The following message is by pastor John Piper.

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Please turn with me to the book of Romans chapter 9 verses 14 through 18. What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means.

For he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy and I will have

compassion on whom I have compassion.

So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God who has mercy.

For the scripture says to Pharaoh,

For this very purpose I raised you up, that I might show my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.

So then he has mercy on whomever he wills and he hardens whomever he wills.

Let's pray together.

Oh Father in Heaven, we tremble over your word, especially a word like this.

You have mercy on whom you will and you harden whom you will. And I am constrained to pray, oh God, in this room and in Roseville,

stay your hardening hand.

Have mercy, O God, this morning.

Let this be a window planned from the foundation of the world of mercy on some who have hardened themselves long

and are on the brink of being hardened beyond measure and recovery.

Oh God, have mercy, I pray, upon us to hear this word to be made low and humble and fragile and desperate and

saved and bold in Christ by this word.

So now, Lord, help me please to be faithful to what it says and to apply it with a spiritual urgency to those

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