NO. 170<\/b><\/p>\n
A SERMON DELIVERED ON SABBATH MORNING, JANUARY 3, 1858,<\/b><\/p>\n
BY THE REV. C. H. SPURGEON,<\/i><\/p>\n
AT THE MUSIC HALL, ROYAL SURREY GARDENS.<\/b><\/p>\n
\u201cJesus Christ the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever.\u201d \u2014 Hebrews 13:8.<\/i><\/p>\n
IT is well that there is one person who is the same. It is well that there is one stable rock amidst the changing billows of this sea of life; for how many and how grievous have been the changes of last year? How many of you who commenced in affluence, have by the panic, which has shaken nations, been reduced almost to poverty? How many of you, who in strong health marched into this place on the first Sabbath of last year, have had to come tottering here, feeling that the breath of man is in his nostrils, and wherein is he to be accounted of? Many of you came to this hall with a numerous family, leaning upon the arm of a choice and much loved friend. Alas! for love, if thou wert all, and nought beside, o earth! For ye have buried those ye loved the best. Some of you have come here childless, or widows, or fatherless, still weeping your recent affliction. Changes have taken place in your estate that have made your heart full of misery. Your cups of sweetness have been dashed with draughts of gall; your golden harvests have had tares cast into the midst of them, and you have had to reap the noxious weed along with the precious grain. Your much fine gold has become dim, and your glory has departed; the sweet frames at the commencement of last year became bitter ones at the end. Your raptures and your ecstacies were turned into depression and forebodings. Alas! for our charges, and hallelujah to him that hath no change.<\/p>\n
But greater things have changed than we; for kingdoms have trembled in the balances. We have seen a peninsula deluged with blood, and mutiny raising its bloody war whoop. Nay, the whole world hath changed; earth hath doffed its green, and put on its sombre garment of Autumn, and soon expects to wear its ermine robe of snow. All things have changed. We believe that not only in appearance but in reality, the world is growing old. The sun itself must soon grow dim with age; the folding up of the worn-out vesture has commenced; the changing of the heavens and the earth has certainly begun. They shall perish; they all shall wax old as doth a garment; but for ever blessed be him who is the same, and of whose years there is no end. The satisfaction that the mariner feels, when, after having been tossed about for many a day, he puts his foot upon the solid shore, is just the satisfaction of a Christian when, amidst all the changes of this troublous life, he plants the foot of his faith upon such a text as this \u2014 \u201cthe same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.\u201d The same stability that the anchor gives the ship, when it hath at last got the grip of some immovable rock, that same stability doth our hope give to our spirits, when, like an anchor, it fixes itself in a truth so glorious as this \u2014 \u201cJesus Christ the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever.\u201d<\/p>\n
I shall first try this morning to open the text by a little explanation<\/i>; then I shall try to answer a few objections<\/i> which our wicked unbelief will be quite sure to raise against it; and afterwards I shall try to draw a few useful, consoling, and practical lessons<\/i> from the great truth of the immutability of Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n
\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n
I. <\/b>First, then, we open the text by a little Explanation \u2014 \u201cJesus Christ the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever.\u201d He is the same in his person<\/i>. We change perpetually; the bloom of youth gives place to the strength of manhood, and the maturity of manhood fades away into the weakness of old age. But, \u201cThou hast the dew of thy youth.\u201d Christ Jesus, whom we adore, thou art as young as ever! We came into this world with the ignorance of infancy; we grow up searching, studying, and learning with the diligence of youth; we attain to some little knowledge in our riper years; and then in our old age we totter back to the imbecility of our childhood. But o, our Master! thou didst perfectly foreknow all mortal or eternal things from before the foundations of the world, and thou knowest all things now, and for ever thou shalt be the same in thine omniscience. We are one day strong, and the next day weak \u2014 one day resolved, and the next day wavering \u2014 one hour constant, and the nest hour unstable as water. We are one moment holy, kept by the power of God; we are the next moment sinning, led astray by our own lusts; but our Master is for ever the same; pure, and never spotted; firm, and never changing \u2014 everlastingly Omnipotent, unchangeably Omniscient. From him no attribute doth pass away; to him no parallax, no tropic, ever comes; without variableness or shadow of a turning, he abideth fast and firm. Did Solomon sing concerning his best beloved, \u201cHis head is as the most fine gold: his locks are bushy and black as a raven. His eyes are as the eyes of doves by the rivers of waters, washed with milk, and fitly set. His cheeks are as a bed of spices, as sweet flowers: his lips like lilies, dropping sweet smelling myrrh. His hands are as gold rings set with the beryl: his belly is as bright ivory overlaid with sapphires. His legs are as pillars of marble, set upon sockets of fine gold; his countenance is as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars?\u201d Surely we can even now conclude the description from our own experience of him; and while we endorse every word which went before, we can end the description by saying, \u201c His mouth is most sweet, yea he is altogether lovely. His matchless beauty is unimpaired; he is still \u2019the chief among ten thousand,\u2019 \u2014 \u2019fairest of the sons of men.\u2019 \u201c Did the divine John talk of him when he said \u2014 \u201cHis head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; and his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters. And he had in his right hand seven stars; and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword; and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.\u201d He is the same; upon his brow there is ne\u2019er a furrow; his locks are grey with reverence, but not with age; his feet stand as firm as when they trod the everlasting mountains in the years before the world was made \u2014 his eyes as piercing as when, for the first time, he looked upon a newborn world. Christ\u2019s person never changes. Should he come on earth to visit us again, as sure he will, we should find him the same Jesus; as loving, as approachable, as generous, as kind, and though arrayed in nobler garments than he wore when first he visited earth, though no more the Man of Sorrows and grief\u2019s acquaintance, yet he would be the same person, unchanged by all his glories, his triumphs, and his joys We bless Christ that amid his heavenly splendours his person is just the same, and his nature unaffected. \u201cJesus Christ the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever.\u201d<\/p>\n
Again: Jesus Christ is the same with regard to his Father<\/i> as ever. He was his Father\u2019s well-beloved Son before all worlds; he was his well-beloved in the stream of baptism; he was his well-beloved on the cross; he was his well-beloved when he led captivity captive, and he is not less the object of his Father\u2019s infinite affection now than he was then. Yesterday he lay in Jehovah\u2019s bosom, God, having all power with his Father \u2014 to-day he stands on earth man, with us, but still the same, for ever \u2014 he ascends on high and still he is his Father\u2019s son still by inheritance, having a more excellent name than angels \u2014 still sitting far above all principalities and powers, and every name that is named. O Christian, give him thy cause to plead; the Father will answer him as well now as he did afore time. Doubt not the Father\u2019s grace. Go to thine Advocate. He is as near to Jehovah\u2019s heart as ever \u2014 as prevalent in his intercession. Trust him, then, and in trusting him thou mayest be sure of the Father\u2019s love to thee.<\/p>\n
But now there is a yet sweeter thought. Jesus Christ is the same to his people<\/i> as ever. We have delighted in our happier moments, in days that have rolled away, to think of him that loved us when we had no being; we have often sung with rapture of him that loved us when we loved not him.<\/p>\n
\u201cJesus sought me when a stranger,
Wandering from the fold of God;
He to save my soul from danger
Interposed his precious blood.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
We have looked back, too, upon the years of our troubles and our trials; and we can bear our solemn though humble witness, that he has been true to us in all our exigencies, and has never failed us once. Come, then, let us comfort ourselves with this thought \u2014 that though to-day he may distress us with a sense of sin, yet his heart is just the same to us as ever. Christ may wear masks that look black to his people, but his face is always the same; Christ may sometimes take a rod in his hand instead of a golden scepter; but the name of his saints is as much engraved upon the hand that grasps the rod as upon the palm that clasps the scepter. And oh, sweet thought that now bursts upon our mind! Beloved, you conceive how much Christ will love you when you are in heaven? Have you ever tried to fathom that bottomless sea of affection in which you shall swim, when you shall bathe yourself in seas of heavenly rest? Did you ever think of the love which Christ will manifest to you, when he shall present you without spot, or blemish, or any such thing, before his Father\u2019s throne? Well, pause and remember, that he loves you at this hour as much as he will love you then; for he will be the same for ever as he is to-day, and he is the same to-day as he will be for ever. This one thing I know: if Jesus\u2019 heart is set on me he will not love me one atom better when this head wears a crown, and when this hand shall with joyous fingers touch the strings of golden harps, than he does now, amidst all my sin and care and woe. I believe that saying which is written \u2014 \u201cAs the Father hath loved me, even so have I loved you;\u201d and a higher degree of love we cannot imagine. The Father loves his Son infinitely, and even so to-day, believer, doth the Son of God love thee. Every bowel yearns over thee; all his heart flows out to thee. All his life is thine; all his person is thine. He cannot love thee more; he will not love thee less. \u201cThe same yesterday, to-day, and for ever.\u201d<\/p>\n
But let us here recollect that Jesus Christ is the same to sinners<\/i> to-day as he was yesterday. It is now eight years ago since I first went to Jesus Christ. Come the sixth of this month, I shall then be eight years old in the gospel of the grace of Jesus: a child, a little child therein as yet. I recall that hour when I heard that exhortation \u2014 \u201cLook unto me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth, for I am God, and beside me there is none else.\u201d And I remember, how with much trembling and with a little faith I ventured to approach the Saviour\u2019s feet. I thought he would spurn me from him \u201cSure,\u201d said my heart, \u201cif thou shouldst presume to put thy trust in him as thy Savior, it would be a presumption more damnable than all thy sins put together. Go not to him; he will spurn thee.\u201d However, I put the rope about my neck, feeling that if God destroyed me for ever, he would be just, I cast the ashes on my head, and with many a sigh I did confess my sin; and then when I ventured to draw nigh to him, when I expected that he would frown, he stretched out his hand, and said, \u201cI, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.\u201d I came like the prodigal, because I was forced to come. I was starved out of that foreign country where in riotous living I had spent my substance, and I saw my Father\u2019s house a great way off, but little did I know that my Father\u2019s heart was beating high with love to me. O rapturous hour, when Jesus whispered I was his, and when my soul could say, \u201cJesus Christ is my salvation.\u201d And now I would refresh my own memory by reminding myself that what my Master was to me yesterday that he is to-day; and if I know that as a sinner I went to him then and he received me, if I have never so many doubts about my saintship I cannot doubt but what I am a sinner; so to thy cross, O Jesus, I go again, and if thou didst receive me then, thou wilt receive me now; and believing that to be true, I turn round to my fellow-immortals, and I say, \u201cHe that received me, he that received Manasseh, he that received the thief upon the cross, is the same to-day as he was then. Oh! come and try him! come and try him! Oh! ye that know your need of him, come ye to him; ye that have sold for nought your heritage above may have it back unbought, the gift of Jesus\u2019 love. Ye that are empty, Christ is as full to-day as ever. Come! fill yourselves here. Ye that are thirsty, the stream is flowing; ye that are black, the fountain still can purify; ye that are naked, the wardrobe is not empty.<\/p>\n
\u2019Come, guilty souls, and flee away,
To Christ, and heal your wounds;
Still \u2019tis the gospel\u2019s gracious day,
And now free grace abounds.\u2019 \u201c<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
I cannot pretend to enter into the fullness of my text as I could desire; but one more thought. Jesus Christ is the same to-day as he was yesterday in the teachings of his Word<\/i>. They tell us in these times that the improvements of the age require improvements in theology. Why, I have heard it said that the way Luther preached would not suit this age. We are too polite! The style of preaching, they say, that did in John Bunyan\u2019s day, is not the style now. True, they honor these men; they are like the Pharisees; they build the sepulchres of the prophets that their fathers slew, and so they do confess that they are their fathers\u2019 own sons, and like their parents. And men that stand up to preach as those men did, with honest tongues, and know not how to use polished courtly phrases, are as much condemned now as those men were in their time; because, say they, the world is marching on, and the gospel must march on too. No, sirs, the old gospel is the same; not one of her stakes must be removed, not one of her cords must be loosened. \u201cHold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.\u201d Theology hath nothing new in it except that which is false. The preaching of Paul must be the preaching of the minister to-day. There is no advancement here. We may advance in our knowledge of it; but it stands the same, for this good reason, that it is perfect, and perfection cannot be any better. The old truth that Calvin preached, that Chrysostom preached that Paul preached, is the truth that I must preach to-day, or else be a liar to my conscience and my God. I cannot shape the truth. I know of no such thing as paring off the rough edges of a doctrine. John Knox\u2019s gospel is my gospel. That which thundered through Scotland must thunder through England again. The great mass of our ministers are sound enough in the faith, but not sound enough in the way they preach it. Election is not mentioned once in the year in many a pulpit; final perseverance is kept back; the great things of God\u2019s law are forgotten, and a kind of mongrel mixture of Arminianism and Calvinism is the delight of the present age. And hence the Lord hath forsaken many of his tabernacles and left the house of his covenant, and he will leave it till again the trumpet gives a certain sound. For wherever there is not the old gospel we shall find \u201cIchabod\u201d written upon the church walls ere long. The old truth of the Covenanters, the old truth of the Puritans, the old truth of the Apostles, is the only truth that will stand the test of time. and never need to be altered to suit a wicked and ungodly generation. Christ Jesus preaches to-day the same as when he preached upon the mount; he hath not changed his doctrines; men may ridicule and laugh, but still they stand the same \u2014 semper idem<\/i> written upon every one of them. They shall not be removed or altered.<\/p>\n
Let the Christian remember that this is equally true of the promises<\/i>. Let the sinner remember this is just as true of the threatenings<\/i>. Let us each recollect that not one word can be added to this Sacred Book. nor one letter taken away from it; for as Christ Jesus is yet the same, so is his Gospel, the same yesterday, to-day and for ever.<\/p>\n
I have thus briefly opened the text, not in its fullest meanings, but still enough to enable the Christian at his own leisure to see into thee depth without a bottom \u2014 the immutability of Christ Jesus the Lord.<\/p>\n
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II. <\/b>And now comes in one of crooked gait, with hideous aspect \u2014 one that hath as many lives as a cat, and that cannot be killed anyhow, though many a great gun hath been shot against him. His name is old Mr. Incredulity \u2014 unbelief; and he begins his miserable oration by declaring, \u201cHow can that be true? \u2019Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever.\u2019 Why, yesterday Christ was all sunshine to me \u2014 to-day I am in distress!\u201d Stop, Mr. Unbelief; I beg you to remember that Christ is not changed. You have changed yourself, for you have said in your very accusation that yesterday you rejoiced, but to-day you are in distress. All that may happen, and yet there may be no change in Christ The sun may be the same always though one hour may be cloudy, and the next bright with golden light; yet there is no proof that the sun has changed. \u2019Tis even so with Christ.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf to-day he deigns to bless us
With a sense of pardoned sin,
He to-morrow may distress us,
Make us feel the plague within.
All to make us,
Sick of self and fond of him.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
There is no change in him.<\/p>\n
\u201cImmutable his will
Though dark may be my frame,
His loving heart is still
Unchangeably the same.
My soul through many changes goes,
His love no variation knows.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
Your frames are no proof that Christ changes: they are only proof that you change.<\/p>\n
But saith old Unbelief again \u2014 \u201cSurely God has changed: you look at the old saints of ancient times. What happy men they were! How highly favored of their God! How well God provided for them! But now, sir, when I am hungry, no ravens come and bring me bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening. When I am thirsty, no water leaps out of the rock to supply my thirst. It is said of the children of Israel that their clothes waxed not old, but I have a hole in my coat to-day, and where I shall get another garment I know not. When they marched through the desert he suffered no man to hurt them; but, sir, I am continually beset by enemies. It is true of me as it says in the Scriptures, \u2019And the Ammonites distressed Israel at the coming in of the year;\u2019 for they are distressing me. Why, sir, I see my friends die in clouds; there are no fiery chariots to carry God\u2019s Elijahs to heaven now. I lost my son; no prophet laid upon him and gave him life again; no Jesus met me at the city gates, to give me back my son from the gloomy grave. No, sir, these are evil times; the light of Jesus Christ has become dim, if he walks among the golden candlesticks, yet still it is not as he used to do. And worse than that, sir, I have heard my father talk of the great men that were in the age gone by: I have heard the names of Romaine, and Toplady, and Scott; I have heard of Whitfields and of Bunyans; and even but a few years ago I heard talk of such men as Joseph Irons \u2014 solemn and earnest preachers of a full gospel. But where are those men now? Sir, we have fallen upon an age of drivellings; men have died out, and we have only a few dwarfs left us; there are none that walk with the giant tramp and the colossal tread of the mighty fathers, like Owen, and Howe, and Baxter, and Charnock. We are all little men. Jesus Christ is not dealing with us as he did with our fathers.\u201d Stop, Unbelief, a minute: let me remind thee that the ancient people of God had their trials too. Know ye not what the apostle Paul says? \u201cFor thy sake we are killed all the day long.\u201d Now, if there be any change it is a change for the better; for you have not yet \u201cresisted unto blood, striving against death\u201d<\/p>\n
But remember that still that does not affect Christ; for neither nakedness nor famine, nor sword, have separated us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. It is true that you have no fiery chariot; but then the angels carry you to Jesus\u2019 bosom, and that is as well. It is true no ravens bring you food, it is quite as true you get your food somehow or other. It is quite certain that no rock gushes out with water, but still your water has been sure. It is true your child has not been raised from the dead, but you remember that David had a child that was not raised any more than yours. You have the same consolation as he had: \u201cI shall go to him, he shall not return to me.\u201d You say that you have more heart-rendings than the saints had of old. It is your ignorance that makes you say so. Holy men of old said, \u201cWhy art thou cast down, O my soul? Why art thou disquieted within me?\u201d Even prophets had to say \u2014 \u201cThou hast made me drunken with wormwood, and broken my teeth with gravel stones.\u201d Oh, you are mistaken: your days are not more full of trouble than the days of Job, you are not more vexed by the wicked than was Lot of old, you have not more temptations to make you angry than had Moses; and certainly your way is not half so rough as the way of your blessed Lord. The very fact that you have troubles is a proof of his faithfulness; for you have got one half of his legacy, and you will have the other half. You know that Christ\u2019s last will and testament has two portions in it. \u201cIn the world ye shall have tribulation:\u201d you have got that. The next clause is \u2014 \u201cIn me ye shall have peace.\u201d You have that too. \u201cBe of good cheer; I have overcome the world.\u201d That is yours also.<\/p>\n
And then you say that you have fallen upon a bad age with regard to ministers. It may be so; but remember, the promise is true still. \u201cThough I take away from thee bread and water yet will I never take away thy pastors.\u201d You have still such as you have \u2014 still some that are faithful to God and to his covenant, and who do not forsake the truth and though the day may be dark, yet it is not so dark as days have been; and besides remember, what you say to day is just what your forefathers said. Men in the days of Toplady looked back to the days of Whitfield; men in the days of Whitfield looked back to the days of Bunyan; men in the days of Bunyan wept, because of the days of Wycliffe, and Calvin, and Luther, and men then wept for the days of Augustine and Chrysostom. Men in those days wept for the days of the Apostles; and doubtless men in the days of the Apostles wept for the days of Jesus Christ; and no doubt some in the days of Jesus Christ were so blind as to wish to return to the days of prophesy, and thought more of the days of Elijah then they did of the most glorious day of Christ. Some men look more to the past than the present. Rest assured, that Jesus Christ is the same to-day as he was yesterday, and he will be the same for ever.<\/p>\n
Mourner, be glad! I have heard of a little girl who, when her father died, saw her mother weeping immoderately. Day after day, and week after week, her mother refused to be comforted. and the little girl stepped up to her mother, and putting her little hand inside her mother\u2019s hand, looked up in her face, and said, \u201cMamma, is God dead? Is God dead, mamma ?\u201d And her mother thought, \u201cSurely, no.\u201d The child seemed to say \u201cThy maker is thy husband; the Lord of hosts is his name. So you may dry your tears, I have a father in heaven and you have a husband still\u201d Oh! ye saints that have lost your gold and your silver; ye have got treasure in heaven, where no moth nor rust doth corrupt, where no thieves break through and steal! Ye that are sick to-day, ye that have lost health, remember the day is coming when all that shall be made up to you, and when ye shall find that the flame has not hurt you, it has but consumed your dross and refined your gold. Remember, Jesus Christ is \u201cthe same to-day, yesterday, and for ever.\u201d<\/p>\n
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III. <\/b>And now I must be brief in drawing one or two sweet conclusions from that part of the text.<\/p>\n
First, then, if he be the same to-day as yesterday, my soul, set not thy affections upon these changing things, but set thine heart upon him. O my heart, build not thine house upon the sandy pillars of a world that soon must past away, but build thy hopes upon this rock, which when the ram descends and floods shall come, shall stand immovably secure. O my soul, I charge thee, lay up thy treasure in this secure granary. O my heart, I bid thee now put thy treasure where thou canst never lose it. Put it in Christ; put all thine affections in his person, all thy hope in his glory, all thy trust in his efficacious blood, all thy joy in his presence, and then thou wilt have put thyself and put thine all where thou canst never lose anything, because it is secure. Remember, O my heart, that the time is coming when all things must fade, and when thou must part with all. Death\u2019s gloomy night must soon put out thy sunshine; the dark flood must soon roll between thee and all thou hast. Then put thine heart with him who will never leave thee trust thyself with him who will go with thee through the black and surging current of death\u2019s stream, and who will walk with thee up the steep hills of heaven and make thee sit together with him in heavenly places for ever. Go, tell thy secrets to that friend that sticketh closer than a brother. My heart, I charge thee, trust all thy concerns with him who never can be taken from thee, who will never leave thee, and who will never let thee leave him, even \u201cJesus Christ the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever.\u201d That is one lesson.<\/p>\n
Well, then, the next. If Jesus Christ be always the same, then, my soul, endeavor to imitate him. Be thou the same too. Remember that if thou hadst more faith, thou wouldst be as happy in the furnace as on the mountain of enjoyment. Thou wouldst be as glad in famine as in plenty, thou wouldst rejoice in the Lord when the olive yielded no oil, as well as when the vat was bursting and overflowing its brim. If thou hadst more confidence in thy God, thou wouldst have far less of tossings up and down; and if thou hadst greater nearness to Christ thou wouldst have less vacillation. Yesterday thou couldst pray with all the power of prayer; perhaps if thou didst always live near thy master, thou mightest always have the same power on thy knees. One time thou canst bid defiance to the rage of Satan, and thou canst face a frowning world; to-morrow thou wilt run away like a craven. But if thou didst always remember him who endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, thou mightest always be firm and stedfast in thy mind. Beware of being like a weather-cock. Seek of God, that his law may be written on your hearts as if it were written in stone, and not as if it were written in sand. Seek that his grace may come to you like a river and not like a brook that fails. Seek that you may keep your conversation always holy; that your course may be like the shining light that tarries not, but that burneth brighter and brighter until the fullness of the day. Be ye like Christ \u2014 ever the same.<\/p>\n
Again: if Christ be always the same, Christian, rejoice! Come what may thou art secure.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet mountains from their seats be hurled
Down to the deeps and buried there;
Convulsions shake the solid world;
Our faith shall never need to fear.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
If kingdoms should go to rack the Christian need not tremble. Just for a minute imagine a scene like this. Suppose for the next three days the sun should not rise; suppose the moon should be turned into a clot of blood, and thine no more upon the world; imagine that a darkness that might be felt, brooded over all men; imagine next that all the world did tremble in an earthquake till every tower and house and hut fell down: imagine next that the sea forgot its place and leaped upon the earth, and that the mountains ceased to stand, and began to tremble from their pedestals; conceive after that that a blazing comet streamed across the sky \u2014 that the thunder bellowed incessantly \u2014 that the lightnings without a moment\u2019s pause followed one the other; conceive then that thou didst behold divers terrible sights fiendish ghosts and grim spirits. imagine next, that a trumpet, waxing exceeding loud, did blow, that there were heard the shrieks of men dying and perishing; imagine, that in the midst of all this confusion there was to be found a saint. My friend, \u201cJesus Christ the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever,\u201d would keep him as secure amidst all these horrors as we are to-day. Oh I rejoice! I have pictured the worst that can come. Then<\/i> you would be secure. Come what may then, you are safe, while Jesus Christ is the same.<\/p>\n
And now, last of all, if Jesus Christ be \u201cthe same yesterday, to lay, and for ever,\u201d what sad work this is for the ungodly! Ah! sinner, when he was on earth he said, \u201cTheir worm dieth not, and their fire is not quenched.\u201d When he stood upon the mount he said, \u201cIt were better to enter life halt or maimed, than having two hands or two feet to be cast into hell fire.\u201d As a man on earth, he said, that the goats should be on the left, and that he would say to them. \u201cDepart, ye cursed.\u201d Sinner, he will be as good as his Word. He has said, \u201cHe that believeth not shall be damned.\u201d He will damn you if you believe not, depend upon it. He has never broken a promise yet; he will never break a threatening. That same truth which makes us confident to day that the righteous shall go away into everlasting life should make you quite as confident that unbelievers shall go into eternal misery. If he had broken his promise he might break his threatening; but as he has kept one he will keep the other. Do not hope that he will change, for change he will not. Think not that the fire which he said was unquenchable will after all be extinguished. No, within a few more years, my hearer, if thou dost not repent, thou wilt find that every jot and every letter of the threatenings of Jesus will be fulfilled; and, mark thee, fulfilled in thee<\/i>. Liar, he said, \u201cAll liars shall have their portion in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone.\u201d He will not deceive you. Drunkard, he has said, \u201cYe know that no drunkard hath eternal life.\u201d He will not belie his word. You shall not have eternal life. He has said, \u201cThe nations that forget God shall be cast into hell.\u201d All ye that forget religion, moral people you may be, he will keep his word to you; he will cast you into hell. O \u201ckiss the Son lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little; blessed are all they that put their trust in him.\u201d Come, sinner, bow thy knee; confess thy sin and leave it; and then come to him; ask him to have mercy upon thee. He will not forget his promise \u2014 \u201cHim that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out.\u201d Come and try him. With all your sins about you, come to him now. \u201cBelieve on the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved;\u201d for this is my Master\u2019s gospel, and I now declare it \u2014 \u201cHe that believeth and is immersed shall be saved; he that believeth not shall be damned.\u201d God grant you grace to believe, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NO. 170 A SERMON DELIVERED ON SABBATH MORNING, JANUARY 3, 1858, BY THE REV. C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE MUSIC HALL, ROYAL SURREY GARDENS. \u201cJesus Christ the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever.\u201d \u2014 Hebrews 13:8. IT is well that there is one person who is the same. It is well that there is … Continue reading “THE IMMUTABILITY OF CHRIST.”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1514","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1514","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1514"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1514\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}