Thank you, Kevin. Thank you,
David. Thank you, Marty. I had a good time preparing this
message for tonight. And I tell you what, when you
sit down to prepare a message like this, you begin to really
appreciate what our pastors go through to bring us a message
of grace each and every week. I tell you what, I'm thankful
for Jim. I really am. I'm thankful for
the food he dishes out to us every week. I'm sure those on
the internet watching Jim regularly can feel the same way about that
as well. Let's go ahead and pray, okay? Heavenly Father, Lord, I thank
you that you brought us together tonight, that you brought us
together into this This building to worship you, to honor you.
Father, that's what this message is about. That's what this worship
service is about. It's about you. And Lord, I'd
ask that you bless our time here. Lord, that it wouldn't be in
vain. That it would be honorable to
you. That, Lord, that our words would
rise up to heaven. And they would be pleasing in
your sight, in your ears. Father, I'd ask that you knit
our hearts together in love. Lord, that you cause us to love
one another, to rely on one another, and to love one another. Father, I'd ask that you bless
this message, bless our time of worship, and we thank you
for everything in Christ's name, amen. Okay, if you wouldn't mind, go
ahead and turn in your Bibles to Malachi chapter three. We're going to take a look at
a verse in Scripture that I'm pretty sure that most of you
are all pretty familiar with. It's a passage of Scripture that
I believe is foundational. Foundational in its importance.
And in my opinion, it may be the most important verse in all
of Scripture. One of the most important verses,
let's put it that way. Maybe not the most, but it's
pretty up there. What our Lord is speaking to
us in this one verse, if you haven't guessed it already, it's
foundational to everything we believe. And not just about salvation
in Christ, but everything we believe about the creator of
the universe. And I also find much comfort
in this verse, and I'm sure you will too. And this verse I'm
talking about is Malachi chapter three and verse six. For I am the Lord, and I change not. Therefore,
you sons of Jacob are not consumed. Our salvation is not just that
God's love is unconditional. It's founded upon the fact that
God's love cannot be changed. God's love is immutable, meaning
that it's not mutable or it's not changeable, just as God himself
is not mutable or changeable. There once was a Greek philosopher,
his name was Heraclitus, who once said, change is the only
constant. And this man, he looked around
this world for answers. He looked everywhere, he could
think for answers to his deep philosophical questions. And
he couldn't find the answers he was looking for. He had what
philosophers at the time, Greek philosophers, there are a lot
of them, they referred to at the time as a logos, philosophical
outlook. Or in other words, he had a formula
to his philosophical theory of life. And logos, that's a Greek
word, Logic, that's the anatomy of thought, and logos is the
appeal to logic. And in our Bible, the Greek word
logos has been translated to the word. And Heraclitus' Logos philosophy
was that the world exists as a coherent system in which a
change in one direction was ultimately balanced out by a change in another
corresponding direction. And obviously that's wrong, but
there was an answer to that. And the very first verse in the
New Testament uses this Greek word Logos. In a sense, you could
say it's an appeal to logic. You could also say it's a response
to the wicked Greek philosophy at the time, which was constantly
hung up trying to understand the world around them. And the
beginning was the word, or logos. And the word was with God. And the word was God. And because
Heraclitus didn't know the true logos or the true word, he was
driven to such deep despair and he strived to make sense of this
ever-changing world. And because of his failure to
understand, his desperation for answers, they led him to a point
where he just ended up taking his own life and committing suicide.
He simply couldn't make sense of all the change that we see
in this world. Everything is changing. Everything. This world
is changing. You're changing. I'm changing. Your loved ones and your relationships,
they're changing. Everything that we experience
is in a constant state of change. It's in constant flux. It's just
constant. So, let me ask you this. How
many times do you spend trying to control the changes in your
life? For me, I'll just be honest with
you, it's a constant battle. I'm continually dealing with
all kinds of things, like relationship changes. I'm sure you are as
well. More recently, I've been dealing
with career changes. And it's natural for us as people
to try to get a hold of what possible changes are coming for
us and try to manipulate the outcome to what we think is going
to be the best result. But that's just it. We don't
necessarily know what the best result is and we can't change
our lives to any degree because we really can't anticipate what
is going to happen. And that's because we aren't
God. We don't have our Lord's omniscience.
That is, we don't see everything that he sees. And we aren't omnipotent
like he is either. And nearly everything in our
life, everything, it's outside of our control. But our God,
he's omniscient. He's omnipotent. And he's not
like us at all. And because he's omniscient,
that is, he sees everything, And because he is omnipotent,
that is, he has power over everything, he can control everything. He can control all things. And
I've often thought I've had control over my life. I'd often thought
if I had control over my life, I'd change a lot of things. How
many times have you desired more financial stability or better
relationships with your friends and loved ones? How often have
you regretted the decisions of your past? Ask yourself that
one. Decisions which led quite possibly
to tragic consequences. Decisions which led to a life
of sorrow and pain. I know I've made regrettable
decisions. I probably will continue to do so. And I'm sure everyone
here listening tonight has as well. And I'm sure we've all
thought maybe a time or two that if we could go back in time with
the omnipotence or the omniscience of God and correct some of our
poor decisions, we would. They even make movies about that
sort of thing. However, I believe that if we had the wisdom of
God, we wouldn't do that. We wouldn't change a single thing.
God said, I change not. And He is the one that's in complete
control over this constantly changing world of which you and
I are a part. And that is so comforting to
me. It's so comforting to know that my Lord is immutable. It's
comforting to us because we don't need to worry about anything.
It's comforting to us because we don't even need to understand
all the changes that are going on around us. Charles Spurgeon
once spoke in a sermon, you may change your plans, but he shall
never, never change his. Then has he told me that his
plan is to save me? If so, I'm safe. And you guys
may remember my last sermon I preached on Romans 8, 28. We're all familiar
with that verse. And we know that all things work
together for good. We know. And there's some of
you that might think that this verse means good is being worked
out for everybody, but that's not true. Pay close attention
to that verse. For some, nothing is gonna work
out too good for them. And we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are the
called according to his purpose. Every single thing that the Lord
is doing in this world, for his people, for the glory of his
son, and the salvation of his like children, is for our good. In Psalm 146, verse 3, the psalmist
wrote, put not your trust in princes or in men, in whom there
is no help. We don't put our trust in the
president. We don't put our trust in the
government, or in any other thing that's man-made. There's no help
in these things, but we do put our trust in them, don't we?
If we're honest with ourselves, sometimes we do. We try to control the changes
about us by putting trust in man, whether that be ourselves
or somebody else in our lives or somebody we don't know. And
I think we're all guilty of this, myself included, because we're
all pretty very, very weak people. In Isaiah 54, verse 10, the prophet
Isaiah wrote, for the mountains shall depart and the hills be
removed, but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither
shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that
has mercy on me. Our God, he changes not. That's what God meant when he
told both Abraham and David that the covenant he made with them,
that was an everlasting covenant. It's ordered in all things, and
it's sure. What else is sure? Well, I'm
sure some of you all thought at one time something was sure,
only to find out later that it wasn't. I once thought I had
a job. I found out it wasn't a sure
thing. There's change, and it's all about us. Our kids grow up,
they leave the house. We settle into a job or a career
and find out later it wasn't as permanent as we thought it
was. Or we're born and we grow up in a land where people are
respectable and they support one another. We were raised in
the land of the free. We grew up in a nation that we
thought was wholesome. And the phrase, that's American
as apple pie, that was something I grew up, grew up repeating
to myself and others. only to find out years later
that our nation has changed. Evil's crept in. Or maybe we're
just more aware of it now. I don't know. But God says, I
am the Lord. I change not. There you go. That's where we
can find rest. That's the place where we can
find peace, hope, and comfort. Our God, he changes not. All right, let's go ahead and
turn to Philippians chapter four and verse seven. And Paul's writing
to the Philippians here in this chapter. And he wrote that, the
peace of God passeth all understanding. What Paul means here in this
verse, by the word passive, he means better than. He's not saying
the peace of God cannot be understood. He's saying the peace of God
is better than any understanding you or I might think we have. And that understanding, it shall
keep our heart and our mind in Christ. That's our hope. That's our confidence. That's
our peace. See, we have peace of heart knowing that our Lord
is in control. We have peace knowing that our Lord does not
change. Our God's immutable. He's in charge of all the events
of our lives. He's controlling every single aspect of them for
our good and for His glory. And the Lord says to us here
in this passage that This peace that we have, this peace that
enables us to rest in Christ, to trust Him, it is higher than,
it's better than any earthly understanding we think we can
muster. I am the Lord, I change not. And that is the reason, that's
the reason you sons of Jacob are not consumed or overwhelmed
with distress, with depression or fear. That's why we don't
succumb to those things entirely. That's the reason those of you
who rest in the Lord are not consumed with these things or
your own sinfulness. And yeah, all of our sin that
we have, it's quite a struggle. You say to yourself, I'm never
gonna do that again. I'm not gonna commit that sin
again. But then you turn around maybe a day later and do the
thing you said you weren't gonna do. For me, it's getting mad
at red whites or bad drivers on the road. But why? Why do
I do that? Why do you do that? You all know
your struggles. Why? Because, and this is the
answer here, because you changed. Because I changed. Our resolve
changed. Our state of mind, it changed.
You thought you were never gonna do that awful thing again, But
the Lord says, I am the Lord, I change not. And that is the
reason you sons of Jacob are not consumed. We have a God who
has never changed. There never was a time when he
was not. And there never will be a time
where he'll cease to be. He changes not. He is the same. Yesterday, today and forever. I am the Lord and I change not. How can we even fathom that?
The Lord has never learned anything. He's never asked a question in
order to learn something. He knows everything. He isn't
evolving like we are. He's not a created being like
we are. and he doesn't depend upon anything
or anybody. He says, I am that I am. He says, I'm the self-existent
one. I possess everything within myself.
I've never asked a question. I've never changed my mind. I've
never learned anything. I've never improved on anything.
I'm completely contained within myself. I change not. Now in this ever-changing world
in which our Lord shakes the foundations of our lives on many
different levels, what is the purpose of that? Hebrews 12 speaks
of a kingdom that cannot be shaken. Hebrews 12, 28 says that wherefore
we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved or cannot be
shaken, let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with
reverence and with fear. with God we fear. The Lord, he
shakes our foundations. And he does so, he does so, so
that the things that are made are removed. And those things
that aren't made, they might remain. Let's go ahead and turn
all the way to the very beginning of our Bible, Genesis chapter
one and verse one. Just take a good close look at
this one, I love this verse. In the beginning, God. If we could just believe those
first four words of scripture, the rest would fall into place,
wouldn't it? Would it not? Now let's turn to John chapter
one, verse one. In the beginning was the word or the logos, and
the word was with God, and the word was God. The same was in
the beginning with God. All things were made by him,
and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was
life, and the life was the light of men. Now usually we tend to
think that light is necessary for life. But God says right
here that life is necessary for light. The life of Christ is
the light of men. And the light shineth in the
darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. Let's go to verse 10. He was in the world, and the
world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto
his own, and his own received him not. But as many has received
them, him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even
to them that believe on his name. So let's stop there. Somebody
might be asking themselves, so if I believe this message, I
can become a son of God? Oh, let's continue. Let's go
to verse 13 here. Which were born not of blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor
the will of man, but of God. And the word was made flesh and
dwelt among us. And we beheld his glory. The
glory is of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth. I am the Lord. I change not. Let's go to Psalm 102, verse
25. Of old hast thou laid the foundation
of the earth, and the heavens are the work of thy hands. They
shall perish, but thou shalt endure. Yea, all of them shall
wax old like a garment, as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they
shall be changed. But thou art the same, and thy
years shall have no end. The children of thy servants
shall continue, and their seed shall be established before thee.
All things were made by him and without him was not anything
made that was made. The book of James tells us that
God is the father of lights and with him there is no variableness
nor shadow of turning. He doesn't change. So here's a question for you.
Do you think your prayers can change God? The answer is no,
not at all. Prayer changes you. Prayer changes
me. It doesn't change God. God has
ordained that we shall pray, and he sets our hearts and mind
as to what to pray for, and he has us to pray for the things
that he's already determined to do. Did you know that? Colossians
2, 9-10 says, For in him, which is in Christ, dwelleth all the
fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you are complete in him. He is the head of all principality
and power. So when God says that he is the
Lord, and he changes not, therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed,
He's talking about his essential nature. He's talking about his
attributes. He's talking about who he is
as God. He cannot change. He cannot be improved upon. He
cannot change his mind. He cannot learn, mature, grow
or evolve. He's not like us. He said, I'm
the Lord. He's always been and always shall
be. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
in perfect union with the Father. All the attributes of God are
true, Christ Jesus our Lord. Not only does God not change
in His attributes or His essential nature, but His change in His
purpose or His decrees. Turn with me to Proverbs chapter
16, verse 4. I'm going to have you skipping
around here, but it shouldn't be too bad. The Lord hath made all things
for himself, yea, even the wicked for the day of evil. The wrath
of man shall praise the Lord. Now let's turn to Isaiah 45 in
verse 7. I form the light and create darkness. I make peace and create evil. I, the Lord, do all these things.
The Lord creates evil. He creates darkness and he creates
peace. He does it all. If you were to
walk out of this building tonight, maybe get robbed or shot, something
awful like run over by a car or even killed. It's horrific
because that sounds, you can know that this was purposed for
your good. You know, that kind of makes my head explode when
I think about that, but because the natural mind cannot comprehend
such things. only the regenerate mind, the
one that's been renewed, only the person with the new heart
that's been given by the Spirit from above, only they can comprehend
such a thing as God creating evil for your good. And these people, these regenerate
people, these people can only comprehend such seemingly inconceivable
things as this. They also have assurance and
are unable to rest because they know God doesn't change. He's
in control. Everything is of Him and to Him
and through Him are all things. He's the creator, He's the sustainer
and the purpose of everything. And He's saying to us in Malachi
chapter 3 verse 6, I am the Lord and I change not. In Revelation
4.11, John, who was in exile, he wrote, for thou hast created
all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created. Everything is for the purpose
of God. Everything is for His glory. Psalm 33.11 says that the counsel
of the Lord standeth forever. The thoughts of His heart are
to all generations. We change our mind, we change
our thoughts, and we change our purposes. We change even our
ideas. Why? Well, because our circumstances
change. And you know what God says? He
says, I change not. I change not. Proverbs 19.21 says that there
are many devices in a man's heart. Nevertheless, the counsel of
the Lord That shall stand. Oh, we've got our plans, don't
we? Proverbs 16.9 says, the mind
of the man plans his way, but the Lord directs the steps. I
am the Lord. Don't you find that comforting?
He's immutable, omniscient, omnipresent, sovereign. He cannot change. And so often we find ourselves
in changing circumstances that really disturb us, disturb us
greatly. And these things, they're controlled
by the hand of our Lord. Let's turn to Ecclesiastes chapter
3. We'll start in verse 1. To everything there is a season,
and a time to every purpose under the heaven, a time to be born,
and a time to die, a time to plant, and a time to pluck up
that which is planted, a time to kill, and a time to heal,
a time to break down, and a time to build up. Let's go to verse
10. I have seen the travail which
God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it. Our
Lord, he's given us these travails that we might be exercised in
them. What's he doing? He's shaking that which was made
so that which was not made cannot be shaken. How much time do we spend trying
to figure out our circumstances and our travails? We've got some
sort of disease or trial that we're going through, dealing
with financial difficulties, or we're on the road with a bad
battery, stuck on the interstate. We really can't figure these
things out sometimes, but only God knows what's coming next.
We don't know what's coming next. We can't see. We can't see from
one moment to the next. Skip to verse 14. But I know
that whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever. Nothing can
be put to it, nor anything taken from it. And God doeth it that
men should fear before him. And this is true of everything.
But what it's especially true of is Christ's atoning work of
redemption on Calvary. That is God's crowning work.
That is the work that brings him the most glory, And that
is the sacrifice that Christ made to the Father on the cross
to justify the demands of God's justice. And Solomon, right here
in this verse, he says, right here, that whatsoever God doeth,
that shall be forever. Nothing can be put to Christ's
work, nor anything taken from it. You can't add to what Christ
did. You can't throw your two cents
in. Your decisions or your works, you can't make his work effectual.
His work was effectual. Christ's work, it accomplished
what God purposed to be accomplished. Isaiah 55, 11 says that, so shall
my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth. It shall not return
unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall
prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. Now, the gospel, when
it's preached, it always accomplishes something. It either calls God's
elect to belief, it may strengthen the elect in their understanding,
or it hardens the heart of those who won't believe. But I also
believe that this verse can be applied to Christ's work of redemption
and salvation. Christ is the word. He is the
logos. He is the logic. And when he
returned to the Father in glory after finishing the work in salvation,
He didn't return to the Father void. He brought with Him etched
upon His hands the names of all of us and all the elect. Every
single person for whom He died. And He's seated right next to
the right hand of the Father on high. He's the successful
Savior. And nothing can be added to or
taken away from what He's done. And right there, that's our confidence.
Right there, that's our hope. He's the Lord. And he changes
not. And that is the reason we sons
of Jacob, we sons of Jacob, are not consumed. We'd all be consumed
by our sin. We'd all be consumed by our circumstances. If what Christ had done was not
sure and steadfast, he changes not. He's the Lord. He's God. All right, turn to Isaiah chapter
14, verse 24. I love this one. The Lord of hosts have sworn,
or promised, saying, surely as I have thought, so shall it come
to pass, and as I have purposed, so shall it stand. How glorious
is that? We process thoughts trying to
come up with the best conclusion based on our circumstances. We
play out, we have mind games in our head. We play out things
in our mind to try to determine the best way to proceed in whatever
circumstances we find ourselves in. But our Lord doesn't think
like that. Whatever thought he has, it's
done. Isaiah said, as I have thought, so shall it stand. Our
God doesn't have vain thoughts like you and I do. He never has
to try and figure things out like you and I do. He says, I
am the Lord, and I change not. It's His immutability. It's His
ability, not yours. Let's go down a few verses to
verse 27. For the Lord of hosts has purposed,
and who shall disannul it? And His hand is stretched out,
and who shall turn it back? Who is the strong right hand
of God? It's our Lord Jesus Christ. He is. God says this hand is
stretched out. Who's going to turn back his
hand? Who's going to try to disannul what he's done in Christ? The
answer is nobody. Not even he will disannul it.
Christ's work, it's as sure as anything can be sure. Let's go
down to chapter 46 and verse 9. Remember the former things of
old, for I am God, and there is none else. I am God, and there
is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from
ancient times, the things that are not yet done, saying, my
counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure. That's so
clear. That's God's word. That's God
speaking to us. What else do we really need to
know? You know, with all the change that occurs in this world,
we can rest in our immutable God. And He has a purpose. And His purpose is comprised
of His thoughts. And the great thing about His
thoughts is He's never had a new one. Let's look at verse 11 there. Calling a ravenous bird from
the east, the man, and Christ Jesus is the man, He's the God-man,
The man that executeth my counsel from a far country, yea, I have
spoken it, I will also bring it to pass. I have purposed it,
I'll also do it. Everything that God's purposed,
he's gonna do it. And he's purposed to love his
people. And Jeremiah, you guys are all familiar with this passage.
He says he's loved us with an everlasting love, and with loving
kindness he has drawn thee. But we as people, we don't love
each other continually, do we? We don't have everlasting love
for each other. Our love changes. That speaks poorly on us, but
it does. God's doesn't. Our love is conditional. As much as we like to say it
isn't, it is. It's usually conditioned upon
that which can and does often change. God's love is also conditional,
by the way. But His love is conditioned on
something that doesn't change. That's Christ. That can't change. It won't change. Christ has already
done all that He needed to do. It's fixed. It can't change. God isn't going to change His
mind about us. His love truly is everlasting. God joined himself
to human flesh and he joined his deity with that which was
made in the likeness of you and me. He put himself under the
law, obeying it perfectly. He was obedient even to the point
of death. He served himself up as a sacrifice
on Calvary where his blood was spilt on our behalf. Our names. They're etched in the palm the
palms of his hands. Our names have been written in
the book of life from eternity. And there is nothing, nothing
that can take our name out of that book. Nothing. Our names
were written there before we were even born. And that book
cannot change. It cannot change. It's a done
deal. Christ's work cannot change. It's finished. God's love cannot
change. He can't learn anything new.
He can't discover something about us that will cause Him to change
His mind. We can't do something that's
going to cause Him to stop loving us, no matter what it is. He
already knows what we're going to do. He's already purposed
us. He's purposed everything. I am
the Lord. And I change not, therefore you
sons of Jacob are not consumed. That is so comforting. I hope
you find it comforting as well. We have a God in this ever-changing
world. And yeah, the only thing that
is constant is indeed change, as far as our natural minds can
perceive it. But we know from the scriptures,
and we read with a spiritual heart and a spiritual mind, that
there is only one true constant, our God. He does not change. I have loved you with an everlasting
love. Paul says in Galatians 1.5, but
when it pleased God who separated me from my mother's womb, Or
in other words, Paul is saying that even his birth was ordained
by God, and called me by his grace to reveal his Son in me. Even our life in Christ is purposed
of God. Our calling in Christ is purposed
of God. And even our death is purposed
of God. It's appointed. It's purposed.
It's ordained of God that everybody's gonna die. All men shall die.
And after that, the judgment. And Christ, who is seated at
the right hand of the Father, He's there representing us so
that all that judgment, all that judgment we were due for all
of our sin, it didn't fall on us, it falls on Him. And God says, I change not. You can't go back on that. And if that was not true, you'd
be consumed. your shame, your discouragement,
your sin, everything that this changing world has to throw at
you, it'd consume you. But our God, he changes not. Therefore, you who believe, you
are not consumed.