Malachi chapter 3, and our text
will be found in verse 6. Malachi chapter 3 and verse 6. If I had a title for the message,
it would be, An Unchanging God in a Changing World. An Unchanging
God. and in a changing world. The
Scripture says, For I am the Lord, I change not. Therefore, you sons of Jacob
are not consumed. Now, as we enter into a new year
together, we all are full of anxiety as to what will happen
in the coming days and months of the year. It's only natural
for us to be anxious concerning a new year, a new time. Some
people are very optimistic. Some people are very pessimistic. But we really don't know what's
going to happen in a year. We don't know what's going to
happen in the next moment. But yet at this time, we start
thinking about future. We start thinking, reflecting
from the past and looking forward into a future at this time. And it causes great anxiety. It causes great distress. We reflect upon the old year,
and by nature we desire that the year ahead be better than
the one that had just passed. Now, I know that's our desire.
We desire to have a better year than we had last year. We make
resolutions to change, to be better, to be different. to start
something or to stop something new. Some people purpose to stop or
start a thing so that it make themselves either more appealing
to other people. That's where you get the gym.
You know, everybody's going to diet and lose weight. Everybody's
going to have those, go out and buy those big machines and they're
going to put them in their house and they're going to collect
dust. Just like mine. So we have this and this is this
is for other things, for appealing to others, but some become religious
during this time. Some think of their religion
and how unzealous they were, and then they're going to turn
over a new leaf and be zealous this year. They're going to be
great. They're going to be better and make themselves better before
God to become more holy, more holy. But no matter if we keep
our resolutions or we fail to keep them, one thing is certain. One thing is constant. One thing
never changes, and that is God. God never changes. He said, I am the Lord. I change not. I change not. We by nature are sinners and
by nature are in constant flux. We are in constant change. We are constantly either happy
or sad. We are hot or we are cold. We
are indifferent or we are not, or we are zealous. We change
daily. Our thoughts, our emotions are
constantly moving. And why is this? Because we are
not perfect. That's why we change. If you
had a perfect characteristic, would you change it? No. It would
be perfect. But this is why we are always
changing. Because we are not perfect. We are sinners. Sinners by nature. Now men may turn over a new leaf,
but really it's just the same old leaf. You take a leaf and
turn it over, is it not the same leaf? It's the same leaf. So if a man decides to become
more holy or change his ways, all he's doing is painting the
sepulcher. But within are full of dead men's
bones. in this world, we'll face all
kinds of changes. Now, we may see some as good
changes, and we may think others to be bad changes, but the Scripture tells us there's
a time and a season for every purpose under heaven. Everything
happens in this world not by accident. and not by chance,
but by divine providence, divine decrees of God. To us, it seems like chaos. We look around us and we see
everything swirling around. But to God, it is in perfect
precision and order. God is doing all things after
the counsel of His own will. He is moving all things, all
men, all circumstances. There is not one leaf that falls
from the tree that is not by design and decree of Almighty
God. Not one. In this world, we face all kinds
of changes, and it doesn't matter what we call them, good or bad.
We know this, that this one truth is always sure in a changing
world that God does not change. God does not change. I am the
Lord. I change not. I am the Lord. Look at this. First of all, he declares who
he is. I am. I am. Same thing that he told
Moses. He said, you tell them that I
am hath sent you. Friends, there is only one God. Who is the great I am? Flip over to Isaiah chapter 44.
The Lord God says this himself, Isaiah chapter 44. And verse six. as thus saith the Lord, the King
of Israel, and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts. I am the first, and I am the
last, and beside me there is no God." Flip over one chapter there in
chapter 45, verse 5. The Lord here says, I am the
Lord, and there is none else. There is no God beside me. I girded thee, though thou hast
not known me, that they may know from the rising of the sun and
from the west that there is none beside me. I am the Lord, and
there is none else. Can he be any plainer than that?
God says, I am the first, the eternal first. He always was, and there was
no God beside Him. There was no God to contend with
Him. There was nothing but Him. Now, friends, in this world there
are many gods, but these are the gods of men. These are the
gods of the imaginations of wicked, sinful men. Man is by nature
an idol-maker. You won't find any nation You
won't find any nation or civilization that had not had some deity of
some sort to worship. Even one unbeliever said this. He said you would sooner find
a nation without a language as you would find one without a
temple. Because man is religious by nature.
He's superstitious. He's religious. Man is an idol
maker. And the gods of men, they're
all very similar to one another in this respect. They all are
like the man that invented them. They're all like men. All the
false gods and false religions of the world are like man. God said, Thou thoughtest that
I was altogether such in one as Thyself. The Scripture says
that my thoughts are higher than your thoughts, and my ways higher
than your ways. As high as the heavens is above
the earth, so are my thoughts above your thoughts, and my ways
above your ways. Now, how high is God's thoughts
above our thoughts? Now, whatever you thought is
infinitely higher than that. Go higher. God is God, and there
is no other God besides Him. He's not like us. God says, I
am God, and there is no God but Myself. There's no God but Myself. And this is how He reveals Himself
to men. I am the only Lord. I am the only God. And this is
how you shall know that God is different, that this is the true
and living God, in this one thing He says, I change not. This separates God from all other
false deities. God is infinitely changeless. Changeless. He does not change. Any God who can change His nature,
any God who can change His character, or any God whose purpose is changed
or thwarted, that God is not God. Because if God can change, then
that means that He would not be perfect. If God is perfect, as He says
He is, Why would He change anything? He wouldn't. He doesn't. All of His thoughts and all of
His decrees, all the things that God says, all the things that
God does are absolutely without error. Without error. He does all things right. Now,
the God of this world is always evolving, isn't he? He's always
changing with the times. He's always changing with the
culture of men. Not our God. Not our God. Have you noticed how they have
what they call contemporary worship? They've got traditional and then
they've got contemporary as though God is moving on up into the
contemporary. Oh, he's he's he's high speed
now. He's got all kinds of little
gadgets and plays and things. You don't need to preach anymore.
That's old. Wait a second. My God says. That is by the foolishness of
preaching, he saves sinners now, either God changed Or you're
not worshiping God. I tell you that they're not worshiping
God. Because God does not change.
He does not change. The God of this world does change.
This God who says he loves all men and will accept man based
on something they may do for him in time, that is not God,
because that God changed. Let's use one attribute or one
distinctive characteristic of God that does not change that
I like to talk about is the love of God. You hear this all the
time, the love of God. God so loved the world. And everybody
who confesses that they believe in God loves to talk about His
love. But do they really love to talk
about immutable love? Unchangeable love? Because that's
the only love that God gives, is immutable love, unchangeable. The love of God does not change. In Jeremiah chapter 31 and verse
3, it says, The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea,
I have loved thee with an everlasting love. An everlasting love. When does an everlasting love
begin? When does God begin to love? Can God begin to love anyone? Is that possible for Him not
to have love and then change and have love? No. You see, God
is always loved. He's always loved. Yet our human nature is still
so foolish. We wake up in the morning, the
sun's shining, everything's going well, we're having a good day,
and we say, Man! I must have done something right!
It's a good day! Whoo! Nice day! And then you wake up the next
morning, it's freezing cold, sub-zero temperatures, you're
out, you're freezing, and it's bitter! The day your plans just
melt in your hands and everything goes wrong, you say, man, what
did I do wrong? You see, you're basing your love,
the love of God, on what you've done or what's happening around
you. No. God doesn't change His love
based on circumstances. We cannot determine the love
of God or the hatred of God based on the circumstances of time.
If you win the lottery, that does not mean God loves you.
If you die of hunger, that does not mean God hates you. Do not base the love of God on
any of the circumstances we face in this life. It's not so. God's love does not change, and
neither does his hatred. God's love and God's hatred are
immutable. They're unchangeable. God is
angry with the wicked every day. God hates the abominations of
men. He hates sin every day. God doesn't change in this. Look
over at Romans chapter 9. See the two men. The scripture says, for the children
of Isaac, being not yet born, neither having done good or evil,
that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not
of works, but of him that calleth. It was said unto her, The elder
shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have
I loved, but Esau have I hated. Now when did God begin to love
Jacob and when did God begin to hate Esau? This, my friends,
was from eternity. This was from eternity. God loved Jacob and hated Esau
before they were born. God did not hate Jacob and then
love him later. God had always chosen Jacob.
God had chosen Jacob before there was Abraham. Before Adam came,
God had loved Jacob, chosen Jacob. Now, both of these men were born
of the same Father, and both of them were born dead in trespasses
and sins. Both men could not please God
by their outward obedience. And neither were worthy of God's
love or mercy. Yet God had set his love upon
Jacob from eternity. And God does not change his love. All of his elect were loved from
eternity. All his elect people were loved
with an unchangeable, everlasting love. His love doesn't change. Second of all, his purpose doesn't
change. His purpose. Now, this is a great
difference between the God of this world and the God that we
serve, our only, the only true and living God, who is our God.
Our God. The great difference about this
immutability is this matter of purpose. It's a matter of purpose. The God of this world has a purpose,
they say. He has a plan for your life. That's the new terminology that
you won't find the way that they say it in Scripture. But God
has a plan for your life if you'll just follow it, if you'll just
go with it. See, the God of this world has
a purpose for your life, but He cannot fulfill His own purpose
unless you are willing. The God of this world desires
and purpose is to save all men. The God of this world has sent
His Son, so they say, to die for sins, but He cannot save
like He purposed if a man resist Him." So in other words, their
God may be thwarted. Their God may have to change
His plans. So when a man dies in his sins
and goes to hell, It was because the purpose of
their God had changed. This is not the living God, this
is not the true God, and that is not the God we worship. We
have no idea who that God is. That is a making of man. That is a lie from the pits of
hell concerning a God whose purpose is to save all men and saves
no one. Our God is the true and living
God because our God does not change in this matter of His
purpose. Go back to Isaiah chapter 55.
Let's do Isaiah 46 first. Isaiah 46 in verse 8. Remember this. And show yourselves,
men, bring it again to mind, O you transgressors, remember
the former things of old. For I am God, and there is none
else. I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end
at the beginning, and from ancient times the things that were not
yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all
my pleasure. Does that sound like anything
like the God of this world? The God of men's imagination,
the God of what men call Christianity today. Does that sound anything
like God? Their God sounds nothing like
that. Our God is exactly like this. Our God does whatsoever
He hath pleased to do. And you know what? He is still
doing whatsoever He hath pleased to do. What he purposed to do
from eternity on this day, tonight, right now, he had purposed from
eternity, and it is happening right now according to his divine
and sovereign will, because it pleased him. That's it. God does whatsoever he hath pleased. And notice this. Go to Isaiah
55. And look at verse 10. Scripture says, For as the rain
cometh down and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither,
but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that
it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall
my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth, it shall not return
to me void, But it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall
prosper in the thing whereunto I sent it." The Word of God is powerful. It does exactly what God determines
for it to do. It's an amazing thing. I have
no idea what you need to hear or what you desire to hear. I
don't take polls. I go to the Word of God. I get
the message from God and I give it to you and it's what you need. Why? Because God says, I will
send my Word out and it will do exactly what I want it to
do. Whether it pierces your heart, whether it rebukes your soul,
Whether it gives you comfort and grace, whether it causes
you to go out worse than you came in, that's God's business. It's not mine. God does whatsoever
He pleases. His Word doesn't come back void. It always accomplishes what He
says it will do. In Jeremiah chapter 29, God says
this to Israel. He says, I know my thoughts for
you. Thoughts to do you good. and not evil. When something bad happens to
us, something evil comes upon us, is that the first thought that
comes into our mind? That God is doing this for my
good. Is that it? That's not me, but
I'm just wondering, maybe one of you have that thought come
in first, because I have a lot of other thoughts that come in
and they're not good. But God says, I know my thoughts
of you. Now, we don't know the thoughts
and intents of God concerning a providence. We don't know what
will happen. But it doesn't matter if we know
what's going to happen, God does. He's already determined it. He's
already purpose. Will he not bring it to pass?
You bet he will, whatever it is, he'll bring it to pass. Our
God says he knows my thoughts to you are to do you good, not
evil. So whatever God's doing, it's not for your evil, it's
for good. God is working all things together for your good. Israel, that time in Jeremiah,
Israel was in captivity and the Lord said, my thoughts is I'll
deliver you. I'll deliver you. Well, even
so, God declares to spiritual Israel, to the elect children,
to those whom He has loved, He has also purposed to save from
captivity and sin. He has promised to do this. He
has purposed to do this. God says, I know my thoughts
that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace and
not evil, to give you a sure end. Don't you like a sure end? I do. I love a sure end. What does that mean? A fixed
end. Where I know what's going to
happen. When the kids watch a movie sometimes, I ask them, did the
ending change? Did it change? Did the bad guy
win this time, or what? Oh, Dad, you know, the guy won. Friends, I know the end of this
story. I know the end of this. It's a sure end. It's a sure
end. God says it. He said that you
may have a sure and expected end. David said, The Lord hath made
with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and what?
Sure. Sure. The covenant that was given to
David concerning his seed, Jesus Christ, the Son of God. That's
the covenant that's sure. You want to know something that's
sure? Jesus Christ and His salvation is sure. That's sure. The eternal covenant of salvation
was made by God in the Trinity of His persons. I'm so glad that God didn't ask
me concerning this covenant. I'm so glad that God did not
depend upon me to perform anything in this covenant, but that he
himself made it so it would be sure, and there would be no variables
in this covenant. The immutable, unchangeable Father
chose in love of people. The immutable Son agreed to be
the surety, redeemer, high priest, mediator and offering for sin
for these people. The immutable Holy Spirit purposed
to call every elect sinner to faith and repentance by regeneration
or resurrection of the soul. Therefore, all God has purposed
to save from eternity shall be saved. in time according to His
immutable will. When God saves us, we keep thinking
about all of the things that could have happened that didn't. Well, man, if I hadn't have been
there at that particular time, or if I had made this turn instead
of that turn, you know, I never would have. You would have. It was sure. Sure, God purposed you to be
there. You were there. You heard the
spirit of God came, quickened your soul. You believed on Christ
and you're still here. That's not by chance, not by
your sheer determination. He's seen those people come in
and they're just so determined, aren't they? Just so determined,
I'm going to be saved. I'm just going to be a Christian.
And then they get in there and they're gritting their teeth
the whole time trying to bear it. Oh, man, how much more of
this can I take? Oh, man, that guy. And pretty
soon they're just gone. They can't take it anymore. Got
to go somewhere else, find some entertainment. That's not God's people. God's
people don't grin and bear it. We receive it with great joy
because God purposed it. And God keeps us in His love. God keeps us in the faith. God purposed to save His people
and He will save them. You and I were captive in sin
and beheld by Satan, bound by the chains of our sin. and could
by our works do no righteousness." We could not make ourselves acceptable
unto God. In Jeremiah chapter 30, it says
this, that you had an incurable wound. We had an incurable wound. We
were born with it. We could not heal ourselves from
sin. And had God not purposed and
said, I will restore you, I will heal you, there'd have been no
hope. There'd have been no hope. But
praise God that He did say that. He said, I will restore you. I will heal you. I will deliver
you. The sins of the elect, like all
men, are incurable by any means of the flesh, and the only hope
is that God do something for us. And I tell you, I declare
to you, that He already has. He already has. He has sent His Son into this
world to accomplish our salvation. To accomplish. Was there anything about the
coming, the life, or the suffering of Christ that was not ordained
of God? What about his life could you
say that was not ordained of God? If you were to look at the
cross and you were to look at those wicked men nailing our
Lord Jesus Christ, I know to the disciples it must have been
a horrific thing. The man that they had fought
would redeem Israel. There He was. He was hanging
on a tree being crucified. And the Romans were sitting there
at the foot of the cross and they were gambling for His cloak. It's like they had a script.
If you were to go back in the Old Testament Scriptures, you
could read it word for word. Let's see, what are we going
to do next, guys? Oh, you're supposed to gamble
for that there. Oh, don't tear that. It says
you're not supposed to tear it. Oh, yeah, we're supposed to say,
hey, He saved others. Himself He cannot save. He calls
on God. Where is His God? That's what
we're supposed to say. See, it says it. They didn't
know that. They were doing exactly what
God had before determined to be done. And Jesus did all the will of
God. He spake all the words of God,
and they by wicked hands purposed to kill him, all the while doing
what God will. And I'll tell you, everything
that happens to us is the same. God purposed everything. If men attack us and kill us,
if we die or we live or we're sick or we're healthy, it is
because of the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of Almighty
God. That's it. This Jesus was always God's purpose,
the purpose of God for salvation of the elect, he was the anointed.
He was the anointed to establish the law, to fulfill it. Why? Why would a righteous, holy Christ
need to fulfill the law? Because we didn't. He must establish
our righteousness. He must establish the law for
us. And He did. Father purposed that Jesus Christ
should be made an offering for sin and that he should bear our
sins in his own body, that he should be made a curse for us
so that we should be made the righteousness of God in him.
That's the will of an immutable, unchangeable God. The scripture says, he shall
see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied. God purposed Christ to be the
sacrifice for sin. And when he died for sin, God
said, that's enough. I'm satisfied. God was satisfied. His immutable
justice was satisfied by the death of Christ and the law was
accomplished by the righteousness of Christ. So then, this is the
will of the immutable God, the Father, that all he gave Christ,
that he should lose nothing and raise it up again at the last
day. Now, I believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. He is all. my salvation. I count my works,
religion, and anything else to be but done that I may win Christ
and be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness which
is of the law, but the righteousness which is by the faith of Jesus
Christ, by the faithfulness of Christ. I believe on Him. He's all my wisdom, righteousness,
and sanctification. How do I know that? Because God
made Him so. 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse
30. He hath made Him to be wisdom,
righteousness, and sanctification. And I declare to you, hope for
sinners. Hope of the forgiveness of sins
and eternal life to all who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, the elect are made up
of sinners. Sinners. I got to hear some preaching
this last week. I enjoyed it. And you know what? One thing
he said stuck with me, he said, people today don't know what
sin is. They don't know what sin is. They don't understand sin. They
compare themselves to one another, and if they're just a little
bit better than the other guy, then that's all they need. And
they don't want to judge anybody, or else themselves will be judged.
And so they make sin this vague thing out there. Well, you know,
Hitler, he was a sinner or somebody is a mass murderer. Maybe they're
sinners, but nobody else. Now, God's people are sinners.
God's people are sinners. God's people have a need of mercy.
And God's revealed that to you. This is the miracle of grace. That we need A Savior. I need a Savior. And I know I found it in Christ. I know I found all my salvation
in the person of Christ. Have you been born again of the
power of the Holy Spirit? Do you believe on Christ? If you believe on Christ, God
has purposed to save you. God has set his love on you from
before eternity. What in the world do we have
to be anxious about? If God, who does not change,
loves you, saved you, redeemed you, called you, keeps you, What does it matter what happens
in this mortal frame? Does it matter? Is it important? The only importance
is that God purposed it, whatever it is. That's the only importance. And the only importance for me
is to bow down and say that I will be done. I will be done. I'm so glad that our God is not
changeable, that I don't have to worry concerning being saved
and then being lost again. I'm so glad that God is holy,
aren't you? Because God, who charged my sins
to my Savior, cannot twice charge them to me. And He won't. How do I know? I am the Lord.
I change not. You sons of Jacob are not consumed. There is therefore now no condemnation to those who
are in Christ Jesus. There is therefore now no condemnation. And there is therefore now no
condemnation. And there is therefore now no
condemnation. And you keep going on and on.
Why? My God doesn't change. His Word
doesn't change. I'm so thankful for God's immutability. So that whatever happens this
year, whether we live, whether we die, whether we become sick,
or whether we gain health, We know this, that our God reigneth. And the scripture says He shall
keep us. He shall keep us until the end. And then all will be well. It
is well with my soul. I'm thankful. I pray the Lord
will bless this to you. A stand will be dismissed in
prayer. Scott, would you dismiss this
brother?