God is Immutable
February 21, 2021
I don’t have many memories of life when I was a little kid. I assume I used a bottle when I was a baby. I’m not sure they had sippy cups when I was a toddler. I remember the plastic cups I used when I was a child. Eventually, I graduated to a real cup, made of glass because my parents believed I wouldn’t drop it and break it. Now, I drink my coffee in big cups, designed to stay hot for hours.
I’ve changed over the years. I grew up! I did things kids do. I’ve changed over the years. Maybe in some good ways and not so good. Growing up, I wasn’t anti-Jesus. I just didn’t know Him, and had no desire to know Him. Thankfully, I now know Jesus and life has changed for the better.
One thing I’ve noticed over the past year or so, and I don’t want to belabor this point, is that I’m getting older. Things are breaking down. Even when I don’t do anything, they break down. There’s more aches and pains than there used to be. I’m not complaining, I’m just noticing.
So . . . what’s the point of talking about my past and present? I’ve changed! Physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually!
We’ve all changed. We’ve all changed in the almost 14 years that I’ve been here. Actually, some of you weren’t even born yet.
Change is a constant. Life is not what it used to be. Sometimes we’d like to go back to the calmer days of the 70's and watch Happy Days. Life seemed to be more settled, less stressful and less change-filled.
In the midst of all this change, we have one constant, and that is the fact that God does not change! In the midst of our crazy changing world - - - God doesn’t change. And that’s a great attribute of God’s. I can’t imagine if God were constantly changing and evolving. What kind of God would that be? I wouldn’t want that.
Today is the last Sunday that we’ll be looking at the attributes of God. We’ve talked about the fact that God is eternal, infinite, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, God is love, and today, we’re looking at the fact that God is immutable. That’s the fancy, Latin word for saying God is never changing.
We’re going to look at some scripture and why this is important for us to understand and hold onto in our lives.
What does the Bible say about God’s immutability? Let’s look at the Bible --
19 “God is not man, that He should lie, or a son of man, that He should change His mind. Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not fulfill it?” - Numbers 23:19
2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God. - Psalm 90:2
6 For I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.” Because God is a covenant-keeping God, we can count on Him to not consume us. - Malachi 3:6
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. - James 1:17
25 Of old you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands.
26 They will perish, but you will remain; they will all wear out like a garment.
27 You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away, but you are the same, and your years have no end. - Psalm 102:25
One metaphor that is used frequently in Scripture for the immutability of God is that He is our rock. Look at what David said about God in Psalm 18:1-2 —
1 I love you, O Lord, my strength.
2 The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. - Psalm 18:1-2
Later in the Psalm, David adds --
31 For who is God, but the Lord? And who is a rock, except our God?
Isn’t that the image Prudential insurance company tried to portray? They called themselves the rock of Gibraltar, because the rock is strong and constant and wasn’t going to break down. That’s our view of God.
That’s such a powerful view from David. God is our rock, our stronghold, our fortress, our deliverer. We find protection from Him because He is our shield and the source of our salvation. I’m liking that!!
We change our plans all the time but God’s purposes never change. In Isaiah ---
24 “The LORD of Hosts has sworn: ‘As I have planned, so shall it be, and as I have purposed, so shall it stand.’” - Isaiah 14:24
Think about what the Psalmist wrote in Psalm 46 —
1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,
3 though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling.
4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High.
5 God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved; God will help her when morning dawns.
6 The nations rage, the kingdoms totter; He utters His voice, the earth melts.
7 The Lord of Hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. - Psalm 46:1-7
David is telling us that all of life, all of nature is going to be moved, it’s all going to be subject to the effects of the natural effects of this world — yet, David tells us through it all God is our fortress and refuge through it all! We can count on Him!
Finally, in 1 Samuel 15:29, we read ---
29 He who is the Glory of Israel does not lie or change His mind; for He is not a man, that He should change His mind.
God isn’t fickle and wishy-washy in His feelings. God doesn’t have His good days and bad days. There aren’t days where God looks at us and says, “Man, I love that dude. Then the next day, God says, I can’t stand him.” That doesn’t happen with God. He loves you, period. There’s never a moment when He doesn’t love and adore you. He may not like what you do, but that doesn’t stop Him from loving you.
As I said last week when talking about love, we sometimes say ‘I feel out of love with them.’ That doesn’t happen with God, He doesn’t fall out of love with us. God is always, consistent with who He is. He never changes.
Imagine what would happen if God was still evolving and changing? What if God’s personality and characteristics were changing? How could we come to God and have any expectation that God would be consistent? I couldn’t trust Him. How would we have faith in a God we couldn’t count on?
That’s why the writer of Hebrews could tell us this important truth about God —
8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. - Hebrews 13:8
God’s personality is the same today as it was during the time of Abraham, as well as Moses and David and Ruth and Esther and Peter, Paul and Mary. Even though people come and go and let us down, God remains the same. He’s the same today that He was then, which means that He is absolutely reliable and completely consistent with His personality.
This should give us a great deal of comfort and confidence in God. Because He doesn’t change, we can rely on the unchanging truth of the Bible. When God says something is sin, it’s sin. What God says it’s good, it’s good.
We’re constantly changing and evolving. It’s disconcerting because what used to be good and proper, what used to be morally unacceptable is now acceptable. What used to be sin is no longer sin. We’ve moved beyond What was a Christian era in our country to a moral relativistic world. Now, we’ve moved beyond post-modernism to a post-millenial age. Some call it a post-Christian world.
Our hope of salvation and ultimately eternal life with Christ lies in our belief and trust that God is who He says He is and doesn’t change. God is doing exactly what He said He would do and will continue to do.
When astronaut Alan Shepherd was getting ready to go into space for the first time, a reporter asked, “What are you depending on in this flight?” His answer is great --- “I’m depending upon the fact that God’s laws will not change.” God’s laws don’t change because God’s Word does not change.
Think of it this way - - -
Because God is omnipresent, He is here.
Because God is omniscient, He knows.
Because God is omnipotent, He can help.
Because God is love, He gives grace and mercy.
And because He is immutable, none of that will ever change!
In our changing world, we can count on our unchanging God.
Many of our hymns stress this aspect of God’s character. Think about the hymn Great is Thy Faithfulness. That very first stanza says it so well.
Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father;
There is no shadow of turning with Thee;
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not;
As Thou hast been, Thou forever will be.
How true that is about our God. He doesn’t change, His compassions don’t fail us. As He has been, He will be. That’s powerful - - - and that’s so true for us.
This should give us an incredible sense of joy, comfort and power. Sam Storms said this about God’s unchanging nature, using Romans 8:25-29 as his backdrop.
What all this means, very simply, is that God is dependable! Our trust in Him is therefore a confident trust, for we know that He will not, indeed cannot, change. His purposes are unfailing, His promises unassailable.
It is because the God who promised us eternal life is immutable that we may rest assured that nothing, not trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword shall separate us from the love of Christ. It is because Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever that neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, not even powers, height, depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord!!
That’s so true!!
The plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of His heart through all generations” (Psalm 33:11).
And finally, there’s Romans 11:29. As a quick backdrop, Paul was talking to the Jewish people in Romans 9-11. He was basically expressing his sadness that they had rejected Jesus. Yet, there was always hope and that’s what Paul wants them to understand. Then he wrote in Romans 11:29 -
29 For the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable. - Romans 11:29
He’s telling the Jewish people God’s offer of salvation will never be taken away. They can’t lose the offer. They can reject it, but God won’t withdraw it. That’s great news for us. God extends the offer of salvation for us as well.
In his paraphrase of the Bible, Eugene Peterson wrote it this way - - “God’s gifts and God’s call are under full warranty—never canceled, never rescinded.”
The New Living Translation gives us another angle --- “For God’s gifts and His call can never be withdrawn.”
When the translators of the Amplified Bible came to this verse, they added an explanatory sentence regarding God’s gifts and call - - “God never withdraws them when once they are given, and He does not change His mind about those to whom He gives His grace or to whom He sends His call.”
That’s how I want to end this morning. Know and trust that God has promised you He won’t fail you, nor forsake you, but He loves you and has called you. He won’t give up on you! When you need Him, He’s there. He already knows your situation. So, call on Him and know, He hasn’t changed His mind about you! You’re His kid, holy and dearly loved, loved even before Jesus created this world!
