Romans chapter 9. We're talking about some very heavy, complex, difficult things. We need to just admit off the top, the beginning, that there are truths here that our minds will never fully grasp. There's going to be gaps in our understanding because these are eternal things that come from an eternal God. And God's eternality and the fact that He is divine, there's going to be things about Him and about His interaction with us that we won't fully understand. And there's going to be things we can't fully grasp, except what we should do is be obedient and believing in what the Bible says. And so there is a compatibility between God's sovereignty and His election and between human responsibility. And we are to believe. We are to go and to urge, to beg, to compel any and all who hear the gospel, please make the decision. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Yet at the same time, there is God at work in His sovereignty in His choice that He is making. You know, the reason I think we struggle with this is because when we think about God making such a large, eternal, important choice as the destination of souls, it's because we can only think about that decision made in the only way we make decisions. In our choices, Our choices are limited. They always contain, I think, a degree of ignorance. We just don't always know everything about the facts. I think human choices always contain a degree of bias. You know, we come in and we just have some favorable things. We're told not to show partiality, but in our fallenness, in our sinfulness, we do show some partiality. I like short guys. All right? You know? You know? So? Human decision has ignorance, it has bias. Now on the negative side of that, it has prejudice, doesn't it? I think try as we might, because of our fallen nature, we sometimes can't remove a sinful prejudice, an evil slanted biased, a selfish biased in our decision-making. And so I think we have a hard time imagining God making a decision without these. But remember, we're told in so many places that God is all-knowing, that God is all-wise. He is not ignorant. That God shows no bias. The Bible says He shows no partiality. And when it comes to prejudice, forbid it to be said that God has any prejudice. That God, in every choice that He makes, will be absolutely just in it. So think about this, everything you do know about God and is necessary for Him to be God, I ask this question, can God make right choices? Would you trust God to make a right choice? I may not trust you, and sometimes they don't trust me, I don't know what I'm doing, but can we trust God to make a right decision? I hope you just say, well, yeah, yeah, I mean, if God's gonna make a decision on something, if it's gonna be His will, I may not understand it, I may not like it, it may be very difficult, it may look evil, I don't, but He's always right. It's not gonna be evil, it's gonna be wise, and it's gonna be right. God can make a right decision. You know, we come into this, and because sometimes we don't make all the right decisions, You have a disagreement. The Bible gives us some wisdoms in Proverbs. It says, you know, because humans can't make sometimes the best decision, it says, casting lots causes contentions to cease. So you know what? Maybe we better flip for it. You know what? Maybe we better just go alphabetical order. I mean, there's 40 people here. I don't know whose their last names all are. If we go alphabetical order, then it won't be my decision. See how that works? Everybody goes, that sounds good. The Bible says that the lot cast into the lap. In other words, when they took their garments and they put in a stone, or in our thinking, a piece of paper with everybody's name written on it, and you draw out. See who goes first? You draw it out. The Bible says they cast a lot in a lap, and it's every decision is from the Lord. It ain't my decision. We'll throw them all in and we'll draw them out. And we can recognize, well, that's God's will. He's the one that is behind us. The Bible says that. God is behind many of these things that happen. We have to try to accept that. And the Bible says in another place, because sometimes our life is dependent upon decisions people make. The Bible says the king's heart. And we're talking about the ruler of a nation, we're talking about the manager of the company, the supervisor of your department, talking about the pastor of the church, the dad in the home, a leader. The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord. And like the rivers of water, he turns it wherever he wishes. And sometimes we are subject to the decisions people make, but even the Bible says that behind that, ultimately, God is in control of those things. And you can't separate that and just say, well, he made a decision, well, then what was God doing? Not paying attention? He can't do nothing about it? The Bible says that behind every decision, ultimately, behind every circumstance, behind all of these things, God is at work in his sovereignty. And we have to come to a place to just accept that, you know, the things that have happened, they're not by accident, and it's just not someone else making a decision. Ultimately, God is wise. God is righteous. And other things, God is also loving. Other things we could bring in on this. He'll make a right decision. He will. So I wanted to use that as an introduction to encourage us as we're looking at this difficult subject. To at least come to the place of a starting point where we say we know one I know one thing God will make righteous loving Sovereign decisions and I can accept that let's use our Bible reading here this morning for our Bible reading Let's do chapter 9 verses 14. Just short one through 18. This is the section we're gonna look at here and Then we have a little more of introduction to get us into these verses, but we're gonna read verses 14 chapter 9 of Romans verses 14 through 18 and Now what shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not. For He says to Moses, I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion. So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. For the scripture says to Pharaoh, for this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may show my power in you. and that my name may be declared in all the earth. Therefore, he has mercy on whom he wills, and whom he wills, he hardens." Let's ask a prayer of blessing before we begin our time in God's Word this morning. Father, we pray that your Holy Spirit would open our eyes and understanding to some of these... I don't know what that is. Sorry, we'll stop at that, but that was obviously the Lord telling us something here. Turn off all the microphones except this one, huh? Major malfunction here. So this one's back on now. All right. Still waiting on our new sound system, aren't we? And then it'll come and it'll have all its problems, I think. It looks okay? All right. Let's ask the Lord's blessing on the time in God's Word. Father, we thank you that you are in control of all things, and as we look into this difficult subject, we pray that your Holy Spirit would teach us, open our eyes, Lord, give us the understanding we need, and Lord, help us to remember to not ever come to a wrong conclusion about your work in our own personal lives and in the world. There's no unrighteousness with you. We may not fully understand all of the circumstances and issues in our life, but oh Lord, give us a childlike faith to trust in you and be dependent upon you. I pray you'd bless as we come to an understanding of Romans chapter nine here, in Jesus' name, amen. Okay, the first reason that we're discovering in chapters 9 through 11, because chapters 9 through 11 are defense of God's righteousness. And it's God's righteousness, His faithfulness, His Word and promises concerning Israel. And a big question out there is if... What about Israel and what God has promised them? And so chapters 9 through 11 give this explanation and the first reason to explain how God's Word has not failed even though Israel has rejected the gospel is that God never promised that every descendant of Abraham would be saved but only those whom he chose. Okay, and so the idea is how come the majority of Israel has rejected Jesus? They rejected Him and put Him on a cross. They've rejected Him after His resurrection. They rejected Him during Paul's preaching. They're rejecting Him even to this day. The majority of Jews, Israel as a nation, has rejected Jesus as Messiah. And God has rejected them, had their temple destroyed. And why is that? Has God's Word failed? Has His righteousness failed? Well, some suggest that God's election, I want to just cover some things about God's election. Some suggest that God's election is to a privileged position. Okay, the reason that God's election described here isn't just to a privileged position, I think, is because that's the problem. In verses 4 and 5, remember, their privileged position is listed there. And that's what the big problem is. They do have this privileged position, but how come it's taken no effect? If they have all of these privileges, then why don't they all believe? I mean, haven't we all at some point said, I just can't believe a Jew practicing during Jesus' day or even today just doesn't go through that Old Testament and then read a little in the New Testament and it all just ought to click and fall in place. How can they be blinded? How can they not understand? Well, because God's election is not just a privileged position. They have that. That's the problem. Well, some suggest that God's election is of the nation of Israel and not as of individuals. And that's the main interpretation. I think that's one of the best interpretations of this passage. is they say, well, it's not talking about individuals, but when it says in verse 13, Jacob I have loved and Esau, it's not talking about Jacob as an individual or Esau as a person, but talking about the nations that came from those two men. God obviously blessed the nation of Israel as the descendants of Jacob, but He has not chosen to bless the descendants of Esau. In fact, Esau has been rejected and there are no Edomites any longer. They've been dispersed and there's no nation of Edom anymore. All of Esau's descendants are gone. And so they just see it as a national election. It's certainly true that God has chosen Israel for a special privilege and a special place above all the other nations. It's certainly true. But this is saying something more than that. Isaac and Jacob, I believe in this passage, are presented as individuals. I think that's the point of this passage. Isaac is an individual. And even God explained that the two children were in the womb. They're each individuals. And to make the point that salvation has always been of individuals. That's the point being made. in verse 6, for they are not all of Israel who are of Israel. The point is that it's not a national salvation. They're not all saved. They're not all the true Israel. They're not all truly the children of God. Some of the descendants of Abraham are not the children of God. So I don't think that it's God's election to the national election of Israel. Some in Christianity would believe that God's election is of individuals. I believe that. And verse 7, I think, and verse 11 and 12 make this point. It's speaking about Isaac, speaking about Jacob over Esau. God declared His choice, especially between Jacob and Esau, of which son would receive the promise. It was contrary to the natural birth, prior to any personal response, apart from self-effort, or beyond human expectation. And so in covering this, I believe Romans 9 is teaching that God's election of His individuals. The purpose of chapter 9 is to demonstrate that God's Word has not failed. And that His promise of salvation to Israel has not failed. Because they're not of all of Israel who are Israel. That's why Apostle Paul starts off with that. Well, God's Word hasn't failed. They're not all Israel of Israel. That's in verse 6. In other words, not all the elect Israel are the elect of Israel. Israel is an elect nation, but that doesn't mean every individual in the nation is the elect of Israel. In fact, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, you see that in verse 11, God has a purpose in His election. That what is that purpose? Well, we're gonna learn more of it as we go through chapters 9 and 10, but I'll say this, according to this context, here's part of that purpose. It means that God has always made a distinction between the descendants of Abraham by choosing a remnant of individuals from the whole of the nation to be the children of God. That's his purpose according to election. God didn't say automatically every descendant of Abraham would be a child of God, but that God himself would choose which descendants of Abraham would be children of God. And it would always be a remnant, the small leftover part that you wouldn't consider to be of importance. Let's turn to Romans 11. We're gonna get there eventually, but that's what Romans 11, one through five, kinda confirms for us. Paul says, I say then, has God cast away his people? Certainly not, for I am also an Israelite of the seed of Abraham of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not cast away his people, whom he foreknew. Or do you not know what the scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel, saying, the Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars, and I alone am left, they seek my life. But what does the divine response say to him? I have reserved for myself 7,000 men who have not bowed the knee to Baal. Verse five, even so then at this present time, there is a remnant according to the election of grace. This is what these chapters are, especially chapter nine is teaching us. So when we hear that, We come to a question that is presented in verse 14. Because if you say, well, what are you saying, pastor, that only the people whom God chose are saved, and that salvation is dependent upon God's election, apart from anything that the person has done, that God just chooses, what about the people he doesn't choose? They perish. That's what I believe Romans 9, 6 through 13 is teaching. God says that in verse 8, that is, those who are the children of flesh, these are not the children of God, but the children of promise are counted as seed. And so the question is, if you're really impacted with this, the natural question everybody asks is in verse 14. What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? We ask that question because we come to the place where we say, it's not right for God to elect individuals apart from their actions. That just doesn't seem fair. He does it before they're born. He does it before they've done anything. It's not right for God to do that. I have a hard time with that. And the other thing we might say is, well, it's not right for God to elect some to be saved and leave others to be lost. What, it just don't seem right. And then another question we might ask is why doesn't God just elect everyone then? Why won't he choose all of my children? Why won't he choose everyone I know? Why won't he just choose everyone in the world so that no one's lost? The Bible doesn't give the answer for all of these questions. But those questions cause a person, a human being, you and I, to sometimes question God and ask this very question. And the reason this question is in right here in verse 14 is because this is saying what we kind of think it says, that we'd rather dance around, that we'd rather gloss over, that we'd rather sometimes not even talk about. because it causes us into this conflict, this difficult place where we say, that just don't sound right. I just have a hard time understanding how God could do that. It makes him a monster of choice, and he doesn't care what people believe. It brings us to sometimes wrong conclusions. I think the wrestling with it might be right, But God gives us an answer. Verse 14, what shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? And what's the answer right off the bat that we ought to just say to that? Absolutely not. And that's why I began the message the way I did. I think we ought to come to a conclusion and say, well, I know one thing. God is not unrighteous. God makes right decisions. So I can't go there. I can't challenge this understanding in that area. God is not unrighteous. One should never make such an abhorrent conclusion about God. The answer lies somewhere else. And this is what Paul's getting ready to explain to us. People begin to criticize God for excluding anyone. But when we start to think that way, then we've based our understanding of God and His salvation on the wrong premise. We think that God ought to save everyone, and everyone deserves to be saved. But if you've done your Bible study, you start to realize here's the starting point. None of us deserve to be saved. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. And so salvation itself is the very act of God's grace. So we see here what Paul's explained to us, there's two verses. And remember, he's defending the word of God. So the word of God fell, we saw four verses and two illustrations. What we're gonna see is two illustrations and two verses today. Two verses that are given to prove that God, of God's righteousness in his election. So let's look at the first verse, verse 15. For he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion. Does everybody remember when God said that? Anybody here? Now, we're gonna turn back in Exodus and look at the second verse, but we're not gonna turn back in this one. I'm gonna rely upon our Bible knowledge. And when you're into Romans 9, There there is a necessity to do some Bible study before you get to this this passage to be honest with you And you know, we can't go back and spend weeks in Exodus to bring us up to this So I'm sorry if some people don't fully grasp this because they've not done some study in in in Exodus about this this passage and all and it's just an encouragement. We're all just learning We're all learning and growing in this and so the old the New Testament often quotes the Old Testament That's why we continue to learn it. But this is Quote, this verse is taking from the time when Moses led the children of Israel out of Egypt, and they came to Mount Sinai, and God was going to give them the Ten Commandments, and all the people said, yes, we will covenant ourselves to this. We agree conditionally to obey God in every commandment He gives. He's the God and everything He says, we will do. And if we don't do it, we'll perish because He's God. He has a right to give us commandments. He'll give the commandments and we agree to do them. That was at Mount Sinai. Then what happened when God gave the Ten Commandments? What did Moses do? He was called up onto the Mount Sinai and how long was he up there for? Forty days. And at that time, remember, it says the finger of God. I don't think it took 40 days to write. I think it was a time of testing for the nation. Moses was up there in the presence of God praying. Maybe toward the end, in our understanding, the finger of God wrote in stone the Ten Commandments. They're unbreakable. They're God's commandments written in stone. Now what were the children of Israel doing down at the bottom of the mountain while Moses went up for this long, long 40 days? They were making the golden calf. Remember they said, hey, where's this Moses? They started questioning, they had always been doubting God. They're not that righteous, all right? You start to learn that. Already they're questioning God. They're questioning Moses. Where is he? Maybe he's never coming back. We need to get to the promised land. We don't even know who he is. Make us a God. And so they tell Aaron, Moses' brother, sort of second in charge, to make us a God that'll lead us into the promised land. And so Aaron goes along with it. And it's hard to believe, but he goes along with it. He's the leader of it. And he tells them, break off your earrings, take the gold jewelry you have, and let's put it in a pot. And he makes a golden calf and he sets it before the nation. He says, this is the God who's brought you out of the land of Egypt and will bring you into the land of promise. And they commit idolatry. And it says they sat down to eat and they rose up to play. And as they worship that calf, they didn't do it the way God said. Ten commandments are out the window. And we can imagine all kind of debauchery. All kinds of frivolity. They worshiped the golden calf the way they thought and the way they wanted to worship God. They had a good time at it. And remember what's happening after God writes the Ten Commandments. Moses has these in stone. He's getting ready to walk down and what does God say to Moses? Hurry up and get down there for this people have already disobeyed me. I think they broke all 10 of them. Now I want to say something. They heard the 10 before Moses brought him down. God spoke him. Moses went up to have them written and they broke all 10 of them. And primarily they committed idolatry against God. They were already turned away from God who had delivered them and turned and made for themselves their own God in their own image. You know, this calf has a picture of power to them and he would deliver. They commit idolatry against God. And Moses says, or excuse me, God says, I'm going to wipe them all out. They have broken my law. They have sinned against me and they deserve Punishment, they're guilty as can be. Who would come and say, oh God, you ought to just let them off the hook. No, they're guilty, they're law breakers. Now Moses pled for them, but did he plead for them that way? Did he say, oh God, you know, be nice, just overlook it, just sweep it under the rug. How did Moses plead to God? What did he base his plea on to spare their lives? He said, you've made, what's that? His grace, he said, you've made a promise. You promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that their descendants would be led into a promised land and would be your people. And God did make that promise and he relented of the destruction of the whole nation. And at that point, they were all guilty and God would have been right to wipe them all out. So Moses goes down, you remember what he did? He broke the 10 commandments on the ground. And he gathered up the Levites. He said, who is on the Lord's side? And the Levites came to him. Do you remember how many died? Trivia question. How many of the Levites put to death of the children of Israel that day for the idolatry of the golden calf? The Bible says 3,000. 3,000 were struck down that day by the Levites. They girded their sword on their belt and they went throughout the camp. The Bible doesn't say how they decided who to slay. I presume, first of all, they slew the ones who fought back. We don't want it, we don't care about it. Slayed. We don't know, but the Bible says 3,000 of them were put to death for that sin, a rebellion against God. Then Moses says, please forgive us, lead us into the promised land. You gotta go with us. And when he's interceding and praying and he's God's man there, Moses says, remember, show me your glory. Your glory needs to come with us. And he's crying out for this personal expression and relationship with God that everybody cries out for. Show me your glory. And when people do that, they a lot of times want God to show them their glory this way. Show me your glory, God. Make the money come down from heaven. Make me be right. Make me win this race. Make me victorious. Make me the smartest person here. And that is one way God could show his glory. You're God's man and you showed this great power and this great victory. When Moses said, show me your glory, how did God choose to do that? He said to him, I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion. That's what he said. And then he took Moses and put him into the Cleft of the rock, a little tiny place. And he said, I'll pass over you and you can literally see my glory, but no one can see all of me. And he just saw the backside, this shining brightness, overwhelming. And Moses is just in a little cleft of the rock. Not all of us can get there literally, but by putting us in a cleft in a rock is just being into Jesus. Jesus is like that cleft of the rock. Jesus is the one we hide in so that when God's glory passes over, we're not good enough to stand before God. I reckon if I stood before him, I'd perish because of my sinfulness. I'm just a lowly man. I'm not worthy to stand before God. I fall down. But God says, you can in the cleft of the rock. In Christ, we see that. And here's what Jesus, here's the salvation God shows his glory in. I will have mercy on whomever I'll have mercy, and I'll have compassion on whomever I will have compassion. See, all of Israel deserve to be judged because they worship the golden calf, but God spared them. And God's righteousness is in his right to show his glory. by freely bestowing mercy upon whomever he chooses. That's what he's telling Moses. You wanna see my glory? I will have mercy on whomever I have mercy and compassion on whomever I have compassion. It's wrong for us to say, oh Lord, show me your glory, give me the money, give me the healing. And he says, I showed you my glory when Jesus died on the cross and I saved your soul. Isn't that good enough for us? Just to be in a cleft of the rock and let it pass over? That's where the real glory of God being seen is. The fact that God has a right to choose who He's going to save. You know, when the Levites went through the nation and slew 3,000 by the sword, wonder where Aaron was then. 3,000 put to death for that. Wasn't Aaron the leader? Isn't he the one that came up with the idea to make the golden calf? Why wasn't he put to death? He stepped back and some of the Israelites are there, hey, I worship the golden calf during that moment. But here come, and I wasn't put to death. God spared who he chose to spare. And God says his glory is in his right to show mercy on whomever he freely wants to show mercy to. See, in this passage here, In verse 16 he says, so then it is not of him who wills nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. God's saving mercy is not necessitated upon by man's wanting it or expecting it, nor is God's mercy dependent upon man's seeking it or deserving it, but it is given because of God's own free choice to bestow it upon whomever he wills. That's the glory of God. to step back and say, you know what? I don't understand why God would save me. I am so undeserving. I can never do anything to make up for it. Well, I believe, but you think I'm gonna brag about that? No. God, what a glorious God, if you save my soul, to save me from hell, to let me live. That's what God says he has a right in his righteousness to show his glory in, to have mercy on whomever he will have mercy and to have compassion on whomever he will have compassion. Can you accept that, brother and sister? That's what the Bible says. It's not of him who wills nor of him who runs. It's not of your own volition or efforts, but it's of God who shows mercy. That's the first illustration. Now the second illustration in the second scripture is related to the first. And I think the Holy Spirit intentionally uses Pharaoh because he's going to see the relationship. And right off the bat I'm going to say this, what made the Israelites worthy to be saved out of Egypt? I mean, did God look down, and he did, he just looked down and thought, man, it's just so unfair, those Israelites, they're such good people, all of them, they're just such good people, and these Egyptians, they're so bad, and I can't believe they enslaved these Israelites. I gotta do something, I got to, I got to. And so he delivered the Israelites out of Egypt. You don't believe that, do you? This is not what the Bible teaches. The Bible teaches that there's nothing in the worthiness of the Israelites God chose Abraham. He chose Isaac. He chose Jacob. He chose the descendants. He chose the nation. And God's deliverance of the nation of Israel is because they are an elect nation. Because God did choose to do something through the descendants of Abraham. And so God did a work not because Israel was deserving, but because He's showing His salvation power to people who are so undeserving. And He's going to show His great glory by showing mercy on whom He will show mercy, and compassion on whom He will show compassion, even down to the individual. But this flip side is that God also shows judgment. God also will show wrath. God will also receive glory in His righteous judgment. So there's purpose. I have raised you up now. Here's where we will go back to the exodus now hold your finger here Because we're going to come back, but go back to exodus and let's start in Chapter 4 Exodus Chapter 4 So let's start at this point. The Israelites didn't deserve it, but God showed mercy and compassion on them. He's fulfilling promises he made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Okay, what about Pharaoh? Pharaoh, we know didn't deserve it. Okay, because he's an unbeliever and he's rejecting God, but why is that? You have to start off with the idea that what's really the difference between the Israelites and the Egyptians? What's the difference between Moses and Pharaoh? What really is the difference? Is it that Moses was good and the Israelites were believers and the Egyptians weren't, Pharaoh was evil? What really was the difference? They're both fallen, evil, wicked, rebellious, undeserving, both are. The difference was God made a promise unto Abraham And then God has also a purpose for the Egyptians. What we're looking at here is that God hardened Pharaoh's heart because it is his right. This is why God is righteous, because he hardened Pharaoh's heart to show his glory through the judgment of the wicked. God is glorified in that. Exodus 4.21. This is at the very beginning. This is at the burning bush. This is when Moses is called to deliver the children of Israel out of Egypt. And in verses 421, he says this, and the Lord said to Moses, when you go back to Egypt, see that you do all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I have put in your hand, but I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go. There are verses we're gonna look at where Pharaoh hardened his own heart. But let's look at the chronology of this. Which came first? That's the big issue. Some people that wanna continue to cling to free will first will say, well Moses hardened his heart first, then God did something in response to that. But I just want you to see chronologically speaking, this is something that God tells Moses before he even goes and talks to Pharaoh. God knows this. Preemptively and he tells Moses. I'm gonna harden his heart now as we go through this. We're gonna see why God does this Go now to chapter 7 chapter 7 verse 3 By the way, this is after Moses shows up he comes into the court. He said let my people go and And how do you think Pharaoh responded? Get out of here, ain't letting nobody go. In fact, he tells the command for the taskmasters to take away the straw, double the order of brick, or maintain the order of brick, but take away the straw, make the Israelites work harder, press them further, enslave them more, abuse them more. He doubles down right then. And at that point, Moses is wrestling with it, the people are saying, what, did you come here to make it worse on us and so forth? Before the confrontation of the plagues and everything, God says the second time here in Exodus 7 verse 3, and I will harden Pharaoh's heart and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt. But Pharaoh will not heed you so that I may lay my hand on Egypt and bring my armies and my people, the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord when I stretch out my hand on Egypt and bring out the children of Israel from among them. God has a purpose in hardening Pharaoh's heart. He's going to show his judgment on the nation of Egypt and on Pharaoh. Now go to verse 13 of chapter 7. The rods that come down and turn to the serpents, right? And the magicians match that, and their rod turned to a serpent, and what did the serpent of Aaron do? Or Moses' rod that turned to a serpent, what did it do to the magician's serpents? It ate them. And Pharaoh saw this, and it says in verse 13, and Pharaoh's heart grew hard. And he did not heed them, as the Lord had said. He wasn't too impressed. And the idea is, we're still not talking about Pharaoh hardening his own heart. If you have the numerical standard, it comes out a little clearer. And Pharaoh's heart was hardened. It grew hard, not of his own volition, but what God was doing to Pharaoh in this. Now you go to verse 22 of chapter 7. You have the water being turned into blood. Remember that? The water turned into blood. And also, the magicians, they matched this miracle. They could do the same demonic magic. And in 7 verse 13, I just read that one, didn't I? It's 22, excuse me, 22. That's the next one. Then the magicians of Egypt did so with their enchantments and Pharaoh's heart grew hard. It was hardened and he did not heed them. As the Lord had said, the Lord said he won't. Don't worry, he ain't gonna listen to you. Then we go down to chapter 8 verse 15. Chapter 8, verse 15, if you have a heading, do you see that over chapter 8, verse 1? The frogs came. Then the second plague was, the first plague was the water to blood. The second plague was frogs came all over the land. Everywhere. And the magicians, they matched those frogs. But what God did that the magicians couldn't do is He caused the frogs to go away. Pharaoh said, oh, I give in. We'll get to that in a moment. Take the frogs away. So God, Moses prayed to God and the frogs were removed. After Pharaoh saw the frogs removed, in verse 15, when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart and did not heed them as the Lord had said. Yeah, certainly, Pharaoh was also hardening his own heart in response to this. Then you go to verse 19, so we're on the third plague. The lice are possibly mosquitoes or gnats. The word can be used for all of those. Look what the magicians say to him. The magicians said to Pharaoh, they couldn't match this one. They said, this is the finger of God. You better get out of this. You better give in. You better give in. That's what they're telling Pharaoh. But Pharaoh's heart grew hard. It was hardened by God there. That's not his own volition. It was hardened and he did not heed them just as the Lord had said. Now go down to verse 32. This is the flies that came afterwards. Look at your headings. It's verse 20, it's the fourth plague, plague of flies. Afterwards, just to shorten it up here, verse 32, Pharaoh hardened his heart at this time. Also, neither would he let the people go. We have an instance of Pharaoh hardening his own heart. Now, which do we have more of? We have more instances of God saying, I'm hardening Pharaoh's heart. Yeah, we have a couple times of Pharaoh responding in this. Now go to chapter nine, verse seven. The fifth plague, the livestock destroyed, chapter nine, verse seven. All the livestock, Didn't it say in verse 6, all the livestock of Egypt died, the livestock of the children of Israel, not one died. Then Pharaoh sent, indeed not even one of the livestock of Israel was dead, but the heart of Pharaoh became hard. Again, God hardened his heart and he did not let the people go. Look, we're going through this because now we're going to come to the sixth plague. The sixth plague, look at verse 12, we're working through this, be patient, boils, Look at verse 11, the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the bulls. For the bulls were on the magicians and on all the Egyptians, but the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he did not heed them, just as the Lord had spoken to Moses. Then the plague of hail, okay? Now we're all together on chapter nine, verse 13. It's the seventh plague. And God says something a little different here. Look at verse 13. Then the Lord said to Moses, rise early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh and say to him, thus says the Lord God of the Hebrews, let my people go that they may serve me, for at this time I will send all my plagues to your very heart. This is gonna affect you personally. and on your servants and on all your people, that you may know that there is none like me in earth. He says this, look at verse 15. Now if I had stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, then you would have been cut off from the earth. God is saying, you know what? I could have done it in the first plague. I could have just snapped my fingers and sent a pestilence and all the Egyptians just would have killed over and the Israelites would have stood up and said, they're all dead, let's go. God says, I could have struck you down with the very first plague. Do you believe God could strike a man down at any moment? Do you believe all our lives are really dependent upon God? And you think about the wicked. You think about your own life before you were saved. Could God just have struck you down at any moment? Would you have deserved that? Well, that's not fair. God at least deserves 70. No, he's got that power. And that's what he's saying here. He goes, if I had stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, then you would have been cut off from the earth from the very get go. There's a reason God is prolonging, stretching this thing out. Verse 16, this is where our quote is. This is our quote in Romans. But indeed for this purpose I have raised you up that I may show my power in you and that my name may be declared in all the earth. Tell me how is God being glorified in the Egyptians? What is he doing very uniquely and especially with the Egyptians to show his glory and power? What is he showing? Well, they're still alive, I know, but why has he kept them alive to show them all this? To show his judgment. I mean, you and I read these and you're saying, you know, the Egyptians are the most powerful people. Look what he can do. He spoiled their own idols and gods. He spoiled Pharaoh. He sent plagues upon him. God has power and judgment over people. You don't mess with God. There's a glory in that judgment. Any time God can just strike a man or a woman down. And when you step back and the Bible says that a calamity that falls upon a city, it's not an accident. God is the one ultimately behind all of these things. And there's a power of God at work. It's kind of a general judgment, sometimes a very specific judgment. And I ask you, if you're here today, has God done something in your life where you step back and you said, you know what? He could have struck me down. I better pay attention. You and I can see the glory of God in His judgment. There's a glory there. And God says He has used Pharaoh and the nation of Egypt to demonstrate His glory in judgment. See, we have both. In Israel, He did it to show His compassion. I like that. But He also showed His glory and judgment upon Pharaoh in Egypt. I don't like that so much, but I do need to understand it. Now, seeing that there, that's our quote. So that brings us to the end. Now, I don't need you to hold it here. I'm just gonna reference here and go by your memory. Let's go back to Romans. See, what we did there is we demonstrated what was going on in Pharaoh's life. God initially hardened Pharaoh. Yes, Pharaoh was also responsible. He reacted to things. He hardened his own heart. But God said that he had a purpose, and to harden Pharaoh's heart. And which one comes before the other, where there's some compatibility, they work together. But I think the point of this passage is God is the one that hardened Pharaoh's heart. And he had a purpose behind it. And I think we saw that as we went through Exodus. Paul is using that verse in this way to say that God has shown his glory by hardening hearts. Now, as soon as I say it, let's finish up this point here that he's making in verse 17. by asking this simple question. Why didn't Pharaoh give in? I think his magicians told him to give in. I think at some point the people said, you know, because if people were willing to give in, and in fact, at the very end, at the, what, is this 10 plagues? What was the last plague? Death of the firstborn son. Can you imagine, right? That was the worst of Pharaoh lost his son. Not a person in Egypt didn't lose a loved one then. And Pharaoh said, at that point, he said, okay, you can go. And all the people said, get out, you can go, get out of here, we're done. You've beat us. They gave in. But God wasn't done yet. And he led the children out of Israel and he led them to the Red Sea. And the Bible says in three places, now you can look this up, we're running out of time, but the verses are there in 14, one through four in verse, Verses 13 and verses 18 the Bible specifically says that God hardened Pharaoh's heart And he caused him to gather up his army and to go and chase those Israelites and God said he did it for the purpose that he wanted to destroy Pharaoh in Egypt. He showed that he destroys the power of sin, destroys the power of the world, destroys the power of the devil, destroys the power of evil. God, when he saves a person, he also destroys the evil. And that's what God is showing. And God hardened Pharaoh's heart and brought him out to the Red Sea, and we know the rest of it, right? The Red Sea parted, the Israelites went through on dry ground, And the Egyptians chased them into the Red Sea, and what happened? Crash. They all perished. And the Bible says God did that. That's the point of this. God did that to show His glory and judgment. You don't mess with God. Are you fearful of God's judgment today? If you're here today and you realize, you know what, God could strike me down at any moment, and if He did, I think I would go to hell. I would perish. Then you need a Savior, right? And Jesus has come to save and you cry out, say, Lord, save me. I realize you could throw me into hell today and I deserve it. Save me. Jesus died to take my place and to take that penalty and shed his blood and I believe in him and he rose up. Jesus, save me. That's the salvation. And the command goes out for all of us to repent, believe this. But look at the conclusion here though. Let's not forget that in verse 18. This is the conclusion of this section here, this point. Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens. God, ready for this? God is not obligated to save anyone. That Bible clearly teaches that. Do you agree with that? Christians ought to believe that. God is not obligated to save anyone. In fact, the Bible says here, He hardens sinners for His purpose. I don't have time to get into it all, but there are other instances where he hardened other peoples. The Bible flat out says he hardened their hearts. Let me give you one instance. Here's the one here. Remember Eli and his sons? The prophet Eli had the two wicked sons. Now, trivia got me. I don't remember their names. And remember, they abused the women. They abused their position. They stole from the offerings. They were wicked men. And Eli went to him and said, sons, you need to repent. It's not right for what you're doing. Why wouldn't they repent? The Bible says, nevertheless, they did not heed the voice of their father because the Lord desired to kill them. God is not obligated to save anyone. In fact, he hardens sinners for his purposes. It says, and of whom he wills, he hardens. But the beginning of that verse says, therefore, as mercy on whom he wills, God is not obligated to save anyone but, but, except. There's an exception. He will save whoever He freely chooses. And that's the point being made. None of the Israelites deserved to be saved, but God chose to save them because He made promises. And so he has mercy on whom he wills, and whom he wills, he hardens. And we come to this place and we start to say, well, Lord, I've believed you, and I start to recognize in my salvation. You know, when I came to God, you're like me. You responded to an invitation. You responded to a call. Believe on the Lord Jesus. And on one side of the door, an entrance into salvation, or a said entrance into the church, or into heaven, on the outside it says, all who wills may come. The invitation's open, anyone who believes may enter in. And you responded and you entered into that. He said, I believe, it's true, and you entered in. But after you got in, you turned around on the other side of that door. And the Bible says that's whosoever he chose. So this is what we start to realize in our salvation. Brother and sister, if you're here this morning and you understand this great truth, you know what Lamentations 3, 22 through 23 says? Remember the prophet Jeremiah, after God had destroyed Jerusalem and all the land, and they deserved it. And the prophet Jeremiah went through there and he realized not all the Israelites were destroyed. He was still alive. God had a future plan. He says, through the Lord's mercies, we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are anew every morning. Great is thy faithfulness. We stand because God shows mercy on whom he shows mercy and compassion on who he shows compassion. Let's stand as we have it together.