God is Eternal

Absolute Eternity means God has no past and no future. God is found in both and unaffected by either. God dwells in eternity. Time dwells in God. God does not wait for time like we do. Time is not bigger than God, God is bigger than time. 

God Eternal/Everlasting – El Olam is a name of God. Ps 93:2 – Your throne was established long ago; you are from all Eternity. Ps 90:2 - Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting You are God. Ex 15:18 – The Lord will reign for ever and ever. Is 57:15. Was and is and is to come. Other verses say: The Word of the Lord stands forever, He remembers His covenant forever, His love endures forever, the plans of the Lord stand firm forever, He remains faithful forever. Forever means forever, it is permanent and sure. An anchor you can hold on to.

Time is created by God.  Time refers to us, not to God. Time and eternity exist together, not one or the other. God never began. God is uncreated. It is the only way he can be eternal past and future.

Rev 21: 1 John says he saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Current earth is not eternal. Everything in our world is dying or eventually will die. Rom 8:18-22 says all creation is presently groaning and will be liberated from its bondage of decay. It longs to be free. The current heaven appears not to be eternal either but we do know that heaven is a real place described in Revelation, God’s kingdom there is eternal, and God promises that we will be with Him forever.

Hell is a real place too. I believe Hell had a beginning and God’s word says that it has an eternal future for there is an eternal fire, eternal judgement.

Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. An eternal Jesus who you can rely on because he remains the same forever, as He always has. Jesus stepped out of eternity and came into time. John 3:16 – For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever should believe in Him will have eternal life. Eternal life is not a gift FROM God, eternal life is the gift OF God. Presence of life within you. Jesus Christ…has destroyed death, and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. [II Tim 1:10].  Jesus came to rescue us from eternal damnation and hell.

Jesus said in John 14:16 – And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you FOREVER – the Spirit of truth. Heb 9:14 confirms that the Spirit is eternal. God has placed eternity in our hearts, a glory yet to be revealed. A glory we put our hope in. Until then, we have to live in time. By time I mean living in time past, time present or time future.

Some dwell too much on the past. You are reliving your past failures, regrets, sins, hurts, disappointments, time past is weighing you down. Now is the time to forgive anyone who has hurt or rejected you and let go of past. God wants you to be healed of your past. Identify what is holding you back, address it with God and surely and steadily and let things go. The things of your past are taking up valuable space in your heart. Don’t fill your heart with your past.

Some live in tomorrow. You worrying, stress and fear the future. You spend too much time thinking about tomorrow. You worry because you have a wrong view of God in your life. None of knows how many tomorrows we have left. Your living for tomorrow is also robbing you of valuable space in your heart. Let go of tomorrow and let God come in and fill those places too. 

The best time to live in is the Present. Leave the old self behind and put on the new self. Renew your mind, move forward and live each day with God. He has His eye on you, watching you. Fill your present space with Jesus. It is actually a place that only He can fill perfectly.

Living a Radical Life for Jesus means believing that God is Eternal

Transcript

·        Absolute Eternity means God has no past and no future. God is found in both and unaffected by either.

·        God dwells in eternity. Time dwells in God. God does not wait for time like we do.

·        Time is not bigger than God, God is bigger than time.

·        C.S. Lewis: Think of sheet of paper infinitely extended, representing eternity. Then on paper draw a short line to represent our time in eternity. This is us in God’s eternal. How can He care so much for us in that little line of our existence?

 I.       How God is revealed through the Word

·        Names of God and they all start with E for El:

o   El – means the Strong One

o   God Almighty – El Shaddai

o   God Creator – El Ohim

o   God Defender – El Sabaoth, The Lord of Heaven’s Host or Armies

o   God Eternal/Everlasting – El Olam, Gen 21:33

·        Ps 93:2 – Your throne was established long ago; you are from all Eternity

·        Ps 90:2 - Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting You are God.

·        Jer 10:10a – The Lord is the true God, He is the living God, the eternal king.

·        Ex 15:18 – The Lord will reign for ever and ever.

·        Is 9:6-7 – Everlasting Father…of the increase in government and peace there will be no end.

·        Is 57:15. Was and is and is to come

·        One attribute applies and compliments the rest. Can’t talk about one without talking about all the other attributes. This attribute, Eternal, in particular describes all of the others: power, justice, goodness, and holiness, are all eternal. These will all go on and on and on and on, without end.

o   Other verses say: The Word of the Lord stands forever, He remembers His covenant forever, His love endures forever, the plans of the Lord stand firm forever, He remains faithful forever, He will swallow up death forever, and His salvation will last forever.  Forever means forever, it is permanent and sure. An anchor you can hold on

II.     How God is revealed through Creation

·        Time is created by God.  Time refers to us, not to God

·        Time and eternity exist together, not one or the other

·        God never began. God is uncreated. It is the only way he can be eternal past and future.

·        I can fathom eternal future but eternal past is beyond the thoughts of my little brain. We live in a created world where everything has a beginning and ending.

 ·        God created the current heavens and the earth and He promises a new heaven and a new earth. Rev 21: 1 John says he saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away.

o   Current earth is not eternal. Everything in our world is dying or eventually will die. Rom 8:18-22 says all creation is presently groaning and will be liberated from its bondage of decay. It longs to be free. 

o   The current heaven appears not to be eternal either but we do know that heaven is a real place described in Revelation, God’s kingdom there is eternal, and God promises that we will be with Him forever.

o   Now here’s a thought. That must also mean God created hell in my way of thinking. Maybe this is a good time to discuss that Hell is a real place too. I believe Hell had a beginning and God’s word says that it does appear that it has an eternal future for there is an eternal fire, eternal judgement, we should be afraid of God who has the power to throw us into hell, people who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of Jesus Christ will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord forever, and finally Satan, the devil, will be thrown in the lake of fire and tormented day and night for ever and ever.

o   Some have tried to debunk the word eternal because the thought of eternal punishment seems severe. But it is expressed throughout all of scripture and can’t be ignored or minimized.

o   If you remember, God created the visible and the invisible. Just because something is invisible does not mean it isn’t real.

 III.  How God is revealed through Jesus

·        In know this is heavy and not spoken of very often but let’s move now to how God reveals himself through Jesus.  

·        The bible says Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. This is an eternal Jesus who you can rely on because he remains the same forever, as He always has. 

·        At the appointed time, Jesus stepped out of eternity and came into time.

·        John 3:16 – For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever should believe in Him will have eternal life.

o   Eternal life is not a gift FROM God, eternal life is the gift OF God. Presence of life within you.

o   It is not that God wants to give you eternal life but that He loves you and wants you to be with Him and since He is eternal that means being with Him eternally.

·        Jesus Christ…has destroyed death, and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. [II Tim 1:10].  Jesus came to rescue us from eternal damnation and hell.

·        Do you want eternal life? I do. God says it is only available through His Son. 

·        It must either be Jesus and eternal life or eternal tragedy, no other option.

·        We are made for eternity and for time so let’s not just focus on one and not the other. You need to think about where you are going to spend eternity. Somewhere you will continue to exist. But where will you spend eternity is the question.

·        Once you’ve made a decision in your life about sin and that you want to be identified with Christ who died to take away your sin, then eternal life is yours through Jesus. And that life is offered to you. 

 IV.  How God is revealed through your Heart

·        Just to clarify when I am talking about how God reveals himself in our hearts. You can’t learn anything about God without the Holy Spirit. No one knows us better than our spirit. And no one know God better than the Holy Spirit. You need the HS to know God. The bible says the things of God are spiritually discerned.

·        Jesus said in John 14:16 – And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you FOREVER – the Spirit of truth. Heb 9:14 confirms that the Spirit is eternal.

·        God has placed eternity in our hearts, a glory yet to be revealed. A glory we put our hope in. I know I put my hope in eternity strongly. My biggest thought when I was first saved was that I wanted to live in heaven forever with Jesus. I want to live my life with that eternal destination in mind.

·        Until then, we have to live in time. By time I mean living in time past, time present or time future. I going to say time is your enemy if you are living in the past or future.

o   You cannot move forward for the purpose God is calling you if you are stuck in the past. You are dwelling too much on the past. God doesn’t want you to live in past. I find no verses that say to live in the past. Only to remember the Sabbath and remember the bread and wine. Whatever is good, pure, lovely in past, you can think about those things.

§  If you are reliving your past failures, past regrets, past sins, past hurts, past disappointments, over and over again, time past is weighing you down.

·        Oswald Chambers: Disciples in garden couldn’t stay awake. Jesus asks them to please pray with him because he is in agony but they fall back asleep. He comes back and say basically, you made a mistake, it is over, you cannot undo it. Jesus doesn’t condemn. Instead he said to arise and do the next thing. Don’t let failure stop you. Get up and try again.

·        Some think their best days were in the past and now that they have ruined their lives over a bad decision, then there is no future. Don’t be constantly living in regret. You are stuck because you don’t have a right view of God how can take the worst sinner and situation and make it new and vital again.

·        Take David for example who sinned greatly by murder and adultery but he repented immediately and got his heart right with God and moved forward. As God forgives your many sins, you must forgive others.

·        Time to forgive anyone who has hurt or rejected you and let go of past. Don’t be stuck never growing up because you cannot let go of something that happened to you in your childhood.

o   One example was when I was angry with a member of my family who hurt me. I never addressed the hurtful words but I certainly rehearsed over and over how I would respond back with equally hurtful words of revenge. I finally realized that harboring this anger was making me so unhappy and hurting my relationship with this person so I forgave them. It is a continuing process because whenever the memories come back and I start to rehearse my comeback again, I determine to stop the thoughts, forgive the person again and not go back to that place of anger.

o   God wants you to be healed of your past but you have to decide not to go back and pick the wound again to make it bleed.

§  Identify what is holding you back, address it with God and surely and steadily and let things go. Take God’s hand and let Him lead you through the process. Then God will come in and fill those places in your heart. The things of your past are taking up valuable space in your heart. Don’t fill your heart with your past.

o   Some of you are living in tomorrow. What I mean by that is you are worrying, anxious, stressed, and in fear of the future. You spend too much time thinking about tomorrow. As we get older, we become more aware that we have fewer tomorrows. But in reality, none of knows how many tomorrows we have left. Bible says to teach us to number our days. Be mindful. Your living for tomorrow is also robbing you of valuable space in your heart. Let go of tomorrow and let God come in and fill those places too. I hope you will continue to know that you worry and fear because you have a wrong view of God in your life. You are not truly believing in who He is in your life and in the world.

o   What time is the best time to live in? You know the answer: The Present time. Leave the old self behind and put on the new self. Renew your mind, move forward and live each day in the present time with God. You may think God is far away but I can assure you that He is so close. He has His eye on you, watching you. Seek Jesus and the kingdom of God first and he promises that all you need will be added to you. Live in hope for an eternal future where there will be no more tears or sorrows. 

o   Fill your present space with Jesus. It is actually a place that only He can fill perfectly.

Let’s pray right now, Lord I give you my yesterdays (my hurts, my anger, my disappointments, my failures, my sins) and I give you my tomorrows believing you have a hope and a future for me and a promise of eternal life with you. Each morning, I dedicate my todays to you and fill them with a trust that you are the Eternal God who keeps His promise of an eternal inheritance to those who believe in Him.  Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

 Is the God you believe in an everlasting, eternal God?

Living a Radical Life for Jesus means believing that God is Eternal