observe things going on around
me with great concern. We were discussing in the office
a few minutes ago some of the recent events in the news media,
the abduction of those two boys by that beast in Illinois or
Missouri. Mark it down. You can be assured
of it. any society, any society, specifically
I'm speaking of this day in which we live in our society in Western
civilization, if you can call it civilization, that promotes
homosexuality, promotes fornication, adultery, rape, incest, And pedophilia,
what a horrible name for the hatred of children. And we are
reaping what we've sown. That's true of our society. We are reaping the consequences
of the iniquities of our fathers for generations. And yet we look
at these things and rightfully we are concerned. concern for our own children,
grandchildren, concern for one another's children, concern for
society as a whole. And sometimes people ask, where
can you find any hope, any consolation, any strength? Fall headlong into
the arms of God our sovereign Father who does all things well
and exactly according to His purpose. Let's see a picture
of what I'm saying in Exodus chapter 4. Exodus chapter 4. We'll pick
up at verse 18. Moses returned to Jethro, his
father-in-law, and said unto him, Let me go, I pray thee,
and return unto my brethren which are in Egypt, and see whether
they be yet alive. And Jethro said to Moses, Go
in peace. And the Lord said unto Moses
in Midian, Go, return into Egypt, for all the men are dead which
sought thy life.' And Moses took his wife and his sons and set
them upon an ass, and he returned to the land of Egypt. And Moses
took the rod of God in his hand. And the Lord said unto Moses,
when thou goest to return to 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."
God said concerning Pharaoh, I will harden his heart." And
he did it for the glory of his name, to secure the salvation
of his people, the deliverance of Israel out of Egypt. Repeatedly God hardened Pharaoh's
heart. In judgment upon the wicked,
This wicked, godless tyrant, and in great mercy toward the
chosen people of God, he hardened Pharaoh's heart with judicial,
penal hardness that at last brought this tyrant down to hell and
brought Israel out of Egypt. Nineteen times, nineteen times,
in this book of Exodus, just in the book of Exodus, let alone
in the Psalms and Romans and other places where it's explained.
Nineteen times in the book of Exodus we are told how God hardened
Pharaoh's heart. Nineteen times. You read through
these chapters And it seems that just every little bit, the Holy
Spirit raises up a flag, and the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart. Three of those nineteen times,
the hardening of Pharaoh's heart is ascribed to Pharaoh. Sixteen
of those times, the hardening of Pharaoh's heart is ascribed
to God Himself. What does all that mean? God
the Holy Spirit intends for us to set up and pay attention when
we come to such statements as this. And if you wish to read
some gobbledygook, a bunch of it, just read commentaries, especially
modern commentaries, and hear them or listen as they try to
explain away this declaration in the book of God. I will harden his heart. Do you know how many sermons
I found on this passage of Scripture when I was preparing to study
for it? Not a one. Not a one. And the comments by
good men who are faithful men I found to be very, very scarce.
I think there are many reasons for that. For one thing, it is
a passage that has caused a great deal of controversy among people. But principally, I think that
many have great difficulty in being satisfied just to take
God at His word, to see what He says, bow to what He says,
believe what He says, and profit by what He says, even when what
God says is absolutely contrary to everything we think by nature. God hardened Pharaoh's heart
giving him up to the hardness of his heart in judicial reprobation. Turn, if you will, to Romans
chapter 1, and I want you to see this. I'll get there in a
minute. God gave Pharaoh no grace. He left Pharaoh to the corruptions
of his own heart. He left Pharaoh to the hardness
of his own nature. He left Pharaoh in the power
of Satan to do as he would with Pharaoh. And he sent Pharaoh
strong delusions that he might believe the lies of his miracle-working
preachers, his magicians. How do those things apply to
us? What do they mean to us? What's the significance of all
this? What does this tell us about
God and His salvation? What does it tell us about us?
Look here in Romans 1. Romans 1, verse 28. The Apostle Paul, writing here
by inspiration, tells us how that God hardens the hearts of
the wicked. Even as they did not like to
retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate
mind. Just gave them up. Just gave
them up. With us, that seems to imply
frustration because we can't do any better. I can't tell you how many times
as I was growing up My mother said to me, I give up. I just
give up. And usually that was followed
by severe pain on all parts of my backside. She hadn't quite
given up, but she just give up in frustration, in anger. God writes it to us in just that
way so that we will understand it in just that way. I give up. You're useless. I give up! Nothing can be done with you.
Read up. Romans 128. Even as they did not like to
retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate
mind to do what they wanted to do. To do what they had been
practicing all along. gave them over to do those things
in which they had pleasure, those things which are not convenient.
That is to say, now remember Paul is writing to a people in
a generation in Rome, every bit as perverse as the generation
in which we live. Every bit as perverse. The United
States of America in 2007 doesn't have one thing over Rome, in
the name which Paul is writing, as far as wickedness is concerned.
Not one thing. They were every bit as corrupt.
But rather than speaking of those things that became obvious in
the minds of anyone who reads the passage, Paul says, I'm not
even going to talk about this. It's horrible. It's horrible. It gives them up to those things
that are not convenient. Being filled with all unrighteousness,
fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy,
murder, debate, deceit, malignity, whisperers, backbiters, haters
of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient
to parents, without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural
affection, unimplacable, unmerciful. Wow, what a description. who knowing the judgment of God,
they don't want to know it, don't want to acknowledge it, but God
has stamped it on their hearts and they can't escape it. That
they which commit such things are worthy of death. Yet they
not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them. God speak to our hearts now.
The very first thing to be learned from the hardening of Pharaoh's
heart is this. God the Holy Spirit holds up
Pharaoh as a vivid, clear, unmistakable picture of the hardness of the
human heart. Oh, how hard is the heart of
man. Heart of stone. That's the heart of man. Heart
of stone. That's why you can sit and listen
to a man preach about things concerning your immortal soul
and scratch your head and clip your fingernails and look out
the window and wish you could see something going by. That's
why you can sit and listen and be unaffected. Because the heart
is as hard as stone. Cold. Dead. With reference to all things
spiritual. With reference to God. With reference
to eternal life. Dead. How hard is the heart of
all men since the fall of our father Adam. Listen to how our
Lord describes the hardness of the heart. He says, when the
folks came and asked him about, said, couldn't desire it for
a man to put away his wife for any reason, the Lord said, God
in his law gave a commandment. Do you remember why he gave it? Because of the hardness of your
heart. So you'd at least divorce them
rather than killing them. That's exactly what he said.
He gave a commandment. So that rather than treating
your wife like a useless piece of property that's no longer
needed, like an animal that's just being fed and producing
no work, rather than killing her when you're displeased with
her, you allow her to be put away. We're told twice that God
gave the law because of the hardness of man's heart. Turn to 1 Timothy
chapter 1. The heart of man is so hard.
so obstinate, so utterly, utterly hard against God, enmity against
God, that the only way the heart of man can be controlled is with
fear. Only way to be controlled. Let
the psychologists and sociologists say what they want to, I'm telling
you, on the authority of this book, the only way you can control
the heart of a man is by fear. Believers, the man who is born
again, given a new heart by grace, the love of Christ constrains
us. The believer is motivated and ruled and governed by the
love of Christ, but the natural unregenerate man, the man who
doesn't know God, the only way he can be controlled is by fear. Forget the stick and carrot trick.
It don't work. It don't work. The only way it
can be controlled is by fear. Let's see if that's what the
book says. First Timothy chapter one, verse eight. We know that
the law is good if a man uses it lawfully. Folks say we are
opposed to the law of God. Oh no, I'm thankful God gave
His law. Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous
man. You don't have to tell a righteous
man not to murder his neighbor. You don't have to tell a righteous
man not to commit adultery. You don't have to tell a righteous
man, if you do this, I'm going to kill you. That's not what
motivates him. But the law is for the lawless
and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and
profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for
manslayers, for whoremongers, for them that defile themselves
with mankind, for men-stealers, for liars, for perjured persons,
and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine.
You mean those things are all contrary to sound doctrine? That's
what he said, according to the glorious gospel of the blessed
God which was committed to my trust. Though terrified of God
and his wrath, though tormented in his conscience by the fear
of everlasting damnation, Though his very heart is horrified with
every thought of hell, so hard is the heart of man that God
the Holy Spirit declares, After thy hardness and impenitent heart
treasurest unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and
the revelation of the righteous judgment of God. It is so hard
is the heart of man while he holds down the truth of God in
unrighteousness. He continually with his heart
treasures up wrath against the day of wrath and will not repent
and will not believe. Is there no hope for man? None
in man. None in man. Improve his circle
of friends? it won't change a thing. Improve
his education, it won't change a thing. Improve his poverty
level, it won't change a thing. No hope. Get him to make a profession
of faith, it won't change a thing. Get him religious, it won't change
a thing. Send him off to Bible college, seminary, or send him
to convents and monasteries, it won't change a thing. Nothing
can ever change the heart of man except God Himself by an
almighty, irresistible, invincible act of efficacious grace in His
gift of the Holy Spirit. Turn to Ezekiel chapter 11. What's got to happen to change
the heart of a man? God's got to come in. God's got to come in. Ezekiel 11, verse 19, I will
give them one heart, and I'll put a new spirit within you, and I will take away the stony
heart out of their flesh. Stony heart. And I'll give them
a heart of flesh. Have the same thing again in
chapter 36 of Ezekiel, verse 26. And these things clearly
are talking about the covenant of God's grace, the work of God's
grace in us now, in fulfillment of His covenant. Ezekiel 36,
26. A new heart also will I give
you, and a new spirit will I put within you. And I will take away
the stony heart out of your flesh, and I'll give you a heart of
flesh. In the new birth. God gives chosen
redeemed sinners a new heart, here called a heart of flesh. He speaks to us as men after
the manner of men. How often have you thought concerning
yourself or another, oh, my heart's as hard as stone, as hard as
stone. Speaking of the hardness of man
unmoved in a given area, here he's talking about man's heart
with reference to God and all things spiritual. He says, man
by nature has a heart of hard, cold, dead, stone. But I'll come in grace and I'll
take away that heart of stone and I'll give him heart of flesh,
life with feelings. A heart that can be touched.
A heart made sensible and sensitive by His grace. A heart that bows
to Him, is yielded to Him. A heart believing Him. A new
heart. That is to say, I'll put Christ
in you. This new man created in righteousness
and in true holiness by the power and grace of God the Holy Spirit.
A heart that causes us to live before Him. A heart that is life
before Him. Giving us faith in Him. And the
only way that comes is by the revelation of Christ in your
heart. He says, I'll come to you who
are dead and hard and unmoved and unmovable,
and I'll give you life. I'll put a new heart in you. Never was there a clearer picture
of the bondage and hardness of man's heart to his own corrupt
nature than that which is given us in this man, Pharaoh, the
king of Egypt. Hard as his heart was, it yet
hardened. Hard as man's heart is by nature
toward all things good, It's a heart that burns with lust
and enmity against God because the heart of man, the carnal
mind, is enmity against God and is not subject to the law of
God. Not only is it not, it cannot be subject to the law of God.
And nothing more quickly stirs the enmity of man's hard heart
against God Almighty than God displaying His justice and His
sovereignty. Oh, how men rebel when God stretches
out His hand in justice to punish ungodliness. How they rebel when
God makes a clear distinction between one and another, showing
His sovereignty. He takes one who is an utter,
profligate reprobate and sweeps him off the earth in his wrath
and promotes another reprobate, another profligate, vile man
to be king of some nation. And he takes another and sweeps
him into glory. And men say, God can't do that! Watch him. Just watch it. Unless God himself by almighty
grace removes the enmity of man's heart against him, every renewed
display of his justice, his sovereignty, and his grace will only further
harden the heart of the rebel. Until God changes it, he only
gets more hardened in his unbelief. This fact is set before us clearly
with Pharaoh. God showed him, sent Moses to
him. And he said, who are you talking
about? Moses said, here, let me tell
you who he is. This is Jehovah. And he performs miracles one
after another, after another, after another, after another,
after another. And each time, Pharaoh seemed
to be moved. You know how people think because
a fellow all of a sudden gets scared of going to hell, he's
under conviction? That was Pharaoh's picture. Oh, I've made my decision,
you all can go. He hardened his heart. hardened his heart, and he hardened
his heart, and he hardened his heart. Nineteen times we're told
his heart was hardened. Why tell us this? The fact is the same heat that
melts the wax hardens the clay, and God is still melting the
hearts of sons by the light of the Son of Righteousness, and
hardening the hearts of others." Turn to Isaiah 6. You say, well, God doesn't do that. That's
in the old Bible. I don't talk like that nonsense.
It's not the old Bible. This is just the first part of
the whole Bible. Isaiah chapter 6. Isaiah has seen Christ in
his glory, Christ exalted, Christ crucified sitting on the throne
of grace with power over all flesh as the result of having
accomplished redemption. And at last his lips are purged,
his heart is clean, made clean by the application of blood atonement
to it. And he said in verse 9, God said
to Isaiah, go, tell this people, hear ye indeed. but understand
not. See ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people
fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes, lest they
see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand
with their heart, and convert and be healed. What a strange
missionary commission. Isaiah, go preach to Israel and
go tell Israel what you have seen this day. The glorious Son
of God lifted high and exalted. And preach it until they stick
their fingers in their ears and their hearts are hard and they're
cast off. Oh, you sure that's what he's
talking about? Compare where our Lord speaks in John chapter
12, and he refers you right back here to Isaiah 6 and says this
is what Isaiah is saying. The Apostle Paul gives us the
same message in Romans chapter 11. Romans chapter 11. What happened with Israel? All the time I was in school,
Theology professors and others kept trying to convince me that
God had plan A. He wanted to be a king in Israel
and have to set up a kingdom in Israel and make the world
subject to Israel and be worshipped in a Jewish temple and all that
nonsense. And then because the Jews wouldn't let Jesus be their
king over in Palestine, He had plan B just in case plan A didn't
work out. God Almighty only has plan A. And his whole purpose with Israel
was that he might typify and picture redemption, not of a
physical nation, but of a spiritual nation. And when the time came
for the gospel to go to the Gentile world, Israel was as blind as
a bat to all things spiritual, and still is. Romans chapter
5, chapter 11, verse 5. Even so, then, at this present
time also, there is a remnant according to the election of
grace, thank God. And if by grace, then it is no
more of works, otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be
of works, then it is no more grace, otherwise work is no more
work. What then? Israel hath not obtained
that which he seeketh for. Why? Because they sought it,
as it were, by works, what is said in the last part of chapter
9. But the election hath obtained
it. Who did? The election hath obtained
it. But what about the rest of them? The rest were blinded, according
as it is written. God hath given them the spirit
of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should
not hear, unto this day. And David saith, Let their table
be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumbling block, and a
recompense unto them. David said, Lord, take this people. and let that table of showbread,
and their table of worship, and their table of the law, and make
it a stumbling block to them. Give them their religion till
they choke to death in hell with it. That's what it is. Read on. Let their eyes be darkened that
they may not see, and bow down their back always. Well, does God still do that?
Look at 2 Thessalonians 2, a very similar passage. How is it that God hardened Pharaoh's
heart? How is it that God hardened Pharaoh's
heart? Pharaoh's preachers. The word translated magician
is described, but I love the way the King James translated
it, magicians. That's a good name for preachers. Pharaoh's magicians. Threw down
their rods and said, we can do that. We can do that. And Pharaoh
said, well, pay no attention to you. Pay no attention to you. And his heart was heartless.
Where did those magicians get the power to do that? Where did
they get that power? Oh, the devil gave it to them.
I think not. I think not. Satan doesn't have
such power. All the power he's got, he got
from God. He doesn't do anything except
by God's power and God's decree. He's not a rival to God. He's
the creature and the servant of God. What happened? Are you saying, Brother Don,
that God gave those men that kind of power so that Pharaoh's
heart would be hardened? No, I wouldn't say that. I wouldn't
say that for anything. But God did. Let's see. And He still does. 2 Thessalonians
2. Then shall that wicked be revealed
from heaven. whom the Lord shall consume with
the spirit of his mouth and shall destroy with the brightness of
his coming. Even him whose coming is after the working of Satan
with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness
of unrighteousness in them that perish, because they receive
not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for
this cause God shall send them strong delusion. that they should
believe a lie, that they all might be damned who believed
not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. Like you and me, Pharaoh was
born with a heart of stone, cold, hard, and dead. And the longer
he lived, the harder his heart became. The more he saw, despising what
he saw, the more he heard, refusing to hear what he heard, the harder
his heart became. The more he despised God and
His Word, the more his heart was hardened. Turn to chapter
7, Exodus chapter 7. In verse 14, we read, The Lord
said to Moses, Pharaoh's heart is hardened. That word is, you'll
notice, is in italics because our translators added that word
to make the sentence read more smoothly. Quite literally, the
text reads, Pharaoh's heart hardened. or even more accurately, grew
harder. He refuses to let the people
go. This was God's work of judicial
reprobation. Now, I have to be brief here,
but I want you to hear this, hear it well, and understand
it. Throughout the scriptures, throughout the scriptures, throughout
the Scriptures. Judgment is set before us as
an act of justice. Judgment is never set before
us as something that's arbitrary, capricious, something that is
done without reason. Never. It is never set before
us that way. So didn't God predestinate everything? You know the answer
to that. Of course He did. Of course He
did. The wages of sin is death. That means, Larry, if you or
I go to hell, it's our fault. It can't possibly mean anything
else. Read Proverbs chapter 1. Read the scriptures and read
them clearly. Men go to hell because of what they do. God hardened Adam's heart in
the fall because of the fall. And God hardened Pharaoh's heart
because of Pharaoh's hardness of heart, his refusal to hear
his word. And God still hardens men's heart
because they will not believe what God reveals. Romans chapter
1. God has made himself known in
creation, made known his wisdom and his power. and is stamped
on every man's being by nature, stamped in his heart a God-consciousness,
so that every man knows. Every man knows. Man, if you
slip into your neighbor's house and rob him when he's on vacation,
you've committed a crime. You don't have to have that written
out on tables of stone somewhere. You don't have to have it written
down at the courthouse. Every man's got it written on his heart.
And you see it demonstrated in every society in history, no
matter how barbaric. Every man knows if you steal
your neighbor's wife, you've committed a crime. Every man
knows if you slip up behind somebody and slit his throat, you've committed
a crime. And his conscience condemns him.
And yet he goes right on. because he will not submit to
the revelation God's given even in creation. How much more when
God graciously sends his word to a people, causes the gospel
to be preached in their midst, Christ is evidently set forth
crucified among them, I ain't gonna say. I ain't gonna hear. I WILL NOT HAVE HIM! That's what unbelief is. It's
not a casual, insignificant, meaningless thing. You say, well,
man's dead, he can't help it. You're absolutely right. And
if you want to take that up with God on Day of Judgment, you go
right ahead. But I'm telling you, if you go to hell, it's
because you stuck your fingers in your ear, and covered your
eyes, and stopped your heart, and would not believe. That's exactly what this book
teaches. And yet, all this is exactly according to the purpose
of God. He sent Moses down to Pharaoh. And he said, now Moses, you go
perform these miracles, and I'll harden his heart, and he won't
let you go. And I'll harden his heart, and
he won't let you go. And I'll harden his heart, and
he won't let you go. And I'll harden his heart, and
he'll kick you out of that land. And when I get done with him,
these things are going to happen. These things are going to happen. you're going to wind up dead
in the sea. And all the Egyptians are going to know that I'm God.
And Israel is going to stand over here on the other side and
sing my praises, because I'm God. And they shall be delivered. And when you get over to Revelation
chapter 15, you find out that God's people are going to the
side, look back over all that's taken place in time, and they
see Pharaoh, the fiend of hell, Satan, all
the host of hell, and all the world, and the nations of men
who would not bow to the rule of Jesus Christ. cast into hell,
saying with torment in their souls, Jesus Christ is Lord. We hate it as much as ever, but
He's Lord. He writes. He's King. And the saints of God sit around
the throne with joy in their souls and glory on their heads
and point to Him and sing the song of boulders and the lambs.
Are you right? He's Lord. He's Lord. He's gotten Himself the victory.
He has saved us by His grace. God's purpose in all He has done
and is doing is the salvation of His people and the glory of
His name. Now hear me, my brothers and
sisters. His purpose is being done and
has been done and shall be done. He's going to save His people. And he's going to glorify himself
in doing so. And all who oppose him, he will
trample beneath his feet in the mud of the Red Sea of his wrath
in hell forever, exactly as he has purposed. But still there's a problem. This is Don York. I said, Rex Bartley, here stands
Don Fortner. I said, Bobby Estes. And we hardened our hearts with all the hellish hardness
that Pharaoh ever dreamed of. Is that true of you, Dave? I ain't
going to hear that. See Christ crucified? Then they
say something else. Stick his finger on your heart
and say, let hell have my heart! I won't have him! I won't have
him! I won't have him! Why then? Do without cherishing. Because in God's sovereign mercy,
He said, I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Oh, the depth of the wisdom and
goodness of God, infinitely surpassing are all His ways. Who shall declare
His glory? Paul said, what shall we then
say to these things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? Now, Don, what do you have to
say to all that? Hallelujah. Amen. I wouldn't have it any
other way. Thank God for His grace. I got to think about this very
subject sometime back, years ago. Wrote a hymn. I want to
try to sing it. Number 57. A Rebel Surrender. Lindsay, will you come lead us
in this hymn? Oh Lord of stubborn rebel bowels, compelled by sovereign
grace. Number 57, Psalms Gracebook.