Why Does God Hem People Into Their Disobedience- Rod Mills

Why is God allowing wickedness to grow so grossly, so devastatingly, in the earth? Romans 11:30-32 says that God commanded them all to disobedience, that he might have mercy on all the same peoples and that he might extend mercy to them. God does not force anyone to receive mercy. He greenhouses them in their sin, in order that it the sin multiplies rapidly. And they see the evil of their own hearts enough to recognize their need for repentance, for deliverance, for redemption, because all of us are right in our own eyes.

Full transcript generated by ai (please excuse errors):





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​Thank you all for sharing I know, I think Nancy shared two weeks ago, and then Lucy last week. So we're looking forward to getting those published here soon. And we'll get this from publish at the same time. But I'm going to continue. I'm trying to finish the series so we can get back to the the kings of tomorrow, which I'm really, really excited about. But the Lord has really put this on my heart to make sure that we are sharing what he is showing us for 2023 and beyond. So we're, we're to the Beyond part, not just 2023 anymore, because these words have been words that God is using to prepare us for the coming years. And there is something that I feel like we need to stop and talk about today. And I sent a note out a couple of weeks ago on this, I call it I call this when we stop to talk about something that's related, but it's kind of on the side of the road related. One of my theology professors who, who wrote a fantastic systematic theology book. He would do this in his theology books and theology books, he calls them x curses. It's kind of like, okay, let's take a little sidetrack. It's kind of like when you start at a scenic point on a road and go, let's stop and take a look at this, rather than continue down the road. And I want to spend some time talking about disobedience in the world right now. As many Christians right now, many Christians, many of us in this place many others that we know are struggling with. Why is God allowing wickedness to grow so grossly, so devastatingly, in the earth? It's hard to watch, isn't it? It's hard to watch the human suffering, that sin causes sin is a terrible thing. The older I get the more I hate sin because the more I've watched people suffer excruciatingly suffer because of sin. And, and whenever people start calling bad evil things, good. Man, that really makes me mad. I'll just be honest with you, I don't mean in the flesh. I don't mean like, ungodly anger is scripture says Be angry and sin not. And there are times when there's this righteous indignation that comes from God ago, no. Have you ever read a new story about some wicked thing that happened to a family or something? You don't sit there and go, Oh, that's something. If you don't get angry, something's wrong with you. Like if you don't go, Wait a minute, there needs to be justice in this situation, because we're made in the image of God. And I'm not talking about vengeance, there's a difference between the two. But right now, there's a lot of struggling going on is Why is God allowing this enormous deception of people calling good evil and evil, good, and then all of the treachery that happens to those people and to their children and their children's children and the surrounding cities? And all the things that happen because of it? Why does God allow this? So I'd like to turn if you would turn with me to Romans 11. And I'd like to talk about this concept of why does God Chem people into disobedience. Now, I'm going to say a few things Romans 11. I'm gonna say a few things. And if I say something that you get, wait a minute, I don't know if I agree with that. I asked you to set it on the shelf and listen, and let's talk about it. Because I think you'll see more clearly as we kind of delve into this together. Romans 11. In verse number 28, Paul is talking about the context here is Paul's talking about Israel, having kind of departed from the faith when Jesus came, there was a rejection of the Messiah. Now, of course, all of Israel didn't do this, right. I mean, all the apostles were Jewish, many, many believers were Jewish. The Matthew wrote the book of Matthew to the Jews. You know, the book of Hebrews, there's all these books, and most of them are written by the Jewish people. That is people who believed in Jesus Christ. So even though the Jewish nation was kind of turning away from Jesus and rejoice Acting him, there was still a remnant of Jews who embraced Jesus and they are the foundations of the church today. Think about that the foundation of the church today the Cornerstone is a Jewish man named Jesus. And the and the other plumb lines and cornerstones, if you will, or stones in the foundation are the 12 apostles, who are Jewish men, and Jewish women who traveled with Jesus. So when we understand not all Jews rejected the Gospel, however, Paul starts talking about their rejection of the gospel, we're not going to go deep into the Jewish aspect of it. But you'll see our jumping off point in verse 28. He says concerning the gospel, they he's talking about Israel, are enemies for your sake. Now, he's not saying treat them as an enemy. He's saying they're rejecting the gospel. So in your situation, they're acting like enemies toward you. But he said concerning the election, they are beloved for the sake of the fathers. So for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. So what he's saying is, is God elected Israel to be the foundations of the church? Now we know because we read the greater Book of Romans, Paul prophesies, that the whole Jewish nation I don't know about every Jew, but a large majority of them will actually come back and come to the Lord in the in the end of this age. And so Paul tells us, though he goes, You need to respect this and be careful. Remember, there's a passage where he says that we are grafted in. So we're some of them did not believe, and did not trust in Jesus. He says, because of that you were grafted in to this tree. And we were adopted as, as God's people. But he says, in Verse 29, for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable, God called them and he will not revoke that calling upon them as a nation. Now, each individual has the opportunity to accept or to reject that calling, but the calling to the nation of Israel remains to them as the people of God. And that's why Paul says to the Jew, first and then to the Gentile, because that calling was first offered to them. Our society, by the way, does not like this kind of language, we want everybody to be equal, we're like, well, we want everybody to be equal. So the language of the Jew first and then the Gentile, that doesn't sit well, with a lot of people, they want to treat everybody the same, this whole equity movement is to get the same results for everybody. And I'll tell you, let me say this, Have y'all ever watched the movie ants, you remember that movie ants. And the whole ant Empire wanted everybody to be the same. Listen, that's what the devil is doing today. He's trying to make everybody the same. And because of that, there is a stealing away of identity. When God says, Hey, I've called these people first and then I've called you don't try to jump to the front of the line. Because one thing I've learned God's will is always the best place to be, you will never go wrong choosing God's will. And there are areas in life where God did not call me to be the first. And there's areas in life where God called you to be the first. And so what when I embrace the will of God and help you be the first in that area, God helps you and may be the first in the areas he's called me. And we have redemptive giftings that make us each unique. The same is true with the nation of Israel. The same is true with the church. The same is true with individual spiritual families, we have a different calling as a spiritual family that scattered out now in different states. And now in different countries. We have a different calling them a local church does or somebody else, that's okay. It's okay for them to be first in those areas. And so I wanted to just say that as a side note, before we even get through the Scripture, but then he says, For as in verse 30, going back to the Scripture, he says, For as you were once disobedient to God, yet have now obtained mercy through their disobedience. What is he saying? He's he's talking about us being grafted into the tree. He said, when someone else disobey, listen, that doesn't mean there's not a seat at the table for you. Remember the parable of Jesus? He said he had invited these people to the wedding feast. And then the people who were invited didn't come. There are many who are invited and they don't come and he's any so he told his servants go out to the highways and the byways and column in and so we are those people that were outside the Jewish nation as Gentiles. God says, Come on in. Now, there's still Jewish people sitting at the table and Gentiles sitting at the table. And as Paul said that you first and then the Gentile, they have a seat at the table first and then us. That's the way God ordained it. I can't tell you why all the reasons why. But that's how he did it. Most. I think a lot of it has to do with his relationship with Abraham. But we are still, as Paul said, later, children of Abraham by faith, he says, Even so these also have now been disobedient, that through mercy shown to you they all slaves may also obtain mercy. But what is he saying? He's saying that as you come in and obey God, and you walk with Him, that you will carry this message, Gentiles will carry this message, and many, even in the Jewish nation, will still come back to the Lord and obtain mercy. Now, he doesn't mean every single person, this is still a choice for each person. But then he says something very interesting in verse 32. He says, For God has committed them all to disobedience, that he might have mercy on all and when he means by all is he means all nations. In other words, ki t, let's examine verse, verse 32, a little closer, and we'll see. He says, For God commanded them all to disobedience, that he might have mercy on all the same peoples and that he might extend mercy to them. Now, God does not force anyone to receive mercy. Just as He doesn't force you to marry someone. He doesn't force anybody to marry him. So he offers mercy and says, Hey, if you would like to, I'll have mercy on you, and you can enter into an eternal marriage with me. But he doesn't force anybody. He offers it to all people as an act of mercy. I want to read the passion translation. In this verse, actually, God considers all of humanity to be prisoners of their unbelief, so that he can unlock our hearts and show his tender mercies to help to all who come to him. So we understand the context here is God's behavior toward his chosen people, the Jews, however, this is important, and it's not clear in the English. The grant Paul's grammar in verse 32, indicates that this is God's behavior toward all people, not just toward the Jews. And here's what I mean, when you go back and you read that verse in the New King James, he says, For God has committed them all to disobedience. The word them is not in the Greek. Now, the translators put it in there, because they wanted us to connect it to the context. But it is not in the Greek. It's for God has committed all to disobedience, that he might have mercy on all. Oh, this gets interesting. So I'm going to read this in I'm gonna read it in several English versions. So you'll know I'm telling you the truth, okay. No American Standard, For God has shut up all in disobedience, so that he may show mercy to all the message in one way or another. God makes sure that we all experience what it means to be outside, so that he can personally open the door and welcome us back in. And I think a good way to say it is so that we will know we need to go in. Right? So I have related my story back when I was a kid living in darkness man, I'll tell you, even as a child, I remember the extraordinary darkness in God allowed darkness to enter my life. And God allowed sin to enter in my life, some sin that I don't talk about, because it was so dark. It was such a dark place God allow that in my life, so that whenever he presents himself, the light shining through the door, I go, Whoa, man, this is good. I need this and I leave that darkness and then English Standard Version For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all the NIV for God has bound everyone over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all. For God has this is new, Revised Standard for God has imprisoned all in disobedience so that he may be merciful to all the the word that Paul uses in the Greek that's translated here God has committed all to disobedience, the word committed in verse 32. I want to give you a definition from the lexicon. It means to be shut up to be cooped. dug to be hemmed in, to be enclosed in disobedience to be included or concluded in disobedience, to be shut off and intercepted to be closed or muffled. So the this hemming in is God, track with me tenting people in their sin, retracting. He's tenting them in their sin, I can tell. In effect, he greenhouse greenhouse's them in their sin, in order that it multiplies taught, listen close, that the sin multiplies rapidly. And they see the evil of their own hearts enough to recognize their need for repentance, for deliverance, for redemption, because all of us are right in our own eyes. All of us are right in our own eyes. Think back when you were in sin, even when you were in sin. You were right in your own eyes. And even when you didn't know it, you didn't admit it. And you figured out how you were right in your own eyes. Right. But man, when that ugly stuff started coming out, I was like, oh, something's wrong. I remember as a boy. And things started to happen in my life. And I started doing things that disturbed me deeply. As a boy. I'm like, What's wrong with me? What's wrong because I didn't have Jesus. But he tented me in my sin for a time. I thank God it wasn't for a long time, but he knew what I needed. And he knows what every person needs. Some people have asked, Why would God do this in order to show mercy and some have accused God of being a self centered, egotistical God Who would do this? Too many people see God like Q on Star Trek. You guys are any of you seek truck member Q. He's all powerful. And he shows up and he does what he wants. And so what will happen is people will see a scripture like this and they'll go, man, this dude sounds like Q. This is not who God is. So trail with me. They view this scripture in this way, from a lack of understanding of the heart of God, and the reality of how sin plays out and unfolds. God's not doing this. So that you go, thank you, Lord, I, you know, you're the rescuer. And he's not egotistical. He knows that you need him. And he's trying to help you see it. Have you guys ever seen that Tom Cruise movie night and day? I know you don't want it. We're working on you. We're working on you. Did you know Do you remember that part? I think it was Carmen Diaz that was in the movie with Tom Cruise. And she keeps leaving him and like they're trying to kill her. And finally, Cruz gets so frustrated, what's his name in the movie, the character's name, I can't remember, he gets so frustrated in the movie. And finally he goes, Hey, he puts his hand up like this. And he goes with me without making any. And for those listening, I'm putting my hand up with me a pie and download day puts his hand down, like because without me with me, without me. And he just keeps saying with me without me. And a lot of times, that's what God's doing to us. He's like Tom Cruise go, I didn't ever think I had to say God's like Tom Cruise. That's a good part and some really good part. And maybe it'll help us to see the heart of God. God is going with me in his hands up here. And he's going without me, like, Get it. Get this in your head before the enemy kills you, like. So he's saying that. If God does not hem people in in their disobedience, their sin progresses more slowly. And they often cannot see their disobedience, or their need for mercy, and the righteousness of God. And they will believe that they are good in their own power. Because then their disobedience is not as extreme. When they are not hemmed in. Listen, the last century was filled with world leaders who thought they were good in their own power. And if they could just get in charge of their government and implement a more autocratic system, that they would be good for their country. Hundreds of millions of people die. And every generation has people who come and go, Yeah, but we're different. And God has a message for you for those leaders of nations. No, you're not. You're not any different than the previous generations. In fact, a lot of you are more arrogant than the previous generations. In the hubris of modernity. You look Back on other people like they were ignorant and stupid and oppressive, and you're way more oppressive boy, I'm speaking prophetically now. Probably get a letter on that. Yeah, not exactly. But every generation has fallen in every generation needs God in that respect, we are all the same. Thank you Tom for saying that, because that's important to just did this to discern. There are many in today's society, who continue to subscribe to more and more wicked beliefs. And if you were to ask them 1020 years ago, if they would have subscribed to that, and they would say, oh, no, I would never, I would never do that. But the pressures of the world, boil the frog, you know how frogs boiled you put him in cool water, you turn the heat up a little bit at a time. And by the time he's dead, he didn't even know it, he just adjusted to it. And, and so there are many in today's society, underwriting these people as righteous and compassionate, while in fact, they are evil. There are people in our world today saying, this is compassionate to do this. This is compassionate. And in fact, it is very evil. And it's evil to many people. It's not just their own little evil private in their homes. It's impacting 1000s, and millions of people, their spiritual blindness, and their hardness of heart toward God and His ways, are multiplying like a rampant fungus or stage for cancer. That's where we are right now. You can't believe some of the things happening now, you would have never believed that seven years ago. This is an out of control fungus called sin. It's stage four cancer, it's especially important for God to tent them in to their sin to greenhouse them in to their sin and disobedience, because some of them will look at it and say, this is evil. This is evil. And go, oh, wait a minute. Did you guys see the guy that I won't repeat his name here, but because I'm not endorsing the guy, but there was a guy we got to talk about the other day, and he came out and did a video. He goes how I accidentally became a Christian. And he literally, yeah, don't say his name, because I don't, I don't know his all of his stuff. So I can't say I subscribe to him or approve of him. But I think it's interesting, the guy says I accidentally became a Christian, because more and more I was opposing this evil and that evil and that even before you know it, I've given my life to Christ. It's like what, and I believe there are going to be more and more people like that, because they're going, Wait a minute, this is wrong, this is bad, this is harmful, this is evil. And so they do this. And as a result, they they are changed. So God is tenting, or green housing people in their sin in order that some may see that evil, dangerously lurks in the heart. And so they can repent before it's too late. But you guys know only the righteousness of God will make you good. Now there are many people, I've had many friends in the church who will preach and go, your righteousness is as filthy rags, and they'll just run the people down and run them down. And all of this Well, it's true. Your righteousness is as filthy rags. But I got good news for you. Every seed you planted in the garden of your heart that came from God is God's righteousness, not your righteousness. And so you start planting God's righteousness in your heart and weeding out your righteousness, which is evil, you think it's good, I thought it was GOOD. Although do good stuff, excuse me all that do good stuff we were doing we thought it was good. And then we look back on and go, Man, I can't believe how bad that was. Because we did not see it through the eyes of God. We saw it through the eyes of will for me, I saw through the eyes of Ron, and you saw it through your eyes. And so as a result, we didn't understand the difference. As it occurs in time. God does not control the will. He's not forcing you to do something. Now there's a lot of debate about this. But I'm going to say a few things here that maybe bring some clarity. He does not control the will or the free volition of people. But he does control the surrounding circumstances, that shape and mold their actions, even our actions. Some he allows him to temptation and trial and others he does not. And pretty much everybody he allows at some point, right? Everybody is tempted everybody goes through trials. Everybody goes through temptations, but the point is, God sovereignly makes decisions allowing some and not allowing others. We pray for the purification of our own hearts, and we pray for the implantation of his righteousness instead of our own so that we may walk in his ways and in His holiness in his, by His power, and by His grace. But this only comes by what Jesus called. And I believe it was John the Baptist called repentance and remission of sins, and they always go together. Anybody who preaches a gospel of remission of sins without repentance, is violating what Jesus taught and what the apostles taught, and what the Scripture teaches. And that is a false teaching. It's dangerous to the soul. We must preach repentance with remission of sins, there is no remission of sins without repentance. That's why it's a false grace. It's not a true grace, because the grace of God is to those who repent. Now, yes, His grace, His mercy is extended, but grace and mercy are different. His mercy is extended upon each of us for a period of time to give us space for repentance with and then remission of sins. This is why Jesus prayed in the Lord's Prayer, lead us not into temptation. Isn't that an interesting prayer, lead us not into temptation. This is a prayer for the purification of our hearts with repentance and brokenness, so that we operate in the righteousness of God. And we don't need a temptation to tempt us in our sin to expose our sin to us, you guys tracking with me? So Jesus says, Pray that lead us not into temptation. I've heard straight. I've heard sermons, and I've heard teaching, saying that this is not exactly what Jesus meant. So I went back to the Greek. And I looked at what the Greek word say. And it's been a while since I've taken Greek, but I looked at every single word in the Greek manuscript. And you know how it's translated, lead us not into temptation. That's how it's translated. So I'm not going to try to make it say something that it doesn't. In this way, if we pray for righteousness, we pray Lord, and I pray this prayer 1000s of times, I don't know. It feels like 1000s of I pray, Lord, please help me, show me what I need to know. Purify my heart, I don't need another trial. I don't need another temptation. Please leave me not into temptation. Because I would much rather remember that scripture we looked at the other week says, If we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. And so it's like, Lord, I want to take care of this. Let's take care of whatever it is, so that you don't need to take me through some trial. We've all been through the long way. We've all been, you know, here we go around the mountain. Again, you didn't learn this the first time. Here we go. Okay. You didn't learn it the fifth time. There's some mountains, I went around a lot of times, especially when I was young. And so I'm saying, Lord, help me, I don't want to have to go through this temptation or this trial, if it's possible. So help me walk through purity. Now, there are certain trials that all of us will go through, that's okay. It's okay. Don't, don't be afraid, because there is a testing that God has taken us through. And a lot of that has to do with eternal rewards because God setting record in the heavens, he's setting a record of your faithfulness to God, because the accuser will rise in the judgment. You guys know that right? Jesus tells us in the judgment, one city will rise against another and say this, and to me, it's going to be an interesting time, to say the least. And it will be real, it will happen. It according to the way Jesus describes it. But in in that judgment, God, we're looking to Him to be our defender. And in that judgment, God's rewards many times are related to your actions in trial. When you're out doing the sea trials, and you're proving that the ship is seaworthy, you're proving that you that this aircraft is air worthy, you're proving that not that you earned your salvation. That's not what we're saying. But that you were faithful in the small things so he can make you ruler over many things. Those are Jesus words, not mine. So he's he is demonstrating to the Father, he is demonstrating to the angels in the heavenly hosts, he is demonstrating to hell to Satan to the demonic powers, Your faithfulness in the small things, because what he's getting ready to give you he's going to get some accusations on are you tracking? And so God is setting the record. So don't just be afraid of every trial, we understand that we will go through trials. I think this is part of the reason why Jesus says rejoice when you're, you rejoice when you're persecuted. You're blessed. He says, You're blessed. And I'm like, Lord, how am I blessed? We got to have eternal perspective to see that we If our eyes are stuck in this realm, it'll be very hard to see how we're blessed and persecution. All right, let me catch up on my notes. Jesus prayed lead us not into temptation, the prayer of purification. Those who are loud into temptation and trial are often allowed because they need by the way, the reason why I'm saying temptation and trial is because that word can be translated both ways. In the Greek, the word for temptation is sometimes translated temptation, and sometimes translated a trial. And so I just want to throw that out there because I don't know. I mean, I think there's many applications to the word. So those who are allowed into temptation trial often allowed, because they need to see that they're operating in their own ways, and their own righteousness instead of God's and this is not just for unbelievers this for believers. This is why we pray this in the Lord's prayer. Jesus say, hey, seriously, get down and pray this Lord lead me not into temptation helped me out here I don't need I don't want to be tempted into my sin, which is destructive in the long run. And our righteousness is filthy rags. It's destructive. In the long run, we we don't see how the dominoes will fall or we don't believe it. You see what I'm saying. And self righteousness is as filthy rags, according to Isaiah. And according to Zachariah, when he described Joshua in Zechariah, three, three. So the Scripture also says that God does not tempt anyone. Now we're getting down into the weeds and the nuances of the nature of God. He does not tempt anyone himself. But he does allow people into temptation, in order that the sin of their hearts may be revealed to them. So they can repent and turn to righteousness in their hearts, and not just their outward display. Now, if you go back to the Sermon on the Mount, remember what Jesus said. He says, Unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, and I can't remember the exact way he said it, but basically says you, you're not going to inherit the kingdom, you're not going to make it. If your righteousness does not exceed their righteousness. You your eternal destiny is in peril. That's an effect what Jesus is saying. And it's not just our eternal destiny, it's also our ability to enter the kingdom now, as well. And the reason why he said that is because their righteousness was an external posturing and posing the hip. They were hypocrites. They were posers. We see a lot of that today, don't we? In the public square, man, there's all kinds of posing, and you're like, who's the real person? Because there's so much posing going on. There's all this posing, and people act like they're humble, and they act a certain way. But then we find out this is not who they are at all. It's not actually who they are. Jesus, his whole sermon on the mount, if you go back and read verse by verse by verse, He's taken us beyond the law to the heart. Now the law is good. I mean, when it says, Don't steal, don't kill, don't commit adultery, don't covet your neighbor's wife when he says these things. Those are all good things. But what he's saying is, it's not enough. What we need is we need a divine transformation in our hearts, we need a change in our hearts. And when that happens at the heart level, then there is a transformation taking place there. So Jesus has taken us back to the heart issues in the Sermon on the Mount. And so whenever we see that God allows people or even tense them in to some disobedience, it's because he wants to bring this thing to purity, and excise that thing and bring them into transformation. For unbelievers. It can be very deadly. It for believers, it can be very deadly. But for unbelievers who are unrestrained in their disobedience, I'm assuming believers will not be unrestrained in their disobedience. There are believers who become unrestrained in their disobedience. And of course, the Lord gets involved and Jesus, you know, pray and lead us not into temptation. I think there are times God's not tempting them. He's not actively tempting them, but he's using a fallen world and a fallen life and a fallen situation to bring them to redemption, if at all possible. James 113 says, Let no one say when he is tempted, I'm tempted by God, for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He tempt anyone. Actually, it says nor does Does He Himself tempt anyone? It's interesting James says it that way, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he's drawn away by his own desires and enticed. And then when desire is conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it's full grown. Always he doesn't use Word always but it's there, it's implied, always brings forth death, the end result of anything you can pick inventory, any sin in your life, past present, hopefully not future. And if you inventory that sin, it has a growth process, that if you follow it long enough down the road, it comes to death, spiritual death and physical death. CS Lewis described why seemingly good people go to hell. This is this was hard in his day for people to understand this because even though society was not all Christian, there were many quote good people doing good things. And and CS Lewis was talking about why. You know, people good people go to hell, he said, he described them as this way says, they're not like the the murderer, or the robber, or the thief, where they're 50 degrees off from God's Azmuth in their lives. He says they're only off by you know, what, four degrees, I don't remember how he said it. But basically, he said, they're only off by like four degrees. So they're not that far off from from good. Now, here's the nature of what let's talk about Christians for a moment. Christians are called to repentance. God calls us to a lifestyle of repentance, not you don't repent one time, and then when it's good, we're good to go. I have some people I love dearly, and they did that. And I worry for their souls, just like I would worry for my own soul. If I did that. God calls us to die daily to the flesh, crucify the flesh daily. You let that flesh you know, I like what one pastor said, he goes, Man, you give him 3% You give the devil 3% You take 3% of your life and go, You know what? This 3% of my life, I'm just gonna, I'm just gonna all out sin. I just liked this sin, I'm just gonna do it. 3% of my life, but 90 others 97% of the rest of it. No way. Devil is not allowed. But this 3% You know, I'm not going to repent. Now most of the time, we don't go, I'm not going to repent. We just go about our business, right? And, and so if you give the devil 3%, he will graze on that 3% You give him an inch, he won't take a mile, he'll take 1000 miles. Right? He'll do it a mile at a time, they'll do it 10 miles at a time, they'll do it 100 miles at a time. The point that I'm trying to make is that for believers, God calls us to repentance. And so every day we live our lives turning. That's what repentance means. Now, I've heard some pastors say it's 180 degree turn. It's not always 180 degree turn, you're not always directly opposed to God, sometimes you're just off Azmuth. So we turn it's kind of like an airplane when you're flying, you have to keep correcting the Azmuth every once a while now that the new system there are a lot more advanced the old airplanes you fly an old steam gauge airplanes, you got to do this, you got to keep adjusting, make sure your your your DG or that is matched up to the compass and you got to adjust your heading, you got to keep making sure you're on your heading. That's what we do as believers, not because we're still falling, we still have to overcome that sin nature. But what we're doing is is we're going oh, you know what? You know, I gotta kind of mad my spouse this afternoon. A kick the dog or, you know, I know you guys got a dog, you know, you kick the dog or whatever, you got mad or whatever it is, but you got Lord, I need to spend some time with you. I need to repent. And so you repent. And you correct that Azmuth back to right on asthma. The problem is, if you don't have a lifestyle of repentance, and you're just a good person, you might be better than me. You know what I might, I might be like, Man, I got off asthma six degrees today, but I repented. And then tomorrow I got off asthma four degrees, but I repent. And then I got off asthma, it's five degrees, and then I repented. And then, you know, a good man walks up to me and goes, Man, you're terrible. I'm only off asthma. 2% means you're better man than you doing better than me. Here's the problem. If he keeps going that 2% CS Lewis says, yeah, in this life, he won't be so evil. Because the problem is, the longer you go, the more off Asmath you become, and given a long enough period, if you're only off two degrees, it might be 200 years into the heavens. I don't know how time is measured there, but it might be 200 years into the heavens but at some point you're a mass murderer. You're a killer. You're rebelling, you're like Satan, right? Just think about Satan. Think about how long he went before. Key did evil. Now, I don't know how that works. I'm just speculating with you. But the point is CS Lewis is saying, This is why good people don't go to heaven. Saves redeemed people go to heaven, people who repent and receive the remission of sin, because in the heaven, God does it. Think about this, God's nature, he never forces anybody to serve him. That's his nature. It's not going to change a million a billion years from now or deep into eternal history that is to come, however, that's measured. We're not going to wake up one day and go, Well, everybody's a slave, we have to be here. Nobody has to be there. Everyone is there by their own allegiance by their own volition. Now, there is election God did elect us God did call us God did choose us. And I'm not going to ignore the fact that there is a there is a foreknowledge of God who says, I knew you before you were in your mother's womb. We don't understand this mystery. But I don't want to ignore that part. We are not there by our own righteousness. Even our own decision was granted to us by a spirit of repentance. God will grant repentance Acts Chapter Five says God grants repentance. If God does not grant repentance, someone cannot repent. They do not have the power to repent. He must grant repentance, go back and read. It's in Acts chapter five. He grants repentance and it's given now when he grants the gift of repentance, it doesn't mean that people have to take the gift. But if they are offered, if the Holy Spirit offers, if you're listening to this today, on the teaching library, and the Holy Spirit is moving on your heart right now, and this week, and he's pulling you, you need to say yes to God, do not wait. Because you are not guaranteed that he will invite you again. I have a very dear friend who was many years ago, 30 years ago, I was friends with him, we pastored churches nearby each other. And he was a major drug dealer for a huge swath of this particular state. And he told me stories I couldn't even believe and then a Tom Cruise movie came out about it. I was like, Man, I knew about that 25 years ago, because he told me all about it. And but he was a huge drug dealer on a huge level. And he said he went and he was living with his girlfriend. He said he went to church one night, because I don't know why I went to church. But I went to this little church one night, because something I wouldn't fill in right or something. And he said, God spoke to me. And he said, This is your last chance. I will never offer eternal life to you ever again. And he was a mean, dude. He was a mean, dude. This was, gosh, 30 some years ago. And he answered the call, gave his life to the Lord. His wife had been praying for salvation, she brought him back was renewed in the covenant. He became a very successful pastor. But he said that night, he goes, I as God is my witness, that was my last chance. I would never be offered salvation again, by God, even if I wanted it. God says, You will not be extended, it will not you won't. The thing is you have to be invited by the Holy Spirit. Nobody is saved by their own righteousness. You can't get to heaven and go, Yeah, but I chose. It's my righteousness. No, it's not. That's why Jesus says you will say, Lord, we're just unprofitable servants. He's not saying demean yourself. He's saying you realize that you only have what you had even repentance, because it was given to you. Even the act of repentance was given to you as a gift, some receive it and some don't. Or we do all kind of feel like you were tracking on that. So if you if people are given enough time, even in their own righteousness, they will become extremely wicked. Give it enough years enough time, they will, they will go into the depths of perversion without God and into evil, even though it may take a long time. Now years ago, some of you know this, we move to interior Alaska. And we moved in the middle of winter. Matter of fact, we got there and like the day or two later was the darkest day of the year. It's the darkness is like you only see the sun for like a couple of hours. And that's it in the middle of the day. But then as the days as soon as December 20/21 goes by the day start getting longer very rapidly. And it began to warm up very rapidly as we got closer to the summertime. And the sun began to shine most of the day and into the night. And it's still wintertime. It's still there. Isn't it by the way, this I love this about interior Alaska. All the slush. You see, like you guys saw yesterday, after the snow and it melted. Now here, it doesn't last very long. Some places it lasts a long time. There's none of that in interior Alaska. It's a beautiful white blanket of snow all winter. It never melts. It never ever melts all winter. It's just a beautiful blanket of white. There's no mess that you don't have to worry about all that. But we learned that in interior Alaska, there's no spring. Did you guys know that? There's no spring. And I didn't know this. And someone goes, well, there's no spring here. I said, What are you talking about? They said, We don't have spring we have green up. And I said, Well what's green up and they said, you'll know. Because all of a sudden, everything will just start melting. And all of a sudden there will be mud everywhere. And they said within two weeks, you will feel like it is July or August and it will be so green, the grass will be growing, you'll be mowing your lawn every four days. Because everything grows very fast, because the sun is always shining. And it's constantly shining, shining. And so you grow a garden and all of a sudden, bam, everything's growing at this massive speed. Because the sun is up, literally in the middle of the summer, it'll kind of go down below the horizon a little after midnight, and then about couple hours later comes right back up. And it just goes in a circle over the sky, it doesn't go in a line like it does here. It just goes in this huge circle and the sun's up, day and night, day and night, day and night. And so literally, every thing that grows is put on this warp speed, acceleration growth schedule, and it grows really, really, really, really, really really fast. Really fast it grows. Sometimes God shapes the circumstances that allow the wickedness of the heart to be accelerated in its fruit bearing. So that people may see more clearly the evil in their hearts. In other words, he this is what I mean when I say he greenhouses it so he'll greenhouse someone in their sin, I'm using the word greenhouse, the word there is hemmed included, concluded you saw it, I read that to you in the lexicon. But the idea here is the greenup idea of God will go okay, you don't understand you're in bad shape here. But you don't even know you're in bad shape. So God will, he'll greenhouse them in and allow that sin to just rapidly develop really, really fast, so that they see their need for redemption, for repentance, so that they go wait a minute, like the guy I told you said he accidentally became a Christian, they go wait a minute, I didn't sign up for this. I didn't sign up for this with this wicked, this is really bad. And they see it and they turn from their sin. So I believe this was the case with Pharaoh. And God hardened his heart. And I will try to talk about this the next time I'm into this, but I'm gonna I'm just kind of doing this to give you an assignment to read about Pharaoh because we've been going quite a while. But I want to encourage you to go read about Pharaoh. We see examples of this all through the Scripture. There's Pharaoh's not the only one. But the idea here I just want to call our attention to don't be intimidated by the fact that God is in charge and we don't like the way he's running things. Okay? Listen, it's okay to admit, when you struggle with something God's doing or allowing, it's okay to do that. Now, don't get bitter at him. Don't get angry at him, but talk to him about it. That's what he was. How many times did your kids get angry, some of you have kids or kids get angry, get mad, especially as they get older. And you're like, just come let's talk about, let's work through this together. You know, as a parent, you love those kids. You don't want them to get angry and go out and just mad at my dad now. And then they just get bitter and angry and a wedge forms and it gets worse and worse and worse. Don't let that happen between you and God. come together and say Lord help me. I want to understand why you're running things away. You're running them. Why are you allowing this because this is harmful. This is hurtful. This is you know, because we as God's people, it's very important that we don't become offended with God. And it's also important that we don't become offended with people, even in their sin. Even in their extraordinary there are people doing some wicked things today. It's okay to be angry about the sin. It's okay to be angry with the harm it's causing people, but don't let bitterness get in your heart. Pray for them. And pray that God will bless them with repentance pray that God will bless them with a heart that sees what's happening. But remember under that when we were in sin, God tend to lead us in our disobedience. He let things get bad for some of us. I know for me, you know, even as a kid might might people told my parents, when I became a Christian as a boy, they said, I can't believe that they literally I had people telling my parents who said, Your son would have been in prison by the time he was a teenager. That's what they said about me. Because I was hemmed into darkness, God allowed me to be hemmed in and greenhouse din. And so I began to see the darkness that was in my heart. And then I recognize that need for light. And so that's where many people are today. And they're of all different ages, because God's been merciful to many and given them longer life and what have you. And so Lord, we pray today we pray for mercy for people. People who are hemmed in right now, who find themselves in these greenhouses of sin, and the darkness is increasing rapidly and the wickedness is growing like a fungus, like a stage four cancer. And Lord, we pray in Jesus name. Help them to see the kindness of God, that you will deliver them, and that you can bring them into repentance, and their own ways or only darkness but your ways our light and beauty and truth and glory. We pray for this hope for them. Lord, we pray for your people for patience of the saints. This is the patience of the saints, to believe you to pray like the woman and look at that you will avenge her speedily that is that you will bring your justice in the earth and you will do it by mercy and judgment together, as the scripture says Your throne is founded upon righteousness and judgment. And so Lord today we give you praise and honor glory. Thank you, we pray, increase our understanding of the nature of your heart, how you live, how you how you breathe, and speak life into us how you govern the affairs of the Earth, out of the nature of your heart, in Jesus name, Amen and Amen.