2.7.10 – Patience, a Divine Virtue (part 2)

OK, this is the second part of last Sunday’s sermon on the Promise and the Covenant made with Abram.

Look back at the ratifying of the covenant God made with Abram:

Genesis 15:12-16
As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. Then the LORD said to him, "Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. You, however, will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a good old age. In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.” (NIV)

I told you last week that there was something in this passage that would apply heavily to us, and now I want to get into it. It’s not just the promise that God made to Abram of his many descendants—which obviously applies to us (and all the rest of mankind).

Look at verse 16. Who were the Amorites? Those were the people currently living in Canaan, the land that God was promising to Abram. Even though they have Sodom and Gomorrah right in their midst, the land hasn’t risen to its “full height” of wickedness, yet. For one thing, Melchizedek, a priest of God most high and a righteous man, still reigns in Salem. Presumably, he still has people under him who worship the one true God as well.

God can look into the future, though, and he knows a day is coming when there will be no more righteousness left in Canaan and he will come and destroy it, using Abram’s descendants as the instrument of that destruction.

This is important to know for several reasons:
1] God is patient
2] If a turnaround—a repentance—is not made, there will come a time when God will say, “Enough!”

I have heard people who, while reading the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, wonder why God doesn’t strike us down. After all, all you have to do is look at the papers or watch the TV and you’ll see all manner of wickedness on display.

But remember Abraham’s bargaining with God. “Will you destroy Sodom if 50 righteous people are found there?” (Genesis 19) And God says no. So Abraham negotiates God down to 10 righteous people and God says that for the sake of 10 righteous people, he will stay his punishment of S&G.

There is your answer to why God doesn’t destroy America (or towns like San Francisco or Jakarta): the righteous people who live there. Not righteous by their own doing, but righteous because they have been washed clean by the blood of Jesus!

Matthew 5:14-16
You are like light for the whole world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one lights a lamp and puts it under a bowl; instead it is put on the lampstand, where it gives light for everyone in the house. In the same way your light must shine before people, so that they will see the good things you do and praise your Father in heaven. (GNB)

You and I are lights in this world. Not only that, by trusting in Jesus to wash us with his righteousness, we may be what’s keeping our town from facing the same fate as S&G. Pretty daunting task, you say? Well, the great thing is that we’re still not the ones doing it. It’s Jesus Christ doing it through us!

We should be aware, however, of the limits of God’s patience. As we have studied recently in 1 John, it’s not possible to split our time between living in the light and walking in darkness. God’s patience is long, but he doesn’t offer it limitlessly. The Amorites had once been led by Godly men like Melchizedek, but now when they forgot the Lord, the end came.

Revelation 2:4-5
But this is what I have against you: you do not love me now as you did at first. Think how far you have fallen! Turn from your sins and do what you did at first. If you don't turn from your sins, I will come to you and take your lampstand from its place. (GNB)

Check out this quote I found recently (that I think really gets to the heart of the matter):

“Human freedom does not legitimate bad moral choices, nor does it justify a stance that all moral choices are good if they are free: ‘The exercise of freedom does not imply a right to say or do everything.’ Christian belief in human freedom recognizes that we are called but not compelled by God to choose constantly the values of the Gospel—faith, hope, love, mercy, justice, forgiveness, integrity and compassion.

“It is entirely incompatible with [Christian] teaching to conclude that our freedom of will justifies choices that are radically contrary to the Gospel—racism, infidelity, abortion, theft. Freedom of will is the capacity to act with moral responsibility; it is not the ability to determine arbitrarily what constitutes moral right.” – George H. Niederauer

The Apostle Paul quoted what was apparently a common phrase, “’All things are permissible’” and then added, “But not all things are beneficial to me.” (1 Corinthians 10:23) In other words, we have tremendous freedom in Christ, but—as Christian singer Randy Stonehill expressed it in song, “God’s grace was not intended as a place to wipe our feet.”

Abraham, as we have been seeing, used his freedom to serve God and live righteously. That’s the example we should follow! (I know my temptation is to use my freedom to serve myself.)

What do I DO with this?

There’s a difference between taking full advantage of God’s patience and taking it for granted. Take full advantage of it and thank him that he has been patient with you and even allowed you to be here today.

And repent. Don’t put off until tomorrow the changes you know you need today.