Romans 9, 17, for the scripture
saith unto Pharaoh, even for this same purpose have I raised
thee up, that I might show my power in thee, and that my name
might be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore hath
he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will, he hardeneth. Let's pray. Father, thank you
for this time that we have together Look into your word, blessed
Lord, teach us. By the light of your Holy Spirit,
revealing the things of Christ to us, Lord, cause us to rejoice
in him and worship in his precious name, amen. The scripture saith
unto Pharaoh. Now, the Apostle Paul, let's
review a little bit. At the beginning of this chapter
nine and at the beginning of chapter 10, the burden that's
on Paul's heart for the religious Israelites who don't know Christ
is expressed. And I want you to notice what
he does after that. Once he has said, I could wish
myself accursed for the Israelites, my brethren after the flesh.
He expresses that heart desire. His prayer to God for Israel
is that they might be saved and I want you to see what he does
after that in verse 7 Making the point That It's not earthly Israel
that the promises of God were made to Who he's talking about
he's praying for the Israelites according to the flesh but he
Makes it clear that the unbelief of most of the Israelites is
not a failure of God's covenant Because they are not all Israel
which are of Israel the Israel To whom the promises pertain
are the seed And as Paul said in another place, it says seed
because it's Christ not seeds. It's Christ Those who are in
Christ who've been given faith by Christ. Those are the seed
and are counted for the sons of Abraham counted Those in the
covenant the promises were not to the earthly nation of Israel.
They were to the remnant among that nation And he makes that
clear, but I want you to know notice how he does it. He quotes
Genesis 21 12 Neither because they are the
seed of Abraham are they all children but in Isaac shall thy
seed be called that's Genesis 21 12 and He quotes the scriptures. My
heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might
be saved. I lie not, my conscience also
bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost that I have great heaviness
and continual sorrow in my heart, for I could wish that myself
were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen, according
to the flesh. Here's what God said. Here's
what God said. Having shown that being a Jew
is not the basis of salvation, Paul shows what is the basis
of salvation in the next verses, a miraculous birth, something
that can't happen according to the flesh, but a miraculous birth
from above, God's choice, and God's love. That's how sinners
are saved. And in making that powerful point,
Paul quotes scripture in verse nine. This is the word of promise. At this time will I come and
Sarah, who can't have a son, will have a son. There will be
life where there's nothing but death. Miraculous from above,
born again, life from God. A miraculous birth. He quotes
scripture in verse 12. It was said unto her, The elder
shall serve the younger. And verse 13, as it is written,
Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. And then anticipating
the objection, the objection to the truth, by the way, that
was born of Satan in Edom, that this is not fair. He quotes
scripture again in verse 15. For God saith to Moses, I will
have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. Now our text tonight begins with
these words for the scripture saith. Those who preach that salvation
is of him that willeth. It's of man's free will. That's
just how it happens now. Everybody gets preached to, everybody
has a chance, but salvation is of him that
willeth. In direct rejection of verse 16 and all of scripture,
those who preach that, they rely on their own sinful and selfish
sense of fairness to support that lie. They appeal to that
and other sinners, That's not fair, now you know that God don't
do that. You know that's not, no. What we know about God is what
he said, what he's revealed. God's preachers, like Paul, rely
completely and only on the word of God. We teach what we teach
because God said, because thus saith the scriptures, because
it was said unto her, because for God saith to Moses, and so
on and so forth, the word of God. So you see this one chapter
that everybody thinks of when they think about election, predestination. And it's full of that truth,
along with a lot, along with the rest of the Bible. But notice
over and over again, thus saith, the scripture saith, God said,
it's the word all the way through. Those who preach the truth, that's
why. Because God said so. Not because
we wanna welcome everybody and not offend people. We wanna welcome
everybody and offend them with the truth if that's offensive
to them, and it will be, but maybe As Paul said to Timothy,
maybe, just maybe, perhaps your God will give them repentance. To the acknowledging of thus
saith the Lord. For the scripture saith. The scripture saith, the clear
declaration of scripture is that human will is the problem, not
the solution. Neither is it of him that runneth,
or striveth, or worketh. So then, we see that in verse
16. So then, it is not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth. If you preach that it is of him
that willeth, you won't be able to say, thus saith the scripture,
because the scripture don't say that. But Paul could say, thus
saith the scripture, because what the scripture does say is
that God is sovereign. And he chooses, he's the judge,
the one who decides the case. Not you, not me. And thank God
he does. I never would have chosen the
Lord. But bless God he chose me and set his affection upon
me. Neither is it of him that runneth,
striveth, or worketh. Again, man's religion is works
based. And the only basis for that is
in complete denial of the scriptures. It's just the way we feel. It's
just our nature. If my sin is my problem, I'll
do better, and I'll be better, and God will be pleased with
me. But nothing could be further from the truth of God. You can't
say, thus saith the scripture, and preach that. God has done this, but for what
God has done to mean anything, they say, You have to do that. Here's what God has done, but
if that's gonna mean anything at all, then you have to do that. That's not the message of scripture.
In fact, the message of scripture is completely opposed to that. It is not of him that runneth,
striveth, worketh, not according to works which we have done,
but according to his mercy he saved us. And to overcome that
damnable lie from hell, Again, a sinner must look to the word
of God, believe God, because the word of God will point him
to Christ revealed in the word. These are they which testify
of me, Christ said, and by God's grace, receive the love of the
truth, that by grace are you saved through faith and it's
not of yourselves. It's the gift of God, Ephesians
2, eight and nine. No man can come to Christ except
the Father, God the Father, which said his Son should draw him. And in that same context in John
six, the master said, no man can come unto me, except it were
given unto him of my father, given. Matthew 13, 11, he answered,
the Lord answered and said to his disciples, because it is
given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but
to them, it is not given. No man can come except it were
given him of my father. If you've ever listened to a
freewill Antichrist preacher, you've likely noticed that they
don't exactly excel at expounding scripture. They don't even use
the scripture. One of the prominent false prophets
of our day said flat out that our people don't like to hear
about doctrine. They don't like doctrine. In other words, they
don't like the Bible, because that's our doctrine, the scriptures. That's simply because the word
of God does not align with their teachings, with their beliefs,
with their lies. And so they just don't use it.
They might pick one out here and there. They teach plainly
that salvation is by man's will and man's works. Contrary to
our text and all the scripture that Paul is using to show the
truth of what he's teaching. And I'll tell you this, it's
not my doctorate in theology if I had one, nor my powers of
debate or persuasion that refutes them. It's the plain, simple
word of God. Destroys man's false religion
teaching of will and works What completely destroys that it's
just a simple truth of scripture It's complete blindness That
would cause someone to persist in that predominant error And
our verse tonight, again, further establishes from the scriptures
the prerogative of God in saving whom He will. That is hated in this religious
world more than the law, more than anything else. People hate
the free, sovereign grace of God. I was just conversing with
somebody recently and, you know, they were saying, well, I don't,
you know, why don't people that don't believe what we believe,
why do they have to, you know, belittle us and mock us? And,
you know, why don't they just believe what they want to believe
and get on with it? I told him why, from the scriptures.
Here's why, because they hate God. It's not that they don't
believe there's a God. You can't hate somebody that
you don't know. There's no such thing as an atheist because they
hate God. We know from the scriptures,
now that Pharaoh hardened his wretched heart against God. We
see that in Exodus 8 30, Moses went out from Pharaoh and entreated
the Lord and the Lord did according to the word of Moses and he removed
the swarms of flies from Pharaoh, from his servants and from his
people. There remained not one, and Pharaoh hardened his heart
at this time also, neither would he let the people go. Pharaoh
hardened his heart. We're also given a glimpse of
the invisible working of God in this matter. Exodus 10, one,
the Lord said unto Moses, go in unto Pharaoh, for I have hardened
his heart. in the heart of his servants,
that I might show these my sons before him." That's a tough assignment,
isn't it? Go in unto Pharaoh because I've
made sure he's not gonna listen to it. He's gonna hate you and
what you say and oppose you with all he has. Yeah, that's how
it is with the gospel too. God, Does this both ways now? He said, I've hardened Pharaoh's
heart. But listen to this. In Lamentations 521, the prophet
prays this, turn thou us unto thee, O Lord, and we shall be
turned. He turns the hearts of kings
in his hand, as the rivers of water, whithersoever he will.
And he'll turn you away from him, or he'll turn you unto him. Goes both ways. Heart is in his
hand. He said, I will. I will have. I will do. And his people shall. He's on the throne. Could God
have had mercy on Pharaoh? That's not a hard question to
answer. Of course he could have. I'm not talking about could he
ordain to put Pharaoh in hell and then change his mind. Of
course, he couldn't do that. But I'm just saying this, he
just said, I'll have mercy on whom I want to have mercy on.
So if he would have wanted to have mercy on Pharaoh, he could
have had mercy on Pharaoh. That's as plain as could possibly
be. Why didn't God have mercy on
Pharaoh? That's pretty plain too, because
he didn't want to. I will have mercy on whom I will
have mercy. God was pleased to show his power
by his dealings with Pharaoh and not his mercy. Pharaoh was
not a vessel of mercy to use the language of the context further
on as we'll study this chapter. He was a vessel of wrath. And
God used him to show his power, his authority, and his ability. There is no opposing God. People say, well, you know, God
wants to, but you know, you gotta let him. That's why he dumped
Pharaoh in hell, to show that there ain't no letting him. He
does as he pleases. He will wring you out and rip
you apart and throw your pieces in hell if you oppose him. How's
that? That's why he did what he did
with Pharaoh to show, to put the lie to what false religion
teaches about that. He's not obligated to show mercy
on any sinner unless he obligates himself. In the case of his elect,
he has obligated himself He made a covenant with his people. God
hath made with me an everlasting covenant. Now he's obligated.
Not because of anything in you, about you, that you do or think
or say, but he obligated himself unto those that he loved from
the foundation of the world that he would send his son, and his
son would be mediator and redeemer for those people. included in
that covenant. God is not obligated to show
mercy on any sinner. The very definition of mercy
precludes any and all obligation. God's pleasure in dealing with
Pharaoh the way that he did, in all of those terrible plagues,
in all, and it's easy for us to just say, oh yeah, they went
through some stuff. Those plagues were horrible. Worse than anything
we've ever experienced in this life. Loved ones dying all around. You're looking into the face
of death day after day after day after day, not only for yourself,
but for the ones that you love. And God doing that, dealing with
him that way and hardening his heart And putting Pharaoh's rebellion
on display, has there ever been anyone that was more the face
of rebellion against God than Pharaoh? Who is this God that
I should listen to him? I'll do as I please. I'm on the
throne around here. Utter defiance of God and God's
will. And he put him on display and
he absolutely annihilated him. in order to show his power. That's his simple declaration
of what he did and why he did it. To show the utter futility
of fighting against God, to show that your will is the problem,
just like with Pharaoh. God imposed his will upon Pharaoh,
And Pharaoh said, well, that just doesn't sit right with my
will and I will do what I please. That's what happened in the garden.
That's exactly what happened in the garden. And that's what
happens in religious anti-Christ freewill churches these days. I know it said that works have
nothing to do with it, but I've got to do my part. I will. I will make a decision. I will
repeat this prayer. I will get saved. No, you won't. No, you won't. To show the utter
futility of fighting against God, to show that your will is
the problem and that your will holds no sway over God's actions. None. He doesn't respect your
will. He doesn't compromise with your
will. He will rip you up and throw you in hell piece by piece
if you resist his will. God does what he does with sinners
in spite of their will, in spite of it, on both sides of the coin. He's gonna overcome your determination
to go to hell and save you if you're a vessel of his mercy.
And he's gonna overthrow your attempts to get to heaven your
way, by your will and your works, if you're a vessel of his wrath.
Either way, it's against your will. Your will's not gonna have
anything to do with your eternal destiny, nothing, in either case. The sinner's will is always,
always hatred and defiance. That's why I insist that there
are no atheists If they really didn't believe there was a God,
they wouldn't mock and contend with the people of God over that.
They wouldn't care. They wouldn't ridicule. They
wouldn't insist on it. The veins in their neck wouldn't
stand out. They wouldn't get angry about
it. They would just move on with their lives. I don't believe
in Buddha. You see me attacking any Buddhists?
I don't care what they think. I wish they would turn to the
Lord. I wish they could hear the gospel on some level. I wish
that. But I have no issue with them. But the reason people despise
God's people, he told us why. They're gonna hate you because
they hated me. They hated me first, and they're
gonna hate you second. Man's will is defined. But I
want us to turn to this familiar scripture, but look at the wording
of it. Luke 23, 20, please. Luke 23 and verse 20. You know, we see often in the
scripture that the definitions of gospel terms are not more
words. It's this word. There are living
definitions of the truth of God. This is the definition, not some
eloquently written synonyms. This is the definition of man's
will right here. Luke 23, 20, Pilate therefore
willing to release Jesus spake again to them, but they cried
saying, crucify him, crucify him. And he said unto them the
third time, why, what evil hath he done? Now you can debate about
whether Pilate knew the Lord or not. He wanted to let him
go either for selfish reasons, so that he knew it was a controversial
situation, or maybe he knew who he was dealing with. The Lord
gave his wife a dream that may indicate that the Lord was was
working in their life. I don't know, I don't know that,
but I know what the will of the people was. And he said unto
them the third time, why, what evil hath he done? I have found
no cause of death in him. I will therefore chastise him
and let him go. And they were instant with loud
voices requiring that he might be crucified. And the voices
of them and of the chief priests prevailed. And Pilate gave sentence
that it should be as they required. And he released unto them him
that for sedition and murder was cast into prison, whom they
had desired. But he delivered Jesus to their
will." It's not a coincidence. It's not some strange twist of
words that that's revealed right there. because all of religion,
this is the battlefield right here, the will, the will. That's where the difference is
made. He makes his people willing in the day of his power, willing
to bow, willing to own him as God, willing to do what Paul
did, cast all of their own works and heritage and all of the earthly
recommendations that they might have and credentials and count
them as dung that they might win Christ. He makes his people
willing in the day of his power. It's not in your power to change
your will. Can the Ethiopian change his
skin? Can the leopard change his spots? Then you're not gonna
do anything good. You're not gonna do anything
good, because you're a sinner. He released, he delivered Jesus
to their will. They required it because their
will was depraved. And the only good thing that
was ever on this earth, you think about that. That holy thing that shall be
born of thee, that's it. There was just one. And they counted him worthy of
their wrath and of destroying him. That's the will of man. Just as plain as it can be. You
could sit there and use all these synonyms for will and say, this
is what will means. That's what man's will means
right there. You hate God, his son, his word,
his law, his grace, everything about him. And if you could,
You would nail him to a cross and spit on him as he died. By
nature, that's our will. What is the remedy to our will? What's the remedy? God says,
I will, I will. Mercy. The remedy to our will
as defined right there and elsewhere all over this book is God's will
to have mercy. on those whom he loves. Our rebellion,
our defiance and hatred of God has one remedy, mercy. And that mercy is dished out
according to the will of God, not the will of man. What will
stop me on my mad dash to hell? God's will, his mercy. It's interesting that the definition
in the Hebrew where this quote comes from, where he says, I'll
have mercy, I'll be gracious to whom I will. Exodus 33, 19,
that's what Paul is quoting. Again, quoting scripture. In
this verse, the word mercy there in Exodus 33, 19, look it up
sometime, it means to love and love deeply. that the purpose of God according
to election might stand. God said, Jacob, have I loved. God's love and his mercy are
synonymous. They're inseparable. And the
consistency in our text, Jacob have I loved, the basis of God's
mercy is not a decision on the part of the sinner. or anything
in the sinner to recommend that sinner to God. It is the love
of God. And he said, I'll love them freely.
I'll love them for no reason except in myself. God has mercy on those he loves. Those whom he hates, he hardens. God gives another reason why
he dealt with Pharaoh the way he did here. that his name might
be declared throughout all the earth. Now think with me for
a second about that. That his name might be declared
throughout all the earth, he did that. So what are we to declare
throughout all the earth? That God loves everybody and
wants to save everybody? God did what he did with Pharaoh. so that his name would be declared
throughout all the earth. Think about that. He did what he did with Pharaoh
so that when his name is declared, when his gospel is preached,
that it is declared in the context of his sovereign authority and
power to save whom he will and damn whom he will. Is that not
our text? Does it make sense that God manipulated,
used, and threw Pharaoh in hell so that people would go around
saying God loves everybody and has a wonderful plan for their
life? Clearly not. God would have his
name declared throughout all the earth in this plain and clear
context. What was the ultimate reason
for God to show his power in Pharaoh's defiance? What was
the ultimate purpose of that? What was God's message to Pharaoh
that he defied? Let my people go. That's the
gospel. Let my people go. And the only
way God's people can be free is by the precious blood of the
Passover lamb. This is the gospel that we declare.
And God put Pharaoh down like a sick animal, and consigned him to everlasting
torment, so that when his gospel is declared, he would be declared
as the sovereign redeemer of sinners, who saves whom he will, and damns
whom he will, and those whom he saves, he saves by the power
of the blood of his Son. And everybody that's in defiance
of that Did he not say, I'll give men for you and people for
your life? The ultimate result of God showing
his power in Pharaoh was the saving of his people.
And that's the end, that's the goal, that's the purpose of all
of God's dealings with sinners. with Pharaoh, with you, with
me, everything he does has that ultimate purpose. He's saving,
what's God doing right now? He's saving his people. That's
what he's doing. That's what he's always done.
That's why he has a world. That's why he has a universe.
Let my people go. Pharaoh though was destroyed.
God put a difference between his people and all the peoples
of the earth. But he destroyed Pharaoh, why? Because he was
stiff-necked and rebellious. Think with me. Why did God destroy Pharaoh? Because he was stiff-necked and
rebellious. Do those two words ring a bell?
Those are the exact words that God used to describe the Israelites
whom he saved. stiff-necked and rebellious. So why then did God save one
and not the other? All of us are that way by nature.
We all hate him by nature. We're all, our will is to destroy
God, to defy him, to disobey him, to run from him, to hide
from him. and hate him in our hearts. So
why would he destroy one stiff-necked and rebellious rebel and not the rest? Turn with me please to Deuteronomy
chapter seven. Deuteronomy chapter seven and
verse six. Deuteronomy 7, 6, for thou art
in holy people unto the Lord thy God. The Lord thy God hath
chosen thee to be a special people unto himself. God's electing
grace, that's the reason. His love, his electing grace,
a special people unto himself above all people that are upon
the face of the earth. The Lord did not set his affection,
his love upon you, nor choose you because you were more in
number than any people." And that represents anything. More
in a great nation, a wealthy nation, a powerful nation, we're
all ants, we're all worms. That doesn't, nothing impresses
God. For you were the fewest of all
people. You know, there's a little lesson in there that I didn't
think about when I was writing this. He chose the fewest of
all people. I read one time on somebody's
website that our purpose is to make Jesus famous. He deliberately
saved the remnant, the fewest of all people. He's not trying
to be famous. He's not trying to win everybody
over. But because the Lord loved you. That's where the questions stop
right there. You can answer all kinds of questions
about why? Why did God save us? Because
of Christ and what he did. But why would he send his son
for worms like us? Because we're his elect. Why
are we his elect? You can go back to the love of God and then
you gotta stop. Why did he love me? I don't know. I don't have
any idea. Do you? We know that he loves
us in his son. Christ is the only answer to
anything. If you ask a Bible question,
anything to do with religion or the Bible, and the answer
is not Christ, you've asked the wrong question. You're wasting
time. the Lord Jesus Christ, because
he loved you. Herein is love. What do you mean
God loved us? What does that mean? He got all
warm and fuzzy when he looked at? Herein is love that God,
not that we love God, but that God loved us and sent his son
to be the propitiation, the sin offering for our sins. And I
don't understand that. How can it be, the Psalm says.
that thou should love a wretch like me. How in the world can
it be? And look, no, therefore, well,
let's go back up. Where did we leave off? Verse
eight, but because the Lord loved you and because he would keep
the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, we talked about
the covenant. He obligated himself, the oath which he had sworn unto
your fathers. Because of that and his love,
he brought you out with a mighty hand." This is salvation. God's
delivering the Jews from Egypt is the beautiful picture of gospel
salvation under the bondage of the law. And freed slaves. It's a grueling labor, impossible
labor, making straw bricks without any straw. And God brought you out with
a mighty hand and redeemed you. He paid the
price for your release from this bondage. Out of the house, "'of
Bondman from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. "'Know therefore
that the Lord thy God, he is God.'" Is that what he did, what
he did with Pharaoh so that everybody would declare throughout all
the earth that he's God? You don't defy God. You don't
oppose God. You bow to God. And he has mercy
on who he wants to have mercy on. He is God, the faithful God. Faithful God, faithful to his
covenant, faithful to his promise, faithful
to himself, the truth of himself, which keepeth covenant and mercy
with them that love him and keep his commandments. We love him
because he first loved us. He loved and chose us and we
love him. and keep his commandments to
a thousand generations and repayeth them that hate him to their face. To their face. This is not the
Jesus that's preached in most so-called churches. Repayeth them that hate him to
their face to destroy them. Is that not what God's dealings
with Pharaoh teach us? in the ultimate pursuit of delivering
his people, of saving them from bondage and redeeming them and
setting them free in Christ. In that interest, he will destroy
you. He will repay you to your face
and destroy you. He will not be slack to him that
hated him. He will repay him to his face. Says it twice. So when we declare
the name of the Lord Jesus Christ throughout our corner of the
earth here, what are we going to say? Seeing
that God did what he did in our text, that his name might be
declared throughout all the earth, what are we going to say? God
doth put a difference between his people and all the peoples
of the earth. And he gives men for them and
people for their life. He will destroy every enemy we
have in order to free us. All spiritual Israel shall be
saved. Not all Israel, but the remnant
according to the election of God's grace. all spiritual Israel. He will give men and people.
He will destroy every enemy that keeps us in bondage. And by the
blood of the Passover lamb, the lamb of God, which takes away
sin by his precious blood, he will set his people free. Put the blood on the door. Put
the blood on the door. Show openly, display openly and
publicly that all of your hope to escape his wrath is the precious
blood of his lamb. That's what the putting it on
the door was. You trust only the precious blood
of Christ to be your refuge from wrath and judgment. And when
God sees the blood, he will pass over the sinner. Not when he
sees your obedience in putting the blood, not your imagined goodness, not
your spirituality, not your knowledge to know about the blood and other
people's don't, not your decision or your will when he sees the
blood, he will pass over you. We declare throughout all the
earth the name of the God who has mercy on whom He will. And may we do so with our last
breath. In His mercy and His love, or
in His Son. In His Son and only in His Son.
Let's pray.