Readings: Hebrews chapter 6 verses 13-20
Most people don’t like change in their lives;
• Ill: One man once observed that the only people who DO like change;
• Are "wet babies" … and even they aren’t too excited about it.
• But one of the certainties of life is every changes!
• You can embrace change or you can resist it with all your might;
• But it is gonna happen anyway – because that is life!
• For some change is a pleasant experience that brings freshness and relevance;
• For others it is negative experience as we seem to lose the ‘safe and familiar’.
Ill:
• But one thing is for sure everything changes:
• Quote: Did you know?
• Did you know? More information has been produced in the last thirty years;
• Than in the previous five thousand years.
• Did you know?
• More than one-half the scientists who have ever lived are alive today.
• Did you know?
• Ninety per cent of all the items in the supermarket today did not exist ten years ago.
• Did you know?
• It is estimated that fifty per cent of college graduates;
• Are going into jobs which did not exist when they were born.
Life is full of change.
• Everything changes. Change is inevitable.
• ill: Every time you look at a photograph – you see an illustration of that change!
• You're not the same person as you were five years ago.
• Certainly not the person you were 10, 20, 30 yrs ago.
Ill:
People change as they get older– photos.
• ill: Eyes grow weaker.
• ill: Hearing gets harder.
• ill: The teeth get fewer.
• ill: The hair changes colour - either by your own hand, or time's hand.
• ill: For us guys – the hair gets thinner (ill: nose & ears!)
Now:
• In a constantly changing world;
• It is comforting to know that there is one who does not change!
• Quote: Malachi chapter 3 verse 6.
• “I the Lord do not change”
• The technical term is ‘immutable’.
• Meaning: ‘Something whose state cannot be modified after it is created.’
• If you want to know how that description applies to God;
• Gives us a good example of the unchanging nature of God,
• He does this by pointing us to the story of Abraham.
• Where he tells us four truths about the ‘immutable – unchanging’ God.
(1). God’s Promises Never Change (vs 13-15).
“When God made his promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater for him to swear by, he swore by himself, saying, ‘I will surely bless you and give you many descendants.’ And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised”
If you know the story of Abraham:
• You will probably know that he did not start life with that name;
• He was born with a similar but shortened version – Abram.
• But one day God changed his name and we will look at that in a moment.
• On more than one occasion God made a promise to Abram;
• That his descendants would one day be;
• ‘As numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore.’
• Wow! That is one big promise;
• Especially as it was made to a couple who were unable to have children!
• Sarai his wife was infertile.
• And just to complicate things;
• They were both well advanced in years (ill: past their sell by dates!)
I love the humour of God found in this story;
• When Abram was 99 God changed his name to Abraham,
• Which means “father of a multitude.”
• ill: Like calling a 20 stone man ‘Twiggy’.
• ill: Like calling a pauper ‘Mr Moneybags’.
• ill: Like calling a small person ‘Lofty’.
• The name given to him was the very opposite of his situation.
• Question: Was God being cruel, taking the Mickey?
• Answer: No he had promised it! And so it was only a matter of time before it happened.
• For Abraham & his wife Sarah (she had a name change also);
• The time of that promise being fulfilled was a long, patient wait of 24 years.
• Eventually Isaac would be born to Abraham;
• And through him this promise would start to be fulfilled.
Note:
• And though Abraham did not see this promise in its entire fulfilment,
• God proved faithful – he kept his word – his unchanging promise!
• ill: Physically today there are countless Jews and Muslims who call Abraham father.
• And claim to have descended from this great man.
• ill: Spiritually, New Testament teaches that those who believe in Jesus;
• Are children of Abraham.
Application:
• Question:
• What do we learn from God’s promise to Abraham?
• Answer:
• We learn that no one who trusts in God’s promise need not be disappointed.
There are four words that every Christian should never forget:
• 'God keeps his word'.
• He will not tell us one thing and do another!
• He will never use the expression that we often use;
• "Oh well, promises are meant to be broken".
• God traffics in truth!
• God keeps his word, always!!!
• This surety is based on the unchanging nature of his person.
• To trust in God’s unchanging promises;
• Is to trust in God himself who does not change himself.
Quote: Psalm 102 verse 25-27:
“In the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment. Like clothing you will change them and they will be discarded.
But you remain the same, and your years will never end”
(2). God’s Purposes Never Change (vs 17).
• God’s promises never change because his purposes never change.
• We see this in verse 17:
“Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath”
Ill:
Several years ago, in London,
• The authorities were overwhelmed with complaints about London’s transport system.
• The problem was city’s buses,
• They tended to drive right past bus stops;
• Even though there were customers standing in line waiting to be picked up.
• When called upon to explain their actions,
• The London Transit Authorities released the following statement;
• This statement has become infamous with public relations departments everywhere.
• It read:
“It is impossible for us to maintain our schedules
if we are always having to stop and pick up passengers.”
• Question: What was wrong with that statement?
• Answer: They got their priorities confused.
• They thought their job was to keep a schedule,
• When in reality, their job was to pick up passengers & deliver them to their destinations.
• Point: Because they got their priorities confused,
• They failed to do that/ for which they were created.
God never forgets his priorities:
• Verse 17: uses a great expression: ‘the unchanging nature of his purpose’.
• That simply means: God has a purpose/plan for his world and his people.
• Verse 17 goes onto say that the unchanging God;
• Actually ‘confirmed’ his purpose/promise to Abraham ‘with an oath’.
Ill:
Why do we use oaths?
• ill: Court of Law – swear on the Holy Bible.
• ill: Guess we all heard people say; “I swear on my life or their mothers life!’
• We swear by oaths because people are corrupt, they lie;
• And an oath is somehow meant to guarantee they tell the truth.
Question: Why then does God swear an oath?
Answer: For our benefit not for his!
• God condescends/humbles himself to add the oath to His Word;
• Because he is giving us a double assurance.
• Really his word alone is enough.
• But now there is added emphasis on the integrity of God’s word.
• As God is the highest of all powers;
• He swears an oath by his own name!
• The unchanging God can swear by himself because he is absolutely reliable and true.
• That is how we know that God’s purposes will never change.
Quote:
• Samuel the Old Testament prophet said this of God
• (1 Samuel chapter 15 verse 29).
“He who is the Glory of Israel does not lie or change his mind;
for he is not a man, that he should change his mind”
• Quote: The Message paraphrases: “He is not a man, that he should change his mind” as:
• “He says what he means and means what he says."
Ill:
• You and I can plan our day early in the morning.
• Then interruptions, emergencies or simple mood changes can alter our plans
• And the day will turn out completely different than we thought.
• God not only plans his day - he has planned the whole course of human history,
• And he will not change his purposes & priorities!
Ill:
A day gone wrong – hippie the parakeet story.
• Chippie the parakeet never saw it coming.
• One second he was peacefully perched in his cage.
• The next he was sucked in, washed up, and blown over.
• The problems began when Chippie’s owner;
• Decided to clean Chippie’s cage with a vacuum cleaner.
• She removed the attachment from the end of the hose and stuck it in the cage.
• The phone rang, and she turned to pick it up.
• She’d barely said "hello" when "ssssopp!" Chippie got sucked in.
• The bird owner gasped, put down the phone,
• Turned off the vacuum, and opened the bag.
• There was Chippie – stunned – but still alive!
• Since the bird was covered with dust and soot,
• She grabbed him and raced to the bathroom,
• Turned on the tap, and held Chippie under the running water.
• Then, realizing that Chippie was soaked and shivering,
• She did what any compassionate bird owner would do.
• She reached for the hair dryer and blasted the pet with hot air.
• Poor Chippie never knew what hit him.
• A few days after the trauma, the reporter who’d initially written about the event;
• Contacted Chippie’s owner to see how the bird was recovering.
• "Well," she replied,
• "Chippie doesn’t sing much anymore -- he just sits and stares."
• It’s not hard to see why. Sucked in, washed up, and blown over;
• That’s enough to steal the song from the [strongest] heart.
• Point: God never has a day when circumstances surprise him!
• plans his day, he has planned the whole course of human history,
• And he will not change his purposes.
(3). God’s Truth Never Changes (vs 18).
Ill:
• 4 school boys who bunked off school;
• Trying too explain their absence to the teacher.
• Whatever God says is true and that truth never changes.
• In fact, the writer of Hebrews says it this way,
“God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged”
Quote: Living Bible:
“So God has given both his promise and his oath.
These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie.”
• God cannot lie.
• If he lied, he would deny his very nature as the God of truth,
Ill:
• Jesus called the devil the father of lies.
• In contrast therefore God is the father of truth - 100% reliable.
Ill:
What men say and what men mean.
• When a man says: "IT’S A GUY THING"
• He means: "There is no rational thought pattern connected with this,
• And you have no chance at all of making it logical"
• When a man says "CAN I HELP WITH DINNER"
• He means: "Why isn’t it already on the table?"
• When a man says ’’IT WOULD TAKE TOO LONG TO EXPLAIN"
• He means: "I have no idea how it works"
• When a man says "TAKE A BREAK, HONEY. YOU ARE WORKING TOO HARD’’
• He means: "I can’t hear the football over the vacuum cleaner"
• When a man says ’THAT’S INTERESTING DEAR.’
• He means: "Are you still talking?"
• When a man says ’OH, DON’T FUSS, I JUST CUT MYSELF. IT’S NO BIG DEAL"
• He means: "I have actually severed a limb, but I will bleed to death before I admit I’m hurt"
• When a man says “I HEARD YOU.”
• He means: "I haven’t the foggiest clue what you just said and I am hoping desperately that I can fake it until I figure out what you just said."
• When a man says "YOU LOOK TERRIFIC!"
• He means: "Oh please don’t try on one more outfit, I’m starving."
• When a man says "I’M NOT LOST. I KNOW EXACTLY WHERE WE ARE."
• He means: "I haven’t got a clue, we’ll keep going till we pick up a signpost."
• God says what he means and means what he says!
• God cannot lie.
• If he lied, he would deny his very nature as the God of truth,
Ill:
• Pastor Stephen Belynskyj, starts each confirmation class with a jar full of Jelly beans.
• He gives his students a pen and paper and asks them to do two things.
• First to guess how many beans are in the jar,
• And on paper in front of them to write down their estimates.
• Then, next to those estimates,
• He asks them to write down their favourite song.
• When the lists are complete,
• He reveals the actual number of beans in the jar.
• The whole class looks over their guesses,
• To see which estimate was closest to being right.
• Belynskyj then turns to the list of favourite songs.
• “And which one of these is closest to being right?” he asks.
• The students protest that there is no “right answer”;
• A person’s favourite song is purely a matter of taste, it’s their opinion.
• Belynskyj, who holds a Ph.D. in philosophy from Notre Dame then asks,
• “When you decide what to believe in terms of your faith,
• Is that more like guessing the number of beans, or more like choosing your favourite song?”
• Always, Belynskyj says, from old as well as young, he gets the same answer:
• Choosing one’s faith is more like choosing a favourite song.
The point is this:
• Guessing the jelly beans is based on truth – fact there is only one correct answer.
• Choosing a favourite song is based on opinion – the answers are numerous!
• God deals in truth – in facts – not in opinions;
• His way is always 100% right!
• His ways don’t change his mind because ‘he is not politically correct’.
• His ways don’t change because ‘we might not find them palatable’.
• God deals in truth – in facts – not in opinions;
• His way is always 100% right!
Quote: Isaiah chapter 40 verses 6-8:
“All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field. The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the LORD blows on them. Surely the people are grass. The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever”
(4). God’s Son Never Changes (vs 19-20).
• Ill: Like Father like Son;
• (ill: Arlo – “He looks like you”, I reply; “Yes he’s a good looking boy!”).
• Like Father like Son – “He is the perfect image of the invisible God”.
• Which means like God - Jesus never changes either!
• Quote: Hebrews chapter 13 verse 8:
• “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”
Note:
• Now in verses 19-20: The writer of Hebrews reminds us;
• Just how practical this unchanging truth is.
“We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where Jesus who went before us, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek”
• The illustration used here is taken from the Old Testament;
• It relates to priests who served God in the tabernacle and then the temple.
• Only the high priest was allowed to go into one special part of the temple/tabernacle;
• To perform his priestly duties.
• What the writer calls ‘the inner sanctuary behind the curtain’
• Is also called; ‘the Holy of Holies’ - the place of God’s presence.
• Melchizedek was an ancient priest in Abraham’s time;
• He was unusual because he served as a prophet, priest and king.
• No other priest apart from Jesus could be both prophet and priest.
• They could be both prophet and king because they;
• Melchizedek and Jesus were from a different priesthood to the other O.T. priests.
• They are eternal unchanging priests;
• Melchizedek – symbolically and Jesus actually!
Ill:
Lloyd C. Douglas, was the author of the book ‘The Robe’ and other novels.
• When he was a university student, he lived an a boarding house.
• Downstairs on the first floor was an elderly, retired music teacher,
• He was in poor health and unable to leave the apartment.
• Douglas said that every morning they had a ritual they would go through together.
• He would come down the steps, open the old man’s door, and ask,
• “Well, what’s the good news?”
• The old man would pick up his tuning fork,
• Tap it on the side of his wheelchair and say,
• “That’s middle C! It was middle C yesterday;
• It will be middle C tomorrow; it will be middle C a thousand years from now.
• The tenor upstairs sings flat, the piano across the hall is out of tune,
• But, my friend, THAT is middle C!”
• The old man had discovered one thing upon which he could depend,
• One constant reality in his life, one “still point in a turning world.”
• Point: For Christians, the one “still point in a turning world,”
• The one absolute of which there is no shadow of turning, is Jesus Christ.
And that sums up very well what we read earlier in verses 19-20.
• This hope is an anchor for your soul.
• An anchor steadies the ship and prevents drifting in stormy seas.
• It keeps the ship from smashing into other ships in the harbour.
Ill:
• In the imagery of our passage the anchor is actually cast forward,
• Which may sound a little strange.
• The idea pictured is one of grasping the hope set before us.
• The picture of throwing our anchor ahead;
• Comes from the ancient sailing practice called “kedging.”
• When storms threatened a ship docked in the harbour,
• A crew of sailors would jump into a smaller boat;
• And haul the ship’s anchor out into the sea as far it could go.
• The anchor would be let down and the ship pulled itself forward into the deeper water.
That says the writer of this letter is who Jesus is for us.
• He is the anchor of our soul, firm and secure.
• Our anchor is in heaven, but our ship is on earth.
• Jesus provides the stability and direction we need to go forward in hope.
Ill:
• While out hunting in the woods on a shooting party,
• Bill and George got lost and became separated from the others in their party.
• Trying to reassure his friend, Bill said,
• "Don’t worry. All we have to do is shoot into the air 3 times,
• Stay where we are, and someone will find us."
• They shot in the air 3 times, but no one came. After a while, they tried again.
• Still no response.
• When they decided to try once more, George said,
• "I hope it works this time. We’re down to our last 3 arrows."
APPLICATION:
• Bill and George were putting their hope in the advice of others,
• Even though they didn’t understand that that advice didn’t apply to shooting arrows.
• People in difficult circumstances often rely on advice of
• Friends, neighbours and professional ‘experts’.
• Just like Bill and George, they will listen to others,
• Placing their hope in the wisdom and experience of those they trust.
• Hope is vital - in fact it’s critical - for our every day survival in life.
• And also for the life to come.
ILL:
• In the town of Port Hope, Canada there is a monument erected,
• Not for the leading citizen who had died,
• But for a poor, unselfish working man;
• Who gave most of his life and energy to help those who could not repay him.
• Joseph Scriven was born in Dublin 1820.
• In his youth, he had the prospect of a great citizen with high ideals and great aspirations.
• He was engaged to a beautiful young woman who had promised to share his dream,
• But on the eve of their wedding her body was pulled from a pond into which she had accidentally fallen into and drowned.
• Young Scriven never overcame the shock.
• Although a college graduate and ready embark on a brilliant career,
• He began to wander to try to forget his sorrow.
• His wanderings took him to Canada;
• Where he spent the last forty-one of his sixty-years.
• He became a very devout Christian.
• His beliefs led him to do servile labour for poor widows and sick people.
• He often served for no wages.
• It was not known that Mr. Scriven had any poetic gifts until a short time before his death.
• A friend, who was sitting with him in an illness,
• Discovered a poem he had written to his mother in a time of sorrow;
• Not intending that anyone else should see it.
• His poem was later set to music and has become a much loved Gospel song.
• It is said to be the first song that many missionaries teach their converts.
• In polls taken to determine the popularity of hymns and Gospel songs,
• His poem set to music is always near the top.
• What was his poem?
“What a friend we have in Jesus, All our sins and griefs to bear.
What a privilege to carry, Everything to God in prayer.
Oh, what peace we often forfeit, Oh what needless pain we bear;
All because we do not carry, Everything to God in prayer.”
• When it comes to the big issues in life;
• You need an anchor for the soul – Jesus Christ.
