The Mysteries God
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today let us meditate on the topic of ‘The Eternal God’. There is a question asked in the book of Job. Job 11:7 “Can you search out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limits of Almighty?” And the answer, of course, is ‘no’ you can't, but we believe that God is honored.
Have you ever noticed that God does not make it easy to believe?
ILL: I'm sure you heard on the news, nearly 8000 people were wiped out in Nepal. A tornado came and a mother and father protected their little 18 month old girl. The little toddler was shielded, but the house fell on the parents. They died while the toddler lived. Nearly a quarter of a million people lost their lives. It's not easy to believe in God’s goodness.
We're going to examine these kinds of mysteries. Does God allow these kinds of bad things in our lives? And these questions ultimately increase our faith. Today the Scripture passage is from Psalm 90. Moses wrote this, which means that it is centuries older than the time of David. Furthermore, he wrote it at a time when Israel was condemned in the desert to wander for 40 years. It's a plaintive song, and in it he mourns a lot. In it he is overcome by the futility of life. But, it is also a song that gives hope. But the question is: what is life all about? Why should I live and not die? Some of you may be asking that question. Let’s find an answer today. Does God make it easy to believe?
I.God was before Time:
Psalm 90:1-2 “Lord you have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, you are God.”
First fact about God is that God never had a beginning. God is indeed eternal. Sometimes atheists like to ask questions like: Who made God? They ask Christians and if you don't have an answer, they will say, “then I don't have to believe in him.” However, can we all agree that out of nothing; nothing comes. If there was just absolutely nothing in the world or in the whole universe, there wouldn't be a universe and there would be nothing. Because out of nothing, nothing will come. The fact that for something to exist, that must mean that something has existed forever.
Now, atheists may say, ‘well it's the cosmos. It's the universe that has existed forever.’ Carl Sagan in his book ‘Cosmos’ begins it with the words: “There has only been the cosmos. It is all that there is and all that there ever will be.” That's the opening line. However, it is unscientific to say just because the universe exists, it is not an answer to its own existence.
We as Christians believe that God is the uncaused God who created all things. He is the uncaused God who caused everything into existence. He has always existed.
II. God Created All/ He created all.
The second fact is that God created everything. Psalm 90:2 “Before the mountains were brought forth and you ever formed the earth and the world from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.” Colossians chapter 1:16 speaking about Jesus, “For by him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through him and for him.”
It's a crucial phrase “by him and for him.” And God did that out of nothing. Now we know that out of nothing, nothing can arise. But since God existed, He could take nothing and create something. In fact, when He spoke, He created billions of stars. They say there are as many stars as there are grains of sand on the seashores. And He made them all. He just spoke and suddenly they were all there in all their brilliance and beauty with the Sun and the moon.
ILL: There is a story about a scientist who said to God, “God I can do the same things that you do. I can take a handful of dirt, and I can create life.” Then God said, “Show me.” So the scientist reached down, and he took a handful of dirt. And God says, “no, no. Get your own dirt. If you want to prove that you're as good as God, go into a laboratory and spend some time creating something. Lets see how it goes.” Because, church, there's no way for us to create life from dirt, let alone even dirt.
III. He is Ethereal:
Third fact is that God is eternal. Remember all. He is uncaused. He has always existed. He exists outside of time. Now he comes into time, but he exists outside of time. Time is a prerequisite of creation. Time cannot be created by God. Creation means going from non-existence to existence. Proverb 8:23-24 The Lord possessed me at the beginning of His way, before His works of old. I have been established from everlasting, from the beginning, before there was ever an earth. Psalm 33:11 “The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of His heart to all generations.”
How do we know that God exists outside of time? It is because time is the record of change. You may ask, well what was God doing before he created the world. We have no idea what he was doing. We do know that he was in existence and making choices, but those choices were eternal. The fact is that God is the one who exists outside of time.
Now let's think about this for a moment. You are able to remember the past, but how are you remembering the future? Can you remember the future? You may say, ‘well I can't remember the future because that hasn't happened.’ But to God, the future has already happened. It has already been done.
A common question asked is: why is it that we pray when God already knows all things? Let's say you have a map. You know you're following this map, and you're taking this trail. You go from one town to another, and you are creating memories. These memories are being created by you, and you will remember them. Well, God also has a map spread out in front of him. He sees all things simultaneously. What happened 4,000 years ago is just as present to him as what happened this morning, because all things are seen and known simultaneously. Turn with me to Psalm 90:4 “For a thousand years in your sight are like yesterday when it is past, and like a watch in the night.”
Peter says that with you “one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like one day.” 2 Peter 3:8 Why? Time is irrelevant to God, He sees it in one present. However He does step out of eternity into time, but the fact is that He sees it all simultaneously for time does not exist for Him because change does not exist. IIL: There's another story about a man who said to the Lord, “Lord how long is a million years to you?” And God said, “about a minute.” Then the man said God, “how much is a million dollars to you?” God said, “about a penny.” The man said, “Lord could I just have a penny?” and the Lord said, “sure, just a minute.”
IV. He gives life meaning
Psalm 90 was sort of a plaintive Psalm, and it is supposed to discuss the meaning of life. The answer is: yes, Moses in fact seems to be in a rather discouraging mood. But in the next couple of verses, he contrasts us with God. For example he says in verse 3, ‘you return man to dust and say return, O children of men.’ There are several things that he says about us. First of all, he says that life is fleeting. We will return to dust. Psalm 90:5 says, “You carry them away like a flood; They are like a sleep. In the morning they are like grass which grows up. In the morning it flourishes and grows up; In the evening it is cut down and withers.” Later on, he says life is like a sigh. It is like a vapor that flies away.
The fact that our life is fleeting. Our life is sinful. In verse 8 it states, ‘you have set our iniquities before you our secret sins in the light of your presence.’ Many may say, ‘I've got all these secrets, and who has not sinned secretly? We all have.’ But to God we're sinning in broad daylight. Our secret sins are seen in the light of his countenance; in the light of His knowledge. Some people think that they're hiding from God. However, our life is sinful and we need an answer to that sin. For it is God who saves us from our sins.
At verse 10 the years of our life are seventy and if by reason of strength 80 they are soon gone away and there's toil and trouble there is but toil and trouble. It says in verse 10 Moses is saying it's all futile I mean you live 80 years, maybe a little bit beyond that most people live around that many people live less and to what end. ILL: Rafael, a great painter of the Renaissance, was working on a beautiful painting that can be seen today called the Transfiguration. But while he was working on it, he unexpectedly died at the age of 37. When his coffin was taken through the streets of Rome, they took that picture along with it and then put it next to the coffin. The unfinished picture was to remind people that oftentimes we leave life and our task seems to be unfinished. He sadly died at the age of 37. There are wicked people who live to the age of 80 or 90, but there are also young people who die aimlessly sometimes. So what is the purpose of life? The psalm gives us the answer.
IIs: Albert Camos, the great French philosopher, began one of his books by saying, ‘there is only one serious philosophical question and that is suicide.’ What Camus was saying is that you cannot find meaning in life on earth. If it's all like a vapor. If it's all just being turned back into dust. If it's leaving life with unfinished tasks at the most inappropriate times. If that's all that it is. Why live?
V. He is Forever
Let's look at this Psalm again. First of all it's very clear that God gives unity to history. Psalm 90:1 says, “Lord you have been our dwelling place from generation to generations.”
God unifies history. Henry Ford says that ‘history is one blank thing after another. He filled in the blank.’ God brings unity to what is happening in the world from one generation to another. Kingdoms come and kingdoms go, but God is there. Ministries are birthed and sometimes they die, but God is there. One generation leaves like grass, and another crop of grass grows with the next generation, but God is still there.
It brings so much joy to know that the same God who converted the Apostle Paul on the way to Damascus. Is the same God who converted Mohan C Lazarus, in India and Billy Graham is the same God who has converted you and future generations. God is already planning to choose those generations and people from those generations to continue his work from everlasting to everlasting. He is God, He is the foundation to all generations.
VI. God gives purpose to life:
This scripture verse gives us more encouragement in our lives. Psalm 90:14 says, “Oh satisfy us early with your mercy, that we may rejoice and glad all our days.” It begins the process of meaning of our lives. God loves us, and we find God satisfying. We will find God to be remarkably satisfying.
“God is the all satisfying object.” - C.S. Lewis. ‘Oh God you have made us for yourself and our hearts are restless until they find their fullness in you.’ - St. Augustine. You see, God puts eternity into our hearts, and yet we can't experience eternity in this life because this life oftentimes sees few. Therefore life may seem futile but God comes along to satisfy us. He satisfies us with His steadfast love, gladness and joy.
Psalm 90:15 says, “makes us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us.” Again probably talking about the Israelites wandering in the desert for forty years. And for so many years, they were faced with many evils. However, there was gladness in the midst of evil. Gladness in the midst of failure. And gladness in the midst of unbelief. Yes, God is that kind of a God. Moses calls on the Lord and says, ‘make us glad for we have lost our way. But come again and give us hope’ And God immediately hears him. Not only that Moses says in verse 17, “let the favor of the Lord be upon us.” Can God look upon with favor to a generation that rejected him in the desert? Yes, He can. Because while they were in the desert, He was clothing them, He was feeding them, and He was winning victories for them.
God does not abandon you even when you may be tempted to abandon God. He is still there with you. And Moses finishes the Psalm saying, “let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us and establish the work of our hands yes establish the work of our hands.”
God has established our works, and those works are as present to God as what we did for God this morning. They are all there and He doesn't have to recall them because He instantly knows them. He sees everything that we have done so that Jesus can say even a cup of cold water given in my name, you'll not lose your reward because I've established your works. He sees when you're faithful as a Sunday school teacher. When you're faithful in obscurity in your job. He sees when you are faithful during your vacation. He sees when you are living for Christ in the midst of an environment that is hostile, and when you are representing Jesus well. God takes note, and He establishes those works. And they will meet up with you after you die. You see that's why it makes a difference as to whether or not you serve the Lord.
Jesus stepped out of eternity into time, so that He could redeem us and He could take us back to the Father. So that we could enjoy eternity with Him. So we might all know that He is the only true God and through Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent, we have eternal life. Our quest for meaning and our quest to make sense out of our lives is answered in the bible.
Oh in this life, we don't get to do all the things we want. We live with disappointment, we live with heartache, but a day is coming when we will enjoy eternal life. The trials which we may face right now, we will enjoy over there through Jesus Christ. Because no good work, done in the name of Jesus, is ever lost. We serve a sovereign, great, and immensely generous God. It is to him that we come to dedicate ourselves.
Dear church, I ask of you today, to give God an hour at least each day. Become so acquainted with him, that you begin to realize that really nothing else matters. Try every morning, before you roll out of bed, to say, “God today glorify yourself in my life. Because at the end of the day, it doesn't matter about me, it's all about God. And I also want something that I've done to be established eternally.” Amen.
