January 10 2021 Worship Service

Life is, in so many respects, a quest for security and certainty. We organize our lives to have a sense that we are in control and know what is going to happen. We find comfort in routine because of the sense of stability it provides. But the chaos and disorder of the world intrudes on our security. A change in our health, natural disasters, political or economic changes, tragedies, etc. disrupt our carefully ordered lives and remind us that we are not in control.

This morning’s Bible passage points us to the only real source of security and assurance we have in this world. Vs. 19 describes it : “We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul...” That’s what we long for — to have anchored souls, to have the very core of our being “attached” to something stable, secure, safe, and certain.

What is the anchor of the soul? It isn’t the government. It isn’t education. It’s not the internet or social media, or any of the other worldly things we rely upon. It isn’t the performance of certain religious rituals. These are all things we turn to because they make us feel in control. But it is an illusion.

In all of creation, there is only one real source of security. It says on this page of the Bible that hope in Christ rooted in God’s faithfulness to His word is the anchor of the soul.

That being true, it is vital that we understand God’s faithfulness to His word, the connection between God’s word and hope in Christ, and what we must do to anchor our souls. Those are the three things I’ll point out in this passage.

1.God is faithful to God’s word.

The author of Hebrew’s first concern in this passage was to show God’s faithfulness to what He says. He begins with an example:

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.

These verses tell us 3 things: First, God made a promise to Abraham - “I will bless you and multiply you.” Second, God gave assurance of the truthfulness of the promise made to Abraham - “He swore by himself.” Third, God fulfilled what he had promised to Abraham - “Abraham, having patiently waited, obtained the promise.” The whole point of the example of the promise to Abraham is to establish the principle that God keeps His word.

From that example he proceeded to give some more general statements of God’s commitment to keep His word:

Hebrews 6:16–18 ESV

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.

Let me highlight a few things here:

God desired to show more convincingly… the unchangeable character of his purpose.

He guaranteed it with an oath.

It is impossible for God to lie.

It is God who wants us to be convinced of the unchangeable character of his purpose. He isn’t fickle about it like us - changing his plan as it seems convenient. He wants us to know that His purpose, revealed in His word, remains constant.

God guaranteed His promise with an oath. That isn’t because there has ever been any question of His integrity. It is a concession to the difficulty we have with trusting anyone’s word. Oaths exist as a way of declaring the seriousness of the commitments we make. So God, in an act of tender condescension, has concerned himself with letting us know that He takes His word seriously.

Finally, it is impossible for God to lie. The word used means “without power or ability.” It is a strange thing to find the word “impossible” used to describe an all-powerful being. It isn’t impossible for God to lie because He is too weak to do it, but because untruth is entirely contrary to His nature. God cannot lie because it would contradict His being for Him to do so.

God is faithful to His word, both by will and by nature. He cannot fail to keep His word. To put it another way, God submits to the word of God. He is so utterly committed to His word that, when He has spoken, His unlimited power is engaged to do what He has said.

Apply this to the events of history. While we may not understand current events, behind them is the power of God, working to fulfill all that He has said. If we’re going to gain a sense of stability in this chaotic world, it isn’t going to come by our attempts to micromanage our world. It will come from knowing what God has said. And our authoritative means of knowing what God has said is the Bible. If we are going to find security, we need to know what the Bible says because God has spoken and told us His unchanging purpose.

2.God’s word sets hope in Christ before us.

A sudden shift of focus happens in the middle of verse 18 - from God’s faithfulness to His word to our experience of life:

Hebrews 6:18–20 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. 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.

Notice how we are described in vs. 18 - “…we who have fled for refuge...” We are refugees. A couple years ago the news headlines followed the lives of Syrian refugees. We saw the reports of families huddled in temporary encampments and packing into ships in a desperate attempt to get away from the violence of their former homeland. That’s a graphic illustration of life in this world. We are not masters of the universe. We are refugees, desperately needing a place of refuge from the dangers around us.

In the midst of the refugee camp of this world, hope has been set before us. We can define the word hope as, “confident assurance of a positive future outcome.” The hope mentioned in the Bible is not the wishful thinking that passes for hope in the world - “I hope some generous person decides to pay off the mortgage on my house.” Biblical hope is a confident assurance of a positive future. It is certainty about what is going to happen. And that brings us back to God’s faithfulness to His word. That’s where confident assurance is found. God will do what He has said. Of that, and that alone, we can be fully confident.

Follow the logic in these verses to see the content of the hope set before us:

The hope set before us = the hope behind the curtain.

The hope behind the curtain = Jesus, our forerunner and high priest.

Jesus, our forerunner and high priest is the hope set before us.

This is a summary of the entire message of God’s word. Hope is found in God’s declared, unchanging purpose that Jesus be our forerunner and high priest.

What does it mean that he is our forerunner? He has arrived where we will eventually arrive. Jesus was born, lived his life in this world, suffered, died, rose from the dead, and has ascended into heaven. And he is our forerunner. It means that, for Christians, death, resurrection, and heaven still lie ahead of us. We will die. But we will rise from the dead enter heave to be with Christ. That’s our hope. Life with Christ in heaven after death is the positive future about which we have confident assurance.

What does it mean that Jesus is our high priest? To put it simply, he is the one who is acting to remove the guilt of our sin so that we have a right relationship with God, free from condemnation. That, also, is our hope. We can now live with full confidence that we are accepted by God because our high priest has entered heaven where He is enabling us to live in the presence of God.

This tells us that our relationship with Jesus Christ is the source of security and certainty in this world of chaos and disorder. The tragedies and trials of this world cause uncertainty about what we will experience while we live as refugees in this world. But, for those whose faith is in Christ, the uncertainties of this world cannot alter the hope set before us in Christ Jesus. Our sin is taken care of by our high priest, and we will arrive where he has gone as our forerunner. That is the sure thing that is the anchor of our soul.

3.We must hold fast to the hope set before us in Christ Jesus.

The knowledge that God is faithful to His word is intended to affect us and produce a single, practical action on our part. The intended application is stated in verse 18:

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.

Notice how God’s commitment to His own word affects us: We have strong encouragement. Not just encouragement; strong encouragement. Our confidence in God’s faithfulness to His word strengthens and encourages us while we live like refugees in the world. But it strengthens and encourages us to do something.

Have you identified what confidence in God’s faithfulness strengthens and encourages us to do? “Hold fast to the hope set before us.” That’s the sole item on our to-do list for an anchored soul.

The verb “hold fast” means to grasp onto a thing to avoid any possibility of losing it. Picture someone who has an item so valuable to them that they clutch it in their hands, hold it tightly to their chest, and refuse every suggestion that they set it aside for a moment. That’s what it means to hold fast to something.

That’s what we must do with the hope set before us in Christ Jesus.

Two further observations will help us better anchor our souls. First, holding fast suggests a constant commitment. Holding fast is not something we can do occasionally. When we put our faith in Christ, the whole course of our life is set upon him. For those who are Christians, there was a day of conversion. And we rightly celebrate that past event. But from that day on we live holding fast to the hope we received when we put our faith in Christ. Every day is a “hold fast” day for us. The challenge of each day is to hold fast to the hope set before us.

Second, we must hold fast to the hope set before us. We lose our balance in the Christian life when we set our hope on something other than what God has set before us in His word. The hope set before us is not fulfilled in this life. Our forerunner died, rose from the dead, and entered heaven. That’s where our hope is. It is a longing for what will come after death that we must hold fast to. We get off track when we want this broken world to be heaven. This world is not and will not be heaven. Look forward to the real heaven — the one where our forerunner and high priest, Jesus Christ, is. That’s the hope set before us that we must hold fast to.

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Examine your state of mind and heart right now. If it helps to close your eyes to clear your mind, do so. Are you anxious, worried, uncertain, insecure? What is the reason for the anxieties? Perhaps it has been one of the tragedies that have affected this community. Maybe it’s the pandemic and the way our lives have been changed by it. Maybe it’s financial uncertainty. Or you might have some other source of worry.

We live in days of uncertainty. But there is an anchor of the soul that is secure. God is faithful to His word. It is His unchangeable will, declared in scripture, to redeem a people for himself out of sinful humanity through faith in Christ. Those who trust in Jesus will die. But we will rise from the dead to eternal life with Christ in heaven. Hold fast your faith in our forerunner and high priest. In these days of anxiety and uncertainty, this anchor is our greatest need. Therefore, hold fast. Amen.