Ephesians two eight nine and ten. For by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. We're we're not saved by works. We're saved by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

But the next verse, verse 10 says, we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto, what, Good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk or live in them. We're not saved by good works, but we're saved that we might do good works. We're saved by grace through faith in Christ that he might conform us to the image of his son, that his holiness and love and grace might be reflected in his children in the way we live to the world around us as we do good works to bring glory to his name. So what do we mean? What does Paul mean by good works?

Well, they're obedient works, obviously. Jesus said, if you love me, keep my commandments. If if you go to if your parent says, hey, I want you to go take out the trash, and then they come back and you haven't taken out, they go say, would you please take out the trash? And you look at them and go, I don't really want to right now. Oh, by the way, I love you awful lot, mom.

That's not exactly the time that just doesn't if you love your mom, what do you do? Show it. Take out the what? Take out the trash. Your actions sometimes speak louder than your what?

Than your words. What are good works? Well, there are obedience works. If you love your heavenly father, then we wanna do those things that please him. Obedient works.

They're they're joyful works we looked at last week. They're they're kind works we looked at the week before. They are honest works. Honest works. And they today are patient works.

James chapter one two through four says this, my brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into diverse temptations, meaning tests or trials, knowing this that the trying of your faith worketh, what? Patience. And but let patience have her perfect work that she may be perfect and entire wanting or lacking nothing. James writes to these are mainly Hebrew believers that are are are struggling through trials largely brought on by persecution from their Hebrew brethren. And he says, when you face trials, don't get all depressed and down on the mouth and overwhelmed and, oh, poor me.

I have these trials. They're treating me this way. They shouldn't do that. He says, no. Instead, count it as what?

Joy. Well, that's an odd thing to do, you know, when you're going through joy. Why? Because God uses trials in many forms to teach us. And among the things that trials teach us, one of the big ones is what?

Patience. Patience. Be patient. Why? Well, because the trials, they don't last forever.

Many of them are fleeting. The trial comes and the trial, what? Goes. And who is still there? You and God.

You and God. God is still there. And he got you through the trial or he's bringing you through the trial presently. And you're okay because God knows what he's doing. So be patient.

Learn patience. Learn trust in God. And we don't learn that if we don't have some bumps in the road along the way. So they're not all bad. Matter of fact, we're told in Romans chapter eight, all things work together for them who love God to those who are the called according to his purpose.

So as we pursue the will of God in our life, where else we're going to have trials. Everybody's going to have trials. But for the child of God, we can know this. The trials that come into our life, God can use them for what? For good, to produce character and hope and faith and love and patience in our life.

And those are good things. Those are beneficial. Doesn't mean everything's pleasant or fun. But if we'll allow, they can be beneficial and they will produce patience. And so what kind of works are we talking about?

This morning, we're talking about patient works. Look up on the screen if you would or in your Bibles at second Peter three nine. The Lord is not slack concerning his promises. Some men count slackness. But is long suffering to us, we're not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

Now, in that verse, where is the word patience? It's there, just in a different form. Longsuffering. The word there for patience is longsuffering. Understand this, Peter writes.

It seems like sometimes the Lord makes promises and they just aren't happening at the clip we want them to happen. Okay? But know this, the Lord is not slack concerning his promise as some men count slack. If God has said something, he is going to what? He is going to do it.

He is gonna follow through. You can count on it. But it's not always on our timetable. Okay? The promise concerning his return to earth and rewarding his servants, well, that's been nearly two thousand years since he went back to heaven.

That's been a while. And some might say, even as they did in Peter's day, well, boy, it's been a long time. Maybe he's not coming back. But he is. He said he would come the first time and guess what he did?

He came. Told in Isaiah 53 what he would do when he came the first time. And he did. He died on the cross for our sins and he rose again to bring us light. So don't doubt the promises of God.

He keeps his promises. The Lord is not slack concerning his promises. Some men clout slackness but is long suffering to usward. He's patient with us. Not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

What does God want? He wants everybody to have the opportunity for repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. And so he is holding off and he is holding off. One day, he is coming. But for now, he is patient.

He is patiently waiting for that last soul to come to Christ. He is patient, and that's why it's been a little while. We serve a very patient and long suffering God who suffers long with a reprobate and unbelieving world, even with those of us, his children, who are anything but deserving of that privilege and constantly falling short. Therefore, God not only causes it to rain on the good and the evil, the just and the unjust, but he tarries long in bringing judgment on a fallen world. He suffers long in bringing chastening upon his own children.

He teaches us every day and he prods us along despite our hesitation and our doubt. I think often of his ignorant, hard headed disciples. He spent three years bearing with their ignorance and their lack of understanding and their stubbornness as he taught them and he cared for them. Just think a moment. The God of heaven came to earth in human form.

And for three years, he traveled with these 12 plus others. And he taught them, and he had to teach them again and again. And after he said it the fifth and sixth and seventh time, he had to tell them again. And then when something happened, they panicked. And, oh, no.

And he has to reinforce it again. He is the guy. He knows everything. Look how patient he was day after day after day with these people, even his disciples. He calmed the sea instantly with a simple command, peace be still.

And they wondered saying, what manner of man is this that even the winds and the sea obey him? And he said to them, oh ye of what? Little faith. He was he's not just a man. He's who?

He's God. He was and is God in human flesh. He is the creator of the world and everything that is. Of course, the winds and the sea obey him. That's that's a no brainer.

Of course, the winds and sea obey him because he's God. They lacked understanding yet, but he was patient. He blesses us beyond measure in our spirit with his spirit and also in so many other ways beginning with eternal life, which he has given us the promise he will never leave us nor forsake us, his daily provision that he provides, our health, our peace, our family, so many other things, answered prayer, all undeserved, sometimes unappreciated, and often not reciprocated. And yet his mercies are new, what? Every morning.

When we get it wrong today, we can wake up tomorrow knowing that God is still there. And so is his mercy and his grace. Jeremiah wrote in Lamentations three twenty two and twenty three, it is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness.

Miss Barbara's favorite song, I think. At least the one she always gives when we have our singspiration. Great is thy faithfulness. If we got what we deserved, if we God just let us go and let us go our own path, we would end up with everybody else on the broad way that leads to what? Destruction.

But he is a good God. He loves us so much that he gave his only begotten son. And thanks to his mercy and grace, we are not consumed. We have not been destroyed. Instead, we have been made the children of the king.

Instead, we've been forgiven of our sins. Instead, he has granted us eternal life in Jesus Christ to all those who put their faith and trust in him. Why? Because he is a patient God. And he's patient with us.

And he waited. Or maybe today he's waiting for you to come to the savior. And he is patient with his children every day, and his mercies are new, what, every morning. Yes. We have a very patient and long suffering God.

And if he were not so, we would have been lost forever. But instead, we have a home prepared that he has prepared in heaven for us. And one day, he's coming to take us home. In like manner, God expects his children to be filled with his spirit and show the same kind of patience towards others that he has shown us. Praise God for his long suffering to us ward.

Praise God for his patience with me. You know what? God expects me to be patient with others. He has given me his spirit to help me in that endeavor. The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace.

Number four, long suffering or patience. Love, joy, peace, long suffering, patience. Number four, fruit of the spirit. Long suffering is the first characteristic of love mentioned in first Corinthians 13. Love is what?

Patient. Love is patient. It's patient with those who are the objects of that love. Praise God that he loves us. Because he loves us, he's what?

He's patient. His love is demonstrated in that. In Ephesians chapter four, Paul writes this, I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called. Well, what vocation is that? Well, as servants of the king of kings and the Lord of lords.

That's our vocation in Jesus Christ. We are his children, his servants. Now Paul says you need to walk worthy of that calling with all loneliness and meekness with what? Longsuffering bearing one another in love. See, the longsuffering is connected there to the what?

The love. K? Why? How do you forbear long? How do you suffer long?

Find patience with others? Because you love them. Because you love them or at least you ought to. He loves them. He loved you.

He's given you a spirit of love in your hearts. Show it. Allow it to produce patience in your life with one another. It is a very valuable virtue to be patient for you and for others in a family, in a church, in a place of business. Patience is a valuable virtue and it is one expressed infinitely by our God and one that can be expressed by us.

Here, Paul calls the Ephesian believers to forbear with one another and have a long suffering attitude in all things. As Paul himself suffers long with joy in his heart even while he is where? Where is Paul when he's writing Ephesians? He's in prison. He's in prison.

He is suffering long. He is waiting patiently on the Lord. He is about to go to trial before Caesar. His life could end in a matter of days or weeks or months or it could continue. He doesn't know.

He says, for me to to live as Christ to die is gain. And he's just waiting patiently on the Lord. But while he's waiting patiently on the Lord, he's just sitting there in pity, depressed. Is he? No.

What is he doing? Well, he's writing letters to other churches, Ephesians and Philippians and to a young man named Timothy to encourage them in their walk with the Lord and their faith. Even while he sits bound in prison, he is thinking about them. And he says to them here, you need to learn to suffer long with one another in the Lord Jesus Christ. The emphasis in the word long suffering is not on the suffering.

It's on the word what? Long. Long suffering. That's the emphasis of the word. To suffer to forbear.

To endure long. That isn't something that comes easy to human nature, but it is divine nature. And as we allow the nature of our savior Jesus Christ and his spirit to live in us, we will be able also to suffer long. Paul suffered long with others, from his persecutors to his detractors to sometimes his fellow ministers and his pupils who were slow to listen and learn and give of themselves. But he did not see it as suffering or as a sorrow or as a frustration, but he counted the ministry as joy.

It was a privilege to minister to others. Though sometimes hardheaded and stubborn and blind and deaf, it was still to Paul a privilege and a joy because God had put in his heart a long suffering attitude. Thus, in James one two through four, we're to count trials, our trials, as a joyful thing because they produce in us a very good thing, patience. Patience with others who also struggle with the same hardships and weaknesses. As we suffer through trials and learn patience, we also learn patience with others who are suffering through similar circumstances.

I remember years back, and it's now been twenty plus years ago, people would complain about their back. Oh, I have back pain. Oh, my back. I can't sit for long. I can't they'd sometimes I had a couple people, they they get up and walk back and forth in the back of the auditorium because their back hurt.

Well, a few years back, I picked up a television I shouldn't have picked up. My wife asked me, do you need some help? No. I got it. Picked it up.

I turned the twist to set it down. Well, when I twisted, guess what happened? Something in my back went and thus began my saga of a of a messed up disc in my back. And about five years ago, that disc just burst. And it burst right on my sciatic nerve.

So not only did my back hurt, but it burned all the way from my back to the tips of my toes except the places where it was numb. It was not good. I couldn't walk for two weeks. I walked with a cane for two months. And guess what?

I have a new appreciation for people who have back pain. Why? Because I've been I've been there. Done that. It can be excruciating just to sit in the pew for an hour.

It can be excruciating to have to bend over and do stuff. It's not easy. I had to endure patiently and I know some people in here that are enduring patiently even right now as I'm preaching. I appreciate your patience and your endurance and you being here because I know it isn't easy. And as we go through trials, we learn patience.

Patience with, the Lord, but also patience with others. And also with the Lord, we learn patience because he does get us through. Jesus' disciples on the sea, they feared and they panicked. Why? Because they didn't understand fully who Jesus was and what he could do and what he was doing.

The better we know the Lord, the less we will panic in hard times and know for a certainty in our hearts, he is there. He cares. He knows what he is doing. We need to trust him and be patient as he teaches us to be patient with others also. In second Timothy four two, we read this.

As Paul speaking to Timothy says, preach the word, be instant in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all what? Longsuffering and doctrine. Okay? He is a pastor of the church in Ephesus, by the way, was where he was pastoring at the time. Paul wrote these letters.

He said, reprove, rebuke, exhort. Rebuke, reprove, exhort who? People in his congregation. Because at times, we all need that. And that's a lot of fun for a preacher to rebuke and reprove and no.

It's not always fun, especially one on one. It's it's a little easier up here on the pulpit where I'm just kinda, you know, spraying it out there. It's a little more harder when you're looking somebody in the eye and saying, this this isn't you know. But Paul says, though they you sometimes feel like you're hitting your head up against a what? A brick wall.

In this case, keep doing it. Now, the real brick wall, don't do that. Okay? But don't give up. Don't give up.

With sound doctrine, if you know what is right, speak the truth in what? In love, and don't give up on those that God has placed in your care. Don't give up on them. Suffer what? Suffer long.

Be patient. Because we, as human beings, know how stubborn and hardheaded we can be when you're trying to help others, remember you. Remember how stubborn you can be. Don't give up. Be patient.

Learn patience. Preachers need patience in dealing with people because they are hard headed like the disciples and slow to change. They also need patience with God to wait upon him and not run ahead and try to do the work of the spirit themselves. I'm the messenger. I'm here to give you the message.

But I can't reach in and change your heart, but I know someone who can. So let me keep telling you about him. Let me keep sharing you his word and his message. He'll do it. But you have to be what?

You have to learn patience with others and with God. It takes time. Parishioners need to also have a little patience with their pastors and teachers for they are just as human and sometimes make mistakes and are all the time learning and maybe have a bit of a stubborn streak themselves. So we must learn to be patient with one another, whether you're the person teaching the class or the student learning. To do good works with a patient and long long suffering heart means to keep on doing good works and wait on the Lord to bring the change in someone else that only he can do.

Let me read that again. To do good works with a patient and long suffering heart means to keep on doing good works and wait on the Lord to bring the change in someone else that only he can do because that's his prerogative. Your prerogative is just keep doing the what? The right thing and wait on the Lord. This could be a pastor and a member of his flock or a teacher and a pupil who is either struggling to grasp a principle or is not putting forth his full effort to learn and acquire it.

You ever been a teacher trying to teach somebody who really didn't want to put any effort to learn? Teachers must have a lot of what? Patience or you will not be a good teacher. It could be a wife who is long suffering and patient with her sometimes immature, selfish, and often distracted husband. Or a husband who is patiently waiting for his wife to see things as he does.

Could be a parent suffering along with a stubborn or rebellious child who needs God's assistance in redirecting the heart of the young person in the way of the Lord. It could be a boss suffering long with a lazy or ignorant employee or an employee patiently doing their best despite no recognition from their employer. Could be a friend who suffers long with their friend who is struggling in some area of life to learn to do right or to handle a certain circumstance in life wisely. All those things take what? Patience.

Good patient works are good works. A lot of times, well, good work, getting baptized. Good work, putting money in the offering plate. Good work, going and doing something from those, yes, some of those can be good works. But just being patient with your spouse, your child, your fellow church member, and most importantly with the Lord is a good work.

There are many ways we learn to suffer long with those around us who are likely suffering long with us also. But we also need to be patient with the Lord for he knows what he is doing. And when life throws us curveballs, not to panic, but to what? But to trust. What did the disciples do on the boat?

They panicked because they had not yet learned to what? To trust. And they did not fully understand the person that was on the boat with them yet. Proverbs three, five, and six, Trust in the Lord with all thine heart. Lean not unto thine own understanding.

In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall, what? Direct thy path. What is that? Well, that's a promise from God. If we will learn to trust on him even when it conflicts with our thinking, he will direct us, and he's going to direct us in the way of righteousness and peace.

Trust in the Lord. There are most definitely trials which God brings into our life to teach us to be patient with him. Let's consider a few people quickly in the Bible. Noah. God came to Noah.

He said, I'm gonna destroy the world. I want you to build an ark. How long did it take? A hundred years. A hundred years.

Now, that's a long time. Most of us aren't gonna live that long. Abraham and Sarah waited for a son. He was 100 years old when his son was born and she was 90. Moses, he he served as a shepherd in the desert for how long?

Forty years before God called him back to Egypt. Joshua, circling the city of Jericho, tell the people go walk around the city. Go tell them do it next day, the next day, the next day, the and the seventh day, they gotta walk around the city hot seven times. I bet they got tired. I bet Joshua did too.

And after the seventh time when they lifted up their voice in praise of their God, those walls came what? Came tumbling down. But they had to be patient. I am sure they got tired walking around the city that seventh day. Ruth waiting on the Lord to provide a husband.

David waiting to take a throne. The 120 waiting in the upper room for the coming of the holy spirit. There's a whole lot of waiting in the Christian life. Do you know that? But it's all what?

It's all worth it. It will be worth it all when we see Jesus. We just need to learn a little bit of what? Patience. As we learn to trust in the Lord.

These had to wait for the promises of God and trust and be faithful in the meantime, and so do we. We live in a world of instant gratification. There's really no such thing. At least there's no good thing that does not require a little bit of time, effort, and waiting on the Lord. Satan wants to tell you, you can have everything you want right right now.

It doesn't work that way. Trust in the Lord. He knows what he's doing. You will see your reward, a reward that you'd never have if it wasn't for Jesus. Barnabas is a good example.

Barnabas patiently waited as God taught Paul. And then when Paul couldn't wait on John Mark, Barnabas' nephew, who, when they started on the first missionary journey, John Mark split and ran home to mama after the first few first couple of cities. When they got back, Barnabas said, let's take John Mark with us. Paul says, I'm not taking John Mark with us. I'm not put he he just he jumped ship halfway.

And Barnabas said, no. I'm taking John Mark. They went their separate ways. It worked out. Paul took bar saw Silas and Barnabas took John Mark.

Well, what happened? Well, near the end of Paul's ministry, he had some really good things to say about John Mark and even asked that John Mark come see him. And a matter of fact, because of John Mark, you have a gospel, a book of the Bible called Mark that was written by him. Due in part to a man of great patience named Barnabas. Barnabas.

And you may not be Paul and you may not be John Mark and you might not have a name a book named after you like Barnabas, but you can make a difference in this world. But if you're gonna make a difference, you're gonna have to learn a little bit of what? A little bit of patience. Patience with the Lord and patience with with one another. Isaiah forty thirty one says, but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.

They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. What does the word wait mean? It just simply means those that are patient in waiting for the Lord to do what the Lord has promised to do in their life and the lives of others who just keep doing the right thing and leave the rest to God in his time, you will not regret it.

In closing this morning, I have three questions. Number one, is God still waiting on you? Remember that first verse we looked at? Second Peter three nine, God is not not slack concerning his promise but is long suffering to us. We're not willing that any should, what?

Perish, be lost in their sins, but that all should come to repentance. Who is he waiting? Well, maybe this morning he's waiting for who? For you. Maybe he's waiting for you to come in repentance and faith and trust Jesus Christ as savior.

Maybe he's waiting for you. Would you would you hear his voice today and respond in faith? Number two, are you learning to wait on him? Trust him more, child of God? He's trustworthy.

Be patient. Don't get depressed. Don't give up. Trust him. He knows what he's doing.

Just keep doing the what? The right thing. Step by step, day by day. And how are you doing, number three, with others? Do we need the Lord's help a little bit in suffering long with someone else?

Maybe that's something you can talk to God about today before we leave this place. Let's pray. Dear heavenly father, we thank you, Lord, for your son that you sent to take our place on the cross to give us eternal life that we might be born again by your spirit that we may know the love of Christ. Thank you, Lord, for your patience with us. We pray if there be one here, Lord, that is yet to receive your offer of salvation that they might not wait a day longer, but, Lord, they might receive you today.

And they might come as we sing this hymn of invitation this morning. Lord, for us who know you, Lord, I pray that you would help us to learn from our trials and from our errors. Lord, to wait upon you and to be more long suffering to others, remembering, Lord, that they are being long suffering with us. And, Lord, we need to be a little more patient with them as well. In Jesus' name we do pray.

Amen.