It is a chapter in which we find Moses blessing the tribes of Israel. The opening verse of the chapter is, and this is the blessing we're with, Moses, the man of God, blessed the children of Israel before his death. And by the time we reach verse number 18, the verse we want to take our reading from, Moses has already blessed five of the tribes of Israel. And he now comes to speak of Zebulun on Issachar. So we're taking our reading from verse 18 of Deuteronomy 33. Let's hear God's Word. Now Zebulun he said, Rejoice Zebulun in thy going out, and Issachar in thy tents. He shall call the people all to the mountain, and there they shall offer sacrifices of righteousness. They shall suck up the abundance of the season of the treasures hidden with sand. Enough God, he said, lest be he that enlargeth God. He dwelleth as a lion and teareth the arm of the crown of the head. If he provided the first part for himself, it was there, in a portion of the law, ever was he seated. He came with the heads of the people. He executed the justice of the Lord and his judgments with Israel. Enough Dan, he said, Dan is a lion's weapon. And of Natholai, he said, O Natholai, satisfied with Capernaum, full with the blessing of the Lord, possess thou the west and the south. Of Asher, he said, let Asher be blessed with children, and it be acceptable to his brethren. Let him dip his foot in oil, and his shoes shall be iron and brass. And as thy days, so shall thy strength be. is known by God to the God of Jishun, who guideth upon the heaven in thy help, and in his excellency all the sky. The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms, and shall thrust out the enemy from before thee, and shall say, destroy them. Israel then shall dwell in safety alone, founded of Jacob shall be upon a land of corn and rye, also his heaven shall drop to Jerusalem. Happy are thou, O Israel, whose light on to thee, O people, seeth by the Lord, shielded by hell. Yours is the sword of thy excellency, and thine enemies shall be found liars unto thee. Thou shalt tread upon their high places. And then we'll end at the end of the chapter. Let's unite. Father in heaven, we thank thee for thy word. We thank thee for our singing today, our praise. We thank thee for our God, our eternal God. As we consider him today again, the God of our hearts might be lifted to him. Lord, encourage our souls. Bless our waiting hearts. Lord, minister to us through thy word. Lord, grant to all thy name a will to be glorified. We pray this in Jesus' precious name. Amen. Shorted Catechism declares that God is a spirit infinite, eternal land, unchangeable. Three weeks. Considering that incommunicable attribute of God's infinity, an attribute that is ascribed and belongs exclusively to God and to God alone, during those weeks we have reminded you The God that we love and the God that we serve is unlimited and is unbounded as to knowledge, and therefore he is omniscient. He is unbounded, he is unlimited as to space, therefore he is omnipresent. He is unbounded, he is unlimited as to power, therefore he is omnipotent. Today we want to think about the eternity of God. Sometimes it is said of the eternality of God, but I believe the theologians would prefer using the term the eternity of God. We can either consider that attribute in connection with the previous attributes that we've been thinking, those that are associated with that incommunicable attribute of God's infinity. And we could say that the God of the Bible is unlimited and He is unbounded as to time. and therefore he is the eternal God. Or we can consider the eternity of God as a completely separate, incommunicable attribute of God. Westminster Divines obviously took the latter approach and they viewed the attribute of God's eternity as being distinct from the other incommunicable attributes of God, that of being infinite and that of being unchangeable. But it matters not what way we approach the attribute, whether it is an extension of the attribute of infinity or as a separate attribute. And so for the rest of this service, I want us to consider together the eternity of God, as we want to encourage you once again to behold your God, but today we encourage you to behold your eternal God. Behold your eternal God. I don't know if you know this but there are three kinds of beings that exist. There are beings who have a beginning and have an end. Examples of such beings are the animate creatures such as birds and dogs and fish and cattle. They have beings that have a beginning and time, but at death those beings cease to exist and they return again to the earth's dust. Their being ends whenever their life ends. That's the first kind of being. The second kind of being is a being that has a beginning but has no end. Examples of such beings are the angels and the souls of men. When they are brought into existence, they become eternal in their nature, and therefore they abide forever. Remember the angels were created, the souls of men are created, but they have an eternal aspect to them, as it were, looking into eternity future. They have no end, the souls of men and women. And so there are those beings that have, they have a beginning and they have an end. Then there are those who have a beginning and have no end. And then there is one being who has no beginning and has no end. The only being that is like that is the very God of heaven. It is the being of God. God is from everlasting to everlasting. That's what the psalmist said in Psalm 90. There was never a time that God did not exist and there will never be a time when God will cease to exist. So today I want us to consider the one who is without beginning and without ending. And as we come to consider God's eternity, there are a number of questions that we need to ask and then answer. First question that I need to ask and then answer is, what do we mean whenever we say that God is eternal? What do we mean whenever we say that God is eternal? Well, the word eternal that we use here, that is used here in Deuteronomy chapter 33 and the verse number 27, that word eternal literally means in front of time, or that which is before time. That's what the word literally means. as a word that then is suggestive of God being before time, one who existed before the creation of time. And that is simply what we mean whenever we think about God being eternal, that he exists outside of time. Past, present, and future are not known to God, because the eternal God views all things in the eternal present. I freely admit that once again that is a very difficult concept for us beings who are time-limited, time-constrained, time-bounded creatures for us to understand because we live our lives by the clock and we live our lives and order our lives by the calendar. However, the one who is in front of time, the eternal God, he lives beyond and he lives above time's restraints and parameters. You see, as the God of heaven looks into time out of eternity, he does not see past, present, and future as we see. He does not see yesterday, today, and tomorrow, but God sees the eternal present. He lives in what we term the eternal today, the eternal now or the universal present. Now, I think a way to understand this is by way of illustration. Now, it maybe isn't the best of illustrations, but it is an illustration that is often used when we think about God being eternal and how there is no past, present, or future with God. And the illustration is that of a band parade. Some ears have already perked up. when we've mentioned a band parade. Well, that is the example of a band parade. Just say you stand at a street corner and watch a band parade passing in front of you. One band comes and then it passes on, another band comes, and then another until all the bands have passed in front of you. We would say that your knowledge of that band parade has a succession to it. Each new band adds to already what you have already seen. Each new part of that parade adds to that which you have been already a witness to. But let's just say that you were able to get into a hot air balloon and hover over the parade route. From that higher vantage point, in one comprehensive glance, you would be able to see every part of that parade taking place at a single moment of time. From the very commencement of the parade to the very end of that parade, you would be able to glance down from that hot air balloon and see that parade comprehensively in one moment of time. We would then say that your knowledge of that band parade is no longer successive, as in one part adding to another, but rather it is now instantaneous. In a moment of time, you're able to view every part of that period. Well, so it is with us in God. As time constrain finite beings, we view lives standing, as it were, on time's corner, like the street corner. And we only ever see those events as they come into our lives and pass through our lives. However, the eternal, the infinite God, he doesn't view the life's events from time's corner, but rather he views life's events from eternity's hot air balloon. And as he does, so he is therefore able to comprehend all of life's events in one glance, at one particular moment of time. Now, if you think that out to its logical conclusion, this gives the eternal God tremendous advantage over us because having viewed the entirety of life's events for each and every one of his children from the eternal vantage point, God has seen all that will befall his children and thus he has already prepared a for every eventuality in life as well as that which we will need when we eventually come to that difficulty or trial that is presently hidden from our view. The eternal God has seen it all. And that's a tremendous advantage because he's able to provide us and he's able to set aside, as it were, all the grace that we're going to need for whatever life will throw at us as we live in this fallen and sinful world. Whenever the theologian A. A. Hodge came to think about the eternal God, he wrote this in his exposition of the confession of faith. He says, by affirming that God is eternal, we mean that his duration has no limit, and that his existence in infinite duration is absolutely perfect. He could have had no beginning, he can have no end, and in his existence there can be no succession of thoughts, feelings, or purposes. A. A. Hodge's father, Charles Hodge, said, when we think of God being eternal, we are recognizing that he is exalted above all the limitations of time, as he is not more in one place than in another, but is everywhere equally present. That is his omnipresence. So he does not exist during one period of duration more than another. All things are equally and always present to him. With him, duration is the eternal now. Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones simply stated that the eternity of God simply means that God is without beginning and without end. He is everlasting. WTG said the eternity of God and his essence is related to duration. It is a duration without beginning, without end, and without succession. And I read this this morning as I was continuing to prepare this message, or to add a little bit to it. Messages are never finished. William Evans, he said, this God's eternity is duration without beginning or end, existent without bonds or dimensions, present without past or future. God's eternity is youth without infancy or old age, life without birth or death, today without yesterday or tomorrow. When we use the word eternity, our minds automatically go forward to a period of time yet future. When we speak of eternity, we always think of a period that lies beyond time. But to think of eternity in its proper light, as it is related to God, we must look in both directions. In other words, we must come to recognize that the God of the Bible has always existed in the past and will always exist within the future. Dr. Robert L. Redmond said, God never began to be. knows no growth or age, nor will he ever cease to be. And so the question, and I'm sure maybe some of your children have asked the question, you've maybe asked yourself the question yourself, who made God? That question is irrelevant. Whenever we consider that the God of the Bible is an eternal God, because it means that God has always existed. He is a timeless being. He is he has always been there and there has never been a time that God did not exist And so no one made God God is the uncaused being He always Existed and that's why Genesis 1 verse 1 tells us that in the beginning God Created before creation God existed in the sacred persons of Father Son and Holy Spirit And so God exists and God is eternal. Folks, whenever we come to think about God being eternal, we do have to stand in awe of this revealed truth. Never think that you have to always explain the Bible. It is not the Christian's responsibility to explain the Bible. It is the Christian's responsibility to believe the Bible. We live by faith, and our faith is contained within the scriptures of holy truth. And therefore, we accept it by faith as revealed in God's precious word. And so that brings us neatly on to our second question, because we ask this question, if God is eternal, where in the scriptures do we encounter this doctrine of the eternity of God? We must always make the scriptures our final court of appeal in all matters of faith and of practice. So do we ask the question, do the scriptures teach that God is eternal? Because if they do, then we receive that truth by faith. Well, I believe that the scriptures do, and they do so in a number of ways. Can I say, first of all, from the scriptures we see the eternity of God attributed, the eternity of God attribute it. You see, the eternity of God, that God is eternal, is ascribed, is attributed to each person within the Godhead. As we read the scriptures, we find that God the Father is eternal. Let me read Isaiah 40 verse 28 to you. Hast thou not known, hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God The Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary, there is no searching of his understanding. The everlasting God, that's the Father. But we also note that the Son is eternal. Paul speaking of God's own dear Son in Colossians 1 verse 17, he said this, And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist. He is before all things, not only in preeminence, but also in time. If we can say that about a timeless being. He is before time. He is before the realm of time, this in which we live. In Micah chapter 5, The little prophecy of Micah, we read these very familiar words in the verse number 2. It does not say that it is too everlasting, but it is from everlasting. Now who is this speaking of? Well, we know who it's speaking of. This is the Lord Jesus Christ, the coming Messiah. And we read here that His goings have been from old, from everlasting, and therefore we see in Scriptures that the Son is eternal. So the Father is eternal, the Son is eternal, the Spirit of God is eternal, the Holy Spirit. Hebrews chapter 9 and the verse number 14. Hebrews chapter 9 verse 14. We read these words. How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God, who through the eternal Spirit, this is speaking of the Holy Spirit and his involvement in redemption. Yes, Christ was involved, of course he was, but Father and Spirit were involved in our our redemption from sin, our salvation from sin, that takes on a triune nature to it, or the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, all involved in our redemption from sin. And so eternity is attributed to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. And so we find that this doctrine of the eternity of God is attributed to the persons within the Godhead. But we also find that the eternity of God within the scriptures is unfair. So we're thinking now of the eternity of God unfair. Now these are not direct statements that contain words such as eternal or everlasting. eternity, but they are statements in which the eternal nature of our God can be deduced from. I give you two examples. The divine title, I am. I am. Now in Exodus chapter 3, God revealed himself to Moses by using the title, I am that I am. Jesus Christ would use that same title when he spoke to his opponents over there In John 8, in the verse 58, Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, before Abraham was, I am. Think of that. Before Abraham ever existed, I was already existing. That's what Jesus Christ was declaring. He was stating and announcing by that very title. He was announcing that there was an individual, there was a being who existed before Abraham existed. And even before every other man existed on this earth. And announcing himself by this name, the divine being excludes then all notion of any commencement or termination of his existence. He does not say, I was. He does not say, I will be. But rather he says, I am. And that term, I am, it is the verb to be. And it is in its present tense. It simply indicates that God has lived, is living, and will forever live within the eternal life. From that we can, I believe, deduce that God is eternal. A. W. Tozer, he said this, in God, there is no was or will be, but a continuous and unbroken is. In God there was no was, speaking of the past, or will be, speaking of the future, but a continuous and unbroken is. He is our God. He is the same yesterday and today and forever. This God eternally exists. The second way in which we can deduce the eternity of God is by looking at another title, and that is the title of Alpha and Omega. You'll know that a You'll know about those two terms, Alpha and Omega, that they are the first and the last letters of the Greek alphabet. And with this title attributed to God the Son, in the book of the Revelation, we have the very thought that no matter which way you go in time, whether it be back, whether it be forward, whether it be just in the present now, God is there, eternally there. Albert Barnes made this comment of the title Alpha and Omega. It says it means that he is the beginning and the end of all things, that he was at the commencement and will be at the close. And it is thus equivalent to saying that he has always existed and that he will always exist. In that verse that we quoted where this title is found, Revelation 1, verse 8, if you're taking notice, this title, Alpha and Omega, goes on to say these words about God, which is, which was, and which is to come, the Almighty." And that statement is but a repetition of what we have in the chapter, in the verse number four of that chapter, because we read there, grace be unto you and peace from him which is, which was, and which is to come. It is true then that there is no expression in the Bible that is more strikingly, that more strikingly denotes eternity than this very expression. God now exists. He has existed in the past, and he will exist in the future. And so we can infer God's eternity. It has been attributed to the individuals within the Godhead, but thirdly, the eternity of God is simply declared in Scripture. These are but simple, direct, unambiguous declarations of Scripture that declare that our God is the eternal God. This list is not exhaustive, but let me give you just a few references. Genesis 21 verse 33. These are the words of Abraham. And Abraham planted a grove in Beersheba and called there on the name of the Lord the everlasting God. This is the first reference to God's eternity in the scriptures. Abraham was the first to attribute the eternity of God to God by his own declaration, and he called him there the Lord, the everlasting God. Deuteronomy 33, we've quoted it already, the eternal God is thy refuge. You cannot deny that God is eternal by that very simple statement. We must receive it then. Psalm 29, verse 10, the Lord said it upon the flood. Yea, the Lord saideth, King forever. King forever. Psalm 45, verse 6, thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. The scepter of thy kingdom is a right scepter. Psalm 48, verse 14, for this God is our God forever and ever. He will be our guide even on today. Psalm 90, verse 2, before the mountains were ever brought forth, Wherever thou hast formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. Psalm 102 verse 27. But thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end. Isaiah 57 verse 15. For thus saith the High and Lofty One, that inhabiteth eternity. And then 1 Timothy chapter 117. Now on to the keen eternal. immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. And so we have in both Old and New Testament the revealed truth of God that our God is a timeless God. He is the eternal God. He lives beyond and above time's constraints. The import of all of these verses is that God is eternal. There is nowhere in Scripture that speaks of a beginning or an ending to God's existence. Our God transcends time. He precedes time. And that's why the opening verse of scripture declares, in the beginning, God. Before time ever began, God was there. And when time shall be no more, he'll still be there because he is our eternal God. We want to bring this all to a close by bringing some application That is the theory, that is the facts of it, that our God is an eternal God. But what are the consequences of God being eternal? Why does the eternity of God affect one's life? Well, I want to present a number of ways in which the eternity of God affects or should affect our lives. Can I say, brethren and sisters, it would be true to say, for all of us as human beings, that life is full of surprises. That's true. We never know exactly what lies ahead, what lies around the next corner. But we do know that whatever the future holds, the eternal God is already there. He'll already be there to meet us, whatever eventuality and whatever life will throw at us. Because he holds the future. He is the future. And with Him, nothing is a surprise. God is not at a loss in what happens in this world or in your life. God has not lost control. Because from, remember, eternity's hot air balloon, and I use it, I know it's a very simple illustration, but God is able to view all that lies ahead for us in our futures. And since nothing surprises our God, because He lives in the eternal present and knows nothing and knows all things, sorry, of past, present, and future in one instantaneous moment, then there is no problem that I face. And there's going to be no surprise that's going to come my way that the eternal God, who sees the future as clearly as he sees the presence, will not be there to meet me and to help me and to sustain me. As we think about God being eternal, I believe that it is a sure and solid ground for trust and confidence, for hope and cheerfulness for the believer, seeing that the protection of the eternal God may be relied upon in every life and in every generation. He is the same. The God who protected his children through those wilderness years will protect you and I as we go to our places of employment, our places of education this week. He is the same God. He hasn't changed. He knows no growth. God is forever the same. He is the eternal one. But a second application, I believe, is brought to our attention by one man that I read, a Puritan. He said, this God's eternity ought to make us soberly consider our sin. For while man quickly brushes aside his evil into the past, God perceives all of that wickedness in the eternal now. I wonder, are you aware of that if you're not a Christian? Are you aware that all your past sins, that all of those past mercies that you've received from God's hand, that all those past promises and vows that you've made, all your past life and all your life that is yet to come is before God in all of its freshness, in all of its clearness, in all of its distinctiveness as in this moment of time? God will not forget your sin. because to Him it has happened in the eternal today. Just as if you'd committed it, it's with God now and will forever be. And the eternity of God, I believe, should cause us to tremble and should cause us, especially if we know not Christ, to dread, to dread, not just because God knows my sin as if it was just committed now, but that my punishment will also be eternal, because everything about God takes on an eternal nature. His goodness is eternal, His love is eternal, His holiness is eternal, and His justice is eternal. His justice. Why the pleasures of sin are only but for a season. The Bible tells me that the torments and punishment of hell are forever. Listen to these words. They're found in the book of the Revelation, chapter 14, verses 10 and 11. The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into a cup of his indignation. And he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. the smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and ever and they have no rest day or night. Another reference to the eternal nature of the sinner's punishment was spoken by Christ himself in Matthew 25 verse 46 and these shall go away into everlasting punishment. His punishment is eternal. His punishment is eternal. Now sinner, you might be here today and you may protest and you may say, how can such eternal punishment be fair when my sin was only committed in a moment of time? And yet I want to remind you that your sin was committed against an infinite being which nothing less than eternity of punishment will satisfy. Such is the heinousness And such is the infinite nature of sin that divine justice cannot be satisfied with anything less than eternal punishment. One's sin against an infinite, eternal God is an infinite and is an eternal sin that God must judge eternally in God's hand. It should cause you to tremble. It should cause you to seek the Lord. Can I say that the consideration of the eternity of God is an argument or a help to us why God's providence ought never to be questioned and why his promises should never be doubted, even though there be no appearance, no present appearance of the performance of his promises and no way of explaining the methods of his promises and of his providence. See folks, too often we view events and we view events in life from the viewpoint of time, seeing what only is in front of us. And yet whenever we view such things from the eternal perspective, the viewpoint that the eternal God takes, where a thousand years in his sight is but as yesterday, then we come to recognize that his promises will be fulfilled. and that his providential dealings in our lives will ripen fast. If we look at things from the viewpoint and from the time scale of an eternal God, he'll bring it all together for our good and for his glory. And I say in the final place that a consideration of God's eternity ought to focus the hearts of God's people to think more of eternity than they do of time. Someday we're going, if you know the Savior, if you're saved by grace, someday you're going to live with the King Eternal. But when will the things of time matter when we find ourselves in the presence of the Eternal One? I'm sure you've seen posters and maybe signs outside certain churches walk for life. Now, brethren, sisters, while we are to care for our bodies, I believe that a better poster should be placed outside the entrance of every church should be this, not walk for life, work for eternity. Work for eternity. See, the remedy for this time-centeredness that so often cripples our lives, I believe is a beholding of the one who dwells in eternity. In light of our little brief time on earth, we're not timeless beings, we're not, as it were, eternal beings who has existed before. Yes, we'll live on for God's eternity. But when we consider our own little lives, whether they be long or whether they be short, we must work for eternity. As we consider God's eternity, it should cause us to love then, I believe, less this transient world. And direct our love more to the everlasting God. We should live with eternity's values and view. How will this affect my eternity? How will it appear in light of God who is eternal? In light of God's eternity, may God help us to set our affections on things above and not then on things on earth. Moses said that the eternal God is thy refuge. and he is a refuge. He's a refuge for the trusting sinner, a refuge from coming judgment. And thank God he's also a refuge, he is a retreat for the child of God in their time of trouble, when everyone else passes away. And friends and loved ones may be taken on to glory. The eternal God will still be with you, guiding, helping, leading. If you know not this God today, let me encourage you to come to the keen eternal, one who will save you eternally, this very moment. May God bring you to know him. And may God help us day by day to behold our eternal God. May God give us a sight of him once more, for Christ's sake. Amen. Let's bow our heads in prayer. With our heads bowed, we've been thinking about time. We've been thinking about eternity. I just want to let you know as a congregation that we receive the news that Rachel McLeister has passed into the presence of the Lord. Just there this morning, I want you to pray for Hubert and for Roberta, for the family circle and Philip. God's grace will be given to them. sustaining them. I believe that the home is private. We'll make announcement this evening, and so we trust that you'll respect the family with respect to that, even today. May God help us and sustain us in the days that lie ahead. Our loving Father, we come before Thee in the Savior's name, and we lift our hearts to Thee. We are reminded that life at best is very brief, like the falling of a leaf. like the binding of a sheaf, we must be in time. And our loving Father, we just pray that thou wilt be gracious. O God, to this family circle, reminding us, O God, of our own mortality, that we all must needs die, that we mustn't go the way of all men. O God, we pray that Thou would be gracious to them as a family circle, that underneath and round about would be the everlasting arms of an everlasting God. Lord, we pray that Thou would be gracious and speak to hearts even in this time of loss. We leave, O God, this meeting with Thee. We leave the message in Thy care. O God, let us consider much of our God. We praise Thee for one who's seated on the throne, who's King of Kings, who's Lord of Lords. Be with us, dear God, we pray. May we know Thy good hand upon us, even in the days that lie ahead. We pray these things in Jesus' precious and worthy and wonderful name. Amen and amen.