3. The third point I want to demonstrate is that all this goodness,
Firstly, they are precious because of the cost—the blood of God's Son.
Christ, as the Lord, has bought and redeemed all wicked men, their lives, and the time they have here on Earth. Christ's mediation with God has put a halt to the immediate execution of justice upon all, granting them time for repentance. Thus, Christ can be called not only the wisdom and power of God but also the patience and longsuffering of God. It is through Christ that God exercises patience and forbearance.
Secondly, these blessings are precious to us because of their usefulness. The time granted to us by God's goodness is valuable because it provides space for repentance, not only for respite but also for obtaining forgiveness. The blessings and provisions we enjoy are means that lead us to repentance. This time is rich because, if used wisely, we can obtain the incomparable riches of eternal glory and gain Christ Himself. All things derive their worth and value from their purpose and the use they can be put to. Time is not valuable in itself but in relation to the opportunities it provides. Each minute of this time has an influence on eternity. It is the currency with which we can purchase heaven. Holy men of the past, even after accomplishing their main purpose in life, esteemed time highly.
David begged for a little more time to recover, and Hezekiah praised God when granted an extended life. Imagine how much an hour, a month, or a year would be worth on the day of death or in hell.
3. The third point I want to demonstrate is that all this goodness, patience, and forbearance from God are provided as means to lead us to repentance. Acts 17:28 states that God has allotted to mankind their times and places of habitation, richly furnished with blessings to sustain their lives. And why has God provided all this? So that we might seek Him, groping in the dark, and perhaps find Him. When combined with the words of my text,
we see that God's goodness takes us by the hand and leads us to repentance, turning us from sin to God. Through these blessings, God guides us, pointing us in the right direction.
Firstly, all this goodness testifies to your hearts about the gracious hand that extends itself in all these blessings. In the 17th chapter of Acts, the apostle adds, "God is not far off from any of us." The thought that a good God bestows all things upon you is not far off from all His blessings. Even though the Gentiles went on in their own ways, the apostle tells them that God did not leave Himself without a witness in their hearts. Their hearts were impressed with the knowledge that God's good hand provided them with food and gladness.
Secondly, when His goodness brings God to your thoughts, your own consciences convict you and lead you to introspection. They bear witness that by walking in your own ways, you do nothing but provoke and offend this good God. (Romans 2:15)
Thirdly, there is a universal principle among all people to love those who love them. Once the previous points have led you to this stage, it points you to repentance as the logical conclusion. Should we continue to sin against this good, so good God? Should we return evil for good? Isn't it a natural and necessary consequence to fear the Lord, who provides us with the early and latter rain? (Jeremiah 5:24)
Though people may not fully and effectively consider these things, leading them to repentance, the witness of all this resides in their hearts. They are guided toward repentance if they would only see their way and follow their guide.
The practical application is one of expostulation, as the apostle does here, with sinful and unrepentant people for persisting in sinning against all this mercy. It also serves to highlight the magnitude of
their sinfulness. Young people often take advantage of their precious time, which is granted through God's longsuffering and the valuable opportunities and blessings they enjoy, using it solely to indulge in the pleasures of sin. They make their youth a harvest of sinning and believe they can repent later. Then, when they grow old, having already enjoyed a long and fair period of time to turn to God, having sown many seeds for the Spirit, the comfort of which they could now reap, they continue neglecting to do so, presuming they have any days left, even if the end is near. They recklessly choose to gamble their eternal destiny on God's merciful forgiveness without making any effort to change their hearts or lives, relying solely on their experience of God's forbearance in this world. I wish to reason with all such individuals for a moment, utilizing the riches of God's goodness, patience, and so on, expended on them. I want to challenge their impenitence and emphasize the severity of their sinfulness, and, if possible, persuade them to no longer despise these truths. If there is any trace of common decency, any flicker of innate goodness (I do not speak of grace but of the goodness inherent in human nature) still present, I hope it will impact you and produce some positive change before I am finished.
To that end, consider and compare the loving-kindness of God towards you with your ungrateful treatment of Him.
Let us begin with the beginning of your existence. How much richness of goodness was laid and buried in your foundation when the cornerstone was laid and you were made a human being (in addition to the ongoing cost spent on building since then)? Even the cursed foundation of your conception was soaked in bloody iniquities. The very materials of your soul and body, with sin mixed in, cry out to God against you every moment, like stones in a wall or beams in a building, urging Him to tear it all down.
Consider that just the other day, you were nothing, and an infinite number of potential beings, who will never be, were in the same possibility of existence as you. When God created this world, He could have set it aside entirely and created millions of other worlds, yet He chose to give you a place in this one and no more. He called you forth from nothing, commanding your presence when there was no need for you. I say He chose to grant you being, just as there is an election of things that are unto salvation, there is also an election of things that were not unto existence. And wretched as you are, if you do not repent, you will destroy what God has made, and it would have been better for you to remain in nothingness, never peering out, or to retreat into your original nothingness. For you are lost, and it would have been better if you were never born.
Furthermore, consider the additional goodness bestowed upon you.
You could have been admitted into the lowest form of creatures, such as a worm, a flea, or a fly that we humans easily crush and kill. But instead, you were made a human being, placed in the highest order, crowned as a king even in the womb, as David says (Psalm 8:5). You were made "a little lower than the angels" but "crowned with glory and honour," given dominion over all the works of God's hands. One half of you is worth more than the whole world, as Christ says, who gave His life for souls. God has granted your soul an eternity of existence and made it in His image, while other creatures merely bear His footprints. Your body, the other part, merely a case or sheath (as Daniel's phrase and the Chaldee version put it, Daniel
7:15), is an intricately crafted work. It is "fearfully and wonderfully made," as David says (Psalm 139:15), "curiously wrought in the lower parts of the earth." There, he refers to the womb because, just as skilled craftsmen perfect their choice works in private before revealing them to the world for admiration, God formed the epitome of the entire world, the index of all creation, out of a tear, a drop. The
sun, moon, and stars can be found within you (Ecclesiastes 12:2).
Yet, wretched as you are, you also bear within you the seeds and principles of all the villainies committed in the world. If you do not repent, you would be better off as a toad or serpent, the most detestable of creatures, and you would gladly exchange your condition with theirs.
As a human being, do you possess all the members that belong to a human? It is because God wrote them all in His book (Psalm 139:16).
Is that not a mercy? Ask the blind. If you were lacking those windows to look out of, your body would be a dungeon, and the world a prison. If you were without a tongue, your glory, or an ear, you would live among men like a beast among humans. Yet, when God granted you all these, He merely placed weapons in the hands of an enemy.
For haven't you used all these as "weapons of unrighteousness"?
(Romans 6:13) The apostle refers to the tongue, just one member, as "a world of iniquity." If you do not repent, as Christ says, it would be better to enter the world without an eye, an ear, or a tongue than to possess them and be cast into hell forever.
When you were brought out of the womb (where you resided only during your formation), what a splendid palace God has brought you into—the world, fully prepared and furnished with all things for your sustenance, just as Canaan was prepared for the children of Israel.
You did not build this magnificent house; you did not plant the trees.
The rich canopy spread above your head was not your doing. God set up a guiding light, the sun, for you to work by until you are weary
(Psalm 104:23), and then it sets without your command because it knows its appointed time to go down (verse 19). He draws a curtain over half the world, allowing men to rest. "You cause darkness, and it is night" (verse 20). This world is a house so intricately designed that even to the smallest village, springs come like pipes to provide you
with water (Psalm 104:10-11). The very ground you tread on produces your food (verse 14). Bread for strength, wine to cheer your heart, and oil to make your face shine are synecdochically representative of all that is necessary for strength, adornment, and delight. Even the chambers of this house "drip with abundance" and water the earth (verse 13). God rotates the heavens, providing you with the passing of time. Each moment brings forth some form of blessing, and none are barren. Therefore, in Psalm 65:11, the year is described as being "crowned with goodness," adorned with a diadem of goodness. Yet, you have filled this world you have been brought into with nothing but rebellion, as it is filled with blessings. You have stacked up sins to heaven and compelled all these armies of blessings that fill the world to fight against their Creator under the banner of the devil, whom your wickedness sets up as "the god of this world."
Though the year is crowned with goodness, your years are crowned with wickedness. No moment is barren; all your thoughts are continually evil. You have sinned against heaven and earth, subjecting the entire creation to vanity. You have burdened the earth and filled it with so much wickedness that it groans. The very axle of the earth is on the verge of breaking under your weight, and the ground you tread upon desires to spit you out.
Fifthly, since you entered the world, how long has God allowed you to live in it? He hasn't spared you just three years, like the fig tree, but thirty, forty. When you first dared to step into this world, death, which your sin brought into the world, could have arrested you and told you that this world was not meant for you, for hell is our true place (Acts 1:25). You should have been executed on the first day.
Isn't the time of ease from punishment a sign of infinite mercy?
Think about the fallen angels, who have been in hell since the moment they sinned. Consider what they would give to have a portion of time taken out of their eternal sentence, to have a period
of relief and freedom from torment. If the rich man in hell considered it a great favor to have just one drop of water to cool his tongue, how much more would he have valued the mercy of living many years free from torment? So what does it mean for you to live all these years without experiencing even the slightest drop of that wrath, which should have been poured out on you many years ago?
The same judgment was pronounced against us as it was against the angels: "In the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die." What made the difference? The apostle tells us it was "his longsuffering toward us" (2 Peter 3:9), not toward the angels, for in chapter 2, verse 4, he had already said that "he did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell" as soon as they had sinned.
Sixthly, but let's go further. Has it been only a time of ease given to you, a time of reprieve? No, it has been more than that. It has been
"space to repent" and obtain your pardon (Revelation 2:21). And as it has been more than just relief from torment, consider that it has not been a sign of negligence on God's part, as the apostle tells us. It's not that he has ignored your offenses; he is aware of every idle thought, every oath, every vain word. As Scripture tells us, he is deeply grieved, even to the heart, and regrets ever creating you. He is angry with you every day you rise, every time he looks upon you.
When he sees you entering the tavern to get drunk or going to the brothel to engage in impurity, he has to restrain himself from striking you, just as he restrained himself from killing Moses when they met in the inn. He is ready to strike you, and it wouldn't take much effort. If he were to breathe on you, you would be consumed.
Allowing you to live costs him a great deal of patience, but cutting you off would cost him nothing; he could do it effortlessly. But there is more to it. There is a willingness on God's part for you to repent and not perish, as that passage tells you.
It would be a great mercy for a traitor to be reprieved, to have their life spared for twenty years, even if there was no hope or possibility of obtaining a full pardon after that time, and even if it was only for one act of treason. Yet for you, this time has been more than just a longer lifespan and a postponement of execution, which should have taken place in the womb due to the guilt of that initial rebellion. It has been a time for repentance. And yet, has this time of reprieve made you more rebellious? Have you spent all this time increasing the measure of your iniquity? Has God's willingness to spare you not led you to repentance? Moreover, God has accompanied his willingness with waiting, longing for the moment when you would repent so that he could pardon you. As Jeremiah 13:27 expresses it,
"When shall it once be?" Consider how many opportunities for repentance have been presented to you, how many promises you have made and broken. God has tested you and given you more time.
Even though you have repeatedly failed him and broken your promises, he has been patient with you and waited for twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, sixty years for you to come and be true to your word. And still, you have disappointed him. Yet, marvel at the richness of his longsuffering. After so many years, broken promises, failed expectations, and mockery, he is still willing to accept what remains of your life if you would spend it in accordance with his will, as the apostle says (1 Peter 4:2). He requires the same conditions that were initially proposed, but he promises to become a debtor to you, bestowing upon you more riches than you have ever seen or imagined. And he could punish you in hell and lose nothing by it, but he is willing to offer you this opportunity.
Seventhly, it has not merely been an act of patience and forbearance, though it is accompanied by God's willingness for you to not perish.
It is not simply a permission for you to live. God displays even greater goodness in his longsuffering. "In him we live and move and
have our being." And do you only live in him? No, you also live on him. As David says, "I have relied on you since my mother's womb."
Consider what your life is and how God has sustained it with such a small foundation. If he hadn't drawn it out from his own power, like a spider spinning its web from its own bowels, it would have ended within a minute. To maintain the vital moisture, the oil that sustains the lamp and light of your life, the radical balsam, this is as great a miracle as keeping the oil in the jar of the poor widow from running out. Furthermore, has he only sustained you? No, he has defended you, taken your side, protected you, and sheltered you under his wing like a hen does her chicks. Otherwise, how many ways could you have been snatched away from the land of the living? Your case is not like that of the fig tree, where when God said, "Cut it down," someone else said, "Leave it alone." Many have cried, "Cut you down," but God has cried, "Spare you." There is never a moment when the devil wouldn't have wanted to end your life, just as he desired to take Job's life. You, a mere mortal, walk among a host of fierce and cruel enemies who harbor malice towards you, yet God has said to them all, "Do not touch this person." And even if you were not vulnerable to their malice and power, consider the many dangers and risks from which you have been protected. Falls, drownings, various forms of death—how often have the arrows of death whizzed by you, taking others close to you, perhaps even family members, while missing you? And if we only consider the days we have lived in this world, with two great plagues that have afflicted our kingdom, how have most of us survived, with a third one now looming upon us? In such dear times, just having our lives preserved is mercy enough, as Jeremiah told Baruch. These arrows have flown around us, over our heads, and missed us. God's judgment has fallen upon people walking and talking with us, but he has spared us. How many times has your life been in imminent danger, with the executioner's axe poised above your neck, only to fall beside you? Consider your own
body—its humors, if God did not restrain them, would overflow and drown it, just as waters would flood the earth if God did not command them to stop. And even when these humors have been released during sickness, God has set a limit, allowing only enough to cleanse and purify the body, making it healthier, like the overflowing of the Nile. And when your body has been weak and vulnerable, like a frail, rotting ship in a storm, taking in water from all sides, such that no physician in the world could stop the leaks, God has rebuked the wind and sea, repaired you, and launched you back into the world whole, sound, and strong as ever. As Job says, God has declared that you should not die. In short, when you consider what your life is and the dangers it faces, you will acknowledge that preserving it is as great a wonder as seeing a glass that has been in constant use, passed through many hands, and experienced numerous bumps and falls, remaining unbroken for forty, fifty, sixty years. God has held your life in his hand like a candle in a paper lantern on a windy night, keeping it from being extinguished, whereas we often see in others that a mere draft can blow out their candle, as Job says.
Eighthly, how have these years and hours of your time been filled with goodness and countless comforts? Even if a traitor were to live on nothing but bread and water all their days, it would still be considered a favor. So, even if you had lived in great misery, eating your bread in darkness and experiencing much sorrow and sickness, as Solomon says, there would still be infinite mercy. Anything this side of hell is mercy (Lamentations 3:22). In the worst state the church has ever been on earth, they say, "It is your mercies" that have kept us from being consumed, for your mercies are renewed every morning. Even if you were on the brink of hell but not in it, it would still be mercy. But hasn't God filled your heart with food and gladness, as the apostle says? It would be infinite to enumerate all the different kinds of common comforts that God bestows upon
people here. We haven't even begun to fully account for the richness of his goodness; it would take a lifetime to list them all. Do you have a house to shelter your head and protect you from the elements
(which is more than Christ had)? God is your landlord, even if you may not pay him rent. "He is the one who builds the house" (Psalm
127:1). Do you have a bed to sleep on? He provides it, especially during your sickness (Psalm 41:3). Do you have sleep (which is the restorative nurse for all your cares and sorrows)? He lulls you to sleep every night. Just as he gives you a home, he also gives you rest
(Psalm 127:2). It is God who keeps away the gnats of distracting cares, worries, thoughts, and terrors of conscience that would otherwise buzz around you and keep you awake. And when you sleep, does it bring you pleasure? God makes it so (Jeremiah 31:26). Do you have clothes to cover your nakedness? Look at Jacob's example in Genesis 28:20, and you will see to whom they ultimately belong. "If you will give me clothing," that is one of the conditions mentioned.
And do your clothes keep you warm? Even this is attributed to God (Job 37:17). He provides for you, feeds you, sets your table, serves you, fills your cup, as David describes his goodness (Psalm 23:5). He gives you your food at the appointed time, and you have never missed a meal, as Job says. And do you have health (which is the seasoning for all these blessings, without which you would find no pleasure in them)? He is "the God of your health" and keeps diseases away (Exodus 15:26). "I will put none of the diseases on you; I am the Lord who heals you." In short, God bestows these and countless other benefits upon even the poorest among you and "loads you with them day after day."
But do you have wealth added to these blessings? "The blessing of God makes one rich" (Proverbs 10:22). Even if you acquired wealth through inheritance, it was God who allowed your friends and parents to hold it in trust for you. They were mere trustees; it was
God who bestowed it upon you (Ecclesiastes 2:26). Or perhaps you have gained wealth through your own industry, but it is God who gives you the power to acquire wealth (Deuteronomy 8:18; Proverbs
12:24). He can take a small estate and make someone great (Job 8:8). It is by His providence that He has prevented your wealth from draining away and has stopped any financial leaks, as the prophet describes (referring to the hole in a bag). Along with these riches, has
He given you a heart to use them properly? This, too, is a mercy from Him (Ecclesiastes 5:19; 6:2).
Or do you possess credit, which is even better than wealth, as Solomon says (Proverbs 22:1)? It is God who grants you favor, not your wisdom, abilities, or worthiness (Ecclesiastes 9:11). Skill alone does not guarantee acceptance; it requires the additional blessing from God. Therefore, apart from wisdom, God also promised honor to Solomon (2 Chronicles 1:11). It is God who shapes people's opinions. The apostle prayed to God that his service might be accepted by the saints, even though no service could be more acceptable, as it involved gathering and bringing alms and relief to them. God has control over people's tongues, instructing them to bless as He commanded them to curse. He has also protected you from committing gross sins that would tarnish your good reputation, and He conceals the sins you have committed. He shields you from the strife caused by gossip and slander (Job 5:21).
Do you have friends or people who love you, which brings much comfort to our lives? David spoke of Jonathan, saying, "You were pleasant to me" (2 Samuel 1:26). It is God who grants favor in the eyes of others. He did so for Joseph as well (Genesis 39:21). If anyone shows you kindness, it is because God has touched their hearts, as seen in the men who stood by Saul's side. God made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the Israelites, surpassing all
reason, as stated in the text. Jacob declared that he saw the face of God in the reconciled countenance of Esau, for God's favor was evident in his appearance. God has placed you in your occupations, ranks, and stations, and has given you the skills and success in your endeavors. Even the simplest trades, such as sowing, plowing, and threshing, are given by the Lord, who works in wondrous ways. This skill is comparable to that of the most talented engraver, painter, or embroiderer. Bezalel, for example, was taught by God Himself
(Exodus 31:3). If you possess gifts and abilities for higher callings, it is not due to your birth or age. Great men are not always wise, and the elderly do not always possess understanding. It is the inspiration of the Almighty that grants wisdom (Job 32:8-9). If you have been called to be a scholar, with a mind enriched and elevated by the best jewel the world offers—wisdom and knowledge, surpassing the minds of others just as they surpass those of beasts—then God has been your great tutor. The mind of man is God's candle, and He makes one wiser than his teachers, as seen in Moses' Egyptian learning, Daniel, and David.
In conclusion, if you find comfort in riches, learning, credit, spouse, children, food, drink, and more, it is God who adds sweetness, delight, and pleasure to them all. Your joy and contentment depend on Him, just as air requires the sun to shine and wood needs fire to provide warmth. Acts 14:17 tells us that He fills our hearts with both food and gladness. Furthermore, consider the many unique instances and turns of His providence directed towards your well-being. He works things together for your benefit, orchestrating and planning them better than you could ever do for yourself. He has provided relief in times of difficulty and success in various endeavors. He works in and through us, as Isaiah says (Isaiah 26:12). Hasn't He taken special care and shown extraordinary providence towards you as if you were the only person in the world He cared about?
Now, as you ponder all of this, also reflect on your own actions toward Him. What have been the effects and results of all His goodness? Lift up your head, face God. It is a good sign that shame begins to cover you. How has His patience and longsuffering, granting you time to repent, influenced you? How close have you come to true repentance? It is the perverseness of human nature, as Solomon tells us, that because punishment for evil deeds is not immediately executed, people are inclined to do more evil. You think you can spend the best of your time and energy on sinning and give
God the leftovers, the last sands of your life that even you and your friends are tired of. All these blessings and comforts bestowed upon you, how have you used them against Him? Instead of fueling your thankfulness, you have used the oil of His blessings to intensify the fire of your desires. Your lusts have consumed His gifts (James 4:3).
You have turned the riches He gave you into idols and sacrificed your most precious thoughts and affections to them, as God laments in Ezekiel. You have offered His provision as sacrifices to satisfy your belly, which has become your god. Your strength is spent on pursuing worldly pleasures. The wealth He granted you has been used to indulge in sinful excess and acquire the costliest and most extravagant sins. The power He entrusted to you has been turned against Him, perhaps even against His children and ministers. Yet,
He has kept your sins hidden and shielded you from the consequences of your actions (Amos 2:13). He loads you daily with His mercies (Psalm 68:19).
There is a third consideration from the text that highlights the seriousness of your sin in this regard. By continuing to sin and remain unrepentant, by despising His goodness, you are storing up wrath for the day of judgment. To sin against mercy increases the wrath you will face. You will have to repay treasures for the treasures you have wasted. Just as you have lavishly spent riches of mercy, God
will reclaim riches of glory from you. God will not lose in this exchange but will reckon with you in wrath for every instance of patience you have exhausted. For every grain of longsuffering that has expired, a drop of wrath will be poured into His vials. This wrath will become a treasure, a treasure that will bring eternal glory to God, surpassing all the glory lost and riches spent. It is a treasure that will demand an eternity to be spent upon you, yet it will never diminish.
And the longer you continue, the greater this heap of wrath will swell.
Do you understand and consider how rapidly this treasure is accumulating? The longer you persist, the more you add to it. Each minute of impenitence contributes to this sum, much like adding new figures to a sum. The first figure is one, the second becomes ten, the third a hundred, the fourth a thousand. What will this sum ultimately become?
But you may argue, "Pshaw! I am in prosperity, in health, wealth, and ease. Today will be like tomorrow, and even more abundant"
(Isaiah 56:12). Well, consider this fourth point from the text: there will come a day, and the following day will be a day of wrath. The treasuring up of wrath is happening now, but it will not be unleashed until the day of wrath. Until that day arrives, you may continue to prosper, just as Job explains why wicked men prosper in this world: they are being "reserved for the day of wraths" (plural) because treasures are being laid up against them. You are still spared because your sins are not yet complete, and that treasure is not yet full, just like the sins of the Amorites were not full. However, all your present prosperity only prepares you for hell. As Romans 9:22 says, they are referred to as "vessels fitted for destruction" through longsuffering.
Similarly, Nahum tells us that they are like stubble left out in the sun to dry until it becomes fully dry, ready to burn better. They are like
grapes left to hang in the sunshine until they ripen, preparing for the winepress of God's wrath (Revelation 19:15).
But your senseless heart may say, "I don't see any of this, these are just empty threats." Perhaps you think so. That's why the text states that it is a treasure, which, like treasures usually are, is hidden until the day it is revealed, as the words express. Even if you don't see this day coming, God, who sits in heaven, sees your day approaching, as David says (Psalm 37:13). He is said to see it because you cannot see it. And it is approaching faster than you realize. "Damnation slumbers not" (2 Peter 2:3), even though you may be oblivious to it.
It does not linger. It has been sent out like a hue and cry, and it is on its course. Eventually, it will catch up to you when you least expect it,
"like a thief in the night," while you are asleep, unaware of its approach (1 Thessalonians 5). It will come upon you when you are least prepared for it, just as it happened in the old world when people were eating and drinking. Just as God watches for the perfect moment to take His child, when they are at their best and ripest, He will watch over you to take you in your negligence at your worst, perhaps without giving you any time to prepare. Some descend into hell in an instant (Psalm 73:19).
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