Let me just say what a blessing it has been for Peggy and me to be here this weekend for many reasons. We had a short time with Gabe and Callie at Westminster. Gabe blitzed through so quickly that it was difficult for us to really get to know them well. He was in the north and wanted quickly to go south again. And as a person from Texas, I understand that, although the Lord has kept us there over 20 years now. So we minister in a foreign country called the Northeast in Philadelphia. I guess the one thing I've learned this weekend is that if ever a time comes again when a hurricane is heading to Philadelphia, I'm coming to Raleigh. Thank you for your gracious hosting of us and your gracious hospitality to us. This has been a real blessing. We're going to be looking this morning at Acts chapter 17, Acts 17, and we're going to begin reading at verse 16 to the end of the chapter. So Acts 17, 16 to the end. This now is God's inerrant word. Now while Paul was waiting for them in Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols. So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there. Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him, and some said, What does this babbler wish to say? Others said he seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities, because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection. And they took hold of him and brought him to the Areopagus, 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. Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new. So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said, Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription. to the unknown God. What therefore you worship as unknown, this 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, nor is he served by human hands as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. 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, 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 us, for in him we live and move and have our being, as even some of your own poets have said, for we indeed are his offspring." Being then God's offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead. Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, but others said, We will hear you again about this. So Paul went out from their midst, but some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them." The Word of God. A year or so ago, my wife and I went to a play in Philadelphia entitled The New Jerusalem. Now, I know as I describe this to you, you're going to think his poor wife, and perhaps you're right. But the New Jerusalem was a play about Benedict Spinoza's trial in Amsterdam, July 27, 1656. Who wouldn't want to see a play? But the interesting thing about this play, as I heard about it, is that it was sold out every night, so much so that they continued it. It was held over for a few weeks, and we went during one of those weeks, and then it just returned again this fall to sell-out crowds in Philadelphia. Spinoza was one of the rationalist philosophers in the seventeenth century. He was also Jewish. And he was meant to be the heir apparent of the rabbi, the rabbi in Amsterdam during that time. But problems came into his philosophy in that he was talking about God as being in everything, all sorts of strange ideas. And so he was summoned to the synagogue before some of the greatest minds of the 17th century, both in Jewish theology and philosophy and civic authorities. And he was put on trial. And the play was absolutely fascinating and riveting as they went through the trial of Benedict Spinoza, who eventually was excommunicated from the synagogue. Now it's that kind of circumstance or situation in which the Apostle Paul finds himself at the Areopagus, or what is sometimes called Mars Hill. Paul is on his second missionary journey. He had been to Berea. Things in Berea had not gone well, so Paul was whisked away and brought to Athens, and he's waiting there for Silas and Timothy. Now, what does Paul do while he's waiting for others to join him? He doesn't just simply sit back and read. He doesn't just relax. Paul goes to the synagogue and reasons. with the Jewish leaders there, and Luke tells us he goes into the marketplace. And as he is in the marketplace, in the agora, in the general common area where people meet, in Athens, still one of the greatest intellectual cities of Paul's time, though it was in decline. As Paul is there, there of course are the philosophers. Epicurean and Stoics are mentioned here. And they're listening to the apostle Paul, Paul is talking about this strange divinity, they say, because he's preaching Jesus and the resurrection. So the way Luke puts it to us here, they grab Paul, they take hold of him. There's no indication here that Paul simply volunteers for this, but the philosophers grab him and bring him to this place of judgment in which a council sat to judge people's views. at Mars Hill, at the Areopagus. And they take Paul there and they say, you need to tell us what you're talking about. As one of the philosophers put it, what does this babbler wish to say to us? Now, that word is, it's impossible to translate The Greek word accurately, if you translated it accurately, it would be seed picker. Now, seed picker sounds, you know, maybe some southern phrase or something. What does it mean, seed picker? What it meant in this context is that they thought Paul was a man who was just picking things here, picking things there and trying to make sense of a jumbled mess. And he just sort of brought it together and it was incoherent. So that's why it's translated as a babbler. They thought Paul was just babbling about things. There was no coherence to what he said. But as Luke tells us, that plays well in Athens because Athenians like to sit around and hear new things, even if it made no sense. Much like our modern culture, right? What's the newest thing out? I want to hear it. What does it mean? I don't know, but I want to hear it. See, that's what's happening in Athens. And so the philosophers take Paul to the Areopagus, and they say, we're going to judge whether your views or coherent, whether what you're saying has any meaning at all. So Paul comes to the Areopagus, and it's the idolatry of Athens that motivates Paul. He sees idols all around, and he decides that he will take his cue from one of the idols that he sees in Athens to an unknown god. And Paul says, I notice in your city you have this idol to an unknown god. What you worship in ignorance, he says, I'm going to proclaim to you. Now that would have gotten the philosopher's attention. The philosophers thought they knew more than anybody knew, and if the philosophers decided this god is unknown, how can this babbler come along and say, I'm going to proclaim to you something that's unknown? What Paul is doing at Athens is what we call apologetics. That's what I teach at Westminster Seminary. Apologetics is not something unique to Christianity. You know probably of Plato's Apology. where he describes the trial of Socrates and Socrates attempts to defend himself. And as most of you know, that didn't go very well for Socrates. But apologies simply means defense. It's a Greek word that means defense. And when we think about it in terms of Christianity, we're talking about a defense of the Christian faith against attacks, but also commending the Christian faith in the context of those attacks. Now, historically, in apologetics, in our discipline, the emphasis has been on proofs for the existence of God. And the supposition behind that, the idea behind proofs for the existence of God, is that we have to gather evidences and mount those evidences up to such an extent that someone will have to conclude that God exists. And I think that's an unfortunate way to think about it. We'll notice in a minute that's not the way Paul addresses the crowded Athens. Because the problem, as I was saying in the conference on Friday, the problem is not that there is a paucity of evidence out there for the existence of God. That's not the problem in our world today. It's never been the problem from the beginning of the world, because everything in the world proves God, because he made it, he sustains it, he controls it, he reveals himself through it. So there are as many evidences for the existence of God as there are facts in the universe. We don't need to pile up evidence on evidence in order to come up with some sort of syllogistic proof. Therefore, God exists. And Paul knew that. So the emphasis in a defense of Christianity, rather than being on proof, ought to be on persuasion. Now, what do we mean by persuasion? Well, first of all, you know this, but I need to say it. Theologically, the Holy Spirit is the persuader. He and he alone can bring people from darkness into light. But he does that by way of the truth of God, doesn't he? That's what God uses. That's what God the Spirit uses to draw people to himself. And so the truth that we communicate As best we're able, and I'm going to show you how Paul does this, ought to be truth that is persuasive, that makes a connection with what people already know, the people to whom we speak. We want to connect with what they know or think they know in order to draw them in to our particular context. And then by the grace of God, in the sovereignty of God, some will come to know the Lord Jesus Christ. So persuasion is a sort of wooing of the people to whom we speak. All right, so there's a difference. Here's something I think is important to recognize. There's a difference between simply telling the truth and persuading truthfully. I heard one man talk about the difference in terms of what he called the burp effect. He said oftentimes we're just content to tell the truth and it's like a burp effect. We burp the truth on somebody, they're offended and we feel much better. So we did and Paul could have done that in Athens. He could have gone to the Areopagus and said, you're all a bunch of idolaters. If you don't stop, you're going to hell. Now, I got to run. I'm waiting on Silas and Timothy. Thank you very much. He could have done that because that's true. But instead, Paul wants to move in the context of persuasion in his defense of the Christian faith. So three things that Paul focuses on here that I want us to look at. He focuses on the truth that they know, the truth that they twist, and the truth himself. Those three things in Paul's address to these philosophers. Now, notice the first thing that Paul says when he addresses the philosophers here, the Athenians, First thing that he does, I'm going to make this God known to you, verse 24, the God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. What do you think they were thinking at this point? I mean, what Paul does is he introduces some of the most difficult attributes and aspects of God's character right out of the gate. He's speaking to them about God's independence, what we call God's aseity, that God is in need of nothing. Now, what do you think these Greeks would think about that? Because for them, their kind of theism, their polytheism was a give and take. I give something to the gods, and then they're supposed to give something back to me. And this is the way the world turns, they thought. And Paul is saying, no, it's not like that at all. God doesn't dwell in temples made with hands. God doesn't need anything. He doesn't need you. He doesn't need me. God is fundamentally independent. You are fundamentally dependent because God gives to all men life and breath and everything. And guess what, Athenians? That includes you. As you sit here at the Areopagus, your heart beats today because God sustains you. That's what Paul is saying. Isn't that amazing? Is that what you would do with the philosophers? Should be. That's what Paul does. I remember hearing years ago a man speaking to a group of non-Christians. most of whom were non-Christians, and he was giving a gospel presentation, evangelistic presentation. And at the end of it, he said, I'm going to play a song and I want you to think of this song. He's telling this group of non-Christians. I want you to think of this song as you singing to God. You're singing the song to God. Guess what the title of the song was. You needed me. You needed me. So his appeal. For these unbelievers to come to God is that God needs them. It's kind of lonely. Meet some people around him, get some hugs. I don't know what it was, but I want to say to you gently that is as opposed to the gospel of God as anything you can imagine. And that's why Paul begins where he does you philosophers. As smart as you think you are, you need to understand. You're not going to contain God in your puny little temples. Can you say that in Athens? Those are the most magnificent temples ever built. And Paul says, you think God lives there? You think you can constrain him within those walls? Do you think he needs you? God doesn't need anything. As a matter of fact, he gives everything, life and breath and everything to every person at every moment. Now, why does Paul begin there? Well, if you were there on Friday night, you know why he begins there. He begins there because of Romans 1, 18 and following. I think Paul knew something about Romans 1, 18 and following. I'm certain he wrote it under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. And what Paul says in Romans 1.18 is every person knows the true God, but in sin suppresses that knowledge. Every person knows the true God and Paul knows that the idolatry in Athens is not an idolatry of ignorance, as if people were sort of groping and seeking and wishing and yearning in darkness. But the idolatry in Athens is culpable ignorance. It is a suppression of the truth that God gives. And so they build idols that they can worship and serve instead of the true God. Paul knows that. And so when he comes to the Areopagus, Paul was brilliant. When he comes to the Areopagus, he thinks to himself, the first thing these philosophers need to hear is that they are weak, finite, limited, sinful creatures of Almighty God. Now, how do we start our conversations with people? God really loves you and has such a great plan for you. We don't know that when we speak to people. We don't know God's plan. for people, and we don't know the extent of God's care for those people. I'm not suggesting that's always in every case. You never say anything. That's not the point. But the point is that Paul begins with the majesty and transcendence and the deity of Almighty God. And he wants these listeners to understand you are utterly dependent on him. Whether you like it or not. You may be like a little girl who sits on her father's lap and slaps him in the face so that you reject this God, but you can't even slap unless he's supporting you. He gives you life. He gives you breath. He gives you the brains you have. He gives you everything. That's where Paul begins. He begins with what they already know. See, that's persuasion. He's appealing. I mentioned this on Friday night. He's appealing to what Calvin called the sense of divinity, the sense of deity within every person. And when Paul proclaims God in this way, he reaches right into their soul and he connects with what God has already done in revealing himself in creation. Do you see that connection? Instead of just saying you're idolaters, you're going to hell. All right, true enough, Paul's going to get there. But the first thing he says is, you know who God is and you know who you are and you know you're dependent on him. So that's persuasion. That's persuasion. So he begins then with the truth known. Now, he moves from that to the truth twisted. Notice what he does. He's talking, I wish I wish we had more time because Paul is addressing so many of the philosophical issues that were prevalent during this time, especially among the Epicureans and Stoics. We don't have time to get into that, but he does. He does talk to them about about descending from one man. And he talks to them about the boundaries that God says, God is sovereign, you are where you are because God has put you there. But then he says at the end of verse 27, yet he is actually not far from each one of us for. In Him, we live and move and have our being. As even some of your own poets have said, for we are indeed His offspring. Now, most of your Bibles will have footnotes there, have a reference there in those two phrases, those two passages, because of what Paul is doing there. He's quoting two great poets. Probably the first one's not as a certain, but probably at amenities, the first, and it seems certain erratus, the second. Now, there are all kinds of views out there among commentators as to why Paul does this. And some want to say, well, you see what Paul is saying is that these Greeks had it right. See, they had already said in him you live and move and have your being. They already said we are his offspring. The Greeks got that much right, see? And so Paul's just going to add a little bit to the truth that they've already understood. That's how some commentators want to read it. But now here's the problem. Here's the trick question I like to ask students at the seminary. Is it true, verse 28, is it true that in him we live and move and have our being? Is that true? See, when I say it's a trick question, you rightly don't want to answer because, you know, there's more to it than that. And you probably picked up what the more to it is, right? There's more to it. In him, we live and move and have our being. Is that true? Well, the right answer is that depends, doesn't it? Because when Epimenides writes in him, we live and move and have our being. To whom does he refer, do you think? In Greek culture, he refers to Zeus. So now, when Epimenides writes, in him we live and move and have our being, is that true? Of course not. There is no Zeus. Zeus is a created, imaginary thing that some of these Greeks wanted to worship. Same is the case for Paul's second quotation, for we are indeed his offspring. Aretas, referring to Zeus, not true. What is Paul done? Paul takes the content of who God is, which he has already proclaimed. And made clear to the Athenians, he takes that content and then he says what your poets have said is true with reference to the God I proclaim. You see, he changed the reference point. It used to be Zeus. Now it's the living God, because Paul has provided the content of who this God is. You see how persuasive that is? That's the point to see here in Paul's defense of Christianity. He knows Greek culture. He knows what they've said. And he knows the reason Epimenides would say that and Eratos would say that is because they're suppressing the truth and unrighteousness. So they say things that look like they could be true. But the only way they can be true is if they reference the true God. And so Paul says they need to know that first, who God is, and then understand that in their own culture, those quotations are only coherent and can only make sense if they refer to the living God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. That's what Paul's saying. He is radically changing their entire worldview. And He's telling them, God sits on His throne. You depend on Him. The world runs because He controls everything in it at every second. He is sovereign. And He is in effect saying to them, you have no idea. What kind of world you're in? Until you submit your minds and hearts to this God. I went to a college group a number of years ago and was asked to speak on Romans one. So we went through it, and as far as I knew, it was a mostly Christian audience. So we talked through Romans one and some of the issues there and questions and answers. After it was over, went to the back of the room, got a cup of coffee. Man immediately came up to me, shook my hand. He said, thank you for your message. I'm an atheist. Which if I'd known he was there, I might have changed something of what I said, but I didn't know, so I didn't change it. He said, I'm an atheist and I teach physics here at the university. And he said, I guess what struck me is that what I've been teaching in the university, I have no foundation for at all. I've been teaching laws, I've been teaching the regularity of the world, and I have no foundation for that as an atheist. Now, I didn't address the man in the talk on Romans 1, but guess what? God the Holy Spirit did, right in his heart, because I was talking about people who know God and suppress the truth and that there's no way to make sense of the world unless you understand that God who is sovereign over it. And he got it. Not because of what I said, but because of what the Spirit did. And see, that's what Paul's doing at the Areopagus. So the truth twisted is that there are things that can be said that might look to be true or might have elements that can be used in the context of Christian truth. And persuasively, then, we can take those things and subvert the original meaning and help people understand the Christian meaning of those things. That's what Paul's doing. He's a master at it. It's a brilliant stroke. You know that the philosophers at this point are agitated. So what does Paul do? Verse 30. The times of ignorance God overlooked. But now he commands all people everywhere to repent. OK, if you think Paul is going to stay on the surface here and let these people sort of philosophically contemplate the nature of a deity, he's not doing that. He says, here's the response. You want to know how to respond to what I'm saying? God is commanding you, the same God who gives you life and breath and everything. The God on whom you depend, this God who has put you where you are today, he is commanding you to repent. And see, that means change direction. You philosophers, you're going down one particular road. God is saying, turn around. You've got to change direction. It's time to repent. It's time to change. Why repent? Because he has fixed a day. All right. There's so much going on there philosophically. Many of the Greeks thought history had a circular kind of orientation to it, so it's always moving along in a circular way. Paul says it's got an end. It's got a last day. He has fixed the day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed. And of this, he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead. Paul's not content simply to leave it with the character of God. because he presses them with their own proper response to understanding that character. And remember what got Paul to the Areopagus in the first place. This babbler was talking about Jesus in the resurrection. And they were saying, this guy, he's brainless. He's a seed picker running around with this stupid kind of philosophy that nobody can understand. Now, if somebody says that to you, are you going to be a little intimidated? If a philosopher says that to you, hey, you're an idiot. I know arguments. I do arguments. I have a PhD. Arguments are my thing. You're not making an argument. You don't have a clue what you're talking about. This is in the resurrection. This is stupidity. Now, would you be intimidated? You might be. Paul wasn't. The very thing for which he was mocked in the marketplace is what he ends with in his address and his defense. Paul's saying, you may not like it, but folks, you need to know, this strange divinity that I'm speaking about, this is God's Son and God has fixed a day when He will come back and you will have to give an account of your life before Him. And God has proven that. He has shown that by raising Him from the dead. See, when you're defending the Christian faith, this is such an important point. When you're defending the Christian faith, you must defend the Christian faith. You are not simply defending some kind of generic theism. The people that Paul addresses, they're theists already. They've got so many theisms running around. It's an abundance of theism everywhere. Everywhere you turn, there are gods all over the place. So I was saying to the conference yesterday, all theists go to hell unless they're Christian theists. Theism is just another form of idolatry unless it's Christian theism. And Paul understands that. And so he's not stopping with the generic God. He doesn't start there either. But he tells them who this God is. And he says this God has sent his son. He has raised him from the dead. Because he's alive, he's coming back, and you will have to face him and give an account of the one who has given you even the breath that you breathe this very moment. Isn't that amazing? He ends with Christ, where every defense of Christianity has to end. With the Lord Jesus Christ and our accountability to him. Now, one more thing, and then I'll be finished. Notice Luke tells us the reaction or reactions that Paul had from his speech on Mars Hill. Now, when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. But others said, we'll hear you again about this. And Paul went out from their midst and some joined them and believed Dionysius, Damaris and others. All right. Three reactions to Paul. Some are saying, see, I told you, same kind of junk he was saying in the marketplace, he's saying on the Areopagus, I vote no, guy's still an idiot. And others are saying, wait a minute, this makes some sense. It seems to me like there's more that we ought to hear. And then some believe and go with Paul. And now here's the point I think Luke is making here by giving us this. The goal of a defense of Christianity is not to win the argument. It's not an intellectual exercise so that we can show someone we're smarter than they are. That's not what Paul's doing here. The goal is the proclamation of the truth of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ in apologetics. And it might very well be, when we defend Christianity, that some will still mock. And they'll say, huh, that's ridiculous. But remember, the Holy Spirit is the ultimate persuader. He is the only one who can break hearts of stone and turn them to hearts of flesh. Paul's not concerned in the end about those kinds of responses. He prayed, I'm sure, for conversions, but conversions are in the Lord's hand. Paul's responsibility was to proclaim the truth. Now, that's an important point, because I've read commentators on First Corinthians. People commenting on Paul's trip from Athens to Corinth. And Paul says in First Corinthians, I've determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And some commentators say this. They say Paul was so deflated after his address at the Areopagus. He was so depressed and upset. Because they were mocking him that he went to Corinth and said, you know what? I'm just sticking with Jesus and him crucified. Does that sound like the Apostle Paul to you? Absolutely not. Paul says, I determined to know among you, you baby, immature Corinthians. Nothing but Jesus and him crucified because you're not ready for strong meat. It's the among you that's crucial there. Paul was not deflated in his defense of Christianity because he knew he had proclaimed the truth of God in the midst of the Areopagus. And he knew that it was God and God alone who would plant the seed and do what he wants to do with it because God alone is sovereign. Paul knew that. A defense of Christianity must, must include the Lord Jesus Christ. As God gives opportunity, we have no interest in talking simply about theism. But even in the midst of the philosophers, it is our privilege as Christians to say, God has commanded that you repent.