I don't think if I were to ask the question, does everybody believe that this
is the Word of God, that we'd have much disagreement. This
is the Word of God, right? And I don't think that if I would
say that if this is the word of God, then whatever is revealed
in here, or stated in here, declared in here, is the words of God. I don't
think we'd get much disagreement on that, right? Well, there is some people that
would disagree, but not among us here, I don't think. membership
of the church. However, if this is the word
of God, and it is the words of God revealing things about himself
and about his work among his creation, then the words of God cannot be removed
from or dissected from, I guess, the nature of God, right? If
these are the words of God, then whatever God says, then we know
it to be true because God said it. So if God claims to be a God
that cannot lie, then we know that God cannot lie. If God says
that He is a God that will not let wickedness go by, and that
every bit of sin will be punished, then we know God is not lying
about that, right? God is going to do exactly what
God said He was going to do. Now, some will say, well, that's
not true because you guys preach that God forgives sin. So there,
God didn't punish that person for sin. But see, that's where
the misunderstanding comes from. That's the ignorance of the gospel. They are ignorant of the gospel
because they are ignorant of righteousness. The Bible says
that they are ignorant of righteousness and they go about trying to establish
their own righteousness. They're trying to make a righteousness
for themselves, and so they view that righteousness has to be
in what they do, so it's either righteousness in me or judgment
in me, one or the other, okay? And so if I'm good enough, I'm
gonna get righteousness. If I'm bad enough, I'm gonna
get justice, and that's all they see. And however, they're ignorant
of the whole doctrine and revelation of Christ's substitutionary work. See, Christ was a substitute
for His people. Christ stood as a surety, as
an advocate, as a go-between between God and man. And on His
people that God had given Him in the everlasting covenant,
Christ stood as that surety. And therefore, the sin that every
one of those elect children commit, and will ever commit, was put
to the account and laid upon Christ Jesus and he became sin
for them and that death that he died was the punishment for
their sin. So that sin was judged. God didn't
wink at that sin. God didn't turn a blind eye to
that sin. God didn't just let that sin
go. Okay, sweep it under the rug. No, God punished that sin. So every sin of every human being
that has ever been will be punished. It's either going to be punished
in the individual or in the person for whom Christ died. If Christ
died for your sin, then your sin has been paid for. God's
justice fell upon Christ. So see, God didn't lie. God doesn't
lie. Even though some are forgiven,
some are counted as righteous even though they're sinful. Their
substitute is the one who took their place. So because He is
their substitute, they died. They suffered the wrath of God.
They paid their debt because the surety was standing in their
place, as for me. So, if we see the Bible states these
things that are true about God, then we need to take another
look at things sometimes whenever they don't seem to line up, right? And a lot of times people look
at certain verses in Scripture, and I know this is very similar
to something I preached just not long ago, but I want to look
at this from another vantage point, especially from a discussion
that seems to make its rounds around the circles and everything
quite often. And a lot of times is put forth
whenever we preach and teach the absolute sovereignty of God
and the absolute predestination that God has made, we get accusations
of, well, what about this verse? Well, what about this verse?
Well, what about this verse? And so sometimes, you know, it's
good for us to look at those verses because they are in the
Bible and they are God's Word and we need to find out. What
are they saying? Because if the Bible says this
and then it says something to this and it's contrary, then
we know that there is no variableness, there is no contradiction in
God's word because it's God's words. Okay? And God doesn't lie. I hope we'll
see that here in a little bit, but God doesn't lie, so if God
said it here and then said something that seems contrary over here,
then we need to look and pray that God would give us understanding
because obviously the ignorance is on our part. We're not seeing
the meaning of something. We're not seeing the application
of it. We're not seeing it from the right vantage point, okay?
And so what I'd like us to look at today is a couple of things
that I think is very important for us to understand about God,
especially, and listen, You don't know how far and in so many directions
that this can be taken. There are so many things that
this one particular truth and doctrine of scripture can be
applied to. But specifically this morning
I wanted to force just to focus on its surface level doctrine
of what it teaches about God in this one particular area And
then maybe if I have time at the end, I might kind of give
you an idea on how that can be connected with so many other
things. But in Malachi chapter 3 and verse 6, we read a statement
that God makes about Himself. It says, For I am the Lord. And
if you'll notice there, the word Lord is in all capitals. So in
your King James Bible, one of the ways the King James translators
put forth the Greek and Hebrew, or in this case, the Hebrew translation,
or the Hebrew words, so that we know the difference between
God, as in speaking of Jehovah as His proper name, Yahweh, Jehovah,
and that whenever it was speaking of the Lord Jesus. Son of God,
okay? So we see the word Lord in all
capitals and that is where it refers to God in His fullness
and His triunity. It speaks of God in His proper name. So we know here
that this is speaking of all that God is. He says, for I am
the Lord, I change not. Now, just a side track. Just
because I made that distinction between LORD, all caps, and LORD
with lower caps and everything, that doesn't mean that there's
a difference between God in His fullness and all His deal in
Jesus. Because Jesus is the fullness of that Godhead. Okay? So whenever we're talking about
the Lord, we're talking about the Lord proper. And then whenever
you see the word LORD, it's in reference to Him as the God-man. Okay? So we see here this is
talking about the Lord proper. For I am the Lord, I change not. Now that's absolutely clear.
There's no gray area here, I don't think. He says, I change not. I am the
Lord and I change not. I don't change. whether it's I don't change my
mind, I don't change my thoughts, or whether it's I don't change
my actions. Now, I'm going to explain that
here in a minute, because you'll see that God changes His actions,
so to speak, we think. But I don't change my course,
I don't change my feelings, I don't change my emotions or anything
like that, because God is the I am. That's why I believe the
Lord gave us that word, Lord, there. He is talking about His
proper name. I am that I am. I am Jehovah. I am Yahweh. I am the God that
is, that has been, that is, that is to be. I will always be. I do not change from age to age
to age. I'm still the same. There is
no change in God. Whether it is in His purpose,
whether it is in His decree, whether it is in His providence,
God is doing exactly according to His will, and that is not
being changed because of men's thoughts, men's actions, men's
rejections, men's sinfulness, men's destruction. Whatever the
case might be, that does not hinder the course that God makes.
And I know a lot of people say, well, yeah, God has a course
and a purpose set, and He's reached that point. But a lot of things
come in and God has to kind of move and work and change everything
and move everything so that it will turn around and work back
into the flow of that purpose because we know eventually that
purpose is going to come to fruition. It's just that there's a scrambling
as it gets there. And God is the one who is sovereign
and he controls all the scrambling so that it will all form back
into the line to get to where he's wanting to go. See, that's
a God that is reacting to chaos and having to be affected by
every action, every thought, every deed of man that's going
opposite of His will and then reconforming that back into His
will so that His will will be done in the end. See, that's
not how the Bible reveals our God. He said, I'm in the heavens
and I do all my pleasure. I do what I want to do. I've
declared the end from the beginning and all things that are not yet
done." He said, as I have thought, that shall I do. I shall bring
it to pass. So God is not reacting to the
things of this world. So whenever somebody does something
so grievous and God comes and at one time was giving kindness,
now He brings judgment upon somebody. That isn't God changing his mind.
Well, I was kind to this man, now I'm not kind to this man. It's not God changing his mind.
God is continuing out his purpose. He had a purpose in giving kindness
for a while, and then he brought it to a point and brought justice
upon that, or brought that person to a place of reaping what they
sowed. But let's look what he says there.
He says, I am the Lord, I change not, therefore you sons of Jacob
are not consumed. And in the context of this especially,
is we already seen in the first chapter that God has shown that
he has elected a people for himself that he has loved. And he has
loved them from an everlasting love. And that in that love,
they are no different than the one that he rejected because
they are just as sinful They are just as idolatrous as Esau's
clan. There is no difference between
Israel and Esau. There is no difference between
Jacob and Esau at all. But God's choice, God chose Jacob
and he rejected Esau. So Esau doesn't have anything
to complain about. Esau is Esau. He's his own person. And Jacob doesn't have anything
to boast about because Jacob is just as bad as Esau. But God
chose to love Jacob and not Esau. And so God here is saying here,
listen, because I do not change, my love doesn't change for you,
Jacob. You are not consumed because
if my love did change, Your sinfulness would surely cause me to come
against you, but I have chosen not to come against you and to
reject you, but to keep you and sustain you and redeem you, and
therefore I do not change. So God does not change. So we
have that principle of scripture, and I think that's a principle
that we need to firmly stand on. is that God has revealed
Himself as a God that does not change. So if there's anything
in the Bible that speaks of God changing or looks like God is
changing, we've got to figure out, we've got to pray for understanding,
for revelation from God that He would help us to know what
does that mean then. Look if you would with me back
to Numbers chapter 23. Numbers chapter 23. Look at verse 19. God once again reveals himself
this way to us. He said, God is not a man that
he should lie. Okay? God is not a man that he
should lie. Now that doesn't mean that God
hasn't taken on manhood. Doesn't mean that God hasn't
taken on flesh. Doesn't mean that God doesn't
have a body. We know that the Lord Jesus inhabits
a body. There was a body that was prepared
for Him for His earthly ministry to die in. But we know that before
the foundation of the world and after His resurrection, He had
that glory before. Whenever He was with the Father,
that's John chapter 1, He had that glory before. And then after
His resurrection and His ascension to the Father, He, as He prayed
in John 17, restore me back to the glory that I had with you
before. And so He went back to that glory. He's talking about
that glorious body that Isaiah saw in Isaiah 6. That glorious
body that the disciples saw, that transfiguration, that glorious
body that John saw in the Isle of Patmos. He saw that glorious
body that Jesus inhabits now. God's still in flesh. Christ
Jesus is the Godhead manifested bodily. And brethren, anytime
we see throughout Scripture Him walking, talking, relating to
people in the flesh, that's Christ Jesus. That's Him. And so we
see here, He says, God is not a man. And so that doesn't mean
that He's never taken on a body. He's just saying, I am not like
sinful man. I am not like Adamic man. that
I should lie. As a matter of fact, the Bible
says that he was made likened to his brethren, but he was separate
from sinners. He was made likened to us, but
he was still separate from sinners, without sin. And so he didn't
have sin. So just because he was a man
doesn't mean he was a sinful man. And here he's saying God
is not a man that he should lie, neither the Son of Man that he
should Repent. Now that word repent means to
change your mind, or to have variableness, or to be fickle. That's what the word repent means. It means to have a change of
heart, to have a change of action. And necessarily in this Hebrew
text, it can even mean to be fickle. I choose this today,
then tomorrow I change my mind, choose this, then I choose this.
But we all know what fickle means. Someone says, well, man, that
guy's fickle. Yesterday he liked this, but
now today he likes this. That's what that word means.
And God says that I do not lie and there is nothing in me that
I should repent. I don't change my mind. I don't
go back and have changes of thoughts. I don't have different fickleness
within what I do. So, there's two verses right
there that we looked at that God is very adamant. I do not
change. I do not lie. I do not repent. Those are things that we know
that God specifically says that He is. He's not a liar. He's
not a changer. And He's not a repenter. In His
character, We're talking about God's character, right? That's
what we're talking about here. God's character is not a liar,
it's not one who has variableness, and it is not one that is a repenter. Now, again, this is where I can
say this can go off in several different directions because
if God is not a repenter, then that means exactly as we believe,
God's declaration from the foundation of the world does stand sure
to every generation because if God declares something and there
is no variableness in God, then that means it can't splinter
out into a thousand different realities. You know, a lot of
us guys, we like to watch the Marvel shows and we watch the
one about the TVA and we see all these different little timelines
coming out because one person did this and the sacred timeline
and everything and everything shoots out and all that kind
of stuff. Actually, that's not biblical whatsoever, for one.
But this right here is exactly what we're seeing with God. We're
seeing that God has a declaration, if you would, a sacred timeline
of His own that is what He has chosen. And there is no branches. There is no deviation. There
is no other realities that are out there. You hear all that
on TV, people talking about there's these alternate universes, the
alternate realities and things like that. If there's anything
like that, it's not been revealed to us in Scripture, so we can't
say that that's true. Just because science falsely
says that, we can't say that because we don't have that proof.
God's timeline, God's choice, God's declaration of all things,
the end from the beginning, is one continuous timeline that
doesn't deviate, it doesn't curve, it doesn't splinter. It isn't
a forked tree. So remember that, guys, whenever
you're watching these shows, to be able to distinguish between
truth and error. He says, God is not a man that he should lie,
neither the Son of Man that he should repent. Have he said and
shall he not do it? Have he spoken and shall he not
make it good? So there is no lying or repenting. Another verse I think about is
in James. This is a pretty familiar verse
I think to all of us. James chapter 1, verse 17. This is every good gift and every
perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of
lights with whom is no variableness. Now there's that word that I
used a while ago. That's what that word repent meant. That
word repent meant the same as variableness. Variableness neither
shadow of turning. word for repent right there.
That word variable is in the Greek. Whenever I looked that
up and seen other places in Scripture where that word is used, it means
variation, it means change, it means fickleness. Okay? So, God has claimed here that
there is no shadow of variation, there's no shadow of fickleness,
there's no shadow of changing. Now brethren, there is three
witnesses in the mouth of two or three witnesses of the thing
established, that God has clearly said, I am God, I change not,
I lie not, I repent not, I do not have any variableness, no
shadow of turning, there is nothing in me that is deviating from
my cause, from my will from my declaration. And because I have
declared myself as the I am, because I am the I am, which
means I cannot be changed from outward influence. Outward influences
cannot change me because I change not. My nature is unchangeable. I can't be changed. My mind can't
be changed. My thoughts cannot be changed.
My actions will not change. Now to you, they may look like
they change. There's the rub. There's where
the ignorance comes in on our part. When we read certain things
in the scripture that seems to make it look like God changes,
we have to take the clear passage of scripture which says God does
not change. It doesn't say God might not
change or sometimes changes not. It says God does not change. And if God has decreed something
to take place, and then over here, something else happens
that changes than what God said here, and we're going to see
a good example of that here in just a minute, then the ignorance is on our
part of not realizing that God has said this for a purpose between
here and here, and then at this point, God's purpose was for
this to happen all along. I'll give you a short example
before we get into the long examples. Adam and Eve. God told Adam,
there's a tree. There's all the other trees.
From this tree, you're not to eat. In the day thou eatest thereof,
thou shalt surely die. He didn't say if. I've mentioned
that lots of times. I want to make that clear. God
never said if you eat of that tree as if there was a choice
for Adam and Eve to eat or not to eat or to make some sort of
a will decision. He said, in the day thou eatest
thereof. So he basically was saying that
there is a day that I have set that you will eat of this tree
and in that day you will surely die. And so God gave him that tree
and told him to eat. And now to some people they would
look at that and say, if. So if God, God had planned on
them to live forever, God had planned on them to be perfect
forever. God had planned on them to be
the image of Christ, the God in the man, to show what God
was like. But then Adam sinned. Now God,
His plan has to change. And now He does things a different
way. Now He's got to get God back in the man. Now He's got
to do Redemption for man. Now he's got to do this because
his plan changed. Now his plan is still going to
get to the end where he purposed from the beginning. But he had
to make a swing out and make a change and bring it back into
play. And that's why I always say it's kind of like God being
a goalie. Here are all these balls coming at him from every
direction. And he's just knocking them back
into play, getting them back into line. God doesn't do that. Adam's fall into sin was purposed
by God. It wasn't, but there was a time
period that God had chosen for Adam to be who Adam was and do
what Adam did until he got to the point where Adam did what
he did because God had a purpose in what was going to go forth
from the time Adam did what he did on forward. And God didn't
change his mind and say, oh, I meant for you to live in this
luscious garden and be given eternal life and be the representative
of who I am. to people so they can see me,
and now we've got to do it this way. Okay? God didn't change. What changed? Absolutely nothing. But from
our perspective, man changed, therefore God reacted and did
something. From our perspective, that's
what it is. Adam sinned, And in Adam's sin, God changed the
course of everything by cursing the earth, cursing man, and now
all the things that are going to transpire from there to the
cross, and Christ is going to die for it and then make all
things new. So to us, there was a change
from our vantage point. But if we look at Scripture,
we find out that it was by the determinant knowledge of God
that Christ would be taken by a wicked hand. Well, how could
that be if there was no wickedness to begin with? So obviously if
God, before the foundation of the world, before anybody had
done any good or evil, before anything was ever created, there
was a determination for Christ to be a substitutionary Dyer
for those who were sinful, then there had to be sin. And God
says in His Word that He had determined that sin would come
in by one man. That would be Adam. Because He
told him in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
And so Adam brought in sin just as God had ordained for him to
do. Adam sinned. But God had ordained it to be
such. Now let me tell you, is there any possibility that God's
purpose was ever going to change? Is there any way that God was
going to be deterred by not providentially bringing that about? How did
that happen? How did Eve become deceived?
Because the Bible said that Adam wasn't deceived, but Eve was
deceived. So how was Eve deceived to eat? Doesn't the Bible say
that God has made the deceiver and the deceived? They're both
His. Doesn't God say that He sends a strong delusion to believe
a lie? So how is it that Eve, in her
deceptiveness, was deceived? It had to have been that God
sent her a strong delusion to believe a lie. It had to be because
God hardened her heart. It had to be because she believed
the deceiver. She was deceived, God had made
her with a nature that could be deceived. Is that not what
James says? That our sinfulness comes that
whenever our lust gives way and then it gives way to that lust
and we give in to that lust, we are deceived by that lust,
we think that we can indulge in that lust and it's gonna be
better for us. It becomes sin. And sin, whenever
it comes in, brings forth death. That's exactly what happened.
So that right there was God's purpose from all eternity for
that to happen, but it looked like something changed with God
that God had to redirect and do something different. But He
didn't. That was all His purpose all
along. And that's revealed in other places in Scripture. Maybe
not right there in Genesis exactly, but as it goes through Scripture,
we see that God had a purpose in all of this. Look if you would, one more place.
Now that was James, right? We looked at James. Let's look
at Job. Job 23 and look at verse 13. Speaking of God again. But He
is in one mind, and who can turn Him? And what His soul desireth,
even that He doeth. For He performeth the thing that
is appointed for Me. And many such things are with
Him. He performed the thing that is appointed for me. But whatever
it was that was appointed for God, I mean for Job, it was God
who not only had desired it, He brought it about. Now we know
that's to be true. Now some will say, well no, that's
not true. Job brought that on himself by
all his sinfulness. That's what Job's friend said,
right? Some will say, no, that was Satan that did that. God
didn't do that. That was Satan that did that.
Well, yeah, Satan was the direct agent that God used to do that.
But God is the one who called Satan forth and said, have you
considered my servant Job? God was the one who called Satan
forth and said, have you considered my servant Job? And then he told
him, he said, you can go and you can Take away everything
that he has and everything he is. You just can't take his life.
You can do everything. God's the one who did that. And then
whenever all that happened, Job said, the Lord has taken away. The Lord has given and the Lord
has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
Job is the one who said that God did this to me. And the Bible
then says that in that declaration that Job made, that this was
God who was doing this to him, that Job did not lie. That Job
did not sin in making that accusation to God. And there are some people
who want to say that we are heretics, that we are blasphemous, that
we are heretics, and that we are unregenerate, or whatever
the case might be. Because we accuse God of doing
something that would look to be sinful or evil. Or are you? But here, God afflicted Job,
killed all of his family, except for his wife, killed all of his
animals, took away all of his wealth, took away all of his
health, giving boils from the top of his head to the bottom
of his feet. He was covered in boils. like big old giant pussy cysts
on your arms and painted all over your body full of pus. And
so Joe had all this all over his whole entire body. And the
Bible says that he was taking clay pots and was scraping himself
and covering himself in dust and ash and all this kind of
stuff. He said that God did that to him. And God said that he
did not sin in making that accusation that it was God who did that
to him. It was God who afflicted him. David prayed the same thing. David knew that it was the Lord
who had afflicted him. Was it David who sinned? Yes,
but who was it that afflicted him? It was God. Was it Job who
was a sinful man? Yes, Job was a sinful man just
like the rest of us. But there was no particular sin
or amounts of sin that Job had done that caused God to do that
to Job. God had purpose to do that and
to bring Job for that for Job's coming to see and know the Father
better and to also show forth that God's faith cannot be destroyed. Whenever he gives faith to a
child of God, that faith cannot be utterly destroyed. It was
to sustain them. As Job's faith was to sustain
him through all his friends' accusations, He knew that God
wasn't doing this for this purpose. He knew if I can get in front
of God and plead my case, I know that God is not doing this because
of what you guys are saying. You wretched counselors. Aren't we wretched counselors
once in a while to each other? Have you ever thought God might
be doing that to you because of this or that? So Job didn't
sin in any of that. But yet we're accused that if
we say that God brought forth As it says right here, for he performeth the thing that
is appointed for me. He says that God is in one mind
and who can turn him? Just a side note on that, a lot
of Reformed people believe in this thing called the two wills
of God. There is the permissive will of God and there is the The prescriptive will of God.
There is the hidden will and the open will of God, or the
revealed will of God. Okay? And that there is two wills
in God. That's because they think that
you can keep this Bible right here. They think that God has
given His will, and that this is for us to live by, and we
keep that, and if we don't, then we're out of God's will. This
right here is not for us to live by, it's for us to learn by. It's to learn our inability,
it's to learn our depravity before God, our sinfulness, our wickedness
before God, so that we in faith would look to Christ and trust
in Christ for what He has done. Not to look to this and what
I need to do to get busy, so that I can be made righteous
before God. So there is no two wills in God. There's only one
will in God, because he says it right here. He is in one mind,
and who can turn him? So that tells me not only does
God have one will, not two, he has one will, but it also says
that God is in one mind. That means he doesn't change
his mind. He doesn't have two minds to say, well, okay, I like
that, but whatever over here, you know. He doesn't change. That goes along with what he's
been saying. He doesn't change. And who can turn him? So that
means that there is no outside force or emotion or any activity
outside of God that can cause God to turn or deviate from his
purpose. Because he said, what his soul
desireth, even that he doeth. If God desireth something, that's
what he does. And no one can change him. There
is no variables, and there is no turning back from it. If he
has set his face to do something, he's going to do it. Remember
the Bible said Jesus set his face like a flint and headed
to Calvary? Listen, there wasn't nothing going to deter him. Even
whenever he came into the Gethsemane, as mysterious as that night was
of him praying to his Father, and the sweat drops coming out
of him, he was so anguished and soul about what was about to
take place, Listen, that was not going to ever deviate him
from the purpose that he came to do. He had an hour that was
set for him and to that hour he would come. He would come.
And he did come. And he fulfilled all that was
given to him to do. And so there was no deviation
in him no matter what there is. Listen, facing the eternal wrath
of God hanging on a cross is quite a deterrent But yet Christ
was not deterred. Becoming sin, the holy God of
the universe, becoming sin on our behalf did not deter Him. For the love that was set before
Him, He endured the cross, despising its shame, but yet He endured
it. Why? Right here. For He performeth
the things that are appointed for Me. Because His soul desired
it. He is of one mind and no one
can turn Him. That was God's purpose from the
foundation of the world. Adam and Eve did not deter Him.
Satan did not deter Him. All the wickedness of all of
the world, heathen world, that came against Noah, and Noah crying
out for all those years that destruction was coming, and they
didn't turn, and so God destroyed them. That didn't change God's
mind. God determined to do that from the very foundation of the
world, that there would come a time that man's sin would fill
up, and once that measure of sin was filled up, there would
come a judgment that God would show forth to mankind, and He
did. So we see all these things. So
there's four things here that we just looked at that told us
without any, without any ambiguity, that God does not change. So brethren, whenever we look
in Genesis chapter 6 and verse 6, the very thing that we were talking
about just now, about Noah, after Noah had been preaching, In Genesis chapter 6 it says,
And it repented the Lord that He made man on the earth, and
it grieved Him at His heart. And the Lord said, I will destroy
man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man
and beast, and the creeping thing and the fowls of the air. For
it repented Me that I have made them. So now when we look at
that verse right there, someone's going to say, aha, the Bible
is contradicting itself because you just read some verses that
says God does not repent. And here, God is saying to Noah
that it repented me that I have made man. It repented me that I have made
man, that I am grieved at his heart. Brother, let me tell you, God
is grieved at seeing all the time. Not just whenever it comes
to a boil, God is grieved at sin all the time. So God is revealing
the fact that He is grieved at sin. He hates sin. And He is grieved at it. He doesn't like it. And He is
going to destroy and punish it. But it says here that He repented.
So we have to look at this now and interpret this verse in light
of the clear verses that we just read, especially whenever there
is a multitude of verses that not only use the word repent,
but other verses as in variables, as in changing, as in I have
not lied. He is of one mind and who can
turn him? It would seem here that God is
like, all right, I'm going to let history continue on. But
all of a sudden, evil got so bad, it's like, well, that's
it, I'm done. I've had enough. I'm gonna turn
this booger around. I'm gonna turn this, no pun intended,
I'm gonna turn this ship around. And so he destroyed everybody
except Noah and his family. But we can't say that because
God doesn't change. God doesn't get turned. God doesn't
have variableness. His purpose continues on and
He carries out what is His pleasure. So when we look at this we must
say, well obviously then this is meaning from our perspective
that there is a point in which God had determined for man to
fill up that sin and at that point God's determinative providence
was that man would reach this point and then at this point
He would exercise judgment upon the world And so he repented
or he turned from having patience upon these people to having judgment
upon these people. Just as with mankind now, all
the reprobates of this world is not getting away with sin.
There is a patience of God that he is patiently letting these
things take place for his purpose. The wrathful reprobate has a
purpose in God's determination and decree and God's plan and
His will. They have that and that he is
patient with their sin, not overlooking it, not sweeping it under the
rug, but reserving it until the day of judgment. And then at
the point of that day of judgment, all the wrath of God will be
poured out for every one of those sins. There will be nothing that
will be left undone. But God has appointed those times
for those things to happen. And here we see, just as with
Israel, there was an appointed time that God had made that Israel
would be judged, that Israel would be destroyed, that the
new covenant would come in and replace the old covenant, that
this age now that we live in of grace would take over where
the age of the law and the prophets was. And so God didn't change. It's just that he had an appointed
time for that. And just like with those people of Israel,
God said that they had a measure to fill up. They had a measure
of sin to fill up. And that once that measure of
sin was filled up, God brought in the judgment that he had already
purposed from the foundation of the world to draw out on them.
God didn't change anything. They didn't just get so wicked
that God said, I'm done with it. I'm going to come down now.
No, He had an appointed time because He had an appointed purpose
or a designated purpose in all these things. So whenever we
look at this here, we see that God didn't change His mind. God
didn't change His actions. God didn't have to alter His
purpose or anything like that. But from man's perspective, God,
who had been patient and not judgmental on the people that
was wicked up until that time, came to the point where he dealt
out the judgment that was due to them. And he gave them that
judgment. He said, And the Lord said, I
will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the
earth, both man and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls
of the air. For it repented me that I have made them. But see, here's the reason that
God did this also. It's because this is a picture
of Christ and salvation. Noah was just as wicked as everybody
else that perished on the face of the earth. He had just as
much iniquity in him as any of those people that died in that
flood. The only difference was, look at verse 9, or verse 8,
but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. See, God had grace
upon Noah. Noah deserved to die in that
flood just like everybody else. But God had a purpose in the
flood to show the difference that all of mankind is sinful,
but yet God gives grace to His people and they are protected
by the ark which that ark is a picture of Christ. That they
are in Christ Jesus and because Noah and his family was in the
ark, they were saved from the wrath that was to come. The judgment
that was to come. That whole entire thing. And
again, people are going to say that we're sadistic type people
to make this comment, but God orchestrated a whole worldwide
destruction of flood of a mass amount of people and a saving
of eight people through an art made of beaver wood and pitch to point to the Gospel, to point
to the picture of Jesus. God orchestrated a whole creation
to be destroyed except for eight people that were just as bad
as everybody else, but he saved them and rejected the rest of
mankind to point forth the truth of the gospel. That God hasn't
saved or chose to save all of mankind, that he has given grace
upon his people, his children, those that he has loved with
an everlasting love, who he has put in Christ from the foundation
of the world, and because they are in Christ, they are saved
from the wrath to come. That's why the Bible says that
we were not appointed unto wrath. Why was Noah not in that flood? Because he was not appointed
for that wrath. Why did the children of Israel
make it across the Red Sea and not get drowned in the Red Sea
just like the Egyptians? Because the Israelites were just
as idolatrous as the people of Egypt was. They were just as
evil and sinful as Pharaoh and the Egyptians. Why was it that
God let the Israelites go through the Red Sea, and then whenever
the Egyptians got right there in the middle of that thing,
He brought all the waters down on them and killed the whole
bunch of them? To show the same scene. That God had chosen a
people for Himself, and even though they were as guilty and
sinful as these people that was following after them, God had
appointed them not to receive wrath, but to receive grace. and that everybody else was destroyed. Matter of fact, I know this to
be true. I know this to be the point to
the gospel. You know why? Because this account in the Genesis
of the flood, Jesus used whenever he talked about him coming back. He said that as in the days of
Noah, so will the coming of the Son of Man be. That there will
be one who will be taken and one will be left behind. Now
the modern day eschatology guys will say that's talking about
the secret rapture. That there will be some that will be taken
and be raptured up to heaven and everybody else will be left
on the earth. But it's just the opposite, brother. That's why
a lot of times I kind of confound people Discussions about this
on the internet whenever they're talking about the the rapture
and You know left behind and all that kind of stuff and I
say man, I pray the Lord that I'm left behind. I Pray the Lord
I'm left behind because Christ was pointing back to the Genesis
account as in the days of Noah in the days of Noah who was taken
and who was left behind It was the wicked who was taken and
They were taken away in judgment. But it was the righteous who
was left behind. And them alone. So, this is pointing to the Gospel. So God, did He repent? Did He
change His mind about this? No, it was appointed that this
would take place. But from our vantage point, from
our perspective, God made a turn in His providence. In His providence
up till this point, God had been patient with the wickedness of
mankind. But now God's providence was
turning from patience and then into judgment. Same thing with
the account of King Saul. The Lord said he repented that
he had brought Saul forth as a king. But David was the one
who God had chosen all along. But there was a period of time
that God had chosen for Saul and a period of time that God
had chosen for David. But I was thinking about this,
I keep tripping on this carpet here. Look with me if you would
at Ecclesiastes chapter 8. I want you to think about something
if the Lord would give us the mind to do so. The Bible says this, Ecclesiastes
8, 11. Because sentence against an evil
work is not executed speedily, therefore the hearts of the son
of men is fully set in them to do evil. Though a sinner do evil
a hundred times and his days be prolonged, yet surely I know
that it shall be well with them that fear God which feared before
him. But it shall not be well with
the wicked, neither shall he prolong his days, which are as
a shadow, because he feareth not before God. There is a vanity
which is done upon the earth, that there be just men, unto
whom it happeneth according to the work of the wicked. Again,
there be wicked men, to whom it happeneth according to the
work of the righteousness. I said that this also is vanity. There is a sentence against the
evil work, or excuse me, he says there, because sentence against
an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart
of sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. Ah, well, God
said that if we sin, we're gonna die. He didn't die when I sinned. I guess it's okay, let me just
keep on doing it. No, there was an appointed time, as we've seen
here, there's an appointed time that those days are prolonged
because God had a purpose in prolonging those days. There
was a time that God had prolonged the sins. Hey, it's just like
with Jesus. Listen, even though everything
was settled at the foundation of the world as Jesus was the
Lamb slain before the foundation of the world, there was a...
He was put forth as the surety then. I'm of the mind that the
Bible teaches that the child of grace was justified before
the foundation of the world. That he has never been under
the wrath of God. It was not appointed unto him wrath. And
that in love God predestinated him to not have any sinfulness
in front of him. Not that he wasn't. He is. He
does. He sins. But that's how he stood
in his standing before God, before the foundation of the world.
but there was a prolonged time that the sentence for their sin
would take place. In the fullness of time, Christ
came and was crucified. There was a fullness of time.
So if that's the case, if there is a fullness of time, that means
that there is a point in which God had appointed for sin to
continue and for judgment to continue and for men to have
guilt under the law to continue, and then Christ would come. Their payment would be paid.
The ground for their justification, their grounds for their salvation,
for their redemption, for their forgiveness, the whole display
of God's love upon His elect, there was a point in time, and
so therefore there was a prolonging of days until that appointed
time. Now why did God choose to do
it that way? I don't know. Because it pleased Him to do
so. And He does all His pleasure. Could God have, as soon as Adam
sinned, turned right around and had Christ do something for redemption?
Absolutely, He could have. But He didn't. What did He choose
to do? He chose to wait until an appointed
time in the middle of history from creation to the cross and
now from the cross until the end, he is determined to put
Christ right there and let this be the time that all righteousness
would be revealed. That all righteousness would
be made. Right there. It was retro for all those before
the cross because God had appointed that from the foundation of the
world. God had viewed him that way from the foundation of the
world. There was no endangering of their They're ever to be under
sin. There was no endangering them
and ever to be cast in the lake of fire because Christ stood
for them and they were in Christ Jesus from that foundation. But
to some it looks like God made a turn. And he didn't make a
turn. He did just exactly as Ecclesiastes
said. Though a sinner do evil a hundred
times, and his days be prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall
be well with them that fear God. Even though we continue to do
sin a hundred times, we've not been appointed under wrath. Why?
Because wrath was already poured out on Jesus. Though the wicked
continue to do sin a thousand times and be prolonged and allowed
to exist and allowed to work and to move and to experience
the sunshine and the rain from God, it's all because of the
elect that they do so. Because their days are being
prolonged until the appointed time that God distributes that
justice upon them. So brethren, God doesn't change.
And all those verses that speak of God repenting of things is
from a human vantage point. From a human understanding that
God has ceased to give grace and now is giving judgment. So we should never make the accusation
that God has changed his mind or turned from his purpose that
his purpose shall stand. Now the reason I said that this
could go a thousand different ways is if God has truly predestined
all things that should ever take place, everything is gonna happen
exactly as God predestinated because if there is any little
splinter, then that would be a defiance of God's sovereign
declaration. and there would be something
that God didn't choose to happen, something that God didn't plan
to happen, something that God didn't will to happen, something
that God didn't purpose to happen, and therefore, His purpose will
stand, but what about this that takes place? Now that's outside
of His purpose. God's sovereign within His purpose.
But now you have things outside of His purpose. And if something
is outside of God's purpose and not in His purpose where God
is perfectly sovereign and controlling, then whatever is outside His
purpose is their own God, is more and stronger than God. because
they have defied the purpose and will and declaration of God
and have jarred it out of that sacred timeline and have created
their own reality, created their own way, and so in that way,
who's God? Because that wasn't God's purpose,
God's will, God's declaration. Everything that God had predestinated
within that will is going to take place exactly as He did
because He said, I've declared the end for the beginning and
things not yet done. That means everything in between. So everything in
between is going to happen exactly the way God does. So if there
is that jarred off from God's purpose and decree, then who's
the God over that? If not the person who did it.
who created it, the person who brought it to be, the person
who is now saying, I have defied God's will, I have defied God's
purpose, I have defied God's decree, and here I am. People
that say that God didn't decree all things leave man to his own
will and outside of God's sovereignty, no matter how much they preach
sovereignty, no matter how much they preach predestination. If
they leave men with will to do otherwise from what God has said,
and God has to make a turnabout or a change or a variableness
to bring that back into His will, then that right there is someone
who is defied, the sovereign God of the universe. And brethren,
the Bible reveals there is no other God but Him. There shall be no other gods
before me. He said, I am the only God. Men cannot assert the
authority and the sovereignty and the predestinated work of
God. So let us put off these silly notions that God has repented
in the notion that a lot of these conditionalists are putting forth,
that God has changed his mind, that God has been emotionally
changed, therefore he has acted upon that emotional change. All
right, anybody got a question, any comments on that? So when you were talking about
the timeline, so you were telling me that it is physically impossible
to change the timeline that God has pre-set. It is physically
impossible. I'm saying it's biblically impossible. What does that mean? That means
it's truthfully impossible. What's revealed in scripture
is the only truth. And so whether it's physical
or whether it's spiritual, everything is determined by God. So there
is no way that God's timeline, God's purpose, and God's will
can ever be changed. Ever. Because God has said it
can't be. So someone can't just say, I
want to go back in time and change what God said. Nope. The answer will always be no. Well, if God said, I just read
you the verses. Hang on, let me answer your question. I just read you the verses that
says that God cannot change and that God does not turn. So if
somebody can go back in time and change God's plan to something
else, then God lied. And God said, I cannot lie. So
if God cannot lie and He says He cannot turn or He cannot change,
then that means nobody can change time, nobody can change history,
nobody can go back and change anything, and that everything
that God has determined, that will be due. Now, here's the
thing. There are people who have either
been given faith to believe that, or there have been people that
have not been given faith to believe that. And if you don't
believe that, and you're going to think, well, science tells
me I can go back in time. Well, nobody's ever gone back
in time and nobody ever will. Because the Bible also says that
every year there is springtime and harvest, the seasons come,
the seasons go, time continues to move on as God has determined
it to move on. So there is no stopping of time,
there is no stopping of of God's course and creation. There's
no stopping of any of that thing. God is the only one who can stop
that. Man can't go into the future because the future is not here.
Well, what if someone made a, like, I'm just saying this could
happen. What if someone made a giant,
like, you know those time traveling boxes, things like that? What
if someone did that? It just straight up went into
the past, changed, they could change anything they want. The
Declaration of Independence, anything. And that would change
time. Well, Andrew, what I'm saying
is, is there is no evidence that that has ever happened or can
happen. And there is no evidence in scripture that God is going
to ever change. So God can't change. So nothing's
going to change God's plan. If it's been purpose, it's already
been done. If what happened in the past
has already happened is because God purposed it to happen. So
if someone can't go back and change that, otherwise God's
purpose would have been changed and God doesn't change. So no,
I can stand 100% on that, that God will not change. And so,
no matter what man says, no matter what NASA says, no matter what
some multi-billionaire scientist says, Elon Musk, I don't care
what they do, no matter how much they try to make creation of
their own, they're not going to change the purpose of God,
they're not going to change things. God is going to have his purpose
and he's going to destroy all those who think they, that's
what happened at the Tower of Babel. At the Tower of Babel,
men began to build a tower because they wanted to reach to God to
assert themselves on God's throne and to take over and be God.
God didn't, God wasn't gonna allow that because he said, I'm
the only God, there will be none like me. And what did he do?
He destroyed that tower and he confused the language of everybody,
which by the way, oh, I thought God wasn't the author of confusion.
But he did confuse language. So there again is one of those
other things we gotta look at that and see what does the Bible
mean by that. But anyway, no, there can't be any time travel
that's gonna change anything. I don't believe there's gonna
be any time travels. Until we go from the temporal
to the eternal, that'll be the only time travel that we'll be
doing. In our last church, before we
came here every day, before actual church ended, we would have cranberry
juice and a piece of bread if you got baptized. But if you
didn't, you wouldn't do it. Well, yeah, you have to be baptized
to take the Lord's Supper. Now, cranberry juice isn't what
Jesus told us to use. It's wine. Jews can't drink wine,
so they get cranberry juice. Well, I don't care what man says.
God says that's how we do it. I can't drink wine. We're not
going to argue. These are things we can talk
about later. But yes, no, the Bible teaches that it's wine.
You have to be baptized. You have to be a believer. You
have to believe the gospel and be baptized to partake of the
Lord's Supper as a member of the church. And God has prescribed
a way to do that. And who can do that? We have
to talk about what Christ has ordered in his church, not our
church. It's not our church to determine those things. So a
lot of people do different things. I've seen churches that do Twinkies
and Pepsi, but that's not what God has ordained. God has said
bread and wine, and we don't care what other men say. We don't
care what the law says out there about everything. It's bread
and wine. If you're a child of grace who
has believed on the Lord Jesus, and have been baptized, you take
of the ordinance the way that Jesus has said. My children that
have professed Christ, Kaylin, she's taken that ever since she
was a kid. We don't make any difference
or difference in those things just because of what man says.
All right, anybody else? You have anything to add? Okay.
All right, let's bow. I do want to remember Brother
Len Terry. I don't know how many people
that's watching or listening might know Len Terry from Harrison
Arkansas. He had to have his foot amputated
yesterday and keep him in your prayer. He had diabetes and a
rough accident with a space heater and so keep him in your prayers. Heavenly Father, once again we
come to you thanking you for the Word of God. We thank you
for the revelation of Christ and who you are. We thank you,
Father, that you've given us faith to trust in all that you
have said. And Lord, we know that there are many things that
men devise in their own mind, but Lord, we know that your Word
stands true and that the purpose of God will stand. Lord, we are
thankful for these things that you've given to us. Forgive us
for the times that we look to the Word of God, and we call
Him to question your truthfulness. And Lord, we just pray that sometimes
our carnal mind looks to look at things in the wisdom of man,
but we pray, Lord, that You would give us spiritual wisdom and
understanding. Give us light to know these things
that You have put forth before us. We thank You especially for
the Lord Jesus Christ, who has died for us and for the life
that we have in and through Him. We thank you for the forgiveness
of sin and the imputation of righteousness. And Father, Lord,
I do want to lift up Brother Lynn Terry today and ask, Lord,
that you would be with him in this time of healing, Lord. We
pray that the getting green and the septicness that was in his
foot after being burnt in that space here, Lord, we pray that
it might not spread any further up his leg, that they have gotten
everything out that they need to. And Lord, we pray that you'd
be with the healthcare workers that are working with him, that
you would give them wisdom and guide them, Lord. We know that
in our days, we've seen many who are not very competent and
not very kind, and that's been the case in these last few days.
But Lord, we pray that now that he's been moved to another hospital,
Lord, that you'd be with those people and that you would help
them to do things and do healing to him as only you can. And Lord,
we just thank you again for this time to be together as a church. We thank you for the time that we always have to be
able to discuss your word and to hear the word of God. And
Father, the fellowship that we have one with another. And we
pray all these things in Christ's name and for his sake. Amen.