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Amen so Matthew chapter 12 the focus of the sermon this morning is going to be verses 43 44 and 45 so go ahead and focus there and we'll talk about that in a minute so we're talking about free will we're finishing up our free will study this morning you remember last week we talked about God repenting and why God repents in the Bible and God repents due to the fact that we are that variable God changes his mind in the Bible because of you know what we do whether or not we do the right thing or the wrong thing God tunes his judgment and or mercy accordingly and that's why God changes his mind at times in the Bible and we should be thankful that God is not just set in his ways otherwise we would have literally no chance on this earth so we're going to talk about a little bit different aspect of free will this morning I want to kind of talk about this morning why you will see even saved people sometimes doing horrible sins and what the Bible says about sin and falling into sin for saved people and unsaved people look down at Matthew chapter 12 and verse number 43 this is one of I don't want to say it's the the most confusing verses in the Bible but many people are are very confused about what this means in Matthew chapter 12 so I wouldn't want to just kind of give you the three applications for this section in the Bible this passage in the Bible and then we'll apply that to the sermon this morning look at Matthew chapter 12 and verse 43 the Bible says or Jesus says when the unclean spirit has gone out of a man he walketh through dry places seeking rest and find it none so mean remember who Jesus is talking to here he's talking to the Jews of the time the religious leaders of his time then he saith I will return into my house from whence I came out and when he has come he findeth it empty swept and garnished so we're talking about a man who is possessed with an unclean spirit or a devil as the Bible would say and then he goes out and he looks for rest and he can't find that rest and then he comes back to his house and you know things are cleaned up in the house look at verse 45 then goeth he and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself and they enter in and dwell there and the last state of that man is worse than the first and then these words right here are pretty important when it comes to this story even so shall it be also so basically what Jesus is doing is he's using this example of this demon-possessed man as like a metaphor of what he's talking about and he's directly applying it to the nation or the wicked generation of the people that he's talking to and that's so that's the main application there's a couple others that we can look at but basically it says even so shall it be also under this wicked generation so Jesus is giving an object lesson here is what he's doing if you want to think about it that way and then it says in verse 46 while yet talked with the people behold his mother and brethren stood out desiring to speak to him and so that's kind of the end so basically the three verses 43 44 and 45 are what we are gonna apply so basically he's talking about the direct application that Jesus is speaking about is the nation of Israel itself he's comparing it to basically a demon-possessed man is what he's saying and he's like he's like look this this nation is is like a demon-possessed man and then this nation goes out and you know it gets right or it has the opportunity to get right and then you know it goes back and then it's gonna end up in a worse state than when it started you know and if you look at turn to John chapter 5 if you look at the Jews of Jesus's day you'll see exactly what he's talking about he's basically talking about these Jewish leaders at the time they basically at this point when Jesus is speaking to them they had basically created their own religion at that point I mean they basically were not following you know there's this idea out there by the way that you know like Christianity is like an offshoot of Judaism that is not true at all okay that's like a modern liberal Christian tagline is what that is okay oh you know the difference between you know Jews and the Christians were the same until Jesus came and then it's but no the Jews of the time had basically had already created their own religion at that point and that's why Jesus was so hard on them well Jesus wasn't going to the Pharisees and the Sadducees and all the high priests and saying look you pretty much have it right and you're doing a good job except I'm the Messiah now so now you have to that's read what Jesus says to the Pharisees throughout I mean he is hardest on them throughout the entire all four Gospels he is very hard on them because they created their own religion look at John chapter 5 in verse 46 Jesus tells them this he tells them you don't even believe the Bible as it stands now he tells them look at verse 46 of John chapter 5 and the reason that Jesus knows this and the reason that we know this is because they didn't believe Jesus they didn't believe Jesus was the Messiah look at verse 46 for had you believed Moses he would have believed me Jesus said for he wrote of me but if he believed not his writings how shall you believe my words the entire Old Testament prophesized Jesus in the way he came in the place he came in the entire I mean there's hot you know over a hundred specific prophecies about Jesus in the Old Testament he's saying look you don't believe the Old Testament so this idea that you know that the Jews believe the first five books of the Bible the Torah that's not true and Jesus is is saying that in John chapter 5 so they didn't accept Christ and the state of that generation is gonna be worse off because they didn't accept Jesus that's what Jesus was getting at however you know we can also apply these verses to just unsaved people in general we can apply these verses you know they come to the knowledge of the truth you know they seeketh rest but they find none I mean I've met people that this has happened to okay then and then like they come to the knowledge like the knowledge is right in front of them I'm sure if you're a soul winner you've met these people too you give the gospel to them they understand everything they understand it they know that knowledge they get it and they're just like you know what they just reject it they come to that place where they're you know they have the gospel right in front of them and it's a decision point it's not like oh I don't understand it or you know someone hasn't explained it well to me they just get there and they're like you know what yeah I don't think so and they decide against it and look they end up the Bible says that those people will end up worse off than before and this matches up look it makes sense first of all it matches our logic where it makes sense that the more time somebody rejects the truth the harder it's gonna be for them to accept the truth I mean the best chance you have to you know get somebody saved is that first time they hear the gospel and that first time that they hear the truth and but the more times that people hear it and just decide not to believe it now look I know people that have had to hear the gospel several times so don't be this person that's like oh they heard the gospel twice and they didn't accept it so they're reprobate I mean don't go there that's not what I'm I'm talking about but I'm just saying that this this verse applies to people that have heard the truth they reject the truth and then they're gonna be worse off they're gonna be worse off I mean that's a whole Bible study in itself Hebrews chapter 6 the whole thing we'll go through that sometime in a later sermon but the main application I want to make today for Matthew chapter 12 in verse 43 44 and 45 is for us for saved people look at Matthew chapter 12 and let's see how it matches 2nd Peter chapter 2 turn to 2nd Peter chapter 2 and look down at verse number 20 this also can apply to us this Matthew chapter 12 passage has a lot of application and it can apply to us as well 2nd Peter chapter 2 you say oh you're kind of that's a stretch but yes it matches 2nd Peter chapter 2 let's take a look at 2nd Peter chapter 2 in verse number 20 and then I'll show you several other verses that show how this could definitely apply to us and we need to be worried we need to at least be warned and take heed about this look at 2nd Peter chapter 2 in verse number 20 the Bible says this it says for if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ they are again entangled therein and overcome the latter end is worse that with them than the beginning for it had been better for them to have not known the way of righteousness then after they have known it to turn from the Holy Commandment delivered unto them so look these people I mean they know the truth they have accepted the truth and then they turned from God's commandment and those are the type of people we're going to talk about this morning you say well how bad could people turn well we'll take a look at it but look what it says here it says it would have been had better for them to have not known and what these talking about here is better for them on this earth for them not to have known because look I'm going to show you this morning how an unsaved person that just falls into wicked sin and continues in wicked sin is gonna have a much easier time in life than a saved person that does the same but it just happened unto them according to the true proverb turn to Proverbs chapter 26 we'll look at this proverb the dog is turned to his own vomit again and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire look at Proverbs chapter 26 and verse number 11 so this is a person that you know knows the Lord Jesus Christ and has known the gospel and has accepted the gospel and has turned from God's holy commandment and it's turned again notice how has turned to his own vomit again look at Proverbs 26 look at verse number 11 the Bible says as a dog returneth to his vomit so a fool returneth to his folly so the Bible here is saying and it's clearly warning us first of all if you had folly in your past and then you get saved and then you return to that folly again the Bible says you're a fool first of all but I mean that may be obvious to most of us today but look the Bible also warns us that it could be much worse in Matthew chapter 12 we need to heed that that it can we can actually go back to past sins and then those sins will overtake us worse than before so why I mean why is the Bible telling us this you know there's first of all it's two reasons that is telling us this why am I telling you this the Bible says you know it's first of all it's an explanation for us so when we see we see somebody that's saved and like what we're not saved by our works we're not kept by our works we're not our our salvation is sealed it has nothing to do with our work so when we see somebody who is saved that falls into some wicked horrible sin we see that the Bible told us that this is possible I mean think of Saul in the Bible think of some of the sins that men I think sometimes people forget this think of some of the saved people in the Bible and all the horrible things that they've done murder adultery murdering priests I mean think of this think of this would happen today what would we think but the Bible tells us that people can fall back into things and even into worse situations so first of all it's an explanation it shows us that this can happen but second of all it's a warning for us it's a warning go to Psalm chapter 37 Psalm chapter 37 it's a warning that even though we're saved that we should never let our guard down ever in our lives sin always has the capability of dragging us back to where we came from always so look let's talk this morning about so we see that you know the Bible is explaining to us it's explaining to us how this could happen to somebody and it's a warning to us personally so let's look at some preemptive measures we have free will in this life we have free will you have free will I have free will we look we have the Holy Spirit but we can grieve the Holy Spirit we looked at that last week we have this free will so let's look at some preemptive measures in our lives this morning to handle this free will properly so what we just spoke about in the introduction here doesn't happen to us or anybody that we know so the first thing I want to show you this morning look at Psalm chapter 37 the Bible tells us that yes there's going to be temptations in our lives that that risk of sin is always going to be there but the Bible does give us hope that we can resist we can resist look at Psalm 37 in verse 31 look what the Bible says it says the law of his God is in his heart none of his steps shall slide so the Bible here is saying that I mean this is a super awesome verse showing that if the law of God is in your heart that your steps will not slide you ever heard of like you know someone backsliding is what this is talking about it's talking about not allowing you to backslide it says in order to stop that it's kind of a Proverbs type verse here where it says if you do this this won't happen it's giving you two sides of the coin here it says if you have the law of God in your heart your steps will not slide that's why that's why by the way the first step that you'll see in people backsliding is people getting out of church like every time every time the first thing is they get out of church and then look it's always the same pattern in this sense that's how you can outwardly see that someone is having a problem look because if you come to church three times a week I mean the law of God is you're gonna be thinking about the law of God all the time because hopefully you're getting sermons that are edifying that makes you think about things otherwise I mean if you're just getting these boring sermons and you're just like ah this sermon again it's not edifying you're not thinking about it throughout the week that's why it's important that we actually have you know we dig into the Bible in the sermons so when you come here three times a week you're thinking about these things you have the law of God in your heart so that's why you'll see you know you'll be pondering it you'll be you know throughout the week you be you know it'll guide your feet and stop your feet from sliding turn to James chapter 1 no I'm sorry first Corinthians chapter 10 I don't know why I said James chapter 1 first Corinthians chapter 10 and look at verse number 13 first Corinthians chapter 10 look at verse 13 so if you come to church if you're in your Bible if you know the Word of God you're gonna be thinking about these things the Word of God is gonna be in your heart and that's gonna stop look it's like a stop from from you sliding it's like you know I remember I was I was doing some steel construction when I was a kid I worked at this steel construction company and we put these these metal roofs on these buildings and we're at this power plant putting this metal roof on this building and these these roof sheets were so slippery because they put oil on them from the manufacturer we're up there on this roof it's like 50 feet in the air and there's scaffolding right at the edge where the foreman is standing on the scaffolding and we're up there we're screwing these sheets down and the only way we could we would just start sliding down the roof and there was two things that would save us if you caught a screw with your boot that would save you and then the last line of defense was the foreman standing at the end he would just put his hand on your boot this was not like you know super safe but think about the Word of God you know being that that hand on your boot to stop you from sliding okay that's what the Word of God says in Psalm chapter 37 it'll literally stop you from sliding stop you from backsliding okay look at first Corinthians chapter 10 in verse number 13 there's more good news here look at this therefore hath no temptation taken you but such as common to man it's like look any temptation you have somebody else has gone through okay well what does that do for me thanks a lot that means that somebody else has been tempted with this this isn't some new temptation whatever you're struggling with or whatever year is trying to drag you into sin that's not something that nobody else has dealt with first of all you're like oh that doesn't really help me personally we'll keep reading but God is faithful who will not suffer you that means allow you to be tempted above that which you're able but will with the temptation also make a way to escape you see that you see that a way to escape that you may be able to bear it so look what that let me just read for you James chapter 4 and verse 7 submit yourselves therefore to God resist the devil and he will free from flee from you so the Bible is giving you like kind of a methodology here it's saying look God look first of all anything that you're suffering with any temptation that you're going through it's nothing new there's nothing new under the Sun other men have dealt with this and it's very likely that other men or other people have dealt with it in a better way than you're that you're dealing with it right now that's basically what God is saying right here he's saying he's like look there's a way to escape you're like it's just it's too tempting I just can't look I just can't I can't do it I just keep falling into this in look you're not trying hard enough that's what the Bible says in 1st Corinthians chapter 10 in verse number 13 it says look God will let it make a way for you to escape you're just not choosing that way you know it's the problem to basically 1st Corinthians chapter 10 in verse number 13 combined with James chapter 4 look James chapter 4 and verse number 7 basically says if you try hard enough it will go away if you resist hard enough it'll go away I can't live my life with this kind of temptation every single day every single hour it'll stop it'll go away and it says in 1st Corinthians 10 13 that it it's possible to resist it so if you resist it it will go away and it is possible if you're saved to resist it so if you can't resist it and you keep falling into these sins and you were struggling something you keep falling into the problem is you you're weak you know the problem is you're too weak you know the problem is we were you know we were talking about this a few days ago but look here's the problem I mean some people just can't deny themselves this is an American problem this is an American problem some people deny themselves nothing too many people deny themselves nothing you know they're right you know why you know why they do that because they're raised because they weren't raised right basically they were raised and they were denied nothing that's how it happened that's how you get an adult that grows that grows to a child that grows to adulthood and you know what maybe they're saved we're talking about saved people you end up with a saved adult who can't keep himself out of sin because he can't he just acts that way now he can't deny himself anything because he's never been denied anything I mean life is just for way too many people life is just what can you do for me life with friends is like hey now I have all these people that can do stuff for me this is this is the problem this is the problem with Christians this is why this is why we talk about raising kids so much here this is why we talk about you know here you know what the you know what the problem is with that adult it's one word discipline discipline that's why you're supposed to discipline your children look if you if you if you find these parents that bribe their children with things look if you bribe your children with things ever to get them to do what you want that's not discipline you know what you're doing you're destroying them you know what you're doing you're setting them up for when they become an adult to just fall into wicked sin and not be able to ever get themselves out or stay out of wicked sin maybe they get saved maybe they get out of that wicked sin but then they go back and it's worse that's what you're doing when they're to discipline discipline is taught just remember I mean you say I don't know do I do that just here's oh here's a mantra for you every time you want to bribe your children to get them to comply instead of just applying biblical discipline just tell yourself I'm a bad parent because that's what it is that's what it is look you're gonna destroy you're gonna end up with destroyed adults is what you're gonna have because in order for the devil to flee folks they have to resist in order for the devil to to flee you you have to resist you have to deny yourself you have to have self discipline you have to have self control that's what you're teaching your kids is self-control so the Bible tells us I mean so this is some good news folks this is at the beginning this is the first one some good news number one there will be nothing that's in front of you that you can't handle that's what God says and God's faithful it says God is faithful God is faithful and will not put anything in front of you that you can't handle if you are continually falling into it the problem is you and then it gets even better saying if you're able to resist like you're gonna I'm resisting and I'm resisting it's gonna it's gonna go away the devil will flee from you the Bible says so we're talking about practical ways to not fall back into or get worse off than we were before we even got saved the second thing is this know your weaknesses notice in Matthew chapter 12 and in 2nd Peter chapter 2 in 2nd Peter chapter 2 it says in and again entangled therein it was something that had happened before it was something that this person or and you'll find that many times you'll find that many times if there's some you know Christian that falls in or falls away or backslides and falls into some wicked thing you will find that it is it was really nothing new that they had never been into before many times it's a sin that they are returning to as Proverbs chapter 26 said so look avoid places first of all that might be temptations to you I mean many places that are temptations to you you probably shouldn't be in the first place but maybe you need to put in some extra you know protections in for yourself if you're struggling with certain temptations you know if you have a drinking problem you know maybe just avoid all places in general that sell alcohol restaurants bar I mean you shouldn't be in a bar obviously but I mean you know many restaurants I mean if that's a temptation for you don't go to those places you know enter the internet if the internet is a problem for you you need to put some things in place so it's not a problem you should have those things in place anyway but look you need to you need to avoid places and locations of things that you're struggling with or things that maybe you struggled with in the past you can't just think I'm good it's everything's fine I'm saved you cannot do that here's another one avoid people avoid people that may be temptations to you I mean look I was talking to the guys this morning I'm almost to the point where I feel like you know I almost can't talk to anybody you know just because you know you start talking to somebody you know out on a weekend if you're out fishing or something you start talking to someone you know I don't want to be unfriendly but I also don't want to talk to some stupid idiot standing there drunk with a beer I mean I don't want to be around people like that but look specifically you need that you need to avoid people that are into sins that you have done in the past or struggled with in the past look even Alcoholics Anonymous knows this but you can't try to quit sin and then just hang around with a bunch of people that are like committing sin it's not gonna work just like you wouldn't attack you wouldn't hang around somebody who's attacking your faith all the time you know it's like it's like a good analogy is that you're trying to build a house right you're trying to you're trying to build a house and you know then you hang around all these people and they they come to kick your house down you're trying to build this house and then you go hang around with your friends and they kick your house down we look some people are gonna really struggle here because they just can't draw lines in their life it's gonna drag them back into sins I mean whether that be sin whether that be a lifestyle whether that be your actual beliefs look it's the most important let's building this house is the most important thing to my life and to my family and every time these people are around they start tearing down walls look you got to start figuring this out I mean you gotta start being like hmm hmm why is that these people aren't my friends aha you got it you found it it takes some longer to get there than others but think about that what is your house what are the things you're trying to build in your family what are the things you're trying to keep your family away from and are the people that you're hanging around with are they trying to tear down walls in that structure if they are those people are not your friends that's what you need to realize and meanwhile while they're kicking down your walls and you're trying to figure this out and you're in this situation where you're building and they're tearing down and you're building and they're tearing down look there's just absolute danger there the whole time that you can't draw these lines there's danger there there's danger of sin there's danger of the lifestyle there's danger even to beliefs for the next generation there's a lot of danger there what's the third thing what's the third thing that we can proactively look at here to try to keep us away from some of these things look at look at Lamentations chapter 3 I think there's this idea that because we're saved that you know we just we're automatically always gonna have this great relationship with the Lord and the Lord's just beaming down on us all the time just because we're saved and you know everything's just gonna be great but I hate to wreck your morning with the Bible look at Lamentations chapter 3 in verse number 39 the Bible says this the third point is this as a believer as a saved person God will not go easy on you you need to remember this look at Lamentations chapter 3 in verse 39 the Bible says wherefore doth a living man complained a man for the punishment of his sins let us search and try our ways and turn again to the Lord this was probably it was already turned to the Lord at one point they were turned to the Lord and then they they slid away they slid away and now the Bible is saying here it says we need to turn again to the Lord this person is saying let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens we have transgressed and rebelled and then look what God and then God just everything is great no it says thou has not pardoned what you're gonna pay you're gonna pay as a believer as a saved person turned Ezekiel chapter 18 turn to Ezekiel chapter 18 you know look by the way see the entire Old Testament I'm reading you a few verses here but if you think that God's gonna go easy on the believer see the entire Old Testament it's just judgment on believers is what it is look at Ezekiel chapter 18 look at verse 24 look you are going to pay as a saved person it's gonna be terrible the payment look at what the Bible says in Ezekiel chapter 18 and verse 24 but when the righteous that's you you're righteous through the blood of Christ that's what it's talking about here it's not saying when the sinless or when the perfect no it's it's when the believer is talking about turneth away from his righteousness and commiteth iniquity and doeth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doeth look what it says shall he live the Bible here is saying that there's all these wicked people out here that do this stuff and they're all doing all these wicked things and they're out here just living this worldly life it says if you turn to that as a righteous person as a saved person it's like shall he live and ask the question shall you be allowed to live if you do that all his then he gets even better it gets even better or more depressing depending on how you're looking at this all his righteousness that he done shall not be mentioned but I was in church for ten years soul winning once a week and I was getting all these people saved and then I turned to wickedness not even gonna be mentioned the fact that you're in wickedness and have joined the world that's what's going to be mentioned this person has done some good things all his righteousness will not be mentioned when it comes to the judgment that he's going to receive in his trespass that he had trespassed and in his sin that he has sinned in them shall he die look it doesn't matter all your righteousness that you did before wow that's harsh yet you say the way of the Lord is not equal here now O house of Israel these are God's people right here by the way he's talking to is not my way equal are not your ways unequal you can apply every single verse talking about Israel in the Old Testament to you as a saved believer as God's kingdom as God saved individual as the righteousness of God that you put on through Christ this applies directly to you personally right here it doesn't matter all the good things how great you think you are or maybe you have done good things when you slide away you're gonna pay for those things that's what the Bible is saying here so what you should be I mean God's gonna be harder on you I've had somebody say that to me out soul winning and they got this like oh man they're thinking about all their sins like oh man I'm in trouble now yes you are if you're in a bunch of sin you get saved and you continue in a bunch of sin things are gonna go much different for you that's what the Bible says so look folks we are saved but free will is always there it's always there and because of that free will because of that free will God repents in the Bible thank God that God repents in the Bible he repents you know from direct judgment to mercy mercy according to our choices our free will and we always need to remember that as people we are never out of the woods we are never out of the woods I want to just give you an example to close that I was thinking about that came to my mind when when I was writing this sermon and I was thinking about this subject so as a kid as a kid when I was growing up I always remember I always remember kind of like watching like marriages I don't know it seems strange I know but maybe you'll understand when I explain it a little bit better I was always interested in being married as a as a kid as a young man even when I was like 10 12 14 I was always interested in being married you know and I was seeing all these people married for years and and thank God like my parents and like my my grandparents on both sides my wife's parents her grandparents on both sides great grandparents the whole thing there's never been a divorce there and I mean I'm very thankful for that because when I was growing up and I mean my parents argued I remember I can remember some arguments that my parents had you know like heated arguments between my parents I never once thought oh man they might get divorced I had never even entered my mind and I'm thankful that it never even entered my parents mind either as a matter of fact it was it was only till I was like in high school that I started to see I started to know some kids in school who whose parents were divorced and I started to kind of like maybe middle school high school and I started to kind of understand what that meant was that they're living with their mom or their dad or you know it was always a very first of all I was a one-off it was very strange it was very strange my wife gives a example one time you just like she wasn't allowed to like hang out with any kids like whose parents were divorced I mean imagine we can hang out with today but I mean you know that was that's how like that's how shameful it was to be divorced and but look I just remember watching these marriages and just thinking like I was thinking because I always wanted to be married and I don't know maybe people don't feel that way anymore or whatever but I always wanted to be married since I was you know a teenager and and I just remember thinking when you'd see you know these things happen like okay you know when you in the clear cuz I mean I wanted to be married I want to be good at it I want to mess it up you know you don't want to get married and mess it up so I was like okay how many years do you have to be married you know before you're good you know how many years before you know you you know it may be like five years or or ten years and then and then it's like I've done it you know I'm gonna make it you know but look after years I grow up I turn 30 I turn 35 I turn 40 and I start to see and I start to see people that have been married for 20 years 25 years 30 years getting divorced and I mean I'm sure you can think of these same cases and here's why did you know I mean I'm gonna read you some shocking things right here listen to this baby boomers continue to divorce more than any other age group these are these are people that are over the age of 65 basically in the years between 1990 and 2012 the divorce rate for people 55 to 64 doubled for those older than 65 that number more than tripled it's the look the older generation that the baby boomer generation among us and I'm look I'm not picking on the baby boomers here but I'm just saying that that the people that have been married for 40 plus years are divorcing at the highest rate so this idea that I had in my head that okay you know after 20 years you're good or after 15 years you're good look it's obviously not you know it's not true by the way just a side note maybe this idea of saving up millions of dollars so I can retire and sit on a beach and get drunk for 30 years is not a good idea you know maybe this whole idea of I mean who comes up with this stuff anyway I mean all you have to do is go out like camping and you just see these people that's what they're doing they're gonna they're gonna go and they're gonna sit on a beach and they're gonna drink for 25 years that's what they're gonna do good plan good plan and they're doing it by themselves because you know all their children hate them but look I've been watching this retirement disaster for over a decade now as a matter of fact I can't think of one situation where it's really turned out positive I mean I can't think of a good story I just keep watching people that have retired just keep getting worse and worse and worse I'll give you an example a guy I knew 10 years ago it'll tie it back into the sermon a guy I knew 10 years ago he retired 10 years ago in this generation he retired and he he built this big vacation home and then he moved into this vacation home away from his wife for the week and his wife was in town still working and he was retired just hanging out on this vacation home he didn't really have any hobbies he didn't really have any hobbies he just retired and he just would hang out at this you know he'd built this big ridiculous wood shop that you know I don't even know if he ever used at one time but I guess he's gonna build furniture for 30 years I told my wife I told my wife I said as soon as I saw that this this plan start I was like this will not end well I told my wife and now he's divorced he's divorced after being married for over 40 years just I mean there is no safe zone after 40 years of marriage what life just is just as in marriage because of free will you are never in the clear never turn to Romans chapter 7 turn to Romans chapter 7 and you know what I don't know exactly how it played out but I'm pretty sure it followed this pattern little sins led to big sins I'm pretty sure it followed this pattern look at Romans chapter 7 and look at verse number 13 Romans chapter 7 look at verse number 13 the Bible says we're look at the front of your bulletin the Bible says wherefore the law is holy in the commandment holy and just and good so the law is good the law is good for us it's not gonna save you but it is good for you was then that which is good made death unto me God forbid look it can't kill you did you know that the law can't spiritually kill you the law cannot put you into hell not if you're saved God forbid but sin that it might appear sin this is what the law is for you is so when you see sin it looks like sin so when you see sin come in front of you you're like oh yeah that's sin right there I need to stay away from that you know that is a huge couple of words right there that appear sin because that's what happens to people that's what happens to people with though it always starts with the little stuff so yeah yeah you know I mean this isn't even really a sin I mean Jesus turned water into wine it's not even really a sin you know they just they turn it they take they start with little things then look what it says working death in me by that which is good that sin by the commandment it's the Word of God that makes sin appear sin and also makes it look exceedingly sinful so not only are you gonna recognize it but you're gonna be like whoa that's not even a little sin because you're gonna see what looks like a little sin if you're in the law and that law of God Psalm 37 is in your heart and you're in it and you see that little sin you're gonna see everything that it leads to and you could be like whoa not going down that road this look I'm sure with this guy I'm sure it started with boredom I'm sure it started with just like just slothfulness that's a small one just I don't really have anything to do just leaving things undone you know I'm sure it maybe maybe there was some some you know hanging out on the internet which I do know that that was a part of it hanging out on the internet maybe ending up in the wrong places on the internet meeting the wrong people on the internet maybe maybe starting to drink maybe starting to drink more pretty soon we're in the larger sins pretty soon we're into huge sins now we're into life-changing sin that's why it didn't happen that's why it didn't happen he didn't retire and get divorced a week later he retired and he got divorced several years later but it just it was a slow progression because you know what he wasn't in he didn't have the Bible anyway that wasn't in his heart and so he didn't recognize the little sin it didn't appear sin to him it didn't appear exceedingly sinful to him he just kept he just just kept plowing through you know warning sign after warning barrier after warning barrier and there's all these guys waving signs stop stop it's good it's fine I mean it now we're in irreversible sin but that that free will is always going to be there it's always going to be there being saved doesn't change that as a matter of fact you know it just means that God's gonna come down harder on you and it makes sense right it makes sense that God would come down harder on you because you know what God needs results in this world as 99% of the world is unsaved God needs results you know who he needs results from he needs results from you he's not down here soul-winning he's not down here trying to get people saved look he's given us the Bible he's given us the sword he needs somebody to carry it around and swing it around is what he needs look so it would make sense that God would come down hardest on us it makes perfect sense first of all he's that he's the best father but I mean with somebody who's not even saved it's just like that problems taken care of they're just gonna go to hell and there's no judgment like that judgment there's there's nothing else look we are the main tools of restoration for this world it's us it makes sense that God would come down so hard on us if we're not you know being a good tool to help restore people and look at God if we're a bad tool just just imagine what you do with the bad tool you got a tool in your garage it's taking up all this space and then every time you use the tool think about this every time you use the tool like I'm gonna use this tool to fix my wheel and every time I use this tool it breaks everything I'm trying to fix imagine that what are you gonna do with that tool every single time I pick up this tool to try to cut down a tree branch I just I accidentally cut the whole tree down or it kills the tree or whatever the tool just break it's not only the tool doesn't work but it breaks everything you're gonna throw that tool away that's why God killed Saul that's why that's why in Lamentations chapter 3 Ezekiel that I just read to you that's why God says you know what there's times where God's just like you know what I'm just I'm just bringing this tool home early it's just doing too much damage down there that's why because you are the tool to restore other people and if you're working against that and you don't think that if you're saved and you've tried to get you know the gospel to several people and then all sudden you fall into wicked sin you know what wicked people are gonna look at that and be like look at this what do you think of that you're gonna do damage to the gospel it's not only not having a testimony it's destroying the testimony of the people around you that have the same beliefs as you that's why God brings home people home early think about that it's it's a it's a big warning folks we have a responsibility and if we use this free will against and we literally as the Bible says trample on the Lord Jesus Christ with our free will God could bring you home early for it and it makes perfect sense why he would free will it can be really really good or it can be it could be the end of us literally let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer