Jesus Is Always The Same

8-20-03

Title: Jesus Is Always the Same

Text: “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever” (Hebrews 13:8).

Scripture Reading:

7 Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation.

8 Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever. (Hebrews 13:7-8).

Introduction

There are just two verses that I would like for us to consider today; Hebrews 13:7-8. The subject of the message is “Jesus is always the same.”

Everything else changes: the way we dress, the look of our automobiles, the state of the economy; but Jesus is always the same. Verse 7 says, “Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation. Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.”

Notice that God’s people are thoughtful people. If they are what they ought to be they will do a lot of remembering; that’s the gist of verse 7. If they are to remember and consider their earthly leaders, how much more should they recollect that great leader, the Lord Jesus, and those great truths that He taught?

I wish that in this present age, that professing Christians would think about Jesus a whole lot more; but we live in such a flurry, and hurry, and worry, that we don’t have time for thought. If you were to go back 150 years, you would find more men with backbone, strong, independent and self-reliant men, who could hold their own when they faced hard times, and the reason was that they took time to meditate, time to communicate with God in secret. Let’s follow their example, and try to do a little more thinking about God. These are busy times and trying days, but let’s take time to remember and consider Jesus.

The next thing I would like for you to notice is that God’s people are an imitative people, because we are told here that they are to remember them who are their leaders, those who have spoken to them the Word of God, “whose faith they are to follow.”

There is a great desire today, especially among young people to strike out on their own. When sheep do that, they are bad sheep. Sheep follow the shepherd; and, in a sense, they follow one another when they are all together following the shepherd. Our Great Master never aimed at originality; He said that He didn’t even speak His own words, but the words that He heard from His Father. He was meek and teachable. As the Son of God, and the servant of God, His ear was always open to hear the instructions of His Father, and He could say, “I do always those things that please Him.” Now, that is the true path for a Christian to take. We are to follow Jesus, and we can follow those leaders who are worthy to be followed, that is, those who are themselves following Christ.

The verse says, “Whose faith follow.” Young Christians, don’t strike out by yourself. Watch those who are well grounded in the Word of God and you will avoid a lot of sorrow. Follow those who are more experienced, because they will walk in the footsteps of the Shepherd.

God’s people are a thoughtful people, and they are imitative and humble people, willing to be instructed, and willing to follow holy and godly examples. But I don’t believe that we should be looking back in time at those great and good men and making them our examples, because we have more of the light of God in the twenty-first century than they had. And I can say that we have the same foundations for our faith that they had. The foundations are found in the Word and just as Jesus never changes, they never change.

Now I am coming to our text, "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever."

My first point is, that JESUS CHRIST HIMSELF IS ALWAYS THE SAME. He is, was, and will be always the same.

There have been changes in the position and circumstances of our Lord, but He is always the same as far as His great love for His people, whom He loved even before the world was created. Before the first star ever twinkled in the sky, before the first living creature began to sing the praises of his Creator, He loved His church with an everlasting love. He saw the church in His divine foreknowledge, and loved her with all of His heart. It is because He loved us that He left His Father, and came to earth to redeem us for Himself. It was love that caused Him to bare our sins in His own body on the cross. It was for our sake that He slept in the tomb, and the same love that brought Him down has taken Him back up. He is in glory today, waiting for the marriage-day, when He will come again for His church, which has been made ready by His grace.