Turn in your Bibles to the book
of Hebrews this morning. Hebrews chapter 13. I want you
to listen very carefully. I always desire that you do,
especially to the reading of God's Word, but especially at
this time, at the last Sunday of the year, The Apostle writes,
"...let brotherly love continue. Be not forgetful to entertain
strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. Remember them that are in bonds,
as bound with them, and them which suffer adversity as being
yourselves also in the body. Marriage is honorable in all,
and the bed undefiled, but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge. Let your conversation 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,
and today, and forever. Be not carried about with diverse
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 priests
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, or outside the camp, bearing his reproach. For here have we no continuing
city, but we seek one to come. By Him, therefore, let us offer
the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit
of our lips giving thanks to His name. But to do good and
to communicate, forget not, for with such sacrifices God is well
pleased. Obey them that have the rule
over you, and submit yourselves, for they watch for your souls
as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy
and not with grief, for that is unprofitable for you. 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 the God
of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus,
that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting
covenant, 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." Now, there is without
a doubt an admonition, an encouragement, and an instruction here from
the Apostle to the Lord's people in every age and every time. And I thought about it in these
closing hours of this year. There are no doubt many that
are anxious and fearful and wondering at the changes that the new year
will bring. I think I can safely say that
on man's part, they will not be good. The changes that men
make are always bad, even those that appear at the first to be
good. But there will undoubtedly be
changes that come to pass in this world. changes in its morals,
changes in its politics, changes in its economics, and then there'll
also be changes in us and with us. There'll certainly be changes
in our bodies, in our situations, in our relationships, in our
surroundings, And many will make New Year resolutions. I'm trying to stick with mine
that was the same as last year. And that is, by the grace of
God, to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And I know that false religions
that are all around us like chameleons, they will change, and yet, in
a sense, they will still be the same. And we can be sure of this. And that is, as the Apostle Paul
said, "...but evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, Deceiving
and being deceived. That will happen in the political
world, and that will happen in the economic world, and that
will surely happen in the religious world. In false religion, men
will change from one kind of salvation by human works to another
flavor or kind of salvation by human works. And the truth is,
it's very easy, very easy, to grow weary of swimming, if you
would, against this tide." The Lord's people are always swimming
against this tide of mankind waxing worse and worse. We're always, it seems, pushing
against a tide that runs against us in error. A tide that always
seems to rush against us, kind of sweeping us off our foundations
with ungodliness and worldliness and opposition by persecution. And that is why we have such
admonitions as we find here in the Scripture. These are written
to the Lord's people. If we did not need to be further
instructed, we wouldn't have this instruction. If we did not
face a danger, then we would not have these warnings. And if we were not prone to be
discouraged in the face of all this that flows against us, we
would not be given this encouragement. But right in the midst of those
verses that I have read, and given as the main reason and
the chief encouragement for the Lord's people to persevere, is
that 8th verse. And it's in this 8th verse that
he speaks of our Savior, of our God, the Lord Jesus Christ, And
he says, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and
forever. Though all these things change,
they have, they are, and they will. The Lord Jesus Christ is
the same yesterday and today and forever. So any real hope or real consolation
is not to be found in looking to men for change or in seeking
to change ourselves. The Lord knows we certainly need
to. But they're found in looking
to God as He is in Christ who does not change. You see, man vainly imagines
that he can bring about a change in this world for the better. But the reason he can't, and
the reason he hasn't, is because we cannot change the root problem,
and that's us. That's a sinful race of people. And so it's as Jeremiah said,
can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? Then may we also do good that
are accustomed to do evil. So as a part, and in the midst
of this encouragement and instruction, this admonition, He gives us
this statement reminding us in that 8th verse that Jesus Christ
is the same yesterday and today and forever. Now, if we didn't
have but that one verse, that one statement and declaration
in Scripture, we would have to conclude from that verse that
the Lord Jesus Christ is none other than God Himself. He is God manifest in the flesh. Because unchangeableness only
applies to God. God alone is the one who never
changes, who, as it says, is absolutely immutable. That is, there is no volatility,
there is no unpredictability, There is no excitability with
God. He's never taken by surprise. So the psalmist says, "...of
old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens
are the work of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt
endure." Yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment, as a
vesture thou shalt change them, and they shall be changed, but
thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end." As a matter
of fact, if you'll turn back to Hebrews 1, This is what the
Father Himself says concerning the Son. Here in Hebrews 1, look
down in that 8th verse, where it says, "...but unto the Son
he saith, Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever." A scepter
of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved
righteousness and hated iniquity. Therefore God, even thy God,
hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. And thou, Lord, in the beginning
hast laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the
works of thine hands. They shall perish, but thou remainest,
and they shall all wax old as doth a garment, and as a vesture
shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed, but thou
art the same, and thy years shall not fail." In other words, he
declares himself to be the one who was before all times and
who continues in all ages and will be beyond all times absolutely
the same. He cannot change for the better. and he will not change for the
worse. And so we find him as the apostle
declares him to be by the Spirit of God the same yesterday and
today and forever. So when we think about and when
we anticipate or when we worry about All that takes place in
these changing times, we have to remember one thing, and that
is our hope is in the changeless One. He eternally is forever
the same. What does that mean? Well, it
means, first of all, that He does not and He will not change
in His essence. There wasn't a God in Paul's
day or in Moses' day that were different. God in this year that
approaches us, 2013, He will be exactly as He was in all those
times and to all those people in His essence. That is, He exists
in an eternal constancy of perfection, and He does not alter. His worth and His person and
His promises, they do not change in their value like the changes
that take place in men or stocks or values or any of these things. He does not change in this eternal
essence. And that's why it is so foolish
and so disappointing to have any confidence in any of those
things which we already know by history past and by what we
see that we can expect every one of those things to change. He says, "...lay not up for yourself
treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where
thieves break through and steal. But lay up for yourself treasures
in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where
thieves do not break through nor steal." As a matter of fact,
what this book teaches is that in Jesus Christ, the one we're
speaking of here, in Him are all the treasures of wisdom and
knowledge. In Jesus Christ are all the riches
of God's grace. In Him is all the fullness of
the Godhead bodily. In Him all the promises of God
are yea and amen. In Him is all of God's salvation. In Him still is all of that eternal
inheritance. In Him is all the mercy of God,
all the grace of God, and all the everlasting love of God,
and they have always been in Christ, and they'll always be
in Christ, and that is simply the way it is. It won't ever
be found anywhere else. It won't be found in our understanding
of that. It won't be found in our faithfulness
to that. It won't be found even in our
believing this. This is His eternal essence. This is what God has committed
to Him and in Him, and that's the way it's always going to
be. It's not going to change. We're
not going to get greater light on that in the days ahead. We
won't find out that there's a better way. We won't find out that there's
a better God. That grace is somewhere else
than in Him. Everything is in Him, and He
is the same. He changes not, and He is the
rock, that sure foundation, and actually, He is the one who is
Himself. that I am." He's not going to
change in who He is. He's not going to change in His
essence. And not only that, He's not going
to change in His will and His purpose. You see, men present
a changing God, as if to say what He desired in another day
is different than what He desires in this day. or whatever his
will was at one time, it now can be altered and changed by
the free will or so of man. But God is infinite in knowledge. What does that mean? That means
there is no end to His knowledge. There is no surprise to him. He doesn't find out knowledge. He doesn't grow in knowledge. He is infinite in knowledge. He cannot be taught anything. Nothing takes him by surprise. His desires and his designs and
his decisions, they're everyone perfect, and they cannot be improved
upon or thwarted in any way. That purpose he purchased, purposed
in Christ before the world began, that purpose, that will, that
decree is going to stand, and it's not ever going to change.
He does not have, nor does he need, a contingency plan. It seems like that if men cannot
accomplish their goals with regard to God by doing this or that
or the other, they'll go to plan B. God doesn't have a plan B. In Ecclesiastes, the wise Solomon
says this, I know that. Whatsoever God does, it shall
be forever. Nothing can be put to it, nor
anything taken from it. And God does it that men should
fear before Him." Whatever God does, He does forever. That is,
He does it in this great and eternal sense, which to Him everything
is at once. You and I live in time. We think
in terms of time. We're coming right down to now
one of the divisions that we've made of time. But we look at
things as they were in 2012, and we'll look at things as they
are in 2013. God looks at everything at once. He comprehends everything at
once. He knows everything at once. and the knowledge that we, even
when we know so little and forget to remember and recognize what
He Himself has told us, aren't you glad He doesn't forget? I'll
tell you, sometimes I think about the number of minutes and hours
and maybe even days that pass in my life when there is not
a real consciousness of God. And it scares me. But there never
was that time with Him concerning me. He's the same. He is absolutely
the same. He says in Isaiah, remember the
former things of old, for I am God and there is none else. I am God and there is none like
me, declaring the end from the beginning. And from ancient times
the things that are not yet done say, my counsel shall stand and
I'll do all my pleasure. calling a ravenous bird from
the east, the man that executes my counsel from a far country,
meaning he'll do whatever he will, using whomever he will
to bring that purpose and will to pass. Yea, I have spoken it. I will also bring it to pass,
I have purposed it, I will also do it." And you know what is
right at the middle, what is chief in all the will and the
purpose of the unchanging God? It is that purpose to glorify
himself in the salvation of a people that he loved and chose in Christ
before the world began. He predestined. Somebody said,
well, that's old school thought. No, that's the Scriptures. He predestined, He predetermined
all things in heaven and earth around this very thing, and sent
Christ into the world to accomplish all things necessary to justly
do it. That is never going to change.
That is, Christ was, and He is, and He always be the justification
of His people. He was, and He is, and He always
will be their redemption, absolutely their righteousness, their wisdom,
their surety, their sacrifice, their substitute, their Savior. He is the same. yesterday, and
today, and forever." Somebody said, well, if you do this, Jesus
will be your Savior. No. If He's my Savior today,
He certainly was yesterday, and He will be forever. Do we understand
that? Nothing in salvation is an afterthought
with God. He has always viewed His people
as they are in Christ Jesus. He's the same yesterday, and
today, and forever. He's always going to be to His
people this Savior, this King, this Deliverer, and He's always
going to be their righteousness. He's our righteousness. He always
was. How do you think He chose us?
You tell me, how does a holy God choose somebody like you
and me? How in the world does it say
He blessed us with all spiritual blessings before the foundation
of the world? How does this God in His holiness
look upon me with favor and bless me and call me His own? in Jesus Christ. But He's the
same yesterday, and today, and forever. Paul, writing to Timothy,
speaking of this God, says, "...who hath saved us, and called us
with an holy calling, not according to our works at any point, but
according to His own purpose and grace which was given us
in Christ Jesus before the world began." You see, if we have to
look back in our experience to find anything that is the same,
anything upon which we can build some foundation of hope or comfort
or assurance, we'll never find it. Somebody said, well, I thought
there was a time when God loved me, but I don't know now. Let
me tell you something, if He loved me in eternity past, He
loves me right now. If He loves me today, Whatever
happens in 2013, He's still going to love me. I'm still going to
be His child. He still pledged Himself to my
salvation, my safety. He's still going to be my hope,
even if everything else looks utterly hopeless. There's a whole
lot of folks just looking at these changing times, changing
governments, fearful prospects. And I'm certainly not one to
stand here and to tell you today that it's going to be better
in that sense. But I can tell you this, Jesus
Christ is going to be the same, because He's going to be the
same tomorrow. If your hope is in some politician, you're probably
going to be in trouble. If your hope is in something
that you have done or built up, wealth, Whatever it is, you'll
be in trouble. But if your hope is in that purpose
of grace, which God purposed in Christ before the world began,
then you have every reason to hope tomorrow. You see, He was
the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. He was the Lamb
John saw and said to behold the One who takes away sin. He's
the Lamb that was slain by wicked hands according to the determinate
counsel and foreordination of God. And He's the Lamb that John
saw enthroned in heaven glorified. Same Lamb. This is what he said. And this is, not this was. He's standing here on the earth
when he says this. And yet, when we go back to these
verses in Scripture, it's always in the present tense. And this
is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which He
hath given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it
up again at the last day. And this is the will of Him that
sent me, that everyone that seeth the Son and believes on Him may
have everlasting life, and I'll raise Him up at the last day." I don't spend any time trying
to convince people that God has saved them. He's the only one
that can convince you. He's the only one that can give
you faith to believe what He says. But when He gives us faith
and enables us to believe on Him as He says He is, and therefore
for what He says He's done and purposed to do, we'll find Him
out to be the same yesterday and today and forever. Because He does not change His
free and sovereign grace to His elect. He doesn't do it. James said, every good gift and
every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father
of lights, in whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. So we read again and again in
Scripture things like this. His compassions fail not. His mercy endures forever. His love is everlasting. His righteousness endureth forever. His truth is eternal. His judgments
are eternal. His Word endures. And this is
manifested in the fact that He says, not one tittle, one jot
or tittle shall fail. Somebody said, we need to move
toward a more contemporary gospel. The one gospel that is spoken
of in this book is described as the everlasting gospel. Why? Because God does not change. And of Himself, man never changes. And people go through all these
stages. This has been going on for so long. The things that
we need to do to try to get people interested or try to get people
in, especially we need to deal with the young people in a different
way. We need to do this with the older
people. They've all got the same problems.
And God is the same God. Same God. And He does not change. in the efficacy and in the application,
I guess you would say, of His work. You see, Jesus Christ is
the same yesterday and today and forever in all His offices. When you read in the Old Testament,
if you read from Genesis to Malachi, If you read in that history that
God gives us, inspired in those pages, you will find that there
were three offices that God specified that they were to be anointed
for, and with this special anointing oil. Three offices. And no man
from Genesis to Malachi, No man ever occupied all three of those
offices. There were some priests, there
were some kings, there were some prophets, but no man's all three. Why? Because that is for Christ
alone. And He is still the prophet and
the priest and the king of all God's sheep. He's the only one
to reveal God to us. He's the only one to represent
us before God. And He's the only one to rule
over us. He is the same as the one mediator between God and
men. God still will not accept anyone
but His Son and those in His Son, those saved by Christ. Those washed in Christ's blood. Those made righteous by God in
grace, imputing His righteousness to them. He's the Lord, our righteousness. His work is a debt that's paid. His is a ransom that is delivered
to justice. He is a surety, satisfying God. Everything, not only in Him,
but accomplished by Him. Now, you and I don't know what
we'll do in the coming year. It seems like the older I get,
I have to pray more and more for restraining, keeping grace. We're real worried about what
the President will do. We ought to be worried about
what we'll do. But I know what Christ will do. He'll be the
same in His grace. He'll be the same in His mercy.
He'll still be that one who, like a father, pities his children,
and he remembers that we're nothing but dust. He'll be the same in
His love and the same in His mercy. His justice will be forever
satisfied according to the sins of His people, and everything
that we depend on will be based on His faithfulness and His unchangeable. You remember who Jacob was? Jacob
was pretty much a scoundrel. It was like my granddaughter
learned a term, I think, from her mama. He's just an old scudder,
rascal, conniver, supplanter, trickster. He's not exactly the
guy you want to do business with. But you know, he's the one that
God uses his name to describe his people. He says, you sons
of Jacob. Why? Why can you and I have any
hope that we, being as we are, the sons of Jacob, we're going
to make it? Well, he said this, I am the
Lord, I change not. I'm not an Indian giver as we
used to say, give to take back. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to promise one
thing and it turn out a different way. I am the Lord, I change
not. Therefore, ye sons of Jacob are
not consumed. He is the rock. His work is perfect. All His ways are judgment. A God of truth and without iniquity,
just and right is He. If Christ paid my sin debt on
that cross, He's not going to charge it to me. No, He's just
not going to do it. It always amazes me that that's
about the bottom line of religion in our day, or what's called
Christianity in our day, that Christ paid the debt for everybody,
but there's a likelihood that most folks are still going to
go to hell. No, He paid the debt for His
sheep. He gave His life for His sheep,
and therefore, since He changes not, We're not going to be consumed. The work He engaged in on behalf
of His people, He declared finished. The death He died in our place
for sins, He died once. The sacrifice He offered to God
for our sins was one sacrifice for sins forever. And the sufferings
He endured in the behalf of those who trust Him brought them to
God. And He never changes. Therefore,
His work has brought His people into an unchangeable state of
justification. What He did. Ah, we may wake
up tomorrow morning so full of unbelief, it's scary. But what
He did will never change. And this surely ought to assure
us in the continuance and the accomplishments of what we're
to do in declaring the gospel as His church. You know, we're
not all that far, I don't think. from a time when somebody who
stands up and tries to tell the truth about God, that they would
come and lay hold of them and put them in prison. Now if you
think it is, you might ought to wake up. But our Lord said,
Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the
name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching
them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. And lo,
I am with you always, even unto the end of the world." If he's
the same, that means his power is the same. I'm as weak and
as helpless a creature and as pitiful a preacher as there is
in this world. There's always, it seems like,
this swimming upstream against every tendency and every outside
influence to make things happen. All I can make happen. is that
wood and hay and stubble that Paul in the Corinthian letter
speaks of, that he says God will try and be burned up with fire. That's right. It will be proven
to be what it is, just worthless rubble, the works of men. But if He's the same yesterday
and today and forever with regard to His power, He has power to
save in this day as many as He did on the day of Pentecost,
as many as He did a few days later than that. And if He hasn't,
and if He doesn't, it's because He wouldn't. Because He's the
same yesterday and today and forever. And this means that
He's the only safe refuge for a sinner. He's the only sure
thing. He's the only salvation, the
only hope, the only true God, the only way, the only truth,
and the only life. And if He's the same, He's the
same One that came into this world to save sinners. If He's the same as we find Him
all through this book, never a sinner who called out to Him
for mercy didn't receive it. As a matter of fact, when they're
brought to call of Him, when they've seen their need and their
condition, they've already had mercy. Because they never do
that apart from His mercy and grace. If He's the same, He's
still sending out His gospel. If it's the same, it still concerns
Him and what He's done. If it's the same, He's still
saying, Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden,
And I'll give you rest. Rest in the unchanging Son of
God. In Jesus Christ. Not some contemporary
Jesus, but Jesus Christ the same. You're going to lay hold of anything. If you're going to bind your
soul and your welfare to anything, make sure it's on something unchangeable. And the only one that's unchangeable
is Jesus Christ. Abide in Him, because all His
people abide in Him. Take refuge in Him. Trust the
changeless One. in these changing times. Father, we thank you for your
unchangeable being, perfect, faithful, glorious, all in Christ
Jesus the Lord. Give us eyes to behold Him by
faith, to cast off all hope, but Him, and cause us to rest,
to be contented, to do all these things that we find us commanded
to do, reminded to do in this chapter of Scripture, in the
knowledge that you are unchanging. We bless and thank you, that
no matter what our circumstances become, No matter what we think
that the state of our being has fallen to, we're really the same
if we're in Christ who's the same. Cause us to rest in Him. Cause us to have hope and prospect
if you give us another year in Him. For we thank you and we
pray in Christ's name. Amen.