Character of God

INTRO

(CSB) — Because God wanted to show his unchangeable purpose even more clearly to the heirs of the promise, he guaranteed it with an oath, so that through two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to seize the hope set before us.

(CSB) — Because God wanted to show his unchangeable purpose even more clearly to the heirs of the promise, he guaranteed it with an oath, so that through two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to seize the hope set before us.

You’re just going to have to take my word for this right now. This passage is one of the most evangelistic passages in the scriptures. It explains so much about how the Gospel, the message of Jesus Christ and Him crucified, moves throughout the earth. In a crude sense, it explains who God is, so that people would believe. And I think the purpose of the Author of Hebrews is to show us how it is that we came to believe in Jesus. But, in application, I think we can learn a great deal about how we are to share Jesus with others in order to make known who God is, so that they too might believe. Does that make sense? Like, if God used this method on us, then we can use it on other people. That’s kind of the idea.

So, I’ll start by going through three charachter traits of God in this passage and I’ll explain those as we go on. They are: immutability, honesty, and cooperation.

And then, we’ll look back at each of those to see how we can operate within those charachter traits.

Should be fun.

PRAY

The first charachter trait mentioned in the passage is God’s…

Immutability

Immutable means unchanging over time. Ideas morph and change through time and sway with cultural shifts, but some ideas are immutable; they simply don’t change. As far as I can tell, 2+2 will always be 4; it’s an immutable fact.

When we speak of God’s immutability, we are speaking of His unchanging nature and charachter. Most people don’t actually perceive God as being immutable. Even among Christians, you often hear that the the Old Testament portrays God as a vengeful and wrathful God and the New Testament portrays God as a God of love. It’s as if God changed. He was full of vigor and aggression when He was younger, but then when He got older, God got wiser and calmed down and now is a loving and nurturing God.

There’s something weird about a God who changes, even if He is changing for the better. And that’s why I’m thankful that God is not portrayed any different in the Old Testament than in the New. I’ll give you an example.

King David prayed,

(CSB) — But you, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love and truth.

That’s King David in the Old Testament.

(CSB) — The God of love and peace will be with you.

That’s the Apostle Paul in the New Testament.

God is love Old and New Testaments. But, what about wrath? Doesn’t the New Testament God only love?

(CSB) — For look, the Lord is coming from his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity. The earth will reveal the blood shed on it and will no longer conceal her slain.

That’s Isaiah in the Old Testament.

Jesus said this about the loving New Testament God:

(CSB) — But I will show you the one to fear: Fear him who has authority to throw people into hell after death. Yes, I say to you, this is the one to fear!

This idea that God changes, really just comes from an ignorance of the scriptures. No one reads the New Testament and walks away thinking that God is so loving that He would never punish anyone. God is a vengeful God who is jealous for His glory and punishes all sin with perfect justice. But, in His love, he has made a way to justify those who are under His wrath—which is everyone—through His son Jesus. And so God’s wrath is satisfied by His perfect love. But, again, justice and love are both prevalent themes of both the Old and New Testaments. God’s charachter does not change as you move through the scriptures.

The prophet Malachi, looking to the disobedient nation of Israel prophesied for the Lord,

(CSB) — “Because I, the Lord, have not changed, you descendants of Jacob have not been destroyed.

See, God doesn’t change and thus, even in the Old Testament He is patient and merciful. In the New Testament, James the half-brother of Jesus wrote,

(CSB) — Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

James really gets at the concern of immutability. No one wants to follow a wishy washy God.

What if He changes His mind about us come judgment day and decides on a whim to cast us all into hell?

That’s really the question. And to be honest, the last message makes absolutely no sense whatsoever unless God is unchanging, immutable. God is not wishy washy. His plans and purposes have been set since the foundations of the earth and they will not change.

PAUSE

So in our text, the author of Hebrews states that,

God wanted to show his unchangeable [or immutable] purpose even more clearly to the heirs of the promise [that’s us]. So, he guaranteed it with an oath, so that through two unchangeable things…we…might have strong encouragement to seize the hope set before us.

In other words, the immutable God wanted to show His immutable purposes through two immutable things so that we would seize the hope we have been offered through Christ.

Remember, immutable means unchanging. So, I want to say that again to really set it in your mind.

The immutable God wanted to show His immutable purposes through two immutable things so that we would seize the hope we have been offered through Christ.

That’s on the graphic I gave you for this message and it’s kind of the thesis statement for this part of the talk. I really want you to get this.

We know that God is unchanging in charachter. I already gave you a quick demonstration of His love and justice in the Old and New Testaments.

We know from yesterday that His purposes are unchanging. God is building a Kingdom for His glory and there is no devil (), and no angel (), and no human () that is going to stand in the way of God’s purposes.

But, what are these two immutable or unchangeable things?

I won’t rehash the whole message, but this comes from yesterday. The two things the author of Hebrews is referring to are the promise and the covenant.

The promise is that,

(CSB) — He [God] chose us in him [Christ], before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in love before him.

Even though we are born as unholy, impure, unrighteous idolaters and haters of God, God promises that come judgment day we who are in Christ will be found holy and blameless in love before Him. Let’s be honest, I’m banking on that promise. I’ve literally bet my whole life on God keeping that promise. When you came to Christ you gave up all of the Kingdom of this World because of the beauty of this promise, that in Christ you will be found holy and blameless. That has to be an immutable promise. It cannot change or our entire faith system goes out the window.

The first thing is the promise and the second thing is the New Covenant. You’ll remember this quote from yesterday,

Under the New Covenant, the promise of God isn’t recieved ‘If you obey...’ It’s recieved, ‘Since Christ obeyed...’

This goes back to the same premise. If my holiness and blamelessness is based on my own obedience, then I am hopeless; completely and utterly hopeless. But, if my holiness and blamelessness are based on Christ’s obedience, then I have hope, because we live on this side of the cross and we know that Jesus died to pay for our sins. The New Covenant has to stay the same. It cannot change. It must be immutable. Imagine how changes judgment day if the covenant changes.

The promise is,

(CSB) — He [God] chose us in him [Christ], before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in love before him.

You get to judgment day and God looks at your life and says, ‘Well, you didn’t really obey me enough to get into my Kingdom.’ And you say, ‘Well, I thought you chose me?’ And God says, ‘I did! I chose you to be holy and blameless, but you didn’t obey so now you’re standing here unholy and full of blame. I told you to obey and you completely failed!’

See, the promise is only good if you have the covenant. The covenant is the key to the promise, because the covenant says, ‘Not by my works will I enter, but only by the perfect works of Christ.’

None of that gets to change or it all falls apart. God’s charachter can’t change. He has to be who He is. God’s purposes can’t change. If He isn’t building a Kingdom for His glory, then what does He need with us? And these two things, God’s promise and God’s New Covenant, they cannot change or else everything falls apart. God is immutable and unchanging.

And that’s probably the biggest part of this whole thing, but there are two other charachter traits of God that are present in this text. And, as we said, all three of these work together to encourage people to come to know Christ, to seize the hope of Christ.

The two unchangeable things are the promise and the New Covenant fulfillments (not the Old as they were not guaranteed by an oath.) These two unchangeable things point to the immutability of God Himself as the promises are a direct reflection of the charachter and nature of God.

The second is God’s…

(CSB) — “Because I, the Lord, have not changed, you descendants of Jacob have not been destroyed.

(CSB) — Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

Honesty

In our text, , the author says regarding these two unchangeable things, that it is impossible for God to lie. “…through two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to seize the hope set before us.”

In context, the author is saying that God has to keep His promises and God has to adhere to the covenant that He established between Christ and the church, His people. He isn’t the only biblical author to talk about God’s honesty, though. It comes up a number of times. Paul told Titus,

(CSB) — For the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness, in the hope of eternal life that God, who cannot lie, promised before time began.

Again we see this tie between the honesty of God and the promise. Paul assures Titus that God promised eternal life before time even began and by the way, God cannot lie.

James the half-brother of Jesus wrote,

(CSB) — Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

Time changes shadows. James uses the most brilliant illustrations. With every moment that passes a shadow changes shape and form. It appears in the morning, only to disappear again in the evening. Shadows are wishy washy. They never just say it like it is.

But God is not like shadows. He is the Father of lights, that is, the Father of all the divine beings. He is the sovereign of the universe. He is never out of control of anything. Nothing surprises God and thus He is never at a loss for words. What He says is and what He does not say is not. He is by nature honest in all things. If it were not going to be so, then God would not have said it.

Frankly, we only have assurance of God’s promises and agreement with God in the New Covenant because of God’s honesty. Promises and covenants are nothing to dishonest people and thus we only believe in the immutable nature of God because He is honest.

So, we have God’s immutability, God’s honesty and third, we have God’s…

Cooperation

Cooperation is the oft neglected characteristic of God, whereby God calls upon people and divine beings to cooperate with Him in His plan and purposes. I’m not the first person at all to recognize cooperation as a charachter or attribute of God, but it rarely shows up in books on the attributes of God. And I think that’s a shame, because God’s cooperation answers so many questions about how God works in the world.

Consider for illustration purposes a gift. I buy my wife a necklace for her birthday. It’s weeks before, but I just can’t stand it. I come in the door and I haven’t even wrapped it yet. I just want to whip it out and run to her and place it in her hand and then put the necklace on her neck. But, I decide, no. I should wait until her party, so I wrap it an I put it away. The day of the party comes and I grab the gift and I get in the car and I head to the party. As I come into the room and I see my wife I want to run to her and force her to open the gift and then place it on her neck. But, then I see the gift table. And I think, well, that might not be fair to the other guests who brought their gifts and placed them on the table like they were supposed to, so I put the gift on the table with the other gifts.

And the party goes on and we have a nice evening and then she sits down to open her gifts. One by one she receives each gift and she opens it with thanksgiving and pleasure until she comes finally to my gift, the perfect gift. Of her own volition she opens it and then she invites me over and asks me to place the necklace on her neck so she can wear it for the rest of the evening.

And that’s the paradigm at work here. The author of Hebrews says that we are to seize the hope set before us. In salvation, God does not run to you and place the gift around your neck. He does all the work that you cannot do, but he places this gift, this good and perfect gift, right before you, in plain sight. In , Jesus says that God draws all men to Himself. He places this gift, a provocative, alluring gift, right before each one of us, to draw us to Himself. There is a cooperation that happens. Yes, Christ has done the work. He was obedient for us all and He died for us all. He did the work. But, the gift was placed before you that you might now seize it.

This is what I call the soteriological paradox. Soteriology is the study of the process of salvation through Christ. A paradox is a perceived, but not actual contradiction. The paradox of salvation is that God has done everything necessary to get you into heaven, but you have to receive the gift.

Now, I’m going to be honest with you, every gift that I receive from my wife is the perfect gift, not because of the gift itself, but because of the giver. And I imagine that’s the same for her. So you can imagine that I get to the party and I place the gift before her, but I’m really in the dog house—which never happens, but hypothetically—and she looks at the gift and thinks, well it’s just too little too late. And she doesn’t even open it. She leaves it on the table and goes home.

I mean how thankless is that? How arrogant is that? How rude is that?

And the reality is, that’s what people do all the time. They are offended that God offers them the gift of salvation. It’s not that they don’t see the gift. It has been offered. They understand the Gospel. But, they understand it all too well! Too many people refuse the gift and leave it on the table because of what the Gospel communicates about them as individuals.

What do you mean Anthony? What does the Gospel communicate about me as an individual?

Well, at the very core of the message of salvation is the reality that you need saved. Did you get that? When you tell someone that salvation is available to them through Christ, you are telling them that they are broken, sinful, and imperfect and in need of a savior. And the arrogance of man wells up within them and they say in their hearts, ‘Who is God to judge me?!’ And they leave the gift on the table. God doesn’t force salvation upon people and thus they leave the gift on the table. Thankless, arrogant, and rude, they refuse the most perfect gift they have ever been offered.

But that’s what God wants: cooperation. If he wanted mindless drones He would have just made robots. But, he made us, intelligent, mindful and sensitive people. And so the author of the letter to the Hebrews says that these three charachter traits of God—immutability, honest, and cooperation—work together to bring clarity to our minds so that ‘we might have strong encouragement to seize the hope set before us.’ Immutability, honest, and cooperation are for the purpose that we might be encouraged to pick up the gift.

So, this is the second anchor of our souls: God’s charachter. Those of us who are in Christ regularly fall back on these characters of God. When the world is chaotic and we can’t tell what is, we remember that God is immutable, unchanging. We say, ‘Where is God?’ and remember that He is always the same and He has never left our sides and we have strong encouragement.

When we begin to doubt our faith because of the lies perpetuated in the culture that say things like, ‘All routes lead to God,’ and, ‘God loves everyone the same,’ or even, ‘God isn’t real, just a fairy story,’ we remember the honest of God. We remember the hope we found when we seized the gift of God and we have strong encouragement.

And when we get so tired of trying—tired of trying to repent of sins, tired of enduring trials, tired of life in general—when we get tired of trying, we remember God’s cooperation. See, we like to flip the paradigm. God has done everything in Christ so that we would receive the gift. But, then we fall into a pattern where we think we have to do everything and God will receive our gifts. Right? Follow me. We fall into the trap of thinking that our obedience and our sacrifices are what make God pleased with us and we become the gift that God receives. How blessed is God to have such obedient and pleasant people?

But, that’s not Christianity. That’s every other religion, but it’s not Christianity. We get tired, because we think God will receive us when we do everything we are supposed to do. But, cooperation is that God has done everything so that you can receive Him.

We get tired, because we’re trying to do God’s job.

I.e. The hope was placed before us. John even tells us that the Spirit draws us ()—beckons us to pick up hope—(indeed he draws all people, cf. ). But, God leaves it to us to pick it up—the paradox of scriptures, that God has called us and predestined us for adoption as sons and Abraham’s seed, but also that we must respond when He calls us.

APP:

I want to make an observation about these three attributes, though, as we look at some application. See, these three character traits of God encouraged you to receive the gift of Jesus Christ. God’s immutability, honesty, and cooperation are what encouraged you to seize the hope offered to you in Christ. And I had the thought that these three character traits really should influence the way we communicate the Gospel to other people if we want them to be encouraged to seize the hope of Christ.

Right? If it’s what God used to encourage us, shouldn’t we then use it to encourage others?

I thought that and then I realized that I used these three things when I tell people about Christ and I hadn’t even realized it. So, let’s talk about these three things in light of evangelism for a few minutes.

God’s immutability, honesty, and cooperation encourage people to seize the hope of Christ. 3 of the most important evangelistic tools for us as well. Be unchangeableBe honestCooperate/Participate

Immutability

If God doesn’t change then there is never a new Gospel, just new language to communicate the same Gospel.

TODAY: No one wants a wishy washy God. They will resonate with the grand narrative of scripture that God is building a Kingdom for His glory more than they will resonate with their own personal need for a savior.

Honesty

No more bait and switch. The time to present an entirely too free Gospel and then hit people over the head with the law is over. God requires allegiance, plain and simple.

Jesus is worth living your life for. He is in every way more fulfilling.

TODAY: Authenticity is a critical component in the presentation of the Gospel.

Cooperation

God is active, but He acts through people.

TODAY: People want to act, not observe. They need to get involved in serving God as quickly as possible (not leadership, certainly).