Let's go in the Scriptures to
the book of Revelation chapter 1. We usually have special music,
but actually the group was going to sing this morning, but their
numbers have been bent out due to sickness. So then Susanna
was going to sing, if they couldn't sing, and she said, so unless
we have a volunteer, no takers. If I had known, I'd
have called you, Brother James. All right, so we'll have to do
without special music this morning. I'm so thankful for our musicians
who faithfully minister to us using the great talents God has
given to them. And thankful for those who not
only play the instruments, but those who sing for us as well
are always a great blessing to us. Let's go to Revelation chapter
1. I have a big subject today. And I confess I'm by no means
going to exhaust this subject, for you cannot exhaust the subject
of our great God. But at least let me skim the
surface, kick up a little dust maybe, as we consider the subject
of the unchanging God. Let me direct your attention
to a couple of verses in Revelation chapter 1. We began studying
in the book of Revelation some number of weeks ago and I remarked
to Nancy this week, you know, I've gotten into chapter 1 and
I can't seem to find my way out of it. It is such a rich chapter
and I believe the Holy Spirit is showing me things that are
there that are a blessing to me and I hope are a blessing
to you. And so today our subject here
in verses 4 and 8 are the unchanging God. In verse 4, John having introduced
the book in the first three verses of this book, and we know that
the book of the Revelation is indeed a revelation. It's an
apocalyptic message of our Lord Jesus. We have already learned
that it is a prophetic book concerning what is going to happen in the
end, and then of course there are statements of things that
have already happened But it is also an epistle. It is a letter. And having introduced the Lord
and briefly the circumstances, the first three verses, John
says in verse 4, John to the seven churches which are in Asia. I do believe these seven churches
are typical of all of the church of God. all of the redeemed of
the Lord, all of those given to Christ Jesus before the world
began in the covenant of grace. And hear the words of our Lord,
grace be unto you. I had a dear lady up in New Jersey
a few weeks ago, I preached on this statement. And she sent
me my fed eggs. What would you call that? Did she? What? Needlework. And that's what it said. And
I appreciated it so much. Grace be unto you. I'm going to get that frame and
put it in the office. Grace be unto you and peace. Wonderful way for the Spirit
of God to tell John to introduce this letter. Grace and peace. Now watch what he says. Where
does this grace and peace come from? Where does it originate? Who said to speak these words?
Whose words are they? For they are the words of that
one which is and which was, and which is to
come. Or as our brother read in Exodus
chapter 3, they come from I Am. The great I Am. And then if you would, drop down
into verse 8. The Lord Jesus says, I am Alpha
and Omega, we'll deal with that a little bit later. The beginning
and the ending, saith the Lord, and here's the same statement
repeated from verse 4. Which is, and which was, and
which is to come, the Almighty, the Son of God, refers to Himself
in the same way as God the Father. The Lord our God sets himself
forth as that one who is today exactly what he was in the past
and he says that today he is the same as he will be in what
we would refer to as the future. In fact, there is no past and
there is no future with God. He is the I am. Everything is always in the present
tense with God. Now by these words we are to
understand the two characteristics or attributes of the Lord which
are very closely connected. The first one would be the eternality
of God and then the immutability of God, that is God is forever
and God is unchanging. You see, God being from everlasting
to everlasting, He must therefore be unchanging and unchangeable. Since He's everlasting, since
He is eternal, He must therefore be unchanging and unchangeable
for This is for certain, eternality will not permit any change in
God who is eternal. He is now all that He has ever
been, and all that He was in the past,
He will be in what we would refer to as our future. The Lord had
this to say. Go back to the last book of the
Old Testament, Matthew, the third chapter. Look in Matthew chapter
3. A very, very powerful statement,
though it is a brief one. He says in Malachi, The last
book of the Old Testament, chapter 3 and verse 6. Malachi 3, 6. The Lord says, for I am the Lord. Literally, I, the Lord. Jehovah. God, our Savior. God who is our
salvation. I, the Lord, I change not. What a definite statement. There's
no room for wiggle here. You can't say, well, God changes
a little bit. No, God says, I change not. God who is our Savior. Savior
from wickedness, Savior from sin, Savior from iniquity, Savior
from transgressions, Savior from the worm, Savior from error,
Savior from the wicked one. I change not. Therefore, and
this is the only reason, ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. You know who the sons of Jacob
are? Really? Us. We're the sons of Jacob. We're
just like Jacob. Go astray. Liars by nature. Cheaters. Crooked. I'm talking about those of us
who are God's people. Those of us who were chosen in
the election of grace. Those of us who were bought with
that tremendous price, the blood of our Savior, we're sons of
Jacob. We're still sinners. Those of
you who are true believers, the Lord Jesus is all of your hope,
He's all of your righteousness, He's all of your salvation. In
yourself, you are still wicked. You're still sinful. You still
go astray. And listen, we would have left
the gospel many, many years ago if the Lord didn't keep us. He's
got to keep a tight rein on us. We're the sons of Jacob. You see, the reason we're still
believing The reason we're still looking to the Lord Jesus, the
reason we still love the gospel of God's free grace, is because
our God doesn't change. He doesn't change. He keeps us. He's always the Lord. He's always
God our Savior to His people. He never ceases to be God our
Savior to sinners who have been made by the Spirit of God to
see their neediness, their filthiness, their unworthiness, and their
great need of a Savior. He will now be what He has always
been to us. And He will, in our future, still
be what He has always been to us, God our Savior. You see, this is an everlasting
salvation. This is a life that will never
end. This is indeed saved by the grace of God. We're once
saved, always saved. or we can't be anything else
but saved because of the One who has saved us, He doesn't
change. He doesn't change in His attitude
toward us. He doesn't change in His grace
toward us. He doesn't change in His love
toward us. He doesn't change. He's always
our Savior. I say to you therefore, oh how
great and glorious must this God be, who is unchanging and unchangeable. Think of it. Nothing reaches
God. Nothing touches God. Nothing
affects God. Nothing moves God. Nothing changes
God. Not at all. Somebody says, yeah, but I tell
you, prayer changes God. No, it doesn't. It changes you. That's what prayer does. You
see, this matter of prayer, it doesn't bring God to us. It brings
us to God. That's what prayer does. It's
got everything to do with His will. Somebody we heard mention last
night said something about somebody
was sick, and so they called all the churches to get their
prayer chains going, irregardless of denomination, irregardless
of belief. Just get the prayer chains going
so we can all... I know the ideal is gang up on
God and get God to heal this man. You can't gang up on God. God will do what He's always
purposed to do. Well, preacher, are you saying
we shouldn't pray? Oh, I'm not saying that at all.
First reason for praying is God tells you to. It's an acknowledgement of your
need of God. It's an acknowledgement of how
much you depend upon the Father. And whatever we ask, we ask according
to His will. We are not asking God to change
His will, for this is for certain, He will not change His will. You see, He cannot. He is the God who does not change. We were at a doctor's office
the other day and I appreciate this physician. This person has
been a very good physician to me and I'm thankful. But the
doctor said, I hope that you'll pray real hard and that 2017
will be a better year than 2016. Would you pray that? I can't change the way things
are. And I don't know why people would
think, well, you've got more power with God. Listen, all of
God's people, we're kings and priests together in Christ Jesus. Things will be in 2017 exactly
the way God has purposed for them to be, just like in 2016. I don't serve a God who changes.
He's not moved by my wishes. God doesn't make any new decisions. God doesn't react to us. We react
to God. God doesn't respond to us. We
respond to God. Our ideas of God are way too
low. I'll tell you that. We think
that we can just move God around and He'll change. Oh Lord, would
You do this? And indeed we do bring our prayer
requests to the Lord. But God is going to do what He
has forever more purpose to do. It's not going to change. It
isn't going to change. I know everything else is changing. But God doesn't change and nothing
changes God. He sits upon His high and lofty
throne. He looks down upon the heavens. He looks down upon the angels.
He looks down upon the sons of men. He looks down upon the fallen
angels. He looks down upon Satan. He
looks down upon the hill itself and He sees everything from the
beginning to the end. He sees it all at once because
He is the eternal God. He has no past and He has no
future. He is always in the present.
Such a God is beyond our comprehension. Such a God is too great for our
our minds to comprehend or to understand Him. We just can't
do it. We believe Him. We rest in Him. We look to this God who changes
not. You see, God controls all things,
but nothing controls God. God affects all things, but nothing
affects God. God moves all things, but nothing
moves God. Satan led a revolt against God,
leading one-third of the angels in rebellion against Him. But God didn't change. He didn't
change. Sin entered into the world. Our
father Adam's sin plunged all of the human race into a state
of awful separation from God. We changed. We changed. God made man upright, but we
sought out many devices. We have changed. We change every
day. God remains the same. Nothing affects Him. Nothing ever rattles Him. You
ever get rattled? Things start happening and you
go, whoa, what's going to happen next? God's not like that. Because that which He purposed
to do is coming to pass. Just as He purposed it. You see,
God alone is unaffected by anybody and He's unaffected by anything.
God alone doesn't change. You see, everything had a beginning
except God. In the beginning, God created
the heaven and the earth. Genesis 1.1. Psalm 104.24 says,
O Lord, how manifold are Thy works! In wisdom Thou hast made
them all. The earth is full of Thy riches.
By the way, if God in wisdom made everything, then absolutely
contrary to what some say, matter is not eternal. He spake. It was done. He said, let there be light.
Light came into being. Go to Psalm 90. Look with me
in Psalm 90. This is the God to be worshipped. This is the God to be reverenced. This is the God to be adored.
Not a God who makes moves dependent upon what His creatures do. That's
a changeable God. That's an idol. Our God's in
the heaven. He hath done whatsoever He has
pleased and whatever He's been pleased to do, that's never changed. Psalm 90. Verse 1, Lord, Thou hast been
our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought
forth, or ever Thou hast formed the earth and the world. Before
You gave birth, and those words brought forth means gave birth. Before the mountains were given
birth, before they came into being, before you ever form the earth
and the world, the universe, even from everlasting to everlasting. Watch it. Thou art God. Not you were God back then, but
you're still the same. You're God now. He's speaking
in the present tense. It's the reason the word art
is in italics. Thou God. You see, there is no
past, there is no future with God. He dwells in a timelessness. You can't figure that out, can
you? No, we can't. It's an impossibility. From everlasting
to everlasting, thou art God. The doctrine of God's eternality
and His immutability is beyond our ability to understand. We stretch our thoughts backward
as far as we can go. We stretch our imagination forward
as far as we can go. But no beginning and no end of
God will ever appear. You see, everything apart from
God was brought into existence by God. Nothing just suddenly
appeared apart from the Lord. He is indeed the first cause
of all things. As we look back through the years
of history, through the years of man's existence, about 6,000
years, we only find one existence that is without beginning, and
that is the existence of God. His nature is unchanging. It's impossible for God to change. He is the infinite, eternal,
and only absolute being. I am that I am. And our Lord
Jesus, He did not hesitate to use those words in referring
to Himself. Seven times in the Gospel of
John, He affirmed His deity by saying, I am. I am the bread
of life. If we would eat, we must eat
this bread. If we would live, we must eat this bread. He said,
I am the light of the world. If we would see, He's got to
give us light. He's got to be our light. He
said, I am the door of the sheep. If we would enter into eternal
life, if we would enter into salvation, we must enter in by
this door. He said, I am the Good Shepherd. If we would be saved, we must
be saved by this Good Shepherd. He said, I am the resurrection
and the life. If we would be partakers of the
spiritual resurrection and an everlasting resurrection, He
who is the resurrection and the life must give us life. He says,
I am. I am. He said, I am the way,
the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by Me. He said, I am the true vine.
So if we would bear fruit unto God, we must be grafted into
this vine. But in each one of those statements
by our Lord Jesus, seven of them, you notice He said, I am, not
I will be. He said, I am. The fact that our Lord used this
to set forth Himself is very significant. He set forth His
deity. He set forth His Godhead. He
was saying, I am the Eternal God. I am Jehovah. After all,
His name Jesus means God who saves. He is the Redeemer. He is the only one who can save. It's no question about we change. Somebody said to me the other
day, you sure are getting white headed. And then somebody pulled out
a picture from years ago when I was standing with Juanita Eccles
and my hair was so dark and my beard was so dark. Well, I'll
tell you what's happened to me. The same thing that's happening
to you. We're changing. We are changing. Everything changes. But not God. Not God. God can't change for the better
because He's perfect. He's always been perfect. He
can't change for the worse because He's holy. And He's always been
holy. God is perfect in His nature. He is the eternal God who is
changeless, changeless. A hymn writer said in his Henry
Light, in his hymn, Abide With Me, change and decay in all around
I see. O thou that changest not. abide with me." That's the one
we need to abide with us. A God that doesn't change. Another hymn writer, Walter Smith,
wrote in his great hymn, Immortal, Invisible, we blossom and flourish
like leaves on the tree. We wither and perish but not
change a thing." God is unchanging in His nature. Number two, God is unchanging
in His attributes. His knowledge of all things is
unchanging. God has never learned anything. There's never any new information
that God gets. His knowledge of all things is
unchanging. Acts 15, 18, known unto God are
all of His works. It's from the beginning of the
world. His authority is unchanging. He's never lost control, never
lost authority, never lost dominion, never stepped down from His throne.
Nobody has ever pushed Him off His throne. He is the Sovereign
today as He was the Sovereign when He spoke everything into
existence and He put everything on the path to the destination
that He ordained. He's the unchanging God. His
power is unchanging. His love and grace are unchanging. God said to Jeremiah, I've loved
thee with an everlasting love, therefore in loving kindness
have I drawn thee. John 12, 1, the Spirit of God
says about the Savior's love for His disciples, having loved
His own which were in the world, He loved them to the end. His love for you will never change,
and you who are God's dear adopted children, Know this, God's attitude
toward you will never waver, it will never change, not in
the least. He loves you as He loves His
Son. That's an unchangeable love.
He's been gracious to you from before the foundation of the
world. In fact, 2 Timothy chapter 1 and verse 9 says grace was
given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. And if God gave
us grace back then, which is still in the now for God, that
grace is still ours in Christ Jesus. And that grace will never
be forfeited. and will never be removed from
us. He who loved us will always love
us, and who has been gracious to us will always be gracious
to us. I heard a preacher one time say
of God's people, when you were in sin and lost before your conversion,
God hated you. But now He's brought you into
the fold and now He loves you. You better go back and listen
to Malachi 3 again. I am the Lord. I change not. If He loved you in old eternity,
He still loves you now. The reason He drew you unto Himself
is the same reason Christ died for your sins. Christ didn't
die for the Lord's people so that God could love us. Christ
didn't die so that God could be gracious to us. It was because
God was gracious to us, He's always been gracious to us, and
He's always loved us that Christ died for us. That's the origin,
you see. The origin of all things is God. God is unchangeable in His attributes. And I'll tell you something else,
God's unchanging in His purpose. Go with me to Ephesians chapter
3. The book of Ephesians chapter
3, God is unchanging in His purpose. Go over it and as you go to Ephesians
3, I'm reminded of a passage in Ecclesiastes 3, to everything
there is a season and a time, to every purpose under the heavens. God purposed everything under
the heavens. But that which God has purposed,
none can change, and He won't change it either. Ephesians chapter
3, for the sake of time, let me read just verses 9, 10, and
11. And to make all men see what
is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the
world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ,
to the intent, to the design, to the purpose that now under
the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known
by the church the manifold wisdom of God according to the eternal
purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord. God's
purpose is an eternal purpose. It's an unchanging purpose. Scripture says in Proverbs 19
and 21, there are many devices in a man's heart, nevertheless
the counsel of the Lord that shall stand. God has put everything into motion. And everything is moving at His
will and at His command. And He is directing everything
to the end that He ordained before the world began. Our great unchangeable
God. You see, God's purpose is like
the law of the Medes and the Persians. It can't be changed
or altered. It can't be changed or altered. You might say of our Lord in
His purpose, but even use the words of Pilate, when they said,
take the sign off from above the Savior's name, the cross
of Jesus. He said, what I have written,
I have written. And God can use those words and
say, what I have written, I have written. And nobody is going
to change it. In Revelation chapter 5, there
is the book sealed with seven seals. It has the fates of all
men. It has the destinies of everything.
It has the whole history of us and of the world. God wrote it. He wrote it on the front and
He wrote it on the back. Perfectly finished it. God's purpose and sealed it with
seven seals. Our Lord Jesus is opening the
seals even now. fulfilling what God has purposed. And God can very well say, what
I have written, I have written. Nothing is going to change. I
tell you what we need to ask God for. Lord, change us. Change us. I need to be brought
into alignment with His redemptive will. I need to know Him. And
here's the thing, I change in so many ways. And so do you. But there's one thing we can't
change about ourselves. We can't change our sinfulness.
You can change your doings. You can change your language.
Change your habits. Change where you're going. Change
what you're doing. Can an Ethiopian change his skin? That's what Jeremiah asked. Can
a leopard change his spots? Neither can you who do evil do
good. We need God to change us. Oh,
unchanging God, change me. What kind of change has to be
wrought to bring you from death to life? That's the change that's got
to be wrought. Nobody else can work that change but God. And you know what He does? You
know what He uses in this great change? His gospel, which never
changes. His gospel doesn't change. That's
why in Revelation 14, 6 it's called the everlasting gospel. It has never changed. I know
there's a certain reference Bible. It will tell you, and somewhere
in the book of Revelation, I forget exactly now where the note is,
like six different gospels. Don't pay attention to that.
There's just one gospel, unchanging gospel of the unchanging God
about the unchanging Savior. And God's unchanging way of saving
sinners by His grace through substitution and satisfaction. That's unchanging. How was Adam
and Eve saved? By substitution and satisfaction. Read the article in the bulletin.
Don't read it now. Read it a little later. In order for them to be robed,
there had to be death. That's the gospel. God said in
the day you eat thereof, you'll surely die. They died spiritually,
but they didn't drop dead physically. Why not? Did God change His ways? Change His mind? Say, well, I
won't require death. Oh no, He didn't change. He got
death. It was the death of substitutes.
The animals died and our shivering, quivering, nervous, fearful,
worried, anxious parents stood there and watched God Almighty
draw blood. The blood of innocent animals.
Salvation by substitution. Salvation by satisfying His law
that demanded death for sin. The Gospel hasn't changed. And in that sense, we haven't
changed because we still need the Gospel. We need it as much
as Adam and Eve did. God saved sinners the same way,
by one who has an unchangeable priesthood. Well, it says in
Hebrews chapter 7, see all those priests, Aaron and his boys,
and then the high priest going right down the line, They changed. They lived and they died. They
changed. But this man, Christ Jesus, He's
got an unchangeable priesthood. Offered the sacrifice to God
that put away our sins. Faithfully represents us. And
you know what? He's the same. Jesus Christ the
same yesterday, today, forever. You say, oh preacher, wait, He
did change. Really? Oh yes, He changed when
He was made man. No, God wasn't made man. God remained God overall, blessed
forever. He joined Himself to humanity. God didn't become a man. with a slip of the tongue, say
that God became a man. But God didn't become a man.
God joined Himself to humanity. Great is the mystery of godliness. God manifests in the flesh. The Son of God remained exactly
who He was before He ever came down here. He never changed. He never ceased to be all that
He was, the Eternal God, the Great I Am. What He did, He took
unto Himself our nature. Joined together. Forever joined together. But
when He was on this earth, He was still the Eternal God. That's
why He said, I am the resurrection and the life. I am the Good Shepherd. I am the Bread of Life. Over
and over, I am, I am, I am. He didn't cease to be all that
He was before. This gospel doesn't change. Let
me give you a few things here by way of closing. I'll tell
you this, this immutability of God presents a solid ground of
comfort to the people of God that He'll never leave us and
He'll never forsake us. Listen to what the Lord said. Maybe I'm speaking to some of
the Lord's people who are, your spirits are low or for whatever
reason you're kind of down. This is what the Lord says in
Isaiah 54 and verse 10, for the mountains shall depart, the hills
shall be removed, but my kindness shall not depart from thee. neither
shall the covenant of my peace be removed, said the Lord that
hath mercy on thee." God's attitude toward you will never change.
And I'll tell you this, to those of you who don't know the Lord,
this matter of the unchangeableness of God ought to strike fear in
your hearts because His threats will never change. You die without
Jesus Christ, you're going to perish in your sins. That's not
going to change. Our Lord Jesus said, if you die
in your sins where I am, you can't come. You're not coming. And that's never going to change.
Anybody who dies in their sins, oh, they were a good person,
they tried to live by the golden rule, you die in your sins, you
go into hell. You're going to perish. And I
don't strike fear in your heart. Oh, I don't want to perish. I don't want to face God in my
sins. Hey, me neither! That's the reason
I fled for refuge to Jesus Christ for my soul. And that's what
I want you to do. Oh, Spirit of grace, take hold
of our hearts and draw us to the blessed Savior to see in
Him all we need for this life and more importantly, all we
need to get us through eternity. I tell you, in Him we're accepted. In Him, through His death, we're
made the righteousness of God. It's His death that puts sins
away. And this matter of the unchangeableness
of God, it's a great encouragement to the Lord's erring people.
Sometimes we get infatuated with the world like the people in
the church of Ephesus. In Revelation chapter 2, the
Lord says, I've got something against you, you love, grown
cold. Let me tell you something. Children
of God, listen. God has never left being. He's
never stopped being who He always is. You're the problem. Come back to Him. Come back to
Him. Oh Lord, draw us. We'll be drawn. Keep us ever looking to Jesus,
the author and the finisher of our faith. And therefore we sing
glory to His name. That's our final hymn this morning,
489.