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Feeding the Hungry Presenting the Truth Msg 8 8 · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: In a past paced world like ours, it is easy
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Speaker 1: to feel that our insignificant life is sort of overlooked,
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Speaker 1: and when trials come and displace our peace, it's easy
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Speaker 1: to feel that we have been maybe even forgotten. In
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Speaker 1: cynical moments, we may entertain thoughts that we've been abandoned
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Speaker 1: by the one we have believed in. There's a great
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Speaker 1: statement made by the prophet Isaiah that begins with a question,
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Speaker 1: can a woman forget her nursing child that she should
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Speaker 1: not have compassion on the sun of her womb? Yes,
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Speaker 1: they may forget, but I will never forget you. I
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Speaker 1: have inscribed you on the palms of my hands. Your
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Speaker 1: ways are continually before me. I'll just do something a
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Speaker 1: little different. Look at your hand. Look at the lines
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Speaker 1: in the palm of your hand. See how clear they are.
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Speaker 1: No two lines are the same in a person's hand,
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Speaker 1: from one to another, and just as clear as the
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Speaker 1: lines in your hand are to you. So your ways
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Speaker 1: are clear and known by the God who made you.
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Speaker 1: Be assured of that, even in those moments when you
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Speaker 1: feel forgotten abandoned. Surprising to many people, when the so
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Speaker 1: Paul found himself alone in Athens, as we will see
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Speaker 1: him today in Act seventeen, there must have been a
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Speaker 1: twinge of a loneeness, a little different from loneliness. No
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Speaker 1: companions are with him. He's there in the busy mall,
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Speaker 1: in the streets of Athens, far away from what he
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Speaker 1: would call his home, and certainly a long away from
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Speaker 1: Christian friends. And it's in that context that this message emerges.
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Speaker 1: Where we will read of a sermon that has been
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Speaker 1: recorded in the Scriptures. Unusual. If you have a Bible
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Speaker 1: with you today, turned to the fifth book in the
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Speaker 1: New Testament, the Book of Acts, locate the seventeenth chapter.
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Speaker 1: I want to read this sermon for you today and
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Speaker 1: have you understand the setting of it, which begins at
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Speaker 1: verse sixteen. And then we get to the actual message
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Speaker 1: Paul delivered. When you find that because of our respect
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Speaker 1: for the word of God and the God who gave
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Speaker 1: us his word, please stand for the reading of the scriptures.
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Speaker 1: I'll be reading from the New Living Translation, Acts seventeen sixteen.
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Speaker 1: While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was
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Speaker 1: deeply troubled by all the idols he saw everywhere in
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Speaker 1: the city. He went to the synagogue to reason with
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Speaker 1: the Jews and the god fearing Gentiles, and he spoke
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Speaker 1: daily in the public square to all who happened to
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Speaker 1: be there. He also had a debate with some of
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Speaker 1: the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers. When he told them about
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Speaker 1: Jesus and his resurrection. They said, what's this babbler trying
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Speaker 1: to say with these strange ideas he's picked up. Others said,
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Speaker 1: he seems to be preaching about some foreign gods. Then
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Speaker 1: they took him to the High Council of the city.
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Speaker 1: Come and tell us about this new teaching. They said,
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Speaker 1: you were saying some rather strange things, and we want
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Speaker 1: to know what it's all about. It should be explained
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Speaker 1: that all the Athenians, as well as the foreigners in Athens,
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Speaker 1: seemed to spend all their time discussing the latest ideas.
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Speaker 1: So Paul, standing before the council, addressed them as follows,
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Speaker 1: men of Athens. I noticed that you were very religious
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Speaker 1: in every way, For as I was walking along, I
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Speaker 1: saw your many shrines, and one of your altars had
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Speaker 1: this inscription on it to an unknown god. This god,
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Speaker 1: whom you worship without knowing, is the one I'm telling
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Speaker 1: you about. He is the god who made the world
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Speaker 1: and everything in it. Since He is lord of heaven
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Speaker 1: and earth. He doesn't live in man made temples, and
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Speaker 1: human hands can't serve his needs, for he has no needs.
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Speaker 1: He himself gives life and breath to everything, and he
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Speaker 1: satisfies every need. From one man, He created all the
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Speaker 1: nations throughout the whole earth. He decided beforehand when they
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Speaker 1: should rise and fall, and he determined their boundaries. His
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Speaker 1: purpose was for the nations to seek after God and
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Speaker 1: perhaps feel their way toward Him and find him. Though
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Speaker 1: he is not far from any one of us, for
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Speaker 1: in him we live and move and exist. As some
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Speaker 1: of your own poets have said, we are his offspring.
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Speaker 1: And since this is true, we shouldn't think of God
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Speaker 1: as an idol designed by craftsmen from gold or silver
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Speaker 1: or stone. God overlooked people's ignorance about these things in
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Speaker 1: earlier times, but now he commands everyone everywhere to repent
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Speaker 1: of their sins and turn to him or He has
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Speaker 1: set a day for judging the world with justice by
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Speaker 1: the man he has appointed. And he proved to everyone
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Speaker 1: who this is by raising him from the dead. When
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Speaker 1: they heard Paul speak about the resurrection of the dead,
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Speaker 1: some laughed in contempt, but others said, we want to
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Speaker 1: hear more about this later. That ended Paul's discussion with them,
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Speaker 1: but some joined him and became believers. Among them or Dionysius,
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Speaker 1: a member of the council, a woman named Damaris, and
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Speaker 1: others with them. Our desire today, as the Lord, would
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Speaker 1: help us understand what has been written and realize how
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Speaker 1: perfectly it fits into the creases and crevices of our
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Speaker 1: own life. Please be seated before the offering of the morning.
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Speaker 1: Will you join me as we pray together? As we
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Speaker 1: read these words, our Father, we remember when we first
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Speaker 1: heard the truth delivered to us, not by a man
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Speaker 1: named Paul, but perhaps by our parent or a good friend,
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Speaker 1: maybe someone who was preaching the good news, perhaps from
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Speaker 1: a fellow member of a team we were on, a teacher,
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Speaker 1: someone who cared enough for our soul to tell us
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Speaker 1: the truth. Thank you that down through the ages there
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Speaker 1: have always been such faithful people, appropriate that we today
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Speaker 1: thank you for this man named Paul, who, finding himself
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Speaker 1: in the midst of all the idols, proclaimed the One
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Speaker 1: True God without hesitation or reservation or intimidation. Speaking to
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Speaker 1: a group who had no clue, he delivered your message
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Speaker 1: under the power of your spirit. Today we pray the
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Speaker 1: same will occur as we meeting together, open our bibles
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Speaker 1: and hear the truth declared. Give us a deep respect
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Speaker 1: for it in a world that is adrift, in a
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Speaker 1: country that is a wash in its own self, and
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Speaker 1: a culture that is at war. Remind us, our Father,
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Speaker 1: of your grace heaped upon us in such abundance. Thank
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Speaker 1: you for healing our bodies, for healing our emotional wounds,
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Speaker 1: for caring about us, feeding our souls, or giving us
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Speaker 1: a place to worship and a book from which to
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Speaker 1: declare this truth. Inspired and protected by your mighty power,
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Speaker 1: today we exult in the privilege of worship, and we
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Speaker 1: rejoice in that. Thank You for these many children who
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Speaker 1: sang for each home. They represent, each with his or
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Speaker 1: her own soul, who will learn of you and will
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Speaker 1: trust in you, Our Father. We pray now that you
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Speaker 1: will use these offerings and the gifts we give in
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Speaker 1: these other ways announced today to broaden the message of Christ,
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Speaker 1: make it known clearly in a forthright manner that others
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Speaker 1: might hear. And trusting you, we commit our offerings to
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Speaker 1: you now in the matchless name of Christ, our Savior,
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Speaker 1: Our Lord, everyone said, Amen. Raw open idolatry is a
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Speaker 1: heartbreaking sight. Heartbreaking. If you have lived all your life
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Speaker 1: in these United States, you're left with your imagination because
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Speaker 1: you have probably not seen raw open idolatry. But if
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Speaker 1: you have traveled internationally and have gone to one of
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Speaker 1: those dark places where there are temples and shrines dedicated
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Speaker 1: to the spiritual sewage of idolatry, you know how heart
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Speaker 1: breaking and frightening it can be. Temples filled with idols,
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Speaker 1: where people come to pay their money or to kiss
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Speaker 1: the statue, or to bow before this man made object
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Speaker 1: will break your heart. You know, the sense of depression
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Speaker 1: and emptiness that swarms you. It's hard to put that
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Speaker 1: mixture of emotion into words, but if you have been there,
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Speaker 1: you don't need me to do that for you. It'll
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Speaker 1: just break your heart. You realize when you're there, the
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Speaker 1: emptiness of soul in many ways. On the other hand,
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Speaker 1: the hunger of the heart for something, someone to worship,
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Speaker 1: anything to fill, as Pascal put it, this God shaped
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Speaker 1: vacuum in my soul. If it must take an idol,
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Speaker 1: then an idol it will be. It is that scene
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Speaker 1: in the first century in the city of Athens, where
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Speaker 1: Paul found himself. Paul, the monotheistic, strict pharisee among Pharisees,
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Speaker 1: as Saul of Tarsus, who had cut his teeth on
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Speaker 1: the decalogue, learning first, you shall have no other gods
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Speaker 1: before you, and all through his conversion to Christ and
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Speaker 1: the beginning of his walk with the Savior, he simply
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Speaker 1: reaffirmed that God and God alone is the one deserving
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Speaker 1: of our worship. There is no other, and to give
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Speaker 1: that worship to another is to prostitute faith. Suddenly, alone,
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Speaker 1: without companions, no one traveling with him into the city,
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Speaker 1: he finds himself in this cultural intellectual setting, where he
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Speaker 1: is enveloped in idols. Their own people wrote of them.
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Speaker 1: Porsenius says Athens had more images than all the rest
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Speaker 1: of Greece put together. Pliny adds, in the time of Nero,
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Speaker 1: Athens had well over twenty five to thirty thousand public statues,
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Speaker 1: excluding thirty thousand in the Parthenon. Petronius sneers, it is
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Speaker 1: easier to find a God than a man in Athens.
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Speaker 1: That's where Paul found himself. Is anyone surprised that he
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Speaker 1: is paracuno in his spirit? The word means stirred, up, irritated, provoked, exercise, stimulated,
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Speaker 1: urged to action. There were idols everywhere. We've all heard
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Speaker 1: of sleepless in Seattle. Well we find Paul aghast in Athens,
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Speaker 1: as he seized them all around him, esched in monuments,
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Speaker 1: in buildings, on statues of all shapes and sizes, made
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Speaker 1: of all elements you can imagine. And here's Paul coming
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Speaker 1: into the city alone, surrounded by all these idols. Xenophon
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Speaker 1: describes Athens as one great altar, one great offering to
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Speaker 1: the gods. That's Athens in the first century. There he stood.
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Speaker 1: He's not angry, he isn't filled with hatred against the Athenians.
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Speaker 1: There's a mixture of heart brokenness and sadness when you
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Speaker 1: realize that these people so thirsty for something or someone
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Speaker 1: to worship, that kept building and kept erecting, and kept
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Speaker 1: sculpting the idols made with human hands. And maybe this
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Speaker 1: will work. Maybe that one they even had one they
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Speaker 1: named Agnostotheo Agnostic God, the unknown God. In case we
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Speaker 1: missed one, we'll build one that has no name and
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Speaker 1: simply call him the unknown One. Paul couldn't stay still
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Speaker 1: or silent so he found his way, as was his
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Speaker 1: custom when visiting a city, first to the synagogue. There
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Speaker 1: he spoke to Jews and to god fearing gentiles alike.
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Speaker 1: That wasn't enough for him, and so he moved out
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Speaker 1: into what we would call the mall, the agora, the marketplace,
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Speaker 1: and there he publicly, if you will, on a free
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Speaker 1: speech platform, stood and proclaimed the God of heaven and
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Speaker 1: earth and his son Jesus Christ crucified and risen from
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Speaker 1: the dead. Before long, the philosophers gathered as they were
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Speaker 1: wont to do in the Agora, and they realized they
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Speaker 1: had among them. Well, they had a word for it.
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Speaker 1: They called him a seed picker. It's a word for plagiaris.
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Speaker 1: He's picked a little here, and he's gotten a line
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Speaker 1: from there, and he's tossed out this interesting story about
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Speaker 1: this God of heaven. So they realized there's one place
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Speaker 1: the man ought to go if he wants to have
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Speaker 1: an intelligent presentation with people that can follow his teaching,
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Speaker 1: and so they took him to the Areopagus. The word
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Speaker 1: means Mars Hill. If you travel to Athens today, you
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Speaker 1: certainly will want to visit the Parthenon and across from
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Speaker 1: the Parthenon. There is a hill standing not quite four
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Speaker 1: hundred feet high, a solid granite deposit. The sides are
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Speaker 1: slicked from tourists trying to climb up on it, until
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Speaker 1: they finally built a stairway that you can walk on
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Speaker 1: now to get up on. That's the very rock on
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Speaker 1: which Paul stood. Why there because there was where the
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Speaker 1: Supreme Court met, they heard cases of homicide and morals,
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Speaker 1: and whatever may have been the case brought before them.
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Speaker 1: They escorted him to this place where the prectigious mines
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Speaker 1: would gather. There's a debate as to how many there
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Speaker 1: were among the Areopagites, maybe as few as twelve, perhaps
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Speaker 1: as many as thirty. It may be that they allowed
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Speaker 1: others from the general public to stand around the edges
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Speaker 1: and listen as Paul stood among them. What a moment
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Speaker 1: to all who are intrigued with the skill of communication,
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Speaker 1: this speech in Acts seventeen twenty two to thirty one
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Speaker 1: is worth your time. Here is a window of opportunity
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Speaker 1: that would open and never reopen for Paul. The eggheads
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Speaker 1: of Athens will meet with the seed picker from Jerusalem,
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Speaker 1: and they'll hear what this gutter sparrow has to say
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Speaker 1: that would in some way tweet their interests, that was
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Speaker 1: about the spirit they had in their heart. It's a
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Speaker 1: tough place to deliver a speech, but Paul is not intimidated,
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Speaker 1: nor does he stutter. Let's look at the speech as
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Speaker 1: a whole. Just generally. Remember, in our study of the scriptures,
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Speaker 1: we're learning the value of observation what does the Bible say?
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Speaker 1: Followed by interpretation what does it mean? And that is
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Speaker 1: embellished with correlation, what does it say elsewhere on the
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Speaker 1: same or similar subjects? And finally, the crowning part is application.
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Speaker 1: What does it mean or say to me or to
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Speaker 1: someone else personally. First, let's observe the speech. You notice
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Speaker 1: it begins at verse twenty two, where we read Paull
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Speaker 1: standing before the council, addressed them as follows, and the
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Speaker 1: quotation marks that appear in your Bible began the talk,
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Speaker 1: and they end at verse thirty one, where Paul refers
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Speaker 1: to the resurrection of Jesus. So first, unnoticed the speech
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Speaker 1: is recorded in only ten verses twenty two to thirty one.
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Speaker 1: I've read it several times, both silently and aloud, and
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Speaker 1: I noticed it takes two minutes or a little less
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Speaker 1: than two minutes to deliver this sermon. Do not get
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Speaker 1: your hopes up. This is Paul preaching a master of condensation,
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Speaker 1: as Merrill Tinney once put in by the way third,
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Speaker 1: I would notice that he used terms anyone could understand.
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Speaker 1: One of the characteristics of a good speech is that
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Speaker 1: nobody is left aside because of the verbiage. He uses
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Speaker 1: no Christianese because they are not Christians. He does not
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Speaker 1: refer to his theological training at the feet of Gamelion
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Speaker 1: because they are not Theologians. He uses everyday language that
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Speaker 1: would be of interest and understood by the general public,
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Speaker 1: young and old or alike. There's no secret code you
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Speaker 1: need to know to understand any of the terms or
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Speaker 1: the thinking that Paul delivers. Let me mention one more observation.
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Speaker 1: He does it all without any time to prepare. They
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Speaker 1: take him from the mall the marketplace, directly to Mars Hill,
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Speaker 1: where he delivers his speech. There's no scroll to consult,
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Speaker 1: there's no person to talk to. There's no quiet place
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Speaker 1: to gather his thoughts or to pray and to put
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Speaker 1: together his speech. This is a spontaneously delivered speech, not
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Speaker 1: prepared in a process of time. He delivers it on
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Speaker 1: the spot, and I'll tell you he knew how to communicate.
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Speaker 1: Not all do. For example, Bubba had shingles. Bubba walked
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Speaker 1: into the doctor's office and the receptionist asked him what
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Speaker 1: he had. Bubba said, simply shingles. So she wrote down
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Speaker 1: his name, addressed medical insurance number, and told him to
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Speaker 1: have a seat. Fifteen minutes later, a nurse came out
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Speaker 1: and asked Bubba what he had shingles. She wrote down
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Speaker 1: his height, his weight, a complete medical history, told Bubba
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Speaker 1: to wait in the examining room. Half hour later, a
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Speaker 1: nurse came in and asked Bubba what he had shingles.
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Speaker 1: He said again, so the nurse gave Bubba blood test,
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Speaker 1: blood pressure test, an electric cardiogram, told Bubba to take
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Speaker 1: off all his clothes wait for the doctor. An hour later,
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Speaker 1: the doctor came in, found Bubba sitting patiently in the
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Speaker 1: nude and asked Bubba what he had shingles. The doctor
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Speaker 1: said where, Bubba said, outside on the truck. Where do
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Speaker 1: you want me to unload him? Sometimes you think you're
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Speaker 1: communicating clearly when you're missing it. Paul doesn't miss it.
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Speaker 1: He hits the target right in the middle of the bullseye.
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Speaker 1: Paul begins what we will call a verbal bridge, a
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Speaker 1: verbal bridge from where they were to where he wanted
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Speaker 1: them to go. And you get there with words, words
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Speaker 1: that are interesting, understandable, reasonable, logical. Every good speech does that.
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Speaker 1: The one speaking has information that he wants those who
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Speaker 1: are listening to learn to hear, a wily to respond to.
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Speaker 1: He or she starts at that place, and with the
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Speaker 1: use of words, begins to build a bridge to the realm,
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Speaker 1: that destination he or she has in mind to bring
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Speaker 1: them to. Paul is no exception. Now watch I'm telling
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Speaker 1: you about him, and he begins without further ado, as
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Speaker 1: he introduces them to one they've never met. As I've
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Speaker 1: thought through this speech and worked it over in the
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Speaker 1: time I've had to give to it, I've come up
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Speaker 1: with four or five specifics that I think are worth noting. First,
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Speaker 1: he started where they were. He started where they were,
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Speaker 1: Verse twenty two, Men of Athens, I notice that you
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Speaker 1: are very religious in every way. Pause right there. Let's
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Speaker 1: leave Paul standing in his sandals and the philosophers in
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Speaker 1: their robes. Let's picture the scene. There is no insult,
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Speaker 1: there is no condemnation. There is in fact a rather
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Speaker 1: gracious opening line. I notice that you men are very religious.
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Speaker 1: I'm in the process of reading philipp Ancy's volume titled
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Speaker 1: Vanishing Grace. In it, of all things, I came across
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Speaker 1: a reference to Act seventeen. He writes, it makes a
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Speaker 1: huge difference whether I treat a non believer as someone
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Speaker 1: who is wrong rather than someone who is on the
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Speaker 1: way lost. For a helpful model, I look to the apostle.
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Speaker 1: Paul's speech in the cultural center of Athens is recorded
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Speaker 1: in Act seventeen. Now listen. Instead of condemning his audience
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Speaker 1: to Hell for practicing idolatry, Paul begins by commending their
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Speaker 1: spiritual search, especially their devotion to an unknown God, God
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Speaker 1: planned creation in human life. Paul told the Athenians so
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Speaker 1: that we would seek him and perhaps reach out for
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Speaker 1: him and find him, though he is not far from
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Speaker 1: any one of us. Yancey continues. He builds his case
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Speaker 1: from common ground, quoting two of their own writers to
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Speaker 1: affirm basic truths. Demonstrating a humble respect for his audience,
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Speaker 1: Paul circles the themes of lostness and a strange family
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Speaker 1: before presenting a richer understanding of a God who cannot
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Speaker 1: be captured in the images of gold, silver, or stone.
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Speaker 1: That's exactly what Paul does. Had you been one of
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Speaker 1: the philosophers, one of the Areopagites, you would not have
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Speaker 1: felt put off or put down with his opening line,
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Speaker 1: I observe that you are very religious. He starts where
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Speaker 1: they are read a little further. As I was walking along,
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Speaker 1: I saw your many shrines. Now they've been there all
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Speaker 1: their adult life. Even earlier they walked among the shrines.
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Speaker 1: They know exactly what he's talking about. By the way,
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Speaker 1: evangelist Billy Graham is one of the greatest at this.
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Speaker 1: He comes to a city and makes a study of
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Speaker 1: the city, and then when he stands before that metropolis
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Speaker 1: or the gathering from that city, he uses often some
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Speaker 1: of the things from the city as the background to
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Speaker 1: the beginning of his message. It's a marvelous method in
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Speaker 1: delivering a speech. You begin where the audience is. And
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Speaker 1: by the way, there's respect shown for these people. You see.
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Speaker 1: I have never known of anyone who said they were
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Speaker 1: just drawn to Christ because someone insulted them, or because
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Speaker 1: they had an argument and lost, and by losing the argument,
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Speaker 1: they just had to turn the one who died for
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Speaker 1: their sins. It doesn't work like that, and for all
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Speaker 1: of you who witness learn a lesson. You gain nothing
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Speaker 1: by putting anyone down. But he doesn't flatter them. I
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Speaker 1: notice you're very religious. I was walking along your many
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Speaker 1: shrines and I found one of the altars that had
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Speaker 1: this inscription on it to an unknown god. This is
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Speaker 1: a genius moment. He is in the midst of the shrines,
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Speaker 1: surrounded by tens of thousands of them, and he spots
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Speaker 1: one one of nostrotheo m there's a god they don't know.
31:19
Speaker 1: So he has the chance to stand on Mars Hill
31:23
Speaker 1: to speak to these very intelligent men, and he says
31:27
Speaker 1: to them, you don't know him. I've met him, and
31:35
Speaker 1: I'm here to introduce you to him. May I ask,
31:39
Speaker 1: are you on tiptoe? Are you interested? You've seen the shrine,
31:46
Speaker 1: You've been right there in the mall, And he says,
31:51
Speaker 1: I I saw this unknown God, This god whom you
31:54
Speaker 1: worship without knowing, is the one I'm telling you about.
32:04
Speaker 1: I don't know about you. But at that moment, when
32:06
Speaker 1: I was reading this for the mptiue time I smiled again.
32:11
Speaker 1: The genius of the transition what a point to make
32:19
Speaker 1: you have a shrine to one that I'm going to
32:22
Speaker 1: tell you about. They were not aware of, nor had
32:27
Speaker 1: they ever studied, this one who made the world and
32:31
Speaker 1: everything in it. So that's brand new information. He doesn't
32:37
Speaker 1: condemn them for not knowing it. He simply begins the
32:39
Speaker 1: bridge with the building block of words, words that capture
32:46
Speaker 1: their attention. He started where they were. Second, he used
32:53
Speaker 1: the familiar to introduce the unfamiliar. We saw that in
32:59
Speaker 1: our last study when we found Jesus giving the parable
33:03
Speaker 1: of the sore. And there is the hard soil, and
33:07
Speaker 1: there is the shallow soil, and there is the thorny soil,
33:11
Speaker 1: and there is the good fertile soil. Remember when we
33:15
Speaker 1: were together and we looked that over and we talked
33:20
Speaker 1: about how perfectly it was for Jesus to choose something
33:26
Speaker 1: from agriculture familiar to all of them, sows the seed
33:32
Speaker 1: on all kinds of soil. In this case, Paul points
33:37
Speaker 1: to an unknown god and he says, in effect, he's knowable.
33:44
Speaker 1: He's unknown to you right now, but you need to
33:46
Speaker 1: know he's not only knowable, he's available. Let me tell
33:52
Speaker 1: you about him. But a grand transition now. Third, he
34:01
Speaker 1: develops his theme clearly and logically. Watch it unfold, Watch
34:08
Speaker 1: the bridge being built with words, Verse twenty twenty four.
34:15
Speaker 1: He's the God who made the world and everything in it.
34:20
Speaker 1: That's the new news to these philosophers. Oh, they've been
34:25
Speaker 1: taught by the brightest minds in Athens and beyond, but
34:31
Speaker 1: they've not been taught of a creator God. Travel to
34:35
Speaker 1: Greece to this day and you get a guide from Greece.
34:38
Speaker 1: You'll learn more of the mythology of Greece than you
34:41
Speaker 1: will of the God of Heaven. It is driving with mythology,
34:47
Speaker 1: just as the city surrounded by the gods. Paul says,
34:52
Speaker 1: I'm going to tell you about the God who made
34:54
Speaker 1: the world and everything in it. A God who made
34:57
Speaker 1: the world and everything in it. What's he talking about? You? See,
35:02
Speaker 1: you know too much. You who have been under the
35:06
Speaker 1: sound of the Gospel most of your life. Try to
35:09
Speaker 1: imagine having never been introduced to such a one. Since
35:17
Speaker 1: he is Lord of Heaven. Note the change from God
35:20
Speaker 1: to Lord, not just the God who created all things
35:25
Speaker 1: in heaven and on earth. He's the Lord of heaven
35:31
Speaker 1: and earth. Please observe the movement towards the other side
35:37
Speaker 1: of the bridge. He begins with the One who made
35:41
Speaker 1: the world. And now in the next line he describes
35:45
Speaker 1: him as Lord of heaven and Earth. And while I'm
35:51
Speaker 1: describing him to you and introducing this one to you,
35:55
Speaker 1: let me add he doesn't live in man made temples
36:01
Speaker 1: and humans hands can't serve his needs. Or here's a shocker.
36:11
Speaker 1: He has no needs. Stop and think. Being the creator,
36:18
Speaker 1: he cannot be contained. Being the originator, he has no needs.
36:25
Speaker 1: Being intelligent, he has a definite plan. In fact, look closely,
36:35
Speaker 1: he satisfies every need. He himself gives life and breath
36:41
Speaker 1: to everything, and he satisfies every need from one man.
36:45
Speaker 1: He created all the nations throughout the whole earth. Who's
36:48
Speaker 1: the one man. It's Adam, Adam. They've must heard the story.
36:57
Speaker 1: That's a story found in Genesis, a book not in
37:01
Speaker 1: their library. He never once quotes a verse from the
37:05
Speaker 1: Old Testament, nor does he call the name of Christ
37:08
Speaker 1: once they're totally unfamiliar with it. He doesn't. He isn't
37:13
Speaker 1: afraid to do so. He just is connecting with an
37:16
Speaker 1: audience who knows nothing about it. Takes real skill to
37:19
Speaker 1: do that. So he introduces them to the one who
37:25
Speaker 1: began with one man and created all the nations throughout
37:28
Speaker 1: the whole earth. And as if that isn't enough, look
37:31
Speaker 1: at this plan he decided beforehand. Don't miss that he
37:37
Speaker 1: decided before hand when they should rise and fall, and
37:44
Speaker 1: he determined their boundaries. Who is they? And there the nations.
37:52
Speaker 1: The nations haven't simply emerged out of evolution. The nations
37:55
Speaker 1: haven't simply formed because of the movement of geological changes.
37:59
Speaker 1: The nations have been determined according to their very boundaries
38:03
Speaker 1: by the God of Heaven. And he knows exactly what
38:06
Speaker 1: he's doing, and is a determined plan, and it is
38:08
Speaker 1: unfolding exactly as he has arranged it. Cynthia and I
38:11
Speaker 1: had a fascinating conversation over coffee this morning. We were
38:15
Speaker 1: talking about another subject, but we landed on the story
38:18
Speaker 1: of Esther, and we came to that fourth chapter where
38:22
Speaker 1: we reminded each other of that scene where the Jews
38:27
Speaker 1: are being threatened with extermination and Hayman, who is an
38:35
Speaker 1: enemy of the Jews at a Semitic to the core,
38:38
Speaker 1: has a plan that is subtly kept from the king.
38:41
Speaker 1: But when the plan is unfolded with the King's approval,
38:45
Speaker 1: the acts will fall and the Jews will be annihilated,
38:48
Speaker 1: another Holocaust. Mordecai, the cousin of Esther, who by the way,
38:55
Speaker 1: is the queen living with the king. Jordecai, who is
39:01
Speaker 1: on the outside, gets a message to Esther and says
39:04
Speaker 1: to her, you cannot remain silent. The implication is he
39:10
Speaker 1: may not know that we're Jewish. He may not know
39:12
Speaker 1: that you're Jewish, but you need to know. If the
39:15
Speaker 1: plan unfolds, we will be killed with the other Jews.
39:21
Speaker 1: Who knows. But what you have not come to this
39:26
Speaker 1: moment for such a time as this, meaning what Esther
39:33
Speaker 1: needs to realize. My becoming queen wasn't just the result
39:37
Speaker 1: of the beauty pageant that got me here. I'm not
39:41
Speaker 1: here simply because I have pretty features. God has a
39:45
Speaker 1: plan for putting me here. She hears her cousin and
39:49
Speaker 1: she says, in return, you fast, you pray, we will
39:56
Speaker 1: do the same, and I will go go in before him,
40:01
Speaker 1: even though I break the law in doing so. And
40:04
Speaker 1: if I die, if I must die, I die. It
40:08
Speaker 1: is a plot within a plot. I tell you the
40:11
Speaker 1: story because it is all unfolding in God's plan for
40:15
Speaker 1: the Jewish people. As you see it unfold in the
40:18
Speaker 1: Book of esther interesting book. The name of God never
40:21
Speaker 1: appears once, but his fingerprints are all over the pages.
40:26
Speaker 1: You see him at work. This is Paul's point. You
40:30
Speaker 1: may not have heard his voice, you won't see an image,
40:33
Speaker 1: because he is the invisible god of heaven and earth.
40:37
Speaker 1: But let me tell you the things are unfolding in
40:40
Speaker 1: time in this nation as well, exactly as he has arranged.
40:45
Speaker 1: He decided beforehand which nation should rise and which should fall,
40:49
Speaker 1: and he determined their boundaries. May I insert just by
40:53
Speaker 1: way of application. Don't think that it means America is
40:56
Speaker 1: out of that picture. And don't be too proud of
41:02
Speaker 1: the fact that we have done well for so long,
41:07
Speaker 1: because we are watching events unfold. To see the downward
41:12
Speaker 1: trend of a nation that was once strong and great.
41:20
Speaker 1: It's enough to make you realize that in the unfolding
41:24
Speaker 1: of the plan, God's arrangement for things becomes very personal,
41:31
Speaker 1: even my own nation, and the Athenians must have thought
41:36
Speaker 1: the same for their nation. It's a speech that's designed
41:41
Speaker 1: to make him make them think. Of course, so where
41:46
Speaker 1: does he go from there? He has the last few
41:48
Speaker 1: bricks to lay these words that will finish the bridge.
41:54
Speaker 1: And so, having used the familiar to introduce the unfamiliar,
41:57
Speaker 1: he develops his theme clearly and logically. That's next, he
42:02
Speaker 1: develops his theme clearly and logically. Let me mention, now
42:11
Speaker 1: what about Now you're probably thinking that gotten pretty deep,
42:15
Speaker 1: and maybe some minds were beginning to wander. That's when
42:18
Speaker 1: you want to use an illustration. Paul does that. Look
42:23
Speaker 1: at it. His purpose was for the nations to seek
42:28
Speaker 1: after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and
42:31
Speaker 1: find him, though he is not far from any of us,
42:36
Speaker 1: for in him we live and move and exist. As
42:39
Speaker 1: some of your own poets have said, look at this.
42:44
Speaker 1: Look at this, quoting from Aratus of Soli, which he
42:48
Speaker 1: has known and has it memorized. Not having had time
42:53
Speaker 1: to prepare his speech. Paul had studied Aratus, who lived
42:57
Speaker 1: in third century BC, but very wisely gives only the
43:02
Speaker 1: final line of the poem. Let me give you the
43:05
Speaker 1: first three lines. You'll know why Paul left out those lines.
43:10
Speaker 1: Zeus fills the streets, the marts, Zeus fills the seas,
43:15
Speaker 1: the shores, the rivers. Everywhere our need is Zeus. We
43:20
Speaker 1: also are his offspring. How great he doesn't mention Zeus,
43:26
Speaker 1: because Zeus is not the god of heaven and earth.
43:29
Speaker 1: Those Zeus may have been the zenith god among the Athenians.
43:34
Speaker 1: He simply says, the one I'm introducing to you two
43:37
Speaker 1: is the one who truly is our father, the father
43:43
Speaker 1: of all humans. And look at it as it unfolds.
43:47
Speaker 1: As some of your own poets have said, we are
43:49
Speaker 1: his offspring. He doesn't hesitate, very wisely, and spontaneously, quoting
43:57
Speaker 1: from these lines, he applies this to the one who
44:01
Speaker 1: has made heaven and earth. And now he begins to
44:05
Speaker 1: tighten the screws, as they are by now on tiptoe,
44:11
Speaker 1: holding their interest with his words building the bridge, he says,
44:16
Speaker 1: and since this is true, we shouldn't think of the
44:20
Speaker 1: God I'm introducing you to as an idol design by
44:23
Speaker 1: craftsmen from gold or silver or stone. That does it.
44:28
Speaker 1: The bridge is just about finished, and they're scratching their
44:32
Speaker 1: heads and pulling their beards, wondering where is this going.
44:40
Speaker 1: And so now he applies the message personally and effectively.
44:46
Speaker 1: Look at it. God overlooked people's ignorance Verse thirty about
44:51
Speaker 1: these things in earlier times, But now he commands everyone
44:54
Speaker 1: everywhere to repent of their sins. The word needs to
44:57
Speaker 1: change one's mind, to turn around the head to be
45:03
Speaker 1: going in one direction and turning go in the opposite direction.
45:06
Speaker 1: As it relates to sin. He commands that everyone everywhere
45:11
Speaker 1: repent of their sins and turned to him. Here's the clincher,
45:16
Speaker 1: for he has set a day for judging the world
45:19
Speaker 1: with justice by the man he is appointed. And he
45:23
Speaker 1: proved to everyone who this is by raising him from
45:28
Speaker 1: the dead. And who is that? Of course you know
45:32
Speaker 1: the answer. They don't. But with that statement they are
45:38
Speaker 1: put off. Don't think for a moment that they missed
45:42
Speaker 1: the hook. Which reminds me. If you love fishing, you
45:47
Speaker 1: know the importance of hiding the hook. I mean, you
45:51
Speaker 1: don't fish with a raw hook this big. If you
45:55
Speaker 1: fish down in the bay where I was raised, you
45:58
Speaker 1: put the shrimp on the hook like this, and it
46:02
Speaker 1: looks like a shrimp. You can't see the hook, and
46:06
Speaker 1: what you hope for is some gigantic redfish or speckled
46:09
Speaker 1: trout or flounder to come along with a big mouth
46:12
Speaker 1: and a hungry stomach. I think that maybe the way
46:16
Speaker 1: it sounds when they grab hold of the shrimp and
46:20
Speaker 1: suddenly They thought they were getting a shrimp, and they
46:22
Speaker 1: got the hook. Here's the hook. They got it. And
46:28
Speaker 1: don't think for a moment that Paul is unaware of
46:32
Speaker 1: the fact that since childhood the Athenians were taught and
46:35
Speaker 1: I quote, once a man dies and the earth brings
46:38
Speaker 1: up his blood, there is no resurrection. Suddenly that teaching
46:42
Speaker 1: kicked in all of a sudden, they realize where this
46:47
Speaker 1: is going to cross. This bridge means to trust in
46:51
Speaker 1: another and not in themselves, to turn to the one
46:55
Speaker 1: who had died and had been raised from the dead.
47:00
Speaker 1: As quickly as it all began, you could hear the
47:02
Speaker 1: break screech, hold it. Some start to laugh. Please observe
47:11
Speaker 1: now three very common reactions beginning at verse thirty two.
47:20
Speaker 1: When they who's the They the people who had gathered
47:23
Speaker 1: as the council, when they heard Paul speak about the
47:27
Speaker 1: resurrection of the dead, some laughed and contemper, you kidding me?
47:33
Speaker 1: You believe that nonsense. He doesn't plead with them, He
47:39
Speaker 1: doesn't beg them to believe. Please observe that he doesn't
47:45
Speaker 1: call for a response. Please notice that Southern Baptists, Please observe,
47:56
Speaker 1: please stay with it at him, you kidding, but there
48:04
Speaker 1: were some who responded, I haven't heard enough. I want
48:10
Speaker 1: to hear more about this later. One of the most
48:12
Speaker 1: dangerous words you could ever use when you hear the
48:15
Speaker 1: gospel is the word leader to procrastinate. At a man
48:20
Speaker 1: stand right down front of this church the first service,
48:24
Speaker 1: as we have ended our meeting. He's a forty eight
48:26
Speaker 1: year old man who said to me I was the
48:29
Speaker 1: specimen of health, and a very short time ago I
48:36
Speaker 1: got a headache and it was kind of strong. And
48:40
Speaker 1: the one I was with saiding, I give you an
48:41
Speaker 1: asper and I said, no, I'll be okay. And before
48:43
Speaker 1: long I'm vomiting. I'm fighting diarrhea, and I faint and
48:47
Speaker 1: the next thing, I wake up in the hospital and
48:50
Speaker 1: I've had a stroke. Forty eight years old. The doctor
48:56
Speaker 1: told him after the examination, you should have died three
48:59
Speaker 1: separate times, but amazingly you're alive. You sit and hear
49:06
Speaker 1: that story, and it is exactly as he told me.
49:09
Speaker 1: I asked permission from him if I could use it.
49:11
Speaker 1: He said, please do. It may awaken some to not
49:14
Speaker 1: put it off. Thankfully, he said, I was ready to die.
49:17
Speaker 1: I've trusted Christ. But let me tell you who haven't
49:21
Speaker 1: you think you have plenty of time. You think you
49:25
Speaker 1: can call the shots and say later. It would be
49:27
Speaker 1: next week, maybe around Christmas, perhaps after the turn of
49:30
Speaker 1: the year, or when I get the job I'm looking for,
49:34
Speaker 1: or I get past this battle I'm having with drugs
49:39
Speaker 1: or alcohol. When I get that conquered, then I'll be
49:41
Speaker 1: able to move in the right direction. Stop. Those who
49:48
Speaker 1: say later often die with the word on their lips.
49:52
Speaker 1: You don't know when there may be a car collision
49:55
Speaker 1: and you're finished, or when your heart will beat for
49:58
Speaker 1: the last time. I'm told by my physician that most
50:03
Speaker 1: heart attacks occur and there's no pain whatsoever. The person
50:07
Speaker 1: simply dies. If you have never trusted in the Lord
50:13
Speaker 1: Jesus Christ, learn a lesson from those who foolishly said, well,
50:17
Speaker 1: we'll talk to him later. By the way, there's no
50:19
Speaker 1: record here or elsewhere that they ever came back later
50:22
Speaker 1: to talk to him. It's a deliberate procrastination. But I'm
50:28
Speaker 1: impressed with the fact that there were a few who believed.
50:31
Speaker 1: Look at this, but some joined him and became believers.
50:36
Speaker 1: Among them, look Dionyssius, the area of a guite. Look
50:40
Speaker 1: at this. One of the members of the council talk
50:45
Speaker 1: about believing under pressure one of their own, maybe not
50:50
Speaker 1: at that very moment, but shortly thereafter said, I want
50:53
Speaker 1: you to know. I'm gonna I've crossed this bridge. I
50:57
Speaker 1: want to know more about the one who died and
51:00
Speaker 1: was raised for me. And then there's another named Damorus.
51:05
Speaker 1: We know nothing more of this woman, only that she's
51:07
Speaker 1: named here. And by the way, don't think that that
51:10
Speaker 1: was all it said. As you observe, some joined him
51:15
Speaker 1: and became believers among them. So it's more than these
51:18
Speaker 1: two among them Dionysius the area of a guite and
51:24
Speaker 1: Damaris and others with them. So we don't know how many.
51:29
Speaker 1: We don't know anything about their background, but thankfully Paul
51:33
Speaker 1: applied it in such a way that they couldn't miss it.
51:38
Speaker 1: Last time we were together, I asked you to find
51:40
Speaker 1: yourself in the soil. Today, I ask you to find
51:43
Speaker 1: yourself on bars hill. You're among the group. You're among
51:51
Speaker 1: those who will walk out, get in your car and
51:53
Speaker 1: sort of sneer as you drive away, saying, oh, I
51:56
Speaker 1: could a guy like that believe something like this? And
52:01
Speaker 1: you're free to do that. I promise you we won't
52:05
Speaker 1: get your license we won't follow you. No one will
52:11
Speaker 1: button hold you or force you to make a statement.
52:16
Speaker 1: You're on your own. You can choose to reject it.
52:23
Speaker 1: Others of you, tragically will think by putting it off.
52:26
Speaker 1: I'm not turning it off, but you are because you're
52:30
Speaker 1: counting on later, which you can't count on at all.
52:35
Speaker 1: And then there are those of us, by the grace
52:37
Speaker 1: of God, who have decided the one who died for
52:41
Speaker 1: us is worth everything, and we trust him. And in
52:48
Speaker 1: good Pauline fashion, I stopped there bow with me. Please,
52:59
Speaker 1: if you live to the moment and you lie down
53:01
Speaker 1: tonight and your head sinks into the pillow and you
53:06
Speaker 1: are alone with your thoughts, be sure you addressed the
53:11
Speaker 1: question what have I done with the message of the Gospel?
53:20
Speaker 1: I heard it today and I even he explain that
53:24
Speaker 1: Jesus painted all all to him. I owe that I
53:30
Speaker 1: can do nothing but trust in Christ. What are you
53:36
Speaker 1: going to do with that message? You may not wake
53:42
Speaker 1: up in the morning, Then again you may, and you'll
53:48
Speaker 1: think you can put it off further. Don't turned to him. Now.
54:06
Speaker 1: Remind us, our Father that you are the one in
54:10
Speaker 1: whom we live and move and exist. Deliver us from
54:14
Speaker 1: this arrogant miism of our times, where we think we
54:21
Speaker 1: call all our own shots, when in fact we can't
54:24
Speaker 1: even keep our own heart beating. I pray that as
54:29
Speaker 1: my voice ends, the message will continue on. It will
54:34
Speaker 1: return to revisit. Those who drop their heads into their
54:38
Speaker 1: pillows tonight. Are those who, over lunch think about these words.
54:46
Speaker 1: Are those who, at some critical moment this week will
54:50
Speaker 1: think back to what they have put off that they
54:54
Speaker 1: will trust you with their whole heart. Bring us, we pray,
54:58
Speaker 1: to the other side of the bridge, that we might
55:01
Speaker 1: know peace that lasts forever through Christ died for us.
55:07
Speaker 1: We asked this, everyone said amen.
55:14
Speaker 2: The preceding message, Feeding the Hungry Presenting the Truth was
55:19
Speaker 2: copyrighted in twenty fourteen, and the sound recording was copyrighted
55:23
Speaker 2: in twenty sixteen by Charles R. Swindall, Inc. All rights
55:27
Speaker 2: are reserved worldwide.