What Happens When People Reject the Gospel

Q: What happens when people reject the gospel?

Rejecting the gospel leads to divine reprobation and spiritual blindness. When individuals reject the gospel, they court eternal reprobation, closing their hearts, ears, and eyes to the truth of God's word. This willful unbelief results in a state where they can no longer perceive the truth, leading to God withholding His grace and allowing them to remain in darkness. As seen in Acts 28, those who heard the gospel yet did not believe hardened their hearts, and God confirmed their unbelief, leaving them without hope of salvation.

Q: Why is it dangerous to ignore the gospel?

Ignoring the gospel can lead to God's judgment and a hardened heart. Ignoring the gospel is dangerous because it shows a willful rejection of God's grace and mercy, which can result in hardening one's heart against the truth. The scripture warns that those who trifle with the word of God risk being left to their own devices, losing the opportunity for repentance and faith. As believers are reminded in scripture, continuous disregard for the gospel may lead to eternal damnation, making it crucial for all to warmly embrace the message of Christ.

Q: What does the Bible say about the consequences of unbelief?

Unbelief leads to the withdrawal of God's grace and eventual judgment. The Bible clearly teaches that unbelief has severe consequences, including the withdrawal of God's grace. In Acts 28, Paul describes how the hearts of the disbelieving Jews were hardened, leading to their spiritual blindness. They chose not to believe the witness of Christ and His gospel, rejecting the light of divine truth. Given over to their own willfulness, these individuals faced the dire consequences of their choices, being left without hope of salvation outside of Christ.

Q: How does God respond to those who reject His grace?

God may harden the hearts of those who persist in rejecting His gospel. God's response to individuals who reject His grace can involve the hardening of their hearts, as indicated in scripture. In Acts 28, Paul references Isaiah, illustrating how willful disobedience leads to a state where people can no longer perceive or understand God's truth. This shows that God's judicial action can remove the sensitivity of their hearts, sealing them in their refusal to believe. Those who have heard the gospel and dismissed it should tremble at the thought of being given over to their rebellion against God.

Q: Why is believing in Christ essential for salvation?

Belief in Christ is the means by which one receives God's grace and salvation. Belief in Christ is essential for salvation because it is through faith that individuals are justified and reconciled to God. Scripture teaches that salvation comes by grace through faith, as individuals trust in Christ's atoning sacrifice. Without faith, people remain in their sins, and God's grace is not activated in their lives. Acts 28 emphasizes that the salvation of God has come to those who believe, highlighting faith as the distinct channel through which God's redemptive purposes are realized in believers.

fear for myself and a fear for
you individually and a fear for this congregation collectively. The reason for my fear is I know
something of the deceitfulness of the human heart, of my heart
in particular, and I have lived long enough to have seen this
fear come to pass in many people and in many congregations. I fear, after having preached
the gospel to you, myself rejecting the gospel, forsaking the gospel, despising
the gospel, and having preached to you that
I myself should be reprobate at last. I fear for you. I fear that you who profess faith
in Christ, you who are my friends, you for whom I labor, you for
whom I earnestly pray and seek God's blessings, I fear that
after having run well for a season, perhaps even for a long season. In the end, you should despise
the gospel, turn aside from Christ, and embrace again this world
and perish with it. And perhaps above all else, I
fear for this assembly. God has given us the light of
divine truth. I'm as confident of that as I
am that this book's the word of God. I'm as confident that
the gospel we believe is the gospel, and there is none other,
as I am that there is a God in heaven. I don't have any question
about that. God's given us the light of the
gospel. I hope I pray, I ask God to give us grace that we
may truly appreciate his mercy upon us, his goodness to us,
and that while we have the light, we may walk in the light. And
I pray that God may graciously preserve in this place the light
of the gospel. But I'm not so foolish as to
presume that what we now have shall be here from now on. I'm just not that foolish. I
have seen churches in my lifetime, I've seen churches
where once the gospel was clearly preached, faithfully proclaimed,
earnestly, zealously declared, where once the gospel was loved,
where once the gospel was promoted, I've seen those very same churches,
because they despised the privilege of God's grace, because they
despised, neglected, abused the privileges of God upon them,
God has today withdrawn from them the light of the gospel. And the sad part is, the saddest
part I should say, they don't even know it, don't even know
it. The glory is gone and they think
God's in their midst. I've read in history numerous, numerous, numerous
accounts of just what I've told you. I can take you in times
and places and days of old. Here was the light. It shines
so brilliantly, so gloriously, so magnificently. Surely if there's
any place where the light will shine forever, it's that place.
But now the light's gone. There's no light at all. No light
at all. We read of those seven churches
in Asia Minor in the book of Revelation. And you realize that among those
churches There's not one standing today. That's not too surprising. Been 2,000 years. But there's
not even any influence where they once stood. Not even any
influence. The whole region has run over
with paganism, idolatry, superstition. There's not even any remaining
influence of the witness they once had. None at all. I fear
that happening to us. It happened to the entire nation
of Israel, to the entire nation. For 4,000 years, for 4,000 years,
God spoke to no one but Israel. God gave his prophets to no one
but Israel. God gave his law to no one but
Israel. God gave his truth to no one
but Israel. Only Israel had a temple. Only
Israel had the ark. Only Israel had the mercy seat.
Only Israel had the priesthood. Only Israel had the sacrifices. Only Israel had the light of
God. All the rest of the world was
in darkness. The Lord God sent his prophets
to them and they killed them. They mocked them, they abused
them, they imprisoned them, they stoned them to death. He sent
them one upon another. At last he sent his son to them.
And they despised his son and nailed him to a cursed tree.
Still, after his son was crucified and risen from the grave, exalted
to the right hand of the majesty on high, God sent his apostles
first to Israel. But Israel would not hear. They
would not believe. They rejected the gospel. And
today, they are yet 2,000 years later, engulfed in darkness,
superstition, and spiritual death. What happens when people reject
the gospel? That's my subject for tonight.
What happens when people reject the gospel? You're privileged
of God in this place to hear the gospel. I know that may sound
strange in this generation. It may sound arrogant to those
who do not know our God. This generation, when churches
fall over top of themselves, make folks feel good about coming
to church. I'm telling you, you're privileged
for the opportunity to hear the gospel of God's grace. There's
a man standing in this pulpit three times every week preaching
the gospel to you. Whether it's me or whether it's
another, I can assure you that no man preaches in this pulpit
but those who preach the gospel of God's free and sovereign grace
in Christ. And not only can I assure you
that they preach it, I can assure you that every time you come
to hear them preach, you're going to hear this gospel of God's
free grace. You're going to hear it. That's
the message of this pulpit. Those who preach here, preach
the gospel of God's grace and you'll hear it. But what if you
reject the gospel? What if after all is said and
done, you turn thumbs down on the Son of God? What if you,
having heard the truth of God, having heard it preached in the
power of God's Spirit, determine not to obey it? What will be
the result? You'll find the answer in Acts
chapter 28. Acts 28. Let's back up to verse
23, our text this evening. will be verses 25 through 29. In verse 23, when they had appointed
him a day, there came many to him and to his lodging. Now, that's a little bit strange.
I have frequently gone to jails and prisons to preach to inmates,
but I never heard tell of anybody coming to hear an inmate preach
to them. Here these Jews came to a prisoner, a common prisoner,
to hear him instruct them in his religion. They came to hear
him in his logic, to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom
of God. That is, he taught them the nature
and the purpose of God's kingdom. This was the greatest stumbling
block to the Jews with regard to the kingdom of Messiah. They
thought the Lord Jesus was going to come and establish a kingdom
of an earthly kind in Jerusalem. They thought that David's son
would be a great military mighty conqueror who would subject all
the world beneath the feet of the Jews and would establish
an earthly monarchy in which they would reign supreme over
all the nations of the earth. And the apostle Paul persuaded
them. He taught them from the scriptures. That's not the nature
of God's kingdom. God's kingdom is not an external
kingdom, but an internal kingdom. It's not an earthly kingdom,
but a heavenly kingdom. It's not a carnal kingdom, but
a spiritual kingdom. It's not a kingdom of pomp and
ceremony, but rather it's a kingdom of conversion and purity in the
heart. It doesn't lie in meat and drink
and such things as that, but in righteousness, peace and joy
in the Holy Ghost. The kingdom of God, the throne
of God is set up in a man's heart. It's set up in his heart. Now
that's where the kingdom of God is. It's not some earthly physical
throne. God doesn't have a palace upon
the earth where he's going to set a throne and put his son.
No. The throne of God's in the hearts of men. When King Jesus
comes, he takes control of a man's heart. That's the nature of the
kingdom. The Apostle Paul then persuaded them out of the scriptures
and from his own experience concerning Jesus, both out of the law of
Moses and out of the prophets. He spoke to them and plainly,
earnestly, reasonably appealed to their hearts. He opened the
scriptures and he told them who Jesus Christ is. He told them
that Jesus Christ is himself God, the eternal son. And that
in the fullness of time, in fulfilling the covenant of God's grace,
the Lord Jesus Christ came into this earth as a real man, born
of a virgin. have they lived in this world
for thirty-three years, the full age of a man, came to the full
maturity of a man, and all the while he lived in perfect righteousness,
in obedience to God his Father, as a man. He didn't do it for
himself, but he did it for sinners, so that sinners who could not
keep the law might have a righteousness acceptable to the law, a righteousness
honoring to God's law. And then in the fullness of time,
the Lord Jesus Christ, God's eternal son, willingly, voluntarily,
deliberately, according to the purpose of God, set his face
to go up to Jerusalem. And there he, by his own will
and by his own power, stretched out his hands upon the cursed
tree and gave up his life as a sacrifice to make atonement
for sin. And he turned back to the scriptures
and he showed those Jews. He said, now, fellas, you've
all observed the Passover. You've seen those sacrifices
year after year after year after year. And those sacrifices constantly
tell you that by the blood of bulls and goats, there's no remission. And yet, without remission, there's
no forgiveness. Or by the blood of bulls and
goats, there's no possibility of sin being put away. And yet,
without the putting away of your sin, you'll never be accepted
of God. There's one of whom those sacrifices spoke. It's Jesus
Christ, the Lamb of God. And by His own blood, shed once
in the end of the world for the glory of God, He has forever
put away our sins. And the apostle testified from
his experience, telling how that Jesus Christ, the Lord from heaven,
by the power of His almighty grace, awakens the dead and gives
them life and faith and brings them into a living union with
Himself. Paul was full of his subject. He was earnestly seeking
the souls of these men. His heart was in his work and
his work was of eternal importance. He knew that he might never again
see their faces, that very likely he would never again have opportunity
to preach to these men who now sat before him. And so the apostle
Paul preached from morning till evening. Imagine that. He didn't even apologize. He
didn't even make an excuse, but rather he simply preached to
them from the abundance of his heart, endeavoring to reach their
hearts. At least eight or 10 hours, he
preached to them, reasoning with them from the scriptures. But
when the sermon was over, we read in verse 24, and some believed
the things which were spoken and some believed not. Christ is set for the fall of
some and for the rising again of others. To some, he's a stone
of stumbling and a rock of offense. To others, he's a stone of foundation,
a tried and proven precious cornerstone and a rock of salvation. Our
Lord Jesus came not to bring peace in the earth, but a sword.
And this is the sword he brings wherever he comes. He brings
division wherever he comes. If Jesus Christ comes into a
house, he brings division. If the Son of God comes into
my house, he brings division. If he comes into your house,
he brings division. If the Son of God comes into
a church, he brings division. If the Son of God comes into
a town, he brings division. I guarantee you it never fails.
Never. There are those who believe and
those who believe not. There are those to whom he is
a sure foundation and those to whom he's a rock of stumbling
under the same roof. That's just the way it is. The
truth was proclaimed to them. The light was set before them.
But they shut their eyes so they could not see. They stopped their
ears so they could not hear. The love, the mercy, the grace,
and the glory of God in Christ Jesus was affectionately proclaimed
to their hearts, but they hardened their hearts so that they would
not believe. The Lord Jesus Christ is here
showing us by his apostle how that men, when they hear
and believe not, blaspheme his name. They blaspheme his name. And when they agreed not among
themselves, verse 25, they departed after that Paul had spoken one
word. These religious fellows couldn't agree among themselves.
They couldn't decide why they were upset with Paul. They couldn't
agree as to what they believed, but they were agreed on one thing.
They didn't want to hear Paul. They didn't want to hear about
the kingdom of God or of his dear son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
That they were agreed upon. And so as they got up and started
to leave, Paul said, now, fellas, wait just one minute. Just one
minute. Before you get up, before you leave this place, before
you walk away and don't hear me again, I want to tell you
something. I want it to ring in your ears. I want it to sound
in your heart. Hear what I've got to say. Before
you perish in your sins, let me tell you. Well spake the Holy
Ghost by Isaiah the prophet unto our fathers. And this is what
he said. Go unto this people and say,
hearing ye shall hear and shall not understand, and seeing ye
shall see and shall not perceive. For the heart of this people
is waxed gross, fat, and their ears are dull at hearing, and
their eyes have they closed, 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. Be it known therefore unto you
that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles and that
they will hear it. And when he had said these words,
the Jews departed and had great reasoning among themselves. They
walked out the door. What's that babbler saying? That
piece of riff-raff. What's he doing talking to us
like that? What does he mean? Isaiah spoke of us when he said
that. What's he talking about? And
they walked out of the door. And when they walked out of the
door, the door of mercy was shut behind them, and they didn't
even hear it slam. They didn't hear it. They didn't even hear him. They
were as unconcerned about what Paul had said as the chairs upon
which they'd been sitting. They were as negligent of the
gospel they had heard as the walls from which it had been
echoed. These Jews walked out reasoning
among themselves, but not at all concerning the things of
God or of Jesus Christ. Because these Jews despised the
life of the gospel. Because they rejected the claims
of Christ in the gospel, God withdrew the light from them
and fixed it so that they could not come to Christ and be saved.
God fixed it. God fixed it so that these men
could not believe. Though they were still alive,
though they still continued to live for days and weeks and months
and years afterwards, though they maybe didn't perish for
quite some time, though they were very much alive physically,
these men were eternally damned while they lived upon the earth.
Now you talk about a shocking reality. If men and women, if
you and I ever realize how God deals with men who trifle
with his grace, his mercy, his goodness, his gospel, his word,
his son. I guarantee it caused some concern
in our hearts. This book, this is a word of the living
God. This book, you've got it in your hand. Pick it up, look
at it. Thousands of men and women died
to give you that book. Thousands. Thousands. Shed their blood so you could
have it. So you could have it lay on the dashboard of your
car and rot in the sun. So you could have it lay on your
coffee table and collect dust. So you could have it to Stick
little mementos in. Lock of your baby's hair. Picture
of your son at his first baseball game. So you could have it for
a collection book. Huh? So you could lay it aside and
pick it up to come to the house of God. Wouldn't dare come without
it. Everybody brings one. Everybody
brings one. So we got to bring it. Pick it
up, open it, close it, lay it down, pick it up again next time
you come to church. So a preacher, I love the book. That makes sense to me, doesn't
you, Lindsay? That makes sense to me. Love the book and ignore
it. Love the book and despise it.
Love the book and push it aside. Love the book and never seek
its influence in your life. This is the word of the living
God. It's the word of God. Oh, I love good preaching. Love
good preaching. A lot of folks love good preaching
who don't love the gospel. Love to hear a man preach a good
sermon. Preach it well, give you some good instruction, give
you some good advice, some good learning, some good points of
argument, but not love the gospel, not love the Christ who is preached. I cannot imagine, I honestly
cannot imagine a believer, a man or a woman who loves the gospel,
willingly, willingly, without any reason, without some cause. I cannot imagine a believer absenting
themselves from the privilege of hearing the gospel. I just
flat cannot imagine it. I cannot imagine it. Oh, but
preacher, I'm trying my best under God to speak to my heart
and to yours and to yours. I don't care who it is, what
it is, what the excuse is. I can't imagine a believer placing
anything in priority above the privilege of hearing this message. I just flat can't imagine it.
Just can't imagine it. These men had the blessed privilege
that you have. They had the blessed privilege
of hearing a man speak for God and speak the truth of God. And
they walked away and perished because they despised that message. They despised that privilege. They despised the living God. Now as we go through these verses,
I'm going to try my best to speak calmly. and rationally to your
hearts, I want you to hear me. I've got three things I want
to call your attention to. In verses 25, 26, and 27, we
will consider for the most of our time the cause of reprobation. In verse 27, the method of grace,
and in verse 28, the immutability of God's purpose. First then
in verse 25, the cause of reprobation. I rejoice to proclaim free eternal
salvation to sinners, proclaiming salvation by faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ. And I say to you, believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. He that believeth
and is baptized shall be saved. Look to Christ and you'll live.
Call upon the name of the Lord in true faith, with a true heart,
and you will never come into condemnation. By faith in Christ,
all who believe are justified, sanctified, forgiven, and eternally
saved. If the gospel that I preach to
you is mixed with faith in your heart, it shall bring forth fruit
unto everlasting life. I know that so. I say to you
who yet believe not, if right now in your heart, from your
heart, you trust the Son of God, you're saved and saved forever
by God's free grace. But hear this solemn word of
warning. If you hear the gospel preached in the power of God,
the Holy Spirit, and believe it not, you're courting eternal reprobation. I say that to everybody here. If you're privileged of God to
hear the gospel preached in the power of God's Spirit, and you
do not render heart obedience to the gospel, you're courting
reprobation. Turn over to Luke chapter 13.
Luke 13. Our Lord Jesus is speaking here.
He says, strive to enter in, verse 24, strive to enter in
at the straight gate. For many, I say unto you, will
seek to enter in and they'll not be able. He says in verse
25, when once the master of the house has risen up and hath shut
the door and you begin to stand without and to knock at the door
saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. And he shall answer and say unto
you, I know not which you are. Then shall you begin to say,
we've eaten and drunk in your presence, and thou has taught
in our streets. He said in another place, something
like this, out of your own mouth, you'll be judged. Out of your
own mouth. Let's bring it down to where
we live. We're from Grace Baptist Church
in Danville, Kentucky. We've eaten in your presence.
We've drunk in your presence. You taught in our streets. But
he shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence you are. Depart
from me, you workers of iniquity. Reprobation. If you've taken
notes, jot it down. Reprobation is the judgment of
God that falls upon men and women because of their willful rejection
of the gospel. This I see to be the truth of
God. And I count the cost, and I see
what it's going to require. And counting the cost, I turn
and walk away from it. That's what I'm talking about.
This I see to be true to the word of God. This I see to be
the truth of Holy Scripture. This I see to be according to
the gospel of God's grace. I see it. I see that it's going
to cost me my life. I see it's going to cost me my
way of life. I see it's going to cost me everything
I have. I see it's going to cost me surrender
to the claims of a sovereign Christ in every detail of my
life. No, I'll not give that. I'll
not give that. Oh, I'll give a little profession. And most people give a little
profession. No more. No more. To do so is to court reprobation. You read Proverbs chapter one,
Hosea chapter four, verse 17. Our Lord says concerning Ephraim.
Now, don't forget, Ephraim was religious. They were as religious
as us, Merle. Those fellows weren't. They weren't
some kind of immoral, lascivious, vile, off-scouring of society. They were religious. They were
the cream of society. They were religious folks. They
hadn't forsaken the name of God. No, they hadn't forsaken God's
name. They had a lot of things mixed with it, but they hadn't
forsaken it. They professed their religion. They claimed to be
God's children. They claimed adherence to the
law. They claimed adherence to the word. They claimed adherence
to the truth. God said, Ephraim will not let
go of his idols. Leave him alone. Leave him alone. Over and over again in the scriptures
we're warned, warned, warned. Our Lord said, oh Jerusalem,
Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets and stonest them
that are sent unto thee, how often I've gathered thy children
as a hen gather her chickens under her wings and you would
not. Here's the result. Behold, your
house is left unto you desolate. Like Pharaoh of old, these Jews
who heard Paul hardened their hearts against the gospel of
Christ and therefore God hardened their hearts in unbelief as he
had foretold in Isaiah 6. And now the righteous judgment
of God has fallen upon them so that these men who would not
hear, these men who would not believe, these men who would
not obey are now shut up in their unbelief. preacher there's still hope.
I hear folks say, a lot of folks I hear them say, as long as there's
life there's hope. It's not so. My bet's not so. That's not so. Noah's generation
was standing outside that ark and hadn't been a lightning bolt
to flash yet. Hadn't even a clap of thunder yet. Not a drop of
rain has fallen yet. They're eating and drinking and
dancing and partying and having a good time. They're not at all
concerned. They walk by, Noah and his son
and his wife and their wives are in the ark and God shut the
door with all those animals and they say, well, man, Noah's going
to be a smelly fella. Man, how long do you reckon Noah's
going to stay in that barn? How long do you think he'll be
cooped up in that thing? And they'd talk about it while
he was on their way. Boy, you know Old Noah, he didn't
always act like that. That fellow, he just went crazy
when he... He said God spoke to him. And he hadn't been right
since. Nobody could reason with him.
Nobody could talk with him. Nobody could tell him anything.
He must be a bull. He must have lost his mind. He
just lost his mind. And on they went. They didn't
have any idea what had happened. But God had shut the door. God
had shut the door. And they didn't know dull shut
until it began to rain from heaven and terror struck their souls. God sent his angels down to Sodom,
warned them, warned them. Lot warned his sons-in-law, and
he seemed as one that mocked to them. And the sentence of doom had
already been written over the city, and those Sodomites had
no idea what was taking place. They just didn't know. Why was
such severe judgment passed upon these men here? Paul tells us
the cause of their reprobation was their willful unbelief. In
particular, he shows us three things that happened. First of
all, he tells us that these people, their hearts, the heart of this
people is waxed gross, verse 27. The heart of this people
is waxed gross. These men had heard the law,
and they'd heard the prophets, and they'd seen the sacrifices,
and they were privileged now to hear the gospel from Paul's
own lips. But their hearts were hardened
against the gospel. The enchantments of Christless
religious ritualism had hardened their hearts. They were religious,
religious, religious, so religious They could not hear God. They couldn't hear. They couldn't hear Paul speak
because they couldn't hear through all of the facade of religion.
They couldn't see because they couldn't see through all the
rituals and through all the enchantments. They could not see beyond those
things that were surrounding them. Satan had blinded their
eyes and their hearts were heartless. Then Paul tells us their ears
were dull of hearing. They just got tired of hearing
it. They just got tired of hearing it. There was a time when the Jews
rejoiced in the essential message of their religion, and the essential
message of their religion was redemption by Christ. There was
a time when Aaron could come out and explain to them what
that sacrifice is all about. And man, their hearts jumped
for joy. Aaron come out on the day of atonement, lift up his
hands and bless the people and say, the Lord bless thee and
keep thee. The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee and give
thee peace. And as he did, they knew that he was God's priest
representing one who spoke to God for them, spoke to God for
them on the basis of a sin atoning sacrifice. And they knew they
were blessed of God to hear it. But as time went on, they got so wrapped up in the
entertaining rituals and ceremonies of their religion. and in the
sound of the trumpeters in the temple and the sound of the choirs
and the sound of the Pharisees giving their philosophies and
giving their intellectual dissertations concerning various points of
the law. They got so wrapped up in those
things, they weren't the least bit interested in hearing about
that sacrifice, which is the essence of their religion. Not
all interested. dull of hearing. I preach to people, get letters
from people, preachers and church members alike who are dull of
hearing. I want to hear something else,
something else, something different. I hope you don't grow weary of
hearing the message. I hope it doesn't become a burden
to your heart. If so, I fear for you and have
great reason to fear for you. And thirdly, their eyes have
they closed. This is obstinate infidelity.
They could not see because they would not see. They were convinced
of the truth, but they wouldn't bow to the truth. I don't have
any question at all. Oscar, when Paul got done preaching,
these fellows had been preached to by a preacher, and he had
presented irrefutable arguments. He knew the law. He knew it better
than any of them. He knew the Jews' religion better
than the Jews knew it. He was a Pharisee of the Pharisees,
and when Paul got done, they didn't have a single argument
against what he said, not one word to be spoken. He had put
to silence the gainsayers, and yet They said, no, no. We'll not believe that. We'll
not believe that. How often have you, in trying
to minister to people, you witness to them, you converse with them
about the things of God, and you instruct them in the gospel
of Christ, And when you get done, you show them in the scripture,
this is what it says, and you show them what the book teaches,
and you show them who Christ is, and what his character is,
you show them plainly what his glorious sovereignty is, what
his glorious redemption is, you show it to them. And they look
at it right in the book, and they see it, and they say, well,
yeah, I see that, but that's not what I believe. It's just
not what I believe. Well, they say, I see it's in
God's book. And I see that it can't be denied. I see that it's truth, but I
won't bow to it. I won't do it. We're plainly told the reason
why these men were so deliberately hardened against the gospel They
harden their own hearts, they stop their own ears, they shut
their own eyes, lest they should be saved by God's free grace
alone, through the merits of Christ alone. They would not
deny their own works. They would not trust the merits
of a crucified substitute. They would not be saved by free
grace alone. Now read the text with me, verse
25. Well spake the Holy Ghost by
Isaiah the prophet unto our fathers, saying, Go unto this people and
say, hearing, you shall hear and shall not understand. Seeing,
you shall see and shall not perceive. And now Paul says, fellas, it's
come to pass. For the heart of this people
is waxed gross. Their hearts are hardened, fattened
with religion without Christ. Their ears are dull of hearing
and their eyes have they closed. And here's the reason why. Lest
they should see. and hear and understand and should
be converted and I should heal them. What's he saying? The reason
they wouldn't believe what Paul preached is they weren't willing
to give up their works They weren't willing to acknowledge their
sin. They weren't willing to be saved
by a substitute whom they had crucified. They weren't willing
to be saved by God's free grace alone through faith in Christ. Now, because these Jews deliberately
despised the gospel and deliberately rejected the claims of Christ
in the gospel, God left them alone. They would not hear So
God fixed it up so that they could not hear. They would not
see, so God fixed it up so they could not see. They would not
believe, so God fixed it up so that they could not believe.
Preacher, does God do that? As surely as there's a God in
heaven and sinners on the earth, he still does it. Brother Ralph
Barnard, told a story, an experience he
had in Detroit, Michigan, years, years ago. He was preaching in
a big meeting hall in downtown Detroit. After the service was over one
night, there was a young lady sitting about where my daughter's
sitting, about my daughter's age, 16 or 17 years old, and
she was trembling, trembling, weeping, openly weeping. The officer said, after the service,
I went down to that young lady. He said, I think it was the Spirit
of God who directed me. I put my hand on her shoulder
and I said to her, young lady, why don't you repent? He said that young girl glared at me and screamed so
that everybody in that huge auditorium could hear her, my God preacher,
for Christ's sake, leave me alone. He said, I trembled for her.
And I said to her, honey, for Christ's sake, I will leave you
alone. Next day, she got up, take off,
drive to school. And in God's providence, another
car jumped across the road and smashed her head on. And that
lady never again, never again was bothered. was never again
bothered, nothing more to trouble her, this side of eternal damnation. These Jews walked out and Paul
said, while you're closing the door, hear me, God's left you. God's left you. My friends, you and I are living
in the midst of a reprobate age. If ever there was a reprobate
age, this is it. I don't have time to turn and
read the various scriptures. You can jot them down. I urge
you to read them, study them. Read the first chapter of Romans,
the second chapter of 2 Thessalonians, and the third chapter of 2 Timothy.
Read them and understand what this book teaches. This generation
of Bible-toting, hymn-singing, God-hating religionists because
they would not receive the love of the truth, have been sent
a strong delusion so that they might be damned by believing
a lie. And if you and I are not engulfed
in that strong delusion, if you and I are not kept from an even
stronger delusion, the delusion of security and truth without
a living knowledge of him who is true, If we are made to know
the living God, if we have a living union of faith with the living
Son of God, there's only one reason why. It's because God
has shown us mercy. There's no other reason. If my
heart doesn't deceive me, it's because God's given me a new
heart. If my heart doesn't allow me to be deceived with false
religion, it's because God's given me a discerning heart.
If my heart doesn't allow me to turn from Christ, it's because
God's given me a heart to love Christ, because God from eternity
has chosen you. That's the only reason why you're
not deceived. Now, I give this most solemn
word of warning. Preacher, be careful how you
preach, because what I say to you I've been saying to my own heart, if you hear the gospel of Christ
and believe it not, it'd be better off for you if you'd never been
born. God will not trifle with his
dear son, and he will not trifle with people who trifle with his
son. Oh, may God this very night grant you mercy. that you might
live and believe. It may be that before this night
is over, God will say concerning you, that sinner is joined to
his idols. He's been reproved and rebuked,
been instructed and taught. He's heard the gospel preached
with clarity and heard it in power. He knows truth from error. He's weighed Christ in the balances,
and he decided, no, it costs too much. He's joined to his
idols. Leave him alone. Don't ever pray for him again.
I've had it happen. Had it happen. People for whom I've called upon
God and had some ease and liberty of heart and spirit to call their
names before God with earnestness and zeal, suddenly I couldn't pray for
them if all the world depended on it. Say, Preacher, you mean you couldn't
call their names? I could call their names, but I couldn't pray for
them. You know the difference, don't you, Merle? You couldn't pray for them. I
could call their names, but I couldn't pray for them. I could say all
the same words, but I couldn't pray for them. There was nothing
in my heart to speak for them. Nothing. Why? Because God said,
Don't pray for that people again. I will not hear you. Read it, Jeremiah 7 verse 14. Matthew Henry made this observation. Let all that hear the gospel
and do not believe it tremble at this doom. For when once They
were given up to hardness of heart. They were already in the
suburbs of hell. Very quickly, let me give you,
in verse 27, the method of God's grace. Even as Paul announced this terrible
word of judgment upon these reprobates, he tells us plainly what God's
method of grace is. When God saves a sinner, it's
necessary, read it in verse 27, it's necessary that they should
see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand
with their heart and should be converted and I should heal Whenever
God saves a sinner, he does these five things. He never deviates
from them. Are you going to box God up?
No. I'm just going to tell you what God's revealed. When God
saves a sinner, the first thing he does is he causes that sinner
whom he intends to save to hear the gospel of Christ. God does
not save men apart from playing gospel preaching, so that somewhere
along the line, that sinner that God intends to save, David, God's
going to make him hear the Word. He's going to make him hear it.
Whether it's by the written sermon they read, or whether it's by
one of these tracts, or a bulletin, or a public preaching of the
Word, or a Sunday school class, God's going to make him hear
the Word. He's going to do it. Lord Jesus
causes them to hear with their ears. And secondly, when God's
pleased to save a sinner, he causes that sinner to see Christ.
See with their eyes. Oh, not these eyes, no, no. The
eyes of your understanding, the eyes of your heart, the eyes
of your soul. Salvation comes by the revelation
of Jesus Christ in a sinner's heart. when it pleased God to
reveal his son in me, Palsy. And I'll tell you, if you ever
see him, if God would be pleased while I preach, or while Bob was reading scriptures,
making a comment on them, or while you're teaching that Sunday
school class, if God would be pleased to cause the light of the glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ to shine into your heart, you'd
believe. You'd believe. You couldn't resist. The revelation of Jesus Christ
is an irresistible charm by which the Spirit of God effectually
draws sinners to Christ. He said, they'll look on me whom
they have pierced. And in that day, there should be a fountain
open. In the day you look, in the day you look, you'll see
that there's a fountain open for cleansing from all your sin.
And that fountain is Christ Jesus himself. Thirdly, when God saves a sinner,
he gives him an understanding heart. He just causes him to understand. He understands. the truth of
God. He understands the gospel of
God's grace. He understands the message of
redemption. He's not a theologian, but he
understands. He discerns truth from error.
He discerns it. He's got a keen, sharp ear. His sheep hear his voice. And
you can read it in 1 John 2. He says there's an unction in
you. And you don't need that anybody teach you. You know everything.
What do you mean know everything? We know truth from error. We
just know it. Sometimes can't even explain
it, but you know truth from error. There's a discerning spirit,
a discerning heart. And when God saves a sinner by
his grace, he always converts that sinner. The grace of God
to bring salvation causes the rebel to bow before the throne
of Christ. Grace conquers the sinner's will.
Grace subdues the sinner's passions. gives him a heart that is reconciled
to God. Fifthly, when God saves a sinner
by his grace, he always heals that sinner of his deadly plague. That is to say, God causes the
sinner to live He gives his own new life in Christ, delivering
them from their sins. He delivers us from the penalty
of sin. He delivers us from the power
of sin. He's going to deliver us from the very presence of
sin. Our salvation in Christ is so great. God delivers us
from all the consequences of sin. Total deliverance. The third
level. I have to just hurry and give
you just a couple of statements. In verse 28, we see the immutability
of God's purpose. I grieve to see multitudes perish by their
willful, obstinate unbelief. Would to God that everybody I
preached to would repent and believe the gospel. I know that if you refuse, You're
going to be damned and damned by your own unbelief. But I rejoice in this fact. Man's
unbelief does not frustrate or make void the purpose of God.
Turn over to Romans 3. For what if some, verse 3, what
if some did not believe? Shall their unbelief make the
faith of God or the faithfulness of God without effect? God forbid. Yea, let God be true, and every
man a liar. You see, the foundation of God
standeth sure. The Lord will accomplish His
immutable purpose of grace. Because the salvation that men
trifle with, the salvation men despise, is the salvation of
God. You see it in verse 28. Be it
known therefore unto you that the salvation of God The salvation
which is of God in its planning, of God in its purchase, of God
in its execution, of God in its preservation, of God in its perfection. That salvation which God planned
for his own, purchased for his own, and shall give to his own.
That's the salvation of God. It's not going to be defeated.
It's not going to be frustrated. Though God withdraws his gospel,
and withdraws his grace from the unbelieving reprobate. There
is an elect people in this world to whom the gospel shall be sent
and they shall believe. Read verse 28 again. Be it known
therefore unto you that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles. Now listen to this. And that
they will hear it. There's a people scattered out
in this world. in the four corners of the earth,
whom God's chosen, He's determined to save them, He's redeemed them,
and He's going to send the gospel to them, and they'll hear it,
Lindsay, every last one of them. They'll hear it with a believing
heart. Frequently, the unbelief of some
is the instrumental cause of faith in others. Read Romans
chapter 11. It's what the whole chapter is
about. Here's a congregation up here. This part of the world. Got a
pastor who's preaching the gospel of God's grace. They despise
it. They despise it. They won't hear
it. They won't hear it. So the pastor leaves and he goes
down into Podunk Collar. and starts preaching from a stump
to anybody to fall out of the trees and hear him. And down in Podunk Collar, God's
got some folks whom he's pleased to save. And the reason that
preacher is down there preaching in that no man's land, in that
no place to nobody's, is because these folks who thought they
were somebody, they wouldn't hear. They wouldn't hear. If I go to a place and preach
the gospel, as I often do, and they will not receive my message,
I don't get terribly upset. I'm hurt, not hurt in that my
pride's offended, hurt for their soul's sake. But I shake off
the dust at my feet and I go somewhere else because I know
that God has a people in this world. He's going to save. And the reason I'm spending my
time studying and writing and preaching and traveling and preaching,
corresponding with people, is because I'm seeking those men
who will hear it. Oh, give me an ear. Give me the ear of a sinner who
needs a savior. Oh, I'll preach to him just as
long as he'll listen. just as long as he'll listen. Brother Mahan was preaching last
week up in Muncie, Indiana. He preached Monday night and
Tuesday night and the pastor called Wednesday morning. He said, Might be best if you didn't come
back tonight. That's just a little too much for us here. It caused
too much disturbance in the church. Our folks are getting a little
upset and we can't have that. I talked to Henry the day he
got home. He said, well, I've been fired before and I'll be
fired again, but I'll just keep on preaching the same message.
Yeah, just dust your feet off. Can't take personal offense.
The Lord told Samuel, they've not rejected you, they've rejected
me. He told his disciples, they've not despised you, they've despised
me. Just dust off your feet and go
find a place where somebody's interested in what you've got
to say. And stay there just as long as they'll hear it. Just
stay there as long as they'll hear it. Now, I call upon you who yet believe not. I call upon
you in the name of God Receive not the grace of God in pain.
Believe the gospel this day, today, if you'll hear his voice. Harden not your heart. If you
refuse to trust Christ, if you refuse to obey the gospel, sooner
or later, God will shut you up in your unbelief. And you probably won't even know
it. Amen. Please come and lead us in the
hymn, will you? Hymn number 235. Oh. Oh, say does that star-spangled
banner yet wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the
brave Have no mercy, while I am weeping,
give me care and keep me fair. ♪ Will the best be won? ♪ ♪ Call
me, call me, my favorite friend, ♪ ♪ Would I speak thy fairness, ♪ ♪ Till
my worthy brother sings, ♪ Father in Heaven, we are sober
tonight over the message that has been brought to us. Sober
because of the fact that we don't love thy word like that we should. So often we despise it and turn
our back upon it. Dear Lord, we pray that you will
give us a greater love for thy word and the opportunities that
you have given to us that we might gather together, even as
young birds seek the food from their mother, may we have a desire
to seek the word from thee. We pray, Father, that you will
instill in us a longing to learn more about the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that you will be with
us as we now go our separate ways Our prayer is that you'll
grant blessings upon each one of us. And our pastor, as he
leaves in the morning, we ask that you'll grant him traveling
mercies and give him the ability to preach. Preach a message from
thee that you'll grant to him the power of the Spirit of God,
and that you'll open up the hearts of those that will hear. They
might have an understanding of what Christ is in the scriptures. Bring us back at the appointed
hour, Father. He calls us to, through the remainder
of this week, ponder the things that we've heard tonight. Of
course, in Christ's name we pray. Amen.

What Happens When People Reject the Gospel

What happens when people reject the gospel?

Why is it dangerous to ignore the gospel?

What does the Bible say about the consequences of unbelief?

How does God respond to those who reject His grace?

Why is believing in Christ essential for salvation?

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What Happens When People Reject the Gospel

What happens when people reject the gospel?

Why is it dangerous to ignore the gospel?

What does the Bible say about the consequences of unbelief?

How does God respond to those who reject His grace?

Why is believing in Christ essential for salvation?

Sermon Transcript

About Don Fortner

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