The hardening of Pharaoh’s heart in the ten plagues against Egypt is a very interesting study in the intersection between God’s sovereignty, God’s will, and also man’s responsibility and man’s sin. We are told that God turns the king’s heart whithersoever he will, and this is very clear with Pharaoh. “The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will.” (Prov. 21:1) Who is responsible for the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart – God, Pharaoh, or just the general disposition of stubborn men and the unregenerate in this world? The answer is “Yes”. All three are true.
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During the early 1800’s it was a time of great outpouring of God’s Spirit and additions to the Baptist Church. From 1801 to 1802 AD in the churches of Kentucky, about 6,000 persons were baptized within about an 8 month period. During the same two-year period in the Kehukee Association in North Carolina, about 1,500 members were baptized into their churches. Within 18 months beginning in 1812, Elder Wilson Thompson baptized some 400 to 500 persons into Bethel Church in Missouri. In 1829, Elder John Leland wrote, “In the south part of Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, and Kentucky, there are more than a thousand Baptist churches, now existing, which arose from that beginning” (referring to the constitution of Sandy Creek Church in North Carolina by Elders Daniel Marshall and Shubal Stearns in 1755.) This period of growth continued for many years until, unfortunately, in response to the great number of additions and baptisms, the unscriptural necessity of “missions” to continue to convert men to the church was introduced. This caused the division between the Old School, Primitive Baptists, and the New School, Missionary Baptist in the 1830’s. (numbers and quotes above are taken from Hassell’s History)
“Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Consider your ways.” (Haggai 1:7)
In America, we want the “effects” of revival without the uncomfortable and life rearranging “causes” of revival. We all want to see new converts come to the truth, baptisms, churches growing, even churches being planted; we all want to see the effects of revival. However, we are unwilling to deeply and intimately evaluate the areas of our life that need to change and repent of the actions that initiate such a revival. Radical repentance – not just casually feeling sorry for some of our actions but radical, life rearranging changes in our lives – is one of the great causes of revival that we are unwilling to undertake. THERE IS NO REVIVAL WITHOUT RADICAL REPENTANCE.
“O Lord, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid: O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy.” (Habakkuk 3:2)
This prayer of Habakkuk should set the tone for our prayers every day, but especially during the times we are living in today. It seems we live in a culture very similar to Habakkuk’s day, bemoaning the reality of ungodliness and justifiably frustrated with the wickedness in the culture around us. We question like Habakkuk, “O Lord how long?” How long will you seemingly not answer the prayers of your people and allow wickedness to continue to wax greater and greater every day? God, why are you allowing all of this violence and iniquity to occur (Hab. 1:1-4)?
Unfortunately, it has become very popular in the Christian marketplace today to deify faith to such a degree that some would erroneously teach that if your faith ever falters or fails, that is evidence you are not truly saved and probably have been a false professor up to this point. Faith is incorrectly exalted and deified above all the rest of the fruit of the Spirit. No doubt faith is vitally important in the life of God’s children; without faith it is impossible to please God (Heb. 11:6), and whatever is not of faith is sin (Rom. 14:23). We do not want to diminish faith, but we also have to ensure we do not put God’s children in bondage by making them doubt their salvation because of inevitable failures in their working out of the gift of faith. As we will see is true of all the fruit of the Spirit, active faith (belief, worked out faith) is “enabled” by God and “exhorted” by God but “not executed” by God. We are “enabled” to believe by the gift of God of faith in the new birth and the Spirit exhorts us to believe, but that measure of faith is only “executed” in our life when we are diligent and obedient to follow the testimony of the Spirit in our hearts and work out (Phil. 2:12-13) the faith that God has given us and worked in.
For Christians today, it is vitally important to be able to defend the Biblical account of a literal six, twenty-four hour day creation in the midst of so much misinformation and deception from Satan and science falsely so called. We have put together a study guide to help you in studying and defending this vitally important topic of the Bible’s account of God’s creation.
Click here to view & download a PDF study guide of Defending the Biblical Account of Creation
Matt. 11:28-30 – “[28] Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. [29] Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. [30] For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Psalm 25:12-13 – “[12] What man is he that feareth the Lord? him shall he teach in the way that he shall choose. [13] His soul shall dwell at ease; and his seed shall inherit the earth.”
Isaiah 26:3 – “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.”
In this world that is filled with tribulation, there is nothing God’s children crave more than to feel rest in our souls, for our souls to dwell at ease, and to walk in perfect peace with our Lord. In these three verses, we find Christ’s formula to produce that peace and rest for our souls. While our lives might not necessarily be at rest, we can still have rest, ease, and peace in our souls in the midst of a chaotic world and life.
For those who are laboring and heavy laden, if you: 1) come unto Christ, 2) take Christ’s yoke upon you, 3) learn of Christ, 4) walk in the fear of God, 5) have your mind stayed on Christ, and 6) walk in faith and trust in Christ.
Then, God promises that: 1) you will find rest unto your soul, 2) God will teach you his way, 3) your soul will dwell at ease, 4) your seed shall inherit the earth, and 5) you will be kept in perfect peace.
“4) But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, 5) Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)” Ephesians 2:4-5
In the midst of the deplorable condition of man by nature, dead in trespasses and sins, and apart from God (Eph. 2:1-3), the Lord intervened in a dramatic way – “But God” – to show his mercy to undeserving sinners. But God did not stop with just showing mercy upon his children and not exacting the fullness of the judgment upon them that they had justly earned, but he went even farther to give them grace – unmerited favor – that they had done nothing to deserve. Mercy is God “not giving” us what we “do deserve”, and grace is God “giving” us what we “do not deserve”. Mercy saved us “from hell”, but grace saved us “to heaven”. We are thankful for “mercy” to escape the damnation of hell, but it’s through the exceeding riches of God’s “grace” that we have been blessed to be raised up to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Eph. 2:6).
In response to Solomon’s idolatry later in his life, the Lord chooses a man named Jeroboam to lead a rebellion to rend the kingdom and lead 10 of the 12 tribes apart from the rule of Solomon. When Solomon gets wind of this revolt, he attempts to kill Jeroboam, but he flees into Egypt for safety until Solomon’s death. When Solomon’s son, Rehoboam, takes over, he makes very foolish decisions to oppress the people, listening to his young friends instead of the wise sages that counseled Solomon. During this time, Jeroboam has returned and leads a rebellion of the northern 10 tribes that become known as “Israel” going forward, and the 2 tribes of Judah and Benjamin still under Rehoboam’s rule are known as “Judah” going forward (see 1 Kg. 11-12 for this whole account).
“And he (Jehoshaphat) walked in all the ways of Asa his father; he turned not aside from it, doing that which was right in the eyes of the LORD: nevertheless the high places were not taken away; for the people offered and burnt incense yet in the high places.” (1 Kg. 22:43)
God’s people are very susceptible to creating our own personal high places that we don’t see as a problem in our lives, while it actually stands in direct opposition to God’s word. These high places can take many forms in our lives and hearts, and your secret high place might look different than mine. Regardless of what form it takes, God’s word upholds that any high places that detract from singular devotion and worship of God, anything that detracts from obedience to the greatest commandment to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, is something that needs to be purged from our hearts and purged from our lives. We see examples in the Old Testament of incomplete obedience, a willingness to purge out some high places but to allow others to remain. We need to allow the Lord to search our hearts and give us clarity of any high places in our lives that are restricting us from singular devotion to Jesus Christ.