We're going to finish off Act 17.
And it's going to be good to be in this chapter for a number of weeks.
And really this morning I just want to tie up a couple of loose ends.
Two things.
I want us to see, first of all, the relevance of Paul's preaching.
And then I want us to see the response to Paul's preaching.
The relevance of Paul's preaching.
If you want to sell something in the marketplace,
then you need to advertise it, don't you, in as few words as possible.
If you're going to sell something on eBay, like some of you do,
one of the key things in the description is the brevity, isn't it?
You don't want to write on eBay a really kind of long description.
People don't have time, do they, to read all the blurbs.
So if you want to catch people's attention and you need to do so quickly,
you need a brief phrase, you need a catchphrase.
You need a couple of appropriate words to catch people's attention,
to claim people's attention.
And that's not only good salesmanship, that's good preaching.
Any preacher worth his salts should be able to summarize his sermons in a few words.
I do the children's sheets, so you children have got the sheets.
And what I often find is that as I seek to summarize the sermon,
my sermon often unravels when I'm doing the children's sheets.
And as I try to contract the sermon and think this is what I'm trying to say,
what I often find is my sermon isn't logical at all.
And it's good for preachers.
If you've got to just reduce the sermon to ten words,
what would those ten words be?
And you can't do that with lots of preachers,
but you can do it with the apostle Paul.
And that's exactly what Luke does with Paul.
Luke is the author of the Acts of the Apostles,
and he sums up Paul's preaching in Athens in two words.
You can see them in verse 18.
Paul preached to them Jesus and the resurrection.
There it is.
Paul's preaching in a nutshell.
That short hand, if you like.
Two words.
Jesus.
Resurrection.
There's quite a bit of confusion about that.
They didn't quite understand that at first.
They didn't know what he was talking about.
Look at verse 18.
They think, Paul, are you trying to introduce a couple of new gods
to their overcrowded pantheon?
Foreign deities.
And they were interested in that.
There's an element of confusion here.
But be that as it may be,
and they got the message.
They got the distinct impression in Paul's preaching.
And you wouldn't get it, I think, from a lot of preaching today.
They got the distinct impression from Paul's preaching
that he was setting up Jesus as God.
At least they understood that much.
In all their confusion,
they understood this much,
that whatever else Paul was saying about Jesus,
he was saying that Jesus was God.
There can be no doubt,
Paul preached Jesus as the God-man.
We've seen him in Acts 17 that he preached about God,
and he preached about man,
but he also preached that God became man.
That this great God who doesn't dwell in buildings made with hands,
this God who is the creator and the sustainer of the universe,
the one who has made us,
but this God became a man and lived amongst us.
He dwelt in our midst,
in the person of Jesus of Nazareth.
And that is the focus of Paul's preaching.
That is the focal point.
He preached about God,
he preached about man,
and he focused on Jesus,
the God-man.
And he particularly focused on Jesus and the resurrection.
He focused on the person and work of Jesus.
So there are some people that come to Acts 17,
and they say,
well,
Paul didn't preach the cross.
That's nonsense.
Because the resurrection includes the cross.
You can't have a resurrection,
can you,
unless someone has died.
You can't preach the resurrection
without speaking about the death of Christ
and the meaning of his death.
And so this is the focus of Paul's preaching in Athens.
He preached Jesus and the resurrection.
He preached the person and the work of Christ.
And Jesus and the resurrection
always go together in apostolic preaching.
As far as the early Christians were concerned,
the resurrection was the supreme evidence
that Christianity was true.
It was a sign that they pointed to.
It was a sign that Jesus pointed to
when he refused any other sign.
So in the days of his flesh,
they kept coming to him,
didn't they?
And they say,
if you are the Messiah,
if you are who you say you are,
if you are the Son of God,
show us a sign.
Do something in the heavens.
Do some kind of conjuring trick
with the stars,
and then we'll believe you.
Do some kind of miracle.
And Jesus refused to do that.
In fact,
the only sign that Jesus pointed to
was the sign of his resurrection.
And so he says,
doesn't he,
just as Jonah was in the belly of a fish
for three days and three nights,
so the Son of Man
will be three days and three nights
in the belly of the earth.
He said to them on another occasion,
do you remember?
I will destroy this temple,
and in three days
I will rise it up again.
And John tells us,
doesn't he,
that the body that Jesus was talking about
was his own body.
The only sign that Jesus pointed to
was the resurrection.
Sometimes people say to us,
don't they,
if you could produce some non-Christian
witnesses
to the resurrection,
I believe.
There aren't any.
Of course there aren't any.
Why?
Because the resurrection
makes people Christians.
Of course,
there aren't any
non-Christian witnesses
to the resurrection.
The resurrection is the sign.
It is the evidence
that Christianity is true.
And the apostles preached that.
They weren't ashamed of it.
They didn't preach it
in the way that we do.
And so,
very often,
when people talk about the resurrection,
well,
they may say this.
They say,
you ask me how I know he lives.
He lives within my heart.
You know that hymn?
You ask me how I know he lives.
He lives within my heart.
Sounds very spiritual,
doesn't it?
Jesus lives on in the human heart.
That's not what the apostles preached at all.
The apostles didn't preach
their subjective experience
of the resurrection.
They preached the objective reality of it
in space and time
in human history.
That God raised a man from the dead
called Jesus of Nazareth.
And that's the very heart
of the gospel that Paul preached.
The apostolic gospel.
The resurrection vindicates Jesus.
It is.
Doesn't it?
Do you remember how
Peter preached it earlier on in Acts?
He comes to the very town
where Jesus was crucified
and he says to the people,
you crucified him,
God raised him.
You've got a problem,
haven't you?
You've got a problem
because you thought
that he was worth nothing.
You wrote him off.
You thought,
we're finished with him now.
He was an imposter.
You wrote him off.
But what did God do?
God raised him from the dead.
And your opinion of Jesus
is diametrically opposed
to what God thinks of Jesus.
And you thought
that he was worth nothing,
but God has raised him.
And the resurrection
vindicates Jesus.
And it doesn't only vindicate Jesus,
it sets him apart
and it singles him out
from all other men.
from every single figure,
from every central figure
of world religions.
And that's what Paul says
to the Athenians.
This is the man,
quite literally.
The man whom God has appointed
to deal with the sin question.
And he's given us
assurance of that,
he says in verse 31,
by raising him from the dead.
He hasn't raised Buddha
from the dead.
Mohammed lies
a-mouldering in the grave.
You go and you visit
the tombs of these people.
Their shrines are there
to go to,
but Jesus is alive.
And he's been raised
from the dead
and the resurrection
singles out Jesus
and it sets him apart
from every other great name
in world history.
That this is the man
whom God has appointed
to deal with the sin question
one way or another.
This is the one
whom God has set apart
to deal with
the greatest problem
that you and I have.
The problem of sin.
And Jesus Christ
will deal with
that great problem
in one of two places.
Either in his death
upon a cross
or upon the judgment day
when he comes back.
Because he is the man
that God has appointed
to deal with
the problem of human sin.
You see,
we are not going to meet
an unknown God.
On the day of judgment
it will be Jesus
who we will meet.
The man whom God
has appointed
and God has chosen
to reveal himself
and to reconcile himself
to sinful men and women
and boys and girls.
And God has chosen Jesus
for that purpose
and the resurrection
sets him apart
in the most powerful way.
Is God saying
in the most emphatic
and the most eloquent
way possible,
this is my beloved son
with whom I am well pleased.
Hear him.
It is God's guarantee,
isn't it?
It is God's guarantee
that it is not written
on a scrap of paper.
You buy a washing machine
and you get a guarantee,
don't you?
And it is written down
on paper.
It is stuck in an email
attachment.
Something goes wrong
and you can't find it
but God has given
a guarantee
and he has written it
in human history
and he has written it
in time and space.
And it is there
for people to examine.
God has given us
assurance
of this very thing
by raising Jesus
from the dead.
He is underwritten
if I can put it like that,
the whole mission
of Jesus
by the resurrection.
Let's say
you get an insurance policy
and you have
an insurance policy
and in the small print
it says this policy
is underwritten
by Lloyds of London.
And you are given
assurance, aren't you?
Because you think,
well,
if Lloyds of London
underwrite it,
it surely must be valid.
But verse 31
of Acts 17
is telling you
that God has underwritten
the claims of Jesus.
This man.
Why this one man?
Why Jesus of Nazareth?
Why does everyone,
all people,
everywhere,
need to come to this one man,
to Jesus of Nazareth?
Can't people
have their own Jesus?
Well, because Jesus
is the man
whom God has appointed.
He is the universal man.
He is the inescapable man.
He is the man
with whom you have to do.
And God has appointed him
to deal with
your greatest problem,
your problem of sin
once and for all
in one way or another.
either in salvation
at the cross
or in judgment
on the day of judgment.
And this is the man
with whom you and I
have to do
and God has underwritten that.
And God has given
assurance to you
of that
by raising him
from the dead.
And God is saying
to you this morning,
in effect,
you can trust him
with your soul
and with your life.
He's saying to you,
you can believe
everything that he's said
about himself,
everything he's claimed,
everything he's said
about his person,
every claim that he's made
about his work,
you can rely on him.
Says God,
this is my beloved son
with whom I'm well pleased.
And the resurrection
sets him apart.
The resurrection vindicates him
and the resurrection
universalizes him.
Just think for a moment.
If only I'd been there
when Jesus was alive.
You hear that,
isn't it?
It's awful in Bibles.
If only I'd been living
when that man
was lowered through the roof
and met Jesus.
Well,
let's think about that.
How would you have got
to meet Jesus
in the first century?
How easy was it
to meet Jesus
in the first century?
How would you have
got to meet him?
Well,
with great difficulty,
if you were living here,
that would have been
particularly difficult,
isn't it?
You couldn't have gone
to Heathrow.
COVID restrictions
wouldn't let you fly anyway,
but you wouldn't have
been able to get there.
But let's say you,
let's say you could
get on board a plane
and you could have
got to Palestine
in the first century.
You would have
had great difficulty
locating Jesus.
And then you'd have
queued up with all
the other crowds.
You see,
the point of the resurrection
and the ascension
is that
Jesus is alive
and it universalizes him.
It universalizes
his availability
and his accessibility.
He is now
at the right hand
of the majesty on high.
Let me use
the Puritan illustration.
You think of the illustration
of the sun.
So when you get up
early in the morning
and you see
the sun
in the distance
rising,
you see the sun
in this big ball
on the horizon
and you see it
coming up
and it's cold
in the morning
and you see the sun
but you don't feel
the heat of the sun
yet.
And it seems
so near to you
but you don't get
any advantage of it.
But then as the sun
rises so that it's
up in the sky
at midday,
you can't even gaze
on the sun
because when it's
at its highest,
you can't dare
look into the sun
but you feel
the heat
of it.
You feel the heat
of it
at its most,
at its highest
level.
That's when it's
at its most effective.
That's when it's
nearest to you.
When you feel
the heat
and the strength
of it
more than
any other time.
And so the Lord
Jesus is no longer
here upon earth
but the Bible
says that he has
been raised
and he is
exalted
to the right hand
of the majesty
on high.
He is in the
highest place
that heaven affords.
It is his
by sovereign
right.
So this morning
he is raised
and exalted
and glorified
and seated
at the right hand
of the majesty
on high.
And that makes
him universally
accessible.
More accessible.
It universalizes
his availability
and so this morning
there are men
and women
and boys and girls
that can call upon
him instantly
from every corner
of the earth.
In every language
of the world
right now.
Because God
has raised him
from the dead.
He is the man
for all seasons.
He is the man
for the whole world.
He is the man
whom God
has ordained
to deal with
the question
of your sin
and guilt.
And so what I
want to say to you
is what could be
more relevant
than that this morning?
You see being
relevant is not
about telling people
what they want
to hear is it?
It's telling people
about what they
need to hear.
What does the world
need to hear?
At the moment
what does the world
need to hear?
It needs to hear
doesn't it?
The message of
Jesus Christ.
That he is Lord
that there is hope
in the midst of life
and death.
There is hope
in the midst
of this virus.
there have been
lots of people
who when they
heard that Paul
was going to
preach in Athens
they would tell him
listen if you're
going to preach
in the Areopagus
it's a great
opportunity.
It's a really
really great
opportunity.
You know it's
the intellectual
capital of the
world.
Leave out the
resurrection.
They'll only
laugh at you.
And whatever you
do Paul please
don't preach about
judgment because
nobody really
believes in
judgment anymore.
And remember
you're talking
to the
sophisticated
intellectuals of
the day.
Don't tell them
to repent of
their sins.
These are decent
civilized people
I'm sure.
And there would
be lots of
people wouldn't
there?
They would come
and give to
Paul all sorts
of advice.
Paul it's the
opportunity of a
lifetime.
Do you realize
how privileged
you are to get
to speak at
the Areopagus?
Make sure you
don't talk about
this and don't
talk about that.
But being relevant
is not telling
people about what
they want to
hear.
It's telling
people about
what they
need to
hear.
And isn't
it very
strange?
Very often
the very
truths that
men and
women and
boys and
girls do
not want
to hear are
the very
truths they
need to
hear.
And so
here is
Athens in
the first
century with
the vast
heritage of
human learning.
The institutions
they possessed,
they celebrated
names among
their leading
thinkers but did
they know God?
because for
all their
learning and
all their
religion did
they know
God?
Have they by
their wisdom
found God?
No.
And so
Paul says
right at the
very center
at the heart
of Athens
there is an
altar to the
unknown God.
You are
ignorant.
And if
ever there
was a cry
from the
heart of
the city
that is it
isn't it?
An altar to
the unknown
God.
And
Augustine
tells us
that there
is a
God
shaped
void.
There is
a God
shaped
blank
in every
human heart
that only
Christ can
fill.
Isn't that
ridiculous?
Isn't it?
Extreme
sang a love
song when I
was a
teenager.
There is a
hole in my
heart that
can only be
filled by
you.
It is
ridiculous.
Isn't it?
It is
true of
God.
The
Athenians
didn't see
it like
that but
that was
the reality.
So what
can be more
relevant for
those in
Athens than
for Paul to
come and
talk to
them about
Christ?
They
didn't see
it like
that.
They
thought
that this
gap,
this
void,
this
unknown
God,
they
thought
it was
just a
gap in
their
knowledge.
But in
fact it
was a
fatal
flaw in
their
thinking.
And Paul
comes along
and he
preaches
Jesus.
He
doesn't
talk more
about
philosophy
and more
about
science
to them.
He talks
about
Jesus.
That's
what he
focuses
on.
And he
talks about
Jesus of
Nazareth who
is the
man whom
God has
ordained to
deal with
the problem
of sin.
Nothing
could be
more relevant
than that.
And that's
demonstrated,
isn't it,
today again and
again and
again.
Here we
are, we've
got far
more than
the Athenians
had,
haven't we?
we not
only have
wisdom, we
have
science.
And science
says,
lockdown.
Science
says,
COVID tears.
And science
says,
lockdown.
And science
says, do
this, and
science
says, do
that.
And we
put our
trust in
science.
And so we
have a great
explosion in
human
knowledge,
but is the
world a
better place
to live
in?
Is the
world a
safer place
to live
in?
Are you
really any
happier than
your grandparents
were?
You've much
fuller homes,
you have much
fuller lives,
but just like
Solomon said in
Ecclesiastes,
in much
knowledge,
much wisdom,
so much
grief.
He who
increases
knowledge,
increases
sorrow,
isn't that
true?
There's never
been a
generation that's
had more,
and
and yet
there's never
been a
generation that
struggles with
mental health,
with issues
like we're
facing today.
Ecclesiastes
goes on,
it says,
what is
crooked cannot
be made
straight.
You cannot
make things
together,
come together,
can you?
You can't
strengthen things
out, and
that is the
human problem.
There's no
human answer,
Ecclesiastes
tells you.
Let me tell
you of the
poet Samuel
Taylor Coleridge.
Samuel Taylor
Coleridge was
one of the
finest poets
of his time,
but there's a
back story.
There's a
personal tragedy
with Samuel
Taylor Coleridge.
He was an
opium addict,
he was a
junkie,
he was a
druggie.
And Samuel
Taylor Coleridge
wanted to be
free of it,
so you know
what he did?
Coleridge hired
a man to
watch him day
and night so
that he'd
kick the
habit.
It's a
really wise
thing to
do,
isn't it?
Got
accountability,
good thinking.
So he
hired this
man to
live in
his house
and to
watch him
and to
be with
him day
and night
so that
he would
break the
drug
habit that
had taken
hold of
his life
and was
spoiling
his life.
It's good
thinking,
it's very
wise,
but it
didn't
work.
It didn't
work.
What
happened?
Well,
Coleridge
started to
make plans
to deceive
the very
man he
was paying
to set
him free.
Isn't
that a
perfect
illustration
of our
moral
problem?
So the
problems in
your life
and my
life can't
be touched
by just
getting more
education or
more science
or more
technology
because actually
when we're
really honest
we know that
those things
don't even
touch the
problems that
we have.
Resolutions,
they don't
touch the
problems that
we have.
It's a
moral problem.
There's a
moral kink in
our nature.
And so
Paul says
in Act 7
the good I
want to do,
I don't do.
The evil that
I hate to
do, I find
myself doing
it, that's
true to
life.
You see
the right
thing, you
know it's
the right
thing, you
want to do
it, but
you can't
do it.
You don't
do it.
And the
thing that you
don't want
to do, you
know it's
wrong, you
know it will
spoil your
life, but you
can't stop
yourself from
doing it.
And that's
the problem.
So what can
touch a
problem like
that?
The answer
is nothing
but Jesus
and the
resurrection.
That's what
Paul discovered
in it.
That was his
testimony.
He tried
everything else.
He tried
religion, he
tried knowledge,
he was a
university
professor, he
was a
religious man,
a Pharisee, a
member of the
ruling council,
he tried
knowledge, he
tried religion,
he tried all
sorts of things,
but he said
actually to know
him to know
Jesus and the
power of his
resurrection.
It was nothing
less than the
power of a
raised Jesus
from the dead
was able to
deal with the
sin in his
life and in
my life.
And you
need Jesus.
And you
need his
atoning death
on Calvary's
cross to wash
away the guilt
of your sin
from before the
face of a
holy God.
The hold that
sin has upon
you.
You need
Jesus to
break the
power of
cancelled
sin.
And there's
nothing more
relevant than
that, than
this message
that Paul had
to preach.
Oh, that I
may know
him, says
Paul.
So Paul had
a relevant
message to
preach in the
last five
minutes.
I just want
us to see
the response
of the
people to
Paul's
preaching.
The response
of the people
to his
preaching.
What was
the response
of the people
to his
preaching?
Well, the
immediate
response looks
disappointing,
doesn't it?
You look at
the verses
from verse
32 to the
end, and
it almost
seems to
deny everything
I've said
this morning
about the
relevance of
Paul's
message.
We're told
in verse
32,
Now when
they heard
of the
resurrection
of the
dead,
some
mocked,
but others
said,
We'd like
to hear you
again on
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 Demorius,
and others
paraphrases it
like this.
Having
apparently
made little
impression,
Paul went
on to
Corinth.
Having
apparently
made little
impression.
It's funny
isn't it?
You never
hear that
said about
missions
today,
do you?
Having
apparently
made little
impression.
I took
a university
mission in
Belfast
a couple
of years
ago.
It was
enormous
amounts of
work,
morning,
noon,
and night.
Absurd
amounts of
talks,
and lots
of people
came.
As far
as I
know,
there was
one man
who professed
faith,
and it's
going on
with the
Lord.
But it
was a
pretty hard
week,
and pretty
discouraging.
And then,
a couple
of months
did I
got the
prayer letter
from
Queen's
University
Belfast
giving the
report of
the
mission.
Well,
it was
like I
was
Billy
Graham.
History
had been
rewritten
about the
amazing
impact that
the speaker
had made
on the
university.
It bore
no resemblance
to how I
felt or
what happened.
And by
modern standards,
that mission
was a bit
of a flop.
And Paul's
mission,
it would seem,
wouldn't it,
was a bit of a
flop at Athens,
was it?
I'm not so sure.
Let's just look at
the results.
I think if I
got verses
32 to 34
this morning,
I'd be very,
very happy.
If I knew
that every
Sunday when I
got up to
preach,
the thing
that happened
here in
Athens was
to happen
in Ealing,
I'd be
very,
very happy.
So let's
look at what
happened.
Three things.
First of all,
they mocked.
And I
think that's
hit the
target.
What we
get is
apathy.
And so
people come,
they shrug
their shoulders
and they say,
well,
there's
nothing in
it.
That's what
I face.
But if
we had
people coming
out of
this building
mocking,
that would
be a step
forward.
And so
let's not
be afraid
of the
world
mocking.
We're
terrified of
it.
Absolutely
terrified of
it.
But it
is an
authentic
response
to the
gospel.
Verse 32,
some people
say, well,
we want to
hear you
again on
this matter.
And that
might have
been an
excuse like
Felix,
that's
24,
you know,
people say,
oh, you
must come
round sometime,
but they
never give
you a
date.
We must
have a
talk about
this.
It may
have been
an excuse,
but I
don't think
so.
I think it
could genuinely
have been
an expression
of interest.
It's a
tremendous
thing,
isn't it?
If people
leave the
preaching of
God's
words and
thinking,
I really
want to
know more
about this.
A genuine
interest,
we want to
take this
further.
And then
you notice
in verses
34,
we're given
the names
of these
prominent
people,
Dionysius,
the
Areopagite,
and a
woman named
Demaris.
It's
interesting,
Luke is
probably
writing about
10 years
after this
event,
and here
are two
people,
a man and
a woman,
who are
well known
in the
church.
And Paul
mentions their
name,
and everybody
knows who he's
talking about.
Ah, that's
when Demaris
became a Christian,
was it?
And they all
knew it, not only
in the local
church, but in
the wider
church as well,
in the
presbytery.
And I'd be
very encouraged
if there were
people converted
here today who
10 years down
the track are
still standing.
There's no
flash in the
pan.
No trumped
up statistics.
But people who
stood and became
prominent in the
work of the
gospel.
And in fact,
we're told,
aren't we,
some men joined
them and
believed.
Church was
formed in
Athens, we
don't know much
about it for the
first hundred
years.
Dionysius
apparently became
the first bishop,
the first minister
of the church.
We don't know
much about it in
the first century,
but in the first
half of the second
century, we do
know that the
church in Athens
was a flourishing
church.
That's not a
failure, is it?
That's a great
success, isn't it?
That's nothing to
be disappointed
about.
And I don't
think Paul was
disappointed in his
preaching in Athens.
Some mocked.
Some expressed a
genuine interest
to know more.
Others were told
believed and the
church was formed.
But what about the
rest of them?
Paul warned
Timothy, he said
there will be
those who will
be, they'll
listen to anybody
but they'll never
arrive at a
conclusion.
They'll never
arrive at a
knowledge of truth.
Some people are
like that.
There are people
that come Sunday
by Sunday and
they treat church
like, or Christian
truth, they treat it
like chewing gum.
They chew it
over for hours
but they never
swallow it.
So how do you
relate to the
message of Jesus
and the resurrection?
How do you
regard it?
Something to
mock?
Something out of
date?
Or a novelty
to chew over?
Something to
throw away?
Or something to
believe and stick
your eternity
on?
Let's pray.