Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church,
located at 905 Yadkin Street in Kingsport, Tennessee, would
like to invite you to listen to a message of sovereign grace
by their pastor, Gabe Stoniker. And now, Pastor Gabe Stoniker. I would like to invite your attention
to Romans chapter nine this morning. Romans chapter nine. One verse
will be our text. It's Romans nine, verse 17, which
says, 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. Now to emphasize this and for
us to enter into this, I wanna read it again. Let's read it
again and see if we can enter into what our Lord is saying.
He said, for the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, even for this same purpose, 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. Now that's a powerful verse of
scripture. Throughout this chapter, if you have read Romans 9, if
you are familiar with Romans 9, you know that we see God's
sovereignty in this chapter. God's absolute sovereignty. And what that means is God's
sovereign right. his right to do what he wants
with whom he wants. That's what we see in Romans
9. If you look at verse 15, it says, for he saith to Moses,
I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. Who will God have
mercy on? Well, he will have mercy on whom
he will have mercy. And he said, I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. I'll be compassionate towards,
I'll be gracious towards whoever I choose to be gracious towards. Then in verse 21, it says, hath
not the potter power over the clay? of the same lump to make
one vessel under honor and another under dishonor? A potter sitting
at a potter's wheel with a big lump of clay, doesn't he have
the power and the right and the ability to make whatever he wants
from it? Sure he does. So we see God's
sovereignty, God's sovereign right to do what he wants with
whom he wants. We also see God's election in
this chapter. God's election, the purpose of
God, according to election, the fact that God chose who he would
save, who he wanted to save. If you look at verse 11, it says,
for the children being not yet born, neither having done any
good or evil, that the purpose of God, according to election
might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth. It was said
unto her, the elder shall serve the younger, as it is written,
Jacob have I loved, but he so have I hated. So we see God's
sovereignty. We see God's election. We see
how God was completely righteous. That means right. in saving whom
he wanted to save. He had a people he wanted to
save and he was absolutely right in it. The law said he was right. The law was satisfied. Justice
said he was right. Justice was satisfied. God the
Father was satisfied. Everything and everyone said,
well done. Well done. It's all good, it's all right,
it's all well done. If you look at verse 14, it says,
what shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with
God? God forbid. Is there unrighteousness
in God doing these things, having his sovereign right and his choosing
election and all of those things? No, God forbid, he's right. Well
done. We see how God was the doer of
every bit of this without man's help at all. That's what we see
here. Verse 16, it says, so then it
is not of him that willeth. Salvation and all of these things. Is it of man's will? Does man
have a free will? Does man have a free will? No,
he does not. It is not of him that willeth.
The only thing that man can do freely is sin. It's the only
thing his sinful will can do is sin. So it's not of him that
willeth, verse 16 says, nor of him that runneth. It's not of
the one who's around doing, doing, doing for God and doing for Jesus. It's not of him that runneth,
but of God that showeth mercy. Now, along with all of that,
every bit of that, that we see in this chapter, I'd like for
us to see that God has not only done everything that he has done
according to his right and according to his will and according to
his purpose, but he has also done all of it for his glory. All of it. for his glory. Verse 17, this is our text and
it says, for the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Pharaoh, Pharaoh
was the ruler over Egypt, the king of Egypt and he was holding
God's people bondage. God's chosen nation who represent
God's spiritual elect. He was holding them captive. And he was a hard taskmaster
over them, very cruel. So God sent Moses to Pharaoh
in order to deliver his people. And God delivered them through
a series of plagues that he sent. God would send a particular plague
upon Egypt, very terrible plague. And it would be so bad, Pharaoh
would say, okay, that's fine, they can go. Just stop the plague. And as soon as the plague would
stop, Pharaoh would say, no, I'm not letting him go. So another plague would come.
This happened. Plague after plague, after plague, Pharaoh would say,
okay, okay. And then as soon as the plague
was over, he'd say, nope. Now let me show you something
about that. You know that story. You know about Exodus and the
plagues. Let's see something about that in Exodus chapter
3. If you happen to have a Bible there and you want to follow
along with me, turn over to Exodus chapter 3, verse 10. Our Lord said to Moses, this
is the Lord our God speaking, And he said to Moses in Exodus
3 verse 10, come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh,
that thou mayest bring forth my people, the children of Israel,
out of Egypt. I'm gonna send you that you may
bring them forth. Verse 19 says, and I am sure
that the king of Egypt will not let you go. No, not by a mighty
hand. And I will stretch out my hand
and smite Egypt with all my wonders, which I will do in the midst
thereof. And after that, he will let you
go. God told Moses beforehand, that's
how it's going to be. He told him before he ever went.
That's how it's going to be. So Moses went into Pharaoh and
he said what God told him to say. God says, let my people
go. And to prove that he means it,
Aaron threw down his rod and it became a serpent. And it says
that Pharaoh had these sorcerers, these magicians, and they could
do magic tricks. And so they threw down their
rods and they became serpents. but it says Aaron's serpent ate
all of their serpents, swallowed them up. All right, now turn
to Exodus 7. Over in Exodus 7, verse 13, it
says, and he, that's the Lord, hardened Pharaoh's heart. He hardened Pharaoh's heart that
he hearkened not unto them as the Lord had said." Exactly as
the Lord had said, exactly according to the word of the Lord. And
then they went through the plagues. With each one, it says, if you
look at chapter nine, verse 12, it says, and the Lord hardened
the heart of Pharaoh and he hearkened not unto them as the Lord had
spoken unto Moses. Verse 35 says, and the heart
of Pharaoh was hardened, neither would he let the children of
Israel go as the Lord had spoken by Moses. Chapter 10, verse one,
it says, and the Lord said unto Moses, go in unto Pharaoh for
I have hardened his heart. and the heart of his servants,
that I might show these my signs before him." Verse 20 right here
says, but the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart so that he would not let
the children of Israel go. Verse 27, it says, but the Lord
hardened Pharaoh's heart and he would not let them go. Chapter
11 verse 10 says, And Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before
Pharaoh, and the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart so that he would
not let the children of Israel go out of his land. And then the last plague, the
very last one came, God slayed the firstborn in every house,
including Pharaoh's. And he finally, Pharaoh finally
let them go. That was the final straw and
they came to the Red Sea. And it says in Exodus 14 verse
eight, it says, and the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh,
king of Egypt, and he pursued after the children of Israel.
And the children of Israel went out with a high hand. They went
out with a high hand, but they came to the Red Sea. And the
Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh and he pursued after him. And
then you know the story of God parting the Red Sea for his people.
Verse 13, Moses said unto the people, fear ye not, stand still
and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will show to you
today. For the Egyptians whom you have
seen today, you shall see them again no more forever. The Lord
shall fight for you and you shall hold your peace. Stand still
and you look to the Lord. Trust the Lord. And the Israelites
crossed safely through the Red Sea on dry ground. And then the
Egyptians, when they tried to follow them, the Lord closed
the sea in on them. They were all drowned in the
middle of it. And it says in verse 30, thus the Lord saved
Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians. And Israel
saw the Egyptians dead upon the seashore. And Israel saw that
great work, which the Lord did. that great work which the Lord
did upon the Egyptians and the people feared the Lord and believed
the Lord and His servant Moses. All right, now let's go back
to Romans 9. Back in Romans chapter 9, our
text which is verse 17, it says, 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." God is the one who has raised
everything up He said, I even raised Pharaoh up, the enemy
of his people, the taskmaster, the bond man. God has raised
everything up and he has raised everything that is up for his
glory. Everything that is, God has raised
it up. and He's raised it all up for
His glory. All of it for His glory. Now,
this is a glorious message. This is a glorious thing to get
ahold of. Look with me if you would at
Colossians chapter one. It says in Colossians 1 verse
16, speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ, it says, for by Him were
all things created that are in heaven and that are
in earth. You think about that. Is there
anything in heaven that he's not the creator of and the controller
of? Is there anything out of his
control in heaven? No. Well, that's how it is on
this earth. Is that a comfort to you? Is
that good news to you? By him were all things created
that are in heaven and that are in earth. visible and invisible,
whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers,
all things were created by him and for him, by him and for him,
all things that are in heaven, all things that are in earth,
whether you can see them or not, visible, invisible, thrones,
dominions, principalities, powers, all things were created by him
and for him. All things. Now, this is a powerful
verse of scripture right here. This is Proverbs 16 verse 4. It says, The Lord hath made all
things for himself. Yea, even the wicked for the
day of evil. Let me read that to you again.
The Lord hath made all things for himself. Yea, even the wicked
for the day of evil, even the wicked, even the wicked one,
even the adversary himself. When we speak of the adversary,
the devil, he was created by Christ for Christ. He is the
creation of the Lord Jesus Christ. All things were made by him.
Without him was not anything made that was made. And he did
it that he might show his power in him. That's why Christ did
that. That his name, the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ might be declared throughout all the earth. That's
why he did that. Over in Job chapter one, It says
in Job 1 verse 6, there was a day when the sons of God came to
present themselves before the Lord and Satan came also among
them. He had to present himself before
the Lord. Why? Because the Lord is his God,
that's why. He has a God just like you and
I do. He answers to a God just like you and I do. He's under
the control of a God just like you and I are. The Lord is his creator. The
Lord is his owner. The Lord is his ruler. And when
the Lord says, come, he must come. We must come. All must come. If he says come,
we come. He had to present himself. He
had to give an account of his matters. The adversary answers
to Jesus Christ. That's the truth. That's the
truth. He can only do what the Lord
Jesus Christ allows him to do. Verse seven, the Lord said unto
Satan, whence comest thou? Satan answered the Lord and said,
from going to and fro in the earth and from walking up and
down in it. And the Lord said unto Satan,
Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there's none like him
in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth
God and escheweth evil? Then Satan answered the Lord
and said, Doth Job fear God for naught? Hast not thou made an
hedge about him? Haven't you put a hedge around
him? And about his house and about all that he hath on every
side, Thou hast blessed the work of his hands and his substance
is increased in the land. He said, but put forth thine
hand now and touch all that he hath and he will curse thee to
thy face. And the Lord said unto Satan, behold, all that he hath
is in thy power, only upon himself, put not forth thy hand. So Satan
went forth from the presence of the Lord. The Lord asked the
adversary that he created. He said, have you considered
my servant, Job? And the adversary said, yes,
I've considered him, but you won't let me touch him. You put
a hedge about him, I can't touch him. And the Lord said, I'm gonna
allow you to touch him, everything he has, but you can't touch him.
So that's what the adversary did. Chapter two, verse one says,
again, there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves
before the Lord and Satan came also among them to present himself
before the Lord. He has to present himself on
a regular basis. He has to, he's on probation
and he has to continually check in and give an account of his
matters. So he presented himself again. And the Lord said, I'm
going to let you touch Job, but you can't kill him. Before he
said, you can touch everything he has, but you can't touch him.
And the Lord said this time, I'm going to let you touch him,
but you can't kill him. So that's what the adversary
did. Now, do we see the power? Do we see the greatness of our
God in that? the absolute control of our God
in that not only does He order and control everything that happens,
but in everything that happens, He's glorified in it. He is glorified
in it. In everything that takes place,
we can see that God truly is God. And oh, I want to get that
across this morning. I want us to both enter into
that this morning. In everything that happens, we
can absolutely see that God truly is God. God is God, God, and
God truly is good. He's good to his people, so good. By the end of the book of Job,
Job saw two things. Number one, he saw God truly
is God. Oh, he saw, he said, I'm going
to stop talking. God truly is God. And he saw
that God truly is good. By the end of it, God gave Job
twice as much as he had before. You know, Job lost it all, but
God gave him twice as much as he had in the beginning. And
Job saw his power. Job saw his greatness. Job saw
his glory. That can be seen everywhere.
The heavens declare His glory. The earth shows His handiwork. It can be seen everywhere, everywhere. Nowhere more clearly though,
than on the cross of Calvary. It can be seen everywhere, but
nowhere more clearly than on the cross of Calvary. His power,
His greatness, His glory. He allowed and he ordered everything
he created, all of creation. He allowed all of it to take
part in his own sacrificial death on the cross. He allowed the
angels who fell, the adversary and the angels who fell with
him to influence man to bring man sin into the world. He allowed his chosen people
to become infected with that sin so that they could give it
all to him. The sin of all of his chosen
people. He allowed the trees to make the posts of the cross.
He allowed the iron to make the nails that pierced him. He allowed
the dirt to hold it all up. He allowed the holy elect angels
to come to him in the garden of Gethsemane to strengthen him
so that he could have the strength to go to the cross. He allowed
the Godhead to turn their back on him and to forsake him. He
sovereignly ordered and controlled every piece of His sacrificial
death for His people. According to His power, according
to His greatness, according to His glory, everything involved
only did what He predetermined for to be done. And in that,
He's glorified. He truly is glorified. His power
is seen. His name is declared, His people
are saved, and He is glorified. He truly is. Now, back in Romans
9, back in our text, verse 17 says, 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. What is his name? What is his name? Savior. That's his name, Savior. Call
his name Jesus. It means Savior. For he shall
save his people from their sins. He said, Pharaoh, I raised you
up for one purpose only, to prove to my people that I will deliver
them. Our Lord raised up the adversary
for one reason only. It was to prove to his people,
I will deliver them. Our Lord endured the cross. He
raised up the suffering of the cross for one reason only. He said, I will deliver them. Everything that happens, everything
that is happening, Everything that is happening is happening
by His direct order and control. It always has, it is, and it
always will. I pray that's a comfort to your
heart because that sure is a comfort to my heart. All of it is for
this same purpose. It's to prove to His people,
I'll deliver them. I will deliver them. They will
see my power in it, whatever happens. My name will be declared
in it and through throughout all the earth, I'll be glorified. And he is, and we say to God
be the glory, great things he has done. Till next week, I pray
the Lord will bless his word to our hearts. You have been
listening to a message by Gabe Stoniker, pastor of Kingsport
Sovereign Grace Church in Kingsport, Tennessee. If you would like
a copy of this message, or to hear other messages of sovereign
grace, log on to our website at ksgctn.org. If you would like to come and
worship with us, our service times are Sunday morning Bible
study at 10 o'clock a.m., worship at 1045 a.m., and 6 o'clock p.m.,
Wednesday evening at 7 p.m. Please tune in next week for
another message of God's free and sovereign grace.