In this sermon, the preacher discusses three things that happened at the end of Paul's sermon. The first thing mentioned is that some people mocked when they heard about the resurrection of the dead. The preacher draws a parallel between those mockers and people who may mock the Bible today. The sermon then shifts to discussing the path that Jesus Christ led and the different angles from which it can be viewed. The preacher also mentions the day of salvation, the day of Christ in glory, the day of Jacob's trouble, and the day of the Lord, which includes the millennial reign and judgment. The sermon concludes with a hymn and an invitation for anyone who wants to accept Christ as their savior.

First, I'll be asked to be apostle, and I would like to commence reading in verse twenty-three, or maybe verse twenty-two. Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars Hill and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are in superstition. For as I pass by and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, For the unknown God, whom therefore he ignorantly worships, him declare I unto you. God that made the world, and all things therein. Seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands, Neither is worship with men's hands. But though he needed anything, in him he giveth to all life and breath, and all things. And hath made of one blood all nations of men to dwell on the face of the earth, And hath determined the time before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation, That they should seek the Lord, if that be, they may steal after him, and find him, For in him we live, and move, and have our living. As certain also of your own poets have said, for we are also his offspring. For as much then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead Is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, raven by art and man's device. And the times of this ignorance God went past, but now he commandeth all men everywhere to repent, because he hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained. Whereof he hath given assurance unto all men that he hath raised him from the dead. And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, and others said, We will hear thee again of this matter. So Paul departed from among them, howbeit certain men claimed unto him and believed. The Lord will add his blessing to the reading, I'm sure, of his own precious work. Just a word of prayer. Shall we ask God's blessing? O God and Father, our hearts have been strangely moved as tonight we have listened in song and story to the wonders of the Lord Jesus. We praise thee for him. We thank thee that he has gone to prepare a place for us, and we've been reminded that we can call that place our home if we know him as Savior. We've been rejoicing together that his name is Jesus. We praise thee for one who bears such a name as this, and we rejoice we have come to know him as the Lord Jesus Christ. And we think that tonight, as we ponder a little of that which he has, and that which he will yet do, as well as that which he is doing, we ask that our hearts may be moved for Jesus' sake. Amen. Before I start, I have a tremendous echo on this microphone. Could you turn it down, please, whoever's at home? Thank you. During the past season, we have been thinking a little of the wonders of the fact that Jesus Christ said, if I go, I will, I will come again. And from different angles, we have been looking at this great truth. Those that were with us last evening will remember that we gave some thought to the great days of Scripture. We reminded our hearts that this was the day of salvation. We reminded ourselves that the day of salvation will come to its close with the day of Christ in glory, the day of Jacob's trouble on earth. But they will come to a close, and they will come to a close by the ushering in of the day of the Lord, that great day which contains in it the millennial reign, but which starts with judgment and finishes with judgment. Tonight, we have read together of this great statement of the Apostle Paul when standing on Mars Hill, he looked into the faces of those who he said had been so superficial. It's rather interesting that the word that's translated superficial is our English word for religious. He dares to say that they have been too religious, too religious, but he reminded them of a great truth. And this was the truth, that God had appointed a day in which he would judge the world in righteousness through this man that he had ordained. And that, with your permission, and I trust with God's help, I want to talk about tonight. I want to remind you that one of the great truths of the Christian faith is this, that God has appointed a day in which he will judge the world, and he will judge it in righteousness, and he will judge it by this man that he hath ordained. For a few moments, for the mind, I tonight want to talk to you about the judge, this man. I want to talk to you tonight about not only the judge, but the judge, the judge. God has appointed a day in which he will judge the world, the world. But then I want to remind you not only of the judge, and not only of the judge, but I want to remind you of the judgment, that the outcome of God judging the world is heaven or hell. It is to be lost or saved eternally, and as we think of it, I pray that the Spirit of God will touch your heart as he will touch my heart. Is it not a tremendous statement that when the apostle comes here to Athens and proclaims the message of the gospel, he starts with the tremendous fact that there is a man? Oh, friend, I thank God tonight that there's a man. I thank God there's a man in the glory, and the more I think of this man and his tenuousness, the more I think of this man and his serving, the more I think of this man and his empathy, the more I think of this man and his sorrow and his sacrifice, the more I begin to realize that he has a right to be on that throne in judgment, for he is the only man that has walked in this scene for the glory of God and for the complete and absolute blessing of others. This man. Oh, what a title this is. This man. You will not forget that my Bible tells us that this man was the man who was seeking sinners. Be it known unto you, therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins. And as I open my Bible and I think of the blessed Christ of God, I realize it's true that the Son of Man came to speak and to say that which was lost. And as I see him moving amongst men as he sojourned in this scene, the wonder of it all to my heart is this, that there was not one type of person that Jesus Christ did not seek after. Weeping were the children, blind eyed Jesus made them see, dumb lips made them talk, deaf men too he made to hear, lame men made to walk. All these men and letters too, all to the king of kings. And as I ponder his life, I realize the record of the Bible is true. He went about doing good. He went about doing good. He came to speak and to say that which was lost. You know, friends, it's an awful thing to be lost with men. I have a confession to make. I went home the other evening on the service. My good friend Edgar had loaned me a car, but there was one thing he failed to do, and that was to tell me the way to get home. And I left here in a car with all these people riding on the wrong side of the road. And do you know, I was lost, completely and utterly lost. It took me an hour and a half, and I think I went out to the Bobby Jones Highway and back to the school and back to the center of the town and then back again to the shopping center and then back to the town. Oh, I don't know where I went. I was lost. Now, isn't it wonderful when someone's lost, they know they're lost, and someone finds them? You know, I remember an occasion, if I may share it with you, an occasion in my own country when I was lost. We'd been conducting services in the city of Norwich away in the east of England. I was due to start on the plan of the evening as we had finished on the currency in Norwich. I was due to start in my own county town, in the county town of Norwich. And so we traveled through the night. We drove after the service down to London. My dear friend, Andrew Evans, who was working with us then, drove down this far as London. I did the best thing anyone could do. I went to sleep. But in the middle of the night to about half-past three in the morning, I caught a dig in my ribs, and my friend said, Stan, I don't know where we are. I looked, and London's a queer place at half-past three in the morning. Oh, it is. You know, I looked around. I couldn't make out where we were. But just at that very moment, I saw a young fellow on the side of the road. I pulled up and shouted, Hi Jimmy, can you put me right for Staines? Staines, said he? I'm going that way. That way, can I have a lift? Up he jumped. Down the road we went. Round to the left. Round to the right. Up over a hill. Round to the right. And I thought I knew London when I looked, and I didn't know where I was. Eventually he said, just stop a minute. And we stopped. And out of that car he went as fast as he could. Down the road. I said, Hi, where are we? I don't know where I was. I got out of the car, and sure enough, there was a policeman coming down the road. I said, you'll excuse me, sir, but am I in Staines? Staines, he said, you're in the Elephant and Castle. You're miles from Staines. What had happened was this. I met someone who told me he knew the way. I listened to what he said and followed his instructions. But he knew the way to his own home, and that was miles away from Staines. How many people are there today who are listening to advice as to how to get to that home our young friend sang about? But the tragedy is, they're listening to someone who doesn't know the way themselves. I thank God Jesus Christ is the way. And he came to seek and to save those that were lost. He came where we were to seek and to save the lost. But the wonder is this, that this seeking, saving Savior, is the one who in that day yet to come is going to sit upon the throne of judgment. And he will sit not just as a Savior, but as a sovereign. We saw last evening that there will come a day when the dead in Christ shall rise, and we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together to meet the Lord in the air with those indeed who have been raised from the dead. We saw the ushering in of that day of Christ, but we remember that that was the first resurrection. Blessed are those who have their part in the first resurrection. But there is a second resurrection. There is a resurrection that will follow that great millennial day when we will see one sitting upon a throne, a white throne. And we saw the dead, small and great, stand before God and all praying that you had your part in that first resurrection. A part in that second resurrection you will surely have as you will stand before the judge. But who are those that will stand before the judge? I remind you, too, that he will judge the world. The world! Oh, what a day of judgment that will be! For those that have trusted Christ, the judgment is passed. For Christ was judged in our room and in our faith. He bore the punishment of our sin. And God will not twice demand, once at my bleeding sword and hand and then at mine. Those that have trusted Christ, they will not be at the great white throne. But if you've not trusted Christ, you'll stand before him. Why says he will judge the world in righteousness? The world? Oh, you mean my home country? Yes, I mean my home country, and your home country as well. Oh, do you mean the Anglo-Saxons? Yes, I do. But don't you forget this, that this verse was written before there were any Anglo-Saxons. I pray, judge the world. Oh, you look at me and you say to me, why do you mean he's going to judge the Jews? Yes, and the Germans as well. Do you mean to tell me that he's going to judge the Danes? Oh, yes, but not only the Danes, he's going to judge indeed all men. For the Scripture says he will judge the world. Going to judge the Amalekites? Ah, the Jesuit line. But not only the Amalekites, the Canaanites as well. Do you mean to tell me he's going to judge the Midianites? Aye, and the Amalekites as well. And if you'd like to throw in good measure, you can open your Bible and you can read of the Hittites and the Jebusites and all the rest of the items. They're going to stand before God, for he will judge the world. Judge the world. The civilized world? Oh, yes. But the savage world as well? The intellectual world? Oh, yes. But the ignorant world as well? He's going to judge the world. The world. Oh, my friend, what a judgment that will be when the graves give up the dead that are in them. When they will resound around the scene of ours, the mighty cry that resounded around the Garden of Eden, Adam, where art thou? Where art thou? The graves will give up the dead that are in them. Oh, I say, what, what a crowd will be judged. But not only the judge, and not only the judged, but the judgment. Why, when those books are opened and we are judged out of the things that are written in those books, this is that which the Word of God tells us in the plainest and clearest terms, that those who will be judged in that day, when the books are opened, will see that they have a fair judgment, and for them to be cast into outer darkness, to be cast away from God forever. Listen, my friends, I know it's all passion theology, and I want us to remember this, that our Bible leaves us in no doubt that there is a heaven to gain, but there is a hell to shun. I know folks don't like talking about hell today. Why, it's an awful thing to talk about. And may I remind you that if you are a Bible-loving person, you dare not spur any truth. For there in the Word of God, we are told again and again of hell. Hell, I'm not going to give it any other name. I'm going to give it the name the Bible gives it, hell. If I had on the platform with me tonight some of those Old Testament saints, those men that walked with the new God, and if I was to ask them, do you believe in hell, I know what they would say. I wonder if an imagination I could bring them here. I wonder if an imagination I could bring Moses here tonight. Oh Moses, first tell me, do you believe in the caverns of endless remorse? Do you believe in hell? And I know what Moses would say. Moses would look at you, and he would look at me, and he would quote from the 32nd verse of the 32nd chapter of Deuteronomy, and he would dare look at us and say, a fire is engulfed in mine anger, and shall turn into the lowest hell. What does it mean? What does it mean? Do you know if I were to open my Bible and call upon the page David, and say to David, David, is there such a place as hell? I know what David would say. David immediately would quote those words from the 17th verse of the ninth psalm, and he would dare remind us that the wicked shall be turned into hell, and all nations that forget God. What does it mean? Water it down as much as you will. What does it mean? Would you like to be there even when it's watered down? Oh, if I was to call into this service the night I die, and say to that man, sir, sir, do you believe in hell? I know what Isaiah would say. Why, he would turn us again to the fourth verse of that fifth chapter of his, and he would say, therefore, hell hath enlarged herself. She hath opened her mouth without measure, and their glory, and their multitudes, and their palms, and he that rejoiceth shall descend into it. Oh, Frank, Frank, don't tell me that Old Testament saints didn't believe in hell. Oh, but you say, just a moment, Mr. Preacher, just a moment, just a moment. I'm a New Testament Christian. Oh, are you? Are you? Then if you are, may I please remind you that the loveliest man who ever lived in this sea spoke of hell, and he spoke of hell at the end of the loveliest sermon he ever preached. May I remind you of what we call the Sermon on the Mount? May I remind you of the words of the blessed Savior in the twenty-second verse of the fifth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew? When he looked into the faces of those to whom he was preaching, and he warned us about calling a man a fool without a cause, he said, If any man call his brother a fool without a cause, he is in danger of hellfire. Oh, please, please, do what you will with it, but I want to be delivered from that. From that? Oh, but you say, I don't know. Don't you? Well, may I ask the classic question? What about the sixteenth of Luke? Oh, I can almost see some of you have made that just a moment, just a preacher, just a moment now, just a moment. That's the parable. Is it? Is it? I want to make a statement here, and I want none of you to forget it. I want to remind you that this is not a parable, and with all my heart, with every heartbeat I have, I pray God, please, don't let it be a parable. You see, I don't know very much, but I do know a little bit about homiletics. I've been lecturing in them for years. Let me tell you the first principle of homiletics. Never do forget this. An illustration must never be bigger than the thing it illustrates. Did you hear that? Have you ever taken your Bible and a notebook and a pen? Have you ever there taken your Bible and read through the parables of the Lord Jesus? May I ask you a question? Do you know one parable that's bigger than the thing it's parabolic of? Do you know one parable that the thing is bigger, the parable is bigger than that which it's parabolic of? The first principle is this, that an illustration must never be bigger than the thing it illustrates. If the 16th of Luke is a parable, God shall never move from what it's parabolic of. In hell he lifted up his eyes, me in torment. Do you want that to be a parable? If you do, then what you are asking is that the caverns of endless remorse shall be a hundred times worse than that. I'd rather take my Bible and say, Lord, I believe what you said. And I see this man with the finest faculties of his body. His body was in the grave. He's been buried. We're not told anything about the burial of the poor man. We're told the rich man was buried. He was put in the grave. But isn't it remarkable that while his body was in the grave, he had the fine faculties of his body. He could see. He could hear. He could speak. He could taste. Oh, maybe worse than all, he could feel. He could feel, I am tormented. Oh, listen, my friend. If you neglect God's salvation, if you say no to Jesus Christ, then let's not get away from this fact. But God could not have you. You see, there's got to be a have. There's got to be. When God made man, he gave man a free will. When God made man, he gave to man the ability of saying yes to him and no to him. Then, if a man says no to Jesus Christ, God will not give him Jesus Christ. He cannot give him Jesus Christ because he gave to man a free will. And God cannot give to man that which man will not have. Now, man becomes a puppet of the end of a street. And so there must be an eternity where at the end of the journey, man has said, I don't want Christ. I won't have Christ. At the end of the journey, God says, and you won't have him now. I'm not going to press him on you now. There's got to be somewhere where Jesus Christ can't be found. And that place is hell. Of course, in the same argument, there's got to be a heaven. If God says, I will give to you my son, if you will receive him, if with faith in your heart and repentance towards me, you will trust the Saviour, I will give him to you. You may have him. Christ may dwell in your heart by faith. Then, if God gives Christ to those who receive him here, there's got to be an eternity where we can have him there. And that's heaven. That's heaven. Oh, my friend, what judgment. For those who reject Jesus Christ, those whose place is in the second resurrection, to be cast out, to find your name not written in the Lamb's book of life. But all the wonder is that night by night, we've been reminding ourselves that we can have our place in the first resurrection. I have left this to the end. I should rightly, if I had been preaching correctly, I should rightly have spoken of hell first and rather of heaven first, for it's the first resurrection. But I don't like leaving you with such a place as that before your mind. I want to remind you that if you'll trust Jesus Christ, there's glory. If you'll say yes to the Lord Jesus, you'll have your place with him should you be called to pass through the valley of the shadow of death. But praise God, at that first resurrection, your body will be raised, you will be reunited to your soul and spirit, and you will be found entering into the blessing that God has that we call heaven. Well, my friends, is it wonderful to open the Word of God and see what the Scripture says about him? You know, my Bible tells me that heaven is a place of non-ending death. When I turn my Bible open to the 22nd chapter of Revelation, and I believe it's verse 5, I read this, that there's no night there. There's no night there. It's a place of unending death. Oh, the wonder of it. I say it's not only a place of unending death, of unending day, it's a place of unfading light. Fading light, I say, isn't it wonderful? It's a place of unsurpassed joy. Oh, I thank God that when I trusted Jesus Christ, when I bowed my knee and sought to crown him as the Lord of my life, he gave me joy. He gave me joy. Please, if I look miserable, I assure you of this. It's nothing to do with the Lord. It must be the indigestion or something or the other. I don't know what it is. But I know, knowing Jesus Christ, all he's done is brought joy to my heart. And when I think of the fact that it is right hands, like the 16th Psalm, a pleasure for evermore. Oh, the wonder. Oh, yes, it is a place of unending death. It is a place of unfading light. It is a place of unsurpassed joy. And I like this, don't you? It's a place of unceasing pleasure. Unceasing pleasure. For that same psalm says, and it is right hands are pleasures forevermore. Forevermore. All it did, my friends, I lived too many years of my life with no thought of God. The only thing I cared for was a pair of boxing gloves and a rugby ball. But one day I met Jesus Christ, and I found that in his right hand there were pleasures forevermore. If I'd known anything of pleasure, I'd known it in Jesus Christ. And that's all. The place I can find it, I can find no other place of real pleasure. But when one walks with him, oh, there's pleasure forevermore. But would you notice, it is not only a place of unending death. It is not only a place of unfading light. It is not only a place of unsurpassed joy. It is not only a place of unceasing pleasure. But oh, hallelujah, you're listening now. It's a place of unpolluted, it's a place of unpolluted atmosphere. Oh, to be home with the Lord, and to realize this, that there's no curse there. Oh, there's no pollution in glory. There's no curse there. Blessed God is a place of untiring service, for his servant shall serve him. You see, I don't believe heaven is a place where I sit on a flowery white cloud with a harp in my hand and a pair of wings in my back. Oh, no, no, no. My God has to use words that I can understand. If God was to tell us exactly what heaven's like, then not one of us would understand it, for it would be beyond our experience. Beyond our experience. My friends, I only know this, that heaven is a place where my Savior is, to see him and be like him. I want to ask a question as I draw to a close. If God hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness through this man that he hath ordained, tell me, what have you done with that Savior? Have you accepted him as your Savior now, that you may look forward to that day of the first resurrection, or have you said no day? When Paul preached his sermon on Mars Hill, you noticed at the end of the chapter three things had happened. And I'm going to close by saying at the end of this service, don't you get away from it now. Are you listening? There are three things that will happen. Good to God it was only one. But there were three things at the end of Paul's sermon. The first thing we read is this, and when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. That thing was a place of derision. They mocked. I wonder tonight if there's someone sitting here and you're mocking, or let me tell you, you're just doing what they did in the Bible. There's nothing new under the sun. You're just proving to me that the Bible's true. Some mocked. Have you noticed something else? There were not only some who mocked, but we read, and when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. And others said, we will hear thee again if it matters. For if some derided, some delayed, we will hear thee again. They put it off. They said tomorrow we'll hear thee again. They delayed. But oh, hallelujah, if there were some that derided and some that delayed, there were some that decided. For we went on and read, how fierce certain men claim unto Him and believe. Oh, my friends, will you believe tonight? Will you trust that Savior? Will you make that Savior your Savior? Don't let this place be a place of derision. Don't let this place be a place of delay. Make this place a place of delusion. Take Christ as thy Savior, and all will be well. And God grant that you will, for His name's sake. In closing, we're going to sing a hymn that He made for you, and it's going to be a very lovely hymn. I want you to think about it. It simply says, Oh, be safe. Number 150. 150. Oh, be safe. We're going to sing together the four verses, and then I'm going to close in prayer, and the service is over. But please, I will, and I have every evening, I will have in my hand a few copies of that lovely little gospel booklet, God's Way of Salvation. And maybe someone hears it tonight, and you say, Oh, God, I want my faith in the first resurrection. I want to take Christ as my Savior and be assured of glory. And if that's how you feel, at the close of the service, no one's going to buttonhole you. No one's going to press you into making a decision you don't want to make. But we are here to help you find Jesus Christ. We are here to help you find Jesus Christ. If you mean business with God, let me tell you. What I told men in the prison when I was speaking there with our good brother this morning, let me tell you what I told them. If you mean business with God, God means business with you. And if you're willing to trust Christ, He's willing to save you tonight. So when we have found, thoughtfully and carefully, the end, I will dismiss the service with prayer, and I'll be coming to the front. And those of you who are willing to trust the Lord, or maybe there's something I've said you've not fully understood, I would love to dot my I and cross my T. I'd love to take my Bible. I don't know much. I don't profess to know much. But I know what's in that book. And you won't be the first by thousands I've had the joy of introducing to Christ. If you mean business with God, I'd love to introduce you to my Savior's house. Give me the chance to go to this. One hundred and fifty. Now notice that every one of us in this place shall one day appear before God. For how we long that we may appear before Him, knowing Him to be our Savior, knowing Him to be our Lord. Here is for God to be someone who will have to stand before Him and own Him as judge. Grant, we pray Thee, that this evening they may change hearts, that this evening they may say, Christ for me, and find one who is Savior and Lord. Would Thou then, by the power of Thy Spirit, for He alone can do it, would Thou bring to every heart the deep realization that we need to be saved, that we can be saved, and that we can be saved in us. Us, Lord, in our prayer, as we ask Thy blessing upon us as we pass, in the Savior's name, Amen. Amen. We wish you well as we wish you God's blessing. Please, if we can help, we are your servants for Christ. Good night.