Is It Too Late—Am I Too Far Gone

I am writing this article primarily for those wayward Christians who went back into the world and who would now like to return to God but feel that it is too late for them. They feel like their life has been too sinful and for too long for God to have them back. They believe they are eternally condemned with no hope of being saved.

The Bible has never taught a doctrine of “too late” to a person who is truly penitent and who is willing to turn from sin and turn back to God. The doctrine that is taught is that God is “longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9 NKJV)  “‘Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?’ says the Lord God, ‘and not that he should turn from his ways and live?’” (Ezek. 18:23 NKJV) Bear with me as we read a few more passages before commenting.

"Again, when a wicked man turns away from the wickedness which he committed, and does what is lawful and right, he preserves himself alive. Because he considers and turns away from all the transgressions which he committed, he shall surely live; he shall not die.” (Ezek. 18:27-28 NKJV)

Jesus said, “I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” (Matt. 9:13 NKJV) Paul, writing by means of the Holy Spirit to the Christians in Corinth, said, “Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing. For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.” (2 Cor. 7:9-10 NKJV) There was sin in the church at Corinth as revealed in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, sin among the Christians there. Were they lost because of their sin? They would have been, but they repented, bringing rejoicing into Paul’s life. God forgave them when they repented. It was “repentance leading to salvation.”

Repentance is not just for the individual who is not a child of God, not just for the alien sinner, not just for the one who has never come to God or known God, but for all sinners. John says, in addressing Christians, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” (1 John 1:8 NKJV) The only person for whom it is too late, who is too far gone to be saved, is the person who is unwilling to repent and turn to God, whether that repentance and turning is a first-time event or an unlimited number of times.

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9 NKJV) We only confess once we have repented. One does not make a sincere confession without repentance. But note the promise God gives, forgiveness and cleansing. It is a promise of God, therefore certain.

When Peter asked the Lord how many times he ought to forgive a brother who sinned against him, the Lord’s response was “up to seventy times seven.” (Matt. 18:22 NKJV) No one believes Jesus meant for us to keep a record so that when we have forgiven a person 490 times, we cease forgiving that one. He clearly meant there is no end to forgiveness for one who repents. God’s desire is for us to forgive as freely and willingly as he does.

The children of Israel, the fleshly descendants of Jacob, were God’s chosen people under the Law of Moses. They were to God then what Christians are to him now. All who have read the Old Testament realize how the majority of them went into idolatry and departed from God as the years rolled by. Eventually, God allowed them to be overrun by the Assyrians and then the Babylonians because of their great sin. However, God was always calling for their repentance to spare them until it came to the point where it was no longer possible for them to repent due to their hardness and stubbornness of heart.

God’s desire for their repentance, in their time, is his desire for the Christian’s repentance today, when the Christian has gone back into the world, departing from faithfulness. Listen to God’s pleading.

“Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.” (Isa. 55:7 NKJV)

“How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? … My heart churns within Me; My sympathy is stirred.” (Hosea 11:8 NKJV)

“‘Now, therefore,’ says the LORD, ‘turn to Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.’ So rend your heart, and not your garments; return to the LORD your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness; and He relents from doing harm.” (Joel 2:12–13 NKJV)

“‘Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies,’ says the LORD GOD. ‘Therefore turn and live!’” (Ezekiel 18:31–32 NKJV)

“But when the wicked turns from his wickedness and does what is lawful and right, he shall live because of it.” (Ezek. 33:19 NKJV)

Yes, all the passages just quoted are from the Old Testament and have direct reference to the children of Israel, God’s chosen people at that time, but God’s character has not changed. Jesus came into the world to save sinners (Luke 5:32), not just alien sinners but all sinners. In fact, Jesus, when he came into the world, first went to the lost sinners of the house of Israel, the lost sinners among God’s chosen people, to first seek their repentance and teach them the truth. God desires his children’s repentance.

James says, “Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.” (James 5:19-20 NKJV) It is a Christian who has wandered away here, and the sins, even if a multitude, are covered when the sinner is turned by repentance. No, a wayward Christian who will repent is not too far gone due to the number of, or severity of his sins, or the time he has been away from God, not too far gone to be saved.

God forgave Manasseh. Manasseh was a king in Judah who was as nearly as evil as one can get. You can read about him in 2 Kings 21 and 2 Chronicles 33. His reign began when he was only 12 years old, and he reigned for 55 years. Just to name a few of his many sins, he sacrificed his son in the fire (idol worship), practiced witchcraft and divination, consulted mediums and spiritists, set up a carved image of the idol Asherah in the temple, made altars for the Baals, worshiped nearly anything and everything but God. He also shed much innocent blood to the extent he filled Jerusalem with it (2 Kings 21:16). He led Judah into sin worse than the heathen nations before them. Yet, God forgave him when he repented (2 Chron. 33:10-20). God will forgive if we genuinely repent. I doubt your sins will be any greater than those of Manasseh. It is not too late to repent and return to God. He will have you back, and you can still receive salvation. 

God is love. He loves the sinner even if he cannot accept him without repentance. Hear Hosea, “Then the Lord said to me, ‘Go again; show love to a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, just as the Lord loves the Israelites though they turn to other gods and love raisin cakes.’” (Hosea 3:1 CSB) God loved his people even when they were idolaters and had abandoned him. Do we doubt today that he loves the Christians who have wandered away from him? Do we not think he desires their repentance and return to him?

In the book of Revelation, we have Jesus’ message to the seven churches of Asia. We must remember the church is Christians, not an abstraction. The message there, to more than one body of Christians, is to repent. God’s desire is not to destroy people. Repentance was not just an Old Testament thing exclusive to Israel and Judah. Repentance is for every person who needs to repent of the sins they are living with. “God … now commands all men everywhere to repent.” (Acts 17:30 NKJV)

It is easy to give up and go on living a sinful and hopeless life, but that is exactly the kind of life it is – hopeless and ultimately disastrous. And, it is not a happy life. When a person knows within themselves they are not what they ought to be, there is no joy. It is no way to live, even if it seems everyone else is living that way. The joyful life is the hopeful life, a life lived with peace with God. Why not repent and turn and live, for that is God’s invitation to each of us when we get caught up in the world and find ourselves away from God.

Jesus, in his own words, says to each of us, “I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.” (Luke 15:7 NKJV) “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” (2 Cor. 6:2 NKJV)

Repent and return is God’s message to all his wayward children. If this article applies to you, why not now? Salvation is knocking at your door. What holds you back? Why wait? Open the door for you know, according to the old hymn, “who at the door is standing.”

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