WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.919 So as I mentioned earlier, in our evening services here at St. Columbus, recently we've 00:00:04.919 --> 00:00:07.360 been looking through the book of Malachi. 00:00:07.360 --> 00:00:12.000 So if you have a Bible with you, you might find it helpful to have it open, Malachi 3, 00:00:12.000 --> 00:00:18.000 that was on page 802. 00:00:18.000 --> 00:00:25.560 Malachi 3 verse 6 says, I the Lord, do not change, therefore you, O children of Jacob, 00:00:25.560 --> 00:00:29.000 are not consumed. 00:00:29.000 --> 00:00:33.039 Children once said that the only constant in life is change. 00:00:33.039 --> 00:00:37.439 And it's true that life is full of changes. 00:00:37.439 --> 00:00:42.840 Change can be exciting, whether that's a new job or a promotion at work coming to a new 00:00:42.840 --> 00:00:50.079 city to study, maybe getting a new home, a new marriage, family, making new friends and 00:00:50.079 --> 00:00:51.079 so on. 00:00:51.079 --> 00:00:53.280 But change can also be painful. 00:00:53.280 --> 00:00:58.679 Change is very often something we don't like, whether that's losing the people we love, 00:00:58.679 --> 00:01:06.120 whether that's friends moving on, work becoming stressful, maybe feeling homesick, all the 00:01:06.120 --> 00:01:11.640 struggles that are involved in getting older as our bodies begin to change. 00:01:11.640 --> 00:01:17.480 Many of the changes we come across in our lives can make us feel lost or untethered or 00:01:17.480 --> 00:01:19.439 unstable. 00:01:19.439 --> 00:01:24.120 Sometimes we can be really conscious of how changeable life can be and how changeable 00:01:24.120 --> 00:01:27.480 we ourselves are as individuals. 00:01:27.480 --> 00:01:32.640 Every human being at one level longs for stability in one form or another. 00:01:32.640 --> 00:01:38.359 We're all looking for permanence in a world that is constantly full of changes, because 00:01:38.359 --> 00:01:43.280 we all know at some level deep down we are made for more than a fleeting existence. 00:01:43.280 --> 00:01:48.719 Well, this evening in the Book of Malachi, we're pointed to the one person in this world 00:01:48.719 --> 00:01:50.320 who does not change. 00:01:50.320 --> 00:01:56.800 I the Lord, do not change, therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed. 00:01:56.799 --> 00:01:59.599 So we're going to think for a few minutes this evening about how this amazing truth 00:01:59.599 --> 00:02:05.079 about God's character, about who he is as the unchanging God, is good news for us this 00:02:05.079 --> 00:02:10.439 evening, just as it was good news for the people in Malachi's day. 00:02:10.439 --> 00:02:11.759 First of all, I have four points. 00:02:11.759 --> 00:02:16.039 First of all, it's good news that God doesn't change, because we ourselves are changeable 00:02:16.039 --> 00:02:17.539 people. 00:02:17.539 --> 00:02:23.199 Look at verse 7, from the days of your fathers, he says, you have turned aside from my statutes 00:02:23.199 --> 00:02:24.919 and you have not kept them. 00:02:24.919 --> 00:02:29.000 You see, when you read through the story of the Old Testament as it unfolds and as it 00:02:29.000 --> 00:02:33.639 develops, there are moments clearly where the people love God and they live for him 00:02:33.639 --> 00:02:38.079 and they serve him and they worship him enthusiastically and things are going really well for the people 00:02:38.079 --> 00:02:39.079 of Israel. 00:02:39.079 --> 00:02:43.319 But sometimes you can skip forward even a few pages and you find they've turned their 00:02:43.319 --> 00:02:44.319 backs on God. 00:02:44.319 --> 00:02:45.799 They're spiritually cold. 00:02:45.799 --> 00:02:50.159 They're worshiping all kinds of other gods and they've completely forgotten everything 00:02:50.159 --> 00:02:52.439 God had done for them. 00:02:52.439 --> 00:02:57.039 And so Malachi and a lot of the prophets actually expose this as this ongoing problem for God's 00:02:57.039 --> 00:02:58.280 people. 00:02:58.280 --> 00:03:03.520 From the days of their fathers, they have turned their backs on the God who loved them. 00:03:03.520 --> 00:03:07.280 Isaiah, another one of the prophets, put it like this, he said, we all like sheep have 00:03:07.280 --> 00:03:08.639 gone astray. 00:03:08.639 --> 00:03:11.439 Each of us have turned to our own way. 00:03:11.439 --> 00:03:16.719 Jeremiah chapter 2 and verse 5, God says to his people, what fault did your ancestors 00:03:16.719 --> 00:03:23.879 find in me that they went far from me and went after worthlessness and became worthless? 00:03:23.879 --> 00:03:30.039 So the prophets exposed this problem in God's people, the changeability, the inconsistency 00:03:30.039 --> 00:03:32.039 that's present among them. 00:03:32.039 --> 00:03:36.120 And at one level, the same is true for ourselves today as human beings. 00:03:36.120 --> 00:03:42.400 We are all changeable in many ways, our emotions, our desires, our moods, our thoughts, our 00:03:42.400 --> 00:03:47.200 plans, our hopes, our dreams, they're all subject to change. 00:03:47.200 --> 00:03:54.000 Even our own level of spiritual zeal and enthusiasm and our commitment for living for Jesus can 00:03:54.000 --> 00:03:56.159 ebb and flow. 00:03:56.159 --> 00:04:00.280 Sometimes we find ourselves coming to church on a Sunday full of a kind of spiritual vibrance 00:04:00.280 --> 00:04:03.759 we're encouraged, we're enthusiastic to worship. 00:04:03.759 --> 00:04:06.759 But often we aren't like that. 00:04:06.759 --> 00:04:13.840 Often we come here feeling flat or distant, maybe even apathetic in our spiritual life. 00:04:13.840 --> 00:04:18.199 Because with the best will in the world, as human beings we are fundamentally changeable 00:04:18.199 --> 00:04:22.639 people and the different things that our life will throw at us will impact us in various 00:04:22.639 --> 00:04:24.759 different ways. 00:04:24.759 --> 00:04:28.519 But the Bible tells us that God is not like that. 00:04:28.519 --> 00:04:31.319 God is a God who does not change. 00:04:31.319 --> 00:04:36.279 James chapter 1 and verse 17 says, every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down 00:04:36.279 --> 00:04:42.919 from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. 00:04:42.919 --> 00:04:49.199 First Samuel 15 and verse 29 says that God, he is the glory of Israel, he does not lie 00:04:49.199 --> 00:04:52.639 or have regret for he is not a man that he should have regret. 00:04:52.639 --> 00:04:56.839 The NIV puts it that he should change his mind. 00:04:56.839 --> 00:05:00.439 God is fundamentally not like us. 00:05:00.439 --> 00:05:06.119 The Bible often makes this distinction between human beings on one hand and God on the other, 00:05:06.120 --> 00:05:09.800 between the Creator and between the creatures. 00:05:09.800 --> 00:05:16.120 Because our problem as human beings is we often like to imagine a God who is like us. 00:05:16.120 --> 00:05:19.959 And so we project our own attributes onto God. 00:05:19.959 --> 00:05:24.959 So we end up with a God who is like us but just a little bit better. 00:05:24.959 --> 00:05:30.560 So the first thing this evening we need to do is have a bigger view of God. 00:05:30.560 --> 00:05:34.079 Because we can't really make sense of the Bible, we can't really make sense of the gospel 00:05:34.079 --> 00:05:36.199 unless we have a big view of God. 00:05:36.199 --> 00:05:40.839 We can't even understand Jesus properly and what he came to do if we have a small idea 00:05:40.839 --> 00:05:41.839 of God. 00:05:41.839 --> 00:05:48.279 We can't understand the gulf, the chasm between rebellious sinful human beings and a holy 00:05:48.279 --> 00:05:51.799 and infinite and immense unchanging God. 00:05:51.799 --> 00:05:55.479 And what Malachi and the other prophets do is they bring that distinction through so 00:05:55.479 --> 00:05:56.919 clearly. 00:05:56.919 --> 00:06:00.039 So we need to cultivate a bigger view of God. 00:06:00.039 --> 00:06:03.360 The Westminster Confession of Faith, I'm sure it's your favourite bedtime reading. 00:06:03.360 --> 00:06:05.600 It's a document from the 17th century. 00:06:05.600 --> 00:06:09.840 It sums up what we believe as a church, as church leaders we all subscribe to it. 00:06:09.840 --> 00:06:12.960 It says that God is infinite in being and perfection. 00:06:12.960 --> 00:06:14.800 He is a most pure spirit. 00:06:14.800 --> 00:06:15.800 He is immutable. 00:06:15.800 --> 00:06:19.240 That's a fancy theological way of saying that he doesn't change. 00:06:19.240 --> 00:06:26.800 He's immutable, immense, eternal, incomprehensible, almighty, most wise, most holy, most free, 00:06:26.800 --> 00:06:27.800 most absolute. 00:06:27.800 --> 00:06:33.680 But even that kind of theologically dense paragraph does not fully capture for us who 00:06:33.680 --> 00:06:35.759 God is in all his glory. 00:06:35.759 --> 00:06:40.639 And so the problem is that our view of God is often too small and our view of ourselves 00:06:40.639 --> 00:06:43.000 is often too big. 00:06:43.000 --> 00:06:44.199 Because we are made in God's image. 00:06:44.199 --> 00:06:46.639 So there are many ways in which we are like God. 00:06:46.639 --> 00:06:50.360 There are many ways in which we reflect his attributes. 00:06:50.360 --> 00:06:54.080 But there are also many ways in which we differ from God. 00:06:54.080 --> 00:06:57.639 For example, we change over time. 00:06:57.639 --> 00:07:01.879 If you look back at a photo of yourself from 5, 10, 15, 20 years ago, sometimes you can 00:07:01.879 --> 00:07:04.719 feel like a completely different person. 00:07:04.719 --> 00:07:09.079 Maybe sometimes you look in the mirror and you begin to see a few gray hairs. 00:07:09.079 --> 00:07:14.120 There are lots of things in life that remind us that time changes us. 00:07:14.120 --> 00:07:17.839 There are certain things in life, certain changes we have control over. 00:07:17.839 --> 00:07:21.759 There are choices we make, people we choose to surround ourselves with. 00:07:21.759 --> 00:07:24.959 The job we do, where we live. 00:07:24.959 --> 00:07:28.359 But there are other changes we actually have no impact on whatsoever. 00:07:28.359 --> 00:07:32.399 There are many changes in life we are powerless to control. 00:07:32.399 --> 00:07:34.560 We cannot turn back time. 00:07:34.560 --> 00:07:36.959 We are finite beings. 00:07:36.959 --> 00:07:40.759 There are two changes that are certain for every single human being. 00:07:40.759 --> 00:07:43.240 We are born and we die. 00:07:43.240 --> 00:07:48.039 Both are at one level an inescapable reality no matter what our worldview is, our religious 00:07:48.039 --> 00:07:53.519 beliefs, our lifestyle choices, our level of wealth, whatever it is, everyone is born 00:07:53.519 --> 00:07:55.560 and everyone dies. 00:07:55.560 --> 00:07:59.240 But God has no beginning and no end. 00:07:59.240 --> 00:08:02.719 God has always been and always will be. 00:08:02.719 --> 00:08:05.439 From everlasting to everlasting, He is God. 00:08:05.439 --> 00:08:09.759 It's a fundamental part of who He is as the unchanging one. 00:08:09.759 --> 00:08:14.399 He is the same today as He was at the beginning of the universe and He will be the same for 00:08:14.399 --> 00:08:17.159 eternity. 00:08:17.159 --> 00:08:19.919 God also doesn't become stronger or weaker over time. 00:08:19.920 --> 00:08:25.920 He's not like a good single malt that's been maturing for 30 years in a cask. 00:08:25.920 --> 00:08:29.000 God doesn't get stronger or weaker. 00:08:29.000 --> 00:08:32.759 A human being, for example, if we don't do anything if we're inactive, that leads to 00:08:32.759 --> 00:08:36.000 atrophy, our muscles begin to decay and waste away. 00:08:36.000 --> 00:08:38.200 We become weaker over time. 00:08:38.200 --> 00:08:42.320 And sometimes the people of God in the Old Testament felt this way about God. 00:08:42.320 --> 00:08:46.080 In Malachi's day they were saying, what has happened to our powerful God? 00:08:46.080 --> 00:08:49.759 The end of chapter 2, they asked Him, where is the God of justice? 00:08:49.759 --> 00:08:50.759 What is going on? 00:08:50.759 --> 00:08:54.120 Why are you not as powerful as you used to be? 00:08:54.120 --> 00:08:55.960 The time has no effect on God. 00:08:55.960 --> 00:08:58.600 He is eternally the same. 00:08:58.600 --> 00:09:02.319 And so Malachi makes this incredible declaration about God's character. 00:09:02.319 --> 00:09:05.679 I, the Lord, do not change. 00:09:05.679 --> 00:09:09.960 So maybe we do need to have a bigger view of the God we worship this evening. 00:09:09.960 --> 00:09:13.679 We are changeable human beings, but God does not change. 00:09:13.679 --> 00:09:17.720 Secondly, it's good news that God doesn't change because we live in a world that is 00:09:17.720 --> 00:09:20.120 constantly changing. 00:09:20.120 --> 00:09:22.440 That was true for the people in Malachi's day. 00:09:22.440 --> 00:09:25.320 They had to cope with huge amounts of change. 00:09:25.320 --> 00:09:29.560 When you look back at their history, we were thinking about this a few weeks ago in chapter 00:09:29.560 --> 00:09:34.480 1, David and Solomon was kind of like a high point, but it was pretty much downhill from 00:09:34.480 --> 00:09:35.480 then on. 00:09:35.480 --> 00:09:38.399 They had to go through loads of tough changes, crushing defeats. 00:09:38.399 --> 00:09:41.000 They were taken into exile into Babylon. 00:09:41.000 --> 00:09:44.680 And even when they came back from Babylon, they returned from exile, it wasn't quite 00:09:44.680 --> 00:09:45.680 what they expected. 00:09:45.680 --> 00:09:46.680 It was underwhelming. 00:09:46.679 --> 00:09:52.120 And so they were faced with all of these uncertainties politically, economically, with regards to 00:09:52.120 --> 00:09:56.719 their future, all kinds of discouragements. 00:09:56.719 --> 00:10:00.959 And in many ways, our world today is full of changes. 00:10:00.959 --> 00:10:04.120 Politically here in the UK, we've been going through a period of change with Brexit and 00:10:04.120 --> 00:10:06.959 everything, all the uncertainty that surrounded that. 00:10:06.959 --> 00:10:09.879 Our world is constantly changing in terms of morality. 00:10:09.879 --> 00:10:12.639 The moral norm is always evolving. 00:10:12.639 --> 00:10:18.360 There's confusion and uncertainty over ethics and how we should live. 00:10:18.360 --> 00:10:21.120 Our world is changing in regards to technology. 00:10:21.120 --> 00:10:25.679 There's radical change, even in the last decade, in the way that human beings interact with 00:10:25.679 --> 00:10:28.480 each other and engage with each other. 00:10:28.480 --> 00:10:32.319 I'm sure you've shared a similar frustration of sitting down with an elderly relative or 00:10:32.319 --> 00:10:36.840 friend and trying to explain how WhatsApp works for the 50th time. 00:10:36.840 --> 00:10:40.200 Our world is constantly changing. 00:10:40.200 --> 00:10:45.800 And so to a world full of changes, Malachi points us to the God who does not change. 00:10:45.800 --> 00:10:50.400 In the chaos of our lives, the busyness of work or uni, stress with our families, whatever 00:10:50.400 --> 00:10:55.960 it is, there is a God who does not change. 00:10:55.960 --> 00:11:02.040 Malachi reminds the people that however fickle and inconsistent and undependable they are, 00:11:02.040 --> 00:11:05.200 God is not going to change his core commitment to them. 00:11:05.200 --> 00:11:09.960 And what that means for us this evening is that in a world where at one level it seems 00:11:09.960 --> 00:11:15.600 like nothing truly lasts, the one thing we can cling to is the unchanging God. 00:11:15.600 --> 00:11:21.920 Because we often look for stability in our circumstances, in our jobs, in our possessions, 00:11:21.920 --> 00:11:25.840 in the people around us, in our family and friends, and so on and so forth. 00:11:25.840 --> 00:11:26.840 And these are all good things. 00:11:26.840 --> 00:11:28.560 They are good gifts. 00:11:28.560 --> 00:11:32.400 And we have seasons of joy and contentment with each of these things. 00:11:32.400 --> 00:11:38.680 But if we look to them as a source of permanent stability, if we depend on these things, they 00:11:38.679 --> 00:11:41.079 will ultimately fail us. 00:11:41.079 --> 00:11:45.759 Tim Keller says this, a pastor in New York City, a written number of helpful books. 00:11:45.759 --> 00:11:51.759 He says, trusting God means connecting yourself to the one person who will endure forever. 00:11:51.759 --> 00:11:54.719 And that means that you will endure as well. 00:11:54.719 --> 00:12:02.399 In a world where seemingly everything changes and nothing lasts, fix your mind on that promise. 00:12:02.399 --> 00:12:07.399 The God we worship this evening is the same yesterday, today, and forever. 00:12:07.399 --> 00:12:13.759 The message of Jesus, the gospel, is a message of permanence to a world that is fleeting and 00:12:13.759 --> 00:12:14.759 temporary. 00:12:14.759 --> 00:12:16.240 So that's the second point. 00:12:16.240 --> 00:12:21.519 The fact that God doesn't change is good news because we live in a world full of changes. 00:12:21.519 --> 00:12:27.740 Thirdly, God's unchangeable character, his immutability, means that he is absolutely committed 00:12:27.740 --> 00:12:30.679 to saving you. 00:12:30.679 --> 00:12:34.559 God is absolutely committed to saving you. 00:12:34.559 --> 00:12:38.679 The fact that God doesn't change means that his love is unchanging. 00:12:38.679 --> 00:12:41.799 His commitment is unchanging. 00:12:41.799 --> 00:12:46.359 So no matter how unstable you might be feeling as a Christian, if your faith is in Jesus 00:12:46.359 --> 00:12:50.959 this evening, he is 100% committed, determined to save you. 00:12:50.959 --> 00:12:55.199 See, the people in Malachi's day had drifted far away from God. 00:12:55.199 --> 00:12:58.239 They had grown cynical and complacent. 00:12:58.239 --> 00:13:00.399 Their hearts were beginning to harden. 00:13:00.399 --> 00:13:04.079 And we've seen over the last few weeks the ways that's expressed itself. 00:13:04.080 --> 00:13:08.440 We saw that they've failed to appreciate the love God had for them. 00:13:08.440 --> 00:13:12.800 God starts the book, the first recorded speech in Malachi, I have loved you. 00:13:12.800 --> 00:13:15.960 And the people say, how have you loved us? 00:13:15.960 --> 00:13:20.120 We saw the priests were offering half-hearted, defective sacrifices. 00:13:20.120 --> 00:13:23.200 The people themselves were breaking their marriage commitments to each other. 00:13:23.200 --> 00:13:29.879 And on top of all of that, they were complaining and criticizing the God who loves them. 00:13:29.879 --> 00:13:34.960 And all of that was just symptomatic of how far their hearts had strayed. 00:13:34.960 --> 00:13:38.919 So here in chapter three, the passage we're in this evening, God graciously invites the 00:13:38.919 --> 00:13:42.120 people to return to him. 00:13:42.120 --> 00:13:46.480 He says to them, return to me, and I will return to you. 00:13:46.480 --> 00:13:51.000 You see, rather than giving up on them and turning his back on them, he is a God who 00:13:51.000 --> 00:13:54.240 is committed to his covenant. 00:13:54.240 --> 00:13:59.759 The people turn their back on God all the time, but God would not give up on his people. 00:13:59.759 --> 00:14:04.720 And really the message of all the prophets could be summed up in that one sentence. 00:14:04.720 --> 00:14:05.720 Return to me. 00:14:05.720 --> 00:14:10.039 There's a constant invitation to his people to return. 00:14:10.039 --> 00:14:15.559 This morning, looking at the ministry of Jesus, we saw that it begins with a message of repentance, 00:14:15.559 --> 00:14:17.439 a message of turnaround. 00:14:17.439 --> 00:14:20.600 Come back to me. 00:14:20.600 --> 00:14:25.919 Malachi reminds the people right at the start of his book of God's unchanging love. 00:14:25.919 --> 00:14:31.199 You might be here this evening conscious that you have wandered from God, but here's the 00:14:31.199 --> 00:14:34.919 truth, the unchanging God will not let you go. 00:14:34.919 --> 00:14:40.079 No matter how hard your heart, how cynical you've become, we need to remind ourselves 00:14:40.079 --> 00:14:45.679 of who God is, of his unchanging love he has for us as his children. 00:14:45.679 --> 00:14:49.839 Because in a world full of change, God's love is unchanging. 00:14:49.839 --> 00:14:54.519 The Bible often describes God as a rock, a rock that we can cling to. 00:14:54.519 --> 00:15:01.679 You see, when life is hard, it can be difficult sometimes to believe that God truly loves us. 00:15:01.679 --> 00:15:05.840 Everything in your experience, everything going on in your circumstances this evening 00:15:05.840 --> 00:15:08.879 might appear to count against that fact. 00:15:08.879 --> 00:15:11.559 But this is the message of the book of Malachi. 00:15:11.559 --> 00:15:16.279 Malachi reminds us that in the face of discouragement, in the face of disillusionment and our own 00:15:16.279 --> 00:15:22.840 cynicism, God has loved us and will continue to love his people and no amount of doubting, 00:15:22.840 --> 00:15:28.920 objecting, arguing or cynicism on their part will change that fact. 00:15:28.920 --> 00:15:33.680 In verse 6, the phrase, children of Jacob itself points the people to God's past love, 00:15:33.680 --> 00:15:38.720 his past faithfulness, his consistent commitment to them. 00:15:38.720 --> 00:15:45.360 He has set his love upon this people and nothing will get in the way of that. 00:15:45.360 --> 00:15:49.720 The Gospel message itself reminds us that if our faith is in Jesus, he has set his love 00:15:49.720 --> 00:15:55.240 upon us, he has chosen to save us and he will not let us go. 00:15:55.240 --> 00:15:58.480 God is a God who does not give up on people. 00:15:58.480 --> 00:16:03.680 So the fact that God is unchanging means there is a permanence to his love. 00:16:03.680 --> 00:16:10.800 Psalm 89, verse 34, God says to his people, I will not violate my covenant or alter change 00:16:10.800 --> 00:16:13.600 the word that went forth from my lips. 00:16:13.600 --> 00:16:19.120 Isaiah 46, verse 11, what I have said, that I will bring about. 00:16:19.120 --> 00:16:23.879 I have spoken, I have purposed, I will do it. 00:16:23.879 --> 00:16:27.840 You see, our own plans as human beings are very subject to change. 00:16:27.840 --> 00:16:32.039 There are so many factors outside of our control when we make plans. 00:16:32.039 --> 00:16:35.560 I'm a big fan of going up Monroe's, I was mentioning this at the prayer meeting a couple 00:16:35.560 --> 00:16:39.879 of weeks ago and there are so many factors when it comes to walking in the outdoors in 00:16:39.879 --> 00:16:43.080 Scotland that are outside of our control. 00:16:43.080 --> 00:16:45.039 The weather. 00:16:45.039 --> 00:16:47.519 Random events can derail our plans. 00:16:47.519 --> 00:16:49.919 I was planning to run a half marathon last year. 00:16:49.919 --> 00:16:54.079 I signed up for it, I paid for it, I started to train for it, I was beginning to Google 00:16:54.079 --> 00:16:58.159 all the right kinds of nutrition and technique. 00:16:58.159 --> 00:17:03.559 And then not too long before the event, I strained my hamstring and I struggled to walk, 00:17:03.559 --> 00:17:06.519 let alone run and I had to pull out. 00:17:06.519 --> 00:17:10.879 There can be all kinds of variables in our best laid plans. 00:17:10.879 --> 00:17:14.319 There's lots of things about the future that we just don't know. 00:17:14.319 --> 00:17:17.839 We don't know as human beings what's coming in the year ahead. 00:17:17.839 --> 00:17:22.799 We could be faced with a sudden diagnosis, we could lose our job, our relationship could 00:17:22.799 --> 00:17:26.679 break down, we could crash our car. 00:17:26.679 --> 00:17:31.200 But God's plans are perfect. 00:17:31.200 --> 00:17:34.200 God is not surprised by anything. 00:17:34.200 --> 00:17:39.079 His unchanging commitment to His people is not subject to change. 00:17:39.079 --> 00:17:43.679 So when we look ahead to the year that's coming, one thing we can be sure of, one thing that 00:17:43.680 --> 00:17:52.440 won't change is God's grace, His goodness, His love, His plan for us in Jesus Christ. 00:17:52.440 --> 00:17:56.080 Our lives are so often full of bad news. 00:17:56.080 --> 00:18:01.480 And sometimes in the midst of bad news, in the difficulty, in the suffering, in the trials, 00:18:01.480 --> 00:18:07.039 we can be tempted to think that God is cruel and unkind, and God is loving and good when 00:18:07.039 --> 00:18:09.400 life is going well. 00:18:09.400 --> 00:18:12.019 But God is always good. 00:18:12.019 --> 00:18:17.119 We often can't understand some of the things we go through, but we can trust in the truth 00:18:17.119 --> 00:18:19.460 that God is good at all times. 00:18:19.460 --> 00:18:20.639 His love is unfailing. 00:18:20.639 --> 00:18:24.759 We can look back to His past love and the times He's carried us through. 00:18:24.759 --> 00:18:25.799 So that's the third thing. 00:18:25.799 --> 00:18:30.559 The fact that God doesn't change means He is absolutely committed to saving you. 00:18:30.559 --> 00:18:35.359 Fourthly, and finally, and very briefly, it means that He is absolutely faithful to His 00:18:35.359 --> 00:18:37.279 word. 00:18:37.279 --> 00:18:41.240 In other words, what God has said, God will do. 00:18:41.240 --> 00:18:45.839 All of this amazing truth about who God is and His unchangeable character means that 00:18:45.839 --> 00:18:49.319 He is someone we can trust this evening. 00:18:49.319 --> 00:18:53.359 It means when you go to your Bible and you read it and you listen to His word, His voice, 00:18:53.359 --> 00:18:57.359 there should be no doubt in your mind that it's true. 00:18:57.359 --> 00:19:01.480 I'm sure you can think of many examples of people in your life who have said one thing 00:19:01.480 --> 00:19:04.000 and then done another. 00:19:04.000 --> 00:19:05.000 I'm quite bad for that. 00:19:05.000 --> 00:19:07.599 I put off getting glasses for about five years. 00:19:07.599 --> 00:19:11.399 I kept saying to people, I'm going to get my eyes tested in the next couple of weeks. 00:19:11.399 --> 00:19:13.399 I eventually got round to it. 00:19:13.399 --> 00:19:17.319 But maybe at another level, we can think of people who've disappointed us by making a 00:19:17.319 --> 00:19:20.159 promise and then going back on their word. 00:19:20.159 --> 00:19:22.959 Maybe you know people who will cancel plans due to busyness. 00:19:22.959 --> 00:19:24.879 We forget commitments we've made. 00:19:24.879 --> 00:19:30.799 As human beings, as fallible people, our word is never going to be infallible. 00:19:30.799 --> 00:19:37.000 But God's plans and His promises and His truth in His word is 100% reliable. 00:19:37.000 --> 00:19:39.160 Psalm 33 and verse 11 says, 00:19:39.160 --> 00:19:46.319 The plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of His heart through all generations. 00:19:46.319 --> 00:19:51.720 God's plan of redemption unfolds and develops throughout the Bible from Old Testament into 00:19:51.720 --> 00:19:54.440 new, but it doesn't change. 00:19:54.440 --> 00:19:59.519 He progressively reveals more of Himself and more of His plan. 00:19:59.519 --> 00:20:02.559 Because there's lots of questions that pop up when we're thinking about God's character 00:20:02.559 --> 00:20:04.720 and what it means that He doesn't change. 00:20:04.720 --> 00:20:08.640 It can be quite a deep concept. 00:20:08.640 --> 00:20:12.559 Isn't there times in the Bible where it appears that God changes His mind? 00:20:12.559 --> 00:20:16.360 Doesn't God change when Jesus is born into the world? 00:20:16.360 --> 00:20:20.279 Doesn't it appear that Moses changes God's mind on the mountaintop? 00:20:20.279 --> 00:20:25.600 Doesn't it appear that God changes His mind with Jonah and Nineveh? 00:20:25.600 --> 00:20:30.079 But what we are saying is that God doesn't change in His essence, in who He is, in His 00:20:30.079 --> 00:20:32.720 fundamental character. 00:20:32.720 --> 00:20:36.480 There's sometimes a change in the sense of how He relates to us as His people. 00:20:36.480 --> 00:20:39.680 He reveals more of Himself and His plan. 00:20:39.680 --> 00:20:45.039 And sometimes in His word, what theologians call accommodates to us in our language, 00:20:45.039 --> 00:20:46.039 in our understanding. 00:20:46.039 --> 00:20:52.000 And there's lots of questions we could go into and explore. 00:20:52.000 --> 00:20:54.480 But I think for a Sunday evening, it's probably best not to. 00:20:54.480 --> 00:20:57.759 I would suggest you can read about God and His character. 00:20:57.759 --> 00:21:01.559 You should read more about His immutability and what it means that He doesn't change. 00:21:01.559 --> 00:21:06.720 And for now, I think it's helpful for us to stay in Malachi and think about this context. 00:21:06.720 --> 00:21:10.480 Some people think that when we look at a passage like Malachi, and then we compare it with 00:21:10.480 --> 00:21:13.679 maybe a gospel, for example, that we have two different gods. 00:21:13.679 --> 00:21:17.720 We have a God of judgment on the one hand and a God of grace. 00:21:17.720 --> 00:21:20.200 Maybe you've come across that objection yourself. 00:21:20.200 --> 00:21:26.839 Or maybe it's a thought even as you read your Bible, it lingers at the back of your mind. 00:21:26.839 --> 00:21:32.079 It's true that the way that God interacts with us develops, but His fundamental plan, 00:21:32.079 --> 00:21:35.359 His fundamental promises do not change. 00:21:35.359 --> 00:21:39.199 And what that means for us this evening is that Jesus Christ and the New Testament is 00:21:39.199 --> 00:21:41.639 not God's plan B. 00:21:41.639 --> 00:21:47.519 The cross is not His salvation backup plan because the Old Testament failed. 00:21:47.519 --> 00:21:51.759 We have one consistent plan of redemption. 00:21:51.759 --> 00:21:56.379 And we see in Malachi God's consistency not only in terms of salvation, but also in relation 00:21:56.380 --> 00:21:57.380 to judgment. 00:21:57.380 --> 00:22:01.680 At the end of chapter two, the people ask, where is the God of justice? 00:22:01.680 --> 00:22:04.320 And so in response to that, we have the beginning of chapter three. 00:22:04.320 --> 00:22:08.640 Malachi says there is a day coming where God is going to bring judgment. 00:22:08.640 --> 00:22:12.120 The people have been criticizing God for not acting. 00:22:12.120 --> 00:22:16.040 And God says, there is a day coming, a day where I will hold people accountable for your 00:22:16.040 --> 00:22:18.040 actions. 00:22:18.040 --> 00:22:22.560 And the people of Malachi's day expect that to be about the outsiders, the people around 00:22:22.560 --> 00:22:24.800 them, the nations around them. 00:22:24.799 --> 00:22:27.279 But God says it's you that needs to worry. 00:22:27.279 --> 00:22:31.639 He's going to judge the corrupt insider as well as the outsiders. 00:22:31.639 --> 00:22:34.440 And so the people are left with this question in verse two. 00:22:34.440 --> 00:22:37.079 Who can stand on that day? 00:22:37.079 --> 00:22:42.680 Who can possibly go in front of a holy and perfect and righteous, unchangeable God when 00:22:42.680 --> 00:22:47.680 we are so fickle and flawed and changeable and inconsistent? 00:22:47.680 --> 00:22:52.599 Psalm 130 says, if God was to mark our sins against us, if He was to count our sins, not 00:22:52.599 --> 00:22:55.480 one of us could stand. 00:22:55.480 --> 00:22:59.879 That's the context that leads to this amazing declaration in verse six. 00:22:59.879 --> 00:23:03.639 That's what leaves Malachi to say, I the Lord do not change. 00:23:03.639 --> 00:23:07.679 Therefore, you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed. 00:23:07.679 --> 00:23:14.480 In other words, our hope for that day is centered on the fact that God doesn't change. 00:23:14.480 --> 00:23:17.480 We are changeable, but God is not. 00:23:17.480 --> 00:23:20.399 God has made an unchanging commitment to save His people. 00:23:20.400 --> 00:23:23.120 He has set His love upon this people. 00:23:23.120 --> 00:23:25.280 He has chosen to redeem them. 00:23:25.280 --> 00:23:29.360 And nothing is going to get in the way of that, not even their own rebellion. 00:23:29.360 --> 00:23:32.759 And we see that worked out in the biblical story as His plan of salvation unfolds and 00:23:32.759 --> 00:23:34.720 Jesus comes along. 00:23:34.720 --> 00:23:40.280 His unchanging nature, His love, His compassion, His mercy, His justice, His holiness, none 00:23:40.280 --> 00:23:43.200 of these things are compromised. 00:23:43.200 --> 00:23:48.519 Because God wouldn't be an unchanging God if He overlooked sin, if He swept under the 00:23:48.519 --> 00:23:50.519 rug. 00:23:50.519 --> 00:23:54.359 But in Jesus, we see that evil does not go unpunished. 00:23:54.359 --> 00:23:57.160 Evil is not overlooked. 00:23:57.160 --> 00:24:01.639 In Jesus' experience on the cross, we see the most powerful expression of God's love 00:24:01.639 --> 00:24:05.279 and justice, and they meet together. 00:24:05.279 --> 00:24:10.720 So God's unchangeability is important in regards to our hope for the future. 00:24:10.720 --> 00:24:16.799 It means that His character, who He is, is not abstract, dusty, dry, irrelevant theology, 00:24:16.799 --> 00:24:20.440 but is at the heart of the gospel message. 00:24:20.440 --> 00:24:26.519 If you're not a Christian this evening, what is it you look to in life for a sense of permanence? 00:24:26.519 --> 00:24:30.559 There are lots of good things we enjoy in this life, but ultimately, none of them will truly 00:24:30.559 --> 00:24:32.240 last. 00:24:32.240 --> 00:24:36.879 What is our hope this evening for the day when we stand before the Creator, the unchanging 00:24:36.879 --> 00:24:40.200 God and judge of this world? 00:24:40.200 --> 00:24:44.039 If you're a Christian this evening, you are rooted in Jesus Christ. 00:24:44.039 --> 00:24:47.639 You are anchored in the One who does not change. 00:24:47.639 --> 00:24:51.319 And that means that nothing in this world can separate you from Him. 00:24:51.319 --> 00:24:55.159 He said this in John chapter 10 and verse 27. 00:24:55.159 --> 00:24:56.720 My sheep listen to my voice. 00:24:56.720 --> 00:24:58.639 I know them and they follow me. 00:24:58.639 --> 00:25:02.559 I give them eternal life and they shall never perish. 00:25:02.559 --> 00:25:05.119 No one will snatch them out of my hand. 00:25:05.119 --> 00:25:08.440 My Father who has given them to me is greater than all. 00:25:08.440 --> 00:25:12.639 No one can snatch them out of my Father's hand. 00:25:12.640 --> 00:25:16.440 And so the question we're left with this evening is do we trust Him? 00:25:16.440 --> 00:25:20.440 Do we have a big enough view of this God, the unchanging God? 00:25:20.440 --> 00:25:26.120 Pray that we would find confidence in the truth that in a world full of change, a world 00:25:26.120 --> 00:25:31.320 full of chaos and busyness and all the struggles and battles we face in life, that Jesus we 00:25:31.320 --> 00:25:36.440 follow, the God we worship is the same yesterday, today and forever. 00:25:36.440 --> 00:25:38.440 Let's pray. 00:25:38.440 --> 00:25:43.759 Lord God, we thank You and worship You and praise You this evening that You are a God 00:25:43.759 --> 00:25:45.440 who does not change. 00:25:45.440 --> 00:25:49.320 Father, we acknowledge how busy our lives can be. 00:25:49.320 --> 00:25:54.559 We acknowledge, Lord God, the many pressures and battles and struggles and all the various 00:25:54.559 --> 00:25:57.200 trials and difficulties we come across in life. 00:25:57.200 --> 00:26:01.519 Father, we pray that as we're burdened by these things, we would bring them to You. 00:26:01.519 --> 00:26:04.480 We would anchor ourselves in the unchanging God. 00:26:04.480 --> 00:26:09.559 Father, we pray You'd remind us of the unfailing love You have for us. 00:26:09.559 --> 00:26:12.360 Thank You that that love does not ebb and flow. 00:26:12.360 --> 00:26:16.759 Thank You that Your love for us does not vary depending on our mood or our ability to be 00:26:16.759 --> 00:26:19.200 consistent and be faithful. 00:26:19.200 --> 00:26:22.640 Thank You that Your faithfulness, Lord God, is so great. 00:26:22.640 --> 00:26:25.440 Each morning, Lord God, we have so many reasons to be thankful. 00:26:25.440 --> 00:26:29.120 Father, we pray that as we leave this place and go into our weeks, You would help us, 00:26:29.120 --> 00:26:34.400 You would equip us, You would encourage us as Your people to live for You and love You. 00:26:34.400 --> 00:26:37.680 Father, help us in all we do to bring glory to Your name. 00:26:37.680 --> 00:26:39.040 We pray this in Jesus' name. 00:26:39.039 --> 00:27:05.039 Amen.