Go with me, if you would, back
to Ecclesiastes chapter 3. Ecclesiastes 3. Anytime a man stands up to truly
preach a message from the Lord, That man is at the mercy of the
Lord as to what the message is. There have been many times that
I've wanted to preach on a particular passage or a particular subject,
and I've tried and tried and tried, but the Lord just didn't
give me a message on it. If it's of the Lord, if it really is
of the Lord, we're at the mercy of the Lord as to what the message
is. On Wednesday nights, I'm always begging and praying that
it would be a message of comfort. That's what I feel Wednesday
night needs, comfort. And I always look for a message
of comfort, and I believe the Lord most of the time, that's
what he gives us, is a message of comfort. Tonight is no exception. There's no but. Tonight is no
exception. I believe I have a real message
of comfort. When I tell you that this has
comforted me, I mean this. The Lord speaks to me and helps
me and I believe feeds me in the study. And then it's my turn
to come and feed the brethren. But I have fed on this. I ask
the Lord to help you and feed you and bless you. This has just
really comforted me. Our message is going to come
from one verse, verse 14. Ecclesiastes 3 verse 14 says,
I know that whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever. Nothing
can be put to it, nor anything taken from it, and God doeth
it. that men should fear before him. Solomon said, what God does is
forever. He said, I know that what God
does is forever. It's forever. In this sinful
world that we live in right now, nothing stays the same. If you're
in a good moment, you better grab it while you can. Really,
nothing stays the same. You cannot count on anything
remaining. Remaining constant. You just
cannot count on anything. Everything about us changes. Everything around us changes.
Everything in us changes. Martin Luther said, feelings
come, feelings go, feelings are deceiving. You can't count on
them. They constantly change. But Solomon
said, I know that the things that pertain to God, they don't
change. They don't change. What God does
stays that way. This is the best news I've ever
told in my life. What God does stays that way. Yesterday, today,
and forever. Listen to these scriptures. I
was going to have you turn. I'll have you turn a little bit
here in a minute, but too many. I'm going to quote some scriptures
that mention the word forever. Psalm 45 verse 6, it says, Thy
throne, O God, is forever and ever. That's the best news we
could ever hear. When He sat down on that throne,
He took that seat to be His seat forever. Psalm 146.10 says, The Lord shall
reign Forever. Forever. Psalm 48 verse 14 says, tell
this to every generation that follows you. That's what the
end of verse 13 says. It says, you tell this to every
generation that follows you. This God is our God forever and
ever. forever and ever. He is our God
forever. What if the horrible news was
written? What if, you know, we believe
what's in the pages of this book. We open this book, we read it,
by God-given faith we believe it. Alright, what if the horrible
news was written that this God would be our God for a thousand
years, And then after that, another God will take over and we'll
see what happens. Like when you get a president,
you know, you get a president for four years and then after
that, we'll see what happens. What if the horrible news, this
God is our God forever, forever and ever. Psalm 73 verse 26 says,
my flesh and my heart faileth. But God is the strength of my
heart and my portion forever. My flesh and my heart is failing
me. That's what he said. My heart is just breaking. My
flesh is dying. Everything about me is failing.
But God is my strength. He's the strength of my heart
and He's my portion. He's what I get forever. He will
uphold me. and I'll have him forever. He'll
hold me and I'll hold on to him forever. Psalm 136 verse one
says, oh, give thanks unto the Lord for he is good, for his
mercy endureth forever. And Isaiah 40 verse eight says,
his word shall stand FOREVER. HIS WORD ON ALL THESE MATTERS.
IT WILL NEVER CHANGE. IT WILL NEVER CHANGE. WHAT GOD
DOES IS FOREVER. WHAT HE DOES IS FOREVER. ALL
THROUGH THE SCRIPTURE IT SPEAKS OF HIS EVERLASTING COVENANT. So many places I looked up everlasting
because so many places everlasting covenant. That means the promise
he made to God concerning his people, the promise that he will
never break, never break it. He will never break his promise. He made a promise and he'll never
break it. It is an everlasting covenant. Isaiah speaks of our everlasting
salvation. Because of his everlasting kindness
and everlasting strength. Psalm 100 verse 5 says his mercy
is everlasting. Psalm 119 says his righteousness
is everlasting. Ephesians 3 says his purpose
is an eternal purpose. Whatever he purposed, it's an
eternal purpose. Hebrews 9 says our inheritance
is an eternal inheritance. It is an eternal inheritance. Here's the point. What God does is forever. If he did it, It's
forever. Does that comfort you? That brings
so much comfort to me. So much comfort. Now, with that
being understood, I want to, I pray, comfort us with five
forever settled truths concerning what our God has done for us.
What God does, what God has done is forever. If God does it, it's
forever. If He did it, it will stand forever. So here are five things for us
to dwell on that our God has done for us. And because He's
the one who did it, we can count on this as being unchangeable.
This is unchangeable. Order to ensure. forever settled
in heaven for us, concerning us. All right, here's the first
one. Turn with me, if you would, to Hebrews 9. Hebrews 9. Verse 11, it says, but Christ being come and high
priest of good things to come by a greater and more perfect
tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building,
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 obtained eternal, eternal, eternal redemption You know, you think about somebody
messed up, messed up, and then they do something and totally
redeemed themselves. OK, you're back in now. All right. Eternal redemption. For us, look
at Hebrews 10, verse 11. And every priest standeth daily,
ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices which can
never take away sins. But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, he sat down on the right hand
of God. from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his
footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified." Because God was the one who hung
on that cross 2,000 years ago. Because he was the one. Because God was the one who cried,
it is finished. Our redemption is forever. It's
forever. I cannot ruin it for myself. I've said that phrase so many
times. I appreciate it more now than
I ever have in my life. The older I get, the more I learn
of my sin. And I can't ruin it. If God did it. You know, somebody
said, you believe in once saved, always saved. Somebody asked
a preacher one time, you believe in once saved, always saved?
He said, well, that depends on who saves you. If you saved yourself,
no. But if God saved you, if God
did it, what God does is forever. And I can't mess it up. And I
can't ruin it. Nobody else can ruin it for me. What God does is forever. He
made one sacrifice for the sins of his people. It only took one
sacrifice for the sins of his people because everything he
does is forever. If he made a sacrifice, it's
forever. Because of his one offering, we have an eternal advocate with
the Father. It took one offering. That's
all it took. And he can advocate for us. We
have an eternal intercessor. No matter how sad and unfortunate
and awful our sins are, they will never undo or make void
or ruin his redemption that he made for us, that payment, that
purchase price that he paid in full. If he paid it, it's paid. If he paid it, it's paid forever.
What God does is forever. That payment will stand forever. In Christ, we have an eternal
redemption. All right, number two, turn with
me to Romans chapter six. I'd love to really enter into
this just once. Romans 6 verse 23, it says, For the wages of sin is death,
but the gift of God, really pay attention to these words, the
gift of God is Eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. We talk
about God's grace, we talk about God's gift, the wages of sin
is death but the gift of God is eternal life. through Jesus Christ, our Lord,
because it was God that raised us up together with Christ after
that redemption payment was made, paid in full. And God said, I'm
satisfied. And because God is the one who
raised us up together with Christ, quickened us to life again in
Christ, because it was God that did that. We are going to live
forever. We're going to live forever.
I know that that is hard to enter into. I know it's hard to imagine.
I know it's hard to believe. Some things are hard to believe,
hard to be understood. But what God does is forever. When he said live, he meant forever. Forever. Whoever lives and believes
in him will never die. Never die. When you get home
after this, you're gonna take your church clothes off and you're
gonna put some PJs on. And that's no different from
the moment we take these old filthy rags off of this body
and put our home wear on. Does that make
sense? It's all it'll be. You just take
them off and put it on. Live forever. The moment we're absent from
this body will be present with the Lord. We're going to live
with him. We're going to dwell with him
right now. We dwell with each other. We're going to dwell with
him. We're going to see him. He's
going to say hello to us. We're going to eat with him,
we're going to drink with him. I hug almost all of you, I'm a hugger.
So is our Lord. We're going to walk with him,
we're going to talk with him in the reality of eternal, eternal,
never to die, never to even fear dying because it's not a possibility. Never ending eternal life. That's what Christ our God secured
for us. We talk about this, what he did
for us. If we could ever get a hold,
this is what he did. This is the gift that was given to us.
Eternal life. Eternal redemption. Eternal life. What God does is forever. Number
three, turn with me to Romans 8. Romans 8 verse 35 says, who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? Who could ever possibly separate
us from his love for us? He said, I have loved you with
an everlasting love in both directions, everlasting to everlasting. Because it was God that loved
us. Because it was God that commended
his love toward us while we were yet sinners. Had greater love
than all. Sent his son to be the propitiation
and loved us to the end because it was God that did that. What
God does is forever. It is forever. It's not that
we loved him. It's that he loved us and he
will love us forever. Some of you may feel this way. Some of you may not feel this
way. I believe all of us feel this
way, whether we realize it or not. I believe I speak on behalf of
most believers in saying we all know that we sin all the time.
We know we can't do anything, but there are times when we mess
up. And every time we sin against
him, something in us wonders if he is still going to love
us as much as he did before we sinned against him. Something
in us, whether we recognize that or not, we are ashamed before
Him. We fear His chastening on us. Sometimes we worry that with
each sin, He's just going to love us a little less and a little
less until finally His love is just gone. Because I'm still
doing the same old mess I was doing. It's just more apparent
now. You know what I'm talking about?
He's gotta be getting tired of me by this point. Listen to this. What God does is forever. It's forever. If he ever loved
us, he always will. I know we're unlovable, but if
he loved us yesterday, before the foundation of the world,
He will love us today and he'll love us forever. What God does,
everything that God does is forever. He does not change and that's
why we're not consumed. It's forever. Hold your place right here and
turn to Psalm 132. This is number 4, Psalm 132 verse
13. It says, For the Lord hath chosen
Zion, he hath desired it for his habitation. This is my rest
forever. This is my rest forever." Hearing
that, the Lord chose Zion. He desired it for His habitation.
He said, I want to be with Him and dwell with Him. Hearing that
is my rest forever. There remains there remains and
remains a rest for the people of God. That's what Hebrews 4
says. There remains a rest for the people of God. Christ is
that rest. And because Christ is the one
that secured that rest, we are going to rest forever. We're
going to rest forever. That's what eternity is going
to be. Rest. That's what God accomplished
for us through the work. You think about he said, I finished
the work through his work. We receive rest, eternal redemption. Eternal life, eternal love, eternal
rest, and all of that brings number five, eternal peace, eternal
peace. Turn to Isaiah nine. I don't ever get tired of reading
these verses. Isaiah 9, verse 6. For unto us a child is born,
unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his
shoulder. And his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor,
the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. OF THE INCREASE OF HIS GOVERNMENT
AND PEACE. THERE SHALL BE NO END. NO END. BECAUSE GOD WAS THE ONE
WHO WENT TO WAR WITH OUR SIN, ENDURED THE WAR OF THE CROSS
AGAINST OUR SIN. BECAUSE HE ENDED THAT WAR, WE'RE
GOING TO ENJOY PEACE. Forever. We're going to have
peace forever. Peace on all sides. Peace roundabout. Forever. That's so comforting to me. I'm
looking forward to that. Flip back to Romans 8. I wanted
to read these verses. We can't talk about this without
reading these verses. Romans 8 31 it says. What shall
we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who
is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea,
rather, that is risen again. who is even at the right hand
of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us
from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress,
or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, for thy sake
we are killed all the day long. We are accounted as sheep for
the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors
through him that loved us. For I am persuaded that neither
death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers,
nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth,
nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the
love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord." That's good
news, isn't it? Because God accomplished all
of that for us, it's forever. It'll never, never be able to. Forever and ever. Let me leave
us with a little benediction verse here, okay? Turn to Psalm
106, we'll close with this. Psalm 106, this will be our final
word on the matter. Psalm 106 verse 48. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel
from everlasting to everlasting. We're going to get to bless him
because what God does is forever. We're going to get to cry blessing
and honor and glory and praise forever. Blessed be the Lord
God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting. And let all the
people say, amen. Praise ye the Lord. What God
does, what God has done for us is forever. Amen. Praise the Lord. All right, let's
all stand together.