God Does Not Change

For the Reader: When I share what the Lord teaches me each day from my time with him in his word, if the Scripture comes from the Old Testament, I will endeavor always, in the strength of the Lord, to teach it in light of the New Covenant, so that I am always sharing New Covenant truths.

 

Malachi 3:6-12 ESV

 

“For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed. From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. But you say, ‘How shall we return?’ Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions. You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.”

 

God is Always the Same

 

God does not change “like shifting shadows” (James 1:17). “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Heb 13:8). And Jesus Christ is God, the second person of our triune God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit (John 1). So, God’s divine character and his will for us has not changed.

 

God is fully righteous and holy. So, when God the Father sent Jesus Christ, God the Son, to die on a cross for our sins, it was not so that we could keep on sinning, only now without guilt or punishment. It was so that we would die with him to sin and live to him and to his righteousness (1 Pet 2:24).

 

God is going to judge us by what we do, not by what we profess with our lips. “Saying” and “doing” are two different things. We can say we love God but if we don’t honor him by submitting to his Lordship over our lives, and if we don’t walk in obedience to his commands (New Covenant), we don’t know him, and we lie if we say we do (1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 1:5-9; Gal 6:7-8).

 

You’ve Turned Aside

 

And this is exactly where the bulk of the church is today, at least here in America. They have turned aside from the Lord’s moral standards and from his commands (New Covenant), and they have not kept them. Instead, many are teaching that we don’t have to submit to God or obey or repent.

 

And they are robbing God today, too, only the tithe is not what they are robbing from him. For, the Old Covenant tithe is not required like it was then. But giving freely from the heart is strongly encouraged. And much of what is being tithed today is going to things God wouldn’t approve of.

 

So, what are many professing Christians robbing God of today? Honor, praise, reverence, respect, submission and obedience. They are robbing him of their hearts’ devotion to him. They are not surrendering their lives to him, they are not dying to sin, and they are not following him in obedience.

 

So, the Lord is saying to his people today who have turned aside from his commands, “Return to me and I will return to you.” And he is saying, “Fully surrender to me. Make me Lord (owner-master) of your lives. Leave your lives of sin behind you and follow me in obedience to my ways.”

 

And he will pour out his blessings upon us, not necessarily physically or materially, but spiritually. We will be forgiven our sins, and we will have fellowship with our Lord, and he will guide us in the way that we should go, and he will help us and comfort us, and we will have eternal life.

 

[Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 6:44; Jn 14:23-24; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Co 6:9-10, 19-20; 2 Co 5:10, 15, 21; Gal 5:16-21; Eph 5:3-6; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 2:6-8]

 

Malachi 3:13-15 ESV

 

“Your words have been hard against me, says the Lord. But you say, ‘How have we spoken against you?’ You have said, ‘It is vain to serve God. What is the profit of our keeping his charge or of walking as in mourning before the Lord of hosts? And now we call the arrogant blessed. Evildoers not only prosper but they put God to the test and they escape.’”

 

Speaking Against God

 

The same is being said and taught in today’s modern market-driven churches, for they are marketing the church to the world. So, they have altered the gatherings of the church and the gospel message to make them more attractive and appealing to the people of the world.

 

So, they are indeed speaking against God’s words because they are speaking against his gospel message and they are calling it “works-based” and “Lordship” salvation. And this is based on a lie and based on Scriptures which have been taken out of context and misconstrued.

 

And they are speaking against serving God, for they are speaking against making him Lord of their lives, and against repentance, and against obedience to his commands. So, they are calling good “evil,” and they are calling evil “good.”

 

But Jesus Christ died on that cross so that we would be crucified with him in death to sin and so that we would walk in newness of life in him, “created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” And his grace trains us to say “No!” to ungodliness and fleshly lusts and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives while we wait for his return (Tit 2:11-14; Eph 4:17-24).

 

Malachi 3:16-18 ESV

 

“Then those who feared the Lord spoke with one another. The Lord paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the Lord and esteemed his name. ‘They shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him. Then once more you shall see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him.’”

 

Those Who Feared the Lord

 

Amen! I like happy endings, don’t you? I enjoy it when we can end on a positive note and not on a negative one. There were those who listened to the Lord and who feared (honored, respected) him. They took his words to heart and they did what he said.

 

And the Lord said that those who feared him, who esteemed him, were to be His. They would be spared eternal damnation. And through this he taught a lesson about who are the righteous and who are the wicked. Those who are righteous are those who serve God with their lives. Those who are wicked will not serve God with their lives, but they will serve themselves.

 

And this isn’t just Old Covenant teaching. This is New Covenant teaching, too. Those who practice righteousness are those who are righteous (1 John 3:7). Those who obey the Lord and who walk in his ways and who abide in him and in his word and who do not live according to the flesh are the righteous. And they will be blessed with eternal life with God.

 

[Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 6:44; Jn 14:23-24; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Co 6:9-10, 19-20; 2 Co 5:10, 15, 21; Gal 5:16-21; Eph 5:3-6; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 2:6-8]