The End of Patience

“Therefore the wicked shall not stand in the judgment,

nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.”

Psalm 1:5

“Put that wicked man out from among you!”

1Corinthians 5:13b

We all know that Jesus is very patient.  Peter said that our salvation depends on the Lord being patient with us (2Pet. 3:15).  I know that I have marveled at times at the Lord’s patience with me, and I thank him for it.

Just consider the great patience of God with that fallen cherub, Satan.  Even though God knew that Satan was wicked, God was patient with him up in heaven for thousands of years, waiting for the appointed time to reveal His Son and cast Satan out.

As Satan’s case shows, God can come to a point when His time for showing patience is over.  That is what we pray will never happen to us.  And we pray that prayer because we know that God has reached that point with some of His children and that when He casts out, He may not ever take back in.

In the case of the young man whom Paul and the saints in Corinth cast out of the Assembly, it appears that being put out of the meetings woke him up and brought him to his face before God.  That is what happened if he is the one of whom Paul was speaking in his second letter to the Corinthians (2:6-8): “Sufficient to such a man is this punishment, inflicted by most of you, so that you ought to forgive and comfort him, lest such a man be swallowed up by excessive sorrow.  So now, I urge you to reaffirm your love for him.”

In a congregation of righteous souls, the ungodly will not be allowed to stand, just as the Psalmist said.  He will either leave on his own or be put out.  The only issue is, when he is no longer allowed to stand in the congregation, will he realize his error and repent, as did the young man in Corinth, or will he be turned away forever.