NO LIFE ON MARS
Acts 17:22-31
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR
1. Today I was at the hospital with someone and they remarked how that when they went in for surgery last time, the doctor drew a big picture on their side so he wouldn’t operate on the wrong side. With all that education, you'd wonder how they could get the wrong side!
2. But I heard about another lady who went in for surgery and taped notes all over her body for the surgeon: "Take your time," "Don't cut yourself," "No need to rush," "Wash your hands," etc.
3. After surgery, when her husband helped her back into her bed, they discovered a new note taped to her, this one from the doctor: "Has anyone seen my watch?"
B. LIFE ON THE RED PLANET?
1. Much effort has been expended to discover if there is life on other planets. Gigantic listening devices were set up 30 years ago to listen for sounds of technology in our galaxy.
2. Elon Musk has said on Sept. 27, 2016 that “A Million Humans Could Live on Mars By the 2060’s.” Musk has been fixated on SpaceX making a trip to Mars for years.
3. The idea that life can or does exist on Mars has persisted for a long time. In 1877 the Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli claimed to have seen a planet wide system of channels.
4. Mars became the object of fascination, with a number of movies made about Martians invading the Earth, including Orson Welles’ book, "War Of The Worlds.”
a. In 1938, there was no television, so everyone sat around their radios, listening to dramas, music, weather, news, etc. Orson Welles had one of his writers, Howard Koch, rewrite the story of his book, War of the Worlds, into a radio play.
b. On Sunday, October 30, 1938 at 8 p.m., the broadcast began with a Gov’t weather report, followed by orchestra music.
c. It was soon interrupted by a special bulletin announcing that a professor at the Mount Jennings Observatory in Chicago, Illinois reported seeing explosions on Mars. Next, Professor Pierson reported that a huge, flaming object, believed to be a meteorite, fell on a farm near Grover’s Mill, New Jersey.
d. The broadcast switched to a local reporter who was on the scene of the meteorite, and he, with great detail, described an alien ship coming out of the meteorite crater. The alien ship began firing a laser beam of fire, killing up to 42 citizens and police.
e. U.S. Govt officials came on warning the public to flee for their lives. The military moved in and began attacking the alien ship, but were obliterated by the death ray.
f. All across the United States, listeners reacted. Thousands of people called radio stations, police and newspapers. Many in the New England area loaded up their cars and fled their homes. In other areas, people went to churches to pray.
g. People improvised gas masks. Miscarriages and early births were reported. Deaths, too, were reported but never confirmed. Many people were hysterical. They thought the end was near! BACK TO REALITY:
5. In July of 1965, the Mariner 4 transmitted 22 close-up pictures of Mars. It appeared that the mountain bluffs on Mars showed signs of water erosion. Evolutionists always assume that if there's water, there can/will be life present (not taking into consideration the impossible odds that life should come from death even once!) No artificial canals were detected, however.
6. Finally, in July and September1976, Viking Landers 1 and 2 touched down on the surface of Mars. The experiments conducted provided no clear evidence for the presence of living microorganisms in the soil near the landing sites.
7. According to mission biologists, Mars is self-sterilizing. It’s surface dirt contains significant amounts of perchlorate, a substance used in solid rocket fuel, in which no life would be able to exist.
8. Headlines blared the unexpected news, “NO LIFE ON MARS!”They believe that the composition of the soil prevents the formation of living
C. TEXT & TITLE
22 Paul then stood up…in the midst of Mar’s Hill… and said: “Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you. 24 “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. 25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. 26 From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. 27 God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’ 29 “Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by man’s design and skill. 30 In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. 31 For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.” [the area in ellipses is KJV, all else is NIV].
I. THE GREAT CONTRIBUTION OF GREECE
A. FOUNDATION OF THE MODERN WORLD
1. The Greek Civilization was in many ways the birthplace of western culture. Their ideas became the basis of the Roman Empire and later, the Western world. They developed methods of research, colleges, and universities.
2. The Greeks left a treasury of literature, for example Homer's epic poems The Iliad and The Odyssey and the poetry of Sappho, the drama of Sophocles and Aristophanes.
3. Greece was the origin of some of the greatest philosophers and thinkers the world has ever seen -- Socrates, Aristotle, Plato, Plutarch, Hierocles, etc.
4. Then there’s the mathematical theory of Pythagoras (the Pythagorean theorem that every math student learns) and the development of medicine by Galen (Luke, the apostle Paul's traveling companion, was a physician and was Greek.)
5. One of Greece's most important contributions to western culture was the democratic system of government, which reached its peak in Athens during the Age of Pericles in fifth century B.C.
B. BUT WORLDLY KNOWLEDGE CAN’T GIVE LIFE
1. On Mars Hill were the brightest minds of Athens, Greece. Epicureans, intellectuals, Stoics, philosophers. But despite their great learning, their genius, their penetrating insight -- Paul found that there was "No Life On Mars."
2. They didn't know the way to God. Paul implied in his speech that they operated in ignorance; they didn't even know who the Creator was.
3. Their monument to the Creator was the least worthy of any of the altars in Athens. So Paul proceeded to bring life to Mars!, to tell them where real life can be found.
II. PAUL TAKES LIFE TO MARS
A. GOD – “LORD OF HEAVEN & EARTH” (Vs. 24)
1. Paul did not outline for them some puny Judeo-Christian ideology; He portrayed the God Who is actually the Master of all the planets and stars in the universe.
2. This God is not just one of many deities, but is the Only God, Who alone reigns supreme and unchallenged over the universe; HE MADE IT ALL!
3. Forget the ignorant speculations of the Big Bang theory (will eventually end in either the big chill or the big crunch) and all the other guesses at the origins of the universe. Paul says, "I'll make it clear right now -- God brought it all into being!"
4. Sometimes we forget that Jesus is ‘Master’ of all the events in our lives. We begin doubting that prayer can alter events in our world. God hasn't changed. He's still all-powerful and desires to work miraculously in our lives.
B. “GIVES ALL MEN LIFE (Vs. 25-26)
1. The world has tried to guess the origins of life. They have vainly imagined that life evolved in some primordial methane soup. They have tried to trace the origins of the species, but all their conclusions are wrong.
2. Paul says, "God Himself is the origin of all life. God made all the different races of men and even assigned them where to live and when in history they would be born.
3. At one point many of the disciples of Jesus turned away and forsook Him. "Jesus said to the twelve, ‘Will you also go away?’ Then Simon Peter answered him, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” John 6:67-68.
4. Let's don't be fooled: the world can never satisfy. "There's a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every person that only God can fill." Blaise Paschal.
C. THE PURPOSE OF LIFE (Vs. 27-28, 30)
1. Why did God do all this? What was His ultimate purpose for man and what is his purpose for us?
2. For us to reach out and find him, to know Him, to Fellowship with Him. When we comprehend our falling short of God's requirements, it should lead us to repentance from our sins.
3. How exciting that God wants to have a one-on-one relationship with us is? Don't ever hesitate to come to Him. Not even our weaknesses can hinder his love for us!
D. THE SAVIOR OF THE WORLD (Vs. 31, 18)
1. God raised Jesus from the dead as proof of his divine Sonship (Romans 1:1-4). He will judge the world and set all wrongs right. Jesus is "the way, the Truth, and the Life."
2. If there's life on Mars Hill, it's found in Jesus. There's only one Savior. He is the only right answer.
3. NO OTHER NAME! “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved” Acts 4:12.
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION
1. It was the early 1800’s in England and a very snowy Sunday morning. The weather was so bad that the pastor wasn’t able to get to the church. John Egglen, the only deacon to show up that morning, had never preached a sermon in his life.
2. He was not a preacher, but he was faithful, so on that particular Sunday morning he preached. God rewarded his faithfulness, and at the end of his hesitant sermon, one young man invited God into his heart.
3. No one there could appreciate the significance of what had taken place that morning. The young man who accepted Christ that snowy Sunday morning was none other than Charles Haddon Spurgeon, probably the greatest preacher whose ever lived.
4. When he was still less than 30 years old, Charles Spurgeon became the pastor of London’s Metropolitan Tabernacle. His sermons were so powerful that although the building could hold 5000 people, the crowds who came to hear him were so thick that they would line up outside trying to hear his sermons.
5. That amazing life of faith all started on a cold Sunday morning with the faithfulness of a deacon who had never preached a sermon before that day.
6. Faithfulness means being committed to giving God a chance to do something -- big or small. God blessed John Egglin’s faithfulness, and He will bless yours.
B. THE CALL
1. Let’s don’t lean on the arm of the flesh – human reason – let’s trust in the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth!
2. What do have tonight to deal with that requires a mighty God to accomplish? He is the only true source of life and help. He has a destiny for us.
3. Paul said, “God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’” Acts 17:27-28. Let’s seek Him.
