Hebrews chapter 6. Hebrews chapter 6. We'll be looking
at verses 17 through verse 20 this morning. And the title of
the message this morning is, A Fourfold Consolation. a fourfold
consolation. God, willing more abundantly
to show the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel,
confirmed it by an oath that by two immutable things in which
it is impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation. And then, the four things that
follow here are the consolation of every believer in Christ. The consolation we have is, first
of all, Christ is our refuge. The Scripture says that we might
have a strong consolation who have fled for refuge. Secondly, our consolation is
hope. To lay hold upon the hope that
is set before us. Which hope we have? Which brings
us to the third one, an anchor. Strong consolation of an anchor
of the soul, steadfast and sure. And fourthly, we have the consolation
of the forerunner. Christ our refuge, Christ our
hope, Christ our anchor, and Christ our forerunner. Now, the apostle in this thus
far, having encouraged believers to persevere in the faith, to
persevere in our labor of love toward the saints, he shows that
the opposite of perseverance is apostasy. All true believers will continue
in the faith. In faith in Christ, we will persevere
in our labor of love toward the brethren. You see, true faith
is always continual. True faith endures. True faith
alone continues to believe in one object. Jesus Christ. True faith rests in one work,
the work of Jesus Christ. And true faith in Christ is the
only evidence, is the evidence of grace, the grace and power
of God upon our hearts. Back in chapter 3, the apostle
says this, He says, whose house, but Christ is the Son over His
own house. Whose house we are if we hold
fast. Hold fast the consolation or
hope and the rejoicing of hope firm to the end. And we who do
persevere in the faith, The Apostle encourages us that
we should be followers of them that went before us. Those heirs
of God that went before us. And as we saw, the Apostle uses
Abraham as an example in verse 13, for when God made promise
to Abraham. And in verse 15, so after he
had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. Even so, believer, as we endure,
as we believe God and His Word, when all around us seems to be
opposed to God's Word, when all our circumstances seem
contrary to God's love and grace and His decrees, in the face of our weakness and
sin. Let us, like Abraham, endure
with patience no matter what we see or feel in this life. For then the promises of God
bloom only after our troubles Does
the gospel seem to multiply to us? It blooms before our eyes
as it did Abraham's. Abraham endured with patience
and then he learned. He grew in the grace and knowledge
of God. And in verses 17 through 19,
we see the promise that is given to Abraham is the same promise
that is given to us who endure. I will bless thee and multiply
thee. First of all, our blessings and
fruitfulness only come from one source, only one cause for all
our blessings, the eternal, immutable decree and will of God. Therefore,
we have and do receive all the spiritual blessings because God
has willed it so. You wonder and often wonder why
you, out of all the people, And yet here you are, believing,
enduring, persevering in all manner of trouble and difficulty. How is it that you have endured?
How is it that you still believe while many have apostatized,
many have went away? Listen, this is our hope and
confidence, not in our merit, in our strength, but rather in
the promise of God, in the decree of God. God said, blessing, I
will bless you. Multiplying, I will multiply
you. The twofold strength of every
believer to endure is the promise of God and the oath of God. both of which are as unchangeable
as God Himself. Behold, I am God, I change not. Therefore, you sons of Jacob
are not consumed." This love of God is immutable. It was not caused
by our works, but God says, I have loved thee with an everlasting
love. This love springs from an eternal
source of God's sovereign will. Therefore, he said, for Jacob
have I loved, but Esau have I hated. And God may in love rightly and
justly draw us to himself. because He hath sent His Son
to be the propitiation for our sins." How could God love ones
such as we are by nature, sinners, rebels, haters of God? How is it that He could eternally
love us with an immutable love and still remain just Because
His Son has come and by His blood and righteousness, Jesus has
purged us, washed us from all our sins. He has redeemed us. His coming into the world has
fulfilled the eternal covenant that is ordered in all things,
ensure He has obtained the redemption, the everlasting righteousness
for us. He loves us because He chose us, redeemed
us, and now He has made us partakers of the divine nature. He has
made us partakers of Christ by the new birth. And it is because we were eternally
adopted sons that the Spirit of God is sent forth into our
hearts, crying, Abba, Father. That's why you're here. That's
why you believe. That's why you endure. That's
why you willingly, lovingly obey the will of your Father in heaven. Because He chose you. He redeemed
you. He called you. And listen, He
keeps you. He keeps you. It is the work of God that you
believe on Christ. It is the work of God that you
are kept in the faith unto the end. If then God has decreed
our salvation, whose word cannot fail, then
why then must we need to be encouraged by hearing it again? Have you
asked yourself, if all of this is done, if salvation is sure,
if salvation rests on the immutable counsel of God, the perfect work
of Christ, the unerring, irresistible power of the Holy Spirit, then
why do we need encouragement? Listen, because we still live
in this body of flesh. Alright, who has not experienced
the weight of their flesh sitting here, striving to hear the Word
of God? Your preacher is himself struggling
with the flesh, always, constantly. No matter what I'm doing, studying,
preaching, anything, I am always, just like you, struggling with
the flesh. This is why we need encouragement,
because the body of this death hangs about our neck and drags
us to the earth. We would soar to glory. We would
soar in the things of God. We love the things of God, love
His people, desire to be their help and service to them. But
then the flesh drags us to the earth, and we are cast down and
wonder how it is that we can still believe on Christ. That's why God gives you encouragement.
And you know what this encouragement does? It gives us enough to continue. It gives us enough. You know,
He don't ever give you more than what you need. He gives you exactly
what you need. If He gave you more prosperity,
believers hardly ever grow in prosperity. He gives you just
enough to know your need of Him and seek Him. We need these encouragements
so that we may grow spiritually. And the more we are made to feel
and know our vileness and corruption and depravity of our nature,
the more dependent we become upon God. Is that not so? Growing in grace means we become
more dependent on God and less and less do we put any confidence
in this flesh. That's what happened to Job,
wasn't it? When Job was tried and persecuted,
In his great affliction, God said he was a just man, one that
feareth God, and esteweth evil. And Job was blessed, he was rich,
he was faithful to God, he was loving toward others. But when
he was pressed by his friends, you know what Job did? He justified
himself. This is a man that justified
of God, a man that feared God, astute evil. And he did the exact
same thing we do. When pressed, what's the first
thing we do? We justify ourselves. But what happened when God came? When God came in the whirlwind,
what did Job realize? He said, Behold, I am I am vile." Even so, God, by trials, by woes and troubles, He crosses
our fair schemes and allows the world to persecute us, Satan
to assault us, But you know what we have confidence of? He will
never destroy us. He cannot destroy us. He cannot. God uses these things
to expose our sin, reveal our weakness, and crush our self-righteousness. Therefore, we loathe our flesh. Our flesh is our enemy, our self. That song we just sang, troubles
without and within. Because we are tempted, because
we are surrounded by enemies, because of our sorrow and pain,
God gives us a strong consolation. Eschez says that God is willing
more abundantly to show the heirs of promise. You know, God was
so willing that His Word, if God's Word cannot be broken,
God decrees something, it must be fulfilled or He loses all
deity. He is no longer God. If God decreed
something and it didn't take place, He would no longer be
the true God, He would be a false God. And so we should say God's
decrees is enough. But God says, I know your weakness,
I know your trouble, and therefore I'm going to give you something
even more than just a decree. I'm going to tell you that I
swear by myself. I swear. This is my promise. And this
is my oath. Why? So you could have a strong
consolation, a strong comfort. A strong consolation. So when questions arise in our
hearts because of our sin, because of providence, because of our
foes, no matter our circumstances, God is willing that you should
have a strong consolation, a strong, deep, abiding confidence that
He God, the immutable God, the almighty God, the sovereign God,
hath begun a good work. What is that good work? The good
work is Christ. The good work is the perfect
work that Christ accomplished at Calvary. That is the good
work, and now that good work is begun in you, sinner, in you. God who hath begun a good work
in you shall perform it. He will finish it. This is our strong consolation,
that He that promised, He that decreed the good work, He that
ordained the good work, He that accomplished the good work has
now given us this work in us and He will accomplish it. Now, this salvation that God
decreed, this salvation that Christ accomplished, to whom
is this salvation given? Do I have an interest in this? Do you have an interest in this?
To know if you are included in such a strong consolation. Well, notice who the apostle
says are included. He might give a strong consolation
to who? Who have fled for refuge. Fled for refuge. I've told you that storm in Texas,
big storm that they have been talking about for now two weeks,
I guess, before it came. Boy, the news really gets after
those storms. They like to hype them up. But
it's a bad one. It's a bad one. It's a Category
3 storm, huge. And you know what the mayor of
Houston and all the surrounding counties, you know what they
were compelling men to do? That's what they were commanded
to do. Get out while you can. Find a refuge. Seek shelter from the storm. Evacuate the city. The storm
is coming. How much more should men flee
the wrath of God that is to come? You listen to me, every one of
you. You should flee the wrath of God. You should flee. I'm telling you, seek refuge. But I also tell you, there are
no refuges of earth. There is no refuge in religion.
There is no refuge in your works. There is no refuge in your will or determination. I tell you to flee to the only
refuge that God provides, Jesus Christ, the Son of God. You should
flee. You should flee the wrath to
come. Because God is coming. God's justice and wrath are coming. In the Old Testament, it was
pictured in those cities of refuge. You remember those cities of
refuge that God had established for those who had accidentally
slain their neighbor. If a man were chopping wood and
his axe slipped out of his hand and he had accidentally slain
his neighbor, he was to flee to one of these six cities of refuge. He was to leave all
that he had. He was not to return to his home.
He was to do it immediately. Why? Because the avengers of
blood, the family of that man slain had every right to kill
that man. They had every right to kill
the one who had committed the crime. And you listen, the avenger
of blood is God's wrath. You and I by nature have sinned
against God. And you should flee to the city
of refuge, which is Christ." These cities pictured Christ.
Now, I want to give you these because I think it's important
to show you that Christ is the only refuge. And these six cities,
they pictured Christ. They all pictured Christ. Go to Joshua chapter 20. Joshua
chapter 20. The Lord had commanded this,
and when they had got on the other side, they had established
the land of Canaan in Joshua 20 and verse 7. Now listen, "...and they appointed..."
These are the cities of refuge. Kedesh in Galilee and Mount Nephili. Now, you know what the word Kiddush,
it means holy, holy. What does God demand of man? Holiness, holiness. which no man can provide, seeing
we are sinners. Yet Jesus Christ is the holy
God-man, by which we may be made holy in Him. All who flee to
Christ for refuge are made holy before God." Look at the second
city. It says, Shechem. In Mt. Ephraim, Shechem means shoulder. Shoulder. Did not the Lord Jesus
Christ bear our sins in His own body on the tree? The Scripture
says the government shall be upon His shoulder. You who believe in Christ, you
have fled to Him for refuge. You know this. He bore our sins
in His own body on the tree, and He bears us now on His shoulder,
carrying us all the way to glory. The third one is hebron. This word hebron means fellowship. You see, the only way for sinners
to have fellowship with God is through Jesus Christ. John said,
now we have fellowship with the Father and with the Son. And I tell you this, this is
why we have fellowship. This is how we have fellowship,
is that we are in Christ together. Hebron means fellowship. The
fourth one is bizarre. It means fortified place. Oh, Christ is the fortified place. He is the stronghold. He is the
high tower. He is our refuge, our defense. And in Him, we are safe. Proverbs 18, verse 10 says, The
name of the Lord is a strong tower. The righteous runneth
into it and is safe. Safe. The fifth one is Ramoth. It means exaltation. What happened
after Christ died for our sins? Hath not God highly exalted Him
and given Him a name that is above every name? That at the
name of Jesus every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess
that He is Lord to the glory of God the Father. We exalt Him. Have you ran to Christ for refuge?
Then we exalt Christ, lift Him up. And the sixth city is Golan. It means manifested. Behold,
our refuge is this, God manifest in the flesh. God manifest in
the flesh. He, the Scripture says, was manifest
in the flesh to destroy the works of the devil. And listen, we
who have fled to Christ for refuge, He soon will be manifested unto
us, and we shall see Him face to face. Now I see Him by faith. One day I won't need faith. I
will embrace the One who's loved me forever. I will touch the
face of God." Is that not glorious? He will manifest Himself soon
and very soon to us. In that great day, Jesus then
will divide all the groups of men into two camps, His sheep
on His right hand, His goats on His left, and He will say
to us who have fled to Him for refuge, He will say this, Come,
you blessed of My Father. Now what was the promise of God?
The promise of God was, I will bless you. I will bless you. Come, you blessed of My Father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of
the world. That eternal covenant of promise,
because inherit the kingdom, because you are righteous, because
you are obedient, because you are perfect. Inherit the kingdom. And what is the answer of us?
What is the answer of His people? Lord, when did we do these things? When were we righteous? When
did we love You? When did we serve You? When did
we do these things? And He tells us, You did these
things when I did them. When you did these things, you
did them as I did them. We did them in Christ because
He is all our righteousness. And so is His righteousness imputed
to us. His love, His faith, His hope
in God, all those things that obtained righteousness for us
are now given to us. Who? Who have fled to Him for
refuge. That's who fled to Him for refuge. And all those who are outside
of Christ, on the other hand, He will say to them, Depart from
Me, you that work iniquity, I never knew you, for you were not righteous. And they will say, Lord, when
were we not righteous? Those who have not fled to Christ
for refuge have a refuge. Their works. Their own righteousness. Which God says is a refuge of
lies. Lies. But we sing this. We who have fled to Christ for
refuge, seeing nothing in My hands, I bring simply to Thy
cross I cling. Naked come to Thee for dress,
helpless look to Thee for grace. Foul I to the fountain fly. Wash
me, Savior, or I die." This is one who has fled to Christ for
refuge. The second thing is hope. Those
who have fled to Christ for refuge also look to Christ as our hope. Paul says to lay hold upon the
hope that is set before us. This is the second consolation,
believers, that Christ is not only your refuge, He's your hope.
Now, the word hope in Scripture implies certainty. Confidence. In our day, hope is nothing more
than a wish. Gee, I hope this happens. But here it means a future certainty
based solely on the immutable promise and oath of God. This
hope, this confidence in God's immutable promise and oath is
the anchor for our souls. This hope. Wherever there's a human promise,
there's hope of fulfillment in it. We experience this every
time there's a political campaign. Men come out with what? Promises. Promises. And we vote for them in hope.
In hope, having some measure of confidence that they will
fulfill their promises, only we know this time and time again,
either because of their greed or because of their lack of power,
human promises fail. But our hope is not in a human
promise. Our hope is in a divine promise. Our hope is in a divine promise. God lacks neither the will nor
the power to perform His promise. And He not only swore to fulfill
His promise, but He made it manifest that His promise is fulfilled
when Christ came and did all that He promised to do. God before testified of His coming,
and yet Christ came. God promised that He would be
a propitiation for our sins, and He was a propitiation for
our sins. God promised that He would raise
Christ from the dead, and He raised Christ from the dead.
God promised that He would call His people, you, to life and
faith. Have you not been called to life
and faith? Therefore, our confidence is
in Christ. Christ is our hope. Christ is
our confidence. I'm going to finish this thing
because of Him. I'm going to finish this thing
because He began it, He purposed it, He promised it, and He will
finish it. He doesn't fail. Therefore, Christ
is all our hope. And thirdly, Christ is our anchor
to lay hold of the hope that is set before us. Which hope
we have as an anchor. an anchor for our soul. The Bible pictures us as though
we are a small craft upon the sea. Mountains of sin on the
right and rocks of apostasy on the left, waves of life roar against us. The floods of
the dragon dash our bow. We are made to ascend up to the
heavens and are cast down to the depths Yet wave after wave,
trouble after trouble, trial after trial, why are you still
here? Why have you not been dashed
to pieces by sin and broken by apostasy? Because you have an
anchor. The anchor that holds the vessel
from dashing is also the anchor that holds our soul from being
shipwrecked. What anchor is this? The anchor
is Christ, our anchor. You see, our whole salvation
is dependent upon Him and Him alone. And because He is seated
in glory, because He as our King and our Priest is seated, we
are sure that His work is finished. His work is done. I want you
to get this. In order for God, in order for
your salvation to fail, Christ would have to be pulled from
His throne. You are so tied and in union
with Christ that to destroy you, you would have to destroy Him. Now, is that not a sure anchor
for your soul? Are you tossed? Are you troubled? Are you doubtful? Then look at
the unseen force that holds the vessel. It is Christ. I've not yet seen the anchor.
Have you? Yet I know it's strong. I know
it's steadfast. Why? I'm still here. I'm still here. And lastly, Christ is not only
a strong consolation, a refuge, a hope, a confidence of our salvation. He is the anchor of our souls,
sure and steadfast. But He is also this, whither
the forerunner is entered for us. Forerunner. Forerunner. Christ is our forerunner. He has run the race that is set
before us. He has run the race that was
set before Him of God, which was to fulfill the law and to
accomplish redemption for us by the offering of Himself without
spot and blemish to God, that He should be made sin for us,
that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. And listen, that
race He finished. He ran the race before us as
a forerunner, a forerunner, as our representative. See then, believer, Christ having
run the race has also cleared all of the obstacles that would impede our progress. I know y'all were talking about
Connie's race, that horse race. Running in the night, their horses
ran into barbed wire. That was not a good forerunner,
was it? The person that was supposed to go before and make sure the
course was marked, he failed and they ran into trouble. Oh,
but our forerunner is no such man. He has no such error. The way to God is open, and all obstacles are removed. Our high priest, having entered
into the very presence of God with his own blood, God said,
that's it. I'm satisfied. Open the veil. Let them in. In Romans chapter 5, Therefore, being justified by
faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
by whom also we have access. You got that? accessed by faith into this grace
wherein we stand and rejoice in confidence, in hope of the
glory of God. Believer, if this does not encourage you
to continue, nothing will. Nothing will. God swore to save
you. God decreed to save you. Christ
has accomplished this. And because He is our strong
comfort, He is our strong consolation, He is our refuge from the wrath
of God. I got this picture at the house.
It's a lighthouse. And a man is standing outside
of the door of the lighthouse looking this way, and behind
him is a massive wave of water that just over-flooded, was over
the top of the lighthouse. And he's standing there without
a care. Why? The lighthouse took the brunt
of the storm. And he was saved. That's a refuge,
isn't it? That's a refuge. Christ is our
hope, confidence. Our confidence. Christ is our
anchor. And Christ is our forerunner.
I pray that God give you such comfort and peace and assurance
to face any trial or trouble. Because that's the only thing
that will cause His people to endure, is this gospel. I pray
God bless you. I stand and be dismissed in prayer.