After Paul’s capture and arrest in Jerusalem, he was called to stand before Felix the Roman governor of Judea. The Jews had hired a lawyer, named Tertullus, to lay their charges before the court. In his opening remarks – clearly designed to flatter Felix and bring him to their side he said, “Seeing that by thee we enjoy great quietness, and that very worthy deeds are done unto this nation by thy providence, We accept it always, and in all places, most noble Felix, with all thankfulness.” Tertullus uttered a word which has been on my mind for two weeks – he spoke of Felix’s “providence.” This is a word used by preachers and theologians to express God’s care and direction of His people, but rarely do we hear the word outside of church. Actually, there are only two scriptures which use the term, and they have nothing to do with God. Tertullus applies it somewhat facetiously to the Roman governor. And in the other verse, where it is translated differently, it is speaking of the Christian. “Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.” Tertullus used the word “facetiously” because “providence” is more appropriate to Jehovah than to Felix. It refers to making provisions for future needs and problems and then providing for those events. Etymologically the word originates in “foreseeing.” “Providence” refers to seeing a future need and then taking steps to meet those needs. And who is better equipped to provide providentially than the omniscient, omnipotent God?
As I meditated on providence, thinking about how God leads some people from babes in their mother’s arms to becoming babes in Christ, a few Biblical words came to mind. “The goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance.” When I looked up my quote in the Bible, I found that I was mentally misquoting it. Romans 2:4 says, “Despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?” Having put these things in my mind for a few days, I believe that the Lord would have me to share them with you.
Let’s begin by considering God’s providence – or as Paul puts it “the goodness of God.”
Please notice that Paul uses a couple of important pronouns –“thee” and “thou.” “Despisest THOU the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth THEE to repentance?” I am convinced of God’s absolute sovereignty over His creation. He not only has authority, control and interest in the big picture – such as who is president. But He has authority, sovereignty and interest in the tiniest “thees” and “thous” – you. Jehovah has been leading and blessing you – each and every one of you – with His sovereign providence. And it has been with His goodness that He has blessed you. According to this verse Jehovah has spent of His “riches” – His wealth on you.
In many cases this is true of temporal things. We should pray for the salvation of President Trump; I don’t believe he is a child of God. But we all know some of the things that he is. He is a probably a billionaire, with more money than we can even imagine spending. He is a father of some successful children, and there is a joy and blessing in that. He appears to enjoy good health for his age. And he is the leader of the most powerful nation on earth. Despite his lack of service or any worship of God, Jehovah has blessed that man beyond measure. In fact multitudes of people, though they have no religion, having wit, secular prudence, and success, they enjoy God’s goodness – His wealth. “The Father which is in heaven… maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.” And sometimes it seems that the unjust don’t just enjoy showers of God’s blessings, but downpours. Don’t make the mistake of overlooking the goodness which YOU have received by complaining yourself with the blessings that another is enjoying. All the “thees” and “thous” in the world have experienced different levels of the riches of God’s goodness.
For example the apostle mentions the riches of God’s “forbearance.” “Forbearance” comes when men having offended God, He withholds the punishment due to them. The word speaks of “self-restraint.” And in this case it is God’s “self-restraint,” and that is just another way to say “mercy.” “Despisest thou the riches of his goodness and MERCY and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?” There are so many quick tempered people who only need a little provocation before their hard words and blows come quick and furious. But, oh, the forbearance of God when He is provoked to His face by ungodly men. And He has not only more right to be angry, He has more reason. His infinite holiness is more than offended at our almost infinite wickedness. How many times, during your life, have you sinned against His grace and providence? Ten thousand times; a hundred thousand; ten times a day every day of your existence; a hundred times? Before your conversion He told you of His love, and you laughed at Him. How often did He prick your conscience that your next action was sinful, but you pushed ahead? How many times did His justice reach for His sword, but mercy kept it in its scabbard?
Paul adds the riches of “longsuffering” to goodness and forbearance. “Forbearance” has to do with the magnitude of our sin; “longsuffering” with the sheer numbers of it. “Forbearance” has to do with present provocation. “Longsuffering” relates to that provocation repeated, and continued for a length of time. Oh, how long God endures – suffers the ill manners of sinful men – and women – a children.
Oh, “the riches of his goodness, and forbearance, and longsuffering.” Remember how great God is. The greater the person, the greater the insult when we offend him. Would we dare to insult our own mother? Our father? What about the sin which provokes God, which to His face defies him? Is there not a limit to longsuffering?
This goodness of God had not only come to you in a temporal form, but also in a spiritual manner. Myriads of our fellow men have never had an opportunity of knowing Christ. The missionary’s foot has never touched the cities where they dwell, and so they die in the dark. Multitudes are going downward toward Hell, because they know nothing about the upward road. But you are placed in the very focus of Christian light. And time was when a man would have to work for years to earn enough money to buy a Bible. Now the word of God lies upon your table, you have a copy of it in almost every room of your house. Isn’t this a part of the goodness of God? And you’ve been given the opportunity to hear the gospel – time and time again. “Despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?
Before going on, I need to mention the negative aspect of the “goodness of God.” We all have different definitions of success, of blessing, of what is good and what is bad. God’s definition of “goodness” might include your sickness, your poverty, your pain. If through loss, you might be driven to look past your nose, you might just find a nugget of gold. I’m sure that Jacob and David, might have complained at their lives at different times, but the providence of God was leading and providing for them every step of the way. In His great providence, the Lord may give you suffering, but it is for your good. And God knows what He is doing at this time in your life.
What does Paul mean when he suggests that these people DESPISE God’s goodness?
The Greek word is used nine times, and it is always in some form of “despise.” But I noticed with interest that my lexicon defines the word from the greatest degree downward. It described kataphroneo (kat-af-ron-eh’-o) as “to contemn, despise, disdain, think little or nothing of.” For the sake of a lesson, I’m going to reverse that order.
“Do you think of the goodness of God as nothing?” This is the simplest, the most childish, the most foolish approach to the blessing of God. The infant gives no thought to where that jar of baby food comes, or to the money used to buy it. The baby doesn’t think what it is doing awaking its mother at 2 am demanding to be fed. And the toddler doesn’t consider what it costs his parents to provide those clothes that he wears. The nine-year-old may not give the slightest thought to what is being preached in his church. In fact there are teenagers and young adults who think of the gospel of Christ “as nothing.” “Do you think of the riches of God’s goodness as of little importance?”
Many children are taught by society, by parents, by science and education to disdain the goodness of God. “Disdainest thou the riches of God’s goodness and forbearance and longsuffering?” Is talk about God’s goodness something to laugh about? Is the providence of God a joke to you? Usually, while we are experiencing God’s subtle and silent leadership it is unrecognizable. It is only after years of blessing and when our eyes are enlightened by the lenses of God’s grace that we can look back and see His providence. “Disdainest thou the goodness of God today?” One day, perhaps when in hell, you’ll look back and see it, but it will be too late to enjoy. “Despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?
God’s goodness is designed to lead people to REPENTANCE.
Believe it or not, there is some debate about the definition and nature of this repentance. But I don’t see the problem or any reason for dispute. This is the same Greek word which is usually translated “repentance.” I believe that it is the evangelical repentance of which I am commissioned to preach. It is the same word and the same repentance of which we read in II Timothy 2:25 – “In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth.” “Despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?
Is it important to recognize Paul speaks of “repentance” – not salvation, or justification or redemption? I think that he could have and we can substitute salvation in this verse, and it would not be incorrect. “Despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to salvation? But keeping the verse in the context of Romans 2, it is better left unedited. The Jews, especially the rich and powerful Jews, thought of themselves as superior to the rest of humanity. They were prone to judge everyone else, while forgetting to judge themselves. “Thinkest thou this, O man?” – they considered themselves to be “the men” – the creme of the crop. They had been given the goodness of God – the GOODEST of God, while the rest had not. They were “Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises; Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.” “You treat the goodness of God as if it was nothing; not recognizing that it has been given to you to bring you to repentance.”
What is repentance? Literally, it is a change of mind; it is bringing our mind into agreement with God’s mind about sin, righteousness and judgment. It is a realization that we are sinners, rebels against the Lord’s grace and goodness. And therefore it involves a surrender – a whole-hearted capitulation to the holy God. An oft quoted statement of Paul say, – “But now God commandeth all men every where to repent.” As I considered that command, I realized that it is distinctly similar to my theme from Romans 2.
Paul was in Athens – this time standing before a crowd of idolatrous, pseudo-intellectuals. “Paul stood in the midst of Mars’ hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious. God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.” Paul was addressing Gentiles, non-Jews who thought of themselves as “the men” – just as the Jews did. He told them that Jehovah created them, just as he had the Jews. And he had given them life, breath and ALL THINGS in order that they should seek Him. Jehovah had providentially blessed those Greeks – and the Romans – and the Americans. “For in him we live, and move, and have our being… For we are (all) his offspring. And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent.”
Why had the Lord blessed Athens with wealth and wisdom? Why has God blessed the United States of America with wealth, health care, food in abundance, and relative peace? To bring us to the door of repentance. To take away all our excuses when “he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.” When I see the sunshine during a dark and dismal northwest winter, I am reminded that there is a sun. When my wife is roasting a chicken and the aroma is filling my study and my senses, I know that I am blessed to have a wife, a kitchen and a chicken. In this case I may not be brought to repentance, but I am brought to joy and thanksgiving.
The Providence of God – the “goodness” of God – says in a small, but clear voice, Jehovah reigns. If I am living without respect for that providence… If I am living without worship for the Provider of that providence…. If I go through my life in my pride and self-righteousness, without a humble heart before that God of such grace…. Then I DESERVE to spend eternity under His wrath and to suffer hell in the Lake of Fire which He has created for those who despise Him. “Despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? Yes, I am aware that true repentance is a gift of God, and that no unregenerated heart can generate it. But you and I are responsible to seek it; to pray for it; to yearn for it, so that we might be fit to worship Him. Therefore I exhort you – all of you – repent before God. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.”