071915

Four things God cannot do (Part 1)

By: Dr. Jeff Fuller

This is a message based on two scriptures:

The first scripture is found in Psalm and the second in the Book of Deuteronomy.

“Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. ² Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.” (Psalms 90:1-2 KJV)

“You were shown [these things] so that you would know that the Lord is God; there is no other besides Him.” (Deuteronomy 4:35 HCSB)

Today we will embark on a four part article titled “What God Cannot Do.”

Our subject, in the light of the verses we have before us today, sound a little unscriptural.  Yet, I submit to you today that there are many false gods, but there is only ONE true and living God, who is omniscient, omnipresent and omnipotent.  He holds all power in His mighty hands and yet, there are four things God cannot do, simply because He is God.

The first thing I want you to note is that God Cannot Die.

Questions are always asked, sincere questions regarding God and His existence.  One summer at youth camp in the eastern mountains of Tennessee, a seventh grader came to me at the end of the worship service and asked, “Where did God come from.”  Not long ago, a nine year old asked, “How old in God, really?”  One adult asked, “Is God really living today and where does He live.”  The Bible answers these questions and many more that you can ask.

The scripture plainly says, “…From everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.”  How long is “everlasting?”  There are no measurements or calculations of time whereby man can answer that question.  The finite mind cannot conceive the meaning of everlasting.  The never ending existence of our God is something we will never understand in this world-this side of heaven. 

Isaiah tells us, “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9)

Job tells us that God, “does great things past finding out; yes, and wonders without number.” (Job 9:10)

Look up and look as far as your eyes can see toward heaven.  There in the bright, blue sky, you can see the sun, which scientist tell us is 93 million miles away.  At night, we can see the stars, which according to science are farther away than the sun; yet, God’s precious Word tells us that God’s ways and thoughts are just that much higher than our ways and our thoughts.  That is the reason the finite mind cannot understand the everlasting eternity through which God will live.

God’s calendar and time clock do not travel in accordance with our estimation of time.  Man deals in years, whereas God deals in centuries.  It was the Apostle Peter who said that “one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” (2 Peter 3:8)

Our text says that God is FROM everlasting TO everlasting.  That means that God has always been, He has always been God, and He will continue to be God through the everlasting ages of eternity ahead.

You may say that since I am a preacher, I understand that, but since you are not, you do not understand that.  I want you to understand this: we are not supposed to understand it.  We are to take it all by faith!  Remember that the writer of Hebrews said, Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1)  In this day men are saved and kept by faith which comes by hearing the Word of God.  It is through the Word of God we come to know God.  And the Word of God tells us that God cannot die; He is from everlasting to everlasting. 

As long as Jesus tarries and waits for His return, our friends and family will die.  Sometimes we stand next to the open grave of the one dear to our hearts and Paul reminds us that death will be the last enemy to be destroyed.  He writes, “The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.”  (1 Corinthians 15:26)  But praise God, death cannot and will not rob us of God, for He has the power over death, hell and the grave.  Before the mountains, He was!  And when the mountains have been moved out of their places, when “the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up” (2 Peter 3:10), our God will still be, and He will still be God!  He cannot die!

That is the reason that we know God as our Father and Christ as our Savior  and we can boost of everlasting life.  We are born of an everlasting Father, we have become His everlasting children.  Our earthly life will pass unless Jesus comes for His own during our natural lifetime; but praise God, we who are born of the Spirit have everlasting life, because our Father in heaven is from everlasting to everlasting!

Until next time…

(Dr. Jeff Fuller is pastor of the Rockford Baptist Church in Rockford, Alabama.  You may reach him through the church office at 256-377-4900 or by email at fuller0717@gmail.com.)