never been popular and nobody, in church or out, wants to repent. So there was a mixed reaction and with that I am concerned just now for congrega tions today are not very different from Paul’s audience in Athens. Paul’s message was simple and to the point: God “ now commandeth all men to repent: because He hath appointed a day in the which He will judge the world by that man whom He hath or dained ; whereof He hath given assurance unto all men in that He hath raised Him from the dead” (Acts 17:30, 31). God has appointed a day. He has ordained a Judge. He has commanded repent ance. This is our message today. There were three reactions in Athens and men still react in the same ways. We read that “ some mocked.” They scoffed. Phillips says they laughed outright. We are re minded of the invitation to the marriage supper in our Lord’s parable and those who “made light o f it.” Today men make a joke of the judgment day and some ministers deny the resurrection. Miracles are counted myths. We do not have to laugh in the minister’s face or scoff outwardly to mock the message o f the Gospel. When men refuse it or treat it as a matter o f ordinary significance, as though the blood of Christ had no more mean ing than the blood o f any other man, they make a mockery of what cost Almighty God His Son and the Son o f God His life. The writer to the Hebrews warns of the judgment due those who tread under foot the Son o f God and count the blood o f the covenant an unholy thing. He goes on to say: “ For we know Him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge His people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands o f the living God” (Heb. 10:28-31). There are two sides to the message o f Christ’s death and resurrection. God so loved the world that He gave His Son, but there is another side to that coin. While we behold the Lamb of God in His humiliation, we must remember that one day men will cry for rocks and mountains to fall on them to hide them from the wrath o f that Lamb. When men reject the love of God and the blood o f Christ, they bring themselves under the wrath o f God and His judgment. He that believeth not is condemned already. It IS a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. God has done something for us at Calvary and the empty tomb and we have an obligation to do something about it. When we spurn it and act as though it were beneath our notice and “ treat like dirt” the blood of Christ, we make a mockery o f the Gospel. When haughty men walk out of church, making light of the mes sage as though it were the opinion of a preacher, they need to be brought to their senses to learn that they are playing with the lightning of doom fires of hell. No man makes a bigger fool of him-
Paul set a good example o f how a Christian should act in a strange city. It is a far cry from the way many church members behave nowadays when they visit New York or Paris! The idolatry o f Athens stirred in Paul’s heart a violent re action, a “ paroxysm,” and he could not be silent in this pagan metropolis where gods were said to be more plentiful than men. Neither should Chris tians keep silent today. Some of the Stoics and Epicureans brought Paul to the Areopagus to find out what this “ seed- picker,” this “ cock sparrow” (Phillips), had to say. Paul began his sermon with a point of con tact, not a head-on collision, which is always wise procedure. But he soon moved from the concilia tory to the controversial. He declared God to be the Father of all men by creation. This is not the present-day Fatherhood o f God heresy so popular in some quarters. Then he moved quickly to pre sent Jesus Christ, judgment, the resurrection and repentance. When he got around to repentance, that broke up the meeting and it will do the same today. Plenty of church-goers are willing to listen to philosophy, to general information about God or even an inspirational talk about Jesus Christ, but resurrection means miracle and judgment has
JULY/AUGUST, 1969
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