Series Foundation:
1. I Am Living 2. I Am Holy 3. I Am Eternal
4. . I Am Almighty 5. I Am Unchanging
Description: God wants you to get a revelation of who He is and to know Him.
Revelation comes through His Word and experience with Him.
We are transformed by His revealing character.
Exodus 3:13-14
13 And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them?
14 And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said , Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.
John 8:57-59
57 Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?
58 Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.
59 Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by .
Introduction:
Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.
Old Dog, New Tricks
It seems as though you cannot teach an old dog new tricks
If that’s true then to some degree that dog is unchanging
I love dogs...
But that is a bad thing, because you are trying to get him to do something that is good for him
It is the greatest curse of the fall of the angels that they are fixed in their rebellion and opposition to God
Unchanging without considering its relation to other things is not a perfection
But the unchanging nature of God is a perfection because
He is infinitely wise,
He is infinitely holy,
He is infinitely good!
And so his Unchanging nature is an amazing thing!
1. Seals God’s Perfection
This in fact seals God’s perfection...
One of the interesting things about getting older is that the people you know change...
If it were possible for God to take a downward spiral, He could not be perfect
But since He is good and holy and wise ---
And on top of that Unchangeable!
That seals His perfection!
2. Extends To All Attributes of God
This unchanging quality is a glory that belongs and extends to all attributes of God
Mercy and Grace are vastly different
Grace = giving good we don’t deserve
Mercy = sparing us from things we do deserve
But when you understand that He is unchanging,
both become infinite because He will never change from being a gracious and merciful God!
How good would grace be if were in danger of running out?
How good would be mercy be if it had an expiration date?
Once His blood has covered your sin, His grace and mercy in your life in unchanging! Bc HE IS UNCHANGING!
How good would His Almightiness be if it depended on the day or the weather?
When you called upon Him, you found out that today His power was unavailable & could not work on your behalf...
Isaiah 26:4 Trust ye in the LORD for ever: for in the LORD JEHOVAH is everlasting strength:
We serve a God who extends from Everlasting to Everlasting!
And He does not change!
How good would his righteousness and perfection be if He had bad days where He wasn’t righteous or wasn’t perfect?
And you could not depend upon Him?
Deuteronomy 32:4 He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.
He is an Unchanging Rock! The Rock of my Salvation!
The Chief Cornerstone of the Church!
The Rock build your house upon in midst of the storms!
His Unchangeability is a thread that is woven throughout the Divine nature
A crowned jewel to all the rest!
He Is Unchanging!
3. His Word Is Unchanging
Numbers 23:19
19 God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?
1 Samuel 15:29 And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent: for he is not a man, that he should repent.
God cannot lie and He cannot repent because He is not a man
Men lie because they change their mind about keeping their word
Men repent “change course” because they change their mind
But the gifts and callings of God are without repentance!
Psalm 119:89 For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven.
If God said it, you can believe it!
4. God Is A Spirit
We know that God is a spirit and they that worship Him...
Men are changing
Every day, every hour, every minute
In sleep we are becoming rejuvenated
In work we are becoming tired and weary
While eating we are adding substance and energy
While moving about and working we are burning up those calories and substance
In our physical beings, we age
But God is a Spirit
Isaiah 40:28 Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard , that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.
He does not tire, He is not weary, He is a Spirit
In our experiences, we change, hopefully we change for the better, become wiser and smarter
But God has known from eternity all that which is to know!
Ecclesiastes 3:14 I know that, whatsoever God doeth , it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before him.
Nothing He could add or subtract would improve His perfect nature!
5. All Will Change But Not Him
Psalm 102:25-27
25 Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth: and the heavens are the work of thy hands.
26 They shall perish, but thou shalt endure: yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed:
The earth and heavens
-These are the most stable parts of the world and the most beautiful parts of creation
-These are the freest from corruption and change to illustrate his unchanging nature, thou shalt endure
-The fixedness of the center of the earth and the heavens above are unaffected by storms or winds, or hurricanes, or tornadoes or earthquakes, they are firm in how they were created
-Yet their fixed and unchanging nature is not worthy to be compared to the immovableness of God!
They shall perish, shalt thou change them
-Psalmist says that the Lord created them and he will destroy and change them
-Both the beginning and the ending of the worlds
-The heavens and the earth stand firm
-They do not naturally perish
-Individual stars burn out but the heavens remain
Individual people perish but humankind remains
-But its man’s sin that has made it necessary for them to be destroyed to accomplish the plan of God’s glory and salvation!
They shall perish, they shall be changed
-This is not a possibility, they shall perish, shall change
-Spoken not as possibility but with certainty
-The heavens and the earth shall perish and a more glorious and incorruptible version will be created in its place
-It doesn’t say just perish, it says changed!
-John said in Revelation 21...
1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
27 But thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end.
The world must be destroyed because of sin.
Sin is what brought death into this world
Adam and Eve were in an unchanging state
But their sin brought evil and death into the human race and into the world
Said he wouldn’t destroy it with water again
Peter tells us, it will be refined by fire.
Conclusion:
The glory of serving an Unchanging God is we are in need of Change!
1 Corinthians 15:51-55
51 Behold , I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep , but we shall all be changed ,
52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound , and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed .
53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written , Death is swallowed up in victory.
55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
But in a moment in an instant, we shall be changed!
We shall be freed from our corruptibility
And our corruption shall put on incorruption
And our mortality shall put on immortality
Freed from the curse of our sin!
1 John 3:2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
Eternal Life!
