Hebrews

[0:00] as the Lord would be pleased again to help us this afternoon we turn again to the Epistle of Paul to the Hebrews chapter 13 and verse 8 the Epistle of Paul to the Hebrews the 13th chapter and the 8th verse Jesus Christ the same yesterday and today and forever we have considered this morning the Lord Jesus Christ as he is set before us in this Epistle to the Hebrews first in his Godhood then in his manhood and then in his priesthood and this afternoon as we come more particularly to these words yesterday today and forever my mind has gone first of all to this 90th Psalm where we find this word yesterday we feel this is an appropriate

[1:21] Psalm for this day when we come into the Lord's house for the last Sabbath of the year and on the last the very last day of the year what a wonderful Psalm we have written how fitting for this day to consider what Moses the man of God considered in that Psalm and I never read this 90th Psalm without thinking of an experience I had in reading it once in hospital to a young man who was on his deathbed then we should never forget how one of the verses the 12th verse in this 90th Psalm stood out as we read it so teach us to number our days they are numbered we know but it is a mercy when we can number them ourselves that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom we have been speaking of those words in James where he says our life is but a vapour that appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away and as we come to the end of these years and we realise friend that is true our lives are but as a vapour they only last for a little while and we ought to say as we look forward into the next year if the Lord will we shall live and do this or that but the

[3:01] Psalmist in that Psalm could look away from himself and look at the Lord the one that we've been trying to look at this morning Jesus Christ who is Lord Lord of all and the Psalmist could say Lord thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations he could look back as the Apostle could to realise that the Lord Jesus was not only man but God the eternal Son of the ever living God and he could say before the mountains were brought forth wherever thou hadst formed the earth and the world from everlasting to everlasting thou art God hear those words take in our text Jesus Christ the same yesterday today and forever he is from everlasting to everlasting the eternal unchangeable ever living

[4:12] God and he says as he thinks of that great God thou turnest men to destruction and saith return ye children of men and then this word yesterday is brought out when he says a thousand years in thy sight our butters yesterday when it is passed how different friends our God looks at time to what we do we think of the year that is approaching and we know that it will last as long as other years have lasted and it seems perhaps to us when we look forward to it a long time but with our God a thousand of those years is but as yesterday when it is passed oh how great our God is and he looks down upon us and the psalmist realized a little of his greatness also when he penned the 139th psalm he realized that God could see him exactly as he was and he says oh Lord thou hast searched me and known me thou hast my damn sitting and mine uprising thou understandest my thought afar off thou compassest my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways he realized that God knew his thoughts knew all his ways and even his words that he spake for he says there is not a word in my tongue but oh Lord thou knows it all together and this is the same today this

[6:11] God knows us exactly as we are he is the same in that respect and so he says in the 90th psalm again they will carry us them away as with a flood they are as asleep in the morning they are like grass which groweth up in the morning it flourisheth and groweth up in the evening it is cut down and with it this is true every one of us in our youth we flourish as it were we begin to grow up we go forth into the world but how soon friends the evening of life comes oh how soon does this evening come when we shall be cut down we know not when this cutting down will come we know it must come oh to be prepared for it oh to be ready and to realize that preparation for the prepared place in the evening and many of our hated friends are in this evening of their lives and we pray for them that they may know that experience at evening time it may be light oh that the

[7:36] Lord will give them light in their souls in the evening of their lives for we are consumed by thine anger says the soundest and by thy wrath are we troubled what is the cause of this trouble friends surely the greatest cause of trouble with any one of us is sin our own sin and the sins of others and so the psalmist could say thou set our iniquities before them our secret sin and it is often friends those secret sins that are most troublesome we know that others do not know of them but we know this that our God knows them he sees those secret sins and so the psalmist realized it when he said set our iniquities before thee our secret sins in the light of thy countenance and then as he comes to think of the years of his life he says all our days are passed away in thy wrath we spend our years as a tale that is told how true that is of every one of us the years come and they go our life is like a tale that is told and then it gives us the number of our years and the allotted span of our life the days of our years are three score years and ten and if by reason of strength they be four score years yet is their strength labor and sorrow and friends our aided friends are proving this to be true

[9:30] I believe that those years are indeed labor and sorrow and yet I believe in the midst of that labor and sorrow they do know sometimes something of fellowship with the Lord Jesus who knew the pathway of labor and sorrow he knows as we've just been singing that's a wonderful hymn to me and one of the verses is a favorite verse of mine where we read we have sung it this afternoon touched with the sympathy within he knows our feeble frame he knows what sore temptations mean for he has felt the same and he knows this labor and this sorrow that even the Lord's people have in their declining years when they have passed the four score year and then that life is soon cut off and they fly away oh hey we would pray that they may be really prepared and made ready and that each one of us may be prepared and may we realize that wonderful prayer to be our prayer prepare me gracious

[10:54] God to stand before thy face thy spirit must have worked before for it is all of grace and so the verse comes again so teach us to number a day may we need to pray such a prayer that we may really number our days and really be ready for the change of the wake that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom that is real wisdom the wisdom which is from above it is wise to consider friends our letter in we read in the book of Deuteronomy oh that they were wise that they understood this that they would consider their lettering it is a wise thing when poor sinners are brought to consider that and to have that wisdom that was given to young

[11:58] Timothy for when the apostle writes of him he says from a child he knew the holy scriptures which were able to make him wise unto salvation yes wise unto salvation and it's wise to be brought to consider not only the end of our lives but to consider where we are in the light of eternity to consider whether we've known anything of true repentance godly sorrow for sin known something of what it is to come with the prodigal son father I've sinned against heaven and in thy sight and I'm no more worthy to be called thy son so teach us then to number our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom and there's another good prayer in this psalm friend oh satisfy us early with thy mercy may we pray this for our children those that are growing up around us that they may be satisfied early with these things with mercy be brought to seek for mercy in their early days and that they may be kept and preserved by god himself as they journey through life oh satisfy us early with thy mercy that we may rejoice and be glad all their days and we have this desire today that our friends that are now in affliction may know the best thing of this prayer or so make us glad according to the days wherein there has to afflict in us and the years wherein we have seen either oh I believe some of us have known something of this gladness even in the midst of affliction when the

[14:05] Lord sanctifies it and causes it to work together for our soul's good what a wonderful thing that affliction is it brings us to the throne of grace brings us nearer to the Lord himself gives us something of fellowship with him as the apostle speaks of it and write unto the Philippians that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his suffering when do we get fellowship with him in his suffering because when we have to pass through suffering when we have to go through affliction oh then may we know what it is to so help that fellowship with him in his suffering and then the psalmist could pray let thy work appear unto thy servants and thy glory unto their children let the beauty of the

[15:09] Lord our God be upon us and establish there the work of our hands upon us yea the work of our hands establish that way surely then as we look back over the past which this word yesterday suggests we have to see that God has worked worked in us and for us and we pray that his work may still be made manifest toward us and that he will work in Zion work in the hearts of his people and that we may know something of that work in our hearts and then in that hundred and second psalm surely we see linking up with what we read in the Hebrews this morning that the psalmist speaks in the same language of old he says as thou laid the foundation of the earth and the heavens are the work of thy hands he says they shall perish they shall perish as we said this morning everything here will perish everything here will fade and die but thou shalt endure this person in their text the Lord

[16:28] Jesus Christ shall endure he is the same yesterday today and forever yea all of them shall wax old like a garment as a vesture shall be chained them and they shall be chained but thou art the same Jesus Christ the same yesterday today and forever thy years shall have no end we've come to the end of the year now but with our God friends his years shall have no end he is eternal he is forever and ever as we noticed in the revelation this morning he which is and which was and which is will be forever and ever they are the same and thy years shall have no end the children of thy servants shall continue and their seed shall be established before thee and so friends as we look back in those sounds we see that God is from everlasting to everlasting he was as we noticed in

[17:42] John's gospel this morning the word was with God yesterday in eternity past this precious person in that text was God the word was God and he is the same today and forever but in thinking again of this yesterday this that is past and gone surely as we think of this epistle to the Hebrews and look into that eleventh chapter friends there's a yesterday experience the experience says of the Lord's people of old and how they had faith in this person in their text the Lord himself we see there how Abel had faith in this person how he was brought to trust in the blood when he brought that lamb out of his flock and offered it before

[18:49] God and friends this is the same way today this is the way the Lord intends us to come through his blood and through his merits alone looking to the Lord Jesus Christ for our salvation just as Abel looked forward you see to the day of Christ so we look back as the hymn writer says my faith looks back to see the burdens they did bear when hanging on their cursed tree and hopes of guilt was there have we the same faith then that Abel had these patriarchs of old friends in yesterday experience in times past they had faith in Jesus and today we must have the same faith faith in the same person in this person in their text the Lord

[19:55] Jesus Christ that lamb then to Abel set before him this person Jesus Christ he was brought to trust in this person Enoch the next one that is mentioned had faith to walk with this person he walked with God and he was not for God took him and this is the only way we can walk with God today friend is by faith oh that we could know that experience long for in the hymn oh for a closer walk with God a calm and heavenly frame a light to shine upon the road that leads me to the land the Lord Jesus Christ was the same to these patriarchs of old they walk with him Enoch walked with him and Noah walked with him what a mercy it is to have that walk by faith with

[21:02] God but says the apostle without faith it is impossible to please God for he that cometh to God must believe that he is and Noah you think of Noah friends in that day that he lived he had faith in Jesus because that ark that he built was a type of Jesus that ark was something that signified the Lord Jesus and just as he had safety within that ark so do the Lord's people today have safety as they come to Christ does not the hymn writer say in the ark the weary dove found a welcome resting place thus my spirit longs to find rest in Christ the ark of grace do we know that safety friends that is to be found in Jesus in this person in our text he was the same yesterday in Noah's day he was the same in

[22:09] Enoch's day he was the same in able day they all were brought to trust in him and Noah was safe for the one who was in the ark and we should be safe friends for time and eternity we are found in a precious Christ if our faith is centred in him we should be safe when we come to die and not only Noah but Abraham didn't he have faith in this same person he was looking for a city which had foundations whose builder and maker is God he went out not knowing whither he went but I believe friends he was looking to the Lord Jesus Christ and did he not see Christ especially once when he took his son up the mountain when God had told him to offer up that son he saw

[23:12] Christ I believe in that ram caught in the thicket by his horn and as he offered that ram in the place of Isaac he saw Christ this person in that he was the same to Abraham yes and friends did not the Lord Jesus say so when he was he on earth what did the Lord Jesus say of Abraham Abraham rejoiced to see my day he saw it and was glad the Lord Jesus was the same to Abraham the same to Noah the same to Enoch and the same to Abel yea the same to all these patriarchs of old to Moses I believe Moses saw him when he went through that red sea we read in Corinthians they were all baptized in the sea and in the cloud and when

[24:15] Moses smoked that rock in the wilderness he saw Christ for the apostle tells us that rock was Christ and out of that rock there flowed that water for the people to drink and out of Christ there flowed living water all that we might drink of that living water that flows from a precious Christ he was the same then to all these patriarchs Joseph and Jacob and all these that the apostle mentions Gideon Baruch Samson Jephthah David and Sam he was the same yesterday yes in the case of all these characters who had faith in him he was the same then but friends our text says he is the same today today and I believe as we come into the 12th chapter of the

[25:18] Hebrews we see our experience today the same yesterday today we mentioned that word this morning looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith but where is our experience today friends in this 12th of Hebrews I believe it's found here ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children my son despised not there the chastening of the Lord nor faint will now rebuke to him I believe that is our present day experience more often than not friends we are under the chastening hand of God I believe the afflictions that come upon us the bereavements the temptations the persecutions are all the chastening hand of our

[26:18] God for whom the Lord loved he chastened and scourgeth every son and me receive God has always chastened his people right down through the ages yes even in yesterday experience but today is the same the same in chastening if he loves his children he will chasten and if he endure chastening God dears with you as with sons for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not but if he be without chastis where of all up our takers then are you bastards and not sons our friends this chastening may at times be very solemn may be very real to us and it's very grievous to us as the apostle says it is for he says no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous the present you see today

[27:31] Jesus Christ the same yesterday today and he's the same in his chastening hand today as he ever has been no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous but grievous nevertheless afterward oh this is what we look forward to the afterward experience though we may be under these chastening now yet there is an afterward nevertheless afterward it yielded the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby do we know in the present day from this chastening hand of God do we know what it is to be afflicted persecuted tempted tried I believe this is the path of all the Lord's people the children of God have to pass through many dark seasons many days of temptation many days of darkness for one says the days of darkness of him but it is all to make us sick of self and fond of him or to bring us nearer to him or to cause us to realize the truth of our text that

[29:07] Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever he is a chastening God man and he chastens whom he loves this text reminds us of his love doesn't it his love is the same yesterday today and forever he loved his people in eternity past he still loves them with the same love today and he will love them with the same love forever it's an everlasting love wasn't it so with Jeremiah and the Lord said to him I have loved thee with an everlasting love therefore with loving kindness have I drawn thee and it's because God's love friends is as it is that he chastens his people whom the Lord loveth he chastens do we know this experience then today

[30:11] Jesus Christ the same yesterday and today and forever and forever yesterday reminds us then of the past the year that is almost gone and all that is gone in the past Jesus Christ was the same today reminds us of this present day the day in which we worship him in his house and our present day experience our present experience all our experiences may vary some may be afflicted now some may be tempted now some may be bereaved now but Jesus Christ is the same whatever our experience is he's the same today and he will be the same forever that's the best of it he will be the same forever in eternity to come in the interval

[31:18] I was thinking of John's experience in thinking of this eternity that's to come and of what Jesus Christ is there as he was revealed to John and friends this person will be the same to all eternity as was shown to John when he gave him the revelation for what did John see he saw one in the midst of the seven candlesticks like unto the son of man this same person in the text the Lord Jesus and he was clothed with a garment down to the foot and girt about the patch with a golden girdle his head and his hairs were white like wool as white as snow and his eyes were as a flame of fire I believe this suggests friends that he can see us through and through thou

[32:20] God seest me said the woman in the old testament and his feet like and defined brass as if they burned in a furnace and his voice had the sound of many waters what a voice this person has in our text and it's always been the same voice the same yesterday today and forever his voice is always the same a powerful voice his voice has the sound of many waters and he had in his right hand seven stars and eight of his maith and a sharp two each sword surely that reminds us friends of the word of God the word of God is likened to a sword and the apostle tells us in the Ephesians the word of God which is the sword of the spirit and his mouth when a sharp two inch saw and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his spring and

[33:28] John said when I saw him I fell at his feet as dead and he laid his right hand upon me saying unto me fear not and these fear not when I believe in God's word remind us that God is the same yesterday today and forever how many fear nots we have in the Old Testament to those that have gone before us he spake many fear nots he still speaks them today through his word and however long we live friends we still need those fear nots fear not he says to John I am the first and the last I am he that liveth and was dead I believe here's an opening up of the text friends he said to John

[34:29] I am he that liveth that was the present today the present experience with John he knew that the Lord Jesus the one who had died on Calvary's tree was still living he had risen from the dead I am he that liveth and was dead that was looking back to yesterday that was looking back to Calvary looking back to when he died upon the cross yesterday yes Jesus Christ was the same then friends when he died he had the same spirit as you remember when he was dying on Calvary's tree he prayed that prayer father forgive them for they know not what they do he was the same in that day I am he that liveth and was dead and behold

[35:29] I am alive forever more the same forever yes he is alive forever more and this person in our text will be the same to all eternity to come and it will be a wonderful thing for the Lord's people to see him as he is this same person very wonderfully does the apostle write to the Corinthians concerning this same person after he has been speaking of that wonderful blessing of love or charity he speaks concerning the Lord's people seeing this person and he says to us now we see through a glass darkly but then face to face in eternity to come we shall see this person face to face now in these low lands of earth we know him part but then shall we know even as we are known and that will be a wonderful experience to the Lord's people when they see this person and dwell with him forever

[36:45] Jesus Christ the same yesterday and today and forever and how will they dwell with him what will be their condition we saw a little of it this morning in one chapter of the revelation and we see more of it in the in the last chapter in the holy scriptures there shall be no more curse but the throne of God and the lamb shall be in it and his servants shall serve him and here it is again they shall see his face and his name shall be in their forehead and there shall be no night there when you see this person friends and it will be forever who is the same there will be no night there we often have wearisome nights now as Job said he did but there there shall be no night one perfect day when we shall see this person there shall be no night there they need no candle neither light of the sun for the Lord

[38:03] God giveth them light and they shall reign forever and ever yea they shall be as he is Jesus Christ he is reigning forever and they shall reign forever and ever and how wonderful it is to see at the end of this revelation that we have the same wonderful experience brought before us in another verse here and the city had no need of the sun neither the moon to shine in it for the glory of the God did light in it and the land is the light thereof and we have also seen today that in that place friends where they will see this person who is the same forever he will wipe away all tears from their eyes and many tears have been shed in these low lands of earth because of sin because of affliction because of death but there all these tears will be wiped away and there should be no more death this is the thing that we feel most in this night but there friends when we come to this place and see this person there should be no more death pain neither sorrow nor crying neither shall there be any more pain any pains as the

[39:51] Lord's people known here below and all creatures have known pain but there there should be no more pain for the former things are passed away all then to realize more and more that this precious person is the same yesterday and today and he will be forever and ever amen