Acts. Acts chapter seventeen. Acts chapter seventeen. And verse twenty-three. For as I passed by and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with the inscription to the unknown God, whom therefore ye ignorantly worshiped, him declare I unto you. Thus to another verse, although not in Acts, but over in First Thessalonians five, and verse thirteen. But I would not have you to be ignorant. I want you to underline that word. I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that be sorrow not even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even also... even them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. Now also another text over in First Corinthians twelve and verse one. Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant. That's all we'll read tonight. We may not get any further than that. But we're taking up the word ignorance or a number of texts that have that word in a number of things in which so many are ignorant. Although all of them are not found in the Acts of the Apostles, I thought when I was reading several in the Acts of other texts, but they apply to the children of Israel and the churches at the same time or period of the Acts. And so what he's referring to in Thessalonians the ignorance there concerning those who are asleep, more or less gives us a number of things of which God's people back in those days were ignorant. Not that they were stupid. No, they were not stupid. But they were unenlightened. They were uninformed. And so you have these people, and they were ignorant relative to a lot of things. Last week, I think, or was it the week before, we were speaking on the ignorance of Scripture that you have in Acts three, seventeen and eighteen. They're ignorance of the Word of God. He says, I know that through ignorance he did it. Peter is speaking to the elders of Israel at that time, and he says, I know that through ignorance he did it. That is, they condemned and demanded the death of Christ in the life of all the Scriptures. that they knew and knew it well, yet they clamored for the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he tries to soften his message by saying, Brethren, I know that it's through ignorance you didn't. You knew you were doing wrong, but you didn't know all the wrong that you were doing. As Christ said concerning the thief, when he was on the cross, And he also addressed those who were around the cross, that had nailed them there. He says, Father, forgive them. They know not what they do. And there's an awful lot of ignorance today among God's people, not that they're stupid, but there are a lot of truths that they're ignorant of, and yet God is going to hold them responsible because they do not have to be ignorant. God has given them the source of all light and information in His word. Last we were speaking on the sin of ignorance. Over in the Old Testament, God said they had to bring a sacrifice for the sin of ignorance. He didn't say innocence, but the sin of ignorance. Simply meaning this, there are sins in connection with Man, that the man doesn't see or recognize. There are sins in our fallen nature that we don't apprehend. For in that case if we apprehended all that is wrong with us and the sin of which we were guilty, we would have the same knowledge of God. But God sees things, He appraises things that we do not because of our limited intelligence. And so says, God, I want a sacrifice that will take care of sin as I see it. As I see it. And he demanded a sacrifice for the sin of ignorance. A lot of people today would like to hide behind that. Well, I was just ignorant. Well, friend, in Paul's case, he said, God had mercy on me because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. and to the children of Israel. Jesus, I know that through. Ignorance, you did it. All those were a measure of ignorance. Nevertheless, they were guilty of enough to condemn them, had they continued. Because they knew the Scripture. They knew that Christ was to come. They knew that he proved that he was the Messiah. By his life and his miracles, he presented his credentials. Yet in the light of all this, they clamored for his blood. On Thursday night I was in a bladder and I saw something that I never saw before in my life. I don't suppose I'll see the equal again. That was a religious or Christian opera. A lead man, Wad Jerome Pines. And he played the role of Jesus Christ. He himself was aware of the tremendous task. Who could rightly portray Jesus Christ? And he realized the tremendous task that was his. And his right-hand man said afterwards, and talked to some of the Christians, He said, Jerome Hines, before that last scene, he trembled. He said, I feel as though I must pray. I've got to have help from God. But I don't know if I ever saw a person that would depict the Lord Jesus, even in his speeches. Now, no one knows exactly what the Lord Jesus looked like. There have been a lot of artists who have drawn pictures. But I believe that Jerome Hines would come the nearest to looking like what I think Christ looked like. And as he was there and portrayed some of those scenes in the life of Christ, and you saw the rebellion of the priests against this, I began thinking, nineteen hundred years ago, what we're seeing tonight in Acts. There was a real man here, possibly in the area of two hundred pounds, maybe six foot tall. And he proved by his miracle, and what he said, that he was the Son of God. Jerome Hines, of course, couldn't perform any miracles. But Jesus Christ did. Jerome Hines wasn't the product of prophetic truth. Jesus Christ was. And I began thinking, nineteen hundred years ago, men and women could look upon Jesus Christ and say this, that's God. That's God. That's the creator of the universe. And as one's mind can grasp the vastness of space, how can our little minds grasp the vastness of the called this entire universe into existence. My little mind began to whirr, as I thought of a man threading the sea, nineteen hundred years ago, that people could see and handle, as John said, we have seen him our hands have handled of the word of life, God manifest in the flesh. I can see a little why his own family did not believe them. Not that they wanted to be unbelievers in God, but it was too vast a truth that one of their own family was God. Well, that's a staggering thing, to think that God was here in the flesh. When you think of the immensity of God, the power of God, the wisdom of God, and to think that God was concentrated in, a man of about two hundred pounds and about six feet high, God manifest in the flesh. And when I thought of these things, I understood a little why it says his brethren did not believe him. And these high priests These Jewish leaders, with all their knowledge, they couldn't believe it. They just couldn't believe it. To think that this is God, this is the Creator of the universe. I believe that's why the Bible allows for a little ignorance on their part. Something that they couldn't grasp. And I want to say this. You can't grasp this truth. By your intellect, can man by searching find out God knows? It's only known by revelation. It's got to be revealed to you that this is the Christ, the Son of the living God. That's why men of great intelligence and intellect and seem to grasp that this was the Son of the living God. This was God manifest in the flesh. This is the creator of the universe. And they try their best to explain away that he was God by tampering with his virgin birth, on belittling the miracles that he did. For if they were to accept these things as fact, they'd become believers. But you can only become a believer as Christ is revealed to your heart. as the eternal Son of the living God. Bless and blood have not revealed this unto thee, Peter, but my Father which is in heaven. For Christ had asked his disciples, Whom do men say that I am? Jesus says, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Blessed art thou, Son, Bartona, flesh and blood, human wisdom and education and learning hath not revealed unto me, but my Father, which is in heaven. And so, you see, the ignorance of the people of that day, and even the Apostle, said, God had mercy on me, for I did it ignorantly, in unbelief. He was so sure as a Jew an enlightened, educated, zealous Jew, that he was right without nothing of apprehending men and women, having them put to death. But God stopped them, Christ revealed himself to the Apostle under Damascus Road. And so brilliant was that light that undeadily his eyes were affected. like there was a thorn he had in his flesh for the rest of his days. There's a staggering truth for even those of us who were saved to take in the fact that God was here in a human body. Someone asked me today if I believed that in eternity in our new bodies we'd see God? No. Only in Jesus Christ will you see God. God says no man can see my face and live, and only as God was veiled in flesh and blood could man see him and hand him. He removed a little of that veil when he said, Who seeked him? when they came to apprehend it, on just a little glimmer of the parting of the veil of his humanity, they went backwards and fell to the ground. And in that coming day, Jesus Christ will be all sufficient one, and the triune God dwells in him bodily. I can grasp it, but I believe it with all my heart. One of the mysteries that will understand in that coming glorious day. And so in that day they were ignorant in a measure of the Scriptures. I know, he said, that through ignorance. He did it. For instance, back in the prayer and for I, we were talking about people singing hymns, and yet now believe in us, morning possibly we had fifty or sixty unsaved people here they all sang just as I am without one plea but that thy blood was shed for me but that thou bid'st me come to thee O Lamb of God I come Christians who sing hymns I've given up all for Jesus this vain world means not to me do they Meaneth? They're really saying in a measure of faith. They're going through the form. They're uttering words that they really don't believe. If they did, they'd be changed. If a sinner really meant those words, O Lamb of God, I come, he'd come. Now I'll tell you there are those say they have given up all for Jesus, and that Christ is everything to them, and they'll spend Easter on the beach with a bikini instead of a bonnet in church listening to the gospel. Is that not true? Oh yes, how ignorant we seem to be of our showerness, how eager we see to be, of our lack of devotion to Jesus Christ, and how eager we are of what it means to really be out and out for Jesus Christ, and the price that to be paid to follow him holy. We say and sing a lot of things, and don't realize what we're saying. I mentioned back there that when we sing that sing, take tithe. Let him take tithe to be holy. Lord, make me and break me. I don't sing them unless I feel I can do it with the help of God. For one of these days you're going to sing at him like that, and God will do just what he said. He has taken you at your word. I think I told you in time, the man that led Billy Graham to the Lord, Lord Akiaham, I knew him well, had meals with him in the hotel in Winston-Salem, and I didn't know till recently that eleven other creatures were saved in the same campaign that Billy Graham was saved in in Charlotte. That was just before he came. through Winston Salem. And so the connection with Mr. Hamm, what was I going to say? I got on the sidetrack, then I detoured. Well, anyway, Mr. Hamm, he preached Christ, and you couldn't deny the fact that he did. He preached the Lord Jesus. He declared the truth of God. He laid it on the line. In fact, There was one church in town that he scorched. He blistered. He said they were all so far on the way to hell, there was no return. And he called names. There were eleven hundred signed cards in that campaign, and after the meeting was over, they were distributed. We got five. And do you know where the majority of cards went? To the church that he blistered so much. That was the church of their preference. They weren't taking in what Mordea here I am, was saying. They didn't believe. Well, that man was laying on the light. Oh, how today people, they seem to sing. and savings that they do not really mean in a measure of ignorance. Then again, last week we were speaking on ignorance of God's selecting grace in the choosing of His servant, of servants. He says these are unlearned or the Pharisees. These are unlearned and ignorant men. Here is God's selecting grace. in choosing fishermen, not choosing men of great knowledge and intelligence, the heads of universities and so on. No, he chose a bunch of fishermen about as ignorant a class of men as you could find. And how man doesn't seem to grasp or understand God's selection of such men to represent him here upon the earth. But he does. There's God's selecting grace. Now today or tonight we come to the text that we read in reference to worship. Whom ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you. The Apostle Paul went into Athens when he saw this inscription. to the unknown God. And he says, whom ye ignorantly worship, I declare unto you. Are there a lot of people worshiping God ignorantly today? Yes, many of them. For instance, let's take the Mormons with all their talent. They've got one of the most beautiful choirs in the world. that marvelous organ, and they've had many converts to their faith. And I say this, if they believe in Mormonism, with all their heart as their hope for salvation, they're worshiping an unknown God. No born-again Christian can believe in Mormonism and truly worship the Lord. He can do it. You take the Christian science. A Christian science, if he believes in Christian science as the way to heaven, he can worship God. He's worshiping an unknown God. No question about that, and yet the Christian science wouldn't say, come and worship with us. But also the Mormons would say, come and worship us. Jehovah's Witnesses, with all their zeal, will tell you and ask you, come and worship with us. And yet if they believe in Jehovah's Witness doctrine, the doctrine of Russellism and also Rutherfordism, if they believe in that as the way to heaven, they're worshiping an unknown God, there's no question about it. they'll ask you to come and worship with them. And, of course, you see it in their advertisements. They invite you to come and worship with us. Well, I'll say this, if a person doesn't believe in the blood of Christ and all hymns referring to blood is deleted from their hymns, they are worshiping an unknown God. There is no worship of God for coming into his presence without the precious blood of Christ. Hebrews ten makes that very clear. Any denomination or church that doesn't believe in the efficacy of the blood of Christ cannot worship God they're worshiping an unknown though. And I'm going to go further. There are also some evangelical churches And their hymns, their sermon, may present the gospel clearly, faithfully. But when it comes to worship, they call that their worship meeting. That's not a worship meeting. In a sense, they're worshiping service. They are not worshiping God in the manner that the Bible presents worship. The Bible presents very plainly a meeting where there are emblems, the bread and the wine. But there they are. But also that all who are present at that meeting are believing priests, and the Spirit is free to use any brother he sees fit. with a clean light and clear in his doctrine, to lead the saints into God's presence. A meeting that is unplanned, absolutely unprogrammed. And you meet, and the meeting is turned over to the Lord for the Spirit of God to lead, whomsoever he pleads, in worship. And then eventually the taking of the bread and the wine. That is a worshiping. They are worshiping a God that they know, and they are carrying out his word, and as we'll see maybe before we get through, how the Lord Jesus went into detail when he sent his disciples into a city to prepare for the Passover. At the end of the Passover, he introduced instituted the Lord's Son. He told them to go into a city. That's number one. You shall find a man. That's number two. He'll be bearing a pitcher of water. That's number three. Follow him. That's four. He will show you a large upper roof. I'm going to be furnished. There may rest. the Lord went into detail to tell them where to go to set up the meeting for worship. So important is it that the Lord Jesus went into such detail. And friend, God's word makes it very clear. God goes into detail to tell us what a worship meeting is. And I think I will very clear on that. Oh, how much today is just ignorant worship. They don't really know what ignorant is, ignorant or what worship is. Today you hear and also see in their advertisements, what are they preaching of? The preacher preaches on ecology, and they say this is a worship meeting. worship with us. Others, and they say, well, the subject this morning is civil rights. Can you worship there? Another, his sermon is pollution. Well, if he used that word right, he could accomplish something. But he's talking about the pollution of the atmosphere, the pollution of the water, the pollution of the land, That's what he's talking about. How in the world could you worship God after a sermon like that? And others, it's ecumenicalism. That's his sermon. And they say, this is worship. Others, they may present the gospel. And sinners get saved. But that's not a worship meeting. Others can present ministry. Not it may be good ministry. But that's not a worship meeting. Years ago, when I was in North Carolina, I happened to be in Chapel Hill for a while, and I stopped far from Durham. I don't know whether any of you are old enough to recall an outstanding football player who played for North Carolina at that time. I wasn't much interested in there. I've seen a football game. His name was Choo Choo Duff Justice. Came from Asheville. He played for North Carolina. And his name was Choo Choo Justice. And he was undoubtedly an outstanding football player. I passed by the first church in the Rock and say which first church. But I passed by one of the first churches in Chapel Hill. And what do you think was on the billboard? Come and worship with us. Subject Choo Choo Justice. some subject for worship, wouldn't it? He's going to preach about this man. Possibly he used some parallel how Juju justice went on for his game, and we should be all out for Christ. He may be spoken of as discipline of himself to be a football player, and the need for Christians to discipline himself. I presume that's the line he But I can imagine worshiping the Lord listening to true, true justice, and yet this is a worship meeting. It's anything but a worship meeting. Jesus says, whom ye ignorantly worship, declare I unto you. God's people today need to learn the truth of worship. and home where I was visiting today, I had dinner, or lunch rather, and I was a boy when I came south. Dinner was all the middle of the day, but they changed it up the evening, you know, and the noon day just to lunch. Well, anyway, when I was there today, we were speaking about things along this line. We're speaking on tonight, and I forget now what it was that came into my mind that made me think about this, in reference to worship. I've got it right now, what I was going to say. I get on these detours and forget what I was going to say. But anyway, worship, true worship, is the occupation of the Lord Jesus throughout the vision of Christ with my whole heart. I'm here to worship. and worship the Lord Jesus, and to be occupied only with him. And as I'm engaged in meditation upon the Lord Jesus Christ, that savor, that fragrance of the perfect Son of Man up into God's nostrils, that's what God wants. He doesn't want to hear about ecology. He knows all about that. He doesn't want to hear about pollution. He knows all about that. He doesn't want to hear about these other subjects. He wants to hear his son exalted and presented in all of his loveliness and glory. That's what God wants. And if we're doing anything else, we've missed the mark on worship. Whom ye ignorantly worship declare I unto you. I trust this will help us and enable us to see in the light of Scripture just what worship. True worship really is. Now the next Scripture we read was in connection with the stateless sleeping saints. You'll notice all these verses begin with the S. We dug these out when I was on my the Cason so-called down in Florida a couple of weeks ago, and these truths in these verses are passages, beginning with S, each word that summarizes what's in that text. And this is the fifth one. He says in First Thessalonians five and thirteen, But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with them. There are seven things in that little passage. The Lord will descend from heaven. And there is going to be a shout with a shout, the rallying call. Then the third thing, the voice of the archangel. The archangel is always associated with the resurrection, and the trump of God. There's the fourth thing, that dead in Christ shall rise first, and then we which are alive and our remains shall be caught up. There's the sixth thing. And we'll be together with the Lord, all together with the Lord. That's the seventh thing. The Thessalonians' Christians were disturbed because of the fearful persecution back in their day, and they couldn't understand why they should be so persecuted. And they seemed to get the idea that the Great Tribulation had come the time of Jacob's struggle, and the Apostle is trying to put them at rest. They wondered, well, if this is the Great Tribulation. What about our loved ones who fall asleep? The Apostle Paul is setting their minds and hearts at rest while they've gone to be with Christ. And we, when Christ comes, will be caught up together with them to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we forever be with the Lord. He says, don't be ignorant about this truth, brethren. You know there are some people very intelligent and they're ignorant of this they think we're going through the tribulation and you can know a lot about it and yet be ignorant of this truth that the church is not going through the tribulation all you have to do is look at the structure of the book of Revelation after chapter three and chapters two and three you have the church After that, there's no reference to the church. The word Father that's used a number of times in chapters two and three, where you have the seven churches of Asia, is never used again in the Revelation, except by the Lord Jesus in one case only when he says, His Father's name was written in their forehead. And so it's very clear that the church is not going to go through that great tribulation period. and a person who says that the church is going through, whether he likes it or not, he's ignorant. Paul said, I don't want you to be ignorant on this point. I want you to be enlightened. I want you to be informed that Christ is coming first and he's going to catch away his sins to be forever with himself. Now the next text we read, is in connection with spiritual gifts. In First Corinthians twelve one, now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant. I wouldn't have you ignorant. They must have been quite ignorant back in those days about spiritual gifts. But he says, I wouldn't have you ignorant about these spiritual gifts. Who gives these spiritual gifts? You'll not get them. I'll tell you this. You'll not get them at a college. A college is not the source of these gifts. The dean is not the source of a spiritual gift. And also a bishop. A bishop is not the source. Of spiritual gifts, the bishops in some denominations laid their hands upon a candidate for the ministry, and it's supposed to impart to them some power, some gift. No, the bishop is not the source of spiritual power or spiritual gift. Neither are elders in an assembly. Who is the source of spiritual gift? The Lord Jesus Christ is the source, and no one else. Christ is the one who led captivity, captive, and gave gifts unto them. Now a college may give you a pastorate, but cannot give you the power. A college may give you a pastorate, but that doesn't mean that college has given you a spiritual gift. only one place you'd get a spiritual gift, and that is from a risen Christ. And the Christ may give you a pastor, and it'll not likely be your preaching that will hold that congregation together, it'll be the label you bear, for you drop the liberal and you lose your pastors. You lose your congregation. Is that right? Or is that not? A young fellow came to this town only a month or two ago to start a new church. I read in the paper I've done. He's a save boy. Well, I'll tell you, he dropped that label he's got. He's invited as hard as I've had it for seventeen years or maybe a little harder. But if he hangs on to that label, he'll let me get quite a few. They'll come because of the label. Instead, of a man that God has called to preach His Word. And the place to get divine gift and divine power to use that gift is in the Lord Jesus Christ himself. He tells you in verse seven of verse Corinthians twelve, but unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Wherefore he said, when he ascended up on a high, he left captivity captive and gave gifts unto men. There you have the general gifts. But then over in Ephesians five you have the special gifts in Ephesians five and eleven. And he gave some apostles, some prophets, and some evangelists, and some pastors, and some teachers. Here are the special gifts. What's the objective of all these gifts? Verse twelve, for the perfecting of the saints, and there are six things here, for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, you've got three things there, till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, that's maturity, unto the measure of the statue of the fullness of Christ, Now this is the object of these God-given gifts, these six things. This is what these gifts will produce, and it will produce maturity in believers. I know some Christians who can't doubt the fact they have trusted Christ. They've touched the hem of his God, and they've been saved thirty and forty years. and they're ignorant of many, many things in the Scripture. Many things. All they know about is I'm saved, I'm going to help. Why is it? I think the lack is, the fault is, they're not listening to God-given gifts and power to use that gift. Now, that's in your Bible. That's not my interpretation is right in the book. Spirit-given gifts will produce the things that you have here. Very significant that the word there perfecting of the saints is used elsewhere in a different light. Over in Matthew four and twenty-one, you find James and John mending their nets. And that's the same word in the original, has the same meaning as perfecting, perfecting, or mending the nets. You know, there's a lot of mending to be done among God's people, mending the nets. There are holes in the nets. There are Christians who have big holes in their nets. Their lives have blanks in them, and a lot of fish are going right through that hole. Your testimony is gone, and your life is not Christ-like. You're not catching any fish. And if you testify to anyone, then point to that big hole in your neck. And the sinner can come in and go out of your presence and not be affected. You're not catching any fish. The perfecting of the saints, the mending of the net, Then again you have also the word restore, the same in the original as that word perfecting of the saints. You have that in Galatians six, one. If any be overtaken, if any man be overtaken and have thought, ye which are spiritual, restore such a one. And that word restores the medical term, reset such one, as if a bone were broken. He says, Ye which are spiritual, you restore such a one. And that was, considering thyself, lest thou also be taken with the same fault. What are you trying to get across? In other words, if you're trying to restore a brother who has committed a sin, he's out of fellowship with God, And he's a cripple, as far as his testimony is concerned. And discipline is required. He says, Ye which are strict, you restore such a one. Recept that broken bone, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. In other words, a surgeon, when he's trying to set a bone, a fracture, he should keep this in mind. my body or my bone, my arm or leg might be the next that will get broken and need resetting. And I'm going to deal with this patient and reset his broken bone with the tenderness and the sympathy and understanding. That's what I would like if my bone were broken. He says, when you try to restore another brother, you consider yourself because you may be next in line for restoration. And you deal with that brother the way you'd like those brethren to deal with you. And that's all in the perfecting of the saints. Also, that word perfecting is used in First Corinthians one, ten, perfectly joined together. Perfectly joined together. Here you have the product or the fruit of a God-given gift used in the power of the Holy Spirit. The Bible says a man's gift maketh room for him and bringeth him before great men. You don't have to make room for your gift. If you've got a gift from God, that gift will make room for you. I've known that ever since I've been saved. I've known men. They didn't write for meetings. They were invited. They were in demand. Because they had a gift. And God's people recognized them. And they wanted to hear his ministry. A man's gift makes room for them. A man's gift goes before them. And bringeth them before great men. the discernment of matured men. I wouldn't listen to my family as an appraisal or a proper appraisal of my ability as a preacher because it would be prejudiced. And I can say this honestly before God. I never heard my mother or father or three sisters and one brother say once in my presence that I could preach. Or even that I was a good preacher. I don't remember hearing one of them say that. If they went to my mother and started telling my mother about her son, she'd say, well, we just thank God. That's God using us. We just thank God. They were very close months when it came to passing on praise. And they just thanked God. Mother didn't want anything to hinder me from doing the Lord's will. When the elders of the Assembly, men of mature judgment, approach me about going into full-time service. Men who were matured, Mr. Taylor, are gifted by the teacher. Mr. Bridgman. A godly old man with white hair and he knew the book backwards and forwards. These were men who appraised what I had and commended me to the Lord's work. Matured men with mature judgment. But the greatest appraisal of a man's gift is God's endorsement. He's going to see results. And he said, the Apostle Paul said, concerning his gift, to the acquaintance, he says, you are my seal of apostleship. If you want to have the seal, the proper seal, put upon my labors, it's you. And it's like Ernie Tatham said in the last edition of the letters of interest, he said, a carpenter's seal is the furniture he makes. He says that the musician's seal,