Turn with me to the book of Acts
chapter 17. Paul the Apostle, after he had preached in Berea, the unconverted Jews found out these
Jews that lived in Thessalonica, they stirred up the people. That's what the Scripture says.
Men, by nature, hate the Gospel because it's life. God is light. It's life. And so Paul was escorted by a
group of the brethren from Berea. And he came to Athens and he
met with some Jews there. But while he was waiting, the
Scripture says in verse 16, his spirit was stirred in him
when he saw the city holy. given to idolatry. Well, not
being able to stand by and just say nothing and watch the idolatrous
behavior, he disputed. He went into the synagogue and
disputed with the devout persons, the Jews. And this is where we
picked up last time, his debate. That's what they considered it
to be. All it was to them was a debate. It reached the years
of the Epicureans and the Stoics, and Paul was invited to go to
Mars Hill, the Areopagus, and to give a discourse on this strange
message, this strange doctrine that these people were hearing.
Strange to them. Well, we begin this evening in
verse 22, and I would like to say that the heart, you know,
you look at a passage of Scripture, and it's very easy to give a
discourse on what that Scripture says. I mean, anybody can read
it, but what we're looking for is the message in that passage. What is the Spirit of God saying
to the people of God? And I want this to be a comfort. That's what the Spirit of God
has commanded God's preachers to do. Comfort my people. Comfort
them. And I want to tell you Right
now, we're going to look at just a few verses here, but I want
to tell you what, at least part, I think I've got enough sense
to realize that I can't read a passage of Scripture and know
the fullness of what that passage of Scripture is. I mean, this
universe is in the Lord. This universe cannot contain
the wisdom in God's Word. But one thing that I do know,
what this passage of Scripture deals with to God's people, because
you're going to deal with people at your work, you're going to
deal with people in your family, you're going to deal with neighbors,
you're going to deal with people that are not believers. And this
passage of Scripture instructs the people of God on how The
Spirit of God has been pleased to use Paul the Apostle to teach
us how do you deal with an unbeliever. That's what I would entitle this. How do you deal with an unbeliever? We're just encompassed. How many times at work or something,
There's people, they want to debate you. That's what these
Epicureans and these Stoics wanted to do with Paul. So we pick up. They wanted to, verse 21 says,
these Athenians, strangers which were there, they spent their
time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing. Well, Paul is now going to have
a time to talk. They said, you've got the floor.
Then, verse 22, Paul stood in the midst of Mars Hill and he
said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too
superstitious. Now, the word superstitious,
it actually can be interpreted, well, number one, it can be interpreted
superstitious. That's the way the Scripture
wrote it, but another way that that word can be interpreted
is more religious, more religious. And Paul the Apostle, he did
perceive, he knew that the people there in Athens were superstitious
in a bad way. I mean, you know, how many times,
We grew up, all of these things, you know, don't let a black cat
go in front of you, don't walk under a ladder if you spill salt,
you know, throw it over one of them, I don't remember which.
But superstitious, superstitious, you know, you don't, just things
that we do. And that's always in a bad connotation. It's always, you're just superstitious,
that's all, you just, you know. You know, I don't like to, you
know, there's there's not a 13th floor in a hotel. I don't know.
There may be. I don't know. I heard that, you
know, not supposed to be a 13th floor. Why? Well, 13, bad number. You know, you're too superstitious.
And Paul knew that these unbelievers, that all they were doing was
spending their time just spinning their wheels. And he knew it. And he used a word, wisely used
a word, that didn't offend them right off the bat. I mean, it
was a good word. But see, what he said, if I were
to tell someone, I perceive that you're very religious. Well,
you know what they're going to hear? That's a good thing. They're going to interpret that
in their mind. Now, if you're not sitting under the gospel,
I didn't mean it like that. But what he did was, he very
wisely, told him, he said, you men of Athens, I perceive that
you're more religious than most folks, superstitious. Men will
be offended at the gospel, but let the gospel be that which
offends and not our harsh treatment of men before they hear the God
that we serve. You know, I'll tell you what
I'm more prone to do than anything else. I'm more prone to tell
men that they're wrong first before I tell them the truth. That's just my natural reaction. Well, you're just wrong. That's
just not right. Proverbs 15.1 says, A soft word,
a tender heart, Turneth away wrath." Anger. But the gravest
words stir up anger. Hurtful. Paul came to these men
and he was going to get their attention and did it in a very
wise way. He didn't compromise what he
was going to say. He was just very wise in the
way that he approached them. I perceive that in all things,
You're just more religious than most folks. You're too superstitious. For as I passed by, verse 23,
and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription
to the unknown God, whom therefore ye ignorantly worship. Him declare
I unto you. Now, Paul continues. his wise
discourse." Now we read these words, and being a believer,
you pick up on exactly what Paul was saying. When he said, I perceive
you're too superstitious, you understand exactly that Paul
knew what he was talking about. They were superstitious because
they had, he said, your devotions. I found your devotions. Numerous gods that you worship. As I passed by, Paul, what Paul
was saying is, the Lord sent me to this place. They that are
led by the Spirit of God, they're the sons of God. The Lord sent
Paul to Athens and he looked. He was in that city and he was
looking around, looking like many people would. Athens was
a, as I said before, was a center of culture. The arts, music. I read where there were more
gods, statues, than people. They were everywhere. They were
everywhere. As I was passing by, he said,
you know, Paul had a spiritual perception. I noticed all of these devotions,
these gods. You know, a believer, sees often
what's not obvious to an unbeliever. When you can come into a city,
come into a place, go into a home, go in somewhere, and you can
pick up very quickly what's not there. Maybe these people are
not believers. Maybe there's no place someone
would ask me Do you know of a church in some city? Is there a Grace Church in Bridgeport?
No, I don't know of one. Is there one so and so? I don't
know. No, but what did I see? I saw what was not there. I remember
driving on the road one day and crossed over a little hill and
as I looked down there was a beautiful little town. That was, I mean,
it was just like a postcard. But I was living in Tennessee
at the time, and as far as I knew, there was no gospel there. And
I made the comment, you know, I want you to look how beautiful
this place is. Isn't that just, look at that, look at that little,
you know, those little buildings, and look at this little river,
and look at all that. But the only problem is, there's
no truth there. So I saw what wasn't there. Paul
said, as I, Passed by, as I beheld your devotions, the Spirit of
God has quickened God's people to see and perceive the truth. And when they don't see it, that's
what they behold. As I passed by, I beheld your
devotions. He said, I found an altar to
the unknown God. I've given you this illustration
before, but it was such a good illustration, I'll remind you
of it. A friend of mine, you may know Darwin Pruitt. Darwin
Pruitt told me years ago, had a nephew. His nephew asked him. Darwin was pastoring in Kitchens
Creek, where Milton is from now. Darwin used to be there. And
he said, his nephew asked him, he said, you know, you say that
God is sovereign and God chooses, God elects. This guy over here
says that it's left up to you, that God wants to save you. If you'll let him, that man has
a free will. He said, you say this, and these say you have
to speak in tongues, and these say you ought to be baptized
to be saved, and these say this, and these. He said, how do I
know who's right? And Darwin gave him a good answer.
He said, but for the grace of God, you won't. And he said,
what you'll do is you'll You'll look around and you'll find a
little place that's close to your house, or convenient for
you, or you like the preacher, or you like, you know, the ladies
that go, or whatever. You'll find some place, but for
the grace of God, you'll settle down right there and die. And
leave this world without a substitute. Unknown. He said, as I pass by,
I notice I saw your descriptions. Paul, having been called out
of spiritual darkness, recognized idolatrous worship. Here was
Paul the Apostle who was a religious man. Now he was telling them,
he said, I perceive that you're more religious than anybody else. You know who was telling them
that? Somebody that had been there. Paul thought himself at
one time to be the most religious person there was. Ask the Apostle
Paul before he was converted. He had no rivals. He had none
as far as he was concerned. Oh, he named off all of his credentials
and he's telling people what he is. You know, he was a very,
very sincere, dedicated, lost, Religious man. Isaiah 29, 13
says this, The Lord said, For as much as this people draw near
Me with their mouth and with their lips do honor Me. Boy,
think how true that is. Men are religious by nature. They're very religious. And they
speak great swelling words. But He says, But have removed
their heart from Me. And their fear toward Me is taught.
by the precepts of men. Men dictate and state what it
is to reverence the God of their imagination. I passed by and
I found this inscription, to the unknown God. You know, the
amazing thing is that these Athenians, while boasting how wise they
were, these Epicureans and these Stoics, and that's what they
did. They saw themselves to be so far above. They were the elite
of the elite. They saw themselves as the upper,
the creme de creme. You know, we're it. But they
actually had an inscription on a stone, and this is what they
said. There's a God that we don't know. You know, that's more than most
people would admit. to the unknown God. And it wasn't
an attempt to show any honor to that God. I'll tell you what
they were doing. They were trying to get all their
bases covered. Now, I'm telling you the truth.
I had someone tell me years ago. Now, I'm telling you this is
a quote. They said, you know, I was raised
this religion. But then when I got in high school,
I started going to this religion over here because I had some
friends in high school that went to that church and they did this. And then later, I became this
religion over here. And to be honest with you, I
kind of felt that I had all my bases covered because if this
wasn't right, then that could have been right or this one could
have been right. That's what they were doing.
These Athenians, they prided themselves in possessing the
mind of wisdom. And they knew, obviously, that
there were countries that had different gods that these other
countries served. And surely, everybody can't be
wrong. Somebody's got to be right. Well,
we'll just get them all. And then wherever? we find a
God that we don't have, we'll get that God over here too. But
just in case we've missed one, we'll go ahead and erect an altar
for good measure, and we'll call it, The Altar to the Unknown
God. And that way, if we ever find
ourselves between a rock and a hard place, we'll say, that's
who we were talking about, the unknown God. Paul said, I found
an altar with this inscription to the unknown God, whom therefore
ye ignorantly worship. Him declare I unto you. Now,
Paul is still using great wisdom when he says to these people,
I notice that you've got an altar to the unknown God, that God
that you ignorantly worship. Now you would think these people
would say, now wait a minute. But Paul, again, was using some
wisdom. They admitted that they didn't
know the God. They wrote it and etched it in
stone to the unknown God. So Paul was saying to them, he
said, the God that you say is unknown to you. He used the word
ignorance as if to say, I'm agreeing with what you're saying. You
said this first. Whenever someone makes a statement
to you and they're asking your opinion on what you think, listen
to what they said. And when they tell you what they
said, if what they've said seems to have some wisdom to it, then
tell them. Say, you know what? I agree with
what you say. I think you've got a handle on
this thing. And you know, it comes right back to that was
their idea. Well, this is what Paul was saying.
This was your idea. You said to the unknown God,
He said, that God that you ignorantly worship, the God that you admit
that you have ignorance of, no intelligence of concerning Him,
this is the God, Paul says, that I want to declare unto you. He
said this in verse 24, God that made the world and all things
therein, Paul is going to set forth now, using much wisdom,
setting these people down. They consider themselves to be
so wise and so prudent in their worship, most religious people,
most, you know, ignorantly religious people that there was. He says,
God that made the world and all things therein, He's the Creator.
That's what Paul says. Let me tell you the God that
you're not worshiping. You've got all these other gods
all over here. Let me tell you who the true
God is. God Almighty that made the world. You know, that truth right there
was denied by both these groups. They did not believe that God
made the world. And I'll tell you this, no one
believes that except a believer. No one believes that God Almighty
Now, men will say, if you ask them, say, do you believe that
God Almighty made this world? They will tell you yes. But let
me tell you this, their yes answer is greatly qualified, and I'll
show you why. Men, in saying that they believe
that God is the Creator, They qualify it, and when it comes
to this scripture, listen to this, and let me ask you this.
How far do you think that an unbeliever truly believes that
God made this world? Proverbs 16, 4. The Lord hath
made all things for himself, yea, even the wicked for the
day of evil. Do you believe that? Do you believe
that Almighty God, who spoke all of this world into existence,
why did He make this? Now let's just get right down
to the nitty-gritty. Why did God create this world? He did
it for His honor. He did it for His glory. He did
it for Himself. God Almighty did what He did
for Himself. The earth is the Lord. and the
fullness thereof." Paul is saying to these people, God Almighty
is sovereign in creation. He's sovereign in providence.
He's sovereign in salvation. That's Scripture, Genesis 126. That's Scripture that we've looked
at before. And God said, let us make man in our image. after our likeness. I looked
at that today. I had looked at that passage
before. Let us make man in our image. And I've listened to folks. I mean, think about this. God
is Spirit. Well, now, how do you make a
man in God's image when God is Spirit? He's invisible. How do
we make Him? Well, you know. You know what
I'm going to say. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
express image of God. And the word make there means
a point. So the Lord Jesus Christ, the
image, and actually if you want to get right down to it, it actually
means the representative figure. Really, if you get right down
to it, it means shadow. Okay? If I stand in front of
that light, and if it's bright enough, It will make a shadow. That shadow right there is the
exact image of my hand. So the shadow, that's the word
image there. So the express image. You see
Him, you see the Father. You see Him, you see God. For He is God. He is the express
image. So let us point man in our image. That is, all men were appointed
in their relationship to the Lord Jesus Christ. Some vessels
under honor and some vessels under dishonor. Let us make man
in our image after our likeness. The word likeness there means
the original after which everything is patterned. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
righteousness of a righteous man. So what the Lord God said,
let us appoint man in our image. Let's consider all men in their
relationship to the Lord Jesus Christ and God Almighty. When
He says our likeness, God Almighty is the standard. I'm not the
standard by which you'll stand before God. The angels is not
the standard. Let us make man in our image
after our likeness. They will be considered in their
relationship to Almighty God as God is the standard. That's
what it means. Let us consider man. So God created
man in His own image. God cut him down or made him
fat. That's what it means. Do men
believe that God truly made this world? Well, they believe it
to a certain point. But when it comes right down
to the point to where you say, God Almighty made all things
for Himself, even the wicked for the day of judgment, they'll
say, now wait a minute, wait a minute. But whose standard
are we going by? Who said that? God said that.
God Almighty made this world and all things therein, seeing
that He is Lord, of heaven. That's what Paul says. See, he
is Lord of heaven and earth, being the creator of all things
in this world. He's the governor. He's the controller.
He has all power and all authority. And he decides all things in
heaven and earth. Isaiah 45, 7, I form the light. I create darkness. I make peace. I create evil. I, the Lord, do
all these things." Now, you want to explain that to me? You know
what we say? Lord, You've done all things
for Yourself. You do all things. Psalm 115.3, our God is in the
heavens, David said. He hath done whatsoever He hath
pleased. Paul said, let me tell you this
unknown God. Now, all of these other little
pygmy gods that you have, he said, These are no gods. Let
me tell you of the unknown God. God Almighty made the world and
all things therein. See, He's Lord in heaven and
earth, dwelling not in temples made with hands. God is not limited
to the puny thoughts of a man. I've said before, this building,
I can truthfully say that this building is wood and nails, Let
me tell you something. It's more than that. I mean,
you know, I want to be respectful when I even think of the place
that the Lord has allowed his gospel to be. Now, there's nothing
inherently holy about this wood. It's the presence of God. This
is where God has been pleased to allow his church in Katy to
meet. So I'm thankful for this building.
But I will tell you this, God does not dwell in temples made
with hands. He's not limited. I can't walk
out of this building and leave him in here. Almighty God is
not limited or confined, is what Paul was saying, to the shrines
erected by the feeble hands of God. Genesis 1-1 says, In the
beginning God created the heaven and the earth, the universe in
God. How do you explain the vastness
of Almighty God? There's no words. I have no words
for that. In the Lord Jesus Christ dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead. All the fullness of the Godhead
bodily dwells in Him. This is what Paul has said. He
dwelleth not in temples made with hands. Believers of the
temple. of the living God. He dwells
in them by His Holy Spirit. And then Paul says, verse 25,
"...neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needeth
anything." I've heard men say, the only hands that God has is
your hands. That's ridiculous. The only mouth
that God's got is your mouth. Well, I'm going to tell you something.
If that's so, then I'm telling you, he is greatly restricted.
If I'm the best, I can show you a passage of Scripture where
God spoke through a jackass. Almighty God speaks. Now, he may be pleased to send
his gospel through the mouth of a man. But if you think that
God is limited Paul says, listen, he is not worshipped with men's
hands as though he needed anything. Psalm 50 verse 12, he said, If
I were hungry, I wouldn't tell you. What would you do about it? For the world is mine, the fullness
thereof. Luke 17, 10, So likewise ye,
when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you,
say, We are unprofitable servants. We have done that which was our
duty to do. I stand, I prepare, I try to
read and have an understanding. And then I'll come and I'll stand
here for a few minutes and I'll proclaim the message of this
book, the message of Almighty God. Paul said he planted. Apollos watered. But God gives
the increase. He is not worshipped with men's
hands as though he needed anything. See if he giveth to all life
and breath and all things. God Almighty continually gives
breath to all men and all things that are necessary to life. Why
are the wicked? Why are those that God has been
pleased to leave to themselves eternally, why are they still
breathing tonight? Now you think about this. There
are men and women in this world that know not our God. And you
know that based on Scripture that there are some, I don't
know who they are, there may be someone here tonight that
is yet in unbelief. And who knows? The Lord may call
him out of darkness tonight. He might give him a new heart,
and if He does, I'll tell you what you'll do. You'll believe
this gospel right here. You'll cry unto Him who is the
God of this universe, God Almighty. But why are men and women breathing
tonight? Because God has been pleased
to be long-suffering that He might show His wrath and His
justice. But He's doing it for His glory
and for the good of His people. You work for somebody, maybe
they're an unbeliever, and Almighty God has prospered them and given
them a good job, good business, and He's provided for you through
them. And God will take care of you
through them, using them as the means. And when it's all said
and done, Almighty God who prospered you and kept you and sustained
you and never left you, and will deal with them because of their
unbelief. Is that right? Yes, it's right. Why is it right? Because God said it was right.
That's the bottom line. He is not worshipped as though
He needed men's hands, as though He needed any. See, He gave us
to all life and breath and all things. Matthew 6, 31, 32, Therefore
take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? What shall we drink? Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
For after all these things do the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly
Father knoweth that you have need of all these things. Paul
the Apostle began this message to the Athenians very wisely. He was not going to compromise
the gospel. But he didn't come and make an
enemy by his rashness in his speech. Let the offense be the cross. Let the offense be God Almighty's
sovereignty. Let the offense be the gospel
of free grace. There's the offense. Not coming
on to someone When you speak to them, understand you're speaking
to someone that's ignorant. If they understood what you were
saying, you wouldn't be speaking to them ignorantly. You'd be
fellowshipping with them. But whenever you speak to someone,
speak to them understanding that they don't know what you're talking
about. They don't understand what you're talking about. The
gospel will be offensive to them because It's a Gospel that tells
them you're lost if you bow not to this God, to this Christ right
here. But Paul wisely used the speech,
to come to them in a soft and tender way. I hope I can learn
from that. Speak to someone kind. You probably
know they're wrong. I mean, you do. If they don't
believe the Gospel, they're wrong. But when you speak to them, speak
to them in a tender way, but tell them the truth. Remember
this, a lie or not telling them the truth has never helped anybody.
You said one time, people will say, I don't want to tell somebody
the truth. I don't want to confuse them. They're already confused.
They don't know the truth. But let the gospel be the offense.
Tell them of a God that you serve. Tell them who Christ is. Tell
them what God has done for you. That's what the Lord told that
man. He said, you go tell the men what good things the Lord
has done for you. Alright, Gary, lead us in a closing.