Getting to Know the Unknown God #1
Getting to Know the Unknown God
Acts 17:22-24
 
This morning I want to begin a six-part series on God.  We are not going to concentrate so much of the characteristics of God, but rather how to get to know God.  In fact, the first three studies will deal with that specifically:  Getting to know the Unknown God.”  Then in the following three weeks, we will consider “How to Glorify God”.  And it’s all found in one little passage of scripture:  Acts 17:22-31.
 
Now if we were to read what has been happening before this section of Scripture, we would find that
Paul is on his second missionary journey. He has been hassled all the way because Satan always resists what God is doing. He founded churches in Philippi, Thessalonica and Berea, which are all cities in the area known as Greece.
 
He has been chased out of every one of them. He has left Luke, Silas and Timothy behind to care for those churches and he stands alone, we find in verse 16, in the city of Athens. And this is maybe the low point for him. He waits there until Silas and Timothy can join him. He is lonely and he is alone.
 
But it is in that situation that God uses him to give one of the most important messages he ever spoke. And that is the message recorded in verses twenty-two through thirty­one.  His sermon is delivered to the Areopagus Court. And it is a sermon based on "getting to know the unknown God".
 
 
On January 7, 1855, Charles Haden Spurgeon addressed his congregation at New Park Street Chapel with these words: "Would you lose your sorrow? Would you drown your cares? Then go plunge yourself in the Godhead's deepest sea. Be lost in His immensity and you shall come forth as from a couch of rest, refreshed and invigorated. I know nothing which can so comfort the soul, so calm the swelling billows of sorrow and grief, so speak peace to the winds of trial as the devote musing upon God. It is to that subject that I invite you this morning."
 
And I want to steal his introduction and invite you to the same study. I want to present to you this morning God.  I think Christianity has somehow drifted away from an intense understanding of God.  That seems like it would be impossible.  After all, think of the numbers and scores of churches and ministries that are functioning today.  We have more access to information about God than we have ever had. 
 
And yet the church desperately needs to regain a fresh perspective on God.
 
And so today I want us to begin this series on “Getting to Know the Unknown God. 
 
Now here’s where I want to begin:  the knowledge of God is the key to everything.
 
For example, for what were you made? You were made for one thing; that you might know God. God wanted creatures who would acknowledge Him. And so He made you to know Him and give Him glory.
And if you don't know Him then you do not exist as you were designed to exist. And rather than being in the knowledge of God and reflecting glory to God, you are a blemish on His glory.
 
Think about it this way:  if you see an unruly child, maybe three or four years old, do you know who that reflects poorly on?  The parents. 
 
I don’t blame a child for acting like a heathen.  Without correction and instruction and discipline, that’s what they are.  But I certainly do blame the parent for allowing that behavior to go on.  Therefore, when we see an unruly child, we automatically think something's wrong with the parents. 
 
Now watch this:  God created men to give Him glory. And we look around the world and we see sinful men. We see men who refuse to give Him glory. Men in rebellion. And God does not like that because that diminishes the glory of God.
 
God desires glory from every creature and ultimately removes from His presence those that don't give Him glory. And so men were made to know God, and in  knowing Him to give Him glory.
 
What then should be the aim of life, of any man's life? To know God.
 
Now, Who is it that makes it possible for us to know God? Jesus Christ.
 
 
 
Think about this:  Most of the time, when we present the plan of salvation and try to lead someone to be saved, we talk about eternal life. 
 
And that’s not wrong; John 3:16 does the same thing.  But what is eternal life?  Eternal life is not a quantity of life. We always think of eternal life as the concept of going-on-forever kind of life. But that’s not really the focus of eternal life. 
 
Eternal life lasts for eternity, but eternal life is not so much length of life as it is a kind of life. God wants to save us and give us eternal life. What does that mean? 
 
Listen to John 17:3
 
Do you know what eternal life is? It is the very life of God.  Only He has it, therefore only He can give it.  Therefore to Know God in the way He designed is to have eternal life.  Eternal life isn't a time thing at all. Eternal life is the knowledge of God. It is the kind of living that is plugged into the eternal.
 
And so the very thing for which Jesus came was to give us eternal life which is knowing God in a relationship that lasts forever.
 
So the reason men were made was to know God. The reason Jesus died was to give you the knowledge of God that you are lost in sin.
 
In the Garden of Eden, Adam knew God.  He walked and talked with God in the cool of day in the garden. And he knew immediately that he had sinned. 
 
And suddenly, he was cut off from God's presence; from God’s glory.  Romans 3:23 says it this way:  For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And that presence is only restored in Christ. 
 
Jesus is the one Who is able to plug you back into the eternal. Being a Christian is this:  being one who knows God. Sometimes people want you to be impressed by the famous people they know. Whenever someone asks if I know someone famous, I respond by saying, “No, but I know God!”
 
Have you ever thought about how exciting that is? I mean, I know the God of the universe. More than that, He knows me!  He knows my name!  And he promised to be with me forever!  He never leaves me. He is with me all the time. He likes my company. I know God.
 
Listen to Jeremiah's words in Jeremiah 9:23: "Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, Let not the mighty man glory in his might, Nor let the rich man glory in his riches;”  
      
Does that not describe the people of today?  What do smart people glory in? Their intellegence. And what do strong people glory in? Their strength. And what do rich people glory in? Their money. And God says don't glory in any of that. Look at verse twenty-four. "But let him that glorieth, glory in this." What? "That he understands and knows Me." Is that something?
 
I'll tell you this:  I can't glory in my wisdom. Why?  Because I'm not that smart. And I can't glory in my strength. I'm not that strong.
And I can't glory in any kind of human riches but I'll tell you one thing, I'll glory in this--I understand and I know the God of the universe.
 
So here is Paul in the city of Athens. He is waiting for friends to join him, and he begins to look around the city.  Up in verse 16 and following you find he was concerned because of their worship of false gods.  And so Paul begins to share the claims of Christ and eventually winds up gathering quite a crowd.  In fact, he is now in the Areopagus. 
 
It is a famous court so named because of where it originally began to meet.  If you were to literally translate Areopagus it comes out the hill of Aries, or if you want it in Latin, it’s Mars' hill.
 
And it's not talking about a place. It's talking about a court. This is the supreme court of Athens. And apparently this court stood in review of philosophies and religions.  It was their responsibility to defend the gods.
 
And so when some new guy came to town, in this case, Paul, he had to go before this court so that his particular philosophy could run the test. It was sort of a review of Paul's new doctrines. So Paul is there now presenting to them the only God. What a fantastic challenge!
 
In a city where gods were all over the place, Paul is about to say, “There is only one true God.”
 
Why is that so important?  Every so often someone wants to challenge the Christianity’s belief that all other religions and faiths are wrong, and the only way to God is Jesus.  Why is that so critical? 
Listen:  no matter how many gods a man has, no matter how much religion he has, if it never gets to the true God, then he cannot be right with God. 
 
So, here in Athens they had thousands upon thousands upon ten thousands of gods and in the mists of all of that they had statues to unknown gods. Why? They didn’t want to miss out!  They are searching but never sure. 
 
And so Paul, in his passion for the lost men and the passion for the glory of God speaks out and begins to tell them how they can get to know the unknown God. 
 
Now in order to get to know the unknown God, you've got to know three things. So if you are here today and feel like you don’t know God, pay attention.  Or if you know God and want to share Him with others, here’s a good way to do that. 
 
Getting to know the unknown God involves three things.
 
  • In order to get to know the unknown God, you must recognize there is a God
  • Then you must recognize Who that God is, and
  • What that God requires
 
Now note the progression:  Ultimately, knowing God means that you believe that there is a God, that you understand Who He is, and that you understand what He requires.
 
So Paul begins by wanting them to recognize there is a God.  There must be the belief that God is.
 
Now that wasn’t much of a problem, because they had gods everywhere. 
 
verse 22
 
In othere words:  "You are very religious folks". That’s a good beginning place, because at the very beginning of knowing God is believing there is a “god” or being or deity. 
 
Now if you run across somebody who does not believe in God, in order to get them to salvation, they must come to the place where they stop believing there is no God and start believing there is a God. 
 
How do you do that?  I usually begin by asking them if they know everything there is to know.  Have they visited everywhere in the universe?  Are they expert on every subject? 
 
And when he says no, (and if he says yes he's got a different problem and you need to deal with it in a different way), but if he says no, then I ask, how can you be sure there is no god over there in all this information you’ve never contacted? 
 
Because unless you’ve been everywhere and know everything, then you really can't say there is no God.  You can only say you don't think there’s a God and if that’s the case, you're not an atheist, you are an agnostic.
 
And then you can tell him that the Latin word for agnostic is ignoramus. And after he reacts to that you can go from there.
 
But basically, unless you are dealing with somebody that is an obstinate atheist, if a guy says yes, I believe there is a God, that's a great beginning.  Everyone who will be saved must get to that place.
 
Einstein said that anybody who didn't believe in a cosmic power was a fool. But then he went on to say "but we can never know him". Einstein was right in that anybody who doesn't believe in a cosmic power is a fool. But Einstein was wrong because we can know Him.
 
But at least he believed God is and that's the beginning. That's the beginning. And by the way, that’s exactly what Jesus did with Nicodemus.  Nicodemus believed there was a God, so Jesus started there and explained how he could know God.
 
Nobody's ever going to get to God if he doesn't believe God is.
 
And so Paul starts out by saying God is. You've got to believe that God is and you do. They were on the first step already.
 
But that's only the beginning. There's got to be more than that.
 
 
So look what he says next: 
 
"I saw your altar to the unknown god."
 
It's an interesting story how that altar came to be.  In fact, scattered around Athens were many of those altars. Greek history records six hundred years before Paul arrived there, they had a terrible plague. And in that terrible plague people were dying and they didn't know how to stop it.
 
There was a very well known poet from Crete by the name of Epimenides and he came up with a plan. They were trying to figure out who which god was uptight and how to pacify the gods and get this plague over with. And since they couldn't find out, they figured maybe the gods would draw the attention to themselves if they had a plan.
 
So Epimenides stood on the Areopagus, this little hill there where the court met, and he let loose a flock of black and white sheep. And the plan was that the gods who were uptight would draw the sheep to themselves. And so the plan was the sheep will run around town and then where ever they lie down, they would then be sacrificed to the nearest god and hopefully the god would be appeased and the plague would end. 
 
But there were a bunch of sheep that didn't cooperate at all. I think they were Baptist sheep!  And they went and lay down by no gods. So you know what they did? In all the places where the sheep weren't near a particular god, they raised an altar to the unknown god and sacrificed the sheep there. And now here they were six hundred years later, and all throughout Athens are these altars to the unknown god. And Paul mentions that he saw one of those. 
 
And Paul uses that as an opportunity to introduce them to the God they do not know.  The real God; Jehovah God, the one and only God is the God you do not know.. 
 
Now think about the wisdom of that:  They believe in the supernatural, and so ingrained in their history is this idea of an unknown God that these altars are still honored, and so Paul shows up one day and says, “Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce you to the God you’ve never known.” 
 
There is a God, and it is important that you recognize Who He is.
 
Not just that God is, but who God is. That's point two.
 
It is amazing to hear how people who claim to know God describe Him.  Their theology is so far removed from Scripture that God wouldn’t recognize Himself if He heard them preach!
 
So what does Paul have to say about this “unknown God”?
 
First of all, Paul says God is creator. This is who He is.
 
verse 24
 
I want you to meet the unknown God. He is God who made the world and all things. What a powerful statement! In the first place, the Epicureans believed and taught that matter was eternal, so nobody made it.
 
And the Stoics believed that God was everything and in everything--Pantheism--so God couldn't create Himself, and so Paul just shot down that philosophy with his first statement about who God is.
 
He says He's creator of all. You say, does that mean you don't believe in evolution? That's exactly what it means. I don't believe in evolution. I believe God created everything, and the Bible defends that. And I accept the Scriptures.
 
In Psalms 146, listen to this. Verse 5. "Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, Whose hope is in the LORD his God, who made heaven and earth, the sea and all that therein is."
 
He made everything! He made it all!
 
No, we do not believe in evolution. We believe that God created. Do you know what the faith of an evolutionist is? Have you ever thought of it? Here's an evolutionist's belief. One: no supernatural power to create. Two: all creation is a matter of chance. Three: living matter comes from no matter. Four: intellegence, conscious and moral judgment appears with no source. Add it all together and you have “nobody times nothing equals everything”.
 
So Paul says meet God. Who is He? Creator.
 
And then secondly, He is Ruler. He is Lord.
 
Verse 24
 
Lord of heaven and earth. In Genesis 14:19. What a statement! I love it. He says, "And he blessed him and said, 'Blessed be Abram of the Most High God"'. Listen. "'Possessor of heaven and earth."' He didn't only make it. He owns it. He rules it. He is Lord.
 
I can’t resist Psalms 24:1. "The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and they who dwell in it."
 
He rules everything. It's all His.
 
Now watch what Paul does in verse 24
 
"If God made the whole world, if God runs the whole world and all the space around it, then He does not dwell in" what? "Temples made with hands."
 
You can't confine Him to a building. And you know what these people were doing in Athens? Here was the god in this little box. And here was the god in this little statue. And here was the god in this little shrine. And here was the god in this little temple. And he says God is too big for that. You're confining God. And God will not be confined.
 
Listen, there is so much artwork and statuary of Jesus around, and that’s OK I guess as long as it is not the object of your worship.  But never lose sight of this:  Nothing in this world can portray His glory; His majesty:  His might!
 
I cringe when people see God in their salads and shrubbery or the shape of their cinnamon role!
 
“Pictures”
 
I Kings 8:27 says "But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You. How much less this temple which I have built!"
 
Solomon says it's a neat temple God, but you're too big for it!
 
God is not housed in shrines, and He's not contained in buildings. He's too big for that.
 
But here’s the deal:  He may be too big to be contained in a temple, but He wants to dwell in your heart.  He wants you to know Him. 
 
You've got to know who God is. But you'll only know Him personally through Christ.
 
Let's pray.