THE UNCHANGING CHRIST
By
Shelby
G. Floyd
“Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the
outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday
and today and forever. Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange
teachings….” (Hebrews 13:7-9).
One of the things that I would like to do
before I leave this earth is to go out and see the great Northwest. I would love to see the Rocky Mountains,
Montana, Oregon, Washington, and Yellowstone National Park.
Old
Faithful
In that park I would like to gaze upon the
geyser Old Faithful. Old Faithful is one
of the landmarks of our great country.
According to those who have studied this geyser, usually about every 67
minutes it erupts with sulfur water. But
things are changing. Old Faithful is not
even faithful any longer. Now, sometimes
Old Faithful erupts anywhere from 45 minutes up to 110 minutes. It is said that this is due to earthquakes
and vandalism. Even in nature that we usually look upon as being constant and
unchanging--even those things are changing.
Therefore we cannot tie our hopes and future upon those things we think
are unchanging in our world.
REMEMBER
YOUR LEADERS
In our text found in Hebrews 13: 7-9, the
writer is telling us to remember our leaders who have spoken the Word of God to
us. We are asked to imitate their faith
because they are trying to help us to go to heaven. We are advised not to follow after strange
teachings. We need leaders today who have great faith and vision. We need leaders who have a vision of the
future. We need leaders who realize that
there are some things that ought not to change and there are some things that
should change.
Notice these statements by leaders of
yesterday. These leaders lacked faith
and vision of the future.
- Someone wrote a memo to the leaders of the
Western Union telegraph company in 1876, "The telephone has too many
shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of
communication." Tell that
now to all of us who have television, computers, and cell phones.
- In 1895 there was a British scientist by the name
of Lord Kelvin of the Royal Society of Science who said, "Heavier
than air flying machines are impossible."
- Orville and Wilbur Wright were the sons of a
preacher, who told his sons that "if God had wanted men to fly he
would have given them wings."
It is good that the boys did not pay any attention to their dad on
this particular point.
- And in 1927 one of the Warner Brother executives
in the days of silent movies said, "Who in the world wants to hear
actors talk?"
- The chairman of
These men were leaders
but they could not see the change that would take place that we see today. We
hope in this congregation that our leaders will realize that there are some
things that should not be changed and must not be changed, but if the church is
to grow there are some things that should change and we have to go along with
the times in those areas where God has allowed.
Imperfect things need to be changed and made better. Things that are perfect do not need to be
changed and do not need to be meddled with.
OUR
CHANGING WORLD
Let us look at some things that have
changed in your lifetime and in my lifetime.
Transportation
I can remember when I was a boy that the
automobile was just beginning to be used by the average person. My dad had an old Ford automobile. I would hear them say that you need to be
careful when you crank the automobile because that crank will kick back and
break your arm. Look how far we have
come in the area of transportation. As
Marshall Keeble used to say, “We have come from mule
back to jet plane.” This has happened in
less than a hundred years. There has
been great change in transportation.
Communication
Communication has changed. During the Revolutionary war a peace treaty
had been signed with England before it was even known in America. And think about our communication today. Something happens over on the other side of
the world and we see and hear about it instantly. Modern communication is wonderful. The World Wide Web is the most efficient way
of preaching the gospel today. For just
a few dollars each month people all over the world can access a web site and
read and study gospel lessons. The Lord
has given us wonderful tools to carry-on his work and we must take advantage of
every method available. We live in
exciting times and we should be enthusiastic about it.
Agriculture
Think about the changes in
agriculture. In many parts of our country
the soil would not produce good crops, but because of fertilizer the hills and
fields are now green most of the year.
We have harnessed the laws of nature in order to produce more food for
our people and the people of the whole world.
Medicine
Observe how the field of medicine has changed in recent years. One time my cousin had the croup and my
grandma had a homemade concoction that would make him well. She would fill a cup full of very fine
chopped onion and then put it in an iron skillet. Next she would take a cup full of sugar and
put it in the skillet. Finally she would
put a cup of vinegar in the skillet and cook all the ingredients until it was
syrup. She would strain the syrup and
then give my cousin a big tablespoon full of it. It was not long until he was over the
croup. It tasted and smelled awful. Aren't you glad as a parent that you have
other options today? Modern medicine is
expensive but it has improved our quality of life and length of life.
In the midst of a changing world what can
we do as Christians to have security and hope?
We need to change the things that need to be changed and we need to hold
on to the unchanging things of God. Our
God is immutable. And "Jesus
Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever." (Hebrews 13:8). Jesus Christ like his Father and like the
Holy Spirit is unchanging and immutable.
“This
Too Shall Pass”
There is a story of an ancient King who
called all of his wise men before him and he gave them an order. "I want you wise men to go to your
study and formulate one sentence that can sum up everything in life." These men were fearful for their lives. How could they come up with one sentence that
would summarize everything that happens in this world? Finally after they had worked in on this
project for a long time they asked to be presented to the king. He asked them to present their finding. They gave him this answer: "This too
shall pass." When any of us are
frustrated or upset let us remember this statement, "This too shall
pass." Everything in this life
is going to pass. Everything in this
world is subject to change except the unchanging things of God. But in the midst of a changing world there
are some things that never change.
THE
BASIC NATURE OF
Man
is changeable. But there are some things
about us that never change. In our basic
human nature we are no different from the people in the days of Adam, Moses, or
any other times in history. The basic
nature of man does not change. Let me
point out some of the things of our basic nature that never changes.
Greed
We still have the same greed for money,
power and things. Paul declared to
Timothy that greed is an ongoing problem with man.
“But godliness with contentment is great gain.
For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take
nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content
with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into
many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For
the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money,
have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. (1 Tim. 6:6-10).
The Bible declares
that we should be content with such as we have.
Paul had learned the secret of contentment. By experience he knew how to a bound and he
knew what it was like to be a based. And
in all situations he had learned to trust the Lord. “I can do all things through Christ which
strengthens me.”
Preeminence
We all have the same love of
preeminence. Our ego is very important
to us because we like to be number one, we like to win and that is not bad to a
certain point. But it is not good when
this attitude consumes us. Paul declared
to the Christians at Rome to keep their love of preeminence in check,
“For by the grace given
me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you
ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the
measure of faith God has given you.” (Rom. 12:3).
Don’t think more highly of yourself when
you ought to think.” We all should learn
more humility should we not? Not one of
us is as great as we think we are. And if
we don’t learn to humble ourselves, God Almighty can do it for us. We read in the Bible of people who exalted
themselves like Nebuchadnezzar, bragging about what he had done and God reduced
him to an ox eating grass with the dew falling upon his back like a beast.
Lusts
of the Flesh
And the basic nature of man has not
changed in as much as we all still have the same desires of the flesh. That is the reason we see so much crime, so
much evil, so much permissiveness and so much sexual immorality. As in times past these evils are rampant in
our society. It was the same in the days
of the apostles when Paul addressed these problems to the churches of Galatia:
“Now the works of the flesh
are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery,
enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions,
envy,] drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I
warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom
of God.” (Gal. 5:19-21
That is a long
catalogue of sins. Paul could have
mentioned many more for the list could be endless, but he summed them all up in
the phrase “such things.” Anything that
is related to these sins should be avoided by the faithful Christian, because
those who do “such things” will not inherit the kingdom of God. We must not love “the world” and “the things”
of the world. (1 John 2:15-17). We must learn to control ourselves and exercise
discipline and avoid these sins of the flesh.
THE
BASIC NEEDS OF
Since the basic nature of man have not
change, then, we still have the same basic needs. Since we still have the same
basic human nature, we still have the same needs, to curb and control those
drives. What are the needs we have today that has never changed?
Guidance
We still need to be guided. We are like
little children. Children have to learn
by starting in kindergarten and by the time they have reached their majority, we
must let them go because they have learned to control themselves. We are like
children and God gives us the means to learn to control ourselves. And he gives
the freed to make our choices. Many people make bad choices because they have
never learned to be guided by the Lord. Jeremiah the prophet declared in his
prayer to God this need of man to be guided by God,
“I know, O LORD, that a
man's life is not his own; it is not for man to direct his steps.”(Jer. 10:23).
We all need someone to
guide our steps and God has done that by pointing us to the steps of Jesus. (1
Peter 2:21).
Salvation
from Sin
We
need guidance so we will know how to be saved from our sins. We don’t even like
to use that word sin, but if you will observe I is right smack dab in
the middle of S—I—N. The first person pronoun I is
right in the middle of sin. Every person is involved in sin, has been involved
in sin and will be involved in sin. Therefore we need to be saved from the
power, guilt and consequences of sin.
The theme of the entire Bible is “salvation from sin.” This universal need of salvation from sin is
expressed to the Romans,
“There is no difference,
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified
freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” (Rom.
3:22-24).
Even Solomon said “For
there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth
not.” (Eccl.7:20 KJV). We all need to be saved from our sins by the grace,
mercy and love of God Almighty.
Encouragement
We all still need the same encouragement.
We continually need lesson that encourage us to go forward and do better, to be
more faithful and to be more zealous. We need to be encouraged, because we see
and hear enough negative things in our world, that we need some positive
encouragement to never, never give up. Let God encourage you by those who lead
you and speak the word of God unto you with words of encouragement. Paul
encouraged the churches of Galatia. They were a fickle people, and easily led
astray. Therefore Paul rebuked them and then encouraged them with these words,
“Brothers, if someone is
caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch
yourself, or you also may be tempted. Carry each other's burdens, and in this
way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” (Galatians 6:1-2).
And later he says that
every man will bear his own burden. (Gal. 6:5). There are burdens that I can
help you bear and then there are burdens that no one can bear but you. We can
encourage and help one another and we can encourage those who are overtaken in
a fault. We can restore him gently. “Restore” is a medical term describing a
doctor setting a broken bone. Therefore, we must deal gently with our brothers
and sisters who have fallen into sin. We will not encourage such a one if we
deal with them in a harsh, unloving and unkind spirit. The Lord Jesus always
dealt with people willing to change in a kind and encouraging way—and so should
we. Let us reach out with words and actions of encouragement.
Sympathy
We all still need some sympathy. We need to sympathize with one another. The Bible declares, "Rejoice with those
who rejoice and weep with those who weep."
Many times we can weep with those who have sorrow, but we have a problem
rejoicing with those that have something to be happy about. We need to learn to rejoice that those who
are rejoicing and we need to learn how to weep with those who have sorrow in
their lives. It also Paul declares, "Rejoice
with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep." (Romans 12:15).
Hope
Another unchanging need a man is hope. Hope is based upon a reasonable expectation
and desire. What is hope? The Bible answers that question for us, "For
in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes
for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait
for it patiently.” Rom. 8:24-25). We
are saved by Hope. We are saved by many
times and hope is one of them. Hope then
is based upon a desire and reasonable expectation of receiving something that
we do not experience or possess at the present time.
Man's basic nature does not change and the
needs that satisfy in the right way that basic nature do not change either.
CHRIST
DOES NOT CHANGE
That brings us to the next point and that
is, Christ does not change. Let us
notice what the writer of Hebrews said about the unchanging Christ:
"In the beginning, O Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth,
and
the heavens are the work of your hands.
They will perish, but you remain;
they will all wear out like a garment.
You will roll them up like a robe;
like a garment they will be changed.
But you remain the same,
and your years will never end."
(Hebrews
1:10-12)
The writer begins the
book with the same thought as found in out text. Our text says, “Jesus Christ is the same
yesterday, today and forever.” (Heb. 13:8).
God is immutable. He does not
change. This is called the doctrine of
the immutability of God. The nature of the Father, Christ and the Holy Spirit
never changes. Let us notice some of the things about Christ that never change.
Priesthood
His priesthood is an unchanging
priesthood. In the Old Testament the priesthood was made up of the sons of
Levi. They officiated at the altar, they
killed the animals, they offered up the sacrifices. And Aaron and his sons were
the high priests. But the persons of this priesthood changed because they were
subject to death. But the priesthood of Jesus Christ is of a different order,
because he never goes out of office. His priesthood is after the order of
Melchizedek---an unchanging priesthood. “But because Jesus lives forever, he
has a permanent priesthood.” (Hebrews 7:24). This should give us confidence
to approach God through our great High Priest, who is the same yesterday, today
and forever.
Existence
His existence does not change. John
records Jesus as saying, “I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God,
"who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty." (Revelation
1:8). His eternal existence is indicated by the first and last letters of
the Greek alphabet—Alpha and Omega. The unchanging existence of Jesus is
expressed by the past, present and future.
One of the names of God in the Old Testament was “I Am.” Jesus Christ also claimed this title for
himself. (John 8:58). The present tense “I am” expresses the eternal presence
of Christ. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”
Authority
Jesus Christ still has the same authority.
If Christ were to come back today he would not have any more authority than he
had when he was on earth. While on earth he claimed that he had all authority: "All
authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” (Matthew 28:18).
Messiah
And Christ is our unchanging Savior. How
did he achieve this? By being an obedient Son to his Father. “Although he
was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he
became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.” (Hebrews 5:8-9). We
can depend on Christ because he is immutable and unchanging.
THE
ATTITUDE OF CHRIST NEVER CHANGES
Toward
Sin
The attitude of Jesus Christ toward
certain things never changes. Jesus has
the same attitude today toward sin that he had while upon the earth. Jesus is
against sin. He came to do something about sin. Jesus came to offer up himself
as a sacrifice for sin and to shed his blood for the forgiveness of sin. He declared,
“I told you that you
would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am the one I claim to be,
you will indeed die in your sins.” (John 8:24). Once more Jesus said to them,
"I am going away, and you will look for me, and you will die in your sin.
Where I go, you cannot come." (John 8:21).
That is a plain
statement. No one could make a more explicit statement. “You will die in
your sin. Where I go, you cannot come.”
Toward
Faith
Jesus still has the same attitude toward
faith and unbelief. The Bible affirms that one must believe in God,
“And without faith
it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe
that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” (Hebrews
11:6).
Without faith in God,
Christ, and the Holy Spirit—without faith in his word, we cannot please him.
That is the reason the Christian system is called a system of faith—“from faith
unto faith.” (Rom. 1:17). That faith is based upon the evidence that God has
spoken unto us in these last days by his son Jesus Christ. (Hebrews
1:1-2). And the writer defines
that faith for us: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the
evidence of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1). The word substance is
an interesting word. We use this word in many ways—submarine—down under the
water; subterranean—down under the earth; sub flooring—under the main flooring.
In like manner our faith is the foundation that stands down under the
victorious Christ life.
Toward
Religious Error
Jesus still has the same attitude toward
religious error and false teaching. He declared to the people of his day this
attitude in plain language:
‘ These
people draw near to Me with their mouth,
And honor Me with their
lips,
But their heart is far from
And in vain they worship Me,
Teaching as doctrines the
commandments of men.’”
(Matthew
15:8-9)
When his disciples
told him that the Pharisees were offended by his words he replied, “Every
plant which My heavenly Father has not planted will be
uprooted.” (Matthew 15:13). Our attitude should be the same as that of
Christ. We must “reprove, rebuke and
exhort”—both positive and negative work is necessary in serving Christ.
Toward
Lost Mankind
Jesus has the same attitude toward mankind
today that he had when he walked upon the earth. "For God so loved the world that he
gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish
but have everlasting life." (John
3:16). And Jesus said, "Greater
love has no one than this, that he lay down his life
for his friends." (John 15:13). God has called us his friends and he sent
Jesus to lay down his life for his friends.
That is the greatest demonstration of love that any person can make, to lay
down his life for those he loves.
THE
GOSPEL
Christ has not changed, the basic nature
of man has not changed and even though the Christian system has been around for
2000 years, the gospel has not changed. In all of these years the facts of the
gospel have remained the same.
The
Gospel Facts Do Not Change
What is the gospel? To the Corinthian church Paul explained in
what the gospel consists:
“Now, brothers, I want
to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which
you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to
the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I
received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins
according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the
third day according to the Scriptures.” (1 Corinthians 15:1-4).
He further declares that Christ was seen
by up to 500 people at one time after his resurrection. In this context we have the Gospel facts
stated explicitly. They are the death,
burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ "for our sins." These Gospel facts will never change. The reason these facts will never change is
because man sinned, then came death.
Because man was not able to save himself, God sent his unique Son to die
and save man. These gospel facts are to be received and believed first of all.
The
Gospel Commands Do Not Change
The gospel commands also do not
change. We do not obey facts, we believe
facts. But when it comes to a command,
we must both believe and obey commands.
Believe
We are commanded to believe in God and
without faith it is impossible to serve God. And if we believe in God, we must believe
in everything he has commanded. (Hebrews 11:6). The command to believe
does not change.
Repent
The command to repent has not
changed. Jesus declared that if we do not repent we will perish. (Luke 13:3,5). On the day of Pentecost at the climax of his sermon,
Peter commanded everyone to repent, when they inquired what they should do. (Acts
Confess
If one believes in Christ and repents of
sin, that person will want to publicly confess that faith in the Son of God.
“But what does it say?
“The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is,
the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the
Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you
will be saved. For with the heart one
believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto
salvation.” (Romans 10:8-10).
Baptism
The command to repent is unto. The
command to repent is unto. The command to believe is unto. This
preposition unto is progressive and looks forward to a target or goal. But
when we come to the command of baptism, it is never unto, but always as
a transitional action into someone or something. We are baptized into
Christ after we have come unto Christ through faith, repentance and
confession. The last words of Christ were,
“Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.
Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe
will be condemned.” (Mark 16:15-16).
The
Gospel Promises No Not Change
And what even better is that the promises
of the gospel do not change. We receive and enjoy the promises of God. We
believe facts, obey commands and receive and enjoy the benefits of the gospel
promises.
Forgiveness
Peter
promised on Pentecost to his audience “forgiveness of sins” to all who would
repent and be baptized. (Acts
Security
We have the promise of assurance and
security when we are faithfully serving the Lord. Jesus said that he would be
with us to the end of the age. (Matthew 28:20).
Everyone seeks to be more secure, but the only sure security is with
God.
"Never
will I leave you;
never will I forsake you." So we say with confidence,
"The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.
What can man do to me?"
(Hebrews
13:5-6)
That is a wonderful
promise. Just do the right thing and then do not worry about anything. The Lord
will never forsake us. We may for sake him, but if we do the right thing he
will never leave or forsake us. This promise like most of God’s promises is
conditional upon man doing his part.
Heaven
Heaven has been promised to God’s faithful
people. When Christ saw that his
disciples were depressed and discouraged by his announcement that he would be
leaving them by the way of the cross, he encouraged them with the promise of
heaven,
“Let not your heart be
troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it
were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I
go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you
know.” (John 14:1-4).
These promises of the gospel will never
change because Christ who made them is unchangeable. “Jesus Christ is the
same yesterday, today, and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8). Will you give your
allegiance to such a Savior as the Lord Jesus Christ? Let the unchanging Christ
give you constancy in all your ways. Let it happen now! *
*Shelby G. Floyd
delivered this sermon April 2, 2006 at the Heartland Church of Christ,
Greenwood, Indiana. Copyright © 2006 All
Rights Reserved