INTRODUCTION
• VIDEO CLIP
• SLIDE #1
• What makes you feel defeated before you even start or get up in the morning? It is the loss of hope.
• Over the next few weeks Jerry and I will be taking you through a series on the subject of hope.
• Hope can motivate us to soar to great heights or hope that is lost can take us in the depths of despair.
• Hope can cause us to endure the most trying and difficult circumstances or a lost hope can cause us to throw in the towel and quit.
• Hope can change the world or lost hope can make the world a really bad place in which to exist.
• Hope is defined as follows:
to have a wish to get or do something or for something to happen or be true, especially something that seems possible or likely
• Biblical the word has the same flavor with the emphasis on the thought of anticipation or expectation.
• Hope is an important aspect of the Christian walk because it is the hope of eternal life that can help get us through the tough times of life. It is the hope we place in our loving God that can bring us so much peace.
• One of the problems we face in the current world and climate we live in is that our hope is always under attack from the very world around us that we are trying to save.
• Our faith is under attack from some any different fronts that it can be so discouraging if we lose our hope in Jesus.
• In the book of Hebrews in the passage we will examine today the Hebrew writing is trying to give some reasons to his readers to not lose hope.
• The readers are facing very trying times and for these former followers of the Jewish faith the temptation was strong to give up on Jesus and return to the old ways.
• In times of battle for one to survive you must be able to withstand the attacks you face.
• My prayer for each of us this morning is that if your hope is under attack that this passage can give you what you need to be able to withstand the attacks and to then achieve victory!
• Let’s turn to Hebrews 6; we will start with verse 17.
• SLIDE #2
• Hebrews 6:17 (ESV) 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,
• SLIDE #3
SERMON
We can withstand the attacks on our hope by realizing…
I. God’s purpose is unchanging.
• One of the areas in which we can draw confidence and strength from is the fact that God’s purpose is UNCHANGING!
• Since the main audience the Hebrew writer is speaking to us Jewish, the writer harkens back to God’s promise to Abraham.
• In the first six weeks of our Life Groups that start next week, we are going to take a closer look at the fascinating life of Abraham.
• God made promises to Abraham and all them came to pass even though many of them took years and some decades or longer to reach their fulfillment.
• Back in the Old Testament times whenever someone wanted to put an exclamation point on something, they would swear by an oath.
• People everywhere put a lot of faith and confidence on oaths. God so desired for people to know that His purposes never change that God swore by an oath.
• SLIDE #4
• Hebrews 6:13–15 (ESV) 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.
• God faced somewhat of a dilemma, He could swear by no one greater than Himself so He swore an oath by Himself promising Abraham He would bless and multiply Abraham.
• God made His promise to Abraham in Genesis 12 and it was 25 years later that Isaac was born.
• SLIDE #5
• Genesis 12:4 (ESV) So Abram went, as the LORD had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.
• Genesis 21:5 (ESV) Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.
• There were times when Abraham waived in his faith, but in fairness to him, it did take God 25 years to begin fulfilling the promise.
• Isaac was most likely in his early 20’s when God told Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. Now Abraham had been patient for close to a half century.
• Abraham did not see any grandchildren until almost 85 years after the promise. To have descendants that number the stars, you have to start with a child then grandchildren.
• SLIDE #6
• Genesis 25:26 (ESV) Afterward his brother came out with his hand holding Esau’s heel, so his name was called Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them.
• These first grandchildren did not come until 15 years before Abraham’s death. He lived to be 175 according to Genesis 25:4.
• Abraham did not live to see the total fulfillment of the promise, it took centuries for it to come to pass, but God NEVER wavered concerning His purpose.
• God’s purpose was to bless the world through Abraham and I happened.
• Jesus was the ultimate fulfillment of the promises to Abraham!
• God’s plan and purpose was always to have a family who loved Him and would serve Him.
• God’s plan from the beginning was for Jesus to be the way in which sins would be forgiven and by which eternal life could be possible!
• If God’s purpose always changed we would not be able to have true hope.
• When the world around you tries to attack your hope in Jesus one way you can combat the attack is to KNOW God’s purpose NEVER changes no matter what others say!
• Let’s look at verse 18.
• SLIDE #7
• Hebrews 6:18 (ESV) 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.
• SLIDE #8
We can withstand the attacks on our hope by realizing…
II. God’s word is unchanging.
• When the world around us tempts us to lose hope, we can also count on the fact that God’s word is unchanging.
• The readers of Hebrews were really struggling because of the problems they were having since they decided to follow Jesus.
• The Hebrew writer is trying to reassure them that God will deliver on His promises because His word never changes!
• Verse 18 reminds us that two things are unchangeable, God’s oath that the Hebrew writer speaks of in verses 13-17 and God’s PROMISES. In other word’s we are told that God does NOT LIE! His word can be trusted.
• God will NEVER look you in the eye and LIE to you.
• It is IMPOSSIBLE for God to lie!
• God is not a man who lies.
• SLIDE #9
• Numbers 23:19 (ESV) God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?
• IF God’s promises or if His word is found not to be true, then He would not be God because being wrong and dishonest would go against the nature of God.
• We are told that two unchangeable things give us something to set our hope on.
• The imagery used in verse 18 where it speaks of we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us.
• This speaks of the six Old Testament cites of refuge that were designed for a person flee to if the accidently killed someone. Once in the city, they would cling on to the horns of the alter for refuge.
• As long as the person stayed in the city they would be safe. If they left, the family of the one killed could then kill them.
• The Hebrew writer is reminding the people that they too can have refuge in Jesus. The implication is that outside of Jesus they are open season. We are guilty before God for our sins, but in Christ we have refuge!
• Because God can be trusted and what He says can be trusted we can be strongly encouraged in the midst of difficulties to hold fast to our hope in Jesus!
• Let’s conclude with a thought from verses 19-20
• SLIDE #10
• Hebrews 6:19–20 (ESV) 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.
• SLIDE #11
We can withstand the attacks on our hope by realizing…
III. God’s Son is rock-solid.
• When our hope is being attacked we can rely on Jesus, He is steadfast and sure.
• The writer shifts from the imagery of the cites of refuge to that of an anchor and what a blessing it can be for storm-distressed sailors.
• The anchor of a ship obviously keeps in from floating out to sea and it keeps a ship from smashing into the rocks in a storm.
• A strong anchor was important.
• There were two important elements concerning an anchor and its ability to do the job.
• First was the construction of the anchor. It had to be strong so under the pressure of the storms it would not falter. You had to be able to trust the anchor to hold.
• In Jesus we have an anchor that is so strong that NOTHING can break it.
• When our hope is under attack from the world around us and the worries that beset us, we can depend on the fact that Jesus will hold us steady and keep us safe.
• The other important element of a strong anchor is the placement of the anchor.
• If you drop the anchor in the sand it will not hold, you have to get it to catch on some solid rocks.
• When our hope is placed in Jesus our hope is placed in the correct place which is heaven and we can rest comfortably when the storms hit.
• The hope of the believer is to his soul what a "sure and steadfast" anchor is to a ship.
• The storm may rage and the clouds may rise like mountains, but so long as the anchor holds, the ship rides prosperously and triumphantly over the troubled waters.
• And so it is with the soul of the Christian. So long as his hope is "sure and steadfast," so long he is perfectly secure. But when his hope is lost, all is lost. He is then like a ship driven by a thunderstorm. Gospel Advocate Commentaries - New Testament Commentary – A Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews.
• Abraham rested his hope in the promise and oath of God. As Christians we have even more to rest our hope upon.
• We have the fulfillment of God’s promises in Jesus!
• Our anchor is grounded in heaven itself.
• We are told that our anchor, Jesus is in heaven.
• The phrase that states, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain refers to the veil that separated the holy place in the temple and tabernacle from the Holy of Holies! This was an earthly representation of heaven!
• Jesus is called our forerunner; He is the one who will lead us into heaven!
CONCLUSION
• There are going to be times when your hope will be under attack from forces on the outside and from struggles from within us.
• When your hope is under attack, I pray that you will be able to remember who you serve and how steadfast and sure our God is!
• DO not let the world or insecurities from within steal your joy and hope!
