Trusting an Unchanging God - Part 1 ...Continued from page 1

Had God changed??? Could Ahaz get away with this? Had the kings of Israel ever gotten away with sin? Does God sometimes tolerate sin-let it go unnoticed, unaccounted for, unjudged?

No!!! God does not change-He never tolerates sin. If only Ahaz had stopped to ask and answer that question he would have been spared much grief. So would so many of us!

Because he rebelled, God delivered Ahaz into the hand of the king of Aram, who defeated him and took a great number of captives. Then He delivered Ahaz into the hand of the king of Israel, who inflicted heavy casualties-120,000 valiant men in Judah were killed in one day! The king of Israel took 200,000 captives and a great deal of spoil to Samaria. Finally, Zichri, a mighty man from Ephraim, killed Maaseiah, Ahaz's son.

All this happened because the king never stopped to ask: Does God change? Ahaz not only sinned, he took his people down with him: "For the Lord humbled Judah because of Ahaz king of Israel, for he had brought about a lack of restraint in Judah and was very unfaithful to the Lord" (v. 19). Ahaz's disobedience reproduced itself in the people of Judah and consequently God humiliated the entire kingdom through this terrible defeat.

This wild spread of sin from the top down reminds us of one recent president's promotion of certain behaviors as "not sex." What was once at least hidden was popularized by the President of the United States-the highest position in the land! Since then it has become so much of a problem (even in middle schools) that kids routinely do it without any sense of shame or guilt. To them, this is no more engaging in sex than holding hands or kissing.

Ahaz didn't have to continue down this self-defeating path, but he did. He had the Torah-the book of the Law. And there were enough prophets in his day too, but in his time of distress, when things were going hard, when he was confronted by enemies, what did he do? "King Ahaz became yet more unfaithful to the Lord."

Why? Why did he think he could get away with this? Did Ahaz think God had changed? He must have! He must have forgotten that God never tolerates sin!

And what about you, Beloved? When you're tempted, isn't it important to stop and ask yourself if God changes, if he relaxes his standards for obedience? If you think you can have an affair, lie, cheat, steal, watch pornography on the Internet, I want to ask you a question: Do you think God has changed? Do you think he will "put up" with it?

No, He won't, because He doesn't change. God is who He has always been. He is immutable (1 Samuel 15:29; Malachi 3:6; Hebrews 6:18; James 1:17). He never changes; He's "the same yesterday and today and forever" (Hebrews 13:8).

His attitude toward sin is fundamental; it never changes. And His holiness commands judgment upon sin. If you don't believe this, take another look at the passion of the Christ on the cross of Calvary where in the holiness and justice of God Jesus became sin for us!

Beloved, do you know God? Do you know enough about God to fear Him in His holiness and adore Him as the perfect Father at the same time? I invite you to open His Word to us and read the passages I cited about His unchanging character.
.