The God Who Created You Is Unchangeable

Bill Woody

The Attributes of God • Sermon • Submitted 3 years ago

Malachi 3:6

Character

Being and Attributes of God

Immutability

Unchangeability of God

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The God Who Created You Is Unchangeable (The Immutability of God)

Introduction:

1. The God Who Created You Is a Just God.

2. The God Who Created You Is A Holy God.

3. The God Who Created You Is A Faithful God.

4. The God Who Created You Is An Eternal God.

5. The God Who Created You Is A Changeless God.

6. The God Who Created You Is A Powerful God.

7. The God Who Created You Is A Good God.

8. The God Who Created You Is An All-Knowing God.

9. The God Who Created You Is A Sovereign God.

10. The God Who Created You Is An Ever-Present God.

11. The God Who Created You is a Loving God.

12. The God Who Created You Name.

* This morning we resume our study of the “Attributes of God” with the Immutability, or the “Unchangingness” of God.

Text: Malachi 3:6 (KJV) 6 For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.

* Because God does not change, it gives us great comfort to know that the God who loved us and saved us, will never change His mind about how He feels toward us.

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2 Samuel 22:47 (KJV)

47 The LORD liveth; and blessed be my rock; and exalted be the God of the rock of my salvation.

* Because it is impossible for God to change, the Bible speaks of God as the Rock of our salvation.

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Psalm 102:24-28 (KJV)

24 I said, O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days: thy years are throughout all generations. 25 Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth: and the heavens are the work of thy hands. 26 They shall perish, but thou shalt endure: yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed: 27 But thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end. 28 The children of thy servants shall continue, and their seed shall be established before thee. * This verse tells us that time cannot change a changeless God.(Vs. 24) * This passage tells us that the earth and the heavens will change, but our God will not change.(Vs. 25-27) * This passage tells us that because God does not change, we his children can rest assured that God will never forsake us.

Romans 8:31-39 (KJV)

31 What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? 32 He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? 33 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. 34 Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Hebrews 6:17-19 (KJV)

17 Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath: 18 That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: 19 Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast…

Illustration: “Whichever way the wind blows, God is still love.” The great London preacher Charles Spurgeon was driving through the countryside when he noticed a weather vane on top of a farmhouse. The windscreen on the weather vane had these words written on it: “God Is Love.” Curious about such an unusual inscription for a weather vane, he stopped and knocked on the door of the farmhouse and inquired: “I just had to stop and ask about your weather vane. Do those words—“God Is Love”—mean that God’s love changes as the weather changes?” The farmer replied, “Oh, no. *What we mean is that whichever way the wind blows, God is still love.”

- That applies to every other aspect of His nature as well.

- The unchangeableness of God’s nature is referred to by theologians as His immutability.

- All God has ever been, He will forever be.

- Not only will He not change, He cannot change.

- God has no beginning and no end.

- God does not evolve and get wiser and wiser over the eons of time.

- God does not learn. Everything there is to know about you, He knew in the beginning- and He loved you anyway.

- God is often referred to as a rock in the Old Testament, referring to His stability and unchanging nature.

(Rock of Ages) Augustus M. Toplady, 1776

Rock of Ages, cleft for me, Let me hide myself in Thee; Let the water and the blood, From Thy wounded side which flowed, Be of sin the double cure, Save from wrath and make me pure. Not the labor of my hands Can fulfill Thy law’s demands; Could my zeal no respite know, Could my tears forever flow, All for sin could not atone; Thou must save, and Thou alone. Nothing in my hand I bring, Simply to Thy cross I cling; Naked, come to Thee for dress; Helpless, look to Thee for grace; Foul, I to the fountain fly; Wash me, Savior, or I die. While I draw this fleeting breath, When my eyes shall close in death, When I rise to worlds unknown, And behold Thee on Thy throne, Rock of Ages, cleft for me, Let me hide myself in Thee.

1). We as humans are completely the opposite of God. We are subject to change in three ways that God is not subject to:

1). We either get better,

2). We get worse,

3). We are moved by some outside force acting upon us.

* None of these changes apply to God.

* For God to change would mean that He got better or worse, which would deny the doctrine of His perfection.

* Because God is perfect, He cannot change or be moved.

2). We are living in an era in which change is occurring more rapidly than at any time in history.

- People are grasping for anything they can to try to stabilize themselves in our rapidly changing world.

-Beer, Drugs, Food, Sex, Money, Jobs, Friends, Education, Fitness, Relationships

- For those of us who know God, we don’t need to grasp for anything.

- God is more stable than the Rock of Gibraltar and Mount Everest combined. He is the Rock of our salvation, never changing and never moved.

3.) There are many changes that we as humans don’t look forward to, some we even fear:

- loss of spouses and loved ones who leave us in a timely fashion.

- events and changes that occur in an untimely way—things we don’t expect and wish would never happen.

- It is in the midst of those changes, the ones that bring heartache and perplexity, that we need to cling to the unchanging nature of God.

I. Because God is Unchangeable, His Promises are unchangeable.

Numbers 23:19 (KJV)

19 God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?

Growing up, did your family have a “Promise Box” on the kitchen or dining room table? The “Promise Box” held hundreds of the 800 promises of God in the Bible printed on little cards. At our house, someone would take out a card at each meal and read the promise of God that was on it. God’s immutability means that not one of those promises—not one of the 800—will ever be forgotten, violated, or unfulfilled. Why? Because what God says, He stands behind forever.

A. God will never leave us or forsake us.

Hebrews 13:5-6 (KJV)

5 Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. 6 So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.

B. Jesus will come again and take us home.

John 14:1-3 (KJV)

1 Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

C. Jesus will be with us to the end.

Matthew 28:19-20 (KJV)

19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

II. Because God is Unchangeable, His Purposes are unchangeable.

A. Which do you think is more likely to stand the test of time— man’s plans or God’s purposes?

Proverbs 19:21 (KJV)

21 There are many devices, (or plans), in a man’s heart; nevertheless the counsel of the LORD, that shall stand.

Ezekiel 24:14 (KJV)

14 I the LORD have spoken it: it shall come to pass, and I will do it; I will not go back, neither will I spare, neither will I repent; according to thy ways, and according to thy doings, shall they judge thee, saith the Lord GOD.

Isaiah 46:8-11 (KJV)

8 Remember this, and shew yourselves men: bring it again to mind, O ye transgressors. 9 Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, 10 Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure: 11 Calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth my counsel from a far country: yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it.

* Writing plans and mission and vision statements is popular today.

- They are worthy disciplines.

- We cannot guarantee the outcome of what we plan.

- Businesses were hurt or ruined in March 2000, when the hi- tech sector of the stock market took a nosedive.

- Many were afraid it might happen, but no one knew when; so they kept on planning.

- On the heels of that event came the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001

- Followed by the war in Iraq.

- Everyone’s business plans and many people’s individual plans (think of the thousands of reserve military people who were called from their work and homes to go to war) were dramatically changed.

- Man’s plans and purposes are good, but no one can guarantee they will succeed.

- God’s plans perfect to begin with.

- God plans always succeed they are always fulfilled.

- God’s eternal nature means He sees the end of the plan at the same time He sees the beginning.

- The circumstances, the events, the disruptions, the human changes—they are all part of the plan.

B. There are some instances in Scripture where God appears to change His mind.

- The Bible says God “repented that he made man”

- Moses prayed and God didn’t judge Israel.

- Hezekiah prayed and didn’t die.

- God didn’t judge the Ninevites like He had planned.

- God said He was sorry He had made Saul king.

* How do we explain these seeming changes in God’s plans?

* God communicates to us in human language.

* The Bible talks about God’s arms, hands, and eyes, but then says He is a Spirit.

* The writers of the Bible assigns human qualities to God in order to communicate God’s actions in terms we can easily understand.

- When human beings change their attitudes toward the purposes of God, then God’s purposes are carried according to our attitude. - Its’ not the plan of God that changes, God does not change His mind.

- God knew from the beginning that men would change their attitudes toward His plans, so he tells us how He would do things, then deals with us according to our attitude, which was already known to God in the beginning.

Ie: When Moses prayed for God to spare Israel, God already knew He was going to answer Moses prayer before He ever told Moses that He was going to destroy them.

Ie: When God told Abraham to sacrifice Issac, he already had a ram prepared waiting to take his place.

Ie: When Genesis says “it repented God that he had made man”, God had already purposed that He would save mankind through Noah and the Ark.

Ie: When you failed God and sinned against Him, He already knew you would, and still He as called you to do a work for Him in this life. Your failure did not cause God’s plan for your life to fail.

III. Because God is Unchangeable, His Provisions are unchangeable.

James 1:17 (KJV)

17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

A. Because God’s provision flows from His unchanging promises, His provision is unchanging as well.

B. The same God who heard the prayers of Daniel in the lions’

den, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace, and Paul and Silas in the jail in Philippi? He is the same God you and I pray to when we are in our own perilous places.

C. God lives in the “now” of your needs. At the same moment he saw and met Daniel’s need, He saw your need too, and is ready to respond to our prayer for help as well.

D. What good would it do to call on someone whose character and nature changed with the situation or circumstance?

* The only reason we can call on God with confidence is because we know that with Him there is no shadow of turning.

Hym “Great is thy faithfulness”

IV. Because God is Unchangeable, His Personality is unchangeable.

A. Children, including my own, know how to “work” their parents. We don’t have to “work” God.

B. God doesn’t have “moods.”

* God is always accessible to us, always in the same mood, always ready to hear from us, always ready to meet our needs.

Hebrews 13:8 (KJV)

8 Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.

V. Because God is Unchangeable, His Prophecies are unchangeable.

A. I would be unfaithful if I did not mention what will be, for some, a dark side of God’s unchanging nature.

* Yes, it’s true that God’s promises, purposes, provisions, and personality are unchanging.

* It is also true that His prophetic word about those who do not receive His promises and provision of salvation through Christ remains fully unchanged as well.

B. The same God who says, “I am with you always,” (Matthew 28:20) also says, “The soul who sins shall die” (Ezekiel 18:4, 20).

Conclusion:

* For the believer, the unchanging nature of God is a wonderful comfort.

* For the unbeliever, the unchanging nature of God is a black and dark curse that will never be broken. God will never change His mind about your sin.

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