evident in my own life.  I am trying to be transparent as possible.  God is teaching me.  I seem to have to relearn each of these lessons.  This virtue goes hand in hand with patience. 

      As I was thinking and meditating on this subject, this thought came to me.  When we have this element of the fruit of the Spirit as a vital part of our life, we are very much like the Lord and how He wants us to be. 

I.  THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PATIENCE AND LONGSUFFERING

                  A. Patience is a matter of circumstances.

                               1^st Thessalonians 1:3

“Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father”  

      "Patience is the quality that does not surrender to circumstances or succumb under trial; it is the opposite of despondency and is associated with hope.”  Without going into a lot of detail, the church in Thessalonians went through a lot of circumstances that most of the church that Paul founded did not.  They only had three weeks of instruction and preaching from their founder.  My pastor who helped found sixteen Independent Baptist Churches in West Virginia told me that it took about five years to really get a church established.  This is with having Bibles, Sunday School literature, songbooks and tracts.  Paul did not have a complete copy of the Bible.  The only songbook was basically the book of Psalms.  Tracts were a good idea years down the road.  These were some trying circumstances in order to establish a church.   But God brought the church in existence.  In fact, it is one of my favorite churches in regards to Paul’s letters to them and the return of our Lord Jesus Christ.

         B. Longsuffering is a matter of people. Longsuffering is that quality of self-restraint in the face of irritation, which does not hastily retaliate or promptly punish; it is the opposite of anger, and is associated with mercy, and is used of God.  Usually you find the word “longsuffering” used in the same sentence with God.  Thank God, He is longsuffering or most of us would be in hell already. 

            I like what Martin Luther said on this subject.  “Longsuffering is that quality which enables a person to bear adversity, injury, reproach, and makes them patient to wait for the improvement of those who have done him wrong. When the devil finds that he cannot overcome certain persons by force he tries to overcome them in the long run. He knows that we are weak and cannot stand anything long. Therefore he repeats his temptation time and again until he succeeds. To withstand his continued assaults we must be long-suffering and patiently wait for the devil to get tired of his game.

                  C. Paul had both virtues. 2^nd Timothy 3:10

“But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience”

            2^nd Corinthians 6:4-6

“But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, In stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in watchings, in fastings; By pureness, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned”

      God is not a respecter of persons.  He did not give Paul this quality and I could not have it.  It is basically dealing with the yielding to the Spirit of God.  Paul was greatly used by God.   The question comes down to this thought, am I willing for God to work in me so He can work through me. 

II.  THE DIFFICULTY

      As a Christian, we should be patient.  Some people have this naturally, most of us don’t.  If we have any patience in our lives, it will have to be the Holy Spirit.  Most of the time, we are revving our engines and stripping our gears to get going when we ought to be patient.  This is one of those “Amen” or “Oh, me” moments.  What does the Bible teach about patience?  I will not be able to cover this subject completely in just one message.  Maybe the Lord will allow me to cover it better in the future.  But I want to give a few thoughts on the subject.

         A. We should be patient when we have problems.  This is another one of those “Amen” or “Oh, me” moments.   James 1:3

                        “Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.”

               Romans 5:3

“And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience”

               2^nd Thessalonians 1:4

“So that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure”

      We don’t like to read the book of Job because it convicts us of our lack of patience.  Look what James says about Brother Job.

               James 5:11

“Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.”

      I am not the smartest guy around.  I admit that freely but I happen to know a few lessons about life.  One of them is that we are going to have problems.  This is another one of those “Amen” or “Oh, me” moments.  What is God trying to teach us when we have problems?  Is He trying to mold us in the character and image of His dear Son?  Some times it is the only way that the Lord can get our attention long enough to mold us as we ought to be molded.

                  B. We should be patient when success does not come as quick as we would like. 

               Hebrews 10:36

“For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.”  

      The only time success comes before work is in the dictionary.  I read this quote by Curtis Hutson.  It is very convicting.  “Most preachers don't have enough patience to build a church.” The same could be said for many soul winners.   The same could be said for many Christians in their prayer lives. The same could be said for many in their Bible study. The same could be said for many in the matter of victory over sin. 

      I have some regrets in the ministry.  I must have thought that you measure success by size.  But God measures success by sort. 

                        1^st Corinthians 3:13

“Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.”

         C. We should be patient when we don’t feel like being patient.  I am afraid that this is another one of those “Amen” or “Oh, me” moments.   Feelings are fickle.  That is why you don’t rely on feelings.  Think about this.  Many will go to hell waiting on some feeling.  Many never serve God while waiting on some feeling.  Many give up on God and lose patience because they lack that feeling.  If you want some feeling, I have a key you can plug into an electric socket.  I guarantee that you will get a feeling. 

            When God has helped you in this area, you might get a feeling but nowhere in the Bible say that you have to have a feeling.  It does us good when God reaches down into the inner recesses of our hearts and gives us a feeling but it is not necessary. 

         D. We should be patient when you think you have been patient enough.  Let’s see what the Bible says about having enough patience.

               Hebrews 12:1

“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us”

      There are times when we preach on subjects that we have complete victory and then there are others we preach on when they are still problems areas in our own lives because they needed to be said if for no one else but ourselves.  Paul told Timothy to preach the Word.  He did not tell Timothy to bypass those subjects that were problem areas in his own life.  Neither should I do it either. 

      Are there illustrations in the Bible about patience?  Yes, let’s make reference to a few.   Noah had to be patient for over one hundred years or he would have implored.  Think about it.  We don’t know if Noah knew how to saw straight or even drive a nail straight when God told him to build that ark.  So part of these years may have been learning periods for Noah.

                              Abraham never found what he was looking for in this life. 

                                                Hebrews 11:8-10, 13

“By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.” “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.”

      He never again lived in a real house from the time he obeyed God and left the Ur of Chaldees.  That means that for one hundred years, Abraham lived in a tent but he obeyed God. 

      Joseph lived many years in slavery and separation from his family.  He could have visited them while he was in charge of Egypt but he was where God had placed him and God blessed his patience. Genesis 50:20

“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.”

      Some have called this passage in Genesis the Romans 8:28 of the Old Testament.  It really is, isn’t it?

      When you feel like asking, “how long, Lord?” we must always remember that God is sovereign and knows how long, how much and when to stop. 

III. THE DEPENDENCE

         A. It is a quality that marks divine dealings.  You may be endowed with patience.  But few have a natural tendency to longsuffering.  It is an attribute or characteristic that is God’s.  The longsuffering of God is responsible for the delay of the day of final judgment for sinners allowing the opportunity to repent. 

            Think about all that our Lord Jesus endured.  He bore the prejudice, pride, and dullness of understanding and jealousy of those around.  Some of the sadness words that our Lord uttered came from the heart in the book of Matthew. 

                              Matthew 17:17

      “Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to me.”

            What He would say about us if He was to walk into our midst right now.  I am thankful that He is longsuffering and patient with me. 

         B. Longsuffering is a quality that is unnatural to man.  Since longsuffering is the grace to resist anger, smother hatred, and endure bitterness, then the natural heart will never be able to manufacture it.  The opposite is true from most of us.  We tend to be critically minded, easily offended and eager for reprisal and revenge.

            There are many people who are not saved or thinks like the natural man thinks that there is nothing sweeter than revenge.  Alexander Maclaren made this statement.  “It takes two to make a quarrel and no man (here comes the hard part) living under the influence of the Spirit can be one of such a pair.”    I think that this is another one of those “Amen” or “Oh, me” moments.   The reality is this- we are short sufferers!  We are so unspiritual in our thought life that we are pretty willing to make one of the pair.  Here is real living.  Our flesh is constant conflict with someone else’s flesh.

            Here is one of those practical truths.  When we are under the influence of the Holy Spirit and came from the fragrant chambers of love, joy, and peace, we are prepared to met the cold gust of indifference or the icy wind of hate like our Lord Jesus did so many times in His time in flesh on this earth.  So how is this possible?  One of the ways is looking at those who oppose us through Calvary’s eyes.  This will help us be longsuffering. 

         C. Longsuffering is a quality that only the Holy Spirit can really produce.  It should be our prayers that He does His office work in our lives so that we can be approachable, not so ready to pass judgments, condemn those that we come in contact with their faults and failures. 

            Herbert Lockyer notes “if the depth of the reality of love, joy and peace is tested by adversities and proves to be triumphant, if we are to get beyond repaying hate for hate, paying people back in their own coin, fighting fire with fire, surely we want to know to know the secret of the soft answer turning away wrath.”

            Our only hope is Holy Spirit Himself.  It is the giving of this portion of the fruit of the Spirit that we can actually quietly suffer the insults and injuries of others.   

IV. THE DISCOVERY THAT WE NEED TO MAKE IN ORDER TO BE LONGSUFFERING

         A. We need to discover that longsuffering comes when we are longsuffering with people are not like us.  There are many different colors of skin.  There are a variety of shapes and sizes.  There are those who are happy and those who are unhappy.  There are who are positive and there are those who are negative.  There are those who are tolerant and those that are intolerant.  There are those who are quiet and those who are loud.  We see extroverts and introverts, also those who are educated and some who are uneducated.  This list is endless.  The truth of the matter is that they are not like you.  One man's key to getting along with others: ACCEPT them as they are, FORGIVE them where they fall short of your expectations, and LOVE them.  That is excellent advice.  This is part of seeing people through Calvary’s eyes. 

                           But there will be some people that will be your sandpaper.  They will rub you and rub you.  They may be what God intended to polish you into the model of longsuffering.  I am thinking of a man that has his mother at the nursing home.  He is constantly trying to rub Wanda the wrong way.  He has been a great teacher for longsuffering for her.

         B. We discover that we need the fruit of longsuffering when dealing with people who are not as far as you.  There are people who know less Bible than you.  There are people who know less about the Lord than you.  So what is the remedy for this?

               2^nd Timothy 4:2

“Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.”

      There are some people who know less about the Bible because they don’t want to know about it.  That is one reason why we preach and teach each and every week.  Then there is the opposite of the coin.  They know more than I do.  I find this true when I am with many preachers I know.  They know more than I do and some of them like letting know that too.  So I have to have the fruit of the Spirit of longsuffering in dealing with them.

         C. We discover that we need the fruit of longsuffering when we deal with people who have done us wrong.  Let me first give you a passage of this portion of the subject. 

                                  2^nd Corinthians 12:14-15

“Behold, the third time I am ready to come to you; and I will not be burdensome to you: for I seek not yours, but you: for the children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children.  And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved.”

      Paul spent more time trying to help this church than the others he had started or helped start.  They were folks in that church who tried to hurt his creditability.  Yet he suffered through it to help them.  Without the fruit of the Spirit to help him, he would probably blast them. 

Conclusion: I had not intended on spending the entire message on longsuffering yet as I studied and worked on the message, the Lord spoke to me to speak these truths unto you.  If no one else is helped but me, then this isn’t wasted time.  I have a few thoughts that I know will help conclude this message.  Let me give them quickly.

      Christianity is a school of patience and longsuffering.  In this school, the blessed Holy Spirit is our tutor.  Think of this you have your own private tutor.  He alone can produce that which the world admires.  There are a few souls that are born with a kind, forgiving, charitable nature.  It is easy for them to manifest this virtue.  However, most of us, the opposite is true.  With shame we have to confess that we are easily moved to passion, quick to take offense, impatient.  We jump off the deep end and over the least thing.  This is another one of those “Amen” or “Oh, me” moments.  We are constantly struggling against our natural disposition.  What is hard and seems impossible for us is blessed easy to the Holy Spirit.  He alone can impart this virtue into our lives.  Let me repeat that.  He alone can impart this virtue into our lives.

      How can we get this virtue?  First of all, follow and know the example of our Lord Jesus Christ.  It is impossible to do that with a closed Bible.  Secondly, remember that revenge belongs to the Lord and not to you.  Thirdly, understand that it is not you that they really hate.  It is Jesus. Fourthly, ask God, the Holy Spirit to fill you.  He never fills a vessel that does not ask.