Changes are happening all around us. According to one song,
life is a constant change – and nothing stays the same, clouds that move across the skies are changing form before our very eyes…
Change is one thing we can be sure to happen in this life. A major change happened in the life of Adam and Even in the garden of Eden after they ate the forbidden fruit. We don’t know everything that Adam said to Eve as they were about to leave the Garden but one thing he might have
said was “My dear Eve, our world is definitely going to change… this is all your fault.”
Remember the fear and uncertainty that the Israelites felt when they were about to cross the Red Sea, from Egypt to the wilderness or 40 years later from the wilderness to the Promised Land.
Consider these changes –
- It’s estimated that 90% of all items in the supermarket didn’t exist 10 years ago.
- More information has been produced in the last 30 years than in the past 5,000 years –
one main reason for this is the world-wide web or the internet.
- It is estimated that 50% of graduates are getting jobs that did not exist when they were born.
I read this somewhere:
‘My great grandfather rode a horse but was afraid of a train. My grandfather rode a train but was afraid of a car. My father rode in a car but was afraid of an airplane. I ride in an airplane but am afraid of a horse.’ That’s a full cycle of changes .
The dramatic steps made in technology are simply breathtaking. We can barely catch up with the changes in technology. The rate of change is so great today, we begin to ask
"is there nothing constant anymore? "
According to Greek philosopher Heraclitus, “the only thing constant in this world is change itself.” I heard an advertisement in KARI Christian Radio, a baby breathes his first, a grandmother breathes her last. A young girl starts her first day in pre-school, a young lady sets off to college. This world is in a constant state of change.
The Church is not a stranger to CHANGE. According to Rick Warren, some of the most challenging and major changes a church can face are the following:
1. Change the pastor
2. Change the church venue
3. Change the church worship time
4. Change the church name.
Our verse for this morning answers the question
“Is there really anything or anyone who does not change?”
1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 He was with God in the beginning.
3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
And then in verse 14 it says… The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.
We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
There is a word that describes the unchanging nature of God. It’s called… IMMUTABILITY
If you will search the Scriptures to find the word “immutability” you will be disappointed to find that the literal word only appears once and its only on the King James or New King James version. This verse is found in Heb. 6:17 which says… Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath.
Have you heard the word "mutation?" Mutation means genetic changes that produce new offspring. Something is mutable if it is subject to change in any degree. Therefore, to be immutable means to be unchanging and unchangeable. It means that God does not change in his basic character. His purposes do not change. He never grows in knowledge or wisdom. He never differs from or contradict himself. He never improves upon his own perfection. He is Always wise, Always sovereign, Always just, Always good, Always holy, Always merciful, Always gracious. There are no “sometimes” attributes of God. All of his attributes are “always” attributes. He always is what he is.
Three points concerning God`s unchangeable character:
First, God is Immutable because His promises never change.
We break our promises all the time. Who are the DADs here? Men have an unwritten rule in manhood and its called Word of Honor. They say women, we love them so much, that we allow them to change their minds sometimes. Men, on the other hand, is not. “dictum meum pactum” Our word is our bond which is the motto of the stock exchange since the 1800s. But let’s be honest here, especially the men… a lot of us fail in this area sometimes…keeping promises. Because a lot of times, we’re busy… we’re occupied with more important things… How many of us have promised to do something with our kids but then we failed to do it. I’ve done it a couple of times and
thank God, He gives me the opportunity to make up for it sometimes.
Our God is like a father to us. But unlike most fathers, God never makes excuses. He never has to because he always keeps his promises. God keeps His Word. His Word is His bond. In fact, its more than His bond. His Word is His Only begotten Son! The Bible says in
James 1:17 " Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows"
James is using something scientific here… it’s cosmological. “The “Father of lights” is the God who created the heavenly bodies. The heavenly bodies eclipse each other, they move and turn and cast shadows on the earth and on each other. They are created things, so they change. But the God who made them does not change. His gifts always turn out to be good, even when, for the present, we cannot figure out how. He will give nothing but what is best. We can count on that. It is the promise of an unchanging God. Church, God’s promises never change.
Second, God is Immutable because His purposes never change.
We change our plans frequently. We make our list for the day and plan to do certain things but along the way, we change our plans. That’s the way life is. We plan to go to a place, we change our minds. They say, women change their minds more often than men. Do you agree Ladies? Well, they say this is because there are a lot of things that are going on in their minds whereas the men… they don’t have too much in their minds. Sometimes our plans are not very realistic and we must alter them. In WCF, we came up with Strategic Plans. If you want to know what are our strategic plans, you may check our website. We came up with plans and we try our very best to accomplish our plans.
But God’s purposes and plans never change. He always accomplishes his plans. God’s purpose and His oath are both unchangeable like what we read earlier in Hebrews 6:17. It is comforting to know that God’s plan for this world will never change, and that He will carry it out right on schedule according to His own good pleasure. As He said through Isaiah, Remember the former things long past, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me, Declaring the end from the beginning And from ancient times things which have not been done, Saying, “My purpose will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure” (Isaiah 46:9-10).
Psalm 33:11 says “But the plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations..”
Third, God is Immutable because His character never changes.
He is not fickle-minded like most of us. His character never changes. Unlike most of us, we live in Port Moody…we`re so moody. . The Latin word for MOON is LUNA. This is where we get our word “Lunes” in English, Monday or Moon Day. Luna is also the root word of LUNATIC. They say, because of some scientific and gravitational reasons, and since the human body is 80% water, our behavior changes when it’s full moon. Because the moon is closer to earth and it produces more gravitational pull… thus, affecting human emotions and behavior…we become lunatics. God is not like that, He mood is not dependent on other things. He never had bad days or good days. He does not wake up in the wrong side of the bed. He doesn’t treat us according to the whims of the moment. He is always completely consistent and unchanging with himself.
People change in their attitudes toward us. They may be grumpy in the morning and friendly at noon. They may whisper gossip to us and then turn around to another person and gossip about us. All of us have been disappointed by people we consider were friends who let us down because they didn’t live up to our expectations. God feels about us the same way he did when he sent Christ to the earth. Most people rejected Christ. The same love that He had before is the same love that He has for us now. What if God changed as we do? We would never pray. We would never trust him. We would never venture out in faith. We would never ask for his help.
We live in an ever-changing world but we thank the Lord Jesus that He is the same yesterday, today and forever. The same Jesus in whom the whole universe was created, the same Jesus who sacrificed His life on the cross is the same Jesus who offers grace to you and me so we can have eternal life.
Do you have the unchangeable JESUS CHRIST in your heart?
Accepting Jesus in your heart is the most important change that you can ever make in your entire life.
The Bible says if anyone is in Christ, He is a new creation… the old is gone… the new has come! This is the kind of change that God wants us to have. A change of heart! A change of life. A change of priorities. The Apostle Paul calls this transformation.
Are you willing to make that change?
PRAYER
Wherever you are, whatever you situation you may be -- you need the love of Jesus in your life.
Please say this prayer sincerely from your heart:
Father God, I confess all my sins to you today. Please forgive me. Today, I open my heart to your Son Jesus Christ. I accept Him in my life as my Savior and as my Lord. May the Holy Spirit come to my life and make me the kind of person you want me to be. In Jesus Name, I pray. Amen.Please say this prayer sincerely from your heart:
(The above article is an excerpt from a sermon delivered at WCF Richmond)
(I apologize if there are grammatical and spelling errors.
If you are looking for a church in British Columbia, Canada please visit our website for more information at www.wordchristianfellowship.com)
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