Acts 17:23 – For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you.

Hey all, back with a new blog today. Happy Easter, and although it is a pagan holiday etc, you can still remember the death, burial and resurrection of Christ and glorify the God of heaven today! He rose from the dead, he is God. Death has no hold on him! He was t the perfect Lamb of God which took away all the sin of the world, his precious, sinless shed blood purchased our freedom! Apologies in advance for any grammatical areas (chucked that in on purpose!)… ERRORS, sometimes I just get these blogs out. I hope you at least read the whole blog before passing judgement, and I hope the Spirit of truth bears witness in your heart that I am telling the truth because all I’m saying and got to offer is what the Bible says! We are in Acts 17 today, particularly the phrase TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Because God is the unknown God to many people today. To most people. Do you actually know God? I didn’t ask are you religious, I didn’t ask do you attend church, I didn’t ask do you intellectually assent to the man called Jesus … do you actually know God? In 1 John 5:11,12 the Bible says he that HATH the Son has life, and he that HATH not the Son of God hath not life. Cain was religious, he didn’t go to heaven. Cain went his own way. And we all want to follow in the way of Cain, the way of our own way, doing things our own way, according to ourselves, not even realizing that the Bible says we don’t understand our own way, we don’t understand the depths of our own depravity, just how far fallen short of God’s glory we are. Paul was going through Athens, but he saw the altar with those words, TO THE UNKNOWN God. Paul knew God, you can know God. You don’t have to serve an unknown God. You don’t have to grope in the darkness, you don’t have to live in a state of uncertainty. John said in 1 John 5, these things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the only begotten Son of God, that ye may KNOW that ye have eternal life. You can be saved today, you can be forgiven, you can have life and eternal life, and you can KNOW IT! That’s what set us free, our salvation is locked down, we don’t need to doubt it. After all, think about it, how can you be an effective witness for Christ if you don’t even know anything for sure yourself? We can know things for sure in this life. 1 Peter calls the word of God the SURE word. It won’t fail. It is unchanging, eternal, incorruptible, we are born again by the incorruptible seed of the word of God. This seed remains in us, and that is our new creature which is born of God… which CANNOT sin (1 John 3)… nothing to do with not habitually sin, our new creature CANNOT sin, but our flesh (as saved people) does nothing but sin? Who says each word, each jot and tittle isn’t important?

Today we are dealing with the issue of unhooking God from God’s Word. These two are inseparable, but Satan knows that unhooking God from his Word is the key to leading millions to hell. The first thing Satan said in the Bible was in Genesis 3, these words “Yea hath God said?”. Satan is in the doubt casting business. Once he separates you from God’s word he’s got you. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. In John 1 we read that “In the beginning was the Word”. The Word of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, is our only link to God, he’s the only go between, we can’t comprehend God, that’s why the Bible says noone has seen the Father. Your only connection to God is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is Jacob’s ladder to heaven. All the work required to get to God is wrapped up in the Lord Jesus Christ, he is the rungs, the bars, the all. He is the door. He is the way. He is the truth. He is the life. He is God in the flesh. In John 1:14 we read And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. Jesus has been around from the beginning, it was the Lord Jesus Christ all through the Old Testament. He told the Pharisees, before Abraham was, I AM. I AM is God’s title. Jesus is God. It was Jesus that spoke the world into existence, it is his word that not only created the world, but it is his word that sustains the world we live in today. We are all “by his word”. 2 Peter 3:7 – But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

One way Satan will unhook you from God’s word is through new Bibles. We know that in the last days many shall depart from the faith, we know that many will be seduced, enticed, they will have itching ears, they will turn away from the truth, they will give heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils, they will listen to old wives fables, they will be lost in the endless genealogies, they will grope in darkness the blind leading the blind, they will shut their ears, they want a new “word”, just like Balaam did, just like the unbelieving Israelites did when they got sick of the manna in the wilderness. When God rained down the manna upon them, they called it manna because they didn’t know what it was, that is what the word manna means… what is it? The only way you can know God is through his Word. Jesus is the living Word, the Bible is the written Word, they are inseparable, they are the same, you cannot have one without the other. These new Bibles mix lie with truth, they produce an “idol” Jesus, not the true Lord Jesus Christ of the Bible. They distort the image of the incorruptible God, they change words, they change doctrines, it is very subtle. And the first person mentioned as subtle in the Bible is none other than the devil. He is more subtle than we can do battle with, without the word of God, which is the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Spirit of truth, we stand no chance against him. Without the Bible you cannot affirm anything, because you have nothing to stand on. We believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as portrayed by the Bible. Satan wants to steal the glory that is Jesus’. in Isaiah 14 we see his aim. He wants to be like the most High, he wants to sit in the mount of the congregation. He wants your praise. He want’s to steal your praise. Absalom stole the hearts of Israel, through deception, through flattery and making people feel good, he stroked their ego, their pride, he seduced and enticed them, and he is coming after your heart. Your heart belongs to God, but he wants to steal it. He is a robber, a thief, a murderer, he does it through deception. He wants to weaken the nations, he wants to weaken you, to cripple you. The woman bent over by the devil. He will bend you over. He will make you stoop under his hard yoke.

When God is unhooked from God’s word, you then have an undefined God. You then have the realizing of the meaning of Acts 17, the statue that Paul saw at Athens saying TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. God will be unknown to you. Without the parameters of God’s word, God is just the unknown God to you. But here’s the news, God can be declared unto you, and is declared unto you, just as Paul did to the men of Athens. Just as Phillip did to the eunuch when he said… understandest thou what thou readest? Throw away all other books, commentaries, all these so called intellectuals, scholars, theologians, just get yourself an Authorized King James Bible and through the holy incorruptible, eternal, unchanging Word of God let the Spirit of truth guide you to the truth. God lets all these new Bibles exist to prove our hearts, just like God left the nations in the promised land to prove whether Israel really loved him. Jesus promised that if you seek truth you will find truth, if you don’t find the truth, it’s simply because you weren’t seeking it. You may have sought truth out of curiosity, and toyed with it, played the game with truth, flirted with it, just like Felix flirted with salvation, but said to Paul at a convenient season (which never came) I will call for thee. You and I are without excuse.

When you have an undefined God, you have an unknown God, and then you have “gods” which is idolatry, which is sin, where you have a “god” that is a god you have made out to be whoever you want him to be. It is sin, it is what Israel did again and again. They went after other gods (which are not gods), they went after Baal, they time and time again, they perenially forsook God and followed the error of the wicked. This evil world system hates God, make no mistake about it. They love “a” Jesus, but not THE Lord Jesus Christ. They reject the blood of Christ, they don’t need his mercy, they don’t want to repent of their sin, they judge themselves unworthy of the free gift of eternal life. God is a just Judge to send them to hell. He loves you, but he will send you to hell if you call him a liar, which is what you do when you don’t believe his Word, in his Son, the Word of God. Psalm 2:1-3 – Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.  This world is against the true God, and his Son Jesus Christ. They would rather believe a lie, they choose delusion, they are WILLINGLY ignorant of the truth. If you want to see an Old Testament picture of the state of Christianity and the world today, read Judges, and as you go on you see the descent of a nation that departs from God. Judges is marked by the phrase in the Bible and which concludes the book – In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes. Interestingly Judges precedes the coming of the king, but firstly there was a false king before David, the king whom God chose. The first king, Saul, represents the antichrist, a false Christ, whom the whole world will wonder after, they will follow him into perdition. But then Jesus, the true Lord God of the Bible will return and in 2 Thessalonians the Bible says And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Get on the right side of this. Only if you are in the word of God, abiding in truth,  the Word of God abiding in you (which is how you are a strong Christian), will you not be deceived. The Bible says if possible the antichrist will deceive even the very elect! Strong deception and delusion is coming people, don’t think you will be strong enough to resist it without building your house, your life, upon the rock.

Read the prayer of Jesus to the Father, his Father in John. Jesus said, Sanctify them by thy truth, thy word is truth. God’s word is truth. God’s word is what will sanctify you, separate you, from this world unto him. Sanctification isn’t separation just for separation’s sake, but a separation unto him. The Bible says in Hebrews that Jesus died without the camp, and that we are to go out unto him without the camp. Leave behind everything, just go to him, be separated unto him. There is great power in that. Samson had the Spirit of the Lord mightily upon him because he was a Nazarite, which means separated unto God. When his separation ended, his power went too. If you want to live a powerful life (maybe not physically strong!) but powerful as in your witness and effect on others, answered prayer, God being with you and working in you and through you. he doesn’t have to be an unknown God to you, but he will be if you don’t get in line with the plumbline of his word. The Bible says he that is spiritual judgeth all things, spirituality isn’t an act or anything unattainable, true spirituality is just being in the word of God, Jesus said his words are spirit and life, if you are in the Word you will be filled with the Spirit of God. Filled with the word is filled with the Spirit! The Bible is the plumbline, the “spirit” level, by which we measure and compare all things. The Bible says let God be true and every man a liar. You’re a liar, I’m a liar, the other guy is a liar… now let’s all just submit to what God says in his word. That’s why is so crucial what Bible you choose. Compromise is a killer, Pharaoh offered Moses deadly compromise after deadly compromise, but Moses said there shall not a hoof be left behind! Satan wants you to compromise! Compromise is a KILLER. There is no compromise to be had with a lie, there is no compromise to be had with the devil. The people in Ephesians got together when the gospel had liberated them, and they burned all their books of curious arts. Get all the magic, all the new Age rubbish, all the ecumenical, all the spiritist rubbish out your life. Settle on the word of God, it is the rock, a stumblingstone to many, but the wisdom of God to those who are saved. There are many false spirits, false gospels, false Christs, false teachers, false believers in this world. MANY!!!! Many, most Christians aren’t saved. That’s why your salvation, your walk with God has to be proportional to God alone, not based on someone else, not based on anyone else other than a vital and real relationship and fellowship with his dear Son! Don’t be deceived, try the spirits whether they be of God as it says in 1 John 4.

In the book of Job, we finally see that Job surrendered his pride, his intellect, his reason, his understanding to God. God said to him … and God says to us today… Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge? We are all full of it. We are all liars. We are all lost. Jesus is not a light, he is THE LIGHT. Everything else is darkness. Get that into our heads! In Psalm 34 – I sought the LORD, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears. They looked unto him, and were lightened: and their faces were not ashamed. Be lightened today, seek God with all your heart, not with a half heart, go ALL the way with God. You can be like Ruth, or you can be like Orpah, who went part of the way, but didn’t go the full way like Ruth did. Are you a halfway Christian? Are you an “at times” Christian as Samson was?

There is something different about the gospel doing the rounds today. In 2 Corinthians Paul wrote of another Jesus, another spirit, another gospel. There are counterfeits out there. There are gospels going around that resemble the gospel of truth, but are not, that lack the saving, changing power. In Exodus, remember that Pharaoh’s magician’s, those counterfeiters of Egypt, also threw down their rods and they were turned into snakes. They counterfeited what Moses did. But the rod that turned into the snake that Moses had ate them all up. There are many false rods, but only one true rod, the rod that came out the stem of Jesse we read of in Isaiah 53, that great Old Testament prophecy of the Lord Jesus Christ. We know that his word is the rod of his mouth, what rod are you wielding today? The rod of Christ or some imitation rod that lacks power, that is just a counterfeit deception of the real. Do you want truth? God will test whether you want truth as we have stated before. In the Old Testament Moses said that even when family members whisper to you to come and follow other gods that you are to follow them not. Even family can pull you down! God first, everything else second. Get the order right. Jesus said many false Christs would arise in the last day, he said to follow them not!

Jesus said his sheep know him, that his sheep hear his voice. In the Old Testament, the Bible says that the ox knows his master’s crib. What does this mean? Do you know your master’s crib? Are you able to settle in on a lie, or do you only have the peace of Christ in your heart when you are walking in truth, walking in the light, abiding in him, abiding in his word? His voice is the still, small voice. But do you hear, do you see? Do you need your eyes and ears opened? We all do. We all need his glorious light to shine in the darkness of our hearts. Elisha prayed to God that his servant might see, he said to God open his eyes! And his servant’s eyes were opened by God and he saw the chariots of God surrounding him from the enclosing Assyrian army. In Proverbs 22 the Bible says we are to bow down thine ear. God gives grace to the humble. Unless you come to God in humility, with a broken and contrite spirit, you won’t get any power with God, God won’t accept you. God be merciful to me a sinner. Do you understand? Or are you like those who Jesus said, How is it that ye do not understand? Paul was able to share the gospel with the men of Athens. Did they receive it? They said, we will hear thee again. They heard the truth, but the truth did not find good soil. Some got saved, some clave to Paul, but most put it off. Because here’s the truth. We all have received the truth, but just because we hear the truth doesn’t guarantee we will accept it. Perhaps you have been bombarded with truth from God, and yet you have hardened yourself to it, Satan snatches the word away from you, he distracts you from the things that matter with the things of vanity.

God’s thoughts are higher than our thoughts, his ways are higher than our ways. He knows, we know nothing. The Bible says that in Christ is hid all treasures of wisdom and knowledge. It’s all about him, not about us. He must increase, we must decrease, just as John the Baptist said. We are wholly unworthy, not worthy to loose his shoe latchet, just as John the Baptist said. What do we have to do? Simple childlike faith, and hold the faith, hold the line. And then we hold forth the word of truth, the word of life to others. It’s up to God after that. Salvation belongs unto the Lord. Find peace and rest in his fold, his yoke is easy and his burden is light. You can know God today, there are things you can KNOW. If you don’t know, it’s not God’s fault, it’s your fault. Do you want truth? Do you want the same judgement as the Bible, line your life up with the Bible, get in sync with his word, his word is his will, get into his word and you will align with his will for your life. At Athens some people mocked, some people said we will hear thee again, and some people clave to Paul. Which category are you in? Some people flat out rejected, some people were curious, but went no further. Both were as bad as each other. How sad it is to go a little of the way, to get a little bit interested, but then turn away from the truth! I’ll finish with a quote of Proverbs that struck me this morning, may God reveal the truth to you, may God make known the certainty of his word to you. As Jesus said, Thy word is truth. He has made the truth known to all of us. He doesn’t have to be THE UNKNOWN GOD to you.

Proverbs 22:17 – Bow down thine ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply thine heart unto my knowledge.

Proverbs 22:18 – For it is a pleasant thing if thou keep them within thee; they shall withal be fitted in thy lips.

Proverbs 22:19 – That thy trust may be in the LORD, I have made known to thee this day, even to thee.

Proverbs 22:20 – Have not I written to thee excellent things in counsels and knowledge,

Proverbs 22:21 – That I might make thee know the certainty of the words of truth; that thou mightest answer the words of truth to them that send unto thee?

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