Let's turn back to Hebrews chapter
13. We just read it a moment ago. Here's the subject. Hope it'll
be a blessing to you. Pray that God will make it a
blessing. Our unchanging Savior. I like that. I wonder how much
change we've gone through since we saw each other just a few
days ago. How swiftly, how swiftly things can change in our lives. How quickly storms can arise. Our text of course will be verse
8. Jesus Christ, here's the one
staple. Here's the one certainty. Here's
the one that never changes. He's not affected by change.
He's the same all the time. He's the same yesterday and today. and he'll be the same forever.
How thankful we are amid the changes on life's troubled sea. You remember on that occasion
in Mark chapter 4? It's recorded there and also
I think in Matthew and Luke. But on this occasion our Lord
looked across the sea and said, let us pass over. We're going
over to the other side. And they got in the ship and
began. And a great storm arose suddenly. That's a picture of
our life. God says to his sheep, those
he saves, let's pass over. We're passing over to the other
side, but it's not smooth sailing, is it? It seldom is smooth sailing. Oh, how suddenly storms can arise. And when they do, as the disciples
found on that troubled sea that night, not only on that occasion,
but other times in their lives, And so it is with all God's people.
We discover in the storm what we don't know on dry land. We
have an anchor, Billy. We have an anchor that keeps
us steadfast. We have an anchor that keeps
our soul steadfast, strong, secure, while the billows roll. Jesus
Christ, the same yesterday, and today, and forever. Oh, how comforting
it must be for a someone that's been out to sea, a sailor, I
suppose, for example, for a long time and has endured a long,
stormy journey. I wonder what a comfort, what
a relief it is for him when he stands on solid ground, when
there's no more instability, no wavering whatsoever. He's standing on solid ground.
He feels it beneath his feet. And so it is with the child of
God, how we should feel. And by God's grace, we must feel
to put our faith in that unchanging, unchanging, nothing can change
him. He's unchangeable. He can be
touched with the filling of our infirmities. Oh, but he is never
changed. He's the unchangeable rock of
ages. With such a foundation as that,
it's no wonder that he said the gates of hell shall not, is not
possible that the powers of hell should ever prevail against it. It must be for everyone who rests
their souls upon this rock, this rock, the rock that God has laid,
not man. Whatever man lays, whether it
be in the secular world or the religious world, it's no foundation. Oh no, it's no assurance against
that day. It won't be no grounds on which
to stand before God Almighty in that day when all men are
brought into his presence. But here there is the Lord Jesus
Christ who never changes with him as my hope, with him as my
anchor. who even now enters within the
veil, it must be well with my soul." Don't you just love the
words there in our text? Jesus Christ the same. He's the
one thing, the one person that I would not want to change. People
change. We change, we may like to, might
not like to admit it, but we change daily, week to week. We're changing because we're
flesh. Our life's the very best we can
do. It's a vapor. And do all you
can to prolong it, you can't do it. Everything, but everything
that concerns the Lord Jesus Christ, everything about him
is unchanging. He's always the same in his person. He is always this same Jesus. That one who after he had obtained
our eternal redemption, after that he had put away our sin,
after that he had perfectly and completely satisfied God's holy
justice, after he bore our sins away in his own body, after he
had by himself proved that he was mighty to say, oh father,
when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his
son to do what? To redeem. To redeem. He either did or he didn't. There's
just no two ways about it. There's no such thing as a possibility
redemption. Either he redeemed his people
or he didn't. And hallelujah, he said, it's
finished. I got the job done. Redeemed. We love to proclaim
it. And that one who the disciples
watched that last time on the Mount of Olives as he ascended
back to glory. Ascended back to that glory he
had with the Father before the world was. After he had done
everything that God sent him into this world to do, they watched
him. as God raised him to glory, raised
him back to heaven, and they just stood there. That same Jesus,
everything about him, everything he was that day, the mighty God,
the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, that One who has all
power in His hand, that One who was given the name above every
name, that One beneath whose feet everything and everyone
is. He's the same. He's not changed
since He went back to glory. He's the same Jesus. He's the
same in every office. He's the same effectual mediator. He's the same high priest. He's the same advocate, faithful
advocate with the Father. And His precious blood, as the
hymn writer said, shall never lose its power. It's always effectual. Christ didn't die for a maybe.
He didn't die for a hope so. He put away the sins of his people
and they'll never be found again. Don't you find that comforting?
Oh, change and decay. The hymn writer said, all around
I see. Oh, but you, you Lord Jesus,
you who change not, you abide with me. If you abide with me,
it'll be well. He's the same in his person.
He's the same in every office. His faithfulness to God, to man. He's the same in his love to
his church. The Lord hath appeared unto me
of old, saying, I have loved thee with an everlasting love. He didn't begin to love you when
he called you by his grace. He loved you, that's why he called
you by his grace. God didn't send him into the
world to get him, and he went to the cross to get God to love
us. God loved us, and he gave himself gave his son rather for
us. He's the same to his people.
And all partake of this blessed sameness. I like that, don't
you? Oh, it's a comfort to lay down at night and to know Jesus
Christ, Jesus Christ, that one. And I often think of this and
find a lot of comfort in it. He's responsible for me. He promised
God that he would become responsible. That's what surety means. And
he's the everlasting surety of his people. He took the responsibility
of doing everything that God Almighty required on the behalf
of his people. He came into this world and was
made like his people. He lived a life of perfect obedience
to God for his people. He died in the room of his people. He rose again representing his
people. He's in heaven right now interceding
to God on the behalf of his people. And he says, Father, I will that
my people, all my people, be with me where I am. Oh, he's
the same. And he will ever be faithful
to his own. He's the same, our text says,
yesterday. In all eternity past, he was
set up from everlasting. He still retains the dew of his
youth. The lamb slain from the foundation
of the world is still that one who is the savior of his people. Jesus Christ is the same today. Today he's the same. This day
of the world's continuance in the time state of the church,
this same Jesus who died to redeem his people now forever lives
to save each of them to the uttermost. Don't you like that word, uttermost? Uttermost. Oh, someone said,
oh, he saved me. He lifted me up from the pit.
He brought me from the guttermost to the uttermost. And so shall
he do so until we're with him forever. Our text also says not
only is he the same yesterday, but he's the same today. He's
immutable. He can't change. There's no need
for him to change. He's perfect. He's perfect. He's
the same today. The same he shall be forever. Jesus Christ the same forever.
That forever which God the Father decreed and he said unto him,
Thy throne, O God. This is God the Father speaking
to his son. He says, Thy throne, O God. is
forever and ever. Mary of his kingdom, there shall
be no end. He shall reign over the house
of David forever. He's King Jesus. They in mockery
put over his cross Jesus, the King of the Jews. Oh, little
did they understand. They spoke the truth, although
they didn't intend to. Pilate said, what I've written,
I've written. Put it there and leave it. Oh, and so he proclaimed,
He was king over all. Remember what he said to Pilate?
Pilate said, are you a king? Are you really a king? He said, yeah, I'm a king. He
said, for this purpose, I came into the world. But my king was
not of this world. People keep looking, say that
Christ is going to set up a kingdom over in Jerusalem, over in Israel. Set up an earthly kingdom. No,
no, no. That wasn't his purpose the first time. And that's not
his purpose now. He's a king, all right, but he
rules in the hearts of his people. He's a king that reigns over
sin. Oh, what king, what earthly monarch
has power to do that? Oh, they may by not giving people
a choice. I saw some dictator, they had
a so-called election not here just recently and he claimed
to have won the election they said it was crooked as could
be no way he's not legitimate our king is our king is and he
shall reign over the house of god forever and forever he has
all power just pause and ponder Rejoice in the sameness of the
Lord Jesus Christ. He's the same in his love. He
didn't start loving you when he saved you. He loved you everlastingly. I mean, I know it's hard for
our little, especially my little gray matter to get a grip on. Oh, but there's never been a
time that he didn't love me. He's loved me with an everlasting
love. From eternity God loved me. He
loves me today and Christ will love me tomorrow and he'll love
me forever. There's nothing, there's nothing
that I can do that'll make him stop loving me. How about that? Oh, nothing can separate me from
the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus. Never will a child
of God be in danger of being carried away. with divers and
strange doctrines, as Paul says in verse 9. He says, follow the
example of those who went before. Consider their end. Consider
how their life ended. Consider where those pilgrims
and strangers in this world before you are now. They're with their
Savior. Look at them for encouragement
as an example of God's unchanging grace and the same outcome. will be for everyone who looks
to the Lord Jesus Christ for their salvation. He willed our
great high priest pray, Father I will, not that some of them
be with me where I am, or most of them be with me where I am,
no, but I want them all with me where I am. All that you gave
me, all that you committed into my trust. I will that they all
be with me where I am." And John saw every one of them, a multitude
that none could number. He saw them before the throne
of God. They all dressed the same and
they were all singing the same tune. And there wasn't nothing
in it, Billy, in that glorious song about man's will or man's
worth. They all sing glory to God and
to the lamb that sits upon the throne. He hath redeemed us with
his own precious blood. That's why we're here. John,
where did they come from? And John, you tell me. These are they which came out
of great tribulation and have been washed their robes in the
blood of the Lamb. Oh, that precious, precious blood. What a glorious, comforting truth. Oh, worlds may change. Friendships
may change. Relationships will change. Oh, but He who had no beginning
and shall have no end will always be the same throughout eternity. Jesus Christ the same yesterday
and today and forever. Turn back, if you will, to Psalm
90. This is not a psalm of David. This is a psalm of Moses. This
was written during those 40 years of wilderness journey. My soul,
can you imagine? Robin and I, one of the few programs
we enjoy watching, we've seen them all, their reruns, but we
still watch them gun smoke. We was watching it the other
evening and the stagecoach pulled up to dodge and I told Robin,
can you imagine how uncomfortable it would have been to ride in
one of those any length of time? So with all that dust and stuff
coming in, can you imagine what it was like for Moses? Some say
there was possibly up to three million people. at least a million,
possibly three million. And every time they had a problem,
they blamed Moses. It's your fault. You've got to
blame somebody. They blamed Moses. We should
have never listened to you. I mean, can you imagine hundreds
of thousands of belly-aching Jews pointing their finger and
saying, we would have been better off in Egypt. And they would, every night,
they would pitch their tents. My soul. And every morning as
the sun arose, they would take them down again. Just again and
again, over and over and over. Can you imagine how parsing that
was? How weird? 40 years they did
that. Moses, I imagine, I just imagine,
he sat one day and he was watching that either they were setting
their tents up or taking them all down again. And Moses thought,
oh, God's not like that. Oh, we have a permanent shelter
in our God. Look what he said in verse one.
Lord, you've been our dwelling place in all generations, all
generations, before the mountains were brought forth, wherever
thou hast formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting
to everlasting, thou art God, your God. And there is none else. Remember what Paul said in 2
Corinthians 4? Turn there if you will. We should read the latter part
of chapter 4 before we read verse 1 of chapter 5. But 2 Corinthians
chapter 4, look what he says at verse 16. 2 Corinthians 4
and 16. For which cause we faint not,
But though our outward man perish, it's changing, it's changing,
it's decaying, it's perishing. Yet, that's not the end of the
story, yet the inward man, the new man, is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which
is but for a moment, oh sometimes it seems like it's forever and
it'll never end, but Paul says it's just for a moment, it won't
be long. worketh for us, it's not against us, but by the grace
of God he worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight
of glory while we look not." Oh, what did Don used to tell
us standing on the tiptoes of faith. I love Donnie Bell's description
concerning looking for the Lord to come again. He said, we just
keep looking out the window. While we look not at the things
which are seen, they're temporal, everything you see is perishing.
But if the things which are not seen, for the things which are
seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal,
Christ is eternal. His person is eternal. His grace
is eternal. His faithfulness is eternal.
His mercy, grace, faithfulness is eternal, everlasting. Paul
says we know in verse 1 of chapter 5, for we know We know. Thank God. We know. We don't
guess. We don't speculate. We don't
pout. We don't doubt about this. We know that if our earthly house,
this flesh, this body, this life, of this tabernacle, this tent,
just like the children of Israel in the wilderness, no permanent
dwelling place, this tent, this tabernacle were dissolved. That's
not the end. We don't die like a dog. No,
no, no. The Jehovah Witnesses teach that
when you die, that's the end of it. You end the grave, that's
the end of it. Not so. When we die, when this
tabernacle is dissolved, when we put off this tabernacle of
clay, when we take this tent down, what then? We've gone to
the grave and said goodbye to so many dear ones. So many dear
ones. I look out at these pews and
I remember where they sat. Missed them, missed them. But
for God's children, that wasn't the end. That was not the end. That was just a dissolving, the
taking down of this earthly tabernacle. That's just taking this tent
down. But we have a building of God,
a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. We know, we know. And Paul says
for this house, our heavenly home, we've grown earnestly,
designed to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven.
If so be that being clothed, we shall not be found naked.
For we that are in this tabernacle, this flesh, right now, do groan,
being burdened. Not for that we would be unclothed,
but clothed up on. That mortality might be swallowed
up of life." Oh, thank God for grace to know that what he promises,
he's able to perform. Immutability. is a distinguishing
character of Jehovah. Indeed, he wouldn't be God if
he wasn't immutable. What did he say? I am the Lord,
I change not. Well, so what? Well, does that
have any benefit to me now? Oh, yeah. That has some shoe
leather good to it. Therefore you sons of Jacob are
not consumed because my mercy will never be taken from you.
My grace will never be withdrawn from you. Once you're mine, you're
mine forever. Nothing from my love can stir.
He's unchanging within himself and he's unchangeable by nothing
outside of himself. I am the Lord amidst the perpetual,
constant, fluctuating, dying, and perishing circumstances of
ourselves and all things around us, what a grand bottom this
is, to rest upon for time and for eternity, unchangeable in
his nature, Jesus Christ the same, unchangeable in his purpose,
unchangeable in all his covenant promises in Christ to a thousand
generations, all for grace to keep us ever in remembrance and
to call to mind that this alone is the cause why the sons of
Jacob are not consumed. They're in the hands and in the
heart of an unchanging faithful God. It's all due to the will
of Him, our unchanging God and Savior, Jesus Christ, is the
reason why His sheep shall never perish. It's not the sheep's
will, but their great shepherd's will that determines their everlasting
salvation. And that's all right with me. That's fine with me. I'm thankful
that my salvation is not determined by anything I do or anything
I fail to do. Thank God it's not determined. My relationship to God is not
determined by what I do. Thank God that's so. Jesus Christ
is the same. And that's fine with me. This
is what David said. Boy, did he hit the nail on the
head. Before all those sweet promises, the first thing he
said was this. The Lord is my shepherd. Think
about that. The Lord is my shepherd. Then
he's responsible for the sheep. If the Lord is my shepherd, I
shall not want. The word is lack. If the Lord
is my shepherd, I shall not lack anything, anything that God Almighty
requires of me. Anything God demands, he expects
from my shepherd. With him as my shepherd, I shall
not lack righteousness. The Lord's my righteousness.
He's my sanctification. He's my wisdom. He's my redemption. He's my shepherd, the great shepherd
of the sheep. What a comfort for the child
of God to hear him declare, I am the Lord, I change not. The hymn
writer put it like this. Immutable is will, though dark
may be my frame. His loving heart is still unchangeably
the same. My soul through many changes
goes. Isn't that the truth? Oh, but
his love no variation knows. That's the grounds of our security.
Jesus Christ the same. Larry Chris changes all the time. Because he's weak. He's weak. He's flesh. He's subject to all
the infirmities of the flesh. Physically, emotionally, up one
day and down the next. Oh, but not Christ. Not so. He's
always the same. He's always trustworthy. Wouldn't
it be nice to trust him as he deserves to be trusted? Wouldn't
that be something? Oh, he's always dependable. Always
dependable. The arm of flesh will let you
down. Oh, but not the arm of the mighty God. He's always understanding. He always knows. He's always
able. He'll preserve his people. He'll
protect his people. And he'll receive his people
into an everlasting kingdom because that's his purpose. That's his
purpose. The purpose of him who says,
I will do everything I will to do. I will do all my purpose. We don't know what tomorrow holds,
but thank God we know Jesus Christ is the same as the one who's
holding it. James wrote, go to now you that
say today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a city.
and continue there for a year and we'll buy and sell and get
gain. Whereas you just don't know what you'll be on tomorrow.
For what is your life? It's even as a vapor, a vapor,
oh how fast it went by, that appeareth for a little time and
then vanishes away. I like these lines from one writer.
He said, oft I walk beneath the cloud, dark as midnight's gloomy
shroud. But when fear is at the heighth,
Jesus comes in all his light. He came walking on that stormy
sea that night and said, it's I. John 6 says, it was dark,
it was dark. Three o'clock in the morning,
it was dark. And Jesus had not come to them,
but he came. Thank God he came. He came walking
on the water. Jesus comes in all his light. Blessed Jesus bid me show doubting
saints how much I owe. Oft the nights of sorrow reign,
weeping sickness sighing pain, but a night thine anger burns,
morning comes and joy returns. God of comforts bid me show to
thy poor how much I owe. Thank God for our unchanging
Savior. When Jesus lifted up his eyes
and saw a great company come unto him, He said to Philip,
when shall we buy a bread that these may eat? And Philip went
to Andrew, wasn't it, and they started counting their pennies. I mean, they're standing in the
presence of all sufficiency. They're standing in the presence
of the bread of life, and they're counting their pennies. And finally
they said, well, we've taken up a collection All of us, all
12 of us are thrown in, 200 penny worth. Well, they won't come
close to buying enough bread to feed these thousands. But
then the next verse says, Jesus said this to prove him, for he
himself knew what he would do. You ever toss up on a bed at
night and say, oh, I don't know what I'm going to do. Pace the
floor, oh, I don't know what I'm going to do. I don't know
how I'm going to get through this. Well, Jesus knows what
he will do. That's where our comfort is,
not knowing what we will do. It's true, we don't know what
we'll do, but thank God he knows what he will do. Oh, for the
telescope of faith to look to our unchanging God and see that
he's in the heavens and he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. The Lord hath his way in the
whirlwind and in the storm and the clouds are the dust of his
feet. Oh, to learn what old Nebuchadnezzar
learned. That great king, he learned who
the king of kings was. God taught him a lesson, didn't
he? Nebuchadnezzar said, at the end of the days, I lifted up
my eyes to heaven, and my understanding returned to me, and I blessed
the Most High. Before, he said, look what my
hands have made. Great Babylon. I've done all
this. And he said, God taught me different.
He brought me down. And now I bless the Most High,
and praise and honor him that liveth forever, whose dominion
is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation
to generation. And all the inhabitants of the
earth are reputed as nothing, and he doeth according to his
will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the
earth. And none can stay his hand or say unto him, what doest
thou? Now, now, what do you say now,
proud king, now? I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and
extol and honor the king of heaven, all whose works are truth, and
his ways judgment, and those that walk in pride he's able
to abase. Come down sinner. Aren't you
thankful for that? Our children As dear as they
are to us, as much as we love them, as much as they mean to
us, they're proud rebels. Oh, but God Almighty can bring
them down. Come down sinners. There's a
hymn on page 75 of our hymn book, Abide With Me. That was written
by a man named Henry Lights. He was a pastor in a church in
Ireland. He went to visit a ailing fellow
pastor one time, a man who was dying. And he said, God used
that testimony of that dying man to get his attention. And
he put it this way concerning his friend. He said he died happy
under the belief that though he had deeply erred, there was
one whose death and sufferings would atone for all his delinquencies
and be accepted for all that he had incurred. And concerning
himself, he said this after that, after witnessing his friend's
death, I was greatly affected by the whole matter and brought
to look at life and its issue with a different eye than I ever
had before. And I began to study my Bible
and to preach in another manner than I had previously done. And
he wrote this hymn, Abide With Me, in the summer of 1847. And
a few months later, he was gone. A few months later, God took
him. Abide with me. Oh, fast falls the even time. The darkness deepened, Lord,
with me abide. When other helpers fail and comforts
flee, O help of the helpless, abide with me. You remember those
two disciples on the road to Emmaus that time, after our Lord
rose from the dead? And he came alongside them and
they didn't recognize him, didn't know who he was. And he, after
they came to where they were going, ready to turn in, he pretended
that he was going to go on by. But they constrained him, saying,
Lord, abide with us, or rather, abide with us, for it is toward
evening, and the day is far spent. And he went in and tarried with
them. Our life is one brief day. A blade of grass, it's gone. A vapor, poof, it's gone. Oh,
Lord, hear my prayer, the psalmist said. and let my cry come unto
thee. Hide not thy face from me in
the day when I am in trouble. Incline thy ear unto me, and
in the day when I call, answer me speedily. For my days are
consumed like smoke, and my bones are burned as it hearth. My heart
is smitten and withered like grass, so that I forget to eat
my bread. My days are like a shadow that
declineth, and I am withered like grass. Now compare that
to this. The psalmist was looking at himself,
but now he looks away from self to his God. Oh, and what a different
tune he now sings. But thou, O Lord, shall endure
forever. You're not like me. You're eternal. You're the same. And thy remembrance
unto all generation of old that has laid the foundation of the
earth and the heavens are the work of your hands. They shall
perish. but you shall endure. Yea, all
of them shall wax old like a garment. As a vesture shall thou change
them, and thou shall fold them up, and they shall be chained.
But you are the same, and thy years shall have no end. That's who I want to abide with
me, don't you? Oh, Jesus Christ, the same yesterday,
the day, and forever abide with me, because my evening is soon
approaching. The twilight of my life is just
around the corner. The day is far spent. Lord, abide
with me. Swift to its close ebbs out life's
little day. Earth's joys grow dim. Its glories
pass away. Change and decay in all around
I see. Oh, Lord, that change is not.
Abide with me. I need your presence every passing
hour. What but your grace can foil
the tempter's power? Who, like yourself, my guide
and strength can be? Through cloud and sunshine, oh,
abide with me. I fear no foe with you at hand
to bless, though ills have weighed and tears their bitterness. Where
is death's sting, where grave your victory? I triumph still
if you abide with me. Hold now your word before my
closing eyes. Shine through the gloom and point
me to the skies. Heaven's morning breaks, and
earth's vain shadows flee. In life, in death, O Lord, abide
with me." Every promise of God has its certainty in this, its
fulfillment in this. Here's the anchor to which everything
is fastened and secured. God's purpose, God's will cannot
change. It's immutable as He is. Jesus
Christ the same yesterday and today and forever. Jesus Christ
will never break his word to us. Remember what he told his
heartbroken disciples that night before he went to the garden.
He said, I'm going away, but you can't follow me now. I'm
going alone. You can't go with me. Peter said,
Lord, why can't I follow you now? Peter, you can't. You can't
follow me now, but you'll follow me afterwards. But he said, let
not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also
in me. In my father's house are many
mansions. If it weren't so, if this wasn't true, if heaven wasn't
true, if what I'm telling you is not so, I wouldn't be telling
you this. I'm telling you the truth. You
can rely on this. I would not tell you that I go
and prepare a place for you. You can count on that, Billy
Cobb. The great shepherds said, I'm going to my father's house.
And I'm preparing a place for you. And if I prepare a place
for, I've heard preachers trying to get some sinner to come to
a so-called altar and say, oh, there's a mansion up there for
you, but it'll be empty. It'll be empty throughout eternity
if you don't come. There's a crown up there and
only your head can wear it. Oh no, Christ said, I'm preparing
a mansion for you. And when I prepare a mansion
for you, I will return and take you back to that place. a prepared
place for his prepared people. God is not a man that he should
lie, neither the son of man that he should repent. Had he said
it, shall he not do it? Or has he spoken, and shall he
not make it good? And also the strength of Israel
will not lie nor repent, for he is not a man that he should
repent. The psalmist said, the counsel
of the Lord standeth forever, the thoughts of his heart to
all generations. I like what the wise man Solomon
wrote. He said, I know that whatsoever
God doeth, it shall be forever. Nothing can be put to it, nor
anything taken from it. And God doeth that men should
fear before him. The prophet Isaiah, the Lord
of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely, as I have thought, so
shall it come to pass. And as I have purpose, so shall
it stand. For the Lord of hosts hath purpose,
and who shall disannul it? And his hand is stretched out,
and who shall turn it back? And Paul said, For the gifts
and the calling of God are without repentance, speaking expressly
of God's purpose of salvation in election and grace. Consider
just for a moment, then we'll be done. awful consequences if
God Almighty could change. Good change. If God could change,
if Christ is not the same yesterday and today and forever, then his
sheep could perish. They could be plucked out of
his hand. He could love me today and cast
me into hell tomorrow. What we hear poor deluded souls
say would be true. Well, I just don't think I'm
gonna make it. We won't know until we stand
before God. Such God dishonoring talk would
be justified, would be true, if God could change. But thank
God, as we read up there in verse 5, He will never, never, never,
I think I read in the original, that's how it should read, He
will never, never, never leave us nor forsake us." Read it one
more time before we go our way. Jesus Christ the same yesterday
and today and forever. They go from strength to strength. Every one of them. Every one
of them. Thank God every one of them.
In Zion appeareth before God. Was it old Newton that said when
he got to heaven he's going to have have several surprises. He'll be surprised to see some
folks there that he didn't expect to see. He'll be surprised to
see some folks not there that he thought would be. But he said
the biggest surprise would be that he's there. That he's there. That he'll be in the presence
of the Lord Jesus Christ. They go from strength to strength.
Every one of them in Zion appeareth before God because Jesus Christ
is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Oh, farewell mortality,
Jesus is mine. Welcome eternity, Jesus is mine. Welcome, oh, loved and blessed.
Welcome, sweet scenes of rest. Welcome, my savior's breath. Jesus is mine. Oh, what a treasure. What a treasure. What a shepherd. What a savior.
God bless you. Thank you for your attention.