As I previously stated, I've
entitled this message before there was time. Now, somebody
may think, where in the world would you come up with a message
like that? How do you know about anything like that? Well, we're
totally dependent upon this book. These are not my thoughts. This
is what God's word says with regard to this thing of time.
Now, we're all in some measure, keenly aware of time, more so
today than any other day. We think of the past, we think
of the future on this first calendar day of the year. The writer to the Hebrews says
in verse one of Hebrews chapter four, let us therefore fear. lest a
promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should
seem to come short of it. Now he tells us to fear this
thing of falling short of entering into his rest. That's what faith is. It's resting,
not working, resting. Just as God ceased from his works
in creation and rested, the work was finished. We rest in his
completed work. Now, if I do not enter into his
rest sometime during this time of my time here on earth. I will not be in eternity in
heaven, but in that other place. And this is so important that
you and I enter into this rest. Because God says regarding those
who do not believe, I've sworn in my wrath, they shall not enter
into my rest. Look at what he says in verse
two, for unto us was the gospel preached as well as unto them.
But the word preached, talking about these old Testament figures,
the word preached did not profit them. Not being mixed with faith
in them that heard for we, which have believed do enter into rest. As he said, as I've sworn in
my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest and that should
read, they shall not enter into my rest. And then he makes this
very unusual statement. Look in verse three, although.
The works were finished, completed from the foundation of the world. That statement says that the
works were finished, completed, accomplished
Before there was time. The title of this message before
there was time. Now this is not some obscure
text. You know, as a matter of fact,
there's no such thing as an obscure text is there? If it's in the Bible,
it's God's word. But everything that takes place
in time was already finished in eternity. Acts chapter 15
verse 18, known unto God are all his works from the beginning. All of his works of creation.
All of his works of providence, that which takes place in time
and all of his works of salvation were finished, completed, already
accomplished from the foundation of the world. And what that means
is before there was time, time is temporary. John said in Revelation 10, six,
that there should be time. No longer. Time is temporary. It's temporal. Time began in
creation. When we have the creation of
time and space and matter, but before creation, there was no
time. There was no past. There was
no future. Everything was eternally present. All there was, was God. No time, no space, no matter. All there was, was God. in the Trinity of His Sacred
Persons. Now, all you and I know by way
of experience is time. Yesterday, today, tomorrow, past,
present, future, measured in increments of seconds, minutes,
hours, days, weeks, months, years, decades, centuries, Millenniums,
we were conceived at a point in time. We have birthdays, don't
we? And our lives are lived out in
time. The life and times of so and
so. How we spend our time. Now, I'm greatly concerned about
what takes place in time. I want to walk with God in my
time here on earth. David said, my times. are in
thy hand. Aren't you glad? In my time here on earth, I want
to enter into his rest. I want to be saved. I want the
Lord to save me. You know, I hate the term. I
got saved. I hate that term. I want the Lord to save me. I want to believe the gospel.
I want to be a real believer, whatever that is. I want to preach the gospel. I want the Lord to bless me in my time. Now, I hope I say
this in humility. Because I'm aware of my own sin
and failure all the time. But in this time I have, I want
to live a life that glorifies God. In this time. I want to be an
example to follow in this time. I want to be a good husband so
that my wife could say, honestly, I'm glad he's my husband. I want
that to happen in time. I want to be a good parent. I
want to be a good friend. I want to be that friend that
loveth at all times. So that if I'm somebody's friend,
they say, I'm glad he's my friend in this time. I want to be a
true pastor after God's own heart during this time, my time here
on earth. I want to always in my time,
give my best effort at whatever I'm doing. When I preach a message, I better
know I've done my best. It might not be much, but it's
gonna be my best. I never want to give a lack of effort during
this time. During this time, I want to exemplify
the Beatitudes. I want to be poor in spirit.
I want to mourn over my sin before God. I want to be meek before
God. I want to hunger and thirst after
his righteousness. I want to be pure in heart. I
want to be a real peacemaker. I want to truly be merciful. I would count it my highest privilege
to be allowed to be persecuted for his righteousness sake. In this time, I want the Lord
to prosper his cause here on earth. Remember how the Lord
taught us to pray, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth
as it is in heaven. I want the Lord to bless this
church. I want his grace to be upon us.
I want the Lord to bless every church where his gospel is preached. I don't want to just think of
this place. I want to think of the kingdom
of heaven everywhere. I want all of us in this time we have to be successful. As God measures success, not
as man measures success. I want us to be successful and
fruitful in this time. I want us to be successful in
our homes. In our careers. I want us to
be a blessing to others in this time. I want in my life. In this time. The time I have. To exemplify. what Paul says
in 1 Corinthians chapter 13. I wanna read this to you. Why
don't you turn there? 1 Corinthians chapter 13. And before we read it, I want
to read the first verse of chapter 14. Follow after charity. Pursue it. Make this your pursuit. In this time, he says in chapter 13, verse
one, though, I speak with the tongues of men and of angels
and have not charity. I'm as a sounding brass or a
tinkling symbol. And though I have the gifts of
prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though
I have all faith so that I could remove mountains and have not
charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods
to feed the poor and though I give my body to be burned as a cause
for the cause of truth is what he's talking about. If I give
myself to be a martyr for the truth and have not charity, it
profits me nothing. Charity, love suffers long and
is kind. Charity envieth not. Charity
vaunteth not itself. It's not trying to prove to everybody
how great it is. It's not puffed up with pride. It doesn't behave itself unseemly. It's not rude. Seeketh not her
own. Is not easily provoked. Thinketh
no evil. That means it keeps no records
of wrongs. Rejoices not in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth. Bears
all things. And that simply means covers
with silence, all things, believes all things, hopes, all things,
endures all things. Charity never fails. What he says in verse 13, and
now abideth faith, hope, and charity, these three, but the
greatest of these is charity. Pursue charity, pursue it, follow
it, make it your aim and your purpose. I want in this life to know the
joy and peace of believing. In my time, the wise man said in Ecclesiastes
3.1 to everything, there's a season and a time to every purpose under
heaven. Now, I'm not saying that I'm
not greatly concerned about time right now. Tomorrow, I am. And I know everything that takes
place in time, he purposed in eternity. There is no good luck. There
is no bad luck. There is no chance, there are
no random events. The wise man said in Proverbs
16, the lot is cast into the lap, but the whole disposing
thereof is of the Lord. Everything that takes place without
exception, everything is of the Lord. The Lord, the Lord says,
there's not a sparrow that falls to the ground. Talking about
something insignificant in some other country, a bird dying and
falling out of a tree. I mean, you don't think about
it. The heavenly father controls it. That's why we can say with Paul
in Romans 8 28. And we know, we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are the
called according to his purpose. You know, there's no room for
worry. There's no room for fretting. David said, in Psalm 115.3, our
God is in the heavens. He hath done. Not really he's doing, or he
will do. He hath done. Whatsoever he hath pleased. I love the song we sing, this
is my father's world. And let me ne'er forget that
though the wrong seems off so strong, God is the ruler yet. This is my father's world. The
battle is not done. Jesus who died shall be satisfied
and heaven and earth be one. Now with regard to time, I don't
know how many times I've heard people just say conversationally
when something takes place. Well, I think there's a reason
for everything. There's a purpose for everything. Now they don't
go any further than that, but they have some vague notion that
there's a reason for everything. And then there are others who
believe in what they call fate, not a personal God, but fate.
that controls everything. It was fate that caused this
to take place. Well, who's fate? And then there's what is known
as determinism. Determinism is that belief that
everything is already encoded in our DNA. How we act, it was
just determined because of who we is. There's no will involved
and there's really no responsibility involved. Everything has just
been determined. It's all in our DNA. Whatever
you do, it was already encoded in you to do that. A vague notion is wrong. Fatalism is wrong. Determinism is wrong. While we
do not believe in free will, and we don't, there's no such
thing as free will. Your will is determined by your
nature. The very idea of free will really is a philosophical
absurdity. If he wants to, he can eat grass. You can tell him not to? I wouldn't,
but he's not going to do it because it's against his nature. Your
will is determined by your nature. That being said, we do what we
want to do. And we do not do what we do not
want to do. And we are responsible for what
we do and what we do not do. And God is completely sovereign
over our free and uncoerced actions. And it's not difficult for him.
He's God. I think of the scripture. As
a matter of fact, I want you to turn with me to look at this
and this will demonstrate what I'm saying. Acts chapter four. This is the early church and
look what they had to say in verse 27. This is the church
united in praise for the truth. Acts chapter four, verse 27,
for the truth against thy holy child, Jesus, whom thou has anointed
both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the people
of Israel were gathered together for to do whatsoever thy hand. and thy counsel determined before
to be done. When those Roman soldiers were
nailing the spikes in the hands and the feet of our Lord and
fasting him to that cross, here's why it took place. It was God's
will. and counsel for this to be done. Now they were held responsible.
What they did was evil. In Acts chapter 2 it says, Him
being delivered by the determinant counsel and foreknowledge of
God. You have taken and with wicked
hands have crucified and slain. It was his purpose that doesn't
get you off the hook with wicked hands. You've taken him and crucified
him and slain him. You did what you wanted to do
But God is completely sovereign over the free and uncoerced actions
of men. And it's not difficult for him.
He's God. Isaiah chapter 46 verse nine. God says, I am God and there
is none else. I am God and there is none like
me. Declaring the end from the beginning
and from ancient times, the things that are not yet done saying
my counsel shall stand. I will do all my pleasure. I've spoken it. I also will do
it. I purposed it. I will bring it
to pass. Let's do this scripture from
Daniel chapter 4 verse 35. He doeth according to his will
in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth
right now in this room and outside of this room. He doeth according
to his will and none can stay his hand or say unto him, what
doest thou? He does his will. will. And his will was all done
in eternity. This is who God is. And listen
to this. A God that is not this God is
a false God. A figment of men's depraved imagination. This is the God of the Bible,
the eternal God. In Psalm 90, we read these words
in verse two, before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou
had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting
to everlasting, Thou art God, thou turnest man to destruction,
and sayest, return ye children of men, listen to this, for a
thousand years in thy sight, or but as yesterday, when it's
past, and as a watch in the night. You know, even in this book of
Hebrews, we read of his eternal throne. And let me remind you
of this. This is not talking about a material
throne. His eternal throne. We read,
Thy throne, O God, is forever, an eternal salvation, eternal
judgment, eternal redemption, the eternal spirit, the eternal
inheritance, the eternal covenant. He is the eternal God. And that is why Paul said, we
look not at things which are temporal. but things which are
eternal. For the things that are temporal,
they're just temporary. The things which are seen are
temporal, but the things that are not seen are eternal. Now, we could know nothing of
eternity had not God made it known in his word. You see the
things that I'm talking about, the only foundation of these
things are scripture, not a philosophy, not a point of view, not a way
of looking at things. This is only from the scripture,
God's holy word. Paul said, we speak the wisdom
of God in a mystery. Even the hidden wisdom, which
God ordained before the world unto our glory. Now, you think
of the scripture, the mystery that God ordained before the
world began. What is a mystery? Well, when
we use the word in our day, what's mystery to me means we don't
know. We don't know. And you can say that about so
many things. We just don't know. We don't know. Mystery to me,
that's not what the Bible means by the word. A mystery is something
we would never have known had not God made it known in His
Word. And the mysteries of Scripture is not something we so much intellectually
comprehend. For instance, can you intellectually
comprehend how God can be one God in three distinct persons?
Of course not. We believe it because God has
made it known in His Word. The mystery of union with Christ,
eternally united. Paul says, I speak a great mystery.
I speak concerning Christ in the church, the two being one
flesh, being one. What about the mystery of Christ
in you? Great, this great mystery, Christ
in you. What a mystery. We believe it,
we glory in it. We would never have known it
had not God made it known. And that's the way the gospel
is to be preached in a mystery, which God ordained before the
world. All the mystery of the gospel
comes from eternity. Now I'm going to read you some
scriptures with regard to before there was time. Time took place in creation. Before there was time. Well,
we read in Ephesians 3 11 of the eternal purpose. Listen to the language, the eternal
purpose, which he purposed in Christ Jesus, our Lord. And we read of the purpose of
him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will.
This is God we're speaking of. This is God the scripture speaks
of. Listen to this scripture with
regard to God's purpose. Romans 9 verse 11. For the children. Talking about Jacob and Esau.
The twins. Same mom and dad. Same womb. Same upbringing. For the children.
Being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the
purpose of God, now there's the word, that the purpose of God
according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that
calleth. Now that's God's eternal purpose,
that salvation might not be of works, You can't work your way
into heaven. There's nothing you can do to
make yourself acceptable with God. That's God's purpose. If
the purpose of God, according to election might stand, it ain't
going away. Not of works, but of him that
calleth. I love this verse of scripture,
John chapter 17, verse 24. This is the Lord speaking. He
says, Thou lovest me. He's praying to his father in
time. He says, Thou lovest me before
the foundation of the world, before there was time. Oh, how
the father loved the son. How the son loved the father. How the father loved the spirit. How the son loved the spirit. All there was, was God. He didn't create men because
he's lonely. He's perfectly happy in himself. He did it for his glory. Listen to this scripture, and
I would argue that there's no more significant scripture in
the Bible than this. So let me ask you to turn there
so you can see it with your own eyes, Revelation 13. Verse eight, and all, Revelation 13, eight,
and all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him. This, uh,
figure of antichrist, they will worship him. Here's who will
not worship him. And who's who here's who will
worship him. All the dwell upon the earth
will shall worship him. Whose names are not written in
the book of life of the lamb slain from the foundation of
the world. Now, do you hear that? What that's
saying? The lamb slain before there was
time. That's what from the foundation
of the world means before there was time. The universe was created for
this purpose, for the lamb who was slain before time to come
into time and be slain. That is God's eternal purpose. Christ is the lamb slain from
the foundation of the world. And if he's the lamb slain from
the foundation of the world, guess what? He's the lamb raised
from the foundation of the world. He doesn't stay dead in eternity.
Why that doesn't? No, he's the lamb raised from
the foundation of the world. And God's purpose is the cross,
the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ is God's eternal purpose to make
himself known. His character, who God is, is
displayed in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's his
reason for everything. He's the lamb slain from the
very foundation of the world. Before there was ever a sinner,
There was a savior before sin had ever been committed.
The payment had already been made. That gives us some idea of what
it means to rest in a work that is finished. The father said to the son. Thy
throne, O God, is forever. Now like I said, that throne
is not a material throne that he's speaking of. It's symbolic
of his absolute sovereignty. A throne of absolute sovereignty. It's a throne of absolute justice.
You know, God is righteous. He's right. Whatever he does
is right. Justice and judgment are the
habitation of our throne, the psalmist said. And what I love
about this is, a lot I love about this. God doesn't answer to anybody. Whatever he does is right. And
he doesn't have some kind of law he's trying to conform himself
to. He has no law over his head. He doesn't do something because
it's right. It's right because he does it,
because he's God. Shall not the judge of the earth
do right? Absolute righteousness and judgment. And oh, thank God, not only is
it the throne of absolute sovereignty and absolute justice, It's called
the throne of grace. The throne of grace. That's why folks like me and
you can be saved. It's a throne of pure, free grace. Not only is the cross eternal,
not only is his throne eternal. Listen to this Hebrew 721 says
thou art a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
Not just a Levitical priesthood that's found in the Old Testament.
Those priests die. They were just symbolic. They
just were given to picture the great high priest, the eternal
high priest. The Lord Jesus Christ is my representative
before God. Turn to Ephesians chapter one. You know one of the things I
like about the scripture? I can preach a scripture and
somebody says, I don't agree with that, take it up with God
then, this is his word. Ephesians 1. Verse 3, 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. Before time. That we should be
holy and without blame before him. Now this is the doctrine
of divine thanksgiving. We're bound to thank God always
for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from
the beginning chosen you to salvation through
sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth. Paul
said in 2 Timothy 1.9, he saved us and called us. And that's very important. Note
the order. Did you know he saved you before he called you? And if he saved you, he calls
you. He saved us and he called us. They can't be separated. Make
your calling and election sure. You can't make your election
sure if you don't make your calling sure. He saved us and He called
us. Now listen to the rest of the
scripture. 2nd Timothy 1.9 He saved us. He called us with a
holy calling not according to our works but according to His
own purpose and grace which were given us in Christ Jesus before
the world began. All we have was given us in Christ
Jesus before the world began, before the creation of the world,
before there's time. And let's see, this is what we're
gonna hear on Judgment Day. Matthew chapter 25. This is what
we're gonna hear on Judgment Day. Come, ye blessed of my Father,
Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of
the world. Before there was time. Salvation by works is excluded. It's just excluded. This is something
accomplished before time. That altogether excludes salvation
by works. What work we have to rest in.
A work finished before time resting in the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh,
he says, come unto me and I'll give you rest. The issue is not
for you to figure out whether or not you're elect, come unto
him and he'll give you rest. He makes that promise. Don't
say, well, what if I'm not elect? Well, what if you are? Come unto
him and he will give you rest. He's promised. This doesn't exclude
anybody. It includes anybody who wants
rest. And you know this thing of eternity, here's the last
statement I want to make, and I love thinking about this. When there's no past and there's
no future, you know what? Everything's new all the time. The gospel is good news all the
time. It's not yesterday's newspaper.
It's not old news, it's forever new. Happy New Year. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for how
glorious you are, that you inhabit eternity, and that you sent your son in
time as the purpose of eternity to glorify all your attributes
and to save your people. Lord, we are completely dependent
upon you to make yourself known to us. Lord, this is so high
and glorious and above us. We ask that you, by your grace,
would reveal yourself to each one of us, according to your
will, for Christ's sake. And as we look forward to the
coming year, whatever time we have, Lord, we don't know if
it's just a few days or years, but whatever time we have, let
it be time where we rest in your accomplished work and that we
glorify you in our time here on earth. Give us grace to love
you more and love one another more. In Christ's name we pray,
amen.