"THE GOD FOR ALL AGES!"

PSALM 145:1-13

The atheist maintains there is no God in the first place and all that is has occurred as a result of pure accident. The agnostic doesn't know if there is a God or not, and doesn't really care. The animist thinks God is in everything, the pantheist things God is everything. The idolator fashions his own god. The New Ager thinks he or she is God. The deist maintains that God created the universe, and set up natural, scientific laws by which it runs, but then disassociated Himself with it. The deist disdains a personal God who answers prayers, extends grace, or enters in any way into the affairs of men. God, to the deist, is "an absentee landlord" so to speak. He worked in the past but is absent in the present. The Psalmist, however, possessed a hope, a faith, a conviction, a confidence in the God for All Ages, past, present and future. Praise God that He is a God without beginning or end, a God who is, and was, and ever shall be! He is truly the God for All Ages! Uncle Johnson believed in such a God. He was an old man whose faith gave him a cheerful outlook that characterized his life. Every day while at work in his garden, or sitting on his porch, he would sing songs of praise to God. In all his days, God had been there and had not let him down. He knew, as did David, that

• GOD IS THE GOD OF THE PAST: VV5-7:
• David looks back in reminiscence. He recalls his former blessings, of which he had plenty. In Psalm 143:5 he declares, "I remember the days of old; I meditate on all Thy doings; I muse on the work of Thy hands."
• David recalled his boyhood and the many times God had delivered him from wild animals and robbers as he tended his father's flocks.
• He remembered how he had slain Goliath as he shouted, "... the battle is the Lord's and He will give you into our hands." 1 Samuel 17:47.
• He considered how God had helped him when Saul was out to slay him
• He had not forgotten that when his own son Absalom sought the kingdom, God delivered him.
• He pondered how God had elevated him from humble shepherding to the Throne in Jerusalem.
• He could not forget how God graciously forgave him his compound sins of adultery and murder in the case of Bathsheba and her husband Uriah.
• There are times for you and for me to look back to muse on the work of His hands, too.
• When we gather at the Lord's Table we are transported in heart to Calvary where His blood was shed for us.
• When we come before Him in prayer offering thanks, we enumerate His providential benefits.
• When we count our blessings and cross out our banes, when we magnify our benefits and minimize our lacks, we can look back and fondly recall that God is the God of our past.
• We take videos, put stuff in scrap books, and store keep-sakes and memorabilia to preserve memories of the past. We may need a thanks book in which we write our daily blessings in time of good for remembrance in time of ill.
• Spurgeon, the great preacher of a former day, said, "Why, blessed be His name, if He never granted me another favor, I have enough for which to thank Him as long as I have any being. And this, moreover, is to be recollected, that whatever great things we are about to ask, we cannot possibly be seeking for blessings one-half so great as those which we have already received if we are indeed His children. If you are a Christian, you have life in Christ. Are you about to ask for meat and raiment? The Life is more than these."

Like that, Uncle Johnson knew what God had done for him in all his yesterdays, but he was conscious of each day's portion as it came as well. Just so, looking back, David praised God saying, "On the glorious splendor of Thy majesty, And on Thy wonderful works, I will meditate." Psalm 145:5. But, David didn't look only backward into the past; he looked around himself, too, into his present knowing that

• GOD IS THE GOD OF THE PRESENT: VV8-9:

• Note the present tense: in vv8-9: "The Lord is gracious and merciful; Slow to anger and great in lovingkindness. The Lord is good to all, And His mercies are over all His works." It would be equally true to substitute "was" or "were" and "will always be" for "is" and "are!" God is the God for All Ages!
• Some people talk about Jesus and the things of the Bible as though they belonged to another time. "Those were Bible days!" they say! But listen:
• This is a Psalm of the sons of Korah, "God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble." Psalm 46:1.
• Jesus said before ascending into heaven, "... lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Matthew 28:20.
• Hebrews 13:8 assures us that "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today, yes and forever."
• James teaches us that "Every good thing bestowed and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation, or shifting shadow." James 1:17.
• He has not worn out, become a decrepit has-been, He has not withdrawn, forsaken, forgotten nor left us!
• A man, an unbeliever, had a sign in his office that said, "God Is Nowhere." His daughter came in and read the sign, but she read it this way, "God is now here."
• Scottish theologian John Baillie frequently spoke these words: "We must remember, in discussing God, that we cannot talk about Him without His hearing every word we say. We may be able to talk about others behind their backs, but God is everywhere, yes, even in this classroom. Therefore, in all our discussions we must be aware of His infinite presence, and talk about Him, as it were, before His face."

Uncle Johnson spoke often and glowingly about his God. One day hiw pastor, who was passing by the house, heard an especially joyous outpouring of praise. He looked over the fence and called, "Uncle Johnson, you seem very happy today." To which the old man replied, "Yes, I was just thinking." "Thinking about what?" questioned his pastor. "Oh, I was just thinking that if the crumbs of joy that fall from the Master's table in this world are so good, what will the great loaf in glory be like! I tell you, sir, there will be enough for everyone and some to spare up there." When David thought of God's past providence and His Present mercies, no wonder he cried out, "All Thy works shall give thanks to Thee, O Lord, And Thy godly ones shall bless Thee." Psalm 145:10. But he not only looked back and he not only looked around, he looked forward because he knew that

• GOD IS THE GOD OF PERPETUITY: V13:

• David had eternity in his heart and knew of the endlessness, the permanence and the perpetual existence of God:
• Psalm 9:7 "But the Lord abides forever; He has established His throne for judgment,"
• Psalm 10:16 "The Lord is King forever and ever; Nations have perished from His land."
• Psalm 33:11 "The counsel of the Lord stands forever, The plans of His heart from generation to generation."
• Psalm 45:6 "Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever; A scepter of uprightness is the scepter of Thy kingdom."
• Psalm 90:1-4 Contains a prayer of Moses, "Lord, Thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were born, Or Thou didst give birth to the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, Thou art God. Thou dost turn man back into dust, And dost say, 'Return, O children of men.' For a thousand years in Thy sight Are like yesterday when it passes by, Or as a watch in the night."
• So no wonder David could confidently assert, "Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, And Thy dominion endures throughout all generations." Psalm 145:13.
• Babylon fell, Media-Persia fell, Greece fell, Rome fell, Nazi Germany fell, the USSR fell, someday ALL KINGDOMS of earth will have come and gone -- but God's kingdom will stand forever.
• All of us will spend an eternity in some relationship to the Living God -- either separated from Him in deep regret or, in the words of the Shepherd Psalmist, "in the house of the Lord forever." Which will it be for you?

Who gets to come to God's house? People like Uncle Johnson who reportedly died at over 100 years of age still trusting, loving, praising and serving his God. It doesn't matter if God has no place in your past. What matters is that you give Him first place in your NOW and that you secure your eternity with Him. How do you do that? By faith in Jesus Christ. Faith is not merely a head thing -- considering some facts to be true. It is belief that acts on truth. It is trusting Jesus Christ alone for salvation. It is putting no confidence in our own efforts or works. It is obeying the one we trust. He has commanded repentance of sins, and faith repents. He has commanded open confession of Him, and faith acknowledges Him. He has commanded water baptism by immersion for the forgiveness of sins, and faith will obey. He has commanded faithful living day by day and the righteous will live by faith. Faith that obeys is faith that saves. That's faith that makes God the God of your yesterdays, of today, and of forever. He stands ready to be the God of all your ages, if you stand ready to receive His Son Jesus Christ by faith

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