Okay, Acts 17, I'll begin reading in verse 16, and I'll read to the end of the chapter. Our focus will be the Apostle Paul at Athens. Familiar passage we have looked at before, but I think one that's very encouraging, not in this first point that I'm gonna mention, but in the others, there is that constant persistency of idolatry. And you see that here in Athens, but we also see the power of the gospel And then we see various responses to Paul's preaching.
We might be inclined to think that wherever he went and wherever he preached, everybody got saved. But that's simply not the case. So I want to read this section, and then we'll focus in on this particular sermon. 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.
Epicureans and Stoics Defined
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 Damaris, and others with them. Amen.
Introduction: Paul's Missionary Context
Well, if you go back to chapter 13 for just a moment by way of introduction to the broader section, we'll notice that the Apostle Paul was sent out as a missionary. The Lord God, the Spirit of God, comes to the church in Antioch, separates Paul and Barnabas for the work of mission. So in chapter 13 and 14, you have the first missionary journey. And it's good to associate that first missionary journey with the churches of Southern Galatia.
So the book of Galatians was written to those churches in Southern Galatia. So that was the first missionary journey. But then we also have the second missionary journey, and that's the section we're in tonight. So Acts 1536 to Acts 1822.
And you can associate that with Corinth. He spent time in other places as well, but he spent about a year and a half in Corinth, and so it's a good association to know that second missionary journey, Corinth, and that's about AD 49 to 52. And then the third missionary journey is in chapter 18, verse 23, and goes to chapter 21, verse 16. And the one that we can associate with this missionary journey is Ephesus, because he spent a great deal of time there.
So then he ends in prison, and then after his release, some speculate he engaged in something like a fourth missionary journey as he continued to minister, as he continued to instruct, and as he continued to teach and help the people of God. Well,
Ministry in Athens: Paul Provoked
here specifically he's in Athens, Athens, Greece. And I want to look first at the ministry in Athens in verses 16 to 21, and then specifically the sermon at Mars Hill in verses 22 to 34. But notice first that the apostle was provoked according to verse 16. It says, 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.
Now, idolatry is something God condemns in the first and second commandments. Remember the first commandment is about the object of our worship. You shall have no other gods before me, no other gods besides me. And then the second deals with the manner in which we worship that God.
So it's good to have the right God, but we need to worship him in the right way. Well, ever since the law was given or revealed by God to man, there has been idolatry, departures from the living and true God. So Paul sees this when he's in this particular city. It's a very religious place.
He even says so when he addresses them later on in the chapter. But this language of provocation is the word paroxysm, and it It means to cause a state of inward arousal, to urge on, to stimulate, especially to provoke to wrath or irritate. I think it's used of God in the Old Testament with reference to the idolatry of man. So the Apostle Paul is thinking biblically.
He is thinking in terms of God's holiness and righteousness and how man has defected from that true and living God, so it serves as a provocation in his heart. Notice, as well, with that provocation, he doesn't just write nasty letters to the city officials. He doesn't just picket or boycott the idolatry that was rampant there in Athens, but rather it serves as an impetus for him to preach the word. Notice he does that according to verses 17 and 18.
It says, therefore he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with the Gentile worshipers. You see that pattern often when Paul goes on these missionary journeys. He goes to a particular city, he finds the synagogue, and there he goes and preaches Jesus. a very wonderful message to the Jews who needed to hear that Jesus was, in fact, the promised Messiah, but also these Gentiles that were interested in Israel's God would be found in the synagogues on the day of worship. And so the apostle would have an audience there.
So he does that, but then also he goes into the marketplace daily with those who happen to be there. So this would be a place where there would be sellers of wares, there would be sellers of services, there would be the sorts of things that we'd expect in a bustling city, and he would go downtown and he would speak the truth to them. He would speak concerning Jesus Christ. He would testify about the gospel of salvation.
Then notice as well, he's challenged by certain philosophers. Specifically in verse 18, then certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers encountered him. I think it's good for us to have some idea of what these men held to, or what these men taught, because as Paul preaches, I think he's addressing, at least indirectly, the sorts of errors that these men held to. So the Epicureans were followers of Epicurus.
He lived from 341 to 270 BC. They did not believe gods created the earth. They believed in gods, but they didn't believe that gods created the earth. They did not believe in providence.
While they didn't deny the existence of gods, they taught that the gods took no interest in the lives of men and women. They stressed lives of pleasure, though not the kind of pleasure we might think. It wasn't about gambling and crack and prostitution and that sort of a thing. They stressed lives of pleasure, though higher forms of pleasure, not that those things sound pleasurable to me, but I'm just saying, when we think of people that are abandoned and given over to their lusts, it's not typically higher forms of pleasure, i.e., a life of tranquility, freedom from pain, disturbing passions, and superstitious fears.
Daniel Bach describes them as agnostic secularists. So that's the Epicureans, and then you have the Stoics. And the Stoics were followers of Zeno who lived from 340 to 265 BC. The name Stoic came from a painted colonnade in the Agora where Zeno taught.
They were essentially pantheists. So basically a pantheist means that God is in everything. Now, we believe that God is immense. He fills everything.
We believe that God is omnipresent. But we don't believe God is this table. We don't believe that God is the various things around us, like the pantheist does. They were essentially pantheists.
They emphasized harmony with nature and freedom from emotion, thus enabling one to endure the fluctuations of life. Sometimes you refer to people as a stoic. Persons that don't show a lot of emotion, they don't show a lot of fluctuations. Well, this is where we get it from, these Stoics.
So that's the actual men that challenge the Apostle, but note their challenge specifically in verse 18. What does this babbler want to say? Now this was an insult. If you look in the New King James margin, it says seed picker. an idler who makes a living picking up scraps.
And that's essentially what it means. It's pejorative imagery of persons whose communication lacks sophistication and seems to pick up scraps of information here and there, a scrap monger and scavenger. If you turn to 1 Corinthians for just a moment, you see that Paul confirms his inability to speak well. I think this is important for us, especially when we sort of, and well we should, make a hero out of the Apostle Paul, but he was a regular man and he had the same sorts of challenges that other men have.
And in 1 Corinthians chapter 2, specifically at verse 2, he says, I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness and fear and in much trembling. and my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." So it's not the case that he's eight foot tall and bulletproof and ready to take on all Epicureans and Stoics. If you turn to Ephesians chapter 6, Ephesians chapter 6, I think we get an indicator of how it was he was able to go into places like Mars Hill and to stand up and proclaim the glory of the gospel. Notice in Ephesians 6, specifically at verse 18. praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel for which I am an ambassador in chains, that in it I may speak boldly as I ought to speak.
So the people of God were praying for the apostle. And so when Paul here is in Athens and his spirit is provoked, he meets up with these Epicurean and Stoic philosophers and they start to pick on him. They start to needle him. They say it as much.
What does this babbler, what does this idle babbler want to say? And then about the end, or about the middle of verse 18, it says, others said, he seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods because he preached to them Jesus and the resurrection. Interestingly, I think this is the same sort of a charge laid at Socrates' feet, that he was an idle babbler, that he was a seed picker. So when it comes to this particular encounter, when it comes to this particular audience, we notice that these persons are pressing him.
And then in verse 19, it says, they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, may we know what this new doctrine is of which you speak? For you're 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. Now, the Areopagus, or the Hill of Ares, was northwest of the Acropolis in Athens.
It's to be understood here less as a place where speakers were permitted to hold forth freely and listeners were always at hand than as the council which met on that hill. In other words, he's being called up and he is being asked now to proclaim the truth. I mean, talk about a perfect pitch right over the plate. As we know the Apostle Paul, he lives for such opportunities.
Again, he's not eight foot tall and bulletproof. He is a prayerful man. He's committed to the truth as it is in Jesus. So when you give him an invitation to come and speak, you better rest assured he's going to come and speak.
The Sermon at Mars Hill
And that brings us then to the sermon at Mars Hill. First, note the introduction to his sermon in verses 22 and 23. He acknowledges their religiosity. He acknowledges the fact that they have a religious spirit.
The word specifically means, notice in verse 22, then Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious. It can be used in a denigrating sense, like superstitious, as in the King James. But in the laudatory introduction of Paul's speech, it must mean devout or religious. So what we have here in the New King James is a good rendering.
I perceive that in all things you are very religious. And then he gives a particular emphasis of that. Notice in verse 23, for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, Plurality. They're a religious people.
Gill says they had more gods, and more altars, and more festivals, and were more diligent and studious in the worship of their gods than others. Now at this point in history, Athens didn't have the prestige that it previously had, but it was still a citadel for learning, for philosophy, and for all manner of intellectualism. And so when he comes to acknowledge this,
The Altar to the Unknown God
he then goes on to say at the end of verse, or about the middle of verse 23, Now, I think that this is an attempt on their part to cover one's bases. They were polytheistic. They believed in a lot of gods. But they didn't know of all the gods, so they'd put up these unknown altars just to make sure that they were covering their bases.
If there was a god out there that they hadn't offered up sacrifice to, then this altar to the unknown god would suffice for that purpose. and it would make sure that this unknown God would be appeased and that they would get the benefits that they wanted. As Calvin said, whoever does worship God without any certainty, he worships his own inventions instead of God. I think he's right, but again, I think that's what they're trying to do, just cover their bases. Sproul makes the observation here.
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. 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. Again, the practice of idolatrous religion is not viewed as an approximate form of authentic religion, but as a negation of it.
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. Paul's not condemning, commending it. He's simply noting it, and it's from this vantage point that he's going to launch into this proclamation concerning the living and the true God.
If you turn over to the book of Romans, in Romans chapter 1, it seems to be the case that Paul, when he's writing Romans, has scenes like what he has here in Athens in his mind. Notice in Romans 1.18, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. The reality is that the light of nature teaches us that there is a God. And the light of nature teaches us that there is a God who is to be worshipped, who is to be feared, who is to be glorified.
The prophet Jeremiah asks the question in Jeremiah chapter 10, "...who would not fear thee, O king of the nations? For indeed it is thy due." It's the same statement that's made in Revelation chapter 15. Notice, Paul says, "...because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them." General Revelation reveals God. Notice in verse 20, for since the creation of the world, His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even as eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.
Because although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things. Therefore, God also gave them up to uncleanness and the lusts of their hearts to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
So going back to Acts 17, he's not commending them for this altar to the unknown God. He's appealing to this so that he can then launch into his proclamation of the living and true God. And that's precisely what he says at the end of verse 23. Therefore, the one whom you worship without knowing, him I proclaim to you.
And then, from there,
God Declared as Creator
he declares that true and living God in verses 24 to 28, and then he draws out some practical implications from verses 29 and following. And so notice, specifically, when he declares the true God, he speaks first of God as Creator. Remember, the Epicureans believed in the existence of gods, but those gods didn't have a hand in creation. And as far as the Stoics were concerned, Pantheism was the order of the day.
God was in everything. God was everything. So they both have a defective understanding of creation. And as is often the case, we don't read of Paul going into synagogues and preaching a sermon on God's creation. or preaching that God is Creator.
When he goes into the synagogues, he proclaims that Jesus is the Messiah. Well, here you've got pagans, here you've got Epicureans and Stoics that have no sort of connection with the God of Israel, and so what he declares to them is the truth concerning the fact that God has created. So he does that in verses 24 to 26a. So the audience here is pagan, so Paul highlights the truth that God is the creator of all things.
Turn back to chapter 14, where you see Paul at Lystra, again with a pagan or heathen audience, and so the apostle Paul underscores the reality that God, the living and true God, is the one who made all things. Notice in 14.15. Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men with the same nature as you, and preach to you that you should turn from these useless things to the living God, who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and all things that are in them.
See, the heathen with a multiplicity of gods didn't typically give that much authority to one in particular. It's the living and true God that made the earth, that made the sea, that made the heavens. Everything there is, this God made. And in this, the apostle is rehearsing, reflecting, reminiscing on the prophet Isaiah.
Isaiah 42, 5. 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. It's essentially what he says, verse 24, So what's he addressing? What's provoked his spirit when he's sitting there in Athens?
It's idolatry. And so he comes to preach the supremacy and the glory of God Most High as Creator, and then he goes on to make this distinction between the Creator and the creature. And he says specifically, God does not dwell in temples made with ants. Again, this is reminiscent. of Solomon in 1 Kings chapter 8, Isaiah the prophet chapter 66, Stephen in his proclamation in Acts chapter 7 says essentially the same thing.
In other words, God is distinct from the creation and that's what he is holding out to these pagans. As well,
Divine Aseity and the Creator-Creature Distinction
God is not worshipped with men's hands, and God does not depend upon man. Notice what he goes on to say in verse 25. Nor is he worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed anything, since he gives to all life, breath, and all things. It's a good doctrine for us to be reminded of.
God doesn't need us. We don't complete God. We don't make Him something better than He was prior to creation. We don't add to His glory, we don't diminish from His glory, we do not change Him.
And so, as the Apostle is setting forth the true and the living God, he finds it essential to stress the fact that He is the Creator, that therefore He is then distinct from the creation, and that God Himself is not dependent upon the creation. It's man who's dependent upon God, not vice versa. It's not as if you've built these wonderful temples with all of your idols, so now God is happy and felicitous to come and visit with you. You are not doing God any favors.
Webster says, the triune God could be without the world. No perfection of God would be lost. No triune bliss would be compromised were the world not to exist. No enhancement of God is achieved by the world's existence.
And some would say, well, that seems a bit bleak. No, it doesn't. The supremacy and glory of God. We don't want God dependent upon us.
Remember the prophet Isaiah chides the people of his day who engaged in idolatry. And one of the specific things that he launches into is that they had to pick up their idols and put them back on the cart when they had fallen off the cart. That is a horrible thing, brethren. We don't want to have to pick up our God.
We want our God to be able to pick us up and Him not dependent upon us. Christopher Wright says, 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. See, the essence of idolatry and a rejection of the true and living God, defection from the truth of the living God, a denial of creation, a denial of providence, a denial obviously of redemption.
So the apostle is hitting these things. The apostle is setting these forth before the Epicureans and the Stoics who wanted to hear what these strange things were. And then he says,
Providence Over the Nations
the doctrine of creation extends to man the image of God. Notice what he says, verse 26, 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 dwelling. So he made the sea, he made the earth, he made the heaven, and he made man. And with reference to man, he providentially governs man.
Man is not a law unto himself. Man is not just bumping into each other until some final cosmic end. No, rather God has set those boundaries. God has determined their pre-appointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings.
You see what Paul is doing? When you come to preach to people that have domesticated whatever concept of God they may have, you preach the undomesticated God. You preach the glory and the majesty of the Most High. You preach the fact that he is sovereign, the fact that he is the creator, and the fact that he is the governor over all things, over all his creatures and over all their actions.
So He is the Living and the True God, as well He is the One who is the Sovereign Ruler. We see that in verse 26, but then moving on to verse 27. He says, "...so that..." This is the purpose of verse 26. "...is 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." Brethren, that's what man should be doing.
I think at times when we witness to people, we're a bit defensive, or a bit sheepish, or almost a bit apologetic, or a bit weak, and I know it's hard talking to people, I know it's not always the most natural thing, but people we talk to should be seeking the Lord. We are image bearers of the living and true God. God made us for his own glory. This is what all men everywhere ought to be doing at all times.
And so the purpose for the creation of man in Acts 17, as Paul is bringing it to these Epicureans and Stoics, 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. Pantheism's wrong, but imminence and immensity and omnipresence is true. God is there. God is accessible.
God does here. God is present. And then notice he says in verse 28, for in him we live and move and have our own being. And look at what he does here.
As also some of your own poets have said, for we are also his offspring. So the apostle was a trained rabbi, trained by Gamaliel, or under Gamaliel. We learned that in the earlier part of the Book of Acts. But he's also conversant with pagan literature.
He's also conversant with the poets of the heathen. He's able to appeal to them at that particular level And particularly, he does that here, and also in Titus chapter 1 at verse 12. The particular man is Aretas, and another one is Epimenides, the Cretan. And he said, for in thee we live and move and have our being.
Aretas says, in every way we have to do with Zeus, for we are truly his offspring. Now, Paul is not equating the living and true God with Zeus. But he is highlighting the fact that even degenerate, heathen poets have stumbled in unwittingly to truth about God. Why is that?
Because, as the Bible testifies, the heavens declare the glory of God. As chapter 22 in our confession declares, that the light of nature reveals that there is a God, and that God is to be worshipped, that God is to be feared, that God is to be loved and adored. So Paul is acknowledging that these pagans were able to stumble onto some truth. 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. Remember what he says there in Romans chapter 1. The effects that we see all around us lead us to the conclusion that there is a cause for these effects.
In other words, this world didn't just magically spring into being. The world declares and testifies that there is a God who built it. And so that creature should take us back to the Creator, and thus we should worship and glorify Him. So the Apostle, as he's writing Romans 1, again, I can't say he had Acts 17 completely in his mind, or even that the dates would jive, though I think it would.
But the bottom line is, is that this mindset was in the apostle. When he goes into these pagan cities, and he sees them given over to idols, he knows that they have a sense of deity, he knows that they have a sense of religiosity, he knows that because they're created in God's image, and God has made manifest to them through the created order, that he exists. And so while they suppress that truth and unrighteousness, there is nevertheless that remainder on their hearts, and that's what the apostle is appealing to in this particular instance.
Implications: Repentance and Judgment
And then that brings us to the implications for the Athenians in verses 29 to 31. Look at the beginning of verse 29, therefore. Therefore, what did the Epicureans and Stoics want? Notice in 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, here's the explanatory note, 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. Now, Paul is going to tell them the new thing, God made you, God sustained you, God is going to damn you unless you repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, but Paul doesn't just do it to give them more information.
That verse 29 begins with, therefore, indicates that for the apostle, it's the problem of idolatry that he's going after. These are sinners who are standing under the judgment and wrath and fury of God. He's not just trying to demonstrate the superiority of the Christian religion, that our God is the living and true God, our God is the creator, and our God is the governor over all things. Now, let's go home and just sort of let that wash over us.
No! He brings it to bear upon their consciences. Notice again, in verse 29, he highlights that distinction between the Creator and the creature. Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, and I think that Paul, using offspring in this particular passage, and quoting the pagan in verse 28, is not suggesting the universal fatherhood of God in a redemptive sense.
That's 20th century liberalism. That's the kind of reality or the kind of thing that was in vogue at the time of the theologian J. Gressom Machen, who wrote a book called Christianity and Liberalism. And he said, it's not the case that liberalism is a subset of Christianity.
It is an altogether different religion. It is not the same species. So what those liberals taught was that God is universally father over all men. But all men are on this upward trajectory, and all we gotta do is recognize it and realize it.
That's not how Paul is using it. I think he's using it in creational categories. We are God's offspring in terms of being the creature who has come from the hand of the Creator. I don't think we should press it to that place of universal fatherhood of God in a redemptive sense for sure.
So notice, 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." What's he telling them? Your idols are in vain. Your idols are not only in vain, but they're wicked. It's an expression of evil.
It's an expression of vileness. What you guys are doing With your alters to the unknown God, and you're trying to hedge the bets, and your religiosity or superstition, it is really an offense to the living and true God. So 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. With the apostolic preaching on the distinction between God and the creature, it is an amazing thing that we try so hard, and I speak of the church in general, to make God just like us.
When the Bible takes pains to show that He's not just like us, that that's the blessedness of our God. That's his, you know, upbraiding of the children of Israel in the 50th Psalm. You thought that I was all together just like you, and I'm not. There is a distinction, and the Apostle highlights that distinction.
We ought to embrace that distinction instead of trying to obliterate it and make God just like we are. So God is not like gold or silver or stone. God is not shaped by art and man�s devising. Again, there�s so much Old Testament behind the scenes in the apostles� address here, and it�s just coming out to these pagans.
And then notice, he speaks of the fact that God is a judge. So verse 30, truly these times of ignorance God overlooked. I don't think it means that it was okay for them to sin. I think it refers to the divine long-suffering.
You see a similar statement in Acts 14, 16, and then as well in Romans 3, 25, that He passed over. Again, the passing over isn't an obliteration of it, it isn't a reckoning with it, but in the Romans 3 context, it's in light of the coming event with reference to Jesus. So it was never excusable to sin, but God demonstrated forbearance. Now that Christ has come, repentance is preached to all nations, according to Luke 24, 27.
As Johnson says, not forgiving guilt, but postponing judgment. That's the emphasis I think we should take there in verse 30. Truly these times of ignorance God overlooked. In other words, He did an exact punishment every moment, every instant, but now commands all men everywhere to repent.
And so when you read through the Book of Acts, you see emphases on repentance, and you see emphases on faith. They're two sides of the same coin. You can't have true faith without repentance, and you don't have true repentance without true faith. And oftentimes they're used synonymously.
It's an interesting study to look at faith and repentance in the Book of Acts. Sometimes they say repent, Sometimes they say, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Functionally, it's equivalent. Functionally, it's the same.
Repentance being a change of mind, no longer continue with this sort of faux worship of these unknown gods or all of these idols that you have. He says, but now God commands all men everywhere to repent, and then he gives this particular reason, judgment. So whatever weakness and trembling and fear the apostle may have possessed, which he specifies there in 1 Corinthians 2, having the prayers of God's people, having the presence of God's Spirit, he's able to stand before Epicureans and Stoics and speak of the judgment of God. He doesn't back down.
At times, if you've ever evangelized or you've spoken to somebody and you realize, they're not going to like what I have to say in the next statement or two. They're just not going to like it. The temptation arises to back it off a little bit. I don't want to needlessly offend them.
I want to be asked back to the Areopagus. I sure like these Epicureans and stuff. He didn't think that way. He pressed it.
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. Isn't that an interesting turn of events? Because look back at verse 18.
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. So he deals with Jesus and the resurrection, but not in the way that they perhaps would have expected.
They perhaps would have liked a bit of biography on this Jesus. Well, who was he? What kind of a fellow? What was his life like?
Paul the Apostle basically just summarizes the entirety with a reference to the resurrection from the dead, which obviously implies that he had died. So in this, he does set forth life, death, and resurrection of our Savior, 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. So notice he doesn't take pains to demonstrate or to prove that Jesus was raised from the dead by God.
Rather, he uses the fact of the resurrection to prove the reality that there's a judgment day coming. and that Epicureans and Stoics are going to stand before the living and true God. The light of nature, which they've had, the sense of divinity, which they've had, is nevertheless not enough. They need the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember, in Romans 1, well, we did read the section, they're without excuse.
The light of nature renders a man without excuse, but it's the special revelation concerning Jesus that man desperately needs to hear such that he can be saved. So the apostle was called to the Areopagus because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection. He doesn't try to prove it, he rather assumes it to prove the coming judgment of God Most High. And then
Responses to the Sermon
note the response to the sermon. As I mentioned at the outset, wouldn't you think that Paul preaching, everybody would get saved? I mean, you'd think so. There was that instance where Ben Franklin went to a Whitefield preaching session, and Ben was intent not to cough up.
Because when Whitefield would preach and call centers to repentance, then they'd take up a collection for the orphanage in Georgia. And so Ben Franklin said, he's not getting my money. Well, of course, he got all his money. But never got conversion.
As far as I know, Ben Franklin died on the wrong side of Jesus and sat under the preaching of George Whitefield. So just because it's a Spurgeon, or just because it's a Whitefield, or just because it's a Paul, we need the spirit of the living and true God, or else men perish in their sin. So notice in verses 32 and following, and when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. They mocked, as Alexander says, because the possibility of resurrection after death was not only no part of the Greek creed, either philosophical or popular, but was positively repudiated as a gross absurdity.
So of course there would be those who mocked. We don't care what you have to say. This sounds foolish, the idea of resurrection. But notice there were those who were curious.
Again, this is very similar to what happens today when we preach the gospel or we evangelize or we talk to people about the Lord. Some said, or others said, we will hear you again on this matter. Whether they ever did or not, we don't know. But at least for the moment, they weren't mocking.
They had a bit of a curiosity. And so they said, we'll hear you again on this matter, which You know, brethren, that's the bad way to go. I mean, that's always a damning delusion, because you shouldn't put off hearing the glories of Christ, you know, for another time. But then notice, verse 33 says, 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. So while it may have seemed to be the case, that there were mockers and curious, there were those who were actually saved. There were those who, by the grace of God, were convicted of their sin and brought to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Application: Idolatry Then and Now
Well, just a couple of thoughts. First, the sin of idolatry. I think that this passage illustrates the abiding validity of the Decalogue. What standard is violated when Paul is sitting in Athens if there's no second commandment?
Why the big deal about idolatry? Why the concern about idolatry? Well, we want God's glory, yeah, but if there's no commandment, if there's no demand, then what these guys are doing, they're basically acting upon what's in them. As well, we've got the prevalence of it.
Notice 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. It wasn't just little sections here or there. And how many of our cities could be described in like manner?
I mean, we may not have the the architecture to our gods, we may not have the same sort of statues to our gods, we may not have all the visible representations, but in a sense we do. We have all manner of idolatry rampant around us, and at times are our spirits provoked within us when we see these particular things. And then the wickedness of idolatry. Paul sets forth judgment before Jesus Christ as the ultimate corrective to man in sin.
And it's usually in this sermon, I quote John Stott. I think he's got a great statement here. I'm not vouching for all of his theology. I don't think he ended well, at least in a couple of doctrines.
But he says, all idolatry, whether ancient or modern, primitive or sophisticated, is inexcusable, whether the images are metal or mental, material objects of worship or unworthy concepts in the mind. For idolatry is the attempt either to localize God, confining Him within the limits which we impose, whereas He is the creator of the universe, or to domesticate God, making Him dependent on us, taming Him, whereas He is the sustainer of human life. or to alienate God, blaming Him for His distance and silence, whereas He is the ruler of nations and not far from any of us, or to dethrone God, demoting Him to some image of our own contrivance or craft, whereas He is our Father from whom we derive our being. In brief, all idolatry tries to minimize the gulf between the Creator and His creatures in order to bring Him under our control. More than that, it actually reverses the respective positions of God and us so that instead of our humbly acknowledging that God has created and rules us, we presume to imagine that we can create and rule God.
There is no logic in idolatry. It is a perverse, topsy-turvy expression of our human rebellion against God. If that doesn't describe North America in the 21st century, and probably every other century in every other part of the world, that has defected from the living and true God, I don't know what does. That is the case.
The apostle underscores distinction. Let us not try to bring God down and make him like us in our attempts to win sinners. The blessedness of God is that he is not like us, that he is far removed, that he is the creator, that he is the sustainer. As well, the corrective to idolatry is the gospel.
It's not just a bit more education, a bit more information, and just sort of push them over the edge. No, it is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. It is to repent from sin. It is to come to the living and true God.
To believe on Him for forgiveness. The gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. The biblical understanding of who God is. This is what's absolutely crucial in the Romans 1 situation.
Paul speaks of all kinds of sins there. If you can turn there, we'll just end on this particular note. Notice that he speaks of all kinds of just vile, wicked, evil things. as he continues on in the narrative. So we stopped at verse 25.
Let's continue in verse 26. For this reason, God gave them up to vile passions, for even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise, also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men, committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error, which was due. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind to do those things which are not fitting, being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness.
They are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful. who knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same, but also approve of those who practice them. What is often the response to a culture that looks like that? Well, let's fix the problems. Let's fix the homosexual.
Let's fix the other deviant. Let's fix the drug addicts. Let's preach the gospel to them. Okay?
These are symptoms of what their real problem is. Look at verse 21. Because although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts and their foolish hearts were darkened. Notice in verse 18, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against, notice what comes first, all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.
The ungodliness is first. They knew God, but they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. In other words, ungodliness at the level of the heart and soul and the mind, issues forth in unrighteousness. Now, I'm not suggesting that if you see somebody, you know, injecting heroin into their veins, you can't tell them stop.
But the problem that we have in society is one of idolatry. We have God-hating rebels that need the Lord Jesus Christ. And so the emphasis in every pulpit in Canada and in the U.S. and throughout the earth is on what Paul emphasizes in all of his epistles and in all of his ministry, Christ and Him crucified. That's the answer to a society that has given over to idols.
Closing Prayer
Well, let us pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank you for your word. We thank you for this account in Acts 17 and for what we see exemplified in the life and the ministry of the Apostle Paul. I pray that you would give us that provocation of spirit when we look around at our culture, when we see our society given over to idols.
May we be a prayerful people, may we be a bold people as we have opportunity to speak the truth in love. to declare the reality of a gracious and a glorious God who has sent his son into the world, sinners to save. We pray for your blessing in our community here. We know there's much in terms of homelessness and drug abuse and just all manner of lawlessness and unrighteousness, but we know it's ultimately an ungodliness problem. So we pray that more and more sinners would be saved by your grace through faith in Jesus Christ our Lord.
And we pray in his most wonderful name. Amen.
Questions and Answers
Any questions or comments on any of that? In Cuba, people don't get any money. So that's going to affect all the churches in the central area of Havana. So today, I have no idea why, for how long, you know, forever.
Is it just the days or the weeks? So I'm pretty, you know, I'm not certain.