I ask if you'd turn in your Bibles to Acts chapter 28, Acts chapter 28, where we have this evening's text for the message, which is Acts chapter 28, verses 23 through the end of the chapter, so verses 23 through 31. What you can do is we'll read the passage, say a brief word of prayer, and then enter into this evening's message. So, Acts chapter 28, beginning in verse 23. Let's give attention to the reading of God's word. Hear now the word of the Lord. Acts chapter 28, beginning in verse 23. When they 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. And some were convinced by what he said, but others disbelieved. 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, Go to this people and say, You will indeed hear, but never understand. You will indeed see, but never perceive. 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. Therefore, let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles. They will listen. He lived there two whole years at his own expense, and welcomed all who came to him, proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ, with all boldness and without hindrance. May God add his blessing to this reading from his holy and inspired word. Let's bow together in a brief word of prayer. Let's pray. Father God, we give you thanks for your holy and inspired word. We rejoice that we are not children left to scrounge for food, but rather when we come to you and ask for bread, you do not give us stones, but instead you feed us with Christ, the manna from heaven. We pray that indeed on this Lord's Day, even in this service, you would feed us with Christ, that you would open our ears and our hearts that we may hear, understand, and rejoice and worship, and that we would live our lives in accordance with your word, and that we would do so to the glory of the triune Lord. We pray and ask these things in Christ's name. Amen. One of the things I think that perhaps a lot of us don't realize or recognize is how often we can find the extraordinary hiding within plain sight. The extraordinary hiding within plain sight. I was recently watching The Hobbit. I would probably, it would be better for me to say I was reading The Hobbit, but I'm a cultural redneck, so I get most of my high culture through movies. But I was watching it, and there was a line that one of the characters said that I think that really captures something of this thought, the extraordinary hiding in the midst of the ordinary and the mundane. And it's when the character said, I believe that it's average and ordinary acts of kindness and love, those little acts that often keeps darkness and evil at bay. The little acts of kindness and love that keep darkness and evil at bay. I think that's often the case. I mean, when you consider and think about how evil and wickedness is all over us and how prone we are to selfishness, to see an act of selflessness and to see an act of kindness or love, within that dark background or that context of the wickedness of the world, all of a sudden those acts of kindness and love take on a very special significance. Well, I think one of the things that perhaps is extraordinary, but that hides in the midst of the ordinary is what we're doing here right now, worship. I cannot think, I can't but think about how many times each and every Lord's Day, people around this city, people throughout the nation, people around the world, go in to church and they worship and then they go out. I think for some, it is perhaps a very ordinary event. I think for others, it is an extraordinary event. I think if we were to drill down into the ideas that we find that are present and that are involved in a worship service, we would recognize that it's anything from ordinary. When you consider the fact that the God of the cosmos, the God that created the heavens and the earth, not only became incarnate through his Son to redeem rebels and fallen sinners like ourselves, But that he comes to us and he speaks to us through his word. That he comes to us and he is present through the presence of his Holy Spirit. That as ordinary as it might be to see steeples and church buildings littering the landscape and people going back and forth to worship, that it's really quite extraordinary when you begin to think about it. And I think it's the extraordinary nature of worship that lies here at the heart of Paul's closing activities that we find in the 28th chapter of Acts. It may not seem like worship lies at the heart of this particular passage, but it really lies at its core. And that in particular, it's the principle that you become what you worship. You become what you worship. Now, in full disclosure, I read a book a while back where I shamelessly stole the title of the book and have used it here, the title of this sermon. And it's a book from which I gained a number of insights for this message. And it's a book, You Become What You Worship, written by Greg Beal. So I at least want to footnote that to recognize that this is where I'm getting some of my information from. But that aside, what I want us to do is I want to recognize the extraordinary nature of worship and how vital it is for our sanctification, for our further conformity to Christ and that we do so through the means of grace. But in order to understand the significance and the extraordinary nature of worship, however ordinary worship may seem, I want to first look at what's going on in Paul's setting here in Acts chapter 28. Secondly, I want to go back to the Old Testament background to what Paul is saying here in Acts chapter 28 because he does say, and he quotes from Isaiah the prophet. So I want us to go back. And then thirdly, I want to consider the implications of Paul's statements here as well as their Old Testament background for recognizing the extraordinary nature of worship, particularly as it impacts our sanctification. So we want to look at Acts 28, the Old Testament background, and how these things impact worship, our understanding of it in particular, the nature of the relationship between our sanctification and worship. Now, when we consider Paul's setting here in the book of Acts, at least broadly considered, the book of Acts is a quite exciting book. It's filled, of course, with the first major actions, if you will, of the apostolic church. We find dramatic encounters, for example, say Paul's conversion on the road to Damascus. We find things such as his imprisonment, people trying to assassinate him, his legal appeal to Caesar, his arduous shipwrecked journey to Rome. There are many, many exciting things that occur within the book of Acts. And in particular, it seems that as we go here to the 28th chapter, that the book of Acts seems to end on a somewhat serene note. Paul was preaching and teaching to his fellow Jews as he was under house arrest waiting for his appeal to Caesar. We read this in verse 23. He says, Now, blessedly, we know from this particular passage that there were a number of Jews, Paul's fellow countrymen, a number of Jews that believed in Paul's message. They placed their trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. But according to the next verse, in verse 24, there were others that disbelieved, that refused to embrace the teaching of the gospel. And in this particular context, it may seem as though the book ends on a somewhat serene note, Paul receiving friends, teaching people, but there's something of an ominous cloud that hangs over Paul's activities. We read, in disagreeing among themselves, this is in verse 25 and following, they departed after Paul had made one statement. The Holy Spirit was right in saying to your fathers through Isaiah the prophet, go to this people and say, you will indeed hear, but never understand. And you will indeed see, but never perceive. 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 in turn, and I would heal them. Therefore, let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles. They will listen. On the one hand, this is a tremendous blessing. I mean, I take it for the most part that all of us are Gentiles. And we are the recipients of the blessings that have come because of the rejection of the gospel, in part here, by the Jews that refuse to believe in Paul's message. But here the question is, and this is the question that I want us to focus in on in this particular moment, and I want us to relate it to the question and the issue of worship, is why does Paul level these particular words of judgment against his fellow Jews, And what do they have to do with worship? What do they have to do with sanctification? Why does Paul say here that their ears would be there, but they would barely hear? Or that they would see, but not really see? That they would hear, but not really understand? Why does he quote that particular imagery? And in particular, why does he quote the prophet Isaiah? at this point? Well, stated simply, as the message title this evening indicates, you become what you worship. You become what you worship. And so here what Paul is saying is that you, my fellow countrymen, you have become what you worship. And because of your refusal to repent and believe, you are being judged. But to substantiate this claim, what I want us to do now, secondly, is go to the Old Testament to look deeper into what Paul has to say here and why he's quoting the prophet Isaiah. So, secondly, let's consider the context, the Old Testament context of Paul's words. Now, Paul's words that he quotes come from Isaiah chapter 6. that famous chapter of the prophet's call. Isaiah went to the temple that day expecting perhaps maybe what he thought would be ordinary worship, if you will. But his experience was anything but ordinary. In fact, that day he went and was privileged to be able to see a revelation of the pre-incarnate Christ unfurled in all of his glory. Here Christ said to Isaiah, He's, you know, he revealed himself and the prophet uttered those now famous words in Isaiah chapter 6, verse 5. He says, woe is me, for I am lost from a man of unclean lips. I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips, for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. So the Lord healed Isaiah's sin and guilt through the actions of the seraphim by bringing that burning coal and touching his lips and touching his mouth. And then the Lord issued his famous call to the prophet. And here is the section from Isaiah chapter 6, verses 8 and following, where Paul draws these words that he then applies to his countrymen in his own context. Reading from Isaiah chapter 6, verses 8 and following, 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. And he said, go and say to this people, keep on hearing, but do not understand. Keep on seeing, but do not perceive. 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. And I said, how long, O Lord? He said, until cities lie waste without inhabitants and houses without people and the land is desolate waste and the Lord removes people far away and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land. On the one hand, think about how discouraging that might be. Here you see the pre-incarnate Christ, you think, okay, here we are, onward and upward. Things are going to get better and the Lord calls you and he says, all right, I'm ready. I'm ready to serve. And then he says, yeah, you're going to deliver a message of judgment against your countrymen. How long? Until there's nothing left. Until there's nothing left. But notice here in the heart of this statement, the Lord says that Isaiah's countrymen would hear, but they wouldn't understand. They would basically see, but they would really not perceive. They would not understand anything that the prophet would say to them. They would hear the message of the gospel, but they would never embrace it and understand. Now, at one level, I think we can recognize what the prophet receives from the Lord and the significance of this seeing but not seeing, hearing but not hearing. Oftentimes, at least in my own household, and I'm sure none of you ever experienced this with small children, however you may encounter them, but I sometimes want to say, do you understand the words that are coming out of my mouth? It's like, I feel like I'm speaking Chinese, I'm speaking English, but you don't seem to be doing what I am telling you to do. So on one level, all of us have experienced that. You want to scratch your head and you say, do you understand what I'm saying? But what the prophet is revealing here at this point is something a bit more profound. It's not just simply a question of miscommunication. It's not just simply misunderstanding, although it certainly involves that. Why are the Israelites blind and deaf, even though they can hear and even though they can see? Well, it's because they have become like the things that they have worshipped. And in particular, it's the psalmist in Psalm 115 that invokes this same kind of imagery in describing the worship of idols. The psalmist writes in Psalm 115 verse 4 and following, Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands. They have mouths but do not speak. Eyes, but do not see. They have ears, but do not hear. Noses, but do not smell. They have hands, but do not feel. Feet, but do not walk, and they do not make a sound in their throat. Now listen carefully to what the psalmist says. Those who make them become like them. So do all who trust in them. Those who make them become like them. So do all who trust in them. Israel's problem, beloved, was not simply a matter of communication. It wasn't simply a small misunderstanding. Rather, they had turned to idolatry. What is idolatry? According to the Heidelberg Catechism, question 95, idolatry is instead of or besides that one true God who has manifested himself in his word to contrive or have any other object in which men place their trust. The Israelites had turned to idolatry. They had turned to trust other things. And in particular, they had turned to trust blocks of wood, stone, things made with their own hands. And yes, they would form these idols and these idols would have ears and hands and feet and eyes but as the psalmist says these idols can do nothing they have eyes but do not see ears but do not hear hands but they cannot feel feet but they cannot walk and so the psalmist says those who trust in these things shall become like them and so just as the idols have eyes but do not see and have ears but cannot hear so isaiah the prophet was saying, they will hear the message of the gospel but they will not understand it. They will see but they will not truly see for they've been blinded by their idolatry. They have become like the things that they have worshipped. They have become like the things they have worshipped. In one sense, we can say quite clearly God has given them over to their idolatry. If it is idols that you wish to serve, then it is idols that you shall serve and continue to do so, and I will leave you to your idolatry. I think it's, at least at one level, a very simple thing to understand. You've perhaps heard the term or the acronym GIGO, garbage in, garbage out. I was a computer science major for all of one semester. That's one of the few things that I remember. You put garbage into a computer, you're not going to get much out of it. One of the reasons why I was a computer science major for all but one semester is because I remember slaving over a program that I wrote, oh goodness, I don't know, for four, five, six hours, and I was pulling my hair out. Why this thing wouldn't work? Why can't I get it to work? It was all because of one misplaced comma. One misplaced comma. I wasn't putting the correct information into the computer in order to get something useful and productive. And so because of that one misplaced comma, I kept on getting error, error. Garbage in, garbage out. Perhaps you've heard the saying, you are what you eat. I think the most vivid memory I have of this whole principle of you are what you eat is my father had become ill, and the doctor prescribed him, among the many other things that he had prescribed, he says, I want you to drink lots of vegetable juice to help rebuild your immunities and to be healthy. My dad drank a lot of carrot juice. In fact, he drank too much carrot juice almost to the point where his skin took on a nice orange tinge to it. He became what he was eating. There's another saying. It comes from my grandmother. Dime con quien andas y te digo quien eres. I'll translate from the Dutch. Not Dutch, it's Spanish. Tell me who you spend your time with and I will tell you who you are. I suspect that there's maybe some sort of proverb like that in Dutch. These are concepts, beloved, that we're very familiar with on a generic level and an ordinary level, if I can put it that way. You begin to hang out with the wrong kind of people and you will begin to act like them. On the other hand, if you spend time with people that have good character, you will begin to be more like them. Think of the psalmist and what the psalmist has to say in Psalm 1. How is it that you end up descending into a path of evil? It's because first you walk with the wicked, then you stand with them, and then you eventually sit with the wicked. I'm sure you never intended on sitting with them and vibing in their wickedness, but all of a sudden there's this gradual descent into wickedness. Garbage in, garbage out, you are what you eat. Tell me who you spend your time with and I'll tell you who you are. This is at the most basic level as to what's going on here, and this is why if you worship idols, you will become like them. You worship idols, you will become like them. which now this brings us to the third point, the final point. First, looking at Paul and his original context there in Acts 28. Secondly, now digging deeper into the Old Testament context of Paul's statement against his fellow Jews. Now thirdly, considering the connections here to worship and to our sanctification. If we understand the significance of Isaiah's words, and in particular how Paul uses them, And I hope we will have a tremendous insight into the extraordinary nature of worship. See, Paul spoke these words of prophetic judgment against his fellow unbelieving countrymen because of their idolatry and their lack of repentance, their unwillingness to repent. You see the negative side of this equation in this way. In other words, if you worship an idol, you will become like the idol. You will see, but not see, hear, but not truly hear. But beloved, we have to recognize that there is a positive side to this equation. It's not just about worshiping idols and watch out for the idols, but rather there's a positive side to it. And that if you become like the thing or the person that you worship, then you worship an idol, you will become like an idol, But if you worship the one true living God that has revealed himself in Christ, then you will become like Christ through that worship. Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that you just simply walk into the sanctuary and you will become like Christ. That doesn't happen any more than like walking into a McDonald's turns you into a Big Mac. Rather, we have to use his appointed means. But nevertheless, let's think about it for a moment in terms of being in the presence of God and how worshiping Him literally transforms us. Think, for example, to when Moses ascended to stand in the presence of Yahweh. Reading from Exodus 34, verse 29 and following, when Moses came down from Sinai with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand, as he came down from the mountain, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God. Aaron and all the people of Israel saw Moses and behold, the skin of his face shone and they were afraid to come near him. Moses, all he did was stand in the presence of God and because he was in his presence, he kind of picked up a reflection of his glory and it remained. He came down from the mountain aglow with the glory of God. Now, when the Apostle Paul talks about Moses' appearance, he does so in 2 Corinthians 3. He says in verses 7 and following, Now, if the ministry of death carved in letters on stone came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses' face because of its glory, which has been brought to an end, Will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory? In other words, Paul was recognizing, okay, the glory that Moses had was temporary. But the glory that we have through Christ is not temporary. It is permanent. It is not being brought to an end, Paul says. Rather, he says, and we with all with unveiled face beholding the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. Stated much more simply, as James the brother of Jesus says, draw near to God and he will draw near to you. So beloved, what this means is that if you become what you worship, you worship an idol, you will become like that idol. But if you worship the one true living God as he has been revealed in Christ Jesus and in the power of the Spirit, worshiping spirit and truth, you will become like the one whom you worship. And that means approaching Christ through his appointed means. We have to draw near to Christ through the Word. The preached Word, I think, is the center of our gravity for our sanctification. Don't get me wrong. I hope that you are on a steady diet of daily reading of the scriptures, consuming that manna from heaven, that transforming manna from heaven on a daily basis. A simple thing that I always used to tell the congregants in my church, is I'd say, if you find it difficult to find time to read the scriptures, when you feed your face, feed your soul. If you take time to eat, well then take time to read the word as well. But beloved, we have to recognize that in all of this, it's primarily and chiefly in gathered worship where God, through Christ and through the Holy Spirit, applies the transformative power of the gospel to further conform us to the image of Christ. And he does this chiefly through the reading of the word and through the preaching of the Word. Just as when God spoke and worlds came into existence, so too when God speaks through the reading and through the preaching of His Word, things happen. People are transformed. Lives are changed. The same can be said for the sacraments. God seals the preaching of the Word with signs and seals of the covenant of grace. through baptism and the Lord's Supper. I don't know if you recognize this, but when someone is baptized, it's not just, if I can put it crassly, it's not just the person getting wet that is the beneficiary of the sacrament, but rather it is the entire body of Christ as Christ preaches and speaks his word, not only audibly, but as he preaches it visibly to his people, So that as they hear the gospel being preached, they have it sealed through the sacrament of baptism, and that further confirms the grace that has been given to us through the preaching of the word. So that it's not just the sole recipient, if you will, of the rite of baptism or the sacrament of baptism, but rather it is the entire body of Christ that benefits from this, and that we receive Christ's grace in that way. Beloved, prayer is another important arena in which we, like Jacob, wrestle with God. It's as C.S. Lewis once said, it's not as if we go into prayer in an effort to change God's mind, but rather it is in prayer where God changes us, when he changes our minds and conforms our will to his. Again, to quote the Heidelberg Catechism, question 116, Why is prayer necessary for Christians? Because it is the chief part of thankfulness which God requires of us and because God will give his grace and Holy Spirit to those only who with hearty sighing unceasingly beg them of him and thank him for them. If you're flagging in your spiritual strength, if you're lacking in faith, cry out to Christ in prayer through which you receive his grace. And that grace transforms you and conforms you to his image. I hope as you reflect upon these things and you reflect upon Paul's words that you recognize how extraordinary worship is. Worship is anything but ordinary. It is where the creator of the heavens and the earth condescends to us, speaks forth his word, seals it with the sacraments, where we pray to him and where he transformed. Be cautious as to what you place before you. Obviously, don't engage in idolatry. I think in the Old Testament, idolatry is a lot easier to spot because you saw people bowing down to little blocks of stone and wood. But nowadays, our idolatry is a lot more sophisticated. Be careful what you engage in. Use the Word of God as your standard to discern what constitutes idolatry and what is not. Anything that turns you away and causes you to place your trust in anything else, as the Heidelberg Catechism says, to trust anything else other than the one true living God, then you're engaged in idolatry. But in the end, beloved, recognize this. He who is in us is greater than he who is in the world, which means that if you rely upon Christ, he will bring you, he will draw you, he will conform you to his image, and he will keep you from idolatry. Trust Christ. Seek him to transform you. And flee to the foot of Christ, to the feet of Christ, that he might further transform you. Remember, worship is anything but ordinary. You worship what you become. You become what you worship. And in this way, we should all desire to become like Christ, further conformed to his holy image. Let's bow together in a word of prayer. Father, we are grateful that you have condescended to us, that we have the privilege of coming to you in worship. We pray, O Lord, that you would unstop our ears, that you would open our eyes, remove their scales. So often, Lord, we come unto you and to worship you. And as soon as we leave, we begin to engage in idolatry. So often, O Lord, we bring the very idols that we worship into the worship service because we carry them in our hearts. Forgive us, O Lord, for our idolatry. Have mercy upon us, we pray. We pray that you would have mercy upon us for the sake of Christ. For indeed, he is our great high priest, has interceded on our behalf. When tempted with idolatry, he embraced you and he was faithful and obedient to you. We pray that in this way, O Lord, you would further conform us to his holy image. Sanctify us, we pray, not for our namesake, but for the sake of your glory. That you would build us up and edify us. That you would further conform us to the holy, righteous, and perfect image of your Son. Lord, in the midst of our struggles and trials, we pray that you would give us encouragement. That you would strengthen our flagging faith. Help us to know that in the end we shall be perfectly conformed to the image of your Son in our glorification. But until then, we pray that you would give us greater fidelity. Give us peace in the midst of the storm. and cause us to flee to you, the only source and hope for our salvation and for our sanctification. We pray and ask all of these things in Christ's name. Amen.