This is one of the stories in the Bible where when you read it you realize how awesome God and His Word is.
Text: Acts 17
Act 17:23 For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you.
Let try to lay out what is going down in this chapter.
You have Paul – missionary to the Gentiles (non Jews)
You have this big idol to the UNKNOWN GOD (don’t know what it would look like – I am guessing weird)
Then you have two types of of people ready to listen to Paul.
The Epicureans: Pretty much the Deist of the of their time; who believe that even if there is a God, He is uninvolved in the universe and irrelevant,
- Atheists, Orthodox Buddhists, secular humanism.
Stoics: Believe in a Supreme God in a pantheistic way, that is to say God is everything, so everything is divine
- Hindus and New Age junk
I remember the first time I read this I was thinking “WHAT IS PAUL GOING TO SAY!” I couldn’t wait. He has some people with some wild beliefs by him and then he as this odd idol with out a name.
So what does Paul do — exactly what he came to do “Declare Him unto you”
He went off about how amazing our God is….
1. God is Creator and Lord of the Universe. (Acts 17: 24a)
Isaiah 40:28, Genesis 1:1
2. God is self sufficient. (Acts 17: 24b-25)
3. God made the whole human race out of a common stock. (Acts 17: 26a)
4. God is sovereign over the nations. (Acts 17: 26b)
5. God implanted a thirst for divine in all beings. (Acts 17: 27a)
Ecclesiastes 3:11
6. God is accessible to humans. (Acts 17: 27b)
7. Humans depend on God for their existence. (Acts 17: 28a)
8. Humans derive their life from God. (Acts 17: 26a)
9. God cannot be represented by an idol. (Acts 17: 28b)
10. Though God may have overlooked the ignorance of idolatry in the past He now expects repentance from everyone. (Acts 17: 29)
11. God will one day judge the world through Christ . (Acts 17: 31)
Revelations 20
12. God has demonstrated the validity of His Gospel through the resurrection of Christ. (Acts 17: 32)
I know many of you have a great heart for evangelism! Let me encourage you to follow Paul’s example. As we take people down what we call the “Roman’s Road” to the cross roads of the cross and our sin — let us not forget that sometimes we need to take people to the throne of God to see how absolutely amazing He is.
When they get a glimpse of His glory it will be hard for them to deny His existence and involvment in our lives!
