We're going to be in the book
of Hebrews for the second part, the first message. The title is Seven Things God
Cannot Do. This is the second part of it.
First hour, we went over three of them. God cannot lie. God cannot sin. And I'm drawing a blank on the last one. Cannot deny himself. Should have
looked at Linda, she was saying it. Cannot deny himself, can't
lie, can't sin, and he cannot deny himself. And we looked in
the scripture to show us that, didn't we? We looked through
all the scripture. I didn't want to put it all into seven points
and one message. I tried that once before, and
that did not work out. I didn't feel like it was too
much information, just too much information. And I talked to
Greg sometimes about how he's experienced that, and
he told me, he said, well, you are feeding sheep, and you can't
feed them big bites. You gotta feed them little bites.
I said, well, that's good advice. They eat slow, they digest slow. And I said, okay, I got that.
So, thankful to have a friend to call about such things. So,
title of this message, Seven Things God Cannot Do, Part Two.
Let's read our text. Same verse, Hebrews 11, six.
But without faith, it is impossible to please him, to please God.
For he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that
he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. For he that
cometh to God must believe that he is, that he is. We must believe. God is who he
says he is. And that might sound like a,
the word is an oxymoron where it doesn't make sense. Of course
we have to believe what God, who God says he is. But you know,
you can't believe God unless he enables you to. I can't believe
God unless he enables me to. It's the gift of faith given
freely by his grace. That's how we believe God. If
you want to come to Christ, if you want to come to God, you
must believe he is who he says he is. And the only way that
we can believe that is if he gives us the faith to do so.
Coming to God by faith is the only way we can come to him.
It's amazing how in religion, they talk about exercising your
faith or using your faith and it's your faith, but it's only
yours because God gave it to you. It came from a source. It
came from the Lord Jesus Christ. It was his faith. It's his faith
freely bestowed by grace. And ask yourself, anytime somebody's
talking about faith, if the man's speaking on faith, what does
the faith that he's talking about do? Does it look to Christ only? Or does it look to self also
as part of my salvation? Because if it does, it's not
real faith. Where did it come from? If I produced it, it's
not saving faith. It has to come from God. God's
faith is saving faith. And who gets all the glory for
it? That's the third thing. Who gets all the glory for that
faith? And if the answer is the Lord is who he looks to, the
Lord who it came from, and the Lord gets all the glory, that's
saving faith. That's saving faith. He must enable us to believe
him, who he is, what he has done. But he also has to enable us to believe
what he cannot do. That's what we're looking at
this hour again, what he cannot do. Somebody says, well, it sounds
like you're limiting God. No, if you look at the attributes
of God, you will realize why he cannot do these things. It
would go against his nature. Looking at what he cannot do
teaches us about his nature, teaches us about his isness,
teaches us what, when he said I am, what does that mean? Well,
that's what we're gonna find out with these things that God
cannot do. The fourth thing, We looked at
three the first hour. The fourth thing is he cannot
change. He cannot change. Turn with me
to Malachi chapter three. I just want to look at one verse
in Malachi three, but I want you to see it. Malachi 3 verse 6 says, For I
am the Lord, I change not. Therefore, you sons of Jacob
are not consumed. Because he changes not, the Lord's
people are not consumed. I am the Lord, I change not. When we look at the word therefore,
we can say what is the word, what is therefore, therefore?
What is the word therefore, therefore? And it's because of what he just
said. He changes not. And the reason that we are not
consumed is because he changes not. He cannot change. God is
immutable. Immutable. He cannot change.
Never changed, never will. Can't. Cannot change. Everything around us is changing,
isn't it? Some of you have pictures and I've I know I'm younger than
you all, but I can experience this too. There's things that
I'm seeing on myself now that's like, wait a minute, that's not,
that's new. Our bodies are changing all the time, aren't they? We're
getting older. We're dying. We're going back to the dust
from whence we came. It's appointed unto man to once to die, and
after this, the judgment. It's what God told us. Everything around
us is changing. The world's changing. The world's
changing. You see change everywhere. And
most of the time, it's not for the better, is it? Most of the
time, it's not. We see everything, and time is the reason that everything
changes. You know, if you wanna plant
a garden, and you want to plant a tomato plant, it takes time
for that plant to grow. It takes time for that plant
to produce the fruit, a tomato. Then it takes time for it to
ripen. But eventually, that plant is going to die. Everything's
changing. Everything's changing. Not the
sovereign creator of this universe. Not the one that spoke the world
into existence. He don't change. He don't change. Scripture says Jesus Christ the
same yesterday, today, and forever. He's everlasting. He never had
a beginning, and he never has an end. He cannot change. He's not subject to time. Time
is something that we dwell in, that we live with, that we are
subject to. He's not subject to time. He
made time. He purposed to make time. He's changeless, timeless. Time doesn't affect him in any
way. He made it for his glory. He's eternal. He's eternal. He is alpha. The first, omega,
the last, the beginning, and the end of everything. Everything. This is who he is. This is who
he is. He's the one that the scripture
says, which was, and which is, and which is to come. Everything
consists by him. And he's purposed all things
for his glory. And thank God he cannot change.
If he looks at you and he says, I have loved you with an everlasting
love, that means that cannot change. If he says, I have bought
you, I have redeemed you, I have saved you, that cannot change.
If he says unto you, you're mine, you're always gonna be his. You're
always gonna be his. He loves me now, I've always
been loved by him and always will be, all because he cannot,
cannot, cannot change. Boy, we change, don't we? Change
our minds. I used to have a favorite kind
of ice cream. I don't like that kind anymore.
I like the other kind of ice cream. We always change, and
not him. Not him. He don't change his mind. He
purposes all things according to his will, and everything's
subject to his will. Everything. I'm subject to his
will. We heard the first hour that
he controls all things by his determinate counsel. All things
are subject to him. Things in heaven, things in earth,
things under the earth. He's God. He's God. Boy, I love that he cannot change.
Don't you? Imagine having a God that could
change. He looks at us and he sees us
and then one day he just changes his mind. I just don't love you
anymore. Her people in relationships say that and they get divorces.
That happens, don't it? You know, God's never gonna say that to
his bride. I loved you with an everlasting love. It never had
a beginning. It'll never have an end. What hope? What hope
in knowing God cannot change? Number five, he cannot allow
sin to go unpunished. He cannot allow sin to go unpunished. Turn to Joshua chapter 24. Judges chapter 24, and we're
gonna look at verse 19, in verse 20. And Joshua said unto the people,
you cannot serve the Lord for he is an holy God. He is a jealous
God. He will not forgive your transgressions
nor your sins. If you forsake the Lord and serve
strange gods, then he will turn and do hurt. Do you hurt? and
consume you after that he had done you good. The Lord will
not, cannot allow sin to go unpunished. Sin must be punished. It's part
of his glorious nature because he is holy, because he is holy. That's why Moses said, Lord,
show me your glory. He said, no man can look upon me and live.
to see the face of God and have sin upon us as certain death.
You remember Uzzah who touched the ark, the Lord made it very
clear, do not touch the ark, don't lay a hand to the ark.
Well, they had it propped up on a cart and they were bringing
it back to Jerusalem. And as the ark began to fall,
Uzzah said, well, I need to help. And that's a picture of man-made
works religion where men think that they got to help God. God
doesn't need my help. He successfully saved his people.
Uzzah reaches up to stabilize it. When he does, what did God
do? Did he give him a warning? No, I told you not to do that.
So here's your last warning. Killed him immediately. Why?
Because he's holy. He will not allow sin to go unpunished. He said, Exodus 34, seven, keeping
mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and
sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty. By no means
clear the guilty. He will not let sin go unpunished.
Someone said, I'm not that bad. You ever heard somebody say that?
Well, I'm not that bad. So I heard somebody this week, I believe
it was, they said to me, I can't remember the whole conversation
now, but he said, I'm not that bad. And it stuck with me. If
you have that mentality, first of all, you're absolutely right.
You're not that bad. You're a lot worse than you think
you are. We're a lot worse than we think we are on God's side.
We're the corruption, we're the evil, we're the wicked, we're
the sin, we're polluted, we're vile creatures. Second question
though would be, have you ever sinned one time? If you're not
that bad, have you ever sinned one time? Now I have to remind
you that's all we can do is sin. Even me standing here preaching
to you, if the Lord does not take this and wash it in his
blood, all this is is sinful. He has to be the one to do it.
That's all we can produce. But if I've produced one sin,
what does the Lord say? The wages of sin is what? Death. I'm glad he didn't stop there.
If he'd have stopped there, we'd have been in trouble, wouldn't
we? He said, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus
Christ our Lord. If I am guilty, I must be punished
for my sin. which is what makes the gospel
of God's free grace so glorious. Because when we were without
strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. Christ
died for the sinner, his elected sinners on the cross of Calvary.
When we had no strength to help ourself, he did the helping. The Lord Jesus Christ took the
punishment due us, due his elected people. Therefore, Therefore,
he does not see sin upon us anymore. He does not see sin upon his
people anymore. With everyone he loves, everyone
he died for, he no longer sees sin upon them. No longer sees
sin upon them. How does he view them now? Perfectly
righteous because of his own blood. Perfectly righteous. He took our transgression, and
gave us his righteousness. We're seen as perfect in his
eyes. He took our, what about, that's a, think about the trade,
the transaction that happened there. To take our filth, our
guilt, our sin, our transgression, and give us righteousness. To die in our place that we should
have died, but then give us eternal life so that we'll never die. He took our sin and gave us his
holiness. He took our iniquity and he gave us his sanctification,
his justification, his redemption. This is what he did. This was
accomplished at the cross. Job 10, 14, if I sin, then thou
markest me and thou wilt not acquit me for my iniquity. He
cannot allow sin to be unpunished. Sin must be punished. Therefore, the good news of the
gospel is this, he punished the sin, he punished his son for
the sin of his people on the cross. And now that sin is gone. Now that sin is gone. The most
amazing part is he would do it for a wretch like me, or a wretch
like you, so that we would be his bride, his chosen people, The sixth thing, and this is
comforting, the sixth thing, and if you're writing it down,
you missed the points, I'll give it to you after service, but
I'm gonna sum it up at the end, so maybe that'll help. The sixth
thing is he cannot punish sin twice. Cannot punish sin twice. Why is that comforting? Because
if he punished Christ on my behalf, on the cross of Calvary, bearing
my sin, there's no way that he can punish me for that same sin,
because it's gone now. That's the good news of the gospel.
He cannot punish the same sin twice. Turn to Hebrews chapter
nine. We're gonna read 24 through the
end of the chapter. Hebrews chapter nine. For Christ, if not entered into
the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the
true, but into heaven itself now to appear in the presence
of God for us. Nor yet that he should offer
himself often as the high priest entered into the holy place every
year with blood of others, For then he must often have suffered
since the foundation of the world. But now once in the end of the
world, hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of
himself. And as it is appointed unto man
once to die, but after this, the judgment. So Christ was once
offered to bear the sins of many and to them that look for him,
shall he appear the second time without sin. unto salvation. Sin's gone. He cannot punish
sin twice. Somebody told me recently, they
said, well, I feel like I'm being punished for what I've done. Well, the Lord will chasten his
people. Chastening is not what a lot
of people think it means. Chastening is not And I remember
my dad using the word chastening, but he'd get after me with a
belt. That's not chastening. I mean, chastening is teaching, and it's
teaching in love. That's what chastening is. He'll
chasten his people, and sometimes those chastenings are grievous,
as the scripture tells us, but that's not punishment. No, Christ
Jesus endured the full wrath and anger of God upon the cross
of Calvary for his people, so that all that he sees when he
sees us is the blood. He said, I know my thoughts I
have towards you, I know the thoughts that I have towards
you, not thoughts of evil, but what thoughts? Thoughts of looks,
thoughts of good, thoughts of love, thoughts of peace. That's
what Christ accomplished. Christ bore the sin of his people,
and God punished his son, and he cannot punish that sin twice.
That means there's no way that you and I, if we're his, chosen
by him, Saved by him, if he's put away our sin, there's no
way we could ever end up in hell. It's not possible. It's not possible. Because when he does punish,
it's a perfect execution of his wrath. And it was executed fully
on his son. Scripture says he bore our iniquities
in his own body upon the tree. He bore the sin of his people,
and once, by himself, when he had purged our sins, he sat down. He satisfied all the demands
necessary for his people to be saved. He no longer sees the
sin. Boy, we see it, don't we? You see your sin. We loathe our
sin. We loathe our sin. We don't love
it. We loathe it. He don't see it. He sees his
son, and he sees the blood, and he sees you as the perfect righteousness
of God if you're in Christ right now. There is now, therefore,
no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. took all that sin out of the
way, nailing them to his own cross. And because the Lord was
pleased with his sacrifice, it would be unjust for him to punish
his people, unjust for him to punish his people again, because
justice was satisfied. Remember during the COVID pandemic,
everybody was talking, the religious people were talking, and I had
a lot of family members that believed this. They said, oh,
this is just the wrath of God that's been brought because of
all of our sin. And I thought, you wish. You wish. It wasn't the wrath of God. No,
the wrath of God is complete and utter destruction and eternal
torment, and that's what Christ endured on the cross, our eternal
hell on the cross. When the Lord blacked out the
universe and God was doing business with God, he was pouring out
his wrath, putting away that sin. They said that pleased the
Lord to bruise him. Why? Because he was bringing
many sons and daughters to glory, many, his people. He satisfied all the demands
of God. He must declare his people justified. His justice demands it. His holiness
demands it. His righteousness demands it
because of what he sees. When he sees the blood, what
did he say? Remember, we found out we can't lie. We've already
established that. What did he say? When I see your
good works, I'll pass by you. When I see your efforts, I'll
pass by you. When I see your choice, I'll pass by you. No.
He said, when I see the blood, I'll pass by you, the blood of
the lamb. It's the only way he's gonna pass by us. The blood of
the lamb, not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according
to his mercy. That's how he saved us. That's
how he's loved us, by his mercy, by his grace. Because we have the blood applied,
he is pleased. On behalf of Christ, he is pleased
with us. This is why saying Jesus died
for everybody is so blasphemous. If he died for everybody and
somebody went to hell, that would be calling God a liar. It would
be saying that he is punishing sin twice because Christ was
punished on the cross for sin and that sin was put away for
everybody. Everybody's gonna go to heaven. That's how it works.
Because if he put their sin away and yet they still go to hell,
he would be punishing their sin twice. That's why it's so blasphemous. If he died for everybody, everybody
would be saved. Because he'd have to lie, he would have to
lie in order to punish sin on the cross and then you again
in hell if you're his. But he can't do that. He cannot
lie and he cannot punish sin twice. Aren't you glad we know
the truth? You know that verse that says you shall know the
truth and the truth shall make you free? And if the spirit hath
made you free, you're free indeed. It's the Lord that does the setting
free, isn't it? But it's not free from what we are now. It's the freedom to see the truth
in Christ that everything is finished. Everything is accomplished.
What freedom and liberty is there in knowing these attributes that
we're describing of our Lord give us great hope in the salvation
he accomplished. There's nothing left for you
to do. You can't mess it up. You can't break it. You don't,
there's nothing to fix. He did it all. He did it all. God punished his son. The son
offered himself to the father and the father was satisfied. Now every one, every man, woman,
boy and girl that he died for is saved, is saved by grace through
faith. They will never taste of the
wrath of God because he cannot punish sin twice. The seventh
and last thing that God cannot do, and this one actually came
to me yesterday. I was finished, really, with,
I had it as six things God cannot do, and the Lord gave me this
one while I was looking for another verse. I thought, well, he can't
lose a sheep. He cannot lose one sheep. Turn
with me to John chapter six. We're either born a sheep or
we're born a goat and it's all by God's choice and design, his
purpose for his glory. And a sheep can't become a goat
and a goat can't become a sheep. John chapter six, verse 37 through
40 says this, all that the father giveth me shall come to me and
him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. For I came
down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him
that sent me. And this is the father's will,
which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me, I should
lose none. but should raise it up at the
last day. And this is the will of Him that sent me, that everyone
which seeth the Son and believeth on Him may have everlasting life,
and I will raise Him up at the last day." You know what that
word everlasting is, don't you? Never had a beginning and never
had an end. He's saying, I'm not gonna lose one sheep. God
cannot lose. one sheep because of his attributes.
He cannot lie. And he just said, I won't lose
one sheep. In order for him to lose one
sheep, he would have to punish sin twice. And he cannot punish
sin twice. We just heard he can't do that.
In order for him to lose one sheep, that would mean he would
have to fail. And that's impossible. That's
something else God cannot do. So I guess there's eight in this,
actually. God cannot fail. You're going to find out God
cannot do a lot of things, but it's never going to be in a negative
sense. It's a good thing he cannot do
these things. Can you imagine serving a God
that could lie to you? Some people put their hope in,
I said, I'm not getting political, but they put their hope in politics.
They put their hope in the economy. They put their hope in this and
that. All the information that you get, you can turn it on.
If you have any joy whatsoever, any happiness in your life, Turn
on the news channel and watch it for about 15 minutes and you'll
lose it. Why? Because you don't know what's true and what's not
and what's puffed up and what's, they're lying. So they just do
that, don't they? Not God, he cannot lie. What
a comfort to the believer to know if the Lord says, I will
not lose one sheep. You can believe that because
he's God. You can believe that. He's God. Men say that God can fail, that
God didn't successfully redeem, that God really didn't save his
people from their sin on the cross when they say Jesus loves
everybody and he died for everybody. To say that, they say Lord wants
a personal relationship with everybody. Number one, that's
saying you're limiting the power of God by saying that. You're
literally saying God wants something but he can't have it. And that's
just a total misconception of who God actually is. No, God
is all powerful. God is all sovereign. If he wants
something, he's going to get it, whether we like it or not.
He adds power over the clay to make one vessel into honor and
one vessel into dishonor according to his own will and purpose. Men say, just let him have his
way. No, no, he's going to have his way. You don't have to say
that. It's going to happen. It's going
to happen. He loves his chosen sheep. He loves his elected bride. Peter tells us he's not willing
that one of them should perish, but that all of them should come
to repentance. If God is willing, if God is not willing for them
to perish, are they gonna perish? What did he say? My sheep hear
my voice, I know them, and they follow me. And I give unto them
eternal life, and they shall never, never, never perish. And neither shall any man pluck
them out of my hand. You cannot lose one sheep. You cannot lose
one sheep. He that begun a good work in
you will perform it to the day of Jesus Christ. And in closing,
I wanna go back to our text, just read that verse one more
time. Part of what knowing, part of
what believing who God is and what he has done is seeing what
he cannot do. Verse six tells us, Hebrews 11,
but without faith it is impossible to please him. For he that cometh
to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of
them that diligently seek him. In order to believe that he is,
you have to believe. What a glorious savior that we
have that cannot change. He cannot allow sin to go unpunished. He cannot punish sin twice. He
cannot lose one sheep. He cannot lie. He cannot sin
and he cannot deny himself. Oh, I can rest in our God for
that reason. I can rest in our Savior. There's
none like him. Thank God for the things God
cannot do. Thank God for that reason. Everything
that he has done, he's done it because of the things he cannot
do to save his people from their sins. you can believe in the
Lord Jesus Christ. The command goes forth, believe
on him and you shall be saved. Let's pray. Father, we're thankful
for your word. We ask that you would bless it
to our understanding for your glory. In Christ's name, amen. All right, in closing, let's
sing.