Another year has nearly ended,
hasn't it? My, my, how they do fly. How
they do fly. Lester, I can remember thinking
at one time that 40 was old. I remember thinking that. And
I passed that a long time ago. And it seems so, so swiftly. James said, what is your life? What is your life? It is even
as a vapor. Can you think of anything more
fleeting? It's even as a vapor that appears
for a little time and then vanishes away. I think it was Carly Ann. I know I sent her a birthday
card. but I think it was in her card. I sent out so many, and
several birthday cards included, but I think it was in her card
that I wrote, you don't realize it now, but one day, the Lord
willing, you'll be amazed. You'll be amazed how fast the
years have gone by. And the Lord willing, as we close
the old year, We stand on the threshold of a new year. And
I look back on my failure to love and serve my God as I should
have. But I also look back with thankfulness
to our God for his continued mercy and grace and love to this
sinner. There has been no variation,
not the slightest degree of change in our glorious Redeemer. There is a hymn in our hymnal
that says, count your blessings, name them one by one. That's good to do. That's good
to do. But I can't do it because I can't
count that high. God's mercies, blessings, grace
on me, and I think that's somewhat of what the psalmist himself
confessed. Listen to this. I'm reading from
Psalm 139. How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O Lord!
How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they
are more in number than the sand. When I awake, I am still with
thee." I felt, in consideration of the time of year, almost finished this year, a new one
about to begin. I, thinking along that line,
was pretty sure of my subject before I ever settled on a text. The subject of God's faithfulness,
the faithfulness of our great God and Savior to his people,
the entire Bible, the Word of God could be a text for that,
couldn't it? All the promises of God are yea
and amen in Christ Jesus, great, great is his faithfulness to
his people. Let me read you a verse of a
hymn written by Jim Byrd. In thy house, O great Jehovah,
who has blessed us all our days, only now we all assemble to conclude
this year with praise. Lord, we thank thee for thy mercies.
which to us are new each day, and with grateful hearts we bless
thee, thou hast led us all the way." Has he not? He has led us all the way. Look at verse 8 here in Hebrews
13. You probably guessed my text,
didn't you? I can't think of a verse that
is more appropriate for this time. So encouraging. Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ. The same yesterday,
and today, and forever. The title of my message is Wonderful
Blessed Sameness. There's no monotony here, is
there? Huh, is there? No monotony to
this. Jesus Christ, the same. We mentioned last Sunday that
name Jesus, that's the Greek form of the Hebrew Joshua, same
word. The Hebrew Joshua is really a
combination of two words, Jehovah, God, and Shua, salvation. Together they mean, as the name
Jesus declares, the Jehovah of salvation or the Lord of salvation. And then there's Christ. As John
read in Psalm 45, anointed, anointed. That's what the word means, Christ
anointed by God, the Messiah that was sent forth by the Father. as the Redeemer of His people. God so loved the world that He
gave His Son. When the fullness of the time
was come, God sent forth His Son. And His Son came most willingly
as Jesus the Christ, saying, Father, I come to do Thy will,
O my God. As Jesus Christ And oh, what meaning to those two words. Jesus Christ. We're told He is
the same. When? Yesterday. The same. All of our yesterdays. Well, what about now? What about
now? When the storms of life are raging,
what about now? When the world's tossing me like
a ship upon the sea, what about now? He's the same today as well. No matter what today may bring
forth. Again, James wrote, we don't
know what a day may bring forth and we don't. We don't. We awoke
this morning Perhaps joyous, looking forward to the service.
I did. Considering God's blessings on me over the past year, but
before the sun goes down tonight, I may receive a word that would
break my heart, just so to speak, pull the rug right out from under
me. We don't know what a day may
bring forth. But Jesus Christ is the same
today no matter what. I don't know what, as James said,
what may happen today, but he does. He does, Lord. He's never caught off guard. Jesus knows, we're told in John
6, We read that concerning the feeding of the multitude, he
asked Philip, Philip, where will we buy bread that all these may
eat? And the next verse says, this
he said to prove him for Jesus knew what he would do. Philip didn't know. He was counting
their pennies. Oh, but Jesus knew what he would
do. Isn't that comforting? I've said
and you have too. Oh, I just don't know what I'm
going to do. Don't know how I'll get through this, but our comfort
doesn't lie in what we shall do. Our comfort lies, he knows
what he shall do. And that one is the same forever. Yesterday, today, forever. That pretty well covers it, doesn't
it? That pretty well covers my life here and eternity to come. All that Christ ever was, he
yet is and shall forever be. He was God always, as John commented,
eternally, but he became what he had never been. It's no wonder. The apostle,
even under divine inspiration, said, this is a great mystery.
Great is the mystery of godliness. He who was eternally God and
never stopped being God when he entered this world through
the womb of the virgin, the Word became flesh, was made like unto his brethren. He became what he never was before. And once becoming that would
never cease to be. That man who is himself God. The God-man is now in glory. That one that can be touched
with all the feelings of all our infirmities can identify
with because he was in all points being made flesh, being made
like his brethren, tempted like we are. Oh, let us come boldly
to the throne of grace. We've got somebody there that
cares. Somebody there that identifies
with our heartache, our sorrow, our loneliness, whatever it may
be. Our forerunner now appears in
the presence of God. We read in Hebrews. He appears
in the presence of God for us. For us. As our representative,
Louis. That one who is our advocate
before the Father. He appears for us. The surety. Our head, our surety is in glory,
appearing for us as our representative, guaranteeing that his body shall
soon follow and be with him, standing before God as our high
priest, our advocate, Jesus Christ the righteous. The righteous. The same righteousness. the same satisfaction to the
Father, the same glorious merit, value. I quote this because it's true. I like it. It's comforting. Dear
dying lamb, thy precious blood shall never shall never lose
its power till all the ransomed church of God be saved, the sin
no more." This sinner finds great comfort in that. Jesus Christ
the same. God demanded a ransom and he
provided the ransom that he demanded, that he required. And he says
concerning that ransom, Deliver his soul from going down to the
pit. This is not in my notes, but
it occurs to me just now. How many, while we've gathered here, have gone down to the pit? have gone out of this life, this
vapor, has ended for them, for multitudes, and they find themselves standing
in the presence of God Almighty without a mediator. What a horrible, horrible thought
What a more horrible reality. God never said concerning them,
deliver their soul, because they didn't know Christ. Oh, how thankful,
child of God. How thankful. Eternal praises
be to that one who is our ransom. Concerning whom God said, deliver
his soul, that sinner, Larry Criss, there's no reason in him. I see nothing in him that should
prevent me from sending him to hell. He deserves to go to hell. He's earned those wages. But God says concerning that
sinner, deliver his soul. He'll not go down to the pit.
He'll not lift up his high eyes in hell. Why? Because I've found
a ransom. And that one is Jesus Christ
the same yesterday, today, and forever. Oh, blessed, blessed
sameness. Blessed, blessed sameness. I, as you know, left last Monday
to spend Christmas with my sons and their families. My daughters
in Florida wasn't able to be with us. But divided up the four nights
that I was there, two with my oldest son, two with my youngest,
they both were sick. When I left Roger's house and
went to Larry's, Christmas Eve, he'd gotten sick. It got worse
during the day, Christmas Day. Anyway, Thursday, I babysatted
his two daughters. He just couldn't get out of bed
until his wife got home and took that hard head to the doctor. He's stubborn. I don't know where
he gets that from. But anyway, my two granddaughters, one's
eight, one's five, got up, and I thought, well, I can take care
of this. It wasn't no time, John. Pawpaw,
we're bored. We're bored. So I put in one of their DVDs. They watched that. Pawpaw, we're
bored. We played some games. Same thing. Didn't make any difference. We're
bored again. Pawpaw had about worn out. I'd
about come up with all the ideas I could think of, but they were
still bored, and I was thinking, man, mama, hurry up and get home.
They needed something more to entertain them. Child of God, have you ever been bored considering your glorious Redeemer? No, I know you haven't. Not so
with Him. Not so with Jesus Christ. No,
as we sing, more about Jesus would I know. More of His love
to others show. Oh, more. More about Jesus. The more God is pleased to open
our eyes to behold Him, we bow down in adoration and
exclaim, Hallelujah! Didn't realize that before. Hadn't
seen that view before. Or, Hallelujah! What a Savior! And all we can say, he's altogether
lovely. There's not a beloved like him. His glory, his majesty, his grace,
his person, the same yesterday to now, now rather today and
forever. Paul in Ephesians 1 said, ever
since I heard of your faith... Let's turn there, Ephesians chapter
1. Now remember, he's writing to believers. He's writing to
those who have been saved by the grace of God, those who have
been quickened and granted faith. And Paul doesn't say, well, you
have arrived. You've arrived now. No, no. He says, I pray for you. Verse
15. of Ephesians 1, wherefore I also,
after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and love unto
all the saints, cease not to give thanks for you, making mention
of you in my prayers, as indeed we do. But Paul doesn't stop
there, does he? That the God of our Lord Jesus
Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit
of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him. More about Jesus. The eyes of
your understanding being enlightened that ye may know what is the
hope of His calling. and what is the riches of his
inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness
of his power to usward who believe, according to the working of his
mighty power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him
from the dead and set him at his own right hand in heavenly
places." Turn over a few pages in your Bibles to Philippians
chapter 3. What Paul prayed for them, he
said he prayed concerning himself. Paul wrote that he'd been caught
up to the third heaven and saw things that wasn't lawful for
him to utter. And yet, with all that, he says,
my cheap desire, my ambition, after being an apostle for years,
what an experience of grace, He says, oh, I still want to
know him. I still want to know more about
him. Look at verse 8 of Philippians
3. Yea, doubtless I count all things
but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do
count them but done that I may win Christ. and be found in him."
Be found in him. I love that, don't you? Found
in him. Not having mine own righteousness,
which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith, that I may
know him. That I may know him and the power
of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made
conformable unto his death. Turning, if you will, back to
John's Gospel, John chapter 20. John 20, verse 30. And many other
signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples which
are not written in this book, but these are written, that ye
might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that
believing ye might have life through his name. What else matters? What else
matters? I remember hearing Brother Henry
preach somewhere years ago and he said, When men leave this world, that
they know Christ, that they're found in Him, that they believe
on the Son of God. Henry said, I pick up obituaries
and I read of men living in Ashland who have died and they say, well,
he was a third degree mason. Or that he contributed vast sums
of his wealth to the poor. He did this and he did that and
he did the other. Henry said, it doesn't matter
now. He's gone out to face God. All that matters in that day,
in that hour, when we, every one of us, stand before God will
be this, do I know Him? Do I know Christ? Jesus Christ the same. Nothing else is, is it? Nothing
else. Nothing else in this life remains
the same. Not you, not me. I'll share something with you.
I was combing my hair this morning, and I thought if this hairline
keeps receding, it's going to be on the back of my neck before
too long. Change and decay all around I
see. In myself, in you, my sister,
when I got back Friday, I had a... a piece of mail. She had sent me a picture she'd
made copies of that we all had taken, a family portrait. My
mother, my father, and nine children. And then she sent another one
that was taken last year at our family reunion. That one, that
first one, I think is at least 30 years old. Perhaps, perhaps
more. And she wrote, have we changed?
And I looked at the pictures and compared them. Of course,
my father's no longer in the second one that was taken last
year. The pose was the same. We were all standing in the same
places we did for the first picture. But dad is gone. Been gone since
93. I looked at that and wondered
how many will be gone next year, or tomorrow, or today. Every relationship will end. Something will separate. If nothing
else, death. Everyone, husbands, wives, fathers,
mothers, children, brother, sister, they'll all end except this one. This one. My relationship to
Jesus Christ is the same. Is the same. Cannot change. Change and decay all around I
see. Oh, but thou who changes not,
abides with me. And this is that one, that one
relationship that is the most important. This is the one, the
only one that I cannot do without. If there was one relationship
that I would not change, that so to speak I could least afford
to change, it's this one. because upon Him is built all
my salvation and all my hope. He's that One who loved me and
gave Himself for me. Nobody else could. This is the
One that's promised, verse 5, that I'll never leave you and
I'll never forsake you. That is spoken several times,
five or six times. That's actually a quote from
the Old Testament. There's an article in your bulletin
along that line. But one of those occasions, it
was spoken to Joshua. Listen to what our Lord said
to Joshua right after the death of Moses when he was taking up
the mantle. and he was going to lead the
children of Israel into the promised land. God spoke to him then and
said in Joshua 1 verse 5, There should not any man be able to
stand before thee all the days of thy life. As I was with Moses,
so shall I be with thee. I will not fail thee, nor forsake
thee. Now listen to this from chapter
23 of Joshua. He's an old man now. Some years
have passed since God made that promise to him in chapter 1.
They're in the promised land. They've crossed Canaan, and our
Lord says to him, or rather Joshua says concerning the Lord in chapter
23, verse 14, And behold, this day I am going the way of all
the earth. And 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. and every child of God can say
the same. Jesus Christ has never changed,
has never failed, and I expect when my time comes like Joshua's
did, I expect to see him When I leave
this world, who? Jesus Christ. The same yesterday,
today, and forever. I expect to see him. Oh, yes. Yes, I do. David said, yea, though
I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear
no evil because thou art with me. The ever faithful shepherd
of our souls. Oh yes. He'll hold, Lonnie, he'll hold to my hand as over this river I go. Then safe I will be in beautiful
heaven, I know. I know. He's promised that. Jesus Christ the same. Every
attribute is stamped with immutability. Unchanging love. When David went
out to stand before that giant Goliath, he said, how dare you defy the
armies of the living God? God's going to deliver your head to me today and feed
your carcass to the fowls of the air. You're going to know,
Goliath, there's a God in Israel. Can you picture that young man?
He was just bringing food out to his brethren, his brothers.
that were fighting the Philistines. And when he came, he found them
hiding, hiding, because Goliath came out every day and said,
is there not a man among you? And this little ruddy shepherd
lad who brought their lunch went out with his sling and his stone. Oh, the battle is the Lord's. David didn't have a sword. What a picture. What a picture. Oh, how God looked down and loved
David, that boy. And then later, when David had
been anointed king, when he took the throne, the king over Israel, when his men were out in battle
one day, he stayed back. And he looked over the balcony
and saw a woman. And he lusted after her. And he brought her into his palace,
committed adultery. Then to cover it up, he had Uriah,
his dear friend, one that was out fighting the enemy for David,
had him murdered. Do you know that God didn't love David any
less when he was doing those horrible
things than when he stood before Goliath with his sling and stone. That's just amazing to me. That's
amazing. Oh, yes, God was displeased.
The sword will never leave your house, David. Oh, but David wrote. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute iniquity. Blessed is the man whose sins
are covered. Isn't that amazing? Oh yes, Jesus
Christ, the same everlasting love, the same grace, asks Peter. Peter that night said, I'll never
leave you. I'll never deny you. I'll go
with you. I'll die with you. And you know
the story. Surely the maid says, you were
with him? Oh, no, not me. You're mistaken.
And he began to curse and to swear, called down curses on
his head from God. May God strike me down if I'm
lying. But those curses didn't fall
upon the head of Peter were soon to fall upon the head
of his glorious substitute, who at that very moment, that Peter
was saying, I know not to man, was standing, standing as Peter's
substitute. And when the third time Peter
said, I don't know him, Luke tells us the Lord turned and
looked at Peter. And it all came rushing by. And
Peter went out and wept bitterly. Can you imagine his anguish?
That's a broken man, a depressed man. And on top of all this,
remember, they knew not the scripture that he should rise again from
the dead. Peter thought, I'll never, never have opportunity
to tell him how sorry I am. For three days that man wept and wept and wept. And then when Mary and others
came to the tomb to finish preparing the Lord's body for burial, There's
an angel appeared to him and said, the Lord's message is this,
go tell his disciples and Peter that he goes before them in Galilee,
there shall ye see him. No wonder Peter wrote. We were
a sheep going astray, but have now returned to the shepherd
and bishop of our souls." What an unchanging, amazing grace. There's a quote. taken from Augustus'
top lady's diary, written on New Year's Eve, 1767. It's in
your bulletin. He wrote, upon review of the
past year, I wish to confess that my unfaithfulness has been
exceeding great, my sin still greater, and God's mercies greater
than both. Me too. Me too. Jesus Christ the same, himself,
himself, all of himself, all of his completeness, all of his
glorious person, all that he is, is everlastingly the same,
and all that he is, is ours. Heaven and earth may fade and
flee, firstborn light and gloom decline, but while God and I
shall be, I am His and He is mine. The Old Testament equivalent
of our text in Hebrews 13 and 8 is in Malachi chapter 3. I
am the Lord, I change not. Now that's the foundation for
what follows. the immutability, the sameness
of our great God and Savior. I am the Lord, I change not.
Therefore, because of that, ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. Paul wrote, he abideth faithful,
he cannot deny himself. To deny one of his own would
be to deny himself because believers are his redeemed. They're his
bride. They're his body. In the coming new year, brothers
and sisters in Christ, here at Fairmont Grace Church, I want
to be more faithful to Christ, to his glorious gospel, and to
you, and to you. I want to be more faithful, more
loving, more forgiving, I really want to. And as God
enables me, and that's the only way. The only way I can do it
is by looking unto Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and
forever. We'll close our worship service
this year by observing the Lord's Supper. We'll end this year. Oh, what a blessed, blessed way
to end the year. and to begin a new one. Remembering
we've been bought with a price, the precious blood of Jesus Christ. That's the tie that binds us. Bought with the same price, the
same glorious redemption, serving the same blessed Savior, by the
same grace, through the same gift of faith. Jesus Christ the same, yesterday,
today, and forever. Let me end the message by reading
a few verses of a hymn written by Mr. Newton. While with ceaseless course the
sun hastened through the former year, many souls their race have
won, never more to meet us here. fixed in an eternal state, they
have done with all below what we a little longer wait, but
how little none can know. Then he wrote, thanks for mercies
past receive, pardon of our sins renew, teach us henceforth how
to live with eternity in view. Bless thy word to young and old,
fill us with the Savior's love, and when life's short tale is
told, May we dwell with thee above. Amen. Amen.