God’s Unfailing Promises - Hebrews 6:13-15

Your Bible's open to Hebrews chapter six. Let's bow our heads in prayer before we begin. Our gracious God, you are great.

Great in your purposes and promises. Great in creation and great in redemption and infinite in all of your perfections and your glory.

And we thank you that we have now had the opportunity to hear of your greatness, to sing of your greatness and we pray that you would now show us your greatness in your word.

Help us to hear the voice of the Spirit of God in the pages of scripture, to apply this word, to love this word and to understand it.

We pray that your word may be our guide and your spirit would be our teacher and show us now the greatness of our triune

God in our salvation, in our security and in Christ who is the head of the church and our

Lord who is exalted and glorified and whom we long to see someday.

Show us your greatness manifested in Christ in whose name we pray, amen. Amen. Well, a promise is only as good as the one who makes it.

That is a statement that is so self -evidently true that I merely need to say it. I don't even have to defend it. A promise is only as good as the one who makes it and our ruling political class proves that statement to be true every single day, does it not?

Well, if God is the one who has made the promise and he is infinite in his greatness, then what can we say about the promises of God?

That they are sure, that they are steadfast, that they are certain, that they are perfect and that we can know with absolute certainty that what

God has promised, he will most certainly bring to pass. Now, you and I live in a world that is filled with lies and we are surrounded by liars and sometimes it is difficult in living in life in a fallen world to remember that there is one being, one person whose promises are absolutely sure and absolutely perfect and absolutely reliable.

In fact, it is sometimes difficult for us to remember that there is one being, our God, who cannot break a promise.

It's impossible for that to happen. It is possible for everybody else to break every promise that they might make to us, but there is one being in the universe for whom it is impossible to break a promise because he cannot lie and what he has promised, he will and can most certainly bring to pass and it is the promises of God which are the ultimate assurance of the security of the believer in Jesus Christ and this ties in with the text that we have been looking at that describes apostates and apostasy and those who fall away and we have been contrasting that group of people whom

I am saying are not saved and they never have been saved and we talked about one example of that last week.

That group of people contrasted with those of whom the author in Hebrews six is assured of their salvation. He is certain of their salvation and he tells them in verse 12 that they are to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises and now in verses 13 through 20 of chapter six, he is describing an example of one who through faith and patience inherited the promises and that is

Abraham and so we are commanded and encouraged in scripture to cling to Christ, to not fall away, to hold fast to him and hold fast to the confidence and assurance that we have, but ultimately we have to remember that our holding fast to Christ is nothing more than something that is done in us by the power of God who enables us to persevere all the way to the end and to hold fast to him.

Our salvation, ultimately the security of it does not rest upon our faithfulness, but upon his faithfulness.

It doesn't rest upon our power. It's not the effect of our power. We have not brought it to pass. We will not continue it.

We will not bring it to pass to the very end. It is God's power who enables us and secures us and saves us all the way to the very end.

So our salvation, our security rests upon his unfailing promises, his power to bring those promises to pass and God's character and his nature and we can most certainly trust and rely in him and in his word.

And so it is the subject of the promises of God that is our context here in verses 13 through 20.

It is not our grip on Christ that holds us fast to him. It is his grip on us and that's what

Jesus said in John chapter 10 when he said, my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me and I give eternal life to them and they will never perish.

That's his promise, that his sheep will never perish. And no one will snatch them out of my hand, he says.

My father who has given them to me is greater than all and no one is able to snatch them out of the father's hand. I and the father are one.

So it is our Lord's grip on us that makes us safe and secure. It is our Lord's grip on us that keeps us secure in our salvation and it is his promise that he will save and protect and preserve and raise up on the last day every last one whom the father has given to him.

All those who are his sheep and we are his sheep not because we believe, we believe because we are his sheep, that's

John chapter 10 verse 25. He will save and secure and sanctify fully and forever and ultimately glorify every last one whom the father has given to him, every last one for whom he has died and every last one whom he guarantees their belief and their final perseverance all the way to the end.

That is the promise of God for you, Christian. Now today we're starting verse 13 and we're talking about a promise, particularly a promise that is made to Abraham and we finished the warning passage last week looking at verse 12 where the author says that he wants us to not be sluggish but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises and now he transitions right into one particular promise, an example of that,

Abraham, who through faith and patience inherited the promises. So these verses, verses 13 through 20 are something of a transition because we finished kind of the warning passage proper at the end of verse 12 of chapter six and now he wants to transition back into something that he started talking about before the warning passage.

What was he describing and discussing before the warning passage, do you remember? It was only a couple of weeks ago.

No, you don't really, do you? Chapter five, verse 11. Look at chapter five, verse 11. Sorry, no, verses nine and 10.

Verse 11 begins the warning passage. Verse nine, and having been made perfect, he became to all those who obey him the source of eternal salvation, being designated by God as a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.

He's describing Christ and the Melchizedekian priesthood. Remember that's what we were talking about? But then the author stops and he says, but I would love to discuss the

Melchizedekian priesthood with you further, but you've become dull of hearing. And so he reproves them for their dull of hearing, their slowness to understand these things and having need to be taught again the elementary principles of scripture.

Then we have the warning passage. Now look down at chapter six, verse 19. This hope we have is an anchor for the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast, one which enters within the veil where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.

Like Rush Limbaugh, he picks up right where he left off after this long discussion on some other subject.

He picks up right where he left off and goes right on into the discussion of the Melchizedekian priesthood, which is going to occupy our attention for all of chapter seven and most of chapter eight.

So he goes back to it. The warning passage has been something of a little parenthetical discussion inside of a discussion on the

Melchizedekian priesthood. So now verses 13 to 20, he wants to talk about the promises of God, but he's gonna bring it all the way back after describing the promises of God being faithful and reliable and sure.

He's gonna bring that discussion right back to the Melchizedekian priesthood where he left off back in chapter five.

So we're looking today at verses 13 through 15, and here's how we're gonna divide up these verses. The key here is the promises of God.

So we need to understand who made the promise, what it was that was promised, and how the promise was kept.

Who made the promise, what it was that was promised, and how the promise was kept. Who made the promise is in verse 13. What was promised is in verse 14, and how the promise was kept is in verse 15.

That's our outline for this morning if you happen to be writing that down. So let's begin in verse 13. For when

God made the promise to Abraham, since he could swear by no one greater, he swore by himself. And verse 14 is the content of that promise.

Now, there's a connection, obviously, with verse 12 since, as I already mentioned, verse 12 ends with that encouragement that we be imitators of those who, through faith and patience, inherit the promises.

Now, the author wants to give us an example of that. Like whom? Who is it that we are to imitate? Well, there are a number of people that he could have cited who

God promised things to and then God kept those promises, but probably the greatest example of faith and of inheriting promises through faith and patience in all of the

Old Testament is Abraham. He'd be the greatest example of that. Abraham waited, and he's still waiting, for the fulfillment of all of the promises that God made to him back in Genesis chapter 12.

So Abraham is our example, and he's mentioned in chapter 11 in the Hebrews' faith hall of fame, as it were, and we're gonna look at chapter 11 here in just a moment.

So Abraham is our example. He's mentioned in Hebrews chapter 11, and he's sort of our forefather of faith, a perfect example of just the type of patience and faith that is described in this passage that the author wants us to emulate.

Now, keep in mind that Abraham is secondary to the story and to the purpose of this passage, though Abraham is the example.

He is really just the character against whose life the full faithfulness and the power and the greatness of God was put on display.

Abraham is really not the subject of the verse. It's really not the subject of this passage. It is God who is being described here and God's promises.

Look at the emphasis in verse 13. For when God made the promise to Abraham, since he could swear by no one greater, he swore by himself, saying.

Now, Abraham's mentioned there, but who is really in view in verse 13? It's God. He's the one who made the promise.

He is the one who swore. He is the one who swore by himself, and he is the one who ultimately keeps the promise.

The life of Abraham is merely the canvas upon which the faithfulness of God and the promises of God were painted for all to see, and he still remains for us an example.

So Abraham's faith and patience are worth imitating, yes, but listen, only because Abraham placed his faith and waited patiently for a

God who keeps his promises. That's why Abraham's faith is worth imitating. If Abraham, to put it negatively, if Abraham had placed faith in an idol, would his faith be worth imitating?

No. In fact, if Abraham had placed his faith and believed in a God who does not and cannot keep his promises, we wouldn't be describing or talking about Abraham's faith.

We would be talking about Abraham's folly. He would be a fool to do that, but because God is faithful and because he always keeps his promises and he is absolutely reliable and he is faithful and true and because he cannot lie, for that reason, faith placed in him is worthy of our imitation.

So Abraham's faith is worthy of our imitation because God is a promise -keeping God who always keeps his promises, and notice that with the example of Abraham, it is

God who takes the initiative. Do you notice that? It is God who came to Abraham. It is God who chose Abraham. Moses writes in Deuteronomy 7, verse seven and eight, the

Lord did not set his love on you, speaking to the children of Israel, nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples.

You were the fewest of all peoples, but because the Lord loved you and kept the oath which he swore to your forefathers, the

Lord brought you out by a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Why did

God choose a nation of Israel? Because they were mightier and greater and greater in number? No, the Lord says you were few in number, fewer than all the other peoples, but I chose you.

It's God who took the initiative and chose Abraham. In fact, when God chose Abraham, do you know what his religion was?

He was an idol worshiper. Joshua chapter 24, God called Abraham out of a place of idolatry.

Joshua 24, verses two and three says, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, from ancient times, your fathers lived beyond the river, namely

Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, and they served other gods. Then I took your father

Abraham from beyond the river and led him through all the land of Canaan and multiplied his descendants and gave him Isaac.

Abraham, when he was chosen, was an idol worshiper, living in an idol -worshiping land among idol -worshiping people, and his father was an idol worshiper.

And God chose him, and God called him, and God spoke to him, and God called him out and gave him a command and made a promise to him and then later declared him righteous and then fulfilled all of the promises that God gave to Abraham.

There was nothing in Abraham which might have precipitated the call and the purpose of God to promise him such mighty and magnificent things as God promised to Abraham.

But God is the one who takes the initiative. And the greatness of God is seen in that phrase, that's the second phrase in verse 13, since he could swear by no one greater.

This describes the custom, an ancient custom, where one would swear, if you're gonna keep an oath or make an oath or make a promise to somebody, you would swear by somebody who was greater than you.

We have sort of a similar thing today when we ask people to swear to put their hands on a Bible and say, so help me God. It's a similar custom to that.

It's the idea that I am testifying and I'm calling in or invoking one who is greater in position, greater in authority, greater in power or stature than myself, as a witness, as if to invoke a higher power so that if I am telling a lie, this one may judge me, this one may call me to account.

It was something that was done in order to highlight the solemnness and the seriousness and the sobriety of the promise that is being made and to invoke others to hold them accountable, to keep this promise.

Well, God, since he could swear by no one greater, swore by himself, and that is a reference back to Genesis chapter 22, and we're gonna look at that moment where God says to Abraham, I swear by myself that I will do

X, Y, and Z, and he makes a promise to Abraham. Now, if God is gonna make a promise and he wants to vouchsafe that promise so that you are assured of it,

God can't put his hand upon a Bible and say, so help me, God. He can't swear by anyone greater than himself.

There is no being in all of the universe, there is no being in all of creation that has ever existed who is higher or greater or even equal to him.

So there is nobody to whom he can appeal. If God doesn't keep his word, there's nobody who can judge him for not keeping his word.

If God does not keep his word, there's nobody that can call him to account, there's nobody that can confront him with it, there's no penalty that he would have to pay or need to pay because he is the highest being in all of the universe, and he can't swear by anyone greater than himself.

And so when we make a promise, we may swear by God that this is going to happen, or we may give our word and invoke a higher power.

I'm not suggesting we do it, but that's how we would indicate that we're taking an oath. God, when he swears and he makes a promise, there is nobody to whom he can appeal.

There is no higher power, so he just swears by himself. And this is the point, that God's bare word is trustworthy and reliable.

God needs no character witness to say, yes, he is reliable and true. It is his own nature and his own character that make his promises sure and steadfast and completely reliable and dependent.

This is why unbelief is not just the choice to believe or not believe a promise or a command of scripture, this is why unbelief is a character judgment against God.

Because unbelief is saying, I do not believe that the one who has said this is reliable and true.

See, unbelief is an assessment against God's character. It's not just something that we do. That is why it is so horrible.

To not believe a promise of God is for you to say that God's word is not true.

And for you to say that God's word is not true is to say and declare that the one who gave it and who said it is not himself truthful and reliable.

That's why unbelief is so horrible. That is why we talk about keeping the promises of God and loving the promises of God and knowing them and relying upon them and being imitators of those who, through faith and patience, inherit those promises.

Because we are able to, with absolute certainty, understand and know and believe that the promises of God are certain and true and that he will keep every last word.

Why? Because his own character. It is impossible, as the author says later in this passage, it is impossible for God to lie.

So he always tells the truth. This is why truthfulness is a virtue and lying is a sin. Because God always tells the truth.

And because he is true, he cannot lie. And so if he has promised something, it must come to pass.

And he cannot fail to bring it to pass and he cannot not keep, or cannot break, better said, he cannot break his promises.

Because if he has said it, it must happen. Now, if God's bare word is enough and we can trust him because his character is true and reliable, and that is true, then everything that God has said, we can fully depend upon, fully believe, and fully trust, even if we do not, in our own lifetime, see the fulfillment of the promises that he has made to us, his people.

And that is key. Now, contrast that with the attitude that says, I will believe

God's word if the scientific community says that that is true. Or I will believe

God's word if our culture says this is true. Or if my emotions feel that it is true.

Or if my experiences validate that this is true. And that is where the world goes.

And so this has been the battle in every single age, throughout history, from the garden, all the way to today, is what

God has said true? Is it authoritative? Can I trust it? Will I rely upon it?

Will I bend the knee and yield to it? He can swear by no one higher than himself.

So if he has promised something, it must come to pass. So that is the one who has promised. Now, let's look at what was promised.

Verse 14, saying, he swore by himself, saying, I will surely bless you and I will surely multiply you.

Now, there are two things significant about that quotation. We're gonna look at where it comes from here in just a moment. There are two things significant about it.

Number one, the historical setting in which that promise was given. And two, what is quoted here of that historical situation and what is left out?

That's key. So there's something that's left out or there's something not quoted here that is very important to the author's argument.

We're gonna see what that is. The context, here's the context of the quotations from Genesis chapter 22. Now, listen to this and try and see if you can hear, see if you can remember the context in which this was given.

Genesis 22, then the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven and said, by myself, I have sworn.

See, they're swearing by himself that the author references in verse 13. By myself, I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son.

Indeed, I will greatly bless you and I will greatly multiply your seed. As the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore, and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies.

In your seed, all the nations of the earth shall be blessed because you have obeyed my voice. Do you get the feeling that you're kind of dropped in the middle of a story there?

Abraham has a son, you've not withheld your son, and then we come to find out that this is not the first time that God has promised this to Abraham.

So there is a whole historical setting and a whole historical situation here into which these promises are given, and that is important to the purpose and the intention of the author.

So, we need to go back to Genesis chapter 12, and we're gonna study this morning 10 chapters of the book of Genesis, and then we're gonna go to Hebrews chapter 11, and then we'll be back at Hebrews chapter six.

All of that in the next 20 minutes. Genesis chapter 12, do turn back there or you're gonna be lost as a dog in tall grass.

Genesis chapter 12. I promised you 10 chapters, but I'm not promising you every word of 10 chapters.

Genesis chapter 12. Verse one. Oh, look at verse 31.

Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran his grandson, and Sarai his daughter -in -law. Sorry, 31 of chapter 11.

Did I specify that? Okay, yeah. Yeah, I know. Which 31 are we talking about? Okay, chapter 11, verse 31.

All right, Sarai his daughter -in -law, his son Abram's wife, and they went out together from Ur of the Chaldeans in order to enter the land of Canaan, and they went as far as Haran and settled there.

The days of Terah were 205 years, and Terah died in Haran. So we have a brief introduction there to Abraham.

Chapter 12, verse one. Now the Lord said to Abraham, "'Go forth from your country and from your relatives "'and from your father's house to the land "'which

I will show you, "'and I will make you a great nation, "'and I will bless you and make your name great, "'and you shall be a blessing, "'and

I will bless those who bless you, "'and the one who curses you I will curse, "'and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.'"

Now you look down at verse four, you'll see that Abram was 75 years old when he departed from Haran.

So Abram is 75 when God makes this promise to him. Now God unconditionally promises Abraham three things that are in the text.

In verse one, a land. So the land which I will show you, he promises him in verse two that he would make of him a great nation, and he promises in verse three that all of the earth will be blessed through a particular seed of Abraham.

Now I'm reading in some of the other elements of the promises we're gonna look at here in a moment, but basically the Abrahamic covenant consists of three things.

A land, a people to possess that land, and a particular seed through whom all the nations of the earth will be blessed.

And I'll spoil the ending for you. The seed through whom all the nations of the earth will be blessed is the Lord Jesus Christ. There's the spoiler, it's out there.

Okay, so we have a land, a people to possess the land, and a seed. Now look over at chapter 15.

Here's where the promise is reiterated. And by the way, chapter 14, just in case you're curious, chapter 14 is where Melchizedek occurs.

We're talking about Melchizedek? So Melchizedek and Abraham, both in chapter six. Melchizedek and Abraham here in chapters 12 and 13.

Chapter 14, I think, is verse 18. Yeah, verse 13, 18, 17.

Somewhere in chapter 14, Melchizedek shows up, and that's where he enters. The only place in all the scripture where we have something about Melchizedek is chapter 14.

So we get to chapter 15. Look at chapter 15, verse four. Then behold, the word of the Lord came to him, that is

Abraham, saying, this man will not be your heir, but one who will come from you, from your own body, he shall be your heir.

And he took him outside and said, now look toward the heavens and count the stars if you're able to count them. And he said to him, so shall your descendants be.

Then he believed in the Lord, and he reckoned it to him as righteousness. Verse six is key. Abraham believed

God, and it was credited to him as righteousness. When was Abraham declared righteous or saved?

Genesis chapter 15. When God said, look up and see the stars, all of those, your descendants will be greater than the stars of heaven,

Abraham believed God, trusted in God's word, and God credited him with righteousness. That's imputed righteousness to him.

Abraham was saved by faith there at that moment. Verse six, then he believed in the Lord, and he reckoned it to him as righteousness, and he said to him,

I am the Lord who brought you up over the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess. And he said, oh Lord, how may I know that I will possess it?

Now God brought to him these animals, and God cut them in parts and put them, separated them apart from each other, and then

God walked up and down amidst the midst of these animals and made a covenant with Abraham. In verse 12, now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abraham, and behold, terror and great darkness fell upon him.

God said to Abraham, know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs. There they will be enslaved and oppressed 400 years, but I will also judge the nation whom they will serve, and afterward, they will come out with many possessions.

As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace. You'll be buried at a good old age. Then in the fourth generation, they will return here, for the iniquity of the

Amorite is not yet complete. Then look at verse 18. On that day, the Lord made a covenant with Abraham, saying to your descendants,

I have given this land, from the river of Egypt, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates. Now God, in chapter 15, reiterated the terms of the covenant.

He promised him in verse five, a nation, to any descendants. He promised him in verse seven, the land to possess. So he reiterates the promise of the land, and key in verse chapter 15 is this reiterated promise of the land.

See, when God made the covenant with Abraham, God swore to Abraham by himself. He didn't ask anything of Abraham.

He made that covenant, split those animals apart, and ratified this covenant with blood, and he made it a unilateral, unconditional covenant with Abraham.

I will give you a people, and I will give you a land, and this will be the possession of you and your people forever.

What part did Abraham have in that agreement that God made with him? He was sleeping at the time. This is how unconditional the promise was of God.

A deep sleep fell upon him, and God made himself the covenant on his own terms, because God is the one who fulfilled that covenant, and God is the one who will fulfill the terms of that covenant eventually as well.

Now look at chapter 17. You'll see a theme developing. Verse 17, now when

Abraham was 99 years old, hold on a second, what was the last age we saw Abraham back in chapter 12?

75. Now, I went to public school, but I can still do that math pretty easy.

The 99 and 75, that's roughly a quarter of a century. That's 25 years, 24,

I know. The 24, 25 years that Abraham has waited, still no son, still no land, still no seed, still no apparent fulfillment to that promise.

25 years. You see why he is an example of faith and patience? 25 years he has waited.

Chapter 17, verse one. The Lord appeared to Abraham and said to him, I am God Almighty. Walk before me and be blameless.

I will establish my covenant between me and you and I will multiply you exceedingly. This is the promise of a nation.

Reiterate it again. Abraham fell on his face and God talked with him, saying, as for me, behold, my covenant is with you and you will be a father of a multitude of nations.

No longer shall your name be Abraham, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.

I have made you, past tense. See the promise of God? I have made you the father of many nations.

And Abraham could look at his descendants and how many did he have? Zero. And God has already declared, this is what

I have already made of you. Past tense, the father of many nations. How certain is God that he will fulfill his word?

How certain could Abraham be that he would fulfill his word? Now look at verse six. I will make you exceedingly fruitful.

I will make nations of you and kings will come from you. I will establish my covenant between me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant to be

God to you and to your descendants after you. I will give you and to your descendants after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession.

I will be their God. Verse 16, he speaks in chapter 17, verse 16, he speaks of Sarah.

I will bless her and indeed I will give you a son by her. Then I will bless her and she shall be a mother of nations.

Kings of peoples will come from her. Verse 21, but my covenant I will establish with Isaac whom Sarah will bear to you at this season next year.

So he's 99 years old and God says at this time next year, Abraham would be what? Public school students help me out?

100 years old, right? Still 25 years from the giving of the promise to the fulfilling of the promise.

Next year at this time, you'll be 100 years old and I will give you a son and you'll call him Isaac. Then look at chapter 18, verse nine.

And they said to him, where's Sarah your wife? And he said, they're in the tent. And he said, I will surely return to you at this time next year and behold,

Sarah your wife will have a son. And when is this fulfilled? Look over at chapter 21. Then the

Lord took note of Sarah as he had said. See what the author of Genesis, what

Moses is trying to tell us, God has been promising and promising and promising and promising and here we are, 25 years after the promise was made.

Then the Lord took note of Sarah as he had said. The Lord did for Sarah as he had promised. So Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age at the appointed time of which

God had spoken to him. Three times it is mentioned. God said this and he did it. God said this and he did it.

God said this and he did it. That's how certain the promise is of God. Abraham waited 25 years for that.

Then in chapter 22, some years later, God commands Abraham to take that son of the promise, the one he has waited 25 years for and to take him up onto Mount Moriah and sacrifice him and offer him there as a living sacrifice to God to kill his only son.

Now at that time, Abraham had no grandsons through Isaac. He had no grandchildren through Isaac through whom the promise could continue.

But you know the story and I won't give you the whole thing but Abraham goes up there with the equipment and prepares to offer his son and right before he does,

God calls to him and provides a ram as a substitute for that and Abraham offers the animal instead of Isaac. Look at verse 15 of chapter 22.

Then the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven and said, by myself I have sworn. This is the passage quoted in Hebrews 6.

By myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son.

Indeed, and here's the part quoted in Hebrews chapter 6, I will greatly bless you and I will greatly multiply your seed.

Now that's where the quotation of Hebrews 6 ends but look at the rest of the passage. As the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore, and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies, in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed.

Now I want you to notice, God reiterates at this juncture the three things that he said all the way back in chapter 12.

He would have nations, I will multiply your seed in verse 17. You will possess the gates of their enemies in verse 17 and through you all the nations of the earth will be blessed.

A land, a people to possess the land and ultimately one through whom all of the nations of the earth will be blessed.

A land, a people and a seed. He reiterates it all to Abraham here in chapter 22. God is the one who makes this promise and God is the one who keeps this promise to Abraham.

Now why did God ask Abraham to offer his son, his only son, the son of promise, the one through whom all the promises be fulfilled.

Why did God ask him to offer Isaac on the altar and to kill him? Was it because so that God could see

Abraham's faith and know whether it was true or genuine? God knows that. It was so Abraham would know the nature of his faith.

It's so everybody who looks at Abraham would know the nature of his faith. God was demonstrating against the backdrop of Abraham's life, his own faithfulness and his promise keeping ability and Abraham in chapter 15 believed

God and it was credited to him as righteousness. Now you say, wasn't there a thing in there where he took his handmaid and had Ishmael and that really messed everything up.

It did really mess everything up. Abraham did that not because he didn't believe that God would fulfill his promises but Abraham did that because he was a little iffy on how

God would fulfill his promises. Thought that that might be the method or the way by which God would fulfill his promises but Abraham believed

God would keep his promise. He just wasn't trusting fully everything that God gave him in the details of how

God would keep that promise. So God had to reiterate, it's not gonna be through Ishmael. It's gonna be through Isaac, trust me, believe.

And then it came to the point where Abraham was willing to offer that one son on the altar so as to demonstrate, God required this, so as to demonstrate the true nature of his faith.

That even if he killed the son of promise, he believed that God would still fulfill his word.

That is faith. Even if he had no reason at all to believe that God would fulfill his word, physically or humanly speaking, he still believed

God would fulfill his word because God said it. God said I will do it through Abraham. So you go to Romans chapter four and you find out that Abraham basically received

Isaac as back from the dead. He so believed God that he believed that God would even raise Isaac from the dead and fulfill the promise through Isaac because that is what

God had promised. So Abraham's faith was not just in a God who keeps his promises, but a God who is willing and able to resurrect someone in order to keep their promises.

Now, does that not point to the Lord Jesus Christ? Do you not think the disciples on the day after the crucifixion sat there on that Saturday wondering how is it that the promises shall be fulfilled in this,

Abraham's seed? And God eventually raised Jesus from the dead to fulfill all the promises that he made concerning Abraham's seed.

So that's what was promised. Now let's look at how the promise was fulfilled in verse 15. Turn back to Hebrews chapter six.

You didn't think I could do it and I did it. 10 chapters of Hebrews in only a few minutes.

And I still have 60 seconds left in which to fit another next 20 minutes worth of material. And I believe that we can do that.

So Hebrews chapter six. Now look at verse 15. And so having patiently waited, he obtained the promise.

Abraham is the example of faith. He is the example of patience. And he is significant to us.

Now though you and I are not Jews, Abraham is still significant. We don't look at the example of Abraham and say, yeah, that's the father of the

Jewish nation and we're not the Jewish nation, we're the church. That's true. But Abraham is still significant for us because as Paul says in Romans chapter four, he,

Abraham, received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of faith, which he had while uncircumcised so that he might be the father of all who believe without being circumcised.

That's the Gentiles. We believe God and we are saved in the same way that Abraham is saved, by faith.

So he is our faith forefather. He's the one who preceded us, who demonstrates the type of faith that we are to have in a

God who keeps his promises. And Abraham's faith was credited to him as righteousness. We are credited or imputed the righteousness of Jesus Christ on the same basis, through faith and faith alone.

And so we believe after the same fashion. So we, as Gentiles, are included into all the promises and we become heirs of that promise.

As Paul says in Galatians chapter three, verse 29, if you belong to Christ, then you're Abraham's descendants. Are you a

Gentile and you can trace your lineage back, not even to Abraham ever? That describes you, you're still

Abraham's descendant, but by faith. Because all of those promises, this is the argument in the New Testament, all of those promises that were given to Abraham, the land, the seed, and the nation, all of them will be fulfilled to you, because you as a

Gentile, who are saved on the basis of faith just like Abraham, have been grafted into that covenant, and we all become heirs of all that was promised to Abraham 4 ,000 years ago, that we are the inheritance.

We are the ones who inherit that. That's how fantastic God keeps his promises, that 4 ,000 years later, we will see that seed, we are blessed through Jesus Christ, the seed of Abraham.

We will someday see him take his seat on the throne of his father David, and rule and reign in Jerusalem, and that kingdom in which all of the nations over the whole world will be blessed, all of that will become ours, because we inherit those promises, because we have believed just like Abraham believed.

He obtained that promise. I want you to keep in mind what the author of Hebrews says in chapter six, when he says he obtained the promise.

I want you to look back at Hebrews chapter 11. Hebrews chapter 11, beginning at verse eight, here he describes

Abraham again. Verse eight, by faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out of a place which he was to receive for an inheritance, and he went out, not knowing where he was going.

By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise, for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is

God. By faith even Sarah herself received ability to conceive, even beyond the proper time of life, since she considered him faithful, who had promised.

Therefore, there was born even of one man, and him as good as dead, and that as of many descendants, as the stars of heaven in number, and innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore.

Verse 13, all these died in faith. Who's the these of verse 13? Who have we talked about? Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Sarah, right?

All of them died in faith. Look at verse 13. Without receiving the promises. Whoa, hold on a second.

Chapter six says Abraham received the promise. Chapter 11 says he did not receive the promise, but died in faith without receiving the promises.

Is that a contradiction in the scripture? This is the part where I would love to just say, we'll talk about that next week and answer that next week, but I don't have enough left over for all of next week.

And by the way, Dave's gonna be preaching next week, so that wouldn't work for me to jump up here and take

Dave's glory from him like that. Is that a contradiction of scripture? No, Dave, just give me a head. Yeah, no, go ahead.

Is that a contradiction of scripture? Hebrews chapter six says he received the promise, obtained the promise. Hebrews chapter 11 says he died in faith without inheriting the promise.

How do you resolve that? It's very simple. Chapter six and chapter 11 are describing two different aspects of the same promise.

What was Abraham promised? Three things, a land, a multitude that would come from him, and the seed of the

Lord Jesus Christ. Now, there is something that Abraham did obtain a promise to.

Well, was it? Only one of those three things. He saw his descendant Isaac, the one through whom the promise would come.

He never saw or took possession of the land, and neither did Isaac, and neither did Jacob, and neither did any of Jacob's 12 sons.

That took 400 years before that would happen. But he did see Isaac. So why does the author of Hebrews only quote part of what we saw in Genesis chapter 22?

Because what he is describing in Genesis chapter 22 is the fact that God fulfilled his promise with Isaac.

In chapter six, the author of Hebrews is looking specifically at that one promise that God made, one aspect of it, one particular promise.

You will see Isaac through whom you will have a multitude of people come. Nations will come from you, and it would be through Isaac.

And Abraham believed, and he saw the fulfillment of that. He waited 25 years, and he saw the fulfillment of that aspect of the promise.

But did Abraham ever see the fulfillment of the promise to receive the land? He never did in his time.

Nor did he ever see the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. So that is the answer to that. How and when was that promise fulfilled?

He obtained the one promise, the son. But all of the rest of it, Abraham never saw.

He died in faith, having never received the land or the birth of the Messiah, the seed through whom all of the nations of the earth would be blessed.

And by the way, today, not all of the promises have still yet been fulfilled to Abraham.

There's still more promises to come. More aspects of that covenant that have not yet been fulfilled. We saw some of it happen after 25 years,

God gave him the son, fulfilled that promise. But Abraham never saw the multitude that would come from him. Abraham died before he ever saw his descendants as the sands of the seashore.

He saw Isaac, but he never saw his descendants as the sands of the seashore. And it took 400 years after that, almost half a millennia, before his descendants came into the land of promise.

And then God fulfilled the promise for the land. It was another 2 ,000 years after Abraham, before God fulfilled the promise with the birth of the

Messiah, the seed through whom all the nations of the earth would be blessed. And you know what we're waiting for today?

What we're waiting for today is for the gates, the

Israelites to possess the gates of their enemies and to inherit all of the land that was promised to them.

Israel has never occupied all that was given to them, never. In fact, they have never occupied all that was promised to them in such a way as to possess the gates of their enemies and to have one rule and reign that seed through whom all those nations under him would be blessed.

That promise has never been fulfilled. And here we are, 4 ,000 years later, waiting for God to fulfill yet more of his promise to Abraham.

Now I ask you, is God able to do that? You say 25 years is a long ways to wait.

4 ,000 years is a long time to wait, isn't it? And we still wait, and we still know, and we still believe that just as certainly as God fulfilled his promise and gave

Abraham Isaac, he will also give to Israel all that he has promised to Israel.

They will possess the gates of their enemies. And it is no more difficult for God to fulfill a promise after 25 years or after 4 ,000 years than it is after 25 years.

No more difficult to him. He cannot break his word. He knows exactly how every last detail of history is going to be fulfilled.

And here's the point of all of this. Abraham obtained the promise, and he waited in faith and patience.

Now listen, Christian, life assaults us with all kinds of opportunities to doubt the promises of God. We wonder, is

God really able to work all this out for my good? Is God really able with his wisdom and his power to make good come out of this, to help me through this, to get me through this, to see me through to the end, to keep me from apostatizing, to hold me safe and secure?

Is he really able to fulfill all that he has promised to me and ultimately to give me glorification and eternal life?

Is God able to do that? We are constantly assaulted in a world filled with lies. We are constantly assaulted with the temptation to not believe that what

God has promised will actually come to pass. As we see in today and in the years ahead, a massive apostasy amongst believers in the church in the

United States that we talked about last week, as we see that and we see people turning away from the faith and walking away from the faith and things getting worse and worse and darker and darker, we're gonna be more and more tempted to wonder, is

God really in control? Is he really able to make all of this come to pass just as he has promised? Is he really able to keep me safe and secure all the way to the very end and to keep me from stumbling and to present me faultless with exceeding joy before his throne, blameless on that day?

Is God really able to do that? And to the answer to that, without a question, without a shadow of a doubt, is yes,

God is able to do that. So how safe are you, Christian? Is it possible for a believer to perish?

To end up in hell? For your Savior to lose you? When he has promised that if you believe in him, you have passed from death into life, you've been transferred from the kingdom of Satan into the kingdom of God?

When the Savior himself has promised that all whom the Father has given to me back in eternity past will come to him and he will gather them all in and he will save them, they will believe, they will come to him, he will not cast any of them out, he will save them and then he will secure them and then he has promised, for this reason

I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me and this is the will of him who sent me, that of all, every last single one of them that he has given to me,

I lose none. That is the Father's will, that is what the Son has absolutely promised to fulfill and he will keep that word and if he loses one,

Joshua Harris or you, if he loses one who has believed upon him, then Christ has failed to do the will of the

Father. He has failed to keep his word to save the one who has come to him in belief and repentance and faith.

He will not fail, he cannot fail, you are safe and secure, not because you cling to him because he clings to you, not because you are faithful to keep your word to him but because he is faithful to keep his word to you.

That ultimately is where the security of the believer rests. That is why the author of Hebrews now starts to talk about the promises of God.

You wanna talk about assurance? We're assured of greater things concerning you, we're confident of this in your salvation.

Listen, your salvation and your ability to avoid apostasy does not rest on your work, upon him who is faithful, who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you fall before his throne with exceeding joy on that last day.

That is where the security of the believer rests. Let's bow our heads. Father, we thank you for your tremendous mercy and the salvation that you have gifted to us, your people.

We pray that you would encourage our hearts with these truths that our great triune God, the Father having chosen us, the

Son having redeemed us and paid the price for our salvation and the Holy Spirit having regenerated us by his sovereign power that we are kept safe and secure by the good shepherd, the eternal

Son who knew from eternity past who are his and who came to save us for your eternal glory.

May your love, your grace, your fellowship, your comfort and encouragement be with all who are yours, both now and forever we pray in Christ's name, amen.