"God's patience is running out!"

Who will be saved from the judgment God is going to bring upon the earth?  Only those with whom He is at this moment being patient ... which brings me to one of the most misunderstood verses of the Bible:  II Peter 3:9.  Most people THINK the verse says, "God wants everybody to be saved!"  Here is what the verse says, "The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance."

Here is an excerpt from my book, " ... the end.":

"The author of a book entitled, 'Love Wins,' twisted and distorted this verse by asking the question, 'Doesn't God get what he wants?' and then making it appear that what God WANTS is for every human being, without exception, to be saved from His just judgment.  ... If that's what God wants, why won't that happen?  That certainly sounds like a plausible question.  Many in the church today have been taught that God wants to save everyone, but we must choose.  It's up to us!  However, taken in its immediate context, as well as the context of the rest of the Bible, that is NOT what God says ... OR what He wants or 'wishes.'  That comes as a shock to many people, but consider this:  If God truly WANTS to save every human being from His just and perfect judgment, He could come up with a way for that to happen, couldn't He?  After all, He IS GOD!!!

In order to understand the Bible and to rejoice in the salvation God provides to those who believe in Jesus Christ you need to first understand that out of a sinful human race where NO ONE deserves God's grace ('undeserved favor'), where ALL have sinned and fall short of His glory, His perfection, God has chosen SOME to be saved! It is to these that Peter's letters and the rest of the New Testament are written, as Peter says in II Peter 1:1:  'To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ ...'

So in verse 9, when Peter writes that the Lord 'is being patient toward YOU, not wishing that any (of you) should perish, but that all (of you) should reach repentance,' he is speaking to believers!  It is all of THESE that God is being patient toward, and it is all of THESE that He desires should come to repentance and all of THESE who should be saved.  God WILL get what He desires because He Himself will make it happen!  The idea that God wanted all people to be saved and that He tried to save all people but they just wouldn't cooperate presents God as impotent and dependent on mankind to accomplish His purpose.  Nowhere in the Bible is that picture of God presented."

I share this with you today because millions of people have a false hope and a false security that all is well when it isn't!  God's IS being patient with the whole world and mankind in general at this moment, but only those who are born again by the Spirit, who place their trust in Jesus Christ and who now live to serve Him are "safe" from His coming judgment.  It is for these that God is exercising His patience in bringing His final judgment on the earth and all of mankind, "as in the days of Noah," only this time with fire!  

To some in Rome who relied on their "religion" to save them, Paul wrote, "Do you suppose, O man - you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself - that you will escape the judgment of God?  Or do you presume on the riches of His kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?  But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed" (Romans 2:3-5).

Some console themselves by calling Christians "hypocrites," and they are sometimes right.  Not everyone who claims to be a Christian really is one, and not one of us has yet reached perfection.  But all that means is that ALL those who have not confessed their sin and believed in Jesus Christ for forgiveness and life will perish in hell, whether they are "religious" or not!  That's not very comforting!!  "Misery loves company" will not apply in hell.

There IS a way to avoid God's wrath and that is through faith in Jesus Christ, a faith produced by the very Spirit of God who transforms God's chosen people from the inside out, giving us a new heart, a new mind and a new will, enabling and empowering us to believe and to turn from sin to righteousness.  We can KNOW that what He has begun, He will complete, and we will escape the judgment to come.

Are you "testing" God's patience, or have you come to Jesus for forgiveness?  God's patience is running out and this world as we know it will come to an end.  Your life could end today and what would be your eternal destination?  As people all around us talk about being "safe," few are!  May God open your eyes to see the reality of His coming judgment and give you a new heart, mind and will to repent and believe!!

If you would like to ask questions about what the Bible teaches or purchase a copy of " ... the end.," please email me at pastorsteve@lighthouse-ministries.org.