Things That Never Change Part 2

Malachi 3:6

Things That Never Change

Introduction

Last week we looked at this passage and considered that in the midst of a world and culture that is constantly changing, it is comforting and assuring that God never changes. He will never change in His great love for man. He will never change how He feels about sin, and He will never change His plan of salvation. He truly is a wonderful, unchanging God!

Today I want to continue in this line of thinking by giving you a few more things about God that never change. Let’s read our text again before we consider them.

“For I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.”

Remember that we said that God made this statement concerning His unchanging love for His people Israel. God was referring to His own qualities of patience, long-suffering and mercy when He said, “I am the Lord, I change not…” Are you thankful today that God hasn’t changed in these qualities? You ought to be – if God weren’t patient or long-suffering or merciful, then we might know the fates of people like Achan, who stole the gold and silver in the battle of Ai, or Uzzah, who put out his hand to steady the ark of God, or Ananias and Sapphira, who lied about the profit they made from the sale of their land. Every one of these people died when they sinned against God, sins no different from the ones you and I commit very frequently.

If God weren’t long-suffering with us He might have punished us a long time ago for our disobedience and hard-heartedness. God wouldn’t put up with the junk that we dish out to Him, testing and trying His love and grace in our lives. When He speaks and reveals some truth to us and we are slow to act or don’t act at all – God is so long-suffering, and His mercy is so far beyond our comprehension. If there’s anyone in the room today who came to worship – then you’ve got great reason to worship today! You serve the God who never changes!

Let me show you something pretty awesome about your God that you may have never considered. God doesn’t change, but it’s not that He can’t change. If He couldn’t change then He limited, and our God has no limits. He is infinite in every way. He has no boundaries, there’s nothing He can’t do if He so chooses. Psalm 115:3 says,

“But our god is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased.”

Psalm 135:5-6 says,

“For I know that the Lord is great, and that our Lord is above all gods. Whatsoever the Lord pleased, that did he in heaven, and in earth, in the seas, and all deep places.”

You see, God does not change because He cannot change; Jesus Himself said that all things are possible for God. So, if God doesn’t change, and He doesn’t, it is not because He can’t, but rather that He won’t. There lies the beauty of it! Concerning the people of Israel, Moses wrote, “He will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which He sware to them.” Do you notice that wonderful little four letter word? He will not forsake…He will not destroy…He will not forget…! He didn’t say that He couldn’t do those things – He said that He wouldn’t do them.

The psalmist said that God will not cast off His people. What does all that say about your God? If you say He can’t change, then you limit Him. If you say that He won’t change – then you have just declared the wonderful faithfulness of God! The Lord is faithful and He does not change!

He told you He would not change, and if God says He will not change, then He’ll not change! If God changed then He would be a liar, but Numbers 23:19 says that “God is not a man, that He should lie.” Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life…” Jesus doesn’t just know the truth or just teach the truth, He is the truth! If God has ever changed or ever did change, then He lied, and if God lied then He’s not faithful, and if He’s not faithful then He’s not trustworthy, and if He’s not trustworthy then why would you place your faith in Him? If you couldn’t believe Him or trust Him or place your faith in Him then we ought to just go home. But He is the Lord, and He doesn’t change!

God Doesn’t Change In His Attributes

He is the omnipotent God! He was the mighty God when He spoke the Creation into existence. He was the all powerful God when He plagued the nation of Egypt, when He parted the Red Sea and the Jordan River. He broke up the firmaments and flooded the earth. I read of the God who consumed a prophet’s altar, who stood with three young men in a furnace, who stopped the mouths of lions, who healed the sick, fed the multitudes, raised the dead, and picked Himself up out of the grave. Is He any less omnipotent today? Is God less powerful now than He ever was? Has He grown weaker or less mighty through the ages?