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Now, here's today's message from Pastor Skip. Moses endured the rebellion of the children of Israel for tell me how many years. Forty years. That's a tough gig. That's a tough gig.
40 years hearing complaining of God's people over and over again. David was hunted by King Saul for nearly seven years of his adult life. Elijah the prophet faced hostility from King Ahab and Queen Jezebel. Jeremiah was mocked by the people, hated by King Zedekiah. Ezekiel endured the death of his wife.
During his earthly ministry, Daniel was thrown into the Lion's den, because of his faith, Hosea. Had a heartbreaking marriage, Amos. The prophet faced lies of the people. And finally, John the Baptist, and I include him because Jesus said he's the last of the prophets. He was imprisoned.
And he was beheaded.
Now is that suffering? Yeah, that's James is right. They're an example of suffering, but it says, and... Patience And then we count them blessed who endure. They didn't back down.
Any of those things that they suffered would be enough. to take any of us out. And just say, I'm not going to put up with that. I'm done.
So here's an example. When Elijah the prophet was sent to King Ahab, King Ahab seized the prophet. And the King says, Is that you? O Troubler of Israel, And Elijah didn't say yes. It's me.
What Elijah did is shoot back and say, I'm not the troubler of Israel. You are and your father's house, because you have forsaken the Lord and served other gods. And then he challenges the king to a contest on Mount Carmel the following day. You know the story, 1 Kings 18. The prophets of Baal were executed that day.
And Jezebel, the wife of Ahab, found out and gave Elijah a death threat. You got 24 hours, buddy. By this time tomorrow, if you're not dead. Then I didn't do my job, but I'm coming after you.
So he ran away, went all the way down to Sinai. Eventually he came back. And he showed up again to confront Ahab and Jezebel. When they stole a man's vineyard, the man was named Naboth. They wanted the vineyard, so they had to be.
had him killed. And they stole it for themselves. Elijah comes again and confronts King Ahab. And says, God will judge your entire household. Listen to these words in the place.
The dogs licked the blood of Naboth. They will lick your blood. And he continues, he keeps going. Tell your wife Jezebel the dogs are going to eat her. He didn't back down.
Then there was Jeremiah the prophet. Ridiculed, tortured, imprisoned. One time put in a mud hole, a cistern, he sank in the mud. It got so bad. that he wanted to quit.
In Jeremiah chapter 20. Jeremiah said, Listen to his words. I will not make mention of him. That's God. nor speak any more in his name.
You know what he just said? I quit. I resign. I don't want this job. I've been a prophet.
I now want to be a non-profit organization. There's some jokes I just cannot resist. That's one of them.
So he just said, I'm done. I don't want to speak anymore in your name. Count me out. I'm going to go flip burgers at McDonald's. But He goes on to say this: But his word was in my heart like a burning fire, shut up in my bones.
I was weary of holding it back, and I could not.
So we kept coming back, kept speaking the truth, kept shining the light. In the darkness. It is like the great theologian Tom Petty. Who once said, I won't back down. No, I won't back down.
You could stand me up at the gates of hell, and I won't back down. That was Elijah's song. And I just want to say this. This is not the time for us to back down. In this cultural confusion.
And sensitivity that's going on in our world. This is now not the time to back down. This is the time to stand up. This is the time to speak out. And you probably know that the world would like to silence you.
They would like to censure you. They would like to tell you to stay in your lane, little Christian. Go to your little Bible studies, go up to your little church, fold your hands and pray, and sing your songs, but do not go into the public square and give us any of your. Morality.
So I am often asked by people a simple question, and that is, should Christians be involved in politics?
Well Politics cannot be separated from morality. Have you noticed that? Moral ideas are being Positioned. Politics can't be separated from morality. Morality can't be separated from Christianity.
If we have nothing to say to this culture, To this politicized culture, we are leaving them. to decay in the filth and rot of secularism. Listen, ask the Christians who lived under Caesar Nero if politics were important. Ask the Christians who lived during Nazi Germany if politics were important. Ask Christians today who live in China if politics are important or in North Korea.
Now I understand. Whenever this subject comes up, there's a tension we feel. And here's the tension: we would rather be known more for what we are for than what we are against. I get that. We don't want any issue.
Even a political issue to be a stumbling block to our simply preaching the gospel. But Sometimes political issues force us into a moral corner. And we must take Take sides. We must. I have a book written by a friend of mine named Erwin Lutzer.
There's just a paragraph I'd like. To share with you, this is what Dr. Lutzer writes. We tell ourselves that we don't witness about our faith because we fear offending someone. We are silent in the face of political and moral decline because we want to be thought of as nice and not judgmental.
We don't want to let people know that the way into the kingdom is narrow and there is a cost to following Jesus. We all have crosses to bear. And we are constantly trying to find Trying on different ones for a good fit. We are all trying to find A lighter cross There are no lighter crosses. This is the reality.
This is the culture we find ourselves in. We are to be Christians, salt, and light. Do not back down. Let the truth be heard. Let the truth be herald.
Do not grumble. Do not back down. Third, negative command for a positive life. Do not give up. Do not give up.
It dovetails nicely with the second one, but it's a bit different. Again, look at verse 11. Indeed, we count them blessed who endure. Then he launches into another example. You have heard.
Of the perseverance of Job. I had a roommate who thought it was job. And he actually came to me and said, I'm not going to read that book, The Book of Job. He was unemployed at the time and he thought he'd get convicted because he wasn't working. Serious.
So I had to say David. It's Job. It's a dude. Anyway, it has nothing to do with this, just came to my head. Indeed, we count them blessed to endure.
You've heard of the perseverance of Job. And have seen the end intended by the Lord, that the Lord is very compassionate. and merciful. Two words in that. Endure and perseverance.
Same Greek word. It's the word I told you about weeks ago in chapter one, where James says, Count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the trial of your faith. will produce Perseverance. Patience. Let patience have its perfect work.
It's the word. Hoopa Mane. In Greek, hupamane means to remain under, to remain under the tension. To remain under the load, it is staying power. It is fortitude.
Here's the best definition I found: holy. Toughness. Holy toughness.
Some of us need to toughen up. And when you are repeatedly tested and you suffer and you prevail. You make it through. you get tougher. And you get better, and then you go through another trial, and it's hard, but you get tougher, and you get better.
And it says in Romans chapter 5, tribulation produces Perseverance. All of that to say, Do not give up. I always loved Winston Churchill's speech. He was asked to come to A boy's school, a prep school. He had gone there when he was younger.
He graduated from there. He became the Prime Minister of England. and a very fiery, saucy, great leader. Churchill was invited back. To address the boys.
Before Churchill got there, the headmaster said to the students, now, students, Winston Churchill is coming. I want you to get your notebooks out and your pens out. And take Detailed notes.
So they're all ready for this long speech he's going to give. Churchill stands up. and utters twelve words. Young gentlemen. Never give up.
Never give up. Never, never, never, never. And he sat down. That was it. What do you think he was trying to say?
Never give up. He wanted one thought to prevail, so he made it short and sweet. I know you're saying, Skip, you could learn a lesson from that. This is Connect with Skip Heitzig. Before we return to Skiff's teaching, Do you ever feel stuck when it comes to studying the Bible?
Pastor Skip's book, How to Study the Bible and Enjoy It, shows you how to go from feeling intimidated by Scripture. to engaging it with joy and confidence. This helpful book is yours when you give $50 or more to help keep this Bible teaching ministry going strong around the world. Request your copy of How to Study the Bible and enjoy it today. at connectwithskiff.com slash offer or call 800-922-1888.
Let's return now to today's message. Endure, persevere, remain under, never give up. The example that James uses is Job.
Now Job was a man who did everything right. In fact, God said there's nobody as righteous on the earth as Job. He is Cream of the crop. Job is a man who did everything right and yet everything wrong. happened to him.
Very few people in history have suffered as much as Job. But Job Didn't curse God. Job didn't give up on God. He withstood the attacks of Satan, the loss of all of his children. the loss of his wealth, the loss of his health.
and a loss of the sense of God's presence. His wife was not helpful. His wife encouraged him to give up. She came to him and gave him that. Remember that sweet advice of his wife after he was lost everything?
She just said, Look, curse God and die. Oh, thank you, sweetheart. That was just so. Encouraging. He rebuked her for that.
Then there were four friends who came alongside, giving him warped advice. And though Job throughout the book was very vocal about his pain. and bemoaned even the day of his birth. He endured it. And he never gave up.
And Satan predicted. That Job would abandon God, he didn't. In fact, I think the pinnacle of the book is in chapter 13 where Job says this. Though he slay me, yet I will trust him.
Now that's endurance. This might kill me. I might die trusting God. I'm still going to trust Him. I'm gonna trust.
He didn't give up.
Now that's just a very important example, Job. Here's why. If Job was the most righteous person on the earth, then we can say categorically: righteous people suffer. None of this nonsense.
Well, if you have enough faith, you'll never suffer. You'll never get diseases.
Now, Job was righteous. Righteous people suffer because everyone suffers.
So righteous people suffer, but resilient people endure. And Job was both righteous and resilient. He suffered. But he endured.
Somebody once said, it's always too soon to quit.
Some of you feel I'm done. I've suffered. It's been hard. I've waited. I've prayed.
It's not happening. I'm about ready to quit. Always too soon to quit. You may this morning be this close. to a breakthrough.
Don't give up.
So Notice again what it says in verse 11. You've heard of the perseverance of Job. And this is great. And seen the end. Intended by the Lord.
So God let him go through this because God had something he wanted to give to Job, the end intended by the Lord. That the Lord is very compassionate. and merciful. Job's endurance was eventually rewarded. His faith was proved genuine, Satan was proved a liar, his faith was strengthened, and the book ends by saying, The Lord blessed the latter days of Job.
more than the beginning. That's the end intended by the Lord. Back in the 1800s, there was a boxer named Jim Corbett. Gentleman Jim, they used to call him. Gentleman Jim Corbett.
Was the heavyweight boxing champion for five straight years. And someone once asked him, a reporter, what is the secret? What is your secret? He answered with these words Fight One more round. Fight one more round.
When you're so tired you can barely stand up, fight one more round. When your arms are so weak that you think you can't lift it for a final punch, fight one more round. He said the man who fights one more round is never whipped because he's always fighting one more round. Did you know God is in your corner? There's an end intended by the Lord for the trial you're going through.
God is in your corner. Stand up. Fight one more round. Don't give up.
The Bible says the righteous may fall seven times, but he always will get back up.
So You want a positive life? Do not grumble. Do not back down. Do not give up. Fourth.
Finally. Do not swear. That doesn't seem like it even makes sense here. Don't swear? What are you talking about?
Well, look at verse. Twelve. But above all, quite a statement. Above all these things, more importantly than anything else, above all, my brethren, do not what? Swear.
Now it's not talking about cussing. He's not saying Thou shalt not cuss, though you shouldn't, by the way. It kind of goes without saying. But it's talking not about that kind of swearing, but about making an oath. Do not swear either by heaven or by earth.
or with any other oath, but let your yes be yes, and your no, Yeah.
Okay, now come on, this seems out of place.
So I'm tracking with Job so far until he gets to this verse, and he goes, Oh, and by the way, above everything else, don't. swear. And you're going, huh? What? Does that have to do with suffering.
Well If you've ever suffered, you know. How easy it is when you suffer. to make bargains with God. To say things in the moment that you really don't mean. God, get me out of this, and I promise I'll fill in the blank.
Jesus, heal me and I will, I swear. Fill in the blank.
So above all, do not swear. Or do not speak. Hastily, you might say. Back in the Old Testament, the book of Judges, chapter 11, there's a tragic story about one of the judges named Jephthah. Who made a very rash vow to God?
He said, God, if you deliver the Ammonites into my hands, when I come home, the first thing that walks out of the door of my house, I will sacrifice to you. Stupid thing to say. He made that vow. He came home after the battle, after he won. He's thinking a little sheep is going to come walking out the door, or maybe his cocker spaniel is coming out the door.
and instead his daughter walks out the door to greet him from the battle. To hug him. He made a dumb Val in the heat of the moment.
So James says, above all, don't swear either by heaven or by earth, or with any other oath. Let your yes be yes, your no be no. lest you fall into judgment. Pretty obvious that James Borrowed this from his elder half-brother, the Lord Jesus Christ, in the Sermon on the Mount.
Sounds very similar, right? Remember when Jesus said, Do not swear by heaven, it is God's throne, nor by earth, for it is God's footstool, nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great king. Don't swear by your head, because you can't make one hair black or white. Just let your yes be yes, and your no no. James remembered that.
And is referring to the words of the Lord Jesus when he says this. And here's the point of that verse. Integrity requires Few words. If you have to explain yourself and talk that person into it.
Something's wrong. There's a reason they are reticent to believe you.
So just let Your integrity Shine and show. Let's your yes, be s and your no. Be now. You don't have to put your hand on your heart and put your hand up and say, Now, I swear God is my witness that we did that when we were kids, right? Cross your heart.
Hope to die, you know, all those crazy little oaths we did. And here's why James, and by the way, Jesus. Would even say this. 2,000 years ago? In Jerusalem, did you know the religious leaders had figured out a religious way?
to lie to each other. They divided all oaths into two categories. Binding oaths? And Tell me. Non-binding oaths.
Very good class. Binding oaths were oaths that included the name of God. Non-binding oaths, where I swear by Jerusalem, I swear by heaven, earth, my head, whatever, as long as God's name isn't in it. You can say it and not do it.
So they had figured out some righteous religious way to tell lies to one another. James is saying, listen, you want a positive life? Let your word stand as truth. Become a person of integrity.
So we have four negative commands for a positive life. And if you're that kind of a person who says, you know, the Bible's so negative, says, don't do this and don't do that.
Well If you're walking down a hallway and you see a doorway, and the door says, keep out. And you pause and you look at that door and you look at that sign and you go.
Well, why do they want to keep me out? Where are they hiding? What's inside? And what's the big deal if I just look inside? Find out what they're hiding.
Well, keep reading. It says do not enter.
Next line, it says, danger.
Next line, explosives.
Well, now you know the whole story. They don't want you to go in there because they don't want you to Blow up.
So God gives commandments in His Bible and says, stay away from that. Stay away from that. And it's not like God wants you to have a bummer life and have no fun. No, God doesn't want your life to blow up. It's all about what James says.
He is merciful. He is compassionate. God's negatives or for a positive reason. We're so glad you joined us today for Connect with Skip Heidzig. Before we go, don't miss this chance to request how to study the Bible and enjoy it, Pastor Skip's practical guide to getting more out of every page of scripture.
It's our thanks for your generous gift of $50 or more to help share God's Word through Connect with Skip. Call 800-922-1888. or visit connectwithskip.com slash offer. And don't forget to grab your free download of how to approach studying the Bible when you sign up for Skip's weekly devotionals. Tune in next time for more verse-by-verse teaching of God's Word here on Connect with Skip Heitzen.
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