The scriptures assert plainly
and constantly that God's grace is absolutely unconditional,
immutable, and forever. That means if God has bestowed
his grace upon Bobby Estes, he'll never take it away, no matter
what. That means our Lord gives his
sheep eternal life, and those to whom he has given eternal
life shall never perish, no matter what. Now, that can't be stated
any more emphatically, any more plainly, than it is stated repeatedly
by our Lord and his apostles. That work which is God's work
is forever. The gifts and callings of God
are without repentance. Now, when we declare that fact,
Automatically, men's minds run in varying directions. The religious,
self-righteous Pharisee, the legalist, who thinks himself
to be holy by what he does, who thinks himself to be somehow
able to make God or constrain God by his obedience to be good
and gracious to him. hears that declaration and says,
well, you're saying then, let us sin that grace may abound.
And the religious antinomian, that man who in his heart has
no regard for God's glory, no regard for righteousness and
truth, though he professes faith in Christ, he says, let us sin
that grace may abound. The believer, that man, that
woman, who's overwhelmed with the goodness and grace of God
in Christ, having forgiven him his sin, acknowledging his sin
and knowing, constantly being more and more aware of the corruption
of his own heart, knowing that he is utterly depraved, says,
thank God for grace. Whatever I do, let me do it to
the glory of God, because I'm not my own. I've been bought
with a price. I've been redeemed with the precious
blood of Jesus Christ. Now in Hebrews chapter 6, the
Apostle Paul is urging us to go on in faith. He's urging us
to go on trusting Christ as our Savior, to persevere unto the
end. That has been his purpose since
the opening words of chapter 2. In chapter 2, he begins by
urging us not to let Christ and His gospel slip out of our hands. Let's not let these things slip.
Let's not let them just run through our hands like through a sea
of. But rather to take hold on Him
and hold Him fast. The Apostle has told us plainly
that some who have professed faith in Christ have indeed fallen
away. Some who began to run and ran
well for a while have indeed forsaken Christ and perished. And it tells us plainly that
if any do forsake Christ, if any do abandon the worship of
God and the gospel of His grace, they shall not be renewed to
repentance, for they have crucified to themselves the Son of God
and put Him to an open shame. They have denied that only foundation
of hope which sinners have, and that's the blood of Christ. Now
having given us these warnings, He here assures us that those
who truly trust Christ, they shall indeed persevere to the
end. He's telling us here in Hebrews
6 verses 11 through 20, that all who are truly born of God,
All who truly trust Christ alone as Savior and Lord, all who look
to Christ, His blood alone for atonement, His righteousness
alone for acceptance with God, His obedience alone for righteousness
before God, they shall continue to look to Him, continue to believe
on Him, continue to walk by faith in Him until their dying day. They will believe on Him until
the end. So the issue always to be questioned
with regard to this thing of examination is not how good am
I, not how do I feel about myself, not how much do I love the Lord,
not even how much do I believe, but rather the apostle urges
us to examine ourselves whether you be in the faith. Now don't
be presumptuous about that. Always bring yourself and your
faith to the word of God and let's see whether we are trusting
Christ alone or trusting ourselves. Every believer Every sinner who
does indeed trust Christ alone, every sinner who looks to Christ
for salvation and eternal life and looks to Him alone for these
things, can rightfully, confidently sing with Augustus Toplady, listen
to this great hymn, a debtor to mercy alone of covenant mercy
I sing, nor fear with Christ's righteousness on my person and
offering to bring. The terrors of law and of God
with me can have nothing to do. My Savior's obedience and blood
hide all my transgressions from view. The work which is goodness
began, his arm, the arm of his strength were complete. His promise
is yea and amen and never was forfeited again. things future
nor things that are now, not all things below nor above, can
make him his purpose forego or sever my soul from his love.
My name from the palms of his hands, eternity will not erase. Impressed on his heart it remains
in marks of indelible grace. Yes, I to the end shall endure,
as sure as the Spirit is given. More happy, but not more secure,
the glorified spirits in heaven. Now you may think to yourself,
Don, how can that be? How is it possible for any of
us to have assurance before God Almighty that we shall endure
to the end? How can any of us be sure of
God's grace? How can anyone be assured of
his salvation? Our adversary the devil as a
roaring lion goes about up and down in the earth seeking whom
he may devour and roars against us continually. Our trials and
temptations are many. We're constantly bombarded with
one trial and then another. Our sorrows and heartaches in
this world come upon us one on the heels of another. Our trials
are many and they're heavy. Our hearts are sinful and our
flesh is weak. How then can we be sure of everlasting
salvation? Well, our text tonight speaks
to just those things. It speaks of the full assurance
of faith. It speaks of believers having
an everlasting strong consolation, a hope that is the anchor of
our souls. Now, what's the basis of this
assurance? What's the basis of this consolation? What's the
basis of this hope? Hold your Bibles open at Hebrews
chapter 6, verses 11 through 20, and we're going to look at
these verses line by line. The title of my message, if you're
taking notes, is Our Strong Consolation. Oh, may God give to you the strong
consolation of a good hope through grace by faith in Christ Jesus
the Lord. We open in verse 11. We desire. Now Paul is writing these words
to the Hebrew believers, yes, but he's writing them to you
and I here tonight. And this is what he says, we
desire that every one of you do show the same diligence, diligence
of faith and love, ministering to and serving the saints, to
the full assurance of hope unto the end. He opens the verse dealing
with full assurance, urging us to diligence on the basis of
full assurance. To many that might seem to be
strange, but not to the believer. You see, nothing so inspires
the believer to give diligence to make his calling in election
sure. to give diligence to go on in the faith, to give diligence
serving his brethren, walking before God in faith and love,
nothing so inspires as the assurance of hope. Nothing. Nothing so
inspires us with diligence before God as the assurance that he
will never leave us nor forsake us. Nothing so inspires the believer
to walk before God with uprightness of heart as the assurance that
he will not charge sin to his people on any grounds for any
reason. Old John Trapp put it this way,
He said, a man may as truly say the sea burns or fire cools as
that certainty of salvation breeds looseness of life. It just doesn't. No, sir. Not among God saints.
The apostle urges us to continue in faith and in love and in serving
one another with the desire that we might all arrive at the full
assurance of faith. Now, two things are clear in
that text. Number one, some true believers
do not enjoy the full assurance of faith. I hear fellows sometimes
say, if you really believe, you have assurance. That's not so.
That just isn't so. He speaks here to true believers,
David. And he says, I urge you, of whom I'm convinced of better
things, even faith and love, that you serve Christ and serve
his people. Now I'm urging you so that you may continue in these
things and arrive at the full assurance of faith. The presumption
being that some do not enjoy it. And I have no question that
some of you sitting here, you take things seriously, things
that are serious. You take the matters of God,
the weighty matters of scripture seriously. You take the matters
of eternity and your soul seriously. And you constantly, constantly
wrestle with this thing of assurance. Sometimes we walk before God
with greater confidence than in others, and I grant, I don't
hesitate to say, yes, our lack of assurance comes from our looking
to ourselves rather than to Christ. But the fact is, true believers
do often look to themselves far more than we should. Peter, when
he saw the Lord walking across the water, I said,
Master bid me to come to you. Master said, come. And he got
out of the boat and walking across the water. And that's not a fairy
tale. He really did. He really did. Looking to Christ. Looking to the Master. That's
assurance. And then he began to look around.
I don't know what all he looked at. I have an idea. I have an
idea. If it were me, if it were me,
first thing I'd do, I'd look at me. Man, I'm walking on water.
Look what I'm doing. What's wrong with you, John?
Why aren't you out here with me? Look how confident I am.
And as surely as he looked at himself, he began to look at
the waves and the water, and he began to sink. And he cried,
Master, save me, I perish. That's faith. But it's not assurance. You understand what I'm saying?
It is possible for many women to have true faith, saving faith,
to truly be born of God and not enjoy the full assurance of hope,
steadfast into the end. Secondly, the text tells us plainly
that it is both possible and desirable for us to have this
blessed assurance while we live in this world. Oh, we ought always
to seek it and seek it by faith. What could be more blessed? As I was preparing this message,
I sat a good while and looked at this text today, and I thought
to myself, Don Fortner, what could be more blessed while living
in this world, while living here, than to live before God? Now,
remember I was sitting at my desk. I wasn't standing before
a congregation of people. I wasn't even talking to my wife,
I was just sitting at my desk, me and God, that's all. What
could be more blessed than to live from this day till my dying
day with full assurance that God is my Father, that His grace
in all its fullness is mine forever, that Christ's righteousness absolutely
is mine, that my sins are put away forever. I'm accepted of
God no matter what. To walk before Him with the absolute
confidence that He loves me, that He chose me, that He redeemed
me, that He's called me, that He saved me by His grace, and
that He keeps me. And I want to be as honest with
you as I can be. Bobby, I struggle with that sometimes. I struggle
with that a lot. And I know why. It's because
I keep looking in here. I keep looking here. I keep looking
at what I feel. What I experience. What I do. I keep looking at the corruption
of my heart. I keep looking at me. rather
than him. Now the full assurance Paul is
talking about is assurance arrived at only by looking to Christ
and Christ alone. Alright, look at verse 12. That
you be not slothful. Don't be slothful. Don't neglect
these things. but followers of them who through
faith and patience inherit the promises. There have been those
who have gone before us who through great trials and difficulties
have endured with faith and patience those difficulties and have at
last inherited the promises that God gave them. He uses a prime
example of Abraham in the following verses. He's telling us that
we must not be slothful, we must not neglect our souls, we must
not neglect the promises of God. Grace, salvation, and eternal
life is here spoken of as the promises of God. To make us aware
that the grace of God is given to us not by the real worth or
work of man, not by our merit, but by God's free grace alone.
to make us aware that it is the inheritance of grace which we
shall have at last in heaven. An inheritance that we possess
only because we are the sons of God by adoption and thereby
we are heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. It is
a gift that shall assuredly be obtained because it's the gift
of our heritage in Christ Jesus. This gift is spoken of here in
the plural number. Notice promises. Promises. Because it is great. The promise
of God in the gospel is the all-inclusive promise of grace. God Almighty,
in giving us His Son, in giving us His salvation, gives us everything. everything. He withholds nothing. He doesn't give a little here,
a little there. He gives all His people all things
in His Son. So that we being the children
of God obtain all the blessings of grace after all in Jesus Christ
the Lord. And yet these blessings, these
promises shall be obtained only after much trouble. We must,
through much tribulation, enter into the kingdom of God. That's
what the book says. You're not going to sail through
this world as a believer without trouble. You're not going to
heaven without trial. You're not going to wear a crown
until you bear a cross. That's the way God's arranged
it. So that we, through faith and patience, like Abraham, may
obtain the promises. Look at verse 13. For 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. And so after he had patiently
endured, he obtained the promise. Now Paul uses Abraham as a pattern
here because he is the father of all who believe. The promises
of God to him, promises of blessedness and of being made a blessing,
are those promises that were recorded in Genesis 22. Now I
know this is where the apostle is referring to, not Genesis
12, not Genesis 15, because only in Genesis 22 did God make a
promise to Abraham and confirm it with an oath. And it's interesting
that Paul refers to this place, because in Genesis 22, you'll
remember, that's where Abraham takes his son Isaac up to Mount
Moriah, and there he offers Isaac upon a sacrifice, because God
said, give me your son, and he did it. He sacrificed his son. He said, well, it didn't really
kill him. He did it in his heart. He did in his heart. And thereby
he pictures the grace of God. His son Isaac asked him on the
way up. Abraham taught his boy well. He taught him how to worship
God. He said, Father, we're going
to go worship God. And we have the fire. And we've got the altar. And we've got the wood for the
burnt offering. But where's the lamb? Where's the lamb? And Abraham said, My son, God
will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. Not just provide
for himself, but God himself is coming down here and will
be the lamb for a burnt offering for our sins. You read about
it back then and back. He's that sacrifice God purposed and desired,
that sacrifice with which God is well pleased. And Abraham
called the name of that place Jehovah-Jireh. And there the
Lord swear, I'll make you a blessing, and I will be to you blessedness. When the scriptures speak of
God swearing by himself, it's a display of his condescension.
He condescends to our weakness, assuring us by his oath that
the promise is good. Sometimes we'll say to men, Make
a statement and you see a kind of puzzled look on their face.
Sort of a question mark just comes over them because you make
a promise. You can tell as you make the
promise, they're not really sure you're going to keep it. And
so you say, I promise you. I promise you. Or you say, now
I'm telling you the truth. That's not to imply I wasn't
telling you the truth before. That's to confirm what you said.
And the Lord God makes his promise. And then he condescends to our
weakness, our fickle unbelief. And he says, I swear. But who's
he going to swear by? If we swear, we swear by mother
or father, we swear by laying our hands on the Bibles as men
do it customarily. God says, our Lord tells us,
let your yea be yea and your nay be nay. But if men swear,
they swear by one greater than themselves. The Lord God couldn't
swear by anyone greater than Him, so He swears by Himself.
And the one who takes the oath is Jesus Christ Himself, the
angel of the covenant, who was there speaking to Abraham, who
was typified in the sacrifice that Abraham made, who was the
Lamb of whom Abraham spoke. Then He swears by Himself, making
this promise. All right, look at verse 16.
Verse 16. For men verily swear by the greater,
and the oath for confirmation is to them an end of strife. That is, the oath of confirmation. If a man, you know, these days
you can't say a man's as good as his word, because not many
are, ought to be. Well, he is as good as his word,
but usually means word and not much count. So we get them to
sign a contract. And when they sign the contract,
then you've got them bound legally, ethically, and morally to that
which they've pledged themselves to do. And that puts an end to
strife. That's the end of the question.
You don't have to be concerned whether or not the fellow's going
to keep up his end, because law's going to make it. You don't have
to be concerned whether or not the fellow's going to keep up
his end of the bargain, because he signed his name to the contract. Now, much the same way, this
is what Paul says. We don't have to question. There's
no reason for us ever to question God's promised grace in Christ,
because he has sworn by himself that I'll put an end to it. That
puts an end to strife. That puts an end to the doubts,
the questions, the confusion. Verse 17, wherein God, willing
more abundantly to show to the heirs of promise the immutability
of his counsel, confirmed it with an oath. Now the counsel
of God spoken of in this passage is talking about his eternal
decree. It's talking about his eternal purpose of grace in predestination. It's talking about God's everlasting
covenant. His counsel of grace and peace
made with his son Jesus Christ as our substitute before the
world began. where God declared that he would
do all things for the saving of the people whom he loved and
called and justified and glorified in the covenant before the world
began. Well, how do you know it's going
to stand? How do you know the covenant is immutable? How do
you know God's not going to change his mind? How do you know that
if God loved you with an everlasting love, there's not going to come
a time when He's going to quit loving you? How do you know that
if God chose you and forgave you your sins, there won't come
a time when God will change His mind and charge you with sin?
How do you know that there's not something you might do down
the road, something you might experience down the road that
would cause God to turn against you? Because God's for us. He always has been and always
will be. His person. is unchangeable. He says, I am
the Lord. I change not. And I'm so glad
he added these words. Therefore, you sons of Jacob. He didn't even say, Alvin, you
sons of Israel. He says, you sons of Jacob. You
tricky, conniving, scheming, unstable as water sons of Jacob. Are not confounded. You sons
of Jacob are not damned because I'm the Lord and I don't change. Don Fortner changes all the time. Bob Ponce changes all the time. Lindsey Campbell changes all
the time. Our outward behavior in front
of men may look pretty steady, but we stand honest before God,
we change all the time. He changes not, therefore we're
not consumed. His will is absolutely sovereign. It does not depend upon anything. His will is His will. His wisdom
is unsearchable. His arm is omnipotent. His grace is unconditional. Unconditional. When He set His heart on me from
eternity, He knew what I would be before He chose me. He knew what I would be before
He called me. He knew what I would be right
now. Yet He loved me and said, I'll
be His God. He'll be my son forever. Now
what do you reckon is going to make Him change His mind? His
grace is unconditional. Unconditional. Period. It's not
conditioned on something He saw would be in us. Not conditioned
on something that we might perform. But He said, I will be gracious
to whom I will be gracious. And because His grace is unconditional,
we know that the suretyship engagements of Christ stand sure. They stand
fast. The foundation of God standeth
sure. This word that's translated here confirmed it, confirmed
it with an oath. It really has the idea that it
suggests he interposed himself as a mediator. The Lord God Almighty
made His decree and confirmed it in the hands of the mediator
to whom He swore He would save us by His grace through the merits
of Christ's obedience. All right, look at verse 18. That by two immutable things
in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have strong
consolation who have fled for refuge. to lay hold upon the
hope set before us. Now here are two immutable things.
Two things will never change. God's decree, God's oath, not
going to change. No matter what. Here is an assuring
blessed fact. It is impossible for God to lie. Not going to happen. It's not
going to happen. It's impossible. He's not going
to change his mind. Christ is here described as our
strong consolation. Here's our strong comfort in
the teeth of adversity, in the teeth of trial, in the teeth
of sin, in the teeth of our faults and failings, in the teeth of
everything. Here's our strong consolation. Christ. That's all. Not my experience. Not the change that's taken place
in me. Not my feelings. Not my goodness. Not my holiness. Not my attainments
in sanctification. Not my growth in grace. Not even
my faith. My strong consolations. Him. Him. Him. That's all. God will not. Will not. God cannot turn away
the presence of his son. Won't happen. Now believers are
men and women who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope
set before them. The reference clearly here is
to those cities of refuge given in the Old Testament. You remember
in Joshua chapter 20, the cities were described after they inherited
the land, but it was given, the requirement was given back in
Exodus. It was given again in Numbers, and given again in Deuteronomy. The Lord demanded that when the
children of Israel inherited the land of promise, they would
set aside six cities of refuge. Six cities of refuge scattered
throughout the land, so that if any man accidentally killed
another man, He could immediately flee away to the city of refuge. And he could get to one of those
cities from any place in the land. From any place he could
get there in a day's journey. From any place in the land. The
elders of the city were required under God to keep up the way
to the cities of refuge. So that if they go out once a
year and it's in the road and crew out. And if there was a
little dip in the road, they'd level it off. If they got some
rock or debris in the road, they'd clear it out. And they had signs
by the man's hand pointing. Refuge, this way. So that anybody
didn't have to stop at the crossroads and decide which way do I go,
left or right. That's the way you go. City of refuge. And we
got to the city. If he entered into the city before
the setting of the sun on that day, the manslayer, who by law
has right to kill him, and by law to avenge his brother, must
give him, can't touch him. He stays in the city. That's
Christ our Lord. The law of God must kill us. Justice demands our death. We
have sinned against God, the wrath of God is upon us, but
Christ is the refuge. And we fled and lay hold of Him. Like Joab laid hold on the horns
of the altar, we lay hold of Him with a death grip, so that
Satan is not able to pull us off of Him. And that's what he
wants. His object, his aim, his desire, and all that he does
is to pull us off of our hope. and causes us to look somewhere
else within ourselves, somewhere else in our spirits or our deeds,
rather than Christ the Lord. And that's what his preachers
do. His preachers constantly try to pull your faith off of
Christ and fix it somewhere else. We fled for refuge to Him. He's
represented in all those cities. Let me just briefly give you
the names again. I've given you this before. One of those cities named Kadish.
It means holy. Christ is our holiness. One of
those cities was named Shechem. It means the shoulder. Christ
is that one whose shoulders are broad enough to carry us, broad
enough to carry the weight of the world. The government of
the world is on his shoulders. Hebron means fellowship. And we in Christ have fellowship
with God. Bezer means a fortified place. Christ is our stronghold. The
name of the Lord is our mighty tower. The righteous run to it
and are safe. Ramoth means exaltations. Christ, He is our refuge and
He's been exalted. But that's not all. All who flee
to Him are exalted with Him to sit with Him at the right hand
of the majesty on high. means manifested. Christ is God
manifest in the flesh. And in Christ Jesus, God and
His grace and mercy, His righteousness, justice and truth are made manifest
to believers. Now look at verse 19. Which hope
we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, which
entereth into that within the veil. Our hope is fastened within
the veil. Our anchor is fastened at the
throne of God. It's a sure and steadfast hope.
I love what John Trapp said in commenting on this passage. I'll
paraphrase it for you. He said, our ship may be tossed
to and fro, but it can never be wrecked. And here are the
reasons. Christ is the pilot. The scriptures
are the compass. God's promises are the tackling
of the ship. Hope is our anchor. Faith is
the caper that holds it. And the Holy Spirit is the wind
that drives it. We have an anchor, sure and steadfast,
that enters within the veil. Now look at verse 20. Whether
the forerunner is for us entered. The forerunner. Lindsey and Rex are runners.
I don't do a lot of running. But a forerunner, I know exactly
what that is. A forerunner is the first runner
among many. A forerunner is the runner who
runs ahead. A forerunner is the first runner.
And the Lord Jesus, who is our forerunner, has entered into
heaven. And since he's entered into heaven, you can be sure
somebody's going to follow him. He's a forerunner. He's entered into
heaven. His name is Jesus, our Savior. He's made a high priest, so that
as the high priest entered into the holy once a year with the
blood of an animal sacrifice according to God's dictated law,
the Lord Jesus Christ with His own blood, our great high priest,
has entered once into the holy place, having obtained eternal
redemption for us. He is the forerunner who for
us has entered, who's made a high priest after the order of Melchizedek. That is, king of righteousness
and king of peace. Without father, without mother,
without beginning of days, without end of years, He is our everlasting
High Priest. Accepted with God, seated in
the heavens, having obtained eternal redemption for us and
now, He's able therefore to save unto the uttermost all them that
come to God by Him. Yes. I, to the end, shall endure. As sure as the spirit is given,
more happy but not more secure, the glorified spirits in heaven. Because the forerunner has entered
into glory for me. Amen. All right, would you lead
us in the hymn if you will.