October 22, 2025 • 41 mins
What if the part we’re most afraid to say is the part people most need to hear? We walk through Paul’s address at the Areopagus to show why the gospel isn’t just comfort—it's also a clear warning rooted in God’s holiness, justice, and love. Starting where Paul starts, we introduce God as Creator and sovereign over nations, then move to the urgent call to repent because “He has fixed a day” to judge the world in righteousness through the risen Christ. Along the way, we explore why Jesus spoke so plainly about hell, how the church lost its clarity on wrath, and why recovering it actually magnifies grace.
We draw a careful line between two very different judgments: the judgment seat of Christ for believers—an evaluation for reward and future service—and the great white throne for unbelievers, where the books reveal the truth of our worship and the verdict is just. With vivid stories—from Rodin’s The Thinker to a housefly that disarmed a stubborn listener—we highlight how God still opens ears. Athens responds in three familiar ways: some sneer, some delay, some believe. Dionysius and Demaris remind us that even among skeptics, the Spirit still saves.
This conversation is not about fear-mongering; it’s about honest love. If everyone is immortal and eternity is real, then clarity is compassion. We model how to speak plainly like C.S. Lewis urged—no jargon, no hedging—while keeping a humble tone that invites, not condemns. Listen to strengthen your convictions, sharpen your witness, and recover a full view of the gospel: heaven to enjoy, hell to avoid, a Savior to trust, and a hope that outlasts every age. If this helped you think and speak more clearly, follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a review telling us what part challenged you most.
Stephen's latest book, The Disciples Prayer, is available now. https://www.wisdomonline.org/store/view/the-disciples-prayer-hardback
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Episode Transcript
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SPEAKER_01 (00:06):
There's another judgment described in Scripture,
and this is the judgment thatPaul is referring to here in
Acts chapter 17.
It's the judgment of the greatwhite throne.
Now that judgment is forunbelievers only.
The books will be opened, andGod will reveal through the
deeds of every individual whythey are worthy of this verdict.
(00:32):
How, in fact, their rebellionagainst God was nothing less
than idolatry and their heartworshiped themselves.
SPEAKER_00 (00:53):
Do you know people who live as if this world is all
there is?
They live with no thought to thefact that there's an afterlife
that they should prepare for.
As Christians, we need toremember that there really are
two sides to the gospel.
But the problem is that mostpeople take God's love to mean
(01:13):
that he would never punishsinners.
Well, that's the other side ofthe gospel.
Because God's wrath will bepoured out on those who refuse
the salvation he offers.
Stephen Davies' message today isentitled The Other Side of the
Gospel.
SPEAKER_01 (01:35):
Well, a man by the name of Uga Strudin was
relatively obscure during mostof his career.
He would die in 1917.
And yet today there are a fewsculptured works as well known
as this work called The Thinker.
(01:56):
The man sits obviously deep inthought, and he actually is
thinking about something.
Anybody, by the way, anybodyknow what he's thinking about?
What's for dinner?
Um I heard something back here.
Where his clothes went.
Okay, yes.
Uh that could be a thought.
That's possible.
(02:17):
Any other ideas?
I missed that one.
What was that one?
What does she really want?
Okay, that's these are notplanned, but they're brilliant.
Um meaning of life, we'regetting a little closer.
(02:37):
Getting a little closer.
He's actually, if you could haveseen the entire sculpture, it
would have been 20 feet high,and behind him would be many
other people sculptured.
They have already entered thegates of hell.
And he's pondering.
He's thinking about theireternal state.
(02:59):
Rudain intended to sort ofcapture Dante's epic poem
written in the 14th century.
And he would, by the way, spend37 years on that entire work and
never really finish it.
This man became a standalonepiece and no doubt the most
famous of all of it.
He would write this, by the way,once this piece made him world
(03:23):
famous in his later years.
He said, My thinker thinks notonly with his brain, but with
his knitted brow, his distendednostrils, his compressed lips,
with every muscle of his arms,back, and legs, even with his
clenched fist.
(03:46):
And when you stare at that,knowing that context, you are
led to consider the eternalstate and a place called hell.
Frankly, if there are anyattributes that are the least
appreciated about God, theywould be the attributes of his
(04:08):
justice and his wrath.
Many people would sort ofdismiss them entirely out of
hand, right?
And choose to focus on his loveor his mercy, and we hear most
often of those.
But the truth is the attributesof wrath, anger, are just as
real.
You study the illustrations ofGod early on in the Old
(04:31):
Testament and watch as he dealswith the exile of Adam and Eve
from the garden, Genesis chapter3.
You study the horrific globalflood where God literally drowns
the human race, except for eightindividuals who board the ark,
(04:51):
Genesis 6.
Watches his wrath sends downfire and brimstone upon the
cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.
Genesis 16.
This is the other side of God.
(05:13):
Most people would agree thatthere's a heaven to enjoy, but
far less of those same peoplebelieve there is a hell to avoid
and rarely contemplate it.
In fact, it's interesting to mein my study.
Ellen G.
White, the revered prophetess ofthe Seventh-day Adventist
movement, in its formativeyears, wrote in her work
entitled The Great Controversy,that the idea of hell actually
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came from the devil.
He made it up.
She writes, and I quote, thePrince of Darkness, working
through his agents, representsGod as a revengeful tyrant.
How utterly revolting is thebelief that as soon as the
breath leaves the body, the soulof the unrepentant is consigned
(05:59):
to hell.
In other words, God would nevercreate a place of torment like
that.
So that's a revolting thought.
And the only person that couldhave come up with that would be
the devil.
The trouble is, Jesus spoke moreoften about torment and the
wrath of God than about heaven.
We learn most about this placefrom the lips of Christ himself.
(06:24):
In John's gospel, for oneillustration, Jesus said, He who
believes in the Son has eternallife, but he who does not obey
the Son does not see life, butthe wrath of God abides on him.
John 3 36.
You go back into the OldTestament, by the way, if you
(06:45):
were to start there, you wouldfind about 20 different words
used to describe the fury ofGod.
The Apostle Paul in his letterto the Romans says that God's
wrath is storing up, it'sbuilding up.
If you can imagine the horror ofthat idea.
(07:57):
John Lennon sang with thatresponse in mind in his famous
song entitled Imagine, withlyrics like these.
No hell below, above us onlysky.
(08:20):
A.W.
Tozer wrote that this vague hopethat God is too kind to punish
the ungodly is deadly opium forthe consciences of millions.
See, the real question boilsdown to what does the Bible say,
right?
And I know I'm preaching to thechoir here on this one, but you
know, what does Jesus say aboutit?
What does the Son of God sayabout it?
(08:41):
Well, you study the scriptureand discover that Jesus
describes it as a real physicalplace.
Matthew 24.
It's a place to be avoided atall costs, Matthew 5.
It's a place of darkness withweeping and the gnashing of
teeth, grinding in pain, Matthew8.
It's far worse than death,Matthew 10.
(09:05):
The punishments will vary inseverity, Matthew 11, just as,
by the way, for the believer,rewards will vary in joy.
It's an eternal place of noreturn, Luke 16.
I mean, frankly, the churchreally shouldn't be unclear
about it because Jesus certainlywasn't.
In fact, one author wrote,People are driven from the
(09:28):
church not so much by truth thatmakes them uneasy, as much as by
weak compromise that destroystheir credibility, standing for
nothing.
We need to recover the truthabout hell and carefully include
it in our gospel witness.
(09:51):
You may be familiar with a manby the name of D.
Martin Lloyd-Jones, who said ageneration ago, there is, this
is not the age to advocaterestraint.
The church today does not needto be restrained, but to be
aroused, to be awakened, for sheis failing the world in not
warning it of coming judgment.
(10:15):
Frankly, I fear that the churchtoday, and I hear leaders often,
it's as if they want to appearto make God less offensive.
Maybe they're going to sweetenthe gospel so that more people
will take a sip.
But in the end, they they failto do what Jesus did over and
over and over and over again,warning people of a coming
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horrific judgment.
So let's be clear.
Because we understand the stakesare high, right?
They are eternal.
Let's spell it out.
Let's make it clear.
C.S.
Lewis once heard a young manpreach, and he preached on the
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subject of judgment.
He concluded his message bysaying, if you do not receive
Christ as your Savior, you willsuffer grave eschatological
ramifications.
Lewis asked him after theservice, Did you mean that a
person who doesn't believe inChrist will go to hell?
Yes, the young man said, towhich Ulyss responded, then say
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so.
Say so.
Now the Apostle Paul is about tosay so, okay?
He is about to speak the truthof a coming judgment, and with
it, of course, would be thedispleasure of God.
So let's go back to Acts chapter17 one more time.
(11:40):
Paul has nearly finished hisintroduction in Acts 17 of this
unknown God, and he's revealedseveral attributes.
So far, we've discovered thatGod is creator of the universe,
that he is transcendent, thatis, he is above and separate
from all of creation, yet he isimminent, that is personally
deeply involved in his creation.
(12:01):
He is the maker of mankind, thehuman race from one man, one
original man and his wife.
He is sovereign over thenations.
He, in fact, determines how longthey'll exist and their borders.
He's determined that.
Now, Paul has, he's sort of laidall this out as background.
(12:26):
And by the way, he doesn't beginhis message with hell, okay?
He doesn't begin his messagewith judgment.
He reserves that after he'sdelivered all of this background
information about who God is.
And I think that's instructive,by the way, for us as well.
(12:46):
In fact, background informationis very helpful.
I came across this ratherhumorous illustration of what
happens when you don't giveenough background.
This is from James Woolsey, theformer director of the CIA.
He told the following story of afunny incident.
It wasn't funny at the time, butit's funny later, when FBI
agents were conducting aninvestigation at the San Diego
(13:08):
Psychiatric Hospital for medicalinsurance fraud, and they'd
spent all day, hours and hoursand hours, reviewing thousands
of medical records, dozens ofagents.
They worked up quite anappetite.
The agent in charge of theinvestigation called a pizza
parlor across the street toorder dinner for all of his
(13:28):
colleagues.
And the following telephoneconversation was taped, and it
could be played back intranscript form.
The agent calls and says, Hello,I'd like to order 19 pizzas and
67 cans of Coke.
Pizza Place.
Where would you like themdelivered?
Across the street to thepsychiatric hospital.
(13:50):
You want 19 pizzas delivered tothe psychiatric hospital.
That's right.
And who are you?
I'm an FBI agent.
You're an FBI agent.
Oh, that's correct.
There are a number of us overhere, and we've been working
around the clock and we'restarving.
Oh, is that right?
Oh, yes, and by the way, deliverthe pizzas around to the back
(14:12):
entrance.
We've got the front doorslocked.
The pizza guy said, I don'tthink so, and hung up.
That was the end of it.
Well, background information,okay.
He should have given a littlebit of it.
Well, having provided all thebackground of information about
this unknown God, now Paul movesto this eternal verdict and he
(14:33):
brings up what I'm I'm referringto as the other side of the
gospel.
Let's pick it up at verse 30 atchapter 17.
Therefore, now this is hisconclusion on the basis of
everything I've said.
Therefore, on that basis, here'sthe verdict.
Having overlooked the times ofignorance, God is now declaring
(14:54):
to men that all everywhereshould repent.
This is not, by the way, Paul'sway of saying that God has
chosen to overlook sin.
Paul actually uses a play onwords here that's lost to the
English reader.
He uses the word for ignorance.
It's the same word translatedunknown for unknown God.
(15:18):
Earlier, for their altar to theunknown God.
In other words, he's saying allthis time you've been worshiping
the unknown God out ofignorance, and God has
mercifully left you unpunishedbecause of your ignorance.
He could have, in other words,already brought judgment because
of your unbelief, but God isgracious and long-suffering, and
(15:41):
we know this from other texts ofscripture.
Paul's hinting at this.
He's merciful in withholding hiswrath from being poured out,
which he could have done.
He could have buried all of youand this Areopagus, this hill,
long ago.
Paul is effectively sayingyou're still alive, which means
(16:02):
the judgment of God hasn'thappened yet.
And there's time to repent.
Do it now.
There's an urgency.
Why?
Look at verse 31.
Because he, God, has fixed a dayin which he will judge the world
in righteousness, perfectjustice.
(16:23):
Judgment is coming.
By the way, Paul isn't justtalking to the Athenians.
Notice how Paul refers to thewhole world.
God is going to judge the wholeworld.
And you notice that God hasdetermined a date.
He's already determined a timefor this to take place.
The term Paul uses for judgmentis in the future tense.
(16:47):
It points to a future momentwhen he will judge the world.
This word judge carries thelegal, technical nuance in
Paul's day of being hailed intocourt.
There's a coming day when youwill have an appointment in the
courtroom of God who will judgeyou rightly.
(17:11):
He will judge you justly.
The date has already been set.
He has fixed a day in which hewill judge the world in
righteousness.
Notice, through a man, capitalIlm, this is a reference to the
God man, Christ, whom he hasappointed, having furnished
(17:36):
proof to all men by raising himfrom the dead.
Now let me kind of push thepause button here for a moment
and tell you about a couple ofjudgments the Bible clearly
reveals for us.
There's more than one.
They're very different.
There's the judgment of allbelievers.
We call that the judgment seatof Christ, or the bimah seat of
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Christ.
The Bima was the place wherevictorious athletes were awarded
their laurel wreaths anddifferent Greek city-states,
made their lorries out ofdifferent vines, different
leaves, for having run theirrace.
The Bible is very clear thatthis judgment is going to be for
the purpose of then determiningall that was profitable in a
(18:23):
person's life and thus worthy ofrewarding.
You can jot a reference down andread at your leisure, 1
Corinthians chapter 3, 2Corinthians chapter 5.
I'll read a brief verse, verse10 from that text, for we must
all appear before the judgmentseat of Christ, so that each one
(18:44):
may be rewarded, recompensed forhis deeds in the body according
to what he has done, whetherprofitable or unprofitable.
Keep in mind, this judgment hasnothing to do with whether or
not you're going to get intoheaven.
Frankly, nobody gets into heavenby doing profitable things,
(19:05):
right?
Nobody gets in for doing moreprofitable things than
unprofitable things.
The fact that you're beingrewarded for that which profited
the glory of God, as it were,proves you're already there.
No unbeliever will ever berewarded for anything except
judgment.
It's also important tounderstand that the rewarding of
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the individual believer is theoutcome of the evaluation.
That's the outcome.
The believer will be judged onhow they ran their particular
race, how they brought glory toGod through mundane acts of
repetitive service in the home,being faithful to spouse and
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family would be rewardable.
At your job, where you clock inand do your duties well would be
rewardable.
In the church, where you servethe body will be rewardable.
In the world, delivering thegospel, planting, sowing,
watering the seeds of thegospel.
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Perhaps dying, a martyr's death.
We're given specific texts thatthat will be rewardable.
Perhaps serving the churchfaithfully as an elder, a
special reward as well.
These are all mentioned inScripture.
Well, following this evaluation,the believer is then going to
serve Christ in the kingdom intheir assigned honored position.
(20:33):
The Lord talks about thefaithful steward of one talent
is given five, the one with fivegiven ten.
This relates to our service forhim in that millennial kingdom.
So the judgment is going to takeplace sometime after the rapture
of the church.
We're never given a text thattells us specifically when.
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I believe it'll be at the end ofthe tribulation period, when all
of the spiritual fruit fromsomeone's life will be able to
be tallied by our sovereignrewarding Lord.
Here's why I believe that.
Imagine that the rapture of thechurch takes place tomorrow.
Your testimony is going tolinger.
(21:16):
The effect of your witness willlinger in ways that we can't
even imagine, right?
There will be neighbors, therewill be friends, there will be
classmates who know you're justnot showing up anymore, and they
remember what you believed.
And we know during thetribulation there's going to be
an incredible movement of theLord bringing many to believe
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from every tribe, tongue, andnation.
It's going to be an amazingperiod of spiritual harvest as
God also calls Israel torepentance and faith as a
nation.
Those 144,000 Jewish evangelistsare, they're going to circle the
globe.
It's going to be absolutelyamazing.
All that to say it's possiblethat something you are now
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doing, something you have saidto someone, can trickle down
through the course of thattribulation period and bear
spiritual fruit that then wouldbe rewardable.
So it's still effectively beingtallied, so to speak.
And since the purpose of theBhima seat is to reward the
(22:24):
gospel and the character of Godlived in and through your life,
God will more than likely waituntil the end of human history
as we know it, preceding themillennial kingdom to reward his
church.
I can't remember if I told youthis or not.
If I have, you'll enjoy hearingit again.
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That's optimism for a preacher.
Jay Vernon McGee has been on theradio for decades.
In fact, it's almost now 30years after his death.
How many of you have heard JayVernon McGee?
Look at that.
That's amazing.
Well, Jay Vernon McGee has adesire, among others, to be on
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the radio during thetribulation.
After the church's rapture, hehad the strong desire to be used
by the Lord as long as his radioprogram could be aired, even
during that tribulation period.
I think he wanted to irritatethe Antichrist, as only Jay
Vernon McGee could irritate theAntichrist.
(23:30):
Actually, he wanted to add tothe fruit for the glory of
Christ through his ministry.
He's right now being heard moreafter his death than during his
life.
He is, I believe, right now inabout 100 languages delivering
the gospel.
So the reward and the spiritualfruit of his testimony isn't
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going to end until the end ofthat tribulation period and the
end of that age.
There's another judgmentdescribed in Scripture.
And this is the judgment thatPaul is referring to here in
Acts chapter 17.
It's the judgment we call thejudgment of the great white
throne.
(24:14):
Now that judgment is forunbelievers only.
If you're there, it is forevertoo late for you.
The books will be opened, andGod will reveal through the
deeds of every individual whythey are worthy of this verdict.
How, in fact, their rebellionagainst God was nothing less
(24:38):
than idolatry and their heartworshipped themselves.
So he's going to take time, wedon't know how, but he's going
to reveal the truth of theirjust punishment, and Paul
writes, their mouths will bestopped.
This is an awful moment toconsider.
It takes place just prior to thedestruction of the universe and
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the recreation of the universe,the new heavens and the new
earth.
And Revelation chapter 20 givesus the details.
But every unbeliever of all ofhuman history will stand before
the judge at this great whitethrone judgment.
Now, Paul tells the Athenianshere that that judge just so
(25:21):
happens to be Jesus, God theSon, the man, God the Father
raised from the dead.
So if you can even imagine theirony and the fitting nature of
the Lord, God the Son, being theone with a gavel in his hand, so
to speak, he's going to sit asjudge over all of humanity.
(25:43):
Why?
Because ultimately they worshipthemselves rather than place
their trust in the plan of Godthrough blood atonement that
looked toward the cross, andthose who lived after the
crucifixion who trusted in thatblood atoning sacrifice after
the cross, looking back towardit.
So after their own personaljudgment by Christ himself,
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having been hailed into thecourtroom of God, they will be
sent to hell forever.
Now, when Paul delivers thisverdict, the most popular
opinion in Athens, and by theway, to this day, is the opinion
that at your death you cease toexist.
(26:29):
That was the popular opinion inAthens.
In fact, people in Paul'sgeneration in Athens and beyond
often had these letters writtenon their tombstone.
N F N S N C.
It was an abbreviation for theLatin phrase translated into
(26:50):
English, I was not, I am not, Icare not.
I was not, I am not, and I carenot.
And Paul comes along andannounces the other side of the
gospel, which is this bad newsabout a coming judgment, this
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terrible truth, as if to sayyou'd better care.
You'd better care.
He's speaking to these Epicureanand Stoic philosophers gathered
here on the Areopagus before theSupreme Court of Athens.
Mankind, he effectively says, isnot moving toward extinction,
(27:36):
which the Epicurean philosopherswould have believed.
Mankind is not moving towardbeing absorbed into the universe
as the Stoics believed, andBuddhism, which had reached this
Mediterranean world by the timePaul stands here on this hill.
Mankind is actually movingtoward this unavoidable
(27:59):
appointment with the risenChrist who will be seated on
this terrifying white throne.
So Paul delivers this in hisfirst message to these
Athenians.
Mankind is not heading toward areunion with all their friends.
(28:25):
A man once told that to pastorand author Tony Evans, and he
added it in his book on theattributes of God, which I've
surfed a little bit.
He said this a man once told me,I'm not into that hell stuff.
I don't believe in the wrath ofGod.
But even if hell is true, I'mgoing to turn that place around
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because all my friends are goingto be there and we're going to
go down there and have a party.
Evans responded to this man.
Listen, do me a favor, when youget home today, turn on a burner
on your stovetop and wait untilit gets really hot, and then sit
on that burner and try to get aparty started at the same time.
(29:13):
Wow.
Evans concluded, this man didn'tunderstand that hell has no
parties, no fellowship, noget-togethers.
God will eternally quarantineall those who rejected him in
the pit of the universe in aplace called hell.
(29:37):
And what was the reaction ofPaul's audience?
The same reaction we get to thisday.
Three of them.
First, some ridiculed.
Look at verse 32.
And when they heard of theresurrection of the dead, some
began to sneer.
Now the language here indicatesthat they're sneering.
(30:00):
Didn't begin right when Paulmentioned the resurrection.
Paul is actually finished withhis message, and then they begin
to sneer, primarily because ofthe resurrection.
The verb to sneer means toscoff, it means to literally to
mock.
(30:22):
In other words, Paul's messageis immediately followed by
jeering and mocking andlaughing.
And Paul, no doubt, I'm sure, atthat moment, felt perhaps
something that you might havefelt, wondering if anybody heard
anything he said about thegospel.
(30:42):
There's ridicule.
Secondly, while some ridiculed,others procrastinated, verse 32,
again, the end part.
Others said, We shall hear youagain concerning this.
Hey, hey, let's make anappointment.
I'd like to hear a little bitmore about that stuff.
It's interesting.
But many do that with me.
(31:04):
How about you?
We have no indication that Paulever returned to the Areopagus,
that he ever returned to thathill, that he ever returned to
that Supreme Court.
Ever again.
Some ridiculed, someprocrastinated.
Thirdly, some believed.
Verse 34.
Some men joined him andbelieved, among whom also were
(31:27):
Dionysius the Areopagite and awoman named Demaris and others
with them.
Don't you love that?
Some believed.
Some believed.
Some were rescued from thisfuture, eternal, horrific,
unremitting sentence of fury andwrath from God.
(31:53):
Now we're not told anythingabout Demeris, and we're not
given other names of those whobecame Christians.
We're only left with this onename, which is interesting.
Verse 34, Dionysius, theAreopagite.
In other words, Dionysiusbelonged to the council that sat
(32:14):
on this hill.
He was a member of the SupremeCourt of Athens.
And he believed.
(32:40):
And by the grace of God, hereally is.
God was at work.
And when you deliver the gospelby the way to your Athens, some
will sneer, some will mock, somewill jeer, they may not do it to
your face, they may do it behindyour back.
(33:04):
Some might procrastinate andsay, you know, you're a nice
guy.
It's such a nice crutch youhave.
I'd like to hear more about thatone.
But you never know in whoseheart God is moving, who will be
leading.
James Montgomery Boyce, in hiscommentary on this text, told
the story of something thathappened in a church, pastored
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by one of his assistants beforejoining his staff.
James Montgomery Boyce, ofcourse, with the Lord now.
He retells the story in hiscommentary.
There's a man who lived nextdoor to a church there in St.
Paul, Minnesota.
And uh he never wanted to go tochurch.
However, one week the church hada series of special meetings and
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it featured really wonderfulmusic.
And uh the neighbor heard themusic and was so taken that he
decided to go in and hear it.
He reasoned with himself, I'lljust go in for the music and
then I'll leave before thesermon.
So he went in.
He sat down in the back of thechurch, the last pew, you know,
(34:11):
the good seats.
And uh he said, I'm just gonnalisten to the music and leave.
When the musical portion of theevening was over and the pastor
stood to preach, he realizedthat every seat was taken around
him and he was hemmed in.
And there was no way he couldget out without being noticed.
And he didn't want the pastor toknow he'd been there.
(34:32):
So he thought to himself, I'lljust do the next best thing.
I'll put my fingers in my earsso I can't hear them.
So there he sat with his fingersin his ears, hemmed in by
people, as the pastor began topreach.
However, God had been at work inhis heart through the music and
the gospel that was presentedand the lyrics and the joy on
people's faces as they sang it,and God had a plan.
(34:55):
It wasn't long into that sermon,Boyce writes, that a little
house fly began to buzz aroundthe man's nose.
The man ignored the fly as longas he could.
But finally, that little flybuzzing around his nose got to
be too much for him.
He took one hand and he swattedat the fly, and at that moment
the pastor said, He that hathears to hear, let him hear.
(35:17):
His hand froze in mid-air, andhe knew this was for him.
And he listened and he believedand was saved by the grace of
God.
What I discovered in my study isabout a hundred years after this
event took place in Athens, achurch leader in Corinth, there
(35:42):
in the church, mentioned in oneof his letters that Dionysius
became the first elder in thechurch at Athens.
He became one of theirshepherds.
Can you imagine this church now?
A church whose pastor was amember, more than likely a
(36:05):
former member of the SupremeCourt.
This city where God wasintroduced and some of his
attributes explained, and hiscoming wrath delivered, and a
call to repentance extended.
(36:26):
And Dionysius and others weresaved.
And it's intriguing to me,beloved, that all Paul did was
simply describe God as creator,as the sovereign ruler, the Lord
of the universe, of all thenations of earth, and the coming
(36:50):
judge.
And that was enough.
That was enough.
Some believed.
And I think this is instructiveto us.
This is the gospel we reallymust introduce to the Athens
where God has placed you and me.
Because listen, he is still theunknown God.
(37:11):
He is more than ever the unknownGod.
Our world may respond in thesame way, but in spite of that,
we go into Athens like Paul,burdened over their unbelief,
asking, as it were, God to useus, being willing to deliver
(37:32):
both sides of the gospel, heavenand hell, peace with God and the
wrath of God.
And some will ridicule you andsome will put you off, and some
will have ears to hear.
That's up to God as we deliverthe gospel.
And some will believe and besaved from the wrath that is
(38:01):
coming.
Father, would you help us to befaithful in our testimony and
recognize we never meet anybody,as your servant said, who is
simply a mortal.
Everyone is immortal.
Everyone will live somewhereforever.
(38:27):
We want to thank you fordelivering to us the gospel and
giving us ears to hear andopening our eyes to this
glorious gospel where our mindsand eyes had been blinded by the
God of this world.
We want to thank you for yourwork in our hearts.
Might not have been a housefly.
(38:48):
It might have been a friend.
It might have been your servantJ.
Vernon McGee.
But we had delivered to usthrough a parent, perhaps, or a
friend or a pastor the gospel,and you opened our eyes and our
ears.
Now, as we live in this Athensof our day, we find the same
(39:10):
objections, we find the sameneed to describe you as the
creator.
In a world enveloped inevolution, we deliver the truth
of you as creator, that all ofmankind came from one man and
(39:31):
his wife.
That you are the ruler of thenations, that you are a coming,
terrifying judge.
Help us to be gracious andtactful and truthful as we
(39:53):
deliver to our Athens the truthsabout you, the unknown God.
And we thank you for theprivilege that you've allowed us
to come to know you and eventhrough this study to know you
perhaps a little better.
We thank you.
In Jesus' name.
unknown (40:12):
Amen.
SPEAKER_00 (40:23):
Today's message was the conclusion to Stephen
Davies' series entitledIntroducing God.
It might be that as you arelistening today, the Lord
brought to mind some people whowould benefit from hearing this
message.
You can go to our website,wisdomonline.org, and send your
(40:43):
friend the link to this messageor the link to the entire
series.
Today's the last day that thisCD set is available at a deeply
discounted rate.
Please visit our website todayor call us at 866-485.
Next time, Steven begins aseries from 1 Corinthians
(41:06):
entitled True Live.
Join us at Heroine.
There's another judgment described in Scripture,
and this is the judgment thatPaul is referring to here in
Acts chapter 17.
It's the judgment of the greatwhite throne.
Now that judgment is forunbelievers only.
The books will be opened, andGod will reveal through the
deeds of every individual whythey are worthy of this verdict.
(00:32):
How, in fact, their rebellionagainst God was nothing less
than idolatry and their heartworshiped themselves.
SPEAKER_00 (00:53):
Do you know people who live as if this world is all
there is?
They live with no thought to thefact that there's an afterlife
that they should prepare for.
As Christians, we need toremember that there really are
two sides to the gospel.
But the problem is that mostpeople take God's love to mean
(01:13):
that he would never punishsinners.
Well, that's the other side ofthe gospel.
Because God's wrath will bepoured out on those who refuse
the salvation he offers.
Stephen Davies' message today isentitled The Other Side of the
Gospel.
SPEAKER_01 (01:35):
Well, a man by the name of Uga Strudin was
relatively obscure during mostof his career.
He would die in 1917.
And yet today there are a fewsculptured works as well known
as this work called The Thinker.
(01:56):
The man sits obviously deep inthought, and he actually is
thinking about something.
Anybody, by the way, anybodyknow what he's thinking about?
What's for dinner?
Um I heard something back here.
Where his clothes went.
Okay, yes.
Uh that could be a thought.
That's possible.
(02:17):
Any other ideas?
I missed that one.
What was that one?
What does she really want?
Okay, that's these are notplanned, but they're brilliant.
Um meaning of life, we'regetting a little closer.
(02:37):
Getting a little closer.
He's actually, if you could haveseen the entire sculpture, it
would have been 20 feet high,and behind him would be many
other people sculptured.
They have already entered thegates of hell.
And he's pondering.
He's thinking about theireternal state.
(02:59):
Rudain intended to sort ofcapture Dante's epic poem
written in the 14th century.
And he would, by the way, spend37 years on that entire work and
never really finish it.
This man became a standalonepiece and no doubt the most
famous of all of it.
He would write this, by the way,once this piece made him world
(03:23):
famous in his later years.
He said, My thinker thinks notonly with his brain, but with
his knitted brow, his distendednostrils, his compressed lips,
with every muscle of his arms,back, and legs, even with his
clenched fist.
(03:46):
And when you stare at that,knowing that context, you are
led to consider the eternalstate and a place called hell.
Frankly, if there are anyattributes that are the least
appreciated about God, theywould be the attributes of his
(04:08):
justice and his wrath.
Many people would sort ofdismiss them entirely out of
hand, right?
And choose to focus on his loveor his mercy, and we hear most
often of those.
But the truth is the attributesof wrath, anger, are just as
real.
You study the illustrations ofGod early on in the Old
(04:31):
Testament and watch as he dealswith the exile of Adam and Eve
from the garden, Genesis chapter3.
You study the horrific globalflood where God literally drowns
the human race, except for eightindividuals who board the ark,
(04:51):
Genesis 6.
Watches his wrath sends downfire and brimstone upon the
cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.
Genesis 16.
This is the other side of God.
(05:13):
Most people would agree thatthere's a heaven to enjoy, but
far less of those same peoplebelieve there is a hell to avoid
and rarely contemplate it.
In fact, it's interesting to mein my study.
Ellen G.
White, the revered prophetess ofthe Seventh-day Adventist
movement, in its formativeyears, wrote in her work
entitled The Great Controversy,that the idea of hell actually
(05:37):
came from the devil.
He made it up.
She writes, and I quote, thePrince of Darkness, working
through his agents, representsGod as a revengeful tyrant.
How utterly revolting is thebelief that as soon as the
breath leaves the body, the soulof the unrepentant is consigned
(05:59):
to hell.
In other words, God would nevercreate a place of torment like
that.
So that's a revolting thought.
And the only person that couldhave come up with that would be
the devil.
The trouble is, Jesus spoke moreoften about torment and the
wrath of God than about heaven.
We learn most about this placefrom the lips of Christ himself.
(06:24):
In John's gospel, for oneillustration, Jesus said, He who
believes in the Son has eternallife, but he who does not obey
the Son does not see life, butthe wrath of God abides on him.
John 3 36.
You go back into the OldTestament, by the way, if you
(06:45):
were to start there, you wouldfind about 20 different words
used to describe the fury ofGod.
The Apostle Paul in his letterto the Romans says that God's
wrath is storing up, it'sbuilding up.
If you can imagine the horror ofthat idea.
(07:57):
John Lennon sang with thatresponse in mind in his famous
song entitled Imagine, withlyrics like these.
No hell below, above us onlysky.
(08:20):
A.W.
Tozer wrote that this vague hopethat God is too kind to punish
the ungodly is deadly opium forthe consciences of millions.
See, the real question boilsdown to what does the Bible say,
right?
And I know I'm preaching to thechoir here on this one, but you
know, what does Jesus say aboutit?
What does the Son of God sayabout it?
(08:41):
Well, you study the scriptureand discover that Jesus
describes it as a real physicalplace.
Matthew 24.
It's a place to be avoided atall costs, Matthew 5.
It's a place of darkness withweeping and the gnashing of
teeth, grinding in pain, Matthew8.
It's far worse than death,Matthew 10.
(09:05):
The punishments will vary inseverity, Matthew 11, just as,
by the way, for the believer,rewards will vary in joy.
It's an eternal place of noreturn, Luke 16.
I mean, frankly, the churchreally shouldn't be unclear
about it because Jesus certainlywasn't.
In fact, one author wrote,People are driven from the
(09:28):
church not so much by truth thatmakes them uneasy, as much as by
weak compromise that destroystheir credibility, standing for
nothing.
We need to recover the truthabout hell and carefully include
it in our gospel witness.
(09:51):
You may be familiar with a manby the name of D.
Martin Lloyd-Jones, who said ageneration ago, there is, this
is not the age to advocaterestraint.
The church today does not needto be restrained, but to be
aroused, to be awakened, for sheis failing the world in not
warning it of coming judgment.
(10:15):
Frankly, I fear that the churchtoday, and I hear leaders often,
it's as if they want to appearto make God less offensive.
Maybe they're going to sweetenthe gospel so that more people
will take a sip.
But in the end, they they failto do what Jesus did over and
over and over and over again,warning people of a coming
(10:37):
horrific judgment.
So let's be clear.
Because we understand the stakesare high, right?
They are eternal.
Let's spell it out.
Let's make it clear.
C.S.
Lewis once heard a young manpreach, and he preached on the
(10:58):
subject of judgment.
He concluded his message bysaying, if you do not receive
Christ as your Savior, you willsuffer grave eschatological
ramifications.
Lewis asked him after theservice, Did you mean that a
person who doesn't believe inChrist will go to hell?
Yes, the young man said, towhich Ulyss responded, then say
(11:20):
so.
Say so.
Now the Apostle Paul is about tosay so, okay?
He is about to speak the truthof a coming judgment, and with
it, of course, would be thedispleasure of God.
So let's go back to Acts chapter17 one more time.
(11:40):
Paul has nearly finished hisintroduction in Acts 17 of this
unknown God, and he's revealedseveral attributes.
So far, we've discovered thatGod is creator of the universe,
that he is transcendent, thatis, he is above and separate
from all of creation, yet he isimminent, that is personally
deeply involved in his creation.
(12:01):
He is the maker of mankind, thehuman race from one man, one
original man and his wife.
He is sovereign over thenations.
He, in fact, determines how longthey'll exist and their borders.
He's determined that.
Now, Paul has, he's sort of laidall this out as background.
(12:26):
And by the way, he doesn't beginhis message with hell, okay?
He doesn't begin his messagewith judgment.
He reserves that after he'sdelivered all of this background
information about who God is.
And I think that's instructive,by the way, for us as well.
(12:46):
In fact, background informationis very helpful.
I came across this ratherhumorous illustration of what
happens when you don't giveenough background.
This is from James Woolsey, theformer director of the CIA.
He told the following story of afunny incident.
It wasn't funny at the time, butit's funny later, when FBI
agents were conducting aninvestigation at the San Diego
(13:08):
Psychiatric Hospital for medicalinsurance fraud, and they'd
spent all day, hours and hoursand hours, reviewing thousands
of medical records, dozens ofagents.
They worked up quite anappetite.
The agent in charge of theinvestigation called a pizza
parlor across the street toorder dinner for all of his
(13:28):
colleagues.
And the following telephoneconversation was taped, and it
could be played back intranscript form.
The agent calls and says, Hello,I'd like to order 19 pizzas and
67 cans of Coke.
Pizza Place.
Where would you like themdelivered?
Across the street to thepsychiatric hospital.
(13:50):
You want 19 pizzas delivered tothe psychiatric hospital.
That's right.
And who are you?
I'm an FBI agent.
You're an FBI agent.
Oh, that's correct.
There are a number of us overhere, and we've been working
around the clock and we'restarving.
Oh, is that right?
Oh, yes, and by the way, deliverthe pizzas around to the back
(14:12):
entrance.
We've got the front doorslocked.
The pizza guy said, I don'tthink so, and hung up.
That was the end of it.
Well, background information,okay.
He should have given a littlebit of it.
Well, having provided all thebackground of information about
this unknown God, now Paul movesto this eternal verdict and he
(14:33):
brings up what I'm I'm referringto as the other side of the
gospel.
Let's pick it up at verse 30 atchapter 17.
Therefore, now this is hisconclusion on the basis of
everything I've said.
Therefore, on that basis, here'sthe verdict.
Having overlooked the times ofignorance, God is now declaring
(14:54):
to men that all everywhereshould repent.
This is not, by the way, Paul'sway of saying that God has
chosen to overlook sin.
Paul actually uses a play onwords here that's lost to the
English reader.
He uses the word for ignorance.
It's the same word translatedunknown for unknown God.
(15:18):
Earlier, for their altar to theunknown God.
In other words, he's saying allthis time you've been worshiping
the unknown God out ofignorance, and God has
mercifully left you unpunishedbecause of your ignorance.
He could have, in other words,already brought judgment because
of your unbelief, but God isgracious and long-suffering, and
(15:41):
we know this from other texts ofscripture.
Paul's hinting at this.
He's merciful in withholding hiswrath from being poured out,
which he could have done.
He could have buried all of youand this Areopagus, this hill,
long ago.
Paul is effectively sayingyou're still alive, which means
(16:02):
the judgment of God hasn'thappened yet.
And there's time to repent.
Do it now.
There's an urgency.
Why?
Look at verse 31.
Because he, God, has fixed a dayin which he will judge the world
in righteousness, perfectjustice.
(16:23):
Judgment is coming.
By the way, Paul isn't justtalking to the Athenians.
Notice how Paul refers to thewhole world.
God is going to judge the wholeworld.
And you notice that God hasdetermined a date.
He's already determined a timefor this to take place.
The term Paul uses for judgmentis in the future tense.
(16:47):
It points to a future momentwhen he will judge the world.
This word judge carries thelegal, technical nuance in
Paul's day of being hailed intocourt.
There's a coming day when youwill have an appointment in the
courtroom of God who will judgeyou rightly.
(17:11):
He will judge you justly.
The date has already been set.
He has fixed a day in which hewill judge the world in
righteousness.
Notice, through a man, capitalIlm, this is a reference to the
God man, Christ, whom he hasappointed, having furnished
(17:36):
proof to all men by raising himfrom the dead.
Now let me kind of push thepause button here for a moment
and tell you about a couple ofjudgments the Bible clearly
reveals for us.
There's more than one.
They're very different.
There's the judgment of allbelievers.
We call that the judgment seatof Christ, or the bimah seat of
(18:01):
Christ.
The Bima was the place wherevictorious athletes were awarded
their laurel wreaths anddifferent Greek city-states,
made their lorries out ofdifferent vines, different
leaves, for having run theirrace.
The Bible is very clear thatthis judgment is going to be for
the purpose of then determiningall that was profitable in a
(18:23):
person's life and thus worthy ofrewarding.
You can jot a reference down andread at your leisure, 1
Corinthians chapter 3, 2Corinthians chapter 5.
I'll read a brief verse, verse10 from that text, for we must
all appear before the judgmentseat of Christ, so that each one
(18:44):
may be rewarded, recompensed forhis deeds in the body according
to what he has done, whetherprofitable or unprofitable.
Keep in mind, this judgment hasnothing to do with whether or
not you're going to get intoheaven.
Frankly, nobody gets into heavenby doing profitable things,
(19:05):
right?
Nobody gets in for doing moreprofitable things than
unprofitable things.
The fact that you're beingrewarded for that which profited
the glory of God, as it were,proves you're already there.
No unbeliever will ever berewarded for anything except
judgment.
It's also important tounderstand that the rewarding of
(19:26):
the individual believer is theoutcome of the evaluation.
That's the outcome.
The believer will be judged onhow they ran their particular
race, how they brought glory toGod through mundane acts of
repetitive service in the home,being faithful to spouse and
(19:48):
family would be rewardable.
At your job, where you clock inand do your duties well would be
rewardable.
In the church, where you servethe body will be rewardable.
In the world, delivering thegospel, planting, sowing,
watering the seeds of thegospel.
(20:09):
Perhaps dying, a martyr's death.
We're given specific texts thatthat will be rewardable.
Perhaps serving the churchfaithfully as an elder, a
special reward as well.
These are all mentioned inScripture.
Well, following this evaluation,the believer is then going to
serve Christ in the kingdom intheir assigned honored position.
(20:33):
The Lord talks about thefaithful steward of one talent
is given five, the one with fivegiven ten.
This relates to our service forhim in that millennial kingdom.
So the judgment is going to takeplace sometime after the rapture
of the church.
We're never given a text thattells us specifically when.
(20:53):
I believe it'll be at the end ofthe tribulation period, when all
of the spiritual fruit fromsomeone's life will be able to
be tallied by our sovereignrewarding Lord.
Here's why I believe that.
Imagine that the rapture of thechurch takes place tomorrow.
Your testimony is going tolinger.
(21:16):
The effect of your witness willlinger in ways that we can't
even imagine, right?
There will be neighbors, therewill be friends, there will be
classmates who know you're justnot showing up anymore, and they
remember what you believed.
And we know during thetribulation there's going to be
an incredible movement of theLord bringing many to believe
(21:39):
from every tribe, tongue, andnation.
It's going to be an amazingperiod of spiritual harvest as
God also calls Israel torepentance and faith as a
nation.
Those 144,000 Jewish evangelistsare, they're going to circle the
globe.
It's going to be absolutelyamazing.
All that to say it's possiblethat something you are now
(22:02):
doing, something you have saidto someone, can trickle down
through the course of thattribulation period and bear
spiritual fruit that then wouldbe rewardable.
So it's still effectively beingtallied, so to speak.
And since the purpose of theBhima seat is to reward the
(22:24):
gospel and the character of Godlived in and through your life,
God will more than likely waituntil the end of human history
as we know it, preceding themillennial kingdom to reward his
church.
I can't remember if I told youthis or not.
If I have, you'll enjoy hearingit again.
(22:48):
That's optimism for a preacher.
Jay Vernon McGee has been on theradio for decades.
In fact, it's almost now 30years after his death.
How many of you have heard JayVernon McGee?
Look at that.
That's amazing.
Well, Jay Vernon McGee has adesire, among others, to be on
(23:08):
the radio during thetribulation.
After the church's rapture, hehad the strong desire to be used
by the Lord as long as his radioprogram could be aired, even
during that tribulation period.
I think he wanted to irritatethe Antichrist, as only Jay
Vernon McGee could irritate theAntichrist.
(23:30):
Actually, he wanted to add tothe fruit for the glory of
Christ through his ministry.
He's right now being heard moreafter his death than during his
life.
He is, I believe, right now inabout 100 languages delivering
the gospel.
So the reward and the spiritualfruit of his testimony isn't
(23:54):
going to end until the end ofthat tribulation period and the
end of that age.
There's another judgmentdescribed in Scripture.
And this is the judgment thatPaul is referring to here in
Acts chapter 17.
It's the judgment we call thejudgment of the great white
throne.
(24:14):
Now that judgment is forunbelievers only.
If you're there, it is forevertoo late for you.
The books will be opened, andGod will reveal through the
deeds of every individual whythey are worthy of this verdict.
How, in fact, their rebellionagainst God was nothing less
(24:38):
than idolatry and their heartworshipped themselves.
So he's going to take time, wedon't know how, but he's going
to reveal the truth of theirjust punishment, and Paul
writes, their mouths will bestopped.
This is an awful moment toconsider.
It takes place just prior to thedestruction of the universe and
(25:00):
the recreation of the universe,the new heavens and the new
earth.
And Revelation chapter 20 givesus the details.
But every unbeliever of all ofhuman history will stand before
the judge at this great whitethrone judgment.
Now, Paul tells the Athenianshere that that judge just so
(25:21):
happens to be Jesus, God theSon, the man, God the Father
raised from the dead.
So if you can even imagine theirony and the fitting nature of
the Lord, God the Son, being theone with a gavel in his hand, so
to speak, he's going to sit asjudge over all of humanity.
(25:43):
Why?
Because ultimately they worshipthemselves rather than place
their trust in the plan of Godthrough blood atonement that
looked toward the cross, andthose who lived after the
crucifixion who trusted in thatblood atoning sacrifice after
the cross, looking back towardit.
So after their own personaljudgment by Christ himself,
(26:06):
having been hailed into thecourtroom of God, they will be
sent to hell forever.
Now, when Paul delivers thisverdict, the most popular
opinion in Athens, and by theway, to this day, is the opinion
that at your death you cease toexist.
(26:29):
That was the popular opinion inAthens.
In fact, people in Paul'sgeneration in Athens and beyond
often had these letters writtenon their tombstone.
N F N S N C.
It was an abbreviation for theLatin phrase translated into
(26:50):
English, I was not, I am not, Icare not.
I was not, I am not, and I carenot.
And Paul comes along andannounces the other side of the
gospel, which is this bad newsabout a coming judgment, this
(27:12):
terrible truth, as if to sayyou'd better care.
You'd better care.
He's speaking to these Epicureanand Stoic philosophers gathered
here on the Areopagus before theSupreme Court of Athens.
Mankind, he effectively says, isnot moving toward extinction,
(27:36):
which the Epicurean philosopherswould have believed.
Mankind is not moving towardbeing absorbed into the universe
as the Stoics believed, andBuddhism, which had reached this
Mediterranean world by the timePaul stands here on this hill.
Mankind is actually movingtoward this unavoidable
(27:59):
appointment with the risenChrist who will be seated on
this terrifying white throne.
So Paul delivers this in hisfirst message to these
Athenians.
Mankind is not heading toward areunion with all their friends.
(28:25):
A man once told that to pastorand author Tony Evans, and he
added it in his book on theattributes of God, which I've
surfed a little bit.
He said this a man once told me,I'm not into that hell stuff.
I don't believe in the wrath ofGod.
But even if hell is true, I'mgoing to turn that place around
(28:46):
because all my friends are goingto be there and we're going to
go down there and have a party.
Evans responded to this man.
Listen, do me a favor, when youget home today, turn on a burner
on your stovetop and wait untilit gets really hot, and then sit
on that burner and try to get aparty started at the same time.
(29:13):
Wow.
Evans concluded, this man didn'tunderstand that hell has no
parties, no fellowship, noget-togethers.
God will eternally quarantineall those who rejected him in
the pit of the universe in aplace called hell.
(29:37):
And what was the reaction ofPaul's audience?
The same reaction we get to thisday.
Three of them.
First, some ridiculed.
Look at verse 32.
And when they heard of theresurrection of the dead, some
began to sneer.
Now the language here indicatesthat they're sneering.
(30:00):
Didn't begin right when Paulmentioned the resurrection.
Paul is actually finished withhis message, and then they begin
to sneer, primarily because ofthe resurrection.
The verb to sneer means toscoff, it means to literally to
mock.
(30:22):
In other words, Paul's messageis immediately followed by
jeering and mocking andlaughing.
And Paul, no doubt, I'm sure, atthat moment, felt perhaps
something that you might havefelt, wondering if anybody heard
anything he said about thegospel.
(30:42):
There's ridicule.
Secondly, while some ridiculed,others procrastinated, verse 32,
again, the end part.
Others said, We shall hear youagain concerning this.
Hey, hey, let's make anappointment.
I'd like to hear a little bitmore about that stuff.
It's interesting.
But many do that with me.
(31:04):
How about you?
We have no indication that Paulever returned to the Areopagus,
that he ever returned to thathill, that he ever returned to
that Supreme Court.
Ever again.
Some ridiculed, someprocrastinated.
Thirdly, some believed.
Verse 34.
Some men joined him andbelieved, among whom also were
(31:27):
Dionysius the Areopagite and awoman named Demaris and others
with them.
Don't you love that?
Some believed.
Some believed.
Some were rescued from thisfuture, eternal, horrific,
unremitting sentence of fury andwrath from God.
(31:53):
Now we're not told anythingabout Demeris, and we're not
given other names of those whobecame Christians.
We're only left with this onename, which is interesting.
Verse 34, Dionysius, theAreopagite.
In other words, Dionysiusbelonged to the council that sat
(32:14):
on this hill.
He was a member of the SupremeCourt of Athens.
And he believed.
(32:40):
And by the grace of God, hereally is.
God was at work.
And when you deliver the gospelby the way to your Athens, some
will sneer, some will mock, somewill jeer, they may not do it to
your face, they may do it behindyour back.
(33:04):
Some might procrastinate andsay, you know, you're a nice
guy.
It's such a nice crutch youhave.
I'd like to hear more about thatone.
But you never know in whoseheart God is moving, who will be
leading.
James Montgomery Boyce, in hiscommentary on this text, told
the story of something thathappened in a church, pastored
(33:27):
by one of his assistants beforejoining his staff.
James Montgomery Boyce, ofcourse, with the Lord now.
He retells the story in hiscommentary.
There's a man who lived nextdoor to a church there in St.
Paul, Minnesota.
And uh he never wanted to go tochurch.
However, one week the church hada series of special meetings and
(33:50):
it featured really wonderfulmusic.
And uh the neighbor heard themusic and was so taken that he
decided to go in and hear it.
He reasoned with himself, I'lljust go in for the music and
then I'll leave before thesermon.
So he went in.
He sat down in the back of thechurch, the last pew, you know,
(34:11):
the good seats.
And uh he said, I'm just gonnalisten to the music and leave.
When the musical portion of theevening was over and the pastor
stood to preach, he realizedthat every seat was taken around
him and he was hemmed in.
And there was no way he couldget out without being noticed.
And he didn't want the pastor toknow he'd been there.
(34:32):
So he thought to himself, I'lljust do the next best thing.
I'll put my fingers in my earsso I can't hear them.
So there he sat with his fingersin his ears, hemmed in by
people, as the pastor began topreach.
However, God had been at work inhis heart through the music and
the gospel that was presentedand the lyrics and the joy on
people's faces as they sang it,and God had a plan.
(34:55):
It wasn't long into that sermon,Boyce writes, that a little
house fly began to buzz aroundthe man's nose.
The man ignored the fly as longas he could.
But finally, that little flybuzzing around his nose got to
be too much for him.
He took one hand and he swattedat the fly, and at that moment
the pastor said, He that hathears to hear, let him hear.
(35:17):
His hand froze in mid-air, andhe knew this was for him.
And he listened and he believedand was saved by the grace of
God.
What I discovered in my study isabout a hundred years after this
event took place in Athens, achurch leader in Corinth, there
(35:42):
in the church, mentioned in oneof his letters that Dionysius
became the first elder in thechurch at Athens.
He became one of theirshepherds.
Can you imagine this church now?
A church whose pastor was amember, more than likely a
(36:05):
former member of the SupremeCourt.
This city where God wasintroduced and some of his
attributes explained, and hiscoming wrath delivered, and a
call to repentance extended.
(36:26):
And Dionysius and others weresaved.
And it's intriguing to me,beloved, that all Paul did was
simply describe God as creator,as the sovereign ruler, the Lord
of the universe, of all thenations of earth, and the coming
(36:50):
judge.
And that was enough.
That was enough.
Some believed.
And I think this is instructiveto us.
This is the gospel we reallymust introduce to the Athens
where God has placed you and me.
Because listen, he is still theunknown God.
(37:11):
He is more than ever the unknownGod.
Our world may respond in thesame way, but in spite of that,
we go into Athens like Paul,burdened over their unbelief,
asking, as it were, God to useus, being willing to deliver
(37:32):
both sides of the gospel, heavenand hell, peace with God and the
wrath of God.
And some will ridicule you andsome will put you off, and some
will have ears to hear.
That's up to God as we deliverthe gospel.
And some will believe and besaved from the wrath that is
(38:01):
coming.
Father, would you help us to befaithful in our testimony and
recognize we never meet anybody,as your servant said, who is
simply a mortal.
Everyone is immortal.
Everyone will live somewhereforever.
(38:27):
We want to thank you fordelivering to us the gospel and
giving us ears to hear andopening our eyes to this
glorious gospel where our mindsand eyes had been blinded by the
God of this world.
We want to thank you for yourwork in our hearts.
Might not have been a housefly.
(38:48):
It might have been a friend.
It might have been your servantJ.
Vernon McGee.
But we had delivered to usthrough a parent, perhaps, or a
friend or a pastor the gospel,and you opened our eyes and our
ears.
Now, as we live in this Athensof our day, we find the same
(39:10):
objections, we find the sameneed to describe you as the
creator.
In a world enveloped inevolution, we deliver the truth
of you as creator, that all ofmankind came from one man and
(39:31):
his wife.
That you are the ruler of thenations, that you are a coming,
terrifying judge.
Help us to be gracious andtactful and truthful as we
(39:53):
deliver to our Athens the truthsabout you, the unknown God.
And we thank you for theprivilege that you've allowed us
to come to know you and eventhrough this study to know you
perhaps a little better.
We thank you.
In Jesus' name.
unknown (40:12):
Amen.
SPEAKER_00 (40:23):
Today's message was the conclusion to Stephen
Davies' series entitledIntroducing God.
It might be that as you arelistening today, the Lord
brought to mind some people whowould benefit from hearing this
message.
You can go to our website,wisdomonline.org, and send your
(40:43):
friend the link to this messageor the link to the entire
series.
Today's the last day that thisCD set is available at a deeply
discounted rate.
Please visit our website todayor call us at 866-485.
Next time, Steven begins aseries from 1 Corinthians
(41:06):
entitled True Live.
Join us at Heroine.
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