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The Basis of God's Longsuffering Pastor Bill Farrow |
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I
was thinking yesterday about how Longsuffering God is. Just in passing I
wanted to note that this longsuffering is exercised on the behalf of all
men, not just on behalf of the elect. In not destroying the non-elect
immediately God demonstrates mercy by graciously giving them opportunity
to repent. He restrains His holy desire to punish their sin and judge them
for their rebellion and disobedience. The
primary example of His longsuffering is seen, however, in His forbearance
and continuing exercise of patience in the lives of His children. Whereas
His exercise of longsuffering on behalf of the non-elect is rooted in the
offer of grace; the exercise of that self-same patience in the case of His
child is rooted in the firm ground of the finished work of Christ. God's
righteous indignation against sin is completely satisfied in the case of
the case of the believer. The imputed righteousness of Christ stands as
absolute grounds for God's satisfaction with His people. In a very real
way, we can thus say that God has no cause to be impatient with His
people. Any cause for impatience has keen removed by the work accomplished
by Christ as a part of that imputation. Because He is satisfied there is
nothing to staid in the way of the exercise of grace. God does and will
exercise judgment and wrath because His nature demands that exercise. The
work of Christ completely satisfied that nature and thus there is no need
far any more of an exercise that rests in God. Thus, God can be merciful and grace in a continuing fashion. It is certain that God cannot be capricious, acting on whim in violation of His own nature. That assures us that a good and pure God cannot act in an evil and defiled way. By the same token such a God can not fail to act simply on whim either. God is different than we are in many ways, this being one of them. L you and I can act without sufficient justifying reason; without an adequate basis. Because we are inconsistent, flawed creatures, this is no great disaster. But God is different. For God to act in a flawed manner would be a serious violation of His very Being. This is impossible; as if you or I were to seek to turn ourselves inside out, or lift ourselves off of the floor. These things are impossible for us because our nature's prevent us from doing them. This is the case with God and acting in violation of His nature. It simply cannot happen. It is not a matter of power or of ability on His part; it is a matter of what He fundamentally is like. God cannot be impatient with us because any thing that would cause Him to be impatient has already been settled at the cross and He is completely satisfied concerning the matter. |