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So we continue in our series on the fruits of the Spirit. I hope it's been interesting for you so far. Just a reminder, these are fruits that God wants to develop in your life. So if you're challenged when you're looking at these fruits, and you say, I don't have these fruits, or I'm lacking this area, you have to go to the Lord. It is the fruits of the Spirit. It's the Holy Spirit's job to produce this in your life, and it comes by walking the new man. If you're not walking the new man, you're walking after the flesh, you're not going to develop this fruit in your life. Now let me just remind you what they are in Galatians 5-22. Keep your finger there in Numbers 14. But in Galatians 5-22 it says, But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, and we're up to the fourth one, long suffering. Long suffering. What ideas come into your mind when you think of long suffering? What does it mean to suffer long? The definition's in the word there alone, right? To suffer long is to be long suffering. So we're looking at this topic tonight. And as Numbers 14 was being read to you, this is a time when Israel is complaining, murmuring, they're anti-God, they're anti-Moses, they don't like the authority that God has put over the land, and God makes the decision to wipe them out. He's going to destroy this nation that is just recently brought out of Egypt. And then we have Moses who's a great example of a pastor. He was the pastor of the church in the wilderness in the Old Testament days. And Moses steps in and intercedes to God on behalf of the people. And that is the job of a pastor. One of the jobs of the pastor is to pray, to intercede, to God, to pray for the families, to be praying for the individuals within a church. And so Moses has this interaction with God because for Moses he can't believe that God would step in it and wipe these people out. And notice there in verse number 17, please. So we know God is very angry. We know he's willing to destroy these people. But in verse number 17, Moses says these words, And now I beseech thee, let the power of my Lord be great, according as thou has spoken, saying, Look at what Moses says to the Lord. The Lord is longsuffering. So Moses is like, Lord, I'm going to tell you something that I know about you. I know that you're longsuffering. So Moses is interceding for the people of Israel. Moses is telling God, can you suffer a little longer with these people? Can you not wipe them out just now? Then it says, And of great mercy, Forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation. Let me just, you know, this is not really the topic, but let me just remind fathers, parents, that our sin can have lasting consequences unto the third and fourth generation. So be thoughtful about how you're living your life, what you're doing, what kinds of sins you're doing, because it can have lasting consequences, right? But look at verse number 19. Moses says to God, So Moses is saying, look, you've been forgiving these people ever since you took them out of Egypt. This is not the first time they've been faithless. This is not the first time they've murmured and complained, but, you know, Lord, you've forgiven them before. Can you forgive them again? And how does the Lord respond to this request from Moses? Look at verse number 20. So how did Moses appease the Lord? How did he appease his anger? He reminded the Lord, or, you know, the Lord doesn't need to be reminded of these things, but Moses came and said, Lord, you're a long-suffering God. You're a merciful God. You're a God that forgives the iniquities. Give this nation another chance. This is coming from Moses. Now, we're going for the Jeremiah series as well, right? And we know that Jeremiah tried this, and God said, look, even if Moses stood before me, I'm not going to forgive these people, okay? So he got to a point where it was all over, okay? But you can see here that God was still willing to suffer long with this nation. All right. Can you now turn to Exodus 34? Turn to Exodus 34, please. Exodus 34. Because I want to show you something really interesting about God, all right? Now, if God is long-suffering, don't you think He wants us to be long-suffering? If this is His characteristic, and it's called the fruits of the Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is the Lord God, isn't this something God wants to develop in our lives as well? Of course. Of course. And you know, when it comes to all these fruits of the Spirit, I personally think, and maybe we have different opinions here, but I personally think long-suffering is probably the hardest one to work with, to develop in your life. Because we're just not patient people. In fact, we're living in a generation that does not like to suffer long, and we'll have a look at the term patience as well. These terms can be used interchangeably. We just live in a fast society. You know, people like their fast food, right? If people are waiting like five minutes from their order of fast food, they get impatient. People want things fast. You know, you want to warm up your meal, you put it in a microwave oven because you want it ready. You want to heat it up in two minutes. And even then, two minutes, you're waiting too long, aren't you, brother? You're hungry, right? We're in a society, it's rush, rush. Sydney, especially cities, it's rush, rush, rush. You know, that's why I kind of like the Sunshine Coast. It's a little bit more laid back. People are generally a little bit slower. People are generally a little bit, you know, let it take its time, you know. But patience is something that, as a society, we're not very good at. And it doesn't surprise me because this is a fruit of the Spirit. You have to be saved. You have to be walking in the Spirit. You have to be putting on the new man in order to develop the long suffering that God has. Okay, we need to put this into practice. Now, you're in Exodus 34. Look at verse number five. Now, the reason I wanted to turn here is remember the words of Moses, how Moses described God. Why did Moses say these words? Why did he say that you're long suffering? Why did he say that you're merciful? Well, if you look at Exodus 34, verse five, we're going back in time a little bit here. It says, Now, look what the Lord says. These are the words of God. It says, These are the words of God. God told Moses, I'm a long suffering God. Right? And then verse number seven. And upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation. So now, these are words that God told Moses. So when we read numbers 14, why is Moses saying these words? Because it's exactly what God told Moses. And Moses is taking the word of God and saying, God, this is what you said about yourself. You said that you're long suffering. Moses was really smart here. He memorized Scripture. He remembered what the word of God was and this is what's wonderful about our God. Our God is always true to His word. Always true to His word. You know, sometimes I pray like this, you know, where I might be struggling something in an area or I might be lacking faith in an area, but I know there's a promise of God somewhere in the Bible or something the Lord is telling me that is going to work in my life. And I say to God, Look, God, your word says this. Can you just be true to your word? And boy, when I pray like that, I've seen God step in and answer amazing prayers. You know, I'm not trying to boast. I'm boasting in the Lord, okay? But when you hold God according to His word, God, you said these words and I'm going to put my trust in your words. Well, God is held accountable to His own words, okay? God does not go back on His words, okay? Our God is a God that cannot lie. And so Moses was very intelligent, okay? God told Moses, I'm long suffering. And then when Moses saw the opportunity, well, God, remember you said you're long suffering, okay? And of course the Lord was true to that and He did not destroy the nation at this point in time. But can you now take your Bibles and turn to 2 Peter chapter 3. 2 Peter chapter 3. The reason I wanted to show you that the Lord is long suffering is because, you know, before we think about how we need to be long suffering, we need to think about how God was long suffering toward us first. And I think when we consider how God is long suffering, it's going to help us to be long suffering as well. All right? Now, as I've been saying long suffering, if you're not sure what I mean, just substitute the word patience for now. Now, there is a bit of a difference, but it's essentially the same word, okay? Just in case you're not that familiar with the word long suffering. But you're turning to 2 Peter chapter 3 and while you're turning there, I'm going to read to you from Psalm 86 verse 15 which says, But thou, O Lord, are a God full of compassion and gracious, long suffering and plenteous in mercy and truth. All right. Now, look at 2 Peter chapter 3 verse number 15 because this is why the topic of long suffering is so important. Look at this. It says, An account that the long suffering of our Lord is salvation. We love salvation. We love being saved. You know why you're saved? Because God was long suffering with you. Because He was long suffering with me. Because when we sinned, at that point Brevin, we died spiritually. When we rebelled against the Lord, we broke His commandments and we realized that we're sinners standing before the Lord. I mean, the Lord would be right to just destroy us, to cast us in hellfire. But He was long suffering. He gave us an opportunity. He sent us a soul winner. We heard the gospel from a soul winner and we got saved. God gave us time, right? And now, what does it say there? It says, Even as our beloved brother Paul also, according to the wisdom given unto him, have written unto you. So I want you to notice there that the long suffering of our Lord is salvation. This is important, okay, because this is gonna keep you going soul winning. This is gonna not cause you to get discouraged because sometimes, you know, you're gonna get out there and you're not gonna see someone saved for a long time. And you can get discouraged, can't you? You can get a little bit cast down and say, Well, it's been a long time since I saw a soul saved. Well, that's where the long suffering steps in. God was long suffering with me. He waited for me to have this opportunity. You gotta be long suffering to the community. Hey, you gotta be long suffering with your family members. You gotta be long suffering with those that you're preaching the gospel to. Sometimes that word reprobate gets thrown around a little bit too much, I think. Where, you know, there might be someone that you know and you're giving them the gospel and they're just not receiving it. They're not understanding it and you're just like, Maybe they're a reprobate. I've heard that before. What? You know what? Instead of just throwing that label around, why don't you just pause and go, Well, I need to be long suffering. I need to give this person more time. You know, maybe I need to back off a little bit and then engage him at a later time or engage her at a later time. Sometimes, you know, with our own family members, with the people that we're closest to, quite often we don't show the same level of long suffering that we would do with a total stranger, okay? So let's not throw that label reprobate. Now, there are reprobates out there. That's a different topic altogether. I'm not trying to diminish that doctrine, but we can't just throw everybody under the reprobate bus just because they're not getting saved. You need to learn how to be long suffering and give people time, okay? I mean, I know, for example, my wife, I gave her the gospel. I think it took her about two months to actually get saved from the time I started to give her the gospel. I mean, I could have gone a month and been like, Well, it's not going to happen, okay? But I persevered. I liked her. I wanted to marry her. I wanted to get saved, all right? And eventually it happened. You know, but it required a bit of long suffering, all right? Drop down to, or actually go up to verse number nine in the same chapter, 2 Peter 3, verse number nine. This is repeated again in the same chapter. So notice the opposite here in this verse, the opposite to long suffering. What was it? Slackness. Slackness, right? The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness, but is long suffering, okay? When you give up on people too quickly, you're being slack. There is slackness in your attitude, okay? No, you need to develop the fruits of long suffering. It says, But is long suffering to us, word, from God to us? Long suffering has to do with your relationships with other people. And He was long suffering. Why? Not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. So as long as someone is walking this earth, forget rep base for a moment, okay? Be long suffering with that person, okay? The reason they're still on this earth, the reason they're still living and breathing is so that somebody can go to them and give them the gospel. Okay? So don't give up on people too quickly. The Lord has given us time. The Lord has given you time. The Lord has given other people time. And this is why, you know, I'm not in this rush for God to just pass His judgment. I'm not in this rush to see the end times because I just want to see more of the long suffering of God. I want to see more people saved, okay, before we go home to be with God in heaven. Now, can you please turn to, please turn to 1 Timothy 1. 1 Timothy 1. 1 Timothy 1. And I'm going to read to you from Romans 2, verse 4. You go to 1 Timothy 1, I'll read to you from Romans 2, verse 4. It says, It says, Now notice this. Notice that forbearance is put together there with long suffering. Forbearance. It's kind of a very similar term, okay? And then it says, So God's long suffering is the goodness of God, again, giving you that opportunity to come to repentance, to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. But it's also put together with that word forbear, to bear, to put up with. You know, in order for you to be long suffering, you have to learn how to put up with people that may inconvenience you, put up with people that may irritate you. God put up with us as we continue to break His commandments, you know, and sin and offend against an almighty and holy God. God was able to put up with that in His long suffering and give us that opportunity to come to the knowledge of faith. Now you're there in 1 Timothy 1, verse number 15. It says, I preached in this passage not long ago, but Paul is saying that he was the chief of sinners. And look at verse 16. He says, Paul says, We know the story of Paul. We know he was persecuting the church. We know he was one of those leaders there when Stephen was stoned to death. Okay? We know that he hated the name of Christ and he hated the church of Christ and, you know, ignorantly and zealously, he went out trying to persecute this Christian sect or this Christian cult in his mind that he considered, right? And yet, you know, the Lord was long suffering with him. You know, the Lord did not destroy Paul. If you would think anybody that God would just be finished with would be Paul, hurting his own church that he died for, that he shed his blood for. And Paul says, you know what? Jesus Christ, He was long suffering with me. Okay? And then he says, in verse number 16, So for those that are still yet to believe on him, those that will believe on him, there's a pattern of this long suffering. God was long suffering with me. Paul? If God can be long suffering with Paul, surely He can be long suffering with these other people. Okay? And so again, you know, Paul is reminding us, let's not give up on the lost. Let's not give up on those that we love, that we cherish, that we want to see saved, and sometimes you get a little let down. But I doubt they're out there persecuting God's church. Okay? I doubt they're doing the wicked acts that Paul was doing. God was long suffering with them. You'd be long suffering with those as well that you're trying to work on, that you're trying to preach the gospel to. Don't give up. Now I do want you to turn to, actually I won't get you to turn to that passage, but Ephesians chapter 4 please. Ephesians chapter 4. Turn to Ephesians chapter 4. We won't read that passage just yet. Because I often think about the Apostle Paul and the great achievements he was able to do. He authored most of the books of the New Testament, especially all the epistles to the churches and all those things, and the epistles to Timothy and Titus and to other people as well. God used Paul in a mighty way. And Paul recognizes the long suffering of God. And it's because he was able to acknowledge the long suffering of God that Paul himself was able to suffer long in his ministry and his work for the Lord. Because I think if we face some of the persecution, some of the tribulation that Paul did, I think we would give up in the ministry. I think we would give up in our service to God. If we face just a portion of what Paul faced. And so by acknowledging the long suffering of God, he will say, well if God's going to be like that toward me, I better be that way toward the work that he's given me to do. And it says in 2 Corinthians 11 verse 23, it says, Are they ministers of Christ? I speak as a fool. I am all. In labours more abundant, in stripes, that's whippings, above measure. Paul was whipped. In prisons more frequent, he was in prison. In deaths oft. Okay, he may have died and come back to life, but he was at the point of death many times. Verse number 24, Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. Thirty-nine whippings times five. Five times he was whipped thirty-nine times. Paul says, 25 verse 25 says, Thrice was I beaten with rods. Three times thrice beaten with rods. Once was I stoned. Thrice I suffered shipwreck. A night and a day I have been in the deep, just floating in the oceans. In journeys often, travelling, constantly travelling, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren. In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. So did Paul suffer for the cause of Christ? Yeah. How did he do it though? Don't you think he had this fruit nailed down? Long suffering. He had to suffer and he suffered long. If you want to be in the ministry of God, and I'm not talking about being a pastor or being somebody in the church. We're all in the ministry of God. We've all been given the ministry of reconciliation. We're all called to worship and serve God. If you want to be in the long run, in the long haul, no matter how difficult things get, you need to develop long suffering. You need to develop long suffering. That's not it. In verse number 28 it says, besides those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches. So all the churches that he's going out and planting and starting, those concerns and cares were on his mind as well. He was able to do all this, brethren, because he was able to suffer long. And he was able to recognise, as we read earlier, the long suffering of God toward him, and he said, well, I'd better be the same way toward the work of God. So if you struggle with patience, if you struggle with long suffering, I think a good place to start is just to remind yourself how much did God suffer long with me? And if God was willing to do that, to wait for me to come to that point of repentance and salvation, then I'd better do the same for the Lord. Now, we're going to get to Ephesians chapter 4 soon, but I just want to touch upon the definition, and we already kind of looked at it, you know, but the definition of long suffering. So think of the word suffer. Now, with your King James Bible, you know that the word suffer carries multiple meanings, right? And I think especially there are two main meanings when it comes to the word suffer. And, you know, when it comes to the term long suffering, I believe the term long suffering can be... The scope of that can cover both these meanings, okay? The first meaning is when we think of suffer. You know, probably the first thing we think about, especially in our modern day, is the idea of feeling or bearing pain. I'm suffering. There's something painful in my life, right? Bear in something. I can feel some hardship. You'd say, that person is suffering. And yes, that's part of what it means to suffer long, okay? The other thought of the idea suffer is the word allow. Like when Jesus Christ said, suffer the little children to come unto me. Okay, what was he saying? He says, should we cause the children pain? Nah, that's not what he's saying, right? He says, allow. Allow the little children to come unto me. Suffer them. Put up with them. Bear with them. This is why if a child makes noise in a church service while I'm preaching, you know, I don't get upset. I don't get worried. I mean, if a child's wailing, carry on. I know most mothers' common sense will just maybe take the child outside, so it's not much of a distraction. But I'm not worried about the little noises. It's always going to happen. We're called to just suffer long with the little children. Allow them to be part of the ministry. I'm not looking to just ship them off to some other room so they can make noise over there so I can preach in patience. One of the great things about being a father of 11 kids, my house always is noisy. It's not that kids are just yelling and out of control. It's just a lot of people in the house. Of course it's going to be noisy. What do you expect? And so every time I come to preach, it's actually quieter than my house. And then people come up to me sometimes after service and say, I'm sorry, my child was a bit noisy. It's like, I didn't even notice. So I must have developed this fruit just by being a parent, you know? That's why God gives us experiences as well. So we have that idea of allow. Yeah, allow. Put up with, bear with. Yeah, that also comes under the term long suffering. But then the other word that is sometimes more... Because in our modern day vernacular, we don't often say I'm long suffering. We will say I'm patient. And that's, again, that is exactly what it means, patience. Patience comes under long suffering. But long suffering is actually a harder term than patience. You know, we can be patient. Like I might be patiently waiting at a petrol station, waiting for a car to move before I can fuel my car up. I might be just waiting patiently. But while I'm waiting patiently, I'm not really in pain, am I? I'm not really in convenience or anything like that. But long suffering has to do more with being inconvenienced. Maybe even with pain. Maybe even putting up with inconvenient things. And we need to develop this because if you don't develop long suffering, as soon as you get annoyed, you're going to be triggered. As soon as something makes you inconvenient and unsettles you, you're going to be triggered immediately. You're going to respond. No, you need to be long suffering. You need to be patient. You need to consider the situation. Consider the options. Slow down. Ask God to give you long suffering. Even if you're in pain. Even if something is causing you anguish and pain, you need to develop this long suffering. Now you really need to develop long suffering if you're over people. If you're kind of managing or over people. Now look at Ephesians chapter 4 verse number 1. Ephesians chapter 4 verse number 1. I want you to notice this. Paul writes, I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord. I love the way he says that. There's a reason why he says this. Because obviously if Paul is in prison, don't you think he's suffering? He's suffering long. He's suffering again for the cause of Christ. And he's reminding the Ephesian church that I'm a prisoner of the Lord. Why? That ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called. Vocation means you're calling. It says that. Vocation wherewith ye are called. It's defined there for you. Verse number 2. Look at this. With all lowliness and meekness, with long suffering, forbearing one another in love. Wow. He's instructing a church. And he says to the church, the Ephesian church, you know what? You've got to be lowly, meek, forbear, put up with each other, have long suffering with one another. Why is this being instructed in the church? Because in church we're going to frustrate each other. It happens. It happens. I'm going to frustrate you sometimes. You're going to frustrate me sometimes. We're going to frustrate one another sometimes. And then what? I'm not going to turn up to church if they're going to be there. I'm not going to talk to that person if they're going to be in church. That's the wrong approach. The instruction is we need to suffer long with each other. We have to put up, forbear, one another in love. We need to do this in order to have a sound church, a church that's unified, a church that has love toward the brethren. I was talking to somebody about this yesterday. We have the luxury in your life, especially when you're maybe a young person, to develop friendships. There are some people you're just not going to develop friendships with. You're just completely different. You have that luxury. I'm not going to be your friend. I can avoid you. But we don't have that luxury in a church. You don't have that luxury in a family. You don't have that luxury when you're gathered together or maybe in a workplace, when you have certain colleagues and you're working together. They might be in the same department as you and you just don't get along. In order for you to function, in order for you to be effective, you need to develop long suffering. You need to learn how to put up. You need to learn how to have a little bit of pain in your life and still be able to carry on and do what you have to do. In church, we're brothers and sisters in the Lord. We've all been forgiven the same way. We've all been saved the same way. That's why I love salvation because it doesn't matter how different we are. Maybe some of you are more righteous than others. Maybe some of you have been saved longer than others. Maybe some of you have had a worse life than others. But when it comes to being in church and being someone that's saved, it had nothing to do with us. It had all to do with Jesus. So we all enter salvation the same way by just trusting what Christ has done for us. It's an even ground. And we all share the same blood, the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we're family. We're spiritual family. We're spiritual brothers and sisters regardless of your age. Regardless if it's a little child or an elderly person. That's my brother or sister in the church. And I'm commanded, as it is here, to suffer long with my brethren for the sake of the unity of the church. Look at verse number three. Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Endeavouring. If you're endeavouring something, aren't you putting effort into that? The idea to endeavour is to put effort. You've got to put the effort in to suffer long with the brethren. And as I said, you need to also develop this characteristic if you're over people. Because whenever you have people together, as I said, there's going to be friction. Because we don't all think the same. We all react the same way. We're all at different levels in our life. And I understand that. I get that. I thank God that I've had lots of opportunities and experience to be over people. Just being a parent, you're over people. Just being a father, you're over your wife, you're over your children. And you know that sometimes in a family there might be some conflicts. But you need to learn how to forbear. You need to learn how to develop unity in that institution or that family unit or whatever it is that you're over. And as I said, this is crucial because sometimes, and I know this is one of my faults, that sometimes I can be more patient with people that are not my family. I can be more patient with people maybe at church, more patient with people in my old workplaces or people that I come across than I might be with my own family. Maybe something that my child might do might frustrate me a lot more than if some random other child kind of did it. And partly it's because if it's your own family, you kind of have maybe a higher standard. Not just me with my own family. I'm sure we all within our own families kind of have this higher standard and we want them to live a certain way and to perform a certain way. And one thing, you just have to be careful. If you're willing to afford to suffer long and be patient with other people, you need to afford that to your family as well. You need to afford that to the people that are under you as well. It's more likely that as a pastor of a church that I'm more likely to be more patient with people in the church than what people in the congregation would be toward one another. It's just the way it is. Because usually the one that is above is trying to keep that unity, is trying to keep that peace. And usually those that are not in that area or in that authority, they're not so concerned about the peace. They're not so concerned about those things because they're at a different level. That's something we need to remember, especially as a parent. Did I get you to turn somewhere? Have I read that one already? Can you please turn to Luke 17. Turn to Luke 17, verse number 3. To suffer long. So, in the church, maybe it's not happened to you, but it will happen where someone's going to do you wrong. Or you've done someone wrong to someone in the church, right? Luke 17, verse 3. Jesus has such a high standard. Such a high standard. And then why? Because He's God and God is long suffering. He's a long suffering, merciful God. He says in Luke 17, 3, And if you repent, forgive him. Someone does you wrong. They say sorry. They want to get things right. You're commanded to forgive them. Okay? Amen. I agree. Amen. I can do it once. Can I do it a second time, though? It can be a bit hard the second time. Maybe a third time? Look at verse number 4. Seven times in a day. And seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent, thou shalt forgive him. Boy. Can you do that? I don't know if I can. I just honestly. No one's ever done me wrong seven times in a day. But if someone did, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Could you do it? You couldn't. I don't think I could. In fact, the disciples realized they can't. Look at verse number 5. So, you know what? This is putting up with pain, forbearing one another. This is hard. This is why I think this is one of the hardest fruits to have. We always have that old man, which is supposed to be dead, which is supposed to be crucified and emulsified every day. But it's still there. That pride is still there. And the new man is saying no. The new man says, no, the Holy Ghost wants us to suffer along with that person. It's so hard. Patience. We need to develop this in our life. You brother, I'm glad for your honesty. I don't think I could forgive someone seven times a day. You know what that means? That means I've not reached the level of long suffering that I need to reach, that God wants me to reach. This is why going for the fruit of the Spirit can be challenging, because we realize, man, I'm not up to the level that Christ wants me to be at. Seven times in my life, maybe, God, in a day? That means next tomorrow, that's another seven times. You know, there's seven days in a week. What's seven times seven? Anyone know? Forty-nine. Forty-nine times in a week. Could you do it? This is the standard of the Lord. And, you know, let me just quickly add. When you accept an apology from someone, if someone has done you wrong and they've said sorry, don't just forgive them with your mouth. Don't just say, I accept that apology. You have to learn also how to forgive them from the heart, and actually mean it, and say, you know what? I forgive that brother that's wronged me. I'm going to put that behind us now. I'm going to forget about that. I'm going to act like that's never happened again, and I better move forward with my life. Sometimes we can get to the point where we forgive someone verbally, but in the heart, we still keep that bitterness. That's not forgiveness. That's not true forgiveness. Can you please turn to Romans chapter five, please? Romans chapter five and verse number three. Romans chapter five, verse number three. I hope you're at a point where you realize, God is long suffering. He was long suffering to me. Now I realize how important it is for me to be long suffering. I need it. I want it. What is it that I need to do to acquire this fruit of the Spirit? Be careful what you ask for. I want you to ask for it, but you need to be prepared for what God will allow you to go through for this fruit to develop in your life. Romans chapter five, verse number three. Romans chapter five, verse number three. It says, Reverend, do you glory in tribulations? What's tribulations? Troubles, persecutions, hardships. When you're going through difficulty in your life, you're like, glory to God, I'm going through this. Maybe sometimes. I don't think we do it all the time, but we're commanded to glory in our troubles, glory in our tribulations. Why? The reason is that God has allowed us to go through this trouble. He's allowed us to go through this tribulation for a purpose. It says there, You need patience, you need long suffering. You ask God, God, give me patience. You know what He's going to send you? Tribulation. He's going to send you troubles. You say, I don't want troubles. You're not going to develop the fruits. You say, I'm in difficulties right now. I'm in tribulation right now. Well, God wants to develop patience in you. So this is why we go through troubles. This is why we go through difficulties. God is refining us. He's helping us to put off that old man and to walk in the new man, to walk in the Spirit, to produce His fruit in our lives. Not just patience, verse number four. And patience, experience. And experience, hope. And hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. Now I'm going to read a portion to you in Colossians 1-11. It says, Strengthen with all might, according to His glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness. Patience and longsuffering with joyfulness. What did we see in Romans 5-3? But we glory in tribulations. So here it is, brethren. This is how you get it. Yes, God, God, give me patience, give me longsuffering. Develop this fruit in my life. God will say, okay, it's going to take some tribulation, though. I'm going to send something hard for you to go through. And then when it happens, oh, God, you're going to be like the Israelites of old when God got angry at them and wanted to wipe them out? Oh, I can't believe you're letting me go through this. It was so much better in Egypt, Lord. No, God's sending you the difficulty for a purpose. Okay? Okay, now I've got the difficulty. Now I've got the challenge. Oh, no. What do you do? I'm going to glory in tribulation. I'm going to be joyful. That's what longsuffering is. When you go through difficulties and you're happy about it, you go through it, you might even be going through great tribulation and nobody even knows because you're so happy. You know why you can develop that? It's because you've developed the fruits of longsuffering. Patience. Patience helps you glory in difficulties. This is why it's so good to have because you will constantly, until the day you pass on, you will constantly go through tribulations, whether it's a tribulation of financial, tribulations within relationships, tribulations in your workplace, whatever it is, you know, relationships. You know what? You can get through life with a smile on your face, giving God glory, so long as you develop longsuffering in your life, so long as you allow the Holy Spirit to develop that fruit as you walk in the Spirit, as you walk in the new man. Otherwise, you're going to be grumpy and moaning and I promise you this, you're still going to go through difficulties and hardships, but you're just going to have a sour bitter face about it. God wants us to glory in difficulties. What passage are you guys in? Romans 5. Can you please turn to Romans chapter 9? Romans chapter 9. We've seen how God uses longsuffering for something amazing and glorious and wonderful, which is salvation. But then we also have to deal with a God of wrath, a God of judgments, and we've been looking at a God of judgment and wrath in the book of Jeremiah. You know what? In these two characteristics of God, His love, His desire that all men will be saved, yes, God requires full longsuffering to accomplish that, but even within His wrath, even within His judgment, God has longsuffering in His judgment. This is why sometimes we just think, God, why don't you destroy the wicked right now? Well, God is suffering long. God is longsuffering even with the wicked. But there's a different purpose for His longsuffering in that area. Now, I'm going to read to you from 1 Peter 3, verse 20. 1 Peter 3, verse 20. It's about the destruction of the flood in Noah's day. It says, So God suffered long in the days of Noah. How long did He wait for? From the time that He decided He was going to destroy man and He asked Noah to build the ark, it was 120 years. I mean, man was already wicked. But God suffered long. He waited for Noah to finish that ark so eight souls could get on board and be saved in that situation. But you're there in Romans 9. Let me show you the longsuffering of God on the reverse side of it, with His wrath. Romans chapter 9, verse number 22. Romans 9, 22. What if God, willing to show His wrath... Let me stop there. Did you know God is willing to show His wrath? God wants you to know that He is a wrathful, angry God. He wants to show you this. And to make His power known. He wants this whole world to know the power that He has. Look at this. Endured with much longsuffering, the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction. This is talking about people. You know there are some people that are vessels of wrath. These are people that ultimately will not be saved. There is a longsuffering of God. He's trying to give people the opportunity to be saved. And then you have those that perhaps know the gospel message. They reject it, they reject it, they reject it. Israel reverberates in this category as well. These are people that will ultimately end up rejecting Christ, going to the lake of fire, while God has suffered long with them as well. And as He suffered long, as He suffered long, they've built up, built up more sin. They've built up more rejection toward God. They've built up more the defiance of His laws and the anger of the Lord has been built up with His longsuffering. And then God's judgment, God's destruction will fall. We know what's going to happen in the end times. We know how just amazing miracles take place, how the waters turn to blood and the trees burn up and the grass all burns up in fire and these locusts from the bottomless pit come out and they sting the wind. I mean, when God's wrath falls, it falls hard. It falls at full measure. You know, the way God was able to destroy Egypt and Pharaoh, His wrath fell. And so God's longsuffering is great, there's a positive nature to it because it gives us time to be saved, but for those that reject Christ, it's going to be worse for them because the longer it goes, the more they're going to build up the anger and the wrath of God, the greater the destruction and the judgment is going to be. So God's longsuffering plays in both views. The positive nature of getting someone saved and also that negative nature to those that will be destroyed. They're building up the wrath of God to be destroyed. Now can you please turn to Colossians chapter 3 verse 12. Colossians chapter 3 verse 12. We're going to end on this one. End of this passage. Colossians chapter 3 verse 12. I hope you decide that you want to develop this fruit. Once again, God's going to bring you tribulation though. And when He comes, be happy. God's answered my prayer. God has sent me some difficulty and I'm going to glory. I'm going to be joyful. But Colossians chapter 3 verse 12. It says, put on therefore. Let me stop there for a moment. So as Christians, we have to put on something. We have to put on the new man. Again, this stuff is not automatic. The fruit of the Spirit is not this automatic process. You have to allow the Holy Ghost to work in you. Develop this. You have to put on the new man. Put on therefore as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bows of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering. You've got to put on these things. Put it on! Forbearing one another and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. Put on therefore. We saw these qualities right there. The one that we're focused on is longsuffering. So you have a choice. Don't tell me I don't have patience. Don't tell me I don't suffer long. When you say those words, you're just telling me, I don't like walking in the Spirit. I don't want to put on for longsuffering. I'd rather put on my pride. I'd rather put on my short temper. I'd rather put on the frustrations that I have to be inconvenienced and to be uncomfortable. Don't tell me those things. You can tell God. I want to think good of everybody. I want to think that everybody's trying to develop these fruits in their life. I want everyone to be thinking that everyone wants to learn from God's Word and apply this in their lives. But it requires effort. To put something on requires effort. It's not automatic. You wake up in the morning, you're going to wake up in the flesh. You wake up, you're going to want to do the things that you lust after, the sins that you want. This flesh wants to rebel against God and His ways. You have to make the effort of taking off that man and putting on the new man, putting on the new spirit that God has given you, put on these qualities that you have, longsuffering as we're looking at today, as a fruit of the Spirit. And brethren, it's going to make you a much better person. It's going to make you a much happier person. It's going to make you someone that is able not to quarrel against any. You're going to have a lot more peace. You're going to have a lot more better relationships around you. But it requires for you to suffer long. Let's pray.