Thank you. Turn with me if you
would to Romans chapter 9. Romans chapter 9. Let's read
what will be our text for this Bible study. One verse. It's verse 17. For the scripture saith unto
Pharaoh, even for this same purpose, have I raised the up that I might
show my power in thee and that my name might be declared throughout
all the earth. Now throughout this chapter we've
seen God's sovereignty. Romans chapter 9 is a chapter
that very clearly declares God's sovereignty. God's sovereign
right to do what He wants to do with whom He wants to do it. God's right. We have seen God's
election. The purpose of God according
to election. The fact that God chose who he
wanted to save. He chose exactly who he wanted
to save. We have seen how God was completely
righteous in saving who he wanted to save. Holy and just in saving every
soul he wanted to save. The law was satisfied. Justice
was satisfied. God the Father was satisfied.
Everything and everyone said, well done. Perfect. It's all good. It's all right.
Well done. We saw how God was the doer of
every bit of it without man's help at all. Totally without
man's help. It was not of him that willeth,
nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. Now today, I want 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. All of it is for His glory. 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. Pharaoh was the ruler, he was
the king over Egypt who was holding God's people in bondage. Holding
them in captivity. They were captives to a very
hard taskmaster. That's what he was over them.
A very hard taskmaster. So God sent Moses to deliver
his people. And God delivered them through
a series of plagues that he sent. That's the way that God chose
to bring His people out. God would send a particular plague
on Egypt, and it would be so terrible, Pharaoh would say,
okay, they can go. He would be so bad, he'd say,
fine, let them go. Just stop the plague. That's
what he said every time. You just pray on our behalf and
stop the plague. And as soon as the plague would
stop, he'd say, nope, they can't go. That happened plague after
plague after plague. Pharaoh would say, okay. And
then as soon as it would stop, he'd say, can't do it. Not gonna
do it. Now let me show you something
about that. Go with me if you would to Exodus chapter three. Exodus chapter three. Verse 10, the Lord said to Moses
right here, He said, Come now, therefore, and I will send thee
unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth My people, the children
of Israel, out of Egypt. Verse 19, the Lord said, And
I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go. He said,
I'm telling you this from the start. He will not let you go. No, not by or not without 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, this
is how it's going to be. This is exactly how it's going
to go. So Moses went in, he said, I want you to go to Pharaoh and
speak on my behalf. So Moses did. He went in and
he said, Pharaoh, God says, let my people go. And to prove that
he means it. He said, Aaron, throw down your
rod. And Aaron threw down his rod and it became a serpent.
Pharaoh said to his sorcerers, throw your rods down. They all
threw their rods down and they all became serpents. But it says
Aaron's rod ate their rods. Ate them all up. All right, now
turn with me to Exodus 7. Exodus 7 verse 13 says, And he, he meaning the Lord,
hardened Pharaoh's heart, that he hearkened not unto them as
the Lord had said. He hardened Pharaoh's heart,
that he hearkened not unto them as the Lord had said. Exactly
according to the word of the Lord, exactly as the Lord had
said. And then they went through the
plagues. With each one of the plagues, it says, if you look
at chapter 9, verse 12, Exodus 9, verse 12, and the Lord hardened the heart
of Pharaoh. And he hearkened not unto them,
as the Lord had spoken unto Moses. Just like the Lord said, the
Lord hardened his heart. Look at verse 35 right here.
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. 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." That's why. That's why I've done it. So that I might be able to show
these my signs before him. Verse 20 right here in chapter
10 says, but the Lord hardened Pharaoh's
heart so that he would not let the children of Israel go. Verse
27 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
came. The very last one, God slayed
the firstborn male in every house, including Pharaoh's, including
Pharaoh's house. And he finally let them go. He finally said, fine, let them
go. So they got to the Red Sea. They
went out and they got to the Red Sea. Now look at chapter
14, Exodus 14. Verse eight 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. He finally made Pharaoh, let
them go. And as soon as they got out,
the Lord hardened his heart again. and he pursued after them. Chapter 14 is the story of God
parting the Red Sea for his people. Verse 13 says, and 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. And you know the story. The Israelites
crossed safely on dry land. The Egyptians went in and they
were drowned. Verse 30 says, 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 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. Romans 9 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. God is the one
who has raised up everything. All right? God is the one who has raised
up everything. And He has raised it up for His
glory. Everything that He has raised
up, He has raised it up for His glory. Everything that He has brought
to pass, He has brought to pass for His
glory. Everything that He has caused
to happen, He has caused it to happen for
His glory. Why? Why? Oh, why? Why? For His glory. For His glory. For His glory. His glory is my
good. That's the best thing that could
ever happen to me. This morning as I preach, here's the best
thing that could happen to me as I stand before you. Him be
glorified. If all of God's people cried
to Him, God be the glory. greatest thing that could happen
to any of us, for His glory. Everything He has done, everything
He has caused, everything He has raised up, everything He
has brought to pass is for His glory. All of it is for His glory. Turn with me to Colossians chapter
1. Colossians 1 verse 16 it says,
For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, 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, and He is before all things, and by Him all things
consist, happen. All things that are in heaven,
all things that are in earth, visible, invisible, thrones,
dominions, principalities, powers, all things were created by Him
and for Him. Turn with me to Proverbs 16.
Proverbs 16 verse 4 says, The Lord hath made all things
for himself, yea, even the wicked for the day of evil. Even the
adversary himself was created by Christ for Christ. And the reason is that He might
show His power in him. That His name, that Christ's
name might be declared throughout all the earth. Let me show you
that in Job 1. Job 1 verse 6, it says, Now 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 did he have to do that? Because
the Lord is his God. That's the reason why. The Lord is his Creator, the
Lord is his Owner, the Lord is his Ruler. And when the Lord
says, come, he must come and present himself and give an account
of his matters. The adversary answers to Jesus
Christ, and he can only do what the Lord Jesus Christ allows
him to do. Verse seven says, the Lord said
unto Satan, whence comest thou? And 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 is none like
him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth
God and escheweth evil? And Satan answered the Lord and
said, Doth Job fear God for naught? Hast not thou made an hedge about
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. 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 thine 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 he said, yes, I've considered him, but
I can't do anything to him. You've put a hedge about it.
I can't touch him. The Lord said, I'm going to allow
you to touch all that he has, but you can't touch him. And
that's what the adversary did. You know the rest of that chapter.
Chapter 2 verse 1 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. That wasn't a one-time thing.
He is, and I don't say this seriously, he's on probation. He's on probation,
he has to check in on a regular basis and give an account of
all 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. That's what the adversary did.
Do we see the power? Honestly, do we see the power
and do we see the greatness of our God in this? His absolute
control and His absolute sovereignty over not only everything that
happens, but everything that happens to each person. The only way it can happen is
if He first allows it. That's the only way it can happen.
And why would He let these things happen? Job lost everything that
he had. You know the story of Job. They
came and said, all your livestock's gone. All your children are gone. Everything you have is gone.
His wife said, it's time for you to curse God and die. Why
would all that happen to Job? Here's the reason why. For God's
glory. For God's glory. Not only does He order and control
everything that happens, but in everything that happens, He
is glorified in it. In everything that takes place,
we can see that God truly is God. And God truly is good. If you know the end of the book
of Job, if you know the end of the story of Job, Job saw two
things. Number one, God really is God. And number two, God really is
good. In the end of it all, God gave
Job twice as much as he had in the beginning of it all. Job
saw His power, He saw His greatness, He saw His glory. That can be
seen everywhere. Everywhere. The heavens declare
His glory, the earth shows His handiwork. That can be seen everywhere,
but nowhere is it more clearly seen than on the cross of Calvary. Nowhere. His power, His greatness,
His glory, He allowed and He ordered everything that He created
to take part in His own sacrificial death on the cross. This has
really struck me. All of creation, everything He
created, He ordered it, He controlled it, He allowed it to have a part
in his own sacrificial death on the cross. He allowed the
angels who fell, the fallen angels, he allowed
the fallen angels to fall so that they could influence man. He allowed man, his people, to
be infected with sin so they could give it to him. It's the
only way he got it. He allowed the trees to become
the poles, and the iron to become the nails, and the earth, the
dirt, to hold it all upright. The angels, the chosen elect
angels, He allowed all them to come down to Gethsemane to strengthen
Him so He could have the strength to go to the cross. He allowed
the Godhead to turn His back on them, their back on Him. He orchestrated the whole thing,
all of creation. Everything He made, He perfectly,
sovereignly orchestrated the whole thing. And why did He do
that? For His glory. For His glory. Everything involved
showed His greatness, His power, and His glory. And everything
that was involved only did what He had predetermined for to be
done. That's the only thing that happened
in the whole thing. In all of that, He is glorified,
His power is seen, His name is declared, His people are saved,
and He is glorified. Now go back with me to Romans
9. Romans 9 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? Savior. That's his name, Savior. Call his name Jesus, for he shall
save his people from their sins. He said, Pharaoh, I raised you
up for one reason only. It was to prove to my people
that I will deliver them, all of them. All of them. You know, they were in captivity
for 430 years. They didn't understand why they
were there until day 430 times 365. At 429 years, 364 days,
they still had no idea, why are we here? This is awful. They're
beating us. All these terrible things are
happening. Why did He do that? To show His
glory. He saved His people. Everything
He does is for the salvation of His people. He raised up an
adversary for one reason only. One reason only. It was to prove
to His people, I will deliver them. Those disciples going through
everything they went through. Wednesday night we read the end
of Hebrews 11. They were slain. They were tortured. They were
sawn asunder. Why are we enduring all this?
Why are we going through all this? We can't see it. The end
of the story proves every single time. It is for the purpose of
His glory and the deliverance of His people. the salvation
of His people every single time. Everything that happens is happening
by His direct order and control. And all of it is for this same
purpose, to prove to His people I will deliver them. I will save
them. They will see my power in it.
My name will be declared in it. And throughout all the earth,
I will be glorified. My people will be saved. I'll
be glorified. All of his people cry, amen. They don't understand it, but
they believe him. And all of his people cry, to
God be the glory, great things he hath done. All the bad, all
the bad, all the bad, no, great things he hath done. To God be
the glory. They all cry, not unto us, not
unto us, but unto thy name give glory. Amen. All right, you're
dismissed.