Before The Beginning
I Want To Go To Heaven • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 4 viewsNotes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Greetings…
Last week we started our new series of lessons based on the theme, “I Want To Go To Heaven.”
We talked about the hope we should have of being with God for all eternity.
That lesson was all about the goal of this series which is to created (if necessary) and sustain our resolve to not just want to go to heaven but to know we have eternal life and can have peace in knowing we are going to spend an eternity with God in heaven.
Starting this morning we are going to focus on what we need to know and understand that will help our faith or trust in God concerning our future with him.
To do so we need to go back “Before The Beginning.”
1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
Why, because if we are going to “want to be in heaven with God” we must have a reason.
That reason, must not “only” be I don’t want to be in hell either, because in reality there are so many more reason for “wanting to be with God” than simply not wanting to be in hell.
That begins really, “before the beginning” of creation.
Because in that we learn about…
God
God
ELOHIM
ELOHIM
When we think of our Creator, we often, and rightfully so talk about our God.
The Hebrew word for God as found right in the very first verse of the bible, is Elohim.
It is found some 2,597 times in the Old Testament.
You would think that this would be the name then for our Creator, but that is not actually the case.
Elohim is not a personal name for our Creator as much as it is label for the state of existence for our Creator.
When Moses asked for the “name of God” in Exodus 3:14, notice our Creator didn’t give “elohim” but rather stated…
14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I am has sent me to you.’ ”
In fact, the name of God, YHWH, is found far more than ELOHIM, some 6,827 times.
We see concept clearly demonstrated in Deuteronomy 4:35.
35 To you it was shown, that you might know that the Lord is God; there is no other besides him.
Now why is it significant to know that ELOHIM (God) is not a name but a state of existence.
Because it makes Deuteronomy 6:4 make a lot more sense.
4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.
For years I struggled, with the idea of there being “three persons” but only “one God.”
You have, no doubt, heard me say something along the lines, “There are three persons but one God because they are perfectly united with each other.
And although that is a true statement it is not the full picture, because they are not “one God” just because they are perfectly united or in perfect harmony.
No the three are “one God” because they all have the exact same “state of existence” or “divine nature.”
20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.
They are all “God” and this is why they are not “three gods” but three persons who are God.
In other words, there is not more than “one divine essence.”
5 I am the Lord, and there is no other, besides me there is no God…
There certainly is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit because all three are “God” and therefore have the singular essence of divinity.
This is the thrust behind “ELOHIM” in that it is both singular and plural at the same time.
It is like our word “team” from that perspective.
Now that we grasp that the word “God” is detailing “essence” or “nature” not a name we find the significance of that reality in Psalm 90:2.
The psalmist writes…
2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
In other words, before the beginning of creation God was everlasting to everlasting.
Now humans do well, typically, with concept of eternity “moving forward.”
No, we cannot fully fathom what “no end” looks like, but because we keep waking up each day we have somewhat of a concept of such.
Humans do not do well with the concept of eternity “moving backwards.”
It is one thing to say God will always be and to contemplate upon such, but another entirely to try and contemplate on “God has always been.”
This is because, we have a beginning, as does all things created, but “God” was before the beginning (Psalm 90:2).
The reason there is only one God and no gods, is because only one who posses “God” can have no beginning and no end.
No wonder we read in Isaiah 43:10…
10 You are my witnesses,” declares the Lord, “and my servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after me.
God cannot be formed or created, God is by definition eternal.
2 Your throne is established from of old; you are from everlasting.
8 And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!”
15 For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place…”
Summary
Summary
The very nature of the Father, Son, and Spirit is God.
This fact elevates the each of the three persons of the Godhead because it demonstrates exclusivity in contrast to all that is created.
But what does knowing that the Father, Son, and Spirit are God have to do with helping us have confidence to each day say, “I want to go to heaven and be with my God for all eternity?”
I Want To Go To Heaven
I Want To Go To Heaven
The Nouns Of God
The Nouns Of God
There are three nouns associated with the divine nature of the Father, Son, and Spirit.
Most often verbs are used to describe “God’s activity” in man’s life.
But when it comes to the divine nature we find it describe in three nouns.
God Is Spirit:
24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.
God Is Light:
5 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
God Is Love:
16 So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
All three of these essentials of divine nature give us reason for wanting to go to heaven and spend all of eternity with the Father, Son, and Spirit.
God Is Spirit
God Is Spirit
This fact is important for us because it means God is not bound by the same rules of the physical as we are.
In other words, God being spirit means he can…
Always be right there with us.
5 Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
Always be the refuge and strength we need.
1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
Knowing God is spirit brings us comfort because we know he is always there with us and for us.
But as I mentioned…
God Is Light
God Is Light
This is important because it means God cannot be corrupted.
We can trust God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength in other words.
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.
10 And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.
4 Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.
Knowing God is light brings us great confidence because we know God has not lied to us about our promised home with him, if we stay faithful to him.
12 Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.
The last noun we find concerning the nature of God is that…
God Is Love
God Is Love
This is important because it means we are loved by the Father, Son, and Spirit.
Remember, love is an action, not an emotion.
We will “want to be with God forever” because God has continually manifested his self-giving nature toward us.
We see this in God not destroying us after the fall of man, but rather making a path toward redemption.
15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.
We see this in God sending his only begotten Son for our sins.
8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
We see this in God’s mercy and grace even though as Christians we still fall short of the glory of God.
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
Summary
Summary
The nature of the Father, Son, and Spirit as spirit, light, and love should embolden our resolve and desire to be with God for all of eternity.
Conclusion
Conclusion
v
Invitation
1 Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; 2 but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.
6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent,
33 So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.
32 Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. 33 But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.
8 in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
1 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures
3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
12 Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.
