Please God to bless us together
as we continue our meditation in the 17th of the Acts of the
Apostles. And tonight we'll speak from
verse 22 down to verse 28. 22 to verse 28. We'll just read
it. 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. For as I pass by, 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. 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, neither is worship
with man's hands, as though he needed anything, seeing he giveth
to all life, and breath, and all things, and hath made of
one blood all nations of man to dwell on all the face of the
earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the
bounds of their habitation, 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 for in him we live and move
and have our being as certain also of your own prophets have
said for we are also his offspring. So we come this evening to the
time when the Apostle Paul was not only in Athens and speaking
and with the people, disputing with them in the synagogue and
also in the marketplace. And now we come to the occasion
when he stood in the midst of Mars Hill. Mars Hill is really
just a hillock. It's not particularly big. I've
stood there myself, and it's in the shadow of the Acropolis.
And it is, though, a place where He could have stood and people
could have gathered all around. He would have been above the
people and therefore able to declare the great truths that
God had commanded him to speak. And so he addressed them and
he said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too
superstitious. And he said that really because
apparently there were many various sects and various idols throughout
the city in Athens. It wasn't a place where there
was no worship. It was a place where there was
much worship, but it was not true worship. And so he comes
and he tells them what he had observed. He said, as I passed
by and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription
to the unknown God. He'd observed this as he went
about, and we see here that there were therefore those Athenians
who were carrying out their times of worship, their devotions,
and he wasn't really harsh with them. It's interesting to note
how the Apostle addresses these unbelieving, these idolaters.
And he speaks in this way and tells them that he'd seen an
inscription which was true to the unknown God. And so that
was a fair comment that he was able to make. And it was a true
comment and they would have concurred with it. But then he tells them,
whom therefore ye ignorantly worship. They of course didn't
know the true God. And therefore he was able to
speak to them and say, you ignorantly worship this unknown God. But then he tells them, him declare
I unto you. Now the Apostle Paul, as we know,
had many occasions when he had addressed the Jews. And of course,
when he addressed the Jews, they had a very good knowledge. generally
speaking, of all the law, the ceremonial law, and of all the
prophecies which were recorded in the Old Testament. And he
was able to refer them to those situations, to those statements,
to those facts, to those occurrences. But now in Athens, he faces a
very different people. And we see how it's beholden
upon us as we address people and meet people to recognize
the condition that they're in and to, by the grace of God,
address them appropriately. So what does the Apostle do here? Well, we have the statement of
how he addresses them. And what does he do? He starts
at the beginning. He tells us, God that made the
world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven
and earth. Well many people did of course
still believe that there was a being that had created all
things, but here the apostle Paul confirms the truth, God
that made the world and all things therein. what a blessing it would
be today if we were able to proclaim such a truth and that people
would understand and would be blessed with a believing heart
to appreciate that there is a God who has made and has created
all things. How sad it is we live in an atheistic
age when people do not believe. And of course the apostle was
discussing this with us, we mentioned last time the Epicureans, who
were really, as we might say today, those who supported Darwin's
theory, who believed that things just came into being. Well, the
Apostle, he meets this head-on, and he addresses them in this
way, God that made, it didn't just happen, God that made the
world, and all things therein, seeing he is Lord of heaven and
earth. He placed God in a very right
and high place, He was the Lord, not just of the things on the
earth, but the Lord of heaven and earth. And then he says,
dwelleth not in temples made with hands. They of course, no
doubt in Athens, there were many temples that were made to various
gods. And those people would have anticipated
that the God that they worship was perhaps in that building
or in that idol, or was that God? but the Apostle directs
them to a much higher place, a much higher standard. And he
tells them, this Lord who dwelleth not in temples made with hands. No, it wasn't of the earth. This
God was above the earth. This God was a great God. And
so he says, neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he
needed anything seeing he giveth to all life and breath and all
things. And so the position the apostle
spoke to them was to point them to the fact that this God, the
true God, the real God, had not only created all the heavens
and the earth, but had also given them all life and breath and
all things. The picture surely was to produce
great Almighty God a God who was in control of all things
and we should be thankful today that By the grace of God we come
and worship this same Almighty God This God who has not changed
this God is the same yesterday and today and forever and so
the Apostle is able to Direct them to this and tell them nights.
It's not a God that's worshipped with hands. It's nothing physical
something which indeed is spiritual and then he addresses them and
tells them and it's made of one blood all nations of men for
to dwell on the face of the earth again we know that all nations
are of course of one blood they may be perhaps different colors,
etc., all came through the time when the Tower of Babel and all
the people were distributed throughout the world and they formed in
different nations, in different languages. And therefore, the
Apostle just reminds them that this great God, the God who is
pointing out to them, is the one that has created all men
and made them of one blood. and all nations of men, for to
dwell on all the face of the earth." Yes, God made all of
mankind, wherever they were found, throughout the face of the earth.
Of course, the apostle had traveled a little bit, we might speak
of as Europe today, and he had some indication of the different
races, the different cultures which existed in those places,
and so he was able to speak along these lines and to tell them
that, and hath determined the times before appointed and the
bounds of their habitation. Well, it's good, isn't it, when
we realise that God controls the bounds of our habitation
today. He always has determined the
bounds of everybody on this earth. They're not able to wander around
just as they please. They may think they may, but
of course God is in control. God directs them. God guides
them. And what a blessing it is to
know that God is going with us and guiding us and directing
us in the day and age in which we live. And so he tells us,
have determined the times before appointed. Again, not something
haphazard, but directs them to the eternal counsel of God. It's really a full statement,
isn't it? That the apostles are able to
bring before these Athenians. And to tell them this, and have
determined the times before appointed. Yes, in fact we know that it
was before the earth was created. All things were appointed by
Almighty God. Things don't happen by chance
in this world. And so he tells them this great
truth, hath determined the times before appointed and the bounds
of their habitation. No one can go beyond the bounds
of God. God has boundaries for you and
me. We may not always appreciate
it, and man may not appreciate it, but we all have our boundaries,
the limitations of those places that we go to, and the variance,
perhaps, in a locality. Every place is appointed and
all the bounds of the habitation. And so, Paul goes on to say that
they should seek the Lord, if happily they might feel after
him and find him." Well, what a blessing it is if the Church
of God today, if the people in the world today seek after this
great blessing, to seek after the Lord. And so Paul here speaks
to these men in Athens and says to them that they should seek
the Lord. how important it has been, and
still is, and will be, down to the end of time, that men seek
the Lord. Seek for his mercy. Seek for
his grace. Seek for his love. What a blessing
if you and I can trace out in our lives the occasion, the time,
the period, when God came and showed us our need of a Saviour
and caused us to seek the Lord. What a blessing to be found amongst
those who seek. And the Lord tells us, those
that seek shall find. And so this was really a very
encouraging statement to these men in Athens, that they should
seek the Lord, if happily they might feel after him and find
him. Indeed, if the Lord was gracious
to them and heard their prayers, the prayers that he would have
indicted in their heart, that true prevailing prayer, and they
should be blessed to find him. And then he tells them, we regard
this great God, he says, though he be not far from every one
of us. Well, we know the word of God
tells us that God is in every place. beholding the evil and
the good. And I suppose we don't really
very often appreciate the great truth of that statement. Because if we really did, I'm
sure it would influence our lives much more. But we go on, don't
we, through the day, occupied in a crowded day, and sometimes
we spend perhaps It may be even ours that we don't think upon
the name of God. Well, here the apostle says that
they might seek after him and he tells them this great truth,
though he be not far from every one of us. It's good if we realise
that God's close at hand and he is always there to hear and
answer our prayers. And so the Apostle speaks in
these words. And then he tells them, for in
him we live, our life is hid with Christ in God. What a blessing
it is to think of that. Our life is in him. And so the
Apostle tells us, for in him course he's directing them to
the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. For in him we live. There's no life outside of Christ. Outside of Christ we are dead
in trespasses and in sins because he is our life. He is the truth. What a blessing it is to realise
that we have such a God. For in him we live and we move
and have our being. Everything is ordained by Almighty
God. And so Paul gives no room really
for manoeuvre here, when he is declaring to them this God, who
he knows. They put up this altar to the
unknown God, while Paul is declaring unto them the known God, the
true God, the God that he worships, and by God's grace, the God that
we worship. So he says, for in him we live
and move and have our being. As certain also of your own poets
have said, there were those who lived in these times who had
written with regard to such a statement. They may not have worshipped
the true God, but they may have believed there was a God who
was around them and not far from them. And so the apostle speaks
of this, as certain also of your own poets have said, for we are
also his offspring. Well, the apostle just reminds
them that we are all, we all emanate of course from Adam and
Eve, those whom God made. God created Adam and Eve and
we are all therefore his offspring. And so we see here in just a
few words really, just a few sentences, just a short time,
the apostle covers a great deal of ground to direct these superstitious
Athenians to the greatness of God so that they might, by God's
grace, seek after the true God, and to bow down and to worship
Him. Well, may we be found amongst
those today who are indeed worshipping the true God and bowing down
before the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, and acknowledge
Him to be our God, our Lord, and our Saviour. Amen.