God Is From Everlasting To Everlasting Series

INTRO.- Nothing lasts forever. When and where have you heard that statement? There are novels, films and songs by that name. And many people subscribe to that idea in life. It’s like the old saying, “You only go ‘round once in life so grab all the gusto you can.”

Someone said it this way: “Nothing lasts forever. Forever’s a lie. All we have is what’s between hello and goodbye.” That’s a lie! Something does last forever and it all starts with God who is from everlasting to everlasting. He has no beginning and no end. He is God, forever and ever!

1 Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations. 2 Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.”

Some commentators believe this to mean that God has enabled all mankind to understand at least in part that there is life beyond this life.

ILL.- When actor Patrick Swayze was dying with pancreatic cancer, he said to Barbara Walters, “I don’t know what’s on the other side. It tests everything I believe in – that here is something unique in all of us that does not die."

And there is! God has set eternity in the hearts of men. There is another life.

ILL.- Napoleon, once in the Gallery of the Louvre, turned from a fine picture to Baron Denon, saying, “That is a fine picture, Denon!” “Yes, immortal,” was the reply. “How long will this picture and a statue last?” said Napoleon.

“The picture five hundred years, and a statue five thousand, sir.” “And this is what you call immortality?” said Napoleon.

500 years. 5000 years. These sound good and many people would love to live 5000 years or even 500 years, but these are a drop in the bucket when it comes to eternity.

How do you measure eternity? How do you measure forever? You really can’t measure eternity. Someone has suggested that if you took all the grains of sand on every seashore in the world it would just be the beginning of eternity. It’s beyond our imagination to think of forever and ever and ever!

If eternity is forever and God will make it good for those who believe Him and surrender to Him, then why don’t we think more about it, get excited about it, and prepare for it?!

1 Lord, you have been our dwelling place

throughout all generations.

2 Before the mountains were born

or you brought forth the earth and the world,

from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

PROP.- Because God is God and is from everlasting to everlasting, meaning He has no end, here is what takes place on earth.

1- God determines our days on earth

2- God sees all our secret sins

3- God demonstrates compassion on His servants

I. GOD DETERMINES OUR DAYS ON EARTH

3 You turn men back to dust,

saying, “Return to dust, O sons of men.”

10 The length of our days is seventy years—

or eighty, if we have the strength;

yet their span is but trouble and sorrow,

for they quickly pass, and we fly away.

YOU TURN MEN BACK TO DUST. Those words don’t sound good but they are true whether we want to accept them or not. We have to accept the fact that all men will eventually die unless the Lord comes back first. It’s a depressing thought for many people but it shouldn’t be for us who are in Christ. We grieve but not like the rest of mankind who have no hope. (I Thess. 4:13)

Genesis 3:19 “By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”

The important thing to remember is that we are not just flesh and blood beings. We are spiritual beings. We have a spirit which is eternal and shall never die.

ILL.- The court jester was overcome with grief. His world was at an end! For a long time he had served the Caliph (ruler) at Baghdad and his court, keeping them amused whenever they called on him. But in a moment of thoughtlessness he had displeased his ruler who had ordered that he be put to death. "However," said the Caliph, "in consideration of the merry jests you’ve told me all these years, I will let you choose how you are to die." "O most generous Caliph," replied the jester, "if it’s all the same to you, I choose death by old age!"