Please turn with me in your Bibles to Acts chapter 17. Acts chapter 17, this morning we looked at the resurrection in the book of Acts. We considered two particulars, the fulfillment of God's covenantal promises. Secondly, the application of God's redemptive blessings.
The third point we'll take up this evening, the culmination of God's plan for the world. Specifically, that plan is judgment by the Lord Jesus Christ, which Acts 17 verses 30 and 31 highlight for us. Since we have a bit more time, we'll put that section in its larger context and look at the particulars involved in this sermon, this message preached by Paul at the Areopagus or at Mars Hill. Now, I'll just pick up reading in Acts 17, 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 and 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. Well, let us pray.
Opening Prayer
Father, we thank you for this section of Holy Scripture. We pray for your Spirit to guide us and lead us now. We thank you, Father, for the power of the Christian message. We thank you that Paul could go to a place with philosophers like these men and set before them the truth of Christ and Him crucified and resurrected.
God, give us like boldness and give us what we find here that is true of the Apostle Paul. It's the willingness to preach the gospel to those in need. We pray now that you would forgive us for all of our sins. And God, as we consider judgment to come, our prayer and our hope and our desire is that all of us would be fit and ready, not because we have performed well, but because by your grace we have looked unto the Lord Jesus Christ, that we have been justified freely by his grace. that we will be clothed with the righteousness, not our own, so that we may stand before you on that great day.
We ask these things in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Introduction
Well, before we actually get into the sermon that the Apostle Paul preaches, I want you to notice just a few things by way of introduction. Look at verse 16. Specifically, it says, while Paul waited for them at Athens, His spirit was provoked within him when he saw that the city was given over to idols. The Apostle Paul saw this as an affront to the living and the true God.
The second commandment wasn't something that was only for Israel in the Old Testament. The second commandment was being broken right before the Apostle's eyes. And we see that it affected him. It provoked the spirit within him when he saw this.
And then as well, he takes action. Not only does he see this, not only does it affect him, but we read it. Therefore, in verse 17, he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with the Gentile worshipers and in the marketplace daily with those who happen to be there. He tangled it up.
He set forth the truth. He went to those venues where he could present the Lord Jesus Christ. And these Epicureans and Stoics heard of him. They wanted to understand what he had to say.
So they take him up to Mars Hill or to the Areopagus so that he can preach the gospel to them. Now, that's not why they brought him, but that's what he did or how he used this particular opportunity. So, I want to look at two things as we consider this particular section. The introduction, verses 22 and 23, and then secondly, the specifics of the Apostle's Sermon.
And again, this falls into with what we saw this morning. The resurrection, specifically, if you notice the end of verse 31. He is given assurance of this to all by raising him from the dead. The resurrection of Christ isn't one day out of the year where you buy new hats or new dresses or new bonnets, where you plan to go to church and attend, one day out of 365.
The resurrection is the down payment or proof or the evidence that God will most certainly bring all men to judgment. The resurrection is not argued for. He does not try to prove it here, but rather he assumes the fact of the resurrection as the very proof of the coming judgment of Almighty God. So that puts us back into our context from this morning.
But as I said, we got a bit of time, so let's look at it or locate it within this message itself. Notice that the apostle, by way of introduction, appeals to their religious nature. Verse 22, Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious or superstitious. I think what Paul is doing in this particular section needs to be compared to Romans chapter one, specifically verses 19 to 23.
He realizes that all men are created in the image of God. We are image bearers and we cannot escape the reality that is God. But we busy ourselves and we try to suppress the truth in unrighteousness. There is no such thing as a true atheist.
Turn there for just a moment, please. Romans chapter one. Just so we can kind of see what the apostle is doing here at Mars Hill. Romans chapter one, beginning in verse eighteen.
He says, The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. Notice, because what may be known of God is manifest in them for God has shown it to them. This simply tells us you don't need to argue to prove the existence of God. The opponent of Christianity, deep down in his heart of hearts, already believes in God.
That's what Paul is saying. What we are calling him to do is repent and believe the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. He tells us how God has shown it to them. 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. Literally, they're without an apologetic. You've heard that word before.
Apologetic. In the Bible, it doesn't mean something like, I'm sorry, or we're apologizing. It means a defense. And here Paul says that the nature by which man possesses, by the fact that he is created in the image of God and this entire universe screams out in testimony to this God, renders men without an apologetic or an excuse on the day of judgment.
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. And as we continue in that chapter three times, Paul says God gave them over.
So you see, the problem with man is not that he lacks evidence to believe in the existence of God. The problem with man is that he suppresses that truth in unrighteousness so he can try and justify his unbelief and rebellion against God. So back to Acts 17, Paul appeals to their religious nature. He highlights their religious ignorance.
He says, I perceive that in all things you are very religious, for as I was passing through and considering the object of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription to the unknown God. Essentially, what they are trying to do is cover their bases. They're trying to protect themselves. R.C.
Sproul said, 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. So you see, Paul appeals to their religious nature, highlights their religious ignorance, and then look at what he has the gall to say. Something that would be very offensive in the modern political and religious landscape.
Notice what he says at the end of verse 23. Therefore, the one whom you worship without knowing, him I proclaim to you. Paul doesn't say, insofar as you have this feeling of God, that's good on you. Insofar as you're religious beings and you're trying to express that as best you know how, my hat's off to you.
No, he says what you are doing in ignorance, him I proclaim to you. It is an assertion. It is a declaration. It is biblical dogmatism by which he launches into an exposition of the Christian gospel.
Five Particulars of Paul's Sermon
Now, we look at five particulars with reference to this sermon. Notice, first, God is the creator of the universe, verses 24 to 26.
God as Creator of the Universe
Paul sets the gospel in its broader context. These are pagans. These are heathens. These are people that are not familiar with the Genesis account.
These are they that do not have a biblical understanding of the doctrine of creation. So what does Paul do? He brings in the Christian worldview. He sets that stage or that framework because it's only in that framework that the resurrection of Jesus Christ makes sense.
Paul sets forth the person of Christ, verses 18 and 19, in the context of God's work of creation. Greg Monson 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. You see, he doesn't just come and preach, believe on the Lord Jesus.
He says that, but he puts it in its biblical context. And this is very crucial for us, living especially in a pagan age. living, especially in an age when many Christians have very little knowledge of the context of biblical revelation. We need to understand these things. We need to be able to articulate these things.
And as we work our way through Paul's sermon, some have supposed that he set his Bible aside and that he is just seeking to encounter them in a rational manner. But everywhere the Bible is assumed, everywhere the Bible is presupposed. The very way that he phrases these things shows his dependency upon the prophet Isaiah. Notice in verse 24, 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 worship with men's hands as though he needed anything since he gives to all life, breath and all things.
The prophet Isaiah, chapter 42, verse 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. You see what he is saying? You see, when he comes to this issue of judgment, it all makes perfect sense. God made the world.
God governs the world and God will judge the world. The Bible presents what's called a linear view of history. There's a beginning, there's a middle, and there's an end. This isn't paganism.
This isn't the circle of life. It's not something we just go round and round and round and round upon. This is one of the reasons why many deny the doctrine of creation. You get rid of creation and you effectively get rid of the judgment to come.
Very often people don't like to acknowledge God the creator because he's God the judge as well. We strip him of that, we get rid of this. You see, there's an internal logic involved. But Paul will not have anything of that.
He sets forth the gospel of Jesus Christ in its biblical context. It's interesting, too, because Isaiah 42 is the prophet's argument of the supremacy of God and his condemnation of idolatry. Paul is appealing or presupposing the prophet's language and in a very similar context. What's going on in Athens?
He's provoked because he looks at the city given over to what? Idols. What does he do? He does what Isaiah before him did.
He sets forth the supremacy of God. He sets forth the sovereignty of God. He demonstrates the glory of God. He stresses that God is not dependent upon his creatures.
Verse 25. Nor is he worshiped with men's hands as though he needed anything, since he gives to all life, breath and all things. God is not dependent upon his creation. He didn't make us because he had this felt need.
The triune God was perfectly happy and satisfied as the three-in-one throughout eternity. God made according to his own good pleasure. As well, 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 throw together gold or silver, even when gold is $1,500 an ounce, or silver is about to hit $100 an ounce, and say, we're going to fashion this together, and we're going to bow before it.
That is absolutely ridiculous, and the apostle is highlighting that. So God is the creator.
God as Ruler of the Nations
Secondly, he highlights that God is the ruler of the nations, verses 26 to 28. 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. The assertion here, what he's saying here, God does not act willy-nilly. God is pre-appointed.
God is determined. God operates according to a blueprint. Theologians call that the decree of God. And He executes that decree through the works of creation and providence and redemption.
He goes on to say, he 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 own being, as also some of your own poets have said, for we are also his offspring. Paul, in the language of Bonson, quotes the pagan writers to manifest their guilt. Remember, man lives in this tension. He knows the one true and living God.
He seeks to suppress that truth and unrighteousness. But once in a while he stumbles upon things that are accurate because he bears God's image and because general revelation resonates in his heart. Bonson says, 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.
This is why those attempts to try and prove God, to try and prove the Bible, those 15 reasons why you ought to give your heart to Jesus. Brethren, that's not what Paul's doing here. The world of apologetics. He is not an evidentialist.
He is what's called a presupposition. He presupposes the truth of God and his word, and he presents it dogmatically. That's how we honor God. He not only wants us to engage, but He wants us to engage in the manner in which He has specified.
God Worshipped Exclusively
Thirdly, God is to be worshipped exclusively. Verse 29. He is not worshipped with images, representations, or other idols. I had the name of a preacher in my head just jumped out.
One of the brothers, Banner of Truth Biography. And this particular man would try and figure out what sin was unique to a particular town. And then he'd come and set up a pulpit and preach against that sin. I want to say Rabbi Duncan, but maybe it wasn't Rabbi Duncan.
It wasn't Rabbi Duncan. Christmas Evans, I think. He'd figure out what sin was unique to a particular town, set up a pulpit in the middle of town, go to Five Corners, and he'd preach against that particular sin. That's what Paul is doing here.
They're idolaters, they're God haters. They're looking at alters made to an unknown God. They're looking at those things devised by man. They think they can exchange the glory of the incorruptible God for the for the corruptibility of the creature.
Bonson again, he says, what today or what is today taken by tourists as a fertile field of aesthetic appreciation? that the artifacts left from the ancient Athenian worship of pagan deities represented to Paul not art, but despicable and crude religion. We might travel over to this place today and look at these ruins and go, wow, look at the beautiful architecture. I'm sure some of the draftsmen would go, wow, look at how they did that. That's pretty splendid.
That's pretty amazing. On the one hand, I don't think it's necessarily wicked to do that. You know, Paul's not sitting in the city admiring their handiwork. He is provoked within his own self because this is a city given over to idols, crude and despicable religion.
God is not worshipped with images, representations or other idols. Verse twenty nine. 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. You have missed it by a long shot when you bow to that idol.
You have missed it by a long shot when you think that box contains the glory of this God. You have missed it by a million miles when you think that you can fashion something and bow in its presence and somehow worship the true and living God. That is simply unacceptable.
God's Appointed Day of Judgment
Notice, fourthly, God has appointed a day of judgment. He has appointed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness. This idea of these times of ignorance, God overlooking, I don't think it means he excuses it. I think he stalled it.
He put it off, didn't put it away, but he put it off. He didn't overlook it in the sense that he doesn't care. He just simply delayed the visitation of his wrath and fury upon it until such time as Christ comes, lives, dies, rises again, and comes back in glory to judge the living and the dead. So Paul is highlighting, or he's bringing to a conclusion this sermon by speaking of the coming judgment.
It is a universal judgment. He's not just speaking to Athens here. Not just speaking of Israel here, he has ordained or he has determined or he has appointed a day on which he will judge notice The world. That means each and every one of us here.
It means your family, your friends. It means the entirety of Chilliwack. It means Canada from sea to sea. It means China.
It means the continent of Africa. It means all men everywhere. We will stand and render account before God the Lord. It will be a righteous judgment.
Because he uses Christ as the agent of judgment, and Christ is absolute righteousness. And it will be definite. There is a day fixed. You cannot change it.
You cannot stop it. You cannot make it go away. You can't pull God out from the beginning and thereby deny the ending. God created, God sustains, and God is moving history forward to this particular day of absolute and utter judgment.
Christ Ordained as Judge
And the fifth thing we need to observe is that God has appointed Jesus Christ as the judge. Verse 31, he has appointed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness notice by the man whom he has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising him from the dead. I mentioned this morning, when you see that empty tomb, you ought to think of the forgiveness of sins.
When you see that empty tomb, you ought to think of the victory and the triumph and the glory of Jesus Christ. When you see that empty tomb, you ought to think in terms of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. But when you see that empty tomb, and this is one that I don't think we always associate Easter with, we ought to think of judgment. We ought to think of God's wrath.
We ought to think of recompense. We ought to think of retribution. Christ is the agent by which God will judge mankind. Christ is the agent by which God made this world and everything in it.
Christ currently is the one who upholds all things by the word of his power, according to Hebrews 1 3. And it is Jesus Christ who will judge the world in righteousness. And notice again, he says he has given assurance of this to all by raising him from the dead. You have to notice and observe Paul's strategy.
Go back for just a moment. Verse 18. Others said he seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods because he preached to them Jesus and the resurrection. Notice he doesn't sit with them and say, I want to give you five reasons for the historical Jesus.
I want to give you five reasons why he left the tomb or the fact of the evidences that he left the tomb. That's all assumed. That's all presupposed. Paul's not going to spend time arguing with you.
Paul's going to spend time preaching to you. Paul is going to proclaim this dogmatically and earnestly and insistently. You need to consider this reality, that that empty tomb means certain judgment for you. Several passages in the Bible highlight this fact, that Jesus is the agent with reference to judgment.
Matthew chapter 7. You may go to these so you get this in your head. That empty tomb ensured that Jesus would be the one to judge us on that great day. Matthew 7 21.
Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven. But he who does the will of my father in heaven, many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name, cast out demons in your name and done many wonders in your name? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you depart from me. You practice lawlessness.
So on that day, there will be those centers that try and plead their works, that try and plead their performance, that try to plead what they actually did for Jesus. And notice that Jesus doesn't deny that Jesus doesn't say, no, you never did any of those things. Who enters into the kingdom of heaven? Those who do the will of the Father.
You need to compare this with John 6, 40. The will of the Father is that you believe in him whom the Father sent. It's by grace alone, through belief alone, that we enter into the presence of God. We don't stand before Jesus and say, look at this word, look at that word.
Didn't we prophesy? Didn't we do this? Didn't we engage in the charismata? Jesus says, depart from me, you who practice lawlessness.
Matthew 25, Matthew 25, 31 and 32. When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the holy angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate them one from another as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats, and he will set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on his left. Then the king will say to those on his right hand, come, you blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
It's Christ who separates the nations. It's Christ who puts the sheep on the one side and the goats on the other side. It's Christ. Gentle Jesus, meek and mild, is the one who will ultimately pronounce, depart from me.
I never knew you. This isn't the picture of Jesus we have today. We have the Armenian or Pelagian Jesus knocking at the door of your heart, hoping and begging and pleading that you'll let him in. Or we have the Jesus that only ever just pours out sap and sugar and fluff on you.
That Jesus who only ever does everything you want. We treat Jesus as if he's somehow our cosmic bellhop. We snap our finger. Jesus performs what we call him to do.
This picture of the Son of God waging war on his enemies is something that we have lost sight of. What Pastor Kim read at the outset of worship? What does this son do? What does Messiah have?
He has this rod of iron by which he crushes the nations. John, chapter five, another passage that ascribes the judgment to our Lord Jesus. John, chapter five, verse twenty two. John five, verse twenty two.
For the father judges no one, but is committed all judgment to the sun and then dropping down in the verse twenty six for as the father has life in himself, so he has granted the son to have life in himself and is given him authority to execute judgment also because he is the son of man. Do not marvel at this for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear his voice and come forth. Those who have done good to the resurrection of life and those who have done evil to the resurrection of condemnation. I can of myself do nothing as I hear I judge and my judgment is righteous because I do not seek my own my own will, but the will of the Father who sent me.
Acts chapter 10. We saw this this morning, Peter's sermon to the household of Cornelius. We looked at verse 43. But just prior to that, in verse 42, Peter says, And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that it is he who was ordained by God to be judge of the living and the dead.
You see, judgment is a biblical truth. It is a reality. You may not always think about it. You may associate Easter with bunnies or eggs or bonnets or whatever, but that too ought to represent this particular truth. going to judge us by Jesus Christ, the Lord.
Second Corinthians 510. We must all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Second Corinthians 5 verse 10. We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ that each one may receive the things done in the body according to what he has done, whether good or bad.
It's interesting what Paul then says, knowing therefore the terror of the Lord. See, judgment for the apostle Paul produced terror because he considered the fact that there are a multitude unready for that judgment to come. Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, what does he say? We persuade men.
Perhaps we're not more earnest with our preaching because we've lost sight of the judgment to come. We've lost sight of a real hell. We've lost sight of a real conscious torment. We've lost sight of separation from God, banishment for the goats.
Brethren, when we understand that, hopefully we, knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, would persuade men to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Second Timothy, chapter four, when Paul charges Timothy to preach the word, he says this statement concerning the judgment to come. I charge you, therefore, before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead and is appearing in his kingdom. That's to add gravity.
That's to add weight. That's to add solemnity to the charge that follows. Paul says to Timothy, preach the word, Timothy. Not just because that's what you're supposed to do, not just because that's what religious men do, but preach the word because Jesus is coming.
Jesus will judge. Jesus is going to call men to account. And it is absolutely crucial that you preach the word for the calling of the elect, for the calling of sinners unto salvation. If you fail in this particular task of preaching, it is to neglect the grim and grave reality of the judgment to come.
And then, of course, Revelation 20, verses 11 to 15. That great white throne judgment. That great white throne judgment. C.H.
Spurgeon describes it this way. Found in right, sustained by might, and universal in its dominion. Look ye and see the throne which John of old beheld. He says, I saw a great white throne and him who sat on it.
From whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. We saw that in Nahum on Wednesday night. Remember that? What happens when God comes to judge?
It's almost like a de-creation. It's like creation reverses itself. The same thing is seen here. The earth and the heaven slide away.
The wrath of God has come. And so, the very earth and heaven flees from his presence. I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God. And books were opened.
And another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged, according to their words, by the things which were written in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it. And death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them.
And they were judged, each one according to his words. Then death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
So you see, that is where we are heading. Every single one of us in this room, every single person that peoples this world, peoples this earth, every man who's gone before us, everybody who will live after us, we all have this inevitability. You've heard the old saying, death and taxes, two things you can't escape. You can't escape death.
You can't escape taxes. Now, don't go home tonight and say, Pastor Butler said I cannot pay my taxes. You can escape taxes if you're prepared to live a life in jail. But they say that death and taxes, those are two inevitabilities.
No, the two inevitabilities are death and judgment. Every one of us will go to meet the Lord Jesus. Every one of us will look Him eyeball to eyeball and give an account of deeds done in the body, whether good or bad. What's it going to be for you?
Is it going to be Lord? Lord, I went to church. I went to Bible study. I had a new King James.
I memorized Robert Raymond. I did this. Is that what it's going to be? Or I've been a good person.
I've never cheated anyone. I've never engaged in the big sins. Sure, I'm not perfect. God demands perfect.
What's it going to be? If you had to die right now and stand before the Lord God in judgment, what would you say? You've often heard this is a good way to sort of approach a sinner with the gospel. If you were to die right now, what would you say?
Well, do we ever think of that? Remember that man in Luke 12, that young man or that rich man whose field yielded plentifully? His big problem was, what do I do with all my fruits and vegetables? He rips down his old barns.
He puts up new barns. He puts all of his stuff in there. And he sits back and he says, soul, take your ease. You have many goods laid up for many years.
God says, you fool, I require your soul this night. That could happen. You say, oh, he's just trying to scare us now. James tells you, you're just a vapor.
You shouldn't boast. You ever make a pot of tea? You see that vapor just fly out, it's there for a second and then it's gone. James says that's what your life is.
Moses, that man of God, in the Psalm he wrote, says that we may be here for several years, but then we fly away. Have you ever given any thought to where you will fly away to? Young people, I realize at times you think you're eight foot tall and bulletproof. Nothing can happen to you.
Nothing bad will ever come your way. Nothing will ever affect you or hurt you or harm you, so you give no thought to the coming judgment. You need to think about this coming judgment. You need to give attention to the reality that God has appointed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness.
And that empty tomb bespeaks that judgment to come. We're not going to argue for the empty tomb. We're going to presuppose that empty tomb. And we're going to use that as a piece of evidence that God Most High is bringing history to a particular end, a particular goal, a particular purpose.
And it is ultimately His glory in the saving of sinners and in the damnation of the reprobate.
Three Responses to the Gospel
Notice how they respond. I suspect this will be the way it is tonight. I suspect this is the way it is in any time a message concerning God's gospel is preached. And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, Acts 17, 32, some mocked.
Wait a minute, this is Paul preaching, right? Yeah, it's Paul preaching and some mocked him. They said he's crazy. He's nuts.
What does he mean telling us this Nazarene rose from the dead and he's going to be the one to judge the earth? Get out of here, Paul. We don't want anything to do with you.
The Mockers
Is that your heart tonight? Are you a mocker? You may not do it publicly. You may not do it loudly.
You may not do it in front of your parents. You may not do it in front of your siblings. You may not come to the pastor or the preacher and say, wow, that was just crazy and zany and wacky. But is your heart mocking?
Has your heart come to grips with the reality that this word is true? Every jot and tittle of it. Is it easier to mock it and make fun of it? Why do people do that?
They're suppressing truth in unrighteousness. It's easier to mock something and make fun of something than to come to grips with it. I've heard before where someone has said that Christians are like the ostrich. I don't know if the ostrich actually does this.
I suspect it might just be an old wise tale. But we all have that idea of how the ostrich hides himself. He puts his head in the sand, right? There's an internal logic there.
If I can't see them, they can't see me. I mean, it's as crazy as can possibly be, but there is an internal logic. I'll put my head in the sand. If I can't see them, they mustn't be able to see me.
Well, sometimes Christians are described like that ostrich. You just bury your head in the sand. You've got this pie-in-the-sky ideal, and you have no semblance of reality about you. Who's burying their head in the sand?
Every rebel sinner that does not take seriously the truth claims of God's holy word is shoving his head right into the sand. The idea is almost as if to suggest, well, since I don't believe in God, he's not there. I don't believe that he is what he says he is. So therefore, I mean, it's as foolish as that big bird trying to hide himself by burying his head in the sand.
I suspect wherever the gospel is preached, there are mockers. There are those who hear these things and say, oh, there's much more important things. I don't have to give any attention to this whatsoever.
The Procrastinators
Notice, secondly, while others said, we will hear you again on this matter. These are the procrastinators. You all know what a procrastinator is. Why do today what can be put off until tomorrow?
Well, procrastination can be damning. You read later in the book of Acts about a man named Felix. And Paul spoke concerning the faith in Christ through that man. And he reasoned to him about self-control and about righteousness and about judgment.
Very pertinent, very key things for this man Felix, who was a man who lacked self-control. A man who lacked a sobriety and a seriousness. So Paul brings these things to bear on him and the judgment to come. And then it says, and Felix was afraid.
It's an amazing thing. A man, a woman, a boy, a girl may sit under preaching and be afraid. But what's Felix do? Go away, Paul.
I'll send for you another time when I want to hear what you have to say. Damning procrastination. Does that fit anybody here? I'll think about this when I'm 30.
I'll think about this when I'm 50. I'll think about this when I'm 60. I'll think about this when I'm 70. I just don't really want to give my heart over to the Lord Jesus at this particular time.
Damning procrastination. Do not boast about tomorrow. Tomorrow may never come. James says we ought to say, if the Lord wills, we will go into such and such a city and make such and such a trade.
So those are two out of three options. Now,
Those Who Believed
notice thirdly, so Paul departed from among them. Verse thirty three. However, blessed, however, sovereign grace promotes this. However, some men joined him and the lead.
They listen as Paul reason concerning God, the creator, God, the governor, God, the judge. They listened as Paul constructed this message and set the redemptive work of Christ in its larger biblical context and framework. Some men were moved upon by the Holy Spirit and they joined with him and they believed. They heard the word of the gospel.
Among them Dionysius the Areopagus, a woman named Damaris and others with them. You see, gospel preaching is blessed of God. according to his plan and according to his purpose. Be among those who believe. Be among those who join with Paul.
Be among those who side with the Savior as he saves, because one day he will be your judge.
Application and Conclusion
Well, brethren, that is the culmination of God's plan for the world. Nations rise, nations fall. What's going to happen in the Canadian election? What's going to happen in 2012 in the United States?
What's going to happen in these various Muslim states where there's so much unrest? What's going to happen in my own home or in my economic world or in my physical world? All those things pale in significance to this truth that God has appointed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness. by the man whom he has ordained. That empty tomb is the assurance that he has, in fact, purpose to do this.
So believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. You will be saved and you will be ready to meet him on that day. Well, let us pray.
Closing Prayer
Father, thank you for your word and thank you for your grace and your mercy. God, how we bless you and praise you for the truth in this sermon. God, we ask that you would just cause this gospel to go forth throughout the earth. and that you would be merciful to save a great multitude. We pray in our own context, in our own local church, we pray, Father, that we would be prepared, that we would be ready, not because of our performance, but because of grace alone, through faith alone in Jesus alone.
We ask that you would go with us now. We ask that you would cause your face to shine upon us and may your peace truly be our portion. And we pray through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.