Loving God Under Trials: Part 2

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series here in the Epistle of James on loving God under trials.

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To summarize it, we've been looking at James and we saw that he has began his letter with an overview of the subject of genuine faith.

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He speaks of a faith that is living, a faith that is active, a faith that yields good fruit.

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Therefore, James wants his readers to possess a genuine, unwavering faith, a faith that is so strong in God that is anchored with a firm conviction in the knowledge of God.

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And that's where it's anchored at. We must have a right knowledge of God. That's given to us through the

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Word. And we also need a right knowledge of who we are. But first and foremost is a right knowledge of who

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God is. That is so, so important. The Reformers believed in that.

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So providing the wisdom to live out a godly life in the face of trials and suffering as against a life that is dominated by a selfish life.

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So the theme we see, and if you're already there in chapter 1, the theme we actually have seen, or we do see, in verses 2 through 18 is really a growing in maturity through trials and temptations.

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And I'd also like to say, I've kind of briefly mentioned this as I was speaking before I said the opening prayer, is there is a divine order and a divine direction that the

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Holy Spirit gives to James to make known to his readers. And if you see this in verses 2 through 8, he gives to us the wisdom from God and practical ways in how we can profit from our trials.

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And then in verses 9 through 11, he's given us, we looked at this, the eternal and right perspective of the rich and the poor.

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Then in verses 12 through 18, that's where we are now, but we're right at 17 and next week,

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Lord willing, we're going to be looking at the new birth, regeneration. That's where he's going with this. So if the change is to take place, it's not going to be in God.

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The change has got to take place in us. You see, that's where it's at. That's what he's talking about.

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So we have to line up with the Word of God. The problem is with us, not God. So we've got to have the right knowledge of God.

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Then James gives to us how we can love God under trials. Then in the remainder of the chapter, in verses 19 through 27, he gives to us the qualities that are needed and also a practical application in verses 21 through 27.

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We'll look at that. It's very convicting. We'll be talking literally about obedience to the

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Word of God, be doers of the Word, just not hearers. So we're going in that direction, but you notice the divine direction the

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Holy Spirit takes us. You see that? There is nothing accidental. God is a

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God of complete order. He knows exactly how to bring...

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You studied the Sermon on the Mount, the same thing. It's like Jesus builds the foundation, starting with the poor in spirit, and then he takes it to the top, all the way, like a pyramid, until he says, be ye perfect as my

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Father in heaven is perfect. You see that? So James does the same thing, but it's the same Holy Spirit that was upon Jesus that's upon James.

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And people say, hold on, now yeah, of course James by no means could preach like Jesus. Jesus was the greatest preacher because he was

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God in the flesh, but at the same time he was a man full of the Holy Spirit. So when he preached, he preached as a man with the same

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Holy Spirit upon him that came upon him in the form of a dove at his baptism. That same

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Holy Spirit was upon James. And you know something? Isn't this wonderful? The same Holy Spirit that was in the pages of Scripture and upon Jesus is that same

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Holy Spirit here in this room. God doesn't change. He's everywhere. So he's an unchangeable

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God. That's what we're looking at. And saying all that, by the Holy Spirit James is speaking up, he gives his readers a sure foundation, beloved, in these testings of our faith, a strong rock, an anchor

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I should say for the soul, and that is the nature of God and who God is.

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This is what's so wonderful about studying about the nature of God.

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And I am here to tell you, you know this as well as I do, once you start digging in and studying about the nature of God, you have to stop and just fall on your face and worship

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God in adoration and say, oh God, you're so great, you're so wonderful.

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It's so high, as the psalmist says, David said, knowledge that's too high for me. So this is what

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I like to do, as we're looking in this verse, it's going to be a time of contemplation and worship on God.

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Now I like to think of that as something like that, that this is, and all these great truths, practical truths that James has given to us, and these wise warnings by the

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Holy Spirit, James turns the gaze of his soul and our soul on who

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God is. So as saying that, let's look at this one verse of scripture.

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It's packed, I'm telling you, this one verse is packed up. And if you wasn't with us last week,

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Lord willing, we didn't get that downloaded, but we will. You can get caught up, but I pretty much gave you a summary of what we was talking about, but we looked at it, every good and perfect gift comes from above, and that's what the verse says.

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Let's listen very closely and we'll be looking at the latter part of God's immutability, that he's immutable.

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Hear the word of the living God. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the

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Father of lights. And this is what we're going to look at today. With whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.

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Let's pray. Our Father, we do once again turn to you in prayer.

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You are the Father of lights, as your word says. All good comes from you because you are good.

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The one who does not change. You will never change, and it's impossible for you to change, and we anchor our faith in that, of who you are.

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You have given to us great and precious promises from your word, and through your beloved

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Son and of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and I thank you Father, it makes me think of what

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Jesus said, he even taught this, ask and it shall be given you. Seek and you shall find.

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Knock and it shall be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.

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And Father, your Son did not stop there. Just to show your heavenly goodness, and the kind of praying with faith to you,

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Jesus said, or what man is there among you, when his son asks for a loaf of bread, will he give him a stone?

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Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent?

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No. And then he goes on, if we then being able, know how to give good gifts to our children, how much more will the

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Father who is in heaven give, give what is good to those who ask him.

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So Father, when we hear this, the problem is not with you.

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The problem is with our own depraved hearts. Father help us to discern what is truly good.

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That's our problem. We need to see who the one is truly good and who the one that's really bad.

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So Father, through your word, through the word of truth, help us by your Holy Spirit this hour, that we can make these clear discernments.

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As Psalm 119 .68 says, you are good and do good. Teach me your statutes.

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So Father, this is where it's at, it's in knowing your word. So Father, we pray that as we gaze upon you, help us to adore you in faith, to look in your words, by your blessed

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Holy Spirit, to worship you and to behold the glories and the excellencies and marvels of who you are.

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And lift us up to higher ground and where you are. That we may behold your beautiful character, your perfect character, to know that you are

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God and Lord, as your word is said, to know we must be still. So help us to be still and know that you're

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God. And we ask this in Jesus' name, amen and amen. Amen. Now years back, there was a television commercial

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I personally liked when we had cable, of course we cut off cable because of all the trash that was on there.

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That's about years back when Hannah and all of my rest of my children were very small and we had the conviction that there was just too much perversion that was just being put out in front of their little eyes and my eyes as well and we needed to guard this.

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So we decided to cut the cable completely and that's when we started collecting personally

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Andy Griffith shows and things like that, that's more moral and decent. But I do remember a commercial years back that I personally liked, there's not many commercials, okay, you know that.

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Nowadays especially, it's really a lot of trash that's put out there to sell their product.

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Out of all things, it had to be a commercial on insurance, okay.

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We know insurance is a racket, but this was a good commercial and I got a point to make with this and you know that.

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This particular one was a rare, like I said, a moral jewel. The commercial was for insurance and it used the image of the rock of Gibraltar to illustrate the firm and the solid stability of that particular firm.

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You've probably seen it. It was Potential, okay, well if anybody hears that,

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Potential must have got some advertisements. So I thought it was good and whoever thought of it is excellent.

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The rock of Gibraltar, of course, is a great image for solid, stable, firm.

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A firm foundation, in other words, you can count on it. This rock, as you well know, is huge and very large and massive in size that God made in this world and we are just, there's seven wonders of the world,

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I don't know if this is one of the seven wonders, but it is a great wonder. It juts out at the ocean at Spain, if I believe that's correct, southern tip.

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Come what may, that rock still stands there unchanged and after centuries, think of this, and centuries and centuries, if that rock can speak, it's seen the many storms and seen the many hot summers and seen the many freezing winters and severe storms that's hit up against it.

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But the rock of Gibraltar still stands, doesn't it? Likewise, we learn a lot from God's creation, don't we?

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And it teaches a spiritual truth. God, Scripture says, is our rock.

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He is our refuge, our fortress, and in His character and in His everlasting love for us and His eternal faithfulness to us, that will never change.

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It's completely unchangeable. He is, there is a stability in God and this is what

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God's immutability speaks of. He is absolutely firm, a firm foundation, a rock that will not be moved.

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And so says the endearing word of God, God's word is endearing and will endear forever.

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Actually the psalmist says, thy word is forever settled in heaven. It settles. Nothing is going to change it.

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And then the text says, here before us, every good gift and every perfect gift is from above.

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It comes down to us, that shows you the high exalted God is in heaven, earth is

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His footstool. Comes down to us from the Father of lights, that's what the Scripture calls

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Him, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. God does not change, in other words.

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So that's where we're going to stop today and look at this wonderful passage of Scripture. And there's so many verses as you start studying from the word of God about God's immutability.

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Now sometimes I can roll that too much. But as God does not change, we're going to just stop here and just worship and gaze our souls here.

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And I think it's going to encourage you. Malachi 3 .6 says, the Lord declares,

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I, the Lord, change not. That's God speaking. And the apostle

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John in 1 John 1 .15 says, God is light. And in Him there is no darkness at all.

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There's no shadows with the Father of lights. No shadow of turning with the

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Father of lights. What James is saying, it's impossible for God to change.

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That's what he's saying. He cannot change for the worse because He's holy. He cannot change for the better because He's already perfect.

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The light of the sun varies as the earth changes. And I believe again, all creation speaks out.

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It has a declaration, doesn't it? What is it? The glory of God. It points to the Creator.

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And of course, we know that the creation itself speaks and declares the glories of God.

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That in and of itself cannot save the soul. It takes the special revelation of God's Word to penetrate into the heart to bring salvation.

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But God's creation does speak. And it says a great deal. But the sun itself is still shining.

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And this is what James is saying. If the shadows come between us and the Father, God did not cause it.

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You see what I'm saying? Even though He's sovereign, He causes that in that sense.

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The world's upheld by the Word of His power. But in other words, if the shadows and if there's something that is keeping us between God, it's not

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God. You see what I'm saying? It's the shadows. And that's what

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James is illustrating here. God is unchanging. This means that we should never question

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God's love for us or His doubt, His goodness for us when those difficult trials come and when temptations appear.

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Now as I stopped right there, I said, you know, this kind of rang a bell for me. We've got a last

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Lord's Day. We had some fellowship time at Brother Keith's place and me and Brother Michael and Keith were sitting there talking about King David and about the sin of King David and how he cried out.

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You know Psalm 51. It's exactly his prayer of repentance. His penance, they say, but he's repenting.

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It's a beautiful prayer, isn't it? And I love to read it. I don't know about you, but when there's some sin in my heart in life,

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I turn to Psalm 51 and it helps me get my focus. I don't blame no one else but me.

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And I take it before God and I've sinned against God. That's what David confessed.

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But as you read, you know, you remember the story. King David, he sinned against God.

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But did you ever think, why did he sin against God? Those reasons. He should have been out on the battlefield.

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He should have been doing his duty, but he sat back and he became very lazy and discontent.

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And what happened? That discontent set in and sin set in and then he started thinking, oh,

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I'm going to sin. And he did. And then he saw Bathsheba and then it was downward from there.

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There's something else I think really gets to the very core of his sin. And that David forgot the goodness of God.

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How do we know this? Now, if you turn with me very quickly to 2

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Samuel chapter 12, I want you to see this. Turn with me to 2 Samuel and, of course, keep your mark at James.

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We're going to return there. But this is just something in my introduction I'd like to bring out. Because this is very important about God's character and about who we are.

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And when sin comes, just like James talked about, the lust, the conception, the desire, it brings forth a child, which is death.

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You see what I'm saying? All that takes place and that's what happened to David. But the very core reason why he sinned against the

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Lord, he forgot the goodness of God. He forgot God's goodness. Pastor, is that your opinion?

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No, it's not. Or I would not be saying it behind this little podium. This is the Word of the

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Lord and that's what I want you to see. And I want you to check me on this because if David had remembered the goodness of the

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Lord, he would not have taken Bathsheba and committed those terrible sins. I am here to tell you that.

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At least this is what Nathan the prophet told to King David. Notice in the Word of God, 2

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Samuel chapter 12, notice verse 7 and 8. This is after Nathan the prophet gives the parable of the ewe lamb and the rich man and David pronounced the verdict.

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He just fell right into the trap of the parable and that was the purpose of it. And he confessed, oh, this person is guilty.

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You know, he deserves a verdict, death. And then all of a sudden the Word of God says, Nathan says to David, you're the man.

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You're the man. He pointed it right to him. It's like the Holy Spirit just pricked him to the heart and pricked his conscience and he says, thus says the

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Lord God of Israel. But note the repetition, I want you to notice, of the word gave in this brief statement that Nathan gives to David.

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God had been good to David, yet David forgot God's goodness and took the bait. Nathan gives God's Word and he says, the

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Lord declares, I anointed you king over Israel and I delivered you.

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Notice God is reminding him of something. I delivered you from the hand of Saul. God's good.

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God did that. Amen. David didn't do that in his own power. David even when he was a young boy, and you know the story, he did not bring

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Goliath down by his own power. It was the power of the Lord and David at that time trusted God. He went in the name of the

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Lord and he defeated that heathen Philistine that was bullying the Israelites.

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But here's the story, verse 8. Notice this, I gave, notice that word,

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I gave you your master's house and your master's wives and to your keeping and I gave you the house of Israel and Judah.

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And if that had been too little, I also would have given you much more. Did you get that?

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Gave. I gave. God is a giving God. Every good and every perfect gift comes from God.

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And the reason he sinned against the Lord, he forgot the goodness of God. And before we throw stones at David, when we sin against the

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Lord, when we forget his goodness toward us, I am here to tell you because that is what, that's why we must preach the gospel before us every day, beloved.

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Remind ourselves and our soul that it's Jesus that died for my sin and when you set

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Jesus before you, it makes that sin more repulsive because it was that sin, like Spurgeon said, that nailed my beloved to the tree because of sin and God hates sin and God has not changed toward sin either in any way.

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So this is the first part. Notice this and let me bring out the rest of this and then he says, why have you despised the commandment of the

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Lord? You notice that and how it played in. He talked about how God gave him all this and then he says, why?

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That's the way God speaks and then he gives a question. Why have you despised the commandment of the

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Lord? To do evil in his sight? And David clearly forgot God's goodness toward him and by doing that, every other sin fell into place.

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And just for a footnote here, the word despised in that text, the commandment of the

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Lord, that word despised means to think light of. There it is.

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That word despised means to think light of. It's the same term here used in Genesis 25 -34 when

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Esau despised his birthright for a pot of porridge, for lentils.

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You see what I'm saying? I say porridge. That's the three bears. Sorry. By the way, I read the three bears to Felicity.

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That's why I thought of porridge. Slipped up on that. That was lentils. If King David would have remembered the goodness of God, he would have kept the commandment of God, but he straight away, a little here, a little there, while he was not doing his duty, by and by, a little water came in, he became discontent, lazy.

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He was not doing his duty before God and by being on the battlefield and then he lusted and he sinned against the

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Lord and breaking the tent. By the way, he broke three commandments. He broke the tenth, the seventh, and the sixth.

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And that was coveting, adultery, and murder. All three of those.

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And because it was before all Israel and he was the king and authority, he suffered great consequences because of his sin.

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Nathan eventually said, by the word of the Lord, the sword will not depart from your house. Could you imagine that?

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And that's what God was teaching him. And he was restored, beloved, but great consequences came.

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So what we can learn from this, let me just, this is like a short sermonette at the introduction and then we're going to go into the immutability of God.

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There's two barriers for us to overcome temptation, beloved, right here, and I need to throw this in. First of all, do not forget this.

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The first great barrier against temptation is a negative one, but it's a good one. It's the judgment and the severity of God.

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We must fear God. This is what kept Joseph from sinning against the

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Lord. He feared God. I can assure you of that. And when he feared God, see, and David had a lack of the fear of the

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Lord here, but what about the other barrier? Well, we can obey

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God and we can have the fear of God, but the love of God gives the balance.

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See, we can obey God because He may chasten us or we can obey God because He's already been so generous to us and because we love

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Him for it. But I want you to keep this in mind, beloved. This is where James has taken his readers.

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This is the direction he takes them. Think of it. Every good gift, every perfect gift is from above, comes down from the

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Father of lights. Then James focuses right on the nature and the character and the beauty of who

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God is. Oh my, this is so good. With whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.

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So in other words, God never changes in His goodness. We call it the theological word, the word immutable, but it's actually a biblical word.

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It's found in Hebrews and we'll see that. So by definition, what is the immutability of God by definition?

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Well, first of all, immutability of God is a great truth that God does not change.

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He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And it's impossible for Him to change. He's the same today as He was a thousand years ago, a million years ago, eternity ago.

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Even from beginning of time before time began in God's nature, God's nature does not change nor does

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His character change or His attributes change. So when something changes, it is made better or worse or different.

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But because God is perfect, He cannot be made better or develop into holier.

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He cannot be more holier than He is. He is the standard. He's the perfectly holy

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God. Isn't that amazing? You know why it blows us up? Because we are people of time.

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We are people of the dust. We are people of variation and changing.

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We change. We have to change because we've been born sinful with a sinful nature.

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There has to be... The first step is, of course, when the Holy Spirit regenerates us and change is constantly taking place there to be more like Jesus.

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And we still even battle that. But God never changes. Apply that and all that God is, that means

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God's character never changes, His truth never changes, His Son never changes, His Holy Spirit never changes.

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He's the same yesterday, today and forever, Hebrews 13. God's ways never changes. God never changes.

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His purposes never changes. His truth never changes. But we're going to look at this.

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May we gaze into this wonderful truth. Knowing this, being true of God, He's a rock.

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And He is forever our fortress and our faith and can count on it. So God will never change.

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You know I had to have a quote from Tozer and one of my favorite books here is Knowledge of the Holy. It was his last theological book.

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Most theological books. Most of his books he wrote was devotional. Very good too.

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He was a good writer. And it's amazing. He only had a fifth grade education but he was

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Holy Spirit taught. He taught himself and he read and defired books.

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He read and read books and Ben knows what I'm talking about. The more you read, the more you can get so much gleanings, especially read the

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Reformers, read the Puritans, read the great men of God and how you know how they finished and the biographies of them and it would encourage you so much.

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But Tozer said this from the book, that's one of my favorite books, on the Knowledge of the Holy. Listen to what he says and I got a little quote here and I think it's worth quoting.

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He says, to say that God, this is Tozer, to say that God is immutable is to say that he never differs from himself.

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The concept of a growing or developing God is not found in scriptures. It seems to me impossible to think of God as varying from himself in any way and here's why.

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For a moral being to change it would be necessary that that change be in one or three directions.

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He must go from better to worse or from worse to better or granted that the moral quality remains stable, he must change within himself as from immature to mature or from one order to a being to another.

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It should be clear that God can move in none of these directions.

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His perfections forever rule out any possibility and Tozer goes on to say, and you're going to love this,

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God cannot change for the better since he's perfectly holy. He has never been less holy than he is now and can never be holier than he is and has always been.

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Stay with it. Neither can God change for the worse. Any deterioration,

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I love that word, any deterioration within the unspeakable holy nature of God is impossible.

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Indeed, I believe it impossible even to think of such a thing for the moment and we attempt to do so, the object about which we're thinking is no longer

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God but something else and someone less than he. And then he says this, and the one whom we're thinking may be a great and awesome creature but because he's a creature he cannot be the self -existent creator.

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It's an idol. Wow. Now, one more paragraph, Tozer says this, the immutability of God appears in most perfect beauty when viewed against the mutability of men.

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Mutation, that's where it comes from, change, but God cannot change. He's immutable and Tozer says this, in God no change is possible, in men change is impossible to escape.

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Come on. Yes. Amen. Amen. That is good. Neither the man is fixed or his world, but he and it are in the constant flux.

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Each man appears for a little while to laugh and weep, to work and play, and then go on to make room for those who shall follow him in the never -ending cycle, end quote.

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Now, if you gaze on that, you start to think, this God that we serve, the creator of the ends of the earth, he would never change.

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He is the same yesterday, from everlasting to everlasting. So let's look,

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I gave you a Tozer quote, now let's look at what the word of God says. That's greater. God's immutability, he's immutable.

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The first thing I like to look at and draw out from this is number one, God never changes in his life, in his existence, in who he is, life.

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He is life. God never changes in his life. Psalm 93, 2, he is from everlasting to everlasting.

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Psalm 90, verse 2, before the mountains were brought forth or if ever you had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, you are

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God. Jeremiah 10, 10 says God is an everlasting king. Romans 1, 23,

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God is incorruptible. First Timothy 6, 16, who only has immortality.

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Psalm 102, verse 25, 26, 27, listen to this, the psalmist says, of old you laid the foundation of the earth and the heavens are the work of your hands.

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Verse 26, they will perish, but you will endure. Yes, they will all grow old like a garment, like a cloak, you will change them.

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See notice that? God changes them. He doesn't change. And they will be changed. Verse 27, but you are the same and your years will have no end.

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Isaiah the prophet says this in Isaiah 48, 12, listen to me old Jacob in Israel, my called,

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I am he, I am the first, I am the last. That's Isaiah the prophet.

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And you know what Jesus said, we're going to see that in just a minute, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

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And the same prophet that spoke that truth in Isaiah chapter 48 is the

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Jesus that appeared to John on the Isle of Patmos on the Lord's day when John saw a vision of the risen and resurrected and glorified

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Jesus Christ and all of his glory. And after he saw him, after he saw his face greater than the sun and of all its strength and his voice like the many of many waters, and he says this, and when

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I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And then what is he saying? But he laid his right hand on me saying, do not be afraid.

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I am the first and the last. Notice exactly how Jesus identifies himself.

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He is God. I am the first, I am the last, I am he who lives and was dead, and behold,

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I am alive forevermore. Amen. And that's not like that's enough, he says, and I have the keys of Hades and death.

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He has all authority and all power, that's what he's saying. So we see in these awesome verses that created things have a beginning and an end, but not so with the creator.

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The answer to the child's question, who made God, daddy? Who made

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God, mommy? Simply that God did not need to be made. He always was.

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He's the self -existent God. He is, I am that I am. That's why

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God told Moses that. I am the self -existent God, amen. For he was always there.

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He would never change. He is always the same. Nothing changes God, nothing moves

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God, nothing will. Little man made from the dust cannot change God. God is unchangeable, all -powerful, ever -present, all -wise, he possesses all knowledge because he is knowledge.

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He is perfect because he is the standard. He's self -sufficient, he's self -existent, and he doesn't need not a one of us to do his will.

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He has just chosen us in his mercy to bring us in. And he wanted a jewel.

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Like I said earlier in Malachi, he wanted a possession of his own to just praise him as a gift.

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And if you're in the family of God today, you are a love gift to the Father by Jesus Christ.

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That is glorious. And that humbles me when I think about that. God's always existing with no beginning.

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He has no ending. He never changes. He does not grow older. His life does not wax or wane.

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He does not gain new powers. He is power. He doesn't have power.

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Scripture says he is power. So any energy that there is that exists comes from God because he is that power.

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He does not lose power. He does not gain more power. He cannot be better, he cannot worsen, he cannot mature, he cannot increase or decrease.

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He's God. He stands alone. Doesn't that make you want to worship? He does not gain new powers or lose powers.

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He is who he is. And that's why he says, I am that I am. He always is the same in power.

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He does not grow stronger, he does not grow weaker. He cannot lose that either. He is that power.

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And he does not grow stronger or weaker or become wiser. He cannot be wiser because he is all wisdom.

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He is perfect in all these attributes. And by the way, you start studying about his perfections and it's all of his attributes.

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In other words, all of his attributes are absolutely perfect. And perfect is as perfect as you go.

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I remember John MacArthur talking about this. He said he did a whole study and it took him hours and hours to study about the perfection of God.

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And he said when he became, he looked at the Greek and the Hebrew and after he did all the study, he said, I came to one conclusion.

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Perfect means perfect. Amen. I like that. In other words, you just come to the conclusion

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God's perfect. Perfect in all of his attributes. Don't you think about that. God is the standard.

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The Creator never changes as whereas the creature does. The creature needs to change and change for the better, not for the worse.

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And it takes the Holy Spirit to change us to the better. And God's creatures are immutable and their nature admits of constant change whereas God is immutable and can never cease to be who he is.

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As an old hymn writer says this, we blossom and flourish as leaves on the tree and wither and perish but naught changes thee.

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I love that. Such is the power of God's endless life. Second point is

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God's, God never changes within his life nor does he change within his attributes.

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His life never will change or vary but his attributes never change and I love this part because if you,

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I like what Wesley says, the old song, I don't have the exact words to it but he says God is a God of a thousand attributes.

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We only know just what's revealed to us beloved. There are so many more out there that's beyond us but what we have that's been revealed in the pages of scripture is sufficient because God's word says sufficient but we will find out once we get to heaven there are so many more attributes that God has.

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It's awesome. It's absolutely breathtaking and it brings us to wonder and worship him.

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Attributes are eternally the same. All of his attributes, God is immutable in all of his attributes, whatever the attributes of God are and we'll look at just a few of them before the universe was called into existence they are precisely what they are now.

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And we speak of his attributes, we speak about his mercies, his love, his goodness, his, you can go on, his presence, his power, all that God is, his wisdom and when we come to God in prayer we always remind ourselves of these things.

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That when we go and approach this God and how we remember who God is and who we address it brings us down more and more into humbleness and to reverently address him, reverently.

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That's why I say when I start hearing people say oh he's the man upstairs and all this I say oh, he's no man upstairs.

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He is the God of the universe. He is holy and you are to bow in his presence as Moses did.

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And the men of old, and by the way, you start reading scriptures, everybody who came in contact with God, they were forever changed.

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A .W. Pink put in his book, Gleaming is in the Godhead, says this, necessarily so for they are the very perfections of God.

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And then he says this, for these are the very perfections, the essential qualities of his which is the word

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Semper Idem, Semper Idem meaning always the same, is written across every one of these attributes.

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His power is unabated. His wisdom is undiminished. His holiness is unsold.

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The attributes, Pink goes on to say, the attributes of God can no more change than deity can cease to be.

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His veracity is immutable, for his word is forever settled in heaven.

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And then he goes on this, his love is eternal, Jeremiah 31, 3, I have loved thee with an everlasting love, and having loved, in John 13, 1, and Jesus speaks, having loved, speaking of Jesus, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them to the end.

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And his mercies cease not. For they are everlasting,

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Psalm 105. So there you have just a, I could go on and on, beloved, but that's enough for us to gaze at that his attributes are immutable.

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The third is, God is immutable not only in his life and his attributes, he's also immutable in his counsel, his counsel.

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What does that mean? Well, that means his will. His will, and I'm talking about his decreed will, will never vary.

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If God's decreed it, that's, it's going to stand. You ever think about, you know, when

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John saw that vision in heaven and then there was a great scroll in the

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Father's hand? Some people feel that's the title deed of the earth, rightly so, that would make sense, but also, you ever think, that's all the decrees of God that is set in concrete?

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And there was only one in heaven that was worthy to take that scroll. And John says, and John was weeping about it, and all, and people in heaven were weeping about it, but then someone says, do not weep, the lion of the tribe of Judah has prevailed.

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In other words, Jesus Christ was the only one that took upon himself flesh that was worthy to take the scroll, the decrees of God, and unleash the wrath of God on this earth that's going to come one day.

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That's the great day of the Lord. And you think of this, and all of God's attributes, I forgot to mention this one,

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God's wrath is an attribute, and his, he does not change in his wrath. Now he decides when to pour his wrath out, but the thing about it is, he's not obligated to give us mercy, but you know something, he's, if he gives justice, we're well deserving of it, because we're sinful creatures, and we must see ourselves as sinful creatures.

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But think of it, we're not obligated, God's not obliged and obligated to give us mercy.

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We deserve justice. And that's why, in hell, justice is given, beloved, but aren't you glad you got mercy in Jesus?

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Oh my, oh my. When you start thinking about God's wrath, and God's wrath, like his love, it never changes.

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No one's not going to change it, amen. Well let's look at God's will, it never varies,

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God's purpose never alters. One of two things causes a man to change his mind, reverses his plans, and this is talking about on our end.

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A lot of times we have a want of foresight to anticipate everything, that's one reason that we can change.

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B would be a lack of power to execute it, but not with God.

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God is both omniscient, he's all wise, and he's omnipotent, and he's all powerful.

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So there is, if there's any, there's never any need for God to change or to revive, or to revise,

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I should say, his eternal decrees, it's set in concrete. Now, let's look at a little of this from scripture,

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Psalm 33, 11 says this, the counsel of the Lord stands forever, did you get that?

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God's counsel, God's will, stands forever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations, period.

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Hebrews, here's where we get the word immutable, Hebrews chapter 6, verse 17 and 18, this talks about God is set in concrete, his immutable will, thus

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God determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of the promise of the immutability of his counsel, get that?

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Of his counsel. Confirmed it by an oath, in verse 18 of chapter 6 of Hebrews, and by two immutable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us, isn't that beautiful?

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You can have a strong consolation because God, you can count on, man will let you down, people will let you down, you've seen it, you've experienced it, friends will let you down, even family members will let you down, sometimes your children will let you down, your parents will let you down, hey look, people's gonna let you down in this world, but one person will not let you down, and that is

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God. God will not let you down, Romans 11 .29

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says the gifts and the calling of God are without repentance, Job 23 .13 he is in one mind and who can turn him, and what his soul desires even that he doeth.

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There are so many points I can keep on going on, but that is so good, well

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I'm gonna stop right there and I'm gonna get some application because my time flies by and I said

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I've got to somehow bring this landing gear down quicker, so let's look at some of the practical applications very quickly, why the immutability of God is important to us and how we can apply this to our own personal lives.

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How does this come down to us? Why is it important? Well, first of all, I'd like to say this, it's important because it gives us an assurance, assurance of God's will in our lives, you can count on that, it brings us, it gives us an assurance of God's will in our lives, now

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I can really expand on that, but let's look at just four quick points, one of these would be we can be sure of who

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God is, if anything study the attributes of God in your life, go into the scriptures and every time you see those verses in the

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Psalms, I read just a few of them this morning, Malachi and Psalms, there's so many more, who

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God is, because it's revealed, He reveals Himself in the pages of these 66 books, so we can be sure of God and who

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He is and we can be sure that He is holy, that He's eternal, He's the eternal

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Father just as He's been to His people since the beginning of the world and He never fails, 1

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Samuel 2 says this, there is no one holy like the Lord, in Psalm 92, chapter 90 verse 2 and I've already read it, but this is a good one, before the mountains were brought forth and even you had formed, before you formed the earth and the world even from everlasting to everlasting, you are

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God, I love that, so you can be sure of God, you can be sure of Him, trust in Him, put your confidence in Him, not in the flesh, not in princes, put your confidence and trust in God, He is your rock, that's what the

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Psalmist said, that's why he was crying out, David cried out to God, He's my rock, in other words, he knew that God is something in the universe, there's someone

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I should say in the universe that is stable, no one else is,

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God can be your stability, second would be this, you can be sure that God loves you, you can be sure of that, you can be sure that God loves you with an everlasting love,

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I like what the children's song says, Jesus loves me this I know, because my daddy told me so, no, because the

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Bible tells me so, the Bible tells me so, my grandchildren love that song, it's a good one to sing to, why?

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Because the word of God tells me, that's enough for me, that sounds so simple pastor, well it comes down to that really, 1st

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Chronicles 1634, oh give thanks to the Lord for He is good, His mercy endures forever,

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His love never ends toward His own, Romans 8, 38 and 39, me and Michael heard a sermon on that by pastor

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MacArthur and it just took us to the third heavens, you talk about assurance, you talk about security, it says that nothing can separate us from the love of God and Christ Jesus our

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Lord, that means nothing, that means nothing, Paul says it, the Holy Spirit gave him the words,

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I am convinced, persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor demons, he listed, list goes on, neither present, nor future, nor powers, neither height, nor depth, nor anything else in all of creation will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our

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Lord, that's the word of God, you can count on His love. Very quickly, 3rd, we can be sure of God Himself will sustain us in hard times because of who

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He is, we can be sure that God Himself will sustain us in hard times and He will not leave us alone as orphans as Jesus said,

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He will come to us by His Holy Spirit, He promised that, He will guide us,

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He will lead us, and He guides and leads us into all truth doesn't matter what you say, all truth, not error, not confusion, but all truth, even through the troubles, even through the storm, even in the darkness of the midnight, faith takes hold and God has got a hold of you, in which

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He has ordained for our very good, Romans 8, 28, no doubt one of the greatest Psalms ever written was by a young shepherd boy by the name

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David, and I like to read this, turn with me to Psalm 23, oh well, this is a good one to memorize if you haven't memorized it,

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I think it's good, you know it's interesting before R .C. Sproul died, he was on a panel and he was in very bad health, and you know, you would think from a theologian of his caliber, he'd come, he'd bring some great theological word and you know, how you doing, the moderator basically said, can you tell us a little bit about yourself and how's things going with you and your health is declining, and his health was declining, and you know what he said, he said, you know,

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I just turned to Psalm 23, and he just started reading it, and Sproul said this, he said, the

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Lord's my shepherd, this is David's psalm, from a shepherd boy that knew God, I shall not want, he makes me to lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside the still waters, notice the he, he, the

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Lord's my shepherd, number one, he is our shepherd, he leads us,

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I don't want nothing else, that's what the psalmist is saying, he makes me to lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside the still waters, he restores my soul, he leads me in the paths of righteousness, for his name's sake, it's not about me, it's about his name, for yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, and that's now, we are in the shadow, the valley of the shadow of death, beloved, this is not talking about dead people, this is living people going through the shadow, the valley of the shadow of death, and then he says this,

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I'm not going to fear no evil, and then he says why, because you're with me, that's enough, then he says your rod and your staff, they what, they comfort me, you prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies, in other words,

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God's sovereign, you don't have to worry about the enemies, God's going to take care of them, vengeance is the Lord's, then he says this, you anoint my head with oil, my cup runs over, and then he says surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the

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Lord forever, six verses that are profound, you know R .C. Sproul talked about that, and he said that's where I'm at,

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I just go to Psalm 23, theologian, quoting a shepherd boy's psalm, by the

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Holy Spirit, praise God, what David says, you don't have to fear, because faith in a shepherd, what about Psalm 48,

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I will both lie down in peace and sleep, for you alone, hear that, you alone,

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O Lord make me dwell in safety, what a wonderful picture of God's sustaining comfort, having the peace of God that surpasses all understanding, that I can lay down and sleep at night in good conscience, and sleep well,

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Psalm 147 .5, great is our Lord, and mighty in power, his understanding is infinite, in other words, his wisdom has no limits,

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God will work it all out, just trust in him, this leads me to the last application, is this, we can be sure of God's plan for our lives,

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God is a personal God, he desires to show himself and reveal himself to each one of us in a personal way, you know it's amazing just to even think of that, as I said that, that God even desires to have intimacy with each and every one of us, he loves to have fellowship, and yet we resist it, and we shy back from it so many times, we get so busy, we get caught up in the things of this life, and we don't spend time with God.

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You know, I like what one of the Puritans said, and I think Spurgeon might have said this, and I consider him a

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Puritan in thought, to be honest with you, he says, you know, if the scripture says we're to pray without ceasing, it's because we sin without ceasing, isn't that the truth?

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We should pray without ceasing because we sin without ceasing, but we should spend time with God because we delight in God, and you think of it, and Edward says, how can you enjoy

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God now, how can you enjoy delighting in God forever if you can't enjoy him now? Right here,

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Ravenhill said it right, he said before eternity, this life is a dressing room for eternity, and that is so true,

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God cares about each and every one of us, and we should cast our care upon him because he cares for us. He loves us, he desires his best, notice what

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I said there, his best for you, and that is to be like Jesus. He desires to lead us and guide us in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake, but it must be on his terms, not ours, that's where the rubber meets the road, that's why

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Cain's countenance fell, and he became very angry, he wanted everything on his terms, and God said no,

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God is the one that's the master, he's the creator, we must come in line with his word and his will and his ways, it must be his way and not ours, and this begins as we pray like David in Psalm 139, 23, 24, search me oh

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God, know my heart, try me, know my thoughts and see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way of everlasting.

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Then Isaiah 59, 1 -2, I must say this, behold the Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save, nor is ear heavy that it cannot hear, and then he tells the negative, that's the positive, but your iniquities have separated you from your

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God, your sins have hidden his face from you, boy isn't that loving truth, that's the kind of truth we need to hear, this is what separates us from God, this is what hides

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God's face from having this kind of fellowship, we should, even as a believer, our fellowship can be broken see, our justification is there, but we can lose that fellowship with God because of sin, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he will not hear you.

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You see this verse tells us that God will not hear our prayers at times because it's not that he cannot, but he will not, you see, there's a difference.

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The psalmist says this, if I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear, not that he cannot.

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God, that shows you how much God hates sin. Just look at the cross, that's how much

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God hates sin, he poured his wrath on his own son, he hated sin that much, so what are we to do, what are we to do, let me bring this down.

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Luther said this, and I love this quote from Luther, the law discovers the disease but the gospel gives the remedy.

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I love that. The law helps us discover that we sin and by the Holy Spirit convicts us, but the gospel, isn't that wonderful,

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God has a remedy, and that's the blood of Jesus Christ, purifies us, cleanses us from all sin, all unrighteousness.

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God has dealt with sin at the cross of Jesus and here is where we fly to, nothing in my hands I bring, simply to the cross

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I cling. We come desperately repenting with our whole heart and confessing our sin, agreeing with God, and like the songwriter says, naked come to thee for dress, helpless, helpless, look to thee for grace, foul

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I to the fountain, fly, wash me Savior or I die. Now that's a man desperate there, that's a man that wants salvation, that's a man that wants cleansing, and I don't know about you, that's the way we got to be when we come to God, a desperate soul in need of God's mercy and grace, crying out like blind

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Bartimaeus and nothing would shut him up and stop him until he got to Jesus. Oh hallelujah, what a wonderful Savior.

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So God's immutability gives us a great consolation, a great comfort, a great stability, a great security because knowing who

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God is and knowing in ourselves as desperately weak, helpless, we fly to the cross of Jesus knowing

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God does not change. He provides us with the everlasting anchor for our soul in Jesus Christ.

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The world in which we live will constantly keep on changing, but God will never change.

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God will not change, rapidly changing. The world is, but God is our stability and our fortress and our rock and our stronghold and Him we can trust.

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When we're pulled in other directions, searching for answers, beloved, you and I can depend on God as our rock, forever, constant, consistent, dependable, faithful to help us in time of need when we come to Him asking, seeking, and knocking.

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When I was with a pastor, as a pastor of the Christian Missionary Alliance there's an old A .B. Simpson song we sung and I loved it.

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Maybe someday I can bring the tune to you, maybe we can sing it. A .B.

01:00:41

Simpson wrote this song, Yesterday, Today, Forever, and I'll close with this. Oh how sweet the glorious message, simple faith may claim.

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Yesterday, today, forever, Jesus is the same. Still He loves to save the sinful, heal the sick, and lame cheer the mourner.

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Still the tempest glory to His name. He who was a friend of sinners seeks the lost one now.

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Sinner come at His footstool, penitently bow. He who said

01:01:13

I'll not condemn thee, go and sin no more, speaks to thee that word of pardon as in days of yore.

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Oft on earth He healed the sufferer by His mighty hand. Still our sickness and our sorrows go at His command.

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He who gave His healing virtue to a woman's touch, to that faith that claims

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His fullness, still He will give as much. As of old

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He walked Emmaus with them to abide. So through all life's way

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He walketh ever near our sight. Soon again we shall behold

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Him, hasten Lord the day, for it will be that same Jesus as He went away.

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And then the chorus goes, this will make you shout. Yesterday, today, and forever,

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Jesus is the same. All may change, but Jesus never.

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Glory to His name. Glory to His name. Glory to His name.

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All may change, but Jesus never. Glory to His name.

01:02:23

Amen. Let's pray. Father we thank You for this great truth before us. Lord what a wonderful time we just have to pause and look in scripture that You never change.

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Nothing can change You. Impossible for You to change. So when we line up, we got to line up with You and Your Word.

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And Lord we ask You that You would grant each and every one of us to repent of our sin and throw it down at Your feet and fly to Jesus.

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Thank You Father for giving us such a wonderful everlasting Word. All sufficient, never changing

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Word. Forever settled in heaven. May we not forget Your eternal goodness to us

01:03:02

Lord. Help us to remember this and not forget it. Thank You for the mercies that's in Jesus.

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This is not anything to be taken lightly. So Father we fear You. Fear You.

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Rejoice in fear and trembling. Yet may we not forget that as Your mercies never change,

01:03:21

Your wrath never changes as well. Lord this brings us down. You're angry with the sinner.

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You're angry with the wicked every day. One day You're going to pour out Your wrath in full force upon the heathen and the wicked on this earth.

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And vindication will be done. And just as Lord a thousand, two thousand years back

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You sent Your Son to this world. Help us look to the cross. There never changing the grace of God or the wrath of God.

01:03:59

Lord it's never changing. Never changing mercy. But Lord what counts is we need to be on the side of mercy.

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And we can be on that side as we cling to Jesus. As we fly to Jesus. Lord I think of how

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You do not delight in the death of the wicked. You've provided a way of salvation. There is a way.

01:04:24

And we must take that way. Not the way that seems right to man but the way that You have chosen and that is

01:04:30

Christ. The way, the truth and the life. So Father help us to take that way on our life's journey to the celestial city.

01:04:38

As that way is only in Jesus Christ and Him crucified, buried and resurrected. All sufficient death.

01:04:45

Lord we just thank You for this. And how we cling to it. We fly to it. It is our eternal refuge in a changing world.

01:04:55

Help us to change for the better. Cleanse us and make us more like Your Son. We run to that rock where is our safety.

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And we praise You for it. That never ever changing steadfast love for us in Jesus Christ our