Would you turn to Hebrews chapter
one? Great to have Seth and services
with us. How long are you going to be
here? 18 days. Well, great. Hebrews chapter one, I'd like
to read verses 10 through 12. I've entitled this message. Who is it? that we trust. Who is it that we trust? Verse ten, And thou, Lord, in the beginning
hast laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the
works of thine hands. They, the works of thine hands,
the heavens, shall perish, but thou remainest. And they all shall wax old, as
doth a garment, and as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and
they shall be changed. But Thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail. Who is it that we trust? And I have a specific goal in
this message. I want us all to leave this place
actually trusting, leaning upon and leaning hard,
resting in and believing on, rejoicing in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, that's what this is all
about, isn't it? The just shall live Now, whatever that means, I want
to do it, don't you? I want to live by faith. Now, faith is trusting a person. One of the difficult things about
it, though, is you're trusting a person you've never seen. You've
never seen him physically. You've never heard his voice
audibly. You don't know what he looks like. And yet you are
trusting that person that you've never seen. Faith is not, now
listen to me real carefully, faith is not believing accurate
doctrine. Although you do believe the truth. Faith is not believing in a historical
event of a man named Jesus who died and was raised from the
dead. Although you do believe this
historical event, this thing that actually took place in time. Faith is not even believing that
you're saved. I can believe that I'm saved
and that doesn't mean I am. Faith is not believing that you're
saved. Faith is not even believing that
Jesus Christ died for you. You know, all you have to do
is believe in universal redemption and you believe that Jesus Christ
died for you. Faith is really not even believing that Jesus
Christ died for you. Faith is trusting a person. a person that you've never seen. Now, I love what our Lord said
to that woman at the well. You know what he said to her?
Woman, believe me. Believe me. Abraham believed God. Faith is knowing and trusting
a person, a person that you've never seen, a person who you've
never heard his voice. Now, that's not easy, is it?
Matter of fact, it's impossible apart from the grace of God.
But faith is believing a person. Now, there are two things presented
in our text regarding the person of Christ. who is the object
of faith. First, he is presented as the
creator of the universe. That means he's presented as
all-powerful. I trust one who actually in his
person is all-powerful. You and I, do you know how much
power we have? None. He has all power. And he's presented in our text
as immutable. That means he cannot change. He never mutates. He's always
the same. This one we trust, this person
we trust, we trust him as the all-powerful, creator, immutable
Savior. And that's how we trust him.
And you can't really trust him apart from some understanding
of his power and of his immutability. We trust him in this light. Now, look at verse 10 again,
Hebrews chapter one. Now, this is God, the father,
speaking of God, the son. He'd been speaking of angels,
and then he says in verse eight under the sun, he said, God says,
Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. A sceptre of righteousness
is the sceptre of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness
and hated iniquity. Therefore God, even thy God,
hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.
And thou, Lord," here's something else concerning the Lord, "...thou,
Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth,
and the heavens are the works of thine hands." The Christ of
the cross is the Christ of creation. If I don't believe the Christ
of creation, nor do I believe the Christ of the cross. You
see, He transcends the universe. And when I say that, I really
don't much know what I'm talking about, but I believe it. He is before beyond, above and
outside all created things. Now, does my mind comprehend
that? No, no, it doesn't. We read in
the back of Psalm 145 where it says that God's greatness is
unsearchable. And I got to think, well, you're
going to get up here and try to talk about something that's just
way beyond you. Unsearchable. It just intimidated
me. Preaching is hard. Hearing is
hard too, you know. It takes just as much grace to
hear as it does to preach. Don't forget that. We're totally
dependent upon the grace of God. We're talking about Him who is
unsearchable. He's past finding out. Now Christ is the timeless, transcendent
being. Nobody like him. He's utterly
unique. You can't say that of anyone
else. You go back to the beginning.
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. As an act of his will, he created
something from nothing. There was a time when all there
was was God. There wasn't anything else. There
wasn't any universe. There wasn't any stars. There wasn't any space.
There wasn't any expanse. All there was was God. And He willed this universe into
existence. He said, Light be. And what happened? Light was. Do you believe in evolution?
No. I do not. I believe the biblical account
of creation. Evolution says, look how far
we've come. We've really made some progress.
Creation says, look how far we've fallen. All the difference in
the world in those two messages. It was the Lord Jesus Christ
who did the creating. I love thinking about this. The
Son of God. He's the one who said, like me,
and like was. In the beginning was the Word,
the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All the same was
in the beginning with God. All things were created by Him. Look at Hebrews 1 verse 2. When the writer to the Hebrews
is speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ, he says concerning God
the Father, speaking of him, he hath in these last days. I
like being in the last days, don't you? It's been last days
for a long time, but I like being in the last days. Might be the
last of the last days. He hath in these last days spoken
unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things,
by whom also he made the world. Now the fact that he created
the heavens and the earth from nothing tells me that Jesus Christ
is omnipotent. He's all powerful. The fact that he has the power
to create the universe from nothing tells me that he has the power
to take a nothing like me and make me something. He has the
power to take a nobody like me and make me somebody. He has the power to take a sinner
like me and make me a saint of God. That's the power He has. Turn with me to Matthew chapter
19. He can bring me from the depths of ruin to the heights
of glory. That's the power this one has. Matthew chapter 19. Now this rich, young ruler had
come to the Lord and he said, what good things shall I do to
inherit eternal life? I want to be like you, good master.
Give me the info. I want to know. And he said,
well, keep the commandments. He made him on the ground that
he came. And this fellow said, all these have I kept from my
youth up. Now I want you to think about
that. That is an amazing, could you say that? He thought he did. This man was
so outwardly moral that he actually thought he'd never broken any
of the commandments. All these have I kept. From my
youth up, he was a very important man. He was a rich, young ruler.
He was somebody in the religious sphere. He was a wealthy man. He was a nice man. You know,
the way he came to the Lord, good master, what good things
shall I do to inherit eternal life? He came so respectfully.
Came kneeling down before the Lord Jesus Christ. I mean, he's
got a pretty impressive resume, doesn't he? Really, he's got
an impressive resume. And here is what our Lord says,
verse 20, The young man saith unto him, All these have I kept
from my youth up, what lack I yet? Jesus said unto him, If thou
wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the
poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and come and follow
me. Now this man didn't understand
that he was dominated by covetousness. He was a very wealthy man, a
very rich man, and his possessions were very important to him. They were more important to him
than God was. And when the young man heard that saying, he went
away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. Then said Jesus unto his disciples,
Verily I say unto you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the
Kingdom of Heaven. And again, I say unto you, it's
easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for
a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Now, how hard
is it for a camel to get through the eye of a needle? That's hard. It's impossible, isn't it? It's
impossible. When His disciples, verse 25,
heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can
be saved? They were frustrated. If this
fella can't be saved, who can be saved? This is the best humanity
has to offer. Look at him. If he can't be saved,
if you turn him away, who can be saved? They were saying this
in frustration. They were saying this scared. They thought this
guy's better than us. We'll just leave us. If he can't
be saved, who can be saved? Now look at our Lord's answer. But Jesus beheld them and saith
unto them with men, This is impossible. What? Salvation? You just take any aspect of it,
I don't care what you're talking about, with men. This is impossible. But with God, all things are
possible. Now, this one speaking is God. Now, here's what faith is. This
is the very essence of faith, is believing in His power, His
ability to save you. That's simple, I know. But do
you believe that this person I'm speaking of, the Lord Jesus
Christ, the Son of God, the Creator of the universe, Do you believe
that He is able to save you? You believe that? I do. I believe that He has the power. You see, He has all power. You know, it's His power that
backs up His sovereignty. It's one thing to have a will,
but not have the power to make sure your will comes to pass.
But he has the power to make sure whatever he wills comes
to pass. Paul said, I know whom I have
believed. I'm persuaded that he is able
to keep that which I've committed to him against that day. And
you know, I'm persuaded he's able to save me. I'm persuaded
of it. He has the ability to save me. Nothing is needed from me. He
does it because of his mighty power. Now, that's the Christ
we believe, the one who is all powerful. Now, look back in our text in
Hebrews chapter 1. Thou, Lord, verse 10, hast in
the beginning laid the foundation of the earth. And the heavens
are the work of thine hands." That's speaking of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Isn't it wonderful to think that everything we see,
He made. Now, what the writer says next,
they, the heavens, the stars, the moon, the earth, the universe
as we know it, they shall perish. Everything that you know is going
to be burned up. Everything. This building, obviously,
and everything else, the scripture says the heavens, the elements
shall melt, the elements shall melt. That's what's that table
of elements that there's how many different elements on the
table of elements, a hundred some. And some of them say they
can't be melted. Yes, they can. They shall melt
with fervent heat, all the works of the earth, all, everything
that man does is going to be burned up. They shall perish. But thou remainest. And they all shall wax old. As does the garment. The garment,
how, the older it gets, it becomes dry rotted, it decays. I mean,
what, something you think of, what comes to my mind, for instance,
is maybe some pair of pants I used to like to wear when I was in
the 6th or 7th grade, a garment. You know where it is right now?
It's rotted away. It's gone. It's no more. Everything
is that way. It's waxing old, like a garment. It's just going to decay and
it's not going to be around anymore. And they all shall wax old as
doth a garment. Verse 12, And as a vesture shalt
thou fold them up, and they shall be changed. But thou art the
same, and thy years shall not fail. You know, the Lord Jesus
Christ is always the same. I love that verse of Scripture,
Hebrews chapter 13, 8. Jesus Christ the same. the same
yesterday, today and forever. You see, not only does he not
get old, he has the dew of his youth, eternal youth, eternal
power. We're talking about the all powerful,
immutable Lord Jesus Christ. He does not change. I want you
to think of all the change that has taken place in our lifetime. Now, I'm looking at some people
who are young, but I'm looking at some people who, years wise,
you're getting up there. You think of all the change that's
taken place in your lifetime. You know, I was just thinking
about this, you know, just a few years ago, there weren't any cell phones. There weren't any personal computers.
You know, I remember when I started driving, you know how much gas
cost? 32 cents a gallon. And I'd never buy more than $2
worth of gas. That's all the money I ever had.
But I can get six or seven gallons of gas with that. Half a tank. $2. I can remember when I was
in college, I remember how much my tuition was. It was $240 for
a semester at UK. $240. What is it now? $3,700,
$3,800? I mean, just the change in prices is amazing. You think how the values in society
have changed in our lifetime. What once were vices now are
habits. That's a scary thought, isn't
it? What once was scandalous is now normal behavior and even
expected. Think of the changes brought
about by technology. How different things are. Think
of the changes brought about in medicine. You know, in 1988,
I had a splenectomy. Cut my spleen out. Cut me open
when I had Hodgkin's disease. Cut me open. It was a miserable
surgery. It was miserable. You know, they don't even do
that anymore with people with my disease. Dr. Thomas said,
oh, we don't do that anymore. I thought, boy, I wish I would
have had it a little later so it wouldn't have had to happen to me. There's
changes in medicine. There's changes. Changes in life. People get married. People get
divorced. People live. People die. Disease. You know, we have no idea what
will happen tomorrow. But we know of one thing that
will happen. Change. Change. Think how others have changed.
People you used to be friends with. That used to be a very
important part of your life. You seldom even think about it
now. That's amazing, isn't it? Think how much you change in
a 24 hour period. Optimistic, down in the dumps,
everything's negative. Feeling good, feeling horrible. Feeling full of faith, like you
believe God, another time you just tremble like a leaf, all
in the same day. Change the rule. Songwriter says,
change and decay. In all around I see, O thou who
changes not. abide with me. I am so happy that there is one
who never changes. We've already read that verse
of Scripture, Malachi chapter 3 verse 6, I am Jehovah, I change
not. Therefore, you sons of Jacob,
I like being a son of Jacob, You know, Jacob was sorry. He
really was. He was a sorry man. He was a...
It just wasn't much to it. You look at his life. You compare
him and Esau. Esau was a hunter. He was a macho
man. Jacob was a mama's boy. He was
a sorry man. He was a deceitful man. He seemed to be an unbelieving
man. I mean, you just go on. You look at Jacob's life, and
he's not somebody that you think, well, this is what I want my
boy to be like. Not at all. Yet, Jacob... is a son of election. Jacob hath I loved. Jacob, this son of grace, because
I don't change, God says. Because I don't change, that's
why you're not consumed. Now, if I did change, you'd be
consumed. You can write that down. If God
could change, He'd put me and you out of business. He'd put
everybody out of business, but thank God He does not change. This is the object of our faith,
this one who does not change, who's utterly reliable, utterly
dependable. He does not change. He never changes in his essence. Whatever the essence of Godhead
is, we don't really know. But I know this, whatever his
essence is, It's what it was. And it's what it will be. Because
he never changes. Now, somebody might think, well,
didn't he change when he became man? You know, there was a time
when he was not flesh. And he became flesh. Wasn't that
a change? No, he didn't change in his nature.
He's still God. I don't understand that, nor
does anyone else, but that's all right, I believe. He never
changes. He's God. Flesh didn't become
God, but God was manifest in the flesh. He never changes in
his attributes. I love thinking about the attributes
of God. I'd like to be able to present the attributes of God,
not like a textbook, but this person, this living person we
know. You know, he never relinquishes
his sovereignty. That means he's always in control.
He's always running the show. There's never been a second where
he relinquished his sovereignty. You know, if he did, he would
no longer be sovereign. But he never changes. He never
changes in his wisdom. He never takes a break from being
all wise. He never changes in his purposes
or his plans. You know, he never has a plan
B. He never has a contingency plan. He never has to cover his
tracks or cover his bases. No, he never changes in his plans.
He never changes in his promises. He never changes in his purposes.
He never changes in who he is. He's always the same. Jesus Christ
the same. Yesterday, today, and forever. This is why I can trust him.
A changing being, a being that can change, I can't trust because
I don't know which way he's going to go. But he is unchangeable. He doesn't change in his threatenings.
It's still true. He that believeth not shall be
damned. He does not change in his threatenings.
He's always good to his word. And he doesn't change in the
objects of his love. I love thinking about this when
he says, you know, therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed. Every son of Jacob, every object
of his love, everybody that Jesus Christ died for, his love toward
you never changes. He always sees you as lovely,
as beautiful as his holy bride without spot Wrinkle or any such
thing now the only way you can get a hold of that is by faith
because you can't see it Now I think of that scripture in
Romans chapter 6 verse 11 where Paul told us every believer.
He says reckon yourselves to be Dead indeed to sin But alive
unto God through our Lord Jesus Christ now you think about that
dead to sin Would he tell you to reckon yourself to be dead
indeed to sin if you were not in fact dead indeed to sin? You see, when Christ died, you
know who died to sin? I did. Every believer. And I
am in fact dead to sin. Now he says, believe yourselves
to be that way. Reckon yourselves to be that way. You see, he doesn't
change in the objects of His love. He's the same. He's the
same to the Father. The Father always says to the
Son, Thy throne, O God. Well, isn't that awesome? The
Father says to the Son, Thy throne, O God, is forever. A scepter of righteousness is
the scepter. of the high kingdom. He's always
the same to his father. He's always the apple of his
father's eye. And he's always the same for
his people. He never stops loving. He never stops being gracious.
Now, if he could, he would. Don't you know that so? If he
could, he would. But because he can't. He won't. He's always the same. He's the same for all sinners
who come to Him. You know the Lord always delights
in saving sinners. He delights in mercy. Listen
to me. Listen to me very carefully.
He delights in mercy. Don't think if you come to Him,
He'll turn you away. His promise is always good. Him that cometh to me, I will
in no wise cast out. He's always the same. He's always the same in his doctrine.
You know, in 2 Timothy 1 13, we read hold fast the form of
sound words. Anything new or different is
false. Anything new or different It's
false, and this is one of the challenges of preaching the gospel.
I've got the same old truths to preach. Don't have anything
new to bring out. Yet I'm called upon to bring
it out in a fresh. New way to where it sounds like
it's the first time you've ever heard it before. Now, may God
give me the grace. To preach like that, I get stale
so easy, pray for me. Pray for me. And I'll pray for
you that the Lord will grant us his word. But when we say
the same doctrine, that doesn't mean you've got to say the same
thing every time. Over and over, just barreling
out the same thing. No, but I tell you what, we preach
the same truth every time. I hope the Lord gives us grace
to say it in a fresh way, in a powerful way, where it's like
it's the first time we've ever heard it, but it's still the
same old truth. And anything new is wrong. Anything different is false. Hold fast the form, the outline. It's a rigid outline of sound
words. What is that form of sound words?
Well, let me quote it to you from 2 Timothy 1.9. You don't
be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me, his prisoner.
But be thou a partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according
to the power of God who hath saved us. There's all of our
theology right there. He saved us. And He called us. What came first? The saving or the calling? The
saving. I was saved outside of my experience. He saved us and He called us
with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to
His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus
before the foundation of the world. Now, that's the form of
sound words were called upon to hold fast. He's the same in his offices
toward his people. Now, how many times do we hear
his offices? Prophet, priest and king. But
what? He's always you know, he's always been the word of God.
He's always that prophet. He's always been the priest.
You know, before I was ever born, there was a priest representing
me. Way back before the foundation of the world, there was a priest
representing me. When time is no more and all
the redeemed stand before the throne of God, there will be
a priest representing us. I'm never going to be without
my priest. He's always been a priest. Isn't that glorious to think
he's an eternal priest? Thou art a priest forever after
the order of Melchizedek. He's always the King of Kings. He's always the Lord of Lords.
Always has been, is now, and always will be. He's the same
in His glorious offices. He saves the same way. You know
old Abraham? You know how he was saved? By
grace through faith. What about Abel? He was saved
by grace through faith. What about Noah? He was saved
by grace through faith. Every Old Testament saint was
saved the same way, by the grace of God, just like the New Testament
saints are saved by grace through faith. He still uses the preaching
of the gospel. It still pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. No new message is needed. No new methods are needed. We
don't adapt. the method or the message to
the culture or the times. Same message, same method, preaching
the gospel. You know how many churches, you
know, they'll come to a place like this and they'll say, well,
what do you got for the young people? We've got the gospel. But what about
the seniors? We've got the gospel. What about
everybody else? Same thing. Same thing. the preaching of the gospel.
That meets every need. And I know there's folks that
don't understand that because they don't understand the gospel.
If you ever understand the gospel, you'll know that meets your every
need. The preaching of the Lord Jesus Christ. Timothy, preach
the word. Now in everything there's progress.
There's a better way of doing things. I'd hate to have the
medicine practices of 200 years ago, wouldn't you? I mean, there's
progress in everything, in everything but preaching. Better do it the
same way the apostles did it. Better have the same message
the apostles had. Any place there's progress, it's going away from
the truth. He's the same. And here's something
that's very sweet. He's the same to me. The first time, and I don't know
when it was, but the first time I ever actually trusted the Lord
Jesus Christ. I know this. I didn't have any
experience to look back to, to give me some confidence that
he'd done something for me. I didn't have any good works
to recommend me. The first time I trusted him,
All I had was my sin. Nothing else. And I came to Him
as an empty-handed sinner, needing His mercy and His grace and His
acceptance and His kindness and His forgiveness. That's the way
I first came to Him. And I can say with real conviction,
it hadn't changed a bit. I come to him the same way, and
he is the same toward me. He's still my first trust. He's
still my first love. What is it? What happens when
somebody loses their first love? They stop hearing the gospel
as a sinner. They graduate past that. And
they've lost their first love. Well, by the grace of God, up
to this point, I haven't lost my first love. And I know apart
from His grace, I will, but I sure don't want to. I want to be in
my first love, my first trust. Now, the reason we can trust
Him is He is utterly trustworthy. That's why we can trust Him. He is utterly Trustworthy. He's the same. Now, since he
never changes. Do you believe he never changes? Do you believe that? Since he never changes, he is
to be followed all the way to the end. He is to be worshipped
as God. He is to be trusted completely. Listen, every believer ought
to be completely carefree. Carefree. And because he doesn't change. You and I shouldn't change. You know, there's a proverb that
says metal not within that are given to change. If there is
anybody that ought to be a stable, unchanging person. It's that
person who knows the Lord Jesus Christ and trusts Him. Now, look
over in Hebrews chapter 13. This is what we're going to close
with. Verse 7, Remember them which have the
rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God, whose
faith follow, considering the end or the goal of their conversation. And what is the goal of their
conversation? Jesus Christ. The same yesterday, today and
forever. Now because He is the same yesterday,
today, and forever, verse 9, be not carried about with strange
and diverse doctrines. For it is a good thing that the
heart be established, settled, so it's not moving back and forth
with grace, not with meats, which have not profited them that have
been occupied therein. hearts, in looking to Him who
never changes, be established with grace. Let's pray together.