The Passion of Christ

God Showed His Love For Us
In The Eternal Past

March 21, 2004
Genesis 1:1; Revelation 21:5-7

I want us to begin this study on The Passion Of The Christ by going back and I mean way back. We want to go back before we were born, before our parents were born, before our great grandparents and great great grandparents were born. We want to go back before America was discovered, before the Bible was ever written, before the New Testament days when our Lord started his church and the New Testament was written. The Lord used men like Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Peter, and Paul to write about many of the wonderful things of God. But we want to go back before the Old Testament days when the Old Testament was written, before the great men and women of God like Adam and Eve, Able, Enoch, Methuselah (who lived to be 969 years old!), Lamech, and Noah, a man that God used to spare mankind from the destruction of the universal flood upon this earth. We want to go back before the earth was even created. We want to go back before the Lord created the heavens with it planets and countless multitudes of stars. And beloved I wouldn’t be a bit surprised that there are a lot of things out there in the heavens that we haven’t begun to discover yet. But I want to take you back to a time when these things that we have mentioned, along with many more things, simply did not exist.

I’ve said all this to bring our hearts and minds to the place where, if we are really going to understand anything about The Passion that the Lord had for us, we’re going to have to go all the way back. But Pastor how far back is way back? Well why don’t we let the Lord himself tell us how far back is way back.

He tells us in the very first book of the Bible, in the very first verse in the Bible, in the very first words of the Bible, in Gen. 1:1 "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth."

Let me tell you as simply as I possibly can, I am one of those Pastors that believes every single word of God is 100% totally true without any mixture of error whatsoever. I’ve seen signs in the past that have said, "God said it, I believe it, and that settles it." Can I tell you this? If God says it, it’s already settled whether you and I believe it or not. Our problems many times arise from the fact that we have to figure things out before we will decide if they are true or not. But have we ever stopped to think that if we could truly figure God out, then he wouldn’t be any more of a god than we are?

The truth of the matter is that there are multitudes of things that we have accepted that we can’t figure out but we accept them and use them every day of our lives. How many of us completely understand everything about our physical bodies? How many of us completely understand everything about our mental capabilities? How many of us completely understand everything about our spiritual being? How many of us completely understand everything about how this universe came into existence? How many of us completely understand everything about how the Bible we hold in our hands came into existence? How many of us completely understand everything about God? How many of us completely understand everything about Jesus Christ, God’s only Begotten Son? How many of us completely understand everything about the Holy Spirit? How many of us completely understand everything about the omnipotence or the all powerfulness of God? How many of us completely understand everything about the omniscience of God? How many of us completely understand everything about the omnipresence of God? How many of us completely understand everything about the love, the passion, and the compassion of God?

You know what folks? After I have lived as long as I have, read and studied as much as I have, and listened to others that know so much more than I know about any given subject, one thing that I’ve finally come to understand is that I don’t know everything about anything! So please remember that as we think about these things over the next few weeks.

By way of review of the questions we have just asked, none of us completely understand everything about our physical bodies, our mental capabilities, or our spiritual being. None of us completely understand everything about how this universe came into existence and the Bible we hold in our hand. None of us completely understand everything about God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. None of us, being the weak and frail people that we are, can completely understand how God can be all powerful. None of us, being so limited in our knowledge and understanding, can completely understand that God has all knowledge. None of us, being so limited in this physical body that we have, can completely understand how God can be everywhere in the universe at the same time. And certainly none of us can completely understand everything about the love, the passion, and the compassion that he has for us.

But while we may not be able to completely understand everything about these things, there should be no question left in our minds that we can understand some things about them. In fact the Lord has given us several ways that we can understand many of the workings, the promises, and the ways of God. Perhaps I should name a few of them before we go any farther into our thoughts on this.

1. God Has Given Us His Word.
A tremendous amount of worldly knowledge has been accumulated over the 6,000 years of man’s history upon this earth. If you could put it all together in one place with a gigantic index, you would find nothing but confusion and chaos that came from some of the most educated and knowledgeable people that have ever lived upon this earth. Oh but my friend, the Word of God is different! It’s different because we are told in II Peter 1:20-21, "Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." We should be eternally grateful for having the wonderful privilege of holding, reading, and studying the very precious Word of God for ourselves.

2. God Has Given Us Wisdom, Knowledge, And Understanding.
Proverbs 9:10, "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding."
Proverbs 23:12, "Apply thine heart unto instruction, and thine ears to the words of knowledge."
Job 28:28, "And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding."

3. God Has Given Us Faith.
Hebrews 11:1-3, "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good report. Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear."

Oh yes, I read a little every now and then and I know that there are people that say that they don’t believe in God. They say that it’s impossible that a God could give someone eternal life, for anyone to live throughout all eternity. But the Psalmist wrote under the Lord’s inspiration in Psalms 53:1, "To the chief Musician upon Mahalath, Maschil, A Psalm of David. The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. Corrupt are they, and have done abominable iniquity: there is none that doeth good." Beloved a lot of things in this life simply come down to whether or not we are going to obey the God that cannot lie (Titus 1:2) or men that God tells us about in Psalm 58:3, "The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies." I don’t know about anyone but myself, but as for me, I have accepted the verse that Paul wrote in Romans 3:4, "God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar;"

Men can say what they will, but if we truly want to know the truth, we must diligently inquire of the Lord himself. We must use His Word that He has given us, the wisdom the knowledge and the understanding that He has given us, and the faith that He has given us to trust and believe in Him. Will we be honest to both the Lord and to ourselves and faithfully use these things for our own good, the good of others, and the glory and honor of the Lord? Will we believe Him enough that we will accept what the Holy Spirit tries to teach us in the precious word of God?

Could I be so bold as to say that if we really want to be honest with ourselves, with others, and with God Himself, the only place to go is to the Lord for the answers to all our questions and needs. That old song has touched the hearts and lives of sinners and saints alike.

Living below in this old sinful world,
Hardly a comfort can afford,
But when I face that chilling hand of death,
Where could I go but to the Lord.

Where could I go? Oh, where could I go?
Seeking a refuge for my soul,
Needing a friend, to save me in the end,
Where could I go but to the Lord?

And beloved, the same one that we should be looking to for the time when our life is over here upon this earth, is the same one we need to be looking to today, to lead us, teach us, challenge us, and encourage us as we make our pilgrimage through this life. And please remember that he is the only one that can be with us each and every moment of our lives because he is everywhere at the same time. He is the only one who can really teach us because he has all knowledge. He is the only on who is powerful enough both to save us and to keep us because he is all powerful. And on top of all this, he is a very compassionate and loving God.

But wait, it seems as if I can almost here the question that has echoed throughout the millenniums. But Pastor, if God is really everywhere at the same time, if God really has all knowledge, if God is really all powerful, why would he create us in the first place, knowing full well that we were going to sin against him the very first opportunity that we had? May I say unto you, when we honestly and sincerely begin to meditate upon that question, that’s when we begin to see some very precious things about the love of God.

You see, with everything that he knew about us, and knowing that gigantic multitudes would reject his love and compassion for them, he decided to create us anyway. Listen as Paul tells us in Ephesians 2:4, "But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us," We read also in I John 4:10, "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." We need to look at these two verses very closely.

We see in Ephesians 2:4, "But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us," Listen carefully to those words, "but God, who is rich in mercy". Oh listen friend, the all knowing, all wise, all powerful God of the universe created us in a state of innocence and placed us here upon this earth. And could I say that even before he created us he knew exactly what we were going to do. He knew that our first parents were going to believe the lie of the Devil and plunge all of us into a hopeless and helpless position throughout all eternity. He knew that unless he did something every last one of us would have to spend our eternity in an eternal lake of fire and brimstone. Eleven times in the Bible the words "fire and brimstone" are used together. They are used four times in the Old Testament and seven times in the New Testament. And amazingly, they are used the first time in the book of Genesis and the last time in the book of Revelation.

Let me just quickly read those two verses. Genesis 19:24, "Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven;" Revelation 21:8, "But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death."

Oh friend, doesn’t this make it perfectly clear to us that this was all of our eternal destinies? But praise God we read in Ephesians 2:4-10, "But God, who is rich in mercy," now notice "for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, by grace ye are saved; And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

Beloved if we want to talk about God’s love for us, He has written us one love letter after another throughout the eternal Word of God. We read also in I John 4:10, "Herein is love, not that we loved God," If every one of us would be 100% honest with our conscience and the Lord, we would have to admit that in the condition that we were born into this world, we did not love God. But if we were to be really honest about it, we hated Him. That is why the Apostle John would tell us, "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." In other words, He was to make the supreme sacrifice by His death upon the cross of Calvary, both for our sins and the sins of the entire world. And my friend he did that! And he did it not because he had to, not because he was forced to, but he did it because he loved us in spite of our sins and trespasses against him and his holy laws.

Let’s just pause for a moment and quickly read some of the words that the Lord had Moses write concerning the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20:1-17, "And God spake all these words, saying, I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that [is] within thy gates: Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's."

I have to tell you folks, that is some very strong and condemning language isn’t it? And to make matters even worse, the Holy Spirit inspired James to write in James 2:10, "For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all." What that simply means is this. Even if you and I could keep all the commandments that the Lord has given us except one, then we are guilty of failing to keep them all. And because we are guilty of failing to keep the one, we are guilty before God and will have to pay the penalty for our sins.

Let me try to illustrate this truth in the following way. Let’s just suppose that a man were to dishonor the teachings of his parents, he steals a pistol, he covets the money in the corner bank, he goes down there and kills a teller, and he robs them of all their money. They catch him, try him, find him guilty, and the judge asks him if he has anything to say before he is sentenced. He says, "Yes your honor. I want to plead not guilty." The Judge says, "Not guilty? You dishonored your parents, you stole a gun, you killed a teller, and you robbed a bank. How do you think that you can plead not guilty?" The young man then says, "I plead not guilty because I don’t believe in lying so I told the truth." The Judge then says, "Young man, I appreciate your truthfulness, but all of these other things you have done must receive the full punishment under the law. Therefore, even if you have done some good deeds, I must sentence you to death for committing the cold blooded murder of the teller."

When the Lord sits in judgement of all those who have rejected His Precious Son as their very own Lord and Saviour, they will fully understand what John was writing in Revelation 12:10-15, "And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire."

This would be the fate of each and every person that has, or will ever, live upon the face of this earth if the Lord Jesus Christ had not loved us enough to come to this sin cursed earth, to live a 100% pure and holy life, to shed every precious drop of his blood on Calvary for our sins, and to be buried in a borrowed tomb. But praise God, three full days and three full nights later, He rose from the dead, victorious over death, hell, and the grave.

No, we certainly don’t understand everything about this tremendous love for us, or His tremendous passion for us. Nor do we understand everything about his compassion for us. But we can understand without any shadow of doubt, that we are the ones who have sinned and come short of the glory of God. We are the ones, like the great prophet described in Isaiah 53:6, "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all." It requires tremendous love on God’s part to love sinners like you and me. And could I also say to you, it would also require tremendous Passion or suffering to pay the horrible price for our sins. But because of His love, His sufferings, He can have compassion upon sinners like you and me.

Will you let him draw you close to him today? Will you let Him reveal His Love to you? Will you consider His tremendous suffering for you? Will you receive Him into your heart and life as your very own personal Lord and Saviour?

Copyright © 2004 by Dr. Kennith Atkison

This material is provided for personal study or for use in preparation of sermons, Sunday school classes, or other oral communication. This material may be quoted in written form with appropriate credit and may be copied or reprinted for distribution as long as it is given away and no charge is made for copies, shipping or handling. It may not be reprinted for commercial publication.