If not now, when will you obey the Gospel? Yes, that’s right. Those who do not obey the Gospel will remain lost. By the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, both the apostle Paul and the apostle Peter warned that those who do not obey the Gospel will be lost eternally. Second Thessalonians 1:8 teaches that Jesus will return at His Second Coming “in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ” (NKJV). First Peter 4:17-18 presents a warning to Christians that also declares the consequences of not obeying the Gospel. “For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? Now If the righteous one is scarcely saved, Where will the ungodly and the sinner appear?” Both passages of Scripture paint a dreadful picture of eternity for anyone who does not obey the Gospel.
There will never be a more “convenient time” to obey the Gospel than the present. The Roman governor Felix heard the Gospel proclaimed, but he put off to some later time to become a Christian. “And after some days, when Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish, he sent for Paul and heard him concerning the faith in Christ. Now as he reasoned about righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come, Felix was afraid and answered, ‘Go away for now; when I have a convenient time I will call for you’” (Acts 24:24-25). As far as anyone knows, Felix never found a “convenient time” to obey the Gospel. Regarding salvation and Governor Felix, “If not now, when?” was never!
Certainly, after one dies, it is too late to answer the question, “If not now, when will I be saved?” The rich man in Luke 16 waited too late to become interested in salvation.
There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate, desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. Then he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented. And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us. Then he said, I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father’s house, for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment. Abraham said to him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. And he said, No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent. But he said to him, If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead. (Luke 16:19-31)
For this rich man regarding his salvation, the answer to the question, “If not now, when?” was never! Only the living can choose to be saved.
Not only must one choose to be saved in this life, no one knows when this life will be over. No one knows when Jesus Christ will return at His Second Coming. “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only” (Matthew 24:36). However, neither does a person know how long he will live. Typical lifespans may extend to 70 or 80 years, according to Psalm 90:10. Yet, babies die, too. Older children die, and people of all ages die. No one knows when he will die. Therefore, wisdom and commonsense calls upon a person to be saved now. Scripture says, “…Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2).
Pertaining to the salvation of souls, the question—“If not now, when?”—the answer needs to be, “Now!” After death, it will be too late to obey the Gospel. With the apostle Paul, we need to be willing to say, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes…” (Romans 1:16). Furthermore, we do not dare to wait for a more “convenient time” to obey the Gospel; the “convenient time” never comes. In addition, anyone would be foolish to put off becoming a Christian because no one knows either the time of his death nor when the Second Coming of our Lord will occur. We only have the present available to us, and momentarily it also becomes part of the past. Our future in this life is not guaranteed.
If not now, when will you obey the Gospel of Christ and become a child of God? If not now, when will you return to the Lord if you are an erring Christian? “If not now, when?” is a question that we desperately need to consider seriously. The answer needs to be, “Now!”
