Sermon Tone Analysis

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.