PREACHING THE RISEN CHRIST TO HEATHENS

Pastor James J. Barker

Text: ACTS 17:15-34




INTRODUCTION:


  1. In Acts 17, we read that the apostle Paul went to Athens, and was invited to preach at a place called “Mars’ hill” or Areopagus (17:19-22).
  2. Mars was the Roman God of War.  The Greeks and Romans were polytheistic idolaters and knew nothing about the true God of the Bible.   They were “ignorant” of the Word of God (Acts 17:30).
  3. Paul referred to the resurrection of Christ twice in his message – 17:18 and 17:31, 32.
  4. The resurrection of Christ was emphasized by the apostles (cf. Acts 2:22-24; 3:12-15; 4:8-12).  It was central to their preaching.
  5. The Athenians thought that Paul was a “babbler” and a “setter forth of strange gods: because he preached unto them Jesus and the resurrection” (17:18).
  6. “Strange gods” (17:18).  These Greeks were polytheistic and worshipped many gods, but Paul’s message seemed “strange” to them.
  7. Today people listen to all sorts of foolishness on Oprah Winfrey’s show and other shows.  They believe all this nonsense about evolution, and global warming, and homosexual marriage, and reincarnation, etc.
  8. But then when you tell them the Gospel, they think it’s strange.
  9. Paul’s listeners were Greek philosophers – they were the Epicureans and the Stoics (17:18). The Epicureans were atheists and materialists.
  10. The Stoics were pantheists and moralists.  The Greek word “Stoic” literally means, “of the portico” (porch).
  11. In those beautiful buildings in Athens, these Greek philosophers walked around on the porches and taught their philosophy. 
  12. The Stoic movement was started by a philosopher named Zeno, who taught at Athens (cf. Scofield margin).
  13. The Stoics were pantheists. Pantheists believe that God is everything, and God is in everything. Pan-theos — pan (everything) and theos (god) – everything is god, and god is everything.
  14. This popular new science fiction movie, “Avatar,” promotes pantheism.  Millions of gullible people (even many who profess to be Christian) have gone to see this film, and have been subtly brainwashed into accepting an anti-Christian worldview.
  15. Satan uses many of these movies to deceive people and to destroy people.  One confused movie-goer wrote this to an “Avatar website” – “Ever since I went to see ‘Avatar’ I have been depressed. Watching the wonderful world of Pandora and all the Na’vi made me want to be one of them. I can’t stop thinking about all the things that happened in the film and all of the tears and shivers I got from it. I even contemplate suicide thinking that if I do it I will be rebirthed in a world similar to Pandora.”
  16. If he kills himself he will not go to a make-believe Pandora.  He will not go to a make-believe “purgatory.”  He will not be reincarnated.
  17. No.  Unless he puts his trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, he will go straight to a real place called hell!
  18. People are not reading the Bible.  Instead they are polluting their minds with satanic movies, books, TV shows, and video games.
  19. Dave Hunt said, “After reading dozens and dozens of comments by young people enamored with the theology in Avatar, it is apparent that its false gospel is finding fertile soil worldwide as it introduces and attracts millions of moviegoers to shamanism.”
  20. By the way, in addition to its anti-Christian message, I read that the movie also contains immorality, immodesty, and bad language.  Yet some Christians will go and watch it just the same. 
  21. Paul preached the Gospel to an audience of idolatrous heathens.  They knew worldly philosophy, but they did not know the Gospel.
  22. When Paul arrived in Athens, “his spirit was stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry” (17:16).
  23. Are you stirred up at all of the idolatry here in NY?  And all the unbelief?  And all the wickedness?
  24. Notice the word “therefore” in Acts 17:17.  Because of all of the idolatry and unbelief and heathenism and wickedness and false religion, Paul was stirred up and “therefore” he started witnessing for Christ (17:17).
  25. And the Lord gave Paul a great opportunity to preach the Gospel in Athens – at Mars’ hill (17:22). 
  26. On this Resurrection Sunday, I want to remind you that…

 

I. THE RISEN CHRIST IS KNOWABLE (17:22-27).

  1. Unfortunately, people today are not getting their theology from the Bible.  They are getting it from foolish movies like “Avatar” or “The Da Vinci Code,” or television shows like Oprah Winfrey, etc.
  2. Our responsibility is to “declare” (17:23) the true God to all of the lost sinners around us (cf. I Cor. 15:1-4).
  3. Unfortunately, most people today do not understand the Gospel.
  4. Sinners are “ignorant” (17:23, 30) of God’s Word so we must make a concerted effort to get the Gospel out. 
  5. The Athenians were idolaters (17:16, 29).  The second commandment is, “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above…” (Exodus 20:4, 5).
  6. The RCC has omitted the second commandment.
  7. All of the nations practiced idolatry except the Israelites.  Only ancient Israel worshipped the true, living God. And whenever Israel backslid and went into idolatry, God judged them severely for it.
  8. Idolatry has always been a problem and will continue to be a problem until our Lord returns (Rev. 9:20, 21).
  9. The risen Christ is not some idol affixed to a crucifix.  The Lord Jesus Christ is not some dead idol.  He is our living Saviour.

I serve a risen Savior, He’s in the world today;
I know that He is living whatever men may say;
I see His hand of mercy, I hear His voice of cheer,
And just the time I need Him, He’s always near. 
   He lives, He lives,
Christ Jesus lives today!

  1. Our Lord said in Revelation 1:18, “I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.”
  2. The risen Christ is knowable (cf. Acts 17:27).
  3. If you sincerely “seek the Lord” you will “find Him” (Acts 17:27).

 

II. THE RISEN CHRIST IS OUR CREATOR (17:24-29).

  1. Christ is our Creator and we are His “offspring” (17:28, 29).
  2. Referring to the Lord Jesus Christ, John 1:3 says, “All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.”
  3. Referring to the Lord Jesus Christ, Colossians 1:16 says, “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him.”
  4. The JW’s “New World Translation” distorts this Scripture by rendering it, “because by means of him all (other) things were created…”
  5. It is not “All other things.”  It is, “For by him were all things created…”
  6. Hebrews 1:2 says God “hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds.”
  7. The doctrine of creation is foundational to our faith.
  8. The theory of evolution is an attack on God, an attack on the Bible, and an attack on the Christian faith.
  9. The Bible says, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” (Genesis 1:1).
  10. Revelation 4:11 says, “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.”
  11. All through the Bible – from Genesis through Revelation – we are told that God is our creator.  The ridiculous theory that man has evolved from monkeys is repugnant.
  12. In order to defend their ridiculous theories, evolutionists insist the world is billions of years old.
  13. I heard about a fellow who worked as a tour guide at a museum.  He was showing some people a dinosaur exhibit and said, “This dinosaur is 10 billion years and three months old.” 
  14. One of the people at the exhibit asked him where he got that number – 10 billion years and three months?
  15. The man said, “When I started working here they said it was 10 billion years old, and that was three months ago.”
  16. If the world is billions and billions of years old, have you ever wondered why there is no recorded history before approximately 4,000 B.C.?    There is absolutely none.
  17. The answer is obvious. Adam and Eve lived about 4,000 BC, and there was no history before God created them.
  18. Our Lord said in Mark 10:6, “But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female.”
  19. Jesus, the Creator of the universe, said that the first marriage between the first man and the first woman (Adam and Eve) came at the beginning of creation.
  20. If we add up the genealogies, we see our Lord was talking about 4000 years after the creation, and that was about 2,000 years ago.
  21. If one accepts the teachings of evolution, then one has to believe that our Lord was not telling the truth in Mark 10:6.  (God forbid.)

 

III. THE RISEN CHRIST WILL JUDGE THIS WORLD (17:30-34).

  1. God commands “all men everywhere to repent” (17:30).
  2. “Because He hath appointed a day, in the which He will judge the world…” (17:31).
  3. “That man” (17:31) is the man Christ Jesus, the man that was raised from the dead that first Easter morning (17:31).
  4. First Peter 4:5 says sinners “shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead.”
  5. Revelation 19:11 says, “And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.”
  6. When will this judgment take place?  James 5:9 says, “Behold, the judge standeth before the door.”
  7. There are numerous other Scriptures that tell us that the Lord Jesus Christ will judge this world (cf. John 5:22, 27; Acts 10:42; Romans 2:16; II Tim. 4:1).
  8. However, our Lord did not come to this world to judge sinners, but to save sinners.   He said in John 12:47, “I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.”
  9. John 3:17 says, “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.”
  10. But if sinners reject our Lord, they will certainly be judged (cf. John 12:47, 48).
  11. Acts 17:32 says, “And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked: and others said, We will hear thee again of this matter.”
  12. “Some mocked” (17:32).  There have always been mockers, and there have always been procrastinators.
  13. But thank God, “Howbeit certain men clave unto him, and believed…” (Acts 17:34).
  14. The greatest fact in human history is the fact of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.  And if you do not believe in Him you will not be saved.
  15. “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” (Romans 10:9).

 

CONCLUSION:


  1. There is a well-known story about two famous Englishmen – Lord Littleton and Gilbert West.
  2. They lived in England in the early part of the 18th century. They were close friends, and they were both ardent, zealous atheists.
  3. These two friends concluded that Christianity stood on two foundations: the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the conversion of the apostle Paul.
  4. So these two good friends devised a plan. Lord Littleton would study the conversion of the Apostle Paul and then write a book showing that it could not be real.
  5. And Gilbert West was to study the story of the resurrection of Christ, and to write a book exposing its fallacy and its futility.  Days and months passed, until finally the two men met to discuss their research, and to compare what they had found and what they had written. 
  6. When the two men sat down, Lord Littleton spoke first and said, “Gilbert, my friend, I studied, and I studied carefully the story of the conversion of the Apostle Paul who met the resurrected Lord Jesus on the road to Damascus.  And Gilbert, I have a confession to make.  I found myself bowing at the feet of that living Christ, saying, ‘Lord, what would Thou have me to do?’  My friend, Gilbert, I have become a Christian.”
  7. And Gilbert West replied, “Lord Littleton, I too studied, and I studied. And as I studied the story of the resurrection of Christ, I found myself kneeling in His presence.  And Lord Littleton, I also have become a Christian.” 
  8. Lord Littleton’s book is entitled, The Conversion of St. Paul.
  9. Gilbert West’s book is entitled, The Resurrection of Jesus Christ.


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