Jesus Christ Is the Same Yesterday and Today and Forever
April 16, 2023
Hebrews 13:1-8
Introduction: Have you ever been driving and seen a cow on the road?
A cow is nibbling on a tuft of grass in the middle of a field moving from one patch to the next, and before you know it he ends up at some grass next to the fence. Noticing a nice clump of green grass on the other side of the fence, the cow pushes through the fence and finds himself outside on the road.
(Our fence) None of us intends to wander from the green pasture of God’s plan… but if we’re not careful before we know it, we discover we have nibbled our way away from God.
Our text this morning says these words…“Keep on loving.” “Do not forget to show hospitality.” “Continue to remember those in prison.” “Keep the marriage bed pure.” “Keep your lives free from the love of money.”
God doesn’t compare us to cows. He compares us to sheep when he says: in Isaiah 53:6 “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way.” (suffering servant)
It’s the same story…just different animals. Human beings, by nature (a sinful one) are prone to go their own way…prone to nibble our way away from God…and Our nature…our independent spirit continually fights to have/go its own way.
(Electric Fence) If God’s Spirit lives in you He will work to keep you and me holy. He’ll yell “STOP”… “DON’T”…“QUIT.”
But truth be told, we like Paul, many times know what we shouldn’t do and do it anyway…and we know what we should do…and don’t do it.” (Romans 7:14)
Let me give you some good news about what it means to follow Christ as His disciple…He knows this about us…He experienced every single tempting tuft of grass…He was tempted in every way to turn His own way…and He overcame every temptation…Jesus never wandered outside of God’s Truth
Jesus isn’t our enemy…or accuser…He is our advocate…He is our helper and it’s His Spirit that lives within us…It’s His Spirit that fights so desperately against our “go our own way” nature.
- KEEP ON LOVING ONE ANOTHER AS BROTHERS AND SISTERS
If we can’t keep on loving each other as family…as brothers and sisters then how will the world ever believe God’s love is real?
Jesus said, John 13:34-35 “As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
Yes, sometimes it’s hard to love our brothers and sisters…sometimes they are stubborn, selfish, and mean…but guess what? Sometimes we’re stubborn, selfish, and mean.
And it doesn’t say keep on loving just the brothers and sisters you like or have always been your friends.
Love is an action word…it’s shown by encouragement, service, and generosity…when love becomes our filter, our family grows and becomes a place of safety and encouragement for all our brothers and sisters… As families grow, new people are loved into them.
But our lives and love cannot just be focused inward on other disciples…they also must focus on:
- SHOWING HOSPITALITY TO STRANGERS
The writer even suggests that when we do this we might even be entertaining angels. The word angel means “messenger” by the way. Abraham and Sarah did (Gen18) when God sent 3 messengers to give them amazing news about Isaac’s birth.
The point is…God sends people into our lives and we have no idea the message/encouragement He may be trying to deliver to us…
Think about that for a minute…If we show love and hospitality to strangers…people we really don’t know…it might just be because God is trying to speak something to us through them.
If we never let new people into our lives then our world and God’s Kingdom can never get bigger…Take a new family to lunch…invite someone new to your home for supper, Don’t just talk about hospitality…take a Godly risk and a biblical command seriously, and show it to strangers…
Matthew 25:31-36 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
- REMEMBER THOSE IN PRISON…AND THOSE WHO ARE MISTREATED
And what helps us do this? Consider the truth that we could be the one in prison or we could have been the one mistreated or we could be the one in need.($$)
Matthew 25:41-43 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
Loving others, showing hospitality to strangers, remembering those who are in prison or are suffering, are some of the greatest proofs that we are in Christ…and Christ in us.
And Jesus was clear on each!!
- HONOR YOUR MARRIAGE–KEEP THE MARRIAGE BED PURE
Ephesians 5:22,25 “Wives are to submit themselves to their husbands, as to the Lord and Husbands are to love their wives as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself up for her.”
Here’s the truth…the Church doesn’t work right if our marriages don’t work right…Our marriages are to be a witness to the world of what the church is to Christ. We don’t give up…we stay faithful…we honor and respect and love our spouses, and we follow God’s plan and outline for marriage!!
Matthew Henry put it well: “Eve was not taken out of Adam’s head to top him, neither out of his feet to be trampled on by him, but out of his side to be equal with him, from under his arm to be protected by him, and near his heart to be loved by him.”
Our marriages are the building blocks of faith…and Satan has attacked the institution of marriage with his lies continuously. (Gen2:24) Matthew 19:4-6 “Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’ 5 and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? 6 So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, let not man separate.” (Romans 3:4 Let God be true and everyone else a liar)
- Vs5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”
Matthew 6:24 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.
Loving others, showing hospitality to strangers, remembering those who are in prison or are suffering, honoring our marriage, and keeping our lives free from the love of money are some of the greatest proofs that we are in Christ…and Christ in us.
Vs6,8 So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?” 8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
Vs9 Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings.**
Leave a Reply