I want you to close your eyes
for just a moment. I want you to listen real careful. Just think about what the words
you're going to hear. 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 the today and forever. That's the word of the Lord. My subject for this morning is
an old story for a new day. An old story for a new day. Turn to Hebrews chapter 13. You can set your Bibles on your
laps. We're going to park right here. Hebrews chapter 13 for
a few moments. Now I'm sure you've heard verse
8 quoted many, many times. Jesus Christ, the same yesterday,
today, and forever. It's a pretty popular verse.
A lot of preachers use that. But the preceding verse goes
right along with it and must be read with it when you're reading
verse 8. Look at this with me if you would.
Hebrews chapter 13, beginning at verse 7. Remember them, or
in other words, respect them. Listen to them. Listen to those
who have rule over you. This is talking about your spiritual
leaders, your teachers, your pastors, those who have spoken
unto you the Word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord. Remember these who have the rule
over you, who have spoken to you the Word of God, whose faith
follow, or in other words, follow the Gospel that they preach.
considering the end of their conversation, or the goal of
their ministry, as it says, considering the objective of their ministry.
And this is the objective that comes next. Jesus Christ, the
same yesterday, today, and forever. You see what I'm talking about? Those verses have to go together. One of the problems, and this
is a quote from Henry Mahan, he says, one of the problems
that we have in this day is the sickness of versitis. Versitis. We, at liberty and carelessly,
lift verses out of the Bible and quote them, John 3.16. Perfect example. Look how many
religions quote that out of context. And they say this means that
God loved the whole world. And they completely neglect and
reject what the Lord says in the 17th chapter of John. I pray
for them. I pray not for the world, but
for them that Thou has given me. They say that this is what the
Bible says. It may say that, yes. But it says something before
and after which is quoted that reveals what it means. We use
Scripture to interpret Scripture. We don't just take one verse
and run with that alone. What does it say before? What
does it say after? Remember them that have rule
over you, who have spoken to you the word of God, whose gospel
follow, considering the goal of their ministry. This is the
reason for their ministry and the object of their ministry,
which is to point you and lead you to Jesus Christ, who is the
same yesterday, today, and forever. Time and knowledge has sure changed
over all the centuries, huh? We have such a blessed opportunity
in this life that we live, in this particular time that God
has brought us into being. We can look back and see the
past in a way that most couldn't see back in the old days. They
couldn't look back at all the writings and stuff that we do,
many in the old old country on the other side of the pond, before
all the books and stuff began to begin writing. And even after
the books were written, many didn't have books to read. We
can see that time and knowledge has drastically changed over
every occupation, can't we? And the reason is because of
new tools. We have cars now, where they had wagons before,
as an example. We have new materials. We have
all kinds of new things we can make stuff out of. We have new
knowledge. Look at how they take a heart
out of somebody, a pumping heart, and they put it in somebody else,
and it still works. How many jobs resemble what they
were centuries ago? Almost everything we see around
us is different from what it was. science, medicine, government,
teaching, masonry, carpentry, steel, oil industry. Everything
has changed from what it was before. But there's one occupation
that goes all the way back, all the way back when two people
walk this earth. And it has not changed all the
way until today. No, I said that wrong. It has
not changed even today. Until makes it sound like it's
going to change today. I did not mean it that way. Thank you
for allowing me a moment to correct myself. There's one profession and one
message that is totally the same and it never changes. In fact,
to change it would be to ruin it. To change it would be to
add something else to it and change it. For it to be that
same message, that same wonderful message yesterday and today,
we have to keep it the exact same message. You ever sat in
a circle and had people tell a story? Next person. You've ever done that? It really does change in that
circle. And then the last person tells it, and the first person
says, that's not what I said at all. The slightest alteration in this
message and in this profession would make it lose its power
and would make it become an error. Well, what is it? I'm talking
about the gospel ministry. The Word, preaching the Word
of God. The ministry is the person and
the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Scripture says, to the end
of our ministry, the goal of our ministry is the same. It
doesn't matter if Moses is preaching, it doesn't matter if Abraham
is preaching, it doesn't matter if David is preaching, Isaiah,
Paul, Augustine, Martin Luther, John Calvin, or even me. The message is still Jesus Christ.
He is the same yesterday and He'll be the same throughout
eternity and forever. You see, our gospel, our gospel
is an ancient gospel. Someone told Henry Mayhead once,
he said, you've got an old message. I've heard that a thousand times. Well, he said, well, you know,
it's really older than that even. It's an ancient gospel message
of God's grace in his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. The Pharisees said to the Lord
Jesus Christ once, they said, we have Moses. They had Moses
as their minister. They were saying, we go back
further than you to the Lord Jesus Christ. You're only 33
years old. We know you. You're a carpenter.
You were just born to this Mary and Joseph. We know who you are.
We follow Moses. That goes back long further than
you. The Lord said, well, if you had believed Moses, you would
have believed Me, for Moses spoke of Me. God said Moses spoke of
Him. Oh, well, then they said, well,
Abraham's our father. Okay, Moses went back far enough
for you, we'll go back further. Abraham. We're sons and children.
We're the children of Abraham. Abraham is our father. And our
Lord said to them, if you were the sons of Abraham, you would
love Me, because even Abraham rejoiced to see My day." That's
the Lord's Word. You see how we're going back
here, folks? You see how the message continues to be the same? Abraham saw it and was glad.
And the Lord says, before Abraham was, even before Abraham. Catching the message? Well, then they said this. They
said, the Christ is the son of David. And he said to him, what
think ye of Christ? Whose son is he, in other words?
And they said, well, he's the son of David. And our Lord said,
then why did David call him Lord if he is his son? Why did David
say, Speaking of Christ, Lord. He said, The Lord said unto my
Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy
footstool. You see folks, Jesus of Nazareth is David's Christ. And Moses' subject. And Abraham's
Redeemer. I am the same today. Our Lord says, I am the same
forever. How is this good news to you
and I? Well, He also says, I shall never
leave you nor forsake you. He also says that all the Father
giveth me shall come to me. That's going to continue on until
the last one comes to the Lord. And then the Lord's going to
come back. And there's going to be a lot of gnashing of teeth
There's a whole lot of people in the world around us, folks. A whole lot of people, and I
want this to sink into you. As it sinks into me, I was right there with them. Walking along just as they were,
I will be my own God. I will not have that one rule
over me. I will rule myself. I'll decide
when I want to walk down the aisle. I'll decide if I want
to go play golf. I'll decide if I want to go drink. I'll do
this. I'll do that. I will make myself above God.
And every single one in this room was just like that at one
time or another, even if you went into some other building
and thought you were worshiping some God. There's only one God. And it's the God of this Scripture,
the Lord Jesus Christ, ruler of everything. And we can take solace in the
fact that He does not change. Isn't that a good thing to you? I mean, I think to myself, oh,
you know, the Lord has saved me, but yet, John, you just said
something in front of that man down there on the dock that did
not sound like a saved person at all. I'm glad my Lord does
not change. I'm glad. I'm thankful. Because he could
have changed his mind about John right then and there and said,
you know what, I really don't want that one, he's not very good
after all. There's nothing new, folks, about
the gospel of Jesus Christ and Him crucifying. And you cannot change it. If
you try to change the gospel, you'll ruin it. You'll destroy
it. You'll take its effect away.
If it could change, then you couldn't count on it. Could you? You can't count on John Reeves. I make mistakes. I might change my mind about something
and decide I'm not going to go over to that other place tomorrow.
I'm going to go over here instead. You never know. Our Lord does
not change. He says I have loved you with
an everlasting love. That means the love of Christ
for His people never changes and never will. No matter what
we have done. And we've done a lot. In fact, His love is so strong
for us that He took everything that we have done upon Himself. Paid for it. paid for it with
His own blood, the blood of the Creator, the blood of God. Perfect in every single way,
never a sin. So much so that the Father spoke
from heaven and said, this is My Son in whom I am pleased. Christ is the same yesterday,
today, and forever. He said, I am the Lord. I change
not. You see, God is immutable. And
the word immutable means unchangeable. God never learns anything and
He never forgets anything. He says, known of God are all
His works from the beginning. He declared the end from the
beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not even
done, saying, My counsel shall stand. So God doesn't change. Any time when a preacher comes
to a pulpit, or you're going and you're visiting somewhere.
Kathy and I have done this. We went to Fort Bragg one time. And I said, you know what? Let's go over to a church. Find
a Presbyterian church. Find something. Let's just go
check it out. If you ever go and do that, don't be afraid to get up and
walk out if they're preaching a lie. We did. They chased us all the
way out to the car. What are you going for? I've got something
here to say. Well, you know. You guys go ahead and do that.
But if a preacher, you hear a preacher say this, I've got a new message
for you this morning. I got something here. It's just totally new. Nobody's
ever spoken of it. Run from that fool as fast as
you can. And everyone who sits and listens
to him is a fool also. The reason is because God says,
I do not change. When he finished the Word of
God, our Lord says that if any man adds to the book, I will
add to him the plagues of this book. That's how serious it is
to change God's Word. If any man takes away from this
book, I will take his name out of the book of life. So His message will never change
and His gospel will never change. It does not matter if Moses,
Abraham, David, Isaiah, or you, or I, or anyone else, we all
should be preaching the same message. Sin is still the same,
isn't it? And Adam all died. All have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. We can trace the mess that
we are in right back to Adam himself. Sin hasn't changed. It's the same, isn't it? Still
causes death, doesn't it? One of my greatest thoughts... That's not the way I meant that.
One of the most wondrous things that the Lord has laid on my
heart when I'm looking at somebody else. The heart is desperately
wicked. Ooh, John, why would you think
that about somebody else? Because when it is, then I won't
be bothered by it because I already know it's going to be. Does it
make sense what I'm saying? Makes it easy to forgive somebody
when you know that they're just like you. I wouldn't be surprised at all
when somebody does something wrong to me because I know the
heart is desperately wicked. Sin has not changed. Somebody once said that the world
was getting worse. No, it's not. It's the same today as it was
then. Men still go about wanting to be men. See what I have done? Look at
all the good stuff that I do. Look at all the good works we
do as a church. We feed the poor. We take care of this. We take
care of that. The world is not getting worse.
It's no worse than when Adam fell. Sin is still sin. There
may be more open about it. Didn't have as many gays walking
around so openly calling themselves what they are in today's world,
but they were there. They've always been there. Men are men. The situation has
not changed. And sin is no different today
than it was yesterday. Death is the same today, isn't
it? Folks are still dying. I know
that we're doing our best to live hundreds of years on this
earth, but it won't work. The average age is still 70 years
old. It might vary a little bit, 70,
80, whatever. How many 140-year-olds have you
heard about? hundred-year-olds have you heard
about? There's a couple, but they've been way back when, huh?
Death is the same. Judgment is the same. The Lord
says, I'm going to judge the world in righteousness by that
man, Jesus Christ, whom I have ordained, whereof I have given
witness to all men. He says, I have raised Him from
the dead. Judgment hasn't changed, has
it? We're all going to be judged
according to our union and our relationship, or lack of it,
with His Son. He's going to judge the world
by that Man, Jesus Christ. Faith is the same. It's the same
story. But what makes it new for today
is, if it was the same all the way back then, And it was good
news to them back then. Is it not good news today? Christ
came to the world to save sinners. And I'm the chiefest of all. Trust me, Darrell. I'm glad you
don't know, too. So we're both glad, aren't we?
We're both glad that Christ came to save sinners. He's the same
yesterday as He is today. The blood atonement is the same
as it was yesterday as it is today. Those who walked this
earth before the Lord Jesus Christ, they looked forward to that sacrifice. The very first sacrifice was
at the Garden of Eden, wasn't it? See? There's the story. There's the
good news. Those who were naked in their
own sin, who chose, I will not have God rule over me, I will
not do what He said, I will eat of this tree, ran from Him, naked
as can be with their sin before them now, and what did our Lord
do? He killed an animal to wrap them
in skin. He shed blood. And that's what they looked forward
to. The blood that was shed on the cross. The Lamb who was slain
before the foundation of the world. You see, the gospel is
a lot older than even creation, isn't it? There comes assurance here, folks.
This is where we have our assurance from. The Gospel goes all the
way back before a star ever twinkled in the sky. Everything that was created was
created for this very fact that Christ would come into the world
and save sinners. And all that the Father giveth
Him shall come to Him. And those that come to Him, He
will know I was cast out. Because He gave them life to
come to them. Lazarus didn't have any life
in him. He was dead as can be. He stinketh. So did you and I
before the Lord called us out of that darkness. Did you hear how the news, the
good news of the gospel is just as good today as it was then?
It's the same message. It's the same message I preached
last week. It's the same message Pastor Gene preached a year ago
when he was still here, or a little over a year ago. Same message
that Don Fortner preaches. Same message that Norm Wells
preached three weeks ago. Some people might think that
that message is getting old. Maybe you don't hear it. Because sinners hear about their
Savior. My sheep hear my voice. Our Lord says in the book of
John, you don't hear it because you're not my sheep. You don't hear the Word of God.
You might want to ask yourself, am I a sheep of God? You don't
hear how that message has been around forever and how great
that message is. You want to get down on your
knees and ask God, am I one of yours? What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
That's what Moses sung about. The song of Moses and the Lamb
is the blood of Christ. Unto Him who loved us and washed
us from our sins in His own blood. That's what Moses said. The resurrection
is the same. It's the same story about that.
Mercy is the same. Back in Exodus 33, a long, long
time ago, God said to Moses, He says, I will be merciful to
whom I will be merciful. I will be gracious to whom I
will be gracious. And then Paul came along so many
years later, and wrote in the book of Romans, chapter 9, he
says, I will be merciful to whom I will be merciful. And I will
be gracious to whom I will be gracious. Paul and Moses preached
the same message. They preached the same profession
and the same vocation, the same message, the same gospel. It
is not of him that dwelleth or him that runneth. It is God that
showeth mercy. We got no new Bible. People are
trying to make a whole bunch of new translations out of the
Bible. But there's no new Bible. It's
the same Word. The same word that points to
the people of Christ, the people of God, the chosen, the elect,
those that were predestined to be formed to the image of God, to hear about the Lord Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. You can take this book and you
can come up with all kinds of other stuff for it. You can just
drive down the street here and find that at just about every
mile or so there's at least another church, right? One right across
the street here, several down the street. I've told you this
before, you go back to Kentucky and Tennessee and there's one
on every corner and some corners have all four with churches on them. I'll try not to go too long here,
but I want you to listen to one thing with me, if you would.
There are three things that a man learns when he learns about the
gospel. And it doesn't matter how long you've been in religion,
or how involved you are in religion, or how wise you think you are,
there are three things that a man learns when he learns the gospel.
And these things never change. They've been around since Abel,
and they'll be around for eternity. What happened in the Garden of
Eden? Do you know? What really happened on the cross
at Calvary? Do you really know? What really happens when God
in His mercy and in His wonderful grace meets a sinner and conquers
him and saves him? Do you know? These three things have been
true from Abraham to this very day. And I'll go over them just
quickly. First of all, what happened in
the garden? Charles Spurgeon had this to say about what happened.
He said, let a man go wrong here on what happened in the Garden,
and his whole system of theology is gone wrong. It's like heading
in the wrong direction from the starting gate. It's like running
a race. Instead of going the way the
track goes, you'll go the other way. And you'll never reach the
final destination, which is the end, the crossing, the line.
If a man doesn't start right, his whole system of theology
is wrong, and the starting place is what happened in the Garden
of Eden. Something happened that has affected every single human
being that ever walked this earth. And the Bible reveals it this
way. It says, first of all, back in the garden, God created man
in his own image. And I'm going to try to be as
plain and simple as this as I can be. And I quote from Scripture
for most of the things I say. But God made man upright and
holy. He created man in his own image.
Man walked with God. And that man's name was Adam. God breathed life into Adam and
became a living soul. And then he said, obey me and
live. That's the summary. There was one tree in the garden.
Now, many want to try to say it was an apple tree or something,
but really nobody knows. And our Lord said, if you eat
of that tree, you will die. It was a covenant of works. Man
was placed under God's government and under God's covenant and
obedience to God. This included everything that
he had. This was the one law. Obey me
and live. Disobey me and you shall surely
die. In Isaiah 14, we read about the
fall of Satan. His sin was this, that he said,
I will be like God. I will exalt my throne above
the stars of God. I will ascend to the north. I
will be like God. And he is saying that he will
not have God rule over him. Isn't that what Adam and Eve
said? Isn't that what Adam said? I'm not supposed to eat of that
tree. You know the Lord said, in the
day thereof that thou eatest, that means God said you're going
to eat of that tree in a way. In that day, when you eat that
fruit, you will die. And Adam said, I'm going to eat
that fruit, and he died. You say, well, wait a minute,
that's Adam's sin. I didn't eat of that tree. Folks, you're going to act just
like you want to be your own God. You will throw off the rule. You will throw off the reign
and the government of God and will no longer be a subject unto
Him. That's how we come into this
world. David said the same thing. He said, the fool has said that
his heart, there is no God for me. I will be of my own God.
And that's what Satan said to this woman. And we know what
happened after that. Adam took the fruit also. What they were both saying is,
we will not have this man to rule over us. They threw off
his sovereignty, and we will be as gods ourselves. Man wasn't slightly wounded.
He died. He is dead in trespasses and
sin. When Adam sinned, the whole nation
of mankind, all of mankind at that point have a nature against
God. Men come into this world without
God, without hope. We are separated from God in
our sins. We're destined to be damned unless
something happens, and that brings us to the cross. What happened
on the cross of Calvary? In the garden, men fell. On the
cross, men were restored. Payment was made. Not for all mankind, though,
is it? To say that God loves everybody
and his blood was shed for everybody means two things. It means, first
off, that nobody's ever going to go to hell. And we know that's
not correct. But it also means that the blood
that was shed on that cross was worthless. If our Lord says that the blood
covered the sins of His people, could any of those people go
to hell afterwards? No. The blood of God was shed for
His people. That's why our Lord says, all
that the Father giveth Me shall come to Me. And all who come to Me, I shall
in no wise cast out. He knows who's going to come
to Him. Because He's going to come to them in the Spirit of
God and give them faith. The gift of God. Not of works,
lest any man should boast." The Bible says that there were two
Adams. The first Adam and the second Adam. The first Adam is
of the earth and earthly, and the second Adam is the Lord of
heaven. In Adam we died, and in Christ we are made alive.
In the second Adam, Christ said, not my will, but thy will be
done to the Lord. That is just the opposite. Through
one man's disobedience we were made sinners, To the other's
obedience, we were made righteous. This is the imputation or the
impartation. By one man, by this one called
Adam, came death. By the God-man came resurrection
and life. By the offense of one, judgment
came upon all. And by the righteousness of one,
the free gift of life came upon all who are He represented us. He stood where
we should be standing. He fell when we should have fallen. He died instead of us, where
we shall live. That's what the Bible says. When
Christ came, He represented a new people, a new nation, a new kingdom. All who are in Him are restored
and live. You see, the fall of the garden
was a total fall, but the restoration on the cross of Calvary was a
total restoration. Christ cried out, it is finished,
and it is finished. All of God's elect are washed
in His blood right now. Not tomorrow by something that
you have done, but by what He did 2,000 and so on some odd
years ago on the cross. What happens in a sinner's heart
when God meets him? When God Almighty meets him and
conquers him and God reveals Christ to his heart? First of
all, he believes God. Whosoever believeth on me shall
have everlasting life. You see, the key word is, who
shall ever believe? That's the real key word to John
3.16. The world wants to take that
verse and say, for God shall love the world, and they want
to run with that world thing. But the key is, whosoever believeth
on Me shall have everlasting life. You see where the story
gets real good today? The same story I heard yesterday,
the same story I heard 20 years ago when the Lord called me out
of darkness? I believe God! Because He's given
me the ability to believe Him. That's the Lord putting life
in John Reeves. That's the Lord putting the life
in Elie Wieselek. We believe God. We believe all
of His Word. Not just verse 8, but verse 7
that goes along with it. I am the same today and forever.
I do not change. We love God because He first
loved us. We love His Word because it continues
to point us to Him. It takes our minds and our fleshly
thoughts off of ourselves and it points us to our Savior. We
love God's people for they love the same God we do. Everyone
that loveth is born of God. We're not born of God because
we love Him, but because He loves us. We're not born of God because
we believe. We're born of God because...
I'm sorry, we believe because we
are born of God. I confuse myself in my own writings
at times. Our Lord closes with this. He
says, He that loveth not knoweth not God. This man we're speaking
of is a new creature. He walks in the Spirit of God.
He walks not in the flesh. He walks in the Spirit of God.
He minds the things of God. He lives in the grace of God.
It is my life. It is your life. He grows in
grace and the fruit of the Spirit. He will also continue in faith. Not like the seed that grows
up and then the sun comes on it and wilts it. But a seed that
flourishes even in times of drought. Because it is our Lord who keeps
us. I shall never leave you nor forsake
you. I believe that. Do you? God's people continue in the
faith. They don't quit. And we shall never die. We have
a life eternal for He has promised it. Do you know what happened
in the garden? Do you truly know what happened
in the garden? Do you know what happened on
the cross? Do you know what happens to a
sinner? a sinner who is saved by God. We're not talking about when
some preacher talks him into professing a faith, when some
preacher says, come down to the front and pray some prayer. We're talking about when God
reveals to your heart these things. When God reveals Himself in one
of His elect, the message never changes from that point on. It's always going to be, it always has been, and it will
be forever and forever. Jesus Christ, the same yesterday,
and today, and forever. Amen. Sam.