Jesus Christ, the Same Forever

Right. Good afternoon, everybody. Again. So for those of you that don't know me, I'm Timothy Wilson and I serve here at Crossway as an elder. And my topic for today is Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.

Now, this is my first time preaching at Crossway, so I think we should first turn to the Lord and ask him. I should ask him to have mercy on all of us here. I think you listening and me preaching. So let's just look to God in prayer. Dear Lord Jesus, I just want to ask you, Father, to please.

I thank you first of all for just laying this message on me, Lord Jesus, that you want me to preach. And I just pray that your spirit will lead and I pray that all those that are listening here will receive it with grace from our Lord Jesus Christ, in Jesus name. Amen. Right, I'll just move to Yes, I think we're all aware or none of us would disagree with the fact that our world is changing all the time, rapidly around us. You just look at the number of cars that keep coming in, new models, look at technology, look at fashion.

Just look at your mobile phones, for example, the number of updates. Every time you blink, there's a new update, There's a new iOS, there's a new Android, or there's a new security patch of some sort of. I keep getting a feed on my mobile phone about new AI models that are coming out, and I tell you there's one almost every single week, if not for every single day. So the world around us is changing and we're rapidly moving to the next and to the next and to the next. But with Jesus, there are no updates, no upgrades, no new models, no security patches.

All right? He is the same from the eternal beginning. Now, the writer to the Hebrews actually makes a very bold claim here. He says, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Now, I'd like to unpack this bold claim in two ways.

I'm going to start with looking at his existence from the eternal beginning. And I'm also going to be looking at his character from the eternal beginning. So. So if we could just keep those two points in mind, please. Let's start with looking at his existence from the very eternal beginning.

Now, Jesus did not start in the New Testament. In fact, he's woven into the Scriptures right from the very start. So this means we're going to have to look at the nature of God from the very beginning of Scripture. Now, I would like to approach this from the existence of Jesus, from the fact that our God that we believe in is a Trinitarian God. Yeah.

He is three persons. Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit in one being.

Let's look at the very first verse in the book of Genesis, chapter one, verse one. It says in the beginning, God. And the word God here in the Hebrew language is Elohim, which is actually in its plural form. So there we have one hint of plurality there.

And by the way, the singular for Elohim is Eloah. And then as the story of creation unfolds, we have the Father who speaks the command. Then we have the Son whom the Gospel of John in John 1:1 describes as the Word. He is that agent through which everything was created for him, through him and by him. Then we have the Holy Spirit, who in Genesis 1, verse 2 is hovering over the waters and bringing life and order into all the chaos.

And later on, when it comes to creating humanity, in Genesis 1:26, God says, Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness. I think that's a very clear statement there in the Bible of plurality in our God.

Let's move on to looking at Jacob's ladder in Genesis 28. You might be familiar with the story of Jacob's ladder, where he's sleeping in the wilderness and there's this ladder connecting heaven and earth with angels ascending and descending on it. Did you know that Jesus himself later declared in the New Testament, In John chapter 151, he says, you will see that the angel. You will see the angel of. Sorry.

You will see the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of man. Sorry, that verse was a bit of bridge there. Jesus is Jacob's ladder. He is the one and only link between God in heaven and humanity on earth. Let's move on to another example of the burning bush encounter with Moses in Exodus 3, where Jesus appeared as the angel of the Lord and he identified himself as the I am.

It's the same name that Jesus claimed in John 8:58 in the New Testament. Let's now move on to looking at a couple of pictures of Christ in our patriarchs. Now, this is not necessarily his existence, but very similar parallels between Jesus and these people. Now, when God asks Abraham, let's look at Isaac, the son of promise. In Genesis 22, when God asks Abraham to lay his own son at the altar to be sacrificed, Isaac actually submits himself to go on that altar.

And then, of course, as we know, at the very last moment, God provides a substitute, a ram that was caught in the thicket by its thorns. This substitute points to Jesus who wore a crown of thorns and became the substitute for our sins.

I think a very significant clear and very clear picture is in the story. Sorry. Of Jesus is in the story of Joseph. I love the story of Joseph. And when someone actually alerted me to what I'm about to tell you, I love the story even more.

Listen to this. The similarity between Joseph and Jesus. He was the beloved son of his father. He was rejected and sold into slavery by his own brothers for a few pieces of silver. He suffered unjustly and remained faithful to God.

He was raised from a pit and a prison to the right hand of the throne. And he was given all authority, same as Jesus. He ultimately became the savior of the very people that rejected him. He provided them with bread and he actually forgave them completely. So those are the parallels between Joseph and Jesus.

You read the story there. Now I'm just going to move on more into his character. I'll leave it there with the existence. There's a lot more proof in the Bible, but we'll stop there with his existence. Let's move to his character.

Sorry. Yes, his character. Now, from the eternal beginning, God's character of righteousness is on display. In order to understand the gospel, I think we need to understand that our God is a righteous God. Now, I'm going to be using this word righteousness a lot, so please keep a note of that word righteous.

This means righteousness means that he is both perfectly just and he is perfectly merciful.

Let's look at three examples in the Old Testament of God's righteousness. One is God's holiness demands that sin must be judged now, immediately after. So we're looking at Genesis 3 here. Immediately after Adam and Eve sinned in. Sinned in the garden, God's righteousness is revealed.

God, our God, is so perfect that he hates sin. And he hates it so much that he had to punish it. He had to punish them immediately for their disobedience. By chasing them out of the garden, he cannot let people get away with being bad.

Let's look at another one. God's justice balances both mercy and and judgment. In Genesis 6 and 8 chapters, we're looking at the story of Noah. In Noah's generation, God demonstrated a perfect balance between justice and mercy. Even though his feeling of anger led him to destroy people, he actually provided salvation for those that were righteous.

Through the ark, God offers two extremes, two absolutes. Punishment for sin and pardon for those who believe nothing in between. No half measures. Let's look at a third example. God's justice is so perfect that he will never destroy the righteous with the wicked.

We're looking at Genesis 18:19. Before God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham asked him, shall not the Judge of Earth do right in Genesis 18:25? Now, if you read the whole chapter, you will find that God proved that he would only destroy something completely when everyone was involved in it. And this showed his commitment to perfect justice. He will never punish the innocent.

Then, as we move on through the Old Testament, this theme of righteousness continues. Through God's relationship with Israel, you will see that the laws, the priesthood, the sacrifices of the Old Testament, these were constantly a demonstration of two things. One is God's perfect righteous standard, which nobody in the Old Testament or even now could meet. And the other is God's perfect justice, which demanded that sin be paid for with a life. Now, the entire Old Covenant was just a foreshadow pointing towards the one person that could fulfill both these demands.

Let's now come to the central message of the Book of Hebrews that we've been studying for the past few months. You know, we've been seeing through these series that the Book of Hebrews was written to a group of Jewish believers that were suffering persecution and were tempted to abandon Christ and go back into their old rituals of the synagogue. The author's argument in the Book of Hebrews from the beginning right to the end is built on one single crucial word. And that word is better. Jesus is better than the prophets of the Old Testament because He is God's final word.

He's better than the angels because they are servants and he is the Son that they worship. He is better than Moses, the great Lawgiver. And he is also better than all those Aaronic priests that stem from the tribe of Levi, or descendants of Aaron, because their work was repetitive and incomplete. Jesus was once and for all. As we've seen on all our slides there right through the series, the Israelites in the Old Testament, they only had the shadows, but we have the substance.

The substance is Jesus Christ. He is the reality to which all these shadows pointed. They had the promise of righteousness. We have the righteous one himself. The unchanging Jesus is the fulfillment of everything the yesterday of the Old Testament pointed towards.

Now, I think it is actually crucial to understand what the righteousness of God really looks like. Let me tell you why. Quite often we see people differentiate between the Old Testament and the New Testament, between all those bloody sacrifices of the past and our relatively bloodless sacrifices made today, between all those laws that were carved on stone and the grace that is now written on our hearts between the fire, the thunder, and God's loud voice on Mount Sinai to the soft voice of Jesus on the Mount of Beatitudes.

And along with that, many in today's world, and I also blame a lot of us Christians and churches around the world. We paint a picture of God in the Old Testament as being a very harsh, hard, and even angry person. While the God of the New Testament is seen as a loving, gentle, soft, meek and mild. It's almost as if he could do you no harm. I actually find this.

It's like as if our God has a very split personality. Harsh in the Old or wrath in the Old and love in the New.

I actually find this terribly unfair on our ancestors of the past in the Old Testament that they had to deal with a hard God and we have this loving, soft God.

But in truth, if you read his story, the Bible, you will find that the God of the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament are one and the same. Let me tell you a bit about God's character. He is a God who loves, he is a God who hates. He is a God who blesses and he is a God who curses. He is a God who breeds life, and he is a God who kills.

He's a God who destroys and a God who restores, a God who pardons and a God who punishes. He's a God of mercy and he is a God of justice. And these are absolutely not contradictions. They are consistent actions of one single righteous God responding appropriately to different people in different situations. Righteousness is this unifying character where he must be both just and merciful.

Now, living in the 21st century, we're surrounded by so many confusing and competing ideologies that we've been hearing of. We're told that truth is relative until, of course, somebody comes up to you and lies to you. And then all of a sudden, the truth matters. We're told that morality is a social construction. You can blame your dog, and that's a valid defense, but you can define your own reality.

You can identify as a fluffy flying squirrel and yet be caught in traffic in Berlin. Okay, now again, I don't know how much the mainstream media has influenced you on your information or thoughts about Charlie Kirk, but now I have watched a number of his videos over the past years, and I could tell you one thing. No matter what you think, one of the things he did was he put Christ as the center of his. Of his conversations and debates. He even had a sign there, as you can see on the screen above.

He had a sign there saying, prove me wrong. And I actually believe it was those people that could not prove him wrong that actually killed him. It is into this unchanging. Sorry. It is into all this chaos that we have this unchanging Christ that speaks with absolute clarity.

Christ never said, I can show you the truth, or the truth is out there, or I have the truth. Christ actually said a very, very bold statement. He said, I am the truth. Okay? And now if this claim is right, then Jesus cannot be mistaken about anything.

His word ought to be our firm foundation.

Jesus, unchanging character provides absolute reliability that transcends both circumstances and time. His immutability means that his holy character, his righteous standards, his eternal purpose, and his covenant promises remain constant regardless of all our changing leaders, our shifting cultural norms, or even our personal failures.

Jesus consistency transforms from him simply being someone who existed to someone upon whom we all can actually place our confidence in. Again, I say our world, and I include many churches too, tell us that love is love and they teach us to tolerate anything and everything. But of course, the ones that tell us this are those very ones that are intolerant of our Christ. So when you speak about Christ, who is the truth, by the way, you may end up in a lot of trouble and you may even lose your life for it. You may then ask, how do we navigate all this chaos and confusion?

Let me remind you, church believers, you know when Christ died on that cross and he rose again 40 days later, he ascended to heaven. And you know what? He left His Holy Spirit to dwell in us. Believers, the Holy Spirit is Jesus Christ in you. Now, someone explained this very beautifully.

I got this from a message. I picked this up from someone else. If we lived during the time of Jesus and he happened to be visiting our church today, sitting in the pews, we would have him in our church. Did you know that he would be in no other church in Berlin, Germany, or the rest of the world?

Unless, of course, he teleported himself from one to another. But let me tell you something. He left His Holy Spirit to dwell in us. We all have him in us at the same time. And I find that an incredible thing that we all have Jesus Christ in us through His Holy Spirit.

When you live in a world of confusion, remember that the Holy Spirit is there to turn for guidance. Sorry.

Now, I believe the same Spirit who empowered Jesus on earth empowers the church today. There is absolutely no downgrade or reduction in his power or his presence, all those Old Testament people that we look to and read about, I believe that they achieved all that they achieved because of the Spirit of Christ's work in them and through them. And now he abides in all of us believers here. So every Christian here has the same access to those resources. The church is called not to admire the miracles of the past, but I believe we are expected to experience the same reality which is rooted in Jesus own words in John 14:12, which says, you will do great works.

Sorry, greater works. Quote that. Right now, I do want to encourage you all by letting you know that Jesus Christ exists in us believers today through the Holy Spirit. And I know this because the Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit is our constant companion who strengthens, comforts, and guides us in every circumstances. I think of all the temptations we suffer.

Sorry, temptations we deal with on a daily basis. Loneliness, struggle in marriages. Struggle dealing with our kids or our job challenges, our challenges in ministry. You can turn to the Spirit. He lives in you when you believe in Him.

I could give you a quick example of a job challenge that I had three years ago. I received. I had. My boss called me to his office and he told me that I hadn't done something right and immediately gave me a warning letter that just made me so upset. I was completely upset about it.

I spoke to Pastor Steve. I remembered I spoke to a few friends here in church about it. But you know what? I was in so much of pain that I said, I believe in the Spirit, that He is going to strengthen me. He's going to comfort me, he's going to.

He's going to provide for me. I got together with my wife and family and we prayed about it. I suffered with that letter for about two months. And I tell you, it was a letter that no boss would ever take back because it would bring him embarrassment. But, you know, God comforted me for two months.

He protected me, he provided for me. And two months later, he called me to his office and he apologized and took it back and put it into the paper shredder. So it's just a bit of encouragement there for you. Turn to the Spirit. I know that the Spirit of Jesus Christ exists in all of us because the Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit convicts us of righteousness and judgment.

He guides us and transforms believers into Christ's image. I think of a time when I just become a Christian and I was still listening to a lot of dark heavy metal music. I had a little conviction in me just then that I needed to get rid of all these CDs back in the day, which I had collected paying a lot of money, I had to take all of them. And Christ clearly told me, the Spirit clearly told me not to give it to anybody. I had to throw it away into the bin.

I went to the bin in New Zealand, I remember, and throwing it away there. It was painful. But I tell you I was convicted, that it was the right thing to do. And that was the Holy Spirit in me. Try that.

If there's anything in you, speak to the Holy Spirit and ask him if there's anything that you need to change.

I also have times when I have to, when I treat my wife or my kids unfairly. I have a conviction in me. The Holy Spirit tells me, go and ask for forgiveness. I know that the Holy Spirit lives in us because the Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit develops Christlike character when we yield to Him. Think of all the fruits of the Spirit.

Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. I was thinking of another time where I was struggling without a job while living here in Germany, as well as I didn't have, couldn't speak the language. And it was a very painful time. It was over a number of years. It was almost five to close to seven years, jobs on and off.

I was very unhappy. But I'll tell you something interesting. Every time I came in contact with people, either in church or outside of church, many people oddly said to me, tim, what's with you? You always look so happy, you always have a smile on your face. And one person I remember that actually said that to me very clearly here in this church was Christy Walker sitting here.

She just said it in such a way that it really stood stuck with me all these years. Now I can be honest and tell you, I'm not trying to boast here, but I'm trying to tell you that was not me, but that was the spirit of Christ living in me. He put that in me. And I could tell you, let me be honest and tell you. Sometimes I think the fact that I now have a job, I have all I need, I tend to become less dependent on him, probably more grumpy sometimes because I think I can do it my way.

I don't need the Spirit. So sometimes living under that pressure really helped me rely on the Holy Spirit for these things. The Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit empowers us to be Christ's witness and to preach the gospel boldly. I'll tell you honestly, the fact that I'm standing here preaching to you or even just doing a benediction or a welcome, it is not my thing. I am not the person to be standing here to speak to you.

But it is because of the Holy Spirit in me that that I can actually stand here and deliver something to you.

Just as Jesus ministered on earth through the Spirit's power, the Spirit now continues Christ's ministry through us. He's the same helper with the same mission, doing the same transforming work. Now the modern church often preaches to us a gospel of unconditional love without repentance and a gospel of self improvement. But the unchanging gospel of righteousness declares that we cannot save ourselves. We need a Savior.

The gospel is an incredible offer where Jesus says, you give me your sin, I'll take it, and you take my righteousness. This unchanging offer is the only real answer to the brokenness of the human heart and all the confusion in the world. This unchanging Christ who now lives in you is our eternal destiny.

Now, because Jesus is the same yesterday. Sorry. Because Jesus is the same today, the truth has profound implications for actually how we live our lives. Now the writer to the Hebrews moves from a whole lot of Theology in 12 chapters to the 13th chapter, which has actually got some real rules for practical living. And I actually believe these are guidelines for running the race of faith.

We must keep his commands. Since our Savior is unchanging, our doctrine needs to be stable. Now. Verse 9 warns us, do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teaching. You know, our hearts ought to be strengthened by grace, not by fads.

You know, this stability must flow into our actions. Chapter 13 of Hebrews gives us a list of commands. And I actually believe these list of commands that I'm about to read to you are actually proof that we have a life that's anchored in Jesus Christ, in this unchanging Christ. And some of these ones that we briefly looked at last week in church are let brotherly love continue. Do not forget to entertain strangers.

Remember those in prison. Marriage should be honoured by all. Keep your lives free from the love of money. Obey those who rule over you. Be submissive.

Now, these are not rules to earn salvation. They are actually joyful fruits of a life that is anchored in this unchanging grace of Jesus. Let's look to the future. You know, because Jesus is the same forever, our eternal future is secure in him. His unchanging righteous character guarantees both the promises of heaven and the promises of eternal punishment.

Let's look at the promise of Eternal joy. The righteousness that God gives us through faith in Jesus is not just a legal status for today, you know, it's a transforming power for eternity. The Gospel promises that God will complete the work he has begun in us, making us perfect to live with him in eternity in the new heaven and the new earth. Because he is unchanging, his promise of salvation is certain for all those people that abide in him and will wait on Him. We believers must get excited about this, if not for anything else in our lives, that we have this hope of eternal joy.

Let us also look at the warnings of eternal punishment. I think this is very important. Very rarely do we hear this as much as he is merciful. We must remember that God's unchanging righteousness also includes his justice. You know, the cross is one place where both the justice of God that demands sin be punished and the mercy of God that forgives sin, they both meet perfectly.

And that is the cross for you. An unchanging and just God cannot ignore unrepentant sin. The same loving Saviour who offers mercy today, he will return as the righteous Judge tomorrow. His character does not change. Therefore, this biblical warning of eternal punishment for those who receive him.

Sorry. Yes. The same for those who will receive him as the promise of eternal joy for those who. Let me put that again. Sorry.

The biblical warning of eternal punishment for those who reject him is as certain as the promise of eternal joy for those who receive him. We must fear this and turn away from our wicked ways. So we see Jesus Christ the same yesterday where he was present in creation. He. He was the theme of the Old Testament.

He was and is the righteous hope of Israel. Then we see Jesus Christ the same today. He is the anchor of our souls. He is the truth in a world of confusion. He is the one who commands our obedience and empowers it by grace.

And Jesus Christ the same forever. He is the guarantor of our resurrection and he will be the righteous judge of all the earth. This is our God. He doesn't drift with the tides of changing culture. He's not swayed by storms.

He's our rock, our fortress, and our sure salvation.

The unchanging Christ becomes the foundation of our prayer life, our hope for the future, and our confidence in faithfulness. I might just invite the worship team to slowly move up, please. I'm just about to finish in a moment. Since we're wrapping up on this series of the Hebrews today, let's look at the last couple of verses in the chapter. Let's look at verses 20 and 21 of Hebrews 13.

Now this is commonly read as a benediction which reveals what God can do because of this unchanging nature of Christ. These are powerful titles. I'm just quoting from the verse. The God of peace. He's the same God who brought peace between sinful humanity and himself.

And I'm quoting the verse again, who brought again the dead of our Lord Jesus. The same resurrection power that Jesus. Sorry. The same resurrection power that raised him from the dead is available today in us. The great shepherd of the sheep.

Christ's shepherding care for his people never changes. And then in verse 21, the writer prays that this unchanging God would equip you with everything good for for doing his will, working in us what is pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ. If you could just notice two crucial truths here. First, God equips us. We don't have to manufacture righteousness or holiness in our own strength.

The same unchanging God who raised Christ from the dead provides everything we need. And secondly, he works in us. And this is the Holy Spirit we've been talking about who actively produces the fruit that pleases God. We don't work to earn his favor. He works in us because of his unchanging covenant of faithfulness.

This is not self improvement. This is divine transformation through the indwelling of Christ in us. Let us therefore hold firm and fast, live confidently in him and rest eternally in Him. If there's one thing you take home from this message today, I would say is this is the unchanging Jesus Christ, who lives in you through the Holy Spirit, empowers you every day to stand firm in his righteousness and experience his love. No matter how much the world around us changes.

He's the only one who is the same yesterday, today and forever. Amen.

Just as we go away from this place, I'm going to quote the verses, the last two verses from Hebrews 13. May the God of peace, who brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, equip you fully with everything good to do his will and work in you for what is pleasing in his sight. I hope you will find strength in this unchanging love of Christ, who is the same yesterday, today and forever, faithful to his promises and steadfast in his grace. Go in peace, confident that his power will sustain you. His Spirit will guide you and his love will be the anchor in your heart.

In the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit, have a blessed week. Amen.