Harder Hearts – Acts 28:24-28

 

As I said this morning, while his visitors were leaving, Paul referred to a statement from Isaiah 6.

I also said, that this is an oft quoted but somewhat difficult scripture.

It seems that each time that it comes up it’s in a slightly different context.

And in each context it is used to emphasize something slightly different.

That is one of the privileges, and even one of the miraculous things, about God and His Word.

God can say one thing and actually convey a variety of similar things.

But in a limited way we even have that sort of thing in our own human languages.

If I say that something or someone is “blue,” I could be saying a number of different things:

I could be saying that it is any of a great number of different shades of the color of blue.

Or I could be saying that it voted for a certain political party in the last election.

If I say that someone is blue, I might be saying that he is sad or unhappy.

But then other synonyms for blue are the words “pornographic, smutty, and obscene.”

So on one occasion when I say that something is blue, I might mean one thing, and then on another occasion, with exactly the same words, I might be saying something entirely different.

And that can be even more true when it comes to the message of God and the translation of the message of God.

This evening I’d like to digress just a little and compare Isaiah 6:9-10 with the places where it is quoted, including here in Acts.

Let’s start with the original statement in ISAIAH.

“And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.”

At least as far as this aspect of Isaiah’s commission was concerned, he was to tell Judah that they had been blessed with the ministries of dozens and dozens of God’s prophets.

They had been given the revelation of God, and they knew what the Lord expected of them.

They had their sins exposed, and they had learned where they had failed to properly keep God’s Word.

Others had come along to remind them of the consequences of sinning against the Holy God.

And then others had been sent to prophesy of up-coming specific judgments for their sins and unbelief.

And finally there was Isaiah to add to all these things,

and to point out that even though their ears may have heard every point,

the reality of those points had not sunk into their souls.

This is a problem that anyone can have, and in some ways even the true child of God.

How many times do parents have to tell their children not to do certain things before they learn that they shouldn’t do those things?

Doesn’t it seem that sometimes those kids don’t even hear what is being said?

After all, if they really heard then they would have obey, right?

But they really do hear with their ears, although they don’t hear with their hearts and souls.

And how many times do those parents themselves hear things and not hear them?

How many Bible lessons have we heard over the years which went in one ear and out the other?

How many verses have been explained, and we have yet to understand what they mean?

“Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not.”

Whenever we come to the house of God, we need the blessing and help of God to make those few minutes profitable.

We need to come with the prayer that the Lord will knock the wax out of our ears,

but more importantly that He’d know the wax out of our hearts

so that we can come away with the message that He has designed for us.

This is perhaps the first application of this scripture, and one with which we don’t have any problem.

But the next verse suggests something which is contrary to our liking and to our image of God.

And this raises another aspect of our preparation for the teaching and preaching of God’s word:

The Lord wants us to come to His table with our minds engaged and focused.

But we must remember that our minds and hearts have been tainted by sin.

We must be willing to lay aside what we already think – in order to accept what God wants us to think.

We are not dumb animals required to memorize the signals and commands of our trainer and Master.

But at the same time we need to give our hearts to the Lord in order to be trained according to His will.

Doesn’t the Lord tell Isaiah that his message will actually be a part of the deadening and dulling process?

This is something that most people do not want to hear.

“Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.”

Not only was Israel already in rebellion and not only had they already turned their ears from the truth.

In repeating that truth and in providing more truth, Isaiah was going to be contributing to their farther hardening.

The ancient illustration of the work of the sun still applies:

The sun warms and melts the heart made of wax,

but the same sun dries and hardens the heart of clay.

The preaching of the truth blesses those hearts which God has prepared.

But the preaching of the same truth makes the rest more stubborn and resolute against the Lord.

This is a truth which most of us can understand and reluctantly accept.

But what is really contrary to our nature is the added statement:

“lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart,

and convert, and be healed.”

The Lord says that part of the purpose of the declaration of the truth is to keep the unbeliever from believing.

To our self-righteous and self-educated minds, this is evil and contrary to logic.

But as the servant of God, I’m asking you to do two things:

I’m not asking you to like this idea.

But I would like you to acknowledge that this is what God has said.

And then based upon that acknowledgment, I ask that you accept it, whether you like it or not.

Isaiah, “make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.”

This is the original statement, now let’s move on to places where it is applied.

Matthew 13.

After the Lord Jesus gave the parable of the soils to a large group of people, the disciples were beginning to realize that Christ used a lot of parables.

Let’s begin reading in verse 10:

“And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?

He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.

For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.

Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.

And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive:

For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.

But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.

For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.”

We might ask the same question as the disciples: why do you use parables, Lord?

Did Jesus have to use parables? Of course not.

Couldn’t He have declared the truth in absolutely clarity? Certainly.

But He used parables to do two things:

First, to reveal things to those whom the Lord had ordained to receive them,

and, second, to keep those same things hidden from those who were not ordained to receive them.

The Lord has deliberately hidden the truth from people needing that truth? Truly.

If I was God, and thankfully for all of us, I am not, but if I was God with the extent of my current wisdom, I would lay the Gospel and every other Biblical truth out there as simply and perfectly as possible.

I would make the Bible as plain and open as a Chinese buffet, and invite all the world to come and dine.

But that is not the way of the Lord.

I may not like it, but I can’t deny it.

In the Lord’s buffet, every dish is covered, and as a result most people refuse to eat.

John 12

Let’s begin with verse 35:

“Then Jesus said unto them, Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth.

While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light. These things spake Jesus, and departed, and did hide himself from them.

But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him:

That the saying of Esaias the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed?

Therefore they could not believe, because that Esaias said again,

He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them.

These things said Esaias, when he saw his glory, and spake of him.”

This, of course is the editorial comment of John, but again under the direction of the Holy Spirit.

Does this scripture mean that the prophesy prevented these people from believing? No, not the prophecy.

But, nevertheless, the Lord says that those people could not believe because God had blinded them.

What if I don’t like the idea that God has blinded these unbelievers?

The truth is that I don’t particularly like that idea,

but John’s words are pretty straightforward, and the Lord’s meaning is pretty straightforward.

God has blinded their eyes, and hardened their hearts that they should not see or understand.

So is the Lord responsible for their unbelief?

Despite what our logic might think, No, God is not;

The responsibility for sin, and for unbelief is entirely man’s.

But when God did not give them new hearts, and by not giving them faith; they went on in their unbelief.

When the unbelieving heart is left to its own perversity, it is said to have been “blinded.”

The last place where Isaiah 6 paraphrased is found in Roman 11.

This is very similar to what we have in Acts 28:

“I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew. Wot ye not what the scripture saith of Elias? how he maketh intercession to God against Israel, saying,

Lord, they have killed thy prophets, and digged down thine altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life. But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal. Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace. And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work. What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded (According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day. And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumblingblock, and a recompence unto them: Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back alway. I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy. Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness? For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office: If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them. For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?”

Paul uses Isaiah as the reason for preaching the gospel to Gentiles like us.

What we need to do is remember that there is no human being on earth who deserves to be saved.

There are no children of Adam, who are not also children of Hell.

So if there is even one soul saved, it is an act of divine graciousness.

And yet, it is the Lord’s will to save multitudes of the wicked.

It might be said that He began with the children of Israel, but then he moved on to non-Israel.

Paul argued that Israel was blinded so that multitudes of Gentiles would be enabled to see.

It’s not our privilege to criticize either God or His scriptures about these things.

It’s our responsibility to accept what the Lord has revealed, and to bow our knees before Him.

You are responsible for your hard heart, if you have one.

You are responsible to repent before God and to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.