In October 1909, Vancouver, British Columbia purchased its first motorized ambulance. In 1909, a new ambulance was a rare thing, but the city spared no expense to get the best available vehicle – a Model 740 Ambulance from New York, costing $4,000, or more than $100,000 in today's money. Just hours after being on the streets, the ambulance transported its first casualty –an American tourist from Ohio who had been out shopping in downtown Vancouver, hit by the ambulance itself. One of the wealthy women who had worked hard to get the new ambulance summarized the facts in the simplest of terms: “It killed him outright. So the first passenger for the ambulance went to the morgue.” (Chuck Davis, The Chuck Davis History of Metropolitan Vancouver, Harbour, 2011, page 64; www. PreachingToday.com)
Sometimes, a person’s hope is misplaced. So where should you put your hope especially in hard times? Where should you place your confidence? Well, if you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to Hebrews 6, Hebrews 6, where the Bible tells you the best places to put your hope.
Hebrews 6:9 Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things—things that belong to salvation. (ESV)
In the context, Paul had warned his readers about the consequences of not going onto maturity. If they didn’t put God’s Word into practice and grow, then they would get to the point where it would be impossible to change their minds (Hebrews 6:6). They would become stubborn in their disobedience and their lives would be wasted (Hebrews 6:8).
However, Paul says here in verse 9, “We are sure of better things” in the case of his readers. Paul was convinced that his readers would go on to maturity, because of their salvation. You see, spiritual growth belongs to salvation like the sun and its light, or like fire and heat. They’re inseparable! So when it seems like your life has been stalled, when it seems like you’re going nowhere in the midst of your pain, then 1st of all…
PUT YOUR HOPE IN GOD’S SALVATION.
Put your confidence in the redemption God offers through faith in Jesus Christ, His Son, and be sure that your salvation will bring about your sanctification. Be sure that your deliverance will produce your development into all that God has called you to be.
You see, when you put your trust in Christ, He not only saves you from hell; He saves you from the bad habits that keep you from growing.
A couple of years ago, I told you the story of Tammy, a homeless woman, who lived under a bridge in downtown Chattanooga, Tennessee. Justin Borger, a pastor, heard about her situation and provided her with some basic hygiene supplies. After that, he didn't hear from her for a few weeks—until she called and said that she had been raped. Borger brought Tammy to the hospital, and she started attending Borger's church. The church also started providing vouchers, so she could buy food and other items.
But Borger said that created a problem: Tammy kept giving the vouchers to other people. Borger told her, “Tammy, you need to keep this for yourself. Otherwise you'll run out of food.” But living under the bridge meant living with other needy people, and it was unthinkable for her to receive a gift and then not share it with others. So, with an incredulous stare she asked Borger, “Why can't I give some too?”
He gave her a very pragmatic answer: “We're giving this to you, not to everyone else you meet.” Yet, he recognized the deeper problem: to only receive and never give back is to be belittled – to be humiliated. Over time, Borger had begun to think of Tammy as a kind of pet project in which HE was always the giver and SHE was always the recipient… But the good news is that God not only made us to be recipients of his grace but also participants in the movement of his own generosity. (Kelly M. Kapic, God So Loved, He Gave, Zondervan, 2010, pp. 147-148; www.PreachingToday.com)
When God saved you, lavishing His grace so generously upon you, you can’t help but grow in sharing His generosity with others.
So, if you’re not growing, check to make sure you have truly received God’s grace through faith in His Son. Make sure you are not depending on something you have done, but that you are depending on what Christ has done for you on the cross. If you are depending on yourself, stop the foolishness and transfer that dependence to Christ, who died for you and rose again. Trust Christ with your life and let Him save you not only from hell, but from a wasted life lived only for yourself.
On the other hand, if you are depending on Christ, be sure that His grace will lead to your growth even in difficult times. When it seems like you’re going nowhere in your pain, put your hope in God’s salvation, which WILL produce fruit in your life. Then 2nd…
PUT YOUR HOPE IN GOD’S FAIRNESS.
Be confident in God’s justice. Be sure that God will deal with you rightly.
Hebrews 6:10 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. (ESV)
Their salvation had led to loving service, which God will not overlook. On the contrary, He will reward such service even if nobody else appreciates it. So put your hope in God’s justice and look forward to His promised reward.
Hebrews 6:11-12 And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. (ESV)
Don’t give up on God, because you WILL receive what God has promised.
Just this last November (2017), Kate McClure ran out of gas on I-95 in Philadelphia. While weighing her options for help, she was approached by Johnny Bobbitt, Jr., who was homeless at the time. He walked up to her car and told her that the roadside area was unsafe. He then instructed her to lock the car's doors and proceeded to walk to a gas station where he spent his last $20 on a red fuel can and fuel. Kate didn't have money to repay the Marine veteran, so she created an online fundraiser page as a thank you.
A month later (December 2017), that GoFundMe page had raised more than $397,000, and Johnny Bobbitt used the money to buy a home. He also donated some of that money to a grade school student, who was helping another homeless veteran. (“Homeless man who gave away his last $20 buys home thanks to fundraiser,” CBS News, 12-5-17; www.cbsnews.com/news/ johnny-bobbitt-buys-home-fundraiser)
If people will reward a homeless veteran’s generosity with such extravagance, is God no less fair than they? Of course not! Now, God may not reward you next month with a pile of money but be patient. God will reward you in ways that far exceed any amount of money people can give you.
When it seems like you’re going nowhere in your pain, 1st, put your hope in God’s salvation; 2nd, put your hope in God’s fairness; and third…
PUT YOUR HOPE IN GOD’S FAITHFULNESS.
Be confident in God’s dependability. Be sure that God will keep His promises.
Hebrews 6:13-15 For 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. (ESV)
God made a promise to Abraham and kept it! All Abraham had to do was “patiently wait” for it. And that’s all you need to do to obtain God’s promise. All you need to do is patiently wait for it. Literally, “be long-tempered”; be slow to anger when you don’t get what you expect right away.
Haddon Robinson tells the story of a young man from Chicago who traveled to the bluegrass regions of Kentucky. While there, he met and wooed a young woman who ultimately came back to Chicago as his bride. They enjoyed three lovely years of marriage, and then one day in a seizure of pain the young woman lost her mind. When she was at her best, she was a bit irrational. At her worst, she would scream, causing the neighbors to complain about all the noise.
So the young businessman left his home in the middle of Chicago. He went out to one of the western suburbs and built a house, determined that there he would try to nurse his wife back to health and sanity again. One day the family physician suggested taking his wife back to her Kentucky home where something in those familiar surroundings might help restore her sanity. They returned to her old home, were hand in hand they walked through its rooms with memories hanging on every corner. They went down to the garden and walked down by the riverside where the first cowslips and violets were in bloom. But after several days nothing seemed to happen.
So, defeated and discouraged, the young man put his wife back in the car, and they headed back to their new home in the Chicago suburbs. When they got close to the house, he looked over and discovered that his wife was asleep. It was the first deep, restful sleep she had had in many weeks.
When he got to the house, he lifted her from the car, took her inside, placed her on the bed, and realized she wanted to sleep some more. So he placed a cover over her and then just sat by her side and watched her through the midnight hour. And he continued to watch her until the first rays of the sun reached through the curtain and touched her face.
The young woman awoke, and she saw her husband seated by her side. She said, “I seem to have been on a long journey. Where have you been?”
And that man, speaking out of days and weeks and months of patient waiting and watching said, “My sweetheart, I've been right here waiting for you all this time.” (Haddon Robinson, from the sermon "The World's Best Love Story"; www.PreachingToday. com)
That’s the way God waits for you to respond to Him. Haddon Robinson says, “He is waiting for you to respond with love to love, waiting for you to respond with trust to promise, waiting for you to cast yourself with a reckless abandon upon the grace of God, and waiting for you to discover what it means to be loved by God.”
He waits patiently for you. You wait patiently for Him. When life is hard, and it seems like God is unresponsive, just wait patiently for Him to keep His promises to you.
Then hold fast to your hope. Don’t stop believing that God will come through for you. For God not only made a promise; He swore an oath to keep that promise.
Hebrews 6:16-18 For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation. 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, 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. (ESV)
God made a promise and He swore by Himself. So, based on those two unchangeable things, you can be absolutely certain of your ultimate salvation; you can be absolutely certain that you will make it to glory!
You see, this promise to Abraham came years after Abraham had already received His promised son Isaac. In fact, this promise came right after Abraham had nearly sacrificed his son Isaac before God stopped Him.
In response, God says in Genesis 22, “By myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed…” (Genesis 22:16-18)
This is God’s promise of blessing through Abraham’s offspring. And according to Galatians 3:16, that “offspring” is Jesus! Jesus is the One in whom all the nations will be blessed. So, when you “flea for refuge to Him,” God blesses you in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, according to Ephesians 1 (verse 3). That includes the seal of His Spirit, who is the guarantee of your inheritance until you acquire possession of it (Ephesians 1:14).
Dear believer, your salvation is secure, because God secured it with a promise and an oath. So hold fast to the hope set before you (vs.18). Don’t give up on Christ, because He will anchor your soul on a stormy sea as you make your way to heaven.
Hebrews 6:19-20 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 a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. (ESV)
Jesus is the sure and steadfast anchor of your soul, that will never slip or break. Let me tell you: No earthly anchor can give that kind of security! Furthermore, unlike any earthly anchor, Jesus anchors us upward, not downward. Jesus anchors us “behind the curtain” in heaven’s holy of holies, not to this earth. Warren Wiersbe says, “We are anchored, not to stand still, but to move ahead!”
More than that, Jesus is our “forerunner,” verse 20 says. In other words, He has gone into heaven so that we may follow! Warren Wiersbe reminds us that “the Old Testament high priest was not a “forerunner” because nobody could follow him into the holy of holies. But Jesus Christ has gone to heaven so that one day we may follow” (Warren Wiersbe, The Bible exposition commentary, Vol. 2, p. 298. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996).
Your promised inheritance in heaven is secure, so hold fast to your hope! Don’t give up until you reach the mountains of glory!
The movie Alive, with Ethan Hawke, tells the true story of a Uruguayan rugby team, whose plane crashed in the Andes mountains in 1972. The film portrays the struggle of those who survived the crash to maintain hope and stay alive.
Eventually, three of the survivors decide to leave the crash site and attempt to make it through the mountains to get help. After days of trekking through mountainous terrain, they take a break. While one of them rests just below a mountain peak, Canessa makes his way to the top where Nando (played by Ethan Hawke) is surveying the scenery.
Canessa looks around at the stunning beauty of numerous mountain ranges but finds only despair. Take a look (show video clip: Inspirational Scene from Alive 1993)
"Mountains. Nothing but mountains! We've had it. We've completely had it!" Out of breath, he collapses in resignation.
Nando responds, "No, we haven't. Into these mountains somewhere there is a green valley. See the mountains over there? There's no snow on them."
"Those mountains must be 50 miles away. Do you think we can walk 50 miles?" Canessa responds.
"If we have to, we will," says Nando.
Canessa says, "I can't."
"Yes you can."
"I can't. I'm not as strong as you."
Nando walks over to Canessa, kneels beside him, and says: "You know what it is that we've lived this long the way we have? Seventy days. That we climbed these mountains? You know what it is? It's impossible. It's impossible, and we did it. I'm proud to be a man on a day like this. Alive. That I lived to see it. And see it in such a place. Take it in."
He stands up and looks around him. "I love you, man. Look. It's magnificent. It's God. It'll carry us over every stone. I swear. I swear it to you."
Nando turns around to look at Canessa, now standing. They agree to send the third man back to the plane and take his extra food. Nando stands beside Canessa and points. "You see where the sun's going to set. That way's west. Into the west of the green valleys of Chile."
"We're going to die, you know," Canessa insists.
Nando declares, "Maybe. But if we die, we're going to die walking." (Alive, Paramount, 1993, rated R, written by John Patrick Shanley, directed by Frank Marshall, 01:52:40 to 01:55:30; www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJ9V9zUNkdw, www.PreachingToday.com;)
As it turns out, they end up making it to safety and return with rescue helicopters to pick up the remaining survivors. However, it’s only their hope that keeps them going, and it’s only your hope that will keep you going, as well. So, whatever you do, hold fast to your hope!
When it feels like you’re going nowhere in your pain, 1st, put your hope in God’s salvation; 2nd, put your hope in God’s fairness; and 3rd, put your hope in God’s faithfulness. Put your hope in the Lord, because He swears He will carry you every stone until you make it safely home.
