We're gonna be in the book of
Hebrews both hours this morning, if you'd like to turn there.
Hebrews chapter six. I wanna take the time to recognize
the last line in that song. The word blessing is not plural,
it's singular. Let thy blessing fall on me. And this hour, I hope to look
at our strong consolation. That's what I've titled this,
our strong consolation. He is the blessing. He is the
blessing. There are those who find comfort
in works, in their lifestyle, in how they did certain things
or haven't done certain things. You can talk to The religious,
they say, oh, we don't do that. We don't do that. We don't go
there. We don't talk that way. And it's
part of their righteousness is what it is, part of their righteousness. They have hope in what they do,
hope in what they have done, or hope in what they haven't
done. But God's chosen people, born of his will, born of his
power, Born of his spirit, we have no hope in what we do, in
what we are, in what we haven't done. We have one comfort. We have one consolation. We have
one hope and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the one.
God's elect, we can't look at our, we can't look internally.
Can't examine my, so when Paul said examine yourself to see
if you'd be in the faith, men used that to say, well see if
you have good works. That's not what Paul meant. Paul
was saying examine yourself to see if there'd be anything other
than looking unto Christ alone as your hope of salvation. If
you're looking at anything else, you're not in the faith. We can't
examine ourself internally and find hope in and of ourself,
can we? We can't see, anything good in us. And likewise, we
can't look externally. Can't look at the world and find
hope. I can't look at your life and find hope that I am a believer
because I don't do what you do or vice versa. That's the way the Lord's designed
it. What does the scripture say? Looking unto Jesus. He's the
author and finisher of faith. Looking unto him, not self. Our
consolation is found in Christ alone and his finished work.
Listen to what Isaiah 40 says, the comfort of the Lord's people,
comfort you my people, saith the Lord your God, speak you
comfortably to Jerusalem and crying to her. that her warfare
is accomplished and her iniquity is pardoned for she hath received
of the Lord's hand double for all her sins. There's our comfort. The Lord hath taken our iniquity
away. The Lord hath given us double for our sin. He's washed
us in the blood. He's given us mercy and grace.
He's given us what we didn't deserve and he didn't give us
what we did deserve. He's given us righteousness and
peace with God. This is why he's our consolation.
God's chosen people have but one comfort. Can't find it in
others, can't find it in myself. But in the Lord Jesus Christ,
we have comfort. We have a resting place, a place
of peace. I wanna read our text here. Hebrews
chapter six, verse 13 says, 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. For men verily swear by the greater,
and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife,
wherein God willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise
the immutability of his counsel confirmed it by an oath. that
by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to
lie, we might have a strong consolation. What are the two things? Well,
that's the counsel of God and that's the oath of God. That's
his word of promise and his counsel. That's what our strong consolation
is. Who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set
before us, which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both
sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the
veil, whether the forerunner is for us entered even Jesus,
made in high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Consolation, a strong consolation
is what we have. Consolation means the comfort
received by a person after a loss or a disappointment. A lot of
times we try to comfort our friends or our family members at certain
times of their life of loss or struggles and we use words we
use gestures and we use gifts we try to help them. But there
is no man that can help you and I when it comes to the things
of God. When it comes to the help that we need, it must come
from the Lord alone. He must be our consolation. Not
what others do for us, but what he has done for his people. Not
what we do for others, but what he has done for his people. Consolation
also means a person or thing providing comfort to a person
who has suffered. Now we know something of suffering,
perhaps. Lord made you a sinner, you do
some suffering, you do some sorrowing, don't you? You see your sin,
you loathe yourself. There's some suffering in that,
but the Lord being our comfort in that we are sinners, he by
himself put away our sin. There's our comfort. He said
your sin and iniquity, I remember no more. That's why he's our
consolation. If God has made us to be sinners,
and understand what I'm saying this morning, I'm not talking
about that we've read the law and we have some understanding
of what the law says and that I can't keep the law and that
I know something of sin. That's not, that's not, and even
believing in the Lord is not salvation. The demons believe
and tremble. Demons know that there's a law
as well. I'm talking about when God makes you a sinner. When
he puts our face in the dirt, when he knocks us off of our
high horse, whenever he shows us that the world does not revolve
around us, it revolves around the Lord Jesus Christ. When he
does that, you need consolation. You need help. You need to be
saved. He breaks our heart, shows us
the putrid stints of our depravity, how to pray if we truly are,
that we couldn't get to God. Our flesh hates him. Our flesh
don't desire the Lord. We're made to see there's no
other consolation than to hear from his precious spirit the
words that Nathan told David after David had sinned with Bathsheba,
fear not, the Lord hath put away your sin, you shall not die. The Lord hath put away your sin,
not your life, not your works, not your kindness, been around
people of late, it seems the mentality in religious society
shifted a little bit to just being a good person. They said,
well, as long as you're just a good person and you try really
hard, and that's where their righteousness is, is in being
a good person. I think it's wonderful if you have a desire to be kind
to other people. I mean, there's plenty of people
that's not kind, but not for righteousness. Lord's not going
to look at that over the blood of his son and give anyone No,
it's the blood alone. It's the blood of Christ alone. It's his work alone. It's not
what we do. It's that he must have put away
our sin by himself. And the strong consolation that
we have is his oath. What is that oath? When he had
by himself purged our sin, he sat down. The Lord Jesus Christ
is our strong consolation. He alone is our peace because
he alone is our righteousness. He's our resting place. He is
salvation. He is salvation. Turn with me
to Luke chapter two. We'll see that together. There was a devout man waiting
for the coming of the Lord. And he calls it the consolation
of Israel. That's what he calls it. Consolation
of Israel. He was told for the angel of the Lord that he would
never see, he would not see death until he saw the Lord's Christ,
until he saw the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, let's read this together.
Luke chapter two, verse 25. And behold, there was a man in
Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and the same man was just and
devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel. And the Holy Ghost
was upon him. And it was revealed unto him
by the Holy Ghost that he should not see death before he had seen
the Lord's Christ. He came by the Spirit unto the
temple, and when the parents brought in the child, when Joseph
and Mary brought in the child, Jesus, to do for him after the
custom of the law. Then took he him up in his arms
and blessed God and said, Lord, now let us thou servant, let
us thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word.
For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou has prepared for the
face of all people, a light to lighten the Gentiles and the
glory of thy people, Israel. He is salvation. Now I see the
Lord's salvation. Seeing Christ is salvation. Believing
on the Lord Jesus Christ is salvation. We don't come to a doctrine.
We don't come to a lifestyle. We don't come to a, we come to
a person. We come to the Lord Jesus Christ.
He is salvation. If the Lord ever reveals his
precious son to us, we will indeed have great, great consolation. Fear not, I've put away your
sin. I've put away your sin, you shall
not die. Remember the first time John
saw him. John, and think about Simeon
here, he wasn't told who this was by anybody else but the Lord,
and that's the whole point is that we're not gonna be able
to figure out who the Lord is unless the Lord reveals himself. John the
Baptist is standing, hadn't met Christ yet. First time he sees
him, he's walking towards John, and what does John say? Behold
the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. How'd
he know that? God told him that. God revealed
that to him. And what about all the others
who believe the word of God? Think about Noah. The Lord appeared
unto him and said, build an ark, it's gonna rain, it's gonna flood
the earth. I mean, you and I hear something, never saw rain before.
You and I hear something like that. What are we gonna do? Well,
if God gives us faith to believe, we're gonna build an ark. But
if he doesn't, we're gonna be like, well, that's crazy, I ain't
gonna do that. See, this is the work of the Lord. And the only
reason that We have consolation because of Christ, our ark. He
said, come into the ark, and that's our salvation, isn't it?
The Lord Jesus Christ. What about when Isaiah saw the
Lord? He saw him seated. He saw him high. He saw him lifted
up, and his train filled the temple. That word filled means
full up. It completely filled up the temple. That train is his glory. That
train represents our hiding place under the shadow of his wing.
That train is where the Lord's people are covered. That's his
glory. That's his finished work on Calvary.
He's seated because it's finished. He's high and lifted up because
he's been exalted by the Father, because he honored the Father.
Perfect obedience unto death for the salvation of his people.
This is how the Lord is seen when he is revealed. This is
why he's our consolation. What about when Abraham saw him?
Abraham saw Melchizedek. We're going to talk about Melchizedek
next hour, Lord willing. But he said how great a man he
was. He worshiped him and he gave
him 10% of everything that he had. 10% of everything he had,
which indicated he was greater than Abraham to do that. He was
honoring, he knew who he was. He knew that that was the Lord
Jesus Christ. bowed down and worshiped him. And is it not
true for you and I, when we see Christ, when the Lord reveals
Christ to you and I, we bow down in worship. We bow down in admiration. We bow down in reverence. We
say truth, Lord, I'm a sinner. You're the savior. You're the,
you're righteous. I am not. You remember when Nebuchadnezzar
saw the Lord? First time he saw the Lord was in the fiery furnace,
wasn't it? He said, one likened to the Son of God's in there.
Did we not put three men? Now there's one that's like to
the Son of God, a fourth man. He saw the Lord Jesus Christ
in the fiery furnace. Did he believe? No. No, this is not something we
see with our eyes. If we're gonna have consolation
from the Lord, it's gonna be a work that's done in the heart.
It's not gonna be getting a raise at work. That's not our consolation.
Now, it's nice to get those things. It's not gonna be new items. It's not our consolation. Our
consolation comes from one singular source. His name is the Lord
Jesus Christ. Things will come and things will
go, and everything around us, including us, are decaying, dying. From the moment a baby's born,
it's the clock is ticking. The clock is ticking. We need
a strong consolation. We need a savior, a redeemer,
one that put away death so that we didn't have, we will never
have to face death if we're in him. But it wasn't until the Lord
struck down Nebuchadnezzar that Nebuchadnezzar confessed unto
the Lord. Turn with me to Daniel chapter
four. Most of the time you read about
Nebuchadnezzar, it's I this and I that and me this and me that. But not whenever God strikes
you down, it becomes him. He is Lord. He is God. And listen to what he says, Daniel
chapter four, and look at verse 34. And at the end of the days, you
remember the Lord made him right before that. Let's just read
verse 33. This is what happened to him. The same hour was it
fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar, and he was driven from men, and
he did eat grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew
of heaven till the hairs were grown like eagle's feathers and
his nails like bird claws. Now, what's gonna be his consolation
at that point? What's gonna be his hope at that
point? Lord leads him to himself, and Lord leads us to ourself.
That's all we are, is beasts, that's it. Verse 34, at the end
of the days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up mine eyes into heaven,
and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the Most
High, and I praised and honored him that liveth forever, whose
dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation
to generation, and all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing,
and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven and
among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay his
hand or say unto him, What doest thou? That, that means he was
given consolation of the Lord. He saw him high. He saw him lifted
up. He saw him as God. Seeing God
as God is a gift of the Spirit. Seeing the Lord Jesus Christ
as God, that's the gift of the Spirit. What did he say here?
He says, who can say unto him, what doest thou? He's God. He's
God. He doeth according to his will.
None can stay his hand. And that, brethren, is our comfort,
isn't it? That he is God, his isness. I
use that word sometimes, and I don't even know if it's in
the English language, but as soon as I say it, I believe everybody
knows exactly what I mean by it. Maybe it's a Tennessee thing,
I don't know. His isness, who he is, what he is, what he done. It's his isness, it's his character,
his immutability, his unchangeableness. He swore to redeem his people
before time and he kept his word. He kept his word. In time he
bore the sins of his people on the cross of Calvary. Where else
would you have forgiveness of sins? Think about that. Men work
to try to forgive sin. We're gonna talk a little bit
about the priesthood the next hour, but they said the blood
of bulls and goats could not put away sin. Couldn't do it.
Could not do it. Where were you, where would you
and I be able to put away sin? We couldn't. We couldn't. But he did. He did. Brethren, we're forgiven. What
a consolation is that to know the Lord says, I have forgiven
you. Because of the blood of Christ,
because of the finished work on Calvary, I have forgiven your
trespasses and your sins and iniquities. I remember no more,
they're gone. They're gone. Forever you've
been made the very righteousness of God by his own blood. No wonder
Isaiah said, Isaiah 9, for unto us a child is born, unto us a
son was given. The government shall be upon
his shoulders. His name shall be called Wonderful. You who
know the Lord know that name, don't you? He's wonderful, full
of wonder. Counselor, the mighty God, the
everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Every promise he made, he performed
it. He kept his word. What promises did he keep? Call
his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sin.
When he hung his head on Calvary's cross and said, it is finished,
He saved his people from their sin. That's simple, isn't it?
That's simple. That's simple. When he could
swear by no greater, he swore by himself to successfully redeem
his chosen people. And you know, he cannot lie. I love that about our God. He
cannot, you and I can lie. He cannot. It's impossible for
God to lie. There may be a message on the
things it's impossible for God to do. I don't know. But that
is one thing the scripture teaches clearly that it is impossible
for God to do. It's impossible for him to lie.
Why? Because it would contradict his other attributes. It would
contradict his holiness. It would contradict his word.
Cannot lie. It cannot lie. Second Thessalonians
2 16, our Lord Jesus Christ himself. I love how he wrote that our
Lord Jesus Christ himself and God, even our father, which hath
loved us and hath given us everlasting consolation, not just strong
consolation, but an everlasting consolation and a good hope through
grace. He begun a good work in you will
perform it. We have everlasting consolation. We never had a beginning and
never had an end because of the object of it, the Lord Jesus
Christ. Let's go back to our text, Hebrews
chapter six. 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. Now understand, this is a spiritual
blessing. This isn't just a physical blessing
that was a representation of the covenant of grace. This is
what it represents, that the Lord elected a people and all
those people are going to come to the knowledge of the Lord.
He's going to redeem them. Our father Abraham, as it said, was
the first that received the promise, the first to receive this promise
of the covenant of grace. It was not going to be of works.
That's why he saw Melchizedek. It wasn't the Levites that were
going to redeem you. It's Melchizedek, the king and
priest that had no beginning, that had no end. He's the one
that's going to put away your sin. He says in verse 15, and so after
he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. What is
the promise? Salvation's of the Lord. That's
the promise, isn't it? Salvation is of the Lord. For
men verily swear by the greater, and an oath for confirmation
is to them an end of all strife, wherein God, willing more abundantly
to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel,
confirmed it by an oath. that by two immutable things
in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have strong
consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope
set before us, which hope we have as an anchor of the soul.
Do you know if we have, we have a bunch of needs, I know that.
We have one need primarily, and it's to be found in Christ, but
we have a bunch of needs. One of those needs that he says
right here is an anchor of the soul. Did you know that only
the Lord's people have an anchor of the soul? Have you ever tried
to go fishing when it's windy and try to stay in one spot?
Can't do it. Can't do it. You could use a
trolling motor or a paddle to try to stay in the one spot.
But what does the anchor do? It holds you in that one spot.
It holds you in that one spot. Now, this is a life and death
situation I'm talking about here when it comes to spiritual things.
Because if the Lord don't hold us on the rock, if the Lord don't
hold us, anchor us to the Lord Jesus Christ, we will be blown
with every wind and weight because we are blown around with the
sin that doth so easily beset us, the unbelief that we are.
But we have an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast. You find yourself full of unbelief,
you find yourself doubting, remember, you have an anchor of the soul,
both sure and steadfast. Don't look at your life circumstances.
Don't look at your goodness. We don't have any. Look to the
anchor. Look to the Lord Jesus Christ.
He is the consolation of his people. And what a consolation
it is, it's called a strong consolation. It's called a place of refuge. called an anchor of the soul.
See, the Lord didn't leave anything undone. He didn't leave anything
to chance. He didn't leave anything for
you and I to figure out. No, God is God, salvation of
the Lord, and it is finished. That's the truth of it. Because
of this, we have a sure anchor. That anchor entered within the
veil, it says, being Jesus. Whether the forerunner is for
us entered, even Jesus made a high priest forever after the order
of Melchizedek. What does that mean? We follow Christ. He's
the first one there. We follow after him. He is our
righteousness. What makes our consolation so
strong? Well, why is our gospel the gospel? Because of the author and finisher
of it, because of the object of it. If our consolation was
based upon me, I'd let you down. If I gave you comfort because
of my life, there's a really strong, I'll tell you it's 100%
chance I'll let you down. I'm that confident in my, if
left to myself. That's how confident I am of
failing. But we don't look to self. Our consolation's not based
upon us or that around us. Our consolation's based upon
Christ and what he has done. See, there's no comfort in, A
free will works gospel that says you may have to make a choice,
or you have to do this, or you have to do that. There's no comfort
in that. I heard somebody say, it kind of floored me to be honest
with you. I haven't heard a man say this
before quite like this. He said, well, man has certain
rights before God. That's what he said. Man has
certain rights before God. Man don't have any rights before
God. We're the creature. He's the creator. Now, between
men and other men, we have certain rights based upon laws, but when
it comes to God, we don't have any rights. Our only hope is
that we're in Christ, and he, by himself, when he purged our
sin, he sat down, the work's finished, he has all the rights
to salvation. All the rights, and he gives
that to his people. But in and of ourself, we don't
have any rights. He is the life giver. The air that you're breathing
right now, that's his air, isn't it? Every breath you're taking,
That heart that's beating in your chest, he's causing that
to happen. He's causing that to happen. It's ticking right
now because he's making it tick. That sun moving in the sky, the
earth spinning around, everything that's going on is ordered and
purposed by our God. Matter of fact, you're sitting
in his pew right now. This ain't our pew, this is his. This is his word, this is his
floor, this is his, everything's his. Clothes I'm wearing, those
are his. Those are His. The dust that we're created out
of, that's His dust. He chose to make us. He's God. He's holy. He's undefiled. He changes not. He is seated
as the successful Redeemer of every single person that He died
for. Every single person that He died for. I love the wording
used in Revelation where it calls him the alpha and the omega,
the beginning and the end, the first and the last, he which
was, which is, and which is to come. We can't say that about
any man other than the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the alpha in salvation,
the very beginning of it, and he's the end of salvation, and
he's everything in between. Every single bit in between also,
Christ is all in salvation. In closing, I have an important
question. An important question for you,
examine yourself and ask yourself this question. Do you know him?
Do you know him? Is he your strong consolation? Either he is or he isn't. Do
you know him? Are you looking to him? Are you
believing on him? Are you trusting your salvation
in him? Is all your righteousness found
in Christ and in his blood? Either it is or it isn't. But you know, there's not a single
honest person in hell. Not a single honest person in
hell. Somebody said, well, that man's really honest. Not unless
he's a believer, because only a believer is made to know the
truth, made to confess the truth that Christ is all in salvation. Has he revealed himself to you?
Has he revealed himself? Boy, I hope he has. I hope he
has. Who are you looking to? Who are you looking to? Self? Works? Or are you looking to
him? You believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ as all your wisdom, knowing that any and about what you know,
it's who you know. You believing on the Lord Jesus Christ for
all your righteousness, knowing you don't have any righteousness?
You believing on the Lord Jesus Christ as all your sanctification,
knowing that you're not getting better, you're getting worse.
Lord, sanctify me. You believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ as all your redemption, that if he didn't redeem you,
you're not redeemed. It's that simple. Is he your
strong consolation? On David's deathbed, it says
literally, these are the last words of David. He says, although
my house be not so with God. And you know, I do believe he's
talking, he had war with Absalom, his sons. This is the house he
was referring to, I believe also. Even though it be not so with
my house, yet the Lord hath made with me. The Lord did it all. The Lord made with me an everlasting
covenant, ordered in all things and sure, This is all my salvation
and all my desire, although he make it not to grow. This, brethren,
is why he is our strong consolation. We've been given the covenant
of grace that he fulfilled by himself on the cross of Calvary
for his people, made to believe it, made to believe him, made
to trust in him as all. I love the thought that he fulfilled
every single detail of the promise. You know what that means? And
I say this sometimes, I should probably say it more, I don't
know, but I can't mess it up. I can't get in Christ and I can't
get out of him. That's something God does. And
if I'm in him, I've always been in him. When he had by himself purged
our sin, he sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high,
expecting until his enemies be made his footstool. We have a
strong consolation. What a savior. What a hope. We have a strong consolation.
What a strong consolation we have in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen. Let's pray. Father, bless us
to our, bless your word according to your will. Bless us to our
understanding. We may know you, have you as
our strong consolation. We pray in Christ's name. Amen. Let's take a break.