First Samuel 15, I got three
verses of scriptures I want us to look at. That's why I didn't
read anything over here tonight. Three verses of scripture to
look at. The first one's in verse 11.
Well, verse 10 to 11. Then came the word of the Lord
unto Samuel, saying, It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to
be king, For he has turned back from following me, and hath not
performed my commandments. And he grieved Samuel, and he
cried unto the Lord. Now look down at verse 29. This
is Samuel speaking. And also the strength of Israel
will not lie nor repent, for he is not a man that he should
repent. Verse 35. And Samuel came no more to see
Saul until the day of his death. Nevertheless, Samuel mourned
for Saul, and the Lord repented that he had made Saul king over
Israel. You see the difference in verse
11? It repenteth me that I've made
Saul to be king. He's turned back from following
me. Turned back from following me. and then verse 29 it says
also the strength of Israel will not lie nor repent for he is
not a man that he should repent you see the difference in those
two verses this presents a problem to you
one he says he repents that he made Saul king over Israel because
he followed not me and over here it says shall the strength of
Israel lie or repent for he's not man that he should lie or
repent well I'm going to tell you the
way I feel about it I don't have a problem with the Bible I don't
have a problem with the Bible I don't have a problem with God's
Word we may not understand we may not understand it May not
be able to bring it all together. But I believe every bit of it.
I certainly do. And I'll get to the end of this
message and I'll tell you what the difference is and what it
means. But first of all I want to deal with this verse 29. Look
what it says there in verse 29. Also the strength of Israel will
not lie nor repent for he is not a man that he should repent.
Now do you see, what a name, what a title, what a glorious
name for God's strength. And now if you've got a Bible
like mine in the margin, that word strength means eternity
or victory. So because He's eternal, that
means the victory is always going to be His. He's always going
to be victory, He's always from eternity. And I tell you what,
He's the strength of Israel. He's the eternity of Israel.
He's always been eternal. And the victory of Israel comes
from Him. And He will not repent and lie like a man because He's
not a man. He's not a man. And the reason
He will not lie, the reason He will not repent is because He's
immutable. Here's what you have to do with
scriptures. You cannot pit one scripture
against another. You've got to see the whole thing.
And God Himself says He's immutable. He said, I am the God. You sons
of Jacob, fear not, for I am God, and I change not. So did He change from verse 11
to verse 29? He said, I am God. Jesus Christ
is saved today, yesterday, and forever. And our blessed God
has been pleased to make himself known through this book, the
Bible. For all scripture, even scriptures that we don't understand,
that we sometimes can't reconcile, all scripture is given by inspiration
of God. And it's profitable for adoption,
for reproof, for correction and righteousness, for correction
and instruction in righteousness. And not only is God immutable,
but God is Spirit. John 4.24 says this, God is Spirit. God is Spirit. And if we worship Him, we must,
must worship Him in Spirit. Not nothing to do with His flesh.
In spirit, our spirit by His spirit. We must worship Him in
spirit. And oh listen, that's one way
to do it. But you know a lot of folks get all carried away
in the spirit and have a bunch of wildfire going on. But you
not only worship Him in spirit, but you got to worship Him in
truth. Truth. You cannot pick and choose
what we want to believe. And I tell you, what this means
is that He's not like us. He's Spirit. We're flesh. He's
eternal. We're bound by time. And when
we talk about God being Spirit and God being immutable, He's
a person. And just like a person, He has
a nature. God has a nature. God has substance. God has an essence. And when
you talk about His substance and His nature and His essence,
His essence is infinite. Now what does infinite mean?
I don't know. I don't know. I know I'm infinite.
What? Where do you get to infinity?
Where's start at and where's infinity end at? But how do you define infinity? Well, He's infinite. He's infinite. And He's eternal. He's immutable
and He's unchanging. And when we talk about Him being
infinite, we're finite. Oh, how finite we are. Oh, but
He's infinite. That means He's free from the
limits of space. You and I, we can only occupy
one space at a time. I can only occupy the space I'm
standing in right now. But God, God Himself, He's not
limited by space. The heavens of heavens can't
contain Him. And His space, where can you
go where God's not? I just read it to you from the
139th Psalm. Where can you go where God isn't?
Maurice Montgomery's daddy, Hubert, he told his son when he joined
the Air Force, he says, now son, they called him Wayne, we called
him Maurice, but his name was Wayne. And old Hubert told him
this, he says, son, wherever you go, remember, God's there
too. He wanted him to understand that
there's no place he could go that God wasn't there with him,
that God wasn't watching him, that God doesn't do what God
does. And I tell you what, beloved,
He's not limited by space. And He's not in the universe.
They keep talking about galaxies here and galaxies there and another
galaxy out here and another galaxy out there. And they talk about
the universe and black holes where you get in a black hole
and you just keep on, you know, you don't know where you're going
to end up at. God's not in the universe. The
universe is in Him. So when we look at this universe,
what we can see, what we can see, what these men can tell
us about, we see all these pictures coming in from space. They was
always there. And they was there because God
put them there. And they just happened to come
to a place where they can get out there far enough to take
a picture and it takes days to get it back to us. But it's always
been there. And if we see the things that
God's done here, imagine what eternity is going to be like.
Oh my. And not only that, but beloved,
He holds this universe, if I can say it this way, and He holds
creation, and He holds everything in time and space in the palm
of His hand, in the hollow of His hand. See how my hands hollow
right there? That's what He does. He can hold
it all right there in the hollow of His hand. There ain't been in all the nations
ever been. You know what he said? It's a
dust. Just a dust. Not dusts. A dust
on the balance. Did you put dust on the balance
when it changed the weight? No. These nations come and go
and think they got weight. They just dust on the balance.
Oh my. And I tell you, beloved, He's
exalted above all that we could possibly thank or know. We can't thank our God too greatly
or know nothing about Him. And that He's omnipresent because
He's infinite. He is said to fill all and end
all. And it's by Him that we move
and live and have our being and not only us, but everything in
creation that has life, God gives it. God gives it. Not only is He infinite, we're
talking about He cannot lie, He cannot repent. He is eternal. He is eternal. Now what does
that mean? It's infinite, He's not limited
to space. Eternal, He's not limited to time. Oh, we're so bound by time. You
gotta be someplace at a certain time. You look at your watch
and say, oh, good grief, I'm a little bit late. I gotta get,
I gotta get, just rush, rush, rush, rush, rush. But God just
sits on his throne, controls everything and does
everything, and he don't move a muscle. He's eternal. He's not limited
to time. And one of these days, you know
what the Bible says over in Revelation? Time will be no more. Well, what happened there? We'll
wear another watch. Huh? We threw these. I don't know if we had any sense,
we were throwing them away anyway. I got in Ireland one time and
I was looking at my watch and this Irishman said, put that
in your pocket. We don't pay attention to time
over here. And you're just right. They're
so laid back. But Oh, beloved, he's eternal. He's not limited to time. And
let me tell you some things about him. He never began to exist. He never began to exist. And
he will never cease to exist. He is before. He'll be that way into what He
was in eternity. He'll be that way throughout
all eternity. And I tell you what, thou art God forever and
ever and ever. And you know how He loves? He
loves like He is. He's eternal. He said, I love
them with an everlasting or an eternal love. And David said,
before I was formed, before I ever had any substance. He said, you
formed my body. You formed my substance. You
created me. And you gave me all my members. And not only that, but you wrote
them down in a book. Huh? Oh my. Talking about his essence, his
nature, his substance. and also he's eternal and I told
them said this but he is immutable and what that means he's not
subject to infinite he's not subject to space eternal he's
not subject to time immutable he's not subject to change he's
not subject to change I am the Lord you sons of Jacob
Sons of Jacob. You know what, when it says you're
sons of Jacob, the first thing I think of is, Jacob have a lot. You sons of Jacob, Jacob have
a lot. Oh my. You know, he's in beautiful. James 1 18 says this. I thought
about this today. God is light. And in him is no
parables. You know what parables means? Variableness means that you can
vary in a lot of things. When I left the house today,
I told Shirley, I said, I hope nobody feels like I do right
now when I get to the services. I hope nobody feels like I do.
And I hope you don't, because I ain't going to tell you how
I felt. But I'll tell you this, that there's no variableness
with God. We vary. Oh, we vary in our moods. People vary in their daily lives. They vary in the places they
go and the things they do. We vary in so many different
ways. But God doesn't vary one half. He doesn't vary never. And there's no shadow about Him.
No shadow turning. I cast a shadow. Look at that
shadow right there. See that shadow? God can be straight up. He's all everywhere. He don't
cast a shadow. I talk about men who cast a long
shadow. Scott Richardson cast a long
shadow. Brother Henry cast a long shadow. But God don't cast no shadows. Every time you see Him, He's
light. He's full of glory. He's full
of holiness. He's full of grace. He's light. Shining in His glory, shining
in His eminence. And I tell you, look over here
in Numbers 23.19 with me. Let's look at this just a minute.
It's just a moment. Oh my, Numbers 23.19. Look at
this with me. 2319 I think that's what I said. Here
we go again since they said the same thing God is not a man That's
the first thing people need to understand about God. He's not
like us in any way shape form or fashion He's not a man That
he should lie Neither the son of man that he should repent.
I Hath He said, and shall He not do it? Or hath He spoken,
and shall He not make it good? If He spoke something, it's going
to come to pass. If He said something, He's going
to make it good. Oh my. So you see, beloved, He's
beautiful. He's not subject to change. If
He could change, if He could change, one or two things would
be happening. If he could change, he'd either
get worse or he'd get better. Because that's the way we are. How many times? He never changes. He never changes. That's why
he's incapable of lying or repenting. But we are. Oh my goodness, how
changeable we are. We change him. God, if he changes,
he's got to be worse or better. And we change because we're sinful
creatures, mutable creatures. We're mutable physically. Our
bodies changing all the time. I'm not what I was when I was
30 years old. I'm not what I was when I was
50 years old. I'm not what I was when I was
60 years old. And I won't be what I am now
when I get 75. If I live that long. That's what
I'm talking about. We physically change. And mentally,
mentally we change. How many times have you said,
well, I remember where that's at. We lost something the other
day and we looked all over the house for it yesterday and never
did find it. And I told her, I said, I'm going to put this
right up here so we both know where it's at. And you know, you'll think, you'll
start telling a story about something or tell something, you know,
and about halfway through it, your mind just leaves you and
you forget, what was I just talking about? That's, that's mental
healing. And like old Bruce Daly said,
it gets worse. I said, I hope it don't. If it
does, I'm really in trouble. And you are too. Oh my goodness. But we're mutable creatures,
mentally, physically, emotionally. Oh my goodness. Our emotions
are all over. We'll be full of joy one minute,
and an hour and a half later, we can't hardly hold our head
up. Oh my, and so worldly. Oh my,
we could be sitting in a service, having the best service, and
somebody preaching good and all things, your mind goes, whew!
Back to something I need to be doing tomorrow, or something
I forgot to do today. Ain't you glad that He's immutable?
With all of our ups and all of our downs, He never changes.
When we can't hold our head up, He never changes. When we feel
like we're going to fly away, He never changes. When we can't
do nothing but cry, He never changes. When we're laughing,
He never changes. Ain't you grateful of that? Oh
my. And we change our minds all the
time. Oh, we change them all the time. Sometimes it's for
the better, and sometimes it's for the worst. But not him, not
him, never changes his mind. He's not a man that he should
lie and repent. He's immutable in his essence. What do I mean by that? I mean
by immutable in the essence, whatever he was, he is. What he is, he will be. That's what he meant when he
said, I am that I am. Oh, you can worship a God like
that. I mean, you can worship a God
who said, He is what He is. He is what He is. He will be. I am that I am. He's immutable. He's sovereign. And He's omni. You know what
omni means? That means that He's omniscient.
He's all wise. He's omnipotent. He's got all power. He's omnipresent. That means He's everywhere all
the time. And He's just and He's merciful
and He's gracious and He's kind and He's good and He's long-suffering. And whatever attribute he has
as God, regardless of what attribute you talk about, about God, justice,
mercy, grace, love, patience, kindness, anger, Whatever attributes you talk
about is God. They're just like Him. They're
eternal and they're immutable. His attributes never change and
they're eternal as He is. He's immutable in His purpose.
Look at Isaiah 46. He's immutable in His purpose. In Isaiah 46, we've looked at
this so many times that it won't hurt to look at it again. He's
immutable in His purpose. Verse 9, Isaiah 46, 9. Remember
the former things of old. Go back and remember what God's
done, what He's had, what He's done for you. Back and remember
when you was young and how God protected you and preserved you.
For I am God and there is none else. And I am God and there
is none like me. How can you tell He is? He declares
the end from the beginning. And from ancient times, in the
beginning from ancient times, The things that are not yet done
say my counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure. Not
only is he immutable in his purpose, but he's immutable in all the
promises. 2 Corinthians 1, 17, 18 said
all the promises of God are yea and amen. And you know where
they're at? All the promises of God are in
Christ Jesus. And they're all yes. When God
sets a promise, say yes. And then amen is so. He's immutable in His purpose.
So why do we read things like over here in verse 11 and verse
35? It says things like, it repenteth
the Lord that he make him king. Well, we also read that he rides
upon the wings of the wind. And God don't ride on anything.
But God uses language to accommodate us. You notice when it said,
it repents me that I have made Saul king to be over Israel,
because he followeth not me. And what this means is that God,
God who cannot change, man changes towards God. Man in his sinfulness,
man in his depravity, man in his rebellion, he follows not
after me. And God said, he changed towards
me. So I'm going to let him go. I'm
going to let him go. And the first time this word
is used in Genesis 6.6, it says this, God said, It repenteth
me that I have made man upon the earth, because the earth
is full of corruption and wickedness, and the evil of man's mind and
imagination is only evil continually. Now let me ask you some questions.
Do you think God was surprised at Saul being the way he was?
You've got to remember, Everybody looked at Saul and
said, boy, look at that big old tall handsome man. Oh, he's so
tall, he's so big and he's so more helpful than anybody else
in Israel. That's the one we want king. And the first thing
God said was, he said, you've not rejected me. You rejected
my word. And so what he said to start
with, you've already rejected me when you chose this king. And God uses words, and let me
give you a big word for, I've done this before, God uses words
and they're called anthropomorphic. Now Garrett can probably tell
you what that means better than I could. But what anthropomorphic,
he uses language that we can understand Using words that we
can understand to accommodate our puny brains And though he does not lie or
repent Because he's not a man But he uses these words to convey
to us that wherever man's at he will not tolerate sin He will
not tolerate evil He won't tolerate it in me. He won't tolerate it
in you. And here's the thing about it. All God's got to do
is just give up. And that's what it means. Saul,
I'm done with you. No more grace. No more kindness. Nothing for you. And ain't you grateful that God
said that He'll have mercy on whom He'll have mercy. And on
whom He will, He'll have compassion. And I'll tell you this in closing,
if he couldn't repent or change his mind, he would repent of
saving me and change his mind about saving me. All the things that I've said
and all the things that I've done, all the places, all the
things, oh my soul. But he would repent of saving
me But thank God, thank God, thank
God, thank God. He never changes. And the gifts
and calling of God are without repentance. Amen. I'm going to preach from this
again next week, so we'll see what we come up with. But I'll
tell you, I hope that's a blessing to you. Oh, Father, Father, Father, in
the precious, glorious name of Your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, we thank You, bless You, and
praise You that You deal with us as men,
frail men, dust, men just dust, knowing we're frail, and You
use language to Make us to understand a few things. And Lord, what
we don't understand, we'll just wait on You. And You'll make
it clear, You'll make it plain. And if we never get it plain
here, never get it understood here, we'll understand one of
these days, by and by. Thank You for allowing us to
meet here tonight. Thank You for the saints of God. Thank
You for the attention that You blessed them to give me. Thank
You for the presence of the Holy Spirit. We bless you and praise
you in Christ's name. Amen. Amen. There is I know I'm saying this
all the time, but I like it. There is a name I love to hear. I love to sing this word. it sounds like music in my ear
the sweetest name on earth oh how i love jesus oh how i love Oh, how I love Jesus because
He first loved me. Amen.