Grace Through Forbearance Or Forbearance Through Grace?

Grace Through Forbearance Or Forbearance Through Grace?

Rom 2:1-4
¶ Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things. But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things.
And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God? Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?

I am not God. However, The Holy Spirit did teach me something a few years ago as I was holding my little kitten. I was petting the kitten and it began to purr. It's "Motor" was really going. It was loudly purring so contently. Suddenly, the kitten began to bite at my fingers and began to paw and scratch at my hand. I tapped it on its nose and said "NO. It is love time not play time". Again I resumed petting the kitten. Again the kitten began to purr. However, after about 2 minutes of it, the kitten resumed biting, pawing and scratching. Again I tapped its nose and said "NO. It is love time not play time". Same thing...same result.

I picked up the kitten and held it to my face looking it in the eyes and said "what are you doing? why doesn’t the kitten want love?". As soon as I did that the Holy Spirit griped my heart and said "what are you doing? Don't the human want love?" Doesn't the man want Grace? Doesn't the man want freedom? Doesn't the man want security? Doesn't the man want peace? Doesn't the man want forgiveness? WHY DOES MAN REJECT MY LOVE? The same reason why my kitten wanted to play...nature.

here are some things that hinders man from God's grace.

1) Timing. Our timing is NOT on the same "page" with God. We want everything NOW NOW NOW. However, the ONLY thing God is honestly offering us NOW is Salvation through Repentance from dead works (Ro 2:4 =Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?)

Our timing is not God's timing.

Jas 4:13
Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain:
Jas 4:14
Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.
Jas 4:15
For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.

2) Self Pleasure. That kitten wanted to do what IT wanted to do. If it wanted to play...it was going to play. If it wanted to eat...IT would eat. If it wanted to use the "box" it would use the box. If I call it to come, sometimes it does not come to me. I usually have to go to it. Isn't that what Christ said in John 10? "I AM COME....That THEY might have life....and life more abundantly". Man does not go to God on his own. At Babel, man TRIED to get to God....via his own hands....and where did it lead them? Confusion. No man draws to God unless God draws him first. WHY? Self-pleasure. Self-Satisfaction. It does not please self to ASK God for something. It is humiliating. It is rather humbling to depend on a savior. James 5 says that God resisteth the proud but gives grace to the humble.

3) Nature. By nature, the feline is independent. It hunts on its own. It honestly does not need a human. Felines are still a WILD animal. They are not tamed. They are not docile by nature. Honestly, this is the biggest reason why man does not come to God. Their nature is that of rebellion. They don't need God...or so they think. They are just as good as God (Genesis 3). They can make it by the sweat of their brow (Genesis 4). They can save themselves (Gen 6). They can get to heaven by their own labor (Genesis 11- Babel). They don't need Godly advice (Lot choosing Sodom Genesis 13). They get carried away in their choices (Genesis 14). They do not understand the promises of God (Genesis 15). They work OPPOSITE of God's provision (Genesis 16). They Mock and Scorn and Doubt God (Genesis 17). They call God a liar (Genesis 18). They are comfortable with the sins around them. They Become the sins around them. Even when delivered from their wicked surroundings, they return to the same wickedness, as a dog to its vomit and a sow to its mud and as a fool to his folly, so does a leopard his spots. (Genesis 19, 2Pet 2:22, Jer 13:23)

WHY WON'T MAN JUST TAKE LOVE? Because his nature is hatred. Why won’t man choose God? Because he does not like to retain God in his knowledge. Because he does not worship God as God. Why won't man choose Grace? Because they are proud, evil, boasters, heady, high-minded, inventors of evil things, evil surmisings, desperately wicked, reprobate, implacable, without natural affection, jealous, disobedient to parents. We stand in absolute rebellion against God even to the point where we will not submit to his righteousness. (II TIM 3, Romans 1, Jer 17:9, Romans 10:1-4)

My kitten will learn over time that when I want to extend love to accept it. However, unless man recieves the new nature, he will NEVER choose God over time, self-pleasure and nature.

Seven Out Of Ten Ain’t That Bad?!

James Melton recently published a Facebook post redefining his position on “repentance of sins for salvation” to say that one doesn’t have to repent of all their sins for salvation but that they must be willing to repent of all their sins for salvation. Too much emphasis is being put on the unsaved to stop sinning (the essence of this doctrine) rather than on the Biblically correct definition of repentance.

This man, James Melton, also goes on to discuss the necessity of a changed life in order to prove one has been “truly” saved. He goes on to give a statistic saying that if one has supposedly led 100  people to Christ but only 70 have a changed life that 100 didn’t receive Christ. The change they are insisting on is a result of repentance of sins after salvation. While I do agree that there will be a change in one’s life as they grow in the Lord I denounce this man’s assertions that a new convert will suddenly or even gradually cease from sins (or be willing to cease from all sins) after salvation.
The Bible does say in 2nd Corinthians 5:17 “that all things are become new” but it doesn’t say how instantaneous that change is made evident in a person’s life.

This also opens the door to the following line of thought: if the repentance of sins is the focus of salvation then wouldn’t it also stand to reason that a person who, twenty years after salvation, goes back into one of the sins (not all the sins) that he repented of to be saved would also be under the same scrutiny as the new convert who fell back into the old lifestyle that he “repented of?”

Let’s go a step further. If one did lead 100 people to Christ and 70 people had a change of life but thirty did not - could we declare that only 70 got saved?
We want the new convert to stop drinking alcohol, smoking, dressing immodestly, fornicating, and to start faithfully attending church 4 times a week and carry a KJV, get baptized and become a chalk artist Ruckman yuppie but don’t expect the same of those who have been saved for decades who are still gossiping busibodies!

Repentance is nothing more than a change of mind. When I Believe on Jesus for salvation and call on His name as the Bible demands it goes without saying that I have had a change of mind about my eternal destination, my sinful state and God’s righteous demands.

I have been saved since 1984. I am not sinless. I have besetting sins. I repent of those sins and strive to keep from doing those sins. There has been a change in my life. I was passed from death unto life. I love the brethren. I have had answered prayer. I long for the coming of Christ. I am indwelled by the Holy Ghost. I have fellowship with the Father.

New converts need to be followed up on. “Cults are the unpaid bills of the Church.” Van Baalen. (Chaos of the Cults)

When we don’t follow up on them we cannot expect them to grow in the Lord.