Title: Full Assurance of Hope
Text: Hebrews 6: 11
Date: November 30, 2014
Place: SGBC, New Jersey
Last week, we began by looking at one of
three passages which speaks of the believers assurance. Last time, we focused
on the “Full Assurance of Understanding.”
This time our subject is “Full
Assurance of Hope.”
The writer had spoken that they had much to
say about Christ. But the people were dull of hearing. Then he digressed to another subject. Then he comes back in verse 9 saying that he is
persuaded they are true believers.
Hebrews 6: 9: But,
beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany
salvation, though we thus speak.10: For God is not unrighteous to forget your
work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have
ministered to the saints, and do minister. 11: And we desire that every one of
you do shew the same diligence to the FULL ASSURANCE OF HOPE unto the end:
He is not saying that by ministering to the saints they
will come to a full assurance of hope.
But he is saying that he desired they show the same diligence that they
showed in ministering to the saints toward the full assurance of hope. They are saying they desire they show the
same diligence toward Christ.
Hebrews 6: 12: That
ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience
inherit the promises. 13: For when God made promise to Abraham, because he
could swear by no greater, he sware by himself, 14: Saying, Surely blessing I
will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee. 15: And so, after he had
patiently endured, he obtained the promise. 16: For men verily swear by the
greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife. 17:
Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the
immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath: 18: That by two
immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might
have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope
set before us: 19: Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both
sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; 20: Whither
the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for
ever after the order of Melchisedec.
Hope is an earnest desire for an object, accompanied with
the expectation of obtaining it. The believer’s hope is Christ, to be with
Christ in glory in perfect righteousness. The assurance of our hope is Christ
in whom God’s covenant-promise is sure to every believer.
GOD GIVES US A SURE HOPE
First, we have an example of God giving
believers a sure hope, “When God made promise to Abraham, because he could
swear by no greater, he sware by himself, Saying, Surely blessing I will bless
thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee.” (Heb 6: 13-14)
Abraham is given as the example because Abraham is the
father of all believers. Every believer
has a part in the same promise which God made to our father Abraham. In fact,
every believer is the promise God made to Abraham.
One, God promised to multiply Abraham’s “seed”, “And
said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this
thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: That in blessing I
will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of
the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore.” (Gen 22:
16-17) Each of God’s elect, each one that Christ redeemed, and each one
regenerated by God the Holy Spirit is Abraham’s seed. (Gen 22: 16-17)
Romans
9: 6: Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are
not all Israel, which are of Israel: 7: Neither, because they are the seed of
Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called.
8: That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the
children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.
Ishmael was not a child of promise. He was a
child of the bondwoman, a child of Abraham’s works, God demanded he be cast
out. Isaac was the child God promised, the child God produced. “In Isaac shall
they seed be called.” Esau was not. Jacob
was a child of promise, “that the purpose of God according to election might
stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;) It was said unto her, The elder
shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I
hated…So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of
God that sheweth mercy. (rom 9: 11-13, 16) God promised, “I will multiply thy
seed.” Those chosen of God, redeemed by God, regenerated by God, these are the
children of promise.
Two, God promised Christ would prevail over all his
enemies and thus the heirs of promise would prevail in Christ, “and thy seed
shall possess the gate of his enemies.” (Gen 22: 17)
Galatians
3: 16: Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to
seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.
So you see, every believer has a part in the promise
which God made to our father Abraham. When brings forth a believer, it is
Christ himself fulfilling his promise to Abraham, possessing the gate of his
enemies
PROMISE WITH AN
OATH
Next notice, when God entered covenant with Abraham, God
did two things. One, God gave a promise
to Abraham, “when God made promise to Abraham.” (Heb 6: 13) Two, God also made
an oath to Abraham, “when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear
by no greater, he sware by himself, Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee,
and multiplying I will multiply thee.” (Heb 6: 13-14) God could swear by no
greater so he swear by himself. God laid
himself under double obligation.
“And so, after [Abraham] had patiently endured, he
obtained the promise.” (Heb 6: 15) Abraham
believed God “quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which [have no
existence, into existence]”, therefore, he was “fully persuaded that, what he
had promised, he was able also to perform.” (Rom 4: 17, 21)
OATH FOR
CONFIRMATION
Next, God will have you who believe to understand why he
added his oath to his promise to Abraham.
So he gives an earthly example between men, showing why God added an
oath to his promise, “For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for
confirmation is to them an end of all strife.” (Heb 6: 16)
When we make an oath, we swear by the greater. For instance, if we are testifying in a court
of law, we make an oath that before God, we promise to tell the truth. When a
man goes under oath before God then it is confirmation
to us that he is telling the truth. It is our assurance. Therefore, having this
confirmation, it is assurance, so it ends all strife or dispute.
That was the reason God added his oath to his promise to
Abraham. It was for you who are the heirs of promise, “Wherein God, willing
more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his
counsel, confirmed it by an
oath.” (Heb 6: 17)
In the beginning, way back there when God made promise to
Abraham, God went above what was necessary, for “the heirs of promise.” God was
promising to give Abraham heirs. They are God’s elect, they are heirs of God
and joint-heirs with Christ; they are you who believe by God’s grace. Yet, in
God’s promise to give Abraham heirs, God gave the heirs ourselves—more abundant
assurance—by the way in which he made his promise to Abraham. Be sure to get
this, God made the promise to Abraham, in the way he did, for you and I who God
has created by his blood, by his Spirit, by his grace and given faith to
believe.
What was God willing to show us? “Wherein God, willing
more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his
counsel, confirmed it by an
oath: That by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to
lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold
upon the Hope set before us.” (Heb 6: 17-18)
God was showing us the immutability of his counsel. So
God made his promise. Then God confirmed
his promise with an oath, swearing by himself, because he could swear by no
greater. In both of which, it is impossible for God to lie. Now, God’s counsel
by itself, his decree by itself, is immutable, unchangeable. “God is not a man,
that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he
said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?”
(Nu 23: 19) God declares “the end from
the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet
done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure.” (Is 46:
10) Brethren, it should be confirmation enough to end all our doubts when God
makes his purpose known in our hearts. Yet,
God went above and beyond that, God “confirmed it by an oath.”
CHRIST OUR SURETY
When God swore by himself, God made Christ his Son, Surety
for his people. It was when Abraham
offered up his only son, Isaac, that Christ made this promise and oath to
Abraham. And it was Christ who said, “Surely
blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee.”
This was also immutable. And we see it at the cross. Abraham
typified God the Father. Just as Abraham
believed, “God provided himself a Lamb.” And because the promise was in Christ,
God spared not his Son, “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up
for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” (Rom 8:
32)
All those for whom God delivered up his Son
shall be given all God’s blessing freely, along with Christ. We are joint-heirs
with Christ. Everything God gave his
Son, God also freely gives all those for whom Christ died. We are given free
justification, free redemption, free sanctification, free regeneration, free
preservation, free resurrection, and free glorification.
Therefore, believer, you who are God’s promised seed, in
Christ the promised Seed, have “two immutable things in which it was
impossible for God to lie, [so that] we might have a strong consolation, who
have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the Hope set before us.”
CHRIST OUR HOPE
Thirdly, who is this strong consolation? This hope we have fled to and laid hold of
for refuge is Christ Jesus our Surety and Savior.
Our Hope and Expectation dwells within us as an anchor of
the soul, “Christ in you the hope of glory.” (Col 1: 27) And our Hope is at
God’s right hand, “Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both
sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; Whither the
Forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever
after the order of Melchisedec.” (Heb 6: 19-20)
Christ is our Strong Consolation, “For as the sufferings
of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ…And our
hope of you is stedfast, knowing, that as ye are partakers of the
sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation.” (2 Cor 1: 5, 7) We
are sure of the promises of God in Christ, “For all the promises of God in him are
yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.” (2 Cor 1: 20) When we have Christ
as our Surety, as the Assurance of our Hope, then Christ is the end of all
strife. Our hope is sure and stedfast.
So Christ is our Hope, the anchor of our soul, both sure
and stedfast, and he is our Hope that has entered within the veil. The Psalmist said, “Why art thou cast down, O
my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall
yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.” (Ps
42: 11) “My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from
him.” (Ps 62: 5)
So we to whom God has made his everlasting covenant have Hope
that we will be with Christ in glory in perfect righteousness and Christ is the
Assurance that we shall have our Hope. This
hope is by God’s everlasting counsel made double sure in Christ our Surety by
whom God has sworn unto every chosen child. God covenanted by himself in
Christ, making Christ our Surety, our Guarantor that he will bring us to
himself in perfect righteousness.
Even better, Christ our Hope, as our Forerunner, has
already entered within the veil into God’s presence as our High Priest after
the order of Melchesidec. We cannot have a more sure hope than Christ dwelling
in our hearts and seated at God’s right hand. “Happy is he that hath the God of
Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the LORD his God.” (Ps 146: 5) “Blessed is
the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is.” (Jer 17: 7)
Christ is the Full Assurance of Hope. Be diligent toward Christ do so unto the end
of your life on this earth. Just as you go to Christ for the full assurance of
understanding, go to Christ for the full Assurance of Hope. He is the one for whom we Hope and the
Assurance that we shall certainly have that for which we hope. We will not find
our assurance looking anywhere else but within the veil to Christ.
Amen!