Introducing the Unknown God Part 1

Pastor Mike will be speaking on Introducing the Unknown God Part 1. He will be reading out of Acts 17:15-34.

And we know the end of the story, get to the book of Revelation, we know how it all wraps up, and so why are we worried? Because God has a purpose, and God has a plan, and He is a God who knows and loves each and every one of us.

Hello, this is Pastor Mike Sanders, and I’m delighted to welcome you to the Hope Worth Having radio program this week. We’re going to be diving into the book of Acts chapter 17 this morning, verse 15 through 34, and we’re going to be learning about the Unknown God.

The Apostle takes time to introduce us to the Unknown God and uses this as a platform to share Christ and to share His truth about salvation. So I want you to get your Bible and join me in Acts chapter 17 as we begin.

I’ve entitled my message introducing the Unknown God. We have been tracking the Apostle Paul and his missionary team on their second missionary journey, which was launched in Acts chapter 15 and the latter part, and we know that the Apostle that he went to the Philippi, and there he was beaten, he was in prison, and we know that the great jeller, he received Christ, his whole family came to God, and they were baptized,

and a church was planted. We know that the Apostle has been to Thessalonica, and he is as well. He has dealt with opposition, but there was much opportunity, and before he was forced to leave, he was able to plant a church in Thessalonica.

Now he has been forced to leave Berea. You may remember that the Bereans were considered to be more noble than the Thessalonians. And that is in the sense that they really were students of the Bible and they asked questions and everything that the apostle taught, they made sure that it aligned with God’s word.

And so the Bereans stand as a model for us. But having left Berea, now the apostle is heading to Athens. We pick up in verse 15 and the Bible says, so those who conducted Paul brought him to Athens and receiving a command for Silas and Timothy to come to him with all speed, they departed.

Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him when he saw that the city was given over to idols. Therefore, He reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with the Gentile worshipers and in the marketplace daily with those who happened to be there.

Then certain Epicurean and stoic philosophers encountered Him. And some said, what does this babbler want to say? Others said, He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods because He preached to them Jesus and the resurrection.

And they took Him and brought Him to the Arabagus saying, may we know what this new doctrine is of which you speak? For you are bringing some strange things to our ears. Therefore, we want to know what these things mean.

For all the Athenians and the foreigners who were there spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing. Then Paul stood in the midst of the Arabagus, which is just a assembly of people, and said, men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious.

For as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription to the unknown God. Therefore, the one whom you worship without knowing Him, I proclaim to you.

This morning as we study this text, I want to as well proclaim to you and introduce to you the unknown God that the apostle proclaimed in the city of Athens. The city of Athens was a Greek culture, and the city was known as the religious, intellectual, and philosophical center of the Roman Empire.

And of course, we know that they had many gods. The Bible tells us in verse 16, there was a plethora of idols that were in this city. And just in case they might’ve missed some god, the Athenians decided that they would put up an idol that was dedicated to the unknown god, the god that they may not even be aware of, or the god that they may have overlooked and somehow did not worship, but they just wanted to make sure all of their worship and all of their idolatry and all that they were doing was covered and that the bases were taken care of.

Now in verse 18, we’re introduced to two different philosophical groups of people, the Epicureans and the Stoics. The Epicureans always sought to avoid any kind of pain in life and they were pleasure seekers.

kind of just eat, drink, and be merry, and do whatever you want, because the world has happened by chance, and there is no consequences to your actions, so just live it up. Now the Stoics were just the opposite.

Sometimes people may refer to other individuals as being very stoic, meaning they’re not very expressive, or maybe that they are very disciplined people. That’s exactly what the Stoics were. They advocated self-denial.

They embraced pantheism, which is simply believing that God exists in everything, and God exists in everyone. So these two philosophies dominated the community and the culture of that day, and they were taken aback by this message of the Apostle, for he was teaching about Jesus Christ, and he was teaching that Jesus Christ went to a cross, and he died for our sins, and that he was resurrected three days,

and he will soon come back for his people. So they were intrigued because, having nothing to do, they gathered in these large gatherings, and they would sit there and pontificate and babble, or maybe just kind of go on and on about nothing, or maybe their philosophies, and there were always those who were inquiring, looking for something new, a new philosophy, a new thought, a new idea that they could somehow embrace or follow.

Why? Because their idolatry had kind of left them in a dead end, and they had a sense of meaninglessness, and there was no significance in their hearts, because they had already maxed out these idols only to find that they did not produce in their hearts a genuine purpose and a genuine forgiveness and grace in their life.

And so the apostles sensing this and being grieved by all the idolatry steps up to the plate and realizes his responsibility to teach them about the unknown God. And the first thing that he teaches them is the true God is the all-wise creator.

I want you to look at verse 24. The Bible says, God who made the world and everything in it since he is Lord of heaven and earth does not dwell in temples made with hands. He is certainly teaching something that is contrary to what the Epicureans believed because it is teaching that God is eternal and that He has created everything and that we are created in the image of God and that there is an eternal aspect to our life.

He certainly was challenging the Stoics when He was teaching that God was certainly the one who created everything when they believe everything was by an accident and it just so happened that we are here.

I think we’ve heard that before, haven’t we? I think we’ve heard that somehow that we came from a tadpole and somehow it evolved into another animal and then it became another animal and then somehow here you and I are.

We heard about that big bang that happened in outer space and somehow in the midst of all of that chaos of this big bang came all of this structure and order that exists today. I hope you understand that I’m speaking sarcastically but I want you to get and realize what they were embracing and how it’s not much different than today but the Apostle interjects that God has revealed Himself through His creation,

that God has not left His people without a revelation of Himself. The Bible teaches us in Romans 1 verse 20 that the invisible things of Him referring to God for the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen.

The psalmist said that the heavens declare His glory. Friends, I want you to understand that God has not hidden Himself from us and He is not not distant and far from us, but rather just the opposite.

God has revealed himself. How can you see the sunsets and the sun risings and not believe that there’s a God? How can you look around these majestic mountains and not be taken aback that there is an almighty creator?

How can you not see the beautiful design of the space and the human body and not realize that there’s a designer behind it all? That’s what the apostle was trying to teach them and he is helping them understand that God has revealed himself.

And I want you to remember this because some of you might be concerned. You might be concerned about those who maybe have never heard the gospel or maybe they never hear the teaching of God’s word in their life and they are not blessed in such a beautiful way that we are in our country.

where there are churches on every street, in every corner, in every part of the land, over 150 churches just in Franklin County alone. Not against that because, I mean, when you get mad at somebody, I want you to be able to run somewhere else and be able to go there.

I mean, you know what I mean? We got to keep running. But here’s what I want you to know, that there are places that they do not have the Bible and they do not hear about Jesus. What about these people?

The Bible tells us in Romans chapter 1 that God has revealed Himself through creation. That they know that there is a designer behind all this. They know that somehow, some way, this is not just by accident.

And God gives us a promise in Jeremiah and that is that if you will seek Me, you will what? Find Me. Now God either lies or He’s shooting straight with us and telling us the truth. And I just believe that God will never lie.

And I believe that He will give you everything that is right and honorable and truthful. And He will not break His promises. And so I am convinced that if we will truly seek God, that we will find Him.

And that even through creation, we can see clearly that there is a God. But not only has Romans 1 teaches through creation, God reveals Himself, but through our conscience, God reveals Himself to us.

Through our conscience, God has created within us a understanding that there is a God. Now you say, well, I meet people all the time, pastor, who say they’re atheists. Or I like this one, people who say they’re agnostic.

I just love that when people tell me that. Because see, then I start breaking down the word for them, the word Gnostic, which means knowledge. And A, which means none. And it’s simply you’re saying, I have no knowledge.

I’m an ignoramus. I am. I know you don’t like this one. and forgive me if your kids are in here, stupid. And I openly want to admit it, but I want to give you a fancy word called agnostic, which means I’m just dumb.

But, I mean, I have more respect for the atheist than I do the agnostic, and it just seems kind of foolish. But point is, there are those who say there is no God, what is going on? Well, here’s the thing, they’re suppressing the truth.

They’re denying the truth, that the evidence can all be right in front of them. You know these kind of people, you’ve met them, you’ve tried to explain things, you’ve tried to reason with them, and the truth is right in front of them, and yet they will have a blind eye to it.

They will continue to deny it, they will continue to suppress it, and so it is with God. I mean, what else does the Lord have to do to reveal himself to you? What else does God have to accomplish that you would know that he loves you?

Well, the ultimate and the pinnacle revelation is that God sent his only begotten son, Jesus Christ, to this earth. And he lived a sinless life, went to the cross for our sins, and he rose again three days later.

And then, my friends, he revealed himself to over 500 people. And rumors were flying that there really was this Jesus who rose from the grave. And you and I will believe the craziest stories that aren’t even close to reality.

And if just one person tells us with no other witness, we’ll believe hearsay, we’ll believe anything just because we like to hear something that’s juicy. But the evidence, well, we can’t believe that.

But Jesus revealed himself. He is the resurrected Christ, ascended into heaven at the right hand of the Father, interceding for each one of us today. And he is coming back. And friends, he told us it’s gonna get worse before it gets better.

And if you haven’t seen the worst, I’m telling you, it’s unveiling itself each and every day in our crazy world that we live in. And we gotta know that these are the signs of the times, and we cannot be ignorant to these times.

And we recognize that it won’t be long before Jesus comes, for he has revealed himself to us, because he is the all-wise creator. But I wanna tell you the greatest creation. The greatest creation is God creates each and every one of us to be a new creation.

I was mentioning this in Sunday school. You and I are created in the image of God. Doesn’t matter who we are. We’re all created in the image of God, but sin has marred that image. And what has Christ done?

He has come as the second Adam, and he is restoring through the power of the Spirit all those who believe in him. The image of God is being restored in us in its perfection, step by step. in a process God is redeeming each of our hearts till that final culmination where we stand before God completely healed completely restored and we are standing in his presence worshiping him throughout all of eternity can God’s people say man I mean just wake up but the Bible says if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation all things have passed away and behold all things have become new that’s the power of the creation of God not only in that he is creating within us his restoring his image within us that we are redeemed believers in Christ but the Bible teaches us in Ephesians 2 10 that we are his workmanship we are his masterpieces created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God has before ordained that we should walk in them you see not only has Christ created you to save your soul but He has created you to serve Him,

that you may be fully engaged, active in the work of God, making an impact for Christ, and being that light and that salt in this world. Some of you might feel, well, look, there’s not much to me, Mike, but I wanna assure you that there is much to you because you’re a masterpiece of God, and all of our talents are different and at different levels, but let us all be assured and let us all be encouraged that we are a masterpiece of God and He has gifted us so that we can make a difference for Him.

Every day of our life should be dedicated to our Creator who created us with our gifts, our abilities, our personalities. He created us that we might be used by Him for His glory. How are you manifesting God’s good work in your heart?

How are you manifesting this creative work in you that God has accomplished? How are you making that a reality in the home, in the church, and in the workplace? How are you making that real today? The second thing we’ll see is that the Apostle teaches that the true God is the omnipresent God.

Go back to verse 24. At the end, he says He is the Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands, nor is He worshiped with men’s hands as though He needed anything since He gives to all life, breath, and all things.

He is teaching us here that God is omnipresent, meaning that God is everywhere at the same time. Now this is something that those who embraced idolatry fully could not comprehend because their idols, their gods were limited to whatever they created.

not only were they limited to these structures and statues that they had created, but that they were created by human hands. But our God is certainly above and beyond all the created hands, all the things of this world.

He is King of Kings, Lord of Lords, and He is everywhere at the same time. Now you may ask the question, where is God? Where is God, pastor, when I am hurting? And where is God when I am struggling? I want you to take your Bible, go back to Jeremiah in the Old Testament.

Just go back there real quickly. Jeremiah chapter 23, I just want to read a couple verses to you. Jeremiah 23, chapter 23, verse 23. Go ahead, it’s good to be in God’s Word together, church. Jeremiah 23, verse 23.

Am I a god near at hand, says the Lord? And not a god far off, it’s a question. Can anyone hide himself in secret places? So I shall not see him, says the Lord. Do I not feel heaven and earth, says the Lord?

What he is trying to do is take us through this process of understanding that he is a god who is near and he is a god who is at hand. He is a god who is manifesting himself all the time and his presence is near and it is dear to you.

He is right beside you no matter where you are. It is a double-edged sword. It is the reminder that there are certain places we should not go and there are certain things we should not look at and there are certain things that we should not be involved in because the presence of God is there.

Because wherever we go, we are his temple, he is residing in us as believers, but we must recognize that the Lord is watching. But it is also a great comfort to us to know that when we are lonely, our God is our companion, that he is there with us.

God is all over the place. He is everywhere. He is an omnipresent God. The psalmist said, turn to me and be gracious to me for I am lonely and afflicted. You may identify with the words of the psalmist.

That’s why so many people love the book of Psalms because there is the expression of our hearts that are made clear and directed towards God in prayers and hopes and dreams. And even as the psalmist is not only dealing with loneliness, he deals with anger, he deals with every emotion that the human heart can go through and we relate to that and we see that the…

Psalmist keeps bringing us back, that our hope is not in this world, our hope is not in religion, our hope is not in the things of gaining wealth or materialism, but our hope is in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Can God’s people say amen? Now friends, I want you to know God is with you. I want you to be assured that even though our world has more people than it ever has, did you hear? We’re breaking 8 billion in population, and yet it’s so unfortunate that people are less connected than they have ever been.

People are more lonely than they have ever been. They are struggling. So what do you do when you experience these moments of loneliness in your heart? Is there anything that you can do? I would encourage you to welcome and embrace God’s presence in your life.

to be assured based on what you know and not what you feel that He is your companion. Look at verse 27 of Acts chapter 17. So that they should seek the Lord in the hope that they might broke for Him and find Him though He is not far from each one of us.

He’s not far from each one of us. Seek Him today. You seek Him by certainly prayer. You are struggling with loneliness. Get on your knees and seek God. You want to experience the manifested presence of God, the sense of His presence in your life that I wanna encourage you to get into the Word of God.

Open your Bible, start reading your Bible. God is speaking to you. The third way you can manifest the presence of God, believe it or not, is through the fellowship of the believers. Do not get disconnected from the family of God.

We are the body of Christ. We are the hands and the feet of the Lord and we are called to manifest His presence. Do not walk through the journey of life and the struggles of life isolated from others, but rather stay connected to God’s people.

Let them minister to you. Let them encourage you. Let them bear one another’s burdens. Can God people say amen? I know you’re tired of me saying that, but I’m trying to wake you up. But I want you to know God has not called us to live alone, isolated, disconnected.

And so we need the family of God. We need the people of God. And you say, well, there’s some people, Pastor, I don’t like. Okay, don’t worry. Doesn’t change anything. God’s people are different from top to bottom.

Be glad you’re not the pastor, God is near and Jesus gave us a promise, I will never leave you, I will never forsake you, God is there and I want you to be encouraged. The third thing that the apostle introduces the unknown God as, the true God, is that he is the all-sufficient sustainer.

Look at verse 25. Nor is he worshiped with men’s hands as though he needed anything, since he gives to all life, breath, and all things. God is self-sufficient. All sufficiency resides in God. He needs nothing.

There may be some who think that the Lord is very fortunate to have them, but I want you to know. That’s not how it works, friends. We are blessed to have the Lord. And He doesn’t need us, but out of His great kindness and out of His great love and out of His great mercy, He bestows grace upon us, He redeems us, saves our souls, and He brings us into the family of God, the eternal family of God that’s gonna live forever with Him.

But He is the all-sufficient sustainer. He is the one that provides all that we need. The Scriptures teach us in Romans chapter 11, from Him and through Him, and to Him are all things, to Him be glory forever.

Amen. Jesus is the source of life. He’s not only the source of physical life, He is the source of spiritual life. He is the sustainer of life. How are you gonna make it through the journey? How are you gonna be able to navigate through the challenges and the problems and the struggles in life?

It’s gonna be through the sustaining hand of our Savior. That’s why we are called to come to Him and to cry out to Him and to pray to Him to help us. So many people are trying it on their own. They’re trying to live their life without God.

And let me tell you this, if you wanna make a mess of your life, just try to do it on your own. And what you’ll find, it’s a dead end, it’s a crash and burn. And that all these pleasures of the world, they only last for a season.

And then it all fades away. The first and the most important relationship in your life is with Jesus. You know, so many people wanna know the bottom line of the Bible. And here it is. Love God with all your heart.

With all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength. And to love your neighbor as you love yourself. Well, Americans are very similar to the Athenians. We have opted for many gods to please our every desire.

And we need to hear this message. We need to hear what the Apostle has to say, because he’s challenging us to leave idolatry and to follow the one true God. And who is that one true God? Well, it’s the Lord Jesus Christ.

And so we hope today that this message has really touched your heart and that as you’re thinking through all that God is saying to you, that today would be a day that you would commit your heart to Jesus Christ and become a fully devoted follower of Christ.

And if you have any questions about that, feel free to go to our website, HopeWorthHaving.com. And when you go to our website, just hit that contact button. button, shoot us some questions, or maybe just let us know how God is working in your life and drawing you to Him.

This is Pastor Mike Sanders reminding you that in Christ there is hope worth having.