While you're finding that place, the Apostle Peter, when he wrote
his last epistle, in 2 Peter, he wrote these words to those
believers, those suffering believers, persecuted severely. He wrote
these words in chapter 1, Wherefore, I will not be negligent to put
you always in remembrance of these things. though you know
them and be established in the present truth." Peter said, I'm
not telling you something you haven't already heard, that you've
heard from me many times. But he said, you need reminded
of it again. You need to hear it again. Verse
13, yea, I think it is meet, fitting, it's just the right
thing for him to do, as long as I am in this tabernacle, this
body, living this life, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance. knowing that shortly I must put
off my tabernacle, this body of clay, even as our Lord Jesus
Christ has showed me. Moreover, I will endeavor that
ye may be able, after my decease, to have these things always in
remembrance." When I was preparing this message, I told Robin, I
hope God is pleased to bless the message of the hearts of
those who are here this morning. because it was a blessing to
me in the preparation of it, to be reminded that Jesus Christ,
verse 8, Jesus Christ the same yesterday and today and forever. My subject is that, the immutability
of Jesus Christ. That simply means, as you know,
He can't change. He's unchanging and unchangeable. How thankful we are that amid
the changes in this life, and many times they involve being
cast upon a stormy sea, that we have an anchor that keeps
the soul steadfast and sure while the billows roll, and this is
it. Jesus Christ the same yesterday,
and today, and forever. Much like a sailor at sea who's
been on a stormy sea for many a day. I've never experienced
that. I've had my brothers were in
the Navy, my father was in the Navy, they bypassed me. I'm sure
I would have been seasick had I been on a ship. But like a
sailor who's endured for many a day a voyage on a stormy sea
when once again he plants his feet on the shore. and feels
that solid foundation beneath him and the stability that it
gives him, how grateful, how comforting it must be. Even so,
for a child of God, when he puts his faith in the unchanging,
an unchangeable rock of ages, Jesus Christ himself, it gives
him such sweet comfort to have that foundation. And he knows,
by the grace of God, he knows with that foundation, anchored
to that, that it must be, it has to be, well with his soul. How could it not be? How could
it not be? With such a captain of our salvation,
Jesus Christ the same. Everything about him is the same.
Because his person is the same. Therefore his offices are the
same. His faithfulness is the same.
His love is the same. His everlasting compassion and
mercy is the same. Everything about him never changes. Never changes. He is the same
yesterday, in eternity past, set up from everlasting, he still
retains the dew of his youth. The lamb slain from the foundation
of the world in the purpose of God, the salvation of sinners,
was not an afterthought on God's part. It wasn't as though the
fall of Adam caught him off guard and he had to juggle his priorities
and come up with something new. My soul. That sounds like me. That sounds like how I confront
things, but not God. I remember reading in a message
that Mr. Spurgeon preached. He was referring
to one of his members, one of his men, when they would meet
for prayer and asking God's blessing before the service. This one
brother, he said, would sometimes pray like this, Heavenly Father,
you may have noticed in today's paper, thus and thus. Spurgeon always chuckled about
that. As though God Almighty must refer to the paper to know
what's going on in the world that he himself created. No,
not so. And even so, Jesus Christ is
referred to the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world.
Because in the purpose and mind of God it was done before the
world was even created. Jesus Christ the same yesterday,
eternity past. Jesus Christ the same today,
this day, this day, right now, right now at Almost 1130, right
now while we sit here, Jesus Christ in all of his glory, in
all of his power, in all of his majesty, in all of his glorious
merit and worth is sitting at the throne of God Almighty. He's ruling and overruling everything,
everything. I said everything and I meant
to say it for his own glory. Who's going to stop him? Who's
going to stop him? I hear people, usually preachers,
and excuse me, well no, don't excuse me, because the very expression
shows that they're ignorant, use an expression like, if God
had his way. Every time I hear that, Louie,
I want to just grab him and shake him. What? What? Who are you talking about? If
God had his way, I want to ask him, sir, sir, please tell me
who is stopping God, who is hindering God from having his way? Because
whoever that is, he himself is God and we ought to bow before
him and worship him. No, no, no. God always has his
way. God always has his way. Jesus
Christ, the same today, in the time state of the church, this
same Jesus who died to redeem his people, now ever lives above
to intercede on their behalf. All those he shed his blood for,
he now is calling out of darkness into his marvelous light. And
when it's done, when the great shepherd, When his last sheep
hears the voice of the great shepherd and is brought to him
and granted life and faith in Christ, when that last sheep
is called from whom he shed his blood, whose sins he put away,
then he shall say, time shall be no more. In the beginning,
God. Time. Christ, rather, didn't
begin with time. Time sprang from him. He began
time. And when he's done with it, he'll
say, time shall be no more. And then he'll come to take all
those back to be with him in the Father's house. His Father
and our Father. His God and our God. Jesus Christ,
the same our text says, not only yesterday and today, but forever. That forever which God the Father
Himself decreed when He said to the Son, Thy throne, O God,
is forever and ever. Pause now, child of God. Pause
and ponder and rejoice in the wonderful, blessed sameness of
Jesus Christ, His person, His love, His grace. Never will a
child of God be in danger of being carried away with divers
and strange doctrines, as Paul says in the verse following our
text, verse 9. No, there's no danger of that
whose heart is established on the unchanging grace of our unchanging
Savior. And then the verse above that,
verse 7. The same end, outcome, of all
those faithful men spoken of there in verse 7 will be the
same for everyone who believes on the Lord Jesus Christ. He
wills that not just most of those that the Father gave Him, but
all of those that the Father gave Him be with Him where He
is. What a glorious comforting truth. No change of time, no change
in circumstance, No change in worlds may change Jesus Christ,
who he is in his own time, who he has been to be, or rather
seem to be, and always will be to all eternity. Jesus Christ
the same, yesterday, today, and forever. Immutability is a distinguishing
character of God Almighty. Indeed, He wouldn't be God if
he were mutable. He would be like me. He would
be like you. I mean, we change either for
better or for worse. Now that reminds me of the promise
I made that lady about seven months ago standing right here. You can ask her how much better or how much worse,
but my point is this. I change. I'm mutable. But God Almighty, He's immutable. Jesus Christ is the same. He
doesn't need to change. He's already perfect. He's already
altogether lovely. I mean, if we change, it's either
for better or worse. That can't be the reason of the
Lord Jesus Christ or it can't be so with Him. He said in the
Old Testament. Perhaps you've already thought
of this text. For I am the Lord, I change not. Therefore, oh,
there's some shoe leather here, isn't there? I am the Lord, I
change not. Therefore, lie down on this,
my troubled saint. Lie down on this, my storm-tossed
son or daughter. I change not. Therefore, you
sons of Jacob are not consumed. And you'll never be consumed
amidst continual changes in our lives. Two weeks ago today, as
you know, we had that surprise birthday party for my mother.
And there were some people there, friends from my childhood that
knew my mother, I hadn't seen for years and years and years.
And when they introduced themselves to me again, I thought to myself,
I looked at them and I thought, Louis, they've just not aged
well. They've been through some tough
times. And I'm sure they're thinking, boy, that Larry Crisp, man, he's
been down a long, hard road. Vanity of vanity. Everybody looks
like they're changing but us. Everybody looks like they're
getting older but us. Oh, no, we'll miss those continual,
fluctuating, dying, perishing circumstances that concern ourselves
and everything around us, what a grand bottom this is to rest
on. Jesus Christ the same. Oh, for
grace to keep this, as Peter said, ever in remembrance. It will stir our hearts and comfort
our minds. To remember that this alone is
the cause Because God changes not. That's the only cause. That's the reason that none of
his sons shall ever be consumed. And that's the only reason. It's
not what you do. It's not your faithfulness that'll
keep you from perishing. It's God's faithfulness. It's
not your perseverance. It's his perseverance. They're
in my hand and I will not let them go. Nobody can pluck them
out of my hand. It's due to the will of our unchanging
God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Because He is the same, we shall
never perish. It's not our will, the will of
the fickle, weak sheep, but the will of their great and faithful
shepherd. And you know what? That's all
right with the sheep, isn't it? The sheep don't have a problem
with that. Now a Pharisee, I refer to this
in today's in the article in today's bulletin. A Pharisee,
when he hears salvation is of the Lord, that it's not of him
that willeth or him that runneth about doing religious Exercises,
that's not the reason they're saved. When the Pharisees hears
that, he said, I hate that. I can't stand that. You mean
to tell me my salvation is not up to me, it's up to him? Because
if someone's trying to work their way to heaven, and you tell them
all your works are filthy rags in the sight of God Almighty,
woo, they can't stand that. But the sheep, when the sheep
hear, it's not of him that will it. Thank God. It's not of him
that runneth. Thank God. It's of him, God Almighty,
that shows mercy. Thank God. The sheep don't have
a problem with that. Immutable, one hymn writer put
it this way. Immutable in his will, though
dark may be my frame, his loving heart is still unchangeably the
same. My soul through many changes
goes. His love, no variation knows. Having loved his own which were
in the world, he loved them until the end. That's the grounds of
our security. Jesus Christ the same. He doesn't
need to change. Larry Criss has to change because
he's flesh. And he's subject to all the infirmities
of the flesh. Physically, emotionally, up one
day and down the next, my mood changes again. Well, no, again,
don't ask her. My mood can change, but not Jesus
Christ. Oh, wonderful, wonderful immutability. He's always the same. Therefore,
that being so, He's always trustworthy. He's always dependable. He's
always understanding. He always knows. And He's always
able. He shall preserve me. and protect
me and receive me unto everlasting glory because he's the same. He won't love me today enough
to lay down his life for me and promise me a mansion in the Father's
house and then hate me tomorrow and cast me into hell. Oh no,
he's Jesus Christ the same as you've often heard said and it's
true and it's comforting. We don't know what tomorrow holds,
but we know who, who, who. Not what, our comfort doesn't
lie in what. Oh, but we know who holds tomorrow. James wrote, go to now, check
yourself, James is saying, back up. Go to now you that say today
or tomorrow will go into such a city and continue there a year
and buy and sell and get gain, whereas you don't know what shall
be on tomorrow, for what is your life? It's even a vapor that
appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away." I was here
the other evening and looked at the paper there, the song
on it that Bobby sang to us last Sunday. She made mention of it
to me last night. Two of the verses are like this.
Oft I walk beneath the cloud. Bobby said when I sang that last
Sunday, little did I know in a few hours I'd have a stroke.
Oft I walk beneath the cloud, dark as midnight's gloomy shroud.
But when fear is at its height, Jesus comes and all is 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." Bobbie had changes, but her God never
changed. Jesus Christ has never changed. In John chapter 6 we read it
a moment ago, when Jesus then left it up his eyes, And saw
a great company come unto him, he saith unto Philip, whence
shall we buy bread that these may eat? And this he said to
prove him, for he himself knew what he would do. Child of God,
he always does. He knows exactly what he's going
to do for you. He knows exactly the storm you're
passing through or will soon pass through. Someone very wisely
said that a child of God is either going into a temptation or a
trial or coming out of one. He's either about to enter one
or he's coming out of one. But concerning his redeemed that
John saw in Revelation 7, who are these John? The elder asked
him. John said, I don't know. Would you please tell me? And
the elder said, these are they which came out. Which came out. of great tribulation. By God's
grace all of his own shell can't come out too. Oh, for the telescope
of faith to look to our unchanging God and to see this. Our God
is in the heavens. He had done whatsoever he has
pleased. Take that telescope and look
again and see that our Lord has his way in the whirlwind and
in the storm and the clouds are but the dust of his feet. Oh,
with the telescope of faith, behold your God. It must be well with my soul.
Learn what one king learned. He learned it the hard way. I've
told you before, my father would often say to me, son, you are
one hard-headed young man, one hard-headed boy. Therefore, because
you just refuse to listen, As he took that strap off, you're
going to feel. I'm going to get through to you
one way or the other. And this king learned the hard way who
is really in control. Who is the king of kings? You
know the story. He was taught of God to confess
this. At the end of the days, I, Nebuchadnezzar,
lifted up my eyes to heaven. Well, I declare what's happened
to him. He didn't do that before. He lifted up his eyes to all
of his kingdom. He lifted up his eyes and looked
over Babylon and said, look what my hands have made. Man, ain't
I somebody? And God brought him down. Come
down sinner. Then he lifted up his eyes to
heaven. And my understanding returned
to me. And I blessed the most high. And I praised and honored
him that liveth forever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion.
and His kingdom 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. Is that your God? That's the
true God. 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 I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise
and extol and honor the King of heaven, All whose works are
truth, and his ways judgment just, and those that walk in
pride he is able to abase, come down sinner." Thank God he's
able to do that. In our hymn book on page 75,
there is a hymn entitled, Abide With Me. It was written by Henry
Francis Light, L-Y-T-E, I suppose that's how you pronounce that.
But he was a pastor, and during the time of his pastorate at
a church in Ireland, he had a good friend and a fellow pastor who
was suddenly taken with an illness and then died. And God got the
attention of Henry Light. In his own words he said concerning
his friend who died, he died happy under the belief that though
he had deeply erred, There was one whose death and sufferings
would atone for his delinquencies and be accepted for all that
he had incurred. And concerning himself, this
man wrote, 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 preach in another manner than I had ever done before. The hymn he wrote, Abide With
Me, he wrote in 1847, the summer of 1847, and a few months later
he went out to meet God. He wrote that hymn in the summer,
then in November of the same year he died. Do you remember
how it goes? Abide with me, fast falls the
evening tide. The darkness deepens, Lord, with
me abide. When other helpers fail and comforts
flee, Help of the helpless, abide with me. Luke chapter 24, I thought
of this verse when I read that hymn again. You remember those
two disciples on the Emmaus road after our Lord's resurrection?
And he joined himself to them, they didn't recognize him. We
read, as they drew nigh unto the village whither they went,
and he made, that is Jesus Christ, as though he would have gone
further, they constrained him, saying, abide with us. abide
with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent. This
day of our existence, oh, in the morning of our youth, soon
the afternoon of middle age, and soon the evening, the day
is almost gone. John, our day is just about spent. Oh, thou who changest not, abide
with me. In Psalm 102, the title of the
psalm is this, a prayer of the afflicted when he is overwhelmed
and poureth out his complaint before the Lord. Verses 1 through
4, hear my prayer, O Lord, 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 in the day when I call. Answer me speedily, for
my days are consumed like smoke. My bones are burned as a hearth. My heart is smitten and withered
like grass, so that I forget to eat my bread. Verse 11, my days are like a
shadow that declineth, and I am withered like grass. Now compare
that to this. Verse 12, but thou, O Lord, shalt
endure forever, and thy remembrance unto all generations. Of old
thou hast laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens
are the work of your hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt
endure. Yea, all of them shall wax old
like a garment, and as a vesture shall thou change them, and they
shall be changed. But thou art the same, and thy
years shall have no end. That's who I want to abide with
me. Don't you? Jesus Christ the same
yesterday, the day and forever. Abide with us, for the day is
far, far spent. Light went on the right, swept
to its close, ebbs out life's little day. Earth's joys grow
dim, and its glories pass away. The rich fool of whom our Lord
said, the day, the night, your soul is going to be required
of you, then who shall those things be? Change and decay in all around
I see, O Lord who changes not, abide with me. This verse is
not in our version of the hymn. I fear no foe with you at hand
to bless, though ills have weight and tears their bitterness. Where
is death's sting? Where, O grave, your victory?
I triumph still if you abide with me. Hold now your word before
my closing eyes. Everybody I'm looking at right
now, deliberately, I'm looking at you. In a few days, when a
few days are come, we, you and I, are going to go the way from
which we shall not return. In a few days. 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 Consider this, and we'll be brief. This is worth thinking about,
looking at it from a different angle, so to speak. Every promise
of God has this as the certainty of its fulfillment. This, his
immutability, that he cannot change, he can't be changed.
This is the anchor to which every promise and every purpose is
fastened and secured. God's purpose can't change because
God Himself can't change. Does He will to save a people?
His will shall be accomplished. The reason we trust in the Lord
Jesus Christ is this, we know that He will never, He will never
break His word. He would have to cease being
who He is to do that. He would cease being God. He
would cease being himself. He can't do that. John chapter
14, let not your heart be troubled. He who changes not is speaking
these words. You believe God, believe me. Believe also in me. In my Father's
house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have
told you. I won't deceive you. I wouldn't
deceive you. I wouldn't tell you a lie. and
I go to prepare a place for you. God is not a man that he should
lie, neither the son of man that he should repent. Had he said,
and shall he not do it? Or had he spoken, and shall he
not make it good? The counsel of the Lord standeth
forever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations. Ecclesiastes,
I know that whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever. Nothing
can be put to it, nor anything taken from it, and God doeth
it that men should fear before Him." Isaiah 14. The Lord of
hosts have sworn saying, surely as I have thought, oh my, isn't
this indicative? Do these words by our great God
not give us a glimpse into His majesty, His greatness? Who but
God could speak this way? The Lord of hosts hath sworn,
saying, Surely, as I have thought, so shall it come to pass, and
as I have purposed, so shall it stand. For the Lord of hosts
hath purposed, and who shall disannul it? And his hand stretched
out, and who shall turn it back? Romans 11, For the gifts and
the calling of God are without repentance. And there he is speaking
expressly about God's purpose in election, which is salvation.
It's without repentance, not on your part, on God's part. He will never un-choose those
that he's chosen to salvation. His sheep, if he should change,
his sheep might perish. He may love them today and then
change and hate them tomorrow. And those poor souls, those poor
deceived souls that I've heard all my life on occasion speak
this way, and these are professed to know God. They say, well,
I just don't know. I just don't know. Oh, I just,
I have some loved ones In my mind's eye right now I heard
speak these words. Oh, I just don't know if I'll
make it or not. I just don't know if I'll get
to heaven after all. If God Almighty can change, then
such God dishonoring talk as that would be justified. Heaven
could never be certain, but that will never, never happen. Look
at verse 8 here in Hebrews 13 and we'll wrap this up. Based
upon the immutability of the Lord Jesus Christ, let your conversation,
the way you live in this world, let your conversation be without
covetousness. Be content with such things as
you have, for He has said, all sufficiency has said, you don't
lack anything. If you have Him, I will never
leave thee, nor forsake thee. Read it one more time. and leave
with the sweet comfort in your hearts of the immutability of
Jesus Christ. Lay your head down upon it the
next time you pass through a storm. Jesus Christ the same yesterday
and today and forever. That's why we read the words
of Joshua. And we can give them a hearty
amen. Joshua is on his deathbed, so
to speak. And he utters these words because
of our Joshua that changes not. It came to pass a long time after
that the Lord had given rest unto Israel from all their enemies
round about, that Joshua waxed old and stricken in age. And Joshua called for all Israel,
and for their elders, and for their heads, and for their judges,
and for their officers, and said unto them, I am old and stricken
in age. And behold, this day I'm going
the way of all the earth. And you know You know in all
your hearts and in all your souls that not one thing hath failed. Of all the good things which
the Lord your God spake concerning you, all are come to pass unto
you, and not one thing hath failed thereof. Concerning a believer,
the psalmist said they go from strength to strength. Every one
of them in Zion appeareth before God. Farewell, mortality. Jesus is mine. Welcome, eternity. Jesus is mine. Welcome, O loved
and blessed. Welcome, sweet scenes abreast. Welcome, my Savior's breast. Jesus is mine. Amen. Lord bless you.