All right, turn back with me,
if you would, to Acts 17. Acts 17, I believe that the Lord
has stirred my spirit with the truth
this morning. And you're going to see what
I mean in saying that in just a minute. In this text here in
Acts 17, Paul is moving from place to place preaching the
gospel. He's going from town to town
preaching the gospel. And he came to Thessalonica.
And in verse 2, Acts 17, verse 2, Paul, as his manner was, went
in unto them, and three Sabbath days, three Sundays, reasoned
with them out of the scriptures, opening and alleging that Christ
must needs have suffered and risen again from the dead, and
that this Jesus whom I preach unto you is Christ. And some
of them believed. It says a great number of them
did, a great multitude did, of the Greeks. But the Jews got
mad. They just got mad. Verse six,
and when they found them not, when the Jews found them not,
they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city crying,
these that have turned the world upside down are come hither also. They've turned our religious
world upside down. We were right side up until they
came along. They burst our religious bubble.
That's what they've done. Verse nine says, and when they
had taken security of Jason and of the other, they let them go.
And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night
unto Berea. who coming thither went into
the synagogue of the Jews, these were more noble than those in
Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of
mind and searched the scriptures daily whether those things were
so. Oh, I wish God would make more
sinners as noble as the Bereans, that they would open up God's
word. Actually open up God's Word. And search the Scriptures to
see whether these things are so. The things that your pastor
is telling you, are they so? The things I'm telling you, are
they so? You know, your soul's on the
line. You know that? He says this. He says that. You know what that means? One
of us is lying. Which one? There's only one truth. I don't care what matter it is.
I saw a car wreck on Center Street. I was coming out the other day,
and I saw the car wreck. There's only one truth to that
whole story. One fact. This car pulled out. That car
hit that car. The police came and said, what
happened? There's only one truth. He says this. He says that. One
of you is lying. Which one? Verse 14 says, And
then immediately the brethren sent away Paul to go, as it were,
to the sea. But Silas and Timotheus abode
there still. And they that conducted Paul
brought him to Athens. And receiving a commandment unto
Silas and Timotheus for to come to him with all speed, they departed.
Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred
in him. when he saw the city wholly given
to idolatry. Don't you wish that last word
said Christ Don't you wish that? I wish this
whole city of Kingsport was wholly given to Christ. I wish God would
come here and save 53,640 people or whatever's on that sign. Welcome
to Kingsport. The whole city has been given
to Christ. Don't you wish that? But it doesn't
say that. It says idolatry. Idolatry. They were worshipers. They worshipped
something. They showed up and worshipped
something. Just like people are doing right now. This morning.
Worshipping something. Verse 21 says, For all the Athenians
and strangers which were there spent their time in nothing else
but either to tell or to hear some new thing. Isn't that this
world? I got something new to tell you.
I want to hear something new, some new thing. By God's mercy,
I don't have anything new to say. If we're looking for something
new, we have come to the wrong place. All I have is the truth. That's
all I have is the truth. Our Lord said, you shall know
the truth and the truth shall make you free. And if God will
be with us, we'll declare the truth this morning. We'll declare
the truth. Here it is, okay? Turn with me
over to John 3. John chapter 3. John 3 verse 36, He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life. And he that believeth not the
Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. Period. Period. 1 John says, He that hath the Son
hath life. He that hath not the Son of God
hath not life. Period. They kept looking for something
new, some new thing. The Apostle Paul said, I am determined
to know no thing. Except for Jesus Christ and him
crucified. That's it. Jesus Christ and him
crucified. The Lord told Martha, Martha,
the Lord came to Martha's house and Martha was running around
trying to get the table ready. We got to serve some people food
and nobody's helping me. Mary's not helping me. And the
Lord said, Martha, Martha, there is one thing needful. I think we had the best conference
ever. There was one thing needful in that conference. We were very
hospitable and I'm so glad, but there's one thing needful, isn't
it? One thing. And that's to hear the truth
of the word of God. And he said, Mary's chosen the
good part and it's not going to be taken from her. Man, aren't
you glad for that? It's not going to be taken from
her. She's hearing the truth. Let's listen to the truth this
morning. Let's listen to the truth this
morning. I have the truth this morning. I do. I know I do. The burden is being pressed into
my soul that men and women are leaving this earth and they're
going to meet God thinking that they're ready and they're not.
They're not. And I believe the Lord is is
I'm asking for it, and I hope and believe the Lord's given
me a love for humanity for the people of this town. I hope so. So let's listen to the truth
this morning. Back over to our text. Go with me back to Acts
17. Paul saw all of this error. He saw the lie that they were
living in. Verse 22 says, then Paul stood in the midst
of Mars Hill. and said, You men of Athens,
I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious. When I read that, I hoped that
it meant a certain thing. So I went to the concordance
and looked it up, and sure enough, it did. I was so happy. The word
means religious. That's what it means. Religious. He told them, You're just too
religious. You're just too religious. You
have all your little idols. They were wholly given to idolatry. You have all your idols set up.
This one is called, I don't drink, smoke, cuss, chew, or run with
women that do. Don't do that. And I'm looking
to that for salvation. It's my idol. I worship that. This one's called, as a child,
I was baptized. And I'm looking to that for salvation.
This one's called, as a teenager, I rededicated my life to Jesus.
And I had to do it again in my 20s after college. And I'm looking
to that for salvation. This one's called, I never committed
adultery. I never committed murder. I've
never been in trouble with the law. Never been in jail. I've
never spent one night in jail. This one's called, I just try
to love people and be generous and do right. And that's just,
I think if I just do that, I'm going to get to go to heaven.
So I'm trusting in that. That's my idol. I give my time to charity. I
feed the children. I wear a cross around my neck.
I have a fish on my car. Don't you see it? Paul's saying,
if you are rubbing any of those rabbits' feet, I'm sorry to tell
you, but you're just too superstitious. I think I'm going to get to go.
I've got a bunch of them. You're just too religious, he
said. You're blinded by your own religion. Verse 23 says, 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. Him. All those little idols we
just set up right here started with I. Him, declare I unto you." Let me get to the point and tell
you what Paul is telling them. Here's the title of the message.
Come to Christ. Come to Christ. Him. Come to Christ. The unknown
God. They had no idea who God was
back then. Men and women have no idea who
God is today. He's still the unknown God. You know that? Oh yeah, I worship
God. I went to church on Sunday. Well,
who did you worship? God? Well, who is God? Paul told all those religious
people whom therefore you ignorantly worship. Declare I unto you. Not what? Him. Him. Come to Christ. Come to Christ. Come to Christ. Verse 24 says,
God that made the world, that's Christ. And all things therein,
that's Christ. That's what John 1 says. All
things were made by Him and without Him was not anything made that
was made. God that made the world and all
things therein, seeing that He is Lord of heaven and earth. Paul didn't tell those people,
seeing that He wants to be Lord. Won't you make Him Lord? He wants to be, why won't you
let Him? Please make Jesus your Lord. No. He didn't say seeing
that one day he will be Lord. He said, seeing that he is. You had better and I had better,
we had better bow to Christ. That's what we better do. Come
to Christ, bow to Christ. Men talk about coming to the
doctrines of grace. You know, that's the point in
my life that I came to the doctrines of grace. Don't do that. Don't do that. Don't come to the doctrines of
grace. Come to Christ. Our Lord said, come unto me,
didn't he? Come unto me. I had a man tell
me about four years ago, who now attends nowhere. He said, I'm a staunch Calvinist. I came to Calvinism at an early
age. Don't do that. Don't do that. Don't come to Calvin. Come to
Christ. If you come to Christ, I promise
you, you will be convinced that you are totally depraved if you
come to Christ. If you ever see His holiness
and His purity, you'll be convinced, I'm totally depraved. If you're ever brought to Christ,
you will be convinced that it has to be unconditional election
because I am totally depraved. Has to be. He didn't choose me
for anything good in me. If you're brought to Christ,
you will be convinced that He shall not fail. If God causes you to see the
High King of Heaven, the mighty God, you're going to realize
if there are men and women in hell, then Christ didn't die
for every man and woman because He shall not fail. He shall not
fail. He died, like he said he did,
for all those whom the Father gave him. If he died for all men and women
and some are in hell, then Christ is a failure. That's not the
Christ of this scripture. It has to be particular redemption.
It has to be what Calvinism calls limited atonement. That means
all the souls that the Father chose, Christ redeemed. Christ
redeemed them. None of them is lost. That's
not coming to Calvin. That's coming to Christ. If God
brings you to Christ, you're going to be convinced, I had
no say in the matter. I've been kicking and screaming
my whole life. This grace was irresistible.
Thanks be to God for irresistible grace. And if God brings you to Christ,
you're going to be convinced that you've been brought to the
one person who is able to preserve your soul all the way to glory. If my soul was in the hands of
anybody else, then I'm not too hopeful. But I've been brought
to the one person. Come to Christ. Come to Christ.
Look at verse 24. 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. Turn with me over
to 1 Kings chapter 8. 1 Kings chapter 8. Now this is Solomon's prayer
at the dedication of the temple, the temple that was built by
Solomon for the Lord, verse 27, 1 Kings 8, 27. But will God indeed
dwell on the earth? Behold, the heaven and heaven
of heavens cannot contain thee. How much less this house that
I have built. The heavens can't contain you.
Solomon said he did as he was ordered to do. He built the temple,
but then he said, how's this house going to contain you? People
say we have got to get back in church. We've gone too long.
We're just going to have to buckle down and get back in church. That's all there is to it. And what they mean is, we're
going to have to get in one of the buildings. We've got to get
in one of these buildings. There are buildings everywhere.
We've got no excuse. I drive past them every day.
I've got to get in one of them. Don't do it. Don't do it. Don't do that. Don't go. That's
not a trick answer. Don't go. The declaration of the pure word
of God is hard to find. Our Lord said, few there be that
find it. There are churches all over this
town who are not preaching the word of God. Don't step foot
in them. Well, that can't be all bad. They've got to have some of it
right. Telling you the truth this morning. I've been burdened
with the truth this morning. Don't go. Don't go. If they don't tell you, come
to Christ and Christ alone. Don't go. Stop going. If they
don't tell you, it is finished. Jesus Christ hath bled, there's
redemption. And it's finished. Salvation
is finished. Christ paid the debt. If they
don't tell you that, stop going. If they tell you, you've got
to make a decision, or you've got to walk an aisle, you've
got to come down front, or you've got to get in the pool, if they
add anything to, it is finished. Stop going. Stop going. Don't move a muscle. Stop going. Don't move a muscle. Stop going. Don't move a muscle and come
to Christ. Come to Christ. Let me show you
why, okay? Go with me to Matthew 23. Matthew
23. Verse 13. Our Lord said, but woe unto you
scribes. Those were the people in the
Bible business. They copied Bibles and sold Bibles. Woe unto you
scribes and Pharisees. Those were the famous religious
leaders. We have some on TV. We've got
some famous religious leaders. Our Lord called them hypocrites.
For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men. which means
you don't tell them God's word. For you neither go in yourselves,
neither suffer them that are entering to go in. You're not
going to go in, and those that hear you are not going to go
in. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you
devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayer.
Therefore you shall receive the greater damnation. Woe unto you,
scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you compass sea and land
to make one proselyte, one convert. We're going to save somebody.
And when he is made, you make him twofold more the child of
hell than yourselves. That's hard in that. They kept saying the disciples
kept saying, Lord, they're all saying, these are hard sayings. But is it the truth? We're going
to go meet God. Most people are not prepared
to go meet God because they have not come to Christ. They haven't
come to Christ. So Paul tells us, don't get in
church. He said, you're just too superstitious.
Don't come to religion. Come to Christ. I'm going to
tell you about him. That's what he said. Come to
Christ with the heart. This is a heart thing, not a
mind thing. Those who have learned something
about Calvinism, those who have learned something
about Calvinism need to know that this is a heart thing, not
a mind thing. This is a heart thing, not a
mind thing. This is a heart thing, not a
mind thing. Go a bit with me back over to
Acts 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 and all things. The Lord Jesus Christ
does not need anything. That's worthy of a sellah. Let's
pause right there. What are men telling the world
of religion? The opposite. The Lord Jesus Christ does not
need any. He is the self-sufficient God. Complete God. He lacks nothing. There is a billboard on 11W and the organization is called
AMTC. Actors, Models and Talent for
Christ. We are going to promote ourselves
and try to become famous and rich And we're going to do that
for Christ. We're going to take all the glory
for ourselves. All the attention, we're going
to put it on ourselves and we're going to do that for Christ. I would tell you how stupid that
is, but Sophie will get on to me. Can't say that in our house.
It's a bad word. Let's give something to Jesus.
He said in Psalm 50, it's already mine. It's already mine. What
are you going to give me or do to help me out? The king 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 thee. For the world is mine, and the
fullness thereof. It all belongs to Him. Verse
25 says, Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he
needed anything, seeing he giveth to all life and breath and all
things. Everything we have to give was
given to us by Him first. We're only giving back in thanks.
That's all we're doing. We're not doing anything for
Him, nothing. He does everything for us. We're just saying thanks. We
have our life because He gave it to us. In Christ, come to Christ. We
have our breath because He gives it to us. When I wrote that,
I took a breath. And it dawned on me, God, just
in mercy, gave me that. Look what else he's given to
us. Look at verse 26. "...and hath made of one blood." There is a fountain. We just spent all this time saying
what will not save a man's soul. There is a fountain. One. And it's filled with blood. Blood
that was drawn from Emmanuel's veins. And every sinner who is
plunged beneath that flood will lose all his guilty stains. That's
it. One blood, the precious blood
of the Lamb. He shed that blood for a great
multitude of people. A chosen people out of every
tribe, nation, kindred, tongue, and thankfully generation. Verse
26 says, He's 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. Man's days
are set, set by God. But in the time He gives them, He set the bounds of their habitation.
He's hedged them about. He has hedged about their habitation. Verse 27 says 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 poets 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 gold, or silver,
or stone, graven by art and man's device." Now let me illustrate
what Paul is saying right there. And this is the point I'm trying
to make this morning. When we walk away, I hope one point has
been hammered. Come to Christ. Come to Christ. All right, let's illustrate this.
Let's say a man is getting married. And there's a woman who wants
to get married. And she comes to his estate,
his place. And he's standing outside waiting
on her with all his stuff. And when she gets there, she
walks straight up to his car and she says, I want that. I'd love to have that. And then she leaves his car and
he's watching all this and she leaves his car and walks straight
up to the front of his house and says, I would love to have
this. I would love to have it. And
the man lives right across the street from his bank. So she
walks across the street and goes into the bank and says, can I
see his account balance? I would love to have that. He
has all things. I would seriously love to have
that. How do you think that's going
to go for her? How do you think that's going
to go for her? Is that not religion? There's an old song, an old gospel
song. I don't know who sang it. I heard
it as a child. Maybe Bill Gaither or somebody. This is what the
song says. Anybody here want to live forever? Say, I do. You can marry into this. Anybody here want to walk on
golden streets? Say, I do. Anybody here sick
and tired of living like you do? Anybody here want to live
forever? Say I do. Where's Christ? Where's Christ in all that? Well,
who needs him if we have all his stuff? Where's the bridegroom in all
that? I can tell you any bride who
comes with the wrong affection, a heart for the wrong thing,
it won't go well for her. Now in a different scenario,
let's say she walks up and she walks right past his car and
right past his house and right past his bank and she comes to
him and says, I need you. I want you. I love you. I don't care what you have. I
have to have you. How do you think that's going
to go for her? He's going to say, come on, honey,
let's go to our home. But this is a great house, as long as
you're living in it with me. Here's the keys to our car. Take
it wherever you need to. I don't want to go anywhere without
you. You see that bank over there?
Inside that bank is a joint account. All that I have, I've given to
you. You know what she's going to say? If I have you, I have
all that I need. You're all I need. I have to have you. Do you see the difference? Here's
my point this morning. Come to Christ. Come to Christ. Don't come to the doctrines.
It won't end well. You'll have a head knowledge,
but if the heart is not in it, it won't end well. Come to Christ. Don't come to ceremonies. Don't
do it. Don't come to baptism. Come to
Christ. After that, you'll burn to be
baptized. Because you'll know why you want to be baptized.
For the first time in my life, I've come to Christ. I'm looking
to Christ. Don't come to the Lord's table.
Come to Christ. Verse 27, 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. Him. Him. Verse 30 says, and
the times of this ignorance, ignorance through religion, God
winked at, but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent.
Our God has been patient and long suffering, but Paul says
it's time to have a changed mind. It's time to have a changed mind.
That's what he's saying. It's time to have a changed mind.
That's what repentance is. A changed mind about who God
is. A changed mind about who man is. A changed mind about
what salvation is. A changed mind about Christ. It's time to come to Christ.
Verse 31 says, 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. Some are going to be judged in
him. He said he's given some assurance
because he raised him from the dead. Some are going to be judged
in him. Some are going to be judged by
him. by him, so run to Christ. Run
to Christ. Bow the knee and beg for mercy. Our Lord said, him that cometh
to me, I will in no wise cast out. Any sinner in here or out
there who runs to Jesus Christ will not be cast out. Will not. Verse 32 says, and when they
heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. Some heard
all that and said, that's crazy. Others said, we will hear thee
again of this matter. I think we'd like to hear that
again. You say, this is the only thing you have. You say, this
is the one thing. I think I'd like to hear that
again. You're just going to preach Christ next time, right? You're
just going to tell us about the unknown God. You're going to
declare him. I think I'd like to hear that again. Verse 33, So Paul departed from
among them, howbeit certain men clave unto him, and believed,
among the which was Dionysius. His name means to take great
pleasure or delight in, to make merry, happy. Happy was he who
clave and believed. The Areopagite, And a woman named
Damaris, her name means gentle and tame, humble and meek. They were happy and they were
humbled to learn of the unknown God and others with them. So
they clave and they believe. You know what that means? It
means they came to Christ. They clave and they believed.
Don't move a muscle. Come to Christ. Come to Christ. All right, let's stand together.