Good morning. The blessing it is to be in the house of the Lord this morning. Some of you are stuck in the barn with the baby in the manger. And can I just say for a moment that we are grateful for the baby in the manger. But he didn't stay in the manger. He went to the cross of Calvary. And today we come gathered in His name, gathered in the name of our dear Savior, Jesus Christ. And it is a blessing for us to be able to come, to open His word. Today we'll continue our systematic study through the book of Acts, as we continue in chapter 17, Acts chapter 17. We want to get a running start at the text this morning, so we'll recap briefly what's been going on in this text with Paul and Silas. After Paul had a vision, from a Macedonian man asking that he would come there and give them the help that they need. The help that they needed was that the gospel would be preached. So Paul and Silas and those with them went to Macedonia and they preached there. The missionaries went to Philippi, then they went to Thessalonica, and then to Berea, where they preached the gospel, where they saw converts to Christianity, And at each of these cities, they saw gospel success, but also in each of these cities where the gospel was preached, after the preaching of the gospel, Paul and Silas encountered hostility. That hostility came in different forms. It came in the form of beating and imprisonment. It came in the form of legal action and being expelled from the city And then lastly, in Berea, it came in the form of a riotous upheaval. These preachers were faithful and persistent to continue the work that they had been given, to continue in the work that they had been called to. After the upset in Berea, Paul left for Athens. As we read the text, you'll hear that they were heading out to go like they were going to the sea. Some think that as we read this, that this was that they intended to throw off anyone who might follow by trying to look like they were going to get on a ship, but they went to Athens. So we'll pick up and we'll read verses 14. with our reading, if you would follow along in your copy of God's Word as I read. Then immediately the brethren sent Paul out to go as far as the sea, and Silas and Timothy remained there, that is in Berea. Now those who escorted Paul brought him as far as Athens, and receiving a command for Silas and Timothy to come to him as soon as possible, they left. Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was being provoked within him as he was observing the city full of idols. So he was reasoning in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be present. and also some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers were conversing with him. Some were saying, what would this idle babbler wish to say? Others, he seems to be a proclaimer of strange deities because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection. And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus saying, May we know what this new teaching is which you are proclaiming, for you are bringing some strange things to our ears. So we want to know what these things mean. Verse 21, now all the Athenians and the strangers visiting there used to spend their time in nothing other than telling or hearing something new. Let's ask God to bless our time together in his word. Jesus Christ, our Savior, God incarnate, born of the Virgin, King of kings, Lord of lords, highly exalted above every name, we come to you and ask your blessing this morning. Help us to hear and heed your word. By your Holy Spirit, we ask that you teach us, We pray that your people would be sanctified, that your church would be edified. And God, we pray that sinners would be saved, that you would convict of sin and of righteousness and of the coming judgment. We pray this in Christ's name, for your kingdom's sake, amen. Firstly, as we begin this passage, let me say that this is kind of a part one. You can tell verse 21 kind of drops us off like, hey, this is not the end of the story. Paul just got to the Areopagus. So this is part one, and we'll pick up with the rest of it next time. But we find Paul here in Athens, and maybe you know something of Athens. Maybe you know nothing of Athens. I wanna spend a little time informing us about Athens, about the city of Athens where Paul was at this time. We may be aware. If you're like me, you're aware of that city, but you don't know much about it. Well, I didn't know much about it until I started studying for this message. So I want us to learn together a little bit about Athens, the capital city of Greece. Athens was the sophisticated city of Greece. and the sophisticated city of the world. Athens was known as the eye of Greece, and Greece was the eye of the world. John Milton, the English poet, said, Athens, the eye of Greece, is the mother of arts and eloquence. The mother of arts and eloquence. When we read of Athens, it was a city with many gymnasiums, places to work out, with many bathhouses. It was a city of philosophy and pleasure-seeking. This extended quote that I'll read from Melanchthon Jacobus gives us more insight into the city. In this city, genius, taste, and skill in the elegant and ornamental studies seems to be a symbol. Here, philosophy carried on its profound and subtle researches into the nature of man and the constitution of the universe. Here, eloquence rose to a degree of excellence which had seldom been equaled and never surpassed. Here, architecture and statuary displayed those exquisite productions, the remains of which are beheld with admiration and present the finest models to modern artists. Poets, orators, and philosophers resorted here as the seat and center of the world's wisdom. Athens was an important city. Athens was full of marble temples, full of statues of gods and goddesses. Petronius said, in Athens, it was easier to find a god than to find a man. That says a lot. Even today, Athens is recognized for its influence in our world. Former President Obama said this of Athens, so much of our literature and philosophy and science can be traced back to roots in Athens. He said that when he was in Athens. But it's a statement that is true. So much can be traced back to this city. The city of Athens, I believe, is an ancient picture that we see in our modern era. As I've been studying, as I've been reading, reading so much about this ancient city of Athens, then I would drive down the streets of our fair city, and I see so many similarities. Similarities that I don't think are particular to Waco, Texas. No matter what city you think of in our modern world, These things apply. We see so many gyms, gymnasiums, places to work on the body beautiful image that is so important in our society. And I think of the gymnastic exercise places in ancient Athens. We have giant stores besides the places to work out and exercise. We have giant stores selling us sporting goods. Supplies for the things that we will do that feed that hunger. Then think of, just for a moment, think of every kind of salon and spa and place of self pamper. It's evident that the mindset of self pampering is dominant in the 21st century mind. And this was also true of the Athenians so long ago, particularly the Epicureans, which are mentioned, these people are mentioned in our passage today, they did not believe they behave as though they themselves were gods, almost as an act of worship, seeking to find pleasure and leisure. Even now, 2,000 years later, Athens is still a place known for art and architecture. When people visit Athens, they are overwhelmed with the enduring beauty with the culture of that historic city. Perhaps you've visited Athens, perhaps you've visited other places in the world that give you that idea, that sense of, wow, all the stuff we have here in America is like 200 years old, which compared to Athens is like brand new. They've got old stuff, and people are overcome by this, overwhelmed by it. So we see these things about Athens, and then we see the text tells us Paul is in Athens, and verse 16 says he is waiting. He is waiting. Now this is very odd for us to find of Paul in the New Testament. Paul is always working. Paul is always ministering here. He is waiting. He's not ministering, he's waiting. And we learn in this passage something of a pattern, a pattern that was established by Christ, and it was continued by the New Testament churches, and it was continued by Paul as he served as a missionary. If you remember, Jesus sent out preachers in pairs. He sent them out in twos, two preachers together to go out and preach the gospel. Also, if you'll remember, way back at the beginning of Acts, at the church of Antioch, when they were going to send out missionaries from that church, they did not choose a missionary, they chose two, they chose Paul and Barnabas. At that time, somebody correct me, it was Barnabas and Paul. That was before the switch, but it was Barnabas and Paul, but they went out in twos. Then for the second missionary journey, now Paul is the main preaching guy. Surely he could handle it by himself, but he didn't go by himself. Now in the second missionary journey, it's Paul and Silas still in pairs, still in two, with two or more. And we also know that there's Paul and Silas, and there's Timothy, and Luke joined them for a period of time, and he'll come back later. But there's not one person being sent out. This pattern, when missionaries were sent, they were not sent alone. And in general, it is a bad idea for a man to go out to do gospel ministry alone. Somebody just thought of an exception. I'm not saying there are no exceptions. I'm just saying in general, it's not a good idea. At least two is the pattern that we see over and over in scripture. and it's wise, and we can see the wisdom of that. And we see here that Paul understands this while he has gone away, he is waiting for his missionary partners to join him. Everywhere he went, he goes straight into ministry, but here in Athens, he waits. Now we could also say he probably in a break, but he waits because he's alone. And he waits for his ministry partner and for Timothy to come and to join him. But as Paul waits for the arrival of Silas and Timothy, he is in this city. He's not just holed up in a room somewhere, he's in the city, he's walking in the streets, he's in the marketplace, he's taking the city in. So we come to this point, our third point, In verse 16, Paul's spirit was provoked. Paul's spirit was provoked within him. The text tells us because the city was full of idols. We think about what would happen if we were to be in that city. Stacey and I think about it often. We were in Europe. And we had done some work with some missionaries there in Europe and had planned to go to Athens. This is fixing to tell how old we are. We lost our plane tickets because back then, kids, plane tickets were a paper thing that you carried with you when you went. And if you lost it, you're not going anywhere. We lost our plane tickets to go to Athens to that next leg of our journey. So we often think about Athens and think about what it would be like. And when I think about Going to a place like that and being, like Paul, on a break from labor. What we see when people take vacations to Athens is the things that wash over them, the things that capture their attention. Those things are the sculptures, the buildings, the museums. The things that are offered for entertainment, Paul was not taken in by any of those things. Now let me say for a moment, surely he did appreciate the beauty of the things in the city of Athens. There's no sin in enjoying the beauty and the blessing that God has given us in this world. Paul's there, surely he took those things in and enjoyed them to an extent, but his spirit was provoked, and it wasn't by any of those things. Now this provoking is more than a stirred, we think of, well maybe he was stirred within. This word is more violent. than just a stirring. He was provoked, and this is a violence, a violent upset of his spirit, of his inner man. This is far more than a stirring, far more than a passing thought. It's more than just noticing a difference. Oh, that's how the Athenians lived. That's different from how we, it's more than that. Remember that Paul was not a bumpkin come to the city for the first time, overwhelmed by city life. Now, we'll see later that Paul was a man from no insignificant city himself. Paul was a city boy. He knew about the city. It wasn't just him being overcome by the city. Also remember that Paul was an educated man, a very well-educated man, and was familiar with the world and all the things in the world. So this is not just Bumpkin come to town and he's overcome by the city. This provoking of his spirit, this violent upset of his spirit was a religious, a religious movement within him. And it was what we might call righteous indignation. Now that's old, that's old King James words. It's what we might call righteous anger. Righteous anger or righteous indignation. Paul was angered by the affront to God that he saw in this city. Paul did not look at the sin and the godlessness of the city and find a way to be okay with it. I want to let that sink in because so many of us see sin and godlessness and we find a way to be okay with it. Christian brothers and sisters, we hear a message all around us that we should be all right with whatever goes on, whatever happens. We hear things like, to each his own, live and let live. We're told at every hand that the sinful abominations and the blasphemies which abound on every hand are none of our business. Just keep your Christianity to yourself. Christians then are supposed to cower. We're supposed to cower to those who hate God. But here in this text, Paul did not cower. Paul was provoked. He did not ignore the sin in society around him. Paul was provoked as he was observing the city overrun with idols. Athens and the society of Athens and the culture there was an assault against God at every turn on every corner. Remember, There were more false gods than there were men. It was easier to find a god than a man. And those false gods, they didn't create themselves. They didn't worship themselves. They didn't set themselves on a high place. Those false gods were the product, the produce of idolatrous men, prideful, arrogant haters of God. and Paul was provoked and he did not ignore it. Now, you read the text as I did. We also need to note well that Paul did not react with force or physical violence. He did not react with force or physical violence. He didn't answer sin with a different kind of sin. Paul also did not go into isolation. Oh, did you see all the sin over there? I'm gonna run and hide in a hole. So he didn't react with physical violence with force and he didn't run away and hide in isolation. He didn't just write the people of Athens off as horrible sinners and walk away. He was provoked. And Christians, We need to be provoked. We have the responsibility to not ignore, to not be okay with sin in our society. We dare not ignore it, but we also dare not run and hide and we dare not respond to sin in society with force or violence. Brothers and sisters, we can and we ought to do what we can do within our society. Voting. Writing your representatives to let them know What laws are unlawful? Peaceful protest. These are things that are all lawful and they are good things for a citizen to do. And they're good things for a Christian to do. Some Christians can and ought to do more than that. Some Christians should run for and serve in public office. Working in public service for your career. Think of all the things that that could be. These things are good, and they should be done. But we can't get confused. These things, though they are good, and they should be done, Ultimately, voting, writing to your congressman, peaceful protests, serving in public service, those things are not the answer for mankind's problems. They're not. The apostle here in Acts 17 responds to the sinfulness in the society around him with the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's his response. Beloved, the answer to men's problems cannot be found in society. There is no redemption or salvation for society. Jesus is the answer. Jesus is the Redeemer, the Savior. But Jesus does not save societies. Jesus saves sinners. Jesus, the second person of the Godhead, took on flesh, became a man, became our brother in humanity. And as our brother in humanity, born of a virgin in Bethlehem, he inherited no sin nature because of the virgin birth. So he grew and he lived a perfect, sinless life. and earned in His life here on earth the righteousness that was required to stand before God, and He did so on behalf of all who would believe in Him. Then Jesus Christ, after living a perfect life, He died on Calvary's cross to pay for the sins of all who would believe on Him. The only hope for sinners, the only hope for mankind is that we believe in Jesus Christ, repenting of your sin. Brethren, we must understand that the apostle reacted to the sin around him with the only hope for the people of Athens. Paul responded with the gospel. In verse 17, we find the word therefore. Your version may say so, S-O. He was provoked within because of their sin, therefore he was ministering at the synagogue and the marketplace. Because Paul was provoked by the idolatry of Athens, he began ministering at the synagogue and in the marketplace. And it tells us here who he ministered to, the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles are mentioned here first. Even in the city where this place is full of idols, Paul still begins where he always began, in the synagogue. For all the reasons that he began with the Jews in every town that he went to, he starts in the same way, in the same place here in Athens. but he did not only minister to the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles in the synagogue. This text also says he ministered in the marketplace, in verse 17, with those who happened to be present. Now this marketplace in Athens in the first century, this is not like, I mean, we say we're going to the market. We think of H-E-B, we think of Kroger, We think of the grocery store. This marketplace is not like that. This marketplace was a place where philosophers would come. It is said of Socrates that his custom was in the morning to visit the places of public resort and the gymnasia. And at noon, he would appear among the crowds in the marketplace and would spend the rest of the day among the people where the largest crowds were. We read that Paul ministered here in the marketplace. I knew an eager young man many years ago who read about Paul ministering in the marketplace. So this young man, eager to be like Paul, set out to do open air preaching in the parking lot of Kroger. Of course, that effort was fruitless. Because when Paul went to the marketplace, he didn't go to the grocery store where people are trying to get in and out. He went to a place where philosophic and religious discussions were commonplace and were welcome. Christians, let us find places where philosophy and religion is discussed. Let us find places where those things are welcome. Of course, the moment Paul begins to preach the gospel, opposition comes. Of course, that's the way it is. You see that pattern. Opposition always follows. Shortly, it comes from those who were most immediately offended by the gospel here in Athens. Those who would first take offense were the Epicureans and the Stoics. The Epicureans were atheists who spent their lives searching for pleasure and leisure and comfort. This led them to much sin, and it is why they sought to belittle this gospel preacher. The Stoics, they were not atheists, they were religious. They believed in God, but you kind of have to put that in air quotes. They believed in the eternal soul of man. That man's soul lived on after the body died. But they believed in something like pantheism. That God was the soul of the created universe. And they believed that after death, man's soul would become a part of this collective God. This too was far from the teaching of Jesus and far from what Paul was preaching. So the Epicureans and the Stoics came and opposed Paul. They came with an accusation. It's sort of a name calling that we see here. This Paul of Tarsus, he is a babbler. That may not sound like a terrible name, but when you're trying to be among the philosophers being a babbler. This is an insult. This is name calling. This is indicating what this man is saying is nonsense. They were attacking Paul and his very ability to communicate and to reason. They were saying that since Paul was not one of the Athenian philosophers, Since he's not one of us, then he is a babbler, a vain, empty babbler. In verse 18, they call Paul a proclaimer of strange deities. Now, to our ears, when we hear what they believe, we think that's strange. They heard what Paul was preaching, and they said, this is strange deities that he's speaking of, because he preached Jesus, and resurrection. And in our minds, that's kind of the same thing, right? He preached Christ and him crucified and raised again. But they heard something different because of the way that the Stoics believed. They believed resurrection not as a concept of the one who was dead coming back to life, but they believed resurrection as a deity. There's a God. named resurrection. They held resurrection as one among their many gods. So when Paul preaches about resurrection and the resurrection of Jesus, they interpret that as him preaching a God named resurrection. But he's preaching Christ and being crucified. And boy, when we speak of Paul preaching resurrection, It reminds me, while Paul was not preaching a strange deity named resurrection, he was preaching Jesus Christ, and Jesus said of himself, I am the resurrection and the life. I am the resurrection and the life. What a reminder it is to us that God is in God is the power in back of everything that is. I am the resurrection and the life. There is only resurrection from the dead because Jesus is resurrection. And there is only life for men or for any life because Jesus is life and the giver of life. He gives physical life to every person that is conceived in this world, and he gives spiritual life to everyone who is born again, born from above. Paul is preaching Jesus and the resurrection, and they call him a babbler and one who preaches strange deities. Verse 19 tells us that Paul was taken from the marketplace to the Areopagus. The Areopagus is kind of a court. It was a court where criminals were tried, certain kinds of criminals, murderers, arsonists, those kinds of criminals, religious crimes were tried here in this place. But it does not seem, as we read this, that Paul was on trial as a criminal. This was no court to determine the guilt or innocence of the preacher. This was a court to hear what he preached and it convened on that day to judge the truth of Paul's message. They asked in verse 19, may we know this new teaching that you are bringing? It's strange. You're bringing these strange things to our ears and we want to know what they mean. The teaching of Paul was so foreign to their way of thinking. A God who is the only God But Triune in nature sent Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity, to become a God-man and to die. Just think about that. A God who became a man and then died to redeem men. This is so foreign to them. And it was a far cry from their idea of what a God is at all. Here at the Areopagus, Paul could plainly articulate the message of salvation in Jesus Christ. And those who would listen would pass judgment. They had to judge if this message of Jesus Christ as Savior is true. They either believed the gospel, they believed that this was true of Jesus Christ, they would believe in Jesus Christ, they would judge that God is a liar and that Jesus Christ is no Savior at all. That was how they judged that they either believe in Jesus or they say God is a liar and Jesus Christ is no Savior. And friends, that's still, that's still the judgment today of so many. People say, I'm not opposed to Jesus. But you either believe in him and what he said and what he did and who he is. You either believe in him or you have to say he's a liar. Remember, C.S. Lewis said he's either liar, lunatic, or Lord. We have this same judgment before us. Here at the Areopagus, some of the listeners understood the gravity and the importance of this event. But others were there and they were only curious. They were only curious. They were like some people are today, interested only because of the novelty. It's a new thing. Let's hear this new thing. Verse 21 lets us in on their motives. All the Athenians and strangers visiting spent their time with nothing other than telling and hearing some new thing. Some were only curious. Beloved, my hope and my prayer for you is that you don't fall into this trap. The gospel is not just a story to satisfy curiosity. Jesus Christ is more than the protagonist in a good story. This is the most important question of your life. What will you do with Jesus Christ? What do you judge? That he is Lord or that he is a liar? The sin of the Athenians is not different from our own sin. Let me say that in a way that's more personal and pointed. The sin of the Athenians is not different from your sin. Sin is the barrier to heaven. Sin is the bar that blocks us from access to God. The only hope to be saved from sin, to be forgiven, for the guilt of original sin and to be freed from the enslaving power of sin over us? The only hope is Jesus Christ, who lived and died and rose again to save sinners. Lost friend, hear this morning the command of God to repent of your sin today. Listen to the Holy Spirit drawing you to a place to believe in Christ, to place your faith in Him as Savior and as Lord. Beloved saints of God, let us learn from the apostle. May God help us to be provoked in our spirit by the sin of the world. Father, we ask that you would apply these things to our hearts. Help us to know how to push back, how to fight against sin in the world around us, but how to do so with wisdom, with your wisdom, not worldly wisdom. Help us to demonstrate grace in the world. Help us to be, as your people, testimonies to your saving grace. We pray this morning that you would convict lost sinners that they would be the object of the gift of your salvation. We give you all glory for who you are. We praise you for the great salvation that we have in Jesus Christ and what you have done to accomplish it. We pray this