Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to Acts chapter 17 and reading
for our text verses 30 and 31. Acts 17 verse 30 and 31. And the times of this ignorance
God winked at, but now commandeth all men everywhere 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. Acts 17 verse 30 and 31. of the Gospel, that is from Christ
until the end of the world, has brought about a change. God's attention is not just now
predominantly to the Jews as his ancient people, but it is
to every nation and kindred and tongue. He is the Saviour of
the world. There is no other Saviour that
this world knows and will ever know. That doesn't mean that
He is the Saviour of every individual, but He is the Saviour of this
world. And that is why the Gospel is
to be preached in all of the world. And Paul, when he comes
here to Athens, And he sees these Gentiles, these worshipping many
different idols. And just in case they left one
out, they have an altar to an unknown God. And the Apostle
then introduces to them that God. It's interesting to know
as well how the Lord uses the inclinations of men. It was when
he was preaching concerning the resurrection that they brought
him before them to know what these things meant. And then
in brackets there, we are given a reason, and quite often we
might think if someone is interested in hearing the word, well, There's
an explanation for this that is different than grace. This
is not just the drawing of God. It's just like in this case,
all they spend their time is in wanting to find something
new, to hear something or to tell something new. But God can
use that. May we always remember that.
And even if not used in their individual cases, and we do read
at the end there, that there were those that did cleave to
the apostles. So even if one or two are saved,
the Lord overrules that disposition of men or the reason why they
might want to hear the word and use it for good. And of course,
this then is part of the inspired word of God. But the apostle
introduces the God that they didn't know who he was, the unknown
God, as first, the God that made the world, bringing to creation. In other chapters of Acts, we
have the same method used, pointing to the God of creation first,
that made all things. And it is that fact that men
that have never heard the gospel shall be judged, because the
things that are made, they declare there is a creator, and our own
bodies are made in the image of God. We are capable of rational
thought, processing information, we are put on the pinnacle of
God's creation, even though fallen, fallen spiritually, yet there
is every semblance of that image of God still with us, apart from
that ability to know God. And yet through the Gospel and
through the preaching and through what the Apostle is setting forth
before them here, God is to be known and he is to be preached. And so he introduces to them
that he has made of one blood all nations for men for to dwell
on all the face of the earth. and hath determined the times
of before appointed and the bounds of their habitation." Everything
is appointed. Where we live, what we do, our
first birth, our second birth, if called by grace, all of these
are appointed. But these are appointed, not
that we should have a fatalistic spirit, but in verse 27, that
they should seek the Lord. If happily they might feel after
him and find him, though he be not far from every one of us. For in him we live and move and
have our being." And he refers to their own poets speaking in
this way, for we are also his offspring. He's pointing them away from
idols. pointing them away from graven
things, man's work. For as much 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, a man's device."
And then he comes to the words of our text. He gives a reason why all men
All men everywhere should turn to God from idols. This was the mark that was said
of the Thessalonians, that they turned to God from idols. Repentance is turning. And that there is a day of judgment
appointed, and that judgment is appointed for all men. and that the assurance of that
day of judgment is given in the resurrection of our Lord Jesus
Christ. So I want to look with the Lord's
help this evening at a judgment day of which the resurrection
assures us will come. And firstly, a day of judgment
appointed by God. And then secondly, the assurance
given unto all men that this will be so, the resurrection
of Christ. And then we have the reason,
because of this appointed day, all men are commanded to repent. Firstly, a day of judgment that
is appointed, that cannot be avoided. In Hebrews 9, we read
that it is appointed unto men once to die, but after death,
the judgment. And very vividly in the Revelation,
Revelation chapter 20, We have a picture of that most solemn
Judgment Day from verse 11. And I saw a great white throne,
and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the
heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them. And
I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God, and the books
were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book
of life. And the dead were judged out
of those things which were written in the books according to their
works. And the sea gave up the dead
which were in it, and death and hell delivered up the dead which
were in them. And they were judged every man
according to their works. And death and hell were cast
into the lake of fire, This is the second death. And whosoever
was not found written in the book of life was cast into the
lake of fire. Very vivid account of that last
day and last great judgement. And it shall be our Lord and
Saviour that shall be the Judge Himself. John tells us in the
fifth chapter of John, that the Father judgeth no man, but hath
committed all judgment unto the Son, that all men should honour
the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth
not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him. For when he writes to thee, Romans,
he speaks of the judgment of God in a way that turns us from
judging one another, in fact makes us inexcusable where we
judge another and yet do the same things ourselves. In the second chapter he says,
but we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth
against them which commits such things. Thinkest thou this, O
man, that judgeth them which do such things, and doeth the
same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God? It is the
thought with us all, really, and sometimes we shelter in all
sorts of things, to think that we will escape the judgment of
God. But as we had in Hebrews there,
it is an appointment. We are appointed to judgment.
and so it shall be with all men. And that's the reason in our
text, the assurance given in the raising of Christ, that there
will be such, and the need of repentance. We think of the apostle writing
to the Corinthians, his second epistle to them, And he says
this, wherefore we labour, that whether present or absent we
may be accepted of him. For we must all appear before
the judgment seat of Christ. And he's speaking of believers,
he's speaking of a church here, he's speaking of himself here,
that every one may receive the things done in his body according
to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. Knowing therefore
the terror of the Lord, we persuade men that we are made manifest
unto God, and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences. But when he speaks of his own
experience in Romans, in Romans chapter eight, the way that chapter
begins after following chapter seven, where he feels his wretchedness,
a wretched man that I am, where he's testified the good that
he would, he does not, the evil that he would not, that he does.
He says, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
And he thanks God through Jesus Christ. So then with the mind,
I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh, the law of
sin. And then opens the eighth chapter,
And this should be a great comfort to all of God's people when thinking
of that Judgment Day. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh,
but after the Spirit. Remember, There is a judgment
is according to their works. And really the life of the people
of God is summed up here, walking not after the flesh, but after
the spirit. And he describes that life there
in Romans 8. We do not end up as being not
sinners. We are sinners. Sin is mixed with all we say
and all we do. But we must remember that that
Judgment Day for God's people, their eternal security is secured
in Christ, here below, in a call by grace and in the blessings
of grace. It cannot, it will not be altered
at that Judgment Day. Yes, our works, Thou only has
wrought all our works in us, and our righteousness is to be
of Him. But the Lord Jesus Christ is
that judge, and he shall judge as in our text it states that
he shall judge in righteousness. Because he hath appointed a day
in the which he would judge the world in righteousness, a just,
righteous judgment, knowing the hearts of all men, knowing everything
that has happened, being just and fair in all that he does,
that shall be a very great Judgment Day. And we may say, we'll either
be judged and to have to be on our own accounting of what we
have done of our own righteousness or else our interest in We hope
to look more at that in our last point. But firstly, there is
then a day of judgment that is appointed by God, that not the
devil or our own deceitful heart or men take away from what the
Word of God is very, very clear, that there shall be a day of
judgment That day shall be a day of terror for those that are
not the Lord's, but for those that are the Lord's, it shall
be a day when they are vindicated, persecuted on earth, yes, but
all of the martyrs and all those who have suffered for Christ's
sake, and those who haven't suffered as much but been despised of
men, their heads shall be lifted up. They shall be blessed, the
world shall see it, and the tables shall be turned completely. On earth, God's people are despised
like our Lord was, rejected of men. And that Judgment Day shall
be turned about the other way round. And as our Lord gave that
picture, they depart from me, accursed into everlasting fire. But for his people, come ye blessed,
and my Father inherit the kingdom prepared for you. And the Lord
gave a simple thing, and it was based on works, how he was judging,
that inasmuch as you've done it unto the least of these my
brethren, you've done it unto me. Those that were the Lord
said, when saw we thee afflicted, and help thee. When did we minister
to thee? Those that are not the Lord's,
they will say, when did we not do these things? And yet really
they didn't know and despised the people of God. No wonder
the Lord gives this very clear evidence of a child of God. We
know that we have passed from death unto life because we love
the brethren. Certainly the Apostle Paul, had
turned from hating the brethren to loving the brethren. He had
known what repentance was and to be given that repentance.
One to look then secondly at the assurance that is given unto
all men that this Judgment Day will be so and is set forth in
the resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. When
the Lord did rise from the dead and when he gave his disciples
the commission, he testified what was given unto him. In Matthew 28 verse 18, Jesus
came and spake unto them saying, all power is given unto me in
heaven and in earth. And this is directly related
to him dying and then rising again. He gives them this commission. Remember also what our Lord Jesus
Christ had done upon Calvary's tree. Our Lord had suffered the wrath
of God against his people's sin. He had been their sin bearer.
He was made sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made
the righteousness of God in him." In one sense, with the Lord Jesus
Christ dying, putting away his people's sin and rising again
as a true token that those sins were put away, that justice of
God was satisfied, that God was pleased with his sacrifice, this
is one part of the judgment. If there was to be no judgment
day, we end up with the Lord Jesus Christ being punished,
having the wrath of God upon him, as half of the judgment,
bearing the wrath of God upon him instead of his people, but
for those who were still in their sin, those for whom he did not
die, wrath is still, nothing is dealt with, the justice is
not being done yet to them. So to stop it, to have no judgment
when our Lord has died and risen again, is to do only half of
the matter. It is not settled, the rest of
it yet. And what's more, there are those
that would be condemning the people of God, but Christ has
died for the people of God, and he has put away their sins. So
the need of that judgment day is the justness of God when He
shall bring all nations before Him. And He shall say, these
on my right hand, these I have suffered for them. They are sinners,
they were sinners. And I paid their penalty and
I paid their debt. These on my left hand, they're
sinners. They rejected me. They hated
me. They had no need for me. They
saw no need of my salvation. They mocked, they ridiculed them.
They never turned away from their idols. And they come then before
me, before the judgment, and they say, well, have we not done
this and not done that? We've been good charitable people.
We've done this and done that. But the Lord shall judge them
according to not their thoughts. But according to His righteous
law, and then He shall judge that they should depart from Him into everlasting
fire, that they should bear their own punishment. For His people,
He hath already borne their punishment, and His rising from the dead
is the token of that, the assurance of that, and that is why There
needs to be the judgment day. Here below we only see half of
it. The psalmist Asaph, Psalm 73,
he stumbled at this. He saw the prosperity of the
wicked. He saw that there was no bands
in their death. Their strength was firm. And
they had all that they could have to eat. all in this world,
but until he went into the house of God, into the sanctuary, then
understood I their end, how thou set them in slippery places.
Suddenly they are consumed in terrors. As soon as they go into
the grave, as soon as the spirit returns to God, then they come
before the judgment. Then they see things in God's
light, what they didn't see and couldn't see here below. What a terrible, terrible shock
to them. But to give a picture of the
contrast for the Lord's people, what it shall be with them, when
Paul writes to Titus, he says in the second chapter, he says
of the grace of God in verse 11, The grace of God that bringeth
salvation hath appeared to all men, or been preached unto all
men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts,
we should live soberly, righteously and godly in this present world,
looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of
the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ, who gave himself
for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify
unto himself a peculiar people, jealous of good works. These
things speak and exhort and rebuke with all authority that no man
despise thee. What a difference for God's people
looking for, not fleeing from, But looking for that blessed
hope, glorious appearing. We read of when the Lord comes,
it shall be the wicked calling upon the rocks and the hills
to hide them from him that sitteth upon the throne. But it said,
when you see these things come to pass, the signs of the Lord's
second coming, look up for your redemption draweth nigh. Very
different expectations. for the people of God. The assurance then given unto
all men, that there must be a finish of this judgment, and for God's
people, the assurance is that sin has been put away, the Lord
is risen indeed, that that debt is paid, and It is what then
follows in the commission and what Paul is setting before those
here at Athens, what is really preached in all the world, is
what makes the difference as to whose we are. It is the preaching of repentance. So I want to Look at our third
point, which is, because of this appointed day, all men are commanded
to repent. Now when we think of it, as we're
born into this world, we're born in sin, we're born in a course
of evil, a course away from God. All we like sheep have gone astray,
we've gone everyone to our own way. We are like these at Athens,
going after idols, after other gods. The fall brought about
a judicial separation from God, a spiritual death, and what is
absolutely vital is that there is a turning from that course. If we continue in the way that
we were born, Then we shall perish and come under the just condemnation
of God. It's very, very evident right
through the scriptures that a turning is vitally necessary. If the
Ninevites hadn't have turned, they would have been destroyed.
When John the Baptist came, the first thing he is preaching is
repentance, the need of turning. turning from and turning to. Our Lord Jesus Christ preached
it and he set forth his followers to preach repentance right through
the world. The vital need that there be
a turning and the apostle here makes it very clear turning away
from these idols and those that are not God and are turning unto
God, looking unto the Lord for salvation. Now, repentance being
represented as a command, it does not suppose it to be in
the power of men to do so. Nor does it contradict that evangelical
repentance, which is the gift of God, we sung of it in our
middle hymn, and repentance is a gift of God. Faith is a gift
of God. It is in the work of our Lord
Jesus Christ that he himself is exalted to give repentance
and remission of sins unto Israel, that is, unto the Israel of God,
the people of God. What the law could not do, in
that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son,
in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemns sin in
the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled
in us who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. And it is the blessings of the
Gospel that gives what the law cannot give, and gives what we
ourselves cannot do. And yet, under the preaching
of the Word, like the Apostle here, and to be preached unto
all men, is that they are to turn, that they are to turn to
the Lord, they are to look for salvation. Seek ye the Lord while
he may be found. Call upon him while he may be,
while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way,
the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord. The Gospel according to Isaiah. And it is the work of the Lord
Jesus Christ to give to his people as a sovereign gift those for
whom he has suffered, bled and dies. He gives them repentance. He gives them sorrow of sin for
sin. He gives them to see their danger. Bunyan portrays it with his Christian
in The city of destruction, he saw it, the city of destruction. He saw his need to flee, and
he acted upon it. It makes a change, it makes a
difference. Paul, he knew what this was. He knew what it was to be going
about persecuting the people of God, hailing them to prison,
and no doubt, as implied, having pricks of conscience in doing
it. Did he turn? Could he turn? Did he turn himself?
No, he didn't. The Lord appeared to him on the
Damascus road, and the Lord turned him. His life afterwards was
very different than before. Not everyone will be turned in
that way. Most will be turned through the
blessing of God, through the preaching of the Word, like we
have here as our text, that there be a looking unto the Lord, look
unto me or the ends of the earth, be ye saved or the ends of the
earth, for I am God and there is none else. This is the call
of the gospel to men, to pointing them unto the way of salvation. If we had someone that was ill
in a natural way with their bodies and we saw them going after Cures
that we knew would not cure them. They weren't effectual. They
weren't touching that which was eating them away and killing
them. We would say to them, just stop that way. Don't go to that
way. I know a good physician. You
go there. You look there. And they might
say, but I've no power to heal myself. You say, no, not at all.
Of course you haven't. But you look to this physician
for him to do it for you. I will be inquired of by the
house of Israel, saith the Lord, to do it for them. And so those
that are awakened to their need, that there must be a change,
must be repentance, their cry to the Lord is, turn me, change
me, change my heart, do that which I cannot do. It won't be
sitting in a fatalistic way, saying I'm going to still continue
on in these things, though I know they're sin. I know they're wrong. If the Lord means to save me,
He'll save me and He'll change me. No. Where our ears are open
to the danger and to what is required, we'll seek to walk
in that way, to go in that way, and to not continue. What would
we think of these in Athens if they said, well, that's all very
well, Paul, but we like our idols. They're nice. They're very well
crafted and good. You can have your god. We're
going to stay with ours. So Paul would say, well, haven't
you heard what I'm saying? I'm set before you a living God,
a God in heaven before you must come and stand at the last day,
and a God who is exalted to give you that repentance and to give
you that life. The Lord said, you will not come
unto me that ye might have life. Ask, and it shall be given you.
Seek, and you shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened
unto you. The Word that is before us, it
shows the need of all men for it, all men to turn. Not just for some, but all. And
it shows the sad end of all who are not brought to repent. The judgment is waiting for them. Salvation is only in Christ and
in His way. By grace you say, through faith,
that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, that evangelical
repentance is what the Lord Jesus Christ is exalted to give. Repentance is always a token
of sins forgiven. The two things go together, where
we are brought to turn, brought to be sorry for our sins, to
mourn over it, and we may find really, especially the sins of
heart, we're repenting hourly, daily, over sometimes the same
sins that we're committing again and again. How oft shall my brother
sin against me and turn again and repent, and I forgive him,
till seven times seven? No, says the Lord, till 70 times
seven. In other words, you're never
tired of doing it. You'd say, but my brother, if
he has to repent that many times, he's not repenting sincerely,
is he? You're not really sorry because he keeps having to come
again. But the Lord knows that we are
sinners. And as the apostle had in Romans
7, the good that I would, I do not. The evil that I would not,
that I do. If I do that which I would not,
is no more I that doeth, but sin that dwelleth in me. This
conflict with sin will be a constant thing with the people of God. And it always reminds them that
it is not their own works that will get them to heaven. That
will not stand them good on the judgment day. Natural man thinks
it will, it won't. Only the righteousness of Christ
will avail. only an interest in Christ, only
that which he has done for us on Calvary's tree, that part
of the judgment that the Lord has already endured and already
suffered for his people, which ensures that there must be a
judgment day. So Paul is very clear when he
says before them, here is a change God was once dealing with the
Jews only, but now, now it is every nation, kindred and tongue,
that this word is to be preached and to set forth before. God is not turning a blind eye
to it now. He's sending forth his servants,
and they have a message, and that message is to repent, to
turn to the Lord Jesus, to look unto him and him alone. And the reason is because of
this Judgment Day. And what we remember today, the
rising of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, is the great evidence
and assurance given to all men that this is so. As we view half
of the transaction, we view that which the people of God have
an interest in. in Acts 2 on the day of Pentecost,
when our Lord was set before them as him who they had pierced
and crucified. Their sins, they had literally
done it, but every one of us, if our sins were laid upon him,
they were those that pierced him. They caused his sufferings. When they were convicted of it,
we read they were pricked in their heart. What must we do
to be saved? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
thou shalt be saved. Repent. It was to, the message
there, to turn away from the previous thoughts that they had
of the Lord Jesus Christ and of him being an imposter and
one that wasn't who he said he was. To repent of that, to turn,
from that and to believe in the Lord and so we read that now
when they heard this of the Lord being crucified previous verse
36 therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that
God hath made that same Jesus whom ye have crucified both Lord
and Christ now when they heard this they were pricked in their
hearts And said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles,
Men and brethren, what shall we do? Then Peter said unto them,
Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus
Christ for the remission of sins. You shall receive the gift of
the Holy Ghost. And so the command to a convicted
sinner is, to repent, don't just still go on in the way you have,
change. Listen to the word, follow the
word. My sheep, they hear my voice,
they follow me. They don't continue in their
own ways. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet,
a light unto my path. When the Lord gives that repentance,
he gives that will, he gives that desire, He gives the power
to walk in His ways, that gift of God. And it begins, just as
the Lord said in John 3, as the new birth, you can't hear the
wind coming, you don't know where it comes from, whether it goes.
You can go into the house of God and through one sermon, like
the eunuch did, be given repentance, be given spiritual life. And
as you begin to hear, then your life changes. You do things that
you didn't do before. You stop doing things that you
once were doing. You start to see things in the
light of the word. And the Lord has opened your
ear. And you follow what you hear.
And that is what is repentance. Not my own way, but thy way. When the Lord puts forth his
sheep, he goeth before them. And the sheep follow Him. What
were they doing before? They weren't following Him. They
were going their own way. We have gone, every one, our
own way. And He had laid on Him the iniquity of us all. And where
He had laid upon Him the iniquity of a people, He will ensure that
that people, through the word, faith cometh by hearing and hearing
by the word of God, will be brought to repent. Dear friends, never
resist repentance, never resist changing according to the Word
of God, and never desire it and ask for it. It should be a real
evidence of the work of God. Really, the greatest evidence
is a changed life, a different life, a life that has changed
its course, and its course now is towards the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not towards hell, it's towards
heaven. It's towards the people of God.
Their desire is towards them. Their love is towards them. We know that we've passed from
death unto life because we love the brethren. It's absolutely
vital that we have repentance in our life, not just at the
start, but all the way along. Know what it is. to be as oft
as we go out of the way, to hear a voice behind us saying, this
is the way, walking in it. When you turn to the right hand,
when you turn to the left, how many times we read like with
David, turning aside, doing things wrong, and then corrected, reproved,
directed to walk in the right way. And that is what the Lord
gives to his people. And may we be blessed then with
that hearing voice and be of those that do hear, not like
those here that follow our text, that some of them they mocked
when they heard the resurrection of the dead. But there are others,
and then you notice this mark, this evidence of savingly hearing
and brought to repent. Certain men clave unto Him and
believed. Claved unto Him and believed.
That's repentance. They weren't still going on after
these idols. They were joining themselves
with the people of God. They were claving to them. You
think of Ruth, how she claved to Naomi, a bit different than
her sister-in-law. how she went back to her people
and her God's roof, she claimed to her Naomi and went with her
to her people and to her God's and where she was. That is repentance. That is the change that is needed. Don't ever despise where the
Lord has brought us to turn unto Him, and to repent. Sometimes repentance is, it really
felt to bring forth real tears and sorrow over our sin, to really
to mourn over it. But other times, or most times
you might say, it is working out in the very practical lives
of the people of God. Paul says, the life that I now
live, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and
gave himself for me. May the Lord grant unto us this
repentance and that we might think of that Judgment Day as
a vindication day, as a day when all things shall be clearly known
and usher in an eternal day with our Lord Jesus Christ. It all
begins here below in this vital, vital change.