Long-suffering - To What End?

This sermon was delivered on 27 July 2016 at the Mountain Island church of Christ in Charlotte, NC as part of their on-going "Summer Series."  I am grateful to God and to the elders of MICofC for the opportunity to share the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Painting by William Blake Courtesy of wikiart.org / Public Domain

AudioLink: "To Follow Soon"

“Long-suffering – To What End?” 

Mt. Island church of Christ Summer Series

“From Ulster Plantation to the Carolina’s with the Gospel!” *

Russell H. McCullough / Archdale church of Christ, 2525 Archdale Drive, Charlotte, NC 28210

www.archdale.org / gospelcall.blogspot.com - Date: 27 July 2016

Texts:

Gal. 5.22 – 23; Ex. 34.1 - 9;  Job 2.11 – 13;  Job 37.23 – 24; Job 42.7 - 10

Thesis:

The end of longsuffering is much more than we might imagine.

1           Introduction

A. The reading of the Scripture – Galatians 5.1; 13; 22 - 23

B. Greeting

C. Longsuffering in 2016 – “Sitting through a sermon longer than 23 minutes and is devoid of video clips to keep one engaged beyond the 7 minute attention span.”

D. The word defined:

             1. Old Testament

                       a. Ark-aphim – “Slow of angers,” “far feeling”

             2. New Testament

                       a. Mak-roth-umia

1) THAYER – “Endurance, constancy,      steadfastness, slowness in avenging wrongs, long-an-imity.”

a) WEBSTERS 1828 – “Disposition to endure long under offences.”

2) WEBSTERS 1828 – “Bearing injuries or provocation for a long time; patient; not easily provoked.”

          a) Why an 1828 dictionary in 2016?

(1) Words have true meanings in NW1828 (Bible based)

(2) Today’s dictionaries have only evolved and ever changing meanings (Darwinian based)

          E. Tonight we will see that:

1. Longsuffering is neither purposeless or for self-improvement.

2. Longsuffering is descriptive of God Himself.

3. The Longsuffering of Job is not as it appears.

4. It was the friends that sinned, not Job

5. The end of Job’s Longsuffering was the for the salvation of his 3 friends!

2          Longsuffering is neither purposeless or for self-improvement

A. Galatians 5.1 – “For freedom, Christ has set us free”

B. Galatians 5.13 – “For you were called to freedom, brothers”

C. Galatians 5.14 – “For the whole law is fulfilled in one word; “You shall love your neighbor as yourself”

             1) How does God illustrate this?

a) John 3.16 – “For God so loved the world, that he gave His only Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.”

D. We suffer long with others for the gospels sake as He suffered long with us to bring us into the Kingdom.

E. The end of Longsuffering is more than we might imagine

3          Longsuffering is descriptive of God Himself – Exodus 34.1 - 9

A.   God seeks the longsuffering who will “stand in the gap”

1. “And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none.” – Ezek. 22.30

2.  Moses was longsuffering and stood in the gap – verse 9

3. The end of the longsuffering of Moses was the salvation of Israel.

B. The end of Longsuffering is more than we might imagine

4         The Longsuffering of Job was not as it appears – Job 2.11 - 13

A.   Job lost everything men think of as essential

1.      Family

2.     Possessions

3.    Health

4.    Self-sustainability

5.    Pride

B.   Job – my circumstances are not indicative of sin

C.    3 friends – Job’s circumstances ARE indicative of sin

D.   God – Job’s circumstances are not indicative of the either the presence or absence of sin in Job’s life.

E.    The end of Longsuffering is more than we might imagine.

5          It was the friends that sinned – NOT Job – Job 37.23 - 24

A. Job asserts that God can be known

B. The 3 friends assert the opposite – He cannot be known

C. Job fears God by faith

D. The 3 friends fear God out of fear itself

E. Even at the very end, Elihu implies that Job is “wise in his own conceit.”

F. In truth, it is Elihu and his 2 friends that are “wise in their own conceit.”

G. The end of Longsuffering is more than we might imagine.

6         The end of Job’s Longsuffering was the salvation of his friends! – Job 42.7 - 10

A. Job spoke right of God

B. Elihu and his 2 friends did NOT speak right of God

C. Job will pray for you

D. God will accept the prayer of Job on their behalf

E. The Lord accepted Job’s prayer for his 3 friends

F. When all this transpired, God restored and increased Job

G. The end of Longsuffering is more that we might imagine.

H. This principle of suffering long with people for the gospels sake is summarized by Paul in II Corinthians 5.10 – 11a; 17 - 21

7          “The Gospel Call”

·         My fifth great uncle was Hugh Gaston who was rector at the Ballywillan Presbyterian Church (pictured above left) in County Antrim, Ulster Plantation (Northern Ireland) and wrote the most dangerous book of his time; Gaston’s Collections.  It allowed “the ploughman to know more Bible than his clergyman.”  Hugh fled to South Carolina where he died prematurely of the measles.  He is buried just one hour south of Charlotte in Chester County, S.C. in “Burnt Meeting House Cemetery.”   Uncle Hugh continues to inspire my ministry to this very day.  You can read more about Uncle Hugh here: http://www.ballywillanpci.org/rev-hugh-gaston  Ruins photo courtesy of: ballywillanpci.org.

·         On Friday night, August 12, 2016 Russ will dramatically portray the life and times of his 5^th Great grandfather, John “Justice” Gaston entitled; “A Patriot of the Revolution.” A portion of the event will cover also the life and times of his brother, Hugh Gaston.  The event will take place at the Archdale church of Christ, 2525 Archdale Drive, Charlotte, NC 28210 at 7 p.m.   The public is invited to this free presentation.