Why Do People Resist the Truth?

Introduction

As I mentioned last week, one of the primary goals of Romans chapter 10 is to answer the question Why is it that the Jews have resisted God’s truth? Was it God’s fault or was it their fault. Paul’s main premise is that the danger isn’t in that God fails to warn us , but that we fail to listen to the warnings he has given.

Back in 1879, there was this great disaster that occurred in Scotland called the Tay Bridge Disaster. The two mile bride designed by Sir Thomas Bouch was hailed as the longest bridge in the world at the time. The bride connected Dundee to the opposite shore and was claimed to be a bridge that would last a century. However, because of poor design and cheap materials, and Bouch’s proclivity to cut corners to save time and money, the bridge only lasted 18 months. On December 28th, there was a violent wind storm with wind speeds of 70-80 mph. That night a passenger train was crossing the bridge, but when it was hit with the high wind speeds on the bridge, the center sections of the train collapsed and were blown off the bridge into freezing waters below. All 75 passengers died that night. There have been other bridge disasters throughout history, but what makes this one stand out is the number of times that they were warned there was a problem with the bridge.

Locals in the area had complained about the bridge often to authorities. It had even gained the nickname The Bridge that Dances because of the way it swayed in the wind. Some of the railway workers had informed their bosses that the bolts were coming loose and the struts were cracking. One employee said it swayed like a reed. When Bouch was confronted about all these complaints, he dismissed them claiming the bridge was structurally sound. After the accident, he broke down and died one year later.

When things like this happen, we can often be left confused. Why didn’t they respond? Paul has spent all of chapter 9-10 discussing why it is that so many of the Jews have not come to faith in Jesus Christ, why they have failed to be included in the people of God. If faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God; then why haven’t they gotten saved. The same question can be asked about any lost person today: Why is it that some people resist the truth and aren’t saved? Paul is going to deal with three possible reasons in the following verses:

Maybe they didn’t hear

Romans 10:18 “But I say, Have they not heard? Yes verily, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world.”

Paul asks another rhetorical question first, haven’t they heard? The assumed answer is yes they have heard. We all know that there is a natural justice in this world that says it is wrong to punish someone for a crime they didn’t know about. So we might be inclined to think that all the lost people in the jungles of Papua New Guinea will make it to heaven because they have never heard. That would make just sense to us. But Paul’s argument is that all the world and especially the Jews have heard. To prove this he quotes:

Psalm 19:1–4 “The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament sheweth his handywork. Day unto day uttereth speech, And night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, Where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth, And their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun,”

Many commentators see an inconsistency here because Psalm 19 is about the witness of creation while Romans 10 is about the gospel.

Five Views:

Analogy- Paul is using this passage merely as an analogy of how widespread the gospel has gone throughout the known world.

Type- Creations witness was a picture of the gospels spread through the whole world.

Dual Witness- Creation and the gospel both are witnesses they are accountable for. Everyone has general revelation, but the Jews have all received the message of Jesus Christ; so they are doubly accountable.

Prophetic fulfillment- The spread of the gospel is the fullfilment of Psalm 19.

Reapplication- Paul is taking these verses and applying them in a totally different context like Rabbis tended to do. The original context doesn’t matter.

I personally lean towards either the analogy view or the dual witness view. Romans 1 began with a statement that all the world has suppressed the truth about God as a creator and are therefore inexcusable. This is the witness of general revelation which Psalm 19:1-4 is definitely speaking about. We often times separate general revelation from special revelation, but both are forms of revelation. Both reveal something about God that we need to know and are held accountable for. Really the one paves the way for the other. Jesus gave us a principle in Luke 12:48 “But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.” Though this passage is primarily about believers at the coming of the Lord, it still gives a general principle that God will hold us accountable for the amount of knowledge we have. Earlier in Luke 8:18 Jesus warned “Take heed therefore how ye hear: for whosoever hath, to him shall be given; and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have.”

The second question this verse brings up is the universality of the spread of the gospel. Had it reached everywhere in the first century? Paul knew exactly what he was talking about when he wrote these words; so do we really think that he was mistaken. The gospel hadn’t gone throughout the world. Paul himself was on his way to Spain to preach the gospel not where Christ has been named before according to Romans 15. A hint may be found in the fact that the word for world is not the normal κοσμοσ but the word οικοθμενη which refers to the organized, civilized world. Places where all the Jews would have been located at the time. The Jewish people are even more accountable because they have had the words of Moses and the prophets for thousands of years. On top of that he came unto his own and his own received him not. They had most likely seen Jesus if not at the very least heard about him. These things were not done in a closet. The whole Jewish world would have been speaking about Jesus. He would have been a dinner time topic in every home.

God is just and fair to condemn anyone because all have heard enough for which they are held accountable. Even the tribes in Equador have the witness of general revelation for which they are held accountable.

Maybe they didn’t understand

Romans 10:19 “But I say, Did not Israel know? First Moses saith, I will provoke you to jealousy by them that are no people, and by a foolish nation I will anger you.”

A second question we could ask is well maybe they heard, but they didn’t understand. Our justice system is also based on this premise that if someone is unable to comprehend physically their punishment ought to be modified from what we expect from a healthy person. When a disabled person commits a crime we evaluate to what extend they knew and understood their actions. Usually they are hospitalized if they are a danger to others, but we wouldn’t give them the normal punishment. So maybe they heard, but didn’t understand. It is possible not to understand. Matthew 13:19 “When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side.”

Again Paul’s rhetorical question implies that they did understand. The word know in this passage is not to know facts, but to know by experience and therefore to comprehend. To prove this he quotes:

Deuteronomy 32:21 “They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God; They have provoked me to anger with their vanities: And I will move them to jealousy with those which are not a people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.”

Isaiah 65:1 “I am sought of them that asked not for me; I am found of them that sought me not: I said, Behold me, behold me, Unto a nation that was not called by my name.”

It took me awhile to figure out how Paul’s answer fits with his question. Both verses are about God turning to the Gentiles because of Israel’s idolatry and stubborness. So how does that prove they understood what was happening with Jesus. This response ties the whole discussion back to the context of Romans 9-11. Why is it that so many Gentiles are being ushered into the people of God while the Jews are missing out? What Paul is claiming here is that Gentile inclusion is a sign of what God is doing in redeeming the world to Himself. They knew these prophecies. Though they had theologically reinterpreted them, the act of them being provoked to jealousy by Gentile nations should have made sense when they saw it.

The Jealousy of the Jewish people is going to be a main theme in Romans 11. Jews didn’t view these passages as a promise of blessing on the gentiles at the time, but they should have. In Isaiah 65:1

they would be sought after by God

they would be invited to a personal relationship with God- Behold me

they would be called by his name- implied by the last phrase

Maybe they did hear and they did understand, but they refused to believe

Romans 10:21 “But to Israel he saith, All day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people.”

Isaiah 65:2 “I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people, Which walketh in a way that was not good, after their own thoughts;”

Continuing the previous quotation, God addresses Israel. The Gentiles who didn’t seek me will become my people, but you my people have responded differently.

I have spread out my hands- God has been pleading with them to be reconciled to God. It isn’t like God has ignored them or that God doesn’t want them to be saved. The invitation has been given. By the way, here we see God clearly willing the salvation of the lost Jews, but them rejecting that invitation or calling.

all the day- This wasn’t a one time invitation. God has been consistently trying to get them to respond.

Disobedient- means to refuse to follow or as Wuest defines it - to not allow oneself to be persuaded.

Gainsaying- to oppose, to contradict or speak against

Many have heard the truth and they understand it, but their response is to refuse to be persuaded or to actively argue against the gospel. Their hearts have become so hard that they will not receive the truth no matter what you say.

Luke 14:21–24 “So that servant came, and shewed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind. And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room. And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. For I say unto you, That none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper.”

This parable highlights what happened when Jesus came to his own. He intreated them to come, but they gave all kinds of excuses for why they would not come. In the end, they all refused; so the master sent his servant to go bring in people who hadn’t been invited. The not my people from before. None of those who refused who enjoy the benefits of the table.

Conclusion

Paul is arguing that the lost are only lost because they have refused to respond to God’s truth. It is not God’s fault that they aren’t saved. They have actively refused God’s invitation. They are individually accountable for their lack of faith. Now most if not all of us this morning are born again believers and yet there is still an application here for us. If I were to summarize Paul’s argument, it would be that Israel is responsible because they had heard and they did understand, but failed to respond.

As a Christian, there is a lot of bible truth that we know. We know we ought to walk with Christ, we know we ought to love one another, we know that we should be sharing the gospel, we know that we should redeem our time, speak with grace, bear one another’s burdens, sacrificially love our spouces and the list could go on. Would you say you know these things? (audience response) Many complain that preachers preach on things they already know but the honest truth is that there is a lot we know, but don’t do.

Just like Israel, we are held more accountable because we do know. Luke 12:48 “But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.” What is it that you do know today, but aren’t practicing? What thing do you keep putting out of your mind because you don’t want to think about that. If you did you might just have to do something about it. What can have you proverbially kicked down the road but you know you need to do something about it. James declares in James 4:17 “Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.”