In his sermon titled 'Whom He wills, He hardens,' Pastor Steve Hopkins emphasizes the importance of parenting and family worship in building a biblical foundation. He urges parents to be cautious about entertainment that distorts scripture and to focus on teaching children the true biblical accounts. Hopkins discusses the hardening of hearts as a severe judgment from God, using Pharaoh as an example of judicial hardening, which is a divine act that allows individuals to pursue their sinful desires fully. He references John MacArthur's views on the evidences of a transformed life, which include love, humility, obedience, and enduring trials. Hopkins stresses that God is sovereign in showing mercy and hardening hearts, highlighting the importance of humility and repentance. The sermon concludes with a call to self-examination and reliance on Christ for salvation, encouraging believers to pursue spiritual growth and prioritize their faith.

Welcome back to Barnet Bible Church. Join us this week as Pastor Hopkins continues his sermon series through the book of Romans. Good afternoon again. We're going to be Returning to our study of the book of Romans, but a few things, a few admonitions before we go there. Parents.

We have so many young parents with young children, and I praise God for you, and the elders praise God for you and for your love for your children and for your self-sacrifice for your children and for your passion to bring them up in the love of Christ. And we know it's difficult, it's difficult, and we know that you just want to see them saved and just want to see them serve the Lord. And so you're laying down your lives for that cause, and that's to be commended. And I know I've said it before and I'll say it again, we only have a few short years to build into our children a biblical foundation for their thinking. A biblical foundation for their thinking.

And I trust that every husband and father in this congregation is faithfully opening the Scriptures with their wives and children every day. The elders, we meet with men. We meet with them after the service, after the fellowship meal. And we encourage and we admonish and we implore each of you to persevere in their duty and family worship. It is the most important thing that you will do throughout the week.

Make it a non-negotiable. I know we probably sound like a broken record on this thing, but make it a non-negotiable. Don't let anything interfere with it. I believe that family worship is the place where kingdoms rise and fall. I really believe that.

It is a place where the foundations of nations are laid. It is where national evils are overthrown. We build our houses from the foundation up, not from the shingles down. And many of us have been doing this for decades now, and by God's grace we're seeing the fruit of that in our families. You just look around you, you're seeing the fruit of it in your families.

Praise God. Your children are growing up, they're marrying in the faith, they're embracing Christ, they're embracing biblical family life and church life and it's such a blessing. And the kingdom of God is advancing, no doubt. The kingdom of God is advancing. We've seen it for decades now.

Praise God for what He is doing. Deuteronomy 6, 7, we've talked about it many times, it's comprehensive. Fathers, when you rise up, husbands, when you rise up, when you lie down, when you go about your business throughout the day, when you walk by the way, when you sit in your homes, be bringing your families continually back to God, be bringing their thoughts continually back to the things of God. Fathers, husbands and fathers, that's primarily our job. And I would encourage you to be so, so careful what you're feeding the minds of your little ones, especially by means of entertainment.

I know I've said it so many times before, children need to be cutting their teeth on the creation account. Moses and the Exodus, Daniel and the lion's den, David and Goliath, the biblical accounts, not the world's accounts. There are so many that are vying for our attention and to pull us away from the biblical account. I sent out a warning to our extended family this past week on the new Life of David series on Amazon Prime. I do not recommend that anyone watch that with their family.

It is a rewriting of Scripture that presents a rebellious David who is inferred to be an illegitimate child and is presented as a teenager in conflict with his father, Jesse, which is an outright lie, and it presents a young David who talks back to his father. Well, that fits in with the modern deal, right? Right, teenage boys are supposed to be talking back to your fathers, be in enmity with your fathers. Your heart is not supposed to be, right, turned to your fathers. It's supposed to be kind of, You know, you get to a certain place, you're supposed to have this resistance to dad, right?

Well, they bring that in because that fits in with the modern mentality of having enmity between father and son. That's what they present, and it fits real well, right? And so they presented David, who is a backtalker against his dad, and a young man who sees himself as destined to greatness, while the David of Scripture is a man after God's own heart. A humble, obedient son who is out in the field caring for his father's sheep, protecting his father's sheep, a type of Christ who is taken from a humble state and ordained by God to be the shepherd King of Israel. This is the David that needs to be presented before our children.

I wrote it to our family this past week. Better for our children to watch B grade, stick figure animations of biblical characters and events that stay close to the Scriptures than to set multi-million dollar productions before our families that pervert the Word of God. And that's what that series does. It perverts the Word of God, just like the chosen. It perverts the Word of God.

It perverts the Jesus of Scripture. We don't need Hollywood to teach us about David and Jesus. We have the inerrant, infallible, all-sufficient Word of the Living God. Amen? And that's what they need to be getting.

So I've ranted and raved on that enough. Second, I was watching a John MacArthur video clip this past week where he was talking about evidences of a transformed life. That is, Evidences in the life of a true Christian, and it was so good. Number one, he said, is love. Oh, brothers and sisters, number one is love.

Number one evidence of a truly transformed life is that the person now is a person who knows how to love. God is love, and they are now one who loves others, those in the world, but especially love for other believers. It's a mark of a true believer, as MacArthur said, evidence of a transformed life. And you know, when you hear the true children of God speak, and you watch them, and you watch their manner of life, and you look at the way they engage with others and talk with others, You see that love for others just comes out. They cannot hide it.

And you see love as the motivating factor for all that they're doing and saying when they are engaging with other people. It's an evidence of a transformed life. And without it, there's no evidence of a transformed life. And then MacArthur says number two is humility. Love and humility.

We've been talking about this in our family lately. True Christians are a humble people, and they are a humbled people. How could they not be? How could we not be? Jesus died for us and we didn't deserve it.

There is a sense, this is a quote, says MacArthur, in which you are aware of your sinfulness and you never really get over this incredible grace that's been given to you to save you. Can you identify with that? Never quite get over this incredible grace, but how could we? And so we now live a life of humility, not just once broken over our sin, but forever broken, humbled, grateful for God's grace and mercy. These are my words now.

In Psalm 51, David humbled for his sin, says in verse 17, the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart, O God, you will not despise." That's the way that we live from the moment that we surrender to the Jesus who died for our sins. James says in James 4-6, God resists the proud but He gives grace to the humble. Amen. Humility is a mark of a true believer, an evidence of a transformed life. And the third evidence says MacArthur is obedience.

Not perfect obedience, not a perfect obedience, but it is a longing in your heart to obey your Lord. I just want to obey my Lord. He saved me. He died for my sins. Now I just want to obey Him.

So in the words of MacArthur, so love, humility, and obedience. And then the fourth thing is this. The single most validating reality in the life for your faith is not some idea in your head. It's trial. It's what can your faith survive?

People will say, well, I believe in the Lord and something goes wrong in their life and they walk out. Well, that's not saving faith, says MacArthur. That's not a faith that is a gift from God because that faith that is a gift from God lasts. He goes on, so you take Job for an illustration, devastation, just devastation every way you can cut it. And he says, what?

What does Job say? Though he slay me, yet will I trust him." So when you go through a trial, like Arthur says, maybe your mother gets cancer, maybe your dad dies, maybe some horrible thing happens, Maybe someone walks away from you in one of your relationships, a close relationship, or whatever the issue is. Maybe you get an illness. Does your faith stay intact through that trial? I just thought these insights from MacArthur were so helpful.

A few years ago I took our sons to California to see John MacArthur because I said, you know, I want you to see him in person before he's taken from us. That could be any day, any week now. I remember going to see Dr. Sproul in Houston many years ago. I know I've said it before, he put his hand on Michael's head.

Put his hand on Michael's head. I don't know if he blessed them or not, but in the other, some of these other younger guys were there as well. But those things were just so helpful to me and I wanted to share them with you all. And then third and last, before we open the scriptures, I was listening to Paul Washer this past week. Brothers and sisters, please take time to listen to sermons and be sure to choose out men to listen to who understand the gospel and who exhibit love for the people of God and for the lost and who exhibit humility." And Mr.

Washer is such a man and he was preaching Christ as he always does. In this clip I was watching, he was preaching from 2 Corinthians chapter 5, therefore we have as our great desire, as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him. Washer says Christianity has an ethic, but it's not about an ethic. Christianity has a morality, but it's not about a morality or principles. It is about a person.

It is about Him, a person, the person, the most glorious person who if you and I were this moment to catch just a fraction of his glory, it would fracture us into a million pieces. The beauty of it would kill us. Yes, the beauty. It is about that person who sacrificed himself that is what is to move you. If anything else moves you, it is idolatry.

And he was saying, if anything else captivates you, if anything else on earth moves you, if anything else on earth becomes your passion in this life, it is idolatry. It's him, It's him, it's him, and that, Washer says, that's what captured the heart of Paul. And that's what owned him. And that's what destroyed his life and took it away from him and made it worth something. So I was thinking about his message there, I was thinking about what he was saying, that passage from Psalm 73 came to mind, whom have I in heaven but thee, and there is none I desire on earth beside thee." Can we say that?

Can you say that? Can I say that? Last night Eric and I were praying together as we do on Saturday nights for the congregation, crying out to God for this flock. And in our prayers we both prayed that there would be such a pursuit of Christ and Christlikeness in this flock. And you know, brothers and sisters, we have so little time on earth, and we're here to be sanctified, to be prepared for glory.

And I just want to encourage you all to make use of the vast number of sermons by godly pastors, both modern and from antiquity, and resolve to listen to sermons with your family. And husbands and fathers, this is probably, this probably isn't gonna happen if you aren't taking the lead and making it happen in your home. I know there are so many things that are competing with the things of God, impeding our spiritual growth of our families. Please do not waste time. Do not waste your family's lives on things that do not build you up in the faith, that are not building up the family in the faith.

You know, some families are addicted to entertainment, some are addicted to sports, and the things that most matter are impeded, obstructed, and competing loyalties clash, and the most important things get put on the back burner and yet They're those things that assist the spiritual growth of our families You've got to you have to make efforts to cut them back and sometimes cut them off And you have to put in the time and the effort to pursue Christ as a family, understanding that those things will not and cannot fill the void in your family's life. And they can actually reach the point where they're actually retard the spiritual growth of your family. So we have to deliberately, intentionally set aside the competing loyalties and fleeting vanities of this life. Pursue the things that we will wish that we had pursued five minutes inside of eternity when we are standing face to face with Jesus. Let's stand for the reading of the Word of the Lord.

Romans chapter 9, let's read together verses 17 and 18. Let's read together the Word of the Lord. For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore, hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth." Let's pray. Father, We believe that you've given your spirit this afternoon to work in this congregation.

We pray that it would continue in Jesus' name. Let's be seated. I want to just begin this section with a quote from John Owen. How many know who John Owen is? Does anyone know who John Owen is?

Familiar with John Owen? So John Owen was one of the Puritans who lived in the 1600s, possibly the greatest theologian of his day, authored dozens of books, one of the framers of the Westminster Confession of Faith. He was personal chaplain to Oliver Cromwell in the English Civil War. He was revered and feared by monarchs, kings, and queens. And he was the preacher that was chosen to deliver the message before Parliament the day after the trial, conviction, and execution of Charles I.

How many knew that? He's chosen to come and speak to Parliament. We just cut off the king's head. Now we're going to gather. Parliament's going to gather.

He's been executed for high treason. Come and speak to us. Commenting on the passage before us this afternoon, John Owen writes, listen to this, the most tremendous judgment of God in this world is the hardening of the hearts of men. Everyone get that? The most tremendous judgment of God in this world is the hardening of the hearts of men." Everyone get that?

The most tremendous judgment of God in this world is the hardening of the hearts of men. Do you believe that? Is that serious? Is that something serious to you? Brothers and sisters, there is no greater judgment, no greater punishment this side of eternity than to be handed over to one's own wicked heart, to be handed over to your heart's lusts.

This is what happened to Pharaoh. Yes, we read in Exodus that Pharaoh hardened his heart against God. We do read that, right? But ten times in the account from Exodus, we read in God's dealings with Pharaoh, where he's commanding Pharaoh through Moses to let his people go. Ten times we read of God hardening Pharaoh's heart.

Ten times. What are we to make of this? In our last session of Romans 9 and verse 15 we read, for he says to Moses, I'll have mercy on whom I'll have mercy, I'll have compassion on whom I have compassion. But look at the passage in front of us right now. The passage before us this afternoon, 1718, seems to take the matter of God's sovereignty to another level.

Not only will God have mercy upon whom he will have mercy, but guess what? He will harden the heart of a man that he chooses to harden the heart of. We don't like to hear words like that. What in the world is going on with this? God hardens the hearts of men at His will?

In our last session on Romans 9, we looked at Paul's answer to the critics, to those who responded, it's not fair because God has mercy on some and not on others. To those who said if God has mercy on one, He's obligated to have mercy on all. We looked at His response to those who would bring a charge of injustice on God's part by saying, I'll have mercy on whom I have mercy, I'll have compassion on whom I have compassion. And I said, brothers and sisters, grace and mercy are God's to bestow, and none can charge God with injustice for bestowing them on one and not on another. Grace by definition is not owed to anyone.

If it were, it wouldn't be grace. God's grace and mercy are unmerited. If a person merits something, it means they deserve it. The Bible says we deserve death. The wages of sin is death.

Romans 6 23, right? We all deserve justice, none of us deserves mercy. We understand that, right? No legitimate charge of injustice or unfairness can ever be brought against God because he exercises mercy on some who don't deserve it and not on others who don't deserve it. Remember, I gave an example of a king who extends the royal scepter of clemency to the offender in his realm.

He's not obligated to extend it to everyone in the realm. The president pardons someone he's not obligated to pardon everyone and empty the prisons of the United States. And I said Paul's point in bringing in the passage from Exodus is that God is not obligated to show mercy to everyone. In fact, God is not obligated to show mercy to anyone. And that's hard for the mind of humanistic man to receive.

Mankind, all mankind, stands guilty before God. That's what the Bible teaches. All mankind stands guilty before God, that's the teaching of Scripture. And God has the right to condemn or spare the guilty, as it seems best in His sight. But again, in our text this afternoon, it seems to take the matter of God's sovereignty to another level.

God not only has mercy upon whom He will have mercy, but whom He wills He hardens. That's the part that kind of, okay, that gets under our skin. If face value it seems harsh to us, but hold on we're gonna we're gonna address that in the moment. But first remember that men by their sins have forfeited all claim upon God, in the words of Spurgeon, Right? We deserve to perish in our sins and if we do so we have no ground for complaint.

If the Lord steps in to save any, He may do so, but if He judges it best to leave the condemned to suffer the righteous sentence, none can arraign him at the bar." In other words, none of us has a claim on God's mercy. If he leaves any who are justly condemned for their sins in their sins to suffer what they deserve for their sins, there's no injustice on God's part. God has a right, Martin Lloyd-Jones, to show mercy to whom he'll have mercy, he'll show mercy, and a right to have compassion on whom he'll have compassion, and there's no ground for complaint whatsoever. There's no legal opposition we can erect. There's no charge we can bring against God if He didn't nothing but allow the whole of mankind to go to hell.

None would have the slightest ground of complaint. The mystery, remember what I quoted Martin Lloyd-Jones in our last session on Romans 9, the mystery isn't that everybody isn't saved, but that anybody is saved, Close quote. And then I quoted Sproul, Dr. Sproul. God reserves to Himself the sovereign absolute right to give grace to some and withhold the grace from others.

Like in the matter of Jacob and Esau, what Jacob got was grace, what Esau got was not injustice. God withheld his mercy from Esau, mercy to which Esau had no claim, but that withholding was not an act of injustice on God's part. Jacob got mercy, Esau got justice. The elect get grace, the non-elect get justice, nobody gets injustice." But Paul takes the matter of God's sovereignty to another level right here in verses 17 and 18. For the scriptures say unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.

Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth." What in the world is Paul saying? Is he saying that God creates sin or rebellion in the hearts of men? No. We know that can't be, right? James says in James 1.13, let no man say when he's tempted I'm tempted of God, For God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempts he any man.

God isn't putting fresh evil into the heart of a man. So what's he talking about when he speaks of God hardening the hearts of whom He wills. The example we're given is that of Pharaoh. God says He raised Pharaoh up for a purpose, show us power at him, for the purpose that his name might be declared throughout all the earth, and it was. And in the process, 10 times, God speaks of hardening Pharaoh's heart.

But in what manner did God harden Pharaoh's heart? What does it mean? When we read that God hardened his heart, I quoted John Owen when we began, the most tremendous judgment of God in this world is the hardening of the hearts of men. I said there's not a greater judgment this side of eternity than to be handed over to one's own wicked heart. That's what it means to have one's heart hardened.

It's what theologians term judicial hardening. Judicial is like a judge, right? Gives this sentence. It's a hardening that is divine, it's of God, it's judicial, it's a judgment. It is a hardening that is inflicted as a punishment for past sins.

It is a giving over of one who is evil to their evil. It is a giving over of one entrenched in sin to indulge his sin to the full. Oh, that's what you want? Okay, I've put up with this long enough. You got it.

You want to go there? Okay. It is a giving over of a lustful heart to fully pursue one's heart's lusts. Remember back in Romans chapter 1 we read, even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind to do those things which are not convenient. Your version might say shameful.

It is a judicial act. It is a divine act of judgment, a giving over of one to sin as a punishment for former sins. And God has the right to do that. In Psalm 106 we read, they lusted exceedingly in the wilderness and tempted God in the desert and He gave them their request. He gave them what they wanted but sent a leanness to their soul.

Oh, that is not something any one of us wants. John Gill says that giving a person up to judicial hardnesses of heart is a just punishment. It is a quote, giving them up to a judicial blindness and hardness of heart as a just punishment for their impieties or their ungodliness. Listen to this from Dr. Sproul.

Dr. Sproul agrees, being given over to sin is itself a judgment on sin. Being given over to sin is itself a judgment on sin." Martin Lloyd-Jones says, it is a form of punishment. It's God withdrawing His grace from those who continue to reject Him. God does not create sin or directly hardened hearts.

He simply withdraws his grace, which naturally allows our sinful hearts to become hardened." Brothers and sisters, God does not create evil in the heart of a man. Please listen to what I'm about to say. He just lets a man go where his already evil heart wants to go. He just removes his restraint. All God has to do is remove his restraint and the heart of a man will increasingly calcify.

Again, Dr. Sproul writes, when we abuse God's patience and long-suffering, our hearts become harder and harder, and at any moment God can remove the restraints and give us over to our sin. God's abandoning a sinner to wickedness is not an act of unrighteousness on his part. It is a manifestation of his perfect justice. It's as if he is saying, you want to sin?

Be my guest. I'm not going to strive with you anymore. I am going to take the wraps off and let you go. It is, brothers and sisters, the worst punishment this side of hell. Imagine an unruly dog that is always striving against the commands of his master and pulling against the chain that holds him.

He can only go so far because the chain is restraining him from doing what he would do if he were let loose. Maybe chase cars or invade his neighbor's chicken house. And then one day after the dog has striven and pulled and yanked long enough his owner just cuts the chain and lets the dog run. The worst punishment that could ever befall a person on earth is for God to cut their chain and let them run, to give them over to their own hearts lust, to let them go as far as they want to go in sin. That's the worst thing that could happen to any person on this side of hell.

I can't think of anything more horrifying. God let Pharaoh run and his heart was hardened more and more. God removed his restraints and Pharaoh did exactly what his evil heart wanted to do. And in this sense God hardened his heart, Pharaoh's heart, and he was perfectly just in doing so. He gave an evil man over to the evil of his own heart.

He cut the chain and let the dog run and he was perfectly justified in doing so. Is there injustice with God if he gives an impenitent sinner over to their sin? No. There's no injustice with God. Now as we close you might be saying this afternoon could this happen to me?

Oh God, could this happen to me? Could God cut the chain and let me run? If you're a Christian, the answer is no. Only God-haters and hypocrites are handed over to their hearts' lusts. A good example is Judas.

He's among the disciples of Jesus, but Judas' heart was far from Jesus, and Judas knew it. He was stealing from the bag long before he sold Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. If you're a Christian, God will never ultimately hand you over to your heart's lust or give you over to a reprobate mind. If however you are on the fence, halting between two opinions. You've got one foot in the church and one foot in the world.

If you're living in sin and loving your sin, if you're resisting God's mercies offered in the gospel and rejecting his call to repentance and faith, if you are refusing to surrender and to humble yourself before Him, then the answer is yes, and you should be very afraid. God asked Pharaoh in Exodus chapter 10 in verse 3, how long will you refuse to humble yourself before Me? How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? How long will you refuse to surrender?

How long will you continue in your obstinance and your rebellion? I'm not ready, God. I'm not going to go there yet. Not ready to go there yet, God. I want to live in my sin a little bit longer.

How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? If that's you, humble yourself before Him now. Humble yourself before Him now. Charles Spurgeon, if you once get a view of the Lord Jesus Christ and know who He is and what He is, if you can by faith perceive his beauties, you will say to fall at his feet is a privilege. I am nothing but a mass of sin and misery.

Lord Jesus, receive me for your mercies sake." Save me Lord, only you can save a sinner like me amen let's pray father you you know every heart and You search the hearts of men. You alone by Your Spirit can bring conviction upon the heart of a person. You alone can change a rebel heart into a surrendered, humbled, obedient heart. You alone can grant a man, a woman, a child brokenness over sin. You alone can show us our hearts and the great evil of our hearts.

You alone can set Christ before us and make him precious. You alone can cause a man, a woman, a child living in sin to turn from their sins and to turn to you looking to the cross of Calvary, the bloody cross of Calvary where Jesus died for the sins of his people and bring them to a place of repentance and faith. And we pray God that this would be the day of salvation for some who have resisted and have been pulling against the chain for so long. We pray O God that you would not cut the chain and let them run. But God, that you would break the heart for Jesus and bring to saving faith and give new life and a new heart and set Christ before them as their great joy and delight because he died for them for our sins.

Lord for those who are believers here help us to pray with the psalmist in Psalm 139, search me, O God, know my heart, try me, and know my thoughts, and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. Such a hard prayer to pray that your people can and should pray it. Search us oh God, know our hearts, try us and know our thoughts. See if there be any wicked way in us, O God, and lead us in the way everlasting. Father, as we approach in a moment here at the Lord's table, help us to approach with hearts of faith, trusting in Christ and Christ alone at what he has done.

And help us to approach with hearts of reverence, O God, in godly fear and with hearts of thanksgiving for so great a sacrifice for you gave your Son to die for us. We proclaim that in this table. Now help us Lord to eat and drink in faith for we ask it in Jesus name amen. Amen.