God Speaks an Unchanging Message

Hello and welcome to the mid-week post. There is more to Matthew 5, but I have covered the "be attitudes." I am starting a series by Randy Mann that I preached through several years ago, so it has what I have added also. The series is called "God Speaks," and has four installments, here is the first installment. 

Man changes and so do ways of thinking. But with God it is not so, Psalm 102:27 ~27 But you remain the same, and your years will never end. And Hebrews 13:8 ~ 8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. 

The setting for our Scripture is the Emmaus Road on which three men travel from Jerusalem to Emmaus. Two are downhearted as the mourn the loss of their Rabbi, the other joined them on the road and asked if he could walk with them.  

Luke 24:25-27

25 He said to them, "How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?" 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.

A farmer went into his banker and announced that he had bad news and good news. "First, the bad news...""Well," said the farmer, "I can't make my mortgage payments. And that crop loan I've taken out for the past 10 years -- I can't pay that off, either. Not only that, I won't be able to pay you the couple of hundred thousand I still have outstanding on my tractors and other equipment. So I'm going to have to give up the farm and turn it all over to you for whatever you can salvage out of it. "Silence prevailed for a minute and then the banker said ,"What's the good news?" "The good news is that I'm going to keep on banking with you," said the farmer. – Bits & Pieces, April 30, 1992.

God speaks. He did not have to speak, but He has. In all that He has spoken, His single message is His plan of redemption which finds its culmination in Christ Jesus.

Has someone told you something, only to come back later and change his or her story? In thinking about this question, some people's minds may immediately go to politicians. You have heard the joke, "How do you know when a politician is lying? His lips are moving." Obviously, this does not characterize all, or perhaps even most, politicians. The statement alleges, however, that politicians will change their message when speaking to particular groups to accomplish certain goals.

By contrast, when God speaks He has only one message, which is applicable to all people at all times. As One whose very character and nature is holiness and truth, God cannot lie. As the sovereign creator and God over all things, there is no one to whom His message does not apply. Whether speaking through the world He has made, through His written Word, or through the incarnate Word – the Lord Christ Jesus – God's message is clear. He has made mankind to have a relationship with Himself, that we might know, love, serve and glorify Him. Though our sin separates us from God, His plan from the beginning was to reconcile to Himself those who would place their faith in God's provision for redemption –Christ Jesus.

I – God has revealed Himself from the beginning (v.27a)

We know as Christians that since the beginning of the world, God has spoken to man. Romans 1:20 tells us that God speaks through creation itself, however He did not simply create the world and then hide, leaving man to figure out the world and his place in it. Rather, from the beginning, God took the initiative to reveal Himself, His ways, and His purposes to man.

He spoke to Adam as he walked and lived in the garden. He spoke to Moses from the burning bush and later, according to Exodus 33:11, face-to-face. God spoke to the prophets, by His Spirit, commanding them to write down His words so that they might pass to future generations (2 Pe. 1:20-21).

God spoke to them in various ways at various times (Heb. 1:1). The thing we must remember in all of this, however, is that God is the One who took the initiative not us. His words are what He communicates to man (2 Tim. 3:16).

Application: Have you taken time to consider that the God of all creation has taken the initiative to speak to man to reveal Himself, His character, His ways, and His plan? We know that the Bible is God's divine revelation of Himself to us. Because God does not change, His word has not changed, nor will it change. The question is: Does the way you value, read, memorize, and meditate upon the Word of God demonstrate that you recognize this incredible reality? Do you value it enough to share it with others?

II – God's revelation has always pointed to Christ Jesus (v.27b)

God's revelation of His redemptive plan began small - a promised seed that would come from the woman (Gen. 3:15). Over time, that revelation unfolded and become clearer. The promise would come through Abraham, then Isaac, then Jacob, then Judah, then David, etc.

To read 2 Kings and see the miserable failure of all those "sons of David," one could certainly wonder how God's promise would be fulfilled, but it was not yet fully revealed. Even at the end of the Old Testament, the readers of Christ Jesus' day were looking, hoping, longing for that one who would come to deliver Israel, God's people. When would the one come who would fulfill the promise to Abraham and bring God's blessing not only to the Jews, but to all people?

The disciples who walked along the Emmaus Road with Christ Jesus knew God had promised a Messiah who would "redeem Israel" (v. 21). They were hoping Christ Jesus was that Messiah, yet it seemed their hope was lost. Here is where Christ Jesus, far from giving them some new or different revelation, showed them the fulfillment of what God had spoken from the beginning.

The text says Christ Jesus began with Moses and the prophets and "interpreted" for them how all the Scriptures pointed to Him. Paul uses this same word in 1 Corinthians for the interpreting of languages. Christ Jesus showed these followers (and us) that God had been speaking from the beginning about His plan to redeem lost man to Himself through Christ Jesus. Now, through Christ Jesus, that plan has come to pass.

Application: God has no "Plan B." His plan from the beginning has been to redeem to Himself those who would trust in Christ Jesus as the only means of salvation, through repentance and faith.

For some, their need is to acknowledge their own sin and Christ Jesus as the only Savior, bowing their hearts before Him in repentance, faith, and surrender. For those who have trusted Christ Jesus, that is you and me, our responsibility is to speak to others and show them what God has spoken from the beginning. We do not need a new message. What we must do is speak boldly and clearly the message of reconciliation with God through Christ Jesus. This is both the message and mission we have been given (2 Cor. 5:18-20).

Conclusion Idea

God is a God who speaks, a God who reveals Himself, His character, His purpose, and His plan. From the beginning, that which He has spoken has been clear and consistent – He would provide a sinless redeemer for lost man so that we could be reconciled to God. He has done this in Christ Jesus. God’s Word points us to Christ Jesus, and it will do the same for others if we will show them.