We'll begin this morning in verse
22. Then Paul stood in the midst
of Mars Hill and said, ye men of Athens, I perceive that in
all things ye are too superstitious. Now that word superstitious,
you can go home and look it up in a concordance. It means religious. Paul says, I perceive you're
too religious. The same could be said in our
time today. Just as easily as it could have
been said 2,000 years ago, it could be said right now. It could
be said of Ashland, Kentucky. It could be said of Ironton,
Ohio. It could be said of Huntington.
It could be said anywhere in this world. You're too religious. Read on. For as I passed by and
beheld your devotions, your temples, your altars, your statues, any
idolatrous image, it means anything that is religiously honored,
an object of worship, crosses, pictures, angels, any kind of
image. I read a couple of weeks ago
where it was a man or a woman found a tortilla, a tortilla
with what they said was the image of Christ on it. And we shake
our heads and we laugh and we think, how absurd is that? But
people flock to those things. They'll hop in their car and
they'll drive 500 miles to see something like that. We're a religious nation. They flock to these things, they
call them miracles. Athletes, they wear them around
their neck for good luck. We're a religious nation, just
like Athens. We're a religious nation that does not know God. On our way over here Wednesday
night, just out of the blue, I counted. We live from the pull
out of our driveway to this parking lot is exactly 13 miles. Counted 12 churches in 13 miles,
none of which None of which I know preach the gospel. None of which
I know preach the gospel of God's grace and the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul sat up there on that hill
and he looked over and his spirit was just stirred within him when
he saw all that idolatry scattered all over the place. We live in
the same time right now, the same time. He says, I perceive
in all things you're too religious. He says, I found an altar. As
I looked over, as I walked through the city, I found an altar with
this inscription to the unknown God. As Paul passed through that
city and beheld all those different idols, there was one in particular
that caught his attention. And it had this inscription to
the unknown God. to the unknown God. In their
fear of missing a God, they had all these statues, all these
shrines, all these different idols. In their fear of missing
one, they had erected one last one to the unknown God. Let me read a few scriptures
to you this morning. Turn to Exodus 33. Exodus chapter
33. Look at verse 13. Moses says,
Now therefore, I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight,
show me now thy way, that I may know thee, that I may know thee,
that I might find grace in thy sight and consider this nation
as thy people. To know God. Moses said, I want
to know thee. Over in the New Testament, over
in John chapter 17, He says, this is life eternal, that
they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom
Thou hast sent. I want to know Him. I want my
family. to know him. I want my friends,
I want them to know him, to know God, to know the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's read on. He says to the
unknown God, whom therefore ye ignorantly worship. Ye ignorantly
worship. You go through the motions. Matthew
7. Turn over to Matthew 7. Just
a few pages. Matthew 7, verse 21. Not every one that saith unto
me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he
that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will
say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied
in thy name, and in thy name have cast out devils, and in
thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess
unto them, I never knew you. Depart from me, ye that work
iniquity." Can you imagine a more frightening place, a more frightening
statement to hear than to hear Almighty God say, I never knew
you. I never knew you. Him, this one,
this one ye ignorantly worship, Paul says, I'm going to declare
him unto you. Him declare I unto you." Paul's
going to preach to the people. He's not going to argue. He's
not going to debate. He's going to declare the truth.
And he starts here in verse 24 of our text. He said, 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. The Epicureans,
if you read back in verse 18, they were present. They didn't
believe God was responsible for creation. They thought it was
just some random event where atoms bounce together and boom,
there's the world. Doesn't that sound familiar to
people? People really think this. But
Paul confronts this error and he confronts it with the truth
and he declares, God's sovereignty and creation. He said, God that
made the world and all things that are therein. Genesis 1.1,
in the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. We
can go to the New Testament, John chapter 1. In the beginning
was the Word. The Word was with God. The Word
was God. The same was in the beginning
with God. All things were made by him. and without him was not
anything made that was made, seeing that he is Lord of heaven
and earth. Nebuchadnezzar said he doeth
according to his will in the army of heaven and among the
inhabitants of the earth. None can say unto him, what doest
thou? None can say his hand. None can
say unto him, what are you doing? Almighty God is sovereign. He's
sovereign in creation. He's sovereign in providence.
He's sovereign in salvation. Paul says that right here. God
who created the heavens and the earth. God that made the world
and all things therein. Well, back in verse 18 again,
there's another group mentioned, and these were the Stoics. The
Stoics, they believed that man was inherently good. that man
had a lot of good in him. Again, isn't that familiar with
what we hear in our time? Nothing's changed, has it? Nothing's
changed, nothing's changed at all. Paul confronts that error
here in verse 25. He said, neither is he worshipped
with men's hands as though he needed anything, seeing he giveth
to all life and breath and all things. God doesn't need you to do anything.
God needs nothing from man. Turn over to Job chapter 38. This is pretty clear over in
Job 38. We could read several chapters
here this morning, but we'll just read a few verses. Job 38, beginning in verse 1. Then the Lord answered Job out
of the whirlwind, and said, Who is this that darkeneth counsel
by words without knowledge? Curt up now thy loins like a
man, for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me. Where was
thou, Job, when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if thou
hath understanding. Who hath laid the measures thereof?
or who hath stretched the line upon it? Whereupon are the foundations
thereof fastened, or who laid the cornerstone thereof? When
the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted
for joy, or who shut up the sea with doors when it break forth,
as if it had issued out of the womb? When I made the cloud the
garment thereof, and the thick darkness a swaddling band for
it, and break up for it by decreed place, and set bars and doors,
and said, hear the two shout out come. Brother Dale mentioned
this in a message recently. Hear the two standing out there
on the ocean, those waves, they come to a point and they stop. Can any of us stand out there
and stop those waves? Not a chance, is there? But Almighty
God does. He says, hear and no further. Skip down to verse 33. Knowest
thou the ordinances of heaven? Canst thou set the dominion thereof
in the earth? Canst thou lift up thy voice
to the clouds, that the abundance of water may cover thee? Can
you call for the rain? Can you stand out there in a
time of drought and say, rain? Read on here. Canst thou, verse
35, send lightnings that they may go and say unto thee, here
we are? We had that storm a few weeks
ago, and you see that lightning just flash over the sky. Then you hear the thunder, hear
the thunder. Here we are. God does those things. Man has no control over those
things. God's sovereign. We can't do any of those things.
In light of this, just these few verses, I'd ask Job or ask
any of us, what are we going to do for God? Isn't that foolish? Does this sound like a God that
needs something from man? He needs nothing from man. He's
absolutely sovereign. Look at verse 36. One more verse here in Job. He
says, Who hath put wisdom in the inward parts? Or who hath
given understanding to the heart? Only God. Only God. God in His
mercy and grace reveals these things to us by His Holy Spirit.
Job said, I've heard by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eyes
seeth thee. Almighty God has to open the
eyes. Almighty God has to reveal these things to us. Back to our text. Verse 26, And
ye have made of one blood all nations of men, for to dwell
on all the face of the earth. One blood. Our family tree, it
springs from the same root. Men are separated by different
distinctions. There's upper class, there's middle class, there's
lower class, there's different races, and there's different
nations, but we all have the same blood. We all have the same
problem. Sin. Sin. And it flows through
all of us as vain. No matter what that distinction
might be, all have sinned. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. We're all dead in trespasses and sin. And he had determined the times
before appointed, how long this earth shall stand, how long a
man will live, the days of man and the bounds of their habitation,
where we live, when we come into this world, when we're delivered
out of it. Bob Boyd, I'll ask him, anytime
you ask Bob, how are things going, Bob? How are you doing? He'll
say, right on schedule. said that this morning, right
on schedule. There's no surprises with God. He orders and determines
all things. It's all on schedule, isn't it?
It's all on His schedule. Verse 27, that they should seek
the Lord. You know, we get taken up with
quite a few things, don't we? A lot of the things in this world
we're taken up with, This would be time well spent seeking the
Lord, to seek the Lord. If happily, they might feel after
Him and find Him, though He be not far from every one of us.
Oh, we're to fear Him. We're to worship Him. We're to
seek Him. We're to seek the Lord. We're
to seek Him in His Word. He's found throughout His Word.
We're to seek Him where God's people gather together. He said,
where two or three are gathered in my name, I'll be in the midst
of them. We're to seek Him. We're to seek
Him. Turn to Jeremiah 29, back in the Old Testament. You know, these Old Testament
Scriptures, when Paul spoke, that's what he had available
to him. He preached from the Scripture. You go back to the
beginning of this chapter and you'll see that when Paul spoke,
he spoke from the scriptures, these Old Testament scriptures,
Jeremiah 29 verse 12. Then shall ye call upon me, ye
shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. Ye shall
seek me, looky there, and find me, when ye shall search with
me with all of your heart. Seek the Lord. Seek the Lord
while he may be found. call upon him while he's near. Don't seek a denomination, don't
seek a doctrine, don't seek a tradition. We seek a person, don't we? Seek
the Lord. Salvation is of the Lord. Now back to our text, verse 28. For in him we live and move and
have our being, as certain also of your own foes have said, for
we are also his offspring. Look at those first few words
of that verse, for in him we live. Where is life found? It's found in him. It's found
in him. He is life. Verse 29, for as
much then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think
that the Godhead is likened to gold or silver or stone, graven
by art and man's device. Now, we may look like a knot
on a log from time to time, but we weren't carved out of a block
of wood, were we? We're not made from gold or silver. We're living
creatures. We're living creatures, and our
God is a living God. Our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
he's a living Savior, and he ever lives to make intercession
for us. Let's read on here, verse 30.
The times of this ignorance God winked at. He kept silent. He left them alone. But now He commandeth all men
everywhere to repent, to turn from our idols, to turn from
our self-righteousness, to turn from our wrong thoughts about
ourselves, our wrong thoughts about God, to repent. Because he hath appointed a day,
verse 31, in which he will judge the world in righteousness. He's
not going to judge things like we do. You know, we tend to add
things up and look and how's this match up to this? You're
either perfect, you're either righteous or you're unrighteous. God's going to judge. He's going
to judge in righteousness. He's going to judge the world
in righteousness. He's going to punish sin. Almighty God is
going to punish sin. And again, it's not, I did this
many good things and I did this many bad things and the balance
is close. It's, you're righteous or you're unrighteous. You're
in Christ or you're not in Christ. He's going to judge. He's going
to punish sin by that man. Here's the standard, by that
man which he hath ordained, the Lord Jesus Christ, whereof he
hath given assurance unto all men, and that he raised him from
the dead. Was God satisfied? Yes, he was. He was satisfied with the offering
of his Son. He raised him from the dead. Verse 32, And when
they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, and
others said, We'll hear thee again of this matter. The Epicureans
and the Stoics They believed different things. What they believed
were completely, completely different. But in light of the gospel, they
were gathered together in mocking, mocking the gospel, mocking God's
minister here. Isn't that true in our day as
well? It doesn't matter what people believe. When it comes
to the truth, they're opposed to it. The gospel of God's grace
in Christ. Well, some mocked. And others,
they took it for granted. They said, we'll hear thee again
of this. We'll hear thee again of this.
We guilty of that? I'm kind of tired tonight. I
had a busy day, had a hard day. Maybe I'll just, Sunday morning,
I'll feel better then. They said, we'll hear thee again
of this. We're all guilty of that. Especially
in a place like this where week after week, Week after week,
we know there'll be a man to stand here and proclaim the gospel. Let's not take it. Let's not
take that lightly. Let's not let's not take that
for granted. No guarantee we'll get a chance
to hear that word again, is there? No, no. But listen here. Listen, verse thirty five. Or
verse thirty three, Paul, Paul departed from among them. Think
about that. They said, we'll hear we'll hear
again of this. Paul departed. Paul departed, he was gone. He
was gone. Verse 34, Howbeit certain men
claimed unto him and believed. Among which was Dionysus the
Arapegit, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them. Certain
men, some mocked, some took it for granted, some Some believed. Paul would preach to this crowd.
Back in verse 23, he read that inscription. He said to the unknown
God, he said, whom you therefore ignorantly worship, Him, I declare
unto you. When the gospel is preached,
there's an effect. There's an effect. Turn to Isaiah
55. Just a few more scriptures here.
Isaiah 55. So shall my word be that goeth
forth out of my mouth. It shall not return unto me void,
but it shall accomplish that which I please. It shall prosper
in the thing whereto I sent it. To some it is the savor of death,
to some it is the savor of life. Verse 32, when they heard of
the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, some said, we'll
hear that again, all departed, but some believed. Look closely. Look closely. There were, there
were certain men, certain men that believed. There were particular
men that believed. Now, two of them are listed by
name, aren't they? But who are these, who are these
others? Who are these others that believed? Turn to just a
few more scriptures with me. Acts 13. Acts chapter 13, verse 48. When the Gentiles heard this,
they were glad, glorified the word of the Lord, and as many
as were ordained to eternal life. They believed, didn't they? Who
will believe this gospel? as were ordained to eternal life.
Turn to John 17. John 17, verse 9. Our Lord here, these are the
words of our Lord. He says, I pray for them. I pray for them. I pray not for
the world. That's distinguishing, isn't
it? I pray for them. I pray not for the world, but
for them that thou hast given me, for they are thine." Who
will believe? Those he prayed for. Those which
God the Father had given him. A couple more scriptures. Deuteronomy 7. Deuteronomy 7. For thou art an holy people unto
the Lord thy God. The Lord thy God hath chosen
thee to be a special people unto himself above all people that
are upon the face of the earth. Who will believe? Those whom
he has chosen, his elect. One more scripture, 1 Corinthians
15. For I have delivered unto you,
first of all, that which I also received, how that Christ died
for our sins according to the Scriptures." Who will believe? Those for whom Christ died. Those
for whom Christ died. And listen, those that believed,
those that believed, said they claimed to Paul. They claim unto
him. They were united with him. They
were joined together with him. That's true fellowship, isn't
it? And that's confession, isn't it? Being identified with God's
people. All right. Well, I pray God will
bless His Word this morning.