Encounter the Truth

Jonathan Griffiths: The patience of God, it buys humanity time that we might prepare for what is to come. And we need to learn very carefully the lessons of the patience of God in order that we may prepare for the future that God has spoken about in his word.

Steve Hiller: Welcome to Encounter the Truth with Jonathan Griffiths. Today we're continuing to look at the patience of God. Jonathan, you're alluding to the fact that God is patient because of what is coming in the future. So what what is that future that God is patient for or towards?

Jonathan Griffiths: Well, I suppose in the first instance, the point that we need to grapple with and and really reckon with is the fact that there is a judgment to come. God has promised that he will address the problem of evil in this world and the sin of this world in in in a coming judgment. And that's a fearful thing, but the scriptures are so clear about it.

But when the Bible talks about the patience of God and the fact that God is giving us time to learn the lessons he would teach us, I think the key lesson that's in view there is that there is a judgment coming and we need to be prepared for that. And there is one way to prepare for the judgment to come, and that is to run to Christ for salvation. So I think that is the first lesson and the key lesson that the patience of God teaches us.

Steve Hiller: Well, I'm tempted to ask you about that second lesson here, but we are running short on time. Want to get to God's word today and continue our look at the patience of God. So hope you'll stay with us. Here is Jonathan.

Jonathan Griffiths: I gather that the Ferrari P80 has a top speed of 211 miles an hour and does zero to 60 in 2.7 seconds. Now, to my knowledge, there is nowhere around here where you could let a car like that loose. You can't even begin to test out its capability without risking a very unhappy encounter with the police. You will never be able to drive that car as it was built to be driven.

Its power and capability and capacity will never be demonstrated, never be seen. We might ask ourselves why it is that God bears with sinful humanity as he does. We might ask why he has been so patient in the outworking of his salvation plan. Why has he just not brought things to an end, brought things to a conclusion?

Well, we won't know the full answer to that, I suppose, but part of the answer at least is that in bearing with this world as he does, God has an occasion to exercise and show something of the majesty of his patience, which might otherwise not be seen, which otherwise might not be displayed in the same way and to the full extent.

In these days, when God is bearing with sinful humanity and delaying his judgment, we are given a display of his long-suffering goodness. We are able to see the majesty of his patience. In Romans chapter 9, in the midst of a discussion of why it is that God creates some people who will never be saved, it's a very hard topic of conversation.

Paul turns to this whole subject of God's patience. And he tells us that God's patience with those who will never actually repent, his patience with such people actually serves to highlight his glory. Romans 9 and verse 22. "What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory."

Somehow, in some way, God's patience in bearing with his enemies, his patience in enduring sin and rebellion and all the rest, it shows his glory in a very special way to those who will be saved. It highlights the wonder of salvation. It shows us the sheer power and goodness and majesty of God in his patience.

God could have pulled the plug long ago. He could have rained down judgment on his enemies centuries, millennia ago. I think that if we read through the whole of the Old Testament and see the story of the people's rebellion against God, their faithlessness, their ingratitude. One of our dominant questions as we read that narrative, one of our dominant observations must be this, how can God be so very, very patient?

If we review world history over the last two millennia and see a chronicle of war, and of genocide, and of hatred, and of injustice, and of cruelty, and immorality, and all the rest, we must step back and wonder at the fact, marvel at the fact that God has allowed it all to continue as he has allowed it to. See, we would have given up long before if the decision had been up to us.

But God has exercised his extraordinary power of restraint, his patience. And as the saved people of God observe that, as you and I observe that, we see more of his glory, don't we? And we are moved to praise and adoration. In exercising his patience, God displays his glory. Next, in exercising his patience, God gives time for repentance.

Just recently, our air conditioner at our house gave us some trouble. The technician came in and ran all kinds of diagnostics, and he came to the conclusion that there was a coolant leak in the system, somewhere there was a tiny leak, it was a small leak, and the pressure was just slightly low, and it was causing the the system to malfunction. He he recommended injecting some sealant into the system that would plug the gap and allow us then to put in more coolant to top it up.

I asked him, could this be a permanent fix? He indicated it was likely to be only temporary. And the message was essentially this, by putting in this sealant, you are buying some time, and in that time, you can prepare for the purchase of a brand new unit. Save up, do your research, but the clock will be ticking.

The patience of God, it buys humanity time that we might prepare for what is to come. And we need to learn very carefully the lessons of the patience of God in order that we may prepare for the future that God has spoken about in his word. God has been very clear with us in the scriptures about what is coming.

He tells us that there is a day of judgment set in his calendar, when the whole earth will be brought to account. God has provided a means of safety, a way of salvation for that dreadful day. He he's given his son to die in our place, that our sins might be forgiven, that our debt before him might be paid. And he calls us to turn from sin, to repent of rebellion, of heart and of life, and to find safety in Jesus Christ by faith in him.

And his delay, his delay in bringing this promised judgment, it is the world's great opportunity to prepare for what is to come by responding to the Gospel. The Apostle Peter, he knows that some will write off this promise of a judgment to come, saying, you know, this promise, it was made so long ago, and the judgment, it's not arrived. And and Peter, he he knows people will argue that, and so he cautions us. 2 Peter chapter 3 and verse 8.

"Do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance." But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.

The Lord's heart and the Lord's desire is that none should perish in the judgment to come, but that all should reach repentance and find salvation. And so he is patient. And so his judgment is delayed.

The Apostle Paul, he reinforces the same point about the patience of God in allowing time for repentance. Romans 2 and verse 4. "Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance. But because of your hard and impenitent heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath, when God's righteous judgment will be revealed."

God has promised judgment in his word. He's very clear about it, but he is patient in the exercise of that judgment. I don't know if you're someone who gets to things right away, or if you're a little bit of a procrastinator. I guess we all know how to procrastinate when we want to, if there's a job we just simply don't want to do.

But the danger of procrastination is always that the window of opportunity will close while we're busy delaying. You know, the car or the appliance, it it needs repair, the warranty runs out in a month or two, you set the job aside because you're busy. When you get round to it, you realize you are one day outside the warranty cover. The credit card bill comes. You see at the top that you've got three weeks until it's due. You put it on the pile of paper at the corner of your desk, and when you manage to unearth it again, you see that you've just missed the boat, and it's going to cost you.

In his patience, God has given us time. How much time, none of us knows, but we have today. We we have right now. And for a world under judgment, God's patience means time, it means opportunity. And so if you're someone who does not yet know the Lord, if you haven't considered carefully where you stand before him, if you haven't ever addressed the matter of your guilt before him, well, may I say today is a day of opportunity for you.

The Lord has warned us all of the judgment to come. He has given us all the invitation of the gospel, the opportunity to receive the forgiveness of sin through Jesus, through his death and his resurrection. God has invited you to respond to him in repentance and in faith.

And the delay of the judgment of God, the patience of God, it gives you time, it gives you opportunity today, even now to respond. I wonder, would you do that? Would you respond to the gracious offer of this patient God to find safety and security in Jesus Christ for the judgment to come?

For us who know the Lord, his patience, it it gives us time and opportunity as well. It gives us time to get the gospel out. We all have friends and loved ones who do not know the Lord and are not ready to meet him. The day is going to come when the window of opportunity will have closed.

But today, right now, you and I have the opportunity, don't we, to warn them, to invite them, even to plead with them to respond. We all know the regret of missed opportunities, the missed business opportunity, the missed educational opportunity, the missed chance to say something to someone when it's on your heart. Let me urge you, as I remind myself, don't miss the opportunity that the patience of God gives us to speak the truth of the gospel.

The clock is running down on this present world. God's patience is not unlimited. He warns us, he tells us plainly. Judgment delayed is not judgment forgotten. How will you and I use the time that we have today?

Steve Hiller: You're listening to Encounter the Truth with Jonathan Griffiths and a message called "The Patient God," part of our series, "The Last Message in Our Series, Who Is Like Our God," where we've been taking a look at God's characteristics and attributes. And if you've missed any of the broadcast in the series, you can come to the website and listen online, just come to encounterthetruth.org. That's encounterthetruth.org. Also, a great place to go if you just want to find out more about this ministry and about Jonathan. Well, let's get back to the message. Once again, here is Jonathan.

Jonathan Griffiths: In exercising his patience, God gives time for repentance, and finally now, in exercising his patience, he sets a model for us to follow. Most museums and art galleries these days will have areas and aspects of their collection that are for viewing only. When you go to the Louvre in Paris, you may look on in wonder at Da Vinci's Mona Lisa or whatever, but you never get to touch the painting.

But most galleries these days, especially those that are geared for children, they will have some interactive exhibits, things that you can engage with more directly in one way or another. As we've been studying the attributes of God, we've looked on in wonder at certain attributes of his character, what we often call the incommunicable attributes of God. Things that we uh don't seek to emulate, we aren't able to copy. Attributes like God's omnipresence or his omniscience.

You and I are never going to be like God in those things. We may look on in wonder, we should worship and adore, but we don't seek to be like that. But then there are other attributes of God, what theologians often call the communicable attributes, things that belong to God, but that we can and should emulate. And the patience of God is one such attribute. This this is no museum piece to be marveled at from a distance, it is a model to follow.

As God shows us his great patience, he calls us, his children, to be patient as well. Growing in patience is a fruit of the Spirit, a mark of the fact that we belong to our heavenly Father and have the life of his spirit within us. Galatians 5 and verse 22. "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires."

This God-given patience, this spirit-enabled patience should mark our interactions with one another, especially within the family of God. We we're to bear with one another. We're to be patient with one another in all our sin and our failure and our weakness, just as God bears with us in patience and grace. Ephesians 4 and verse 1. "I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace."

Colossians 3 and verse 12, same emphasis. "Put on then as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another, and if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other, as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive."

We're all prone to be impatient with others, not least to others within the family of God. You know, we can't see why a brother or sister just doesn't see things the way we see it. We can't fathom why they're behaving as they do. You know, our patience it grows a little thin, our words grow a little bit sharp, our temper flares. But in those verses I just read, Paul reminds us of the basic reality of the gospel.

God has been so gracious to us. And because our heavenly Father has treated us in this way, we can hardly justify our own failure to extend that same patience to others. Last time when we looked at the generosity of God, I referred to the parable of the unmerciful servant in Matthew 18. The story, as you might remember, is of a king who wants to settle accounts with his servants. One comes in, one servant comes in with a huge debt. He's about to be sold along with his wife and children and all he possesses to pay the debt. He asks for mercy, the king shows mercy, forgives the debt.

The servant then goes out, huge relief, and on his way out, he he bumps into another servant who now owes him some money, much less money than he owed the king. When that servant asks for for mercy, the first servant refuses and insists that that man should just be jailed until he pays. King hears of it. He's angry, and the man is thrown into jail.

Now, what's interesting, and I I noticed this, I came across this this week, what both servants ask for explicitly is patience. That's the word that's used. The first servant fell on his knees before the king, Matthew 18 and verse 26. "Have patience with me." And the king representing our heavenly Father in the parable, he shows this tremendous patience.

The next servant then asks his forgiven servant for the very same thing. Verse 29. "So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, have patience with me, and I will pay you." And that first servant, the forgiven one, he he refused. He wouldn't show the same patience that he was shown.

It provoked me to ask the question, do you and I have the patience for one another within the family of God that the Father above has shown to us in such extraordinary abundance? It is a fruit of the Spirit. It is the right and necessary and appropriate outworking of the gospel of grace in our lives that we should learn patience and exercise patience with one another.

We need to show patience to each other. We need to cultivate patience within our own hearts as well as we await the Lord's return. And we close with this. Calling his readers to faithfulness in the midst of trial, James writes this in James chapter 5 and verse 7. He says, "Be patient therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until he receives the early and late rains. You also be patient, establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand."

Farmers are people who know a little something about patience, I think. I know we've got a number of farmers within the church family, and you understand this very well. You can't rush the harvest. You can't rush the growth. You have to watch and you have to wait. In the autumn, we like to try and go apple picking as a family at a local orchard. I think that's a tradition for many families around here.

And it it's interesting for me as a born and raised city person, just to observe an orchard and to consider all the work that's involved in developing it. I I gather that it takes up to a decade for an apple tree to grow and mature to the stage where it will bear fruit and a good harvest. So there are years and years of preparation involved in developing an apple orchard. That's the the bottom line reality.

And and then once you've put in all those years and all that work to develop the orchard, the the the season of harvest when the apples are ready to be picked, it's actually quite brief. And and when that's all finished in a matter of just a few weeks, the farmer has months and months of work and care to do before there will be another harvest. It takes incredible patience.

As Christians, we need to be a people who are good at waiting, who excel in patience. Our hope and our fulfillment as the children of God, it's not to be found in the things of this world. Unlike those all around us, we are not living for the here and now. While those all around us set their sights and their hearts on things that can be seen and experienced and taken hold of now, we are a people who wait.

We wait for the Lord to come. We wait to see his kingdom in its fullness. We wait to be free of sin. We wait for the judgment of the enemies of God. We wait for all the wrong in this world to be made right. We wait to see our Lord and Savior face to face. We wait.

Paul reminds us in Philippians 3 and verse 20 that our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. May the Lord teach us to be a patient people even as he is patient. All for his glory.

Steve Hiller: Jonathan Griffiths in a message called "The Patient God," where we've been taking a look at how God in his patience gives us time for repentance and sets a model for us to follow. Well, if you've missed any part of today's broadcast or any other broadcast in our series, "Who Is Like Our God," where we've been taking a look at God's characteristics and attributes, I want to encourage you to come to our website.

You can listen to the program through your computer or mobile device, or you can download an MP3 for free. Just stop by encounterthetruth.org. Well, Encounter the Truth is a listener-supported broadcast. It is your generosity that keeps this teaching on this station. So thank you for giving to and supporting this ministry. And as you give a gift of any amount this month, we want to send you a book that you've picked out, Jonathan. It is called "Worthy: Living in Light of the Gospel." And I I gotta ask, what does that mean to live in light of the gospel?

Jonathan Griffiths: Well, you know, the the way in which we live, our behavior, our lifestyle, it doesn't save us. The gospel tells us that we couldn't save ourselves, and Jesus gave his life for our salvation, that we could be forgiven and restored to relationship with God. But what we need to understand is that having been saved through the gospel, there is a way to live in light of the gospel. The gospel will change our behavior and our lifestyle and and the way in which we approach decision-making and the nature of our interactions with others. And this book is a call to live in light of the gospel, to allow the gospel to have its impact in our day-to-day lives. And I I think we need that help. We need that encouragement, and I hope it'll be an encouragement to you as you read it.

Steve Hiller: Well, we want to send you a copy of this book "Worthy" as our way of saying thank you for supporting the ministry this month. Give online at encounterthetruth.org or over the phone when you call 833-998-7884. That's 833-99 truth or again the website is encounterthetruth.org. You can also write to us at Encounter the Truth, PO Box 5513, Ottawa, Ontario, K2C 3M1. Or in the US, at Encounter the Truth, 215 North Arlington Heights Road, Suite 102, Arlington Heights, Illinois, 60004. For Jonathan Griffiths and our producer Mark Brudda, I'm Steve Hiller. Thanks for listening, and I hope you'll join us next time.