Romans 2:4 “Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?”
Another aspect of grace is manifested through the goodness and patience of God. In the passage of scripture quoted above the Holy Spirit through the apostle Paul teaches us that God’s longsuffering (patience) and His goodness is there to lead us to repentance. In other words instead of judging us straightaway for our sins God’s grace gives us time to repent of our sins. Sadly because some Christians who sin are not judged straight away, they are misled into believing that God now tolerates sin because under the New Covenant God is a God of love. However this is not the case at all, but rather because of grace, the Lord is giving them time to repent of their sin. And so if they choose not to repent, then after a period of time the Lord is forced to judge His children who are walking in sin.
Revelation 2:21-22 “And I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality, and she did not repent. (22) Indeed, I will cast her into a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds.”
And example of this concept is given to us in the above quoted passage of scripture. The context of this passage is that the Lord was discussing one of His daughters’ who was living in unrepentant sin. In this passage our Lord Jesus revealed to us that she was committing the sin of sexual immorality, and that He had given her time to repent of her sin but she refused to do so. In other words because of grace, our Lord was giving her time to repent and He thus withheld His judgement from her during that period. Nevertheless because she refused to repent of her sin, eventually the Lord judged His daughter with severe illness so that she would come to her senses and learn to repent of her sin.
1 Corinthians 11:27-32 “Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. (28) But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. (29) For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. (30) For this reason, many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep. (31) For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. (32) But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world.”
We have seen in this section that grace gives us time to repent of our sins, nevertheless there is one sin under the New Covenant that is judged straightaway. In the passage of scripture quoted above the apostle Paul teaches us that one who partakes of the Lord’s Table in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgement to himself. In other words there is no grace period applied to this particular sin. To partake of the Lord’s Supper in an unworthy manner is to partake while knowingly walking in unrepentant sin. So why does the Lord judge this sin straightaway? In order for us to understand why, we need to remember that Jesus died (and suffered God’s righteous wrath) for each and every sin anyone has ever committed. Now consider the one who is presently walking in unrepentant sin and then partakes of the Lord’s Table. That is an absolute insult to the Spirit of grace, because the very sin they are practicing caused Jesus to die on the cross for them in the first place. And so God is not mocked and those who partake of the Lord’s Table in an unworthy manner will incur God’s judgement. Nevertheless even though our Lord eventually judges us if we refuse to repent of our sins, grace still keeps our spirits alive and free from sin.
Michael E.B. Maher
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