Hebrews chapter 6, title of this message, HOPE,
THE ANCHOR OF THE SOUL. We have a good hope through grace,
the Word of God says. WE HAVE A HOPE THAT'S ANCHORED
IN HEAVEN. OUR HOPE HAS ENTERED INTO THE
VEILS. OUR HOPE IS OUR FORERUNNER. As
Paul wrote to Timothy in 1 Timothy 1, he says, Jesus Christ, our
hope, our hope is a person, it's not an empty wish, it's not a
hope, a hope, a hope. It is a real genuine expectation
of God doing exactly what He said He'd do. It's an expectation,
a real expectation of being saved by the Lord Jesus Christ, by
His blood and righteousness when we lay this body down, our bodies
down, and they put them in the grave. WE HAVE A HOPE! WE HAVE A REAL, GENUINE HOPE
OF BEING WITH THE LORD, OF OUR BODIES, HAVE NEW BODIES COMING
OUT OF THE GRAVE, WE HAVE A HOPE! And let's look at these verses
here. After telling the believing Hebrews that they were dull of
hearing, they had a real problem, and that when they should be
teachers they were still babes. He warns them of the danger of
falling away, because evidently, evidently there were SOME that
were going back, going back to Judaism, leaving the gospel,
or this warning would not have been given. HE WARNS THEM ABOUT
FALLING AWAY, BUT HE DOESN'T STOP THERE. HE ENCOURAGES THEM
BY SAYING HE HAS PERSUADED BETTER THINGS OF THEM AND THINGS THAT
ACCOMPANIES SALVATION, THOUGH HE THUS SPEAKS. HE HAD CONFIDENCE
IN THEM THAT THE LORD HAD SAVED THEM. BUT THERE IS ALWAYS TEARS
AMONG THE WEAK. That's sad, isn't it? There's
always goats among the sheep, always. Satan will always have
his plans, always. But he says here that he was
persuaded of better things of them, and things that accompany
salvation, and he gives evidence as to why he believed they were
true believers, though he is thus spoken. Now in verse 4,
after saying all this, He speaks of this matter in verse
4 through 6 of apostasy, falling away after having made a confession
of Christ, after following Christ, after saying that the Lord has
saved me, and then to turn from Him, to turn away from Him. He s the only source of salvation.
If you turn away from Christ, where are you going to turn?
THERE IS NO OTHER SAVIOR. THERE IS NO OTHER NAME GIVEN
FROM UNDER HEAVEN AND GIVEN AMONG MEN WHEREBY WE MUST BE SAVED.
THERE IS NO OTHER NAME GIVEN BUT THAT ONE NAME, JESUS CHRIST. AND IF YOU TURN AWAY FROM HIM,
IS WHAT HE'S SAYING TO THEM, YOU'RE IN TROUBLE. YOU'RE IN
DEEP, DEEP TROUBLE. OF COURSE, THE KEY VERSES HERE
HE SAYS IN VERSE 6, FOR IT IS IMPOSSIBLE they shall fall away to renew
them again unto repentance. Let me go back up to verse 4.
For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly
gift and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost. A lot of arguments
have been over this over the years these few verses right
here. and have tasted the good word
of God and the powers of the world to come if they shall fall
away. It's impossible to renew them
again to repentance. You know that word impossible
is used a few times in the scriptures. It's impossible for God to lie.
It means it can't happen. It can't happen. If they leave
Christ, if they apostatize, it doesn't say if they fall. Because
we all fall, don't we? We all fall. It doesn't say if
they fall. It doesn't say if they fall into
sin. We do. Every one of us. Either in our
thoughts or in our actions or in our words. It says they fall
away. Leave the Lord Jesus Christ.
Leave the gospel. In that day, it was Judaism.
In our day, it could be Arminianism. Catholicism. I know and when
I was reading this I know of a person who for years sat under
the gospel and believed the gospel confessed the gospel baptized
and was faithful as could be and one day this person said
I don't believe that no more and she went over to armenianism that's leaving the gospel that's
leaving the gospel for another gospel, leaving it for another
gospel. And so what he's doing here,
he's describing those who have experienced, he says, blessings
and they've entertained and tasted of the heavenly gift and partook
of the Holy Spirit. And I think the key word here
is this, IF that can happen. IF YOU CAN ACTUALLY DO THAT AND
TURN AWAY, THERE IS NO HOPE FOR YOU. THERE IS NO HOPE. And He has given a solemn warning
here because some that were wanting to leave and go back, they wanted
to go back to Judaism, they wanted to go back under the Law. THEY
WERE GOING TO GO BACK AND OFFER THE SACRIFICES AGAIN, THE BLOOD
OF BULLS AND GOATS AND LEAVE THE BLOOD OF CHRIST. YOU LEAVE
THAT. you leave that, it's nothing
but condemnation. There's nothing left but condemnation.
And so He warns of the seriousness of falling away and abandoning
Christ. He's not talking here about struggling
believers, but a willful final apostasy. That's what He's talking
about. Now, when we read this, verse
4, 5, and 6, we have to interpret Scripture with scripture we have
to interpret scripture in the light of the whole word of God
Christ said no man will pluck my sheep out of my hand I'll
not lose one of them so we know this we know that those for whom
Christ died they will not apostatize the Holy Spirit will not allow
it but brethren people can come very close as the Lord said to
that one man, thou art not far from the kingdom of God. Some
can come very close. What about Judas? He was with
the Lord for three years, roughly, about three years, along with
the other apostles. Demas, you know Paul spoke of
Demas, he recommended Demas twice over I think it's over in Philemon
and over in Colossians he recommended Demas and then he said Demas
has forsaken me having loved this present world Simon Magus
was baptized followed the apostle and then one day he offered some
money he wanted to buy the gift of the Holy Ghost you know he
could make some money on this And he wanted to have that. And
Peter said, your heart's not right with God. You see here in a little bit,
we're gonna see there's some evidences of salvation. There's some evidences of it. But he warning here, this warning
is meant to wake him up. That's meant for us too in this
day. THAT WE NOT BECOME DULL OF HEARING,
LAZY, SLUGGISH, BUT TO BE DILIGENT. THIS IS PART OF BEING DILIGENT
RIGHT HERE. BEING HERE AND SITTING UNDER THE GOSPEL AND ASKING GOD
TO SPEAK TO YOUR HEART. THAT'S DILIGENT. THAT'S BEING
DILIGENT. LORD SPEAK. SPEAK TO MY HEART
TONIGHT. OPEN MY EARS AND OPEN MY HEART
AND MAKE YOUR WORD TO LIVE IN ME. Send it to me and send it
to my heart in power. Don't you want that? I do. I want that. I want to receive
it in power when I'm in the study. I don't want to be like Henry
said one time, I don't want to be like a pipe where water just
runs through it. I want to experience what I'm
saying. I want to experience what I'm
telling you. I don't want to just go in and
get information and bring it out here and give it to you.
I want to feast on it just like I want you to feast on it. And
we've got to beware here, we've got to be diligent and look after
our relationship in Christ. You know, relationships are something
that we work on all the time, isn't it? It's not just one-sided.
It's just, it's not, you know, salvation is of the Lord. It's
all of God. But this relationship we have,
this union we have in Christ can grow and grow and grow. And there's a good part of it
on our part of just seeking the Lord, studying His Word, sitting
under the preaching of the Word, calling upon Him in prayer. That's
a part of it. That's a part of the relationship. HOW WOULD YOU LIKE THAT? I WOULDN'T
WANT A WIFE THAT NEVER CALLED UPON ME, THAT NEVER TALKED TO
ME, NEVER THOUGHT UPON ME. I WOULDN'T WANT THAT. AND NEITHER
DOES CHRIST. AND THE BRIDE OF CHRIST, THE
CHURCH, US, WE ARE NOT TO BE LIKE THAT. And then He uses here, look,
He uses a metaphor there in verse 7 and 8. And He speaks here of
the EARTH. and he speaks of the thorns and
the thistles. For the earth which drinketh
in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs,
meat for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God."
God blessed us today, didn't He? Rain, that rain, there's
a blessing in it, there's a blessing in it, showers of blessing. But that which bears thorn and
briars is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing, whose end is to
be burned. Both receive rain, but only one
produces fruit. Where there's life, there's fruit. Where there's the life of God,
where there's the Holy Spirit, there will be in a measure, I'm
not gonna say What that measure is, is it's different in all
of us. It depends on spiritual maturity here, but it's there,
the fruit is there. The same rain but different results
is what we'll see here. The rain spoken of here represents
the gospel and the grace of God where it falls on good ground Where it falls on good ground,
fruit is produced. Fruit's produced. And where it
falls on bad ground, it does not produce fruit. This place
used to be full at one time, didn't it? The gospels preached,
and the thorns and the thistles, and I'm to mean this, the thorns
and the thistles left. The thorns and the briars left.
It didn't produce faith in them. THAT WERE NOT GOOD GROUND. BUT
SOME OF YOU BELIEVED, SOME OF YOU HAVE STAYED AND YOU'VE SUPPORTED
THE GOSPEL BECAUSE GOD MADE YOU GOOD GROUND, AND THE GOSPEL WAS
NOT WASTED ON YOU. THE GOSPEL HAS PRODUCED FRUIT
IN YOU, LOVE, JOY, PEACE, LONG-SUFFERING, WHICH IS THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT,
IT'S NOT FRUIT WE BRING FORTH, IT'S THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT
IN US. Where there is FRUIT, there is
SPIRITUAL LIFE! Where there is NO FRUIT, there
is NO SPIRITUAL LIFE! It's just thorns and briars!
And that represents the CURSE, isn't it? That's what God said,
He'll bring forth the EARTH, He'll bring forth thorns and
briars! The evidence of a TRUE BELIEVER
is the FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT! LOVE, JOY, FAITH, just you go
over in Galatians and you read of the fruit of the Spirit but here's the question in looking
at this are we rooted and established
as Paul wrote over I believe it's over in Colossians not Galatians
but I think it's in Colossians It's in one of his epistles. It's in one of his epistles,
you go look it up. But we're rooted and grounded and settled
and established in the Lord Jesus Christ. We're not moved about
with every wind of doctrine. When the gospel preached, when
somebody stands here and preaches, you know if the truth is being
preached or not. You know it. You know why? Because
you're rooted and grounded in Christ. God has established you
in the truth. He's established you in the gospel.
He has established you in the Lord Jesus Christ. We're rooted in Christ. Or are we only experiencing superficial
blessings? Is this just superficial to us?
Is this just something we do when we're here then we just
go home and it's forgotten? It really doesn't enter the heart.
It doesn't change the life. A gospel that doesn't change
a life, either that person doesn't have the gospel or it's another
gospel, it's one or the other. Now the love of God can't be
shed abroad in the heart and not come out. GRACE CANNOT BE
EXPERIENCED AND NOT COME OUT! It can't be! It can't be! We are called on here to persevere
in the faith and not just go through some religious activity. And then secondly here, the Apostle
now changes his tone he sounds a better a better note he sounds
a better note that was a that was a that was a uh you know
we have to deal with the tough things too we have to deal with
the tough things too and and the apostle does that here but
now he turns and he encourages them he gives them uh the encouragement
that a pastor would give his congregation And the key verse here in 9 through
12 is verse 9, but look at this. But Beloved, isn't that tender? That's tender. He speaks to them as Beloved. We are persuaded better things
of you and things that accompany salvation. There are things that
accompany salvation. There are evidences of salvation. WE CAN HAVE AN ASSURANCE OF SALVATION. You know that? We have no reason to doubt our
salvation in Christ. I know there's some, I've heard
some preach that always have you doubting it. They always
have you doubting it. But we should have full assurance
of it. Should we have full assurance of faith? If we take God at His
Word, we should. WE SHOULD HAVE FULL ASSURANCE
OF FAITH. WE HAVE NO REASON TO DOUBT GOD. Listen here, let me
read these few verses. But Beloved, we are persuaded
better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though
we thus speak. For God is not unrighteous to forget your work
and labor of love, which you have showed toward His name,
and that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister
We desire that every one of you do show the same diligence to
the full assurance of hope until the end, that you be not slothful,
the followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the
promise. But beloved, we're persuaded
better things of you, things that accompany salvation, better things. are evidences
of salvation what's the evidence of salvation what's the evidences
that he's persuaded of well he mentions them here in verse 10
for God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love one of the
evidence of that God has saved me that God has saved you here's
one of the greatest evidences of all is a genuine love for
God and one another And if that's present, we'll serve one another. We will look after one another.
We will not backbite one another. We won't do it. Love doesn't
do that. Love HIDETH the matter. It HIDETH
the matter. So God's not unrighteous to forget
your work and your labor of love, which you showed toward His name,
and that you've ministered to the saints, and you do minister,
you serve His people. You love and you work. It's a labor of love, isn't it?
It's a labor of love in your Master's Vineyard. It is. Faith, love, service, perseverance. If the Spirit of God dwells in
a person, all of this will be evident. It'll be evident. And the evidence of grace at
work, as I read to you there in verse 10, that's the evidence
of grace at work in you. And he points this out. God remembers
the work of the saints. He doesn't forget your labor
of love. God doesn't forget that. Turn
over to Mark chapter 10. Because sometimes it feels like
when you're undergoing a heavy trial that you've been forgotten. Like David felt like that one
time the heaven was brass. And Mark, Matthew, Mark, Mark chapter 10, let me get to
the verse 26. This is the Lord talking about
that a rich man, how hard it'd be for him to go through the
eye of a needle. Then for rich man to enter into the kingdom
of God, for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. In verse
26, AND THEY WERE ASTONISHED OUT OF MEASURE, SAYING AMONG
THEMSELVES, WHO THEN CAN BE SAVED? IF A RICH MAN CAN'T BE SAVED,
WHO THEN CAN BE SAVED? AND JESUS LOOKING UPON THEM,
SAID WITH MEN IT IS IMPOSSIBLE, BUT NOT WITH GOD. FOR WITH GOD
ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE. THEN PETER BEGAN TO SAY UNTO
HIM, LO, WE HAVE LEFT ALL, AND HAVE FOLLOWED YOU, WE HAVE LEFT
EVERYTHING. WHAT ABOUT US? WE HAVE LEFT EVERYTHING, AND
WE HAVE FOLLOWED YOU. And Jesus answered and said,
Verily I say to you, there is no man that hath left house,
or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children,
or lands, for my sake and the gospels. But he shall receive
a hundredfold now in this time houses, and brethren, and sisters,
mothers, children, lands, with persecutions. Persecutions always
go with the gospel. And in the world to come, eternal
life. He says here, God remembers the
work. He's not forgetful of your labor of love. Peter said, what
about us? We've left everything. And when I read that today, it was comforting. I found comfort
in that because, I mean, I could say, You know,
we left everything to come down here. We sold everything. We
sold everything we had and got rid of everything and came here. And when I read that today, he
said, you're gonna have a hundred fold. I came down here, I got
a 300 acre farm, I thought, to hunt deer on. I got ponds to
fish in. I mean, I've got everything here,
don't I? I got brothers and sisters here.
I thought all that I had, HERE! God has blessed us so much, I
haven t lost a thing. He says here, For God is not
unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love. But the lesson here is this,
be diligent in faith and love to God and one another, not to
earn salvation, but to reflect it in your life, in your walk
and in your talk. We should be conscious of our
relationship to Christ at all times, everywhere we go. EVERYWHERE
WE GO. WE ARE AMBASSADORS OF THE KING.
EVERYBODY IN THIS ROOM WHO BELIEVES THE GOSPEL, YOU ARE AN AMBASSADOR
OF CHRIST WHEREVER YOU GO. YOU AND I REPRESENT GOD ALMIGHTY. HE'S OUR FATHER. HE'S OUR FATHER. AND WHEN WE KEEP THAT IN FRONT
OF US, IT WILL PUT A CHECK ON OUR TONGUE AND ON OUR CONDUCT. and then he teaches us here especially
in verse 12 to avoid spiritual sluggishness he says slothful
slothful avoiding it slothful is an attitude
that leads to discouragement which leads to giving up they
were under a lot of pressure they were under some fiery trials
They were under some fiery trials by their families, excommunicated. I mean, it was fiery trials. And some of them were getting
very sluggish about their relationship to Christ. And some of them was
wanting to go back. And I have no doubt some of them
did. And he's saying, you know, if
they do that, they're not coming back. They're not coming back. But here's what one person said
this I like this first we lose the desire to press on then we
lose the desire to go on quit here's what we are to do he says
in verse 12 imitate those who inherit the promises through
faith and patience where's Abraham right now he's in heaven That rich man
lifted up his eyes in hell, he said, Father Abraham, send somebody
to put their finger, dip their finger in water and touch my
tongue, cool the tip of my tongue. Where's David? Where's Job? Job, you know the trials of Job,
where's he at now? If we could just look beyond
the trial, WE CAN SEE THAT THESE THINGS ARE NOT WORTHY TO BE COMPARED
TO THE GLORY THAT IS TO BE REVEALED, NOT JUST TO US, BUT IN US. And then thirdly, we have the
certainty of God s promise and our hope to hold onto as we travel
as pilgrims through this world. We re just pilgrims, we don t
act like it a lot of times, but we are. We re just journeying
through. He says here in verse 13, For
when God made a promise to Abraham, and He s giving this to encourage
us, to give us something to lay hold of, FOR WHEN GOD MADE PROMISE TO
ABRAHAM, BECAUSE HE COULD SWEAR BY NO GREATER, HE SWEARED BY
HIMSELF, SAYING, SURELY BLESSING I WILL BLESS THEE, MULTIPLYING
I WILL MULTIPLY THEE. AND SO AFTER HE HAD PATIENTLY
ENDURED, HE OBTAINED THE PROMISE, HE IS IN HEAVEN, HE WAS GIVEN
THE PROMISE OF A CHILD, A SEED, BUT NOW HE IS WITH THAT SEED,
THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. FOR MEN VERILY SWEAR BY THE GREATER,
AND AN OATH FOR CONFIRMATION IS TO THEM, AND THE END OF ALL
STRIFE. wherein God willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs
of promise. This is to us, the heirs of promise. Think about that, heirs of promise. The immutability of his counsel
confirmed it by an oath 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 SOIL, BOTH SURE AND STEADFAST, AND WHICH ENTERETH INTO THAT
WITHIN THE VEIL, WHETHER THE FORERUNNER FORTH ENTERED, EVEN
JESUS MADE A HIGH PRIEST FOREVER AFTER THE ORDER OF MELCHIZEDEC."
Brethren, we have a solid, solid hope, a hope we can't even destroy.
We may not have a real sense of it at times. because of sin
but we have a living hope and it's entered into the veil and
here's our encouragement here's our encouragement to go on to
persevere God swore by himself he swore to Abraham his promise
and oath confirm his unchangeable purpose his immutability that's
what he's showing his immutability Christ our forerunner and high
priest who has entered into the sanctuary on our behalf what
an anchor we have what a what a hope and an anchor we have
of the soul of the soul Our hope is anchored
not in performance Not in works and merits, but in God's and
in in the in God's character He cannot lie. God is holy FATHER
YOU SAID, YOU CAN TAKE THAT TO THE THRONE OF GRACE, YOU CAN
TAKE A PROMISE TO THE THRONE OF GRACE AND SAY FATHER YOU SAID,
YOU SAID, AND SOONER OR LATER EVERY CHILD OF GOD IS GOING TO
DO THAT, THEY'RE GOING TO BE IN SUCH A HARD STRAIT THAT THEY'RE
GOING TO FIND A PROMISE AND THEY'RE GOING TO TAKE IT BEFORE THE THRONE
OF GRACE AND SAY FATHER YOU SAID THIS, And I trust you. I trust you to perform this promise
because you said you can't lie. Two things God can't do. He can't
lie and He cannot break a promise. He can't do it. Now that gives
us a strong hope which is an anchor of the soul. It's an anchor
of our soul. He can't lie and He can't break
a promise and Christ intercedes for us. I thought something about
an anchor today, I gave some thought to it, and I thought,
you know when it, and you have the thought here of a ship out
in the ocean. They drop that anchor way down
into the deep, you can't see the anchor, you can't see where
it's holding on to. We can't see our anchor, not
with these eyes, but it's in the veil. It's in the veil, it's
in the Holy of Holies. WHEN A SHIP DROPS AN ANCHOR,
IT GOES DOWN. OUR ANCHOR GOES UP. IT DOESN'T
GO DOWN. OUR ANCHOR GOES UP. WE ARE ANCHORED
IN HEAVEN. WE ARE LITERALLY ANCHORED IN
HEAVEN. AND AN ANCHOR HOLDS STEADY DURING
A STORM. YOU DON'T NEED ONE FOR CALM.
BUT WHEN GOD SENDS TRIALS, HARD TRIALS, THIS HOPE THAT WE HAVE
IN CHRIST WILL HOLD. IT WILL HOLD IN THE
SEVEREST STORM. Job never gave up, did he? Job never quit. Though he slay
me, yet I will trust him. YOU GIVE SOMEBODY HOPE. YOU GIVE
SOMEONE HOPE. YOU CANNOT BEAT THEM. PERIOD. YOU CAN'T BEAT THEM! YOU CAN'T BEAT THEM DOWN! YOU
CAN'T WIN IF THEY GOT AN OUNCE OF HOPE LEFT! Or was it the prophet said, REJOICE
NOT OVER ME, O MY ENEMY, FOR THOUGH I FALL, I SHALL RISE AGAIN! THAT'S THE CONFIDENCE OF A BELIEVER! THAT'S THE CONFIDENCE OF A BELIEVER!
Let me close with this. CLING TO THE PROMISES OF GOD,
for it is the same as clinging to God. Do you know that? If
we cling to His promises, and we really cling to His promises,
you are just clinging to Him. There He is. If I gave you a
promise and you hold on to that promise, you are really holding
on to ME. The trust is in ME, if I give you one. and then TRUST
the Lord Jesus Christ as your High Priest. He?s already entered
God?s Presence ON YOUR BEHALF! He went there ON OUR BEHALF!
OUR NAMES ARE WRITTEN ON HIS HEART! INDIVIDUALLY! Here?s what we need to take away
from this. First of all, the WARNING. God
warns us against falling away. Be careful! That's why Peter
said, EXAMINE YOURSELF WHETHER YOU'LL BE IN THE FAITH. He's
not talking about doubting, He's just talking about being sober-minded
about this matter of salvation. And then He encourages us to
persevere in the faith and look to those who have already gone
before us. How they persevered and they've
received the promise. They didn't quit. Salvation,
if a person can quit, he never had it. never had it and then
he gives us a sure and steadfast hope in the Lord Jesus Christ
who has entered into the veil on our behalf what an anchor
what an anchor we have of the soul all right