You will open your Bibles tonight
to Hebrews chapter 6. Hebrews chapter 6. We'll begin
in verse 11 and go through the end of the chapter. Hebrews chapter 6. And 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 inherit the
promises. 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 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 an high priest forever after the
order of Melchizedek. Let me remind us that last week
we saw that the writer of this letter, according to verse nine,
was persuaded better things of those to whom he was writing.
But beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, things
which accompany salvation. There are three graces which
we are told in several places that always are manifested in
true believers. If you will, keep your places
here, but turn back to Colossians just a moment. I read this. First chapter of Colossians at
the beginning of our service Sunday morning. And as I was
reading, I thought to myself, I wonder how
many who were here Wednesday night remember about these three
graces. Because here in Colossians chapter
one, and looking at verses three through five, and remember Paul,
when he wrote this letter, He had never seen these believers
at Colossae. He had only heard of them through
another pastor, preacher, who had taken the gospel to them. But he's writing to them, and
he begins, we give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, praying always for you, since we heard of your
faith in Christ Jesus. Now that grace is always manifest
in those who are saved. No one is saved who does not
have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. For by grace are you
saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the
gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. So that
grace always accompanies salvation. The point I'm making is that
Paul, the people to whom he writes this letter, of Hebrews, not,
I shouldn't have said Paul, the writer, whoever the writer was
who wrote this letter, he was persuaded of better things of
them, things which accompany salvation. And these three things
always accompany salvation. If a person doesn't have these
three graces in his heart, in his life, then he's not born
of the spirit of God. The first one is faith. We give
thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying
always for you since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus. And here's the second, and of
the love which you have to all the saints. If a man does not
love his brother, Remember in 1 John, this is one of the signs
that is given there by the apostle, whereby we may know that we have
passed from death unto life, that we have a love for God's
people, for the brethren. We are a family. We're born into
the family of God, the household of faith. And we love our brothers
and sisters in Christ. And if that's not in our heart,
then These things which accompany salvation are not in us. They are in those who are born
of the Spirit of God. And then number three, for the
hope. So we've got faith, love, and
hope. And in 1 Corinthians 13, remember,
Paul names these three again and says the greatest of these
is love. But we see this, look in 1 Thessalonians
1. Now this church, of course, Paul
had taken the gospel to the town of Thessalonica, and he had preached
the gospel here in this place, but he's able to write back to
them and say basically the same thing in 1 Thessalonians 1 and
verse 2. We give thanks to God always
for you all, making mention of you in our prayers, remembering
without ceasing your work of faith and labor of love and patience
of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father. And now, if you turn back with
me to Hebrews chapter 6, so the point is, the writer of this
letter, is writing to those that he believed were saved, that
he was persuaded of better things of them than those things he
had mentioned in the first part of the chapter, things that have
allowed some people to believe that a person can be saved and
then lose their salvation, which is not true, of course. A person may make a profession
of faith He may walk down a church aisle or go through catechism
class and be baptized and sprinkled or whatever and still fall from
that. That's not what he is saying.
But when a person is truly born of the Spirit of God, he which
hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day
of Jesus Christ. But we are persuaded of better
things, he says, to these to whom he is writing. Now, I've
entitled the message tonight, A Pastor's Heart. A Pastor's
Heart. And I'm not saying that the writer
of this epistle was a pastor. He may well have been an evangelist,
may have been an apostle. But he displays a pastor's heart. You say, how do you see that?
Well, in verse 11, if you notice the very beginning of the text,
And we desire that every one of you do show the same diligence,
the desire that he had. A pastor always desires the best
for his sheep. Every pastor, every underpastor,
I know that Christ is the chief pastor, but every pastor, true
pastor of God, desires the best for his sheep. And when I say
pastor, I'm talking about a pastor like we read about in Jeremiah
chapter 3 and verse 15, when God said, I will give you pastors
according to my heart. When we hear of a church that
is without a pastor, we pray that God will give them a pastor.
And we normally pray that God will give them a pastor after
or according to his heart. And God has promised that I will
give you pastors according to my heart, which will feed you
with knowledge and understanding. That's the work of the pastor,
isn't it? To feed the sheep. Feed the sheep. Well, tonight,
I want us to look at two things in this passage here in Hebrews
6. First, here are two things that
this pastor desired. for every one of them. We have these two things given
as a positive and as a negative. We find that quite often, don't
we? A positive and a negative. Here's the positive. Show the
same diligence. Notice that in verse 11. And
we desire that every one of you do show the same diligence. Show the same diligence. And this is something that every
pastor always has a responsibility to encourage his sheep to show
the same diligence, not to neglect. If you look over in 2 Peter 1,
this is what the apostle Peter writes to believers. 2 Peter
1, he exhorts believers to diligence. to diligence, and then he gives
a result of diligence. In 2 Peter chapter 1 and verse
5, he says, and beside this, giving
all diligence. This is what the writer of Hebrews,
he desired that they show the same diligence. And we are to
show diligence, we're to be diligent. And pastors are to exhort those
sheep that he pastors to be diligent, as Peter does here. And beside
this giving all diligence, add to your faith. Now they are believers,
they have faith in Christ, but notice, add to your faith virtue. Give diligence to do this. Give
diligence in this matter. This is not automatic. This is
our responsibility as believers. God has given us faith in Christ,
now it's our responsibility, according to what Peter tells
us here, to be diligent, to add to our faith, virtue. And that word, of course, means
courage. And to courage, knowledge. And to knowledge, temperance,
self-control. And to self-control, patience.
And to patience, godliness. and to godliness, brotherly kindness,
and to brotherly kindness, love, charity. And notice, for if these
things be in you and abound, if you're diligent, give all
diligence, do these things, add to your faith virtue, and so
forth. For if these things be in you and abound, they make
you that you shall neither be barren nor unfruitful, in the
knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Diligence. Diligence, we see
here, results in assurance of hope. But if these things be
in you and abound, they make you that you shall neither be
barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things
is blind. and cannot see afar off, and
hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Wherefore,
the rather brethren give diligence to make your calling and election
sure. For if you do these things, you
shall never fall, for so an entrance shall be ministered unto you
abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior,
Jesus Christ. Diligence results in assurance
of hope, Now, the Lord has given us, given believers, what are
often called means of grace. Now, I know that the Lord Jesus
Christ, he is grace personified. He is the means of grace, ultimately. But he has given us means of
grace, and we are to be diligent in the use of these means. You
say, well, preacher, what would be the means? Well, one means
would be the Word of God. The Word of God. To read, to
meditate, to study the Word of God. Be diligent in the use of
these means. The Word of God. You know, some
people, and it's sad to say, but some people who believe themselves
to be Christians, and maybe they are, they look at the Bible,
the only time they look at the Bible is when they are in church.
They have a Bible, if they can find it on Sunday morning, and
they bring it, open it up, but they take it home, put it on
the shelf, and that's where it stays until next Sunday. We're
to use these means, the Word of God. Another means, of course,
is prayer. We are privileged to be, be exhorted
to to come boldly to the throne of grace. We've got this means
of speaking to the Lord. And I don't know if any of us
are aware, as much as we should be, what a great privilege prayer
is, to think that you and I, that we can speak into the ears
of God Almighty through our Savior, Jesus Christ. And He hears us,
we know that. We know that. What a privilege
that is. And another means, of course,
is fellowship with believers. We need one another. We need
fellowship. And another means would be witnessing. When we witness and testify and
share what we have been taught from the Word of God, how precious
Christ is to us. When we share that and witness
that, these are means that we should Use and be diligent in
the use of these means. We're not saved, listen, we're
not saved by being diligent. We're not saved by being diligent
in the use of these things. But with God's blessing, the
Holy Spirit makes use of these things in us bringing forth fruit. And our Lord said, herein is
my Father glorified that you bring forth much fruit, the fruit
of the Holy Spirit. Let me read that passage in Galatians. I'm sure everyone here is familiar
with it, but Galatians chapter five. But the fruit of the spirit is
love, joy, Peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
meekness, temperance, against such there is no law. So the
fruit of the Spirit. God blesses and enables us in
using these means in bringing forth the fruit of the Spirit
in our lives. So that's the positive. That's
the positive here. And notice the writer says, every
one of you, in verse 11, and we desire that every one of you
do show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until
the end. Now here's the negative, be not
slothful. Verse 12, that you be not slothful,
be not slothful. Now this is something about which
we all need to be concerned. The word translated slothful
comes from a word which means sluggish. Literally, it means
lazy, lazy. Some translate it as indolent,
dull, or languid, and it is a symptom of spiritual ill health, sluggishness. There's a proverb which deals
with both the positive here and the negative. the diligence and
the slothful. And the proverb is this, the
soul of the sluggard desireth and hath nothing. The soul of
the sluggard desireth and hath nothing, but the soul of the
diligent shall be made fat, shall be made fat. In other words,
growing in the grace of the Lord. There's also a verse in Ecclesiastes
Someone quoted this verse to me just recently. Ecclesiastes
9 and verse 10 says, whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, whatever
work God has given you, whatever place or position or service
the Lord has given you, whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it
with thy might. Do it with thy might. Don't be
sluggish in doing it. And then that word goes on, for
there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in
the grave whither thou goest. One of the writers that I studied
in looking at this passage tonight about this being slothful, he
gives the example here in the Song of Solomon. If you turn
back with me to Solomon's Song, chapter five, And it is a good
example, an excellent example of what happens when we're slothful
and not diligent. In Solomon's Song, chapter five
and beginning in verse two, here's the bride and she's speaking.
I sleep, but my heart waketh. It is the voice of my beloved.
that knocketh, saying, Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove,
my undefiled, for my head is filled with dew and my locks
with the drops of the night. Now listen to her response. I
have put off my coat. Really? Really? You put off your
coat and here's the Lord knocking? Fellowship? You put off your
coat, that's a excuse, that's a reason not to get up and let
him in, welcome him in. I've put off my coat and shall
I put it on? I've washed my feet, I'm already
in bed. How shall I devour them? My beloved put in his hand by
the hole of the door and my bowels were moved for him. She truly
loves her. beloved, her husband. But at first, when he first comes,
you see how sluggish he is. But then I rose up to open to
my beloved, and my hands dropped with myrrh, and my fingers with
sweet-smelling myrrh upon the handles of the lock. I opened
to my beloved, but my beloved hath had withdrawn himself and
was gone. My soul failed when he spake.
I sought him, but I could not find him. I called him, but he
gave me no answer. All because of slothfulness. I've put off my coat. I've already
washed my feet. Too much trouble to get up and
open the door. So you say, well, does this really
apply to God's people? It really does, my friends. We're
all at times in danger of being slothful in the things of the
Lord. It's the easiest thing in the world to fall in, to slide
in, to just being slothful concerning the things of God. Look with
me in Romans chapter 13. Romans chapter 13. This is clearly in the part of
this epistle where the apostle is dealing with practical exhortations
to believers. And beginning in verse 11, well
let's begin in verse 8. Oh no man anything but to love
one another. For he that loveth another hath
fulfilled the law. For this, thou shalt not commit
adultery, thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt
not bear false witness, thou shalt not covet, and if there
be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this
saying, namely, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Love
worketh no ill to his neighbor, therefore love is the fulfilling
of the law. And that, now watch it, knowing,
knowing the time. Do we know the time? Are we aware? Are we asleep? Are we sluggards,
lazy, slothful? Now, knowing the time, that now
it is high time to wake out of sleep. For now is our salvation
nearer than when we believed. If you're saved tonight, your
salvation is nearer today than it was yesterday. And by salvation,
we mean our ultimate salvation at going to be with the Lord.
It's near today. Every day brings us near to our
complete, full salvation, being in the presence of God. Awake! It's not time to sleep. It's
not time to be slothful. Awake out of sleep. For now is our salvation nearer
than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day
is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the
works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Let
us walk honestly." You see, be diligent, diligent, as the Apostle
Peter said, and as this Writer of Hebrews says, let us give
diligence, every one of you. Let us walk honestly as in the
day, not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness,
not in strife and envying, but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ
and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof. What should we do? to maintain
diligence and not be slothful. Well, look back in our text.
We should, as the writer here says, be followers, that is,
be imitators of them who through faith and patience inherit the
promises. Look back to Hebrews 6 and verse
12. That you be not slothful, but
here's the thing to do. but followers of them who through
faith and patience inherit the promises. Now the writer names
only one in this place as an example. And that's the second
part of my message. This man had a pastor's heart. He had a desire for every one
of these to whom he was writing to be diligent, not to be slothful,
and to recognize or to know that a good example, this man knew
that a good example is very helpful. It's very helpful for you and
I. Sometimes we read biographies,
don't we, of believers who have lived in earlier times, and it's
an encouragement to us, their example. Well, here's an example. And of course, when we come to
Hebrews chapter 11, you have example after example, after
example of both men and women. But in this place, he gives one
example and it is Abraham. Abraham, who through faith and
patience inherited the promise. Now it's interesting he gives
Abraham because Abraham, according to the Apostle Paul in Galatians,
he is our father. He's the father of all believers.
Paul wrote, know you therefore that they which are of faith,
those who have faith in Christ, the same are the children of
Abraham. There cannot be a better example
than Abraham. God gave Abraham a great promise,
and Abraham believed God. He was given the great promise
that in his seed, oh, that's a great promise, that in your
seed, Abraham, all the nations of the world shall be blessed.
What a great promise was given unto Abraham, and he believed
God, yes. Yes, he staggered not at the
promise of God. But, here's the point, it was
only after years, many years, through faith and patience, that
he obtained the promise. He was given the promise, he
believed the promise, Oh, but it took patience and took faith
before he received the fulfillment of the promise. And that's the
point the writer is making here to these Hebrews to whom he wrote. To all believers, we are to follow
Abraham's example of perseverance, of perseverance. It's easy to
give up. But a person who puts his hand
to the plow, the scripture says, and looks back, he's not worthy
of the kingdom of God. Persevere, persevere. What an example we have here
in Abraham. Now, I thought about this. God gave this promise to Abraham
when he was approximately 75 years of age. But when he confirmed it with
an oath, as this passage speaks of, Abraham was closer to 120
years of age. So the great promise was given
to him at the age of 75, but somewhere between 110 and 120
is when he saw the fulfillment of the promise. Let me show you that back in
Genesis chapter 22. And I know this refers to this
passage because this is the time that God gives Abraham the oath. Or God takes an oath, I should
say. Genesis chapter 22. And this is when he offered up
Isaac. Genesis chapter 22 and verse
10. We'll begin our reading and I'm
basing Abraham's age on how old Isaac must have been. He was
a young man at this time. He wasn't a small boy or lad,
anything like that. Beginning reading here in verse
10, and Abraham stretched forth his hand and took the knife to
slay his son. Do you see, my friends, such
a beautiful type there? That God spared not his own son. Abraham, he took the knife. And
do you see the son who's bound there? He could have kept Abraham
from binding him and placing him on that altar at his age. Abraham was an old man. You see
the willingness of Christ to give himself for his people. What a beautiful type we have
here. Picture. And the angel of the
Lord called unto him out of heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham. And
he said, here am I. He said, lay not thine hand upon
the lad, neither do thou anything unto him. For now I know that
thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine
only son from me. And Abraham lifted up his eyes
and looked. Here we have substitution, don't
we? Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind
him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went
and took the ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in
the stead of his son. Christ was offered up in our
stead. Christ was punished in our stead. those of us who trust in him."
That ram was offered up in Isaac's stead. Abraham called the name
of that place Jehovah-Jireh, as it is said to this day, in
the mount of the Lord it shall be seen. And the angel of the
Lord called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time and
said, now notice this, by myself have I sworn, saith the Lord. For because thou hast done this
thing and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, that in
blessing I will bless thee and in multiplying I will multiply
thy seed as the stars of the heaven. and as the sand which
is upon the seashore, and thy seed shall possess the gate of
his enemies. Now go back with me quickly to
Hebrews chapter six. Let me bring out just three things
here. First of all, in verses 17 through 19 here in Hebrews
six. For men swear by the greater,
and an oath for confirmation is to them in the end of all
strife. Wherefore, 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. What is the
promise here? What is the promise? The promise
is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord, the seed of
Abraham in whom all the families of the earth would be blessed.
Who are the heirs of the promise? Well, they are all of God's elect
who were chosen in Christ before the world began. Yes, but still,
why would God take an oath? Why would God take an oath? Well,
two reasons are given here. First of all, to show the heirs
of the promise the immutability of his counsel. the unchangeableness
of God's purpose. And number two, that the heirs
of the promise, that we might have a strong consolation, a
strong consolation. Well, that begs this question,
who are the heirs, or how rather, how are the heirs of the promise
identified? They are those who flee to Christ
for refuge. They are those who flee to Christ
for refuge. Have you fled to Christ for refuge? There is no other name under
heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. We sing that
hymn. Sometimes other refuge have I
none. Hangs my helpless soul on thee. Leave, I leave me not alone. Still support and comfort me. All my trust on thee is stayed. All my help from thee I bring. Cover my defenseless head with
the shadow of thy wing. Have you fled to Christ for refuge? that hymn that we sing, how firm
a foundation you saints of the Lord has laid for your faith
in his excellent word. Yes, how firm a foundation we
have here in his excellent word, but coupled with that, coupled
with that, his word, his oath, his oath, by two immutable things. that you and I who have fled
for refuge to Christ, we might have a strong assurance, strong
consolation. We flee to Christ from God's
wrath upon our sin. We abandon our trust and human
effort in outward religion. We drop everything, don't we?
We drop everything and flee to Christ. Bartimaeus, sitting there
by the highwayside, begging. When Christ called him, he threw
off that cloak. Nothing to hinder him but to
get to Christ. Rock of ages left for me. Let me hide myself in thee. In my hand, no price I bring,
simply to thy cross I cling. In fleeing to Christ, we find
a secure and a safe refuge, and we lay hold upon the hope that
is set before us. What is that hope? That hope
is eternal life with God in heaven. And when the Bible speaks about
hope, remember this. It's not like men today use the
word hope. I remember hearing, I think,
one time about a little train, choo-choo train, trying to make
it up to the mountain. I hope I can. I hope I can. I
hope I can. Finally got up to the top. That's
not the way the word hope is used in the scripture. There's
nothing uncertain about this hope. This hope is real. This hope is certain that we
have. And we know it's certain because
of the two immutable things. And this hope serves as an anchor
for our soul. And when the storms of life come,
and they do come, we have an anchor for our soul. And it is this hope that is set
before us that when our life is ended in this world, our life
isn't ended. It's just ended here. Our life
is eternal. Our hope is hid with Christ in
God. And when he appears, our life,
Christ who is our life, he shall appear and we shall be like him. The apostle says, it does not
yet appear what we shall be, but we know when he shall appear,
we shall be like him and we will see him. And the apostles said,
everyone that hath this hope in him purifies himself, even
as he is pure. Well, I pray God bless His word
to those of us here tonight. Let's sing a couple of verses
of a hymn, and we'll be dismissed.