The Unknown God
Published by Stanley Pouw in 2017 · 14 May 2017
We always look at the Word of God here because we believe that it is authoritative. We believe that it was written by God Himself. And it reveals His truth. Paul is on his second missionary journey. He founded churches in Philippi, Thessalonica and Berea, which are all cities in 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 in the city of Athens.
And Paul preaches a sermon based on "getting to know the unknown God." Christianity somehow has drifted away from an intense understanding of God. We have "Jesus Movements”, but they end up in a sentimental humanism. And we have "Holy Spirit Movements", but they end up in emotionalism. Jesus came to introduce us to God. And the Church desperately needs to get the right perspective on God.
Knowledge of God is the key to everything. What were you made for? You were made that you might know God. God wanted creatures who would acknowledge Him. And so He made you to know Him to give Him glory. If you don't know Him then you are a blemish on His glory. And yet we see many men who refuse to give Him glory.
Do you know what eternal life is? Eternal life is not a quantity of life. We sometimes think of eternal life as the concept of life that is going-on-forever. No. Eternal life is not a length of life. Eternal life is a different kind of life. Listen to John 17:3, “And this is life eternal, that they may know You, the only true God.” So eternal life is the kind of life that knows God.
The reason Jesus died was to give you the knowledge of God that was lost in sin. Remember when Adam was created, he knew God, right? He walked and talked with God in the cool of day in the garden. But immediately when Adam sinned he was blinded to God and cut off from God's presence. And that presence is only restored in Christ, who said "I am the way and the Truth." He meant the truth about God.
If I were to ask these questions: What is the best thing in life? What brings me the most joy? What brings me the most delight? And what gives me the most contentment? The answer would be: knowing God. And more than that, knowing that He never leaves me. That is why man's original state is restored in Christ. That is eternal life.
Listen to Jeremiah 9:23-24, “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; 24 But let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight,”
Acts 17:23 tells us the characterization of modern day man. What do so-called smart people glory in? They glory in their own intelligence. And what do strong people glory in? Their strength. And what do rich people glory in? Their money. But God says don't glory in any of that, because that all will fade away. Verse 24 says, let him that glories, glory in understanding and knowing Me. God is the source of everything we ever need.
What pleases God most? Listen to Hosea 6:6, “For I desire mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.” God says, your religion doesn't do a thing for Me. I want you to know Me. God wants a personal relationship with you. God created man initially to know Him, but sin entered and turned out the lights.
Romans 1:18 describes it, "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in ungodliness.” Every person in this world has resident truth about God available to him. Romans 1:19 says, “Because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them.” It is instinctive for men. Children have no problem believing in God. That concept is planted in them from the beginning. Only later men begin to rebel against God.
Romans 1:20, “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.” Look at the world and examine the creation, you see the amazing macrocosm, the giant world of stars, and the microcosm, the minute world you can only see with a microscope, and you say "there has to be a God who made this."
So God is knowable, His deeds are in me and around me. Now, if we fail to recognize that, verse 20 says, “we are without excuse." Verse 21, “because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.” Instead of acknowledging God, they turned against God, became vain in their thoughts and thus became foolish.
They thought they were smart, verse 22, but in fact they are stupid. They changed the glory of an incorruptible God, into a man-made image. They started worshipping statues and beasts and ideals. And then verse 24, "God also gave them up." God let them go. If that's the way you want to go, God lets them go. Now you see, that was the terrible plight of all men, and every person is in the same state.
Well, Paul arrives in Athens there in Acts 17 and he is nose to nose with a bunch of heathens who don't know God. And the Athenians were cultured heathens just like we have today. He saw the city full of idols, we now see the internet full of earthly desires. And then it stirred him emotionally when he saw the glory of God not really going to God. Verse 17, therefore he preached and he reasoned.
No matter how many gods a man has, no matter how much religion he has, if he never gets to the true God then he never knows satisfaction. In Athens they had thousands of gods and in the mists of all of that they had statues to unknown gods. That shows the ultimate agony of idolatry. No matter what a man fills his heart with, there will be no fit until he knows the true God.
Now in order to know the unknown God, you've got to know three things. Number one, recognizing that there is a God. Number two, recognizing who God is. Number three, recognizing what God is saying. 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.
Hebrew 11:6 says, “He who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” I can't prove that God is real to you. I can sure give you a lot of evidence, but God is not provable in an empirical sense. That's why it says, “He who comes to God must believe that He is.” It's a question of faith. John 1:18 says, "Nobody has ever seen God at any time.” But His deeds are everywhere.
The bible explains why there are atheists. Psalms 14:1, “The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none who does good.” Verse 3-4, “They have all turned aside, they have together become corrupt; there is none who does good, no, not one. 4 Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge, who eat up my people as they eat bread, and do not call on the Lord?
Why do people buy atheistic philosophy? Because they want to eliminate the ultimate judgment on their sinfulness, consequently they eliminate God. Psalms 10:11,13 says, “He has said in his heart, “God has forgotten; He hides His face; He will never see.” Why do the wicked renounce God? He has said in his heart, “You will not require an account.”
And can you imagine believing that there is no God. That is believing that everything in this universe came by accident from nothing. People say, "Oh, you Christians, you live by faith." Well, if you don't believe in God, tell me what you believe. Let me just give you two reasons that the Bible uses. One, is law of cause and effect. I believe there is a God because I see these things in the world and I wonder where they came from. No effect can ever come about without a cause.
And when you talk to the evolutionist he says, well, once there was a puddle. And inside the puddle was a one celled thing and that one celled thing decided let's be two and then they were two and then those two said let's be four. See, and here we are. Now you say, that's real good, but where did the puddle come from? How can you have a puddle in nothing from nothing? That just doesn't make sense.
Hebrews 3:4 says this, "For every house is built by some man but he that built all is God." Can you imagine seeing a new home and somebody says, “One day we had a lumberyard deliver a whole pile of lumber and we set a stick of dynamite and blew it up and it all landed like this." You would say the guy is an idiot. Well, then how can the evolutionist say that's how the whole universe came into being? The first cause is God. How could you ever have anything without a first cause?
There is another reason the Bible says that it's logical to believe that there is a God. And that is the law of intelligent design. The world is absolutely intricate, and the design is so astounding. The big argument we have in evolution is how do we ever get as complex a being as a human out of a puddle? How do you get intelligence from non-intelligence? How do you get moral judgment from a non-moral?
What's the difference between a horse and a man? Or a monkey and a man? It is moral and ethical judgment. Wisdom. The thinking processes. How do you get those things? Listen to Psalms 94:9-10, “He who planted the ear, shall He not hear? He who formed the eye, shall He not see? 10 He who instructs the nations, shall He not correct, He who teaches man knowledge?”
In other words, intelligence comes from intelligence. One who creates hearing has to hear. One who creates sight has to see. One who makes moral judgments has to be a moral being. There was this skeptic, who didn't believe in God. Then he discovered the design and creation of the world and it shattered his belief. In essence he wrote, God geometrizes. The key to the universe was unlocked when he saw the intricate design of a flower, there is order in the universe and it speaks of a God.
And Athens was full of people who were practical atheists. The Epicureans, they believed that pleasure was the highest good, didn't believe in God. And so here Paul is about to present the true God. Verse 23 says, “or 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.
Galatians 4:8 says, “But then, indeed, when you did not know God, you served those which by nature are not gods.” But Paul says right there, you didn't use to know Him but now you can know the true God. I Chronicles 28:9 says, “Solomon, know the God of your father, and serve Him with a loyal heart and with a willing mind; for the Lord searches all hearts and understands all the intent of the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will cast you off forever.”
Secondly, He must believe or recognize who God is. First of all, Paul says God is the Creator. Verse 24 says, I want you to meet the unknown God. He is God who made the world and all things. And so Paul just shot down the Epicurean and Stoic philosophies with his first statement about who God is.
God created everything that there is, and the Bible defends that. Listen to Psalms 146:5-6, “Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God, 6 Who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them; who keeps truth forever.” Isaiah 40:12 says, “Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, measured heaven with a span and calculated the dust of the earth in a measure? Weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance?
Verse 28, “Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable.” Who made it all? God made it all. Isaiah 45:18 says, “For thus says the Lord, who created the heavens, who is God, who formed the earth and made it, who has established it, who did not create it in vain, who formed it to be inhabited, “I am the Lord, and there is no other.”
Here is an evolutionist's belief. One: no supernatural power created. Two: all creation is a matter of chance. Three: living matter comes from no matter. Four: intelligence and moral judgment appears with no source. Add it all together and you have this equation--nobody times nothing equals everything. Then the law of thermodynamics, would find proofs that the very opposite of evolution is true. Everything is going down not up.
So Paul says to meet God, who is the Creator. Verse 24. "Of heaven and earth." Genesis 14:19 says, “Blessed be Abram of God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth.” God didn't only make it, He owns it and He rules it. He is Lord. Listen to Psalms 24:1, “The earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness, the world and those who dwell therein.”
Meet God, the Creator and Ruler. If you will accept God’s Word this evening as the truth, God will give you real rest. Jesus said in John 6:44, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him.” You've got to know who God is, but you will only know Him personally through Christ. Let's pray.