Hebrews 6:15-20 PRBC Evening Service May 23, 2010

The Promise to Abraham and God’s Unchangeable Purpose

This evening, chapter 6, we're here this morning, looking at the latter half of this chapter, this study. We are in chapter 6, with verse 13 in our reading this evening, the chapter, when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, saying, surely I will bless you and multiply you.

And thus Abraham, having patiently waited, obtained the promise. For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is the final. So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things, of which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us.

We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place, behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as our forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.

Now we saw this morning that here the writer is encouraging us, and he is encouraging us to press toward, show zeal toward obtaining that full assurance of hope until the end. Hopefully you saw that term, hope, that was in verse 11 repeated just now in the reading we had.

It will become very important to us. And then he has once again directed our attention away from ourselves and to God as the one that is worthy of our faith, worthy of our trust, and that once we understand the character of God, once we understand that his purposes are unchanging, then we can have true abiding faith in him that results in patience.

And he's given as an example what happened in God's giving a promise to Abraham. When he gave that promise to Abraham, he had nothing greater to swear by than himself, and so he made that promise to Abraham.

And there is a brief discussion of the fact that people swear by something greater than themselves, and all their disputes and oath is final for confirmation. So in verse 17 then, when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath.

Now notice once again, we just started touching on this verse this morning. God willed to do something. He willed to provide a demonstration, a proof of the fact that he was the one making the promise.

And he wanted a certain people, notice the heirs. He wanted to demonstrate this to the heirs. Now we saw that same group up in verse 12. The heirs of the promise are those who through faith and patience become heirs of the promise.

And so God wants to make sure that a certain people, the heirs of the promise, have a clear demonstration from him that he has an unchangeable character to his purpose. An unchangeable character that cannot change.

The Danger of a God Who Changes

And we concluded this morning by asking the question, what would it be like if we had a God of change? What if we had a God in whom there was variableness and shadow of turning, to use the language from James that has been enshrined.

What if we did not have any? What a standard of justice. There was no eternal purpose that they were working on, especially due to the fact that they themselves came out of the creation. They weren't the creators of all things.

They were subject to forces outside of themselves. And so they were changeable, they had to adapt. But sometimes I think especially there's a danger amongst those of us who regularly hear the word of God within a consistent context, that we will take for granted these tremendous divine truths.

That actually we have become the heirs of ourselves. The idea that God is unchanging. That he has a purpose that he is pursuing. That's not just an idea that makes us feel good. It is the very essence of the promise of the gospel.

Think about it. If that was not the case, then the cross was a huge... Because evidently God committed himself to a course of action there, but who knows? Maybe something might come up that would cause him to go, oh, you know, that really wasn't the best way of doing that.

Begin to contemplate such a thought. And yet sadly there are many who, because they don't desire to give to us a clear demonstration to the changing nature, the unchangeable character of his purpose. Because that Greek term, when something changes, when something mutates, they're all related to the same root.

There can be no mutation of God's purpose. There can be no change into another direction of God's purpose. He has given us his promise in Christ Jesus. And you know, being 2 ,000 years down the road, I'm glad it doesn't change.

Because it would make a lot of people, I think, wonder how things that were written 2 ,000 years ago can be relevant to us. Well, if you have years to him, this is a day, and a day is 1 ,000 years, it hasn't been that long ago to him that he gave these promises.

And he has promised that his promises won't change. Notice that it also says, he guaranteed it with an oath. And it's interesting. There's an echo here that unfortunately we might not see in English. To guarantee.

This is going to become very important beginning in chapter 7. He's going to build on the guarantee he's provided, Jesus Christ, who becomes himself the guarantee. Sometimes we get so into the text that we need to step back and go, what's the whole purpose here?

It's really been the same from chapter 1. The demonstration of the supremacy of Christ and all being placed upon the Hebrew Christians to go back and offer sacrifice. There's nothing. And so he has guaranteed the promise with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things, two unchangeable things, using the exact same terminologies to talk about his unchangeable purpose, now it's by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie.

We who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hopes set before us. Well, what are the two unchangeable things? And so it's in these things for God to lie. If God could lie in these things, that there would be no reason to trust any divine revelation, there would be no reason to believe prophecy, or that God has been involved in the people of Israel, or any of the things that, interestingly enough, the Jewish apologists might be using to try to get you back, try to get you to offer sacrifice, you'd have to accept those things.

Because if God could lie in this, then He could lie in anything. Maybe the entirety of the Old Testament is a lie. I mean, once you admit to the character of God inconsistency and untruthfulness, how are we supposed to know anything?

He could be deceiving anybody. But it is the very character and nature of God for Him to lie Himself. This interesting phrase, and it's sort of patience, we have this interesting phrase, the ones who have fled, it seemed to me, you can accidentally come after you in those specific places, this idea of an anchor, just a moment, that maybe is just simply the seeking of refuge in God.

Seeking refuge in Him from our sins, seeking refuge in Him from the pressures of the world, the flesh and the devil, as we often put it. But there is a specific people, so that we might have to hold fast to the hope that has been set before us.

Refugees are people looking for hope. When you've seen the heartbreaking pictures of refugees fleeing from war, maybe pushing, so maybe this is the best description. Who have sought refuge in God, that they might have strong, hold fast to the hope that has been set before us.

Strong, very same term, encouragement here is the term that is used of the Holy Spirit in John chapter 14. The parakletos, the paraclete, who comes alongside and encourages, gives guidance. Here that we might have a strong encouragement, those who have fled, to hold fast, hold fast that hope, which has been set, is then described, that I think is the book of Hebrews and hence all of the Bible.

That is verse 19. We have this as a sure and steadfast, the soul, behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner. Here once again, I'm tempted, I'm not sure when, I have to take some time reading Genesis, or reading Mr. Melchizedek, there aren't, but in this situation, what we would need to do is to go back, and refresh our minds.

I will use the term refresh our minds, because certainly we've all studied at one point or another, the makeup of the book of Hebrews uses the tabernacle, rather than the temple itself. As the paradigm, as the example, in comparison to the heavenly, of Hebrews certainly would have understood, how that was laid out, where the veil was, what was outside the veil, what was inside the veil, what exactly was in there.

This is a part of what any Jewish person of the day, would have understood, even though almost none of them, would have ever seen these things, except for the high priest himself, who would go in that one day, on the day of atonement.

Great teaching about these specific things, what was there, what its purpose was, what it represented, et cetera, et cetera. And this is part of the Old Testament revelation. These things were built, and placed where they were, upon the commandment of God.

And so, at some point we're going to have to look at that, because the narrative. Because when it talks about, the inner place behind the curtain, we're talking about the holy place. Sometimes it's called the holy of holies, but that's just, again, because we're translating a Hebrew idiom into English, in a way that isn't necessarily, the Hebrew would say, the holiest place, by calling it holy twice, the holy of holies.

That just simply means the holiest place. And so it's talking about that place, where atonement would be made, where the covering would take place. And so the writer here draws for us, an unusual picture.

One might say, it definitely mixes metaphors. There were no anchors, necessarily just, what you would have on a seagoing vessel. Though that's the first, huge anchored ship in place, in the midst of the strong winds, and things like that.

But we use the term in other ways as well. Someone who is a climber, uses the term anchor a lot. They use them as they're climbing the rock face, and they tap them in, and they put their ropes through, and these become an anchor.

Something very important, obviously, for someone who does something like that, which I can guarantee you, that's one thing I could never do. Rock face someplace, and I have no idea how anybody else can.

But being that as it may, here we have a description of, something that holds fast, that's described as sure, and steadfast. Sure, and steadfast. Now, interestingly enough, one of these terms, the same term, that is used by Paul in Colossians, when he talks about, are being grounded in Christ.

There is no moving. Building stuff, if you're trying to anchor something down, and you can visibly move, obviously your anchor is not strong. And therefore, when the forces of nature come along, what you're building, might be in grave danger.

I had an illustration of this recently. A couple of weeks ago, Kelly and I were driving home, and at the same time, we looked over our house, and there's this huge gaping hole. And the gable had bent tight.

Because a few days ago, and it just ripped that thing, right off your house, into the driveway, thought it was going to hit it, right in the windshield, just missed, landed in our front yard, and exploded.

Lost the street, picked up the neighbor's big, blue, recycled bin, and threw it on his roof. I don't think that's a death stumbling, I think that's called a tornado, personally. Differentiate between the two, at that point, when it can just rip stuff, right off of your house, like that.

So obviously, it was not anchored appropriately, and the temporary one we put in, wasn't anchored very well either. But it wasn't able to withstand. Maybe it's just because it's, you know, almost 40 years old, and things got old over time.

It was no longer sure and steadfast, and that force of nature came along, and destroyed it. When we're talking about a sure and steadfast anchor, of the soul, what a picture is presented. We're told that we have a sure and steadfast anchor, that he recognizes that they come against us, and come against our faith.

In any, the force, if you give up on this strange Christianity stuff, it's never going to, they're not underestimating, the strength, to bring doubt, despair, confusion, against the forces that come against our soul.

It is the scriptures, that the sure and steadfast, this sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, is a hope, that enters into the inner place, behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone, as our forerunner, on a hope you see.

Until we get to Roger Cesar, who has entered into the holy place, once for all, having obtained eternal redemption, and there he intercedes on our behalf, and he's able to say with the uttermost, because he ever lives to make intercession, oh the glory that is brought out, but here we just start to see a part of it, this sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, is intimately connected, to what Jesus Christ has done, in his sacrifice.

You see how strong an argument that would be, where the people are being told, way to go, as it's said, and by that one sacrifice, he has entered in. You see the high priest, just for a moment, to offer that sacrifice, and then he had to, temporary behind the curtain, where the vast majority of these Hebrew Christians, could never have gone themselves, because they weren't alive, where Jesus has gone.

Do you see the argument? Can you put yourself in the place of these people, who first heard this, when they start to realize, he entered into the very presence of God, his sacrifice accepted, raised from the dead, demonstrating God has accepted his sacrifice, he's entered into the heavenly place, in the true holy of holies, of which the earthly is but a shadow, and says, I'm united with him, that I, in that same language with the apostle Paul, seated in the heavenly places, is that not Paul's terminology in Ephesians 2?

And so our hope is not in ourselves, you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ, in God, therefore think on the heavenly things, because that's where your hope is, a hope that enters into the inner place, you're no longer left outside, had stood in Yom Kippur, had drawn near to worship at the temple, it smelled the stench of the flood, they see the smoke rising, and then they see the high priest, entering in, to the holy place, and there, he can only go, he could not enter, in Christ, those who stand outside, in the finished work, and not just for a moment, then come back out, he is seated, this has gone, contains a foreshadowing, see, but, that's how it works, this signals the end, at the beginning of this morning, 5, 10, talking about Mechizedek, grown dull of hearing, you need exhortation, you need warning, and then encouragement, and so from 5, 10, until now, warning, and encouragement, now we're back to Mechizedek, 5, 10, central, to the writer's defense, Christ's role, not only a sacrifice, application of that sacrifice, for those for whom he, start argumentation, authoritative revelation, and follow carefully, the argumentation, not necessarily easy to follow, but when we do, we get some of the clearest, most compelling, argumentation, and presentation, and revelation, on God's purpose, and so, it will be, to dig in, to save, perfect, something that, causes a joy, Jesus has gone, as a forum, you will speak to many family, struggle with the message, those who misused this text, I remember, emphasized to us, true sons of God, true sons of God, will be, never, divide the best, we will grow, in our confidence, understanding, that is the case, truly exciting, hope is, indeed our great, we cannot, begin to, contemplate, sure, and steadfast, anchor of the soul, a hope that is, our greatest joy, may the things, of this world, indeed grow, strangely dim, as we consider, what you've done for us, with us in this next week,.