1. Most people have heard of death-bed conversions. I myself will never forget the time I led an elderly man to Christ in his hospital room.
2. Probably most of us are familiar with the story of the thief on the cross and how he was saved right before he died.
3. We rejoice over these death-bed conversions and we praise God that in His mercy and grace He will occasionally reach down and save some old sinner, some old reprobate only minutes away from the fires of hell.
4. But on the other hand, while we rejoice over God’s mercy and God’s grace, we also have to say, "What a shame that this man did not repent of his sins earlier!" How sad that he has wasted most of his life.
5. King Manasseh was such a man. He a very wicked man. His father was a godly man, the great King Hezekiah (II Chron. 32:32, 33). But Manasseh did not follow in his father’s footsteps (II Chron. 33:1-3).
6. He was an idolater (II Kings 21:1-5). He was a murderer (II Kings 21:16). And most of the people he murdered were godly believers who opposed his wicked ways. Tradition has it that he sawed the prophet Isaiah in half (cf. Heb. 11:37).
7. He was involved in the occult and he even sacrificed his own children to the devil (II Kings 21:6).
8. He went down in history as one of the worst kings in Judah. Some would say that he was the worst. He even did more evil than the heathen nations which surrounded him (II Kings 21:9).
9. However, in the book of II Chronicles, we are told that in his old age King Manasseh did repent and get things right with God (II Chron. 33:10-20).
10. How old he was at this time we are not told, but he was no longer a young man. One thing is certain: HE GOT SAVED, BUT THE DAMAGE WAS DONE.

1. Notice that King Manasseh had a very long reign – he reigned for 55 years (II Chron. 33:1). That is longer than King David, longer than King Solomon, longer than his father, King Hezekiah, and longer than any king in either Judah or Israel.
2. If you study the books of I and II Kings, and II Chronicles, you will see a pattern. After a king dies, his successor his named. And after the successor is named, a declaration is given: he was either a good king or an evil king (cf. II Chron.28:27; 29:1,2; 32:33; 34:1, 2).
3. Manasseh is described as an "evil king" (II Chron. 33:2), and wickedness characterized his reign. Therefore, when people remember his long reign, they seldom think of his conversion. What they usually think of is his wickedness (II Chron. 33:2-7).
4. What differentiates Manasseh from your regular run-of-the-mill tyrant like Sennacherib or Nero is that he knew better. He sinned against great light. He turned his back on his father’s God. He was given a godly upbringing but he rejected all of it for the allure of sin.
5. He not only lived a sinful life but he led others into sin (II Chron. 33:9; II Kings 21:9,10). He eventually got saved, but the damage was done. Many lives were destroyed, many people died, and many souls went to hell before Manasseh finally repented and got right with God.
6. Manasseh was so deep in sin that he descended into idolatry and witchcraft. He even sacrificed his children to idols (33:3-7).
7. A father was trying to teach his son a lesson about the consequences of sin. He told him that every time he sinned, he was to drive a nail in the barn door. Then he was to go and ask God for forgiveness. Next, he was to go back and pull the nail out of the door. The son did this for awhile and his father did not pay much attention to it. But then one day, the boy finally learned his lesson. He came running to his dad crying. His father said, "What’s the matter, son?" The boy said, "Dad, I have been doing what you said and now the garage door is full of holes!"
8. That’s what happened to Manasseh – he got saved, but the damage was done. He went the limit in sin and he went the limit in provoking God’s wrath. And when he finally repented, the damage was done.

II. HE GOT SAVED BUT HE COULD NOT UNDO ALL THE DAMAGE HE HAD DONE.

1. The great Bible teacher, Merrill Unger, wrote: "It was Manasseh who contributed most to the downfall of the kingdom of Judah…His later repentance…did little to arrest the plunge to national ruin."
2. William Shakespeare wrote: "The evil that men do lives after them, The good is oft interred with their bones." He was speaking of Julius Caesar but the same could be said about Manasseh. The evil he did lived after him (cf. II Kings 23:26; 24:3).
3. Some people say that Charles Darwin repented late in life (some insist the story is a hoax), but the damage was done. Every preacher can tell you stories of those who got saved late in life but the damage was done.
4. God judged Judah because of Manasseh’s sin. He not only committed many abominations, but he was responsible for "seducing" others into sin (II Kings 21:9-15).
5. Many people suffered. Many people were killed. Many people were led into the most horrible idolatry and fortune telling and demon possession. Many people went to hell – before Manasseh repented and got right with God.
6. God tried to warn Manasseh and his people "but they would not hearken" (II Chron. 33:10).
7. Therefore, "the LORD brought upon them the captains of the host of Assyria, which took Manasseh among the thorns…" (II Chron. 33:11). It is as a result of this painful ordeal that Manasseh finally came to himself and repented (33:12, 13). But the damage was done.
8. Manasseh spent the remaining days of his life seeking to undo all the evil that he had done (33:14-18). But it was too late to reverse the trends he had initiated. And his reforms apparently made no lasting impression.
9. And then he died (33:19, 20). And the Bible says that his wicked son Amon set out to undo whatever reforms Manasseh was able to accomplish (33:20-25).
10. Notice that Manasseh was not buried in the sepulchers of the kings (33:20; cf. 32:33). II Kings 21:18 says he was buried in his garden.

III. HE GOT SAVED BUT HE LOST HIS FAMILY.

1. I have met many people who were saved later in life and oftentimes they were unable to lead their children to Christ.
2. Sometimes a man gets saved in middle-age or even old age and he cannot persuade his wife that she needs to receive Jesus Christ as her Lord and Saviour.
3. Sometimes a woman gets saved and cannot convince her husband that he needs to repent and trust Christ. How sad – an unsaved wife, an unsaved husband, unsaved children, unsaved sons-in-law, unsaved daughters-in-law, unsaved grandchildren! (thank God, Manasseh’s grandson, Josiah, was one of the best kings of Judah).
4. This was the case of Manasseh. His son Amon did not get saved and was killed two years after his coronation (33:21-24).
5. Amon learned at any early age the deep things of Satan. He learned all about idolatry, witchcraft, and heathenism. During his formative years Amon watched as his father behaved very wickedly. And the Bible says "he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, as did Manasseh his father…" (33:22).
6. But whereas Manasseh humbled himself and repented, and got right with God, Amon did not – he "humbled not himself…but Amon trespassed more and more" (33:23).
7. Spurgeon said: "Children will imitate their fathers in their vices, seldom in their repentance; if parents sin, their children will follow them, without much doubt; but when they repent and turn to God, it is not so easy to lead a child back in the way which it has once forsaken."
8. Some reading this message were saved after their children were grown and know exactly what I am talking about.

CONCLUSION:

1. There are many lessons to be learned in the story of King Manasseh. The point I have been driving at is that it is foolish to put off salvation because both the Bible and experience teaches us that the damage cannot be undone.
2. But there is another lesson here that is also very important. And it is this: God did not give up on Manasseh. Does God give up on people? Yes, He does – but He did not give up on Manasseh.
3. I have to admit to you that I would have given up on Manasseh. But God did not give him up. God sent trouble. God put him in prison. And Manasseh finally got the message. Unsaved friend: What about you?
4. Once again, please allow me to quote Spurgeon: "I am persuaded that, live as long as I may, I shall never see the individual of whom I can say, ‘That man is a hopeless case.’ I may peradventure meet with the person who has been so exhorted and so warned, and has so put off all the sweet wooings of his conscience that he has become seared and hardened, and consequently apparently hopeless; but I shall never meet a man who has sinned so desperately that I can say of him he never can be saved."