Do We Worship an Unknown God?

I want to share my text with
you again, please, Acts 17, 22 and 23. Acts 17, 22 and 23. Then
Paul stood in the midst of Mars Hill, or the court where they
had taken him, and he said, I perceive that in all things
you are too superstitious, or that you are more religious than
most people. For as I passed by and beheld
your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, to the
unknown God, whom therefore you ignorantly Him, the unknown God,
declare I unto you." Our Lord said in John 17, verse
3, eternal life is to know the true God and Jesus Christ whom
He hath sent. David said, As the heart, the
deer, panteth for the water brook, so panteth my soul for the living
God, the true God. Even the Apostle Paul prayed
that I may know him and the power of his resurrection. John wrote
in 1 John 5.20, the Son of God hath come and given us an understanding
that we may know God that is true and that we are in him. And this is the true God, and
this is eternal life. And our Lord Jesus Christ said
in John 10, 14, I am the good shepherd, I know my sheep, they
know me. Our Lord said, many will profess
unto me in that day. Lord, we prophesied in thy name. We cast out devils in thy name,
yea, in thy name we have done many wonderful works, and then
will I profess unto them, I never knew you." My conclusions are that eternal
life, salvation, redemption, is to know God, the true God,
the living God, not a God, the God. and to be known of God. And I can't think of anything
as dismal and depressing. I can't think of anything more
tragic than to go through life holding to a profession of religion,
holding to a doctrinal position, holding to a religious faith,
and then to find in the I never knew God, the true God, the living God.
But I only worship a traditional God, or my ideas of God, or my
thoughts of God. Can you think of anything more
dismal, more tragic than that? But we are deeply, devoutly religious. Just about everybody is religious
to some extent. Just about everybody has a God. And they worship God according
to the dictates, somebody said, of their own consciences. I want to examine and re-examine
myself, whether I am in the faith. That's what Paul said. Know ye
not your own selves, how that Christ dwelleth in you, except
you be reprobate? Let a man examine himself." Now the Apostle Paul had been
preaching in Thessalonica. You see that in the 17th chapter
of Acts. Here, you go back and read this
later in your own devotions. The Jews stirred up the people
against him in Thessalonica. These very religious Jews. They
were men who had their theology and their doctrines. They were
very devout. And Paul came in and preached
in Thessalonica. He preached Christ. He preached
the grace of God in Christ. He preached substitution by the
work of Christ. And these religious men, these
religious leaders, stirred up the people again. And so Paul
fled to Berea. And there he began to preach
again. And these same fellows followed him down to Berea. and
stirred up the people again. Don't listen to him. He's a false
prophet. Don't hear him. They stirred
up the people in Berea. So Paul left Berea and he went
to Athens. And he was in Athens waiting
for Timothy and Silas to join him. And verse 16, that's where
I started reading a while ago. Now while Paul waited for Silas
and Timothy at Athens, he walked around the city. like you and
I would do. He looked around, and his spirit
was stirred in him when he saw the city full of idols, religious,
but full of idols. He saw the city was a religious
place, steeped in religion, but full of idols. Now, verse 17,
there was a Jewish synagogue in Athens. Wherever you found
a certain number of Jewish people, you found a synagogue. So Paul
went there. And in the synagogue, he disputed
or taught or preached with the Jews. And with devout persons,
religious people, he talked to them about the Lord. And in the
marketplace and wherever he could meet anyone that would let him
talk to them about Christ, and wherever people would meet with
him, Paul talked to them about the Savior. Wherever they listened
to him, he told them about Christ Jesus. And then verse 18 through
21, Athens was full of philosophers, just full of them, so-called
wise men, religious men, teachers, theologians, doctrinalists, just
full of them. And among them were the Epicureans
and the Stoics. Now, here's what they believed.
It amazed me when I found out what these fellows believed,
the Epicureans. See that in verse 18, then certain
philosophers of the Epicureans and the Stoics encountered Paul.
Now the Epicureans were followers of a man called Epicurus. He
lived 300 years before Christ. And this is what they believed.
This is what many religious people believed, and this is what many
Methodists and Baptists and Presbyterians and Catholics believe today.
Now listen, this is what they believed. They believed there
was one God. They believed in God. But they
did not believe that God created the world. They believed that
the world came into being not by creation and not by design,
but by certain atoms that cemented themselves together and formed
the world. They believed in God, but they
did not believe that God ruled the world according to his purpose
and his providence. They believed that it was beneath
God's majesty and God's dignity to concern himself with the affairs
of men. That's what they believed. They
believed there was a God, but they believed in evolution. They
believed the world came together by certain atoms that cemented
themselves together, and certain particles of material made the
world. They believed that God Almighty lived, but they didn't
believe He was ruling the world by purpose and design, or that
He was actively engaged in the affairs of men. And this is what
they believed. Listen. The chief happiness of
man is in pleasure. especially the
pleasure of the mind arising from the practice of moral virtue. Satisfied mind. That's where
they believe. They believe that was the chief
happiness, is to have a satisfied, contented mind. The pleasure
of the mind especially arising from the practice of moral virtue.
Those are the Epicureans. They listened to them. Then another
group, the Stoics. Now listen to what they believed.
The Stoics were followers of a man called Zeno. Now, listen
to our day. They believed in one God. They
believed he made the world, but that the world is governed
by fate, not by God, not by a sovereign Lord doing as he will, when he
will, with whom he will. They believed the world. God
made it, God created it, put it out there, and God kind of
lets it you know, develop as it will. Faith takes a hand. As we say in our day, hope you
have good luck tomorrow. I had the best luck the other
day, you know. We had, as luck would have it, the world just
kind of rules itself. It's just by chance and fate
and so forth. That's what they believe. And
happiness, this is where they believe happiness was found. Happiness is found in virtue. And virtue has its own reward. All works or virtues are linked
together and all are good and all vices are evil and equal. And a wise and good man, now
listen to this. You ever sing that chorus, Happy
All the Time? That's what the Stoics would sing. Listen to
it. A wise and good man is destitute
of passions He's always happy, he's always joyful, whether in
pain or pleasure, he's happy all the time. The soul, this is what they believe,
the soul lives after the body, and the world will be destroyed
by fire. That's what the Stoics believe.
But our goal is happiness. And we're to be happy all the
time. We're to be happy in pain or pleasure. We're not to have
any changes passions in regard to these things. Happy all the
time. Now these men, they gathered around Paul, and they took him,
not by force, I do not believe it was by force, I don't believe
they forced him at all or made him go, but they took him up
here to the Areopagus, and that was a place or a court, the court
of the twelve judges, they called it. where all of the wise men
and philosophers gathered. It was a high place, a high point,
and these men gathered to discuss religious philosophy. They gathered
to discuss these very things that they believed. They gathered
to debate, and to argue, and to set forth their doctrines,
and their beliefs, and their convictions, and their principles,
and they always came together to learn some new thing. That's
what it says down here in verse 21, "...for all the Athenians
and the strangers which were there spent their time, and nothing
else, but either to tell or to hear some new thing." That's where Paul preached that
Mars Hill sermon, and that's to whom he preached it. And it's
amazing to me how this situation fits our day. First thing he said to them,
he stood up, verse 22, "'Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in
all things,' and he didn't begin, I think it's a better translation
is here, he didn't alienate his audience immediately, his congregation,
by calling them superstitious. I think it's really the wrong
word, and I'm not finding fault with the King James Bible. I'm
simply saying that most other translations don't translate
it that way. And the word superstitious in
1610 or 11 may have meant what we're saying here. But Paul says,
you men of Athens, I perceive that you're more religious than
most people. You're more religious. Now, if
a man, if God sent a messenger down here to Ashland, Kentucky
this morning, to speak to us, and do we not have the same situation?
We have some who believe in evolution, but believe in God, they say.
Some who believe in that God created the world, some who don't.
Some who believe happiness lies in virtue. Some who believe happiness
lies in Christ. Some who believe the end and
goal of all men is to have a satisfied mind, a contented mind, and to
attain certain moral qualifications, and others believe that it's
something else. And don't we have We have, you drive up and
down the street, here's the Baptist, and the Presbyterian, and the
Methodist, and the Church of Christ, and the Church of God, and the
Pentecostal, and the Holiness, and the Latter-day Saints, and
the Mormons, and the Catholics, and the Seventh-day Adventists,
and the Christian scientists, and all these different what
we call theologies and ways. We have some men who are sprinkling
infants this morning, and some who are baptizing adults, and
we have some who are having the sacraments out here, speaking
in Latin, and some speaking in Greek, and some speaking in some
other tongue. We have men who grab their ear
and holler, and you can't understand a word they're saying. And we
have others who take these long theological discourses, and people
go to sleep while they're preaching. We have all these different.
And if this messenger came down to Ashland, or the United States,
or Kentucky today, he'd say, I'll tell you one thing about
you folks, you sure are religious. And you're more religious than
they are in Africa. And you're more religious than
they are in Russia, that's for sure. And you're more religious
than they are in China, or Japan, or England. I've been to England
on the Lord's Day, and there's not as many folks in church as
there are around here. And this is what he would say
to us, I perceive that you, in America, are more religious than
most folks. You have more cults and sects
and religious denominations. If some wild, crazy religious
scheme is born in Korea, you know where they bring it to prosper?
America. If some wild, crazy, idiotic
religious scheme is hatched in some idiot's brain in Japan,
if he wants to make a million dollars on his religion, where
would you go? California, in the United States
of America. Because this is the most religious
outfit God ever let live, is the United States of America.
And that's what he's saying right here. You have more festivals,
you have more feasts, you have more holidays, you have more
revival meetings, you have more Bible conferences, you have more
religious denominations, you have more churches, cathedrals,
temples, chapels, you have more altars, statues, religious programs
and organizations in any country on earth, all of them put together. And that's the very situation
in Athens. Paul stood surrounded by these
Oropagites, judges and philosophers and Epicureans and Stoics. Someone
said, now listen to this, in the days of Nero, in the city
of Athens alone, there were 30,000 public statues besides the private
ones in the home. Somebody said it was easier to
find a god in Athens and to find a man. And here in the United
States, here in Ashton, I would safely say there are 200 churches
in this little town of 30,000 people. We're religious. All right, what's the next verse?
And as I passed by and I beheld your devotions, your shrines,
your altars, all of your chapels and synagogues and temples and
all of these religious altars, I found an altar, I found a place
with this inscription, to the unknown God. Now, these people
of Athens had created all kinds of gods. They knew their origin. They created this god and that
god and another god. They knew their origin because
that god originated right here in their own mind. They knew
where it came from. They knew the attributes of their
gods. Their gods had certain powers and certain limitations
because they gave him those powers. Is that not true of our gods?
We have a God who does certain things because you hear people
say, well, my Bible says this. Do you ever hear them say this?
My God wouldn't do that. My God. See, they had their gods.
Their gods met certain requirements. Their God was the Father of all
men. Their God ruled over the brotherhood
of all men. Their God did this, and their
God did that, and their God allowed them, and their God waited, and
their Godâ€”you see what I'm saying? And we better be careful when
we go to talking about idol worshipers and be sure we're not worshiping
an idol. Where is an idol born? If a man carves a figure and
calls it God, where is it born in his mind? in his thoughts,
that's where it's born. Buddha was born in somebody's
mind. The worship of Buddha, that big
statue over there in Kamakura, Japan, is born in somebody's
mind. Every idol is born in some man's
mind. And we'd better be careful that
the God we praise on Sunday morning and the God we preach on Sunday
night is not a God that was born in our minds. That scares me
to death. Absolutely. If it doesn't frighten
you, you can't be frightened. That's what he says about these
people. I pass by your gods, your altars. Your God has a reason
for existing, and you give him that reason. You didn't find
out who he was and where he came from and what he did and what
he's pleased to do and what he will do. He does what you say
he can do. David said, their gods are likened
to themselves. You know this, you watch religious
people, I've been in religion a long time, and you watch the
way people worship, and the God they preach, and their God is
similar to themselves. That's right. You thought I was
altogether with such, the emotionalist has an emotional God. The intellectual
has an intellectual God. The weak, feminine-type man,
that's the kind of God he has. That's his God. The rough, tough,
mean, cruel, domineering man, for example, the people who advocated
slavery back a hundred years ago in this country, they were
religious people. The people who put the slaves
on the block and sold them were religious people, church leaders,
deacons, preachers. Their God was that way. They
justified what they did because their God, they found it in the
Bible, their God advocated this type of life. And these people
had gods. But just in case, now watch this.
Their God, they knew the origin of their God, the attributes
of their God, the powers and limitations of their God, and
the specialty of their God. Their God's specialty was to
bless them. And their attitude toward him depended on the blessings.
If their God kept blessing them, then they worshiped him, and
they gave to him, and they did all this. But if their God didn't
bless them, then they forsook him and found them another God. That's where people change churches,
you know. They find them another God. They find them a God that
fits in with their pattern of life. But just in case, just in case
they had missed a God somewhere along the line, To keep from
neglecting that God or offending that God, these Athenians erected
an altar to that God, and they just put on it just in case we've
missed a God along the way. This shrine, this altar, is to
the unknown God. Now, we know about this God and
that God, Jupiter and Venus and all these other gods, the God
of war, Mars, and we know this God and that God of rain and
the God of this. But now, just in case there's
a God out yonder somewhere that we don't know, that we didn't
concoct, that we didn't conjure up, that we didn't draw from
our own imagination just in case out there somewhere there's a
God that we didn't approve of and that we didn't originate,
we'll just erect an altar to Him. Paul came along and said,
that's the God of the Bible, that's the God of the universe,
that's the true God. He's a God you don't know. And
your Baptist God, and Methodist God, and Presbyterian God, and
Catholic God, and Pelagian God, and Calvinistic God, and Antinomian
God, and Arminian God, and Wesleyan God, and Lutheran God, and all
these other gods you created are nothing but gods of your
imagination. I'm going to preach to you, he
said, the living God, the unknown God. In all your religion, he said,
your superstition, in all of your devotions, you've missed
God. You've played church, you've played religion, you've made
decisions, you've consecrated and re-consecrated, dedicated
and re-dedicated, you've got your creeds and catechisms and
confessions of faith, and in all your religious practices,
you've got a God down on paper. And the living God is unknown. He says, would you like to hear
about him? Beginning with verse 24, he preaches this God. First
of all, he said he made the world. He made the world. And all things therein you don't
believe. My friend, I don't care contrary
to what your school teacher might have said, or your professor,
or the PhD. You don't believe in evolution
and believe in God. No way. No way. You don't believe in any shape,
form, or fashion that man evolved and believed in the God of the
Bible, the true and living God. Now, you may believe a God you've
made up, whose limitations and origin that you know, but not
the God of the Bible, the true and living God, because it says
in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. It
says, "...in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was made
flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory. The glory
is the only begotten Son of God." But that Word that was made flesh,
he was God, he was with God, and all things were made by him. And without him was not anything
made that was made. God, he says this unknown God,
created the heavens and the earth, and he's Lord of the heavens
and the earth. He's Lord, indisputably Lord,
unchangeably Lord. He's Lord. He doeth all things
according to his own will in the armies of heaven and among
the inhabitants of the earth, and he giveth it to whomsoever
he will. And none can stay his hand or
say unto him, what are you doing? Hath not the potter power over
the clay to make of the same lump one vessel unto honor and
another unto dishonor? O man, who art thou that replyest
against God? Can the thing formed say to him
that formed it, why do you make me thus? Who maketh you to differ? I preach, that's not my God,
that's what Paul says. That's not your God. That's what
he said to these Athenians. He said, we're religious. They
were too. But they made up their gods.
They didn't find out who he was. They didn't find out where he
was. They didn't find out what he did or why he did it. They
just said, now God, you can come as far and as far as you can
come. You can do this. That's all you can do. You can
reign up there. Now you stay up there now. But
Paul said, this unknown God I'm preaching to you, he made the
heavens and the earth, and he's Lord of the heavens and the earth.
Lord! He. I am the Lord. He said, I create light and darkness,
life and death, good and evil. I declare the end from the beginning,
saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure.
David, they said, where's your God? We have our God. David,
where's yours? David said, My God's in the heavens,
and he hath done whatsoever he pleased. In the heavens, in the
seas, in the earth, and in all deep places. Whither shall I
flee from thy presence? If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, if I ascend into
heaven, thou art there, into the grave, thou art there. Thou
art everywhere. Look at the next line. And this
God, who made all things, and who's Lord, now listen, he doesn't
have to put a brand on the cattle out there on a thousand hills,
he owns them, he's Lord. He doesn't have to stake a claim
for the mines, gold and silver and coal and oil, he doesn't
have to stake a claim, he owns them, he's Lord. He doesn't have
to put a fence around the matter. You have to buy you a little
acreage out here and put a fence around it. God doesn't put a
fence around here. He owns it all. He owns it all. And He's Lord of the dead and
the living. He's Lord of every angel, every cherubim, every
seraphim, every son of Adam. Christ said, Thou hast given
me all authority over all flesh. He told his disciples, you go
preach the gospel. All authority is given unto me
in heaven and earth. That's the Lord. You may be worshiping
an idol. That's what Paul said to these
people. I'm going to preach to your God. He said, you don't
know. You don't know. You've got a little statue down
there to the unknown God. That's God. And look at the third thing,
and he said he doesn't dwell in temples made with hands. You can build a temple for your
God. You can isolate him down there at the building you call
the church. This is not a church. This ain't nothing but a building. I know people who attach to buildings. They're attached to temples.
They're attached to synagogues. They're attached to the old country
church. They're attached to the old church
they used to go to at home. They're attached to these buildings.
This is not a church. This is not a house of God. God doesn't dwell in a house.
This is a place where the church meets. Here's the church, flesh
and blood. That's the church. Christ dwells
in here and out there and out yonder. Turn to 2 Chronicles
2. I believe this is Solomon talking
here in 2 Chronicles 2. Turn over there just a minute.
He's just about to erect a temple called Solomon's Temple, and
that's a good name for it, in 2 Chronicles 2, verse 5. And the house which I built is
great, for great is our God above all little-letter gods. But verse
6, watch this, 2 Chronicles 2 verse 6, but who is able to build him
a house? Seeing the heaven, and the heaven
of heavens cannot contain him. Who am I then that I should build
him a house? Save only to burn sacrifice before
him. Just a place to preach. Just
a place to meet together and talk about God. Just a place
to meet together that's big enough to hold a group. Let's talk about
the Lord. The God of glory does not dwell
in houses made with hands. The living God does not dwell
in temples. Look at verse 25. Listen to this. Neither is he worshipped with
men's hands. Oh, my brother, as though he needed anything.
Seeing he give it, he give it. My friend, you don't give to
God. God gives to you. You don't give to God. We don't
worship God with hands, human hands. Now the false gods, you
find a heathen over there, and he's got his gods sitting here
in a certain place. And he comes at a certain time,
and he brings some kind of offering. And he goes through certain positions
of body, certain ramblings of the tongue, and he goes through
certain gyrations, and all of these different things, and lays
certain offerings at the feet of that God, and this sort of
thing. I've heard preachers talk about,
now we'll worship the Lord with our tithes and offerings. Worship
the Lord with tithes and offerings? Is God worshipped with human
hands, or what human hands can bring, or what human hands can
give, or what human hands can contribute? Is that worshipping
God? We go through certain positions
of kneeling and bowing and these different things. Is that worshipping
God with this sort of thing? I hear other preachers say, won't
you give God your talents? Won't you give God your heart?
Won't you give God your time? This is the very thing that Paul
is talking about right here. God's not worshipped with men's
hands and men's contributions and men's gifts. That's not God's
way God's worshipped. God's obeyed that way. God's
obeyed, but not worshipped. When I give my offerings unto
the Lord for the preaching of the gospel, I am following the
example of my Lord who was rich, yet for my sake he became poor,
who gave himself. When I am kind and tenderhearted
and gracious and forgiving to someone, I am following the orders
of my Lord and the commandments of my Lord, who told me to be
merciful as my Father in heaven is merciful. When I walk in honesty
and truth and holiness, I'm following the commandments and the laws
of my God who commanded me to live peaceably with all men,
as I would that men should do unto me, do even so unto them.
But that's not the way one worships God. God gives. We don't give to Him.
We don't contribute anything to God. God stands in need of
nothing. One does not worship God by giving
God anything. You worship God in your heart,
and He even gives you the heart to worship Him. That's the gift
of God. That's right. Christ said this, I didn't come
to be ministered unto. I came to minister and to give
my life a ransom for many. I don't contribute anything to
God. I don't add anything to His glory. I don't add anything
to His majesty. I don't add anything to His excellence.
God adds to me. He gives to me. I receive from
Him. Look at the next verse, if you
will, verse 26. And God hath made, this God, who made all
things, who is Lord of heaven and earth, This God who does
not dwell in temples, this God who the heaven of heavens cannot
contain and the earth is his footstool, this God who is not
worshipped with men's hands as though he needed anything, with
men's contribution as though they could add anything to God.
He's the sovereign, independent, infinite, immutable, eternal
God who gives life and breath, who gives all things. He makes
the sun to shine, the grass to grow, the trees to bear, the
vegetables to bloom. And he hath made of one blood
all nations of men, for to dwell on all the face of the earth.
We have no cause to strive one with another. We have no cause
to contend with one another. We have no cause to seek preeminence
over one another. We have no cause to look down
upon another. Because we all have the same
daddy, Adam. We all have the same roots, black
and white, red and yellow, ignorant, intelligent, talented, or barbarian. We all have the same daddy, Adam. That's what he says. He has made
of one blood all nations of men. I'm talking about the natural
brotherhood of all men, not the spiritual brotherhood. I'm saying
that every son of Adam, no matter what part of the globe he lives
in or what dispensation he lived under or what generation he came
forth from, we're all of one daddy, Adam, and we sinned in
him and we disobeyed God in him and we fell in him and we're
condemned in him. And you may boast of whatever
you have or are, you may boast of your stock or heritage, but
we all have the same heritage. God is made of one blood, Jew
and Gentile, and he has determined the times before appointed. He
has determined our time on this earth. The time of every nation,
the Babylonian Empire, lasted just as long as God pleased for
it to last. The Roman Empire arose and it
lasted just as long as God intended it to last. The great British
colonies of the world lasted as long as God let it last, and
America will last just as long as God lets it last. God seats
kings and God dethrones kings. God raises them up and God brings
them down. He has appointed all times on
this earth the time of nation and the time of all men. Turn
to Job 14. Job chapter 14, let's look at
verse 5. He's talking about man that's
born of woman. He said, man's days are determined,
the number of his months are with the Lord. God has appointed
his bounds and he cannot pass. No man comes on this earth any
sooner or later than God decrees. And the country and the city
and the town and the spot of ground where he'll live, where
he'll stand, is decreed by God and how long he'll stand there.
God has set their times and appointed their bounds of habitation. That's
God. Now, my friends, we can turn
and walk away any time we want to. Turn and walk away any time
you want to. These Athenians, hey, they had
all their gods. My God wouldn't, that's not my
God you're preaching. Well, that's what Paul told them.
He said, I'm preaching an unknown God. I'm preaching a God you
don't know. I'm preaching that God, the human mind, cannot comprehend. It must be revealed by the Holy
Spirit. I hath not seen her, hath not
heard, neither hath entered the heart of man the things God has
prepared for them that love him, but he hath revealed them unto
us by his Spirit. For the Spirit searcheth the
deep things of God. What man knoweth the things of
a man, save the Spirit of man that's in him? Even so the things
of God knoweth no man, but he to whom the Spirit will reveal
it." And that's what he's saying. I'm going to preach to you God
who made the world, and God who rules the world, heaven and earth,
and God who dwells not in temples, and God who is not waiting for
you to do something for him. He's not worshiped with men's
hands. He's not standing on the sidelines
waiting to see if you'll help him out. He gives life. He gives breath. He gives all
things. He gives it. You don't give him
anything. He's made of one blood, all nations
and all men. God's no respecter of nations
or persons. They're all the same. They're
all the sons of Adam. They're all rebels. They're all
traitors. They're all in the dust. And you might raise your
little old head up and say, God, I deserve special recognition
because I'm an American. God will pass you by and pick
out the darkest hot and tot in heathen Africa for his glory.
because you came from the same daddy he came from. In God's
good providence you were just allowed to be born in the United
States because God Almighty has determined the times appointed
and God has set the bounds of men's habitation. This is where
I have my habitation. By whose orders? By God's orders. By God's orders. I'm living here
because God put me here. Who makes you to differ? You
look down on that old shoe cobbler over there, if it wasn't for
God's grace, you'd be a shoe cobbler. You look down on the
poor washerwoman down there, if it wasn't for God's grace,
you'd be washing her clothes. If it wasn't for God's providence,
God put her there and God put you here. You're nothing, she
had neither. Just daughters of Adam. Just one worm a little
higher than another worm, that's all. You live up here and the
other worm lives down here. Both of you live underground.
That's right. One worm lives up close to the
surface and another worm lives down a little deeper, a little
muddier. He's down a little deeper in
the cesspool than you are, but you're both in the same location. Now verse 27, what men ought
to do is seek the Lord. They ought to quit following
these false preachers, false prophets. They ought to quit
trying to find them a God that fits into their social pattern,
find them a God that fits into their monetary or material pattern,
or find them a God that fits into their intellectual pattern,
or find them a God that fits into their religious pattern,
they ought to seek the Lord! The living God! It just might
be they might find him. Because Paul said, I'll tell
you this, he's pretty close around. He's pretty close. He's not far
from any of you. He's the one that gave you the
breath you just breathed. That's right, Dick. He gave you
the breath you just breathed. That's how close he is. That's
how close. He's the one that you reached
up and scratched your head. He's the one that let you do
it. He's the one that gave you the... Raise your arm without
God. Is any fool big enough to try that here? He's the one that
gave you the strength. Because there's a whole lot of
folks that can't raise them today. But he let you do it. He's the
one that brought you here this morning. He's the one that put
that food on the table this morning. He's not too far away. He's the
one that lets me walk. He's the one that gave me eyes
to see. He's the one that blessed me
with your fellowship. He ain't too far away. Not too far. Now look at this
next verse. This is a shocking verse. For
as much then as we are the offspring of God, I have a will, I have
a mind, I have a purpose, and yet I've created a God that does
not have a will, who does not have a mind, who does not have
a purpose. Why, he said, inasmuch as we're
the offspring of God, we ought not to think that God is like
to gold or silver or stone, graven by art and men's devices. I have
a house I live in over there, but I get out of there once in
a while. Won't you let God out of this house you built and let
him walk the streets? Let him have a will, let him
have a mind, let him have power and strength. You're his offspring.
You got a picture at your home, you call it Jesus. Is that Jesus? I'm his offspring. I'm flesh
and blood. I breathe. That thing doesn't.
That's an idol, Charlie. That's not him. You're his offspring. Now, just think of this. God
said, let us make man in our image. And in the image of God,
created he them, male and female. That's the way God made them.
And yet you take your God and make him an idol, make him a
person that could be satisfied. Here's the thing. You want people
to love you. You want people to do whatever
they do because they love you. And yet your God can be satisfied
with your external gifts. You can just stand in his presence,
honor him in your presence by going to church on Sunday morning,
going through a bunch of rituals, burning some candles and eating
some wafers and drinking some wine, and that pleases your God.
That wouldn't please me. I wouldn't be satisfied with
that. I wouldn't be satisfied with your once in a while greeting,
Christmas or Easter or some special occasion. I wouldn't be satisfied
with that. I don't believe my wife would be satisfied with
that and a husband. I don't believe you men would be satisfied in
that and a wife. I don't believe that you parents
would be satisfied in that with a child. Just the fact they believe
you're their parent, they believe that you're, I believe you're
my mama, I believe you're my daddy, I believe you're my wife,
I believe you're my husband. I want a little more than that.
I want an intimate, personal, real relationship that's born
of love and affection, and you know me and I know you. Now,
if I'm his offspring and I have those kind of thoughts, Jim,
and those kind of desires, how can I relegate my God? Come on
now, think with me. How can I relegate my God to
a satisfaction with people walking up and down an aisle with uniforms
on, carrying a cross, burning candles, doing scrapes and bows
and talking in a foreign language or grabbing their ear and yelling
at me? That's what Paul said to me. You're God's offspring. God made you in his own image.
And you have a will and a purpose day that Abraham talked to God
face to face, as a man would talk to his priest. I hear people going through this
stuff they call prayer sometimes. They say, God, we approach you
this morning the best way we know how because, oh God, we
know that you live in heaven and, oh God, we live... Don't
talk to me that way. I think you're some kind of fool. I go to my door and open the
door and you're standing there and you say, Brother man, I've come to
you this morning because I want to send you a magazine. I don't
want your magazine, I'd shut the door, you're some kind of
nut. This is what, we've got a false
God in this thing. Now you start to think about
this. We're his offspring, he said,
we're the offspring, I'm not making fun, I'm trying, Paul's
saying this thing, he says, you people, you're the offspring
of God, God made you in his image. And yet your God is a stature,
or your God is a denominational head, or your God is a doctrine
or a creed. You're not a doctrine, you're
a person! How can your God be this, if
you're in his image? And I'll tell you this, verse
30, he said, there was a day that God put up with this mess.
It says it's times of this ignorance. God winked at it, but they don't
consider it in the fact that God approved of it, God coddled
it. No, the word here is God let
them go. He left them in their darkness
and their ignorance. He left the Gentiles to worship
their idols, and he left the Jews to worship their ceremonies.
But God had commanded all men everywhere to repent. You know, this thing, repentance,
using here in regard to repentance is toward God. You know what
the average man thinks repentance is? Feeling bad because I got
drunk. That's just about the size of
it. Feeling bad because I did this, that, and the other. Well, Judas felt bad because
he sold the Lord. And Esau felt bad because he
sold his birthright. And he sought some kind of repentance
with tears, but didn't know. This repentance, now listen to
this, this repentance Cecil has to do with my thoughts of God.
That's what this has to do with right here. Now he said, I'm
preaching an unknown God. You've whipped you up a God.
You figured you out a God. You created a God in your evil
imagination. You limited that God. You let
him have an origin and specifications and power and limitations according
to your will. Now he said, I'm preaching to
you the God of the universe. And God put up with this mess.
God let men go in their false ideas of God. He passed it by. He ignored it. But I'm telling
you this, Paul said, the time of that ignorance, God passed
by and left them alone. But he commanded all men, everywhere,
to get straightened out in their minds in regard to God. Bow down! Submit to the claims of the living
God, whatever it costs you. Bend your knees and lift your
eyes to the living God. And cry with Thomas, my Lord
and my God. Or cry with Saul of Tarsus, Lord,
what will you have me do? Or cry with Belshazzar and Nebuchadnezzar,
Lord, now my understanding has returned to me and I know that
you're God. And beside thee there's none
else, and you reign in heaven and earth. Oh God, be merciful
to me, a sinner. Get straightened out. Because
verse 31, God's appointed a day. There's a day coming when he,
not your God, but the God of the Bible, not the God that's
a figment of your imagination, but he, the living God, is going
to judge this world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained. In other words, what Paul is
saying is this. As men have received Christ, or rejected Christ, they
are going to be judged. As men are clothed in Christ's
righteousness, or not clothed in Christ's righteousness, they
shall be judged. They shall be judged before the
God of righteousness on that day in regard to their relationship
and their union with Jesus Christ. Because Christ is our righteousness. If I stand before God on that
day, When God shall judge the world, and God shall demand perfection,
and God shall demand absolute holiness, and God shall demand
that righteousness which is akin to the righteousness of God,
in that day when God demands that, and that righteousness
shall be judged on the righteousness of his Son, I don't have it in
myself. I'd wither before his presence.
I'd be like the chaff that the wind bloweth away. I'd be like
the tares meeting the flame. But if I'm clothed in the righteousness
of his dear son, if I'm washed in the blood of his dear son,
if I'm a partaker of the grace and mercy of his dear son, if
I'm one who's been brought to the cross of his dear son, and
I'm resting and trusting and believing in what Christ hath
done, and who Christ is, and where Christ is, I shall be accepted. Because the basis of the judgment
shall be his son, his son. And God, listen to this last
line, where he closed. He says, and he hath given assurance
unto all men that Christ is the Lord, that Christ is the Messiah,
that Christ is the Redeemer, that Christ is our hope. How
did he give that assurance? How did he give that proof? He
raised him from the dead. He raised him from the dead.
He's not a dead Christ. Buddha is a dead prophet. Mohammed
is a dead prophet. Confucius is a dead prophet.
The gods that men worship are dead prophets. Christ is the
living God. God proved it when he raised
him from the dead. I said, folks, I'll seek the
Lord. They ought not be content and happy to worship a false
god. or seek the Lord. Seek me with
all your heart, he said, and you'll find me, for he's not
too far away. All that's required is to bow
down, bow down. If thou shalt confess with thy
mouth Jesus to be Lord, and believe in thine heart God hath raised
him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Our Father, for the
Word, the powerful, heartbreaking, searching Word, the revealing
Word of the living God, we thank Thee. We're not left in darkness.
This thing wasn't done in a corner. We can see these words. We may
not believe them. We may not receive them, but
we can see them. We're responsible for them. We can hear them. The
heart of the living God. There's no God like Thee. We
do not want a God with human limitations. will only do what
we let him do. We want to bow before him who
created all things, who is Lord of heaven and earth. Lord, reveal
thyself unto us. Make us to know and to love and
to trust and to worship the God who giveth and the Lord who taketh
away. In his name we pray. Amen.

Do We Worship an Unknown God?

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Do We Worship an Unknown God?

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