The Unknown God [Part 3]

Pastor, author, and Bible teacher, Alan Wright. He's not simply enmeshed in the creation. He is the Creator. There's a big difference between believing in Mother Earth and believing in God, the Father who made the Earth.

That's a big difference. That's Pastor Alan Wright. Welcome to another message of good news that will help you see your life in a whole new light. I'm Daniel Britt, excited for you to hear the teaching today in the series Unlimited as presented at Reynolda Church in North Carolina. If you're not able to stay with us throughout the entire program, I'm going to make sure you know how to get our special resource right now. It can be yours for your donation this month to Alan Wright Ministries.

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That's 877-544-4860. Now, more on this later in the program. But right now, let's get started with today's teaching. Here is Alan Wright. An atheist is one who believes there's not a God. An agnostic is one who believes we can't know the God who might exist.

And here's one right here. You can go see it in Greece today. An altar to the unknown God from that era and time. And he began to speak to them, verse 24. A God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man. I wonder if when he said that, if... Can you just put... Can you find and put that picture back up where the Areopagus looks out over the Parthenon there? When he's standing here, look at the imposing Parthenon in the necropolis.

Imagine you're standing there on Mars Hill with Paul. And he's been saying, I see you're a very religious people. He's pointing to idols everywhere. And he says, of the unknown God, he said, he does not live in a temple. And he points to the temple to Athena, probably.

He does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands. I wonder if he later told them what Jesus said, that the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve. I wonder if he told them the story of when Peter wasn't going to let Jesus wash his feet. And Jesus said, unless I wash you, you have no part of me.

And Peter said, therefore, not just my feet, but my whole body. I wonder if he told them that as he began to explain to them that the God who made it all came to serve us by giving his life for us. He's not like your gods who live in temples and demand that the people serve them with sacrifices, as if they needed any, he needed anything since, end of verse 25, since he himself gives, gives, he's the giver, not a taker, to all mankind, life and breath and everything.

He's preaching, he's preaching, he's preaching it. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth. See, they believed in all these different gods and in all these different functions.

And you say, no, there's one maker of heaven and earth. He said, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of the dwelling place. And he said, he determined that they should seek God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. That your religiosity, your desire for philosophy, your seeking God, your setting up an altar to an unknown God, it's all part of the way God made you.

You were made to seek him until you find him. Yet, he said, he's actually not far from each one of us. He was making it clear to the Epicureans, God's not like your gods who's off in the distance, he's right here. And he was making it clear to the Stoics that God is not pantheistic. He's not simply enmeshed in the creation. He is the creator. It's a big difference between believing in mother earth and believing in God, the father who made the earth.

That's a big difference. We're a very pantheistic society right now. Oh, God's in everything. Everybody's got God.

Everything's wonderful. No, no. He is the sovereign creator of the ends of the earth. And there's no one like him. So all in one breath, he's addressing the idolatry, addressing the problems of Epicureanism, the problems of stoicism, the issues of the pagans. And then Paul does something that I don't even have a word to tell you how shocking it is.

I can't even describe how shocking this is, that he did this. He quotes an idolatrous prophet, a Greek pagan. At verse 28, he says, for in him, we live and move and have our being as even some of your own poets have said, for we are indeed his offspring. This, which is one of my favorite lines in scripture, one that I quote often, I pray often and I love, was actually first written in a hymn to Zeus. And he quoted it. I don't even know.

I don't even know what to compare it to. I, you know, what came to mind would be like me quoting in a sermon or talk, talking to the public about, about God and quoting George Harrison, the ex beetle, quoting his song, My Sweet Lord, which was written by George Harrison in praise of the Hindu God, Krishna. I really want to know you. The lyric goes, I really want to go with you. I really want to show you, Lord.

And then after an instrumental break, the lyrics continue, Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna. It'd be like me quoting that in a positive way, in a positive way, relating to the culture. It'd be like one of your own idols, a beetle once said, My Sweet Lord, I really want to know you.

I really want to go with you. Be like that. I'll tell you, you know, I mean, it's actually more offensive than that. I'm trying to think of the most offensive thing I could think. I mean, remember his spirit was provoked. He was incensed by their idolatry. And then he turned around in an amazing relevance to his listeners and quoted one of the very pagan prophets that had been part of what it would incense his spirit. This doesn't mean, I don't understand this.

I thought, you know, what would be offensive, maybe I don't think this goes too far. It'd be almost like if I were talking to non-Christians and trying to relate something about their life and about how God has a destiny for them. And maybe I would say it's like one of your own prophets, Hugh Hefner once said, Life is too short to be living somebody else's dream.

You imagine that? Me go out and quote the man who wanted to introduce lust into every home in America and quote him. That's, I'm just trying to tell you how shocking this is what Paul did. In him we live and move and have our being and we are his offspring was actually written in a poem by a figure named Epimenides in the sixth century BC. Now this is where it gets fascinating even more. Epimenides is behind this whole story. Epimenides was a real man, but he became a legendary figure because it was said of Epimenides that he went into a cave and fell asleep for 57 years like Rip Van Winkle. And that when he came out of the cave six centuries before Christ, he was 57 years wiser, but he was as young as he was before. And therefore we became this legendary figure of great wisdom who was able to solve big problems for whole cities.

Well in the sixth century Athens, in an ironic twist of relevance for us, was in a midst of a pandemic. That's Alan Wright and we'll have more teaching in a moment from today's important series. Unlock the power of blessing your life. Discover God's grace-filled vision for your life by signing up for Alan Wright's free daily blessing. If you want to fill your heart with grace and encouragement get Alan Wright's daily blessing.

It's free and just a click away at PastorAlan.org. God's always been there. In every moment you narrowly escaped from danger. In every moment you were surprised by a blessing.

In every moment you just knew the direction to take. God was there. Your life is defined by countless moments of God's grace. Perhaps they've been covered by the sands of time or have just gone unnoticed in the rush of life, but your life is full of God moments. When you make a gift today we'll send you Pastor Alan's heart-stirring book God Moments that will lead you on a spiritual treasure hunt to uncover your God moments. It's Alan Wright's timeless book God Moments.

Discover your God moments in the past and be filled with fresh faith today. The gospel is shared when you give to Alan Wright Ministries. This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support. When you give today we will send you today's special offer. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Alan Wright Ministries. Call us at 877-544-4860.

That's 877-544-4860 or come to our website PastorAlan.org. Today's teaching now continues. Here once again is Alan Wright. A terrible plague had hit Athens and all the philosophers had tried everything they knew. All the religious leaders tried everything they knew. All the scientists tried everything they knew and everybody's dying in Athens. And so according to the story that is recorded by a Roman historian, a Roman historian Diogenes Laertes wrote this down.

Here's what happened. I'm going to read it to you verbatim from Laertes because this is, you can't make this stuff up, this is what this is what this is what this is what was told happened. They sent a ship to Crete to invite Crete, island of Crete where Epimenides was. He was he was Cretan.

Invite Epimenides, this mythical this legendary wise man to come to Athens. And he coming there in the 46th Olympiad purified the city and eradicated the plague for that time. And here's how he did it according to Laertes. He took some black sheep and some white ones and led them to the Areopagus, Mars Hill that we were looking at. And from thence he let them go wherever they chose having ordered the attendants to follow them. And wherever any one of them lay down they were to sacrifice him to the god who was the patron of that spot. And so the evil was stayed and owing to this one may even now find in different burrows of the Athenian altars, Athenians, altars without names which are sort of a memorial of the propitiation of the gods that then took place.

Here's what happened. They called in this guy that everybody thought was like Rip Van Winkle, Epimenides, and he said what are we going to do? We've tried everything to appease the gods, we've tried all the philosophy, tried everything, and everybody's dying.

What do we do? He said bring some black sheep and some white sheep up to the top of the Areopagus where Paul was talking to the council. He says take these sheep and let them loose and let them come down off the hillside and down into the agora and over to the hillsides and wherever they may wander and just send people following them, follow them as far as they go, and then when they finally lie down look around you because there's an idol almost everywhere, there's a temple almost everywhere, look around and sacrifice that lamb to whatever deities in that area.

And so they did. But some of the sheep evidently would lie down and there was no deity in that area and so they put a stone up there and sacrificed the lamb to an agnostos theos, to an unknown god. And Paul knew the story, everybody knew the story. And so he stood amongst the Areopagus. He said I see you're a very religious people. He said I see also that you have an altar to an unknown god, a god that you seek to know but you don't know.

And I want to tell you who he is because if you knew him you'd love him. He's not like your gods. He doesn't put heavy demands and burdens upon you. He's not like the gods of the Epicureans who's off in the distance and has left you here just to eat, drink, and be merry. He's not like the god of the Stoics who is just in the midst of everything but has no real sovereign power and requires of you such rigor and discipline that your only way to have... No, he's not like that.

No, he's not like that. Let me tell you of the unknown god because he is a god who became the lamb who takes away the sin of the world. It's amazing. Verse 29 is how he tells it. Being then God's offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. The times of ignorance God overlooked but he now commands all people everywhere to repent.

And in Greek, it means to change your mind. Because he has fixed a day on which he'll judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed and of this, he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead. He was a genius, Paul, in the way he related to the pagan culture. And he spoke of God in a way that would cause many to fall in love with God. But he did not let his relevancy deter him from speaking the exclusive claims of Christ. Verse 32, when they heard of the resurrection of the dead somewhat, they thought resurrection was ridiculous.

And remember the idea that a god would go on a cross is scandalous. But others said, we'll hear you again about this. Others said, I want to hear more of what you're saying. So Paul went out from their midst. Some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them. A lot of them scoffed at him, thought, what is this seed picker talking about? But some said, I'd like to hear more about this. And at least one of the esteemed Areopagus, the people that were known to be the most influential and wisest people in the cultural center of Greece, at least one of them, Dionysius, came to saving faith in Jesus Christ.

And I wonder how many people he talked to on the Areopagus after that. You know, one thing I've learned is you just never know who might come to trust Christ. You just don't know. So you just scatter the seed and see where it sprouts. And don't ever say, well, these people would never believe, or this person would, or this person would.

You don't know. So you just tell them anyway. I pulled into the side of the convenience store.

I went into the Waccamaw Mini-Mart desperate. She said, oh, if you want to bypass it, there's a way to do that. I said, there's an unknown road?

Yes. Turn left here. Go to the stop sign.

Take a left, follow it. I have to admit that while I was following that road, that, you know, by the way, it was a very narrow road. And while I was following that narrow road, there was a enterprise rental truck coming my way that nearly pulled into my lane. He was driving almost in the middle of the road.

I had to come right over to the edge of the shoulder just to dodge him. And oftentimes there would be, and I'm driving a car and somebody did that, my flesh might come up within me and I might have something to say about that. But in this case, I was just so thankful that I wasn't still in the traffic jam that I just let it go. I just let it go because I was on my way. Isn't it amazing how if you find some truth, the truth, they'll set you free that you're not as preoccupied with lesser things because I once was lost and now I've been found. I've been sitting in traffic for over an hour and now I was on my way. And so I wasn't going to let little things bother me. But I know that along the way, there's a little part of me is like, is this really going to end up somewhere?

I have no idea. The GPS was completely lost in the swamps of North Carolina and the farmlands. I didn't know where I was going to wind up, but at least I wasn't just sitting there doing nothing in that traffic jam anymore. And when I came around to Ben and that very narrow and curving road and I saw the Dollar General, I wanted to get out and hug the whole building. I wanted to go in and just tell the Dollar General they're the most beautiful people in all the world. And I turned back onto my highway and made it to half my meeting.

And I think if it had not been for the Waccamaw mini mart, I might still be sitting on highway. Because if you're lost, what do you need? You need to know something that you don't know. Let me say this plainly as I can. When you see the apostasy, apostasy, idolatry and hate and wretchedness that goes on in our culture, hate against hate. When you see the lostness and folly of things that you just shake your head, I can't even believe that otherwise intelligent people would even say that. When you see all that and your spirit is provoked, remember this, they don't know God.

And if they knew them, I think they'd love them. And remember this, that all of us in some way worship the God that we know but don't yet fully know. And there's something to know of God every day. In some way, every day, I'm worshiping also the God who I want to know all the more. And the good news of the gospel is, beloved, He wants to be known. He came in the person of Jesus Christ so that fullness of revelation of God and all of His goodness and might could be made known could be made known to a lost world. But that is the gospel.

It's free and just a click away at pastorallen.org. God's always been there. In every moment, you narrowly escaped from danger. In every moment, you were surprised by a blessing.

In every moment, you just knew the direction to take. God was there. Your life is defined by countless moments of God's grace.

Perhaps they've been covered by the sands of time or have just gone unnoticed in the rush of life. But your life is full of God moments. When you make a gift today, we'll send you Pastor Alan's heart-stirring book, God Moments, that will lead you on a spiritual treasure hunt to uncover your God moments. It's Allen Wright's timeless book, God Moments.

Discover your God moments in the past and be filled with fresh faith today. The gospel is shared when you give to Allen Wright Ministries. This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support.

When you give today, we will send you today's special offer. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Allen Wright Ministries. Call us at 877-544-4860.

That's 877-544-4860. Or come to our website, pastorallen.org. Back here to share some good news as we close out today's program and finish this teaching here with Pastor Alan and the unknown God. You said when we're stuck, we need to know something we don't already know. So to recap, where do we find it? Well, if listeners have heard the opening of this sermon yesterday, how I got stuck at a highway in a traffic jam after an hour of sitting there, and I finally asked someone for some directions and found a back way that it just proves, you know, we as a scripture, we perish for lack of knowledge.

We don't so much need to try harder. We just need to have more revelation. And the good news is that that's the very thing God wants to give. And he wants to give it to us. And he wants to use us to help give that revelation of Jesus Christ to others.

And so it's wonderful news. He never wants us stuck or lost, but he wants to show us the way. you listen again online, but also get a daily email devotional that matches today's teaching delivered right to your email inbox free. Find out more about these and other resources at pastorallen.org. That's pastorallen.org. Today's good news message is a listener supported production of Alan Wright Ministries.