In the Word of God, please, to Acts chapter 17. The seventeenth chapter of the book of Acts, reading verses 22 through 31, Paul's address to the Athenian Supreme Court. Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars Hill and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are too superstitious. For as I passed by and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, To the unknown God, whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you. God that made the world and all things therein, Seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands, neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed anything. Seeing he giveth to all life and breath and all things, and hath made of one blood all nations of men, for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation. that they should seek the Lord, if happily they might feel after Him, and find Him, though He be not far from every one of us. For in Him we live and move and have our being. As certain also of your own poets have said, for we are also His offspring. For as much then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is likened to gold, or silver or stone, graven by art and man's device. And the times of this ignorance God winked at, but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent, because he hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained, whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead." In our exposition of Paul's address to the Areopagus, the Supreme Court of Athens, we have prefaced each segment of our study with a six-fold outline by way of introduction. I intend to repeat this through the conclusion of our study of Paul's address. because Paul's address has been greatly misunderstood and misconstrued throughout much of the history of Christianity. We are told that the Apostle Paul overreached himself on this occasion, that he sought to play the philosopher and the intellectual and he failed, that leaving Athens he arrived at Corinth declaring to the Corinthians that he would not play the orator or the philosopher and would know nothing among them save Jesus Christ and him crucified as though he had failed at Athens. This we do not believe, no, not for one moment. To have played the orator or played the philosopher at Corinth would have played into the prejudice and into the hands and minds of those at Corinth who were shallow thinkers. What Paul does before the Areopagus at Athens, he was well suited to do. He did so under the inspiration and leadership of the Holy Spirit of God. And this becomes for us the great hapox legomenon, something that occurs but one time. It is the very epitome of the gospel apologetic before the unbelieving world. So I give, and in form of repetition, our six-fold outline this morning. First, Paul's address before the Areopagus is the classical, biblical, apologetic encounter between biblical faith and human reason. As such, as Paul spoke under inspiration on this occasion, it should be well studied by every serious child of God. We find here the very elements God has given to us by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit whereby we ourselves are to speak boldly and defend the faith. Second, this address is obvious for its lack of the mention of the Lord Jesus Christ personally. It is obvious that the cross is not mentioned, nor is salvation or redemption mentioned. The reason for this is found in verse 18. This address before the Areopagus is the culmination of at least three weeks of daily gospel preaching when the gospel was preached in its fullness. His hearers on this occasion had no need of the repetition of salvation themes. It was simply left without debate, without discussion, to give Paul a statement, a monologue, without interruption, whereby he could put Jesus and the resurrection in their proper historical and theological context. Third, without question, Paul took here a presuppositional approach in his defense of the faith. He did not at all attempt to seek any alleged neutral ground between himself and his hearers. He did not compromise the faith by seeking to credential the truth from outside the context of Christianity itself. Indeed, in the fifteen major assertions Paul and his hearers do not agree, no, not on one of them. Fourth, although Paul never quoted Scripture, each statement that he makes is indeed the summarization of divine truth as found in the Word of God. It is the inspired example of biblical theology. Paul referred to the ignorance of the Athenians themselves, despite their intellectual ability and their philosophical studies, and also quotes to them their own poets, not only in the direct quotation that we have indeed in verse 28, but throughout his entire address. not to find some neutral ground or to credential his message, but in order to demonstrate without question that even though man is fallen, he still retains enough truth to be wholly responsible and culpable for the perversion of the nature and character of God and the truth of salvation. Sixth, Christianity, following the example of the Apostle Paul, must be presented as a world and life view. In the past, in the history of our own society and country, We have suffered the conflict of this doctrine or that doctrine being questioned or opposed. That is not the issue today. We stand very much on first century ground facing a secular society, a pagan society, as much as Paul in his day faced a pagan society. We do not speak or address ourselves today to a society with any Christian presuppositions or basis whatsoever, but a society that in totality has rejected Christianity as a system. And so Christianity once again, as Paul does here, must be presented as a coherent system deriving from the Word of God and giving the ultimate answers to all issues. That's extremely important or our ministry and our testimony will prove to be irrelevant. We have noted now verses 22 through 25. I want to re-read this and draw the picture graphically from the original language, and then we will go on to lay a scriptural foundation for the next section in our message this morning. Then Paul, having taken his stand in the midst of the court, literally, Paul put forth the hand and assumed the posture of an orator and said, Men, Athenians, in all things you are very religious, I perceive through thorough examination. For as I continued to pass through and constantly investigated and carefully beheld your places of worship I found an ancient altar with a faded inscription, the use of the pluperfect tense in the original language, to an unknown God. What, therefore, ye worship. What refers to the divine, to the deity, to the divine nature, not particularly to the true God. What therefore ye ignorantly worship, this again using the neuter, gender in the original language referring simply to the divine, man's sense of the divine, this declare I with absolute authority unto you. Paul comes from the point of reference or the context of the certainty of divine revelation. He is not dealing with probability, nor does he deal with probability as the evidentialist must, for he has a presuppositional approach from the certainty of divine revelation. God, the very One who made or created the ordered, dealing with probability, nor does He deal with probability as the evidentialist must, for He has a presuppositional approach from the certainty of divine revelation. God, the very One who made or created the ordered universe and all things therein, seeing that of heaven and earth he eternally subsists as sovereign Lord, not in temples having been made with hands does he dwell. Neither with men's hands is he served, the source of our English word therapeutic, as though he needed anything, seeing he giveth to all life and breath and all things. This brings us this morning to the third part of Paul's address, the relationship of God to the human race. Paul, in verses 26, 27, and 28, declares the divine creation and unity of the human race as opposed to the Greek claims of racial superiority And the Athenian claims of innate indigenous superiority. The Greeks looked upon themselves as the apex of mankind. They were above and beyond all others and called them barbarians. The Athenians themselves believed that they were indigenous. that they came down, as it were, from the gods as a special people, and they themselves were superior even to other Greeks. You can imagine how Paul's statement strikes their conscience, their mind, and smites their prejudice. He declares the absolute sovereignty of God over and the purpose for human history. The reason is that men might see God in history and therefore be led to seek Him. He portrays fallen man as blindly groping after God who in reality is imminent. That means that God fills all created reality and does so in His fullness. Look carefully now at verses 26, 27, and 28. We will spend our time this morning laying a scriptural foundation, the background, the truth of the Word of God from which Paul makes this definitive statement, "...and hath made of one blood all nations of men, for to dwell on all the face of the earth." and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation." For this purpose, this is a telech or purpose clause in the original language, in order that they should seek the Lord, if happily they might feel after Him and find Him, though He be not far from every one of us. For in him we live and move and have our being, as certain also of your own poets have said, for we are also his offspring." We deal this morning with the relationship of God to the human race, and we will deal with this in a threefold fashion as we have throughout our study of Paul's address to the Athenian Supreme Court. As you recall, the Athenian Supreme Court was comprised of 30 individuals, all the leading minds and philosophers of Athens, including the 12 major men of Athens, one of whom was converted on this occasion. They were all over 60 years of age. They were mature in their thinking. They were the greatest intellectuals of that generation. Paul, the converted Jewish rabbi. Paul, the fervent Christian. Paul, now in his mid-fifties, Paul, scarred, still bruised, still incapacitated to some degree by the sufferings at Philippi and by the evident sufferings at Berea and from a possible shipwreck on his way to Athens, stands before them for a few moments and in an address that can be read in less than five minutes, he gives to them the very epitome and essence and reality of the nature and character of God expressed in a Christian world and life view. He had been preparing for this his entire life, as he states in other places. He was indeed, we might say, born to this occasion. All of his education as a Jewish rabbi, his childhood and his later work in the University of Tarsus one of the three universities of the ancient world. All of this came to bear now in this short address, where he, filled with the Spirit of God, presents Christianity as a world and life view, a coherent system by divine revelation. We will look at it in three ways. The first this morning. First, a scriptural foundation, for as we have said, Everything that Paul states is but the culmination of biblical truth contained in the Word of God. It is further reiterated in the New Testament yet to be written, and further reiterated in Paul's own writings yet to be written. Thus, the Paul who speaks here is not the one who is overextending himself, speaking above his own ability, trying to play the philosopher, and learning a hard lesson of failure. Not at all. We have every reason to believe that Paul, several weeks after this address, resulted in the teaching and the establishment of a congregation or church at Athens. We do take indeed exception to many of the commentators and historians who are not that carefully studied in the Word of God. So this morning I want you to follow along as I read various passages of scripture and comment upon them, giving by way of example and sample those scriptures that were no doubt in Paul's mind as he made the statement contained in verses 26 through 28. Genesis 1 and verse 14, And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven, to divide the day from the night, and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years. God's created universe is an ordered universe. The Greeks called it the cosmos. Translated in verse 24 as world, but referring indeed to the created universe that is ordered and is a universe of law. This is so strongly impressed upon man's mind in Romans chapter 1 that Paul said, the truth is so great here that it must be suppressed. Katekanton is the present participle in Greek, kata, down, and ekon, holding, that men must habitually or continually suppress the truth of God. The witness of creation is so great as to render them, Paul says, anapolegutas, without an apology, without a defense, without, as our English Bible says, an excuse. Paul finds common ground in truth as he impresses upon them the reality of God, and it witnesses to the law written upon their inner being or heart. Genesis chapter 1 verses 26 through 28, And God said, Let us make man in our image. after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in His own image. In the image of God created He Him. Male and female created He them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it. and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. Man created in God's image and likeness, the image of God rendering man a morally responsible, rational, or intelligent being, the likeness of God a position of dominion over creation. Genesis chapter 2 and verse 7, And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul. Genesis chapter 8 and verse 22, While the earth remaineth seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease." Times and seasons witness to the reality of God's ordered universe. In Genesis chapter 9, we find what we call the Noahic Covenant, the covenant that God made with Noah after the flood. that He would never again destroy the earth with a flood, and He gave the rainbow as a covenant sign. The heavens indeed declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth His handiwork, not only in the sun, the moon, and the stars and the celestial bodies, but even the atmospheric heaven with the rainbow, demonstrating God's ordered universe held together by His fiat decree. Genesis chapter 11, the confusion of tongues at Babel, and the subsequent scattering of men over the face of the earth. God is sovereign over the dispersing and dispensing of mankind geographically. Genesis 15 verses 13 through 16, this is God conversing with Abraham, And in this conversation, in this declaration and revelation from God, the destiny of Egypt is sealed as is the destiny and promise to Israel. And God said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them. and they shall afflict them four hundred years. And also that nation whom they shall serve will I judge, and afterward shall they come out with great substance. And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace. Thou shalt be buried in a good old age. But in the fourth generation shall they come hither again, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full." God absolutely sovereign over the destiny and history of mankind. Deuteronomy chapter 4, verses 27 through 29, And the Lord, speaking God through Moses to Israel about their later apostasy and judgment, And the Lord shall scatter you among the nations, and ye shall be left few in number among the heathen, whither the Lord shall lead you. And there ye shall serve gods, the work of men's hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell. But if from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find Him, if thou shalt seek Him with all thine heart and with all thy soul." Deuteronomy chapter 32 and verse 8, when the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, When He separated the sons of Adam, He set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel. If you should take a map of the world and look at Israel geographically, you will see that it fits very closely to the geographical area and center of the world. Therefore, the gospel ultimately, under the New Covenant, to spread forth throughout mankind. Yes, human history is such that men should set their hearts to seek the Lord. God witnesses His hand in human affairs. Job chapter 12, verses 23-25, He increaseth the nations, and destroyeth them. He enlargeth the nations, and straighteneth them again. He taketh away the heart of the chief of the people of the earth, and causeth them to wander in a wilderness where there is no way. They grope in the dark without light, and He maketh them to stagger like a drunken man." Psalm 14, verses 2 and 3, the Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any that did understand and seek God. They were all gone aside. They are all together become filte. There is none that doeth good, no, not one. Psalm 74, 17, Thou hast set all the borders of the earth. Thou hast made summer and winter. Before I progress on to the prophets, I break in only with this comment. Why should we spend a Lord's Day morning largely given over, not altogether, but largely given over with laying a scriptural foundation for Paul's statement in each one of these sections simply because in your lifetime you won't do it? I'm doing it for you. I doubt if there's anyone here other than myself, because God has led me to preach upon this passage, who will take the time to go through the Bible from Genesis to Revelation and say, this is the concept of Paul's God derived from Scripture that he declares before the Athenian philosophers. And so I'm doing it for you. I don't want your time taking notes, but you should jot these references down. put you in Paul's place on a given occasion. This entire address from verses 22 through 31 is nothing more or less than a theology of the nature and character of God, the ontological trinity and the economic trinity. The ontological trinity from ontos, being, the Greek participle, ontological God within Himself, the economic trinity, God in relation to His created universe. That's what Paul is declaring to these people, and not at one point are they in agreement. And yet God changes men's hearts to conform to and to receive His truth. Isaiah chapter 40, verses 21 through 28. This should be thoroughly studied. I only read the opening statements. Have ye not known? Have ye not heard? Hath it not been told you from the beginning? Have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is He that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers, that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in, that bringeth the princes to nothing. He maketh the judges of the earth as vanity. Yea, they shall not be planted. Yea, they shall not be sown. Yea, their stocks shall not take root in the earth. He shall also blow upon them, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble." There's God in comparison to the greatness of the kingdoms of the ages. He's absolutely sovereign over human affairs. So even the unregenerate can see His hand in history, that they should seek Him. Isaiah chapter 44, verses 24 through 28, Thus saith the Lord thy Redeemer, and He that formed thee from the womb. I am the Lord that maketh all things, that stretcheth forth the heavens alone, that spreadeth abroad the earth by Myself, that frustrateth the tokens of the liars, and maketh diviners mad, that turneth wise men backward, and maketh their knowledge foolish, that confirmeth the word of His servants, and performeth the counsel of His messengers, that saith to Jerusalem, Jerusalem soon to go into captivity, Jerusalem laid in heaps and ruins, Jerusalem with a temple, everything gone, no basis for a promise of fulfillment. That saith to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be inhabited, and to the cities of Judah ye shall be built, and I will raise up the decayed places thereof, that saith to the deep, Be dry, and I will dry up thy rivers, and saith of Cyrus, who was not to live for another two and a half centuries. Cyrus, head of the Medo-Persian Empire, 250 years before he rose to power. His name occurs among the Hebrew prophets. As the restorer of God's people, God is absolutely sovereign over human history. "...that saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasures, saying, Even to Jerusalem thou shalt be built, and to the temple thy foundation shall be laid." Isaiah 45, the opening verses speak again of Cyrus. "...Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, God raises up a heathen king, a monarch, one of the great leaders of ancient history, and moves him to rebuild the temple and rebuild Jerusalem, giving a basis for the fulfillment of all messianic prophecy, which in turn will become the glory of the new, or gospel, covenant. One of the great turning points in history takes place when God moves upon the mind and personality of a pagan monarch. Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden to subdue nations before him, and I will loose the loins of kings to open before him the two-leaved gates, and the gates shall not be shut. I will go before thee and make the crooked places straight, I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut and sunder the bars of iron. And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the Lord which called thee by thy name, am the God of Israel. For Jacob my servant's sake, and Israel mine elect, I have called thee by thy name. I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me, saith the Lord. 250 years will pass, and this writing would sit silent in the Hebrew scrolls until it was looked upon by a pagan king who would come to know God and fulfill His will. And hath made of one blood all nations of men, for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times of their rise and their subsequent decline, that they might see God's hand and seek Him. This is Paul's theology. It is a digest of the Hebrew prophets, of the Old Testament Scriptures. You should not only read in chapter 45 of Isaiah, verses 1-7, but in the entire chapter, especially verses 12-14, verse 18 and verse 22. Isaiah now, chapter 46, verses 9-11. Remember the former things of old, for I am God, and there is none else. I am God, and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure, calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth My counsel from a far country. Yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass. I have purposed it, I will also do it. Isaiah chapter 55, verses 6 and 7. Jeremiah chapter 23, verses 23 and 24. Jeremiah chapter 29, verses 12 and 13. Daniel chapter 2, verses 20 through 22. Daniel chapter 2, verses 36 through 45. The great image built by Nebuchadnezzar, the image of a man that they were to fall down and worship. The image of a man that Nebuchadnezzar had seen in his dream and Daniel interprets the dream. These are the great kingdoms of the world beginning with you and going to the other kingdoms in the history of time. God showed him that and later interpreted the dream. that you may know that the Most High ruleth in the affairs of men, and over the kingdoms of the earth, and giveth to the basis of men, and settest over it whomsoever he will." The absolute sovereignty of God over human, military, political, geographical, and social history. Daniel chapter 5, verses 18 through 22. Belteshazzar. Drunk in the feast, calls for the vessels to be taken out of the temple of God that had been captured by Nebuchadnezzar, his grandfather, and he desecrated them in this drunken feast. In the middle of the feast, a hand appears on the wall of the palace dining hall and words are etched out, mene, mene, tekel yifarsin. Thou art weighed in the balances, and found wanting no one could interpret it. But Daniel is brought, and Daniel interprets it and said, Your father, Nebuchadnezzar, knew all of this. God took his heart. For seven years he ate grass like an ox, and then God restored him that he might know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and setteth up over it whomsoever he will. You've not done this. Though you understood this, you've rebelled against it. Therefore, tonight you will be slain and your kingdom will be given to the Medes and Persians. God did this to raise up Cyrus, that Cyrus might rebuild Jerusalem and the temple, that there might be a basis for the fulfillment of the messianic promise, giving to us the truth and glory of the gospel. Daniel chapter 7 through 12, prophecies of the end times. From Daniel's time to the time of the end in human history, one kingdom after another, its rise and its demise determined, predestined by the absolute sovereign decree and purpose of God. Malachi chapter 2 and verse 10, have we not all one Father? Hath not one God created us? Why do we deal treacherously, every man against his brother, by profaning the covenant of our fathers. Having surveyed then Old Testament truth, I point you to the New Testament in Paul's day yet to be written. When Paul stood before the Areopagus, there were to our knowledge only two books of the New Testament existing at that time, the epistle of James, and the epistle to the Galatians, written immediately following Paul's first missionary journey to the churches of southern Galatia. In the New Testament yet to be written, we find the echo, the substance, of Old Testament prophecy showing that Paul standing here is not attempting to go beyond himself, playing the philosopher, playing the intellectual, a lesson hard learned, a lesson of failure that he afterwards will repent of at Corinth. No! This is Paul, the Paul who wrote the epistles, Paul quite in keeping with himself, Paul filled with the Holy Spirit, Paul speaking with divine authority and the blessing of God. Luke chapter 3 and verse 38, the end of the culminative reverse chronology, which was the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God. Adam was the son of God, not by redemption, but by creation. And that's what Paul is referring to, for we are His offspring. Not that all men are Christians. All men are the children of God in a redemptive sense, but all men are made in the image and likeness of God, and therefore His children in a creative context. Luke chapter 21, verses 24 through 27. a prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem and the final coming and glory of the Son of Man. John 3, verses 19 and 21, an assessment of mankind spiritually. And this is the condemnation, that light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. Neither cometh to the light, lest their deeds should be reproved. Acts 14, verses 15-18. It is significant at Lystra, Paul is enabled by the grace of God to heal a man who is lame. The people come forth saying that the gods have come down to us in the likeness of men and they seek to do sacrifice to Paul and Barnabas and Paul makes this declaration to them. quite in accord with his later address at Athens. Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God. who made heaven and earth and the sea and all things that are therein, who in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways. Nevertheless, he left not himself without witness, in that he did good and gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness. And with these sayings scarce restrained they the people that they had not done sacrifice unto them. Paul appeals to the providential goodness of God that we would call His common grace, witnessing that His hand controls human history. Acts chapter 15, verses 13 through 18. The statement of James, the pastor of the Jerusalem church, concerning the eternal purpose of God. Men and brethren, hearken unto me. Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name, and to disagree the words of the prophets as it stands written, After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David which is fallen down, and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up. that the residue of men might seek after the Lord. And all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things, known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world." God's purpose in human history. Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 6, but without faith, It is impossible to please Him, for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, that is, that He exists, that He is a reality, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. And Revelation 4, verse 11, the first great doxology in that book, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power, For thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created." That is, they exist and were created. Why does the created universe, the cosmos, exist? For the good pleasure of God wherein He, through the process of creation, providence, and redemption, will simply display His manifold attributes to His own glory. Paul's own writings, as I have said, reflect his statement at Athens. Romans 1, verses 18-20, where he speaks of man as constantly suppressing the truth in unrighteousness because the created universe and its witness leaves them without an apology or defense. Romans 5, verses 12-21, where he speaks of the headship of Adam and the headship of the Lord Jesus Christ, the head of the human race, the head of the redeemed race, both representative men. Romans 9-11, where Paul works out in detail, national Israel, spiritual Israel, the redemptive purpose of God in relation to Israel and to the Gentiles, already stated, done, determined in the eternal fiat purpose of Almighty God. 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verse 35, But some man will say, How are the dead raised up, and with what body do they come? This happens to be a quotation, another quotation, from a Greek poet. Paul is preparing now to witness the truth of history to play upon the law written upon man's heart, striving through the mind to reach the conscience. Colossians chapter 1, verses 15 through 17. Jesus Christ, our Lord, who is the image of the invisible God, icon. The icon, or icon as we call it in English, is a manifestation and representation of the invisible power or authority. Jesus Christ, according to John chapter 1 and verse 18, the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him. Exegesata is the reading of the original language there. Jesus Christ is the exegesis of God. A full, critical, true examination and expression of the original. who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature, literally the protocos of all creation. That's a title of dignity. He is the head, the governor, the archetype of all creation. For by Him, literally in Him, were all things created in the sphere of the authority of the eternal Son of God. that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers, all things were created by Him, diau tu, literally through Him or by Him, and for Him, esau ton. This creation, created universe exists for the sole good pleasure of the eternal Son of God. And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist." Literally, en auto, in Him, all things cohere. Everything within the cosmos, the created universe, all created reality coheres or is held together by the fiat decree and power of the eternal Son of God. This in truth and reality summarized in Paul's statement in verses 26 through 28. 1 Timothy chapter 6, verses 15 and 16, our last passage of Scripture, which in his times he shall show. who is the blessed and only potentate the King of kings and Lord of lords, who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto, whom no man hath seen nor can see, to whom be glory, honor, power, everlasting. Amen. is the scriptural foundation that stands behind Paul's declaration as given to us in the Old Testament scriptures, as anticipated in the New Testament, as anticipated in Paul's further writings. No, this is not Paul who learned the hard lesson of failure at Athens. This is not Paul who, when he went to Corinth, said, I will no longer play the orator or play the philosopher. I'll be humble, I'll be ignorant, I'll be a fundamentalist. I'll simply say, I determine to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Not at all. Paul rose to the occasion at Athens before the Areopagus. Paul adapted himself to the informal Bible study and prayer meeting at the proschuke at Philippi with a handful of Jewish proselyte women. Paul adapted himself at Corinth not to play into the hands of those who would merely want to be intellectual converts and were wise in their own eyes. No, the apostle Paul who stood before the Areopagus and put forth the hand in the stance of an orator, gave in a short space the truth, the essence, and the reality of Christianity as a world and life coherent system from the standpoint of the Old Testament Scriptures presenting the nature and character of God and His relationship to the human race. Following then this introduction, Because our time is short, I want to conclude with just a few remarks. Have you seen in the reading of Scripture this day and its explanation the nature and character of the God of the Bible? He is not an indulgent heavenly Father who overlooks sin. He is Almighty God, absolutely sovereign. Your life and my life, Your breath and my breath, Your essence and my essence, Your destiny and my destiny are in His hands. This is not the God of your imagination nor mine that I have declared this morning, but the God of the Bible. a God who will not set aside sin, a God who will not act in an arbitrary way, a God who will not close His eyes to reality, but a God in whom created reality necessarily exists. This is the God with whom we have to do. This is the God who cannot arbitrarily set aside sin. This is the God who then sent the Eternal Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, to become incarnate, to take to Himself a human soul, a human body, a human nature, to become the God-Man who through His sinless, impeccable life answered the claims of God's holy law, who through His suffering and death, His passion, answered the claims of the broken law with all of its sin, died for the redemption of sinners, accomplished that redemption, and that redemption is now applied by the Spirit of God, enabling men and women, boys and girls, to believe and to repent. This God that has been declared this morning, I point you to Him through Jesus Christ. Be reconciled to Him. Know the God of whom Paul spoke, the divine revelation of the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Reconciliation is through Jesus Christ. Forgiveness of sins is through Him alone. Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. Look to Him. Turn from your sin. Search and find Jesus Christ and lay hold of Him by faith. Today is the day of salvation. I cannot read these scriptural statements without coming to grips with the reality and truth of God. These elements of truth gripped Paul's heart and mind and found expression in this address. And so must it be if these indeed are read and believed. Father, bless Thy truth. Glorify Thyself this day as we prepare to open up this passage of Scripture. We pray, O Lord God, that we might know the heartbeat, the thinking of the Apostle Paul. We might know something of that ministry of the Spirit that so moved Him to speak. Might that Spirit move us to believe, to repent, to true faith in Jesus Christ, and to consistency as the children of God? We ask it through Jesus Christ, who alone is Lord. Amen.