Boy, that's a thank you. I liked
Eric the last year. He said, you know, you meant
it for evil, but God meant it for good. Yes. Well, my dear brother Todd, I
can't tell you how much I love him and Lynn. I feel as comfortable
at their house as I do my own, and I hope they feel that way
at our house. And I love them very, very much. Brother, you
come, my dear friend, come and bring the Lord's message. The
Lord's laid on your heart. This is one of those times when
I feel a little bit of mixed emotions about preaching because
I think in some way it would be most appropriate to just say
amen and sit down. That is the gospel. That was
a blessing to me. And it's almost melodramatic
to try to preach again. I'm going to do it. And when
we go through Genesis like that and hear that story, I also thought
about this. If someone hears that and says,
well, I don't believe the Bible is the word of God. You're a
willful idiot. I don't know how else to say
that. And I don't want to be mean. I don't want to be, but
that this is so obviously God's word. We're preaching the word
of God. We're believing the word of God.
Isn't that amazing? We have the word of God before
us. I'm so thankful. I might not
should have said it that way, I don't know. Probably they'll
tell me you shouldn't have said it that way and I'll feel real
bad, but I don't feel too bad about it right now. Titus chapter one. I've entitled this message, Before
the World Began. Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle
of Jesus Christ. I think that order is interesting.
A servant, that's what me and you are. servants and an apostle of Jesus Christ,
according to the faith of God's elect and the acknowledging of the
truth. That's what the faith of God's
elect is, the acknowledging of the truth. which is after godliness in hope of eternal life. And that's not just eternal existence. That's eternal life. And that's not even talking about
the quality of life. That's talking about Christ being
my life before God. His eternal life. His righteousness as my righteousness. His faith as my faith. His zeal as my zeal. He said, I am the life. That is my eternal life before
God. Jesus Christ is my life. Now that's what gives me boldness
on judgment. Jesus Christ himself is my life. The only life I know about. I
don't want my fingerprints to be on anything when I stand before
God in judgment. Jesus Christ himself, his eternal
life, that life that had no beginning. He is my life before God in hope. I like the way he says in hope
of eternal life. You can't see hope, can you?
Can you see that eternal life? No. What I just said, can you
see it? No. Do you believe it? Yes. Faith is the evidence of things
hoped for. In hope of eternal life, which
God that cannot lie. Now our salvation is predicated
upon that statement. God cannot lie. It is utterly impossible for
God to lie because of his character. He's truth. He is the truth. Now look at this next line. In hope of eternal life, which
God that cannot lie promised before the world began. This promise. was made before
the world began, before there was time. And actually the word
began is the word, we get the word chronology or chronological
from the sequence in order of events in time. This was promised
before there was any such thing as time. No past, no future, the eternal
now. Now that's impossible for us
to grasp, I realize that. And if someone came up to me
and said, I'm gonna tell you what took place before time began,
I'd say, I think you know you won't. How do you know? You're
crazy. But we have the word of God that
tells us what took place before time began. And we also read
of when there will be no more time
in Revelation 10, six, time shall be no longer. There will be no
more yesterday and no more tomorrow. Tom's just a blip in the screen. The time began creation. The
morning and the evening were the first day. Time began at creation. Time is measured by how long
it takes the Earth to orbit the Sun, 365 and one-fourth days. I've been around for 65 orbits. Born in 1959. And I would say, with regard
to my life, the same thing Jacob said about it is. Few and evil
have been the days of the years of my pilgrimage. That would
be an honest assessment of my life if I was honest. Now, if
I was dishonest, I tell you how wonderful things have always
been. Like Jacob said, few and evil have been the days of the
years of my life. We measure time with clocks. Seconds, minutes, hours, days,
weeks, months, years, decades, centuries. Time. Well, we read of something
that took place before time began. Now, men have their theories
of when time began. I think it's interesting to think
of what people have said about the Big Bang. It's a theory,
the Big Bang. and I don't have the wherewithal
to tell exactly how it should be, but as I understand it, sometime,
time wasn't yet, anywhere between 10 and 20 billion years ago,
there was a big bang. There's different theories as
to whether there was already matter or whether there wasn't.
Some would think matter was very dense in this big explosion,
and we have the worlds and the galaxies, and some have thought,
no, there was no matter and this explosion took place. I don't
understand how that works. You know, it's a whole lot easier
to believe Genesis 1-1 ended. In the beginning, God created
the heavens and the earth. That's a lot easier. It takes
a lot of faith to believe in that. Blind faith. You know,
the origins of life somehow. There was a random chemical reaction
and a one-cell living organism appeared, and now we have all
the forms of life coming from that one living. Boy, that takes
a lot of faith to believe, doesn't it? Blind. faith. Oh, we're a lot safer
within the beginning. God created the heavens and the
earth. And the Bible is the inspired
word of God. All scripture is given by inspiration
of God. And if somebody thinks, well,
how can you, can you, do you really believe that? What do
you believe that God created the universe? Yes, you do. Now,
would it be difficult for God to inspire a book and keep it
preserved if he can create the universe from nothing? He's God
Almighty. God has given us a book, and this book tells us, as we
just read, about a promise that was made before the world began. Where was Jesus Christ before
the world? began. Let's hear from his own mouth
in Proverbs chapter 8. I would like to read the whole
chapter, but I'm not going to. It would be a good idea when
you have a chance to read this whole chapter, but I want to
begin reading in verse 22. Possessed me, Proverbs 8.22,
the Lord possessed me in the beginning of His way, before
His works of old, before the works of creation. I was set
up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth
was when there were no depths, I was brought forth. When there
were no fountains abounding with water, before the mountains were
settled, before the hills was I brought forth. While as yet
He had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest parts
of the dust of the world, when He prepared the heavens, I was
there. When He set a compass upon the
face of the depth, when He established the clouds above, when He strengthened
the fountain of the deep, when He gave to the sea His decree
that the water should not pass His commandment, when He appointed
the foundations of the earth, then I was by him as one brought
up with him. And I was daily his delight rejoicing
always before him. I love to think of the father,
the son, and the spirit rejoicing with each other. The one God
in three distinct persons. He didn't need anything. I've
heard people say, God created the world because he's lonely.
No, he wasn't. Oh, how the three persons of
the Godhead rejoiced in one another. How Jesus Christ rejoiced in
his father. How his father rejoiced in him.
Rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth and my delights,
listen to this, my delights were with the sons of men before the foundation of the
world. My delights were with the sons of me when they weren't
created yet. You see, I've always been in
Christ. And he was delighting in me then. Before I formed thee
in the belly, I knew thee. That is true of every believer. I've always had personality before
God. Somebody says, explain that to
me. I couldn't begin to. But however, this is not the right word, but
however old Christ is, that's how old I am in him. There was
never a time when I began to be in him. Now I know that logically
he comes first. I realize that, infinitely so. But the elect have always been
in the beloved. Now therefore hearken unto me,
O children, for blessed are they that keep my ways. Hear instruction,
and be wise, and refuse it not. Blessed is the man that heareth
me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors.
For whoso findeth me, findeth life, and shall obtain favor
of the Lord. But he that sinneth against me
wrongeth his own soul. All they that hate me love death."
Now that's where Jesus Christ was before the world began. Don't you love the scripture,
John 1, 1 and 2, in the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God as a distinct
person and the Word was God. The same was, eternally was in
his isness. The same was in the beginning
with God. You know, the Lord said in his
great high priestly prayer for his people, glorify me with the
glory which I had with thee before the world was. And the Bible gives us specifics
about before there was time, and when, as John said in Revelation
10.6, that time should be no longer. Eternity. No yesterday, no tomorrow, the
eternal now. Eternal life. Eternal life. You know, Paul used this phrase,
an eternal weight of glory. Now that's something that we
can hear and not really grasp, but believe. Every believer has
an eternal weight of glory. I like what Paul said, we look
not at things which are seen, but the things that are not seen.
For the things that are seen, what I'm looking at right now,
what you're looking at right now, it's temporal, it's temporary,
it's fleeting, it's not going to last. But the things which
are not seen are eternal. I would like you to turn to Isaiah
chapter 46. Isaiah chapter 46, verse 9. Remember the former things of
old. Now, I don't know how to do that. He's talking about remember that
which is eternal, but here's what he says. Remember the former
things of old. For I am God and there is none
else. I am God and there's none like
me. He is other. None like him. Declaring the end from the beginning. and from ancient times, the things
that are not yet done saying, my counsel shall stand and I
will do all my pleasure. Now, whatever comes to pass in
time is what he purposed in eternity. And that covers everything. There is nothing that happens
in time that he did not decree to come to pass in eternity. Even the little things? Even
the little things. Not a sparrow falleth to the
ground. How insignificant is that? Not
a sparrow falls to the ground without your heavenly father. Now I would like you to turn
to Revelation chapter 13. There's not a more important
verse of Scripture in all the Bible than this. Verse 8, And all that dwell upon
the earth shall worship him, this beast, and the false prophet. They shall worship him. whose
names are not written in the book of life, of the Lamb slain. Not the Lamb who will be slain,
the Lamb having been slain. From the foundation of the world,
before time, Jesus Christ was the Lamb slain. from the foundation
of the world. Now think about that. Why would he be slain? Sin. There's only one reason for death.
Sin. But you know what else he was
before the foundation of the world? He was the lamb raised
from the foundation of the world. And God's elect, those whose
names are written in that book, have always been in Him. The Lamb, having been slain from
the foundation of the world before there was ever a sinner, there
was a Savior. Before your sin, there was the
Savior. While you're in Revelation, turn
to Revelation chapter 20 verse 11. Now this book, the Lamb slain
from the foundation of the world with a book, their names written
in it, we're going to read about it here. It was spoken of in
Daniel chapter 12. This is no novel. thing. This has always been the truth. This is the book of Revelation
chapter 5 where the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb slain, comes
and takes the book from the Father. He doesn't ask Him for it. I
say, I hope with proper reverence, but as the Father's equal, He
came and took the book that no man was worthy to open. He was. Look here in Revelation 20 verse
11. And I saw a great white throne and him that sat on it from whose
face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found
no place for them. And I saw the dead small and
great stand before God and the books were opened and another
book was open. We read a books plural and this
one book, which was the book of life. And the dead were judged
out of those things were written in the books, plural, according
to their works. And the sea gave up the dead,
which were in it, and death and hell delivered up the dead, which
were in them. And they were judged, every man
according to their works, and death and hell were cast into
the lake of fire. This is the second death. And
whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast
into the lake. a fire. Before the world began. Now you're
all familiar with Ephesians chapter 1. I know that. You've read it
many times. Your pastor preached from it
many times. According as he has chosen us
in him before that we should be holy and without blame before
him, before the foundation of the world. But you go on reading.
He's talking about the three persons of the Trinity and their
work in salvation, Ephesians chapter 1, but verse 12 says
that we should be to the praise of His glory who first trusted
in Christ. Who first trusted in Christ?
God the Father. When did He first trust in Christ? before the foundation of the
world when he stood, as you read from Genesis 43, as my surety,
and said, everything you require of him, look to me for it. Of my hand shall you require
of him. And God the Father trusted his
son with my salvation before time began. In Hebrews chapter four, you
can turn there if you want, verse three. For we which have believed, Hebrews
chapter four, verse three, for we which have believed do enter
into rest. What's that? It means you're
not working. you're resting. He that's entered
into his rest has ceased from his own works as God did also
from his rest. As I sworn in my wrath, if they,
or they shall not enter into my rest, those people who did
not believe, although the works were finished, from the foundation
of the world. Which works? All works. All the works of God were finished
from the foundation of the world. Now that includes everything.
It's the same all that Paul was talking about when he said all
things work together for good to them that love God, to them
that are called according to his purpose. That includes everything.
But it's most specifically speaking of salvation. All the works of
salvation were finished, completed. Plumbed over. from the very foundation
of the world. That's how secure your salvation
is. It was accomplished before you were ever born. What rest
there is in that. Whom he did foreknow, them he
also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son that
he might be the firstborn. among many brethren. Moreover,
whom he did predestinate, them he also called." Doesn't that
happen in time? Yeah, but the reason it happens
in time is because it happened in eternity. Whom he did predestinate,
them he also called. Whom he called, them he also
justified. Do you know that every believer
is eternally justified in Jesus Christ? before he's ever born. You see,
God said, I'll by no means clear the guilty. And if he's ever
seen you as guilty, he's not going to clear you. What would
we do with a human judge who would clear the guilty? We'd
say he's an unjust judge. God's not going to clear the
guilty. And God's elect are eternally justified in the beloved. Somebody says, well, that'll
encourage people to I think they don't need to do anything, no
sin and all, you know, if I'm gonna do it. It does not. It
just does not. Somebody that says that, that's
because they think that's what they do if it's true with regard to
them. They have no understanding when people make that kind of
objection. No, God's elect have always been before him, holy,
unblameable. and unreprovable in His sight. If you're somebody that believes
on Christ, you're somebody that has never sinned. That's what
justification is. Yeah, but I have sinned in time,
I know. But in due time, Christ died
for the ungodly. And that's taking care of all
of that. He was The lamb slain from eternity and came in time. Listen to this. God created the
universe for this to take place, for his son to come in time and
die on a cross to glorify himself and save his people from this.
That's his eternal purpose, which he purposed in Christ Jesus,
our Lord. All this took place before time
began. and whom he justified, then he
also glorified. It doesn't say he will glorify
them. It says they're glorified. A thing already done. Now, somebody
may say, you don't look glorified to me. I know. But remember,
we look not on things which are seen. but things which are not
seen. For the things that are seen,
they're temporal. This life is fleeting so quickly. And we never see things as it
really is anyway. Anything anybody's going through,
you make a judgment about it. You don't know what's going on.
And I don't either. Well, here's what just, Shut
up. I wish I'd take that advice.
Just shut up. You don't know anything anyway.
The things which we see, we don't know what's going on. But here's
what's real, the things that are not seen. I can't see my
justification before God, but it's more real than anything
else. Turn with me a second, Timothy
one. Verse 8, Be not thou therefore ashamed
of the testimony of our Lord. And he's getting ready to give
what the testimony of our Lord is. This is how significant this
is. Be not thou therefore ashamed
of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me, his prisoner. But
be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the
power of God who hath saved us and called us. Question, what came first? Saving or the calling? What came first? According to
this word, not according to what some confession of faith. What
came first? If you just read this, he saved
us. Then he called us and he called
us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according
to his own purpose. Doesn't God give her by chance?
Salvation is not by chance. It's by the purpose of God. He saved us, He called us with
a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to
His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus. Same phrase, before the world
began, before time began. On Judgment Day, we read in Matthew
chapter 25 that the Lord is going to say to the sheep on His right
hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared
for you from the foundation of the world. This is the Bible. This is the word
of scripture. This is God's word. This is not
high doctrine. It's high, but it's who we believe. God's eternal. A natural man
can look at creation and logically figure out that God must be eternal. Somebody made this. Nobody made
him. But that's not the kind of. This is eternal life. Eternal life, life that never
had a beginning. Why do you believe? A lot of folks don't. You do. Why? Why do you love Jesus Christ? I know when you think about your
love to Him, you feel like it falls woefully short. I realize
that. I feel the same way, but why do you love Him? Why do you
see Him as the only hope that you have? Why do you see Him as beautiful? Why do you love God's way of
salvation? Why have you persevered in the
faith up to this point? Why do you see your sinfulness? Why do you see your utter need
of being saved only by Christ, because you have nothing else
to bring to the table? Why do you see that? Because it was determined before. The foundation of the world. Everything in time is what His
hand and His counsel determined before to be done. That's what the Bible says. says
that about the crucifixion of Christ. For the truth against
thy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius
Pilate, with the Gentiles and the children of Israel, that
covers everybody, were gathered together for to do whatsoever
thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done. Now, the objections the unbelievers
make that this will destroy efforts to live for the glory of God
because everything is already determined, and this will destroy
zeal to spread the gospel and missions, that's foolishness! It causes it! That's where that
comes from! Now, while we are here in time, Here we are in time. We can say
with joy, with David, my times are in thy hand. Good place for
him to be, isn't it? And Paul said, redeem the time. You're here right now. I'm here
right now. Redeem the time. That means make
the most of every opportunity. Don't waste time. Don't waste
time, redeem the time. Whatever that means, may the
Lord give me grace, what time I have here, to redeem the time
in seeking His honor and His glory. And at the end of all this, when
time is over, face to face with Christ my Savior, face to face
What will it be when with rapture I behold him, Jesus Christ, who
died for me? Now, if there's somebody that
doesn't like this, let me tell you why you don't like it. Because
your hope is something you did here in time. And if that's what
your hope is, it says your hope's no good. That's the only reason
why somebody wouldn't like this. Because all their hope is found
in some work they performed here. But oh, if you know your works
are no good, you're going to rejoice in this complete salvation
that he accomplished before time began. Pause my soul, adore,
and wonder why, oh why, such love for me. Grace had put me
in the number of the Savior's family. Well, how can I know if God did
that for me in eternity? Because in time, you understand
this, to him that worketh not. You understand that you cannot
be saved by your works. Do you understand that? If salvation
is up to something you've got to do before he can do something
for you, you're toast. You know that. To him that worketh
not, but believeth on him that justifies the ungodly. You know that the only hope that
you have is that he, by his grace, justified you, an ungodly sinner,
through what his blessed son did on Calvary's tree, and you
have nothing else. To him that worketh not, but
believeth on him that justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted
for righteousness. Amen. Well, what a morning. You know, make the long and short
of that. God's eternal, so everything
he does has to be eternal. It has to be. It cannot be any
other way. Well, well, you're talking about
showers of blessings. We've got showers of blessings
this weekend, didn't we? Oh, so wonderful. Well, I'm going
to offer thanks for the food. The lady's going to go and set
up the meal. And don't nobody go nowhere until they holler
at you. Don't go back there and start eating. If you're hungry,
wait until they get on the table. All right. Lord, thank you. Oh, God bless it, be your name.
Oh, what a joy this has been. What a joy. What a blessing. Oh, surely, surely, Lord. taught us, taught us so much
this weekend, blessed us with so much truth, so much precious
word, that blessed seed of Christ, that blessed Savior. Lord, he
said, do you love him? Yes, we do. Is he beautiful?
Yes, he is. Do we need him? Yes, we do. Do
we want him? Yes, we do. Do we trust him? Yes, we do. Because he is worthy. He is worthy. He is worthy. God, thank you for these dear,
dear people that's come. Thank you for the ladies that
prepared this food and the love that went in preparing it. Thank
you for our dear visitors that went to such expense and time
to come to worship with us. And so, Lord, bless our time
together this afternoon and bring glory to yourself through us.
Keep these people safe, dear saints, safe as they go home.
Keep them for your glory and our good till we all can meet
again. In Christ's name, amen. Amen. They out there fixing it? Or
are you going to lead us in a hymn? OK. Number nine in the course book,
say center will you meet me. Let's stand together. Number nine in the course book. Say sinner, will you meet me?
Say sinner, will you meet me? Say, sinner, will you meet me
on Canaan's happy shore? By the grace of God, I'll meet
you By the grace of God, I'll meet you By the grace of God
I'll meet you on Canaan's happy shore There we'll shout and give
Him glory, there we'll shout and give Him glory There we'll
shout and give them glory, for glory is his name. Amen. They'll open the door and
tell you when you go eat, but I hope everybody stays and eats.
Lots of food. We'll let the elderly and those
who have a hard time getting around, we'll let them go through
line first. Yes, yes, that's right. And our visitor.