Gooding, David: 6 - Abraham & Israel

In this morning, shall we, by reading from the Epistles of the Romans, chapter eleven. Epistles of the Romans, chapter eleven, and verse thirty three. Oh, the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God. How unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past tracing out. For who hath known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor, or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of him and through him and unto him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen. In our two sessions this morning, we have now to deal with chapters nine, ten, and eleven of the Epistle to the Romans. They are, by common consent, some of the most difficult passages, not only in Romans, but in the whole of the New Testament. So difficult are they, so, so thorny the problems that they raise, that over the centuries, as you will know, good and godly men and women have found themselves divided, often into very well marked camps, each labeled with their appropriate label. I trust that whatever conclusions we may come to individually, we shall not allow the study of this particular part of God's word to divide us, and that we retain that only label which Christians are allowed to have, and that is Christian. That we should not allow us it, uh, allow it to diminish our love and respect for one another. What I personally believe at this stage in my career on these chapters, I am about to say, of course. I say so with frankness, but I would like to point out I say it in my inmost heart, even if my exterior seems contrary. I say it with all deference to those who interpret these passages differently. Whatever our view, it is to be observed that when Paul thought of these matters and was inspired to write about them, when he came to the end of what God showed him, it bowed his heart in profound worship. The verses we have just read, coming from Paul's pen, are some of the most profound expressions of his worship and admiration of God that you will find in all Paul's writings. And it would seem to me that if, uh, the Lord helps us to study these chapters in the way we should, and to draw the conclusions from them that we should, the true effect upon us would be that we go away in profound worship of the Lord. And if instead of worship it produces other unhappy results, then somewhere along the line we may be sure we we we have misread the passage. Next, shall we notice that that aspect of God's character that moved Paul to worship here was his wisdom and his knowledge, not so much his love, though of course we shall meet the love of God in these chapters certainly. But whereas l- the love of God was the great high point at the climax of movement one, and also at the climax of movement two of this epistle, at the climax of movement three it is not so much the love of God, nor even the power of God, nor even the sovereignty of God, though all these things we shall need. It is the wisdom of God that ought to come through to our perception. And if we ponder for a moment what wisdom is, it is, is it not, amongst other things, not only knowledge, knowing certain matters, but that ability to choose and use the best possible means in order to attain desired ends. And what should come through in these chapters is the revelation of that quality about God, his supreme wisdom. He needs nobody to advise him how to do things. He needs no counselor to tell him what means are best to be used in any particular circumstance to attain a particular end. But in and of himself, in his wisdom, he knows how to choose and employ the right means to the desired end. And as you see in the, uh, last verse that precedes this outburst of worship, Paul is talking about precisely that, is he not? Eleven chapter thirty two. For God has shut up all unto disobedience, that he might have mercy upon all. The purpose, the end. And if you were God, and you proposed that end to yourself, that you might have mercy upon all, what means would you choose, and how would you go about it? Well, says Paul, this is what God has done as he surveys God's ways with Israel and then with the Gentiles, and subsequently God's, uh, ways to bring Israel back and to restore Israel so that all Israel shall be saved. And Paul contemplates the means God has chosen and the methods. He says, now look at that, isn't that magnificent? God has shut up all to unbelief in order that he might have mercy on all. Pray, what does that mean? And as usual in Paul, this word for unbelief is, uh, the word that means basically people do not believe the gospel. How has God shut up all to unbelief, and why ever would God shut up all to unbelief? So that all might be damned? No, so that he might have mercy on all. You will see, my brethren and sisters, no one will ever find salvation until he first discovers he is an unbeliever. Yeah? When you first meet the phrase and the idea sounds a bit odd. It is true. As you will perceive in the case of the man who wrote these very words. You say all his life long he was a believer. Surely he was. He believed in God. He was able to say before his judges on one occasion, for all my life through I serve God with a good conscience. Does that mean he was a believer all the way through? And just changed an odd opinion here and there? Well, it didn't, no. The proud Pharisee, who, if you had said to him in his unconverted days, Saul of Tarsus, you are a downright unbeliever in God, he would have, uh, well, you wouldn't have dared say it because you'd have been in prison. But, uh, told me on the Damascus road he discovered that he was an unbeliever and an unbeliever in God. Who are you, Lord? And the voice came, I am Jesus. The Jesus who had been here on earth and whom Paul did not believe. For all his supposed belief in God, that Jesus was God incarnate, wasn't he? Paul had to discover the, to him, appalling fact that he was not, in the true and fundamental sense, a believer. Why did God move him to that position and shut him up, so to speak, until the man was obliged to see he was an unbeliever, in order that he might have mercy? For it is when people discover that though they have been religious hitherto, that they are in fact unbelievers, that then they start repenting and learn to believe the Savior. And what was true in Saul's particular, vividly true, is of course still true in Christendom. There are many people that, if you ask them, would say, yes, they're believers. Well, in some general sense, they're a believer in God, but they haven't got eternal life. Why not? Well, they're not yet believers. And if you were dealing with them, you would have to bring them to the point, wouldn't you, where they see that for all their supposed belief in God, they have never yet personally believed in the sense that the man or woman are justified by faith. Until they see that they haven't believed hitherto, they'll not get born again. They'll not get saved. And so, in order that he might have mercy on all, God will, so to speak, drive people up that cul-de-sac. He'll shut them up to the discovery that they are unbelievers, in order that when they so do, he might have mercy on them. It is God's wisdom, then, that we are going to think about, his wisdom in choosing means to attain the desired end. With that, we come to the, uh, uh, first of the three chapters, chapter nine, where Paul confesses to us his problem. I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience bearing witness, eh, with me in the Holy Ghost, that I have great sorrow and unceasing pain in my heart. The problem that caused him such incessant pain, the fact that the majority of his fellow nationals hitherto refused to believe the Savior. His sorrow doubtless caused in some part by that simple fact that they were his fellow nationals, and a special love for your fellow nationals is not necessarily a sin, is it? I mean, I've noticed that Irishmen like Irishmen even more than they like Englishmen, and I personally don't hold it, uh, a grievous sin in them necessarily all the time, you'll see. But in addition to that, I mean, if a fellow nationalist don't love you, who on earth will? But in addition to that, you'll see, there was a bigger reason for his sorrow, as he now tells us. Who are Israelites? Whose is the adoption and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the law and the service of God and the promises? Whose are the fathers and of whom is Christ as concerning the flesh, who is over all God, blessed forever. Amen. And this description is not by way of, of boasting or flattering his fellow nationals. It is to be taken exceedingly serious. What does this as- uh, description amount to? It amounts to a tremendous and hitherto, in the time of the Old Testament, a unique phenomenon in this world. Israel, as a nation, a very late comer among the nation. There were gigantic nations and vast empires before Israel ever had its birth. The nation started with Abraham, was some many centuries before it arrived at the point of nationhood. It was a comparatively late comer, uh, uh, among the nation. But it, as a nation, had this remarkable feature, verse four: whose is the adoption, meaning the placing as sons. Israel were sons of God, not in your modern sense of being born again, necessarily, but as God expressed it to Moses in Exodus, and Moses was told to go and tell Pharaoh, Israel is my firstborn son. And if you don't let my firstborn son go, I shall slay your son Pharaoh, your firstborn son. In what sense was Israel God's firstborn among the nations? Not obviously in the sense of the first to be born, but that nation to whom God had given a preeminent role, position, and responsibility and honor among the nations. In the centuries that was so, wasn't it? Though you will subsequently find God through Moses in Deuteronomy complaining about the perversity of the Israelites as his sons and daughters. Their rank then, firstborn. Their unique role, he now goes on to describe it. As the firstborn among the nations, Israel were given this supreme and almost incredible privilege, to whom was the glory. I wonder, ladies and gentlemen, do you really believe it in your hearts? The glory is not merely that they had a great reputation for being good scientists or something. It's nothing less than this, that when God brought them out of Egypt and they were in the wilderness, he con- instructed them to build a tabernacle, and the transcendent Lord God entered space and time. His feet came down, so to speak, and stood on Mount Sinai, and planet Earth wobbled in her course. Asked to bear a weight of glory that was almost insupportable for little planet Earth. And not only so, that transcendent glory, which is God himself, not only came down and stood on Mount Sinai, and Mount Sinai was all ablaze at the presence of her creator, but he came and deigned to dwell in that tabernacle that Moses built according to God's plan. I use that overused word, unique in its strict sense. There has never been any other nation like it. Ladies and gentlemen, it is to be taken seriously. There has never been a temple on earth outside Israel where the glory dwelled, in the sense it dwelled in the tabernacle and its successor temples. What you are now beginning to witness, as we saw yesterday, i- i- is the record of that enormous move forward in history. When God, for the sake of his purposes of redemption, chose out Israel for a peculiar function and role among the nation, marked by their given the rank of firstborn, marked also by the condescension of the living God who came to dwell literally among them. And, uh, following that, therefore, the covenants, the special relationship between God and Israel, the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises. And you will notice that for centuries, of course, Israel, very often in spite of her failures, became a unique witness in the ancient world. If you haven't done, do read some literature from other civilizations of the time and around. Israel became unique amongst the nations, one, for its concept of God. When all the other nations, without exception, were now by this time embroiled in the most stupid idolatries, Israel became a nation that proclaimed the one true God creator. They didn't invent the idea, of course, as we know, as you see from the fact that Israel herself were forever apostatizing from the idea and had to be dragged back to it by the roots of their hair, by sundry people like Isaiah and Jeremiah, not to speak of Ezekiel. They were given this self-revelation of God and stood unique amongst the nations for their concept of God. Stood unique amongst the nations because they had a temple, as Gentiles came to describe it, as the imageless temple. There was no image there. Extraordinary thing when Gentiles discovered it. And what a tremendous witness they were. We as Christians mustn't underestimate it. As late as the time of the Acts of the Apostles, you hear the story of an Ethiopian who had got fed up with his absurd idolatry in his own land and came to Jerusalem for to worship, for there there was a temple, an imageless temple. There they preached, in spite of all their sinfulness, the one true God, Creator. And the intelligent chancellor from Ethiopia came, attracted by that testimony, to worship that one God, and went back with another unique thing about Israel, a written revelation, the law, if you like, the giving of the law, Israel's standards of morality, higher than all else around them. That is not to say the other nations had no concept of morality. Of course they did. But Israel's concept is higher. And that aforesaid chancellor, when he was going back in his chariot, Philip found him going back with a copy of Isaiah in his hand, that unique book that we now call the Old Testament. God making himself known to Israel, and through Israel, a testimony to the Gentile world, to the true God and to his standards. And therefore, all the covenants that gave Israel her special and unique relationship with God, who, says verse five, are the fathers, starting from the patriarch Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and onwards, David and Solomon. They stood at the beginning of things, men to whom God gave a special revelation of himself. And at the end of the process, Christ, the Messiah, who is over all, blessed forever, amen. Here, of course, Israel as a nation had a privilege that even the English were not given. Born again, though some of them are, though rather too few. According to the fresh Messiah was an Israelite. This is the nation chosen of God, that they might be the physical vehicle for the birth into our world of the Messiah, who is God over all, blessed forevermore. Israel's role amongst the nation. I would like to ask you, therefore, at this stage, to pause and think a moment. What did God's choice of Abraham imply? What did God's choice of the nation imply? And what exactly are we talking about by the description here given us? Is Paul advancing the idea that in choosing Abram, God was choosing Abram to be saved, and thereby rejected all the rest of the world and passed them by and left them to be lost? But he's talking of no such thing, is he? Although God singled out Abram, you will remember that the record tells us that after Abram was called, God appeared to him, there was a priest around about the place. His name was Melchizedek. Was he saved or wasn't he? Hebrews makes the point he was far superior to Abram in many. In the record of Genesis, he's made like to the Son of God. He's a model that helps us to understand our Lord's high priesthood. If he wasn't saved, nobody was. He never became an Israelite. These privileges given to Israel were not his. Saved though, wasn't he? And what shall we say of that very pretty lady, the Queen of Sheba? Who came all those miles to hear the wisdom of Solomon. Who will rise up in the judgment and condemn sundry members of Israel. She lost. I want to submit to you that God's choice of Abram does not imply that in choosing him, he chose him for salvation and passed by all the other multitudes of millions in the worlds and left them in their sin to perish. It is not true. We are talking about Israel's special role as a nation. To be the witnesses to God. To be the witnesses and the vehicle to the bringing in of Messiah. To be the vessels of his self-revelation. And ultimately to be the vehicle in God's hand that in Abraham and his seed all the nations of the world shall be blessed. His vehicle to bring salvation to other. That being the case, therefore, it is a very grievous thing to Paul, naturally. Not merely that Israel murdered their Messiah, or a lot of them did, but now we're proving resistant to the offer of mercy and grace that Paul and the other Christians were commissioned to off- bring to them. They were now refusing to accept the Messiah and salvation in his name. That raises a very big problem for Paul, of course. Not only the natural one that he would wa- wish to see his fellow nationals converted, saved, but a problem in relation to the gospel. Because, as Paul has told us in chapter one of his epistle, the gospel is, of course, the thing witnessed to by the prophets in Holy Scripture. And the gospel is based on those promises given to Israel. Ah. And you can imagine the situation, can't you, perhaps when Paul was in prison. And of a night time, Felix or Festus, not having anything better to do, uh, thought they'd invite this very learned rabbi to for dinner, so they brought him up here to his cell and sat him at the table, and after they got to the dessert, you'll see, and uh, was sitting chewing a few olives, Felix or Festus would say, Paul, you know, um, a little embarrassing to have you here in prison, but uh, I hope you're not too uncomfortable about me that also. Uh, uh, what is this special religion you're starting, Paul? Um, well, he says, you see, I believe that this Jesus, uh, whom Pilate executed, you know, some years ago, believe he is the Messiah. Really, Paul, that is astonishing. Uh, what you mean by Messiah? Well, you see, and then the explanation should follow, wouldn't it? How God chose Abraham, and then he brought David and promised through David's seed and Abraham's seed to raise up the savior of the world. And this, this Jesus whom Pilate executed, do you know, fulfills those prophecies. And to him give all the prophets witness. Extraordinary, Paul. Can you prove to me? I mean, this, what do you call it? The, the law, the Torah, I see. Well, can you prove to me this Torah thing was written before Jesus was born? Mm-hmm. Yes, I see. Don't you Christians haven't fiddled the books a bit? No. Oh. And you say it's been fulfilled in Jesus? That's remarkable. Tell me a minute, Paul. Um, I mean, how many of the rabbis in Judah and Israel believe this that you say? I mean, suppose I took your Torah down to, to, to Annas or Titus or some of the other religious leaders down there, and, and, and said, is it true that your Torah, uh, witnesses that Jesus is the Messiah? How many of them would agree with you and say it is? Oh, Paul say, well, let me think now, um, hmm, hmm. Well, there's a Nicodemus. Oh, I see. He believes like you do, yeah. Yeah, who else is there? Uh, Jo- Joseph Bar Maffia. Well, he was a member of the senators and he wasn't rabbi, really, um. Oh. Hm. You a rabbi, Paul? Well, I was nearly one. Oh. Oh, I see. But would I be right in thinking that most of the experts in the Old Testament say that your interpretation isn't true, Paul? Well, that's what they say. Oh, I see. Well, have a few more olives, Paul. Yes, yes, yes. Now, it's been rather a nice weather recently, don't you think, Paul? How would you explain it? You'll see, if our gospel is built on that Old Testament and the promises made to Israel, and Israel was given this special role of witnessing to the Messiah, and Israel has gone and denied the Messiah. Even we as Gentiles can't cut loose from that and say, well, I can't help what Israel did, I still believe Jesus is the Messiah, because... if this great move of God to appoint Israel as the preparer for the way has gone wrong, and the purpose of God has been made of none effect and cancelled out. Well, if it's gone wrong at that stage, who could trust that the rest of it will go right? There must be found, therefore, some answer to this problem. And Paul now begins his answer. It is not, says he, verse six, as though the word of God has come to naught. Meaning, presumably, the word and the purpose of God. God's great purpose in choosing Israel. It has not come to nothing. Why not? Well, you see, he says in verse seven, or verse six and then seven, for they are not all Israel which are of Israel, neither because they are Abram's seed are they all Abram's children, but in Isaac shall thy seed be called. Now we have to think of a great fact of history, demonstrable in Israel's own history. Choosing Abram and promising Abram that in his seed all the nations of the world should be blessed. God made it apparent afterwards that he didn't mean all the children that came physically from Abram. Because Abram had, uh, for instance, an offspring called Ishmael. He wasn't given this great role of being the carrier of the law of God, to have a tabernacle in which God presents himself, to be the ancestor of Messiah, and thus to be a testimony to the Gentiles. Ishmael was not given that. Though he was, in a sense, Abram's seed. And not all they are, are Israel who physically are Israel in the other sense. And later in this chapter we shall see there were times, of course, when Israel, even within history, was set aside, taken off down to Assyria, and ceased to be God's people, though in another sense, they were physical Israelites. There came periods in history when God says, no, sorry, you're not my people anymore. So just being a physical Israelite doesn't give you automatically part in this great role of being the people of God, his testimony to the nations. But God has made certain choice within Abram's seed and within Israel. On what principle has God made the choice? Paul now quotes two examples. It is important that we consider them. He is still talking, ladies and gentlemen, about Israel's role, as has been described in verse four and five. The principle, says verse eight, is, you see, that is, it is not the children of the flesh that are children of God, but the children of the promise are reckoned for a seed. For this word is a word of promise. In the Greek language of that sentence, the emphasis comes upon promise. You'll say. For, uh, what God said was, according to this season will I come, and Sarah shall have a son. That was a promise. Now get hold of the fact it was a promise. Because you'll see, when Abraham and Sarah were first given this promise that God was going to give them a son, and in him should the thing be fulfilled, that through him should all the nations of the world be blessed. Abraham and Sarah didn't get the point at the beginning quite that it was a promise, did they? You remember the scene. I don't know whether it was a Tuesday or Wednesday, but, uh, God had made this statement to Abraham and Sarah that, uh, we're going to have this son, aren't we? In him should all the nations of the world be blessed. Very good. Well, over breakfast one morning, Sarah suddenly said, Abram, and he said, yes, my dear. And she said, uh, I've been thinking, Abram. Never, said he. Yes, what have you been thinking? Well, she said, you know, this business, we're going, supposed to have a son. Yes, that's what God said. Well, I've been thinking, um, God has forgotten something. Oh yes. Well, I'm barren. Oh. And what is more, she says, Abram dear, do you know, God is acting a little bit contradictiously, so it seems to me. First he says you're going to have a son. That's marvelous. But then he has shut up my womb. I mean, he doesn't seem to see that the one thing contradicts the other thing, Abram. What's this, Abram, my dear. Now you point it out, I mean, I see the point of it. What do you propose that we do about this, Sarah, my dear? And if you had been sitting somewhere as a fly upon the wall, your knees would have begun to tremble, wouldn't they? Oh, say, goodness me, just consider the situation. Here is God's great scheme to prepare the way of the coming of the Redeemer. And it's all going to hinge on this, that Sarah's got to have a son, and God has forgotten that the woman is barren. And in fact, he's so far forgotten that he's shut up her womb, and that's going to stymie the whole thing before it starts. And if you please, the whole scheme of redemption is now going to depend on Sarah's wits. Well, Sarah was a delightful Jewish lady, I know that, a Hebrew lady, but with all due respect, to think that the whole scheme for the redemption of the world is going to depend on Sarah, uh, helping God out of a difficulty. Well, you would have trembled, wouldn't you, at your knees? Of course you would. Oh, thank God it wasn't so. This great scheme for bringing in the Messiah isn't going to depend on Sarah's wits or power or Abraham's either. When God said they were going to have a son, God meant what he said. It was a word of promise. It wasn't going to depend on mere human flesh to perform it. I say hurrah for God at that point. We're talking about the great purposes of God for the preparations of the coming of Messiah. And then, uh, take the case, says, uh, uh, uh, Paul, of Isaac and his two sons. He had two sons, the one was Esau and the other was Jacob. Jacob it was that was chosen to carry on this great role in history, and Esau wasn't. Uh, the elder, said God, verse twelve, shall serve the younger. Meaning what? That Esau personally should serve Jacob? No, sir, because Esau never did serve Jacob, ever. Esau never bowed down to Jacob once. It was Jacob that bowed down before Esau. Saying that the elder shall serve the younger. God is talking still in national terms. It was through Jacob, who then became Israel, that God built the nation called after him, called Israel, who were given this great role in history, the adoption, the covenants, the tabernacle, the presence of God, and the nation of Eden was not given that role. When some years later, God through Malachi made his statement, Esau have I hated, is referring not merely to the initial choice, but all that subsequently happened. But notice the principle upon which the choice was made. On what principle did God choose Jacob rather than Esau? Well, verse eleven tells us that the children being not yet born, neither having done anything good or bad, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth. It was said, the elder shall serve the younger. The choice of Jacob to this great role in history. On what ground was it made? Well, not according to his works. It wasn't given him because he was good at it, or better in behavior than Esau. Given this role solely on the ground of grace. And that raises a very big principle, doesn't it? God, in his mercy, chose Israel in times gone by to be his witness. In these days, he chooses us, in some lesser sense, to be his witnesses, doesn't he? To get his gospel to the world. Does God's choice depend on our works? And will the witness ultimately depend on man's works? If you imagine, ladies and gentlemen, here comes a good man to stand before the final great judgment of the great white throne. And the man is condemned. Why? According to John three, because he did not believe. He that believeth is not condemned. He that believeth not is condemned already. Condemned therefore not believing the gospel. And the man turns around to God and says, but I never heard the gospel. How do I believe it without hearing it? Oh yes, says God, I know you didn't hear it. That's unfortunate, you see. I commissioned Joe Smith to take you the gospel, and he slipped up rather. He wasn't very good. So I got disappointed in the man I chose, and, uh, well, he didn't get round to you, and so you never heard. I'm sorry about that. Uh, I started to condemn you for not believing it, you'll say, because you didn't believe it, but don't blame me, blame him. If that were true, gentlemen, heaven itself would turn black. God's God's choice. choice of men to this role cannot be made ultimately to depend on man's merit or good works, or impeded ultimately by their bad works. Why? Because God's purpose, according to his choice, must stand. And must continue. Regardless. But that, uh, raises all sorts of very big problems, doesn't it? So, what shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Verse fourteen: God forbid. That is, is there un- unfairness with God in choosing people for this role, not according to their works? Well, no, because he says in Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that has mercy. For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, for this very purpose did I raise thee up, that I might show in thee my power, and that my name might be published abroad in all the earth. So then, he have mercy on whom he will, and whom he will he hardeneth. Thou wilt say then unto me, why doth he still find fault? For who withstandeth his will? Nay, but oh man, who art thou that replyest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, why hast thou made thee thus? Or has not the par- the potter a right over the clay from the same lump to make one part a vessel unto honor and another part a vessel unto dishonor? So let me first of all seize upon that expression, that metaphor Paul uses. God has the right as potter of the same lump to turn one into a vessel for honor and another into a vessel for dishonor. Same lump? What do you mean, same lump? Well, look now at Israel and look at Pharaoh and the roles that were given them. And see this, that God started with material, be it Israelite or Egyptian, that was of the same lump. They were both outrageous sinners. For when God came forth with his remark, I will have mercy upon whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. You remember, the time was, as recorded in Exodus thirty three. Israel had been chosen for this supreme role at Sinai. And they were to build a tabernacle, and God was to come down and dwell in it. They were given the covenant and all the rest necessary for their performance of this role. And Moses hadn't got down the mountain before they had gone off into idolatry and renounced the true God and worshipped the golden calf. Sinners, outrageous sinners. And God proposed to blot the whole lot out and start again. Said he to Moses, look, I've got these lot out, bad lot, and I'll start with you, Moses, and make a nation of you. And if God had done that, hey, presto, nothing would have gone wrong of his promises, would it? Because Abram happened to be an Israelite. Hmm. Mm. So God could have blotted all the rest out, started a new nation with Abram. Why didn't he? He listened to Moses' intercession, granted Moses' plea, and had mercy on those guilty men and allowed them for the time being to go on with their role. Wrote the tables again, allowed them to build the tabernacle, and came and dwelled among them. Though they deserved the very opposite, he had mercy. Pharaoh was told to let the people go. He too sinned outrageously. God warned him many times. Gave him chance after chance after chance after chance. So Pharaoh, having persisted so far in his sin. God then hardened him. What do you mean God hardened him? Well, God fixed him in the situation and state and choice that Pharaoh had made. So let me just now call your attention to Pharaoh and the great question of his hardening. God has mercy on whom he will, and whom he will he hardens. Let me ask you to think, when did God harden Pharaoh? When? And what is the point of that whole story? The so-called plagues of Egypt, I quote you now from the early chapters of Exodus, are commonly said to be ten, and so in a sense they are. But in the actual narrative, they are divided into nine plagues that form a coherent series, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine. And then, says God, now Moses, I will bring one last plague as I execute judgments on Pharaoh. Let us now briefly consider the point and purpose of the nine plagues. You do see, don't you, how they group themselves in three groups of three. For at seven fifteen says God to Moses, get up early in the morning, hence the AM. Get up early in the morning, Moses. There follow three plagues. At plague seven, God says, get up early in the morning, Moses. And there follow the final three plagues. You will also notice this interesting matter about the magicians. In plague one, the magicians tried to do the plague that Moses did and succeeded in doing exactly what he did, turning the water to blood. Plague two, they tried to do what Moses did and managed to turn the, uh, uh, bring up the frogs. In plague three, they tried to do what Moses did and couldn't do it. Hence my remark about the magicians. And they said to his majesty, this is the finger of God. At the end of the second service, we read that the dear old magicians couldn't even stand under the weight of God's judgments. Now let's put this information together. What is it all about? Why, God sent, uh, Moses to Pharaoh and gave him a sign to do. So in walks Pharaoh into the presence of his majesty, and in the name of God demanded that Pharaoh let the people go. And Pharaoh wasn't disposed to let them go, said Mo- Moses, I, I, I do your sign, Pharaoh. And casting down his rod, that wasn't one of the plagues that precedes these plagues, casting down his rod upon the ground, it became a serpent. Says Pharaoh. So what about that, Moses then? You cast down your rod and become a, a, a servant. Well, that shows you that it's the living God that sent me. Oh, does it now, says Pharaoh. Well, Moses, you're in for a surprise. Do you know my scientists in the laboratories can't reproduce that same effect? Pushed a bell, in came the white-coated magicians, computer men all, and I shall say, says Pharaoh to the, uh, the magicians, they were a mixture of hocus pocus and science, like most sciences still, and, uh, all full of guesses and mathematics and things, uh, you'll see, to be improved upon next century. But, uh, uh, in they came, you'll see, they were the best scientists they had at the time, and says Pharaoh to these learned men, now he says, do you know, do you know what? Pharaoh, uh, Moses here, he he's trying to persuade me to let the, uh, Israelites go. He's done a miracle. He's done a miracle. He's cast his, uh, rod down on the ground and he's become a servant, you see. Gentlemen, just be so kind as to show Moses this ain't no miracle. Oh yes, your majesty said, we can reproduce that in our laboratories, and we'll do it here now if you like in front of you. They cast down their rods and they became servants. Moses said, Pharaoh, you'll have to do better than that. If you're going to convince me that, uh, is the, what do you call his name, has sent you? Jehovah. Oh, Yahweh. Well, never mind. You'll have to do better than that because this ain't no miracle, man. Evidence isn't good enough. What do you suppose God does when a man turns around and says, sorry, God, the evidence isn't good enough? It doesn't prove what you say it proves. You say, I know what I would do if I were God, I would, I would remove his head from his shoulders there and then for his impertinence. No, not God. The evidence isn't good enough, Pharaoh, says God. You want some more evidence? Oh, well, you can have more evidence if it is evidence what you want. Now follow now a series of plagues. Plague number one, the magicians could do that. Oh, that's not enough. Oh, I see. Plague number two, magicians could do that. That isn't quite enough evidence. We'll have some more then, Pharaoh. Plague number three, Oh, said the magicians, your majesty. Now this is something different, this one. This is the finger of God. Men are curious creatures, but sometimes they'll listen to their scientists when they won't even listen to God. By this time, when his own scientists, on his own criteria, told his majesty that this was an interposition of God, Pharaoh wouldn't even listen to the scientist. What would you do to Pharaoh? He said, I'd destroy him forthwith. Oh no, not God. Man hasn't had enough evidence yet. So God gives another three plagues, at the end of which the magicians can't even stand. Oh, what a magnificent God God is. What if God endured this figure Pharaoh and genuinely put the evidence in front of him? I was called to visit last week, a prisoner in Conlon Road Jail, there for murder. Our conversation was totally on spiritual things. Said he to me, and now the evangelicals here in prison keep telling me I've got to have blind faith. How can I have blind faith? Why do we tell people that nonsense? If believing in God was a question of blind faith, you would basically believe the devil, wouldn't you? How would you know the difference between believing God and the devil? Does not ask anybody to have blind faith in that sense at the beginning. Listen to our Christian gospel. These signs are written. Here is evidence that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. And when the evidence has convinced you that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, then you can take the next step of personal commitment to him and receive eternal life. Thereafter in life, he will often require you to have blind faith, but that's another story. There's a beginning evidence. Then Then when when did God harden Pharaoh's heart? You say right from the beginning and from all eternity. Pardon? You say God told Moses beforehand that he would harden Pharaoh's heart, so he did, and he he told Moses that Pharaoh would harden his heart and wouldn't let them go. And then he subsequently told Moses, I will harden his heart, and he won't let them go. The point at issue is, when did God harden Pharaoh's heart? All this, uh, Chinese abbreviation here, very com- very sophisticated computer device. You'll say Pharaoh hardened, uh, you'll say, uh, his heart, we'll say. And Pharaoh's heart was hardened. So PHWH is Pharaoh's heart was hardened. And PHHHH is Pharaoh hardened his heart. And the two expressions are used. Please, we are not told that it was God who hardened his heart in plague number one. Simply his heart was hardened. Who hardened it? It is not said. Number two, Pharaoh hardened his own heart. Fa- number three, Pharaoh's heart was hardened. Four, Pharaoh's heart, ha- Pharaoh hardened his heart. Number five, Pharaoh's heart was stubborn. And Exodus itself, if we go by scripture for the first time now at the end of six says that God hardened his heart. That's when the Lord hardened his heart. When did God harden his heart? When he had rejected the very evidence that he had demanded. What does hardening a man's heart mean? Means fixing him... in the state he has chosen. And to that the New Testament agrees, talking of other people, two Thessalonians two. for this cause God shall send them a strong delusion that they believe the lie. Why would God do that? Because they received not the love of the truth. That's why God does that kind of thing. You could say it to Pharaoh. Why did God harden his heart? Because he received not the love of the truth. That is when God hardened his heart. Um... What happened next? Well, let's take it in the words of Romans first, and then the words of Exodus. This is Romans chapter nine verse seventeen. For the scripture saith this unto, unto Pharaoh, for this very purpose I have raised thee up, that I might show in thee my power, and that my name might be published abroad in all the earth. It's the scripture that says it. So let's go back to the scripture that says it. And the scripture is, of course, to be found in the book of Exodus. And, uh, here it is in chapter uh nine, Verse thirteen following. Will you notice it is at the beginning of plague seven? This is when the scripture says this to Pharaoh. Beginning of Plague seven. The Lord said unto Moses, Rise up early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, let my people go that they may serve thee. For I will this time send all my plagues upon thine heart and upon thy servants and upon thy people, that thou mayest know that there is none like me in all the earth. For now I had put forth my hand and smitten thee and thy people with pestilence, and thou hast been cut off from the earth. That is Old English translation of the Hebrew that means, for I could have already put forth my hand and smitten thee and thy people with pestilence, and thou hast been cut off from the earth. I could now do it. Yes, he could have done, couldn't he? When Pharaoh had resisted the evidence and rejected the evidence that he himself had demanded, the evidence that his own scientists told him was true, and he persisted in hardening his heart, God could then have cut him off, and who would have said God was unjust? I could do that, says God to Moses, but I'm not going to do it. I'm not going to cut him off yet. In fact, the very opposite is going to happen. I'm going to make him stand. I'm going to harden him and make him stand up against me. Whatever for? Well, now, because in the first place he has deserved his punishment, now I'm going to use that punishment to make Pharaoh an example to the whole of history. It is exceedingly important to see, ladies and gentlemen, that first of all, the man deserves his punishment. Secondly, that then God is righteously able to use the man's punishment to make of him an example. And Pharaoh becomes a vessel of wrath. What do you mean a vessel of wrath? Well, not merely somebody upon whom God pours out his wrath, but a vessel of wrath is a somebody that God uses to display his wrath in. Why would God do that with anybody? Oh, well, God is, God is great mercif- mer- greatly merciful, isn't he? And now hardens Pharaoh's heart, makes him stand, that he become a vessel of wrath, that God, uh, demonstrates in him God's wrath against sin. To the effect that, well, let's take one example. Some forty years later, two Israelite spies went into Jericho. They were received by a woman of questionable character, who hid them and eventually told them why. She said, gentlemen, I'm coming over to your side. I come to believe your God is the real God. Oh, what brought you to that? Oh, we've heard what God did to Pharaoh. Pharaoh now made a warning of the wrath of God that descends on people that refuse to believe the evidence. Serves to warn other sinners, that other sinners might come to the Savior and be saved. Pharaoh will never be able to complain he didn't deserve it, ladies and gentlemen. What on the other side of the vessels of mercy? Israel sinned against God horribly at Sinai, and God had mercy on them. The very term shows that it cannot be according to man's merit or worth, mercy. You can't deserve mercy, can you? Else it wouldn't be mercy. If you were right to mercy, it wouldn't be mercy. God, in his utter sovereignty, when Israel was a sinner, forgave them, reinstated them, and made them vessels of mercy. What is it to be a vessel of mercy? Well, it's not merely that you're someone that God has mercy on, but that God uses you as a vessel to convey mercy. Listen to Paul speaking, and you'll see, uh, uh, the very man who wrote Romans. You'll see, for this cause, he says, I obtain mercy first because I did what I did in ignorance and unbelief. But you see, I obtained mercy that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all his great kindness as an example for them which should hereafter believe on him unto eternal life. I obtained mercy because my resistance was in ignorance and unbelief. I had never been illuminated. And therefore I obtained mercy. Because my resistance to the Lord Jesus was not a resistance done with my eyes open and knowing all the evidence. No, I had not yet been illuminated, and for that reason I obtained mercy. And for this other reason I obtained mercy, that in me first, Jose, Jesus Christ might show forth all his long suffering for an example of them which should hereafter believe on him unto eternal life, and all what in the mercy of God has happened multitudes of times. How many sinners, having read of the antics of Saul of Tarsus and seen how he was a veritable chief of sinners, has listened to Paul saying, but this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. I'm the very chief of them. I stand as a supreme example of the willingness of the Lord Jesus to save men and women. Multitudes encouraged by that example have themselves believed on the Lord Jesus. Paul becomes a vessel of mercy, not merely that God had mercy on him, but in having mercy on him, used it as an advertisement of his mercy to other people, to encourage other folks to believe. So whether it is taking a Pharaoh, Pharaoh couldn't say I did it ignorantly. Eyes were opened. Six times over he rejected what he saw with his eyes open. So then when God hardens him, he becomes a vessel of wrath to warn other people not to do the same, and it brings others through that warning to repentance and faith. And Israel a vessel of mercy, Paul a vessel of mercy, that God might use him as an advertisement of his mercy to encourage people to repent and believe and get saved. But Both Israel. Israel and Pharaoh are the same lump because they're both sinners. Who decides? When the point comes, when men going on in their sin, God has mercy. Or, as they go on in their sin, God eventually says, now that's the end. That's the point of no return. Well, by the very terminology, it must be God's sovereign decision, doesn't it? Israel has given another chance. Pharaoh not. But pray notice all the surrounding context, both from old and new, and listen to the word of the same lump. When both have sinned, then God has mercy. Then God may harden. Now I've already said too much, because, uh, as you may think, I've stolen your question time. But I said so much as is full of material with which I'm sure you'll want to disagree. So when you've had your coffee hasty back, I'm going to complete, uh, the exposition of these chapters as I see them, and leave you a whacking amount of time to discuss the issues. I prefer to do it that way, if you'll allow me, by your good grace, because to discuss the argument half given would not necessarily be profitable. So if you can haste you back, I'll try to be on time the next occasion. Um, I shall then proceed more swiftly with the other two chapters and give you, I promise you now, give you ample time to discuss it in your groups and to correct, to disagree, and to come to the right conclusions.