Over the past few weeks we have been looking at the power of the gospel to save, even to the uttermost regions of the world. We saw in chapter 14 the miraculous power of God to heal the lame man as an illustration of the power of the gospel to give life to that which was not. And we saw the power of the gospel in chapters 15 and 16 as it confronted demonic possession and idolatry in pagan societies, resulting in transformed lives and churches being formed in formerly dark cultures.

Today, we will see the power of the gospel in even advanced civilizations. In all the world, there was no place more considered the cradle of civilization than was Athens. It was the birthplace of intellectualism; of education, philosophy and the arts and sciences that was unequaled in the world. It was the home of such fabled philosophers such as Socrates, Plato and Seneca. It gave birth to the sciences of medicine and art and literature and reason and architecture that are still studied in arenas of higher learning today.

Now Paul finds himself in Athens at this particular time alone. He has left Silas and the rest of his entourage in Berea. In Berea the Jews had stirred up the crowds against Paul and the church there had sent Paul away to Athens because they were afraid for his life. So as Paul is waiting for them to join him he begins to walk about the city and in so doing he becomes provoked in his spirit by the hopelessness presented by the pagan idolatry of this city.

It was said that the city of Athens was so filled with statues of idols that it was easier to find a god than a man. One estimate was there were 3000 idol statues or temples that were erected in the city on public property, not including the private buildings which had idols as part of their architecture. So as Paul walks around the city he is struck with the propensity of false religions that abounded at every turn. There was an idol of a god of every possible sort, even the foreign gods of other nations were to be found there, as one writer puts it; “their hospitality to strangers extended to the gods too, being very ready to receive any strange objects or forms of worship.”

I think it is possible today to see a parallel in many cities in America to Athens. New York or Los Angeles for example are centers of fashion, of entertainment, of great architecture, of great institutions of higher learning, of the latest technology and science. And furthermore, in spite of the moral decline in America, there is still virtually a church on every other street corner in most cities across our country. Though America was once thought of as a Christian nation, it cannot be said to be anymore. But as America has become the melting pot of the world, we have assimilated the religions and philosophies of the world, just as the Athenians did, so that you are likely to see every possible religion represented in the average city.

So I want us to keep that perspective as we study this passage today. Because the gospel is not just some ancient, out of date, out of touch religion that was only valid many centuries ago. But I would like to show that as the gospel was powerful to save even amongst the advanced civilization of Athens, it is powerful to save as well today. As Hebrews 13:8 says, the gospel of Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. It is powerful to save everyone, and it is relevant to every culture, and every civilization.

Now as it says in vs.16, the spirit of Paul was provoked as he observed this city full of idols. That means he became exasperated as he saw all these idols. Because Paul knows that they are powerless, that they are false gods that have no power to save, no power to deliver, and he is exasperated at this culture and the hopelessness of their religions. So he begins to preach the gospel. That is the answer to the exasperation we may feel about our culture, by the way. The answer is not politics, it’s not philosophy, it’s not cleaner water or better housing or education. But the answer to the hopelessness of civilizations, the hopelessness of Chicago, or inner city Baltimore, or the ghettos of New York City, is the message of the gospel.

So true to his custom, Paul begins with the Jews. He seeks out some God fearing Jews and proselytes who had a synagogue there in Athens. And he begins to share the truth of the gospel with them. Then he goes into the marketplace and begins to proclaim the gospel with people that he met there. See, Paul is not ashamed of the gospel, because he knows it is the answer to the problems of the world. It is the antidote that the world desperately needs. That is why he would later say in Romans 1:16, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation, to every one who believes, to the Jews first and also to the Greek.” Paul was proving that statement right there in the marketplace, in the public arena of Athens, the heart of civilization.

Now as he is preaching the gospel, certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers hear him and converse with him, and they are intrigued by his message. Some say, “What would this idle babbler wish to say?” And others said, “He seems to be a proclaimer of strange deities,”—because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection.

Now I don’t want to bore you with a philosophy lesson so that we might know exactly what Epicurean and Stoic philosophy taught. I am not here today to teach philosophy. I don’t propose to be an expert in philosophy. I propose to know only Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I know Him to the be truth and the life. I don’t need to study philosophy to be able to debate with philosophers. I need to study the scriptures, even as the Bereans who it says in vs. 11, who proved their nobility because they eagerly searched the scriptures to see if these things were so, and were convinced because of the authority of scripture.

It’s like the old adage about counterfeit money. Experts in detecting counterfeits do not study counterfeit currency. They study authentic currency and become so familiar with it that they can easily spot a fake. So it is with human philosophy and false religions. I hardly need to waste my time trying to keep up with it all. I just need to spend time studying the truth and then I will not be fooled by false religion.

But suffice it to say that Epicureanism and Stoicism are but twists on the same old lies that Satan has been selling since the dawn of creation and is still selling today under different titles. As Solomon said, there is nothing new under the sun. The devil just keeps repackaging the same old lies for each new generation. Epicureanism acknowledged existence of a type of god, but they denied that they had any power or control over nature. They believed that life ended with death, and so their motto was to “eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die.” They loved pleasure and considered happiness the highest goal of man.

Today that view is very much in vogue. Modern man may tolerate a view of god to some extent, but they don’t see much evidence of him, they don’t believe that he can really affect the events of the world or do anything to help us. And so the average person on the street is living for today, living for pleasure, living for things that they think will make them happy. They tolerate religion, but they haven’t got much use for it.

Stoicism believed in a multitude of gods. It was called pantheism. That accounted to some degree at least for the thousands of gods displayed in Athens. And a parallel to Stoicism in our society is the view that all roads must lead to god. What we call God, someone else calls Allah, another calls Buddha, and so there is not one way to God but many. All are right, therefore none can be exclusively right.

Now there were a lot of variations on each philosophy, but both were at odds with the gospel. These philosophies were popular among the intellectual elite, especially among the people of Athens. And so some proponents of these philosophies ask Paul to come to Areopagus, or what was also called Mars Hill, where there was a council of judgment so to speak, made up of philosophers who judged every new philosophy. This was the same court that condemned Socrates, and was responsible for his execution five centuries earlier. By this date their judicial powers had begun to wane, but they still had the authority to debate philosophy and render decisions, and it was to the very spot that Socrates had been summoned that Paul found himself ready to give his defense of the gospel.

But notice how boldly Paul proclaims the truths of the gospel. He is not speaking here to men who knew the scriptures. He was speaking to men of science, men of the arts and letters, at the greatest institute of learning in the world and which is still revered today in educational circles. And yet he unapologetically preaches the gospel. Because he knows that philosophy cannot save, science cannot save, the arts cannot save, and false gods cannot save. There is only one power that can save, and that is the gospel of Jesus Christ. So that is what he preaches.

Now I would point out that what we have here before us is only a synopsis of Paul’s message. I think he would have expanded on many points that we see just briefly touched on. But Luke gives us an outline of his message, and I would like us to look at it, so that we might know how to present the gospel in a pagan culture, and even in a hostile culture. Both of which I believe our present culture is fast becoming.

First of all, note that Paul said in vs. 22, ““Men of Athens, I observe that you are very religious in all respects.” Notice that Paul is respectful in his opening remarks. He is trying to win them to the gospel, not to repel them or even condemn them. I think that is far too often the course of evangelists today who try to interact with the culture. A couple of weeks ago I was watching online a surf contest in Huntington Beach, CA called the US Open. And it’s always a huge event, with hundreds of thousands of people and exhibits and so forth. It’s hedonism at it’s worst. And there are always these people there at this event that hold signs and so forth and basically picket the contest, and the signs and the message they present is typically one of condemnation and impending judgment on immorality and so forth. I don’t think that they are serving the cause of the gospel in that way, but only serving to further alienate those they are supposed to be reaching. Paul will speak of the coming judgment as well. But he doesn’t open up with it. He speaks of a commonality that they have between them. Paul was certainly very religious. It occupied his every waking moment. So he builds a bridge to them by acknowledging their obvious zeal for religion as well.

But in the Greek language, Paul uses a word which classifies their religion as having more of a superstitious nature. And that was evident in the pantheism of Greece. They did not know for sure what to believe, so they believed everything, and worshipped every so called god.

Now it is necessary that we come to believe in the existence of God; that God is. The Athenians had come to believe in a form of god. To recognize that god is, that he exists. And that much is true and necessary. Hebrews 11:6 says, “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.” So it is good and necessary to believe that God exists. But that alone will not save you.

Because Jesus added that those who worship God must worship Him in Spirit and in truth. So we must not only believe that God is, but who God is, and what God says. That is what it means to believe in God. To believe in who God truly is, and what God truly says concerning Himself and our relationship to Him. If God is real, then He cannot be the object of our interpretation, or of our creation. We must worship Him in truth, or we do not worship Him at all.

So Paul says, you know it’s great that you guys are very religious. It’s evident on every street corner in Athens and in all the temples in this city. But I have to tell you the truth about your religion. Your belief is based in superstition and ignorance, and I want to explain the truth about God to you. So in vs. 23 Paul says “For while I was passing through and examining the objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription, ‘TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.’ Therefore what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you.”

And this is a brilliant tactic on the part of Paul. He takes what they worship, what they agree already exists and is deserving of worship, and says I am going to explain this God to you.

Now there is an interesting side note about this unknown god that should be explained. And that is that several hundred years before there had been a plague in Athens, and the people of the city believed that the plague must have come upon them because a particular god was angry with them. But they had no idea which god. They had thousands of gods represented in the city. So they came up with a plan, which was to drive a flock of sheep into the city and they supposed that the offended god or gods would draw the sheep to them and then they would offer them as a sacrifice to that god. So as the sheep moved around and settled down in the city, if they laid down near an idol, then they sacrificed those sheep to that idol, believing that the offended god had drawn them to him. But there were some sheep that laid down in an area that did not have a idol in that spot, and so they built an altar there to the unknown god and sacrificed those sheep to that unknown god. So that is why there were altars to unknown gods throughout Athens.

So Paul capitalizes on this desire to appease an unknown god, their recognition of a God beyond their pantheon of known gods, and he appeals to that interest. He says what you have been worshipping in ignorance I will proclaim to you. He says, I want to introduce the unknown God to you.

So in vs. 24, Paul says I want to introduce this God to you. I want to explain who God is. Who is He? Well, first of all, Paul says, He is the Creator. And I wouldn’t be surprised if Paul didn’t start quoting from Genesis 1:1. But I don’t know that for sure. However, we do have the synopsis of what Paul said in vs. 24, “The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands.”

First point then is that God is the Creator of the world and all things in it. If you have been in our services for the last few weeks, then you know how often I have recounted the power of God as expressed in creation. God is the creator of the earth and the seas and the heavens and all that is in them. This is such an amazing statement and it is echoed in the scriptures so many times I cannot possibly recount them all. That is why the theory of evolution is so damaging folks. Satan struck a mighty blow to the church in America when he prevailed in the evolution debate and gained the education system of our schools and universities. I am convinced it takes more faith to believe in evolution than it does to believe in creation, but the fact remains that our children are indoctrinated in it from the time they are toddlers. And as such, the gospel has lost one of it’s greatest testimonies as to who God is. Because according to Romans 1, the creation testifies of the invisible attributes of God.

As I said a couple of weeks ago, the fact that we cannot ascertain the fact that the earth is spinning at 1000 mph, and traveling through it’s orbit at 67000 mph, does not invalidate the facts of science that it is indeed traveling that fast. But for you sitting here today, it is virtually undetectable and cannot be ascertained by normal means. And in the same way, the God who made the world and everything in it can not be seen or felt or ascertained through human measurements, but He is and He exists and by His power all things have their life and being, whether or not we can deduct that through human senses or not. It takes just as much faith to believe science as it does to believe in God.

But that knowledge of God as our Creator is really the foundation of our faith. When we come to accept Him as our Creator, as the maker of everything, as the originator of everything, then we can come to the point of knowing God and knowing the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes. If we believe in God who holds the earth in space and made the sun and the stars and who made all life, then it is but a small step to believe that He has the power to save and deliver man from sin and death. So Paul says that the unknown God is the Creator of the world.

And then secondly, Paul says, this unknown God is Lord of heaven and earth and consequently does not dwell in temples made with hands. I wonder if Paul would have quoted Isaiah 66:1”Thus says the LORD, “Heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool. Where then is a house you could build for Me? And where is a place that I may rest?” So God is not only Creator, but Lord of all. Oh, that is where most people fall away, is it not? This would have been the point that the Athenian philosophers would have started to squirm. They were willing to recognize this unknown God, but they would have a hard time confessing Him as Lord of all. That there could be no other god before Him. Jesus, who was the physical manifestation of God would say in John 14:6, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” Ouch! Paul’s judgment panel of philosophers probably winced at that one. He is Lord of all. One day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Confessing God as Creator, but as Lord of all, our Master and the Ultimate Ruler of all is the foundation of our faith.

Thirdly, Paul says not only is He Creator and Lord, He is the Giver of life. Look at vs. 25, “nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things.” What Paul is teaching there is nothing less than the doctrine of the grace of God which is necessary for salvation. We cannot give God anything. He needs nothing. He is all sufficient. He is all powerful. He made everything on earth, so He owns everything. And there is nothing that we can give Him to endear ourselves to Him because He needs nothing.

But rather God is the giver of all life. James 1:17 “Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.” He causes it to rain on the just and the unjust, so that as the scriptures say, the kindness of God calls them to repentance.

Next point in Paul’s sermon was that this unknown God controls man and his destiny. Vs. 26, “and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us.”

The point being that man is made for God, to know God and to have a relationship with Him. He made all the nations of the earth from the first man, Adam, with whom that relationship was broken through sin. But because God gave us the second Adam, even Jesus to be our substitute, we can have that relationship is restored. Augustine said in his Confessions, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.” There is a God sized hole in every heart, which we cannot fill with anything other than Christ. Nothing else satisfies. And so God in His providence and grace, so orders the human psyche so that they should seek Him and turn to Him.

Then the last point describing this unknown God that Paul makes is that God is a revealer. God reveals Himself to those that seek Him. Jeremiah 29:13says “You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.” And Jesus said in Matt. 7:7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.”

Paul is making the point that as you see God in Creation and recognize Him, and as you understand that He is Lord of all and bow to Him, and as you realize that He is the source of all life and goodness and so seek Him and come to Him, then He will come to you and reveal Himself to you that you may know Him. That we might know Him that is Unknown. He has announced Himself in creation. He has manifested Himself in Jesus Christ. And He has revealed Himself in His Word. He is the Revealer of Truth as we are obedient to the truth that is revealed thus far.

That is the progression of the gospel of salvation. That we recognize the truth up to the point that it has been revealed to us, and then we are obedient to that truth, and then the Holy Spirit will continue to lead us and guide us into all truth.

And then like all good preachers, Paul quotes from a poem. For some reason or other, I haven’t advanced in my preaching to that point of habitually quoting poetry. But Paul quotes from two poets actually, Greek poets, not Christians by any means. But nevertheless Paul uses them to make a point and drive it home with these intellectualists. Vs. 28, “for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His children.’” Now that poem was attributing that characteristic to a heathen god, but Paul is using it to say that your own poets have said that we have our being and life from God. And though you do not know this God, this Creator, this Lord of all, yet He is the source of all life, even eternal life, because He is the eternal God. And we are made in the image of the eternal God. In His likeness, in His image, we are made to be like Him, to be in fellowship with Him, and that fellowship is the source of eternal life and eternal joy.

See how high Paul sets the standard for God? It is not the purpose of man to live only for human pleasure, to live and let die, or to stoically endure the ups and downs of life without hope of eternity and without knowing the God who made them for His fellowship. To live that way is to live in darkness, to be blinded and miss out completely on the purpose of life.

So then Paul wraps up his sermon in one great sweeping closing argument, saying in vs.29 “Being then the children of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man. Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.”

Paul is contrasting the infinite God who is the Creator, the Lord of all, the Giver of life and the revealer of truth, to their finite dumb gods of stone and wood and metal, the image of God formed by the art and thought of man. This is the idol of our age; that we form god in our image, according to what we think God is or should be like. We define Him and box Him in, and minimalize Him with one word descriptions like “love” and say whatever does not fit our description cannot be God. And so we worship nothing more than an idol of our own design.

But Paul then inserts the other doctrine of the gospel. The first doctrine he presented was the doctrine of faith, was it not? Believing God is, and who God is. That is faith. But as I have said over the last couple of weeks, there are two pillars of the gospel. There are two elements of believing the gospel. One is faith, but the other is repentance. That is renouncing sin, renouncing idols, turning away from darkness and following God. That is repentance. So Paul says in the time past you were ignorant, but now God declares that all men are to repent and be saved.

This is the other great stumbling block to virtuous, religious and intellectual people. They want to philosophize about God and religion, but they do not want to repent of their sins. This is the stumbling block, the offense of Christianity. When we recognize who God is, and what we are; sinners. Outside of the fellowship of God. Unable to ascertain God. Unable to give God anything with which we may barter for our salvation. But utterly dependent on His grace to forgive our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

And then Paul presents the judgment. Paul saves judgment for last. Because the judgment is the last part of the gospel. It is appointed unto man once to die and after that the judgment. If you reject the free gift of God, if you reject the saving antidote for deadly sin of which we all are guilty, then the judgment will be that we will be forever separated from God who is the source of all life. And that results in eternal damnation for those that reject God’s gift.

Paul said that God will judge the world through Jesus Christ, whom He appointed to be our Savior, and furnished proof by His resurrection from the dead. And when the philosophers in this great university of higher learning heard about the resurrection of the dead, some began to sneer, but some others said we will hear more from you later. And I think that is very much the case today. Some hearing this message will sneer and think it foolish. Others will be convicted or perplexed and say I’ll think about it. Maybe I’ll decide later. But chances are they will let the moment of decision pass away.

But I pray there will be someone here today like the men and women in vs. 34, who believed and followed Paul. That is what it takes for salvation. To turn away from false idols, from false relgion, and turn and believe in the true God revealed in His word, and then follow Him as you are taught the truth in His word. I pray that you will believe in the God of the Bible, accept Jesus as your Savior and Lord, and follow Him today.