Conversion to Jesus Christ (13)

First Baptist Church Leominster

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Well, let's turn to Acts 28 that we read a few moments ago, please. In our study of this important subject, conversion to Jesus Christ, we've addressed a number of matters.

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Today is the 13th Lord's Day, as you see. Up to this point, we've given most of our attention to God's work of grace in preparing the sinner prior to the event that he is converted.

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And last Lord's Day, we address God's work of grace in regeneration. Now that is when God, in His sovereign grace, causes a sinner to be born again.

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And everything results, everything good and positive results or flows out of that new birth. God causes sinners to be born again.

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And so this is the grace of regeneration. And so the work of God's grace in an individual results in his conversion from his lost sinful state.

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In other words, after God imparts life, he becomes converted, he responds, he desires and delights in God's Word, in Christ, in the kind of life that is held forth, and he embraces it through faith, and he resolves to live it as God enables him.

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Amen. And so he's one who comes to believe the gospel, and he becomes a committed disciple of Jesus Christ.

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And with regard to this series, I keep getting asked the question, how long are you going to go? How many more of these are you going to go? And I don't know, frankly.

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We could stop here with number 13. But I'm thinking that, you know, after speaking about conversion, we can talk about what are we converted onto.

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And that's primarily, you know, what it is to become a disciple of Jesus Christ. And so we may go in that direction.

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We'll determine it before next Sunday, Lord willing.

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No, actually, I need to interrupt. Because I'll be at the Bolton Conference speaking Friday and Saturday, I asked our friend

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David Green to preach for us next Sunday morning. And he agreed. And he's a good man.

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And he did so last year, I think, didn't he, at this time. And so he'll be here next

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Sunday morning for us. Thank the Lord. So today we arrived to consider the very act of conversion when the sinner is transformed into a

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Christian. And so we read the passage that speaks to this matter.

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When we read it, you probably didn't think about it, probably directly. But there are some important principles here for us in Acts 28.

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When we read of Paul arriving to Rome, and we read about his testimony, his witness about what occurred there, what transpired, and we also read about the substance of his teaching, the substance of his proclamation.

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So we read that passage, we won't read through it again. The Lord, of course, in his providence brought the apostle to the city of Rome where he would bear witness to the people, the

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Jewish people, in this capital city of the empire. That Paul did so, that he arrived at Rome specifically to preach the gospel was itself a fulfillment of a prophecy that had been pronounced upon Paul long before, or several years before.

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We read of this in Acts 23. Paul was in Jerusalem at that time.

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He'd been arrested after a riot resulted from his witness to the Jews in Jerusalem. And so we read in Acts 23, 11, these words, but the following night the

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Lord stood by him, that's Paul, and said, be of good cheer, Paul, for as you've testified for me in Jerusalem so you must also bear witness at Rome.

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And the events of Acts 28, which we read, were well over two years after that prophecy given to him by the

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Lord, that word from the Lord given to him directly. The Lord in his providence, of course, had

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Paul arrested. Well you can imagine, you know, Paul's peace and confidence, even as he's being arrested and incarcerated there at Caesarea for two years, he knew he was going to Rome.

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The Lord had told him so. And so he must have taken all of what occurred quite well, wouldn't you think?

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For he knew the Lord was in control of his life and had a purpose for him.

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And of course, we should understand that to be true, even though we haven't had a direct word to each of us from the

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Lord, the Lord has purposes for us. We may not have a clear understanding of what that is at this time, but we can have faith in our

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God that he will, in his providence, guide us and direct us to that end.

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And so Paul had insight ahead of time. Paul was arrested, and of course as a

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Roman citizen, Paul had the right to appeal his case to Caesar. And so any

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Roman citizen at that time could do so. I appealed to Caesar, and if that Roman citizen did so, it was required to take him to Caesar.

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And that's why he came to Rome. Although Paul was known most everywhere in the empire, he was still unknown to most of the

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Jewish people of Rome when he arrived as a prisoner. We haven't heard anything about you, Paul. Even though there were some brethren in the area, apparently there were some

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Christians there. But in Rome itself, the Jewish people had not heard of him or of the gospel that he had been proclaiming for perhaps three decades.

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Paul met with the Jewish leaders to tell them of the news regarding the hope of Israel, verse 20, for which

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Paul said he was made a prisoner. That's why he was there, for the hope of Israel.

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They expressed their desire to hear from Paul on these matters, and so Paul taught them, and he did so continuously.

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We read that when they appointed him an occasion for this, they came to where he was. Even many of the Jews, he taught and explained to them solemnly, teaching them regarding the kingdom of God.

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That was the substance of his teaching, the theme of his teaching, the kingdom of God. That's important.

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And if you happen to come to the Bolton Conference on Friday or Saturday, we'll talk about the importance of this as it impinges on the content of the gospel.

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And so he taught and explained to them solemnly, teaching them regarding the kingdom of God, and particularly how

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Jesus is the realization of those promises set forth in the Hebrew Scriptures, the

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Old Testament. Of course, not everyone received his words as true.

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Some did, others did not. The gospel divided the people, as it commonly does whenever it's proclaimed clearly and accurately.

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I've given you the testimony in the past, you know, some of you have been around four or five years, you've heard all my stories, but several times, perhaps,

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Mary will tell me, you've told that story before many times. But I remember being considered as a potential pastor for a large church in Sacramento.

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They ran 14 or 1500, and the head of the search committee, who was the chief elder, called me to breakfast, and he sat across from me, says, we have considered you, but we're passing over you, we're not going to call you.

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And the reason is, every time your name comes up, we have a fight in our search committee. Half, you know, says, you're our man, the other half, over my dead body.

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You've divided our committee, you divide our church. And he told me, he says, you're never going to pass your large church large, the problem is you make things too clear.

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And so that disqualified me in that church. The gospel will do that, won't it?

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If it's not doing that, you know, is it being proclaimed rightly? Probably not.

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Well, he divided the group here. Some responded, they were persuaded, they became

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Christians, they were converted to Jesus Christ. Others, however, objected and rejected his teaching.

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And so Paul declared that God had spoken before in the prophecy of Isaiah, of ones like they were.

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And so he quoted Isaiah, particularly Isaiah 6. And we'll look at that. The Holy Spirit spoke rightly through Isaiah the prophet to our father saying, go to this people and say, hearing you will hear, shall not understand, seeing you will see, not perceive.

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For the hearts of this people have grown dull, their ears are hard of hearing, their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes, hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn so that I should heal them.

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Now the work of God's grace in conversion is embedded in these words, in our subject is conversion.

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In fact, it's the last line that we have there, it's in verse 27, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn.

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The action described by the word turn is conversion. In fact, if I recall right, the

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King James version says, and be converted. But that's what conversion is, it's turning, turning your whole life around.

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That's what it is to be converted to Jesus Christ, turning from sin to Jesus Christ. And so the

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King James translates verse 27 in this way, the heart of this people is waxed gross,

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I love King James language, and their ears are dull of hearing, their eyes have they closed, lest they should see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their heart and should be converted and I should heal them.

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Luke of course wrote the book of Acts, he recorded the apostle quoting the prophecy of Isaiah.

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The words are from the occasion when God called Isaiah to his prophetic office. Now if we turn back to Isaiah chapter six, we might examine this a little bit.

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Let's do so in our Bibles please, Isaiah chapter six. Here Isaiah actually had a vision of coming into the very presence of God, the throne room of heaven, the throne room of God.

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And this record in Isaiah six is a record of Isaiah's call to the prophetic ministry.

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And so in Isaiah six, Isaiah records God's call of Isaiah to his prophetic office.

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We read the initial vision that Isaiah saw in verses one through four. In the year that King Uzziah died,

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I saw the Lord sitting on a throne high and lifted up the train of his robe, that would be the, you know, the length of his robe, his cape as it were, filled the temple.

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Back then a king's power, authority, glory would be shown in the extravagant clothing he wore, references made to Solomon's great glory because of his clothing and Jesus talked about that himself.

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And here Isaiah sees God in heaven and his robe fills the temple.

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It's a, it's a way of reflecting or display just how powerful God is.

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He is on, he's, he's all powerful. He has all authority.

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And we have a, it's kind of a heavenly, a mysterious kind of thing. Above it stood seraphim, that I am on the end of seraph, means it's plural, plural masculine.

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In Hebrew, each one had six wings and two, he covered his face, two, he covered his feet with two, he flew.

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And one cried to another said, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory.

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The whole idea is that this is a strange place, you know, for Isaiah and you have a transcendent

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God there and you know, fallen man and finite man is not comfortable there.

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There's strange things here and God is distant, far off. And really there's description of what it's like in the throne room, not directly of God himself.

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God is transcendent. And in verse four, the pulse of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out and the house was filled with smoke.

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And the idea of smoke is this transcendent God, you know, is obscured from us. We can know him, but we can't know him for who he really is.

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As we've been talking about in our men's group on Saturday morning, and this is reflected same with when

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God came down on Mount Sinai, it was covered with a cloud. There was thunder and lightning, the manifestation of the glory of God.

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Moses went up into the cloud and saw God, but nobody else did. The idea of transcendence, the transcendence of God, he's holy.

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He's completely other than what we are. And here Isaiah is struck with this.

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Now, Isaiah indicated that it was in the year that Uzziah died that he saw this vision of God and his authority in heaven.

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King Uzziah had reigned over Judah for 52 years, and that had been a time of peace and prosperity in the land.

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With his death, however, there was fear on the part of the people. There was a foreboding because Assyria, the great empire was emerging in the north and they were moving down and coming toward Israel and Judah.

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And so there was uncertainty about the future of the people. But God revealed to Isaiah through this vision that even though Uzziah had died, in reality,

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God was governing the fortunes of his people. Didn't matter who was on the throne of Judah. God is sitting on his throne and in control of matters.

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And so God caught Isaiah up there and revealed himself in his holy and sovereign power.

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And so the well -being of Judah lie in the will of their sovereign God, not with whoever it was who sat on Judah's throne is the whole point here.

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While we see Isaiah's reaction to this initial vision, verse 5, so I said, woe is me for I am undone because I am a man of unclean lips.

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I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips for my eyes have seen the King, the

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Lord of hosts. And so he saw God in his holy glory.

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And the immediate result of that response was that is he was struck with a sense of guilt for his own sin.

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And that's what happens. Scripture say, you know, no man can see God and live. It's again because God is so holy and transcended and infinite in every way.

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And we're finite as well as fallen and we cannot dwell in his presence. And so Isaiah knew he was a sinner.

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And now I really knew he was a sinner and he knew his people were no better. And so a clear vision of God, an understanding of his sovereign dealings among mankind will lead to humility and acknowledgement of guilt for one's sin.

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In verses 6 and 7, we read of God's call of Isaiah to his prophetic office. God cleansed and prepared

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Isaiah so that he would be able to reveal his word to his people. He was going to be a spokesman. And so we read one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal from which he'd taken with the tongs from the altar.

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That'd be an altar prayer, an altar sacrifice perhaps would be the emblem, the idea. He touched my mouth with it and said, behold, this has touched your lips.

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Your iniquity is taken away. Your sin purged. And so God cleansed Isaiah from his sin.

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And in doing so, God qualified and gifted Isaiah to serve in this prophetic office. And then we read of God's commission to Isaiah in verses 8 through 9a, the first part of verse 9,

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Isaiah speaks, also I heard the voice of the Lord saying, he's recording what he had seen and these, this is the voice of God, whom shall

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I send, who, who will go for us? And then Isaiah responded, here am

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I, send me. And then the response of God, go and tell this people.

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And so Isaiah is commissioned by God to be his prophet. So first Isaiah spoke indicating that God had spoken to him.

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Then God spoke. God asked for a volunteer. God was searching for one to bear his message to Judah.

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God said the words for us. In other words, on behalf probably of the heavenly court, probably should not be understood as the

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Holy Trinity. Although the pronoun is capitalized U S that reveals more of the translator's understanding that it's the

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Trinity, but probably on behalf of the Holy court, you know, that who will go on behalf and represent

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God and his will to the people of Judah. And then he said, who, you know, who will go?

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And then God declared to his prophet, go tell this people. Here we see a change in the way God refers to his people.

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He distances himself from them. They are now this people. He comment when they were in good favor with God, he'd commonly referred to them, my people.

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But now he tells Isaiah, you go to this people, you know, and basically tell them of his wrath upon them.

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And so it puts distance between God and Judah. By the way, it also reveals the purpose of chapter six.

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It legitimizes the prophetic office and message of Isaiah, and it reveals a tenor of his message, which was one of judgment upon the nation.

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And that's what Isaiah basically did. His whole life was one of judgment. Well in verses nine

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B through 10, we read of the substance and the tenor of the message that Isaiah was to bear to the people. Now actually verse nine itself is a content of the message.

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And then verse 10 speaks of the end of the goal that God intended for Isaiah's ministry. And so the message was essentially, if you distilled it all down, keep on hearing, but do not understand.

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Keep on seeing, but do not perceive. God was not trying to save this people at this time.

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He was purposing to judge them, to bring his judgment upon them.

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God isn't trying to save everybody in the world. If you think that God is that way, then you've got to have

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God as a frustrated, disappointed God who can't accomplish what he desires to do.

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And the Bible never presents God that way. God's not trying to save everybody in the world. He is purposed to save his people for his son, for Christ, thankfully, or there'd be no hope for us.

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But he's also purposed to righteously and justly judge people who rebel against him.

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And so he's attempting to save his people. And at this point he says, no, you keep on hearing, don't understand, seeing, but do not perceive.

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I think frankly, our land is under this kind of judgment presently.

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When I hear and read and hear the things that are taught on the radio, see the things,

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I made a trip to a Christian bookstore recently, and it's just appalling the kind of stuff that's on the shelves that is selling as though it were

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Christian. And it's appalling what's not on the shelves. And there just seems to be a shallowness, a superficiality.

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And I have to think that, you know, it's in God's purposes at this time in history, he's still saving a people.

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There is a remnant being saved, but God is not trying to save everybody. God is not frustrated, defeated in what he does.

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He accomplishes his purposes. And so he told Isaiah, this is the message and this is the goal of your ministry,

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Isaiah. When I was converted and called into the ministry, I had great hopes of seeing, you know, scores of people converted through my ministry.

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That's not always the kind of ministry the Lord calls people to, you know, the

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Lord is sovereign in this. And here's what Isaiah was to do through his word. Make the heart of this people dull, their ears heavy, shut their eyes, lest they see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their heart, and return and be healed.

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The Lord wasn't trying to save them. He was determining to overthrow them and condemn them in their sin.

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And these are the verses that Paul quoted in Acts chapter 28. Well did

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Isaiah save you people? Now just before we look at the precise meaning of these verses,

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I want you to notice a literary device here that's commonly used in scripture. It's called chiasm or a chiastic structure,

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C -H -I -A -S -T -I -C, chiastic. And basically it's a use of inversion of words.

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And so notice verse 10, you have in the first line, heart, secondly, ears, thirdly, eyes, and then it's inverted, eyes, ears, and heart.

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You see that, that progression? It's very rhetorical, it's very literary in nature, sophisticated.

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It's a repetition of words. And the purpose is to express emphasis and the importance of the matter.

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And if you're attentive when you read the scriptures, you'll see that all through the Bible, even the

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New Testament. Now the result of God's judicial action in this case is insensitivity, ignorance, and indifference.

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That was going to be the fruit of Isaiah's ministry. Think about that. I'd hate to consider, you know, starting out, you know, the

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Lord said, this is going to be your ministry. Everyone that you have influence with and preach the word to, they're going to become more insensitive, more ignorant, and more indifferent to the things of God.

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How different than most people perceive a fruitful ministry is, which is perceived by the results.

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How many people are being converted? How many are being baptized? When I was 21,

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I was a member of a church in Texas for about three months, and I became a very skilled door -to -door salesman for Jesus.

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And I could get people to give their heart to the Lord, or I thought, in fact, the pastor thought

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I was so useful, after three months he hired me, he laid hands suddenly on me.

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And so as 20, 21 years old, I entered the ministry and have been in the ministry ever since, 42 years, 41 years.

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But I could basically, I could get about 50 % of the people I talked to, to commit themselves to Jesus, and I could do it,

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I could get them with tears in their eyes, I'd have them on their knees, asking God to forgive them for Jesus' sake.

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Then I'd come Sunday, pick them up, they never wanted to come. And I figured there's something wrong with our evangelism.

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I'm addressing that on Saturday at the Bolton Conference, to some degree.

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The evidence of God's judgment upon a people is their lack of concern, lack of understanding of God and His ways, and an inability to be aroused or instructed in things of God.

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If that describes you, you are in a world of trouble. You sit under the

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Word of God, you hear it taught, you might have some understanding, but not clarity of understanding.

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You don't see the gravity of it, the importance of it, you're not really concerned, you're not aroused.

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In fact, you know, you go to church out of duty, but you really can't wait until it gets over and go about your worldly stuff.

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Be warned, you're in trouble. Because when the Lord is working in a person,

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He tenderizes their heart to these things, doesn't He? There's an interest, there's a concern, and there's, in a measure, a comprehension, not only of the meaning, but the gravity of these things.

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That's what we're talking about, conversion. Now this is how the Lord works in us. But for healing to take place, there must be repentance, there must be turning.

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And so notice that. So that they might turn, so that I might heal them, is what God declared in Isaiah 6, and Paul repeats that in Acts chapter 28.

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They must repent of their sin. For healing to take place, there must be repentance, that is, turning from sin, turning to Christ.

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And for repentance to take place, there must be understanding, and there must be concern, and there must be desire for change.

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And yet, even though the Word of God is being proclaimed, there's nothing. And if one does not respond to the prompting of God in the day of God's gracious dealings,

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God ceases His gracious workings and renders those whom He is judging incapable and unwilling to turn.

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This ought to scare the bejeebies out of you. Read of the man in the iron cage, the most fearful thing you can read outside of the

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Bible, in my opinion, in Pilgrim's Progress. The man in the iron cage. Now Isaiah seemed to be rather surprised and puzzled by this commission, and so he asked the

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Lord, how long do you want me to bear this message to this people? And we read in verse 11 of Isaiah 6, you know,

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Isaiah saying, how long? And God answered the prophet, until the cities are laid waste and without inhabitants.

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In other words, until Judah is destroyed and the people are taken, you know, exile. The houses are without a man, the land is utterly desolate.

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The Lord has moved men far away, and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land. And so you preach until judgment has fallen.

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And he's talking about the exile, of course, of the northern kingdom of Israel taken away by Assyria, and later, you know, well over 100 years later,

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Babylon took the people of Judah away also. But this was to be

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Isaiah's ministry. However, even in this ministry of pronouncing judgment,

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God is merciful. And that's what we have in verse 13. And yet a tenth will be in it.

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This is a remnant. God is going to save a tithe, as it were, of the people. Yet a tenth will be in it and will return and be for consuming as a terebinth tree or as an oak, whose stump remains when it is cut down, so the holy seed shall be its stump.

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And so God indicated the time for his people to repent had now passed. This generation of Isaiah's day, the time of salvation, was no longer.

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God would harden his people, leading to their just condemnation and destruction. And again, this kind of ministry that Isaiah was being commissioned to, called to, distressed him.

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He had volunteered to bear God's message, but the message was not a pleasant one or it would not result in pleasant things.

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His message would not be received. So he asked, how long? And the Lord told him, until the cities are devastated without inhabitant.

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And so he was to preach or bear witness until there was no one remaining to hear, until the time when the land would be desolate and vacated due to the destruction of the land and the deportation of the populace.

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Isaiah, of course, did not object to God's verdict or dealings. No appeal is voiced by Isaiah or others in the past.

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Others in the past had appealed to God, Isaiah didn't. And upon God's answer to him,

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Isaiah could say, the Lord has removed men far away and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land.

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And this is how God deals in history. Sometimes there are revivals, wonderful revivals. We've had them in our land here in New England.

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The first great awakening, the second great awakening. But sometimes you'll have a period of disinterest, disintegration of truth, where the people of God become objects of ridicule.

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The world thinks we're foolish and ignorant or else intolerant.

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Christians are being increasingly associated with those, you know, there's those

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Arab extremists. And now every Christian now is becoming at least a Christian whose attempts to say he's a

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Christian and stand for Christian things is viewed as dangerous to our culture and our society.

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I don't see any turnaround. The Lord can bring revival. We ought to pray to that end, work toward that end, but I wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't come.

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And yet again, God held forth the promise there would be some who would respond to Isaiah's message.

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Two kinds of trees are mentioned, terebinth, oaks, both were hardy trees that would sprout again even after being cut down, having their stumps burned, there was still life residing in them.

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They would sprout again. And so it is with a remnant that God purposed to preserve for himself.

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And thus hope is held forth. But salvation will come even to this remnant only after it has undergone judgment, even after it too is cut down and burned.

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And so we see God can make blind eyes see, deaf ears hear. The Lord Jesus did that.

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But God can also render seeing eyes blind and hearing ears deaf to his message so that they continue in their self -destructive ways.

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God removes his dealings of mercy and grace and renders people insensitive, ignorant of the way of peace.

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They just don't care. It's not important to them. God judicially hardened this people so they would encounter his judgment upon them.

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And God is sovereign in all of his dealings in this way. Now, actually, these verses in Isaiah 6 are used more in more places than just Paul in Acts 28.

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In fact, the Lord Jesus quoted verses from Isaiah 6 here in all four Gospels, interestingly.

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And so in Matthew 13, 13, our Lord quotes this Isaiah passage as a prophecy of those

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Jews who rejected his teaching during his earthly ministry. And then in Mark's Gospel, these verses are quoted to explain why our

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Lord taught in parables, because he was not trying to save everybody. He was revealing truth to his disciples, but keeping the others in their ignorance.

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And Luke's Gospel has a similar usage of the Isaiah passage. And then the passage is quoted in John 12 also.

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In John's Gospel, an explanation is given as to why the people were not responding to the Lord Jesus in spite of all the signs that he gave them.

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And it was because God was preventing them. God was hardening them, preventing their understanding.

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Well, in Acts 28, the Apostle Paul quoted Isaiah's prophecy to these

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Jewish unbelievers to show that the Lord was doing the same kind of judicial action in the early decades of the

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Christian Church as he was back in Isaiah's day, back in the 8th century BC. God had judicially blinded a number of the

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Jewish people so that they would receive their just judgment at his hand, and in doing so,

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God was intending to extend his mercy to others, even the Gentiles. It was all in the purpose of God.

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And so after these verses in Acts 28, in which the passage of Isaiah 6 is quoted, we read in Acts 28, 28,

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Therefore let it be known to you that the salvation of God has been sent to the

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Gentiles, and they will hear it. And here's Paul in the heart of the

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Roman Empire in Rome. And the ministry to the

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Jewish people was shutting down. Now God continued to save a remnant of Jews, but the Gospel was going worldwide at that point, even to the

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Gentiles. And again, we'd argue that God deals with people in this manner today as well.

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In spite of the repeated prompting of the Holy Spirit, a professing Christian may harden his heart to the things of God, the need to turn from sin, and God will not always strive with man, be warned.

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One can grieve the Spirit to such a degree that the grace that the Spirit bestows to bring about man's repentance recovery can no longer be experienced by that one who's professed to be a

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Christian. So consider the warning given to professing Christians in Hebrews 3.

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Therefore as the Holy Spirit says, some argue, you know, we, the

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Bible is a record of what God said thousands of years ago, we need a fresh word today, and there's always someone who'll come forward to tell you they've got a prophetic utterance.

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But here, the writer to the Hebrews, writing to Jewish Christians in the first century, indicated the

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Holy Spirit says, and then he quotes the Old Testament. An event way back when the

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Israel refused or failed to go into the Promised Land because the spies brought back a bad report.

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And instead of following the counsel of the two, Caleb and Joshua, they followed the counsel of the ten, and as a result of refusing to obey

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God, believe God, and go into that Promised Land, the judgment of God came upon them.

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They had hardened their heart in that day of rebellion. And as a result, they experienced wilderness wandering for 40 years until Joshua brought them into the

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Promised Land. And the Holy Spirit took that passage from the Old Testament, written 1 ,500 years before, and brought it to the present, and in the first century, therefore the

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Holy Spirit says, and we would argue it's just as real, the Holy Spirit is saying to us now these words.

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Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts, as back in that rebellion, in the trial, day of trial in the wilderness, where your fathers tested me and tried me and saw my works 40 years, and therefore

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I was angry with that generation, and said, they always go astray in their heart, they've not known my ways, so I swore in my wrath, they shall not enter my rest.

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And then here is the present warning to the Jewish Christians, warning to all Christians, professing

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Christians, beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief and departing from the living

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God. He's not talking about people who really have salvation losing it, that's not possible.

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He's talking about professing Christians, and some wander and stray and defect and depart and apostatize from Christ, they never had salvation.

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But He gives this warning to everybody, don't let it happen to you. The ones that walk away from Christ, they've had their hearts hardened, but rather, how do you prevent this from happening?

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Exhort one another daily while it's called to day, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

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You don't see it coming, because it's deceitful, but you grow hardened, indifferent to the things of Christ.

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Once perhaps you, you know, shed tears of joy hearing about the things of Christ, but nothing moves you now, must be the preacher's fault, your parents' fault, church's fault.

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Nothing moves you. You've allowed sin to deceive you, and the result is hardening, and at some point, it's judicial hardening.

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God is doing it, because you have neglected and refused and failed to heed

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His warnings. You failed to heed His voice. And we should always be aware that the preaching of the

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Word of God may produce this kind of effect in our hearers, a hardening which leads to death. Paul wrote of this in 2

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Corinthians 2, now, thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.

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It's like a wonderful fragrance, the gospel. However, he says, for we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved, and among those who are perishing.

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It doesn't smell the same. To the one, we are the aroma of death leading to death, to the other, the aroma of life leading to life.

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Same message, same gospel. One, it smells like a dead corpse, and to the other, it's an aroma of life.

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They love it. They delight in it. It stirs them. God is sovereign in this.

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And so really, the truthfulness of a matter or the proof of God working in and through a message or messenger is not easily determined.

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Again, oftentimes the preacher is blamed for not being clear and understandable, and indeed it may, he may be at fault, but the hearing end is equally important.

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This is a two -way deal, isn't it? It's me explaining, but it's you hearing too. And I, you know,

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I'm half the equation, you're the other half, and both of us need the Holy Spirit, you know, to be successful in this.

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But there are some, you know, because of their neglect, indifference, and refusal to respond, have rendered themselves incapable of understanding the simplest spiritual truths.

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And sometimes the teacher or the preacher is blamed. It's his fault. It's his fault they're not being converted.

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It's his fault that they don't understand. Well, it may be, but it may not be. It may be

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God's just dealings. Let's turn back to Acts 28 quickly. We don't have a lot of time, but we want to talk about this matter of conversion and how the

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Lord brings this about. Back in Acts 28, first notice the main subject of his teaching, of Paul's teaching, and the source of his teaching.

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Verse 23, we read, so when they had appointed him a day, Paul a day, many came to him at his lodging.

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He was under house arrest, to whom he explained and silently testified of the kingdom of God. That was his theme.

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Some don't preach the kingdom of God. They claim they're preaching the gospel. They talk about Jesus dying for sinners, and that's good, but it's not good enough.

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It's bigger than that. It's the message of the kingdom of God. Jesus is Lord, and he saves people.

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He extends forgiveness, but new life also, and Paul is talking here about the kingdom of God, a major theme in both the

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Old Testament and New Testament. When we think of the kingdom of God, you have to understand in two aspects.

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There's one sense in which the kingdom of God speaks of God's sovereignty over all creation, and in that sense, the kingdom of God has always existed and has never been diminished, and so Psalm 145 describes the kingdom of God, and again, this is the same as the sovereignty of God in his providence over everything.

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He's in control of everything. Psalm 145, the confession, all your works shall praise you,

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O Lord, and your saints shall bless you. They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom. There it is.

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God is king. Talk of your power to make known to the sons of men his mighty acts and the glorious majesty, there it is again, of his kingdom.

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Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom. Your dominion endures throughout all generations.

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God is sovereign. He is a king over his creation. We also read of this everlasting kingdom of God from the lips of King Nebuchadnezzar, a pagan king in Babylon.

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You remember who was struck down with madness for seven years? I remember hearing

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James Montgomery Boyce talking about this, and he kind of, you know, put it in human terms to relate it, and he describes

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God, you know, looking down at Nebuchadnezzar, the most powerful man in history, the most powerful man in the world, and he basically does not perceive that God is sovereign, all right?

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And so he's not thinking rightly. He's insane. And so what kind of punishment is

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God going to render to Nebuchadnezzar? And God's looking through his book of punishments, ah, insanity.

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That fits the crime. He's not thinking rightly, right? And so he's insane for seven years.

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And at the end of that period, Nebuchadnezzar says, and when understanding returned to me, you know, he glorified

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God, and that's basically what is expressed in Daniel 4.

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God does according to his will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. No one can restrain his hand or say to him, what have you done?

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God is sovereign. And Nebuchadnezzar came to learn that. That's one aspect of the kingdom of God, but there's another aspect of the kingdom that's very important, and this is the reassertion of the control of God.

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Basically, this idea of the kingdom of God is God down through history is bringing people back into willing compliance to his rule.

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God is sovereign over all, but when Adam and Eve sinned, Adam and Eve sinned, nothing was compliant to God.

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And God through history is reclaiming the people who come back into willing subjection to him.

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And that's what you have through history, the work of salvation, God forming a kingdom.

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And the primary kingdom would be realized when he sent his son, the son of David, into the world.

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And through his death and resurrection, he was enthroned in heaven and became king, Lord of lords and king of kings over this redemptive kingdom, this mediatorial kingdom of Christ as Lord.

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And that kingdom is increasing and growing, never knows diminishment. Every soul that is converted and brought into the kingdom, that kingdom is growing and will never diminish.

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And although its influence appears to wane at times in history, the kingdom of God, kingdom of Christ is not diminishing.

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Jesus Christ is sovereign over history, and he's governing this world today, and he's doing two things.

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He's saving his people, thankfully, but he's also bringing into judgment those who rebel.

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And that's what we see happening in the world about us today. Yes, Satan is still the prince of the power of the air, but Satan is only doing that which

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King Jesus permits him to do. And in the end, it's going to further the glory of God in bringing salvation to his people and judgment upon his enemies.

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And so the principal theme that Paul preached was the kingdom of God. And of course, it was with the person of the

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Lord Jesus that was at the heart of the matter. And so he preached the kingdom of God and specifically the role of the

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Lord Jesus in this. And so you can see that in Acts 28,

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I kind of diverted a little bit from that. I don't see it right now, but he not only spoke of the kingdom of God, but he spoke specifically, he taught specifically of Jesus as the ruler, as the king within this kingdom of God.

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And so the kingdom was being advanced. And although these Jews were rejecting the message that Jesus was the promised king, the

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Messiah, the Gentiles would embrace it, they will here. And so God's kingdom would expand throughout the world.

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But that turning, we see the refusal to turn and the need to turn is what we understand to be conversion.

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A person is living for himself, living for his own kingdom. He wants to be the

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Lord of his own life, govern, determine what he's to think, how he's to feel, what he values, how he lives.

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When a man or woman is converted to Jesus Christ, that changes. I resolve as God enables me to do

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Jesus's will, God's will as mediated through Jesus. He is the Lord, not me, nor Caesar.

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Jesus is Lord, and I want to do his will and be governed by his laws.

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And I know I can't my own strength, but he has the ability to impart the Holy Spirit to me to enable me to do that which

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I cannot do for myself. And this is the nature of the kingdom of God. And so you cannot turn yourself so as to be wholly converted, but you are to purposely turn from sin and the life of independence and rebellion, and you turn to Jesus, and then he does the healing work.

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You see that? Let's say turn so that I should heal them. We don't heal ourselves. We can't do that.

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But by the grace of God, he enables us to turn to Christ as our

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Lord and as our Savior. And then he does the work of healing us, cleansing us, converting us, transforming us.

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And so he heals us. And so this grace of conversion is a turning of one's entire life.

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It's an act of repentance. Turning from sin unto God through faith in the Lord Jesus, his

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Lord and Savior. One might ask, what's the difference between conversion and repentance? Well, essentially no difference except repentance is something that's always repeated, isn't it?

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We're always repenting. But conversion speaks about that initial act of repentance of one's entire being and Lord Jesus Christ.

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That's what conversion is. And so the kingdom of God.

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How are we to respond? Well, Peter declared in his second sermon recorded in the book of Acts, Acts chapter 3.

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When he preached Jesus being crucified and yet buried and raised and enthroned, the people were convicted.

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They had been ignorant, but they were awakened and they determined, what do we do?

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And Peter declared, basically, you need to repent therefore and be converted. And that's what that's how it is that we come to salvation.

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We acknowledge we're not deserving of it. We don't have the capability. But I know if I continue in this way,

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I'm doomed. I'm a goner. Lord enable me by your grace. I turn to Christ.

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Look to him wholly and solely for the grace that enables me to turn from sin, to be pardoned from sin, and to be delivered from sin.

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Because salvation involves both forgiveness as well as the breaking of the power of sin in our lives.

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Amen? So thank the Lord for that conversion. Let's pray.

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Thank you, our Father, for your word and for your wonderful grace. It is in Jesus Christ.

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And we pray, Lord, that not one of us would remain in an unconverted state, but that you would awaken us afresh, our

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God, to the importance of these things, the relevance of these things. Be merciful to us, our

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God, and turn us, as the prophet once said, turn me, O Lord, and I will be turned.

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And we pray that you would turn us, Lord, and help us to continue in the direction which you've prescribed for us.

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Faith in our Lord Jesus, following him unto our heavenly destination. And we'll thank you and praise you for that in Jesus' name.