BY JIM BISCAN
For some reason I was thinking that right after the opening song, I was going to have to come up here. So I was kind of all ready to do that and it dawned on me, “Well, no.” So it’s kind of nice to have a set of announcements give you a little time just to sit back a few minutes.
I was running a little late this morning, but not for lack
of trying. Mr. Coulter did his best to
make sure that I was here on time. He
gave me a call sharp at
I would like to begin by taking a page out of the “Steve Buchanan Manual for Speaking” and have us turn to a Scripture right off the bat. Let’s turn to Romans chapter 15 verse 4, please. I know that the Deacon Buchanan often starts right away with a verse and today I’m going to do that.
However, I am not going to be imitating him in another area. If you remember, the last time he spoke when he was the only speaker, he just didn’t go for an hour. He went for an hour and twenty-seven minutes as I recall. Not that anyone was counting! [Laughter.] It was an amazing thing, but I won’t be doing that.
In fact, I was talking to Mr. Durbin. He gave me the okay to say this. I told Mr. Durbin that we just had a sermon. And he said, “Well, does that mean we’re getting out early?” That was his concern. And I said, “Yes.” And then he said, “You’re not going to be pulling a “Steve” are you?” [Laughter.] And I said, “So, that’s what it’s called now, ‘pulling a Steve.’ Well, no, I’m not” and give credit where credit is due that the man could talk for that long, for that length of time. But today I’m going to be imitating the Minister Lee more likely what he did last week when I think he got done in sixty-three minutes. But who’s counting on that one either?
But Romans 15 verse 4, Paul says this—he says
Romans 15:4. For whatever
things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the
patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.
And so, yes, the verse says that we have hope from the Scriptures but I want to take from this verse today that there is also patience and comfort in those very same Scriptures. We have that hope because we have patience and comfort through those very same Scriptures. And today I want to emphasize that patience aspect and that comfort part that is in the Scriptures. And I have a particular thing in mind that I would like to get to in just a little bit, but for now I guess it’s enough to know that this is where my title comes from. Through the Patience and Comfort of the Scriptures that is my title for today.
And that, of course—well, I shouldn’t say “of course”—but that is The New King James translation. And I’d like to read that out of a translation called the Cassirer translation. It’s on the New Testament. And this is how he puts this verse
Romans 15:4. Indeed whatever
was written down in days of old was written for our instruction so that hope
may be ours through the message of steadfastness and encouragement which the
Scriptures bring us.
And so he uses the words “messages of steadfastness and encouragement” instead of patience and comfort. And whether we use steadfastness, encouragement, patience, comfort, the point is that all these things are in the Scriptures. We can glean those from reading these verses.
So the question came to mind: Patience and comfort regarding what? Now the next few minutes, the next few examples I’m going to be giving it’s more meant for a general background and lead up to what I wanted to get to. But the Bible does refer to patience and comfort quite a lot in the Scriptures. There are direct references where those words are used and there are also examples where what we call “living lessons” take place where one person to another shows comfort or patience, one group to another, God toward human beings. There are examples of Him showing comfort and patience to those that He has called.
Isaiah talks about how “those who wait on the Lord will renew their strength.” And in some of these opening examples we’ll see that word “wait” quite a bit. It fits in well with patience. In Psalms in several places it talks about “waiting on God.” The creation itself is said to be “eagerly waiting” for the time when it will be free from its decay. We heard a little bit about that on Trumpets.
And then the example of Jesus Christ Himself shows how much that He held patience in high regard because if you remember on His last night here on earth in the garden, He said that if He could have called for a legion of angels to intervene and save Him from that death and He said that would have happened. But instead of taking matters into His own hands, He waited on God and He waited with God, and He got through the hard times to fulfill the plan that they had originally worked out.
But the point is that waiting comes up a lot in the Bible with regards to patience. And so reading about patience, reading about waiting can help set a mindset where we are familiar to it.
Regarding comfort, there’s a lot of verses in comfort in the
Bible as well. The Bible says that we
can take comfort in the fact that we are not alone in our struggles to enter
the
And when you realize that you are not in a struggle alone, it kind of does something to your perspective. It helps change it. It helps make you feel that you are not so isolated or alone or that things are too much to bear. And an example that came to mind is one in my own life that I’ve been going through recently. And that is—some of you know that my father is in an assisted living facility here locally. And like any assisted living facility, it has its shortcomings. He’s getting the care that he needs and that is a good thing. He’s getting looked after. But like any facility, any system, it has its shortcomings. And so you do your part to work with the caregivers and to work with the staff and point things out to them where things fall short.
But once in a while you just can’t help wonder, “Is it just my father that is going through these lapses of attention or is it just my father that is having to put up with a nurse in particular who had very little humor, very little outgoing concern so to speak?” You just can’t help but wonder those things. Is it just my family that’s suffering through this? Or are there others? Are there other family members that are going through the same thing?
And eventually my brother and I realized that it wasn’t, just wasn’t my family. It just wasn’t my father, our father, being singled out for these inevitable shortcomings that take place. We were attending a family council meeting and it was amazing how much of the same concerns, maybe even complaints, run-ins with a certain caregiver that these people had the same concerns. And when you hear that sort of thing, it just helps alleviate that feeling that “Hey, it’s not just my father that’s being singled out.” And for a moment, for a moment it helps lighten the burden that’s on your shoulders because then you get a little bit renewed strength to carry on and get some of these problems taken care of. And over time you can get some of them worked out.
But the point is that going through these shared experiences, the same experiences, the same shortcomings builds this kind of camaraderie with the other family members and it can help lessen the burden. And the same is true with what the Bible teaches us. We are all in this together. And knowing that, we may be going through certain differences in the specifics of our hard times, but just knowing that we’re not the only ones being singled out so to speak, it’s not just us being picked on by life’s hard knocks. That can help strengthen us. That can help encourage us. That can help comfort us. That can help build some of that patience that we need to get through these times.
And I believe that that’s one of the devil’s strongest tools that he can use is to try to convince us, to make us think, to make us feel that we are in this alone, that we are being isolated, that things are just too much to bear. And the Bible talks about that as well where he says in contrast to that he says in Hebrews,
Hebrews 10:24b. let us stir up love and good works [in each other], 25) Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves … [especially] as [we] see the Day [of Christ returning].
But in order to do that, in order to stir each other up, we have to stay in contact with each other. We can’t be isolating ourselves from each other. We have to be attending services, attending the Holy Days, attending the Festivals. And that helps keep us in contact with each other.
But the Bible talks about this patience and comfort here in Romans 15 verse 4. And there’s one of the things that I wanted to point out before we get to the specific area that I want to talk about, about how patience and comfort in the Scriptures can help us get through some things. But there is a difference. When the Bible talks about comfort, receiving comfort from the Scriptures that is done differently than how we receive patience through the Scriptures. Comfort for the most part can be thought of as a feeling. Patience, on the other hand, is something that we develop over time through practicing staying levelheaded in our life’s circumstances.
Comfort can be yours just from reading words. Words can stir us up. Words can bring us comfort. Well, the Scripture is words as we know. The Scriptures were meant to be read. The Scriptures were meant to be listened to, but mainly read. And by reading those words, we can have that comfort just by reading them. When we read in the Bible how it is through a Savior, Jesus Christ, our living High Priest, that we can have our sins forgiven and we have hope for the future, those are words of comfort. That can help bring comfort to us right away.
But patience, it’s clear that patience is all throughout the Bible. It’s held up as a good thing. But you can read all you want about patience from the Scriptures and reading alone just won’t make you a patient person. You have to follow through on what you read and begin practicing things. Like I mentioned staying levelheaded, not getting impatient when you have to wait on things. That happens through time and circumstances.
And I’ll just tell you of one of the ways that my patience is continually tested is when my wife and I, we stop in at one of these so called “fast food” drive-throughs and I’m driving. For some reason it always seems that whenever I’m driving and we stop in there, something happens with the people in front of us and all of a sudden they’re changing their orders ten and twenty times and saying, “No, I didn’t want the Coke. No, I wanted this. No, I don’t want that.” And then we have to wait every time that I’m driving. And it’s just an amazing thing. Kathy, she’ll drive up to one of these places. She’ll get right up and she’ll get her order. If there’s cars in front of her when she’s driving, the cars go through real fast like I wish I could when it’s my turn, but that doesn’t happen. [Laughter.] It just seems to be my lot in life that whenever I’m driving, I might as well get used to it, because that’s what’s going to happen. And it’s a minor area in life, no doubt. There’s many more important things. But the point is it’s in the follow through. If I would practice not getting frustrated by someone wanting a Fresca instead of a Pepsi, then things would be a lot better.
Well alright. That’s
some of the background and lead-up that I wanted to bring before getting to the
point I wanted to bring up. So what is
it today that I had in mind that we can be helped with through the patience and
the comfort of the Scriptures? Well, I
hope people find this of use, but the Scriptures can help us stay patient and
the Scriptures can give us comfort even when we’re down and out, we’re
disappointed because the end time events didn’t happen to our
expectations. That’s what I wanted to
focus in on today. Even in the case
where the end time events don’t unfold the way we had hoped and we’re
disappointed about it. We’re a little
bit bummed out about it. We can still
find in these verses the patience and the comfort and the strength to get us
past the disappointment and to continue pushing on toward the
But why speak on this today? About coping with the disappointment that comes from having your hopes and expectations of end time timing not work out? What was so special about this week? Well, some know that from Trumpets of 2008 to Pentecost of 2012 there are 1335 days. Actually there’s one more than 1335 days if you start counting with the Day of Trumpets, but if you start the day after, then there’s 1335 days between those two Holy Days.
And that’s significant because some of us are convinced that the 1335 days need to start in order for the end time events to come about. And that 1335 days some believe includes all the things where the sacrifices start, where they start in conjunction with someone calling down fire from heaven which actually starts the sacred fire so that the sacrifices can happen. But the 1335 includes the 1260 days where the Church is in the wilderness being nourished. It includes the 1260 days where the two witnesses are doing their prophecy. It includes the seven trumpet plagues and also up until the time where the seventh trumpet sounds and the first resurrection occurs. All of that happens within the 1335 days.
And it seems significant that that span of time fit neatly between these two Holy Days, the fall Holy Day in one year to the early summer Holy Day just about three and a half years later. And so what’s so significant about that? Well, some of us also believe that the seventh trump, the resurrection occurs on Pentecost. And so here is a situation, if it had started, that not only would this 1335 fit between these Holy Days, but the end of that 1335 itself would have ended on a day that some believe pictures the end of the firstfruits harvest.
And so everything just seemed to be lining up for things starting this week, but they didn’t. And now not everyone accepts that view of the timing of things or how things will work out and that’s fine. I happen to. And I’m just saying that because things didn’t start I was disappointed because my hopes for that start of the 1335 days didn’t come about. One of the things that I hope to show in this sermon is that no matter what your disappointment is, whether it’s for end time events not starting as you had hoped or in other areas of life, we can turn to the Scriptures and find the strength and the patience, the encouragement to be patient and wait for these things to actually happen on God’s time. And the point is that the Scriptures are a valid place to turn to. Like I said, “We don’t have to give up on things just because things didn’t start as we had hoped.” Again there may be other things that you are wrestling with that you need, strength and patience, and we can get that through the Scriptures.
One of the responsibilities that we have as speakers is to point people to God. And God is in our Scriptures. God is in the Bible as well as in our hearts and minds through the Spirit of God.
But I had really had hopes that things would have started
this past week. The way things were
aligning with that sequence of days and how it fit between the two Holy Days,
but not only that. Just other things
that were happening that seemed to indicate that maybe these birth pangs were
coming closer. We know about the rise of
radical Islam over the last few years.
The trouble that we’re having with gas supplies. That was mentioned in the announcements. The trouble that we’re having with the credit
market and the financial crisis. It just
seemed like everything was coming together.
And then you factor in some other things like how close we are to the
actually end of the six thousand years, if you accept the creation date for
Adam that is in the
And I’ll just tell you I was so hopeful that things would start this week—not certain, but hopeful—that I even said to our minister Mr. Buchanan that he had made a mistake in the speaking schedule. And the mistake was that he had scheduled people to speak after Trumpets September 30th. Now he just kind of chuckled. I don’t think you rolled your eyes at me, did you? [Laughter.] I don’t remember. If you did, boy that kind of cruelty would keep you out of the Kingdom, so. [Laughter.] But he just kind of chuckled and said something to the effect that he was certain we would need speakers after the thirtieth. And sure enough, here we are. So Mr. Staggs, our song leader, too bad for you. You have to get your sermonette ready for Atonement and I will have to finish getting the music ready for the offertory. Things go on.
So let’s turn to some Scriptures in dealing with the disappointments that come in particular with our failed hopes in the end time starting up. One of the ways the Scriptures can help us cope is that they teach us that the completion of God’s plan still goes forward even though our hopes, our expectations on how it may unfold don’t go forward.
Let’s turn over to Luke chapter 24 please. And we’ll start in verse 18. I don’t know if you knew that even Jesus’ own disciples in His day had hopes and expectations on how things might work out in their day. Well, things didn’t work out how some of them expected. And yet, God’s plan, it still went forward and it was not derailed. And that is a lesson for us today that we don’t have to give up on God in our day when our hopes for how we hope things will work out don’t come to pass. His point in these verses we’ll see is that the plan is still valid, but now we are to continue waiting.
Luke 24, this is the Sunday following Christ’s
resurrection. And two of His disciples
are traveling from
Luke 24:18. Then the one [of
the disciples] whose name was Cleopas answered and said to Him, “Are You the
only stranger in
And then notice verse 21. Notice what they were hoping.
Luke 24:21. “But we were
hoping that it was He who was going to redeem
And it goes on from there. But in verse 21 notice that it says these disciples had their own hopes that things would have turned out a certain way. They had hoped that this Jesus would have been the Redeemer of Israel, but instead this Jesus was killed. He was murdered. And I just believe that they were disappointed over how things turned out with this one that they had pinned their hopes on, because when it says they were hoping that He was the one going to redeem Israel, I don’t believe that they took it to mean in terms of spiritual redemption where they believed He was going to redeem Israel and save them from their sins. What I believe that they believe in this Redeemer of a physical restoration of the nation to its glory days of Solomon and David. That’s the kind of Redeemer that they were hoping for. That’s what they were hoping were to come about from this Person who they had lived and walked with for three and a half years.
And I don’t think these were the only ones who felt that
way. If you go back and look in other
verses, one of Jesus’ own apostles is called Simon the Zealot. And what is a Zealot? Well, the Zealot was a member of a group of
Judean extremists who advocated the overthrow of their occupiers which in that
day was the
And these are some of the very people that the Father had put into Jesus Christ’s hands for safekeeping. And what did Christ say? Again on the last day of His the night before He died, Jesus said. He was praying to the Father and He said, “Father, I have kept those whom You have given Me. I haven’t lost any of them except the son of perdition.” And that was so that Scripture could be fulfilled. But who does that include? Well, it includes those who were hoping that Jesus would have been this Redeemer. It was those who included those who were the Zealots.
And it’s interesting to me that Judas Iscariot became a traitor, but Simon the Zealot did not. I think Simon the Zealot would have been just as disappointed with how things turned out as these two disciples were. And yet, he was not lost. He stayed with Jesus Christ. Judas Iscariot did not. And I wonder about what was the difference. And one thing that I could come up with was perhaps this Simon the Zealot was able to deal with His disappointments as his hopes were dashed and how things didn’t work out as he expected, but Judas Iscariot did not deal with his disappointments. He couldn’t keep them under control. You can go back and read and it seems like Judas was always taking issue with how Jesus Christ was doing things. And so he must have been disappointed a lot of times, but for whatever reason he did not deal with his disappointments. But these other people did.
And fortunately for these two disciples, they had Jesus Christ Himself to help bring them out of their disappointment. And we’ll see some of them in the words that He says in verses 25 through 27. And these are the very same words that became part of the Scriptures that as Romans says can give us the patience and comfort we need to carry on through our disappointments. Verse 25.
Luke 24:25. Then [Jesus]
said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the
prophets have spoken! 26) “Ought not the
Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?” 27) And beginning at Moses and all the
Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning
Himself.
And if you have cross references in your Bible, at this point you might have quite a list of verses that begin at Moses and all the Prophets and show what He was talking about. In my Bible there’s a number of verses listed: Genesis 3, Genesis 12, Numbers 21, Deuteronomy 18, Psalm 16, Psalm 22—that’s a big one—Psalm 132, Isaiah 7, Isaiah 9, Jeremiah 23, Jeremiah 33, Ezekiel 34, Ezekiel 37, Daniel 9, Micah 7, Malachi 3, Malachi 4. These are some of the Scriptures that Jesus Christ is referring to beginning at Moses and all the Prophets.
And to me what He is telling them is saying, “Look, even though things didn’t work out as you expected, things worked out as they were always planned.” And Jesus corrected their misunderstanding telling them that “My life and the events of My life, it just wasn’t a train wreck as you might be perceiving them right now, but these were things that were always meant to happen. It was always meant to happen that I would live my life (Jesus is speaking.) as a suffering servant.” That He would die for the sins of the nations. That He would be a Lamb led to the slaughter. That’s what some of these references are referring to when it talks about beginning at Moses and all the Prophets. And He went on to explain that, “Look, it’s not just My life, but even My death. This isn’t a train wreck, but these are all part of the plan.” And in that way Jesus is offering them renewed hope and showing patience, first of all, toward them and continuing to work with them even though they didn’t quite understand, grasp things. In the same way, He offers us renewed hope and patience as He helps us through our disappointments as well. He’s saying to them, “Look, you had it wrong, but stick with Me. Don’t give up on the plan. These things were things that were supposed to happen. It was meant to happen this way.”
And really, when you think about it, these disciples in
Christ’s day that were expecting Him to be the Redeemer then, they are going to
see that part of the plan fulfilled, because Jesus Christ will step into this
role as Redeemer near the end of the Day of the Lord when He sets His hand to rescue His very own people, the
nation of Judah. That’s what it’s
talking about in Zechariah when Christ stands on the
And to me it’s kind of interesting. When Jesus Christ, when He was the Lord God of
Jesus tells us through words like that that there is hope. There is patience. And there is comfort in these words. And He’s saying, “Don’t give up. Stay with Me. Keep an open mind.” What we see as things not working out may indeed just be things happening as they were always planned out to be from the start.
And maybe I’m not tying it in very well to our time today, but I was disappointed with the 1335 didn’t start this week. And maybe a few others were here as well. But through Luke 24 and other parts of the Bible, God is saying to us, “Don’t give up. Stay with this. Just because things didn’t happen this week, that doesn’t mean it’s not going to happen at all. There’s still the time when it is going to happen.” And like the disciples, we’ll understand later why things had to be done the way they did.
I kind of alluded to it, but I think we need to remember that just because God’s plan, God’s timing doesn’t occur as we expect, again that doesn’t mean that that event is not going to happen. So what that the 1335 days didn’t start this week. It doesn’t mean that they’re not going to happen. It just means that they didn’t start this week. It’s going to happen another time. But until it does, the Scriptures encourage us to stay patient.
Luke 21 verse 19, one verse, I’ll just read it. It says
Luke 21:19. “[In] your
patience possess your souls.
Waiting, waiting on God. Waiting with God. Sticking with God. That is how we will hang on to our lives, our spiritual lives.
So again, just reading that doesn’t make it happen in our lives. Just doesn’t calm our spirit. We then have to follow through as I was hinting at before and practice this kind of patience, practice this waiting, even with these disappointments. And how would we have opportunities to practice these things unless we had some disappointments along the way? And maybe that is one reason why the 1335 didn’t start this week is to give certain people opportunities to practice the patience that the Bible talks about.
We’re going to turn to some other Scriptures now that can help us gauge how well we are staying with God. If the Bible talks about being patient and staying with God, there are certain things you can look at in your life to see whether you are sticking with God or not. And what these Scriptures do is just hold up two contrasting categories. There’s a wise servant. There’s an evil servant. There is having faith in the day of Christ’s return. There is a category of Christ wondering will there even be faith when He returns. There is a category of scoffers or there is a category of believing the Scriptures. And so as we go through these, we can ask ourselves, “Which of these categories are we closer to?” In light of any disappointments we may have had this week, which one of these categories are we closer to?
Let’s go first to Matthew 24 verses 45 through 51. This is part of what is called Christ’s Olivet Prophecy. And we’ve been here several times in the last few weeks. And again, I just want to point out that Jesus Christ Himself is asking the question as to which category we are in. He says in verse 45
Matthew 24:45. “Who then is
a faithful and wise servant, whom his master made ruler over his household, to
give them food in due season [or at the right time]? 46) “Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so
doing. 47) “Assuredly, I say to you that
he will make him ruler over all his goods.
And so that’s one category, the faithful and wise servant. And then the next category is this the evil servant in verses 48 through 51 where He says
Matthew 24:48. “But if that
evil servant says in his heart, ‘My master is delaying his coming,’ 49) “And begins to beat his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunkards, 50) “The master of that servant will come on a
day when he is not looking for him
and at an hour that he is not aware of,
51) “And will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
And so the question is simple. Which one of these are we closer to? When disappointment hits because of say our expectations on the end time timing doesn’t’ come out, the temptation may be there for us to think to ourselves, within ourselves, “My Master, He must be delaying His coming. It didn’t work out this week. He must be delaying His coming.” So that temptation is there. But the thing is if we go down that path where that is something that starts inside of us because as He says, “If he thinks this in his heart,” the problem is if you begin to let that doubt develop, eventually it develops to a point where other people get hurt because of your disbelief. As it says, “begin to beat his fellow servants.” Maybe that happens literally. More likely it’s talking about it happening figuratively. But the point is that as our disbelief, if we give into that because we’re disappointed, then that can result in actions where our fellow servants in the household of God get hurt in one way or the other. Either they’re then in turn disappointed by our disappointment. Maybe doubt is created in their minds because of the doubt that we’re exhibiting. So there are many ways that this can take place.
And then, not only that, He’s saying that if that happens, there’s another danger that our own clear thinking can go out the door as well because He says we can begin to eat and drink with the drunkards, those that are spiritually drunk. Maybe coming to think that maybe Christ’s return now is so far off into the future that it doesn’t matter. It’s irrelevant now. It doesn’t matter how we live. And if we begin to think that way, then we should remember what Jesus says in verse 50 as well, because if we begin to think that things are so far off in the future that it really doesn’t matter, then we have to remember that we are going to get caught off guard as He says in verse 50.
Matthew 24:50. “The master
of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him and at an hour that he is not aware
of,
The thing that I found interesting is that Jesus Christ reaffirms that He is returning. The plan is still going forward because He says, “The master of that servant will come.” But to anyone in a mindset thinking that it’s way off in the future, He’s saying that’s a danger, because to that person it will happen unexpectedly and it will come out of the blue and it will catch us off guard. And when that happens, there won’t be any time to get ready. And by that do I mean getting ready physically? No. I mean getting ready spiritually because that’s what the parable in chapter 25 in the first thirteen verses is all about. It takes time and circumstances in order to be ready spiritually. And if we don’t think Jesus Christ is coming back, if we have those doubts maybe because things didn’t start this week, then you tend to throw off a governor in your life. You tend to throw off your restraint as He shows here. Your doubt begins to affect other people.
So part of being ready spiritually is not having the mindset that “My master is delaying His coming.” And I can’t help but notice this about Jesus’ warning in verses 48 through 51 as well. You think about it when you read this. Of all the mindsets, of all the dangerous viewpoints that we could fall into in the end time, what is it that He singles out? He chooses the one where we begin to think, “My Master is delaying His coming.” And He said that will put us in a dangerous place. That will put us on the road to being washed up. He didn’t say, “If that evil servant says in his heart, our calendar is misaligned” or something like that, or “Your organization is out of whack.” That’s not what is of concern to Jesus Christ, but what is specifically concerning Him in this end time age is that His people fall into this attitude, “My Master is delaying His coming.” And to me the fact that He would use that as a barometer, as a gauge to see how we’re dealing with our disappointments that shows how important it was. And that shows just how important it is for us to be spiritually ready because if we put that out of our mind, again, it’s a dangerous thing that we buy into and we throw off a governor in our lives that would otherwise be there.
So does that mean that we shouldn’t think about Christ’s return at all because after all if we didn’t have expectations about Christ’s return, then we wouldn’t be disappointed over them not working out? And then we wouldn’t be tempted to say, “My Master delays His coming.” So we can avoid all that by not thinking about these things at all. I suppose that’s one way of doing it, but I don’t think that’s what He’s saying here. It’s all about being balanced, about how we cope with our disappointment. Our disappointments can teach us that it’s not that the plan is doomed. It’s not that the plan has been wrecked like a train. It’s just that it just didn’t happen this week or in a way that we were hoping.
So this is one way we can take stock on ourselves. Look at our attitudes. Look at our mindset and see which category are we closer to the faithful servant or the evil servant because each of them have consequences.
Let’s go to another verse, Luke 18 verses 1 through 8. This is another way, another barometer that we can gauge ourselves in these contrasts of examples that Jesus Christ is holding up. And again, He is the one doing the speaking here. Verse 1 sets us up where it says
Luke 18:1. Then [Jesus]
spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart.
And I think that we need to keep this in mind that this is His point through His parable. We are always to pray. We are not to lose heart. In other words, in essence this is saying, “Well, here is how you can have some of this patience that is in the Scriptures by continuing to pray, by not losing heart.” And I’ll just read through this where it says—I think we know the story.
Luke 18:2. Saying: “There was in a certain city a judge who did
not fear God nor [respect men]. 3)
“[And] there was a widow in that city; and she came to him, saying, ‘[Vindicate]
me [against] my adversary.’ 4) “And he
would not for a while; but afterward he said within himself, ‘Though I do not
fear God nor regard man, 5) ‘Yet because
this widow troubles me I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she
weary me.’” 6) [And] the Lord said,
“Hear what the unjust judge said. 7)
“And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him,
though He bears long with them?
Verse 8 is the answer.
Luke 18:8. “I tell you that
he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless,
when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?”
And Cassirer’s phrases this last question—I’ll just turn to it—where it says
Luke 18:8b. Still will the
Son of Man when He appears find any faith upon the earth?
So the way he translated it was to ask, “Will He find any faith on the earth?” And in light of verse 1, will He find the type of faith or belief where we continue to pray, where we continue to have heart, where we don’t lose heart? And in the context of my message, in a time of disappointment—let’s say over how the end time just didn’t work out as we expected—it’s easy to give up on the value of prayer. It’s easy to lose heart, but we have to realize that in our momentary disappointment—and that’s what it is really, a momentary disappointment—let’s not give up on the whole plan, because in verse 8 Jesus again He reaffirms that He is returning.
Luke 18:8b. Nevertheless, when
the Son of Man comes,
So it’s not “if.” It’s not a matter of “maybe,” but when the Son of Man returns. So He is returning.
So in light of that, even if we are momentarily discouraged, we don’t have to give up on the entire plan at all. The Master is still returning. And so this is just another way to gauge how we are handling our disappointment. Are we staying in contact with God through our disappointment, in spite of our disappointment, or are we maybe leaning toward this category where Jesus Himself would wonder about us? Is He really going to find any faith in us when He returns?
Let’s go to another reference over in 2 Peter 3. 2 Peter 3 verse 1. Again, Peter here holds up two different categories. One is the scoffers and the other is those who believe what the Scripture says about how things are going to work out. And the question is for us again: Which category are we leaning to? 2 Peter 3 verses 1 through 4.
2 Peter 3:1. Beloved, I now
write to you this second epistle (in both
of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder), 2) That you may be mindful of the words which
were spoken before by the holy prophets and of the commandment of us, the
apostles of the Lord and Savior, 3)
Knowing this first: that scoffers will
come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, 4) And saying, “Where is the promise of His
coming? For since the fathers fell
asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.”
And I wanted to read that out of the Cassirer’s
translation. I’m referring to this a
number of times in this message, but for me this translation is fast becoming a
favorite of mine in reading through the New Testament. It is a translation that is on the New
Testament. And really it’s kind of a
shame that I discovered it—so to speak—so late.
The translation actually came out in 1989 and this particular copy—and I
noticed in the flyleaf—was given to my wife from my mother-in-law. It says, “To Kathy and Jim Biscan from your
Mom Pat and Art Huser.” How about
that? I didn’t realize my father-in-law
was involved as well. “Hope you have a
great Feast of Tabernacles 1995 in
And I remember that festival and it was a good
festival. We took the time to go south
from
And I remember walking around on those sand dunes and there were these plants that grow on these sand dunes. And in order to survive they have these real long roots. The plant may be sticking out of the ground this much, but the roots must have been two or three times that long in order to keep them anchored and to get them enough water. And I remember seeing that and thinking about things. And there were some spiritual lessons in that for us that in our days when we are in the wilderness so to speak, we need to be staying anchored. And we need to have roots that go down a long way. And maybe there’s a sermonette message in that somewhere down the road.
But I guess the point of that digression is that when we go to our festivals, let’s not go there just trying to get away from our daily grind back here. Let’s go to the festivals trying to learn something from the surroundings that we’re in that can help strengthen us spiritually, that can help strengthen us in our walk with God.
Anyway, Cassirer’s, I was going to read from that. 2 Peter 3 verse 1, he says this
2 Peter 3:1. This, my well
loved friends, is already the second letter I am addressing to you. My purpose in both of them being to stir you
up by way of reminder 2) So that free
from any trace of insincerity you may recall in your minds the predictions made
in times past by God’s holy prophets and remind yourselves too of the command
laid down by the Lord and Savior at the hands of the apostles. 3) Now the first thing you must take note of
is this: during the days of the end,
mockers will appear with their mocking, men whose conduct will be wholly ruled
by their appetites, 4) And this is what
they will say: “What can have become of
that promised return of His? After all
ever since our fathers have been laid to their rest, everything has remained as
it always has been from the beginning of the world.”
And from this translation, one reason I like it is you get a different sense and a different tone that the Greek has in its original. Notice how the mockers are painted in this description. “What can have become of that promised return of His?” If you’ve ever been with someone who’s a scoffer or who’s a mocker, maybe you’ve been one yourself from time to time, that’s the way they talk. In that they just don’t say, “Well, what became of this issue? What became of that promised return of His?” There’s a certain sense of sarcasm that is meant in their tone of voice. And this translation to me helps bring that through.
So then you wonder what turns a person to begin mocking something in the first place. Well, is this the case where he turns to mocking a situation because he’s been disappointed one too many times in the past over the thing that he is now mocking? And I don’t know if I’m saying that right, but maybe that is a reason why the 1335 did not start this week in spite of how everything may have appeared to be lining up with the stars correctly. Maybe it’s so that this prophecy—and it is a prophecy—could be fulfilled. How else could we have mockers in the last days unless there were situations set up that would create the environment where people would become mockers because of those very circumstances?
We say that God is a God of detail, but why is it so hard to believe that He is acting out in these details in our day and age as well as in the earlier days and age? Well, maybe that’s something to think about. Maybe the reason why things didn’t happen this week is so that this very scenario could be set up and that this prophecy could be fulfilled.
Verses 5 through 7, again in the Cassirer’s.
2 Peter 3:5. However, there
is one thing which has escaped notice of those who would be self-assertive in
this manner, mainly that there were heavens a long, long time ago and that
there was also an earth brought into being by God’s word of command with water
for its origin and water for its frame.
6) Water likewise being the means by which the world as it then was met
with destruction when it was enveloped by flood at the time of the deluge. 7) As for the present heaven and the present
earth, they have in virtue of the same word of command been saved up to be
consumed by flames and have been kept in being until the day comes when the
godless will be judged and suffer destruction.
In The New King James starts that passage, verse 5, with this
2 Peter 3:5. For this they willfully
forget:
Or as it can be translated, “This escapes their notice willingly.” Now in order to escape someone’s notice willingly, they had to at one time be aware of that thing that they’re letting escape from their mindset. And to me I wonder if this verse is indicating that these mockers then will come from the very ones who at least have been exposed to God’s truth, because the thing that they are willingly forgetting in this section, verses 5 through 7, is what the Scriptures themselves say about how things have happened in the past. These verses are saying, “Look, you don’t need to be mockers. We don’t need to doubt these things because the Word of God in the past told us how certain things happened and that came about. And just as certain as the Word of God was about the things in the past we can rely on that same Word of God when it teaches us things that are going to happen in the future.” But this is something that people are willingly forgetting which means that we must have known about it at one time, but now we’re putting it out of our minds by a conscious effort.
And so a lot of times we think that mockers are just those who are out in society that have no place for religion in their lives. But it could very well be that this is something that happens to those that have known something about the truth. And again, which category are we falling in? Are we falling into this mocking category? Or are we falling into the category who believe that just as the Scripture was true about what happened in the past, so it is true when it talks about things happening in the future though our perception of the timing may not work out as we hoped?
Verses 8 and 9, this is The New King James.
2 Peter 3:8. But, beloved,
do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9) The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness,
but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but
that all should come to repentance.
And here it uses the word “longsuffering.” Other translations say, “He is patient toward us.” God is patient with us. Why? In order that we still have a chance to turn and come to repentance. In order so that we stay with God and wait on Him. And that may be another reason. If you’re trying to get through your disappointments over these things, this may be another reason why things didn’t start to happen this week so that people may have the time that they need in order to come to repentance. And again, as much as things seemed to be aligned this past week, maybe God has it delayed so that you and I could have time to continue to get our life in order so that we could come to repentance. And wouldn’t that be something if God has to hold up things because of us and how we’re living our lives?
But on the other hand, we should not take God for some sort of a fool, because He may be giving people time to repent. He may be holding things up because of that, but in the end, there comes a time where He can’t hold up things any longer.
I’m just going to read one verse, Revelation chapter 22 verse 11. But there is coming a time where even the Almighty has to move things along and He can’t hold up things any longer. Chapter 22 verse 11, the angel is telling John in light of everything that he has seen
Revelation 22:11. “He who is
unjust, let him be unjust still; he who is filthy, let him be filthy still; he
who is righteous, let him be righteous still; he who is holy, let him be holy
still.”
And from this verse I take it that there’s coming a time when God has to move things forward and He cannot hold up things any longer. And at that point, whatever category we’re in, whether it’s the unjust, whether it’s the faithful, whether it’s the filthy, whether it’s the righteous, that’s how things have turned out. We have made our choice and God has to move things along. So God may be patient with us. He may be patient with us for a long time, but what we have to realize is that He doesn’t hold up things forever. He can’t. There comes a time where whatever span of time He’s given us to become ready spiritually, as referred to in 2 Peter 3, that will come to an end. And that’s what I wanted to take from that verse.
There’s one last thing I wanted to take from this reference in 2 Peter. And we’re going to be wrapping things up. But turning back there, 2 Peter 3 verses 11 through 13. The last thing I wanted to go over is what then should be our motivation for wanting the 1335 to begin sooner than later? Is it just so that the sinners of the world will get theirs? Well, Peter offers us another reason, a better reason to ideally hope for those 1335 days to start sooner than later. And I hope to bring this out. He says in verse 11
2 Peter 3:11. Therefore,
since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be [but] in holy conduct and
godliness, 12) Looking for and hastening
the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved,
being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? 13) Nevertheless, we, according to His
promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
So verse 12 he says that we are to look for and to hasten the coming of the day of God. And how do we do that? Well, in verse 11, we do that by being persons of holy conduct and godliness, and if I might add, patience, waiting on God. And how does that hasten the day of God? Well, then it goes back to verse 9 because then if we’re in that state of living, state of repentance, then He may not have to hold up things any longer and things can go forward. God would no longer have to hold things up on our account giving us time to repent, because we are already in a state of repentance as we are living these lives. So that’s one thing out of these verses.
There is another thing. In verses 11, 12, and 13 Peter mentions a sequence that I think goes to ideally what our motive should be in wanting the end time events to start sooner than later. And he says that the day of God is coming. That’s true. He’s saying that it’s a time of fire and judgment. That is true as well. There’s no getting around that. And you could think back to the sermonette that Steve gave on Trumpets. It may seem like it’s a harsh thing the way God is going to be wrapping things up in the Day of Trumpets. And he pointed out is that we have to keep God’s perspective in mind. The reason He’s doing things that way is because of the sins and the sinners that Isaiah talks about. And Steve referred to that verse as well. It was a good reminder. These things are going to happen. The Judgment is going to happen.
And so, yes, what I’m taking from this is that we don’t have to be hoping for the Day of the Lord and the 1335 days so that the sinners will get theirs so to speak. That’s going to happen anyway, but the thing he refers us to is that we can look forward beyond those hard times to the days when we have a new heaven and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. And so his point in these verses, I believe, is that, “Look, these things are going to happen. They’re certain things, but let’s have the attitude of not wanting them to happen so that sinners will get theirs. But let’s have the attitude of wanting them to happen so that we can get past the hard times and get to the better heavens and the better earth, the time of a better world for everyone.”
But we need to be careful. Those of us who want the 1335 days and the end times to start sooner than later, let’s be careful that our motivation is in line with God.
Let’s turn over way back to Amos chapter 5. Please hold your place here in 2 Peter 3. But Amos chapter 5 verses 18 through 20 talks about the Day of the Lord. And it cautions us about wanting that Day of the Lord to come. Of all things, it cautions us about wanting that thing to happen. Amos 5 verse 18.
Amos 5:18. Woe to you who
desire the day of the Lord! For what good is the day of the Lord
to you? It will be darkness and not light.
19) It will be as though a man
fled from a lion, and a bear met him! or as
though he went into the house, leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent
bit him! 20) Is not the day of the Lord
darkness, and not light? Is it not very dark, with no brightness
in it?
And what I take from this verse is let’s not be too eager for the Day of the Lord to dump all of its plagues on the world. Bad things are going to happen during that time. Again, we heard about that during the sermonette this past week. And, yes, it’s going to take place. To me these are a warning to those of us who, yes, we want the end times to come sooner than later, but let’s be careful of our reason for wanting them to happen sooner than later. Hopefully it’s beyond wanting the sinners to get theirs. As we look around at the society around us, there’s a lot of things that need to be cleaned up. But we need to think beyond that as Peter was referring to and look for the good times beyond that.
That’s why recently I was happy to see a certain tone that was in an article that was in The Living Church of God’s Tomorrow’s World magazine, the July-August 2008 issue with the cover “Armageddon and Beyond.” But on page 28, Mr. Wallace Smith wrote a one page article that brought up the questions: Are those that are behind this magazine, are they rooting for defeat, as he titles the article? He says that we certainly want Christ to return. And we know that these prophecies of hard times, harder than any nation has seen before, must come to pass before He returns, but does this mean that we are rooting for our nations to suffer?
And I’ll just read one paragraph where he says—because when I read that sentence, when I first started reading this article, I thought to myself, “Well, yes, that is what this is all about. My experience, my take on the tone of those behind this magazine has been, ‘Yes, we want the end times to come because we want the sinners to get theirs.’” It’s almost as if they wanted these things to happen so that they can say, “See, we were right. See, how things happened as we predicted they were going to happen.”
But in this article, there was a change of tone. He says in this paragraph
But while we understand the
prophesied need for that suffering, we will not be like Jonah who, in spite of
preaching repentance to the Ninevites, actually hoped they would not
repent. Rather we strive to preach a
message of hope that those who repent, whether individuals or entire nations,
can begin to reap God’s blessings.
And he goes on to say that we should pray for our nations asking God to give them the wisdom to obey Him so that they can experience all the blessings that they can.
And to me, I just had to give credit where credit was due, because it’s just a different tone. It was just real encouraging to see that, because it seems to be a balanced approach. And it seems to fit in well with what we’re reading in Amos and in 2 Peter 3. Let’s be careful of our reasons for wanting the end times to happen sooner than later. Hopefully it’s more than just wanting the sinners to get theirs. That is going to happen. That’s a natural result of God’s intervention, but let’s hope for these days to happen sooner than later because of what happens beyond the hard times. Hopefully that is our motivation.
2 Peter 3:13. Nevertheless
we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which
righteousness dwells.
That’s 2 Peter 3 and verse 13.
And that may be the real disappointment that I have had to deal with this past week, because in realizing that things are not starting to wrap up beginning this week, it means that this promise of a better world is just going to be delayed that much longer. It would have been nice for these things to have started so that, yes, we can get through the hard times, but more than that, that we can get to the better world behind it. And so now, it’s just going to take a little bit longer.
And just to wrap things up, we don’t know all the ends and outs of God’s timing. We can have certain hopes. We can have certain expectations, but when those don’t come about, when the Scriptures teach us that we don’t have to be swallowed up in a black hole of disappointment. We don’t have to give up on God. Instead the Scriptures encourage us to continue waiting on God. We see that word “waiting” a lot in terms of patience.
So let’s do that. Let’s not turn to mocking. Instead let’s continue to believe what the Scriptures say are going to happen in the end times. Let’s not turn to buying into the mindset that my Lord delays His coming, but let’s remain faithful instead. And if we do, we can do those things by reading the Scriptures. We can rise above disappointments because we turn to and read the patience and the comfort that is in the Scriptures.
Transcribed by kb