And my text will be in Hebrews
chapter 6, the last part of this chapter in dealing with the subject
of strong consolation in the Lord Jesus Christ. Strong consolation. That word consolation means comfort. It means assurance. It means
peace, peace with God. Assurance of salvation. Much
misunderstood subject. I've heard so many messages on
it over the years and some this past week. I heard a man say
this, he said, faith and assurance are different. You can have faith
but not assurance and assurance without faith. I thought, what
are you talking about? No, I mean, you believe something
or you don't believe it. Isn't that right? Paul said,
I know whom I have believed and I'm persuaded that he's able
to keep that which I've committed unto him against that day. That's
assurance, isn't it? That's the God-given faith. I
believe what God says. I know if God had not given me
A new heart, eyes to see and ears to hear. I wouldn't believe
what God said. I might believe other things.
And I might have assurance without faith then. A lot of people do. That's why I had Randy read that
passage out of Luke 2 of Simeon. Think about what he said there.
He said in Luke 2 20, I'll just read it to you. When he held
the Christ child, the Holy Spirit revealed to Simeon, he said,
you're gonna actually see the Messiah before you leave this
world. That was a promise given to Simeon. And it says in verse 28, he took
him up in his arms and blessed God, which means he worshiped
God, he praised God. And he said this, he said, Lord,
now let us thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word.
What's he saying? He said, I'm ready to die. Now why, on what basis do you
have such assurance, Simeon? I've heard people say, I'm ready
to die. You know, a lot of people will quote Paul's, sort of his
last words when he said to Timothy, he said, I've finished my course,
I've fought the good fight, I've kept the faith. And they quote
it in a way, that as if Paul was saying, well, I've done enough. I finally made it, I've worked
hard. No, that's not what Paul's saying at all there. When he
says, I've fought the good fight, he means I've preached the gospel.
And that's what he did, didn't he? All the things he suffered
and all the things, the persecution, he said, I do it for the elect's
sake, preaching the gospel. And when he said, I finished
my course. Well, what is our course? I'll tell you what my
course is. My course is the day that I was born according to
God's sovereign appointed time, and the day that I'll die according
to God's sovereign appointed time. God's not waiting on me
to finish this or that before he takes me out. The day of my
death is already appointed. Do you believe that? I believe
that. And you know why I believe it?
Bible says it and so when Paul says I fought the good fight
I've kept the faith when he says I kept the faith was he saying
what is the faith it's looking to Christ that's what he's saying
I'm looking to Christ that's the faith in the Bible examine
yourself to see whether you be in the faith There's some people
who say, well, we shouldn't have assurance because that's presumption.
And others say, well, if we don't have assurance, we're not saved.
When I was in seminary, they used to tell a joke about different
denominations. They said a Methodist is one
who knows he has it, but he's afraid he's gonna lose it. And
a Presbyterian's one who knows he can't lose it, but afraid
he doesn't have it. I said, what a mixed up bag of
religious garbage, all that is. And here's this old simple man
named Simeon. He says, I'm ready to die. Now,
why are you ready to die? Look at verse 30 of Luke chapter
two. For mine eyes have seen thy salvation. That's why I'm ready to die.
I've seen Christ. That word salvation, that's the
word that's translated sometimes in the Greek New Testament as
Jesus. His name shall be called Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sins. Now, over here
in Hebrews chapter six, we're talking about perseverance in
the faith. Remember what he talked about,
he said, He said, we want every one of you to show the same diligence
to the full assurance of hope to the end, persevering. We know
that persevering is a blessing of God, continuing in the faith,
not giving up, not quitting, not apostatizing, but continuing
in the faith. And we know that this is all
by the sovereign, powerful grace of God to preserve us under glory. We know this, that if God didn't
preserve us, we would not persevere. That's what the scripture teaches.
We'd fall a thousand times a day, one old writer said, if God didn't
keep. Why will I persevere in the faith?
Because God won't let me go. But I'll show you some of that
in just a moment. But what he's talking about here in Hebrews
chapter six, beginning at verse 13, He's showing us the way that
believers are to persevere. And how's that? By faith in Christ. Our God-given assurance is based
upon what Christ has already accomplished. He mentions this
over in Hebrews chapter 12, when he talks about the sin that so
easily besets us. And what do you think that is?
That's unbelief. If we're believers, you know
we have to still fight the unbelief of the flesh. The disciples mentioned
that. Lord, I believe. Help thou mine
unbelief. We've got so many enemies. The
world, the devil, then we have the flesh. The moment we turn
our eyes away from Christ and look to other things or turn
it on self, what are we doing? That's unbelief. We have to war
against the flesh. Lord, keep me. Lord, preserve
me. Don't let me, don't let me fall
away. And of course, Christ said that
when he was talking about his sheep in John chapter 10. He
said, they hear my voice, I know them, they follow me. No one
shall pluck them out of my father's hands. He said, for I and my
father are one. He won't let us go. He said,
all that the father giveth me shall come to me in John 6, 37.
And him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. He went
on to say, and this is the father's will that sent me that of all
which he had given me, I should lose nothing, but raise it up
again at the last day. In Hebrews chapter 12, when he
speaks of that sin that so easily besets us, he tells us the way
to fight it in verse two. Run the race of grace looking
unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith. That's
my assurance. It's not in me. It's not because
I'm having such a good day today. It's not because I'm standing
behind this pulpit preaching to you. That's not my ground
of assurance. That's what the problem was with
the false preachers in Matthew 7. Lord, haven't we preached
in your name? Haven't we done many wonderful
works? Haven't we cast out demons? Is
that your ground of assurance? Remember what he said? Depart
from me, ye that work iniquity, I never knew you. What is the
ground of assurance? Well, look at Hebrews chapter
six here in verse 13. He talks about Abraham. He says
in verse 13, And here's what he's talking about. He's talking
about number one, the promise and the glory of God. The promise
and the glory of God. For when God made promise to
Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he swear by himself,
saying to Abraham, surely blessing I will bless thee and multiplying
I will multiply him. There's a promise here. Now that promise was what? God
made a lot of promises to Abraham. Some of those promises were physical,
pertaining to his national descendants, his natural descendants, the
Jews. Others were spiritual promises pertaining to salvation of God's
chosen people, Jew and Gentile, out of every tribe, kindred,
tongue, and nation, by his grace through Christ. And that's the
promise that he's talking about here in Hebrews. He's talking
about the promise of salvation, the promise of salvation by the
grace of God through the coming Messiah as Abraham saw him, the
promised Messiah. You say, well, Abraham didn't
know anything about that. Well, God said he did. John chapter
eight, he said, Abraham rejoiced to see my day and he saw it and
was glad. You say, how did Abraham see
it? I'll tell you how he saw it, same way you see it, by the
grace and power of God. He had new eyes and new hearts
and a new mind and new ears, a new heart. You say, well, we
look back on it. Well, that's right, Abraham looked
forward to it. We look on it as a historical
fact. Abraham looked on it as a future
fact. But Abraham believed God. Abraham
was a recipient of a righteousness without works Romans 4 tells
us just like David Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputed
righteousness without works. What does that mean? It means
God charged Abraham with righteousness that He had no part in producing One that that one who is able
who is God and Man and one person would come in time and fulfill
by his death on the cross That's Abraham, that's the promise.
It's the gospel promise. Now, what is the assurance of
the gospel promise? Looking at Abraham, he said,
blessing I bless thee, multiplying I multiply thee, talking about
Abraham's spiritual children, Galatians three, those who believe
in Christ. What's the assurance of that
promise? Well, look at it again in verse 13. because God could
swear by no greater, he swore by himself. There's the assurance
of it. You know what that's talking
about? It's talking about the glory of God. What does that mean? These promises that Abraham had
and that all who believe in Christ were all conditioned on God being
glorified in every attribute of His nature, His character,
through the Lord Jesus Christ. God swears by Himself because
He could swear by no greater. What does that mean? That means
God engages all that He is, all of His glory behind that promise. It means God puts His own reputation
on the line here. The fulfillment of this promise
is not conditioned on your reputation or my reputation, it's God's
reputation. And this is the promise of saving
all the people of His choice by His grace in Christ Jesus.
It's not God promising to save all without exception, because
if it is, His reputation is shot. I heard a man preach this, or
I read where a man preached this years ago, even before I was
born, that he talked about hell being a monument to God's failure. Really? You know what hell is
a monument to? The glory of God's justice. And I don't say that proudly. We should never think about hell
and lost people without a tear in our eye. But my friend, God
did not fail. He has never failed. He's always
been true to his promise. He's always fulfilled it because
it's conditioned on Christ. 2 Corinthians 1.20, all the promises
of God are in Christ, yea, and in him, amen. Look at John 17 with me. I want
to show you this. This is the high priestly prayer
of Christ. And listen to how he prays this
prayer for his people. We won't go through the whole
thing because it's too long. I need to preach a message just
on this chapter. It'd be good. But look at verse
one of John 17. He says, these words spoke Jesus
and lifted up his eyes to heaven. And he said, Father, the hour
has come. Glorify thy son, that thy son may also glorify thee. That's what we're talking about,
the reputation of both the father and the son here. Verse two,
as thou hast given him power over all flesh, now listen to
this, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast
given him. There's the glory of God. If
one person for whom Christ died would fail to receive these promised
blessings, that would mar dishonor. the glory, the reputation of
the father and the son. God's not gonna let that happen.
He swore by himself. He could swear by no greater,
why? Because there's no one greater than God. Look at verse three of John 17.
This is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true
God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. And what's the basis
of all of it? Look at verse four. I have glorified
thee on the earth. I have finished the work which
thou gavest me to do. And he's speaking here of the
sure, in anticipation of the sure work that he would accomplish
on the cross. To put away sin, to make an end
of sin, to fulfill all righteousness for his people. That's how God
is glorified. This is the promise of God to
save all the people of his choice by his grace in Christ Jesus.
But secondly, look back at Hebrews chapter six, look at verse 15.
Now listen to this. Here's the promise, the power
and grace of God. He says in verse 15, And so after
he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. That is
after Abraham patiently endured, he obtained the promise. Now
you remember back up here in Hebrews chapter six, in verse
12, the people of God are encouraged here. It says that you be not
slothful, that is lazy, that is lazy and well-doing, He says,
but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the
promise. And then over here talking about
Abraham. After he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. Now, what are we talking about
patience here? Well, last week I told you, it's talking about
endurance. It's kind of like a descriptive word here, patiently
endured. You say, well, that's kind of
saying the same thing. It's an emphasis. And what's
he talking about? Now, you think about Abraham.
He patiently endured. Does that mean that Abraham at
all times was patient in himself? Is that what it means? Well,
have you read about Abraham in the Old Testament? Runs from
about Genesis chapter 12 on. You see, the point here is not
to boast in any perfection in Abraham himself as like he never
wavered, never doubted, never had a glitch. If that's true,
if that's what it means to be a child of Abraham, then there's
none in here and there's none up here. Never have a doubt,
never have a misgiving, never have a moment that you say, man,
I wonder if I'm saved at all. It's recorded in Genesis that
Abraham had a lot of problems. Remember when he went to Egypt
and his wife Sarah was so beautiful, he was afraid Pharaoh was gonna
kill him and take Sarah, so he lied. and said, she's my sister. Remember that? He did it another
time, I think it was a man named Abimelech. Now God had made a promise to
Abraham that the promised seed was coming through him and Sarah.
He knew that, but he was afraid that he'd be offed. Pharaoh would take Sarah. You
remember when he argued with God about his servant Eleazar?
Well, Eleazar's the promised seed. God said, no, Abraham.
Eleazar's a servant in your house. He's not the offspring of you
and Sarah. You remember when God came to him when he was old
and Sarah overheard God talking to Abraham saying, you're going
to have a child. What did Sarah do? Oh, she just glorified God. No, she laughed. They had their problems. just
like we do. But Paul's describing here in
Romans and then here in Hebrews, he's talking about Abraham as
to the tenor of his life as a believer. And that God wouldn't let him
go, he persevered in the faith and he did. Not without problems,
not without sin, but God kept him. And even though there were
episodes in his life where he struggled and he messed up As
we all do, that's not exclusive of faith. You know what happens
in those times? God always brings us back to
where he focuses our eyes on Christ. That's what he does. Abraham was strong in faith,
the scripture says there in Romans, for giving glory to God. You
know the greatest insult a sinner can give against God is not to
believe his promise because it's like saying God's not faithful. My friend, God is faithful. Great
is thy faithfulness. You know what that in Lamentations
3 it says is? It says, it's of the Lord's mercies
that we're not consumed. I mean right now. Think about
your best moment. Don't you think your best moment's
yet to come? I hope my best moments yet to
come. But even at my best moments, past, present, or future, it
is still of the Lord's mercies that I am not consumed. Great is thy faithfulness. God's
faithfulness. That's what keeps us faithful.
And so he emphasizes that. Look at Hebrews 6 verse 16. Here's
the immutability of God's promise and God's oath. And this is good,
look at this. He said, for men, verse 16, barely
swear by the greater, and an oath for confirmation is to them
an end of all strife. When men strike an agreement,
and this has to do with swearing of oaths in that time, they would
always swear by something greater than themselves, because then
it was kind of binding, an end of all strife. But look at verse
17. wherein God, willing more abundantly
to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel,
what is his counsel? That's his wisdom, that's his
purpose. It's revealed in his covenant of grace through Christ,
the gospel, salvation. He confirmed it by an oath. He
swore by himself. He swore by himself. Verse 18,
that by two immutable things, two things that cannot change,
what are they? God's promise cannot change and
God's oath cannot change. That's the two immutable things.
God's way of saving sinners by his grace through Christ and
his glory involved in it cannot change, cannot fail. That by
two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to
lie, he cannot lie, We might have what? Strong consolation. Not only can we have assurance
of salvation, it's the purpose of God that we who are looking
to Christ for all salvation, for all forgiveness, for all
righteousness, for all glory, that we have this assurance.
Like Simeon, I'm ready to die. My old preacher told a friend
of mine one time, he said, you better get busy, because you're
not ready to die now. Well, getting busy is not the
answer. Look into Christ as the author
and finisher of our faith. There's the answer. I'm ready
to die. My eyes have seen God's salvation. And this is God's promise, and
it's backed up with God's oath. They can't change. That's why
when some preacher comes along preaching another gospel, that's
a travesty. That's why Paul said it in Galatians
chapter one, if they preach any other gospel unto you than that
which we have preached, let them be anathema. That's how serious
this is. They make promises to people
that God never made. They'll tell people that God
will save you if you'll do your part. God never made a promise
like that. They say, well, God will save
you if you believe. Now, wait a minute now. Believe
what? Now, there's where you gotta go. Believe what? Well, believe if you believe,
you'll seal the deal. No, that's not a promise God
ever made. God promises to save his chosen people by his grace
through the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he
commands his people to submit to Christ as their only way of
salvation, their only way of forgiveness, their only way of
righteousness. And he gives them ears to hear
and eyes to see and hearts and minds to understand and know
and believe that. It's the gift of God. Why does
he do it that way? For his glory. That we might
not have anything to boast in. You know what 1 Corinthians 1
30 quoting Jeremiah? Why does God do it this way?
That no flesh should glory in His presence. God forbid, Paul
wrote, that I should glory except in the cross. What is that cross? That's the death of Christ to
establish righteousness, to put away our sins. That's the promise
of God. So how can I have strong consolation? You know, Simeon, what did he
call the Messiah? What did Simeon call him? He called him the consolation
of Israel. That's a familiar term of the
Messiah in the Old Testament. He's the consolation of Israel.
Is he your consolation? Where do you find your comfort?
When God the Holy Spirit convicts a sinner of sin, You know, He
makes us very uncomfortable with ourselves. Now, here's the key. Where do we find relief? Where
do we find comfort? Where do we find salvation? Where
do we find assurance? Where do we find consolation?
Well, I'll tell you something, if it's anywhere or anyone but
Christ and Him crucified and risen from the dead, the Lord,
our righteousness, who is God in human flesh and who finished
that great work to ensure and guarantee the salvation of his
people if it's anywhere else. It's false comfort. It's false
peace. It's false consolation. But looking
to him, now look, how do you know that? Well, look at the
last verses here. Here's the ground up. He says
that we might, in verse 18, that we might have a strong consolation
who have fled for refuge All right, to lay hold upon the hope
that is set before us. Now we fled for refuge. Now everybody's
fleeing for some refuge, aren't they? They're fleeing to the
banks, or they're fleeing to their family, or they're fleeing
to church, or they're fleeing to their profession, or they're
fleeing to the baptistry pool. They're fleeing somewhere. Everybody's
fleeing. That's the nature of this world.
Because we know we're headed for death. We know we're gonna
die. Fleeing to the doctor maybe. Where have the people of God
fled for refuge? Well, to lay hold upon the hope. Now the hope there is not wishful
thinking. The hope there is a basis for
assurance. It's a certain assurance of salvation
and glory. And it's set before us. Now what
is that? Look at verse 19. Which hope we have as an anchor
of the soul, In other words, it latches us down to where we're
immovable, both sure and steadfast. I like that metaphor in Isaiah, like a nail
in a sure place. Sure and steadfast, which entereth
into that within the veil. Now that's a reference to that
old covenant tabernacle and that veil. What it's talking about
metaphorically here is the very presence of God, the very Shekinah
glory of God. And it's entered within that
veil before us and for us. Look at verse 20, whether the
forerunner for us entered, and who is that for? Even Jesus,
made in high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. He entered into the veil. Turn
to Hebrews 10. Christ, the Christ of the Bible,
not a counterfeit, the Christ of the Bible is our strong consolation. He's our comfort. He's our peace. He's our assurance. None of that
is within us or by us or worked out through us. It's always looking
unto Jesus. Believing in Him, resting in
Him, pleading His blood, pleading His righteousness. That's the
assurance of the faithful. And He's our strong consolation.
The Bible says in Isaiah 4, Comfort ye, comfort ye my people. The
Lord hath given her double for all our sins. What is that double? We've been delivered from condemnation
by what? By Christ. and we've been delivered
from the deception of darkness by Christ. We've seen the light. David said this is based on a
covenant that's ordered in all things and sure. Who ordered
it? God did. Who made it sure? The surety, Christ. He fulfilled
all righteousness. And because Christ died and established
righteousness to demand our salvation and final glory, We can never
be lost. We can never lose it. Because
God imputed our sin to Christ, and He died to put it away, and He's given us His righteousness
in return. We can say, who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who
can condemn us? It's Christ that died. Yea, rather
He's risen again. And because Christ intercedes
for us in heaven, We can never be lost. And because God the
Holy Spirit has given us life and indwells us, He will never
leave us. He will never let us leave Him. He will abide in us, Christ said.
When the Holy Spirit comes and shows us the glory of God in
Christ, He abides in us. That means He takes up permanent
residence. He cannot be evicted. How do
you know you have that permanent residence? because you're looking
unto Jesus, the author and finisher. You're like Simeon, mine eyes
have seen thy salvation. We'll look at Hebrews chapter
10, look at verse 19. We'll close with this. Having therefore,
and what he's talking about here is how Christ settled the matter
of sin and righteousness between God and his people. Christ has
settled that matter. How did he do it? By his one
offering, Hebrews 10, 14, or by one offering, he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified, those who are set apart by the
Spirit, known by their believing the gospel, believing in Christ,
resting in him and repenting of their dead works. Those works
that we're so proud of before we come to a saving knowledge
of Christ, those experiences we're so proud of, throw them
away. Look to Christ, look at the light
of the glory of God in his face. And so he says in verse 19, having
therefore brethren boldness, liberty, confidence to enter
in the holiest, the very presence of God, how? By the blood of
Jesus. That's it. By his blood, his
finished work, his death, his righteousness. by a new and living
way which he, Christ, hath consecrated, made new for us through the veil,
that is to say his flesh, that's his death, and having a high
priest over the house of God. Look at verse 22, let us draw
near with a true heart, a faithful heart, a sincere heart, in full
assurance of faith. That doesn't mean the full assurance
that we have enough faith, it means the full assurance of looking
to Christ, that's what faith is. Full assurance based upon
the word of God concerning him. Faith comes by hearing and hearing
by the word of God. Having our hearts sprinkled from
an evil conscience. An evil conscience is a condemned
conscience. An evil conscience is a legal
conscience. You know, they say that the mental
hospitals are full of people with guilty consciences. What's
gonna relieve the guilty conscience? having our hearts sprinkled.
Do you know what that sprinkling refers to? Remember when Moses
came down out of the mount and he dipped the hyssop in blood
and he sprinkled all the people? That's a metaphor of the application
of the blood of Christ to the guilty conscience. What can wash
away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the This is all my hope and peace. This is all my
righteousness. Nothing but the blood. Do you
really believe nothing? Nothing but. And our bodies washed
with pure water, washed in the blood of Christ, washed clean
from all our sins. That's our consolation. I have
no peace, no comfort apart from Him. And if I gain any peace
looking anywhere else, it's nothing but self-righteousness. That's
the whole thing. Christ is our strong consolation.