If you were here last week, you heard me whining about what difficult Scripture I was expected to preach on. Turns out I didn't know when I had it good. As I said then, I'll say now, these lessons are tough material indeed. Difficult, troublesome, possibly even unwelcome, but as with last week, nevertheless, Scriptural. Holy Scripture, the Word of God. We've got to do something with it. "Hear the word of the Lord, you scoffers: when the overwhelming scourge passes through, you will be beaten down by it. As often as it passes through it will take you; for morning by morning it will pass through, by day and by night; and it will be sheer terror ..." (Isaiah 28:14f) Strong stuff. The Old Testament is often strong stuff, so let's hurry on to the New Testament Lesson. "See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less shall we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven." (Heb 12:22f) By now we may be really holding out for the Gospel, counting on that to reverse the trend. "Strive to enter by the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. When once the householder has risen up and shut the door, you will begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying 'Lord open to us.' And he will answer you, 'I do not know where you come from.' ... 'Depart from me all you workers of iniquity!' There you will weep and gnash your teeth." (Luke 13: 23:f) It's embarrassing how little I know about sports, but in baseball, I think you call that something, when three times in a row things don't turn out well. And you can no longer keep batting, you have to leave. So ... What's this? Is there really a limit to the invitation of Christ, an expiration date stamped on the grace of God, as in "this offer expires on such and such a date." Is there is a shelf-life to God's patience? Last week I touched on the importance of putting difficult material into context. You just don't take a bit of Scripture and rely on it, or despair over it, without regard for the full Revelation, the whole of Scripture in the graciousness of Christ. So let's put it into context, mainly the context of our lives together as worshipping believers. Something like 49 or 50 Sundays of the year each year, we hear the reassurance and the good news that our spiritual relationship with God is all a matter of grace, it is all taken care of by God, all we need to do is respond - not initiate, just respond - and then a couple of times a year there appears some hard-nosed advice about our responsibility in responding. This is the right ratio, I think, the right proportion. 50 Sundays saying how much God loves you, 2 Sundays checking out how well we respond to that, how much is up to us. 50 Sundays to say he does it, he takes care of it, and 2 Sundays to say, nevertheless ... we too have some role in all of this. When we have sufficiently grasped the truth that it is not all up to us, then maybe we are ready on a couple of Sundays for the consideration of what it is that IS up to us - strong enough now, sure enough of our salvation, and God's love, to consider the possibility that we might abuse God's love and grace and patience. A few Sundays, not to grovel or discount all the hope, but some Sundays to see if we are foolishly fantasizing that there is this free-floating, promiscuous grace, to which you can respond as you see fit, when you see fit, if you see fit, and whether you do or don't has no real importance, no lasting significance, no real consequence for your life - well, that's not the way it is. This salvation, this grace, this love of God is serious stuff. I think I once told you in a sermon or a Christian Education lecture that I have a priest friend who had been raised as a Roman Catholic and had gone to parochial schools - in the Old Days. He remembered, with fondness, a charming, but theologically untenable reassurance given him by a nun when he was a child. This pious and inventive woman insisted that there was a Confessional just outside the gates of Hell, with a fine Irish priest inside, who would be there to hear your confession now that you were "perhaps more motivated." The point of this devoted but demented woman's fabrication was that there will always be one more chance - it's never too late. Sound like a clergy position for men who have angered the Bishop. But I digress. The point, I think, of this Sunday's lessons is to save us from the non-chalance that will can always do it later, there are always one more chance. Why bother just now? There may be a Confessional outside of Hell, and yes you may always have just one more chance, but this Sunday's Gospel says clearly - uhh - maybe yes and maybe ... not. Don't count on that in such a cavalier way that you get sloppy and lazy and smug. Above all, the Church is begging us, do not get smug, do not rely on some arrogant assumption that, if necessary, you will remind God of his infinitely patient nature as you have always understood it, or imagined it to be, despite what the Bible clearly said. The Gospel predicts that there will be some surprises and reversals of major assumptions. And don't count on suing God for breach of contract, just cause you misunderstood. Heaven isn't Phoenix. And vice versa, I think. With God, as with anyone we really love, we may miss the opportunity, we may waver and wander and dither and lose our nerve and our faith. And it may, eventually, be forever too late to undue the damage. The door, as they say, may be shut in our faces, and then we will weep - but it will be too late. You can do it now, says the Gospel, yes, you can say you are sorry one more time, and you can firmly intend amendment of life one more time - you can do it now, (and remember, only because of God's grace can you do it now or at all), but, yes, you can do it now. But the Gospel is also honest enough to warn us that there will come a time when to say "I am sorry," will be too late, when it will be too late to cajole Jesus with a simpering version of: "Oh let’s re-live the times that I ate and drank in your presence, and rubbed shoulders with you in old familiar streets," and called you Lord, Lord Lord, I can’t think how many times. There will come a time, these dark lessons advise us, when it will be too late for any of that coy flattery. The Gospel says you can say I am sorry, I really am, that and it will work ... a million times, a zillion times, but don't then decide on your own that it means you can say that a zillion and one times, and God's just gonna have to go along with it. God doesn't have to do nothin'. And yes, warn the Lessons today, just when you think it may be too late, it may be too late. God, the God who loves us, and forgives us, and understands us, and desires us, and longs for us, and aches for us, is far more forebearing, far more patient than we dream or can hope or have a right to expect - but there do seem to be limits. But Why? Well, quite possibly what we are dealing with here then, is a God who actually and genuinely loves us, who loves us so much, so fully, so well, that he will not take the apparently attractive but ultimately demeaning approach of declaring: "I won't let you not love me, I won't let you leave me, I won't let you reject me." At a quick glance that may seem like the perfect approach, but with some thought, we surely realize that none of us would want such a controlling, manipulative, coercive situation, that wouldn't be love, that would be abuse. Don't ever, ever, ever forget the Lessons and the reassurance of those 50 Sundays - you are not able or required to do it all, God will step in and do it for us. But let's also remember the brief, critical reminder of two Sundays - you have to want to let God love you and save you and bring you safely home. If you really want to stay outside while the door is being shut, you can, that much of it is up to you. Nobody wants a friend who won't take No for an answer. Luckily we are not stuck with a God who won't take No for an answer either. You get lots of chances to change your mind, but eventually God is going to take your no seriously. If that's what you really want. That is pretty much all these bleak lessons are saying. God help us! And he will. If we want.