Or perhaps you despise his great kindness, tolerance, and patience. Surely you know that God is kind, because he is trying to lead you to repent.

But you have a hard and stubborn heart, and so you are making your own punishment even greater on the Day when God's anger and righteous judgments will be revealed.

And the same is true of what God has done. He wanted to show his anger and to make his power known. But he was very patient in enduring those who were the objects of his anger, who were doomed to destruction.

And he also wanted to reveal his abundant glory, which was poured out on us who are the objects of his mercy, those of us whom he has prepared to receive his glory.

'I, the LORD, am not easily angered, and I show great love and faithfulness and forgive sin and rebellion. Yet I will not fail to punish children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generation for the sins of their parents.'

The LORD answered, "I will forgive them, as you have asked.

none of these people will live to enter that land. They have seen the dazzling light of my presence and the miracles that I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness, but they have tried my patience over and over again and have refused to obey me.

" 'I, and I alone, am God; no other god is real. I kill and I give life, I wound and I heal, and no one can oppose what I do.

that I will sharpen my flashing sword and see that justice is done. I will take revenge on my enemies and punish those who hate me.

"Nations, you must praise the LORD's people--- he punishes all who kill them. He takes revenge on his enemies and forgives the sins of his people."

But just as he kept every promise that he made to you, so he will carry out every threat.

If you do not keep the covenant which the LORD your God commanded you to keep and if you serve and worship other gods, then in his anger he will punish you, and soon none of you will be left in this good land that he has given you."

The righteous will be glad when they see sinners punished; they will wade through the blood of the wicked.

People will say, "The righteous are indeed rewarded; there is indeed a God who judges the world."

He caused them great distress by pouring out his anger and fierce rage, which came as messengers of death.

He killed the first-born sons of all the families of Egypt.

but he drowned the king of Egypt and his army; his love is eternal.

He killed powerful kings; his love is eternal;

Sihon, king of the Amorites; his love is eternal;

He gave their lands to his people; his love is eternal;

When you see this happen, you will be glad; it will make you strong and healthy. Then you will know that I, the LORD, help those who obey me, and I show my anger against my enemies."

Some people keep on doing good, and seek glory, honor, and immortal life; to them God will give eternal life.

The seeds that fell in good soil stand for those who hear the message and retain it in a good and obedient heart, and they persist until they bear fruit.

So Jesus said to those who believed in him, "If you obey my teaching, you are really my disciples;

Remain united to me, and I will remain united to you. A branch cannot bear fruit by itself; it can do so only if it remains in the vine. In the same way you cannot bear fruit unless you remain in me.

Those who do not remain in me are thrown out like a branch and dry up; such branches are gathered up and thrown into the fire, where they are burned.

My Father's glory is shown by your bearing much fruit; and in this way you become my disciples.

If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love.

When he arrived and saw how God had blessed the people, he was glad and urged them all to be faithful and true to the Lord with all their hearts.

They strengthened the believers and encouraged them to remain true to the faith. "We must pass through many troubles to enter the Kingdom of God," they taught.

That is the gospel, the message that I preached to you. You are saved by the gospel if you hold firmly to it---unless it was for nothing that you believed.

So let us not become tired of doing good; for if we do not give up, the time will come when we will reap the harvest.

That is why I had to send Timothy. I could not bear it any longer, so I sent him to find out about your faith. Surely it could not be that the Devil had tempted you and all our work had been for nothing!

because now we really live if you stand firm in your life in union with the Lord.

But Christ is faithful as the Son in charge of God's house. We are his house if we keep up our courage and our confidence in what we hope for.

For we are all partners with Christ if we hold firmly to the end the confidence we had at the beginning.

Let us hold on firmly to the hope we profess, because we can trust God to keep his promise.

Do not lose your courage, then, because it brings with it a great reward.

For, as the scripture says, "Just a little while longer, and he who is coming will come; he will not delay.

We are not people who turn back and are lost. Instead, we have faith and are saved.

These people really did not belong to our fellowship, and that is why they left us; if they had belonged to our fellowship, they would have stayed with us. But they left so that it might be clear that none of them really belonged to us.

But you, my friends, keep on building yourselves up on your most sacred faith. Pray in the power of the Holy Spirit,

and keep yourselves in the love of God, as you wait for our Lord Jesus Christ in his mercy to give you eternal life.

"If someone truly good starts doing evil and I put him in a dangerous situation, he will die if you do not warn him. He will die because of his sins---I will not remember the good he did---and I will hold you responsible for his death.

"But if a righteous person stops doing good and starts doing all the evil, disgusting things that evil people do, will he go on living? No! None of the good he did will be remembered. He will die because of his unfaithfulness and his sins.

"And your people say that what I do isn't right! No, it's their way that isn't right.

When someone evil quits sinning and does what is right and good, he has saved his life.

And don't think you can escape punishment by saying that Abraham is your ancestor. I tell you that God can take these rocks and make descendants for Abraham!

The ax is ready to cut down the trees at the roots; every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown in the fire.

He breaks off every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and he prunes every branch that does bear fruit, so that it will be clean and bear more fruit.

Think how far you have fallen! Turn from your sins and do what you did at first. If you don't turn from your sins, I will come to you and take your lampstand from its place.