WHAT IS UNCHANGEABLE

Paul Martin

Psalm 71: 1-3; Matthew 16: 13-18; 1 John 3: 7-12

I desire to say a word as to what is unchangeable. We are in a world where everything is changing, as one writer could say, ‘Change and decay in all around I see.’ How true it is! The believer has a wonderful resource as he knows One who is unchangeable, not only unchanging. It would be sufficient confirmation if God was unchanging, but He is unchangeable. You get a reference in Hebrews to the “unchangeableness of his purpose” (chap 6: 17), and the unchangeableness of Himself. It is impossible for God to change. He does not need to. He is God. He is greater than every circumstance. That is a comfort in the circumstances through which we pass, that God is greater than them all. He orders and allows things to bring out the unchangeableness of His Person. We could go through the history of His ways with man, if we were able, and see how unchangeable God has been. He has not thwarted by what the devil has done. He has not had to change His ways or His purpose. His purpose is unchangeable. He has continued with His purpose. How great God is! What feelings have entered into His dealings with men in order that He might continue with what could not be changed. He says as to Israel at one time: “I have nourished and brought up children; and they have rebelled against me”, Isa 1: 2. Think of God bringing up children! A good many here know what it is like to bring up children, but God brought up children and they rebelled against Him. Did He change? He could not. He was unchangeable. In the bringing up of our children we are to learn from God. The farmer learns from God. It says He taught the plougher (See Isa 28: 26): he learns from God. He has not changed His ways in ploughing. You say, farming is different today. But God has not changed His ways in ploughing. He turns over the ground just the same. We may be passing through a difficult time, but God is turning the ground over. He has not changed His farming. He cannot change.

We might just look at that in Hebrews, because it is important. It says, “Wherein God, willing to shew more abundantly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of his purpose, intervened by an oath, that by two unchangeable things, in which is was impossible that God should lie, we might have strong encouragement …”, Heb 6: 17,18. Think of God intervening by an oath to bring you and me the assurance of the unchangeableness of His purpose! When He swore to Abraham, He swore by Himself; there was nothing else that was unchangeable. In what God was about to do to Abraham, taking him out from a world of cities, setting him in a tent, God was showing to that man that there was what was outside this scene that could never, ever, change because it had its source in God. Oh, dear brethren, we are passing through circumstances in the world and even among ourselves where there is much that is changing, but there is what is unchanging and could not change because it has its source in God. If God changed, dear brother and sister, the cause of His changing would be greater than God. It could not be. He says, “For I Jehovah change not, and ye, sons of Jacob, are not consumed”, Mal 3: 6. What He does, it says, “it shall be for ever; there is nothing to be added to it, nor anything to be taken from it; and God doeth it, that men should fear before him”, Eccl 3: 14. Oh it is a wonderful thing to come to an appreciation of the fear of God in a right sense because God is carrying through in His purpose what is unchangeable!

John wrote from the enjoyment of being in the bosom of Jesus and he begins his gospel with what was in the beginning that had not changed; he begins his epistle with what came into expression and it had not changed. John relies on the One from whom every resource was available to sustain him, even at his darkest hour. In the book of Revelation, the Lord shows to him the history of the church. There must have been moments when John’s heart must have been thrilled with what would yet come in, in the history of the church, Philadelphian love - think of John looking at that as the Lord spoke to him! And then afterwards the Lord has to tell him about Laodicea and He Himself was outside. The whole public profession was lying in lukewarmness, in indifference to Christ, but immediately, it says, “a door opened in heaven”. There was a throne, unchangeable, and there was the rainbow around the throne, unchangeable; there were the elders falling down to do homage, the One sitting upon the throne worthy of it all and He was unchangeable. In the light of the utter ruin and breakdown of the church publicly, John has a view of what would never change and he has it in the One who is sitting upon the throne. We need that, dear brethren. We tend to look so much at the breakdown, at the departure: we feel it and we carry it. Let us carry it before God, as has been said, as ‘broken-hearted churchmen’, carrying before God the shame of the breakdown, the shame of the departure, but let us keep our eye also on what is unchangeable, that God Himself is carrying through the unchangeableness of His purpose and He will not alter it. He does not need to alter it; He has it already; it is established. If God says that He is going to do something, it is done. The One who inhabits eternity has operated in time to give effect to His purpose.

I have read in these passages because we are to prove something ourselves of that unchangeableness, the stability that comes into the believer’s soul through his dependence on the One who is unchangeable. The Psalmist here says, “Deliver me in thy righteousness, and rescue me; incline thine ear unto me, and save me”. He was passing through a difficult time. Who of us is not passing through circumstances that at times we would not have chosen? He says, “rescue me … save me. Be to me a rock of habitation”. There is only one source of stability at the present moment as there as been through all God’s dealings with men, and that rests in God Himself. He says, “Be to me a rock of habitation”. Where am I living? Where are you living? You say, Well, you ought to know; you live in Colchester. But where am I living morally? “Be to me a rock of habitation, whereunto I may continually resort”. There is One to whom we can resort and find nothing has changed, who has not been affected by breakdown.

Young people, and those of us who are perhaps not so young, let us develop in our knowledge of and links with God in this respect! It is not only a place to flee to when there is trouble, but a place to come from, to move out in testimony, to move out amongst the saints, a resource, yes, but a place of habitation. “Be unto me rock of habitation”. You say everything is falling to pieces; even amongst the saints there is breakdown. Are you surprised? We should not be surprised. We are saddened by it, but let us not be surprised! Stability is in God Himself alone. We shall come to it in a minute: there is stability in the assembly and stability in the work of God, but there is not stability in man. In our responsibility, our only resource is in God Himself - “Be unto me a rock of habitation, whereunto I may continually resort”.

“Continually resort”: I am searched by this, dear brethren, because how much time do I spend in the divine presence? The Lord Jesus, the great model for us, spent hours, nights, in prayer. Think of the wonder of that perfect relationship between Himself and His Father. At one point He says, “I knew that you always hearest me; but on account of the crowd who stand around I have said it”, John 11: 42. Think of the perfection of His relationship with His Father, moving here as a dependent Man, in Himself the Creator of the universe, but moving here as a dependent Man, counting on the Father. He says, “The Lord Jehovah hath given me the tongue of the instructed, that I should know how to succour by a word him that is weary. He wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the instructed”, Isa 50: 4. You marvel; you can only worship in the presence of One Himself, so perfect and yet dependent on the Father, even to give a word to one that was weary. What a perfect example for us! He lived in the enjoyment of His relationship with the Father. He said, “… ye shall be scattered, each to his own, and shall leave me alone; and yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me”, John 16: 32. Think of the secret enjoyment of that relationship which the Lord Jesus had as Man. How He valued those years in manhood here as the dependent Man! The Psalm says, “I said, My God, take me not away in the midst of my days!”, Ps 102: 24. He enjoyed those years, found pleasure in circumstances He had never been accustomed to, found pleasure in depending on the Father and in communing with the Father. How perfect a model we have! You can understand the Psalmist here saying, “Be to me a rock of habitation”. Let me prove the unshakeableness of what there is in divine Persons!

He says, “Be to me a rock of habitation, whereunto I may continually resort: thou hast given commandment to save me; for thou art my rock and my fortress”. I would like to ask my younger brethren, and myself, where is your strength today? Where is your stability? Where does it lie? It does not lie only in the company. I could be present in the company and not be enjoying, not having a part, in what God is doing in the company. I could be present and be completely unrelated to what God is doing in the company. If God is not my strength and my rock, I will not be conscious of what He is doing in stability among His saints. Dear brethren, let us be strengthened in our individual links with God Himself and prove that what He is set to carry through, He will assuredly do! He will not turn aside. He does not need to. He has everything established already in Christ. It is there. He will never need to turn aside. May we fix our eyes upon the Man in whom everything is centred for God’s pleasure!

In Matthew 16 the Lord Jesus is speaking of the assembly. He says, “on this rock I will build my assembly”. You say, that was in the Lord’s time; it was seen in the apostles’ time; but it is not seen today. Is it not? Divine Persons have not changed their thoughts as to the assembly. The present activity of Christ has not ceased in relation to the assembly. The presence here of the Spirit has not been taken away. The assembly is here. Can we locate it? We can locate the qualities of it, the features of it, that are seen here in testimony. They can be seen. The most wonderful thing that divine Persons have formed is the assembly. Is it just a few brethren? No, it is not! I would say to each of us, Ask the Spirit of God to give you a view of what the assembly really is, apart from the breakdown. He will do it. He will open on to your view the glory of this vessel against which hades’ gates could not prevail. They have tried. The enemy has been set for two thousand years to overthrow the greatest vessel that has been formed in divine ways. He has been set right through the dispensation because he wanted to rob Christ of what was for His own heart, but He has never succeeded. Hades’ gates will not prevail! What assurance it gives in the soul that God’s thoughts as to the assembly will go through! The Dark Ages, was it still there? Yes, it was there, maybe not appreciated, but maintained in souls who were faithful to Christ. It was there. In Philadelphian days, was it there? Yes, you could say there was little question. We come right to the close of the day and we are publicly in Laodicean days. Is it still there? Yes, it is there in its moral character, its features are seen in the overcomer. That is where the expression of it is, but God’s thoughts as to it have never changed. The presence of the Spirit here remains. What is unshakeable, unchangeable, will finally come out in display; not in the circumstances in which it is seen publicly today, in smallness and outward weakness, but as a glorious vessel, a vessel that will shed its benign influence over the whole earth: “And the nations shall walk by its light; and the kings of the earth bring their glory to it”, Rev 21: 24. Think of the greatness of what will come out, the features of it being formed in the present moment in the saint, the one who has made herself ready soon to come out in display. What a vessel!

And you and I, dear brother and sister, have a part in it. It is unchangeable and unshakeable. It is not what men see; it is God’s view of it. “On this rock I will build my assembly, and hades’ gates shall not prevail …” It will go right through and become finally the dwelling-place where God will tabernacle with men. What a wonder! Think of John seeing that right at the close of the Revelation of Jesus Christ. There on his view this wondrous vessel that has been the object of the enemy’s attack but which will become the dwelling-place of God and you and I, I say again, will have our part in it, and we have our part in it today. Today is not the day of display. It is a day for faithfulness, a day for holding fast what we have. The Lord would strengthen us to do it, to “hold fast what you hast, that no one take thy crown”, Rev 3: 11. Let us be exercised that the features of the assembly should be in expression in our local companies in a greater way and that the glory of Christ as the One who is the only object of the assembly should become the sole object to each one of us in our gatherings together. He the wondrous object that will fill the heart of the assembly eternally, her blessed and glorious Head from whom now she is deriving everything. Let Him be the object as we assemble at every occasion! He alone is worthy! The features of the assembly will be maintained as we are drawing in the Spirit’s power from the One who is the Head of it. May we be strengthened in it, but strengthened in the assurance that it will never be shaken: “hades’ gates shall not prevail against it”.

I come now to 1 John because there is what is in the believer that is unshaken. It is a remarkable passage in John’s epistle. It says, just before where we started to read, “Whoever abides in him, does not sin”. “Whoever abides in him”: that places a responsibility on us. But where I read in verse 9: “Whoever has been begotten of God does not practise sin …”. You say that is impossible. Is it? Scripture does not present impossibilities; Scripture presents what exists. It is a great thing to lay hold of that, in reading Scripture, God is speaking to us not just of truth, blessed as that is, but of what exists. “Whoever has been begotten of God does not practise sin, because his seed abides in him, and he cannot sin, because he has been begotten of God”.

I would like to just touch briefly on this because it is important for us. Each one of us who has come into the enjoyment of the forgiveness of our sins, justification, reconciliation, through the “obedience of faith”, as we had earlier, has been begotten of God. When God has begun a work, He has formed a work in us that is of Himself. It does not draw from what we are, nor from the circumstances in which we are. It comes directly from Himself. It is of God. Have you found that work in yourself? You say, I fail often. Even the man that wrote this failed too. But it does not alter the fact that in John, and in each one of us, there is that there that is unable to sin. The work of God is incapable of sin. “Whoever has been begotten of God does not practise sin”.

I touch on this because it brings out the stability of God’s work in the individual. It brings out the necessity of experience with God in each one of us that we might not only recognise what God has done in us which is entirely of Himself, but that we might further it, and in furthering it, we may be conscious of what is of God having the predominance in our own souls. These things are real. I am not speaking of doctrine only; I am seeking to speak of what is real and of what the believer has within himself, what is incorruptible and what is unchangeable. It is of God. He has begun the work. It says, “he who has begun in you a good work will complete it …”, Phil 1: 6. God will do that. But the seed is there and the seed is pure because it is of God. As it is made way for, and the Spirit would help us in the discerning of it and in the strengthening of it. As it is made way for, it will increase. But the seed is there and it is of God.

Now, it manifests itself in many ways. John in these chapters helps us to identify it because there is that in the believer that immediately answers to God, immediately answers to the presentation of what is of God. There is an immediate answer in your own soul, and that is the work of God that has been begotten of God in the believer. Our brother reminded us in the reading of the necessity to have our minds occupied with divine things and the Spirit would help us to keep our minds clear, to keep our “mind on the things that are above …” (Col 3: 2), to exclude things that do not further what has been begotten of God. The Spirit would help us to do that so that what comes into expression may be stable and what is truly representative of God.

That is what is in view. His work will be perfected. That work will be perfected: “he who has begun in you a good work will complete it unto Jesus Christ’s day”. There is no doubt as to that. One might say carefully that God will reach the measure of His work in each one of us according to His own thoughts for us. God will do that. That is God’s side and God will carry through His thoughts. But our responsibility lies in verse 6, “Whoever abides in him, does not sin”. There is an answer to what God has done in the believer that finds its satisfaction and its source in Christ where He is.

I have touched on it briefly and I trust, dear brethren, it may stimulate exercise with myself as well as with us all, that we may locate, and strengthen by the Spirit’s power what is unchangeable in ourselves because it is of God. We have been created, it says in Ephesians 2, “For we are his workmanship”, - God has worked - “having been created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God has before prepared that we should walk in them” (v 10). The character of the work is manifest in the way we walk, in the way that the believer walks. It says again in John, “He that says he abides in him ought, even as He walked, himself also so to walk”, 1 John 2: 6. There, coming into expression, is what is of God in testimony and it is here and it is real and it is unshakeable and it cannot pass away because it is of God.

Young believer, and those of us that are older, just let the truth of it, let the reality of it, rest in your soul, that God has done something. He has operated. He has put in His seed and what He has done cannot ever pass away, cannot change. It remains and cannot be shaken because it is of God. What God does remains. Wonderful stability it brings to the soul because God is unchangeable! He has not only brought into expression what He delights in - He has done that - but He is greater than what He has brought into expression. He is greater than it all and He gives character as the unchangeable One to all that He has done for His own pleasure. May we find our appreciation in it and our stability in God who has done it, for His Name’s sake.

BIRMINGHAM

13 March 1999