Feast: The Incomparable Great God!
#FT26-08AM
Martin G. Collins
Given 03-Oct-26; 60 minutes
description: God exists in a transcendent category entirely His own, defined by four non-transmittable attributes—omnipotence, omnipresence, omniscience, and immutability—that collectively establish His absolute sovereignty over all creation. As Almighty God, He possesses the unrestricted power to execute His perfect nature; as Omnipresent Spirit, He permeates every corner of the universe while dwelling personally within believers; as Omniscient, He comprehends all actual and possible realities without diminishing human free will; and as Immutable, He remains constant in character and purpose, ensuring that His promises never waver despite shifting relational dynamics with humanity. These divine qualities are intrinsically linked to the Eighth Day festival and the final judgment, demonstrating that only such a God could orchestrate the resurrection of the uncalled and the eventual establishment of a new heaven and earth free from sorrow and death, thereby providing a secure foundation for complete trust in His ultimate redemption.
transcript:
Imagine, imagine standing beneath a sky filled with billions of stars and realizing that every one of them exists because God spoke and it happened. Now ask yourself how powerful is God. Can anything escape His reach? Can anything hide from His presence? Can anything remain unknown to Him? Can anything cause him to abandon his purpose or break his promise? The Bible gives us a breathtaking answer, no, or no, or no, because it's so emphatic. That this is true about God. God is not simply greater than we are. He is in a category entirely his own. He is omnipotent. That is almighty. His power and authority have no limit. He is omnipresent. Nowhere in the universe is there a place his presence cannot reach. He is omniscient. Nothing is hidden from his knowledge, not even the deepest thoughts and intentions of the human heart. He is immutable. He does not change. His character does not shift. His truth does not evolve with circumstances, and his promises do not become uncertain. These 4 attributes reveal something profound. God is completely dependable because he is completely God. And that matters to us. It matters to us, to the depths of our heart. Because we live in a world where power fails. People change, knowledge is limited, promises are sometimes broken, but our hope of salvation rests on someone who possesses none of these weaknesses. The God who has the power to accomplish his purpose is present to guide us, knows exactly what we need, and will never change his mind about what he has promised. Isaiah, as Isaiah declares, to whom then will we, will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare to Him? The answer is simple, simple. There is no comparison. Today, as we examine these four non-transmittable attributes of God, we will see not only what makes him utterly unique, but why knowing this God should give us confidence, reverence, and unshakable hope. So let's take a moment to connect this with the 8th day. Please turn with me to Leviticus 23 and verse 36. Leviticus 23 and 36 Verse 36 For 7 days you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord. On the 8th day you shall have a holy congregation, and you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord. It is a sacred assembly, and you shall do no customary work on it. The 8th day stands apart as the day that closes the annual cycle of festivals. It follows after the 7 days of the Feast of Tabernacles, yet it is designated separately as a sacred assembly. Number 8 signifies abundance and new beginnings beyond the completeness represented by the number 7. So linking the day to themes of resurrection and regeneration that extend beyond the millennium. Please turn with me to Revelation 20. Placing the 8th day at the end of the festival year underscores its role in preserving the lessons of all the prior observances while making a transition to renewed opportunity. Its connection to the great white throne judgment period shows that God extends the offer of salvation to most of humanity through a second resurrection to physical life during which the peace and prosperity established in the millennium will continue. The 8th day therefore marks the final stage in God's plan of salvation in which He resurrects the uncalled to physical life, grants them the opportunity to receive His Spirit, and judges them by the same standard applied to the elect. He thereby offers the possibility of entry into eternal life while reserving the Lake of Fire for the unrepentant. Now here in Revelation 20, we are going to read verses 11 through 14. Revelation 20 and verse 11, then I saw a great white throne and him who sat on it from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God and the books were opened. And another book was opened which is the book of life, and the dead were judged according to their works by the things which were written in the books. Verse 13, the sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one according to his works. Then Death and Hades were cast into the Lake of Fire, and this is the 2nd death, and anyone not found written in the book of life was cast into the Lake of Fire. Only An omnipotent God could pull that off. Jesus mentions a great white throne while white can refer either to white or righteousness, which are used interchangeably in the, the spiritual sense. So this thus this great white throne implies a judgment accomplished in righteousness. This account outlines the resurrection of those previously uncalled, followed by judgment that determines who receives eternal life and who traces or faces the second death. Now following the great white throne judgment, God will make all things new. The next chapter, turn over 1 chapter to Revelation 21, we are going to read verses 14 and 5. Revelation 21:1. Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. Verse 4, God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying, and there shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away. Verse 5, then he who sat on the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said to me, Write, for these words are true and faithful. So it will be a glorious, pure world appropriate for the its greatest inhabitant, God the Father Himself, and this will last for all eternity. Now, all who have accepted God's way will be glorified as members of God's family and will live forever. Like God, we will create, beautify, and extend God's rule over the entire universe. Since God will create a new heaven and a new earth, let me ask you this question. And he'll make all things new. Will anything not be made new? Will anything not be made new In Romans 1:20, the apostle Paul reminds us that since the creation of the world, his, that is God's invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and divine nature. So what kind of God does nature reveal? It reveals of a God of might, intelligence, and intricate detail. A God of order and beauty, a God who controls powerful forces. Through the word of God, he, we learn of his love and forgiveness and promise of eternal life. John 10:29-30 says, My Father, who has given them, that is the disciples to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of my father's hand. I, Jesus, and my father are one. John 14:28 says, you have heard me say to you, I am going away and coming back to you. If you love me, you would rejoice because I said I am going to the Father. My Father is greater than I am. God the Father is the greatest being that lives. He's even greater than the greatest, the next greatest being Jesus Christ. And it's hard to imagine how great Jesus Christ is. And that God the Father is even greater. Hebrews 13:8 says Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever. And since Jesus' father is greater than he and one with him, it stands to reason that the Father is at least as changeless as Christ, and even more so. The father and his son will never change in attributes, character, and righteousness. There is a distinction between God's transmittable attributes, which we share, and God's non-transmittable attributes, which we do not share. For example, when we talk about God, we usually begin by noting that He is self-existent, self-sufficient, and eternal. Self-existence means, self-existence means that God has no origin and is consequently answerable to no one. And this sets God apart because everything else has an origin and is accountable to something else. Humans are accountable to other people, parents and friends. To organizations, the church, the state, the company for which one works, and ultimately to God, everyone will face final judgment. Self-sufficient means that God has no needs and therefore depends on no one. That is not true of us. We need countless things oxygen, food, water, warmth. Clothing and homes. If our oxygen supply is cut off for even a few minutes, we can die. We will die. Eternal means that God has always existed and will always exist. And that is not true of us either. We have a point before. When we did not exist and furthermore, we change over time, God does not. He remains the same in His eternal being. Now to these initial attributes without without which God would not be God, we can add these incomparable attributes, omnipotence, omnipresence, omniscient omniscience, and immutability. Which expresses His majesty and holiness in their fullest sense. Now, these are non-transmittable or incomparable, that is qualities possessed by God alone. We cannot be like God in these four characteristics. By comparison, transmittable or communicable qualities are those that both God and we possess, such as love, knowledge, kindness, those types of things. God is omnipotent in all his attributes. Please turn with me back to chapters to Revelation 19 verse 4. Revelation 19, we are going to be reading verses 4 through 6. And when the 24 elders and the 4 living creatures fell down and worshiped God, who sat on the throne, saying, Amen, hallelujah, then a, then a voice came from the throne and sang, Praise our God, all you His servants and those who fear Him, both small and great. And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thundering saying, Hallelujah for the Lord God Omnipotent reigns. The Lord God omnipotent rains. I can't imagine how loud that is going to be spoken at that time. I want to be there, but I think it's going to terrify me. Omnipotent means all powerful. We are not, nor will we ever be all powerful in the sense of having the greatest power. What sounded like the voice of a great multitude in heaven boomed. Please turn over to Psalm 89 verse 8. Psalm 89 8. The Greek word translated omnipotent in verse 6 of Revelation 19, which we just read, is Pantocrater, P A N T O C R A T O R in its transliteration, meaning all ruling or more commonly Almighty. When we say God is almighty, we affirm His authority and His rulership over all creation. Here in Psalm 89, we are going to read verses 8, 11, and 13. Verse 80 Lord of hosts, who is, who is mighty like you, O Lord. Your faithfulness also surrounds you. The heavens are yours. In verse 11, the heavens are yours. The earth is also, also is yours. The world in all its fullness, you have founded them. You have a mighty arm, strong as your hand, and high is your right hand. So God ultimately reigns over the universe and beyond, and all legitimate authority must originate with Him. He is the sovereign. He is the supreme being. He has the authority to do whatever he pleases and fulfills his plans without fail. Does God have limits to what he can do? Does God have limits to what he can do? In Matthew 19:26, Jesus Christ affirms that with God, all things are possible. Almighty is sometimes understood to mean one who has the power to do anything. But the Bible does not present such an idea about almightiness. The Bible does not present such an idea of Almightiness in Isaiah 40:15-18 tells us that nothing compares to God. Almighty or omnipotent does not mean God can do everything. For example, the apostle Paul makes it crystal clear in Titus 1 and verse 2 that God cannot lie. He cannot lie. And in II Timothy 2:13, It says that God cannot deny Himself. God cannot deny Himself. Does this cannot the word cannot limit His almightiness. Would he be more omnipotent if he could lie? Certainly not. Falsehood is weakness. The Bible clearly shows that God cannot act contrary to His nature. But do these cannots mean he is not omnipotent, not almighty? Omnipotence is not the power of doing anything and everything. It is the power to carry out the will of his own perfect divine nature. I'm going to read that to you again. Omnipotence is, is the power to carry out the will of his own perfect divine nature. Does anything limit God? Scripture must must be allowed to define its own terms. Nothing limits God's power. Scripture calls Him Almighty 48 times in the Old Testament and 99 times in the New Testament. Scripture also describes God's power in many other ways. Compared with God, the nations are a drop as are as a drop in a bucket, and small dust on the scales. He less islands out of their place with ease. To Him, nations are less than nothing or worthless. God is so great that whatever He pleases, He does throughout the universe and beyond, but whatever He pleases is righteous. Psalm 135 5 says, I know that the Lord is great and our Lord is above all gods. God is the most powerful being in all existence, able to accomplish His will, yet unwilling to act contrary to His nature. In Psalm 145 36, King David declared, Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable. Please turn over to Jeremiah 32:17. Nothing is beyond God's power. Jeremiah's prayer in Jeremiah 32:17 begins by confessing that God is the all-powerful Creator. Here in Jeremiah 32, we are going to read verses 17 through 19. Verse 17. Ah Lord God, behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by your great power an outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for you. You show loving kindness to thousands and repay the iniquity of the Fathers into the bosom of their children after them. The great, the mighty God whose name is the Lord of hosts. Verse 19, you are great in counsel and mighty in work, for your eyes are open to all the ways of the sons of men. To give everyone according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings, so he made the heavens and therefore nothing is too difficult for him. This is, this supports the idea that God has infinite power and can do all that he wills. However, it does not mean that God can do anything because He cannot act contrary to His character. Since miraculous evidence of God's presence and care for His people was not limited to the generation of the Exodus, from the Exodus until Jeremiah's time, God continued to perform miracles among His people to glorify His name. Not even God's love limits His omnipotence. In II Peter 3:9, the Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is long suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. So God is love. Therefore, His will is to bless all who submit to Him. To be almighty, he must carry out his will and purpose to the fullest, and his will is to save his children and perfect his image in us. So to turn the hearts of the disobedient to wisdom of the just, he must be able to subdue all things to himself, which means to subdue all things to his love. Now this brings us to a second non-transmittable attribute. God is omnipresent in all His attributes. He's omnipresent. David wrote, Where can I flee from your presence? Where can I flee from your presence? Omnipresence means being everywhere at once, being present everywhere at the same time. As humans, we will never possess this ability. We are infinite creatures and will always be infinite in this life, but God has no spatial dimensions and is present everywhere with His whole being. Though He acts differently in different situations, God can be sought anywhere regardless of location. Jeremiah 23:23-24 said it records God's own rhetorical words. Am I a God near at hand and not a God far off? Can anyone hide himself in secret places so I shall not see him. Do I do I not fill heaven and earth? We should never feel lonely and the wicked should never feel safe. But God is said to rule the universe from His throne in the third heaven, so how can he be omnipresent? First Kings 8:27 says, But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain you. How much less this temple which I, David, have built. Isn't it amazing that though the heavens can't contain him, he is willing to dwell in the hearts of those who love him. Isaiah 66:1-2, please turn there with me, please. Isaiah 66:1-2. Thus says the Lord, Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool. Where is the house that is the temple that you will build me, and where is the place of my rest? For all those things my hand has made and all those things exist, says the Lord. But on this one will I look on Him who is poor and of a contrite spirit and who trembles at my word. You know, the temple in Jerusalem was a visible symbol of God's invisible presence, yet he was conditionally present in the temple. God does not need a temple because he dwells in his people. Jesus Christ's Revelation to the apostle John gives us a glimpse of God's omnipresence. Please turn with me to Revelation 7 and verse 9. Revelation 7 describes a multitude of people from the great tribulation standing before God's throne. Here Revelation 7 will read verses 9 through 12. After these things I looked, and behold a great multitude which no one could number of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues standing before the throne and before the Lamb clothed with white robes with palm branches in their hands and crying out with a loud voice saying, Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb. Verse 11, all the all the angels stood around the throne and the elders of the four living creatures and fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom. Thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever. Amen. There is and always will be lots of activity at God's throne, so how can He be omnipresent? Neither the noun omnipresence nor the adjective omnipresent appears in Scripture. Yet the fact that God is everywhere present is presupposed throughout the Bible and sometimes stated explicitly. Please turn to Psalm 139 and verse 1. God's omnipresence is closely related to His omnipotence and His omniscience. Because he is everywhere, he can act everywhere and know all things, and in turn through omnipotent action and omniscient knowledge he has access to all places and all secrets. By what power is God omnipresent? Psalm 139 we are going to read verses 1 through 7. Verse one O Lord, you have searched me and known me. David speaking here, you know my sitting down and my rising up. You understand my thought afar off. You comprehend my path and my lying down, and you are acquainted with all my ways. Verse 4, for there is not a word on my tongue, but behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. You have hedged me behind and before and laid your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is high. I cannot attain it. Where can I go from your spirit, or where can I flee from your presence? You may remember me quoting that at the beginning of the sermon. Where can I go from your spirit or where can I flee from your presence? Omnipresence is an eternal attribute of God. He is omnipresent by way of His Holy Spirit, by way of His mind. David understood and connected God's presence with His Spirit in Psalm 5111. Do not cast me away from your presence and do not take your Holy Spirit from me. So because of this, God knows us personally. He knew David well. God knew not only David's actions, but also his motivations. God is everywhere, always present through His Spirit. Now God is not confined to any part of the universe but is present in all His power and every point in space and every moment in time. He is omnipresent, omnipotent, and omniscient through His Holy Spirit, which has no limitations. King David posed this question directly, putting it into words eloquently. I'll read it again. Where can I go from your spirit or where can I flee from your presence? In this rhetorical question, we see God's spirit and presence are one and the same. Is God ever limited or not? Omnipresent is God ever limited or not omnipresent, because God is everywhere. He perceives all things in all places. He can't hide from His all-seeing eye, whether in the highest heights of the heavens, the deepest caves of the earth, or the depths of the sea. Continuing in the in verse 8 of Psalm 139. So 139, we are going to read verses 8 through 12. If I ascend into heaven you are there. If I make my bed in hell, behold, you are there. If I take the wings of the morning. And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea. Even you, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. If I say surely the darkness shall fall upon me, even the night shall be light about me. Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from you, but the night shines as the day, and the darkness and the light are both alike to you. So nowhere in this universe can we hide from from God's presence. God is omnipresent. We are not. David tells us here that it is futile to search for a place to hide from God's presence. So God sees all, every sin we commit, every good deed we do. He sees us right in our into our hearts. Jonah also confirms that it is unwise to try. Now in this sense, God's infallible word shows that He is omnipresent within his vast creation. There is no place to hide from His presence. David is not trying to evade God but emphasizes that God's knowledge is beyond human understanding. We just can't grasp it. God's knowledge and discernment can never be confined to any specific place because His sovereignty extends throughout the universe. We know that the angels are his messengers and that Jesus Christ mediates on our behalf. Can we become detached from the all present God? Can we become detached from the all present God? God's words in Genesis 1:26 and 27 leave no doubt that we are made in His image. Therefore, we generally look like Him, although God is spirit and by His spirit can be everywhere at once. He has a face, a back, and hands. By His spirit, the Father and the glorified Christ have full access to their creation, and throughout, throughout His spirit, His, His reach extends to every nook and cranny of the universe. Yet he still retains a form, a body. Ruling in glory from His throne in heaven from which his eyes behold the sons of men. Although God is omnipresent through His Spirit. We cannot become separated from, or we can become separated from Him by our sins. Isaiah 59:2 says, But your iniquities have separated you from your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He will not hear. So the sins that were piled onto Christ, everyone's sins. It's the reason why he was so distraught when he was separated from his father at that point. That was the most extreme separation that can happen with all the sins of humanity upon him. So when we commit sin, it begins to put a crack there in a relationship, maybe big crack or maybe a small crack, depending, because there are greater and lesser sins. But still, nevertheless, we want to avoid them, do not we? Please turn with me to I Corinthians 3:16. In a general sense, in a general spiritual sense, God's omnipresence guarantees that we can enjoy His nearness and a real relationship with Him everywhere, even apart from a physical temple or a church building, because He dwells in the saints who are the temple of God through Jesus Christ and by His Spirit. Now I Corinthians 3:16 and 17, we will read now verse 16. Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy, which temple you are. So the Spirit of God resides in God's temple. If we are true Christians, we are that temple. Personally, the divine omnipresence assures us that God is at hand to save us. Through our Savior Jesus Christ in every place and from any danger or enemy from which we need deliverance. Isaiah 43 and verse 3 says, For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. Both God, the Father and Jesus Christ, the Son of God, our Spirit, and project their spirit. God can project His spirit to any place regardless of distance and through His spirit He can act on objects or change them as He wills. Therefore, God is omnipresent. This brings us to the 3rd non-transmittable attribute. God is omniscient. God is omniscient. We're all seeing. In all his attributes, God knows the secrets of the heart. Omniscience means knowing all things. You and I will never know everything, even as we spend eternity learning. God fully knows Himself and all things actual and possible, past, present, and future. In I John 3 and verse 20, John writes, For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart and knows all things. So all of God's thoughts and actions and perfectly are perfectly informed by perfect knowledge, so he is perfectly trustworthy. The Bible tells us that God perceives all things, which means no fact can be hidden from His knowledge. He sees us through and through and knows us better than we know ourselves. He is well acquainted with us and understands why we make the decisions we make. Nowhere can we hide from God. The Lord knew every move David made. The two opposites of sitting and rising represent all His actions. God is His own light. He is light, and He sees all things, and nothing is hidden from his knowledge, not even the secret intentions of the heart. Psalm 4421 says, Would not God search this out, for He knows the secrets of the heart. He understands our own intentions better than we do. Jeremiah 17:9-10. Says the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? I, the Lord, search the heart and test the mind, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doing. Jeremiah 32:19 says, You are great in counsel and mighty in work, for your eyes are open to all the ways of the sons of men to give everyone according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doing. Please turn to Hebrews 4 and verse 12. God discerns the thoughts and intents of the heart, as Paul further explains here in Hebrews 4. We're going to read verses 12 and 13. For the word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of the soul and spirit and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart, and there is no creature hidden from his sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account. This is why People of the world love darkness because they do not want God to be able to see them. They humanly reason. They do not want God to see what they are doing. We can't compare God's omniscience to anything, nor can anything escape His senses. We humans perceive through our senses, but they are limited. What we can perceive and understand God's senses are not limited. Like ours are, his spirit searches all things, and nothing is beyond his perception. In a sense he is omniscient. Nothing can escape his gaze or his knowledge, or I should say in this sense, not in any sense. In this sense he is omniscient. If it can be known, he knows it. But if we are to use the word omniscient to describe God the Father and His Son, it cannot mean that God knows our every choice before we make it in every circumstance, because Scripture tells us otherwise. He can certainly predict what we will do in any given situation by discerning our attitude and observing our track record. He's pretty accurate about that, that assessment. When God gave Abraham the supreme test of sacrificing his son Isaac. He had a good idea whether Abraham would choose to obey. But to formally prove it for himself and Abraham and to establish Abraham's position as the Father of the faithful, he had to see it through to the end. In Genesis 22:12, upon seeing Abraham's choice, he told Abraham. Do not lay your hand on that on the lad or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, that you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me, close quote. Now this was one of the most crucial moments in the history of faith and in God's plan. It was such an intense challenge, and it required such faith that God had to know what choice Abraham would make. And he puts us through similar things, thankfully not such a tough one as that, but he does put us through things that show him how our faith is and how our faith is. Please turn with me to Isaiah 46 and verse 9. God's omniscience does not limit our free will choices. Isaiah 46:9-11. Verse 9. Remember the former things of old, for I am God and there is no other. I am God and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying my counsel shall stand, and I will do my pleasure. Calling a bird of prey from the east, the man who executes my counsel from a far country. Indeed I have spoken it. I will also bring it to pass. I have purposed it. I will also do it. So most of the choices we make each day may be predictable. Parents with young children can see this firsthand. If a parent can if a parent can often predict a young child's choices, how much more can the one who sees all, even the intent of our hearts, which we sometimes do not know ourselves, predict our choices? Yet the Bible reveals that God arranges circumstances to challenge our character. To help us to grow and where the outcome is less predictable. And when, when we choose, we participate with God and in the new creation of our character. We have a role to play in God's creation of His character within us as He prepares us for full membership in His family. God can determine the future. He can and He does, but He does not control our free will. He directs it and helps us to make wise decisions. God declares the end from the beginning and future things from ancient times. Yet this passage shows that declaring the end from the beginning is not merely a matter of seeing what is destined to happen. In Isaiah we read that God acts and intervenes in history to accomplish His will. OK, so the 4th non-transmittable attribute of God is that God is immutable. God is immutable in all His attributes. He is unchanging. The one essential One essential aspect of our hope is that by faith hope must be grounded in something that guarantees a good outcome. One essential aspect of our hope is that by faith hope must be grounded in something that guarantees a good outcome. Hebrews 11:1. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. So faith rests on God's trustworthiness to keep His promises. This trustworthiness implies that God is unchanging. In his nature and character. This includes God's being, his being, his essence, perfections, purposes, and promises. And although he acts in response to different situations, and he experiences emotions. We start over to Hebrews 6 and verse 17, verse chapter 6 and verse 17. The Bible portrays God as immutable, yet acting, feeling emotions, and responding to different situations in all these ways, God is consistent and constant. He can always be trusted because He keeps His word and is never impulsive or temperamental. God cannot break a promise. Hebrews 6 And verses 17 and 18, thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by oath that by two immutable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation. Who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us. The English word immutability and immutable in Hebrews 6 and 17. And verse 18 is translated from the Greek word. Ametahesos, Theos, and I will not bother spelling it to you. Believe me, it's a Greek word and it. Which conveys unchangeability. The unchanging nature of his purpose, this Greek word is a technical term associated with legal wills and means unbreakable. That's quite a guarantee we have. God does not change His character or righteousness because they are grounded in His unchanging nature. He does not lie or alter his standards of righteousness. If he says he will do something, he does it, and it always produces good. Numbers 23 and verse 19 says, God is not a man. That he should lie, nor a son of man that he should repent, has he said and will he not do, or has he spoken and will he not make it good. So God's will is immutable. It is the immutability of His counsel, meaning His fixed purpose. Immutability is an excellence of God that because He does not change in character, will, or purpose. He confirms to us both oath by oath that his will is immutable because he cannot lie, and this is, this is spiritually encouraging as we lay hold of the hope that is set before us without that guarantee that we have, without his immutability. Could we trust God. God's truth never changes, and all the hope we can have of salvation and eternal life rests on the fact that His purpose is immutable. Psalm 33:11 says, The counsel of the Lord stands forever. The plans of His heart to all generations. Let's turn to James 5: 7. James 5, let's see. If God changed His plans, if He were controlled by emotional impulse, if He willed one thing today and another thing tomorrow. He would be unreliable. No one could know what to expect, and no one could trust him. God is consistent in his judgments, but he must wait, but we must wait for God's will to be done. And here in James 5, we are going to read verses 7 and 8. Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the see how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain. You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. Now the farmer plows and sows because he believes the laws of nature are established and fixed. He plants fruit trees because he believes they will produce fruit. But what if no laws were established and everything were governed by chance? Nobody would know what to plant for food. Or what to do about anything, the same principle holds true for true religion. There are a lot of religions in this world, all human humanly reasoned with Satan's help. If nothing were fixed and established, nobody would know what to believe. They would Just this here, everyone would do what is right in their own eyes. If God arbitrarily changed His truth and commanded His law to be kept at one time but not another, we would have no hope or confidence in His promise of salvation. We must be extremely grateful that God has an immutable will, that He is trustworthy. To the fullest extent, it would be hard to honor God who did not have such an immutable purpose. It is comforting to have this confidence in Him. He is unchanging his counsel and plans stand forever. Now Isaiah records God's guarantee in Isaiah 46:11. Where he writes, indeed, oh God speaks and Isaiah records it, indeed I have spoken it. I will also bring it to pass. I have purposed it. I will also do it. So why do some Bible passages seem to represent a changeable God? Why do some Bible passages seem to represent a changeable God? God has regrets. Genesis 6:6 and the Lord was sorry. That he made man on the earth and he was grieved in his heart. First Samuel 15:11, I greatly regret that I have set up Saul as king, for he has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments. You'll notice a pattern here. Joel 2:13-14. So rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness, and He relents from doing harm. Who knows if he will turn and relent and leave a blessing behind him. And then finally Jonah 3:9 and 10. Who can tell if God will turn and relent and turn away from His fierce anger so that we may not perish. Verse 10 then God saw their works that they turned from their evil way. And God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it. God changes his purpose, becomes angry, and turns from anger. It's because these, he can change when he has a covenant with a person with a person or people, and they break it. And then his righteousness, his righteous will has to act. In the way of blessing or cursing, depending on that. So there are conditional things that God sets up. Please turn to Psalm 102 and verse 25. Now the alleged discrepancies disappear upon close inspection of each text, and these verses portray God as changing in His relations, which may appear, which may appear to human reasoning to alter his purposes. Yet he never wavers or changes in his nature or purposes. Advancement and change may mark some of his works, but God Himself remains unchanged in His attributes. And here in Psalm 102, we are going to read verses 25 to 27, which contrasts God's unchanging nature with the created order. Verse 25 of old you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you will endure. Yes, they will all grow old like a garment, like a cloak you will change them, and they will be changed, but you are the same, and your years will have no end. The phrase of old means very long ago or at the beginning. And God's years span the ages through, through all the changes that have occurred on Earth. He existed at the very beginning and continues to exist eternally, unchangeably the same. Change implies imperfection. It moves toward either greater or lesser perfection, but God is already perfect in every aspect and always has been. So God determines perfection, the standard of perfection. He is not made perfect by any other standard. A major sin all humans commit is judging God as imperfect by our standard of perfection. I'm going to repeat that a major sin all humans commit is judging God as imperfect by our own standard of perfection. Therefore, when something does not go well for us, we judge God as handling our situation imperfectly. We ask God to heal our ailment, and when he does not, possibly because we have lessons to learn so that we may grow in compassion and spiritual character, we lose heart and judge Him imperfect in his intervention in our lives. Part of that is being impatient for it. What we are saying is that well, God hasn't acted fast enough for me. Which is what all of us have struggled with is patience. was saying to to someone that I think the on the day or the moment before I die, I think God is going to test me on patience because I'm just like. Though we may think otherwise at times, God is immutable and changeless in His perfection and purpose. He does not change the doctrines of His church. Although translators, commentaries, false teachers may try to alter biblical doctrines because of ignorance or a selfish agenda, His laws are immutable because they originate from Him. His immutability and changelessness. Establish truth as a constant. Truth is not ever changing. We can know what we know about God with certainty. His standard of righteousness does not change over time. God's immutability is a great source of comfort to the faithful. While God is constant in His anger against sin, He is equally constant in His forgiveness in response to faith and repentance. In Philippians 1:6, Paul reminds us that God is immutable or I should say that God's immutability gives assurance. That he who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Christ. Now though Abraham had God's promise, he had to live for many years in patient expectation with nothing to go on except God's promise. But that was enough because God is completely trustworthy. So speaking of Abraham, Hebrews 6:15 says, and so after he had patiently endured. He obtained the promise. After he patiently endured, he obtained the promise. What God promises, he will certainly perform. That we, but though we must wait patiently in James 1:17, James finds assurance of God's future blessings in the statement that every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. In Romans 11:29, Paul confirms, for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. This this verse could also be translated as the privileges and invitation of God can never be withdrawn. In a world of constant change, we find peace in a God who does not change, knowing that truth and values are grounded in the nature and character. Of our immutable God. Now these four attributes omnipotence, omnipresence, omniscience, and immutability set God apart from His creation. And they make him totally other than anything else in existence. We are not that. Each of these non-transmittable attributes sets God apart from us and delineates an area in which we cannot, we cannot and never will be equal to God. But we also, we are also overwhelmed by God's transmittable trans attributes, that is those we share with Him. They include holiness, justice, wisdom, faith, goodness, love, mercy, compassion, tenderness, and loving and forgiveness. We can we can exercise these attributes and we certainly should. But when we consider them in relation to God the Father who is perfect in them, We are overawed and rightly wonder whether there is any point in comparing our wisdom to God's or our goodness to God's or our faithfulness to God. But the way that we are able to liken it to God's is that we have God's spirit, which makes it possible. So God enables life within us through His Spirit. In Job 33:4 says, the Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life. God has revealed in Scripture that He is omnipotent. He is almighty, so that no part of creation can escape His influence and authority. What we see we see that God through His Spirit is omnipresent, so no part of creation can escape His presence. We understand that God perceiving all things is omniscient, so nothing in creation escapes his knowledge. And we know that God in nature is unchanging. Is immutable so nothing in creation can prevent his will. Rhetorically, God says in Isaiah 40:18, 25 and 28. To whom then will you liken God or what likeness will you compare to Him? And again, to whom then will you liken me or to whom shall I be equal, says the Holy One. And have you not known, have you not heard the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. So as we have considered God's non-transmittable attributes, We have witnessed something truly magnificent. God is omnipotent. He has the power to accomplish His will. He is omnipresent. His spirit reaches everywhere. God is omniscient. Nothing is hidden from His understanding, and God is immutable. His character, truth, and purpose do not change. Think about what that means for us. When we feel powerless, God is almighty. When we feel alone, God is present. When we do not understand what lies ahead, God knows. And when everything around us seems uncertain and changing, God remains the same. This is why our hope is not built on circumstances. It is not built on human strength or human wisdom or human promises. Our hope is built on God. His purpose for humanity has not changed. His desire to develop his character in us has not changed, and his promise of salvation and eternal life has not changed. And when God begins a work in us, we can have confidence in the words of Paul. He who has begun a work, a good work in you will complete it until the day of Christ. So as we leave this subject, let us not merely admire God, God's attributes intellectually. Which is possible for some to do, I suppose. Not to, not from the heart, but from the mind, and that's a person without God's Holy Spirit. Let us trust him. Trust his power when we cannot see a way forward. Trust his presence when we feel alone. Trust his wisdom when we do not understand his timing. And trust his unchanging character, promises, or righteous standards when we feel insecure and we, when we must wait patiently. Because the God who is almighty, ever present, all knowing, and unchanging is the God who has called us to become part of His family. What an incredible future he's prepared for us. It's one that we can't imagine with our meager human minds. It will help with the God spirit to be able to imagine it somewhat enough to have faith in it, in God. One day the work of developing God's character within us will be complete. The trials, the tears, the pain, and the uncertainty of this life will be behind us, and God will create a new heaven and a new earth. And those who have remained faithful will enter eternity where there shall be no more death, sorrow, or crying. So remember who has called you. The Almighty God is on your side. The omni the omnipresent God is near you. The omniscient God knows you completely, and the immutable God will never break His promise. Therefore, hold fast, keep growing, keep trusting, and keep moving forward, because the God who made the promise will bring His His purpose to completion.
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