There is a false doctrine taught today that people are
predestined by God to be saved or to be lost. Those who teach this would use
the example of Pharaoh and say see God hardened his heart so he would not let
the children of
The first thing that I want to point is there are 3 different was the Bible says the Pharaohs heart was hardened.
Pharaohs heart was hardened.
Exodus
Pharaohs hardened his own
heart
Exodus 8:15 15 But when Pharaoh saw that there
was relief, he hardened his heart and did not heed them, as the LORD had said.
Exo.
God hardened Pharaohs
heart
Exodus 4:21 21 And the LORD said to Moses,
"When you go back to
Since the word of God is
true and it does not contradict itself we can we can make the following
statement, “the Pharaoh hardened his own
heart and God hardened Pharaohs heart”. From this the question becomes how did God
harden the Pharaohs heart and does God still harden the heart of people today?
First of all I would say
yes God hardens the heart of people day in the same way that hardened Pharaohs
heart long ago. But before I answer the question of how God does this. First I
want to examine how God doesn’t do this. The false doctrine that God makes some
people saved and some people lost means that a person does not have a free
will. But we are going to see very quickly from
the OT to the NT that clearly shows that humans do have a free will and
God does not violate that free will.
Matthew 23:37 37 " O Jerusalem, Jerusalem,
the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often
I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her
wings, but you were not willing!
John 5:39-40 39 "You search the
Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which
testify of Me. 40 "But
you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.
John
Revelation 22:17 17
And the Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And let him who hears say,
"Come!" And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take
the water of life freely.
It is from this passage
that we see that salvation is offered to all people. This is slap in the face to those who teach that
some are predestined to be lost.
Matthew 10:32-33 32 " Therefore whoever
confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in
heaven. 33 "But whoever
denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.
James 4:4 4 Adulterers and adulteresses! Do
you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever
therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
Lets
just say for a minute that predestination is true and the God set some a side
to be lost and other to be saved. This being the being the case this would mean
that God would be making difference between one person and another showing
partiality. If this doctrine is true then I would suggest we need to through
our Bibles away because if this is true
then the Bible is wrong in:
Acts
Romans
These statement would
have to have to be false if predestination is true. You see when whenever you
start looking at the topic logically you can clearly see how false a doctrine
it is. Notice some more verses that clash against predestination.
1 Timothy 2:3-4 3 For this is good and
acceptable in the sight of God our Savior,
4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the
knowledge of the truth.
2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise,
as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any
should perish but that all should come to repentance.
Again, think about if
predestination true then that would mean we have absolutely no control over our
fate. This would render the Bible useless because if we no control of weather
we are saved or lost there would be no need for us to use the Bible as our
guide. ….
Philippians
How could you possible work our your own salvation if it has already been determined
if you are going to be lost or saved?
Lets
take a look at who the Bible says will be lost and how that determined.
2 Thessalonians 1:8 in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who
do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus
Christ.
Hebrews 5:8-9 8 though He was a Son, yet He
learned obedience by the things which He suffered. 9 And having been perfected, He
became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him,
These are the people that
will be lost is those who do not know
the lord and those he refuse to obey the gospel. Joshua it very clear that
people have the choice of who they can serve.
Joshua 24:15 15 "And if it seems evil to
you to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on
the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you
dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve
the LORD."
After everything I
presented so far there should be no doubt that God does not harden our heart by
violating our free will and he did not harden Pharaohs heart by violating his
free will. I have also clearly shown that the false doctrine of predestination
is simply not true.
Now its time for me to
answer the question how did God harden the Pharaohs heart and how does harden
the heart of people today?
I believe the answer to
our question is found with parable of the four soils.
Mark 4:4 4 "And it happened, as he
sowed, that some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds of the
air came and devoured it.
This soil is the hard
soil on the path where people walk and
compact the dirt down and just as the seed cannot penetrate the soil neither
can Gods word penetrate the heart of someone who resist his truth. That is
exactly God harden Pharaohs heart and how hardens the heart of people today.
The Pharaoh was presented with God command to let his people go or their would
be consequences. But Pharaoh of his own free will harden his heart by resisting
God commands. The same thing is true today. When Gods word is taught to the
lost and choose to resist the truth God has hardened their heart because they
do not want accept Gods will. So there you have it God hardens the heart of
people by presenting them with commands they simply do not want to obey.
This is what Stephen
accused the Jews just shortly before he
was stoned to death.
Acts
We have learned the predestination is not true and that God
does violate our free will. We have also learned that we must be careful not to
harden our hearts because of Gods truth or we could find ourselves sharing the
fate of devil. I want to end my lesson
with what Joshua said Joshua 24:15 choose
for yourselves this day whom you will serve,