Looking in the book of Hebrews,
13th chapter, he said, let your conversation or your way of life
be with us, as beginning in verse five, be without covetousness
and be content with such things as ye have. For he hath said,
I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee, so that we may
boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man
shall do unto me. Remember them which have the
rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God, whose
faith follow, considering the end of their conversation. Jesus
Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever. Be not carried about
with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the
heart be established with grace, not with meats, which have not
profited them that have been occupied therein. We have an
altar whereof they have no right to eat, which serve the tabernacle. For the bodies of those beasts
whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest
for sin are burned without the camp. Wherefore Jesus also, that
he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered
without the gate. Let us go forth, therefore, unto
him without the camp bearing his reproach. For here we have
no continuing city, but we seek one to come. By him, therefore,
let us offer the sacrifice of praise unto God continually. That is the fruit of our lips
giving thanks to his name. Now we're gonna stop right there
for a moment. We may go further than that.
He is, of course, closing out this treatise that he has written
to the Hebrews and keeping in mind that they were raised from
children to consider the efficacy of the law and the establishment
of the law and that was the basis upon which they felt that they
could come into the presence of God. Actually while that was unique
to the Jews to have the oracles of God committed to them, the
word of God was given to them and the Lord set forth these
principles But what's interesting about that is that natural man
actually seeks to approach God by the same fashion, though not
by the blood of bulls and goats, but by his own deeds. Because
it is natural, it's quite common, I mean we're, all men think that
they have within themselves the power to reason with God, to
deal with God, they figure they can just come to Him anytime
they get ready and they can just sit down with Him and have a
talk with Him. You know, you hear, I was listening
the other day, some country song came on the radio, and this guy
was talking about he was going to sit down and have a talk with
God tonight. Well, listen, that's a foolish
thought. Because unless the Lord is pleased
to meet with somebody, you can't talk to him. You can talk, and
you can think that you're talking to him, but you see, that's not
of any use whatsoever. Because unless the Lord is pleased,
to meet with a man, then all of that other stuff just talk.
I mean, it's nothing. Now, it might satisfy a man,
and a man who's without Christ, he can be satisfied with his
own prayers. He can be satisfied with his
own religion. He can go to church, and he can
read the Bible, and he can do all those things, and he can
be purely happy with it. But when the Lord is pleased
to meet with a man and teach him what he is by nature, Show
him what a sinner he is and his inability to approach unto an
almighty, majestic God who dwells in the light to which no man
can approach when the Spirit of God teaches him who God is
and who he is himself, then he can't be satisfied with any of
that stuff. That stuff, it won't work. It'll
work for a lot of people, but it won't work for him. He has
to have something that's different than that. And that's what Paul's
talking about here to the Hebrews. He said they have no right. We
have an altar where they have no right to each which serve
the tabernacle. That is a man that goes about
with his own deeds to serve and worship God. He doesn't have
any right or place to come into the presence of God because God
will not be worshiped in such fashion as that. The Lord said,
the father seeketh such that worship him in spirit and truth.
You remember what he told the woman at the well? Because she
boasted of her religion. She said, well, you know, your
father saved worship in that mountain. Our father saved worship
in this one. He said, listen. He said, shut
up, and I'm gonna tell you something that's the truth. He said, God
seeketh such to worship him as worship him in spirit and truth.
And that's the only way that man can worship the Lord. And
only the gift of the Spirit of God can bring a man to the place
where he can worship the Lord in spirit and truth. Because
it's only, it's the gift of God. It's not of works lest any man
should boast. Now if a man can by his own free
will, give God the privilege, so to
speak, of meeting with Him or coming to Him. You know, you
hear these preachers pleading with men, oh, won't you let the
Lord in? Well, brethren, that's not what needs to happen. You don't need to let the Lord
in. You need to hope that the Lord will come in. Because you
can't keep Him out if He decides to come in. And you can't cause
Him to come in except according to His purpose and will. And
so we're at the mercy of God and that's the message that we
preach and we don't apologize for it because it's the truth.
Now we also preach saying it's a glorious thing that the Lord
is pleased to save sinners. In fact, that's the only folks
he'll save. In fact, I believe this, every sinner will be saved.
There's not a center on earth that won't be saved. Now you
say, well, you mean everybody's going to know? Because you see,
the hardest thing to find in the world is a center. Now you'd
think that'd be the easiest thing to find, wouldn't you? I mean,
you get a bunch of people to tell you, oh, I've sinned, I didn't
do right, but I'm talking about being brought to the place like
Job was when he said, I've heard of thee by the hearing of the
ear, but now mine eye seeth thee, and I hate myself, I abhor myself,
and I repent in dust and ashes. Or David said, in sin was I conceived
and brought forth. You see, that's what it is to
be a sinner, to know that it's not the things that we've done,
it's what we are. See, most people think of, when
they think about sin, they get to counting up, well, I did this,
and I did that, and I did all these other things. Well, yeah,
you did all that stuff. In fact, I even heard a fellow
say one time, well, brother, you gotta repent of every sin.
Well, you don't even know the sins you've committed. I mean,
if you had to sit down tonight, just the ones today, you couldn't
write the ones out that you've committed today. But that's not
the issue. It's not about the ones that
you've committed, it's what you are by nature. And that's where
the problem is. Oh, Lord, cleanse me within. That's what David said, was it
not? Create in me a clean heart, oh God. and take not thy Holy
Spirit from me, but give me thy presence, O Lord. And so it is
that he's giving this message to the Jews and of course Gentiles
learn from it as well, but it's specifically given to them because
of their background. He said, let your conversation
be without covetousness and be content with such things you
have. And we talked a little bit about that last week. And
to being content is not something that men have by nature. Men
are not content. And in a measure, as the Lord
has ordained all things, that is a thing that motivates men
in the world to not be content. That's what makes them go and
work to have stuff, you know. And so in that respect, that's
not a bad thing, but you see, spiritually, when we come to
see what the truth of God is, and he teaches us that we are
to be content with such things, because this world's not our
home. It's not the thing that we live for. I mean, this is
a passing world. That's what he said here, for
we have no continuing city. That's what he said in verse
14, for here we have no continuing city. We seek one to come. Our
contentment can't be found here. If you got everything, if you
won the lottery and you could go out and just buy anything
you wanted, and you could have everything that your heart ever
dreamed of, That wouldn't be any contentment to the man who
knows that he needs the Lord. See, now there's a lot of people,
that'd be the height of satisfaction. There's plenty of people that,
buddy, when they get a bunch of money, they're just happy
as a lark. They can go do anything they want to, and that just fulfills
them. They don't need anything else.
But Tim knows himself to be a sinner. All the things and the riches
of this world and all the fame and fortune and whatever that
he could ever gain in this world, it means nothing to him. Paul
said that, did he not? He said, I count all these things
but none that I might win Christ. Because this world's not my home.
I'm not living for this world. This is a passing thing. And
if you don't believe that, you just look around you. I mean,
we're all passing away, dear brother. And every day when we
look in the mirror, we know it to be true. And we look around
us, I mean, you know, and we see the people, I mean, I think
about people that I have known in my life and, And most of,
well in fact, practically all the people I grew up with, or
grew up knowing that I thought was the old folks, they're not
around anymore. And I'm one of the old folks
now, you know, and that's just the way of life. But we have
here no continuing city. And that's a frightful thing,
is it not, to a man who is without Christ as he thinks about, well,
all this stuff's coming to an end. I mean, I often wonder about
that, you know, when men who have no interest in Christ, when
they go to funerals and stuff, and they see people dropping
like flies all around them, they're evidently thinking, well, it's
not going to happen to me. Well, it is going to happen to
us, dear brethren. It's pointed under men wants
to die, and we're moving towards that end. We have here no continuing
city. There's nothing here for us.
But that's not a frightful thing to the people of God. We're glad
that we're in the hands of the Lord, who guides our steps and
directs our path. And the scripture says, precious
in the sight of the Lord are the death of his saints. See,
these things don't happen by random happenstance. They happen according to the
purpose of God. So be content with such things as you have. Why? Because he said, I will
never leave thee nor forsake thee. What a glorious promise
that is, is it not? But you can't cause yourself
to believe that. That's just make believe, is
it not? Unless the Lord writes it in
your heart. You know, you can go, you can say it every day,
you can write it up on the wall and you can look at it and you
can try to believe it, but you can't get any comfort from it
apart from the grace of God. So that we may boldly say, now
if we know that, He'll never leave us nor forsake us, that
we may boldly say, the Lord is my helper and I will not fear
what man shall do unto me. Doesn't make any difference.
What happens in this world or what people say or do or whatever,
these things, they are nothing. For the Lord is our helper. Remember
them. which have the rule over you,
who have spoken unto you the word of God. Now what is it for
someone to have the rule over? Does he mean that somebody stands
over you and tells you everything to do and you've got to do exactly
what he's saying? That's not what it means at all.
It means the rule over the people of God is that thing which those
who are given positions of teaching and preaching, which is those
to whom he's referring to, but it's not their word, it's the
word that they speak. It says, whose faith follow?
What is their faith? He says it right down here in
this eighth verse. Jesus Christ, the same yesterday,
today, and forever. You see, that's the message,
that's the consideration. Remember them which have the
rule who have spoken unto you the word of God, whose faith
follow. What is their faith? Jesus Christ. Yes, the same yesterday, today,
and forever. You see, that is the faith that
you should follow. Not to follow what men do, it
don't make a difference who it is. considering the end of their
conversation or their life. Paul said, for me to live is
Christ, to die is gain. Oh, that the Lord might work
such a work in us. Be not carried about with divers
and strange doctrines, for it's a good thing that the heart be
established with grace, not with means. I'm telling you this, the world
is full of divers and strange doctrines. I mean, you know, since the days
of Christ when he walked upon the earth, there is far more
divers and strange doctrines that have been taught, most of
them in the name of Christ. then you could fill up every warehouse in the world
with books that have been written full of divers and strange doctrines. Now keep in mind that divers
and strange doctrines are not always wrong. Some of them are beneficial in
some ways. but we're not be taken up with
them because what Paul said that he had one message that he would
preach and that was Jesus Christ and him crucified. And the only
way that a man can know whether or not a doctrine is diverse
and strange is whether or not that is the message that it promotes. When someone comes teaching some
message that does not exalt Jesus Christ, as the Lord of glory,
that does not magnify his name above all names, and gives men
no other hope but that which he has provided. That's the divers and strains
doctrine, and we're to flee from it. We can't straighten everybody
out. We're not sent to straighten
everybody out. We're not sent particularly to be critical of
others, what they preach or whatever. But we can't help but declare
what the truth of God is. And if that goes contrary to
those things that we find taught in the book, yes, we will speak
out against them. And so the world's full of divers
and strange doctrines. And he says here, be not carried
about with them. The only thing that you need
to know is what a great sinner you are and what a great Savior
Christ is. And if you know those things,
then you cannot be led astray. You cannot go down the path,
because you see, all paths, every religion in the world, every
one of them, it don't make a difference what they have, all of them are
built on the notion that man can, by his free will, seek after
God, follow God and do the will of God. All of them. And most of them, they're willing
to press these things upon you and take your money in the meantime.
Now I'm telling you that the gospel's not concerned with your
money. Now Jesus Christ is indeed in
the hearts of his people able to give you direction as to what
you ought to do with your money even so much as he is in all
things. And so it's not up to us who
would be declaring the word of God to tell men to do this, that,
or the other with their money. But remember, that how'd you
get the money? I mean, did you make the money
because you were so smart? Well, how'd you get so smart?
Uh-huh. How come it is that you were
so smart and somebody else wasn't? See, all that we have is a gift
of God. And that's what, that's how we
need to look at our money, dear brethren. It's just something
the Lord put in our hands. What are you gonna do with it?
You can't take it with you. You pile it up in the bank, what
good's that gonna do you? That's not the thing. So he said, be not carried about
with divers and strange doctrines, for it's a good thing that the
heart be established with grace, not with meats, which have not
profited them which have occupied thereby. In other words, we're
not interested in the outward forms of religion. That's what
the meats are, that is, the eat this or don't eat that, or you
know, these meat sacrifice idols, Paul says to the Corinthians,
doesn't make any difference if it's been sacrificed to an idol
or whatever, it doesn't make any difference. But how you regard
it does. I mean, if you eat or don't eat
the meat, he said, because it was sacrificed to an idol, and
you think that makes it beneficial, then there's something wrong
with that. Because you think that that, by doing that or either
abstaining from it, it can bring you closer to the Lord, it can't
do it. The substances of the world are
merely substances of the world. The Lord made the world and all
the things therein, but what we need is the grace of God. These things that men seek have
not profited them. We have an altar whereof we have
no right to eat which serve the tabernacle. We talked about that
a minute ago. You see, a man who would seek
to be justified before God or seek to earn the favor of God
by the things that he does, he has no right to eat of these
things that we're talking about. None of us do. See, a lot of
people think they have the right to come to the Lord, or they
have the right to be saved. I mean, you've heard men say
it. I have. Well, God gives everybody a chance
to be saved. I mean, it wouldn't be fair if
God didn't give everybody a chance. Well, salvation's not by chance.
It's according to the purpose of God. And it's, you know, God
doesn't owe me in anything. If he killed us all tomorrow
and just wiped us out and there was never any, we ceased to exist,
what could we say? The world belongs to him. We have an altar, whereof they
have no right to eat, which serve the tabernacle. For the blood
is of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary
by the high priest. For sin are burned without the
camp." Now in this same fashion, see they went outside the camp. to burn these offerings. Jesus
Christ, he says, that he might sanctify the people with his
own blood suffered without the gate. He was led outside the
city of Jerusalem to Mount Calvary and he poured out his blood in
their behalf. Just like those offerings were
offered and the blood was poured out there. The Lord poured out
his blood in the like fashion And if that be so, then he says,
let us go forth therefore unto him outside the camp. That is
outside the Jewish religion, outside the ways of men, outside
the thought processes that men think they can have to bring
themselves unto the Lord. Let's go there where Jesus Christ
is. He offered himself outside the
camp and let us go out there bearing his reproach. We're glad
to be the followers of Christ. We're not ashamed of Him. If
He's not ashamed of us, how could we be ashamed of Him? I mean,
if anybody ought to be ashamed of somebody, it's the Lord ought
to be ashamed of us, right? I mean, you look at how unfaithful
we've been, how little we have done. That would bring glory
and honor to Him. But here we have four. Here we
have no continuing city, but we seek one to come. By him,
therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually. It's not that men don't think
they ought to praise God. I mean, a lot of people praise
God. In fact, there was a time when that was a real common phrase,
still is to some, saying, oh, praise God. But it's always when
something goes right. I mean, if something's going
along, you know, and things work out just like you want them to,
what do men say? Praise God, everything worked
out right. Well, what about when they don't
work out? What about when the tire goes flat and you need to
be somewhere? He said, here, let us offer the
sacrifice of praise to God continually. See, the praise that he's talking
about here is not something that's just something we're glad happened,
but we praise God continually. Let us offer the sacrifice of
praise to God continually, the fruit of our lips giving thanks
to his name. What sacrifice can you offer
to the Lord other than to give him thanks? I mean, you know,
He's not interested in your money. He's not interested in all the
things that you possess. He would have His people to praise
Him. Oh, that we might praise Him continually. The fruit of our lips. See, the
Lord gave us lips. He gave us a mouth. He gave us
a voice that we might praise Him. That's the purpose of it.
That's why He gave us a mouth, was to praise Him. But to do
good and to communicate, forget not. For with such sacrifices,
God is well pleased. See, and to do good, that's what
we go back to talk about. I mean, the Lord's given you
stuff. He's given you your life. He's given you your time. He's
given you your money. He's given you all the things
that you enjoy. What are you gonna do with them?
Don't forget to communicate, that is, to share those things. God's people are not to be a
stingy people. You know, we of all people on
the earth ought not to be a miserly type people. Doesn't mean you're
not frugal, it doesn't mean you're not wise, but it means you're
ready to communicate. When a need arises, you're ready
to meet it. You know, if a brother or sister
is in need, you help them. You go about doing good, forgetting,
for with such sacrifices, God is well pleased. He's pleased
with those things that he enables men to do. God loveth, the scripture
says, a cheerful giver. Now the real truth is there's
no other kind. Because you see, if you're giving
something and you're reluctantly giving it, guess what? You didn't
really give it, you paid it. You know, there's a difference
in paying something and giving something. See, tithe, people,
a lot of these preachers nowadays, well, they have for a long time,
even back when I was a kid, you know, they're always talking
about you need to pay your tithes. Well, the Lord's not interested
in you paying your tithes. The Lord, He has no, the Pharisees,
they paid their tithes, did they not? The Lord said, but you left
off the weightier matters of the Lord. You see, you forgot
to show mercy. So the Lord loves a cheerful
giver because a giver is different than a payer. May the Lord give
us a heart to be a giver of those things that he has given us in
our life. Obey them that have the rule
over you. Submit yourselves for they watch for your soul. You
need to, that's coming back to just what he said, remember them
which have the rule over you. You're not obeying them, but
they're, the thing, what they've told you, they're seeking to
tell you the truth of God. Submit yourselves, for they watch
for your souls, as they must give an account, that they may
do it with joy, not with grief, for that's unprofitable for you.
See, it is a burden that the Lord lays upon a man to declare
the truth of God. Some preachers, they can take
it or leave it. They can retire when they get
ready. They go for a few years, and then they just retire from
it, and they don't preach anymore. You know, I don't believe if
a man's called to preach, he's gonna be preaching till he can't
preach anymore. He's gonna preach till his mouth
is closed and he can't keep his thoughts together and he's going
downhill and he's gonna be preaching because that's what he's called
to do and he can't help it. Paul said, woe is unto me if
I preach not the gospel. Nobody sought to hire Paul. Nobody,
no church got together and said, well, we want you to come preach
for us. No. He preached because the Lord
gave him a burden to do it, and he had to do it. He couldn't
do anything else. And they must give an account. See, the Lord, he requires much
from those to whom he gives much. And it's a solemn thing. that they may do it with joy,
not with grief. You know, he says, listen to
what they say. Pray for us, for we trust we
have a good conscience in all things, willing to live honestly. But I beseech you the rather
to do this, that I may be restored to you the sooner. Now he's starting
here the end of his letter, and seeking them to pray because
he's in Rome, and he doesn't know what his outcome's gonna
be. I mean, he went to Rome to bear
witness of Christ. He believed that the Lord was
gonna send him there, and he did send him there, that he might
declare the truth of God to the Romans. And he did so. And he didn't know what the end
of the matter was going to be. Now, as we know, as it turned
out, that's his final place he went. He didn't go any further
because they executed him there. But his desire was that he might
be restored back to those believers, that he might continue his work
among them. Now the God of peace brought
again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of
the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant.
The blood of the everlasting covenant. Whose blood was that?
It had to be, it was Christ. See that's the blood of the everlasting
covenant. It wasn't goats and calves, but
it was Christ from the beginning. uh... the lord said without the
shading of blood there's no remission of sin he didn't have any regard
to the animals blood but he had regard to the blood of his own
eternal son the blood of the everlasting covenant who was
the covenant made with? now a lot of people think that
the covenant was made with Abraham but it says in the book of Galatians
that unto Abraham and his seed where the promises made was the
covenant made, not to seeds as of many, but to thy seed, which
is Christ. See, the blood of the everlasting
covenant belongs to Christ, and he's the one to whom the promise
was made. Now folks think that the promise
was made to them. No, the promise wasn't made to
us, it was made to Christ. And the Lord said, When he prayed
in his prayer in the garden, he said, Father, I pray for them
which thou hast given me. Thine they were, and thou hast
given them to me. In the blood, I have shed the
blood of the everlasting covenant. It is a mark, it is a sign between
me and thee. Oh, what a glorious thing that
is. the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in
every good work to do his will. That is, we are ordained unto
good works. Make you perfect in every good
work to do his will, working in you that which is well-pleasing
in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and
ever, amen. That's the whole message. I mean,
he began with Christ and he is ending with Christ. because he's
the one that's worthy of all glory. If you want to know what
the book of the Revelation is about, that's what it's about.
Now I know a lot of people go to the book of Revelation to
try to figure out what's going to happen over in Israel and
what's going to happen here and there and all these different
things. Dear brethren, I don't know what's going to happen in
the world. Nobody else does either. But I know this, that when you
read the book of Revelation, it begins with the glory of Christ
and it ends with the glory of Christ. And that's what the book's
about. It's about the glory of Christ.
It's like the whole Bible. It starts, in the beginning,
God. He's the first and the last, Alpha and the Omega, to whom
be glory forever and ever. I beseech you, brethren, suffer
the word of exhortation, for I've written a letter to you
in a few words. Now, most people think that's
a lot of words. You know, it's an amazing thing that we live
in a society which is overrun with all sorts of knowledge. I mean, you know, at your fingertips,
you can pull up just, you can gain knowledge on practically
any subject in the world just by punching in a few buttons. And yet, Men know less today
than they used to. I mean, they got a lot of, you
know, you look at these, some of these faithful brethren who
down through the ages have declared the word of God, and they didn't
have all that stuff. And they produced volumes upon
volumes of written word. that people today read and say,
oh, well, that's too wordy, that's too complex, or this, that, or
the other. I mean, people go around and
they wanna change the Bible because, well, you know, we can't understand
it. Well, no, you can't understand
it. I don't care, you can get any
version of this book you want. And you'll never understand it,
apart from the grace of God giving you enlightenment to see it.
And so it is that he says, I've written a letter to you in few
words, and a lot of people think it's a lot of words. A lot of
people think that the Bible, oh man, you know, they think
it's a great accomplishment. I've read through the Bible.
I've heard people act like that was one of the greatest accomplishments
a person could make. I mean, they just had to almost
put their life on hold to read through the Bible. Well, if we
believe it's the word of God, I mean, wouldn't a man be foolish
not to read the Bible? You know, I can't understand
why a man wouldn't read the Bible. I don't think that, you know,
it's the most precious truth that's ever been set forth. It's
about Christ. Would you learn of Christ? Then
you must read his word. And so he wrote a letter to them
in a few words. Know ye that our brother Timothy
is set at liberty with whom if he come shortly I will see you.
Now Timothy evidently was with Paul in Rome at the time and
he was set free. And he hoped that he would be
set free. And then many of the, some Bibles
have that this letter was written by Timothy. Now what it means
is it was penned by Timothy. But Paul was the author of it,
and it was written Timothy was his scribe, so to speak. Salute all them that have rule
over you and all the saints. They of Italy salute you. Grace
be with you all. Amen. And so what he's telling
them and this salute all them that have the rule over you,
same thing he told Timothy in his letters to Timothy, that
we are to be obedient to the earthly rulers that are in the
world. We're not to be those that are
fomenting rebellion and going out and tearing stuff up and
whatnot, calling ourselves this, that, or the other. Neither are
we to be slavish patriots thinking that patriotism is godliness.
Patriotism isn't godliness, but we are called to be obedient
servants to the magistrates. And we have a unique position
in this world to have a government wherein we are participants.
And we have the opportunity to participate. And so in order
to honor the king, I believe we have to participate in the
government because that is our king in the earthly sense. So
we can't shirk that, but we have to participate. May the Lord
Huh? If that's necessary. Yeah, we're
not slavish, you know, we're not slaves to the government,
but we are those who have an accountability to the government. And so make your choices wisely
and be informed. May the Lord give us a mind and
a heart that in all things we seek to honor Christ. Now we
don't expect that the governments of men will ever seek to honor
Christ. And we're not looking for Bible
teachers to be presidents. I mean, I wouldn't be objecting
if they did, but what if they was, you know, come teaching
some diverse and strange doctrines, what would we do then? So what
am I saying? I'm saying that the Lord raises
up men to be in positions of government. They're not always
the best of men. In fact, the scriptures of Nebuchadnezzar
said they're the worst of men. So that puts a layer of complexity
in how we would select our leaders, but may the Lord give us wisdom
to do so. Because, you know, the very fabric
of our society is that which is woven by the Lord. And it's
just like he wants it to be. And it might not be like we want
it to be, but he's brought it to pass according to his will
that Jesus Christ might be glorified. And he's going to be glorified
regardless of who gets elected president. It might not be who
I want to be. And I might be glad that I didn't
get the one I wanted. You know, we don't ever know
these things, but we do know this, that there is a God in
heaven, and that he rules and reigns, and he turns the heart
of the king whithersoever he will. So, if we know that, if
God be for us, then who can be against us? And that's our comfort
and our hope. Is Jesus Christ the same yesterday,
today, and forever?