Malachi chapter 3. I want to just read one verse
to us tonight. I just want to take this really
for a not-too-much-explained text of the context. It's sort
of self-explanatory. In Malachi chapter 3, and Malachi
is the last book now, the Old Testament. So if you turn to
the New Testament and go to your left, you'll run into Malachi
chapter 3 and this one verse. And this is our subject for just
a few minutes, the immutability of God. God never changes what
He is now. He always has been and always
will be. I am the Lord. I am the Lord. I change not. Therefore, you sons of Jacob
are not consumed. I am the Lord, I change not. There's something about two attributes
of God that we'll look at just in a second that's different
in this sense than all of His other attributes. Most of His attributes you and
I can relate to in a sense, at least to a degree. When God made
humanity, He made us in His image. And I take that, when He said
He made us in His image, He made us, one, rational beings. He
made us where we could think. He made us where we could reason,
we could have knowledge, we had understanding. We're not as the
beast. The beast, the fowls of the air,
can't reason. They can't know. They live by
instinct, basically. But when God made Adam and Eve,
He made them intelligent beings. That's His image. And when we
talk about the attribute of knowledge, you and I studied a couple of
weeks ago on the knowledge of God, that He knows all things
perfectly. And there is a sense in which
you and I can relate to that attribute, because we know something
about knowledge, don't we? We can't relate to Him being
perfect in knowledge, but we can relate to God having knowledge. So we can relate to that attribute
because we're possessed of knowledge. We think things through. We can
reason things. When we think about the power
of God, He's the Almighty. I am the Almighty. Walk before
me and be thou perfect. And you know we can relate to
that. Because we know something about power. I can pick this. That's power, isn't it? We know
something about power to live and move about and do things.
We can relate to power. Not almighty power, but we can
relate to power. So we can relate to that attribute
of God. We can even relate to the omnipresence
of God. We can get a hold of that just
a little bit, even though we're confined to this one location,
this one spot. We can get on the phone and talk
to anybody all over the world. Or they set up cameras on our
TV sets, and we're present in all different places of the world
where that camera is. So we know something about being
present at different places in that sense. Now, God is everywhere. And we can't relate to Him as
He is omnipresent in and of Himself, that He's everywhere. But since
we're here, we can relate to being in other locations by different
means. There is a sense even in which
we can relate to the omnipresence of God. We can relate to the
patience of God. Aren't you patient? Aren't you
patient? We lose our patience. We're not
as patient as we ought to be. But we know what it is, don't
we? We know what it is not to be patient. We can relate to
goodness. We know better than to be mean
to one another. We know what it is to be good.
God is perfectly good. God is perfectly patient. Love? We know what it is to love. We
don't love as He loved, but we can relate. See what I'm saying?
We can relate to these attributes of God. But there's two things
concerning God. concerning His essence, His being,
that you and I just cannot relate to. One of them is His eternality. His eternality. He is indeed
from everlasting to everlasting. You and I can't get a hold of
that. You and I are creatures of time. One thing that we have
in common with all God's creatures, there was a time when we began
And there's a time that we die. Some creatures, you take certain
kinds of beasts, they live longer than other beasts. Fowls of the
air, some individuals, humans live longer than other humans
live. But you know we all have a time to be born, and we all
have a time to die. There's but one who can lift
his hands to heaven and say, I live forever. And that's God. That's the Lord. He has no beginning
of days. He has no end of days. He is
indeed the everlasting Lord. I made this little chart here. I just drew it up. I was thinking
about this today. David said, before the mountains
were, before you made the earth or the world, From everlasting
to everlasting thou art God. And you know something you can't
do with eternity? You can't measure eternity by
time. You can't measure from everlasting
to everlasting by time. I just drew this right before
we come down here. I don't know if you can see or not to make
this out. This is just a little line I drew. Here is the beginning
of time. This is the beginning. In the
beginning He created the heavens and the earth. And I thought
if the world stands for 7,000 years, right here is the 7,000
years. Right there. 7,000 years. And if you measure the time that
you and I live between these 7,000 years, it would be something
like that little dog there. See that little dog? It would
be something like that. That's our space between these
7,000 years. But if you had to take this line and go backwards
with it into eternity, and take this line and go forwards into
the future, everlasting, you couldn't see this little dot.
You couldn't measure that dot. It's too small. You'd never see
it. As a matter of fact, from this line to this line, 7,000
years, you wouldn't see that either. Because you cannot measure
eternity by time. And that's what God is. He's
from everlasting to everlasting. Listen to what David said. He
said, Lord, make me to know my end, the measure of my days,
what it is that I may know how frail I am. Make me to know my
end. Help me to measure my days. Let
me know how many days I have. and how short they are. Help
me to measure. And he finished that verse like this, Behold,
thou hast made my days as a handbreadth. That's right there as a handbreadth.
Four inches, about four inches. Now, I'll tell you what you could
do. You could take that handbreadth and you could measure any distance
you wanted to measure. You could measure this universe
with a handbreadth. It would be difficult. It would
be real difficult. But you could. Because you can
measure what we see and know in this world by a hand breath. You made my days as a hand breath
and my age is as nothing before thee. He says, Lord, when I take
the measure of my days and measure it with your days, it's nothing.
That word frail, make me to know how frail I am, it means vacant. When you have two houses and
there's an empty lot between them, that's vacant. It's vacant. And David said, when I consider
my days compared to your days, there's nothing there. There's
no way I can measure my time compared to your time. Because
from everlasting to everlasting. Now, you and I don't have any
way to relate to that, can we? His eternality. But right along
with that is this immutability of God. I am the Lord, I change
not. And I think when you look at
immutability, you have to first consider His eternality. Because
what He is now, He always has been. And what He is now, He
always will be. He's not only eternal, but He's
unchanging in His eternality. One thing that's so evident to
you and I in this life, and it's so sad really, But we can relate
to this almost every day of our life, and that's change. Change
and decay, the poet said, all around us. Clarence, you're changing. Your body's changing. Our opinions
change. Our taste changes. Just about
everything we know and see changes. The scripture tells us not to
trust in uncertain riches. Riches are uncertain, yeah. They
change, don't they? The value changes. Our cars are
rusted. Our houses are rotted. Everything
that we know and see is changing. What is man? He's a changing,
decaying creature. Here's what Peter said of him
in 1 Peter 1.24. All flesh is grass. And the glory of man is as the
grass of the field. The grass withers. The grass
withers. And the flower fades away. Everything we know about ourselves
is changing. We can relate to that so easy.
When we look around us, in the creation, everything is changing.
Listen to Hebrews chapter 1 and verse 10. And the heavens are the work
of your hands. They shall perish, but thou remainest. They shall wax old as a vesta."
They're wearing out, aren't they? I bet you the first thousand
years or two thousand years, they didn't have to use fertilizer
on their gardens. It was a rich place. We have
to use it now. We won't grow anything with it.
What's the matter with the earth now? It's wearing out. It's waxing
old. It's decaying. It's changing.
As a vesture shall thou fold them up, and they shall be changed,
but thou art the same. See, we can't relate to Him because
He's nothing like us. He's eternally different than
you and I are. We can't relate to anything but
change. And when we begin to speak about
one who knows no change, We can't relate to that. God has never
evolved. God has never grown. God has
never improved. And God will never diminish.
Whatever He is right now, at this point in time, He's always
been back in eternity. He's perfect. He's perfect. And since He's perfect, He cannot
change. He knows no change. He is eternally,
eternally perfect. He can't change for the better,
can He? If you're perfect, you can't
change for the better, and being perfect, He cannot change for
the worse. I am the Lord. I change not. And since God the Lord changes
not, He is immutable in all His attributes. First, we have to
establish God in His very essence. What makes God, God cannot change. And I think this verse and all
kinds of other verses in the Bible establishes that God in
His glorious person cannot change. And then, His being, His essence,
because it cannot change, His attributes cannot change. And
His decrees cannot change. And His purposes cannot change.
His purposes are fixed. Listen to Isaiah 46.11. I have spoken it. I will do it. I have purposed it. I will also
bring it to pass. That's fixed, isn't it? His purposes
is fixed. Ephesians chapter 3 and verse
11 tells us that He has an eternal purpose which He purposed in
Christ Jesus the Lord. An eternal purpose. And He works
all things after the counsel of his own will. Everything that
he has purposed, everything that he has decreed is fixed. It will
come to pass. It cannot change. How can that
be so? Because he that purposed it is
unchangeable. And if he cannot change, what
he decreed cannot change. What he purposed cannot change.
His will is established. He doth according to his will,
in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth,
Daniel 4 and 35, Romans 9 and 19, who hath resisted his will? Nobody. Nobody. Why? Because that will is immutable.
Immutable like him, that will. His word is sure. Brother Larry
reminded us this of different times. Forever, O Lord, your
word is settled in heaven. Till heaven and earth pass away,
not one jot or one till shall pass from that law. See what
we do when we establish the immutability of God? Everything He puts His
hand to, everything He's purposed, everything He's established,
His will, everything that He's wrote in His Word, it's immutable
too. Not one promise will go unfulfilled. Not one truth will fall to the
ground. without accomplishing what God
sends it forth to do. Let me show you three scriptures.
Take your Bibles and look at three scriptures right quickly.
Look in Joshua. Look in Joshua. Chapter 21. Look in verse 43. Joshua 21, verse 43. The immutability of His Word is unchanging. Joshua 21, verse 43, And the
Lord gave unto Israel all the land which he swore to give unto
their fathers, and they possessed it and dwelled therein. And the
Lord gave them rest round about, according to all that he swore
unto their fathers. And there stood not a man of
all their enemies before them. The Lord delivered all their
enemies into their hands. Look in verse 45. There fell
not aught of anything which the Lord had spoken unto the house
of Israel. All came to pass. Now how can
that be said? that God spoke in His Word what
He was going to give them, what He was going to do for them.
All the promises that He made to them, He said not a thing,
not aught of all He said, fell to the ground. It all came to
pass because God is immutable. What He decrees, what He wills,
what He promises, it comes to pass. It will not change. It
will not change. Look in 2 Corinthians chapter
1 and verse 18. 2 Corinthians 1, verse 18. 2 Corinthians 1, and look in verse
18. Do you find it? But as God is true,
our word toward you was not yea and nay, the gospel is not maybe
or maybe not, is it? For the Son of God, Jesus Christ,
who was preached among you by us, even by me and Silvanus and
Timotheus, was not yea and nay, but in Him was yea. For all the promises of God in
Him are yea, and in Him, amen, unto the glory of God by us."
All the promises of the gospel are sure. They're based upon
the immutability of God. And until He changes, Glenn,
the promises can't change. Look in one more place. Look
in Hebrews chapter 6 and verse 12. Hebrews chapter 6 and verse
12. Hebrews chapter 6 and verse 12. That you be not slothful. Don't
be a slobber. But followers, imitators of them
who through faith and patience inherit the promises. For when
God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no
greater, he swore by himself, saying, Surely, blessing, I will
bless thee, and multiplying, I will multiply thee. So after
Abraham had patiently endeared, he obtained a promise. For men
verily swear by the greater, and an oath for confirmation
is to them an end of all strife. Wherein God willing, more abundantly
to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel,
of his purpose, of his promises, confirmed it by an oath that
by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to
lie, We might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge, to
lay hold upon the hope set before us, which hope we have, as an
anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth
to that within the veil, whether the forerunner is for us entered,
even Jesus made a high priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek."
God is immutable. So all of His counsel and all
of His purposes and all of His promises, all that He's promised
in Jesus Christ, you can take it to the bank. You can take
it to the bank. This is a God that you and I
can put all our confidence in. We can rest in Him. We can trust
Him. When He makes a promise, He'll
keep that promise. He's immutable. If I make you
a promise, there's some reason or another that that promise
is not fulfilled. There's some reason that I can't
fulfill my promise that I made you. I may have forgotten it. I may not have the power to fulfill
that promise. I may not have the knowledge.
I may not know how to fulfill that promise. But the cause is
found in me, not you. But if I make you an unconditional
promise and I don't fulfill it, there's something wrong with
me. That's why all the promises that God gives us in Christ,
He fulfills all those promises. There's no reason why He wouldn't.
There's no reason why He couldn't. Abraham being fully persuaded
that what God has promised, He's able to fulfill. His promises
is based upon who He is, His ability. And until that ability
changes, The surety of the promise cannot change. And God will never
change. He's immutable. Therefore, His
promises are sure. His Word is sure. As sure as
God Himself. When all around my soul gives
way, He then is all my hope and strength. The Lord said to Israel,
Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation. Israel backslid. They were cold
and indifferent. Didn't bring the tithes. Didn't
bring the offerings to give to the priests there in the temple.
But the Lord turns right around in our text in Malachi 3.6, and
He says, Yes, I am the Lord. I change not. You've changed. That's what he told them. He
said, You've changed. You're cold. You're indifferent. You've left your first love.
You've changed, but I've not changed. And because I've not
changed, your salvation is secure. I am the Lord. I change not. Therefore, you sons of Jacob
are not conceived. And you and I feel like that
so often, do we not? We say, no thanks to us. The
Lord is faithful. The Lord doesn't cast us off
or turn us out. He's faithful. No thanks to us.
To us belong shame and confusion of faith. But here's our hope. Here's what brings us back. Here's
what keeps us, you see. I am the Lord. I'm not like you. I change not. My affections don't
change. My love don't change. My promises
don't change. My wisdom, my knowledge, nothing
about me changes. Therefore, if I promised you
that you shall be saved in the Lord, then I'll keep my promise. My promise is not based on what
you're doing or what you're not doing. Well, when you see that,
When you see that, oh, my soul, He'll dispel your heart in worship
and appreciation. And the people that see that
and keep this before the eyes of their understanding, that's
the people that want to be more faithful than anybody else. Oh, the immutability of God.
There's something about it that comforts His people and encourages
His people. It's this old song in Spurgeon's
hymn book. William Hammond wrote this. He
said, O my distrustful heart, how small thy faith appears,
but greater, Lord, thou art than all my doubts and fears. Did
Jesus once upon me shine? Then Jesus is forever mine. Unchangeable
His will, whatever be my frame, His loving heart is still eternally
the same. My soul, through many changes,
goes. His love, no variation, no. Bless His name. I am the Lord. I change not. Therefore, ye sons
of Jacob are not concerned. A couple of places. Two places. Look in Ezekiel chapter 8. Ezekiel chapter 8. That's a comfort. God's immutability is a comfort
to his children. Encouragement and a confidence
to them. But you know that's a terror
to the lost. This is a terror to the wicked.
Because he won't change towards you either. If you live in your
sins and you die in your sins, you'll perish forever in your
sins. Some people think that I'll live
in my sins, I'll disobey God, I won't come to Christ, I won't
trust Him, I won't give myself up to Him. And when I die, God
is such a merciful God, I'll cry unto Him and surely, surely,
He'll have mercy. No, He won't. He says He won't. And that's the terror of it,
ain't it? He says, you die in your sins, that's the way you'll
remain for all eternity. And I won't lift a finger to
deliver you. And if He says that, He won't change. He's unchangeable. Look in Ezekiel chapter 8 and
look in verse 17. Then He said unto me, Hast thou
seen this, O son of man? Is it a light thing to the house
of Judah that they commit the abominations which they commit
here? For they fill the land with violence, and have turned
to provoke me to anger, and lo, they put the branch to their
nose. Therefore will I also deal in fury, mine eye shall not spare,
neither will I have pity, and though they cry in my ears with
a loud voice, yet will I not hear them. You know there's a
rich man in hell tonight and he's still crying. He's still
saying, have mercy upon me. But God will not extend any mercy
to him. Why? God can't change. He cannot
change. One more Scripture. Look in Psalms
146. And look in verse 1. Psalms 146, verse 1. Praise ye
the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul, while I live will I praise
thee, O Lord. I will sing praises to my God
while I have my being. Now here is what the Lord instructs
us to do. Put not your trust in princes,
nor in the Son of Man, nor in a human being, in whom there
is no help. Don't put your trust in men. Don't put your trust in any mere
human being, in no preacher or nobody else. Put your trust in
one man, the man Christ Jesus. Put your trust in Him. If we
disobey God, if somebody disobeys God and puts their trust in a
man, they've got nobody to blame but themselves. All of these
thousands and millions of people who have trusted the Pope, trusted
all these Popes, they come and bow and put their trust in a
Pope? In a mere man? They trust Jim
Jones's? They trust Herbert W. Armstrong's? They put their trust in men?
What's going to happen to them? This fellow told me one time,
he said, dear friend of mine, he wasn't a converted man obviously,
but he said, if a man deceives me, then I don't believe I'm
responsible. God won't hold me responsible.
And I said, you mean all these people that are following the
Pope, these people that follow Jim Jones to their death, God's
not going to hold them responsible? He said, I don't believe He will.
Here he tells people, he forewarns people, don't put your trust
in man. Now, if we put our trust in man,
we've got nobody to blame but ourselves. If we put our trust
in the blind and they lead us, both of us are going to fall
off into the ditch. Don't trust in man. He's mutable. He's changing. What he believes and teaches
you today, he'll lie to you tomorrow. He'll change it. Put your trust
in God who cannot change. Put your trust in Him who is
the same yesterday, today, and forever. The Son of God. He's immutable. And I tell you,
once you put your trust in Him, He'll never fail you. He will
never fail. He cannot fail any more than
He can lie. He is indeed the immutable God. Ain't that a wonderful thought?
immutability of God. Any questions?