S – Some were persuaded by what he said, but others did not believe. 

²⁵ Disagreeing among themselves, they began to leave after Paul made one statement: “The Holy Spirit was right in saying to your ancestors through the prophet Isaiah ²⁶ when he said, 

Go to these people and say: You will always be listening, but never understanding; 

and you will always be looking, but never perceiving. ²⁷ For the hearts of these people 

have grown callous, their ears are hard of hearing, and they have shut their eyes; 

otherwise they might see with their eyes and hear with their ears, understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.^, 

Acts 28:24–27 CSB

O –  Commentary:

The disagreement among the Jewish leaders in Rome about Paul’s message showed that they were not amenable to the gospel. With prophetic insight Paul applied the words of Isaiah (6:9–10) to his own contemporaries. Obstinate refusal to believe results in calloused hearts, deafened ears, and spiritually blinded eyes. This had happened to Israel both in Isaiah’s day and in Paul’s (cf. Rom. 11:7–10). Interestingly Paul ascribed Isaiah’s words to the inspiration of the Holy Spirit (cf. Acts 4:25).

“Acts,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures

A – It is worth noting in finishing the book of Acts that the central conflict of Paul’s time is also a conflict today.  Overall, the Jewish culture doesn’t not recognize Jesus as the Messiah and the Gentile nations are more readily accepting of this.  Also, all of us can e calloused in hearing the word of God and “turning it off.”  The answer to both is accepting Christ as our savior and living daily in relationship with Him.

R – Heavenly Father, you are the one, true God.  It is easy to believe in ourselves more than you.  Help us to invite you into our lives daily and live out our relationship with you.  Give us strength and faith to put you first and our own will second.  You are God and we put you on the throne of our lives.