The Everlasting Embrace: Finding Refuge in Our Unchanging God (2)

Greeting: Good morning COS church. Its a joy to worship with you this morning.

Read Passage: Hebrews 1:10-12

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.”

Prayer:

Introduction: Project “Blueprint” is what Brian Johnson calls his quest to “defeat all causes of human and planetary death…” You may have heard of Brian Johnson before but I just came across him a couple of months ago thanks to Erika showing me the Netflix documentary ‘Dont Die: The man who wants to live forever. Brian has gained a massive following due to his life’s mission..

Transition To Text: I wonder how Bryan would feel if he read Hebrews 1:11 “They (creation and all the works of God) will perish…”

Textual Background: If you can remember week one we went over who this epistle and sermon is being delivered to. Greek speaking, not Jerusalem born Jews who have believed in Christ and who have been experiencing fear, persecution uncertainty, and doubt as to whether or not this Jesus is who he says he is. Why hasn't he returned yet? This is the audience being addressed here. And what does this preacher do…Instead of quieting their fears and frailty, he shows them their mortality in light of the only Immortal One. In there Mutability, he comforts them with the only Immutable One, Jesus Christ.

Objective of the Sermon: To urge us to place our rest and trust in the only Unchanging God, and to live as if we believed this reality

Probing Question: Does the Fact that God never changes, change the way you live your life day to day? Does this aspect of Christ enter your mind regularly when you are faced with the toils and decay of life? Does it offer you rest? It should if you are in Christ.

How can this text help us take refuge in Christ?

1. In Order to take Refuge in Christ, we First Must Acknowledge the frailty of Life

Hebrews 1:11 “they will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment,”

Any and every human intrinsically knows this to be true. Time destroys the visible world around us.

Creation

Genesis 3:17 “And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;”

The World knows this and is terrified because of this fact. With books like “Our Fragile Earth: How close are we to catastrophic catastrophe?” And articles that are coming out weekly on the rising of Earths temperatures, and climate Change, There is a internal awareness to people outside of Christ, that this will all one day end, and this has been going on since the Adam and Eve were banished from Eden.

Illustration: In the Netflix documentary Ancient Apocalypse, Graham Hancock seeks to find evidences of ancient civilizations that far surpass our intelligence today, and his findings, I must say are astounding. Whats so interesting about these ancient civilizations, is that they all share a common thread, besides their technological advancements. Apocalyptic literature..

“More than 500 deluge (Global Flood) legends are known around the world and, in a survey of 86 of these (20 Asiatic, 3 European, 7 African, 46 American and 10 from Australia and the Pacific), the specialist researcher Dr Richard Andree concluded that 62 were entirely independent of the Mesopotamian and Hebrew accounts.” - Note: We know that they arent independent, but infant are speaking of what we know as the great flood. Why? Because we only have fragments of these deluge stories, but we in the Holy Scriptures have a complete, preserved account that many believe to be almost 4,000 years old..

The point is this. We all know the earth will not last forever. We can hear it cracking and creaking and moaning, and weeping, if we just stop and listen..

Romans 8:20–22 “For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.”

Futile - “The State or quality of being useless.”

Time also destroys life..

Mankind

Even the youngest in here knows that they are aging. At a certain point this starts to dawn on them that one day because of this aging, they will die.

January 22, 2022 I watched my Grandfather take some of his last breathes. My Papaw, who made me farm in the summer months of high-school in between morning and evening soccer conditioning, who taught me the joy of playing instruments, and writing poetry, singing unto the Lord a joyful and tearful song, one who I forgot was human, died right before my eyes. That was the First and Last time My Wife Erika got to meet him…Im so thankful for that moment because it showed me a glimpse of the cold reality we will all face. Death.

Look at your mortality

The problem with many today, is that they refuse to stare at their mortality in the face. We fear death so much, we try everything in our power to run from it, much like Brian Johnson. We get injections, filler, hair and beard dye, take pictures with filters, and any other means to hang onto our youth. No matter how much we try to hide from it, we will still die. And let us not forget to force ourselves regularly to come to terms with this truth…

“Dust in the wind, all we are is dust in the wind.” If the Band Kansas can get this right, we too must come to grips with our life

Ecclesiastes 7:2 “It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for this is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it to heart.”

Psalm 39:4–5 “O Lord, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting I am! Behold, you have made my days a few handbreadths, and my lifetime is as nothing before you. Surely all mankind stands as a mere breath! Selah”

2. In Order to Take Refuge in Christ, We must Believe his Provedince Over Life

Hebrews 1:12 “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.””

Look at this beautiful power imagery used here. “Like a robe you will roll them up…”

Hebrews Exposition

Spurgeon - “Time impairs all things; the fashion becomes obsolete and passes away. The visible creation, which is like the garment of the invisible God, is becoming old and wearing out, and our great King is not so poor that He must always wear the same robes. Before long, He will fold up the worlds and put them aside as worn out vestures, and He will array Himself in new attire, making a new heaven and a new earth wherein righteousness dwells. How readily will all this be done. “You will replace them like clothing, and they will be set aside” (

Do you wake up each morning and plant your feet on the ground and think of the instability of it??? We are standing on, living on, building our lives on a garment that one day will be changed as casually as we put on our clothes for the day, or take them off to sleep.

What does this imagery refer to? Does this mean that God gets bored and just wants to flippantly try on some new apparel at the cost of this floating rock we live on? No. This is showing us of a day of judgment.

We must remember that the Sun and Moon, the Earth, our bodies, and every living thing does not just decay because thats the way it is, and we can stop it if we fight hard enough. No. We must realize it all decays because the Sovereign King Jesus who in his Providence is stripping it all off like a robe to remind us he alone is the King. He alone holds all things together, and he alone rolls it away to show us to reveal to us the only One who does not Decay, wear down, or change…Himself.

3. In Order to Take Refuge in Christ, We must Trust his Immutability

Hebrews 1:12 “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.”

Doctrine of the Text

Doctrine of Immutability

Lexham Survey of Theology God’s Immutability

The doctrine of divine immutability affirms God’s freedom from all change. Existing outside of time, he is all that he is in one unchanging moment, free from the movement and development of history. But within time, his creatures experience him as unchanging in his relations to human beings and therefore perfectly worthy of trust.

Immutability distinguishes God from mutable creatures, such as humans and animals, that are born, grow, and die. 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. 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. 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.

In short, This doctrine states “God does not change who he is, for that would cause him to cease being God.”

He is the only one who theologians cause “Being” with a capital B.

God himself, reveals himself to Moses by sayin “I am who I am.” Which is also him saying “I be, who I be.”

I want to acknowledge that there are those who do not believe this doctrine entirely nor do they think the Bible is consistent in its language about Gods character never changing. We will (Lord willing) cover this another time. I will however submit to you , that all of the scriptures about God are true, and we are to recieve them by faith and submit our understanding to it. If the Bible says Genesis 6:6 “And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.” And Also 1 Samuel 15:29 “And also the Glory of Israel will not lie or have regret, for he is not a man, that he should have regret.” We must look at these passages, believe them both, and believe they do not contradict one another, but rather require a deeper look into what they are actually saying…I wrote almost a whole other page in my rough draft on this sermon, but felt that it served more as a destraction from the message today and the text before us. In short, we read today “But you are the Same…” Therefore by faith I pray we may see this truth..

b. now lets apply this doctrine of Divine immutability to see what it means for us.

It means and infinate amount of things, but for the sake of my finite understanding of him, for us today it means he is eternally and completely Merciful, and that he is eternally and completely the Judge over the living and the dead who will one day pronounce full and final judgment…

Complete Justice

His Judgments are also based on his character

Proverbs 16:4 “The Lord has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble.”

Do not presume upon only one aspect of the Lords character and forget the other

In sharing the gospel with someone in my neighborhood, they said “If Im wrong, when I stand before God one day ill say Im sorry. Because I know he’s merciful”

This person said with without a hint of sarcasm but with real genuine belief…How tragic that we as a culture have given only one portion of Gods Character due to fear and disdain for his other attributes.

Acts 17:31 “because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”

Though it may seem like everyday is the same on our comfortable mundane, cushy American lives, the cosmic clock continues to count down to its last tick.

You and I may say we believe this, but the sad reality is that we do not fully understand nor live our lives in this truth..If we did, we wouldn't devote so much of our time making as much money as we can. If we did, we would live utterly sacrificial lives, pouring out our time and energy, in the furtherance of the gospel, and warning all those in our lives who do not follow Christ. We wouldn't wast time and emotional energy arguing so much about the “culture” of our churches, or the pastors we follow, or the preferences we have, but instead would in unity preach Christ to one another and to a lost and dying world and if everything depended on it, and Please hear me “Everything depends on it!”

Ezekiel 3:18 “If I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, in order to save his life, that wicked person shall die for his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand.”

God here tells us “I do not change, I will judge the wicked, I want you to warn them! And then I want you show them my love, and my Son who made a way for them to live.”

Charles Spurgeon - “If sinners be damned, at least let them leap to Hell over our dead bodies. And if they perish, let them perish with our arms wrapped about their knees, imploring them to stay. If Hell must be filled, let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go unwarned and unplayed for.”

Lewis Bayly, Puritain Pastor wrote on the two other men on the cross’ next to Christ, “God spared the Thief, but not his fellow. God spared one, that no man might despair; [yet] God spares but one that no man should presume.”

Romans 2:4 “Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?”

Brothers and sisters, thanks be to God that Christ is not only a Just Judge, but a completely merciful Savior…

Complete Mercy

Brothers and sisters, Sinners and Saints, Because of the Immutability of Jesus, you and I dont have to face his wrath in judgment..

Malachi 3:6 “For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.”

Notice, The consuming judgment of God does not rest in the fickleness and constant change of man. It rests in him alone and in his unchanging Character and promise to those who by faith receive and follow Christ. Not perfectly! Because that would be to not believe in his perfection.

you may say, “Yes I believe, and I follow Christ, but not every single second of my life! I have gone through seasons of fear and doubt, and have had my faith tested time and time again. I have stumbled and fallen over and over to sin time and time again. How do I know I wont be consumed?”

Let me ask you this..do you believe right now That Christ is King, and are you overwhelmed with the disconnect you feel in your understanding and your heart at this reality? Then Cry out to God in your Spirit, and on your knees today at home, and beg God to teach you to rest in the reality. Repent of your sin and indifference towards him for the first time ever or the one thousandth time.

Thomas Watson “By delay of repentace, sin strengthens and the heart hardens. The longer Ice Freezes, the harder it is broken.”

If you do this, and have done this time and time again in your life, that is evidence that the promises of God are still at work in your heart…Dont stop Repenting and casting of the Sin that continually clings to us and cast your vision away from your frailty and mutability and find respite in Christ alone! Pray that you can slowly learn to accept your short life that if not now, will one day soon be full of pain and sorrow. And when the sorrow comes, look confidently not at the waves and winds of life ripping you apart, but look down at the Rock of Christ on which you stand, and see that he is unmoved! That is where your hope lies now and forevermore! We say our identity is in Christ, yet when death comes knocing on our door will that offer us peace, or will we come crumbling down realizing we have not stood on Him. Ephesians 6:13 “Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.”

4. Closing: Take Shelter in the Refuge that is going Nowhere!

Beloved. If you have believed and repented, know you have much more faith to grow in, and thousands of more sins to repent of, and know that your God will never let you Go…He is trustworthy, and he has said “Come to me and I will give you rest.” He loves you…He has revealed to us his unchanging heart towards his children

John 15:9–13 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”

Soul. If you think you are resting in Christ, but you have not confessed your love of this life and its fleeting nature, you have not found refuge in Christ. So today. Begin your journey of renouncing this world, and your aging identity, for Christ. Let your identity, joy, pleasure, trust, and highest pursuit be him and his glory in all things, before its too late. This is not something trivial that you have the luxury to parse out. The Devil may tempt you to walk down this path slowly, and in so doing you only arrive at the shut door of heaven..

Luke 13:25–28 “When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then he will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’ Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ But he will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!’ In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out.”

Closing Story Cyprian, Church bishop in Carthage 248 A.D

Cyprian was Bishop over the Church during 248-258. A time of horrible persecution for Christians. When he first became Bishop, the church was divided over how they should respond to the ever increasing of Christian killings. Many Christians during this time began to reject the faith during Roman Emperors who demanded the killings of Christians, only to return to the faith when a peaceful emperor would take the throne. Cyrpian who himself just returned from exile in an attempt to flee from persecution, decided to fight for unity and courage among the Christians by staying in Carthage when the next wave of persecution began to rise. during this wave in 258, he was among the first to be arrested and ordered to reveal the roster of Christian leaders. He refused. Awaiting his execution, he wrote to Christians who were exiled in the mines of Sigua: “Let cruilty, either ignorant or malignant, hold you here in its bonds and chains as long as it will. From this earth and form these sufferings you shall speedily come to the kingdom of heaven. The body is not cherished in the mines with couch and cushion, but it is cherished with the refreshment and solace of Christ.”

He went on to be beheaded. And preached until his dying breath the greatness of Christ. He took the blindfold from his exicutioner and blindfolded himself, surrendering life in peace, because he treasured more his life to come…

“Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus, Just to take him at his word. Just to rest upon his promise, just to know ‘thus saith the Lord. Jesus, Jesus How I trust him, how Ive proved him o’er and o’er. Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus, O for grace to trust him more.”