A Better Promise-Keeper

Veterans Day Ariana Rodriguez - 216. 924.0184

Introduction

Last week Sara closed the service with one of my favorite songs - He Will Hold Me Fast. He Will Hold Me Fast is a great song because as we sing it, we teach ourselves some of the sweetest and freeing truths of Scripture.

When I fear my faith will fail - Christ will hold me fast.

When the tempter would prevail - He will hold me fast,

I could never keep my hold through life-s fearful path,

For my love is often cold, He must hold me fast.

The beauty of this song lies in its ability to turn our fears and weaknesses into a deeper trust in Jesus - to move us from despair to devotion.

Where Are We?

To fully grasp our passage today, let’s remember where we are in Hebrews and how this encouragement fits into the flow of the sermon.

Hebrews is like a sermon, building point by point. It starts by showing that Jesus is the better Word—the full and final revelation of God. We’ve seen that He’s greater than angels, greater than Moses, and now, in this current section, Hebrews explores Jesus as the better High Priest. This theme of Jesus’ priesthood runs from chapter 4 all the way through chapter 8.

But right in the middle, in chapters 5 and 6, the author takes a detour to give a serious warning. After introducing the deep topic of Melchizedek, he pauses to address the spiritual maturity of his listeners, expressing concern over their readiness to handle solid teaching.

Hebrews 5:11 (ESV)

11 About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing.

The concern is clear: the listeners aren’t as mature as they should be. They’re still in need of “milk” instead of “solid food,” still learning obedience, and needing discernment. This leads to a sobering warning in chapter 6 about the danger of failing to go on to maturity—a failure that could result in falling away from the living God.

But the sermon doesn’t end there. Like the song “He Will Hold Me Fast,” Hebrews 6:13-20 offers a counterbalance to our fears, giving us the assurance that our perseverance doesn’t rest on our strength but on God’s unbreakable promises.

I’d like to read beginning in verse 9 to give us the context.

Hebrews 6:9–20 ESV

9 Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things—things that belong to salvation. 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. 11 And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, 12 so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. 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. 16 For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation. 17 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, 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. 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.

I see 4 major sections in this text - the first is…

The Encouragement of a Pastor Who Cares (vv. 11-12)

Hebrews 6:11–12 ESV

11 And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, 12 so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

This section begins in verse 11 where the heart of the author for these people really shines through. He has just said some VERY hard things to hear - warnings about falling away from Christ that end in eternal damnation. And he recognizes that these warnings—necessary as they are—might unnerve some

But, as I have said before, the aim of Hebrews is to keep us on the narrow road that leads to life eternal.

And I so deeply appreciate the way that Hebrews seems to bounce us back and forth between extraordinary comfort in the finished work of Christ and the personal responsibility to persevere - to avoid drifting - to ensure that we’re paying the closest attention to Jesus.

The author of Hebrews helps us to more fully understand our responsibility and God’s sovereignty - and this is vital to a fruitful Christian life.

There are two ditches on the narrow road to life. Two extremes into which one might fall.

One ditch—one one extreme is the do more, try harder ditch

This is the idea that God is waiting for you to get your life together, make better choices, and do more stuff for him because, well, you’re quite capable! This view minimizes the the sovereignty of God and the power of the Spirit working in and through us to help us obey and honor God.

On the other side, there is a second ditch that we’ll call the “let go and let God” ditch.

This is a view that puts important emphasis on the sovereignty of God and the power of the Spirit, but diminishes the the importance of human responsibility in the process of obedience and growth. I can just go through life and God will do what he will do because he’s God and I don’t really have any say or part in any of it.

Hebrews cuts down the middle and actually helps us see the biblical way forward on the narrow road - trusting deeply in the sovereignty of God, the finished work of Jesus, and the Holy Spirit at work in us IN ORDER TO DO WHAT GOD COMMANDS US TO DO.

Here are a few verses that help us see this partnership that God invites us into.

Philippians 2:12–13 ESV

12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

I think the closing of Hebrews actually sums up the idea well..

Hebrews 13:20–21 (ESV)

20 Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, 21 equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

When we view Hebrews through this lens, we realize that the author is a pastor who cares about the eternal destination of God’s people. And so, he uses strong language and warnings about the importance of our obedience and he constantly grounds them in the all-powerful, all-sufficient work of Jesus Christ.

The Encouragement of a Pastor Who Cares (vv. 11-12)

The Patience of a Man Who Believes (v. 15)

Hebrews 6:13–14 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.”

Hebrews 6:15 (ESV)

15 And thus Abraham, having patiently waited, obtained the promise.

This story of God’s promise to Abraham begins in chapter 12 of Genesis. God promises Abraham that...

he is going to have a family that will bless the whole world.

that family will be given a specific land in which to live

he, Abraham himself will be blessed.

At this point, Abraham is 75 years old - Genesis 12:4 tells us this.

And a year passes

And another year passes

And a decade passes - none of the promises have been fulfilled.

And in Genesis 15, we encounter another conversation between Abraham and God where Abraham says, ‘ummmm....I’m still without a child and this foreigner who works for me is going to be my heir.

Genesis 15:5–6 ESV

5 And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” 6 And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.

And another year passes

And another year passes

And another decade passes

And five more years after that.

It takes 25 years between God’s initial promise and the birth of Isaac, Abraham and Sarah’s first son, Isaac.

And the author of Hebrews is calling you and me to show that kind of patience - that kind of faith.

…be imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promise.

And if we read that story and hear that challenge, we’re likely to experience 1 of two things:

We fall into the do-more try harder ditch - attempting to work as hard as we possibly can to make sure that we inherit the promise of eternal life.

We fall into the let-go, let God ditch and spend little time focusing on our obedience because God will just take care of it all.

But I think there’s a better way- the narrow and difficult road of trusting deeply in the sovereignty of God, the finished work of Jesus, and the Holy Spirit at work in us IN ORDER TO DO WHAT GOD COMMANDS US TO DO.

Transition

Now, if you’ve ever read through Genesis, you might be thinking - pastor Joe, you know and I know that that’s not the whole story!! You skipped over a few dicey parts of the story where Abraham was anything but patient and faith-filled. So, it’s interesting that God uses him as an example.

You see, what I didn’t yet share, that many of you might know already - is that Abraham was not perfectly, patiently, faithfully waiting all of those years. And this actually ought to be a comfort to us!! Abraham is used as an example to follow and he messes up on multiple occassions. We’re intended to see that this is not mainly about Abraham, but about Abrahama’s God.

There are a few stories - one in each of those decades of waiting - that tell a different story.

The first story comes in Genesis chapter 12. God makes those big promises to Abraham and he sets out on his journey and (we don’t know how long, but somewhere within the first ten years) he and his wife go to Egypt because there is a famine. To make a long story short, he pulls his wife into a lie and instead of protecting her, he lets her be taken to the King of Egypt as a special sleepover friend.

But God intervenes and sends plagues on Pharaoh’s house, and they leave alive.

Doesn’t sound very patient and faithful to me. Sounds like a knucklehead!

Then, following God’s confirmation of his promise in Genesis 15, we enter into the second decade a waiting when his wife decides that since she hasn’t had any kids yet, maybe Abraham should sleep with the maid. And he agrees and conceives a child with her.

Doesn’t sound like someone we should imitate as the great example of faith and patience.

THEN - if it can’t get any worse, God appears to Abraham when he’s 99 and says again - I’m going to fulfill this promise - and what do you think Abraham does?

Genesis 17:17 ESV

17 Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, “Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?”

Is this the example that we’re supposed to follow of faith and patience?!!

The point is not that Abraham gets it perfectly right all of the time, but that even when he fails short, God is still in the business of keeping his promises!! God purposes to empower and guide Abraham and keep his promises.

This leads us to the third section we see in this text:

The Encouragement of a Pastor Who Cares (vv. 11-12)

The Patience of a Man Who Believes (v. 15)

The Oath of a Promise-Keeping God (vv. 13-14; 16-18)

Having read verses 11-12—hearing the author encourage us to show earnestness to reach full assurance - not be sluggish, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherited the promise—one would think he would say - like Abraham - who patiently waited and obtained the promise.

But that’s not what happens. I jumped ahead to 15, but 13-14 is actually a great encouragement Instead of taking the route that would be rhetorically natural, we hear something else.

Hebrews 6:13–14 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.”

This reminder of God’s promise is found in Genesis 22 after Abraham’s son, Isaac is born. In order to test Abraham’s faith, God calls him to go and use his son as a sacrifice. Abraham intends to obey, but God graciously stops him and provides an animal sacrifice. And God, again, tells Abraham that he will keep his promise of…

a family that will bless the whole world.

that family will be given a specific land in which to live

he, Abraham himself will be blessed.

But this time, he not only promises, but he makes an oath with Abraham.

Genesis 22:15–18 ESV

And the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven and said, “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, because you have obeyed my voice.”

When we begin to think about the nature of oaths, this action of God begins to grow increasingly odd. Look at what the author of Hebrews says

Hebrews 6:13–16 ESV

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.

We don’t often use the word “oath”, but we know the idea. I swear on my mother’s grave. I swear on God - I swear by…fil-in-the-blank.

The idea of an oath is to bring someone or something into the conversation that is more important or more valuable as a way to underscore the truthfulness of a statement.

But here, in Hebrews, we’re reminded that there is no one bigger, no one greater, no one more truthful that God. God need need swear by himself. His promises ought to be enough. His promises are sure - he’s God after all. But God swears by himself.

Why??!!

Hebrews 6:17–18 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, 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.

The author tells us about 2 unchangable things. He’s referring to:

The unchangableness of his purpose

His oath promise

We don’t need TWO unchangeable things!!

the unchangeable purpose of God should be enough

We don’t need him to add an oath to it.

God doesn’t have to swear by anything or anyone. But he knows us - and he knows that, just like Abraham, we gets antsy - we get impatient - we lack faith - we falter and fail and try to do things our own way. And instead of berating us, he actually condescends by swearing a completely unnecessary oath in order to comfort us as we wait.

The early church father, John Chrysostom says:

“He regardeth not His own dignity, but how He may persuade men, and endures to have unworthy things said concerning Himself”

Illustration

Maybe you’ve had a child who is afraid of something being under the bed or in the closet. And you assure them, there is nothing under your bed - there is nothing in the closet. And they ask - would you check?

You don’t need to. You could just say something like, “no, I promise you, there’s nothing there - no go to sleep.”

But you do - to add double assurance and comfort.

His precious promises should be enough for us, but he goes the extra mile - so that BY TWO unchangable things - those of us who have fled for refuge in God might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us.

The Encouragement of a Pastor Who Cares (vv. 11-12)

The Patience of a Man Who Believes (v. 15)

The Oath of a Promise-Keeping God (vv. 13-14; 16-18)

The Sure Anchor of those seeking full assurance (vv. 19–20)

All of this history

ALL of this talk about Abraham and God’s promises and oaths

Is not only true for Abraham and all of those who were beneficiaries of the 3-fold promise of land, family, and blessing, but to ALL of us who have run to God to find refuge in God can be confident that we will FIND it - not only now, but more importantly - for eternity.

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.

Now, if we read this text alone, we can be prone to despair because it says that “we need strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us.” And as we’ve talked about - holding on for ourselves can be an exhausting, demoralizing, difficult journey if we have to do it ourselves. But keep reading.

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.

The word picture is interesting - an anchor behind a curtain. What is being said here?

You may recall from the book of Exodus, there was a section called the most holy place - where the presence of God dwelt and where one time a year the high priest would go and offer sacrifices. This area was blocked by a large curtain - it separated the heavenly from the earthy. God from man.

When Jesus breathed his last and died on the cross, that curtain was torn in two - indicating that because of the once-for-all sacrifice of Jesus, personal relationship with God was now possible.

The author again pulls from the old testament as as an illustration for the barrier between earth and heaven. You’re not getting into heaven on your own merits. You and I need someone to get us there - to bring us there - to provide a way there. And that person is Jesus Christ.

I’m hesitant to quote long portions of books or commentaries, but this is so good, I just have to. This is from Richard Phillips - a pastor of South Carolina.

“Anchors are clear and familiar image of security, Yet there is something special about this anchor in Hebrews 6:19. Every other anchor goes down into the sea , but this one goes up to heaven. The anchor of a ship goes down beneath the waves to a place unseen to hold us secure, but this anchor of our hope goes up to a place where, by faith, we can see, “into the inner place behind the curtain.”

What a powerful portrayal of Christian hope, which is like no other hope in this world. For others, hope is mere wishing; It is wanting but not having. and the failure of mere wishful thinking leads so many people into the despair of depression. Christians, too, want many things. We want blessing, we want peace, we want security, and we want heaven. But unlike the hope of the world, which goes nowhere and has no anchor, our hope in Christ goes before us into heaven, where it is anchored in the unchanging character of God and the oath he has sworn. our hope goes where we cannot yet go ourselves. It goes into heaven, where Christ is now. and there he sets the anchor of our hope with his own pierced hand, so that our hope of salvation is attached by the finished work of Christ to the Secure Foundation of the unchangeable character of God.”

Our hope of enduring in the faith.

Our hope of making it home to heaven.

Our hope of avoiding the pitfalls of temptation

Our hope of entering the eternal rest that God has for us is not left to our weak ability to hold on to Jesus.

Rather, we have a sure and steadfast anchor for our souls. Not a God who reneges on his promises, but one who purchased the assurance of your endurance with his very own life.

If you have trusted Jesus to be the leader and forgiver of your life, you can grow in your earnestness to have full assurance through obedience BEACAUSE You belong to a promise-keeping God who will hold you fast.

When I fear my faith will fail.....

John 10:27–30 (ESV)

27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. 30 I and the Father are one.”

When the tempter would prevail....

English Standard Version Chapter 1

24 Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, 25 to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever.

I could never keep my hold, through life’s fearful path, for my love is often cold...

Romans 8:38–39 ESV

38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

He’ll not let my soul be lost - his promises shall last.

Bought by him at such a cost - he will hold me fast!!