I invite you to turn this morning in the scriptures to the book of Hebrews as we're making our way through this book and writing about the hardened center of the book and we are transitioning now to study the priesthood. This is a transition section that leads us into next time understanding the priestly order of Melchizedek. So this will be had many of you come to me and say I look forward to understanding that more. So this is Hebrews 6, 13 through 20 today. We'll back up and begin at verse 11. Text is 13 through 20. 1190 is the page in your Bibles. This is the word of the Lord. Beginning at verse 11, we're reading today of Hebrews 6. 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. 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. 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. 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 and there will end the reading of God's word well last week we probably studied one of the most challenging passages in all the scriptures and many of you recognize that walking out the door we're thankful to have a good understanding of that passage because of how challenging that particular text is and that was the great this has been the great concern of the author of hebrews in this book the great concern of apostasy from the faith in light of his concerns he was giving direction to the church in jerusalem helping these hebrew christians He wanted them to consider the path or the trajectory that they were on was a path of regression. And so he essentially said, do you understand what would be the worst possible outcome in a path like that? What is the worst possible outcome to drifting, to apathy, to hardening the heart, to God's word? It's a path that is headed toward apostasy. you don't want to play around with the faith and you don't want to play around with the church it's a deadly thing to not believe and play with this so he wanted to keep them from that that was the goal of this wasn't it that terrible scenario of heading toward apostasy from jesus walking away from the faith knowing the truth denying the faith and as we looked at last time which ends up in blaspheming the Holy Spirit when they had tasted the goodness of God's Word. That's not an easy passage to work through, was it? Well, it's as if he turns now and presents the best possible scenario from that awful scenario. And in that way today, I want to encourage you because that's the intention of the author here is to provide after that great warning the greatest encouragement that comes in the scriptures that God could give us in our wilderness walk with so much hardship. And the very structure, I think, of this passage illustrates the very truth that the author wants to communicate. What I mean is, endurance and listening to the voice of Jesus has a blessing attached to that. When God tests us with hard passages, what have we seen in the parable of the sower? Well, some just say, that's it, I'm out. They harden their hearts to it and they walk away from it. And they didn't even give time to listen to the good word that typically follows. And what the author now does is call us to steadfast endurance. For one great reason. Because God's word of promise is absolutely reliable. And he will give us salvation. It is absolutely reliable what he's spoken to you. Now how do we know that? How do we believe that? How do we understand that? And that's exactly what the author is explaining for us now. And I hope you see how wonderfully it is when the gospels preach to you that you would be inspired to this great theme that is in the book of Hebrews. patient endurance in opposition hardship and difficulty patient endurance steadfastness of faith which is the exact opposite of what he was concerned about that they were drifting so last week we ended with a call that we should imitate those among us who've demonstrated this those who have through patient endurance inherited the promises you know i just got a call this morning and a message this morning one of my own old parishioners one of my dear old parishioners he was a long elder such a faithful saint up in linden and he died this morning and i thought what a great example of patient endurance through a lot of hardship patient endurance and inheriting the promises well i singled out a member here last time and i probably shouldn't have done that she told me i shouldn't have done that but it was a good thing to do to make my point but at this point he takes us to the prototype in the scripture the prototype example of patient endurance and the promises that we should imitate and of all people that he could have chosen to say, who in the Old Testament do I want you to think about and do I want you to imitate? Who is it? It's not Moses. It's Abraham. It's Abraham. My first point today is to consider the example of Abraham and imitate it. That's what he says in verse 11. where he says that you may have full assurance of hope so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who, through faith and patience, inherit the promises. That's Abraham. That's why he breaks out in verse 13, speaking of Abraham. So here we are, as he begins, this is where he goes, For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, He swore by himself. And I'm going to come back to the oath here because that's a huge point in this section. But I want to take a moment to consider Abraham. Many of you have said, I hope sometime you go back and preach Genesis because those stories are, again, because those stories are so wonderful to see the real life of faith captured for us in the scriptures, even before the giving of the law, to teach us something about faith and God's goodness and grace to us. What we see from Abraham, if you sort of snapshot his life, is a life of great struggle. And it's hard for New Testament preachers and pastors to sort of capture the life of Abraham. How do we do that faithfully and what is it showing us? It's showing us a mixture of real struggle and failure and faith. You'll remember that God had called Abraham out of Ur of the Chaldeans, didn't he? And to a land that he would prepare for him. And right from the beginning, God made a word of promise. He spoke seven promises right in Genesis chapter 12 when he said, Now the Lord said to Abraham, Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation. And I will bless you and make your name great so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you. And him who dishonors you, I will curse. And in you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. It's going to be like the stars in the heavens. Your multitude is going to be like the sand on the seashore that I'm promising to you. God had promised him two things, remember? land, which was a type of the heavenly land that's promised to us that he looked for, and a seed, a people. All the nations of the earth would be blessed. But the whole way, how does it go for Abram? It was tough. You'll remember when things got hard in the very first chapter after this great call, he runs away and throws away both of these things. he threw away the land he rose down to pharaoh because there was a famine and then he threw away seed he gave his wife into pharaoh's arms i don't see how anyone could think that was a positive thing you know we face what are they saying we're having massive food shortages right now and Everyone's starting to panic worldwide. Life's tough. A lot of things come. Abraham ran. And Abraham, out of fear, ended up giving away his wife. What did God do? He went and got her. And he sent her right back to the land. Well, this happened twice, remember, with Abimelech. God, every time Abraham fell, God came back and encouraged him. Every single time. It's overwhelming, really, when you study Genesis. In chapter 15, after he was worn out after the war with Ketalaomer, and he comes back, first thing God says to him, Fear not, Abraham. I don't want you living in fear. I am your shield and your reward and you will be very great. What a promise. I've determined that. And then God established a covenant to encourage him. And he said, I want you to know, Abraham, remember that night when he was justified and the Lord passed through the pieces and Abraham was asleep to cut the covenant? He established a covenant as they knew and he put the animals in rows and the Lord an awesome display of walking through, passing through the pieces, cut the covenant and said he would be faithful, made a promise again. And in the next scene, Abraham goes and he tries to obtain the promise with another woman. Hagar makes a giant mess. A lot of abuse. It seemed like the promise would never come. This was a long walk for Abraham. Wife, what, 90 at one point? Him, 100? No promise. No evidence of the promise. No evidence. This continued walk. This continued walk that never seems, God seems to come good and make good on any of it. Comes back, the Lord, after that mess. Chapter 17, establishes a covenant and says, I'll tell you what, I'm going to even include your children in my covenant that's for an everlasting covenant that's why this happened today by the way i am your god i am god almighty abraham chapter 17 walk before me and be blameless that i may make my covenant between me and you and may multiply you greatly then abraham fell on his face god said behold my covenant is with you you shall be a father of multitudes of nations see notice he keeps saying it no longer shall your name be called abram but your name shall be called abraham even changed his name in promise for i have made you the father of the multitude of nations i will make you exceedingly fruitful and i will make you into nations and kings shall come from you and i'll establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant to be god to you and to your offspring after you what a God. Failure, promise. Failure, promise. Encouragement. Struggle, promise. But Abraham was slow to believe. Slow to trust. Any of you have that problem? So God puts him through a big test. It was the most painful and trying one of his life. It had to do with his child, the child of promise. It would require absolute trust. Abraham, I want you to take your son, notice this language, your only son whom you love, and you go up to Mount Moriah and you offer him as a burnt offering. What do you see from Abraham at that moment? He did it, finally. He put wood on his son Isaac's back. He went to Moriah. Dad, what are you doing? There's no sacrifice here. Dad, what father here would do this? What if God commanded it? Sets him on. Grabs the knife. Takes fire. Because he concluded in his mind, if God has me to do this, he'll raise him from the dead. Abraham, stop. Stop. I'm not requiring that of you. Look over there. There's a ram. God didn't do that. Instead, he would give his son in the fullness of time so our sons would not face the wrath of God and daughters. See, what does that tell us? What's God saying to us through that long, brief history of Abraham and the struggle and the unbelief at times and the hardness of life and how slow this all was, how slow it seemed God was of doing anything? Well, it's through the tests that God is putting us through that he creates strong faith. A lot of people are generally dull to the promises. This is what we're dealing with in Hebrews. They're drifting, and their attitudes just aren't good to the church, to the kingdom of God, to the word. This is just the struggle in Christian ministry. And they hardened their hearts, and that was Abraham. And what did God do for him? He tried him, and he tested him. Remember how Genesis 22 began? After these things, God tested Abraham and said to him, Abraham, here I am. Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offer. He tested him. All these things that come upon us that are really hard are tests. Why? Why? Have you forgotten, says Hebrews, the exhortation that addresses you as sons? my son don't regard lightly the discipline of the lord no be weary when you're reproved by him the lord disciplines the one he loves and chases every son whom he receives it is for discipline that you have to endure god is treating you as sons there's discipline in testing this is this is the christian life because of this great problem that hebrews has been showing us and it's a real problem but here's the point perseverance comes through trial perseverance comes through testing patient endurance and learning to trust god comes through a long process of what is often hardship in this life and and that's why the author will go on in chapter 12 and say listen for the moment all discipline seems painful All tasks seem painful rather than pleasant. But later, it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who've been trained by it. Therefore, lift up your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees and make straight paths for your feet. Get up. I've all got good planned here. This is how we learn to trust God. Don't you understand? This is how you learn to trust God. And often the test will strike right with our children. This is how we're matured in the faith. But do you see their problem? In the test, what's happening to these Hebrew Christians? They want to turn back to Moses. they don't understand that the hardships in life are precisely designed that we would rely on him. And he wants us to look at Abraham and he wants us to study the long struggle of this father of our faith and look at the progress. There's progress in this man. It's wonderful progress. What seems slow. God seems so slow to do anything. God seems slow with our children. God seems slow to give us the promise. And Abraham patiently endured. That's the message. And imitate it. But he wants us to know that in these trials and hardships, he constantly comes with a word of encouragement to us. That's what's so amazing about the gospel. That's what's so amazing about preaching. Great thing God did. I want you to now see the encouragement he gives you. Life is hard. Some of you struggle with where God has you and what you've been put through. Look what it produced in Abraham. Against all odds, he believed, and then God comes and encouraged him. How? How so? Here's the best part today of the message. I think. Maybe you won't, but I think. Right after God told Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, God said to Abraham, I know that you fear me. Everyone look at verse 13 of Hebrews now, 6. The author grabs Genesis 22 right after this event. Abraham, surely I will bless you and multiply, I will multiply you. Now that's the promise that he keeps rehearsing all the way back since chapter 12 of Genesis. What's different? God did something absolutely remarkable at this moment. God took an oath. Notice what it says. And this is, let me read Genesis 22 so you hear it. And you can look at Genesis, I mean of Hebrews 6 verse 13 and 14 as I read Genesis. By myself, I have sworn, this is right after the event with Isaac, declares the Lord, because you've 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 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 because you've obeyed my voice. I swore an oath whoa when God made a promise to Abraham right after the greatest test of his life he takes an oath you know how serious oaths are in the Bible I mean we joke around about oaths today I think we say stupid things like I swear on my mother's grave what does that even mean when you take an oath in the bible you can see the seriousness of this when jesus addressed it with the pharisees a solemn attestation of a truth and that it is a inviolability of one's words that the witnesses are called to take oaths or told to take them in court and and if they took a false oath and lied whatever the judgment was fell right on them it was a serious matter with God. Do you know why? The author here wants you to consider this. We take oaths and we will swear to fulfill our oath based on something greater than us. So put our hand on the Bible, which is not a smart thing to do, really, if you lie. We swear, we have contracts, we We have oaths, kind of like a contract. And whatever is the authority above us has the absolute authority to punish us according to the terms if that oath is not kept. The author is overwhelmed by this. Do you know why? There's no one greater than God. Well, the author is saying, he swore something. And on top of the promise, took an oath that he would do this, what that means is the oath is bound up with his character. And he is so true and righteous that he cannot lie. It's impossible for God to lie. He's the total just one. So what happened? To Abraham, God took an oath that after this huge test in his life, to absolutely assure Abraham he would give him what he promised and salvation and every good thing that he said he would give them in his word that he promised. What an encouragement. Verse 16. 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, what is that? Promise and oath. The promise and I attached an oath to it. Two unchangeable things in which it's impossible for God to lie. We who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope that is set before us. Here's what struck me as I was working through this this week. He's not talking about Abraham now. He's talking about you since you're the fulfillment of the promise to Abraham and you all the nations would be blessed. Here we are. We're here. Do you know how God's encouraged you today? In all your hardship and in the tests that he puts you through and probably the big, big, big tests? He wants you to be absolutely sure about his promises. That's what he cares about. He wants you to know he's not slow in giving you the promise. There's a greater purpose here. He's saving to the ends of the earth. But he's saying to you, I can't lie. So you know what I've done for you? Since it's absolutely impossible for me to lie, I've put my character on the line. Because my promise is bound up with my character in all your struggles, do you know what I've done? What you just studied in Genesis was all a type and a shadow for you. What do you mean? To make you more convinced of his promises. Because you're the heirs, promised Abraham. Of his unchangeable purpose, God's immutable. His word does not change. He guaranteed it with an oath. When? You are my son. Today I have begotten you. Ask of me and I'll give the nations for your inheritance and the ends of the earth for your possession. The Lord has sworn and will not relent. You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. Who's he talking about? Jesus. He swore. Jesus is your high priest forever. And he's atoned for your sins. The oath has been sworn. The promises are given everywhere that you are the people that belong to Jesus which all that foreshadowed with Abraham so that he's your high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek which we now get to study God wanting to show you the heirs of his promise by the immutability of his counsel confirmed by an oath two immutable things promise and oath gives you all these promises took the oath Psalm 110 in the eternal counsel it's impossible for him to lie he gave you his son he has been given the nations for his inheritance and he is your high priest forever, I swear. That what reason? You might have strong consolation today. Peace. Who have fled to Jesus for refuge in the hope that's set before you. You see, when you have Christ and you believe in him through all these difficulties, as he tries and tests you, he's not letting you drift. He's not letting you harden your hearts in these trials. He wants you to run to him for refuge. And he has sworn that your salvation is certain in him. See, that gives us the greatest confidence in all this struggle to stand up to opposition as Abraham did. And he concludes today by saying, this hope is certain. We have 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 to become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. He's back to the nautical metaphors. What he's saying is that just like those big anchors would dig with their teeth into the bottom of the ocean floor and dig in there and hold that ship so that it can't go anywhere. That's what Jesus is doing for you. He's your anchor. He's your hope. This ministry to you is given by promise and oath. Two immutable things, beloved, so that you don't lose heart in the struggle and that you don't give up. And what that means is you can look at everything differently now, then, everything. In this pilgrimage, whatever he tests you with has a purpose of making you trust. And he is standing ready to firmly anchor you in Christ, his son. Does the Bible teach the perseverance of the saints? Right here. If God could lie, there'd be no perseverance, but God can't lie. So you have nothing to fear. The promise is certain today. See, I told you, the best things come to those who wait. After warning of the ugly reality of apostasy, he came right back to you and said, as with Abraham, I've sworn there's not a good thing that I'll fail to give you. And I took an oath to assure you. I close with this thought. Remember when the Lord came to Solomon and said, ask whatever you want me to give you. What would you ask? Solomon asked for wisdom to discern what's right and wrong. The Lord was really happy with that because he said, you didn't ask for money. Didn't ask for long life. You didn't ask for the head of your enemies. You got it. Well, I don't know if that question were ever asked and God would say, ask whatever you want me to give you. Wouldn't the most blessed thing be absolute assurance that he loves you and that you'll be in glory with him forever? It's a pretty good thing to ask. You didn't even have to ask. He already did it. Do you believe him? Psalmist says, why are you downcast, O my soul? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, the help of my countenance and my God. When we have Christ, we have everything. Trust him and imitate Father Abraham, who through patient endurance inherited the promises, all confirmed by an oath. Let's pray. Lord, we praise you today and thank you for such a marvelous text and ask that we would live in full assurance of faith and would be kept from this awful path of drifting, hardening our hearts with an apathetic attitude to your church and your word. Thank you for giving us strong peace today, strong consolation. And may your people be greatly comforted of your love and your promises to us. Thank you for being so faithful. We praise the name of the Lord for doing the unimaginable for us. What more could we ask for? In Jesus' name, amen.