We thank you again for your gracious hospitality to Peggy and me. It's been a real joy to be with you these past couple of days. We thank you for your ministry, and it's very encouraging to see this ministry on Cape Cod. We're going to be looking this morning at Acts chapter 17. I'll be reading beginning in verse 16. The Apostle Paul is on his second missionary journey. He was in Thessalonica and receiving great benefit from the people who were listening there. And the Jews, of course, became jealous and upset, so there was trouble in Thessalonica. So Paul moved on to Berea. Bereans, as you know, were more noble-minded. They were searching the Scripture to see if what Paul said was true. But the Jews didn't like that either, so they came over from Thessalonica to cause trouble in Berea. And so some of the brothers took the apostle to Athens, and he was waiting there for Silas and Timothy, and that's where we pick up our text in Acts 17, 16 to the end of the chapter. This is the Word of God. 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 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 are indeed 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 few years ago Peggy and I were informed about a play that was held over in Philadelphia for three weeks because it had sold out every night it was performed. It was a play called The New Jerusalem. Any of you ever heard of The New Jerusalem? It was an amazing play and it was amazing that it was sold out every night and sold out again in the three weeks that it was held over because it was a play about Baruch Spinoza. the 17th century rationalist philosopher, Jewish philosopher, who, while he was in Amsterdam, was summoned to the synagogue by the rabbis who were there and some of the secular authorities because they were afraid of the way he was poisoning the minds of those he was teaching. And the whole play was set in a kind of synagogue format So that those of us who are in the audience were meant to be, the way it was set up, members of this synagogue as the rabbi and other authorities questioned Spinoza. And the whole play was the questioning of Spinoza's rationalist philosophy. And you're thinking, that was held over for three weeks? It was, and it sold out. It was a dramatic play, fascinating in the way in which it was written. We don't know what was actually contained in Spinoza's trial, but the man who wrote it knew Spinoza's philosophy and was able to give the back and forth in a way that Spinoza probably would have answered. He was accused and condemned and excommunicated after that trial. What we have here in Athens is something a bit similar to what happened to Spinoza. Paul is at Athens. It's lost its glitter. It's no longer the intellectual center that it was, but it's still significant in terms of the philosophies that are there. And as Luke tells us, those who were there would spend their time in nothing but telling or hearing something new. People wanted new news each day. So Paul, as was his custom in Thessalonica and in Berea, he went to the synagogue as he always would do, but Luke tells us he also now goes into the marketplace in Athens because his spirit is so provoked by the idolatry there, so obvious to him. Paul could have rested and waited for Silas and Timothy, but his spirit would not allow him to do it. So he goes into the marketplace and begins to talk about Christ to anyone who was there. And Paul knew who would be there. He was not surprised by that. The Epicureans show up. The Stoics show up. And there's Paul preaching the resurrection. And some in the marketplace say, what does this babbler wish to say? It's not a compliment, is it? The actual Greek term, if it were translated literally, which it would be confusing if it was, the actual Greek term is seed picker. Doesn't communicate much, does it? But the idea was someone who would just go around picking up a seed here and a seed there and then throwing them out into the public in a chaotic way, whose teaching had no meaning and no coherence, just a bit here and a bit there, just throwing out seeds randomly. That's what They mean by babbler, that's what it would be, incoherent speech. What does this babbler wish to say? And others said he seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities. Who are these gods that Paul is speaking about because he was preaching Jesus? Obviously, Jesus is God. Jesus and the resurrection. And then notice Luke tells us in verse 19, Paul doesn't receive an invitation from those in the marketplace to RSVP. Would you like to come to Mars Hill? No, Luke tells us they took hold of him, in some way seized him, maybe not violently, but it doesn't seem that Paul has an option here. They took hold of him and they bring him to the Areopagus, to Mars Hill. And we don't know exactly what the setup was at this point, first century AD at the Areopagus, but the standard way that business was conducted at the Areopagus is that there was a council who was set up and the council was meant to judge the oration of the person who was there speaking. Was it coherent? Was it interesting? Was it worth listening to? Was it maybe even true? The council was set up as a judge, and there are indications that Paul is there being scrutinized by this council at the Areopagus. They want to know what Paul is teaching, and they're going to judge whether or not it's true. So what we have at the Areopagus is Paul's defense of Christianity. We have an example, one example, of an apologetic. a defense of the Christian faith among some of the minds, perhaps even the great minds, that were in the audience in Athens. So you notice how Paul begins, men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. Now think about that for a minute. Someone says to you, it seems like you're very religious. Or someone says, Seems like you're very religious. The term is a bit ambiguous, isn't it? And that's why Paul used it. It's ambiguous in the Greek as well. He's getting their attention. Is this a good thing? Is he saying very religious or is he saying very religious? What's he saying? So their ears are perking up. I perceive that you're very religious. I've seen your idols. I've seen what you worship. And I saw an idol to an unknown God. And Paul says, let me tell you about him. And now he's really got their attention. Because if the philosophers say, here's a God and this God is unknown, then the God is unknown. And here comes this babbler and he says, let me tell you about this God that you say is unknown. And so you know they're listening. I want us to think about Paul's address here in terms of the truth known, the way he presents and the truth twisted, and then the truth Himself." The truth known, the truth twisted, and the truth Himself. So notice what Paul does. I proclaim this 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. How's that for a start? Now, Paul doesn't say, God loves you, and has a wonderful plan. Paul begins with some of the most difficult aspects of God's character right from the start in order to instruct the Athenians and the philosophers who were there as to their idolatry and the gods that they worshipped, which had none of these characteristics. Paul begins with the aseity of God. We've talked about that this weekend. That God is utterly and completely independent and not dependent. The relationship of God to man is not a quid pro quo. It's not you do something for God, He does something for you. It's a back and forth, back and forth. Christians sometimes think that way, don't we? Remember the elder brother, prodigal son. He wasn't too excited that the father had killed the fattened calf for him, throwing a party. So he turns to the Father, he says, haven't I slaved for you all these years? You've forgotten what I've done for you, Father. I deserve the party. I'm faithful. You ever thought that way? Yes, you have. We all have, haven't we? We all have. God, look what I've done for you. I'm so faithful. I read my Bible every day. Why this? Don't you owe me, Lord? See, what Paul's addressing is that's a pagan way to think. We have to remember that. God is no man's debtor. God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in these magnificent temples that you have made. Nor is He served by you or by me as though He needed anything. Because he, philosophers, listen to this, Athenians, he gives to everyone life and breath and everything. Think of it. The philosophers would have known immediately what Paul was saying. Do you mean to tell me that I'm here today listening to this babbler? Because His God has given me life and me breath and me everything that I have? Is that true? Could that be true? They know it's true. They know it's true because they know God. And Paul says, you are utterly dependent on this God for everything that you are and for the beating of your heart at this very moment. He's given you life. He's given you breath. He's given you everything. God's aseity. He doesn't stop there. He moves from God's aseity to God's sovereignty. And He made from one man. From one man. You got that, don't you? Adam existed in history. Are we clear on that? We need to be. It's under attack. 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. So not only does He give all of you life and breath and all things, the very fact that you're here today in Athens listening, you philosophers, is because God sovereignly determined it and controlled it. You are utterly dependent on Him. Philosophers, you understand? God is sovereign. There are no accidents in His world. Nothing happens by chance. That's what Paul is saying to these philosophers. I read a book about four or five years ago. Pulitzer Prize winner. I used to be able, because I had the time or scheduled it better, I used to be able to read the Pulitzers every year. I was just kind of interested in what was picked each year and I got out of the habit. But I tried to get back into it at least intermittently. And so four or five years ago I read the Pulitzer Prize winning book in non-fiction which was called The Swerve. Any of you read The Swerve? I can't believe it got the Pulitzer. It's like the New Jerusalem play. How do people... It was so technical in so many ways, but absolutely fascinating. It's a story of a 14th century monk who happened to find the lost document of Lucretius entitled, On the Nature of Things. Now you're interested, right? 14th century monk? Who's Lucretius? Lucretius was an Epicurean. And the reason the author who wrote this book brilliantly, the reason he entitled it The Swerve is because in Epicurean philosophy, if something happened that was out of the ordinary, you know, things that happen that don't look like they obey the laws of the world, what the Epicureans would say is, well, there's been the swerve of an atom. And Adam swerves, and that's why things go awry or work differently on occasion. It's just because of a swerve. It's just a chaotic swerve. And the title, of course, The Swerve, was meant to show this accidental discovery by this 14th century monk of Lucretius' work on the nature of things. And Paul says to these Epicureans who think the world runs by this atom-like structure which might deviate at times. Paul says God is in charge of it all. There's no deviation here. It's all orchestrated by Him at every single point. God is sovereign. You're here in Athens. You're here on Mars Hill at the Areopagus because God has sovereignly orchestrated it. The philosophers knew what he was saying. Now what in the world is Paul doing here? I'm not saying here that this is the way you always begin your discussion with every single person. That's not the point. But the reason we have it here is to show us how you might begin, in a context of people who believe in some God, how you might begin to tell them about who this God is. And Paul begins with these characteristics of God, His aseity and His sovereignty, because I'm convinced, I can't prove this, but I'm convinced that Paul had read Romans 1. I don't know. Paul wrote Romans 1. Paul knew, because God had revealed to him, that the people to whom he was speaking knew the true God. And they were suppressing that knowledge in unrighteousness, and the evidence of that suppression was all around him in Athens. Idolatry is suppression of the truth. It is not a seeking after, as if you begin in ignorance. No one begins in ignorance. It's culpable. God will hold us accountable, will hold them accountable, for it, and Paul knew that their idolatry was a suppression of what they knew to be the case, because Paul says in Romans 1 that it is God's invisible attributes that is His eternal power and His deity, His divinity, His divine nature, the Greek word is theōtēs, His godness is revealed in all of creation. They knew God was independent. They knew God was And instead they suppress it and make gods in their own image, and it's a back and forth quid pro quo, I give and you give, and we have this nice little arrangement between us. And God is nothing more than somebody on our level. Does that sound familiar? The man upstairs? Don't you dare. God is God and there is no other, and these people knew that. And Paul knew they knew that. And so he is reaching into that knowledge that God has given to them through all of creation. And he's saying, in effect, you know I'm right. You know what kind of God it is that you're suppressing in your minds, you philosophers and you Athenians. You know this is what He's like. Isn't that a wonderful apologetic? Paul knows that God has already been there. in the hearts of every one of those people before Paul ever arrives. And God has been revealing Himself. And when God reveals, it gets through. And it got through. And Paul reached in and says, here it is. Let me make this obvious to you. You pretend He's unknown. He's known to you. The truth known. Paul moves from that to the truth twisted. He says, 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. Your Bibles will show this, I think, but Paul here is quoting two Greek poets. Likely, the first one Epimenides, the second one, more probable, Aretas. But what's Paul doing here? Here's the question. When Paul says, I ask this question in class and students know me well enough to pick up that it's a bit of a trick question. When Paul says, in him we live and move and have our being, is that true? Good for you, so you're doing this. When Epimenides says, in him we live and move and have our being, is that true? When he writes that, in him we live and move and have our being, is that true? Is that what Paul's saying? Is Paul saying Epimenides got it right? Good for him. You know that. You know Epimenides. He got it right. Is that what Paul's saying? No. No, no, no, no, no. Because when Epimenides says, in him we live and move and have our being, he's pointing to Zeus. The him is Zeus. So also with Eretus, when he says, for we are indeed his offspring, it's the offspring of Zeus. It's more suppression of the truth in unrighteousness. But you see, what Paul has done, and this is his point of persuasion, now he's reached into something they already know, familiar to them, popular in their own minds, and he's reinterpreted the whole thing by the reference changing. It's not Zeus. It's the God that I have just proclaimed to you who doesn't need anything, who controls everything, in whom you have life and breath and all things. If that is the referent, the statement is true. In Him, in this God I have just proclaimed, we live and move and have our being. In Him, in that God, not Zeus, that God. We are that God's offspring, not Zeus' offspring. You see? The statement, in order to be true, has to have the true referent. It has to refer to the true God, and Paul has made sure that it does. But the persuasive point is he takes what they know, and he reinterprets it according to its proper Christian principle, something they're already familiar with. It's a beautiful way to understand apologetics. Take something they've already said, and give it its proper interpretation. Because that way you bring them into the discussion. We know the Holy Spirit is the true persuader. So persuasion doesn't mean that you and I persuade. But it means in wisdom, we take what is there and show it to be what it actually is. I was involved a few years ago with a discussion on a college campus with another philosopher. And we were meant to be talking about the problem of evil. It wasn't technically a debate because we were both asked to present our views. And then we were going to open it up to questions and interact with one another in that way. And this philosopher, just a fascinating fellow, When he began to present his view, he was presenting a view that he had just recently written about and published. And it was a view that was kind of eclectic. He had taken various philosophies, shown how they were wrong, but also shown how they sort of coincided with each other, what the overlap was. And he said, the thing that I've discovered, he said, is very animated. He was on the board. He had all kinds of And he said, the thing that I've discovered, this was fascinating, the thing that I've discovered, all these philosophies, they really, they meet at the top. They transcend each other at the top. And he said, you know what the top is? It's the logos. L-O-G-O-S. I hadn't heard this. I hadn't read his book. So I was listening, sort of interested. So, he gave his view and the questions came. I was invited there by a Christian organization. It became fairly apparent quickly that the audience wasn't particularly Christian or happy with what I was saying. And by the time it was over, at the very end, the moderator said, we only have time for one more question. And there was a student back there, you know. He was sitting right up here. Here's the stage, right up there, sitting on the end. And he stood up in a sort of animated tone with his finger pointing at both of us. He said, I want to know this. Why should I believe either one of you? And then he sat down. And the philosopher sitting next to me, he goes, you first. By God's grace, I had the question before, so I sort of knew how I wanted to approach it at that point. So I came up to the microphone and I said, I appreciate your question. And I said, let me just give you a straight answer. You shouldn't believe me. But I said, since you've challenged me, let me challenge you. I want you to go back to your dorm. I want you to find a Bible somewhere. Go back to your dorm. And I want you to open up to the Gospel of John. And I said, when you open up to the Gospel of John, you want the logos that this philosopher is talking about? That's not the logos. That's a figment of his imagination. The only logos is the logos you will read about in the Gospel of John. And I said, let me just warn you. If you do what I'm asking you to do, and you open that up, and you begin to read, you are duty-bound under God to believe it. And you'll be accountable if you don't. So if he's going to point his finger, I thought I'd point my finger. You are meant to believe that's the Logos. And you see, what I was trying to do, point of persuasion was, he was going to talk Logos, this philosopher, which opened the door to say, let's talk about the Logos. In the beginning was the Logos. And the Logos was with God. And the Logos was God. And everything was created by Him. Apart from Him, nothing was made that has been made. That's the Logos who came down and became flesh and dwelt among us. I don't know what the man did, but that was the challenge. So what I was wanting to say was a couple of things. I'm not here as my own authority. You believe that because that's what God says. You read that and you believe it. And then the philosopher got up. And he said, and I was listening very carefully, he began this way. He said, students, I've been teaching here more than 30 years. And he gave his resume. Those are the options available to any person in the world. You trust and believe God, or you trust and believe somebody else who thinks they are the authority, or you think they are the authority. And they're not. I don't care what their resume is. That's all he had to say. I've been teaching here a lot. I've got a lot of experience. I've got a PhD. Do you have PhDs? No, that's why you're here. You're students. I have a PhD. Trust me. Trust me. That's what he's saying. How many times do people do that in our culture? And we have to recognize, no, no. Trust God and what He has said. And in our apologetic, we're pointing people always, always and everywhere to the Word of God. The most offensive truth still, I think, of the Christian position is its exclusivity, that we say that Jesus Christ is the only way, no other. And when people ask you about that, you say to them, yes, I do believe that. How can you believe that? Because Jesus said so. If you don't like it, your problem's not with me. Take it up with Jesus. He was very clear. No one comes to the Father but by me. I believe that. I didn't create it. I didn't make it up. I believe that. No one comes to the Father. So if you have a problem, your problem is with Jesus. We point people to the Word of God. We do that when the Lord allows persuasively. So Paul uses the truth twisted and brings it back into its proper context. But then notice what he does just finally here. Verse 30, the times of ignorance God overlooked. See Romans 3.25 for more on that. But now He commands all people everywhere to repent. Paul is not interested in an intellectual battle that he might win intellectually. Paul is interested in calling the Epicureans and the Stoics and the Athenians to repentance, and that's what he does. He says to them, this God has commanded all people, that includes you, everywhere, that includes here, to repent. You must repent before this God of this idolatry in Athens. and bow the knee to this true God. Because, verse 31, He has fixed a day on which He will judge the world. There is a day fixed. History is not circular or cyclical. There is a day, an end point, fixed, where He will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom He has appointed. And of this, listen to Paul here, and of this He has given assurance to all by raising Him from the dead. Paul moves from who God is to what God requires to who Jesus is. You see it in his apologetic. He moves to Jesus and the resurrection. What got Paul in trouble in the first place in the marketplace? He's a babbler. He's preaching a foreign divinity. He's talking about Jesus and the resurrection. This Jesus must be God. Now, wouldn't you be tempted if that agitated people and they grabbed hold of you and they say, we want to hear. Wouldn't you be tempted to sort of, okay, maybe not that. I shouldn't say that. They don't like that. Not Paul. He ends with that. By the way, he's saying, you were agitated when I was talking about Jesus and the resurrection? He'll be back. on a day which God has appointed because He's allotted the boundaries and He's sovereign. And on that day, He will be back as the Alive One who will judge you and judge me because God raised Him from the dead for that very purpose." They got the message. They got the message. Now, notice the reaction. I love it that Luke gave this to us. Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. Others said, we'll hear you again about this. How do you know when you're successful in your defense of Christianity? Is it measured by the response of those to whom you speak? I remember reading a commentary, I can't remember the author, it was a commentary on 1 Corinthians and the commentator was saying that the reason that Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2 that I determined to know nothing among you but Jesus and him crucified is because he was so depressed and downtrodden because of the response in Athens that he was just not going to talk about those things anymore. That just didn't go well. Baloney. Paul knew What a successful defense of Christianity entails, it entails telling the truth. If you have told the Word of God to these people who must hear it, then you've been successful. Was Jesus successful in His ministry? Absolutely. Flawless. And yet they hung Him on a cross. The response is not the measurement of success. So when Paul talks about the resurrection, he knew this was coming. Some mocked. Others said, let's get a cup of coffee. I have some questions. I want to hear you more about this. But notice, some joined him and believed. And Luke tells us, among whom were Dionysius the Areopagite. You know what that means? It probably means this. that Dionysius was one of the men sitting in judgment in that council on the Apostle Paul there listening at Athens and doing this. And then all of a sudden the Lord gets a hold of him and he starts to do this. And he's subdued. And he believes. And it had to be a difficult time for Dionysius. and he bows the knee to Christ. God will do in His sovereign wisdom what He will do with the Word and the truth when it is communicated at every point. He always does the right thing with His Word. It may be to some an aroma of death, and they may mock you, and they may be agitated, but it will be to some. a fragrance of life when your apologetic concludes with repentance because of what Christ has accomplished in his church and in you. Let's pray. We thank you, our God, for your wisdom in giving us this passage in your Word. It is so rich to us. We thank you for the faithfulness of your apostle Paul. We ask our God that you would make us a faithful people. Give us occasion when we might testify of your truth and use us, we pray, that others would know you and like Dionysius, who now lives with you, would live with you in Christ for eternity. or it's in His name that we pray, amen.