Sermon snippet – No Sermon November – Part III – Change (or No Change)
INTRODUCTION – I am not a big fan of change, for a variety of reasons. I am truly grateful that not everything changes.
- GOD DOES NOT CHANGE
That God is immutable (unchanging) is taught in lovely Old Testament passages such as Psalm 102:24-27 and Isaiah 46:9-10. In the New Testament, the same doctrine is found in such verses as James 1:17 and Hebrews 13:8. God cannot be more and will never be less. He will not lower His standards. Do we imagine that He should be more like us, more like me? Perish that thought! Instead, He draws us to Himself and draws us to be more like Him. God will not lower His standards and will not lessen His promises. For example, Hebrews 13:5-6 speaks of more than God’s omnipresence, even more than the indwelling Holy Spirit (and there is nothing better here); this promise points us ultimately to heaven and the immediate and eternal presence of God in the fullness of His glory and majesty.
- GOD’S WORD DOES NOT CHANGE
II Timothy 3:16-17 tells us that the Bible is “God-breathed” (the literal translation of “given by inspiration of God”); the Word is the actual expression of God’s unchanging character and thus cannot change. II Peter 1:21 specifies that the Bible is the work of God the Holy Spirit. God the Son, Jesus Christ, stated that the Word cannot change (Matthew 24:35; John 10:35). I could go on – and you know that I could – but I will restrain myself to one key thought: because God’s Word is demonstrably true, we need it to find genuine strength and solace. We just sang “Change and decay in all around I see” – not here! Not here in God’s unchanging Word.
- GOD’S OFFER OF SALVATION DOES NOT CHANGE
Hebrews 9:28 is just one of many verses that we could consider. God’s offer of salvation does not change because the Cross does not change. As Jesus said in John 19:30, “It is finished.” Likewise, His tomb was empty then, now, and forever. God’s work of salvation does not change.
CONCLUSION – This is either the fourth point or the conclusion; let’s hope that it is the conclusion. DEATH DOES NOT CHANGE; DEATH CAN CHANGE. There is no contradiction. Hebrews 9:27 says, “It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.” The exceptions (Enoch, Elijah, and the Rapture) highlight the universal reality of death. However, death can be “swallowed up in victory” (I Corinthians 15:54) through faith in the unchanging, finished work of Jesus Christ. For all believers in Jesus, a glorious and eternal change is certain: death is transformed into everlasting life in heaven.