Pharaoh meets God in Rome." Sounds
like a strange title, doesn't it? Pharaoh never went to Rome.
But Paul brought him there when he explained Pharaoh, and so
I want you to look at this with me in Exodus chapter 4, and then
we're going to go to Rome and meet God there with Pharaoh. Look at Exodus chapter 4. Verse 21, And the Lord said to
Moses, When thou goest to return into Egypt, see that thou do
all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I have put in thine hand. But listen to these next words.
Even though God would do all these wonders before Pharaoh,
He says, But I will harden his heart that he shall not let the
people go. Now, by my counting, There are,
let's see. perhaps 12 different times in
the book of Exodus, or perhaps 10 different times in the book
of Exodus, where God mentions the fact that He hardened Pharaoh's
heart, that He would not let the people go. And then a few
times it's mentioned, and we haven't got to this point in
our preaching through the book of Exodus, a few times it's mentioned
that Pharaoh hardened his heart. The natural question comes to
mind, who hardened Pharaoh's heart? And that's a question
that we can discover as we read through the book of Exodus. The
answer actually is both Pharaoh hardened his heart and God hardened
his heart. And sometimes we wonder what
it means that God would harden a man's heart. And it kind of
troubles us that God would do that because we have a perception,
we think of what God is like, And what we think God is like
is not the way God is. And this is an important principle. Our thoughts of God are not accurate
by nature. Naturally we think wrong of God
and we have to be corrected. God has to make himself known
to us. And so when we read about Pharaoh
and his wickedness, and we see that he hardened his heart, and
we also read that God hardened his heart, it raises several
questions in our mind. But God has told us these things
in order to teach us about Himself, and to teach us about ourselves,
and to teach us about our only hope of salvation. Now you know
the story about Pharaoh. God had Moses perform all of
these wonders and brought all these plagues on Egypt. Ten plagues
all together. The last one being the death
of the firstborn. And finally it seemed Pharaoh
would let the people go and they actually went out. But God hardened
his heart again and led him to chase the people through the
Red Sea. And there God destroyed Pharaoh
finally. So, the end of his life was destruction, utterly destruction. And God says, in fact, if you
read this in Exodus chapter 9 and verse 16, God gives the reason
that He does this. And it's good to hold this in the context of what we're
going to go to in Romans. But He says in Exodus chapter
9 verse 16, He says, "...and in very deed
for this cause have I raised thee up, for to show in thee
my power, and that my name might be declared throughout all the
earth." God says to Pharaoh, He tells him, He tells Pharaoh,
I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show
my power in you, and that my name might be declared throughout
all the earth." It's plain, then, why God hardened Pharaoh's heart. It was in order that God might
be glorified, in His justice, in His power, and His wisdom,
and in the destruction of Pharaoh, who was opposed to God and opposing
His people. But I want to turn with you to
Romans chapter 9, because this is where the title of the message
comes from. Pharaoh meets God in Rome. And we're going to look at Romans
chapter 9 together, and we'll get through as much of this as
we can. I want to read through chapter 9 with you because we
need to just get the whole context here. First of all, the book
of Romans, up to this point, had first shown all men are guilty. All men are guilty, without exception. And all are guilty under the
wrath of God, justly so. In Romans chapter 1, God says
the reason that God's wrath is against men is because, number
one, a man, without exception, is ungodly. Two, men are unrighteous,
and therefore God's wrath is against them. God has shown himself
to them, it says in Romans 1, but men have held down the truth. Men have chosen, rather, to not
retain God in their knowledge, and God has, as a consequence
of not wanting to retain God in their knowledge, God has given
them over to a reprobate mind to do those things which are
not convenient. And men have corrupted themselves
and God has turned them over to that. That is the result of
God's wrath. When God is angry and His wrath
is poured out on a people, the first thing that happens is God
gives them what they want. And He gives them what they want
so they sink deeper and deeper in slavery and bondage to sin. And ultimately, unless God does
something to save them, every man will end up like Pharaoh.
Every man will end up like Pharaoh. And so, the rest of Romans introduces
the fact that even though we are all guilty and have no power
to save ourselves, God in Christ has redeemed His people. All
by Himself, the Lord Jesus Christ has taken their sins on Himself,
died on Calvary under the wrath of God, and taken away every
sin of all of His people. at that time, and his resurrection
from the dead was proof that God accepted his sacrifice for
them, and that their sins were completely put away by Him. Everyone
for whom Christ died will be saved. Everyone for whom Christ
died will go to glory. And the rest of Romans unfolds
that, that God's people live hanging on Christ by faith, looking
to Him. And then Romans 9 comes along
because One must naturally ask the question, as is asked in
Romans chapter 9, all the history of the nation of Israel. God
gave them all these things. And we're going to read about
it here in a minute. But since God gave them all these blessings,
and since salvation is entirely by grace, and it's entirely apart
from man's work, If salvation rests only on the promise and
faithfulness and doing of the Lord Jesus Christ, then what
happened to the nation of Israel? Because it seems like they killed
the Lord Jesus Christ and most of them perished. As we know,
they perished in the wilderness when they didn't believe at the
entrance of Canaan. So, look at Romans chapter 9.
This question is raised and the question is answered. And the
answer to the question teaches us several things that are very
important for us to understand. We must know these things in
order to be saved. We must know these. He says in
verse 1 of chapter 9, I say the truth in Christ, this is Paul
the Apostle, 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. Paul
is just like Moses. Moses went up to the mountain.
He received from God the Ten Commandments. While he was on
the mountain, after they had been delivered from Egypt, after
God brought them to the Red Sea, a few days Moses is up on the
mountain and the people enlist Aaron to make them a god of gold. And they all cast their earrings
and various things, and Aaron takes them, he puts them in the
fire, he forms a calf, an idol, and he says, These be thy gods,
O Israel, which brought you out of the land of Egypt. And they
bow down and they worship them. And Moses comes down from the
mountain. He's very angry, as he should be. But God is going
to destroy the people, and Moses intercedes for them. He puts
himself between God and the people, and he pleads for the people.
And God, even though several of them were killed, even though
lots of them were killed, Moses intercedes for them. And Moses
pleads with God, and he says, he says with the Lord, Lord,
forgive this people, and if you do not forgive them, then blot
me out of thy book. Isn't that kind of what Paul
is saying here? I could wish that myself were
accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen, according to the
flesh. That's a curse. Blot me out of thy book. But
God told Moses what he told Paul here in Romans 9, which we're
going to read in just a few verses. So Paul tells us, my concern,
my sorrow is that Israel as a nation, as a people, as a people, have not been saved. They're under the wrath of God. But he goes on. My prayer is
that I could be cursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen,
according to the flesh, verse 4, who are Israelites, to whom
pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants,
and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises,
whose are the fathers, and of whom concerning the flesh Christ
came who is over all God blessed forever so many privileges heaped
upon privilege privilege upon privilege given to the nation
of Israel and yet they were in unbelief and they were blind
to Christ and salvation in him and Paul laments this and he
asked the question again that we asked he says He says in verse
6, now remember the question is this, if God's salvation depends
entirely on God's promise and not on man, then why wasn't the
nation of Israel saved to the last person in that nation? And
he answers the question, verse 6, Not as though the word of
God hath taken none effect, For they are not all Israel, which
are of Israel. The answer to the question is,
is that those who are born to Abraham, those who are born to
Isaac, those who are born physically after the flesh to Jacob, the
head of the nation, they're not all considered part of the true
Israel of God. They're not all Israel, which
are of Israel. They're not all true Israel,
which are of the nation of Israel. In other words, he goes on. He
says, neither because they are the seed of Abraham, the physical
seed, are they all children. They're not counted like children.
But in Isaac shall thy seed be called. And he refers to the
history now. Remember Abraham? He was old. God promised him he was going
to be the father of many nations. He had no children. And he knew that God would keep
his word. And they had the idea, Sarah
had the idea that she would give to Abraham her slave woman, Hagar. And through Hagar, Abraham had
a son, Ishmael. But God says, no, no. In Isaac
shall thy seed be called. That is, they which are the children
of the flesh, these are not the children of God, but the children
of the promise are counted for the seed. What is he saying here? If you're born of natural birth,
what we are by nature, What we receive from our Father can never
make us the children of God. That's what Jesus told Nicodemus. You must be born again. You were born from the seed of
Abraham, Jesus is telling Nicodemus. But you have to be born of God. You have to be born into the
kingdom of God. You don't get there by your parents
or by your heritage. You get there through the action
and the operation of God. And that's the only way. So he
says, not only that, not only do you have to be born into the
kingdom, but you have to be promised by God to be one of his people. He says in here, he says, Isaac
was a child of promise. He says in verse 8, They which
are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of
God, but the children of the promise are counted for the seed. Ishmael was not of promise. Ishmael
was born. He was the seed of Abraham, after
the flesh. But he was not counted as Abraham's
son. When God spoke to Abraham regarding
Isaac, He says, Take now your son, your only son, Isaac, and
offer him up for a sacrifice. Remember that? Your only son.
Because Ishmael was not counted as his son. Not the son after
the spiritual sense, only the son after the physical sense.
And then he goes on in verse 9, quoting the promise of God. For this is the word of promise,
at this time will I come, and Sarah shall have a son. And you know the history. Sarah
had Isaac when she was 90, and Abraham was 99. A hundred years
old, and he had this son Isaac. Entirely impossible for the flesh,
and yet entirely possible by God's Spirit. Because all who
are born of God are born out of the impossibility of our flesh. We cannot birth ourselves into
the kingdom of God. We cannot make ourselves the
children of God. God has to promise us to be the
children of God in Christ, and he has to bring us to that relationship
through the new birth. because of the redemption in
Christ. And so he says this. This is the word of promise.
This is the way the promise works. God says it concerning that one
who is going to be his son. At this time will I come and
Sarah shall have a son. Most people would wonder why
God promised to Isaac that he would be the child of promise
and not to Ishmael. Abraham wanted Ishmael to remain
his son. He even pleaded, oh with God,
oh that Ishmael might live before you. But God rejected Ishmael. And many, and me included, would
think, well the reason he rejected Ishmael was because even though
he was born to Abraham, he was not born to Sarah. He was born
to this slave woman. And so the difference, and not
only that, but after Ishmael was grown and Isaac was born,
Ishmael was picking on Isaac and calling him names and mocking
him. And so he was a bad guy, and
so God rejected Ishmael because of those things. But that is
not why God rejected Ishmael. Because it goes on here in verse
9, I'm sorry, verse 10. He cites another case. And not
only in Isaac's case was he the only child of promise, not only
was he considered the child of God and Ishmael was rejected,
not only that, and not only does that apply to the entire nation
of Israel, so that all those in the nation who were born to
Abraham are not naturally the children of God, but only those
who are promised by God and born into his kingdom are the children
of God. And he says here, not only that,
but when Rebekah also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac. Isaac was a child of promise.
Isaac and Rebekah, it wasn't like a Hagar and Abraham. This
was the wife of Isaac. He only had one wife. And he
and Isaac and Rebekah had two children, but they were twins
in the same womb. There was no difference in their
situation. Both of them were conceived at
the same time. The same mother, the same father. There was no difference between
Isaac and Esau in the womb of Rebekah. And so, Paul and the
Spirit of God brings this to our view to teach us how we become
the children of God. He says, Speaking about Jacob and Esau
who were yet unborn. He says, "...for the children
being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil..." You
see that? The children weren't born. They
hadn't 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 to her, the elder
shall serve the younger." Here God's teaching us This is the
principle. God worked this out in history,
recorded it in the Old Testament in order to teach us how His
people are saved. And He teaches us that even though
There are many people in the nation of Israel. Only those
that God chose as his people would be his people. And so the
rest of them, even though they had the covenants and the promises
and the glory and the commandments and the service of God and the
fathers, even though through them the Lord Jesus Christ, who
is God over all, came after the flesh, even though they had all
those privileges, yet those things were not given to them for spiritual
benefit, Except to those God promised to give them to. Those
who were chosen by God without any regard to their good, without
any regard to their evil. You see this? This is the principle. God saves with no regard to what
we are. If God saved us because of what
he found in us, what would the result? How many people could
be saved that way? Not one. Romans makes that clear. All, that all may become guilty
before God. The law shuts us up to the guilt
of our sin and condemnation. We're under the wrath of God.
Whether you are a believer or an unbeliever, all of our life
proves this one thing, that we, by nature, are sinners. And we
can do nothing but sin. In our nature, we are nothing
but sinners. And until God teaches us that,
we cannot be saved. We cannot come to know Christ
until He teaches us this one truth, this first truth, is that
we're sinners, and we're helpless, and we're hopeless, unless God
does something independently of our good or our bad. We have
no good to start with, but we might think that we're saved
because of our goodness, so he has to teach us we're not. And
he does that through these two boys and through Ishmael and
Isaac. Over and again God refers to this. Why did God say to Rebekah,
before the children were born, why did he say the elder shall
serve the younger? Because that the purpose of God,
according to election, might stand not of works, but of him
that calleth. The two things are contrasted,
aren't they? Works and God's call. You see that? Those two
things are contrasted. All that we can do, all that
we can be, every potential about us, even by the influences of
God's grace, are set on this side called works. Everything
else is on this side, God calls. And it says it's not of works,
it's of God's call. And that's established because
God's purpose according to election must stand. Why does God save
in this way? Why does God save independently
of our good or our bad? for this fundamental reason,
so that God would get all of the glory, and man would get
no glory. God saves sinners. He saves those
who are guilty, those who are corrupt, those who are helpless,
those who are in themselves entirely hopeless, who have no strength. God's grace is given to us when
we're nothing in ourselves, and doomed, and under the wrath of
God in ourselves. There's no way that we can come
to God and expect his mercy because of something we've done. And
this is the point of chapter nine, of Romans chapter nine.
God's salvation is owing, is the result only of God's work,
God's choice and God's work. If we don't get anything else,
we have to get this, that God is absolutely, Sovereign. God will not fail to do all His
will. And all of His will is fulfilled
in both the choosing and saving of His people, and the rejecting
and the bringing of justice and condemnation on those whom He
does not choose. That's all His will. And all
of that will get glory to God. Glory to God. That's why God
does all that He does is for His own glory. And we have a
problem with that, don't we? We have a problem with God being
God. So the first thing we must realize
is that the teaching of Romans chapter 9 and 10 and 11 and all
the Bible is this one thing. God is God alone. Only God gets to be God. And
if God is not entirely sovereign, if God doesn't do all of His
will, all of the time, in every circumstance, then He's not God.
If God doesn't do His will all of the time, in every circumstance,
then He is not God. Someone else is. Something else
is greater than He is. Because His will would be frustrated.
But God always does His will. God predicts what He's going
to do before the foundation of the world. And He carries out
in time all of His will. And so the very first thing we
must learn is that God is God and He rules in Heaven. And we
can do nothing about it. We can do nothing about it. We
can't influence Him. We can't change Him. We can't
modify His course. God does what He does, what He
wants to do all the time. When He wants to do it. And nothing
prevents Him from doing His will. And we could look at many verses
that support this. But let me just quote one to
you in Psalm 115.3. Our God is in the heavens. He
hath done whatsoever He hath pleased. And there's many others,
Isaiah 46, 10, and 11, and on and on. We could go on through
the whole New Testament in quoting these things. In Ephesians 1,
He works all things after the counsel of His own will. God
is God. God does what He wants. All that
God wants to do, He does. There's nothing God wants to
do that He does not do. That's the God of the Bible.
And today, just like in the nation of Israel, there's a huge contrast
between the true God and the false gods. And we're going to
see that here in a minute. And the irony is, is that that
nation of Israel, which did not believe God, were just like Pharaoh. Just like the one who was their
tyrant, who cruelly treated them and held them in bondage and
would not let them go. The nation of Israel and all
All who did not believe God, who do not believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ, are just like Pharaoh. Esau is an example here. But
let's go on here in Romans 9. It was said to Rebekah, the elder
shall serve the younger. This is before they were born,
before they had done any good or evil. And then he says in
verse 13, as it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I
hated. There's no verse in the Bible
that irritates false religion more than that verse. Jacob,
God says, have I loved. Esau, have I hated. And so many
times people will try to explain that verse away. They don't mind
the part that God says to Jacob. Jacob, have I loved. The problem
is, is that we can't stand that God would hate Esau. Oh sure,
Esau was a bad guy. He was hairy and he was kind
of an irritant. Maybe we could find some reason
why God would hate Esau. But no, God says right here in
this place, before the children were born, before they had done
any good or evil, there was no difference in their parents,
no difference in their circumstances. They were in the same condition,
in the same womb together, and God made a difference. And God's
difference is what makes a difference in every case. The only way that
you will enter heaven is if God makes a difference. You are sinful. You are helpless in yourselves. You're unable to provide to God
what God requires of you. You're unable to suffer the condemnation
due to you because of your sin. God has to make a difference. And that difference is called
mercy and grace. And so God made a difference.
But there's a question that comes up in the mind of Ben, and it's
stated in verse 14. What shall we say then? Is there
unrighteousness with God? Is there unrighteousness with
God? Doesn't that question pop up
in your head? If God preferred Jacob over Esau, if God chose
Jacob and rejected Esau, If God chose to have mercy on Jacob,
and love him, and give him salvation, and provide him with every blessing
in Christ, and bring him to glory, and not treat him as his sins
deserve, but treat him as Christ's obedience deserved. And yet,
for Esau's case, if God chose to leave him to himself, to reject
him, not rescue him from his sins, and then bring upon him
the just condemnation of those sins and suffer the wrath of
God. Don't we think the question that
was asked here, what shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness
with God? Doesn't that come up in our minds?
And see, that question is raised in order to bring to light what
we naturally think. We think In our arrogancy, in
our ignorance of God, who God is, we think that we can hold
God to our own judgment and analyze Him and see if God is good or
not. Is He just or not? But all of such thoughts reveal
our sinful nature and our hatred of God. All these things only
reveal that we naturally do not know God. And what we know about
God we hate and we put it away from us. And so, when God says
these things of what He truly is like and how He saves His
people, we rise up and we question Him. We question Him. We question
his righteousness and we say, is there unrighteousness with
God? And God answers this. Remember the case, Moses is on
the mountain, the people are at the base of the mountain,
Aaron makes him a calf, the people are worshipping the calf. Moses
comes down, the people are worthy to die. Moses intercedes for
them. He says, Lord, forgive this people
or blot me out of your book. And God says to him what he says
here. And verse 15, for he saith to Moses, God said to Moses in
Exodus 33, he says, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy,
and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. What is the answer to the question? Is there unrighteousness with
God? The answer to the question is God's sovereign mercy. God shows mercy on his prerogative,
not because of anything found in me or you. If God were to
find something, let's take Esau and Jacob for example. What about
before they were born? Did he find some good or evil
in them before they were born? No, he says here, right here,
before they had done any good or evil, that the purpose of
God according to election might stand. Not of works, but of him
that calleth. Well, if God didn't make a choice
based on something different about them, then how could God
make this kind of a choice? Because it's God's will that
will be done. It's God's choice that will endure. We have to come to the realization
that God is God. We have to realize this. We have
to come to the realization and the acknowledgement that God
holds life and death over us. We are in His hands. to give
life to us or to bring us to death. And whatever God does
is right. Abraham said it this way, shall
not the judge of all the earth do right? And the Psalms put
it this way over and over again, the Lord is good to all. God is good and God is just and
God cannot sin. And he doesn't cause people to
sin either. God cannot be tempted with evil
and God does not tempt any man with evil. And yet God has mercy
on whomever he will. What does that do to you? What's
your reaction to that? How do we feel about that when
we hear that God loved Jacob, God hated Esau. Before they were
born, God had mercy on Jacob and God condemned Esau. Because of his sins. What do
we think of that? What's our reaction to it? I
don't know about you, but my reaction to it is this. I can't
change God. He holds life and death over
me. And whatever He does is right.
And He's in charge. He's in control. He rules in
heaven. He rules on earth. And there's
nothing I can do to change Him or influence Him. If God doesn't
act in mercy. If He doesn't devise a plan to
save me. Then I will be justly condemned,
right along with Pharaoh and Esau and all the rest. And so
that's what God is trying to drive us to. The reason for salvation
is God. The reason for salvation is God. And the execution of judgment
by God is always just and right. Because God is sovereign. God
cannot do wrong. It's against His nature and we
cannot do right because it's against our nature. So God must
save. So the first thing we learn from
this is that God is absolutely sovereign. God always does what
He wants. There's never a time when He
doesn't in our condition. Our condition. If we were left,
like Pharaoh, to do what we wanted to do, our condition would be
every bit as bad as the worst man on earth. If God takes His
hand off of us, removes His restraint from us, then we will become
the worst and most evil thing that you can imagine outwardly
and openly. We'll do all that's in our heart
if God simply removes. What's the difference between
someone who gives their life and seems so pure on the outside
and they're so kind and so sweet and you can find nothing wrong
with them? What's the difference between them and the lowest scumbag
that you can think of in history? Only this, that God has not removed
his hand of restraint from that nice, good, sweet person, and
he's let this other person go to the open extent more of their
sins. But how, what kind of people
does God save then? Does God save those who are nice
and good and sweet and kind and pretty and everything to us?
God saves the worst of men. It was the man who was possessed
by a legion that Christ came and delivered from his devils.
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. And so, when
we see that God is sovereign, when we see that only He can
save, we know that if God doesn't save us, we will end up We will
end up doing all that's in our heart, and that would be hell
itself. We would do the worst kinds of
things. And so we come, and we humble
ourselves between the almighty hand of God, recognizing that
God has to do something. God has to have mercy. He will
have mercy, but He will have mercy. Look at verse 15 again.
And maybe you could take out your pencil or your pen and underline
it. The words, I will. He said to Moses, I will have
mercy on whom I will have mercy. And I will have compassion on
whom I will have compassion. You see that four times? It's
God's will, isn't it? Isn't it God's will that makes
a difference? It is, and God is just, God is
right. So then he asks in verse 16,
it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but
of God that showeth mercy. What a shock, what a turning
inside out and upside down this verse makes of all popular religions
today. The entire nation of Israel strove
throughout their history to obtain God's favor by what they did. This is stated later in the chapter,
Romans chapter 9. He says this, Verse 31, "...Israel,
which followed after the Law of Righteousness, hath not attained
to the Law of Righteousness." Why? Wherefore? "...because they
sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the Law."
They stumbled at that stumbling stone. What's he saying? He's saying it's not of him that
willeth, it's not of him that runneth, it's not of him that
has good works or of evil works, but of God that shows mercy. There's no difference between
the two boys. No difference at all. And God
makes a distinction because of his His foreordination, His predestinating,
electing grace and love toward Jacob, and His rejecting of Esau
before they were ever born. And He does this because His
purpose will always glorify Himself, and it will always be shown that
God saves because He's God, by His sovereign will. We have to
come to the realization of this, and we have to be settled with
this, that whatever God does is right, and I'm in His hands. And since God is good and always
does what's right, what would you do? What would you do if
you knew that? What would you do? Wouldn't you
seek mercy from Him when He tells us, coming to me, all ye who
labor and are heavy laden? But let's go on here. It's not
of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that
showeth mercy. How many times have you heard, perhaps, in a
church where you've been? Well, I grew up in a church like
this. They said, now if you want to be saved, this is what you
have to do. Dot, dot, dot. You have to do
all these things. You have to come to the front.
You have to kneel down. You have to shake the preacher's
hand. You have to ask Jesus into your heart. You have to commit
your life to the Lord. And you have to be baptized, and so on
and so forth, pretty soon. But if I do all these things,
I'm just doing it because you told me to, and I have no...
Sincerity. Oh, and you have to be sincere
about it, too. And keep focused on the fact that you have to
commit yourself entirely, 100%. Pretty soon, you realize, if
the Lord is gracious to you, that what that person is saying,
you have to be saved by your will. And by your running. And you're not saved by what
God does. You're saved by something you
do. Well, no, the Lord says that He's not willing that any should
perish. All you have to do is come to Him. It's just up to
you now. God's done all He can do. And
now you have to do your part. Jesus died for everyone. And
now you just have to make a difference in what He did. We're all the
same. The only difference is what you
do then. But this is all false religion. This is all false.
This is what the nation of Israel thought. This is what most people
in the world believe today. This is why it says in Matthew
24 24, except those days would be shortened, even the elect
would be saved. I mean, I'm sorry, even the elect
would fall away, but the elect won't fall away because God keeps
them. Because the deception of false religion is just this,
you do your part, and then God will do His part, and then everything
will be okay. But that's not the way God works.
God saves whom he will, when he will, by Christ alone. And it's his work entirely. You
have nothing to do with this. It's the operation of God on
us. Christ spoke to Lazarus. Lazarus,
come forth! He was entirely dead. And we're
dead in our sins. And unless God calls us from
death to life by the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ,
we will remain dead. remain lost and so he says here
it's not of him that willeth it's not of him that runneth
it's of God that showeth mercy and then we get to verse 17 and
meet Pharaoh again 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 so so he's saying here the reason God gave birth to
Pharaoh, put him in the land of Egypt, put him in the bloodline
of the kings, All the circumstances of his life to bring him to be
the king of Egypt, to be Pharaoh, and then to set him in opposition
to God's will and subject God's people. God did all that in his
orchestrating of the events of time and history. He did all
that in order to show that his power over Pharaoh and to make
his name known in all the earth. in order to show that God has
absolute power over those, all men, but especially those who
are opposed to his will and opposed to his people. And so he humiliated
and destroyed Pharaoh in the Red Sea and all of his people. And Pharaoh, all the time, all
these were wonders. Moses said, this is what's going
to happen, and it happened. And it just kept happening. All
these destructive plagues. It says in Proverbs 27, 22, I
think it is. Thou shouldest bray a fool in
a mortar with a pestle, yet will he not depart from his foolishness.
It's a funny verse. Let me see if I can find it.
Because when I first read this verse as a young person, I didn't
even know what the words meant. I thought, man that is an obscure
verse. Proverbs 27, let's see if I've got it right. He says,
yes, 27, 22. What is this saying? Well, you
know what a mortar is. It's that round sort of half
bowl that you grind up things in. And a pestle is that stone
thing that you push down and you... Grind it up. And so if you take
a fool and you put him in a mortar and you take a pestle and you
just grind him to powder. With this force. Like God did
to Pharaoh. You know what? His foolishness
will not depart from him. That's the way we are by nature.
By nature we're a fool. And if God were to put us in
a mortar with a pestle and grind around on us. Our foolishness
doesn't depart from us. And you know what else? He says this in, let's see, it's
in Proverbs, another verse too. I want to read this verse to
you too. This is an amazing verse. In
Isaiah 26, look at Isaiah 26. The flip side of that, we know
that God's judgments on Pharaoh didn't turn him. That's clear
from scripture. And so apply that to yourself.
God's judgments on you will not turn you. Unless God has grace
on you. But here in Isaiah chapter 26,
listen to this. In verse 10. Let favor be showed to the wicked.
Now we've got the other case. Okay. So we ground him up. So
he's nothing but powder through the operations of God in his
life. And now we're going to show him favor. Let's just lavish
kindness upon him. Give him money. Give him a good
job. Give him family. Give him a large property and a nice home
and a big car. Give him four or five cars. Give
him a big retirement. Give him medical. In fact, keep
him healthy. Give him all that he wants to have. Just like the
rich man. And then, one day, he dies. And all the favor, it
says, in verse 10, You see that? It doesn't matter how much favor
you show to the wicked, or how much trouble you give to him,
unless God has grace upon him, it won't turn him. And that's
what God is saying to Pharaoh. about Pharaoh. God comes to Moses. He says, tell Pharaoh you're
going to do this. First, just tell him, let my people go. And
he says, who's the Lord? I'm not going to let his people
go. I don't know the Lord. And that was true. And so he starts
bringing plague after plague after plague. And even every
time Pharaoh would ask Moses, Ask the Lord to take away this
plague from us. And God took the plague away. Some favor was
shown to him. And yet he was hardened. He's
hardened. Because whether it's mercy or
whether it's affliction, when it's poured on the wicked without
God's grace, it doesn't do anything for them. Remember Judas? Judas was a man who had the greatest
privileges. He walked. with the Lord Jesus
Christ, heard His words. Christ appointed Him among His
apostles, called Him His friend. He shared his intimate heart
with him. He heard the most intimate words
that had been hidden from the foundation of the world. And
he traveled with Christ. Saw the Lord Jesus Christ suffer
at the hand of his enemies. Heard the wisdom that he gave.
And Judas sold the Lord Jesus Christ for a little bit of silver. Because his heart was hardened.
And that's the way it is. Though favor be showed to the
wicked, he will not turn from his wickedness. And so God says
to Pharaoh, this is the reason I raised you up, to show my power
in you, and that my name might be declared throughout all the
earth. Verse 18, Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will, and
whom he will he hardeneth. God does this. God has mercy
on whomever He will, and whomever He will, He hardens. Doesn't
that again rub the wrong way? It's kind of like pouring sandpaper
against your skin and just grinding it in, doesn't it? Doesn't it
feel that way? How could God do that? Isn't
that your natural reaction to that? That is not the reaction
of one who truly knows God. That's the reaction of our natural
self. But God has to teach us who He
really is. He is sovereign. He is good in
all that He does. The problem is with us. The problem is with us. And as
I've said, and we can look at this over and over throughout
Scripture. God always sets side by side His condemnation of the
wicked and His salvation of His people side by side. I'll show
you just one case, and you can find these all over. Look in
2 Thessalonians. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. He says, in 2 Thessalonians chapter
2, he says in verse 7, "...the mystery
of iniquity is already work, only he who now lets will, until
he be taken out of the way. And then shall that wicked be
revealed from whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his
mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming,
even him who's coming..." I'm sorry, I'm reading in verse 9
of chapter 2. Even him whose coming is after the working of
Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders. In verse 10,
2 Thessalonians 2.10, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness
in them that perish, because they received not the love of
the truth that they might be saved. Why were they deceived
by the wicked one? Why is the world deceived by
the false teaching that men are saved by something that they
do? Because that's a summation of all the world's religions.
It doesn't matter whether you go to Buddhism, or Jehovah's
Witness, or Mormonism, or Southern Baptist, or even Reformed, or
whatever you go to. If they teach any other thing
than salvation by Christ alone, Through grace alone, apart from
works, they're lost. They don't know the gospel. And
God's saying they'll be deceived with all deceivableness of unrighteousness
because they did not receive the love of the truth that they
might be saved. The only way we can be saved
is if God gives us a love of the truth about the way He is
as He really is. Sovereign and shows mercy to
whom He will. And our salvation is not up to
us, it's up to Him. That He saves us independently
of what He finds in us, but only for His good will and what He
finds in the Lord Jesus Christ. But look at this. I said they
were in contrast. Look at this. Verse 11, because they didn't
receive a love of the truth that they might be saved for this
cause, God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe
a lie. God would delude somebody? God
would deceive? Absolutely. God brings delusion
on people because they seek after lies. They didn't receive a love
of the truth. They didn't love the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus
said this to his opponents in John chapter 8. He says, you
are not of God. And because you're not of God,
you don't hear God's words. And you're of your father the
devil. When I speak to you the words of my father, you don't
hear them. They didn't receive the love of Christ because they
preferred a lie. And God chose not to save them
from that lie. And so we're entirely dependent
on God saving us from that. In verse 12, "...that they all
might be damned, who believed not the truth, but had pleasure
in unrighteousness." But, we are bound to give thanks always
to God for you, brethren. And now listen to these words,
beloved of the Lord. You see the difference? What's
the difference between Pharaoh and Moses? To Moses, God says,
we can say, we're bound to give thanks to you, Moses. I mean,
to God for you, Moses, because you're beloved of the Lord. Why
are we loved of the Lord? Because the Lord would love us.
Because He found a reason in Himself to love us. He chose
to love us. He set His love upon us. He says
in Jeremiah 31.3, He says, I have loved you. with an everlasting
love, with an everlasting love. There was never a time when I
didn't love you. There was never a time when you
weren't the apple of my eye. When I had chosen you before
the foundation of the world, I had written your name in the
Lamb's Book of Life. And all those whom I didn't love,
I did not write in that Lamb's Book of Life. And because it
was the Lamb's book of life, and His blood was shed before
the foundation of the world, then your life is in Him, and
you will certainly live, because I loved you." Because we're bound
to thank God, to give thanks to God for you, brethren, because
you're beloved of the Lord. Because God, He says in verse
13 here in 2 Thessalonians 2, Because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation. And
how does this salvation work out? Through sanctification of
the Spirit. God has to give us His Spirit
so that we can receive this salvation. This salvation is through the
work of the Spirit of God. He births us into the Kingdom
of God. He shows Christ to us, gives
us faith in Him and belief of the truth. The Spirit of God
comes to us, He speaks to our dead bones and He says, live.
Lazarus come forth and he shows us the Lord Jesus Christ who
bore all our sins and carried all our sorrows all our diseases
and all our griefs and we find in him full satisfaction to God
before the throne of God we're received as Christ is received
and only because of what God thinks of what he did. And that
becomes all of our rejoicing, all of our confidence, and all
of our hope and desire. And that's called the love of
the truth. God gives that to us, and He
gives it to us through the sanctification of the Spirit, through the preaching
of His Word. And so back in Romans 9, He says,
He will have mercy on whom He will, and whom He will He hardeneth."
God hardens? You bet He does. God hardens. Because God does all His will,
doesn't He? And He hated Esau. And He gave him over to His own
heart's lust. Look at Romans 1 again. Romans
chapter 1. So you see these verses right
before your eyes. He says... In Romans chapter
1, get my page to separate here, he says in verse 19, he had mentioned
in verse 18, the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against
all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in
unrighteousness. Why is the wrath of God revealed
against them? Because they're ungodly. Why
are they unrighteous? Because they're ungodly. And
this unrighteousness springs forth. And they're ungodly because
they hold down the truth God has made known to them. Because
he says in verse 19, "...because that which may be known of God
is manifest in them." God showed it to them. And who can deny
that they know it if God showed it to them? Well, I don't know,
that person's never, he's never heard the truth, and so we can't
blame him for it. I mean, he's over there in Zimbabwe
under some banana tree. How can we say that he's ever
got a justification, I mean, a reason for the God, no, God
showed it to him. Every person, without exception,
born into this world, has an innate knowledge of who God is. and the truth about Him being
Creator and ruling over all things. People say, I don't believe in
God. I'm an atheist. I'm an evolutionist. I believe
there's a big bang. I believe this. I believe that.
I believe a bunch of baloney. Well, you can say whatever you
want, but God says right here, and He's going to hold you before
His throne, I showed it to you. And you're going to shut your
mouth, and you're going to say, yes, you did. But I held the truth
in unrighteousness." In verse 20 of Romans 1 he says, "...the
invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are
clearly seen." Not only did He show it to us inside of us, but
He made it clear through the creation of the world. Being
understood by the things. And isn't it odd that men actually
take the creation of the world as the sticky point, and they
go on and they try to fabricate some other a solution to the
way the world is what it is, trees and flowers and space and
everything else. And God says, no, no, it's through
the creation that you know. No, no, I want to hold the truth
down, see, so I have to go out and I have to change the truth
I know about creation and make it some other truth called evolution
or something else. Philosophies of men. And this
is just to our greater condemnation, isn't it? The invisible things
of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen being
understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power
and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. Because that
when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were
thankful, but became vain in their imagination. And their
foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise.
Beating on their chest. I got a PhD. I know. I understand
physics. I understand chemistry. I understand
the origins of the world. You know nothing. You're blind. And you're a fool. Your heart
is darkened. You don't know God. And if you
don't know God, you know nothing. And they changed the glory of
the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible
man and to birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things. Wherefore,
in other words, because of this, God also gave them up to uncleanness
through the lust of their own hearts to dishonor their own
bodies between themselves. who changed the truth of God
into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than
the Creator, who is blessed forever. And for this cause, God gave
them up to vile affections." You see that? God gave them up. God gave them up because they
didn't want to know God. God gave them up. That's the
way we are by nature. We're no different. We see that
and we say, oh yeah, I know somebody who's really bad. And God obviously
gave them up. Well, that's true. But what about
you? Until you come to bow to the
fact that God is sovereign, and He controls your eternal destiny,
and that you deserve the punishment that He gives to the wicked,
and if God didn't restrain you, if you don't understand that
your... any reluctance on your part to commit sin or do these
things is only God's restraining hand, then you're not acknowledging
what God says you are. You are sinful, and sin is your
nature. You commit sin because you are
a sinner. The carnal mind, what we are
by nature, is the enemy of God. It's enmity itself against God.
We're haters of God. And that's the way it's evident
by what we do here. This is no different. He says
in the conclusion in Romans 319, whatever the law saith, whatever
we just read here, is said to every man that every mouth may
be stopped and all the world become guilty before God. Yes,
God hardens hearts. And God determined to harden
Pharaoh's heart before the world was made. God determined to create
Pharaoh and make him for this purpose. Now I want to go to
the last text of scripture here because this is the answer. Let's
read it in Romans chapter 9 verse. He says, Alright, to know that
I'm telling you what Romans 9 actually says here in verse 19, read this. You mean, if God is so big and
powerful that He hardened Pharaoh's heart, how could God find any
fault with Pharaoh? I mean, He couldn't resist God's
will. Isn't that the natural response? We say, well, I mean,
I can't help it. God, He just creates people and
He determines who He's going to love and who He isn't going
to love. And He does this before time and He raises up Pharaoh
and makes his heart hardened. Who can blame Pharaoh? It's God's
fault. Sounds just like Adam, huh? Well,
the woman you gave me, she gave me the fruit and I did eat. Always
blaming God. That's a revelation of a hard
heart. Blaming God. But the revelation of a soft
heart is what David said, against thee, and thee only have I sinned. But look at Jeremiah chapter
18. Because the answer that God gives in Romans 9 is this, But
look at Jeremiah 18, verse 1, The word which came to Jeremiah
from the Lord, saying, Arise, go down to the potter's house,
and there I will cause thee to hear my words. Where did God
send Jeremiah to hear his words? To the potter's house. And where
is the only place you can hear and understand God's ways? At
the potter's house, where God makes man as he chooses. And let's understand this now.
The lessons are taught only at the potter's house, the house
of God's sovereignty, God's rule, and God's being the creator over
all, who makes all things for his pleasure, for his purpose,
and will most assuredly bring to pass his purpose and what
he intends. Verse 3. Then I went down to
the potter's house, and behold, he wrought a work on the wheels.
You can see what's happening. The potter's spinning the wheel,
and he gets some clay. And the vessel that he made of
clay, he's got this vessel, spinning it, it's clay, it's wet, it's
soft. He made a vessel and when he
made, he says in verse 4, read it together. And the vessel that
he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter. The Lord
is the potter. Hath not the potter power over
the clay of the same lump to make one vessel to honor and
another to dishonor. God's the potter. The lump is
humanity. God created man. When God created
man, he was a lump. You're part of the lump. I'm
part of the lump. There's no difference between us. We're
all part of a lump. There's no glory or dignity in
a lump. God made man from the dust of the earth, the lump,
the clay. God did it. And when he made
the clay on the wheel of God's work as the potter, the clay
was in his hand. And when it was in his hand,
it was marred. And so he says, it was still
in the hand of God when it was marred. He says in verse four,
so he made it again, another vessel, as seemed good to the
potter to make. Do you see that? The potter makes
the clay into a vessel. And when he makes the clay into
a vessel, something happened. The clay was marred. The vessel
was marred. So he says, I'll make it again,
a different vessel. It's the same thing that God
is teaching us here in Romans chapter 9. God makes man. And in creation, they were all
taken from the same lump. And God put man on the wheel
and created man in his own image. God made man upright. Ecclesiastes
7.29. But they've sought out every
evil invention. God did what was right. In making
man, he was fine. But the man sought out every
evil invention. And so, while he made the vessel
on the wheel at the potter's house, the vessel was marred. Man fell and sinned. in his hand. It was still God's purpose. Even
though it was marred, he was still in the purpose and will
of God. And God's will even carried through creation and the fall
into the after-fall of man. So that even though he would
sin, Adam and we sinned in ourselves and we corrupted ourselves and
we were marred God said I'll make the vessel again as it seems
good to me and so then he says he's going to make this vessel
and to honor before a prayer prepared before to glory and
this other vessel that was marred to dishonor to receive the just
condemnation for what they do, and to withhold grace, to not
show mercy, but to give them what they deserve, because it
seemed good to the potter." Jesus said it this way in Matthew 11.
He says, Father, I thank Thee. He says, Father, I thank Thee,
Lord of heaven and earth, because You've hidden these things from
the wise and prudent But you revealed them to babes, even
so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight." God does
what he does. It seems good to God, and that
makes it right. How do you know it's right? Because
it seemed good to God. That's the only answer. Because
it seems good to God. You and I are in God's hands.
If we're left to ourselves, we'll be no different than Pharaoh
and the nation of Israel that fell. And both of them together
ended up in the same place, seeking to establish themselves in opposition
to God with their own righteousness. But God's people always are brought
to this point. I'm a sinner. I fell. I'm marred. Make me a vessel to honor. Find
me in the Lord Jesus Christ. Receive me in Christ and receive
him as if you receive me as if you're receiving him. And anyone
who comes to God in that way is a vessel to honor, a vessel
God afore prepared to glory. And so Pharaoh goes to Rome and
meets God there. He still hates God and God destroys
him. But Jacob finds himself there
as an object of God's love and saving grace. And what does Jacob
do? Glory to God in the highest.
Glory to God. He saved me. Oh, we're so thankful
to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God from
the beginning has chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the spirit. and belief of the truth. Salvation
comes to us by the miracle of the Spirit of God giving us light
and life in Christ. And we know it's ours because
we hold to Christ as all of our salvation. Let's pray.