Knowing God by J. I. Packer - "God Unchanging" (Chapter 7)

Knowing God by J. I. Packer
Part Two: “Behold Your God!”
“God Unchanging” (Chapter 7)

• We believe that the Bible is God’s Word
  
  • A lamp to our feet and a light to our path
  • Gives us the knowledge of God and his will
• So, we read, but we get discouraged because the Bible is an ancient book from another world.

Two Different Worlds

• Reading the Bible takes us into the ancient Near Eastern world.
• It is intensely interesting, but it seems very far away.
• How can God’s words and deeds in Bible times help us in the modern, digital age?
• It is hard for us at times to see how the two worlds link up. What is the application for us?
• The solution is not to resign ourselves to thinking that the Bible will always remain distant for us.

“…the crucial point is surely this. The sense of remoteness is an illusion which springs from seeking the link between our situation and that of the various Bible characters in the wrong place. It is true that in terms of space, time and culture, they and the historical epoch to which they belonged are a very long way away from us. But the link between them and us is not found at that level. The link is God himself. For the God with whom they had to do is the same God with whom we have to do.” – J. I. Packer

• We worship exactly the same God.
• God does not change at all.
• God is immutable.

Not Two Different Gods

1. God’s life does not change.
2. God’s character does not change.
3. God’s truth does not change.
4. God’s ways do not change.
5. God’s purposes do not change.
6. God’s Son does not change.

We Are to Be Like Them

“Where is the sense of distance and difference, then, between believers in Bible times and ourselves? It is excluded. On what grounds? On the grounds that God does not change.” – J. I. Packer

• Fellowship with God...
• Trust in his Word...
• Living by faith...
• Standing on the promises of God...

Are essentially the same realities for us today as they were for Old and New Testament believers.

“…amid all the changes and uncertainties of life in a nuclear age, God and his Christ remain the same—almighty to save. But the thought brings a searching challenge too. If our God is the same as the God of New Testament believers, how can we justify ourselves in resting content with an experience of communion with him, and a level of Christian conduct, that falls so far below theirs?” – J. I. Packer