Appreciate that, Bill. Bill is
so talented, as well as others in our congregation. The Lord's
blessed us, hasn't he, with musicians and faithful people. And I'm
so thankful for each and every one. If you will, let's open
our Bibles tonight to Hebrews chapter 13. I want to speak with us this
evening from verse five, which speaks about contentment. Hebrews 13 in verse five, let
your conversation be without covetousness and be content with
such things as you have. For he has said, I will never
leave thee nor forsake thee. Recently, I preached from this
passage of scripture, the first six verses, I believe, in this
chapter on Wednesday evening. And one of the points in the
message had to do with contentment. Contentment. But my words and
my thoughts were basically about being content with the things
that the Lord has given us in this world. That is, material
things. I thought about the Apostle Paul's
words when he wrote from prison and said that he had been taught,
whatever state he was in, therewith to be content. Usually, I think,
at least for myself, when I think about contentment, I'm thinking
more about material things and things of this world. But tonight,
I want us to look at four things, and then I'm going to add a fifth,
but four things in this letter of Hebrews that the apostle tells
us that is all believers, all of God's children, four things
that we have. And with these four things, we
should, and we are, content. First of all, if you turn back
to Hebrews chapter four, And verse 16, verse 14 through 16,
Hebrews chapter 4. Seeing then that we have a great high priest, let us therewith
be content. Seeing that we have a great high
priest. When you think about the old
economy, the Old Testament dispensation, the mosaic economy. You realize just how necessary,
how needful the high priest, the office of the high priest
was, just how important the high priest was in that economy. And of course, Aaron was the
first high priest and everything about Aaron, his dress and His
functions and all of that was a picture. He served as a type
of this high priest that Paul tells us here in this passage,
we have a great high priest. But we realize just how important
it is that we have tonight a great high priest. When we look at
the pictures, the shadows in that old economy, He was the
only man, now think about this, he was the only man who was allowed
to go in to the most holy place. The tabernacle that God gave
Moses the instructions to build and put together had those two
compartments, the first compartment The general priest could go in
there every day, and they did, to trim the lamps every week,
to replace the showbread on that table, to burn the incense on
the golden altar. But into that most holy place,
the high priest, the only man, and the only priest, was allowed
to go in there once a year. That is where the symbolic atonement
was made. That's where He carried the blood
in and sprinkled it upon. Now listen, He sprinkled it upon
a plate of gold. You say He sprinkled it on the
mercy seat. Yes, He did. But what made that
plate of gold a mercy seat? Remember the Ark of the Covenant
had God's law in it, the Ten Commandments. the law that you
have broken, the law that I have broken, the law that all men
have broken, God's moral law. We have all sinned and come short
of the glory of God. When the Israelites sinned against
God and God allowed the Philistines to capture that Ark of the Covenant,
you remember they took it over into their land And because God
brought judgment upon them, they sent it back, and into that city
in which it came, the men, we are told, looked into the ark,
and God killed a great number of them. Now, if you stood before God
and His holy law, that's what would happen to you. That's what
would happen to me. There must be a mercy seat between
us. What made that plate of gold
that fit exactly, this is so important, there was none of
that law that was exposed. It was all covered with that
plate of gold and when And atonement was made by blood. Remember,
without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin.
And what turned that plate of gold into a mercy seat was the
blood. The blood of a substitute. The blood of the Lord's goat. Now, we have a mercy seat. That's where the atonement was
made. That's where the propitiation. The word propitiation, of course,
means that it turns God's anger. The Bible tells us in Psalm 7,
God is angry with the wicked every day. And if man doesn't turn, God
will wet his sword. That's what the scripture says.
He's already got the arrows in His bow to judge the wicked if
men do not flee and turn to His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and
find salvation and forgiveness in Him. God's going to judge
the wicked, my friends. The Bible is very clear about
this. We have a propitiation. Look with me, keep your place
here, but look over into 1 John, just a few pages over towards
the end of the Bible. 1 John 4. And verse 10. Herein is love. Every time I read this scripture,
I think of a message I heard years ago when the preacher said
what John is saying here is, here it is. You look all over
the world, you look in all of the various relationships where
love is spoken of, but here it is. Here it is. Herein is love. Not that we love
God, but that He loved us and sent His Son. Now notice, not
to make a propitiation, although He did, but to be the propitiation
for our sins. In other words, and that's the
word mercy seat translated here, the propitiation. He is the Mercy
Seat. His blood, which was offered
upon the altar of His deity, His blood, of course, His pure,
holy, sinless body, humanity, offered upon His deity, the altar. And here we have the, He is the
propitiation for our sins. We have a great high priest,
a great high priest who has entered into the most holy place and
he has entered there as a representative man, representing all of his
chosen people. God's mercy. You say, well, preacher,
isn't God merciful? Oh, my friends, we don't even
begin to understand how merciful God is. Oh, yes. But God's mercy is never
extended at the expense of His justice. God is holy. And for God to be merciful to
you, to be merciful to me, and thank God He is. His mercy comes to us swimming
to us through the red blood of His Son, Jesus Christ. There's
no mercy for sinners apart from Christ. And I've heard all my
life people say, well, I'm just going to throw myself on the
mercy of the court. people in a civil case or a criminal
case. I'm just going to go down there
to the courthouse and I'm just going to throw myself on the
mercy of the court. A lot of people think that's
what I'm going to do with God. God's merciful? I'm just going
to throw myself on the mercy of God. God is merciful, but
God's mercy to sinners is in His Son, Jesus Christ. And through
that sacrifice, that he made and he became the propitiation
for our sins. We see how great or how important
rather the great high priest was in that dispensation of shadows
and types and pictures to enforce to you and I tonight how important,
how necessary it is that we have great high priest and we do and
we do now there's two points the writer here emphasizes about
us having a great high priest for our contentment we have a
great high priest notice saying then that we have a great high
priest that is passed into the heavens Jesus the Son of God,
let us hold fast our profession. Now here's the point, the first
point, for we have not an high priest which cannot be touched
with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted
like as we are, yet without sin. We have a great high priest,
my friend, my brother, my sister in Christ and I, we have a great
high priest and thank God we have one who can be touched with
the feelings of our infirmities, who can empathize with us because
he too has been tempted in all points like as we are. Now, consider this. If you think about our temptations
as the afflictions we experience in this world. If you think about
our temptations as the afflictions or our infirmities rather as
afflictions that we experience in this world. There are afflictions
which are common to men. The Lord Jesus Christ was a man. He became flesh. The word was
made flesh. And he may be touched with the
feelings of our infirmities because he's been here. He's been here. He knows by experience what it
is, and I could go through these various things, what it is for
sinless humanity to experience. Nothing sinful about getting
tired. Nothing sinful about getting
weary. Nothing sinful about getting
thirsty. He's experienced every one of
those things I've just mentioned. In John chapter four, we find
he's sitting at the well. Why? Because he was weary from
his journey. Upon the cross, he cried, I thirst. But more than that, he knows by experience what it
is to be misunderstood. Is that one of your infirmities?
You've just been misunderstood. You love someone, you care for
someone, you want the best for them, and they just misunderstand
you. They don't understand your love
and compassion. They think, well, he or she,
they think they're better than me. You don't mean that at all. He knows what it is to be misunderstood
by men. He knows what it is to be misrepresented. Ever been misrepresented? I'm sure some of us have. Preachers all the time that preach
the gospel are misrepresented. Oh, they believe over there that
preacher preaches God puts babies in hell. You've never heard me
say that. And you're not going to hear
me say that. I'm not saying that someone who called himself a
Calvinist way out yonder sometime someplace didn't say that. Preachers are misunderstood,
misrepresented, I mean. And you are, too. Have you ever felt deserted all along? He was. Left all alone. Yes, we have
a high priest, and thank God we have a high priest. Whatever
our infirmities are, if they are afflictions, he may be touched
with the feelings of our infirmities. Now if it's temptation, if our
infirmities are temptations to sin, we know that he too was
tempted by Satan. And it is true, there was nothing
in him to respond to the temptation. But yes, Satan said, well if
you be the son of God, turn this stone into bread. You're hungry,
you've been fasting for 40 days. Oh, but the scripture says, God
says, my father says, man shall not live by bread alone, but
by every word which proceedeth out of the mouth of God. So that's the first, we have
a high priest, and yes, we have a high priest who can be touched
with the feelings of our infirmities, whether they're afflictions,
physical afflictions, mental afflictions, or if it's being
tempted to sin. He may be touched with the feelings
of our infirmities. And notice the second thing.
The writer says here, we have not an high priest which cannot
be touched with the feeling of our infirmities but was in all
points tempted like as we are yet without sin. Let us therefore
come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy
and find grace to help in time of need. So that's the first
thing the apostle tells us we have. We have a great high priest
and we may come boldly to the throne of grace. And the reason
it's a throne of grace is because he's there. And we're promised that we may
obtain both mercy and grace to help us in the time of need.
Now, if you will turn to chapter six, Hebrews chapter six. Let's
be content because we have a great high priest. And secondly, here
in verse 19 and 20 of chapter six, which hope we have as an anchor
of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that
within the veil. We know that we have a hope,
which is the anchor of our soul. And the hope that we have is
the Lord Jesus Christ himself. 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. Now, when we read here
that we have a hope, which hope we have as an anchor of the soul,
let's think about an anchor, an anchor on a ship. When an
anchor is serving a ship, it's out of sight. I went on an aircraft
carrier when we were in San Diego a few years ago, and if my memory
serves me right, we saw on the deck of that large ship two anchors,
big anchors. They weren't serving anything.
When an anchor is serving a ship, it's out of sight. It's out of
sight. The Lord Jesus Christ now is
out of our bodily sight. We cannot see him with these
eyes of flesh. We see him dimly. That's through, through a glass,
as the apostle tells us. But the anchor of our soul is
out of sight physically. But yet we know where he is.
He's at the right hand of the majesty on high. And when an
anchor is serving a ship, there must be a cable. It would probably
surprise us if we know how many men, not a ship, but a fishing
boat, have had an anchor on board and decided they were going to
stop here and fish a while and threw the anchor over. And it
wasn't connected. It just kept on going. That was
the last they saw of their anchor. You say, has that happened to
people? Yes, yes. For an anchor to serve,
there has to be a connection, right? There has to be a cable
between the ship and the anchor. And the anchor here, the cable
here rather, to the anchor is faith, our faith in Christ our
Lord. And when an anchor is serving
a ship, it must be sure and steadfast. I remember fishing with a dear
brother years ago up in Lake Conroe, and part of that bottom
there is just sand. And we put out the anchor And,
you know, we thought we'd stay in that same place. We just kept
on moving. Why? Because the anchor kept
on moving. It's just dragging on the sand.
Now, an anchor has to be sure. Let it get down and hit a rock,
bedfast rock, if you can. Well, our anchor, the Lord Jesus
Christ, is steadfast. Why? Because he's finished the
work which the Father gave him to do and is set down on the
right hand of the majesty on high. Until all of his enemies
are made his footstool, he's there as a sure anchor of our
soul. And I think of him as the anchor
of our soul. I think of the words in the second
Psalm. The heathen rage. That's the
way it began. Why did the heathen rage and
the kings of this earth imagine a vain thing? The heathen rage. God laughs. God laughs, just like puny man
is going to somehow overturn God's purpose. Yet, he says,
I have set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. Man can rage. They can deny God,
they can shake their fist in the face of God, blow smoke in
His face all they want to, but God has set His King, the Lord
Jesus Christ, upon His holy hill of Zion. And the best thing any
of us can do, as the scripture there says, is kiss the Son,
bow to the Son, acknowledge the Lord Jesus Christ, throw down
your arms, and quit fighting against God. Surrender unto Him,
because you're not going to win that battle. When a man or woman, boy or girl,
fights against God, that's a losing battle. You're not gonna win. We've got an anchor that's steadfast
and sure, set on God's holy hill of Zion. That is, He's the King
of saints, He shall not be moved. He who is our hope and the anchor
of our soul is steady and sure. And looking unto him, we are
kept steady and sure. We take our eyes off of him and
we'll be just like Peter. When he was walking on the water,
we'll begin to sink. Looking unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith. We began by looking to Christ,
and my friends, we must continue as we go through this life, looking
unto Christ, until we look upon him face to face in glory. Now here are a few things to
consider about an anchor as a symbol of Christ. An anchor of a ship
is of more use, it's of more use to keep the ship steady when
the seas calm. When the seas calm, the anchor
It's fixed, fastened, but when the seas are rough, the anchor's
not going to keep that ship steady. But our anchor, my friends, he
keeps us steady, whether the wind is calm or in the troubles
of life. In the tempestuous sea, he keeps
us steady, the storms of life. A second thing, the cable on
a ship may be broken, and then the anchors are of no
help. The cable of faith cannot be
broken. It's a gift of God, and it will
remain. You've probably heard people
say, well, they lost their faith, or he lost his faith, or she
lost her faith. Well, you may be sure of this,
when anybody loses their faith, it's not the faith of God's elect.
It's not the faith that is a gift of God. Not the faith that God
gives unto his people. A faith that comes by hearing
and hearing by the word of God. That faith cannot be lost. In Job chapter 17 in verse 9,
he said, the righteous shall hold on his way. And I thought about that. It
seems to me, at least if there was ever anyone we know anything
about who could have lost their faith, it would have been Job.
Well, what he went through. But you know what he said, though
he slay me. yet will I trust him. His wife
said, curse God and die. Put yourself out of your misery.
You speak like one of the foolish women. Shall we receive good
at the hand of God and not evil? No. This cable cable of God's
faith that he gives. For by grace are you saved through
faith and that not of yourselves. It is a gift of God, not of works. It cannot be lost. Yes, a believer, a child of God
may fall, may stumble, but God's not going to let them go on like
that. God, he knows how to seek his own, doesn't he? You remember
the prodigal son? Was he saved or lost? He was
still a son when he was out there eating and drinking and wasting
his money. He was still a son. God's providence, where did he
end up? In a hog pen eating the husk
that they fed to the swine. You say, well, God's got a way
of bringing his people back. He does. And I'm so thankful,
aren't you? He may chasten us, and he will
if he loves us. But he's not going to let us
go, not if we're his. The anchor of a ship is to keep
a ship from moving. Keep it right there in place.
That's when the anchor is really serving. Keep it from moving.
But our anchor, the Lord Jesus Christ, he doesn't keep us from
moving. He keeps us moving. Moving, growing
in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. And moving
closer every day. till that last day when we'll
meet Him in eternity. So be content. We have a high
priest. We have an anchor for our soul.
Number three, look in chapter 10, Hebrews chapter 10 and verse
19. Having therefore brethren, Here's
something we have, having therefore brethren boldness to enter into
the holiest by the blood of Jesus. The holiest here is heaven, the
dwelling place of God. Now it was typified in that tabernacle
by that most holy place. And sin had closed the door,
barred the door forever, shut us out. from that holy place. Oh, but the blood of Jesus Christ
has opened the door. Opened the door. And the scripture
says, boldness to enter into the holy place, into the presence
of God by the blood of Jesus Christ. Now when we read we have
boldness, that doesn't mean we have irreverence. God is still
God. and we're still His creatures. It doesn't mean we go there with
pride. We're so proud that we, no, we
go there with humility, not haughtiness, but it's with boldness, that
is, boldness with submission to Him. Now, when you say, well, preacher,
what does When do we enter there? Well, we have boldness to enter
there in prayer. When we go to the Lord in prayer,
we're not just praying to the ceiling. We're going into the
throne room of God and we have boldness to go there through
the blood of His Son and lay our petitions unto Him. through
His mediation, the Christ, the Son of God. We have boldness
to enter when we come here to worship. We have boldness to enter into
the presence of God as we worship the Lord here together. All of us who know Christ, we
worship God in our homes, I understand that. But listen, public worship
is important. And it should not be neglected. Because we come together to worship
the Lord and to have fellowship, and our fellowship is with Him
and with our brothers and sisters in Christ. And my friends, we
will be given boldness to enter there when our life in this world
is ended. In John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, he saw, as he said in his dream,
that there's a back door to hell. He said, I saw that. There's
a back door into hell. What did he mean by that? He
saw that hypocrites who looked like they were in the way really
had no interest in Christ and in his blood. And I say this,
to say this to us tonight, there is no back door to heaven. We don't come up the back steps.
No, no. Through the blood of Jesus Christ,
we enter in. We've got boldness to enter into
heaven. Why? Because his blood has paid
for all our sins, taken them all away. His righteousness clothes
us with the righteousness of God. There's no back door to
heaven. Here's the last. in that same
chapter, chapter 10, verse 34. For you had compassion on me and
my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing,
here it is, knowing in yourselves that you have in heaven a better
and enduring substance. These to whom the apostle wrote
this letter originally, They had joyfully lost their goods,
the things of this life, because of the gospel. But they knew
that they had in heaven substance, substance that is both better
and enduring. The things that they lost in
this world were temporal. The goods or things that they
lost were all temporal here. things that moth, rust can take away. They had no real substance. The goods which they had in heaven
were eternal, beyond the possibility of being lost. They were the
substance that God has prepared for them that love Him. And they
are the substance which are reserved for them in heaven. Now I said
I wanted to add one. There's four things Paul says
that we have, but look back at our text tonight. Hebrews 13
in verse five, let your conversation be without covetousness and be
content with such things as you have. And here's a fifth thing
that we have. We have his promise. I will never
leave thee nor forsake thee. What a promise. What a promise. I will never leave thee nor forsake
thee. I pray the Lord would bless these
thoughts and words to each one of us here tonight. We're going
to close with this hymn number 255. If you will turn there with us,
255, and we'll