The goodness of God
Romans 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.
2 But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things.
3 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?
4 Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?
What leads men to repent is when all men begin to see the goodness of God. When we realise that we all deserve to die and go to hell because of our sins, and that God were supposed to kill us but He didnt because of Jesus, and when this revelation becomes clear in our hearts of how much the Lord loves us through His Son, then this will leads us to repentance.
See how good the Lord is to us, and His goodness has nothing to do with us, but it has everything to do with Jesus. See how much He loves you. Let us not despise the riches of His goodness, His forbearance and His long suffering, for in judging others we have despised the Lord's goodness.
This does not mean that we cannot judge at all, but we are to judge in this manner.
ROM 14:13 Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brother's way.
This is the reason why the Lord Jesus judged the pharisees severely, because they prevented many from seeing and knowing the Lord's goodness. The pharisees didn't just put out a stumblingblock or an occasion to other people, but they SHUT UP the kingdom of heaven against men, and this angers the Lord Jesus.
MT 23:13 But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men : for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.
This explains why the Lord defended the woman caught in adultery and did not criticised her, but rather He reprimanded all who wanted to accused her and instructed the woman to sin no more.
The Lord desires us to cease to have dependance on sin any longer, and to begin to depend entirely on His goodness, His forbearance, His longsuffering. The more we see His goodness, the more we will walk in repentance.
The one who is forgiven more, will surely love the Lord more. This is the effect of the Lord's love to man. Let us not prevent people from seeing the Lord's goodness and His great love to all man, for this will leads many to repentance.
God bless
