I invite your attention to the
Acts of the Apostles chapter 28. The Acts of the Apostles chapter
28. Our text is found in verses 23
and 24 and today's message is the third in this series titled,
Will You Believe the Gospel? Acts 28 verse 23, Saul of Tarsus,
now Paul the Apostle, is under arrest and under confinement
and he's been brought to Rome where he will stand trial for preaching the gospel of Jesus
Christ. That was the charge against him,
in essence. He was permitted to rent his
own house rather than being put into a dungeon, but he was under
house arrest, for there were guards with him there, and he
was permitted to entertain those who wanted to come see him, and
some did. Some wanted to find out what
was this doctrine that Paul the Apostle was preaching. Those
who came had a form of godliness, but
denied the power thereof, as Paul would describe them in Romans
chapter 10. But they have come to him to
hear from himself what this doctrine is that he preaches. And we read
in Acts 28 verses 23 and 24. So when they had appointed Paul
a day, many came to him at his lodging. to whom he explained
and solemnly testified of the kingdom of God, persuading them
concerning Jesus from both the law of Moses and of the prophets
from morning till evening. And some were persuaded by the
things which were spoken, and some disbelieved. Now that is the case Every time
the gospel of Jesus Christ is presented, every time you hear
the gospel of Jesus Christ, you either reject it or receive it. There is no middle ground. You
can say, well, I have no opinion on the subject. Yes, you do have
an opinion. If you have not believed in Christ,
you have rejected him. Jesus says, he that is not with
me is against me. He who does not gather with me
scatters abroad. And so these who came to hear
Paul, some of them believed and the rest did not. We have observed
that that was the case in every instance in which Paul the Apostle
presented the gospel of Jesus Christ. We have thus far looked
at two different groups with regard to the gospel. We observed
first that the gospel was either rejected or believed by sorcerers,
those who practiced magic as it were, those who were into
sorcery and witchcraft and such as that. And believe it or not,
the Lord had a good number of disciples who formerly were into
witchcraft and sorcery but now believed the gospel and it turned
from sorcery to God. Then second, we observed that
the gospel was either rejected or believed by idolaters. We
observed in our previous message that in Athens, pardon me, Ephesus, those who
worshipped Diana and had a temple there, they rejected the gospel
that Paul preached. But there were others in Thessalonica
of whom we read that they believed the gospel that Paul preached
and left their idols to follow the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Now, today we come to the third
group who heard the gospel and either received or rejected it,
and they are the philosophers. Point number three, if you still
have your synopsis, the gospel was either rejected or believed
by philosophers. Now, what is a philosopher? A philosopher is a lover and
pursuer of wisdom. We have broken down the word
for you there as it is in the Greek language. That word philo
means loving and sophia means wisdom. You've heard of women
named Sophia? Good name! Sophia means wisdom. There are men who are named philo. meaning loving, a loving person. Let's hope that such people would
truly live up to their names and also with regard to a philosopher. What is a philosopher? A philosopher is one who loves
and pursues wisdom. He wants to be wise. Not merely
knowledgeable, but wise. There can be such a thing as
a man who is an intelligent fool.
Just because you have a lot of knowledge does not mean you're
wise. I've seen men who had a lot of
intelligence do some very foolish things and you have to say, now
that was not very wise. But even a person who does not
have a lot of knowledge can be wise. I would hope that that
would be true of every one of us, that we might be wise in
our generation. The world may castigate us and
say, well, as they did of his disciples, bunch of unlettered
and ignorant fishermen, because that's about what the Lord's
disciples were. But oh, what wisdom these men
had. They were full of wisdom. That's
what a philosopher is, one who loves and pursues philosophy. Now, with some people the word
philosophy has a bad connotation. It should not. It should not. I would hope that there is a little bit of a philosopher in
every one of us. That we love wisdom. That we
pursue wisdom. And in a moment, I'm going to
tell you the best wisdom there is for you to love and to pursue. We're going to consider here
first that the gospel was rejected by some philosophers and that
this was true in Athens, Greece. Locate Acts chapter 17. Acts
chapter 17. Now, as you have undoubtedly
perceived in this course of studies thus far, and furthermore in
your reading of the book of the Acts of the Apostles, this Paul
went everywhere. He traveled all kinds of places. Well, here we find him in a place
called Athens. He did not stay in Athens very
long. It was evident that evidently
the Lord did not have many disciples in that place and that no church
was going to come of that place and so he stayed there until
the mission was done and then moved on. In Acts chapter 17, we read of Paul Athens and we
begin reading in verse number 16. Now while Paul waited for them
at Athens, and that would be based upon
verse 15, So those who conducted Paul brought him to Athens, and
receiving a command for Silas and Timothy to come with him
with all speed, they departed. So while Paul waited for them
at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him when he saw that the
city was given over to idols. Athens was a seaport city. And actually the city was a little
distance away from the seaport. Now as you know in a seaport,
You may go down to the port and look, and you may see ships from
all kinds of different places. Not all of them bear the same
flag, and so it was in Athens. You could go to the seaport in
Athens, and there would be ships from Phoenicia and from Italy,
and there'd be ships perhaps from the land of the Jews, just
all kinds of places. And each of them brought their
own gods with them. They carried their gods with
them on their ships and came into Athens, and some of them
left their gods there. Now, from the seaport of Athens
to the city of Athens itself, there was a road. Not a very
long road, but a road. And when you would get off of
the ship and go toward the city, You'd look and there was an idol
there. All these people put all their
idols in. Remember, they worshipped all
kinds. Your forefathers in India, how many gods did they have?
Okay. Okay. Impossible to count, all
right? Okay. And probably new ones every
day, okay? And it's not just your forefathers
neither, all right? You would look and at Athens,
when you'd walk up, there's an idol and a different one across
from it. Take a few paces, an idol and
a different one across from it. Take a few paces, all the way
up to the city. Now can you imagine Paul the
Apostle, worshiping the one true and living God and wanting nothing
to do, gets off of the ship and looks and, oh my, oh my. Oh my, you know, and all these
gods. And his heart was provoked within
him. Oh, what is going on here? I have never seen so many idols. Oh, what an idolatrous people
this must be in this place called Athens. His spirit was provoked
within him when he beheld all their idols. Verse 17, then he reasoned in
the synagogue with the Jews and with the Gentile worshipers. That means that on the Sabbath
day, as his custom was, he would go into a Sabbath day meeting
in the synagogue and sit down. assembled with the Lord's churches
on the first day of the week. But on the seventh day of the
week, he'd go in. Now remember that these were
the people who followed the Judaist religion. Paul had been a Judaist
at one time. And he was a Jew by nationality. Now in this synagogue, as it
was in many synagogues, there were both Jews and Gentile worshipers. Now, the Jewish worshippers would
have been those who were born as Jews, had been born into Judaism,
and still were faithful members of that religion. The Gentile
worshippers would be people like you and me. I suppose about all
of us are Gentiles here. And they had learned of the Jewish
religion. I mean, you know, It looked good
and they were a people that were known for honesty and known for
being fair and such as that. The law required it. So many
Gentiles converted to Judaism. So these were the Jewish and
the Gentile worshipers who were there in the synagogue on the
Sabbath day. And Paul was also in the marketplace
daily with those who happened to be there. Paul was a tent
maker by trade. So, at any time, he would have
the tools of a tent maker, his needle, his threads, and perhaps,
you know, whatever it was he needed to make tents. And so,
he would go to the marketplace, and he'd start making tents,
and he'd sell them there. He was a tentmaker, and that's
one of the ways that he supported his ministry, as a tentmaker. And he did it in the marketplace.
Now, since he was in the marketplace, people would come by, and the
subject, quite often, would go to spiritual things. That was
an open door for Paul the Apostle. He would use that open door to
present the gospel to people who came by his place in the
marketplace. He did this daily with those
who happened to be there. Verse 18, then certain Epicurean
and Stoic philosophers encountered him. Epicureans and Stoics. Oh, they were philosophers. They wanted you to know they
were philosophers. And these were men that exercised
their minds greatly in the pursuit of wisdom and desiring to be
wise. Now interestingly, they thoroughly
disagreed with each other. The Epicureans and the Stoics
represented the two extremes of Greek religion. They're both
seeking wisdom. But they did not find it in the
same place. And one man's wisdom would be
another man's foolishness. But they had their debates. They
had their sessions where they would discuss things among themselves.
And it just so happened that they heard, hey, there's this
new fellow in town down in the marketplace and in the synagogue. And he believes something that
is different from us. Let's go find out what it is.
And so they encountered him, we read, and then they said of
him, What does this babbler want to say? When they heard what he was saying
in preaching Christ, in going to the Holy Scriptures and showing
Christ. He's babbling. He's babbling.
What does this babbler want to say? Others said, he seems to
be a proclamer of foreign gods because he preached to them Jesus
and the resurrection. All a new God. We can put it
on the road. Coming from the seaport up to
Athens. Another God. Because these people
were all inclusive. They were as ecumenical as they
could be. Verse 19. And they took him and
brought him to the Areopagus, or Mars Hill. It was the place
where Mars, a god named Mars, also known as Ares, this was
devoted to him. It was on a hill, an elevated
place. And there on Mars Hill, or the
Areopagus, There were rocks that men would sit on and they would
sit around and they would discuss and have debates about their
different philosophies. It is said that the path up to
Mars Hill had been so often used that the rocks were worn smooth
by their footprints on them so often. And so they come to the
marketplace. Hey, Paul, this new God you're
talking about, come on up here, come here. And they took him
and led him up to Mars Hill. And they said, tell us about
your new God. Alright? We've not heard of this
one before. This is strange and different.
We want to hear about it. So Paul began to preach to them. They said, may we know what this
new doctrine is of which you speak? For you are bringing some
strange things to our ears. Therefore, we want to know what
these things mean. For all, this is not complimentary. For all the Athenians and the
foreigners who were there spent their time in nothing else but
either to tell or to hear some new thing. Some new thing. If you want to be heard by them,
come up with a new doctrine. With a new doctrine. And oh,
they want to hear this new doctrine. Alright? This is new. Come and
tell us. We like to hear about new things.
It is interesting that the Lord tells us, seek ye the old paths. You're right, sister. Seek ye
the old paths. We wanna walk in the old ways. We're not looking for new things.
We're looking for the old ways. Verse 22. Then Paul stood in
the midst of the Areopagus, or Mars Hill, and said, Men of Athens,
I want you to notice this. He's wanting to persuade these
men, and what does he do? He's actually giving them a complimentary
turn. He doesn't stand up and say,
you bunch of reprobates, bunch of idolaters. No, he doesn't
say that, men of Athens. And it's interesting that this
was a form of address in Athens of old that often when a speaker
would stand up to speak, men of Athens, it's like an American
president who gets up and he says, my fellow Americans, Now,
he may know that he's speaking to people who disagree with him,
but my fellow Americans, what Paul here speaks complimentary,
men of Athens, he's not speaking in a derogatory term. It is said,
you'll catch more flies with honey than you will with vinegar. I think there's a lesson for
you and me to learn here, brother. in preaching the gospel. We do
not go out of our way to be rude. Forthright, yes. Tell the truth.
It's going to make some people mad. But let the truth make them
mad and not our derogatory terms. And I say that especially to
myself. I perceive, he continued, that
in all things you are very religious. Now, he doesn't say, you're a
bunch of worthless idolaters. No, he says, you men, you are
very religious. Now, there's still something
to be learned there, brother. For as I was passing through
and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an
alter with this inscription to the unknown God. Now, here's
what this means. You're walking up the road from
the seaport to the city. There is Zeus, and Ares, and
Apollos, and Venus. They had hundreds of these gods.
There they all are. And Paul keeps walking up until
he comes to this one idol, a statue or something or other. We do not know the name of this
God. To the unknown God, as though
they were saying, in case we forgot one, here's a statue,
we give honor to it also. Oh, the vanity of idolaters. To the unknown God. And Paul
looked at it, to the unknown God, so they are admitting There
is a God of whom they do not know. Well, I'll just tell them
about him. But he brings that to their attention. He says, you men, you realize,
you men of Athens, you realize that in your religion, you have
a placard down there to the unknown God? Yeah, yeah, we put it there,
we know about it. I'd like to tell you about him.
Here's what he says. Therefore the one whom you worship
without knowing Him I proclaim to you now. He does not say you
worship him rightly But at least you're showing some respect to
him. All right continue Here's what Paul says of this one whom
you worship Not knowing what you worship God who made the
world and everything in it, since he is Lord of heaven and
earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands." You men of Athens, in your religion,
you have, you and those that are here from foreign places,
you have a temple to Zeus, and you have a temple to Venus, and
you have a temple to Mars, and all the other gods. Ah, ah, ah,
ah, ah. This God I'm talking to you,
He does not dwell in any house you ever built. No house built
by man is the dwelling place of God. Nor is He worshipped with men's
hands as though He needed anything. I have heard I have heard people consider, you know, talk about
somebody and they say, you know what, and I heard this of a woman,
she can really play that piano well. She needs to join the church
because God needs her. No he doesn't. God doesn't need
you, doesn't need me. God does not need anything. Now,
an idol needs something. It needs someone, you know, to
talk sweet to it and bring offerings and such. God doesn't need that. Since He gives life, or gives
to all life, breath, and all things. And He has made from
one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the
earth. One blood. Think about this. Just look around. Even in our
small congregation, we've got some people who are very light
and some who are very dark and some who are in between. Coming from different continents,
but it's all the same blood. One blood, made of one blood. All nations of men who dwell
on the face of the earth. And God has determined their
pre-appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation. He put this
people there and that people there. And this people there
and that people there and populated the whole earth. Now men come
along and try to mess it up, but notice how God did it and
predestined their seasons and what would happen to them. All
right. He did so, verse 27, so that
they should seek the Lord in the hope that they might grope
for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of
us. You know what? That is a very
encouraging statement. Jesus says, you will not come
to Me. You will not. Paul is saying this, you're blind,
you're blind. But oh, if you would just grope
for God, if you would, grope for God, you'll find Him, because
He's not far, He's right in front of you. Paul is letting us know
that God puts no barrier in the way of anyone who would have
Him. God will be found if you grope
for him. He is not far from each one of
us. Verse 28, for in him we live
and move and have our being. As also some of your own poets
have said, for we are also his offspring. Now notice what Paul
has done. He is quoting their own philosophers. He quoted their
philosophers when they spoke the truth. Notice, we are all
God's offspring. Listen, folks, as different as
we are, we all came from Adam, and Adam came from God. All right? Adam is called the son of God. By creation, so are we. So are we. Now, men come along
and say, well, you're different from me, I therefore hate you,
and since I'm different from you, I expect you to hate me.
Should not be that way. Should not be that way. That
comes from men, not from God. Verse 29, therefore, Since we
are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the divine
nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by
art and man's devising. Truly these times of ignorance
in the past God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere
to repent. In the days of the Old Testament,
under the Old Covenant, God gave the law, gave the prophets, gave
the fathers, gave the ordinances, gave the statutes, gave the judgments,
gave it all to the Israelites and to no one else. They were
told to repent. Our Gentile forefathers were
not told to. They were not told to. God let
them go in their idolatry. But now! Something has happened. But now! God commands all men everywhere
to repent. All men! That's you and me. Everywhere! This place and that
place and every other place. God commands it. Notice this.
Notice this. God does not beg you to believe
the gospel. Does not even ask you to. He
commands it. He commands it. That is why disbelief
of the gospel is so serious. God commands all men everywhere
to repent because He has appointed a day on which He will judge
the world in righteousness. God will judge the world. Notice,
God, this God I'm preaching to you, He will judge the world
in righteousness by the man. Ooh, there's a man who's going
to judge. Wait a minute. I thought God
was going to be the judge. God will. But the judge will
be also a man whom God has ordained God has given assurance of this
to all by raising him from the dead. When God raised the man
Christ Jesus from the dead, God was declaring, He will be your
judge, your judge and mine, the judge of all. Therefore all men
everywhere are to repent. God is going to judge the world
through the God-man, Jesus Christ. And when they heard of the resurrection
of the dead, which was completely contrary to all their philosophy,
when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked while
others said, we will hear you again on this matter. As I said,
we're not believing. We reject what you preach. We want nothing to do with what
you declare. So Paul departed from among them. Had a man challenge me to a debate
one time, and he said, why are you afraid to debate
me? Paul debated with the Athenians on Mars Hill. I says, no he didn't. He preached the gospel. When
they said they disagree, he walked away. What questions did he ask
them? Paul was not a debater. He preached. If you did not want to hear what
he had to say, he walked away. So Paul departed from among them.
I want you to see this. All those philosophers, I mean
all educated men, had their degrees. well-known
and revered by the people and Paul is preached to them and
they said no we called you a babbler while ago and you still are and
they rejected the gospel that Paul preached that's the way it is just about
today is not the gospel of Jesus Christ is rejected by men however
look in verse number 34 Some men joined Paul and believed. Some believed, there were a few,
there were a few, they believed. Among them Dionysius the Areopagite,
that term means He was a judge in the court of the Areopagus. One of the highest ranking men
there. This man heard what Paul said and believed the gospel. That's all we know about him.
We know his name and his title. That's all we know. But he believed
the gospel. Let his name be declared today. that there have been some truly
wise men in this world and among them was Dionysius, the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris. Think about it. There was a woman. Now, she would have been shunned. by that group of philosophers,
they would not have wanted a woman at least to enter into the discussion.
She evidently has been out here listening to Paul while he's
teaching those men, standing on the outside of the circle
of the hearers. She's heard what he's got to
say, and the Lord opened her heart. The Lord opened her heart. So think about it now. This woman
is wiser than all them fools up there on the hill. She has
believed the gospel and others with them. We do not know
their names. Two are given by name and there
are a few others. And let me tell you something,
they became the truest philosophers you can imagine. I told you I'd
come back to this in a moment, didn't I? I'm gonna close. They
became the truest philosophers. What is a philosopher? Comes
from the word philo, meaning loving, one who is a lover. Sophia, meaning wisdom. The truest philosopher is a lover
and a follower of Jesus Christ. Because when you read the book
of the Proverbs from Solomon, that's the name that's given
to him all the way through. Later today sometime or next
week. Read Proverbs chapter eight in particular. That's Jesus Christ. Ah, wisdom speak. Read the first
three or four chapters in the book of Proverbs and all it says
about wisdom, wisdom. That's speaking of Christ. Who
is a true philosopher? Who is? Do you love Jesus Christ? I pray
that you do. Do you love Jesus Christ? He's
the true wisdom. You are a true philosopher. Someone may ask you, are you
a philosopher? Well, I'm a lover of Jesus Christ.
He's the true wisdom. That means I'm a philosopher.
That's what a true Christian is. A lover and a follower of
Jesus Christ. And I hope that is true of every
one of us today. Oh, that philosophical people
today might find in Jesus Christ the true wisdom. And oh God,
our Father, we pray that we might be true philosophers. not following the wisdom of the world so-called,
but true philosophers, following Jesus Christ. To the glory of your son we ask
this blessing in his name. Amen.