"Stephen tells us that primarily this unbelief and rejection of the Gospel is due to the state of the heart.
“To whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust him from them, and in
their hearts turned back again into Egypt, saying …” (Acts 7:39) The real trouble with men and women, the cause of their unbelief, is in their hearts.
Now in Scripture the term heart generally means the very center of
personality. Particularly it means the seat of the desires. It is that
in people that determines what they really want.
Now, you notice, unbelief is not in the mind. This is the first thing that people today must learn, for they fondly think that they are not Christians because of their great brains, because of their understanding, and especially because of all this wonderful modern knowledge that we have garnered. But that is exactly where they go wrong. The trouble with them is not primarily in their head but in their heart. The heart is deeper than the mind…
If you read the story of the children of Israel in the Old Testament, you will constantly find this truth that Stephen is expounding here. Constantly their hearts lusted after something else, lusted after other gods or other women. They were always lusting after something. That was the whole cause of their tragedy. If I had the powers of a dictator, I think I would compel everybody to read the story of the Jews in the Old Testament. There you see men and women behaving like fools, always governed by their wicked hearts.
Indeed, our Lord put it still more plainly and clearly when he said, “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies” (Matt. 15:19). That is where it all comes from. It is “not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth” (Matt. 15:11). It is not even the influences that are around us. They only play on what is inherent in us. “Unto the pure all things are pure” (Titus 1:15); but if you are not pure, everything will become impure. It is the human heart that is evil.
So the trouble with the world is not due to the fact that it does not have light and knowledge. Look at the books that have been poured out showing the madness of war and the wrongness of various attitudes that are ruining life. There is no lack of light and knowledge, and the light has come supremely in the Son of God Himself. We have it all in the Sermon on the Mount. So why are the nations fighting? Why are they arming? Why are they on the brink of some abyss? Here is our Lord’s answer: “This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world …” Why does everybody not turn to it and submit to it? Why do we not all live in the light? Here is the answer: “… and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil” (John 3:19).
That is why people reject the Gospel. It is because they love evil; they enjoy what they are doing; they are governed by the heart. The apostle Paul sums this up in his customary manner when he writes to the Ephesians:
"And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: among whom also we all had our conversation in times past [what sort of life was it? Here it is] in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind [that means, the lusts of the flesh, the body, and the mind]; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others."
—Eph. 2:1–3
I am talking about the world as it is. Listen to James:
"From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not."
—Jas. 4:1–2
Is that not the explanation of the whole of history, I do not care which country you may name? This country [England], too, has been guilty of lusting for power, taking over this and that area of the world. We do not like other people to do it, but we have done it—all nations have. “This is mine.” “No, it’s mine.” Lusting! Desiring! Lust is the cause of the troubles of the world. Light is brushed aside because people are not governed by their reason but by their lusts and passions. This is the universal teaching of the New Testament.
The apostle John says exactly the same thing:
"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever."
—1 John 2:15–17
These people, said Stephen to the Sanhedrin, their forefathers, had “in their hearts turned back again into Egypt.” (Acts 7:39)…
And do not talk to me about your scientific problems—I know as much about them as you do! That is not an explanation. You are putting them up as a camouflage to hide your lusts and passions and desires. You are insulting me if you say that your unbelief is because of your intellect, for you are saying that I am a fool; but I am ready to meet with you on scientific grounds whenever you like. Face the facts! Face yourself! Face your world as it is today. Read history, and you will see that it is the story of just this very unbelief, this madness, this being governed by lust and desire rather than by reason and truth. It is the rejection of God. It is spitting into the face of God’s love, rejecting His most glorious offer. He is offering you free pardon; He is offering to reconcile you unto Himself, to give you a new heart, a new life, and a new nature. He will take from you the fear of death and will hold before you the prospect of a glory that transcends your highest imagination. He is offering you all that for nothing. Do you say that you are wise in rejecting all that? It is the only solution to your problem and to the problem of the nations; it is the only solution to the problem of the whole world.
May God grant us ears to hear! May God enable us to listen to the argument of Stephen presented of old to the members of the Sanhedrin, and may God give us grace to apply it to ourselves and to see that unless we repent, there is nothing awaiting us but the disaster and the doom that we so richly deserve. Let us listen to Him and yield to Him before it is too late."
— Martyn Lloyd-Jones (2006). Triumphant Christianity (Vol. 5, pp. 173–182). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.
Now, you notice, unbelief is not in the mind. This is the first thing that people today must learn, for they fondly think that they are not Christians because of their great brains, because of their understanding, and especially because of all this wonderful modern knowledge that we have garnered. But that is exactly where they go wrong. The trouble with them is not primarily in their head but in their heart. The heart is deeper than the mind…
If you read the story of the children of Israel in the Old Testament, you will constantly find this truth that Stephen is expounding here. Constantly their hearts lusted after something else, lusted after other gods or other women. They were always lusting after something. That was the whole cause of their tragedy. If I had the powers of a dictator, I think I would compel everybody to read the story of the Jews in the Old Testament. There you see men and women behaving like fools, always governed by their wicked hearts.
Indeed, our Lord put it still more plainly and clearly when he said, “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies” (Matt. 15:19). That is where it all comes from. It is “not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth” (Matt. 15:11). It is not even the influences that are around us. They only play on what is inherent in us. “Unto the pure all things are pure” (Titus 1:15); but if you are not pure, everything will become impure. It is the human heart that is evil.
So the trouble with the world is not due to the fact that it does not have light and knowledge. Look at the books that have been poured out showing the madness of war and the wrongness of various attitudes that are ruining life. There is no lack of light and knowledge, and the light has come supremely in the Son of God Himself. We have it all in the Sermon on the Mount. So why are the nations fighting? Why are they arming? Why are they on the brink of some abyss? Here is our Lord’s answer: “This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world …” Why does everybody not turn to it and submit to it? Why do we not all live in the light? Here is the answer: “… and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil” (John 3:19).
That is why people reject the Gospel. It is because they love evil; they enjoy what they are doing; they are governed by the heart. The apostle Paul sums this up in his customary manner when he writes to the Ephesians:
"And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: among whom also we all had our conversation in times past [what sort of life was it? Here it is] in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind [that means, the lusts of the flesh, the body, and the mind]; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others."
—Eph. 2:1–3
I am talking about the world as it is. Listen to James:
"From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not."
—Jas. 4:1–2
Is that not the explanation of the whole of history, I do not care which country you may name? This country [England], too, has been guilty of lusting for power, taking over this and that area of the world. We do not like other people to do it, but we have done it—all nations have. “This is mine.” “No, it’s mine.” Lusting! Desiring! Lust is the cause of the troubles of the world. Light is brushed aside because people are not governed by their reason but by their lusts and passions. This is the universal teaching of the New Testament.
The apostle John says exactly the same thing:
"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever."
—1 John 2:15–17
These people, said Stephen to the Sanhedrin, their forefathers, had “in their hearts turned back again into Egypt.” (Acts 7:39)…
And do not talk to me about your scientific problems—I know as much about them as you do! That is not an explanation. You are putting them up as a camouflage to hide your lusts and passions and desires. You are insulting me if you say that your unbelief is because of your intellect, for you are saying that I am a fool; but I am ready to meet with you on scientific grounds whenever you like. Face the facts! Face yourself! Face your world as it is today. Read history, and you will see that it is the story of just this very unbelief, this madness, this being governed by lust and desire rather than by reason and truth. It is the rejection of God. It is spitting into the face of God’s love, rejecting His most glorious offer. He is offering you free pardon; He is offering to reconcile you unto Himself, to give you a new heart, a new life, and a new nature. He will take from you the fear of death and will hold before you the prospect of a glory that transcends your highest imagination. He is offering you all that for nothing. Do you say that you are wise in rejecting all that? It is the only solution to your problem and to the problem of the nations; it is the only solution to the problem of the whole world.
May God grant us ears to hear! May God enable us to listen to the argument of Stephen presented of old to the members of the Sanhedrin, and may God give us grace to apply it to ourselves and to see that unless we repent, there is nothing awaiting us but the disaster and the doom that we so richly deserve. Let us listen to Him and yield to Him before it is too late."
— Martyn Lloyd-Jones (2006). Triumphant Christianity (Vol. 5, pp. 173–182). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.
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