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“The Keys To Comfort And Peace” • 1.14.17 • Calvary
Christian Fellowship, Sunday Morning Service
Intro
- The author of
Hebrews has had the unenviable task of warning believers about the dangers of
apostasy. There were some among the church that were potentially leaving their
faith.
- Their eyes
were being cast elsewhere, their trust was being divided, as they considered a
return to Judaism.
- Consequently,
they were in danger of being left in a state of reprobation. A person who will
not look to Jesus, who wills not to be saved and who dies in that condition, is
without hope!
- You don't
have to imagine what it feels like to hear that. Most of you were here to hear
that last week! Perhaps, in the midst of the warning, you felt a certain
unease.
- You might
have even been tempted to think, based on my impassioned plea to those in
danger, that I felt you were all in danger!
- While the
warning is necessary for all to hear, the author doesn't want to leave them in
that place for long.
- On the heels
of a section that warns of the possibility of apostasy, comes a section that
revels in the faithfulness of God and the security of those held within the
grip of His promise!
- Join me now
in our passage, beginning in verse 9.
Text
•
Hebrews 6:9,10 : "But, beloved, we are confident of
better things concerning you, yes, things that accompany salvation, though we
speak in this manner. For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love
which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the
saints, and do minister." : The group that our author
represents has been persuaded of better things for the majority of the letter's
recipients. He saw things in their midst that accompanied saving faith.
-
There were fruits of the Holy Spirit that were evident in their lives and there
was work that emanated from their faith in Christ.
-
No matter what happens with the potential apostate, our author wants them to
know that God is not unjust in forgetting what they had done. He won't let it
slip from His mind!
-
God will be faithful to carry out an apostate's sentence, but He will be just
as faithful to deliver a faithful servant their reward! The God of the Earth
will never do wrong!
-
This is the author's first encouragement: God remembers that which is done in
His Name and for His cause! He recognizes the fruit of their salvation in their
work and labor of love!
-
Please be clear regarding the difference. This is not work or labor for love.
It's a labor of love.
-
I have mentioned this countless times and I don't mean to weary you, but our
faith in Christ produces repentance in our own lives and work toward the lives
of others.
-
Ours is a work FROM faith and a labor for the sake of our love for Jesus
Christ! These are the works which provide evidence of, not merit for, salvation!
-
When a person seeks to earn God's favor or love through works, God is under no
obligation to remember it. But when it comes from a trusting child of faith, He
never forgets it!
-
Please notice the progression of their work and let this be a reminder of any
and all potential service we engage in: They worked toward His Name. They did
it for His sake.
-
When Jesus stands to give out reward, He will reward those that served His
brethren in various states of need. They are those without proper clothing, who
are sick or in need of food.
-
When we respond to them, we are responding to Him! Jesus counts such work as
that which was done unto Him! (Matthew
25:44,45)
-
This church was known for it's ministry to the saints. Each individual church
and believer will be called to various ministries appropriate for their
gifting.
-
The Hebrews had the opportunity and the resource to minister to the saints. This
was what they had done and had continued to do. Please notice that phrase.
-
"You have ministered to the saints and do minister!" Their work
wasn't produced in a bygone era. This was on-going! God saw what they were
doing, not what they had done!
-
Everything that is done to enhance His reputation, to call attention to His
Name, no matter the significance, is remembered! The implication is that He
will reward them in due time! Verse 11.
•
Hebrews 6:11,12 : "And we desire that each one of you
show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end, that you do not become sluggish,
but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises." :
The sentence is a little confusing.
Listen to this verse in the NIV.
• Hebrews 6:11 (NIV) : "We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end,
so that what you hope for may be fully realized." : Ultimately, the author is
communicating that they should continue doing what they have been doing.
- They have
been working, but it was not enough for them to rest on their laurels. Each of
them was to remain engaged! There are no special categories of servants. Each
was to do their part.
-
Once you have discerned a call to be a member of the body of Christ locally,
your very next step is to discover how you are to serve within it!
-
Once you have made the discovery of how your gifting enhances the service life
of the body of Christ, work hard in that gifting! Be as diligent in the future
as you have in the past!
-
You probably haven't noticed, but takes a concerted effort to remain diligent
year after year! The word "diligence" is synonymous with speed and
eagerness.
- Are you as speedy and eager as you once
were for the things of God? Do you remember your earlier days of "zealous
thunder!?" Why does the author exhort us to this end?
-
Let me say first what he does not communicate. You may hear certain preachers
talk in such a way that belies a need from God. "If you don't do
something, God can't do anything!"
-
A "God" that is dependant upon you is not a "God" at all!
God has no need for our service. In fact, God only wants our service because it
benefits us! Listen to our author closely.
-
"Show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the
end." There is a purpose.
˚ "That
is that we desire that each of you exhibit the same diligence to develop your
hope, which is in danger of failing, into full assurance, unto the end of the
present season of trial with it's happy consummation." Kenneth Wuest
-
Service turns our hope into certainty! Doing what God calls us to do for Him feeds
our confidence. It expands our capacity for expectation until we come to the
end.
-
Whatever God had called them to do, they were to do it to it's end! What might
that mean? It could mean that there is a season of time given for every work.
Do it until that season is over.
-
Personally, given the context, I believe that this refers to the end of their
own lives! That is a word that all of us need to hear! There is no retirement
on this side of heaven!
-
Your retirement ceremony is held at your graveside! I like the NLT here.
•
Hebrews 6:11 (NLT) : "Our great desire is that you will keep on loving others as long
as life lasts, in order to make certain that what you hope for will come true." : Work hard and feed your conviction. Invest heavily in heaven
that your heart might be there. And understand that this is the only way to
defeat laziness!
-
We work this way, diligently, without regard to quitting, because if we do not
we will become sluggish or slothful! Boy, does this author know us all too
well!
-
"Don't be lazy! Imitate those that faithfully endured toward their
inheritance!" Look at our examples. Examine their lives. Who does he pick
out? Father Abraham! Verse 13.
•
Hebrews 6:13-15 : "For when God made a promise to
Abraham, because He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, saying, 'Surely blessing I will bless you,
and multiplying I will multiply you.' And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise." : One of the keys to understanding the Christian faith is to view
our relationship with God through the lens of Abrahamic faith.
-
With this in mind, In your afternoon reading, I'd commend you again to Romans 4 and Paul's treatment of that
subject. How God dealt with Abraham then is of particular importance to us.
-
God called Abram out of Ur of the Chaldees and promised to bring a nation out
of him. In Genesis 12, Abram
believed enough to leave his home nation.
-
In Genesis 15:6, the Bible records
that Abraham believed the Lord's promise of descendants rivalling the stars of
the sky. God accounted it to him for righteousness!
-
This is one of the most important scriptures in the Bible. Abraham believed God
regarding His promise and God counted that for righteousness. Does that sound
familiar? Justification by faith!
-
When you believed in Christ, the blessed Descendant of Abraham, God counted
that for righteousness on your account! You and I are going to heaven based
upon that!
-
Yet, there is still a striking distance of time between what is promised and
the fulfillment. Back to Abraham. Most scholars hold to a 25 year gap between
the call of Abraham and the birth of Isaac.
-
When God does bring Isaac into being, He calls upon Abraham to make a trek with
him to an unknown place in order to sacrifice him! Abraham obeys, but the Lord
stops him from doing it.
-
Right after that story, God spoke again to Abraham in Genesis 22:17 and declared this promise to him, which was
accompanied by an oath. Listen to it in the NLT.
•
Hebrews 6:14 (NLT) :
"I will certainly bless you, and I
will multiply your descendants beyond number." : Our
author asserts that after he patiently endured, he obtained the promise. Consider
what he is telling them.
-
The promise did not come to pass when it was presented. The promise and the
fulfillment are not close together. Abraham received God's promise after he
endured toward it.
-
There was a process of great difficulty and struggle in Abraham's life.
-
Along the way God continually assured him in various ways that the promise was
still in effect. Abraham lived his life in light of that promise and he wasn't
perfect in the process!
-
I'm convinced that from Genesis 12
and on, Abraham kept seeking to make descendants out of other people, like Lot,
the servant born in his house and finally Ishmael.
-
When each one was rejected, he simply had to wait upon God to bring Isaac into
the world, through Sarah's womb.
-
Even when Isaac was born, Abraham never saw the fulfillment beyond Isaac's
life, but he still lived toward the fulfilling of it! Go and read Genesis 24 today to see a beautiful
picture of salvation!
-
The author's point is that our walk, similar to Abraham's, is built upon a
promise whose fulfillment will not be seen in this lifetime, but is as sure as
Abraham's was.
-
How sure is that promise? Our author explains that in verse 16.
•
Hebrews 6:16-18 : "For men indeed swear by the
greater, and an oath for confirmation is for them an end of all dispute. Thus God, determining to show more
abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed
it by an oath, that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God
to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge
to lay hold of the hope set before us." : The audience understood what it meant to ratify a contract,
especially among ancient peoples.
-
When a person made a covenant with another person, those people called upon a
third person greater than themselves to hold the agreeing parties accountable to
keep their word.
-
If a dispute arose, this settled things satisfactorily. The third party would
witness to what would enforce the contract. That is why God invoked His own
Name. "I swear."
-
He made a promise and then strengthened that promise by swearing an oath on His
own Name. "If I do not do what I have said, then I am bound by own Name to
rectify that!"
-
God is in essence, putting His reputation as God on the line! Why has He done
this?
-
It's not to satisfy Himself. He has no doubt of His own intention and ability
to fulfill His promise. He has done this because He is determined to comfort
us.
-
The phrase is literally that He wants to "above measure, exhibit" to
the heirs of promise, the immutability of His counsel! Think about what you are
hearing!
-
The God that created the Heavens and the Earth, that spoke it all into
existence and who will judge the living and the dead has pulled out all the
stops to demonstrate something to you!
-
Is it not enough that He has said this? It might be sufficient for some of us,
but it is not sufficient for Him! He wants you to be incredibly, undoubtedly
confident in His promise!
•
Hebrews 6:17 (NLT) : "God also bound himself with an oath, so that those who received
the promise could be perfectly sure that he would never change his mind." : You cannot have a moment's doubt based upon what He has been
willing to do to confirm His promise to you! He doesn't just say that He cannot
change.
-
This is how He conveys His immutability. God's mind cannot change with regard
to the promise that He has made to us. Now, we have this double confidence!
-
He has confirmed His promise with an oath! Either one necessitates a lack of
ability to change! He cannot lie! It's impossible. He has not power to lie!
-
Our author is making this point because there were some listening who wondered,
like Abraham, what assurance they could have that God would fulfill His promise!
-
God is not satisfied with giving us a little encouragement. He wants to be sure
that we have "strong" or "mighty" encouragement! He does
this because we are "heirs of the promise." (v.17)
-
That which belonged to Abraham belongs to us! We enter in that blessing! He
wants the heirs to be certain of their inheritance. But there is a second
descriptor that is compelling.
-
We are those who have "fled for refuge." How does an heir view their
inheritance? Perhaps with some sense of expectation. How does a refugee feel
about their position? A little skittish!
-
This is most certainly an allusion to ancient Israel's "cities of refuge"
initiative that is mentioned in Numbers
35:6-34.
-
When a person was guilty of manslaughter, he could run to a city of refuge to
await a proper "trial" from a local priest. If he was found innocent
of premeditation, he could stay in that city safely.
-
The "avenger of blood" from the victim's family had to abide by this
ruling, so long as the perpetrator lived in the city. He lived there under the
protection of the priest that oversaw his case.
-
While that priest was alive, there was safety for the perpetrator. Consider now
the relevance of the allusion: We are guilty and have run into Christ for
refuge.
-
Our spiritual life is bound up in His life and His promise to protect us from
the avenger or blood! While He lives, we have our hope. That leads us to verse 19.
•
Hebrews 6:19,20 : "This hope we have as an anchor of
the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the
veil, where the forerunner has entered
for us, even Jesus, having become High Priest forever according to the order of
Melchizedek." : This hope, this expectation
of the ultimate reward of heaven and the reward for our labor in Him is what
stabilizes our soul.
-
That is what an anchor does for a ship. In these days of the Roman Empire, an
anchor was a large, 2,000 pound piece of iron with generally two to four "teeth"
attached.
-
The word "anchor" actually means "teeth." Those
"teeth" would catch upon the bottom of the sea bed and the ship would
hold steady until the anchor was brought back up to the surface.
-
The people in the boat could rest easy, knowing that the anchor provided sure
and steadfast results. The word "sure" means "without fail"
and "steadfast" means "firm."
-
Consider that when you are at sea! Consider that against the power of nature!
The boat might sway with the wind, but with the anchor holding, it won't lose
it's position!
-
The hope that we steady ourselves upon will not fail and sits firmly. Where is
it? It sits where God's throne abides, where Jesus has entered for us!Our
anchor doesn't go down deep. It goes up!
-
Like the anchor of a boat, it falls invisibly below the surface of the deep,
tethered to the boat by chain or rope that signals it's whereabouts.
-
Our anchor is not held in place by attaching itself to something. It is held
there by someOne!
-
Jesus has assumed a position in the very Presence of God the Father, behind the
actual veil, the copy of which was just down the street at the newly renovated
Temple!
-
"When darkness seems to hide His
face. I rest on His unchanging grace. In every high and stormy gale, my anchor
holds within the veil!" The teeth have sunk, rooted firmly in heaven!
-
And this may be the greatest encouragement of all: Jesus the forerunner has entered
for us! You might miss the implication if you read this too quickly.
-
A forerunner was a person who went ahead of their Sovereign. His purpose was to
prepare the way for the traveling Monarch.
-
Practically, this meant clearing the roads and booking appropriate lodging. The
presence of a forerunner implies the presence of a Sovereign!
-
The fact that Jesus is called the forerunner implies that He will be bringing
us in with Him! Can you imagine that? The Levitical priests had no right to
bring in a guest into the Holy Of Holies!
-
They entered alone, with great trepidation I might add and they sought to leave
as soon as possible! But Jesus isn't a Levitical High Priest. He's a
Melchizedekian High Priest!
-
What does that mean? We will have to wait! Suffice it to say, there are
different rules for a priest in the order of Melchizedek and the first is that
He enters in and can bring whoever He wants!
Conclusion
- As we close, I pray that this passage encourages you. Are you wondering if God sees the work that you do for Him? Our author reminds us: God will never forget!
- As we close, I pray that this passage encourages you. Are you wondering if God sees the work that you do for Him? Our author reminds us: God will never forget!
-
Therefore, do your work with all diligence! Grow in confidence and fight the
urge to give into spiritual laziness!
-
Are you concerned that God's promise might not be fulfilled? Our author
encourages us: God has taken an oath!
-
Therefore, live your life in light of that sure word. Take it to the bank.
You're an heir with a bank account. You're a refugee that can have security!
-
Finally, are you concerned that your life might slip away because of all the
trials that you have or are experiencing? Listen to our author: God has set the
anchor in a firm position!
-
It's with His Son, your Brother, your High Priest, your Savior who has the
license to sit behind the veil and to bring whoever He wants in with Him!
-
That is the comfort of our God and this is the security of His promise!
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