God will mold the believer and unbeliever to accomplish all his good pleasure; John 15:16.

Title: God will mold the believer and unbeliever to accomplish all his good pleasure; John 15:16.

 

 

ROM 9:15 For He says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion."

 

God’s mercy is the cross and God’s compassion is the application of election in time to the one who through faith has salvation adjustment to the justice of God.

 

Faith saves you, but God has freed up His justice through the cross of Christ to apply mercy and compassion to that faith.

 

This isn’t an arbitrary election, but an election based on foreseen faith in Christ.

 

ROM 9:16 So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs [not on works], but on God who has mercy [application of the work of Christ to the one who has faith].

 

ROM 9:17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, "For this very purpose I raised you up, to demonstrate My power in you, and that My name might be proclaimed throughout the whole earth."

 

The hardening of Pharaoh’s heart evangelized the world, Josh 2:10-11.

 

Josh 2:10 For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed.

 

Josh 2:11 And when we heard it, our hearts melted and no courage remained in any man any longer because of you; for the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath.

 

It is very important to note that Pharaoh hardened his own heart through negative volition before God hardened it.

 

Ex 7:8 Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying,

 

Ex 7:9 "When Pharaoh speaks to you, saying, 'Work a miracle,' then you shall say to Aaron, 'Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh, that it may become a serpent.'"

 

Ex 7:10 So Moses and Aaron came to Pharaoh, and thus they did just as the Lord had commanded; and Aaron threw his staff down before Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a serpent.

 

Ex 7:11 Then Pharaoh also called for the wise men and the sorcerers, and they also, the magicians of Egypt, did the same with their secret arts.

 

Ex 7:12 For each one threw down his staff and they turned into serpents. But Aaron's staff swallowed up their staffs.

 

Ex 7:13 Yet Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he did not listen to them, as the Lord had said.

 

Ex 7:20 So Moses and Aaron did even as the Lord had commanded. And he lifted up the staff and struck the water that was in the Nile, in the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants, and all the water that was in the Nile was turned to blood.

 

Ex 7:21 And the fish that were in the Nile died, and the Nile became foul, so that the Egyptians could not drink water from the Nile. And the blood was through all the land of Egypt.

 

Ex 7:22 But the magicians of Egypt did the same with their secret arts; and Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he did not listen to them, as the Lord had said.

 

Ex 7:23 Then Pharaoh turned and went into his house with no concern even for this.

 

Ex 7:24 So all the Egyptians dug around the Nile for water to drink, for they could not drink of the water of the Nile.

 

Ex 7:25 And seven days passed after the Lord had struck the Nile.

 

Ex 8:10 Then he said, "Tomorrow."[to remove the frogs] So he said, "May it be according to your word, that you may know that there is no one like the Lord our God.

 

Ex 8:11 And the frogs will depart from you and your houses and your servants and your people; they will be left only in the Nile."

 

Ex 8:12 Then Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh, and Moses cried to the Lord concerning the frogs which He had inflicted upon Pharaoh.

 

Ex 8:13 And the Lord did according to the word of Moses, and the frogs died out of the houses, the courts, and the fields.

 

Ex 8:14 So they piled them in heaps, and the land became foul.

 

Ex 8:15 But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart and did not listen to them, as the Lord had said.

 

Ex 8:25 And Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron and said, "Go, sacrifice to your God within the land."

 

Ex 8:26 But Moses said, "It is not right to do so, for we shall sacrifice to the Lord our God what is an abomination to the Egyptians. If we sacrifice what is an abomination to the Egyptians before their eyes, will they not then stone us?

 

Ex 8:27 "We must go a three days' journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to the Lord our God as He commands us."

 

Ex 8:28 And Pharaoh said, "I will let you go, that you may sacrifice to the Lord your God in the wilderness; only you shall not go very far away. Make supplication for me."

 

Ex 8:29 Then Moses said, "Behold, I am going out from you, and I shall make supplication to the Lord that the swarms of insects may depart from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people tomorrow; only do not let Pharaoh deal deceitfully again in not letting the people go to sacrifice to the Lord."

 

Ex 8:30 So Moses went out from Pharaoh and made supplication to the Lord.

 

Ex 8:31 And the Lord did as Moses asked, and removed the swarms of insects from Pharaoh, from his servants and from his people; not one remained.

 

Ex 8:32 But Pharaoh hardened his heart this time also, and he did not let the people go.

 

Ex 9:1 Then the Lord said to Moses, "Go to Pharaoh and speak to him, 'Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews," Let My people go, that they may serve Me.

 

Ex 9:2 For if you refuse to let them go, and continue to hold them,

 

Ex 9:3 behold, the hand of the Lord will come with a very severe pestilence on your livestock which are in the field, on the horses, on the donkeys, on the camels, on the herds, and on the flocks.

 

Ex 9:4 But the Lord will make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt, so that nothing will die of all that belongs to the sons of Israel."'"

 

Ex 9:5 And the Lord set a definite time, saying, "Tomorrow the Lord will do this thing in the land."

 

Ex 9:6 So the Lord did this thing on the morrow, and all the livestock of Egypt died; but of the livestock of the sons of Israel, not one died.

 

Ex 9:7 And Pharaoh sent, and behold, there was not even one of the livestock of Israel dead. But the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people go.

 

Ex 9:27 Then Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron, and said to them, "I have sinned this time; the Lord is the righteous one, and I and my people are the wicked ones.

 

Ex 9:28 Make supplication to the Lord, for there has been enough of God's thunder and hail; and I will let you go, and you shall stay no longer."

 

Ex 9:29 And Moses said to him, "As soon as I go out of the city, I will spread out my hands to the Lord; the thunder will cease, and there will be hail no longer, that you may know that the earth is the Lord's.

 

Ex 9:30 But as for you and your servants, I know that you do not yet fear the Lord God."

 

Ex 9:31 (Now the flax and the barley were ruined, for the barley was in the ear and the flax was in bud.

 

Ex 9:32 But the wheat and the spelt were not ruined, for they ripen late.)

 

Ex 9:33 So Moses went out of the city from Pharaoh, and spread out his hands to the Lord; and the thunder and the hail ceased, and rain no longer poured on the earth.

 

Ex 9:34 But when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunder had ceased, he sinned again and hardened his heart, he and his servants.

 

Ex 9:35 And Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he did not let the sons of Israel go, just as the Lord had spoken through Moses.

 

Ex 9:8 Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, "Take for yourselves handfuls of soot from a kiln, and let Moses throw it toward the sky in the sight of Pharaoh.

 

Ex 9:9 And it will become fine dust over all the land of Egypt, and will become boils breaking out with sores on man and beast through all the land of Egypt."

 

Ex 9:10 So they took soot from a kiln, and stood before Pharaoh; and Moses threw it toward the sky, and it became boils breaking out with sores on man and beast.

 

Ex 9:11 And the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils, for the boils were on the magicians as well as on all the Egyptians.

 

Ex 9:12 And the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he did not listen to them, just as the Lord had spoken to Moses.

 

Ex 10:1 Then the Lord said to Moses, "Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, that I may perform these signs of Mine among them,

 

Ex 10:2 and that you may tell in the hearing of your son, and of your grandson, how I made a mockery of the Egyptians, and how I performed My signs among them; that you may know that I am the Lord."

 

Pharaoh’s heart had hardened to the point of no return. It would be impossible for him to recover, so any signs given after the plague of hail would only harden his heart more, and God’s gospel would spread throughout the land.

 

No one up to this time in human history was given the opportunity to physically see the manifest power of God so many times, and God knew he would say no every time. Negative volition becomes deeper reversionism when God is presented over and over again.

 

Just as God turned the heathen over to their vile lusts, affections, and reprobate minds in Romans 1:24-28, so God turned Pharaoh over to his negative volition, his arrogance, his jealousy, his pettiness.

 

And this was the means of evangelising that generation of history around 1441-1440 BC.

 

ROM 1:24 Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, that their bodies might be dishonored among them.

 

ROM 1:25 For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

 

This is the start of it; worshipping and serving the creature rather than the Creator.

 

When the Gospel and the laws of divine establishment are rejected over and over, God allows the soul to be given over to degrading passions.

 

ROM 1:26 For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural,

 

ROM 1:27 and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.

 

ROM 1:28 And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper,

 

ROM 1:29 being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips,

 

ROM 1:30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,

 

ROM 1:31 without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful;

 

ROM 1:32 and, although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.

 

Not all unbelievers are like this. Those who submit to God’s laws of divine establishment avoid degrading passions, though they have rejected Christ and will spend eternity in the LOF.

 

Some believers can be like this because although they have believed the gospel they have over and over again rejected Bible doctrine.

 

So the question is, what starts this path of destruction of the soul as it is hardened with degrading passions? Worshipping and serving the creature rather than the Creator.

 

Yet Pharaoh, Esau, Ishmael, Nahor, and any other heathen that falls in the category of ROM 1:24 ff can make one decision in time to guarantee eternal life.

 

Christ took Pharaoh’s sins upon Himself at the cross along with the rest of the world.

 

ROM 9:17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, "For this very purpose I raised you up, to demonstrate My power in you, and that My name might be proclaimed throughout the whole earth."

 

ROM 9:18 So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires.

 

Mercy is based on foreseen free will faith and all scar tissue is developed from free will. God can use both to accomplish His good pleasure.

 

Iron is harder than lead so I would have a much better axe if it was made out of iron rather than lead and so I might conclude that iron is a hard metal. But can I harden iron even more? If I heat treat iron I can harden it. If I add carbon to the iron and heat treat it to make steel I can harden it even more. If I add other metals like cobalt or chromium to the steel I can manipulate its hardness even more. The point is that God does harden, but not without free will. Man has self determination. This is why Paul gave the example of Pharaoh. Pharaoh was negative and the more he witnessed the power of God he became more negative to a point of deep reversionism. God kept Pharaoh alive and showed him even more miracles and by means of this God hardened Pharaoh’s heart.

 

If I’m the one to add carbon and other metals to iron and then put it in a furnace of over 2000 degrees centigrade I could say that I hardened the steel, but did I really? Isn’t it the new metallic bonds of the other atoms formed with the iron atoms that makes it harder? The heat treatment and the addition of other metals is analogous to God manipulating circumstances (giving Cyrus victory on the battlefield, delaying Esau while he was hunting for game, showing Pharaoh ten plagues instead of just five) and the metallic bonds would represent man’s free will. Not a perfect analogy since atoms do not have volition, but adequate enough.  

 

Jesus Christ controls human history and He has the omniscience to harden a heart by manipulating circumstances without manipulating the free will of that heart.