Paul’s great message
Acts 17:22-23 “Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars’ hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious.
For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, Him declare I unto you.”
(We can never forget Peter’s one great message….preached on the day of Pentecost, when three thousand were saved.
It was the beginning of the church, and it set forth that Jesus of Nazareth was indeed the Christ, the Son of God….slain by wicked hands (theirs)…and raised by God the third day….and exalted at the right hand of God. (Acts 2:22-24, 32-33)
But since that time, the focus has come to be on the local church and the edifying and exhorting of them. Even when Peter first preached to the Gentile, Cornelius….it was with his relatives and friends. (Acts 10:24) That message opened the way for salvation to come to the Gentiles….
….which then brought in Saul/Paul….who was to minister to the Gentiles….going about, preaching to all who would hear.
God’s due order is amazing! Every man in their place in the body,….ministering as He calls!)
From then on in Acts, we have recorded the messages of Paul.
One of these messages is on Mars’ hill. It is a view into God, the Creator’s purpose for each of us.
Acts 17:24-25 “God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that He is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;
Neither is worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, seeing He giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;”
Here Paul sets forth the Almightiness of God. He made the world….and all things. He is not a local deity….He is not just over this or that, but over all things….in heaven and in earth.
He does not need anything from any of His creatures. He is sufficient in Himself….and for all His creatures.
Acts 17:26 “And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;”
Paul, then having set the foundation of Almightiness….goes on to say that God is not sheer Power….but has a Purpose for each nation, and peoples.
And that Purpose is that each one should….”seek the Lord”. He stresses that the blood flowing through our veins is one blood…setting all in the one framework of responsibility to God for our life.
Acts 17:27 “That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after Him, and find Him, though He be not far from every one of us:”
Paul is picturing these as blind….groping in the dark. Many nations pictured the Universe and God as one….dark, and impersonal….and “far from everyone of us.”
But Paul plainly tells them:
It is not God Who is far away….but our blindness which hinders our finding Him.
Acts 17:28-30 “For in Him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.
Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device.
And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:”
Paul tells them that the Almighty God of Purpose is also the Principal of life in each one of us.
Paul then points to the stone images they worship, and reminds them that they have no life….God is life and is not like these stone images.
Their images may be of gold, silver, or stone….but in them is no life….but all life flows from, and through God.
The foundation of all is God’s Almightiness….but His Purpose is right behind this….
…and that Purpose is to seek after Him, and find Him….the personal God of life.
Then looking out on his hearers….intelligent Athenians, whose desire for “new” knowledge was what they lived for…
…Paul said, “the times of this ignorance God winked at”….
In other words, “God let them go on in their ignorance of Him, for a time.”
But now….
God “commandeth”….stressing His Authority to demand of His creatures,…which He purposed life for…
Acts 17:30-31 “And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:
Because He hath appointed a day, in the which He will judge the world in righteousness by that Man whom He hath ordained; whereof He hath given assurance unto all men, in that He hath raised Him from the dead.”
Here is the summation of this message….Because He has raised from the dead “that Man”….because of the resurrection from the dead, He has shown to all that He can give true life to those who believe and seek for Him.
In this message Christ Jesus is not named…..
…..for God is the message.
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)
God, in power and might, created all….that they might seek Him. But when they turned to darkness and blindness….
….He let them go for a time.
But now, Christ has come….and died for our sins….and been raised the third day….and is seated at the right hand of God. Christ will Judge every man according to His Word (John 12:48-49).
So God….commands all men to repent and turn to Christ. No matter what they worship….gold, silver, or stone….there is no life in them; but there is life in Christ Jesus.
(Sometimes, I think that this age, like the Athenians, are worshiping the Unknown God. That they really do not see the Almightiness, or the Purpose, or the Principal of Life that He is and will give each of us,….in “that Man”, Jesus Christ.
We may not worship silver or gold images….but an idol is anything that is put in the place which belongs to God….which is first place in my life.)
God has given life….and through “that Man” or through Christ Jesus, God gives eternal life and purpose to everyone who repents of their idolatry to turn to the Living God.
Romans 10:9-10 “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”
Preaching, Teaching, and Notes 