and a soft back handle number
86 number 86 I love your holy law my god if you could please
stand number 86 I love your holy law, my God,
I love it in my heart. And if I could, I would obey
in spirit every part. Your law is holy, just and good,
all perfect and all true. But I'm a weak and sinful wretch,
its works I cannot do. and yet your law condemns me
not. It's all been satisfied by your
own son, my substitute, when he court sinners died. In life Christ brought in righteousness
such as the law required. And death he bore your dreadful
wrath, And there the curse expired. And now your laws become my friend,
Demanding my release. It points to Jesus slain for
me, And gives me perfect peace. By faith in Jesus Christ I'm
free, for condemnation free. For all your law requires of
me, Christ Jesus is my plea. Y'all can be seated. Good morning. Thank you, Bert
and Cheryl. That hymn speaks to what I hope the Lord
will encourage us in this morning. Christ Jesus the Lord is the
end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. We're
not under the law, we're under grace. Christ himself is our
rule of life, not the law. I'm so thankful for that. We're going to begin this morning
in the book of Hebrews, chapter 6, Hebrews chapter 6. That hymn that we just sang,
the law is holy. It is just and it is good. The word holy means sanctified,
means set apart. And though the law be holy, it's
never sanctified anyone. Though it be just, it's never
justified anyone. And though it be good, no one's
ever been made good by the law. We love God's law, but we don't
look to it in any way. for the hope or the proof of
our salvation. We don't compare our lives to
the law to try to find out if there's evidence of salvation
in our lives. We're back to Sinai if we do
that. Christ Jesus the Lord himself is our rule of life. He's the one we follow. Let's
pray together and ask the Lord's blessings on his word. Our merciful Heavenly Father,
we ask that you would have mercy upon us this morning. We come
before thy throne of grace as sinners in need of your grace,
in need of your forgiveness, in need of thy righteousness,
in need of thy dear son, in need of thy spirit, Lord, we pray
that you would meet our needs for thy namesake. That you would
teach us, encourage us, give us hope and rest in thy dear
son. For it's in his name we ask it. Amen. I am so very hopeful that
these verses of scripture will give to you and to me assurance
of our salvation. I said, I want for you this morning,
I want you to be sure that you're a child of God. I want you to
be sure that your sins have been put away. I want you to be sure
that you have an advocate with the Father who is faithful to
plead your case and to present himself before God on your behalf. And the writer of Hebrews gives
us this hope. In verse 18, look at verse 18,
that by two immutable things in which it is impossible for
God to lie, we might have a strong consolation. That's what I want
for you. That's what I want for me. I
want us to have a strong consolation. If we are, it's going to be based
on these two immutable things. God doesn't change. He's the
same yesterday, today, and forever. He said, I am the Lord, and I
change not. And therefore, you sons of Jacob
are not consumed. When God declares in his word
the hope of our salvation by his immutability, there we have
reason for strong consolation. We have reason for hope. And
if we're looking anywhere else for the assurance of our salvation
outside of His immutable promise and His immutable oath, then
we'll be fooling ourselves. We'll be deceiving ourselves.
We'll either be self-righteous or we'll be without any comfort. We'll be without a place of rest.
Now this passage actually begins in verse 17, well that's where
we'll begin at least this morning, wherein God, willing more abundantly
to show unto the heirs of promise, The heirs of promise, the hope
of our salvation, is based on the promise of God. We are the
heirs of that promise. All the promises of God are declared
yea and amen in Christ. He's the one who fulfilled those
promises. He's the one who's faithful.
God more abundantly to show unto heirs of promise the immutability
of his counsel Confirmed it by an oath Now the Lord is going
back to Genesis chapter 15 and explaining to us what took place
in Genesis chapter 15. In Genesis chapter 12, God called
Abraham, or Abram at that time, out of the Ur of the Chaldees,
and in Genesis chapter 15, he confirms to him the promise that
his seed would inherit eternal life. That's what I want to know
about. I want to know about this one
who God gave him righteousness. This one who's called the father
of the faithful. And if you go back to Genesis
chapter 15, I'll just tell you the story very quickly. Abraham,
after hearing the voice of God and hearing the promises of God,
asked the Lord, how can I know for sure that this will be. That's what he said. How can
I know for sure? Lord, I've heard your word, but
I need some assurance of my salvation. Isn't that what we are? Lord,
we've heard your word. What is the assurance that we
can have to hang the hopes of our immortal souls on? What oath can you give us that
will confirm to us that the promises that you made are true and faithful
and that they're for me? And so the Lord told Abraham,
or Abram, he said, take a bullock, take a she lamb and a goat, take
a turtle dove and a pigeon and divide the animals, not the birds,
but divide the beast and put them on each side. And the scripture
says that God put Abram into a deep sleep. And in that vision
that he gave him in that deep sleep, Abram... Well, first of
all, before Abram went into a deep sleep, he was told by God, or
he had to keep the wild birds from feeding on the sacrifice. And isn't that what we do? Those animals represent exactly
what the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished on Calvary's cross. They represent
the Lord himself. So God now is confirming his
promise with the sacrifice of himself. This is the hope that
he's giving Abraham. And so he was to keep the wild
birds off of the sacrifice. Which is what we do. When we
preach the gospel, we expose the errors of false religion.
Those who would take the name of Christ and defile him by adding
to what he's accomplished. And that's exactly what Abraham
was doing. And then Abraham went into a
deep sleep. And he saw passing between those sacrifices, he
saw a burning furnace and a burning, how does it say, a smoking furnace
and a burning lamp. A smoking furnace and a burning
lamp. Now what was God confirming to
Abraham in that sacrifice? What was the smoking furnace? What is the picture of smoke
in the scriptures? The smoke that ascends up into
glory is a picture of prayers, right? So these are the prayers
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Just a few of them. Father, forgive
them, for they know not what they do. Peter? You're going
to deny me, but I've prayed for you. Father, I pray not for the
world, but for them which thou hast given me out of the world."
And so this smoking furnace is a picture of the intercessory
prayers of the Lord Jesus Christ on behalf of his people. The
sacrifice is a picture of what he would do when he lays down
his life for the sheep. He bears the burden of their
sin and suffers the full wrath of God's judgment in order to
satisfy divine justice once and for all. And the smoking furnace
is a picture of his prayers ascending to the Father. And then the scripture
says, not only did he see a smoking furnace, but he saw a burning
lamp. Thy Word is a light unto our
feet and a lamp unto our path. The Lord Jesus Christ is called
the Word of God. In the beginning was the Word
and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He is the living
Word. And so in the smoking furnace
and in the burning lamp we see the words that the Lord Jesus
Christ spoke first to the Father and second to us. The light of
the gospel comes to the believer's heart by the word of God. Of his own will begat he us with
the word of truth. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing
comes by the word of God. So what is the hope that God's
giving to Abraham now? Abraham's saying, how can I be
sure that these promises of salvation are going to be fulfilled? And
what does the Lord do? He gives him a picture of Calvary. He gives him a picture of the
person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. He shows him being sacrificed
for sin and he shows him interceding on behalf of his people and speaking
the truth of the gospel to the hearts of his people. And now
the Lord says that by two immutable things, I didn't just tell Abraham
what I was going to do, but I illustrated it in this sacrifice. I didn't
just tell you what I was going to do, but I fulfilled it in
the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. There's the hope of our
salvation. In short, it is believing God. It's believing God. That's it. Faith is the substance of things
hoped for. Faith is the evidence of things
not seen. We don't have anything else but
faith. You say, well, that's too simple. Try it. Try it. Now, I'm not suggesting try Jesus
and see if he works for you. No, no, no. I'm saying to you
that it is the one thing that is absolutely, completely impossible
for man to do. You say, faith's too easy. No,
no. You can't do it. You can't believe
God. He's got to give it to you, doesn't
he? For by grace are you saved through faith, but that not of
yourself, it's a gift of God. The natural man cannot receive
the things of the Spirit. You can't believe God. And you
know what I'm hoping right now? That you're doing what I'm doing
in my heart. Lord, give me faith. Lord, give me your spirit. Lord,
open the eyes of my understanding. Lord, cause me to believe. Cause
me to come to you. I can't do it. If you believe
God. You've got the immutable God
who stands behind his promises with the sacrifice of his own
dear son. What a glorious hope. What greater hope can you have?
How often times do we look to the evidence of salvation in
our lives to try to achieve some kind of hope, some kind of comfort? And then, of course, the accuser
of the brethren's hot on our heels to say to us right away,
if you were a believer, you wouldn't have thought that, you wouldn't
have done that, you wouldn't have said that. And we're right back
to Sinai, aren't we? If we are to have a strong consolation,
and that's what I want for you, that's what I want for myself.
I want to have a strong consolation. I want to have an assurance of
salvation that is sure and steadfast. It cannot be moved. I've discovered that one thing
I am not is sure and steadfast. I'm so inconsistent and so unstable,
like water. How oftentimes I'm just prone
to take the path of least resistance. I need something beyond me to
give me a place where I can stand and where I can be sure. That's what the Lord's saying.
Two immutable things in which it is impossible for God to lie.
All men are liars. God alone tells the truth. Now
we're not advocating deceiving people. We're not advocating
telling lies and distorting the truth. And yet, I was thinking
about this this morning. When they went to rest the Lord
and they came back and they said, where is he? And they said, never
a man spake like this man before. Every word that you and I speak
Every word that we speak is weighed and couched and fit in to our
concern for what other people are going to think. Isn't it
true? We've never spoken a perfect word. You've never spoken a word
in perfect truth. I can't do it right now. I can't
look at you and speak without guile. Everything that comes
out of our mouth has got some concern for self in it, doesn't
it? Can you imagine what it would have been like to sit there and
look and hear the Lord speak? They came back and they said,
never a man spake like this man before. We couldn't challenge
a word he said. It wasn't just that he spoke
in truth, that he spoke the truth, but he spoke in a way that no
one's ever spoke before. It is impossible for God to lie. In some degree, every word that
comes out of our mouth is a lie. Do you see that? It's an attempt to present yourself
in a way that's acceptable and pleasing. It's impossible for
him to lie. That we might have a strong consolation
who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope that is set
before us. Oh, here's a picture of that
man who's who has committed manslaughter.
And the law says an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth,
a life for a life, a hand for a hand. That was the law of God.
And so the nearest of kin, obligated to fulfill the law, would pursue
that one who took the life of one of his family members. And
God gave to Israel. six cities of refuge where you
could flee and escape the manslayer. And if you didn't get in that
city, you were subject to the law. You would die for what you
had done, though it was an accidental death. You would die if you didn't
get to the city of refuge. And once you got to the city
of refuge, you couldn't come out. You didn't dare come out. That
manslayer was standing at the gate of that city waiting for
you if you came out. We got in the city of refuge
until the death of the high priest. What a glorious picture of our
Lord. We flee to him. Why? Because
the manslayer, the pursuer of blood is coming after us. The
law is relentless in fulfilling its demands. The Lord Jesus Christ
is the end of the law for righteousness and he provides for his people
a place of refuge, a place of safety. There's no other place
to go. To lay hold upon the hope that
is set before us. You see that manslayer? He's
running to that city of refuge. He's hoping that he gets there
before the avenger of blood catches up with him. Flee to Christ. Just flee to Christ. That's the
only safe place to be. God Almighty is pleased with
the Lord Jesus Christ. He's not pleased with you. He's
not pleased with me. He's pleased with Christ. We've got to be
found in Him, not having any of our own righteousness, which
is by the law. Men go about trying to establish
their own righteousness, being ignorant of the righteousness
of God, for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness.
But that's what the natural man does. And that's the pharisaical
spirit that remains in us, the unbelief that remains in us,
would weigh the hope of our salvation based on what he sees in our
actions. What we do and what we don't
do. Which hope we have as an anchor
of the soul. Now we have a picture of a ship
full of sailors that are fleeing the storm, and they get into
the safe harbor, and they put out the anchor, and now they're
safe. They're not gonna be destroyed
by this storm now. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
anchor of our soul, sure and steadfast. That anchor's holding. It's not slipping. I've been
on boats where the anchors gave way and you ended up being in
places you didn't want to be. This anchor is sure and steadfast
for Christ who is our, well look at it, it says, which entered
into that within the veil. Don't you love the picture when
the Lord Jesus Christ bowed his mighty head on Calvary's cross
and cried, it is finished. It's finished. Everything necessary
for your salvation has been accomplished. It's finished. Father, into thy
hands I commend my spirit, trusting the Father to the last breath
of life. He gave permission for death
to take him. And at that very moment, and
not a few, the scripture says, not a few of the priests believed.
Why did they believe? Because they saw the rending
of the veil. The holies of holies, where that
arc of the covenant was, where the high priest would go in once
a year and make a blood sacrifice on the mercy seat, and the veil
was rent. Miraculously, at that very moment,
from top to bottom, What's the Lord saying? No longer is it
necessary for you to have a priest of Aaron, a descendant of Aaron,
to make a blood sacrifice for you. For by the sacrifice of
himself, once and for all, he has put away our sin. So he went
into the veil. He was our high priest who went
in and took his own blood and put it on that mercy seat and
satisfied the demands of the law. What was inside that Ark
of the Covenant? The tablets of the law were in that Ark of
the Covenant. Aaron's rod was in the Ark of the Covenant. The
Ophir manna was in the Ark of the Covenant. God was picturing
for us the Lord Jesus Christ as our prophet, our priest, and
our king. He went in through the veil and
became the anchor for our soul. Oh Lord, would you be pleased
to make Christ known to me? He's gonna have to do it. He's
gonna have to do it. No one has asked him that. If any man come unto me, I will
in no wise cast him out. You ask God for the Spirit of
God to reveal the person and work of Christ to your soul.
He will not forbid you. He won't forbid you. He's promised
that. That's His promise. Which hope we have as an anchor
of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entered into that within
the veil, Now Paul tells us in Romans that the veil, or maybe
it was in Galatians, where the veil, I think it is Galatians,
where the veil is still upon their face because they can't
see Christ. So they're still looking at the
law. And when they read the scriptures, they don't see the scriptures
as a revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ. They see the Bible as
a rule book for Christian living. And so they go to the precepts
of scripture in order to try to figure out how to live. And
then they have to compare themselves to the law, and they either end
up being self-righteous, deceiving themselves that they're keeping
the law, or they're left with no hope whatsoever, realizing
that they can't keep the law. The veil is still in front of
their face. They can't see. Why? Because
it's not been rent. Who was it that rent the veil
in the temple that day? It was the Holy Spirit. He's
the only one that can rend the veil for us. I mean, the veil's
a picture of the body of Christ, and it's been rent. There we
have, back to Abraham, dividing the carcasses and putting them
to the side. Half the animal over here, half
the animal over here. The smoking furnace and the burning
lamp went between them. There it is, the veil's rent.
God's done it. Oh, Lord, would you give an anchor
to my soul? Lord, would you have mercy upon
this poor sinner? Would you give me the faith to
trust Christ for all my salvation? Would you do that for me? Verse 20, whether the forerunner
is for us entered the Lord Jesus
Christ, that forerunner, it's been pictured as that Anchor
boat. You know, these weren't motor-powered
ships. When they came out of the open
ocean and got to the harbor, the anchor had to be taken in,
and they pulled the boat in by the anchor. Here's the forerunner
going before us and placing the anchor of our soul, pulling us
in to safe harbor. even Jesus, made a high priest
forever after the order of Melchizedek. Now, there is some discussion,
I'll just tell you this, about whether or not Melchizedek was
an actual priest and king that lived back
then or whether he was the the pre-incarnate appearance of the
Lord Jesus Christ. I happen to hold to the latter,
but I would not make this a point of fellowship. The scriptures
aren't clear, and where the scriptures aren't clear, we cannot be dogmatic.
But everything that's said about Melchizedek is true of Christ. whether he was a pre-incarnate
appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ or whether he was another
man, God raised him up. God put him there to picture
the work of Christ as our priest. Look what he says. for this Melchizedek,
king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham
returning from the slaughter of the kings." Now, between the
time that God called Abraham in Genesis chapter 12 and the
time He confirmed the promise with that oath in Genesis chapter
15, Abraham had the division with
Lot, and Lot goes down to Sodom, and Sodom is attacked, and Lot's
taken captive, and Abraham has to go and deliver Lot. And God
gives him victory over the kings of the earth, and he brings Lot
back in chapter 14. And now Lot, Abraham, when he
comes back from the slaughter of the kings, he meets this man
called Melchizedek. And the scripture is going to
tell us about him. To whom also, verse 2, Abraham gave a tenth
part of all, first being by interpretation King of Righteousness, and after
that also King of Salem, which is King of Peace. So that's what
his name means. Melchizedek means King of Righteousness
and King of Peace. How could he be any other than
the pre-incarnate appearance of Christ? I don't know, but here's what
his name means, and here's who he is. He is our righteousness,
and he is our peace with God. You're not going to have peace
with God, apart from Christ. You don't need him to help you
have peace with God. He is your peace with God. You
don't need him to help you with your righteousness. He is your
righteousness. All our righteousnesses are as
filthy rags. We have no righteousness. Christ
is all our righteousness. Now, Abraham meets with Melchizedek,
and he goes on to further describe Melchizedek as being without
father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning
of days nor end of life. We don't know anything about
his pedigree. as would be the case with anybody else in the
scriptures. We know who their mother and
father were, when they were born, where their children were. That
was a very important part of Jewish history. And we don't
know anything about Melchizedek, which again, just gives us the
impression that he was none other than Christ himself. And here's where some say, well,
it wouldn't, made but made like unto the Son of God abideth a
priest forever. Here he was like unto the Son
of God. And some have taken that and
said, well, he wasn't really the Son of God. It was like unto
the Son of God. This is a whatever. It's a picture of Christ, no
question about it. Whether it was him actually or
whether it was another man. Now consider how great this man,
now you see that next word? That little verb was, it's in
italics in your Bible, isn't it? Doesn't belong there. It's
not a man who was, this is a man who is. Consider how great is
this man. unto whom even the patriarch
Abraham gave tenth of the spoils." So Abraham brings the spoils
back and he gives a tithe to Melchizedek. The Lord's going
to use this to show the superiority of the priesthood of the Lord
Jesus Christ, who's typified by Melchizedek, over the Aaronic
priesthood. We'll see that in just a moment.
And verily, they that are the sons of Lebi, who receive the
office of priesthood, have a commandment to take tithes of the people
according to the law, that is, of their brethren, though they
came out of the loins of Abraham. So the priest of Aaron were to
take tithes from the brethren, but now the Lord's making it
clear that Aaron was in the loins of Abraham when Abraham gave
tithes to Melchizedek. But he whose descent is not counted
from them received tithes of Abraham and blessed him that
had the promises. And without all contradiction,
the less is blessed of the better. Now here's the point the Lord's
making. If Abraham was better than Melchizedek,
then Abraham would have blessed Melchizedek. And Melchizedek
would have given tithes to Abraham, but it went the other way around. And here men that die receive
tithes, but there he received them of whom it is witnessed
that he liveth. And as I may so say, Levi also
received tithes, paying tithes in Abraham. So here, Levi, who's
receiving the tithes, actually paid the tithes from the loins
of Abraham to Melchizedek. And here's the conclusion of
the matter. Verse 10 and following, For he was yet in the loins of
his father when Melchizedek met him. If, therefore, here's the
conclusion of this whole priest discussion between Levi and Melchizedek. if, therefore, perfection were
by the Levitical priesthood, for under it the people receive
the law. So this Levitical priesthood
is bound to the law of God. And if you were to be made perfect
through the law, then there would be no need for another priest. What further need was there that
another priest should rise after the order of Melchizedek and
not be called after the order of Aaron? For the priesthood
being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of
the law." We got a new law now. The priesthood has been changed
and the law has been changed. We're not under the law. Not
under the Levitical law, we're not under the Mosaic law, we're
not under the civil law, we're not under the ceremonial law,
we're not under the dietary laws. We have a law. We're going to
deal with that in the next hour. What is our rule of life? Verse 13, for he of whom these
things are spoken pertaineth to another tribe of which no
man gave attendance at the altar. For it is evident that our Lord
sprang out of Judah, of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning
the priesthood. So the Lord Jesus Christ now,
who is our High Priest, who ever lives to make intercession for
us, he's the one who was the sacrifice and took the sacrifice
of himself to the Father that we might have a strong consolation. a sure hope of salvation, in
that it is impossible for God to lie. What God provided to
God is sure and steadfast. It is the anchor of our soul.
We don't go back to the Old Testament law. We don't go back to the
Levitical law. We don't look to those ceremonies. For it is yet far more evident
For that after the similitude of Melchizedek, there ariseth
another priest, who is made not after the law of carnal commandments,
but after the power of an endless life. Now that's what I want. Oh, I don't want you to be under
carnal commandments. I don't want to be under carnal
commandments. I want to be under one who gives to me endless life, endless life. He is our rule of life. And we'll see that in a few minutes. Let's, let's take a break. Thank you.