“Who Alone Is Immortal”
What better way to begin my sermon than by reading from a really good one! Here is a bit of one delivered on Jan. 7, 1855:
“It has been said by someone that ‘the proper study of mankind is man.’. . . but I believe it is equally true that the proper study of God’s elect is God; the proper study of a Christian is the Godhead. The highest science, the loftiest speculation, the mightiest philosophy, which can ever engage the attention of a child of God, is the name, the nature, the person, the work, the doings, and the existence of the great God whom he calls his Father.
There is something exceedingly improving to the mind in a contemplation of the Divinity. It is a subject so vast, that all our thoughts are lost in its immensity; so deep, that our pride is drowned in its infinity. No subject of contemplation will tend more to humble the mind, than thoughts of God . . .
But while the subject humbles the mind, it also expands it. He who often thinks of God, will have a larger mind than the man who simply plods around this narrow globe . . . The most excellent study for expanding the soul, is the science of Christ, and Him crucified, and the knowledge of the Godhead in the glorious Trinity. Nothing will so enlarge the intellect, nothing so magnify the whole soul of man, as a devout, earnest, continued investigation of the great subject of the Deity.
And, whilst humbling and expanding, this subject is eminently consolatory . . . would you lose your sorrow? Would you drown your cares? Then go, plunge yourself in the Godhead’s deepest sea; be lost in his immensity; and you shall come forth as from a couch of rest, refreshed and invigorated. I know nothing which can so comfort the soul; so calm the swelling billows of sorrow and grief; so speak peace to the winds of trial, as a devout musing upon the subject of the Godhead . . .”
These words were spoken over a century ago by C. H. Spurgeon who was, incredibly, only twenty years old at the time. He was, perhaps, one of the greatest preachers of modern times. His words were challenging then, and they still challenge us today.
So let us today test what Spurgeon said. Let us contemplate God beginning with 1 Tim 6:13-16:
“In the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and of Christ Jesus, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which God will bring about in his own time-- God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen.”
We have the privilege of knowing God.
I have heard it said that we don’t want to know about God — we want to know Him. The idea that we can know God without knowing about Him is rather silly. It is rather like claiming to have a dear friend about whom we know nothing!
On the other hand, haven’t you heard of the biographer who studied his subject so extensively that, though he had never met the subject, could say, “I feel that I know this man very well.”
People in our society seem to have trouble knowing God.
One reason for this is that people want everything to be instantaneous and effortless. We can buy instant puddings, instant mashed potatoes, instant dinners, and we can even buy lottery tickets that have “instant winners.” If it is instant, there is nothing for us to do, and we do not have to wait.
Another reason we have trouble knowing God is that people of our era hate to think. We love to be entertained, but we can’t stand to cogitate! God has told us quite a lot about Himself, but understanding that takes effort — a lot of mental effort. Many of us hate mental effort, so our relationship with God is never all it could be.
Still another reason why people have trouble knowing God is that knowing God takes commitment. We live in a world that hates the idea of commitment. In the same way we treat friendships and even marriages, we want to be able to turn our relationships on and off at will. Knowing God shouldn’t be done that way - it can’t be done that way.
While we cannot even scratch the surface of what God has said about Himself in our few minutes here, let’s consider a few of the points we see in our text.
Paul says that God is the One “Who alone is immortal”
Too often people put God into a category with other things. For example, God is part of religion, and religion is part of our culture. So God is part of our culture. So it is said.
What Paul makes clear in our text is that God is not “part” of anything. God is in a category shared with nothing else. God alone is immortal.
God is not a thing that was ever “made.” He just IS -- without beginning or end, or even the possibility of a beginning or end. He alone is immortal.
Before we were born, before our parents were born, before our most remote ancestors were born, God was. When these bodies of ours collapse and turn to dust, God will be.
Before the Big Bang banged, God was. And if, as some speculate, in eons to come, the universe collapses and bangs again, God will still be. God alone is immortal.
Beside a world full of changing things, God alone stands immortal.
We live in a world changing so rapidly that it seems to overwhelm and consume us. The pace of change is often hard even to digest, let alone understand. We live in a time when the trappings of life, things like technology and society, are changing fast enough to make your head spin. Sometimes it almost seems that by the time you learn to use your computer or your VCR, it has already become obsolete!
When you change, when life changes around you, stand on the One who alone is immortal. When all around you is changing, decaying, even disappearing -- even when “all other ground is sinking sand” -- God is a place you can stand -- forever, because God alone is immortal.
Paul says God is “the only Ruler”
We have become a people enamored with political power. We are awed by “public” officials. We will travel to see a president, a governor, or a member of Congress. News reporters will almost kill one another to ask a president (or even a presidential candidate) some question — to which the person will often give an answer designed not to be understood by anyone!
In contemplating God, I find this all to be so silly as to be almost pathetic. I respect civil rulers who do their jobs well, and I have a bit of respect for the abilities of a few athletes and entertainers, but I am not awed by any of them, nor should we be!
All the Caesars, Pharaohs, Feuhrers, and Emperors, Governors, Presidents, Kings and Quarterbacks of the world have eventually turned to dust, as have their children and their children’s children. All their empires eventually waned. And the Greenbay Packers even eventually lost a superbowl.
Through all of this God ruled. He has been able to accomplish His purposes even through those who oppose Him.
But God’s rule extends through all the great epics of history and power even to the smallest details of every life. God is aware of even the smallest of details, scripture says, such as the number of hairs on my head (Thus, He knows that the number seems to be decreasing lately! Though since it is on a part of my head I can’t see, I don’t have to worry about it.)
While I think we would be mistaken to sit around trying to figure out if God wants me to answer the phone the next time it rings, whether He wants me to buy a Ford or a Toyota, or whether every small happening in life is some kind of mysterious “sign” from God, that doesn’t mean that God is not in control of all events, even the smallest events of my life.
God is also in control of the painful events of my life.
The Old Testament Psalmist, in the most painful of situations, cried out to God. The Apostle Paul, when facing extreme hardship, could cry out to God. That is a natural reaction when you remember that God is the Ruler, in control of all circumstances.
We know this does not mean that if we are God’s people, everything will always be pleasurable. But it does mean, as Paul is so often quoted as saying, that “in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Rom 8:28)
This is all because, in the final analysis, God is in control of everything that happens to us, because God is the only ruler of the universe.
Paul says God is “the Giver”
In our text Paul said that God is the One who “gives life to everything.”
When my Father retired from working for money, he didn’t go to Florida. Instead, he went to a little house in Indiana where he spends his time gardening. From fruit trees to flowers to vegetables, his garden is nearly perfect. But it is never quite perfect, so he works at it and with it from sun up until sun down (or until he gets too tired) to give life to the garden.
We are “God’s own field” as the great hymn “Come Ye Thankful People, Come” reminds us. God has given us life. But like my Father’s earthly garden, as nice as it sometimes is, it is not perfect. So God has done great life-giving work for us, His garden, to make us beautiful.
When sin came into us, His garden, God, the giver of life, did not give up. Instead, in the greatest act of giving of all time, He sent His Son Jesus the Christ to die for our sins.
Think carefully a moment: with God’s decision to create this world He already knew sin would enter it, and that to make it possible for sinners to be saved, one person of the Trinity, God the Son, would have to be born as a human and die on a cross for sin.
And yet God was such a giver of life that He was willing to give Himself for your life. If you contemplate the logical implications of that statement, you have to find comfort and hope. God was committed to human kind even before He made us, even knowing what we would make of ourselves. In spite of our horrible choices, God chose life for us.
God did and does all this because He is the greatest Giver of all times.
Paul implies that God is “the concluder” - the “wrapper upper” of all things
In our text Paul reminds us that we are waiting for “the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ.” So many ways of looking at reality do not recognize the need for an end.
Sometimes, I think, we who are familiar with the Christian faith miss the uniqueness of God being someone who will, in His good time, conclude this world.
This world does not just go on and on, as some think, nor does it constantly “recycle” as others have thought. Western people have been fascinated in the last few decades with reincarnation and eastern religions. They are interested in knowing what they were in “other lives” and announcing this to their fans and followers. Back in the 1980s Shirley MacLaine made a media splash when she said she was sure she was a court jester for Louis XV and that she had seen decapitated for telling impertinent jokes. Sylvester Stallone is sure he was beheaded in the French Revolution also.
While this might seem cute to Hollywood people and their followers, it misses something important. In eastern religions, reincarnation is not a cute matter for party discussions or publicity. Instead, it is something into which you are trapped. You are locked into returning again and again in all kinds of lives until you have done enough good works to escape the cycles of reincarnation. How refreshingly different is God’s scheme of things, where each life on this earth moves from a beginning to a conclusion, as does the entire creation!
It is interesting to realize that this world has a conclusion because of sin, and when it does conclude we will be removed from the effects of sin.
When Jesus returns God will, as Peter tells us, do away with this world and transform it into one in which righteousness dwells. Some people have complained that Christianity is about “pie in the sky in the great by-and-by.” But aside from the fact that the “pie” is not really pie, nor is it in the sky, there is still some truth to that saying.
Those little men in robes and long white beards who are pictured as marching around carrying signs that read “The End Is Near!” have always been right. The writer of Hebrews said in chapter one that when the Son of God came, it was “the last days.” As the Apostle John (1 John 2:18) could say in the first century, “It is the last hour.” As the Apostle Peter could state on the first Pentecost following the resurrection of Jesus, what was happening then was happening “In the last days.” Also, as the Apostle Peter also wrote in one of his letters, Christ was revealed, “in these last times” for our sake. It has been “the last days” for a long time now, and it will be “the last days” until Jesus returns.
Someday, Jesus is coming to wrap things up with this sin-filled world. He is going to do it unannounced — He has made that clear. So it does no good to study the Middle East, the World Bank, or the Y2K problem. But the conclusion is coming, because God is the Great Concluder.
There is a kind of logical symmetry to what we can learn about God here.
Since God alone is immortal, He is the Beginner of all things. Since He is the Beginner of all things, He can control all things. Because He controls all things, He is able to be the Giver of the Greatest of Gifts. Finally, because of the gift He has given, He is able to bring all things to a good conclusion.
I think Charles Spurgeon was right — we cannot avoid being improved, humbled, expanded, and comforted when we think about Who God is. And if all this is true, it has some important consequences.
We need to think more about God. God is more important than you or any of the stuff you’ve got — no matter how cool your stuff is.
We need to make God a focus of our families. What do you talk about with your family? Do you talk more about credit cards, television, automobiles or sports than you do about God, His word, and His church?
Most importantly, parents, do you talk to you children about God. Does your family ever study the Bible together? Do you try to help your children understand God as much as you try to help them understand math? Are your children’s grades more important to you than their Godliness?
What’s really more important? Your IRA, your 401k, or your accounts with . . .
God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen.
