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Standing between humanity and unthinkable wickedness is the restraining grace of God. Governments
are stand-in stewards of divine restraint...until they aren’t!

4 God-given levels of restraint of evil—Where there is no “vision”, people cast off restraint (Prov. 29:18)...but blessed is the one who heeds wisdom’s instruction.

- Conscience—Rom. 2:15 (personal)
- Family—Deut. 6:1f (relational)
- Government—Rom. 13:4 (civil)
- True Church—2 Cor. 5:17; 2 Thes. 2:6,7; 1 Tim. 3:15 (spiritual)

WHAT MUST GOD DO TO FINALLY GRAB YOUR ATTENTION? In a famine God can bring plenty from the most unlikely to the most unworthy.

- Beware of engaging in all show religion while two-timing God.

Ritual hypocrisy at the top invites the disciplinary hand of the Lord
“...the people looked and there, underneath, he (the king) had sackcloth on his body.” (6:30)

- Grace without reform is nice, but it isn’t righteous (6:23/6:24)
- Relief is promised for genuine repentance (cf. 2 Chron 7:14)...a broken and contrite heart the Lord will not despise (Ps. 51:17)
- Consequential curses play out for covenantal unfaithfulness (cf. Deut. 28:53-57)
- Crisis clarifies values and the clarity is often horribly disturbing
- Personal survival makes otherwise nice people desperate devils Money can’t save you when God withdraws his restraint of hyper-inflation

What have you become in the last 20 months?

- Expect conflict to increase as God turns up the spiritual temperature of your heart.

Nations rage, the faithless cannibalize their children, the faithful gather together and pray
“Hear the word of the LORD. This is what the LORD says...”(7:1)
- The action of God is launched by His word.
- Those who resist the Lord have historically considered the messengers of God the cause of their
problems. “Wicked men will blame anyone as the cause of their troubles, rather than themselves, and will not leave their sins.” M. Henry

- When in the crosshairs of the enraged, you can keep your head by keeping your head...and heart and
waiting on the Lord. The signs of wicked governance—uncertainty, uneasiness, anxiety, fearful, division

Are you resting confidently in the Lord?

- Yes, God can open up the windows of heaven!

Grace upon grace, God keeps covenant with his people in spite of their unworthiness
“the LORD caused the Arameans to hear the sound of chariots and horses and a great army...” (7:6)

- Outcasts, little faith, a mocker—one of these is disqualified from grace. (unbelief)

- Those who mock the magnificence of the Lord will remain unpardoned. They will see His glory and miss out on the eternal benefits of God’s grace. Promises of this world or the promises of God—which do you believe will disappoint?

- God is able to make all things work for the good of those who love Him (Rom. 8:28). When strength is all gone

Are you fully trusting in the Lord for your salvation—do you believe He alone can save?

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