Turn with me, if you would, this morning, as the Lord may enable us to Malachi chapter three. The portion of scripture that we read in Malachi, the last chapter of the last book of the Old Testament and chapter three, we wish to take as our text this morning, verse six. For I am the Lord, I change not. Therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. But I am the Lord, I change not. Therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. And I first of all wish you all a very good new year. It's my prayer for you that you would have a good, healthy, and a spiritually prosperous new year. And I say that on behalf not only of myself, but on behalf of Katrina and the girls. We come to the end of one year and we look to the new year. It's a time when you look back as well as looking forward. It's a time when you take stock of where you are going. And what better way can you close one year and look at the beginning of a new year than looking at the blessings of God? And there are many aspects of God's blessings that we could look at today. But one of the greatest, if not the greatest of all the blessings that we enjoy is the immutability of God. God's immutability. Immutability is the theological term for God's unchangeableness. He is the unchanging God. It's the subject of our text, for I am the Lord, I change not. And what greater blessing do we have than to know that we come into the presence this day of the immutable God. He cannot change. And in looking at our text, we want to look for a short time today at three things. First of all, the obvious point, God's immutability, the immutability of the Lord, his unchangeableness. Secondly, the outcome of that immutability, the consequence of his unchangeableness. That is, ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. And thirdly, the assurance that that immutability, that unchangeableness of God, the assurance that that gives us as we enter a new year. These three points, the immutability of God, the consequence of that immutability, and the assurance that that immutability affords to us today. Let us begin then with the immutability or the unchangeableness of our God. God's unchangeableness. I am the Lord, I change not. And surely that's one of the greatest blessings that anyone could have living in this world, where change is all around us. We come to the end of another year, we enter into 2025, and things are not the same. as they were even yesterday, in a previous year, let alone a year ago today. Things are not the same. And what is true of today won't be true of tomorrow. Because we live in a changing world. We live in time. And in time, things always change. And the first thing you notice about the changeableness of this world is that everything changes. Everything changes. There is nothing really that stands still. The only truth that is constant is that man is in rebellion against God, and that man rejects the Christ of God. But really, other than that, everything changes. And the longer you go on in this world, every new year that passes, the more that you pass in this world, the more you know how things don't remain the same. The younger people may not notice it so much because they haven't had the same number of New Year's Day to think about it. But as every new year passes, every year passes and a new one comes in, the more you recognize how changeable the things in this world really are. Who would have imagined, for example, that this nation of ours, the United Kingdom, and Scotland in particular, the United Kingdom, that's who saw a great reformation, and Scotland that saw great revivals, whose laws were based upon the Bible and the Ten Commandments, even the judicial system of this nation based upon the Old Testament laws. A nation that one time sent out missionaries to different countries, to China, India, Peru, sent missionaries out. Who could imagine? that at the end of 2024, entering into 2025, that our nation would be governed by what is essentially a Marxist government that is left wing, that detests the gospel and the things of God, who will persecute you if you stand in the streets and preach the gospel. If you speak out about the moral state of our nation, you will be accused of some kind of phobia, whether it is homophobia, Islamophobia, whatever phobia it may be, you will be persecuted in this country. Who would have thought that in 2025, in a very short span of time, our country would be committing genocide that Hitler would hardly have achieved in his day, that Marxist Russia, Stalin would have hardly established, and China would hardly have established in their day. that our country can commit genocide of the most vulnerable people of society, the unborn child and now speaking about the elderly and the vulnerable in society. A society that now at one time had Christian principles that now commits genocide every year that passes. in an unprecedented scale. Who would have imagined that Scotland would have thought that fulfilling the biblical principle of sending charity to the poor in Africa and other nations is fulfilled by the various aid agencies that have been set up by this country. Aid agencies to take out food to Africa and to poor countries. That, in Scotland in particular, was never the fulfilling of the biblical principle of looking to the poor. Looking to the poor in these countries was first and foremost sending the gospel to these countries. It was first and foremost bringing the Lord Jesus Christ to these countries. That their leaders and their people would be converted. And that whatever aid they received, the poor would receive it. Because they were Christian countries. But who would have thought that in 2025, Scotland would see itself fulfilling some biblical principle in pouring money into aid agencies that have no concern for the souls of those they are feeding? Who would have thought? that the church itself would have had homosexuals in the pulpit, and that the church itself would have nothing to say to our nation with regards to sin. You see, the big thing that our nation needs, and the big thing that these other nations, Africa and these other nations need, is not food, first and foremost. It is repentance and faith towards Jesus Christ. Instead, we have a nation that speaks of diversity. We have a king in his speech who speaks about all religions being the same. Him supporting every religion in this nation. After all, they all have at their core, peace. My friend, they don't. Islam doesn't have it. None of these religions have peace at the core of their, at the heart of their religion. Only the gospel, only the Christian religion can sort out the problems of our nation. But what do you see? you see change all the time. If you look back, not just to this new year or the previous new year, but you look back to the last 6,000 years of the existence of this world, from the time of the fall of Adam, it is a history of change. That's what it is. Down through the Old Testament, In the time of Malachi, that Malachi is writing about, there's change all the time. The history of this world is a history of 6,000 years of change. Man changes. His political stand changes. Nothing is the same. It's not the same yesterday, and it won't be the same tomorrow. So in such a world of such gross change, is it not most blessed and wonderful that we find that God is unchangeable? He is the same God yesterday. He is the same God today. and he is the same tomorrow. He does not change. In a world of change, the Christian comes to Jehovah, I am the Lord, I change not. He doesn't change. And my friend, that's incomprehensible to us, isn't it? The catechism makes that unchangeableness one of the fundamental aspects of God. You know it if you've learned your catechism. God is a spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable. And who can fathom that? Who can fathom God's unchangeableness? Any more than you can understand his omnipotence? Can you fathom God's omnipotence? When in a moment of time he simply utters the word, this creation is brought into existence. Can you comprehend that? That this God can create all things in six days and all very good. Man can't comprehend that. His omniscience, not only that he knows everything that does take place, but every possibility that could take place, he knows it. Can you comprehend that? And can you in 2025 comprehend the unchangeableness of God? He doesn't change with circumstances. He doesn't change just because circumstances come along. The Bible tells us, and uses language of accommodation, anthropopathic language, anthropomorphic language. The Lord has an arm that's full of might. God doesn't have an arm. His face, God doesn't have a face. The face of God is against those that do wickedness. He doesn't have a face. And when it speaks of God repenting, it's language of accommodation, that we can comprehend something of the incomprehensible. God cannot be changed. And he cannot be changed on every attribute that he possesses. He cannot be changed in his being. in his wisdom, in his power, in his holiness, in his goodness, justice, or truth. He is unchangeable in everything that he is. We are changeable in everything that we are. We change every moment. Our thoughts change. Our attitudes change. Our very beings change. But God is unchangeable in everything that he is, and he is perfectly blessed in it. He cannot be changed. And how wonderful Malachi, when Malachi writes by the Holy Spirit, You discover that that's one of the things that is the most encouraging thing to God's people. That God is the God who cannot change. My friend, when you come to the end of 2024 and 2025, do you rejoice in the Lord our God? Do you rejoice that we worship Jehovah? who is the unchanging God. You cannot change God. You cannot change. He will not be changed. Not only does he not, he does not change, but he cannot be changed. He cannot be changed. And there are consequences that follow on from that. If that is the being of God, the immutability of God, let us look secondly at the outcome of his immutability. What does it mean? What are the consequences for us today? Because if you worship today Allah, Can you today say that Allah is unchangeable? Has Allah given anyone any covenant blessings or promises that he will not change? No matter what religion you have, and no matter what religion there is in this world, the Christian religion is unique. Absolutely unique. That is something that His Majesty King Charles has to learn. The Christian religion is unique. The gospel is unique. Oh, what a day it would be when he would return to the roots and to what this country at one time was, a Christian country, and that he himself would be converted and brought to realize But it's not Christianity, and the gospel is not one among many religions, but it is absolutely unique, and this is what makes it unique, what Malachi speaks about here. It is his immutability, it is his unchangeableness that makes the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ absolutely unique. What does the gospel depend on, my friend, this day? What does salvation depend on today? What does your salvation depend on today? It doesn't depend on God, on man. It doesn't depend on you. It depends upon the unchangeableness of Jehovah, the unchangeableness of our God. That is what makes the consequence of, that's the consequence of his unchanging words, it's that the sons of Jacob are not consumed. That's what makes the gospel, that's what makes the Christian religion so unique. It depends upon the promises, the covenant that God has entered into with his son. You don't get that in Islam. You don't get that among the Jehovah's Witnesses. You don't get that among Mormonism or the Hindus or any other religion. That's what makes the gospel and the Christian religion absolutely unique. And how wrong King Charles is today. when in his speech he puts Christianity along with all these other religions. It depends, the gospel and salvation depends upon God, who you worship. Who do you worship today as you enter 2025? Who do you worship? That is all important. If you worship God, then you're going to hell. But you worship the Lord Jehovah, who is the unchanging God, who has given promises in his Son, Jesus Christ, promises that he will never break, and when you come to him, then my friend, you will be saved. That's how unique the gospel is. That's how unique the salvation that is set before us in the Bible is. That's what makes it so unique and different to every other religion. The sinner, his only hope is to be found in God. My friend, where is your hope today? Where is your hope? The true hope alone is to be found in Jesus Christ because of the unchangeableness of God and the promises, his word, his savior, his gospel, the unchangeableness of it all. And what is the consequence of that? Ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. Why the sons of Jacob? Why not ye sons of Abraham? After all, the Jews, they rejoiced in the fact we are Abraham's children. Well, that's true. They were Abraham's children. And we may be children of the church, the outward church. This is going even further than that, isn't it? It's coming down to Jacob. Abraham had Ishmael. This is not a promise that's given to Ishmael. It's not a promise that's given to Islam, descendants of Ishmael. It's a promise that's given to Isaac. But it goes further than even Isaac, it goes down to Jacob. And even among Jacob, the promise is to Jacob and to the 12 tribes. Why Jacob? Well, in order to answer that, you need to go to the beginning of Malachi. Chapter one of Malachi. The burden of the word of the Lord. I have loved you, saith the Lord. Yet ye say, wherein have you loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother, saith the Lord God? Yet I loved Jacob and I hated Esau. And that before they had done good or evil. Paul refers this again in Romans, and some people in Romans, when they take that, they say, well, he loved Jacob, but he loved Esau a wee bit less. My friend, when you come to Malachi, that's not the case. God has set his love upon a people, even Jacob, before the foundation of the world. He has given them to his son. He has entered into covenant, and that wasn't because they were good. This is before they were even born. Before Jacob was even in the mind of Isaac or anybody else. Jacob have I loved. Esau have I hated. Why? You know what Paul says? Who are you to argue against God? Who are you to say to the potter, why has thou made me so? He has made one for the glory of his grace, and another for the glory of his wrath and condemnation. Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated. Now he says, I am the Lord, I change not, therefore ye sons of Jacob, whom I have loved. The sons of Jacob that may rebel against God, they may break the covenant. But God never breaks his covenant. The love that he has set upon Jacob, even in the covenant of redemption. When in the covenant of redemption, he has given a people to his son. And his son has agreed to come into this world to save them. It might appear in the day of Malachi that that wasn't going to happen. You have rebelled against me. You have brought tithes that are second best. But I am faithful to my covenant. I am the Lord. I change not. Therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed for the sake of the covenant love that he has set upon his people. That covenant love He would never cast off his people. Why? Because of his covenant love. He would never fail them because of the covenant love that is to be found in the Messiah, the Christ who was to come. The Christ who was to come. There was that promise of the coming Messiah. Look at it. Look what he says in verse 1. Behold, I will send my messenger. He shall prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom ye seek, that is, Jehovah whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant. There is a promise of the covenant. You see, salvation's all about God's covenant, isn't it? It's all about covenant theology. It's about God's covenant with his son, Jesus Christ, the messenger of the covenant, who will bring salvation. He shall come, but who shall abide the day of his coming? He shall sit as a refiner. Then the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem shall be pleasant unto the Lord when the messenger comes, when Christ comes. You see, why was Israel kept? when they were so bad? Why was, why was, why were Israel still there? Was it because they were good? Was it because they were such a blessed nation? They worshipped God? Not at all. They were kept there because of God's covenant with his son. And I am faithful. He says, I don't change. You, Israel, might change. You'd vacillate back and forth. But I don't change. Therefore ye sons of Jacob, therefore Israel, therefore ye people are not consumed. You deserve to be consumed, but you're not consumed because I have made covenant promises to the coming Messiah. My friend, why is the church guaranteed to be here in 2026? Why is the church guaranteed to be here in 2027? Why is the church guaranteed to be here when you're not here? Because God has made a promise that his son will return once again, and he will not return until every single one of the covenant people whom he has given to his son is finally gathered in. Every one will be gathered in. There will be more of God's people gathered into his kingdom this coming year. Do you not rejoice in that? Can you rejoice that sinners will be saved? Last year they were saved. Maybe not in this building, but in the world. They were saved in 2024. They'll be saved in 2025. And they will keep on being saved. And the church will be there. Not because the church is perfect. Not because we here in this congregation are perfect. But because God has made a covenant. with his son, a covenant of redemption out of which flows the covenant of grace. And through the preaching of the gospel, he will gather in from all the ends of the earth, such as should be saved. Sinners will be saved. So therefore, We see then that the immutability of God and the outcome of that immutability is that Israel would be kept there until Christ came in. The church will be kept there until he comes a second time. The church will be there. And the church will be there not because it's better, because it deserves it, but because God has entered into covenant with his son. And you might change, and I might change, and this world might change, but God doesn't change. and his covenant doesn't change, and his gospel doesn't change, and the word doesn't change. His promises don't change according to circumstances. So we can be guaranteed, and that brings us on to the final thing. If that's the immutability of God and the outcome of it is that ye sons of Jacob are not consumed, think of the assurance that that gives to God's people. Think of the assurance it gives to us as we come to the end of a 2024. What can you be assured of for this year? Well, I don't know what we can be assured of. Is there going to be more persecution against people going out in the streets, preaching the gospel or handing out tracts? Are people going to be put in prison for standing up for biblical truth? Is that where we're going to be? Is this government going to become even more belligerent towards God's people? Who knows? But we do know this, that our God who doesn't change has given a promise that one day Jesus Christ will return. And that all those who go through this world and enter into glory in this coming year, you might not see 2026. Here's the promise. I have gone before you to prepare a place for you. And if it were not so, I would have told you. I wouldn't tell you a lie. And if I tell you, then you can be assured that it will come to pass because the Lord Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. He is the Lord of glory. And he changes not. He's of the same mind with God the Father, the same will with God the Father. And when the Father won't change, neither does the Son change. And we can be assured that in this coming year, we can be assured that the false gods will continue to fail. Mankind looks for some kind of peaceful utopia. doesn't he? That's what they're all gaming for, a peaceful utopia. NATO and all these big things will ultimately have a world where we're safe because global warming is not going to destroy us and there'll be peace in the world and we'll achieve that utopia by some kind of man-made worldwide religion that gets rid of all the religions of this, the Christian religion of this world, and we'll have some kind of utopia, peaceful utopia. My friend, it's nonsense. Nonsense. It fails. It will always fail. It always has failed. But the gospel never fails. The gospel never fails. Christ will never fail you. His promises never fail us because he's the covenant-keeping God. the God, and Jesus is the messenger of that covenant. He's not bringing a covenant that can be broken. Man will break covenants. You vote in a political party. The next thing is they're doing the very opposite of what they said they would do. They're breaking what they're promised. That doesn't matter what political party you vote in. Not interested in the politics of it. You can't trust any of them to do what they say they'll do. But God and Christ is the messenger of the covenant. He says God is faithful. He would send his son, Jesus Christ, into this world, the messenger of the covenant. What happened? He sent him into this world. And he suffered and died in the room instead of sinners. The cross itself is testimony to the faithfulness of our covenant-keeping God. The very fact that there's a congregation here in Edinburgh is testimony to the faithfulness of our covenant-keeping God. And it reminds us as well that the covenant that there was in the Old Testament, see we're not dispensationalists. seven dispensations and cut them all off from each other. It's the same God, the same covenant, the same faithful God that spoke to Israel that speaks to his people today. And Christ is the messenger of the same covenant, the covenant of grace. Same covenant. But it gives us the assurance, doesn't it, that we can bring our tithes. into his house. Bring our tithes. Even in the days of your fathers, you have gone away from mine ordinances and have not kept them. Return unto me and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts." What a wonderful promise. In verse 7, 2005, return unto me and I will return unto you. I am the God that will keep my covenant. If you return unto me, I will return unto you. And you can trust me when I say that, because I am the unchangeable God that cannot lie. And if you return unto me, I will return unto you. That's a promise. So in 2025, to the individual, to the congregation, To the church, to the nation, God says, return to me and I will return unto you. And he says this as well. Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, verse 10, that there may be meat in mine house. Who of me now herewith saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven and pour you out unto a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. This is from the mouth of the Lord who can't change, who keeps his promises. Come and prove me this day. Try me. Try this truth and test me and see if what I say is true. Prove me. Try me. We come to the beginning of 2025, the children of Israel were bringing their tithes, they were bringing their offerings, and they were offering to God the second best, the poor, the lame. I hope that's not what we are doing. Paul says that the first day of the week, we should lay aside, we should bring to God's house, we should give our givings to God's house, we should maintain the ministry of the gospel by giving the very first of our salary, the first of our money we get to the Lord's house. God says, you bring them in, bring them in, try me, prove me. And if you do that, and you continue to do that, will you not be blessed? and you bring your givings into God's house, you bring your collection into God's house, you don't put a pound in the plate and think that that's you, you're happy, because God says, God says, that's not true. You're breaking the covenant. You're not keeping any promise. You come into God's house and you give to God's house, prove me Try me. Come to the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Try me. Prove me. Am I not faithful in what I've said? Bring your tithes into God's house. Bring the best. Give to God the best. Prove me and you will not, will you not find that I am true? That I am the Lord that changes not. That's why the sons of God are not consumed. That's why I am merciful. So therefore, as we come on this day, the first day of a new year, the Lord is saying to us, what changes there have been in this world, in our nation, politically, socially, morally, what changes there are. Changes in the church, changes in the congregation, Those that were here last year are not here today. There are others that are. Things change. Nothing's the same. What's going to be at the end of this year? Who knows? Things will change again. But here is the most blessed truth that any sinner could ever hear. That God is faithful to the covenant promises that he has made to his people. Go to every other religion and there is no covenant promise. None. Go to Roman Catholicism and they will tell you, you cannot have any assurance. But my friend, the believer, the sinner that comes to God and finds Christ and finds salvation there discovers God is faithful. I may not be faithful. You may not be faithful. Repent of your sins. Believe in him because he is faithful and he will never let you down. And he'll never let us down. He'll never let this congregation down. We let him down, but he'll never let us down. And you know, as another year passes, there's older people in the congregation. who've reached the three score years and 10 plus, those who have come to trust in the Lord and know the Lord, they know that God is faithful. They know that God is faithful. But there are young people, And as young people set out in life, and you're going to go to university, college, you've got a job, you're going to get employment, whatever it is you're going to do, you'll find disappointments in this world. I can tell you now, people will disappoint you. They'll let you down. In your job, in your family, whatever it might be, people will let you down. Politicians will let you down. Friends will let you down. But let me tell you this, put your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will discover that he will never let you down. He's given you promises. The Lord has given promises which are yea and amen in Christ. He will never let you down because he doesn't change. the way the people of the world change. I am the Lord, I change not. Therefore, ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. Let us join together in prayer. Let us pray. Most gracious and ever-blessed Lord, we thank thee for thy goodness and thy mercy to us. We thank Thee for the many tokens of Thy love and mercy. We thank Thee for the faithfulness of the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank Thee for the blessings of the gospel that we receive through Him who is the messenger of the covenant and whose blood is the blood of the covenant. May it be that Thou, Lord, would bless these covenant blessings to us so that we can know that Thou art the unchanging God and because thou art unchanging, and because thou hast given thy promises in the Lord Jesus Christ, so thy people will never be consumed. Bless us now, undertake for us now, pardon us all our sin, for Jesus' sake. Amen.