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[0:00] Let me begin by reading the words of a psalmist from Psalm 102, verses 25 to 27.

[0:12] Of old you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you will remain.

[0:25] They will all wear out like a garment. You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away. But you are the same, and your years have no end.

[0:43] Have you ever thought about what makes a good friend? Have you taken the time to ask yourself, these are the qualities that I appreciate about a certain friend?

[1:01] Chances are, if you ask a single person who's kind of hitting those college years or late high school years, ask them about the list, right?

[1:13] They all have a list of some of the qualities that they would want in their future spouse. Some of them have a list for themselves. They're trying to work through.

[1:25] So when you think about some of these qualities that you would want a friend or a close person to have, it could be simply a friend.

[1:35] It could be what are some of the qualities you share with your wife or qualities that you appreciate about your husband. Perhaps it's your parents, your adult children, or maybe even some of characteristics of a really good boss.

[1:51] What are some of the words that you think about that you really appreciate that make that relationship work? Some people will say, well, their honesty is important. Authentic.

[2:05] Another word of honesty, just truthful. Dependable. Faithful. How about the word immutable?

[2:18] Have you ever thought, I love the immutability about my friend? Well, in case you're not sure what immutability means, it means the unchangeableness.

[2:32] Theologians, and the topic we're going to talk about today is the unchangeableness of God. How important is it for you that people don't change?

[2:49] How important for you is it that some people never change? Now, I think when we look at the outset, I know there is, I'm not naive enough to know that both men and women see this subject as change from two different perspectives.

[3:10] There's the old adage, correct? In fact, a husband marries a woman to be his wife, and his hope is that she never changes.

[3:22] Where a woman goes into a relationship, marriage with her husband, hoping that he will change. However, there's some very sad realities when it comes to the subject of change.

[3:41] Several years ago, Focus on the Family put out this study, and it was on the subject of divorce. And they were trying to find direct correlational reasons why divorce was beginning.

[3:57] This was at the time when divorce among Christian families was very low, and it was starting to climb. And they were starting to pull together different facts and statistics to find a direct correlation.

[4:09] And one of the most interesting statistics that they came out with, that if a woman was married before she was the age of 22, the chances of her divorcing or their marriage divorcing was 80%.

[4:24] That was the one number that stuck out, that if a woman married before she was 22 years of age, it was an 80% chance of divorce.

[4:36] Now, many of the reasons cited were that during this time, it all depends, there's obviously other different situations that are influencing things.

[4:48] But one of the arguments was that a woman had just kind of left the home, left the father's protection, and kind of going in under this other man's home, but yet not being educated enough.

[5:00] She started to have different thinking differently about politics, started pursuing new interests in education. And there was an expanse of growth between the ages of 22 and 28.

[5:13] She just became more comfortable. And that led to a lot of divorces, just things changed. And so much so that these young couples, immature, just about every reality of life could not sustain the change.

[5:30] I know a couple of sad situations in regards to people who had head injuries. Essentially, the head injury ended up leading these two different spouses in two different marriages to basically transform their personality, which eventually led in divorces.

[5:51] And what had happened is after the head injuries, the spouse had different motivations, different interests, and even, as one stated, a different sense of humor.

[6:02] However, from the other spouse's perspective who had the injury, they see themselves as the completely same person. So what we are seeing is that people do have problem with change.

[6:16] Sadly, some of us, when we became followers of Jesus Christ, it changed the dynamics of our family relationships.

[6:28] Some for good, and some, sadly, for worse. Whether it would be with a spouse, our children, our parents, our larger family numbers.

[6:38] I'm not even immune from it from old friends that I used to play sports with and do things with. If you're familiar with LinkedIn, I have several old university buddies kind of connect with me on LinkedIn.

[6:50] As soon as they see that I'm a pastor, the emails don't come as much. It's just the reality of following Jesus Christ.

[7:00] But change happens. Now imagine for a moment if God changed.

[7:14] If God were like us and changed his mind, changed his emotions, changed his demeanor, his mood.

[7:30] What would that be like? Maybe he would even change his laws. Well, yesterday was a fine day to bring grain to sacrifice, but I'm actually only receiving goat today.

[7:43] You know, there could be many different ways. I expected you to do that. Yes, yes, that was sin yesterday. Today, you're blessed. What kind of confusion would that set up with the worshiper?

[7:57] However, we know as parents, when sometimes you discipline your children and you don't do it equally among them, what's the first thing that you hear?

[8:10] That's not fair. We all have this sense of fairness. And imagine if God kept changing the rules about life. If he weren't for God, we'd be yelling out, that's not fair.

[8:29] How confusing worship would be for us. We'd be wondering each and every day, did I offend God? Did I obey God? I thought I was obeying him yesterday.

[8:42] Maybe it's not today. Can I approach him in prayer? Maybe he's angry today. Maybe I can't approach him in prayer. If God changed, how could we be secure with our worship?

[8:59] Perhaps some of you have lived a real true-to-life situation in regards to perhaps a parent, a spouse, a boss, where you never knew what their mood was.

[9:19] Their mood would affect how they acted towards you. I know many people who have grown up with an alcoholic parent. What you do is you stay away on the boundaries of life.

[9:32] You don't want to incur their anger, their wrath, their silliness, whatever. Perhaps it's someone with anger issues or mental issues.

[9:44] I know in our family there's some issues there. You just don't want to talk with someone because you never know how they're going to respond. And it's scary. It makes you insecure.

[9:55] If you are dependent on that person, and I think a lot of women, wives, children can understand this. When you are so dependent on someone who is so unstable because they change all of the time, it is a horrible place to live.

[10:20] If you are so dependent on someone who is so unstable, you are so unstable. If you are so unstable, you are so unstable. You are so unstable. You are so unstable. Do they love me? Do they love me not?

[10:34] It's hard. How do you approach this person? How do you react? Reality is, when it's our friends that are like this, we just cease being their friends.

[10:47] But if it's a member of a family, and like I said, someone that we depend on, it's heartbreaking. Today I want to preach on the subject of God's immutability.

[11:05] God's unchangeableness. Personally speaking, this attribute, more than any other, for some reason sets my soul at ease.

[11:19] The fact that God does not change is what holds all the other truths of the Bible together for me.

[11:32] It's what gives me peace, what gives me comfort. It's the truth that allows me to understand that God's love is consistent and the same all the time.

[11:44] That God's justice is consistent and the same all the time. That God's mercy is consistent and just all the time. There's a comfort for me knowing that God is the same all the time.

[12:04] It's interesting, in Deuteronomy 32 and 4, Moses compares God to a rock. Now I know some people might say, you know, that guy's really hard-headed.

[12:15] He's like a rock in that way. That's not what Moses is talking about. This is what he writes. He says, the rock. And he uses like the capital letter R, rock, in my text.

[12:26] His work is perfect. For all his ways are just. Justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity.

[12:38] Just and upright he is. The reality is that rock is fixed. A rock is what ships smash against.

[12:51] What divides waters. The rock denotes God's steadfastness, his faithfulness, his justice.

[13:06] A rock is strong, faithful, dependable. In fact, Chevrolet has even adopted it in one of its commercials. Like a rock for their trucks.

[13:18] They're meant to be dependable, strong, stable. And that's the same words that the idea that Moses is conveying about God. Now, what's really interesting when we talk about change, there's also a flip side to it.

[13:37] What's interesting is this attribute of God, that God does not change, is what some unbelievers say, that God is irrelevant because he does not change.

[13:52] And it's a foolish understanding, and I want to take the time to explain why that's foolish. They will ask questions. How can a book that was written over 2,000 years ago be relevant to me today?

[14:07] Right? Because they're taking this idea that it was men, and some people just view the Bible. They haven't read it, and they take it as an idea of God just writing down a whole bunch of laws about how people are supposed to act.

[14:22] And if we act, we gain favor. So their whole thinking is that this is a man-made book about how men thought about what are really good ways to worship him.

[14:34] But that is not the story of the Bible. They believe that we are so advanced, so progressive, so much has changed, that there's no way that this book can be practical.

[14:53] Sadly, they do not understand that this book is written, yes, by men, but under the power of the Holy Spirit. God gave them words. God gave them truth to write. Thus saith the Lord.

[15:05] It is a supernatural book. When we read it, we know it, or rather, it knows us. Maybe it was good.

[15:15] We might think maybe it was good for Israel way back then, but we've progressed so much more as a society. The foolishness in that type of thinking is, as the writer in the Old Testament, Solomon, wrote, there's really nothing new under the sun.

[15:33] What was good 3,000 years ago, which was good 2,000 years ago, which was good 1,000 years ago, and what is good today?

[15:45] We are all people, and we do the same thing. As much as we change or think we change, we really don't.

[15:55] Today, people want a code of ethics that is relevant to them. It moves with them. It flows with them. And rather than seeing the Bible as simply a code of ethics, they don't see it as a book which brings truth to our life, which brings salvation, and through salvation brings joy and harmony with our relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.

[16:27] That through this book, through this special revelation, we can know and have a relationship with the true and living God. What's crazy about insisting that God would change in this day is He literally would have to change every single day.

[16:51] Not only do we live in a world of rampant subjectivism, but more importantly, we live in this world of rampant individualism.

[17:01] Everyone wants their own Bible, their own set of rules, thinking they are the only special individual in the universe, and what applies to them does not apply to everyone else, and what applies to everyone else does not apply to them.

[17:22] What they're essentially saying is, what can the creator of this universe, the creator of this world, the creator of my flesh and blood, actually know about me?

[17:34] The truth is, everything. Everything. Let me give you a working definition of what immutability or the unchangeableness of God means.

[17:51] And it's a little bit of a complex definition, and we're going to see why theologians have added certain conditions within this term.

[18:03] So just read along with me on your screen. Unchangeableness. We can define the unchangeableness of God as follows. God is unchanging in His being.

[18:17] Perfections, purposes, and promises. Now this is a very important caveat. Yet God does not act and feel emotions, and He acts and feels differently in response to different situations.

[18:36] Now what He's saying is that God does not have emotions. How's the word it's saying? He doesn't act. God has emotions, but those are not prime motivators for His actions and purposes.

[18:53] Does that make sense? He has emotions. He has feelings. He's not God. He's not us. He's God. And because of that, He will act differently in different ways than we would.

[19:04] And we're going to get back to this a little bit later on in the sermon. But I want us to take apart this, understand the idea that God is unchanging in His being, His person, His perfections.

[19:19] Those are His other attributes, His purposes, and His promises. The prophet Malachi stated that, for I am the Lord, and I do not change.

[19:30] That's Malachi 3.6. James 1.17 says that with God, there is no variation or shadow due to change. And what the author is stating is that sometimes we can look at something and just by virtue of the Son's position can cast a shadow on something and make it appear a little bit different than how it's really meant to be.

[19:54] That's not the way it is with God. There is nothing that can shadow Him. There's nothing that can cause shade that we would see Him differently. He is the same.

[20:07] There is no variation with Him. It's interesting. My wife is a very sweet and trustworthy woman.

[20:19] I can depend on that 364 days of the year. It's true. But April Fool's Day, I do not trust my wife.

[20:30] I know many of you are the same because they love to laugh and they like to joke around. So you might be pouring water out of your Brita water jug and there's nothing coming out.

[20:42] But, you know, people change. We have fun with that. But there's something about God that He is the same all the time. There is no special occasion.

[20:55] In fact, God's unchangeability is one of the main issues that separates the Creator from the created.

[21:06] This is one of the main issues. Let me just listen to what theologian Herman Bavink writes. He states, The doctrine of God's immutability is of the highest significance for religion.

[21:24] The contrast between being and becoming marks the difference between the Creator and the creature.

[21:36] You see, every creature is continually becoming. We are growing. We are maturing. We are changing. It is changeable, He writes.

[21:48] Constantly striving, seeks rest and satisfaction, yet only finds this rest and satisfaction in God alone. For only He is pure being and no becoming.

[22:05] Hence, in Scripture, God is often called the Rock. He is the Rock. He is the Rock all the time, every time.

[22:17] There is no change to that Rock. So, today I want to go over four areas of this unchangeability and how it affects us.

[22:31] I want to help you understand. And if you could just see one aspect of God, perhaps in a way you have never considered before, I pray that it would increase your worship dramatically.

[22:49] And as you worship God, my prayer is that you would live out this truth, teach this truth, and love God more.

[23:01] So, we're going to consider this teaching in four different areas. We're going to look how God is unchangeable in His character. How God is unchangeable in His character.

[23:15] The second area is how God is unchangeable in His Word. How important is it that His Word never changes? The third area we're going to look at is how God is unchangeable in His plans.

[23:32] How God's purposes and plans never change and why that's important to us. And fourthly, we're going to look at how God is unchangeable in salvation.

[23:45] So, let's begin with how God is unchangeable in His character. And I'm going to reread the psalm that I began with. And it's Psalm 126.

[23:59] Or 102, sorry. And it's verses 25 to 27. It just says, The truth of the matter is God never increases.

[24:36] God doesn't increase. God doesn't learn. God doesn't need to learn. If there was something that God needed to learn, He would no longer be complete and therefore God.

[24:47] God has all knowledge. If God needed to learn and grow, that would mean He would need to change. That is not true. Because He is the same, God is both consistent and He's steadfast.

[25:00] This is what the Word of God tells us over and over. God's Word guarantees that the God we serve today will be the same God we serve tomorrow.

[25:11] Reality is, our lives unfold very differently than, say, God's life unfolds. And what I mean by this is sometimes we progress without full knowledge.

[25:26] We may think we have full knowledge. And you always hear this truth. Whenever you go to an anniversary, the husband and wife will always say, You know what?

[25:39] When I first married my wife, I thought I loved her completely. And now that it's 25 years later, that completely is far more than that love that happened at the beginning, even though he was as sincere and thought he knew everything, you can look back those 25 years and say, I did not know what I was talking about.

[26:04] I thought I loved my wife. Now I know I really love my wife. And people who are 50, it's the same way. You just know your spouse so much more.

[26:16] And we go into these things thinking we have with all the best intentions and we have all the perfect information.

[26:28] What's interesting is sometimes we can go back, I was just laughing at the idea that God has great care for me. And he's got, he's had protection over me, both physically and spiritually.

[26:44] But I can go back and I've got prayers that I prayed about and now I can step back and say, God, thank you for not answering those prayers.

[26:56] Thank you for not allowing me to pursue that career in life or that relationship in life or that investment in life or that friendship in life.

[27:06] Even though at that time I really, really wanted it. But the problem is at that moment we do not have complete knowledge. We do not have perfect knowledge.

[27:19] So because God doesn't change he's got full knowledge in all those areas. You see, the same God who is with us now was the same God who was with us then.

[27:34] He's protecting us. He's loving us. Because God does not change he is the same when we come to him. Same grace, same mercy, same holiness, same love.

[27:49] I remember there was a boss when I worked for Cesus and he was down the road and thankfully the man was never my boss but his unit was terrorized by the idea of going into his office.

[28:02] He was the type of man who would throw things at his people. and you never had any idea whether it was a good day or a bad day.

[28:14] Imagine if that were God. He came to God in prayer looking for comfort and safety yet he ridiculed you or rejected you.

[28:24] You see, because God is unchangeable in his character, we know that he is the same God present in all his ways at the same time.

[28:38] Whether we are coming before God to praise him or we're coming before him to seek forgiveness or to submit prayers of request, he is the same whether we're seeking counsel or seeking mercy, he is the same.

[29:01] There's this study and it's called the dark night of the soul and it's a term that goes back and it's basically when a Christian believer really struggles with their belief in God and it's a deep struggle that a Christian might have and they might believe they're no longer Christians because they're going through so many different areas.

[29:30] But what's happened largely to them is that there's been a change of perspective. They've been living this life thinking God is one way and when all of a sudden things change in their base understanding it's almost as if God's changed and they did not know him anymore in the way that they thought they knew him.

[29:55] They had created sometimes caricatures of God or incorrect beliefs about God. But what's usually the source it's found within them.

[30:09] It's their perceptions. It's their understandings. Their teachings that have changed. And God isn't the one who's changed but it's they have.

[30:23] And for some people it's a very real they might have been taught something by their parents. This is quite funny about me. I grew up in a church that had a very stringent view of end times eschatology.

[30:37] In fact it was presented as if that was the only thing that the Bible teach. And don't get me wrong I believe it true to this day I believe it is the correct view. But the idea that someone could think differently about revelation for me when I found out that one of my main disciples I started praying for salvation.

[30:57] I could not believe someone had a different view. Sometimes that happens to us right? We've had this impression of something all the time and when it conflicts with our reality we don't believe it's true we think it's them when in reality it's us.

[31:14] And it's the same thing with God God does not change. Sometimes we need to repent of our views. Sometimes we need to educate ourselves further of false beliefs.

[31:32] God remains the same in his character. The second area I want to see is God's unchangeableness in his word. God's unchangeableness in his word.

[31:47] The reality is God's word is God made. There is a reason why the Bible contains warnings against those who would either take away or add to his words.

[32:01] That's why I believe there's special judgment against certain people who are saying they speak for God when they truly don't. In the Old Testament argument, if you claim to be a prophet that you spoke for God and you were wrong, you were put to death.

[32:19] There was no argument. Obviously you weren't. You want to put that person to death for the damage that they could do. See, God's word is never to be altered.

[32:30] It's never to be abridged. And because it is God's word, it is truth. And because it is truth, it will not fail. What it says will come about.

[32:43] What it says about him is true. What it says about us as man is true. What it says about our separation is true.

[32:58] What it says about how we are to reconcile with him is true. It is right. It is the only way. When Jesus Christ says, I am the way, the truth, and the life, no man comes to the Father except through me, that is true.

[33:17] There is no other way. There's no condition. There's no secret passage, secret knowledge.

[33:29] It is through Jesus Christ. Numbers 23, 19 says, God is not man. I want us to pay attention to this.

[33:40] Get this. God is not man that he should lie or a son of man that he should change his mind. That's kind of insulting.

[33:53] I'm not man. We are prone to lie. We are prone to change. And it's not good.

[34:03] God. Right? What a contrast. Now, how many times have we twisted the truth just to make ourselves either look really good or not look as bad?

[34:22] Right? Sometimes we shade the truth. I'm working in a situation with some friends. And the person didn't outright lie, but they left out some very key information that I call shading the truth.

[34:40] And we have to confront the brother and say, that's still a lie and that still needs to be repented of. They think because they didn't say something that was the opposite of truth, but they've hid the truth.

[34:54] Sometimes we don't outright lie, but how many times have we changed our minds? Someone was depending on us. We were unfaithful. Not because we wanted to.

[35:07] Perhaps it was a situation in life that we couldn't get out of. how often we just simply forget. How often do we mislead people about our intentions, either intentionally or unintentionally?

[35:30] Maybe that's a characteristic of you. You've let people down. Perhaps you just thought something else was more important than the other person.

[35:40] you promised something to. And for some of you, you've been on the other side so often that the idea of actually trusting somebody scares the life out of you.

[35:58] Because you've been hurt. You've been let down. Isaiah 48 says, the grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our Lord will stand forever.

[36:18] Pop quiz. How many of you know or remember way back when, when the speed limit going from Vancouver to Squamish was 90 kilometers an hour?

[36:30] Then all of a sudden, overnight, it got switched to 80. And then it got switched to 60. And I knew a few people who got nailed in traffic violations. The law changed.

[36:41] They weren't even aware of it. God's not like that. His ways, His laws, His words do not change. They are the same all the time.

[36:55] the reality is the laws of our lands are changing on an unprecedented rate. We could talk about the changes that are happening because of the sexual revolution, but I believe there's even something more behind it.

[37:14] The changes in regards to the value of life which are changing are of great concern to me. how doctor assisted suicide is being allowed in certain situations because a person feels depressed or not happy with their life as if that is some sort of reason.

[37:38] I have an old friend that's actually at the forefront of the Ontario College of Medicine who's battling that right now. As a believer in Christ, he sees how medicine is going and how little we are seeing life for what it is.

[37:56] Reality is it is never like that with God. Jesus Christ himself said that it would be easier for heaven and earth to pass away than a single stroke of God's law to fail to be accomplished.

[38:11] If God says it, God says it and it will happen. This means his standard stays the same and we can be assured that God's plan for salvation will remain the same.

[38:24] The third area that I want to take a look at briefly is God's unchangeable in his plans or purposes. What this means is there is no option.

[38:35] It's not like Jesus created Adam and Eve. All of a sudden the plan blew out. All right, I got to fix this. I got to fix this. All right, Jesus, do you want to go in our rescue mission and fix this plan?

[38:46] No, no. These purposes of God were determined before the creation of the world. How many of us change our plans? Whether it be buying a house, a car, or starting a family, we make plans for our life.

[39:04] Isn't that what Psalms talks about? Man makes plans but God inevitably directs our steps. It's true, certain situations. And the reason is because there is powers over us which change our plans.

[39:21] In fact, I think in a couple weeks ago from now, my wife and I were hoping to get away, to have a vacation, to celebrate. We can't do that now. Those plans don't count anymore.

[39:34] We just live with, we are all under authority. For God, there is no authority over him. There is nothing that can stump his plans.

[39:44] There is nothing that can stop his purposes. Even Satan has no ability to stop God's plans or purposes. The psalmist in Psalm 33, 10 to 11 says, the Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing.

[40:04] He frustrates the plans of the people. The counsel of the Lord stands forever. the plans of his heart to all generations.

[40:18] That is Psalm 33, 10 and 11 and Proverbs 19, 21. Many are the plans of the mind of man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.

[40:32] Not only does God stick to the plan, there is nothing that can frustrate his plan. Isaiah writes in Isaiah 14, 26, 27.

[40:43] This is the purpose that is purposed concerning the whole earth. And this is the hand that is stretched out over all the nations.

[40:55] For the Lord of hosts has purposed and who will annul it? His hand is stretched out and who will turn it back?

[41:07] Nobody. There's nothing. And we need to live in confidence that even the enemies, the people of this world, people that are in our lives cannot stop God's plan.

[41:23] The last point I want to bring about is God's unchangeableness in salvation. God's unchangeableness in salvation. salvation. The reality is when we walk through the history of the Bible, we see God's redemptive work always advancing.

[41:44] It doesn't change. It advances. His plan has always been the same, that he would provide a redeemer. Salvation wasn't going to happen if Abraham got everything together.

[41:58] Salvation wasn't going to happen if Moses got everything together. together. Salvation wasn't going to happen if David got everything together. No, no, no. The hope was always on the future redeemer.

[42:13] There would only be salvation through Jesus Christ, his son. Romans 8, 29, 30, Paul writes, for those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son.

[42:31] in order that he might be the first born among many brothers. And those whom he predestined, he also called.

[42:43] And those whom he called, he also justified. And those whom he justified, he also glorified. From eternity past, God elected a people to be his.

[43:00] God justified. And those people God called, he justified. He declared them innocents through the work of Jesus Christ on the cross.

[43:13] We learned about this in our teaching of Ephesians. And then he also glorifies them. The reality is no one comes unexpectedly to the Father.

[43:24] Father. And at the same time, no one is left behind that is not his. Now, you might be saying, BK, that's just your Calvinist view.

[43:35] I'm going to have an Arminist view. The reality is, this is what the Bible teaches, and there's a tension there that we do not fully understand. But, these are the words and the works of God that he speaks about.

[43:55] And this is one of our greatest mysteries. You see, salvation, which we as believers in Jesus Christ experience, is not a short term divine favor that we live out in this world.

[44:13] It's eternal life to be glorified and living forever with the creator of this earth. The creator of this universe, this solar system.

[44:28] There's now no ending to it. It is a new birth that lasts forever. And what's interesting is this eternal life is offered unconditionally and with absolute certainty.

[44:47] Why? Because we understand that we were known, we were predestined, we were called, we were justified, and we're glorified. And none of it's based on us.

[45:04] None of it's based on us. I don't understand how that works. But as God has revealed himself, we are saved.

[45:17] And from that moment on, it is eternal and unconditional. You see, this is the promise that God makes to us as men and women.

[45:28] And it never changes. Ever, ever changes. you have been called to eternal life, you're locked in.

[45:44] Now, what's interesting about the subject of God's immutability is that there's a lot of people who struggle with this attribute of God.

[45:55] And I want to comment that about this in the concluding parts of the sermon. People struggle with this attribute of God because they see it contradicting different passages that we read in Scripture.

[46:11] One such verse is Genesis 6.6. Let me read this to you. And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth and it grieved him to his heart.

[46:24] Sounds like God changed his mind, right? This is just before Noah. The man was wretched and God just said, you know what?

[46:35] I'm going to save those that are pure of heart, those that still believe, obey, which is Noah and some of his extended family. And he would kill the rest.

[46:50] In Deuteronomy 32, we have a prayer, a request by Moses, where he's pleading with God to change his mind about Israel.

[47:01] Let me read this to you. it's Deuteronomy 32, 11, and 12. It said, but Moses implored the Lord his God and said, O Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?

[47:22] Why should the Egyptians say, with evil intent did he bring them out, to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth?

[47:34] And he simply says, turn from your burning anger and relent from this disaster against your people. So basically saying, did you call them out of Egypt?

[47:47] And they're really the same group of godless people. Pulled them out of Egypt, walk in the land, and then you have them complaining, and he gets angry. Did you just pull them out of there to bring them here?

[47:59] in order to destroy them? And he just simply asked God, turn your burning anger and relent from this disaster against your people.

[48:14] Reality is, God changed his mind. And God changes his mind all the time when we repent. Before we were saved, the Bible tells us that we were enemies of God.

[48:28] enemies of God, children of wrath. And because of that position, I am destined for hell. I am destined for eternal separation from God.

[48:43] But when I repent, and we studied this in Ephesians, and it's this beautiful picture, when I repent, it's not because I was some beautiful, worthy person, but God in his great love for me, saves me.

[49:00] So he has a different, what's the word I'm looking for? A different position towards me. I was now an enemy, now he counts me as a child.

[49:15] So I'm telling you these things because there's this tension that exists. So that it's a claim that if sinners turn from sin, respond in faith, and love towards God, it says God will turn, change his mind about the judgment he intended to give us.

[49:35] But rather he gives us blessings. So the question is asked, how is it that God never changes? Were we his enemies or not?

[49:49] Now here's some things that I'm going to lean on some theologians to help answer this question. One writer writes, immutability does not mean that God is static or inert.

[50:03] It's not like he wound us up and we're just this earth people that just act like robots. Nor does it mean that he does not act distinctly in time or possess true affections.

[50:19] Now it says God is impassable. And what this means is not in the sense that he is devoid of true feelings or has no affections, but in the sense that his emotions are active and deliberate expressions of his holy dispositions.

[50:41] Not involuntary passions by which he is driven. So what that means is God is complete. He has perfect feelings, perfect emotions, which work in perfect coordination with all else about himself.

[50:59] You and I, we can change differently by how we feel. Emotions sway us. God's emotions do not sway him. But as his purposes go forward, they're already in that mix.

[51:19] One guy says, a good way to understand God's apparent change in Scripture is to consider that God reveals himself in his relation to people.

[51:30] When God communicates to us in God's word, he's communicating to us. All right? And when we began this section, we talked about we are learning about God.

[51:41] We are not learning everything about God. We can only learn what God chooses to reveal to us about himself. There's no extra study of God outside of God that's going to give us insight into him that he chooses not to give insight.

[52:03] This is God, the creator of the universe. universe. The fact of the matter, God uses words to help us understand. God uses ideas to help us understand.

[52:18] As an example, I said that God is like a rock. He is not a rock. He's compared to a rock. He is nothing like a rock. But God is, the writer's using a metaphor to help us understand an aspect of God.

[52:36] God uses many different terms or languages. Like I said, he has the hand. He doesn't have this literal hand that spreads over the world, but the author is using a form, a literary form for us to understand.

[52:54] And because he's communicating to us at our level, it kind of comes across as our point of view. and how we would see it.

[53:08] So any change that we could say that God has done or changed his mind are always in the same context of God's eternal omniscience, which is God's all-knowingness, and will always be so.

[53:28] So they don't happen that God is all surprised at something and adjusts his plan. He knows all about that within his plan.

[53:43] They are done in harmony with his truth and in his faithfulness. all his acts that must be perceived as changes are eternally known and predestined.

[53:57] God. I want to conclude now and I want to conclude with a very important thought about this. God is dependable.

[54:12] God is fully dependable. we are not dependable. One theologian simply writes, we may perceive the infinite distance which separates the highest creature from the creator in this understanding of this God's unchangeableness.

[54:40] By nature, man tends towards nothingness. because we come from nothingness. None can sustain himself for a single moment.

[54:56] We are changing. Every day, we're one day closer to death. Our body is weaking. Our eyesight fails. We're winding down to nothingness.

[55:12] God is to us. The fact is, we did not create ourselves. We did not bring ourselves into being.

[55:25] God the creator did. And as such, we are dependent upon him for every breath we draw. Psalm 66, 9 says, you hold our soul in life, God.

[55:42] this realization ought to make us lie down under a sense of our own nothingness in the presence of him whom we live, we move, and we have our being, according to Acts 17, 28.

[56:03] Because of this, we are opposed to God. God. In fact, the Bible compares us to wandering stars who fall out of their orbit.

[56:19] Isaiah compares us to a troubled sea which cannot rest. Genesis 49, 4 says, we are as unstable as water.

[56:32] That is the truth of who we are. Isaiah writes, we are to heed the words of Isaiah when he tells us, stop regarding man, in whose nostrils is breath, for who of what account is he?

[56:57] he? Why do we matter? Fact is, we cannot change ourselves.

[57:12] We need to outside power to act upon us. Theologically speaking, dead don't come to life unless someone breathes life into them.

[57:27] But get this, I want to share this passage that I've been dwelling on all week.

[57:38] It's found in Psalm 146. Psalm 146. And the gist of it is, because of who we are, we are never to be depended upon.

[57:54] 146, verse 3, I'm going to read. Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation.

[58:09] When his breath departs, he returns to the earth, on that very day his plans perish. I want you to think about something here.

[58:23] For us to put our trust in man is to disobey God. Fact is, when we put our trust in man, we deserve to be deceived and disappointed by our fellow peers.

[58:41] others. Fact of the matter is, people who may like you today may hate you tomorrow. I can honestly say the greatest pain that I have experienced in this life was done by those people who called themselves Christians, who called themselves brothers, who said that they loved me.

[59:07] People I partnered with in life and ministry, how do I know that people who love you today will hate you tomorrow?

[59:18] It's because that's what they did with Jesus Christ. The week before he was crucified, which we call Palm Sunday, he walked in, the crowds shouted his name, they wanted to make him king.

[59:32] A week later, they crucified him. Now I know some of you might be offended, hey, I'm dependable, I'm a really good person. The reality is our needs change.

[59:46] We change. We are not God. I have a friend, businessman, he swears that he will never do business with a Christian. Won't do it. And I'll tell you why.

[59:59] And I know another guy, he did pretty well financially. He decided the only stockbroker he'd want is a Christian stockbroker. And like a lot of people invest stocks, guess what?

[60:11] He lost some money. But because it happened by this Christian, this has affected him for 20 years. Still won't reconcile with that man.

[60:26] Even though he didn't do anything illegal, he just invested his money with someone that made a mistake, was wrong in what they thought.

[60:40] And I'll tell you why. It's not because people mean to change, but people have other changing situations all the time.

[60:58] They get married, priorities change. When someone has children, priorities change. Needs of kids. I think one of the hardest changes in my life when I was with my group of best buddies is as soon as they got married, they forgot about you.

[61:15] You didn't hear from them. You got the invitations to go see them, but for them to come see you never happens. And for me who was single for a long time, this was a hard pill to swallow.

[61:27] Now, the reality is for people, life priorities change. They don't do these things to hurt people. But sometimes we idolize Christians.

[61:40] We put them on pedestals and we think that nothing's going to change and they might have every intention of never letting you down, but they may forget, they may make mistakes, they might have situations in their lives that change their life's priorities, so they're going to have to act differently towards you.

[61:59] So when we, this is a warning of Psalm 46, is don't put all your life dependent on one person. There's only one person that you are to put all the quote-unquote eggs of your life in, and that is Jesus Christ.

[62:20] Fact is, I've let people down simply because I forgot. I got hurt. I got tired. Fact is, man cannot be relied upon, but God can be relied upon.

[62:41] We're not to idolize people because they're Christians, because they're pastors. I've had many people think that because I'm a pastor, I am adequate to give them good advice on what car to buy.

[62:57] I can give some advice, but that's not God's wisdom. That's a little bit of God's wisdom that I've learned, but I'm no car expert. But some people think that because I'm a pastor, I must be perfect.

[63:11] And I can tell you right now, if you're expecting perfection out of me or any other pastor, you will be disappointed because we are men. But there's someone that is unstable, and that is Jesus Christ.

[63:29] Jesus Christ is ever the same. His purpose is fixed. His will is stable, and his word is sure. My friends, I ask you to confide in him, to trust him, to put and place all your burdens on him.

[63:43] Let God be the rock for you to place your feet upon. Let God be the rock upon which you build your house. And let me continue reading Psalm 146.

[63:54] Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God, who made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them, who keeps faith forever, who executes justice for the oppressed, who gives food for the hungry.

[64:10] The Lord sets the prisoners free. The Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down, down. The Lord loves the righteous.

[64:24] The Lord watches over the sojourners. He upholds the widow and the fatherless, but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin. Let me pray.

[64:38] Father, we just give you thanks for your unchangeableness. Father, I pray that this sermon would penetrate the hearts that need to hear it. perhaps we're overly trusting on man and need to be more trusting on you.

[64:54] Father, we are held in your perfect hand. We need to trust your perfect purposes. We need to trust your plans and your character and your word.

[65:07] Lord, we know it more and worship you more. We ask these things in your great, favorable name.

[65:20]  Amen. Amen.