JESUS CHRIST IS THE SAME
This scripture, beloved, has been much on my mind and heart today and the hymn that our brother has given out seemed to confirm me in bringing it forward at this time.
What a comfort it is to know this glorious Man, Jesus Christ. This is not so much the assertion of who He is in His Person, the One “who is over all, God blessed for ever” (Rom.9:5), the One of whom, as to His Person, it could be said that He is the One “who is, and who was, and who is to come”, Rev.1:4. But the order here is “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and to-day, and to the ages to come”.
Yesterday would cover a period of time. What a time it was, the “yesterday” of Jesus – that precious life here and all that was seen in it, all that He was in the revelation of God, all that He was in the display of the grace and love of God to man. How that yesterday came to an end: who could say much as to what that was, the closing up of that life. All of our lives are closed through the weakness and frailty of the condition in which we are, but He laid down His life in order that He might take it again. What that involved for Him, that death. As one could say, ‘for Him death was death. Man’s utter weakness, Satan’s extreme power … all dark, without one ray of light even from God’1. What can we say? We are here because of that yesterday. How could we be here apart from the close of that “yesterday”?
But oh the wonder of it, that was not the end. His yesterday was not the end, “yesterday, and to-day”. How wonderful, beloved, that we can have a living link with this glorious Man today. What an extended period that has been, the “to-day”. How soon it will end, we do not know. We might say it could be today, but what a period it has been when the Holy Spirit has come and the assembly is here and the Lord Jesus is to be known as in relation to His body at the present time. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and to-day”; all that love, all those feelings that were expressed in His yesterday are expressed today. What a comfort that is to us in our weaknesses. As it says also in this epistle, “For we have not a high priest not able to sympathise with our infirmities”, Heb.4:15. What a comfort is this glorious “today” in its application to us. We can think of the feelings that were expressed in His yesterday, but He is still the same, “yesterday, and to-day”.
Then, “and to the ages to come”. How wonderful that time when “we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is”, 1 John 3:2. We shall no longer need the Lord as a Saviour. His last act as our Saviour will be when He comes to change these bodies, our bodies “of humiliation into conformity to his body of glory”, Phil.3:21. We shall be saved even out of the mortal condition to be with Him forever, “to the ages to come”.
I will say no more, beloved, but it was just that I felt, as pondering this for some time today and our brother’s hymn so related to it, I should bring it forward that we might all have some impression of the glory of this blessed One, some impression of what He is to us. I know not the troubles and the pressures that are upon every one of us here. May it be a comfort to you, dear brother and sister, that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and to-day”, and as we have this appreciation of Him, may it stimulate us in relation to our present answer to Him. Surely we would be stimulated to answer to that blessed desire of His to remember Him in the time of His absence, in view of the time when we will be manifested with Him in glory and shall be with Him forever.
May the Lord bless the word.
Word in meeting for ministry, Edinburgh
David J Hutson
THE CROSS OF JESUS
John 3:13-17; 8:28-30; 12:31-36
These three scriptures centre on the cross, the cross of Jesus, where our Saviour suffered “the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God”, 1 Pet.3:18. Maybe the greatest spectacle the world ever witnessed was the cross. Paul speaks of “the scandal of the cross” (Gal.5:11); it was the last view this poor world had of the Saviour.
I do not say that it was the greatest event in the history of the world. Maybe that was at Bethlehem:
‘God manifest in flesh’.
We sang that today:
‘O wonder of His universe’ (Hymn 400)
That God, being who He is in the inscrutability of His being, should deign to come into time, into the very scene which His hands had made, would surely be the most wonderful event that could happen in the universe. He came as a Babe, touching humanity as a Babe. He grew up a Child, a Man. Oh the wonder of the fact that He became a Man, to win men. Maybe the largest family will be the babes; He touched humanity at that point. There will be a perfect reflection – if that is the right word – of that wonderful humanity in those many families named of the Father. Jesus did not come, as men would have thought, as Creator of the universe. What could men have done to provide a suitable entrance for such a Person? He was laid in swaddling clothes in a manger. We sang, “Lowly Saviour!” (Hymn 414).
Wonderful as that is, I want to speak of His cross, because He came to die. There was nothing in Him that was worthy of death; He was absolutely and intrinsically perfect. He came to save others: He “came into the world to save sinners” (1 Tim.1:15) like myself and yourself. Study the scriptures; you find out the reasons why Jesus came – that is one of them. The writer of that epistle says that the word is “worthy of all acceptation”, 1 Tim.1:15. That is why we preach; the word is worthy to be accepted. It is more than that; it is urgent that it be accepted! It is folly not to accept it, that He came into the world to save sinners. All are sinners, without any exception; every person here. Every man, woman and child in the world needs a Saviour, and He came into the world to save sinners, to seek and to save that which was lost. Think of Him seeking persons. He is seeking you now, my friend. You may not understand, but the atmosphere of this meeting should make it hard for you not to get saved. Oh, come! That is His word: “come”. It is the acceptable time, it is the day of salvation!
Jesus came into the world to save sinners, and in coming, He commended God’s love to sinners. Think of Him commending the love of God to us in His every action, every word. He said, speaking of the Father, “I do always the things that are pleasing to him”. How fully He represented God, commending His love to us: “we being still sinners, Christ has died for us”, Rom.5:8.
Let me pause. Is there someone here still a sinner? God is commending His love to you. He has met the whole question of your need, your sins. He has met everything in Jesus. What He is saying to you is, do not remain still a sinner. Come into the wealth and the fulness and the blessedness of the love of God. It is a wonderful thing to be a Christian. It is a wonderful thing to have your faith in a risen Man. He came into the world to seek and to save that which is lost (Luke 19:10).
I want to speak of the cross. These scriptures centre on the cross. “Thus must the Son of man be lifted up” – a divine necessity. It says that He must be lifted up. Why must He be lifted up? Because sin had come into the world. By one man’s disobedience, sin came into the world. It did not begin in the world; it does not say that. It came into the world, but then it says, “so also by the obedience of the one the many will be constituted righteous”, Rom.5:19. Oh to get some impress, beloved hearers, of the divine necessity of providing a way through, a way out, a way of deliverance, a way of safety and salvation!
Jesus went by way of the cross, in obedience to the will of Another. We thought of it this morning as we broke the bread: “not my will, but thine be done”, Luke 22:42. All the holy feelings of His humanity were there, recoiling from what was involved in being made sin for us. “Him who knew not sin he has made sin for us, that we might become God’s righteous in him”, 2 Cor.5:21. Would He be diverted? The devil would have diverted Him. In Gethsemane the enemy brought all the terrors of death to bear upon Him, to divert Him from the path of obedience, but He was not diverted. Oh, where would we have been, any one of us, if He had been diverted? He could have gone back alone, but He would not go back alone. He belonged to heaven – a Man out of heaven, whom the heavens must receive (Acts 3:21), but He did not go back alone. He went into death for you and me, providing, through His precious blood, the ground, the basis, the foundation of divine righteousness upon which you can be saved and blessed, and brought into the wealth of divine affections.
I would like to dwell on this for a moment: “thus must the Son of man be lifted up”. Who paid the cost? He did; it was Jesus who died. We said in the reading that God spared not His own Son: “He who, yea, has not spared his own Son”, Rom.8:32. The unfolding of the counsel of God was involved in the cross. Think of what it meant for God when He lay there those three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. We could not penetrate what those three hours on the cross meant. Darkness covered the whole earth. It was not an eclipse: the very sun would not shine on that scene – the awfulness of it! The hymn says,
‘Earth shuddered as He died’ (Hymn 13).
That would be the earthquake. Those may be physical things, but no human could penetrate the awfulness of the forsaking. It remains in its own inscrutability. We can ponder it worshipfully, when Jesus was made sin who knew no sin, that we should become God’s righteousness in Him. Alive on the cross He bore our sins: what a wonderful thing! That was the divine necessity, that there should be a basis for your forgiveness and for your blessing.
Well, my friend, be sure you are saved. Do not remain in any doubt, there is no need for it. “Believe on the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved”, Acts 16:31. God keeps His promises! That is an unconditional one. Confess Him to be your Lord and you will be saved here. Salvation up there will be a wonderful thing; you rest on the blood of Jesus. Scripture says that the blood of Jesus Christ God’s Son cleanses from all sin (1 John 1:7).
Someone might say, ‘You do not know my history’. God does! You do not know mine, but God does and did, and met it all. Do not carry your burden any longer. Some of us remember our younger days, and how we did try to carry that burden. Only come to the cross and see the burden-bearer hanging there, the Sufferer, saying of those who murdered him, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do”, Luke 23:34. You can be relieved of the awful burden of your sins by simple faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. To retain the burden would be folly. The Lord had to say to certain Jews that they would die in their sins. You can hardly think of anything more awful – “ye shall die in your sins”, John 8:24. It was so unnecessary; there was the Saviour of the world and they refused him.
At the final great tribunal, the books will be opened. God keeps His records with infinite accuracy, and those that stand there will be the fearful and the unbelievers, implying they have had the gospel, they have had the message, but they did not believe it. Hell was not made for man, it was made for the devil and his angels. There is no need for anyone to go there. Come to Jesus! Come to the cross! See that He has taken the burden and borne it. Think of Him bearing our sins in His body. It is beyond explanation, but He did it. The full weight of the judgment of God that should have fallen on me fell on Him. Oh what a Saviour to trust, to come to, and find that He takes that burden away and gives you the joy of believing. He could say to that woman, “Thy faith has saved thee”, Luke 7:50. Have you faith to be saved? It is faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, and He says, “Go in peace”.
I trust that will be the portion of someone here today. My plea is: do not struggle with your burden a moment longer, and do not put it off a moment longer. Even men say procrastination is the thief of time. Now is the accepted time. The Saviour hung there, a divine necessity, a divine intervention to meet that need of man. The blood is on the mercy-seat. Put your trust in Him on the ground of His infinite and sovereign mercy. He will relieve you of your burden. Forgiveness of sins is through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. By putting your trust in Him, you will receive forgiveness of sins. This is what God offers you in the glad tidings.
The second scripture also alludes to the cross, to what men did; “When ye shall have lifted up the Son of man”. Think of what men did, what wicked hands did, when they crucified the Lord of glory. Even if we thought of it in human terms, never was there an hour of greater folly. They chose a murderer, one marked by violence and sedition, and the world is full of it. Peter says, “the originator of life ye slew”, Acts 3:15. Think of what men did! We were all involved. You might say, ‘We were not there’, but I think that the whole creation was involved in the crucifixion of Jesus, and His death was the death of the cross. You wonder at it; “and that the death of the cross”, Phil.2:8. We know He came to die, but it almost implies that it went beyond what was envisaged when it says “and that the death of the cross”. The cruellest death that men could devise was meted out to the Saviour of the world.
Many stood around that cross. Some were His lovers: I suggest you join them. What a scene that was! Some taunted Him; “He saved others; himself he cannot save … let him descend now from the cross and we will believe on him”, Matt.27:42. Think of those who taunted; do not join them or the mockers either. Join the lovers, join the saved of Jesus Christ. God allowed what men did to bring out the intrinsic worth of what was involved in that stoop, even unto death. God answered it in the power of resurrection, and has “granted him a name, that which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow”, Phil.2:9.
There is never a happier day in your life than when you bow your knee to Jesus. Persons who submit themselves to the claims of divine love are happy persons. You have your need, but there is a divine need too. It says that “he must needs pass through Samaria”. Then Jesus says, “Give me to drink”, John 4:7. Have you ever thought that there is a divine need? Oh that there should be some answer to the longings of the Saviour’s heart. He went that way for you and for me. His cry was for the forgiveness of His tormentors. What men did stands unchanged, and will not be changed until He comes in His glory. Are we looking for it? At any moment He will appear in glory. There will be those who will look on Him whom they pierced (John 19:37). But I want to suggest that you join the lovers of Jesus. Be sure your sins are forgiven, your history finished. Oh, come to the Saviour! Your sins will never, ever come up again; they are washed away, blotted out, never to reappear. What a relief!
‘O come to the Saviour, He’s calling today;
How long wilt thou linger? His voice now obey.’
(Hymn 324).
Obey it now!
Now I want to come to what the Lord Jesus says Himself about the cross. He says in chapter 12, “I, if I be lifted up out of the earth, will draw all to me”. What does this mean? It means that He, the Sufferer, becomes the mighty power of attraction, as lifted up out of the earth. His burial, of course, involves the three days and three nights in the heart of the earth: who can explain that? We worshipfully take account of all that was involved in that vicarious work. “I, if I be lifted up out of the earth, will draw all to me”; it is the power of attraction of a Saviour lifted up out of the earth. Will you not come to Him? How many have come to Him, how many have been attracted by that blessed Man who was lifted up out of the earth. Think of the holy myriads that have been secured through the lifting up of the Son of God. So believe on Him.
That is all I want to say. I just want to leave that simple word – come to the cross, come to the Saviour. God has made the provision. It is perfect; you cannot add to it, you cannot take from it. Perfect efficacy has been secured in the blood of Jesus. What men did, the awfulness of the crucifixion, humbles us, but God has used it; He is above it all. The Lord said, “I, if I be lifted up … will draw all to me”. May we be drawn to Him! Oh beloved, let these meetings result in a fresh deepening commitment to “him who loves us and has washed us from our sins in his blood, and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father”, Rev.1:5,6.
Gospel preached at three day meetings in Grangemouth
19 May 1991
Brian M Deck