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Hebrews chapter 6. We're going to wrap up chapter 6. And next week, Lord Willin, we

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are going to talk about Melchizedek. We've talked about that a lot here in the last few

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months. The author has wanted to get to Melchizedek. And even in the verses we're going to look

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at today, he wants to talk about Melchizedek. But he stops. He stops the end of chapter

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5 into chapter 6. And he stops for a second and he says, I've got a lot of things I want

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to tell you, but I can't tell you those things yet because you are not ready. And he says

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they're not ready because they are immature. They're not living right. They're not doing

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right. He said, look, you should be living a certain way by now. You know about Jesus.

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You know about the word of God, the commands of God, and you should be living for Jesus

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Christ. But even though you should be mature, he says you're acting like babies in Christ.

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You need to be eating solid food, but instead you're drinking milk. So before I can tell

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you the things that are most important, he says I have to deal with your immaturity.

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I have to give you a warning. And he does that, a pretty strong warning at the beginning

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of chapter 6. He says, look, you're in great danger. You're in danger of drifting away.

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He said that in Hebrews chapter 2. You're in danger of turning away from Jesus Christ.

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And he gives them a strong warning and he tells them, do not turn away from Jesus Christ.

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But he gives them encouragement. He says, you need to stand firm. You need to be strong.

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You need to know the God that you serve. Now, let's not forget that the audience here of

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the book of Hebrews were Jewish Christians who were under persecution. They were facing

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difficulties. They were facing hard times. And in the midst of their difficulties and

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hard times, they were tempted to turn away from God. They were tempted to turn away from

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Jesus. Now, not turn away from God entirely because they still believed in God, but their

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real temptation was is that they were going to turn back to the Old Testament sacrificial

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system, the old way of doing things. But the scripture tells us that Jesus come and has

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made a new covenant. And so the old things have passed away that we're going to see here

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as we continue on in the book of Hebrews. And Jesus has come and he's established that

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new covenant. And so our salvation and our hope and our security are in Jesus Christ

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alone. But the audience of the book of Hebrews was tempted to turn from Jesus Christ and

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go back to an old way, an old way which would not offer them any hope, would not offer them

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any salvation. So the author of Hebrews says, you're getting close to going over the edge

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here. But he says, I encourage you to stand firm. Don't give up because we serve a God

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who is faithful. Even though we may face difficult times, God will not abandon us. He has not

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forsaken us. And we talked week before last about the promises of God, that God is a God

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who keeps his promises. The author of Hebrews reminds his audience about Abraham, that God

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made promises to Abraham and God has kept those promises to Abraham and is still keeping

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those promises to Abraham today. And that all nations will be blessed through the descendant

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of Abraham who is Jesus Christ. So the author of Hebrews says, stand by the God who has

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promised to stand by you. The God who has given you salvation, do not turn from that

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God. Do not abandon that God, but stand on those promises. Because it is in the promises

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of God that we have hope. And that's what we saw a couple of weeks ago. So he says a

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whole lot of stuff here at the end of chapter five and chapter six, really to come to this

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point that we're going to look at today. And this will be a relatively short sermon today,

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praise the Lord. I say that, we'll see. I think it is though. I think it's going to

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be short, amen. But let's read through the text. We'll pray, then we'll talk about these

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couple of verses. Hebrews chapter six, verse 18, just the very last little bit of verse

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18 there. Hebrews chapter six, verse 18, sees the hope set before us. We have this hope

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as an anchor for our lives, safe and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain.

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Jesus has entered there on our behalf as a forerunner, because he has become a high priest

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forever in the order of Melchizedek. Let's pray. Father God, we thank you for these good

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words. And God, maybe in some ways we find ourselves in a situation similar to that of

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the book of Hebrews, the people in this book, dear Lord. We might not be tempted to build

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temples and offer animal sacrifices and those things, but God, maybe there are other things

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in our life that are drawing us away from you. Maybe there are hard times in our life

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that are causing us to doubt you, that we wonder if you're with us, if we wonder that

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you hear us. But God, I pray that we would hear this message of hope, that we would hear

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and know the promises of your word, that we would hear of the gospel and the goodness

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and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ this morning. God, I pray that your Holy Spirit would be

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among us, that you would be with me as I preach and teach, that it would all be for your glory,

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dear Lord, that you would hide me behind the cross. Let us be free of distractions for

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these few minutes, that we would hear from you and that your word would be something

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that we would hold firm on today. And I ask these things in Jesus' name, amen.

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So the author of Hebrews has finished kind of getting onto his audience and giving them

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a warning, and he says, but you have hope. I know things are hard in your life right

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now, but he says there is hope in the promises of God. And so what does he do? He says, if

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you know the promises of God, you need to seize that hope. That is, the hope is the

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promises of God. What are the promises of God as they relate to us ultimately? The promises

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of God as they relate to us ultimately are that God has offered forgiveness of our sins

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through Jesus Christ. That Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has given His life on the cross.

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He has suffered and bled and died. He has took the punishment that we deserve. He has

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taken the punishment for our sins, so that through Jesus Christ, we may be forgiven of

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those sins, so that we will not suffer the wrath of God and the judgment of God for all

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of eternity, but that we will receive the blessings of God for all of eternity. That

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is the ultimate promise of God that we have received. Now, there may be other things that

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we see in God's Word that are good promises that we can hold onto, that are encouraging.

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And we looked at verses that talked about some promises of God a couple of weeks ago.

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But ultimately, the greatest promise of God is to escape from the mess of this world,

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the sin of this world, the death of this world, the sorrow of this world, and to go to a place

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where there is no more sin, no more death, and no more sorrow, but only the goodness

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of the presence of God for all of eternity. Now, that is the promise of God's Word. Now,

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we like the audience of the book of Hebrews may be going through lots of difficulties

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in our life. And sometimes we may question God and we may doubt God and we may even be

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tempted to turn to things in this world apart from God. But the author of Hebrews says,

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look, there is no hope in anything else in this world. The hope that we have comes through

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the promises of God, that is Jesus Christ. The promises of God are yes and amen in Jesus

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Christ and nothing else. So the author of Hebrews tells his audience to seize the hope,

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to seize the promises of God. Do not give up on God. Do not live a life of sin. Do not

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live a life of religion, but live a life for Jesus Christ who gave his life for you. Verse

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19, we have this hope as an anchor for our lives, safe and secure. It enters the inner

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sanctuary behind the curtain. So he says, look, seize the hope that is before you. And

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then what does he say of this hope? The hope that we have is in Jesus Christ, that Jesus

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has paid it all, that Jesus has done everything that you and I cannot do. Praise the Lord.

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God's word commands us all these things to do, things that are right and that are good.

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God says, do these things and don't do these things. Inevitably, every day we do the things

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that God says not to do and we fail to do the things that God says to do. And that's

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a big problem for every single one of us in this room this morning. And praise the Lord

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that Jesus came, that God saw our weakness, that he saw that we were incapable of living

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the life that he called us to and Jesus came and lived that life for us. Now you don't

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have to be perfect today, praise the Lord, and you can't be. But you do have to follow

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Jesus Christ. And to follow Jesus Christ is not simply coming to church. It's not just

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being dumped in the water. There are lots of people who come to church and who are dumped

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in the water, but they don't live for Jesus Christ. They've never trusted in Jesus Christ.

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To be a Christian, to come to faith in Jesus Christ says, Jesus, I am going to follow you.

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It's not a license to sin. It's not, well, Jesus was perfect, so I don't have to be,

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so I'll do what I want. That's not what salvation is. That's not what Christianity is. That's

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not what faith in Jesus Christ is. Faith in Jesus Christ is saying, Lord Jesus, I see

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your commands and I will seek to live by you and follow your example as best I can. And

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yes, there will be days that we will stumble. There will be days that we will sin. But faith

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in Jesus Christ is not a license to continue to sin. It's forgiveness for our sins, but

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not a license to continue in those sins. Faith in Jesus Christ says, I will strive to live

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for you, dear Lord. I will strive to put you first in everything. I will strive to love

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my neighbor as myself. I will strive to pray for my enemies. I will strive to take care

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of the poor and needy and the widow and the orphans. God, I will strive to take all that

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you have given me and use it for the furtherance of your kingdom. That is Christianity. A lot

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of people, they come and they hear the word of God and they say, man, this is good stuff

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that Jesus died for my sins. And they say, I'm going to say a prayer and I'm going to

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get baptized and then I'm going to go and do whatever I want to do. After all, Jesus

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gave me forgiveness. Well, yes, Jesus does forgive us, but that is not a license for

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us to sin. Salvation in Jesus Christ should meet on our part that we say, Lord Jesus,

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I am going to live for you. This is our hope that we have. This is the hope that is before

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us in Jesus Christ. And once we have put our hope in Jesus Christ, how does the author

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of Hebrews describe this hope? He says, we have this hope as an anchor for our lives.

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So hope here is described as an anchor. This is a good illustration. It's simple. It's

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basic and it serves its point. Not much needs to be said of this illustration. If you have

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ever ridden on a boat before, or even if you have not ever ridden on a boat before, it's

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likely you've seen a boat. It's likely you've seen an anchor. What does an anchor do? What

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is the purpose of an anchor? An anchor is there to hold a ship in place. An anchor is

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there to keep a ship from drifting in the midst of the wind, in the midst of the waves,

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in the midst of the storm. When the anchor drops, the ship stops. So it is for you and

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I because we're here in this life. And on the good days, the winds of this world and

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this life and the winds of God's word guide us where we need to go. God's word blows us

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on the right path. If we will simply open our sails and we will let God lead us and

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guide us, it will guide us where we need to go on those beautiful days. But then there

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are other days in your life where the storms come and you know it. Everybody in here, you

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could tell me your storm story. Some of you may be in the middle of it right now. And

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when those storms come, oh how they are not good times. We are tossed and we are turned

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and we are blown and we wonder when will the storm end. And it's in those days that we

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need an anchor in our lives that we can drop. And when that anchor hits, we need to know

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that we will not be blown to and fro. That we can stand firm, that we will be firm and

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steadfast, safe and secure and we will not be moved to and fro and there was nothing

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that will be able to hurt us. And that anchor is the hope that we have in Jesus Christ.

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And so the author of Hebrews says, look, we have this hope and it is an anchor for us.

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He says we have this hope, it is an anchor for our lives, safe and secure, our firm and

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steadfast. Now that's the only hope that we can have today that's going to do anything

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for us. That's the only thing that we can come to is Jesus Christ. That's the only thing

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that's immovable, that will not be shifted, that will not be moved, that will not be crumbled.

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Jesus is a rock that we can stand on in the midst of the storms and the winds and the

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waves. Everything else is pulling us in every direction in this world. Life is hard and

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it is difficult and it is painful. But when we hold on to the hope of Jesus Christ, when

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we hold on to the hope that as our anchor of our lives, we will be able to withstand

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whatever we are going through. Jesus Christ is our only hope this morning. He is your

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only hope this morning. Some of you have figured that out. Some of you have figured out that

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Jesus is your only hope and you figured that out because you've tried to put hope in everything

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else. We have a tendency to do that. We try to find hope in lots of things. We try to

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find it in our careers. We try to find it in our wealth. We try to find it in our success.

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We try to find it in drugs, in alcohol. We try to find it in fame, in fortune, whatever

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we can find it in. We try to find these things and use these things to bring us some kind

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of hope and just some kind of light at the end of the tunnel because life is so hard

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and we turn to this and we turn to that and we turn to this and we turn to that. When

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When we do that, we go to bed at night and we still feel hopeless.

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We try all of these things, we have all of these things, but they just don't give us

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what we need.

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They just don't give us what we need because we still feel hopeless.

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Too many times we try to anchor our lives down with things of the world that cannot

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hold anything.

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Things of this world that continue to allow us to blow to and fro in the storm, to continue

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our life to be shattered and torn, to continue to lead us into bad decisions and bad choices

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with bad consequences.

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And that's because too many times we've anchored our lives to something that's not anchored

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at all and we're still just drifting along.

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But when we put our hope in the anchor of Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ holds on to us.

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And that's what the author of Hebrews tells his audience.

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He says, look, I know you're in the midst of hard times.

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He said, but stand on the promises of God because it's in the promises of God that we

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have hope today.

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So let the hope of Jesus Christ be the anchor of your life today.

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Maybe he is.

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Maybe some of you are standing firm on Jesus Christ today and you are safe and secure.

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Oh, there's nothing more beautiful.

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When you've been tossed to and fro and you've put hope in things of the world only to realize

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they are hopeless, when the day comes that we put our hope in Jesus Christ and we find

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the safety and security that only comes through the gospel of Jesus Christ, what a glorious

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day that is.

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Some of you have found that today.

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Some of you are anchored in Jesus Christ today.

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Perhaps others realize today you've been putting your hope in a lot of things in this world

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and you've come to the realization that you're just as hopeless as you were to start with.

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But I want to tell you today, there's a better hope than anything that this world has to

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offer.

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This world can give you fame and success and wealth and all the things you've ever wanted,

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but this world cannot give you hope.

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That only comes through Jesus Christ and Christ crucified.

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I hope that you have put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ today.

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Maybe you have in the past and maybe you've just been drifting away.

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Maybe you find yourself similar to these Hebrews.

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Maybe you're in a bad spot.

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Maybe today you just need to be reminded, don't give up on Jesus Christ.

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Repent of your sins.

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Live for Jesus today.

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Maybe you've got your hope in Jesus Christ today and you were safe and secure and steadfast

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and you're holding strong.

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Praise God.

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And maybe there are others today and you have been drifting like a ship without a sail,

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going to and fro wherever the world has blown you, but perhaps today God's Word wants to

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guide you to the cross of Jesus Christ, the only place where we will find hope today.

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If you came into this building hopeless this morning, I pray that today that you'd put

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your faith and trust in Jesus Christ.

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That you would repent of your sins.

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That you would seek to live for Him and that you would trust Him with your life.

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Let's pray.

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Father God, we come to you today.

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We thank you for your good word.

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And I pray that you just would bless each of us, dear Lord.

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I pray that as we are being tossed and turned around by the things of this world, dear Lord

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God, that you would help us to get through.

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God, maybe there are days that we doubt you.

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Maybe there are days that we choose our sin and we find ourselves in a spot we don't need

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to be in, dear Lord.

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God, I pray that today that if there is one that knows you and maybe they've just been

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living their life in a way that's not right, that they would repent.

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That they would just turn back to you today, dear Lord.

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God, maybe there are some today that just in the midst of their struggles, they just

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wonder if you're there.

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They wonder if you hear them.

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But God, I pray that they would know without a shadow of a doubt you have not left them.

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That your word promises that you are with us.

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So let us never doubt, dear Lord.

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But let us hold on to that promise because there is hope in that promise, dear Lord.

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It may seem easy, dear Lord, to give up on you.

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But dear Lord, where will we turn?

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If we turn from you, what will we turn to, dear Lord?

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There is no hope, God, in anything else but you.

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And I pray that we would be reminded of that today.

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God, maybe there are some today that do not know Jesus Christ.

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They've never put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ.

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Maybe today they have tried everything that this world has to offer and they come into

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this building today feeling hopeless.

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Dear Lord, I pray that they would not leave feeling hopeless.

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God, I pray today that they would hear your word and that they would seize the hope that

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lies before them this morning.

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The hope of forgiveness of sins.

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The hope of one who will be with them for all of eternity, dear Lord, and you will be

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with them for all of eternity if they put their faith and trust in you.

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God, I pray that if there are any in this room that does not know Jesus Christ today,

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if your Holy Spirit has spoken to them, that even now, God, they would pray.

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They would pray that their sins would be forgiven, that they would repent, dear Lord, to turn

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from the things of this world and to turn to you.

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That they would stop putting their hope in things that are hopeless, but they would put

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their hope in something that will bring them safety and security today.

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God, if there are any that do not know Jesus Christ, that have prayed and asked him to

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be their Lord and Savior and repented of their sins today, God, I pray that as we prepare

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for this time of invitation that they would come forward.

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Let us know, dear Lord, where we can celebrate with them, where we can baptize them, just

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as your word commands.

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God, if you've spoken to us in any way today, I pray that we would respond to you.

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I pray that we would leave out of here today, dear Lord, being those who have hope in the

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midst of a world that's falling apart, that we have hope in you.

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And I ask these things in Jesus' name.

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Amen.