Sound Doctrine: The True God

Amen. Take your Bibles if you would please and turn to the book of Acts. Acts chapter 17 — we will start in verse 22 — and I want to thank you for being faithful to this sound doctrine series. We started a couple weeks ago and I encourage you to keep up and take notes the best that you can, and I pray that you would be edified through this series. Today the title is "The True God." We talked about the Holy, and I wish that that could have been a six-month series, but we squeezed what we could into one message. The week before that we talked about a case for sound doctrine, and so those are online for you. Today is "The True God," and you will see this shining through the text in Acts chapter 17 verse 22 in just a moment.

I want to mention to you that it seems to be that there is a lack of men who are standing up in the public square and the private square and even in church and standing for righteousness. Here you are going to see Paul and Silas, who are going from town to town to town and standing for righteousness. They have moved from Thessalonica to Berea and now they are in Athens, and they are preaching and teaching and proclaiming about the one true God. There is one true God. His name is Yahweh, and we worship Him in spirit and in truth, and He wants His name glorified, magnified, and projected in all spheres of life. There are no spheres of life that are off-limits to the Lordship of God, to the Lordship of the Lord Jesus Christ, and so we must address everything culturally. We must address everything privately and have no hidden agendas or no off-limits rooms. That is where hypocrisy creeps in, and a little bit of leaven leavens the whole lump. Amen.

So now let us read in Acts chapter 17 and see how Paul stands up for righteousness here and speaks about the one true God. In Acts chapter 17 verse 22: "So Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, 'Men of Athens.'" Now this phrase here, "men of Athens," was a respectful address to these men. The Apostle Paul personally does not come out of the gates and point a finger and unnecessarily offend his audience and those with whom he is speaking. He respects them and addresses them respectfully. That is wonderful. And he says, "I observe that you are very religious in all respects." So not only does he address them respectfully, but he also gives them a compliment, and a compliment is worthy of doing. When you interact with someone, especially someone who needs some reproof and correction, you must go out of your way to find a way to compliment them and to befriend them. This is interesting.

Then in verse 23: "For while I was passing through and examining the objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription: 'To an unknown God.' Therefore, what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you." Now this phrase here, "to an unknown God" in the Greek is "agnostos theos." All right? That is what was there. There was a statue to the unknown God. They were worshiping, ironically, what they did not know. And ironically, Athens is known for knowledge, and yet they did not know this unknown God. That is kind of funny.

In verse 24: "The God who made the world and all things in it." Now this is important. When we are speaking to an audience who does not have the same presuppositional thought that God exists, you must start in the beginning in Genesis 1 and identify which God you are talking about. Not everybody believes that God exists — the God who created the heaven and earth. They may be saying inside of their heart and mind, "Which God are you talking about? I have a friend who believes in Buddha. I have another friend that I really love and respect who is a Hindu." And the list goes on and on and on and on. And so this sermon here is being addressed to people who do not have that presuppositional thought of the one true God, and so he starts in Genesis 1:1 and talks about creation. This is the God of creation.

In verse 24 it says, "The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands, nor is He served by human hands as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things. And He made from one man every nation of mankind to inhabit all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation." Here it is. Look at this. This is great. "That they would seek God." You see the purpose here in the Lord in that He is consistent in communicating that He is not wishing that any would perish, but for all to come to repentance. Peter said that in 2 Peter 3:9.

Here in verse 27 you see the Apostle Paul preaching to an unbelieving crowd, a scholarly crowd: "that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us. For in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, 'For we are His offspring.'" So now Paul is using the knowledge that they have to point them to the one true God. This is brilliant apologetics. This is amazing. He has taken the knowledge that they do have and is pointing them to the one true God, knowing that a poet once said this, and he is taking that information and jarring the mind.

In verse 29: "Being then the offspring of God, we ought not to suppose that the divine nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the craft and thought of man. Therefore, having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that everyone everywhere should repent." That is a beautiful line and you should underline that in your Bibles. "God is declaring that everyone everywhere should repent."

In verse 31: "Because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world." You know that. In 2 Corinthians 5:10 it says, "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ." There is a fixed time where we will report to Him and give an account. And so in verse 31 again: "Because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world, by a Man whom He determined, having furnished proof to all." You want to see the proof? What is the proof? The proof is in the resurrection.

I was witnessing to a man this morning and I asked him, "You take the Lord's name in vain rather loudly, and you take the Lord's name in vain rather confidently. I kind of wonder if you know that around the world everyone takes the Lord God's name in vain, but they do not take Muhammad's or Buddha's or anything. You know what that tells you? That tells you that you even know inwardly that the one true God exists, because you are blaming Him for whatever you are blaming Him for." And I took out a tract and I gave him the gospel tract and I said, "I hope that you would read this gospel tract, since you know that God exists, and see that perhaps you could be reconciled to Him through repentance and salvation." As we began to talk, I asked him, "Well, do you believe in the resurrection?" And I will not unfold the whole conversation there, but you see right here in the text that even Paul is leaning in on the proof. There is evidence. We do not have an ignorant faith. We have a know-so faith. It is based on facts. Jesus has risen.

Look at the text here: "Furnished proof to all by raising Him from the dead." Now in Romans 10:9 it says that if you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved. So it is based upon your understanding and your belief that God raised Jesus. That is the point where, when you confess and you believe and you place your faith and trust in Christ, you are saved. And Paul is pulling on them. Be reconciled to Christ. He pulled on them. He pulled on them in Corinth — he said that. And so now it is a beautiful thing for us also to do likewise: to continue in the public square, in the private square, and most certainly in our churches to proclaim Christ and pull people towards a relationship with Him through repentance and faith.

Now in verse 32: "Now when they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some began to sneer." Yeah, it is pretty obvious some are going to laugh at Christianity. But you know what I have found? I have found that when those folks who are laughing at you or sarcastically snarling at you or pushing back — they are having to deal with it. They are inwardly wrestling with it. They are justifying the stance that they have always had. And by us living a cross-like life, being willing to be crucified verbally, being willing to be made fun of, and going through all of these shameful events — it is through us being willing to be like Christ, who was mocked and ridiculed and beaten and battered and bruised and talked about and ridiculed, that God accomplishes His means of salvation. It is only by our willingness to live an uncomfortable life, to go out and to do these uncomfortable things in the sphere that God has given us, that salvation is made possible. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. How will they hear without a preacher or a proclaimer? It is not one called man who is up here preaching every day. That is us. We are to proclaim the gospel. We have been commissioned to go, therefore, into all the nations and to make disciples. We are to make disciples. We have got to share Christ. We have got to persuade men. We have got to do everything we can while we can.

And so it comes, first of all, with being sneered at here in the text. Verse 32 from the top again: "Now when they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some began to sneer. But others said" — this is interesting — "we shall hear you again." They want to hear what Paul has to say again. This is new information that they do not know, and they are nearly persuaded.

2 Corinthians 5:11 says, "We persuade men." We are persuaders of the gospel. It is not easy to bring people from darkness into light. They have to comprehend it first and think about it, and then it becomes a heart conviction. If you want to back up with me to Acts 17:4, I want you to see how Paul and Silas worked hard in persuading men. In chapter 17 verse 4: "And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, along with a great multitude of God-fearing Greeks and not a few of the leading women." And verse 2 says, "He also reasoned with them from the Scriptures." It was not Paul's ability to articulate sound doctrine. It was not Paul's ability to be articulate and smoothness of speech. It was not that he was tall and handsome. He reasoned from the Scriptures. And I often say, just simply open the Word of God, read Scripture with people, and let the Word do the work. I promise you that if you just simply read passages of Scripture, God will work in their hearts. It is not that you have to be able to preach an hour-long message or witness like Ray Comfort. You just simply have to do your part and God will make up the rest. It is mercy. He makes up the difference where we fall short. It is a beautiful thing. And so he persuaded men and they joined him as he reasoned from the Scriptures, and he is still continuing to do that. That is his pattern. In chapter 17 he is in Thessalonica, then in Berea, and now in Athens.

As we go back to our text now, "we shall hear you again," in verse 32, "concerning this." Now in verse 33: "So Paul went out of their midst. But some men joined him and believed." So now you have Paul in the public square persuading men, and again some believe. Is that not great? Matthew 7:14 says, "Narrow is the way which leads to life, and few be it there that find it." And so when we are proclaiming the gospel, when we are spreading the gospel seed everywhere, there is no place that is off-limits for the gospel — whether it is the wayside, the rocky side, or the fertile soil. We are to spread the gospel everywhere. Do not ever get into this trap of thinking, "Oh, they are too far. They will not listen. They are too stubborn. They will not listen. They are too far down into sin. They will not repent. They cannot be saved." Do not think that way. There is a raunchy realm of believers that are hyper in their beliefs that would even think, if you do not see evidence of them getting closer to Christ or repenting, you should not even share the gospel with them. And that is just strange. It is anti-biblical. Christ was always sharing the gospel. Paul is always sharing the gospel, and so we are not going to judge anybody. We are always to proclaim and project the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so in verse 34: "Some men joined him and believed." Among those were Dionysius and Damaris and others. All right.

So the title of today's message again is "The True God." We have read the main text here, where the Apostle Paul and Silas are working hard to spread the gospel. I want to ask you this question as we get into some of the details — and this is going to be a two-part message, Lord willing — I will ask you a question. Are you living for God? And if you are, then the answer to this next question will be yes. Are you living for God in a way that perhaps, if you continued on this path, it may cost you your life? Are you willing to die for the causes of Christ? Are you willing to die to worship Christ? Are you willing to die to proclaim and preach Jesus? Are you willing to die for your freedom of speech to proclaim Christ? Is He worth dying for? And are you living for Him?

These deep-seated convictions need not be projected just in the big areas like abortion and murder. These convictions must be projected even in the small areas, because Satan gains ground inch by inch by inch, and it is either right or it is either wrong. And if you believe in 1 John 1:5 that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all, then you will judge everything rightly. According to the Scriptures, make a judgment call and keep the righteous standard. We speak to things as Christians. We just do not allow things to flow and think everything is hunky-dory. No. Especially in the church, there is a prescription for us to follow according to the true God. And especially in the family — what is a family? What are the roles? There is a prescription according to the one true God for how it is to be. What is government and how does it function? There is a prescription according to the Word of God, and we have to speak to those things. If we roll over, we are just going to get steamrolled. Folks, we have to speak up, and when you speak up it is almost like you push the forces of darkness back, because you are fighting the good fight of faith.

And here the Apostle Paul is doing that, and so he is most willing to die for what is right. Acts 21:13 says, "I am ready not only to be imprisoned but to die." He is willing not only to be thrown into prison but also to die for what God has called him to do. Most are not willing to die for God. In fact, most soft Christians today stop way short of being even imprisoned. If you push them just a little bit out of their comfort zones and you disrupt their normalcy of life — oh, their feathers are ruffled. Well, they will leave. But when you stick to the Scriptures and you are firm in righteousness, it really divides. It really divides those who are truly committed, and I am calling us to be fully devoted disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ without any reservations. Christ did not reserve Himself, and neither should we as Christians.

And so among Christianity there is such a lack of the fear and the reverence for the one true God. They have got the priorities out of whack. Proverbs 9:10 says the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. It is the absolute starting point. If you would fear God, the one true God, then everything else will fall into place. But your starting point is reverence for Him and aligning yourself with His Word. And when something does not feel or register right with your spirit or with your mind, you just put it in check and you do not embrace it. You do not swallow it like an unknowing bass going after a lure. You are not a fish. You are a human being with a mind, with a heart, with a conscience, with the Holy Spirit. And so when something feels or seems out of whack, be a good Berean believer like here in chapter 17 verses 10 through 12, and test it and look at it and examine it and see if it aligns with the Word of God. That is our standard. The one true God has given us this standard and that is what we live by. We fear God. 1 Peter 2:17 says, "Fear God, honor the king." All right. Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's, Jesus said. So we live first with God as our priority and what He has to say.

Now, in the midst of society we live among those who honor a plethora of gods, and multitudes of different religions have pervaded our land. And I am just here to tell you, if it is not the God of the Bible, it is not even God. It is nothing at all. Many look to the government to provide for their needs and they worship the government in that way, and that is their god — but government is not God. Many look to nature and believe that they are connected somehow to it, but nature is not God. And many look to themselves and believe that they are deity, but man is not God. Millions and millions of people believe in random chance — that from absolutely nothing came absolutely everything. Mother nature is not God. I am preaching to you a very simple message today. God is God. That is all there is to it. God is God. The God of the Bible. He is God. What He says rules. Nothing has changed.

Two thousand-plus years ago, when Paul and Silas were facing all of these elites, they were simply turning the world upside down because they were saying God is God. The god whom you think is God is no god. The god you have made with your hands is no god. The god that you have conjured up in your mind is not God. God is God. The God of the Bible is God, and it turned the world upside down. I kid you not. Look at chapter 17 verse 6 with me: "And when they did not find them, they began dragging Jason and some brothers before the city authorities, shouting, 'These men who have upset the world have come here also.'"

So the reputation precedes them. And this good old boy named Jason, who made his house into a home church and invited the gospel to be proclaimed in his house, became a disciple-making station where they preached the gospel, discipled the saints, and they went out and started sharing the one true God. The one message of Jesus Christ crucified for sinners. It turned the world upside down in other cities, and their reputation for turning the world upside down preceded them, and now they are in Thessalonica and the people are getting all upset because these Christians — well, they are too loud, and their opinion is going against what we do for a living. It is putting our god-making businesses out of business. It is making us uncomfortable. It is reproving and correcting us. It is making us think that everything that we have always done is wrong. Do you want that reputation? Do you want to go into heaven with the same reputation as Jesus had, as one who turned the world upside down?

I was witnessing to another man the other day and he gave me a really sound case — so he thought — for evolution. And I asked him, "Did Jesus rise from the grave? Did God raise His Son from the grave? You believe in a literal Jesus, a historical Jesus — do you believe that He rose from the grave? Do you believe in that historical account?" He knew all kinds of evidences for everything else, and he had to say yes. And so I told him, "Well then you ought to go to the Gospels and reread them, because this magnificent document from the true God was authored through 40 different men over 1,700 different years and it does not contradict itself. This is a perfect document from the perfect God, and you should know Him before it is too late. I call you to read it again, and perhaps God will grant you repentance and salvation — you can believe in the gospel." And it was almost like he did not hear me, and he went on to justify his faith in nothing creating everything. But you know what? It is the power of the gospel and salvation. That seed was sown in his heart, and it is in there whether he likes it or not, and he has got to go home and he has got to deal with it and he has got to think it through, and the Holy Spirit now can continue to water that seed and it can sprout whether he likes it or not. And I pray that God would have His way in his life.

I believe in the power of the gospel and salvation. I believe in sharing the gospel. I believe in the one true God, and if we believe it then we act like it. We actually do these things with confidence, believing it is the power of the gospel and salvation. We act like Paul and Silas in our sphere, in honor and reverence and respect and in fear of God, and we are not afraid of the repercussions. So many times I have been in circles of communication where, well, we ought not to do that because — and they talk about the results or the possibility of stirring contention. Guys, if we are not willing to fight the good fight of faith, we are no Christians in my estimation. But if you are willing to be persecuted for Christ, then you are going to be making a difference in this world. You do not care about your reputation. You do not care about what it costs you. You care about the fear of God. You care about being molded into His image, and you care about the soul that you are speaking into, and you would most gladly be spent and invest into making souls closer to Christ. Saving souls. "He who wins souls is wise," Proverbs said. We are going to be ones who are willing to suffer for the causes of Christ, and it is His way. Look at only the cross. Look at the cross and how Christ demonstrated that kingdom progress is through suffering. And so Paul and Silas were run out of town and stoned and all kinds of different things. Nothing has changed.

I will give you a little bit of background here so that it can help us to understand this passage in Athens. On Mars Hill is where the city council leaders used to meet, and this council is called the Areopagus. This is where Paul went and he was interacting with them. Now these civil authorities had authority over religious matters here in Athens. They had authority over criminal matters, all civil areas of life. They even had authority over education. So Paul went straight for the top and he told them about the one true God. He went to the ones who were controlling Athens and he addressed these men as "men of Athens" respectfully. They were in the highest court there in Greece.

I do not know if perhaps court was in session. I do not know if perhaps in this setting it was just a casual meeting. Maybe they were meeting after a meeting. Maybe they were just gathering and talking. But Paul shows up and he speaks up. They met there, this council, to discuss these primary things: philosophy, religion, and law. This is what they talked about here in Athens at Mars Hill, and Paul used his ability to just be bold and proclaim the gospel and get right to the heart of the matter. Now most likely it was not received well up front, but he was tolerated and he was able to get the gospel in.

So Paul went into this meeting, which was filled with philosophers and filled with influencers and even spectators. If you go to this place called Mars Hill at this time there in Athens, where the lust for knowing more was common, then people would gather around where the smart people or the rulers or the influencers are, just to kind of eavesdrop and hear their ideas. And they would speak loudly so that others could hear around them. So not only were there religious leaders and civil leaders, but there were also all kinds of spectators here preceding Paul's most important sermon.

So he starts with not only a compliment to the men of Athens, and then he compliments them again about being religious, but then he goes right in and addresses the unknown God. And he utilizes that statue, that concept, to squeeze in and say that this is the one true God and I am going to tell you about that. He preached Jesus crucified. This is one of the most important sermons that you see in the book of Acts. This gospel presentation was delivered by Paul. He respectfully greeted them, he respectfully got the gospel in there, and he started preaching by exposing their religious idolatry. You can be respectful and call out sin at the same time. There is no need to be ugly or disrespectful. In fact, kindness is a very essential quality of Christianity.

The only areas in the Bible where you see pointedness and sharpness in the Word of God is towards the religious hypocrites, the religious leaders of the day who are stealing money from God's people for their own prosperity. The Pharisees and the Sadducees were sharply rebuked by Jesus in Matthew chapter 23. Jesus reserves His sharp language for religious hypocrites who know they are in error. They are abusing God's Word and they are using God's people. And then the same for John the Baptist. John the Baptist corrected Herod for that incestuous relationship, and he was imprisoned because of it and then ultimately beheaded. And so John the Baptist said, "This ought not to be." I believe that John the Baptist would be accurate in what he said and respectful to regular people, but at the same time sharp to the Pharisees and the Sadducees.

When the Pharisees and the Sadducees showed up to John the Baptist's worship service, when he was baptizing the multitudes in Matthew chapter 3, John the Baptist spoke to them as if they were vipers. All right? And he said, "I am going to cut this tree down by the root. I am going to take an axe to the root of the tree and just cut it out." He addressed them with sharpness and even sarcasm. But you see kindness for the lost, kindness for the church, and sharpness for religious hypocrites. That is the characterization in the Bible, and I want to call you to make sure that your words are seasoned in such a way that you do not unnecessarily offend a lost person with sharp or sarcastic language. That is reserved for religious hypocrites who know they are in error and need to be corrected sharply. That is found as well in Titus chapters 1 and 2 — to reprove them severely, those who are in the position of eldership or church leadership but are unqualified and are ugly and are using the Word of God for profit and gain.

Now Paul respectfully greeted them and he started preaching to them and revealed their idolatry, and that they were not worshiping the true God there in Athens. And Paul called for them to drop their idols that were made with man's hands and believe in the one true God. Now that is a little bit of backdrop to come into this grandiose subject of the one true God.

And Bible point number one is: there is one true God. There is one true God. And you see that in the text, Acts chapter 17 verse 22 and following. I will read it to you. There is one true God. "So Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and he said, 'Men of Athens, I observed that you were very religious in all respects. For while I was passing through and examining the objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription: "To an unknown God." Therefore, what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you.'" So we are bringing people from ignorance into a true knowledge of the one true God.

The true God truly exists. And you know this from Genesis 1:1, because it says, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." Everyone knows this, and it is attested in Romans chapter 1 that God has put it inside of every person to know that God exists. And the psalmist said in Psalm 14:1, "The fool says in his heart, 'There is no God.'" And so everyone knows God, but it is a fool who denies or suppresses the knowledge of God.

So the true God does exist. Not only does He exist, but He is revealing Himself as Creator. Turn, if you would, to Psalm 19. I want you to see where He reveals Himself to mankind as the Creator of the heavens and the earth.

Psalm 19 verses 1 through 4. God is revealing Himself to mankind. He truly exists. He is the one true God. And we know it. Psalm 19 verse 1: "The heavens are telling of the glory of God." So there you go. The heavens are proclaiming and telling that there is a God. This could not have happened by accident.

"And the expanse is declaring the work of His hands." The atmosphere, the expanse — you look at the sun, the moon, the stars, and the clouds and how everything works. This expanse, it is so beautiful. It is working together. It is not accidentally still falling into place. I liken evolution to my children's bedroom. It never accidentally gets clean.

It always has to be cleaned or sustained. And the same Sustainer of the heaven and earth is this one true God. So the expanse is declaring the work of His hands — His ongoing, continuous, sustaining work of all things declares His existence. And then in verse 2: "Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words. Their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth and their utterances to the end of the world." The heavens are truly declaring, speaking loudly. It is obvious.

And so the Scripture does not try to prove that God exists. It assumes that God exists. You need not get into evidential arguments trying to prove through teleological or sophisticated arguments that God exists. People know that God exists. And so you witness in that way. You simply tell them, "You know God exists." Like I did with the guy who used the Lord's name in vain. You do that because you know that it is the one true God who exists. We all have that. God gave that to us. We know that God exists. And I want to prove it to you. Let us turn to Romans chapter 1.

In Romans chapter 1 verse 18 and following, Romans 1:18: "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth." Okay? Atheists are simply suppressing the truth that God exists. Verse 19: "Because that which is known..." You see that? "That which is known about God is evident within them." All you need to do is underline that. That is textual proof that everybody knows that God exists. Right there in verse 19: "Because that which is known about God is evident within them, for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world, His invisible attributes, both His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse." Verse 21: "For even though they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their thoughts and their foolish heart was darkened, professing to be wise, they became fools. And they exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the likeness of corruptible men and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures." Is this not the very same thing that Paul is dealing with in Athens? The very same thing. In verse 24: "Therefore God gave them over to the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them, for they exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen."

This is the way of the world, and we are to combat that and do everything that we can to save souls from the fire while we can. I believe in doing all we can while we can. So not only does the true God exist, and is He revealing Himself in nature and revealing Himself as Creator — and He does that through natural revelation, He places all of that information inside of the heart and soul of man — but by the way, every people group on the face of the planet has always worshiped. You have got to ask yourself, if we did not know that God exists inwardly, then why is there archaeological evidence of every people group having evidence of being worshipers? They are worshiping something. In Deuteronomy there is a warning to the Israelites: do not worship the stars; worship the God of the stars. Mankind will worship because they know that a God exists. It is our job to be proclaimers of the one true God.

Not only that, I want to end with you in Hebrews chapter 1.

Hebrews chapter 1, the first three verses — God reveals Himself as Redeemer. We have been talking about how the Apostle Paul and Silas simply proclaim Christ in the public sphere, in the private sphere, and in church. Every area of their life they are proclaiming Christ. There is nothing off-limits to the Lord. He is Lord. He is ruling and reigning. Now in Hebrews chapter 1 He is revealing Himself as the Redeemer. Hebrews 1:1-3: "God, having spoken long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son." Right there you can make a little note -- John 1:1: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God," and reference that to verse 14 as well, because the Word became flesh. God has spoken to us in these latter times through His Son. His Son is recorded and is the Word of God, and so that is how He is speaking to us today. If you want to hear Him, read His Word. If you want to hear Him audibly, read His Word out loud.

"In these last days He spoke to us in His Son," verse 2, "whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds." So God is claiming Himself as Creator here. Verse 3: "Who is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power, who, having accomplished cleansing for sins" -- how did God accomplish the cleansing of sins? It is through Christ -- "sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high." Christ is at the right hand of the Father in heaven.

Christ is the Redeemer. God is claiming Himself to be the Redeemer. God is one. He is Trinitarian. He is God the Father, God the Holy Spirit, and God the Son, and we believe that by faith.

Now, as we wrap up, I want to read to you Psalm 95 verses 9 through 11, and I encourage you not to reject Him. Psalm 95:9-11 says, "When your fathers tried Me, they tested Me, and though they had seen My work for forty years, I loathed that generation." Those are sobering words.

Psalm 95 verse 9: "When your fathers tried Me, they tested Me, and though they had seen My work." Now, these Israelites saw God's parting of the Red Sea. They saw and experienced the Exodus. If they did not see it firsthand, if they were born a little bit later, they heard the testimonies from their fathers.

They saw the deliverance of God. They knew of the manna that was being provided in the wilderness. They knew of the quail. They knew of the rock being split open and water being provided in the desert. They knew of God's miraculous works.

And just as we testified this morning of many of God's miraculous works in the life of our dear congregation, and just as we know that God's work is effectual in salvation, to save souls -- we see God's miraculous hand at work. When we look at creation, we also know of God's miraculous works.

"But they tested Me, though they had seen My work." Do not fall into that American Israelite category. The American Israelite -- the American who knows that God exists, who has the Word of God -- do not fall into the Israelite category of testing God and pushing back on Him.

Listen in verse 10 to God's perception and how He feels about that rebelliousness. In verse 10: "For forty years I loathed that generation."

For those who are like Burger King Christians -- they would have it their own way, and they think that church is designed to meet their wants and their comforts, to kind of revolve around what they think is right, not submitting themselves to the standard, the Word of God -- they fall into this category. And it is almost like stiff-arming God, like a running back running with a football trying to get his own touchdown. We are not to stiff-arm God and to use the church -- the living God -- that is intended to equip saints to make disciples. We are not supposed to use that for our social club. It is so awesome to have fellowship with you guys, but that is not the main purpose. It is among many purposes. Fellowship can be perverted into becoming a social club. It can be about what you want to do. It can be about meeting up with your friends and hanging out.

You cannot extract one of the main purposes from Acts chapter 2 verses 42 and following and make it all about you. In fact, you have to submit to that. And true service unto Christ produces true fellowship, which is koinonia -- fellowship with Christ. So true fellowship is fellowship with Christ. It is not just friendship between two people. So when two people are serving Christ in the local church and they are truly bought in and they are serving and sacrificing, then from that it produces koinonia, true fellowship. See, there is a fabrication of fellowship -- perhaps shallow friendships. If you are only talking about the shallow things of this world, then that is a friendship.

Push downward and serve Christ. And when you serve and are bought in and there is a cost involved to your service -- when you are ridiculed because of your faith, when you have got some blood, sweat, and tears invested in serving Christ -- and two of you get together and you are talking about the deeper things of God, that is fellowship. It is true fellowship. It is not a perverted misunderstanding of friendship. It may start with friendship, but it goes deeper. And you can gauge how spiritual you are by your conversation, because conversations generally start on the shallow end. But however fast that conversation moves past the things that you can see -- a race car, NASCAR, NFL, the weather -- the earlier that conversation goes from the temporal to the eternal, that is how spiritual you are. Are you talking about the things of God, or are you always talking about the things of this earth? Because God said, "Set your mind on things above and not on things of the earth."

Paul had a commonality with this group here in Athens and he recognized, "There is a philosopher, he said some wise things, but I am going to point you towards the one true God." He connected with them on a friendship level and he went deep fast. Do you do that? Do you connect with people with whom you have a relationship and then go deep fast, transition that conversation to the eternal, just do not stay with the temporal? Share Christ while you can. Do all you can while you can, because the one true God really lives. And if you do not get what I am saying, you are in danger of falling into that category of being an American Israelite, one whom God would look back on your entire life and loathe because you rejected Him.

You rejected serving Him. You did not do all you could while you could. You did not stand up for Christ, His only Son, His sacrificial death on your behalf. You rejected the blood of Christ.

This is really important for us to know the one true God. And if you know the God that I know, then you will be doing likewise. A friend of mine who has gone on to glory now was Ben Woodall, and he sat down in his office and had a couple of Pentecostal preachers come into his office and say, "Well, the building, Mr. Ben Woodall, that you own across the street -- God told us" -- there is a red flag -- "God told us that you are to lease that to us for ,500 a month." And Ben Woodall leaned back in his chair -- he owned Furnitureland in Kissimmee -- and he said, "Well, your God ain't my God, because my God knows that that building costs me 7,500 a month."

That is a true story.

You may think you know God, but if you do not know God in a way that is in the Scriptures, this is a different god. This is a man-made Santa Claus in your mind that exists in a way to bless your life. This is a Joel Osteen god. If you think that God is existing to bless you -- what if He took away all of your blessings? Is He still God?

Then you know God.

What if your health declined? What if your spouse died? What if you lost your job? What if you got kicked out as a Christian? What if the letter from the Apostle Peter actually became as if it were addressed to you, those who were scattered because of persecution, who lost their homes?

What if that happened to you? Do you know the true God? It is the difference between living in eternity in heaven and missing it -- a matter between your heart and your head.

Let us finish verse 10: "For forty years I loathed that generation. And He said they are a people who wander in their heart, and they do not know My ways. Therefore I swore in My anger, 'They shall never enter My rest.'"

And so if you reject God, then He will reject you and grant you the eternity that you have chosen.

I pray that you would repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and not reject His ways. God's grace will save the repentant heart. I plead with you to turn from your sin and place your faith and trust in the substitutionary death of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is by faith that we believe in Christ crucified and resurrected. He is the perfect substitute, the only one. Ephesians 2:8 says, "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not of yourselves. It is the gift of God." It is important to recognize that faith is a gift. God grants you faith. Ask for it. Believe in His substitutionary death. John 10:9 says, "I am the door, and if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved." Let us pray together.

Father, thank You for today. You are the one true God. And as Paul and Silas proclaimed it in the public square, and they were faithful to also proclaim it in the private areas of their life and also in church, so we have been challenged today to live authentically and not reserve our Christianity for Sunday, and not reserve our homes and our conversations with our friends away from You. Lord, let us not be hypocrites. God, I pray that every single person in this worship center would analyze their friendship conversations right now and ask the question: "Am I living for the one true God? Are the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart pleasing to You, God? Am I proclaiming You in every sphere of life? Am I doing all that I can while I can, because nothing else matters?" God, I pray that You would sanctify us and prod us forward, dear God. We have been refined by Your message today. We have been encouraged to live authentically. We have set You and Your life, dear Jesus, as a model for our life. We see Paul as one who modeled himself after You, dear God, and he even said in 1 Corinthians 11:1 that he was a model to be modeled.

May we be models who can be modeled. If our friends and our neighbors acted just like us, would they be closer to Christ?

God, help us to live with the end in mind, that we are going to be face-to-face with You on Judgment Day, and we will be judged. We will suffer loss for the things that we should have done, but we will be rewarded for the things that we are faithful to do. God, may we not be about ourselves and make ourselves a false god. May we be all about You.

Thank You for this sermon. Thank You for this life on display so that we can see it. The Apostle Paul was so clear and so vivid in living out his faith. And God, I pray, through the authentic lives at this dear church, that many also would come to know You as Lord and Savior. Everywhere Paul went he was preaching the gospel, and people came to faith in Thessalonica, people came to faith in Berea, and people came to faith here in Athens. And I pray, God, that You would utilize us at this church, that we would be like the Berean church, that we would test all things, and that we would take in the Scriptures correctly and not the things of the world, and that we would go and live out loud. I pray, God, that You would send us to places like Thessalonica and Berea and Athens. God, the places that need You the most -- send us there. May we be on mission. May we be true, Great Commission Christians and not playing church.

Father, I beg You, I plead with You, save souls, sanctify souls, and put us into service here at this dear church. We do love You, and it is in Jesus' holy and precious name that we pray. Amen.