Let us turn tonight to the book
of Hebrews chapter 6. Hebrews chapter 6 and we're looking
at a passage of scripture tonight that we see begins with an exhortation
to God's people. Hebrews chapter 6 and verse 12,
that you be not slothful, but followers of them who through
faith and patience inherit the promises. For when God made promise
to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he swear
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,
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. Whither
the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest
forever, after the order of Melchizedek. I began looking at these scriptures
a few weeks ago, a few days ago, thinking I'd like to bring a
message to us this evening on the Christian's anchor, the child
of God's anchor. And then after that, I heard
this comment was made about a church in another town, They don't preach
Christ. That was the comment someone
made about another church in another city. They don't preach
Christ. I thought about that comment
and I thought to myself, that would be a great message. What
does it mean to preach Christ? What does it mean to preach Christ? Well, I've already got my first
two points. My first point will be to preach
Christ is to preach the scriptures. Think about that. To preach Christ
is to preach the scriptures. If a preacher or a church is
not preaching Christ, they are not preaching the scriptures,
for they are all about Christ. Search the scriptures, he said.
Search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal
life, and they are they which testify of me." A church, a pastor,
they may read the Scriptures, they may take their text for
their message from the Scriptures, but if he is not preaching Christ,
that is the pastor, if he's not preaching Christ, he's not preaching
the Scriptures. So that would be my first point.
What does it mean to preach Christ? To preach Christ is to preach
the Scriptures. Now I said I came to this passage
of Scripture thinking to preach about the believer's anchor,
Christ the believer's anchor. But as I looked at this passage
of Scripture and thought about the fact that to preach the Scriptures
is to preach Christ, I want us to see how many times in these
nine verses that they speak of Christ. How many times in these
nine verses here do they speak of Christ? One time as the anchor,
that's true, but we're going to look at the other five times
as well. First, if you will, beginning
in verse 18, Hebrews 6 and verse 18, that by two immutable things
in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong
consolation. The word consolation. Who is
the consolation of God's people? Who is the consolation of God's
people? It is Christ. Now I know the
word consolation may stand for certain ideas and thoughts and
things like that, but the consolation of every believer is Christ.
If a person doesn't know Christ, doesn't have Christ as their
Lord and Savior, they have no consolation. Not really. They may have a spider's web,
the hope of the hypocrite that they're trusting in and thinking
gives them consolation, but there is no consolation apart from
Christ. I want you to hold your places
here, but turn back with me to Luke chapter two. Luke chapter 2 and in these verses
we read of the time when the Lord Jesus Christ born into this
world was about six weeks of age and Mary and Joseph take
him to the temple to be presented there. In Luke chapter 2 and
beginning with verse 25 we read and behold there was a man in
Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. The same man was just and devout,
waiting for the consolation of Israel. You see that word consolation? He's waiting for the consolation
of Israel. He's not waiting for a plan.
He's not waiting for a doctrine. He's waiting for the consolation
of Israel, who is a person, who is a person. And he came, and
it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost that he should not
see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. The consolation
of Israel is the Lord's Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ. And he
came by the Spirit into the temple. And when the parents brought
in the child Jesus to do for him after the custom of the law,
then took him up in his arms. Now, this man was an older man.
We don't know how old, but he was not a young man. And he had
been waiting. God had revealed to him that
he would not die until he had seen the Lord's Christ, until
he had seen the consolation of Israel. And when Mary and Joseph
brought their baby Jesus into the temple that day, The providence
of God, God the Holy Spirit brought him in at the same time so that
he saw them, then took him up in his arms and blessed God and
said, Lord, now, now, let us now, thy servant, depart in peace
according to thy word. For mine eyes have seen thy salvation,
which thou hast prepared before the face of all the people, a
light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel."
I know many of us read Charles Spurgeon's Morning and Evening,
and I believe the devotion this morning was taken from a text,
the words, an everlasting consolation, or strong consolation in our
text. He took the words from another
text, the everlasting consolation. And I believe he named three
things from Christ that gives believers consolation. Number one, our sins are gone. That's consoling, isn't it? To
know that when we stand before God, we will stand there with
no sin. Nothing can be laid to our charge. Why? because Christ has paid
for our sins and taken them away. Number two, that we are accepted
in Christ. That's strong consolation, isn't
it? To be accepted in Christ, to be made perfect in Him as
He is, so are we in this world. And number three, this is eternal
security that we have. We can't fall. We can't lose
Christ. He's in our heart. We're in His
hand, and we cannot be lost. That's some consolation, isn't
it? Now here in text, here in our text here in Hebrews chapter
6, The writer says that the strong
consolation in our text that God has for everyone who trusts
in Christ is the result of two immutable things. Two immutable
things. The first thing is God's promise. God's promise. For God so loved
the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth
in him should not perish but have everlasting life. That's
his promise. And second, we have his oath. Two immutable things. God's word,
his promise, and his oath. When we think about his words,
One of these immutable things is words. We think about the
promise, the promise that God has given us in the word of God.
And I've quoted that one in John 3 16, but you know, there's so
many of them. So many of these promises that
whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting
life. When we think about the, The
promise, we think about his words, but when we think about his oath,
we think about the one, the person who swore, the person who took
the oath. And he swore by himself, the
scripture says. God swore by himself. When you
go into a court, if they ask you to appear there as a witness,
you put your hand on the Bible and you swear. to tell the truth,
the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, and you swear
to Almighty God. And the writer here says that's
the end. That's the end. When a person
raises his hand and swears by God, that's the end of the matter.
The argument is decided. Why? Because of the man's oath. But what if the man is a liar?
What if a man is a perjurer and everyone knows that about him?
Well, his oath is no good, right? But this is the oath of God who
swear by himself because there was none greater than himself. He swear by himself and this
is him who cannot lie, who is not a man that he should repent
or the son of man that he should lie. What consolation? And that consolation is in Christ. It's in a person, in his work. what He has accomplished for
us. Now notice back here in our text, again in verse 18 of chapter
six, the next word that we see, who have fled for refuge. Now
who is the refuge? Who is our refuge? Who is your
refuge tonight? Who is the Christian's refuge?
It's Christ. He is our refuge. And you know
this verse says, who have fled for refuge, fled. This word flee
or fled reminds us of the cities of refuge in the law of God. The cities that God commanded
Moses to set apart, set these cities apart for the manslayer. And there were six of them, three
on each side of the Jordan River. so that they might be easily
come to. John Gill gives us the meanings
of the names of these six cities, and they all point us to Christ.
Let me mention them to us. The first city is Kedesh, K-E-D-E-S-H,
and that signifies holy. That's the meaning of that word
holy. Doesn't that picture the Lord Jesus Christ, who as God
is the thrice holy God, and as man, he's also holy, harmless,
undefiled, separate from sinners. Holy. The next town is the word
shechem, S-H-E-C-H-E-M. And that word literally means
shoulder, shoulder. And it reminds us that Christ
is the one who had our sins, the sins of his people, laid
upon him, made to meet upon him. And he bore those sins in his
own body on the tree. I like to think about the fact
that he was charged with our sins, the sins of his people.
He bore them in his body on the tree. They were in his body,
laid in the grave. But when he came out of that
grave on the third day, our sins did not come out. Just as it
was pictured by that scapegoat in the law on the day of atonement
when the high priest confessed over the head of that one goat,
the sins and iniquities and transgressions of Israel. And then that goat
was led off into no man's land. The picture was never to be seen
again. Our sins are gone. shoulder,
Shechem. He bore our sins, and not only
did he carry our sins, but he carries us. And the government
is upon his shoulders. He is the king of kings, king
of saints. The next city was named Hebron,
H-E-B-R-O-N, and it may be interpreted as fellowship. Now look with
me over in 1 John chapter 1. fellowship. This is what John tells us here
in 1 John chapter 1 and verse 3. That which we have seen and heard
declare we unto you that you also may have fellowship with
us. Now notice, and truly our fellowship is with the Father
and with His Son, Jesus Christ. We have fellowship with the Father
through Jesus Christ, our Lord. No man comes unto the Father.
No man knows God apart from His Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. The fellowship we have with Christ. Now, I heard a man say one time
that word means two fellows in the same ship. fellowship, two
fellows in the same ship. Well, of course, that's not the
meaning of the word, but it is a good picture, isn't it? Two
of us together, that is us and our savior and our father. The next town was named Bezer,
B-E-Z-E-R, and it could be rendered a fortified place. Christ, we
know he's a stronghold. He's a tire. The tower in which
the righteous run, and we're safe in him. He's our refuge. He's a place of defense. We're
safe in the Lord Jesus Christ. A refuge in a time of storm,
the Lord Jesus Christ. The next word is the word Ramoth,
R-A-M-O-T-H, and it signifies exaltations. And we know the
Lord Jesus Christ has been exalted above all men, above everything. He's exalted on high at the Father's
right hand. And he will exalt those of us
who trust in him. One day we too shall sit down
with him on the Father's throne. The next word is the word golden.
Now we hear that word sometimes on the news, don't we? Golden
Heights. It seems like they're always fighting over there in
that part of Palestine. But that was one of the names
of the cities of refuge, Golan, and it may be translated manifested. Manifested. How does that point
us to Christ? Scripture says that great is
the mystery of godliness. God was manifested in the flesh. And if you still have your Bible
open there to 1 John, turn back there with me. 1 John chapter
3. When we think of the word manifest
as pointing to Christ, look at this verse here in 1 John chapter
3 and verse 5. And you know, I'm thankful for
some things we know, aren't you? I'm thankful that we know these
things from the Word of God, from the Word of Him who cannot
lie. We know these things. They're
sure. They're certain. They're not
to be doubted. They're not to be questioned.
They are to be believed. For we know that He was manifested. Why? To take away our sins. And in Him is no sin. Amen. Manifested. And you know, when you look at
those six cities of refuge, they were for the manslayer. We can
contrast them with Christ. And that's a message too. There
were six of those cities. There's only one refuge for sinners. There's not six. There's one. There's one way to the Father.
And that way is Jesus Christ, our Lord. That's one contrast.
Another thing is the cities of refuge only save from one thing. Now a man might murder someone
and run to a city of refuge. Well, he might buy a little time,
but if he was guilty of murder, he's going to be stoned according
to the law. No, there was only one offense
these cities were set aside for, and that was accidental manslaughter. Not for murder, not for homicide
or anything like that. No, no. But the Lord Jesus Christ,
he doesn't save us just from one sin, but all of our sins. And who can number them? Who
can number them? And another thing about the cities
of refuge that is different, a man might have accidentally
cause someone's death. And he runs to the city of refuge,
and just as he goes in the city limits, he's safe from the avenger
of blood. He cannot be touched in that
city. Then there's an investigation
to make sure, yes, he didn't mean it. This wasn't premeditated
murder or anything like that. It happened by accident, as we
would say. The head of his axe, I think
that's the term that's used in the book of Deuteronomy. He's
out there chopping wood, and the head of that axe flies off,
and it hits someone, and it causes their death. It wasn't premeditated,
you see. He's not a murderer. But you
know what? He had to stay in that city until
the high priest died. Now, suppose he went in there
and he found a refuge, yes, but the high priest outlives him.
He would die in that city. No one dies in Christ. What a
contrast, right? Those of us in him, he gives
us eternal life. Whosoever liveth and believeth
in me, he said, shall never die, never die. Well, notice the next
word here in verse 18 again, we see the word hope. Now, last Wednesday, we looked
at that passage in Titus that spoke of the blessed hope, looking
for the blessed hope. And I said that this hope is
that that believers have, and it may all be summed up really
in the words eternal life. That being justified by grace,
we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
At the return of Christ, either when he comes a second time or
when he comes for us in death, whichever, we will enter into
the joys of the Lord. But the word hope, we know Christ
is our hope. Look back to 1 Timothy chapter
one. The blessed hope is that we will
be with Christ, and we will be like Christ, and that forever. But the basis of our hope is
Christ. He is our hope. In 1 Timothy,
I believe it is, let me see. Yes, verse one, chapter one. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ
by the commandment of God our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ,
which is our hope. Christ is our hope. We will be
with Him. We will be like Him. And thank
God, we will be done with sin forever. The word hope in the
scripture means expectation. I want us to look at two verses
that speak about this hope. I want you to turn with me, if
you will. I want you to go back to Jeremiah, first of all. Jeremiah
chapter 29. I'm reading in my Bible reading
right now, I'm reading through Jeremiah. And in chapter 29 and
verse 11, these are the words of our Lord. For I know the thoughts
that I think toward you. You know, sometimes we don't
know what, or we imagine God's thinking some things for us that
are not true. We get discouraged and maybe
we get where our faith is weak and we
think, well, what is the end? We don't know, but he does. For I know the thoughts that
I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace and not
of evil. Now notice, to give you an expected
end, an expected end. That's what God, that's his thought
concerning every child of God, to give you an expected end. Now look in the small letter
of Jude, right before the book of Revelation. What is this expected
end that God is going to give each and every one of his children? In Jude, there's only one chapter.
And in the end there in verses 24 and 25, now to him that is
able to keep you from falling, and here it is, here's that expected
end, to present you faultless. before the presence of his glory
with exceeding joy. Can you imagine that? To be presented
before the Lord faultless, faultless. Every sin, every fault has been
removed by the blood of Jesus Christ. Now, I'm going to skip
over the one that's in order next and go down to verse 20.
back here in Hebrews chapter 6, this will be the fourth word. We've seen consolation and hope and refuge. Now I want you to notice in verse
20, this word forerunner, whether the forerunner is for us, entered
even Jesus. You see what I mean when I say
if a man is preaching, if a man isn't preaching Christ, he isn't
preaching the scriptures. Because the scriptures speak
of him. He is the forerunner. All men
who are born into this world, we all have a race to run. You
have a race to run. I have a race to run. The Lord
Jesus Christ, he had a race to run. He's a forerunner. You say, what was his race? His
race was, there were several things, but for one thing, he
was to seal up the vision and the prophecy. That is all of
those old Testament types and pictures and prophecies concerning
the Messiah. He sealed them up. He fulfilled
them. Even that one, when he was upon
the cross, right before he gave up the ghost, he said, that the
scriptures might be fulfilled. He said, I thirst! He sealed up the prophecies and
the vision. He had to run this race also. He had to bring in an everlasting
righteousness. And this he did, we know, by
his perfect obedience unto God, satisfying the justice of God.
And his race was to make an end of sins. This he did by giving
himself as that one offering that puts away the sins of his
people. The sins of his people were laid
upon him. And now tonight, and since his
ascension back to glory, he's there, and we know as God he
always been in heaven as the eternal Son of God, but He s
there as the God-Man. In other words, He s there in
our nature. Glorified, that s true, but there
s a man in glory. He s not just any man either.
He s the God-Man, and He s upon the throne of God, and the fact
that He is there gives us assurance that we too shall be there. He
s the forerunner. The first of many, he brings
many sons unto glory. And then number five, if you
notice in that same verse, the high priest. And high priest,
Jesus made a high priest. He's our great high priest, isn't
he? It is the Lord Jesus Christ. And he is a priest, this verse
tells us, after the order of Melchizedek. Now what does that
mean? It means that he hasn't, of endless
priesthood. He was made a priest with an
oath. He has an everlasting priesthood. Wherefore, if you look in chapter
seven, towards the end there, verse 25, wherefore, he is able
also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, saying
he ever liveth to make intercession for them. Now the last word,
and I'll take just a few minutes, but this word anchor, anchor. Who is the anchor of our soul? Who is that? That's Christ too.
He's the anchor of our soul. When you think about him represented
by that term anchor, there's several thoughts that come to
our mind. First of all, we think of this
world as being like a sea. And we are like, each and every
one of us as believers, we are like a ship upon it. And a sea
is very seldom ever completely calm. Now there may be some times
when there's not a ripple on the water, but for the most,
the water's always moving, the waves are always moving. We are
like a ship, believers are like a ship upon the sea of life. And we see things in our day,
especially it seems like in our day, that we could never have
imagined. But you know, our Lord told his
disciples, there shall be wars and rumors of wars, there shall
be famines, there shall be earthquakes, and all of these things until
the end. And we've seen that since he
spoke those words, they have continued. Century after century,
this world is like a sea that's tossed tossed. We have political
leaders today advocating and doing things that are, that is
just against common sense. We're living in strange times.
There's no question about that. We're in the world as God's children. We are in the world, but we are
not of the world. We have an anchor for our soul,
and Christ is that anchor. A second thing that comes to
mind, an anchor, when it's serving its purpose, is out of sight.
It's out of sight. Its purpose is to hold the ship
at rest, the boat at rest. If you can see the anchor on
board the ship, it's not doing what an anchor is for. The anchor to serve must be out
of sight. And the Lord Jesus Christ tonight,
he's out of sight. We've never seen him. By faith
we've seen him, but we've never physically seen him. Just like the anchor is out of
sight, he has entered in, in the veil, the scripture tells
us, which was a picture, no doubt, of the holy of holies. That place
that the high priest only would go once every year. The Lord
Jesus Christ is there in the presence of God. He's out of
sight, but we know he's there, and we have an advocate with
the Father. When we sin, and we do, as John tells us in 1
John 2, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the
righteous, who is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours
only, but for the whole world. There's only one propitiation
that satisfies God, one sacrifice, one atonement that takes away
the sins of men and women. And that's his sacrifice. But
the anchor, if it's doing what it's there for, it's out of sight. And a last thing, an anchor has
to catch hold of something on the bottom. something on the
bottom of the sea. Now, in preparing this message,
I've got a good dictionary. It was made, put together by
Noah Webster back in, I think, 1800 and something. But I've
read a number of definitions that go with the anchor. And
one of them was, and I didn't know this, The anchor comes home. The anchor comes home. Now, a
seaman would know what that means. I didn't know what it meant,
but I've experienced that. I remember what it means is the
anchor, it drags. If it's caught on a rock or something,
when you put it down, it's come loose and it drags and the force
of the waves, the ship is not resting, it's moving. I used to, a few times I went
fishing up here on Lake Conroe with Brother Leroy Hartley. And
he had a place there on that lake where he liked to go because
there was a drop-off underneath it. And he had an anchor on his
boat, but it had a sandy bottom there. And he'd put that anchor
down and before long we'd be way off somewhere else, you know.
Start crank up the motor and come back because that's where
you caught the fish. But the term for that is anchor
comes home. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
anchor of our soul. He's not going to move. He's
not going to be moved. He's entered into the holy of
holies. And the last thing, an anchor
only serves if it is attached to the ship. Right? I'm sure we've all heard or maybe
even had an experience where someone threw the anchor out
of the boat and then realized there was no rope. There was
no cable. It was just down to the bottom. Doesn't serve at
all. What is that cable? What does
that cable represent? It represents faith. Faith. We must believe in Christ. Trust in Christ. Look to Christ. Eat his flesh and drink his blood. Come to Christ. All these terms
mean the same thing, don't they? Whosoever believeth in him hath
everlasting life. He's the anchor of our soul. I pray the Lord would bless these
thoughts to us here tonight. And I want us to sing a hymn.
Brother Bill will choose one out. Who knows, it may be, will
your anchor hold in the time of storm? I don't know. That'd
be a good one right now, wouldn't it?