Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of Acts chapter 17, Acts 17. Acts chapter 17. The Spirit of God moved upon
the apostle Paul in verse 23, to make this statement concerning
what he viewed in a city where there was a place called Mars
Hill. The Apostle Paul said in verse
23, Acts 17, 23, For as I passed by and beheld your devotions,
that is, the gods that you were worshiping, I found an altar
with this inscription, to the unknown God, whom therefore you
ignorantly worship. Him declare I unto you. You know, I've done this, you've
done this. You can go into any given city,
by and large. And you walk in that city, especially
if the city has got some age to it, and you're going to notice
that virtually, just about on every corner, there's a different
church building. And not only are there different
denominations that are scattered about all around town, but even
within one particular denomination, there's going to be some varieties
or some offshoots of a denomination. They've got them a building.
And if we think about it, since none of these denominations obviously
see eye to eye, we'd have to conclude that the god, little
g-god, on this corner If it's a place where the gospel is not
being preached, that God is different from this God. Now that ought to cause men to
think about what they're hearing and what they're believing. It
ought to cause us to ask ourselves, really, Who am I worshiping? Now, this is a subject that we
need to continually consider. You may say, well, I've been
sitting where... That's okay, good. Good. Examine yourself to see if you
be in the faith. The Apostle Paul was providentially
led to a place called Mars Hill, and the scripture says that as
he passed by, he was walking through there, and the scripture
says in verse 16, he was waiting on Silas and Timotheus, and his
spirit, verse 16, was stirred within him when he saw the city,
holy or completely full of idols, given to idolatry. He looked
around and he saw this place. He said, this place is eaten
up with idolatry. And while he was passing by,
he noticed an altar. It was a stone or a place reared
up as a place of sacrifice, with this inscription on it. to the
unknown God. I actually had someone tell me
years ago, they had gone to different denominations and they told me,
they said the reason that I wanted to go to this one and to this
one and to this one and just kind of enter into all the different
ones is to make sure that I had all my bases covered. I mean
that's a quote. I want to have all my bases covered. Now, Paul said, he said, I perceive,
in verse 22, that in all things, you know, you're too superstitious. You're worshipping in absolute
ignorance. One of the literal translations,
it talks about the doctrines of demons. You're worshipping
demonically. You're religious. I mean, I'm
not saying that you're not, you know, acting out a religious
walk. But he said, what you're doing?
He said, you're doing it in absolute ignorance. And then, he told
him, he said, in the latter part of verse 23, he said, this God
that you don't know, The unknown God, whom you ignorantly worship,
Him declare I unto you. Now Paul is getting ready in
the next few verses. He said, I'm going to tell you
who this God is that you're saying you're ignorantly worshiping.
He said, I can tell you this, all these other statues, he said,
let me tell you who the God of the Bible is. And that's what
I want us to consider just for a few minutes. We're going to
24 and go through 31 is where I'm going to stop. This is the
God of the Bible. The Spirit of God said, as Paul
said, I'm going to declare Him unto you. And he said in verse
24, God, God, that made the world, in all things
therein." Now this is what Paul said. I'm going to tell you who
God is. The true and living God is God
who is sovereign in creation. God that made the world in all
things therein. And since He is the one true
God, that's the point I was making when I said God One, God made
the world, the creator of heaven and earth, and He said, your
opinions of all these other gods that you've got up here is baseless.
He said, they're nobody. They're imps. All this little g-god that people
say they're worshiping. God that wants to save everybody,
God that died, that sent His Son to die for everybody, died
for everybody's sins. He died for everybody's sins.
I'm telling you, that is no God. That's not the God of this Bible.
They're nobodies. They're imps. They're not even
worth listening to. I've heard people say, well,
I tell you what, I think you ought to go and just listen and
just glean what you can. Don't you do that. Don't waste
your time. A little leaven leavens a whole
lump. I'm telling you right now, don't
waste your time. If somebody's listening to this
tape and they say, well I'm attending over here, and I know they're
not exactly preaching exactly, you know, but you know, there's
some things that I know that's not right, well then leave. Come
out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord." Don't
stay there and listen to Him. Paul said, God that made the
world and all things therein. God Almighty is to say in Him
making that this world did not evolve from green slime. It was made and formed according
to the one true God in His will, in His purpose. And then the
apostle Paul said in that same verse, seeing that he is Lord
of heaven and earth. He is the supreme authority and
controller. That's what he's saying. Somebody,
as brother Scott said, is running this show. And it's God. He is absolutely sovereign. He is Lord in heaven and earth. What does that mean? That means
He's sovereign in providence. He's Lord. He's the Supreme. Daniel 4.35, and all the inhabitants
of the earth are reputed as nothing. Now boy, that just brings man
down a little bit, don't it? They're reputed as nothing. Nothing. And He doeth according to His
will in the army of heaven among the inhabitants of the earth,
and none can stay His hand or say unto Him, What doest Thou? He rules. He is omnipotent. What does that mean? All-powerful.
And He doesn't give an account of His actions to anybody. You
ever heard somebody... I have. I've heard somebody say,
I tell you, I can't wait to stand before God. I'm going to ask
Him. I'm thinking, you better shut up. I'm serious. I'm just serious. People talk.
Paul said, I'm going to tell you who you don't know. He's
God. He's the Lord in heaven and earth. The God that this world doesn't
by nature know is the God who is actually governing in absolute
authority. The Lord said in Isaiah 45, 7,
I form the light. Go back and read the last three,
four chapters of the book of Job. When Job said, I want you
to gird up your lawn. I'm going to talk to you a little
bit. Man, that's a good, you know, Neil, that's, you go back
and read it. Where were you? Where were you? Boy, I'm telling
you, he put Job in his place so fast. And people talk about,
I mean, they talk about like God, as I've said before, like
he's a bellhop. I command you. He's God. I form the light. I create darkness. I make peace. I create evil. I, the Lord, do
all these things. David, when somebody asked him
where his God was, he said, our God's in the heavens. And He
has done whatsoever He's pleased. And then the Apostle Paul said,
I'm going to tell you the God that you're not worshiping, the
unknown God. The latter part of verse 24. He said, He dwelleth not in temples
made with hands. What is he saying? He's omnipresent. He told the Athenians that God
doesn't dwell in temples. We're going to go where God is.
We're going to go into this building right here. Now I bless the Lord.
He said, where two or three are gathered together in my name,
I'm in the midst of you. And that's a precious, precious,
precious thought that God's here with us. Paul said, I'm going
to tell you something. God's not limited to man's puny
thoughts of, you know, being confined into shrines and, you
know, something made by the feeble hands. The Lord said in Isaiah
66, 1, thus saith the Lord, the heaven is my throne. The earth
is my footstool. Where's the house that you build
unto me? And where's the place of my rest?
David said in Psalm 139, verse eight, if I send up to heaven,
thou art there. If I make my bed in hell, behold,
thou art there. Paul says this, the Lord that
made the world and all things therein, seeing he's Lord in
heaven and earth, he dwelleth not in temples made with hands. Then the Spirit of God moved
Paul in verse 25 to say this, neither is worship with men's
hands as though he needed anything. I've heard people say, now the
only hands that the Lord has is yours. You ever heard that? The only hands He's got is yours
now. He is neither worshiped with men's hands as though he
needed anything. Our hands, our mouths. God could raise up rocks to be
sons of Abraham. That's what scripture says. Who
is man that God is mindful? Who is man? The stars are not
pure in his sight. What does that mean? Neither
is worship with men's hands as though he needed anything. Paul said, the God that is God
in heaven and earth, He's totally independent. He doesn't need
anything. Moses asked the Lord, who shall
I say when I go to Egypt, who shall I say sent me? The Lord
said, you said that I am. I am sent you. The Lord said
in Psalm 50 verse 12, if I were hungry, I would not tell thee,
for the world is mine, and the fullness thereof. It's what I
know. God is omnipotent. Verse 25, latter part, seeing
he giveth to all life and breath and all things. Almighty God, It's God Almighty
who does as He will, when He will, with whom He will. And
men foolishly think that they're maintaining themselves. You know,
I exercise, I eat right. But you let God withhold a breath
of air. And let me tell you what He just
said. He said, latter part of verse 25, seeing He giveth to
all life and breath. and all things. You let man that
thinks he's so high and mighty and he's got God at his whim
to exercise his will when he decides, you let God Almighty
withhold a breath of air from him and let's just see how long
you last. Paul said, I'm going to tell
you who he is. He giveth to all life breath
and all things. Then He said in verse 26, He's
sovereign. You know, we talk about the sovereignty
of God and we're talking about in creation and in providence
and in salvation. That's so. But let me tell you
about the God that man by nature doesn't know. He's sovereign
in the lives of all men. Everybody. Look at verse 26.
and is made of one blood, all nations of men, for to dwell
on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times
before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation." Who? All nations of men. The scripture declares that eternally
God determined everything that was going to take place with
every single person that would be born into this world. Now you listen to what God has
said in these scriptures right here. Every detail of every day
of every person has been ordained for God's glory and the eternal
good of God's elect. If God Almighty is pleased to
call a man unto Himself and that man is a vessel of mercy, that's
by the grace of God. If Almighty God is pleased to
leave a man or a woman to themselves, that's by the good pleasure of
God. Look at Acts chapter, not Acts, Ecclesiastes, Ecclesiastes
3. He's determined, this is what
Paul said, Ecclesiastes, turn to Ecclesiastes 3. The scripture
says that He hath made of one blood all nations of men, for
to dwell on the face of the earth hath determined the times before
appointed. Ecclesiastes 3, 1 to 8, to everything. Now listen to this, to everything. What's that limited to? Nothing.
Everything. There is a season and a time
to every purpose under the heaven. A time to be born, For everybody. Everybody. A time to die. For everybody. A time to plant. A time to pluck up that which
is planted. A time to kill. A time to heal. A time to break
down. A time to build up. A time to
weep. A time to laugh. A time to mourn. A time to dance.
A time to cast away stones. A time to gather stones together.
A time to embrace. A time to refrain from embracing. You know that hit me all of a
sudden. You know, we've just here, we've done from last March
or whenever it was, you know, we just don't shake hands and
hug like we used to. You know, we say, well, that's
because of the virus. No, that's because God Almighty determined
that right now. I looked it up just to find out
what Mr. Gill was saying. He was talking about, he said,
just that cordial embrace, not only of a parent to a child,
but a friend to another friend. Somebody said, well, why did
God do that? Because it pleased him. That's why. And that's why we're not tempting
God. The Lord has ordained these things
and we walk in the light that we have. Isn't that right, Mark?
We walk in the light. God's raised up authorities.
Why is He doing what He's doing? Because He's pleased to do it.
And what are we going to do? We're going to trust God. And
I'm not going to tempt Him. I'm not going to stand out in
that road right there and just say, well, if it's God's will
for me to get killed, I'll get, you know, but the Lord told Satan,
don't you tempt God. Jump off this pinnacle, don't
you tempt God. We're to do just exactly what we're supposed to
do. That's why we're wearing masks. Why? Because. Really wearing
masks is out of consideration for others. That's what they're
telling me. I didn't know that, but that's why. It says a time to embrace a time
to refrain from embrace, a time to get, a time to lose, a time
to keep, a time to cast away, a time to rent, a time to sow,
a time to keep silence, a time to speak, a time to love, a time
to hate, a time of war, a time of peace. Paul says, he hath
made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the
face of the earth and have determined the times before appointed and
the bounds of their habitation. Just imagine, not one thing about
any person that has ever been born into this world is going
to come to pass. It's left to chance. It ain't
going to happen. Almighty God is ordered and ordained. His people are going to be saved.
And the Lord Jesus Christ came into this world and prayed in
His high priestly prayer, as thou has given Him power over
all flesh. Does that really mean all flesh?
All flesh! That He should give eternal life
to as many as thou hast given Him. I'm telling you, Paul says,
this is the God you're not worshiping. He's the God that's ordering
every person's life that's ever been born in this world, and
determining, and allowing, and permitting, and ordaining, and
moving, and ordering, and doing everything for His glory and
the good of His people. He said, Paul, that's God. That's
the God. God is sovereign. He's ruling. He's sovereign. Sovereign in
salvation. You know that. Romans 9.21, Hath
not the potter power over the clay? Of the same lump to make
one vessel unto honor and another unto dishonor. That's what we
said a while ago. He's determined and he orders all things that
he might show mercy and compassion to whomsoever he will. And the
reason that he's done this, Paul said in verse 27, is that they
should seek the Lord. If happily they might feel after
Him and find Him, though He be not far from every one of us. Now God put men, women, where
they are. And He ordered all events in
heaven and earth that men should seek the Lord. Men should seek
God. He's revealed in nature. Men
ought to. Scripture says in verse 27, For
in Him we live and move and have our being, as certain also of
your own poets have said, for we are also His offspring. Men should seek the Lord. He's put them where they are
and they should seek the Lord. What about those that don't hear
the gospel? They've got nature. Men are without excuse. Do you
realize that while we sit here and we hear the gospel being
preached and we believe it, that that is the miracle of God's
grace? That we're sitting here, that
we believe this. What if the Lord would have left
us to ourselves? You know what would have happened. You know
that. Is He right? He's right. Paul
said, this is God. This is the God that we worship. Verse 28, 29, I want to tell you this before
I read 28, 29. Brother Don Fortner, I got this
from Don, and I wrote it down. I wanted to give him credit for
it. He said, we have one life to live. We have one death to
die. We have one judgment to face
and one eternity to consider. And therefore, men are without
excuse. And he said that concerning these two verses right here,
verse 28, 29. For in him we live and move and have our being,
as certain also of your own points 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 silver, gold or silver or stone graven by art. and man's device. What he was
saying was this. Don't think that God is somehow
confined like these idols are. And they're just over here and
somehow we're all separated from Him and we're not really dealing
with God right now, this particular moment in our life. And we're
doing our thing and everything. Look, he says we've been created
by God. The Lord has ordered all things.
And he said, Don was saying, he said, don't think that we're
not always in God's presence. Sometimes we think, you know,
well, there's a separation from God and us. Now, when we're in
this building right here, I know we're in the presence of God,
but uh-uh. That's what he meant. He said,
we've got one life. We're going to die. And there's
going to be a judgment. It's like when Satan came to
Eve and said, hath God said? Yea, hath God said? Did the Lord
say He's coming back? Yea, He did. Did He say that
when He comes back that there's going to be a judgment? Yes,
He did. Did He say that all that's found without Him, without Christ,
that He's going to cast them out into everlasting hell and
you're going to spend eternity in hell? Yes, He did. In Him we live. We're living
right now. And we move and we have our being.
We got one life. Almighty God is just. Isaiah
45, 21. There is no God beside me, a
just God and a Savior. There's none beside me. God is
just. Verse 30 of our passage. In the
times of His ignorance, God winked at, but now commandeth all men,
Jew and Gentile, everywhere to repent. When the scripture says
that God winked at the times of ignorance, it does not believe,
it doesn't admit or say that God ignores or excuses sins,
but he was talking about the time of the Gentiles And God,
for a while, when it says He winked, it is He passed by the
Gentiles in revealing Himself unto them and didn't deal with
them in a way that He dealt with Israel, like in the wilderness,
like when they were in the wilderness in rebellion, He was dealing
with Israel. And He wasn't dealing with the Gentile nations like
that, and the word winked at doesn't mean he just kind of,
you know, it means he passed by and wasn't dealing with them. But Paul is revealing through
the revelation of the Spirit of God that God doesn't do that
anymore. God at times winked, but now
commanded all men, all nations, everywhere to repent, to think
differently concerning how God justifies a sinner. Not by the
works of righteousness that we've done, but according to His mercy.
God saved us. He's commanded all men everywhere
to repent. And Scripture gives the reason.
I'm telling you right now. Now listen to me. We're right
now in a time of God's grace. I know this. I just preached
a message just a few minutes ago on how does God really save
a sinner. And it's going to be by God's
grace. And it's going to be by God's good pleasure. That's what
He's going to do. But listen to me. Listen to all of us. Now
listen here. I'm telling you. You leave this world without
Christ, and I'm telling you, I'm telling you what's going
to happen. God's going to cast you out. And you'll have eternity
to consider that. Paul said, he's commanded, verse
30, all men everywhere to repent, and here's the reason, verse
31, this will be our last verse for this morning, because he
hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness
by that man whom he hath ordained, whereof he hath given assurance
unto all men in that he hath raised him from the dead. He
said, I want to give you a word of advice. There's coming a day
that God's appointed in which He's going to judge this world
in absolute righteousness. And He's going to do it by that
man that He has raised from the dead. If you want to know what
God thinks concerning His Son, He said the resurrection proved
it. He raised Him from the dead. He accepted what He did. He raised Him up. And He's the
appointed judge. One God raised from the dead.
Almighty God is saying, He said there's going to come a time
when the books are going to be opened. And the book, the book
of life. And the sheep are going to stand
on one side. You think they really are going
to stand on one side? I sure do. Why would I not believe
that? God said it. He's going to separate
the sheep from the goats. He's going to put the sheep on
His right hand and the goats on His left. Does that mean the
right hand and the left? It does to me. And the one on the right hand,
this is what he's going to say. Those that by the grace of God
have been brought to cast themselves upon the mercy of God. Come to
Him for life. He's going to say, come you blessed
of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation
of the world. Do you think that's exactly what
he's going to say? I think that's exactly what he's
going to say. I think we're going to hear those words spoken from
the very mouth of the Lord Jesus Christ. Come, you blessed of
my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation
of the world. I believe he's going to say that.
And to those that stand without the substitute, the words of
horror is going to forever ring in their ears. He's going to
hear this, and you're going to hear exactly these words. Depart from me,
ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his
angels. Man by nature is born with a heart that doesn't
know God. But the Lord by His grace and
compassion has been pleased to call some out of darkness,
the darkness of sin and unbelief. And this is how he's going to
do it. He's going to send a preacher that he's going to teach the
gospel. And that preacher is going to
study God's Word and he's going to stand in a pulpit and he's
going to proclaim the truth of what God said he's going to do.
He's going to tell them who God is. He's going to tell them who
they are. He's going to tell them that
salvation is by the grace of God. And some are going to believe
by the grace of God, and some are not, by the justice, good pleasure of God. And to
those that believe, God's going to keep them. He's going to reveal
Himself to them, and they're going to grow in grace, And those
that believe not, the Lord will leave them to themselves and
they'll justify their own works and they'll leave this world.
And in that day, they're going to realize that God was truthful,
that God was faithful to His Word. I pray that God have mercy. I pray that God be pleased to
call out His sheep. I pray that God Almighty keep
us and teach us for his glory and our eternal good. Amen.