Some Things Will Never Change

SOME THINGS WILL NEVER CHANGE

TEXT: Romans 6:23

1. Never in the history of the world has change been thrust upon humankind at such a dizzying pace.

2. Recently a resident passed away at the Church of Christ Care center at the age of 102, she was born into a world of horse drawn carriages, out door toilettes and pitcher pumps, A world where the 2 top killers were the flue and pneumonia.

3. During her life she saw the advent of the first traffic light in Farmington, WV., indoor plumbing, electricity. The electric light. Whole house heating , air conditioning radio, Television. The first airplane flight. The first walk on the moon. The rise and fall of Hitler, Stalin, the Ussr. In the early 70’s the 4 function calculator for $500.00 the first moon walk. In 1978 the invention of the desktop computer the Hubble telescope, open heart surgery, organ transplants.

4. But some of the change we have seen has been unsettling. Rise in cancer, heart trouble, and international terrorism.

5. On the moral front we have seen standards eroding at an alarming rate.

6. It is so good to know that these uncertain times some things never change.

I. The Word of God will never change:

(Matthew 24:35) "Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.

(Isaiah 55:8-12) "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways," says the LORD. {9} "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts. {10} "For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, And do not return there, But water the earth, And make it bring forth and bud, That it may give seed to the sower And bread to the eater, {11} So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it. {12} "For you shall go out with joy, And be led out with peace; The mountains and the hills Shall break forth into singing before you, And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.

(Matthew 5:18-19) "For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. {19} "Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

(Psalms 119:160) All your words are true; all your righteous laws are eternal.

THE ANVIL AND THE HAMMERS

Last eve I paused beside the blacksmith’s door,

And heard the anvil ring the vesper chime.

Then looking in, I saw on the floor,

Old hammers worn out with beating years of time.

"How many anvils have you had, " said I,

"To wear and batter all these hammers so?"

"Just one," said he, and then with twinkling eye,

"The anvil wears the hammers out, you know."

"And so" I thought, "The anvil of God’s word

for ages skeptic blows have beat upon;

Yet, though the noise of falling blows was heard,

The anvil is unharmed, the hammers gone."

---John Clifford

THE BIBLE IS INDESTRUCTIBLE

A. Z. Conrad said;

"Century follows century, there it stands. Empires rise and fall and are forgotten, there it stands. Dynasty succeeds dynasty, there it stands. Kings are crowned and uncrowned, there it stands. Emperors decree its extermination, there it stands. Despised and torn to opieces, there it stands. Storms of hate swirl about it, atheists rail against it, agnostics smile cynically, profane perilous punsters caricature it, unbelief abandons it, higher critics deny its claim to inspiration, there it stands. The anvil that broke a million hammers, there it stands. The flames are kindled about it, the arrows of hate are discharged against it, radicalism rants and raves about it, fogs of sophistry conceal it temporarily, the tooth of time gnaws against it but dents it not.

Infidels predict its abandonment, there it stands.

Modernists try to explain it away, there it stands.

Devotees of folly denounce it, there it stands."

Conrad said:

"The Bible is God’s highway to paradise, its a light on the pathway on the darkest night. It leads business men to integrity and uprightness, its the great consoler in bereavement, it awakens men and women opiated by sin, its the answer to every great question of the human soul, it solves every problem of life, its a fortress often attacked, but never failing, its wisdom is commanding, its logic is convincing, salvation is its watch word, eternal life is its goal, the Bible punctures all pretences, " he said, "it is forward looking, upward looking, outward looking, it out lives, out lifts, out loves, out reaches, out ranks, out runs all other books, trust it, obey it, love it, and believe it, and eternal life is yours."