It’s not too late. 2 Corinthians 5:20-6:2 (Ash Wednesday)

In the mid 20th century, astrophysicist began noticing what appeared to be black holes in outer space.  Light itself seemed to be sucked into a bottomless abyss of nothingness.  Since the discovery of these black holes, a lot of theories have been offered as to possible explanations of what they are and how the function.  One of the most popular theories is they are areas of space that have become so dense with matter that the gravitational pull sucks in everything that is near the black hole.  Even light itself is thought to be unable to resist the gravitational pull of the black hole.  Black holes scattered about the universe sound terrifying.  However, astrophysicist assure us we have nothing to worry about, that is, as long as we keep our distance.  It is thought that black holes have what is called an event horizon.  The event horizon is a distance from the black hole from which nothing can return.  Once you cross the event horizon there is no turning back.  Resist all you like, but once you cross the event horizon the black hole’s gravitational force sucks you in and swallows you up. 

You might be wondering why this lesson on astrophysics.  Well, I mention black holes because they are a fairly good illustration of what sin is like.  Sin pulls at you; it draws you in, into a bottomless abyss, not of nothingness but into a bottomless abyss of pain and punishment.   And the devil would like you to believe that you have already crossed some sort of spiritual event horizon.  That you are past the point of no return; that your sins are so vile or vast that they can’t be forgiven, that you are too far gone to be saved.  The devil would have you believe resistance is futile and It’s too late for you to do anything but be sucked and swallowed up.

The devil wants you to believe that it’s too late for you because then you are more likely to take God’s grace in vain.  God’s grace is that undeserved love of the Heavenly Father that sent His one and only Son to live as your perfect substitute and then offer Himself as the sacrifice that paid for your sin so that you could be saved.  The devil wants you to take that grace in vain which is why he wants you to believe you have crossed the event horizon.  Because if you start believing it’s too late, you tend to give up and give in.

You give up resisting temptation.  You become increasingly less willing to fight the good fight.  You tell yourself, “No matter how often I pray for strength to resist temptation no matter how hard I try not to do the evil I do not want to do; I keep on doing it so…. what’s the point of the struggle, why fight it?”  You start to believe the sin you struggle with is a result of either nature or nurture or both.  You say things like, “I’m just hot-headed”, “I’m just insensitive”, “I’m just cantankerous”, “I’m just …”, you start to believe sin is what you are and give up trying to be something you are not.  Such erroneous thoughts lead you to give up on repentance.  If sin is what you are then the last thing you want is to be reminded of the wages of that sin.  You don’t want to the law that condemns, you don’t want to hear about the punishment you deserve, you don’t want to hear how Jesus suffered and died to pay for that sin and you don’t want to pray for the strength to stop doing the sin, you don’t want to pray for the strength to head in the opposite direction of that sin.

The devil wants you to believe it is too late for you so that you give up resisting temptation and repenting of sin.  The devil wants you to give up because then it is easier to convince you to give in.  The devil is a big proponent of the “if you can’t beat em, join em” mentality.  Except he and the rest of the damned are the crowd he would like you to join.  Which is why the devil is so interested in helping you rationalize and reason yourself into sin.  Before you know it, you are asking yourself, “Did God really say???”, that’s the kind of question a person asks when they are looking for a loophole.  Then you start making not so subtle allegations, “if God truly wants me to be happy, then He will love me enough to look the other way when I do sin”.

The devil wants you to believe that it is too late for you so that you give up resisting temptation and repenting of sin so that you give in to the devil’s rationalization of and reason to do sin.  The devil wants you to believe it’s too late for you because then you are more likely to receive God’s grace in vain. 

The devil wants you to believe you have already crossed the event horizon, but he is lying to you.  It’s not too late.  Listen to what the Holy Spirit says to you from 2 Corinthians 6:2, “I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.” There is a time when it will be too late to late to resist and repent, but that time is not today.  Today, right now is the time of God’s favor and forgiveness.  You are living in a time of grace; a time in which the law can still correct and rebuke, a time in which the gospel can still repair and restore.  As long as there is air in your lungs, blood in your veins, and electrical activity in your head you are living in a time of favor and forgiveness!  Through the pen of Paul, the Holy Spirit says to you, “You have not crossed the event horizon; it’s not too late”.

It's not too late.  Which is why the Holy Spirit “appeals” to you, “implores” you, “urges” you to “20… be reconciled to God.”  “Appeal”, “implore”, “urge”, these are not the threatening words of an enemy, rather, these are the loving words of a friend; a friend who wants you to know just how much God loves you.  God loves you so much that He reconciled you, that is He restored the relationship between you and your God.  Because God reconciled you, your course has been corrected your trajectory has been altered.  You are no longer hurtling toward a black hole.  You are now headed for heaven.  The Holy Spirit “appeals” to you, “implores” you, “urges” you to see that it’s not too late for you; that you have been reconciled by a God who loves you very much.

But, even if you do see how much God loves you, you might cry out, “my sin!  What about my sin?”  “I am still struggling with sin I am still giving in to sin, I still feel sucked in and swallowed up by my sin…. How can a sinner such as me be reconciled to God?”  Take another look at verse 21.  There the Holy Spirit tells you how sinners are reconciled to God.  There the Holy Spirit proclaims to you, “21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”  Jesus is the sinless Son of God, the only sinless son of God.  Jesus never gave up resisting and He never gave in to sin.  Sin pulled at Jesus, sin sought to draw Jesus in, but sin was unable to suck Him in or swallow Him up.  Jesus had no sin… that is until God took all the sin of all people of all time, including your sinful giving up and giving in, God took all those sins and put them on His Son Jesus.  Then God banished His one and only Son to a bottomless abyss of pain and punishment.  But then Jesus did something that astrophysicist believe to be impossible.  Sin’s gravitational pull was no match for the power of God’s one and only Son. So, three days after he was buried, Jesus rose from the dead and ascended into heaven where He now sits at the right hand of the Father.  From that seat Jesus proclaims you to be, not lost in space, but rather the righteous of God.  Your sinful giving up and giving in has been taken away. 

As reconciled children of the heavenly Father who wear the righteous robes of Jesus your savior, you are no longer hurtling toward a black hole.  You are now headed for heaven.  Until you get there, sin will continue to pull at you and seek to draw you in.  And I know sin can sometimes feel like a black hole that is sucking you in and swallowing you up.  I know you are tempted to give up and give in.  But before you receive God’s grace in vain I implore you on Christ’s behalf and I urge you as a fellow worker who struggles with sin, don’t give up, don’t give in.  You have been reconciled!  In Jesus, you have become the righteousness of God!  You are living in the time of God’s favor and forgiveness. Rejoice my brothers and sisters! It’s not too late.  Amen.