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I thought Acts 17 would be, I 
know it's review, but I think it's an encouragement, a passage 
that we ought to consider frequently. Paul at Athens, specifically 
beginning in Acts chapter 17 at verse 16 to verse 34. I'll read, and then we'll look 
at the setting, the sermon, and the summary. of Paul's speech 
here in Acts chapter 17. So beginning in verse 16, now, 
while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked 
within him when he saw that the city was given over to idols. 
Therefore, he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with 
the Gentile worshipers, and in the marketplace daily with those 
who happened to be there. Then certain Epicurean and Stoic 
philosophers encountered him. And some said, what does this 
babbler want to say? Others said he seems to be a 
proclaimer of foreign gods, because he preached to them Jesus and 
the resurrection. And they took him and brought 
him to the Areopagus saying, may we know what this new doctrine 
is of which you speak? For you are bringing some strange 
things to our ears. Therefore, we want to know what 
these things mean. For all the Athenians and the 
foreigners who were there spent their time in nothing else but 
either to tell or to hear some new thing. Then Paul stood in 
the midst of the Areopagus and said, men of Athens, I perceive 
that in all things you are very religious. For as I was passing 
through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found 
an altar with this inscription, to the unknown God. Therefore, 
the one whom you worship without knowing, him I proclaim to you. 
God, who made the world and everything in it, since he is Lord of heaven 
and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands, nor 
is he worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed anything, 
since he gives to all life, breath, and all things. And he has made 
from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face 
of the earth, and has determined their pre-appointed times and 
the boundaries of their dwellings so that they should seek the 
Lord in the hope that they might grope for him and find him. Though 
he is not far from each one of us, for in him we live and move 
and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said. 
for we are also his offspring. Therefore, since we are the offspring 
of God, we ought not to think that the divine nature is like 
gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man's devising. Truly, these times of ignorance 
God overlooked. but now commands all men everywhere 
to repent because he has appointed a day on which he will judge 
the world in righteousness by the man whom he has ordained. He has given assurance of this 
to all by raising him from the dead. And when they heard of 
the resurrection of the dead, some mocked while others said, 
we will hear you again on this matter. So Paul departed from 
among them. However, some men joined him 
and believed, among them Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named 
Emerus, and others with them. Amen. Well, this is a crucial 
time in the life and ministry of the Apostle Paul. It is his 
second missionary journey. Remember that the Apostle was 
set apart when he was in the church at Antioch by the Holy 
Spirit. The church was praying. The church 
was fasting. The Spirit comes and says, separate 
unto me, Paul. and Barnabas for the work that 
I have called them. The first missionary journey 
takes place in chapters 14 and 15 of the Book of Acts, and the 
second missionary journey picks up in Acts 15, verse 36, and 
continues to chapter 18, verse 22. It covers the years of AD 
49 to A.D. 52. So the apostle went 
about various parts of the empire preaching and teaching the gospel, 
and that's one consistent thing you see. Everywhere he goes, 
every place he visits, the message is the same. He goes to preach 
the gospel. of the Lord Jesus Christ. And 
here, this is no exception. In the city of Athens, which 
was one of the most preeminent cities at one time. By this time, 
it wasn't as preeminent, but it was still a very prestigious 
place. One has said Athens had lost 
the political preeminence she once enjoyed but continued to 
represent the highest level of culture attained in classical 
antiquity. It had been home to Socrates 
and Plato and the adopted home of Aristotle, Epicurus, and Zeno. So it was a very popular place, 
a place of culture. Ryle says, here lived the most 
learned, civilized, philosophical, highly educated, artistic, intellectual 
population on the face of the globe. So here comes Saul of 
Tarsus, having been converted by the Lord Jesus Christ, he's 
the Apostle Paul, He's going from city to city preaching and 
teaching the truth. And he happens into this place 
wherein lived the most learned, civilized, philosophical, highly 
educated, artistic, intellectual population on the face of the 
globe. It truly is an amazing situation wherein the apostle 
brings the truth to the people there. So the setting. Notice 
first the specific sin of the city. Verse 16, now while Paul 
waited for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him 
when he saw that the city was given over to idols. His spirit 
was provoked within him. Now, I suppose that if we went 
to Athens today, we would marvel at the architecture. We would 
delight. in the construction. It would 
be something that we might want to Google when we get home tonight, 
just to kind of see the lay of the land. Bonson comments on 
this. He says, what is today taken 
by tourists as a fertile field of aesthetic appreciation? And 
it looks good, filled well, construction. He says, the artifacts left from 
the ancient Athenian worship of pagan deities represented 
to Paul not art, but despicable and crude religion. Religious 
loyalty and moral considerations precluded artistic compliments. These idols were not merely an 
academic question to Paul. They provoked him. As Paul gazed 
upon the Doric temple of the patron goddess Athena, the Parthenon 
standing atop the Acropolis, and as he scrutinized the temple 
of Mars on the Areopagus, he was not only struck with the 
inalienable religious nature of man, but also outraged at 
how fallen man exchanges the glory of the incorruptible God 
for idols. So he is provoked. And the word 
is strong. It means to stimulate. It means 
to provoke to wrath. It means to irritate. The passive 
form of the verb means to be angry. And it's interesting because 
the verb is regularly used in the Greek version of the Old 
Testament with reference to God and His reaction to idolatry. So when God looks down upon the 
Canaanites, God looks down upon the Egyptians. God looks down 
upon sinners worshiping their idols. He is provoked. He is 
brought to wrath. There is an anger that wells 
up in him. So Paul, sitting in Athens, realized 
that the second commandment is still binding upon men. The second 
commandment isn't simply confined to the church of the Lord Jesus 
Christ. It wasn't simply confined to 
old covenant Israel. But the second commandment addresses 
man as man. First commandment, you shall 
have no other gods before me. The second, you shall not worship 
this God in a false manner. Idolatry is condemned from the 
book of Genesis all the way to the book of Revelation. And so 
when Paul happens into the city of Athens, he is provoked within 
him when he sees that the city is given over to idols. He is 
affected by this. I oftentimes read this, or when 
I do read this, I wonder at how comfortable I've become in a 
nation filled with idols. Do I get provoked within me when 
I see, you know, the Muslims worshipping their idols, or when 
I see these people going after their particular idols? Paul 
saw this, and it moved him, and we see that it not only provoked 
him in his spirit, but it also drove him to action. He acted 
upon that provocation. Notice verse 17. Therefore, that's 
an implication. He sees the city given over to 
idols, so what does he do? Well, too bad for this city, 
off I go. No, he is moved to activity. Therefore, he reasoned in the 
synagogue with the Jews. So he goes to the place of religious 
worship, and he reasons with them concerning the Lord Jesus 
Christ. He goes to the synagogue and 
with the Gentile worshipers. And then notice, he goes as well 
to the marketplace daily with those who happen to be there. 
So he goes not only to the place of religious, formal religious 
worship, But he goes to the marketplace. This would be somewhat like a 
swap meet. Do you have swap meets in Canada? 
I don't know that I've ever seen a swap meet. No? OK, you do have swap meets, where 
people set up little booths and they sell things. And some say 
yes, some say no. You probably do. Maybe you just 
haven't all seen them. But it's just a place where people sell 
things. They probably had a marketplace, 
or like an outdoor market. And also, there would be a place 
where there would be the exchange of ideas. the interchange of 
ideas, and so Paul seized upon that opportunity. He goes to 
the marketplace daily and he reasons with those who happen 
to be there. So you see, he doesn't confine 
himself to one audience. He doesn't just say, you know, 
my ministry is to these Jews and Gentile worshipers who come 
alongside the Jews, but he goes to them and he also goes to the 
pagans in the marketplace who have subscribed to pagan philosophy. So his spirit is provoked within 
him. He takes the knowledge of the 
gospel of Jesus Christ and he goes to these people and he confronts 
them. Now you may be saying to yourself, 
my spirit gets provoked within me with reference to the idolatry 
that I see, but you know I'm not Paul. I'm not going to go 
into a synagogue of the Jews. I'm probably not going to go 
into the marketplace and reason with Epicureans and Stoics. God 
hasn't called me in that particular way. Well, God has called you 
to pray for those who do that particular thing. God has also 
called you to seek boldness so that whether you go into a Jewish 
synagogue or the marketplace of the pagans, give me the grace 
and the opportunity to be provoked in such a way so that I confront 
people that I meet and that I know with the gospel of Jesus Christ 
the Lord. There is obviously some sort 
of application that we can derive from this. We can pray for people. we can ask God to give us opportunity 
to speak to particular people wherever our marketplace may 
happen to be. Then notice, he reasons, well, 
I just want to explain what the Epicureans and Stoics were. Epicureanism is a Greek ethical 
view which emphasizes that good exists in pleasure. In other 
words, pleasure is good. But for the Epicureans, pleasure 
wasn't sex, drugs, and rock and roll. I mean, we hear that and 
we think, oh, they were the most debauched people in the world. 
No, for the Epicureans, pleasure equaled life of tranquility, 
freedom from pain, disturbing passions, and superstitious fears. They just wanted to sort of, 
you know, live and let live. Don't mess with me. I won't mess 
with you. They weren't looking for all 
of the sensual pleasures. I'm sure some of the Epicureans 
did. but as a philosophical system, was just seeking some form of 
tranquility, some form of calm, and realizing that good exists 
in pleasure. Now they did not deny the existence 
of gods, they didn't deny they weren't atheists in that regard, 
but they maintained that the gods took no interest in the 
lives of men and women. Does that sound like any sort 
of a religious approach you've ever heard of? What is it? Buddhism, yeah, they have that 
kind of a view. What's another one? Deism. Deism is the idea that God is 
only transcendent. God made this world and everything 
in it and then he left it. It'd be similar to a watchmaker 
or a clockmaker who makes this beautiful clock and then he puts 
it on the shelf and then off he goes, he forgets all about 
it. So a deist has an idea that God 
is transcendent. That means he's removed from 
and over creation. Okay? That's what transcendence 
means. Don't get blown away by some 
words tonight. We're going to define them. Transcendent 
means God is removed from and over the creation. So the deists 
have that view. Epicureans shared that particular 
view. The gods take no interest whatsoever 
in the human situation. Everybody with me? Stoicism, 
the Stoics emphasized harmony with nature and freedom from 
emotion. You've heard that before. That 
person's a real Stoic. It's like they have no emotion 
whatsoever. Well, that's where it comes from. 
Emphasizes harmony with nature and freedom from emotion, thus 
enabling one to endure the fluctuating fortunes of life. They were able 
to just press on through the various things going on in the 
world. It's just sort of a resignation 
to just knuckle under and deal and move forward. Now the Stoics 
were essentially pantheistic. Pantheistic means that God is 
everything. I want you to see something here. 
The deists teach that God is transcendent. The pantheist teaches 
that God is imminent. Imminent means that God is right 
there with us. But for the pantheist, God is 
right there with us because God is everything. This would be 
Hinduism, the Brahman, and all of the nirvana, and entering 
into the one. God is everything. So we have 
deism and we have pantheism represented by the Epicureans and the Stoics. Now, Christianity, or Christian 
theism, has a doctrine of God's transcendence. He is holy. He is Lord of the Nations. He 
is overall, and Paul is going to assert that in his preaching. But conversely, or not conversely, 
additionally, God is imminent. He's with his people. He's conscious 
of what goes on in the world. He is provoked when he sees the 
nations raging against him. So you see, in Christianity, 
you have transcendence. And you have imminence married 
together. Deism gets rid of imminence. 
Pantheism gets rid of transcendence. Now that you're all thoroughly 
confused, let me just tell you that what Paul preaches answers 
specifically to the groups represented here. He preaches that God is 
transcendent. He made the world. He sustains 
the world. He governs the world. But he's 
also imminent. He sees your idolatry. He is going to judge the world 
in righteousness by the man he's furnished. God is both transcendent 
and imminent. Turn to Psalm 113 where you see 
this fleshed out. These false approaches, pantheism 
and deism, though they are not called Epicureanism and Stoicism 
today necessarily, pantheism is alive and well, and so is 
deism. I've always thought Psalm 113 
highlights both aspects of God with reference to this issue. 
Notice, there is a call to praise, verses 1 to 3, and then there 
are reasons for praise in verses 4 to 9. Let's just look at Psalm 
113, verse 1. Praise the Lord. Praise, O servants 
of the Lord. Praise the name of the Lord. 
Blessed be the name of the Lord from this time forth and forevermore, 
from the rising of the sun to its going down. The Lord's name 
is to be praised. Now here's why you ought to praise 
Him. The Lord is high above all nations, His glory above the 
heavens. Who is like the Lord, our God, 
who dwells on high? This is transcendence, isn't 
it? He's above. He's over. He's removed from 
creation. But then notice verse 6, who 
humbles himself to behold the things that are in the heavens 
and the earth. Do you realize it's a humbling 
and a condescending thing for the high and lofty God to even 
look upon the creation. And that's what the psalmist 
says. He humbles himself to behold the things that are in the heavens 
and in the earth. And then he furnishes some concrete 
examples. Verse 7, he raises the poor out 
of the dust. You don't get that in deism. There's no prayer hearing God 
in deism. There's no God you can cry to 
with your anxiety. There's no God you can unburden 
your heart to in deism. He doesn't listen, and he doesn't 
care. But imagine if it was pantheism, 
and God is everything. How can he help you? How can 
he possibly deliver? What position of advantage does 
he maintain to come to the aid of his people? It is the transcendent, 
imminent God presented by the Bible that man desperately needs. He raises the poor out of the 
dust and lifts the needy out of the ash heap, that he may 
seat him with princes, with the princes of his people. He grants 
the barren woman a home. like a joyful mother of children, 
praise the Lord." That is a wonderful psalm concerning theology proper. Who is God? What is He like? How does He function with reference 
to His creation? That small psalm tells us a whole 
bunch of stuff and refutes both deism and pantheism in one fell 
swoop. So those were the philosophical 
personages represented there before the Apostle Paul in the 
city of Athens. And then notice, back in Acts 
17, verse 18 says, then certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers 
encountered him, and some said, what does this babbler want to 
say? What does this seed picker want 
to say? If you've got the new King James, 
you'll see in the margin. An idler who makes a living picking 
up scraps. That's what they said he was. 
He was picking up all these little bits of a philosophy and of religion, 
and he was going to sort of combine it all together. a seed picker, 
a slang term first used of birds that pick up grain, then of men 
who pick up odds and ends in the market, and then applied 
to men who were zealous seekers of the second rate at second 
hand, and finally to generally worthless persons. So they were 
basically dismissing Paul. He's a babbler. He's a seed picker. He really doesn't have anything 
to say. Bruce says, Stoics and Epicureans alike, much as they 
might differ from each other, agreed at least on this, that 
the newfangled message brought by this Jew of Tarsus was not 
one that could appeal to reasonable people. They looked on him as 
a retailer of secondhand scraps of philosophy. a picker-up of 
learning's crumbs, a type of itinerant peddler of religion, 
not unknown in the agora, that's the marketplace, and they use 
the term of disparaging Athenian slang to describe them. It's 
somewhat like if I were to say, what does this nutjob have to 
say? I don't want to offend. But that's the kind of an approach 
that these Epicureans and Stoics took to the Apostle Paul. What 
does this guy have to say? Who does he think he is? He's 
just knit together some ideas and he thinks that it's a cogent 
whole and he wants to present it. Let's send for him, and let's 
listen to what he has to say. Because he's preaching this Jesus 
and the resurrection. This piqued their interest enough 
to summons him to the Areopagus, or to Mars Hill, the place where, 
politically, business would have been conducted, and philosophically, 
where, formally, ideas would be exchanged. So notice, that 
brings us then to the sermon. So Paul, this man. we know and 
love is being looked at as kind of a kook at this point. And 
what is he going to say? How is he going to address the 
situation? Verse 19, they took him and brought 
him to the Areopagus saying, may we know what this new doctrine 
is of which you speak? For you are bringing some strange 
things to our ears. Therefore, we want to know what 
these things mean. For all the Athenians and the 
foreigners who were there spent their time and nothing else but 
either to tell or to hear some new thing." This was the philosophical 
equivalent of Facebook. Talk about a waste of time. That's what these guys did. What'd 
you do today, honey? I sat at the Areopagus and we 
talked about theory. We talked about ideas. We talked 
about whatever. So Paul now comes into their 
midst. Notice first his introduction, 
verses 22 and 23. Then Paul stood in the midst 
of the Areopagus and said, men of Athens, I perceive that in 
all things you are very religious. For as I was passing through 
and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an 
altar with this inscription to the unknown God. Therefore, the 
one whom you worship without knowing him, I proclaim to you." 
So first he appeals to their religious nature. He appeals 
to their religious nature. Now, if you were listening a 
couple of weeks ago when we studied Romans chapter 1, you will know 
that the Apostle was convinced that there's no such thing as 
an atheist. The Apostle Paul in Romans 1 
tells us that man knows God exists. He cannot escape the knowledge 
of God. He tries to suppress the truth 
in unrighteousness, but because man is made in God's image, and 
because the entire created order screams God to the sinner, he 
can't escape being a religious person. Now, that religion finds 
expression in all manner of false ways, right? Hinduism, and Islam, 
and Roman Catholicism, and I'm sure there's people out there 
saying, oh wow, you can't say that. Yes, it's wrong. Every 
man has a religious element to him. Paul appeals to that. They're very religious, or it 
could also mean superstitious, but man intrinsically in the 
image of God knows there's something out there. And then notice he 
highlights their theological ignorance. For as I was passing 
through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found 
an altar with this inscription to the unknown God. Isn't that 
amazing? Let's just throw up these altars and just write to 
the unknown God just to sort of cover our bases, right? Just 
to try and make sure that we're okay and that we appease that 
one out there that we're not familiar with that may look down 
and say, oh, well, at least they remembered me in that sense. 
Paul is highlighting their ignorance at this particular juncture. 
Again, here I want to quote R.C. Sproul. He says, according to 
Paul, false religion is not the fruit of a zealous pursuit of 
God, but the result of a passionate flight from God. Get that? They're religious. They construct 
their idols. They build their altars. This tells us they're running 
from the true and living God. He goes on to say, the glory 
of God is exchanged for an idol. The idol stands as a monument, 
not to religious fervor, but to humanity's flight from an 
initial encounter with the glory of God. He says the practice 
of idolatrous religion is not viewed as an approximate form 
of authentic religion, but as a negation of it. Paul doesn't 
say, I see that you're trying, and that's good that you're trying, 
and I want to help correct you. That's not how he addresses this. 
He doesn't try to marry Jesus with the gods of the empire. 
He doesn't try to marry Jesus with Epicureanism or Stoicism. He doesn't say, it's okay to 
be an Epicurean, it's okay to be a Stoic, just adopt Jesus 
in your life as well. You see, the Bible not only forbids 
idolatry, it forbids, what's the word, when we take Jesus 
and try to marry him with Allah, or with Muhammad, for instance. 
What do we call that word? It's not idolatry flat out, it's 
a form of idolatry. Begins with an S. Syncretism, 
that's right. You'll see it in the Old Testament. 
They wanted Baal and Yahweh. Paul does not address men that 
way. It is wrong for the church to 
try and accommodate people by fitting Jesus into their lives. Jesus is Lord of all, or he's 
not Lord at all in your particular realm. You see what I'm saying? 
Paul doesn't say, it's good that you have this. Let me just help 
you complete yourself. No. Sproul says it is one thing 
to deny the existence of God. It is another thing to add insult 
to the denial by worshiping as God something that is clearly 
of the created order. What we find in Acts chapter 
17 is a living illustration of what Paul writes in Romans chapter 
1, verses 18 to 32. In fact, perhaps as he's penning 
Romans, he's thinking about his time in Athens. Or when he's 
in Athens, he's thinking about, well, no, he hadn't written Romans 
at this particular point. So when he writes Romans 1, perhaps 
Athens is in his mindset. But he appeals to their religious 
nature. Now, notice the specifics of his sermon. Beginning, well, 
just before we get to the specifics, look at what he says in verse 
23. Something very offensive to modern man. Therefore, the 
one whom you worship without knowing, him I proclaim to you. What does Paul assert here? They 
don't know him, absolutely. What else does he assert? That 
he knows him. That God can be known. That there 
is truth. That we can hold to it dogmatically. And that we can proclaim it to 
other people as well. Paul does not do what would have 
been typical for an idle babbler in that day to do. Just want 
to give you some thoughts. Want to give you something to 
think about. I just want to share. Any preacher that stands with 
his hand in his pocket who just wants to share isn't worth his 
weight. We need to proclaim with vigor 
the God of the Bible. And that's what Paul does at 
Athens. He is in the bastion of learning, 
the bastion of culture, philosophical sophistication. And what does 
he do? He says, you're wrong, and I'm 
right, and I'm going to tell you about the God I serve. Truly 
beautiful. This is what our generation needs. 
I mean everything goes except this form of dogmatism. Everything 
goes except asserting the truth. You can believe anything you 
want in modern North America. Very similar to what we have 
in the empire here. You can believe anything you 
want except the truth as it is in Jesus Christ. It really is 
bizarre, isn't it? Did you know that the crime of 
the Christians in the Roman Empire, do you know what they were accused 
of being? Atheists. Isn't that a strange 
juxtaposition, right? They were accused of atheism, 
not because they denied the God of heaven and earth, but because 
they only affirmed the God of heaven and earth. Their denial 
of the pantheon of the gods of the empire, that earned them 
the badge of atheism. Early Christians were accused 
of being atheists because they maintained fidelity to the one 
true and living God, and they objected to this pantheon. That 
means a bunch of gods, the gods of the Roman Empire. Kind of 
an interesting twist that we have in modern society. So notice the specifics. Paul 
first asserts that God is the creator of the universe, verses 
24 to 26. God who made the world and everything 
in it, since he is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in 
temples made with hands. Nor is he worshipped with men's 
hands as though he needed anything, since he gives to all life, breath, 
and all things. And he has made from one blood 
every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth. 
and has determined their pre-appointed times and the boundaries of their 
dwellings." What view is this refuting? The Stoics who believe in pantheism. Right? This God is removed. He made the heavens and the earth. He created everything. He's over 
everything. He is not something that you 
can contain in a box. He is not the table. He is not 
the chair. He is not the rock. He is God 
the Lord who made the world and everything in it. He is Lord 
of heaven. He is Lord of earth. He does 
not dwell in temples made with hands, nor is he worshiped with 
men's hands as though he needed anything, since he gives to all 
life, breath, and all things." As well, the entire audience 
needed to learn something of God as creator. When Paul would 
go to the synagogue of the Jews, he didn't spend time on highlighting 
the fact that God created the universe. Do you know why he 
didn't spend time on that? Because they already believed 
that. Their problem was with Jesus 
as the Messiah. Paul didn't have to set up the 
context in terms of God created the world. God governs the world. God sent his son to redeem the 
world. The Jews already affirmed there 
was a creator. The Jews already affirmed there 
was a governor. The Jews rejected Jesus as Messiah. So what Paul would do when he 
was in synagogues very often is appeal to their scriptures, 
appeal to their history, and show how their scriptures and 
history pointed to fulfillment in the Lord Jesus Christ. But 
when he comes to a pagan audience, when he comes to heathen, when 
he comes to those who did not have the oracles of God in terms 
of the Old Testament, he has to put the Christian message 
in its larger context and framework. He wants to show them how Jesus 
and the resurrection fits in the Christian worldview. You 
see, that's what he's called upon to talk about, Jesus and 
the resurrection. Well, if he just started with, 
there was a man named Jesus and he rose from the dead, they'd 
be like, what significance does that have with anything? But 
God made the world, God governs the world, and God sent his son 
to redeem the world. You see, he's providing not only 
the particular facts, but the worldview in which those facts 
make sense. He's masterful at what he's doing 
in the space of a few verses. Again, Bonson says, the apostle 
understood his audience at Athens. They would have needed to learn 
of God as the creator and of his divine retribution against 
sin, even as the Jews knew these things from the Old Testament, 
before the message of grace could have meaning. This is their life. All they do is engage in idolatry. Why is idolatry wrong? Because 
God made the world. He's not contained in boxes. 
He is not shaped or devised by men's hands. What you're doing 
is not representing God. It's wrong. And He's going to 
bring you to judgment as a result of that. You see, He is giving 
them the rationale behind the gospel message He is teaching 
them not only about who God is, but who they are in relationship 
to God as idolaters who have rejected and rebelled against 
Him. It truly is masterful. Some have 
said that Paul puts down his Bible and he just rationalizes 
with them. No, everything Paul says comes 
from Scripture. Again, it is adjusted to the 
pagan audience, some of the emphases perhaps, but the prophet Isaiah 
says, Thus says God the Lord, who created the heavens and stretched 
them out, who spread forth the earth and that which comes from 
it, who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who 
walk on it. Isaiah 42. That's what Paul has 
in mind. That's what he's bringing to 
bear upon these Epicureans and Stoics that didn't learn it in 
Sabbath school. They weren't brought up in the 
Tanakh. They didn't have the law of the prophets in the writings. 
They weren't educated in these particulars. So Paul, in the 
space of a few short verses, takes the message of the prophet 
and brings it to bear upon his audience. Wright says, with reference 
to idolatry, this is Christopher Wright, not N.T. Wright, the 
primal problem with idolatry is that it blurs the distinction 
between the Creator God and the creation. This both damages creation, 
including ourselves, and diminishes the glory of the Creator. Don't 
forget the context. It's a city given over to idols. Paul is addressing a particular 
sin. Paul wants these men to repent 
from their idolatry and flee to the Lord God Almighty for 
salvation through his son. In order to get them to see that, 
they have to know the context that there is a sovereign God 
who made this world. He's not represented by your 
statues. So what you're doing is wrong 
and it's offensive and you need to repent and bow down. the way 
that we ought to approach audiences. He highlights that God is not 
dependent upon his creatures. God created all things in general, 
and the human race in particular. And God is not contained in men's 
temples, nor represented by his art. You cannot put on a canvas 
the glory of God. You cannot put into a picture 
the glory of God. You simply cannot. So he highlights 
that God is creator. Secondly, God is the ruler of 
the nations. Verses 26B to 28. Notice. and has determined their pre-appointed 
times and the boundaries of their dwellings so that they should 
seek the Lord in the hope that they might grope for him and 
find him, though he is not far from each one of us. For in him 
we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own 
poets have said, for we are also his offspring." Now what is this combating? That 
view that God is only transcendent, that God is only out there, that 
he's only far removed. You see in Paul's sermon he's 
telling us that God is Lord of all, God is over all things, 
but God is involved in the lives of men. He puts this man in that 
nation. He puts this man in that family. 
He puts this man in that place. And he is not far from any one 
of us so that we might grope after him and find him. For in 
him we live, we move, we have our being. So God is creator 
Lord, but he's also present among his creation. Not a part of it, 
not pantheism, but he is imminent and he is involved with the people 
on this earth. You see how he's doing that? 
He's addressing the two audiences very specifically. He's addressing 
paganism and heathenism very specifically as well with the 
Christian worldview, with the context of Christianity. He quotes one of their own poets. Though he is not far from each 
one of us, for in him we live and move and have our being, 
as also some of your own poets have said, for we are also his 
offspring. Paul was alert to what was going 
on around him. Paul knew what was going on in 
the empire. Paul knew not because he submitted 
to it. He had an idea of the philosophical 
systems and the religious views that were there. And he was able 
to speak intellectually to those particulars. He cites Epimenides 
the Cretan. For in thee we live and move 
and have our being, in eritus the Cilician, in every way we 
have to do with Zeus, for we are truly his offspring." Now, 
he is not identifying Zeus with the true God. He is not incorporating 
these things into his Christian worldview. He is simply highlighting 
that their pagan authors recognize something of the true nature 
of God. Again, you cannot fully escape 
the God of heaven and earth, Romans chapter 1. You may try 
to suppress that truth, you may try to shake it off, you may 
try to run from it, but there is hardwired in us, because we 
are in His image, and the heavens declare His glory and His righteousness, 
there are certain things that we know about God. Even your pagan poets understand 
this. Paul quotes their own poets to 
expose their own inconsistency. Again, Greg Bonson says Paul 
quotes the pagan writers to manifest their guilt. Since God is near 
at hand to all men, since his revelation impinges on them continually, 
they cannot escape a knowledge of their Creator and Sustainer. They are without excuse for their 
perversion of the truth." So he's out there, he's with us. He is both transcendent, he is 
imminent. He's answering the Epicureans, 
he's answering the Stoics. Now notice, God is to be worshipped 
exclusively. He's bringing ethics to bear 
on them now. You see, he's given the Christian 
worldview, God made this world, God sustains this world, God 
governs this world, God determines boundaries, God is near, God 
says, the idea is that we would grope for Him and find Him. Now 
notice, verse 29, therefore. You see, Paul isn't just interested 
in appealing to their minds and saying, isn't that impressive, 
I presented a cohesive worldview. No, the Bible always goes for 
the heart, you see. The Puritans understood, we go 
for the heart through the mind. Verse 29 is implication. Therefore, since we are the offspring 
of God, now this is not to be taken as the fatherhood of God, 
the fatherhood of God over all men. in some liberal Protestant 
particular, just referring to God as creator over all men. Therefore, since we are the offspring 
of God, we ought not to think that the divine nature is like 
gold or silver or stone something shaped by art and man's devising. God is not worshipped with images, 
representations, or other idols." Here he is addressing the particular 
sin of Athens. Remember Peter preaching last 
week in Acts chapter 2? I mean, he did it not last week, 
but we looked at it last week. What does he highlight with reference 
to those Jerusalem sinners? You crucified Jesus, right? When you want to affect the hearer, 
you tell them they're sinning. Man will never seek after Jesus 
for forgiveness if he doesn't think he's a sinner, right? That's 
one of the uses of the law. For by the law is the knowledge 
of sin." And that's what he's doing here. We ought not to think 
that the divine nature is like gold or silver or stone, something 
shaped by art and man's devising. You see, God's not just upset 
when covenant community Israel is dancing before the golden 
calf. He's upset when Athens is given over to idols. He's 
upset when North America is given over to idols. When I say upset, 
I don't mean like I get upset. God's upsetness is a different 
sort of a concept. That's what we call the impassibility 
of God. One day we're going to deal with 
that doctrine, but that day is not today. But God takes notice 
of idolatry going on. And he is provoked within himself. And then Paul brings it to a 
close with the fact that God is the judge of all the universe. Notice in verse 30, truly these 
times of ignorance God overlooked. Now that's one of those statements 
that people stumble on. Does God just excuse all of the 
sin in the past? No, he sure didn't with Sodom 
and Gomorrah. He sure didn't with the Canaanite 
nations. He sure didn't with the Canaanite cities. I think 
the idea is that God is long-suffering, and God is patient, and God has 
forebeared very long. Now, truly, these times of ignorance 
God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent. You see, this would be completely 
not what you would get when the philosophical discussions of 
these people. Ideas, sure, that's interesting 
to think about. I always picture them as just 
stroking their bear. So that's interesting, yeah. That's interesting. 
Paul says, therefore, you cannot engage in idolatry, and you need 
to realize that God commands you to repent. And then he says, 
because he has appointed a day on which he will judge the world 
in righteousness by the man whom he has ordained. He has given 
assurance of this to all by raising him from the dead. Isn't that 
amazing? He's called up there to talk 
about Jesus and the resurrection. Notice that Paul does not do 
what is very common for Christian apologists today. I'm going to 
give you 10 reasons why you should believe that Jesus rose from 
the dead. I'm going to give you 15 reasons why you should believe 
that Jesus rose from the dead. Paul assumes that Jesus rose 
from the dead and uses that fact to prove the reality that God 
the Lord is going to judge man. The empty tomb tells the Athenians 
that you will be judged for your idolatry. We don't spend 15 years 
trying to prove the resurrection of Jesus Christ to the unbeliever. You tell them what the Bible 
says, here's what the scripture says, and here's why you need 
to believe it. God is going to judge you. And 
it is proof positive that he's going to judge you because he 
raised his son from the dead. It's an amazing proof involved 
in this text. It is not proving the resurrection 
of Jesus. It is using the resurrection 
of Jesus to prove the reality of a future day of judgment. Christ is the agent by which 
God will judge all mankind. And Paul uses the fact of the 
resurrection as a proof of the coming judgment by Christ. Apologetics 
is that discipline that deals with defending the Christian 
faith. And there's certain approaches 
that people take to defending the Christian faith. Suffice 
it to say, Paul was what was called a presuppositionalist. Actually, that's reading back 
into the text statement, but he's evidencing that model. He's 
not spending his time in an effort to try and convince them of something. 
He's taking the resurrection and proving that they will be 
judged. Now, notice finally the summary. 
When they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. Don't 
get discouraged when you tell your friends about Jesus and 
they mock you. Paul got mocked, right? Don't get discouraged if you 
preach the gospel and people mock you, or they say you're 
weird, or that's strange, or that's odd, or I don't know how 
we can ever believe such a thing. Mocking is commonplace when unbelievers 
are confronted with the gospel of Jesus Christ. When they heard 
of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. Others said, we 
will hear you again on this matter. Some were curious. Probably always 
going to get responses like this. It's going to be those who say, 
forget it. I want nothing to do with it. It's going to be 
others that say, hmm, that sounds kind of interesting. I wouldn't 
mind hearing about that again. But notice, there are those who 
believe. So Paul departed from among them. 
However, some men joined him and believed. Among them Dionysius 
the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them. 
It's commonplace. When the gospel is preached, 
not everybody always gets converted. Some mock, some are curious, 
and some believe. They did that with the great 
apostle Paul. We ought to expect that we will 
face the same sort of thing today. Well, that is a brief look at 
Acts chapter 17. I'll pray. We'll turn that off. 
And if anyone has any questions, feel free to ask. Father, we 
thank you for your word. We thank you for the truth that 
Paul conveyed there at Athens and that is recorded for us in 
Acts 17. God, give us grace and wisdom 
to know how to rightly speak to our generation, to take your 
truth, to speak concerning Jesus Christ and the coming judgment 
and the reality that God made this world, God governs this 
world, and God will indeed call all men to judgment. We just 
thank you for your grace and mercy in sparing us. We thank 
you for applying your gospel to us and giving us life eternal. 
Go with us now, we pray, in Jesus' name. Amen.