THE GREAT ETERNAL GOD

As I begin this morning’s sermon, I want to share with you a few letters from Bill Adler’s book entitled Dear Pastor. These actual letters were written by various children from across America to their pastors about God. Listen. I think you will enjoy them. 

Dear Pastor, I know that God loves everybody but He never met my sister.

Yours sincerely,  Arnold   Age 8

Dear Pastor, Who does God pray to?  Is there a God for God?

Sincerely,  Christopher   Age 9

 Dear Pastor, When is God’s birthday?  I would like to send Him a present.

Love, Arlene   Age 8

 Dear Pastor, My father says God can do miracles. If I pass my history exam that will be a miracle.

Sincerely yours, Thomas  Age 11

 Dear Pastor, I would like to write a letter to God. Could you please tell me His Zip Code?

Edgar   Age 8

Obviously, the children did not have the Lord completely figured out. Do you? 

 To be honest, much mystery still surrounds our great and awesome Lord.  Well, this morning I want to try to sweep away some of the mystery. It is my hope that the message helps each of us in our understanding of God.

 Today we will explore the fact that He is eternal

 Can you comprehend eternity?

Maybe this little illustration will help. What is a GOOGOL? Can anyone tell me? A GOOGOL is a number -- a very large number. 

·        A thousand is a 1 followed by three zeroes.

·        A million is a 1 followed by six zeroes.

·        A billion is a 1 followed by nine zeroes.

·        A trillion is a 1 followed by twelve zeroes.

·        Well a GOOGOL is a 1 followed by hundred zeroes. Such a number is inconceivably large.  

 A googol is nothing though compared to a GOOGOLPLEX. A googolplex is a GOOGOL raised to it’s GOOGOLTH power. It is so large that if it were written out on paper, there would not be enough space on our planet to contain the pages required to fill in the zeroes. In fact, the pages would more than fill our galaxy!

 Now, continuing along this vein, how long would it take you print out that many zeroes? Let’s see. Please get a pencil and a piece of paper. Now I want you to write out – one at a time, individually -- as many zeroes that it would take to fill our Milky Way.

What? You say it can’t be done? You are right. And yet, the time that it would take to accomplish this task would be but a drop in the bucket compared to the scope of eternity.

 The reason that it is so hard for us to comprehend eternity is due to the fact that we are such creatures of time. Marilyn and I counted our clocks and watches yesterday. Would you believe, we have at least 27 of them? We hate Daylight Savings Time. Any time savings that we might have gained is lost in setting all of our clocks and watches. Just kidding.

 Now before you judge us as being strange, how many clocks and watches do you own? Don’t forget to count:

·        The alarm clock beside your bed;

·        The clock on the VCR;

·        The clock on the computer;

·        The clock on the kitchen stove;

·        Any heirloom watches that have been passed down from mom or dad;

·        The watch on your wrist;

·        Wall clocks;

·        The travel alarm clock;

·        The clocks for the car or cars;

·        Clocks that you may have taken to your school or workplace….

Now, how many do you think you have? I dare say that there are people here that have well in excess of  fifty.

 Then look at your calendars. Once more, a person can have a good number of them. Marking time is big business.

 Really, this should not surprise us. We move in time.  We are creatures of the past, the present, and the future. 

 Not so with God. He is eternal.  

One of my favorite God words is the word “before”. Psalm 90:1-2 testifies, “Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations. Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.”

 Before is such a good word to describe the Lord. 

·        He was before all generations;

·        Before the sun, moon, and stars,

·        Before the earth;

·        Before an angel ever drew breath;

Before, always before!

 Time is often represented by a straight line drawn on a page.  We humans call this a “time line.”  For instance:

  X X X        X                X X          X                               

·        Somewhere on the line the world was created,

·        In 2900 BC the great Pyramid of Cheops was built,

·        Around 50 BC Julius Caesar ruled the Roman Empire,

·        In 4 BC Jesus Christ was born,

·        In the thirteenth century Marco Polo visited China,

·        In 1776 America declared her independence from England,

·        In 1940 the first McDonalds was opened in Pasadena, California. In 1954 McDonalds installed infrared heat lamps to keep their French fries warm,

·        Here we are, at the breaking of the twenty-first century,

·        And somewhere in the future Jesus is going to return to earth again to reign and rule for a thousand years. 

These are all events of time.  Each of these events, regardless of how far apart they are, can be placed on the time line. The eternally of God though, cannot be pictured as being just another X on the page. Rather, He is before the line begins and He is after the line is finished and every place else on the paper as well! He is, simply put, an X that fills the complete page!

 Listen to these verses:

·        1 Corinthians 2:7 states in part, “that God destined for our glory before time began.”

·        Ephesians 1:4 adds, “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world...” 

·        Isaiah 43:13 (NAS) promises, “Before the day was, I am He...”

·        John 8:58 declares, “I tell you the truth, before Abraham was born, I am!”

 Let me take this thought a little farther. Do you realize that TIME and SPACE are among the “all things” which were made or created by God? In other words, there was a time when there was no time, but there was God. There was a place when there was no space, and yet God was there!

 One translation has John 1:1, “In the very beginning of all created things, He already was....”

Not only was He before, He will also be after

After what, pastor? You name it.

Can anyone tell me what these individuals have in common?

·        Zaro Agha

·        Thomas Parr

·        Mohammed Abdul Haws

·        Gabriel Sanchez

·        and Mitchell Watkins.

Each one of them lived over 134 years. One of them farmed for the last 120 years of his life. In fact, Zaro Agha became a father for the last time at the age of 90 and lived on to see that child’s 74th birthday!

 I remember having to preach two funerals back to back several years ago. One was for a lady who was 100 years old while the other one was for a lady who had turned 107!  (The one that was 100 had only three people show up for the service. Me, the funeral director and the deceased. She simply had outlived everyone else that had known her) Yet, as old as these two ladies were, they did eventually die! Each one had a birthday and a death-day.

 Again, this is not the case with our God. 

·        Psalm 90:4 adds: “For a thousand years in your sight are like a day…  or like a watch in the night.”

·        Psalm 102:27 also notes,  “But you remain the same, and your years will never end.”

·        Isaiah 57:15 notes that the Lord “is the high and lofty One who lives for ever....”

·        Hebrews 1:8,10-12 thus declares, “But about the Son he says, ‘Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever, and righteousness will be the scepter of your kingdom.’ 10 He also says, ‘In the beginning, O Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands.  They will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment.  You will roll them up like a robe; like a garment they will be changed. But you remain the same, and your years will never end.’”

 One more. Okay? Deuteronomy 32:40 promises, “I lift my hand to heaven and declare...I live forever....” I looked up the word “forever” as used here. The word means: “for ever, ever, everlasting, evermore, perpetual, always, continuous existence, perpetual, indefinite or unending future.” Do you get the message?

 Then too, the verse speaks of His lifting His “hand to heaven”. What do you think He was saying? I will tell you. As a witness today lifts their hand to swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so it is that God is lifting His hand in like fashion to declare the truthfulness of this amazing statement. To lift one’s hand to heaven was an ancient and very significant sign used in swearing or declaring truth.

 The Lord was staking His very reputation on the truthfulness of His Words.

 I admit this is an old illustration. However I like it and I think it fits here. A number of years ago, some so-called wise guys got into a debate on whether or not God was dead. In response, a black Baptist pastor in Los Angeles, S. M. Lockridge, declared: 

“When I first heard that dumb statement that God is dead, it made me want to ask  some stupid and senseless questions such as: 

1.  Who assassinated God?

2.  What coroner was called?

3.  Who was authorized to sign the death certificate?

4.  Who was so well acquainted with the deceased that he could identify the remains?

5.  In what obituary column did you find His name listed?

6.  And why was I not notified?  I'm a member of the family!

 You see, God is ALIVE!!!

·        He does not die by assassination.

·        He does not die by rejection.

·        He does not die by denial.

·        He does not die by old age.

·        He does not die by cancer.

SIMPLY, HE DOES NOT DIE!!!”

 The poet wrote:

“The stars shine over the earth,

The stars shine over the sea;

The stars look up to a mighty God,

The stars look down on me.

The stars have lived a million years,

A million years and a day,

But God and I shall love and live

When the stars have passed away.”

In GENESIS God is IN the beginning, but in REVELATION He IS the beginning and the end--the Alpha and the Omega--the first and the last.  

There is an eternity behind us and an eternity in front of us, and the God we serve plans one foot in eternity past and the other foot in eternity future and in His greatness He fills both eternities!  He is the God of the before and the God of the after!

 Does the fact that god lives forever have relevance for you and me?  I believe it does. Let me tell you why. 

1.         HIS PLANS AND PURPOSES ARE NEVER FRUSTRATED.

Men make plans, begin projects, take up great causes and the like, and oftentimes death takes them before their work is finished.

 As you may know, I once pastored in beautiful Rapid City,

South Dakota. Outside of Rapid is that great Shire of

Democracy, Mount Rushmore.

Believe me when I say, I have been there many many

times. To be honest, I love the place; I am fascinated

by it.

Do you realize though that Gutzon Borglum, the fellow

who craved the mountain, didn’t live long enough to

finish the project? In fact, the South Dakota Vacation

Guide has an article entitled, “Unfinished. Borglum’s

Vision of Mount Rushmore Remains Incomplete.” His

original plans called for the figures of the four presidents

to be craved in detail to the waist. He also planned on an in-mountain inscription, a hall of records and much more. Nonetheless, death took him on March 6, 1941. Obviously, his vision was never fully realized. He didn’t live long enough!

Another monument is being craved on Thunderhead

Mountain near Custer, South Dakota also in the Black Hills.

This craving is of the Native American Chief Crazy Horse.

When finished, the statue will be 563 ft high and 641 ft long,

carved in the round out of the mountainside. You could put

the full four faces on Mt. Rushmore in the opening under the

chief’s arm. Eventually, it will be the largest statue in the world.

Work on the memorial was begun in 1948 by the American

sculptor Korczak. Korczak died though in 1982. The project is

now being carried on by his wife and other members of the family. It is expected to be finished sometime in the middle of this century.

Both of these men were larger than life type of figures.  Maybe this is why their works were so gigantic. Nonetheless, both men died before they could complete their dreams.

·        Franklin Roosevelt died before the Second World War ended.

·        Walt Disney died before his famous park system was complete.

·        Charles Schulz died before Charlie Brown could ever marry Lucy.

This would never happen with God. He ever lives to bring His plans and purposes to pass. 

Paul wrote in Philippians 1:6, “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus....”

Psalm 33:11 adds, “The plans of the LORD stand firm for ever, the purposes of his heart through all generations.”

Psalm 111:5 adds:  “He remembers his covenant for ever.”

 Isaiah 25:1 promises, “O LORD, you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done marvelous things, things planned long ago.”

Perfect faithfulness speaks of a “faithful reliability;” a steadfastness. In fact, Young’s Literal Translation actually uses the name “O steadfast One” here as it refers to our Lord.

 Let’s look briefly at one example of God’s great faithfulness to His Word and purposes. Remember with me the great flood of Noah’s day. After the flood was over and the waters receded, God came to Noah and made a covenant with the brother. In short He promised that a world-wide flood would never happen again – ever. Not in one-hundred years, not in one-thousand years, not in five thousand years. EVER!

 Listen to Genesis 9:11-16, “I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.’ And God said, ‘This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.’”

Can we talk? Sometimes we have a hard time remembering our word as well as keeping it from day to day, week to week, month to month, or year to year. Circumstances change. Things happen that we have no control over. We are forced to retract or to apologize. It wasn’t that we meant to be wrong. We really had no choice.

 God has no such limitations. He could look across the eons of time and say “never in a million years” and mean it.

 Deuteronomy 7:9 adds, “Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands.”

·        His promises are true.

·        His covenants are going to be carried out.

·        His plans will never be frustrated.

·        His purposes will never fail.

·        His Word remains -- and will even after the last hints of Rushmore and Crazy Horse have been eroded by the winds and the rains of time.

  Friends, if God tells you that something is going to happen tomorrow, you can go ahead and put it in the bank. He knows with an absolute certainty what is going to happen then.  You see, He’s already been there and back.

 2.         WE HAVE THE ASSURANCE OF A WATCHFUL GOD.

Psalms 136 declares that His Love, His mercy, His loving-kindness, endures FOREVER!  But, that is not all that endures:

·        His grace endures.

·        His goodness endures.

·        His peace endures.

·        His will endures.

 What if this were not so? 

·        Who would watch over and care for us during the night?

·        Who would feed the birds?

·        Clothe the lilies?

·        Care for the sparrows?

·        Who would convince the sinner of his sins and save him?

·        Who would comfort the grieving heart of one who has just lost a loved one?

·        Who would return to take us to be forever more in His presence?

 Paul noted in Romans 8:37-39, “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

 Roger Simms had just left the military and was anxious to take his uniform off once and for all. He was hitchhiking home, and his heavy duffel bag made the trip even more arduous than normal. Flashing his thumb to an oncoming car, he had just about given up hope when he saw the taillights flash on a shiny, black, expensive car, so new that it had a temporary license in the back window... hardly the kind of car that would stop for a hitchhiker.

But to his amazement, the car stopped and the passenger door opened.  He ran toward the car, placed his duffel carefully in the back, and slid into the leather-covered front seat. He was greeted by the friendly smile of a handsome older gentleman with distinguished gray hair and a deep tan.

“Hello, son.  Are you on leave or are you going home for good?”

“I just got out of the army, and I’m going home for the first time in several years,” answered Roger.

“Well, you’re in luck in if you’re going to Chicago.”

“Not quite that far,” said Roger, “but my home is on the way. 

Do you live there, mister?”

“Yes, I have a business there.” 

And with that, they were on their way. After giving each other brief life histories, and talking about everything under the sun, Roger (who was a Christian) felt a strong compulsion to witness to the gentleman about Christ. But witnessing to an older, wealthy businessman who obviously had everything he should ever want was a scary prospect indeed. Roger kept putting if off, but as he neared his destination, he realized that it was now or never.

“Mr. Hanover,” began Roger, “I would like to talk to you about something very important.” He then proceeded to explain the way of salvation, ultimately asking Mr. Hanover if he would like to receive Christ as his Savior. To Roger’s astonishment, the high car pulled over to the side of the road; Roger thought for a moment that Mr. Hanover was about to throw him out. Then a strange and wonderful thing happened: the businessman began to cry while affirming that he did in fact want to accept Christ into his heart. He thanked Roger for talking to him, saying that “This is the greatest thing that has ever happened to me.”  He then dropped Roger at his house and traveled on toward Chicago.

Five years went by, and Roger Simms married, had a child, and started a business of his own. One day, while packing for a business trip to Chicago, he came across a small, gold-embossed business card which Mr. Hanover had given him years earlier.

When Roger arrived in Chicago, he looked up Hanover Enterprises, and found it downtown in a very tall and important-looking building. The receptionist told him that it would be impossible to see Mr. Hanover, but that if he was on old friend, he should be able to see Mrs. Hanover. A little disappointed, he was led into a posh office where an elegant looking woman was sitting at a huge oak desk.

She extended her hand, “You knew my husband?”

Roger explained how Mr. Hanover had been kind enough to give him a ride home.

A look of interest passed across her face. “Can you tell what date that was?”  “Sure,” said Roger, “It was May 7th, five years ago, the day I was discharged from the army.”

Roger hesitated. Should he mention giving his witness? Had it been a source of contention between the two, which resulted in a marital breakup or separation?  But once again, he felt the prompting of the Lord. “Mrs. Hanover, I must tell you, your husband accepted the Lord into his heart that day. I explained the gospel message to him, and he pulled to the side of the road and wept, and then he prayed a prayer for salvation.”

Suddenly she began to sob uncontrollably. After several minutes, she regained enough control to explain what had happened: “I grew up in a Christian home, but my husband did not. I had prayed for my husband’s salvation for many years, and I believed God would save him. But just after he let you out of his car, on May 7th, he was killed in a horrible head-on collision. He never arrived home. I thought God had not kept His promise, and I stopped living for the Lord five years ago.”

The truth is, friends, Mrs. Hanover quit, God didn’t! She failed to realize that as the great

eternal God, He does ever watch over His Word to perform it.

3.         His eternality also separates Him from all of the pretenders.

The fact is, the eternality of God is one of His attributes. As I noted last week, it is one of His characteristics that marks Him as being God. He and He alone can truthfully declare Himself to be without beginning; without end.

 Every one of those who have claimed to be a divine one down through the years:

·        Mohammad,

·        Buddha,

·        Rev. Sun Moon,

·        Whoever…

All had a birth date.

There was a time when they simply did not exist. To their credit, none of them ever attempted to declare otherwise. Why even try? 

God never stumbled over this issue. Again and again He declared Himself to be eternal -- not as myth, but as fact. As I stated last week, even His name I AM THAT I AM testifies of His eternality.  

Well, I had better close this out. I submit to you that the God who turned water into wine at the marriage in Cana of Galilee, the God who healed the lepers, who opened the eyes of a blind beggar, and who came to seek and to save that which is lost, is still the same God today. He loves people; He died for people. What’s more, He died for you. Do you know Him? Do you know this great eternal God?