Sunday Gathering 10:00 am, Bur-Mil Park Clubhouse

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A Reason for Confident Hope

(9) Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things—things that belong to salvation. (10) For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do. (11) And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, (12) so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

1. After a stern warning about apostasy there is an exhortation toward fullness of faith. Please notice the word “beloved” in verse 9. That’s you, the reader.

2. We are to “show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end” which means we are to be “imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.”

3. To help us grasp what that looks like we are given an example – Abraham.

(13) For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, (14) saying, “Surely I will bless you and multiply you.” (15) And thus Abraham,having patiently waited, obtained the promise.

1. We are told that Abraham, having “waited patiently,” obtained the promise. Abraham acted on the promises and waited patiently for their fulfillment (though imperfectly) enduring in that living hope which is rooted in true faith.

2. But the REAL matter of concern here isn’t so much Abraham’s example, but God’s trustworthiness.

3. The Hebrew Christians, and all Christians, need to know, that if we throw ourselves upon God and his promises, and accept the practical consequences in this life, will it be worth it in the end? Will God come through? Will He be good to His promises? The answer here is a resounding “Yes.”

4. This is the point of this passage – the certainty of God’s promises, promises which bore directly upon Abraham’s life, and promises which bear directly upon ours, as we are the recipients of God’s promises to Abraham. .

(16) For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation. (17) 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, (18) so that 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 hope set before us.

1. When God renewed his promise (already made) to Abraham in Genesis 22, after Abraham’s obedience in offering up his son Isaac, he made an oath, that is, he “swore” to be faithful, but he could not appeal to anything higher than himself to swear by, so he swore by himself.

2. This by two things – by God’s oath, first, and by the fact that God cannot lie, second, we have a certainty regarding his promises.

3. This certainty encourages us to hold fast to the hope set before us. This “hope” is objective, not our feeling of hope, but the content of the thing hoped for. We don’t hope in our hoping, we hope in the true objective real certain reality of things promised by God, the center of which is Christ Himself.

4. This certainty of this hope is held fast by those who have “fled to refuge,” who have turned to God in Jesus Christ for refuge, salvation, and help.

(19) We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, (20) where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.

1. Our hope, that is, the truth about who Jesus is and what He has done and what he promises to us, is the anchor for our souls. We may feel like ships tossed to and fro, but we are tethered to the inner sanctuary of God through our connection to Jesus who has gone there before us, preparing the way.

2. Remember, this letter is first and foremost about access to God, our maker, redeemer, our God and source of all life and happiness.

4. There is no storm of life, nor persecution or trail, nor even death itself, that can untether us from God and His presence and power through Jesus Christ.

5. So, is it worth it to step out in full assurance of faith? You betcha! Is it smart to step out in full assurance of faith. Yea man! Nothing else in this life – nothing – can satisfy our ultimate needs, so let us not cling to false hopes.  

6. Jesus, our soul’s captain, our anchor, our High Priest, our savior, has gone before opening up the inner sanctuary for us, and thus brought us into the fullness of God’s promises and God’s presence. We have been harpooned, and the fisher of men stands fast, and has and will reel us in, into God’s presence now, and into the fullness of promise when Jesus returns!

7. And our passage ends where we stated last week – with Melchizedek. Ready now? Let’s go!