- Pastor Jacob Marchitell
God is: Immutable
God doesn't change, because God cant change. Sermon from May 17th 2020
Greeting (May 17th)
Today is the 9th Sunday where we have been forced to meet like this
9 long weeks.
Announcements:
Last week we talked about the patience of God, why its important----and why us having patience is important.
I hope you all have been being patient during these 9 weeks.
We talked about the Patience of God, because we are in the middle of a Sermon Series titled “What is God like?”
Each week we are looking at the different attribute of God, and why they are important.
We looked at:
Holiness // Eternality // Patience
And the fact that God is a trinity.
Now it may seem weird to be learning about all these deep things about God, right?
All these lofty ideas and big words
And hard to understand concepts
But I want to tell you all this morning, that the times in your life where uncertainty is around every corner-----are the times when you should be pressing into the character and nature of God like never before.
When the world seems like its unraveling----learn more about the God
When life seems like it cant get any worse----do your best to get to know God more and more
Do you want stability, safety, hope and peace? Then fill your heart, and fill your mind with the things of God. Soak your soul in the things of God, till it seeps out of you everytime life puts on the pressure.
This week were going to look at an attribute of God, that while it has a big name, is something that every Christian thinks about during their prayers and worship.
God is IMMUTABLE
Which means, that God does not change.
Malachi 3:6 - ““I the Lord do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.”
James 1:17 - “17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”
( → → Opening prayer ← ← )
So----a little bit of a word lesson for ya.
God is IMMUTABLE
Which means He is not MUTABLE
Which is where we get our word “mutation”
There is no MUTATION with God
There is no change in God
He is not mutable
He is IMMUTABLE
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The God that we worship is one that does not change.
Its not only that He doesnt change ---- He CANT change.
It seems weird to use those words in a sentance, doesnt?
Saying that GOD CANT do something---------sounds at first like its making a false claim, right?
God CANT change.
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That leaves us with some questions though...right?
What about the differences there seems to be in the Old Testament and New?
What about when Jesus was a baby, and then a child, teenager and then adult?
That was a change, right?
What about all the times that God was going to destroy a city and such, but then He didnt?
Weren't those changes?
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To help us understand this IMMUTABILITY of God, were going to quickly look at three ways in which it takes action.
The three ways in which God is unchanging, are:
His essence
His attributes
His thoughts/and will
I say were going to look at them quickly, because there is a resounding orchestra of ramifications to our everyday life, because of this one attribute----so I want to hurry up and get there.
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So, #1
God is unchanging in His essence.
As in, He is always and forever going to be the highest, most perfect, eternal King of all reality.
He has always been God and He will always be God.
Not because He is eternal, but simply because He is God.
He will never be, and has never been---- a bigger, better, smarter, or stronger God.
And He will never be, and has never been---- a smaller, weaker, or less perfect God.
He doesnt grow and grow as time goes on to continually be a better and better God----
growing and changing and improving exponentially into the future-----
And He doesnt weaken and lessen as centuries and centuries pass by---
He has always and will always be the most perfect being that could possibly exist.
Never has he been less perfect that He is today, and never will He be more perfect than He is today.
This is how we can understand that though Jesus was once a baby, and then grew into an adult, there was no change in His essence.
The “WHO” He was, never changed ------> He was always, and will always be God.
Hebrews 13:8 - “Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, today, and forever”
Our God, is IMMUTABLE
Which means --- --- that He doesn’t have any potential.
Now this can seem weird, because “potential” is something that we humans say is a GOOD thing to have.
We say to our children “you have great potential! You can grow up to be astronauts, presidents, engineers and authors and artists
But potential is only a good thing, because it means we can be improved upon.
God cannot be improved upon.
He will never be more perfect, never be more complete, there is no level to which He has yet to reach.
He will never get better at being God as if the first thousand years was of reality was practice, but now He really has all the kinks worked out and knows what He’s doing----
God is completely, totally, fully, perfectly, God and will never be anything but the most perfect being that could possibly exist.
Our God, is IMMUTABLE
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That was a little quick, I kind of pushed through some things that could for sure be taken apart and studied a little deeper, but this is a Sunday morning Sermon, not a college class. If you want to dig a little deeper into anything I talk about, send me a message and we’ll talk!
So, #2
God is unchanging in His attributes
#1 God is unchanging in His essence, He has always and will always be God
And #2 God is unchanging in His attributes
This whole series, we are talking about “The Attributes of God”
And an attribute, is a characteristic that is an inherent and essential part of something.
For example, an attribute of a triangle, is that it has 3 angles. If it had any more or any less, then we wouldnt be talking about a triangle anymore.
So when we say that an attribute of God, is His patience, or He is a Trinity, we are talking about a characteristic of how He exists, that were it not there, we wouldnt be talking about God anymore
And these characteristics of His ----- never change.
James 1:17 - “17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”
His holiness will never weaken over time.
He wasnt extra super holy in the Old Testament, but through the course of history it has kind of weaned and waned.
Jesus isnt more holy now, that He has been crucified and come back to life, than He was before He was crucified.
God is unchanging in His attributes, He is IMMUTABLE
He has never not been all knowing
He has always, from before the universe, been all knowing.
And this all knowingness, isnt going to weaken over time
He isnt going to go senile
He doesnt have a hard time remebering things
He will always be all knowing
All of His attributes, some of which we arent going to talk about during this series----have always been true of God, in their fullest and most complete sense.
He will always be:
Perfectly and completely Holy
Perfectly and completely Patient
A trinity
Eternal
Immutable
There will never be a time, and there has never been a time, when any of His attributes were less, or more.
Everything there is about Him, all of His attributes and characteristics, will remain constant forever.
Our God, is IMMUTABLE
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Alright, #3 - He is unchanging in His thoughts/will
So--
#1 He is unchanging in His essence
#2 He is unchanging in His attributes
#3 God is unchanging in His thoughts/will
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Last week we mentioned something called “DIVINE SIMPLICITY”
Do you guys remember what it meant?
It means that everything about God, is who He is
He doesnt HAVE His attributes, He IS them.
So when we say that God doesnt change His mind---its because His thoughts arent some abstract concept that exists outside of His essence, that He can appeal to or change or work with.
This is kind of deep, but we can understand it by looking at the negative.
We humans say things like “get your thought life under control”
“My mind has been wandering”
“I have these thoughts that just.....pop into my head sometimes”
“My thoughts have been running wild”
It’s not like that with God, because His thoughts and His will arent separate from Him.
God does not change His mind
He doesnt think one thing, but then learn some new piece of information that causes Him to rethink it in order to better align with reality
He doesnt act brashly and say things He doesnt mean because His temper was high--- ---only to back down and apologize
He doesnt have bad days and then good days and go up and down the emotional roller coaster like we do
God’s mind is not one that can be swayed or altered
He is all-knowing, which means there is no new piece of information or angle to look at things, that He isnt aware of
His will is perfect, and the manner in which it unfolds is perfect.
No schemes of man or tricks of satan can ever cause Him to change His plans or change His mind
Not because He is some rigid, stubborn old man who just tries really hard to remain unchanging---
But because He CANT change
1 Samuel 15:29 - “29 He who is the Glory of Israel does not lie or change his mind; for he is not a human being, that he should change his mind.”
He is perfect in His love and compassion, which means that how He shows us His love and compassion, is in the most perfect way possible.
If you have the Holy Spirit living within you,-------if you have repented of your sins and believed in the Gospel of Jesus Christ; then the manner in which God’s plan unfolds in your life, is the most foolproof and perfect way possible.
His plan wont change because you sinned in a way that you swore you never would
His will wont change because you have changed
His mind wont change becuase you have changed
His will wont change because something down here has changed.
His mind and His will dont change, because He is perfect in everything that He does and how He does it.
2nd Samuel 22:31
"As for God, his way is perfect: The LORD's word is flawless; he shields all who take refuge in him.”
Job 42:2 - “...no purpose of God’s can be thwarted.”
So when we see things in the Old Testament, where God does or doesnt destroy a civilization, it is simply because He hasnt changed His mind about people who repent of their sins.
It is an unchanging reality, from the Old Testament to the New, that if you repent of your sins, God will forgive you.
He is unchanging in His thoughts and will, because He is the most perfect and flawless being that could ever exist.
Our God, is IMMUTABLE
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His essence will never change
His attributes will never change
And His mind and will, will never change
He is perfect in everything, unchanging from before time began, and will remain as such for all eternity
Our God, is IMMUTABLE
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Ok….whew-----
I kind of painted with a broad brush
There is a lot more that can be said---
Arguments to unpack
Verses to study
And there are entire libraries of books that have been written about this subject and its reality
But today--- ---is Sunday
Today is a day when Christians look to their local Church, and look to their local Pastor, to help prepare them for the week to come.
We know that the devil walks to and fro across our towns and across our families, looking for someone to devour----so we go to our Churches to hear the Word of God and armor up for the spiritual battle that is this life.
That is why this matters
That is why the IMMUTABILITY of God is something that is always sewn through our prayers and through our worship.
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Our entire world is defined, especially lately, with change
Not only change, but uncertainty
We dont know what the future holds ----
We dont know what tomorrow will bring----
We stress and pray and wonder and worry and plan and act and relent
We look to our elected officials for guidance and direction and assume they have our best interested at heart------
Only to be let down
Only to see yet another politician caught in some scandal that reveals there is a change between how they present themselves and how they really are---
We see the people we thought we could trust ---- change ---- and then all credibility and reliance is thrown out the window
Everything about humanity rides on the winds of change-----
We look to out families and our spouses----people that have sworn before God to be by our side till death parts us, and they hurt and betray us
We look to people that we love, who have turned their backs
We look to people so close to us, that when they change, it hurts us in ways that no one else could
We use phrases like:
“Youve changed”
“I cant believe you would do that”
“How can you treat me and treat us this way”
“What happened to the YOU I used to know”
You are not the same person anymore ----- I dont know who you are ---- you -have- changed-
And we see change in ourselves too
We look at the choices we make that we know we shouldnt--- and say things to ourselves like “I cant believe I did that, I cant believe I changed”
We think to ourselves:
I dont know who I am anymore.
Ive changed in ways that I hate
Ive changed from who I used to be
I thought I wasnt that person anymore
When I was a kid I ran free, I loved people and thought the best of them
I played and laughed and took joy in the things around me
But now Im some different creature altogether
Ive changed
Ive grown bitter and angry
Im filled with doubt and anxiety
Im overcome by stress and distraction
Ive changed in ways that I dont like and i feel trapped by my mistakes that i feel are so bad that i will never be able to change back to the way I used to be
Ive let life beat me down and wear me out
I look to other people for directions and guidance and comfort, but all I see are changes and variation
Where is the honor and integrity?
Where has the noble and honorable man gone to?
I look out in the world and see change, in every direction, in every area of life.
Where can I find constant reliable comfort?
Where can I find unending forgiveness and support?
Where can I look to, to see and experience grace & freedom & love that doesnt lessen over time?
That doesnt weaken based on my mistakes and shortcomings-----
That doesnt treat me differently when I MYSELF admit that ive messed up
Where can I turn when the world is unraveling all around me
When stress rises and falls-----
When evil leaders make evil choices-----
When the people in my life have proven that they are susceptible to the effects of sin and evil and they change in ways that I cant deal with-----
Where is there hope, peace and love that will never change?
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It is only through the repentance of our sins and belief in the Gospel of Jesus Christ that we can escape the roller coaster of change that this world is forcing us to live in.
And through a personal relationship with Him, is how we can change---for the better
We can find the reason we exist
We can find the area of this life that is lacking your specific input
You can find the meaning of life through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ
And the only reason we can make this change, is because He never changes
The only reason your life can change for the better and take on an eternal meaning, free from the muck and mire of this world, is because God is IMMUTABLE
You can change because He does not.
Look to the unchanging God of creation
Look to the changeless one
The constant one
The reliable one
The unmoved mover of all reality that spoke the universe into existence with the same power that hasnt weakened or lessened because of anything in all of reality
Look to the God who is reliable through every situation----
Who remains steadfast in all His promises ---
Whose plans dont sway like shadows, changing based on sin and mistakes-----
Look to the God whose will holds fast against the raging of a thousand nations----
Our God is IMMUTABLE
In closing----
Psalm 62
Truly my soul finds rest in God;
my salvation comes from him.
2 Truly he is my rock and my salvation;
he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.
3 How long will you assault me?
Would all of you throw me down—
this leaning wall, this tottering fence?
4 Surely they intend to topple me
from my lofty place;
they take delight in lies.
With their mouths they bless,
but in their hearts they curse.
5 Yes, my soul, find rest in God;
my hope comes from him.
6 Truly he is my rock and my salvation;
he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.
7 My salvation and my honor depend on God;
he is my mighty rock, my refuge.
8 Trust in him at all times, you people;
pour out your hearts to him,
for God is our refuge.
9 Surely the lowborn are but a breath,
the highborn are but a lie.
If weighed on a balance, they are nothing;
together they are only a breath.
10 Do not trust in extortion
or put vain hope in stolen goods;
though your riches increase,
do not set your heart on them.
11 One thing God has spoken,
two things I have heard:
“Power belongs to you, God,
12 and with you, Lord, is unfailing love”;
and, “You reward everyone
according to what they have done.”
Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, today, and forever.
Turn to the unchanging God of creation, and your life will never be the same again.
( → → Closing prayer ← ← )