Jesus: Before There Was Time
http://gbcdecatur.org/sermons/BeforeThereWasTime.html
Matthew 1:1
The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
God wants our church to focus more on Jesus…I know this to be a fact! Christ is the One we should lift up in all we preach. No matter the topic, we should look at how it relates to Christ. What did Jesus say about it. What would Jesus do. A Christ filled life is a self emptied life, and it’s the best life you ever live! Whatever master a man chooses will master that man. You cannot serve two masters, but you do have to serve one!
You can’t just tip your hat to Jesus, you must bow the knee to Him! If Christ is worth anything, He’s worth everything. Everybody needs a hero, and Jesus is mine! And I say to all other religions today, "It doesn’t matter what you are right about if you are wrong about Jesus."
Gospel means “good news”, and Jesus is the good news! The gospels aren’t of four guys, they are the gospel of Jesus!
Our text today indicates it’s all about Him. But Matthew begins with Jesus in human form. Today we need to see Jesus from the very beginning, tho’ there was no beginning for Him!
John 1:1-2
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God.
John 1:14
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
But Jesus laid aside His glory, not His deity, but the glorious form and the privileges of deity, to become the God-man for us.
1. THE GLORY
But John said he beheld His glory?…well, that was at the transfiguration. And Jesus Himself said He laid aside His glory:
John 17:5
And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.
Here at the beginning, before time existed, we find Jesus, and the word that comes to mind is glory. It’s the answer to any questions we may have. Who is Jesus? He is Glory. Where was He? In Glory! What was He like? Glorious! What does glory look like? We would die if we saw it unprotected. Yet, God gives us a glimpse, a portrait…let’s look at it:
2 Cor. 4:6
For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Hebrews 1:3
Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person…
He shares His glory w/ the Father, and with someone else…
John 17:22
And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
[With us!]
2. THE LOVE
John 17:24
Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.
Love existed before time as well, and God is love, and John 3:16 shows how God loves us, tho’ we are sinners…He sent His glory our way!
Love is eternal, it has always been, and always will be. It wasn’t invented by humans!
3. THE GRACE
2 Tim. 1:9
Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,
Jesus has always been the embodiment of grace. Grace has always existed. All who are saved are saved by it. We can be proud of the name of our church, for it’s by God’s grace we can be a part of it!
4. THE WISDOM
Only God could conceive of this wonderful plan to share His glory thru love and grace.
1 Cor. 2:7
But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:
Proverbs is the book of wisdom, and makes it clear that our glorious, loving, graceful Savior is forever the embodiment of wisdom!
Proverbs 3:19
The Lord by wisdom hath founded the earth; by understanding hath he established the heavens.
Proverbs 8:22
The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old.
5. THE PROMISE
Titus 1:2
In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;
Jesus is the promised One, and He keeps His promises! And as surely as God kept His promise about Jesus’ coming to earth, He will keep His promise about His second coming and the end of the world. As surely as His promises about heaven are true are His promises about the place hell. And He has promised to save you if you will let Him!
6. THE LAMB
Rev. 13:8
And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
7. THE CHOICE
Ephes. 1:4
According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the
world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
Whom has God chosen? Only the saved? No, He chose to share His glory with all who would receive it. God so loved “the world”. It’s by grace that any can be saved. But in His wisdom He had foreknowledge from the very beginning which among us would CHOOSE HIM! We have the choice to claim His promise and accept the sacrificial blood of the Lamb.
But it’s awesome to think that God knew me and you before there was time, and cares enough about all the details, including the choices we would make. From our perspective, our choices haven’t been made, we all have a free will and a clean slate ahead of us!
God didn’t say “eenie-meenie-miney-mo”!
2 Peter 3:9
The Lord is…not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
“Whosoever will may come!”; “Whosoever believeth”; “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved!”
Anyone can be saved: “the chosen” are all who will choose Him. “The elect” are all who elect to receive His salvation.
Everything preached so far today is what we know about Christ before there was time…but then, He created time and all that is!
1. HE LAID THE FOUNDATION FOR ALL THAT IS.
Hebrews 1:10
And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands:
2. NOTHING WAS MADE WITHOUT HIM.
John 1:3
All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
3. BY HIM GOD MADE EVERYTHING.
Hebrews 1:2
[God] Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;
4. ALL WAS CREATED BY HIM AND FOR HIM.
Col. 1:16-17
For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
5. HE CREATED ALL THINGS.
Ephes. 3:9
…the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:
6. WE WERE CREATED BY HIM.
1 Cor. 8:6
But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.
7. HE IS THE BEGINNING OF CREATION.
Rev. 3:14
And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;
It’s true, friends, the babe in the manger wasn’t the beginning, just the next chapter of Him who is timeless. He was killed at the hands of sinful mankind, but that wasn’t the end, just the next chapter.
And this verse from Revelation is about the Alpha and Omega, He Who is the beginning and the end, and yet even at the very close of God’s Word, it’s not the end…it’s only the beginning!
[next: Jesus in OT]
http://gbcdecatur.org/sermons/BeforeThereWasTime.html
