THROUGH THE BIBLE - Joshua 1..

Welcome to Cornerstone Reformed Baptist Church. Thank you for using and sharing our resources. What you're about to hear is God's Word from one of our teaching elders. We trust that God's Word will inspire, instruct, and bless you. For further teachings or information on our ministry, please visit us on our website at cornerstonerbc.

com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. So if you have your Bibles open to Joshua, Joshua chapter 11. As we always do, we will read the chapter together as a congregation, and then I'll give an explanation.

And then after that, we'll come to our Lord in prayer, committing the service to him. And then we'll ask our brother Nelson to come and preach the word, the word that the Lord has placed upon his heart. Can everyone hear me well? Yes. Yes, and not too loud, not too, because I know we had some technical Is that okay?

Okay, wonderful. Joshua chapter 11 from verse 1. I'll be reading from the EZ. When Jabin king of Hazor heard of this, he sent to Joab king of Madon, and the king of Shimron, and the king of Akshaph, and the kings of kings who were in the northern hill country of and in the Arabah, south of Shinaroth, and in the Lowland, and in Napoth Dor, on the west, to the Canaanites, in the east and the west, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, in the hill country, and the Hivites, under Hermon, in the land of Mizpah. And they came out with all their troops, a great horde in number, like the sand that is on the seashore, with very many horses and chariots.

And all these kings joined their forces and came and encamped together at the waters of Merom to fight against Israel. And the Lord said to Joshua, do not be afraid of them, for tomorrow at this time I will give over all of them slain to Israel. You shall hand string their horses and burn their chariots with fire. So Joshua and all the warriors came suddenly against them by the waters of Merom and fell upon them. And the Lord gave them into the hand of Israel.

He struck them and chased them as far as the great Sidon and Mizrapoth, Maim, and eastward as far as the valley of Mizpeth. And they struck them until they left none remaining. Joshua did to them just as the Lord said to him. He hamstrung their horses and burnt their chariots with fire. And Joshua turned back at the time and captured Hazor and struck its king with the sword.

For Hazor formerly was the head of all those kingdoms. And they struck with the sword all who were in it, devoting them to destruction. There was none left that breathed. He burned Hazor with fire, and all the cities of those kings, and all the kings, Joshua captured and struck them with the edge of the sword, devoting them to destruction, just as Moses, the servant of the Lord, had commanded. But none of the cities that stood on mounds did Israel burn, except Hazor alone that Joshua burned.

And all the spoils person they struck with the edge of the sword until they had destroyed them, and they did not leave any unbriefed. Just as the Lord had commanded Moses, his servant, so Moses commanded Joshua, and so Joshua did. Yet have nothing undone all that the Lord had commanded Moses. So Joshua took all that land, the hill country, and all the Negev, and all the land of Goshen, and the lowland, and the Arabah, and the hill country of Israel and its lowland from Mount Palat, which rises towards here as far as Balgad in the valley of Lebanon below Mount Hermon. And he captured all their kings and struck them and put them to death.

Joshua made war a long time with all those kings. There was not a city. that made peace with the people of Israel, except the Hivites, the inhabitants of Gibeon. They took them all in battle. It was the Lord's doing to harden the hearts that they should come against Israel in battle.

at that time and cut off the Anikim from the hill country, from Hebron, from Debir, from Anab, and from the hill country of Judah, and from all the hill country of Israel, Joshua devoted them to destruction with their sins. There was none of the Anikim left in the land of the people of Israel. Only in Gaza, in Gath, and in Ashdod did some remain. So Joshua took the whole land according to all that the Lord had spoken to Moses. And Joshua gave it for an inheritance to Israel according to their tribal allotments.

And the land had rest from all. Amen. Well, brothers and sisters, the conquest over Canaan by the people of Israel continues. We've been working our way. through the sixth book of the Bible, the book of Joshua, the book that we know as the book of conquest, where the people of Israel have crossed over the Jordan and now they are in battle with many of the cities and the territories and the kings, the opposing pagan kings, so that the Lord will give them the land that he promised their fathers, that inheritance that they've been long awaiting for over 400 years already.

What have we seen? We've seen that the people of Israel come over the Jordan Westwood over the Jordan and they engage in battle with whom the first city was the city of Jericho, that fortified city with those great walls. And by miraculous means, the Lord shows his power, puts his glory on display before the people of Israel, as well as the pagan nation before him or before them. And he defeats Jericho. in his power, putting his power and his might on display.

Furthermore, we saw how the people of Israel went over and defeated Ai before, of course, that mishap or the fact that Israel had kept some of the devoted things, Achan in particular, and after his sin was dealt with, and after them losing 36 of their people and were humiliated by this small city, the Lord gives them victory over Ai, quite convincingly. And then we worked our way through and we've seen how these people, these cunning people from Gideon or Gideon, these people who came round and who looked at the people of Israel and heard of their reputation, heard of what the Lord God had done through them, that he was with them, that he was empowering them, that he was defeating all their foes and all their enemies. And they came in their cunningness and their deception and said, we're from a far country. We want terms of peace. Let's make a treaty, you and I, and they accepted and they established, by deception, terms of peace, a treaty with these people.

From there, we saw what our brother took us through last week, where the people of Israel begin to engage in war with the of Canaan, the five kings that were utterly and totally destroyed and killed and hung on trees separately, if you remember, because they were devoted to destruction. And then the people who lived in the territories and the cities that the kings were, or in the kingdoms of these kings, were destroyed also. We tracked how the people are working still in the southern part of the land that the Lord God had promised to Abraham and promised to Isaac and had promised to Jacob. They're still in the southern part. Up until last week, they conquered most of the southern part.

We see them go northwest from a place called Mekeda to Libna, then south to Lachish. They fought and defeated the people of the Kish. And then they went to Dezer and defeated those people. Then they went southwest to Ebron, and then east to Hebron, and then southwest to Debir. And all the cities of the south were told, all the cities of the south were told that the people of Israel left none remaining.

None. The people of Israel struck down the whole region from Kadesh or Kadesh Barnea in the south to Gaza in the north. In essence, the people of Israel have established themselves as a force to be reckoned with. They've built for themselves quite a reputation for those territories and those kings who are yet to be confronted with these people. There's a supernatural power behind these people.

And wherever they go, they wreak destruction. They crush the enemy. rich streets, steamrolled the enemy, and there is fear that is incited in the hearts of most here of these people. So what is the reason for their success? What is the reason for this absolute power that is demonstrated in this army?

Well, in the previous chapter, verse 42, we're told, and Joshua captured all these kings, still speaking about the south, and the land at one time, because he's the because. The Lord God of Israel fought for Israel. I could honestly stop there, and that's a wonderful message in and of itself, because the Lord God of Israel fought for Israel. Now we go into chapter 11. It's much of the same in chapter 11.

It's a different territory. As I said, we're looking at the regions and the cities in the north. Kings in the North also, they've got different names than the ones in the South, but really the same crushing of the enemies, the same success at the hands of the people of Israel that happened in the South will happen also in the North, because it's the same God, the God of Israel, who fights for them. So now we have this king by the name of Jabin. He hears.

He hears about Israel's reputation, about what they had accomplished with the regions and the territory in the south, and proactively he decides, I should partner in battle against Israel. I need to round up the kings of the north to come and as a coalition go against this formidable people, this people of Israel. So he does, because this David is a man of stature. We were told that Hazel was the head of the northern kingdom. So this man had word, his word had a bit of weight behind it.

The kings agree, of course. So he rounds up the Amorites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Jebusites, and the Hivites, and the rest of the Hittites in the north. He makes an alliance with them. That alliance is with one goal, to go and battle against Israel. Soldiers more than could be counted were told.

Their horses and their chariots. Great and numerous were they. They're no match for the Lord God. The God of the universe, the God of Israel. No match at all.

So they were struck down. Their kings were struck down. Their people were struck down. Their synodies were destroyed. It was inevitable.

It's inevitable. You know what we're told in the last verse, in verse 23? Put your A's down there if you like. We're told, So Joshua took the whole land, that is the south and the north, according to all that the Lord had spoken to Moses. And Joshua gave it for inheritance to Israel according to their tribal allotments, and the land had rest from war.

Why do I say it was inevitable that the people of Israel would defeat? Whether they're in the kingdoms of the south or whether it's the kingdoms of the north, it's because of that God has promised. God has and will always fulfill his promises. Always. One has to wonder, though, David was a pretty smart man, you would think.

I mean, he wouldn't be the king of the region that was the head of the whole of the Northern Kingdoms. unless you're at least quite strong and formidable in battle, but also unless you are quite shrewd and at least have some proper military tactics that worked. So my question would be why, having heard of the success of these rights, why wouldn't he have done something like the Kinyanites? Why wouldn't he try for terms of peace? I mean, the Givenites did, and since then, the people of Israel have conquered so much more land and defeated so many more people and kings.

So they've built for themselves a bigger and better and stronger reputation since then. So surely David would have seen this and knew what force he's up against, that terms of peace may not have eventuated. We know the people of Israel would not have accepted. They learned from the last time. But it could have tried, because what do you have?

On the one hand, you have certain utter destruction and extinction of the people. Or you have the possibility, at least on one hand, that we can have peace. We might be the servants of the people of Israel, but at least our name is not wiped off from the planet. where it gets very interesting. Verses 19 and verse 20.

Because in verses 19 and verse 20, this is what we're told. There was not a city that made peace with the people of Israel, except the Hivites, the inhabitants of Gibeon. They took them all in battle, for it was the Lord's doing, it is, to harden their hearts that they should come against Israel in battle. In order, there's a purpose, in order that they should be devoted to destruction and should receive no mercy, but to be destroyed, just as the Lord had commanded Moses. Is that not a terrifying reality, what we just read?

Does that not give you goosebumps? Is that not a scary and terrifying reality? Beloved, this is an uncomfortable truth for most Christians, for many people. It's difficult, it's uncomfortable to our senses to hear these words. We know that God is sovereign over the whole universe and we don't mind saying it and standing upon it and preaching that truth.

When we read about God's sovereignty being exercised by the hardening of a human heart in order to accomplish His divine purposes, that in order that these nations would not retreat, but rather fight against the people of Israel, and as fighting against the people of Israel, to be crushed and devoted to destruction, Some of you might be uncomfortable even now, but this isn't what I have to say about it. It's what is written. This is God's Word. You see, many are okay with talking about God's decree or God's promise to Abraham and to Isaac and to Jacob to give his posterity a land of inheritance. We're okay with that.

It gets a little bit uncomfortable when we begin to speak about that Israel, in order to achieve or in order to be given this inheritance, they would need to go and engage in battle against a real people. It's a little bit uncomfortable in that. So you need to defeat, you need to battle real people in order to inhabit their land, because land is not barren if people live there. And it's even more comfortable when you realize that there are not only men and soldiers, but there are women and children, and they all need to be devoted to destruction. Everything that breathes needs to be annihilated.

Because the people of Israel were to be the instrument of judgment of God. You see, that's all. It can be difficult sometimes to take in. It can be a little bit uncomfortable to take in. But then we think about the reasoning that these people was to be the instrument of God's judgment.

Our brother took us to the passage last week in Genesis chapter 15, where the Lord took Abraham and stood him to see the land and said, your posterity, you'll be a father of great nations, in fact, and your posterity will be a lot of the land. But first they'll have to endure 400 years. of slavery, affliction, but then they will be given a land. And the reason for that is because the sin of the inhabitants of the land has not reached completeness as it is. The war has not come to its fullest.

They are sinners against a good and holy God. But that sin does not warrant right now that God would annihilate them. But He will in 400 years. And we know that the people of Israel, now in the context, in the conquest, my apology, and as they go into battle into the regions of Canaan, they are God's instrument. Judgement, we know that.

Because of Genesis chapter 15, right? But then to read that God hardens the hearts, that He intrudes into the very heart of man, into the very center and the essence of that person in order for that outcome to be as it is, that can't be hard for God to swallow. So let's talk about it. Let me share some details with you first. I want you to see that the Canaanites weren't angels.

They weren't innocent. They were an evil people. They rebelled against God. Their iniquity had reached the high heavens. They were wicked.

They were evil. They were rebels. They committed atrocities in God's eyes, and their judgment was absolutely deserving. And this is what we need to know about a good judge who is God, that whatever he does is good and right and just, whether in this life or the next. When all things are said and done, he's just.

These people are God haters. This is why Abraham was told that God will, in fact, judge them. This is why the people of Israel are being sent to be that instrument of judgment, because they were evil to the Lord. You get that? But what about God's active hiding of the heart?

We may be curious about what that looks like. What does it look like? What does that mean for God to be hiding in the heart? We'll get there. But it shouldn't be a surprise for us, should it?

We've heard this terminology before. Pharaoh, right? Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. Back, we're in the sixth book of the Old Testament. Back in the second book, we're talking back in the book of Exodus.

As you read through the book of Exodus, at least the early chapters, I don't know about you, but one has to feel as they read. And as you come to witness the supernatural hand of God through Moses and Aaron, time after time, the miracles that he performs, one would have to think, Pharaoh, when are you going to just give in? Can't defeat this God. He's more powerful than anything you have ever seen. When are you just going to say, okay, I surrender, I can't do this no more.

There are times where it seems like he's just about to do that, and after the movement, after the plague, just take it away, and it'll be okay. The plague's taken, and then the stubbornness of the heart. The hardness of the heart returns and he continues in the stubbornness of an evil heart. Why? Well, the Bible tells us over and again that Pharaoh was a man with a hardened heart.

That Pharaoh did, in fact, harden his heart. I told you, he was an evil man. But there's far more at play than that. Something greater at play. Something bigger than Pharaoh's will.

Pharaoh's nature. But the Lord reveals what was at play, bigger and greater than simply this pharaoh. And He reveals it to Moses before Moses steps a foot back into Egypt and confronts Thucydides. He does it next in chapter 4 verse 21. Let me read it to you.

And the Lord said to Moses, when you go back to Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the miracles that I have put in your power. harden his heart so that he will not let the people down. Maybe the first time you read that, you rub your eyes, did I read that properly? All this miraculous supernatural power, surely he's convincing and he says, I'm going to harden his heart so that will not let my people go." Not an isolated incident in Exodus chapter 4, verse 21.

In fact, according to my count, no less than 10 times subsequent to this passage does the law reveal, I will harden his heart. I will harden his heart. I will harden the heart of Pharaoh. And at one instance, he says, I will harden the heart of Pharaoh and that of the Egyptians also. The functional reason was already given to us, the functional reason for the hardening of Pharaoh's heart is so that Pharaoh would not free Israel.

So he would not let them go. And they would be recipients of the power and the might and the awesome miraculousness of God Almighty until God says, now's the time. I'm not going to let go yet. You're going to stay until I say so. The sovereign of the universe makes that absolute decision.

And at the end, there was a hardening of the heart of Pharaoh, even when he decided under the sovereignty of God to let the people go. The hardening of the heart was so that he would go after the people and try to get them back and bring them back or kill them. And when that takes place, in chapter 14, we read these words. And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and he will pursue them. And here's the ultimate reason.

We know the functional reason, now I want to speak to you about the ultimate reason why God hardened Pharaoh's heart. He says he will pursue them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his hosts, and the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord. And they did. The ultimate reason is that God, the only true God, the only God of the universe, the supreme sovereign of everything, the one who is before creation, the one who is the uncreated one, everything submits to this God. He does what he does for the glory of his great name.

There is no greater good in the universe than the glory of the name of the God of the universe. Not a greater good that you and I can commit our lives to than to reflect. you might have remembered or commit this verse to memory, which is the ultimate good, in Him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will. And again, God Most High tells us the reason. This is to the praise of His glory.

Even the hardening of hearts works out for the glory of God. This truth may be so uncomfortable to some. I get it. Believe me, I get it. But as I said earlier, this is the Word of God.

What do we know about God, apart from what He's revealed, brethren? What do we know? about this sovereign, the one who is unknowable apart from his revelation. What do we know? What do we, in and of ourselves, know about him?

He tells us that he hardens the hearts, and he's righteous in doing so. He's able to harden the heart of these kings in the South and in the North, and harden the heart of Pharaoh, and yet remain the God who sits on the throne. His foundation is righteousness and justice, and everything he does is good. Oh God, you are good, and all that you do is good, the psalmist says. Nothing changes.

He remains good. He remains just. He remains righteous, even though he hardens the hearts of men. As I said earlier, let me be clear about this point. These men that God has hardened their hearts, they are not innocent.

He hasn't changed their nature. He hasn't changed their desires. He hasn't changed their longings. It's not as though that they are longing to know him, longing to be righteous, and he hardens their heart. That's not what is at play here.

He is hardening an already hardened heart. The Bible tells us, apart from Christ, apart from regeneration, the heart is made of stone, cold, hard. He's not changing to trajectory. Oh Lord, please save me. No, I'm gonna harden your heart.

No, that never happens. It is a hardened heart, a heart of evil, a heart of wickedness. The heart of absolute unrighteousness, and it is that heart that the Lord hardens further. But He's active in it. There's activeness.

God is hardening the heart. This is their nature. It's evil. It's the trajectory they're taking. It's like those spoken in 2 Thessalonians 2, when the apostle Paul says, they are ones who refuse to love the truth and be saved.

There's a heart that refuses to love the truth. It refuses to love the Lord. They've got haters. This is the natural state to hate God. This is the hearts that God is dealing with.

It's told there in 2 Thessalonians that God sends them a delusion. These scary words. In Romans 1 we're told they're given over to a reprobate mind. Why? Because they're seeking righteousness?

They're seeking holiness? They're seeking a set apartness from the Lord? No. is because of their heart's desire to be given over to the lusts of the flesh, and even unnatural lusts. In Joshua 11, the chapter that is before us, it's the papal gentile hymns that the Lord hardens their hearts even further.

I should say that the Lord hardens the hardened hearts even further. But it's not only of the Gentiles, beloved. The heart of the heart is not only of the Gentiles that we see in Scripture. You remember Isaiah when he was commissioned. You remember in Isaiah chapter 6, that glorious chapter.

You remember when the Lord, he sends this prophet, this mouthpiece to go into the people of Israel and to be the witness of God among the people of Israel. And from the very onset, God said, I'm going to send you out to warn these people, but I'm going to tell you from the onset, they will not listen. Imagine that, sending a prophet and saying, I'm going to listen to you. You'll have a message of righteousness, but they will not listen. Why?

Because they are blind, because they are deaf, and because their heart is hardened. And the Apostle John also refers to this text. in Isaiah chapter 6, in John chapter 12, and he tells us, speaking of course, relating or taking that chapter, that text in Isaiah chapter 6, and he's bringing it forward, and he's actually making it apply, as the Apostle is able to do, to the people before him, that is the Jewish, the unbelieving Jewish leaders in the first century. But when he does, he gives us some clarity, and he says he's God who art. It's God who blindens them.

It's God who gives them deaf ears, like the Apostle Paul is saying in 2 Thessalonians. He gives them over to a delusion, a strong delusion, because they refuse to love the truth that we say. How can we even talk about this subject without going to Romans 9? Romans 9-11 gives us some clarity. clarity about the sovereignty of God.

Everything he does is good. All that is good, all that is righteous, all that is holy, all that is worthy of worship. And he gives us some beautiful information about this God. In the context of election, that this God is the one who in and of himself has the right in himself. To bestow mercy upon the ones he'll do mercy and compassion, and also to harden those that he desires.

To harden. Then we read some verses from that text. I want to read from Romans chapter 9 from verse 48. Just listen, I know we're pushing it for time, so just listen to what is written. What shall we say then?

Is there injustice on God's part? It's a question. By no means. For he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God.

Who has mercy? For the scripture says to Pharaoh, with this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth. The reason for his existence. So then, He, God, has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills. You will say to me then, why does he find fault?

For who can resist his will? But who are you to answer back to God? But what does Malta say to Malta? Why have you made me like this? Has the potter no right over the clay to make out of the same lump one vessel of honourable use and another of dishonourable use?

Same clump. There's nothing inherently different in that clump of clay. It's just the hands of the potter. What if God, desiring to show His wrath and to make known His power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction in order so that—this is the purpose there—to make known the richness of His glory for vessels of mercy, which He has prepared beforehand for glory? There's a lot I can say, but for the sake of time, I'm not going to say it, but I want us to simply look at the questions that the Apostle Paul anticipates.

Teaching a very difficult teaching, knowing that the human being, that the natural man finds it difficult to accept this teaching. I know that for sure, because I know my heart, and I know how you're looking at me even now. That's what he's saying, in essence. Some who listen and who hear his teaching would say, but is God unjust in doing this? That he shows mercy on some and on others he pardons?

Why doesn't he just show mercy on all? I'm acting foolishly here by saying why, but I want you to see the foolishness of those words. And in verse 9a he anticipates more. He says, why does, if he's the one who wills and he's the one who as a product of his will and has a purpose for everything because he's completely sovereign over everything in this planet, if he's the one who shows mercy upon those he shows mercy and compassion and he's the one who decides who he will harden and how can he be just and find fault in a person since he's the one responsible. Who can resist this God?

Who can resist His will, the Apostle says? Beloved brothers and sisters, if those questions haven't seriously crossed your mind, I don't think you've come to understand what the Apostle Paul is actually saying. Because humanly speaking, this is the logical outcome, humanly speaking. If the all-powerful God hardens a man's heart and chooses not to show mercy, then what chance does that man have? How can that person, whether it's the king, or the kings of the Canaanite regions, or Pharaoh himself, or the unbelieving Jews, as I said in John chapter 12, how can they be deemed to be at fault when God is sovereign over these things?

What is the Apostle Paul's response? What is the Apostle Paul's response in that text? Who are you, oh man, to answer back to God? Asking the why question elicits our, who do you think you are? This is the revelation of God himself.

He's the one who's given us this word. This is God breathed all of it. We know nothing of God apart from his special revelation, nothing specific anyway. the world and everything in it. His creation has His thumbprint on it, yes, and we know His glory in it, but we do not know any specifics about God or any details about God apart from what He has revealed to us in His Holy Word.

He's a God who hardens, we're told. He hardens the heart of evil people. He has the right to do that, yet He remains God. He remains good. He remains righteous.

He remains holy. And yet we know that these people who sin and it's hard to be hearted, they're still culpable, they're still responsible, they're still aspirable for their sin, because it is indeed their sin. It doesn't make them sin. It's their heart. It's their nature and their nature can only produce bad fruit.

That's it. Unless, and apart from the mercy of God, the nature, the heart of an evil, the heart of the unregenerate person, the heart of one who's ill at Adam, can only produce unrighteousness and can only sin against God. And therefore, their sin is on them, but God gets glory. Whether he hardens the heart, that's what we're told. Or whether he shows mercy.

Let's bring this home, shall we? Let's make it personal. These are difficult doctrines and somewhat easier to talk about when we're pointing to someone else While the people were pointing to the Canaanite Kings here in Joshua chapter 11, we can point to them and say, okay, hard to understand, but we're pointing to that. It's the Old Testament, we're pointing to Pharaoh, for example, but then we get to the New Testament, we're pointing to the people of Israel, the unbelieving Jews in Christ's day. It becomes a little bit more difficult, but it's okay because we're pointing towards someone else.

It's a difficult pill to swallow. Here's the problem. The problem is the reason why man finds this difficult to swallow is because man is rooting what is fair and just and good based on his or her own understanding. How do we know what is righteous? How do we know what is holy?

How do we know what is good? How do we know what is excellent, what is honorable, what is worthy of praise? How do we know that which is intrinsically in the character of God, the unknowable God, apart from Him revealing Himself to us? We don't know apart from His revelation to us, and this is what is revealed to us. The question you and I believe is this, do we believe it?

Have we come to embrace it? Has the Lord given us the faith to believe that this is a God, this is the only God, and He's good in all His ways? We may not be able to extend our arms around the fullness of what He's saying. We might not be able to in our final minds get the full understanding of how it is that He's the sovereign God of the whole universe, and yet sinners are responsible and culpable for their own sin. We may not be able to grasp that all and put it in a little package and put it in our backpack and take it with us wherever we go.

No. He's God, he's infinite, he's big, but he's revealed to us this truth. The question is, will you believe it? Because at the end of the day, we stand. Do we honestly think that we have been born in iniquity?

The same word of God tells us that this is the character of God and His right to choose vessels for mercy and choose vessels for wrath. The same God, the same word teaches us that we were born in iniquity. Knowing the truth of the matter, and this is where it really becomes personal. And when we point at those guys, those kings and the pharaohs and so forth, we need to recognize something very important. Human nature has not been judged.

Everyone born in Adam is just as wicked. Just as the brain, every part of our will, our emotion, our thoughts, everything in mankind, apart from God himself, apart from the work of God himself, is evil. And apart from faith, we can only do sin. Apart from faith, it's impossible to please God. And as we think about that reality and we put ourselves in that position and say we're no longer worthy, then when we think about the hardening of hearts, then if He wants to harden the hearts, our hearts, He'll be just as just as hardening the hearts of those men that we read about in the Old Testament.

Here's the good news. If you know Christ, If you have come to believe in the God of the universe through Jesus Christ because it is because of his work, because he has taken the initiative, not because you looked for him, not because you went to follow after him, not because of your goodness or my goodness. Remember that clump of clay is, in essence, the same. Inherently, it's the same. It's the decision of the potter, the moulder, to whether one goes to noble use and one will one goes to dishonorable use.

It's his decision. So when you ask the question, I don't know about you, God, why me? Why would you save a sinner like me? Why, why, why, why? You're looking in the wrong place.

You'll never get a man's love when you look to me, when you look to Him. Because of who God is, not because of who you are. And these difficult doctrines, sometimes, that may rub us the wrong way. We might get a little bit uncomfortable. Don't try to skirt around the belief of others.

Ask the Lord if there's any doubt. Ask the Lord to give you faith to believe Him, because your understanding ain't mine. If it's not rooted in the Scripture, it's not authentic. We cannot know God apart from what He's revealed for us in the Scripture. We're not to impose our own understanding, our own reasoning into the Word.

That's this honourable Lord. Take me out of and give me truth from your Spirit and through your Word. May this truth, beloved, move us. May it break us before the Lord to know and understand His love. For me, an unworthy, wretched person is no better than those guys in the altars, than those kings, than the pharaohs, than the unbelieving Jews who are now perishing.

I'm no better than them, Lord. But you poured your love in me through Christ, elected me before eternity passed. Because of who you are. It's my heart. My heart was as stone cold as theirs.

You're the one, oh Lord, you're the one, through faith in Christ Jesus and in Christ Jesus alone, who took the initiative to do that surgery, pull that heart of stone out, and give me a heart of flesh, a heart that sees, knows, and loves, a heart that honours you, a heart that He promises will not be heartened after this rupture. I'm below it. If you haven't experienced Him in that way, if you're now asking yourself, why even? Why even? What if that's me?

What if this sovereign God who's put me on His way has hardened my heart? What if in His sovereignty He's decreed that my heart would be hardened and I would face damnation for all eternity? If you're asking that question, I'll tell you the same God who says that He is able and He will, He will harden who He hardens and He will give mercy upon who He gives mercy has also issued a promise. A promise that is irrevocable. And that is, those who believe upon his son, Jesus Christ, on this day, worldwide, they're celebrating Easter, maybe by name, but the fact of the matter is, it is a symbol of a day that Christ, the son of God, the Messiah, the anointed one of God, came into this world, took on flesh just like you and I did, did perfect life, willingly laid down his life.

was crucified in the hands of evil men, buried, third day, raised from the dead, and now he is ascended upon high, sitting on the right hand of the Father, as the King of kings and Lord of lords, interceding for those who have placed their trust in Christ. You place your trust in Christ. You believe upon Him. And you're not one of those people who is being hardened. And you're not one of those people who is decreed to destruction.

And God has given us His word. The question is, will we believe Him?