I will be brief, time has moved
away for us, but if you turn with me back to Acts chapter
28, I'll just look at a few of those verses here. 23 They appointed him a day, and
there came many to him in his lodging, to whom he expounded
and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them to believe,
both out of the law of Moses and out of the prophets, from
morning till evening. And some believed the things which were
spoken, and some believed not. And when they agreed not among
themselves, they departed after Paul had spoken one word. Well
spake the Holy Ghost by his eyes, the prophets unto our fathers,
saying, Go unto these people and say, Hearing ye shall hear,
and shall not understand, and seeing ye shall see, and not
perceive. For the heart of this people
is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their
eyes have they closed. I want us to be reminded yet
again of the responsibility of man and especially the responsibility
of religious man. Some believe the things which
are spoken and some believe not. The believing is passive. The
believing not is an active. The closing of their eyes in
Acts 28-27, their eyes they have closed is exactly the same as
the believing not. It's an active activity. They
close their eyes against the clear evidence of Scripture that
stood before them in the Lord Jesus Christ and miracles that
He alone did. could do as Messiah, lest they
should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand
with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal
them. He finishes this discussion with these Jews, this testimony,
this gospel witness. And as you read Romans 9 and
10, you can't help but think that there were times during
this day of preaching from morning Paul had tears in his eyes. When
Paul looked at those people in the face, that crowd of Jews,
and he pleaded with them individually and personally, and he reminded
them, I'm sure again and again, how Acts began, isn't it, that
there'll be witnesses under me, says the Lord Jesus Christ, and
this whoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
He's talking about the most serious matters of eternal life and death,
and these Jews departed. They depart to have a discussion.
They'll have a discussion about this. The Gospel is not presented
for you to have a discussion about. The Gospel is presented
to cause people to bow and to love the Lord Jesus Christ. One
of my favourite verses in the Scriptures is, the longer I am
called to preach, the more important it becomes. In John 6.45 it's,
The Lord said, As it is written in the prophets, and they shall
be all taught of God. Jesus Christ is there. I love
that verse in John chapter 12 where the Lord says wherever
I am there my servant shall be also. Wherever I am there shall
also my servant be. They shall be all taught of God.
That's what the prophets said, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Micah. It's
repeated here and another two times in Hebrews. Everyone therefore,
says the Lord Jesus Christ, that hath heard and hath learned of
the Father does what? They come to me. The purpose
of preaching the gospel is that the Lord's people will hear him. They'll be taught of God. verse 26 saying, go unto these
people and say, hearing you shall hear, hearing you shall hear, and shall not understand, and
seeing you shall see and not perceive. I think the first thing
we have to remember here of course is that these people did hear
and these people did see. So the whole apologetics ministry
of this world is wrapped up in the fact that if you give people
evidence, you give the people evidence from creation, you give
people evidence from science, you give people evidence from
philosophy, you give people evidence from history. If you give people
evidence, then out will pop belief. We had one of those creationist
guys come to town many years ago and he said, if you understand
creation, if you understand creation, you'll become a believer. is of the Lord. It's the Lord
coming, it's not your wisdom, the evidence. They had all the
evidence before them. They had the words of God published
before them. Those Jews in Jerusalem of which
these men are descendants, at least spiritually if they weren't
physically, You remember in Acts chapter 4, that man who had been
healed had been lying at that gate of that temple, that beautiful
gate of the temple, for all of his life. And all the Jews had
walked in and out, in and out, walked past him. And Paul, Peter
comes by with John and they raise him, don't they? And he stands
up and he goes into the temple with them leaping and abounding
and praising God. And what's the response of the
Jewish people in Jerusalem? We've got to stop these men from
speaking. And they haul the men before
them, don't they? And Peter says in Acts 4, verse 20, We cannot
but speak the things which we have seen and heard. They'll just keep reminding people
of who the Lord Jesus Christ is. And then he went on to tell
them, Every soul that shall not hear the prophet The prophet is the Lord Jesus
Christ. Every soul that shall not hear
that prophet shall be destroyed. They'll hear and they shall not
understand. They shall not understand. That word understand is an interesting
word. It means to bring together. It means to set or bring together. It means to join together in
mind. It's to put 2 and 2 together
and get 4. The religious world puts 2 and
2 together and gets 1 or 15. But the God's people put 2 and
2 together, only by the grace of God working in their hearts
to reveal the truth of who the Lord Jesus Christ is. They put
scripture together with evidence. They put the testimony of men,
of faithful men, with the life and the promise fulfilled. They
put the woe is me of Isaiah together with the need of forgiveness.
Those people that Peter spoke to that day, they saw by the
grace of God when the God crucified God. Their cry is,
what must we do to be saved? And Peter can bring to those
people that promise, isn't he? Your sins can be washed away. The sins of all of God's people
have been washed away completely in the life and death and the
resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Putting two and two together,
we put our rebellion together in God's justice. We put the
creation and the fact that God is absolutely sovereign and rules
over all things together. We put the reality of our lives
and our consciences with the need for us to be stripped of
our silly notions of self-righteousness. We put together the fact that
I'm nothing but sin. I'm nothing but sin, and I need
a covering and a cleansing. As Isaiah said to them, the whole
body is full and rotten, isn't it? It's an incurable disease
from their feet to their head. There's nothing but wounds and
bruises and putrefying sores. When someone has been made to
see that they are sinners, From the sole of the foot, Isaiah
1.6, even under the head, there is no soundness in it, there's
no health in it, but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores,
and they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified
with ointment. You need a savior. When you cry
out like Isaiah did, woe is me, I'm a man of unclean lips. The
only solution, isn't it? The only solution is something
that comes from the very altar of God. They don't understand. They don't
put two and two together. See, the natural man can understand
works religion. The natural man can understand
decisionism, can't they? That I make a decision and God
must respond. The natural man can understand
that God makes an offer and we accept an offer. The natural
man can understand that God loves everyone and that Jesus died
for everyone. You don't need to understand
natural man's understanding of religion. You just look at the
religion around you. The natural man can understand
that the evidence of my salvation is that I have a changed life.
I'm living clean now. I'm not doing the things I used
to do. The natural man can understand what are called the doctrines
of grace. is ever used in the scripture
is talking about false doctrines. And I'm not saying that the five
points of Calvinism are false, but if people's faith and understanding
of those things is often, for so many people sadly, a cause
of them having assurance of their salvation, then they're not like
those ignorant people. It's not like those ignorant
free will people. The natural man can understand
legal obedience. The natural man can understand
rewards in heaven. The natural man can understand
progressive sanctification. They can understand a progression
in holiness. I'm doing more good now. I'm
doing less evil now. The natural man can understand
that. That's evidence of their assurance. evidence. Don't look for any
other evidence. Faith is the evidence. The Lord
Jesus Christ declared and proclaimed and believed and bowed to as
he is declared in the scriptures to be the sovereign successful
saviour who made a sacrifice and offer to God for the sins
of all of his people. The Christ of the scriptures
saves sinners The natural man can see rewards in heaven for
obedience. The natural man can use the things
called the means of grace. There is one means of grace.
It's called faith. Just trust. The life I now live
in the flesh, the life I now live here, I live by the faithfulness
of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself to me. The natural
man can see and take great comfort from all others in religion with
him. The Jews found great comfort
in the fact that there were so many of them. And when they were
warned of God to leave and to flee Jerusalem instead of running
away, Paul and Isaiah and countless
multitudes, and us included, can show how far a man can go
in religion and not have a clue about the character of God. Seeing,
they can't put them together. They don't put them together. Seeing you shall see and not
perceive. You won't know, you won't behold. No wonder Peter spoke and he
said, brethren, hearken to my words. He used to go to them
again and again and say, listen, listen and hear. Look what's
happened. Look what the evidence is that lies right before your
very eyes. You've had a walking, talking,
living testimony to the real Messiah of God before you for
three and a half years and he's done miracles that no one else
can ever do. He's done miracles that Messiah is limited to doing. You shall see and not perceive.
That's exactly what The Lord spoke of in John chapter 9, didn't
he? That messianic miracle. The man
who was healed said to them, your scriptures tell you that
only Messiah heals blind people who didn't have even eyes or
didn't have eyes that functioned from their birth. Only Messiah
did that. Elijah didn't do it. Elisha didn't
do it. Moses didn't do it. None of the
remarkable miracles, all that miracle is reserved for one.
And again and again Isaiah says that this is a messianic miracle.
He says, Since the world began, it was not heard that any man
opened the eyes of one blind. If this man were not of God,
he could do nothing. And their response to this man
and their response to the evidence, you were all together born in
sins. How dare you teach us? We're not sinners is what the
implication is. They see. What a terrible, terrible,
terrible judgement upon God to have the ability to hear and
have Christ declared publicly and clearly One of the men, the pastors that
we had our discussions with all those years ago, said regarding
particular redemption, but regarding the declaration of the Lord Jesus
Christ to be the Lord Jesus Christ is all that we were doing. He
said, I see that particular redemption is in the scriptures and I can
see that the scriptures are selling him out. And I don't believe
it. And you're just horrified to think
that that could be the state of someone who has gone on in
pastoral ministry and now is in positions of leadership and
has been so for the last 20 years. it has changed. See in John chapter 12, we looked
at these verses earlier in John chapter 12, the Lord Jesus Christ
says, it's said of him isn't it, the Holy
Spirit says, but though he had, verse 37 of John 12, we read
it before, though he had done so many miracles before them,
He was a living, breathing, walking, talking miracle. They sent out
police, the army, to arrest him, didn't they, those soldiers?
And they came back and said, where is he? And their response
was, no one ever spoke like this man spoke. No one ever spoke
like this man spoke. We're dealing with someone who's
remarkably different to all of the rest of humanity. Those soldiers
came to arrest him on that night in the Garden of Gethsemane.
a crowd of hundreds, hundreds and hundreds of them with their
lamps and their spears. And he just says a word. He declares
himself to be God. He let them get up from their
feet, which is the most remarkable miracle of that night in a way,
regarding those people. He healed that man, but he let
these others get up from their feet, and he let himself be bound
of them and taken away to be treated with utter contempt.
There's not a record of that incident impacting a single mother. And we think, the religious world
thinks, that all we have to do is give people evidence. But
though, get back to John chapter 12, but though he had done many
miracles before them, yet they believed not on him. This is
why unbelief happens, isn't it? You believe not because you are
not of my sheep, says the Lord Jesus Christ. My sheep hear my
voice. You can read it in John chapter
10 and in so many other places. Is that the saying of Isaiah?
When these things happen, brothers and sisters, it is a sign of
the faithfulness of our God to his word. It's a sign of his
faithfulness. He is not dethroned by religious
people in their rebellion against him. They're saying that Isaiah
the prophet might be fulfilled which he spoke. Lord, who hath
believed our report, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been
revealed? Therefore, verse 39, therefore they would not believe. They could not believe. No man
can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him. They could
not believe because, as I said again, he had blinded their eyes. No wonder. false religion in the scriptures
is likened to someone who is drunken, someone who is intoxicated. I had a very sad incident in
town. A couple of mornings ago I met
a young Aboriginal lady that I'd known for years and she'd
worked on her farm with her partner that had actually been here at
the church. the fellow that she had lived
with for all the years I'd known her. And she had no idea who I was
talking about. We can't but be deeply, deeply
grieved by the evil of ice and And there's a religious intoxication
and a religious blindness which is in every way equal to that. You read Proverbs 1 and other
places where people are left to their own devices. And God
fixes it such that they cannot believe. with tears in our eyes and prayers
in our hearts and a desire to witness to people. He says in verse 27 of Acts 28,
for the heart of this people, so he doesn't call them my people,
the heart of this people is waxed gross. It means that it's become
thickened, it's fat. To be made stupid is to be made
that to be made callous, you might remember some of those
words from the scriptures. They callous their hearts. You
can continue in wicked sin to the point where you can so callous
your heart that you no longer are able to have that conscience
that reminds you of the depths of the wickedness of it. The
ears are dull of hearing, they're heavy. They're heavy. And their eyes, have they closed? I want us to be reminded again
that that is active. It's active indicative. Their
eyes, they are closed and they continue to keep them closed. I love quoting Acts 13, 27, they
that dwelt at Jerusalem and their rulers, because, because they
knew him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets, which are read
every Sabbath day, they have fulfilled them in condemning
him. It's remarkable, isn't it? They
were living testimony to the veracity, the truthfulness of
the Scriptures and yet they couldn't see it. They were leaving it
out. Before them they were using the very words of Scripture.
They were quoting from Zechariah and they were quoting from Isaiah.
They were quoting from the prophets as they crucified the Lord of
Glory. They were quoting, he was quoting and he led them in
Psalm 22 and they lived out Psalm 22. And they had absolutely no
idea what they were doing. Such is the stupefying wickedness
of rebellion, such is the reprobation of God when he leaves people.
All he has to do, all he has to do is leave religious people
in their religion and they won't have a clue who God is. And they
went home from the cross and preached sermons as they did
from the fires in London witnesses to the stake, they
went back to their churches and preached sermons justifying their
activities. And people argue about total
depravity. In all of these things we must
remember two things, don't we? There are two great markers. There are, of course, the bookends
of all of that is what happened in eternity and what will happen
in eternity. But we will not understand anything
of the nature of man and the nature of the gospel in this
world unless we understand the fall and we understand the cross
of the Lord Jesus Christ. things, you take them back to
the Fall, as people so often say. If you're wrong on the Fall,
you're wrong on it all. And given the nature of modern
religion's declarations about the nature of man, they are wrong
on the Fall, and they are wrong on it all. All they teach these
days is that man fell over in the garden and broke his little
finger and all he needs is a little bit of medicine and all he needs
to do is use the natural inclinations of his heart and he'll come to
salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. It requires the miracle of creation. A new creation is the only creation
that sees. A new heart is the only heart
that believes. these people. Their eyes they
have closed, their heart is fat, their ears are heavy, and they
are in the business of closing their eyes. Why? Isaiah 29.10 says, For the Lord
has poured out upon you a spirit of deep sleep and hath closed
your eyes. The prophets and your rulers he hath covered. It's the heart. True salvation is a heart matter,
isn't it? See, Eve heard the words of promise
of Satan. She heard the denial of the character
of God. Did he really say, he's withholding
some good from you? She heard the denial of the character
of God. And what did she see? She saw that it was good food. This sustains
my life. It was pleasing to look at. This
is satisfying to my eyes. And it's able to make one wise. See, it had an impact upon the
heart as well as the flesh. She took and ate, and she took
the poison of Adam into all of his flesh. Adam who wasn't deceived. Adam who wasn't deceived ate
and the whole human race fell with him. People want to say
that we're all children of God. We are all God's creation. Just
in closing I want us to have a quick look at Genesis chapter
5. This is the book says our God. This is the book of the generations
of Adam. In the day that God created man in the likeness of
God, he made him. So Adam was the man who was made
in the image of God. Male and female he created them
and blessed them and called their name Adam in the day when they
were created. And Adam lived 130 years and
begat a son Listen to what God says about
the creation of Adam's children. He begat a son in his own likeness. All of the children of Adam are
created in the likeness of Adam. There are children of God in
this world, and there are, according to the Lord Jesus Christ, children
of the devil. You must be a new creation a
son in his own likeness and after his image and he called his name
Seth. I just want to to finish verse 27, lest they
should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand
with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal
them. As I reminded you when Mark uses
those words, that I should forgive their sins, to be healed of the
Lord. is to have our eyes opened to
be given a new heart, a new eyes, the eyes of our understanding
to see who the Lord Jesus Christ is and to see who we are and
to see the glory of God in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ.
It's a divine miracle of revelation. It's a divine miracle of creation. His new creation, they're created
in righteousness and true holiness. The salvation of the Lord is
the Lord removing. my heart a stone, and giving
me a heart of flesh, removing a heart of stone that is completely
unfeeling and insensitive in every possible way to anything
of the movements of God upon it. Now Monda David tried out
creating me a pure heart, creating me a clean heart, our God, God in sending his gospel to
those wicked, rebellious, religious people in Jerusalem. They were
pricked in the heart. They were pricked into the heart. And they were caused to cry out
to God. And as the Lord Jesus Christ
said to that woman, your faith has made you whole. Your faith has healed you. Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they shall see God. For where your treasure is, there
will your heart be also, said our Lord Jesus Christ. God, in
the new creation, creates the Lord Jesus Christ to be a treasure,
and when he creates him to be a treasure, he causes everything
else about our religious righteousness, our self-righteousness, all of
it to be like Isaiah, the crier, woe is me, I'm undone. You create, you undo it, our
great God, and you create. and you turn us around. Let's pray. Now, Heavenly Father,
we thank you. We thank you for the truthfulness
of your word and we praise you, Heavenly Father, for your faithfulness
to your promises. And we pray, Heavenly Father,
that you cause us to be a people that call upon your name. That we might know the wonder
and the glory of your that whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved. Oh, heavenly
Father, we thank you that by your grace and by your spirit
creating in us a new heart that the very character of the Lord
Jesus Christ, the very character of him revealed in the scriptures,
the very character of him that we have been looking at today
is a cause for the rejoicing of your people. You tell Jeremiah
to diminish not a word and we pray, Heavenly Father, that in
our hearts that we would diminish nothing of your revelation of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And may we look away from ourselves
and look to his shed blood and look to his broken body and see
our sins gone forever. May you wash us, Heavenly Father.
washes white as snow in and by his precious blood. He calls
us to go out into this world, as Paul did, with tears, with
pleas, and with cries to witness. that your sheep might hear and
be gathered, heavenly Father, gathered to you. Bless your word
to our hearts, heavenly Father. Make us to love our Lord. Make us to be caused to be found
faithful. faithfully resting in him, faithfully
proclaiming him, faithfully simply trusting your dear and precious
son. For we pray in his name and for
his glory. Amen.