All right, let's open our Bibles
again to the book of Acts. I'm going to be speaking this
morning from Acts 17. The title of the message is A Sermon Preached to the Philosophers. That's right, A Sermon for the
Philosophers. And I'm going to read Acts chapter
17 and comment on several verses. So you take your Bibles and turn
to Acts 17, verse 1. Now when they had passed through
Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica. Now this
is the beginning of the church at Thessalonica. You remember
Paul preached there God saved some people. He established a
church there, and those people were very close to him, very
dear to Paul. This is the first visit to Thessalonica. So where does he start his ministry?
Well, there was a synagogue of the Jews, verse 2 now. And Paul, as his manner was,
now watch and you'll see Paul's method, Paul's manner, as his
manner was. He went in unto them, and three
Sabbath days, the Jews met on the Sabbath day in their synagogues
of religion. And Paul went into the synagogue,
three Sabbath days, and reasoned with them out of the Scriptures. That's where Paul started in
the Scriptures. When Paul stood up to preach
or teach back then, he turned to the Old Testament Scriptures
and reasoned with these men out of the Scriptures. And what was
he reasoning about? Well, he was explaining, opening,
opening is explaining, or revealing, and alerting, professing, that
Christ, that Christ must need, has suffered, and rise again
from the dead. This is, this is what we were
studying a moment ago in the Centerspiel lesson. That Christ,
all these Jews were looking for the Christ. They were looking
for the Messiah. You know the woman at the well,
when our Lord talked to her, she said, the Messiah's coming,
and he'll tell us all things. He said, I'll just speak to them,
he, I'm the Messiah. And the Messiah's coming, and
here's what Paul is opening and alleging out of the scriptures,
the Messiah's, the Messiah must suffer. He must suffer, bleed,
and die, and rise again from the dead. That's what they couldn't
say. But that's what the scriptures are all about, is the suffering,
death, resurrection, and exaltation of the Lord Jesus Christ on behalf
of his people. That's what the Passover Lamb
says, and that's what the serpent lifted up, and that's what all
of the Old Testament sacrifices were about, the suffering of
the Messiah. And some of them believe, oh, and here's the next
thing, and that this Jesus whom I preach unto you, he is the
Christ." See, that all went into the synagogue. And he said now,
he opened the Old Testament, and he taught what Moses and
Samuel and David and Jeremiah and Isaiah and all these men
wrote about the Messiah, about the Christ, the woman's seed,
the virgin son, the suffering And he said, you must suffer
and die. And then he tells them, Jesus, whom you crucify, he is
the Christ. He's the Messiah. All right.
Verse 4. And some of them believed. And consorted with Paul and Silas,
these are the folks that started that church. They believed this
message. They received the message. And of the devout Greeks, a great
multitude of the chief women, not a few. There's some folks
that believe the gospel. They believe Christ is the Messiah.
They rested in it. But, verse 5, but the Jews, the
religious leaders, who believed not. And some believe and some
folks don't believe. And we preach on television,
radio, and other places, and in churches, and some believe
and some do not. But everybody was religious.
These people were all religious. Everybody in America's religious,
just about. Been saved at least once. some
of them several times, but they're all religious, you know. And
that's where these folks were. And they believed not. What didn't
they believe? They didn't believe Jesus Christ
is the Messiah, who must suffer, bleed, and die for sinners, be
buried and rise again, and ascend to the Father as our High Priest.
That's what they didn't believe. They were moved with envy, and
they took unto them certain lewd phallus of the basest sort, You know, God has some support,
so they gathered all these fellows, didn't know anything, didn't
know a thing in the world about the scriptures. The baster start,
the lewd fellows, and gather the company and settle all the
city in an uproar. And assaulted the house of Jason,
Jason was a believer, and sought to bring them out to the people,
these disciples, bring them out and have the people punish them. But they didn't find Paul. and
Silas and Timothy. These men had hit him. And so
they didn't find Paul, but they drew Jason out. And certain brethren,
unto the rulers of the city, saying, These that have turned
the world upside down are come here also, whom Jason hath received."
Jason received these disciples into his home, these men that
turned the world upside down. He's received them into his home.
And these all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar. Well,
of course they did. There's just one king, that's
Christ, not Caesar, who preaches the gospel of Christ, saying
there's another king. That's exactly what they're saying.
I said, you heard them, didn't you? And that's the King of Kings
and Lord of Lords, our Lord Jesus Christ. That's who he is. That's
the king. And these people trouble the people and the rulers of
the city. when they heard these things, and when they had taken
security of Jason and of the other, they let them go. Now
watch verse 10. And the brethren immediately
sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea. Here's another place
where Paul has gone to preach now, to Berea. Who coming thither
went into the synagogue of the Jews again. He goes to the synagogue
where the people were gathered together, Jews who were Jews
like him. You know, in Romans 10, he said,
he said, I bear record of these people. I was one of them. They have a zeal for God, but
not according to knowledge. They are ignorant of the righteousness
of God and going about to establish their own. He said, I grieve
over my brethren in the flesh. So here he's preaching to them.
Now, he went to the synagogue of the Jews, verse 11. were more noble than those in
Thessalonica. They didn't treat the disciples
with unkindness and persecution. They treated them with better
manners. They received them, and they listened to them, and
they studied the scriptures. Let's look here at the difference.
Now, let me ask you this question. Who made the difference? You
see, these men in verse 11, they were more noble than those in
Thessalonica. They're not like those fellas
in Thessalonica. These Bereans didn't. God made
the difference. It wasn't that they were more
mannerly and more gracious and more open to the Scriptures.
God opened their hearts. You see, when Paul went into
Philippi, went down to the river to preach, there was a woman
there named Lydia. a businesswoman, a seller of
purple, God opened her heart, and she listened to the things
of Paul. And if God had not opened our hearts, we'd be just as rebellious
as these fellows. But God opened these people.
Now listen to what it says about them. These men in Berea, these
people, ladies and men in Berea, they were more noble than those
in Thessalonica, and they received the word with all readiness of
mind. And what's the next line? They search the scriptures to
see if these things be so. That's what we want folks to
do. Hear the word, listen to the word, and then study the
scripture. See what I'm saying, not so.
I don't know a preacher that loves God, loves the gospel,
that doesn't desire that this be the response to his message,
that they're hearing and then search the scriptures for themselves,
to see if these things be so. And verse 12, and therefore many
of them, many of them believe. And that's the only way you can
believe, is to search the scriptures. We don't believe anything because
Brother Mahan says it, or because so-and-so says it. We believe
because God says it. And here they heard the Apostle
Paul, one of the most Outstanding, glorious preachers of that day.
But they didn't believe it because Paul said it. They searched the
Scriptures for themselves, and believed it because God said
it. Now verse 12, Therefore many of them believed, and also the
honorable women, which were Greeks, and of the men not a few. But
now here come these fellows from Thessalonica now again, verse
13. I tell you, people, when they hate the gospel, they hate
it. When they oppose it, they can't They just can't do anything
but oppose it publicly. Because if this is true, they're
lost. If this gospel Paul is preaching is true, then their
religion is false. And that's where the anger comes
from. That's the reason you have friends
that oppose this gospel of grace so strongly, because if it's
true, they're believing a lie. If salvation by grace through
the sacrifice of Christ is true, then folks that are worshiping
another religion, another gospel, they're lost. And they've got
to destroy it, or try to. And so these men from Thessalonica,
saying once back yonder, when the Jews of Thessalonica, verse
13, had knowledge that the word of God was preached outpoured
at Berea, they came to the Austro and stirred up the people. Against
the message. It's got to do with They can't
just keep silence and study and look into the scriptures and
see if these things be so. They're going to fight it, fight
the gospel. And so verse 14, immediately
the brethren sent away Paul to go, as it were, to the sea. And
now what's this? Silas and Timothy abode there
still at Berea. They stayed there, Silas and
Timothy. And Paul, they got Paul out of
town again. And verse 15, And they that conducted Paul brought
him to Athens. Now, he'd been to Thessalonica.
God began a church there. He'd been to Berea, and God saved
some folks there, but always opposition. Always opposition. But here he comes now to Athens,
Greece. And receiving the commandment
under Silas and Timotheus, that's Timothy, to come to him with
all speed, they departed. These people had took him to
Athens. Paul gave him a letter for Silas and Timothy, and said,
you tell them to come quickly, as they can down here where I
am in Athens. You tell them to come join me
in Athens. Now, verse 16, while Paul waited for them, Silas and
Timothy in Athens, his spirit was stirred in him when he saw
the city wholly given to idolatry. Not for the worship of the true
God, not to the worship of the living God, but the worship of
idols, all sorts of false gods, religious. You see, Athens was
a civilized, famous, well-known city, known for its learning,
for its ancient philosophers and so-called myriad of wisdom
schools and universities and religion. It abounded in Athens'
and Paul saw, but it wasn't true gospel. It wasn't the true message
of grace. They were ignorant of that, but
they were given to idolatry. And therefore, verse 17, therefore
disputed he in the synagogue. In fact, he goes to the synagogue
where the religious people are meeting. And with the devout
persons, with people who were like Cornelius, he was called
a devout man, wasn't he? He didn't know Christ, but he
was a devout. He was a man who studied the
scriptures. And many of these Jews did. They just didn't see
the gospel. Like those apostles I told you
a while ago, they didn't understand substitution. And so Paul reasoned
with these men, disputed with them, and discussed things with
them. And he went to the marketplace with them that met with him.
In the marketplace, in the synagogue, Now verse 18, here's where I
get the title of this message, A Message to the Philosophers.
Then certain philosophers at Athens, of the Epicureans and
the Stoics, encountered him, challenged him. Some of them
said, what will this babbler say? Can you imagine them calling
the Apostle Paul a babbler? But to them he was just a babbler.
They didn't mean anything, just a babbler. Now watch this. Other Psalms said he seems to
be the set-as-forth of a strange God. And I tell you, if you don't
know Christ, the preacher of the gospel is a strange God.
It's a strange God. And watch, this is a strange
doctrine, because he preached to them Jesus Christ, Savior,
Substitute, Redeemer, Messiah. Crucified, buried, risen from
the grave. You see, all those so-called
gods were in the tombs. They could take you to their
tombs. But this man, Jesus, you—don't go to the Holy of Holies in his
tomb now, because he's not there. He's risen. He's the only one
who's ever risen from the dead, never to die again. Lazarus died
again. Jairus'—Jerusalem's daughter
died again. the widow's son died again, Christ
arose, firstborn of the dead, the resurrection of the dead,
forever and ever and ever, eternal life. And that, before he was
preaching, Babylon set forth a strange doctrine. But you know
something, these Epicureans and Storics, now you listen to me
a moment. I did a little research on this, and the Epicureans of
people who were followers of a philosopher named Epicurus. When did he live? Three hundred
years B.C. Three hundred years B.C. These
people here that Paul preached to and conflicted with were followers
of a philosopher by the name of Epicurus, who lived, born
342 A.D. And here's what he believed,
here's what he taught, here's what they believed. They believed
that God, there was a God. They didn't deny the existence
of God, the being of God. But they denied that God made
the world. God did not make the heavens
and the earth. Now, evolution is no new doctrine. Evolution goes all the way back
to these guys 300 years before Christ, who believed in God,
but did not believe God made the world. Tell you something
else they didn't believe, that they believed. They believed
that God existed, but he didn't make the world. The world came
into being by the concourse of atoms, A-T-O-M-S, that met and
formed the world. Isn't that what they're teaching
at the university? It's no new thing. It's what
these fellows believed 300 B.C., what they believed when Paul
came to Athens. And here's what else they believe. That God does
not govern the world by providence. It's what your preachers preach
downtown in this Rocky Mountain. If somebody dies, God didn't
do that, the devil did it. You see, all these things that
happen, good things God does, bad things the devil does. God
does not govern the world by providence. That's what they
believe. Here's another thing they believe.
The cheap happiness of men and women lies in pleasure. That's
what America believes. What these men believe is exactly
what most religious people in this country believe. There is
a God, but he didn't create the world. The world came into being
by something that happened out there in space. And if God does
not govern the world, That God, you know the scripture said,
I am the Lord, I kill, I make alive, I wound, I heal, I make
rich, I make poor, I the Lord do all these things. Nothing
happens without the hand of God, the will of God, the purpose
of God. That's what we believe, but they didn't believe that.
And they believed what the United States of America believes, that
the end of all flesh is pleasure, power, materialism, living a
good life. having all these things we want.
That's what they do. They were philosophers. They're
peculiar. Now, the Stoics. See, he mentions
the Stoics. Now, here's what they believe.
They believe in God. And they believe God made the
world. But they believe the world is governed by fate, luck. In others, it just happens. It
just happens. It just happens. Good luck to
you. Well, you can't believe in luck and believe in God. You
can't believe things happen by fate, just by chance, and believe
God ordered all things. You can't do that. Well, that's
what they do. And they believe true happiness, true happiness
lay in purity and virtue. And virtue has its own rewards. Be good and you'll live forever. That's what they believe. And
that's what I just heard a person say on TV recently. Now you do
good, do the best you can, and I'll meet you in glory. Now that's
what these fellows believe. Virtue has its own reward. And
they believe a really wise man and virtuous man or woman is
destitute of passions, neither up nor down. But joy is found
in virtue. And that's what these philosophers
believe. These, and that's what, there's no new thing under the
sun. You see that, Stan? No new thing under the sun. It's
been going on the same thing for ages. Now they, verse 19,
they wish, they want to see what this Bible has to say. So they
took Paul, verse 19, you have it? They took him and brought
him to Areopagus. Now where is Areopagus? Well,
that's the place. That's a place, it's the highest
court in Athens. And that's where the wise men
gathered. That's where they all gathered. These philosophers
and wise men gathered at the Areopagus to discuss and to debate
religion and philosophy. That's where they met. So they
took him and brought him to Areopagus saying, now we want to know about
this new doctrine called you speak. We want to know what it
is. And brother, he's going to tell them. You can read on now,
listen. But you bring certain strange
things to our ears. We would know, therefore, what
these things mean. I've had that said to me. You bring strange
things, you know. I never heard this before. But
you know, I was down in Virginia, down in Big Stone Gap, Virginia. You know where that is, down
in Appalachia, Big Stone Gap. in a church that used to be a
Free Will Baptist church, but they had a preacher named Carl
that heard me on television and invited me down there to preach.
And I went down to that church and I preached the message of
grace, the message of God's goodness to sinners in Christ, and God's
elective grace and particular redemption. I hung out the gospel
of grace to them. And when I stepped down out of
the pulpit, there was an old white-haired man. I never will
forget him. Been dead a long time, I'm sure.
He came down that aisle, and he walked up to me. I was a lot
younger then, but he said, Sonny, I never heard that before. I
never heard that before. But that's the way God saved
me, what you preached this morning. That old man hadn't heard it
in those words, but you heard it here. Sovereign God. A successful
Savior. a perfect substitute, redemption
by the blood. He said, I never heard that like
that. But that's the way God saved me. I said, that's the
way he saved me, too. He just hugged me, you know.
Oh, I tell you, strange things. For look at verse 21. For all
the Athenians and strangers which were there spent their time in
nothing else but either the hell to tell or to hear some new thing. Do you want to hear some new
thing this morning? I don't. I want to hear the old, old story. Tell me the old, old story. Don't
bring me any new revelations, because there's nothing new under
the sun. This gospel is the gospel Moses
preached, Abraham preached, Isaiah preached, David believed, Abraham
believed. Same faith, same gospel. You
just forget this contemporary music and contemporary worship
and go back to the scriptures and stay there. That's what you,
I sat here this morning, enjoyed the worship, your reading and
prayer and those wonderful hymns you picked out, all glorifying
God. These are the, this is the way
people worshipped 2,000 years ago. Singing the hymns, the songs,
reading the word of God, praying, preaching the scriptures. That's
right. All right. Verse 22, Then Paul
stood in the midst of Mars Hill, the court of Areopagus, and he
said, Ye men of Athens, ye men of Athens, I perceive that in
all things ye are too religious. Here's what he said. He said,
I perceive that in all things ye are more religious than most
folks. And this country It's more religious. And the South
is. And Virginia is. Kentucky, the Bible there. We're
more religious than most folks in all these places. More religious.
You have more altars, more gods, more religious festivals, more
shrines than I've ever seen in my life, he said. What if he
visited this country? And there's a church on every
corner, you know, a shrine and a cathedral and a temple huge
buildings and monstrosities. But you know what he said? He said, verse 23, he said, I
passed by the hills, the gods you worship, your devotions,
all your buildings and shrines and temples, and I found an author
with this inscription, to the unknown God. These folks have
so many gods that they were afraid they might leave one out. So
there was an altar to a God they never heard of, that they did
not know, and had never brought to mind, and just named it to
the unknown God, whoever He is. He said, Whom you ignorantly
worship, I'm going to tell you about that God. I'm going to
preach to you that God you don't know, you never heard of, you
don't believe, and that you would like if you did here. I'm going
to tell you about that unknown God. And here He is. Here's by seven or eight things. Now you listen to what Paul says.
Number one, God made the world and all things therein. This God, the God of heaven and
earth, He made the world and all things. Genesis 1-1, the
very beginning of Scripture starts this way, in beginning, God. in beginning, God created the
heavens and the earth. Our God is the God of creation. John chapter 1 says, In the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God,
and all things were made by him. Without him was not anything
made that was made. Now, you can't believe evolution
and believe God. You cannot believe in evolution
and believe in God. Exactly. You can't believe evolution
and believe the Bible. The God of the Bible, the God
this world doesn't know, is the God who created. To create is
to bring something out of nothing. And he created the worlds, he
created the heavens by the word of his power. The earth is the
Lord's, and the fullness Thou art of the world, and all they
that dwell therein." He founded it on the seas. He established
it on the floods. He made all things. Secondly,
now, Paul's preaching to the philosophers. Secondly, see,
he's Lord of heaven and earth. What is the Lord? He's the king.
He's the ruler. He's the Lord of heaven and earth.
David said, they say unto me, Where is your God? And he said,
Our God's in the heavens. And whatsoever the Lord pleased,
that did he, in the heaven, and the earth, and the seas, and
all deep places. He's King. Our God not only is
the Creator, He's the Sovereign. There's not a fly that flies
through the without the power of God, the strength of God,
and the will of God. Not a sparrow falls to the earth.
Now, you don't pay a whole lot of attention to a dead bird.
Not all of you, but God does. Not one falls without your father.
You know what Scripture says? Not one falls without your father.
The hairs of your head. Do you count them when they fall
off? He does. He says the hairs of your head
are numbered. all things are of God. He said
over in Isaiah, listen, remember now, I'm God, and there's none
else. I'm God, there's none like me.
I declare the end from the beginning. For many times are things that
are not yet done. My counsel shall stand. I will
do all my pleasure. I kill, I make alive. I wound,
I heal. I create darkness, I create light. I, the Lord, do all these things.
I've spoken, I bring it to pass. I've purposed it, I do it. And
I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious. And I'll be merciful
to whom I will be merciful. I'm the Lord, there's none else.
That's the word for the philosophers, isn't it? That's the God I believe. And that's the only God in whom
you can have trust and confidence. Let me tell you three things.
Number one, only at the throne of a sovereign God will a man
truly worship. One infinitely more powerful
and mighty than he is, he'll worship. He'll argue with an
equal. He'll quarrel with an equal.
He'll worship a sovereign. Only at the throne of a sovereign
God will men find salvation. I can't save myself. A mother
and father can't save me. No preacher can save me. No doctrine
can save me. God can. With men it's impossible. Our disciples asked the Lord,
who can be saved? He said with men it's impossible. is in the throne of God. He's almighty. He's able to save
to the uttermost them that come to God's right hand. He's able.
Only at the throne of a sovereign God will a man worship, will
he find true salvation, and will he find comfort. Now then, throughout our lives
we have some great disappointments. That's, you know, man said one
time, well, to a dying man, you're leaving the land of the living,
going to the land of the dead. He said, you got that backwards.
I'm leaving the land of the dead, I'm going to the land of the
living. There's nothing here but death. There's nothing here but
death. Everything dies. Where I'm going,
nothing dies. That's right, everything dies.
We watch our loved ones die, it just breaks our hearts. We're
disappointed. We have all these things. Where
are you going to find your comfort? You just going to get mad? I
don't deserve this. This shouldn't happen to me.
I'm too good for this to happen to me. Come on now. This is the
way of all flesh. This is the way of all flesh.
Disappointments and death and sickness, this is the way of
all flesh. This is where we live, in the
land of the dying, and the dead, and the disappointments, and
all this. It's the land of darkness. It's the kingdom of darkness.
You expect it. The trials we had, the trials
that our brethren all over the world experienced. The man who
wrote Rock of Ages died when he was thirty-six years old.
David Bader died when he was twenty-nine years old. Of consumption. When you go to preach to the
Indians, they find where he's spat on the ground, there's blood
there where he's going to preach to them. God's servant. God's servant. Robert Murray
McCain died when he was twenty-nine years old. I tell you, it's the
land of the—and where are we going to find comfort? Only at
the throne of a God who does everything for our good. of the
gospel and for his glory. He took Brainerd at 29 because
that was his will. Somebody asked me one time, where
was God when your son was killed in Vietnam? I said, the same
place he was when his son died on the cross, sitting on the
throne. Well, he said, I'm sorry, your
son's life was cut short. I said, he wasn't cut short.
God gave him 21 years, and that's how long he lived. That's not
hard, that's just so. He's with the Lord. Do I bring
him back? Not in a moment. You see, that's where you find
comfort. God rules! That's what Paul told that bunch
of philosophers. God is the Creator, and God is
Lord of heaven and earth. And he reigns. Look at the next
line. And he doesn't draw them temples
made with hands. He said, you thought us building
all these buildings and and churches and cathedrals and temples for
your gods. And you put them in there and
you go to meet them on a certain day. Go to the house of God. God doesn't have a house. He's
got a living temple made up of living stones. Christ himself
is a cheap cornerstone. But God doesn't dwell in these
buildings. I like what Solomon said over here. Let me turn and
read it to you. Solomon said, he's going to,
you know, he's going to build a temple. God told him to build
a temple, and he tells you the purpose of it over here, that
over here in 2 Chronicles 2, verse 6, this is what Solomon
said, listen, And the house which I build is great, for great is
our God. But who's able to build him a
house, seeing the heaven of heavens can't contain him? Who am I then
that I should build him a house? Except only to burn sacrifice
before him. That's what the house is for.
That you might come here, hear the Word, offer sacrifices of
praise, thanksgiving before God. But he's out yonder. God doesn't
dwell in houses, Paul said, made with hands. And the finer they can build
these places, the more they can find their God to these places.
They fix them so you feel religious when you get in them. That's
right, they fix them so you feel religious. They have the candles
and the crosses and the choir in a uniform and All this is
going on, you know, so you feel religious. But that's what Paul
said next, verse 25. He's not worshipped with men's
hands, as though he needed anything, seeing that he'd give it to all,
breath and life and all things. He's not worshipped with men's
hands. Worship is internal, not external. He's not, it's not worship. Worship is a broken heart. the
contrite spirit, fellowship with God in Christ in sincerity. Worship
is internal, not external. It's not making a circle around
here and holding hands, burning candles. That's not worship. That's ritualism. That's tradition.
Worship is with the heart, not with the hands and feet. Worship is in the spirit, not
with the flesh and rituals and traditions. That's for people
that don't know Him in the heart, to make them feel the presence
of God by doing something unusual or different. That's right. One does not worship God by giving
Him anything. Listen to what he said over here
in the Book of Psalms. This is powerful. Psalm 50. Listen to this. Psalm 50, verse
I hear a preacher say, give God your tithe, give God your talents,
give God your heart, give God this, serve the Lord. He said, I'll take no bullock
out of your house, no he-goat out of your foal. Every beast
of the forest is mine. The cattle on a thousand hills
are mine. I know all the fires of the mountain, the wild beasts
of the field are mine. If I were hungry, I wouldn't
tell you. the world is mine, the fulness thereof. Will I eat
the flesh of goats and bulls, and drink the blood of goats
and cows?" You offer unto the Lord thanksgiving, and pay your vows before the
Lord. That's not paying money, that's
keeping your word. Therefore, God, keep your word.
Offer unto the Lord, sacrifice for thanksgiving, and
keep your word, keep your vows unto the Most High, and call
upon me in the day of trouble, and I'll deliver you, and you'll
glorify me." Paul's got it, hasn't he? Now, here's the sermon to
the philosopher. God made this world, heaven and
earth. God rules in heaven and earth. God doesn't dwell in temples
made with hands. And Almighty God's not worshipped
with men's hands. He's worshipped with the heart.
Our Lord said that to the woman at the well. She said, I'd rather
say in the mountains a place to worship. Mecca, go to Jerusalem,
go. You say in Jerusalem's a place
to worship. Christ said, woman, you don't know what you worship.
God is spirit. They that worship God worship
Him in spirit and truth. And God seeketh us to worship
Him. lead on. And verse 26, and he has married,
listen, of one blood, all nations of men to dwell on the face of
the earth. Everybody came from one man.
I don't care whether you're black or white, Indian or Portuguese
or what you are. Male or female, you came from
Adam. and how the colors are distinguished, the nations are
distinguished, like the languages are distinguished, was an act
of God. That's right, but it came out
of one blood, all nations of men, to dwell on the face of
the earth. And we died in Adam. In Adam,
by one man's sin entered this world, and death by sin, so death
passed on all men. All men of one blood from one
root, one father, one sorrow, one death. This all came from
him. And what's this? And he's determined
the times. My little great-granddaughter
born last night, the number of her months are with the Lord.
He has set her bounds, determined her years, and she won't go a
step further. You won't either. Christ said,
which of you, by taking thought, can add one moment to your life?
None of us. Our days are determined, our
months are set, God determined them. Job 14, 1 through 5, that's
right. And listen, their habitation,
where you're going to live, is already determined. The bounds
of your habitation, how long you live there, the length of
the empire, of the kingship, of the nation, nations come and
go. Who sets them? God does. You're preaching a big God. Not
near as big as He is. Not near as great as He is. I
can't touch the hem of the garment. I wish I could. I was talking
to myself. You talk to yourself. It's all
right, just don't answer. Lord, I wish I could preach this
like it ought to be preached. I wish I could exalt you like
I ought to. I wish I had the words. Don't you wish you had
the words to tell His greatness? And then he says in verse 27
that they should seek the Lord. Men ought to seek the Lord. Ought
to. It doesn't say they can't. It
says they won't. The Bible says they won't seek
Him. There's none that seek Him. But they ought to. ought to seek
the Lord. Seeking—listen to this—they should
seek the Lord. If after they might feel after
Him and find Him, they ought to seek the Lord. A picture? Is He down front? No. Listen. He's not far from
every one of us. For in Him we live and move and
have our being. You don't even have to come here
to meet God. He's where you were before you dressed and came here.
You know, God is everything. In Him we live and move and have
our being. And how does a man worship God?
He worships God where He is, because of who He is, and because
of what He's done for us, and because of who He is to us. Now
seek the Lord. Where would you seek Him? Seek
Him in His Word? Seek Him among His people? I
teach him, I find somebody's telling the truth about God,
and I've listened to him. Like Pastor Paul Mayhem, he's
telling the truth about God. I've listened to him. I'll be
there every time he preaches. Find out who this God is. Because
he's, he's right, the word's in your mouth. The word of faith. Listen, he says, listen, verse
twenty-nine, Verse 28, For in him we live,
and move, and have our being. Paul said to those Athenians,
As certain of your poets have said, we are his offspring. God
created us. Now watch this. For as much then
as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the
Godhead is like gold or silver or stone or man's art or devices. What are we? We are persons.
We're the one who created us as a person. We're the offspring
of God. We're the creation of God. He
created us in his own image. We have a will. It's a fallen
will, but it's a will. God has a will. We have healing. God has healing. We have a spirit. God has spirit. We have love.
God has love. We have wrath. God has wrath.
God's a person. So why in the world would a person
worship a statue? Man wrote me a letter one time. I knew something was wrong with
him. He said, you and Jimmy Spiker
are my favorite preachers. But anyway, it was even about
that two opposite messages. But anyway, he sent me a little
card with a cross on it. And he said in his letter, now
when you get to feeling blue and down, just rub that cross,
and it'll pep you up. You didn't hear a word I said,
did you? Oh, wait. Why would I think God is on a
card if I'm His offspring? If He made us, and made us persons,
people of love and feeling and spirit and will, and yet God
is a cross, or God is a building, or God is a work of art, or God
is man, a work of man's all these statues they have in these places? Now he said, I want to tell you
something. He said, you got all these altars and all to these
gods, but God is a person. God's spirit. And verse 30, I
want to tell you something. He said, the times of this ignorance,
God went there. God put up with it. That's back
in these old days. of the Diana and all these gods
of Bezudar, all these gods that they erected, they worshiped,
stone and gold and all these things. And God put up with that. But now, now, this is Paul preaching
those philosophies, but now, in these last days, Christ has
come. The revelation of the Redemption, the incarnation of the Redeemer.
But God commands, not invites, he commands every son of Adam
to repent. Right now. Repent, yeah, lay
down your shotgun. Turn from your false gods. Repent. That's what repentance is. It's the mind, it's the manners,
it's the thoughts. That's where repentance takes
place. He said, your thoughts are not my thoughts, your ways
are not my ways. Let the wicked turn from his
thoughts and turn from his ways and turn to God. He'll have mercy.
God commands men to repent. I hear preachers talk about they
preached the message and gave an invitation. My message is
a commandment. Men are commanded to repent.
They're commanded to believe on Christ. You don't, there's
no, there's no alternate here. So if you want to believe you
can, do so. If you don't believe on Christ,
you're making God a liar. That's a pretty hard choice,
isn't it? He commands men to repent everywhere, because, oh,
watch this now. He hath appointed a day in which
he shall judge this world in purity, righteousness, and What's his standard by which
he's going to judge it? By that man, that man, that man
whom he has ordained, that God-man, that Messiah, that Christ, whom
he has appointed and ordained, and where he has given assurance
unto everybody, he's given a proof, an assurance, an evidence, he
raised that man from the grave. What a sermon to the philosophers.
Oh, I'm telling you. And that's what we are preached
to the philosophers of this world. Why don't you just take that
sermon when some hodgepodge starts talking to you about false religion,
just say, God made heaven and earth, and he reigns, and he
doesn't dwell in your little stick churches. made out of stones
and sticks and bricks and mortar, and he's not worshipped with
your hands. He made all people of one blood, one Adam, one Father,
and they all fell in Adam. And men ought to seek the Lord.
If they might feel after Him and find Him, seek the Lord,
because He's appointed the day. There's a day coming when men
are not going to be judged by how faithful they were to their
religion. going to be judged by what thinks you Christ, whose
son is he. That's it. Let's sing Amazing
Grace. You want to lead us in that song,
Brother John, that I'm not sure about the number. I'll look it
up here. It's number 236. Amazing Grace,
how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I was plum
lost, but now I'm found. blind. Now I see. Now he is blind. Let's stay and while we're singing.
Two thirty-six. Amazing grace, how sweet the
sound That saved a wretch like me I once was lost, but now I'm
found Was blind, but now I see was grace that brought my heart
to earth, and grace my fears relieved. How precious did that
grace appear, the hour I first believed. Through me I have already come. His merits have brought me safe
thus far, and grace will lead me home. We know that way, we sing God's
praise, that we'll be thirty-nine.