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Will please turn your Bibles 
to Acts chapter 17. We continue to move through the 
second missionary journey. We find Paul at Athens. I want 
to read beginning in Acts 17 at verse 16 to the end of the 
chapter. So, beginning in Acts 17, 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 man'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. Our Father in Heaven, we thank 
You for the Lord's Day. We thank You for the privilege 
to gather here together. We ask that You would guide us 
and bless us by the presence and the power of Your Holy Spirit. 
We confess that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, 
that it's profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, 
and for instruction in righteousness. And we pray that You would thoroughly 
equip us for every good work. Forgive us for our sins and our 
transgressions against your holy law. Wash us in that precious 
blood of the Lamb. Cast away all the darkness that 
affects our minds and hearts, and cause us to receive with 
thankful and glad hearts the word of the living God. For those 
who are not believers, for those who do not know the Lord Jesus 
Christ, we pray that you would give them ears to hear, hearts 
to receive the truth, and grace to respond to the apostle's direction, 
that men repent before a true and living God. And Lord, I want 
to pray for my friend's little baby brother. I want to commit 
this young man into your gracious care. I pray that you would give 
him the ability to learn the fear of the Lord, to be instructed 
from the Word of God, both law and gospel, and that he would 
have physical health and great strength and a wonderful and 
an abundant life. And Lord, we know that you are 
sovereign over such things. We know that you are a good God, 
a God who gives good gifts to his creatures. And I pray for 
your blessing upon this little one. And we ask in the name of 
the Lord Jesus Christ, amen. Well, as we look at Paul at Athens, 
we looked last week at the ministry in Athens in an overarching sort 
of way in verses 16 to 21. We noticed and observed what 
the particular sin of Athens was. Notice in verse 16, while 
Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within 
him when he saw that the city was given over to idols. For 
the apostle, this wasn't just architectural curiosity. He wasn't 
looking at the grand accomplishments of man, but rather he was seeing 
futility. He was seeing lawlessness. He 
was seeing rebellion and transgression against the living and true God. 
And so what he does is he goes to the Jewish synagogue and there 
he preaches truth. And then he goes into the marketplace, 
and there he preaches truth. And then these philosophers, 
the Epicureans and Stoics, got interested. And they wanted Paul 
to come up to what was called the Areopagus, or Mars Hill, 
so that he could indeed declare the new things, at least to them, 
that he was, in fact, speaking. Remember, the Epicureans were 
persons that did not believe that the gods created the world. 
They didn't deny the existence of the gods, but they thought 
that if there were gods, they were in a uninterested in the 
life of man here on earth. And then the Stoics were pantheists. 
They thought that everything was God. So they were kind of 
diametrically apart. And so Paul now seizes this opportunity 
to set forth the glory of Jesus Christ in that Christian or biblical 
worldview in which the resurrection makes sense. So I want to look 
at the sermon at Mars Hill this morning in verses 22 to 34. First, 
we'll notice the introduction to the sermon in verses 22 and 
23. Secondly, the declaration concerning 
the living and true God in verses 24 to 28. And then finally, the 
implications concerning the living and true God. in verses 29 to 
31. And then we'll see how that was 
received. We'll look at the response from the various people groups 
that were there or the Areopagites that heard that particular message. 
But notice in the first place the introduction, verses 22 and 
23. So he's at the Areopagus. And again, this was a council 
of very respected men that liked to gather together and they would 
adjudicate various things affecting the city of Athens. This was 
not an official trial. Rather, this was interest on 
the part of philosophers. They wanted to know what Paul 
was speaking concerning. They had heard that he had spoke 
about Jesus and the resurrection, and they wanted to be better 
informed about that. He is not under arrest. He is 
not going to go to jail when he departs. Or rather, when he 
finishes his sermon, in verse 33, he's able to depart freely. 
Later on, he's going to end up in jail. That's where Acts ends. 
But with reference to this encounter in Athens, he doesn't go to jail. So he goes there and he, first 
of all, connects with his hearers. He connects with his audience. 
He acknowledges their religiosity. 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. So he identifies, 
the old King James has it, that it was superstitious. Now the 
word certainly can mean superstitious, or it can mean religious. Most 
likely, as we consider the tone of the rest of the sermon, he 
is saying you're very religious. He is not insulting them, he 
is not looking down upon them, he is not castigating them, but 
rather he observes because they have all these idols, they have 
a city given over to idols, and he connects with them at that 
level in terms of their religiosity. John Gill says of the city of 
Athens that they had more gods and more altars and more festivals 
and were more diligent and studious in the worship of their gods 
than others. And now Paul appeals to their 
religious ignorance. So on the one hand, he highlights 
in verse 22 their religiosity. But in verse 23, he now highlights 
their ignorance concerning religion. Notice what he says, 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. Now, he is not validating their 
attempt. Again, he is connecting with 
them, and he is going to tell them the truth concerning the 
living God. John Calvin, however, says, whosoever 
doth worship God without any certainty, he worships his own 
inventions instead of God. So Paul is, in an indirect sort 
of way, attacking that reality. They have this altar to the unknown 
God. And it's interesting because 
later on in chapter 1 of the book of Romans, he seems to develop 
this in more detail. In fact, some students of Paul 
say the Paul of Acts 17 is a far cry different than the Paul of 
Romans 1. Here he appeals to them, here 
he quotes their pagan poets, and in Romans 1 he comments on 
just how depraved and how wicked and how lawless they are. Well, 
perhaps Romans 1 was the reflection upon encounters like he had in 
the city of Athens. But nevertheless, Paul in Romans 
1 indicates that when mankind rejects the true and living God, 
when mankind exchanges the Creator for the creature, mankind degrades 
himself. He dishonors God, he invokes 
the wrath and judgment of God, and God therefore gives them 
over to a reprobate mind. We'll see a bit more of that 
later on when we conclude the sermon. But for right now, he 
makes this appeal or he makes this comment concerning their 
ignorance. R.C. Sproul made this observation. He 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. Think about that. Just because somebody is religious 
doesn't mean that's a good thing. If you are religious as a Satanist, 
that is not commendable. If you are religious as somebody 
contrary to the true and living God, that is not commendable 
either. So what Sproul says is right. 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 counter with the glory of God. He says, again, the practice 
of idolatrous religion is not viewed as an approximate form 
of authentic religion, but as a negation of it. So know that 
that's what Paul is doing. He's not jumping into their camp. 
He's not sharing their same ideas and concepts. He is appealing 
to them at a particular level based on natural theology, and 
then he is going to preach special revelation. He goes on to say, 
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 Paul connects with them on 
the level of religiosity, but then Paul departs from them on 
the level of who it is they give worship unto. And then notice 
what Paul says at the end of verse 23. Therefore, the one 
whom you worship without knowing Him I proclaim to you. I was 
gonna say that this is Paul's dogmatism, but as I reflected 
or I looked up that particular word, it now carries the connotation 
of arrogance. Paul is not arrogant, but Paul 
is right. Paul is not obnoxious, but Paul 
is correct. Later on in the book of Acts 
before Festus, Paul will say, I am not mad, most noble Festus, 
but I speak the words of truth and reason. In other words, we 
need more Pauls in our day that are going to stand up and proclaim 
the true and living God to those in need. When we pray for missionaries, 
let us pray for missionaries that know their Bibles, that 
know theology, that can stand in the midst of Epicurean and 
Stoic philosophers on Mars Hill, if need be, to declare the truth 
concerning the one true and living God. Now, let's look secondly 
at the declaration concerning this living and true God, and 
there's a couple of things here we ought to observe. In the first 
place, the true God is the Creator. Now, as Paul's custom is in the 
book of Acts, he typically goes to synagogues and then goes to 
other places. The specimen or the samples rather 
of Paul's preaching in the synagogues never indicate that he preached 
God as creator because the Jews already accepted that. Remember 
the Jews already had Genesis to Malachi. The Jews already 
knew about Yahweh of Israel and the fact that he created the 
world and all things in it by the word of his power out of 
nothing in the space of six days and all very good. So Paul didn't 
duplicate, Paul didn't reinvent the wheel. When Paul went to 
Jewish synagogues, Paul told them the truth as it is concerning 
Jesus. That's what he did. He would 
show them what scripture said concerning Messiah, that he must 
suffer and be raised again. And then he would say, this Jesus 
who I am preaching is the Christ. But with reference to a pagan 
audience. with reference to Epicureans 
who had no doctrine of God creating the world, and with reference 
to Stoics who had an idea that everything we see is God, he 
comes now to preach to them God as creator. He does the same 
thing back in Acts chapter 14 in another pagan city. You can 
go back there to see and compare. Again, the argument is not that 
the doctrine of creation is only for pagans. The Jews already 
knew it, so Paul preached Christ and Him crucified. In order to 
get to Christ and Him crucified, the pagans needed to understand 
something of the fundamental reality of who God is. Or it wouldn't make any sense. 
The reality is that the Father sent the Son into this world, 
sinners to save. Well, in order for that to make 
sense, we need to know who the Father is. We need to know who 
the Son is. We need to know who the Holy Spirit is. And so when 
Paul came to pagans, he would preach to them the truth of God's 
creation, or the truth of God as Creator. Notice in 14, 15, 
saying, Menet, why are you doing these things? We are also or 
we also are men of like passions, or 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." So at the Areopagus, before the 
Stoics and the Epicureans, when Paul begins his sermon, in verse 
24, he begins with the reality of Genesis 1.1. Now what Paul 
says sounds precisely like Isaiah the prophet, chapter 42, verse 
5. Here's what he says in Acts 17, 
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. The prophet Isaiah writes, "...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." Perhaps one of the most grievous things that we 
have witnessed in modern evangelicalism, and unfortunately even within 
the Reformed camp, is a bad doctrine of creation. If we deny the reality 
and the truthfulness of Genesis 1 to 3, it will severely hinder 
our ability to worship and appreciate God appropriately and to preach 
God to those who stand in need of hearing the gospel and being 
saved. The Lord made everything. The Lord cannot be contained 
in your houses for idols. The Lord transcends and the truth 
that Paul underscores here is the reality that there's a distinction 
between the creator and the creature. He goes on to develop that as 
he speaks concerning creation. Notice that he says, God does 
not dwell in temples made with hands. Solomon, the temple builder, 
recognized and confessed the same thing in 1 Kings 8, 27. The temple and the tabernacle 
didn't contain God. It was rather the visible representation 
of God, but it wasn't as if he was located in there. Paul the 
Apostle here sounds like Stephen. Remember, Stephen was called 
upon and called to defend himself from charges that he had blasphemed 
God and that he had blasphemed the law of Moses. And so Stephen 
outlines a theology of temple. And he ends up with Solomon, 
who said and acknowledged that this temple cannot contain God. 
And he ends up with the prophet Isaiah in chapter 66, verses 
1 and 2. Heaven is my throne and earth is my footstool. Where 
is the house that you will build for me? So Paul says the same 
thing to underscore with these pagan philosophers the reality 
that there's distinction between God and between the creature. We call that in theology the 
creator-creature distinction. So God does not dwell in temples 
made with hands. That's what he says in verse 
24. And then notice in verse 25, nor is he worshipped with 
men's hands. That doesn't mean that men with 
their hands give worship to God. It means that God is not dependent 
upon that. It means that God is not ultimately 
served or bettered by that. And then he makes this powerful 
statement concerning God's independence. He says 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. He doesn't depend 
on man. Sometimes gospel preachers or 
well-meaning Christians say things like, God really needs us. God really wants us. God really depends on us. Ask Paul that very question. That doesn't mean God isn't concerned 
for us. It doesn't mean that God doesn't 
take delight in His creation. It doesn't mean that when He 
said on each day in the creation week, it is good, it is good, 
it is good, that He was lying. But Paul again is highlighting 
the distinction between the Creator and the creature, and the reality 
is that you cannot put God in a box, you cannot put God in 
a building, and it is certainly not the case that God is somehow 
dependent upon you. There's a wonderful, beautiful 
illustration of this in 1 Samuel 4. The Philistines capture the 
Ark of the Covenant of Yahweh. And then the children of Israel 
think that if we have the Ark of the Covenant, then everything 
will be hunky-dory. What were they thinking? They 
were thinking that God is in that box. If we trot God in the 
box out to the battlefield, then we'll certainly best the Philistines. 
Well, God's never going to allow His people to think that kind 
of bad theology about Him, so He allows or permits or has decreed 
that the Philistines would capture the Ark of the Covenant. So then 
the Ark of the Covenant, according to the Philistines, was brought 
into the Temple of Dagon. Well, that was an intriguing 
thing, and that was a way to try and show their superiority. 
Our God's better than your God. Our God beat up your God. Well, 
when they went in the next morning, Dagon had fallen over. And the 
text is conspicuous. They had to pick him up and put 
him back together, because pieces of him broke off. Dagon was dependent 
upon the Philistines. Our God is not. He loves you. He made you. If you're in Christ, 
He redeemed you, and that is most excellent. But the creation 
never added a tiny degree of betterness to God. It didn't 
make Him more God. It didn't make Him more excellent. It didn't make Him more good. 
In fact, one theologian named John Webster says, yet the triune 
God could be without the world. No perfection of God would be 
lost. No triune bliss compromised were 
the world not to exist. No enhancement of God is achieved 
by the world's existence. Now, again, I don't say this 
to make you think that God somehow hates you and is miserable with 
you and that sort of thing. But there is this idea that is 
rampant among even Christians that we complete God God is from 
everlasting to everlasting. He is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, 
eternally blessed, eternally blissful. Again, not helped, 
not bettered, not increased by creation. Creation is according 
to His good pleasure, it is according to His free will, it is according 
to His prerogatives, but it is not the case that He made in 
order to somehow supplement himself or in some way to complete himself. Sometimes people purchase puppies 
or sometimes people purchase fish because they see something 
lacking in their lives and then we assume that's how God was 
when he created the world. Paul says absolutely, positively 
not. The true and living God is not 
something you put in a building. The true and living God is not 
something you make. The true and living God ultimately 
is not dependent upon you whatsoever. And this distinction between 
creator and creature is absolutely crucial. One man has commented 
on what happens when we blur that distinction. He says the 
primal problem with idolatry is that it blurs the distinction 
between the Creator God and the creation. He says this both damages 
creation, including ourselves, and it diminishes the glory of 
the Creator. In other words, no good thing 
comes from idolatry. There is no betterment to either 
God or us when we engage in idolatry. So Paul is highlighting that 
to these people. The one group who thinks that 
there may be gods, but those gods don't have any concern for 
us. And the other group who sees pulpits and who sees pianos and 
who sees mountains and who sees leaves and skies and says, all 
is God. That was the Stoics and the Epicureans, 
and Paul sets forth the truth that God made this world and 
everything in it. But he doesn't just stop there. 
He doesn't just say, God made the earth, but he made man. Notice 
what he says at the end of verse, in verse 26, and he has made 
from one blood, every nation of men to dwell on all the face 
of the earth. We reminded ourselves of that 
reality, at least indirectly in our last hour. when we consider 
the role of the civil magistrate. You've been hearing that trite 
phrase over the last several months. We're all in this together. 
We're all in this together. We are creatures made by the 
true and living God. That God is over all things. That God determines where men 
live. That God determines how men look. That God determines all of that. In other words, He is sovereign 
in reference to creation. But Paul doesn't stop there. 
This God, Contra, the deistical sort of Epicureans, is involved 
with the creation. God is the one who determines 
where men live. He determines their boundaries. 
He determines the various skills and gifts and abilities that 
they have. God is over all things. Not just the church, not just 
his people, not just some things. There is a comprehensiveness 
in terms of God's absolute sovereignty. That's why scripture calls him 
the true and the living God. That is a contrast to the false 
and to the dead idols of men. And then notice, he highlights 
that sovereign rulership and what he goes on to say. Verse 
26, he says he has determined in the middle their pre-appointed 
times and the boundaries of their dwellings. The backdrop here 
is Deuteronomy 32.8. Some suggest Paul put his Bible 
down when he went to speak to the pagans. Paul bleeds Biblene. Paul preaches special revelation. Paul is underscoring his sermon 
with an appeal to scripture without going, oh, and Moses said this 
in Deuteronomy, and Isaiah said this in Isaiah. He doesn't do 
that, but he's using the very vocabulary. He's using the very 
language. He's using the very scripture 
itself to enforce the point, to bring home the point, and 
to try and clarify the false conceptions that these men had. 
So the Lord in His sovereign rule has determined man's life 
on earth. But then notice what He goes on to say in verse 27. He's done this so that man will 
seek Him. It's a beautiful and a glorious 
thing. Sometimes we have this God portrayed to us as so standoffish 
that the thought of you ever approaching Him is arrogance, 
it's pride, it's wickedness. No, God designed creation in 
such a way that the creature would grope after Him, would 
seek Him, would know communion with Him, would know blessing. 
The way of groping, the way of seeking, the way of finding him 
is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. This is the way 
God purposed it to be. He's not dependent upon us, as 
he's already said. He doesn't need us for the betterment 
of who God is. It doesn't add sort of cubits 
of divinity to his being, but in terms of his benevolence, 
in terms of his goodness, in terms of his kindness, in terms 
of his graciousness, God designed the world so that we would find 
him. So we're never to preach a God 
who cannot be accessed. We're never to preach a God whose 
sinners are terrified from ever thinking to approach. The God 
of the Bible says, look to me, All ye ends of the earth, for 
I am God, and there is no other. The God of the Bible says, come 
to me, all you who weary and are heavy laden, and I will give 
you rest. Sinners run from God. When we 
see that men don't grope, men don't seek, that is a reflection 
of the sinfulness of man. Remember in the Garden of Eden, 
they sin against God. What do they do? Do they run 
to God and say, please forgive us? They run from God. They make 
those leaves to hide themselves. They hide among the trees that 
God made. It's God that comes after them. 
After the folly of the Babel builders in Genesis chapter 11, 
God comes to Abram and calls him out of Ur of the Chaldeans 
in order to save a great multitude of all the nations of the earth. 
The whole Bible is calculated to promote the groping after 
God, the seeking after God. Now, I understand the grim reality. 
I know what sin is like, and I know the reality of Romans 
3. There is no fear of God before 
their eyes, and they don't seek after God. So I don't stand here 
tonight or today as some wise sinner amongst the rest that 
chose for Jesus. It's God's grace. It's God's 
goodness. It's God's mercy. But God's grace, 
goodness, and mercy is profuse. It is large. It is huge. It is glorious. This is why the 
Savior can say, all that the Father gives me will come to 
me. And the one who comes to me, I will certainly not cast 
out. See, sinner logic is like this. 
I'm so sinful. I'm so bad. I'm so wicked. I'm 
so depraved. He'll never want me. No, God 
is in the business of taking that very type of person. What 
does Jesus say when Zacchaeus is saved in Luke chapter 19, 
after Jesus has dealings with Zacchaeus? The Lord Jesus, or 
the people around there, they grumble and they mumble and they're 
whining. They don't like the thought that 
Jesus is going to share a meal with a tax collector. What does 
Jesus underscore there? In 1910, he says, the Son of 
Man came to seek and to save that which was lost. This is 
God's purpose for you, that you grope after Him, that you seek 
Him, and that by grace you find Him. And the way of approach 
now is through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, through the 
mediator of the New Covenant, through the blessed one who came 
into the world, who lived in obedience to the Father's law, 
who was delivered up on the cross for us men, for our sins, and 
who was raised again the third day. All those who look to him 
in faith will have everlasting life. That's what Paul is telling 
the Epicureans and the Stoics. It's masterful, it's glorious, 
and it's certainly pertinent for our generation. Notice what 
he then does. He appeals to them again at another 
level that shows their commonality as creatures before God. Verse 
27, so that they should seek the Lord. in the hope that they 
might rope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each 
one of us." The doctrine of creation and the doctrine of Creator indicates 
that. God is both transcendent, that 
means He is not contained in the creation, but God is imminent, 
that means He's involved. So both pantheism and deism are 
wrong. Pantheism says everything is 
God. Deism says God doesn't care. But the Bible tells us that God 
is both transcendent, holy and above and far removed, but God 
is intimate. He's there with us. When we go 
into that closet to pray, what does Jesus say? And the father 
who hears will reward you openly. And so the apostle Paul indicates 
that with reference to these pagans, and now he appeals to 
their own poets which shows us that Paul was a bright man. He was bright in terms of rabbinic 
training. He was a Pharisee. He was a religious 
scholar. But he also knew the pagans of 
his own day. He knew the literature. And here 
he's not sanctioning them as the overarching truth for all 
things theology, but he's saying, even your pagan poets have stumbled 
onto this truth. Why? Because all men are made 
in the image of God. Why? Because God has manifested 
his existence to us by the created order. And so he says that these 
two poets, Epimenides, he's the same poet from Titus chapter 
1 verse 12 that said, Cretans are always liars and evil beasts. That was the Epimenides there. 
He's the one who says, for in him we move and live and have 
our being. But as well, there was another 
poet by the name of Eratos, and he was from Cilicia, the same 
sort of region where the apostle Paul hailed from. And so the 
reference to offspring, notice what he goes on to say, verse 
27, the very end, though he is not far from each one of us. 
Now, verse 28, for in him we live and move and have our being. 
So that just really puts to death the notion of atheism, right? 
Atheists can't escape God. It's a fool's errand. If you 
in your heart think, well, I'm an atheist. I'm going to show 
myself as an atheist. You can't escape God. You may 
try to suppress the truth in unrighteousness. You may say 
in your heart, there is no God. But you can't escape. For in 
Him we move, we live, and we have our being. It is inescapable. You always have to do with the 
true and living God. Not just believers, but all men 
everywhere, because God is sovereign. He created, He is the sovereign 
ruler. Back to verse 28, 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. So it was Epimenides 
who said, for in thee we live and move and have our being. 
And it was Eratos who said, in every way we have to do with 
Zeus, for we are truly his offspring. Now, Paul is not equating Zeus 
with Yahweh. Paul is not equating Zeus with 
father, son, and spirit. But again, Paul is saying, that 
even your own pagan poets have tapped into this truth that the 
creation reveals to them. They can't escape this reality. 
They acknowledge that we are the offspring of God. Again, 
their God is wrong, their God is an unknown God to try and 
cover their bases, but that we do live and move and have our 
being in God, that's true. The fact that we are God's offspring, 
that's true. Now, we should make the distinction 
here. When he says we're the offspring of God, he's not talking 
about the universal fatherhood of man or fatherhood of God in 
redemptive categories. He's not saying that everybody's 
saved or everybody will be saved or everybody will go to heaven. 
That is by adoption and grace that comes to the elect of God. 
That is manifested when sinners believe and repent. But in terms 
of offspring, yeah, it's not wrong in creational language 
to speak of God as Father. He is the one who made all of 
us. He is the one that is responsible for all of us. And as a result, 
in creational categories, we are His offspring. Your own pagan 
poets stumbled upon this. Bonson makes this observation 
here. He says, Paul quotes the pagan writers to manifest their 
guilt. In other words, they know this. It's been reported to them, not 
only by virtue of the fact that they're made in the image of 
God, but their own poets have told us this. So what's the point? 
If God's design is to grope out, seek, and find him, then grope 
out, seek, and find him. Don't tarry. Don't waste time. Don't dilly-dally. And I'm saying 
this specifically in our 21st century context, where the way 
of approach to this God is clearly outlined through the gospel of 
our Lord Jesus Christ. Why would you tarry? Why would 
you wait? Why would you delay? Why would 
you say no to God? Why would you continue in your 
sin and rebellion and transgression? Why would you try and develop 
the thought of atheism or agnosticism, which has become quite in vogue 
today? It's just another way to assume 
or rather to embrace sin and continue to reject God Most High. Again, I'm not saying this as 
somebody who is unfamiliar with this. I did this for 23 years. 
I was not seeking God. I was not running for God. I 
was not the boy that was brought up in Sunday school with pencil 
and shirt and L. Martin tape in my pocket. That 
just wasn't my reality. It is grace alone, through faith 
alone, in Christ Jesus alone. As Moses lifted up the serpent, 
so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever looks to Him 
in faith will live. That is Paul's point. He says, 
Paul quotes, this is Bonson again, 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." That's the point. Even you guys, in 
all of your folly and in all of your madness, not you guys, 
Chilliwackians, but these guys, Areopagans or Areopagites, they 
had God right there. You've heard that before. I remember 
after the attacks in New York on 9-11. The question was, where 
was God on 9-11? The Lord is in the heavens, he 
does whatever he pleases. That was true on September 10th, 
it was true on September 11th, and it was true on September 
12th. God is absolutely sovereign. Why is it, though, that we never 
ask that question on September 10th? Why didn't we ever ask 
that question on September 12th? Why don't men grope for God until 
there is great problems in their lives? The Creator is glorious 
and worthy to be worshipped for who He is. Not simply for what 
he does. And this is lost on sinners. I think it's lost on a whole 
lot of Christians as well, but we're not going to go down that 
particular road. So Paul establishes the truth concerning God. He 
is both creator and he is sovereign ruler. Now he draws out some 
implications in verses 29 to 31. The first is that, again, 
the true God is distinct from the creature. Their particular 
sin is idolatry. So what does Paul do? Does he 
preach on theft? When their sin is idolatry, Paul 
comes loaded for bear. His spirit was provoked as he 
looked around at a city given over to idols. It would have 
been incongruous for Paul to say, I want to preach to you 
about the respect for other people's property. No, he goes right after 
their particular sin. He wants to show them their transgression. He wants to show them their lawlessness. He wants to show them why Jesus 
and the resurrection actually matter. That's why they called 
him, right? He's proclaiming foreign deities. He's like Socrates 450 years 
ago. Guess how it worked out for Socrates. 
They ended up killing Socrates. Thankfully, Paul was able to 
make it out of Athens not dead. But the bottom line is, for Jesus 
and the resurrection to make any sense to a pagan, they have 
to understand something about who God is, they have to understand 
something about who they are, and they certainly have to understand 
something about how sinful they are, or they will never see the 
need for Jesus and the resurrection. So Paul says to them in verse 
29, therefore, since we are the offspring of God, again, he's 
connecting at a level based on natural theology that he can 
with all creatures everywhere. 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. 
In other words, Athenians, Paul is saying, you need to revolutionize 
your thinking. You are living in a city given 
over to idols, and for one moment you're not to entertain that 
that's actually God. You need to suspend that folly, 
you need to repent of that, you need to forsake it, and you need 
to grope after that true and living God, who has sent Jesus 
and raised him from the dead for that very purpose. This is, 
again, very Old Testament-ish. The true God is not like gold 
or stone, and the true God is not shaped by art and man's devising. Whenever that happened in Israel, 
things didn't go well. Remember at the division of the 
kingdom, you've got northern tribes, you've got southern tribes. 
What does Jeroboam in the north conclude? He concludes that if 
these people go down to Jerusalem to worship Yahweh, then I'll 
lose a hold on them. You mean a political official 
who's actually seeking control over people? Yeah, that's what 
happened there in 1 Kings 12. So what does he do? He builds 
idols and he says, these are your gods that brought you out 
of the land of Egypt. How do you think that fared? 
How do you think God favored Jeroboam and his rule over the 
Northern tribes? Not at all. We are not to think 
that God is something that we manipulate. We are not to think 
that God is something we construct. We are not to think that God 
is something that ultimately even needs us. We are to understand 
that we relate to the true and living God first and foremost 
via word. It's an interesting thing, and 
this is why there's a pulpit in the center of our church. 
That's why in the history of good churches, there's been a 
pulpit in the center, because our religion isn't founded on 
sight and pictures and all the various akurman that men want 
to add to it. God says to the children of Israel, 
or through Moses in Deuteronomy 4.12, you heard the sound of 
the words, but saw no form, you only heard a voice. That's the basis of our religious 
expression, orientation, and experience with reference to 
God. There's nothing wrong with experience in the Christian life. 
You're probably knocking yourself over with a feather now that 
I'm saying that, but as long as it's grounded upon the truth 
of God's holy word. Ours is a word-based religion. 
We cannot think for a moment that we can take the transcendent, 
the glorious God, and manufacture him and put him into a box. This 
is Paul's point. Now notice the second implication 
that he draws out. And this underscores this basic 
truth. Paul isn't just concerned to 
exchange information. Paul isn't concerned just to 
teach you something that you didn't already know. Certainly 
he does that. He's asked to speak concerning 
Jesus and the resurrection, and he does it. But Paul's point 
is that you repent. Paul's point is that you grope. Paul's point is that you seek. Paul's point is that you come 
to the Savior. He doesn't just want you to see 
the futility of Epicurean philosophy, though he wants you to do that. 
He doesn't want you just to see the folly of Stoic philosophy, 
though that's a happy byproduct. He wants you to come to Jesus. 
So not only does he make the distinction again between creator 
and creature, notice what he goes on to say that the true 
God is the judge. The true God is the judge of 
all men everywhere. Notice in verse 30, this is where 
Paul gets practical in terms of application. Verse 30, he 
says, truly these times of ignorance God overlooked. Now, when we 
read that statement, it underscores God's patience, His forbearance. It doesn't tell us that God excused 
sin. Paul says something similar to 
the people in Lystra in Acts chapter 14. Again, forbearance 
doesn't mean excuse. One man says, not forgiving guilt, 
but rather postponing judgment. So that's how you should understand 
this ignorance that Paul speaks concerning God. These times of 
ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere 
to repent. This is the practicality of his 
sermon. This is the necessity. You have 
to change your mind concerning idols. You have to change your 
mind concerning the true and living God. You have to lay down 
your rebellion. You have to wave the white flag. You have to come the way that 
God has prescribed, and that is through our Lord Jesus Christ. He has commanded not just some 
men somewhere to repent, but all men everywhere to repent. 
John Gill explains repentance being represented as a command 
does not suppose it to be in the power of men or contradict 
evangelical repentance. We teach that repentance is a 
gift given by God. When Paul tells the Athenians 
to repent, he doesn't militate against that, but ultimately 
what he is underscoring is that not only is there a creator-creature 
distinction by virtue of creation, but there is a creator-creature 
distinction by virtue of our sin and rebellion. And in order 
for sinners and rebels to come unto this God, they need to change 
their mind about that God. So, Gil goes on with this comment. He says, being the free grace 
gift of God. He says, but it only shows the 
need men stand in of it and how necessary and requisite it is. 
And when it is said to be a command to all, this does not destroy 
its being a special blessing of the covenant of grace to some, 
but points out the sad condition that all men are in as sinners 
and that without repentance, they must perish. That's how 
we're supposed to understand that. He commands all men everywhere 
to repent. There are certain religions out 
there that if you pay enough money, you'll be received into 
the fold. There are certain religions out 
there that if you do enough works, you'll be received into the fold. 
There are certain religions out there that if you dot the I's 
properly and cross the T's properly, then they will be happy to call 
you one among their group. But the true religion, The way 
of approach to the living God is by grace. Through faith and 
repentance, that is crucial. So Paul is dealing with Athenian 
idolaters, and he tells them of their need to repent. Now 
notice what he goes on to say. He gives a reason. See, this 
is the kind of preaching that we should expect. Yes, learn 
information about who God is as creator and as sovereign ruler. 
but as well learn information on how to be right with that 
God. Imagine knowing great theology. Imagine affirming the 1689 Confession 
or the Three Forms of Unity or the Westminster Confession. Imagine 
knowing your Bible from Genesis to Revelation, but not knowing 
God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Having a catechetical understanding, 
but not an experiential understanding. That would be wretched. Well, 
Paul doesn't want that to happen. So Paul teases out the implications 
of this fact. He says in verse 30, truly these 
times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere 
to repent. Here's his reasons. In the first 
place, he's appointed a day of judgment. See, this is another 
sort of fantasy of those who deny the doctrine of creation. 
The Bible portrays history as linear. There's a beginning, 
there's a middle, and there's an end. All non-biblical approaches 
to cosmology, the doctrine of the world, prefers a circular 
view of history. It all just keeps kind of going 
around and coming around ad nauseum forever. That's not the biblical 
worldview. Paul says that God has appointed 
a day, not just for his church, not just for people in Canada, 
But all men everywhere are called upon to repent. Why? Because 
there is a day coming when we will stand before this God in 
judgment. That is a terrifying prospect 
if you are not a believer. That is a horrifying idea if 
you are not in Christ. Because remember this God. is 
holy, holy, holy. This God said the prophet Habakkuk, 
his eye is too pure to look upon any evil. This God is glorious 
and righteous. So for us to enter in, something 
must happen first. We must be washed in the blood 
of the Lamb. We must receive the righteousness 
of Jesus Christ, imputed to us and received by faith alone. 
Those things have to be in place for us to be able to stand on 
that day before a thrice holy God with any degree of confidence. And ultimately, our confidence 
isn't going to be in us. It's going to be what Newton 
said. My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood. I'm sorry, 
top lady. Top lady or Newton, somebody 
can tell me. My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood 
and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest 
frame but wholly lean on Jesus name. It's not sweet frames. It's not experience. It's not 
a 10-hour prayer meeting. It's the life and the death and 
the resurrection of Jesus that provides our standing with God. That's it. He is our sole righteousness. It is glorious. So not only has 
he appointed a day of judgment, but he's also ordained the judge. 
Because, verse 31, he has appointed a day on which he will judge 
the world in righteousness by the man whom he has ordained. 
That's Jesus. Christ assumes that prerogative 
as God-man. Christ assumes that prerogative 
according to his function and role as mediator. He is the agent 
of judgment on that day, John 5, 27, Daniel 7, 13 and 14. It is Christ that we will stand 
before. So what's the point? Right now, if you come to Christ, 
you meet Him as Savior. Right now, if you believe on 
Christ, you meet Him as one who cleanses you from your sin. You 
meet Him as one who gives you a righteousness so that you'll 
stand in the presence of the Father. But if you meet Him on 
that day not having had repented, if you meet Him on that day not 
having believed, He will be judge alone and He will cast you away. 
That's the grim reality with reference to this situation. 
We will meet God, He will judge us according to righteousness, 
and He will do this by the man whom He has ordained. Now notice 
what he then ends on in terms of the actual sermon. Verse 31, 
at the end, he has given assurance of this to all by raising him 
from the dead. Why was Paul called to the Areopagus? Because he was proclaiming, at 
least in their minds, strange gods. They thought that Jesus 
and the resurrection were the strange gods that Paul is preaching. Notice that Paul doesn't stand 
up at the Areopagus and say, I'm happy that you're religious, 
because I want to prove to you now that Jesus is the Messiah, 
and I want to prove to you now that Jesus is the resurrected 
Lord. He doesn't do that. He preaches the Christian worldview, 
we might say. He preaches God as creator, God 
as sovereign in terms of rulership, and then he preaches Christ as 
judge. and he uses the fact of the resurrection. It's very vogue today to try 
to prove the resurrection. Go to any church on any Easter 
Sunday and you'll hear five reasons why you should believe in the 
resurrection. Paul doesn't do that. Paul uses 
the fact of the resurrection to prove the reality of the coming 
judgment of God. That's a big difference, brethren, 
and Paul brings it to bear upon these Athenians so that, by God's 
grace, they'll grope after God, they'll seek after God, they'll 
repent of their lawless thinking, they'll repent of their idolatry, 
they'll repent of their gross sexual immorality. Brethren, 
it's not just the 21st century in the world where there's gross 
sexual immorality. The Roman Empire, the Greco-Roman 
world, it was rife and riddled with all manner of sexual immorality. So Paul hits them where they 
need to be hit. You need to repent, you need 
to forsake these idols, and you need to come to the true and 
living God. Now notice the response, and 
this is quick. It's very simple. You'd think, 
wow, Paul, great sermon, wonderful sermon. Everybody there would 
have gotten saved, right? Everybody should have got saved. Paul, 
why don't you have an altar call? Every knee bowed, every eye closed, 
every head bowed, all that stuff. Paul, give them the whammy and 
they'll all get saved. That's not what happens, brethren. 
Paul understands it's God who saves. Paul understands sovereign 
grace. Paul understands his mission, 
make known the truths concerning Jesus and the resurrection, and 
trust in God to do his work. Why is it that we think we can 
manipulate people into the kingdom of God? We can strong-arm people 
into the kingdom of God. No, we can preach to them, we 
can try to prevail upon them with good argumentation, we can 
set forth the word of truth to be sure, but it's God who's in 
the business of saving. If you doubt that, come tonight. 
We're going to look at Titus chapter 3. And Paul says that 
very thing. He saved us. We didn't save ourselves. Castors 
didn't save us. Parents didn't save us. Children 
didn't save us. It's God who saves. And so it's 
God who is sovereign in the matter of salvation. And we don't see 
sort of a next section where Paul is whining and sniveling 
and crying before God. Lord, I preached the best sermon 
I've ever preached. And I prevailed upon them with 
such great argument. And yet there was such little 
response. That's not Paul's concern. And 
as evangelists, brethren, I mean, obviously you're concerned, you 
pray for the salvation of sinners, but it's God who's in the business 
of saving sinners. Same with preaching the gospel 
in churches. We pray the Holy Spirit to come. 
As persuasive or as powerful as whatever the argumentation 
may be, apart from the ministry and aid of the Spirit, it's an 
empty letter to the people that hear. So look at what happens. 
There were mockers. And when they heard, notice, 
of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. Alexander explains, 
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 it wasn't just, eh, we don't 
like that. It was actually offensive to the Greek mind to suggest 
the resurrection of the dead. So that there were mockers shouldn't 
be surprising. But then there were the ones 
that seemed to be a little bit more curious, right? That's kind 
of how the text indicates or kind of how the text reads. While 
others said, we will hear you again on this matter. Now they 
may have been politely, you know, they didn't want to be as quite 
as notorious as the mockers, but they were the more civilized 
among the lot. So yeah, we'll hear you again 
about this. This happened with Felix. I call it damning procrastination, 
because Paul spoke to Felix, and then Felix essentially was 
struck by that sermon, and then he dismisses him and says, I 
will call you again to hear this. He was damningly procrastinating 
with reference to his never-dying soul. But there are those who 
believe. Paul departs according to verse 
33. Again, it wasn't a trial. He 
wasn't under arrest. He's not going to jail. He departs 
from among them. However, some men joined him 
and believed. So the Areopagus, the men who 
sat on this council, men who were very skilled in philosophy, 
men who were living in the citadel of intellectualism at that day 
and age, some men joined him and believed. And then he gives 
us two particular names, among them Dionysius the Areopagite. One of the very men who sat on 
the council himself says, what this Paul says makes sense. I'm 
going to grope after that true and living God. I'm going to 
believe what Paul has told me to believe, and I'm going to 
go to heaven, and I'm going to enjoy the glory of God Almighty. And then there was this woman, 
a notable woman by the name of Damaris. Most suggest she would 
have been a foreigner, because Athenian women wouldn't have 
been sitting in the Areopagus. I don't know, I don't know her 
identity, but I know that one day, should we happen to sort 
of bump into each other in heaven, we can meet her, along with Dionysius, 
the fruits of God's sovereign grace in Athens. It is a most glorious sermon. Well, I want to conclude quickly 
with a few thoughts. First, the sin of idolatry. The sin of idolatry. We have 
seen in Athens the abiding validity of the Ten Commandments. Paul 
didn't look, as I said, at Athens and say, wow, that's some great 
architecture. That's really good how they've done that. His spirit 
was provoked within him. Why? Because the city was breaking 
the first and second commandments. They worshiped that which was 
not God, and they violated that first word. It was a provocation 
to him and led him or promoted in him this desire to preach. 
The prevalence of transgression against the first two commandments 
is obvious in that setting. It's obvious in our setting as 
well. We may lack the architecture, 
but this world is filled with idols. And I think there is, 
in the mind of the Christian, this conception that an idol 
must be a statue, an idol must be a pole, an idol must be an 
image. An idol is anything ultimately 
you put before God. The kingdom principle of Matthew 
6.33 is always applicable. Seek first the kingdom of God 
and his righteousness, and then these things will be added to 
you. What does Jesus say in that same context about mammon? Mammon 
is money. You can be an idolater with reference 
to money. You can take things that God 
made to be utilized for good and turn them on their heads 
and make them idols. You say, well, I don't have stones. 
I don't have a lot of money. I don't have idols. You could 
be your idol. I think the most abiding idol 
for all of us is the one we look at in the mirror every single 
day. One of the designs of the gospel 
of free grace is 2 Corinthians 5, that those who live for themselves 
should no longer, but for him who died for their sins. You and I are idolaters, whether 
remaining or whether reigning. We always struggle in terms of 
giving due regard to God. John Stott, and some of you I 
know have heard this quote. I think it's beautiful. It illustrates 
the folly or the wickedness of idolatry. 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. He says, in 
brief, all idolatry tries to minimize the gulf between the 
Creator and His creatures in order to bring Him under our 
control. Yeah, it's a problem out there. 
It's also a problem in here. And we need to appreciate that. 
It's not those pagans in Athens. It's those professing Christians 
that have a horrible and a defective theology proper. He says, 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. It's huge. It is problematic. It is vile. It is reprehensible. There is 
a priority in the Decalogue, and God and His honor and His 
glory comes first. As well, we ought to appreciate 
the corrective to idolatry. It's the cross of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, isn't it? Isn't that the glory and the 
beauty and the majesty of the cross? That in the cross we are 
forgiven of our sins. At the cross we receive the imputed 
righteousness of Jesus Christ. As a result of the gospel, the 
life, the death, the resurrection of Jesus, we have everlasting 
life. We are corrected. of our idolatry. Now, as believers, we have remaining 
corruption. As believers, we probably give 
ourselves far more regard than we do to God, but that's an ongoing 
struggle and praying. We ask God to help us to die 
more and more to ourselves each and every day and live unto God 
more and more each and every day. Brethren, the way of correction, 
the way of salvation is through the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. If you are not a believer here, 
and if you are an idolater or any type of sinner described 
in the Ten Commandments, the way of salvation is by God's 
grace. The way of salvation is by looking 
to Jesus in faith. The way of salvation is specified 
clearly in the gospel of our Lord. If you know this, then 
why do you tarry? If you know this, then why do 
you not come? If you know this, then why in 
the world wouldn't you look unto Him and be ye saved? All the 
ends of the earth, for I am God and there is no other. And then 
the third and final observation is the punishment of idolatry. 
I know we don't like that. Kind of a downer way to end, 
isn't it? Maybe we should sing kumbaya after so everybody's 
pepped back up. The punishment of idolatry doesn't 
just obtain in the age to come. When Paul does expound the problem 
of the pagan in Romans chapter 1, he shows what fundamentally 
is wrong with that. He says that they neither honored 
God as God nor were their hearts thankful. They rejected the true 
and living God. And as a result, they then exchanged 
the glory of the Creator for the folly of the creature. And 
they bowed down and worshipped four-footed animals, creeping 
things, and whatever it is that captured their fancy. Does Paul 
stop there? No. He then says from 24 on in 
Romans chapter 1, for this reason God gave them up. You look at society around. People 
say, are we gonna be judged by God? We are being judged by God. We have all the marks and evidences 
and fruits that God has given us over. The way of hope, the 
way of stability, the way to hopefully try to gain or garner 
some security with the Most High is repentance. Again, it's faith. It is looking unto Jesus, the 
author and finisher of faith. So there is this temporal judgment 
that occurs with reference to idolatry. But of course there 
is eternal consequence as well. Revelation 21.8 tells us who's 
going to be in the lake of fire. It says the cowardly, unbelieving, 
abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, 
And all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns 
with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. There is 
a temporal manifestation of the judgment of God upon idolatry. There is an eternal manifestation 
of the judgment of God upon all idolatry. Please, I implore you, 
Paul does this with the Corinthians, I implore you, whether you're 
here presently or you're looking on through the internet or live 
stream or whatever it is we're calling it, the bottom line is 
do not mock this message. This message is everything. Again, one of the most insulting 
things that we've endured under this COVID crisis is the idea 
that Costco is somehow more important than the Church of the Living 
God Almighty. It is this message, it is this 
gospel, it is this truth that mankind desperately needs to 
hear. So I implore you, don't mock. 
I would also implore you don't damningly procrastinate. Well, 
I'll think about this another time. I'll think about this when 
I'm 80. I'll think about this when I'm 50. I'll think about 
this when I have more. No, no. This is the most important 
thing. Be among Dionysius. Be among 
Demerus. These people that heard what 
Paul said and they understood concerning Jesus and the resurrection 
and the way of eternal life. Believe on him and you'll be 
saved. That is the promise of Holy Scripture. 
Well, let us pray. Our Father, we thank you for 
your word, and we thank you for the clarity of the sermon by 
Paul, and I pray that it would be applied to all of our hearts 
by the power of your Holy Spirit, not only for unbelievers, that 
they may believe and live and have everlasting life, but for 
us, your people. We confess at times we don't 
think the way we ought concerning who you are, We confess at times 
we get so caught up with so many other things that they become 
first in our lives and in our pursuits. So God, cleanse us 
in precious blood. Help us to have that priority 
structure that reflects well the kingdom of God. And I pray 
that you would give us grace and help and strength to persevere 
in this lower world. And God, may you send forth your 
glorious gospel to a very, very needy world, a world steeped 
in idols, a world steeped in anger and hatred and animosity, 
not only toward God, but toward one another. I pray for the healing 
balm of Gilead to be applied through the proclamation of your 
truth and the presence and the power of your Holy Spirit. And 
we ask this through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.