FINDING THE UNKNOWN GOD
by Dr. R. L. Hymers, Jr.
A sermon preached at the Fundamentalist Baptist Tabernacle of Los Angeles
Lord’s Day Morning, August 27, 2000
"I found an altar with the inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD.
Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you"
(Acts 17:23)
The Apostle Paul had gone to the city of Athens. He was waiting for his
companions to join him there. And just as Los Angeles is the media and
entertainment and movie center of the world, so Athens was the cultural and
intellectual and educational center of the ancient world. It was the city of
Aristotle, Plato, Socrates and Epicurus. Paul had been very busy. He was tired
and needed a rest. But instead he walked through the streets of Athens.
Many times I have walked through the streets of Los Angeles at night. The
Bible says that when Paul walked through the streets of Athens, what he saw
troubled him. Paul became very upset, and the Greek word translated
"stirred" means that he was provoked. He was irritated. He was angry
at what he saw. The Apostle Paul saw moral corruption and the hundreds of idols
in Athens.
If we look at Los Angeles today, we see the materialism, the obsession with
money, the obsession with sex, the obsession with pleasure, entertainment,
alcohol and drugs – all the things that we have made "gods" in our
generation. This story was in the newspaper a few days ago:
Suburbia shaken by teen deaths
Violence spotlights youth drug culture
The vicious killings of three teen-agers from the
San Fernando Valley area in recent weeks have challenged the belief that
good schools, strong family ties and vibrant suburban communities will
insulate children from the scourge of drugs.
Coming from drug deals gone awry rather than
overdoses, the murders have stunned police, educators and parents because
of the violence of the deaths and what appears to be the widespread
availability and abuse of drugs.
Police and counselors who work with troubled
youths say younger kids are now dealing drugs - especially very high-price
and potent marijuana - on most high school campuses.
Some of them are supplied by organized networks
of smugglers and cultivators, placing even young teens into contact with a
very dangerous world of adult criminals.
"This is frightening," said
Monroe High School’s Assistant Principal Thane Opfell. "It almost
sounds like the brutal tactics used in the 1930s in settling debts. It’s
particularly tragic that it’s appearing in this age.
"And it’s not unique to just one
neighborhood. The pattern suggests that it could happen anywhere."
Three weeks ago, Chris McCullouch, 13, of La
Canada Flintridge and Blaine Talmo, 14, of Glendale were brutally beaten
to death in a Glendale elementary school playground. Last week, the
bullet-riddled both of 15-year-old Nicholas "Nick" Markowitz of
West Hills was found several days after police say he was kidnapped
because of his older brother’s drug debts.
Those arrested in the cases are little older than
the victims, all of them from suburban or affluent communities.
"They’re getting in over their
heads," said Tim Brown, a Simi Valley Police Department school
resource officer.
"If a 14- or 15-year-old owes a drug dealer
$100 to $200, it’s the same as a 30-year-old. They’ll go after the kid
as strongly as the adults. I don’t think we as adults take it as
seriously as it is out there. That culture out there is serious."
For the friends of 15-year-old Nick Markowitz,
the murder has been a rude awakening, and many have drawn a black X on
their heads to remind them of what happened.
Bryan Marks, 16, a good friend of Nick Markowitz,
said drugs are quite a problem in affluent areas.
"I never thought it would get this
bad," Marks said.
(Los Angeles Daily News,
front page, August 21, 2000).
These young people have been caught up in our false and godless culture -
American culture is pagan - our society worships the false "gods" of
money, sex, pleasure, and the playboy lifestyle. These teenagers were sacrificed
on the altar of America’s false "gods."
And that’s why the Apostle Paul was "stirred" and angered when
he saw the false "gods" of Athens. When I read what is happening to
our young people in Los Angeles, I become angry too. I see the social problems
we have not solved. Right here in Los Angeles, in the civic center where our
church is located, the Democrats came and held their convention - with Barbra
Streisand, and Hugh Hefner, and Ted Turner and the media, and all the wealth of
Hollywood behind them. And just a few blocks away are some of the worst slums in
the world. It makes me angry when I see the moral problems facing your
generation. You can walk down Hollywood Boulevard and see some of the filthiest
pornography in the world. And no nation in history has ever gone in for that
kind of immorality and escaped the judgment of God. God is going to judge this
city and this country - and you will not escape from His judgment unless you are
in Christ and in the local church. That’s why we tell you to leave the world.
Drop your lost friends like a hot rock and get into this local
church and make new friends here! Get out of the world and into this church!
Now here are several things we learn from this passage.
I. The people of Athens had lost faith in their false gods.
Many of them had lost faith in what they had formerly believed. Americans, too, are losing faith in their false gods. We’ve made a god of
science, but it is a false god that hasn’t helped you find peace in the world.
We’ve made a false god of sex, but with all our permissiveness it hasn’t
brought happiness, peace, or joy to your heart. We have the problem of
loneliness. With all our leisure time and our entertainment and our trips and
our alcohol it hasn’t cured your loneliness. Young people tell me that Los
Angeles is one of the most lonely places on earth. I have come to believe that
loneliness is probably the greatest problem facing young people today, and all
ages of people are lonely. You go to the dance hall. It’s full of people. It’s
what they call a "rave." Everyone is jumping to the music. The lights
are flashing on and off. The music is pounding. The room is full of people. But
you feel alone. Alone in the crowd. Many lonely people are there
searching for a real friend in the midst of this great city. How many of you
feel lonely at times?
That’s why you need to come here - to this church - every time the door is
open, as Jerry Falwell says. You’ll find Christ here. You’ll find friends
here. Come with us and we will do you good! We will be the best friends you’ve
ever had - in all your life! We will help you become a real Christian.
II. But secondly, the Apostle Paul found that the intellectuals of
the city rejected his preaching.
The Bible says, "When they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked" (Acts 17:32). Paul stood on
the street corner, at a place called Mars Hill, and he began to preach. He said,
"Repent of your sins and turn to Jesus Christ." He spoke about the
"unknown God." He told them they could know God in a personal way if
they trusted Christ, His Son. He told them that Christ died to pay for their
sins and that He rose from the dead, literally and physically. He said,
"Christ can forgive your sins. You can be converted.
You can be born again. You can be saved."
Some of the intellectuals looked at him with contempt. They sneered and
laughed at him. They said, "He’s a fool. He doesn’t know what he’s
talking about." They made a joke out of his sermon.
Now some of the people wanted to hear him. They were curious. They wanted to
hear what he had to say.
In the audience were some interested people. The Epicureans were there.
Epicurus was a philosopher who had lived three hundred years earlier. He taught
them permissiveness and sensuality, much like what we have today. He deified
passion and lust. The pagan god Bacchus was the deification of appetite and
drunkenness. The false gods Venus and Aphrodite were the deification of sex.
Mars and Jupiter were the false gods of fighting and anger.
Today people have outgrown Bacchus, but you are still controlled by appetite
- by drugs and liquor and wild living. The temple of Venus has been destroyed -
but you are still dominated by sex. We no longer believe in Mars, but fighting
and jealousy still go on. So the old gods are still here. Mankind is still the
same.
You wear different clothing. You speak a different language. You are more
sophisticated. But your heart is the same. Down underneath you are the same. You
have the same loneliness, the same inner emptiness, and you are still looking
for the meaning of life. That’s why the Bible speaks to modern young people
more than any book in the world. It was written for people of all races and
generations.
The Bible says that you are in rebellion against God. The Bible says that
you are alienated, cut off, from God. That’s why God doesn’t seem real to
you. The Bible says that you are cut off from God by your sin.
Yes, the Epicureans were there. They said, "Have a good time. Eat,
drink and be merry."
The Stoics were there also. Now they were the intellectual leaders of that
generation. They were there to listen to that sermon from the Apostle Paul. They
wanted to hear him because Paul himself was a great intellectual. In fact,
historians agree that Paul was one of the greatest intellectuals of all time.
The whole world has been changed by the teaching and writing of the Apostle
Paul.
But Paul had been converted by Christ on the road to Damascus. Christ
revealed Himself to Paul and Paul, though he was an intellectual giant, became a
humble man. He was converted and Christ forgave his sins. Jesus said that you
can come to Him and be converted also. But you have to come with faith in Jesus,
like Paul did. You may be a college student or a university graduate, but you
must come to Christ the same way. You have to be humble. You have to want your
sins to be washed away in Jesus’ Blood. You have to be willing to come back to
church here every Sunday, where the gospel is clearly preached. You have to
repent, change your mind, change the way you live, and be here in church every
week, no matter what comes up. No matter what happens.
The Bible also says that many idle people were there to hear Paul’s sermon
also. They were the people who talked a lot, but they had little to say of
value. And they listened very little. They were too self-assured and too
conceited to listen very much. There are many like that today. You are like
those people on talk radio - full of your own ideas, but not willing to hear the
truth from the Bible and do what God says. You have so many questions that you
aren’t willing to listen to the answers. You think you’re too smart to
believe the Bible and become a Christian. Nobody’s going to trick you
into becoming a Christian! But you’re still lonely. And you’re still afraid.
And you’re still not ready to die. And you still don’t know the meaning of
life. And you still think about suicide from time to time. But nobody’s going
to trick you into becoming a Christian. You think you’re far
too smart for that.
I had a friend when I was in high school. His name was Mike. He was a
straight A student. But he wasn’t interested in becoming a Christian. He had
no time for church. Nobody was going to make a fool out of him!
One day he bought a brand-new rifle. He went up into Griffith Park. He put
the barrel of the gun into his mouth and pulled the trigger. He was my friend,
but he was a smart guy. Nobody was going to trick him. Nobody was going to
convince him to become a Christian. He was far too smart for that. So he died
without hope and without God. How about you? He was just
a young person like you. It was long ago when I was
young. What will you do with Jesus? What will you do when Dr.
Chan or Mrs. Cagan or Mrs. Salazar invites you to come back to this church next
Sunday?
What will your final answer be?
Where will you spend eternity?
III. And then, thirdly, the sermon Paul preached was about the
unknown God. Paul
said,
"I found an altar with the inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom
therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you" (Acts
17:23).
Paul said, "God is not far away." You see, some people in Athens
thought that God lived far away on the top of Mount Olympus. They called him
Zeus. But Paul said, "No, God is here. God is not on the top of that
mountain. God is not on another planet. God can come to you right here on earth.
You can know Him personally. You can talk to Him and He will hear you. He can
forgive your sins. He can give you hope. He can help you with the problems and
difficulties of life." Mr. Griffith sang about "The Love of God"
a moment ago. You can come and experience the love of God and know God yourself!
IV. Fourthly, then Paul came to the main point of his sermon.
He
told them to repent. To repent means to change your mind and to change the
direction of your life.
Turn from selfishness to Christ. Turn from a wild, changeable life, to being
in this church every Sunday. That’s what it means to change your mind. It
means that you change your way of living and you come to Christ and into the
church. You leave sin and come into this church where you heard the truth of the
gospel clearly presented from the Bible.
And then Paul said, "If you don’t change the direction of your life,
judgment is coming." Judgment is coming. Are you ready? The Bible
says, "Prepare to meet thy God."
Christ is not dead on the Cross. God has raised Christ from the dead. He
died on the Cross to pay for your sins. But that is not the whole gospel. He
also rose from the dead. And because He lives you will live also if you come to
Him, if you are converted, if you come all the way into this church. That was
what Paul preached that day. Christ is alive. He has risen from the dead.
V. There were three reactions to Paul’s sermon.
"Some mocked: and others said, We will hear thee again… Howbeit
certain men clave unto him" (Acts 17:32, 34).
"Some mocked: and others said, We will hear thee again" (Acts
17:32).
"Howbeit certain men clave unto him" (Acts
17:34).
We will have the same response here this morning.
1. Some of you will mock. You will go back to your family and friends
and say bad things about this sermon. And your lost relatives and
friends will agree with you. They’ll say, "Don’t go back to
that crazy Baptist church again. You’re doing fine without it. Don’t
become a fanatic." They may tell you to go to Catholic Mass instead
of coming here. Or they may say you don’t need church at all. They
will mock what I have said, and some of you will agree and make fun of
this sermon as well.
2. Others among you will say, "We will hear again of this
matter." And you’ll come back to church for a few Sundays or a
few weeks, and then you’ll stop coming.
3. But a few of you will "cleave unto us" and keep coming
until you are converted. And then you’ll stay with us in this church.
May God open your eyes so that you will make the third choice, the right
choice, the choice to become a real Christian in a real church. God bless you as
you do it!
Scripture Read Before Sermon: Acts 17:22-34.
Solo by Benjamin Kincaid Griffith: "The Love of God"
THE OUTLINE OF
FINDING THE UNKNOWN GOD
by Dr. R. L. Hymers, Jr.
"I found an altar with the inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD.
Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you" (Acts 17:23)
I. The people of Athens had lost faith in their gods, Acts 17:23.
II. The intellectuals rejected Paul's message, Acts 17:32.
III. The sermon Paul preached was on the unknown God, Acts 17:23.
IV. The sermon concluded with their need to repent, Acts 17:30-31.
V. There were three reactions to Paul's sermon, Acts 17:32-34.