Him Declare I unto you. Acts 17:16-34

Introduction

Every city Paul went to on his missionary journeys were unique, here in Athens we find that to be ever true.

Here we see that no matter how many idols you worship, there will never be enough to replace your need to worship Jesus Christ.

This morning I want to look at two things we must do to declare God.

To declare God we must be yielded to him vs. 16 -21

Notice in verse 16 we find Paul waiting for Silas and Timothy, but he couldn’t wait any longer to tell the people in Athens about God.

The second part of verse 16 we find his spirit stirred in him, for his spirit to be stirred he had to be yielded to the spirit.

The word stirred here means moved or put into action.

By being yielded to the spirit, it moved him to share the gospel.

The last part of verse 16 tells us why he was stirred in his spirit.

He saw the city was wholly given to idolatry. Every where he looked, he saw a little god representing something, they had an idol for everything and because of that Paul was stirred up to tell them about God.

Paul wasted no time and went to the Synagogue where the Jews and religious gentiles where and he disputed or contested with them.

He knew that they would feel the same towards idols as he did, but it seems as though they had become complacent and had the an attitude as “they can come to us if they want to get out of idolatry.”

Help us as Christians to never get this way, we are called to reach the world, and we should use the opportunities God presents us with.

Paul shares the Gospel in the Synagogue and the market place to anyone who will listen, and then he is met with some trying to figure out what he is saying.

He is met by two groups both philosophers or lovers of worldly knowledge.

One group is the Epicureans

They represented one of the major schools of philosophy in Athens. The believed that indulgence is the key to life and that pleasure was the highest good. They professed to believe in gods but held that the gods had no interest in mankind, that the world was left to itself.

According to Epicurus the pleasure most worth pursuing was a life of tranquility, free from passion and pain, free from all superstitious fears in particular the fear of death. they didn’t believe in life after death

One writer said this “In practice their philosophy led to a life of gross indulgence. They tried to overcome senses and appetites and to attain tranquility by satiating or overfilling the senses.

The other group was the stoics.

They were quite the opposite of the Epicureans. They were fatalist and pantheists. Their leading teaching was that man should live according to nature.

One writer said this “At its best Stoicism was marked by moral earnestness, marred, however by spiritual pride. Virtue was the supreme good.”

They believed that man should be above passion. He should be unmoved by joy or grief, pleasure or pain. This led to stern, impassive, severe apathy.

Both these groups were the gentile equivalents to the sadducees and Pharisees.

I like what John Phillips says about the two groups “they were mans attempts to come to terms with life and all its passions, problems and potentials.”

Both of these groups were looking for peace outside of Jesus Christ, which is impossible to find. Without Jesus their is no peace.

While these groups were different they had two common thoughts about Paul.

He’s a babbler or an idol talker

Have you ever met someone who just liked to talk to hear themselves talk? This is what they believed Paul to be doing. They thought he was just talking to talk.

He was bringing some strange gods to their attention.

They heard him speaking about Jesus, his life, death, burial and resurrection and didn’t know what to do with him.

They took him to Areopagus

This refers to the hill of Mars, where the temple of Mars stood and where the courts of the Areopagus convened.

Here Paul was brought before the court to tell of this “new” doctrine he was teaching. They wanted to hear what he was saying.

Notice in verse 19 its a new doctrine, in verse 20 its strange things to their ears.

they wanted to know what he meant by the things he was saying.

Look what Luke wrote in verse 21

The Athenians and strangers spent their time telling a new thing or listening to a new thing.

They worshipped new.

As I read about the Epicureans, Stoicks, and Athenians I can’t help but think about America. We worship lots of things, but hardly ever worship the One who is worthy of our worship. We worship new, it seems like as we get something new in just a few weeks it isn’t new any more. We are always chasing new, whether its a new job, new phone, new car, new house, we worship new and if we aren’t careful we will end up like the athenians.

To declare God, we must know God and be bold in our witness vs. 22-34

I think back to Antioch in Pisidia when Paul was in the the synagogue there and they asked him if he had any exhortation for them. They weren’t ready for what he had to say.

Here at Mars hill they ask him to explain what he was teaching in the synagogue and the market place, and I don’t think they were ready for what he had to say.

He tells them that he perceives they are too superstitious.

It means they were more religiously disposed than others.

He also sees their devotion

He noticed the altar that was for THE UNKNOWN GOD

He tells them they ignorantly worship this god

The word ignorant means without knowledge, instruction, or information.

They knew there was a god that needed to be worshiped but they didn’t know him.

In our day we might not have a altar to an unknown god, but people are searching for peace and they look to all kinds of gods such as drugs, alcohol, money, promotions, and anything else to fill the void, but only God can fill that void and that is what Paul is getting ready to declare to them.

Paul declares the unknown God to them

He is God that made the world and all the things therein.

In six literal days God created everything in the heavens and the earth.

One writer said “In Pauls opening sentence Paul banished all the gods of Greece to oblivion and all their idols and images to the rubbish pit.”

He did that without even saying those words.

He then declares God as an independent being

All of the temples made to their gods were made by hands and they had to put those gods in their temple

The true God doesn’t dwell in temples made with hands

Paul consented to a mans death for a comment like that in Acts 7:48 “48 Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet,”

It is not the work of men’s hands God wants, it is the worship of men’s hearts.

Someone said this “It is impossible either to corner God in a temple or conceptualize Him with an idol.

God breathed life into everything

Paul then dispels any racism that might have existed as the athenians believed themselves to be the master race.

All of us can be traced back to Adam in the garden of Eden and Paul reminded the Athenians of that

He then dispel their thought that they controlled the nations

May I remind you this morning that nothing surprises God. He is in control of the nations

Henry Morris said this “In ways unknown yet real, God raises nations up and puts them down as he choses in accordance with their faithfulness to His respective purposes for them.

Psalm 33:12 “12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord; And the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance.”

Psalm 9:17 “17 The wicked shall be turned into hell, And all the nations that forget God.”

Paul tells them that God is not far away

The God of creation, the God revealed in nature, providence and circumstance was not far away.

Nature is God’s oldest testament. His eternal power and Godhead are revealed in his creation and his providential hand in our lives.

Then he brings in their writers to drive the point home one more time.

in him we live and move and have his being

Even their writers said that they are his off spring

“We are not born into the world fresh and fair from the hand of our maker. We are born in sin and shaped in iniquity and need to be born again. Still God loves us and is not far from us. He can be found by those who will seek Him in sincerity and earnestness and truth.

Paul had their attention, but wanted to be clear on idolatry vs. 29

He tells them to not think about the Godhead as an idol in which they needed to make a graven image of Him.

Paul tells them that God winked at their time of ignorance, but the time had come for them to make a decision before it was too late.

There is no longer an excuse for their idolatry and there is a day of judgement coming.

The gospel has been presented and there was no longer an excuse for idolatry they must trust in Christ.

Refusing to believe in Jesus is willful rebellion once you hear the gospel.

Their is coming a day when God will judge the world in His righteousness, where compared to Gods righteousness, our goodness will never measure up.

The resurrection gives us assurance of the coming judgement when He raised Jesus from the dead.

Just like every time the Gospel is given their are choices made and everyone made a decision when Paul finished.

Some mocked

Others heard and wanted to hear him again on this subject

Some believed

Dionysius - a member of the Athenian court believed

Damaris believed

and others who aren’t named believed as well

Conclusion

The Gospel has been presented, now we have an opportunity to respond. If you have never trusted Christ come this morning and we can show you from God’s word how you can be saved.