God hardens a person's heart by bringing him or her to a point of decision and allowing each refusal of His truth to make the heart progressively harder.
Pharaoh is the biblical example: God placed him before the demand to release Israel, and every time Pharaoh said no, it became easier for him to refuse and harder to obey. In that sense God is said to harden Pharaoh, yet the evidence shows Pharaoh hardened himself through his own repeated choices.
Romans 9:18 — States plainly that God has mercy on whom He will and hardens whom He will, anchoring the doctrine of divine hardening.
Romans 1:21 — Shows the process by which people who suppress knowledge of God become darkened in their foolish hearts.
Romans 9:18 says God has mercy on whom He will have mercy, and whom He will He hardens. Romans 9:19-20 records the objection that no one can resist God's will and replies that the creature has no right to argue with the Creator. Romans 1:21 describes people who knew God but did not glorify Him as God and did not give thanks; their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Scripture therefore presents both the sovereign act of God in hardening and the personal responsibility of those who turn from Him.
Les explains that God does not force a person to be hard-hearted. Instead, God brings that person to a place where a choice must be made. Pharaoh shows this clearly: every time Moses demanded Israel's release, Pharaoh had to decide, and every time he said no, it became harder to say yes later. God's role was to put Pharaoh on the spot; Pharaoh's own rejection did the hardening. The Hebrew word for 'hardeneth' means 'heavy,' so as Pharaoh opposed God, the weight of God's wrath pressed down on him. Les applies the same principle to Romans 1: people who leave God out of their thinking end up with darkened hearts, and God gives persistent rebels over to a reprobate mind. He also stresses that men are not lost because they are hardened; they are hardened because they are lost.
Les teaches that God did not make Pharaoh reject Him against his will. God put Pharaoh in a position where he had to accept or reject the demand to let Israel go. Each rejection made the next rejection easier. In this way Pharaoh hardened his own heart, even though Scripture expresses it as God hardening him. Les also notes that the word for 'hardeneth' carries the idea of 'heavy,' indicating that pharaoh's repeated opposition brought the weight of God's wrath down on him.
Les sees the same pattern in Romans 1. People who know about God but leave Him out of their thinking become foolish in their imaginations, and their hearts are darkened. As with Pharaoh, God judicially places people on the spot; when they say no, the hardening increases. Continued rejection can lead God to give them over to a reprobate mind.
Romans 9:19 raises the question: if God hardens, why does He find fault? Les answers that Pharaoh was not a robot; he still had a choice. God's sovereignty placed him in the situation, but Pharaoh bristled and refused. Les adds that people are not sinners because they sin; they sin because they are sinners by birth from Adam. This inherited sinfulness is why people choose against God, and it makes both God's sovereignty and human responsibility true at the same time.
Romans 1:21 darkened foolish heart
They are either trying to convince themselves, if no one else, that they are, but way down deep I maintain there is no such thing as an atheist. They all know that there is that nagging little desire to fill a vacuum, even though they may not realize what it is, but there is that need to fill a vacuum that God placed in mankind when He created them.
Pharaoh's repeated refusals hardened him
Every time that Pharaoh would reject the offer to let Israel go, it was that much harder for him to say, let them go, and it was that much easier for him to say, I'll not let them go. So I think that's the only way we can look at the fact that God hardened Pharaoh was that he put him in this place of having to make a decision, and every time he made it, it just simply hardened his whole concept.
Hardeneth means heavy; God's wrath pressed down
Verse 18, "...therefore he hath mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth." Now the word, hardeneth, in the Scripture usually is translated heavy. In other words, when Isaiah spoke of a burden that was heavy, it was the same Hebrew word here translated hardeneth. In other words, the more Pharaoh tried to oppose God, the more the weight of God's wrath weighed down on the man.
God brings people to a decision; saying no gets easier
So God brings him to a place of having to make a tough decision. And like the average human being, how did old Pharaoh decide? In his own direction. He made his own choice. Now as we come through all these plagues, after every plague, Moses goes back and says in so many words, well, now are you ready to let the Jews go? What could Pharaoh have said? Let them go.
Pharaoh hardened himself; quote about lost and hardened
Pharaoh like anyone today, came to that place of hardening his own heart, not because God made him do it, but because God put him in a place of either accepting or rejecting, and by rejecting he hardened his own heart. Even though the Scripture says God hardened. Again, I had to write a quote, and I thought it was too good not to pass it on.
God judicially presses on the spot and gives people over
Every time that Pharaoh said no, God judicially put him on the spot that was even tougher, and every time it hardened him all the more. Alright, now then. God gave them over to a reprobate mind to do those things which are not convenient. They're not normal. They are not that which enhances society, or enhances a community. It's going to have its effects sooner or later.
Pharaoh still had a choice; sin nature from Adam
We are not sinners because we sin. That's what the normal person thinks. Well if I wouldn't have stolen, or if I wouldn't have gotten drunk, you know, I wouldn't have this sin problem. We are not sinners because we sin. We sin because we are sinners, and we are sinners because we are born of Adam. So when God hardened, as the Scripture says Pharaoh, it wasn't that he didn't have a choice.
Romans 9:18-20 and the creature's position before the Creator
Now, verse 18, "'Therefore he,' God, "'hath mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.'" Now that throws a curve at us, doesn't it? Boy, that's hard to comprehend. Verse 19, "'Thou wilt then say unto me, Why doth he then find fault? For who hath resisted his will?' In other words, Paul is asking the question, well, if God is putting this guy in this kind of a position, then w…
Romans 9:18: Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.
This is the key verse on divine hardening, quoted directly by Les in the teaching clips.
Romans 1:21: Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
This verse shows how people who know God but refuse to honor Him become darkened in their understanding.
Romans 9:19: Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?
This is the natural objection to divine hardening, and Les uses it to discuss human responsibility.
Romans 9:20: Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?
This verse answers the objection by affirming God's right to direct His creation as He chooses.
No. Les teaches that God places a person in a position where a choice must be made, but the person makes the choice. Pharaoh hardened his own heart by rejecting God's demand, even though Scripture expresses the result as God hardening him.
Les says the opposite: people are not lost because they are hardened; they are hardened because they are lost. The hardness comes from their own repeated rejection of the truth, not from God forcing them to rebel.
God brought Pharaoh to repeated decision points by sending Moses and Aaron. God did not override Pharaoh's will; He sovereignly arranged the confrontation. Pharaoh's own pride and stubbornness produced the hardening with each refusal.
Watch the Teaching: Why God Holds Everyone Without Excuse — Romans 1:18-21