Let us turn to God's Word in
that portion we were reading in the epistle to the Hebrews. There in chapter 6, and I'll
read the latter part of the chapter from verse 18 through to the
end. Hebrews 6, 18 through 20. that by two immutable things,
in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong
consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay 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 and high priest, forever. after the order of Melchizedek. Here then at the end of Hebrews
6 verse 18 through 20. And some of you may recall that
a week ago Thursday The last time I was preaching here, we
were in this particular passage on that occasion, the prayer
meeting, and looked in particular at those words towards the end
of verse 18, where we read of the refuge, who were fed for
refuge, to lay hold upon the hope set before us. And we sought
to say something then with regards to the believers' refuge that
is spoken of in that particular portion who have fled for refuge. You may recall that we actually
read back in the Old Testament in number 35 the accounts of
those cities of refuge that were provided. for the manslayer,
the person who was not guilty of an act of murder but we might
say it was manslaughter, it was not an intentional killing and
it was a place where such a person could find refuge from the person
that might pursue him and it all of course is pointing to
that refuge that sinners find in the person and the work of
the Lord Jesus Christ who have fled for refuge. What a glorious refuge there
is in the promise of God and of course in this passage we
see how the Apostle is speaking very much of that great promise,
the promise to Abraham. Verse 12 he speaks of those who
through faith and patience inherited the promises And then goes on
to speak of that promise made to Abraham, when because God
could swear by no greater, He swore by Himself, saying, Surely
blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee. He's referring to those words
back in Genesis 22, and that promise that God made after He
had made provision of a ram for a sacrifice in place of Isaac. God has been testing the faith
of his servant Abraham, commanding him to take his son, his only
son, and to make him a sacrifice there upon the Mount Moriah.
But the Lord God, of course, provides a ram. Isaac is received,
as he were, back from the dead. And because Abraham was obedient,
God announces that great blessing. Surely blessing I will bless
thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee. And he goes on
to say how in Abram's seed all the nations of the earth are
going to be blessed. So the promise really to Abram
eventually centers in the person of the Lord Jesus. To Abram and
his seed were the promises made. He said not unto seeds as of
many, but as of one, unto thy seed. which is Christ. Christ is that seed of Abraham,
that promised one, and that is the only place of refuge when
we run to the Lord Jesus Christ and find that place of safety
and that place of security, the hope. He goes on to speak of
the hope set before us. And it's that, really, that I
want to turn to more particularly this evening. We've said something
with regards to the believers' refuge on that Thursday evening,
about ten days ago, but now to try to say something with what
follows. Fleeing for refuge, it says,
to lay hold upon the hope set before us, which hope we have
as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which
enter into that within the veil, whither the forerunner is for
us entered even Jesus, made and high priest forever after the
order of Melchizedek." Now, again, we have to take account, of course,
here of the context in which these words are said. You remember
how we've remarked that previously we have that very solemn passage
in which he speaks of those whose faith appeared to be so genuine
and yet it was not true faith, it was a false faith. Those words
that we have at verse 4 following how it is impossible to those
who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift,
and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the
good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, what favours
these people have known, enlightened, tasting the heavenly gift, partaking
of the Holy Ghost, tasting the good word of God, and so on.
And yet, we read they fought away. verse 6, if they shall
fall away it's impossible to renew them again unto repentance
seeing they crucified themselves as son of God and put him to
an open shame for they are apostates and there's no hope of any restoration
for them very searching passage of scripture maybe sometimes
we read those words and they make us tremble Because these are people who
have been greatly favoured, it would appear. You could think
of someone like Balaam and all that Balaam was able to prophesy. And yet, what of Balaam? And what of these characters?
But then, having written these words, the Apostle goes on, doesn't
he, at verse 9, But beloved, we are persuaded better things
of you, and things that accompany salvation. though with us speak. And then we have this great passage
in which we read of that promise of God and that confirmation
of the promise as God swears by Himself. And so it comes down
to the words before us tonight, these two immutable, these two
unchangeable things, the Word, the promise of God and the oath
of God. Oh, what strong consolation,
what safety, what security if we fled for refuge. that refuge
that we were thinking of last time. And now to consider what
he goes on to say, laying hold of the hope that is set before
us. You see, the believer's faith,
and this is the difference between the characters that are being
spoken of in that passage from verse 4 through to verse 6, those
whose faith is spurious and false, although it seems to be quite
remarkable, the difference between those and the others that the
Apostle is speaking of, of whom he is persuaded better things,
the difference is that their faith is joined to hope. Their
faith is joined to hope. How important hope is, as well
as faith. He says at verse 11, We desire
that every one of you do show the same diligence to the full
assurance of hope onto the ends and it is this thing that I really
want to take up that of hope the great Puritan divine Dr. John Owen remarks here where
faith begets no hope it is to be feared that faith is not genuine
true faith is fruitful through faith amongst other things it
begets hope and what the Puritan is saying is that where faith
begets no hope at all we are to fear that that is not genuine
faith well let us look at these words, the words really that
I want to concentrate on at the end of verse 18 to lay hold upon
the hope set before us and I want to consider this hope from two
different perspectives first of all to say something with
regards to the hope of heaven and then secondly to say something
with regards to the enduring of this hope firstly then the
hope of heaven And isn't that really what we have in the expression
at the end of this 18th verse? And what he goes on to say in
the following verses, "...shall I hold upon the hope set before
us, which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure
and steadfast, and which enters into that within the veil, that
is, heaven, whither the forerunner is for us entered even Jesus,
made an High Priest forever after the order of Melchizedek." it's
not so much the grace of hope then that we see here but the
heaven hoped for the hope of enjoying God's presence God's
presence at the end and God's presence forever and forever
that that is within the veil heaven, the place where Christ
is. We know that that is the case.
He rose again from the dead on the third day, and after showing
Himself to His disciples for forty days, by all those infallible
proofs, the reality of His erection, and then He ascends to heaven
and they behold Him. We have the account there at
the beginning of the Acts of the Apostles. And here doesn't
the Apostle remind us of where Christ is in chapter 9? Verse
24 he says Christ is not entered into the holy places made with
hands. He's been speaking of the Old
Testament tabernacle and got special presence there in the
Holy of Holies where was the Ark of the Covenant and the Mercy
Seat. But Christ is not entered into the holy places made with
hands, which are the figures of the true, but, he says, into
heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us. Oh, remember what we have in
the Old Testament, the typology and the prefiguring in that Old
Testament worship. at the tabernacle, and the promise
that God had given concerning His presence. When Moses receives
all those commandments concerning the making of the Ark and the
Mercy Seat, God says, There will I meet with thee, and there will
I commune with thee from above the Mercy Seat, from between
the two cherubim. And it was God's presence, of
course, that was the glory of that tabernacle, the center of
all their worship. Though the psalmist is mindful
of that, Salem also is his tabernacle, his dwelling place in Zion. David had removed the tabernacle. He'd taken it from Shiloh had
removed it to Jerusalem, and there in due time, in the reign
of King Solomon, it was replaced, the tabernacle, the tent of meeting,
replaced with the Temple of the Lord. And that was the glory
of Israel. And in many ways, as it speaks
of the presence of God in the midst of His people, so it speaks
very plainly of heaven. Heaven, that place where God
unveils his face, where they see the beatic vision, the glory
of God. And remember how when we come
to the book of the Revelation, heaven is spoken of in terms
of the place where the tabernacle is. We have it there in the 21st
chapter, right towards the end of the the book of the Revelation
there in chapter 21 and verse 3 John says I heard a great voice
out of heaven saying behold the tabernacle of God is with men
and he will dwell with them and they shall be his people and
God himself shall be with them and be their God and God shall
wipe away all tears from their eyes And there shall be no more
death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more
pain, for the former things are past away. And he that sat upon
the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. All the tabernacle
of God is with men, God's presence. Later in the chapter he says,
I saw no temple therein, for the Lord God Almighty and the
Lamb are the temple of it. What we have in the Old Testament
then with regards to the tabernacle, the temple, and God's presence
there in the Holy of Holies, the Shekinah glory, it's all
as it were a type of heaven itself, the place where God dwells in
the midst of his people. And it is, of course, the very
presence of God and the presence of God in the Lord Jesus Christ
that makes it heaven. There are some who desire to know Christ that they
might go to heaven, but the true believer only wants heaven because
he knows that there he will be with Christ. It's not Christ
for heaven with the true believer. Oh no, what makes heaven such
a glorious place is Christ. He is the center of all the divine
glory there in heaven. And we're told aren't we again
there in that 21st chapter, the city had no need of the sun.
night of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God did
lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof." It's the hope
of heaven that we have here in the text, laying hold upon the
hope set before us, that hope of heaven itself. The Lamb is
all the glory. In Immanuel's language of of
Samuel Rutherford, that lovely hymn of course that's based very
much upon the letters of Rutherford and Ross Cousins taking those
letters and setting some of the precious truths in them to verse
The Sounds of Time are Sinking, The Dawn of Heaven Breaks all
based on the writings of Rutherford and that recurring theme is all
the glory in Emmanuel's land. The psalmist says, Whom have
I in heaven but thee? And there is none upon earth
that I desire beside thee. Faith and hope, do they not center
in the Lord Jesus Christ? If we have faith now it centers
in Christ. It's always looking on to Jesus.
The author and finisher of our faith and as with faith so also
with hope that also centers in Christ as in God raised us up
together and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ
Jesus faith experiences the grace of God in this world what does
hope do? it expects the glory of God in
another world there's a relationship between these two then what we
have now in faith we anticipate we will experience the fullness
of that blessing where grace will become glory but all centering
in the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ to lay
hold then upon the hope set before us And he goes on to speak of the great high priest, even the
Lord Jesus himself, the forerunner, who has entered heaven and the
priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. But then, here
in the second place, we also have the endurance. The endurance
of hope. that hope that is persevering
and persevering to the very end it endures and we see that don't
we in that passage that we were reading in Romans chapter 5 and
how Paul there clearly speaks of what hope is Not only so,
he says, we glory in tribulations also, knowing that tribulations
work at patience, and patience, experience, and experience, hope,
and don't make us not ashamed because the love of God is shed
abroad in our hearts. It's another one of those golden
chains, as it were. We have the other golden chain
there in Later in Romans 8, you remember, whom he foreknew, he
also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son, that
he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Then whom he predestinated,
he also called, and whom he called, he also justified, and whom he
justified, he also glorified. Remarkable chains that we find
the apostle setting before us and I say again we have something
similar in what he says previously there in Romans 5 at verse 3
following not only so we glory in tribulation also knowing that
tribulation worketh patience or endurance patience worketh
experience and experience worketh hope and hope maketh not ashamed
or there is something enduring with regards to this grace of
hope and again the Apostle reminds us of this to the Thessalonians
he speaks of your work of faith and labor of love and patience
or endurance of hope in 2nd Thessalonians 1 through
8 We learn something with regards to these graces. What does faith do? It works. Your work of faith, what does
love do? It labours. Your labour of love. And what does hope do? It endures,
it's patient. We know how faith works. We're told, aren't we, we read
of faith which worketh by love. Bringing faith and love together,
there's work. And James is the one, of course,
who brings this out very strikingly in his epistle. You know the
passage there in the second chapter, verse 17. the following verse
is even so faith he says if it hath not works he's dead being
alone yeah if a man say thou hast faith and I have works show
me thy faith without thy works I will show thee my faith by
my works thou believest there is one God thou doest well the
devils also believe and tremble it's not enough to say I believe
the devils believe Even in hell, you see, there's
not unbelief. In many ways, isn't that the
most dreadful aspect? Facing the unbeliever. He goes
to hell. He's an unbeliever. But there's
no unbelief in hell. The devils believe. And there,
you see, the devils, they know that God is. and they are eternally
cut off from God. He made them in His image, He
created them after His likeness man, He's made for God. And the torment eternally cut
off from the only true source of any joy. Thou believest there
is one God, thou doest well the devils also believe and tremble. But know, O vain man, that faith
without works is dead. It is not true faith, it is not
living faith. Faith is something that works. And of course John brings that
out also, doesn't he, in his epistle. How we are to manifest
our faith towards God by our love towards the brethren. And
that ministry that we are to seek to exercise to them. but
we're thinking more particularly of hope faith worketh by love your work of faith your labour of love but then
also your patience of hope or your endurance
this is what hope does, hope endures You see what hope does,
it follows the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what he says here, isn't
it, in the passage. "...to lay hold upon the hope
set before us, which hope we have as an anchor of the soul,
both sure and steadfast, which enter us 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
Lord Jesus is spoken of as the forerunner. He's gone before
and what are these to do that to be following the Lord Jesus
in the way. Hope follows Christ to heaven. that he doesn't just want to
go to the place where Christ is, but he wants to follow Christ
in the way in which he himself has gone. It follows him, as
the forerunner, the one who has gone before. And so there is
that continual looking onto Jesus, the author and finisher of our
faith. who for the joy set before him
endured the cross, despising the shame, and he sat down on
the right hand of the throne of God." Oh, looking unto Jesus,
and as we're looking, we're following. And what of the way the Lord
Jesus has gone? Well, we read of Him who, in
the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayer and supplication,
with strong crying and tears, unto Him that was able to save
Him from death and was hurt. in that he feared. Though he
were a son, yet learned the obedience by the things that he suffered. That's the way the Lord has gone.
That's the way the Lord has gone. What he has endured. What he
has endured of the contradiction of sinners against himself. And
not only that, what he bore, what he bore of the wrath of
God there when he suffered for his people in their room and
in their state. and we must in some measure know
the fellowship of those sufferings being made conformable unto His
death or no wonder then it's the patience or the endurance,
the endurance of hope we looked at those words didn't
we again also quite recently verse 12 be not slothful not
to be slothful not to be at ease well to them that are at ease
in Zion be not slothful but followers of them who through faith and
patience inherit the promises oh and the contrast the contrast
that we have in this whole chapter there are those you see who fall
away those who have a the faith that
on the surface seems to be so remarkable, and yet they fall
away. There in verse 6. They're apostates. The hypocrite's hope, says Job,
shall perish. The hypocrite's hope shall perish. They fall away. But, beloved,
we are persuaded better things of you and things that accompany
salvation all this is what the believer is to do then is to
endure is to persevere rejoicing in hope patient in tribulation
continuing instant in prayer the exhortation that Paul is
giving those believers there in Romans chapter 12 Oh, there's a rejoicing with
this hope, but there's also a patience enduring in the midst of tribulations
and troubles. There's that necessity to be
continually in prayer, continuing in prayers to God. Oh, what a hope is this! Hope
maketh not ashamed, says the Apostle. hope make us not ashamed
but the love of God is shed abroad in the heart which hope we have he says here
as an anchor of the soul both sure and steadfast and which
enters into that within the veil how hope is likened to an anchor
And how vital a piece of equipment that anchor must be on board
ship. How when the anchor is cast overboard,
so it will fix itself somewhere in the bottom of the sea and
secure the ship. But hope doesn't descend, hope
ascends. Hope ascends, it's fixed in heaven. It goes where God is, the God
who is spoken of here. Willing more abundantly to show
unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel.
How he confirmed it by an oath. All what God had
purposed, what God had promised, he confirmed by an oath, he swore
by himself. And that's where hope anchors.
it anchors in God that God who has exalted his word above all his
name magnified his word because he swore by himself if his word
fails he fails and if God fails he is no more God the anchor then, the anchor of
hope it's fixed in heaven But it's that place where the Lord
Jesus Christ himself has gone. And wasn't that Abraham's hope? I've referred many, many, many
times to what we read there in Romans 4 concerning the faith
of Abraham. How he was justified by faith,
that's what Paul is demonstrating quite plainly in that fourth
chapter. He was justified by faith. But
we have to be careful because if we don't read God's Word properly
we'll probably begin to conclude that it was his faith that was
the grounds of his justification. Well it's not the grace of faith,
it's the object of faith. as he's made clear at the end.
And the object of that faith was the son, the seed, Isaac. But Isaac, of course, a remarkable
type of the Lord Jesus. Abraham's faith centered in the
Lord Jesus. But what a remarkable miracle was the birth of Isaac. And there with the birth of Isaac
we see not only the faith of Abraham, we see the hope. And
doesn't the Apostle bring that out quite clearly at the end
of that particular chapter? Romans 4, verse 18, it forces
of Abraham who against hope, believed in hope that he might
become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken,
so shall thy seed burn. And being not weak in faith,
he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about a
hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb.
He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but
was strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully persuaded
that what he had promised he was able also to perform. and
therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. What was imputed? It was that that was the object
of his faith, the seed, Isaac. But Abraham's true seed is Christ,
the seed not of many, but as of one. And to thy seed which
is Christ, as we read in Galatians, that one of whom Isaac was the
type without his manna to hope he's a hundred years old Sarah
is well past the age of childbirth and yet here is the promise of
God Sarah is to have the son it's a miracle birth and of course
it's all not surprising in that if Isaac is the type of the Lord
Jesus, does it not anticipate a far greater miracle than Sarah
conceiving in her old age? Because when we come to the New
Testament, Abram's true seed, the Lord Jesus, is conceived
by the Holy Ghost in the womb of a virgin. A virgin birth. All the ways of God, and the
wonders of the ways of God. And this is a God that we have
to do with in faith and in hope. You know when Abraham held that
little babe Isaac in his arms, think of it, it was only really
a fuller enjoyment of what he had tasted before in hope. He'd
already tasted that in hope, that was his hope. And now he
actually has what he had hoped for, the babe. He enjoyed then
in possession what previously he was tasting in hope. I like
this definition of hope. Hope is a present experience
based on a future expectation. How can we define what hope is
and how hope is different to faith? Hope is a present experience
based on a future expectation. What is our expectation? It's
heaven. it's heaven isn't it? and that's
what we have here that's what we have here the
hope of heaven that hope that endures as Abraham's hope endured
against hope he believed in hope and again Paul there in Romans
Romans 8.24 what does he say We're saved by hope. But hope
that is seen is not hope. For what a man seeth, why doth
he yet hope for it? But if we hope for that we see
not, then do we, with patience, expect it? It's the endurance,
it's the endurance, the endurance of hope. And this is what's set
before us here, all to lay hold, to lay hold upon the hope set
before us. It doesn't only remind us of
Abraham, it reminds us also of Jacob. Remember Jacob laying
hold there in Genesis 32 where the angel wrestles with him. And the angel prevails and Jacob
is touched and he can no longer wrestle and now he's clinging
and cleaving and then the angel says to let him go and he says,
I will not let thee go except thou bless me or the faith, the
faith of Jacobus, the faith of Abraham how these would lay hold. And so we have it here in the
text, this hope of the believer, this hope that is in the Lord
Jesus Christ, who were fled for refuge, to lay hold upon the
hope set before us. It's set before us here then
in the Word of God. Oh God grant that like Abraham
we might be those who Hope against hope. Believing what God has promised
and resting our faith in the fact that God will accomplish
all that goodwill and pleasure. Well, the Lord be pleased to
bless this word to us tonight. We're going to conclude our worship
now as we sing the hymn 244. The tune is Jazer. 164. Our Jesus is the God of hope. He works it by His power. It
holds the weak believer up in the distressing hour. 244, June
164.