The Enemy Hates Hupomone

The message this morning is “The enemy hates Hupomone.” Well, Bro. Barry, what is Hupomone? Hupomone is what we see in the life of Jesus. Hupomone is what we see in the life of the Apostle Paul. Hupomone is what we see in all those who say they are disciples of Jesus.

In the Bible, Hupomone is translated 29 times as patience. But there is a different Greek word for the word “patience” – makrothumia. It means “long suffering, forbearance or self-restraint toward people.” So, yes, you are being patient towards people. But that’s not what Hupomone means.

Hupomone is a compound of two Greek words. The first is “hupo,” which means “under, to be under something that’s very heavy.” The second word is “mone,” [mo-nay] which means “to stay, to remain, to continually abide in one place.”

Turn with me to John 15:7 – “If ye abide (mone) in me, and my words abide (mone) in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.”

“Mone” means you have come to a place where you believe something and you are not going to move from it.

Together, “hupo” and “mone” mean “to persevere, remain under as to things and circumstances.” You are going to endure.

There are a lot things going on in our country today, in our society, that are not godly. And there is a temptation, there is a pressure to move away, to compromise on the Word of God.

There was a man who was at work and he made a comment to one of his coworkers who happens to be a lesbian about Jesus’ love for her, that Jesus wants her to be in heaven and to experience a life that is more than abundant. He got fired for saying that. The company looked at that as hate speech.

Hupomone is associated with hope. First Thessalonians 1:3 says “Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience (Hupomone) of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father.”

Hupomone refers to that quality of character which does not allow one to surrender to circumstances or succumb under trial. And the only way a person can have this quality is he or she has to be born again. He or she has to be a son or daughter of God.

Hupomone is a state of mind that declares “This is what the Word of God says. This what the Word of God promises. I’m standing on it. I’m not moving!”

Luke 8 is the record about the sower that we also see in Mark 4.

Look at verse 8. “And other fell on good ground, and sprung up, and bare fruit an hundredfold. And when he (Jesus) had said these things, he cried, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.”

Look at verse 11. “Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.” If the seed is the Word of God, what has to happen to the seed before it can produce? It has to die. So you have to put the Word of God into you and you have to die to that word in order for that word to produce in your life

Look at verse 15. “But that on the good ground are they (which we read in verse 8), which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience (Hupomone).”

Think about when a farmer plants a seed. He plants a seed today and he goes out tomorrow and there’s a sprout. No. He may not see a sprout for two weeks. And if he pulls up that sprout, is he going to get the benefits of the seed? No.

The same is true of us. Because we are born into this world, and because we have a mind that needs to be renewed, we have to put the seed on over and over and over until the seed starts to germinate, to take root in our lives.

Now turn to Romans 5. Hupomone means that when you know what the Word of God says, you’re not going to settle for anything less. You are not going to compromise.

In verse one we read “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Okay, why is the therefore there?

Let’s go back to chapter 4 and begin reading with verse 18.

(18) [Abraham] Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be.

(19) And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara’s womb: