The Times of Ignorance, Part 2

The point: Recognize the tremendous intensity, weight, and urgency of God's command to repent in this current epoch of redemptive history, which is the most responsible epoch.

Paul's argument against idolatry is explained: if humans are image-bearers of God, then God must be grander than anything humans create, making the worship of man-made objects illogical and wicked.

And to what epochs of human history is Paul referring when he says the times of ignorance? Well, think back through the preceding recording emphases of the sermon. He has just rebuked the practice of these very Athenians saying that since we are the offspring of God we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold or silver or stone graven by art and device of man. Why should we make gods of objects that have less dignity than the one who makes them? If we are the image bearers of God, if we are the offspring of God by creation, then surely whatever God is like He is grander, greater a...

14:14 - 15:31 Read in full sermon

The point: Consider your response to God's command to repent in direct proportion to your esteem for the Almighty Creator and Sovereign Lord who issues it.

To illustrate God's immense power as Creator, Martin describes God speaking galaxies into existence and forming massive mountains like the Matterhorn and McKinley with a word, emphasizing His effortless might.

in that short statement the God that made the world and all things when He says God commands us who is this God? is He some little piddling notion that you and I can dispense with in a cavalier attitude? no He is the almighty Creator who when He decided to spangle the empty spaces with galaxies He just opened His mouth and spoke and out of the womb of nothing galaxies came into being and you know how God describes it in the original creation and He made the stars also hmm and He made the stars also that's the God who made the world I lose my breath just looking at some of the wide angled pictu...

27:08 - 28:34 Read in full sermon

The point: Consider your response to God's command to repent in direct proportion to your esteem for the Almighty Creator and Sovereign Lord who issues it.

Martin refutes the idea that God created man because He was lonely, explaining God's aseity (self-sufficiency) and independence from creation, contrasting it with the 'babbling nonsense' of human self-worth.

from His creation to satisfy Him to fulfill Him to make Him complete to sustain Him the whole notion that God made man because He was lonely is blasphemous what could God ever find in man the creature that He could not find in the infinite fullness and glory of His own inner Trinitarian life what could God find in a worm of the dust that He could not find in Himself it's ludicrous it's blasphemous it's unbiblical neither is He served by men's hands as though He needed anything God never had a twitch of loneliness of unfulfillment God was totally self-sufficient and satisfied within His own glo...

30:03 - 31:31 Read in full sermon

The point: Consider your response to God's command to repent in direct proportion to your esteem for the Almighty Creator and Sovereign Lord who issues it.

The principle that the regard for a command is proportional to the esteem for the commander is illustrated by a child's response to parental commands, linking it to how people should respond to God's commands.

any command that comes to us in direct proportion to our esteem or lack of esteem of the one who gives the command you take the son or daughter who sees mom and dad placed over him or her as God's representative to administer God's rule you take that child whose heart is sensitive to the significance of the fifth commandment honor thy father and thy mother and when mom or dad give commands their response is in direct proportion to the regard they have for the dignity the worth the character and their esteem of the one who gives and as in human relationships so with the living God you see the a...

32:58 - 34:27 Read in full sermon

The point: Consider your response to God's command to repent in direct proportion to your esteem for the Almighty Creator and Sovereign Lord who issues it.

The children's song 'He's Got the Whole World in His Hands' is alluded to, emphasizing God's absolute control over life and breath, underscoring the gravity of His command to repent.

here tonight when you hear that the author of this command is God himself what is your response God shemad heard it a thousand times but when you hear God commands this is the great eternal almighty sovereign creation sovereign creator of heaven and earth this is the Lord of heaven and earth this is the one who holds me in his hands he got the whole wide world he got everything in his hands he got you and me brother in his hands got the whole world and all he needs to do if he gives life and breath all he needs to do is withhold my breath and I've had it this is the God who is commanding so ha...

34:27 - 35:54 Read in full sermon

Driving home: I've only met one person in my whole life who didn't admit he or she was a sinner the problem is not getting people to admit their sinners it's seeing them brought to a true sense sense of their sin that's why Jesus said…

Martin shares that he has only met one person who didn't admit to being a sinner, highlighting that the real problem is not mere admission but being brought to a 'true sense of sin,' which is a supernatural work of the Spirit.

repentance unto life is a saving grace whereby a sinner out of a true sense of his sin does with grief and I'm sorry and apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ does with grief and hatred of his sin turns from it unto God with full purpose of and endeavor after new obedience what is repentance unto life it is a saving grace yes it is a duty commanded and as with so many other things the very duty God commands is the grace that he imparts for Christ has been exalted we are told in chapter five to be a prince and a savior to give repentance to Israel and remission of sins it is a saving grace...

38:49 - 40:16 Read in full sermon

Driving home: rather it's an experience of a radical and pervasive change of mind concerning God and sin and Christ and the way of salvation and Paul says the God who at this epoch in human history no longer deals as he did in the tim…

Martin contrasts genuine repentance with superficial emotional displays like 'tingles up and down your spine' or 'gales of mindless thoughtless irrational laughter,' dismissing them as 'nonsense' and 'delusive spirit' that damages thousands.

and we loathed enough to turn from it be divorced from it with a full purpose of an endeavor after new obedience the disposition of a penitent heart is that of the apostle who cried after he was smitten by the risen Christ Lord what will you have needed from here on in Lord you call the shots I've gone out of the God business I've gone out of the plan my own life do my own thing adjust my own schedule business I'm done Lord what will you have me to do now notice the command in its essence says nothing about getting tingles up and down your spine it says nothing about just juggling a few notion...

43:04 - 44:33 Read in full sermon

The point: Stop and think of the issues at stake when considering God's command to repent, which is nothing less than being prepared or ill-prepared for the day of judgment.

He challenges listeners to imagine taking a half-hour to sit quietly, without distractions, and contemplate standing before the living God on judgment day, suggesting that such reflection would prevent them from going to bed unconverted.

and month after month you won't stop and think of the issues at stake as you consider the command that comes not from a mere mortal this was Paul the former murderer and persecutor of the church but when he said God commands you to repent he was the mouthpiece of the living God and the issues at stake are nothing less than being prepared or ill prepared for the day of judgment that's why he graciously commands all men everywhere to repent why because he's appointed a day in which he's going to judge the whole world all men everywhere and if they come to that judgment impenitent and unbelieving...

46:02 - 47:29 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not mock the realities of Christ's resurrection and coming judgment, as mockery does not affect reality.

The mocking response to the disciples speaking in tongues at Pentecost (Acts 2) is used as a parallel to the mockers at Athens, suggesting that mockery often stems from a stirring conscience trying to silence its voice.

and you will stand before the living God I doubt you'd go to your bed unconverted then since we expounded that text I pass over it and come fifthly and finally now to the recorded response to this command what happened when it was preached we have the recorded response in verses 32 to 34 three different responses some mocked some politely excused themselves from immediate obedience and some attached themselves to the servant of God and believed his message look at it now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead some mocked and apparently they must have been the ones who showed their col...

47:29 - 48:56 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not mock the realities of Christ's resurrection and coming judgment, as mockery does not affect reality.

Martin asserts that all the mockery in the world cannot change the reality of Christ's resurrection, which is God's assurance that He is on His throne and will judge the world.

the hand of God was so evidently in it you see usually the one who is so quick to mock is the one whose conscience has begun to be so active he must begin to mock to try to still its voice and often the quickest and the loudest mockers are those who if they would be honest are beginning to have serious doubts about their unbelief and their skepticism you see mocking these realities won't make them go away all the mocking of the resurrection of the dead won't put Christ back in his tomb and the fact that he came out of that tomb is God's assurance that he's on his throne and one day you and I w...

48:56 - 50:23 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not mock the realities of Christ's resurrection and coming judgment, as mockery does not affect reality.

The urgent, immediate response of the Philippian jailer ('Sirs, what must I do to be saved?') is contrasted with the Athenians' polite delay ('We will hear you concerning this yet again'), emphasizing the foolishness of procrastinating salvation.

mock all you want there's an open empty tomb in Palestine and there's a throne at the right hand of God and your mockery won't cancel reality some mocked but look what the second group did it says of them but others said we will hear you concerning this yet again we can interpret that point probably at least two ways it may be that they began to be interested but the very fact you see that they said we'll hear you yet again while they still have Paul there he hadn't left yet the next verse says thus Paul went out from among them if you've got a man of God who knows God and is preaching the wor...

51:24 - 52:52 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not presume upon another day for repentance, as 'now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation.'

Martin uses the example of taking a glass of water (active verb) versus the glass being taken (passive verb) to explain the significance of the Greek text stating 'certain men were glued unto Paul,' implying a divine agency in their attachment.

who are not held in prison by shackles but by the constraint of God and I'm not ready to meet this God and it's the wee hours of the morning but oh servants of God tell me what must I do to be saved no I believe this response when they said we will hear you concerning this yet again was a polite way of trying to persuade themselves that they were not utterly rejecting the message in the messenger there is a possibility that there was the inkling of a little desire but oh how foolish to presume that they'd have another time for the scripture says boast not thyself of tomorrow for thou knowest n...

52:52 - 54:19 Read in full sermon

The point: Be aware that the devil tries to put suspicion and disaffection in your heart towards God-given messengers to cut you off from the message.

Jesus' statement 'He that receives you receives me' is used to explain why the devil tries to create suspicion and disaffection towards God-given messengers, knowing that rejecting the messenger leads to rejecting the message.

and then to Paul and that is including this in the text of Acts and also in the book of Acts and John and John talks about the prophecy and there is written about it through the same scripture I find it very interesting I find it fascinating because it reveals a very vital principle not your message, he says, he that receives you receives me. Why did he say he that receives you? Because we are so constituted that if we don't receive the messenger, we will not receive his message. And that's why the devil does his dead level best to put suspicion and disaffection in your heart to your God-given...

57:11 - 58:27 Read in full sermon

The point: Be aware that the devil tries to put suspicion and disaffection in your heart towards God-given messengers to cut you off from the message.

The conversion of Dionysius, a leading philosopher, and Damaris, a pagan woman, illustrates that God's grace can penetrate any intellectual barrier, prejudice, or sinful bent, saving people from all walks of life.

John 1-9 John 1-9 John 1-9 John 1-9 John 1-9 John 1-9 John 1-9 John 1-9 John 1-9 John 1-9 can bring sinners to life. He can lay hold of a Dionysius, someone who comes into this building full of skepticism and a thousand walls of so-called intellectual barriers and all the kinds of barriers. And when God says, I'm going out to get my man, he gets him. And then it says, and a woman, and a woman, to let us know that though this philosophical think tank was made up of men, somehow some women got in on this, and a woman named Damaris. And the scholars like to debate who was she, why is she named, a...

61:02 - 62:28 Read in full sermon

The point: Heed God's gracious command to repent, recognizing that His command implies His readiness to forgive.

Martin connects the sermon's message to Easter, stating that 'A risen Christ lays hold of dead, hell-deserving sinners, and brings them into the orbit of his gracious salvation,' emphasizing the power of the resurrection in conversion.

Maybe God's grace, maybe some teenagers sneaked in, maybe some boys who were accompanying their dads, being apprenticed to be part of the philosophical think tank, I don't know, it just says, others with them. And there you can let your imagination run wild, and put in any sinner of any age, and any background, and any moral and religious strife, and say, there's room for others with them, others with them. And all who would obey the divine command to repent, taking seriously that there's an appointed day, and there is a marked out man, and there is valid proof because of his open tomb, and al...

62:49 - 63:56 Read in full sermon