I want to thank you for the opportunity to be able to I bring the Word of God this morning, and it's always a privilege and I'm always thankful when we have the opportunity to not only meet with Christian brothers and sisters who are serious about the things of God, but to actually meet and dialogue on the things of God. Because the church, as a friend of mine used to always say, is not merely one large ear or one large mouth and one large ear, but it should really be where the church both hears and speaks about the things of God. And that's always healthy that you have those times of dialogue, and that's Typically what we see in the New Testament when they assembled together wasn't merely one person doing all the teaching all the time, but the people of God were engaged in the things of God. We're actually going to be looking at Acts chapter 17 this morning, but I'd like to say a few words about the passage here in Romans chapter 1. This passage, as your pastor, Mike, had spent, I think I gathered from the website, four weeks on, is a passage that you could spend a lot of time on. supposing that he exhausted it in four weeks. But I thought initially about doing that passage, and then when I saw that, I said, well, I'll switch to Acts chapter 17 in lieu of that. But there certainly, I'm sure, could be more said about it. But be that as it may, I'd like to just say a couple of things on Romans chapter 1. before I get to Acts chapter 17. But before I do so, how about if you allow me to pray for a moment? Our gracious God and our heavenly Father, we do thank you, our Lord and our God, again for the opportunity to assemble here this day to consider things from your word, the truth of who you are. And Father, in knowing who you are, Lord, we know better who we are. And knowing who we are, we are eternally grateful and thankful to you, Lord, that you not only have had mercy upon us, but Lord, you have found out the way to save us, sinners, rebels, those who despised you in every way, You, our Lord and our God, in your infinite kindness and mercy, have caused that we should come to the place where we have a real living faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, and therefore have been reconciled to you through his reconciling work. And Father, not only that, but that you, as the eternally just and holy God, have done it in such a way that you are and continue to be the just and holy God, for you could not be but that. And so, our Father and our God, we bless and praise your name and thank you and pray for your divine assistance as we consider these things this day. And we would pray thee and thank you in Jesus Christ's name. Amen. In Romans chapter one, I actually began there, had him begin the reading in verse 16, because in verse 16, the apostle says, for I'm not ashamed of the gospel. And he says that the gospel for it, the gospel is the power of God for salvation. The gospel itself, the proclamation of the truth of the birth, the life, the death, the resurrection of Jesus Christ are all in the gospel. And when we bring that message to sinners, when that message is brought to sinners, God is pleased to work through that. We call it the ordinary means by which sinners are saved. Can God save other ways? Yes, He can. He is God. Sometimes He saves people just through the reading of Scripture. Sometimes He saves people in other ways. John the Baptist, we might assume since he leapt for joy in the presence of our Lord when he was still in his mother's womb. each of them, we can assume that there's a fair possibility that John the Baptist was actually regenerated in his mother's womb, possibly. So can that happen? Yes. But normally, the way that people are saved is through the preaching of the gospel. And when we consider that, and we consider the subject of God. And we consider what Romans is talking about here, that the history of mankind is a history of man actually trying to put God out of his thinking, which I actually prefer that word rather than they did not wish to retain him in their knowledge. It's really that man tries to put God out of his thinking. We can look at the systems of the world today and just think of our modern-day educational system, even right here in not only our own country, right here in our own commonwealth, right here in our own community. The system is designed to put God out of their thinking. They actually have a concerted effort. This is an effort that they engage in from elementary school all the way through what they call higher education. And the whole system is predicated on putting God out of their thinking. They do not want to retain God in their thinking, in their minds. How do we address people who think that way, who have come to the place, whether knowingly or somewhat naively, come to the place where they have put God out of their thinking? Various degrees of that. Everything from, you know, where people think, well, it doesn't matter that much where I even go to worship. So, we have all kinds of people going to churches that probably are no churches at all. And we have people going to, not going to church at all, or practicing all kinds of various forms of witchcraft and so forth. engaging in seances or fortune-telling and all those kinds of wicked devices. So, sin becomes a part and parcel of the life of people who put God out of their thinking, out of their minds. And the sin ends up manifesting itself in a whole array of different exhibitions. And that's what the Apostle Paul talks about here in Romans chapter 1. He talks about a whole list of examples of what happens to people when they follow this progression, and we see it not only prior to the time of the Apostle Paul, because he was given it to us almost as a historic evidence. But it was a present evidence in his day. It's a present evidence in our day. And we have it in not only individuals, we have it in whole societies. Whole societies have worked at putting God out of their thinking. So we end up with, you know, countries who the whole country virtually is engaged in Buddhism or some other kind of ism and so forth or even dare I say even Catholicism. You know, it's just another evidence of trying to put God out of their thinking, but it's the sinful practices that it leads them to. All right, so that being said, the gospel then is what we must get to with people. Well, you can't start with people who don't know that God is, or who have convinced themselves that He is not. And maybe they've come to the place where they say, well, I think Buddha's just about the same as Jesus. You know, or perhaps they have come to the point where they say, well, I'm not even sure that God is. He might be. I'm not denying God. I think maybe He is, but I'm not sure. I'm not sure it makes any difference to me in my life. Then you have people who are just out-and-out atheists, who have come to the place where they think that somehow they can actually say, there is no God. We don't even need to think about whether we can know Him. There is none to know, is the supposition of some. And so the question is, How do you witness to a person like that? How do you bring the message of the gospel eventually to that person? Well, the Puritans used to call that pre-evangelism. Even Jonathan Edwards, the great early American Puritan, had what he called steps to salvation. Now, I'm not trying to tell you I agreed with all their suppositions relative to that kind of a thing. I think they went a little overboard with it, but nevertheless. You know as well as I do the people that you've been around in your life. Surely you've been around people who claim to be agnostics or atheists or at least have a life practice of that, you know. And so, how do you bring the gospel message to them? You can't start in the middle. It's not like as if you have someone who has attended church, who knows these things, who doesn't deny it, but is not sure that they actually have a saving relationship with the Lord. Now, we can start at one point with somebody like that, but where do you start with someone who isn't even close to that? And that's sort of what I'd like to talk about today. And that's what I'll get to when I get to Acts chapter 17. But here in Romans, we have in Romans verse 17, for in it the righteousness of God is revealed. And it's revealed by faith. Some translations have from faith. That preposition can be translated an array of different ways, I think. It's typically determined by context. But I think in this particular usage, personally, I think the better word there would be by faith. It doesn't change the meaning in any significant way or anything, but nevertheless, the point that I want to look at here is that the righteousness of God here is revealed. It's revealed. And it's revealed by faith, for faith, as it is written, the righteous shall live by faith. God's righteousness is revealed not only in our believing the gospel, but in the gospel itself. God cannot be anything other than what He is, right? So when it says the righteousness of God is revealed, it's not that He's attaining some kind of righteousness, it's not that God's getting righteous, He is righteous. And so when this passage says that his righteousness is revealed, that means when we look at what it is to have a real and living faith in Jesus Christ, justification by faith, what we can observe is that we should be able to observe the righteousness of God in that. And so, when we talk about God, we have to talk always about who God is in His character, in His attributes. And this is talking about His character and His attributes. And so, here we have God revealed, God's righteousness revealed. And then if we go down to verse 18 and following, 18 says, for the wrath of God is revealed. So here it is, we have two revelations. We have one revelation. that reveals something about the character of God in righteousness. And we see it in how salvation is worked out in his people from faith to faith, by faith, for faith, whatever way you want to put that. And then we see that Paul is now going to explain to us, not only can you see the righteousness of God, Now you're going to actually see the wrath of God, just as much and just as important of an attribute and character of God as His righteousness. In fact, as we go on right here in the next chapter and a half, Paul's going to spend more time talking about the wrath of God being revealed than he is the righteousness of God. Even though it is a righteous thing for God to actually exhibit His wrath, it is a righteous thing for God to do that. It is the revelation of His wrath. And so, the revelation of God's wrath is an important thing for us to focus on. Why? Because God focuses on it. God's Word focuses on His wrath. And if I may, just another point or two here. Verse 19 says, well let me just finish in verse 18 there, where it goes on, it says, that it's revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. That is, they try to push it down. They try to make out as if it doesn't happen. So often, I probably get questioned about this as often as almost anything. And people will ask, well, what about all the bad things happening in the world? And what they mean by that, what they're thinking, is, can God really be in control when all these bad things are happening? So I always say to them, isn't it wonderful that we have all these demonstrations of God? They said, what? And I said, who do you think is actually the judge? Who do you think is actually revealing and setting before us in neon lights His wrath? What do you think is doing that? Do you think somehow some other man is in control of this? Do you think man collectively is in control of this? No, no. It is God who is in control of it. This is, in fact, a revelation of God. So, we shouldn't be afraid when people ask us that. We should take it as a wonderful opportunity to witness to them. Verse 19, for what can be known about God is plain to them because God has shown it to them. God has shown it to them. And what has He shown? In showing it to them, he has shown, again, here's more of God's attributes and character. His invisible attributes. Namely, well, for example, what kind of attributes do we see here? Paul gives it to us. He says, the eternal power and divine nature. Well, divine nature describes God. And of course, there only can be one God. There only can be one divine nature. You and I don't have it. Only God can be God. by the very fact that He is God and all righteousness and wrath belongs to Him, just as we end up seeing in Acts chapter 17 that He is the Creator. Therefore, only He, since He is the only Creator, only He can be God. God isn't going to create another God. That would be a contradiction. That would be impossible. Otherwise, it couldn't be a God. So, the Apostle says, the Apostle says then in verse 2. 19, finishes in 19, knowing about God is plain to them. It's plain. So often we end up talking to people who question God and so on, and quite often I've had people tell me the process. I always, if they don't ask, I try to elicit out of them. Well, how did this occur? How did this happen? You didn't start out that way. They never start out that way, do they? I've never met anyone who says, I was born not believing in God. No, they all were. Every man, woman, and child who's ever come into this world comes into this world somehow knowing that God is. They don't know who He is precisely, but when they observe not only themselves but the people around them and the creation around them and the creation beyond what their eyes can even see, they know that God must be God and Him alone. There's no escape. And so it has to be a process by which they put God out of their thinking, because otherwise, as Paul says here, it is plain to them. And so verse 20 says about his attributes and his nature, and have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world, ever since. This isn't new, this isn't something that just began to happen, but this is something that has always been. But anyway, you know, one of the things that I always thought was important in this passage is where it says in verse 21 that they did not honor Him as God or give thanks. Now, I noticed our brother this morning that was praying for the offering, thanks was the single most used word in his prayer. And it is one of the things that characterizes Christians. We are a thankful people. And that's one of the evidences that a person not only knows themselves, but knows God. Because if you know yourself and you know God, you're going to be thankful. In verse 28 is the verse that I've already referred to, and since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. I said I prefer the word, prefer the translation there, and since they did not see fit to retain God in their thinking. All right, if you'll turn with me to Acts chapter 17. We'll consider a few things from there this morning. And I know I've eaten up a lot of my time just talking about this, so I'll have to hasten through this now. I actually make notes sometimes to try to force myself to not do that. I could just... So. Here we have Paul who addresses what is called the Areopagus. And the Areopagus was an area, a location, yes, but there was actually a collection of about 30, what would you call them, philosophers, scholars, people that were considered to be the intellects of Athens. Athens was the center of the Greek world for learning and so forth. So when Paul ends up there, and some commentators don't believe that Paul actually went there to do missionary work. They thought he was just sort of getting a break. Well, you know as well as I do, not only true for the Apostle Paul, but true for us as Christians, no matter where you go, you always are looking for opportunities. Opportunities are always looking for you. And we take every opportunity. We fly on a plane, we end up talking to somebody. We do this, we go on vacation here, we end up... Oh, I remember going to Hawaii. Carol and I went to Hawaii one time. I ended up feeling like a missionary to the Mormons, because Hawaii is filled with Mormonism. It's the overwhelming cult in Hawaii is Mormonism. And so we'd ride a bus or wherever we'd go, I'd end up talking to people about the Lord. I'm supposed to be on vacation, so-called. So the Apostle Paul, he goes to Athens. Oh, it doesn't take him very long, and he realizes that when he gets there in Athens, he realizes that the people there are taken with idolism. And so, he gets down to the marketplace, he begins to debate with the Jews, and after he debates with the Jews, then he has other people that he talks to in the marketplace, and then people hear him. People hear him talking about these things, and they want to know, what are you talking about, Paul? And so, Paul ends up being invited to speak to the intellects of the age. So, the verse starts out in verse 16. In fact, let's just read that passage, if I may. I guess I got to get to Acts here. I'm not in the book of Acts. Acts chapter 17 and in verse 16. Now, while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols. So he reasoned in a synagogue with the Jews, yes. And of course, you're going to talk to Jews one way, right? and the devout persons and in the marketplace every day with those who happen to be there. Some of the Epicureans and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him, and some said, what does this babbler wish to say? Babbler simply means, in our language, in our lingo, we would say, what's this novice think he's saying? Others said he seems to be a preacher of a foreign divinities because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection. And of course, that would be pretty startling news that he would preach the resurrection. He wasn't preaching reincarnation. He was preaching the resurrection. And they took hold of him and brought him to the Arabicus, saying, May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? For you bring some strange things to our ears. We wish to know, therefore, what these things mean. So, at least they had the pretense of actually wanting to know. Now, you realize philosophers, even today, professional philosophers, and I used to not know this, and some professional philosopher was pleased to inform me of this fact. that professional philosophers never change their philosophic persuasion. They just simply engage in ongoing debates about it with other philosophers. The point isn't really, at the end of the day, to persuade someone else to be what you are. The point is to see how good you can argue your point. That's all. There's not really an objective to win disciples. That's not the point. So that's what Paul's dealing with here. He's dealing with people who were professional philosophers. They weren't looking to get corrected. They weren't really looking for truth. Hey, this is interesting. This guy, even though he's a novice, sounds like he has some things to say, some things that we haven't heard before, so let's bring him over and let him talk for a while. That's all they were interested in. This would be a real challenge even for the Apostle Paul. So, we wish to know therefore what these things mean. Verse 21 now, now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or learning something new. That's my point. They weren't trying to get corrected. They weren't trying to come to grips with the truth. Oh, no, no. They already knew that. What would they ever come to? They don't need that. Verse 22, Paul, so Paul standing in the midst of the Arabicus said, men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. And they were. They're very religious, and you've talked to people like that, haven't you? Who, they're very religious, why go to church all the time, and so on, and after you talk to them for a while, you know that this person is not born again. You know they're not saved, but they're religious. They are religious about their religion, or whatever they believe. Verse 23, "'For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship,' and they had a lot of them, "'I found also an altar with this inscription, "'To the unknown God.'" Well, of course, we have people today, we call them not atheists, but agnostics. Oh, there's a God, but you don't know Him. Oh, yeah, I go to church, but I don't really know God. I don't think the people there even know Him, would be their position. That's what these people were. So for them to have an altar to the unknown God, they were simply being honest about their philosophy and their idol worship, etc. Maybe they were even being careful, some of them. Because you know, some religious people, as Paul was dealing with, were superstitious, just like some people are today about their religion. They don't really believe anything the Bible says, they just are superstitious about it. Well, don't do this, God could be mad at you. Don't do that, because, you know, God could do this, and so forth, you know. Anyway. what therefore you worship as unknown, I proclaim to you." Now, we would think that the average person would be thrilled to hear that. Wow, I have been looking for this my whole life, and now this guy's going to tell me. He actually knows. He's informed. But no, they didn't think that. These people weren't at that level. They were the intellectual elites of the day. So when Paul says this to them, here he is in the world center of intellectualism, of philosophic intellectualism, and he is talking to the most intellect of the center of the world of intellectualism, and he is going to tell them they don't know. They're ignorant. They're lost, and they are so lost they don't even know they're lost. So, Paul says – now, it's interesting where Paul's going to go here in verse 24, because he – the apostle Paul is dealing with people who are And there were various positions here. There were people who were probably idol worshippers, there were pantheists, that's what the Stoics were, there were people here who were Epicureans who who believed, who were what we call today, as I've already said, agnostics. They were tremendous intellectual agnostics. Yes, we don't doubt that there are gods, but you can't know them and they have nothing to do with human beings and so forth. That's what the Epicureans held to. And then Paul also had probably people in his audience, whether they were part of the Arabicus or not, we're not sure, but at least there were people there listening to it, who were probably people who understood a little bit about, well, I know there are people in the world being Jews. who believe there is only one God, and they think they know who He is, and so forth. So there was probably a variety of positions there, if we will. So in verse 24, he says, the God who made the world and everything in it. So when Paul begins there, he is beginning there because that would be very relevant to some people And other people would be less relevant, but Paul isn't going to let that slide. He is going to hold their feet to the fire, so to speak. And he is going to make it very clear that he is declaring that there is one true and living God, and there only can be one true and living God. There only can be. One true and living God. And how do we know that? Because he said, who made the world and everything in it. God is not going to create a competing deity. That would be impossible. That would be a contradiction. Even the philosophers were smart enough to know that. He is dealing with people who regularly engage in intellect. And so he says, who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven. So that's what we call the transcendence of God. He's the Lord of heaven. But then Paul adds, and of earth. So he is not just the far-off God that you can't know. But He's a God right here with you, with me, and the earth, heaven and earth. And that, of course, speaks of the infinity of God, the omnipresence of God, that God is everywhere present, equally present everywhere at all times. God is equally present at all times in all places. And we'll discuss that subject more this afternoon about God's omnipresence and what that means and some of the implications of that because it's a very – it's a It's a very important doctrine, and we'll talk maybe a little bit more about transcendence, likewise, and imminence, which means that God did not simply create everything that there is, but God continues to be involved with everything that there is. It's called the imminence of God. And so, Christianity has come to use those two terms, the transcendence of God and the imminence of God, to keep them in their doctrine and in their practices from becoming over-balanced one way or another. If you become too overly emphasizing the imminence of God, you fall into errors of pantheism. If you fall into where God is aloof, God is too distant, God is completely other than his creation, and he is just in heaven, we call that some type of transcendence. But if you put way too much emphasis on that, then you neglect the personal involvement, the personal involvement of God in His creation, and then we look at in Christianity, we realize that God is actually involved not just in His creation, but He's involved in the people that He is redeeming in a very personal way. And so that becomes a very significant part of the Christian faith is the imminence of God. and God's personal involvement in our lives. And we see many of the fascinating and tremendous things and things that Christians rejoice in, the presence of God. All right. Paul here in verse 17, or chapter 17, and I'm trying to figure out what verse I was on. All right. Well, let me jump in there then at verse 23. To the unknown God, what therefore you worship as unknown, I proclaim to you, the God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man. Now that was, of course, geared to a certain segment. itself. Some of these people were idol worshipers. Not all of them, but some of them were. And then he says in verse 25, "'Nor is He served by human hands as though He needed anything.'" That is God. That's the God Christians worship. That's the God we read about in the Old Testament. God doesn't need us, and so forth, is Paul's point. He doesn't need you to do these things for Him or He'll get angry, like as if He is some sort of petty little God that they are used to inventing. No, Paul says that's not who God is. since, and Paul says, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life, breath, and everything. Life, breath, and everything to all mankind. Well, think of a philosopher hearing that. And this is a man now who, by this point, they will have known that he is not a mere novice. They now know they're dealing with somebody who has intellectual muscles like them. And so, verse 26, and he made from one man. Notice Paul doesn't say, and it had to be noticed by them, that he made mans, plural, M-A-N-S. No, he didn't make mans. He made man, one man from which comes man. And that, of course, becomes significant Now, how many people do you ever talk to and witness to and give the gospel to that you mention that? Not very many, right? If I'm guessing. But, you see, Paul was taking into consideration, who am I talking to? Therefore, what do I need to tell them? Because Paul wasn't simply educated by Gamaliel in the rabbinic tradition. But part of being educated in that way is they were educated in a lot of other things also that may compete with it. and the world around them, but Paul also, that we gather from passages in Corinthians, passages in Titus, and so forth, that Paul was very familiar with the writings and the teachings of philosophers in history, way before him and even in his time. Sometimes they call them poets. But these were people who were putting forth ideas, and Paul was very knowledgeable of them. So when Paul says these things, these aren't things where Paul, oh, he's speaking impromptu, he's just coming, whatever comes next to his mind, he's throwing it out. No, these are very calculated things that Paul is saying. Why could Paul do that? The reason Paul could do that is because God had equipped him in a very extraordinary way. And I remember thinking, I remember when R.C. was gonna go to school and he was going to get additional studies in philosophy. And I thought, what is he getting more studies in philosophy for? Well, it was not for naught. He was doing so, so that he could be a better apologist for the Christian faith. That's why. I remember, I'll just, this is just a footnote. I remember R.C., some of the guys that we hung around with, would laugh because R.C. would practice his Latin talk with us, you know, and he was just figuring out how to say a lot of these things, you know, and one of the guys that belonged to the group was quite fluent in Latin, which is actually an unspoken language, but nevertheless, there was a professional way of speaking it and so forth, and so he would always be correcting R.C. about it, you know, no, R.C., you're saying that wrong, here's how you say that. Oh, good, thanks, you know, and he was always very appreciative of any help he could get, you know, but he worked. He worked very hard at it. Why? He worked at it just like Paul. Paul knew these things, worked at it, and then he used them when the Lord provided those providential occurrent times that he could speak to them about the gospel. Now, you say, well, he didn't give them much of the gospel here yet. But that's what he's getting to. You had to pre-evangelize them before you can evangelize them. You had to lay the groundwork first. Once you got the groundwork laid, now you can give them the gospel, you see? And so some of these people, as they went and followed Paul, and said, okay, we'll continue to hear you. That's what they're going to continue to hear. But you've got to get them to first base first. All right. I'm making an apology for apologetics. You know, apology isn't apologizing as we use the word today. Apologetics, and when I use the word apology and apologetics, that means a defense of, all right? I remember reading John Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress, and in the front of the book, I think it was on it or one of his works, he wrote, quote, an apology. Well, the apology wasn't, I'm sorry for writing this for you. No, he was defending why he wrote it and, you know, the point behind it all. All right, 28, and my time's about up. So, 28, 26 rather, and he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth And we know that many of you have studied the flood and Noah and Noah's sons and then how some people have tried to figure out where the different sons populated the world. Have you ever seen that? Some of you? Okay, some of you have. But anyway, people do that. I don't know that there's a major point to it, but nevertheless, it's interesting. Anyway, that's what Paul's saying here. And you see, you'll have people who have to start thinking about this. These are thinkers, and they're thinking, hey, now wait a minute. He's saying God made everything. God made us from one man. Now, today we know that to be a fact, don't we? We know what genetics are. We know that that is a fact, that human beings have a unique genetic code. No other mammals have it. No other animals have it. This is something unique to human beings. I had a friend who ran Grumman Aerospace for 30 years. And I remember he would come to Pittsburgh. And when he'd come to Pittsburgh, they would have all the technical and scientific groups in Pittsburgh societies and so on. They would have a joint meeting so they could hear this guy. He was considered the world's leading expert on nickel alloys, had like 60 patents to his name, stuff like that. Every aircraft that flew off aircraft carriers, he personally approved them before they shipped. And so on. The guy was a tremendous intellect. And I remember at one of his talks, he brought a model of a DNA. And then he went through and explained it to all these people. Here's all these people. Probably 90% of them were some kind of agnostic slash atheist. They were all intellects. They were all leaders in industry and science and stuff like that. It didn't matter to him. He was like having the apostle Paul and intellect there, you see. And so now he's going to explain this, and he's going to explain that this in fact proves that there must be a creator. is what he eventually got to. This can't happen by accident. This is not mathematically possible. You know that, and I know it. So, don't kid anybody, and surely don't try to kid me about it. And so, that's the way the Apostle Paul is here now. These people now know they have a serious intellect on their hands. And He is going to take them to task and He's going to hold their feet to the fire until they cry, uncle. So, when we have our friends like R.C. Sproul going and getting a doctor's degree or one of his degrees in philosophy, we know that there's a reason for that. He's not doing it because He wants to tickle His intellect. He's doing it in service of the Most High God so that He can witness to people like that. And you know, if you know anything about R.C. Sproul, that's what he spent his life doing. I remember Dr. Gerstner used to tell all the college students in Pittsburgh, every time he'd have a conference and he'd come, he'd stay for 45 minutes afterward to talk to all the college kids, and he would be telling them, set up the debates, set up the debates, set up the debates, because I'll come and I will talk to them about the one true and living God, and they can talk to me about whatever they like. Because he knew, what? He knew the truth was on his side, and he had the intellect to bring people from zero to first base. Because you've got to get them to first base before you can talk to them about the gospel. All right, my time is up. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place. Now, who could argue with all that? You see, you couldn't argue with that. And then verse 27, that they should seek God. You see, God did this. and the evidence that God has controlled mankind and has mankind... Man doesn't live in the water, right? He doesn't live in the ocean. He lives on the face of the earth. He doesn't change what he is. We don't have instantaneous evolution around here. We all know that. Whatever these people may have thought, they couldn't argue with this. And so then in verse 27, that they should seek God in the hope that they might feel their way toward Him and find Him, yet He is actually not far from each one of them, from each one of us. And here is, here's their own words now, gonna come next, their own words are, Paul is going to now take them and use them. Now Paul, of course, is an Old Testament scholar, so he knows theology. But he also knows their philosophy, and so he is going to take one of the most important points in their teaching. You see, it's like I say to people, you know, even a broken clock is right twice a day. Even the philosophers, even the false philosophers are right every once in a while. So sometimes you need to find what were they right on and then take that and use it with them and persuade them. And so, Paul says, look, you know that your own poets say, for in Him we live and move and have our being. Who do we live and move and have our being in? He's not just a far-off God. He is a God who is near us. And that's what he says in the next thing, as even some of your own poets have said, for we are indeed his offspring. In other words, we don't belong to ourselves, we didn't make ourselves. It was God who made us, as Paul had previously said. So therefore, being the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the divine being like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man." No, no, no. And so Paul says, the times of ignorance, the times of this ignorance, this kind of ignorance, God overlooked. See? God was dealing a redemptive history with Israel. Yes, there were Gentiles here and there, saved and so on. Job, of course, had been saved and people like that, but all in all, God was, you know, sort of letting many of these false worshipers somewhat slide in some of that kind of stuff. He says, the times of this ignorance God overlooked, but now, with the coming of the Messiah, with the curtains of redemptive history now open wide. Now opened up, everybody can see it. Everybody can know these things. He said, with all these things, He commands all people everywhere to repent because He has fixed the day. He's the Creator. He's the Sovereign Lord. So He's the one who can fix the day. And He has fixed the day, no one unto Him alone. Because He has fixed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom He has appointed, meaning Christ Jesus, and of this lie has given assurance, and of this He has given assurance to all by raising Him, raising Christ from the dead. That had to not only be new to their hearing and their mind, that had to be for all of them, even for those who were intellectually aloof. It had to be troubling, at least. All right. So we'll stop at that point today. So I say all that, and actually you know I was speaking on God today. I want to speak on God today, and in the afternoon I have a paper that I prepared, and I'd like to go through that paper with you, and I ran off enough copies for everyone, I think. And we can go through that, and I spend the first half of it on God, that God is, and because we are, we know He is, because He is, we are. And then, the second part of it, I deal with monotheism, that God is one. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one. And then next week, Lord willing, I will deal with the doctrine of the Trinity. Let's pray. Our gracious and eternal God, we thank you for this time that we can consider your word. We do pray, our Father and our God, that you might be pleased to use these things that we have considered in our own lives to help us, Lord, because surely we need your help. Surely we are servants of you, the Most High God, but Lord, we are servants that severely walk with a limp, and Lord, not only Does our own shortcomings and sinfulness hinder us in so many ways? Not only the smallness of our minds and our intellects affect our service of you. Not only these things, Lord, but the reality that we live in a sin-cursed world. Lord and our God, we pray that you might help us in all these things to live our lives in such a way as to serve, honor, and please you, and take this glorious gospel, your power, the grace of the gospel to a dying and perishing world. And we pray these things and we thank you, our Father and our God, in Christ Jesus' name, amen.