What to Do When Life is Not Fair (IV)
This is a transcript. It may contain small inaccuracies.
This evening, as we return one last time to this portion of God's Word, by way of introduction to our text this evening, I want us to go all the way to Hebrews. Hebrews. Hebrews, well, Hebrews 11, but let's back up to Hebrews 10. Hebrews 11, just by way of introduction, is really, as you know, an amazing, amazing portion of Scripture. It is an amazing section in the Word of God. And you remember, it is about faith, and it is particularly about the patient waiting of faith.
The believers to which the book of Hebrews was written had undergone significant persecution for their faith. They had undergone significant afflictions. They faced injustices. To put it in the language of our theme here, in James, life hasn't been fair to them. And that's recorded at the end of chapter 10. And in fact, look at that with me in Hebrews 10:32. Look at what those believers endured. He writes, the writer to the Hebrews, "But remember the former days when, after being enlightened, you endured great conflict of sufferings, partly by being made a public spectacle through reproaches and afflictions, and partly by becoming sharers with those who were so treated. For you also showed sympathy to the prisoners and accepted with joy the seizure of your possessions, knowing that you have for yourselves a better and lasting possession." I mean, they had an eternal perspective. They put everything through eternal perspective. Therefore, in light of that, "Therefore do not throw away that confidence of yours which has a great reward."
These are believers who had gone through some tremendous trials, difficult trials. They had been oppressed. They had been persecuted for their faith. And rather than shrink back from those things and turn away from their profession of Christ, the author of Hebrews wanted his readers, instead, to press ahead, keep on going, keep on loving Christ, living for Christ, keep on moving forward, pressing ahead in true faith and faithfulness to the Lord Jesus Christ. And so to encourage them, he gave them a whole chapter of pressing ahead and enduring in the midst of persecution and trials. And he opens chapter 11 by telling them what faith was. We all are familiar with verse 1 of Hebrews 11: "Now, faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen."
And what that basically means is that faith believes that what God promises, God will deliver. What God promises, God will deliver. No matter how tumultuous the circumstances become, between the giving of the promise and the fulfilling of the promise, God's promise stands sure. It is certain. Nothing, in fact, can happen between the giving and the fulfilling that will keep the fulfilling from happening. When we hope in God's Word, what we hope for will come to pass. There's no ifs, no buts, nothing in between. It will come to pass. And he says, faith is the assurance. It is the confidence. It is the certainty of things hoped for, which is promised by God.
Now, faith is also, according to Hebrews 11:1, also the conviction of things not seen. The
eyes of faith look past present circumstances and all their troubles and all their pains and all of the difficulties and see the promises of God being fulfilled. They look past pain, they look past suffering, and they clearly see, they see clearly the joy and the relief and the contentment of Heaven. For example, like the prophets of old - Old Testament prophets - who often spoke of the future in the past tense. And you find that, by the way, if you have a good translation, you find that again and again and again in the Old Testament. They often spoke of the future in the past tense. Faith understands that for a timeless, sovereign, awesome God, His promised future acts of blessing have already been accomplished. It's as good as done. And therefore, we read truths like "the Lamb who was slain before the foundation of the world."
Therefore, one of the hallmarks of biblical faith is patient waiting. Patient waiting. Patient waiting for God. Patient waiting for God to bring into time and history what He has, from His perspective, already done. Now, look at some of the examples of this patient, enduring faith that are listed out in Hebrews 11. Look at verse seven - Noah. Noah is example number one for us tonight. Noah is mentioned, "By faith Noah, being warned about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, by which he condemned the world, and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith." You remember God warned Noah that He's going to destroy the earth in a flood? If you go back and read the Genesis account carefully, you'll find out that it had never even rained yet. Never. But Noah, a man of faith, trusted in God, seeing with eyes of faith, was convinced of something his physical retinas had never seen. And what is that? What God promised, Noah knew God would do. What God promised, he knew that God would do. And therefore, he would endure, and he would patiently obey and do what he’s commanded to do even when he was reviled, when he was mocked as he was building the ark.
You also can consider Abraham a great example of faith. Abraham, you remember, waited over two decades for the child of promise, Isaac. And to have faith means that you look ahead to the things promised. And like Abraham - well, better at some times than at others, admittedly - but like Abraham did, you order your life around the anticipated occurrence of what God had promised. Why? Because the promise is certain. The promise is certain. Hope in God is never, ever, ever an "I hope so," but rather it is "I know so." I know so. I'm certain. It is done. It is true. Because the eternal, sovereign God who is omnipotent always, always, always keeps His word.
Verse 13 - I love this verse in Hebrews 11. It says, "All these died," All these died. All these faithful men and women of faith - they died. "All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth." I love that line in the middle of that verse. It says they welcomed God's promises from afar. "Having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance." They welcomed the promises of God from a distance, from afar. They didn't personally experience all that God said that He would do. However, so confident were they that what God said would happen, would indeed come through, they looked down the timeline of history and they celebrated from a distance the fulfillment of God's word because they knew it would come to pass.
Look at how the author of Hebrews ends chapter 11, verse 36: "and others experienced mockings and floggings, yes, also chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword. They went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, mistreated (of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in desolate places and mountains and caves and holes in the ground. And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised, because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect.”
You see, to them, it didn't matter because they knew that God would fulfill what He had promised. If they didn't actually receive the peace, the eradication of evil in their lifetime, the coming of Messiah in their lifetime - all of that - it didn't really matter. Why? What kept them going in the meantime? Well, it was the endurance of their faith. It was the patience of their faith. It was the sticking it out, the carrying on, even when God's promises are not yet to be fulfilled - excuse me - are yet to be fulfilled in the future. No matter what they suffered, no matter what they endured - the injustices, the unfairness of life, the afflictions - and that's a pretty significant list of suffering here in Hebrews 11. There at the end of the chapter, you read about this. But no matter what the sorrow, what the trial, what the affliction, what the issues in their lives, they knew that God would come through with His promises. They knew. They knew it.
And so, patient endurance is really critical to true faith. It is a way for you and for me as believers, and if you're a believer here tonight in the Lord Jesus Christ, it is the way that you can withstand any test. You can withstand any trial. You can withstand any affliction. It is peering through the swirling mists of uncertainty of daily life to the absolute certainty of the promises of God. You don't look at your life through the circumstances of life, but you look at your life through the lens of God's truth. It is "the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen."
Now, what carried the faithful of the hall of faith in Hebrews 11 still carries you and me today. Still carries you and me. We still look at life with the eyes of faith and see beyond the present. We see beyond the current circumstances and look to the fulfillment of God's promises of eternal peace and joy in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And so we look for the coming of the Lord, and that's what James is teaching us in James chapter 5. Let's go to our text, James 5. And James knew that his readers needed some encouragement, just like you and I need encouragement. They were enduring persecution. They were enduring injustices. They were enduring affliction. And he tells them, to encourage their heart, how to respond when life is not fair, when there are injustices in life.
For example, in James 2:6, you remember he says, "Is it not the rich who oppress you, and they themselves drag you into court?" Somehow they were being taken advantage of by the wicked wealthy. And these Christians had been made a social outcast, perhaps had experienced even the confiscation of their properties, loss of income. The rich and the powerful in their communities were using their influence in the local court system to abuse these poor Christians, to even withhold their pay, and ultimately really destroy their very lives. In verses 1-6 of James 5, James addresses those wicked wealthy, the unrighteous rich, unbelieving people who are using their power, their influence, to hurt, to destroy the believers. And then verses 7-12, James turns - you'll notice in verse 7 - to the brothers, to Christians, and he explains to them, and to us by way of extension, how they should, how we should respond to that kind of injustice, to that kind of persecution. You'll notice in James 5:7, it begins with the word "Therefore." James is saying in light of the sinful attacks that are being leveled against you by these wicked wealthy, by the influential rich, unrighteous in your communities, he said, here's how you ought to respond. This is a response that will honor Christ your Lord.
And he gives five specific commands that told the first-century Christians exactly how to respond when life is just not fair. And these are the same commands for you and for me if you name the name of Jesus. Five godly responses when life just isn't fair. The first one, we saw together in verse 7, in the first part of verse 8, he says be patient until the coming of the Lord. Be patient until the coming of the Lord. And the second one is be strong - that's in verse 8 - be strong in your resolve. We need to be strong in our resolve. And number three, he says, be gracious toward one another - that's verse 9. The fourth response that we looked at last Lord's Day: be encouraged through the example of others. Be encouraged through the example of others. We find this in verses 10 and 11. Notice the fourth command, the fourth imperative that occurs in this passage, verse 10: "As an example, brothers, of suffering and patience, take," Take. And here, James gives us, you remember, two examples. First of all, in verse 10, he says that "As an example, brothers, of suffering and patience, take,” take “notice”. Consider, consider carefully, consider seriously the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.
And to further encourage believers to endure unjust suffering, to have this kind of enduring patience, James pointed out the example of the prophets who had endured suffering with patience. Notice in verse 11: "Behold, we count them blessed who persevere." He says, look at those prophets. They spoke in the name of the Lord and they suffered for injustice, but look how they persevered. Look at their perseverance, how they had not only, not only “macrothymia”, to be, to be, to have a long fuse for bearing with others, but also they had “epimony”. They had staying power under the weight of the injustice. And so he points to them.
But then he gives a second example of suffering and patience, and that's in verse 11. It's Job. He said, "You have heard of the,” epimony, “perseverance of Job, and have seen the outcome of the Lord's dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful." And by the way, this is really exhibit A of James chapter 1:2-4, "Count it all joy, my brothers, when you encounter various trials." Why? “Knowing,” - not hoping in the sense of wishful thinking - but knowing, absolutely knowing. Basically, he says, "Knowing that the testing of your faith brings about perseverance, and let perseverance have its perfect work so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing."
Rejoice in the purpose of those afflictions that God is allowing into your life because they have that outcome of conformity to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ, of sanctification, of refining, of building spiritual muscles. The outcome of Job's epimony under pressure, what was it? Well, he comes to a brand new view of God, a deeper view of God. He learns about the greatness of God, and here, particularly, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful. He comes to know God as compassionate and merciful. That was the end of God's dealings with Job, and this is what we learn in the middle of our suffering and life's injustices as well. We learn about God. We learn that He's in charge. We learn that He is good. We learn that He loves us. We learn that He knows what He's doing, and His ways are best. We learn to trust Him. We learn to behold Him who is sovereign over all. We learn that He's merciful. We learn that He is full of compassion. We learn that He can be trusted.
Beloved, no matter how difficult our trials, we must never doubt the goodness of God, or the love of God, or the purposes of God. And if you're currently suffering, look to the prophets. Consider the prophets. Look to Job as examples of patient endurance. Trust in the compassionate and merciful Lord. When you face injustice, when life is not fair, be patient until the Lord's coming. He'll make it right. Be strong in your resolve. Be gracious with one another. Be encouraged through the example of others.
Well, there's one more response to life's injustices in this passage. We were supposed to actually cover it last Lord's Day. We weren't able to do that. It's found in verse 12 of James 5, and we can put it this way: beware of rash vows to God. Beware of rash vows to God.
Verse 12, "But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath, but let your 'yes' be 'yes' and your 'no,' 'no,' so that you may not fall under judgment."
Now, let me say right off the bat, there's a lot of discussion about how this verse fits in the context of James 5. There are two primary options that you could take concerning this verse and how it fits in James 5. Two options - two primary options.
One is that this verse stands completely alone. In other words, it has no relationship to what goes before it, and it has no relationship to what comes after it. It stands alone. It's simply one stand-alone thought that James realizes toward the end of his letter. He wants to come back to, and deal with the tongue one more time. If this is his intention, then verse 12 is a kind of warning identical to our Lord's warning in the Sermon on the Mount. Turn back to Matthew 5. Essentially, James would be saying exactly what Christ is saying in Matthew 5:33: "Again, you have heard that the ancients were told, 'You shall not make false vows, but shall fulfill your vows to the Lord.' But I say to you, make no oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is the footstool of His feet, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. Nor shall you make an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. But let your statement be, 'Yes, yes,' or 'No, no'; anything beyond these is of the evil one."
Now, Jesus was dealing, you remember, if you are able to remember, when we studied the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus was dealing with a problem in that context, in that setting, in the culture. Like in our culture, lying was pandemic, and so people, to express their integrity and to try to drive home that they are, in fact, telling the truth, what did they do? Well, they would attach to their words, to the statement, some kind of an oath. And it became this sort of a sophisticated system, because here's how they thought about it, with the help of the rabbis, of course, and the Pharisees. This is how they thought about it: if you swore by God, then you were really obligated to keep it, because then God was going to deal with you if you really messed around with Him, if you didn't fulfill your vow. But if you swore by something else, then, well, that gives you a loophole. And you could get out of it in certain circumstances, and there was a lot of wiggle room if you swore an oath by something else. And so it really came to mean nothing, and that's what Jesus was precisely correcting and addressing. When things got difficult, many religious leaders would promise God things, and they would do this for some public show. They lived their life, really, to obtain the praise of men. They loved the praise of men more than the praise of God. They would make some sort of an oath or a vow.
Alfred Edersheim, the Jewish Christian, he says that there was a Jewish proverb that said this, and I quote, "In the hour of need, a vow." In the hour of need, you make a vow, basically. So what would happen is that these religious leaders would stand up publicly in all of their pomp and make oaths and promises, but they had come up with a hypocritical way to get out of them. They would make these oaths and promises that, in their mind, well, there's a loophole that I can actually get out of them. And according to Matthew 23:16-22, the Pharisees had devised a neat little oath system. They could promise something and swear an oath to do something and swear by the temple. They could swear by the throne or the altar, and then they could get out of it because, in their mind, they hadn't swore an oath before God. One commentator said, and I quote, "By making these distinctions, the Pharisees were able to take an oath, but then absolve themselves of responsibility for fulfilling the oath.”
So if this is what James means, James would simply be warning us not to use oaths designed to give us really a way out, a way of escape, and that are in and of themselves patently dishonest. Don't let those phonies affect you. As a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, he's saying, be a person of your word. You be the kind of people before God whose yes means yes and your no means no. And if you say you're gonna do something, then do it. And if you say you aren't gonna do something, then don't do it. Just speak the truth. Let your yes be yes, your no be no. That may be all that James intends to say.
And by the way, neither Jesus nor James are forbidding us from taking oaths. That's clear. For example, when you're in a courtroom, you're not forbidden to take an oath. Jesus Himself does that Himself. He agreed to an oath before Caiaphas concerning His identity in Matthew 26:63–64. The Apostle Paul himself swore an oath of sorts about his preaching and prayer life in Romans 1:9, and about his great love for Israel in Romans 9:1. Also, that has been true throughout the history of the Church. God Himself takes oaths. Hebrews 6 records God taking an oath on His own word. So it's not that that kind of an oath is wrong. That's not the point that even Jesus is teaching in Matthew 5. He's forbidding the kind of oath that's made simply to press home your own word in daily conversation, perhaps even to give you some room to wiggle out of it if you should choose to do so. So I don't think that's what James intends.
However, I personally believe that the second option is more likely. And that is, I really believe, that verse 12 is not simply a standalone verse. It is not a standalone verse thrown in the middle of a chapter with no connection to what comes before or after. I really think verse 12 is connected to the verses that immediately come before it. So in this case, James is warning us about a common sinful response when we face the injustices of life, when we face the afflictions of life by others. And here there are two possibilities. He could be saying, make sure that when you're in an unjust situation, that you speak the truth with people around you, perhaps even those abusing you. Don't make commitments you don't intend to keep and then justify it by some elaborate scheme. But I think more likely, this is what James means: that verse 12 isn't talking about how we respond to people at all, but rather how we respond to God in the face of injustice. Let me explain why I'm convinced that this is the option that James has in mind.
You see, because when you and I find ourselves in the midst of great difficulty, what are we tempted to do? How are we tempted to respond? How? By bargaining with God. We're tempted to respond by bargaining with God. And I really see this verse 12 in the context of really where it is in this chapter, right on the heels of the first 6 verses, of the first, excuse me, 11 verses. Of course, the most famous example from church history is none other than a young, unregenerate lawyer by the name of Martin Luther. Remember Martin Luther? He gets caught in this terrible thunderstorm and when he's almost struck by lightning and he's knocked off his horse and he falls down and he's frightened, his heart is beating, he has a panic attack and he makes a bargain with God that if God will spare his life, then he'll become a monk. Which he does. But it is extremely common for all of us when we find ourselves in tight circumstances to bargain with God, to barter with God.
And in some cases, even to do so somewhat lightly with sort of, you know, in our mind, you know, you have your fingers crossed behind your back and, as it were, not really even intending to keep our word but hoping that God doesn't notice. And now I really think this is what James intends. In fact, one of the commentators, George Stulak, in his commentary, he paraphrases this passage this way. And I quote, "Above all, don't fall into swearing as if you could manipulate God by your oaths. Instead, speak honestly and directly." I think James is saying the same thing that Solomon said back in Ecclesiastes 5. Turn with me there so we can see that. Ecclesiastes 5. Chapter 5:1. Solomon writes, "Guard your steps as you go to the house of God and draw near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know they are doing evil. Do not be hasty with your mouth or impulsive in your heart to bring up a matter in the presence of God. For God is in heaven, but you are on the earth; therefore let your words be few."
Now, notice verse 4. He gets to the heart of the issue. "When you make a vow to God,” now, a vow was something that was allowed. It was part of the Old Testament law. It's found in both Numbers, Deuteronomy. It was simply a voluntary promise to God. It could be a promise made in hopes of blessing from God. It could be a promise made in gratitude for a blessing from God. Either way, when you make a vow to God, Solomon says, now watch this, "Do not be late in paying it, for He takes no delight in fools. Pay what you vow." You see, there's a real danger of bribery when we find ourselves in distress. Verse 5, "It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay. Do not allow your mouth to cause your flesh to sin and do not say in the presence of the messenger of God” - probably he referenced the priest - "do not say to the priest that it was a mistake." You know, I really was, it was a bad time and I didn't really mean it and this isn't what I should have said and it wasn't. Why? There's this warning, the end of verse 6,: "Why should God be angry on account of your voice and wreak destruction on the work of your hands?" In other words, God doesn't take it lightly when you take Him lightly. "For in many dreams and vanities are many words." The solution is found, end of verse 7, "Rather, fear God." Fear God.
And I really think that's exactly James' point. That's the point he's making in James 5:12, "But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath, but let your yes be yes and your no be no." And another reason why I think they're connected - connected to the previous verses - as he gives those imperatives and how to respond, and then he says, "But above all." But above all, this is what's gonna cap it, "Above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath. Let your yes be yes, your no be no." Don't make bargains with God. And for goodness' sakes, don't make bargains with God that you don't even intend to keep. Why? The end of verse 12, "so that you may not fall under judgment."
As I've said before, God doesn't take it lightly when we take Him lightly. The positive side of this is God honors those who honor Him. Make sure that you're being aware of the problem of rash vows to God in the time of injustice, the time of affliction, the time of difficulty.
In the remaining few minutes that we have together tonight, I really want to take a moment to really apply all of this to us - to apply it to where we are, where you are, where I am. I want you to think with me right now of some recent occasion, or perhaps a current occasion, when you found yourself thinking and saying, "God, it's just not fair. It's not fair. It's not just. It's not right." How did you respond? How did you respond?
Let me put it this way: How are you responding if this is your current circumstance? Are you responding in anger toward God? Are you responding in anger toward God? God, how could You let this happen to me? Lord, I don't understand. Are you responding the way Asaph responded in the first part of his Psalm? Lord, I see the wicked prosper, and I've lived all my life faithful to You, and I'm getting the raw end of the deal. It's not fair. Are you responding in bitterness toward God? Are you responding in bitterness toward the person that lies behind the injustice? Maybe it's your employer. Maybe a friend. Maybe it's a family member. Are you responding with resentment, with bitterness, with revenge? Maybe in your mind: "That's it, I'm just gonna get even. They deserve what's coming."
Beloved, those are sinful responses. They're not honoring to the Lord. How should you respond? How should you be responding? How should you have responded to that last situation? Well, James tells us here. He tells us. Remember, first of all, he said, you should be patient until the Lord's coming. This is not passive patience. This is active patience, waiting on God. You will face problems. You will face injustice in this life. We all do. We live in a broken world. In this life, we will have tribulation, and it will continue. It will continue in this life, and you have the ups and downs, and thank God - thank God - we will have, we will have seasons of rest by His grace. But we will face them. Wait for justice. Wait for the coming of Christ. Wait until the coming of the Lord.
Recently, our weather has been a lot like - it reminds me of Florida weather - the sun shining, and then very quickly, the sky becomes dark, and you find yourself in a downpour. And after 10, 20 minutes driving in the heavy rain, the sun's shining again. The spiritual life is like that. Sometimes it appears as if things are shining, and then all of a sudden, we are hit with the dark clouds and storms. Kent Hughes made an interesting observation during the years of his ministry. He said that he noticed when people were hurting or going through difficulty, they frequently said they hoped the Lord would come back soon. He heard many people in that condition say, "Oh, how I wish the Lord would come back today. Come, oh Lord. Come, Lord Jesus." In fact, maybe you've said it yourself. You see, when people are going through tough times, you will often hear them say that.
But Hughes continued. He said, "I've never heard anyone say, 'Things are going so well in my life, I wish Christ would return right now.'" It's true that when things are going great, you don't often hear that. And I must admit, you don't hear too many people say, "I'm really cruising in every area of my life right now that I wish Jesus would return and take me out of here." It's typically the hard times and the dark times that make us long for the return of Jesus. It causes us to say, "Come, Lord Jesus, come." See, one of the real threats that we have is that life sometimes becomes so comfortable for us that we don't want to leave this world. And as I often say, the rapture becomes more like a rupture. But those early believers suffered and hurt, and one of the wonderful hopes that they had was that Jesus would come back, and would come back to get them and to take them out of this world. And I think the thing that prompts us to want to be out of this world is really the world itself.
We're tired of struggling in this world, aren't we? We're tired of struggling in this world. We see evil, and we see sin, and we see rebellion, and we see injustice, and we see rebellion breaking loose at a very unusual level, and we get sick and tired of the struggle with the world, the flesh, and the devil, and we want out. Do we not think, do you not think, I mean, I think of that day when we're no longer contending with the remains of corruption, the things that I want to do, I don't do, and the things that I don't want to do, I end up doing. "Oh, wretched man that I am, who can deliver me from this body of death?"
And you're fighting. We're in a war. We're to put on the full armor of God every single day, every minute of every single day, every second of every single day. There are no truces, there's no ceasefire, not even for a moment. Nothing is brokered. You're tired. You long for that day when you can worship Him with an unsinning heart. I mean, even you can come to a place like this and sing the hymns and sing the songs, and you are elevated - it's like a Mount of Transfiguration experience - and even in the midst of that, the enemy within rears its ugly head, and you contend, and your heart is prone to wander, and you want to bring it back, and you're frustrated with yourself.
As we wait, as we wait for this moment, God wants His people patiently enduring the difficulties, knowing that in the end, they will receive the merciful blessings of God. God wants His people to stay committed, stay dedicated, stay faithful, keep on keeping on, keep on working, working, enduring the difficult, dark hours, knowing that He will bless them for it.
The point of these verses is simple to see. Beloved, patiently endure until the coming of the Lord, knowing that you will receive the wonderful, merciful, abundant blessings of God. He's coming back, and He's coming back to reward the faithful and to judge the wicked.
Secondly, you should be strong in your resolve. You should have a steeled will, resolved to live for Christ, regardless of the injustices that come your way. And thirdly, you should be gracious toward those around you, because there's a real temptation, tendency, that we have, you and I have, to strike at those whom we love when we find ourselves in these difficult circumstances. We lash out at others around us, those closest to us particularly, and we need to be gracious towards one another. Number four, we should be encouraged by the example of others. Look at those in the Scripture. Study their lives. Learn from their enduring patience. Look at those through church history who have faced suffering and injustice and how they've endured it. They've stayed under it. They've been an honor to Christ through it, and be encouraged - have courage breathed into your own soul by their example.
No wonder you come to chapter 12 of Hebrews. In the light of chapter 11, you're suffering in chapter 10. Here's the example of those who have gone before you and how they endured patiently. And verse 12, he says, "Well, since we're surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses." Draw courage and strength and endurance by studying the lives of those who have gone before us and see how they endured. God can be trusted. God is able, and they were enabled to be faithful to the end, and you, too, can be faithful to the end.
But how do you do it? You run that race of faith, knowing you're surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses. It's like you're in the stadium. Now it's your turn to run the race. Those who have gone before you - they ran that race ahead, and they made it to the finish line. And now they're sitting, as it were, in the grandstands, and they are watching you. They are cheering you on, and they're cupping their mouths, and they're encouraging you. They're shouting encouragement at you, and they're telling you to keep on going and keep on pressing forward.
Run the race of faith with endurance. How? With eyes fixed on Jesus. Wait patiently for the coming of the Lord. And number five, beware in the midst of injustice of making rash vows to God.
You know, the key truth of this passage is that Christ is coming. Wait till He comes. And I think when we fail to respond correctly to injustice, more often than not, it's because we have forgotten that Christ is standing at the doors ready to throw them open and make everything right. Our friend Charles Spurgeon said it this way, and I quote, "'We shall not grow weary in waiting upon God if we remember how long and how graciously He once waited upon us. And so being Himself a waiting God,” he says, "He loves a waiting people." God loves a waiting people.
Look with me in closing at 1 Thessalonians 1. This is exhibit A of a waiting people. These believers, these new believers - look how Paul describes them, and you see how their waiting isn't passive, it is active. He says, "We give thanks," verse 2, "to God always for all of you, making mention of you in our prayers, remembering without ceasing your work of faith and your labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ before our God and Father." Look at these people. This is an active church. This is a busy church. This is a church that is actually working, doing, serving. This is a church that has work of faith, labor of love, steadfastness of hope. And look at also how they are an example. They are an example of what it means to really bear under affliction. "You also became imitators of us," verse 6, "and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction," How? “with the joy of the Holy Spirit. So that you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place, your faith toward God has gone forth, so that we have no need to say anything."
I mean, their faith did not, it wasn't faith unto themselves. They were not closed unto themselves. They actually, their faith reverberated. It really went forth. They were sharing the gospel. They were proclaiming Christ. "For they themselves report about us what kind of an interest we had with you," verse 9, "in how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God." I mean, your repentance was genuine. You turned from idols. You turned to God. You're living for God now. And watch how they are described. They are described as second-coming people. They're described as those who are waiting for the coming of the Lord. "and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come." He loves a waiting people. The Thessalonians were a waiting people. May you and I be awaiting people.
And so, beloved, may the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts be acts of waiting in the sight of the Lord, our strength and our Redeemer. Let us pray.
The believers to which the book of Hebrews was written had undergone significant persecution for their faith. They had undergone significant afflictions. They faced injustices. To put it in the language of our theme here, in James, life hasn't been fair to them. And that's recorded at the end of chapter 10. And in fact, look at that with me in Hebrews 10:32. Look at what those believers endured. He writes, the writer to the Hebrews, "But remember the former days when, after being enlightened, you endured great conflict of sufferings, partly by being made a public spectacle through reproaches and afflictions, and partly by becoming sharers with those who were so treated. For you also showed sympathy to the prisoners and accepted with joy the seizure of your possessions, knowing that you have for yourselves a better and lasting possession." I mean, they had an eternal perspective. They put everything through eternal perspective. Therefore, in light of that, "Therefore do not throw away that confidence of yours which has a great reward."
These are believers who had gone through some tremendous trials, difficult trials. They had been oppressed. They had been persecuted for their faith. And rather than shrink back from those things and turn away from their profession of Christ, the author of Hebrews wanted his readers, instead, to press ahead, keep on going, keep on loving Christ, living for Christ, keep on moving forward, pressing ahead in true faith and faithfulness to the Lord Jesus Christ. And so to encourage them, he gave them a whole chapter of pressing ahead and enduring in the midst of persecution and trials. And he opens chapter 11 by telling them what faith was. We all are familiar with verse 1 of Hebrews 11: "Now, faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen."
And what that basically means is that faith believes that what God promises, God will deliver. What God promises, God will deliver. No matter how tumultuous the circumstances become, between the giving of the promise and the fulfilling of the promise, God's promise stands sure. It is certain. Nothing, in fact, can happen between the giving and the fulfilling that will keep the fulfilling from happening. When we hope in God's Word, what we hope for will come to pass. There's no ifs, no buts, nothing in between. It will come to pass. And he says, faith is the assurance. It is the confidence. It is the certainty of things hoped for, which is promised by God.
Now, faith is also, according to Hebrews 11:1, also the conviction of things not seen. The
eyes of faith look past present circumstances and all their troubles and all their pains and all of the difficulties and see the promises of God being fulfilled. They look past pain, they look past suffering, and they clearly see, they see clearly the joy and the relief and the contentment of Heaven. For example, like the prophets of old - Old Testament prophets - who often spoke of the future in the past tense. And you find that, by the way, if you have a good translation, you find that again and again and again in the Old Testament. They often spoke of the future in the past tense. Faith understands that for a timeless, sovereign, awesome God, His promised future acts of blessing have already been accomplished. It's as good as done. And therefore, we read truths like "the Lamb who was slain before the foundation of the world."
Therefore, one of the hallmarks of biblical faith is patient waiting. Patient waiting. Patient waiting for God. Patient waiting for God to bring into time and history what He has, from His perspective, already done. Now, look at some of the examples of this patient, enduring faith that are listed out in Hebrews 11. Look at verse seven - Noah. Noah is example number one for us tonight. Noah is mentioned, "By faith Noah, being warned about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, by which he condemned the world, and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith." You remember God warned Noah that He's going to destroy the earth in a flood? If you go back and read the Genesis account carefully, you'll find out that it had never even rained yet. Never. But Noah, a man of faith, trusted in God, seeing with eyes of faith, was convinced of something his physical retinas had never seen. And what is that? What God promised, Noah knew God would do. What God promised, he knew that God would do. And therefore, he would endure, and he would patiently obey and do what he’s commanded to do even when he was reviled, when he was mocked as he was building the ark.
You also can consider Abraham a great example of faith. Abraham, you remember, waited over two decades for the child of promise, Isaac. And to have faith means that you look ahead to the things promised. And like Abraham - well, better at some times than at others, admittedly - but like Abraham did, you order your life around the anticipated occurrence of what God had promised. Why? Because the promise is certain. The promise is certain. Hope in God is never, ever, ever an "I hope so," but rather it is "I know so." I know so. I'm certain. It is done. It is true. Because the eternal, sovereign God who is omnipotent always, always, always keeps His word.
Verse 13 - I love this verse in Hebrews 11. It says, "All these died," All these died. All these faithful men and women of faith - they died. "All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth." I love that line in the middle of that verse. It says they welcomed God's promises from afar. "Having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance." They welcomed the promises of God from a distance, from afar. They didn't personally experience all that God said that He would do. However, so confident were they that what God said would happen, would indeed come through, they looked down the timeline of history and they celebrated from a distance the fulfillment of God's word because they knew it would come to pass.
Look at how the author of Hebrews ends chapter 11, verse 36: "and others experienced mockings and floggings, yes, also chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword. They went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, mistreated (of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in desolate places and mountains and caves and holes in the ground. And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised, because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect.”
You see, to them, it didn't matter because they knew that God would fulfill what He had promised. If they didn't actually receive the peace, the eradication of evil in their lifetime, the coming of Messiah in their lifetime - all of that - it didn't really matter. Why? What kept them going in the meantime? Well, it was the endurance of their faith. It was the patience of their faith. It was the sticking it out, the carrying on, even when God's promises are not yet to be fulfilled - excuse me - are yet to be fulfilled in the future. No matter what they suffered, no matter what they endured - the injustices, the unfairness of life, the afflictions - and that's a pretty significant list of suffering here in Hebrews 11. There at the end of the chapter, you read about this. But no matter what the sorrow, what the trial, what the affliction, what the issues in their lives, they knew that God would come through with His promises. They knew. They knew it.
And so, patient endurance is really critical to true faith. It is a way for you and for me as believers, and if you're a believer here tonight in the Lord Jesus Christ, it is the way that you can withstand any test. You can withstand any trial. You can withstand any affliction. It is peering through the swirling mists of uncertainty of daily life to the absolute certainty of the promises of God. You don't look at your life through the circumstances of life, but you look at your life through the lens of God's truth. It is "the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen."
Now, what carried the faithful of the hall of faith in Hebrews 11 still carries you and me today. Still carries you and me. We still look at life with the eyes of faith and see beyond the present. We see beyond the current circumstances and look to the fulfillment of God's promises of eternal peace and joy in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And so we look for the coming of the Lord, and that's what James is teaching us in James chapter 5. Let's go to our text, James 5. And James knew that his readers needed some encouragement, just like you and I need encouragement. They were enduring persecution. They were enduring injustices. They were enduring affliction. And he tells them, to encourage their heart, how to respond when life is not fair, when there are injustices in life.
For example, in James 2:6, you remember he says, "Is it not the rich who oppress you, and they themselves drag you into court?" Somehow they were being taken advantage of by the wicked wealthy. And these Christians had been made a social outcast, perhaps had experienced even the confiscation of their properties, loss of income. The rich and the powerful in their communities were using their influence in the local court system to abuse these poor Christians, to even withhold their pay, and ultimately really destroy their very lives. In verses 1-6 of James 5, James addresses those wicked wealthy, the unrighteous rich, unbelieving people who are using their power, their influence, to hurt, to destroy the believers. And then verses 7-12, James turns - you'll notice in verse 7 - to the brothers, to Christians, and he explains to them, and to us by way of extension, how they should, how we should respond to that kind of injustice, to that kind of persecution. You'll notice in James 5:7, it begins with the word "Therefore." James is saying in light of the sinful attacks that are being leveled against you by these wicked wealthy, by the influential rich, unrighteous in your communities, he said, here's how you ought to respond. This is a response that will honor Christ your Lord.
And he gives five specific commands that told the first-century Christians exactly how to respond when life is just not fair. And these are the same commands for you and for me if you name the name of Jesus. Five godly responses when life just isn't fair. The first one, we saw together in verse 7, in the first part of verse 8, he says be patient until the coming of the Lord. Be patient until the coming of the Lord. And the second one is be strong - that's in verse 8 - be strong in your resolve. We need to be strong in our resolve. And number three, he says, be gracious toward one another - that's verse 9. The fourth response that we looked at last Lord's Day: be encouraged through the example of others. Be encouraged through the example of others. We find this in verses 10 and 11. Notice the fourth command, the fourth imperative that occurs in this passage, verse 10: "As an example, brothers, of suffering and patience, take," Take. And here, James gives us, you remember, two examples. First of all, in verse 10, he says that "As an example, brothers, of suffering and patience, take,” take “notice”. Consider, consider carefully, consider seriously the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.
And to further encourage believers to endure unjust suffering, to have this kind of enduring patience, James pointed out the example of the prophets who had endured suffering with patience. Notice in verse 11: "Behold, we count them blessed who persevere." He says, look at those prophets. They spoke in the name of the Lord and they suffered for injustice, but look how they persevered. Look at their perseverance, how they had not only, not only “macrothymia”, to be, to be, to have a long fuse for bearing with others, but also they had “epimony”. They had staying power under the weight of the injustice. And so he points to them.
But then he gives a second example of suffering and patience, and that's in verse 11. It's Job. He said, "You have heard of the,” epimony, “perseverance of Job, and have seen the outcome of the Lord's dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful." And by the way, this is really exhibit A of James chapter 1:2-4, "Count it all joy, my brothers, when you encounter various trials." Why? “Knowing,” - not hoping in the sense of wishful thinking - but knowing, absolutely knowing. Basically, he says, "Knowing that the testing of your faith brings about perseverance, and let perseverance have its perfect work so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing."
Rejoice in the purpose of those afflictions that God is allowing into your life because they have that outcome of conformity to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ, of sanctification, of refining, of building spiritual muscles. The outcome of Job's epimony under pressure, what was it? Well, he comes to a brand new view of God, a deeper view of God. He learns about the greatness of God, and here, particularly, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful. He comes to know God as compassionate and merciful. That was the end of God's dealings with Job, and this is what we learn in the middle of our suffering and life's injustices as well. We learn about God. We learn that He's in charge. We learn that He is good. We learn that He loves us. We learn that He knows what He's doing, and His ways are best. We learn to trust Him. We learn to behold Him who is sovereign over all. We learn that He's merciful. We learn that He is full of compassion. We learn that He can be trusted.
Beloved, no matter how difficult our trials, we must never doubt the goodness of God, or the love of God, or the purposes of God. And if you're currently suffering, look to the prophets. Consider the prophets. Look to Job as examples of patient endurance. Trust in the compassionate and merciful Lord. When you face injustice, when life is not fair, be patient until the Lord's coming. He'll make it right. Be strong in your resolve. Be gracious with one another. Be encouraged through the example of others.
Well, there's one more response to life's injustices in this passage. We were supposed to actually cover it last Lord's Day. We weren't able to do that. It's found in verse 12 of James 5, and we can put it this way: beware of rash vows to God. Beware of rash vows to God.
Verse 12, "But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath, but let your 'yes' be 'yes' and your 'no,' 'no,' so that you may not fall under judgment."
Now, let me say right off the bat, there's a lot of discussion about how this verse fits in the context of James 5. There are two primary options that you could take concerning this verse and how it fits in James 5. Two options - two primary options.
One is that this verse stands completely alone. In other words, it has no relationship to what goes before it, and it has no relationship to what comes after it. It stands alone. It's simply one stand-alone thought that James realizes toward the end of his letter. He wants to come back to, and deal with the tongue one more time. If this is his intention, then verse 12 is a kind of warning identical to our Lord's warning in the Sermon on the Mount. Turn back to Matthew 5. Essentially, James would be saying exactly what Christ is saying in Matthew 5:33: "Again, you have heard that the ancients were told, 'You shall not make false vows, but shall fulfill your vows to the Lord.' But I say to you, make no oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is the footstool of His feet, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. Nor shall you make an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. But let your statement be, 'Yes, yes,' or 'No, no'; anything beyond these is of the evil one."
Now, Jesus was dealing, you remember, if you are able to remember, when we studied the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus was dealing with a problem in that context, in that setting, in the culture. Like in our culture, lying was pandemic, and so people, to express their integrity and to try to drive home that they are, in fact, telling the truth, what did they do? Well, they would attach to their words, to the statement, some kind of an oath. And it became this sort of a sophisticated system, because here's how they thought about it, with the help of the rabbis, of course, and the Pharisees. This is how they thought about it: if you swore by God, then you were really obligated to keep it, because then God was going to deal with you if you really messed around with Him, if you didn't fulfill your vow. But if you swore by something else, then, well, that gives you a loophole. And you could get out of it in certain circumstances, and there was a lot of wiggle room if you swore an oath by something else. And so it really came to mean nothing, and that's what Jesus was precisely correcting and addressing. When things got difficult, many religious leaders would promise God things, and they would do this for some public show. They lived their life, really, to obtain the praise of men. They loved the praise of men more than the praise of God. They would make some sort of an oath or a vow.
Alfred Edersheim, the Jewish Christian, he says that there was a Jewish proverb that said this, and I quote, "In the hour of need, a vow." In the hour of need, you make a vow, basically. So what would happen is that these religious leaders would stand up publicly in all of their pomp and make oaths and promises, but they had come up with a hypocritical way to get out of them. They would make these oaths and promises that, in their mind, well, there's a loophole that I can actually get out of them. And according to Matthew 23:16-22, the Pharisees had devised a neat little oath system. They could promise something and swear an oath to do something and swear by the temple. They could swear by the throne or the altar, and then they could get out of it because, in their mind, they hadn't swore an oath before God. One commentator said, and I quote, "By making these distinctions, the Pharisees were able to take an oath, but then absolve themselves of responsibility for fulfilling the oath.”
So if this is what James means, James would simply be warning us not to use oaths designed to give us really a way out, a way of escape, and that are in and of themselves patently dishonest. Don't let those phonies affect you. As a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, he's saying, be a person of your word. You be the kind of people before God whose yes means yes and your no means no. And if you say you're gonna do something, then do it. And if you say you aren't gonna do something, then don't do it. Just speak the truth. Let your yes be yes, your no be no. That may be all that James intends to say.
And by the way, neither Jesus nor James are forbidding us from taking oaths. That's clear. For example, when you're in a courtroom, you're not forbidden to take an oath. Jesus Himself does that Himself. He agreed to an oath before Caiaphas concerning His identity in Matthew 26:63–64. The Apostle Paul himself swore an oath of sorts about his preaching and prayer life in Romans 1:9, and about his great love for Israel in Romans 9:1. Also, that has been true throughout the history of the Church. God Himself takes oaths. Hebrews 6 records God taking an oath on His own word. So it's not that that kind of an oath is wrong. That's not the point that even Jesus is teaching in Matthew 5. He's forbidding the kind of oath that's made simply to press home your own word in daily conversation, perhaps even to give you some room to wiggle out of it if you should choose to do so. So I don't think that's what James intends.
However, I personally believe that the second option is more likely. And that is, I really believe, that verse 12 is not simply a standalone verse. It is not a standalone verse thrown in the middle of a chapter with no connection to what comes before or after. I really think verse 12 is connected to the verses that immediately come before it. So in this case, James is warning us about a common sinful response when we face the injustices of life, when we face the afflictions of life by others. And here there are two possibilities. He could be saying, make sure that when you're in an unjust situation, that you speak the truth with people around you, perhaps even those abusing you. Don't make commitments you don't intend to keep and then justify it by some elaborate scheme. But I think more likely, this is what James means: that verse 12 isn't talking about how we respond to people at all, but rather how we respond to God in the face of injustice. Let me explain why I'm convinced that this is the option that James has in mind.
You see, because when you and I find ourselves in the midst of great difficulty, what are we tempted to do? How are we tempted to respond? How? By bargaining with God. We're tempted to respond by bargaining with God. And I really see this verse 12 in the context of really where it is in this chapter, right on the heels of the first 6 verses, of the first, excuse me, 11 verses. Of course, the most famous example from church history is none other than a young, unregenerate lawyer by the name of Martin Luther. Remember Martin Luther? He gets caught in this terrible thunderstorm and when he's almost struck by lightning and he's knocked off his horse and he falls down and he's frightened, his heart is beating, he has a panic attack and he makes a bargain with God that if God will spare his life, then he'll become a monk. Which he does. But it is extremely common for all of us when we find ourselves in tight circumstances to bargain with God, to barter with God.
And in some cases, even to do so somewhat lightly with sort of, you know, in our mind, you know, you have your fingers crossed behind your back and, as it were, not really even intending to keep our word but hoping that God doesn't notice. And now I really think this is what James intends. In fact, one of the commentators, George Stulak, in his commentary, he paraphrases this passage this way. And I quote, "Above all, don't fall into swearing as if you could manipulate God by your oaths. Instead, speak honestly and directly." I think James is saying the same thing that Solomon said back in Ecclesiastes 5. Turn with me there so we can see that. Ecclesiastes 5. Chapter 5:1. Solomon writes, "Guard your steps as you go to the house of God and draw near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know they are doing evil. Do not be hasty with your mouth or impulsive in your heart to bring up a matter in the presence of God. For God is in heaven, but you are on the earth; therefore let your words be few."
Now, notice verse 4. He gets to the heart of the issue. "When you make a vow to God,” now, a vow was something that was allowed. It was part of the Old Testament law. It's found in both Numbers, Deuteronomy. It was simply a voluntary promise to God. It could be a promise made in hopes of blessing from God. It could be a promise made in gratitude for a blessing from God. Either way, when you make a vow to God, Solomon says, now watch this, "Do not be late in paying it, for He takes no delight in fools. Pay what you vow." You see, there's a real danger of bribery when we find ourselves in distress. Verse 5, "It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay. Do not allow your mouth to cause your flesh to sin and do not say in the presence of the messenger of God” - probably he referenced the priest - "do not say to the priest that it was a mistake." You know, I really was, it was a bad time and I didn't really mean it and this isn't what I should have said and it wasn't. Why? There's this warning, the end of verse 6,: "Why should God be angry on account of your voice and wreak destruction on the work of your hands?" In other words, God doesn't take it lightly when you take Him lightly. "For in many dreams and vanities are many words." The solution is found, end of verse 7, "Rather, fear God." Fear God.
And I really think that's exactly James' point. That's the point he's making in James 5:12, "But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath, but let your yes be yes and your no be no." And another reason why I think they're connected - connected to the previous verses - as he gives those imperatives and how to respond, and then he says, "But above all." But above all, this is what's gonna cap it, "Above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath. Let your yes be yes, your no be no." Don't make bargains with God. And for goodness' sakes, don't make bargains with God that you don't even intend to keep. Why? The end of verse 12, "so that you may not fall under judgment."
As I've said before, God doesn't take it lightly when we take Him lightly. The positive side of this is God honors those who honor Him. Make sure that you're being aware of the problem of rash vows to God in the time of injustice, the time of affliction, the time of difficulty.
In the remaining few minutes that we have together tonight, I really want to take a moment to really apply all of this to us - to apply it to where we are, where you are, where I am. I want you to think with me right now of some recent occasion, or perhaps a current occasion, when you found yourself thinking and saying, "God, it's just not fair. It's not fair. It's not just. It's not right." How did you respond? How did you respond?
Let me put it this way: How are you responding if this is your current circumstance? Are you responding in anger toward God? Are you responding in anger toward God? God, how could You let this happen to me? Lord, I don't understand. Are you responding the way Asaph responded in the first part of his Psalm? Lord, I see the wicked prosper, and I've lived all my life faithful to You, and I'm getting the raw end of the deal. It's not fair. Are you responding in bitterness toward God? Are you responding in bitterness toward the person that lies behind the injustice? Maybe it's your employer. Maybe a friend. Maybe it's a family member. Are you responding with resentment, with bitterness, with revenge? Maybe in your mind: "That's it, I'm just gonna get even. They deserve what's coming."
Beloved, those are sinful responses. They're not honoring to the Lord. How should you respond? How should you be responding? How should you have responded to that last situation? Well, James tells us here. He tells us. Remember, first of all, he said, you should be patient until the Lord's coming. This is not passive patience. This is active patience, waiting on God. You will face problems. You will face injustice in this life. We all do. We live in a broken world. In this life, we will have tribulation, and it will continue. It will continue in this life, and you have the ups and downs, and thank God - thank God - we will have, we will have seasons of rest by His grace. But we will face them. Wait for justice. Wait for the coming of Christ. Wait until the coming of the Lord.
Recently, our weather has been a lot like - it reminds me of Florida weather - the sun shining, and then very quickly, the sky becomes dark, and you find yourself in a downpour. And after 10, 20 minutes driving in the heavy rain, the sun's shining again. The spiritual life is like that. Sometimes it appears as if things are shining, and then all of a sudden, we are hit with the dark clouds and storms. Kent Hughes made an interesting observation during the years of his ministry. He said that he noticed when people were hurting or going through difficulty, they frequently said they hoped the Lord would come back soon. He heard many people in that condition say, "Oh, how I wish the Lord would come back today. Come, oh Lord. Come, Lord Jesus." In fact, maybe you've said it yourself. You see, when people are going through tough times, you will often hear them say that.
But Hughes continued. He said, "I've never heard anyone say, 'Things are going so well in my life, I wish Christ would return right now.'" It's true that when things are going great, you don't often hear that. And I must admit, you don't hear too many people say, "I'm really cruising in every area of my life right now that I wish Jesus would return and take me out of here." It's typically the hard times and the dark times that make us long for the return of Jesus. It causes us to say, "Come, Lord Jesus, come." See, one of the real threats that we have is that life sometimes becomes so comfortable for us that we don't want to leave this world. And as I often say, the rapture becomes more like a rupture. But those early believers suffered and hurt, and one of the wonderful hopes that they had was that Jesus would come back, and would come back to get them and to take them out of this world. And I think the thing that prompts us to want to be out of this world is really the world itself.
We're tired of struggling in this world, aren't we? We're tired of struggling in this world. We see evil, and we see sin, and we see rebellion, and we see injustice, and we see rebellion breaking loose at a very unusual level, and we get sick and tired of the struggle with the world, the flesh, and the devil, and we want out. Do we not think, do you not think, I mean, I think of that day when we're no longer contending with the remains of corruption, the things that I want to do, I don't do, and the things that I don't want to do, I end up doing. "Oh, wretched man that I am, who can deliver me from this body of death?"
And you're fighting. We're in a war. We're to put on the full armor of God every single day, every minute of every single day, every second of every single day. There are no truces, there's no ceasefire, not even for a moment. Nothing is brokered. You're tired. You long for that day when you can worship Him with an unsinning heart. I mean, even you can come to a place like this and sing the hymns and sing the songs, and you are elevated - it's like a Mount of Transfiguration experience - and even in the midst of that, the enemy within rears its ugly head, and you contend, and your heart is prone to wander, and you want to bring it back, and you're frustrated with yourself.
As we wait, as we wait for this moment, God wants His people patiently enduring the difficulties, knowing that in the end, they will receive the merciful blessings of God. God wants His people to stay committed, stay dedicated, stay faithful, keep on keeping on, keep on working, working, enduring the difficult, dark hours, knowing that He will bless them for it.
The point of these verses is simple to see. Beloved, patiently endure until the coming of the Lord, knowing that you will receive the wonderful, merciful, abundant blessings of God. He's coming back, and He's coming back to reward the faithful and to judge the wicked.
Secondly, you should be strong in your resolve. You should have a steeled will, resolved to live for Christ, regardless of the injustices that come your way. And thirdly, you should be gracious toward those around you, because there's a real temptation, tendency, that we have, you and I have, to strike at those whom we love when we find ourselves in these difficult circumstances. We lash out at others around us, those closest to us particularly, and we need to be gracious towards one another. Number four, we should be encouraged by the example of others. Look at those in the Scripture. Study their lives. Learn from their enduring patience. Look at those through church history who have faced suffering and injustice and how they've endured it. They've stayed under it. They've been an honor to Christ through it, and be encouraged - have courage breathed into your own soul by their example.
No wonder you come to chapter 12 of Hebrews. In the light of chapter 11, you're suffering in chapter 10. Here's the example of those who have gone before you and how they endured patiently. And verse 12, he says, "Well, since we're surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses." Draw courage and strength and endurance by studying the lives of those who have gone before us and see how they endured. God can be trusted. God is able, and they were enabled to be faithful to the end, and you, too, can be faithful to the end.
But how do you do it? You run that race of faith, knowing you're surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses. It's like you're in the stadium. Now it's your turn to run the race. Those who have gone before you - they ran that race ahead, and they made it to the finish line. And now they're sitting, as it were, in the grandstands, and they are watching you. They are cheering you on, and they're cupping their mouths, and they're encouraging you. They're shouting encouragement at you, and they're telling you to keep on going and keep on pressing forward.
Run the race of faith with endurance. How? With eyes fixed on Jesus. Wait patiently for the coming of the Lord. And number five, beware in the midst of injustice of making rash vows to God.
You know, the key truth of this passage is that Christ is coming. Wait till He comes. And I think when we fail to respond correctly to injustice, more often than not, it's because we have forgotten that Christ is standing at the doors ready to throw them open and make everything right. Our friend Charles Spurgeon said it this way, and I quote, "'We shall not grow weary in waiting upon God if we remember how long and how graciously He once waited upon us. And so being Himself a waiting God,” he says, "He loves a waiting people." God loves a waiting people.
Look with me in closing at 1 Thessalonians 1. This is exhibit A of a waiting people. These believers, these new believers - look how Paul describes them, and you see how their waiting isn't passive, it is active. He says, "We give thanks," verse 2, "to God always for all of you, making mention of you in our prayers, remembering without ceasing your work of faith and your labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ before our God and Father." Look at these people. This is an active church. This is a busy church. This is a church that is actually working, doing, serving. This is a church that has work of faith, labor of love, steadfastness of hope. And look at also how they are an example. They are an example of what it means to really bear under affliction. "You also became imitators of us," verse 6, "and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction," How? “with the joy of the Holy Spirit. So that you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place, your faith toward God has gone forth, so that we have no need to say anything."
I mean, their faith did not, it wasn't faith unto themselves. They were not closed unto themselves. They actually, their faith reverberated. It really went forth. They were sharing the gospel. They were proclaiming Christ. "For they themselves report about us what kind of an interest we had with you," verse 9, "in how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God." I mean, your repentance was genuine. You turned from idols. You turned to God. You're living for God now. And watch how they are described. They are described as second-coming people. They're described as those who are waiting for the coming of the Lord. "and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come." He loves a waiting people. The Thessalonians were a waiting people. May you and I be awaiting people.
And so, beloved, may the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts be acts of waiting in the sight of the Lord, our strength and our Redeemer. Let us pray.
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