A Simple Truth That Can Profoundly Affect Your Daily Life

There is a simple truth in Scripture that once we grasp it, it has the ability to radically change how we live.

In fact, it could be considered the most elementary attribute of God. It is His immutability, His I AMness, His eternal sameness, His forever alwaysness, His unchanging everness.

Or to say it more simply, it is the fact that God does not change … He is always the same.

Listen to and Download the Episode

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Episode 11 Overview

In this episode, you will …

• understand what this simple truth is
  
• know why understanding the fact that God does not change is so important to your Christian walk
  realize how an unchanging God changes the way we read the Bible,
• have relationship with Him, and can increase our faith and trust in Him

Show Notes / Additional Resources

Bible passages mentioned:

Psalm 102:27: You are the same …

Malachi 3:6: For I am the LORD, I do not change …

Exodus 3:14: And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”

The NAME: This NAME was considered to signify God as Eternal and Immutable, who will never be other than the same (The God who IS, who WAS, and who will always BE the same)

Numbers 23:19: 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? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?

Hebrews 11:18: … it is impossible for God to lie …

Psalm 33:11: The counsel [the decisions/plans] of the LORD stands forever, The plans of His heart to all generations.

Psalm 119:89-90: Forever, O LORD, Your word is settled in heaven. Your faithfulness endures to all generations …

Isaiah 40:8: The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever.

James 1:17: [God], with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.

Hebrews 13:8: Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

Revelation 22:13: I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.

See also: Psalm 90:2, 102:25-27; Isaiah 40:28, 44:6; Jeremiah 10:10; 2 Timothy 2:13; Hebrews 6:13-19, 7:24; Revelation 22:13

God is Faithful

• God has been faithful in the past which means He will continue to be faithful into the present and future
• In Hebrew, faith, faithfulness, belief, and truth are all interconnected and come from same root word. Faithfulness conveys the idea of “strengthen,” “support,” or “hold up.” The concept gives the sense of “firmness,” “constancy,” or “trustworthiness” with the notion to firmly support as the bedrock for faith. In other words, to be faithful is to be reliable so as to be depended upon.
• In terms of God, faithfulness declares that His character, nature, and promises are unchanging. They are always the same.

Lamentations 3:21-24: This I recall to my mind, Therefore I have hope. Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I hope in Him!”

Psalm 136: For His mercy endures forever. (can be translated mercy, lovingkindness, faithfulness)

Deuteronomy 7:9: Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments …

Isaiah 49:7: … Because of the Lord who is faithful, The Holy One of Israel; And He has chosen You.

2 Timothy 2:13: [Even] If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself.

1 Thessalonians 5:24: He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.

Hymn: Great Is Thy Faithfulness:
Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father,
There is no shadow of turning with Thee;
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not
As Thou hast been Thou forever wilt be.

God Cannot Lie

Numbers 23:19: God is not a man, that He should lie … Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?

1 Samuel 15:29: And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor relent. For He is not a man, that He should relent.

Titus 1:2: … in hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began …

Hebrews 6:17-18: Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath [promise], that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us.

Christians are to be constant, consistant, “always” people

We set the LORD always before us: and because He is at our right hand, we shall not be moved (Psalm 16:8). We ought always to pray (Luke 18:1), and without ceasing make mention of others always in our prayers (Romans 1:9). We thank our God always (1 Corinthians 1:4), always abounding in the work of the Lord (1 Corinthians 15:58), for He always causes us to triumph in Christ (2 Corinthians 2:14). We are always bearing about in our bodies the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body (2 Corinthians 4:10). We are always confident (2 Corinthians 5:6), and due to His abounding grace, we always have all sufficiency in all things in order to abound to every good work (2 Corinthians 9:8). We are giving thanks always for all things (Ephesians 5:20), and always making our requests with joy (Philippians 1:4). And we are always magnifying Christ in our bodies, whether it be by life, or by death (Philippians 1:20).  We are always obeying (Philippians 2:12). We are rejoicing in the Lord always (Philippians 4:4), praying always (Colossians 1:3), and our speech is always with grace, seasoned with salt (Colossians 4:6). We are always laboring fervently for others in prayer (Colossians 4:12) and giving thanks to God always for others (1 Thessalonians 1:2).  We always follow that which is good (1 Thessalonians 5:15) and we rejoice always (1 Thessalonians 5:16). We are bound to thank God always for our brothers and sisters in Christ and we pray always (2 Thessalonians 1:3,11; 2 Thessalonians 2:13), making mention of others always in our prayers (Philemon 1:4).

Other resources …

• Eric Ludy’s podcast episode on the powerful truth that “God Cannot Lie”

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Question: What is one practical thing in your life that would change in realizing this simple truth that God cannot change?

Leave a response or ask a question and we will try to address it in a future episode.

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About NRJohnson & the Deeper Christian Podcast

NRJohnson (Nathan Johnson) is a Christian who has an overwhelming passion for Jesus, the Gospel, and Studying God’s Word. He is a writer, teacher, and communicator who helps other believers understand and apply the Bible as they grow and mature in their faith—desiring that they gain greater intimacy with Christ, experience the victorious Christian life, and transform the world through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit. Read more about him here.

The Deeper Christian Podcast is the podcast to help you study God’s Word, know Jesus intimately, and discover how you can build your life around Jesus Christ. This weekly audio program, hosted by NRJohnson, dives into Scripture and encourages Christians to keep their focus upon Jesus Christ—equipping believers in how to study the Bible and know God’s Word, grow in their spiritual lives, and change the world. Main discussion topics center around practical advice on Christian living, Bible study, prayer, the Gospel, freedom from sin, evangelism and how to share your faith, the Christian disciplines, and the lives and messages from the Christian heroes from yesteryear such as A.W. Tozer, Charles Spurgeon, Major Ian Thomas, Oswald Chambers, Hudson Taylor, Amy Carmichael, Corrie Ten Boom, C.T. Studd, George Müller, Andrew Murray, Leonard Ravenhill, E.M. Bounds, and others. Learn more about the deeper Christian life.