God's Immutability

What is immutability? –God is unchanging

Why must God be unchanging (logical argument)? –Because he could only change in 3 ways:

1. One must go from better to worse

2. One must go from worse to better

3. Non-moral: Immaturity to Maturity, or mature to immature

None of those things could describe God.

Are we sure God is unchanging?

Genesis 6:6- did God make a mistake and change his mind?

Exodus 32- Did Moses change the mind of God?

Genesis 22:12- Did God not know before?

How do we know God is unchanging?

Numbers 23:19; James 1:17; Malachi 3:6

How do we reconcile these two ideas?

God’s nature, promises, and specific decrees do not change. However, God can and does retract announcements based on human repentance and behavior. Jonah 4, John 3:16

Why might it be difficult for US to understand a being who does not change? – because we change so much! Just think of how much people have changed from when you were in Middle school, and I’m sure the college folks can testify how much people change after high school and so on.

What are the implications of God’s immutability?

1.The immutability of God has tremendous implications regarding the Bible, the Word of God. His Word is never out of date, never irrelevant to our lives or our times (1 Peter 1:23-25)

2. The immutability of God is an assurance for Christians Assurance provides stability and confidence in times of uncertainty and circumstances that appear threatening. Because our God is unchanging, His promises and His purposes are certain (Hebrews 6:16-20)

3. The immutability of God is also an awesome warning that God will fulfill His Word regarding judgment for sin. God’s immutability is not only a comforting assurance concerning the blessings which God has promised, but also an awesome warning that God will fulfill His Word regarding judgment for sin.

God is Eternal

The first attribute discussed is God’s self-existence and the fact that he is eternal.

God has no origin. This one attribute sets apart that which is God and that which is not God. Anytime someone asks a question about Origins (origins of life, origins of the universe, origin of Gluten Free Pizza, etc) it reveals our assumption that everything comes from some-thing.

Even children understand this. “Mommy, where did God come from?”

Something had to be there from the beginning. “New Atheists” would argue the universe had no beginning and will have no end. However most realize this to be untrue given the expansion of the universe. Since the universe has a beginning or cause, what was that first cause? Christians can point to God who always has been and forever will be.

Moses and God discuss God’s name: Exodus 3:13-14

¹³ Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?”

¹⁴ God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”

¹⁵ God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The LORD,^[a] the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’ “This is my name forever, the name you shall call me from generation to generation.

I AM comes from the verb “to be” communicating his self-existence (he just is!)

But he doesn’t just exist for the sake of existing. In this context (3:8), he exists as an active existence, really and truly present, ready to help and to act.

In Hebrew I AM is very similar to LORD (Yahweh-the One Who Is), the Jew’s personal name for God was a reminder for them always that God was there, self-existing and dependent on nothing but not only that he hears them and steps in when necessary

John 8:56-59, ⁵⁶ your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.” ⁵⁷ “You are not yet fifty years old,” they said to him, “and you have seen Abraham!” ⁵⁸ “Very truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!” ⁵⁹ At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds.

Why are the Jews so angry? Jesus was claiming to be God!

Psalm 90:2, ¹ Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations. ² Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the whole world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God. ³ You turn people back to dust, saying, “Return to dust, you mortals.” ⁴ A thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night.

Revelation 1:8, ⁸ “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”

Isaiah 46:10, ⁹ Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me. ¹⁰ I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.’

So what does this mean? How can God’s eternity change the way we think about him? How can it change the way we think about life?

Thinking- Nothing takes God by surprise. In fact, we are so limited in our knowledge. Who are you going to marry? God knows! Will Obama be reelected? God knows! What’s going to happen tomorrow? God knows!

How? Because he is already there. That’s the benefit of being eternal and outside of time. He sees the past and future as though they are present.

Action- 1. You can be confident and sure about the plan God has for your life. He make no promise that it will be easy, but he is eternal and his purpose will stand (Is 46:10)

2. 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, ¹⁶ Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. ¹⁷ For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. ¹⁸ So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

2 Corinthians 11:23-28, ²³ Are they servants of Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. ²⁴ Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. ²⁵ Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, ²⁶ I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. ²⁷ I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. ²⁸ Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches.

Momentary and light troubles? It doesn't sound like it. However, in light of eternity they can be seen that way. In fact, in light of eternity, this life is but a glimmer.

The Attributes of God

Three weeks ago, in youth group, we started a study on the attributes of God. Here is where we began:

Percentage of youth that leave the faith after high school: 70-75%. One of the reasons I think this happens is because people allow their heart to be taken by other things, less worthy things

If God, if Jesus Christ doesn’t grab our hearts and our minds; something else will.

What are some of those things grabbing after your hearts? (boys, girls, grades, sports, college, success, drugs, friends,) Why are they so appealing?

Simply put, our view of God directly influences what career we pursue, who we choose to marry or how we raise our children-the big decisions of life. Our desire to make the right choice leads us to choose based on who we understand God to be.

But our view of God also influences everything else -- our intentions, actions and opinions -- even if only subconsciously.

A.W. Tozer, writing in the early 1960s, acknowledged the pervasive importance of an accurate view of God. "What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us," - The Knowledge of the Holy.

Evidence: When Paul wrote his New Testament letters, he never started with commands; he started with truth about God. He amazed them with God’s character and grace then he told them what they should do in light of that truth (Romans 12:1; Eph 4:1)

So what do we need to know that we don’t know already?

Let’s do this. Close your eyes. Clear your head of distractions. Think about what comes to your mind when you think about God. What do you see, or what comes to mind? Describe your thoughts if you can.

What is an attribute? To consider as a quality or characteristic of the person, thing, group, etc. By the way, how we feel about a person is normally defined by what we think their attributes are.

One of the reasons we are talking about this is because well intentioned, Bible believing Christians can develop a wrong view of who God is. Consider some of these quotes:

“It is my opinion that the Christian conception of God current in these middle years of the twentieth century is so decadent as to be utterly beneath the dignity of the Most High God and actually to constitute for professed believers something amounting to a moral calamity.²The heaviest obligation lying upon the Christian Church today is to purify and elevate her concept of God until it is once more worthy of Him—and of her.” –Tozer

“The god of this century no more resembles the Sovereign of Holy Writ than does the dim flickering of a candle the glory of the midday sun. The god who is talked about in the average pulpit, spoken of in the ordinary Sunday school, mentioned in much of the religious literature of the day, and preached in most of the so-called Bible conferences, is a figment of human imagination, an invention of maudlin sentimentality. The heathen outside the pale of Christendom form gods of wood and stone, while millions of heathen inside Christendom manufacture a god out of their carnal minds.” –Pink

These things you have done and I kept silent; you thought I was altogether like you. But I will rebuke you and accuse you to your face. (Psalms 50:21)

So, how do we come to a correct view of God? Nature gives us enough to know there is a God. Apart from that we don’t really know much about him, which is why people end up worshiping the sun or a rabbit. The Bible really gives us what we need to know who he really is.

Anything, outside of or contrary to this revelation is wrong. It’s our standard

So what are some practical results of understanding God’s character ?

1. The character of God is the basis and standard for all human morality.

The final verse of Judges reads: In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes (Judges 21:25).

One might think the solution to this dilemma was a human king, but it was not. The kind of “king” Israel wanted was in effect an idol. They wanted a king whom they could see, a man who would go before them into battle. They wanted a king like all the other nations (see Deuteronomy 17:14-17). When the people approached Samuel and demanded to have a king, God indicated they really were rejecting Him as their king:

5 And they said to him, “Behold, you have grown old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint a king for us to judge us like all the nations.” 6 But the thing was displeasing in the sight of Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us. “And Samuel prayed to the LORD. 7 And the LORD said to Samuel, “Listen to the voice of the people in regard to all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from being king over them (1 Samuel 8:5-7).

2. Wrong views of God lead to idolatry and sin.

Wrong thoughts about God were the root of the fall of man in the Garden of Eden. In Genesis 3, the character of God is first demeaned by Satan. By Satan’s devious question and answer tactics, God is portrayed as a liar (“Has God said . . . ?” verse 1), (“You surely shall not die!” verse 4). Based upon the assumption that God was less than He first seemed to be (and was!), Eve acted independently of God, and she and her husband thus disobeyed God by eating the forbidden fruit.

3. Can a person enjoy God?

When you meet someone for the first time it takes a while before you can get to the point where you enjoy your relationship. The beginning is normally pretty awkward, but you share some experiences together, get some inside jokes going then you are able to enjoy the relationship.

We can grow in our relationship with him by getting a good understanding of who he is.

4. The attributes of God are foundational to our faith and our hope.

What would you think of a God who didn’t keep his word? “Hey, I know I promised you eternal life but I changed my mind”. God is not fickle and moody like the Greek gods whose worshipers lived in fear of what their gods would do next. The fact that I know God is wholly trustworthy gives me the ability to trust in him and have hope in him.

Over the next few weeks we will be looking at some of the attributes of God and delve a little deeper into the fill in the blank: God is ________________.

Round 2

My fear came true. I was not faithful in updating this blog. Round 2 begins today!