When Pastor Nate assigned me to preach on the topical sermon, I thought it would make perfect sense to speak on the character of God, and more specifically, His immutability. Let's pray real quick. Heavenly Father, we come before You. We thank You, Lord, for Your goodness, Your loving kindness. We thank you, Father, for your word, and we ask you to be with us, be with the listener, be with me, Father, give me clarity, and help us to reflect your immutability through our service and the way we live. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Well, we were created for the glory of God, Everything that he has created has created it for his glory and to display his glory. From eternity to eternity, God has always willed, he has always planned, he has so many events that he wants to bring to pass to show his glory. And through those events and through that showing of His glory, He is showing His character. And one thing that we have to keep in mind is that He is always the first cause of everything. As we live as His creatures, we are to reflect that glory back to Him. How? In the way we live. The way we perform our work for the Lord, that has to be a reflection of our faith and our most intimate conviction. If by our way of living, if our way of working for the Lord is not demonstrating that, we should reconsider the way that we understand God. In Moses' case, and we'll see Exodus 3.14, he was appointed by God to free God's people from the bondage of the Egyptians. We see that he needed to know God's character first before he was able to perform his task. So this morning, I'm gonna speak on how to reflect God's immutability through our service. That's the title of my sermon. So now, what we mean when we speak about God's immutability or unchangeableness? First, let me tell you what immutability is not. It doesn't mean that God is inactive or paralyzed. It doesn't mean immobility or that He is static. We see Him working in the Bible and doing mighty things. But the term immutability is stated in negative terms. That means, it uses the prefix in, and means that God is unchanging. He is what He is, always and forever. But now, the immutability of God is a perfection. It's a glory belonging to all the perfection of God. All the attributes of God are immutable. And the Bible teaches us that God is immutable in His person, His essence, His perfections, His purposes, and His promises. Now, we should ask ourselves why this doctrine is so important to us. Well, when it comes to God's immutability, we enter the very sacred ground of His character. It's like we have to remove our sandals off, too. Knowing God's character, His attributes, and His perfections enable us to understand what He does how he does it, when he does it, and even where he does it, because God always acts according to his character. He always acts based on his character. So having the right understanding of who God is tantamount to a high view of God. And when we have a high view of God, we are ready to become effective agents, valuable soldiers for His army, people who is concerned about God's glory. And I was setting the stage, actually I was setting the mark right there for you, the target, because we're gonna do a lot of shooting this morning. Having a right understanding of God help us to all that. And as I approach these topics in immutability, I am convinced that if we learn it and we take it to our heart, this is gonna impact the way that we live and the way that we do ministry. So I'm gonna show you four ways in which having a right understanding of the character of God, more specifically His immutability, will help us to be more efficient and more effective in what we do. Understanding God's immutability will help you to keep a steady and sound doctrinal position, will help you to aim your efforts rightly, It'll help you to exercise patience when under pressure, and also will help you to be faithfully obedient in the execution. I hope you have those points in the bulletin. While it's true that I can use any passages, I mean many passages of the Bible to speak on this topic, I would like to kind of like launch off from Exodus 3.14. Why? Because right there God is commissioning Moses with the liberation of the people of Israel. So let's read that real quick. God said to Moses, I am who I am. And he said, that you shall say to the Son of Israel, I am has sent me to you." Before going to the fourth point of my message, let me first establish why Moses desperately needed to know and understand God's immutability and trust God's immutability. He will need to trust a God who never changes when tried by the ever-changing Israelite. Can you imagine, put yourself right there, can you imagine how it felt like dealing with two millions whining Hebrews, complaining all the time? One day they were okay with Moses, next day they'll turn around and try to stone him. To deal with such changeable people, you need to trust a God who doesn't change. Now, Moses needed to trust God also when facing the most powerful man on earth, Pharaoh, who also loves changing daily. One day, he was letting the Israelites go. Next day, he has changed his mind in resistance. So you have to trust an immutable God if you want to succeed against a very powerful and ever-changing enemy. And what about Moses' own weakness? What about his inabilities? He needed to trust an unchangeable God in order to overcome his own infirmities. his own flaws, because this young lad, Moses, was 80 years old. That's a nice age for God to call you into ministry, isn't it? So God appointed Moses, emphasizing God's mighty, unchangeable, immutable perfection in contrast to the feeble, unchangeable, limited nature of Moses. God wasn't dependent upon Moses. He wasn't dependent on Moses' abilities or strength. He was sending Moses with the highest letter of recommendation that a man can hold to, to be sent by God. And the presentation card that God gave to Moses for this pagan society and even for his people was, I am who I am. Speaking of his eternity, speaking of his sovereignty, independence, and immutability. You know why? Because the challenge was not a big problem for Moses. The problem was not the problem itself. The problem was if Moses had the right view of God. Does the same apply to us? So, what kind of spiritual weapon does Moses need? What do you think? What will cause Moses to be victorious? And that's when the shooting starts. As a private soldier in boot camp, he needed training to learn the basics. And this starts from knowing who God is. And one of the things that he learned from God is that God is immutable. God is unchangeable. As A.W. Tozer, Put it, what comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. And in this Bible account that we want to see, Moses is learning more about God than the mere fact that God was the God of his fathers. He's arming himself with a powerful truth. a powerful revelation from God himself to help him succeed in his God-given task and shoot to the glory of God. And because Moses' spiritual, actually, weapons were spiritual, he needed to learn how to use it. He needed to become a skillful marksman, an accomplished shooter for God's glory and the success of his mission. And I'm going to be using this marksmanship analogy. We all know that effective soldiers carry weapons. It's being said that a good soldier must understand and master and apply four fundamentals when it comes to shooting, if he wants to shoot precisely. There are four marks of marksmanship that any skillful soldier must know and master. And these are steady position, aiming, breath control, and trigger squeeze. Those four things. The soldier must understand and apply the four key fundamentals before he even approaches the firing line. He must establish a steady position He must aim the rifle at the target, aligning the right system, and fire the rifle without disturbing the rifle with an improper breathing or during trigger squeeze. I think we all agree on that. And I'm going to use this marksmanship analogy as I explain my fourth point to show you how important it is that we might apply the same principles in our service, in our spiritual life as well, as Moses did, so we can reflect God's immutability through our service. And this is my first point, keeping a steady and sound doctrinal position. In order to reflect God's immutability through our service, we need to keep a solid and steady position, doctrine speaking. Starting our first point, we see that God revealed to Moses his name, his nature, and based on this revelation, God will ask Moses to perform. The performance and efficacy of our ministry is intrinsically connected with the way that we see God, the way that we understand God. And God revealed himself to Moses as, I am who I am. Now, what do we find behind this God self-designation? Well, this is the name by which God is distinguishing himself from all the creatures. And this description being in the present tense shows that he doesn't know past or present or future. So, by the use of the first I Am, God is teaching Moses about his eternity and his independence. Moses needed to have the right perspective on the events that God is about to bring to pass, events that God has planned and willed since the eternity. In order to what? In order to display His glory. God exists by virtue of His very nature. He has existed since eternity, and He has existed in a perfect state, a perfect state of bliss. He is blessed. He is happy. He is content. He has enjoyed love between all the members of the Trinity for eternity. And He didn't need anything in order to be completed. But He always, since eternity, will those events, and for what? Because he wants to show his glory. He wants to show his character. Now, think about this. Time didn't exist, and no other being existed. Nobody was around God to force him to do anything. So he did not under compulsion But out of His own pleasure, everything He has willed, has done it sovereignly and by His own will. So what we learn from this, Why? God can do anything without hesitation nor impediment because God is the only being who has really and truly free, he is free to make free decisions. He is the only being that can make free decisions. So God is helping Moses to see the mark, to look at the target without a blurry view of God. He is affirming Moses in what his goal should always be. And the goal in that mark from Moses and ourself is the glory of God. So God is training Moses to adopt that steady position that we are talking about here in our first point. But this revelation of God gets even better because God uses a second iam. clearly stating that Jehovah God, He won't change in His sovereign plans of manifesting His glory, neither has He changed a bit in His approach to dealing with men. And what I mean by that is the glory will be only for Him, and He will accomplish His purposes, goals, and bring about the decrees that He has willed forever in eternity past. Isaiah 42, 8 tells us, I am the Lord, that is my name. I will not give my glory to another. So this is the truth that lies behind the I am who I am. And for Moses to be able to keep that steady position He needs to know that, as we need to know four things that I'm going to show you that the Bible teaches about God. God is unchanging in His person, in His perfection, His purposes, and His promises. Let's look at the first one. God is immutable in His person. Think about this. If God's essence were immutable, God will not truly be God. If his essence were mutable, that means that he can either increase or decrease. If he increases, that means that the former state that he was in was not perfect. Hence, he's not God. He wasn't perfect. He's not God. And if he decreases, that tells you right there that he's not God. He's not perfect. So we have to keep that in mind. But because the person of God doesn't change, he always shows patience, long-suffering, mercy, As Malachi 3, 6 tells us, The second thing that we want to know about God is that God is immutable in His perfections. And the Apostle James was confident that everything that comes from God is good. Because God is good and he never changes. So anything that he gave us at any time, it doesn't matter what it is. It's always good. James 117, every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of light, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. Now, a third thing that we need to learn about God is God is immutable in His purposes. And think of this, God is immutable in His knowledge. And because God has known everything that he knows from eternity, that tells you that his knowledge can be trusted. And his purposes that are based on his knowledge can be trusted also. Let's read Psalm 30 through 11. The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of his heart from generation to generation. And what about Matthew 13, 35? This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet. I will open my mouth in parables. I will utter things hidden since the foundation of the world. Ephesians 1, 4. Just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we will be holy and blameless before him in love. And I'm showing you that in order to reflect God's immutability through our service in our first point, we are learning to keep that steady and sound doctrinal position, and we are learning that right here. One of the things that we need to keep is that God is immutable in His purposes. And I invite you to go to Isaiah 46, 9 to 11. That's a passage that I love. Isaiah 46, 9-11, to show you that God is unchangeable in His purposes. Remember the former things long past. For I am God, and there is no other. I am God, and there is no one like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things which have not been done, saying, my purpose will be established, and I will accomplish my good pleasure, calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of my purpose from a far country, Truly, I have spoken. Truly, I will bring it to pass. I have planned it. Surely, I will do it. No doubt, he is immutable in his purposes. Now, the fourth thing that we need to learn about God is that God is immutable in his promises. Numbers 23, 19, and the first point is the one that we are going to labor the most. God is not a man that he should lie, nor a son of man that he should repent. Has he said and will he not do it? Or has he spoken and will he not make it good? And what about 1 Samuel 15, 29? Also, the glory of Israel will not lie or change his mind, for he is not a man that he should change his mind." It gets very clear by reading the Word of God that our God doesn't change. He is immutable. That's why the revelation from God to Moses, as I am who I am, was vital, vital for him, for Moses, to accomplish God's given task. because shifted most aside from himself to God, leaving behind his changeable, limited capacities as a man to focus on a God who never changes, to focus on a God who always kept his promises, his purposes, and his perfections. And the same principle applied to us. So we can leave behind our imperfections, our weakness, doubt, even our change for the bad, and focus in our God who doesn't change. Because we see that He's immutable. We can confidently adopt that steady position and allow ourselves a good view of the target. We are going to have a good observation of the target to the glory of God. So that was the first point. Second point is we are already situated. Now we have to aim our efforts rightly. And that's what I call the biblical side picture. Reflecting God's immutability through our service requires a steady, sound doctrinal position, but a proper aiming as well. We have to aim right, meaning that we need to have that biblical sight picture in order to hit the target. And remember the target, the glory of God. Now, in marksmanship, the second skill that a shooter needs to master is aiming. Alignment of the rifle with the target is critical. A correct sight picture, when you shoot, has the target, the front sight post of the gun, and the rear sight aligned. Those three things have to be aligned if you want to be precise. Now, how does this translate to our analogy? If we want to be precise in our endeavors for the Lord, we need to adjust our view also. We need to strive to have and get that biblical side picture, and this is obtained by looking through the revelation of God, as you look through your gun, through the revelation of God in Scripture. That's going to be our worldview, and holding to a high view of Scripture. in perfect alignment with a high view of God, and with the goal of the glory of God as the overarching goal of what we do. So, there are two ways of aiming, good, bad. I never had a gun in my hand, so I will be very bad. But bad aiming comes with low view of God. When you see God very little, you see a God who is dependent upon yourself, upon the circumstances. Now, a good aiming is having a high view of God. When you see God as independent and you see God as that never-changing God. How we see this in the life of Moses? Well, after receiving God's mandate, Moses did exactly as he was told. It is crystal clear that he had that high view, high respect of the Word of God in spite of his own infirmities and doubts and even fears. And out of obedience and faith in the commandment of God, he left Midian with his whole family and went back to Egypt to perform his task. That is obedience and that is trust in the Word of God. Now, he not only aligned his high view of the Word that God gave him, he also took to his heart the revelation that God gave him through the I am who I am revelation. And we know this because of his blind confidence when he was facing uncertainty. When he was dealing with tense situation and dealing with the Israelite and a resistant pharaoh and the magicians, he believed that God has the right to do what he was trying to do. And he trusted God in those promises, and he kept going. He was very faithful. Now, why? Because he had that in his heart, his high view of God. He saw God as eternal, he saw God as perfect and sovereign and unchangeable in his purposes. So Moses perfectly aligned with his actions in obedience and faith, of course, the three items that we were discussing. So he aligned a high view of Scripture, a high view of God, with the glory of God as the overarching goal, the supreme goal of what he was doing. Now let me ask you, well, I think you agree with me that that's how you aim. That's how you do it. That's how you reflect the immutable character of God through what you do. Now, how the mainstream contemporary Christianity is doing? Well, for the most part, they are aiming badly. Many people are working for the law nowadays. Many have their weapons loaded and ready, but their efficacy is very poor. And this remind me the story of the army marksman passing through a small town when he saw evidence of amazing shooting practice on trees, walls, fences, barns. They were there like those wonderful shooting right there, the bull's eyes with the bullet hole right in the middle, everywhere. So he was impressed. So he asked people around for direction to meet this remarkable marksman. Well, the man turned out to be the village clown. Just the same, the army man was determined to meet him, to meet this marksman, until he got the opportunity to talk to him. So he say, This is the most wonderful marksmanship I've ever seen," say the army men. How in the world do you do it? And the men reply, easy as ABC. I shoot first and draw the circle afterwards. So, as funny as it is, a lot of Christians working for the Lord nowadays have the same flippant attitude when it comes to doctrinal accuracy. They just act upon their impulses without any biblical guidance, and then they pretend that the work they're doing will align with the Word of God and the glory of God just because they say so. They don't know, sometimes they don't care about God's glory. They just go around shooting ministry recklessly with no regard for a high view of the Word of God, a high view of Scripture. And you know what? What lies at the root of the problem is that they see a God who is not sovereign. They see a God who changes. They see a God who changes according to the world, according to the new tendency to themselves. The God that they serve is mutable. The God they serve has changed His purposes, His plans, and His promises. And of course, we can agree that they are aiming badly. One of the many ways of aiming bad is when we think that God will change His purposes in order to fulfill our desires. And this transpires through our prayers. When we think that in faith we can ask God to do whatever we want. Or what about when we think that God lives to accomplish our dreams? or that he's our buddy-buddy, you know, always there to reaffirm and encourage my will. Some others hold to faulty form of doctrines, such as open theism, ascribing to the view that God keeps learning new stuff. When in reality God always knew what he knows, always intended to decree what he has decreed, he eternally has willed all that he has brought about. There was no power in God when he was created. There was no power of new knowledge when creating the world. He always had that power, and he always had the intention of creating it. God doesn't learn new stuff. And what about the kenosis theory? The theory that teaches that Christ left aside some of his divine attributes when he took on the form of human flesh. Were that possible? Then he didn't qualify as a savior because at some point he has ceased to be God. And those some, I mean, so many others, but I don't want to go there for time's sake. But many ways in which people is aiming bad. So far, we have seen that in order to reflect God's immutability through our service, we need to keep a steady and sound doctrinal position and aim our efforts rightly. Now we'll see that we need to develop the art of waiting, waiting for the right time to act or shoot. Otherwise, we can ruin our mission. Patience is the preservative of faith, and self-control is the outward manifestation of our doctrinal conviction. So this is my third point. Exercising patience when under pressure. Patience and self-control. Why? Because the way that we, as human limited creatures, Reflect the immutability of God is through the fruit of the Spirit called patience. A solid and biblical ministry is characterized for reflecting God's immutability through our patiently service and endurance. We can say that God's immutability fleshed out through our lives by patient conduct. Because Moses knew that God won't change his mind regarding his plans, Moses strived to present himself faithfully as the instrument that God has chosen to bring about all these events. He stayed put in that position. He held on to that doctrinal conviction that he gained by learning about God's doctrinal, I'm sorry, God's immutability. And also, he aimed to the glory of God, having a high view of God, a high view of scripture, and having the glory of God as a goal. But also, to be effective on all this, he had to exercise patience. And the third fundamental step for a soldier that wants to become a you know, a good shooter, is breathing. After adapting that steady position and aiming right, now he has to make sure that, you know, he is not disturbing the alignment by improper breathing. So he has to have self-control and, in our case, patience. Let me ask you, how many times we have pushed against God's immutable plans because we lack of patience? Since we know that God's immutability provides for certainty, that he will bring to pass all that he has promised, all that he has planned, and all that he has purposed, We should patiently wait when things doesn't look to go the way that God wanted to go. So we can clearly see this in the life of Moses and his ministry. When all the pressure was on his shoulders, when showdown time came, he was always faithful because of his self-control and patience. And there are so many instances where he showed this attribute of patience. Many times, meeting Pharaoh, when dealing with the stubborn Israelites, they murmured and complained against Moses, even to the point that God was trying to, you know, just kill them, wipe them off. And when confronted with serious challenges at the imminent death at the hands of the Egyptian army, he was there, under pressure, knowing that God will keep his promises, his plans, knowing that God is unchangeable. So he was patiently waiting and enduring under the pressure. So Moses' example tells us how to approach our ministry too. we should be practical in the way that we apply what we know about God, because knowing about God's character gets very practical. And that flesh out in the way that we do ministry, the way we live our lives. And always thinking about We serve a God that doesn't change. He doesn't change His person, His perfection, His purposes, His promises, so we can encourage ourselves to be patient, to wait. And you know what? God knows that we can wait because He has provided us with the Holy Spirit. And one of the manifestation of the fruit of the Spirit is patience. Now, we have arrived to our last point, faithful obedience in the execution. Now, as a marksman who wants to become a sharpshooter and in time become an expert shooter, for the glory of God, of course. Now that you see the target clearly, now you see it clearly, it's the glory of God, that's your target. Now that you are aiming rightly, aligning all that you need to align, you see God, you see the scripture with a high view, you see the goal that is the glory of God. Now that you have learned to be patient, well, what is next? Faithful obedience in the execution means action. So just squeeze the trigger. Shoot. Be accurate in the execution. Do you know the soldier has to avoid thinking when the bullet is coming out? Because if he does, he gets in the way. And he is in the way of the alignment. And he's going to miss the target. In the same way, the Christian has to avoid worrying about the outcome of what he's doing, worrying about the outcome of his service. If he does, he gets in the middle too, and this too can ruin or hinder our mission. He has to obey and serve, leaving the rest to God. What I'm saying, leaving it all to God. Now, what does this mean to us? what we have learned from knowing about God's immutability. I think it's clear. Let's keep steady and sound, firm in your doctrinal position, know your God, do whatever you do for the glory of God, have a high view of Scripture, a high view of God, shoot to the glory of God, be patient, endure the sufferings, the trials, and then execute, not thinking about the outcome. When we do this, We are doctrinally sounded and established, and we can aim to the praise of God. Now, why? We know that our uncertainties and hardship will come our way. But when we have this attitude, because we understand that God is immutable, we are going to endure, and we are going to be efficient and precise in our endeavor. For we are His workmanship. created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand before the foundation of the world, so that we will walk in them. Actually, I paraphrase that. It's Ephesians 2.10. To finish, because we understand that God hasn't changed we can join the elite of Moses, Paul, and many others who work hard to proclaim and manifest God's glory. The same gospel that the Apostle Paul preached in the first century is the same message that we need to spread today because the message hasn't changed. And the message hasn't changed because it represents a God who is not only independent, not only sovereign and powerful, eternal, but also immutable. And his message hasn't changed. because his message is the representation of who he is. So as Moses did, let us act obediently and liberate those who are under the bondage of sin by offering them the only way of salvation. The same God that is still saying, I am who I am, is offering his immutable mercy through our service. Christ said, I am the way, the truth, the life. I am the good shepherd. I am divine. Let's proclaim to the lost world that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and forever. And let's pray to God, to the God who doesn't change, to change us. to grow us. He doesn't change, but we need a change. We need to conform ourselves to the image of Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord. And that was 1 Corinthians 15, 58. If you are here without Christ this morning, let me lovingly share with you that you are aiming badly. If you are living for yourself and not for the glory of God, you are about to commit spiritual suicide. But the good news are that the message of the gospel hasn't changed. Because our God hasn't changed. And the message of the Gospel is this. We all have sinned. We all have fallen short of the glory of God. And we need to repent from our sins. Put our trust in Christ Jesus, who is the same today and always, and receive the forgiveness for your sins. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you so much for this opportunity and for your Word that is so clear that you don't change, Father. That our Lord Jesus Christ hasn't changed and won't change. Your purposes, your plans, your perfections, your very essence, Father, won't change. Help us to sink that in our heart, to translate that to the way that we live so we can reflect your immutability through our service, through the way that we live, through the way that we conduct ourselves, and through the way that we serve you. In Jesus' name, amen.