Introduction:

Duke University went along with 93 other colleges in demanding that the Methodist church stop believing that homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching. Unreal! We live in a world that is changing all the time. Culture is changing and with our culture we are seeing an alarming trend in religion to change God Words. God according to our culture today is in agreement with alternative lifestyles and has redefined marriage. No longer is it one man and one woman but frankly whatever kind of union you want. There was a day when an unborn child was safe in the womb of one’s mother, not today. Our congress has established laws that violate God’s laws. Our State has established laws that are mortifying.

People believe now that God sanctions the culture of today with abortion, homosexually, pornography, adultery, fornication, and that He sanctions the ordination of homosexual ministers. If true one must come to the conclusion that God is fickle and the attribute of His immutability is erroneous. Our culture and our government’s system of laws contrast with God’s system of moral standards. There was a time when Bible reading and prayer in schools and public places were protected by the law. Not anymore, that has change for the worst. Many Scriptures tell us that God is unchanging. The Bible speaks again and again about this important doctrine; it is called the Immutability of God. In Malachi 3:6 the Lord says, “For I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.” Because of this truth …

I You can Rely on God’s Promises (6:13-18).

1. One example of God always keeping His promises is Abraham. In verse 13 God made many promises to Abraham on various occasions. Here our author refers to God’s promise to Abraham after he began to offer Isaac and was stopped by God (Genesis 22:15-17a). God swore to be true, on his own honor. Because there was no person anywhere greater than God by whom he could swear, so God swore on his own reputation and honor. When people take an oath, they call on someone greater than themselves to hold them to it.

For when God made promise to Abraham (6:13a), there were no attorneys, written contracts, or courts of law. Agreements were made with an oath, or promise. Since He could swear by no greater, God swore by himself (6:13b). He swore to bless Abraham and multiply his descendants (6:14). At the time the promise was given, Abraham and his wife Sarah were not only childless but well past child-bearing age. However, Abraham waited patiently and obtained the promise (6:15). Trust the fact God says something is our greatest guarantee, because He cannot lie (Titus 1:2).

2. God followed this human practice; therefore, when He gave His promise to Abraham, he confirmed it by an oath (6:17). God promised to multiply Abraham’s descendants to be as the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore (Gen. 22:17). This oath showed that God’s promises (like His character) are unchanging. God Words are Immutable like His character.

3. One of the most mysterious and yet theologically significant events is recorded in Genesis 15. In a vision, God told Abram to take a heifer, a goat, a ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon, and cut all except the birds in half. Then he was told to place eat piece opposite the other. “Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, horror and great darkness fell upon him. Then God predicted the 400-year bondage of Abram’s descendants in a foreign land and their return to Canaan at the end of four generations.

And it came to pass, when the sun went down and it was dark, that behold, there was a smoking oven and a burning torch that passed between those pieces. On the day the LORD made [Heb. karat, lit, cut) a covenant with Abram- 15:17, 18).

5. The Hebrew idiom cutting a covenant was based on the custom of cutting up an animal and those who were making the covenant walking between the pieces. In his case, only God (visualized as “a smoking oven and a burning torch”) went through. This suggests that it was an unconditional covenant on God’s part, no matter what Abram did or did not do.
Jesus, who is God came to earth in flesh and blood, he promise anyone who hears His Word and believes in the One who sent Him (John 5:24)

Today there are two different groups that are descendants of Abraham. First are the Jews. According to the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, there are thirteen million Jews worldwide. Almost half; that is more than six million-live in the United States and Canada. Add to that number the second group-the spiritual descendants of Abraham. Ephesians 3:6 reveal…That the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel.
Christians are spiritual descendants of Abraham through his descendant, Jesus Christ (Gal. 3:8, 14). Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s promise to bless all nations through Abraham’s descendants. Today, there are more than two billion people who claim to be Christians. I think half of that, or one billion, would be a more realistic number of true believers.

6. So, let me ask you. Has God kept His promise to Abraham? Absolutely! What if we fail the Lord? Does He still keep His promises? Abraham lost faith in God’s promise that he would have a child with Sarah. Therefore, he slept with Sarah’s servant, Hagar, and had a son named Ishmael (Gen 16). Also, because his wife Sarah was so beautiful, for fear of his life he twice told a king that Sarah was his sister, not his wife (Gen. 12:13-19 & 20:2). As a result, he allowed her to be with men who wanted to do more than look at her. However, in spite of Abraham’s sometimes faltering faith, God kept His promise to him. 1 Corinthians 1:9a.

In Hebrew 6:14 the text of the Genesis passage uses an idiom which simply means “I will surely bless you and multiply you.” God also promised that Abraham’s descendants would occupy their enemies’ territories and that through Abraham’s descendants he would bless the world (Genesis 22:17b-18). These promises will come to past too.

So in verse 6:15 it was, in this manner, that Abraham patiently waited. By waiting, he eventually obtained the promise of Isaac’s birth and the beginning of his posterity. Although Abraham died without seeing everything that God had promised, he died in faith, fully confident that what God had promised he would perform (Hebrews 11:13, 39).

Human society respects a formal oath (6:16) made in the name of God or in the name of someone or something greater than the one swearing. Among men, an oath serves two purposes. Negatively, it puts an end to strife or dispute. Once an oath is taken, there is nothing more to say. Positively, it confirms. Our salvation and hope are secure in Jesus Christ. This is because neither height (anything above the earth), nor depth (anything below the earth), nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom. 8:39). That’s the promise!
To have assurance of your salvation, review your hope, rely on God’s promises, and …

II Relax in the Anchor of your Soul (6:19-20a).

1. God gave Abraham two immutable things (6:18b), His Word and His oath. He kept both because it is impossible for God to lie (6:18c). Therefore, even though we, like Abraham, may sometimes falter in our faith, we can have strong consolation and lay hold upon our hope (6:18d). God confirmed his promise (6:17) to Abraham by an oath to show or demonstrate to the heirs of promise the unchangeableness of his own character, and therefore of his counsel or purpose and design as well.

2. This is a reason for their encouragement (6:18) any human viewing this situation can draw strong encouragement and confidence from God’s promise to Abraham and later to Jesus. When we sin, we need not lose hope. That is the occasion for crying out in hope to God, claiming the salvation which Jesus accomplished for sinners.

3. Believers in Jesus can appreciate such strength, because in their own weakness they have “fled for refuge” to the merciful and all-powerful Son of God. The Greek Old Testament uses the same word for a fugitive fleeing to the cities of refuge. Unlike the ancient Jewish fugitive who found safety in a city of refuge, believers are not waiting for a high priest to die. Jesus is our high priest and he lives forever-after the order of Melchizedek. By his twice-sure word of promise, God encourages every true believer to cling to the hope inspired by his promises and to wait patiently for their fulfillment.

Next, the author writes, “which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast (6:19a). An anchor represents the greatest kind of security. I am a not much of a sailor but I know one of the most important things in sailing is finding a good anchorage. A good anchorage is where you go for safety during a storm. It’s some kind of enclosed harbor that protects you from the wind and waves, so your anchor can keep strong wind and waves from taking you out of the safe harbor. Jesus is the anchor of our souls; He is sure and steadfast (6:19a). Our anchor and hope, according to the last phrase of that verse is Jesus.

Conclusion:
God doesn’t change he’ll be exactly the same God tomorrow as he is Today. What a marvelous truth that is for all of us. We want a God that doesn’t change in his love, grace, mercy, his forgiveness and in his provision of salvation. So His truths, promises and principles don’t change either!