"TOO LITTLE!!! TOO LATE!!!"
Text-Hebrews 12:14-17
"Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without
which no man shall see the Lord.
Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace
of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up
trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;
Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person,
as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his
birthright.
For ye know how that afterward, when he would have
inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he
found no place of repentance, though he sought it
carefully with tears." KJV
It seems that "Change" is a popular word today,
especially in the political arena. Barack Obama
has made it his "theme song." The Bible teaches
that the human race certainly needs change. We
all must become "new creations" in Christ, if we
ever hope to live eterally in Heaven. Some people
just refuse to change. They don’t want to be any
different than they are. Some see the awful re-
sults of bad choices, and attempt to change some
things, but a clean bathed pig is still a pig, and
it will return to the mudhole because that is its
nature. Until we are changed within, in character,
we are no different from what we have been.
All of you probably are aware of the new incentive
that the President and Congress have approved to
try to stimulate the American economy. I listened
intently to all that was being said, and I heard
one newsperson make a profound statement. He said,
after commenting on these attempts to stimulate our
depressed economy-"It seems like a good gesture,
but it may be ’Too Little, Too Late.’" Now, I just
knew there had to be a sermon in those words some-
where, because I could not get them off my mind-
"Too Little! Too Late!"
There are many incidences of people, and nations,
and personalities in the Bible of whom it could be
accurately stated-"They did Too little, Too late!"
Let’s consider a few of them.
I. Let’s first turn our attention to Esau, the man in
the Scripture passage that I read to you a few
moments ago. These are sad words, frightening
words, that are spoken of him. The inspired word
of God says that he sold his birthright, and then
relented. He wanted to repent and change what he
had done, but it was too late. The die had been
cast. His destiny had been determined. No amount
of weeping, or pleading, or bargaining would do
any good now. His day of grace had ended. You
know, there is a very frightening verse in the old
testament that says-"He that being often reproved,
hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be cut off, and
that without remedy." It was Esau head to toe.
We can’t repent anytime we want to. We can’t
be saved anythime we want to. We have to come when
the Spirit of God is drawing us, or all that we
do will be "Too Little, Too Late!" Jesus said that
no man could come to him except the Spirit of God
was drawing him. So much for "easy believism", and
"walk the aisle & sign this card for salvation."
That’s why we have churches with so many unconvert-
ed members in them today. Billy Graham once said
that about 80%?, or more, of people who have their
names on church rolls are lost, and have no rela-
tionship with Jesus Christ.
Esau wept bitterly, and sought repentance, but it
alluded him. Now is the accepted time, now is the
day of salvation! Don’t put it off if God is
drawing you.
II. Another illustration that I would like to mention
is that of King Saul in the Old Testament.
He also did "Too Little, Too Late!" He was the
first king of the Hebrew monarchy. He looked like
a king, head and shoulders above all the other
men. God changed him and gave him a new heart,
so that he could lead His people, but Saul turned
from God, and couldn’t reach God anymore. He
finally went to the witch of Endor to try to find
out his future, but that was a big mistake! He
should have repented and turned in humility to God,
but, it seems, he was too proud to do that. He
could have been Israel’s 1st and greatest king, but
he blew it. He tried to rectify things, but, it
was "Too little, Too late." He lost his life in
battle, and God had a replacement for him, a man
after his own heart, named David.
III. Let’s consider another. There was Judas Iscariot
in the New Testament. One of the twelve apostles
of Jesus, yet, a man who did "Too Little! Too
Late!" Judas betrayed Christ with a kiss. He
felt remorse for what he had done. He threw the
money down that he had been paid for this dasterdly
deed, and went out and hanged himself. "Too Little
Too Late!"
IV. I don’t have time to mention but one more in this
message today, but there are others who did "Too
Little, Too Late!" I hope that you will not be
one like unto them. One final illustration-
The New Testament parable that Jesus told about
the Wise & Foolish Virgins. The "foolish virgins"
took no oil in their lamps, and when the bride-
groom came, they were unprepared, and got shut out
of the wedding festivities. They went to others
and asked for their oil, but alas, they did "Too
little, Too late!!!"
As I pointed out earlier-Now is the accepted time.
NOW IS THE DAY OF SALVATION. Harden not your
heart. Close not your ears. Come to Christ now,
so that it won’t be true of you that you did
"Too Little, Too Late!"
