AS we continue to study these verses and grapple with the teaching, we have to come to these verses in the right spirit. In the previous sermon we sought to understand that God has every right to have mercy on whom he wishes to have mercy, and that he does not act unjustly in so doing. We find it so difficult to appreciate that in strict justice all anyone deserves from God is to be judged and sent to hell. The reason for this is that we are rebels from birth and sin against God all the time, and fall short of his glory in all things. We look on our actions and believe that many of them deserve approbation from God, and so deserve reward. We just can't accept or believe that even these acts which seem good to us fall so far short of God's glory that they are simply glorified sins. That God sovereignly shows mercy to some must be a source of endless praise to God, that he found a way that he could justly have mercy. Our praise increases to the degree that we appreciate the greatness of the cost that made such mercy possible.

We may have come now to accept that God's mercy is to be praised, and we accept God's right to show mercy to whom he will, but what about the further assertion made by the apostle that God hardens those he will. Here is a much more difficult statement of truth, which all of us struggle with, and many simply deny and contradict. The problem is not that some people are hardened against God but that God is stated as the one who acts to harden people against himself. The problem is made worse because for those who are thus hardened against God this means that they are condemned and judged for their hardened rebellion against God, and are condemned to everlasting torment.

BOWING BEFORE SCRIPTURE.

How are we to face this problem? The first thing we have to face and accept is exactly what is being stated. The general attitude of those who rebel against this teaching of Paul is to in some way water down what is being said, and dilute it in such away that we take away the offence. In other words we apply human wisdom to the problem, and adjust the statement to make it acceptable. This will not do for if we criticise Paul here we have opened the door to the taking away all the authority of the Bible. We may say that we leave most of the Bible and accept it without criticism, but the fact that we have criticised parts of the Bible means that doubt is cast on the whole. Anyone can then come to the Bible and say he or she can't accept some of its teaching, and we have no authority, because of our own criticism, to say these other people are wrong in their denials.

The fact is that the statement of Scripture is that “he hardens whom he wants to harden.” If we then relate to this statement and avoid its message by saying that Paul is mistaken, and that here he is just expressing a personal opinion which was wrong, we are undermining the authority of the word of God. Firstly, by such criticism of Paul's teaching we are undermining all his teaching. If Paul is wrong here he can be wrong elsewhere, and so we really can't trust anything that he says. But we may argue that we are meant to use our own wisdom to determine what is true and what is not. This simply makes things worse because we are exalting our wisdom over Paul and the Bible, and so the final authority is our own fallible and sinful human mind and nature.

The fact is that Paul, like all the writers of the New Testament, and indeed the whole Bible, wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. They were men who spoke as they were carried along by the Spirit of God. God was in them to insure that they expressed the true revelation he had given them so that they expressed his truth and error did not creep in. This is the claim the Bible makes for itself. This is the promise Jesus gave to his disciples in John 16:13. “But when he, the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you in all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.” Paul was speaking under the inspiration and direction of the Holy Spirit. He was speaking the truth of God given to him. What he teaches is the truth of God and so can't be questioned. The truth is that God acts not only in showing mercy sovereignly to some, but acts to harden others according to his will alone.

Paul is not just content to declare this truth. Paul also brings Scripture to bear upon the truth he expresses here. Paul shows that he is not expressing his own opinion but expressing the truth of God by quoting from the inspired Scriptures, showing thereby that his teaching is not new, but teaching that is taught throughout the Bible. The Scripture he uses is the account of God's action with regard to Pharaoh who was ruler in Egypt at the time when the people of Israel were in captivity there.

Paul quotes from Exodus 9:16. God spoke to Pharaoh through Moses who told him that God was using him to demonstrate his power. Through Moses God told Pharaoh that he was totally in the power of God, and he could not fight God, and that his fighting ineffectually against God by refusing to let the people of Israel go, he was following the will and purpose of God. Moses was told by the Lord that he, the Lord, would harden Pharaoh's heart when Moses was sent to speak to Pharaoh. This we read in Exodus 7:3.

We should read through this history from Exodus 7 to 12, and face exactly what is being said. This is the inspired word of God. It is the infallible word of God. It tells us that God acted to harden Pharaoh's heart. This teaching concerning the sovereignty of God is found throughout the whole Bible. Paul is simply speaking the truth that God has revealed of himself and his dealings with mankind from the time of Adam.

If we are true Christians we accept this for it is the revelation of God. We have no right to question God. We come as a little child to the Scriptures and receive what is revealed to us. What we need to do is to understand properly what is revealed to us in these Scriptures.

UNDERSTANDING THE REVELATION.

We are distinctly told that God hardened Pharaoh's heart, but this is all that we are told. When we read the historical account of the plagues which God visited on Pharaoh and Egypt, we find that we are told also that Pharaoh hardened his heart. We need to understand what this is saying to us. Although God hardened Pharaoh's heart this did not destroy Pharaoh's right or ability to express his own will. Pharaoh followed his own desire and wishes by hardening his own heart and refusing to obey God. We find Pharaoh acknowledging that he had sinned and asking Moses to pray to God for him. By this he knew he was acting in a sinful manner, and that God was speaking to him, but because in his heart he hated God he would not submit to God.

What then was the nature of the hardening which is spoken of here as coming from God. What we have to realise, and we have it plainly described in Pharaoh's actions, is that Pharaoh had a heart that was in rebellion against God. His heart was sinful just as every human being's heart is sinful. God was not making Pharaoh a sinner in this hardening, nor tempting Pharaoh to sin. Instead God was rebuking Pharaoh's sin and making his sin and rebellion plain to him. Far from tempting Pharaoh to sin God was calling him to repent of his sin and change his ways. The fact was that Pharaoh loved his sin and hated God and his righteousness.

This is the condition of every human being as we are born into this world, and it has been ever since Adam sinned and disobeyed God, and chose Satan as his ruler, and placed us all under Satan's dominion. Human nature that was holy and perfect as God created Adam to be, now through Adam's sin had become corrupted and defiled. This was the condition of Pharaoh.

Because of this sinfulness of the human heart, from the time of Adam onward, God has drawn near to sinful mankind and set bounds, by his common grace, over the awful desires which emanate from our fallen human nature. If God had not done this and had not continued to do this all down history, the sin and evil in human nature would have made our world a hell on earth. This hardening of Pharaoh was God withdrawing his restraining grace, and allowing the sinfulness of Pharaoh's heart to have freedom to express the sin that was in it. God gave Pharaoh the freedom to express what was in his heart without any hinderance.

The hardening can be also seen in the aggravation the direct command of God to him through Moses had on his sinful disposition. Immediately God's command to let Israel go was made known to Pharaoh, his heart and will rebelled against the authority of God. We see this sort of hardening all the time. As long as preaching is telling people things they want to hear, all is well. The heart remains dormant. But as soon as the will and purpose of God is declared directly and positively, the rebellion in the sinful human heart rebels. The law of God becomes for us a hardening.

Paul speaks of this in Romans 7. In verse 8 of this chapter we read “But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire.

Than there is an extension of the hardening which is caused by God withdrawing himself from Pharaoh and giving him freedom to sin, and this is when God hands a person over to Satan, so that Satan has freedom to exert his power and dominion over Pharaoh.

Why did God exert this hardening one Pharaoh. It did not alter his eternal destiny in anyway. He was already without God in the world, so why did God do it. Paul tells us that it was to make his power known, to display his power, and the reason for this was that God wanted his Name to be proclaimed in all the earth. God was giving a revelation of himself, that he is the one and only true God and creator, sovereign over earth and heaven. This revelation has been handed down in the Bible for all time. People have the record in the Bible so that they can see who God is and his total power and will over mankind. God has given a revelation of himself for all to read, and if they will, to turn to him and be saved.

As far as the immediate situation was concerned God was making his power known for the blessing of his people Israel. The world heard about what God did to Pharaoh. This history preceeded the children of Israel, so that even before they had reached the boundaries of the promised land, the power of God had already caused fear in the hearts and minds of the people who were occupying the promised land, and they trembled at the advance of Israel. So God aided his people in their task of possessing the promised land by making his glory known in this way.

CONCLUSION.

So Paul teaches us that God is sovereign in all things and he works all according to the counsel of his will, and none can say him nay. Our salvation is in his hands because he has mercy on whom he will have mercy, and thanks be to God for this, because if God was not pleased to show mercy to those he shows mercy, nobody would be saved because we are all dead in trespasses and sins, and have no desire of our own to receive him as our God and king.