Pearls from Paul-Preaching to Those Who Live in Darkness

“PEARLS FROM PAUL-PREACHING TO THOSE WHO LIVE IN DARKNESS” ACTS 17:16-34 INTRO: As you study the life of the Apostle Paul you will see that the passion of his heart was to preach the gospel. He wrote in Romans 1:16-17— “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.” Paul’s passion was preaching the gospel. Why? Because as Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 1:17-18, 21—“For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved, it is the power of God. For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.” A lady wrote Dear Abby and said: “Dear Abby: Your answer to the woman who complained that her relatives were always arguing with her about religion, was ridiculous. You advised her to simply declare the subject off-limits. Are you suggesting that people talk only about trivial meaningless subjects so as to avoid a potential controversy? It is arrogant to tell people there are subjects that they may not mention in your presence. You could have suggested she learn enough about her relatives’ cult to show them the errors contained in its teachings.” Abby wrote back: “In my view, the height of arrogance is to attempt to show people the ‘errors’ in their religion of choice.” (Cited by Dennis McCallum, ed., The Death of Truth, pp. 199-200.) In this politically correct, ultra-tolerant, multicultural world in which we live today there are many who feel the same as Abby does. But Jesus Christ is alive and we must show people the errors of their religion of choice. Paul understood this. He was not politically correct nor theologically tolerant. In our text we see Paul confirming his words of Romans 1:16—“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ…” In Athens, about 50 yards from the Parthenon is a huge rock about forty five feet high called the Areopagus, which literally means in Greek “the hill of Ares.” Ares was the Greek god of war. His equivalent was the Roman god called Mars, so it came to be called “Mars Hill.” The Areopagus, or hill of Mars, (dedicated to Mars, the heathen god of war,) was the place where the Athenians held their supreme court of judicature. But it does not appear he was carried thither as a criminal. The original number of its judges was twelve; but afterward it increased to three hundred. These were generally men of the greatest families in Athens, and were famed for justice and integrity. (John Wesley’s Explanatory Notes) From this rock Paul preached perhaps his greatest sermon, to the hardest audience, in the toughest setting he ever encountered. Charles Swindoll in his Book, Paul, A Man of Grit and Grace, says “It was akin to being invited to preach in the hall of Congress or to stand and speak for Christ before the United States Supreme Court. The sharpest minds and most respected judges of the land would listen to every word you’d say.” (Swindoll, p. 206). Paul desire was to bring the glorious light of the gospel into the darkness of a lost city that is so typical of the lost world we live in today. The City of Athens was proud of her intellectual heritage (v21). It was the home of Socrates, Plato, Herodotus, and Homer. The concepts of Liberty, law, democracy and parliament all originated from the Greeks. It was the Greeks who are credited with giving the world the love of knowledge, beauty and freedom. But as enlightened as they were, they still were living in the shadows of darkness. Athens was spiritually bankrupt. She had no church, no creed or systematic theology. There were many gods in Athens but these gods had no morals so neither did the Athenians. Eight hundred years of Greek mythology and five hundred years of Greek philosophy had come and gone. God had given human wisdom plenty of time to demonstrate what it could. And still the culture was bathed in darkness. Athens was proud of her religious tolerance (vs. 16-23). The ancient writer Petronius said, “It was easier to find a god than a man there.” (1). While Paul waited for Silas and Timothy, who remained at Berea (v14), Paul saw the city, the beautiful City of Athens, “wholly given to idolatry” and “his spirit was stirred in him”. Not only his soul was troubled and his heart was grieved, but he was exasperated and provoked to the last degree: he was in a paroxysm; his heart was hot within him; he had a burning fire in his bones, and was weary with forbearing, and could not stay; his zeal wanted vent, and he gave it. (John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible) He knew that Christ and Christ alone was what was needed in Athens and He knew he must preach Christ. But how did he deliver his message to this intellectual and tolerant society? The way he preached might be a shock to many in our society today. But from his message we learn how to preach to those living in darkness. Note three things as we think on the subject, “Preaching To Those Who Live in Darkness”. NOTICE: (1) PAUL’S PREACHING WAS WITH GENUINE CONVICTION ACTS 17:16—“Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry.” A. HE PREACHED WITH A STIRRED HEART (V16). The word “stirred” here means “easily provoked, exasperated, excited, agitated.” His mind was greatly excited. It…means that the mind of Paul was greatly concerned, or agitated, doubtless with pity and distress at their folly and danger. (Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible) Paul knew that there is only one God and that He can be known, and that the people of Athens did not know Him. Paul could see through their folly and the veil of darkness which surrounded them. He knew that men without Jesus are lost, and that human wisdom is foolishness and philosophy cannot change the heart of man. Paul knew that there was only one way to God, and that is Jesus, and they didn’t know that (v18). Jesus is the Light of the world and still this world lives in darkness. That should stir each of our hearts. We need those today who have passion and conviction as they preach Jesus to those who are living in darkness. ILLUS: A young minister in a college town was embarrassed by the thought of criticism from his cultured congregation. He sought counsel from his father, a wise old minister, saying, "Dad, I am handicapped in my ministry in the pulpit I am now serving. If I cite anything from geology, there is Prof. A, teacher of this science, right before me. If I use an illustration from Roman mythology, there is Prof. B ready to trip me up for any little inaccuracy. If I mention something in English literature that pleases me, I am cowered by the presence of the learned man that teaches that branch. What shall I do?" The sagacious old man replied, "Do not be discouraged; preach the gospel. They probably know very little of that." PAUL PREACHED WITH A STIRRED HEART AND ALSO… B. HE PREACHED WITH SCRIPTURAL CONVICTION. Paul preached with such power because he was convinced in his heart the message he preached was true. We need some men today who believe the Word without compromise and are not afraid to preach it with conviction. ILLUS: The problem in this nation is not with the prosititutes, the punks (and) the pushers. But it's with puny, pampered, passive preaching from the pulpits of America . . . Nobody it seems, is standing and preaching that the Word of God is the Word of God and hell is hot and heaven is high and sin is wrong and God and marriage are right. It's time to take a stand. - Bobby Boyles, pastor of Eagle Heights Church in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, speaking at the 1994 annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention; quoted by Baptist Press, Nashville There was in Athens one great "market place," or public square. The porches around it were favorite places for discussion. (The People’s New Testament Commentary). Paul preached Christ wherever he went whether in the public square, pulpit, or prison cell. Why? Because he was convinced the Word he preached was God’s Word. V17 say, “therefore disputed he in the synagogue with the Jews, and with the devout persons, and in the market daily with them that met with him.” The word DISPUTED IN V17 means “to preach unto, to reason with”. PAUL’S PREACHING WAS WITH GENUINE CONVICTION AND ALSO… (2) PAUL’S PREACHING WAS WITH PROFOUND SIMPLICITY ACTS 17:22-31 ILLUS: Some preachers have the instincts of aviators-they announce a text, taxi for a short distance, then take off from the earth and disappear into the clouds. After that, only the din of exploding gasoline is heard, signifying that they are flying high, very high, above the heads of their hearers. In other words, a sermon, rightly presented, should not be a meteor, but a sun. Its true test is "Can it make anything grow?" George Fox, seeking spiritual guidance, walked seven miles to talk to a clergyman who had the reputation for being helpful. "But I found him but like an empty hollow cask," he reported sadly. The problem with our preaching is that too often people come seeking the Water of Life, only to find an empty cask. But sometimes they find water-when the preacher with simplicity and authority proclaims Jesus Christ. Feed your people with the Bread of Life; cause them to drink deeply of the Water of Life. Be careful not to confuse simple, easy communication with superficial study and shallow preaching. You can dig deep, but you do not have to come up dry. Use your professional tools at home, but take the inspired Word alone into the pulpit. With God's help, your sermons can be profoundly simple and simply profound. Paul, even though he was highly educated, preached with simplicity. It tells us in v18, “…he preached unto them Jesus, and the resurrection.” Note two things: A. THE MEN TO WHOM HE PREACHED. V18 tells us, “then certain philosophers of the Epicureans, and of the Stoics, encountered him…” Paul encountered two of the most notorious philosophies in Athens- Epicureanism and Stoicism. Their creeds were sterile. They were empty of true life and left their followers holding an empty bag spiritually. Epicureans were followers of the teaching of Epicurus… who “taught that the highest good and great end of existence was serene enjoyment, which his followers interpreted to mean pleasure, and that often of the grossest kind” (Alexander). Morgan said, “The Epicurean philosophy in practice, habit, and experience, when Paul came to Athens, was lust, in its most degrading form.” Epicureanism was simply a deifying of the vile passions of the flesh. Stoicism was not any better…Stoics were pantheists. Fatalism and endurance were their basic tenets. In Paul’s time, “Beneath the profession [of Stoicism] was the most degrading form of evil, and the ultimate word of the Stoic was suicide” (Morgan). False doctrine brings death, not life (2). These men, as v21 tells us were always eager, “either to tell or to hear some new thing.” You can be very interested in spiritual matters and yet be woefully ignorant of them if you do not have the TRUTH before you. Notice: 1. Their interest in religion (v22). Paul said the Athenians were “too superstitious.” The word rendered “too superstitious” means here “god-fearing.” They were "more religious", than any other persons, in other places, which has been observed before on Act_17:16 they had more gods, and more altars, and more festivals, and were more diligent and studious in the worship of the gods, than others. (John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible) The Athenians great interest and devotion in religious matters forcefully instructs us that you can be great devoted to and occupied with religious matters and still not be saved. Salvation has to do with one receiving Christ as Savior. Leave that out of the picture and all the religions in the World will not save…Religion is no substitute for Jesus Christ (3). ILLUS: America is being inoculated with a mild form of Christianity that is making it's citizens immune to the real thing. There are several types of this religious false Christianity.  PSYCHOLOGICAL CHRISTIANITY - an obsession that makes God a good "pepper-upper" and religion a comforting thought. It devotes see theology as a waste of time; shutter at the mention of sin; go to church to seek psycho-religious adjustment for tension and frustration. There heaven is health and wealth.  SOCIAL CHRISTIANITY - a good time religion with special appeal to those who cannot get into lodges, clubs, or the society column. It expresses itself in a round of socials, banquets, or - in its more liberal manifestations - theater parties, dances and bridge.  POLITICAL CHRISTIANITY - a reform movement with a social gospel, that is so busy with surveys, committee meetings, projects, campaigns, etc., to clean up society that individuals are starving to death for spiritual food.  EMOTIONAL CHRISTIANITY - a type of inoculation that gives the patient divine thrills and mystical exaltations, but often leaves him spiritually dead.  ATAVISTIC CHRISTIANITY - a sort of religious loyalty to the beliefs of our dead forebears. The Chinese have it in a bit different form and call it ancestor worship.  SACRAMENTAL CHRISTIANITY - a blind loyalty to certain rites or ceremonies, the faithful performance of which is supposed to give one a "pass" to glory. Its devotees have a "form of godliness," but "deny the power thereof."  THEOLOGICAL CHRISTIANITY - an intellectual and coldly scientific acceptance of the abstract truth in the New Testament Scriptures. Those who have been immunized by this serum can split hairs with the same finesse that Nero played his fiddle while Rome burned. A very large proportion of the American people are Professedly religious, but their religion is not deep, vital, real! It does not grip the whole man and change and transform him into a new creature in Jesus Christ. We see THEIR INTEREST IN RELIGION, but we also see… 2. Their ignorance in religion (V. 23). They knew many things about religion, but they didn’t know Christ. We see it in their calling Jesus and the resurrection “strange gods” (v18). We see it again as they asked Paul to come to the Areopagus and declare this “new doctrine” (v19), which they describe as “strange” and unknown to them (v20). And finally, we see it in the inscription on their altar “TO THE UNKNOWN GOD.” How amazing it is to see people who were so very religious yet so extremely ignorant of the most spiritual Truth of all! But this is so typical of many today. Many today have their entire lives involved in religion, and yet they are ignorant of Christ Jesus and the redemption through the blood of His Cross! ILLUS: In His earthly life among men, Jesus, more than once, virtually said that if they had really known who He was their course of action would have been widely different. It was so of the whole Jewish nation. They had long waited and sighed for the coming of their Prince, but when He came they knew Him not.

A young man was taken prisoner and was to be shot at sunrise. As he lay upon the ground that night between his sleeping guards, his heart was full of bitter thoughts. Oh for a single sight of the dear ones at home! What would he not give to be free once more? Suddenly, he saw a solitary figure steal out from behind a clump of bushes. The man saw that he was awake and began to make signs, as though trying to communicate with him. He crept nearer and nearer. The soldier thought he could see a grin of derision on the man's face. Evidently, one of his enemies had heard of his plight and had come there to taunt him. He was mad with rage. It was enough to have to die like a dog, but this cruel mocking was more than he could endure. With a shriek of anger, he sprang up. In a moment, his guards had awakened and the entire camp was in an uproar. In the midst of the excitement, the stranger had fled, and the condemned man never knew that the one he repulsed was a friend who had come to deliver him from the hands of his enemies. --McCartney The sad reality is that many have treated Christ the same way. The One who came to be a friend of sinners and deliver them from their life of spiritual darkness and the second death has been turned away, spurned, and mocked by so many! Many today would rather trust in the tenets of their religion than to place their trust in the One who loved them so much he was willing to lay down His life for them! Jesus said in Matthew 15:8-9—“This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoreth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.” Many today are religious but are spiritually bankrupt because they know not Jesus! B. THE MESSAGE TO THEM HE PREACHED (vv. 22-31). Paul message was simple, yet profound. Notice what he preached to them. He preached to them about: 1. The Power of God to Create (v24). Athens had many gods, but none that had the power of the True God. The main object of this discourse of Paul is to convince them of the folly of idolatry Act_17:29, and thus to lead them to repentance. For this purpose he commences with a statement of the true doctrine respecting God as the Creator of all things. We may observe here: (1) That he speaks here of God as the Creator of the world, thus opposing indirectly their opinions that there were many gods. (2) He speaks of him as the Creator of the world, and thus opposes the opinion that matter was eternal; that all things were controlled by Fate; and that God could be confined to temples. The Epicureans held that matter was eternal, and that the world was formed by a fortuitous concourse of atoms. To this opinion Paul opposed the doctrine that all things were made by one God. (Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible) 2. The Power of God to Control (v26). Notice the words “hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation.” Paul here speaks about God’s sovereignty. God is in charge and control of all things. God created and God controls. Paul wanted the Athenians to know that their lives were in God’s hands. He and He alone determines when men are born and when men die. 3. The Power of God to Judge (v31). The reason men are urged to repent, as (v30) tells us, is because judgment is coming. We see three things about judgment in this verse: a. The People to be judged include everyone, for the “world” will be judged. The Bible speaks of two judgments: 1) The Judgment Seat of Christ. This is for Believers. It does not deal with the question of salvation, but about service. It will not be of retribution but of reward. 2) The Great White Throne Judgment. It is about salvation—the lack of it—and condemns all the unsaved to eternity in the lake of fire. This judgment deals with retribution not reward. b. The Principle guiding the judgment is “righteousness.” God’s judgment will be true and it will be righteous. c. The Person who will judge is Jesus Christ. “He will judge the world by that man whom he hath ordained..” (v31b). (4) 4. The Power of God to Save (vv. 31-34). God can save anyone! But a person can only be saved if they are willing in repentance and faith to turn to Jesus and receive Him (Romans 10:9-10, 13). It is what a person does with Jesus that determines where they will spend eternity! (3) PAUL’S PREACHING WAS MET WITH VARIED RESPONSE ACTS 17:32-34 *NOTICE THREE RESPONSES TO PAUL’S MESSAGE: A. SOME MOCKED (v32a). When we speak the truth about Jesus many in this world will see us as archaic, puritanical, fundamental and out of touch. Many today say that in our presentation of the gospel the blood of Jesus shed for us should not be mentioned. But, is there any gospel without the blood? NO! Ephesians 1:7 tells us, “In whom we have redemption THROUGH HIS BLOOD, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.” Oliver B. Greene in his commentary on Ephesians said, “Redemption is through His blood. Jesus said, ‘The Son of man came not to be ministered unto but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Matt. 20:28). In the book of Leviticus (the ‘Hebrews” of the Old Testament), we read, ‘The life is in the blood’ (Leviticus 17:11). Therefore, Jesus came to give His blood a ransom for many. The blood of Jesus was pure, holy, sinless, guileless, stainless— the blood that ran through the veins of Jesus was the blood of Jehovah God (Acts 20:28). The blood is the price Jesus paid for our redemption” (5). B. SOME PROCRASTINATED (V32b). To many such a decision may sound like a reasonable answer. No one should make a hasty decision. But the most convenient cop-out is “I’ll decide later.” Many have procrastinated themselves into hell! Proverbs 29:1 warns us, “He, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.” Augustine said, “God has promised forgiveness to your repentance, but He has not promised tomorrow to your procrastination” (6). ILLUS: Someone has said, “Being neutral about Jesus is like a paratrooper jumping from an airplane being neutral about pulling his rip-cord.” There comes a time when you MUST decide.

C. SOME BELIEVED (v34). A few believed. “Dionysius” was a member of the Areopagus, an intellectual. “Damaris” was a woman who heard the message and believed. But the majority rejected Paul’s message. *Charles Swindoll says in his book, Paul, A Man of Grit and Grace, “The same response happens today. Every effective sermon results in some sneering and rejecting—and immediate negative response. Some are intrigued enough to return for a second hearing. A small group of others believe..You too are in one of those categories” (Swindoll, p. 211-212). CLOSING: How do we preach to those living in darkness? As Paul did: WITH GENUINE CONVICTION and WITH PROFOUND SIMPLICITY. And we will see our message met WITH VARIED RESPONSE. Friend, are you sharing Christ with those living in darkness? You do not have to be a preacher to proclaim Christ to others. Is there one here who realizes they are living in darkness? If so, Will you come to Christ today? A Buddhist in Africa was recently converted to Christianity. He was asked why he changed his faith and why he converted to Christ. He said, “It’s like this: If you were walking along and came to a fork in the road and two men were there and one was dead and the other was alive, which man’s direction would you follow?” There’s a great message there for the lost world. Jesus is alive, standing at the fork of the road waiting to show you the way to heaven. Which direction will you choose? NOTES: 1. John G. Butler. Paul, The Missionary Apostle. p. 396. 2. Butler. p. 400. 3. Butler. p. 407. 4. Butler. p. 414. 5. Oliver B. Greene. The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Ephesians. p. 42. 6. Albert M. Wells, Jr. Inspiring Quotations-Contemporary & Classical. p. 166.