While we were singing, I Need
Thee, I looked up at you and your faces
down, reading the song, singing it, believing it, knowing you
need the Lord Jesus Christ. I thought, what a powerful, powerful
thing to be. What a privilege. to be with
people who need the Lord Jesus Christ. And when they're singing,
they believe that. I love that. That just was awesome
to me. And another thing that I thought
about during that scripture reading, where the Lord said to Peter,
they're going to drag you off where you don't want to be. And
church tradition has it that he was crucified upside down.
He felt unworthy to be crucified the same way the Lord was, and
he was crucified upside down. And what a Lord we have where
it said he told him by what death he would glorify God. What a glorious God we have that
A death like that would glorify him. Turn back to Hebrews chapter
six. I've entitled this message, Strong Consolation. Strong Consolation. Look in verse 18, 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. Now everything he says proceeds
from this glorious statement, it is impossible for God to lie. How glorious. What that says
of his character, it is impossible for God Now to our shame, lies
roll off our tongues so easily, so naturally, so quickly. But it's impossible for God to
lie. Aren't you thankful for that?
That says so much of his character. It's impossible for God to lie. I look up in verse 17, where in God willing, this is something God is willing. We're in God, willing more abundantly
to show unto the heirs of the promise. Who are the heirs of
the promise? Every believer. With that exception,
everyone who's fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set
before them, all of God's elect, everyone for whom Christ died,
they're the heirs of the promise. Wherein God willing more abundantly
to show unto the heirs of the promise, the immutability of
his counsel. He is willing more abundantly
to show his unchangeable, immutable counsel or purpose. Don't you want in on that? Don't
you want God to speak to you and give you this comfort with
regard to the immutability, the changeless nature of his counsel? Now he did something that he
doesn't need to do. wherein God, willing more abundantly
to show unto the heirs of the immutability of his counsel,
confirmed it by an oath. Now, the scripture says, let
your yea be yea, and let your nay be nay. When I say I promise,
what I imply by that is I don't always tell the truth. I'm telling
the truth this time. That ought not be. But that's
the way it is, I'm promising you. Now, God doesn't need to
do that. He doesn't need to say, I promise,
because he cannot lie. When he says something, it's
so, but for our benefit. So we might know the immutability
of his counsel and have this strong consolation. Who have
fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us. He gives
us this oath. Those two immutable things are
his promise and his oath that every believer it's given to them. It's given
to you. God, it's given to me. God giving me personally this
promise, confirming it with an oath. What an act of condescension
on his part that he would do this. Him saying it's enough, but he
gives an oath to everybody. And I love the way that is said
for everybody who has fled for refuge. What is a refuge? Place of safety,
a hiding place. I love that. Psalm we sing next
person who does a special, I hope you do this one. Hail sovereign
love that first began the scheme to rescue fallen man. Hail matchless free eternal grace
that gave my soul a hiding place. That's what this refuge is. Against
the God who ruled the sky, I fought with hand uplifted high, despised
the mention of His grace. Too proud to seek a hiding place,
enwrapped in thick Egyptian night and fond of darkness more than
light, madly I ran the sinful race, secure without a hiding
place. But thus the eternal counsel
ran. Almighty love, arrest that man. I felt the arrows of distress
and found I had no hiding place. Indignant justice stood in view. To Sinai's firing mount I flew. But justice cried with frowning
face. This mountain is no hiding place. Ere long a heavenly voice I heard,
and mercy's angel form appeared, and led me on with gentle pace
to Jesus Christ, my hiding place. On Him, eternal vengeance fell
that must have sunk a world to hell. He bore it for a chosen
race, and thus became their hiding place. Should storms of sevenfold
thunder roll and shake the earth from pole to pole, no flaming
bolt will daunt my face, for Jesus is my hiding place. A few more rolling suns at most
shall land me safe on Canaan's coast. There I shall sing of
sovereign grace. to Jesus Christ, my hiding place. Now that's what it is to flee
for refuge, to lay hold upon the hope set before you. Now notice, wherein God, verse
17, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of the promise
the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by a note that by
two immutable things, His promise and then his oath in which it's
impossible for God to lie. We might have this strong consolation. Now every believer in this room,
every believer out of this room ought to have this strong consolation. And if we don't, it's because
we're looking in the wrong place. It's that simple. Looking to
Christ, His promise, His oath, we ought to have strong consolation
given by God Himself. And it's my prayer that He will
cause every believer to have this strong comfort, the comfort
of the gospel, this strong consolation. Now comfort's a feeling, isn't
it? It's a feeling. Like joy, like
peace, what is important is the ground of that feeling. I love
the feeling, but I want to make sure I have the proper ground
to have that feeling of strong comfort and consolation. I want
this, don't you? Well, it's his will for every
believer to see this. That means it's his will for
you to see this. If you've fled for refuge to
lay hold upon the hope set before us. Now look back up in verse
11 of this same chapter. Verse 11, the writer says, we
desire that every one of you do show the same diligence to
the full assurance of hope unto the end, that you be not slothful,
but followers of them who through faith and patience inherited
the promises. For when God made promise to
Abraham, because he could swear by no greater He swore by himself. I love that saying, surely blessing. I will bless thee and multiplying. I will multiply. Now he gives
us Abraham to illustrate, uh, what this looks like. he made promise to Abraham, blessing
I will bless thee, multiplying I will multiply thee. And so
after he patiently endured, he obtained the promise. Now let's
hold on for just a second. After he patiently endured, he didn't seem very patient when
he went into Hagar, did he? I wasn't waiting on the Lord.
He didn't seem very patient when he Let his wife on two different
occasions, uh, be sold into a harem. What this is, and I love the
way particularly Hebrews is this is the new Testament account
of Hebrew of Abraham's actions. Kind of like Sarah, what she
knew when she heard what God was going to do for her scripture
says she laughed. She lacked in unbelief. Can this
happen? And that's when God said, why
did she laugh? And Sarah actually said right
before the presence of God, I didn't laugh. You can't fool the Lord. What about Moses? He murdered
a man, hid his body in the sand and out of fear left Egypt. And the scripture says, by faith,
Moses, there was no fear. He wasn't afraid of the wrath
of the king. I love you, particularly read Hebrews chapter 11, two
different stories, the New Testament account and the Old Testament
account. Well, this is the New Testament
account of Abraham. After he had patiently endured,
and that's what we wanna do, isn't it? Patience, patience,
God's on the throne. Patiently endure all the way
to the end, He received the promise. Now, when God made promise to
Abraham, every man to ever live has made promises that they did
not keep. Have you ever made a promise
that you did not keep? Uh, he may have, you may have
intended to keep them. I may have intended to keep them.
I might've been lying at the very outset when I made that
promise, trying to get my way. Or it may be that unforeseen
circumstances prevented me from keeping my promise, but that's
never true of God. Never. Galatians 3.18 says, for the
inheritance of the law, it's no more promise. But God gave
it to Abraham by promise. The reason Abraham was given
this glorious inheritance is not because of anything he did,
but simply because of the promise of God. All the promises of him
are yay and amen. To the glory of God, all of God's
salvation is in His promise. Now, because He could swear by
no greater, He swore by Himself. There isn't anybody greater for
Him to swear to. He swore by Himself, saying,
Blessing, surely, blessing I will bless thee, because I'm blessing
you now, I will bless you in the future. Now, I'm either under
God's blessing or I'm under God's curse. There's no in-between.
I have people say to me all the time, I'm blessed. And I hope
they are. I hope they are, but I know who
he is, who God has blessed. Now listen to this scripture
from Ephesians chapter one, verse three, blessed be the God and
father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us. Now do you hear that? He hath
blessed us. If I'm a child of God, I have
every blessing right now that God has to give. He hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places, in Christ
Jesus, whatever the blessing is, every believer has it. And so after that, verse 15,
saying, surely blessing, I will bless thee and multiplying, I
will multiply thee. And so after the, he patiently
endured, he obtained the promise. For men verily swear by the greater
and an oath for them, an earth for confirmation is to them an
end of all strife. Wherein God willing more abundantly
to show unto the heirs of the promise, The immutability of
his counsel. Immutability means it cannot
change. It can't change. It can't be
altered. If he's made this blessing and given you this blessing,
it's eternal. It can't be reversed. It can't
be altered. Wherein God willing more abundantly
to show unto the heirs of the promise, the immutability of
his counsel, he confirmed it by an oath. Remember, he didn't
have to give this oath, but he did. He did. Why? Verse 18, that by two immutable
things in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have
a strong consolation. A strong comfort. Now hold your finger there and
turn with me to Isaiah chapter 40. Isaiah chapter 40. This is God's word to Isaiah
in verse one. He says, comfort ye, comfort
ye. My people, saith your God." Now,
every gospel message ought to be comforting, every one of them. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people. Now, let's go on reading. Speak
ye comfortably to Jerusalem and cry unto her that her warfare
is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, For she hath received
of the Lord's hand double for all her sins. Now here's the
comfort of the gospel. You know that war you've got
going on in your heart and in your breast? It's accomplished. It's finished. The victor's already
won. Your iniquity is pardoned. You stand before God pardoned. You stand before God better than
that without guilt. This is seen in that third statement. She has received of the Lord's
hand double for all her sins. Not only are you forgiven, you're
justified. Not only are you not condemned,
you're glorified. Not only are you not going to
hell, you're going to spend eternity beholding his face in unimaginable
bliss. Not only could things, uh, what
is it we say? Well, at least things could have
been worse. No, they can't be better. They can't be better. Not only do you. Not have God's
disfavor, you have God's favor. He loves you with the same love
he has for his son. Thou has loved them as thou has
loved me. Now, have you ever, I know you
have, it happens to me all the time, I'll be dreaming something,
it's not a good dream. And it's so, it's such a relief
when you wake up and find out it didn't happen. Oh, I'm so
happy it didn't happen. You know, the same thing could
be said of all my sin. I'm going to wake up in heaven
and it never happened. That's how clear, that's how
powerful his justification is. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem
and tell her her warfare is accomplished. Her iniquity is pardoned, she
hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins. Now that is strong comfort for
those who are fled for refuge. Verse 18, back to our text in
Hebrews 6. We might have a strong consolation
who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before
us." Now, when I thought of, right off the bat, the cities
of refuge. There are six cities appointed
in the Old Testament. And if you had killed somebody,
maybe by accident, But you killed somebody and that
person's family had the right to put you to death. The Avenger
of Blood. Now there were six cities appointed
in Israel that you could run to. And if you could get into
that city before the Avenger of Blood caught you, you were
safe. You were protected completely. Oh, to fly for refuge, to lay
hold upon the hope set before us. Verse 19. which hope we have
as an anchor of the soul. Both sure and steadfast, which
entereth into that within the veil, whither the forerunner
is for us entered, even Jesus made a high priest forever after
the order of Melchizedek. Now, we have this hope, which
hope we have. I am my beloved. and he is mine. He is my hope, which hope we
have as an anchor for the soul. Now let's dwell on that just
for a moment, as an anchor for the soul. In Hebrews chapter
two, verse one, he said, therefore we ought to give them more earnest
heed to the things which we've heard, lest at any time we should
let them slip. Now that word means drift away. Now, if you're on a boat and
you're drifting, you know what's inevitable? You will run into
something at some point and wreck. It might take a hundred years,
but at some point you're going to run into something if you're
drifting. What I have to have is an anchor. It's an anchor
that will keep me from drifting. Now, what good is an anchor that's
in your boat that you can see? It won't do you any good at all,
will it? That anchor has to be thrown overboard. You can't see
it, but while the water is crashing, that anchor holds you in place. You don't hold yourself in place,
you drift away, but that anchor holds you in place. Back to our text in Hebrews 6.
which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast
and which enters into that within the veil. Now this anchor is
sure it's steadfast. It can't be moved and it enters
within the veil. Now, you know that what that's
a reference to is the Holy of Holies, the place of God's presence.
That anchor goes within the veil, in the place the high priest
went once every year on the day of atonement. It's the place
that symbolizes nearness to God. It's the nearest place to God.
Near, so near to God, near I cannot be. In the person of His dear
Son, I'm as near to God as He. So dear to God, dearer I cannot
be. For in the person of his dear
son, I'm as dear to God as he. My anchor is within the veil. I love when we sing, when darkness
veils his lovely face, I rest in his unchanging grace. In every high and stormy gale,
my anchor holds within the veil. On Christ the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. Now, while you're here in Hebrews,
look in Hebrews chapter nine for a moment. there's a true holy place. That
tabernacle on earth represented this holy place that the Lord
came into. Look in verse 12, neither by
the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood, He entered
in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption
for us. Look in verse 24, For Christ
has not entered into the holy place made with hands, which
are figures of the true, but into heaven itself now to appear
in the presence of God for us. Verse 20 of Hebrews chapter six. And there's a lot of titles.
Every title of Christ, every name of Christ is precious, but
there's nothing more precious than this. Whether the forerunner
Christ is called the forerunner, whether the forerunner is don't
miss this for us entered at every single believer. He's for us
entered the forerunner. Colossians 1.17 says He's before
all things. Whatever there is, He was before
it. He was before creation. Whatever it is, He's the cause
and you can't take that too far. This is one of the most comforting
things. My forerunner is already in the veil. and I'm hooked to
him, and I can't be moved. He's sure, he's steadfast, he's
within the veil, and he's got me by an almighty chain. I may
be drifting around on the waves, but I can't be moved, because
he is there. Now, in every sense, he's our
forerunner. First of all, he's our forerunner
in election. You know why God chose you? Because
of Christ. He came before and that's why
Christ made my first elect, He said, then chose us in Him, our
living head. He is the forerunner of our justification. He worked out a complete righteousness,
a perfect righteousness. He did this ahead of time, before
I was even born. He worked out my perfect righteousness
that makes me stand before God absolutely without guilt. He's the forerunner. He was the
forerunner of my redemption. He came to redeem me. He's our forerunner in Providence.
Whatever's happening, he says, it's I. Be of good cheer. He's our forerunner in every
Providence. He's our forerunner in death. Every one of us has a fear of
death. Every one of us do. There's a
fear. Someone says, I'm not afraid
of death. Well, I'm. I look forward to dying, but
for me to say, I'm not afraid of death, because I don't know
what it is. I don't know the experience of it. You know, Christ
has gone to death before me and he's come out and he said, it's
all fine. I'm in control. And listen to this. He's my forerunner
in judgment. When my name is called, he's
already gone before me and taking full responsibility for me. He said to the thief, today thou
shalt be with me in paradise. He went first and he goes before
every believer in judgment. Isn't that a precious name? The
forerunner, the forerunner. Now, every believer ought To
have strong consolation from that God-given consolation. It's not something you just work
up. It's something he gives you because you believe the immutability
of his counsel, his purpose, that he confirmed it with an
oath. He promised salvation for everybody that Jesus Christ died
for. He confirmed it with an oath. He didn't need to do that
because it's impossible for him to lie. But he did it, that we
might have strong consolation, who fled for refuge to lay hold
upon the hope set before us. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. On Christ the solid rock
I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. Now may the Lord
be pleased when we lay our head on our pillow tonight to think
of the strong consolation that we have in Christ. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for the
strong consolation you've given to us. How we thank you for our
anchor that's in your very presence in the veil that makes our salvation
both sure and steadfast. How we thank you that you cannot
lie. How we thank you for the two
immutable things, your promise and your oath that you keep it.
Lord, bless this word for Christ's sake, for your glory and for
our good. In Christ's name we pray.