Well, I'd like for you to turn
to Hebrews chapter six, the passage that Peter read to us earlier
on in this service. We're working our way through
this epistle, tremendous epistle. It's about the full blessings
of the gospel. This is, I believe it's Paul
that wrote this epistle. I know there's much debate about
it, but I think it's got so much of his signature stamped all
over it. I think it's Paul. that wrote
this, and it's about the full blessings of the gospel. He's
writing to Hebrews, who we saw last week, some of whom might
have been there on the day of Pentecost. And it's 30 years
or so later. And there they are, and he's
saying, you should have moved on. You should not still be stuck
in the Old Testament types and pictures. They have an enormous,
the gospel is in all of those Old Testament types and pictures.
But not to be so fascinated with the picture. that you miss the
depth, the meat, the wholesome goodness of the reality which
is in Christ. The depth and the riches, the
strong meat he talks about, the soul food that is in him. There
were these dangers of immaturity, and he'd rebuked them for their
sloth. He told them that they were babes when they should have
been mature, still only able to take milk. Milk's great if
you're a baby. It's wonderful food. But when
you're much older, you need more than milk. You need strong meat.
I'm not going to get into a vegetarian debate or anything like that,
but you need good nourishment to go with your stage of development. And he said they hadn't progressed. And he gives this warning. which
sounds a chilling alarm at the start of chapter 6 verses 4-5. He says, it's impossible for
those that once looked like they were the true people of God,
if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance. Chill. Chill. Great, great debate has gone
on in the church. Is it possible for a true believer
to ultimately be lost? Is it possible for somebody to
be a true Christian and then fall away and be lost? This has
been the debate. Of course, if you have any knowledge
of the scriptures, and any, I'm talking about not head knowledge,
I'm talking about heart knowledge. If you have any heart knowledge
of the gospel of grace, you know the answer to that is clear.
Absolutely not. How can anyone for whom Christ
died end up in hell? Absolutely impossible. He died
for his people's sins. The people the father gave to
the son from before the beginning of time. You say, I don't like
that sort of message. Well, you better get some scissors and
start chopping half your Bible away because it's on every page.
Every page is the sovereign grace of God. the sovereign grace of
God. It's impossible for true believers
to fall away. There are some who make a jolly
good show of being believers. They look like it, they look
as though they're partaking of the Holy Ghost, but yet they've
never ever been true. Never true. But of these people,
to whom he's writing, although they're immature, he says in
verse 9, Beloved, we are persuaded better things of you. What things,
Paul? Things that accompany salvation. We're persuaded that you are
amongst the saved. Though we've given this warning
earlier, we're persuaded, because in verse 10, God is not unrighteous
to forget your work and labour of love, not that you are saved
by works at all. But true faith, as James points
out to us, true faith, if it is true, is a faith that works. Don't say you have faith, and
then there are no works, there's no fruit of that spirit that
is within you. God is not unrighteous to forget
your work and labour of love which you have showed toward
his name. That means you have a love for
the Gospel. The name of God is not just the name up in light,
J-E-S-U-S, Jehovah, it's not just the name, not just the letters,
it's everything that it means. It's the Gospel of His grace.
For the name of God is the name of God our Saviour, the name
of God our Redeemer, the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, our
Jehovah Jesus. You've showed this love towards
His name, which is expressed in the Gospel of His grace. And
you've ministered to the saints, and do minister. And we desire,
verse 11, this is where he's coming to. This is our objective,
this is our desire. We've given these warnings, we've
given these rebukes. but we're persuaded better things
of you and this is our desire, verse eleven, that every one
of you do show the same diligence unto the full assurance of hope
unto the end. That's it, the full assurance
of hope. Do you have that? Full assurance
of hope unto the end. Verse twelve, that you be not
slothful but followers of them who through faith and patience
inherit the promises. Followers of them who through
faith and patience inherit the promises. When we get to chapter
11 of this epistle we're going to see lots of examples of faith. We're going to see lots of examples
of those who, through faith and patience, inherited the promises. It's going to go through Noah,
and Enoch, and Abraham, and Moses, and Sarah, and over and over
again. It's going to go through lots
of examples in the faith gallery in chapter 11, who, through faith
and patience, inherited the promises. The title of the message is Blessed
Assurance. I've got four points for you
this morning. First of all, what are these promises? Number two,
who are the heirs of promise? If I tell you that some titled
person down the road has an enormous amount of money that he's going
to leave to his heirs, those who are going to inherit it,
you might think, oh gosh, that sounds good, doesn't it? it makes
not a scrap of difference if you're not amongst those heirs
to whom he's bequeathed his great fortune not a scrap of difference
at all so we're going to look at who are the heirs of the promise
and then what is the guarantee of the promise And finally, what
is the effect of the promise? So first of all, the promises
themselves. What are these promises? Who,
through faith and patience, inherit the promises? And talks about
obtaining the promise. What are these promises? It's
the inheritance that is reserved for God's chosen people, for
his elect. God has an elect. We don't know
who they are. We're told that they're a great
multitude that no man can number. They're a multitude from every
tribe and kindred, but they're a multitude that was chosen in
Christ from before the beginning of time. They're a multitude
for whom Christ came and stood as surety to save them from their
sins. And this is the message of the
gospel of God's grace. And the promise is the inheritance
that's reserved for those whom God has saved in Christ. And
it's an inheritance of eternal life in the face of death. eternal
life. How often does Jesus in the gospel
say, I give them eternal life. Whosoever believes in me has
everlasting life. It's, it's the theme over and
over again. It's the promise, eternal life. Whosoever believeth
in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Read John
chapter 10. What is it that he gives to the
sheep? I give them eternal life. No man shall pluck them out of
my Father's hand. What is the will of the Father
who sent Jesus to earth? John chapter 6. This is the will
of Him who sent me, that of those He has given me I should lose
nothing. But what? Should raise it up
alive at the last day. I should raise it up at the last
day. It's salvation. These promises are promises of
salvation from condemnation. We must all stand before the
judgment seat of Christ. It is a fearful thing to fall
into the hands of the living God. Our God is, this verse is
in this epistle, our God is a consuming fire. It's a fearful thing to
fall into his hands. We must all stand before the
judgment seat of Christ but to his people. whom Christ has stood
surety for, whom Christ has saved, he says this, there is therefore
now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. No condemnation,
no condemnation now I dread. Jesus and all in him is mine.
sanctification, being made holy, set apart for holiness, counted
holy, justification, being declared guiltless before the law, being
declared holy before the law, being declared completely free
of sin before the law in Christ. The forgiveness of sins. This
is the promise of God, the forgiveness of sins. We're all sinners. It's
not just that we do sins, we are sin. We're sin by nature,
we're lawless by nature. That is our nature. And God is
righteous, and if we're to be with Him, we must have righteousness. Pursue holiness, without which
no man shall see the Lord. We must have holiness. We must
not have sins. What does it say in Revelation?
Nothing that defiles will enter into heaven. Nothing. But I'm
defiled. I'm a sinner. Everything about
me in this flesh is sinful. Even my best righteousnesses
are but filthy rags in his sight. What am I going to do? In Christ
there is the forgiveness of sins. Acts 5, verse 31. This is what
he did. He gave repentance to Israel. Israel, the people of God. Galatians
6, the Israel of God, is these people. If you're a believer
this morning, you're a member of the Israel of God. He gave
repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. It's adoption. These
are the promises of God. Adoption. You imagine the situation,
and sadly, even in our society, there are many children, teenage
children, in care, who would love to be adopted into a family. And for one reason or another,
it doesn't happen. But adoption, you think about
it, this is adoption into the family of God. This is adoption. This is being turned around from
being the enemies of God into being the children of God in
the Lord Jesus Christ. It's acceptance in the Beloved. You know what it says about,
and we often quote it at this time of year, when the fullness
of the time was come, God sent forth his son, made of a woman,
made under the law to redeem those that are under the law
that we might receive the adoption of sons. All of the privileges,
all of the benefits of not being servants in the house, but being
the children of the household of God. The adoption of sons,
fellowship with God, Fellowship with God. This is it. What's
the catechism? One of the catechisms says, what's
the highest end objective of man? To know God and to enjoy
him forever. To know God and enjoy him forever. In John's epistle, chapter one,
first epistle, chapter one and verse three, he says, we have
fellowship with the father and with his son, Jesus Christ. This
is the promise of God that you and I, mere mortals, sinful,
deserving of condemnation, should have fellowship with the father
and with his son, Jesus Christ. This is the hope that is being
spoken of. This is the promise unto the
end. So then secondly, who are the
heirs of promise? Now read with me verses 12 to
15. That ye be not slothful, but
followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the
promises. For when God made promise to
Abraham, he's an example, because he could swear by no greater,
he swore by himself, saying, surely blessing I will bless
thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee. And so, after
he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. Who are
the heirs of the promise? Those who have the same faith
and patience that Abraham did. Absolutely clear. If you've got
faith and patience like Abraham had, because he's the example
set before us, you're an heir of the same promise that Abraham
was. Look at a couple of other scriptures
with me. Turn over to Romans chapter four. Let me show this
to you. It's important that you get your doctrine not from the
lips of a man or from the pages of a secular book, but from the
word of God. And books are good as far as
they are a faithful commentary on this word, but this, you know,
to the law and to the testimony. If they speak not according to
this word, I don't care what bishop so-and-so or some theologian
here or there in whichever seminary said, I count it of absolutely
no significance whatsoever compared with what God has said in his
word. Romans 4 verse 11. He's talking
about Abraham, and he received the sign of circumcision, a seal
of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised,
that he might be the father of all them that believe, right? Though they were not circumcised,
that righteousness might be imputed unto them also. and the father
of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only
but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham
which he had being yet uncircumcised. For the promise that he should
be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed
through the law but through the righteousness of faith. For if
they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and
the promise made of none effect. Because the law, that's the law
of Moses, worketh wrath. For where no law is, there is
no transgression. Therefore it is of faith that
it might be by grace to the end the promise might be sure to
all the seed, not only to that which is of the law, those who
are Jews by nature, but to that also which is of the faith of
Abraham, who is the father of us all, who have that same faith
as Abraham. And don't turn to it now for
the sake of time, but Galatians 3.7, they which are of faith,
the same are the children of Abraham. The scripture says it,
you see? The scripture says it. They which
are of faith are the children of Abraham. What did Abraham
do? It tells us in the scriptures,
in Genesis, and then it's quoted again in the New Testament. Abraham
believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness. What's
it? What's it that was counted to
him for righteousness? I've told you before, it's not
Abraham's believing that was counted to him for righteousness,
it's what Abraham believed in. What did he believe in? He believed
in the Lord Jesus Christ. he believed that God was going
to send was going to come in the person of his son to be the
substitute for sinners that's what he believed and that what
Christ did was counted to him for righteousness it's not our
believing that's counted to us for righteousness as if it's
some good work that we do it's what we believe in I believe
that Christ did all on my behalf to make me righteous before the
law of God that's what makes me righteous Christ a substitute. This is what it is to have the
same faith as Abraham. Faith in Christ alone. How do
I know that Abraham believed in Christ? You say that was the
Old Testament, Jesus hadn't come then. Think what Jesus said in
John chapter 8, verse 56. He's talking to the Jews who
are talking about being children of Abraham. He said, your father
Abraham rejoiced to see my day and was glad. He rejoiced to
see Christ's day and he saw it and was glad. Why was he glad?
Because he saw what Christ accomplished for him and all who have faith
in him. That great nation that he was
going to make of Abraham wasn't just a nation of Jews, Israelites
by the flesh, it was those who were the children by faith, the
same faith as him. Do you have this faith? In Christ
the substitute, in Christ my sin-bearer, in Christ my righteousness? Do you see yourself in him? so
that when the father looks on the son and says this is my beloved
son in whom I am well pleased you know he looks on you in Christ
and says this is my beloved child in whom I am well pleased because
that child is in Christ and all the things of eternity and all
the things of law and justice are settled in the Lord Jesus
Christ do you have that faith? if you do if you do how did you
get that faith? How did you get it? Ah, I was
better than the others. I believed, the others rejected,
but I believed. No, that's not what the scripture
says. The scripture says this in Ephesians 2 verse 8, it says,
by grace are you saved. What's grace? The totally, utterly,
undeserved favour of God. Nothing in you, not your believing,
not your marching the aisle down to the front in some gospel service,
not in the slightest. By grace, the totally unmerited
favor of God are you saved through faith. That's the means. Faith
is the means. You know, like the tree is real
out there, but I see it through the medium of sight. Faith is
just like that. I apprehend the truth of salvation
through faith. And where did I get my faith
from? Well, Paul goes on to tell us, and that not of yourselves,
it is the gift of God. Even the faith is the gift of
God. Not just mental assent to the
propositions of scripture. That's not what we're talking
about. Not just appreciating the logical beauty of the gospel
message because the true biblical gospel, the true biblical gospel
of sovereign grace and particular redemption that Christ died for
a specific people is beautifully logical. Absolutely, it's the
only gospel that can possibly be efficacious, can do the job. And you can look at it and you
say, wow, this is really logically powerful. You know, this is very
good. No, we're not talking about mental
ascent, we're talking about heart faith. We're talking about loving
Him who first loved us. We're talking about believing
like Abraham believed God. Why did Abraham believe God?
Because there he was in Ur of the Chaldees, in the midst of
his family's idolatry, he thought all his family were a family
of idolaters, and God spoke to him. The Holy Spirit gave him
ears to hear, while the rest of his family in Ur of the Chaldees
remained idolaters. He saw, by faith, That sight
of the soul, he saw by faith the promised reward. And what
was the promised reward? In Genesis 15, God tells him.
God speaks to Abraham. Genesis 15, verse 1, he says,
Abraham, I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward. God
himself, our Lord Jesus Christ, is the exceeding great reward
of his people. He saw that. He saw that promised
reward. And verse 15, and so, after he
had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. He patiently waited. He had the patience given by
God to wait for God to work in God's own time. Here and now,
in this world of sin, if you're a believer in the Lord Jesus
Christ, you need patience to wait. There are three gifts of
the Spirit. There were lots of gifts in the
early church, which are all gifts of authentication. All the charismatic
gifts, they're all ceased now, and there are three that remain.
Faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is
love. Why is the greatest love? Because when we get to glory,
there will only be love. For what need will there be of
faith? Because that which we see by faith, you will see in
reality. What need will there be of hope?
Some of the younger ones are probably hoping for Christmas
Day to come, but when the day comes, there's no need to hope
anymore, because it's there. Faith, hope, and love, but the
greatest of these is love. But now we need that patience
to wait. for the promises of God to be
fulfilled, for his people to inherit, for the heirs of promise
to inherit that which he has promised. Now we wait patiently. We wait for the fullness of the
inheritance to be bestowed. And how do we wait? Like the
scripture which has been made into a hymn says, knowing, I
know whom I have believed and am persuaded that he is able
to keep that which I've committed unto him against that day. I
wait in that confidence that he'll keep me, because his promises
are sure and certain. And verse 18, this is what we've
done, look at the second half of the verse, we'll come back
to the earlier part of it later. Who have fled for refuge to lay
hold upon the hope set before us. Faith, patience, but also
have fled for refuge, to lay hold on the hope set before us."
Fled for refuge. Fled from the false refuge that
the scriptures call a refuge of lies. A refuge of lies. We've fled from that false refuge
of lies to the truth. The flesh rests upon a false
refuge of lies. It trusts in the material world
with such confidence, in its great knowledge, in our own inherent
goodness, in our own delusions of knowledge that we understand
so much in actual fact we understand. The more we find, the more science
discovers, the more we know that we don't know. The more unsearchable
we find it to be. in our personal reputation, our
traditions, our rights, our religion, all of these things. But in finding
Christ, we flee from those refuges of lies to the truth. And the
picture here is like fleeing to the cities of refuge. You
know, in the Mosaic law, in Exodus and following books, there are
the cities of refuge, which are appointed, these cities. And the idea is this, that If
somebody committed manslaughter, unintentional killing, carelessness,
the picture that's given is that two men are out in the woods
chopping down trees. And one man swings to chop a
tree down and the axe head flies off and hits the other man in
the head and kills him. And the other man's brother or
relative is the avenger of blood and comes running to kill, to
get revenge on the one who did that. But he didn't do it intentionally.
He's just a manslayer, not a murderer. And so he was to flee to one
of the cities of refuge. where it was like, hold on a
minute, no, hold on, you can't kill him, you can't avenge that
blood, we must look into this properly, we must try the case
properly. There were cities of refuge.
Those cities of refuge are a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ and
the salvation that's in him. They have names which are like
his names, I won't for the sake of time go through them now.
But the child of God hearing the promises, and believing the
promises, flees from the avenger of blood. The avenger of blood
is the law, it's curse, it's Satan and his guile, it's death
itself. And we flee where? To the refuge
of God. that is God himself, our Lord
Jesus Christ. Jeremiah 14.8 says, the hope
of Israel, the saviour thereof in time of trouble. That's where
we flee, for refuge, fleeing to Jesus. And verse 18, laying
hold upon him, laying hold upon the hope set before us, laying
hold on him, because the Lord Jesus Christ is the inheritance
of God to his people. All the blessings are in him.
There are no blessings outside of him from God. It's laying
hold. It's like a death grasp upon
him. I must have him. I must grasp
him. I must not let him go, knowing
that he keeps his people. This is a vital living experience. It's grasping. as one who knows
that eternal life depends on having him. It's knowing... Shortly
we're going to share bread and wine as symbols, as mere reminders
of the broken body and the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
It's knowing that what Jesus said in John 6, I must eat his
flesh and drink his blood. Don't worry, this is just bread
and wine and it never becomes anything other. It doesn't transubstantiate
into the literal flesh and blood of Christ, but by faith we must
eat the flesh of the Son of God. We must drink the blood of the
Son of God, because if we don't, there's no life in us, he tells
us. We must not just know about him, we must know him. it's distinctive it's personal
absolutely as distinctive as it was for that woman in the
gospels remember there was a woman who had an affliction for years
an issue of blood for years and years and all the doctors none
of them could cure it and there was a day when jesus was walking
in the crowds and there were crowds of people like if you've
ever been on a rush hour tube train on the victoria line at
uh... eight fifteen in the morning and you've known you've known
what it is you know Somebody says, don't touch me, don't be
ridiculous, get off the train, you can't help it, you're just
jammed in like sardines. You're touching half a dozen
people at one go because it's so crowded. That's what the crowd
was like. And Jesus said, who touched me?
Jesus the man. And the disciples said, what
Lord? Look at the people. He said, no, somebody touched
me. That woman. Personal, personal. This is what
it's about. Personal, distinctive. So then,
those are the heirs of promise, those who have the same faith
as Abraham, and they have the assurance of hope to the end. They have that faith to trust
the Lord Jesus Christ. But what's the guarantee? What's
the guarantee of this? Can we be sure about these things? Is it possible for you as a believer
this morning to have assurance that it is, as that hymn says,
it is well, it is well with my soul. Whatever happens, it is
well with my soul. As the Psalm says, Psalm 4, I
will lay me down and sleep peacefully. Why? Because I'm resting in the
Lord Jesus Christ and all that he's done. Can we be sure? There
are very stressful situations in life. You know, they say that
buying a house is one of the most stressful things that you
can do, because you're never quite sure until the ink is dry
on the paper, until the keys have been handed over, until
the removal van is emptied out into the new place, and you're
there, and at least possession is 90%, you're in. It's riddled with stress. And
you start with verbal commitments. And even if they're the most
sincere verbal commitments, you know people are untrustworthy.
And even if they're trustworthy, things beyond their control change.
And so, how do we get round it? Well, we draw up legal oaths. We draw up contracts, which is
what a contract is. It's a legal oath. It's a swearing,
one party to the other, that this is what we will fulfil.
Look at verse 16. He says, It gives the example,
for even men verily swear by the greater and an oath for confirmation
is to them an end of all strife. It's quoting Exodus 22 where
it was in the case of dispute you'll draw up an oath between
the parties and that will end the dispute because it's legally
binding and then you get the lawyers and the judges to come
and judge who's in the right and who's in the wrong if the
covenant has been broken. What are you going to trust in?
for your eternal security. What's going to make you sure
that there is a guarantee that this promise is yours? Dare you
risk your eternal state to the strength of your flesh to keep
you in the right way? Oh yes, you do, you know, you
say with Joshua, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord,
but you know that you're so weak in the flesh. What are you going
to trust to? Are you going to trust your own sanctification,
that you are gradually going to get better and better and
better at keeping the law, put more and more ticks in the boxes,
so that when you pitch up before that judgment seat of Christ,
he's going to say, you did very, very well in getting yourself
sanctified. Here's an extra few jewels in
your crown, so that you can strut around heaven, showing off in
front of everybody else. I don't think so. Even though
men portray it that way. Not in the slightest. No. That's
not the guarantee. The guarantee is this. It's the
promise of God. It's the oath of God. God has
promised eternal life to his elect, just as he did to Abraham. Look again at verse 13. For when
God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no
greater, he swore by himself. And then on into verse seventeen
in the same way wherein God willing more abundantly to show unto
the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel confirmed it by
an oath that's to all the seed of Abraham that's you and me
if we're believers this morning God is willing more abundantly
to show you and me as the heirs of promise the immutability the
unchangeability of his counsel by confirming it by an oath.
What are these two things? That by two immutable things
in which it's impossible for God to lie, we might have strong
consolation. What are these two things? The
guarantee is this. First of all, his unchangeable
counsel. What's the unchangeable counsel
of God? It's that book that you've got
in your hands and on your laps now. It's the Word of God. The
Word of God. 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 23, the
Word of God which liveth and abideth forever. His Word is
unchangeable. His Word, that's why this book
is unique. This isn't like any other piece
of literature. This is outside of time. This is eternal. This
doesn't grow old. This will endure to the very
end. It will never, ever pass away.
And then, as if that wasn't enough, because God's yes is yes. When
God says yes, because he's God, he cannot possibly change. You
and I can be forced to change when we make a promise, but he
can't. He is God. He is above all things. He then
swears, just to make sure you and I understand, to show to
the heirs of promise, he confirmed it by an oath. He has sworn like
he swore to Abraham, that covenant that he made with Abraham, that
revelation of salvation that he gave to Abraham. He gives
to you and me in the gospel of His grace. By these two immutable
things, His unchangeable counsel and His sworn promise, He assures
us that these things are true. Two immutable things. And being
God, it's impossible for Him to lie. And the result of this
is that His people might have strong consolation, might have
comfort, might have blessed assurance that Jesus is mine. How do you
know God has promised? He has sworn. He cannot lie.
He cannot retract it. It's true. Well then, fourthly,
what's the effect of these promises? Promises have an effect. There's
much debate at the moment about pensions and the promise of pensions
and the argument about whether pensions are good enough or not.
The promise of a good pension lifts the burden of anxiety regarding
financial well-being in old age. Promises have an effect. In that
case, the promise of a pension eases your fears about how you're
going to manage in old age. Verse 19. What does it do for
the people of God? Which hope we have as an anchor
of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that
within the veil whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus,
made an high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. The
hope that is set before us, the exceeding great reward which
is our God in Christ, and all that is in him, and all that
we are in Him. That is our consolation. That
is our certainty. That is our comfort for eternity. Life's storms come along. Your
soul is buffeted and tossed to and fro by life's storms. Things
happen. Troubles arise, material troubles,
physical troubles, troubles of health, troubles of personal
circumstances. All sorts of things arise. Doubts
are cast in your mind. If you're a believer, you go
through times of knowing severe doubts and anxieties. All of
these storms come along. But in it all, we have an anchor
of the soul, an anchor that keeps the soul. You know what the ship
tries to do in the storm? Drop the anchor and get it firmly
fixed on a solid rock so that it won't move, whatever the storm
does. An anchor for the soul, not tossed to and fro, as Paul
says in Ephesians chapter 4, not tossed to and fro by every
wind of doctrine, but immovable and dependable. Christ's promises
to keep his sheep. These are the things, this is
an anchor for the soul. So what is the substance and
reality of this hope? It is Christ, our high priest. And this is where we're getting
to what we're coming into in the next chapter and following
chapters. There were only ever two orders
of priesthood, the Aaronic priesthood and the order after Melchizedek. only ever two and as I've said
before there are no such things as priests today whatever men
want to call themselves as far as the scriptures are concerned
there are no priests today except for this one great high priest
of his people after the order of Melchizedek who is our Lord
Jesus Christ and all of his people are called in Peter's epistle
a royal priesthood a holy nation a royal priesthood in him What
is the substance of this hope? It is Christ, our High Priest,
in whom his people pleased the Father. That's our hope. Have
you got the righteousness that you need to stand before God? You pleased the Father in him.
In whom his people's sin debt was paid in full at Calvary.
In whom we entered into the holiest. What happened at the cross? Do
you remember the account of the crucifixion? The temple veil,
which was that which separated the people from the holiness
of God, it could only ever be gone through once a year by the
high priest on the Day of Atonement, and that with the blood of an
acceptable sacrifice. Only then Christ went through
it, metaphorically, with his own blood, into the holies. not
to come out, but to stay there. He went in to the holiest, and
his people went into the holiest place in him. Which hope we have
as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which
entereth into that within the veil? He's the one in whom we
rose. What's the guarantee? God confirmed
that he is his son in that he raised him from the dead, and
his people rose in him. and ascended in him, and we're
described in the epistles as being seated. You say, I'm here,
but no, as far as the justice and judgment of God is concerned,
these people are seated in heavenly places in Christ, in whom we
live and reign, but for now, patiently waiting the fulfillment
of all these promises. So the conclusion is this. Assurance
is the possession of those, verse 11, We desire that every one
of you do show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope
unto the end. Assurance is the possession of
those who diligently follow the example of faith and patience,
looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.