Tackling Ten Timeless Truths, Part 5

Turn with me in your Bible to the book of Hebrews, the 13th chapter, as you once again set out to tackle ten timeless truths. As you do, I want to read to you a verse from the book of Proverbs. A few weeks ago, I read to you Proverbs chapter 13, verse number 13, which says, The one who despises the word will be in debt to it.

In other words, those who despise what God says will be destroyed by what God says. Then he says this, he says, but the one who fears the commandment, that one will be rewarded. Those who revere the word will be rewarded by the word.

Well, Proverbs 16, verse number 20, says these words, says he who gives attention to the word will find good and blessed is he who trusts in the Lord. The one who pays attention to the word of God will find goodness and blessedness. And my prayer for you today is that you and me would pay very close attention to what the spirit of God has for us as we study the word of God.

That we might find the goodness and blessedness that comes in paying very close attention to all that God says. When you woke up this morning, you like everyone else in the world knew that this day would not be like yesterday. Today would be different.

How? You don't necessarily know. You just know that today will be different than yesterday. When you woke up yesterday, it was sunny and warm.

When you woke up today, it was cloudy and cool. Already, the weather had changed in just a short 24-hour period, which would cause you to change maybe your plans for today, change what you would wear today, or change what your children would wear today. But one thing is certain, when you woke up today like every other person in the universe, whether saved or unsaved, you knew today would be different than yesterday, which was different than the day before.

Why? Because we live in a universe that's in constant change. Nothing remains the same. Nothing.

Things change moment by moment, day by day. They change for us financially. They change for us relationally.

They change for us sometimes even spiritually. Some days we're growing and we're walking with the Lord. Others days we are stagnant and stale in our walk with the Lord, but we are in constant change.

Of the 151,000 people that died between yesterday morning and this morning around the world, their lives were changed. Some went off into a blessed eternity with the Lord. Others went out into eternity separate from the Lord.

But of those 151,000 people that died, all their families' lives were changed as well. They lost friends. They lost loved ones.

Some lost husbands. Some lost wives. Some lost children.

But all their lives were changed. Of the 353,000 babies that were born between yesterday morning and this morning, all those families' lives changed for the good. They'd received a gift from the Lord.

And all those families who had newborns, their lives would forever be altered, forever be changed, because now there's just not two but one or maybe three or four or five or six or seven children. Who knows? But their lives were changed. Of the 200,000 babies that were aborted between yesterday morning and this morning, those people who went through the abortion, their lives will be permanently changed.

They'll never be the same again. Of the 29,000 people that were arrested between yesterday and today, their lives changed and their families' lives changed. Of the 6,500 weddings that took place between yesterday morning and this morning, those people's lives have been changed.

No longer are they two. They are now one and they begin their journey together. And it'll be a journey of life, change.

You see, everything in this world is at best tenuous, at best temporary, at best transitory, except one thing, one person, and that's Jesus Christ, our Lord. He never changes. And that's what the writer of Hebrews tells us in chapter 13, verse number 8. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

I wonder if you've ever thought about that. The writer of Hebrews is giving us these truths that we must adhere to and understand. We began by telling you the first one was we need to respond with love to the needs of others, that's verses 1 to 3. Reaffirm our loyalty to Mary, that's verse number 4. Resist the love of money, that's verses 5 and 6. And remember your leaders and follow their example, that's verse number 7. Why? Because the same Jesus Christ, the Messiah, who watched over their forefathers' lives, protected them and preserved them, is the same today as he was yesterday.

He's the same God. So principle number 6 in our outline is simply the fact that we need to—I'm sorry, principle number 5. Did I say 6? I meant 5. Sometimes I lose count. Principle number 5 is that you need to relish the unchangeable character of God.

You need to truly relish the unchangeable character of your God. Theologians call it the immutability of God. He's unchangeable in his nature.

He's unchangeable in his character. And if you were to study the attributes of God, you would want to begin here. And you'd begin here simply because the nature of God is unchanging.

So if you were going to study the nature of God, you'd begin with his immutability, his unchangeableness. So you would understand that his love is unchanging, his mercy is unchanging, his wrath is unchanging, his jealousy is unchanging, his omnipotence, omniscience are all unchanging. His omnipresence is unchanging because that's who he is.

And so if you were ever to embark on a study of the attributes of God, you begin with this one. So you would know that your God never changes when it comes to love and mercy and grace and faithfulness and truth, and his presence, his power, and so forth. Where did the writer of Hebrews come up with this? Well, of course, it's the Spirit of God and inspired him to write these things.

But the writer of Hebrews understands Old Testament concepts, understands what the Lord has already said all the way back to the book of Numbers, the 23rd chapter. It says, God is not a man that he should lie nor a son of man that he should repent or change his mind. Has he said and will he not do it? Or has he spoken and will he not make it good? Moses tells us at the very beginning, God is unchangeable.

When Malachi, the prophet, was speaking to Judah, he wanted them to understand that God is a just God because they asked the question in chapter two, where is the justice of God? And Malachi will tell them that the Son of Man is going to come, the Messiah is going to come. He's going to come suddenly to his temple. The messenger in whom you delight is going to arrive.

And when he arrives, his justice will be swift, his judgment will be quick and it will be severe. But he says these words, Malachi 3, verse number six, for I, the Lord, do not change. Therefore, you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed.

Do you know why Israel is around today? They shouldn't even be here. They should have been wiped off the face of the earth many times over. Satan would love to destroy the nation of Israel.

He just can't. Why? Because God is unchangeable. That's why he calls them the sons of Jacob, because he wants them to realize that there's a covenant made with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, a covenant made all the way back in Genesis chapter 13 with Abraham, an unconditional, unilateral covenant that God made with Abraham that his seed would endure forever.

And therefore, there will always be a remnant that set aside and will be saved by God, because Romans 9 tells us that all Israel will be saved. And God says to the pen of Malachi, listen, Judah, listen, O sons of Jacob, I want to let you know why you are not consumed because of your sin and your rebellion against me, which has been constant. It's because I'm a God of mercy, a God of loving kindness and forgiveness.

And I made a covenant with Abraham and my word is sure it never changes. So therefore, you live today. Oh, you'll be chastised, but you'll never be consumed.

So he says in verse seven, from the days of your fathers, you have turned aside from my statutes. You should have died. I should have killed you.

But I didn't. You have not kept them. So return to me and I will return to you.

All that's based on the unchangeable character of our God, his immutability. The psalmist in Psalm 102 speaks about the ever-changing life that he himself is encountering and finds solace in the unchangeable nature of God. He says this in Psalm 102, verse number one, hear my prayer, O Lord, and let my cry for help come to you.

Do not hide your face from me in the day of my distress. Incline your ear to me in the day when I call. Answer me quickly, for my days have been consumed in smoke and my bones have been scorched like a hearth.

My heart has been smitten like grass and is withered away. Indeed, I forget to eat my bread because of the loudness of my groaning, my bones cling to my flesh. I resemble a pelican of the wilderness.

I have become like an owl of the waste places. I lie awake. I have become like a lonely bird on a housetop.

My enemies have reproached me all day long. Those who deride me have used my name as a curse. Verse 11, my days are like a Lincoln's shadow and I wither away like grass.

But the biologies of scripture are so enormous. But you, O Lord, abide forever in your name to all generations. In the midst of everything that's changing in my life, when it comes to my relationship with others, when it comes to my physicality, everything is changing.

I'm wasting away. I need something solid. I need something sure.

I need something steadfast. I need something rock like. I need a fortress.

I need something that never changes and God never changes. So he says this, verse 25, of old you have founded the earth and the heavens are the work of your hands. Even they will perish, but you endure and all of them will wear out like a garment, like clothing.

You will change them and they will be changed. But you are the same and your years will not come to an end. Lord, you are the same.

You never change. You endure forever. You are my hope.

You are my stay. You're everything because you're constant in a world filled with inconsistencies and where nothing is constant, God himself is constant. God himself is sure.

We sang about it earlier. He is an anchor for our soul. He is the rock of our salvation.

He is a refuge in which we run. He is everything and he never changes. He's always the same.

So important to understand. Simply put, God's immutability describes the changelessness of his character and that's good. Why? Because any change for better would make God not the best and make him imperfect.

So he can never change to get any better than he already is. In other words, he can't change for the worse because then he'd be imperfect and they would not be God. In other words, God doesn't change in his knowledge.

He knows everything. The Bible tells us he knows the head or the hair on top of your head, the number of the hairs on the top of your head, and he never had to count them to know them. Because if he had to count them to know them, that means there was something he did not know at one time.

But that's not true of God. He knows everything. So he knows the number of the hairs on your head just because he knows them.

Without ever having to count them. Because he knows everything. And that character is something that never changes.

Everything that's created runs down and wears out. God is the uncreated being. He's always existed.

He has no beginning. He has no end. He just is.

So he can never wear out. He can never grow old. You and I, we grow old.

We're a lot different this week than we were last week. Our hair is probably a little grayer than it was last week. We have a little bit more wrinkles than we had last week.

We don't walk nearly as fast as we used to walk. We don't run nearly as fast as we used to run or we don't even run at all. Why? Because our physicality is expiring.

And everything is wearing out and running down. The New Testament, the book of James, tells us this in James chapter 1 verse number 17. Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above.

Everything. Everything that's good comes from God because God is good. Every perfect gift coming down from above.

It says, coming down from the father of lights with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. The father of lights is an ancient Jewish title for God, referring to him as the creator of all things. He is the creator of light.

He's the giver of light. He created the sun, the moon, and the stars. And those celestial parts are changing constantly.

And one day they will completely fade away. And every day the sun, as it moves, casts a shadow upon the earth. And that shadow begins to shift moment by moment, hour by hour.

But with the father of lights, there is no variation. There is no shifting shadow. Why? Because he's always the same.

He never changes. Nothing gets better with God. Certainly nothing gets worse with God.

Because he is absolute perfection. That's who our God is. So in other words, his person never changes.

When God has made up his mind, his mind is made up. But he doesn't make up his mind. His mind is already made because he already knows.

In fact, way back in the book of 1 Samuel, as you remember, King Saul had refused to pay attention to the word of God, Proverbs 16, 20. Because if you pay attention to the word of God, it will be good for you. You'll be blessed.

Instead, he despised the word, Proverbs 13, verse number 13, and he would be disciplined and destroyed by that word. Because he was told to kill all the Amalekites, kill all the possessions, all the livestock of the Amalekites. But Saul chose not to do that.

He chose to spare the king and to spare some of the livestock, thinking that he could offer some of those lambs up to the Lord for sacrifice. But he disobeyed the Lord. And so Samuel called him out on that.

And Samuel said these words, Has the Lord as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams, for rebellion is the sin of divination, and insubordination is as iniquity and idolatry, because you have rejected the word of the Lord. He has also rejected you from being king. Then Saul said to Samuel, I have sinned.

I have indeed transgressed the command of the Lord and your words, because I feared the people and listened to their voice. Now, therefore, please pardon my sin and return with me that I may worship the Lord. But 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, as Samuel turned to go, Saul seized the edge of his robe and it tore. So Samuel said to him, the Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to your neighbor, who is better than you. Also, the glory of Israel will not lie, nor will he change his mind, for he is not a man that he should change his mind.

God said, that's it. You're done. And Saul was done, because God is unchangeable in his nature and in his character.

The Bible says these words in Acts chapter 15, verse number 18, known to God are all his works from the beginning of the world. Known to God are all his works from the beginning of the world. In other words, God knows everything.

God never has to change plans. We have to change plans, right? We make a plan that this week we're going to do this, but it rains, so our plans have to change. Or somebody gets sick, my plans have to change.

Or somebody dies, my plans have to change. But God never changes, because he makes all the plans. And so known to God from the very beginning are all of his works.

And God never forgets. Do you forget? Sure, we forget. But God never forgets, because he knows everything.

In fact, the Bible says over Isaiah 40, verse number 28, when Israel was concerned about God rejecting them, and God not knowing anything about their condition, when they asked, why is my way hidden from the Lord, and that justice do me escapes the notice of my God? Jeremiah says, do you not know, have you not heard that the everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth, does not become weary or tired? His understanding is inscrutable. In other words, when he expends energy, he doesn't decrease in energy. His expending of energy is nothing, because he never loses his power.

It's always there, so he can give strength to the weary. He can call the youths to rise up and stand strong. Why? Because that's what God does.

His unchangeable character says that his power never is relinquished, or distinguished, or expended to such that he's so tired, he says, I spent so much time helping this family, I can't help yours, I'm worn out. Because God's unchangeable in his power, in his knowledge, in his character, that's who he is. God's unchangeable in his person, God's unchangeable in his precepts.

They never change. Psalm 119, 89, forever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven. It's settled.

God never misspeaks. God never says anything that says, oh, I shouldn't have said it that way. I'm sorry.

We do. We say things, and those words come out of our mouth, and we try to grab them and put them back in again, because we shouldn't have said what we said. But God never regrets what he says.

Never does. Why? Because he always speaks truth. The Bible says in Isaiah 40, verse number eight, the grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of the Lord stands forever.

That's God's word. His precepts are unchangeable because his person is unchangeable. His precepts are immutable because his person is immutable, his plans.

Number three, Psalm 33, 11, the counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of his heart from generation to generation. Nothing changes the plans of God. Proverbs 19, 21, there are many plans in a man's heart.

Nevertheless, the Lord's counsel stands forever. In other words, there are many plans that you and I have. We plan to grow up.

We plan to get married. We plan to buy a house. We plan to have kids.

We plan to have this kind of job and have this kind of income. We make all these plans, but they're ever-changing because I don't control them. There are outside circumstances that affect things that I do, schools I attend, jobs I interview for.

But with God, his counsel stands forever. Job, we'll talk about him on Wednesday night, says this, he knows the way I take. When he has tried to me, I shall come forth as gold.

My foot has held fast to his path. I have kept his way and not turned aside. I have not departed from the command of his lips.

I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my necessary food. But he is unique and who can turn him? God is so unique, you can't turn him around. You can't change his mind.

You can't change his plans. You can't do that. And what his soul desires, that's what he does.

Wow. Don't you wish that you could do whatever your soul desired? You can't. And thank God that you can't do that.

But God can. He can. For he has performed what is appointed for me and many such decrees are with him.

Job, who had no theology books, no Bible to read, knew in the sovereign providence and plan of God that it can never be thwarted because his God cannot be turned. He cannot be changed. He can't be coerced.

He can't be manipulated. He just can't. Because his plans stand forever.

His person is unchangeable. His precepts are unchangeable. His plans are unchangeable.

His provisions are unchangeable. James 1 tells us, we looked at earlier, every good gift and every perfect gift coming down from the father of lights with whom there is no shifting shadow. There is no variation.

There is no change about him. He is the constant when it comes to goodness. He is the constant when it comes to perfection.

But he's the one who provides. He provided for Daniel when he was in the lion's den. He provided protection for him.

Our Lord is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Our Lord provided for Paul when he was shipwrecked. He preserved Paul through all those shipwrecks.

He protected Daniel when he was in prison. And he pulled Peter right out of jail at the right time. Why? Simply because his provisions are unchangeable.

His prophecies, they're unchangeable. God has predicted the past, predicted the future, excuse me. As he predicts it, he does it with precision.

And in a few weeks, we'll embark on Great Friday and Resurrection Sunday. And you'll see once again the perfection and the precision of prophecy that everything he said came true exactly when, how, and where. Because he knows the end from the beginning.

He does not change. Meaning his prophecies will never change. His promises, they never change.

I will never leave you, nor will I ever forsake you. You read that earlier in Hebrews chapter 13. It's taken from the Old Testament.

God promises he will never leave us or forsake us. Psalm 8411, no good thing will I withhold from those who walk uprightly. It's a promise that never changes.

It's an immutable promise given to us by the living God. Over in the book of Isaiah, the Lord says, fear not, I am with thee. I will strengthen thee.

I will help thee. I will uphold thee with my righteous right hand. God's promises are unchangeable.

In fact, so much so that in the book of 2 Timothy chapter 2, verse 11 says, this is a trustworthy statement. There are five of them in Scripture and they're axiomatic. Everybody knows this.

So when Paul says, this is a trustworthy saying deserving of full acceptance. In other words, everybody knows this is a saying that everybody understands, the trustworthy statement. For if we died with him, we will also live with him.

That's true, right? I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live in it, not I, but Christ lives in me. If we endure, we will also reign with him.

That's true too, right? Those who endure to the end, they will be saved and they will reign with him throughout all eternity. That's a promise God gives. That will never change.

If we deny him, he will deny us. That's a promise. He who denies me or he who confesses me before men, I will confess before my father, but he who denies me before men, I will deny him before my father who is in heaven.

He who is ashamed of me and my words in this generation, I will be ashamed of him before my father who is in heaven. If we deny him, he will deny us. Now, careful with the next statement.

It says, if we are faithless, he remains faithful. And people will say, well, that's good to know because I am so faithless sometimes, it's good to know my God is faithful. That's not what it says.

No, that's what exactly what it says. No, that's not what it means. It is true that whenever we are faithless, God is faithful.

Peter was faithless and God was faithful to him. Disciples are faithless and God was faithful to them. But in the context of Second Timothy, Chapter two, he is saying this.

If we are faithless, he remains faithful for he cannot deny himself. In other words, if we are faithless, if we deny him, he will deny us. And because he's so faithful to what he says, it is true that when you deny him, he will deny you before his father who is in heaven, because that's how faithful he is to his word.

You can count on that because it was unchangeable, immutable character. That's what it says. It's a promise of God.

They're unchangeable. You say, wait a minute, wait, hold on a second. Didn't God change his mind in the book of Jonah? Didn't God change from destroying Nineveh to saving Nineveh? That's what it says in Jonah, Chapter three, verse number 10.

It says, and God saw their works that they had turned from their evil way, and God changed his mind. God repented of the evil that he said he would do unto them, and he did not. So right there it says that God changed.

Doesn't? Who changed? God or Nineveh? Nineveh changed. Nineveh heard the preaching of the word. This is why Jonah didn't want to go to the Ninevites.

He knew that if he preached the word of God, they would respond and be saved. He didn't want that to happen, but God sent him there anyway, because God was going to show himself faithful. And when they repented, God saved them.

God didn't change, they changed. Because the character of God says this, if you repent, you'll be saved. But if you reject, you will die in your sins.

And they were on their way to hell until they heard the gospel preached through Jonah, and they repented. They changed their mind. They turned to follow God, and when they did, God saved them.

One author says it this way, you can't blame the sun for melting the wax and hardening the clay. The problem is in the substance of those objects, not in the sun. The way a man stands before God dictates what happens to him.

Have you ever ridden a bike against the wind? It's a struggle until you turn around and coast with the force of the wind. You can't say that the wind changed. You changed in relation to the wind.

God never changes. He will continue to reward good and punish evil. How you view his actions depends on where you are in his grace and his will.

So true, the same God that saves, condemns. Can't blame God for that, because it deals with the objects through their response to him. And so you begin to realize that it's not God who changed, it was the Ninevites who changed.

And God only operated in conjunction with his already unchangeable character, which is he will have mercy on whom he will have mercy. He will bestow grace on those who are needed grace. He will always forgive those who repent.

God does that. So what does this mean for you and me? It means so much. It means that when you call upon him, he hears.

Why? Because he's constant. He's unchangeable. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

So we are to call upon his name. First Chronicles 16, 8 says, give thanks to the Lord, call upon his name. Psalm 86, verse number five, for you, Lord, are good and ready to forgive and abundant and loving kindness to all who call upon you.

Because God is abundant, loving kindness, because God is forgiving, he will forgive those who call upon him. The Bible says in Psalm 91, he will call upon me and I will answer. I will be with him in trouble.

I will rescue him and honor him. With a long life, I will satisfy him and let him see my salvation. Psalm 116, I love the Lord because he hears my voice and my supplications, because he has inclined his ear to me.

Therefore, I shall call upon him as long as I live. God's unchangeable character beckons us to call upon him because he hears. The Lord, it says in Psalm 145, verse number 18, is near to all those who call upon him, to all those who call upon him in truth.

Psalm 145, verse number 18. We are to call upon the Lord. Jeremiah 33, 3, call to me and I will answer you and I will tell you great and mighty things which thou knowest not.

Because God's unchangeable, you can call on him constantly. Because he's unchangeable, you can come to him confidently. Matthew 11, come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

John 7, verse number 37, if anyone is thirsty, let him come. Taken from Isaiah chapter 51, 55, excuse me, verse number one, everyone who was thirsty, come to the waters of salvation. In John chapter six, verse number 35, Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life.

He who comes to me will never hunger. And he who believes in me will never thirst. Verse 37, all that the father gives me will come to me.

He'll come. And the ones who come to me, I will certainly never cast out. You can call upon him constantly.

You can come to him confidently. In fact, the very last invitation in the Bible in Revelation 22, verse number 17, says the Spirit says, come, and the bride says, come, and that he who is thirsty, come. Come.

Why? Because there's a Savior who will save you from your sin. You can call upon him constantly. You can come to him confidently.

You can communicate with him courageously. He says, ask, keep on asking, keep on seeking, keep on knocking. Why? Hebrews four, we have a high priest who can sympathize with our weaknesses.

Therefore, we are to come boldly, courageously before the throne of grace, that we might receive grace to help, mercy in time of need. God never growls or snarls at you or says, really? You're coming again? I just talked to you this morning. Why are you back? Was it once enough? Do you have to keep crying and beckoning and calling and asking? Yes, because that's what he said, keep on asking, keep on seeking, keep on knocking.

He never wearies or is tired. He wants you to communicate with him courageously. And once you call to him constantly and come to him confidently and communicate with him courageously, you can count on him completely.

You can count on no one else completely or totally. You can only count on the unchangeable character and nature of God, because he is the one who will treat you tenderly, because he knows our frame, Psalm 103. He knows that we are but dust.

He will treat us tenderly. He is a God, sacred as one, of all comfort. Not only will he treat you tenderly, but he'll transform you totally.

That's how you can count on him. To the man being Christ, he is a new creation, been transformed from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God's dear son. And one day, one day, this lowly body will be transformed, will be glorified, will become like our Lord's body.

That which is perishable will take on that which is imperishable. That which is mortal will become immortal. Why? Because in the twinkling of an eye, we shall all be changed.

See that? He'll transform us totally, because he treats us tenderly, because he always tells the truth. Psalm 19, verse number 9, the judgments of the Lord are true. They are righteous all together.

God's word is completely and totally true. He never lies, never misspeaks, never sorry for what he said or what he does, because he has a plan that runs to perfection. He only has one plan.

Does it have a plan B or plan C? Does it have an alternate route or an alternate plan? We got one, and it runs right on schedule. That's why A.W. Pink says this, human nature cannot be relied upon, but God can. However unstable I may be, however fickle my friends may prove, God changes not.

If he varied as we do, if he willed one thing today and another tomorrow, if he were controlled by caprice, who could confide in him? But all praise to his glorious name, he is ever the same. His purpose is fixed, his will is stable, his word is sure. Here then is a rock on which we may fix our feet.

While the mighty torrent is sweeping away everything around us, the permanence of God's character guarantees the fulfillment of all his promises. Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever. The truth you need to tackle and treasure is a timeless truth, because you need to relish the unchangeable character of the living God.

Let's pray. Lord, thank you for today. Lord, so much to cover, so little time to do it in.

Our prayer is that, Lord, your word would take root in the lives of those who are here, that you grow them deep as they give attention to your word, and the good they will receive, and the blessing they have because they trust only in the unchangeable character of our God. In your name we pray, amen.