Our text this evening, Hebrews
13 verse 8, is a text so simple in statement that it's easily read, easily
memorized, easily recited, but so profound in depth that I could
never hope to expound it. So tonight I want to just point
you in the direction of some of the things I know are taught
in this passage. In this world where everything
we grasp is just a fistful of air, in this world where everything
constantly changes, some changes are delightful, some are bitter,
but change is inevitable. in all relationships, in all
circumstances, in all things in this world of time, everything
changes. The wisest man who ever walked
on this earth who was but a mere man, Solomon, looked over all
the things that you and I look over in time, all the experiences
of life and all the possessions. all the knowledge and all the
learning, all the fame and all the glory, and he said under
the spirit of inspiration." Now, these are not the words of a
frustrated man crying out in desperation. These are the words
of a man taught of God, writing by inspiration. Vanity of vanities. All is vanity. What a tremendous statement with
regard to all things in this world. Vanity. None can be depended on. None. Not really. Everything
that you have, every experience, every relationship, every one
of them, no matter what joy they bring you for a time, will ultimately
break your heart. Ultimately. I have the blessed,
blessed privilege of being married to a woman who adores me. I enjoy
her company, enjoy her life. But one of these days, one of
us is going to leave the other, and it's going to cause a lot
of pain. There's no such thing as anything in this world that
is not vanity when considered as it really is, just vanity. In such a world, it is such a
delight to my soul to read the words of this text. Jesus Christ,
the same, yesterday and today and forever. Now here's a rock on which to
build. Here's an anchor to hold your
soul steady. Here's a pillar upon which to
rest your soul and a pillow upon which to rest your head in the
midst of trouble. I want, if God will enable me,
to talk to you a little bit about our immutable Savior. Our Lord Jesus Christ is God. That means He is immutable. He says, I am the Lord. I change
not. Not only does He not change,
change is not even a possibility with Him. He does not change. He cannot be changed. He is the
same yesterday and today and forever. Now, pause for just
a minute and think about what that means. All that he was yesterday,
he is today. All that he was in the yesterday
of old eternity, before time was, he is right now today. Was he that one who was set up
from old eternity as the covenant surety, who was declared to be
wisdom, that one in whom the father delights? So he is today,
our constant covenant surety in whom the Father delights.
Was he from old eternity the one who held and dispensed all
good things? So it is now. Every blessing
of grace comes to sinners on this earth through the mediation
of Jesus Christ, our Lord and our Redeemer. All that he was
yesterday in eternity, he is now. And all that he was in the
yesterday of his life while he walked on this earth, he is right
now. Oh, he has ascended into glory.
He is now glorified. He's now exalted. But all that
he was upon the earth, he still is. Tender, compassionate, approachable. Tender, compassionate, approachable. Not a God afar off, but a God
nigh. Not one who could not be approached,
but one who bids us come to Him and draw nigh to Him in all things
kind and sympathetic. All that He was in the yesterday
of these past 2,000 years since He ascended to glory, He still
is today. He took dominion of the universe,
sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high. That is,
He sat down on the throne of God and was given power and dominion
over all things as the God-man, our Savior. He still holds the
same power. He still sits upon the same throne. He still rules over all things,
having all power in His hands and all things at His disposal.
There's never a time when He rises up and paces the floors
of heaven, wondering what's going on. But He is always, forever
the same, dwelling in the glorious rest and ease of total, absolute
sovereignty. And all that Christ ever has
been to His people yesterday, He is to His people today. All that He did for His people
yesterday, He does today. And the only reason you and I
ever look at any yesterday, now listen to me, the only reason
any of us ever look at any yesterday and say, oh, that was a better
day than today, is because of our unbelief. Did the psalmist say, this is
the day the Lord has made? We will rejoice and be glad in
it? Let me tell you something. October 8, 2002, this is the
day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in
it. Our Lord Jesus Christ is always the same. He never fails. And that which He did yesterday,
He is doing yet today. We ought to look upon every day. You pray back in the office,
Wes, the Lord teaches to be thankful every day we open our eyes. Every
day we ought to look upon it as a fresh revelation of Jesus
Christ who is the same. This is just another work of
His providence. This is just another turning
of the page of the book He wrote of divine predestination being
fulfilled in providence. Now, all that Jesus Christ is, all
that He has been, and all that He forever will be, He is right
now. Oh, I would to God, I could grasp
what I'm trying to preach to you. All that Christ will ever
be in the fullest revelation of His glory and the fullest
revelation of His grace in heaven, all the inconceivable closeness
of love and communion, all the indescribable excellence of our
union with Him in heaven, all that Christ can be Forever. He is right now. All that He shall be to all His
people forever, He is to me. And to you, my brother. And to
you, my sister. Right now. He never changes. He never varies. Jesus Christ
the same yesterday and today. Oh, I like that. Today, if you
will hear His voice, harden not your heart. I want you to know,
trust, and love Christ. Look not to yourself or to your
feelings or to your unstable works, but rather trust Him who
changes not. He's the same today as He was,
as He shall be. He's always the same. Now look
at the verse preceding our text, verse 7. Remember them that have
the rule over you, those who have taught you the Word of God,
who have spoken to you the Word of God, whose faith follow the
example and also the doctrine of faith that they presented
to you, considering the end of their conversation. Now, here
it is. Here is their faith, and here is the end of their lives.
Jesus Christ, the same yesterday and today and forever. So that
Paul is saying that these men who faithfully guide you and
teach you the Word of God, they are men who sit before you continually
in the ultimate in Jesus Christ who never varies. Now look at
the next verse, verse 9. Do not carry it about with divers
and strange doctrines, for it is a good thing that the heart
be established with grace and not with meats which have not
profited them which have been occupied therein. The admonition
here is to doctrinal steadfastness, that our hearts be established
with grace in sound doctrine. And again, he fixes our hearts
and our minds on Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and
forever. What Paul is telling us here,
what the Holy Spirit is teaching us here, is that everything is
built on this foundation. Everything arises from this source. Everything flows back to Him
again. Jesus Christ is in all things,
all and all. He is all to His people, all
to God, all in His Word, all for time, and all in eternity. Now let me show you just a few
things. I'll pick them out and you can put them in any order
you want to, but when Paul says Jesus Christ is the same, always,
immutably, forever the same, this is what he means for us
to understand. Number one, in his person, he has never varied. He has never varied. I used to
take it as a compliment. I still do. I have it from other
folks. Shelby's mother used to say,
so many times I'd see her in the first time, she'd say, Don
doesn't ever change. He's always the same. Thing is,
she just didn't know Don. Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
never varies. He's always the same. He is God,
immutable, eternal, glorious. He never has changed. He's never
experienced change. He's never known change. He cannot
change, not in the essence of his person, because he's perfect.
And he who is perfect cannot change. If he changes, he's either
got to get worse or better. He's perfect. He doesn't change.
That's true. When he came into this world,
our Lord Jesus assumed our nature. He took into union with him something
he never had before. He took into union with him real
humanity, so that that one who now sits in glory, God over all,
blessed forever, is a man, one who possesses a real human body,
human heart, and human soul, just as he possessed on this
earth. But in his essence, he never changed. You remember what
Paul said in Colossians 2.9? In him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead. There he is, God Almighty. All the fullness of the Godhead
bodily. In a body dwells that one who
is the immutable everlasting God. His humanity changed, yes. Our Lord grew in wisdom and in
stature as a man. Our Lord Jesus learned obedience
by the things that he suffered as a man. He suffered death as
a man. He entered into glory now, and
his body has been glorified as a man. But he's same eternal
God as he was when he walked with Adam in the cool of the
day, and before that when he said, let us make man in our
image and after our likeness. He is God forever the same. His attributes never change. His purposes never change. His will never changes. His great love never changes. You understand that? He does
not change, and He cannot be changed. We look upon our God,
and we have confidence in His word and His promises. Because
he can't be changed. Did he purpose it? And shall
it not come to pass? He's God. Has he sworn and shall
he not do it? He's God. But preachers, don't
our prayers change God? You know better than that. No,
no. Sometimes it appears that way
in the outworking things. But God's purpose never changes.
Let me see if I can illustrate it for you. One of the most common
objections given when we talk about our God's immutability,
folks point to Hezekiah and say, you remember Hezekiah? The Lord
sent the prophet in, told him he was going to die. And before
the prophet got out of the palace, the Lord sent him back because
Hezekiah had prayed and the Lord said he was going to add 15 years
to his life. There, God changed. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no. He
purposed Hezekiah's repentance as surely as he purposed the
word to go to him. And I know that so, because his son Josiah
was born after that. And his son Josiah was the direct
progenitor of the Lord Jesus Christ who came into this world
according to the purpose of God. You see, God has not only purposed
things to come to pass. He's purposed even the thoughts
of every man's heart to bring to pass that which he has purposed. Nothing changes God. He doesn't
vary at all. More than that. Our dear Savior
is absolutely immutable in all His covenant offices, in all
His relationships, in all that He is to His people. The Lord condescends to speak
to us in human terms about Himself. In Genesis 6, We're speaking
of God's judgment overflowing the world with a flood. It said
that it repented the Lord that he made man. Now, that's language
used to reveal to us something about God's character in human
terms. But any time you read in the
scriptures any word that somehow might be made to look like there's
change in God, Don't ever take that to be a literal statement.
But rather, it is an accommodation on God's part to make us understand
how He views things. He looked upon man's iniquity
with such horror that the only way to express that horror is
to say, it repented me that I have made man. And therefore, He sent
judgment upon the earth. The Lord God does not change. He is the eternal, unalterable
Spirit. And the Lord Jesus Christ, our
God, is that one whom we trust, unchanging. He is a prophet. who shall be heard, a priest
who makes satisfaction, a king who rules from everlasting to
everlasting. The Lord Jesus Christ is described
as the husband of his church, a husband who hateth putting
away. He is an eternal brother, a brother in time born for adversity,
but set up from everlasting. He is the eternal friend who
sticks closer than a brother. He was from everlasting the friend
of sinners. He came here and made himself
known as the friend of sinners. Listen to me now. He's still
the friend of sinners. All that he ever has been, he
is now. When he saw that woman that the
religious world decided ought to be stoned to death, that woman
taken in adultery, The Lord Jesus befriended her and forgave her
sins. He still does the same for adulterers
and adulteresses. When our Lord Jesus passed by
and saw the impotent man and asked him, what is it that you
want? And that impotent man was made to walk. He still gives
feet to impotent folk. And the picture is not of physical
impotence. The picture is not of the Lord
Jesus causing a man physically to walk. That's what happened.
But he did more than that. But he gave feet to his soul
to come to him. And that's the picture. That's
the picture. Oh, if never I should walk another
step, that's all right, long as I come to Him. You understand
what I'm saying? The Lord Jesus is still the same. He still gives sight to the blind. He still feeds the hungry. He's
still water for the thirsty. He's still life for the dead.
He never changes. In all His covenant offices and
in all of His covenant works, He came into the world to save
His people from their sins. That's why He came. And while
He sits yonder in glory, seated in majesty, ineffably glorious,
God over all, blessed forever, He's still going about the business
of saving His people from their sins in all that He does. The
Lord Jesus is the eternal surety of an eternal covenant, the eternal
lamb who's obtained eternal redemption for his people. He is an eternal
advocate who makes intercession for his people continually. He
is our eternal savior, that one who has obtained by his own blood
eternal redemption for us. More than that, and this needs
to be heard, I hope, I hope it will be heard clearly by you
and understood. In his doctrine, in his doctrine,
the Lord Jesus Christ does not change. Not at all. You see, the only thing that
ever changes is a lie. Truth doesn't change. Truth doesn't
change. I remember years ago, a fellow was in school with us,
raised in Shelby's hometown. He saw me standing in a bookstore.
I was looking over something. Usually, if I had a few minutes,
it was right across the street from where I was working. And I was flipping through
pages of the book. He came by and pulled the book
off the shelf. He said, Don, you ought to read that. It'll
update your doctrine. Well, I didn't have but just
a couple of seconds to say anything, but I said, Alan, I'm not the
least bit interested in my doctrine being updated. I've been out
of sync with the world in which I live all my life as a believer,
and I like it that way. I would be fearful if I weren't.
Folks say, well, those folks over at Grace Church, they're
old Calvinists. Well, I don't much care for the
term Calvinist, but what they refer to. is the gospel of God's
free and sovereign grace. The gospel as laid down in this
book. And it does not change. It doesn't change. But those
things are old puritanical doctrines. They're older than that. But
those things are the doctrines the reformers taught. They're
older than that. But those things, y'all believe what Spurgeon and
Gill and Calvin and Edwards and those fellows taught. Oh, no.
No, no, no. We believe what Christ taught
and what his apostles wrote. And that's what Calvin and Gil
and Spurgeon and Edwards taught. We believe this book exactly
as it stands. Our confession of faith is right
here. We have no other. Our message
is Jesus Christ and him crucified. We have no other. We declare
salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.
That's all. It does not change. God's doctrine
doesn't change. These things taught in the scriptures
were taught in the beginning, in the very beginning, in the
beginning God. Looks to me like God intends
for us to understand that He's the beginning of everything. In the beginning, God made. Looks
to me like God intends for us to understand that He's the one
who made everything. God spoke and it was light. Looks to me like God means for
us to understand that everything exists and is brought to nothing
by His mere word. He's an absolute sovereign. Divine
sovereignty is plainly revealed in this book. Man's total depravity,
there's no question, man dead in trespasses and in sins, it
doesn't matter what the sociologists or the religious professors have
to say. God's choice of his people is an absolute unconditional
election of grace. Our Lord said, you've not chosen
me. You haven't chosen me, I've chosen
you. And his choice of you is what causes you to choose him.
We've come to speak about Christ's atonement, the work of our Redeemer
at Calvary. Well, I guess you don't need
to know everything, I think, but I see fellows who claim to believe
the gospel of God's grace trying to find some way to make the
message of the atonement palatable to unbelieving rebels. Let me
tell you something. Jesus Christ did something at
Calvary. He didn't just make something
possible. He came here to put away sin by the sacrifice of
Himself. And all for whom He was made
to be sin have their sin put away by Him. It was put away
when He said it's finished. Oh, but what about our faith? Our faith doesn't do anything
to put away sin. Why, that would make you your
own Redeemer and your own Savior. Faith receives the atonement
Christ has made. Read Romans 5, verse 11. We receive
the atonement. We don't make the atonement. The Lord Jesus, when He died
at Calvary, died as a substitute for a chosen people according
to the purpose of God, and He obtained eternal redemption for
us. And because He has obtained eternal
redemption, those for whom He died, Those for whom He lived,
those for whom He stood as surety in the covenant of grace, the
surety of His elect, shall be called by the effectual, almighty,
omnipotent power and irresistible grace of His Spirit in time,
and they shall come to Him. There's no possibility something's
going to happen to stop that. He's sitting on the throne. He's
God Almighty. He rules, and His will is always
done. And those whom He saves by His
blood and by His grace, He will bring to Himself at last. Folks ask, you believe once saved,
always saved? Not if your will or your works
have got anything to do with it. No, no. No, no. That's as inconsistent as it
can be. But if salvation's of the Lord, as it is, oh, yeah. If he ever gets you in his grip,
he ain't going to let you out. If he ever lays hold on you,
he not going to let go. And he laid hold on us, Bobby,
before the world began. And he ain't going to let go.
The good shepherd seeks his sheep. How long? What does the book
say? Until he finds it. And when he
finds it, he doesn't give the sheep an opportunity to get in
his arms and maybe get to heaven, but rather he reaches down and
picks up his lost sheep and lays it on his shoulders and carries
it all the way home. Now, what I'm saying to you,
God's truth doesn't change. The doctrine of Christ doesn't
change. The gospel doesn't change. That
means the mess that you hear today preached in the name of
Jesus, which is contrary to the message of God's free grace,
is a message that does not come from Christ at all, but rather
is a false gospel. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the
same yesterday and today and forever. The gospel that Adam
learned in the gates of Eden is the gospel I'm preaching to
you. Hasn't changed in 6,000 years, and it ain't going to
change tomorrow. Well, preacher, what does that
leave for me? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and thou shalt be saved forever. In fact, believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ, and salvation's yours. The scripture says, He
that believeth on the Son of God, H-A-T-H, hath everlasting
life. It's already yours. You couldn't
believe if it weren't. Man believes because God comes
and gives him life, not the other way around. All right, here's
something else. Our Savior, the Son of God, is
absolutely immutable. in the way he works. His doctrine doesn't change.
He doesn't change. His purpose doesn't change. His
offices don't change. And the method by which he works
in the lives of men never changes. He's the same yesterday, and
today, and forever. You can mark this down. You can
mark it down. I challenge you to find me any
place in this book where it is not true. Mark this down. Whenever
God Almighty is going to do a work of grace in a sinner's heart,
He does four things. No exceptions. Four things. He
raises up a man to use. God's going to deliver Israel
out of Egyptian bondage. He swore to Abraham He'd do it
in 400 years. Man, 400 years are here. Where's the deliverer?
Look over in Midian. God's got him. He raised up a
man by the name of Moses to bring Israel out. There's an Ethiopian
unit. The time has come for the unit
to be converted. The time has come for the unit
to believe. How on earth is he going to believe? He's a unit.
He's been in the degradation of Judaism. He went up to do
the best he could, following after the path of dead religion.
And he went his way reading the book. How on earth will this
man ever believe? The Lord God miraculously translated
Philip from Samaria down there to preach the gospel to that
Ethiopian eunuch. He always raises up a man. God
works through men. Oh, well, that makes the man
something. No, it makes God something. I
could understand him much better working through a piece of burned,
charred wood than working through a setter. But he's pleased to
work through setters for the good of setters. Go out in the garden. We didn't
have much success this year, so we can blame it on the hoes
and the hoses. But any time there's anything
out there, I never in my life dreamed about bragging on what
a great hoe I have, or what a great hoe Shelby has. Y'all know I
don't use the thing. Never bragged about what a great
hoes I have hanging out there to dispense water. That'd be
absurd. You'd send me to the funny farm.
Oh, no. The instrument is nothing. The
one who uses the instrument is something. And God Almighty,
can take a crooked stick like this one and draw straight lines
for you to walk by. God Almighty always raises up a man. Number
two, when God is about to do a work
of mercy, he sends that man with his message. Faith comes by hearing and hearing
by the word of God. And the only way you can hear
it is if God sends a preacher to you. Fellas have asked me, trouble,
what if a man lives in the middle of New Guinea, some pagan tribe
out there? That's not any trouble to God.
That's no trouble to God. What if a man lives in the Soviet
Union, what used to be the Soviet Union, where there's preaching
Gospels forbidden? That's no trouble to God. He
can topple kingdoms, didn't he? That's no trouble to him. God
Almighty always raises up a man and sends that man to the object
of his mercy one way or another to preach the gospel. If he has
to put the preacher in prison and bring the lost man, Onesimus,
down to the prison house to hear him, whatever it takes, that's
his will. Thirdly. If God is going to do something
for you, he inclines his people to pray. He told David he was going to
build a kingdom, didn't he, Rex? He told him he was going to build
a house and a kingdom that would last forever. He got done telling
David what he was going to do in 2 Samuel 7, and David said,
Lord, you put it in my heart to pray this prayer. Do it. Do
it. Do as you have said. I don't
pretend to know much about prayer, but I know this. I know this. If ever you and I pray, it'll be because God has moved
our hearts to seek what he has purposed. He puts it in our hearts
to pray. I wrote to a young man today.
I presume he's young, judging by his letter. He said, I need
a work of grace. Will you pray for me? I wrote
him back and I said, if you're serious, you'll get it. If you're sincere, if you seek
the Lord, His work of grace will be yours, I promise you. He said,
you'll find me when you seek me with all your heart. And it
wouldn't be any heart to seek Him, Bob, if He didn't make you
seek Him. Turn us, O God, and we shall
be turned. I was turned, and so I turned
to the Lord. And I'll tell you something else.
Whenever God is going to do any work, whether He's doing it for
an individual man, an individual woman, whether He's doing it
for an individual congregation, whether He's doing it for a nation,
anytime God is going to do any work, He always grants the power
and grace of His Spirit to accomplish His purpose. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. I'm often asked, what does the
church need in this day? The church needs exactly the
same thing today it needed 2,000 years ago. Exactly the same thing. God's man, God's message, God's
power. Everything else, Lindsay, is
a hindrance and a distraction. Everything else. Everything else. Find God's man. God's message. God's power. You'll find God
working. Here's something else. Our great
Savior is immutable in His possession and in His position. Turn to
Philippians chapter 2. Let me show you something. Thou
hast given Him power over all flesh. that he should give eternal
life to as many as thou hast given him. This has been now
150 years ago, close to it. There
was a young preacher in London, England named C.H. Spurgeon.
Thousands were flocking to hear him. They were building a new
place of worship. They had rented Surrey Gardens
Music Hall, or Exeter Music Hall. I've forgotten which one it is
now. And Spurgeon was preaching to something over 20,000 people.
And those who despised the gospel of God's free grace that he preached
liked to mock him. They drew caricatures of him
in the London papers, just, you know, thing they do politicians
now. He was about to stand in the pulpit to preach when someone
in the galleries Yelled, fire, fire, fire! And the place just
became a madhouse. All those thousands of people
trying to find a way out of there. Some were trampled to death.
Spurgeon was devastated. Devastated. Just devastated. Somehow blaming himself what
had happened. And he didn't preach for two
weeks. He couldn't bring himself to stand in the pulpit. On the
third Sunday, he got up to preach, because on Saturday he read this
passage of Scripture, and it gave him what he needed. Philippians
2, verse 9, Wherefore, God also hath highly exalted him. Christ exalted on the throne. with a name above
every name, a name of which every knee shall bow and every tongue
confess that Jesus Christ is Lord in heaven, in earth, and
in hell. Everybody shall, because God's
exalted his son. And it never changes. Never changes. He's sitting on His throne. He
has all power. He rules all things. Over all
flesh, He exercises total, perpetual dominion that He might give eternal
life to as many as the Father has given Him. Look at this. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
same in His person, in His offices, relationships, in all his operations,
in his doctrine. He's the same in his position
of glory, his possession of all things. And let me interject this word
of personal experience. For 35 years now, I've found
him immutable. I've never known him to change.
He abideth faithful. My soul through many changes
goes. My God, no change can ever know. He changes not. I can't think
of a better way to wrap this up than for us to sing Hymn found
on page 75 in your hymn book. Let me give you a little background
while you turn to it. Lindsay will come up here and
lead us in the hymn. It's written by a fellow named
Henry Lights. 1847, I believe it was. He was
a preacher. And it was on his deathbed. Matter
of fact, he died just, I think, two weeks after he wrote this
hymn. Abide with me, fast falls the
even tide, the darkness deepens, Lord, with me abide. When other
helpers fail and comforts flee, help of the helpless, oh, abide
with me. Just listen now, this is a little
different than what you have in your hymn book. Swift to its close
ebbs out life's little sea, our little day. Earth's joys grow
dim, its glories pass away. Change and decay in all around
me I see. O thou who changest not, abide
with me. Not a brief glance, I beg, a
passing word. But as thou dwelt with thy disciples,
Lord, familiar, condescending, patient, free, Come not to sojourn,
but abide with me. Come not in terrors as the king
of kings, but kind and good, with healing in thy wings. Tears
for all woes, a heart for every plea. Come, friend of sinners,
and thus abide with me. Thou on my head in early youth
didst smile, And though rebellious and perverse meanwhile, thou
hast not left me, oft as I left thee. On to the close. O Lord, abide with me. I need
thy presence every passing hour. But what but thy grace can foil
the tempter's power? Who like thyself my guide and
stay shall be? Through cloud and sunshine, Lord,
abide with me. I fear no foe with thee at hand
to bless. Ills have no weight, and tears
no bitterness. Where is death's sting? Where,
grave, thy victory? I triumph still if thou abide
with me. Now listen to this. Hold thou
thy blood 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. Amen. UUUUUUUUUUH