Romans chapter 3 and it's at
the end of verse 22, there is no difference. There's no difference
between any of Adam's fallen race because we're all sinners. That's what we all have in common.
Doesn't matter who you are, doesn't matter your status in life, your
rank in society, It doesn't matter whether you're wealthy or poor
or find yourself somewhere in between. It doesn't matter what
your education level is. You may have a college education.
You may not even have a high school education. I don't know.
But as far as being in our natural condition is concerned, there
is no difference. That's what we all have in common.
We're sinful people. There's no difference in our
alienation from our God. There's no difference in our
guilt. All have sinned is what he says
in verse 23. All have sinned and we all come
short of the glory of God. And so there is no difference.
There is no difference. Turn over to Romans chapter 10. He has this to say in Romans
chapter 10 about this no difference, no difference. In verse 11 it says, Romans 10,
11, for the scripture saith, whosoever believeth on him shall
not be ashamed. For there is no difference, there's
no distinction between the Jew and the Greek. All have sinned. We're all guilty. We're all separated from God
due to the mountain of our guilt. There is no difference between
Jew and Greek. It doesn't matter which group
you fall into. And then it says, for the same
Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon Him. So it doesn't
matter who you are. Doesn't matter where you live.
Doesn't matter what your race is. There's no difference in
us by nature and all who call upon the Lord, all who worship
Him in spirit and in truth, all who worship God, who draw near
to God through our Lord Jesus Christ, God says He'll save them. There's no difference. But now
I want you to go back to the book of Exodus. Go back to Exodus
chapter 11. There is no difference by nature. There is no difference by nature. But there is a difference that
grace makes. There is a difference that God
has made. And so the title of the message
tonight is The Difference God Makes. the difference God makes. In Adam, there's no difference. Adam was the representative of
all of his race, and there's no difference in our guilt level
before God. You say, well, I'm not as big
a sinner as somebody else is. We're all sinners before God,
and there is no difference. No difference between nationalities. As far as a Jew or a Gentile
or an American or a Mexican or whatever nationality you might
happen to be, there's no difference in our guilt before God. Naturally,
no difference. But by grace, there is a difference. And it's a difference God has
made. And here in Exodus chapter 11, and we're drawing now right
to the last of the plagues that God is going to send upon the
Egyptians. This is going to be the heaviest
blow of them all. It's going to fall upon this
hard-hearted monarch and upon his people, and then he will
be willing to release his captives. But it says in verse 7 of chapter
11 of Exodus, But against any of the children of Israel shall
not a dog move his tongue against man or beast, that ye may know,
that ye may know how that the Lord doth put a difference between
the Egyptians and Israel. Now, by nature, there is no difference. But God in His goodness, God
in His mercy, God in His sovereign right to do as He pleases with
all of His creation, God has put a difference between His
people and those whom He calls in other places, the rest. He has made a difference. Not
all people will be able to sit under the gospel. He sends the truth where He will. And not all people who sit under
the gospel will be brought by the Holy Spirit to new life in
Christ Jesus as a result of the power of the Holy Spirit so that
they will believe the gospel of God's grace. I ask you, what
is the reason that some believe the gospel and others don't? you have perhaps the same intellectual
abilities. You can read, you can write,
you have been given mental abilities by God, and yet some people believe
the gospel of the grace of God and see Christ Jesus as the only
Savior of sinners, the very Savior that you need, and you flee to
Him Out of a neediness in your heart, you need His blood to
wash away your sins. You need His righteousness to
make you accepted, justified before God. Some believe, but
others who sit under the gospel don't ever believe the gospel.
I ask you, who makes the difference? Is it the sinner or is it the Lord? And the answer is, it's God who
makes the difference. It's the Lord who makes the difference. We have before us, and he's been
set before us here for several chapters, a ruthless monarch. He's Pharaoh. And he's so hard-hearted
against God, He's a very cruel man who has
caused the Israelites to labor in harsh conditions because he
hates Israel and he hates the God of Israel whom he does not
know. But his heart is hardened and
I want you to go back to chapter 4 and I'll tell you why his heart
is hardened. In chapter four, Moses has not
even got to Egypt as of yet. Okay, he's traveling from the
backside of the desert. He's coming toward Egypt and
the Lord speaks to him. seen the bush that burned with
fire and wasn't consumed, he's seen Christ's day, he's talked
to Christ, the Son of God spoke to him out of that burning bush,
gave him a mission, you're going to lead my people to deliverance
out of captivity. The Lord tells Moses that his
name is I am that I am. That's who's gonna tell Israel,
I am that I am has sent me. That's what Moses is to say to
Israel. So Moses takes his wife and his
two little boys and they begin to journey toward Egypt. And as they go along, notice
chapter four, verse 20, you there? And Moses took his wife and his
sons and set them upon an ass. And he returned to the land of
Egypt. You remember, 40 years before
this, he left Egypt. He's been on the backside of
the desert for 40 years, learning how to be a shepherd, not only
a shepherd of four-legged sheep, but a shepherd of two-legged
sheep, that is the Lord's people. So he's gonna return to the land
of Egypt. And Moses took the rod of God
in his hand. And the Lord said unto Moses,
he says, when thou goest to return into Egypt, see that thou do
all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I have put in thine hand,
but I will harden his heart that
he shall not let the people go. This is before he ever gets to
Egypt. This is before he ever says anything
to Pharaoh. Pharaoh has no idea that God
has raised up a deliverer, a man who grew up in the household
of Pharaoh, Pharaoh's daughter having raised him, He has no concept of the fact
that this man's gonna come back and lead Israel out of captivity. But before all of that leading
them out of captivity comes to pass, Moses is informed by the
Lord, lest he be discouraged Here's what God says, I want
you to know, I'm going to harden his heart that he shall not let the people
go. Now you go forth with my message,
thus saith the Lord, let my people go. But Moses, as you journey
toward Egypt, I want you to know this so that you won't be disheartened
or upset by his refusal to do the command that I'm issuing
to you to give to Him. Let my people go. He's not going
to let my people go. And the reason He's not going
to let my people go is because I'm going to harden His heart
that He won't let them go. Most people don't know about
this. This is the God who does as He pleases. Verse 22 says, and thou shalt
say unto Pharaoh, thus saith the Lord, Israel is my son, even
my firstborn. And I say unto thee, let my son
go, that he may serve me. And if thou refuse to let him
go, behold, I will kill, slay thy son, even thy firstborn. Let my people go. But before
Moses says, let my people go, the Lord says to Moses, know
this, he's not gonna let them go because I'm gonna harden his
heart. Now, I would ask you this, kind of
think about this a little bit. Could the Lord have softened
Pharaoh's heart if it had been his will to do that? Well, sure
he could have. Or could the Lord have not hardened
Pharaoh's heart? Could have done that. But the Lord, He hardened Pharaoh's
heart. See, there are a lot of people
who say, well, Pharaoh hardened his own heart. Well, he did a
little later, but who hardened his heart first? God did. What was the reason for that?
We know that God could have softened his heart, but he didn't. Let
me tell you something. If you're a believer tonight,
he softened your heart. And I've got news for you. Your
heart or Pharaoh's heart was no harder than your heart by
nature, right? Because we're all hard-hearted.
We're all alienated from God. There's no difference, remember?
There's no difference by nature. We're all sinful. We're all separated
from God. We all have a hard heart. So
that we read one of the prophets says, you have a hard heart,
a heart of stone. Now, to some people, God takes
away the heart of stone and He gives a heart of flesh. But to other people, He leaves
their heart of stone right where it is and doesn't fool with it. What does God have to do to harden
a man's heart? Well, one thing, leave him alone.
Never send the light of the gospel to his heart. Never do a work
of grace in his heart. But also, there are cases, such
as the case with Pharaoh, that God deliberately, willfully,
he hardened his heart. And even though the command to
him was let my people go, a command which he was responsible to obey. You agree with that? He was responsible
to obey that command. But it was a command that he
would not obey because God hardened his heart that he wouldn't. Why would God do that? Well,
broadly speaking, to serve his own purpose. But you see, the
Lord has this end in view. He's going to liberate Israel. He's going to deliver Israel
from captivity by the bloody sacrifice of a lamb. So Pharaoh is not going to release
Israel, not after the first plague, which is the plague of turning
the river Nile into blood. He's not gonna let them go, or
the frogs, or the lice, and just keep on going down the line.
And Pharaoh, oh, he's not gonna, I'm not gonna let them go, I'm
not gonna let them go. Well, what's going to finally break
his back, so to speak? It's what God was aiming toward
to begin with, the revelation that the way of salvation, the
way of everlasting life, is by the death of a suitable substitute,
one who's acceptable to God, the Passover lamb. And so God arranges things so
that there's no way Pharaoh is going to let them go until God sends the 10th plague, the death of the firstborn. And
if you go back here to chapter 11, the Lord says to Moses in
chapter 11 in verse 1, And the Lord said unto Moses,
yet will I bring one, one plague more upon Pharaoh, and I'll really
get into that next Wednesday. One more plague. That's what
God tells Moses, one more plague. Well, Lord, why didn't you bring
this first plague to pass right at the beginning? Well, it didn't
please him to do that. Gonna find out just how hard-hearted
Pharaoh is and what it means for God to harden somebody's
heart. My friend, all of you here tonight and those of you
who are watching, ask God to give you a softened heart. And he's the only one who can
do that because he's the one who makes the difference. Your heart would still be hard
were it not for the sovereign grace of God and for the fact
that God put you in a position to, number one, hear the gospel
of the salvation of God to sinners through the Lord Jesus Christ
and his substitutionary sacrifice. God didn't have to do that for
you. didn't have to do that for me. He could have left me where he
found me, but he made a difference. So
that's what I, if I can just, if the spirit of God would just
drill this into your mind and into your heart, it's God who
makes the difference. It's not man's free will that
makes the difference. It's not man's decision that
makes the difference. It's not man's obedience even
to believe the gospel that makes the difference. It's God who
makes the difference. It's God who gives spiritual
life, go all the way back. It's God who chose us unto salvation. It's God who redeemed us by the
bloody death of His Son. It's God who makes the difference
in sending the Spirit through the truth of the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And he uses that truth, God the
Spirit does, to work mysteriously and miraculously in the heart
to where he gives life and all of a sudden a miracle takes place
and we become different. We have a different attitude
toward God. And that unbelief that we naturally
had suddenly becomes belief. And he gives a desire and a love,
a love to hear of the Son of God and His sacrifice. Now, to some people, the issue
in all of this the Lord sending Moses before
Pharaoh. To some people, the issue in
all of this was the release of the Israelites. Well, that was
really a secondary issue, though it was an important issue.
The main issue And you do well to remember this, and I'm sure
you all know this for certain. The main issue in all of this
is the glory of God. That's the main issue. You know, the works of God fall
into three categories. Creation, providence, and grace. or creation, providence, and
salvation. You could put it that way. Creation. Creation, it does have a glory
and a beauty, but really creation is all about the glory of God.
Psalm 19, the heavens declare what? The glory of God. And the
firmament showeth his handiwork. One writer said creation, the
book of creation has three pages. Heaven, earth, and sea. And all
three pages give God the glory. The second category is what we
call providence. And I give you a verse on that.
Romans 11, 36, for of him and through him and to him are all
things to whom be glory forever and ever. Providence is God directing
everything to the end that he purposed before the world ever
began. And everything that comes to
pass, the ultimate purpose is the glory of God. in everything that happens, doesn't
matter what it is, providence, providence, as is evident in
God hardening the heart of Pharaoh. You see, there's a man, a natural
man over whom God gets the glory in doing with him what he will. Before the world began, the Lord
ordained that this Pharaoh be born. God ordained to leave him
in his sinfulness, in his wickedness, in his arrogance, in his rebellion. God ordained to harden his heart. And finally, God ordained that
in the end of this man's life, he had buried him beneath the
waves of the Red Sea. Go over to, let me show you this.
Let me see if I can find this first. Go over to chapter 14
of Exodus. Chapter 14, if I can,
I wrote the reference down here if I can find it. Well, can't put my, can't put
my thing. Oh, here it is. Chapter 14, verse
eight, okay? Israel's gone. And Pharaoh is
now, he's summoned his army together, and he's in mad pursuit. But what led to that? Look at
verse eight, and this is the last time he talks about his
heart being hardened. 14.8, you there? And the Lord hardened the heart
of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he pursued after the children
of Israel. You see, God started all of this
by hardening Pharaoh's heart, and God's gonna end it all by
hardening his heart one more time. And Pharaoh says, I'm going
after them slaves. I'm gonna get them back. Well,
who did this? And really, here's the difference
that God made again. He hardened Pharaoh's heart,
but He didn't harden Moses' heart. He hardened Pharaoh's heart,
but He didn't harden Aaron's heart. And He still hardens the heart
of people all over the world, but He didn't harden your heart. Each of us who love the gospel,
we're full proof that the Lord makes a difference. He makes a difference. Lord, don't harden my heart.
Don't harden my heart. Don't abandon me. You see, God
purposed to just leave Pharaoh alone. Just leave him alone. Do nothing for him except keep
him alive to the day when God's going to kill him and send him
to hell. You say, Jim, what kind of God
is this? This is the God you've got to
know. You see this difference. It's
the difference between life and death. It's the difference between salvation
and condemnation. It's the difference between light
and darkness. And really, it's the difference
between heaven and hell. And you better come to grips
with this. It's the Lord who makes the difference. Let me give you one more verse
and I'll close. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter
four. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter
four. In verse seven. 1 Corinthians chapter four, verse
seven. For who maketh thee to differ
from another? Now I know in religion, in religion,
people make professions of faith and then they become outwardly
different. Maybe they give up their drunkenness
for sobriety. Maybe they give up their drugs
to walk straight and narrow, so to speak. Man can make an outward difference. And I've heard people say, you
know, I can pretty much tell who's saved and who isn't by
their outward life. Well, you don't have any idea
what's going on. Because there are a lot of people
who are moral, decent, Upright, as far as we're concerned. They
won't have outwardly bad habits. You see the difference, it may
or may not be seen outwardly depending upon what a man's habits
are. But the difference is made within
and then manifested in a person has a new motive and that's the
glory of God. And he has a new view of God. God's to be worshipped and feared. And he has a new outlook of life. The Lord governs all things that
happen to me. And the biggest difference is
he looks to Christ for everything. Are you different? Well, who maketh thee to differ
from another? And like it says here, and what
hast thou that thou didst not receive? Now if thou didst receive
it, why do you glory as if thou hadst not received it? It's God who makes the difference. And he will do with you as he
will. and let us fall humbly before
Him and say, Lord, You could leave me just as I am, but I pray, break my heart, give
me life, and enable me to look to Christ Jesus, that Lamb of
God, who shed His blood to put away the sins of His people.
It's the Lord who makes the difference. Indeed. Well, let's sing a closing
song.