"Provoked to Preach" Acts 17:16-34 Sunday Evening Worship Service

Well good evening, church.

Bless the Lord for another opportunity for us to gather, for us to sing of the glory of our risen Lord Jesus Christ.

What an absolute privilege and joy that is to do that.

Well, firstly, I want to uh bless the Lord for preserving our nation as we remember again men and women who sacrificed their lives so that we could have this freedom even now to gather and to open up God's word without fear of obviously any type of attack.

Um and that is something that we should not take lightly, especially especially since we know there are many of our brothers and sisters in Christ who do not have the same luxury and do not have this very same uh privilege.

So to him be the glory.

Praise God.

I want to uh ask you a question.

Now, most of you are Bible scholars, and so I'm not going to give you the scripture reference.

Um, I'm sure once I start reading from some of it, you'll pretty much figure it out.

But I just want to ask you, how would you feel if one day our leader draped himself in a sort of royal robe and he took his seat upon the throne and delivered an oration to the crowds?

And the people were shouting, the voice of a God and not of a man.

How would you feel about that?

Would you be okay with that?

And you're probably wondering, where am I going with this?

That's okay.

Um, but that is something that we may not see necessarily in our in our political um agenda our political realm, but it happens every day.

It happens every day.

It happens in our football stadiums, in all of our sports stadiums, it happens in our concerts, it happens in all sorts of media, as some person who is but finite dust does some sort of performing act, and it's as if the crowds are screaming, the voice of a God and not of a man.

If that doesn't stir you up, if that doesn't provoke you in a certain manner, let me tell you how the Lord felt about that.

And of course, I'm talking about Acts chapter 12, and this is Herod.

Acts 12 · chapter mention

And in Acts chapter 12, just picking up at verse 20, I'm just going to quickly read.

Acts 12 · chapter mention

It says, Now Arod, excuse me, now Herod was angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon, and they came to him with one accord, and having persuaded, and having persuaded Blasus, the king's chaplain, they asked for peace, because their country depended on the king's country for food.

On a pointed day, Herod put on his royal robes, took his seat upon the throne, and delivered an honoration to them.

And the people were shouting, the voice of a God and not of a man.

Immediately an angel of the Lord struck him down, because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and breathed his last.

Loved ones, the Lord our God does not share his glory with another.

And if he responds with such immediate judgment, it is right.

And we who are his adopted sons and daughters, we should we too should be provoked when we see our God not receiving the glory in which he so rightly deserves.

And so I want to challenge you this evening, as I challenge myself.

I know oftentimes when we read the scriptures, we can oftentimes seem like Paul is just so far out of reach.

But I want you to understand that Paul was a man with a nature like ours.

Paul was an ordinary person just like you and myself.

Yet he loved Christ, and so great was his love for Christ that he had no other option but to preach the gospel and to spread the gospel for the glory of Christ.

And I truly believe that if you and I are in Christ, no matter how long we have been walking with him, we too can be used and can be provoked to preach the gospel to the glory of our Lord.

That we can be used as weak and frail and feeble as we are.

We could be men and women on fire for the Lord and go out and to spread his glorious gospel.

And so now with that in mind, I want to direct your attention to God's authoritative word.

In Acts chapter 17.

Acts 17 · chapter mention

Acts chapter 17, we will learn from the Holy Spirit how we can be a people on fire for the Lord, provoked to preach his gospel and to spread his gospel to the lost.

Acts 17 · chapter mention

Acts chapter 17.

Acts 17 · chapter mention

We'll be looking at verses 16 through 34.

And now for the sake of time, I'm just going to actually give you my outline just quickly, and then we're going to go step by step through the text because it's a pretty lengthy text.

But I believe in Acts chapter 17, verses 16 through 34, the apostle Paul will teach us five principles on how we can be stirred up, on how we could be fired up, of how we could be provoked to preach the gospel and evangelize the loss.

Acts 17:16–34

In verse 16, we see that Paul was provoked.

That's principle number one.

Principle number two, we see that Paul was prompted to action, and this is verses 17 through 21.

Principle number three, we will see that Paul was perceptive of his audience, and this is verses 22 through 23.

Principle number four, we see that Paul was prepared to proclaim the truth, and we see that in verses 24 through 29.

And lastly, we will see that Paul was preaching Jesus and his resurrection.

And this is verses 30 through 34.

Amen.

Alright, so going back to verse 16, and the scripture reads as follows.

Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him, as he saw that the city was full of idols.

So this is principle number one.

Paul was provoked.

And so since we just kind of parachuted into this text, it's only right to provide a little bit of background to help us understand why Paul is in Athens.

Earlier in the chapter, we learned that the Apostle Paul was originally in a place called Thessalonica and was preaching the gospel in their local synagogue.

And as a result of the many people placing their faith in Jesus, this caused the local Jews to be jealous, so much so that they gathered the local riff rafts and caused problems to the point that Paul had to leave town.

Paul then went to a place called Berea.

And in typical fashion, by the Apostle Paul, he started preaching the gospel again.

And people started placing their faith in Jesus once again.

And you would think, praise God, this is great news, right?

Not for the Jews who heard about it.

Once the word spread around town that the Apostle Paul was there and that people were coming to faith, the Jews went to Berea and drove him out of town once again.

And it was then that Paul was taken to Athens.

And now you should know that at this time Athens was considered, according to commentary, this was the cultural and intellectual center of the Roman Empire.

It was equally known for his magnificent art and architecture.

And the art, however, was characteristically portraying the exploits of the various gods and goddesses of the Greek pantheon.

And most of their impressive buildings were temples to the pagan gods.

And so now, here we see the Apostle Paul.

And what is he doing?

Is he walking around town and taking in the local sites and enjoying all this beautiful art and architecture that's dedicated to false gods?

No.

No.

Once again, this is the first point of our outline.

We see that the Apostle Paul, he was provoked.

He was provoked.

And that word in Greek means to be inwardly aroused, irritated.

And Paul was literally, literally on fire with each step that he took.

And why, you may ask?

The scripture tells us because he saw that the city was full of idols.

And you're probably thinking, maybe you're thinking, what's the big deal?

What's the big deal about that?

Well, for a man like the Apostle Paul, it was a very big deal.

It was a very big deal because he understood that these great structures that were being built to honor these false gods were robbing the true and living God of the glory of which he so rightly deserves.

Keep in mind, loved ones, this is the same man that wrote in Romans chapter 1, verses 22 to 23.

Romans 1:22–23

Claiming to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

The Lord does not take idolatry lightly, loved ones.

For the Lord himself was angry with his very own children, the children of Israel, for their constant idolatry.

And we see in Exodus chapter 32, verse 7, Moses records, And the Lord said to Moses, Go down, for your people whom you have brought up out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves.

Exodus 32:7

They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them.

They've made for themselves a golden calf, and have worshipped it and sacrificed to it, and said, These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.

And the Lord said to Moses, I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people.

Now therefore, let me alone that my wrath may burn hot against them, and I may consume them, in order that I may make a great nation out of you.

The Lord, the Lord our God, slow to anger, abounding in loving kindness and grace and truth, there comes a point in a time when that idolatry rises to the heavens, and that is all that the Lord can stand.

He cannot stand anymore.

And the Lord has the right to be angry over idolatry.

And loved ones, when we love the Lord our God with all of our heart and with all of our mind and with all of our soul and with all of our strength, we too will be provoked.

Provoked by the things that anger the Lord.

And so, if you are wondering, why is it that sometimes we're not being provoked as we should?

That's an opportunity for us to examine what is going on in our hearts.

Are we loving something else or loving someone else more than the Lord our God?

Because you must understand, we loved ones, as I often like to remind you and oftentimes need to remind myself, Christianity is not a skipping through the woods.

We are in a battle.

And our enemy does not want us focusing on the Lord our God.

Our enemy wants us to be distracted with the things here on earth as we endeavor to set our minds on the things that are above.

And so what does he do?

He tries to continue to desensitize us to evil so that it doesn't bother us as much as it used to.

Right?

And it happens.

We'll get together as a family.

We've been so excited to get together.

It's summertime.

We want to watch a big summer blockbuster movie, right?

Because it's all the talk, it's all the rave.

And we just want to enjoy a movie.

And as we sit down to take it in, the name of Christ is blasphemed.

The name of the Lord our God is dragged through the mud.

And we just say, oh, well, you know, that's typical of the entertainment nowadays, no big deal.

No.

No, the apostle Paul, he could not stand to see the Lord not receive the honor and the glory and which he so rightly deserves.

And neither should we.

We should be provoked.

We should be bothered by that.

And in Exodus chapter 32, verse 19, we learned that Moses he had a problem with the idolatry as well.

Exodus 32:19

He was provoked.

And it says, and as soon as he came near the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moses' anger burned hot.

And he threw the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain.

He took the calf that they had made and burned it with fire and ground it to powder and scattered it on the water and made the people of Israel drink it.

Seems kind of harsh.

Not from Moses' perspective, and certainly not from the Lord's perspective, and neither should it be from our perspective.

But loved ones, these were ordinary people just like you and myself, but they were consumed with bringing God glory.

That was their focus, and that's why they could be so provoked over the fact that the Lord our God was not being glorified.

Amen.

And back to our text.

So what did the apostle do?

What did the apostle Paul do once he was so provoked?

Did he just fold his arms and yell at the TV screen for an hour?

No, no.

Somebody got that.

Okay.

All right.

No, but this brings us to our second principle.

This is where we're going to learn that Paul was prompted to action.

Paul was prompted to action.

And we see this in verse 17.

The scripture reads as follows.

So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there.

Bless the Lord.

And so Paul, he went to the synagogue and he started preaching.

And if that wasn't enough, he got out his little milk crate and he started preaching in the streets.

Paul was holding court every day with anybody and everybody that happened to be there.

This man was so determined to do something about the idolatry that he observed in Athens.

It was like a man on fire.

He was just out there every day.

He could not help himself.

That fire that was burning within him prompted him to action.

He went and he started preaching.

He was provoked to preach.

And he was out there so much that he started, he started encountering groups of people that Athens was known for.

Athens is known for their philosophers.

And we learn, right, that some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him.

And so keep in mind, loved ones, Paul is in Athens.

This is the very birthplace of the great so-called minds of Socrates and Plato.

This is where philosophers pontificated all day long.

And Paul is up against these Epicurean and Stoic philosophers.

One commentary notes that the Epicureans, their founder, Epicureus, he taught that the purpose of life was pleasure and freedom from pain, passions, and fears.

As for the Stoics, their founder, Mr.

Zeno, he stressed living in harmony with nature and depending on reason and other self-sufficient powers.

Both schools stressed the quest for the peace of mind.

End of quote.

Now you heard Pastor Ryan earlier in his sermon, he spoke about Paul battling against the Zeitgeist, right?

The spirit of the age to the church in Colossae.

And have you noticed that these same doctrines of demons, they're still being promoted in our media today.

It's the same thing that we see today.

There's nothing new under the sun, loved ones.

We see it every day, and we're bombarded with images.

You need a longer vacation.

You need a bigger house.

You need a fancier, faster car.

You need fill in the blanks, more pleasure, more money.

Let's eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die.

Yada, yada, yada.

It goes on and on and on.

You need everything but Christ.

That's what our world teaches.

That's what our world, that's their message.

And these arrogant philosophers, they thought that they had life all figured out.

And you know, they thought that they had it so figured out that they treated Paul with such disdain.

Look at how they referred to him.

Scripture tells us.

Oh, you must love this one, loved ones.

Here we go.

And some said, What does this babbler wish to say?

Wow.

Okay.

Thank you for being respectful.

You know, that's how they saw Paul.

He's just babbling.

What does this idle babbler have to say?

Right?

They called him a seed picker, a scavenger bird, a scrapmonger.

And loved ones, I just want to encourage you when you are provoked by the Lord not receiving the glory that he so rightly deserves, and that prompts you to action, that prompts you to preach, that prompts you to proclaim the gospel.

Be prepared.

That people are gonna start feeling that heat that's emanating from you, that's coming from his very Holy Spirit indwelling you, that's coming from his word.

And they're gonna be intimidated by what they're feeling.

And so you know what they're gonna do?

They're gonna try to intimidate you.

Try to make you feel less than who you are.

Who is this idle babbler?

What does he wish to say to me?

What does this caveman have to say to me with his antiquated book?

And on and on and on.

And if we're not careful, we can start to shrink a little bit because we feel intimidated because we don't have their degrees and we don't have their education.

Rest assured, do not be intimidated by what they may call you or whatever letters follow their names.

Do you know why?

Because the Bible tells us who they are.

Psalm 14, 1.

The Lord says they are fools.

Fools.

Anyone who does not acknowledge the Lord our God is a fool, regardless of what type of education they have.

And so we need not be intimidated by these tactics.

Amen.

Amen.

And so now back to our text.

What does this babbler wish to say?

Others said, he seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities, because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection.

And they took him and brought him to the Areophagus.

Saying, they brought him to the Areophagus.

Alright, I want to stop right there because this is very interesting.

Alright?

Now, this is actually the hill of Ares.

And you must know, for all you uh fellow students out there who may have some Greek mythology in your background, you can uh confirm that Ares was the god of war in Greek mythology, who is called Mars in Latin.

And this was the name of the location and also of the civil and religious councils where they would meet, right?

They would meet in the place where the god of war actually they met on Mars Hill.

Now, just think about that for one moment.

Just think about the marvel of God's providence.

Because in his sovereignty, he would choose that this would be the location where his servant, the apostle Paul, would drop a napalm bomb and destroy these so-called false gods because he is going to proclaim the truth of the gospel.

Oh, loved ones, you just must, you just have to enjoy God and his word.

This is so beautiful because the Lord is going to make it clear, just as he did in the time of Egypt, when all these false gods were being worshipped.

He sent ten plagues to remind Pharaoh and to remind all of Egypt.

Those gods are dead.

I am the true and living God, and he is alone deserving of the worship and the honor and the glory.

And so what happens when they bring the Apostle Paul to the Areopag the Areopagus?

They say, May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting, for you bring some strange things to our ears.

We wish to know, therefore, what these things mean.

Now, all the Athenians and all the foreigners who live there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new.

And now, this was new for these philosophers, and we have to accept, loved ones, that when we start speaking the truth of the gospel to unbelievers, it does come off as strange to their ears.

Right?

Paul reminded us that those who are in the world, those who are perishing, they consider the cross as foolishness.

So this is strange to their ears.

So once again, we should not be surprised by their reactions.

Paul certainly wasn't, but I'm sure that after being put out of the synagogues and being put out of town, this man, he was just excited for another opportunity to preach God's word.

Amen.

And so I just want to encourage you, don't get bummed out when people start rejecting you, when people don't want to hear your message, when they think it's just strange and want to put you off.

You just keep moving on until the Lord provides you with an opportunity with someone who wants to listen, who wants to hear what his word has to say.

Amen?

All right.

So now, Paul, here we see.

So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said, Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious.

For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription to the unknown God.

What therefore you worship as unknown?

This I proclaim to you.

And so now we've reached our next principle.

In order for us to be provoked to preach the gospel, loved ones, we have to be perceptive of our audience.

We have to be perceptive of our audience.

Because that's this is what the Apostle Paul, this is what he did.

He knew exactly what he was speaking to.

And it's not only because he was an educated man, but in the time that he spent walking around Athens, he picked up on what they were all about.

Right?

He didn't have to go through his Twitter feed and uh his social media feed, he just saw it, right, as he's walking through town.

But for us, that is what that's what we have access to.

You want to know how to reach your friends, you want to know how to reach your family members?

Look at their social media pages.

They're dying for you to check it out.

They want you to see what they're all about.

And so use that information, just as Paul did, to redirect them to what is of eternal value and not what would just last in this life and this life alone.

And so they were making it very clear what they were all about.

They worship each and every God to the point where they wanted to just make sure, just in case there's a God we forgot, make him an altar too, because we don't want any problems with any of these gods.

And so Paul picked up on that.

He picked up on it, and he wanted to now, even in his greeting, some argue that this was a standard greeting, but others argue that Paul was actually pointing out that they were religious and he was just stating a fact.

Now I'm not really certain which one it is, but I think it's worth stating that the gospel message that we bring is offensive enough to unbelievers.

And so we don't want to be offensive in our efforts to reach them.

Amen?

Yeah, I some of you, like myself, I watch, you know, these YouTube videos, and some of these well-meaning preachers, they go out, they find a corner, they have their signs.

And sometimes more damage could be done.

And and and it just you just you just wish that this person would spend more time praying for the people that they are hoping to reach rather than being as offensive as they are, right?

And so that's not how we want to conduct ourselves, love.

We want to be speaking the truth in love.

Amen.

And so Romans 2 4 reminds us, or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance.

And so, loved ones, if God, being the almighty, omnipotent God that he is, who is angry with the sinner every day, his wrath burns hot for the fact that he is not getting the honor and the glory which he so rightly deserves, if he can show kindness, if he does not desire that anyone would perish, but that all would come to the knowledge of the truth.

Loved ones, we need to model the Lord our God and be patient and be speaking the truth in love as much as his grace abounds towards us that we can.

Amen.

And so God in his kindness, he has the Apostle Paul there to make known to these stoic Epicurean philosophers, he wants them to know who the true and living God is.

And now, watch the Apostle Paul.

Watch him.

Here he goes.

He says, The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything, and he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him.

Yet he is actually not far from each one of us.

For in him we live and move and have our being, as even some of your own poets have said, for we indeed are his offspring.

Being then God's offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man.

Praise God.

And so now we've arrived at our fourth principle.

This is our fourth principle.

Paul was prepared to proclaim the truth.

Paul was prepared to proclaim the truth.

And now the Apostle Paul, he puts on this masterful class of theology.

And it's all from Scripture.

And he presents it to the crowd in the way in which they could understand.

Now, Paul, he didn't actually reference verses like he would when he would be in the synagogue with the Jews because they knew the sacred writings.

But make no mistake, Paul is not shrinking from preaching the whole gospel.

He's not shrinking away from preaching the whole counsel of God.

He is firing off foundational truth from the Word of God.

All right.

Verse 20 Paul, excuse me, verse 24, Paul makes known that God is omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, infinite, immortal, eternal, creator and ruler, self-sufficient, self-existent, provider, sovereign, imminent, merciful, compassionate, just, and a righteous judge.

All of that, all of that is in these truths that Paul proclaimed to this crowd.

Oh loved ones, when we spend more time in the Word of God than we do indulging ourselves or binge watching whatever our favorite show is, this type of truth would be embedded in our hearts as we treasure and store up the word of God in our hearts, not only that we may not sin against the Lord, but when we are in those divine appointments, when we are now thrown in the midst of the crowd, when we are given an opportunity to speak, we must pray that this is what would come out of our mouth, the truth of God's word.

As Paul, excuse me, as John Bunyan was known as a man who was so filled with the scriptures, Spurgeon said, if you cut him, he would bleed the Bible.

That is our endeavor.

We must bleed Bible.

We must be filled with the word of God, so much so that we would not only be provoked by the evil that we see in the world, namely of idolatry, but that it would prompt us to action and that it would prompt us to go and proclaim the truth because people need to hear the truth.

But we must be perceptive of who we're speaking to.

And so, the Apostle Paul, he was excited to spread the truth of God's word.

And you don't have to be a theologian.

I just want to encourage you, you don't have to be a seminary graduate.

You're a Christian.

You're a Christian, loved ones.

You know more.

You know more than the average unbeliever.

Do you hear me?

You know a nugget of truth, a mustard seed of a faith, that mountains can be moved into the sea.

And this person whom you may be interacting with, they're a mountain and they may seem immovable, but remember we serve a God who specializes in doing the impossible.

Amen?

Amen.

And so we have to be prepared.

We have to be prepared to present this truth because we never know when we're gonna be at that bus stop or that co-worker who has a question about something that happened in the news recently.

Are you gonna be prepared to proclaim the truth of God's word?

You will be prepared when you are a student of God's word, when you spend time sitting at the feet of our Lord Jesus Christ, learning much of Him, enjoying Him, endeavoring to be more like Him.

That's how we can be prepared.

Amen?

Amen.

And so now, it's in this section that we see Paul, he quoted from three of the Athenian poets, Epimenides, Cleanthes, and Aretas.

And although this poem may have been attributed to their gods, Paul is correcting them.

He's correcting them, taking what they consider to be true, and redirecting it to the one who is the God of truth, because all truth is unto the Lord.

It belongs to the Lord.

Everyone is just stealing from God, everyone is just stealing from his word.

And so Paul can take what these um what these local Athenians knew as just the local poets.

He was like, no, no, no.

No.

I want to direct you to the one, the one true God.

I want to make known to you who this God is.

And he uses their very own poets to do that.

And now I also just want to encourage you, we don't have to be experts of the culture.

All right.

Don't feel like you have to get a degree in worldliness, okay?

You just live in this world and you know exactly what's going on.

There's nothing new under the sun, right?

It's the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.

Class over.

All right?

That's exactly what we saw in the garden, and it's exactly what we see today.

And so we can take the truth that we see in the midst of our culture, and we can redirect people to what is true, namely the Lord our God and his word.

And so now, this brings us to our final principle.

This brings us to our final principle.

Paul preached Jesus and his resurrection.

Paul preached Jesus and his resurrection.

And so we pick up at verse 30.

The Apostle Paul says, The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.

Verse 32.

Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked.

But others said, We will hear you again on this.

So Paul went out from their midst.

But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysus, the Areopagite, and a woman named Demaris, and others with them.

Praise God, loved ones.

Paul preached Jesus and the resurrection.

And he is in good company.

John the Baptist, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and the Apostle Paul, they all have one thing in common.

They call sinners to repentance.

They call sinners to repentance.

And so should we.

When we start telling people about who Jesus is and who he truly is and not the God of their own making, we must call them to repent.

And when you do, be prepared once again for their reactions.

And we see it here in this text, how they responded.

There were three responses to Paul's presenting the gospel.

Some mocked.

Some mocked.

And I just want to ask you, loved ones, are you okay?

Are you okay with people mocking you?

You see, we have to grow thick-skinned as Christians.

We have to be prepared that people will mock us for the truth that we believe in.

But that is not a cause for us, again, to shrink away or to doubt the truth.

We know that God's word is true.

His Holy Spirit has regenerated our hearts and caused us to believe the truth.

And so, when you are being mocked, understand that you are only being mocked because this individual can't mock God to his face.

And so they do it to the one that represents him.

And so consider that.

Consider that.

And so these so-called great minds, they mocked Paul.

And I'm sure the apostle Paul, he was probably grieved by that.

Galatians 6, 7, do not be deceived.

God is not mocked.

For whatever one sows, that he will also reap.

I'm sure Paul saw right through there mocking.

And I'm sure that he was encouraged by the fact that he once was mocking God, but God was gracious to him.

God was gracious to him and opened his eyes to see the true and living God, Jesus Christ.

And so for those of you loved ones who may be in here, who's preparing to go off to college, be prepared.

When you are in your class and your professor mocks and blasphemes the name of the true and living God, be prepared for that.

The Lord may have you there to proclaim his truth so that that person who was once mocking him may come to the knowledge of the truth.

I'm sure you have family members and friends and neighbors and co-workers.

They call you all sorts of names.

Remember that they mocked the Lord our God even while he was on the cross, bearing their curse, bearing the wrath of his heavenly father.

And what did he do when he was reviled?

Did he call down twelve legions of angels to wipe out all of humanity?

No.

Jesus, Father, forgive them.

For they know not what they do.

Now what about the other group?

How did they respond when they heard about Jesus and the resurrection?

They said, we'll hear you some more about this.

They kind of pushed Paul aside.

And it's just like King Herod did with John the Baptist.

You know, bring in John the Baptist.

Let me hear another one of his sermons.

You know?

And then send them away.

I've heard enough for today.

All right?

What about uh even Governor Felix?

Right?

When Paul started preaching the gospel, he started feeling the heat.

And he's like, Paul, you know, you think you're gonna convert me to Christianity right away?

Come on, I'll hear you more about this another time.

But notice, loved ones, we don't see in the scriptures that those individuals were given another time, do we?

So we don't know what tomorrow holds.

But we do know that the scripture says now is the day of salvation.

Now is the time.

And so when we are given those opportunities, when we are given those divine appointments, we want to be ready to proclaim the gospel.

And if that person should choose not to want to hear it at that time, remember and place ultimate confidence, as the prophet Isaiah reminds us, that God's word will not return to him void.

It will accomplish that which pleases him, it will prosper in the thing for which he sent it.

Our job is not to be saving souls.

We just need to be faithful to cast the seeds that the Lord uses to save souls.

And so, do not be discouraged.

That person may not want to hear you at that time, but God may use it to soften their heart, to use his word, which is like a hammer, to break that heart of stone and to grant them a heart of flesh.

But trust the Lord with that and place no confidence in your own skills and in your own abilities, but place your confidence in the Almighty Word of God.

But even though sometimes people don't want to hear the light, they don't want to hear about Jesus and his resurrection, because men love the darkness more than light, that does not excuse us from our being faithful ambassadors of Christ.

That great commission, as I often like to remind those who take the baptism class, it is not the great suggestion.

We are commanded to go and preach the gospel.

Regardless of who wants to hear, regardless of who mocks, we are called to preach the gospel.

And when we are filled with such a love and such an adoration for the Lord our God, we would see no greater, no greater service.

And here we can be encouraged.

Because here the Lord gives us an example.

There's a third group.

Praise God, the story didn't end with the mockers and those who put the Apostle Paul off.

No.

There's another group.

Verse 34.

But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysus.

This is one of their very own.

He was in the Areopagus.

He was one who would listen to the babblings of these Epicurean stoic philosophers every day.

And praise God that the Lord did not leave him in that condition, that the Lord took him out of the kingdom of darkness and brought him into his marvelous kingdom of light.

And he did the same for this woman named Demaris.

Praise God, loved ones, that it did not end with mocking and putting off the word of God.

The people were saved.

And it says, and others with them.

Praise God.

And so I just want to encourage you, loved ones.

If you are feeling unequipped, and you feel like, you know, I'm I'm I'm just I just don't see how the Lord can use me.

Bring that thought into captivity through the obedience of Jesus Christ.

The Lord has kept you here for a reason.

You are salt and you are light.

And whether you think you're equipped or not, the Lord endeavors to use you.

And may I remind you, 1 Peter 3.15.

But in your hearts, honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason, for the hope that is in you.

Yet do it with gentleness and respect.

Loved ones, when we redeem our time by devoting more time to studying God's word, seeking the Lord's face in prayer, praying for those who are lost within our circle of influence that the Lord has given us, then our hearts, our hearts will be stirred up for the glory of God.

Our hearts will be provoked to, we can't help ourselves but to proclaim the gospel, but to preach the gospel.

We must be prompted to action.

We are in times of darkness.

The Lord has left us here to be his light and to shine the light of the gospel wherever he has placed us.

And so do not underestimate how the Lord can use you.

Do you remember that we serve a God who caused a donkey to speak?

And last time I checked, you and I are a little bit more intelligent than a donkey.

Amen?

All right, so then he can surely use us to proc to proclaim his gospel.

He can surely use us to proclaim his truth.

But we must be prepared.

We must be prepared.

And so we must not neglect our time in the word.

We must not neglect our time in prayer.

We must be praying for these, this third group that the Lord our God has called unto himself.

And we know that this will bring glory to our Lord.

Amen?

Amen.

Let's pray.

Our Father in heaven, we thank you and we praise you.

That you are the omnipotent God.

You have all power.

And yet, Lord, you do not treat us as our sins deserve.

Thank you so much, Lord, that you teach us in your word.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.

Fools despise wisdom and instruction.

And Lord, we were once foolish, just like these Epicurean and Stoic philosophers.

Your gospel was strange to our ears.

We had no appetite for holiness.

We had no perception of who you were and who you are.

But blessed be your holy name, that you did not leave us in our condition.

You did not leave us dead in our transgressions.

And just as your son, the Lord Jesus Christ, spoke the name of Lazarus, and a man who had been dead in the grave for four four days rose from the dead.

Lord, that's the same thing you did for us.

You spoke our name.

And so we praise you and we bless you for that.

And we pray, Lord, that you would use instruments like us, weak, fragile, feeble, and sinful as we are, to go out and to proclaim your glorious gospel.

So that some man, some woman, and some child would hear the voice of the shepherd, and that they would come, and that they would know you as the true and living God and know the joy and the peace of salvation.

Lord, would you continue to just fill us with your Holy Spirit and continue to fashion us in the likeness of your Son so that we would be faithful to this endeavor.

We love you and we bless you, and we ask all these things by faith in the name that is above all names.

Let all those who love the Lord Jesus Christ say Amen.

Amen.

And now for a parting word from Pastor Jesse Johnson.

Thanks for joining us.

If you're in the Washington, D.C.

area, I would love to see you at Emmanuel Bible Church.

For more information on our church or our current service times, go to IBC.church.

For more information about the Master Seminary and their Washington, D.C.

location, go to TMS.edu.

I hope this resource has been a blessing to you and it helps you seek the Lord daily, serve others around you, and share the gospel with boldness.