Ex 9:16, But, indeed, for this cause I have allowed you to remain, in order to show you My power, and in order to proclaim My name through all the earth. 
As we come to the end of our discussion of this passage, there is a point that needs to be emphasized. It is not new by any measure and but it is profound in terms of philosophical, ideological, or doctrinal force. This is something that has been traced throughout the scriptures, if one will but take the time to consider the breadth and depth of what God has done in Jesus Christ. 
As we have previously mentioned, God uses anyone to do that which He declares and proclaims and purposes to be done. As with Pharaoh, the pagan king of Egypt, God used him to manifest the reality that God was the Lord God Almighty, ruler of heaven and earth. Through all the plagues and the trials and the tribulations, resulting ultimately in the release of the Children of Israel from slavery, God made known His name again and again. This account of the 10 plagues is told in every country of the world, always with the end that what was accomplished by God resulted in the formation of the nation of Israel who went forth in the power of God into the Promised Land. 
The name of the Lord has been proclaimed throughout the earth in the telling and the retelling of the account of the release of Israel from the slavery of Egypt through the miraculous working of God. …But, indeed, for this cause I have allowed you to remain, in order to show you My power, and in order to proclaim My name through all the earth.
The key that we want to consider is that God has continually manifested Himself to all the nations of the earth. While Israel was His Chosen people, He did not disregard the other inhabitants of earth, but made Himself known throughout all of His creation by the things that were created. As we read in the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Romans, there is no excuse in any heart of man to not respond to and honor the Lord God Almighty. Please open in your Bibles to Rom 1:16-25. 
Rom 1:16-25, For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "But the righteous man shall live by faith." For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God, or give thanks; but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, that their bodies might be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. 
	Every man, woman, and child, from the creation of Adam and Eve onward has been brought face-to-face with the fact that God is the Lord God Almighty, Creator of all. There is no one who can claim that God has not made Himself known. There is no one who is beyond the working hand of God in operation to will and to make His plan and His purpose on this earth to be fulfilled and manifested in the great outpouring of His so tremendous love. God’s infinitely righteous power and divine nature has filled this whole universe from the creation on through this day and into every day that is to come. No one and nothing is beyond the scope and the length and the breadth and the depth of knowing Who God is and What He has done!
	Mankind has always tried to deny the existence of God. Humanity has tried to elevate himself into the place that God, Alone, has as the Supreme and Sovereign Lord. However, man has always, and will always, fail in every feeble attempt to supplant the rightful place that is singly at the Throne of God. No matter how forcefully Pharaoh tried to deny that God was making the whole of Egypt a wasteland, as a direct result of his stubborn refusal to let God’s people go, things only got worse. Pharaoh was continually frustrated and struck to the core of his intellect, his emotions, his belief in pagan deities, and his sense of being someone beyond the grasp of God’s working power. He waved his fist at God in the stupidity of humanities’ corruptness and he and his nation bore the price of saying that there is no God in heaven Who cares for those whom He has chosen unto Himself. 
	This is the great lie of this age. There is the prevalent and pervasive teaching in school and in the media and in the philosophical and scientific communities that states that there can be no real God in heaven Who cares for people. The argument is that there might have been some benign architect of the elements from which the earth and the universe have been formed, but that being, if it ever existed, has long since left mankind to do his very best in this world. The great hope of humanity, lost in sin and in the futility of mental capacity, is that man will always have some good that will overcome and triumph when faced with adversity. That was the hope of Pharaoh that was utterly shattered as God so absolutely blasted apart Pharaoh’s every design to salvage something in the face of the plagues that were so devastating and that ultimately forced him to recant and to let the people of God go their way.  
The Prophet Isaiah saw this very attitude even within the people of God, as they lost themselves in what man could do and forgot what the Lord God Almighty had done. Please open your Bibles to Isaiah Chapter 40. Isa 40, verses 3-15. A voice is calling, "Clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness; Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God. "Let every valley be lifted up, And every mountain and hill be made low; And let the rough ground become a plain, And the rugged terrain a broad valley; Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed, And all flesh will see it together; For the mouth of the Lord has spoken." A voice says, "Call out." Then he answered, "What shall I call out?" All flesh is grass, and all its loveliness is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, When the breath of the Lord blows upon it; Surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever. Get yourself up on a high mountain, O Zion, bearer of good news, Lift up your voice mightily, O Jerusalem, bearer of good news; Lift it up, do not fear. Say to the cities of Judah, "Here is your God!" Behold, the Lord God will come with might, With His arm ruling for Him. Behold, His reward is with Him, And His recompense before Him. Like a shepherd He will tend His flock, In His arm He will gather the lambs, And carry them in His bosom; He will gently lead the nursing ewes. Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, And marked off the heavens by the span, And calculated the dust of the earth by the measure, And weighed the mountains in a balance, And the hills in a pair of scales? Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord, Or as His counselor has informed Him? With whom did He consult and who gave Him understanding? And who taught Him in the path of justice and taught Him knowledge, And informed Him of the way of understanding? Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, And are regarded as a speck of dust on the scales; Behold, He lifts up the islands like fine dust. 
… Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, And are regarded as a speck of dust on the scales… We are often so caught up in the affairs of this life that we fail to recognize that what God is doing transcends any earthly kingdom or nationality. Everything is absolutely centered in the Kingdom of Jesus Christ! The greatest of earthly civilizations, including that of Ancient Egypt, are nothing in the scale and the magnitude of the Lordship and the Sovereignty and the manifest glory of Jesus Christ! His is the name above every name! His is the only ruling and overruling in which we place our trust and our hope! Nothing at all will be found in the goodness and the beneficence of humanity. Everything is only in place as it honors and magnifies Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Our Savior! 
The prophet continues to call out against the idea and the defilement of even the people of God as they had forgotten all that God had done in His Omnipotence and Omniscience in action. Please turn forward to Isa 63:11-16. Isa 63:11-16, Then His people remembered the days of old, of Moses. Where is He who brought them up out of the sea with the shepherds of His flock? Where is He who put His Holy Spirit in the midst of them, Who caused His glorious arm to go at the right hand of Moses, Who divided the waters before them to make for Himself an everlasting name, Who led them through the depths? Like the horse in the wilderness, they did not stumble; As the cattle which go down into the valley, The Spirit of the Lord gave them rest. So didst Thou lead Thy people, To make for Thyself a glorious name. Look down from heaven, and see from Thy holy and glorious habitation; Where are Thy zeal and Thy mighty deeds? The stirrings of Thy heart and Thy compassion are restrained toward me. For Thou art our Father, though Abraham does not know us, And Israel does not recognize us. Thou, O Lord, art our Father, Our Redeemer from of old is Thy name. 
In Jesus Christ, all that was done for the nation of Israel in making known the name of the Lord God Almighty, has been opened in fullness and in completeness for those who were afar off. We have been brought into the relationship with God that makes us sons of God in Jesus Christ! Nothing of ourselves could do this! Nothing in us made us worthy to be so brought into the very heart of God. It is all in the fact that Jesus Christ so made known the love of God unto us through His death and resurrection. That and that alone is the manner of our inclusion into the grace and the mercy and the love of God. 
	The Prophet Malachi pronounced this reality far before the Messiah was born on earth. Mal 1:9-11, "But now will you not entreat God's favor, that He may be gracious to us? With such an offering on your part, will He receive any of you kindly?" says the Lord of hosts. "Oh that there were one among you who would shut the gates, that you might not uselessly kindle fire on My altar! I am not pleased with you," says the Lord of hosts, "nor will I accept an offering from you. "For from the rising of the sun, even to its setting, My name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense is going to be offered to My name, and a grain offering that is pure; for My name will be great among the nations," says the Lord of hosts. 
… My name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense is going to be offered to My name, and a grain offering that is pure; for My name will be great among the nations," says the Lord of hosts. The Lord made this known to Pharaoh at the time of the plagues of Egypt and will maintain His vigilant work to this end in Jesus Christ. 
Once more, open in your Bibles to the letter to the Romans as we bring this to a conclusion. The Apostle Paul so phrased the joyousness of the fact that the name of God is no longer to be claimed by one nation alone. All who call upon Jesus Christ are now called to celebrate and to declare the majesty and the honor and the glory of the Lord God Almighty. He has used every nation and every tongue and every tribe to show forth His glory and His grace and His mercy. Rom 9:14-26. 
	Rom 9:14-26, What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there? May it never be! 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 does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, "For this very purpose I raised you up, to demonstrate My power in you, and that My name might be proclaimed throughout the whole earth." So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires. You will say to me then, "Why does He still find fault? For who resists His will?" On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, "Why did you make me like this," will it? Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use, and another for common use? What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? And He did so in order that He might make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory, even us, whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles. As He says also in Hosea, "I will call those who were not My people, 'My people, 'And her who was not beloved, 'beloved.'" "And it shall be that in the place where it was said to them, 'you are not My people, 'There they shall be called sons of the living God." So be it!
	But, indeed, for this cause I have allowed you to remain, in order to show you My power, and in order to proclaim My name through all the earth. Amen.

	This morning’s benediction is Deut 7:7. Know therefore that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God, who keeps His covenant and His lovingkindness to a thousandth generation with those who love Him and keep His commandments; 
Amen.