In his sermon, Philip Long discusses the concept of God's decree, focusing on the idea of God hardening the hearts of individuals, using Pharaoh from Exodus as a primary example. He explores how God blinded Pharaoh to prevent him from letting the Israelites go until God's wonders were fully displayed. Long emphasizes that understanding and belief come only when God opens one's eyes and heart. He draws parallels to other biblical stories such as the account of Rahab in Jericho, illustrating the power and fear of God among the nations. The sermon also touches on Isaiah's prophecy of God hardening Israel's heart, alongside New Testament references, to highlight God's sovereignty in salvation. Long stresses the importance of recognizing God's mercy in drawing individuals to repentance and faith, cautioning against the belief that one's heritage or upbringing contributes to salvation. He concludes by reminding believers of the gifts of salvation and grace given by God, urging them to live lives worthy of their calling, and reflecting on God's glory and justice.

I wanted to turn and look at some examples, and there's a lot of examples of God hardening the hearts of people so they cannot believe. The first one we'll look at is Pharaoh in Exodus chapter 3. And You know, at least when I was little, you'd be reading in Exodus, and I'd be like, man, how could, you know, he's pretty thick-headed, you know, after the third or fourth time of God showing him something, you'd figure, okay, I might start figuring out what's going on. But if God has blinded you to where you can't see, you're not gonna see, it doesn't matter what God does unless he opens your eyes that you can understand and believe. Let's turn to chapter three.

Like I said, we'll start in verse 18 and read 18, 19, 20. And they shall hearken to thy voice, and thou shalt come, thou and the elders of Israel, unto the king of Egypt. And ye shall say unto him, The Lord God of the Hebrews hath met with us, and now let us go. We beseech you three days' journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God. And I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, not by a mighty hand, and I will stretch out my hand and smite Egypt with all my wonders, which I will do in the midst thereof, and afterward he will let you go." And we're going to look at a couple of these because it just keeps going like I said and you'd figure he would figure it out.

Let's go over to chapter 4. We'll look at verse 21. And the Lord said unto Moses, When thou goest to return into Egypt, see that thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh which I have put in thine hand. But I will harden his heart, that he will not let the people go." Skip over to chapter 7. In chapter 7 we will read verses 3 through 5.

And again it says, I will harden Pharaoh's heart and multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, but Pharaoh shall not hearken unto you, that I may lay my hand upon Egypt and bring forth my armies and my people, the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord when I stretch forth my hand upon Egypt and bring out the children of Israel from among them. Let's go to chapter 8, continuing on in this, chapter 8 and verse 19. You know, even at this point, the magicians are to the point where they're like this. This is God There's no explanation of this other than God, but Pharaoh's heart is still hard because God did it.

Let's look at Exodus chapter eight and verse 19. The magician said unto Pharaoh, this is the finger of God, and Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he hearkened not unto them as the Lord said. I was looking at this and you know when the children of Israel went in and they went into Jericho and they were talking to Rahab the harlot, This was one of those things that God used the destruction of the Egyptians in proclaiming his mighty power. And we'll look at what she said to the children of Israel when they were coming in there. We're going to turn to Joshua.

We'll go to Joshua chapter 2, verses 8 through 10. And before they were laid down, this is the spies, she came up unto them upon the roof. And she said unto the men, I know that the Lord hath given you the land, and that your terror is fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you. For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you, when ye came out of Egypt, and what ye did unto the two kings of the Amorites that were on the other side of Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed." And then another very familiar passage, Isaiah is a prophet, obviously, of Israel, and he's pleading for Israel, and God tells him, I'm sending you to Israel, but I'm going to harden their heart. Anyway, let's look at Isaiah chapter 6 verses 9 through 10.

Isaiah chapter 6, starting in verse 9. And he said, Go and tell this people, hear ye indeed, but understand not, and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and their ears heavy, and shut their eyes, lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed. And I think there could be some application there for the United States in that. Those of you that wanted other verses, There's so many other verses here if you wanted to do other reading.

You could read Matthew chapter 13 verses 14 through 15. You look at Mark 4 in verse 12. Luke chapter 8 in verse 10. John chapter 12 in verse 40, Acts 28, 26 and 27, and Romans 11 verse 8 is also in there. The point I guess I sort of brought home as I was reading this is, you know, in John, Jesus was talking and in John chapter 6 and verse 44, he made the, going right in line with this, he said, no man can come unto me except the Father which has sent me draw him and I will raise him up at the last day." I think as Christians one thing we take for granted is God's mercy in drawing one into repentance and saving faith.

I think sometimes maybe not cognitively, but in the back of our mind that maybe we did something to earn his mercy or, you know, we're a little bit better. But in actuality, there's no difference between us standing here in services and someone walking down the street. There's absolutely no difference other than God decided to show mercy on you and draw you into repentance and saving faith. And I think it's a little bit even more as far as when you have a godly heritage, younger kids, and you know, you grow up in the church. So you're starting out miles ahead than most kids or anybody that you know, does not have a godly heritage or godly parents, grandparents.

But that being said, when you're looking at your life or whatever, the tendency is to think, okay, I'm a little bit better because I was grazed this way as opposed to it's still God's grace that he opened your eyes to repent and lead the gospel it's all of God and You can draw some parallels with the Jews in Israel. Let's look at Romans chapter 11 and verse seven and eight. Again, just talking about if God doesn't open your eyes and ears and your heart to understand the gospel, it doesn't matter whether you have a godly heritage, whether you grew up in church all your life, or whether you never attended church and you heard the gospel. If God doesn't open your heart, you're not going to repent and believe. And let's turn to Romans chapter 11.

Like I said, let's start reading verse 7 and we'll read verse 7 and 8. What then Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for, but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded according as it was written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear unto this day. We'll also turn and look at Ezekiel chapter 18 verses 31 and 32. Ezekiel chapter 18, 31 and 32. Cast away from you all your transgressions whereby ye have transgressed, and make you a new heart and a new spirit for why will you die O house of Israel for I have no pleasure in the death of him that died sayeth the Lord God wherefore turn yourselves and live." I was thinking on this in that last four words of the confession there, it says, to the praise of his glorious justice.

And up top in the beginning of the chapter, it says, the manifestation of his glory. If you're a believer here today, we have been given gifts beyond our human comprehension, our limited human capacity. We understand some things about his great salvation that he's imparted to us, but we can't really fully wrap our mind around what he has done for us and what he has given us. And I wanna leave you with some thoughts and some verses. Paul quotes David, and we'll look at the Psalm that he quotes is Isaiah chapter 68 and verse 18 and this is speaking of Christ it says thou hast ascended on high thou hast led captivity captive thou hast received gifts for men yea for the rebellious also that the Lord God might dwell among them.

And we were all before we were brought in repentance and saving faith, we were the rebellious that he gave gifts to, gifts of salvation, gifts of mercy. And I want to leave you with Ephesians chapter 4 verses 1 through 8. This was a, I guess Paul was giving the Ephesians a charge. Ephesians chapter 4 verses 1 through 8. I therefore the prisoner of the Lord beseech you that you walk worthy of the vacation with year called with all lowliness and meekness with long suffering forbearance one another in love endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

There is one body and one Spirit even as you're called in one hope of your calling. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and the Father of all who is above all and through all and in you all. But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Wherefore he saith when he ascended up on high He led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men. And I think a lot of time I've always heard teaching as far as those being predestined in God's foreknowledge, predestined to destruction.

And I think a lot of times we don't take that flip side and look at what we have been saved from, what gifts God has given us in the great salvation that he has blessed us in letting us receive.