A Changing World

Text: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8).

When God created the heavens and the earth change took place. God liked change, so then He created two great lights, one to rule the day and the other to rule the night. In addition to the two great lights, God created the many stars and placed them in just the right place in the universe.

If He had stopped making changes in His handiwork, we would not be here today. God decided to make life for the waters and life for the air. He created animals of all sort to walk upon the face of the earth. And then God created His most prized possession, that being mankind.

God started the process of change. Change takes place everyday of our life. You and I have seen many changes during our lifetime. We like to think of change as being good and in many cases it is.

Change came about in the life of two people at the time they chose to be disobedient to God. This change brought sin into the world and in addition created a void between Almighty God and mankind.

Man suffered for his disobedience by being driven from his garden home and forced to work the ground to make a living. This was a drastic change in his lifestyle. Man was given the freedom to choose and in this case he made the wrong choice and change occurred in his life.

As time passed, more and more wickedness came into play. God saw that man was not living according to His plan. “Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5).

Man was making changes and these changes were negative in the eyes of Almighty God. Man was not only disobedient, but he was greedy, selfish, self-centered, and interested in only himself. God was not happy about what man was doing and “He grieved in His heart” (Genesis 6:6).

God had no choice other than to destroy what He had created, but Scripture tells us “But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD” (Genesis 6:8).

Another great change was about to take place under the direction of God, but God chose to save Noah, his family, and a number of each kind of animal. For this event to take place, Noah was given directions for building a huge boat to protect his family and all the animals during the 40 days and 40 nights of rain and flooding.

All seemed to be going well after the flood, but then sin began to show its ugly face again. Man began to worship other gods and return to pagan ways. Construction was started on a tower that would glorify man.

The people said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth” (Genesis 11:4).

The people made a change and God stepped in and also made a change. “So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city and the tower” (Genesis 11:8).

Five generations after Babel, a man by the name Abraham came upon the scene. Wickedness was rampant, so God decided to make another change. This change would involve the life of Abraham.

God said to Abraham, “Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curse you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:1-3).

All down through history, individuals and nations who blessed Abraham’s descendants received a blessing from God. By the same token, those who persecuted Abraham’s descendants were cursed.

I am trying to get you to see that all down through history change has been taking place. This change is necessary because of the sinful nature of mankind. You and I possess the sinful nature that the earliest man possessed. We are not the way we should be. We do not think Godly at all times. We do not extend love, compassion and understanding as we should.

Greed has surfaced upon each of us.

We are like the Pharisees in that we keep our outward self looking good and acceptable, but our inner self is wicked. Jesus said to the Pharisee, “Now you Pharisees make the outside of the cup and dish clean, but your inward part is full of greed and wickedness” (Luke 11:39). Change is necessary if we are to acquire inner holiness.