"It's Never Too Late"

"As for me, I will call upon God; and the LORD shall save me." (Psalms 55:16) If there was any verse that might give you hope in times of some serious trouble, then this one of those verses to write upon your sleeve, or burn into your memory. I don't care what you have done, or where you are currently at, it is never too late to call out to God for salvation; that is unless you have been suddenly stuck down and are already in hell, like those we saw in yesterday's post, with the exception of Achan, who had time to repent. Yesterday on To Every Man An Answer, I believe that there was a repeat of a previous show, but I needed to hear it again, because someone called in to ask about 1 John 5:16, and the answer given was a little complicated; not that I am any kind of expert, but I can determine what it might mean based upon what I know about God. Above all else, God is Love; as straightforward as that might sound, it is beyond our comprehension to try and figure out all of the particulars, and why it is that He has any kind of wrath at all, except for the fact that He is Holy; and because He is Holy, He cannot tolerate evil; but more than that, He cannot tolerate evil that causes His children to stumble, and when I say stumble, I mean to be knocked off their feet. Achan is a very good example; not because he was killed by stoning, but because he had to be killed for the sake of the others; after all, he was warned (Joshua 6:18), and yet he choose to do it anyways. If I had to point to anything that "a sin onto death" might represent, then that would be the one to point to; not because he was killed, but because he had to be killed in order to break the curse that was upon his people. A good modern day example of what this might mean, is if someone kills anyone for no reason at all, but just for the fun of killing them; if someone commits that sort of crime, then they deserve to be put to death; although they might repent of there sins and gain forgiveness from God, they still need to pay the consequences for their actions; otherwise, what they did remains a curse upon not only their life, but upon any offspring they might have. If that person has truly been born again, then death is not destruction, but it is complete salvation, meaning that you have been washed and you are delivered into the arms of the Lord. Sometimes it might take the thought of being put to death, or even death itself, before a person will get serious about the Lord; and because God is Love, God will always listen; well, at least most of the time He does... "And He brought me into the inner court of the LORD's house, and, behold, at the door of the temple of the LORD, between the porch and the alter, were about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the LORD, and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the sun toward the east. Then He said to me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they commit here? for they have filled the land with violence, and have returned to provoke Me to anger: and, lo, they put the branch to their nose. Therefore will I also deal in fury: Mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: and though they cry in Mine ears with a loud voice, yet will I not hear them." (Ezekiel 8:16-18)