Category Archives: Election & Predestination

The Hardening of Pharoah’s Heart

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The Hardening of Pharaoh and the Hope of the World
(Sermon by John Piper, © Desiring God. Website: desiringGod.org)

Exodus 9:8-17
And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Take handfuls of soot from the kiln, and let Moses throw them in the air in the sight of Pharaoh. 9 It shall become fine dust over all the land of Egypt, and become boils breaking out in sores on man and beast throughout all the land of Egypt.” 10 So they took soot from the kiln and stood before Pharaoh. And Moses threw it in the air, and it became boils breaking out in sores on man and beast. 11 And the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils, for the boils came upon the magicians and upon all the Egyptians.

12 But the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he did not listen to them, as the LORD had spoken to Moses. 13 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Rise up early in the morning and present yourself before Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, “Let my people go, that they may serve me. 14 For this time I will send all my plagues on you yourself, and on your servants and your people, so that you may know that there is none like me in all the earth. 15 For by now I could have put out my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, and you would have been cut off from the earth. 16 But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth. 17 You are still exalting yourself against my people and will not let them go.

How shall we know God? How shall we know what God is like and how we are to think about him? When I ask myself this question, one response comes crashing into my mind with overwhelming certitude: human opinion counts for nothing. What you feel about the way God should be and what I feel about the way God should be counts for nothing. If someone rises up and makes a pronouncement about what they can believe and can’t believe about God, that is as significant in determining what is true about God as the creaking of a window in the wind. Human opinion counts for nothing in defining God.

How than shall we know him? For it is very crucial that we know him. If he is there, nothing in the universe matters more than he does. If he is there, he is like the thunder clap and we are like the scratch on a faint recording. If he is there, he is like the sun shining in full strength and we are like dust-mote floating in the morning beam of bedroom light. If he is there, he is absolute and we are utterly dependent.

But now I am risking putting my opinions forward, which don’t matter at all. How shall we know him? We will know him by his own initiative to reveal himself. This he did most clearly and powerfully in sending his Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus said, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). Then he said that he would send the Holy Spirit to guide his apostles into all truth so that the truth of Christ and the Father would be preserved and displayed in the inspired Word of Scripture (John 16:13). The effect of this promise was that the apostles could say, “We impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit” (1 Corinthians 2:13).

Drawing Upon the Old Testament
But the apostles and their associates who preserved the truth of Christ for us in their gospels and letters were led by the Spirit in them to immerse themselves in the Old Testament as well as the teachings of Jesus. “In many and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets” (Hebrews 1:1). As the Spirit led the apostles into all truth, he did so by leading them to a true and deep understanding of what God had done and said in the Old Testament.

This is what we see all through the book of Romans, especially in chapter 9 where we have been since November 3. In Romans 9:4-5 he deals with “the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises, the patriarch” – all of which he sees in the Old Testament. In verses 6-12 he deals with Isaac and Ishmael and Jacob and Esau from Genesis. In verse 13 he refers to Malachi 1:2-3, “Jacob I loved and Esau I hated.” In verse 15 he quotes Exodus 33:19 (“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion”), and builds his argument for the justice of God on it. And then in verse 17 he quotes Exodus 9:16 and concludes from it in verse 18, “So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.”

So if we ask, How can we know God? God’s answer is: I reveal myself to you mainly in my Son Jesus Christ, and through his inspired apostles in the New Testament, who take us back to the earlier revelation of God in history and show us that all of divine revelation is of one piece. The God of the Exodus is the God of Romans. The God who dealt with Pharaoh is the God who deals with us.

So Paul roots his teaching about the sovereignty of God and the freedom of God and unconditional election in the Old Testament at every point in Romans 9. He is eager for us to see that New Testament revelation of God is one with Old Testament revelation of God. Continue reading →

Chosen Before Time

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God, before time began, chose a group of people out from the vastness of humanity who would be recipients of His mercy – a group whom “no man can number, out of every tribe tongue, people and nation,” (Rev. 7:9) who are called “the elect,” or simply those “chosen by God.” Many scriptures spell this out for us. Here’s just a few of them:

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world” (Eph. 1:3, 4)

“but for the elect’s sake, whom He chose, He shortened the days.” Mark 13:20

“And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds…” Matt. 24:31

“Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.” Rom. 8:33

“But God has chosen the foolish things of this world…” 1 Cor. 1:27

“as the elect of God, holy and beloved” Col. 3:12

“But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness….” 1 Peter 2:9

“God, who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began.” (2 Tim 1:8)

“But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth, to which He called you by our gospel, for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (2 Thess. 2:13, 14)

God of course, not only ordains who will be saved but also the means whereby they are saved, which is through the preaching of the Gospel. “How shall they hear without a preacher?” (Rom 10:14). We, unlike God, don’t know who the elect are, so we are to preach the Gospel to everybody. However, only those He chose (the elect) will respond in genuine faith to the Gospel.

We see this in Acts 13:48, when after hearing the Gospel preached, Luke records, “And as many as had been ordained to eternal life believed.” All who had the appointment, made the appointment. Continue reading →

Election and Predestination: Adrian Rogers v. James White

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Dr. Adrian Rogers is now in glory. He has left a wonderful legacy in the cause of Christ. Without question, speaker and author in the Body of Christ. I have a great deal of respect for him. That does not mean I always agreed with him.

On the subject of Divine election and predestination, I and many others would have loved to see Pastor Rogers engage in a publicly moderated debate which allowed for cross examination. I believe it would have been incredibly helpful for people to see the two sides represented in a respectful and formal setting, where rhetoric can be examined and arguments evaluated in the light of Scripture. Alas, Pastor Rogers was never interested in such an exhange. However, all is not lost and the next best thing is for someone to take Dr. Rogers’ own words on the subject and then provide a point by point response or rebuttal. Some years ago (while Adrian Rogers was still with us) Dr. James White did exactly that. I remember finding the “interchange” extremely useful.

I am glad to see this exchange now available on youtube video. If you can carve out an hour and a half to view this (below), I believe you will find this to be a fruitful use of your time. I recommend this highly. It is so important we examine our traditions in the light of Scripture.