Pastor Lutzer l The Mysteries Of God - Sermon 1

the mysteries of God I'm sure that you understand that I feel very inadequate to be able to preach these messages but I do so because God has revealed himself and we should probe God to the extent that we can as human beings so far in the book of Job asked this question can sow by searching find out God can you find out the limits of the almighty and the answer of course is no you can't but I believe that God is honored if we try what do we expect as a result of this series of messages first of all that we will be better worshipers that we will be so overcome by God's greatness and beauty that we'll lay down the weapons of a rebel and we'll say if that's who God is I submit because there's no use giving him opposition He is God and I'm not there's a second thing we hope to accomplish and that is that we have greater faith have you ever noticed that God does not make it easy to believe did you notice for example and I'm sure you heard on the news how a tornado came and a couple a mother and father protected their little 18 month old girl the little toddler and shielded her but the house fell on the parents they died the toddler lived God can wipe out 8,000 people in Nepal or nearly a quarter of a million with a tsunami it's not easy to believe in his goodness we're gonna have to probe those kinds of mysteries and I can tell you in advance it's not that I expect that I'm going to give you an answer that is entirely satisfying but at least we have to grapple with those kinds of questions so you see what we want to do is to ultimately increase our faith and I'll also share with you what to do when the mysteries become too great where do we flee that'll be in a future message I'm sure also what we want to do is transform lives we want more volunteers and more helpers at the moody church my staff was a little concerned they thought that this would be so philosophical so theological as if it wouldn't touch human life I expect as a result of this a great surge of people involved in the ministry here some of those reasons will even become clear today the passage of Scripture is the 90th psalm and you really do need to see it now I know that you've brought your iPhones and that's better than if you didn't that is to say if you use it to find Psalm 90 but you know there is also a Bible in the seat in front of you and it might be around page 496 that's what it is in my Bible you have to see the text Moses wrote this which means that it is centuries older than the time of David normally we think well David wrote all the Psalms well not all of them Moses wrote this one and furthermore he wrote it at a time probably when Israel was condemned in the desert to wander for 40 years it's a plaintive song in it he mourns a lot in it he is overcome by the futility of life but it's also a song that gives hope but the question is what is life all about why should I live and not die some of you may be asking that question you're gonna find an answer today aren't you glad you came aren't you glad you're listening so Moses writes it and what I want to do first of all and and I have to confess that the first 10 or 15 minutes of this message we're going to jump into the deep end of the swimming pool but I'm absolutely convinced that you can follow if you ask God to grant you the ability to concentrate because I want you to be grasped by God first fact is simply this that God exists from all eternity your your Bibles are open Psalm 90 Lord you have been our dwelling place in all generations before the mountains were brought forth or you ever formed the earth and the world from everlasting to everlasting you are God first fact about God is that God never had a beginning God is indeed eternal you know sometimes atheists they like to ask questions like this I think Dawkins did who made God they asked the Christians and if you don't have an answer to that I don't have to believe on him well let's just take a deep breath okay can we all agree that out of nothing nothing comes I mean if there were just absolutely nothing in the world or in the whole universe there wouldn't be a universe and there would be nothing because out of nothing nothing comes well think about it in light of the fact that something exists that must mean that something has existed forever now the atheists say well it's the cosmos it's the universe it existed forever Carl Sagan in his book cosmos begins it with the words there has only been the cosmos is all that there is and all that there ever will be that's the opening line but I mean it's unscientific to say that because the universe does not contain within itself an answer to its own existence for example scientists say that it's actually running down because of entropy and and therefore somebody wounded up somebody very intelligent and very powerful at least goddddd going so to the answer to the question of God's eternal 'ti we as Christians believe that God is the uncaused God who created all things he is the uncaused God who caused everything that exists and and he always existed he always existed now think about that from everlasting to everlasting you are God now let me give you this if you begin with the premise that God exists as he's revealed in the Bible you finally have an explanation for all kinds of things reality as we know it if you don't I can assure you and I don't have time to show it but I can assure you you will come to a dead end very quickly now here's what I want you to do I want you to think of the fact that God is uncaused here he is this being that permeates the universe and he didn't have a cause what I want you to do this week is to take out an hour for God is that too much to ask why don't you unplug your computer turn off the television set give your iPad to somebody and ask them to hide it in a place where you can't find it and then leave your iPhone in the car and take the kids and drop them off at Grandma's and say god this hour is for you and I'm going to spend the first 20 minutes contemplating the fact that you did not have a beginning you and I owe that to God at least can you get your mind around that no beginning from everlasting to everlasting you are God second fact I want you to notice is that God created all that is he created all that is before the mountains were brought forth and you ever formed the earth and the world from everlasting to everlasting your God colossians chapter 1 verse 16 speaking about Jesus for by him we're all things created both which are on earth and which are in heaven visible and invisible whether they be Thrones or principalities or powers all things created by him and for him it's a crucial phrase by him and for him and to think that God did that out of nothing now I told you that out of nothing nothing can arise but since God existed he could take nothing and create something in fact when he spoke he created so many billions of stars they say that there are as many of those as sands on the seashores of the world and he did it the Latin is ex nihilo that is to say out of nothing he just spoke and suddenly they were all there in all their brilliance and beauty and the Sun and the moon I mean imagine God doing that there is a story about a scientist who said to God God I can do the same things that you do I can take a handful of dirt and I can create life God said really show me so the guy reaches down and he takes a handful of dirt and God says uh-uh get your own dirt if you want to prove that you're as good as God go into a laboratory and spend an afternoon taking nothing and creating something and see how it goes you might need the next day I'm smiling because there's no way for us to know now that that would take another 20 minutes of your hour and then there's a third fact about God remember these points now first of all he is uncaused he is eternal he's always existed secondly he created all things and third notice that he exists outside of time now he comes into time but he exists outside of time how do we know that God exists outside of time it is because time is the record of change time is the record of change so what that means is that as long as God existed before creation I am the Lord and I change not there was no change and therefore there was just an eternal now you say well what was God doing before he created the world's I think it was the great theologian Calvin said he's preparing a hell for people who ask those kinds of questions we have no idea what he was doing we do know that he was in existence and making choices but those choices were eternal as we're gonna notice we're gonna study the fact that he never learns anything because he knows it all a joke comes to mind but I'm gonna just let that go I was gonna say he's like a teenage son but the fact is that God is the one then who exists outside of time now let's think about this for a moment you are able to remember the past how are you doing remembering the future that okay can you remember the future oh you say well I can't remember the future because that hasn't happened to God the future has already happened it's already a done deal and we're gonna have to study in this study at some point why it is that we pray when he already knows all things but the point is to be made namely let's look at it this way okay you have a map and you know you're following this map and you're taking this trail and you go from one town to another and you're creating memories right and these memories are being created by you and you will remember them well think of God having the map spread in front of him in its entirety so that he sees all things simultaneously what happened 4,000 years ago is just as present to him as what happened this morning because all things are seen and known simultaneously you said where's that in the text well I actually skipped the reading here but that's implied here verse 4 for a thousand years are in your sight is but yesterday when it is past or as a watch in the night Peter says that with you one day is one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like one day why time is irrelevant to God he sees it in one present now he does step out of eternity into time as we'll eventually learn but the fact is but he sees it all simultaneously for him time does not exist because change does not exist there's another story about a man who said to the Lord Lord how long is a million years to you and God said Oh hmm about a minute he said God how much is a million dollars to you God said oh about a penny he said Lord could I just have a penny and the Lord said sure just a minute you'll notice that a thousand years are like a day in a day like a thousand years for God time does not exist now you can use the next twenty minutes of your hour contemplating that now I tried this last night and I discovered it's very difficult to concentrate on these things because pretty soon you you think the same thoughts again and again so so take these verses read other Psalms because what I want you to do is to lie on the floor if you still can on your own power put a pillow under your stomach face down and I want you to spend an hour contemplating God to his greatness his power and who he is through the word and what you'll discover after that period of time is you'll say wow if that's who he is here I am for whatever he wants now last night I was working on this I also went outside because I wanted to see the stars I am impressed with the immensity of God as a boy running out in the fields oftentimes at night just seeing the stars there in Canada and they seemed so close as if you could just take one of them home with you but last night it was too cloudy to see the stars but I have a good idea that they were actually there become impressed with who God is now you say well you said that this Psalm was sort of a plaintive Psalm and is supposed to discuss the meaning of life and the answer is yes Moses in fact seems to be in a rather discouraging mood and so what he does in the next couple of verses is he contrasts us with God and you should not be surprised at the fact that we come off rather badly actually in contrast to God for example he says in verse 3 you return man to dust and say return o children of men there are several things that he about us first of all he says that life is fleeting we return to dust he says in verse 5 our life is but a dream you sweep them away as with a flood and they are like a dream like the grass is renewed in the morning in the morning it flourishes and by night it fades and and what you find is that later on he says life is like a sigh that's what it is it's a vapor and then he says we fly away I suppose that's the basis of the song I'll fly away Oh glory I won't sing it for you but it's all just here and there it's gone I mean doesn't it say here somewhere that we have a number of different days and if by reason of strength we actually have a tea I'm not seeing it right here but I've read it last night I know that it's here in the text where it speaks about the fact that oh yes verse 10 the years of our life are seventy thank God that not everybody dies at 70 or even by reason of strength 80 and then sometimes you have people like my father who died at a hundred and six and my mother at a hundred and three so they kind of we were kind of thinking they were gonna blow this idea that everybody dies but they did my sister-in-law died in Canada last week she was 75 so maybe we'll live to 80 but then it's gone so he talks about the fact that our life is fleeting our life is sinful this is verse 8 you have set our iniquities before you our secret sins in the light of your presence oh you say I've got all these secrets and who of us has not sinned secretly we all have and and to God we're sinning in broad daylight our secret sins are set in the light of his countenance in the light of his knowledge and some people think that they're kind of hiding from God are you kidding me our life is sinful and we need an answer to that sin and thank God God supplies it so that's why it's so important to hear this message from beginning to end and then he says life is full of trouble I'm now looking at verse 10 the years of our life are seventy and if by reason of strength 80 they are soon gone away and there's toil and trouble there is but toil and trouble it says in verse 10 and isn't there Moses is saying it's all futile I mean you live 80 years maybe maybe a little bit beyond that most people live around that many people live less and to what end you know you've got financial problems you've got relational problems you've got health issues you try one thing and the door is closed and you try another thing and you can't make any advances toward the place that you're going and you just sort of say what is the use of life anyway and then you begin a project and you can't finish it Rafael great painter of the Renaissance was working on a beautiful painting that can be seen today called the Transfiguration but while he was working on it he unexpectedly died at the age of 37 and when his coffin was taken through the streets of Rome they took that picture along with it and then put it next to the coffin the unfinished picture was to remind people that oftentimes we leave life and our task seems to be unfinished I mean think of the futility of life I mean he dies at the age of 37 there are criminals who live to the age of 80 or 90 maybe I mean there are young people who die aimlessly sometimes sometimes because of their own sin but what is the purpose of life anyway well the psalm is gonna provide the answer you just need to stick here with me for a moment Camus the great French existential philosopher began one of his books by saying there is only one serious philosophical question and that is suicide what Camus was saying with which we would all agree is that if you cannot find meaning in life if it's all like a vapor if it's all just being turned back into dust if it's leaving life with unfinished tasks at the most inappropriate times if that's all that it is why live let's look at this Psalm again and maybe we can find an answer to why live maybe an answer that some of you really need to hear today first of all it's very clear that God gives unity to history there is sense to it I'm back in verse 1 where it says in verse 2 or rather verse 1 Lord you have been our dwelling place from generation to generation God unifies history it is not true like Henry Ford says that history is one blank thing after another and he filled in the blank God brings unity to what is happening in the world from one generation to another kingdoms come and kingdoms go but God is there ministries are birthed and sometimes they die and God is there one generation leaves like grass and then another crop of grass grows and there's another generation you've heard me saying I was inspired to say this by a pastor that to me a previous pastor of moody Church to me it gives me so much joy to know that the same God who converted the Apostle Paul on the way to Damascus is the same God who converted DL Moody and Billy Graham is the same God who came to on a farm in Canada and converted me when I was a boy and the same God who has converted you and future generations that are yet unborn God is already planning to choose those generations and people from those generations to continue his work from everlasting to everlasting you are God that's the bedrock of it all but we look at the text and we find also that God gives purpose to life and I want you to see this here in verse in the following verses by just underlining some of the words that he uses as he ends this Psalm that give him encouragement for example verse 14 it says satisfies in the morning with your steadfast love well that begins the process of meaning if God loves me and if I find God satisfying and certainly in this series of messages I hope that we will find God to be eminently satisfying I think it was CS Lewis who said that God is the all satisfying object remember the words of Augustine on the first page of his confessions oh god thou hast made us for thyself and our hearts are restless until they find their all in thee you see what has happened is God puts eternity into our heart and yet we can't experience eternity in this life so life oftentimes sees few - seems futile but God comes along to satisfy us he says satisfy with your steadfast love gladness and joy verse 15 make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us again probably talking about the Israelites wandering in the desert the days were forty years and for as many years as we have seen evil make us glad gladness in the midst of evil gladness in the midst of failure gladness in the midst of unbelief yes God is that kind of a God Moses said make us glad we've blown it but come along give us hope and God does that and not only that he says in verse 17 let the favor of the Lord be upon us can God look upon favor to a generation that rejected him in the desert yes he can because while they were there in the desert he was clothing them he was feeding them he was winning victories for them God does not abandon you even when you may be tempted to abandon God he is still there with you but now we come to the end of the psalm all too quickly I might say and he says let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us and established the work of our hands yes establish the work of our hands so what is the purpose of life when you live and people forget you if you want to know how long you'll be remembered after you die an experiment that you might want to do is to put your hand into a pail of water pull it up and see how long it takes for the water to cover the hole that your hand left that's a slight exaggeration but I've known stories about like that and even if we are remembered we'll be forgotten in a future generation I mean it's all temporary where do we find the permanence where do we find that futility can be changed into meaning and so forth we find it because God establishes our works now what we have to do is to go back to the beginning of the sermon I told you that God exists in this eternal now I don't know a single teacher even the name of a single Sunday school teacher who taught Sunday School in this church a hundred years ago and this church as you know has existed for a hundred and fifty years but I don't know are there people who remember them did they write something that probably not they were dealing with kids just like we deal with them and did their best in teaching them the God's Word but they've they've passed away but God has established their works and those works are as present to God as what we did for God this morning they are all there he doesn't have to recall them because he instantly knows them and he sees everything that they have done so that Jesus can say even a cup of cold water given in my name which you probably have forgotten about I added that phrase you'll not lose your reward because I've established your works you're faithful as a Sunday school teacher you're faithful in obscurity in your job in your vocation you are living for Christ in the midst of a an environment that is hostile and and you are representing Jesus well God takes note and he establishes those works and they will meet you after you die you see that's why it makes a difference as to whether or not you serve the Lord I fear there may be some listening to me who think that Christianity is go to church listen to sermons listen to music and then go home and that's the end of the deal God has raised up here at the moody church a marvelous ministry as you know but we are constantly short of people who commit volunteers you want to have works established and of course that isn't the only work that's established to everything that we do for Jesus is established but you want to have works that are established that will meet you on the other side run don't walk run unless you're gonna trip over somebody to the kiosks where you can become acquainted with our children's ministry which always stands in need of many people to serve and God will God will establish that work I think it's one of the most challenging but one of the most beautiful ministries and a whole host of other things and it's not just the ministries of the church I want you to know that you serve God also in your vocation you serve God because you are delighted to be generous and Jesus said if you give your reward is going to be in heaven where moth and rust does not corrupt where thieves do not break through and steal because you were generous it meets you on the other side and your works are established God gives permanence to our fleeting frustrating oftentimes lives that appear to be futile God gives them permanence he is the one who establishes them now there's a very important verse and that's in verse 12 so teach us to number our days that we might get a heart of wisdom now you and I do not number our days if I ask you how old you are you aren't going to say well I'm six thousand three hundred and forty eight days old you're going to give me years and I hope you tell the truth we give it years he says number your days do you realize that today you are younger than you will ever be again did you realize that you're never going to be as young as you are today as I look over this fine congregation I'm convinced of that no I mean we should number our days because we don't know how many days we have so what he's saying is each day is an opportunity to serve the Lord to find satisfaction in him and and to do works that establish that are established over in heaven let me ask you a question do you know the God that I was talking about this morning do you know him I don't mean know about him because you've listened to this sermon or read the Bible do you actually know him now I don't want to be misheard you know I don't know we have a whole bunch of new words cropping up people miss remember things and they miss hear things and I can imagine a thief saying I'm this took something but I don't want you to miss here this it is not through these works that you get to know God your introduction to God comes from another source and I'll tell you exactly where it comes from in John 17 when Jesus is praying to the Father he says these words and this is life eternal that they might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou has sent it all comes through Jesus it all comes through Jesus because you and I have that big problem called sin and because we have a sin problem we cannot solve that problem on our own God's solution is to send a savior whom we must trust personally acknowledging our sinfulness but coming to him and believing that he's the only one who can clean us up and bring us safely to the Father he is the one that we love he's the one we serve he's the one that establishes our works get this Jesus stepped out of eternity into time so that he could redeem us so that he could take us back to himself so that we could enjoy eternity this is eternal life that they might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou has sent that is eternal life and our quest for permanence our quest for meaning our quest to make sense out of life finally is answered Oh in this life we don't get to do all the things we want we live with disappointment we live with heartache but a day is coming when we not only enjoy the eternal life here in which Jesus gives us right now but we enjoy it over there where no good work done in the name of Jesus is ever lost we serve a sovereign great immense generous God and it is to him that we come to dedicate ourselves take out time this week and contemplate God give him an hour at least become so acquainted with him that you begin to realize that really nothing else matters that's why I try every morning before I roll out of bed to say God today glorify yourself in my life at my expense because at the end of the day it doesn't matter about me it's all about God and I long that something that I've done would be established eternally and you have the same longing and the same privilege father we ask in Jesus name that you'll help all who have listened and particularly those who do not know this great and sovereign God I pray for those who don't know what to do with their sin what to do with their sense of conviction help them to know that Jesus is a redeemer who forgives us and introduces us to the Father we pray that wherever they are they may believe on you right now may they say I accept this Jesus as mine grant us that O God we pray and we shall give you thanks in jesus name amen

Channel: Moody Church Media

Views: 19,282

Rating: 4.8048782 out of 5

Keywords: Erwin Lutzer, Pastor Lutzer, Christian Living, God, Jesus Christ, Moody Church, Christianity, Moody Church Media, Running to Win, Moody Church Hour, Mysteries of God, Attributes of God, Trinity, Eternal, Omniscient, Omnipresent, Omnipotent, Doubt, Apologetics, Character of God

Id: luSsQ_KgpAg

Length: 36min 40sec (2200 seconds)

Published: Thu Aug 23 2018