now let's turn to the Word of
God for meditation and let's turn God willing to the Paul's
epistle to the Hebrews and the first chapter and we'll read
verses 10 11 and 12 the first chapter in the epistle of Paul
to the Hebrews reading verses 10 11 and 12 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 all shall
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 The Epistle of Hebrews is a very
wonderful and very blessed epistle, and there is much instruction
contained in it, much instruction referring specifically to our
Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. And here in these verses that
we've just read together gives a very clear indication of the
Lord Jesus Christ, as we read, and Thou Lord, which is of course
the Saviour in the beginning, the beginning of this world,
not the beginning because there was no beginning in eternity
past. Again, it's a great mystery that
you and I cannot fathom, that you and I cannot actually work
out. It's beyond our natural comprehension. to realize that we have a God
who is eternal. But it is a favor if God gives
us faith, and we all need faith. We need faith to believe the
Word of God. We need faith to believe in the
Lord Jesus Christ. And likewise, we need the same
faith to believe in the eternal state of Almighty God. so here
we have these words and thou lord in the beginning has laid
the foundations of the earth and the heavens are the work
of thy hands well we can read of course the wonderful account
in genesis chapter one of what the lord did And of course today,
people ridicule the Genesis account, indeed they ridicule the Word
of God, indeed they ridicule the great work of salvation.
But what a blessing it is if God gives us faith to believe
these things, to recognise that the Word of God, the Bible, from
Genesis to Revelation, is true. Many people think it's a book
of fairy tales. But no, it's the true Word of
God. And of course, everyone will
find it is the Word of God when they pass out of time into eternity. It has been said, and of course
it's very, very true, there are no atheists in hell. Because clearly they then will
recognize that which the Bible has spoken is true. But what a very sad condition
to be found in. So today, We are very blessed
to have the Bible, to think of it, and you young people should
recognize that we do have it in our own language. We can read
it. There are still many, many languages in the world that do
not have the Bible in their own language. And many people in
the world, many, many people, thousands if not billions, have
never read the word of God and do not know the great and glorious
plan of salvation. So what a wonderful mercy it
is for us today to be privileged in these things. And so we have
this statement in this 10th verse. Thou, Lord, in the beginning
has laid the foundations of the earth and the heavens are the
work of thy hands. Well, the world was spoken into
being. We know that the world was created
in those six days and that is a great wonder but it's very
true and we should be thankful to know that it is so because
it demonstrates to our little minds something of the greatness
of God because we live in an age when people belittle even
a thought of God and they belittle a great God and they think they're
able to argue with that great God and to put their views, their
puny views, which they think are superior to the great truths
and Word of God. But may we today be blessed with
faith, living faith, to believe what we read in the Word of God
that the worlds and the heavens were indeed created by Almighty
God and to be able to rest in such a truth and to go on rejoicing
to know that we do deal with such a God and such a Saviour.
And then we read in the 11th and 12th verses, they shall perish
That means all those things which God has made shall fade and perish,
and not necessarily disappear completely, but be changed anyway. They shall perish, but thou remainest. Thou remainest, and this word
remainest can also mean it continues forever. But thou remainest. Yes, the Lord God remains forever. He continues forever. He is eternal. He had no beginning. He has no
end. And that is the great God that
you and I have to deal with. I don't think that somehow we
can avoid dealing with that great God, because we're told that
everyone shall stand before the judgment seat of Christ, to give
an account of the things done in the flesh. None are exempted. None can escape. And so, how
important it is for us to realize the solemnity of having to deal
with this great and holy God. And yet, the wonderful blessing,
because He is a merciful, a compassionate, and a loving God, and he does
not deal with us as our sins deserve. And so let us be thankful
today that we have this great God that remains, that continues
forever, and that they all show wax old as a garment. He just
carries on demonstrating the things of time. They become old. The world is becoming old. We
don't know how much longer the Lord will keep it. And he tells
us then in the twelfth verse, and as a vesture shall they fold
them up. You know, a vesture speaks of
clothing or it speaks of the previous verses as a garment.
And when we take it off, perhaps at night, and we don't need it
anymore, then we fold it up. And that's just a description,
really, of what will occur at the end of time. And as a vesture,
shalt thou fold them up, the world in its present situation
will be required no longer. And they shall be changed, but
thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail. Well, I want
to really concentrate this evening on really these words, they shall
perish but thou remainest what a blessing it is then to have
a God who remains and what it means really is this God is what
we might call immutable and that's not an easy word immutable but
it's the opposite to mutable and if I explain perhaps what
mutable means then it will give us some idea of what immutable
means. And mutable really is someone
who is inconsistent in their mind. They change their plans. They change the things they're
doing. Inconsistent in their mind, inconsistent
in their will, and inconsistent in their disposition, and are
fickle. They're unsettled. they're variable
now that's what mutable is immutable is the opposite what does that
mean that means that our God is consistent in his mind he's
consistent in his will and he is not fickle and he's not unsettled
and he's not variable he knows the end from the beginning. What a blessing that is for us
then today to realize this is the God that we deal with. He's
on a totally different level to that which you and I are.
And yet so many people today try and bring God down to their
level. No! God is high and lifted up. God is a great God. God is the
Almighty God. and we should view him as such
and be thankful that we have a God who is so high and lifted
up and is so great and wonderful and glorious. Now, because we have this God
who does not change, we can recognise that the Lord doesn't deal with
us as our sins deserve, because if God did deal with us, as our
sins deserve, God cannot look upon sin, because He is a holy
God. So what do we say? Well, Jeremiah,
a man of God, in a book called The Lamentations, which he wrote,
he says in the third chapter, the 22nd and 23rd verses, it
is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed. And the
reason? Because His compassions fail
not they are new every morning great is thy faithfulness the
lord's compassions are new every morning every day when we get
up we have a god who is a compassionate god we have a god who doesn't
deal with us as we deserve because if he did none of us would be
here today we would be cut off We're thankful indeed to have
such a God, and this is also true. These compassions, they
are new. Every morning, great is thy faithfulness. That means God is faithful to
his word. How often you and I are unfaithful,
aren't we? If we analyse our lives, if we
analyse our thoughts, and analyse our words, as we think of the direction
contained in the Word of God, how far short we come, and yet
God is still faithful toward us. Great is thy faithfulness. This is indeed an encouragement
statement. This should be something which we're very thankful to
know. This is the God that you and
I have to deal with. We cannot avoid dealing with
this God. We may not realise that this
God is looking upon us all our life. He is conscious of what
we do. He is conscious of what we think. And so may this be a very real
and a very solemn recollection as we know that we are dealing
with the Great Almighty God, the Ruler of the universe. And yet, you see, because this
great God is, He remains, thou remainest, He doesn't change,
He is the same, then we are thankful for the great promises that the
Word of God reveals to us. And we might think of Jeremiah
3, 31 verse 3, where again Jeremiah says, the Lord has appeared of
old unto me. He says, yea, I love thee with
an everlasting love. Now that is a very wonderful
truth. And it emanates from this one
who remains the same, but thou remainest the same. Yesterday, and today and forever. To think that you and I have
been loved, with everlasting love. And it's a great truth.
And it's a very important truth because by nature you and I would
not love God. By nature you and I would love
the world. We would love the devil. We would love all the
things that he puts before us as he tries to delude us. and
tell us that the Bible is lies, the Bible is false, there's no
truth in it, and therefore let us enjoy ourselves in this world. Let us make the most of our time
on this earth. So many people, you hear say,
want to live life to the full. That means they want to enjoy
everything they can while they're living on this world, with no
concern about the eternal destiny of their soul. And yet, we have
this great statement, Yah love thee with everlasting love. And you see, this is therefore
a love which will not change. It doesn't disappear. We may
not be following the Lord as we should perhaps. We may have
sinned against God, but this truth still remains. Yes, the
Lord God is that one who loves us with everlasting love. What a mercy it is that sinful
men and women, the Lord has spoken to in this way. He doesn't love
the sin, but he loves the sinner. And what does he say? He carries
on in this same verse, therefore, Because of that, what's the effect?
Therefore would loving-kindness have I drawn thee? Now this demonstrates
the wonder of what we might term redeeming love. The love of the
Saviour to unworthy sinners. He draws us to Himself. We don't
draw Christ to ourselves. Christ draws us to Himself. He shows us in that drawing what
He is, what a glorious Saviour He is, what a merciful God He
is. He doesn't deal with us as our
sins deserve and He's unchangeable. Every day He is the same. He looks upon us. He's not fickle. What a mercy then to know that
He's loved us with everlasting love. And those words, of course,
are true in the epistle of John. Not that we loved God, but that
he loved us. And what does that do? That brings
glory to God. You and I can't say, well, I
turned round and I loved God and therefore he loved me. Not
at all. It's the opposite way and we need to be constantly
reminded of that for the glory of God, so that we're taken up
with the glory of God and realise the wonder of it, not that we
love God, but that He loved us. And because He loved us, therefore
He draws us to Himself. And what do we see? We see a
beauty in Christ that naturally you and I would not see. Isaiah tells us there's nothing
naturally that we would desire If you look upon Christ, nothing
naturally. His face was more marred than
of any man. Nothing naturally attractive. How many people have drawn pictures
of a very handsome person? Well, we know that Jesus, his
face was more marred than any man. And we may ask the question,
why is that? Why is that? It's because He
bore, He carried our sins, all the wickedness in our lives. He bore it willingly, this great
and glorious Saviour that remains, but Thou remainest, He continues,
the same yesterday and today and forever. What a great and
glorious God we have, who should indeed have been so willing to
carry our sins and to take all those sins away as he came to
the cross and as he shed his precious blood and gave up the
ghost so he paid the penalty due to the whole Church of God
for all their sins to realise that our sins are washed away
in the blood of the Lamb, and such a truth cannot change. It is because this blessed Saviour
remaineth, but thou remainest. He is the same. He doesn't change. We change. The blessed God does
not change. Surely that should be an encouragement
and a strength and a blessing to us today and indeed every
day as we press on The Apostle Peter picks up the theme of the
immutableness of God and the eternity of God, and perhaps
they're well-known words, but it's worth just reading the first
epistle of Peter and the first chapter, the last two verses
in that chapter. This is the words that we read,
for all flesh is as grass. That means basically it's nothing
at all really. and all the glory of man is as
the flower of grass. However wonderful and glorious
we may think we are, the grass withereth, and the flower thereof
falleth away. That describes us, as sinners
of the earth. However proud we may be, however
big in our own eyes, how impressive we may think we are to other
people, before God we are just like this. a withering grass
and a fading flower, but there is a wonderful comparison. The Lord tells us then in this
25th verse, but, there are many buts in the Word of God, and
this is one of them which is very wonderful, but the Word
of the Lord endureth forever, endureth forever, it doesn't
fade away. It doesn't wither. It endures
forever. And this is the word which by
the gospel is preached unto you. Oh, praise God tonight for the
enduring gospel. Praise God tonight for the truth
of the gospel and be very thankful that the Lord remainest. He continues. the same yesterday
and today and forever. He looks down from heaven, he's
mindful of us, his children on the earth, they come and they
go. The Lord changes not. They shall perish, the things
of time, but thou remainest. And so may we be thankful we
have illustrations like this to encourage us for the enduring
nature of our great eternal God. With regard to the work of God
which we desire to see, desire to observe, because it is wonderful
to observe the work of God, and it is honourable, and it is glorious,
and we should desire to be found seeking it, because what does
it do as we observe it? I'll tell you what it does. It
draws us to Christ. The honourable and glorious work
of God and His righteousness and all these things, they endure
forever. They don't disappear. They're
not there one day and then gone the next. No, His work, not your
work, not my work, but His work. What a wonderful thing it is
to observe His work. in our souls, His work in our
life. To realise that He it is that
has touched our hearts. He it is that has given us a
desire after spiritual things. He it is that has given us a
concern to pray. He it is that has given us a
desire to read the Bible. Are these not great blessings? Are these not great favours?
And this is his work, and what is it? It's honourable, and it's
glorious. All God's work is glorious. Well,
may we observe it, and may we bless God for it in our own hearts,
in our own souls, and as we observe it in the lives of others. Because
our little lives on this sinful world are for one purpose, and
one purpose alone, and that is for the glory of God. Let's not
go on sailing through life, pleasing ourselves and ending up in hell. Let us be concerned that our
lives are for the glory of God and therefore, what does that
mean? I'll tell you what it means.
It means crucifixion of the flesh. That means putting to death the
things of the flesh. That means serving the Lord.
That means doing that which is right and following the gracious
and glorious example of our Saviour. Do remember then the work of
our God. It is honourable and it is glorious
and you and I need eyes to observe it. Bless God who has given you
spiritual eyes spiritual eyes to observe the glorious work
of God and His righteousness, which all of us need. Because
without it, none of us will enter into glory. No, we won't be able
to get there in our own robes of righteousness, because there
are as filthy rags we shall need the blessed righteousness of
Christ. And once that is given, it won't
be removed. It won't be taken off. We shan't
lose it, because His righteousness, as we read in the 111th Psalm,
in the third verse, His righteousness endureth forever. See, these
things are very strengthening to our soul. But thou remainest. If God did not remain, If God
did not live forever, such truths would have no blessing because
they would be false. But we thank for tonight to know
that thou remainest this great eternal God who is always there. He's always there and his righteousness
and therefore endureth forever. I guess some of you youngsters
know what the shortest psalm is in the Bible. Well, the shortest
psalm in the Bible is Psalm 117. It's only got two verses. And the second verse tells us
this, it's a wonderful truth, therefore don't belittle what
you might think is small and almost, you just pass over it. So often we can just read small
sections very fast and not appreciate what they really mean. This is
what it says, for his merciful kindness is great toward us. and the truth of the Lord endureth
forever." And because of that, what does the psalmist say? Praise
ye the Lord. Well, I hope tonight, in our
hearts, we can really praise the Lord for His merciful kindness,
which is great to warn us. Is that true in your life? Is it true in my life? When it
is, We are indeed his children. His merciful kindness. It's a
lovely couplet of two beautiful words, mercy and kindness, and
they're joined together. Merciful kindness. They award
us unworthy sinners. Praise God tonight. for that
which, if we found this, is great toward us. You see, the Word
of God brings some very wonderful adjectives before us to recognize. And this Word is great, and it
is. To know that His merciful kindness
is great toward us. It's not a small thing. It's
a great thing. And may we bless God. Praise
ye the Lord. No wonder, is it? These words
were added at the end of this very, very short psalm to encourage
us and to strengthen us. For the truth of the Lord endureth
forever. You see, you can face the evil
one. You can face the devil and tell
him, Christ has died. He rather is risen again. And
this is the truth of God. And it's not going to disappear.
It endures forever. Praise ye the Lord, all this
mercy, this enduring. It's a wonderful theme, isn't
it? It's a good theme for us tonight. It's a good theme for
us every day of our life, as indeed the psalmist wrote in
Psalm 118. It's a familiar psalm, perhaps.
I hope it might be. And he starts by saying this,
Oh, give thanks unto the Lord. Well, do you do that? Do I do
that? We perhaps complain, perhaps
we moan, and perhaps we're going to complain in the future. Difficulties
are on the horizon. Perhaps there's many reasons
why we think we can complain, but we should not, and we should
realise such a word as this is always true. O give thanks unto
the Lord, for he is good, For His mercy endureth forever, it
never fades away. The mercy of God toward us never
changes. They shall perish, but thou remainest. Yes, our great and glorious God
does remain, He continues. undisturbed by all the situation
which develops on the earth he knows he's planned it nothing
occurs without his divine permission men run around today madly trying
to find solution to this virus which is so rampant But may we
have our confidence in our God to realise that even in the midst
of these situations, this Word is nevertheless true to the Church
of God who are called out of darkness into the glorious light
of the Gospel. He is good and also His mercy
endureth forever. Everything in this world fades
away. It is all passing. and wears
out. But what a mercy to realise we
have a great and a glorious foundation laid by Almighty God. You see,
we read in this tenth verse, And thou, Lord, in the beginning
hast laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the
works of thine hands. And also in our own spiritual
life, the Lord, in the beginning of our spiritual life, he lays
a foundation. And what is that foundation? The foundation is none other
than the Lord Jesus Christ. So we're able to come and say,
on Christ, the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. Everything else fades away. But bless God for this wonderful
blessing of a sure foundation. You see, the Word of God is true
from the beginning. The very first verse in Genesis
is true. In the beginning, God. Yes, God
was there in the beginning. No one else. God was. And it's
so true from the very beginning. And every one of God's judgments
are pure. Every God's righteous judgments
endure forever. And how we should remember and
give thanks to God for the wonder of these things. The Lord will
reign forever and ever. He does reign. People don't like
to acknowledge it today. The Lord does reign. He doesn't
change. He is the same. And as the epistle of Hebrews
tells us also about the blessed God who doesn't change, He is
able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, saying,
He ever liveth to make intercession for them. This is a glorious
truth, isn't it? This God who is the one that remaineth, who
continues, is that one who very gloriously makes intercession
for us at the throne of grace. To think that we today have such
a wonderful access to our Father in heaven, and ponder the situation
which existed in Old Testament times accessed really only through
the High Priest as he went into that Holy of Holies. And yet
today we can come, however we are, wherever we are, whatever
time of day or night, we can come to the Saviour. He never
wearies. He never sleeps. This is the
blessing of the Eternal God who saves to the uttermost. It's
a wonderful word, isn't it? The uttermost. You can't really
get beyond that. So however bad or wicked or evil
you may feel to me, perhaps however wicked or evil you are, God is
able to save to the uttermost that come unto God by Him. What a mercy we have, such a
Saviour then, who is the One that remainest, Thou remainest. What a blessing it is to have
this Saviour, who is there in every time of need. He's always
alert. My friends, may that be a comfort
and may that be a strength to us forever and ever, because
the Kingdom of our God will never end. It's an unending kingdom. It's an eternal kingdom. And
the Lord shall reign over the house, over his house forever
and ever. Yes, his kingdom shall have no
end. So you see, we're not living
a life, as it were, in a void with no prospect. We have a wonderful
prospect before us of entering into this kingdom that will have
no end. to think that there will be forever
and ever, and we shall be forever with the Lord, yes, with this
same glorious Saviour that we have here in these words, that
remainest, thou remainest, Jesus Christ, the same yesterday and
today and forever. Well, do we bless God for such
a wonderful truth as that. We read it also in a word which
is often referred to in Malachi. It's an encouraging word which
we're told, for I am the Lord. He makes this great statement,
I am the Lord. I change not. I change not. Therefore, ye sons
of Jacob are not consumed. What does that mean? That means
if God was not the same, If he was one that changed, then we
would be consumed because of our sin. But you see, the law
does not change. And his great and glorious plan
of salvation is the same, yesterday and today forever. And what is
that? It's a plan to redeem sinners,
lost sinners, wicked sinners, who have turned their back upon
God. He came to save and to seek those which are lost. The mercy
of God has come to seek and to save us. And if that is so, as
we come before God confessing our sins, which we will, we won't
come saying, well, I'm a righteous man. We come saying, I'm an unrighteous
man. and pleading for forgiveness
and the prayer of the publican will be very suitable. God be
merciful to me a sinner. We won't be like the Pharisee,
standing afar off and very proud with our life and very proud
with our profession and very proud with our prayers. No, we
shall be like the publican and pleading for mercy. Well, this
God you see is that one who does save. that one who does not change,
and that one who has provided a way. And what is that way? To save sinners. It's the glory
of the cross of Christ. Thou remainest. The Lord Jesus
Christ died. The Lord Jesus Christ rose again. The Lord Jesus Christ was a conqueror
over sin, death, hell and the grave. The Lord Jesus Christ
ascended into glory, and there He is, seated on the Father's
right hand, and He reigns, and He remains, and He continues
forever. Oh then, to view the blessing
of the Gospel, the blessing of salvation, and have that good
hope that the Lord Jesus Christ died upon the cross, to redeem
our souls. If he hadn't died, if he hadn't
shed his blood, there would be no redemption. There'd be no
hope for us. We would be eternally lost. But
let us bless God today for that wonderful plan which was fulfilled. Thou remainest. He is the same
today who completed that work his father gave him to do. in
order that you and I might receive that glorious gift of eternal
life. We read in the Gospel of Mark,
in 3 of the Gospels, heaven and earth shall pass away, but my
words shall not pass away. So we have here a great and a
wonderful foundation. The Word of God. May we be thankful
for it, and may we bless God for it. In Psalm 102 we read
very similar words to these which were quoted by the Apostle Paul
in this first chapter to the Hebrews. And we're told in the
25th verse of the 102nd Psalm, Of old hast thou laid the foundations
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 shalt thou change
them, and they shall be changed. But thou art the same, and thy
years shall have no end. Well, tonight can we bless God for the certainty of the truth
of God, and to be thankful tonight that we had a blessed God, a
glorious Redeemer, who remains, who continues, who will never
go away. but is there for the blessing
and encouragement of his church. And may we know what it is today
and every day to come to him boldly under the throne of grace
that we may find help in time of need. We have many needs.
And there we have a glorious invitation to come to our God,
that he will give us that help we require in every time of need. Well, may we bless God tonight
for the gospel of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and go
on our way rejoicing. Amen.