WWUTT 1107 God Commands All People Everywhere to Repent?

The Apostle Paul preached a message of repentance to the Greeks at the Areopagus in Athens.

He told them, stop being dumb, repent of your sin, follow Jesus Christ because judgment is coming when we understand the text.

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Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. We come back to our study in Acts chapter 17 as we've been looking at Paul's address to the

Greeks at the Areopagus. I'll start reading in verse 22 to the end of the chapter.

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 is 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 in the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek

God and perhaps 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 had heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, but others said, we'll 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.

So coming back to verse 22 here, we've talked about where Paul is, who he's been speaking to and we've kind of done a brief overview of some of the things here that he says in this particular evangelistic sermon, which he is doing before unbelievers.

I was sure to make that point yesterday. This is not the way you preach a sermon in the church necessarily, because in the church you're going to be preaching to the saints.

Here Paul is preaching to unbelievers. So this is an evangelism sermon. This is a come to Jesus sermon, another way to say that.

So verse 22, Paul's standing in the midst of the Areopagus, which is the hill of Ares or according to the

Romans would have been called Mars Hill, which is a reference to a false

God. So again, as I said yesterday, don't name your church that, especially considering the history of churches that call themselves

Mars Hill, probably not a good idea to repeat that name. So we go on here with Paul speaking at the

Areopagus. This place where many idols had been erected and judgments were held here.

Judgments made in the presence of the gods as the Greeks believed it to be. So Paul says, men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious because consider again who it is that he's been speaking to.

He's talked to the Jews. He's talked to the devout. He's talked to the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers.

And he's talked with others who believe in polytheism and every other kind of philosophy and religion that the

Greeks clung to. They would get tired of stuff and they would want something new. We had that said to us in verse 21.

All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new.

So you have not only those religious beliefs and philosophies that were common to the

Greeks, but then you had foreigners even coming in and bringing their beliefs. So just about every kind of belief, philosophy, religion, etc.

is being practiced or shared or pushed here in Athens. One of the most influential cities in the world after Rome, the capital city of the

Greeks. So Paul says, I perceive that in every way you are very religious, which kind of would have been a slap in the face to the

Epicurean and Stoic guys. Like I said yesterday, the Epicureans in particular did not want to believe in the gods.

They would even encourage people, don't fear the gods, don't fear death, because that just brings about negative feelings.

And the philosophy they wanted you to follow was you do away with all that negativity, make the most of what you have, be happy with what you've got, store up for yourselves things that will make you happy as long as you don't become too overindulgent, because then that would just bring depression in its own way.

So even to some of these philosophers, it was kind of a smack to them for Paul to say in every way, you're very religious.

For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, not just in reference to the gods that are there at the

Areopagus, but even in reference to the statues of the philosophers, anything that would that a person would place in the place of God, anything that they would exalt or find importance in rather than the

God who created all things. That's an idol. If they covet after other people's stuff, they're not happy with what they have.

So they want what someone else has. And clearly that was a case in Athens because they're always looking for something new.

Coveting is idolatry. Paul says that to the Colossians, that when we covet, we are valuing something over God.

So in every way, they're very religious. They have objects of worship. And Paul says,

I found also an altar with this inscription to the unknown God. This is the

Greeks trying to cover their bases. They worship all kinds of people, places and things. And in case there is a

God that they forgot to make a statue to, maybe we can appease him by erecting this blank altar to the unknown

God. Like how can I get the blessings that I'm not getting? How can I get the stuff that I want that I'm not receiving?

Maybe there's a God I'm not honoring yet. So the Greeks erect this altar to the unknown

God. And Paul says, what therefore you worship as unknown, this

I proclaim to you. And you can add two more words to the end of that, as known. So what you worship as unknown,

I proclaim to you as known. This God has shown himself. He has revealed himself from heaven.

As Paul says in Romans chapter one, it is clearly seen through all that has been made.

God's eternal power and divine nature. Romans 1 20. So Paul goes on here to say, this

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. Remember, this is in reference to this altar to an unknown

God that Paul was just highlighting. So God is not served by human hands.

He doesn't live in temples made by man. You're not appeasing the God who is known by making an altar to an unknown

God. Rather, what you are demonstrating is your own ignorance. That's kind of the insinuation that Paul is making here, because remember, he goes on in verse 30 to say the times of ignorance got overlooked.

Those who take this sermon and they try to make it some sort of a fluffy thing where Paul was trying to appeal to the most number of people, particularly pagans.

We don't want to drive them away. So he's going to give this light sermon that doesn't even mention Jesus or quote any scripture.

And so that way he doesn't offend anybody. That's the way there are certain teachers out there that understand or interpret this sermon.

But Paul flat out calls them ignorant. You've been stupid and you're demonstrating your ignorance by erecting this altar to an unknown

God. But I proclaim to you that he is known and he's not served by this empty altar of yours that you have created.

The God who made the world and everything in it being Lord of heaven and earth does not live in temples made by man.

And many temples were there in Athens. So Paul making a direct reference to the fact that the

Greeks were known for their many temples and their many gods. He is not served by human hands as though he needed anything because he is the one who gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.

This is Paul's reference to common grace. Jesus even talked about this in the

Sermon on the Mount where he said God causes his son to rise on the just and on the unjust.

And the rain falls on the good and the bad. The common grace of God. You are alive today because God has been gracious to you.

Your next breath is borrowed air. God has given you this breath. I just listened to a song from Shai Lin yesterday.

He had posted it on Twitter and said it was kind of his closing thoughts to 2019. I think it was a prelude to his upcoming album.

But one of the lines that he had in the song was talking about how he hated

God and yet he was breathing his air. Shai Lin talking about when he was in sin and was rebellious against God.

I hated God but I breathed his air. And that is essentially what Paul is saying here to the Greeks at the

Areopagus at Mars Hill. He has given all mankind life and breath and everything.

In Romans chapter 2 verse 4 it says, Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience?

Not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when

God's righteous judgment will be revealed. Later on in chapter 11 Paul says in verse 33,

O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!

For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor? Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?

See no one is going to be able to stand before God on the day of judgment and say to him, hey

I did this so you owe me. You can't do anything for God that he therefore has to owe you for what it is that you've done for him.

He's given you everything. Life and breath and everything. And yet would you rebel against God?

And would you continue to go after the things that you think that you need in order to be satisfied and make yourself good and make yourself righteous all the while you are rebelling against the

God of the universe and what he has said? Taking the breath that he has given you and you're going to blaspheme him and exalt your own glory instead of the glory of God?

God owes you nothing! We owe God everything. Verse 36,

For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever.

Amen. Back to Acts 17, verse 26,

And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods in the boundaries of their dwelling place.

This is a reference to Adam. From one man whom God created in his image and breathed the breath of life into him.

From this man and his wife Eve come all of the nations of mankind. See, that's even something that many of today's preachers are starting to abandon.

They don't even want to talk about Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden because that story is just so hard to understand.

They'll dismiss Genesis 1 through 11 and say, See, all of that is poeticness.

It's just poetry. It's kind of like mythological.

It's not exactly a global flood. It's not exactly the only man and woman whom

God created at the very beginning. It's not exactly the Tower of Babel. It's just kind of allegory.

You know, where some of these preachers will go. They're dismissing the truth and authenticity of even the scriptures that Paul was preaching here to these unbelievers.

He was making references to the Old Testament. For God created from one man all of mankind and even designated where they were going to live on all the face of the earth having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place.

God has put you where you are today. You are where you are because God has placed you there. And it's by his will that he moves men around to different places and all to serve for the fulfillment of his ultimate purpose.

God is the one who does these things. So give him the praise and give him the glory. You may not live in a place you want to live right now.

God put you there. So are you going to tell God that I have something better in mind for myself than you have for me?

Give God the glory. Great things he has done. Something wonderful and glorious he is doing through you even here in this moment.

You may have come into the place where you live because of sin. Maybe sin has brought you to where you are.

Repent of it. And give God the glory and serve him with all that you are wherever you are.

Give him the praise to his glorious grace. He has forgiven and redeemed you through Jesus Christ your

Savior. Put your faith and trust in him and complain no more. Rejoice in this day.

This is the day the Lord has made. I will be glad and rejoice in it as we read in the Psalms.

So Paul is even demonstrating here to all of these unbelievers at the Areopagus that God has appointed you for this time that you would stand here and listen to me preaching the gospel in Athens.

That they should seek God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us.

So in Romans 3 it says no one seeks for God. Romans 3 .12

No one does good. There is no one that seeks for God. No one is righteous not even one. So how is it if the

Old Testament says and the New Testament says that no one seeks for God. It says that God has determined allotted periods and boundaries of their dwelling place that they should seek

God and perhaps find their way toward him and find him. Well don't forget also what it says in Romans 1 .18

that mankind suppresses the truth with their unrighteousness. So though God has appointed times and places for people to seek after him they don't because they would rather have their sin.

They would rather go after unrighteousness though he is not far from each one of us.

No one is going to have any excuse on the day of judgment to say well God you just weren't there. I didn't know you were there.

Bertrand Russell the famous atheist was once asked if you get to heaven and there is a

God what are you going to say to him? And Bertrand Russell said why did you take such pains to remain so hidden?

No one is going to say that on the day of judgment. Because Bertrand Russell in that very moment that he was giving that answer was suppressing the truth with his unrighteousness.

He would rather have his sin and his rebellion against God which is why he did not want to acknowledge

God has made himself known. He is not far from each one of us.

But he is hidden from us. God is invisible. He is the immortal invisible

God. And the reason why he is invisible is also because of our sin. Part of the curse is that it would be difficult for us to find

God. He isn't far from us. He has made himself known. But it is still difficult for us to find him because of our sin.

And it is only by the regeneration of the Holy Spirit that our eyes are open and our ears to hear the message of the gospel that is preached to us so that we can repent of our sin and live.

Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. And that is what Paul is doing here to preach this gospel to the

Greeks. But their ears are stopped up. Their hearts are hard. They cannot hear what

Paul is saying which is why the majority of them hate what he is saying by the time he gets to the end of this sermon.

He even quotes some of their own poets to them to demonstrate you actually know of the existence of God.

You know he is here but you don't seek after him because of your sin. So he even quotes their own poets to show they know there is this

God who has created heaven and earth. Verse 28, For in him we live and move and have our being.

Now who Paul is quoting here is Epimenides of Crete. And what Epimenides was writing about was actually not

God. Not the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He was writing about Zeus.

But Zeus is a made up God. Zeus was made by the art and imagination of man.

He is not God who created man. So when Epimenides says in him we live and move and have our being it's nonsensical for that to refer to Zeus.

It was even in his own unknowing Epimenides was making a reference to the true creator.

And that is God. That's what Paul is demonstrating there. Like even when you don't realize it.

Your logic goes toward the creator of heaven and earth. In order for you to be truly rational and logical you must acknowledge that there is

God. Which even Epimenides did in his own writing though he thought he was talking about Zeus. As even some of your own poets have said,

Paul goes on For we are indeed his offspring. And that is from Eratos. Who wrote that in a particular poem.

So Paul says in verse 29 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.

Now don't be confused by this reference to being God's offspring. He's not saying that all the people there are children of God.

For Jesus himself said in John 8 that you're either a child of God or you're a child of Satan.

If you do not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ it is because you are Satan's children.

So not everybody is inherently a child of God. Some are children of the devil.

What it means to say that we are his offspring simply means that God has created all mankind.

That's simply all that means. Not that everyone is a child of God. But they are all the creation of God.

We are all made in God's image. So therefore, since we have been made by God we should not think of God as being an image formed by the art and imagination of man.

We are made in his image. He is not made in ours. That's the point that Paul is making to them. Verse 30

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.

And this is Paul saying to the Greeks you are unrighteous. You stand before God condemned and you need to repent.

And you need to believe in the one whom God has appointed and given assurance to all by raising this man from the dead.

And as I mentioned yesterday this is the reference to Jesus. And the Greeks understood that was the reference that Paul was making.

Don't listen to those preachers that will say that well Paul you know delivered this sermon at the

Areopagus he didn't even quote scripture he didn't even reference Jesus. Yeah he did both. He referenced the

Old Testament scriptures and everybody knew who he was talking about was Jesus because that was the very reason they brought him there to the

Areopagus. Because as it says back in verse 18 he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection.

And they wanted to hear more about what he was talking about. For him to explain these things to them.

And that's what he did there at the Areopagus. He explained it to them. What does all of this have to do with Jesus?

Because God is going to judge the world in righteousness. And if you want to escape that judgment you must repent and follow

Christ. The one whom God appointed and you know that this is the one whom

God gave us for our redemption because God raised him from the dead.

And as soon as they heard about the resurrection of the dead verse 32 some mocked but others said we'll hear you again about this.

So the majority of people did not believe what Paul was saying. This was not an appeasing sermon.

This was not something that was meant to gain the most number of followers possible. Paul preached the truth and he did it without holding back anything.

He referenced Old Testament scriptures He referenced God as being creator of heaven and earth.

He called the Greeks their sinners. He said you're very religious and you worship all kinds of false gods. You need to repent.

You do unrighteousness. You need to do righteousness. And you do this by following Jesus and receiving his righteousness.

This is all the things that Paul pointed to here in this message in this evangelical sermon that he gives there in a pagan place in the midst of pagan idols.

And of course most of the Greeks hated him for this. Turned around and walked away but some became believers.

Some men joined him and believed among whom also were Dionysius the

Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them. Luke even mentions the names of some of those that ended up following Jesus Christ as a result of this sermon that Paul gave there at the

Areopagus. Where we go from here is Corinth. We're next going to be reading about Paul's missionary work in Corinth.

We'll get to that next week. Tomorrow is Christmas Day. I'm not going to continue the study in Acts but the message that I preach tonight at my church for our

Christmas Eve service is going to be the message that you will hear on the podcast tomorrow. So there will still be an episode even though I'm not going to continue the study in Acts this week.

We'll come back to it again God willing on Monday. Let us conclude with prayer. Heavenly Father we ask for your forgiveness for our sins.

May we not be coveting after the things of this world. Very difficult for us to not do around this time of the year which is so full of materialism and commercialism.

But help us to be content with what we have. Help us to understand what the Apostle Paul when he spoke to the

Philippians and said I know what it means to have plenty and I know what it means to have need and yet I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

We are completely content in Christ our Savior. Let us want nothing else but Christ.

Seeking his righteousness and the kingdom of God and all of the things that we need beyond that will be added to us as well because you are our loving

Heavenly Father who gives us all good things. Who cares for his children and we are grateful to you for all that you have provided for us.

Help us and teach us to show love and kindness and affection and generosity to others as well.

Not just in a Christmas season but any time of the year. That we might even use this as an opportunity to share the gospel with others for it is only through the hearing of the gospel that a person comes to faith.

The repentance of their sins and eternal life with God. We ask for your continued guidance upon us today.