God's Authority Over Belief and Unbelief (Acts 28:23-28)

Children's Lesson (click here)

I. Anchored by His Sovereignty

Where do you go when saving faith seems fleeting? When your attempts to share Jesus are met only with unbelief? Sure, you could move toward frustration or discouragement or anger or resignation. Any of those responses would be understandable, especially when we've really invested ourselves in such attempts; when we've spent time praying and regularly reaching out to an individual. But I would suggest this morning that God's word calls us to a different response. I believe it calls us, I believe God calls us, to be anchored by his sovereignty.

II. The Passage: “For This People's Heart Has Grown Dull” (28:23-28)

Let's explore that idea by thinking together about the Apostle Paul's response in Acts 28. In the second half of this chapter, Paul was, once again, faced with the unbelief of his Jewish listeners. In light of the widespread unbelief that he encountered in synagogues all over the Roman Empire, including in Jerusalem, he wrote in Romans chapter 9, verse 2, “I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.” But as Paul would go on to reveal in Romans chapter 9, and 10, and 11, his feelings were ultimately... anchored by the sovereignty of God.

So our passage this morning begins in verse 23, but let me set the scene for you before I read. At this point, Paul is a Roman prisoner. After surviving a grueling, months-long sea voyage, he has finally arrived in Rome and is awaiting a chance to plead his case before Caesar. But as we see in verses 17-22 of this chapter, one of the first things Paul does is to reach out to local synagogue leaders. Why? in order to introduce himself and... get ahead of any false rumors that might have already reached them regarding his conflict with the religious leaders in Jerusalem. Thankfully, according to verse 21, these leaders knew nothing about him. But they were willing to hear more from him. And that's where we begin. Acts 28:23...

When they [i.e., the local Jewish leaders] had appointed a day for him, they came to him at his lodging in greater numbers. From morning till evening he expounded to them, testifying to the kingdom of God and trying to convince them about Jesus both from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets. [24] And some were convinced by what he said, but others disbelieved. [25] And disagreeing among themselves, they departed after Paul had made one statement: “The Holy Spirit was right in saying to your fathers through Isaiah the prophet: [26] “‘Go to this people, and say, “You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive.” [27] For this people’s heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed; lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.’ [28] Therefore let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles [nations]; they will listen.”

Now look back at verse 24. The writer tells us here that “some were convinced... but others disbelieved”. That's the very unbelief that caused Paul such anguish. But the next verse, verse 25, goes on to describe Paul's response to their unbelief. Even though Paul had spent the whole day with them in the Hebrew Scriptures, he responds to their unbelief by sharing one more passage. What we find here in vs. 26 and 27 is a quotation from Isaiah 6:9-10. Now, at first, this quotation sounds simply like a lament over, and maybe a description of God's frustration with, the people's unbelief. But there's actually more to it than that. How do I know?

Because the original context in Isaiah, along with other places in the New Testament (NT) where these verse are quoted, point us to something bigger; to something significant about, again, the sovereignty of God. Now when I use that word, what I'm talking about is God as our all-powerful and all-wise King. Even more specifically, as Paul described it, that this all-powerful and all-wise King “works all things according to the counsel of his will” (Ephesians 1:11). Let me give you an example of that by taking you back to Isaiah 6. Turn there if you would. We read in Is. 6:8–12...

And I [declares the prophet... I] heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.” [9] And he said, “Go, and say to this people: “‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’ [10] Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.” [11] Then I said, “How long, O Lord?” And he said: “Until cities lie waste without inhabitant, and houses without people, and the land is a desolate waste, [12] and the LORD removes people far away, and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land.

Now, did you notice the differences between verses 9 and 10 here in Isaiah, and the verses as Paul quoted them? For example, as Paul phrased it in Acts 28:27, “For this people’s heart has grown dull...”. But here in Isaiah 6:10, the phrase is actually a command: “Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes...”. How would the prophet accomplish this stupor-inducing, spiritual work? Apparently by proclaiming God's message in verse 9: “Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.” (2x) And he was to keep them spiritually dull... for what reason? Look at the middle of Isaiah 6:10... “...lest they see... and hear... and understand... and turn and be healed.” Understandably, the prophet (probably with a very heavy heart) goes on to ask in verse 11, “How long, O Lord?” The answer given in the remainder of v. 11 and into v. 12 is clear. This dullness will last until God's judgment is complete.

Now wait. What does this mean? What exactly is happening here? What this passage describes is God judging his people's spiritual insensitivity by, in a sense, sovereignly locking them into that insensitivity. For how long? Until the ultimate judgment for their insensitivity is poured out. If you think about it, this isn't the only time God has done this. How did God judge the hardness of Pharaoh's heart when Israel was enslaved and their babies were being murdered? He judged the hardness of his heart by hardening his heart. For how long? Until the ultimate judgment for his hardness was poured out on Pharaoh and on all Egypt. The NT speaks of this same judg-ment when it talks about the final judgment. We read this in 2 Thessalonians 2:11–12 about those who “refused to love the truth and so be saved” (v. 10)... (Paul writes) “Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”

But as I mentioned earlier, Acts 28 is not the only place in the NT were Isaiah 6:9-10 is quoted. It also appears in Matthew 13:14-15, Mark 4:12, Luke 8:10, and John 12:40. In Matthew, Mark, and Luke, this passage from Isaiah is used by Jesus to explain his regular use of parables when teaching the people. Why parables? Because, like the message God gave Isaiah, the parables of Jesus were actually used by God to lock the people into their insensitivity. To what end? So that they would fully and finally reject the One whom God sent to save them. John 12 expresses it this way: “Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him, so that the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: “Lord, who has believed what he heard from us, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” [that's Isaiah 53:1]...

[now listen to what John goes on to say in John 12:39] Therefore they could not believe [Why? Because God had 'locked them in' to their stubbornness and unbelief. Don't believe me?

Listen to what John tells us in the next verse, 12:40]. For again Isaiah said, “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest they see with their eyes, and understand with their heart, and turn, and I would heal them.” What is that? That's a clear adaptation of Isaiah 6:10.

So let's go all the way back to where we started. What was Paul (in Acts 28) telling the Jewish leaders in Rome when he quoted for them Isaiah 6:9-10? He was declaring this truth... that the dullness or spiritual insensitivity they were exhibiting was, in fact, evidence of God's judgment on them. But if Pharaoh's heart was hardened to ensure his judgment, and Isaiah's Israel was made dull for the same reason, and the Jews of Jesus' time were locked in in order to ensure his rejection, to what end would Paul's listeners be kept in their spiritual insensitivity? Well, as I indicated earlier, Paul's fuller discussion of this same judgment, this same hardening, is found in Romans 9-11. What he writes there lines up perfectly with Acts 28:28, where Paul emphasizes that now this salvation will go to the Gentiles. Listen to Rom. 11:11, 25, 26a...

So I ask, did [the Jews] stumble in order that they might fall [was that the goal]? By no means! Rather, through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous... Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles [nations] has come in. And [please don't miss this] in this way all Israel will be saved...

Though Paul was grieved by the unbelief of so many Jews, he was also reassured that when it comes to blindness or belief, God always has a plan. And He is always working out that plan.

III. Emboldened by His Sovereignty

Now, I know all of this is very heavy and maybe not easy to accept. But let me offer two very practical ways in which these ideas really can encourage us:

First, When faced with the unbelief of man, we can trust God always has a plan. That plan may not be a plan of spiritual dullness and judgment like we've heard about this morning. But it may be a plan that differs from our expectations. Maybe God's timing is different than yours. Maybe you are only sowing in that unbeliever's life, while someone else will do the reaping. Maybe what seems like a dead end to you will, in a surprising way, actually become an open door. We don't always know. But we do know that God is sovereign; that He always has a plan, and that plan is always good (because He is a good and gracious King). We can trust that either through his justice or mercy, He will be glorified. And that is what should matter most to us. Amen?

Second, He is just as much the God of softening as he is the God of hardening. Believer, the only reason you're sitting here today is, to borrow the language of 2 Timothy 2:25, because God granted you “repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth”. Therefore, we have personal confirmation of the fact of Jesus' words in John 10:27, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” For “those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.” (Rom. 8:30) As you rejoice and give thanks for how God's sovereign plan resulted in your salvation, please be reassured that all things are possible with him; even in that relationship where unbelief seems to have had the last laugh. In grace, God really does soften hard hearts. We're proof of that. Now, the fact that God is over these issues of belief and unbelief should never lead us to inactivity. Instead, that fact should embolden us! Why? Because, as we saw with Isaiah, God has decided to use us in his sovereign plans of judgment and salvation. So trust Him this morning that he has and will use you. And through us, may it be said that many, many more people have come to see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their hearts and... turn to find healing in Jesus Christ, to the glory of God.