Prayer Service 6-11-25
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17 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.
Pray
Needs from our bulletin:
Robert Orr: Recovery from Surgery
Cathy Stewart: Breast Cancer
Terry Ray Adams: Stage 3 Colon Cancer
Willis Whitaker: Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma
Julie (Monroe) Orr: Breast Cancer
Junior Garland: Brain Tumor
Layce’s Cousin, Crystal: Aggressive Spinal Cancer
Hope, Michael Carroll, Allen, Iva Lee, Leonard and Sue Waldroup
Andrew and Children
Young People in their Courtships
Others?
The Southern Baptist Convention
The Southern Baptist Convention
The Attributes of God
The Attributes of God
Review:
Definition from Gerald Bray:
Lexham Survey of Theology God’s Attributes
God’s attributes are God’s
We’ve been reading this:
(A.W. Tozer—The Knowledge of the Holy)
What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.
The history of mankind will probably show that no people has ever risen above its religion, and man’s spiritual history will positively demonstrate that no religion has ever been greater than its idea of God...
For this reason the gravest question before the Church is always God Himself, and the most portentous fact about any man is not what he at a given time may say or do, but what he in his deep heart conceives God to be like. — A.W. Tozer
-Structure of our study:
Two categories of attributes (generally-speaking):
Lexham Survey of Theology God’s Attributes
attributes that describe God
Lexham Survey of Theology God’s Attributes
and attributes that describe God
Incommunicable Attributes
Incommunicable Attributes
Last week:
Unity and Simplicity
Unity and Simplicity
Definitions:
From the source of our outline:
Lexham Survey of Theology God’s Unity
God’s unity is an incommunicable attribute of the divine essence that refers to the
Lexham Survey of Theology God’s Unity
and
Lexham Survey of Theology God’s Unity
The former (unity of singularity) implies that there is
Lexham Survey of Theology God’s Unity
The latter (unity of simplicity) is the
Lexham Survey of Theology God’s Unity
It affirms that in God everything is one;
Questions?
Immutability
Immutability
A definition from Joel Carini:
Lexham Survey of Theology God’s Immutability
God’s immutability is his
Communicable or Incommunicable?
A longer explanation from Carini:
We’ll use it as an outline...
...for today’s portion of our study.
Lexham Survey of Theology God’s Immutability
The doctrine of divine immutability affirms God’s freedom from all change
Implied in the Name itself:
14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am.”. . .
6 “For I the Lord do not change...
Lexham Survey of Theology God’s Immutability
Existing outside of time, he is all that he is in one unchanging moment, free from the movement and development of history
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. You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away,
27 but you are the same, and your years have no end.
So, what does this imply?
8 But of the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, is forever...
10 And, “You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands;
11 they will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment,
12 like a robe you will roll them up, like a garment they will be changed. But you are the same, and your years will have no end.”
8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
Let’s read that last sentence again...
...and then move forward:
Lexham Survey of Theology God’s Immutability
Existing outside of time, he is all that he is in one unchanging moment, free from the movement and development of history
Lexham Survey of Theology God’s Immutability
But within time, his creatures experience him as unchanging in his relations to human beings and therefore perfectly worthy of trust
6 “For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.
18 And Balaam took up his discourse and said, “Rise, Balak, and hear...
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?
20 Behold, I received a command to bless: he has blessed, and I cannot revoke it.
17 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.
11 The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations.
29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.
17 So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath,
18 so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us.
Lexham Survey of Theology God’s Immutability
Immutability distinguishes God from mutable creatures, such as humans and animals, that are born, grow, and die
28 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.
(He doesn’t learn either)
Lexham Survey of Theology God’s Immutability
It also distinguishes him from inanimate things that are molded, moved, and destroyed. Unlike these, God does not have to grow and change, nor can he be reshaped or destroyed
14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am.”. . .
Think about this:
Lexham Survey of Theology God’s Immutability
Any change he would undergo would be for the better or for the worse, but each of these is impossible for a perfect divine being
Remember:
17 ...there is no variation or shadow due to change.
14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am.”. . .
Lexham Survey of Theology God’s Immutability
At the same time, God is not static and lifeless. Rather, he is free from change because he is, all at once, the totality of life and activity
Lexham Survey of Theology God’s Immutability
God’s immutability does not prevent his involvement in the changes and transitions of history...
Lexham Survey of Theology God’s Immutability
Rather, in his activity within history, God shows his changelessness.
An Example:
26 And Samuel said to Saul, “I will not return with you. For you have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel.”
27 As Samuel turned to go away, Saul seized the skirt of his robe, and it tore.
28 And Samuel said to him, “The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you.
29 And also the Glory of Israel will not lie or have regret, for he is not a man, that he should have regret.”
-Now, that brings up...
...an important consideration...
...in our study of God’s Immutability:
What about passages like these?
5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
6 And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.
7 So the Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.”
Or, what about?
11 “I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments.” . . .
But we read before:
29 ..the Glory of Israel will not lie or have regret, for he is not a man, that he should have regret.”
And we read before:
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?
20 Behold, I received a command to bless: he has blessed, and I cannot revoke it.
-So, how do we reconcile all of these?
Well, let’s start with Genesis 6:6
6 And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.
Consider this statement...
...from a long time ago:
“The grammatical voice of both of these words is reflexive and makes abundantly clear to the Hebrew reader that God is both the source and the recipient of this "grief" and "regret."
There are no external circumstances causing a "shadow of turning" with him.
These anthropomorphisms show us that these are God's attributes and nature.
This "response" doesn't change anything about God. It is simply Him expressing who he immutably is.”
Let me show you this idea...
...from other parts of Scripture:
12 “Yet even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
13 and rend your hearts and not your garments.” Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster.
14 Who knows whether he will not turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him...
It’s not a change in His nature
It’s the outworking of it.
This is who He is!
Jonah knew it!
Remember Jonah’s message to Nineveh:
4 ...he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”
And Remember:
5 And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them.
6 The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.
7 And he issued a proclamation...
8 ...Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands.
9 Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.”
Then Remember:
10 When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.
But, of course...
1 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry.
2 And he prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish;
for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster.
This is who He is!
He responds in Judgment and Wrath to Evil...
He responds in Mercy and Grace to repentance.
No one makes a change in Him...
...in either scenario!
He always “responds” . . .
...in perfect harmony with who He is!
(Only the Cross makes this ultimately possible)
(One of the reasons that it was inevitable)
-Carini says this:
Lexham Survey of Theology God’s Immutability
Where God is said to change his mind, to repent, or to move from one emotional state to another,
Lexham Survey of Theology God’s Immutability
we understand that he is revealing his unchanging character in judgment at one time and in grace at another.
Lexham Survey of Theology God’s Immutability
When we see a different side of God’s face, it is not because he has changed, but because we have changed in relation to him
Any Questions?
-Let’s end with this:
Lexham Survey of Theology God’s Immutability
At the same time, God shows his immutability in remaining perfectly faithful to his promises.
Lexham Survey of Theology God’s Immutability
What God wills he will do, and what he begins he will complete
6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
Lexham Survey of Theology God’s Immutability
God’s immutability is not an obstacle to human relationship to God but is the foundation for trust in him
17 So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath,
18 so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us.
19 We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul...
Questions?
