RETURNING TOO LATE

Deut. 1:45

   And ye returned and wept before the Lord; but the Lord would not hearken to your voice, nor give ear unto you.

Is there such a thing as returning too late?

According to the verse we just read, there is such a thing.

We see the people returning and weeping before the Lord.

We also see that the Lord is not answering their voice neither is He giving an ear to them.

What happened here they returned with weeping

This is what happened they returned to late

The Bible tells us in

2 Cor. 6:2

   (For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.)

That today is the day of salvation

Notice in this verse there is a time when God accepts us into salvation

What if one should go pass this accepted time ?

Would this not fall in the category of coming to late?

It is time that people understand that there is a time for them to get saved?

One must be dealt with by the Father. 

John 6:65

   And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.

You see one cannot come to Jesus unless the Father is dealing with him.

And the Father has a day of salvation and a time of acceptations

No one knows when God will quit dealing with someone.

No one even knows how much time they have on the earth.

But you say; “I'm sorry preacher, but I believe I can get saved any time I want and I am going to wait and repent on my death bed.

I believe in deathbed repentance, but I want you to realize that in the entire Bible we have only one account of deathbed repentance.

So we understand that some can have deathbed repentance but we also understand that there's a reason that it's only mentioned once in the Bible.

I don't know about you but I don't like those odds

But let us look at some more Bible verses

Genesis 6:3

   And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.

According to this verse God said his spirit would not always strive with men

In other words He is not going to deal with you to receive Jesus always

Rev. 2:21

   And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not.

In this verse we see God giving Jezebel a space to repent of her fornication

God gave her a space to repent and she repented not

If she had tried to come and repent after her space a repentance she would have came too late

That would be returning to late

God is no respecter of persons

So if He gave Jezebel a space to repent would it not be safe to say he has given everyone a space to repent since He is no respecter a person's?

Jeremiah 5:3

   O Lord, are not thine eyes upon the truth? thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved; thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return.

Here we see God dealing with his people they refused correction then became hard.

They not only returned to late, they refused to return

When we fail to repent of our sins there is a law that starts working in us, and that law is our heart becomes hard

This is why the older one gets, we don't see much repentance from them

Over the years their heart has become harder and harder

Only by the church praying and seeking God to deal and softened their hearts are we going to reach these hardhearted people

Jeremiah 15:7

   And I will fan them with a fan in the gates of the land; I will bereave them of children, I will destroy my people, since they return not from their ways.

In this verse God destroys his people because they will not return to his ways

Understand God's protection for his people is when his people turn from their ways to His ways

Jeremiah 23:14

   I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies: they strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none doth return from his wickedness: they are all of them unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah.

In this verse we see God's people commit adultery, walk-in lies, strengthen the hands of evildoers

We also see that none were returning from their wickedness

God said they were like Sodom and Gomorrah unto him

We know what happened to those cities

Joel 2:12-14

   Therefore also now, saith the Lord, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning:

[13] And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.

[14] Who knoweth if he will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind him; even a meat offering and a drink offering unto the Lord your God?

Here we see God telling us to turn to Him with all of our heart

Will you return to him today

Please do not get to a place where you are weeping and crying to God and He will not hear you

Please don't go beyond your day of salvation

Please don't let your accepted time go by

Please do not go so for that the Spirit of God will not deal with you anymore

I plead with you do not use up your space of repentance

You have heard of my space?

You do have a place call my space it is your space of repentance

Will you return in time or will you return too late?

Message from

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June 2007

Bro. Lawrence Bradford