Amen, so I'm gonna continue on with the series. I started a while back
Concerning God's nature the different concepts of God and we're gonna talk about the immutability of God or basically that God is unchangeable
you know, he's immutable and I'm just gonna use that word unchangeable from here on out because
It's a lot easier to say
So if you would look there in verse 20
It says hast thou not known hast thou not heard that the everlasting God the Lord the creator of the ends of earth fainteth
Not neither was really neither as they're searching no searching of his understanding and go ahead and turn over to Hebrews chapter 13 Hebrews chapter 13
So the Bible is telling us that God is the everlasting God, you know, and God has is is the great what I am
Right back in Genesis chapter 3. He said I am that I am it's not that God was he's the I was
You know where I am for now, he's the I am meaning God is always going to be who he is
He's not going to change in his essence
He's not going to change in his nature. His attributes will never change. God is always going to be the way he is
You know
It's important to understand because today we have people who think that there's a difference between the Old Testament God and the New Testament
God like it's two different gods or something or somehow God
you know changed when we came over into the New Testament that he changed his mind about a bunch of things and you know
He's not as harsh now and yet the most the bloodiest book the most, you know
Gnarliest book is Revelation the last book of the Bible
There's just more wrath and bloodshed and God just his
indignation and anger being poured out upon the earth in the New Testament than there is in the old and there's there's a fair amount of
It in the Old Testament, too
So that's a foolish notion to think that you know, God somehow is just all of a sudden changed
Okay, that God has changed his nature his attributes his essence
God has not changed, you know, and that is something that should give us assurance
That's something we want to know about God because of the fact that you know
There's certain things that we need to know that that God is not going to change on, you know
When it comes to his word, you know doctrine, I mean think about even when it comes to salvation, right?
We like to know that salvation hasn't changed
It's always going to be the same that God's not gonna we're going to get to heaven and him say well
I know I told you then that it was all by faith
But you know since then I've changed my mind and now it's this other way. Sorry. It's too late
Right, it's always been the same God hasn't changed it's always been by grace through faith not of works
You're there in Hebrews 13, but I'll read 2nd Timothy 3
the Bible says all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine for proof for correction for instruction of righteousness that
The man of God may be perfect thoroughly furnished unto all good works
You know
It's a good thing that we can get up and know that this book is not going to change that what God has said
Is going to stay the same through the ages so that why so that we can be thoroughly furnished unto all good works
You don't have to sit here and wonder whether or not you know
God's gonna change his mind about something and we're gonna have to revise the Bible or wait for further revelation
You know, we have the whole counsel of God and it's it's not changing. It's immovable. Okay
It's gonna stay the same look at Hebrews chapter 13 verse 7 a very famous verse on this topic
It says remember them that hat which had the rule over you who have spoken unto the Word of God whose faith follow
Considering the end of their conversation Jesus Christ the same yesterday and today and forever
It's not that God has been up the same up until now
Yeah, he was the same yesterday and I know he's the same today
but you know what the assurance is that God is going to stay the same forever and
You know that he's always going to be gracious
You know, there's a lot of different attributes that we could talk about when it comes to God that are not going to change
Okay
And one of them is probably the the more comforting one is the fact that God is always going to be a long-suffer
Merciful and gracious God, you know, this is this is a comfort and particularly when it comes to our salvation
I'll keep something in Hebrews and turn over to James chapter 1 James chapter number 1
The Bible says in Malachi chapter 3 verse 6. I am the Lord I change not
Therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed
You know
We have the assurance that we're going to have our salvation
Unto the end that we're going to go to heaven because God's not going to change his mind on that
God is always going to be the same gracious loving
Merciful God that he has always been and he's not going to just be like well
You know, I changed my mind about that whole free gift thing. No, God's not going to change
Bible says in James chapter 1 verse 17 every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the father of lights
With whom is no variableness, you know variable. This is like change. Okay, you know, sometimes we have variables
There's different factors at work, you know, God there is no variables with God
He's not going to find himself in another set of circumstances say oh, well, you know, I got a change here
I got a backtrack on that doctrine or I got a you know
Create some kind of new doctrine to accommodate this. No, God is going to stay the same neither
Is there any shadow of turning, you know, we're always God is always going to be who he is
And this is important to understand because the fact that when the Bible is not your sole authority
When it is not your only authority, you know doctrine is subject to change, you know, if we were in say the Catholic Church
You know, this might be something we'd be a little bit more conscious of
You know, this might be something we'd be a little bit more concerned with
That we don't know what the church is going to teach
You know a decade from now two years from now doctrine changes all the time and look doctrine has changed in the Catholic Church
They've gone back on things. We're going to read on, you know, read here in a minute some of those things
But they're they're very uh pliable, right? They'll change with the times. They'll change with society
To go along to get along, right
But look that's why is that because the Bible is not their sole authority. They'll pay lip service to the scripture
They'll say oh no, we believe in the scriptures and it has authority
But you know, it only has authority
You know in in the terms of it's on par with
You know church doctrine
And and and the writings of the fathers. Let me just read to you
From the catechism, okay. This is from paragraph 95 in the Catholic Church's pair of catechism
He says sacred tradition
Sacred scripture and the magisterium of the church. So these are three, you know, these are the great deposits of their faith, right?
You have the sacred tradition. That's a big that's an authority in their church the tradition the tradition of the church
Fathers the writings of the church fathers. They derive a lot of doctrine from that
A lot of times could even be counter to the scripture can be at odds with the scripture teaches something different than the Bible
And they're saying look sacred tradition sacred scripture. So there's that lip service to the Bible and the magisterium of the church
What they mean by the magisterium is like like a magistrate, you know the authority of the church
That they say that the sacred scripture the magisterium and the sacred edition of the church are so connected and associated
That one of them cannot stand without the other
Do you hear what they're saying there that one of them cannot stand without the other, you know, that's not what we believe here
You know the Bible here stands alone right like a rock undaunted among in the raging storms of time. It doesn't change
It's always going to be the same. That's why this is our sole authority
Right. So that's why when you come to faithful word baptist church or other baptist churches or any church that makes the Bible
Their sole authority you don't have to worry about whether or not their doctrine is going to change
You know, and if it does it's probably because they're either getting right with what the Bible says or they're trying to do something unscriptural
You know, so that's you know
That should be an assurance to us that God is is unchangeable and he's given us a written word that is not going to change
You know, we're not those in the catholic church that are wondering. Well, what do I believe now?
You know and with the catholic church is just going which way is the wind blowing?
And say, okay. Well, this is what we believe now
Well, that's not what the Bible says. Yeah, but you know, that's the Bible isn't our sole authority in the catholic church
It's the it's the magisterium of the church. It's whatever we decree. It's our tradition. It's whatever what others have decreed in the past
You know, there's some examples of this in this article and I won't take long with it
But these are just a few of them that I've highlighted
You know one would be the fact that the the catholic church used to
Do all of their masses only in latin now who here speaks latin
I thought I sat a hand going up and he was just scratching. I was like dang brother martinez. He speaks latin
Got all kinds of secrets
I want to talk to you after church because it sounds cool, right?
It's a cool sounding language. But look no one speaks it, you know, but a bunch of a bunch of uh, you know
Intellectuals and be like it's a dead language. It's not something that's
But that's what the catholic church had, you know, and they would turn their back to the congregation as they conducted the mass, you know
Come not near unto me for i'm holier than thou kind of an attitude
And you know, they they maintain this distance between the the priests and the congregants which you know
now that we know some things about the priest is probably a good thing, but
You know that was something that that they practice now. Do they do that in latin now?
Is there only latin masses in the congregation?
No, they do it in the local languages right they'll do this this mass in spanish
They'll do it in english, you know, they'll do it in whatever the local language is
Okay, so that's something that they've changed on
You know, and that's probably for the better because of the fact that now people can actually understand what's being said
And if they have any spiritual discernment they can compare, you know
Spiritual things with spiritual and see what that lines up with scripture
But you can see why they would want to have everything in latin because they wanted to snow people, you know
And they would say oh only we can read the scriptures or the scriptures can only be written in the language that we understand
What's another one that they've changed on over time how about capital punishment?
I mean the bible is pretty clear in capital punishment, you know, there's certain sins
There's certain things that you are to be put to death for
You know, uh, you know, you know, there's certain things that you are to be put to death for
You know, uh, homosexuality
Adultery kidnapping
You know, i'm sure i'm missing a few but there's you know, the bible's pretty clear on that right? There's not it's it's
It's not a gray area
You know if a man lie with with with man as you lie with womankind, you know
He shall surely be put to death his blood their blood shall be upon them
That's pretty clear, right?
But and the and the other thing that we're talking about, you know, there's certain things that you are to be put to death for
Originally, you know the catholic church went along with this
But what happened when the when the you know, society started to change on this issue?
The catholic church went right along with them in 1950 time 1955
It says how it changed support for the death penalty had waned in the church over the years
But it wasn't until john paul the second
Uh, I don't know maybe it's I don't know how to read that but that last john paul in 1995. Uh,
That he uh that he was opposed that he stated that the catholic church was explicitly opposed to the death penalty
It's not even just that they're like well, you know, some people believe it. It's like no we're opposed to it now
Just overnight. They just changed, right?
So that's what i'm getting at is that we have a word, you know, we have a faith and a god that does not change
God has written these things, you know in proverbial stone for us to have from generation
To generation, you know, i'll read this last one that they've changed out just because it's kind of it's kind of one of those weird ones
Is this idea of limbo right and i'm not talking about the game, right?
That you played in school
You might have thought that I didn't say bingo either. Okay. I'm pretty sure they haven't changed on that
They're probably still playing a lot of bingo
But you know limbo and this was something this is a recent one up until 2000, you know this changed in 2007. Okay
Now I know that seems like a long time for some people but it really wasn't
Original rule was this in traditional catholic theology limbo is the halfway point between heaven and hell
Where the unbaptized including infants go after death, isn't that a comforting thought?
That's what they taught until 2007
That an unbaptized infant goes to limbo, which is a halfway place between
You know heaven and hell, you know, and I
Even though they had committed no sins such people had not been cleansed of the original sin through baptism
So how did they change do they just actually go back to what the bible says?
Like we read in second samuel the other night chapter 12 where it's where david said, you know
I I cannot bring him back and but I shall go to where he is when his child died
Understanding that when a when an infant dies and in its innocence it goes straight to heaven
Is that that the change they made? Nope, that's not the change that they made
It says here limbo was never a particularly popular concept with parishioners, I mean you could kind of understand why right?
I mean when people have a miscarriage or they lose a young child
And they go to the priest they want to know where the child is and he says well, he's not in hell
But he's not quite in heaven either so
You know
Condolences, you know, that's not a real comforting thought, right?
So you can kind of see how they're thinking boy this doctrine of ours doesn't make us very popular
With with people when when we when you tell them this
It says it was not popular with parishioners and modern priests rarely rarely discussed it
Right, you can see how they just be like, it's not that important
Oh, it's kind of important because it happens to people happens all the time people have stillbirths people have miscarriages
You know, and that's a that's a heart-wrenching thing for a lot of people
It's a source of grief, right and they they're looking for comfort and praise god, you know
There's comfort to be found in the scripture
But when this isn't your sole authority, you know
You're on the shifting sands of the doctrine of the catholic church. There's no comfort there
Because they don't even want to talk to you about it. They're just like yeah, let's not talk about that
I got nothing off you in 2004. John Paul formed a commission to come up with the most coherent and enlightened way of describing
What happens to infants who they die?
So it's not even really that they changed it necessarily, but it's just a nicer way of saying it in 2007
In 2007
Benedict signed a report recommending the concept to be dropped. He's like, why don't we just not even talk about this?
Let's just not even think act like it's a thing anymore
And this is the church tradition, right? This is the the the magisterium of the church
at work
You know that they're just like well, let's not actually teach what the bible teaches
And let's not go back on what we taught previously. Let's just let's just pretend we never talked about it
Let's just pretend it's not even a thing
Because it's that unpopular
So now instead of going to limbo unbaptized babies would enjoy internal happiness after death
So at least there's some right they're going to enjoy internal happiness after death
But there's this, you know, there's always a catch with the catholic church, right?
Because you got to remember they didn't get that original sin taken care of
So they can't just come, you know backpedal all the way and just say
Oh, yeah, they went straight to heaven because then the next question would be well, what about the original sin then why be baptized?
You know then people wouldn't want to be getting you know
People wouldn't be wanting to get their children into the inf into the catholic church after immediately after birth
Right, that would that would
Bring down their numbers right and it would raise a lot of questions
so now they're just clarifying and saying hey, you know what they enjoy internal happiness, but
They're just not going to achieve communion with god
For all eternity, that's all okay. That's all right, you know
Oh
You know, what a relief right?
Oh eternal happiness, but no god. I mean, how do you have eternal happiness without god?
Like all these infants are in limbo somewhere
and you know
Every now and then they catch a glimpse of somebody that has communion with god and be like, I wonder what that's like
You know, but i'm happy here. Everybody else is up there hanging out with god having communion
But i'm just happy to I mean, it's like missing out on a party. You know what I mean?
You know you find out there was some big get-together, you know, or you know, and you weren't invited
It's kind of like oh, all right
You're just you know for whatever reason, you know, they just didn't invite you
But it's kind of a downer right all the friends got together and went out and had some fun and they're like, oh, yeah
We just forgot about you. Sorry
It's like that's what's happening these infants
This is how the catholic church is working. They're just like well, it's not that they're
Suffering they're eternally happy. It's just they don't have god
Look, that's not eternal happiness to sit there and know that you know, you could have god
You could have been with the lord that you're never going to be with god. That's
That's just like one everlasting
Disappointment. It's just one eternal letdown
I'm, like no you didn't quite make it. Sorry
So you can see how
You know when you when you get away from the word of god when you get from the away from the scripture
All of a sudden these very important spiritual matters that have you know a role in our lives
Suddenly be art. It's just they're just up for grabs
You know, they just become
You know who's to say what's going to happen to the infant after death who knows anymore?
Who's to say whether or not we should?
Teach you in a language. You actually understand or preached you a language you understand or maybe we'll just change the entire way
Uh, you know you go to heaven. I mean everything's up for grabs at that point
But you know what praise the lord god is it is
Unchangeable the way he always has been is the way he's always going to be and he's given us an eternal word
That we don't have to sit here wonder whether or not this is this is going to change
And as long as this is our sole authority
Right, not not an authority
This is the authority
You know, we have a rock that we're standing on
That's what the bible says
In uh, go over to matthew, uh, did you are you still in hebrews? Did I tell you to bookmark hebrews?
We're going to come back but go over to matthew chapter seven
The bible says in second peter chapter one knowing this first that no prophecy of the scriptures of any private interpretation
Then you can't just take the scripture and say well, this is what I think it means and then you have another person say
Well, I think it means this you know, the bible means what it means. There's always a primary
Interpretation there's always a primary application of the scriptures
Okay, and it's not just up for grabs
There is no private interpretation for the prophecy came not all time by the will of man
But holy men of god spake as they were moved by the holy ghost
It's god's word here. It's not just the writings of men. That's how we know it's unchangeable because god in his nature is unchangeable
That's the promise that he gave isaiah he said in isaiah chapter 59 ask for me
This is my covenant with them sayeth the lord
My spirit that is upon me and my words that I have put in my mouth shall not depart out of thy mouth
Nor the mouth of thy seed nor out of the mouth of thy seed seed sayeth the lord from henceforth and forever
He's saying look isaiah the words that you're speaking my words that I put in your mouth are going to be
In the word in the mouths of your seed seed forever
They're unchangeable. They're always going to be there matthew chapter seven. Look at verse 24
matthew 7 verse 24 matthew 7 verse 24 says therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine and do it them
I will liken them unto a wise man which built his house upon a rock
A rock I mean think about something that to represent something unmovable and unchangeable
It's a rock and I don't think he's talking about, you know, one of these little
River rocks that you can just kick across, you know the yard or whatever. He's talking about a large
Boulder just immovable. We've seen them, you know, you go up mount lemon things
You'll see these giant boulders that have just been sitting there and forever and nothing's moving them without a lot of effort, right?
You know, that's the sayings that we have that's the jesus's sayings of that. That's what the bible is
It's just this unmovable rock that it's always going to be there and look people have tried to discredit the bible to destroy the bible
To you know to just disprove it and they've never succeeded
I mean think about just the thousands and thousands of years that have gone by with people just trying to discredit
God's word have not succeeded
And it just has remained the most popular the king james bible the most the best-selling most popular most read book of all time
The king james bible why?
Because it's a rock that we have and look that's the assurance that we have
About this the fact that we have something to set our faith upon that is not going to change god's word
We can we can have wisdom. We're wise to do that
We want to build our house upon a rock. This is something to build your life upon
These are the promises that we want to pray. These are the things that are going to build us up
Thank god that we have them and then we're not just wondering what you know
What the deacon's going to get up and change tomorrow?
What some guy wearing a dress with his collar on backward is is going to
Say next, you know, thank god that there's things that we can be assured of, you know
Like the infant thing like infants going to heaven
Now it's true that god is unchangeable. Okay in his nature
His essence his attributes are always the same
But does that mean that god is just can never be persuaded? No, you know
And this is something I want to touch and kind of close on is the fact that
You know god can and does change his mind
In regards to his will or regard to his decisions
So it's not like god is just this robot, you know this machine
Well, that's just cold and unfeeling and you know, if you get your fingers stuck in the wrong place, you know
You can kiss them. Goodbye kind of a thing
You know god is is pliable in the sense that he can be persuaded by man and there's many examples of this in scripture
There's more than we have time to go over tonight, but go to exodus chapter 32. We'll look at a famous one exodus chapter 32
You know, for example, you know god, you know when it comes to the subject of repentance
Nobody repents in the bible more than god and what does it mean to repent?
It means to just turn right in some way shape or form and when you get to that word
You have to consider the context every time of what what's taking place, right?
So when you see god repenting a lot of the time he's repenting like we read this morning in jeremiah
Of the evil that he thought to do unto them, right?
He said if that nation against whom I have pronounced turned from their evil
I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them so you can see how a nation
Can change god though god is unchangeable in the sense in the sense of his nature and his essence
That does not mean that god cannot be persuaded
Because god is great, you know, one of his unchangeable attributes is the fact that he is gracious and is merciful
So if god, you know ceased to show mercy then that would be him changing if you see what i'm saying there
If if it weren't possible to persuade god, then that would would go against his nature
All right. I don't want to get you know pedantic about that. But
Here's the thing god is unchangeable in his nature. That does not mean that we can't persuade him
To do certain things for us or to change his mind or to show mercy when it's needed
You know, there's lots of examples of god changing his mind. Genesis 6 comes is another one where it says
That he repented that he had made man on the earth
And it grieved him at his heart, right?
And another one in jeremiah we read this morning
If so be they will harken and turn every man from his evil way that I may repent me of the evil
Which I purpose to do them because of the evil of their doings. So repent basically just means turn that's all there is to it
It's as simple as that
Now what I want to focus on is the fact that god can be persuaded to change his course of action
You're going to exodus chapter 32 think about jacob right in genesis chapter 32
He said thine remember when he wrestled with the lord when he was going back
He was going back to his homeland bringing his family with with him
And he wrestled with a man until the breaking of the day, you know, the angel of the lord
It was the lord that he wrestled with
And he and then when he let him go and he said thy name shall no more be called jacob but israel
For as a prince thou has power with god and with man and has prevailed
What does it mean to have when he says he has power with god?
It's not because he won the wrestling match because he didn't you know
God touched the hollow of his thigh and he had a limp from there on out
Right. It was a submission move, you know, I wish I knew that one
You know, he'd win every match just be like pow
Here's a limp for you shrink the sinews of your of your hip
But he's saying here look he has power with god in the sense that he has influence with god
I mean he's wrestling and that's the picture that he's giving us there
that even we as god's people can wrestle with the lord that we can
We can get involved with god. We can get a hold of god and try to persuade him
You know, that's it's not that god is unchangeable. So that once he's made up his mind, that's it
No, god can and has been persuaded
And there's just example after example of this, okay
We read about it one in second samuel the other night chapter 12 when remember when the child got sick
When god struck the child and it became very ill
And then david went in and fasted and he prayed and he said while the child was yet alive. I fasted and wept for I said
Who can tell whether god will be gracious unto me and and that the child may live even after god had already just you know
Said look the child's gonna die. David knew enough about god to say well, I know god can still be persuaded
And he availed himself to god. He wrestled with god
He prayed to god in hopes that he would persuade him to to let the child live
Because he understood that though god is unchangeable in his nature and his essence. He can still be persuaded. Okay
and look this is important for us to understand because and I don't want to get ahead of myself, you know, but
Sometimes we get backed into a corner, you know, maybe we've done something and we just start to think well, you know, that's it
I'm done put a fork in me
You know, but really what we should be doing is praying and asking god to help and show mercy
And availing ourselves and trying to persuade god to forgive us and to to and to let us to to move forward in our christian lives
Okay
Exodus chapter 32 where you are, you know the story where moses he goes up into the mount
To get the ten commandments and while he's gone
You know the people persuade aaron and he makes the golden calf and they worship it and they commit adultery idolatry
and god says, you know
Sandicide moses i'm paraphrasing obviously. He said i'm going to take him out and start over with you
And then notice so god's you know, he sounds like he's made up his mind
Look at verse nine. He says and the lord said unto moses. I have seen this people and behold it is a stiff-necked people
Now therefore let me alone that my wrath may wax hot against them that I may consume them and I will make of thee a great nation
So what's the lord saying here say look i'll just wipe them out and start over with you moses
And look I I think if verse 11 hadn't happened that's exactly what would have happened if moses just been like, okay
You know, and it's just a testimony to moses humility been like oh you start over with me i'll be the new patriarch
People forget about abraham and it's going to be all about moses now
You know
It just goes to show that moses had a heart for the lord
That he didn't want reproach to be brought upon the name of the lord by the heathen because he goes on and says in verse 11
the moses besought the lord as god
And said lord why doth thy
Doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people which thou has brought forth out of land of egypt with great power with a mighty hand
Wherefore should the egyptians speak and say for mischief he to bring them out to slay them in the mountains to consume them from the face
Of the earth. He said if you do this
The egyptians the heathen are just going to say you're just some cruel god that you just brought them out here to destroy them
Right, he said don't let that happen and notice it starts out that he besought him
What is he trying to do by what does it mean by besot? He's trying to persuade him
You know moses david these guys knew something about god that god can be persuaded by man
That we can intercede for others
That we can go to god and beg of him and plead for other people and god will change his mind. God will move god will act
Even contrary to his original intent
God will say I had one thing in mind. I was going to wipe him out completely and i'm going to do it
Wipe him out completely and start over with you
But because moses said this and he brought he put out, you know, he made these points
You know what? I'm going to go ahead and honor moses's wish
And try something else. Isn't that amazing?
That we can have
An impact we can persuade a god who is in his nature and his essence unchangeable
It's an amazing thing. He said there in verse 12 wherefore should the egyptian let me look at verse 13
Remember eyes abraham isaac and israel thy servants to whom thou swear us by their own self and said us them
I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven and all this land that I have spoken of
Will I give unto your seed and they shall inherit it forever verse 14 and the lord repented him
Excuse me. The lord repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people
Why because of one man because moses decided to avail himself of the fact that god can be persuaded
Go over to first kings chapter 21, you'll say oh, well, you know, that's moses
Of course moses could get could change god's mind
But who am I right? Well moses would say the same thing. Who am I?
Right. In fact, it's that exact humility that probably is the reason why god honored it
We should never just think well, you know, I know some people can persuade god
Look, we have this ability to go boldly before the throne and define what mercy
Mercy a lot of times we're going to the throne because we just want something
Right, but a lot of times we if we're being honest
We're going there because we need mercy, you know to get what we don't deserve. That's what mercy is getting what you
Not getting what you don't deserve
Right. You got a punishment coming and then I then it doesn't get doled out because somebody's being merciful
Whereas if someone's being if you get grace or somebody's being gracious, you know, that's getting something you don't deserve
If someone just gives you a gift unwarranted or they just bless you and somebody say well you might say that you know
Well, that's very gracious of you. What are you saying? I don't deserve this. You didn't have to do that, right?
A lot of times, you know, that's what we want. We want something we don't deserve
But a lot of times we need to go and persuade god to have mercy so we don't get what we do deserve
And you know you might say well moses of course he can persuade god but look at first kings and you'll see that even
You know the behaviors of a very wicked man named ahab persuaded god
Now if you know about ahab and this guy's wicked right I mean
He he's he's a very wicked king. He's got a very wicked wife named jezebel
I don't not gonna everyone I sure understands that look at first kings 21 verse 17 the word of lord came into
Elijah the tishbite saying arise go down to meet ahab king of israel, which is in samaria
Behold, he's in the vineyard of naboth where he's gone down to possess it
And now and remember the story of naboth, right how he wanted that vineyard and he couldn't get it and then his wife
You know framed naboth and had him killed an innocent man
And he took his vineyard for his garden of herbs, right? He misappropriated it
And he said that was killed and thou shalt speak unto him verse 19 saying thus saith the lord hast thou killed and also taken possession
And thou shalt speak unto him saying thus saith the lord in the place where the dogs lick the blood of naboth
Shall the dogs lick thy blood even thine and ahab said to elijah hast thou found me own mine enemy
And he said I have found thee because thou has sold thyself to work evil in the sight of the lord
So is this is this a moses we're talking about here
It's like the complete opposite of a moses a wicked guy, right?
Killing innocent people he's working wickedness in the sight of the lord and look at verse 20 and behold
I will bring evil upon thee and will take away thy prosperity prosperity
And I will cut off from amam him that pisseth against the wall and him that has shut up and left in israel
And I will make thy house like the house of jereboan the son of nebat and like the house of bayasha the son of ahijah
For the provocation wherewith thou has provoked me to anger and made israel to sin and of jezebel also spake the lord saying the dog
Shall eat at jezebel by the wall of jezreel
and him that dieth him that dieth of ahab in the city shall the dogs eat and him that dieth in the fields of the
Shall the fouls of the air eat
But there was none like unto ahab which did sell himself to work weakness in the sight of lord
whom jezebel his wife stirred up he did and he did very abominably in following idols at according all that he
Did as did the amorites whom the lord cast out before the children of israel
So this is a wicked guy and god's got some severe punishment. I mean, it's not just like hey i'm taking you out
He's like he's telling how he's going to die
And then what's going to happen to his body?
He's like look the dogs are going to lick your blood when i'm done with you
And then he's and then he's like let me tell you about your wife
You know, here's a comforting thought when you go to the grave is that you know, your wife's going to be eaten by dogs, too
You know and and that happened and that's a great story. That's one of my favorite stories
Right. So this isn't this isn't a moses we're talking about here. Okay
It's a wicked guy who's committing all these abominations
And he hears this right and what does he do just resign himself to his destiny and just say well
I guess I mean if that's what god said, all right
You know, I might as well just live it up while I can
No, look at verse 27 because even ahab understood something about god that god can be persuaded
Okay
And it came to pass when ahab heard these words that he rent his clothes
And put sackcloth upon his flesh and fasted and lay in sackcloth and went softly
You know, what does it mean went softly like he was walking around he's being very careful just you know
And just being very humble
He says he went softly verse 28 and the word of the lord came to elijah the tishbite the same lord
He just got just saying, you know, the dogs are going to eat lick his blood. The dogs are going to eat his body
He's wicked i'm taking out his whole house. Everyone's going to die
right
And he and he comes to elijah the tishbite in verse 29 and he says see is thou how thou how ahab humblest himself before me
Because he humblest himself before me. I will not bring evil in his days
But in his sundays, I will bring the evil upon upon his house
So basically the the assurance is that ahab's going first, right that he's not going to see all these things happen
But notice how I mean they're still going to happen. I mean ahab was wicked jezebel's wake
There's going to be some judgment no doubt, right?
But do you see how even a guy like ahab was able to persuade god from his original course of action?
You know, maybe his original intent was just to let ahab see all of that happen and then take him out last
Let see his wife go down and be eaten by a dog see all his prosperity cut off
See his whole, you know, his name just taken off from the face of the earth and then he gets it last
That would have been more cruel, right?
but this you know him being as wicked as he was he was still that punishment was still coming out but at least
You know what? He wasn't going to have to see it all god is saying look
I will not bring the evil in his days. But in his son's days will I bring the evil upon us out?
So you couldn't stop the evil from coming
But did he not change god's mind here? Of course he did
Even a wicked guy like ahab. I mean if ahab didn't think that god's mind for persuaded
What's the point of rending his clothes and walking, you know putting on the sackcloth and fasting and walking around lightly?
You know, what was the point of that? Does he just doing that just because
I mean, it's it's like someone who's on death row. Like it's just a sure thing. You're gonna die tomorrow
You know, what do they do? They give them a last meal, right? They say enjoy one last meal
I mean you got you know, this is it
You know your your fate is sealed you might as well and just enjoy it before you go, right?
That's what is going on. It doesn't make any sense
Like ahab if he's told this and he's just like well my fate is sealed. Why would he do this?
Wouldn't he rather be out putting on his best garments eating all the best food because he's like
It could happen any day now, so i'm just going to get my fill
I'm, just going to make life as good as I can before god takes me out and all this starts to happen because
You know because after all god can't my mind can't be changed. That's not right
God's mind can be changed even by a wicked guy like ahab
Even a guy like that who if he humbles himself
You know, I mean obviously you couldn't humble some of himself enough to make up for all the wickedness that he had done
Wickedness that he had done
But he had some level
Of influence on god now. Look I doubt anyone in this room has done anything close to what ahab has done
And if you have come see me after the service we need to talk
right
But I mean, so what i'm saying is this how much influence do you think you could have?
You're not as wicked as this guy
Even a guy this wicked had some change on god. He could change his mind. How much change do you think you could have?
on god's mind
God's child loves the lord goes to church reads the bible
Wants to live a godly life. Don't you think you could have an influence on god?
Influence of god not just for your own life, but what about for other people?
You know, you could pray and ask god to work in other people's lives and and to empower other people and to help other people
You know, so we should never assume that god is through with us
You know, even ahab didn't now if there's anybody in the bible that should just assume that god's through with them. It's ahab
But he didn't and it changed god's mind don't sit there and just say well, you know, I messed up
I made a mistake
You know, I sinned again
God's done with me. That's it. It's all over. I just just i'm just gonna sit here
Just run my clothes and just wait for the judgment to come right?
My life's over, right?
Look, we should not sin. I'm not saying to sin presumptuously and just think well, i'll just make up for that later. That's wicked
Look, we're all gonna sin. We're all gonna make mistakes
But when that happens understand this that you have the power to get mercy and help in time of need to get mercy in time
of need
And look, we're all going to have a time where we need mercy from god
I need god to help us and to say forgive me lord help me to do better in this area
You need that and you know what and god's not just this cold calculating person
Who's just up there keeping score in every little thing and it's just like well, you know
Sorry, you're not going to get it if god sees us humbling ourselves and praying to him and pleading
He say you know what? I am going to be merciful unto you. I am going to show mercy
I mean, we're the same way with our kids at least we ought to be
You know, sometimes they they do something wrong and they feel bad about it before they even got caught
And then they and then they finally they might even come and confess and say hey I did this it was wrong
I'm, sorry. I just want to let you know
I'm not saying there shouldn't be some punishment, but maybe we would lighten up a little bit
Or maybe we would show mercy in instance like that
You know what? We would do that for them. Why why wouldn't god do that for us? Are we better than him?
Of course not, you know if we're evil
We know how to get good gifts unto our children how much more so our heavenly father give
The holy ghost some of them then ask him
You know, we're not going to give to our children if they ask us an egg, you know, give them
I don't know the I know i'm paraphrasing give them a stone or a serpent if they ask bread
We're going to give them what they want because they need it because we love them
Look, god loves every one of us
And god can be persuaded
The problem is is that a lot of times we don't want to take the time to persuade god
We don't want to take the time to pray and ask god to help and ask god to move because that would involve praying
That would involve actually being a spiritual person and actually having some faith and putting it to practice
But we should never assume that god is through with us even though what god is what immutable
Unchangeable, but that only applies to his nature and his attributes
And that that is something that actually, you know helps us
To change god's mind because god, you know
He's always open and to to being persuaded and is open always open to giving mercy and giving grace
Never assume god go back to hebrews chapter four. I know I had you there
You know what? I've already quoted several times
You don't have to go there
But look we should never think that god is is through with us
You know what? We should never just assume god is through with other people
I mean, we'll we'll give ourselves second third fifth six chances all day long
Won't we we're pretty gracious and merciful when it comes to ourselves?
But a lot one thing I notice a lot of times is people they won't budge a bit for other people
They make one little mistake. It's like
reprobate
God's done with them
Oh, that's it. They're just like, oh man. I saw him
You know
He was I saw him at the gas station and he was buying a pack of cigarettes and like i'm just waiting for
I thought the car wasn't gonna explode
When he went started up I thought for sure that you know god was gonna
You know, I just sat back and i'm just waiting for for him to get run over, you know
I'm just waiting for god's judgment to just come into his life
You know
I heard a brother say a cuss word the other day. I I any day now god's just gonna
His his tongue's gonna rot in his mouth and just fall right out
right
Because we just that's something that people don't i'm not saying everyone's like this, but there's people out there like this
It's just somebody does something wrong. Somebody crosses them
There's just something they don't like or they see some brother sister sin. It's just like well, they're done
It's like well, why don't well, how about this if god can be persuaded and you think judgment is going to come down on this
Brother or sister? Why don't you go avail yourself to god on their behalf?
That's what a loving person would do if they saw some brother or sister struggling in some area
They would go well, you know, I could persuade god. Let me go on their behalf and say lord
Please so show mercy to so-and-so
Help them, you know
You know work in their life and be gracious to them and patient
That you know
That would be the the loving thing to do to show mercy
you know that is the attitude we should have because of the fact that you know,
He's merciful unto the merciful
Because there's going to come a time where you know, we might need that mercy
And we're going to go to god and say god be merciful to me. He's going to go. Well, I remember that one time
You know that that brother and sister down there that you had in christ
And they messed up and that you didn't have that attitude
You're coming to me and asking me to have an attitude towards you that you don't show to other people
He might just say well, let's let's take your route. Let's just be
cold and
And harsh and short and not merciful and see how you like it
So look god is unchangeable and praise god for that. We don't have to sit here and wonder what we're going to believe tomorrow
And we have we have a word that is set in stone
And and one of the things that it tells us one of those things that are just unchangeable
Is the fact that god can be persuaded by man
Even a wicked man like ahab can get a little mercy
Just a little but he can get it right how much more so a child of god
Can go to god and find mercy and grace and help in time of need. Let's go ahead and pray