Open your Bibles once again tonight
to the book of Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy chapter 33. And I want to begin by reading
just one verse there. Deuteronomy chapter 33 and verse
27. The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting
arms. And he shall thrust out the enemy
before thee, and shall say, Destroy them." The more we learn about God, the more reasons and the more
ground that we find to trust Him. to rely upon Him. And one of the things that is
essential to, and as I've said, elementary to, any knowledge
or study of God is this. God is eternal. And when I say that, when I just
utter the word eternal, I find myself with what seems
to be very little real understanding of what that involves. But it's just as Moses calls
him here in our text verse. He is the eternal God. Look over in Psalm Psalm 93. This is expressed so many times
in the Scripture. Psalm 93, verse 1 and 2. The Lord reigneth, he is clothed
with majesty. The Lord is clothed with strength,
wherewith he hath girded himself. The world also established that
it cannot be moved. Thy throne is established from
old, thou art from everlasting." God is from everlasting. And of all that God reveals in
this book about Himself, I know of nothing that shows Him to
be more unique than this. Only God is said to be eternal. If you look back in Psalm 90,
And in the second verse, it says, Before the mountains were brought
forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even
from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. He has no beginning and will
have no end. He is eternal. Someone said that beings can
be described in three ways. Those that have a beginning and
shall have an end, as all sensitive creatures, the beasts, fowls,
fishes, which at death are destroyed and returned to the dust." Their
being ends with their life. And then secondly, who had a
beginning, but shall have no end, such as angels, and the
souls of men, which are eternal, in part they abide for ever." But then there's one who is without
beginning. and without ending, and that
one is God. Look over in Psalm 102. Psalm
102 at verse 24. I said, O my God, take me not
away in the midst of my days. Thy years are throughout all
generations. Of old hast thou laid the foundation
of the earth, and the heavens are the work of thy hands. They
shall perish, but thou shalt endure." Yea, all of them shall
wax old like a garment, as a vesture shalt thou change them, they
shall be changed. But thou art the same, and thy
years shall have no end." He is the Eternal God. And that means that He, as the
eternal God, is not limited to, nor is He bound by time. We're creatures of time. But He is eternal. He is before time. and will be after time. And there is no succession with
Him. There is no progression with
God. The only thing that progresses
with regard to God is what He reveals of Himself to men. But He is actually behind time. And by that I mean time is really
in the midst of eternity. And eternity being God Himself,
it means that all, including time, is in Him. He says so much in Scripture. In Him we live and move and have
our being. If you look back in Psalm 90
and that fourth verse, look at what it says. with regard to
time and God. For a thousand years in thy sight
are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the
night. Why is time, whether it be years
or days or seconds or centuries What is time in the light of
the fact that God is eternal? These things are but flashes
with him. And so Paul writes to Timothy,
and in his description of God, he says, Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only
wise God, be honor and glory forever and ever. He is the King eternal, and His
glory because of that shall be forever and ever. When you come to the last book
of the Bible. He describes himself in Christ
as this, I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending,
saith the Lord which is and which was and which is to come, the
Almighty. And this is essential, the way
that he commanded Moses to declare himself to be to Pharaoh. You remember Moses said, Pharaoh
is going to ask me, who sent you? And when he asked me, who
sent me, what shall I tell him? And God says to him, you tell
him that I am sent you. And that means the eternal one,
the ever self-existent and self-sufficient one. You tell him, I am sent
you. And if he had been sent a thousand
years before that, or a million years before that, or a billion
years after that, no matter what time, any of God's prophet or
His people would ever be sent to declare Him, it would be the
same thing. You tell them, I am sent you. He is eternal. And this greatly
affects, now I want you to think about this, this greatly affects
all that he is in himself otherwise and all that he does. On the one hand, it is a great
reason for his enemies to fear. He has got time. to take care
of all judgments. He has time, if you will, to
remember all that needs to be taken care of so that all His
wrath and the punishment of all who are outside of Christ is eternal. That's what this
book says. It speaks of His eternal wrath. He speaks of His eternal punishment. And the torments, the punishment,
if you will, of the wicked will be without interruption And they will be without delusion, and they will be without end, because God is eternal. Here are the descriptions in
the Bible, Revelation 14, and the smoke of their ascended up forever and ever,
and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast
and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name." Every unbeliever, everyone outside
of Christ, Every God-rejecting individual, their judgment will
go on without any interruption and without ever being diminished
in the least degree forever and ever. That ought to be enough to make
us think. to cause us to flee to the Lord
Jesus Christ. Listen to this in Psalm 75. For in the hand of the Lord there
is a cup, and the wine is red, it is full of mixture, and he
pours out of the same, but the dregs thereof, all the wicked
of the earth shall wring them out and drink them." It just
keeps going on and on and on. So that those who rebel against
God, those who live apart from Christ and die in their sin,
they are said to be cast into everlasting fire. Someone said the reason why sin
committed in a short time is eternally punished is because
every sin is committed against an infinite essence. It's committed against the eternal
God, and no less than eternity of punishment can satisfy. As a matter of fact, that's why
eternal destruction is just that, because it never ever does satisfy
this eternal God who has been sinned against. If we had sinned just against
each other, if we had done some other crime to a lesser God,
were there such a thing, it may be different. It might not last
too long or it might diminish at some point, but it's said
to be eternal. because it's sin against the
eternal God. Sin against the eternal is punished
eternally. But the Scriptures reveal the
same thing. You know, the Bible says that
the gospel is to some a sweet savor of life unto life, but
to others it's a savor of death unto death. That's the way everything
about God is. And so to the wicked, to the
unbelieving, to the Christ-rejecting, the fact that God is eternal
is the most fearful and dreadful thing. but to the Lord's people. It's
a wonderful thing. It's an indescribably blessed
thing, and it is a revelation as to a reason for His people
to rejoice in Him and to praise Him. I love to read a verse of Scripture
Whether it's in the Old Testament or New Testament, whatever book
it is that speaks of this truth about God, that He is the eternal
God. Because as God is eternal, and
therefore unchangeable, so is the salvation and the safety
and the welfare of his people. You see, the gospel, which is
good news, is not temporary good news. It isn't like we're going
to have good news from God today, but tomorrow it might not be
so good. No, it's called the everlasting gospel. Look over in Isaiah chapter 45. Isaiah 45. I love this verse of Scripture. Isaiah 45 and verse 17. He's talking here about spiritual
Israel, about God's people. Isaiah 45 and verse 17. But Israel, now this is said
in contrast to everyone otherwise. To all those other ones, he said,
they shall be ashamed and also confounded, all of them, they
shall go to confusion together that are makers of idols. But
Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation."
You see how sure that is? There is nothing left to doubt. There is no possibility of failure. on God's part. There is no possibility
that they would ever be lost. Israel shall be saved in the
Lord, in the Lord Jesus Christ, with what kind of salvation?
Everlasting salvation. What other kind would you expect
from the eternal God? You see, he goes on to say, you
shall not be ashamed nor confounded, world without end. It's an everlasting salvation. And that God that is eternal
in His love for us, It's so amazing. Listen to this. This is what
he said to Jeremiah. The Lord hath appeared of old
unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an
everlasting love. That means it had no beginning.
That means it goes on for eternity and for time, and it has no ending. I have loved you with an everlasting
love. Therefore, because of that, with
lovingkindness have I drawn thee. What kind of love does God have? It's an everlasting love. That
means it does not depend on anything in the object of His love or
anything done by the object of His love because it was before
they ever existed. He loved them with an everlasting
love. And one of the most amazing things
about eternal love, this divine love, is expressed in what our
Lord Jesus prayed to the Father in John 17. Notice what He says,
"...I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect
in one, and that the world may know that thou hast sent me,
and hast loved them as thou hast loved me." That's John 17, verse
23. He says that everybody might
know that you have loved them, those that you gave me out of
the world. that you have loved them as you
have loved Me." So look at the next verse, verse
24. He continues as he prays, 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 lovest Me before the foundation of the
world." That's eternal love. He says, Father, You love them
as You love Me, and You love Me before the foundation of the
world. And out of that love, out of
this everlasting love, it was in this everlasting love that
He chose us and put us in what He calls the everlasting covenant. Man's covenants fail. Not God's
covenant. It's a covenant of grace to His
people. And it is sure and goes on and
will never fail because he says it's the everlasting covenant
wherein he blessed us in Christ in eternity. Here's how he expresses it in
Jeremiah 32. And I will make an everlasting
covenant with them. that I will not turn away from
them to do them good, but I will put my fear in their hearts that
they shall not depart from me." If this covenant fails, it cannot be the everlasting
covenant. Why? Because He wrote our names. In that Lamb's Book of Life,
it says, before the world began. Hebrews 13, the Apostle says,
Now the God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord
Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood
of the everlasting covenant. The Father is called the Eternal
God. The Son is called the Eternal
Son, who is the same yesterday and today and forever. And the
Holy Spirit, likewise, is called the Eternal Spirit. So Paul says, blessed be the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as
He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world. You see, nothing done by man
in time can be the cause of what God has said He has already done
before time. Nothing by a finite creature
can alter what the eternal God has already done. You see, our salvation is not
an afterthought, but it is the purpose, it is the will, it is
the determination of the eternal God in old eternity and God. Man always has a struggle with
when and when and when and when. At what point? Well, whenever anything is manifested
to us or revealed to us, that doesn't mean that's the
first of it. You see, the eternal God, sees
all of it, especially the salvation of His people in Christ Jesus. He sees all of it as done at
once. Why? Because He's eternal. The Lord's people experience
it. They have it manifested to them.
They have it revealed to them. in a progressive manner in time. But that's not the way it is
with God. He's eternal. And He sees everything. And He does everything at once. Let me ask you this. Can perfection
or omniscience as God has in Himself Can God ever find out
anything new? Can God ever be taken by surprise? He knows everything, and He knows
everything because He does everything, and He, in this great eternality,
views, does, sees, everything as done and whole and complete. And that's why it says the eternal
God is our refuge. He's not here today and gone
tomorrow. His will and His purpose and
His decrees, they are all eternal. It says known unto God are all
His works from the beginning of the world. And this is what he says about
himself. pleasure. He justifies us as the eternal
God. He declares us to be and counts
us righteous in Christ and blesses us as such before time. And he sees all his people in
union with his Son, who is none other than Jesus Christ the righteous. Now, I don't think there's a
whole lot of ground to debate or dispute that the Lord's people are justified
by the grace of God through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ
in eternity. And here is one reason why. Who
is our righteousness? It says that we are made the
righteousness of God in Him. It says that He is the Lord,
our righteousness. It says, in the Lord shall all
Israel be justified and shall glory. Now, let me ask you this. How long has His people been
in Him? Well, if we didn't know anything
else, we could read where Paul says there in Ephesians 1 that
we were chosen in Him before the foundation of the world.
And to be chosen in Christ is to be in Christ. To be put into
a union with Christ is to be put into a union with the righteousness
of Christ and to be blessed with all spiritual blessings. by the
eternal God in old eternity in His Son. That's not to say
that we didn't fall when we came in our representative head, Adam.
That's not to say that we were not born in sin and shaped in
iniquity. That's not to say that we did
not fall in every way and show ourselves to be sinners at every
point of our life Christ redeemed us. He reconciled
us. But the eternal God justified
us in Him. And what we now receive is the
revelation of that fact to us, the revelation of that truth
to us in time. But God, And you know that's
what Paul says, it is God that justifies. He is the eternal God. How does it say in Scripture
that Abraham believed God and it was counted for him for righteousness? Or how can it be said something
like this, that Lot, That man that God had to bring out of
Sodom at the hand of angels, how can it be said that he's
called righteous lot? Because we're justified by the
eternal God. And we've been in Christ since
He put us there in old eternity. And therefore, everything we
have, everything that God gives to His people in Christ, is eternal. Now, you think about this. The
life that God gives to His people as a gift in the Lord Jesus Christ
is what? eternal life. What kind of life would you expect
to be given from the eternal God as a gift of His grace in
His Son, but eternal life? As a matter of fact, this is
one of the plainest, clearest statements in all of this book. The Apostle John writes, this
is the record, God's record, God's truth. This is the record that God hath
given us. Where does it come from? It comes
from God. And it comes from God as a free
gift. This is the record that God hath
given unto us eternal life. And this life is in His Son. Where does eternal life come
from? From God. Do we get it by working or doing
this? It is a gift. Where is eternal life? It's given
to His people in Christ. And that's why it's eternal life. The Apostle writing in Hebrews
5 says, And being made perfect, He, that is Christ, became the
author of eternal salvation. A lady in the western part of
our state one time, she told me in a letter, she
said that she had run into problems with some folks at the work,
and one man said to her, I don't want to hear anything else about
eternal salvation. You know what that meant? Number one, he didn't want to
hear any more about salvation at all, because that's the only
kind there is. Number two, he did not want to
hear anything else about God. the eternal God our Savior. And number three, that left him
with no hope. No hope. Because Jesus Christ
is said to be the author of just one kind of salvation, and that's
eternal salvation. And this life eternal, according
to His own lips as He prayed to the Father in John 17. He
said, And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus
Christ, whom Thou hast sent. You think about that. Christ who is called life. He said, this is life eternal. What is life eternal? He said, it is to know the one
true and living God in Jesus Christ whom He has sent. Not just to live forever or to
exist forever. Every soul is going to live or
exist forever. But He said eternal life. is
to know Him, so as to rejoice in Him, so as to be saved by
Him, so as to delight in Him, so as to rest in Him, so as to
spend eternity with Him, the one true living God, through Jesus Christ whom He
hath sent. And this because, if you look
over here in Hebrews 9 and verse 12, the apostle says, "...neither
by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered
in once, into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption
for us. He redeemed us by His blood from
among men, from among every kindred, tribe, and tongue on the earth. He redeemed us to God with an
eternal redemption. the most often quoted verse in
all of Scripture. For God so loved the world that
he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish, but have everlasting life." God gave His Son to accomplish
this. And His love and the demonstration
of that love, rather than being broad in general, is very particular,
and it is identified with a particular people in that verse. Do you
see who they were? Not just whosoever, but whosoever believes. And none believe apart from that
gift of faith that God alone must give. But He loved them with an everlasting
love, And He'll bring every one of them to believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ, and they will never perish, but they will have everlasting
life. Even the mercy of God is said to be that. But the mercy
of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that
fear Him and His righteousness unto children's children. He's not merciful to His people
one day and not so merciful the next. It's from everlasting to
everlasting. And this very fact that God is
such, that God is eternal, that He is from everlasting to everlasting,
this is a comfort in the midst of our trials and our persecutions
and our afflictions and troubles. Paul said that the remembrance of this, is our comfort. He said, for
our life affliction, which is but for a moment. Sometimes it
seems like they go on for an eternity, but mark it down. They're
not only held down to time, but a short period of time. So what's our consolation? He
says, but our affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh
for us a far more exceeding weight and eternal weight of glory. In other words, the affliction
of the Lord's people, which is in time and so temporary, will
be replaced by what He calls an eternal weight of glory. While we look not at the things
which are seen, but at the things which are not seen, for the things
which are seen are temporal, or temporary, and the things
which are not seen, they are eternal. All we see in this life is temporary,
temporal. We have what we call blessings.
They come and go. They're like the tide. Here today,
gone tomorrow. We have afflictions. We have
troubles. We have trials. We have temptations. We have
tribulations of every kind. We have persecutions. And we
put them on a scale and they seem so heavy. And He said they're
nothing to be compared to this eternal weight of glory. All these things we see, all
these things we experience on this earth, all these things
we touch, they're temporary. But these unseen things, seen
only by the eye of faith, revealed only in the Word and truth of
the gospel, they're eternal. And this will be our hope at
the Savior's coming. This is our hope for the future. Peter said, And when the chief
shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory
that fadeth not away. that time will not diminish, that sin will not corrupt, because it's eternal and it fades
not away. In Hebrews 9 it says, and for
this cause, He, that is Christ, is the mediator of the New Testament,
that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions
that were under the First Testament, they which are called might receive
the promise of eternal inheritance. Eternal life, everlasting mercy,
everlasting love, eternal blessing, and eternal
inheritance. These are what come from the
eternal God in the Lord Jesus Christ. When that manslayer ran to the
city of refuge, he ran to that city of refuge,
and if he could get there, he'd be safe from the avenger of blood. If he could just make it into
that city, into the walls of the city, through the gates of
that city, there were seven of them scattered throughout Israel. And if he could make it into
one of those cities, he was safe. But for how long? For as long as the high priest
lived. And every sinner that seeks a refuge in Christ, They're going to be safe forever. They're going to be saved with
an everlasting salvation. Because the priest of God's people,
he's not ever, he's not ever going to die. He's already died,
risen again, seated at the throne, He's not ever going to die. He's
the eternal Christ. So when you go back, it would
be something wonderful if we could just believe it. If we could just find a spiritual
grip by faith. and be reminded of what God has said to his believing
people. The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting
arms. That's our refuge. And what a blessing it is to
come to a greater understanding, a greater confidence in this
truth. God is eternal. Nothing is going to take Him
by surprise. He's already determined and accomplished everything.
And what we find out in time is what He does all at once in
saving His people and glorifying His name in eternity. Father, tonight we give You thanks for all that you are. Though we cannot comprehend this
eternal, this eternity, this everlasting that characterizes you and all
that you give to us in Jesus Christ. But Lord, the thought of it,
the remembrance of it, the reading afresh and anew of it, you use somehow by your spirit
to encourage us, to help us find confidence and
comfort in one so far greater than ourselves. And it brings us to where the
only thing we can do is simply to fall on our faces and to worship
you and to thank you for that life eternal that you give to
us in your Son. All praise and honor belongs to you. And we thank you and pray in
Christ's name, Amen.