Have you ever made a promise that you failed to keep?  How often do you listen to the concerns of a friend from church and commit to pray for them, only to forget and fail to keep your commitment?  If you've been there, fear not, you're not alone.  In fact, I suspect I am safe in saying that everyone, as one point or another, has failed in this area.  Despite even our best intentions, we as human beings are often far from reliable.  We've all let down and been let down by others.  It's a normal part of life.

Often, these experiences can have a lasting impact on our lives.  Perhaps the person who let you down was a loved one...maybe a parent, close friend, or even a spouse.  When we are wounded by those we trust the most, lasting scars can form that we carry with us for many years to come.  At the same time, we likely carry that baggage with us into future relationships and transpose one person's shortcomings upon another.  In the long run, we fail to believe that anyone can live up to their promises...even God.

For this reason, scriptures like we find here in Hebrews chapter 6 are so necessary and edifying in the lives of believers.  You see, despite even the most traumatic and painful experiences, we can continue to trust in God's goodness and faithfulness towards us.  When everyone and everything around us proves to be untrustworthy, we must find the grace to find hope and lean into and count on God.

But how do we know we can count on God?  What makes him different from everyone else?  How can we know that his promises will ring true?  These are important questions and they are ones that God has, time and time again, spoken to through the scriptures.

One of the key attributes of God that we see illuminated in his word is his divine immutability.  This is a big word that simply means, God doesn't change.  We see God himself declare this explicitly in Malachi 3:6: "For I the Lord do not change."  Likewise, the author of Hebrews picks up this same theme when he writes of Jesus in 13:8, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever."

The fact that God is immutable doesn't simply speak to his character, but also to his will.  That is to say, God's essence, nature, and character don't change, but the same is true of his mind.  This means that everything that happens, has happened, or will ever happen, comes to past by the good and perfect design of God.  Unlike you and I, who often struggle with indecision, lack of conviction, and doubt, God's will is steadfast and resolute.  He doesn't make mistakes, he doesn't second guess himself, and he never changes course.

Of course, the astute Bible reader will direct me to key passages in scripture where we see examples of God "changing his mind" and poke holes in my argument.  Rest assured, I know these passages exist and find no tension between God's immutability and the descriptions in scripture that characterize God as relenting or changing his course of action.

First, we need to understand that God's word communicates to us in ways that our finite minds can understand.  For this reason, the Biblical authors often use anthropomorphic language (that is words and phrases that are true descriptions of human beings) to describe God.  But we know that God is not human.  He is a spiritual being and free from the shackles of human nature, such as finitude and mortality.  In some cases, the Bible describes or attributes actions to God in such a way that they are related to our human experience to grant us a greater ability to understand.

This argument is often viewed as a "cop-out" and fails to satisfy the skeptic though, so allow me to also present another valid explanation by way of an illustration.  Recently there was a viral video "challenge" that swept social media by storm.  It was the Candy Challenge, in which parents would present young children with some form of appealing treat (usually candy) and then tell them to not eat it while they left the room for a period of time.  The challenge of course was to see if the child would obey.

In reality though, the parent's intention was always to allow the child to have the candy.  If the child obeys, the parent rewards the child by allowing them to have it.  But even if the child doesn't obey, they get the candy (after all the parent can't get it back once it is eaten).  So, in both instances, the parent's ultimate purpose is fulfilled either through the child's obedience or disobedience.  If the parent truly didn't want the child to have the treat, they would have never presented it as a viable option to them, unless they were simply just being cruel.

Of course the analogy breaks down a bit when we are talking about God, but the point is simple nonetheless.  God uses means (sometimes extraordinary ones) to bring about his redemptive purposes.  He uses the obedience and even sometimes the disobedience of his creatures to accomplish his sovereign will.  In both cases, the moral onus falls on man, but the ultimate outcome belongs to God.  So, to say in a particular instance that God changed his mind, is, while helpful for our limited human understanding, still a bit of a misnomer.  In every instance God is consistent and immutable in accomplishing his good purposes exactly how he had always intended for all of eternity.

God's immutability means that he won't be cast to and fro by the emotions of the moment like you and I.  We change our minds, sometimes as often as we change our clothes, because we are completely mutable.  My thoughts, feelings, and emotions drive my actions and they are ever-changing and tempestuous.  I am unreliable because the driving factors that guide my decision making are subject to change in an instant.  This is the plight of the fallen, sinful, self-serving man.  I have failed my friends, failed my loved ones, failed my kids, failed my wife, and failed my God...but he will never fail me.

As he author of Hebrews points out, when God made a promise Abraham (or anyone for that matter), there is no reason to doubt that he will fulfill that promise.  And yet, like Abraham, we are often quick to doubt.  God reaffirmed his promise to Abraham on several occasions and even ratified his covenant in blood (see Genesis 15), but Abraham continued to struggle with fear and doubt.  He even tried to rush the process and provide a solution by his own power in the very next chapter of the narrative.  But despite Abraham's weak faith, God kept his promises.

This is immensely encouraging, because it again reaffirms the truth that God's purposes can't be thwarted even by his disobedient children.  If God needed me, or you, or even Abraham to ultimately accomplish things, we'd all be in big trouble.  Yet, in his wisdom, God has seen fit to use broken vessels to do great things.

Trusting is one of the most difficult things for us as humans to do.  All of our experience tells us not to do it.  And even when we make the conscious choice to do so, we go into it knowing that we are going to get hurt.  On my wedding day, I made promises to wife, before God and family, and she made promises to me.  Of course our intentions were pure...we intended to, from that moment forward, live up to every one of those promises.  The reality is though, I've broken my word to her more times than I would care to admit.  Sure, I may have remained faithful to her physically, but is that really all there is to it.  I have hurt her with my words and actions.  I have let her down and failed to love her well at times.  And she has done the same.  The truth is, I can never be for her what she wants or deserves.  I'm incapable.  I don't have the ability in me.  I am too broken.  It's only by God's grace and our reverence for him that we are held together in an unbreakable bond of marriage.

This same story plays out time and again in various forms.  Some better, many worse.  I count myself lucky.  But what I have learned, in life and from God's word is that if I look to my fellow man for something I can only find in God, I am setting up both myself and others for failure and disappointment.  At the same time, I am encouraged in the scriptures to know that my hope is ultimately rooted in man, but in God.  He will never fail me.  He will never let me down.  I can trust his promises because he has proven time and time and time again to be trustworthy...no matter what.  This is the anchor for my soul.

In Grace,
Chris Morris

If you missed this week's sermon (or just want to listen again), follow the link below to listen. Or subscribe to our podcast in iTunes.

Part 15 - The Anchor

Questions discussed in this sermon:
1.  What's the basis for your assurance as a believer?
2.  What reasons do we have to believe God will fulfill His promises?
3.  How is faith in Jesus an anchor for our souls?


Next week's lesson:  Hebrews 7:1-10

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