I had two or three titles to give
to this, The Unchangeableness of His Covenant, Receiving Blessing
from God, and Exhortation to Diligence. So whichever one hits,
you put the title on it. Whichever one you get out of
it. You know, I've learned in sitting and listening to messages. Sometimes I get this out of it,
and someone else will be talking about the message, and they'll
get something else out of it. So you title it. I know what
I've got on here, so whatever you get out of it, you title
it. Now, he says here, I'm going to back up to verse 7. He says,
The earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it,
and it brings forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed,
receiveth blessing from God." First of all, if God blesses us, we are blessed. I can say, bless you. I don't have the power to do
that. You see the Pope standing there trying to bless people,
you know, bless you and kissing these rings and all that stuff.
He doesn't have the power to kill a fly. But if God blesses, we are blessed. Whether we have little or much,
we are blessed. If he gives or if he takes, we
are blessed. One of the greatest blessings
that God may do for us is to take something from us that's
keeping us from him. But if we are blessed of God,
we are blessed. And I believe we are blessed
of God. We have the gospel. The gospel that we have here,
that's preached here, I believe is the only gospel there is.
It's the gospel of the blessed God. And He's given it to us. He's entrusted us with it. And we are to be diligent. Diligent
with it. In preaching it. In how we deal
with it. We have to be diligent. Diligent. Now those who drink of the grace
of God. He says here, the earth which
drinketh in the rain that comes oft upon it. Those who drink
of the grace of God, that rain that comes down from heaven,
that rain of grace that comes from God, often, I told you this
last week, it comes down often upon us. God's grace is always
upon His people. It's always upon them in Christ. And they do bring forth fruit.
You notice it says here, comes off the point, and bringeth forth
herbs. He brings forth herbs, food, fruit, meat for them by,
listen, whom it is dressed. This rain, this grace that comes
upon the good ground is good ground because it's made that
way. The rocks have been removed.
He said, I'll take away that stony heart. I'll give you a
heart of flesh. The ground has been fertilized.
with the seed of the Word, the Spirit of God has fertilized
it, and God has reigned upon it, and it has produced fruit. It has produced believers, and
in those believers it has produced love, joy, peace, longsuffering,
faith. It produces fruit. And you notice I said there that
it is prepared. And this ground here is prepared
by God. That's why it's called good ground.
It's good ground because God prepared it. But now, that which
bears thorn and briar is rejected. It's not good ground. It's not
been prepared. It has been left alone. We've been going through Exodus.
It says Pharaoh hardened his heart. It says God hardened his
heart. How did God harden his heart?
He left him alone. He left him alone. Our Lord said
to his disciples concerning the Pharisees one time, he said,
leave them alone. You don't ever want to hear that.
I don't want God to ever leave me alone. All other ground that does not
bear good fruit is cursed and it says there, whose end is to
be burned. You know, that's really an act
of mercy, the mercy of God toward his children to destroy the wicked. If a mad dog came into your house
and you had children, it would be an act of mercy, an act of
love towards you if mom or dad shot that dog. and got it out
of the house. It would be an act of mercy.
It's an act of justice. It's an act of pure justice when
God casts the wicked into perdition, but it's also an act of mercy
and kindness to his children that he has gotten them out of
the house, gotten rid of them. But Paul says here in verse 9,
after saying this, but beloved, we are persuaded Convinced. That's what he's saying. Convinced. We are persuaded better things
of you. I'm convinced of better things of you and things that
accompany salvation, though we thus speak. I'm persuaded better
things of you than briars and thorns, evil and sin. I'm persuaded better things of
you. He was convinced that the one
who called them would also keep them. and that they would bear
fruit. If the Spirit of God dwells in
you, the fruit of the Spirit will be present to varying degrees,
but it will be present. It will be present. Also, we
are persuaded better things of you and things that accompany
salvation. And then he speaks here in verse 10, and he shows
us here in verse 10 why he's persuaded better things of them. He says, for God is not unrighteous. God is not an unrighteous God.
He's a just God. He's not unrighteous to forget
your work and labor of love which you have showed toward his name.
You have demonstrated your faith and love to God in the way you
have taken care of, looked after one another, in that you have
ministered to the saints and do minister. But God is not unrighteous
to forget your work and labor of love. For God to forget your work and
your labor of love would be for God to forget His work. It would
be for God to forget His work. It says over in Ephesians chapter
2, turn over there. In Ephesians chapter 2, a very
familiar portion of scripture, in verse 10, for we are his workmanship. We are God's workmanship. He
is the one who created us. He is the one who made us believers.
He is the one who produces, who has produced the fruit. We are
his workmanship created in Christ Jesus, listen, unto good works. We've been created for His workmanship in
Christ for this purpose, unto good works, which God hath before
ordained, prepared, that we should walk in them. Now, for God to
forget our work and labor of love would be for God to forget
His work, because our work is His work in us. It's His work
in us. The Spirit of God working in
us. Using our body, our hands, our minds. It's Him working in us. Look
over in Philippians chapter 2. In Philippians chapter 1, look
in verse 9. Paul says, And this I pray, that
your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in
all judgment, that ye may approve Things that are excellent, that
ye may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ,
being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by
Jesus Christ." Filled with the fruits of righteousness, works of faith, labor of love,
that's His work in us. Look over in Philippians 2, in
chapter 2, in verse 1. For it is God which worketh in
you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." So for God
to forget your work and labor of love would be for God to forget
his work, and that's not going to happen. It is not going to
happen. He remembers our sins no more. He remembers our sins no more.
However, he remembers that which we do for and to one another. He remembers it. Our Lord said
this, as much as you have done it to the least of thee, my brethren,
you have done it unto me. And I won't forget it. I will
not forget it. You know, you and I forget things
at times. We forget. You know, we forget
things that people have done for us and we have a lack of
gratitude, but not God. Not God. He said, I'll never
forget your work of faith and labor of love. And then he says
here, so back over here, let me get back to Hebrews chapter
six. And then he says here, and we
desire, We desire that every one of you do show the same diligence. Keep it up. That's what he's
saying. You remember back over in chapter 5, he said in verse
11, of whom we have many things to say and hard to utter, seeing
you are dull of hearing. You have become dull of hearing.
And here he's saying, listen, give diligence. Get out of this
disinterested state that you have fallen into. Get out of
it and give diligence. How many times is that word used
throughout the Word of God? Give diligence to make your calling
and election sure. Give diligence here to the full
assurance of hope and to the end. Give diligence. Give yourself
to this. Give yourself to knowing Christ,
to following after Christ, he says. Get yourself out of this
disinterested state and follow on. Follow on to the full assurance
of hope until the end. I don't know why. Well, I do
know why. It's because of sin. But somehow
we think there's some kind of virtue in doubting. There's some
kind of virtue in not saying, whoa, whoa is me, Lord. I just
don't know if you'd have anything to do with somebody like me or
not. You know, doubt comes from unbelief. The very root of all
doubt is unbelief. To have full assurance is what
we ought to be striving for. That's what he's saying here.
If you arrive at the full assurance, and that's something you seek
throughout your whole life. But to arrive at such assurance,
You have to follow on to know the Lord. This comes from being
totally convinced, 1000%, that Jesus Christ is the Messiah.
He is the Savior. His blood takes away all sin.
He is who He says He is. And there's no salvation anywhere
else and no one else. It's following on to know Him,
as Paul said, that I might know Him and the power of His resurrection. We ought to have full assurance. We ought to have full assurance
in God, and he's going to show us here how that God gave an
oath. God swore. He gave an oath that you and
I might have full assurance, that all doubt might be removed. That's why God gave this oath
to Abraham. That's why he swore, and he could
swear by no greater than himself. And that was not for him. That
was to remove all doubt on our part. The covenant of grace that's
between the Father and the Son concerning His people cannot
and will not ever change. And we should never doubt that.
We should never doubt the salvation of the Lord. We should never
doubt His righteousness. We should never doubt the power
of his blood. We should never doubt his priesthood, his intercession. We should never doubt it. And
he said, here, give diligence. We give diligence to a lot of
other things. My soul, give diligence to this, and the other things
will take care of themselves. They'll take care of themselves.
Give diligence. Paul said, we desire. You know
that word desire there means crave? It even has the meaning
of lust. Now, to use the word lust does
not always mean you're talking about something sexual. He said,
we crave. We crave, we desire that you
give this same diligence that you continue. You continue. on to know the Lord, and seeking
the Lord, and to grow in grace and knowledge of Him, and that
ye be not slothful." Laziness. Solomon, I cannot quote it verbatim,
but Solomon said, through idleness of the hands, the house falls
down. The house falls down. When you become dull of hearing,
disinterested, little by little it all crumbles. It all crumbles. And what he's doing here, before
he goes on into the next chapter, dealing with Melchizedek and
the priesthood of Christ, he's telling him now, this goes back
to chapter 5, you know, you're dull of hearing. And he says
in chapter 6, verse 1, let us go on. And he's telling us here,
give diligence. He's got to, basically, here's
what he's got to do. He's got to straighten him up. He's got
to say, now I've got some things to say here, but you're going
to have to get up on the edge of your seat and pay attention.
You're going to have to give some diligence to this. We ought
to give diligence throughout our whole life to what we have
in Christ. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me. Give diligence to learning of
me. And Peter says, let me read it to
you. I won't quote it. Let me read
it to you over here in 2 Peter. Let me find it. 2 Peter chapter 1, he says in verse 10, Wherefore,
the rather brethren, give diligence, give yourselves to this, give
diligence. to make your calling and election sure. For if you
do these things, you shall never fall. You shall never apostatize. You shall never fall away. If
you give diligence to these things, you shall never fall." That's what he's saying here
in this verse. Give diligence to the full assurance of hope
until the end, that you be not slothful, but followers. Followers, there's some people
that's not a bad idea to follow. Paul said, follow me, as I follow
Christ. Didn't he say that? That's why
I hear, be followers or be imitators. Be imitators. Followers. I followed my pastor. You followed
your pastor. We followed our pastor, Henry,
Leanne, for many years. I'm glad I did. I'm glad I did. And whatever advice he'd give
me now, I'd follow it. He's a good one to imitate. He's
a good one. If you'd be not slothful, but
followers, imitators of them who through faith and patience
now, not those who doubt and linger. No, they're not good
examples. They're not the ones to follow.
But those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
And then he gives us one to imitate. He gives us one to imitate. For
when God made a promise to Abraham, he's going to use Abraham here
through these next few verses. Because he could swear by no
greater, he swore by himself. So God gave an oath whenever
he made a promise to Abraham. Why did he promise Abraham? He
promised Abraham a nation. He promised him a son. In blessing, he said, I'll bless
thee. Look over in Genesis chapter 22. Genesis chapter 22, we'll
see where God gave this Now God had told Abraham in Genesis
22 to offer up his son Isaac, his only son Isaac. And earlier
he had promised Abraham that he would make out of him a great
nation. Now logically, we would naturally think, how is he going
to make a great nation out of me if he kills my heir, if he
kills my son? But it says that Abraham received
him in a like figure as being raised from the dead. So Abraham,
without question, without hesitation, took Isaac upon that mountain,
bound him to an altar, and was going to kill him, just as God
said. Now look in verse 15. And the angel of the Lord called
unto Abraham out of heaven the second time and said, By myself
have I sworn. This is what he's speaking of
over in Hebrews. Saith the Lord, for because thou hast done this
thing and hast not withheld 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 nations,
all the nations of the earth, be blessed, because thou hast
obeyed my voice." And God swore. He gave an oath, I'll do this. Abraham, I will do this. Now
turn over to, I wish I wrote these down, Romans chapter four. I'm going to have to find it
for God. Chapter four, here it is. Let's look at verse 16. Therefore
it is a faith that it might be by grace to the end the promise
might be sure to all the seed, not to that only which is of
the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, who
is the father of us all. As it is written, I have made
thee a father of many nations before him whom he believed,
even God, who quickeneth the dead and called those things
which be not as though they were, who against hope believed in
hope. who against all hope of ever
having a son, he believed God. Abraham had full assurance that
God would do just as he said he would. Are you that assured? Do you have that much assurance?
He that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. Do you believe
that? Are you fully assured of that? Or are you holding on to
something else? Am I holding on to something?
You know, just in case. But it's Christ and Christ alone.
And I'm fully assured of it. Fully assured of it. Before him
whom he believed, even God who quickeneth the dead and calleth
those things which be not as though they were. Who against
hope believed in hope that he might become the father of many
nations. according to that which was spoken, so shall thy seed
be. And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body,
not dead. He did not look in the mirror
and say, you've got to be kidding. You've got to be kidding. A hundred
years old. And I'm going to be the father
of many, of many. The father, listen, of many nations.
We are part of that. We are part of this promise.
We are part of the seed of Abraham. Those who believe God are the
seed of Abraham. They are the true Israel of God. The true Israelite is not those
in the flesh, it's those in the spirit. And being not weak in faith,
he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about a
hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of his wife. Not only his deadness, but he's
got a 90-year-old wife. And it's like, didn't even consider it. Did
not even consider it. He said, God said it, and it's
going to happen. He staggered not. Every time
that we do not believe God, every time we doubt, this is what happens.
We're staggering. You ever see somebody get hit
and staggered? I watched a documentary on George Foreman the other day.
Man, I mean, he staggered some men. Knocked them to the floor.
Knocked them completely out. Couldn't get up. Staggered. Every time we have a glimmer
of doubt, we're staggering. It says here in the Word of God.
We have the Word of God on this. He didn't even stagger. God said
it. He believed it. Full assurance.
He staggered not at the promise to unbelief, but was strongly
faith, giving glory to God, even though he had all this against
him. His age, the age of his wife. He said, what are these? With
God, all things are possible. And being fully persuaded. You
know what that is? That's full assurance. Is there anything wrong with
having full assurance? No. And be fully persuaded that
what he had promised, what God had promised, he was able to
perform. Is the Lord able to save all
them that come unto him? Is he able to save them to the
uttermost? Is he able to do it? Is he able
to save me, you? Someone might say, you don't
know how bad I am. Oh, you're a whole lot worse
than you think. I'm a whole lot worse than I've ever thought
I've been. No one in here thinks as bad
as themselves as they really are. Not a one of us. And therefore it was imputed
to him for righteousness. Now that was not written for
his sake alone. That was not written just for him. That's
written for you and me. That it was imputed but for us also
to whom it shall be imputed. If we believe on him that raised
up Jesus our Lord from the dead. If we believe God. What does
it say about Abraham? Abraham believed God. It doesn't
say he believed in God, believed there was a God. He believed
God. He believed God. Who raised up
Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered for our offenses
and raised again for our justification. You believe the Lord Jesus Christ
is seated at the right hand of the Father? And right there is
my justification. And that's your justification.
Do you believe that? Well, if you do, believe with all your
heart. Don't doubt it. There's no virtue in it. No virtue
in it. Now let's go back. Let me find
my place here. When God made promise to Abraham,
because he could swear by no greater, he swore by himself,
saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I
will multiply thee. I've already read that to you. And so after
he had patiently endured, all the trials, all the trials that came his
way, even to offer up his son Isaac. After he endured all of
that, he obtained the promise. God was good for his word. God
is good for his word. He gave to Abraham just what
he said he would. Now, for men verily swear by
the greater, And there's always someone greater than me and you.
And of course, God is the greatest. And an oath for confirmation
is to them an end of all strife, an end of all questions. They
give an oath. They swear. I swear I'll do this. I swear by so-and-so and so-and-so,
whoever they might think is greater. But they do that to put an end
to any doubt. That there might, if there's
any doubts, you know, there's an oath given. Now, God willing,
oh, willing more abundantly. We can't even put this into words.
God willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise,
to show unto me and you who believe God, willing more abundantly
to show us the immutability, the unchangeableness of his counsel. That counsel he made with the
Lord Jesus Christ. The seed that was promised to
Abraham. That seed is Christ. And before
this world began, there was a counsel held. The purpose of God. The counsel of God. The salvation of his elect. It was determined. It was fixed. It was sure. And then in time
here, God has revealed it. He revealed it when Adam fell.
He talked about the seed of the woman. That's the Lord Jesus
Christ. And God confirmed this by an
oath. That by two immutable things,
in which it's impossible. Now I said earlier, all things
are possible with God. But to lie is impossible. He
cannot lie. God cannot lie. And the reason
he gave this oath, that we might have a strong constellation,
that we're a constellation of comfort. We have God's oath on
this. That those who have fled to Christ
for refuge, Those who have fled to him for mercy, for grace,
for forgiveness, for cleansing, for righteousness, those who have fled to him are
safe. The purpose of God, the counsel
of God cannot, will not change. And that, my friend, ought to
give us strong consolation. Strong consolation. We fall,
we stumble, we sin, we doubt, we do all these things. But God never changes. His purpose
toward us never changes. His love never changes. It never
changes. When we sing that song, if we
trust and never doubt, He will surely bring me out. I think,
oh man, I may not be coming out. Because I have never went through
my life and not doubted. That's a shame. That's sad. That's sad. But when I go through
my times, and oh, I have times when something happens that makes
me doubt, does the Lord love me? When trials come upon me,
does the Lord love me? When He takes things from me,
does the Lord love me? He has given an oath that He
loves me, and it will never change. That's right. He's given an oath. His counsel will not change.
His counsel toward me, toward you who believe, will not change.
It will not change. And for this reason, he gives
this oath, we might have a strong consolation who have fled for
refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us. Hope of eternal
life. This hope set before us is this,
it's Christ. He's the hope of glory, is he
not? Christ in you, the hope of glory. We have a hope of eternal
life, hope of forgiveness, hope of being like him, but he is
our hope. And we've laid a hold upon Him.
Because you know what? He is the covenant. He says on
Isaiah, I'll give thee for a covenant of the people. The whole embodiment
of the eternal purpose of God in the covenant of grace is bound
up in that man, Jesus Christ. Now give diligence to know Him.
Give diligence. Give diligence to these things.
which hope we have as an anchor of the soul. God's not going
to change. He's not going to go back on
His word. This full salvation, this full
redemption that we have in the Lord Jesus Christ is the anchor
of the soul. He is our anchor. He is it. It is both sure and steadfast.
And it's entered into that within the veil. It's not on this earth. It's no earthly thing. It's in heaven itself. Our hope of eternal life is seated
at God's right hand. Whether the forerunner is for
us entered, even Jesus made a high priest forever after the order
of Melchizedek. Now he says, you give diligence.
You give diligence to this. Give diligence. Seek after the Lord. Seek to know him. Seek assurance. In seeking assurance, you'll
have to seek him. Give diligence to make your calling
and election sure. Persevere to the end, that's
what he's teaching us here. Watch against sluggishness and
imitate those who have patiently endured and have now received
the promise. Oh, give diligence to these things. All right, Mike.