Calvary Bible Church
Sunday, September 13
  • Take your Bibles this morning and open them to the book of Acts, chapter 17. Acts chapter 17.
    Earlier this week, I was having a conversation with a brother in Christ, and we were discussing the spiritual condition of our nation and the future of the church. We were talking about this idea that so many modern Christians cling to—the idea that the church is just waiting around for the next great, global, sweeping revival to save America.
    But as students of the Word of God, and as those who hold to a literal, dispensational understanding of the Scriptures, we know what the Bible actually says about the end of the Church Age. The Apostle Paul does not promise us a global revival right before the Rapture. In fact, he promises the exact opposite. He tells us in 2 Timothy chapter 3, "This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come." He tells us in 2 Timothy chapter 4 that the time will come when men will not endure sound doctrine. We just finished looking at 1 John 2 and the reality of the apostasy of the last days.
    We know how this dispensation ends. We know the cultural trajectory we are facing as we get closer and closer to the sounding of the trumpet.
    But brethren, we must be incredibly careful. There is a dangerous, subtle trap that traditional, Bible-believing churches often fall into. We can become so focused on the prophetic timeline, and so aware of the coming apostasy, that we allow our theology to become an excuse for evangelistic apathy.
    We look at the darkness of the culture and we say, "Well, the Bible said it would get this way. We are just holding the fort until Jesus comes." And we stop trying to win the lost.
    But let me give you a truth to anchor your heart to this morning: A lack of a global revival does not mean we cannot have a local harvest!
    Knowing the prophetic timeline of the end times is never an excuse for evangelistic apathy.
    Knowing the prophetic timeline of the end times is never an excuse for evangelistic apathy. God has not called us to sit in the bunker and polish our boots while the world burns. Jesus Christ said in Luke 19:13, "Occupy till I come." That is an active, aggressive command. We are to be doing the business of the King until the very second we are caught up in the clouds.
    And that brings me to a very specific, pastoral burden I have for our church today. I want to speak to you very honestly about our location, our community, and our methodology.
    For decades, the American church operated under what church historians call a "suburban, attractional model." In a suburban mindset, you buy a piece of property, you build a nice building, you put a sign out front, you leave the doors open, and you wait. You assume that because America is a "Christian nation," people will eventually wake up on a Sunday morning, realize they need to get their lives together, and walk through your doors. The strategy is entirely attractional: "Come and see what we have."
    And for a long time, in places like West Allis, Wisconsin, that model worked. But we need to come to a sobering realization this morning. West Allis is not the same city it was thirty or forty years ago. The demographics have shifted. The population is changing. The culture has moved.
    We are no longer ministering in a quiet, predictable suburban environment where everyone has a basic, underlying respect for the Bible. We are now ministering in an inner-city reality. We are surrounded by a dynamic, changing, increasingly secular population.
    And if we sit in these pews, operating like a suburban church, waiting for the community to come to us, we will slowly die. We cannot expect a spiritually blind, biblically illiterate culture to simply walk through the doors of a church they do not understand. We have to change our methodology without changing our theology. We must transition from being an attractional church that says "Come and see," to a missional church that says "Go and tell."
    This is not a new problem. The Apostle Paul found himself in this exact same situation in Acts chapter 17. He arrived in the city of Athens. Athens was the intellectual and cultural capital of the ancient world, but it was also a city steeped in deep, dark paganism. The people there had zero background in the Old Testament Scriptures. They didn't know Moses. They didn't know the prophets.
    Let's look at how Paul reacted to a changing, pagan city, and how he pivoted his ministry to reach them. Look with me at Acts 17, beginning in verse 16.

    I. The Provoked Heart

    Read verse 16 with me: “Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry.”
    Acts 17:16 KJV 1900
    Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry.
    Let's set the stage. Paul is on his second missionary journey. He has recently been chased out of Thessalonica and Berea by violent mobs. The brethren have sent him down to the coast and put him on a ship to Athens for his own safety. He is waiting there for Silas and Timothy to catch up with him.
    Paul is a tourist in the greatest city of antiquity. If there was ever a time for a preacher to take a day off, relax, and go sightseeing, this was it. He could have walked the streets admiring the incredible marble architecture, the Parthenon, and the genius of Greek philosophy.
    But notice what happens to the man of God when he looks at the city. The text says, "when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry."
    An ancient historian named Petronius once joked that it was easier to find a god in Athens than to find a man. The city was absolutely littered with statues, temples, and shrines. There were idols on every street corner, in every public square, and in every home. Behind all that beautiful marble and high-minded philosophy, Paul saw a city that was utterly bound in the chains of demonic deception. They were worshipping the creature rather than the Creator.
    And look at Paul's reaction. Verse 16 says, "his spirit was stirred in him."
    I want to pause right here and dig into the Greek text, because this word is the absolute key to inner-city evangelism.
    [Slide: Greek Word Study: Stirred (παροξύνω - paroxunō)]
    The Greek word translated as "stirred" is paroxunō. It is a very intense, violent word. In fact, it is a medical term. It is where we get the English word paroxysm, which means a sudden, violent attack, a spasm, or a seizure.
    It means to be deeply irritated, to be provoked to the core of your being, to be spurred to a state of agonizing grief and righteous anger.
    Paul wasn't just slightly annoyed by the idols. He didn't just shake his head, complain about how bad the culture was getting, and go back to his hotel room. When he looked at the lostness of the city, he had a spiritual paroxysm. His heart broke. He was convulsed with a holy grief because he saw eternal souls marching blindly toward the judgment of a holy God while worshipping blocks of stone.
    Reaching our city requires a heart that is provoked by the idolatry around us.
    Write that down in your notes. Reaching our city requires a heart that is provoked by the idolatry around us.
    Evangelism in a changing city does not begin with a slick marketing strategy. It does not begin with a new program. It begins with a broken heart.
    I want to ask you a very piercing question this morning. When you drive to church on Sunday, or when you go to the grocery store here in West Allis, and you look at the changing demographics, the shifting culture, and the spiritual darkness of this city... what is your reaction?
    Are you just annoyed? Are you just frustrated that things aren't the way they used to be in 1985? Do you look at the people moving into our neighborhoods and complain about the crime, the politics, and the noise? Do you sit in your house and complain that the world is going to hell in a handbasket?
    Or is your spirit provoked? Does it grieve you that thousands of people in this very zip code are wholly given over to the modern idols of secularism, money, pleasure, and self? Does it break your heart that there are people living within a one-mile radius of this pulpit who have never once heard the clear, unadulterated Gospel of the grace of God?
    If we look at West Allis with a heart of annoyance and suburban nostalgia, we will never reach them. We will just become an angry, isolated country club holding out until the Rapture. But if we allow the Holy Spirit to give us the heart of the Apostle Paul—if we allow ourselves to be provoked with a holy, compassionate grief for the lost—then God can use us to spark a harvest in the inner city.
    Because a provoked heart always leads to action. Look at what Paul's provoked spirit drove him to do in verse 17.

    II. The Synagogue vs. The Marketplace

    Because Paul’s heart was provoked, he was moved to immediate action. Look at verse 17: “Therefore disputed he in the synagogue with the Jews, and with the devout persons, and in the market daily with them that met with him.”
    Acts 17:17 KJV 1900
    Therefore disputed he in the synagogue with the Jews, and with the devout persons, and in the market daily with them that met with him.
    Notice the word "Therefore." Because he was moved with grief over the lostness of the city, he had to speak.
    Paul begins his ministry in Athens exactly where he always began: in the synagogue. Romans 1:16 was his methodology: "To the Jew first, and also to the Greek." So he goes to the synagogue and disputes with the Jews and the God-fearing proselytes.
    Now, I want you to think about the environment of the synagogue. In the synagogue, Paul was on comfortable turf. He was dealing with people who already had a biblical worldview. They believed in the one true God. They believed the Old Testament was the inspired Word of God. They knew the prophecies of Isaiah and Daniel. They understood the concepts of blood sacrifice, atonement, and the coming Messiah. When Paul preached in the synagogue, he could open the scroll of Isaiah 53, point to the text, and prove that Jesus was the Christ. They spoke the same theological language.
    Many churches today operate exclusively in a "synagogue model." We open our doors on Sunday morning, and we preach to the people who already know the language. We preach to the people who already own a Bible, who understand what the word "sin" means, and who know the difference between the Old and New Testaments. And that is absolutely necessary for the feeding of the flock.
    But look at the second half of verse 17. Paul didn't stay in the synagogue. "...and in the market daily with them that met with him."
    The Greek word for the market is the agora. The agora was the chaotic, bustling, loud, pagan center of Athenian public life. It was the place where merchants sold their goods, politicians debated, philosophers argued, and citizens gathered. It was filled with shrines to false gods, statues of heroes, and the noise of secular society.
    The people in the agora did not go to the synagogue. They didn't know the Bible. They didn't know Moses. They didn't care about Jewish prophecy. If Paul had stayed in the synagogue and just put a sign out front that said, "Come hear the truth about the Messiah," the people in the agora never would have walked through the doors.
    So Paul left his comfortable, predictable, religious environment, and he walked right into the middle of the mess. He engaged them on their own turf, every single day.
    A suburban church waits in the synagogue; an inner-city church goes to the marketplace.
    Write this down: A suburban church waits in the synagogue; an inner-city church goes to the marketplace.
    Brethren, West Allis is our agora. For years, this church has faithfully taught the Word of God inside the "synagogue." But the demographics outside our doors have shifted. The people moving into the apartments down the street, the people working in the shops, the families walking down the sidewalks—many of them have absolutely no biblical background. If you tell them they have broken the Law of Moses, they won't even know who Moses is.
    We can no longer afford to just leave the lights on, sing the hymns, and hope the lost find their way in. The Lord Jesus Christ told a parable in Luke 14 about a great supper where the invited guests refused to come. And what did the master of the house say to his servant? "Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind."
    We must pivot to the marketplace. We have to take the Gospel out of this building and into the streets, the coffee shops, the workplaces, and the neighborhoods. We have to meet them where they are.
    illustration about friend with AAA membership
    But I need to warn you. When you leave the comfort of the synagogue and step into the marketplace, you are going to encounter a culture that is radically opposed to everything you believe. You are going to face a philosophical collision.

    III. The Philosophical Collision

    Look at verse 18: “Then certain philosophers of the Epicureans, and of the Stoicks, encountered him. And some said, What will this babbler say? other some, He seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods: because he preached unto them Jesus, and the resurrection.”
    Acts 17:18 KJV 1900
    Then certain philosophers of the Epicureans, and of the Stoicks, encountered him. And some said, What will this babbler say? other some, He seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods: because he preached unto them Jesus, and the resurrection.
    When Paul stepped into the marketplace, he immediately ran head-long into the two dominant, secular worldviews of his day: the Epicureans and the Stoics.
    This is incredibly relevant for us today, because human nature hasn't changed in two thousand years. The devil doesn't invent new philosophies; he just puts modern clothes on ancient lies. The people you will encounter in the marketplace of West Allis fall into these exact same two categories.
    Let's look at them.
    1. The Epicureans (The Modern Secular Progressive)The Epicureans were the ancient materialists. They followed the teachings of a man named Epicurus, who taught that the physical universe was all that existed. They believed that the gods—if they existed at all—were far away and didn't care about human affairs. Therefore, there was no afterlife, no final judgment, and no divine accountability.
    Because they believed this life was all there is, their highest goal in life was the pursuit of personal pleasure and the avoidance of pain. Their motto was essentially, "Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die."
    Do you recognize that philosophy? That is the modern, secular progressive worldview that dominates American culture today! We are surrounded by Epicureans. They believe we are just the product of random, evolutionary chance. They believe there is no absolute truth, no eternal consequence for their actions, and no coming judgment. Therefore, the highest good in modern culture is personal happiness, sexual liberation, and "living your truth." If it feels good, do it, because tomorrow we die.
    2. The Stoics (The Modern Secular Conservative)On the other side of the marketplace, Paul encountered the Stoics. They followed a philosopher named Zeno. The Stoics were essentially pantheists; they believed that "god" was just the spark of nature in everything. But practically, they were rigid, self-reliant moralists.
    The Stoics believed that the highest good in life was human reason and self-control. They suppressed their emotions. They believed in duty, discipline, and willpower. They thought that through rigorous self-discipline, a man could perfect himself and rise above the trials of life.
    We see this exact same philosophy today in the form of secular conservatism. We have a whole generation of podcasters and influencers telling young men to just "pull themselves up by their bootstraps," go to the gym, make money, and rely entirely on their own discipline. It is morality without the Master. It is self-improvement without a Savior. It is a prideful religion of human willpower that says, "I don't need the grace of God; I can save myself through my own discipline."
    Paul walks into the marketplace, looks at the pleasure-seeking Epicureans on his left, looks at the prideful, self-reliant Stoics on his right, and what does he do? Does he try to blend in? Does he try to water down the message to make it culturally acceptable?
    No. The end of verse 18 says, "he preached unto them Jesus, and the resurrection."
    He drops the atomic bomb of the Gospel right in the middle of their philosophies! Do you understand how offensive the resurrection was to these people? To the Epicurean, the resurrection was a terrifying thought, because if a man rose from the dead, it means there is an afterlife, and there is a final judgment for their sin! To the Stoic, the resurrection was deeply offensive, because the cross of Jesus Christ proves that all of our human willpower and self-discipline is entirely useless to save us from the grave.
    The Gospel destroys both secular progressive humanism and secular conservative moralism. It levels the playing field at the foot of a bloody cross.
    And because Paul preached an uncompromising Gospel, look at how the culture responded to him in verse 18: "And some said, What will this babbler say?"
    They mocked him. They insulted his intelligence. They called the great Apostle Paul a "babbler."
    [Slide: Greek Word Study: Babbler (σπερμολόγος - spermologos)]
    I want you to see the Greek word here, because it will prepare you for what you are going to face when you evangelize our city. The Greek word for babbler is spermologos. It literally means a "seed picker."
    It was a slang term, an ancient insult. It was used to describe a little bird hopping around in the gutter, pecking at leftover seeds and scraps of garbage. In the intellectual world of Athens, they used this word to describe a beggar—a man who had no original thoughts, who just walked around picking up philosophical scraps of garbage and vomiting them back out.
    These elite, highly educated philosophers looked at the Apostle Paul—a man inspired by the Holy Ghost—and they essentially said, "Look at this uneducated street preacher. Look at this ignorant, right-wing fundamentalist bird pecking in the gutter. He has no idea what he is talking about."
    Church, listen to me carefully. When we leave the comfort of the synagogue and we take the Gospel into the marketplace of our city, we must be prepared for the fact that the culture is not going to automatically respect our Bibles. They are not going to applaud our theology. When you tell a modern Epicurean that they must repent of their sin, or when you tell a modern Stoic that their good works cannot save them, they are going to look down their noses at you and call you a babbler. They will call you bigoted, uneducated, and foolish.
    To a biblically illiterate culture, the message of the resurrection will often sound like babbling.
    Write that down. To a biblically illiterate culture, the message of the resurrection will often sound like babbling.
    But you must not let that intimidate you! You must not let the mockery of the world silence your witness! The Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Corinth, just a few miles down the road from Athens, and he said in 1 Corinthians 1:18, "For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God."
    1 Corinthians 1:18 KJV 1900
    For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.
    He went on to say in verse 23, "But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness."
    1 Corinthians 1:23 KJV 1900
    But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness;
    We have to be willing to look like fools for the sake of the cross. We must be willing to endure the mockery of the marketplace in order to pull dying souls out of the fire.
    Despite their mockery, Paul’s preaching provoked their curiosity. In verses 19 through 21, they take him out of the marketplace and bring him up to the Areopagus—Mars Hill. This was the supreme court of Athenian philosophy. They demand to hear more about this "new doctrine."
    And it is here, standing on Mars Hill, that Paul delivers one of the most masterful, evangelistic sermons in the entire Word of God. He builds a bridge to a culture that has no Bible, and he introduces them to the God they never knew.

    IV. The Bridge to the Unknown God

    Paul is brought to the Areopagus—Mars Hill. This is the supreme court of Athenian culture, philosophy, and religion. It is an amphitheater of human intellect. The Epicureans and the Stoics have gathered around him, and they demand to hear what this "babbler" has to say.
    Read Acts 17:22-23 with me: “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.”
    Acts 17:22–23 KJV 1900
    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.
    Look at the absolute brilliance of the Apostle Paul. He does not start by insulting them. He doesn't start by yelling at them for being pagans. He says, "I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious." A better translation of that Greek word is "very religious."
    Paul is acknowledging their spiritual hunger. The people of Athens were desperately trying to find God. They were so terrified of leaving a deity out, so afraid of missing some divine blessing or incurring some divine wrath, that after they built altars to Zeus, Apollo, Athena, and Hermes, they built a spare altar. They carved an inscription into the stone: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. It was an altar built to the God they didn't know, just in case He existed.
    What a tragic, heartbreaking picture of the lost condition of humanity! They had an idol for everything, but an empty altar for the one true Creator of the universe.
    Paul finds the cultural bridge. He looks at that empty altar and says, "Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you."
    He is saying, "I know the God of the empty altar. I know the Creator you are desperately searching for. Let me introduce you to Him."
    We must identify the spiritual hunger of our city so we can declare the true God to them.
    This is exactly how we must engage the city of West Allis. The people living around us are very religious. They might not call it religion, but they are desperately worshipping at the altars of modern culture. They worship at the altar of political ideology, hoping the government will save them. They worship at the altar of materialism, hoping money will give them peace. They worship at the altar of sexual identity, hoping to find their purpose in their flesh.
    They are spiritually starving. And when all those idols fail them—and they will fail them—they are left with an aching void in their souls, an empty altar to an unknown God. Our job as a missional church is not to just condemn their false idols from a distance, but to step into their marketplace, point to their spiritual hunger, and introduce them to the God of the Bible.
    But notice how Paul introduces God. Look at verse 24: “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.”
    Acts 17:24 KJV 1900
    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;
    When Paul was in the synagogue, he started with the prophets. But when Paul is talking to pagans who don't know the Bible, he goes all the way back to Genesis 1:1. "In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth."
    You cannot explain the cross of Jesus Christ to a lost person until you have explained the Creator. If there is no Creator, there is no moral law. If there is no moral law, there is no sin. If there is no sin, there is no need for a Savior. Paul shatters the worldview of the Epicureans (who believed the universe was a cosmic accident) by declaring that God made the world. He shatters the worldview of the Stoics (who believed God was just a force of nature) by declaring that God is a personal Lord who does not live in their marble temples.
    Then, in verse 25, he destroys their religious pride: “Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things.”
    Acts 17:25 KJV 1900
    Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;
    The pagans believed they had to feed their gods. They brought meat and wine to the temples to keep their idols happy. Paul says, "The true God doesn't need your sacrifices. He is not hungry. He doesn't need your money. He is the one who put the breath in your lungs this morning!"
    And then Paul drops a theological anchor in verse 26 that every believer in this church needs to hear today. Read it carefully: “And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation.”
    Acts 17:26 KJV 1900
    And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;
    I want you to let the weight of that verse settle over your soul.
    Paul declares that God is absolutely sovereign over human history and human geography. God determined "the times before appointed." That means God decided the exact era of history in which you would be born. You are not alive in 2026 by accident. And God determined "the bounds of their habitation." That means God sovereignly draws the borders and the zip codes of where people live.
    Apply that truth to West Allis, Wisconsin. Do you think the changing demographics of this city took Almighty God by surprise? Do you think the Lord is looking down from heaven, wringing His hands, worried about the neighborhood transitioning?
    Absolutely not! God determined the bounds of their habitation! God is the one moving people into this city. God is the one orchestrating the demographic shift. The people moving into the apartments down the street are not here by accident; God brought them here. And God placed this church right here, on this corner, in this specific decade, by divine appointment.
    Why? Why does God move populations? Why did God bring these specific people to West Allis?
    Look at verse 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.”
    Acts 17:27 KJV 1900
    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:
    God orchestrates human geography so that lost people might bump into the truth and be saved! God brought the mission field to our front door!
    The very demographic changes that suburban churches complain about are the sovereignly orchestrated opportunities of God for evangelism. He brought them into the bounds of our habitation so that we could tell them the truth. He is not a distant, uncaring force. As Paul says, "He be not far from every one of us."
    In verse 28, Paul even quotes one of their own secular poets to make his point: "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." Paul knew their literature. He studied their culture just enough to build a bridge to the truth.
    Acts 17:28 KJV 1900
    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.
    He proves the absolute folly of their idolatry in verse 29: "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."
    Acts 17:29 KJV 1900
    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.
    If God created us as living, breathing, intelligent beings, how foolish is it to think that God is a piece of dead stone that we carved with our own hands?
    Paul has dismantled their worldview. He has established the sovereign Creator. He has exposed the foolishness of their idols. Now, he brings the message to a sudden, striking, and terrifying climax. He moves from the God of Creation to the God of Judgment.

    V. The Divine Command and the Coming Judgment

    Look at Acts 17:30. “And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent.”
    Acts 17:30 KJV 1900
    And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:
    Paul tells the men of Athens, "For centuries, God in His mercy overlooked the ignorant idolatry of the Gentile nations. He didn't strike you down immediately. He let the nations walk in their own ways. But now..."
    Everything changed at the cross. Everything changed when the Son of God stepped out of an empty tomb. The times of ignorance are over. The light has come into the world.
    And notice what God does. He does not offer a gentle suggestion. He does not ask the Epicureans if they would like to add Jesus to their pursuit of pleasure. He does not ask the Stoics if they would like to use Jesus for a little extra self-improvement.
    The text says God "commandeth all men every where to repent."
    The Gospel is not an invitation to a better life; it is a divine command from the Sovereign of the universe. And the command is repentance.
    The Greek word is metanoia. It means a total, radical change of mind that leads to a change of direction. It is not Catholic penance. It is not beating yourself up. It is waking up from the delusion of your idolatry, turning your back on your sin, and turning your face toward the living God. God commands all men, everywhere, in Athens and in West Allis, to repent.
    Why is the command so urgent? Why must we go into the marketplace and preach this with tears in our eyes?
    Look at verse 31. This is the thunderbolt of the sermon. “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 17:31 KJV 1900
    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.
    Paul didn't offer Jesus as a life-enhancement coach. He presented Jesus Christ as the inescapable, righteous Judge of the universe.
    God has a date circled on the calendar of eternity. It is an appointed day. It cannot be delayed, it cannot be avoided, and it cannot be appealed. On that day, the Lord Jesus Christ—the man whom God hath ordained—will sit upon the Great White Throne, and He will judge the world in absolute righteousness.
    He will not judge you by the curve of human morality. He will not judge you based on whether you were a good Stoic or a happy Epicurean. He will judge every secret thought, every hidden motive, every lie, and every act of rebellion against the infinite holiness of God.
    And how do we know this for certain? What is the proof that this judgment is coming? Paul says God has given absolute assurance unto all men. He proved it by raising Jesus Christ from the dead!
    The empty tomb is not just a symbol of hope for the believer; it is a subpoena for the unbeliever. The resurrection is the historical, undeniable proof that Jesus Christ is exactly who He claimed to be, and that He holds the keys of death and hell.

    Conclusion

    When Paul mentioned the resurrection of the dead, the sermon was abruptly cut short.
    Look at the reaction of the crowd in verse 32: “And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked: and others said, We will hear thee again of this matter.”
    Acts 17:32 KJV 1900
    And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked: and others said, We will hear thee again of this matter.
    When you take the Gospel into the marketplace of our city, you will get the exact same three reactions that Paul got on Mars Hill.
    First, some will mock. The Epicureans, who loved their sin and their pleasure, laughed in his face. The idea of a bodily resurrection and a final judgment was a joke to them. Do not let the mockery of the world deter you.
    Second, some will delay. The Stoics, in their intellectual pride, said, "We will hear thee again of this matter." They procrastinated. They thought they had plenty of time to debate the philosophy. But delay is just another form of rejection. Hell is filled with men and women who intended to get right with God "tomorrow."
    But look at verse 34. Praise God for verse 34! “Howbeit certain men clave unto him, and believed: among the which was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them.”
    Acts 17:33–34 KJV 1900
    So Paul departed from among them. Howbeit certain men clave unto him, and believed: among the which was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them.
    When you preach the unadulterated, offensive, glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ in the inner city, the Holy Ghost will take that Word, and it will pierce the darkness. Dionysius, one of the elite judges of the supreme court, bowed his knee to the King of Kings. Damaris, a woman of the city, had her sins washed in the blood of the Lamb. They believed.
    Brethren, there are men and women just like Dionysius and Damaris living right here in West Allis. They are waiting for someone with a provoked heart to step out of the synagogue, walk into the agora, and declare the truth of the unknown God to them. We must be that church. We must make the marketplace pivot.
    But as I look across this auditorium this morning, I cannot assume that everyone sitting in these pews has truly repented and believed the Gospel. Just because you are sitting in the synagogue does not mean you are part of the true Church.
    Perhaps you walked in here today with the mindset of an Epicurean. You are living entirely for the flesh. You are chasing money, pleasure, and the temporary thrills of this dying world. You are trying to ignore the reality of eternity.
    Or perhaps you have the mindset of a Stoic. You are highly moral. You are conservative. You pull yourself up by your bootstraps. You try to be a good husband, a good wife, a good citizen. You think that because you are not living in gross, outward sin, you are acceptable to God. You are trusting in your own willpower to save you.
    I must tell you, on the authority of the Word of God, that both of those roads lead to the exact same eternal lake of fire. All of your pleasure will burn up, and all of your self-righteous morality is nothing but filthy rags in the sight of a holy God.
    God has appointed a day in which He will judge you in righteousness. If you stand before the Lord Jesus Christ in your own merit, you will be found guilty, and you will be justly condemned to eternal separation from the presence of God.
    But God, who is rich in mercy, did not leave us to die in our idolatry. The Judge of the universe stepped down from the bench, took off His robes of glory, and took on human flesh. Jesus Christ lived the perfect, sinless life that you and I could never live.
    And then, out of an infinite, unfathomable love, Jesus went to the cross of Calvary. He did not die as a victim of the Roman government. He died as a substitute for you. On that cross, Almighty God poured out the full, unmitigated fury of His wrath against your sin, and He placed it all on His only begotten Son. Jesus drank the cup of judgment dry. He shed His precious blood to pay the sin debt that you owed.
    He was buried, and on the third day, He rose again from the dead, proving that the debt was paid in full and that the Father had accepted the sacrifice.
    He is not asking you to clean up your life. He is not asking you to promise to do better. He commands you to repent—to change your mind about your own goodness, to turn your back on your idols, and to throw yourself entirely on the mercy of the cross.
    Ephesians 2:8-9 says, "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast."
    Ephesians 2:8–9 KJV 1900
    For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.
    It is a free gift. But you must receive it by faith.
    If you are here today, and you have never trusted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, do not be like the men on Mars Hill who said, "I'll hear about this later." You are not guaranteed tomorrow. The appointed day of judgment is coming.
    But today is the day of salvation. Will you call upon the name of the Lord today? Will you trust the resurrected Christ to save your soul?
    And to the church: will we allow the Holy Spirit to provoke our hearts? Will we leave the comfort of the familiar? Will we look at the changing demographics of West Allis not as a tragedy, but as a divine appointment from the Sovereign God who placed us exactly where He wants us to be?
    Let's go into the marketplace. Let's declare the truth. Let's trust God for the harvest.
    I want to leave you with a homework assignment this week. Through the course of your travels this week: to the store, to work, out and about in the city; I want to open your eyes to the people around us. You will be amazed and what you see when you stop focusing on ourselves. This week I pray that the spirit stirs your soul to be attentive to others around us. What areas can we share the love of Jesus out in the marketplace. I’m not asking you to do this week, just pay attention. If you have the ability, then help! But lets be more aware of the city around us and take our blinders off.
    For extra credit, I would highly recommend the book ‘In His Steps’ by Charles M. Sheldon. It was published in 1897 and started as weekly storied that he read to his congregation that was then later published as a book. This is where we got the phrase ‘What Would Jesus Do’.
    Let us bow our heads in prayer.

      • Acts 17:16KJV1900

      • Acts 17:17KJV1900

      • Acts 17:18KJV1900

      • 1 Corinthians 1:18KJV1900

      • 1 Corinthians 1:23KJV1900

      • Acts 17:22–23KJV1900

      • Acts 17:24KJV1900

      • Acts 17:25KJV1900

      • Acts 17:26KJV1900

      • Acts 17:27KJV1900

      • Acts 17:28KJV1900

      • Acts 17:29KJV1900

      • Acts 17:30KJV1900

      • Acts 17:31KJV1900

      • Acts 17:32KJV1900

      • Acts 17:33–34KJV1900

      • Ephesians 2:8–9KJV1900

Calvary Bible Church
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