Getting to Know the Unknown God
(part 3)
Acts 17:30-31
Turn in your Bibles to Acts 17:22-31. The sermon that the apostle Paul preached in Athens we've entitled "Getting to Know the Unknown God".
text
The reason men were created was that they might know God. That is what living is all about. That is what existence is all about-knowing God. And that is precisely Paul's message to the Areopagus court in Athens. Athens was the cultural and learning center of the ages. It was the university of the world. It is at the same time with all of that learning loaded with idolatry and false worship. And it was a super religious place. In fact, it was said that there were more religious in Athens than anywhere else. But at the same time, with all their religion, they didn't know God.
And so Paul arrives at a super religious atmosphere and he presents to them the true God and how they can know that God.
Now as you probably know, there are only two kinds of people in the world: the saints and the ain'ts. Those who know God and those who do not know God.
Now, in regard to those who know God, they know God through Jesus Christ alone for there is no other way to God except Jesus Christ. So there are two people in the world.
There are the people who know God through Jesus Christ and everyone else. No matter what other gods they think they know; no matter what other paths to God they may claim, if you didn’t get to God through Jesus Christ, you didn’t get to God.
Now, of the people who don't know God, there are two kinds.
First of all, there are those who don’t know God and they don’t care to know God. They are completely uninterested, and don’t mind if you know they are uninterested. They are pretty easy to spot.
Then on the other hand, there are those who don't know they don't know God, even though they are religious.
And I’ve thought a lot about those who think they know God and really don’t. What is it that makes people think they know God?
1. They know about God.
They know God is out there somewhere and created the worl, and they know a little bit about the Bible and grandma went to church and so they equate that with knowing God.
But it's one thing to know about God; it's something else to know Him.
2. They are “religious”
And generally someone who is “religious” likes to brag about it.
They get goose pimples when they see Jesus in their coffee drippings and they emotionally react to religion and they assume that's the knowledge of God.
Now, the third thing that I think confuses people is
3. They go to church.
A lot of people think that going to church is the same as knowing God. They occupy a seat, maybe give an offering and they might even close their eyes when somebody prays. They may sing a song and read their bible and they go through the motions of those who are supposed to know God, so therefore, they know God also.
Here’s a fourth thing, and it’s one of Satan’s favorites to convince people they know God.
4. They do good
People think they know God because they do good. They help people. They give to charity. They love their kids. They pay their taxes. In fact, I’ve noticed this crowd, not only does all of this, they are critical of others who maybe don’t do them as much as they do.
Let me mention one more before we get on to the “real” message. People think they know God because
5. They read the Bible
A lot of people feel they know God because they read and try to follow God’s Word.
And because of those few things, a lot of people are deceived into believing they know God, when in all reality they don’t. They just know about God and respect God and try to obey God.
I really believe this is the absolute ultimate deception of Satan. Do you realize why there's so much false religion? Because if you can trap people into thinking they know God when they don’t, you have damned that person to hell for eternity.
So there are these two categories of peple: people who know God, people who don't. Then there are two categories of people who don’t know God: those who know they don't and don’t care, and those who don't know they don't and think they do. Then I think we should add one more distinction to those who don’t. There are some who don’t know God but they want to.
Now, the group at Athens hit the whole ball of wax. Some of them knew they didn't know God. Some of them didn't care. Some of them were searching.
So Paul stands that day to address them and notice what he says:
verses 22 and 23
They had a lot of gods but they still knew there was one out there somewhere they hadn't met and here were these pagans who knew they had not plugged in to full knowledge. With all the trappings of religion and all the gods they had and there were thousands upon thousands of them who had this emptiness because they didn't know the true God.
So Paul says, I know this unknown God and you can know Him to, but it will require three things.
First, to know God you must recognize God is.
Then you must recognize who God is, and finally you must recognize what God is saying.
Now they recognized that God was up there. They were not, for the most part, atheists. They believed in gods. And they needed to recognize that God is. And so we nail down this fact that there is a God up there that you don't know. They had no problem accepting that. They were ignorantly worshipping that God they didn't know.
Step two we saw was not only recognizing God is but recognizing who God is. And we saw that God gives five distinguishing characteristics of God.
1. He is creator, v. 24
2. He is ruler, v. 24
3. He is giver, v. 25
4. He is controller, v. 26
5. He is revealer, v. 27
Now, think about this. Do you know why God created, upholds and gives life, breath and everything? Do you know why He controls history and destiny through what we call providence?
So you can know Him.
If you want to know God, look in, look out, and feel after God. And that will bring you to step three.
First, God is. Who God is. What God is saying.
What is God saying?
verses 30-31
It’s sad to think about, but there are a lot of people who know God is, and who know Who God is but they don't know what God is saying in terms of their lives.
Notice what verse 30 says.
Now, watch, we're going to take this verse very simply.
Notice the word ignorance? Let’s translate that word in this way: unknown. The times of this not knowing God, God overlooked. But now, He's not going to overlook it any more, He commands all men everywhere to repent.
The word overlook is also interesting. The only place in the New Testament that word appears is right here in Acts 17. It's an unusual Greek word and it means that God does not actively interfere.
What does that mean? Watch this: the times of this not knowing God, the past history of the pagans who didn't know God, God did not actively interfere. And it means with special judgment. Now, catch this: In Old Testament times, God dealt with them according to the revelation they had.
Does that mean that the times of this ignorance of God before Jesus Christ came and all that, when the pagans were doing their own thing and God just said, "Oh, that's all right. You don't understand. So just live it up" and there were no consequences? That’s not the idea contained here.
Of course there were consequences. I don't care who you are or when you sinned, when you sin, you are going to have consequences. The wages of sin is death. You go back as far as you want, and you will find the undeniable law of the harvest: whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap.
That's a principle of life whether in the New Testament or Old Testament. So if you are in the Old Testament and you're sinning, you are responsible for you sin.
What Paul is saying is God allowed them to live up to the light they had and judged them on that basis. I think it very important that we understand this.
In Romans 1, Paul says, "The wrath of God is revealed against all unrighteousness and all ungodliness of men."
It doesn't matter if you are a pagan or a Jew, a Baptist or a heathen or a heathen Baptist, your actions will always have consequences. They always have and they are not excused. But the point here is that God did not actively interfere in the life of the nations with special judgment. Of course, sin will always be punished.
So what is Paul saying here? He is making a distinction between those who loved prior to the revelation of Jesus and those who are alive since the revelation of Jesus.
There has always been punishment for sins. But before the unveiling of Christ, it appears to be more of a consequential judgment. It was just the natural consequences for sin. But it was not special judgment as we understand now.
Look back to Acts 14:15 16
Yes, He did. He lit them with the light they had, and if a man lives up to the light he had in the Old Testament era, God accepted him on that basis because there was no Jesus Christ to believe in yet. It was simply a matter of believing that God is and who God is, because God is really not saying much more than that to him.
Then notice verse 17-18
The point I want us to catch here is this:
God gave His witness and God allowed the nations to go their own way. What do we mean by that? Now, watch. God gave the law to Israel. They had to live up to the law for salvation. And they had to believe in God's standard.
That doesn't mean that they were saved by keeping, it was merely that they accepted the law as the revelation of God and trusted God in what He said through it. So they needed to live up to the law in regarding to doing what God said to do.
Now at the same time here is a Gentile who didn't have any law. But he still could be saved by living up to law that God had written where? In his heart.
You see, in his heart, he may not have understood the feast. He may not have understood the sacrificial system. He may not have understood all those things, but God allowed him to live up to the light he had and accepted him on that basis.
God allowed the nations apart from Israel to conduct themselves as they willed without the restrictions of a written law. And yet, believe me, they were responsible. They were responsible for what they did with that inward law.
Paul mentions the same thing in Romans 2:13-14
Now you see, conscience couldn't reveal as much as the Mosaic law could, but the principle is intact.
After all, to whom much is given, much is required. Israel was required to live up to the full light they had. The Gentiles were required to live up to whatever light of conscience they had and that's all God required.
But nobody, Jew or Gentile could, could beg off on the basis of ignorance, because there is a written law for the Jew and there is a written law in the heart of every man.
Now, let’s go back to Acts 17 and put it all together.
Notice verse 30
God let the pagan go along living according to the light he had, but now. What a powerful transition!
But now, commands all men everywhere to repent.
Listen: there's a great difference in the now than there was in the past.
Why now? Why now can't a pagan just live up to the light he has? Why now can't this guy out here in the boondocks just live up to whatever conscience he's got? Why now does He have to make something different?
Verse 31
Because God has appointed a day in which He shall judge the world. God's going to move in with special judgment. And there is a new thing. He continues He's going to judge the world in righteousness by that man whom He hath ordained. What man is that?
Jesus Christ.
We know it because it says concerning which He hath given assurance unto all men that He raised Him from the dead.
In the Old Testament era I believe that people could live up to the law of conscience and believe that God is, and believe who He is as best revealed in conscience, and whatever revelation God gave and be saved.
But now, in this day, in this era, nobody can ever be saved since the cross except by believing in Jesus Christ.
Since the cross, men must believe in Jesus Christ. "No man", said Jesus, "comes unto the Father" what? "But by Me."
And by the way, that's why Jesus said, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature."
Why? Because the past is over and done with. All that Old Testament way of dealing with people and measuring their response to their level of revelation has all been set aside and now men must know Jesus Christ.
Peter said, "Neither is there salvation in any other. There is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved."
There is no other way to know God. That's what God is saying in this day. And not to know Christ is not to know God. And not to know God is to await terrible judgment.
There's coming a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness. That means strictly in justice, no injustice at that judgment. Perfect justice. By that man Whom He hath ordained. And it's no other than Jesus Christ. And what that means is that He will judge the world by Jesus Christ. Did God give all the judgment to Christ? Yes, He did. God has declared that Christ is to be judge. John 5:22-27. Christ is going to judge and He's going to judge all of those who do not know Him.
Now, somebody would say well, what gives Jesus the right? How do we know that Jesus is to be the judge?
Look at how Paul responds:
Verse 31
Listen, God guaranteed Jesus would be judge in that He raised Him from the dead, and that resurrection was God's approval of Christ. Those were the credentials of Jesus Christ. The resurrection qualifies Him as judge.
Now, knowing God then is a matter of knowing that God is. It's a matter of knowing who God is. It's a matter of knowing what God is saying. And He's saying there's only one way to be saved and that's through Jesus Christ.
Now wathc what happens here:
verses 32-34
Paul presented the Only True God, some believed and some rejected.
Paul says, if you believe God is and you believe who God is if you'll just follow along God will reveal Himself and so he just took off to see who'd follow, and in verse 34 “certain men did" what? “Joined him and believed”.
You know who those guys were? Those were the step three group. They were going to find out more.
When Einstein fled Nazi Germany, he came to America and bought an old two-story house within walking distance of Princeton University. There he entertained some of the most distinguished people of his day and discussed with them issues as far ranging as physics to human rights.
But Einstein had another frequent visitor. She was not, in the world’s eyes, an important person like his other guests. She was a ten-year-old girl named Emmy. Emmy heard that a very kind man who knew a lot about mathematics had moved into her neighborhood. Since she was having trouble with her fifth-grade arithmetic, she decided to visit the man down the block and see if he would help her with her problems. Einstein was very willing and explained everything to her so that she could understand it. He also told her she was welcome to come anytime she needed help.
A few weeks later, one of the neighbors told Emmy’s mother that Emmy was often seen entering the house of the world-famous physicist. Horrified, she told her daughter that Einstein was a very important man, whose time was very valuable, and he couldn’t be bothered with the problems of a little schoolgirl. And then she rushed over to Einstein’s house, and when Einstein answered the door, she started trying to blurt out an apology for her daughter’s intrusion – for being such a bother. But Einstein cut her off. He said, “She has not been bothering me! When a child finds such joy in learning, then it is my joy to help her learn! Please don’t stop Emmy from coming to me with her school problems. She is welcome in this house anytime.”
See, to believe God is, to believe who God is, and then to follow on to hear what God is saying. And what they did then, you can do today and leave this place “knowing God”.
Let's pray.
