Let us turn to the Word of God,
directing you to words that we find tonight in Hebrews chapter
6 at verse 12. Hebrews 6.12, the portion, the
chapter that we read, Hebrews chapter 6 and the 12th verse,
that ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through
faith and patience inherit the promises. But ye be not slothful,
but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the
promises. Previous to this we have those
very solemn words, searching words, the verse 4 following, It is impossible, we're told,
for 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,
if they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance, seeing
they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh and put Him
to an open shame. But then here, Paul speaks of a different spirit,
that that he desires to see manifest in these Hebrew believers, that
they are not soulful. but followers of them who through
faith and patience inherit the promises. And so the theme I
want to address is that of the inheriting of the promises by
faith. The inheriting of the promises
by faith. And dividing the subject matter
into these two basic parts to consider first of all the promises
and then the inheritance or the possession of those promises. That two-fold division. First
of all to say something with regards to the promises. We desire, he says at verse 11,
that every one of you do show the same diligence to the full
assurance of hope unto the end that ye be not slothful but followers
of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises."
Well, what are we to understand by this reference to the promises? Well, see how the Apostle goes
on to speak of the promise that was made to Abraham. when God
made promise to Abraham, we read in verse 13. Because he could
swear by no greater, he swore by himself, saying, Surely blessing
I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee. The chief, the principle of all
the promises of God is surely that promise that was given to
Abraham. God made promise to Abraham it
is. And what was that promise that
was made to Abraham? What is being referred to here
in verse 13? Well it is the promise, and you
might see this in the in the reference, in the margin, it
is the promise that was given back in Genesis chapter 22. That's promise that concerns
Abraham's son and the son of promise was of course Isaac. There in that 22nd chapter of
the book of Genesis how God tries the faith of Abraham. He is commanded to take his son,
his only son, the son of promise, Isaac, and to offer him for a
sacrifice. And he is willing to obey the
commandment of God. He has faith in God, who has
given the son, who has fulfilled the promise, that that promise
cannot be lost. And how the Lord God makes that
provision. Isaac of course is not sacrificed,
there is that ram that is to be sacrificed in place of Isaac
the promised seed. And then there at verse 16. God
says, By myself have I sworn, for because thou hast done this
thing, and hast not without thy Son, thine only Son, that in
blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply
thy seed, as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which
is upon the seashore, and thy seed shall possess the gate of
his enemies, and in thy seed shall all the nations of the
earth be blessed because thou hast obeyed my voice." Now, it
is evident that that passage that we've just read there in
Genesis 22 is the very portion that the Apostle is mindful of
here in Hebrews chapter 6 and verses 13 and 14. And that promised to Abraham centers in
the seed, the seed of Abraham. Previous to that of course we
have mentioned of the seed of the woman if we go right back
to Genesis chapter 3 and that sad solemn account of the entrance
of sin into the world that God had made very good, the fall
of Adam and Eve And there, in the very context of man's sin,
we have that first Gospel promise. And there the words that are
spoken to the serpent, who was a very instrument of Satan in
the fall of our first parents. And what is it that the Lord
says there to the serpent, to Satan? I will put enmity between
thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed. It shall bruise thy head, thou
shalt bruise his heel. Or the seed of the woman. And then, there in Genesis 22
we have that same seed, but now spoken of as the seed of Abraham. And who is this seed? Well, it's
Isaac, but Isaac is but a type. Isaac is that one who points
us to Him, who is the only Saviour of sinners. Remember the language
of Galatians 3.16? To Abraham and his seed were
the promise he's made. He saith not to seeds as of many,
but as of one, and to thy seed, which is Christ. There is the
key to that seed of Abraham, that seed of the woman. That
seed, says the Apostle there, Galatians 3.16, which is Christ. And this is that one who stands,
of course, at the very center of the gospel of the grace of
God. Because in the opening words
of the epistle to the Romans, we see him also referred to there
as the seed of David. or the gospel Paul says concerns
God's Son Jesus Christ our Lord which was made of the seed of
David according to the flesh declared to be the Son of God
with power according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection
from the dead the seed of the woman the seed of Abraham the
seed of David and there in those opening verses of Romans, so
that very significant passage with which the Apostle opens
the book and speaks of his own ministry, how he is an Apostle
and he is separated onto the Gospel of God and then he begins
to define what that Gospel is It's what He had promised before
by the prophets in the Holy Scriptures. And it concerns God's Son, Jesus
Christ, made of the seed of David according to the flesh, declared
to be the Son of God with power. All the promise really is nothing
less than the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. When God made promise
to Abraham, What is that promise that God made to Abraham? It's
much more than Isaac. It is the promise of the Lord
Jesus Christ to be the Saviour of sinners. And He is that One,
of course, in whom all the promises of God are yea, and in Him, Amen,
to the glory of God. Oh, these are those promises,
then, that are being spoken of at the end of our text. Be not
slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience
inherit the promises. It's all the promises of God,
all of them centering in the person and the work of the Lord
Jesus Christ himself. and they're all yay and they're
all amen. That's what we're told there
in 2 Corinthians 1.20. But here what do we see? Oh,
they're all confirmed. They're all confirmed by the
very oath of God. Look at the language that follows.
Verse 17, wherein God, willing more abundantly to show unto
the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel. or the unchangeableness,
that's what immutability means of course, the unchangeableness
of his counsel confirmed it by an oath, that by two immutable,
two unchangeable 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. Oh, God has confirmed it. And how has He confirmed it?
He has taken an oath. It's not only the Word of God,
not only the promise that God has made, but there's a confirmation
of that promise. And what has God done? He has
sworn by Himself. Oh, He has sworn by Himself.
In other words, if His promise is broken, God is no more. How He has now, you see, magnified
His Word above all His name. His name is Himself. His name
is the revelation of Himself. But He has staked Himself upon
His words. That's the God that we have to
do with when He comes to the promises of God. Not just the
Word of God. It's the oath of God. It's all
confirmed by that oath. But then also, even more, it
is all sealed. And how is it sealed? It's sealed
with the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Isn't that
what the apostle goes on to say later here in the language of
chapter 9? Verse 14, How much more shall
the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself
without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to
serve the living God? And for this cause he is the
mediator of the New Testament, that by means of death, for the
redemption of the transgressors that were under the First Testament,
they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. For where a testament is, there
must also of necessity be the death of the testator." And here,
of course, the word testament is the same word so often translated
as covenant. It's that covenant, it's that
covenant of grace, that new covenant, and it's all sealed with precious
blood. The testator has died. His testament,
his covenant, Now stance, disenforce, all this is what we have when
we come to the New Testament of our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ. We have the Word of God, the
promise of God, confirmed by the oath of God, sealed with
the blood of God. What a blessed gospel it is. And we sang those words of Isaac
Watts just now, the Gospel. Bears my spirit up. Well, that
Gospel bears our spirit up. God lays the foundation of my
hope in oaths, he says, and promises, and blood. That's what we have
when we come then to consider this promise. Be not slothful. but followers of them who through
faith and patience inherit the promises." Now, he goes on, as
we've seen, to speak of that promise in the singular. When
God made promise to Abraham, the promise centers in Christ,
and yet there is that sense in which there are a multitude of
promises. I suppose, in a sense, we also
often speak of God's decrees. in the plural and yet we know
that really God's decree is in the singular, God's decree is
one because God's decree, God's purpose is an eternal purpose
but when that decree is being accomplished here upon the earth
when God is fulfilling his eternal purpose we see it in a sequence
of events the unfolding of his decrees Is it not really the
same with regards to the promise? The promise is one. The promise
centers in the Lord Jesus Christ and yet there in Christ there
are a multitude of promises. All the promises of God in him.
There are promises of provision and there is a temporal provision
that God will make for his children He will not leave them, He will
not forsake them. David can say in the psalm, I
have been old, or I have been young rather, and now I am old,
yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging
bread. David had witnessed God's faithfulness
to His people in making provision for them with regards to all
their temporal needs. Isaiah says bread shall be given
him, his water shall be sure. We might not always have all
that we would desire but God does feed us, he grants us daily
bread. He grants us that water to quench
our thirst. Oh the Lord Jesus reminds us
of these things himself. Remember how he speaks there
in the Sermon on the Mount at the end of Matthew chapter 6.
The words of the Lord himself, that one in whom all the promises
of God are yea, and in him there are men. And what does the Lord
say? Matthew chapter 6, verse 30, Wherefore if God so
clothed the grass of the field which today is, and tomorrow
is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you,
O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying,
What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or wherewithal shall
we be clothed? For after all these things do
the Gentiles seek, for your Heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need
of all these things." The Lord in His goodness, in His mercy,
does make every provision for the temporal needs of His people. But then more than that, or more
than that, God will also provide them with all spiritual provision. He has said, as thy days be,
so shall thy strength be. All our times are in His hand,
And we know that there is a time to be bored, there's a time to
die. All our times, all events, they're at the command of God
Himself and He has said, as thy days, so shall thy strength be. And when is it that strength
is needed? Or when is it that we need to
know that that strengthening and that upholding of God Himself. Is it not when we're in the midst
of trials? And now the apostle has to prove
that. Remember how he speaks of these
things in the 12th chapter of 2nd Corinthians. He speaks of
that grace of God. He said unto me, my grace is
sufficient for them. for my strength is made perfect
in weakness. And how Paul there is brought
to rejoice in all his weakness, because then he will find all
his strength and all his enabling in the Lord his God. Well, look
at the language that we have. 2 Corinthians 12, 9, and 10. He said unto me, My grace is
sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness,
most gladly therefore. Will I rather glory in my infirmities,
says the Apostle, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore
I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities,
in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake. For when I
am weak, then am I strong." Oh the Lord, you see, He will make
that spiritual provision for His people. And He will see that
that provision is perfectly suited and fitted to all the needs of
His people. well how the promise of God is
like that so perfectly suited to our condition we can think
of the carpenter as he makes his various joints the mortise
and the tenon joints and how these joints have to come perfectly
together but how does the carpenter do his work? why he has to make
use of the chisel there has to be that that cutting of the wood
and so it is with us the Lord God has to suit us to the promises. Isn't that what the Apostle is
saying there in that passage we just read in 2 Corinthians
12 10? In all the midst of his trials
and troubles, his necessities, his sufferings, he is being fitted
to the promise of God. And he'll live of the promise
of God, all those promises of God in the Lord Jesus Christ.
they yie and amen, they're all to the glory of God and it's
by us. It's by the experiences that God brings his people in
that these promises are made exceeding great and precious
promises. Oh, there is in the promise,
the promise of provision, be it our temporal needs or be it
our spiritual needs in the midst of all the tryings of our faith.
but then also there is that that promise of preservation how the
Lord preserves his people is that not a very precious truth
the preservation of the saints I know that we speak of the perseverance
of the saints when we think of the canons of Dorth the fifth
of those five points the perseverance of the saints But that perseverance,
of course, is rooted and grounded in God's preserving grace. And
now we see it at the end of this epistle. What of that promise that we
have in chapter 13 and verse 5? He had said, I will never
leave thee, nor forsake thee. There's the preservation of the
saints. He had said it. I will never leave thee nor forsake
thee. Now in fact there are some five
negatives in that verse and we've said this before I know but it
is really brought out in a remarkable fashion in the hymn 329 and verse
7 and the last verse of the hymn I'll never No, never. No, never, for sake. Five negatives. Well, we know
that two negatives makes a positive. Four negatives must make a very
emphatic positive. Well, what are five negatives?
Isn't that really a most vehement, negative. I'll never, no never,
no never forsake. That's the language of God. That's
how God preserves his people. That's a promise he has given.
He will not forsake them. They are kept. And how are they
kept? They are kept by the power of
God through faith unto salvation. All the promises of God. He will
provide for His people. He will preserve His people.
That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through
faith and patience inherit the promises. Look at the context again. What
does He say in the previous verse? We desire that every one of you
do show the same diligence, he says, to the full assurance of
hope unto the end. The full assurance of hope. Not loathful, but followers of
them who through faith and patience inherit the promises. Oh, it's that hope of eternal
life. which God that cannot lie had
promised before the world began. That's the hope. The hope of
eternal life, that life that is in the Lord Jesus Christ,
that life that can never be destroyed. I give unto them eternal life,
he says, they shall never perish. No man is able to pluck them
out of my hand. My Father which gave them to
me is greater than all. No man can pluck them out of
my Father's hand." All the works of the Lord, the ways of the
Lord, when He begins to have dealings with our souls, what
a great blessing it is if the Lord has ever begun with you.
Our Paul can assure those Philippian believers, he says he is very
confident of this very thing that God which has begun a work
in you will perform it. until the day of Jesus Christ. That can never be frustrated.
That is the work of God. That is the work of God. This
is what Paul is speaking of. We desire that every one of you
do show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope. Oh
yes, there's a place for diligence. Beware of slothfulness. As I
said, when we speak of the The saints, we speak more particularly
of their perseverance than of their preservation. It's God who preserves, but how
is that preserving manifested? It's manifested in perseverance. Believers persevere. And that is the evidence of the
grace of God, by their fruit ye shall know them. Not slothful. but showing the
same diligence not pressing on, not pressing forward forgetting
the things that are behind reaching forth onto those things that
are before all the promises now the promises are given you see
to encourage the people of God that's what we have in our text
followers of them who through faith and patience he says inherit
the promises. We might say there is that sense
in which the promise is objective. I said at the beginning really
we can reduce it to this, the promise is Christ. The seed of the woman, the seed
of Abraham, the seed of David. God made promise to Abraham.
The promise is Christ, that's objective. and we have that promise revealed
to us here in the word of God in God's word that's objective
but when it comes to the inheritance when it comes to the possession
isn't that really subjective, isn't that experimental, isn't
that what we have to experience isn't that something that we
have to know and feel in our souls and so I want to turn in
the second place to to this inheritance or this possession of the promises. And we have the marks of those
who have an interest in this inheritance. How do they come
to possess their inheritance? Through faith and patience, it
says. They inherit the promises. Two things. that are so vital
with regards to our experience here we must know faith and patience
or patient endurance the emphasis in a sense is more upon the enduring
and the persevering we might say first of all though to say something
with regards to the faith it says it's through faith that
we come to inherit the promises. What of this faith? Well, it's
very different to that faith that he's spoken
of previously. Remember what we said at the
beginning concerning the more general context here and what
he speaks of there at verse 4 following. He speaks of some who appear
to have faith But what does he say with regards to those whose
faith was only a temporary faith? It wasn't genuine. It is impossible
for 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 if
they shall fall away to renew them again unto repentance. seeing
they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh and put Him
to an open shame how these words at times come
to us and do they not search us through and through remarkable things that are being
said with regards to this particular character and the faith and it
seems so real and yet obviously it is not And yet it's left here
on record in Holy Scripture how we have to examine ourselves
and prove ourselves and know ourselves how that Jesus Christ
is in us except we be reprobate. God preserve us from any presumptuous
spirit then. These searching words. But the
faith that we're reading of Here in the text, who through faith
inherits the promises. This is much more than that historic
or that natural faith. This is that saving faith. How
do we know it's saving faith? How do we know? Because these
are followers. Followers of them who through
faith and patience inherit the promises. Or the Lord Jesus said himself,
if a man will be his disciple, he's to take up his cross and
he's to follow him. When he comes and calls those
first disciples, he calls them to be followers. They follow
after him. And it's interesting the word
that we have here, followers, it literally means imitators.
Imitators of them, who through faith inherit the promises. In
fact, the word that's used might be said to be the root word of
what we know as the word mimic. I don't like the word mimic particularly,
but you get the idea here. Mimics, imitators of those who
through faith and patience inherit the promises. And then he goes
on immediately to speak of Abraham, when God made promise to Abraham.
Who is this Abraham? Why? He is the father of all
them that believe. Abraham is the great pattern
of faith to us here in Scripture. And what we have here, what is
spoken of here, is the faith of Abraham. And that is the faith that surely
centers all together in the Word of God. Remember how the Lord Jesus Himself
speaks in John chapter 8 to the Jews and he speaks concerning
Abraham. Their great boast was that they
were the children of Abraham. That's what they said, we're
Abraham's children. But the Lord there shows that
the true children of Abraham are those of faith. But what
does the Lord say to those Jews? Have they got that faith that
centers in the Word of God? Why the Lord says, John 8.37,
My Word hath no place in you. My Word. Remember, the one who
is speaking there is the Incarnate Word. In the beginning was the
Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same
was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him.
Without Him was not anything made that was made. and the world
was made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld His glory, says
John, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full
of grace and truth. He is the Word incarnate, the
eternal Word of God. And what is the Bible? Why the
Bible is the inscripturated Word. And the Scriptures and the Lord
bear one tremendous name. And the written and incarnate
word in all things are the same. And to those Jews the Lord says,
My word hath no place in you. Why we read of those Jews here
in Hebrews chapter 4 and verse 2, the word preached
did not profit them. Not being mixed in faith in them
that heard it. Speaking of those that fell in
the wilderness wanderings during those 40 years. They heard the
words but he didn't profit of not being mixed with faith. We're
going back again to the language of the Lord Jesus Christ in John
chapter 8. He said to those Jews your fathers
desired to see my dying and they saw it and was glad or those who were the true spiritual
Israel of God even in the Old Testament those who were the
real Israel of God that spiritual saint they saw the Lord Jesus
Christ in all the scriptures The Lord says, search the Scriptures,
in them you think that you have eternal life, these are they
that testify of me. True faith centers in His words.
That true faith, it embraces the promises, but not just the
promises. Malachi speaks of those in his day who were partial in
the Lord of God. God forbid that we were partial
in His words. We love the promises. But do
we love the precepts? Do we love the commandments?
Do we bear that mark of His children? They delight in His commandments.
They want to do His precepts. It's all the Word of God. And
true faith centers in that Word of God. And this is the faith
that we have here. is the faith of Abraham and that faith of Abraham doesn't
only center in the word of God in scripture ultimately of course
it centers in the Lord Jesus Christ himself it centers in that one who is
the promised seed thy seed which is Christ, remember Galatians
3.16 when God made promise to Abraham. All the promise is Christ
and one of Christ. What does Abraham obtain in the
Lord Jesus Christ? Righteousness. It's justifying faith, the faith
of Abraham. That's what we're told there
in Romans Chapter 4, look at what the Apostle declares, there
at verse 3, Romans 4, 3. What saith the Scripture is the
question. Abraham believed God and it was
counted unto him for righteousness. There's the faith of Abraham.
Father Abraham believed God. He had faith in God. and it was
counted unto him for righteousness. Now what was it that was counted
or reckoned or imputed to him for righteousness? Was it the
act of believing? No, it was not. Because later
in the chapter he says, verse 20, concerning Abraham, 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 is imputed to him for righteousness? The promise. He believed the
promise. And what was the promise? It's
the seed. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. All
friends, this is the faith of Abraham. His promise, which centers
in the Lord Jesus Christ, that's where he places his faith and
his confidence. The seed which is Christ, Christ
the object of faith. Christ the author and the finisher
of faith. Looking on to Jesus we read later
in chapter 12 looking on to Jesus the author and finisher of our
faith and Christ is not only the the
object of our faith and the author of our faith and the finisher
of our faith but this is a remarkable thing He is the pattern of faith
More so than Abraham. Abraham is the father of them
that believe. That's what it says. But there
is one greater than Abraham here. And we read of him in the previous
chapter. Look at chapter 5 and verse 7. Concerning Christ who in the
days of his flesh When He had offered up prayers and supplication,
we strung crying and tears unto Him that was able to save Him
from death, and was heard in that He feared. Though He were
a Son, yet learned the obedience by the things which He suffered. How the Lord Jesus lived the
life of faith! Though He is the Eternal Son
of God, yet learned the obedience by the things that he suffered,
he lived a life of faith. Complete and utter dependence
upon God, that was his life as a man here upon the earth. How do we possess the promises
through faith? That's how the Lord Jesus Christ
came into his glorious inheritance. That's how he came to save his
people, he was to save the tribe out of his soul, that was the
promise that was given to him. He does not shed his precious
blood in vain. He has redeemed His people. God has divided His portion to
Him. Oh, He has lived the life of
faith. But it's not just faith. It's not just faith that we have
here. Be not loathful, but follow us of them who through faith
and patience inherit the promises. Now, we have the verbal form of the
same word in verse 15. After he had patiently
endured, he obtained the promise. It's the same word really in
the verbal form that we find back in our text, verse 12, through
faith and patience. And now concerning Abraham, after
he had patiently endured, he obtains the promise. Oh, that is the faith of Abraham. The Lord says he that shall endure
to the end, the same shall be saved. There's not just the beginning
of faith, that's important. Of course we must know a right
beginning if our religion is a real religion and a saving
faith. But there must be an enduring,
an enduring to the end. But what do we read concerning
Abraham who against hope believed in hope? Oh, he has to wait and
wait and wait and wait again. Will he ever have that promised
son? Why is he 100 years old when
Isaac is born? All against hope he believed,
in hope he endured. Waiting upon God, the psalmist
says, I waited patiently for the Lord and He inclined unto
me and heard my cry. And you know we are so impatient
at times. for we're not to be slothful
we're not to be passive I don't think for a moment that that
was the fate of Abraham he makes many slips and falls and does
many foolish things by the way why there's a birth of Ishmael
and all that that entails but ultimately God's promise is fulfilled,
Isaac is born. And then how strange there in
Genesis 22, God tests his faith, he is to take his son, this is
his only son, this is the son of promise, and he is to take
him to the Mount Moriah and offer him for a sacrifice. All the faith and the endurance
of this man, Abraham. and He is the Father of them
that believe. Look at the language of the Apostle
as he speaks and exhorts these Hebrew believers time and time
again. What does he say in chapter 10? Chapter 10 and verse 36. You
have need of patience. that after you've done the will
of God ye might receive the promise for yet a little while and neither
shall come will come and will not tarry now the just shall
live by faith but if any man draw back my soul hath no pleasure
in him but we are not of them who draw back unto perdition
but of them that believe to the saving of the soul there it is
it's faith it's patience it's endurance We've spoken of Abraham,
the faith of Abraham, but what of Sarah in all of this? What
of Sarah? Why, we read of Sarah there in
that catalogue, the faithful of the Old Testament. In chapter
11, verse 11, through faith also, Sarah herself received strength
to conceive seed and was delivered of a child when she was past
age, because she judged him faithful, who had promised. Therefore sprang
there even of one, and him as good as dead, that is Abraham,
so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand
which is by the seashore innumerable." Oh, this is faith, friends. This
is endurance. And this is how we come to possess
the promises. You see, it's no easy path, it's
no bed of roses. It's a straight, it's a narrow
way that leads to life. And how straight it is, how narrow
it is at times, why we seem to be closed in on every side. In
the world says Christ, you shall have tribulations. but be of
good cheer, I have overcome the world. O God, grant that we might
be those who know what it is to have that faith, that perseverance,
that we might be those who come into the possession of this glorious
inheritance, that ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through
faith and patience inherit the promises. O God, grant that we
might see Christ with that eye of faith and that our hearts
might truly go out unto Him and that we see in Him all our salvation
and all our desire. Oh, the Lord bless the word to
us. Amen.