The Foundation of Unwavering Faith - Part 1

Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Thursday, February 24th. Do you ever feel like God really isn't interested in you? Can't help in strengthening your faith when He seems far away.

Here's part one of The Foundation of Unwavering Faith. When the storms of life blow across your path, where do you turn? Do you find yourself easily blown off course?

Do you find yourself fragmented in your thinking? Does doubt and fear begin to plague you? And do you begin to question the fact that God really does care?

You know what He said, I'll never leave you nor forsake you. And yet when those times hit us, sometimes we're prone to think, well, God, if you really cared, if you really loved me, you wouldn't let this happen. When oftentimes God has a very specific purpose for allowing these things that come into our life to be there. And sometimes we have a little flaw in our faith and we think, well, He's not there.

He doesn't care if He did. And we give all these reasons. So what I want you to do is I want you to listen carefully to this message because herein lies the foundation of our faith. And if you can simply grasp this truth, it's a simple truth, but a profound truth, it's an awesome truth. If you can grasp this, it doesn't make any difference what you face.

It doesn't make any difference how dark the storm, how painful you may hurt. If you can grasp this truth, you'll know where to turn, what to do, and God will see you through it no matter what. So I want you to turn, if you will, to Hebrews chapter 13. 13th chapter of Hebrews, He says, Let love of the brethren continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it. Remember the prisoners as though in prison with them, and those who are ill-treated, since you yourselves are in the body.

Marriage is to be held in honor among all, and the marriage bed is to be undefiled, but fornicators and adulterers God will judge. Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have, for He Himself has said, I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you. So that we confidently say, The Lord is my Helper, I will not be afraid.

What will man do to me? Remember those who led you, who spoke the Word of God to you, and considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith. Then He says, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

Look at that. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. That means He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. That means He is immutable. That is, He doesn't change. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

He is a changeless Christ. Now, the truth is this. That one simple statement is the foundation of everything you and I believe. Now, a lot of people have difficulty with that because they look at their circumstances and say, Well, certainly, if God is God, and if He will do what He says He will do, then I shouldn't be in the mess that I'm in.

This storm would not have come into my life. That's not always true. And so I want us to think about this simple truth, because when you and I go through difficulty and hardship and troubles and trials in life, we need somewhere to go.

We need someone to turn to. But it can't just be anyone. And it can't be something that's changing all the time, and there's no security in that. So when we talk about the fact that something is changeless, that Jesus is changeless, what does that mean? It means simply this, and you think about it in the light of who He is, in the light of what we think about when we think in terms of being changed. It simply means this, that Jesus Christ is unchanged in His very being, who He is.

He's attributes, that is, those things that are characteristic of Him, that He's omniscient and omnipresent, and He's a God of mercy and love and so forth. He's also unchanged in His purposes, and He's unchanged in His promises, and yet He acts with feeling, and those feelings change with changing circumstances. That is, sometimes He's compassionate, and He was loving and compassionate, for example, to the woman who was caught in the very act of adultery.

On the other hand, He was vehemently against the Pharisees and Sadducees because they were misleading people. So He is the same, but He has feelings, and those feelings, He acts out those feelings according to the circumstance, and as the circumstances change, those feelings and those actions change. Principles are the same, He never changes.

It is this which is the foundation of everything you and I believe. If He changes at any point, you and I become uncertain. As somebody says, well, what about those passages in the Scripture where it seems that God changed? Well, He didn't change His mind. For example, when He said to Moses, I'm going to destroy this crowd because of their idolatry. And Moses interceded before the Lord and pleaded with God, and God heard Him, and God did not, listen, He did not destroy them. It wasn't that God changed His mind, He knew exactly what Moses was going to do. I think, for example, He gave King Hezekiah fifteen years longer, and the Scripture says that when he was told by Isaiah he was going to die, he began to cry out to God, and the Bible says he wept bitterly about his life, and the Lord extended him fifteen years. He knew what he was going to do.

He knew exactly what was going to happen. I think about when he told Jonah to go to Nineveh, and he said, I want you to proclaim to them in forty days, I'm going to wipe this whole place out. So he goes, he preaches, they repent, sackcloth and ashes.

I mean, they had an awesome revival in Nineveh. Well, God didn't destroy it. Well, it made Jonah mad.

And what Jonah didn't realize is this, though it does not say in the Scripture explicitly, and if you do repent, here's what I will do, that is certainly implicit there, because why would He send them to warn them and to get them ready if He did not intend for them to change? So God in His being does not change. In His works He does not change.

In His words they have not changed. So I want us to think about this in light of who we are, and think about the storms and the difficulties and the hardships and the pain and troubles and trials we all face in life. Where do you turn?

Are you thrown off course? Where do you turn? And then I think about people who do not know the Lord, where do they turn?

What kind of assurance do they have? So let's think about three or four aspects of this, and let's think about, first of all, about the very being of Jesus, that is, who is He? Because, listen, what He was, who He is. Who He is, what He will be.

And let's think about it for a moment. The Scripture says that He was the virgin-born Son of God. Is that who He still is?

Yes, He is. He has not changed in His being whatsoever. The Scripture speaks of the fact that He is and was the only Savior. He said, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

No man comes to the Father but by me. He was the only Savior. He is still the only Savior. He will always be the only Savior.

He has not changed in His being. The Scripture says that He was called Lord, and He was Lord. Is He still the Lord? He is still the Lord.

The sovereign rule of this universe, He has not changed in His position there. He was called the King. Is He still the King? He is our King.

We have no King other than that of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible says that His love, because of who He was, His very being, His love encompassed everyone. For God so loved the world, not some people, but the entire world. Has He decided today that He only loves a portion of the world?

No, He has not. He still loves the entire world. He has not changed in His being, that is, in His love for all mankind. The Scripture says, for example, that He not only was the way, the truth, and the life, He still is the only way to God the Father. He is still, in other words, all truth is wrapped up in the person of Jesus Christ, and all life is found in Him. He is the Creator of the universe. That's what He says in Colossians chapter one. Not only is He the Creator, but He's the sustainer of life. He sustained those in the past.

He's still sustaining us today. And so when you look at who He is, who He is in His being, not only that, but He was absolutely sinless. Isn't it interesting that people who will not trust the Lord Jesus Christ, and they'll say, well, you know, I don't believe all this stuff about Jesus, and I look at Scriptures in the Bible, and somehow, but isn't it interesting that nobody will point out His sin?

They'll say, I don't, I just don't believe in Jesus. Well, did He tell a lie? Well, I'm not saying He's a liar. I just don't believe in Him. Well, He said He was the only way, the only truth, and the only life. He said, I'm the way to the Father. He says, except the man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

In other words, all these things Jesus said, yet people who will not accept Him as their Savior say, well, no, I don't believe in Him. Well, what did He do wrong? What sin did He commit? Isn't it interesting that nobody even in His day accused Him of violating a scriptural principle? Now, the Pharisees and Sadducees get on this case about His disciples eating, but they never said to Him, You broke this commandment.

You committed this sin. You know why? Because He's perfect. Because He's absolutely holy, absolutely perfect in His being, and even those today who are His enemies cannot and do not really talk about any sin on His part. The truth is, Jesus Christ was, is, and forever will be the same. There's nothing about His being that will ever change. You say, well, what does that have to do with me? Simply this, what friend can you say that about?

Sometimes we have friends that we think are very, very loyal and devoted to us, and we finally discover they backbite us, or they gossip about us, or they, they have wronged us in some fashion, or they're not the loyal friend we thought they were. And so, you think about never changing, and somebody will say, well, He will always, she will always, the only person you can say that about is Jesus Christ. Because only He will always, because He never changes. Whatever He was, and whoever He was, He still is today.

That is part of the anchor of our faith, and that's why you and I can go to Him. That's why we can place our trust in Him in difficult times and never have to wonder what He's going to do, because all we have to do is look back and see who was He in the past. That's who He was. Then I think, for example, not only that's who He was, but what did He do? Somebody says, well, how does God operate today? How does Jesus function today? If you don't know how He functions today, look in the past. So let's think about some things, for example, that He did, and think about how He operated in those days, and think about, for example, what changed and what did not change. For example, we think about His works, how He operated among His disciples, among the people, among children. That is, if you want to understand how He desires to operate in your life, what He wants to be in your life, listen, He wants to be in your life everything He was in the past, because He hasn't changed. He's not going to be to you something He can't be.

And the same thing about His works, for example. The Bible says that He saved sinners in the past. Is He still in the business of saving sinners?

Yes. Is He still in the business of reaching out to people who are down and out, and people who are wealthy, every strata of society? Does He still save? Does He still forgive? Does He still redeem? Does He still take away guilt from people's lives? Yes, He does.

Why? Because He's the same. He hasn't changed. And the wonderful thing about knowing Him as our personal Savior is we don't have to come to some strange and wonder what's going to happen in our life. We know the person we're going to.

We know the person we placed our trust in. We know what to expect because He hasn't changed in what He was doing. I think, for example, about how He operates and how He operates in people whose bodies are diseased. Is He still healing? Yes, He is. In the past, did He heal? Yes, He did.

Watch this. In the past, did He heal everybody? No, He did not. Did they, does He heal everyone?

No, He does not. He was in the healing business then. He's still healing people today. Sometimes people are healed instantly, miraculously, and the doctors shake their head.

They can't figure it out. The reason they can't figure it out is because another one of God's miracles. Is He still in the miracle business?

He absolutely is. Miracles did not cease in the end of the New Testament. God is still performing miracles in people's lives in different ways. For example, when I think about what He does, did He comfort people in the past?

Yes, He did. Mary and Martha, brother Lazarus died. And what is Jesus doing? He's just assuring her that He Himself is the resurrection. And even though He's dead, He's going to live. And then He's going to raise Him up. Is Jesus still in the comforting business?

Yes, He is. He's been willing to comfort those who have bereaved, who are going through difficulty and hardship and pain in their life. And they don't have any other place to go. What happens when they come to Him? Something happens in their life. There's a change that takes place.

You know what? The change takes place in us. He hasn't changed.

Somebody's going through sorrow, difficulty, hardship, pain, all of these things. What's happening? We change. He doesn't change. He's just doing what He's always done. He's just doing what He said He would do.

For example, does He call people to serve? Well, what did He do in the past? If you want to know what He's doing today, look in the past. You want to know what's going on in the past, look in the Scripture.

And what happens? He called Peter, James and John and Andrew and those disciples. Is He still calling people today?

Yes, He does. No church in their right mind wants any man standing up before them week after week whom they feel is not called of God. You want men and women to serve who are called of God. And so He's calling people today to teach the Sunday school, to sing in the choir, to usher, to park people's cars on the parking lot, to preach the gospel, sing the gospel. And those people, for example, who go to people's homes, who are very, very ill, can't help themselves, stay with those people, help them, pray for them.

There are a thousand ways God's people can serve. What is He doing? He's still calling.

Some people are rebelling. Some people are telling God they're too busy. They're telling Him about their schedule, telling Him all about these things. The truth is He's still in the business of calling us to serve Him. He is the living Christ. He has not changed either in His being nor has He changed in His works. He's still doing the same thing. The only difference is it's a different atmosphere, a different environment, a different time in history, but He hasn't changed.

His purposes have always been the same. And one of His purposes is to redeem mankind. And one of His ways of doing that is through the body of Christ, giving testimony, sharing the gospel, sending missionaries, giving food, doing good things for people who would not listen but now begin to listen because the Spirit of God's working in them because of what we do in their hat. He's calling people to follow Him and to serve Him.

Likewise, when you think about sometimes we get a little weary, a little worn, what happens? What does He do? He strengthens us.

What did He do in the past? He said, come unto me all ye that labor unto heaven laden, and I'll give you rest, and I'll give you energy. He said, the Spirit of God will come upon you.

You'll receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you. Is He still doing that? Yes, He does. Does He still anoint us to do His work? Yes, He does. Does He still energize us and strengthen us to do what He calls us to do?

Yes, He does. Can we still become the persons He wants us to be? Yes, we can. Did the work He's called us to do? Yes, we can.

Why? Because He's still doing what He was doing in the past because He doesn't change. His being doesn't change and His works do not change.

Environment changes? Yes. Time changes? Yes. Does He change?

No. I think about how oftentimes we get discouraged in life, situations and circumstances come along in people's lives. What happens? What do you do when you get discouraged? You say, well, I call my friends.

Wrong. You should call your friend. That is the Lord Jesus Christ, first of all, because you see, He desires to encourage you. You read the 14, 15, 16 chapters of John, and they're all about encouragement. Jesus is encouraging His disciples because they know, they know something's going on.

They don't quite understand it all. It's a little bit confusing when He says, you know, I am, I am the Messiah, but I'm going to be killed. And so what was He doing? He was encouraging them. He said, I'm not going to leave you as orphans.

I'm going to send somebody just like me. He'll be in you with you and upon you. He was an encourager. What is He says?

Let not your heart be troubled. What is He doing today? He encourages us. There is no encourager like the Lord Jesus Christ.

There's none to match Him. And so He hasn't changed. And if you think about how important that is, suppose we believe that He was in a state of change. You get on your knees and pray and you think, well, maybe He's answering prayer today, but maybe He's not answering prayer today. Maybe He loves me today.

Maybe He doesn't. And you see, people who are not grounded biblically, they're not grounded in the Word of God. They're not grounded theologically.

And that's not a big word. That's just talking about the study of God. In other words, if you're not grounded in your faith, you're not grounded in faith.

That is, if you don't understand why you believe what you believe, then you don't understand why you do what you do. If you pray because He told us to pray and showed us how to pray and promised that He would answer our prayer. Well, is He still answering prayer? Well, I hope so.

No. He hasn't changed. If He was answering prayer in the past, He's answering prayer today.

You have this need. Well, is He meeting needs? Well, I'm not sure. I don't know. Was He meeting needs in the past?

Yes, He's meeting needs today. What I want you to see is this. Your whole basis of faith rests upon this simple truth, that He's unchangeable. He hasn't changed, either in His being, His personhood, either in His works or His words. None of that's changed. We change. We want to make Him change. He doesn't change.