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Turn back please to Acts chapter
17. And our meditation this morning will
be on verses 26 through 28. Let me read those verses in your
hearing again. Acts 17 verses 26 to 28. From one man God made every nation
of men that they should inhabit the
whole world. And He determined the time set for them and the
exact places where they should live. God did this so that men
would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though
He is not far from each one of us, for in Him we live and move
and have our being. Every schoolboy should know,
but I'm sure they don't, that the name of the first month of
the year January is taken from the ancient Roman god Janus.
The peculiar thing about Janus was that he had two faces instead
of one, and he could look in two directions at one and the
same time, forward and back. Now you can imagine the advantage,
if you ever got into a brawl, of being able to look in both
ways. or even some of you sports enthusiasts can imagine the advantage
to having two faces instead of one. Well, this first month of
the year is well named because it is symbolic of the state of
mind that most people have at the passing of one year and the
start of a new year. Now of course there are some
folks who are so immersed in the pursuit of pleasure that
The New Year only means the biggest drunken brawl of the year. And
they're too caught up in frivolous party-making to be thoughtful
at all, too afflicted with hangovers to look back or forward. But
most of you have come on the first day of the New Year with
a strange mixture of memories of the past and hope for the
future. Perhaps there are good memories
for you. of 1983, warm, nostalgic memories. Perhaps there are painful
memories for you, there are wounds that are still not healed from
the year that has gone by. And I'm sure for some of you
there are a mixture of both. But there are bright prospects
in the future too, a better thing, or maybe there is in your heart
a bit of anxiety, hoping that you do not experience further
pain as you have in the past. I've chosen a text in which Paul
looks in both directions, both backward and forward. We're not
going to attempt to put Acts 17, 26 to 28 in the context of
his sermon on Mars Hill. You can do that at other times.
That's most often done when we look at the text. We're going
to let these three sentences stand on their own feet this
morning and begin with Paul's glance backwards. If you're going
to be philosophic, then you should not be short-sighted in looking
backwards. It's possible to review 1983,
but why stop there? It's possible to think about
your personal trials and what God has done in the experience
of your family, but why not enlarge the scope of it and think in
broader terms than that? After all, what is the meaning
of 1983? in the perspective of your whole lifetime? And how
do your family experiences fit into the drama that's taking
place all over this globe on the face of the earth, with all
of humanity, with the billions of people that are alive today? If you are to understand the
past and gain direction for the future, you must not just keep
your mind upon yourself. Surely the man, the woman has
no wisdom who just sits in a closet and looks at himself or herself
and tries to speculate about the past and the future. You
will have a distorted sense of reality if all you think about
is yourself. And you are likely to go in the
wrong direction if you take your cue from only your personal experiences
of the year that's gone by. In the larger picture of human
history, there are two great facts which touch you and mold
you and explain you and mold and explain everyone who is here
this morning. Far more than those experiences
that seem to have such an impact upon you. Now I may not know
each one of you very well, but I can unreservedly declare that
two things that Paul was talking about from the past have a great
importance for you and explain your past and your future. The
first of them is, as you look at verse 26, that all of you
have a common origin. All of you have a common origin.
From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit
the whole earth. Some people are very strong about
hindsight. They seek into their roots. They
try to search out their ancestors and find out as far back as they
can who their great, great, great grandfather was. Some of us can't
go any further back than our grandfathers and we lose the
trail of our family. Regardless of how far you can
go back in searching your ancestors and those who were in your family,
I can tell you where to pick up the trail again when you lose
it. And each one of you will come back to the same place.
You will come back to Genesis, chapter 1 to 10. And each one
of you can take up the trail of your ancestry with Noah. For
all of you were born of Noah, without exception. And of course,
the ancestry from Adam to Noah is traced in Genesis 1 to 10. Interesting, isn't it? We talk
about family Bibles, and I guess people mean by that that they
keep a little genealogy in the covers of their Bible somewhere.
But this is a family Bible in a more intimate sense that your
relatives and their history are marked here. And that the most
profound things that have ever happened to humanity are recorded
in the Word of God in your family, your family tree. Verse 26 says,
from one man, actually There's a textual disagreement here.
Many of the old versions say, from one blood, he made every
nation of men to live on the face of the earth. And I rather
think that that's what Paul said, rather than the way the NIV has
chosen to translate the verse, because Paul was attacking the
Greek pride of his day. The ancient Greeks had a theory
that they were the superior race. Did you ever hear of that before?
It's funny how blue blood theories keep getting revived when anyone
has a special place of prosperity or privilege on the earth. The
Greeks had the theory that they were physically and philosophically
superior to all the other races on the earth. And Paul was saying,
wait a minute, we all came from one blood, we all came from Noah,
we all came from Adam. There was only one pair of ancestral
parents and we were all born of them. But God made them and
God made us and He made us a community with each other. So you are not
alone in your history. You are not unique in what has
happened to you. And you are not a product of
chance. You are not a product of an insignificant blip and
mindless surge of energy and material things. the accidental
meeting of amino acids in a swamp somewhere, you are more than
that, God created you, God made you, and He made all humanity
that lives on the face of the earth from one common blood. So you have a common origin,
and then you have a common dominion. For it mentions in verse 26 also,
He made from one man every nation of
men that they should inhabit the whole earth and he determined
the time set for them and the exact places where they should
live. God determined where nations would appear and where the various
nations would live and he set limitations for them. He set
the limitations of time, how long these nations would be in
existence or in power at least And He set the exact places where
they should live, all of the limitations that come upon humanity. Now you know that coming from
this, if He has set the limitations for the nations, He has set the
limitations for your family. He has set the limitations for
you as well. All that has occurred on earth
from the beginning is under God's direction and wise and loving
and gracious government. The hand of God is in the time
and the place where you were born and where you live. He set
the limitations. He set the boundaries of time
and place. Why weren't you born in Greece
during the days of Alexander before the gospel arrived in
Greece? When spiritual darkness filled
the land and all of the pride of their philosophy. Why was
your life not spent in a Germany that was dark with heathen superstition
and barbarism before Christianity penetrated the tribes of Europe?
Why were you not part of an Indian tribe in North America that never
met the occasional Viking explorer and never heard of the Savior
who came? Why this time in this place in
history? The answer is God determined
it and you didn't determine it. This is not just a philosophical
point of view, but this is an important fact. All of the history
of your race and your family and of your own life has been
directed and determined by God. Blessed is the man who looks
back and sees no chance and no luck in what has happened, but
sees that God has directed in what has occurred. As we sang
in the hymn and as the psalmist said in Psalm 31, 15, my times
are in your hands, O Lord. Do you believe that? That your
time, your circumstances, your limitations, whether they be
geographical, whether they be in your personality, whether
they be in the circumstances that surround your home, that
all of these things that have to do with your times are in
His hands. the great voyage of life through
this world. You may not see exactly where
the course is going. If you were told, you might not
be able to understand what the longitude and latitude of where
you were. You might not understand if you
were told. You might not be able to steer the ship in the proper
direction, but blessed is the one who knows the pilot. This year's experiences were
in the hands of God. Your experiences. Some of you
are filled with joy as God gave birth within your household of
new lives. Some of you were torn by death.
But these limitations, the beginning of life and the ending in death
are in God's hands. And they do not come always at
the times that we choose. Some of you receive promotions
at your work. And you were pleased with that.
Some of you lost jobs and suffered, and your families suffered. These
things are in the hands of God. Some of you had financial increase,
and some had financial disaster. And these things are in the hands
of God. Many had tearful days, and some
had joyful months. Some have had the heaviness of
spirit come over them this year, as never in their experience
before, through temptation and disappointment and even unbelief
in the heart. And some have emerged from the
clouds into the sunshine of the joy and communion with God and
near walking with Him. Our times are in the hands of
God. You need to know that to come
to terms with the life that you are living. You are God's creature,
He made you. And your past has been fully
directed at His command, and your future is under His direction
as well. And whether there is good or
ill in 1984 for you does not depend wholly on what you do,
but it depends upon what He has decided to do in your life. It's important that your heart
be still with contentment as you look back. and that you not
be irritable and filled with complaint and murmuring at the
year that is gone. But whatever your ethnic history,
whatever your background in family and personal experience, it is
the Lord who has done what he pleased. Whatever you remember
in looking back, if it is pleasant and good, you need to give him
thanks. If it is filled with horror and
grief, you need to submit, for it is the Lord who has done it.
But then there needs to be a glance ahead. If it is God who has made
us and God who has controlled all of the circumstances of our
times as to the place that we live, the associations that we
have, the opportunities that are presented to us, the good
things and the bad things that happen to us, we need to come
to a therefore. Therefore, looking at the past
in this way, we need to direct ourselves for the future. We
need to learn a light. Learn a lesson and shine a light
upon the future. And gain direction and guidance
for the year that lies ahead. If God made you and supervised
your history, then God is not far away from you. And that's
the lesson that Paul wants to bring to these people on Mars
Hill and that he wants to bring to you. In verse 27 it says, He is not
far from each one of us. In Him we live and move and have
our being. If His hand is in the storms
that have come into your life, then He is not far from you.
If His hand has brought the sun that shines into your life, then
He is not far from you. If His arm is determining whether
you are healthy or ill, whether you are growing stronger or growing
weaker in your body, then He is not very far from
you. The Lord is not far away. He is directing all that is occurring
to you socially, in your career. The Lord is at hand. That is
the implication of His having made you and directed all of
the circumstances of your life. Then God is not far away. In
Him you live and move and have your being. Think of that for
a moment. You have your being in God. Your existence is upheld by His
hand and power. He cradles you in the arm of
His infinite might. And that's how you stay in existence. Your very being is in Him. Each
time you move, In Him we live and move. Each time you move,
it is in God. It is from His strength. It is
by His sustaining you. It is under His power. Your breath
is personally administered as the gift of God. You see how
it says in verse 25, He Himself gives all men life and breath
and everything. He doesn't stand afar off. and
decree that somehow by impersonal forces breath will come to men,
he himself gives to you life and breath and all things. He is not an absentee landlord.
It is he that lights the fire that warms the earth. It is he
that turns the spigots that water the earth. It is he that moves
in the hearts of kings to make war or to remain at peace. It is He that gives you sleep
and wakes you to consciousness. In Him we live and move and have
our being. But our text goes beyond the
curious fact that God is everywhere and that daily in your home and
by your side the Lord is close. You notice in verse 27 the reasoning
of the apostles. God did this. He did what? He
made all of the nations of the earth from a common blood, from
a common ancestry, from Adam and Eve, through Noah, into everyone
who is alive today and populating the earth. He did this. And he
set the boundaries, and he governed all that has happened in your
history. He did this. Why? So that, you notice the
language, we are reaching a conclusion now. We're looking back at these
facts in order to learn an important lesson. God did this so that
men would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him,
though He is not far from each one of us, for in Him we live
and move and have our being. God created and governed the
nation that you live in, and He created you and He governed
your life, so that you would seek Him and reach out for Him.
That phrase, reach out for Him, is very interesting. It's the
kind of phrase you would use of a blind man who is trying
to find something, who is groping after it, he can't see it. He
doesn't exactly know, he doesn't have the guidance system that
you and I have with eyes to be able to see where to put our
feet and our hands in order to get hold of what we want, that
He is groping. Well, God has made you and governed your entire
life so that you would grope after Him. so that you would seek to lay
hold of Him, maybe not knowing where to find Him, maybe not
being religious enough to understand how to go about it in the proper
manner, not being well-trained like the priests and the ministers
and those who give themselves to the study of religion and
philosophy and the Bible, but grope after Him and reach for
Him and try to lay hold of God. Seek Him and grope for Him. Yes,
and find Him, the text says. so that men would seek Him and
perhaps grope after Him and find Him. The past cries out to you, God
has a great deal to do with you. With the whole of the human race,
with the events that are big and small, with your time, with
your limits, with you as you are, because He wanted you to
seek Him and grope for Him and find Him. When the past is favorable, you
need to see His hand in your past and say, the goodness of
God leads you to repentance, you ought to seek the Lord. And
when the past is harsh and difficult, you need to see that God is chastening
you for having forgotten Him, and you need to seek Him and
reach after Him. Do you see what the Apostle is
saying? Look at your past. Look at your
origin. Look at God's dominion over all
that has happened to you. And the reason for it all is
so that you will seek after Him. Though God has always been near
to us. Interesting, isn't it? God is very near. He is here.
Sometimes we come into worship services and we think that it
is very difficult to get close to God. But He is very close
to us. In Him we live and move and have
our being. He is not far away. Man was born in communion with
God, and man, when he sinned, ran far away in his heart. But
God still wasn't far away. You remember the scene in the
Garden of Eden, Adam hiding? It's humorous, isn't it? Like if you've ever played with
a little toddler who puts a pillow over his head and assumes you
can't see him, like the ostrich that hides its head in the ground
and assumes that the enemies can't see him because The ostrich
can't see the enemies in return. Well, sometimes toddlers do that.
They cover their heads with a pillow, and they think that they're hidden.
And so we say, well, where is so-and-so? And suddenly they
uncover their heads. Well, so Adam thought, I'm going
to hide from God. And he hid in the brush, as if
God couldn't see him all the while. He hid in the very presence
of God. God is not very far from us.
The Lord continued to surround sinful man every day of his life,
and to be in his very presence. And because man could not see
God, God sent prophets to announce that God was there with him.
The Jewish nation was put in the midst of the earth, and all
the world heard about the Jews crossing the Red Sea and destroying
the Egyptian army, and all the world heard about Solomon and
his wisdom. And then the Jews were scattered
among the heathen people so that they would hear more about God.
And then the apostles were sent with the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Why doesn't God end the strife and the misery and the
evil that's taking place on the earth? He doesn't because if
he were to do so now, he would have to cast multitudes into
hell. And he is patiently waiting.
Intending that men should seek him and grope after him and find
him and there's a multitude that will find him But he is not far
away Well, there's some things that we can learn from this nearness
of God How wicked is sin if it's done in the presence of God? Sometimes people talk about one
another and then they say Here He comes. It's not saying anymore. Any sin that we have committed
against God has been in His very presence. God is near. It's madness to
try to deceive God. It's madness to try to run from
God. He is here. In Him we live and move and have
our being. Our whole world is in God. But the hopeful side
of the text is really the emphasis. He is not far from any one of
us. And anyone who seeks God does
not have far to go. You don't have to find some way
to scale the heavens and bring God down. You don't have to plumb
the depths and bring God up. You don't have to travel to a
far distant place to find God. In Him you live and move and
have your being. He is personally near to you.
And therefore He is quick to perceive any attempt to search
for Him. It's interesting. When people
begin to show an interest in religion, ministers don't really
know if people are seeking for God or not, or whether they have
some ulterior motive in their heart. And as human beings, we
have to be very cautious with one another. We see a hopeful
sign in someone, but the whole drift of their life has been
in an opposite direction, and we say to ourselves, are they
up to something? Or is this sincere? We don't really know, do we?
We never know about one another. But with God, there's never a
doubt. If a heart begins to seek Him in sincerity, He knows that
it wants. That's why He says, you will seek Me and find Me
when you search for Me with all of your heart. When you're sincere,
you will find. He is not far away. If you trust
in His Son, other people may say, I'm not sure that that person
has really become a Christian. But God knows at once when a
person calls on the Lord Jesus Christ. And He immediately tells
the angels to begin the celebration. for the son that has returned,
for the daughter that has been wayward. When your prayers arise out of
a sincere heart, God isn't far away, He knows. There's no long road to being
a Christian, but seeking God and groping after Him with a
heart that desires to find Him in the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ. But He is here. Well, that can mean in your ears
that He's up front. No, He's there. He's where we
are. No exception. What is the meaning
of life? What is the great end of life?
What is the meaning of all that has happened to you? The sad
thing, the joyful thing, the good thing. When you compare
your life to what has happened in other ages, in other places
of the world, even today, what's the meaning of it all? What's
the purpose of it all? So that you would seek Him and
grope after Him and find Him. Have you done it? Have you sought
the Lord? Or was 1983 a year of looking
for other things and not seeking God with your heart? Have you
begun the search? Well, you say, I haven't found
time for that yet. There are other things I have to do first.
No, this is the first. This is the basic meaning of
your existence. To seek for God and to grope
after Him and to find Him. Don't let another year go by
without a search for Him. With the encouragement, He's
not far away, and He intended that you should do so. But many of you, of course, have
found the Lord, and you have groped after God. Sometimes when
you think about your early beginnings of prayer, and your early beginnings
of asking for the forgiveness of sins, and your attempt to
become a Christian, that's all you could call it, groping. going
about it in the wrong way, not using very sophisticated words,
but you have found Him. Determine that this year you
be aware that He is not far from every one of us. Determine this
year to attempt to read everything that happens to you with an eye
to God and what He has to do with it. Determined to see the
Lord in what happens in your family, at your job, in your
church. Cast out that cursed secularism
from your own heart that only looks at material causes and
effects. And practice a discernment of the Lord being near. And then
seek the Lord yourself, Christians. The seeking of God which the
Lord intended, that we should seek Him and grope after Him
and find Him, is not that we should do so with
one experience at the outset of our Christianity and then
return to His arms at the end of the lifetime when we enter
into His presence. But seek the Lord this year.
Don't let your devotions become a mere formality. As you read
the pages of scripture, reach out for Him, as our text says. Determine to find Him. If there
has been some hiding of God from your heart, make it a matter,
a central matter of your prayer that you may find Him again and
lay hold of Him in satisfying communion. And do not allow your
devotions to decline. Seek the Lord. His presence is
the cheerfulness of life. In good times and in bad times,
we ought to be able to say with David in the psalm, Yea, though
I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear
no evil if thou art with me. I'm willing to be by the pleasant
streams of water, or I'm willing to be in the shadow of death
if you are with me. If finances improve or collapse,
It really doesn't matter if the Lord is near to you. If health
improves or deteriorates, it really does not matter if the
Lord is with you. If you gain or lose civil freedom
and peace in our world, it really does not matter if the Lord goes
with you where you are. If you can hold tight to Jehovah
Shammah, that's Hebrew for the Lord is there. If you can discern
that the Lord is there, if you can lean upon the fact that the
Lord is there, if you can draw satisfaction from the Lord being
there, then whatever comes will be for
your profit. Some people are going to live
vibrantly this year. Some people are going to die
this year. Who is going to be the happiest?
The one with whom the Lord is consciously present. The one who is received from
God grace through his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. All that God is doing in history,
he is doing so that men will seek him and grope after him
and find him. Have you made that a central
purpose? Have you put some time into it? Have you disciplined
yourself and set some goals for finding the Lord? That's the
Lord's goal in what he's doing. Let's bow together in prayer. Lord our God, we are amazed at
what you do reveal in scripture about your purposes for the human
race. For surely you are a spiritual
being so far exalted above humanity. But it is a bit incredible to
us that you should stoop to give such attention to our times and
our boundaries. But, O Lord, you've revealed
that it is so, and that you desire men to seek you and to find you. We pray that each one here will
seek with all of his heart and find. In Jesus' holy name, amen.
God's Control of Our Lives
| Sermon ID | 101504122736 |
| Duration | 33:00 |
| Date | |
| Category | Special Meeting |
| Bible Text | Acts 17:25-28 |
| Language | English |
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