If you will, first this morning,
turn with me to Acts chapter 17. I want to read a few verses
here before I move on to my main text. Most of you are very familiar
with the story of the Apostle Paul on Mars Hill. And in verse
22 of Acts 17, it reads, Paul stood in the midst of Mars Hill
and said, You men of Athens, I perceive that in all things
ye are 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." Notice those
last five words. Him declare I unto you. The title
of my lesson is Him declare I unto you. Now Paul plainly told the
men of Athens that in all things, he said, you're just too superstitious. More religious than any other
people I've ever met in my life. The people of Athens, as you
know, they had more gods and more altars. They were more diligent
and devoted in the worship of the gods than any people in any
place. And superstitious, that word
in the original word simply means a practice resulting from ignorance. A false conception of the cause
of something. We have many superstitious people
in churches today. They have a false conception
of the cause of salvation. And the people of Athens ignorantly
worshiped, for they had a God for everything. Paul called them
superstitious. They had a God for this and a
God for that. But our Lord told the woman at
the well, the Samaritan woman, that those who worship God worship
Him in spirit and in truth. And just in case these people
of Athens had missed one, they had built an altar to one that
they might have missed. And they said, in case we missed
one, here's an altar for the unknown God, one we don't know
about. And Paul said, Him. That's the
one I'm declaring unto you. And I declare unto you this morning
that the God of the Bible is an unknown God to most. Men and
women know little about the only true God. That's just a fact.
Sad but true. And most preach and teach a God
of man's imagination. Yes, God is unknown to the majority
of people in our day. But I love what Paul said in
verse 23, the unknown God, it is Him. It is Him. that I declare unto you, and
it's my most earnest desire to preach to you Him. The unknown
God to the world is the Lord Jesus Christ. It is Him that
we preach and Him that believers believe. There are many that
will profess that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, but there
are few that know Him as God. Have you seen that Christ is
God? That's the beauty of the gospel and divine substitution. Salvation is not that a good
man died for sinners. Salvation is, and the gospel
is, is that God died for sinners. God fulfilled His own holy law
that we might be perfectly righteous and wholly unblameable and unreprovable
in His sight. Only one way that can be accomplished.
We talk about it week after week. Colossians 1.22 reads, "...in
the body of His flesh." It's Him that I declare unto you.
"...in the body of His flesh through death to present you
holy and unblameable and unreprovable in His sight." Oh, how I long
to be wholly unblameable and unreprovable in the sight of
a thrice holy God. It's Him, dear friends, that
I declare unto you this morning. The unknown God is the one and
only true God. It's the unknown God that the
believing sinner puts their trust in completely. Look at verse
24. God that made the world and all
things therein, seeing that He is Lord of heaven and earth,
He dwelt not in temples made with hands, neither is worship
with men's hands, as though He needed anything." Men today preach
a needy God. God needs you to do this. God
needs you to do that. Won't you let God do this? That
ain't no God at all. That's a needy God, and God is
not needy, though He needed anything at men's hands. seeing that he
giveth all life, all his people, and breath to all men and all
things. The rain falls on the just and
unjust. But I'm going to tell you the
chief cause behind it somehow, someway, was God's people. Paul's
simply saying in these two verses here that my God is God. You
can call Him unknown. He is unknown to you, but He's
my God. It's Him that I declare unto
you. My God is the Lord of heaven and earth, the Lord Jesus Christ. My God made the worlds and all
things therein, He says. And He said, My God doesn't dwell
in temples made with men's hands. He's the God who is everywhere
at all times, doing all that He pleases. and working out all
things according to His own will and purpose. My God doesn't need
anything from the hands of men, even worship. Sometimes men make
it out as though God is dependent on our worship. God doesn't need
our worship. We need to worship Him. It's
for our good. But He's not benefited or profited
by it. He said, My God gives to all
life and breath and all things. It's Him. It's Him, H-I-M, that
I declare unto you. Now, with that said, turn with
me to Ephesians chapter 1. Ephesians chapter 1. I suppose
there's no better passage of Scripture found in the Bible
that declares Him unto us. Beginning in verse 1, Paul, an
apostle of Jesus Christ. Who are you an apostle of, Paul?
I'm an apostle of Jesus Christ. by the will of God to the saints
which are at Ephesus and to the faithful in Christ Jesus." Two
things that I will mention briefly from this verse. All God's servants
are called and appointed by the will of God. Or they're not God's
servants. Men that call themselves are not God's servants. It's
those who are appointed by God, the will of God, that are. Those
who are made saints, believers, and servants of the living God
are the faithful in Christ Jesus according to verse 1. Faithful
in Christ Jesus. Faith is not blind faith. We
say this all the time. Faith has an object. Our faith
is in the divine substitution of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's
Him that I declare unto you this morning. Verse 2, Grace be to
you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, grace and peace from God the Father comes in knowing the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's the only way. Grace be
to you and peace from God our Father and from, from, from the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's where it comes from. God's
grace is found in Christ. God's love and peace is found
in Christ. The righteousness and holiness
of God is found only in Christ. And it's him that I declare unto
you this morning. All that you need from God to
be saved is found only in God, the Lord Jesus Christ. The only
fitness, the old song says, the only thing that God requires
of you, dear sinner, is that you feel and see your need of
Him. If you don't see your need of
Christ, you'll never come to Him. If you don't see and feel
your sin and your condition and your lost estate, you'll never
see your need of Him. That's the only fitness that
God requires. Verse 3, Blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings and heavenly places in Christ. in Christ. Underline it. The child of God
blesses, thanks, and worships God. Not only because God deserves
to be, which He most definitely does, but because God has blessed
His people with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places.
What does that mean? Well, I think I can simply just
tell you that all that is heaven is ours. We are made righteous
and holy, and we're made to be thankful. We're adopted into
the kingdom of God, not by the works of righteousness that we've
done, but according to His mercy. He saved us by the washing of
regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost. We've been washed
in His blood. His blood. Our minds have been
renewed. And that original word renewed
means changing. Changing for the better. A complete
restoration. And we are transformed, again
meaning changed, that we may prove what is that good and acceptable
and perfect will of God. Now how is that accomplished? Paul tells us it's accomplished
In Christ. In Christ. The unknown God is
Him. that I declare unto you," Paul
said. Verse 4, "...according as He hath chosen us," where?
Where did God choose us? In Him. "...before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before
Him in love." We are assured that salvation is 100% of the
Lord because, first of all, we know that God chose us before
the foundation of the world and it had nothing, nothing, nothing
to do with our goodness or our wickedness. before the foundation
of the world, before we ever were. God set His affection on
some people and He gave them to Christ and He said, live for
Him, die for Him. God chose us in Christ that we
should be holy and without blame before Him in love. It's in Him,
the Lord Jesus Christ, that I declare unto you. What do you think of
Him? That's the question of questions. What think ye of Christ, our
Lord said? Is He nothing to you? Or is He everything to you? You
answer that in your own heart. If He's nothing to you, or is
He everything to you? What do you think of Him as a
matter of eternal life or eternal death? Well, the Apostle Paul
goes on in verse 5 saying, Oh, these are rich verses, aren't
they? And as I mentioned a moment ago, God has predestined That simply means predetermined. God has predetermined us into
the adoption of children. Now what a blessed thought that
is. I know even those of us who love the doctrines of grace and
we talk about election and predestination, I think sometimes we say the
words without giving them much thought. Our salvation is not
determined by what we do or don't do. It is predetermined. by God Himself. Predetermined. You have nothing to do with it.
Our adoption has been predetermined, predestinated by Jesus Christ
to Himself according to the pleasure of His will. It pleases God to
have predetermined people by Christ, in Christ, and through
Christ, for it was Christ who paid our sin debt. What was our
sin debt? The wages of sin is debt. Paid
in full. paid in full. And it delivered
us from sin, which the wages of is eternal death. It's in
Him that Christ, that God, takes sinners. It's in Him. And it's
Him that I declare unto you this morning. It has nothing to do
with your decision. It has nothing to do with your
will. It has nothing to do with your works. You're saved by grace
through faith, and that is not of yourselves. And men go, well,
it had to have something to do with it, didn't it? Nothing of
yourselves. It's like black and white. It's
the gift of God. It's the gift of God. This is
why I declare hymn to you. God's love is in Christ alone.
Your redemption is in Christ alone. If you are to be reconciled
to God, dear sinner, it will be in Christ, in Christ alone. Paul wrote in Romans 5, he said,
For if, when we were enemies, We were reconciled to God by
the death of His Son. That's how we were reconciled
to God. By the death of His Son. Much more being reconciled, we
shall be saved by His life. His death, His life. That's your
hope of reconciliation to God. And yet men want to take credit
somehow or another. 2 Corinthians 5.18, Now all things
are of God, who hath reconciled us unto Himself by Jesus Christ. He said no, by His death and
by His life. By Jesus Christ and hath given
to us the ministry of reconciliation. We're reconciled, brought into
fellowship, that's what that means. When two people are at
odds and they make up, it's called being reconciled. A husband and
wife who has marital problems and they go their separate ways
and they come back together, it says, oh they reconciled.
We're talking about being reconciled unto a holy God. While we were
yet sinners, Christ died for the ungodly. And we've been reconciled,
brought into fellowship again with God by the death of His
Son, saved by His life. God raised Him from the dead,
for death in the grave could not hold Him. And God has reconciled
us to Himself by Jesus Christ. And that's why I declare Him
unto you. He's the only thing. that will
profit your soul in any way, shape, or form. Who wants to
tell us how to live? How's that going to profit you?
You can tell me how to live, and I can't live that way, even
if it's right. No, sir. No, sir. I'm going to declare Him unto
you. Verse six, to the praise of the glory of His grace. Whose grace? His grace. Wherein
He hath made us accepted in the Beloved. Friends, has God shown
you this blessed truth? You'll praise the glory of His
grace if He has. You know why? Because Christ
has made us. Made us accepted. Made us accepted
in the Beloved. We didn't make ourselves righteous
and holy. Christ did. We're delivered by
the hand of His Beloved Son. Do you know why this is amazing?
Because Paul said, and you, you, you, you, you, and you that were
sometime, which means for sometime, not sometime you were and sometime
you weren't. That's not what he meant. He
said for sometime you were alienated before Christ saved us as we
were always alienated. And enemies in your mind by wicked
works, yet now hath He reconciled. That's the amazing thing. It
wasn't that we were good little boys and girls. We were enemies. Hated God. Enmity in our heart. Won't have this God rule over
me. Won't kiss this son, no sirree.
That's where we were and why we were yet enemies. Yet now
hath he reconciled us. Oh, what grace. Oh, what mercy. Oh, what love. Do you see that
declaring Him alone to you is the only thing that's profitable
to your soul? Every gospel preacher I know
standing in a pulpit this morning are declaring Him. I can assure
you of that. Because it's Him. It's Him that
we declare. We don't have to go far to see
that. Verse 7, "...in whom we have redemption through what
His blood the forgiveness of sins according to the riches
of what? His grace. Him, His, in whom? I declare only the Lord Jesus
Christ to you because it's in Him. You just kind of beat me
over the head with it, aren't you? Let me tell you something,
we've got to be beat over the head with it. Maybe we'll see our
need of Him. It's in Him that we have redemption
through His blood. It's only in Him that we have
the forgiveness of sins. It's only in Him that we have
all these things. And it's according to the riches
of what? His grace. Redemption does not
come in attending church, friends. But the redeemed will come to
hear God's Word. It's their spiritual food and
their life-sustaining food. Redemption is not accomplished
by keeping the law. But let me tell you, the redeemed
of the Lord desire to be pleasing to God. Redemption has nothing
to do with your faithfulness. But let me tell you something,
God's people will be faithful. They will. Best they can. And where they fail, they'll
pray that God help them not to fail in that area. Redemption's
not in how much Scripture you know, friends, in who you know. It's Him that I declare unto
you, Paul said. You call Him the unknown God.
I call Him Lord and Savior. My everything. All that I need. Verse 7 says, in whom we have
redemption. How many times do we say it?
We say it again. Salvation is in a person. Have
you seen that yet? Verse 8, wherein he hath abounded
toward us. Who has? He has. In all wisdom
and prudence. Now, I try to make that just
as simple as I can. In wisdom, he thought of everything. Every way in order to be good
and gracious to me, he thought of it all. He purposed everything. for my good, and your good, if
you're one of His. And He provided everything, and
He is everything. Oh, that little chorus that we
sing, Jesus Christ is made to me, all I need. All I need. He alone is all my plea. When
I stand before God and God says, what is your plea, dear sinner?
I'm going to say, Jesus Christ, He's all I need. And God's going
to say, that's right. Enter in, my good and faithful
servant. Jesus Christ, He alone is all
my plea. He is all I need. My wisdom,
righteousness, and power, holiness forevermore. My redemption is full and sure.
He's all I need. Oh, have you seen? He's all you
need. I pray that you have. Verse 9, having made known unto
us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure, which He
hath purposed in Himself. Well, you know, I believe man's
got something to do with salvation. You better read your Bible. And
I'd start right here in verse 9. Have He made known unto us
the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure which He
hath purposed in Himself? And again we see the salvation
is the Lord's good. He's made known to us. Is that
what it says? How did you come to know this
thing? He made known to us. We knew nothing. We didn't desire
to know anything until He made us willing in the day of His
power. It's written in the Prophets, "...and they shall all be taught
of God." John 6, 45. That's what the Scriptures say.
If you've been taught this, it was God that taught it to you.
Every man therefore that hath heard and hath learned of the
Father cometh unto me. Well, I still think man's got
something to do with salvation. You better read your Bible. God's
our teacher, and He's made known to us the mystery of His will.
And a sinner never had a concern with the Lord's will until He
made His will known unto us. I did not care. I just didn't care. I'd been
told about a God that wanted to and was trying to, and I just
said, I ain't worried about that God. But when somebody declared
to me the God of the Bible, I said, oh my, this is a God with whom
I have to do? And my flipping attitude about
Him changed. Every man that hath heard and
hath learned of the Father cometh unto Me." Not only did He make
His will known to us, it was according to His good pleasure.
Verse 9, it pleased the Father to do so. That's all that means.
It just pleased God to do so. For it is God which worketh in
you both to will and to do His good pleasure. Philippians 2.
God's good pleasure towards us in making His will known is always
because He has purposed in Himself to do so. Did nobody grab Him,
twist His arm? He purposed in Himself to do
so. It is this God, this Christ,
that I declare unto you. Many call Him the unknown God.
I say He's both just and justifier of those who believe. the Lord
Jesus Christ. Verse 10, "...that in the dispensation
of the fullness of times He might gather together in one all things
in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth,"
and look at them last words again, "...even in Him." Have you seen
the pattern here, friends? All that God does for sinners
is in Christ. No salvation beside that which
is in Him. No love, no forgiveness, no grace,
no nothing. No wonder Paul wrote in Ephesians
4, you may want to turn over there, verse 4, he said, there's
one body, there's one spirit, even as you are called in one
hope of your calling. Only one hope, friends. Why?
Because there's only one Lord. One faith. One baptism, one God
and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in you
all. This letter is written to God's people now. That's why
he uses that word all. But every one of us, meaning
God's elect, is given grace. According what? To the measure
of the gift of Christ. There it is again. Verse 10 tells
us He brought together in one all things. Where did He bring
them together? In Christ. It's Him. It's Him that we declare
unto you. Now let me ask you, is there
anything or anyone other than Christ that I should declare
unto you? Is there anything other than
Christ and Him crucified that will profit and help you in any
way, spiritually speaking? The answer to that is no. Verse
11, "...in whom also we have obtained an inheritance." Oh,
this just keeps getting better. "...being predestinated according
to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel
of His own will." We have obtained our inheritance as adopted children
in the Lord Jesus Christ. This too was the work of God.
"...being predestinated according to the purpose of Him who worketh..."
What? All things. All things. after the counsel of His own
will. Now listen, all that we have, all that we are, now righteous
and holy, it was given by God's purpose. Our inheritance as the
sons and daughters of God is His gift to us. Inheritance is
a gift. My parents, I was an only child,
my parents, they didn't have a lot, but they left me all they
had. They didn't have to. They could
have left it to anyone. They could have left it to the
church. They could have left it to some non-profit organization. They could have left it to anyone
they desired. But their last will and testament
was that they gave it all to Me. It was a gift. It was a gift. No wonder Revelation 21 says,
"...he that overcometh shall inherit all things, and I will
be his God, and he shall be my Son, adopted into the kingdom
of his dear Son." Inherited. All that is His in Christ. Oh, it's Him, friends, that I
declare unto you this morning. Verse 12, that we should be to
the praise of His glory who first trusted in Christ. This is the
predestinated purpose of our inheritance, that we are to the
praise of His glory. Now, don't miss this. I'm finished
after this. Listen to this. God receives
all the praise and the glory and the salvation of chosen sinners. He gets it all. This is the only
message, the true gospel, in which God receives all the glory
for the salvation of undeserving, wretched, wicked, good-for-nothing
sinners. who first trusted in their works
and their decision, their free will? No, no, no, no. Who first trusted who? In Christ. Oh, I can't help but to smile.
I can't help but to be happy. Because this thing's not dependent
upon me. If it was, I'd be scared to death.
I can't do anything right. And yet He does all things well. Well. This is My beloved Son,
in whom I am well pleased. Oh, but He that glorieth, let
Him glory in the Lord." Okay, look, verse 13, and we're done.
"...in whom ye also trusted." There it is again, in whom. It's
Him that we declare. If I could comment on that verse
with one word, I'd just say Christ. You see, salvation is entrusting
Christ, who is the Word of Truth. He is the Word of Truth that
we've heard. We heard and by grace we believe
that Christ did for us what we could not do for ourselves. Who
is the gospel of your salvation? Well, it's in a person. It's
Christ. Christ, the gospel of your salvation. And it's a declaration. It's
a proclamation of salvation by Christ. And it gives the account
that the author of salvation has the ability, first of all,
and the willingness, secondly, to save sinners. That's the best
news I ever heard. We believed and we were sealed
with that Holy Spirit promise. When something is sealed, it's
preserved. My folks used to preserve, you
know, whatever it was, they'd put it in that jar and turn it
and you'd hear it pop. My mom would say, okay, that
one's sealed. It's preserved. And you and I are preserved in
Christ. And something sealed is preserved.
I cannot lose that which Christ gave. And neither can you. So
let me ask you this. How could I declare unto you
anything but Him? Really. How could you talk to
someone who doesn't know Him about anything else but Him? God gives you the opportunity
to talk to someone about the things of God. You're not telling
them about your church building. There's some that would. Oh,
you ought to see our church building. You ought to see our stained
glass windows. You ought to hear our band. You
ought to see our choir and their robes. No. God's people declare
Him. Can I tell you about my Savior?
what He's done for me. Didn't have to. I sure didn't
deserve what He gave. How could I declare anything
unto you but Him? May the God of this Bible no
longer be the unknown God to you. It's the God and Savior. It's this God and Savior, I should
say, who's both just and justifier. And it's Him that I declare unto
you. And may God enable me to continue to keep declaring Him
unto you. And you know something? A child
of God never, ever gets tired of hearing that.