It Is Never Too Late

“I’m too old.” “I’ve been too bad.” “I’ve been away from the church too long.” These and statements like them are said by two kinds of people. The first category contains folks that are spiritually despondent. They feel like there is no hope for them because of the things they have done or have left undone in their lives. Folks like this do not understand or do not accept the love and grace of God.

The other category of folks who say such things contains people who are making excuses. These people enjoy their sins too much to leave them behind. They may really know that nobody can be bad enough, lazy enough or late enough to make God stop loving them. But they also know that they are not ready to make the necessary changes in their lives to receive God’s grace and mercy.

Regardless of the motivation, these feelings and the words that express them can also be reduced to two categories: (1) It is too late and (2) I’ve been too bad. God’s Word is plain in teaching that these two positions are simply wrong. For this we should be thankful to the Lord.

Let’s think first about the idea that it is too late to obey the gospel or be restored to faithfulness. Jesus covered this comprehensively in Matthew 20:1-16 in His parable of the workers in the vineyard. The landowner had some work to be done and hired a certain number of laborers to do it. The NKJV has that he agreed to pay them “one denarius” a day. About nine in the morning he went out and found some more men needing work and hired them for the same price. He did the same at noon and at three in the afternoon. Remember that the Jews started the day at about our six o’clock in the morning.

This landowner went out at about the eleventh hour and found more workers and hired them also. This would be about five o’clock in the afternoon to us. Then about six he called them all together and paid them all the same: one denarius. Those who had been there all twelve hours complained (as indeed we might). But the man asked them if they had been paid according to their agreement. Of course, they had to say that they had.

I used this passage many years ago in the funeral of a man who obeyed the gospel in his late eighties. He died soon after becoming a Christian. We always leave all matters of eternity to God, but based on the teaching of His Word, if my old friend was faithful he will be with God just as the person who had been faithful for years. This is not an argument for waiting, for in waiting there is danger. It is, however a plea to those who are waiting: it is never too late.

For those who see themselves as “too bad” for God’s grace consider Saul of Tarsus. The passages are Acts 22:1-5, Acts 26:7-11, Philippians 3:6 and 1 Timothy 1:12-15. I suspect and expect that everyone reading this article knows that Saul of Tarsus became Paul the apostle. Before he obeyed the gospel he did some terrible things. He persecuted the church with great vigor. He stood by as the man in charge when the religious rabble stoned Stephen to death (Acts 8:1). On the road to Damascus God got his attention (Acts 9). In Damascus that Ananias preached the truth to him and he obeyed it. He did not tarry and his sins were washed away in the watery grave of baptism (Acts 22:16).

If you are reading this, it is not too late. And no, you cannot be “too bad.” But you can be too stubborn. Accept God’s grace while there is time and opportunity.

Bill Irby

via Hobbs Street Herald