Click the "Sermons" button for access to hundreds more messages and
PowerPoint Presentations!
Use the controls, below, just like you would a VCR. Click the "Play"
arrow to begin. This page must remain open to continue listening. To browse the internet while you listen, open a new browser window by clicking on "File", then "New", then "Window".
Click here after starting sermon
audio to bring up PowerPoint slides and visual aides which go along with
the sermon. [A new window will open and remain blank until fully loaded.
It may take 1-5 minutes to open.] Once the first slide appears you can
follow along with the message and use the arrow keys to advance the slides.
Click here to vote for this sermon. [A new window will open.
Scroll to the bottom of the new page to enter your
vote. Then close the page to return to this page.]
If you appreciate this sermon ministry
then help spread the Word and recommend it to others by casting your vote.
The book of the generation of Jesus
Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
God wants our church to go thru the gospels,
and to focus more on Jesus…I know this to be a fact! Christ
is the One we should lift up in all we preach.
This will be a chronological journey.
Gospel means “good news”, and
Jesus is the goodnews!
Matthew will be our tour guide thru most of this study, but we’ll use Mark,
Luke, and John where they can chime in and help us…and yet, this won’t be
their gospel we study, but the gospel of Jesus!
Our text today indicates it’s all about
Him. But Matthew begins with Jesus in human form. Today as we begin this
new chronological series we need to see Jesus from the very beginning, tho’
there was no beginning for Him!
John 1:1-2
In the beginning was the Word, and the
Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with
God.
John 1:14
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt
among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the
Father,) full of grace and truth.
But Jesus laid aside His glory, not His
deity, but the glorious form and the privileges of deity, to become the
God-man for us.
1. THE GLORY
But John said he beheld His glory?…well,
that was at the transfiguration. And Jesus Himself said He laid aside His
glory:
John 17:5
And now, O Father, glorify thou me with
thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.
Here at the beginning, before time existed,
we find Jesus, and the word that comes to mind is glory. It’s the answer to
any questions we may have. Who is Jesus? He is Glory. Where was He? In
Glory! What was He like? Glorious! What does glory look like? We would
die if we saw it unprotected. Yet, God gives us a glimpse, a portrait…let’s
look at it:
2 Cor. 4:6
For God, who commanded the light to
shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the
knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Hebrews 1:3
Who being the brightness of his glory,
and the express image of his person…
He shares His glory w/ the Father, and with
someone else…
John 17:22
And the glory which thou gavest me I
have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
[With us!]
2. THE LOVE
John 17:24
Father, I will that they also, whom thou
hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which
thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.
Love existed before time as well, and God is
love, and John 3:16 shows how God loves us, tho’ we are sinners…He sent His
glory our way!
Love is eternal, it has always been, and
always will be. It wasn’t invented by humans!
3. THE GRACE
2 Tim. 1:9
Who hath saved us, and called us with an
holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose
and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,
Jesus has always been the embodiment of
grace. Grace has always existed. All who are saved are saved by it. We
can be proud of the name of our church, for it’s by God’s grace we can be a
part of it!
4. THE WISDOM
Only God could conceive of this wonderful
plan to share His glory thru love and grace.
1 Cor. 2:7
But we speak the wisdom of God in a
mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto
our glory:
Proverbs is the book of wisdom, and makes it
clear that our glorious, loving, graceful Savior is forever the embodiment
of wisdom!
Proverbs 3:19
The Lord by wisdom hath founded the
earth; by understanding hath he established the heavens.
Proverbs 8:22
The Lord possessed me in the beginning
of his way, before his works of old.
5. THE PROMISE
Titus 1:2
In hope of eternal life, which God, that
cannot lie, promised before the world began;
Jesus is the promised One, and He keeps His
promises!
6. THE LAMB
Rev. 13:8
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.
7. THE CHOICE
Ephes. 1:4
According as he hath chosen us in him
before the foundation of the
world, that we should be holy and without
blame before him in love:
Whom has God chosen? Only the saved? No,
He chose to share His glory with all who would receive it. God so loved
“the world”. It’s by grace that any can be saved. But in His wisdom He had
foreknowledge from the very beginning which among us would CHOOSE HIM! We
have the choice to claim His promise and accept the sacrificial blood of the
Lamb.
But it’s awesome to think that God knew me
and you before there was time, and cares enough about all the details,
including the choices we would make. From our perspective, our choices
haven’t been made, we all have a free will and a clean slate ahead of us!
God didn’t say “eenie-meenie-miney-mo”.
2 Peter 3:9
The Lord is…not willing that any should
perish, but that all should come to repentance.
“Whosoever will may come!”; “Whosoever
believeth”; “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved!”
Anyone can be saved: “the chosen” are all
who will choose Him. “The elect” are all who elect to receive His
salvation.
Everything preached so far today is what we
know about Christ before there was time…but then, He created time and all
that is!
1. HE LAID THE FOUNDATION FOR ALL THAT IS.
Hebrews 1:10
And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast
laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine
hands:
2. NOTHING WAS MADE WITHOUT HIM.
John 1:3
All things were made by him; and without
him was not any thing made that was made.
3. BY HIM GOD MADE EVERYTHING.
Hebrews 1:2
Hath in these last days spoken unto us
by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made
the worlds;
4. ALL WAS CREATED BY HIM AND FOR HIM.
Col. 1:16-17
For by him were all things created, that
are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be
thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created
by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things
consist.
5. HE CREATED ALL THINGS.
Ephes. 3:9
…the mystery, which from the beginning of
the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:
6. WE WERE CREATED BY HIM.
1 Cor. 8:6
But to us there is but one God, the
Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by
whom are all things, and we by him.
7. HE IS THE BEGINNING OF CREATION.
Rev. 3:14
And unto the angel of the church of the
Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true
witness, the beginning of the creation of God;
It’s true, friends, the babe in the manger
wasn’t the beginning, just the next chapter of Him who is timeless.
He was killed at the hands of sinful
mankind, but that wasn’t the end, just the next chapter.
And this verse from Revelation is about the
Alpha and Omega, He Who is the beginning and the end, and yet even at the
very close of God’s Word, it’s not the end…it’s only the beginning!
[Next time: Jesus in the Old Testament]
The Gospel of Jesus: Before There Was Time
Matthew 1:1
Christ is the One we should lift up
in all we p__________
Jesus is the g______
n_______John 1:1-2, John 1:14
1. THE G_________John 17:5, 2 Cor. 4:6, Hebrews 1:3, John 17:22
2. THE L______John 17:24
3. THE G________2 Tim. 1:9
4. THE W__________I Cor. 2:7, Proverbs 3:19,
Proverbs 8:22
5. THE P____________Titus 1:2
6. THE L______Rev. 13:8
7. THE C__________Ephes. 1:4, 2 Peter 3:9, Hebrews 1:10, John 1:3, Hebrews 1:2,
Col. 1:16-17, Ephes. 3:9, I Cor. 8:6, Rev. 3:14
Click here to vote for this sermon. [A new window will open.
Scroll to the bottom of the new page to enter your
vote. Then close the page to return to this page.]
Help keep this service free by
recommending it using:
