Text: Hebrews 13:8

James 1:17

* This sermon was delivered the night we celebrated the 70th wedding Anniversary of two members of our congregation - Elien & Lillian. Click here for pictures of the couple. There are references to them throughout the sermon, and to 1935 - the year they were married. The church was filled to overflowing that night with family members of the couple as a surprise. They were presented with a gift, picture bookmarks given out to those in attendance, a picture slide show was shown, and a putluck dinner was held afterwards. It was a great time of fellowship.

• We live in an ever changing world. What is popular today is out of style tomorrow.
• I remember buying my first computer.
  • Kids said you have to have this and that on it. So I paid good money for this computer. It was as fast as you could get at the time. Less than 2 months later it was out-dated.
• So I guess we can just imagine how life has changed since 1935 when Elien and Lillian were married.
  • The big movie in 1935 was Mutiny on the bounty
  • Cheek to Cheek by Fred Astaire...............1935 - 11 weeks
• Life was probably hard back in those days.
  • Canada was in the middle of the great depression.
  • War was just around the corner.
  • Rationed gas
  • Food stamps
  • Probably no cars in Hubbard’s Point back in those days
  • Peddlers with horses and megaphones going by and calling out to the people.
  • No electricity.
  • No pavement.
  • No T.V.
  • Grass was something people you cut.
  • Sex was an intimate and private matter
  • People worked very hard
  • Children played together.
  • The older men sat together and whittled and talked.
  • And in the 50’s you could get an ice cream at uncle Elien’s store for a nickel that was as big as 4 $1.50 ice creams today.

 

• Elien and Lillian had 9 children. Not too many people do that today.
  • Click to read Illustration Story.
  • There must have been some funny moments. Click to read Illustration.
• How things have changed. Certainly some for the better, but not all.
  • Most everyone has 2 cars (I think we all drive them both on Starrs road at the same time)
  • We have automatic this and that.
  • Microwaves
  • We are in touch with the world.
• Many things change but there are some things that have not changed and never will.
  • We all know that if we jumped off of a cliff in 1935 or if you did it today you would get the same results. Some things never change. The law of gravity is a law for all times. We cannot change it by making a new law or passing a new law.
  • As we read in the scripture a few moments ago: "Jesus Christ the same yesterday today and forever". God remains the same He never changes. The scripture says that: "Thy word is settled in heaven" Psalm 119:89

 

• You see that the nature of God and the Word of God and the things of God remain the same. For Example:
  • 1. The Love of God
    • The scripture says that God is Love. Not that God loves but that He is love. You can’t change the fact that God loves you. You might say that I don’t want to be loved by God. It is a law of the universe that cannot be changed. You might say to yourself well there is one thing I will never love Him back. It won’t change anything.
    • "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16
    • But John 15:13 "God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."

 

• 2. The nature of men and women
  • Styles have changed. People’s looks have changed (Time has been good to some of us). But whether it’s in 1935 or the year 1 or if the world lasts until the year 10,000 one thing will remain constant. We all have one trait in common. The bible puts it this way: "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" Rom. 3:23.
  • Nobody is perfect. Sin is an old archery term for missing the bull’s eye. We have all missed the mark. All have failed at one time or another.
  • The great apostle Paul put it this way. “I do the things that I don’t want to do and the things I want to do I don’t do”. Many of us wish we could do better but it doesn’t work on our own.
  • The people back in the 30’s were no different than you and I. The next generation will be no different. You say well it can’t be look at all the stuff going on today in the media. Gene Autry never said any 4 letter words on His radio program, and now we have nudity cursing and internet porn. Society has changed but the hearts of people have always been the same.

 

• 3. Man’s Need of God
  • The reason we need God is because we have a sinful nature and the bible is clear about eternity. We all have this need for God but we discover it in different ways. Some have a void in their lives that never seems to be satisfied. To satisfy it, people:
    • Drink alcohol
    • Use drugs
    • Work too much
    • Buy too much (Credit cards to the max)
  • For some people it is this terrible feeling of guilt. For something in the past But people’s greatest need for God is for salvation. Though out all of mans history that has never changed.
  • Jesus Himself asked these two questions.
    • “The bible is plain when it says ‘What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul.’” Mark 8:36
    • “Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul” Mark 8:37

The answer to both of these questions is nothing. The soul is the most valuable part of every person It will last forever. I could be saying to God right now something like this. What do you mean I can’t give anything in exchange for my soul? I go to that little church and we do our best to help the poor and teach children the right way in Sunday school. I’m in church every whenever the doors are opened. I like everyone and everyone that I never sold a car to likes me. I don’t hurt anyone I do this and that and something else. …Then he reminds me of His never changing word.

·     "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;" Titus 3:5

·        Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

• Salvation is a gift bought and paid for on a cruel cross by the only man who ever beat the odds against sin. We gave a gift to Elien and Lillian. It was the churches choice to give them the gift because we love them. It had to be their choice to receive the gift or reject it. It’s free We will continue loving them weather they took the gift or not but we cannot give the benefits of it. The benefit of Christ gift on the cross mean eternity in heaven. The rejection of Christ means losing that benefit. The scripture is plain “there is a heaven to gain and a hell to shun”.
• "But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name" John 1:12