1. Longsuffering, The Character of God
Louis G. Hulsey
May 6, 2012
Casa Grande, Arizona

2. The Character of God
Galatians 5:22-23, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”
“Longsuffering” is described as part of the character of God.
The character of God is absolutely holy.
The character of God is eternally the same and never changes.

3. Longsuffering
Vine’s Expository Dictionary says, “Longsuffering is that quality of self-restraint in the face of provocation which does not hastily retaliate or promptly punish; it is the opposite of anger, and is associated with mercy, and is used of God… Patience is the quality that does not surrender to circumstances or succumb under trial; it is the opposite of despondency and is associated with hope.”

4. Moses With God
Exodus 34 describes an intimate time between Moses and God where God reveals Himself to Moses.
We too can have such intimate times with the Lord.
Moses sanctified himself and made himself ready to come into the presence of the Lord, v2.
It was a private moment between God and Moses. No one else went up on the mountain with Moses, v3.

5. The Lord Descends
Moses prepared two tables of stone for God to write on, v4.
We must prepare to hear from God. Take a notebook or a writing pad when you go to encounter our Holy God.
Wait before the Lord in repentance and worship Him, v5.
As the Lord descended on Mt. Sinai to speak with Moses, He descended on the Day of Pentecost to speak to His New Testament Church.
The Lord still descends when His people worship Him and give Him glory. 

6. Exodus 34:1-3
Exodus 34:1-35
1, “And the LORD said unto Moses, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first: and I will write upon these tables the words that were in the first tables, which thou brakest.
2, And be ready in the morning, and come up in the morning unto mount Sinai, and present thyself there to me in the top of the mount.
3, And no man shall come up with thee, neither let any man be seen throughout all the mount; neither let the flocks nor herds feed before that mount.

7. Exodus 34:4-5
4, And he hewed two tables of stone like unto the first; and Moses rose up early in the morning, and went up unto mount Sinai, as the LORD had commanded him, and took in his hand the two tables of stone.
5, And the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name [שׁם = “shawm” = “an appellation, as a mark or memorial of individuality; by implication honor, authority, character” – Strong’s] of the LORD.

8. Exodus 34:6
6, And the LORD [יהוה] passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD [יהוה = yeh-ho-vaw', = Jehovah, Jewish national name of God: - Jehovah, the Lord. – Strong’s] The LORD [יהוה] God [אל = El = adjective mighty, strength; especially the Almighty] , merciful and gracious, longsuffering [ארך = aw-rake'= long-suffering], and abundant in goodness and truth,

9. Exodus 34:7
[The Lord describes His longsuffering as “forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.” But there were conditions under which God forgave sin. It was necessary to repent and to offer the proper sacrifice to pay for that sin. We too must forgive offenses and obnoxious behavior when others repent and trust in the sacrifice paid for them.]
7, Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.

10. Exodus 34:8-9
8, And Moses made haste, and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshipped.
9, And he said, If now I have found grace in thy sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray thee, go among us; for it is a stiffnecked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for thine inheritance.
[How merciful God must be to take a sinful and stiff-necked people for His inheritance.]

11. Exodus 34:10-11
10, And he said, Behold, I make a covenant: before all thy people I will do marvels, such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation: and all the people among which thou art shall see the work of the LORD: for it is a terrible thing that I will do with thee.
11, Observe thou that which I command thee this day: behold, I drive out before thee the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite. [If we will live according to our covenant, the Lord will drive out our enemies before us, but we must make no compromise with sin or with Satan.]

12. Exodus 34:12-14
12, Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee:
13, But ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves:
14, For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God:

13. Exodus 34:15-17
15, Lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go a whoring after their gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods, and one call thee, and thou eat of his sacrifice;
16, And thou take of their daughters unto thy sons, and their daughters go a whoring after their gods, and make thy sons go a whoring after their gods.
17, Thou shalt make thee no molten gods.

14. Exodus 34:18-20
18, The feast of unleavened bread shalt thou keep. Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, as I commanded thee, in the time of the month Abib: for in the month Abib thou camest out from Egypt.
19, All that openeth the matrix is mine; and every firstling among thy cattle, whether ox or sheep, that is male.
20, But the firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb: and if thou redeem him not, then shalt thou break his neck. All the firstborn of thy sons thou shalt redeem. And none shall appear before me empty. [Jesus the “Firstborn” died for us so we do not have to redeem our oldest sons with a sacrifice.]

15. Exodus 34:21-24
21, Six days thou shalt work, but on the seventh day thou shalt rest: in earing time and in harvest thou shalt rest.
22, And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks [Pentecost], of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year's end.
23, Thrice in the year shall all your men children appear before the Lord GOD, the God of Israel.
24, For I will cast out the nations before thee, and enlarge thy borders: neither shall any man desire thy land, when thou shalt go up to appear before the LORD thy God thrice in the year.

16. Exodus 34:25-27
25, Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leaven; neither shall the sacrifice of the feast of the passover be left unto the morning.
26, The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring unto the house of the LORD thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk.
27, And the LORD said unto Moses, Write thou these words: for after the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with thee and with Israel.

17. Exodus 34:28-30
28, And he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread, nor drink water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.
29, And it came to pass, when Moses came down from mount Sinai with the two tables of testimony in Moses' hand, when he came down from the mount, that Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him.
30, And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to come nigh him.

18. Exodus 34:31-33
31, And Moses called unto them; and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned unto him: and Moses talked with them.
32, And afterward all the children of Israel came nigh: and he gave them in commandment all that the LORD had spoken with him in mount Sinai.
33, And till Moses had done speaking with them, he put a vail on his face.
[Oh that the glory of the Lord would shine on our faces.]

19. Exodus 34:34-35
34, But when Moses went in before the LORD to speak with him, he took the vail off, until he came out. And he came out, and spake unto the children of Israel that which he was commanded.
35, And the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses' face shone: and Moses put the vail upon his face again, until he went in to speak with him.”

20. Numbers 14:18
Numbers 14:18, “The LORD is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation.”

21. The Worthy Walk
Longsuffering is part of the worthy walk of the Christian.
Colossians 1:10-11, “That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11, Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness;”

22. Longsuffering Demonstrated
Longsuffering is demonstrated in the mercy of Christ.
1 Timothy 1:16, “Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting.”

23. II Peter 3:12-15
2 Peter 3:12-15, “Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? 13, Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. 14, Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless. 15, And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you;”

24. II Peter 3:15 Albert Barnes Notes on II Peter 3:15:
“And account - that “the long-suffering of our Lord” is “salvation.” Regard his delay in coming to judge the world, not as an evidence that he never will come, but as a proof of his desire that we should be saved. Many had drawn a different inference from the fact that the Saviour did not return, and had supposed that it was a proof that he would never come, and that his promises had failed.

25. II Peter 3:15
Peter says that that conclusion was not authorized, but that we should rather regard it as an evidence of his mercy, and of his desire that we should be saved. This conclusion is as proper now as it was then. Wicked men should not infer, because God does not cut them down, that therefore they never will be punished, or that God is not faithful to his threatenings.

26. II Peter 3:15
They should rather regard it as a proof that he is willing to save them; because:
(1) He might justly cut them off for their sins;
(2) the only reason of which we have knowledge why he spares the wicked is to give them space for repentance; and,
(3) as long as life is prolonged a sinner has the opportunity to repent, and may turn to God. We may therefore, in our own case, look on all the delays of God to punish - on all his patience and forbearance toward us, notwithstanding our sins and provocations - on the numberless tokens of his kindness scattered along our way, as evidence that he is not willing that we should perish.”