Transcending Time

Introduction

Good evening. It’s good to see everyone. It’s like a little bit smaller crowd tonight. Don’t know how to take that, Jared. Jared mentioned this morning that he gets excited when he gets to come up here and speak to you. Well, I confess I still get deathly afraid. So you’ll see Jared Antony pace back and forth. I’ll probably be staying here clinging desperately for life to podium. But thank you for putting up with me and I thank the elders for giving me the opportunity to speak to you tonight. And I hope that some of the thoughts we’re going to speak about will be helpful to you, will be encouraging to you, and give you something to think about this week. That’s our hope. Okay, what’s the deal with the kids, right?

I get a kick out of some of the recent ATT commercials. You’ve probably seen some of these, where they have the guy in the suit sitting in the classroom with a bunch of little kids around him, and he asks them a question. Pretty cute. I wonder how many takes they have to do to get what they want. But I like the one that this screenshots from where there’s a guy asking him, or the guy asks him, what’s the biggest number you can think of? And one of the little girls says, a trillion billion zillion. He said, Okay, that’s pretty big. How about you? And that little boy, I think the one that looks a little off right there. He says, ten. So, okay. How about you?

Points to another kid. He says, infinity. I said, okay, can you talk that? And this little girl here on the right, she says, infinity and one. Says, actually, we were looking for infinity plus infinity. Sorry. And then the first little girl pipes up and says, Well, what about infinity times infinity? And he just makes the mind blow thing. Well, tonight I’m going to ask you to stretch your minds a little bit as we talk about the infinite. And it’s not because I understand that any more than you or have a better understanding, but just because these are concepts that we have a hard time getting our heads around. So hang with me. but we have a hard time with maybe that’s why we have see so much error taught related to some of the things I want to talk to you about tonight, is because they’re hard to get our heads around since we’re finite beings.

And I do want to talk about some of those doctrinal errors, but that’s not my main purpose. My main hope is that we can talk about something that’s practical for you, it’s something that’s comforting and encouraging. and I hope that’s what you come away with tonight. But we’ll see. So infinity. Mr. Webster says infinity is an unlimited extent of time, space, or quantity. And this little symbol here we use to represent infinity kind of brings that to mind. As you can just imagine you can trace that over and over and it’ll never end. So it’s a good symbol for that. But that’s a really difficult concept for us to visualize. Well, we have a hard time with large numbers. They start talking about the national debt, which is approaching 17 trillion dollars.

Sorry. This isn’t this is supposed to be encouraging. But that’s a huge number. And you know, we do the mind blow. We have a hard time quantifying that. And you see these cool illustrations that help you try to get your head around how big a number that is. But even 17 trillion is still just a drop in the sand, just a drop of sand in the beach of infinity. That’s still nothing. And so if we can’t get our head around a big number like that, we really have a hard time with infinity. But particularly tonight I want to talk about an infinite amount of time, or the other term we use for that’s eternity. So we’ll talk about that a little bit. But specifically, we want to talk about oops, wrong one.

There we go. the eternal nature of God, this unique aspect of God that’s part of his deity, is his eternal nature. He God is infinite. We understand that there is a sense in which we are all eternal beings. We understand that we will exist throughout eternity. We’ll either exist in a state of never ending torment or never ending bliss. But even then, it’s still a limit limitation to it. It’s not infinite because we had a definite beginning. We are all created beings. And I was trying to write my brain to find the verse for this, and first thing that Jared did in the auditorium class this morning was read the verse that had it.

One of the things says about God is God forms the spirit of man within him. We had a definite beginning to our existence. But that’s not true for God. God did not have a definite beginning. If we look to the incident where Moses is sent to bring the nation of Israel out of bondage from Egypt. And God first appears to him in the burning bush. We’re familiar with what he says to him. And in Exodus chapter 3, beginning of verse 13, Moses says to God, Behold, I’m going to the sons of Israel, and I will say to them, the God of your fathers has sent me to you. Now they may say to me, What is his name? What shall I say to them? And God said to Moses, I am who I am.

And he said, Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, I am, has sent me to you. I can’t imagine, well, I can’t imagine what it was like for Moses’ period, but just even to hear that, to hear him say that. I am. Just he can hear the power in God’s name alone. His very name declares his nature. It means the self-existent or eternal. I am, which is the root for the proper name of God, Yahweh, which I say that. We’re not even sure how the Hebrews pronounce that. Because the Jews, out of reverence for God’s name, would never say it. They would have it written. But Yahweh, which we have transliterated in Latin into Jehovah, that means I am, the self-existent one. So you can see just the power in God’s name alone.

And that means what we sang tonight in Holy, who work and art, and every more shall be. Okay, if you like me and don’t use the King James Version, that means who was and is and always will be. That’s what the eternal one is. That’s what the self-existent one is. The psalmist talks about that in Psalms 90, beginning in verse 2, the psalmist says, Before the mountains were born, or you gave birth to the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, you are God. You turn man back into dust and say, Return, O children of men. For a thousand years in your sight are like yesterday when it passes by, or as a watch in the night. In Isaiah, in Isaiah 44, verse 6 has something that sounds very familiar to us.

Isaiah says, Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel and His Redeemer, the Lord of hosts, I am the first and I am the last. There’s no God besides me. Again, speaking to God’s eternal nature. And if we have any doubt in our minds that Jesus Christ is also God, we have people that might come knocking on our door and tell us that Jesus was a godlike being, but he was created, like you and I were. Well, let’s put that to rest because Jesus shares this same unique attribute of deity that he too was self-existent and eternal. We know that he was not created, and he created all things. Paul writes to the first in 1 Corinthians chapter 8 that Jesus the Christ by whom are all things and we exist through him.

The Hebrews writer in Hebrews chapter 2 says a similar thing. He says, For him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things. That creation didn’t take place without Jesus. But more important than that to our point tonight is that Jesus has always been. Turn over with me to John chapter 8. This is an interesting interaction with Jesus and the Jews of the day. John chapter 8. Let’s begin reading in verse 57. And the Jews said to him, You were not yet 50 years old, and you have seen Abraham. And Jesus said to them, Truly I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am. That sounds kind of odd grammatically, doesn’t it? Not before Abraham was born, I was. Before Abraham was born, I am.

Not only was I here before Abraham, I always was here. That’s what he’s saying. And the Jews knew exactly what he meant by that, didn’t they? Look at verse 159. Therefore they picked up stones to throw at him, that Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple. They understood exactly the implication of what Jesus was saying was he was equating himself with God. He was self existent, and they took it to be blasphemy and wanted to kill him for it. Well, if you look in Revelation, the book of Revelation, chapter 1, verse 8, we see Jesus saying, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and last letter of the Greek alphabet, says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.

So it’s spelled out very clearly for us in multiple places what eternity means. But again, you know, that’s hard for us to get our head around. What does that really mean? So God is eternal, he had no beginning, he will have no end. And let’s go back to the very beginning. Look at the beginning of your Bibles, Genesis chapter 1. You think about the creation, as it’s recorded in the book of Genesis, when we all know that first verse, we teach our very young children, maybe one of their first memory verses.

That’s a good first memory verse, very important. But before he created the heavens and the earth, what happened? I mean, just look, we could put a we could put a period early there. In the beginning, God. Before he even created the heavens and the earth, he was. In fact, we might go a little further than that. Beginning of what? Beginning of what?

Who is it that made time? We sing the song to the kids. We’ll see if I get this right. Amy try to teach this to me. Day one, day one. God made the light when there was none. Was that pretty good? Okay. Alright. If bad, if we need someone for the baby class, I got. But maybe we can tell them a little more about what they made that first day. Not only did he make the light, he made something else. He made the very notion of what is the day. Let’s keep reading there in Genesis chapter 1, verse 2. The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.

Then God said, Let there be light, and there was light. And so and God saw that the light was good, and God separated the light from darkness. And God called the light day, and the darkness he called night. And there was evening, there was morning. One day. So not only does it create the light, he creates this very notion by which we would measure time from then on out. But I would say, even before that, God created time itself. Did time have any meaning before this event? You know, God was self-existent. He was eternal, he always was. So you think about that. The whole idea of time is something that God made. So just like the heavens and the earth and light and light and darkness and day, the whole idea of time is something that God created.

So think about that. And again, I don’t understand that either. Blows my mind. But if we can think about change the way we think about time, I think it can help us understand some important things that could be very comforting to us. Before we get into that, though, let’s think about the nature of God. I would say that God transcends time itself. You think about all the things that He’s created in the world around us that we’re constrained by. We’re constrained by the laws of gravity he created. The small masses are going to be attracted to big masses, and that’s why we’re all sitting in our pews and not floating around. We’re constrained by that law. We’re constrained by space. We can’t be in order than one place at a time.

We’re constrained by time. We can only see this instant of time, the present. We can’t look forward into the future, and we can’t travel back to the past. We’re constrained by this instant of time. But God’s constrained by none of those things. I mean, if you think about that, is God constrained by gravity? The heavenly bodies that he created? Does gravity pull on Him? I don’t think anyone thinks that. No, you know, is God affected by the constraints of space? Well, no, the psalmist says in Psalm 139, where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence? If I ascend into heaven, you’re there. If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there. God’s not constrained by space as we understand it.

So it follows why would God be constrained by time as we are. So that’s that’s pretty impressive. So God can dwell, or God can see outside the realm of time, unlike us. So he does not feel constraints of time. So think about a watermelon. Hang with me here. Okay. Think about a watermelon. You and I look at a watermelon, we see a watermelon in whatever state in its life it is. Maybe it’s just when it’s a little seed before we plant it. Maybe it’s it’s sprouted and it’s grown into a nice vine. Maybe we see that first little melon budding. Maybe we see a full-blown watermelon cut up, ready to eat. Or maybe we see the rotting husk, what’s left of the watermelon. Whatever state we see in, we can only see it at that state in time.

Now, what if we’re not constrained by time anymore? Now I can see the seed, I can see the vine, I can see the full grown melon, see a rotting husk. I could see it all at once. I could see it in every state it’s going to be. I can see for what it will be and what it always already was. That’s what God can do. So if you can do it more just watermelons. Okay. Again, kind of it’s hard for me to think about that. But if God is omniscient, we always say he’s omniscient, he’s all knowing. He’s all knowing when it comes to time, and he’s not constrained by time. And that’s important. Okay. Throwback to all the children of the 80s, 1985. I like science fiction.

Science fiction stories that have time travel, and all we have Doctor Who fans out there. Those are really interesting. But you remember this movie? When Marty McFly is accidentally sent 30 years back into the past, and he finds the young Dr. Emmett Brown, tries to convince him he’s from the future, and he traveled back in time in the time machine that Dr. Brown would eventually one day create. Of course, Dr. Brown thinks he’s crazy. So what does he tell him? Alright, tell me, future boy, who’s the president of the United States in 1985? Well, Marty McFly’s like, I know this one. Ronald Reagan. Of course, Dr. Brown laughs. Ronald Reagan? Be actor? Who’s vice president? Jerry Lewis? Okay, so from 1955’s perspective, that seemed ridiculous. But to Marty McFly, well, I’ve already, yeah, I’ve seen him.

I’ve seen him. He is the president. Or in his sequel, when you have the bad guy from the future come back into time and give his younger self a sports almanac. It’s got all the scores from all these sports events throughout time. So the young version of him gets rich by betting on all these events that he knows how they’re going to end. Well, you can do a lot of things when you know what’s already happened. So that’s something that’s true of God, except God doesn’t need a time machine, and God’s not a fortune teller. God knows what’s going to happen because he’s already seen it. Turn, if you would, to Isaiah chapter 46. We’ll be hitting Isaiah a lot tonight. But Isaiah chapter 46, beginning in verse 9.

We read Remember the former things long past. For I am God and there is no other. I am God and there’s no one like me. Declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times, things which have not been done, saying, My purpose will be established, and I will accomplish all my good pleasure. Calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of my purpose from a far country, truly I have spoken, truly I will bring it to pass. I have planned it, surely I will do it. This is God speaking. When he says something’s going to happen, it’s going to happen. He’s already seen it. He sees the end from the beginning. In fact, I think it’s interesting in the law of Moses in Deuteronomy 18, he gives the people the sign of a true prophet.

He says, Look, if someone says they’re a prophet and they’re speaking for me, and they say something’s going to happen, well, if it does, okay, maybe you need to listen to this guy. But in verse 22, he says, When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not come about or come true, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken. The prophet has spoken presumptuously, and you shall not be afraid of him. So that’s the test of a false prophet. If he’s saying something’s going to happen in the future and it doesn’t, well, God’s not with him, because God can see the end from the beginning. That’s why we know we don’t have to listen to or fear so-called prophets like Joseph Smith, because they’ve predicted all these things are going to happen and they don’t happen.

So God’s not with them. There’s not going to be a mistake with God when it comes to telling us what’s going to happen because he’s already seen it. How else could he twice in Isaiah, he mentions Cyrus by name? Cyrus is going to set the people free. Cyrus isn’t going to ascend the throne for another 150 years. How can God know that? Well, he’s already seen and ascend the throne. Or if we read in Psalm 22, Isaiah 53, we read these very detailed accounts of the suffering servant of events surrounding the crucifixion of the Christ. Amazing detail. It’s like the psalmist, it’s like Isaiah is describing it as it happens. How can God do that? How can God inspire these men to do that? Because he’s already seen it.

He’s already seen it happen. That’s why we know that Jesus coming to die on the cross isn’t an accident. That isn’t God’s plan gone awry. The church and what Jesus established after his death was not plan B because that was the plan all along. And Peter says that in Acts chapter 2 in his first sermon. If you want to turn to Acts chapter 2 and begin reading at verse 22. Here on the day of Pentecost.

I’ll find it eventually. Acts chapter 2, verse 22. Men of Israel, listen to these words. Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs, which God performed through him in your midst, just as yourselves also know, as you yourselves know. This man delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put them to death. That was the plan all along. It’s the predetermined plan. And that did not take God by surprise. He had foreknowledge of this event. Peter describes a similar thing in 1 Peter 1, verse 20 and 21, speaking of Christ, it says, For he was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you, who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

Look at Revelation 13, verse 8. And if you want, you might want to put your marker here, because I’m going to come back to this in a little bit. Revelation 13, verse 8. This is interesting. The King James Version, Terry’s out of town. She’s normally our King James expert, but if the King James Version reads, and all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the lamb slain before the foundation of the world. Now your translation might read a little bit different. Hold that thought. We’re going to come back to that. But the King James and the New King James, and I think even the revised version, they read the way basically I just read, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world.

That’s an interesting phrase. That’s an interesting translation. If he’s slain before the foundation of the world, you think about it in those terms, if God can see the end from the beginning, if God transcends time, it’s like it’s already happened. This was the plan from the get go. That was the plan. Now that doesn’t take away what Jesus did. It doesn’t take away the will of Jesus. Because he had a choice in the matter. And Philippians Paul tells us that he humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross. So that doesn’t take away Jesus’ free will in the matter, but it was seen ahead of time. Again, we’ll come back to that thought. Okay. There’s the introduction. Alright. I always make people nervous when they say we’re going to be talking about eternity, because I’m like, oh, this is going to take a while.

1. His Promises of the Future Are Sure

But that was the introduction. Now all that is to set up this. All this, if we think about God’s eternal nature, there should be some consequences to that should be of encouragement to us. And the first one is pretty obvious, is that if God’s not constrained by time, his promises of what’s yet to happen in the future are sure. We know that they’re going to happen. Because he’s already seen them. Let’s just look at a few examples. In Acts chapter 17, verse 30 and 31, Paul’s preaching on Mars Hill. He tells them, Therefore, having overlooked the time of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, because he has fixed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness through a man he’s appointed.

Not only is he fixed a day, he’s already seen it happen in the sin. Second Thessalonians chapter 1, I’m going to begin reading in verse 6. Paul writes to the Thessalonian church, for after all it is only just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you and to give relief to you who are afflicted, and to us as well, when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power. When he comes to be glorified in his saints on that day, and to be marveled at among all who have believed, for our testimony to you is believed.

We know that’s going to happen because God’s already seen. It’s a sure thing.

Time doesn’t have any meaning to God. He created it. The Lord is not slow about his promises, some count slowness, but is patient towards you, not wishing for any to perish, but for all to come. Excuse me, for all for come not any to perish, but for all to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with the roar, and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. And since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness? Looking for and hastening the coming day of the Lord, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat.

2. God Has Always Known His Children

We can know that these things are going to happen because God’s already seen. Okay, point number two. And stay with me on this one, please. I think this is a comforting thought when we think about God transcending time because God is always known as children. If you bookmark Revelations 13, 8, go back to that, please. Revelations 13, verse 8.

We mentioned the King James Version reads, and all those, 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. I’m reading from the New American Standard translation, and it reads a little different, as does the English standard and some of the other newer translations. It says, All who dwell in the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world and the book of life of the lamb that was slain. That’s a little different, isn’t it? How can our names be written or not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world? How can that be?

Hmm. Well, that’s not a problem for one who can see the end from the beginning. In fact, I would say either translation that we just read, either the King James Version or New American Standard Version, depends on that fact. If it was the Lamb slain before the beginning of the world, that has to be because God can see the end from the beginning. If it’s because he already knows whose names are written in the book of life, that too has to be because God sees the end from the beginning. So does that mean God has predestined or foreordained whose names are in the book already? You know, that God has arbitrarily picked Gary, then left out Lucy. Has he done that? Well, we understand that’s not true, and that the New Testament would be full of contradictions if that were the case.

Let’s look at a few passages that speak to that. Turn with me to Romans chapter 3. Romans chapter 3, beginning at verse 28. I’m sorry, Romans chapter 8.

Forgive my eyes, it just turned 40, so I’m working with Romans chapter 8, beginning at verse 28. We know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God and to those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to become conformed to the image of his son, so that he would be the firstborn among many brethren. And those whom he predestined, he also called, and those whom he called, he also justified, and those whom he justified, he also glorified. That word translation for new is from the Greek progonosko, if I’m saying that right. I’m not a Greek scholar, but all that means is knowing beforehand, knowing ahead of time. And it does not mean the same thing as to predestine or foreordain, because that’s a different word.

It’s used in the same verse. That’s from a different word pro voro. And that just means to determine in advance. Remember we read from Peter’s sermon in Acts chapter 2, he said how Jesus was delivered by the predetermined plan. That’s the same root word. He just determined ahead of time. That’s all that means. But they’re two different words. And it simply means God’s aware of those who are redeemed in advance of their redemption. You know, don’t let that’s where a lot of error has been come from verses like this because of a misunderstanding of what that means. God Paul tells us that God is determined in advance, that those who would be justified would answer his call, that they would be conformed to his son, the image of his son.

But if we’re talking about omniscient God who created time, surely he knows ahead of time who that’s going to be. Of course, that brings up the question many answered. Well, does that God’s foreknowledge bring about what he’s predicting? Doesn’t that affect that? Or you know, effectively predestining something to happen? Well, I think we can understand foreknowledge of something doesn’t affect the free will involved. Marty McFly, knowing that Ronald Reagan was going to get elected president, didn’t mean he rigged the election. Okay, bad example, because he can’t do that. But we understand how God has used people in the past to accomplish his will without circumventing their free will. God’s sovereignty, man’s free will, and God’s foreknowledge can all coexist. He used Assyria as the rod of his anger, Isaiah tells us in Isaiah 10, but in Isaiah 10, verse 7, he says, Assyria did that, they did not intend to be the rod of his anger, nor does it plan so in its heart, but rather its purpose is to destroy and to cut off many nations.

Assyria wasn’t doing what they did because they wanted to help God out with his plan. They were doing it of their own free will for their own selfish reasons. Same with those who put Jesus to death. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 2, that was God’s wisdom from the beginning, this mystery that’s been hidden before the ages. The wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood, and if they had, they wouldn’t have crucified the Lord of glory. So God planned in advance that Christ would be sacrificed, but that doesn’t mean he affected the free will of the men who actually did it. Turn over, please to Ephesians chapter 1. And I know Jared’s already covered this in his Wednesday night class, Ephesians 1, where we see the word predestined used more than once.

We won’t read the whole chapter for time, but let’s just look at starting at verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. Just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before him. In love, he predestined us to adoptions as sons through Jesus Christ to himself, according to the kind intention of his will. We see that over and over in these first few verses about how that was the plan for us to be in him, and that was his purpose in him, in Christ. Verse 11, in him also we’ve obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to his purpose.

Then verse 13, he tells us what being in him is all about. In him you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation, having also believed, you were sealed in him with the Holy Spirit of promise. I think that’s telling us right there what we need to do. We need to hear, we need to believe, and we need to be sealed in him. And I think that’s a reference to baptism and the covenant we will take with them. So before the foundation of the world, God saw those who would be made holy and blameless through his son. He didn’t force that on anybody, but their adoption, the Son was predetermined, and he foreknew it. One last passage on this spot. 1 Peter 1.

In 1 Peter chapter 1, Peter begins his epistle by saying, Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who reside as aliens scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bethynia, who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God, the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with his blood. May grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure. Again, God didn’t choose us in advance arbitrarily. It says those who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God did so by obeying Jesus Christ and being sprinkled with his blood, being cleansed by him in baptism. So let me just put it this way, and we’ll not belabor the point anymore. But those who are predestined are foreknown, but though, but they’re being foreknown doesn’t predestine them.

Does that make sense? Those who are predestined are foreknown by God, but just because God foreknew them does not predestine them. God has predetermined that those who choose to obey him will be saved, and I would say God knows in advance who that’s going to be. But that doesn’t affect our free will at all. It’s not a shirking of personal responsibility. That’s not what we’re talking about. And that’s what is the effect of the error of predestination that we see taught so much is it doesn’t matter what you do because God decided arbitrarily ahead of time. And that’s not what we’re seeing here in the scripture. It’s not a shirking of personal responsibility. But we don’t want to go too far the other way and miss out on the great comfort of all those passages we just read, that God has planned this before the foundation of the world, and I think it should be a great comfort to those who do obey an assurance that God is knows and has always known his children.

3. God Has Prepared for His Children From the Beginning

Jesus told his apostles in John 10, I’m the good shepherd, I know my own, and my own know me. Two more quick points, and then we’ll be done. Just as God has known his children from the beginning, I would say God is prepared for his children from the beginning. Matthew 25, verse 34. In that scene of judgment that’s given there in Matthew 25, then the king will say to those on his right, Come, you who are blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. And I think again, this should also be a comforting thought that for the God that transcends time, that this was a plan from the beginning, and that not only has he known his children, he’s prepared this undescribable, indescribable inheritance before time even began.

4. God Sees Us for Who We Will Ultimately Be

And the last thought that I think is pretty encouraging. We talked about the watermelon, right? It’s kind of weird. But it can be a comforting thought when you think about how God sees us. Is that God doesn’t just see us for who we are right now. I think he sees us for who we will ultimately be. And that could be a comforting thought as well.

That we’re still learning, we’re still trying to mold ourselves to the image of the Son. We’re starting to do better. And we also know that we’re not perfect, that we do fall short, and we are pulled away from the devil by the devil from time to time. But look what Paul’s saying here to the Philippians. Jesus began a good work to you, and he’s perfecting it, getting you ready for that day. In 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Let’s turn there if you would. We’ll have two more references and passages, and the lesson will be yours. 1 Corinthians 15. You ever hear him talk about spoilers when we’re talking about a movie? This is a spoiler alert. Spoiler alert. If you don’t want to know the future, don’t read.

1 Corinthians 15, verse 51. Behold, I tell you a mystery. We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must put on imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. But when this perishable have put on the imperishable and the mortal have put on immortality, then will come about the saying which is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. Oh, death, where is your victory? Death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gave us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

And Paul tells them all these things about the resurrection, the spoiler, the mystery. Why? Because verse 58, therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord. Giving us that look ahead, and God knows the end from the beginning, so this is sure to come about. But he also sees us for what we ultimately will be. That those who he’s foreknown will obey him. This is what’s going to await for them in that last day. So let’s let that encourage us to be steadfast and removable, just like he was encouraging the Corinthians. If you would turn to Romans chapter 8, and this will be our last passage this evening. Romans chapter 8.

We were there earlier when we looked at verse 29 about those who foreknow he all foreknew, he also foreordained. And he makes that point about those who’s predestined, he’s justified, those who’s justified, he’s glorified. And then what’s so important about all that? Why is that important? And he picks up that thought in verse 31. Let’s look at verse 31 through the end of the chapter. What shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare his own son, but delivered him over for us all. How will we how will he not also with him fully give us all things? Who will bring a charge against God’s life? God is the one who justifies. Who is the one who condemns?

Christ Jesus is he who died. Yes, rather, who was raised, who has the right hand of God and also intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword? For just it is written, You are you for your sake, we are being put to death all day long. We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered. But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, time itself, not even time itself, can separate us, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creative thing will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus.

Conclusion

So tonight, I want to extend the invitation to you to become one of God’s children. And I think it should comfort us to know that God has had this in mind from the beginning. This wasn’t an accident, this was the plan, but also think about the foreknowledge of God. That God knows who his children are.

I know many times we do think Jesus did this for me. And that’s true. He didn’t do this for me exclusively, but we need to remember that he did this for me individually. He had his children in mind. And he loves you individually and loved you enough to send his own son, as Paul points out there. If anyone wants to come forward to become a child of God, to put Christ on in baptism, to be sprinkled with his blood, so that you can have this amazing comfort and this amazing assurance he’s talking about. We’ve been talking about tonight. We invite you to do so. Or maybe you’ve done that, and as we know can happen, you’ve fallen away. We’ve let the cares of this world catch up with us and we’ve stumbled.

We would like to pray with you and for you so that you can have your sins forgiven and you can have that assurance that I’m God’s child. If anyone has any need, please come forward while we stay in sin.