Right Side Up:
Acts 17:6 Sermon and Study Outline

Bible Outline • Salvation and Christian Living

The world called the gospel a disturbance. In truth, sin had already turned the world upside down, and the gospel turns sinners right side up.

I. God Created Life to Be Right With Him

God created mankind to know Him, walk with Him, worship Him, and live under His loving rule. He made man in His own image and placed him in a world that He Himself called “very good” (Genesis 1:26-31). Living in fellowship with God was the way human beings were meant to live.

The way God created shows the kind of God He is. In Genesis 1, God spoke, and then He divided, gathered, filled, and appointed. First He divided the light from the darkness (Genesis 1:3-5) and made the firmament (Genesis 1:6-8). Gathering the waters into one place, He let the dry land appear (Genesis 1:9-10). Next He brought forth grass, herbs, and fruit trees (Genesis 1:11-13), and He set lights in the heaven “for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years” (Genesis 1:14). Finally, He filled the sea, the sky, and the earth with living creatures (Genesis 1:20-25). Nothing in creation was random, and everything had its proper place.

Genesis 2 shows the same care in the life of man. God put Adam into the garden of Eden “to dress it and to keep it” (Genesis 2:15). He gave Adam a clear boundary concerning the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:16-17). Then He made the woman and brought her to the man, establishing marriage (Genesis 2:18-25). Work, responsibility, relationship, and direction all came from God.

God was the Creator, and man was the creature. God spoke, and man was to listen. God gave direction, and man was to obey. God provided everything Adam and Eve needed, including fellowship with Himself. That was God’s order, and in the garden there was no shame, no fear, no spiritual death, and no separation from God.

Then sin entered. Adam and Eve disobeyed the simple command of God (Genesis 2:16-17; 3:1-7). Instead of trusting God’s Word, they listened to another voice and chose their own way. Their sin immediately produced shame, fear, hiding, blame, broken relationships, judgment, and separation from the presence of God (Genesis 3:7-24). Paul later explains that “by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin” (Romans 5:12).

The other voice Adam and Eve heeded belonged to the serpent, whom Scripture later calls “that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan” (Revelation 12:9). Notice where his attack began: “Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” (Genesis 3:1). Because God had established His order by His Word, Satan attacked that order by casting doubt on the Word. Soon the question became a flat denial: “Ye shall not surely die” (Genesis 3:4). In effect, Satan offered another order, where man decides what is true, defines good and evil for himself, and lives independent of God. Even so, Adam and Eve were not helpless victims. Satan tempted them, but they chose to disobey (Genesis 3:6).

Sin did not improve human freedom; it destroyed God’s proper order. For that reason we should never regard separation from God as normal, because God created mankind for fellowship with Himself.

II. Sin Turned Life Upside Down

When Adam and Eve sinned, they turned God’s order upside down. God was the rightful ruler, but mankind chose self-rule. God’s Word was true, but mankind listened to a lie. God had established what was good and evil, but mankind chose to decide good and evil for itself. People rejected their Creator, and the creature tried to take the place that belongs to God alone.

That pattern has continued throughout human history. Romans 1:21-25 describes people who “glorified him not as God” and “changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator.” Isaiah 5:20 pronounces woe on “them that call evil good, and good evil.” Judges 21:25 describes a time when “every man did that which was right in his own eyes.”

Such a world is upside down. God belongs first, yet sinful man puts himself first. God’s truth should govern us, yet mankind substitutes its own ideas. God created marriage, family, sexuality, work, worship, authority, and human relationships with purpose, and sin distorts what God made good. Instead of loving God and loving others, fallen mankind naturally turns inward toward self (Romans 3:10-18, 23).

With that background, we can understand the accusation made against Paul and Silas in Acts 17:6. Their enemies cried out, “These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also.” From the world’s point of view, the gospel was turning everything upside down. Spiritually, however, the world was already upside down, and Paul and Silas carried the message God uses to set it right side up.

They preached Jesus Christ. Out of the Scriptures, Paul showed “that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead; and that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ” (Acts 17:2-3). Their preaching challenged false religion, false gods, sinful ways of living, misplaced loyalties, and mankind’s rebellion against God.

Their accusers understood the claim, charging that these believers were “saying that there is another king, one Jesus” (Acts 17:7). The gospel declares that Jesus Christ is Lord, and that message confronts every area of life that sin has turned upside down.

• • Where the world says, “Live for yourself,” Jesus Christ says, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me” (Luke 9:23).
• • Where people worship idols, the gospel calls them to “turn from these vanities unto the living God” (Acts 14:15; 17:22-31).
• • Where darkness rules, Jesus Christ shines as “the light of the world” (John 8:12; Acts 26:18).
• • Where people are “dead in trespasses and sins,” God quickens them together with Christ (Ephesians 2:1-5).
• • Where sin enslaves people, God makes believers “free from sin” (Romans 6:17-18).
• • Where people are separated from God, God reconciles them to Himself by Jesus Christ (Romans 5:10-11; 2 Corinthians 5:18-20).
• • Where thinking has become distorted, God renews the mind (Romans 12:2).
• • Where sinful desires rule, the Holy Spirit produces new fruit in the believer’s life (Galatians 5:16-25).

So Acts 17:6 gives us a powerful picture. The world accused the early Christians of turning everything upside down, but God was actually using the gospel to turn people right side up. The gospel first puts our relationship with God right. After that, God begins setting our thinking, our priorities, our desires, our relationships, our conduct, our understanding of good and evil, and our purpose in their proper order.

Sin says, “My will be done.” Jesus Christ taught us to pray, “Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10). That is the great reversal.

God does not come into our lives simply to make our old way of living more comfortable. He “hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light” (1 Peter 2:9). He “hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son” (Colossians 1:13). He changes what fills our minds, what we love, what we pursue, how we live, and whom we obey.

Sin turned God’s order upside down, and the gospel confronts that disorder. Jesus Christ brings us back to God, and the Holy Spirit puts our lives in proper order under the lordship of Jesus Christ.

One point about Acts 17:6 needs care. The words “turned the world upside down” came from hostile unbelievers, and Luke was recording their accusation. Read in light of the rest of Scripture, the statement still gives us a powerful picture. The apostles were not creating chaos. They were preaching the truth that exposes the chaos sin had already created, the message that turns an upside-down world right side up.

There is a striking connection here. Satan’s first attack in Eden was aimed at God’s Word, and God’s Word is the very instrument He uses to set lives right side up. As the gospel spread from city to city, Luke recorded its progress in Ephesus with these words.

The Word that Satan questioned in the garden is the Word that still prevails.

III. Jesus Christ Came to Bring Us Back to God

God did not abandon sinful mankind; He sent His Son. John 3:16 declares, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Romans 5:8 says, “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

Jesus Christ came to deal with the very thing that had separated mankind from God, which is sin. Jesus Christ did not come merely to make people more religious, to give them better morals, or to improve their circumstances. “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15), and to bring them back to God.

Second Corinthians 5:19 explains “that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself.” Romans 5:10 adds that “when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son.” Jesus Christ repaired the breach we could never repair ourselves. Through His death and resurrection, Jesus Christ opened the way for sinners to be forgiven, made right with God, brought into His family, and given eternal life.

This is the beginning of true order in a person’s life. The greatest disorder is separation from God, and the greatest restoration is being brought back into fellowship with Him.

IV. What Happens When Someone Comes to Jesus Christ

When a person comes to Jesus Christ through faith in Him, something real and immediate happens. That person “is passed from death unto life” (John 5:24) and becomes a child of God (John 1:12-13). The believer has peace with God (Romans 5:1) and receives the forgiveness of sins (Acts 10:43). God delivers that person from the power of darkness and translates him into the kingdom of His dear Son (Colossians 1:13-14). At that moment the believer is sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise (Ephesians 1:13-14) and becomes a new creature in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17).

God does not merely tell us to try harder; He gives us new life.

That does not mean every earthly problem, bad habit, or broken relationship disappears immediately, and it does not mean Christians suddenly become perfect. It means something deeper has happened: the believer’s relationship with God has changed. The person who was spiritually dead has been made alive. The one who was far off has been “made nigh by the blood of Christ” (Ephesians 2:13). The one who belonged to darkness now belongs to Jesus Christ, and the one who was condemned now has peace with God through faith in Jesus Christ.

V. God Begins Bringing His Order Into Our Lives

When God comes into our lives through faith in Jesus Christ, He begins changing the things sin has damaged.

He changes our minds. Romans 12:2 says, “be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Before Christ, we measured life by the values of the world; now God teaches us to see everything by His truth.

He changes our priorities. Jesus Christ said, “seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness” (Matthew 6:33). Before Christ, self, money, pleasure, recognition, or control may have come first, and God begins putting those priorities in their proper place.

He changes our desires. Galatians 5:16-25 contrasts the works of the flesh with “the fruit of the Spirit,” which “is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance” (Galatians 5:22-23).

He changes our speech. Ephesians 4:25-32 calls believers to put away lying, sinful anger, stealing, corrupt communication, bitterness, wrath, and an unforgiving spirit. In this way God brings our words under the rule of Jesus Christ.

He changes our relationships. Ephesians 5:21-6:4 gives direction to husbands, wives, parents, and children, so God’s order reaches the home.

He changes how we treat others. Colossians 3:12-14 tells believers to “put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering,” forbearing and forgiving one another, and above all to put on charity.

He changes our conduct. Colossians 3:1-17 calls us to put off the old ways of sin and to live according to the new life we have in Christ.

He gives direction and wisdom. “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path” (Psalm 119:105), and “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God” (James 1:5).

He teaches self-control. According to Titus 2:11-12, the grace of God that bringeth salvation is “teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world.”

He brings peace where confusion once ruled. First Corinthians 14:33 says, “For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace.” In that passage Paul is speaking about order in the gathered church, so the verse is not a promise that every Christian’s circumstances will instantly become peaceful. Still, the wider Bible clearly teaches that God desires His people to live under His truth, wisdom, peace, and direction.

This transformation is not completed overnight; it continues throughout the Christian life. Philippians 1:6 promises that “he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.” The believer is saved the moment he or she trusts Jesus Christ, and God then keeps shaping that believer’s thoughts, character, actions, desires, priorities, and relationships. God’s order begins with our relationship with Him and then increasingly reaches every area of life.

VI. When Chaos Attacks an Ordered Life: The Example of Job

Before going further, we need one safeguard. God brings His order into the believer’s life, but He never promises that every outward circumstance will immediately become orderly. The book of Job shows this truth plainly.

At the beginning of the book, Job’s life was remarkably ordered. Scripture says “that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil” (Job 1:1). Blessed with a large family, great possessions, and wide influence, Job also kept a steady pattern of worship before God (Job 1:2-5). Job was not sinless, yet his life was directed toward God.

Then, with almost no warning, that order came under attack. Just as in Eden, the attacker was Satan. Standing before the LORD, he accused Job of serving God only for what he received (Job 1:9-11). God permitted Satan to test Job, but only within strict limits: “only upon himself put not forth thine hand” (Job 1:12). Later the LORD said, “Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life” (Job 2:6). Even in the attack, God remained sovereign.

One loss followed another. Raiders carried off Job’s oxen, asses, and camels, while “the fire of God” burned up his sheep and servants (Job 1:13-17). Next, a great wind struck the house where his children were feasting, and they died (Job 1:18-19). Afterward, Satan “smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown” (Job 2:7). Even his wife said, “Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die” (Job 2:9). Finally, his three friends added confusion by insisting that such suffering must mean Job had committed some hidden sin (Job 4:7-8; 22:5).

Within a very short time, Job’s outward world went from order to apparent chaos. His family was shattered, his property was gone, and his health was broken. Misunderstood by his friends, Job was left with questions he could not answer.

Still, Job’s first response remains one of the most remarkable statements in Scripture.

Notice what this teaches us. Outward chaos does not mean God has lost control. Although Job’s circumstances were in chaos, God was still on His throne. Although Satan was attacking, Satan remained limited. Unable to see the purpose, Job still declared, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him” (Job 13:15). Looking beyond his pain, he even confessed, “For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth” (Job 19:25).

For this reason, Job fits powerfully with the theme of an upside-down world. Sin, suffering, death, satanic opposition, and human misunderstanding can bring great disorder into human experience. None of them, however, can overthrow God’s sovereign rule.

When God finally answered Job “out of the whirlwind” (Job 38:1), He did not explain every mystery. Instead, God revealed Himself. Humbled, Job confessed, “I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee” (Job 42:2). He added, “I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee” (Job 42:5). That was the turning point, as Job moved from demanding answers to trusting the One who governs all creation.

Then came restoration. “And the LORD turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before” (Job 42:10). God restored his family, his possessions, his honor, and long years of life (Job 42:11-17). Centuries later, James pointed believers back to Job: “Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy” (James 5:11).

Put simply, Job’s story moves through six stages: an ordered life, a satanic attack, outward chaos, patient endurance, a deeper knowledge of God, and restoration.

To stay faithful to Scripture, however, we must state the lesson carefully. Job does not teach that every suffering Christian will receive twice as much money, property, or health before death. Many faithful believers suffer until the end of their earthly lives (Hebrews 11:35-39). Our full restoration is guaranteed in the resurrection and the new creation, not necessarily in present circumstances (Romans 8:18-25; Philippians 3:20-21; Revelation 21:1-5).

Stated plainly, order does not mean the absence of trouble. Order means that God remains Lord in the middle of trouble. Chaos may enter our circumstances, yet it cannot remove God from His throne. Satan may attack, but he cannot overthrow God’s purposes. Even when we lose what once made life feel normal, God remains faithful.

Seen this way, Job strengthens the whole message. Adam shows how sin brought disorder into God’s good creation. Job shows how suffering can turn an ordered life into apparent chaos for a season. Acts 17:6 shows the gospel confronting an already upside-down world. Through Jesus Christ, God brings sinners back into a right relationship with Himself, and the Holy Spirit begins bringing their lives under God’s direction. Finally, Revelation 21 shows the end of the story, where God makes all things new.

In summary, the God who permits the trial is still the God who sets its boundaries, sustains His servant through it, and determines its final outcome.

VII. God’s Message to You

God created you to know Him. Sin separated mankind from Him, and Jesus Christ came to bring sinners back to God.

If your life is a mess, I am not going to tell you everything is fine when you know it is not. If your relationships are broken, I will not pretend they are healthy. If your choices have brought painful consequences, I will not tell you those consequences are imaginary. If sin, anger, fear, addiction, selfishness, pride, bitterness, or confusion has ruled your life, I will not simply pat you on the back and say nothing is wrong.

Instead, I will tell you something far better: your life does not have to remain under the rule of sin. You may have made terrible decisions, and you may carry deep regret. You may have damaged relationships, and you may feel as though everything is out of order.

You cannot change your past, but Jesus Christ can forgive your sin. You cannot make yourself spiritually alive, but God can give you new life. You cannot repair your own separation from God, but Jesus Christ has made the way through His death and resurrection. You cannot save yourself, but Jesus Christ can save you.

God’s message is simple and urgent: “be ye reconciled to God” (2 Corinthians 5:20). Acts 2:21 promises that “whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Romans 10:9-13 teaches the same truth, that salvation comes through believing on Jesus Christ and calling upon Him. When the Philippian jailer asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” Paul and Silas answered, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:30-31).

Come to Jesus Christ today and place your faith in Him. The moment you truly trust Jesus Christ, God does not merely repair the old person; He gives you new life. You become His child, and you pass from death unto life. God calls you “out of darkness into his marvellous light” (1 Peter 2:9) and translates you “into the kingdom of his dear Son” (Colossians 1:13). You become a new creature in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17).

From that day on, God begins teaching you to walk in the new life He has given you. Where there was confusion, He brings truth, and where there was darkness, He brings light. Where there was rebellion, He teaches obedience, and where sin ruled, He begins producing holiness. Where selfishness ruled, He teaches love, and where anger ruled, He produces patience. Where fear ruled, He teaches trust, and where bitterness ruled, He teaches forgiveness. Where life had lost direction, He gives purpose, and where there was spiritual death, He gives life.

This is what God does: He brings people back to Himself, and then He begins putting life in its proper order under Jesus Christ.

VIII. God Will One Day Make Everything Right

The work God begins in believers now is not the end of the story, because the Christian hope is bigger than a better life today. Romans 8:18-25 teaches that “the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.” Philippians 3:20-21 says the Lord Jesus Christ “shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body.” First Corinthians 15:51-57 declares that death itself will be “swallowed up in victory.” Revelation 21:1-5 describes a new heaven and a new earth, where God dwells with His people and “there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain.”

This final order will be greater than Eden restored. In that day “the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God” (Revelation 21:3).

That is where God’s great work is headed. The Bible begins with God’s good creation, and sin brings death and disorder. Jesus Christ comes to save, the Holy Spirit changes God’s people, and Jesus Christ will return. In the end God says, “Behold, I make all things new” (Revelation 21:5).

Stated simply, the message of Scripture runs like this. God created life in order, and Satan attacked that order by casting doubt on God’s Word. When man chose to disobey, sin turned life upside down. Suffering can shake even a godly life, as Job learned, yet God never leaves His throne. The gospel confronts that disorder, and Jesus Christ brings us back to God. The Holy Spirit begins putting our lives in proper order, and one day God will make everything completely right.

That is why Acts 17:6 gives us such a powerful picture. The world said the followers of Jesus Christ were turning everything upside down, but sin had already turned the world upside down. The gospel was turning people right side up, and that is still what God does today.

If you are separated from God, your greatest need is not simply a better life; you need Jesus Christ. Come to Jesus Christ through faith in Him, be reconciled to God, and receive new life. Then yield to God as He brings every part of your life, through His Word and His Spirit, under the lordship of Jesus Christ.

Key Bible Passages

Genesis 1:1-31; 2:7-25; 3:1-24; Judges 21:25; Job 1:1-22; 2:1-10; 4:7-8; 13:15; 19:25; 22:5; 38:1; 42:1-17; Psalm 119:105; Isaiah 5:20; 53:4-6; Matthew 6:10, 33; Luke 9:23; John 1:12-13; 3:16-18, 36; 5:24; 8:12; Acts 2:21; 10:43; 14:15; 16:30-31; 17:2-7, 22-31; 19:20; 26:18; Romans 1:21-25; 3:10-23; 5:1, 8-12; 6:17-18, 23; 8:18-25; 10:9-13; 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 14:33, 40; 15:51-57; 2 Corinthians 5:17-21; Galatians 5:16-25; Ephesians 1:13-14; 2:1-13; 4:20-32; 5:21-6:4; Philippians 1:6; 3:20-21; Colossians 1:13-14; 3:1-17; 1 Timothy 1:15; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 11:35-39; James 1:5; 5:11; 1 Peter 2:9; Revelation 12:9; 21:1-5.

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