January 21, 2025 • 29 mins
In this episode, we dive into the comforting truth of God’s unchanging nature. Join us as we explore how His faithfulness provides stability in life’s chaos, share personal stories of His steadfast care, and offer a simple practice to help you recognize His hand in your everyday life. Tune in for encouragement and a fresh perspective on the beauty of trusting an unshakable God.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to the Sojo Show with Jen and AJ, where
you'll dig deep into God's Wordalongside two imperfect,
frequently ineloquent women, aswe discover fresh ways to walk
out God's truth together.
Welcome to the Sojo Show,welcome back.
We are so glad that you're withus and we are in your ears.
(00:22):
Today.
This is Jen and I am here withAJ and we are talking about
attributes of God today.
But before we do that, ajthought of an interesting
question that we could kind ofask each other.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Yeah, I did, because we're going to talk about
something today that is a littlebit different or we have a
different term for it, Maybethat's a better way of saying it
and it just kind of made methink about all the things in
Christianity.
Yeah, the things inChristianity that we use, like
some of the words and languagewe use that we don't use
anywhere else.
(01:00):
So this is a question for youand if I, if my answer is the
same, I'll let you know.
So what is one word that youuse in Christian talk that you
don't use anywhere else?
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Um, okay, so the when you first said that the word
that I came up with was, in fact, propitiation, and is that the
word?
Speaker 2 (01:29):
you came up with too.
Yes, that's mine too.
That is totally mine.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
Yes, yes, and because it is such an interesting word
and it is such a great word, butit's a word that I've never
heard in the English language,other than in relationship to
the gospel.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Yeah, I think a close second for me would be the word
sanctification, because that'sreally not something we use
outside of Christian talk either.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
Yeah, yeah, that seems so common that you I
didn't really have reallythought about that, um, but yeah
, you're right.
Sanctification make it morelike Christ.
So propitiation we're.
We're leaving people hangingthat don't know what the word is
so we, we need to define allthe words today.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Is that what we're saying?
Well, let's just at leastdefine that one.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
Everybody.
I think everybody understandssanctification.
So justification, salvation, uh, sanctification, so
justification, salvation,sanctification is basically our
walk, if you want to think of itlike that, our becoming more
like Christ, and thenglorification is when one day we
will see him face to face, andso those are like the three
aspects of salvation, if youwill.
(02:41):
And so that word, I think it'srelatively common to most
believers.
Propitiation may not be a wordthat's super common.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
So and this is not our topic at all, but give us a
five second definition or I will.
Okay, well, my five second andyours would be different, but my
five second definition would bea wrath absorber.
Propitiation is kind of likeGod becomes the, or Jesus
becomes the sponge for God'swrath that is poured out against
sin, because that has to happen, right.
(03:12):
His justice demands punishmentand Jesus is the propitiation
for our sin, which means he isthe one who takes that our sin,
which means he is the one whotakes that wrath of God and
absorbs it.
So that's my visual.
I know it's not like anofficial definition of the word
(03:35):
propitiation, but that to me hashelped me understand it, just
in visual terms, and that'sinteresting because my thought,
my five-second definition, isanother visual, but I think of
it as like the great exchange.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
It's like when Christ takes God's wrath on our behalf
yes, our sin, he does absorb itand then he exchanges it for
his righteousness.
So we not only have our sintaken, but we are given the
righteousness of God.
So it's the great exchange thathappens on the cross.
The bottom line is, it is whatis happening on the cross at
(04:09):
Calvary by Christ, because ofwhat God has done in sending him
, and so it's a great word.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Okay, so I just have to say this because this is
actually quite funny.
So I just looked it up reallyquickly to see, like, what the
official definition is, and itsays propitiation is the act of
propitiating.
So there you go.
So, ladies and gentlemen,there's your definition.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
What does it say?
Propitiating is.
Now I want to know.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
Well, it says the act of appeasing the wrath and
conciliating the favor of anoffended person.
So that's good.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
Okay, so wrath favor the whole thing.
We got it.
We got it, excellent, all right.
So why did we?
Why did this even come up,though?
Is because we are discussingtwo attributes of God, one of
which and they're both very,very intertwined, just like all
the attributes that we've talkedabout are.
You know, last week we talkedabout love and how that is just
(05:11):
kind of part of everything.
Sovereignty is part ofeverything.
Holiness is all part ofeverything.
It's all wrapped at all.
It's who God is.
It's hard to even wrap ourbrains around the fact that God
is all these things, but the twocharacteristics we're thinking
about specifically, definitelyI'm very thankful that they go
together, because one isfaithfulness, which I think we
(05:36):
all have a general idea of whatthat is that we could talk about
a little bit, but the secondone and this is where this
conversation came into play asfar as the words is immutability
.
It's God's immutability.
So that word is a word that youmay not be familiar with, and
it is actually a theologicalconcept, okay, and it really
(06:01):
just basically means that Goddoesn't change.
It's just His unchanging nature.
He is unchangeable in character, in essence, in everything he
is constant and unchangeable,and so I love that, and I
especially love it inrelationship to faithfulness
(06:23):
right.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Yeah, I just want to say too that you know, when you
think about immutable and beingunchangeable, it's not that he
he doesn't change I meandefinitely he doesn't, but it's
that he can't.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
No, he, he is unchanged.
That is that's part of who heis.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
He is not, that's part of who he is.
He is not Right, he's notcapable of changing.
So I mean, we're capable of alot of change, you know, in our
disposition and different thingsand in our character even.
But God is not because he'salready perfect.
He's already perfect, so it'simpossible for him to change.
(07:05):
It's impossible for him to lovemore, it's impossible for him
to love less, it's impossiblefor him to be more holy, it's
impossible for him to be lessholy, like it is impossible for
him to change, and all of theseattributes that we are looking
at.
And that's really encouragingfor us because we can, when we
approach God, relying on thatcharacter, that whatever aspect
(07:29):
of his character that we need tobe relying on, we can be sure
that he's not going to just likegive it and then take it back,
and give it and take it back, orhis response would be different
today than it was yesterday.
That's impossible for him to do.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
Yeah, this is not a characteristic that we are
thinking about, but it comes tomy mind when I think about
immutability, and that isimpassibility and I have often
struggled with that.
Meaning, basically, he his not,but he's not able to experience
emotional change.
It's part of his immutability,but it has to do with like
emotions, like he does not.
(08:13):
He does not suffer, he does nothe, he is not apathetic.
He still has this divine he's,he's I heard somebody describe
it as he is maximally alive, andand and, and I found this the
example that was given a longtime ago to me on this, and I
(08:33):
may get it wrong honestly,because it's been a little while
, but when you think about howour emotional states and and
like it, when we're in crisis,and we're in crisis, if we are
depending on someone who's justas subject to crisis and to
emotional turmoil as we are, asthe created, I mean that would
(08:57):
be, it just wouldn't be as aneffective of a rescuer, a sailor
.
But God is not that.
God is, he is, he just is.
That is His character, and sohe doesn't wash back and forth
with the waves, he is steady, heis steadfast, his steadfast
(09:19):
love.
We talked about that, and so Ithink this immutability, this
impassibility we talked aboutthat and so I think this
immutability, this impassibility, it's such a characteristic
that we cannot understand,because of how fragile we are.
How fragile we are, but I don'twant to serve a God who is just
(09:40):
as fragile as I am.
I don't want to serve a God whocan change, who can decide, who
can go back, can go back on hisword, who can, who, who can't
stand firm in a crisis, who Ican't rely on as my rock.
And I don't yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
I I like how you brought up the impassibility too
, because, like some people,like you mentioned, some people
that we can go to are going tobe steadfast for us, you know,
but others they may fly off thehandle and, like you said, if
you, if you're not sure whichresponse you're going to get,
(10:13):
it's really hard to be able togo to that kind of person.
And a lot of times we can think,well, god's heard from me too
many times, you knowno-transcript, doubtful of his
(10:35):
affections towards us, and so wehold things back.
Um, and so, like our, weproject those things that we see
in other people on God and wetalked about this either last
week or the week before and wehave to, I have to make a
conscious choice not to do that.
You know, like no, god isn'tthat way.
(10:55):
He's not going to respond theway others would in this
situation.
You know he, he is, he canhandle it.
You know he can handle it, nomatter the depth, no matter how
awful it is, whatever it is I'mtaking to him, he can handle it,
he can handle my junk and hecan handle the weight of the
(11:17):
world, and so I can be confidenttaking those things to him.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
Yeah, and, and you know we think about these things
and these can be kind of heavytheological concepts to some
extent, and we believe them.
But as we live life andeveryone who's listening to our
voices knows you've lived somelife and as you live life, when
you are faced with thatsuffering, that trial, that is
(11:50):
when the rubber meets the road,so to speak, and you need that
impassibility and thatimmutability.
You need that mighty fortressthat is your God, right?
We say these things and we haveto say these things in the good
times, and we have to remindourselves of these things in the
(12:10):
good times, because when thetrials hit, if we haven't times,
because when the trials hit, ifwe haven't constantly reminded
ourselves over and over and overagain, then it's easy to forget
.
And we can trust Him because hewill not, he will not change,
and we forget.
We forget that.
So it's important to bereminded.
(12:32):
That's why we're doing thiswhole series.
We know these characteristicsof God, but how often do we
forget them when we're in thevalley?
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Yeah, and I think too , culture kind of encourages us
to forget them, because cultureoftentimes says well, you know
the God of the Old Testament isnot the God of the New Testament
and you know it's irrelevant,like all of that is irrelevant
because you know we live in adifferent New Testament and you
know it's irrelevant, like allof that is irrelevant because
you know we live in a differentsociety today, and so it's like
(13:02):
everything is trying to tell usthat God has changed his mind on
different things because timehas changed and because culture
has changed, and that justsimply is not true.
So this is another reason whywe have to know God's word and
then know him through his wordand understand the biblical
(13:26):
description of who God is,because it can so easily be
tested by the winds of culture.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
Yeah, well and don't?
We want our cake and want toeat it too.
We want the God, the holy God,the God that is powerful, the
God that will answer our prayersand the God that will heal and
the God that will redeem.
We want that God, but yet wekind of I don't know about the
God who is just and who is, youknow, wrathful and who cannot
(13:58):
tolerate sin.
I mean, right Culture holds onto this good, loving God.
Well, god would never do thisbecause he's so loving.
Well, that's all part of who heis.
And next week we're going todive a little bit deeper into
some of those things.
The justice of God, and we haveto take it all and we have to
(14:21):
be so very thankful of it all,number one, but we have to just
adore and honor and stand in aweof it, all of all of it.
We can't pick and choose, likeculture likes to do.
We cannot pick and choose.
God is God and it's the sameGod that Abraham and Isaac and
(14:43):
Moses and Ruth and Peter andPaul.
It's the same God from thebeginning of time to one day
when we stand before him andthere is no more.
It is the same immutable God,and praise God for that.
Praise him for that.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Yeah, and if we wanted him to be something
different, he would not be God,you know like he would lose his
Godness.
And so like for us to wantsomething different or to want
him to be different in our dayand age now than he was, you
know, 2000, 5000 years ago, likewe.
Why, why would we want that?
Speaker 1 (15:25):
So, yeah, well, when we hold on to that too, then,
thinking about the nextcharacteristic, when we hold on
to that, he cannot change.
All the other characteristicsare so much more powerful, right
?
So, even the ones we've alreadytalked about His mercy, his
love, his sovereignty, hisholiness none of that will
change.
It has not and it will notchange.
(15:45):
Well, today we're talking alittle bit about His
faithfulness, and how blessedare we that His faithfulness,
which is His what's a gooddefinition?
His promise-keeping aspect, hisability to keep His promise, to
keep His words, hisfaithfulness will also never
(16:06):
change.
It's not wishy-washy likehumans are.
We break promises all the timeto each other, even within the
church, because we're imperfect.
God is perfect and will never,will never, fall back on His
faithfulness.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
Yeah, this is one of those things you know.
And also it says great is Hisfaithfulness.
You know, his faithfulness isone of those bedrock
characteristics that if, if itweren't there, it's kind of like
it's love.
I mean, if it weren't there, wewould all be like just consumed
because we are so unfaithful,even when we want to be faithful
(16:50):
, even when our hearts want tokeep our promises and keep our
intentions and do the rightthing, like we, still our human,
our humanness prevents us, likewe have limitations that
prevent us from doing what ourhearts even desire to do.
And Paul talks about that inRomans 7,.
You know, like our faithful,our ability and capacity for
(17:12):
faithfulness is limited, but hisis not, and that is how we can
get back up again, again andagain, time after time.
It's because his faithfulnessthat encourages us and
strengthens us to keeppersevering and keep running our
race and keep saying yes to himafter we've fallen.
(17:32):
So that is just, it's just soimportant to our ability to obey
Him and be His follower.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
Yeah.
So we recently in Sojo Academyhave gone through the Old
Testament.
We've done a little OldTestament survey in pointing
through the Old Testament andwhere we see Christ and how we
can see the entire canon ofScripture.
And you cannot study or readthe Old Testament without and
(18:04):
getting a big picture of the OldTestament without seeing this
characteristic of faithfulness,right, how his people failed and
he was faithful and then theyfailed again and then he was
faithful again and you know,it's just, I mean how exhausting
he must have been.
But he was not exhaustedbecause he cannot tire, right?
(18:30):
So how do we wrap our brainsaround this?
Because we have a humanexperience.
So the faithfulness there thathe showed to his people through
Exodus, through the entire OldTestament, he also shows to us
today and that goes back tomercy and grace.
I mean that's a grace, right?
(18:51):
We don't deserve that.
I don't deserve Hisfaithfulness.
But yet he's chosen to give itto me to be faithful.
And he's promised to see methrough.
He's promised that all thingswork together for my good and
His glory.
He's promised me that one dayI'll see Him face to face.
(19:13):
Because I'm trusting in Him,I'm trusting in His work on the
cross.
I know these things and I canput my flag in the ground
because of these things and nomatter what kind of shifting
sand is happening under my feetand guys, I have a lot of
(19:35):
shifting sand under my feetright now, no matter what's
going on.
I may feel like I'm floundering.
You may feel like you'refloundering, but you can trust
in the foundation.
You may feel the sand shifting,but the foundation is strong
and it is sure and he isfaithful to his word and it will
(19:59):
not change.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
I think that's really just to make it personal.
I think it's really powerfulwhen we think how, in what ways,
we are relying on hisfaithfulness in our lives.
I think it just puts a littlebit of meat on the bones and
helps us to understand andrecognize his faithfulness in
(20:26):
our lives.
I know, for me personally, oneof the ways that I see his
faithfulness is in my utterfailures and just in in things
that you know.
I set, kind of like what I wastalking about earlier.
I set these intentions.
I'm like, okay, lord, I'm goingto do this and I'm going to,
(20:48):
I'm going to put this asidebecause it's not benefiting me
in my walk with you.
And then two weeks later I'llbe like, oh well, was it really
that bad?
You know, and before I know it,like I'm spending more time
scrolling this thing that I saidI was not going to do that
anymore.
You know, and and just rememberyou mean, that's a small example
, but just remembering, okay,he's, he's faithful to me and he
(21:20):
is, he's faithful to forgive meand to cleanse me of all
unrighteousness.
So he's not only there saying,okay, I'm, I'm forgiving you
again for that, but like he, heremoves it, he, he washes me
clean of that and he gives me anew heart Like he's.
He's faithful to do that timeafter time after time and when I
think about that and reallyjust adore him for that, that is
(21:43):
what motivates me to then dowhat I need to do.
It's his faithfulness towardsme that motivates me.
But if I don't take the time toreally recognize that in my
life and think about it andmeditate on it, meditate on his
character and how he hasdemonstrated that to me in my
(22:04):
lives, then I'm missing out onthe blessing of that.
I'm missing out on themotivation that thinking about
that and recognizing it gives.
So to me it's really importantto like personalize these
characteristics of God andrecognize them in my own life,
because that is powerful, thatis transformative, really, when
(22:26):
we give it the space that itneeds.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
Mm-hmm, and even when we do forget and when we are
faithless.
In 2 Timothy it says that whenwe are faithless, he is still
faithful.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
And sometimes we are.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
Oftentimes I am.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:50):
And it's in those moments where we need to
remember His faithfulness themost that we tend to sometimes
even fall away and be lessfaithful to the disciplines that
we know that are going to getus through.
And remembering, like you said,remembering the times in our
own lives.
This is why keeping journals isso important.
(23:12):
Keep your prayer journal.
Go back when you're in thisperiod where you feel like
you're questioning everythingand you even maybe question
God's faithfulness.
You know, because we're humanand we do that.
If that happens, go back to theBible yes, the Old Testament,
(23:35):
the New Testament.
Go back to the Word, 100% first, but then go back to your own
life.
Like AJ said, go back andremember where he got you
through a very difficultsituation, a circumstance,
whatever it might look like, andyou now maybe you're on the
(23:56):
other side of it, or maybe younever got to the other side of
it, but he's walking with you init.
Right?
Because God doesn't alwayspromise that we're going to come
out of every circumstancesmelling like roses.
That's not His promise.
His promise is not that we'renot going to suffer, right, in
fact, it's the opposite, andit's not that we're going to.
(24:19):
You know that every prayer isgoing to be answered to our
satisfaction as humans, but itis that he will never leave us
or forsake us, and that meanswhen you're walking in that
circumstance, you can trust that.
And so document that right andI'm preaching to myself, because
(24:42):
the last thing you want to dois go back and remember you know
other things when you're in themiddle of something.
But that's important.
It's important.
So if you are in a sweet periodof your life right now, we all
have things we can be gratefulfor.
Write them down and remind yourheart of them over and over and
(25:04):
over again.
Remind your heart that that isGod.
And even when you don't feel it, because your human emotions
are all awry and crazy andyou're grieving and you're
hurting and someone's wrongedyou or you're sick or whatever
it is, in that holy, sovereign,loving, merciful, immutable,
(25:44):
faithful God.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
Yeah, I think that's a great word to end on, and if
you are someone who is in aposition right now where your
faith feels obliterated andyou're not sure even where to go
with that, you can rest in thefact that God is faithful to you
, even when you can't musterenough faith to trust him.
(26:08):
And I have been there and Ithink maybe I'll be there again.
It's not a good place to be,it's it's it's.
It does not feel good at all,um, but he is faithful and
that's where we have to.
Ultimately, our hope, oursecurity and our rest has to
(26:30):
find its peace in him.
You know, our faith is built onnothing less than Jesus' blood
and righteousness, and thatrighteousness includes his
faithfulness, his promises thathe will not revoke and give up
on and his immutable character.
And we're safe.
(26:50):
We are safe in him we're safe.
Speaker 1 (26:59):
We are safe in him.
And lean in to him, to his wordand to a community of believers
who will remind you of that.
Don't isolate.
When you get those moments,lean in, lean in and let him
love you.
Yeah, okay, all right, gosh, itseemed a little heavier than I
thought it was going to be.
Speaker 2 (27:17):
Sorry, we we ended on a maybe a little somber note,
but I think it's a good note.
It's a hopeful note because wedo have.
We do have a savior.
That's that's his name.
He is a rescuer, he is a savior.
That means that we need him tobe and that's okay.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
Yes, yes.
So these were good things tothink about for me today and
hopefully, if you're listeningto us, it will inspire you to
look up.
You know we could look up 20, Idon't know way more than that.
200 probably verses about hisfaithfulness in the Bible and
his immutability.
(27:56):
So I guess our challenge, likeit has been the last couple of
weeks, is to go to his word.
Go to his word.
See what it says about thesecharacteristics of God.
Dig deeper in it.
If you want to dig deeper,we're studying these in Sojo
Academy.
We'd love to have you.
(28:17):
But regardless, remember them,remember them and trust them.
Yes, all right, and we will seeyou next week.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
Yes, we will be back next week with something else.
I don't know what it is yet,but it'll be something.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
It is our last podcast on characteristics of
God and I'm trying to rememberthem.
One is just.
Anyway, we'll get it.
We'll get it.
We'll be here.
Listen to us.
Yes, we'll be sure to be back.
We'll be live next week.
All right, we hope that youhave a great day, whatever day
you're listening, and we'll seeyou then.
Bye, everybody, bye.
(28:56):
Thank you for listening to theSojo Show.
We are so grateful that you didand we're so thankful for the
opportunity to spread the goodnews of the gospel in such a fun
and unique way.
If you enjoyed the show, we'dlove it if you would leave us a
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Also, tell your friends.
(29:17):
That's the number one way weget people finding out about who
we are, and we reallyappreciate you sharing the Sojo
Show.
We'll be back every Mondaydigging into the truth of God's
word, sharing, laughing,glorifying God and all that we
do, and hopefully encouragingwomen from all over the world in
(29:39):
the truth of the gospel.
Talk to you, then.
Welcome to the Sojo Show with Jen and AJ, where
you'll dig deep into God's Wordalongside two imperfect,
frequently ineloquent women, aswe discover fresh ways to walk
out God's truth together.
Welcome to the Sojo Show,welcome back.
We are so glad that you're withus and we are in your ears.
(00:22):
Today.
This is Jen and I am here withAJ and we are talking about
attributes of God today.
But before we do that, ajthought of an interesting
question that we could kind ofask each other.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Yeah, I did, because we're going to talk about
something today that is a littlebit different or we have a
different term for it, Maybethat's a better way of saying it
and it just kind of made methink about all the things in
Christianity.
Yeah, the things inChristianity that we use, like
some of the words and languagewe use that we don't use
anywhere else.
(01:00):
So this is a question for youand if I, if my answer is the
same, I'll let you know.
So what is one word that youuse in Christian talk that you
don't use anywhere else?
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Um, okay, so the when you first said that the word
that I came up with was, in fact, propitiation, and is that the
word?
Speaker 2 (01:29):
you came up with too.
Yes, that's mine too.
That is totally mine.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
Yes, yes, and because it is such an interesting word
and it is such a great word, butit's a word that I've never
heard in the English language,other than in relationship to
the gospel.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Yeah, I think a close second for me would be the word
sanctification, because that'sreally not something we use
outside of Christian talk either.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
Yeah, yeah, that seems so common that you I
didn't really have reallythought about that, um, but yeah
, you're right.
Sanctification make it morelike Christ.
So propitiation we're.
We're leaving people hangingthat don't know what the word is
so we, we need to define allthe words today.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Is that what we're saying?
Well, let's just at leastdefine that one.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
Everybody.
I think everybody understandssanctification.
So justification, salvation, uh, sanctification, so
justification, salvation,sanctification is basically our
walk, if you want to think of itlike that, our becoming more
like Christ, and thenglorification is when one day we
will see him face to face, andso those are like the three
aspects of salvation, if youwill.
(02:41):
And so that word, I think it'srelatively common to most
believers.
Propitiation may not be a wordthat's super common.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
So and this is not our topic at all, but give us a
five second definition or I will.
Okay, well, my five second andyours would be different, but my
five second definition would bea wrath absorber.
Propitiation is kind of likeGod becomes the, or Jesus
becomes the sponge for God'swrath that is poured out against
sin, because that has to happen, right.
(03:12):
His justice demands punishmentand Jesus is the propitiation
for our sin, which means he isthe one who takes that our sin,
which means he is the one whotakes that wrath of God and
absorbs it.
So that's my visual.
I know it's not like anofficial definition of the word
(03:35):
propitiation, but that to me hashelped me understand it, just
in visual terms, and that'sinteresting because my thought,
my five-second definition, isanother visual, but I think of
it as like the great exchange.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
It's like when Christ takes God's wrath on our behalf
yes, our sin, he does absorb itand then he exchanges it for
his righteousness.
So we not only have our sintaken, but we are given the
righteousness of God.
So it's the great exchange thathappens on the cross.
The bottom line is, it is whatis happening on the cross at
(04:09):
Calvary by Christ, because ofwhat God has done in sending him
, and so it's a great word.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Okay, so I just have to say this because this is
actually quite funny.
So I just looked it up reallyquickly to see, like, what the
official definition is, and itsays propitiation is the act of
propitiating.
So there you go.
So, ladies and gentlemen,there's your definition.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
What does it say?
Propitiating is.
Now I want to know.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
Well, it says the act of appeasing the wrath and
conciliating the favor of anoffended person.
So that's good.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
Okay, so wrath favor the whole thing.
We got it.
We got it, excellent, all right.
So why did we?
Why did this even come up,though?
Is because we are discussingtwo attributes of God, one of
which and they're both very,very intertwined, just like all
the attributes that we've talkedabout are.
You know, last week we talkedabout love and how that is just
(05:11):
kind of part of everything.
Sovereignty is part ofeverything.
Holiness is all part ofeverything.
It's all wrapped at all.
It's who God is.
It's hard to even wrap ourbrains around the fact that God
is all these things, but the twocharacteristics we're thinking
about specifically, definitelyI'm very thankful that they go
together, because one isfaithfulness, which I think we
(05:36):
all have a general idea of whatthat is that we could talk about
a little bit, but the secondone and this is where this
conversation came into play asfar as the words is immutability
.
It's God's immutability.
So that word is a word that youmay not be familiar with, and
it is actually a theologicalconcept, okay, and it really
(06:01):
just basically means that Goddoesn't change.
It's just His unchanging nature.
He is unchangeable in character, in essence, in everything he
is constant and unchangeable,and so I love that, and I
especially love it inrelationship to faithfulness
(06:23):
right.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Yeah, I just want to say too that you know, when you
think about immutable and beingunchangeable, it's not that he
he doesn't change I meandefinitely he doesn't, but it's
that he can't.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
No, he, he is unchanged.
That is that's part of who heis.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
He is not, that's part of who he is.
He is not Right, he's notcapable of changing.
So I mean, we're capable of alot of change, you know, in our
disposition and different thingsand in our character even.
But God is not because he'salready perfect.
He's already perfect, so it'simpossible for him to change.
(07:05):
It's impossible for him to lovemore, it's impossible for him
to love less, it's impossiblefor him to be more holy, it's
impossible for him to be lessholy, like it is impossible for
him to change, and all of theseattributes that we are looking
at.
And that's really encouragingfor us because we can, when we
approach God, relying on thatcharacter, that whatever aspect
(07:29):
of his character that we need tobe relying on, we can be sure
that he's not going to just likegive it and then take it back,
and give it and take it back, orhis response would be different
today than it was yesterday.
That's impossible for him to do.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
Yeah, this is not a characteristic that we are
thinking about, but it comes tomy mind when I think about
immutability, and that isimpassibility and I have often
struggled with that.
Meaning, basically, he his not,but he's not able to experience
emotional change.
It's part of his immutability,but it has to do with like
emotions, like he does not.
(08:13):
He does not suffer, he does nothe, he is not apathetic.
He still has this divine he's,he's I heard somebody describe
it as he is maximally alive, andand and, and I found this the
example that was given a longtime ago to me on this, and I
(08:33):
may get it wrong honestly,because it's been a little while
, but when you think about howour emotional states and and
like it, when we're in crisis,and we're in crisis, if we are
depending on someone who's justas subject to crisis and to
emotional turmoil as we are, asthe created, I mean that would
(08:57):
be, it just wouldn't be as aneffective of a rescuer, a sailor
.
But God is not that.
God is, he is, he just is.
That is His character, and sohe doesn't wash back and forth
with the waves, he is steady, heis steadfast, his steadfast
(09:19):
love.
We talked about that, and so Ithink this immutability, this
impassibility we talked aboutthat and so I think this
immutability, this impassibility, it's such a characteristic
that we cannot understand,because of how fragile we are.
How fragile we are, but I don'twant to serve a God who is just
(09:40):
as fragile as I am.
I don't want to serve a God whocan change, who can decide, who
can go back, can go back on hisword, who can, who, who can't
stand firm in a crisis, who Ican't rely on as my rock.
And I don't yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
I I like how you brought up the impassibility too
, because, like some people,like you mentioned, some people
that we can go to are going tobe steadfast for us, you know,
but others they may fly off thehandle and, like you said, if
you, if you're not sure whichresponse you're going to get,
(10:13):
it's really hard to be able togo to that kind of person.
And a lot of times we can think,well, god's heard from me too
many times, you knowno-transcript, doubtful of his
(10:35):
affections towards us, and so wehold things back.
Um, and so, like our, weproject those things that we see
in other people on God and wetalked about this either last
week or the week before and wehave to, I have to make a
conscious choice not to do that.
You know, like no, god isn'tthat way.
(10:55):
He's not going to respond theway others would in this
situation.
You know he, he is, he canhandle it.
You know he can handle it, nomatter the depth, no matter how
awful it is, whatever it is I'mtaking to him, he can handle it,
he can handle my junk and hecan handle the weight of the
(11:17):
world, and so I can be confidenttaking those things to him.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
Yeah, and, and you know we think about these things
and these can be kind of heavytheological concepts to some
extent, and we believe them.
But as we live life andeveryone who's listening to our
voices knows you've lived somelife and as you live life, when
you are faced with thatsuffering, that trial, that is
(11:50):
when the rubber meets the road,so to speak, and you need that
impassibility and thatimmutability.
You need that mighty fortressthat is your God, right?
We say these things and we haveto say these things in the good
times, and we have to remindourselves of these things in the
(12:10):
good times, because when thetrials hit, if we haven't times,
because when the trials hit, ifwe haven't constantly reminded
ourselves over and over and overagain, then it's easy to forget
.
And we can trust Him because hewill not, he will not change,
and we forget.
We forget that.
So it's important to bereminded.
(12:32):
That's why we're doing thiswhole series.
We know these characteristicsof God, but how often do we
forget them when we're in thevalley?
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Yeah, and I think too , culture kind of encourages us
to forget them, because cultureoftentimes says well, you know
the God of the Old Testament isnot the God of the New Testament
and you know it's irrelevant,like all of that is irrelevant
because you know we live in adifferent New Testament and you
know it's irrelevant, like allof that is irrelevant because
you know we live in a differentsociety today, and so it's like
(13:02):
everything is trying to tell usthat God has changed his mind on
different things because timehas changed and because culture
has changed, and that justsimply is not true.
So this is another reason whywe have to know God's word and
then know him through his wordand understand the biblical
(13:26):
description of who God is,because it can so easily be
tested by the winds of culture.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
Yeah, well and don't?
We want our cake and want toeat it too.
We want the God, the holy God,the God that is powerful, the
God that will answer our prayersand the God that will heal and
the God that will redeem.
We want that God, but yet wekind of I don't know about the
God who is just and who is, youknow, wrathful and who cannot
(13:58):
tolerate sin.
I mean, right Culture holds onto this good, loving God.
Well, god would never do thisbecause he's so loving.
Well, that's all part of who heis.
And next week we're going todive a little bit deeper into
some of those things.
The justice of God, and we haveto take it all and we have to
(14:21):
be so very thankful of it all,number one, but we have to just
adore and honor and stand in aweof it, all of all of it.
We can't pick and choose, likeculture likes to do.
We cannot pick and choose.
God is God and it's the sameGod that Abraham and Isaac and
(14:43):
Moses and Ruth and Peter andPaul.
It's the same God from thebeginning of time to one day
when we stand before him andthere is no more.
It is the same immutable God,and praise God for that.
Praise him for that.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Yeah, and if we wanted him to be something
different, he would not be God,you know like he would lose his
Godness.
And so like for us to wantsomething different or to want
him to be different in our dayand age now than he was, you
know, 2000, 5000 years ago, likewe.
Why, why would we want that?
Speaker 1 (15:25):
So, yeah, well, when we hold on to that too, then,
thinking about the nextcharacteristic, when we hold on
to that, he cannot change.
All the other characteristicsare so much more powerful, right
?
So, even the ones we've alreadytalked about His mercy, his
love, his sovereignty, hisholiness none of that will
change.
It has not and it will notchange.
(15:45):
Well, today we're talking alittle bit about His
faithfulness, and how blessedare we that His faithfulness,
which is His what's a gooddefinition?
His promise-keeping aspect, hisability to keep His promise, to
keep His words, hisfaithfulness will also never
(16:06):
change.
It's not wishy-washy likehumans are.
We break promises all the timeto each other, even within the
church, because we're imperfect.
God is perfect and will never,will never, fall back on His
faithfulness.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
Yeah, this is one of those things you know.
And also it says great is Hisfaithfulness.
You know, his faithfulness isone of those bedrock
characteristics that if, if itweren't there, it's kind of like
it's love.
I mean, if it weren't there, wewould all be like just consumed
because we are so unfaithful,even when we want to be faithful
(16:50):
, even when our hearts want tokeep our promises and keep our
intentions and do the rightthing, like we, still our human,
our humanness prevents us, likewe have limitations that
prevent us from doing what ourhearts even desire to do.
And Paul talks about that inRomans 7,.
You know, like our faithful,our ability and capacity for
(17:12):
faithfulness is limited, but hisis not, and that is how we can
get back up again, again andagain, time after time.
It's because his faithfulnessthat encourages us and
strengthens us to keeppersevering and keep running our
race and keep saying yes to himafter we've fallen.
(17:32):
So that is just, it's just soimportant to our ability to obey
Him and be His follower.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
Yeah.
So we recently in Sojo Academyhave gone through the Old
Testament.
We've done a little OldTestament survey in pointing
through the Old Testament andwhere we see Christ and how we
can see the entire canon ofScripture.
And you cannot study or readthe Old Testament without and
(18:04):
getting a big picture of the OldTestament without seeing this
characteristic of faithfulness,right, how his people failed and
he was faithful and then theyfailed again and then he was
faithful again and you know,it's just, I mean how exhausting
he must have been.
But he was not exhaustedbecause he cannot tire, right?
(18:30):
So how do we wrap our brainsaround this?
Because we have a humanexperience.
So the faithfulness there thathe showed to his people through
Exodus, through the entire OldTestament, he also shows to us
today and that goes back tomercy and grace.
I mean that's a grace, right?
(18:51):
We don't deserve that.
I don't deserve Hisfaithfulness.
But yet he's chosen to give itto me to be faithful.
And he's promised to see methrough.
He's promised that all thingswork together for my good and
His glory.
He's promised me that one dayI'll see Him face to face.
(19:13):
Because I'm trusting in Him,I'm trusting in His work on the
cross.
I know these things and I canput my flag in the ground
because of these things and nomatter what kind of shifting
sand is happening under my feetand guys, I have a lot of
(19:35):
shifting sand under my feetright now, no matter what's
going on.
I may feel like I'm floundering.
You may feel like you'refloundering, but you can trust
in the foundation.
You may feel the sand shifting,but the foundation is strong
and it is sure and he isfaithful to his word and it will
(19:59):
not change.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
I think that's really just to make it personal.
I think it's really powerfulwhen we think how, in what ways,
we are relying on hisfaithfulness in our lives.
I think it just puts a littlebit of meat on the bones and
helps us to understand andrecognize his faithfulness in
(20:26):
our lives.
I know, for me personally, oneof the ways that I see his
faithfulness is in my utterfailures and just in in things
that you know.
I set, kind of like what I wastalking about earlier.
I set these intentions.
I'm like, okay, lord, I'm goingto do this and I'm going to,
(20:48):
I'm going to put this asidebecause it's not benefiting me
in my walk with you.
And then two weeks later I'llbe like, oh well, was it really
that bad?
You know, and before I know it,like I'm spending more time
scrolling this thing that I saidI was not going to do that
anymore.
You know, and and just rememberyou mean, that's a small example
, but just remembering, okay,he's, he's faithful to me and he
(21:20):
is, he's faithful to forgive meand to cleanse me of all
unrighteousness.
So he's not only there saying,okay, I'm, I'm forgiving you
again for that, but like he, heremoves it, he, he washes me
clean of that and he gives me anew heart Like he's.
He's faithful to do that timeafter time after time and when I
think about that and reallyjust adore him for that, that is
(21:43):
what motivates me to then dowhat I need to do.
It's his faithfulness towardsme that motivates me.
But if I don't take the time toreally recognize that in my
life and think about it andmeditate on it, meditate on his
character and how he hasdemonstrated that to me in my
(22:04):
lives, then I'm missing out onthe blessing of that.
I'm missing out on themotivation that thinking about
that and recognizing it gives.
So to me it's really importantto like personalize these
characteristics of God andrecognize them in my own life,
because that is powerful, thatis transformative, really, when
(22:26):
we give it the space that itneeds.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
Mm-hmm, and even when we do forget and when we are
faithless.
In 2 Timothy it says that whenwe are faithless, he is still
faithful.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
And sometimes we are.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
Oftentimes I am.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:50):
And it's in those moments where we need to
remember His faithfulness themost that we tend to sometimes
even fall away and be lessfaithful to the disciplines that
we know that are going to getus through.
And remembering, like you said,remembering the times in our
own lives.
This is why keeping journals isso important.
(23:12):
Keep your prayer journal.
Go back when you're in thisperiod where you feel like
you're questioning everythingand you even maybe question
God's faithfulness.
You know, because we're humanand we do that.
If that happens, go back to theBible yes, the Old Testament,
(23:35):
the New Testament.
Go back to the Word, 100% first, but then go back to your own
life.
Like AJ said, go back andremember where he got you
through a very difficultsituation, a circumstance,
whatever it might look like, andyou now maybe you're on the
(23:56):
other side of it, or maybe younever got to the other side of
it, but he's walking with you init.
Right?
Because God doesn't alwayspromise that we're going to come
out of every circumstancesmelling like roses.
That's not His promise.
His promise is not that we'renot going to suffer, right, in
fact, it's the opposite, andit's not that we're going to.
(24:19):
You know that every prayer isgoing to be answered to our
satisfaction as humans, but itis that he will never leave us
or forsake us, and that meanswhen you're walking in that
circumstance, you can trust that.
And so document that right andI'm preaching to myself, because
(24:42):
the last thing you want to dois go back and remember you know
other things when you're in themiddle of something.
But that's important.
It's important.
So if you are in a sweet periodof your life right now, we all
have things we can be gratefulfor.
Write them down and remind yourheart of them over and over and
(25:04):
over again.
Remind your heart that that isGod.
And even when you don't feel it, because your human emotions
are all awry and crazy andyou're grieving and you're
hurting and someone's wrongedyou or you're sick or whatever
it is, in that holy, sovereign,loving, merciful, immutable,
(25:44):
faithful God.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
Yeah, I think that's a great word to end on, and if
you are someone who is in aposition right now where your
faith feels obliterated andyou're not sure even where to go
with that, you can rest in thefact that God is faithful to you
, even when you can't musterenough faith to trust him.
(26:08):
And I have been there and Ithink maybe I'll be there again.
It's not a good place to be,it's it's it's.
It does not feel good at all,um, but he is faithful and
that's where we have to.
Ultimately, our hope, oursecurity and our rest has to
(26:30):
find its peace in him.
You know, our faith is built onnothing less than Jesus' blood
and righteousness, and thatrighteousness includes his
faithfulness, his promises thathe will not revoke and give up
on and his immutable character.
And we're safe.
(26:50):
We are safe in him we're safe.
Speaker 1 (26:59):
We are safe in him.
And lean in to him, to his wordand to a community of believers
who will remind you of that.
Don't isolate.
When you get those moments,lean in, lean in and let him
love you.
Yeah, okay, all right, gosh, itseemed a little heavier than I
thought it was going to be.
Speaker 2 (27:17):
Sorry, we we ended on a maybe a little somber note,
but I think it's a good note.
It's a hopeful note because wedo have.
We do have a savior.
That's that's his name.
He is a rescuer, he is a savior.
That means that we need him tobe and that's okay.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
Yes, yes.
So these were good things tothink about for me today and
hopefully, if you're listeningto us, it will inspire you to
look up.
You know we could look up 20, Idon't know way more than that.
200 probably verses about hisfaithfulness in the Bible and
his immutability.
(27:56):
So I guess our challenge, likeit has been the last couple of
weeks, is to go to his word.
Go to his word.
See what it says about thesecharacteristics of God.
Dig deeper in it.
If you want to dig deeper,we're studying these in Sojo
Academy.
We'd love to have you.
(28:17):
But regardless, remember them,remember them and trust them.
Yes, all right, and we will seeyou next week.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
Yes, we will be back next week with something else.
I don't know what it is yet,but it'll be something.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
It is our last podcast on characteristics of
God and I'm trying to rememberthem.
One is just.
Anyway, we'll get it.
We'll get it.
We'll be here.
Listen to us.
Yes, we'll be sure to be back.
We'll be live next week.
All right, we hope that youhave a great day, whatever day
you're listening, and we'll seeyou then.
Bye, everybody, bye.
(28:56):
Thank you for listening to theSojo Show.
We are so grateful that you didand we're so thankful for the
opportunity to spread the goodnews of the gospel in such a fun
and unique way.
If you enjoyed the show, we'dlove it if you would leave us a
rating or review wherever you'relistening to this podcast or
subscribe to the show.
Also, tell your friends.
(29:17):
That's the number one way weget people finding out about who
we are, and we reallyappreciate you sharing the Sojo
Show.
We'll be back every Mondaydigging into the truth of God's
word, sharing, laughing,glorifying God and all that we
do, and hopefully encouragingwomen from all over the world in
(29:39):
the truth of the gospel.
Talk to you, then.
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