Summary: God is perfect, He is immutable because He is perfect. There is no need for Him to improve

INTRODUCTION

 Have you ever been offended when a company comes out with a new and improved version of a product?

 You have this product that you have been buying because the company advertised it as the best you can buy only to have the company come back (without apology) and tell you that their product was not as good as they thought it was.

 Now they are trying to sell you the “new and improved” version of what you thought was a reliable product.

 It make me not want to trust them when they tell me that their product is now the best.

 Maybe I am the only one who thinks this way.

 Why do they improve products? Products change because they are not perfect. No matter how good a product is there will always be room for improvement.

 No matter how good an organization (or a church) is, there will be room for improvement.

 Products, people and organizations can be improved because they are not perfect.

 Did you know that one of the attributes of our awesome God is that He is unchanging or put another way, He is immutable. Because of this the title for the message today is “No Need for Improvement”.

 When you look at all the attempts to start new religions, they are a result of man trying to improve God. IT is man looking at God and saying that something needs to be changed.

 Today we will see that God’s person is unchanging, His purpose is unchanging and His promises are unchanging.

SERMON

I. GOD’S PERSON IS UNCHANGING PSALM 102:25-27

 Read Psalm 102:25-27

 The Psalmist says that God created everything that and that creation is wearing down and that one-day it will perish.

 The Psalmist says that things are changing, but that God is still the same. Not only that, but he further states that God’s days will never end.

 In the New Testament, in Hebrews 1:12-13, the Hebrew writer quotes this passage and says that it applies to Jesus, the Son also.

 JAMES 1:17 says, Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.

 MALACHI 3:6 "For I, the Lord, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed.

 James and Malachi point out that God does not change.

 Notice that James says that every good and perfect gift comes from God. God is perfect in His person, so there is no need to change.

 Plato stated that God is eternally perfect; any change in a perfect being is a change for the worse; therefore God does not change.

 Malachi says that since God is not capricious (impulsive, unpredictable, fickle) He will not change His mind and destroy us as soon as we are disobedient. God has kept His end of the covenants that He made with Israel; He was not provoked to change His mind.

 Humans are constantly growing and changing, learning and maturing (hopefully), but God does not need to do any of these things since He is already perfect.

 How many of you are the same person today that you were 10 years ago, or 5 years ago, or even a year ago? We are always changing, our tastes change, our desires change, our body changes our styles change. God never changes and He never goes out of style.

 HEBREWS 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

 It should be comforting to us to know that from one day to the next, God is still the same God. We know from one day to the next what God wants and what pleases Him.

II. GOD’S PURPOSE IS UNCHANGING (V 17)

 The context of Hebrews 6 deals with an encouragement to grow spiritually (verses 1-3), then a warning about the consequences of spiritual defect from God (verses 4-8) and in verses 9-20 an encouragement to persevere through the tough times based on t he certainty of God’s purpose and promises.

 The audience that the Hebrew writer was addressing was going through difficult times and he was trying to tell them not to leave the faith because God’s purpose and promises were certain and that they would not change.

 How many people do think would turn down Jesus if they were 100% with out a doubt sure that without Jesus they would die and go to hell?

 How many people would turn away from Jesus if they knew 100% for sure that after they die there is a heaven and a hell and that our relationship with Jesus will determine which place we would end up for eternity? Those of us who believe that have not turned away from Jesus.

 Verse 17 tells us that God wanted to show the heirs of the promises that His purpose has not changed that He also added an oath to His promise.

 In Genesis 15, God promised Abraham that He would have a son and that eventually his descendants would be as many as the sands on the shore.

 It had been over 15 years since God’s promise to Abraham, but in Genesis 22:16-18 God told Abraham that His purpose had not changed and He was indeed going to have a child with Sara.

 God has done all He can to show us that His purpose has not changed; the mission is the same.

 What is God’s purpose for you life?

 READ ROMANS 8:28-30!

 READ EPHESIANS 1:4-5

 READ 1 THESSALONIANS 4:3-8

 No matter who you are, no matter where you live, no matter what your excuses (circumstances) are, God’s purpose for your life never changes, NO MATTER WHAT!

 God’s purpose is fixed. He meant to show in the most solemn manner that his purpose would not change. The plans of God never change; and all the hope which we can have of heaven is founded on the fact that his purpose is unchanging.

 If he changed his plans, if he willed one thing today and another thing tomorrow, who could confide in him, or who would have any hope of heaven? No one would know what to expect; and no one could put confidence in him.

 The farmer plows and sows because he believes that the laws of nature are settled and fixed; we plant an apple tree because we believe it will produce apples, a peach because it will produce peaches, a pear because it will produce a pear. But suppose there were no settled laws, who would know what to plant? Who then would plant anything?

 If there were nothing fixed and settled who would know what to do? If God should change his plans at will, and save one man by faith today and condemn another for the same faith tomorrow; or if he should pardon a man today and withdraw the pardon tomorrow, what security could we have of salvation?

 It is God’s purpose that you go to heaven. Are you going to fulfill God’s purpose for you?

III. GOD’S PROMISES ARE UNCHANGING (V 18)

 In verses 13-ff in Hebrews 6, the Hebrew writer speaks of Abraham and how God backed up His promise with an oath. God wanted Abraham not only to know that His purpose had not changed, but that God’s promises to him were still good.

 Verse 18 of our passage says that there are two unchangeable things, God’s oath and God’s promises.

 1 SAMUEL 15:29 "Also the Glory of Israel will not lie or change His mind; for He is not a man that He should change His mind."

 NUMBERS 23:19 "God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent; Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?

 When God promises something, you can count on it.

 When God made the Messianic promise (that the whole world would be blessed in Abraham’s seed) to Abraham, He made sure that the promise happened.

 Do realize how many times that Abraham’s seed (the Israelites) were close to being wiped out? God protected them so that He could fulfill the promise.

 God has promised eternal life for those who belong to Him through Jesus. We do not have to doubt God’s promises.

 As I said earlier, if people knew for sure that God would do what He promised, not too many people would reject Him.

 One of the reasons that people do not come to Jesus is that they do not trust God’s promises, both positive and negative.

 Many people think that they will slide into heaven under some new plan, or the new Good Person Plan.

 God’s promises are unchanging.

 1 CORINTHIANS 10:13 No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.

 How many of you like this promise? God will keep this promise. What about the ones where God says that if we seek Him first, that He will take care of our needs? What about the promise of Heaven for those who are faithful to Him?

 What about the promise of the forgiveness of your sins? Do you like that one or do you like to drag your sins around like a ball and chain?

 God’s promises do not change!

CONCLUSION

 READ Verses 18-19

 In the Old Testament there were cities for refuge for people who had accidentally killed someone. The city of refuge provided protection for the person as long as they remained in one of those six cites. IF they left one of the cities, the family of the victim had the right to retribution.

 The Hebrew writer is applying the same principle to Christians.

 The idea is that the readers had once been guilty and deserving of death because of their sins, but they had fled to the Redeemer (Jesus) and the hope found in the Gospel.

 Now if they remain in Jesus, if they cling to their hope they would be safe.

 We can take comfort in the fact that God’s person in unchanging, God’s purpose is unchanging and God’s promises are unchanging!

 You can trust God, He will not let you down.