When dancers spin, one of the ways they maintain the

balance is by establishing a focal point. In the same way as Christians we need to fix our eyes on something in order to remain strong in our faith when everything around us seems to be in chaos and confusion.

So where should we fix our eyes? We'll find out today on Truth for Life Weekend.

Alistair Begg is teaching from Hebrews chapter 13 we're looking at verse 8.

Well our text this morning is probably the best known verse in the book of Hebrews. And I haven't checked but I would not be at all surprised if this particular verse does not come in the top five of

sermon topics for the first Sunday of a new year. I would imagine that when people are gathering on the first Sunday of a new year as we do now that there would be quite a number that would come to this particular verse.

What you say is that for you is that why you're doing this, if you run out of ideas, why are you all of a sudden becoming so predictable?

Well I'm capable for all of that and more besides but no I have actually had this verse in my mind for two particular reasons.

First of all on a count of a new series that is about to begin and secondly because of an old song that I've been unable to get out of my head running through my thinking for a significant part of this last year.

The new series is on the book of Hebrews is going to be taught by my colleagues over the next 13 weeks which is a peculiar challenge for them and a wonderful encouragement for us allowing us to fix our gaze quite unmistakably upon the Lord Jesus Christ.

That's the series but the old song is a song that actually was written back in 1973 by a fellow called Alan Price who at that time was the keyboard player for the animals, think house of the rising sun if you can do anything with that.

And in that context he wrote this very short song it goes like this I'm not going to sing it for you can relax.

Everyone is facing changes no one knows what's going on and everybody changes places and still the world keeps moving on.

Now love must always turn to sorrow and everyone must play the game because it's here today and gone tomorrow but the world goes on the same.

And here in the eighth verse of Hebrews chapter 13 we have the antidote to that kind of thinking. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever the writer to the Hebrews has begun his letter by saying in the times past God spoke in various ways but now in these days he has spoken to us by his son BC and Odomini.

And yet in the context of the unfolding of his letter we have these three tenses. Now it is not my purpose or my prerogative to delve deeply into the letter that is for others to do but we do need to recognize that our verse that is verse eight comes between verse seven and verse nine.

And verse seven provides an encouragement and verse nine provides a warning. The encouragement in verse seven if your eyes are upon it is to remember your leaders those who spoke the word of God consider the outcome of the way of life or in the King James version consider their end consider how it finished and imitate their life.

Now what I take it is because he's going to go on down in verse 17 to come back to leaders again the leaders that are still around I take it that he's referring to those who have moved on.

And what he's saying is you should remember them they live on in your memory and of course they do that's for seven and then the warning in verse nine do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings.

For it's good for the heart to be strengthened by grace not by foods presumably in the context they were saying these external things matter far more than they really do and so he's saying it is grace that ought to ground you in these exortations not a form of externalism but make sure that you don't allow yourself to be swept off course that's where you say it.

So remember your leaders and don't get swept off course the answer to the departure of the leaders who are no longer available to help and to the danger of drifting is verse eight namely a steady focus on the one who is always available who is always the same who is unchanging from year to year.

So here we have it Jesus Christ the same yesterday today and forever let's just go through each of these and that will be our study for this morning first of all yesterday in other words in what the writer refers to as in the days of his flesh you can see that in chapter five and in verse seven he says in the days of his flesh this is how Jesus was.

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