You need Genesis 1-11!

Good morning. We are going to be working our way through Acts chapter 17, verses 22 through 34, as Randy just read for us. And in doing that, we'll refer to the map that you have on the top of page one in your handout. This is showing on the right-hand side. I have to be careful about pointing because you can't see where I'm pointing, right? So on the right-hand side, what you see is what is now the west end of modern Turkey, right?

And so this is where Paul is coming from in his second missionary journey. He is from there heading to the first place in what we call the European continent. They didn't call it that then. And the first city that he went to that we have recorded for us is Philippi. That's shown there on the top part of his journey.

And then on to Thessalonica, which was brief because of the Jews bringing some accusations against him, which he fortunately escaped from. And then in Berea, where the believers there became believers because they were more noble, they examined the scriptures daily to see if what Paul said was true. But nonetheless, the troublemaking Jews from Thessalonica came to Berea once they found out Paul was there and started to cause the same trouble. And for that, he decided, well, we had better get out of here.

And so they did. He went to the coast and from there went to Athens. Athens, you see, is kind of the lower part and slightly to the left of center on the map. And very interestingly, Margaret was just telling me that she and Bob will be in Athens by Wednesday, is that right, of this week. So they'll get to see some of the very things that I'll be showing you here today. So here is Athens in this part of your map.

Here's the Parthenon as it's preserved and actually has been reconstructed to some degree now with some lighting. It is kind of a crown point. It is called the Parthenon. The Greek word Parthenos there meant virgin. And then the idea was that Athena, was considered to be a Virgin, and so that's where this building gets that name. And by the way, Athens is from Athena, but you wonder why it has the S at the end? It's because Athens is the bringing together of a bunch of what were independent villages. Therefore, Athens plural, and brought together now with all the areas filled in between, much like Denver was separate towns, and now you can't tell the difference except for the signs that say you just entered this and left that.

Here is an artist's rendering of ancient Athens. This is as it was understood. Matter of fact, this artist made this rendering back in the middle 1800s based on the archaeology, what he could see, and what he had been told. of ancient Athens, and it's probably a good place to start in terms of trying to get a picture of what would it have looked like during the time that Paul was there.

So this, I think I have working this time, okay? So this will be a virtual reality as if you were going into the Parthenon and the other buildings there atop the hill, and of course Margaret will have a chance to take a walk through it and see if this is very well done, okay? So you let me know. There we go. Okay, so you're walking up the front ramp and steps as they would have it.

They're into kind of a central courtyard and what you see there is here is Athena, the goddess, and then here inside the temple. So these would be very large, impressive statues, if you will, idols. And so this would be another building in that same complex there that the Parthenon is situated on. And so to give you a sense, there was quite a grand set of structures there up on top of what was called the Acropolis. The Acropolis in any of the cities was the part of the city that was up on a hill. Paul will go to Corinth next, and it has an Acropolis.

We'll take a look at that. Now you have on the bottom part of the handout, this is a map of Athens. It's a simplified map, and it actually portrays things as they were just before the time Paul was there, but it's sufficient for our purposes. There are actually some things that later on could have provided more detail, but at least this gets the job done.

This is the Agora where Paul went to first, and we'll kind of take a look at what that Appears to be like now Paul went there to the Agora. That's the Greek word for marketplace in any large city of the time had an agora. That was their marketplace for not only buying and selling things, but also as a place for people to gather together informally, for people to talk about philosophy and speeches and things of that sort, and also to turn around and have public judgments and decisions and things like that made. in that Agora, in that marketplace. Here is the Areopagus that we read about this last week. This is the place, it appears, as best we can tell from archaeology, that Paul would be speaking and what we're going to be looking at today.

And thirdly, here is the Parthenon, just to give you some reference. We'll also be taking a look at these in photographs shortly. Here is the ancient Agora in Athens with a view towards what's called the Hephaestion. So this is the edge of the marketplace, if you will, looking up to the remains of one of the older buildings.

By the way, something I want to mention to you because I think it's important for us to look at. My reason for going through all these historical details and showing the archaeology and showing virtual reality and all that is twofold. It's not just because Vern's a weird, quirky historical guy that likes archaeology and old stuff. Two reasons. is I want to convey the reality of all these events.

When the Bible describes the disciples and Jesus saying and doing things, those were real events. What we're reading about today was a real historical event. We can, with many of these things, tell you exactly where the place was, and in some instances, and whenever possible, give you the date, it is now possible to tell you the approximate date, in some cases the exact date when things occurred. Because it is very important to understand that they're actual historical events, not simply, you know, Vern's some quirky guy that likes a lot of historical stuff. These are real events that actually occurred, right?

So that's part one. Part two is understanding things in the context of the language, the history, and the culture. And having a full understanding of those things allows us to arrive at an accurate understanding of what the scripture passage means. I'm strongly motivated in these areas, and let me tell you why.

So this has made me quirky, if you want to call it that. And that is because when I was in junior high, starting in junior high, somebody close to me tried to convince me that Christianity was just a bunch of bunk. And so I had to check it out. Is that true? So I began checking it out. That's why starting shortly after Nancy and I met and I got over not liking her, I started studying geology. Why? Because then I was looking at the rocks and the fossils and went out and did all kinds of things. Why? Because I wanted to check out, is what the Bible has to say really true? Or is this just a lot of nonsense? If it's just a bunch of Bible stories, if all it is is a bunch of legends being passed along, and there's no sense in going over this.

But if, on the other hand, this really did happen, if you were there on the day that Christ died, you could have gone up to the cross and touched the blood on the cross. You could have gotten a sliver in your hand from that cross. It was a real event. It actually took place, even to the point We can with a high level of certainty say that Christ was crucified at about 9 a.m.

April 3rd 33 AD on what is now the intersection of David and Chabad streets in Jerusalem. About 200 feet away across the garden just outside of the Ganoth, by the way that means garden gate, he was buried. He was crucified on April 3rd and buried that day. He was resurrected early in the morning about 4 a.m. on April 5th, 33 A.D. Only about 200 feet away from the place where he was crucified. 33 A.D.? April 5th, he was raised. April 5th, right? Yeah. April 5th, 33 A.D. We have a certainty about those things.

So the reason for showing you these things is not because Vern's some quirky guy, he probably is, but anyway, but because these are real events. It is very important to me personally, because many people out there are telling you what I began to be told when I was in junior high, and that this is a bunch of stories and legends and nonsense. And I've very much seen quite the opposite. And I want to convey that to you. Okay, so here's Paul talking with his back here in the Agora, in this marketplace, in this dramatic presentation.

And heading to the Areopagus, as we saw in last week's passage, here's a view of the Areopagus, also known as Mars Hill. Mars Hill would have been known as, that's the Roman name for the place. Areopagus was the hill of Arius. Arius would have been the Greek name for the place. Arius was the Greek god of war. Mars was the Roman god of war. That's the reason you may find the two different names. Here's a view from the Areopagus to the Acropolis where the Parthenon was located.

And Bob and Margaret will very likely have a chance to see these various views here, and that'll be great. In Acts 17, 16-21 that we saw last week, I won't go through reading the whole thing again, but this introduces what the Apostle Paul saw there, and he did reason with the Jews in the synagogue and the God-fearing Gentiles, and then go to the marketplace and talk to those people who would listen.

It mentions here Epicurean and Stoic philosophers, And those we have record independently were common philosophies of the day. They weren't the only one. And by the way, in both cases, our typical modern understanding of what an Epicurean was. Epicurean is oftentimes used within cooking, right? Some kind of real pleasureful meal. This would be an Epicurean delight. Well, the Epicureans were not into pleasure. That's our modern misconception, perhaps.

They're actually into pain avoidance, right? And they believed that the world was made up of atoms that were impersonal, and that when you die, all those atoms come apart and you're no longer a person. So they didn't believe in a physical resurrection. The Stoic philosophers, now you think of Stoic, what do you think of? Somebody who is very cold and emotionless, that's not what it means.

The Stoic philosophers, remember, you've probably heard of earth, air, fire, and water as these kind of ancient components. Well, they believed in those four components, but it started with fire, specifically, in their way of things. So rather than breaking things down into the atoms, the elements, like the Epicureans did, they broke things down into the earth, air, fire, and water, but starting with fire, And they were the pantheists. They got that from the Silk Road trade, where pantheism is where God is in everything. All this stuff. They were pantheists. There was spirituality in all the physical things out there. But when you died, there was really no physical resurrection either. So there's the Epicureans and the Stoics. They also had other kinds of philosophers. And a great many of the pagans, which we're going to see here. Let's ask this question. Good question.

Why doesn't Paul just go there in the marketplace and go to the Areopagus and say, look, just as he wrote to the Corinthians, for I deliver to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures, and that's the gospel, isn't it? Why didn't he just walk in and give them the gospel and say, you guys got to believe it, and that's it?

First of all, they didn't believe that any of this stuff mattered because, are you going to live after this life? Nah. The idea that you're going to have eternal life, they said, eh, ain't such a thing. There is no such thing. So they didn't believe that. Did they believe there was a God who cared about sins? No, they did not. The pagan conception among the Greeks was, nobody is getting resurrected. Nobody's getting resurrected. And God didn't make the world. Instead, the world always was. And the gods came and went. Isn't that amazing?

So what is Paul doing here? We'll see exactly what Paul does. He has to correct their worldview before he can give them the gospel. And we're quickly moving in that direction ourselves. So here's Acts 17, 22 and 23. So Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, Men of Athens, I observe that you are very religious in all respects. For while I was passing through and examining the objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription to an unknown God. Therefore, what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you.

So one question. Does God want us to be religious? No. Paul sees that they are religious, is that sufficient? He doesn't say, I see that you're very religious, so I have really nothing to talk to you guys about, because God's happy. So he instead has to correct their worldview to an unknown God.

Now, so it's interesting, several inscriptions from Athens refer to an unknown God. This is an altar to the unknown God from another location, but it was fairly common in a number of cities to have either an altar like this or inscriptions that refer to an unknown God.

Why? It's because while everywhere they believed in all sorts of gods, and you might have some Roman Temples and you might have some temples to the Greek gods They would even have in a lot of these places and even in Athens and even in place like Philippi Egyptian gods, right? now The Greeks and the Romans had lots and lots of gods. The Egyptians had 700 gods, right? I hope you can keep track of all those right and So 700 gods, why did they have an altar to the unknown God?

Because they might have overlooked one, they didn't want that God to be unhappy with them. So they have an altar to the unknown God in a great many of these places. Acts 17, 22 and 23 here. So, I see that you're very religious, therefore what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you. You talk about, you have inscriptions to the unknown God. That God that you don't know, I want to introduce you to Him. The God that you don't know, I want you to be introduced to Him. Let me tell you about the God that you don't know.

Acts 17, 24 and 25, the God who made the world and all things in it, since he is Lord of heaven and earth and does not dwell in temples made with hands, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all people life and breath and all things." You have on page two of your handout a table that covers the whole page. I'm going to go only through little parts of it at a time and make some comments.

He had to begin by giving them a different worldview before he could give them the gospel. Their concept of God, and by the way, he said one God, right? Did they believe in one God? A bunch of gods. So you'll find him talking about the God. And even when he wrote to these churches, he would often write about the God, right? And to correct that, this was a God who was not subject to the world. The Greeks actually had stories about how this mountain range was made from this God that died. So they have instead, here is a God who made everything and is eternal and existed before this present world came into existence. to their understanding. They had a different idea about the universe and about God.

So what is he doing? He begins with things that are taught in Genesis chapters 1 and 2. And things you can find in other places in the Bible. And he says, God who made the world, and here's another thing, God who made the world, and the world, that's a Greek expression. Just after that, he talks about heaven and earth. That's a Jewish expression. So he would speak to both the Greek and the Jewish mindset here, expressing it that way.

But here is a God who made the world and everything in it, unlike the gods who are credited for portions of the world. One god would make this, another god would make that, and this god would die, and that would make the mountains and different things like that. Instead, no, here is a God who made everything. who is separate from all these things and not subject to it. He is Lord of heaven and earth. He has a lordship relationship to everything that he made. And that would be carrying over Old Testament references, including Exodus 20, 11, Isaiah 42, 5, and then on into passages in the New Testament.

God does not live in temples built by hands. This would be something even the Jews would need to learn, right? But here you find these temples made by people. When Bob and Margaret go to Athens this week, they're going to see temples that were made by people. Does God live in those? Do any of the gods live in those? No. God does not live in temples made by human hands. And one of the things we find out in 1 Corinthians, two different places, he talks about each of us individually as a temple, our body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, and together, corporately, collectively, we are a temple.

God doesn't need anything from the people he has created. There is nothing we can do to meet God's needs. There's nothing we can do to meet God's needs. He is not in need of us. So this is a message that He conveys to them that they need to understand. There's nothing you can do that will make God owe you something. God is the source of life and breath. God is the source of everything that lives, including us. This is a message they needed to understand. The Greeks among them had a theory of evolution and how life came about.

And so that was one of the things he needed to correct. Acts 17, 26 and 27, and he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, that they would seek God, and if perhaps they might grope for him and find him, though he was not far from, and my picture jumped over the text here, from each one of us.

So one of the things we find here is God appointed the eras and successive nations, okay? This is something that starts in the Old Testament and we see that from Deuteronomy and Daniel. It continues on even to the passages that are being studied in the Ephesians elective. We're here, God manages all things and all time and all of history to the end that everything will be summed up in Christ. It then says also God establishes national and other boundaries, okay?

And while that's true, why did God do that? Because, that's the next part, God desires that people would seek Him. Why don't human beings have limitless capacity to roam the earth and do everything they want? Why do you have limitations? God desires that people would seek Him, and if we were limitless in our capacities to do things and places to go, would we ever seek Him? No. He wants us to realize limitations are there that we might seek Him personally.

Also, God is not far away. The Stoic philosophers believed that there were gods, but they really had nothing to do with us, and so there's no sense in praying. And so, instead, Paul tells them, no, God, the one God, is not so far away. He's not so distant that you'll never have anything to do with Him. In fact, quite the opposite.

He then says in Acts 17, 28 and 29, For in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, for we also are His children. Being then the children of God, we ought not to think that the divine nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man." So one of the things we find him saying here is, you know, God is not like all these images that you see around here in Athens.

You've got plenty of them. You've got beautiful statues of Athena. And you've got things that they're gorgeous. I mean, you've got gold, you know, covering on all these things and silver. And then you've got things made out of stone. I mean, they're just amazing. But that's not God. It doesn't matter how beautiful it looks or how impressive it might be. That's not God.

Therefore, having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof by all men by raising him from the dead. So, in the one God overlooks as ignorance, in fact, really the circumstance is this. Over time, God has revealed more truth to mankind, has he not? And what that does is it makes for a greater responsibility to respond to the truth.

Here he says, to repent. Now, repent isn't to just come up front and to cry and sob and all that when the pastor comes and asks you to do so. Repent is a change of mind that ends in belief. Repent is a change of mind. Throughout the book of Acts, whether it's Paul says it or Peter says it, it's a change of mind that ends in belief. God calls men now to repent, to change their mind ending in belief. And he lays that out in multiple places, and we give references here also to the early chapters of the book of Acts where Peter says you are to repent. The other thing is God will judge the world. and God has appointed a man who will judge.

This is something that the unbelievers had no idea about. They just thought, well, the gods did things because they liked what you did, and the gods were angry, and you had to do all the right things so the gods wouldn't be angry, and you had to do all the right things so that the gods would show you favor, and that was all there was to it. But the idea of a god judging the world and appointing a man who would judge was completely outside of their thinking. They had no thought for that whatsoever.

Acts 17.32 and 33, Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some began to sneer, but others said, We shall hear you again concerning this. So Paul went out of their midst. So, why would they hear about the resurrection of the dead and then sneer?

Within the culture, it was simply not something anybody thought was possible. There was no general belief among the Greeks that it would be a physical resurrection. So the idea, yes, Christ was resurrected and you will be too, completely for it. Completely for it.

And so some of them began to sneer. And others responded to, at least, we'll listen to you again. We'll hear you again about this. So Paul went out of their midst, and very likely there was some follow-on. We're going to get a little bit of detail as to what happened here. So he went out of their midst and continued to discuss with some.

So here's Acts 1734. But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them. It's interesting, Dionysius the Areopagite, we have some record coming out of the next century that he actually was appointed an elder. in the church there in Athens and other accounts. Some of the later accounts begin to put legend on top of it, but this one appears to be real, and perhaps one of the reasons why he was mentioned here.

Now, so let's look at some principles of evangelism that come out of this passage, and including, when we say evangelism, this is telling the gospel to those who are not saved. It also includes telling the gospel to our children who are not saved. So some of these will be in common, but we'll also have a slide that we'll look at having to do specifically with evangelism, excuse me, with children. So one, pray about and look for opportunities to talk with a person or people about the gospel.

Sometimes it'll be quickly answered, sometimes it may take a while, and also the Lord may answer it in ways that you didn't expect. And I could share instances of each of those. I remember one time, I think I may have shared it with you last week, where Nancy was praying about how she should talk to this lady who was a friend of hers. And then the very next moment, the lady came in and started asking questions, and Nancy had a chance to talk to her about the Lord.

Another instance that comes to mind is we kept praying for my dad's mother. She was 87 years old. She was dying of bladder cancer. Kept praying and praying and praying for her. Different family members who were Christians kept trying to talk to her. Didn't want anything to do with it.

Completely unbeknownst to us, neighbors came over in the weeks before she died, and not only helped her out, but gave her the gospel. She became a believer, and even though she was in great pain, I saw a look of joy on her face that I had never seen in her lifetime when I was alive. pray about the opportunities, look for the opportunities. We have the Apostle Paul looking about, what's a connecting point that I can use with these people? And he used that altar to the unknown God as the connecting point to talk to them about the Lord. And then he had to correct their worldview. Look at the worldview, the view of the people that the person or people have with respect to the gospel.

One of the great inhibitions in today's culture is people have been told they're essentially a highly evolved animal, right? And we have this somewhat laughing, laughable diagram showing this ape-like creature evolving into modern man and then devolving into jackhammers and computers. But what we have in the Bible is that God created man in his own image In the image of God He created them, male and female He created them. You know, this truth right here is a truth that is, I would say, under-taught within the church, but is a huge, huge insight. for people to come to understand, to be able to share the gospel. And even as you teach through the books of the Bible, as you teach through the books that we have, explaining having been made in God's image, do you realize that having been made in God's image is the reason that Christ can come down as a man, having been made in God's image but without the corruption, right?

And be our Savior. We could not be saved by a lamb. We could not be saved by some other animal, or a rock, or a plant. So here we have that basic truth, and it's a huge difference between what they're getting, you're just a highly evolved animal. That's what they're being told. Even if you go to the national parks, they'll tell you, oh, you're just a highly evolved animal. Present and explain the worldview of the Bible as is needed for the person or the people to understand the gospel.

If we say God loves you, it will not help if their concept of God is Hindu. My brother ran into a fellow who had just come from China and was serving as a waiter at a restaurant. He talked to the guy and it was fairly quickly evident the guy had never heard of a personal God in his entire life. You say the word God and he had nothing to mean anything with that. He had to have that explained to him, otherwise the, you know, God loves you would make no sense at all. What's a God? No idea.

Present and explain the worldview of the Bible as is needed for that person or the people to understand the gospel. We need to understand where they are just as Paul went and said, I observe. And nextly, be available so that those who come to believe have a path to grow in the Lord Jesus. The Apostle Paul, what he would do is he would go into a place and he would come through again and again, he would leave behind teachers, that's one of the things that Timothy and Silas are doing and why they're not there in Athens. They're behind in helping the church body to grow.

Not just simply, it would be as if we had a hospital and the whole hospital was just entirely for the maternity ward. Got any other issues? Well, I'm sorry, we can't help you. But if you want to have a baby, well, we can help you with that. And so we need to be looking at, it is important that people come to the Lord, but it is also important that they grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Okay, so principles of parenting.

Present by speech, action, and example, what are the spiritual priorities starting with the father? In the family, there is a communication by speech, action, and example. What is important? Are spiritual things important? Is that what we talk about? Can I see it in actions? Can I see it as a priority? Consistent with age and understanding, point your children to where they are headed based on a biblical worldview. Why would we say that? Why is it important to do that? Because there's a world out there where they've got a lot to sell. They're going to be selling to our kids.

And whether you're a parent, whether you're a grandparent, whether you've got people in the church body, whether it's family, friends, you can pray for and support this, that the children know where they are headed spiritually based on a biblical worldview.

Because the world's out there trying to sell a different one. So the world has a buffet of worldviews. Have you noticed that? See, the world, if you don't like this one, they've got this other one over here to sell you. And the world has a buffet of worldviews to sell you. All of them are alternatives to the gospel. They are selling them aggressively and these days they tend to come through electronic devices, right? The selling comes through the electronic devices.

What's interesting is that you get on the, say, a commuter train or a bus, what do you see? All kinds, even used to be somebody might be looking out the window or reading a newspaper. These days everybody's on their device of whatever kind, right? Everybody's looking at that, and a lot of times there's some very good things that come through that, right?

Nancy and I were able to talk to, you know, family last night. We were able to wish our son-in-law Kurt a happy birthday, right? So there's some great things that happen through that, but there's also some aggressive selling of the world through those devices as well.

God has in mind, however, for us, that rather than being conformed to this world's mold, that we're transformed by the renewing of our minds and growing in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. In the end, believers need to walk by facts, faith, faith in the facts, and let the feelings follow, right? Faith in the facts and let the feelings follow. If any of that is not clear, children will get confused, people in the church will get confused. Most of Christendom has been sold on the feelings are where you put your faith. Most of Christendom has been put to that message. It's not the biblical message.

We put our faith in the facts and let the feelings follow, not our faith in the feelings. Now, coming up soon, this is going into Acts chapter 18. One question is, are we sure that Dr. Luke is right about Claudius kicking the Jews out of Rome, and was that a good or really bad thing? So we'll take a look at that.

Secondly, oh, this is something. Is Paul actually a tent maker? I know that's heresy for me to ask the question, but no, I mean that. Is Paul actually a tentmaker and what difference does that make? So we'll take a look at that. So what does Paul standing before Galileo tell us about when Christ was crucified, raised and ascended?

Oh, yes, it does. Next, Apollos was a Jewish man from a Gentile country who was double enlightened. What? What do you mean double enlightened? Well, we'll see what that means. Okay. And finally, was Priscilla out of line in Acts 18 or was it biblical? So, we'll take a look at that when we get into this chapter 18.

Let's pray. Lord, as we go through these things, we would just pray, Lord, that you would give us understanding and insight just as we saw the Apostle Paul coming into Athens and addressing the worldviews that are there. We pray for understanding and insight in our parts that we might understand the world's worldviews and we might understand our own even better. the one that you gave us in Scripture, the one that you've given us in Jesus Christ, and that apart from any other worldview, gives us a relationship with our Lord and Savior forever, Jesus Christ. We thank you and we pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.