Assurance In The Promises Of God

INTRODUCTION

What is trust?

It is the belief that another person is honest and reliable. It is a feeling that you can depend on that person because they offer safety and security. It can be described as a firm belief in the ability, strength, reliability, and truth of someone or something.

Trust is a critical part of any relationship. Without, it is difficult to have a healthy, long-lasting one. When it is broken, it can cause someone to develop trust issues that affect other relationships, in addition to the one where the trust was broken.

Being created as relational beings, trust is a very important matter to us. And it should be!

Political diatribes and debates take place all the time in just about every environment.

And as overwhelmingly frustrating that this can be, it reveals two truths that cannot be ignored:

We are quite passionate about what we believe is right.

We are very untrusting of political figures (even other individuals) who do not hold the same line as we do.

Marriages are ended because trust is lost in one or both parties. Three of the top reasons people seek a divorce:

Lack of commitment

Argue too much

Infidelity (Pornography addiction is cited as being a contributing factor in over 50% of divorces)

Promises are often made lightly, with little intention of their being kept. A person’s word today can seldom be his bond. Lying has all but become the norm in much of society. The world is full of liars.

With that being true, the question must be answered: “who can we trust?” “Who can we really believe? The Christian knows that the only one who can be trusted without reservation is God. Over and over, throughout the pages of the Bible, we are told to trust in the Lord with all our hearts.

Psalm 37:3–4 ESV

Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Proverbs 3:5–8 ESV

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones.

Psalm 118:8 ESV

It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man.

With that foundation being laid, I would like to dive back into the text of Hebrews 6.

A few weeks ago we looked at the warning to those who have turned their back on the faith, that there is no hope for them apart from the cross.

And last week, we saw the confidence in the salvation of those the author was writing to, which was established in their love for the saints and their love for the name of God.

Now, as we close up chapter 6, we see the Assurance that can be experienced In The Promises Of God.

Read Hebrews 6:13-20

GOD PROMISED AND DELIVERED TO ABRAHAM (v. 13-15)

Abraham serves as an important figure in both the Old and the New Testament.

The Abraham narrative makes up a sizable volume in the book of Genesis (12-25) and he is regarded as the major patriarch in Jewish history, due to God’s important covenant with him.

Abraham is referred to throughout Old Testament history (Deuteronomy, Joshua, I Kings, I Chronicles, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Micah, Psalms and Nehemiah).

In the New Testament, Abraham plays an important role, especially in the Pauline letters (Romans 4; Galatians 3-4; 2 Corinthians 11), but he is also mentioned frequently in the Gospels (Matthew 1, 3, 8, 22; Mark 12; Luke 1, 3, 13, 16, 19-20; and John 8), several times in Acts (3, 7, 13) and Hebrews (6, 7, 11) as well as in James (2) and once in I Peter (3).

God’s dealings with Abraham are frequently used to emphasize or explain how he deals with His covenant people.

Genesis 22:15-18

No one in the universe is greater than God. And the reason He cannot lie is that He invented truth. He is truth. By definition, whatever He says is true.

By the very nature of His person, He cannot lie. He has no capacity to lie. His promises, then, are first of all secured by His Person. Whatever He does has to be right and whatever He says has to be true. If God makes a promise, therefore, He not only will keep it, He must keep it.

But has He kept His promise to Abraham? The promise to bless and multiply him?

Well, consider that almost fifteen million of the physical descendants of Abraham are in the world today, and that many more millions around the world are Abraham’s spiritual descendants.

God has indeed kept His promise to Abraham.

GOD’S PROMISES ARE MORE SURE THAN MAN’S WORD (v. 16-18)

It was a common thing in the New Testament times for people to make an oath on something greater than themselves, such as the altar, the high priest, or even heaven.

It was a common enough practice, and perhaps one that was not taken very seriously, that our Lord Jesus addressed it in Matthew 5:33-37.

Taking an oath involves making a solemn promise before an institutional authority or in a manner that invokes a divine being. It is more than just making a promise to yourself or to another person. A person is expected to comply with any oath they take regarding their future behavior.

Different types of oaths that we are familiar with:

Hippocratic oath: an oath historically taken by physicians swearing to practice medicine honestly

Oath of allegiance: an oath whereby a subject or citizen acknowledges a duty of allegiance and swears loyalty to a monarch or country

Oath of citizenship: an oath taken that officially naturalizes immigrants into citizens

Oath of enlistment: delivered on enlistment into the military service

More commonly today, people use the strong wording of an oath to persuade the truthfulness of a matter. In order to convince the individual being addressed, a person will make an appeal that exaggerates their point.

“May God strike me dead if I am lying”

“I swear to God”

“I swear on my mother’s grave.”

Oath making, to one degree or another, is a common practice among men and women. Thus, God chose to act in a similar fashion with His promise.

Of course, God did not need to make an oath because His word is every bit as good without it - as ours ought to be (i.e. Matthew 5:33-37).

God’s oath includes two unchangeable things that His people can cling to: (1) His promise, and (2) His oath.

His promise is unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie (He is the inventor of truth).

His oath is unchangeable because he swore by himself, and God’s character is unchangeable.

As if we needed any more assurance, the writer of Hebrews continues to show that…

GOD’S PROMISES ARE ANCHORED IN CHRIST (v. 19-20)

We have a firm basis for our hope because Jesus finished his work on earth and continues that work in heaven as our High Priest, carrying us into God’s very presence.

The writer of Hebrews alludes to Him as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul.

C.H. Spurgeon The design of an anchor, of course, is to hold the vessel firmly to one place when winds and currents would otherwise remove it. God has given us certain truths, which are intended to hold our minds fast to truth, holiness, perseverance—in a word, to hold us to Himself.

As our High Priest, forever, Jesus serves as the anchor of our souls; the One who will forever keep us from drifting away from God.

CONCLUSION

The take away point of Hebrews 6:13–20 is that God’s promise did not depend on anyone’s faithfulness but His own. Abraham, his descendants, and all the world through them would be blessed. God owed Himself the fulfillment of His plan.

In the summer of 1996, electric power outages twice hit the western United States when high demand and unfortunate accidents combined to trigger massive blackouts. The first failure affected two million customers in fourteen states on July 2. The second blackout affected four million homes in ten states. One spokesman for the power industry said, “Under no circumstance should this [a blackout] happen, let alone twice in one summer.”

But it happened. And as a result, customers wondered if they could trust their power suppliers when they could not provide uninterrupted service.

Jesus provides uninterrupted access to God’s presence for his children. We will never have an outage of divine power. His presence before God fills us with hope, encouragement, and stamina. With the strength we receive from him we can find the staying power to endure in our Christian commitment.