Okay, Hebrews chapter 13. Just go back a little bit by
way of review, and you'll see why. Because just looking, casually
reading down through here, it seems that verse 8, which is
our text tonight, it seems that verse 8 is kind of out of place
or something. It's just our minds are out of
place. But look up there in verse, do you remember verse 4, where
he said, marriage is honorable? And we ask why did he say this
right after what he just said? Why did he just up and say this,
bring up marriage? He wasn't talking about marriage
before. Now all of a sudden he talks about marriage. Look at verse 2 again, or verse
3. It says, it tells us to remember
them that are in bonds as bound with them, then which suffer
adversity as be in yourselves also in the body. In other words,
if someone is suffering, members of the body, the church is called
the body of Christ, and we being many members yet one body, one
in the Lord. And so what greater or better
way to illustrate this oneness of the body than in marriage?
Because that's the very thing God said in the beginning. These
two shall become what? One flesh. See, that's why he brought up
marriage. He brings up marriage. These two shall become one flesh,
one in love, one in purpose, one in desire, one in It's fitting
that he brought that up to show the oneness of believers, the
body. All right? Now go on down. Now in verse
7, he says this, Remember them which have the rule over you,
or are the guides, or the leaders. And he's talking about pastors
or elders, and he says, who have spoken unto you the word of God,
whose faith follows. considering the end of their
conversation. And then verse 8, he says, Jesus
Christ sang yesterday. Why does he say that after what
he just said? Huh? That doesn't seem to go
along with what he just said, does it? Well, it does. It does. Why? Good questions. I never
did like that silly statement on TV that they made, some kind
of commercial. But you know it applies right
here, it goes well right here. Why ask why? Why ask why should this verse
be put in here? Why ask why to stop and consider
Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever? As a matter
of fact, we ought to That ought to be included every time. We
ought to stop and consider this every time. You understand what
I'm saying? Why is this here? Why not? Why not? Why do we need
a reason to declare it Christ? Well, but I believe there's a
reason. I really do. Go back to chapter
12. Chapter 12. All right? Look at verses 1 through 3. Well, again, verse 2 says, looking
unto Jesus. It says we have this race that
is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher
of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured
the cross, despised the shame, sat down at the right hand of
the throne of God. Now, we've been considering him.
Verse 3 says, consider him. The apostles had been writing
about Jesus Christ from the very first verse in chapter 1. We've been considering who He
is and how much better He is in everything and everyone from
chapter 1 on. This whole book is about Christ
just like the whole Bible is about the Lord Jesus Christ.
We've been considering Him. Okay? So it says, consider Him.
Well, now look back at chapter 13. Chapter 13. And he says in verse 7, Remember
them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you
the word of God, whose faith follow, considering the end,"
considering the end or the goal or the purpose or the sum or
the substance or the direction of their conversation or their
preaching or Whatever they're doing, what's the goal, what's
the purpose, what is it? Jesus Christ. It's the same. He's the same. Yesterday, today,
and forever. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 2,
you remember when he said this, I'm determined not to know anything
among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Paul wasn't involved
in present-day politics, social issues of the day. No, his message
was the same everywhere he went. What? Jesus Christ and him crucified. If he preached the day before,
it would have been Jesus Christ yesterday. If you had heard him
that day, it would have been Jesus Christ that day. If he's
preaching now, it's Jesus Christ. Because look at the next verse,
verse 9, it says, "...be not carried about with different
or strange doctrine." You hear that? See, so doesn't
that fit? It certainly does. Don't be carried about with different
doctrine, strange doctrine. He says it's a good thing, but
your heart be established with grace. Grace? Yes, the gift of God. eternal life through Jesus Christ
our Lord. Grace. He is the grace of God. And it's a good thing your heart
be established on Christ, be thinking on Christ. All right,
so let's think on Christ. Let's think about Jesus Christ
the same yesterday, today, and forever. yesterday, today, and forever.
Brother John came in and was looking at my notes, and I was
scribbling and blotting and scribbling and blotting, and I was changing
them. Well, he doesn't change. He doesn't change. The message
is the same. Well, what's the word? Teachers ask questions. That's
how they keep people, keep their attention. That's how they keep
students' attention. It's a good way to make sure
people are listening to you. What's another word for does
not change, never changes? I want somebody to say it, not
you. Somebody say it out loud. Another
word. Imbueable. Imbueable. That's right. That
person will be listening right now. Immutable. That's another
word for unchanging or unchangeable. Jesus Christ is immutable, unchanging,
unchangeable. He does not change. He cannot
be changed. There's no necessity for him
to change. One preacher said, if you're
perfect, you don't need to change, do you? Let's consider our Lord's immutability,
or He's unchanging. Now, go back to chapter 1. The Apostle, as we said, begins
this whole book by talking about Jesus Christ. Let's read it. I'd love to start all over again
in Hebrew, because it's my favorite book. When I'm preaching it,
it's my favorite. God, who at sundry times and
in different manners spake in time past unto the fathers by
the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son," or in Son language, "...whom
he hath appointed heir of all things." Now he's going to just
declare his person right off the bat. He hath the pointed
ear of all things, by whom also he made the world, who being
the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his
person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when
he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand
of the majesty on high, being made so much better than the
angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name
than they." So the apostle begins this epistle. The way he begins
this epistle, he continges it all the way through, declaring
who Christ is. And right here in the last chapter,
he stops and says, who is he? Well, he's the same. Even the
same we said to you from the beginning. Oh, the brightness of his glory,
the express image of his person. upholds all things by the word
of his power, who purged our sins, and so on and so forth.
The same one who made all things by his word. You remember John
1, in the beginning was the word, the word was with God, the word
was God, without him was not anything made which was made. for the same one which made all
things now upholds all things by the word of his power." He's
the same, yesterday, in the beginning, today, and forever, always will
be. The same one whom angels praised
in the beginning before there was a world, they still praise
him. Right now they're praising him,
right now, today, and they will be forever. The same one to whom the prophets
gave witness. Listen. To him, the scripture
says, all the prophets bear witness. The same one to whom, in the
beginning, who spoke unto the fathers by the prophets. The
prophets bore witness of him. Right now, Isaiah is bearing
witness of him. The same one. Even in our midst, and he will
be throughout eternity. The same one represented by the
high priest, and he talks about the high priest all the way through
Hebrew, is still the great high priest forever after the order
of Melchizedek. He's the same yesterday, today,
and forever. Here's a few things if you're taking notes. We're
going to talk about the same in his person. I'm not taking notes. All right, we ought to give it
to him. He's the same in his person. He's the same in his character.
He's the same in his office. He's the same in his purpose. He's the same in his word. He's the same in his promise. He's the same in everything.
All right? He's the same in his purpose, I mean, in his person.
Jesus Christ is the same in his person. He's eternal. He's eternal. That's why he never changes.
The Scripture says that the things that are seen are temporal, doesn't
it? The things that are not seen
are eternal. Whom have we not seen? Peter
said. We don't see him, but he's eternal. He's there. He's the eternal
one. He never changes. Who is Jesus
Christ? Who is Jesus Christ? Well, the
Scripture says he's God manifest in the flesh. Scripture says
that God became a man, dwelled among us. God became a man. God is who Jesus Christ is. I am the Lord, I change not. Where's that? Anybody know where
that is? Malachi 3.6, I am the Lord, I change not. Who's the Lord? Well, Christ
said to his disciples one time, he said, you call me Master and
Lord, and you say, well, boy, I am. Who said that in Malachi
3.6, I am the Lord, I change not? You say, God said it. Yeah,
Christ said it. That's right. He said it. He
said it. He said it again in John 13.13.
which I just quoted. He said it again in John 8, 25.
They asked him one time, Who art thou? Remember when the Pharisees
said, Well, who are you? And he said, Even the same that
I said unto you from the beginning. Who? Well, when God told Moses,
Moses said, Who shall I say is sent me? On Mount Sinai, when
Moses received the Ten Commandments, Moses asked him, What's your
name? Who shall I say you are, God? Who are you? Give me a name to
tell the Jews who sent me. And he said, God said, I am. Tell them I am, hath sent you. Well, Christ kept saying that
over and over He said, if you believe not that I am, you'll
die in your sin. Huh? I am. Tell them, I am. You believe, you say, I'm Master
and Lord, you say, well, I am. Some people say that he never
said he was God. They must not know his name.
It's I am. So he's hid these things from
them. Those who say he never said he was God, he never told
them. He never told them, did he? But he told his people. They hear his voice. That is
of God, heareth God's word. He said that in one place in
John. He said that. He said, Why is it you can't
hear me? Why is it you don't believe? Because you can't hear
me. He said, God, heareth God's word. If you believe God, you'd
believe also me. If you love God, whom you call
your Father, you'd love me, because I and the Father are one. They can't understand that. I thought it was God the Son,
someone said. I thought it was God the Son.
I thought there was God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit.
I don't understand. Of course you can't understand.
He's God. Scripture says, can a man by
searching find out God under perfection? No. If we could understand,
he wouldn't be God, would he? You say, the Son of God. Didn't
He change when He became a man? No. I don't know. He said, I changed not. Let me
give you a very simple illustration. Scripture says the Word was made
flesh. Christ said, A body hast thou
prepared me. He took upon himself the form. He took upon himself the form
of a man. But he didn't change. Uh-uh.
He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. Just because he
became man, he's the same God. He just robed himself. A very
simple illustration. This hand is me, isn't it? Did it change? Did my hand change? It's just covered in it. Huh? It's just robed. It's just clothed.
You can't see the fullness or exactly what my hand is. Still
the same hand. Scriptures even calls him the
right hand. His hand, his arm, brought him
salvation. Is Christ an arm, a hand, the
hand of God? Yes, he is. When he became flesh,
he was the hands of God. I know what preachers say, God
has no hands but your hands. That's a lie. We're not the hands
of God, but I'll tell you who was the hand of God. Jesus Christ,
the right arm, the hand of God, by whom he made all. These things
hath mine hand made. Who's that? Christ. God became a man, and like I
said one time, like the scripture said, on the Mount of Transfiguration,
when he took those three disciples up there, remember he says he
unveiled himself. So what did they see? Light. God who is consuming. That's
the reason they fell on their faces. No man has seen God at
any time. He can't see God, the scripture
said. But for just a moment, Christ
peeled back his covering, and, buddy, they hit the dirt. And
then he robed himself again and said, Get up. It's me. But now you know who I am. I am. Well, he's the same in
his essence, all right? He's the same in his character.
He's the same in his character—holy, just, merciful, gracious, loving,
wisdom of God. All these things mean salvation
to us, just like justice. Let me just take one of those,
okay? I could take each one of them and tell you what that means
to us, because Christ is the same in his holiness and his
love, and his love never fails. Whoever God starts loving, he
never quits loving. Isn't that right? That's what Jeremiah 31, verse
3 says. I have loved thee with an everlasting love. That's what
1 Corinthians 13 declares. Love never fails, right? He's
the same in his character. If he loves you, he loves you,
and he'll love you to the end, because his character doesn't
change. Let's just take justice. He said, I will by no means clear
the guilty, I'm a just God. He's the same yesterday. The same God who did not acquit,
who did not clear, who did not pardon the angels, who cast them
into a lake of fire, will someday cast some others. But wait a minute, we've all
sinned and come short of the glory of God, right? Yeah, but
I'll tell you how you can be just and justifier. This is the gospel, how Christ
can be just, remain just, and yet justify me. You see, he doesn't
pardon my sin. He did not let me off. He did not acquit me. Uh-uh. He switched places with
me. Substitution is the gospel. Substitution,
satisfaction. Learn these two words, you'll
learn the gospel. Substitution, satisfaction. God is holy. His
law must be fulfilled. Justice must be carried out.
He said, I will not pardon the guilty. All right? I can't do
it. I've broken it. God's got to
send me to hell. Well, wait a minute. Substitution. God became a man to do for me
what I could not do. Die. Well, God can't die. He became
a man. Man died. God didn't die. But
that man, well, I'm supposed to die. Well, as he is, so are
we. He represented me on Calvary's
tree. And I died. When God poured out
his wrath against sin, the sin was on Christ. And now I have
no sin. And I'm holy. And therefore God
is just and can justify me. He says, come on in. You're holy
like I'm holy. But I didn't do it. That's right.
That's right. You see that? So that's the same
in his character. All that means is merciful. He'd
go on right on down. Merciful. Enduring forever. Forever. Next thing, the same in his office.
Like we said, he's the high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
We've always had a high priest. Adam had a high priest. Oh, there's
one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. If
Adam had a mediator, it was Jesus Christ, right? The priest forever,
that's the order of Melchizedek. Levi needed a priest. Aaron needed
a priest, didn't he? Every man must have a priest
to worship God. Aaron had one. Who was it? There
was no priest. Oh, yes, there was. One forever,
that's the order of Melchizedek. What about the lamb? He's called
the lamb slain before the foundation of the world. Adam needed a lamb, didn't he?
He had one. He's a lamb slain before there
ever was a sinner, there was a lamb. When he came down here
on the cross, he was a lamb. What are we going to see when
we get to glory in the throne, in the midst of the throne? What
are we going to hold forever for us to look at, sitting in
the middle of the throne? The Lamb, as it had been in his
life. He's the same in his purpose.
The same in his purpose. Now, listen to me. God's purpose, Christ's purpose
in coming, was to glorify himself in saving sinners. All right? You can't leave out his glory.
and his greatest glory is saving sinners. They go together. God's chief purpose for all this
ball of dirt is to glorify himself in saving sinners. All he purposed to save, he came
to save. All he came to save He's coming
again to get. He's the same yesterday, today,
and forever in his purpose. All right? All he elected, Scripture
said, or predestinated, he calls. All he calls, he justifies. All he justifies, he glorifies. The same yesterday, today, and
forever in his purpose. It's called his eternal purpose.
It's ordered in all things and sure. When he ordered it, listen
to him. When he made this purpose to save sinners, it was sure,
ordered in all things and sure. When God said it, dictum factum.
Right? Said and done. I spoke of it,
it's done. Don't mind eternal justification.
Yeah, yeah, I am. Go ahead, tell everybody I believe
that. Because when God said it, it was sure. Well, when Christ
came down here and poured out his blood, buddy, it was seen,
it's sure. God said, when I see the blood, I will pass over you.
When Christ shed his blood for his people, he passed over. Well, is the blood going to be before
the Lord forever? I'm making it sure. He's the same in his purpose.
He's the same in his word. Boy, this is comforting. He's
the same in his word. Everything God spoke. Everything
God spoke from the very beginning in Genesis, Genesis is called
the beginning, every single thing, the truth of God, the gospel
of God, everything God will declare throughout, he begins there.
We went through Genesis, we saw that. Everything God begins declaring
in Genesis, all he does from Exodus to Revelation is just
repeat it. Huh? All he does when he sets
a line, here he writes a line, well, he'll do it line upon line,
line upon line. When he makes a precept, it'll
be precept upon precept upon precept. Same thing. Whatever
God begins saying, let me illustrate from the Word. All right? Genesis
1, verse 3, he said, Let there be light. Who said that? God said, Let us make man, didn't
He? Genesis 1, which the Scripture
said, In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, and
God said, God spoke. That's the Word, isn't it? Who's
the Word? The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. We beheld His glory. Christ said
that. He's the same, same one, in the
beginning was the Word, who made all things. All right, the same
one who said, Let there be light. When he walked this planet, he
said, I am the light of the world. And listen to this, Revelation
21, 23, the Scripture says, He says there's no sun, no moon.
They don't give light. He says the Lamb is the light. He's the same yesterday in his
word. Let there be light. I am the
light. He is the light. Always will be. Always has been.
The same yesterday, today, and forever. The same word which
said this, and we looked at this in marriage. The same word which
said it's not good in the beginning, created man and woman. He said
it's not good for man to be alone. What did he do? He came to dwell
with man. It's not good to be alone. Well, but he left. No, he said, no, no, I'll be
with you even to the ends of the earth. I'll forever dwell
with man. The same word, listen to this,
you'll like this. If anybody's with me, you'll
like this. The same word in the beginning,
Genesis who said to Noah and his family,
to those he left, the same one who said, Come thou unto the
ark, became the ark, tabernacled,
that's what ark means, tabernacled among us, dwelled among us, and
said, Come unto me. Huh? Same yesterday, today. He said, Come unto me. And in
the end says to all his people that come into glory, says, you
know what he's going to say to all his people? Have you not
read? Christ said, Come ye, blessed
of my Father, into the kingdom which was prepared for you from
the beginning. There was an ark back there,
he said, come. The ark came, he said, come. The ark is still
there, and he says, God, it's the same yesterday, today, in his word. Everything he says,
he just keeps saying. How can you add to perfection?
He said, Not one word of mine passes away. Have you ever thought
about that? Hey! That's God. My word's gone. Not one word
that God spoke is just floating around. He who promised life came that
we might have life. And he said, I give unto them
eternal life. And so I never perished. Never perished. He who promised, he said, I loved
them with an everlasting love. Well, that love was revealed
when he gave himself for us, and he loves us still. And he
said, nothing shall ever separate us from it. The same in his promise. I have loved them with an everlasting
love, for greater love hath no man than this. He laid down his
life for it, and he said, nothing shall separate us from
that love. Jesus Christ the same. You know,
everything and everyone changes, doesn't it? Part of what's such a heartache
about this life is the immutability of it. You know, we get a hold
of something we love, and it dies on us. We get somebody we have confidence
in, and they change. And they leave us. Huh? Something we feel a little
bit of security in. And there's no security at all.
Worked all our lives to get a nest egg, you know, for retirement. And the house couldn't burn down. Everything changes. I tell you, someone who does
not change. Jesus Christ stays the same. You know, that's the person,
the people, the persons I admire more than anybody else, and those
whom I esteem more highly are those who are faithful. Faithful
means they stay pretty much the same. Somebody you can really
depend on. You understand what I'm saying?
Somebody you can depend upon is somebody that says, I'm going
to be there at three o'clock. And they show up. Somebody says
they're going to do something, and they do it. Somebody that
says they love you, and they show it. You know what? Those are people that you can
depend upon. But even at that, nobody's perfect. There is somebody. Jesus Christ, the same yesterday,
today, and forever. His word you can rely on. Whatever
he says, he'll do it. He'll do it. He's the same rock that Moses was hit in, that the
Israelites followed. It's a rock of ages. It's clear
to me. Same rock you can stand on. Same God you can depend on. Always
has been, is right now, and always will
be. The same yesterday, today, and forever. What that means
to me is like, can you quote the rest of Malachi 3.6? I am
the Lord, I change not. What's the consequences of that? What's that mean to me? Well,
if you're a son of Jacob, can you quote the rest of that? I am the Lord, I change not,
therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed. Commit that to
me. That will bear you up. That will
bear you up. He changes not. All right, Sheriff,
you come up. We'll sing the hymn you started.
We'll sing the same hymn that you started in the beginning. All right, number 75. Hymn number
75. So stand. All right. Come ride with me.