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!"
That’s what we prefer even though we believe in the promise of eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord!
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.
How long will you live? Your health has a lot to do with it and your genetic makeup (meaning your parents), but only God knows the exact time and date when you will leave this world or how long you will live.
ILL.- I met a lady at the retirement home, South Wind Heights, who was 102 years old. The last I knew she was still living at over 104. Every time I went to South Wind I would visit that lady. I had never known anyone that old. She appeared to be a very sweet and kind lady. I said jokingly to her one time, “Don’t be mean to people.” She said, “I’ve never been mean a day in my life to anyone.”
Could it be that was one reason why she had lived so long? It’s possible.
I Peter 3:10-12 “For, Whoever would love life and see good days (and perhaps long days) must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech. He must turn from evil and do good; he must seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”
God determines our days on earth and kindness can make a difference in our days.
II. GOD SEES ALL OUR SECRET SINS
7 We are consumed by your anger
and terrified by your indignation.
8 You have set our iniquities before you,
our secret sins in the light of your presence.
9 All our days pass away under your wrath;
we finish our years with a moan.
ILL.- Three preachers went to a church convention and were all sharing one room. The first preacher said, "Let’s confess our secret sins one to another. I’ll start - my secret sin is I just love to gamble. When I go out of town, it’s cha-ching cha-ching, let the machines ring." The second preacher said, "My secret sin is that I just hate having to study in order to prepare my sermons. I just copy all my sermons from those given by other preachers."
The third preacher said, "My secret sin is gossiping and, oh boy, I just can’t wait to get out of this room!"
What’s your secret sin that only God knows about? You do have at least one, don’t you? What should we do about sin and our secret sins? One thing for sure.
ONE FOR SURE. I John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
Sin is something we don’t like to talk about unless it’s someone else’s sin. We don’t like to talk about our sin and even acknowledge it, but we must if we are going to be what God wants us to be.
I hear preachers on TV preach their “feel good” sermons in order to try and make people “feel good” about themselves but they never talk about sin. And sin has to be acknowledged and repented of before we can ever get right with God and begin to feel better about ourselves and our standing with Him. We have to go down before we can ever go up! God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Where is that found? James 4:6 and I Peter 5:5 and also Proverbs 3:34.
Romans 6:23 “The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
The wages of sin is death. If this is true and it is, then we need to do something about sin and our sin. We need to acknowledge that our sins have separated us from God and could eternally if it’s not dealt with or done away with through the sacrifice of Christ.
I Corinthians 10:13 “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.”
God always provides an escape hatch when we are confronted with the temptation to sin. There is always an escape. God always provide a way out of temptation. Likewise, He has always provided an escape or way out of our sin, even our secret sins. THAT ESCAPE IS JESUS!
ILL.- The Villa Heights church and the homeless man. The church provided a place to stay, food, and even rides to work at the KFC but then he quit going to work. Come to find out he was back on drugs. Christ and the church offered him the only escape from his sinful way of life.
II Corinthians 5:21 “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
We must put our faith and trust in Jesus and surrender to Him. He is the only escape for our sins.
III. GOD DEMONSTRATES COMPASSION ON HIS SERVANTS
13 Relent, O Lord! How long will it be?
Have compassion on your servants.
14 Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love,
that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.
15 Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, for as many years as we have seen trouble.
Even though we deserve death, God demonstrates compassion on His people, that is, the people who acknowledge Him as God and Christ as Savior of the world.
ILL.- Mark Guy Pearse used to tell of the time he overheard one of his kids telling the other, “You better be good or daddy won’t love you.” Calling the boy to him he said, “Son, that isn’t really true.” “But you won’t love us if we are bad, will you?” the boy asked. “Yes, I will love you whether you are good or bad,” Pearse explained. “But there will be a difference in my love. When you are good I will love you with a love that makes me glad; and when you are not good I will love you with a love that makes me sad.”
And this probably really holds true for our Heavenly Father. He loves in spite of what we do, because there will be plenty of times when we will not be pleasing to Him.
In fact, He may be quite irritated us at times and discipline us in his own way, BUT NO MATTER WHAT, HE STILL LOVES US AND DEMONSTRATES COMPASSION ON US.
Matthew 9:36 “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”
Jesus ministered to people out of compassion. He could see not only their faces but also deep into their souls. Nothing was hidden from him. He could see their hurt, their pain, their depression, their lack of joy for life.
Matthew 9:35 “Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness.”
Jesus demonstrated His compassion on hurting people by teaching them the truth about God, preaching good news about the promise of eternal life, and by healing every disease and sickness. NO HUMAN BEING EVER DEMONSTRTATED MORE COMPASSION FOR HURTING PEOPLE THAN JESUS.
Luke 15:20 “So he got up and went to his father. “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.”
This text is from the story of the Prodigal son who wasted all of his inheritance on wine, women and song, so to speak. And many times in life we waste what God gives us on silly things. They may not seem sinful, but in the eyes of God they may well be vain or worthless because they have nothing to do our souls or with blessing the souls of others. We are often quite selfish with what God gives us. But God is our Father who is rich in mercy and full of compassion. He waited with open arms for His prodigal son to come home and then ran to meet him with a heart of love. God does the same today. Our Father longs for us to come running to Him, confessing our sinfulness, and asking for mercy.
ILL.- In the book, “Children’s Letters to God: The New Collection”, a little girl named, Nan, writes this letter: “Dear God, I bet it is very hard for you to love all of everybody in the whole world. There are only four people in our family and I have trouble loving them!”
Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
1 John 4:10 “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”
13 Relent, O Lord! How long will it be? Have compassion on your servants. 14 Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.
CONCLUSION-----------------------
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.
ILL.- It was said that when Alfred Lord Tennyson was near death that someone asked him if there was anything he wanted. He said, “Yes, I would like a new vision of God.”
Most people need a new vision of God. We all need a vision of a compassionate, loving God, but also a vision that God is forever God and we should long to be with Him forever. There is no one like Him. No one who loves us like Him. When we come into His eternal presence we will know what true love is!
John 14:6 Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life and no one comes to the Father except through me.” That’s the vision that all people need!
Steve Shepherd, Jonesboro Christian Church, AR
jonesborochristianchurch@suddenlink.net
