Jesus Is Always the Same Part #1

by John Lowe
(Laurens SC, USA)

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 the 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 the 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 altogether 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 hearing 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.

He has never changed in the love that He has for His people; whether as God, or as the god-man, or as dead and buried, or as risen and ascended. He is “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” Therefore, my friends, He has never changed the purpose that He has for His church. He decided in eternity to become one with her so that she might become one with Him. And after He decided this, when the fullness of time had come, He was born of a woman, and He took upon Himself the same sinful flesh that we wear, "and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." Yet for 33 years he never abandoned His purpose, and He set His face like a flint to go to Jerusalem.

Oh, there was a day when a bitter cup was put to His lips, and He seemed to stagger for a moment, but He came back with even more determination, saying to His Father, "If it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt." He accepted the will of the Father, and from that day, He was not content until He had purchased us with His precious blood.

There will be a day when He will gather all of His sheep into the heavenly fold. He knows His sheep because every one of them was brought there by the Great Shepherd who laid down His life for them. Brothers and sisters, He cannot change His purpose; it’s not according to His nature to do that, for He is, "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever."

He is also "the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever," as far as what He says. The teachings of the New Testament are as sound today as they were 2000 years ago. They have lost none of their value; they are still the wonderful words of life.

Jesus Christ was a Prophet, and he is "the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever."He is the same too as a Priest.

A lot of churches no longer speak of the blood. But to us, His blood was our purchase price. We have victory through the blood of the Lamb, and we will praise that precious blood in heaven. We will wash our robes in it and they will be made white by the blood of the Lamb. Let’s you and I rejoice that Jesus Christ is our Priest, "the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.”

And as King, He is also the same. As King, He is head of the Church, and as loyal subjects, let’s bow before Him and serve Him. If there is any other office that our Lord has assumed in order to accomplish His divine purposes, we can say of Him, that He is "the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever."

Let me say again, He is the same in His relationship with all His people. He is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. He is just as ready to comfort us tonight as He was to comfort His disciples. He is just as willing to come to you when you have sorrow, as he was to comfort Mary when her brother died. He is just as ready to wash your feet, my brother, after another day walking through our polluted world, as He was to wash His disciple’s feet. Whatever He meant to them, He means to us.