Let us turn then to God's Word
in the portion of Scripture that we read, Malachi chapter 3. And I want to direct you to the
familiar words of verse 6, Malachi chapter 3 and verse 6. For I am the Lord, I change not. Therefore you sons of Jacob,
are not consumed. And the particular truth, the
great doctrine that is set before us in these words, of course,
is that of God's unchangeableness, the immutability of God. For I am the Lord, I change not. Therefore ye sons of Jacob are
not consumed. And as we consider these words,
and this great statement I want to divide what I say into four
headings and first of all to say something with regards to
the person of God as he declares himself in this particular verse. He speaks of himself then as
the unchanging God and of course we observe that he uses that
great covenant name of Lourdes which as we have it in the Old
Testament here in the authorised version is spelt in capital letters
indicative then that it is that great truth that was revealed
to Moses in Exodus chapter 3 where God reveals himself in the burning
bush the book the bush that burns but is not consumed and declares
himself to be i am the unchanging god I am the Lord, I change not. How God's name does tell us something
with regards to Himself. It's a revelation of Himself. We remember the great significance
that is attached to names throughout the Scriptures. And there are
so many remarkable examples of the importance of those names
that are given to various individuals sometimes so touching when we
read in Genesis chapter 35 of Rachel remember how she was barren
she was many years without child and yet God was pleased to hear
her prayer and eventually the child is born she bears to her
husband Jacob, that son, Joseph, who was very much his father's
favourite child. But then again in chapter 35
of Genesis we see that she is once more with child, she is
to bear another son, but alas, we have the record of how she
dies. in childbirth, and as she expires, so she names that son
Ben-Onai. Ben-Onai, the son of my sorrow. She would not live to see the
child grow, and though it must have been grievous to her, the
Lord had favoured her, and given her these two sons. But now she
calls this little child Ben-Onai. But that was not the father's
name. the father Jacob gave him a different name and we of course
know that child as Benjamin to Jacob he was the son of my right
hand the son of my right hand but how remarkable it is that
we have that record of the names that were given to that particular
child. As I say, we know that names
are important. They're important with regards
sometimes to the ministry of the Prophet. It's not only the
name that the Prophet himself bears. but on occasions it's
also the name that they give to their offspring. And we have
a remarkable example of that in the 8th chapter of Isaiah. And there in verse 18 the prophet
says, Behold, I and the children which God hath given me are for
wonders. I and the children are for signs,"
says the Prophet, and for wonders. And previously in that chapter,
we read of the birth of a particular son, and that son is given a
strange name. Meir Shalal Ashbans is the name
that God directs the Prophets to give to that particular child. And the reason was because the
name is a message to the kings of Israel and of Syria. This is after, of course, the
division of the kingdom. There was Israel, the ten tribes
in the north with their capital at Samaria, and there's little
Judah in the south with the capital at Jerusalem, and Israel in the
north is in league with Syria. and they are against Judah. But God will send a terrible
judgment upon the kingdoms of Israel and Syria in the form
of the Assyrians under Sennacherib. And the child that bears his
remarkable name, Meir Shalal Ashbar, is part of God's message
to the kings of Israel and Syria. We read, Moreover the Lord said
unto me, Take thee a great roll, and write in it with a man's
name concerning Meher-shal-al-ashbas. And I took unto me faithful witnesses
to record Uriah the priest, and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah. And I went unto the prophetess,
and she conceived, and bare a son. Then said the Lord to me, Call
his name Meher-shal-al-ashbas, For before the child shall have
knowledge to cry, My father and My mother, the riches of Damascus,
the capital of Syria, the spoil of Samaria, the capital of Israel,
shall be taken away before the king of Assyria. Oh, there is
a message, you see, in the name that's given to that particular
child. May her shalal ashbad. And the margin tells us the meaning
of that Hebrew. May case to the spoil, hasten
to the pride. how the nations are going to
be a great spoil then to the king of Assyrians, God's judgment. But the name, the name is so
significant. Not just the names that's given
to the prophet, but the name that the prophet sometimes gives
to his children. Elijah of course is the great
example of the importance of a name that's given to a man
as he is raised up there to minister in that northern kingdom of Israel
in the days of wicked Ahab and his queen Jezebel and how the
nation is sunk in idolatry, how they are worshipping Baal and
now Elijah suddenly appears and his name of course is a declaration
of the truth Elijah Jehovah is God Jehovah is God His very name,
then, is a message to a nation that sunk in idolatry. Names, I say, are so important,
as we've said many times, the importance of names as we find
them recorded here on the page of Holy Scripture. And, of course,
the most significant is that name that is given to Christ,
when the angel says, both to Mary and to Joseph, they shall
call his name Jesus. for he shall save his people
from their sins." Jesus. It is the Greek form of the Hebrew
name Joshua. And it means, of course, that
the Lord is Saviour. Salvation is of the Lord. He shall save his people from
their sins. He is Jesus. Jesus Christ the same yesterday
and today and forever. I am the Lord, I change not,
therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. He is the Lord. He is God's manifest in the flesh,
the great mystery of godliness. with the coming of the Lord Jesus
Christ and that fall and that final revelation of God. When we think of the person of
God, really we should think of course in terms of the persons.
There are three persons in the Godhead, Father, Son and Holy
Ghost. And it was in the fullness of
the time that God sent forth His Son made of a woman, made
under the law, to redeem them that were under the law. The great work that Christ comes
to do, and in that work, of course, He is revealing God. It is the
fullness of the revelation. But here you see in the text,
we have this name, I am the Lord. And as I said, this is the covenant
name. This is that name that was declared
to Moses back in Exodus chapter 3. And as we said previous occasions,
Lord literally means He is. God says of Himself I am. We say He is. And that is the
meaning of the word Lord. He is the unchanging God. Now,
it's the covenant name and we have a very interesting portion
back in Exodus chapter 6 with regards to this particular nine
that was revealed so clearly to Moses in that previous third
chapter, in chapter 6 of Exodus. Verse 2 we read, And God spoke
unto Moses and said unto him, I am the LORD. And I appeared
unto Abraham, unto Isaac and unto Jacob by the name of God
Almighty. But by my name Jehovah was I
not known to them. Now, that's a strange statement
that we have there in the third verse. By my name Jehovah was
I not known to them. We know for a fact that the name
Jehovah, the name Lord appears back in Genesis. where God makes
covenant with Abraham in Genesis 15, that name is used. And not only to Abraham, it was
also a name that was revealed to his son Isaac in Genesis 26
in the opening verses. We have the name LORD in capital
letters in relation to Isaac. And then with Jacob also, when
Jacob is at Bethel in Genesis 28, And he sees that vision of
the ladder that's set up on the earth and its top reaches to
heaven and it is the Lord who is ascending and descending.
What then are we to make of that statement? We know the Scriptures
cannot contradict themselves. God said, I appeared unto Abraham,
unto Isaac, and unto Jacob by the name of God Almighty. But
by my name, Jehovah, was I not known to them. Now, we consult
the commentators and Dr. Gill explains it like this. He
says that that last clause is interrogative, it's a question.
That's how we should read it. God is asking, by my name Jehovah
was I not known to them? In other words, the implication
in the question is of course they knew me by that name. by
my name Jehovah was I not known to them? That's how Dr. Gill explains it then, there's
no contradiction. God did reveal himself to the
patriarchs as the Lord. But then others would suggest
a different explanation that what we have with Moses is the
fuller revelation of the name. Yes, it's clearly there previously
in what God reveals to Abraham and to Isaac and to Jacob. But if we go back to Genesis
15, of course, where God enters into covenant with Abraham, we
see at the end of that chapter God speaks of the descendants
of Abram being captives in a strange land. They would be taken into
Egypt. But God promises that they will
yet be restored, they'll be brought again out of captivity in Verse
13, he said, unto Abraham, no of a surety, thy seed shall be
a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them,
and they shall afflict them four hundred years, and also that
nation whom they shall serve will I judge, and afterwards
shall they come out with great substance. There is the promise,
you see. But Moses is granted a fuller revelation in that he
doesn't just have the promise, he has the accomplishment of
the promise. This is what God did, He actually, under the hand
of Moses, He brought out the people. And so Moses was favoured
with a fuller revelation of that Divine Name, the Unchanging One. I am the Lord, I change not,
therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. Who is God, save
the Lord? Or who is a rock, save our God? says the Psalmist. There is with
him no variableness, neither shadow of turning. Has he given
his word? Shall he not accomplish his word?
And so Moses witnesses the accomplishment of the great promise that was
first given to Abraham back in Genesis 15. but here is the revelation
you see God has spoken and in speaking God has made himself
known God has revealed himself and so as God himself is the
unchanging one so in the second place we observe how God's purpose
God's purpose is an unchanging purpose in Job 23 we read he
is in one mind He is in one mind, and who shall turn him? And what
his soul desireth, even that he doeth. Now there is, in God,
of course, a wonderful simplicity. Though there is a great mystery,
because God is three, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, yet we
know, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord, and He is
in one mind. The theologians say that strictly
speaking with regards to God's decree we shouldn't speak in
terms of decrees in the plural, the decrees of God, but we should
really speak always in the singular, the decree. Now of course we
live in time and in space and we see God's purpose is being
unfolded from day to day, from moment to moment. There's a succession
of events. There's the fulfillment of his
decrees, but of course, really God does not dwell in time, God
dwells in eternity. With him there is no past or
present or future, and in that sense, you see, his decree is
singular, it is one. He is in one mind, and who shall
turn him? And that great purpose, of God
is the unchanging purpose. The counsel of the Lord standeth
forever. His thoughts to a thousand generations,
says the Psalmist. Our God is in the heaven. He
hath done whatsoever He pleased. All God's sovereignty and the
immutability of the great purpose of God. How that haughty eastern
emperor Nebuchadnezzar was so humble before God. You read of
it there in Daniel chapter 4, how God took away his reason
from him, he was behaving as a brute beast. And then when
God restores him, he is brought to acknowledge the heaven's reign.
the heavens reign. He doeth according to his will
among the armies of heaven and the inhabitants of the earth,
and none can stay his hand or say to him, What doest thou? Oh, that God would bring us then
to recognize that, that God is that one who is sovereign in
all things, and too wise to be mistaken, and too good to be
unkind. to bow before the divine sovereignty. What does he say here in the
text? I am the Lord, I change not. Therefore ye sons of Jacob
are not consumed. His purpose, his decree. In Hebrews 6 and verse 17 we
read of the immutability of his counsel, the unchangeableness
of his Council strangely when we come to the
scriptures we do read of passages wherein it's suggested that God
has changed his mind and quite early on we see that in Genesis
chapter 6 we're told it's repented the
Lord that he had made man upon the earth. He repented the Lord
that he had made man. Again in the first book of Samuel
concerning King Saul we read the Lord repented that he had
made Saul king over Israel. Now, what is repentance? Fundamentally, repentance is
a change of mind. Certainly, that's the meaning
of the word that's used in the New Testament, repentance. It's
a compound. It's made up of two words, and
the two words are the word mind and change. To repent is to change
one's mind. Now, where there is repentance,
it's a very fundamental change when the sinner is brought to
a real evangelical repentance, when he receives from Christ
that grace. Remember how Christ is exalted,
the Prince and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and the
forgiveness of sins. Where there is repentance, how
the man's life is turned about, it's turned inside out, it's
turned upside down. It's a remarkable change. where
there is real repentance. But how strange that we should
have those portions where God is said to repent, to change
his mind. And yet, here he says, I change
not. How can we explain these things?
Well, we know that God is a spirit. The Lord Jesus Christ tells us
as much, does he not? In John chapter 4, God is a spirit. and they that worship him must
worship him in spirit and in truth and yet though God is a spirit
how he graciously condescends when he reveals himself to us
to speak to us in terms that we understand and so we do read
of certain physical properties in God we read of God's hand
and God's eye and God's ear think of the words of Isaiah
59 the Lord's hand is not shortened that he cannot see neither is
his ear, death that he cannot hear these are what are called anthropomorphisms
it's God speaking of himself you see in human, physical terms
that we might understand. It doesn't mean that God has
a literal hand or a literal ear. No, God is a spirit. God is not
physical in that sense. Again, the psalmist speaks of
God awaking, as if he was sleeping. We read of God awaking. In Jeremiah
we read of the Lord rising up, as if he's rising up from his
bed. And yet, behold, he that keepeth Israel, we are told,
shall neither slumber nor sleep." The language, you see, that we
find in Scripture is such that we can understand God speak to
us in terms that we can comprehend something of what He is saying
of Himself. But we're not to imagine that
God does literally change. We're not to think of God in
those physical terms, or those human terms. God is not a man
that he should lie, nor the son of man that he should repent.
As he said it, shall he not do it? As he spoken it, shall he
not make it good? The strength of Israel will not
lie nor repent. He is not a man that he should
repent. Although he speaks to us in these
terms whereby we can understand, Yet, we recognize that He is
clearly that God who is immutable. I am the Lord, I change not,
He says. Therefore ye sons of Jacob are
not consumed. What comfort there is, you see.
What comfort there is, when God declares Himself in this fashion
to us, as the unchanging One. Because we think not only in
terms of His great purpose, but think of His promise. Or think
of the promise of God. God's Word, it's an unchanging
Word. Has He said it? Shall He not
do it? Has He spoken it? Shall He not make it good? And
now God in the Gospel, of course, has confirmed it all. Remember
the words of Hebrews 6 that when God spoke unto Abraham, when
God gave promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no
greater. He swore by himself, it says. He gave promise to Abram. How
did he confirm it? He confirmed it by an oath. He
swore by himself. In other words, he has exalted
his word above all his name, as the psalmist says. If his
word fails, he fails. He swore by Himself. If His word is broken, He is
no more God. And He has not only confirmed
it by oath, He has sealed it with blood, the blood of the
everlasting covenant, that precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ
that was shed at Calvary, for all the promises of God. In Him
are ye and in him are men to the glory of God by us. Oh, it's
by us. It's in his dealings with his
people that God shows himself to be the faithful God. What
we have here, of course, in the text is God's promise. Ye sons
of Jacob, he says, shall not be consumed. That's God's promise. What does
the Lord Jesus Christ say in the course of his ministry? The
scripture cannot be broken. Heaven and earth shall pass away
but my word shall not pass away. Psalm 89 He's a great Messianic son, and
he speaks, of course, of the covenant. He speaks in terms
of David, but the person being referred to is David's greatest
son, the Lord Jesus, is it not? Verse 3 of Psalm 89, I have made
a covenant with my chosen. I have sworn unto David, my servant,
says the Lord God. And look at what we read later
in this psalm, verse 33, it says, Nevertheless, my loving kindness
will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness
to fail. My covenants will I not break,
nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips. All the promise
that God has given to Christ His covenant He will not break,
there's that eternal inter-trinitarian covenant, that great covenant
of redemption, the promise that was given to Christ that He would
see at the travail of His soul. And how is that promise is given
to Christ as the head of the body, the church, so it is given
to those who are His church. Once have I sworn by my holiness
that I will not lie unto David, he says. My covenant will I not
break, nor utter the thing that is gone out of my lips. Here is the great comfort then
to the people of God, that that promise that we have in the Gospel,
it's an everlasting promise, and it is an unchanging promise. It is the great promise of God,
confirmed by oath and sealed in blood. But then, the reverse
of that of course, we have to recognize that as God's promise
is faithful and true and unchanging, so are those awful threatenings. And we have them here, this is
the context. of our text this morning, look at the previous
verse as he speaks to Israel of all he says I will come near
to you to judgment and I will be a swift witness against the
sorcerers and against the adulterers and against false swearers and
against those that oppress the hireling in his wages the widow
and the fatherless and that turn aside the stranger from his right,
and fear not me, saith the Lord of hosts, for I am the Lord,
I change not." How God will execute His terrible judgments, He will
be faithful to that word of threatening, verse 1 of chapter 4, Behold,
the day cometh that shall burn as an oven, and all the proud,
yea, and all that do wickedly shall be stubble, And the day
that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that
he shall leave them neither root nor branch. O friends, we are
not to be partial in the word of God. Thank God we have the
promises. Let us delight in the promises.
O, but let us heed all of God's words and those terrible threatenings. Let us read what God says with
regards to the practical part of our religion. We have it,
of course, here in verse 5. And we are to conduct ourselves,
and He speaks against the sorcerer, against the adulterer, against
false swearers, against those who are oppressing, oppressing
the widow and the fatherless. Now there is, you see, that that
is to be done. There is a ministry to be exercised
by the people of God. in caring, caring for those who
are the oppressed, seeking to live our lives in conformity
to those holy precepts of the gospel, of the grace of God. We see then here that God is
the unchanging one with regards to himself, who he is. He's the
faithful God. and as he is faithful to himself
so he is true to his word and true to his promise but finally
this morning let us consider something of those who are here
declared to be the people of God ye sons of Jacob we read
I am the Lord I change not therefore or there's something to be deduced
from what God has said in the first part of the text therefore
His sons of Jacob are not consumed. Remember how it was Jacob who
became Israel at Penuel in Genesis 32 when the angel wrestled with
him and his determination he would
not let the angel go accepted blessing and there he became
Israel the prince with God he prevailed and all that we might be those
who are the true seed of this man Jacob the sons of Jacob that
is the spiritual Israel of God But what do we read concerning
Israel? Back in Hosea chapter 13 and
verse 9, that solemn word, O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself. O Israel, thou hast destroyed
thyself. And do we not sometimes feel
like that? We destroy ourselves. The folly
of our sins, we feel it. We're such perverse and foolish
creatures. And we're so much in love with
ourselves, so much in love with our sins. I was struck when preparing that
short history of the work here at Salem, and I think it was
Daniel Meal who was not really associated of course with the
with the church at Salem. It was in the previous century.
He was pastor at the church in Kent
Street from which Church Salem was planted. But what struck me was a remark
that was made by Dr. Dowdney. He'd heard this man,
David Dowdney, he'd heard Daniel Miao, when in his youth, he lived
of course here in Portsmouth and obviously attended services
on occasion there in Kent Street. And he said this, and it really
struck me, that Daniel Miao would say in the course of preaching,
if God was to preserve him all his days and then leave him to
take that last step which would lead to heaven, he said, He would
find himself in hell. If he was left just to take that
very last step of himself and in his own strength, he would
fall at the last. He would step into hell. O Israel,
thou hast destroyed thyself. Is it not true, friends, that
we need God to be constantly caring for us and keeping us?
Such is the folly of our sins. But what does the apostle say,
if we believe not? Yet he abideth faithful. He cannot deny himself. All that occurs on belief. God
should leave us for a moment, how soon we would sink into it.
But if we believe not, he cannot deny himself. What has he said? I am the Lord, I change not.
Therefore, Therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed." That's
our safekeeping. It is the character of God. It's
nothing of ourselves. It's God. It's the gifts and
calling of God. What does Paul say? Romans 11.29,
the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. They
never change. Oh, if God has but begun with
us. What a comfort to know that God has begun with us, that we've
had a right beginning. It's not us beginning with God,
it's God beginning with us, it's God coming to us and taking us
in hand. Again, to the Philippians Paul
can say, being confident of this very thing, that he which hath
begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus
Christ. And there we have to look to
ourselves and our beginnings. Has God begun a good work in
us? Have we had a right beginning?
If so, you see, there's comfort in that. God will watch over
us and God will perfect His work in us. And nothing will frustrate
His work. It can never be aborted. For
I am the Lord, I change not, therefore ye sons of Jacob are
not consumed. But then furthermore, in the
midst of trials and troubles, Believers do sometimes feel that
they will be consumed. How can we stand in the midst
of all the tribulations and all the troubles that come into our
poor lives? Well, here is our comfort. God
is the one, of course, who watches over us and we see it here. He
is spoken of previously in the chapter, is he not, as the refiner
and the fuller. He is like a refiner's fire,
He is like fuller soap, we read. He shall sit as a refiner and
purifier of silver, and He shall purify the sons of Levi, and
purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the
Lord an offering in righteousness. Here is the refiner, and he has
his crucible, and he has the precious metal, and there it
is in the crucible, and the heat is applied, And what is he about? Why is he seeking to separate
all those impurities? It's a purging process, is it
not? But he watches over. He sits as a refiner, he watches
over the precious metal to see that it's not overheated. Or
this is the way of God, is it not? He watches over his people
as he purges his people. They're not going to be consumed. They're kept, kept by the power
of God. through faith unto salvation,
ready to be revealed in the last time, says Peter. But then, finally
this morning, observe what it says in the text. It says, Ye
sons of Jacob. Therefore ye sons of Jacob are
not consumed. We think of the words of Isaiah
41 and verse 14 and There, the sons of Jacob are given another
name, Fear not thou worm, Jacob, and ye men of Israel, I will
help thee, saith thy Redeemer, and the Holy One of Israel. Fear
not thou worm, Jacob, and ye men, the margin gives the alternative,
ye few men, Fear not, thou worm, Jacob, and ye few men of Israel."
So few, you see, so vulnerable. Just a handful left in the earth. But they feel themselves to be
worms. And surely, friends, sometimes,
does it not seem that our troubles might altogether overwhelm us
and crush us just as worms? That's our fear, is it not? that
these things are too much for us to bear, how can we survive
such trials and troubles and difficulties that sometimes come
into our lives? Well, here is the promise, I
am the Lord, I change not therefore, ye sons of Jacob, are not consumed. Oh, it's the mystery of God's
dealings. It's the mystery of God's dealings. It's the miracle
that God performs in preserving His children, even when they
seem to be almost overwhelmed and crushed, like worms. Gracious Bonner says, I change,
He changes not. The Christ can never die. His
love not mine, the resting place. His truth not mine, the time. Jesus Christ, the same yesterday
and today and forever, isn't that our comfort? He is the Unchanging
One. And what of this Unchanging One?
Well, how He identifies with His people. We refer to those
words of Isaiah 41 and verse 14 concerning worm Jacob, Fear
not thou worm, Jacob, but what does Christ say of himself? The
words of the 22nd Psalm. He says, I am a worm, a no-man. Or here is one, you see, who
understands his people, who comes just where his people are, who
is touched with the feeling of our infirmities, who is tempted
in all points like as we are, yet without sin he understands
us. Oh, friends, this is the God
with whom we have to do. This is that God of whom we sang
just now in that 132nd hymn, that friend. Or that we might
be those who know something more of Him, something more of that
gracious friendship as He draws near to us and increasingly makes
Himself known, reveals Himself to us. This is where we began,
is it not? What is the name of God? It's a revelation. It's
God's speaking to us, and speaking to us, telling us who He is,
and making Himself real in our experiences. O God, grant it
then, for our good and for His glory. For I am the Lord, I change
not, therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. Amen.