"God Never Changes"

James 1:16-18 “Do not err, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.”

I. Intro

Today, we are going to consider the fact that we should be thankful that our Lord never changes. That God is always the same today as He was before Creation. There are too many things in our world today that are changing ever changing. People change, laws change, our leadership changes, anything you can think of changes. But God NEVER changes. God’s laws never change. His standards never change. His opinion of you never changes. His perfect plan for mankind never changes. His promises to us never change. I have noticed that over the years, our world has taken God’s standards and twisted them to meet our own agenda. What do I mean by this? First of all the Bible is our instruction book for this Christian life. Things we are doing today, we wouldn’t dare do say 20-30 years ago because it violated God’s law. Why is this happening? We have allowed Satan to infiltrate our world view and even our church to fill our heads with lies and lead us from the truth. Today, we will go over three lies we have allowed Satan to trick us with, and three truths that will never ever change.

II. Lies Satan Tells Us

Justifying missing church on Sunday morning.

This is a big one. Many people have been led away from the truth in justifying missing church on Sunday morning. Some of the lies we allow Satan to whisper to us- Well my job is making me work on Sunday, so I will have to miss church. Don’t listen to that. Take a stand for Jesus. Don’t be at a job that requires you to miss out on God’s blessings on Sunday morning.

(4th commandment) Exodus 20:8 “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.”

Being faithful to God and keeping His commandments will result in God being faithful to you and blessing you.

Others will see the stand you take for God, and will be drawn to your witness.

Satan will lie to us and tell us that watching online services are the same as being at the house of the Lord on Sunday morning with our church family.

This, however, does not apply to those that are not physically able to attend services due to a sickness or physical ailment.

If you buy into the idea of only watching online, you are missing out on God’s blessing and feeling the Holy Spirit move during the service on Sunday mornings.

If you are attending work, a sporting event (this includes your child’s sports), going fishing/hunting on Sunday morning, or doing anything else other than being faithful to God on Sunday morning, you are making that an idol before God.

(1st commandment) Exodus 20:3 “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.”

We can lose our salvation by sinning too much.

This is one of the most commonly asked questions to pastors.

1 John 5:13 “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.”

Paul answers this questions all throughout his epistles. To paraphrase, if we can lose our salvation, then Christ’s death on the cross was in vain.

This is doubt that Satan places in our minds, and if he can convince us to doubt our salvation, he can cause doubt for God altogether. One of the enemy’s tricks is to convince us that our Father is holding out on us, that He does not really love us and care for us. When Satan approached Eve, he suggested that if God really loved her, He would permit her to eat of the forbidden tree. When Satan tempted Jesus, he raised the question of hunger. “If Your Father loves You, why are You hungry?”

Revelation 3:5 “He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.”

God has forgotten about us or doesn’t love us.

i. James warns us not to be deceived. The devil will tell you God has changed about forgiving you, loving you, saving you, or being good to you. But as the old saying goes, “God is good, all the time; and all the time, God is good.”

ii. John 8:44 “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.”

III. What We Can Count On

Nothing can ever stop God from loving us.

One of the enemy’s tricks is to convince us that our Father is holding out on us, that He does not really love us and care for us. When Satan approached Eve, he suggested that if God really loved her, He would permit her to eat of the forbidden tree. When Satan tempted Jesus, he raised the question of hunger. “If Your Father loves You, why are You hungry? The goodness of God is a great barrier against yielding to temptation. Since God is good, we do not need any other person (including Satan) to meet our needs. It is better to be hungry in the will of God than full outside the will of God. Once we start to doubt God’s goodness, we will be attracted to Satan’s offers; and the natural desires within will reach out for his bait. Moses warned Israel not to forget God’s goodness when they began to enjoy the blessings of the Promised Land. We need this warning today!

Deuteronomy 6:10-15 “And it shall be, when the Lord thy God shall have brought thee into the land which he sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee great and goodly cities, which thou buildedst not, And houses full of all good things, which thou filledst not, and wells digged, which thou diggedst not, vineyards and olive trees, which thou plantedst not; when thou shalt have eaten and be full; Then beware lest thou forget the Lord, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name. Ye shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the people which are round about you; (For the Lord thy God is a jealous God among you) lest the anger of the Lord thy God be kindled against thee, and destroy thee from off the face of the earth.”

b. His promise of Salvation

James says, “He chose to give us birth.” It was God’s decision to give eternal life to all who acknowledge his Son’s sacrifice for their sins. He chose to give us birth by giving His one and only Son, for our sake.

God chose the cross long before man chose to rebel.

Revelation 13:8 “And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.”

God chose to provide for mankind’s salvation, even before He made man, who He foreknew would rebel against Him. God already had a plan for man’s salvation in place before the problem of man’s sin ever arose. By the way, that’s the way God always works, as the cross is proof. Whatever problem arises in your life, remember the cross is proof that God has a plan in place before your problem every arose.

God chose the cross long before man chose to repent

Romans 5:8 “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

Before we repented, and were still living for sin, God chose to provide new birth for us through the sacrifice of the cross.

c. God chose the cross even though not all chose to respond

1 John 2:2 “And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.”

God chose to provide salvation even for those who would never respond to His invitation to receive it. Still, the gift of eternal life has been purchased through Christ’s sacrifice at the cross for everyone. None of us can earn it or deserve it. That is why it is a gift.

“God chose to give us birth” James says. In order to do this, He had to fully pay the price to make that possible, and He did so through the cross. This is why the message we have to declare is “Good News.”

Jesus is an all sufficient Savior because He fully paid the penalty for our sin and proved that the penalty for sin (death) was fully overcome by being raised from the dead. He now reigns on high, victorious over sin, Satan, death and hell. And when I trust in Him as my personal Savior from sin, Satan, death and hell, I know I will be eternally saved, because the Father is fully and forever satisfied with His sacrifice. Because of this, Jesus will always be an eternally sufficient Savior.

Hebrews 13:8 “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.” Since God doesn’t change, His satisfaction with His Son’s sacrifice won’t change; meaning that all who trust in Christ can know they are saved eternally, for they have accepted God’s provision of salvation.

c. His promises in Scripture

Depending on how you count them, there are around 30,000 promises in the Bible!

Their Power-A promise is only as good as the person making it. Sadly, if you’ve lived any length of time, you have had the experience of having someone make a promise they don’t keep. Often, not keeping their promise has to do with some changes they cannot control. But the promises of God can be depended on, because God does not change!

Numbers 23:19 “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?”

Psalms 18:30 “As for God, his way is perfect: The word of the Lord is tried: He is a buckler to all those that trust in him.”

Their Purpose-God has given us His promises so we might, as His children, grow in our understanding of Him and our experience of Him. We start the Christian life believing and claiming the promise that if we repent of our sins and trust in Christ as our Savior, we will be born again; and we continue in the Christian life the same way.

Colossians 2:6-7 “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.”

2 Peter 1:3-4 “According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”

Our Practice-It’s only by claiming God’s promises that we can know God’s best.

Hebrews 10:23 “Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)”

Suppose a multi-millionaire sent you a $1,000 check every month for your entire life. And despite knowing he’s good for every one, and gives them to bless and enrich your life, you never cash any of them? In fact, you not only never cash any of them; you don’t keep up with them. You don’t know how many you have, their total worth, or where they are. Everyone would say you’re crazy! How much crazier are Christians who don’t know God’s promises to them, don’t know where to find them, and never claim them?

d. His purpose for the Saved-God has determined that He will make all creation new.

Revelation 21:5 “And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.”

This work has started with all who come to Christ.

This work will be completed when Christ returns.

Philippians 1:6 “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:”

Where did Paul get this confidence? He knew our God never changes, therefore, He will see to it that what He has planned will happen.

IV. Conclusion

God never changes, so we know He’s forever satisfied with Christ’s sacrifice that provides for our salvation; and if I claim His promise of salvation through faith in Christ, it will be fulfilled; and He will complete in me the work He’s begun because His plan will not be deterred. So how might this challenge or comfort us today?

1. Since God never changes, I’m challenged to understand that I must be willing to change. I’m not to remake God in my image; it’s the other way around.

2. Since God never changes His commitment to me, I’m challenged to never change my commitment to Him.

3. Since God never changes, I’m challenged that Jesus will always be the only way to Him and I must be faithful to tell others about Him. May God’s passion be my passion.

“God never changes moods or cools off in His affections or loses enthusiasm. His attitude toward sin is now the same as it was when He drove out the sinful man from the eastward garden, and His attitude toward the sinner the same as when He stretched forth His hand and cried, ‘Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest'” - A.W. Tozer

1. Since God never changes, He will always love me.

2. Because God never changes, He will always forgive me.

3. Because God never changes, He will always pursue me.

“If God had a refrigerator, your picture would be on it. Face it, friend. He’s crazy about you.” - Max Lucado

And that will never change because God never does.