We’ve seen that that we need to buy the oil of the Holy Spirit with prayer, with seeking God, with time spent in the word. Revelation 3, speaking to the church at Laodicea, Jesus says:
“I counsel you to buy of me gold tried in the fire, and white raiment.”
That’s not bought with money but it is bought. As I understand it, here in Luke Jesus says you have to purchase the salvation of your soul by your endurance. If you don’t endure, you’ll be lost. Then there was the Scripture that we have proclaimed earlier:
“We count it all joy when we fall into various trials.”
Can you say that? I know you can say the words but is it true? The reason why we proclaimed that Scripture is because God convinced Ruth and myself that it wasn’t always that way with us. When we fell into various trials, we certainly didn’t count it all joy. So we had to confess that as sin. But James said count it all joy when you fall into various trials. Why? “Because the testing of your faith produces endurance.”
I have observed in the New Testament that every test a Christian goes through ultimately is a test of faith. It may take many forms but what is being tested is your faith. And then James says:
“...let endurance have its perfect work that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.”
Don’t stop short, don’t start to endure and then give up. I asked you before, how many of us want to be perfect and complete, lacking nothing? What’s the condition? Endurance, there’s no way around it.
There’s only one way to learn to endure, and that is enduring. One of the words used in the Old King James Version was ‘longsuffering’. And you know how you learn longsuffering? By suffering long. There’s no other way to do it.
Someone came to a minister for prayer, and said, “Brother, pray for me to get out of this situation, I can’t stand the boss I’m working for.” He said, “No, I won’t pray for you, you haven’t suffered long enough.”
I want to point out to you how closely endurance is connected with preparation for the coming of the Lord. In James 5:7–11, the word that’s used here mainly is patience. In English, there are three related words: patience, perseverance and endurance. They’re related but they’re distinct and all of them have their place in Christian experience.
Patience is derived from the same Latin root which gives us the word passive. Patience is essentially doing nothing. And God expresses patience. Peter says that the patience of God waited in the days of Noah. God didn’t do anything. For a hundred and twenty years He let man go on. Lots of people have concluded God doesn’t care. That’s not so. Often God exercises patience, He doesn’t do anything. So, patience, in a good sense, is doing nothing.
Father, I realize that the only way to learn endurance, is to endure. I pray You’ll help me to have endurance, and the patience to let it have its perfect work in me. I want to thank You, Lord, for Your patience, with all the evil that is going on in this world, that You still give time to repent. Praise You for Your grace and mercy! In Jesus’ name, amen.
