James tells us that our God is
the father of lights with whom is no variableness, neither shadow
of turning. In our text this evening, Malachi
chapter 3 and verse 6, the Lord God himself describes himself
in much the same language. He said, I am the Lord. change
not. I change not. That's my subject
this evening. I am the Lord. I change not. Therefore, for this reason, ye
sons of Jacob are not consumed. How can we begin to get some
kind of a handle on God's absolute immutability. Not only the fact
that he doesn't change, but he can't change. Change is impossible
if he's God. Change is impossible if he's
God. He could no more change than
he could be unholy. He is God immutable with whom
is no variableness. Would you like to find something
like that? Something that you could absolutely count on never
to vary. Never to change or be changed. That's our God. How great God
must be who is unchanging and unchangeable. Nothing reaches
God. David said, my goodness extendeth
not unto thee. Nothing touches God. Nothing affects God. Nothing moves God. Nothing changes
God. God reaches all things but nothing
reaches Him. God touches all things, nothing
touches Him. God affects all things, but nothing
affects Him. God moves all things, but nothing
moves Him. God changes all things, but nothing
changes God. God is immutable. Sitting upon
His high and lofty throne, In the blessed ease and serenity
of his own absolute sovereignty, the Lord God looks down upon
the heavens, and he looks down upon the angels, and he looks
down upon the earth, and he looks down upon men. And it looks down
upon the events of time and the nations of the world. He looks
down upon Satan and the demons of hell. He looks down upon hell
itself and says, I am the Lord. I change not. That's our God. Satan led a revolt in heaven. We read about it in Isaiah chapter
24, chapter 14. He said, I will ascend into heaven. I will be as the most high. I'll
take over the business of being God. We're told that he led one
third of the heavenly host in his rebellion. One third of the
angels created by God led in rebellion by Satan and held in
chains of darkness now into everlasting destruction. But God's unchanged. God created the earth and created
man upon it. Created Adam upright and Eve
from the rib of Adam. Created them in the perfection
of humanity. Created them with no sin and
put them in a place where there was no evil, no corruption, no
defilement, no inclination in them towards sin. And yet Satan
tempted our mother Eve and Eve succumbed to the temptation.
And Adam shoved his fist in God's face and said, you can't be God
anymore. You have no right to rule me.
You have no right to tell me what I can and can't do. And
he took the forbidden fruit with deliberate choice and sin entered
into the world. And God Almighty was untouched, unaffected. The fall of Satan
and the fall of Adam were but the fulfillment of a portion
of God's purpose. God Almighty was unaffected by
either nation's rise and nation's fall. God doesn't change. The heavens and the earth soon
shall vanish away, but God remains unmoved. A new heaven and a new
earth shall be created wherein dwelleth righteousness and the
very slime of the serpent erased from God's creation. But God's
deal is unchanged. God's elect shall enter into
the bliss and glory of heaven forever. Conformed exactly to the image
of God's dear son. And the damned shall forever
be cast into hell, forever tormented in God's wrath. And God will
be untouched, unmoved, unaffected. God does not change. Of him alone can that be said. God alone is immutable. God alone changes not. Well might the hymn writer sing. Swift to its close ebbs out life's
little day. Earth's joys grow dim, its glories
pass away. Change and decay. in all around me I see. O thou who changest not, abide
with me." Immutability belongs to God and to God alone. There is nothing immutable about
this world. There's nothing immutable about
you or me. Man at his best estate is altogether
vanity. All our temple affairs change
rapidly, rapidly. The stock market crashes and
suddenly all your security, all the stuff you hoped to make for
a good, pleasant retirement is gone. How long does that take? Just that long, just that long.
Nothing about our lives in this world is the same. We raise our
children and we marry them off and we get our grandchildren
and we start burying children and brothers and sisters and
mothers and fathers and we ourselves are dying rapidly. Nothing remains
the same, not in this world. In our spiritual lives, we experience
constant change, constant fallings, constant coldness, and constant
thawing by God's grace, and constant upholding by his hand, constant
fall, and constant revival. I think we are trained with religious
thought to neglect God's constant grace. And we rightly pray as
Habakkuk did, O Lord, in wrath remember mercy, in the midst
of the years revive thy work, O Lord. Properly we do so, but
let us never fail to recognize that the fact that Babi Estes
is sitting right here now rejoicing in the gospel of God's grace
all these years is because of God's constant reviving grace. He constantly stirs your heart
to seek him, constantly brings you back to him, constantly refreshes
your soul, constantly minister to your soul's needs. God alone
is in himself immutable. How far do you carry this? I
change not. In all the perfections of his
being, God changes not. In all his purposes and decrees,
God changes not. In all his love and mercy, God
changes not. In all his promises and purposes,
God changes not. Now let's look at those six things,
those five things. Number one, God is immutable
in the essence of his being. That is, he is eternal, the infinite
spirit who cannot change. Brother Merle read back in the
office in Exodus chapter three, Moses said, Lord, who should
I tell? The children of Israel has sent me. And the Lord spoke
to Moses as he had never spoken to a man before. He said, you
tell them I am has sent me unto you. God revealed himself to
Moses under the name I am that I am. And that name has many,
many, many implications. One of them is his eternal essential
immutability, his eternal self-existence in all his being. I am the constant. I am the everlasting. I am the eternal. I am. I realize that it's far easier
to say what God is not than to try to describe what he is. But
whatever God is in the essence of his being, he cannot change. Turn to Psalm 102. Psalm 102. Let me show you. Whatever God is in the essence
of his being, he cannot change. He is the same yesterday and
today and forever. Our Lord Jesus describes himself
repeatedly in the book of Revelation as the one who is and was and
is to come. And he puts it that way deliberately,
that one who is right now and was yesterday and is to come,
unchanging. Look here in Psalm 102, verse
25. Of old hast thou laid the foundation
of the earth, and the heavens are the work of thy hand. 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. Thy years
have no end. God's perfections, his attributes,
demand immutability, eternality. can't change. That which is eternal can't change. If it changes, it is no longer
eternal. That which is eternal of necessity
can never be changed. God is eternal. He is the only
being without beginning and without end. God Almighty. Perfection. Is he perfect? Of course he is. Perfect in all his being. Perfection
can't change. If it changes, then it ceases
to be perfection. If it's improved, it wasn't perfection
to start with. Perfection can't change. Though
God created the world, he didn't change. It was his will from
eternity to create. Indeed, before the world was
made, we're told in Proverbs chapter eight that he rejoiced
in the habitable part of the earth. Well, how can that be? He's God. He's God. It was his eternal
purpose to create. And that which was his eternal
purpose was eternally done by him. So that in the mind and
purpose of God, in his infinite being, when the world was created,
nothing changed, nothing at all. Creative power was in him from
eternity. And when the time came, when
time began, So that's redundant language. That's the way we talk
when we talk about God. Because we can't begin to grasp
the infinity of his being. When the time came for time to
begin, in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. But
he was unchanged. And then there's a time called
the due time. There's a time called the fullness
of time. When the fullness of time was
come, God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under the
law to redeem them that were under the law. And God the Son,
Jesus Christ, born in Bethlehem, is God the Son in human flesh. God became one of us. God became one of us. Well, surely there's change then.
Oh, no. Oh, no. God didn't change at all when
he took into union with himself our nature. Our Lord Jesus is
that man who sits in heaven in a body just like this, just like
this, a body like this, a body like that in which Moses and
Elijah appeared with him on the mount. A body recognized by folks
who had never seen them before. A body that was clearly identified. He sits there as the very man
who was nailed to the tree at Calvary over 2,000 years ago. But he's not limited to that
body. No, no. When he was on the earth, he
spoke of himself being in heaven. When he walked on the earth,
he spoke of himself who's one with the Father in heaven, seated
on the throne of God. Our Lord Jesus is in the midst
of his people, wherever they're gathered by his spirit, even
two or three anywhere in the world right now. Imagine that
wherever God, the Holy Spirit has gathered together two or
three people in an assembly like this, whether in the jungles
of Africa or in the mountains of New Guinea or someplace in
Australia or some other part of this country, wherever they're
gathered, God, the son is there with them. And yet he's still
sitting on the throne. in a body. He's unchanged when
he became one of us. When the Lord Jesus was made
sin for us and died in our room instead, we read in the book
that God purchased the church with his own blood. Acts 20 verse
28. Well, God doesn't have blood. No, you're right. He doesn't.
God's spirit. He can't die. You're right. He
can't. You're right. God can't be nailed
to a tree. You're right. He can't. But God
in human flesh can and was and did. He who died for us is God
in our flesh. God in humanity. Godhead and
manhead were joined together in one glorious person in our
Lord Jesus. And God never changed. There was no valuableness about
him then and none now. Second, God is immutable, not
only in the essence of his being, but in the perfections of his
nature. His power is immutable. never exhausted, never spent,
never diminished. His knowledge is immutable. God never learned anything. And he never forgot anything.
Oh, but he forgot our sins. That's eternal, too. This is
God's eternal work. The goodness of God is immutable. It extends to all his creatures.
The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord. His goodness, however,
is never in short supply. I love the picture of that widow.
You remember with a little bit of meal, a little bit of oil.
As long as she kept going back and getting me a lot of that
barrel. The meal was always there. Always there. That's God's goodness. That's God's grace. That's God's
mercy in Christ in infinite fullness. He is the water of life. The fountain of living waters.
Multiplied millions. Have all these thousands of years
been drinking from that fountain. And David is just as full now.
as it was from eternity. Eating of this bread and it's
just as plentiful now as it was from eternity. God's faithfulness is immutable, immutable, unchanging. When I was 17 years old, I think
the first time I preached about God being faithful, Might have
been 18, 17 or 18 years old. And I got down the theology books
and I read them and studied them and I got my Bible and studied
it and traced out the scriptures and I presented a pretty good
message about God being faithful. It was pretty good. You'd have
a tough time finding anything wrong with it. But I didn't know
anything about God being faithful. It was all theory. It was just
speculation. Now I'm 59 years old and I'm here to tell you God
is faithful. If we believe not, oh God forgive
my unbelief, yet he abideth faithful. He never changes. He never changes. I read a brief article yesterday,
actually Shelby read it too, Friday it was, and I went back
and did a little research on it. There was an artist in the
late 1800s by the name of John Ruston. I'd never heard of him
before. He was apparently a pretty famous artist in his day. And
he was in the company of someone, back in those days, folks carried
pretty handkerchiefs, just a part of their attire. Like we fellas,
when we get dressed up, put on a necktie, they'd carry a handkerchief
tucked out of the sleeve, you know. And this person with Rustin
was carrying a handkerchief that was quite expensive, linen handkerchief,
had been a gift to them. And in the midst of their time
together, ink was spilled on the handkerchief. He pulled it
out and said, oh, look, it's ruined. It's utterly ruined. And Ruskin said, is it? Let me
have it a while. And he took it home with him.
And in a few days, the handkerchief was mailed back to the person
who owned it. And Ruskin had taken that ugly,
dirty inkblot that looked like it had ruined the handkerchief.
and used it as the basis on which to paint a beautiful, exquisite
piece of artwork by the hand of John Rustin. And the handkerchief
was more beautiful than ever and more valuable than ever.
Oh, how often we think that something's marred, something's ruined. sinned against Uriah and took
Bathsheba, Uriah's wife. And God didn't speak to him for
a year. Can you imagine that? And God
wouldn't let David speak to him. Can you imagine coming in out
of here three times a week just in this place, let alone David
was king in Israel David who was himself the sweet singer
of Israel who was himself a prophet and the songwriter of Israel
Can you imagine coming in and out of here three times a week?
while other folks are hearing from God and speaking to God
while others sing God's praise and you Drone out some words
and you hear nothing and you go home and you hear nothing
and you get up your Try to read your Bible and you hear nothing. And you lead your family in prayer
when you start to have a meal and you say nothing. And you lay down in your bed
at night and you cry out to God and you, the words bounce back
in your ear for a year, for a year. Well, David's ruined now. David's
done for now. Oh no, oh no. Two of the best
Psalms in the book were written after Nathan came to David and
said, the Lord hath put away thy sin. David is a better man
in the end than in the beginning. A better man because God changes
not. in all his perfections, especially
in his faithfulness. Peter. The Lord was determined
to make of Peter a preacher. I get letters all the time. I
get letters from folks all the time wanting me to recommend
where they should go to school to learn about being preachers. If I had time, I'd sit down and
write to every one of them. I might sit down now that I think
about it and write this out and send it to all of them. When
God starts to make a preacher, he does it different than most
folks do. Satan's desired to have you,
that he may sift you as wheat. And Peter, I'm going to let him
sift away. I'll make you understand you're
nothing. You're nothing. And Peter denied
the Lord. and denied him again. And a third
time took up cussing like a sailor and said, I don't know that man.
And as soon as he did, the cock crowed a second time and Peter
said, oh, it's over. Judas and I are both
the reprobate. And he said, fellas, I'm going
back to where I was when this thing started. I'm going fishing.
And the Lord came to Peter, just like he said he would. And now
you want to, it should leave you when you go home. Turn to
Acts chapter four and read about Peter. He's no longer a trembling
man, but bold as a lion, a better man than he could possibly have
been otherwise. God changes not in his faithfulness. He's faithful to his purpose,
faithful to his promise, faithful to himself, faithful to his son,
and faithful to his people. He changes not. God's immutability
extends to all his purposes and decrees. Turn, if you will, to Proverbs
chapter 16. I want you to see this. There is a purpose for everything,
and a time for that purpose. God's determined all that ever
was, all that is, and all that shall be. Proverbs chapter 16,
verse 4. The Lord hath made all things
for himself, yea, even the wicked for Sunday,
November the 8th, 2009. Yea, even the wicked for the
day of evil, whatever day of evil it is. The Lord hath made
all things for himself, for of him And through him and to him
are all things to whom be glory forever and forever. Turn back
to Psalm 33. The purposes of God are always executed. They're
never frustrated. They're never hindered. They're
never thwarted. They're never altered in any
way. They're never held up. How can
I say this so that folks understand what I'm talking about? Since
you get a get an understanding, this God's purposes are executed
exactly in the order in which God arranged them from eternity.
So that the batting of an eye, the breathing of your lungs,
the work of the wicked and the work of the righteous alike are
purposed by God and accomplished by him. Psalm 33, verse 11. The
counsel of the Lord standeth forever. The thoughts
of his heart to all generations. Look at Proverbs 19. Proverbs
19 verse 20, 21. There are many devices in a man's
heart. How many things have you planned?
Well, let's not try to count up your life. That's a little
bit much. What did you plan today that you didn't accomplish? Many
devices in a man's heart. Nevertheless, the counsel of
the Lord that shall stand. Man says, I'll do this. God said,
not today. I'll do this. God said, I'll
do this. And this is what you'll do. Turn to Isaiah 24, Isaiah
14 verse 24. Isaiah 14, 24. Here where Satan,
Lucifer, lifts up his heart and determines that he's going to
take over being God. This is God's response to Lucifer.
The Lord of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely, as I have thought,
so shall it come to pass. And as I have purposed, So shall
it stand, verse 27, for the Lord of hosts have purposed and who
shall disavow it? His hand is stretched out and
who shall turn it back? Look at chapter 46, Isaiah 46,
verse 10. God says, this is who I am 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. We read about God's counsel,
speaks of his everlasting covenant of grace made with Christ from
eternity, made with the spirit from eternity, made with the
father from eternity. But don't ever imagine that God's
counsel is anything like our councils. It's not as though
God proposed this, and suggested that, and thought about this,
and decided on that, and because this thing is, then this thing
must be. Oh, no, no, no, no, no. No, God speaks to us in human
terms, as though he were a man many times, just so we can get
some kind of understanding of God's person and his work, the
counsel of the Lord. is his eternal determination
of infinite wisdom for the saving of his people, by which all things
were arranged in sovereign predestination before ever the world began.
Turn to Romans chapter 8, Romans chapter 8. And I know you can quote it. I want
you to turn there. Read it one more time. We know. We know. That all things work together
for good. All things work together for
good. Not to everybody. All things
with regard to everybody's life work together for good to somebody,
but they don't work together for good to everybody. Well,
it's all going to turn out all right. For some of you, nothing's
going to turn out all right. Everything's going to be hell. Oh, how I wish folks learned
to be honest with themselves and honest with their families,
honest with their neighbors. Somebody dies, well, he's in
a better place. If he's in hell, he's not in a better place. Well,
the suffering's over. Not if he's in hell, it's not.
It's just begun. Everything is not going to be
all right for you who perish without Christ. Everything will
heap upon your soul forever. More and more damnation. More
and more pain. More and more agony. More and
more darkness. But everything works together
for somebody's good. To them that love God. And I'll tell you who loves God,
them who are the called, the called of God, called according
to his purpose, for whom he did foreknow. Those who love God
love him because they were loved of God from everlasting. One of the first gifts any of
you gave me, Teresa Coleman picked me up a in broader black, 30
years ago, said we love him because he first loved us. If you love him, it's because
he loved you from eternity. All things work together for
those folks God loved from eternity. He also did predestinate to be
conformed to the image of his son, that his son might be the
firstborn, the chief one, the high ranking one, the honored
one, the glorious inheriting one of many brethren. Moreover,
whom he did predestinate, them he also called, and whom he called,
them he also justified, and whom he justified, them he also glorified. Come back to Job 23. Job 23. Nothing unforeseen ever arises
before God. Nothing unanticipated ever comes
to pass. He performs all his purpose And
changes in providence do not imply any change in him. Oh,
no, no, no. The again, I repeat what I said
this morning about the scripture about God repenting. Changes
in providence don't change God and they don't imply any change
in him. Let me give you one illustration. Somebody said, well, prayer changes
God. Oh, prayer doesn't change God. Prayer changes you. It doesn't
change God. of Manasseh, or Hezekiah rather,
Isaiah came in with a word from God and said, God's going to
kill you. And Hezekiah turned himself to the wall and cried
out to God for mercy. And before Isaiah got out of
the king's court, God said, go back and tell Hezekiah, I'll
give you 15 years. Had 15 years. Well, that's proof
prayer changes God. No, no. Hezekiah had a son after
that. ungodly wretch of a man by the
name of Manasseh. And Manasseh had a son by the
name of Josiah. After Hezekiah prayed, and God
added 15 years to his life, and Josiah is one of the sons of
David through whom Christ came into this world. Do you reckon
God didn't purpose that from eternity? Oh no, oh no. God appears to change in his
providence, but he doesn't change. Look here in Job 23 verse 10.
He knoweth the way that I take. When he hath tried me, I shall
come forth as gold. When God gets done with me, I
shall come forth as gold. My foot hath held his steps,
his ways have I kept and not declined. Neither have I gone
back from the commandment of his lips. I've esteemed the words
of his mouth more than my necessary food. But he is in one mind and
who can turn him. And what his soul desireth, even
that he doeth. Isn't it strange how people talk
about God's will? They say, well, God's, God has purposed this,
but this is what he wants. If God wants it, it's done. You
understand that? If God does it, God wants it. What his soul desireth, even
that he doeth. Verse 14, for he performeth the
thing that is appointed for me. Oh, if that doesn't ring your
bell, your clacker's broke. He performeth the thing that
is appointed for me. And many such things are with
him. God's immutability is not inconsistent with prayer
at all. But prayer put in the hearts of his people are God's
instruments by which he accomplishes his immutable purpose. God told
David, I'm going to take your house and make it a house forever.
And they'll never want a man to sit on your throne. They'll
never want a man to sit on your throne. And there never has been
and never will be. There is a man today seated on
David's throne. He's Christ the Lord. Read Acts
chapter two. Never want a man. And when God
made that promise, David said. Therefore, hath thy servant found
it in his heart to pray this prayer to the old God, do like
you said you would do it, do it. In Ezekiel, Chapter 36, the
Lord speaks of his covenant promises and says, this is what I will
do for my people. And then he says, yet for this
thing, will I be salt? For this thing, will I be salt?
You're not going to Not call on him if you're his. He may
cause you to reel to and fro as a drunken man and bring you
to your wits ends, but he will cause you to seek his mercy.
And when you seek him with all your heart, he promises you'll
find him. All right, here's the fourth
thing. Turn to Jeremiah. No, you turn to John 13. I'll
look at Jeremiah. Jeremiah 31. You turn to John
chapter 13. God is immutable in his everlasting
love for his people. Jeremiah said, at the same time,
saith the Lord, will I be the God of all the families of Israel
and they shall be my people? Thus saith the Lord, the people
which were left of the sword found grace in the wilderness.
Even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest, the Lord had appeared
of old unto me saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting
love. Therefore, with loving kindness
have I drawn thee. Are you at John 13? Look at this. John 13, verse one. And now before
the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that the hour was
come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father. Having loved his own which were
in the world, he loved them to the end. He loved them to the
end. God's love, like himself, is
immutable. It's the same yesterday, today,
and forever. God's love is without cause. It is without beginning. It is
without limitation. Brother James ought to know the
length and breadth and height and depth of the love of God.
Without limitation, it's without change. and it's without end. We fell in our father Adam, but
God's love didn't change. We went astray from the womb
speaking lies, but God's love for us never changed. We lived
all our days in rebellion against him, but his love for us never
changed. And though we were rebels like
all other men, dead in trespasses and in sins, that we walked after
the course of this world, children of wrath even as others, but
God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved
us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together
with Christ. That means by grace, you're saved. God's love never changes. Though
often we sin, often is not sufficient a word,
is it? Rex, though we sin, with every
breath, God's love never changes. He
hides his face from us. He shows his displeasure as he
did with David's son when he killed his son to make the world
know his displeasure with the things we do. He hides his face
from us. In Isaiah 54, he calls it in
a little wrath. That is, it looks like wrath.
Feels like wrath. You remember when you your daddy
take out the belt and have you stretch across the bed and they'd
say, this is going to hurt me more than it does you. Have you
ever thought it really did Ben? Cause it feels like daddy's going
to kill me. And it looks like daddy's mad at me. No, no, that's
not the case. God's not mad at you. and he's
not going to kill you. He's loving you and taking care
of you as a father does the son he loves. His love never changes. His love never varies. His promises,
all his covenant promises stand firm. He said, I'll be their
God. Here he is. He's still my God.
He said, their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. He said,
I will not charge them with sin. And he refuses to charge us with
sin. He says, I will give them the
sure mercies of David. Let the unrighteous man forsake
his ways and his thoughts and turn to me. And I will pour out
upon you the sure mercies of David. This, my brother, my sister,
is all our security. For time and for eternity, in
the midst of all that surrounds us and all that's in us, I am the Lord. I change not. Therefore, you
sons of Jacob, chosen, beloved, redeemed, and called sons of
Jacob, tricky, conniving, sinful worms of the dust. I am the Lord. I change not. Therefore, you
sons of Jacob are not consumed. Amen.