Immutable

Welcome back. In 1988, in the country of Armenia, it had an 8.2 earthquake that devastated the entire town, everywhere around. There was a man named Samuel who got up from his chair and ran to the school, the elementary school, where his son had earlier had left and gone to. As he was getting towards the site of where the school used to be, he saw that it was just completely devastated. It had completely collapsed, and it was just timber on top of timber, stone on top of stone.

He was yelling for his son, Armand.

He told the people, we've got to keep digging, we've got to dig these, we've got to find them. They said, there's no use. It's totally collapsed. Everything in there is gone. It's just rubble. He said, no, I must find my son. And he starts digging, and he calls other people and asks them to come and help him dig and pull these stones off and clear the rubble. And some help for a little while, but after 12 hours, most gave up. People were bringing flowers. They were bringing things before the memorial for those who had been killed in this terrible earthquake from that school. Well, Samuel kept digging and digging. 24 hours later, he was still digging, and people were saying, you're crazy. Why do you keep digging?

And at 32 hour mark, he pulled back a piece of metal, and he heard a voice. Saying, Father, is that you?

And out of the 33 students were in that classroom, he was able to pull 14 out, including his son, alive. And as they got out, our mom turned to his friends and said, I told you, my dad would be there. He would always be there for me. He would find us. Incredible story, true story from 1988. He had a father he could depend on. He had a father he knew who, no matter what, would be the same and stay with him. He would find him and he would not quit.

Title of today's sermon is immutable. Immutable. Perhaps you know what immutable means.

It doesn't change. We have an immutable God. It does not change. We, of course, we change. I have a picture here of my assistant, Jeff Lockhart. In case you're looking at that picture, it was many, many years ago, decades ago. Jeff has a...thank you, Benjamin shows a little bit of clear. I would not have recognized him. I didn't when he showed the scene. When he showed that picture earlier. Here's another picture of that Jeff and the Jeff you know today. Jeff Lockhart. He has changed a lot. As a matter of fact, I'm unrecognizable in many people's book, but we change, don't we? We change. Our appearance changes. So much in our lives change. We, matter of fact, have to get used to change. Obviously, Alisa, Jeff's wife, used to change because she's also changed. But so has Benjamin. Benjamin. Wow, Benjamin, that's a what? 12 year difference there between the Benjamin we know and the Benjamin, I guess, the first time I ever met him. When he was like six years old. Quite a bit of change and that's part of what we are about as humans and we kind of get used to change. But we're so thankful that God does not change. He's immutable. Unlike us, God is the same all the time, every day. Are you trying to be more like God? Are we less about change? God talks about that in his word in Psalms 102. Psalm 102, verse 25. Psalm 102 and verse 25 from the New King James Version. It says, of old, as he's describing God, of old you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands.

26. They will perish, but you will endure. God is eternal. It says, yes, they will all grow old like a garment. The universe? Yes. Like a cloak, you will change them, and they will be changed. Verse 27. But you, God, are the same, and your years will have no end. God, he doesn't age. He does not change. He is the same. That's what his word is telling us. Now, why is this truth enough that I have a whole sermon on it? Because in troubled times, and even in good times, we need to have something we can grab a hold of. We need to have something that we can depend on, like little Ormond. We have a Father who will not forsake us, not forget us, but will be there for us. God is immutable. He does not change, and how beautiful that is. Because, like I said, life is full of changes. We're so used to it now, right? We even have a chameleon, or different animals, like this one, that can change colors. It has a magnificent beauty to it, but it can change. We have geckos down here in Florida. The geckos seem to outnumber humans here as geckos everywhere, and they sometimes one in your house. If not, they're climbing all over your house. And whether they're in the grass, or whether they're on a concrete, which is maybe a little gray, or even stone, which is brown, green, they morph and they change colors so that they can blend in with their environment. Safety mechanism, I'm sure God has given to them. But you'll notice, we do on our back patio, we have this little gecko that comes around our umbrella. And one day, he's one color, and the next day he's laying against something else, and he's another color.

So we look at that, and it reminds us that there are changes in the environment. There is the caterpillar. The caterpillar! Not exactly a beautiful organism, not a beautiful creature per se, but after this caterpillar will not stay like this, it will change into a, what? Beautiful butterfly. A beautiful butterfly. A beautiful butterfly. But us, we change clothes, we change cars, we change our hair, we change houses, jobs, even mates, and sometimes we even change churches. It's what we do. It's what we do. How about you? Are you ready for a change? Every year at this time, we start preparing to examine ourselves and see where we need to make changes. Changes!

Because we're not like God, we're not perfect. He is. He had a son said, become you perfect. So we're in the process of becoming, what? Perfect. Becoming like him. We're in that process of a change from the human to the spiritual. From the weak human to the powerful God beings. That is our destiny. To become like God, we're in that process now. And hopefully we're trying to make changes. We're trying to change and be more like him every day. That's why I thought this was so powerful. The message, it definitely was to me. I like you to turn, if you have your Bibles, I like you to turn to Malachi. Malachi 3 and verse 16. Malachi 3 and verse 16 are for our Spanish-speaking people. You might say Malachi 3 16. But Malachi 3 and verse 6, excuse me, I said that wrong. Malachi 3 and verse 6. It's a very powerful scripture. It says, as God is trying to tell the people at that time, for I am the Lord. I do not change. I do not change. How beautiful is that? Therefore, you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob, as he was explaining to them, because they didn't know. Are you going to change your mind? Are you going to wipe us out now? No.

He said, I'm with you. I'll be there. It's like we heard earlier in the sermon, but there are some things required of us. Things that are required of us. We need to be more like God, not more like humans who want to do and change and can become whatever they want to become.

Remember when you were in elementary school? I do. I remember a friend that I was very close to during that year, and then we just kind of grew apart. We were different people, and things came on, and so the next year was a different person. And then going on into high school, you had friends. Friends that you had spent time with. Maybe you were in a clique. Maybe you were in a group. Maybe you were on a sports team. Maybe you were this. And so you were very close, but then you began to what? Pull apart. You went to college. You got a job. Things changed, and you began to see as you were growing up that you can be swayed or influenced by those around you.

We're changed by our friends too many times. We're changed by our social circles, because they have influence on us. And so sad to say, but it's a part of life. Too many of us are changed to our detriment. Our character even changes. Yes, who we thought we were. Our character changes. But the beauty of this is we can depend on God, because God's character does not change. That's right. God's character does not change. He's perfect, righteous. Haven't you had a day, maybe even a week, where everything went well? You did well. Everything seemed to go right. You had a righteous day, per se. Or you even had a righteous week. But many times it doesn't stay righteous. You don't carry on. You find you stumbled. You find that you failed on your mission to become more like Christ. I have happened to me. But I want that. I want to go back to that time, that day, that week when I was a man. I was where I should be. But I changed.

You know what's interesting about God? Is that God is not like that. He doesn't have one day that is less righteous or less holy than another day. He doesn't have one that's more, because he's wholly, completely, wholly righteous character all the time. That's who he is. That's what he's about. He's always righteous. He will always make the right decision. He can't be influenced by the heavenly realm to make a wrong decision.

We have to understand that. When I pray for people, we pray that his will would be done, because his will is what matters. His will is what's really important. The beauty of Scripture is that it says that God is the same.

Right? God is the same, Hebrews 13 and verse 8. He's the same what? He's the same yesterday, today, tomorrow, and better yet, forever. He's the same. His character, his decisions, will be the same when it comes to righteousness. When it comes to justice, when it comes to mercy, it's always the right decision. He doesn't make wrong decisions. We have to understand it. And to me, knowing that he's the same, because growing up in high school, there were guys I was friends with, and you'd put your trust in them, and they'd come through, and then they would let you down. And you'd say, well, well, I was busy. I couldn't do that.

And then you finally find a friend who is more like you that probably won't let them down, and you form a bond. And that's why when we become more like Christ, there's a stronger bond to God, from us to God and God to us.

It's comforting to know we worship a God. We put our lives in God's hands. There are trusting hands. There used to be a commercial of insurance or something about hands. You're in the good hands, people, or whatever. Well, okay, I'm sorry. Insurance company? No, I'd rather put my trust in God's hands. Because He's trustworthy beyond compare. We have to understand that. We can, as the old saying goes, take it to the bank. We can take our trust in Him to the bank, and he won't decide, well, I don't even know you anymore.

Well, I'm done with you. It's not God. God makes these incredible promises. But there's something we must understand because people have a hard time grasping this concept of immutable. They're saying, well, wait a minute. The religious theologian, Spurgeon, a couple others, brought this to the forefront 100-120 years ago about God being immutable. But we must understand that God can change His mind. God can change His mind. His character does not change, but He can change His mind.

Why do I know that? Growing up in Tennessee, when I was about 10 or 11, I got in trouble more times than I probably should have. It seemed that way to me. I was always doing something wrong. I was always getting trouble doing this and doing that or doing what I said I wouldn't do, and then I went and did it.

And so, in my family, when you did that, there was a penalty to pay. And usually, if I did something my father told me not to do and I did it anyway, there was the belt. I would get a whipping. And he had this leather belt that he carried on in. I knew I was in trouble if he reached towards that belt.

And it's something that I dreaded. Well, I remember this time I did something before school one time. And so, I was going to have to catch the bus, and so I was running down and he was on me. And he said, tonight, tonight, you're going to get a whip when I get home from work. Oh, man, you can imagine how school went that day. All I could think about, because he didn't have to whip very much or very often, because once he did, he made a lasting impression. But I went to school that day and it was like, boy, boy, boy, I hate going home. Couldn't, you know, mess with my mind all day long.

And I got home that evening, and of course I went and did my chores, or supposed to do on the farm. Came in that night, my dad got home, he didn't say anything. We had dinner, you know, I didn't really eat well. I just thought, when is this thing going to come? And it got towards bedtime. And I'm like, maybe he forgot. Well, I sure wasn't going to go, oh, you remember that whipping that you were going to give me? And so I remember, went in, took a shower, brushed my teeth, and ran up and got into bed. Just, no! Wow! This is great! He must have changed his mind.

The next day, no questions, no went to school, all this kind of stuff. And it was probably decades later that I asked him if he remembered that. He said, yes. He said, but the way you were acting, I figured you went through enough that day. And it was enough that there was an internment from doing it again.

I didn't have to. He changed his mind. And God also changes his mind. Doesn't mean he changes character, but he can change his mind as he's working with us. Because a punishment promise can be delayed. As we see from Scripture, it can actually be postponed if the people change. Because that's what he is wanting. But then again, it can be re-instituted. Because why? Because punishment is designed to motivate, to transform the mind, just like it transformed mine. It would have been easier for me to just get the weapon and get it out. It was like, okay, 10 minutes later, I'm good. But all day long, messing in your head that you're going to get this weapon, you know?

God does that. He has that for us. He used that back in biblical times. That's why we have all the testimony and the Scriptures about what took place in the first 4,000 years. And then roughly 50 or 60 years after in the New Testament. But it shows God, just like Jonah, remember the story of Jonah?

All of us do. The story of a big fish. And Jonah was a prophet. And Jonah got to find out what it was like to swim with the fishes, I guess, as the old mafia saying. It was like nobody else. But he actually survived. But Jonah was told to go and tell the nation of Assyria to repent. To repent and turn to God.

He didn't want to. He ended up doing what God told him to do. But the interesting part, when you go back in history, was that when he told them to repent, they repented the city of Nineveh, the nation of Assyria. And according to historical records, they actually changed why that leader, why their king, was on his throne. And they changed and turned towards God for about 50 years. And they no longer went out and just massacred people and flayed their skin off and covered the columns of their temples or cut their heads off and lined them on sticks for thousands and thousands of feet. They changed. And what did God do? What did God do? God said, no, I'm not going to destroy you now because you changed. What an example to us. What an example to this nation if we would change.

But what happened after that king died? Assyria went back to what they regularly did. And what happened? God's punishment came. Except it came 150 years later as the Medes and Persians conquered Assyria. Basically destroyed their nation in 612 BC. No longer to be heard of after that. You know, God told Adam all those years ago, he said, you eat the fruit of this tree, you're going to die. Well, he did die. Only it was postponed 900 something years. It lived to be 930, 130 years.

But the penalty was paid. He did die. It just wasn't what he probably thought or others thought. But haven't we experienced that ourselves? We kind of thought to ourselves, whoa, wait a minute, I did this. When's the penalty going to come? Well, hopefully we repent. Hopefully we repent. God sees it and says they've learned their lesson.

Noah. Remember Noah? Noah from Genesis 6. Wow, look at that arc. That is a huge, huge boat. A huge boat. Noah, it says in Genesis 6, did one thing. Well, actually, he did two things. He was a just man, and he walked with God. Because God in Genesis 6 says he looked across this whole earth and everything was evil. Everybody's thoughts were evil. It was just an evil place to be and to live, to exist. And he said, I'm going to wipe out men. I regret that I made them. I'm going to wipe them out. But it said that Noah found, what? Grace. Noah found grace. Not only did he find grace, he found the plans to build a huge boat. That's going to save him and his family. Now, what's interesting, it doesn't say that about Noah's wife. It doesn't say it about Noah's three boys and their wives. It didn't say they walked with God. It didn't say any of this. But Noah found grace, protection, because God was going to be there for him. And guess what? Not only did him, but his. Him and his, his family. How about you? Are you a saving grace in your family? Are you one that maybe looks at God? For Noah, it was very important that he followed God. And obviously, no one else on earth was. So does it matter what your friends do? Does it matter what your family does? No, it matters what you do. And no matter what happens, we have to follow God. We have to follow God. And that's what we should be doing. God does change his mind. Can change his mind with situations? Can change his mind with people? How about Moses? How about Moses? Can you give me that full screen? Look at Moses. Now Moses, according to most people, looks just like Charleston, Houston. That's what we think. And Moses came to a point where he had a relationship with God. And he was, you know, he was close together. That when the whole nation of Israel had been brought out of captivity, and all they did was complain, complain, complain, complain, complain, complain, complain, complain, complain again. He did what? Moses was upset. They were upset at him. They wanted to kill him too many times. You brought us out of here. They were so glad to get out, but then they weren't. They made a covenant with God. But they changed their minds. No, no, no. And they didn't want to follow God. Said it, but wouldn't do it. But now they were down there over before. That's why we learn from these lessons. And so God said, well, Moses, it can be easier on both of us if I just wipe them out, be done with them, and I'll start my nation because I promised. I promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that their seed would continue and grow, and even the Messiah would come out of that. And I can do it with you. I can just change everything. I'm not taking away my promise. I'm not lying to you. But wouldn't it be easier on both of us if I did that? Because of his humility, Moses said, God, please don't do that. Don't do it. And you know God listened. David was bringing up earlier about listening and talking to God on his cell phone, giving that example, which I think is a good one because, hey, and you wish you had God's number, well, you do. You do. All you have to do is talk to him.

And he listened to Moses, and he changed his mind.

One more example is a Brahm. A Brahm. Remember him? A Brahm. God came to a Brahm with two different angels, sat down and had a meal with him. Had a good conversation and an incredible meal. And you can imagine sitting there having dinner with God. It'd be a great thing to do, wouldn't it?

And so then he turned to a Brahm, and he said, the angels are going on. They were going to wipe outside of Mangomor.

What did a Brahm do? A Brahm wanted to negotiate with God. You can read about it in Genesis 18. I didn't bring it out here because you can go and read that story. It's if you've ever been a salesman and never had to negotiate a price, this is a way to look at it. Because, hey, this man negotiated with God, who's all-powerful, who knew everything, who could control everything, and here he is. He's wanting a better deal.

So he came and he sat with God, and God said, what are they going on? And he goes, well, wait a minute. What if all the people there are not evil? What if there's 50, 50 people?

Would you destroy it then? He said, no. What about 45?

No. What about 40? What about 30? What about 20? Until you can read the text and you see that that he's pushing the limit with God, he says, don't be angry with me. What if there's 10? And God said, if there's 10 righteous people inside him, I won't destroy it. I've always thought, why did he bring it down to 10 when he could have said, well, what about two? About Lott and his wife, or his daughters, or whatever. But is it possible that there were 10, 10 people in that city of Sodom that Abram knew, his relatives? This was his nephew. Is it possible? He thought there were 10. And so he was wanting to save those 10 and save the whole city. Have you ever negotiated with God? Maybe it's time that you follow the example of Abram, the friend of God. Is God your friend? Can you say, God, can we negotiate this? Can I know that I did this? I know that I want this. I know that I do this. As one person told me not long ago, or whatever, always make God your real estate person. Pray to him that you'll find the right house, that you get the right price, that these things, and we've found that to be very true.

With God, maybe we need to be able to talk to him so that we can come before God with a humble heart. Because I liked it when Abram said, well, I know I'm dust and I'm ashes, and I don't even have a right to ask you. But would you negotiate with me? God is a loving, caring father, our spiritual father, who's wanting to listen. He's wanting to help. And sometimes we get ourselves in binds, physically, mentally, spiritually. Get ourselves in a bind that we need some help. We need some negotiations. And this shows that God's willing to listen. Immutable. What does it mean? Immutable. Well, it means fixed. It means God is fixed. His character is fixed. He's going to make the right decision all the time. You have faith in that because his character is set. He's unyielding. It means constant. And I like constant. Don't you like constant? I like something that I can depend on. That's as it's worth saying lasting. Lasting for us.

Earlier, David, in his sermonette, talked about Balaam. Balaam, this horrendous pseudo-profit, that God actually worked with. That was a false prophet. He was an evil man, just a greedy man. But God began to work with him, and he knew. He knew because he had seen all the fake stuff he had done, but now it was a real thing. Now it was the real God, and he understood who God was. He turned to Numbers 23. Numbers 23. As Balaam is speaking here, and in verse 19, as he's explaining to Balaam, the guy who hired him to go and curse the tribe, he said, God is not a man, that he should lie. Oh, man, isn't that beautiful? He didn't make it up one day. Oh, well, I lied. I'm sorry. I can't do that. God cannot lie. God is not a man that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should repent. God has no reason to repent. He doesn't do anything wrong. We do. Has he said, has God said at any time, and he will not do? Or has he spoken, and he will not make good on what he said? No. No. This is our God. This is who we can believe in. As I'm going to close this message today, I'd like to cover a few things. I'd like to look at three very reassuring facts, not three, multiple reassuring facts, about God so that we can take it to the bank, so that we can rest easy when we go to bed at night. Maybe we need to pray before we go to bed at night. Got some issues. See, I'd give me a peaceful sleep. Maybe when we get up in the morning, knowing that God's there, and that God's immutable, and he's going to do what's right. Maybe you've got problems at work. Maybe there's problems with the government. Maybe there's problems with all these various things that can come up. Well, God's bigger than all of that, and he's not going to lie to you. First thing, God does not age. God does not age. It's a fact. Now, he's no older today than he was yesterday. He's no older than he was 5,000 years ago. You'd say, well, how can that be? Because God does not age. I went over and worked on a widow's house this week. I worked on a roof to stop a leak, and I used to. That's what I used to do. I climbed up there and didn't think anything about it. Worked on there for a couple hours. Got off, and even getting off and up and down the ladder. It's not what it used to be. I've aged. I could tell the next day I was a little sore. This body is aging. This hair has aged. Only you can relate to that. Those that don't dye their hair, or even if you do a doe dye your hair, I guess you can relate to it. We're changing. We're getting older.

What about it? Isn't it good that God doesn't age? See, he doesn't live in time and space as we do. He's outside of all that, and He's promised us to have a piece of it later. So that we can live a time that is called eternity. He's promised eternal life. We will not age. Won't that be great? My mother is always talking. She's in her 80s, and she's always talking about sometimes that her mind isn't what it used to be. And so she can't remember this and can't remember that. Of course, she can remember usually every bad thing I ever did for 60 years. But I don't have to worry about that with God. He's not going to forget because He does not age, and He knows everything. He's omniscient. Besides immutable, He's omniscient. This is what God does for us. This is why it's so great. That's why Daniel even called him what? The ancient of days. He didn't know what to call him. God is the ancient of days. He's always lived. He always will.

We made up light years so we could describe space, time and space. God doesn't need that. You can't describe Him. How powerful is that? God does not lie. We read that earlier, right? God does not lie. We don't have to worry about, oh, sorry, I changed my mind on that. I told you I'd do this and now I'm not going to. God does not lie. Paul spent time telling Titus, wrote to Titus, and said, we bank this, teach this, know this. God cannot.

Because He does not lie. He cannot lie.

This is the one we put ourselves into His hands. Isn't that beautiful? Wouldn't you love to just, I'd like to know one politician who doesn't lie. Okay? Everyone I've seen or everyone I've met or whatever I've seen during the time, oh well, yeah, I meant that, but I really can't do that. God isn't like that, because immutable doesn't change. He always tells the truth. He said there is a kingdom coming. Jesus Christ will rule over that kingdom. Bank it! It's there! It's going to happen! And He said He wants you, He wants me to be a part of that kingdom, and He offers that to us. How incredible is that? That He offers us eternal life, a kingdom, and He cannot lie.

Finally, God cannot sin. You thought about it? God cannot sin. It's impossible for Him to sin. Us, we sin. Us, we lie. We've got these things. Us, we'll die, because we age. But with God, He cannot sin. James talks about that, the half-brother of Jesus Christ in the first chapter, where he talks about God doesn't tempt us, and neither can He ever be tempted. God cannot be tempted to lie, and He doesn't tempt us to sin. God cannot sin. He doesn't tempt us to sin. We usually can do a pretty good job of it on our own. But this is our God. This is our Father. This is who we can put our trust in. Want to put it in Darwin? And theory of relativity, as we saw during the special music, all the beauty that Darwin thought just evolved.

No. We put it in a Creator God. The power of the universe. And that's all God wants us to do. Put our trust in Him.

Only God, one of the greatest blessings we can have, forgives sin. God forgives sin. Your sin, my sins, many sins, everyone's sins, can be forgiven. He even planned this billions of years ago. He said, because Christ was slain from the foundations of the world.

This planet, they believe, was over 14 billion years old. He planned this. God planned a way for us to be forgiven of our sins. He thought that much of us. He thinks way ahead. How beautiful is it?

A blessing, a true blessing, that we have from God as He's immutable. An immutable God. Think about it. What a blessing it is that we can count on somebody. The most powerful being entity in the entire world that has ever existed has us called us as His children, wants us to be His children, loves us as His children, and then says, just trust me. Just trust me.

Because I'll not change. I'll not change my mind.

I'll never leave you. I'll never forsake you. But I will always love you. Brethren, let us enjoy.

Enjoy this life, realizing that we are in God's hands.

We are under His care, and there's no better care to be under.

Will we change? Yes, we'll continue to change. We see little children grow up and become adults. Amazing that God thought so much of this world that He wanted to watch His Son grow up, become an adult, be perfect, immutable as a human, and then He was willing to watch him die. And His life has run out of His body as He is bleeding to death, and the blood will shed for each and every one of us, because He loves us. And He was going to stick with that plan, no matter what, because He weighed—Christ weighed His— He was who He was, a God, and a sacrifice for us, and we weighed more. He was willing to do that for us, and God was willing to see us through. So have a wonderful week, and we'll see you back here next week as we continue our life down this road with our incredible God, our immutable God.