Millions are Groping (Acts 17:16-31)
The congregation in Alum Creek, West Virginia, where I preached for ten years, met in an auditorium without any natural light. I never thought about that; I just came in and flicked on the lights. But one Sunday, I was halfway through my sermon when the lights went out; we were in pitch darkness. Back then, we didn’t have flashlights on our cell phones, but one kind soul gave me a flashlight off his keychain so I could read my Bible and finish my sermon. After my sermon, we had to get everyone out of the building safely. Two or three folks had pinpoint flashlights, and we slowly, but surely, got everyone out without injury.
How many of you have struggled in the darkness? Ever needed to use the restroom in the middle of the night and stumble over something? How many of you have stubbed your toe on the way to bed at night? Ever struggle getting around your house when the power was out for days after a hurricane? Did you ever have trouble getting to your car when you had to be at work early in the morning?
In ancient Athens, people were stumbling in spiritual darkness. Paul told them this truth: “Millions are groping without the gospel.”
Scripture (Acts 17:16-31)
verses 16-17:
When he saw the many idols in Athens, Paul’s spirit was “provoked within him.” Athens was “full of idols;” pillars mounted with the head of Hermes lined city streets. Idols were everywhere in Athens.
Paul’s spirit was “provoked.” The Greek term as used here means to be angry. Paul got spitting mad when he saw the idolatry—the error—in Athens. At whom would Paul have gotten angry? Primarily, he would have been angry at Satan who stood behind that idolatry. But I suspect he would also have been angry at the craftsmen, those who placed the idols in public, and those who encouraged others to worship the idols. Paul got angry when he saw people being led to an eternal hell.
Because he was angry, Paul went into the synagogue and the marketplace and taught God’s truth, the antidote to error.
verses 22-23:
Speakers often began addresses by complimenting their hearers in Paul’s day, just as the apostle did here.
Paul discovered an altar inscribed with “To the unknown god.” Many years before Paul, a plague struck Athens. The Athenians sacrificed at all the altars of all their gods, but the plague continued to ravage the city. Only when they constructed an altar to an unknown god and sacrificed at it did the plague stop. Therefore, the Athenians continued their worship of an “unknown god.”
verses 26-27:
God created men in such a way that they “should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him.” “Feel” in the English Standard Version really means “grope.” The verb means to feel about like a blind man. Without direct revelation, man gropes about in the dark for God; therefore, Paul preached and gave these folks divine revelation.
Application
“Millions are groping without the gospel.” In Athens, many were groping without the gospel. Right here in Deer Park many are groping without the gospel. In our own families, many are groping without the gospel. Among our friends and our neighbors, many are groping without the gospel.
What can you do because “Millions are groping without the gospel?”
One: Anger
When Paul saw the error of idolatry, he became angry. You don’t see many idols, but you certainly see error and people groping without the gospel. It’s time for your Anger to boil over because of error. It’s time to get angry that denominational parking lots are full on Sunday morning. It’s time to get angry that people think they can watch some televangelist who perverts the gospel and be right with God. It’s time to get angry that Satan has blinded the hearts of those we love.
Those who teach a different doctrine “do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive” (Rom 16:18). Many so-called Christians in the first century denied the deity of the Lord Jesus; John said of them: “Many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist” (2 Jn 7).
Those who leave folks groping for the gospel make the Lord Jesus angry. The Lord said to the church in Ephesus: “This you have: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate” (Rev 2:6). The Nicolaitans, a Christian sect, deceived people.
How angry does it make you when you pass a denominational church with a full parking lot? How angry do you get when you see people perverting the gospel of Jesus? How angry do you get when you see people who really believe they’re doing right but are far from the kingdom? How angry do you get that Satan is taking millions of people to hell with him? It’s time to let your Anger boil over!
Two: Announcement
When Paul allowed his anger to boil over, the apostle made an Announcement. He went into the synagogue, the marketplace, and the Areopagus with the truth of Jesus the Christ.
You must make an Announcement of Jesus’s truth in your anger. In the first century, Paul declared: “The gospel that you heard . . . has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven” (Col 1:23). The first century church had preached Jesus to every single person on the planet.
Has the gospel “been proclaimed in all creation” in Deer Park? You might say, “Justin, surely people have heard about Jesus in Deer Park.” But, I ask you, “Have they heard the TRUTH?” You must announce Jesus to your friends, your family, your coworkers, and anyone else you can: “Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ” (Col 1:28).
Whom will you tell what Jesus really requires? How will you announce the truth of the gospel? Whom will you invite to our “Soul-Saving Sunday” to hear gospel truth? For whom will you pray that he or she might leave error and come to Jesus?
Is there error—sin—in your life this morning? Do you need to leave that error and come to Jesus?
This sermon was originally preached by Dr. Justin Imel, Sr., at Church of Christ Deer Park in Deer Park, Texas.