May it please God to bless our
souls this morning as we meditate in his word. Let's turn to Paul's
epistle to the Hebrews in chapter 6, and we'll read from verse
17 to the end of the chapter. The epistle of Paul to the Hebrews,
chapter 6, and reading from verse 17 to the end of the chapter.
wherein God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise
the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath that
by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for gods to
lie, we might have a strong consolation who hath fled for refuge, should
they hold upon the hope set before us, 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 for ever after the order of Melchizedek. the true Church of God are concerned
to know that their souls are right for eternity. And it will be a concern and
a deep concern to have the evidence that God has been and is mindful
of them and that God will indeed be with them and bring them at
last safe home to glory. And so it's a wonderful favour
that in the Word of God we have those very positive truths, those
very sure evidences that we can evaluate with regard to our own
soul's experience to have the evidence that we are amongst
those whom God has blessed and will bless and will bring safe
home to glory. Now this sentence that we read
this morning, it's one sentence, it's long isn't it, but it does
show to us the greatness of God's mercy and the greatness of God's
promises which will be fulfilled. And it's wonderful to realize
we have this great truth wherein God willing more abundantly to
show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel. Now just think how almighty God,
and we need to have some little understanding of how great God
is, and to think what a wonderful compassionate God we have, who
condescends to look upon us individually in our condition, in our situation,
and to not come and just pass us by and ignore our prayers
and ignore our cries, but one who is a prayer hearing and a
prayer answering God, and who is willing more abundantly to
show us who are the heirs of promise. Now, the great question,
of course, for us is to have the evidence that we are an heir
of God, an heir of promise. And as such you know to be part
of those who this chapter speaks about who were the heirs with
and of Abraham. We read together of the great
blessing that God granted to Abraham and how the promises
were indeed fulfilled in his life. And we should therefore
be thankful that we have evidences of these things in our life and
how important it is that we are able to trace out the evidences
of God's work in our heart for a confirmation that we are indeed
one of the heirs of promise. Well, the Lord has graciously
blessed us with the wonderful favour of the Word of God. But in this we are told and it's
necessary that we follow the Word of God because the Spirit
tells us and we desire that every one of you to show the same diligence
to the full assurance of hope unto the end. See, sometimes
people can be very negligent in their religious life, and
they can just assume everything is going to go on silently. Well,
as true believers, we should be found diligent in the things
of God, to the full assurance. What a blessing it is to have
an assurance of hope, I suppose many people shrink from claiming
an assurance. And yet you know the Word of
God is full of assurance. And it's full of assurance to
those who are able to trace out their spiritual life alongside
those who have gone before. And so here we have this statement
to the full assurance of hope unto the end. Well, the children
of God, by God's grace, as the Lord touches their heart and
moves their spirit, if they have the evidence of the work of God
within, and by that I mean that which God has done for us, which
we could not do for ourselves, is that not in itself an evidence
of God's love and of God's favour toward us. And if therefore we
are able to diligently search out the work of God within us
and to have the evidence that we are not what we once were,
that by the Spirit of God we have been made alive unto salvation,
then to the glory of God, should that not bring us into this position,
that there is that full assurance of hope. Now, it is really a
hope that these verses home in on this morning. And it's a wonderful
blessing to be favoured with that good hope, through grace,
that it is well with our souls. And so the Apostle tells us that
ye be not slothful. The devil wants you and me to
be slothful. And he's pretty successful, you
know, in the day and age in which we live. There's a lot of slothfulness
in our religion today. But that's why, bless God, we
are given this exhortation, and perhaps we might say this reminder,
that we are not slothful. And what does that mean? It means
that we put the things of God first, and the things of time
follow in a secondary position. We have to deal with the things
of time, we have to work for our living, but may we not allow
the things of time to be first, because surely what that means
is we are being slothful. And so here we have this gracious
word that ye be not slothful, but, and we have examples, but
followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the
promises. There are many examples in the
word of God of the children of God who were indeed not slothful. And what a blessing it is, therefore
we're able to follow their examples. Well, you can go through the
Word of God and I mean, you see how they were not slothful. Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob, they were not slothful in their spiritual lives. Come to the New Testament and
you see the apostles, they were not slothful in their religious
lives. And they were blessed as they
walked in accordance with the Word of God. Be not slothful,
but followers of them who, through faith and patience, inherit the
promises. And then we're told, four, when
God made promise to Abraham. God made promise to Abraham,
and perhaps God has made promises to us. And the temptation is that the
devil will say, well, of course, that wasn't really from me. Well,
you can turn to the word of God and you can prove to the devil
that it was from the Lord. And so we read these words regarding
Abraham, made promise to Abraham because he could swear by no
greater, he swear by himself. God swear by himself. Can be
no greater than that, can there? saying surely blessing I will
bless thee and multiplying I will multiply thee. Now did that promise
fail? Did it fail? No it didn't. Was it tested? Yes it was. Faith is tested. Our spiritual
life is tested and yet The promises of God stand sure. And therefore we can thank God
today. We have such a word as this, saying, surely blessing
I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee. And so,
after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. There
is, therefore, the necessity in our spiritual life of enduring
and being patient. That really means, very simply,
we are not to give up. By God's grace we are to persevere. As I often say, the Christian
life is not an easy life, it never has been, it never will
be. But what a favour to have the evidence that God is teaching
us and God is leading us and God is dealing with us as sons
and daughters of the Most High God. Paul goes on, for men verily
swear by the greater and an oath for confirmation is to them an
end of all strife. Well, that was the position given
to Abraham. how God graciously fulfilled
that promise. And therefore, we now come to
these words we read this morning. And the whole reason for these
words is to really confirm in our heart the good hope that
we have through faith that it is well with our souls. And it's wonderful to be able
to follow the reasoning of the Apostle as he spells out to us
the blessing of God. And so he tells us, wherefore
God, wherefore God, none less. The Almighty God dealing with
our souls. What a privilege, what a blessing,
what a favour. How many there are today, always
have been, who've been passed by. The Lord has come, as he
did to Abraham. Abraham was called, wasn't he?
He was called out of Ur of the Chaldees, an ungodly town it
was. The Lord had a purpose of love
to his soul. What a mercy if the Lord has
a purpose of love to our souls, to your soul and my soul, so
that This word is true. This great God, willingly, more
abundantly, to show unto us, who are the heirs of promise,
the immutability of his counsel. That means that which will not
fail. Something which is immutable
will not fail. Because God has said, God has
spoken of his counsel and confirmed it by an oath. Well, the counsel
of God in eternity past was to visit, to come to, and to bless
his people. And such counsel will not be
overturned. It wasn't overturned in the case
which is set before us here with regard to Abraham. And amazing
as it is, it's nonetheless true with regard to each believing
soul. And so if the Lord has blessed
you and me with that humble faith to believe in the Word of God,
in the promises of God, we can recognise that the Lord has a
favour to us in like manner as he did to Abraham and in like
manner as he's done to all the Church of God. And as the Apostle
goes on and tells us, it is by these two things, these two immutable
things which cannot be changed, in which it was impossible for
God to lie. God is truth. The Word of God
is truth. Isn't that a wonderful consolation
to us to think that the Lord is perfect and he is so right
and so truthful, no lie at all, in the least vestige of any untruth
emanates from Almighty God. So those things which God may
have encouraged you and me in are true because they emanate
from this great God who tells us these things that by two immutable
things it is impossible for God to lie. And because of that,
he says, we might have a strong consolation. A strong thought,
a strong truth, a strong consideration of God's wonderful consolation
toward us. Bad as we may feel to be. Sin
as we may feel to be. Far off, perhaps as we have been. realise we have this truth, we
might. We might have a strong consolation. And you see, if we are to be
blessed with this assurance, we do need to have a strong consolation. A strong consolation. Who have fled for refuge, to
lay hold upon the hope set before us. Well, what does that mean? It means quite simply this, and
very truthfully it is that the whole Church of God flee for
refuge. In the Word of God it's wonderful
to think that there were those cities of refuge which were given
to the people of God, they were set aside, they were built, So
that if there were those who were condemned wrongly, they
were able to come and to escape to those cities of refuge and
they were safe in that place. Now today we have a far greater
refuge than of course any cities that we can flee unto. And what
is that refuge? none less than the Lord Jesus
Christ. And so he tells us, we have a
strong consolation who have fled for refuge. Fleeing means to
run, doesn't it? We get the impression, don't
we, running as fast as we can because we're very fearful of
our situation. When those people who had perhaps
killed somebody inadvertently, and the only way of safety was
to get to a city of refuge, they would have run as fast as they
could. They didn't want to be caught
before they got to that city of refuge. Surely it's true today. When the blessed Spirit of God
alerts us to our desperate need of salvation, to be found fleeing,
running as fast as we can to the Lord Jesus Christ. Because don't forget the devil's
on your track. He'll try and stop you. He'll
try and not let you flee to Christ. But what a blessing if we have
that strength given us to flee, flee to this refuge, have fled for refuge,
because it's not something which will not be satisfying. The word
tells us here, have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope
set before us. This is not something which is
not tangible. This is something which the Word
of God describes to us very clearly, a good hope, a hope in the mercy
of God, a hope in the favour of God, a hope in the blessed
sacrifice that the Lord Jesus Christ did when he gave himself
to save our souls. Here it is, then fled for refuge. the true Church of God, everyone
flees to Christ. We have to ask ourselves the
question this morning, are we amongst those who fled to the
Saviour, fled for refuge? We read it here in the New Testament,
of course it's very much in the Old Testament, and we think of
the Psalms of David, when David speaks to us and he says, God
is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. And
then he tells us, and this is, isn't it, this is confirmation
And this is assurance, he says, therefore will not we fear. Though the earth be removed,
and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea, though
the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains
shake with a swelling thereof, however much opposition there
appears to have, God is our refuge. And so it is today with regards
to the Blessed Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is a refuge
for sinners. The gospel makes known, is found
in the merits of Jesus' aloneness. Neither refuge that would make
any satisfaction, would be any true support and strength to
us, any true place of hiding, this refuge. And so may we have
the evidence and the strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay
hold upon the hope set before us. Now, the next verse speaks
very positively and it tells us this, which hope we have as
an anchor of the soul. We're not talking about our natural
life, our natural bodies. We must be concerned about the
spiritual state of our soul. And so it is here, the apostle
says, which hope we have as an anchor of the soul. Now I'm sure we know what an
anchor is. I'm sure all you young people
know what an anchor is. And boats, of course, need anchors. They need anchors today. If they
need to stop in a certain place, if they don't put an anchor down,
if the anchor doesn't hold them, then by the wind and the waves
and the currents, they'll be moved. And it's important, therefore,
that boats have a good anchor so that they are not moved. And
we today, we need an anchor. We need a sure anchor, which
is both sure and steadfast. Well, what is the anchor of the
soul? It's that which is the refuge.
It's the Lord Jesus Christ. And so, what a wonderful thing
it is to have such an anchor. What a great blessing it is and
what do we read about it? That's the hope we have and it's
a good hope. We read that chapter in the second
epistle of the Thessalonians really for that very reason that
the apostle refers to this and he tells us wonderful verse,
the penultimate verse in this second chapter, the second of
Thessalonians, where it is now, our Lord Jesus Christ himself
and God, even our Father, which has loved us and has given us
everlasting consolation and good hope through grace Comfort your
hearts and establish you in every good word and work. Well, let us ponder and meditate
and think upon such great words. It's a very full verse, isn't
it? And of course I did include the last one, 17, which hath
loved us. I think that the Lord Jesus Christ
and God hath loved us. And it's only because God has
loved us that he's shone his light into our hearts and therefore
we have this evidence and we have this desire then. And we
have then, by his grace, fled for refuge. which hope we have
as an anchor of the soul. What does the anchor do? As I
said, it holds the ship firm. My friends, what does Christ
do? He holds his people. He holds us firm against all
the storms, against all the winds, against all the opposition which
you and I face day by day. Yes, this is The words that the
Apostle is able to bring forth and has given us. Not something
which is just passing. An everlasting consolation. Everlasting. And a good hope
through his grace. And of course it is his glorious
grace which comes and touches our hearts. And causes us to
consider our ways. brings us to recognise our lost
and ruined state, brings us to that place where we have to flee
to Christ, because there's no alternative. It's the only way of salvation,
the only place of salvation, to be found ourselves in Christ. Now then, The Apostle says, both
sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the
veil. We have here a very wonderful
picture. Take your mind back to the Old
Testament. Take your mind back to the tabernacle
and the temple. What do we see there? We see
the Holy of Holies. What do we see? Separated by
that great veil. And the only person who was allowed
to penetrate that veil was the high priest, and only once a
year, and that not without blood. Blood sprinkled for himself,
blood sprinkled for Israel as a whole upon the mercy seat. And here we have the picture
of this anchor within the veil, because the Lord Jesus Christ
has entered within the veil. And the wonder of it is, and
it's a lovely picture to just ponder and think about, that
there in Old Testament times, there was no entrance into the
holy place without shed blood, the blood of the slain animal.
There was no way because they would have disobeyed the way
into the holiest. The Lord Jesus Christ obtained
entrance into the holy place, the most holy place with his
own blood. And what did it typify? The holy
of holies typified heaven. And that's where Christ is today
in heaven. He's entered through the veil.
He's in glory today. He's our anchor. That's where
we go in prayer. Do we then have this good and
solid hope? Do we have this wonderful assurance
that we do pray to a God who hears and answers prayer? Do we do pray to a God who has
indeed entered in and has shed his blood on our behalf to take
away our sins? Yes, which entereth into that
within the veil. His anchors entered into and
we're told what he is. The last verse tells us whether
the forerunner is for us entered even Jesus. We don't have to
just imagine anything, we have the truth set before us here. We have today entered in to the
holy place, entered in to the place of glory, heaven itself,
that one who is the forerunner. He has run the race. And he's
entered in, within the veil, he's entered in to glory itself. My friends today, may we realise
the wonder and glory of him and realise what an anchor he is. Don't forget, he's an anchor
to the soul. So you see, when we have this
spiritual need, where do we go? We go to Christ. the Saviour of sinners, the One
who gave His life, that we might receive life. It's so important,
this consideration that we have of our soul. I mentioned it recently
and it's just worth mentioning again. The Psalmist David, when he was speaking about his
soul. And he tells us in the 42nd Psalm,
he says, Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted
within me? Now he was asking his soul a
question. And it's good for us to examine
ourselves and ask ourselves a question. Why art thou cast down, O my
soul? And why art thou disquieted within
me? And then he answers his soul. And he answers his soul in this
way. Hope. Hope. Hope in what? Hope thou in God. Hope thou in God. And we see
his confidence rising as he says, For I shall yet praise him. You see, he believed that he
was coming to a God who heard and answered prayer. This God
had entered within the veil, even Jesus. There he is today,
in glory, on the throne in heaven, interceding for his people. What a wonderful blessing it
is to have such a Savior. For I shall yet praise him, who
is the health of my countenance, and my God." He was the health
of his countenance and his God. Well, what a confidence really
David had, didn't he? And what a confidence, by God's
grace, God's people do have. And you know, the devil is always
at our heels, turning us away from the truth of God's Word,
and trying to confound us, and trying to insinuate that, well,
this may be all right for other people, but you don't measure
up to this position, and there's no hope for you. Well, it's not
a question of measuring up. It's a question of having faith
in God. It's a question of being blessed
with the wonderful faith to believe in these great and glorious truths
and to acknowledge the wonderful favour and mercy of God and to
be so thankful that if we have received this grace of God to
flee to Christ. Well, this morning, my friends,
have you the wonderful blessing in your heart, the evidence that
there has been a time when you fled to this refuge, the Lord
Jesus Christ. Again, going back to the analogy,
you see, those people didn't flee unless they were in terror
of their life. And God's people are brought
to that place, aren't they? Where they have to flee. And
they come and say, no help in self I've found. And yet it's
sorted well, we do sometimes look to ourselves. We have to
give up everything which is of the flesh and come with nothing. Nothing in my hand I bring. Simply to thy cross I cling. What a safe place that is because
we're not resting on ourselves. We're coming to this great and
glorious refuge. We're coming to this living God
who is alive today. The one who is in glory. interceding
for us in heaven's high court. Well, that surely is the picture
that we have here. And it's a picture of good hope. And it's a picture of that which
the Apostle was able to testify because, by God's grace, he had
experienced it. He'd walked through it. He knew
the necessity of being blessed with that faith in what Christ
had done, and as such, to flee with that strong consolation,
that belief, the Lord would look upon him. The Lord would have
mercy upon him. Let's go back to the beginning.
We're in God. See, this is where our faith
rests, not in self, in God. We are in God, willing more abundantly
to show unto the heirs of promise. Now, to think that God has condescended
to show you and to show me the wonder of his grace and his love
and the wonder of that great plan of salvation and the wonder
to know that he has indeed gone to prepare a place for us. To
realize, therefore, that the truths that God has given to
us are true. God cannot lie. It's impossible. And therefore, may we be encouraged
by it. And may it be a strong comfort
to us, a strong comfort to us, to realize that these truths
will never fail. There is a God in heaven, as
Daniel said. We don't come to the unknown
God, we come to the ever-living and true God who has given us
his word. The Lord Jesus tells us in the
17th chapter of John, thy word is truth and it is, and we should
be thankful for it. And let us tell the devil so,
so that he may flee from us. You know, we resist the devil
by the Word of God, the sword of the Spirit. What a blessing
it is then to be able to tell him, yes, I believe in the Word
of God. That's what I rely upon, the
promises and the truth. And by his grace, I fled to Christ
for refuge. I fled to Christ for safety. The city of refuge was safety
to those who arrived there. The Lord Jesus Christ's safety
to his people is once in him, in him forever. There's no falling
out of grace. Once in him, in him forever. That's really what we read here. For it is impossible for those
who were once enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly things
and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost It's impossible then
to fall out of the grace of God. And so may we be encouraged this
morning as we're able to think on these great truths and realize
that we have a blessed Savior who has entered into glory. Yes,
he's fought the good fight. He's run the race on our behalf
and to come to him. in this way, which hope we have. Well, this morning, I hope we
do have a hope. And I do have hope. It's a good
hope, not a false hope. What is it? A God-given hope. It's not a vain hope. It's a
good hope. And if God has given us a good
hope, we can believe it will be well with our souls. We can believe that our souls
are eternally safe through what the Saviour has done in dying
that sinatonic death and conquering Satan and rose from the dead,
ascended into glory and there today interceding for his people. Well, may our souls be encouraged. May we be thankful today. May
we recognize this great truth, which hope we have as an anchor
of the soul. My friends, Christ is the anchor
of the soul of his people. And may Christ be your anchor
and my anchor today. And as such, may we know it is
sure and steadfast. It cannot be moved. the Saviour
has entered in to glory within the veil to intercede for us
and so may we indeed go indeed in the strength of the Lord God
making mention of his righteousness even of his only for his glory
and for our strengthening and blessing and encouragement to
thank God that we have such a great and glorious Saviour. Amen.