2 Peter 3:15-16 And account that the long-suffering of our Lord is salvation… God bears long with sinful men, to give them further opportunities of securing salvation. 1. It is remarkable, however, that the long-suffering of God has, in many instances, just the contrary effect. "Because sentence is not speedily executed against an evil work, therefore the hearts of the sons of men are fully set within them to do evil." When the prophet Isaiah denounced the judgments of God, he was met with the reply, "The vision that he seeth is afar off; "and when his prophecy was not immediately fulfilled they said, "The days are prolonged, and every vision faileth." Myriads have been ruined for ever by abusing the longsuffering of God. They never intended to brave His wrath, but they saw so little cause for immediate alarm that they ventured a little further, until they had gone too far to retrace their steps. Have you ever noticed that our Saviour seldom warns us against a deliberate rejection of the gospel offers? He knew that such guilt would be rare. "How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?" And how often does the Saviour call upon us "to watch," and warn us that His coming will be "as a thief in the night"! 2. And it is astonishing with what ingenuity men can encourage this presumptive confidence in the long-suffering of God. Listen, for instance, to their remarks at funerals. If it be an aged person that has deceased, they say, Ah! he had lived to a good old age, and it was a matter of course that he should die. If it be an infant that is cut off, they say, There are so many diseases to which little ones are subject. In another case the remark concerning the deceased will be, He has been very imprudent, and brought his death upon himself. Or, in yet another case, This person has long been declining, and had the seeds of death within him; but I have no such symptoms of decay or dissolution. All this is to keep off the idea of dying, and to encourage the hope that the longsuffering of God will wait yet longer. 3. Indeed it is an easy matter to encourage a vain trust in the longsuffering God if we are so disposed. How many things there are to help on presumption if we are inclined to indulge it! Time flies silently. Sickness and death do their work very silently. Men do not fall like the leaves in a cold climate, where a single night's frost can strip every tree of its verdure; but the process is rather like the falling of the foliage in a tropical region, where leaf drops after leaf, and is succeeded by another springing forth in its place, so that the eye scarce notices the change. See how noiselessly even our religious opportunities slip away from us! Many have spent the greatest part of their earthly Sabbaths, and scarce reflected that they are gone. God does not, in general, deal with us by startling methods; He uses these as rarely as the thunders and earthquakes of the natural world, but speaks to us for the most part in gentle and persuasive tones. 4. It may be asked, perhaps, why did God adopt such a method of dealing with us? If He had struck the offender dead by a visible interposition; if He had called from heaven, as He did to Saul of Tarsus, to persuade us to repentance, we should have been awed into obedience. But it would have made but little difference if God had dealt with us by startling methods. One who will slumber may be startled out of it a few times, but by and by he would sleep as the sailor does amid the rocking billows on the mast-head. Now, let me ask, what better mode God could have adopted of saving souls than that which for years He has been using without success? Do you say that the reason and understanding must be convinced before one can become a Christian? And has not God done enough to satisfy your reason? Do you say that the heart must be moved by love and mercy, and not by terrors? Have there not been mercy and love in God's dealings with you? If the compassion of our God was not infinite, these protracted sins against His longsuffering would a great while ago have drawn down His wrath. 5. And it is because that righteous anger may finally be incurred that I would urge you to sin no more against the longsuffering of God. These days are passing off with so little to excite your fears; these seasons, when you have little concern for your souls, are most of all to be dreaded. They are sealing your destiny, as the whirlpool draws in the boat without a single ripple for some time to betray its influence, until at last destruction roars around, too late for retreat. These fair days of seeming peace which God is giving you, are the working days for laying up the eternal harvest. (W. H. Lewis, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: 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; |
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