THE GOSPEL OF JESUS: Before There Was Time

Jesus: Before There Was Time

http://gbcdecatur.org/sermons/BeforeThereWasTime.html

Matthew 1:1
The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

God wants our church to focus more on Jesus…I know this to be a fact! Christ is the One we should lift up in all we preach. No matter the topic, we should look at how it relates to Christ. What did Jesus say about it. What would Jesus do. A Christ filled life is a self emptied life, and it’s the best life you ever live! Whatever master a man chooses will master that man. You cannot serve two masters, but you do have to serve one!

You can’t just tip your hat to Jesus, you must bow the knee to Him! If Christ is worth anything, He’s worth everything. Everybody needs a hero, and Jesus is mine! And I say to all other religions today, "It doesn’t matter what you are right about if you are wrong about Jesus."

Gospel means “good news”, and Jesus is the good news! The gospels aren’t of four guys, they are the gospel of Jesus!

Our text today indicates it’s all about Him. But Matthew begins with Jesus in human form. Today 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