Our Security Blanket
(is God’s Unchanging Nature)
Malachi 3:6 , JAMES 1:17
What are you counting on for your security? What makes you feel safe in this world? Do you remember Linus in the Snoopy cartoon? He sucked his thumb and carried around what? His security blanket. If anything but God is our security blanket it will in time change and dissolve away. Some counted on their bank accounts, and when the stock market crashed in 1929 they jumped out of windows. If you are counting on a person like all the love songs talk about. "You light up my life" "You are the wind beneath my wings" People and feelings will change, let you down, move away, or betray you, and if they don’t they may just die before you. As a child My Dad was my security. He was big and strong and could fix anything. He had a good job and could help if I had a financial need. I could lay down and sleep in the back of the van, because Dad was driving and I was safe. But when he had his first heart attack in 89 my security begin to crack. And slowly with time and age the helper became helpless, and death took him away. Some count on their church for security, but those who did at my former church found the doors closed 6 years after I left. None of us like change but it is a part of life. Someone said the only person who likes change is a baby with a wet diaper. Our friends in Michigan had a plant close and had to move to North Carolina for a job. Her mother who counted on her for everything said “Now what are we going to do, we depended on you for everything.”
I Change is Enviable
Courtney’s face book said “Hudson turned 1 month today and I want to press the pause button”
We are living in a changing world. Our friends, fiancees, and even our features change. Fashions change.
However, in the midst of an changing world there is an unchanging God.
For a thing to change it is necessary that the change occur in one of two direction: better to worse of worse to better. Now in man change is impossible to escape, but in God change is an impossibility. The second law of thermodynamics declares that everything tends to wear out, run down, and disintegrate. Everything tends to change but God.
People Change
Go to a class reunion and notice how everyone has changed. People may not grow up . . . but they do get older. The hair gets thinner, the midsection gets fuller, the memory loses it’s sharpness and our health places limits on even the most carefree. We are changing all the time. We change our clothes, we change our minds, we change directions, we change jobs, we change cars, and we change moods in an instant. Since change is a part of our lives it is hard for us to grasp the truth that God does not change. Human beings have their good days and bad days. At times we might say that someone is "not quite themselves". But God never has a "bad day." This characteristic of God is called His immutability.
Things Change
Picture a scene from the Old West, sometime in the 1870s. Weary cowboys in dusty Levi’s gather around a blazing campfire after a day on the open range. The lonely howl of a coyote counterpoints the notes of a guitar as the moon floats serenely overhead.
Suddenly a bellow of pain shatters the night, as a cowpoke leaps away from the fire, dancing in agony. Hot-Rivet Syndrome has claimed another victim. In those days, Levi’s were made, as they had been from the first days of Levi Strauss, with copper rivets at stress points to provide extra strength. On these original Levi’s—model 501—the crotch rivet was the critical one: when cowboys crouched too long beside the campfire, the rivet grew uncomfortably hot. For years the brave men of the West suffered this curious occupational hazard.
Then, in 1933, Walter Haas, Sr., president of Levi Strauss, went camping in his Levi 501’s. He was crouched by a crackling campfire in the High Sierras, drinking in the pure mountain air, when he fell prey to Hot-Rivet Syndrome. He consulted with professional wranglers in his party. Had they suffered the same mishap? An impassioned YES was the reply. Haas vowed that the offending rivet must go, and at their next meeting the board of directors voted it into extinction.
Everybody’s Business, ed. my M. Moskowitz, M. Katz, R. Levering
The average number of jobs an American worker has held by age 40: 8
What Counts: The Complete Harper’s Index, edited by Charis Conn
“Any change, at any time, for any reason, is to be deplored.” The Duke of Cambridge (late 1800s)
Cumfords Law
Nothing is ever done until everyone is convinced that it ought to be done, and has been convinced for so long that it is now time to do something else.
Nothing should ever be done for the first time.
Source unknown
II Only the Perfect one -God-Can remain the same
With God is “no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” He cannot change for better, for He is already perfect; and being perfect, he cannot change for worse. He is always the same.
Herein is comfort. God can be relied upon. He is not fickle. He is stable. He is steadfast and sure.
As the first American astronaut prepared to go into space, one reporter asked, “What are you depending on most in your venture?” No doubt, the reporter expected the astronaut to say something about the quality of his equipment, his navigational skills, or the people at the space center. But instead, he replied, “That God will not change His laws.” He did not have to worry about that.
Question: "What is the immutability of God?"
Answer: The immutability of God (that He does not change) is clearly taught throughout Scripture in countless passages. For example, in Malachi 3:6 God affirms, "I the Lord do not change." (See also Numbers 23:19; 1 Samuel 15:29; Isaiah 46:9-11; Ezekiel 24:14.) James 1:17 tells us “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness nor shadow of turning.” The shadow of turning refers to the sun which eclipses, and turns, and casts its shadow. It rises and sets, appears and disappears every day; and it comes out of one tropic, and enters into another at certain seasons of the year. But with God, who is light itself, there is no darkness at all, there is no change, nor anything like it. He is unchangeable in His nature, perfections, purposes, promises, and gifts. He being holy, cannot turn to that which is evil; nor can He, who is the fountain of light, be the cause of darkness, and since every good and perfect gift comes from Him, evil cannot proceed from him, nor can he tempt any to it. The Bible is very clear that God does not change, neither His mind, His will, nor His nature.
Numbers 23:19 is very clear, “God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should change His mind. Does He speak and then not act? Does He promise and not fulfill?” No, God does not change His mind. These verses affirm the doctrine of God’s immutability: He is unchanging and unchangeable.
Since God is Unchanging . . . Nothing that Matters has Changed
We yearn for something we can depend on. And in a world of constant change it feels like we are trying to hold on tight to a handful of sand. However, since God is immutable we know that the really important things have not and will not change.
God’s evaluation of the human heart is the same in every generation
God’s offer of salvation in Christ is a constant
The work of God’s Spirit in a human heart is something that continues from generation to generation
The certainty of life beyond the grave is unaffected by the changes in society
The Biblical definition of Truth remains a constant in spite of public opinion polls.
We may move to a different location, we may take a different job, but wherever we are and in whatever circumstances we find ourselves, Jesus Christ is same yesterday, today and forever. God’s Word remains our standard of truth, God’s Spirit remains as our guide. No matter where we are or what we are doing, the things that are truly foundational . . . the things we really must be able to depend on, have not changed at all.
Since God is unchanging . . . His Character is Consistent
Every manager of a ball team would like to have someone who is consistent every time they go on the field. It would be great to know that your pitcher is going to pitch a certain way every time they are called on. But that doesn’t happen. Children would love to know that every time they wanted to talk to their parents, their parent was going to be attentive. Unfortunately, one time the parent is willing to drop everything and listen and the next time, they are too preoccupied to really listen. We don’t know anyone who’s character is always the same. At one moment we can be attentive, sensitive and generous and a moment later we can be distracted, hurtful and self-absorbed. You can be joking with a person at one moment and have them take offense in the next.
God is not like that. God’s character never changes. He never is "less than" who He is. He never improves because there is no improvement possible . . . He is already perfect. God is always wise, always sovereign, always good, always just, always holy, always merciful, and always gracious. Whatever God is, he always is. There are no "sometimes" attributes of God. All of his attributes are "always" attributes. He always is what he is.
Practically this means
God will always care
God will always seek a relationship with you
God will always forgive the one who truly repents
He will always save the one who rests in Christ’s finished work
He will always defend, protect, and shield His children
We will never come to God and find Him having a "bad day".
Since God is unchanging . . .His promises are sure.
Even though we are given straightforward commands to be people who "let their yes be yes and their no be no" we are not always true to our word. We promise to be someplace at a certain time and we don’t get there. We promise to check in on someone and never get "around to it". We promise to get a job done but don’t do it. We promise to pray for another, but we forget. We promise to "love, honor, and cherish, till death us do part" and sometimes we don’t do that. We promise to "tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth" and sometimes shade the truth or leave important elements out.
God is not like that. When God makes a promise it is sure.
When God promises to supply all our needs . . . He will do so (even though we may differ on what a "need is", and forget to thank Him).
When He promises to never leave us . . . He won’t. (Even if we are sporadic in our contact with Him)
When He promises to finish the work He has started in us . . . He will. (Even though we may drift and get distracted from time to time in our Christian walk).
When He promises that everyone who comes to Him will not be cast away . . .He means it. (Even though we know that we deserve nothing but His wrath.)
As you read through the Bible, look for the universal promises. Claim them as your own because God is true to His Word. What He promises He will do. He never reneges and never forgets. He is true to His Word.
Since God is unchanging . . . His love for you will never diminish
One of the fears that some people have when they get married is that the love in their relationship will some day diminish. One day they are going to wake up and love will be gone. Perhaps our physical features will change, or we will become ill and incapacitated, or perhaps we are afraid that we are just going to become boring. Whatever the fear, it is real. We’ve seen it happen to others.
We know what it is like to be the favorite of someone one moment and then be in the dog house the next moment. We have seen families fracture over relatively insignificant things. We know that love often ebbs and flows. But this kind of thing will never happen with God. He is consistent. You can depend on God’s love. Do you remember the great declaration of the apostle Paul,
Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or are hungry or cold or in danger or threatened with death? (Even the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”) No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from his love. Death can’t, and life can’t. The angels can’t, and the demons can’t. Our fears for today, our worries about tomorrow, and even the powers of hell can’t keep God’s love away. Whether we are high above the sky or in the deepest ocean, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. [Romans 8:35-39 NLT]
Because of his unchanging nature and it is Holy
A. He will Always be Good
B. He Cannot lie or deceive
C. He will always keep his word - Often we aren’t able to keep our promises
D. He will Always Love You - Your spouse may not -Kids may not-
E. He Will Always Forgive
F. He will never Leave us - We can leave him
G. He will always meet our needs
H. He will live forever in Heaven with Us
I. He is Omnipotent, Omniscient, Omnipresent
Because God is omnipresent it means He is here
Because God is omniscient it means He understands what is going on in your life
Because He is omnipotent it means He can help
And because He is immutable it means this will never change
(Some from Rev. Bruce Goettsche (5/28/2000))
Conclusion: Who are you Counting on? Your spouse, Children, job, Health, I’m counting on God. Close with Desperation Band’s Song “I’m counting on God” from You Tube
