Turn with me back to Acts chapter
17. Acts chapter 17. The last thing that any of God's
preachers want, the very last thing that any of God's preachers
want is to be personally offensive in the declaration of God's Word.
That's the last thing we want. This word is offensive enough
to the flesh. It offends this flesh. And I don't need to add any personal
offense to it. No point in it. If a man will
stand up and declare what God has written in this word, just
read what God has written in this word. and give the sense
of the reading, the offense of the cross will be very clearly
set forth. And so there's just no point
in me adding any personal offense to it. There's no need to do
that. But all that being said though,
we cannot shy away from the truth that God has written in this
word to this world. We cannot shy away from the truth.
Paul was in Athens, Greece. In verse 16, right here in Acts
17, verse 16 says, Now while Paul waited for them, that's
Silas and Timothy, while Paul waited for them at Athens, his
spirit was stirred in him. when he saw the city wholly given
to idolatry. He looked around and he was stirred,
stirred by what he saw. Men and women of that place,
they were worshiping everything under the sun, but the true and
living God. And that's idolatry, worshiping
anything that is not God Almighty. So verse 17 says, therefore disputed
he in the synagogue with the Jews and with the devout persons
and in the market daily with them that met with him. He started
telling them the truth. He started telling men and women
the truth about God. He started telling men and women
the truth about God. He started telling men and women
the actual truth about God. I was going to say man and salvation,
but I think I'll just stay on God for a little bit. He started
telling men the actual truth about God. They'd been lied to. And he told them the truth about
man and he told them the actual truth about salvation. Verse 19 says, And they took
him and brought him unto Areopagus, that's Mars Hill, saying, May
we know what this new doctrine whereof thou speakest is? For
thou bringest certain strange things to our ears. I've never
heard anybody say anything like this. And I've been in a lot
of churches. So they said in verse 20, We
would know therefore what these things mean. We want to know
what you're talking about. So Paul told them. I have been called to do the
exact same thing this morning. The message that Paul had for
Athens, Greece is the exact same message that I have for Kingsport,
Tennessee. Exact same message. 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 religious. That's what the word superstitious
means. Religious. He said, I've come into this
city, I've looked around and I've perceived something. In
all things, you're just too religious. You're too religious. You ever heard anything like
that before? You're just too religious. That is actually the
problem for Kingsport, Tennessee. Now I'm not high and mighty,
but about three years ago I came into this town and I looked around
We were going to be on the radio, so I started listening to Christian
radio stations. And you know what I perceived?
In all things, Kingsport is just too religious. It is just too religious. That's the problem for Kingsport. And it's not just Kingsport.
This world is too religious. Paul was saying this to Athens,
Greece. That's on the other side of the
world. Kingsport is the same way. It's just too religious. Now the average person who comes
into a church on Sunday and watches a man stand up behind a pulpit
and listens to that man beat on the pulpit, crying hell, fire
and brimstone, what he expects to hear is, you're just too sinful. But that's not the problem. That's not the problem. That's
not the problem for man. I don't care what it is. Our
God is able. The problem is men and women
are not sinful enough. Let me explain what that means.
They are plenty sinful. inside and out, head to toe,
completely, nothing but sin. But they don't know it. No idea. And they sure don't
believe it. You tell a sinner that, he doesn't
believe that. And the reason they don't believe
it is because they're just too religious. They're just too religious. Preachers everywhere are trying
to get people saved. A man years and years ago said,
I'm trying to get people lost. I'm trying to get people lost.
That's what Paul was doing right here. Trying to get people lost. In their own eyes, they're already
saved. They were born saved. Most people
believe they enter this world saved. Been saved all my life. Why would I not be? Even though they don't have any
idea who God is. in spite of the fact that God himself said
this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true
God. That's salvation. I've told you
many times that Hannah and I attended a wedding and this pitiful excuse
for a preacher conducted this wedding and he closed the ceremony
by saying this was all done in the sight of God, whoever he
or she may be. All right, well, I don't know
who God is. There would be no point in that man trying to tell
me he knows who God is. He's I've already heard him say
whoever he or she may be. I don't know who God is, but
I've got my religion. I'm worshiping something, so
I'm good. I'm good. That's being just too religious.
That's the problem. Just too religious. Oh, that
men and women would become lost. I mean lost. Christ came to save
sinners. But do you know what? Sinners
are hard to find. They're hard to find. You can go into church building
after church building. I could make the announcement.
I thought about, you know, we keep bringing up church circles
sometimes. I don't know how many people can fit in those buildings. 1,000, 2,000, I don't know. But
you could go in and make this statement. You could ask this
question loud enough for all those people to hear. Are there
any sinners in here? I believe you would not get a
response. That's what I believe. I believe
you would not hardly get a response. No? No sinners in here? Well, then Christ didn't come
to save anybody in here. I'll just go to the next building. And I'm not wanting to be hard.
I would love to go into those places. And the reason is not
because I want to be mean and hard. I'm not trying to be mean
or hard. The reason is because there are
some people that I love who attend those places. I love them. I
love them. I want God to have mercy on them.
I want them to bow to the true and living God. But they attend
those places. And I would love to ask them,
who are you worshipping? Don't you know how serious this
is? Who are you worshipping? They would all say, God. Every
one of them. We're worshiping God. Well, who
is God? This is life eternal that they
might know they the only true God. Who is God? People know who Jesus is. They
call themselves Christians. We know who Jesus Christ is.
We've got him down. What they don't know is who is
God. Who's God? If we were to find
out who God is, we would all see that man's problem is he's
too religious. Just too religious. Turn with
me to Luke chapter 5. Luke chapter 5 verse 29 says,
Levi made him a great feast in his own house. And there was
a great company of publicans and of others that sat down with
them. But the scribes and Pharisees
murmured against his disciples saying, why do you eat and drink
with publicans and sinners? And Jesus answering said unto
them, They that are whole need not a physician, but they that
are sick. I came not to call the righteous. I came not to call the righteous. I came not to call the righteous. but sinners to repentance. If a man or woman ever got a
hold of that, he would lose his religion, wouldn't he? He'd lose
his religion. Go with me back to Acts 17. Verse 22 says, Then Paul stood
in the midst of Mars Hill, and said, You men of Athens, I perceive
that in all things you're too superstitious. For as I passed
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. The gospel is coming to Athens. Paul just made the announcement.
The gospel has just arrived in Athens. Him declare I unto you. Just so that man knows who conducted
that wedding, he is a him. Him declare I unto you. Now Paul is going to take the
next eight verses to tell who God is. And if any of us in here
would like to know who God is, May we listen to our brother
Paul. May God give us a heart right now to listen to brother
Paul. This is music to a believer's
ears right here. Verse 24, he said, God that made
the world and all things therein. Who made the world and all things
therein? keep reading it says seeing that he is Lord you see
how that's a capital L and a lowercase o rd you know who that is that's the Lord Jesus Christ look at John 1 we've we've seen
this many times but let's look at it again John 1 John 1 verse 1 says, In the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and 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. Verse 14 says, And the Word was
made flesh and dwelt among us. Jesus Christ made this world
and all things therein." And Paul said in our text, whoever
made the world and all things therein is God. He's God. Whoever made every bit of this,
that's God. And that's Jesus Christ. Who
are we worshiping? If somebody came in and made
this announcement, who are you worshiping? Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ. Back over
to Acts 17, verse 24 says, God who made the world and all
things therein, seeing that He is Lord of heaven and earth. Lord means supreme in authority. It means the controller, seeing
that He is the controller. Verse 24, it says, He dwelleth
not in temples made with hands. He cannot be confined to man's
box. He can't be confined. Where does
he dwell? David said, our God is in the
heavens. He's in the heavens, seated on
his throne. He's doing whatever he is pleased to do. Just listen
to this. This is 2nd Chronicles chapter
2. I love this. Solomon was going to build a
house for the Lord. And it went through and told
everything he made preparations for it. He appointed three score
and 10,000 men to bear burden, 70,000 men to carry things. And
he appointed four score thousand, that's 80,000 men to go into
the woods and hew trees. And he appointed 3,600 to oversee
them. 153,600 men to build the Lord's house. And it goes through all these
things, but Solomon finally says, but who is able to build him
a house? He had 153,600 men on this and
Solomon said, who's able to build him a house? Seeing the heaven
and heaven of heavens cannot contain him. Who am I then that
I should build him a house save only to burn sacrifice before
him? This house right here can't contain
him. This is here for us to burn the incense of prayer to him. That's it. He dwells in the heavens. Back in Acts chapter 17 verse
24 says, 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 worshipped with men's hands as though he
needed anything, seeing he giveth to all life and breath in all
things. Most people believe that they
need to do something for God. That's the only reason we have
bake sales. and humanitarian trips. We're going to go rebuild houses
because a hurricane came through and God didn't want that to happen.
So we're going to help God by rebuilding the things that an
accident took care of. Man believes that he has to do
something for God. What he does not realize is God
is the one who gave him life in the first place. Jesus Christ, God. If God did
not give man life, he would have no existence. I mean, Adam and
me, no existence. A man is going to do something
to help God out. He giveth to all life and breath. God gave man his original breath. A baby is born into this world
and first breath. God gave every one of us our
original breath and he gave us the last breath we just took. God just gave me that. He gave
commandment from the throne. Breathe. Breathe. Breathe. He sustains me. If he did not say to my being,
breathe, I would die. That's the only thing that is
between me and death. All he has to do is just stop,
and then I'm gone. My breath is not my own. It's not my own. He gives it
to me. It's a gift from God. And I'm
going to do something for him. Well, he needs me. Well, you
know, I think we ought to give God a little money now. God needs
our money. He does not need our money. He gave us everything we have
in the first place. God gives us our life, He gives
us our breath, He gives us all things. If He needed our money,
all He would need to do is not give it to us in the first place.
That's all He'd have to do. He commands us to give for our
sake, not for His sake. He commands that for our sake.
Turn with me over to Psalm 50. I've always loved this. This is God speaking, the Lord
Jesus Christ, the same one who was born of
a virgin a thousand years after he spoke this. Psalm 50, look
at verse 10. He said, Every beast of the forest
is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills. I know all
the fowls of the mountains and the wild beast of the field are
mine. If I were hungry, I would not
tell they. For the world is mine and the
fullness thereof. It all belongs to him. I really don't believe that this
world has any idea who God is. I believe they don't have any
idea who God is. Go with me back to Acts chapter
17. Look at the second half, verse 25. Seeing he giveth to all life
and breath and all things and hath 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 has done all that? God has. Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ has. He predetermined
the times appointed for every man and woman. He set the bounds
of their habitation. The day they're born, the day
they die. It's in His hands. It is appointed
unto men once to die, isn't it? There are no accidents with God.
It's appointed. His days are determined. He cannot
pass. That's what Job said. He cannot
pass. Jesus Christ is the absolute,
almighty, all controlling, sovereign God. Him declare I unto you. He created all things. He does
not need anything. And he has appointed everything.
That's who Jesus Christ is. Now that's also the good news
of the gospel. That's the good news of the gospel. He has appointed
some of the creatures that he made, some of the creatures that
he sustains. He has appointed some of them
to seek him. Look at verse 27, it says that
they should seek the Lord if happily, if their happen is,
if he appoints their hap to be, just like Ruth, her hap was to
land in the only field of the man who could redeem her, Boaz. If happily they might feel after
him and find him, though he be not far from every one of us.
Why feel after him? Because we're blind. We're blind. We're spiritually blind, blind
to God. That's why he's the unknown God
to us. Most people hear that and they
say, no, I see just fine. No, we don't. Not spiritually. If God would ever open our eyes,
You know, a man who's born blind has no idea what it's like to
see. You can tell him he's blind, he might believe, you might not.
But if he could ever see, he would know, I was blind. Man, it was all black. And if God would ever open our
eyes, we would see that I was blind. He must give me
sight. He must give me spiritual sight.
The mercy of God is to call some to go seeking after Him. He said,
you'll find me if you search for me with all your heart. All
your heart. Why is it such mercy for a sinner
to seek Him and find Him? The reason is because verse 28
says, in Him we live and move and have our being. Life is in
Him. Life is in Him, all life, spiritual
life, eternal life, it is all in the Lord Jesus Christ. There is one source of life, and the world has no idea what
it is. How blessed are we to have eyes to see and ears to
hear? How blessed are we? Jesus Christ is life. If we want
to live and move and have our being, then we must be in Him. He that hath the Son, the unknown
God, He has life. Verse 29, For as much then as
we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the
Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art
and man's device. Offspring of God. Offspring of
God. We're the offspring of God. Every
sinner who lives in Christ is made to be a child of God, a joint heir with Christ, adopted
into his family. Verse 29 says, For as much then
as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the
Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art
and man's device. Why shouldn't we think that? because those things are dead. Those things are dead. You know,
people, they're going to go worship God, so what do they do? They
show up to a beautiful building that's decorated with all kinds
of beautiful things, and you go inside, and the stained glass
is so gorgeous, and the altar is so gorgeous. We're going to
worship God. Those things are dead. They're
all dead. He is the living God, the true
and living God. He's a person. He's a person. He is nothing like gold. He's so much more precious than
gold. We sing that song, precious, more precious. Wealth that can
never be told. He is nothing like silver. He
was tried in the fire of God's wrath like silver could never
be tried. He is nothing like stone graven by man's device. He is flesh. He is bone. He has a heart. He feels pity. He feels compassion. He is the living and loving God,
the true and living God. Mankind does not know that though.
They think that God is a mindset. They think he's a mindset. They
think he's a state of peace and meditation. They think he's an
inner harmony. They call all of his works Mother
Nature. Everything that happens, Mother
Nature did it. Not God our Father, not Christ our Lord, Mother Nature.
Verse 30, in the times of this ignorance, God winked at. But
now commandeth all men everywhere to repent. Why now? He's winked
at all of those times, but now he commands every man to repent.
The reason is because Christ came and he preached saying,
the kingdom of heaven is at hand. The kingdom of heaven is at hand. We are about to leave this building. We're about to walk out of this
building. If God will be merciful to us and if he will keep saying
to us, breathe, breathe, breathe, that's great. If God will be
merciful to us and if he'll hedge our car about and keep it in
our lane and keep everybody else's car in their lane, that's great. But if he doesn't, the kingdom
of heaven is at hand. The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Verse 31 says, Because he hath
appointed a day in the 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 raised him from the dead. Every man
and woman on the face of this earth is going to be judged by
this unknown God. Every man and woman is going
to be judged by this unknown God. Some are going to be judged
compared to Him. All of His perfection, all of
His righteousness, all of His holiness, they're going to be
judged side by side compared to Him. And if they don't stack
up, out of darkness. Some, though,
are going to be judged in the unknown God. Some are going to
be judged in His perfection, in His holiness, in His righteousness. And I love the thought that for
all that God gave to Him, the judgment's over. The judgment's
over. I used to wonder when God calls
my name, what would I say? And it was so relieving to me
to realize for all who are in this unknown God, the judgment
is over. We stood before the bar when
he hung on that cross. That's when I was standing before
God Almighty. I didn't hold up. That's why
Christ died. It's because God saw me in Christ
and I didn't hold up and he killed me. I died. Nevertheless, I live. Christ lives in me. Every sinner that God put in
Christ caused him to look to Christ, this unknown God, believe
on Christ. Do you believe that Jesus Christ
is the true and living God? Every sinner that God has caused
to do that, He gives assurance to that sinner by raising Christ
from the dead. That's what he said in verse
31. Because he hath appointed a day in which he'll judge the
world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained, whereof
he hath given assurance unto all men in that he raised him
from the dead. That's who God is. That's who
God is. The one who was risen from the
dead. That's the unknown God of all heaven and earth. He is
the living Lord, He is the dying Lord, He is the risen Lord. He is the saving Lord, God Almighty. Verse 32 says, And when they
heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, and others
said, We will hear thee again of this matter. So Paul departed
from among them, howbeit certain men clave unto him, and believed. Among the witch was Dionysius,
the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them. I hope that my name is written
with their names. That's what I hope. Paul came
in and he saw this place totally given to idolatry, and he stood
up and he told everybody the absolute truth about who the
unknown God is. And as soon as they heard, the
one who died and rose again, this man, Jesus, is God. I don't
believe that. But some clave, and they said,
I think I'll hear this again. And a man and a woman were recorded,
and I hope my name is written right there beside them. I hope
God will cause us all to know Him and cleave to Him. All right, let's stand together.