1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,000 We are going to be in Hebrews chapter number six and we are 2 00:00:05,000 --> 00:00:08,000 going to wrap that chapter up this morning. 3 00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:11,000 Lord willing, let me ask you a question. 4 00:00:11,000 --> 00:00:13,000 This is really personal. 5 00:00:13,000 --> 00:00:17,000 How is your bracket doing? 6 00:00:17,000 --> 00:00:19,000 Is it good? 7 00:00:19,000 --> 00:00:22,000 Mine was good until Princeton. 8 00:00:22,000 --> 00:00:26,000 And if you are not paying attention, they, I think we are 9 00:00:26,000 --> 00:00:29,000 like a 16 seed, that one or whatever. 10 00:00:29,000 --> 00:00:31,000 Kind of crazy. 11 00:00:31,000 --> 00:00:35,000 My kids discovered March Madness this year. 12 00:00:35,000 --> 00:00:41,000 We don't have a lot of sports on in our house. 13 00:00:41,000 --> 00:00:45,000 I guess I am not as much of a man as I need to be. 14 00:00:45,000 --> 00:00:48,000 But my kids discovered it as it go into school and I had put a 15 00:00:48,000 --> 00:00:49,000 bracket out there. 16 00:00:49,000 --> 00:00:53,000 My former staff that I worked on at Canvadas temple did March 17 00:00:53,000 --> 00:00:55,000 Madness every year and we filled out brackets. 18 00:00:55,000 --> 00:00:58,000 And every year I did the same thing. 19 00:00:58,000 --> 00:01:02,000 I closed my eyes and I picked which ones were right. 20 00:01:02,000 --> 00:01:05,000 And actually this year, I did it this year. 21 00:01:05,000 --> 00:01:08,000 Here is the other thing I do and this kind of speaks to you. 22 00:01:08,000 --> 00:01:10,000 I always have a point for my introductions. 23 00:01:10,000 --> 00:01:12,000 It sounds like I am just trying to have fun. 24 00:01:12,000 --> 00:01:13,000 But there is a point. 25 00:01:13,000 --> 00:01:15,000 I always have a lot of confidence in myself that is not 26 00:01:15,000 --> 00:01:16,000 well founded. 27 00:01:16,000 --> 00:01:22,000 I name my team on the fantasy bracket thing whoever it is I 28 00:01:22,000 --> 00:01:23,000 want to beat that year. 29 00:01:23,000 --> 00:01:27,000 So this year is Ben Beats, Rob Hagee, which is a guy I used to 30 00:01:27,000 --> 00:01:28,000 work with. 31 00:01:28,000 --> 00:01:32,000 And then also because I am a very compassionate, loving father, 32 00:01:32,000 --> 00:01:36,000 Audrey wanted to do a bracket too so we made our own group and I 33 00:01:36,000 --> 00:01:40,000 called my name Ben Beats Audrey, which is probably not the best 34 00:01:40,000 --> 00:01:41,000 name. 35 00:01:41,000 --> 00:01:45,000 If you think about it. 36 00:01:45,000 --> 00:01:47,000 So hopefully that won't go too badly. 37 00:01:47,000 --> 00:01:51,000 But she is at this present time winning. 38 00:01:51,000 --> 00:01:53,000 So that is not fun. 39 00:01:53,000 --> 00:01:56,000 But Audrey is confident she is using this as a chance to talk 40 00:01:56,000 --> 00:01:57,000 trash. 41 00:01:57,000 --> 00:02:00,000 She was talking trash to me this morning and I don't really know 42 00:02:00,000 --> 00:02:01,000 if I am discipling her well. 43 00:02:01,000 --> 00:02:05,000 But anyway, that is what is going on. 44 00:02:05,000 --> 00:02:09,000 But we always have a lot of confidence in things and sometimes 45 00:02:09,000 --> 00:02:11,000 our confidence is not well founded. 46 00:02:11,000 --> 00:02:14,000 Sometimes our confidence is well founded. 47 00:02:14,000 --> 00:02:18,000 Sometimes our confidence is not well founded. 48 00:02:18,000 --> 00:02:21,000 Imagine, let me ask you a question. 49 00:02:21,000 --> 00:02:24,000 What is your assurance in life? 50 00:02:24,000 --> 00:02:27,000 What is your confidence in life? 51 00:02:27,000 --> 00:02:28,000 What are you confident in? 52 00:02:28,000 --> 00:02:30,000 What are you trusting in? 53 00:02:30,000 --> 00:02:32,000 What is assuring you? 54 00:02:32,000 --> 00:02:34,000 People find assurance in a whole lot of things. 55 00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:37,000 I think about those guys playing March Madness. 56 00:02:37,000 --> 00:02:40,000 They have played basketball their whole lives. 57 00:02:40,000 --> 00:02:45,000 They get through four years of college basketball to play at 58 00:02:45,000 --> 00:02:46,000 that level. 59 00:02:46,000 --> 00:02:51,000 And then in one game at the very end they lose and then basketball 60 00:02:51,000 --> 00:02:54,000 for many of them is over. 61 00:02:54,000 --> 00:02:57,000 Can you imagine putting your life into something and your 62 00:02:57,000 --> 00:03:00,000 confidence into something and your assurance into something 63 00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:04,000 and then in a minute, just like that, it is over. 64 00:03:04,000 --> 00:03:05,000 It is done. 65 00:03:05,000 --> 00:03:08,000 You say, yeah, I wouldn't do that with basketball, but did you do 66 00:03:08,000 --> 00:03:10,000 it with your job? 67 00:03:10,000 --> 00:03:12,000 Would you do it with your job? 68 00:03:12,000 --> 00:03:14,000 Would you do it with your kids? 69 00:03:14,000 --> 00:03:17,000 Is your reason for living your kids, you know your kids are going 70 00:03:17,000 --> 00:03:19,000 to move out one day. 71 00:03:19,000 --> 00:03:21,000 Yeah, I know it couldn't happen faster. 72 00:03:21,000 --> 00:03:24,000 We want them to move out, right? 73 00:03:24,000 --> 00:03:26,000 But if you are all of your assurance and your confidence and 74 00:03:26,000 --> 00:03:29,000 your trust and what makes you all your identity is found in 75 00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:35,000 basketball or your job or your kids, one day that is going to 76 00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:37,000 be different than it is now, isn't it? 77 00:03:37,000 --> 00:03:40,000 What about if all your confidence and assurance for life was 78 00:03:40,000 --> 00:03:42,000 in money? 79 00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:47,000 You ever notice money comes in and money goes out? 80 00:03:47,000 --> 00:03:49,000 Who knows that money goes out? 81 00:03:49,000 --> 00:03:51,000 Yeah. 82 00:03:51,000 --> 00:03:55,000 What if your confidence for life, what if your assurance for 83 00:03:55,000 --> 00:03:58,000 life was in banking? 84 00:03:58,000 --> 00:04:01,000 How are you feeling right now? 85 00:04:01,000 --> 00:04:03,000 Hopefully okay, right? 86 00:04:03,000 --> 00:04:05,000 Depends on which bank you have. 87 00:04:05,000 --> 00:04:08,000 What if it was in Washington, D.C.? 88 00:04:08,000 --> 00:04:11,000 Yeah, right. 89 00:04:11,000 --> 00:04:13,000 What if it is in relationships? 90 00:04:13,000 --> 00:04:14,000 Can people let you down? 91 00:04:14,000 --> 00:04:15,000 Absolutely. 92 00:04:15,000 --> 00:04:17,000 That is your assurance for life. 93 00:04:17,000 --> 00:04:19,000 But what about your assurance in death? 94 00:04:19,000 --> 00:04:23,000 A lot of people put their assurance for what happens after 95 00:04:23,000 --> 00:04:25,000 death in a whole lot of things. 96 00:04:25,000 --> 00:04:29,000 Some people put their assurance in their good works. 97 00:04:29,000 --> 00:04:33,000 Some people put their assurance in their religiosity. 98 00:04:33,000 --> 00:04:36,000 They think that because they go to church on a weekly basis 99 00:04:36,000 --> 00:04:39,000 that everything is going to be good between them and God. 100 00:04:39,000 --> 00:04:42,000 And whatever happens to us after the end of this life, 101 00:04:42,000 --> 00:04:46,000 it is going to be okay because I am a good person. 102 00:04:46,000 --> 00:04:49,000 You ask people, hey, if you believe there is a heaven, 103 00:04:49,000 --> 00:04:50,000 well, maybe there is a heaven. 104 00:04:50,000 --> 00:04:52,000 If there is a heaven, why are you going there? 105 00:04:52,000 --> 00:04:53,000 Are you going to go there? 106 00:04:53,000 --> 00:04:54,000 Well, yeah, I think so. 107 00:04:54,000 --> 00:04:55,000 Why do you think so? 108 00:04:55,000 --> 00:04:57,000 I am a good person. 109 00:04:57,000 --> 00:04:59,000 I never hurt anybody. 110 00:04:59,000 --> 00:05:00,000 I never murdered anybody. 111 00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:02,000 I never killed anybody. 112 00:05:02,000 --> 00:05:05,000 Some people have their assurances in a lot of things. 113 00:05:05,000 --> 00:05:09,000 And it is appointed on demand once to die after this is a 114 00:05:09,000 --> 00:05:12,000 judgment. 115 00:05:12,000 --> 00:05:13,000 You understand that? 116 00:05:13,000 --> 00:05:15,000 We all put our assurance for our own salvation. 117 00:05:15,000 --> 00:05:22,000 Whatever happens to us when we die in all kinds of things. 118 00:05:22,000 --> 00:05:26,000 Today, I want to talk about what the text talks about. 119 00:05:26,000 --> 00:05:28,000 Hebrews chapter 6. 120 00:05:28,000 --> 00:05:35,000 And the writer of Hebrews is someone we don't know exactly 121 00:05:35,000 --> 00:05:36,000 who it is. 122 00:05:36,000 --> 00:05:37,000 Some people think it is Paul. 123 00:05:37,000 --> 00:05:40,000 Some people think it is somebody else, other people. 124 00:05:40,000 --> 00:05:47,000 The author never actually says his name in the text. 125 00:05:47,000 --> 00:05:54,000 But in Hebrews chapter 6, we have gone through this passage all 126 00:05:54,000 --> 00:05:59,000 the way up to verse 12. 127 00:05:59,000 --> 00:06:08,000 But today, the author wants us to put our assurance for our 128 00:06:08,000 --> 00:06:10,000 salvation. 129 00:06:10,000 --> 00:06:12,000 What makes us know that we are saved. 130 00:06:12,000 --> 00:06:14,000 What makes us live out our own salvation. 131 00:06:14,000 --> 00:06:16,000 Knowing that one day we are going to die. 132 00:06:16,000 --> 00:06:18,000 What is our confidence going to be in? 133 00:06:18,000 --> 00:06:26,000 And he wants us to put our confidence in God and God alone. 134 00:06:26,000 --> 00:06:29,000 That is the only thing you can put your assurance in that will 135 00:06:29,000 --> 00:06:31,000 not let you down. 136 00:06:31,000 --> 00:06:33,000 That is what he wants you to do. 137 00:06:33,000 --> 00:06:39,000 In fact, he mentions two phrases that we are going to look at 138 00:06:39,000 --> 00:06:42,000 today that I think is really just amazing. 139 00:06:42,000 --> 00:06:49,000 One, he says down in verse number 19, you heard it as 140 00:06:49,000 --> 00:06:55,000 Brother Royce proclaimed it, verse 19, which hope we have as 141 00:06:55,000 --> 00:07:00,000 an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast. 142 00:07:00,000 --> 00:07:02,000 Who likes that phrase, theology? 143 00:07:02,000 --> 00:07:04,000 An anchor of the soul, sure and steadfast. 144 00:07:04,000 --> 00:07:11,000 He says in another place, we might have a strong consolation. 145 00:07:11,000 --> 00:07:14,000 A strong consolation, that word for consolation as we are going 146 00:07:14,000 --> 00:07:18,000 to see is another way of saying that is incredible comfort, 147 00:07:18,000 --> 00:07:22,000 incredible assurance, incredible confidence. 148 00:07:22,000 --> 00:07:27,000 Who votes for having a life where we can put our anchor in 149 00:07:27,000 --> 00:07:30,000 something sure and steadfast? 150 00:07:30,000 --> 00:07:34,000 Our consolation, our comfort, as bad as things are around us, 151 00:07:34,000 --> 00:07:37,000 our anchor holds within the veil. 152 00:07:37,000 --> 00:07:41,000 We just sang about that, didn't we? 153 00:07:41,000 --> 00:07:45,000 That is our anchor holds within the veil. 154 00:07:45,000 --> 00:07:47,000 I just got it. 155 00:07:47,000 --> 00:07:54,000 You are going to get it too in a minute. 156 00:07:54,000 --> 00:07:56,000 I never had something that occurred to me while I was 157 00:07:56,000 --> 00:07:59,000 preaching, that is pretty cool. 158 00:07:59,000 --> 00:08:03,000 Nothing ever occurs to God, nothing ever does. 159 00:08:03,000 --> 00:08:05,000 He knows everything. 160 00:08:05,000 --> 00:08:10,000 Today I want you to live in light of the person and promises 161 00:08:10,000 --> 00:08:14,000 of God and when you do, it is going to give you the ability 162 00:08:14,000 --> 00:08:17,000 to live with assurance. 163 00:08:17,000 --> 00:08:20,000 And there are four reasons I want you to do that. 164 00:08:20,000 --> 00:08:23,000 I want you to put all your eggs in the God basket, 165 00:08:23,000 --> 00:08:25,000 all your eggs in the Jesus basket, all your eggs in the 166 00:08:25,000 --> 00:08:28,000 Holy Spirit basket because that is the only hope, 167 00:08:28,000 --> 00:08:31,000 that is the only confidence, that is the only assurance. 168 00:08:31,000 --> 00:08:35,000 Listen, your money is going away. 169 00:08:35,000 --> 00:08:39,000 Your wife or husband could go away, either by death or by 170 00:08:39,000 --> 00:08:42,000 choice. 171 00:08:42,000 --> 00:08:45,000 Banks are going away. 172 00:08:45,000 --> 00:08:47,000 It is all leaving. 173 00:08:47,000 --> 00:08:51,000 Trinity Baptist Church, as a gathered assembly on a regular 174 00:08:51,000 --> 00:08:55,000 basis, that one day will be no more. 175 00:08:55,000 --> 00:08:58,000 I hope it happens by the rapture, don't you? 176 00:08:58,000 --> 00:09:00,000 Right? 177 00:09:00,000 --> 00:09:02,000 What is your confidence in? 178 00:09:02,000 --> 00:09:04,000 What is your assurance in? 179 00:09:04,000 --> 00:09:06,000 When you live your life, how do you know you are living it 180 00:09:06,000 --> 00:09:08,000 right? 181 00:09:08,000 --> 00:09:10,000 How do you know that when you get to the end of your life 182 00:09:10,000 --> 00:09:13,000 you are going to stand before God and He is going to let you 183 00:09:13,000 --> 00:09:15,000 in? 184 00:09:15,000 --> 00:09:17,000 How do you know? 185 00:09:17,000 --> 00:09:20,000 If your answer to that is anything other than God the Father, 186 00:09:20,000 --> 00:09:24,000 God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, you are confident in 187 00:09:24,000 --> 00:09:26,000 the wrong thing. 188 00:09:26,000 --> 00:09:29,000 Let's live with assurance in the person of Jesus. 189 00:09:29,000 --> 00:09:31,000 Here are four reasons why you can do that. 190 00:09:31,000 --> 00:09:38,000 Number one, because of God's incredible, incredible record 191 00:09:38,000 --> 00:09:40,000 of promise keeping. 192 00:09:40,000 --> 00:09:45,000 God has an incredible resume, an incredible record of promise 193 00:09:45,000 --> 00:09:47,000 keeping. 194 00:09:47,000 --> 00:09:51,000 Let's start in Hebrews chapter 6, looking at verse 11. 195 00:09:51,000 --> 00:09:57,000 He says, and we desire that every one of you do show the same 196 00:09:57,000 --> 00:10:02,000 diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end. 197 00:10:02,000 --> 00:10:05,000 So now you see where I got my theme. 198 00:10:05,000 --> 00:10:08,000 The theme of this message is assurance. 199 00:10:08,000 --> 00:10:11,000 He says, I want you to live with assurance. 200 00:10:11,000 --> 00:10:13,000 And that assurance is in hope. 201 00:10:13,000 --> 00:10:17,000 And we are going to find out what that hope is in a few minutes. 202 00:10:17,000 --> 00:10:22,000 The author shows this desire that they grow up and continue to 203 00:10:22,000 --> 00:10:24,000 mature. 204 00:10:24,000 --> 00:10:27,000 I am going to wrap all of that up in the end so you kind of see 205 00:10:27,000 --> 00:10:31,000 where it is in this whole context of this whole message. 206 00:10:31,000 --> 00:10:35,000 And so one of the greatest, this is all, the author is not 207 00:10:35,000 --> 00:10:38,000 talking about whether or not you lose your salvation. 208 00:10:38,000 --> 00:10:41,000 The author is talking about you being spiritually mature. 209 00:10:41,000 --> 00:10:45,000 And he says, one of the greatest signs of maturity is growing 210 00:10:45,000 --> 00:10:46,000 faith. 211 00:10:46,000 --> 00:10:49,000 What is it that God wants to grow in us? 212 00:10:49,000 --> 00:10:51,000 What does God want us to grow in? 213 00:10:51,000 --> 00:10:53,000 He wants us to grow in our faith. 214 00:10:53,000 --> 00:10:55,000 Our faith in him. 215 00:10:55,000 --> 00:10:59,000 He wants us to believe in him and to believe him. 216 00:10:59,000 --> 00:11:03,000 And to do that is to believe his word. 217 00:11:03,000 --> 00:11:07,000 To believe it, not just believing it, oh yeah, that's right. 218 00:11:07,000 --> 00:11:11,000 No, but to actually believe it in the sense that it's going to be 219 00:11:11,000 --> 00:11:13,000 what we live out. 220 00:11:13,000 --> 00:11:18,000 That we believe it in such a way that we obey it. 221 00:11:18,000 --> 00:11:24,000 Knowing God's word is not enough, we got to obey it. 222 00:11:24,000 --> 00:11:27,000 Knowing God's word is not enough, we got to live it out. 223 00:11:27,000 --> 00:11:29,000 That's what it means to mature. 224 00:11:29,000 --> 00:11:32,000 And so as we believe God, we obey him. 225 00:11:32,000 --> 00:11:36,000 Look at verse 12, that you be not slothful, nothros, 226 00:11:36,000 --> 00:11:39,000 dull of hearing, that you be not lazy. 227 00:11:39,000 --> 00:11:45,000 But followers of them who through faith and patience 228 00:11:45,000 --> 00:11:49,000 inherent the, what is it? 229 00:11:49,000 --> 00:11:50,000 The promises. 230 00:11:50,000 --> 00:11:53,000 So he's saying, don't be nothros, don't be dull of healing, 231 00:11:53,000 --> 00:11:57,000 don't be unteachable, rather be followers of them who through 232 00:11:57,000 --> 00:11:59,000 faith and patience inherent the promises. 233 00:11:59,000 --> 00:12:02,000 The word followers here is the word mimicase. 234 00:12:02,000 --> 00:12:04,000 It's where we get our word mimic from. 235 00:12:04,000 --> 00:12:06,000 It's the idea of being an imitator. 236 00:12:06,000 --> 00:12:10,000 The point is, here's what he's saying, act like people who 237 00:12:10,000 --> 00:12:17,000 through faith and patience inherit the promises of God. 238 00:12:17,000 --> 00:12:21,000 Act like people who have grown into maturity through faith in 239 00:12:21,000 --> 00:12:24,000 God and inherited all of the blessings that God promised to 240 00:12:24,000 --> 00:12:27,000 them through that maturity. 241 00:12:27,000 --> 00:12:29,000 Who are these kind of people? 242 00:12:29,000 --> 00:12:31,000 Who are these kind of people? 243 00:12:31,000 --> 00:12:36,000 Well, verse 13, for when God made promise to Abraham, 244 00:12:36,000 --> 00:12:39,000 because he could swear by no greater, he swore by himself 245 00:12:39,000 --> 00:12:43,000 saying, surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I 246 00:12:43,000 --> 00:12:45,000 will multiply thee. 247 00:12:45,000 --> 00:12:49,000 So the author is saying, hey, I want you to live a life of 248 00:12:49,000 --> 00:12:51,000 confidence in God. 249 00:12:51,000 --> 00:12:53,000 When you live in confidence in God, God grows you through 250 00:12:53,000 --> 00:12:57,000 faith, he grows you in maturity, and as you do that, 251 00:12:57,000 --> 00:12:59,000 you're going to inherit all these promises that God has for 252 00:12:59,000 --> 00:13:01,000 you. 253 00:13:01,000 --> 00:13:05,000 He says, let me tell you about God's resume of promise making. 254 00:13:05,000 --> 00:13:08,000 Remember Father Abraham? 255 00:13:08,000 --> 00:13:10,000 He had many sons. 256 00:13:10,000 --> 00:13:12,000 Many sons. 257 00:13:12,000 --> 00:13:16,000 Had Father Abraham. 258 00:13:16,000 --> 00:13:19,000 I am one of them. 259 00:13:19,000 --> 00:13:22,000 So are you. 260 00:13:22,000 --> 00:13:23,000 Remember Abraham? 261 00:13:23,000 --> 00:13:27,000 God promised, he made incredible promises to Abraham. 262 00:13:27,000 --> 00:13:29,000 Here's example number one. 263 00:13:29,000 --> 00:13:30,000 What? 264 00:13:30,000 --> 00:13:33,000 And he says here that when God made a promise to Abraham, 265 00:13:33,000 --> 00:13:37,000 he did something, he ensured, he says, listen, you can trust me, 266 00:13:37,000 --> 00:13:39,000 Abraham, I'm going to swear by something. 267 00:13:39,000 --> 00:13:43,000 And it says, because he could swear by no greater, 268 00:13:43,000 --> 00:13:46,000 he swear by what? 269 00:13:46,000 --> 00:13:48,000 Himself. 270 00:13:48,000 --> 00:13:51,000 Saying surely I will bless thee and multiply thee. 271 00:13:51,000 --> 00:13:56,000 Now, when he made a promise to Abraham, he swore on his own name. 272 00:13:56,000 --> 00:13:58,000 When did this happen? 273 00:13:58,000 --> 00:14:01,000 You remember the scene in the Bible with Abraham where God comes 274 00:14:01,000 --> 00:14:05,000 to Abraham and says, I want you to sacrifice your son, 275 00:14:05,000 --> 00:14:08,000 your only son, Isaac? 276 00:14:08,000 --> 00:14:10,000 God had promised Abraham. 277 00:14:10,000 --> 00:14:11,000 You guys remember this? 278 00:14:11,000 --> 00:14:13,000 God had promised Abraham, hey, you're going to be the father 279 00:14:13,000 --> 00:14:15,000 of a great nation. 280 00:14:15,000 --> 00:14:18,000 Look up at the stars, Abraham. 281 00:14:18,000 --> 00:14:22,000 Your progeny, your people are going to be like the number 282 00:14:22,000 --> 00:14:25,000 of the stars in the sky. 283 00:14:25,000 --> 00:14:28,000 You're going to be like the number of the sands on the seashore. 284 00:14:28,000 --> 00:14:30,000 You're going to have kids, and you know what the problem was? 285 00:14:30,000 --> 00:14:35,000 He was old and he had no kids. 286 00:14:35,000 --> 00:14:37,000 God made him a promise. 287 00:14:37,000 --> 00:14:39,000 He's like, how is this going to work out? 288 00:14:39,000 --> 00:14:42,000 You know, sometimes it's hard to believe God's promises 289 00:14:42,000 --> 00:14:45,000 when you're in the middle of whatever you're going through. 290 00:14:45,000 --> 00:14:50,000 He says he made this promise to him, and then after he actually 291 00:14:50,000 --> 00:14:53,000 and Abraham did what all of us tend to do, sometimes you want 292 00:14:53,000 --> 00:14:56,000 the promise of God, but you don't want to wait on God. 293 00:14:56,000 --> 00:15:01,000 And so he went and tried to have kids with his sons, 294 00:15:01,000 --> 00:15:04,000 what started with his wife's hand made, and that brought him 295 00:15:04,000 --> 00:15:07,000 another son, and man, there's been all kinds of pain 296 00:15:07,000 --> 00:15:11,000 that's come from that decision to this day. 297 00:15:11,000 --> 00:15:16,000 But Abraham eventually did believe God, and he had this son, Isaac. 298 00:15:16,000 --> 00:15:19,000 This was the son of promise, and God said, Abraham, 299 00:15:19,000 --> 00:15:23,000 I want you to take your son, your only son, Isaac, 300 00:15:23,000 --> 00:15:26,000 and I want you to sacrifice him to me. 301 00:15:26,000 --> 00:15:28,000 Talk about having to believe God. 302 00:15:28,000 --> 00:15:32,000 And so it says that Abraham got up early. 303 00:15:32,000 --> 00:15:36,000 He took his servants, and he took his wood, 304 00:15:36,000 --> 00:15:38,000 and he took his donkey, he took his son, and they went up 305 00:15:38,000 --> 00:15:40,000 on that mountain. 306 00:15:40,000 --> 00:15:44,000 At one point, Isaac even says, hey, Dad, I see the fire, 307 00:15:44,000 --> 00:15:48,000 I see the wood, where's the sacrifice, and what did Abraham 308 00:15:48,000 --> 00:15:54,000 say? God will provide himself a lamb. 309 00:15:54,000 --> 00:15:58,000 He laid Isaac on that altar, and right as he was about to do 310 00:15:58,000 --> 00:16:02,000 what God said, look at Genesis 22, 10, it'll be up on the screen. 311 00:16:02,000 --> 00:16:06,000 Abraham stretched for this hand and took the knife to slay him, 312 00:16:06,000 --> 00:16:09,000 and the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven and said, 313 00:16:09,000 --> 00:16:15,000 Abraham, Abraham, and he said, here am I. 314 00:16:15,000 --> 00:16:18,000 And he said, lay not thy hand upon the lad, 315 00:16:18,000 --> 00:16:22,000 neither do anything unto him, for now I know that thou art 316 00:16:22,000 --> 00:16:23,000 fearless God. 317 00:16:23,000 --> 00:16:27,000 Sing thou hast not withheld thy son, thy only son for me. 318 00:16:27,000 --> 00:16:31,000 And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, 319 00:16:31,000 --> 00:16:40,000 behind him a ram, a substitute, caught in a thicket by his 320 00:16:40,000 --> 00:16:42,000 horns, and Abraham went and took the ram and offered him up 321 00:16:42,000 --> 00:16:45,000 for a burnt offering in the stead of his son. 322 00:16:45,000 --> 00:16:48,000 And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah Jireh, 323 00:16:48,000 --> 00:16:51,000 God, Jehovah will what? 324 00:16:51,000 --> 00:16:53,000 Provide. 325 00:16:53,000 --> 00:16:56,000 As it is said to this day in this moment of the Lord, 326 00:16:56,000 --> 00:16:57,000 it shall be seen. 327 00:16:57,000 --> 00:16:58,000 God stopped his hand. 328 00:16:58,000 --> 00:17:01,000 He provided a substitute ram for Isaac. 329 00:17:01,000 --> 00:17:06,000 And then in verse 15, God reaffirmed his word to Abraham. 330 00:17:06,000 --> 00:17:10,000 And the angel of the Lord called unto Abraham, verse 15, 331 00:17:10,000 --> 00:17:13,000 out of the heaven the second time and said, 332 00:17:13,000 --> 00:17:17,000 By myself have I sworn, sayeth the Lord, 333 00:17:17,000 --> 00:17:19,000 for because thou hast done this thing and hast not withheld 334 00:17:19,000 --> 00:17:22,000 thy only son, that in blessing I will bless thee, 335 00:17:22,000 --> 00:17:25,000 and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars 336 00:17:25,000 --> 00:17:28,000 of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the seashore, 337 00:17:28,000 --> 00:17:32,000 and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies, 338 00:17:32,000 --> 00:17:41,000 and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. 339 00:17:41,000 --> 00:17:42,000 Who's that talking about? 340 00:17:42,000 --> 00:17:45,000 Raise your hand. 341 00:17:45,000 --> 00:17:49,000 We've been blessed by Jesus, haven't we? 342 00:17:49,000 --> 00:17:54,000 Father Abraham had many sons, even in Finley, Ohio, 343 00:17:54,000 --> 00:17:59,000 right. 344 00:17:59,000 --> 00:18:03,000 If God would not have fulfilled his promise to Abraham, 345 00:18:03,000 --> 00:18:06,000 he would have ceased to be God. 346 00:18:06,000 --> 00:18:11,000 He himself, God reaffirmed his promise here, 347 00:18:11,000 --> 00:18:15,000 and the reassurance to Abraham that he would fulfill his promise 348 00:18:15,000 --> 00:18:19,000 to Abraham was himself. 349 00:18:19,000 --> 00:18:23,000 He said, I swear on me. 350 00:18:23,000 --> 00:18:25,000 He could swear on no greater. 351 00:18:25,000 --> 00:18:28,000 He's the standard to which he held the trustworthiness 352 00:18:28,000 --> 00:18:30,000 of his own words. 353 00:18:30,000 --> 00:18:32,000 If God would have not fulfilled his promise to Abraham, 354 00:18:32,000 --> 00:18:34,000 he would have ceased to be God. 355 00:18:34,000 --> 00:18:37,000 He is the standard. 356 00:18:37,000 --> 00:18:40,000 There is no standard outside and apart from God 357 00:18:40,000 --> 00:18:41,000 that God submits to. 358 00:18:41,000 --> 00:18:44,000 God himself is the standard. 359 00:18:44,000 --> 00:18:48,000 Right is right because it reflects who God is. 360 00:18:48,000 --> 00:18:51,000 Do you get it? 361 00:18:51,000 --> 00:18:57,000 That's why God says, be holy for I am holy. 362 00:18:57,000 --> 00:18:58,000 Look at what happened. 363 00:18:58,000 --> 00:19:00,000 Back to our passage. 364 00:19:00,000 --> 00:19:02,000 I'll read verse 13, 365 00:19:02,000 --> 00:19:04,000 for when God made a promise to Abraham 366 00:19:04,000 --> 00:19:05,000 because he could swear by no greater, 367 00:19:05,000 --> 00:19:09,000 he swore by himself saying, 368 00:19:09,000 --> 00:19:11,000 here's the promise. 369 00:19:11,000 --> 00:19:15,000 Surely I will bless thee. 370 00:19:15,000 --> 00:19:20,000 After he, Abraham, verse 15, 371 00:19:20,000 --> 00:19:25,000 patiently endured, he, what? 372 00:19:25,000 --> 00:19:28,000 Obtained the promise. 373 00:19:28,000 --> 00:19:30,000 What happened to Abraham? 374 00:19:30,000 --> 00:19:31,000 Is it warm in here? 375 00:19:31,000 --> 00:19:33,000 Am I putting you to sleep? 376 00:19:33,000 --> 00:19:37,000 Come on, stay with me. 377 00:19:37,000 --> 00:19:39,000 He patiently endured. 378 00:19:39,000 --> 00:19:42,000 This wasn't an active obedience. 379 00:19:42,000 --> 00:19:45,000 He didn't just sit around. 380 00:19:45,000 --> 00:19:46,000 When God told him to do something, 381 00:19:46,000 --> 00:19:49,000 he believed God and stood up and did it. 382 00:19:49,000 --> 00:19:51,000 When he was told that he would be a father of great nation, 383 00:19:51,000 --> 00:19:53,000 not trying to be classier today, 384 00:19:53,000 --> 00:19:54,000 but he and his wife did that, 385 00:19:54,000 --> 00:19:57,000 which was necessary to be parents. 386 00:19:57,000 --> 00:20:01,000 He believed God and then he obtained the promise. 387 00:20:01,000 --> 00:20:04,000 He trusted God and God was true to his word 388 00:20:04,000 --> 00:20:06,000 and to his character. 389 00:20:06,000 --> 00:20:10,000 He was an example of verse 12. 390 00:20:10,000 --> 00:20:12,000 Look back at your text. 391 00:20:12,000 --> 00:20:14,000 Hebrews 6-12, that you be not slothful, 392 00:20:14,000 --> 00:20:18,000 but followers of them who through faith 393 00:20:18,000 --> 00:20:23,000 Abraham believed God and it was countered under him as righteousness, 394 00:20:23,000 --> 00:20:28,000 who through faith and patience inherited the promises. 395 00:20:28,000 --> 00:20:33,000 God gave father Abraham exactly what he promised him. 396 00:20:33,000 --> 00:20:35,000 He had the son of promise. 397 00:20:35,000 --> 00:20:38,000 He had trust in God. 398 00:20:38,000 --> 00:20:41,000 He became the father of a great nation. 399 00:20:41,000 --> 00:20:43,000 He obtained the promise. 400 00:20:43,000 --> 00:20:46,000 And I want you guys to know this today. 401 00:20:46,000 --> 00:20:52,000 We can trust that God is going to do exactly what he says he will do. 402 00:20:52,000 --> 00:20:53,000 We can trust that. 403 00:20:53,000 --> 00:20:56,000 We can live in light of that because God has an incredible, 404 00:20:56,000 --> 00:21:00,000 incredible record and resume of keeping his promises. 405 00:21:00,000 --> 00:21:04,000 Our God is a promise keeping God. 406 00:21:04,000 --> 00:21:08,000 One way we know that is God was an incredible resume. 407 00:21:08,000 --> 00:21:10,000 What God promised to Abraham, he did. 408 00:21:10,000 --> 00:21:12,000 What he promised to Moses, he did. 409 00:21:12,000 --> 00:21:15,000 What he promised to David, he did and is doing. 410 00:21:15,000 --> 00:21:19,000 What he promised to Mary and Joseph, he did. 411 00:21:19,000 --> 00:21:24,000 This can be also a terrifying thing. 412 00:21:24,000 --> 00:21:26,000 What he promised Adam and Eve, 413 00:21:26,000 --> 00:21:28,000 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, 414 00:21:28,000 --> 00:21:30,000 thou shalt not eat of it, for in the day thou eatest thereof, 415 00:21:30,000 --> 00:21:33,000 thou shalt surely die. 416 00:21:33,000 --> 00:21:38,000 God keeps his promises. 417 00:21:38,000 --> 00:21:42,000 It can be an incredible thing to know that God keeps his word. 418 00:21:42,000 --> 00:21:47,000 You can live in assurance of God and who he is and his promises 419 00:21:47,000 --> 00:21:50,000 because of his incredible record of promise keeping. 420 00:21:50,000 --> 00:21:56,000 Number two, because God's character is unchanging. 421 00:21:56,000 --> 00:22:01,000 Number one is true because number two is true. 422 00:22:01,000 --> 00:22:02,000 Are you with me? 423 00:22:02,000 --> 00:22:05,000 Number one, he has a great record of it because number two, 424 00:22:05,000 --> 00:22:10,000 God's character is unchanging. 425 00:22:10,000 --> 00:22:12,000 Number three, God doesn't change. 426 00:22:12,000 --> 00:22:16,000 Verse 16, for men verily swear by the greater. 427 00:22:16,000 --> 00:22:21,000 And an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife. 428 00:22:21,000 --> 00:22:23,000 You know, when we swear, when we make an oath, 429 00:22:23,000 --> 00:22:26,000 we must swear on something greater than ourselves. 430 00:22:26,000 --> 00:22:28,000 There have been circumstances in history 431 00:22:28,000 --> 00:22:31,000 where large deals were affirmed by a handshake. 432 00:22:31,000 --> 00:22:35,000 Do you remember a time in America where that was the case? 433 00:22:35,000 --> 00:22:38,000 Where when you made a deal, you could shake somebody's hand 434 00:22:38,000 --> 00:22:41,000 and sometimes trust, you often trust the person 435 00:22:41,000 --> 00:22:43,000 because their word was their bond. 436 00:22:43,000 --> 00:22:45,000 That hasn't been the case in most of all of history. 437 00:22:45,000 --> 00:22:48,000 When you buy a house, there's a stack of paper, 438 00:22:48,000 --> 00:22:51,000 a ream thick of all the things that must be signed. 439 00:22:51,000 --> 00:22:55,000 Every new document that needs to be signed has some story behind it 440 00:22:55,000 --> 00:22:57,000 of someone who cheated, stole, lied, 441 00:22:57,000 --> 00:22:59,000 or did something else to get the advantage. 442 00:22:59,000 --> 00:23:01,000 Am I wrong? 443 00:23:01,000 --> 00:23:04,000 It's so funny when I was in Bible college, 444 00:23:04,000 --> 00:23:06,000 we had a handbook and the handbook had all the rules 445 00:23:06,000 --> 00:23:09,000 and the handbook got bigger every year 446 00:23:09,000 --> 00:23:13,000 because we kept coming up with things that we would do 447 00:23:13,000 --> 00:23:15,000 that they didn't put in the handbook. 448 00:23:15,000 --> 00:23:17,000 So you go back to the rules in the handbook and go, 449 00:23:17,000 --> 00:23:20,000 oh yeah, that one right there, that's Todd. 450 00:23:20,000 --> 00:23:22,000 And that one right there, that's Jimmy. 451 00:23:22,000 --> 00:23:24,000 Remember that? 452 00:23:24,000 --> 00:23:28,000 My point is every new document has to be signed 453 00:23:28,000 --> 00:23:30,000 because someone cheated, stole, or lied. 454 00:23:30,000 --> 00:23:33,000 Mr. Banker, Mr. Lawyer, Mr. Person, 455 00:23:33,000 --> 00:23:35,000 I'm buying this item from you can trust in me 456 00:23:35,000 --> 00:23:37,000 because I'm John Doe. 457 00:23:37,000 --> 00:23:39,000 Does that work? 458 00:23:39,000 --> 00:23:42,000 This is not really an adequate solution for doing business. 459 00:23:42,000 --> 00:23:48,000 We make oaths, but we do it based on something greater than ourselves. 460 00:23:48,000 --> 00:23:51,000 You ever hear somebody say, man, I promise you, 461 00:23:51,000 --> 00:23:54,000 I'll do it, I swear on my mother's grave. 462 00:23:54,000 --> 00:23:55,000 What are we doing? 463 00:23:55,000 --> 00:23:57,000 We're appealing to something bigger than ourselves. 464 00:23:57,000 --> 00:24:01,000 When you go to court and you testify, what do you do? 465 00:24:01,000 --> 00:24:04,000 Put your hand on the Bible. 466 00:24:04,000 --> 00:24:07,000 You still do that, right? 467 00:24:07,000 --> 00:24:09,000 You're swearing to tell the truth, the whole truth, 468 00:24:09,000 --> 00:24:13,000 nothing but the truth, so help me God. 469 00:24:13,000 --> 00:24:16,000 We're pointing to something more sacred or greater than ourselves 470 00:24:16,000 --> 00:24:18,000 so that people know how serious we are. 471 00:24:18,000 --> 00:24:21,000 We sign contracts and bind ourselves legally, 472 00:24:21,000 --> 00:24:25,000 making oaths that bind us. 473 00:24:25,000 --> 00:24:28,000 But verse 17 tells me, it says, 474 00:24:28,000 --> 00:24:31,000 wearing God willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs, 475 00:24:31,000 --> 00:24:35,000 the heirs of promise, the immutability of his own counsel, 476 00:24:35,000 --> 00:24:37,000 confirmed it by an oath. 477 00:24:37,000 --> 00:24:41,000 God did two things for Abraham that are talked about in this text. 478 00:24:41,000 --> 00:24:44,000 He made a promise that promises what he would do for Abraham, 479 00:24:44,000 --> 00:24:46,000 and then he made an oath. 480 00:24:46,000 --> 00:24:49,000 He confirmed that promise with an oath, 481 00:24:49,000 --> 00:24:56,000 and that oath was based on himself, his own unchanging character. 482 00:24:56,000 --> 00:24:59,000 What was God trying to show Abraham and us? 483 00:24:59,000 --> 00:25:02,000 His counsel is immutable. 484 00:25:02,000 --> 00:25:04,000 This means his word does not change. 485 00:25:04,000 --> 00:25:09,000 He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. 486 00:25:09,000 --> 00:25:12,000 When God obligates himself to something, 487 00:25:12,000 --> 00:25:14,000 you can take it to the bank. 488 00:25:14,000 --> 00:25:18,000 He's going to do it. 489 00:25:18,000 --> 00:25:21,000 And God can swear by himself 490 00:25:21,000 --> 00:25:23,000 because his character is in changing. 491 00:25:23,000 --> 00:25:29,000 What God said he will do, period, end of discussion. 492 00:25:29,000 --> 00:25:32,000 So it gets us to verse 18. 493 00:25:32,000 --> 00:25:33,000 What was the point? 494 00:25:33,000 --> 00:25:37,000 Verse 18, that by two immutable things, 495 00:25:37,000 --> 00:25:40,000 his promise and his oath, that's what he's talking about, 496 00:25:40,000 --> 00:25:47,000 by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie, 497 00:25:47,000 --> 00:25:52,000 we might have a strong consolation. 498 00:25:52,000 --> 00:25:53,000 You know what that means? 499 00:25:53,000 --> 00:25:58,000 Not only does God not lie, that's his record, 500 00:25:58,000 --> 00:26:03,000 it's impossible for him to lie, that's his character. 501 00:26:03,000 --> 00:26:06,000 He doesn't lie, that's his record, 502 00:26:06,000 --> 00:26:09,000 it's impossible for him to lie, that's his character. 503 00:26:09,000 --> 00:26:11,000 He is, Jesus said it this way, 504 00:26:11,000 --> 00:26:18,000 I am the way, the truth, and the life, right? 505 00:26:18,000 --> 00:26:21,000 If he was able to lie, he ceases to be God. 506 00:26:21,000 --> 00:26:23,000 He makes a promise, he makes an oath. 507 00:26:23,000 --> 00:26:25,000 What does that mean for us? 508 00:26:25,000 --> 00:26:31,000 Well, he says that we might have a strong consolation. 509 00:26:31,000 --> 00:26:34,000 The word for consolation is periclaseus, 510 00:26:34,000 --> 00:26:38,000 which means help or comfort or edification or encouragement. 511 00:26:38,000 --> 00:26:41,000 It's also a word that is closely related to a word 512 00:26:41,000 --> 00:26:46,000 that we use for the Holy Spirit, pericletos, comforter. 513 00:26:46,000 --> 00:26:48,000 We call the Holy Spirit, 514 00:26:48,000 --> 00:26:52,000 have you ever heard someone refer to the Holy Spirit as our periclete? 515 00:26:52,000 --> 00:26:55,000 He's our helper, he's our comforter. 516 00:26:55,000 --> 00:26:57,000 The character of God that is unchanging 517 00:26:57,000 --> 00:27:00,000 can be a great comfort to us because we can always know 518 00:27:00,000 --> 00:27:06,000 what God will do based on his word. 519 00:27:06,000 --> 00:27:08,000 As Pastor Corey is going to talk about tonight, 520 00:27:08,000 --> 00:27:10,000 there are some who question if there's a God 521 00:27:10,000 --> 00:27:13,000 because of the evil that happens in the world. 522 00:27:13,000 --> 00:27:15,000 They look at the evil that goes on and say, 523 00:27:15,000 --> 00:27:20,000 there couldn't be a God because God wouldn't allow those bad things. 524 00:27:20,000 --> 00:27:22,000 If there's a God, what if all these bad things happen? 525 00:27:22,000 --> 00:27:26,000 But the truth is that they're holding to a standard 526 00:27:26,000 --> 00:27:28,000 that God himself gave them and that without him 527 00:27:28,000 --> 00:27:30,000 they would not know or hold. 528 00:27:30,000 --> 00:27:36,000 If we are just the ends of accidental means, 529 00:27:36,000 --> 00:27:40,000 if we are just the ends of accidental means, 530 00:27:40,000 --> 00:27:43,000 if nothing blew up and made everything, 531 00:27:43,000 --> 00:27:46,000 apart from a great designer, 532 00:27:46,000 --> 00:27:49,000 then we're just moist robots 533 00:27:49,000 --> 00:27:55,000 because we just do what our cells tell us to do. 534 00:27:55,000 --> 00:27:58,000 You can't trust your brain because your brain is the end. 535 00:27:58,000 --> 00:28:02,000 If all that happened was chance plus time 536 00:28:02,000 --> 00:28:05,000 and that's how we got here, 537 00:28:05,000 --> 00:28:07,000 you get my point? 538 00:28:07,000 --> 00:28:09,000 Why do you trust your brain? 539 00:28:09,000 --> 00:28:16,000 You're just thinking what you were accidentally conditioned to think. 540 00:28:16,000 --> 00:28:19,000 But God has a standard. 541 00:28:19,000 --> 00:28:22,000 The reason people don't want people to murder and kill 542 00:28:22,000 --> 00:28:27,000 and steal and lie is because that's a reflection of who God is. 543 00:28:27,000 --> 00:28:30,000 God's put that on our hearts, that law on our hearts. 544 00:28:30,000 --> 00:28:34,000 Right and wrong is wrong because God himself is the standard. 545 00:28:34,000 --> 00:28:37,000 Right is just a reflection of who God is himself. 546 00:28:37,000 --> 00:28:42,000 We can take comfort in knowing that God's character is sure and predictable. 547 00:28:42,000 --> 00:28:45,000 You know as I study this passage, this is amazing, 548 00:28:45,000 --> 00:28:49,000 I literally experience the truth of this passage and the comfort that it brought. 549 00:28:49,000 --> 00:28:54,000 He says here, we have strong consolation. 550 00:28:54,000 --> 00:28:58,000 I remember the first time someone brought to me Hebrews chapter 6 551 00:28:58,000 --> 00:29:02,000 and they brought it to my attention as a proof that we could lose our salvation. 552 00:29:02,000 --> 00:29:12,000 They went to verse 4 and said, hey, look, we can fall away from salvation 553 00:29:12,000 --> 00:29:17,000 and we can't repent anymore and you can lose your salvation. 554 00:29:17,000 --> 00:29:21,000 What's amazing is if you just read verse 6 and you don't read it in the whole context, 555 00:29:21,000 --> 00:29:23,000 you can get there. 556 00:29:23,000 --> 00:29:26,000 You think, oh, I can lose your salvation. 557 00:29:26,000 --> 00:29:30,000 But the truth of the matter is it's saying exactly opposite of that. 558 00:29:30,000 --> 00:29:35,000 It's saying that God makes promises and you should live in light of those promises 559 00:29:35,000 --> 00:29:39,000 because when God makes a promise, he doesn't lie. 560 00:29:39,000 --> 00:29:43,000 You can live in light of the fact that God says, for instance, 561 00:29:43,000 --> 00:29:46,000 for God to love the world that he gave his only begotten son, 562 00:29:46,000 --> 00:29:53,000 that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. 563 00:29:53,000 --> 00:29:56,000 Nothing can separate from the life of God. 564 00:29:56,000 --> 00:29:58,000 That's the promise he's making. 565 00:29:58,000 --> 00:30:03,000 The whole point that the author is trying to teach us is you can trust God. 566 00:30:03,000 --> 00:30:07,000 The fear that comes from thinking that my salvation that I could not earn 567 00:30:07,000 --> 00:30:09,000 was up to me to keep is more than stressful. 568 00:30:09,000 --> 00:30:14,000 There's no consolation in thinking that I have to earn the right to keep my own salvation. 569 00:30:14,000 --> 00:30:17,000 This passage is saying exactly the opposite of that. 570 00:30:17,000 --> 00:30:22,000 You could not earn your salvation and you could not keep your salvation. 571 00:30:22,000 --> 00:30:30,000 God is the one that keeps us because God keeps his promises. 572 00:30:30,000 --> 00:30:36,000 He says, back to verse 18, that by two immutable things and which was impossible for God to lie, 573 00:30:36,000 --> 00:30:48,000 we might have a strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us. 574 00:30:48,000 --> 00:30:54,000 Stay with me in these middle miles. It will make amazing sense in the end. 575 00:30:54,000 --> 00:31:01,000 He talks about in verse 18, he talks about us as refugees fleeing for refuge, 576 00:31:01,000 --> 00:31:03,000 fleeing for hope that is set before us. 577 00:31:03,000 --> 00:31:06,000 We're going to find out who that hope is in a minute. 578 00:31:06,000 --> 00:31:12,000 The word that is used in the Greek here is the same one used in the Septuagint to speak of the cities of refuge, 579 00:31:12,000 --> 00:31:14,000 something that God prescribed in the law. 580 00:31:14,000 --> 00:31:17,000 Remember, these are Jewish people reading this. 581 00:31:17,000 --> 00:31:22,000 When they heard this idea of fleeing for refuge, they go, oh, I remember what that was in the Old Testament. 582 00:31:22,000 --> 00:31:28,000 In Numbers 35, verse 9, it says this, and the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 583 00:31:28,000 --> 00:31:34,000 speak unto the children of Israel and say unto them, when ye become over Jordan into the land of Canaan, 584 00:31:34,000 --> 00:31:39,000 then ye shall appoint your cities to be cities of refuge for you, 585 00:31:39,000 --> 00:31:44,000 that the slayer may flee thither which killeth any person at unawares. 586 00:31:44,000 --> 00:31:48,000 And they shall be unto you cities for refuge from the avenger, 587 00:31:48,000 --> 00:31:55,000 that the man slayer die not until he stand before the congregation in judgment. 588 00:31:55,000 --> 00:31:58,000 Let me help you understand what he just said. 589 00:31:58,000 --> 00:32:02,000 In the ancient world, and even in some of the parts of the world today, 590 00:32:02,000 --> 00:32:07,000 there is reciprocity that comes when someone is part of someone's death. 591 00:32:07,000 --> 00:32:10,000 I spoke with a friend this week, my buddy Adam, 592 00:32:10,000 --> 00:32:15,000 who is a missionary in a part of the world where stop signs are just suggestions, 593 00:32:15,000 --> 00:32:22,000 and where most everyone rides on scooters and mopeds and small engine motorcycles. 594 00:32:22,000 --> 00:32:27,000 And he told me that here recently, his wife had been in a driving accident 595 00:32:27,000 --> 00:32:33,000 where she was struck by somebody, a native from that land, who got hurt 596 00:32:33,000 --> 00:32:39,000 because she is in a larger vehicle and he is on a small moped. 597 00:32:39,000 --> 00:32:44,000 And he had a kid on the back and they got hurt, not majorly, but they got hurt. 598 00:32:44,000 --> 00:32:47,000 And he told me that it was a real tense situation because in that part of the world, 599 00:32:47,000 --> 00:32:51,000 any time there is ever any kind of accident, it is kind of automatic 600 00:32:51,000 --> 00:32:58,000 that the Westerner, the American, is the one at fault even when they are not at fault. 601 00:32:58,000 --> 00:33:02,000 And if the Westerner who has a lot more money than the average person there, 602 00:33:02,000 --> 00:33:06,000 it is almost like this is my opportunity to make a lot of money. 603 00:33:06,000 --> 00:33:10,000 And so you are almost automatically going to be guilty. 604 00:33:10,000 --> 00:33:16,000 And there are times where there is a missionary, I read a book called The Peace Child, 605 00:33:16,000 --> 00:33:20,000 talking about how that when different warring tribes in some part of the world, 606 00:33:20,000 --> 00:33:23,000 when one person gets killed, then everybody has to avenge that killing. 607 00:33:23,000 --> 00:33:26,000 And then when they do that, then all these people have to avenge that killing, 608 00:33:26,000 --> 00:33:30,000 and right and left, back and forth, and it gets into this place where then tribes hate each other 609 00:33:30,000 --> 00:33:33,000 and they are trying to kill each other and they go to war. 610 00:33:33,000 --> 00:33:39,000 In the ancient world, that is what would happen, but sometimes things happen that are accidents. 611 00:33:39,000 --> 00:33:44,000 Sometimes in the ancient world, the world has been a brutal place, 612 00:33:44,000 --> 00:33:47,000 but you understand we live in a great time. 613 00:33:47,000 --> 00:33:54,000 And so what God is saying here is there are times where stuff happens and people get blamed. 614 00:33:54,000 --> 00:33:58,000 What we call manslaughter, right? 615 00:33:58,000 --> 00:34:02,000 It is not murder or homicide with an intent, something that happens accidentally. 616 00:34:02,000 --> 00:34:05,000 He says what God did is he set up a part of the law that said, 617 00:34:05,000 --> 00:34:10,000 hey, if the person that was involved in that can get to a city of refuge, 618 00:34:10,000 --> 00:34:17,000 then that city is going to defend them long enough to make sure that they get a just hearing 619 00:34:17,000 --> 00:34:21,000 and that everything can get worked out and they won't just get killed by somebody else. 620 00:34:21,000 --> 00:34:27,000 It becomes a city of refuge. Do you understand? 621 00:34:27,000 --> 00:34:32,000 God prescribed cities of refuge from the Avenger, the person coming to claim the blood of another. 622 00:34:32,000 --> 00:34:38,000 In this situation, that city was the hope for that person being avenged. 623 00:34:38,000 --> 00:34:42,000 In our situation, here it is. Here is the illustration. 624 00:34:42,000 --> 00:34:51,000 The very unchanging character of God is the hope that we should flee to and find refuge. 625 00:34:51,000 --> 00:34:56,000 Jesus is our refuge. 626 00:34:56,000 --> 00:35:03,000 The difference is we are guilty. 627 00:35:03,000 --> 00:35:05,000 He is our only hope. 628 00:35:05,000 --> 00:35:11,000 You should live a life of confidence and assurance for four reasons. 629 00:35:11,000 --> 00:35:14,000 Because of God's record of promise keeping, because of God's character, 630 00:35:14,000 --> 00:35:17,000 here is where this gets important to us. 631 00:35:17,000 --> 00:35:23,000 Because of God's promise, it is made to us. 632 00:35:23,000 --> 00:35:29,000 What good is God's promise keeping if he never made us a promise? 633 00:35:29,000 --> 00:35:31,000 What good is it to us? 634 00:35:31,000 --> 00:35:37,000 But God has made promises to us. 635 00:35:37,000 --> 00:35:42,000 God has made promises to us. 636 00:35:42,000 --> 00:35:47,000 God has made promises to us. 637 00:35:47,000 --> 00:35:51,000 Does that make you excited? 638 00:35:51,000 --> 00:35:55,000 God who can't lie said he would do something for us. 639 00:35:55,000 --> 00:35:57,000 And he's going to do it. 640 00:35:57,000 --> 00:35:59,000 You can trust him. 641 00:35:59,000 --> 00:36:01,000 His character bears it out. 642 00:36:01,000 --> 00:36:03,000 His record bears out his character. 643 00:36:03,000 --> 00:36:05,000 And he has obligated himself to us. 644 00:36:05,000 --> 00:36:06,000 What do you mean? 645 00:36:06,000 --> 00:36:11,000 Verse 19, which hope we have. 646 00:36:11,000 --> 00:36:15,000 Which hope we have. 647 00:36:15,000 --> 00:36:19,000 We have it. 648 00:36:19,000 --> 00:36:24,000 I'm in a partnership with you when I preach that when I say something exciting, 649 00:36:24,000 --> 00:36:29,000 you got to get excited. 650 00:36:29,000 --> 00:36:36,000 The God of the universe has obligated himself to you. 651 00:36:36,000 --> 00:36:42,000 There's a hope that you can have, that you can realize, 652 00:36:42,000 --> 00:36:46,000 that lives in, that gives us confidence for eternity, 653 00:36:46,000 --> 00:36:52,000 but it also gives us confidence in 2023. 654 00:36:52,000 --> 00:36:56,000 We have an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast. 655 00:36:56,000 --> 00:36:59,000 Why is it so important that God has a promise keeping God? 656 00:36:59,000 --> 00:37:04,000 Because he's made a promise to mankind, and that promise is our only hope. 657 00:37:04,000 --> 00:37:08,000 In fact, he mentioned hope at the end of verse 18, the hope set before us. 658 00:37:08,000 --> 00:37:11,000 Verse 19 clearly refers to it again. 659 00:37:11,000 --> 00:37:14,000 Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul. 660 00:37:14,000 --> 00:37:18,000 It goes on to say, in which entereth into the veil, 661 00:37:18,000 --> 00:37:22,000 even Jesus Christ. 662 00:37:22,000 --> 00:37:24,000 Who's the strong consolation? 663 00:37:24,000 --> 00:37:26,000 Who's the hope? 664 00:37:26,000 --> 00:37:29,000 Who's the anchor? 665 00:37:29,000 --> 00:37:34,000 My anchor holds within the veil. 666 00:37:34,000 --> 00:37:38,000 Jesus is our only hope. 667 00:37:38,000 --> 00:37:43,000 Sing with joy now, our God is for us. 668 00:37:43,000 --> 00:37:47,000 The Father's love is a strong and mighty fortress. 669 00:37:47,000 --> 00:37:49,000 Did that what we just sang? 670 00:37:49,000 --> 00:37:51,000 Did you sing with joy? 671 00:37:51,000 --> 00:37:56,000 If you didn't, it's because it got past you. 672 00:37:56,000 --> 00:37:59,000 2 Corinthians 5, 14, for the love of Christ constrained with us, 673 00:37:59,000 --> 00:38:04,000 because this we thus judge that if one died for all, 674 00:38:04,000 --> 00:38:07,000 then we're all dead, and that he died for all, 675 00:38:07,000 --> 00:38:11,000 that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, 676 00:38:11,000 --> 00:38:15,000 but unto him which died for them and rose again. 677 00:38:15,000 --> 00:38:18,000 Wherefore hath hath hath hath no man after the flesh, 678 00:38:18,000 --> 00:38:21,000 yet though we have known Christ after the flesh, 679 00:38:21,000 --> 00:38:24,000 yet now hath hath hath no we, him no more. 680 00:38:24,000 --> 00:38:29,000 Therefore, therefore, therefore, if any man be in Christ, 681 00:38:29,000 --> 00:38:32,000 he is a new creature. 682 00:38:32,000 --> 00:38:37,000 The old things are passed away, be cold, all things are become new. 683 00:38:37,000 --> 00:38:41,000 Jesus is our only hope. 684 00:38:41,000 --> 00:38:44,000 He is our sure and steady anchor. 685 00:38:44,000 --> 00:38:47,000 He is our strong consolation. 686 00:38:47,000 --> 00:38:50,000 When life is crazy and people are disloyal, 687 00:38:50,000 --> 00:38:54,000 and temptation is great, and it seems like Satan is after us, 688 00:38:54,000 --> 00:39:02,000 and the sound system's not working the way we want it to. 689 00:39:02,000 --> 00:39:06,000 And everybody, everything you hoped would happen doesn't necessarily happen. 690 00:39:06,000 --> 00:39:08,000 When I have reason to doubt myself, 691 00:39:08,000 --> 00:39:10,000 and I'm tempted to doubt my own salvation, 692 00:39:10,000 --> 00:39:15,000 when I'm tempted to go back to what I did before I got saved, 693 00:39:15,000 --> 00:39:17,000 and to act like that, 694 00:39:17,000 --> 00:39:21,000 when I'm tempted to doubt the goodness of God, 695 00:39:21,000 --> 00:39:25,000 when things aren't going the way I want them to, 696 00:39:25,000 --> 00:39:28,000 when I'm tempted to think that God's not trustworthy, 697 00:39:28,000 --> 00:39:33,000 when I'm tempted to start believing the news, 698 00:39:33,000 --> 00:39:36,000 it's all fake news. 699 00:39:36,000 --> 00:39:39,000 Or to believe more in the United States of America 700 00:39:39,000 --> 00:39:42,000 and the free market that I believe in God. 701 00:39:42,000 --> 00:39:45,000 When I'm in the midst of all the storms of life, 702 00:39:45,000 --> 00:39:47,000 I want you to know, 703 00:39:47,000 --> 00:39:50,000 I have an anchor of the soul. 704 00:39:50,000 --> 00:39:54,000 Sure and steadfast, all that stuff's going away. 705 00:39:54,000 --> 00:39:58,000 He will not. 706 00:39:58,000 --> 00:40:01,000 The anchor is in the person, 707 00:40:01,000 --> 00:40:07,000 the only hope we have, Jesus Christ. 708 00:40:07,000 --> 00:40:11,000 When I fear my faith will fail, 709 00:40:11,000 --> 00:40:13,000 Christ will hold me fast. 710 00:40:13,000 --> 00:40:16,000 When the tempter would prevail, 711 00:40:16,000 --> 00:40:18,000 He will hold me fast. 712 00:40:18,000 --> 00:40:22,000 I could never keep my hold through life's fearful path, 713 00:40:22,000 --> 00:40:25,000 for my love is often cold. 714 00:40:25,000 --> 00:40:28,000 He must hold me fast. 715 00:40:28,000 --> 00:40:31,000 He will hold me fast. 716 00:40:31,000 --> 00:40:42,000 He will hold me fast for my Savior. 717 00:40:42,000 --> 00:40:47,000 For my Savior loves me so. 718 00:40:47,000 --> 00:40:50,000 He loves you. 719 00:40:50,000 --> 00:40:55,000 You can't hold on to you. 720 00:40:55,000 --> 00:40:57,000 He will hold me fast. 721 00:40:57,000 --> 00:41:00,000 Those he saves are his delight. 722 00:41:00,000 --> 00:41:02,000 Christ will hold me fast. 723 00:41:02,000 --> 00:41:04,000 Precious in his holy sight, 724 00:41:04,000 --> 00:41:06,000 he will hold me fast. 725 00:41:06,000 --> 00:41:09,000 He will not let my soul be lost. 726 00:41:09,000 --> 00:41:14,000 His promises shall last. 727 00:41:14,000 --> 00:41:18,000 Bought by him at such a cost. 728 00:41:18,000 --> 00:41:23,000 He will hold me fast. 729 00:41:23,000 --> 00:41:26,000 For my life he bled and died. 730 00:41:26,000 --> 00:41:28,000 Christ will hold me fast. 731 00:41:28,000 --> 00:41:30,000 Justice has been satisfied. 732 00:41:30,000 --> 00:41:33,000 He will hold me fast. 733 00:41:33,000 --> 00:41:37,000 Raised with him to endless life. 734 00:41:37,000 --> 00:41:39,000 He will hold me fast. 735 00:41:39,000 --> 00:41:42,000 Till our faith is turned to sight. 736 00:41:42,000 --> 00:41:44,000 He's coming back. 737 00:41:44,000 --> 00:41:46,000 When he comes at last, 738 00:41:46,000 --> 00:41:49,000 he will hold me fast. 739 00:41:49,000 --> 00:41:51,000 He will hold me fast. 740 00:41:51,000 --> 00:41:54,000 For my Savior loves me so. 741 00:41:54,000 --> 00:41:57,000 He will hold me fast. 742 00:41:57,000 --> 00:42:00,000 He is our anchor. 743 00:42:00,000 --> 00:42:05,000 He is our strong consolation. 744 00:42:05,000 --> 00:42:10,000 Why do you need to find your assurance in God? 745 00:42:10,000 --> 00:42:14,000 Find your Father, God, the Son, God, the Holy Spirit? 746 00:42:14,000 --> 00:42:21,000 Well, because he has an incredible record. 747 00:42:21,000 --> 00:42:24,000 He does have an incredible record of promise keeping 748 00:42:24,000 --> 00:42:26,000 because that's his character too. 749 00:42:26,000 --> 00:42:27,000 He is. 750 00:42:27,000 --> 00:42:29,000 If he stops being that, he stops being God. 751 00:42:29,000 --> 00:42:30,000 And he doesn't change. 752 00:42:30,000 --> 00:42:32,000 He cannot lie. 753 00:42:32,000 --> 00:42:37,000 He's made promises to us which hope we have. 754 00:42:37,000 --> 00:42:39,000 We have it. 755 00:42:39,000 --> 00:42:47,000 Number four, because God's Son is representing us. 756 00:42:47,000 --> 00:42:50,000 I'm glad I get my points from the passage 757 00:42:50,000 --> 00:42:55,000 because it just ends here in this incredible way. 758 00:42:55,000 --> 00:42:58,000 Back to verse 19, be here with me. 759 00:42:58,000 --> 00:43:01,000 Which hope we have as an anchor for the soul, 760 00:43:01,000 --> 00:43:03,000 both sure and steadfast, 761 00:43:03,000 --> 00:43:10,000 and which entereth into that within the veil. 762 00:43:10,000 --> 00:43:14,000 Whether the forerunner is for us entered, 763 00:43:14,000 --> 00:43:22,000 even Jesus made a high priest forever, 764 00:43:22,000 --> 00:43:29,000 forever after the order of Melchizedek. 765 00:43:29,000 --> 00:43:31,000 Let's wrap this up in a tight bow. 766 00:43:31,000 --> 00:43:34,000 Are you ready? 767 00:43:34,000 --> 00:43:36,000 Going back to chapter 5 verse 11, 768 00:43:36,000 --> 00:43:39,000 which is where this whole thing started. 769 00:43:39,000 --> 00:43:40,000 Go back there real quick. 770 00:43:40,000 --> 00:43:42,000 I don't think it's on the screen. 771 00:43:42,000 --> 00:43:48,000 Hebrews 5, 11. 772 00:43:48,000 --> 00:43:52,000 The Scripture had been telling us, 773 00:43:52,000 --> 00:43:57,000 I've been preaching on it, 5, 1 to 9, 5, 1 to 10, 774 00:43:57,000 --> 00:44:00,000 that we have an incredible high priest. 775 00:44:00,000 --> 00:44:02,000 This priest is Jesus Christ. 776 00:44:02,000 --> 00:44:04,000 You know what a priest does, right? 777 00:44:04,000 --> 00:44:09,000 The priest represents us to God. 778 00:44:09,000 --> 00:44:14,000 And in verse 5 verse 11, he kind of pauses 779 00:44:14,000 --> 00:44:18,000 and says, of which we have many things to say, 780 00:44:18,000 --> 00:44:21,000 talking about this priest after the order of Melchizedek, 781 00:44:21,000 --> 00:44:23,000 and hard to be uttered, 782 00:44:23,000 --> 00:44:29,000 seeing that ye are dull of hearing. 783 00:44:29,000 --> 00:44:33,000 So he wants to keep talking about Christ as the high priest, 784 00:44:33,000 --> 00:44:34,000 but he pauses and says, 785 00:44:34,000 --> 00:44:37,000 now wait a minute, you guys aren't listening. 786 00:44:37,000 --> 00:44:39,000 What I mean by that is you're not obeying, 787 00:44:39,000 --> 00:44:41,000 you're dull of hearing. 788 00:44:41,000 --> 00:44:45,000 You're immature because you're still stuck on, 789 00:44:45,000 --> 00:44:48,000 you're still stuck on those primary things. 790 00:44:48,000 --> 00:44:52,000 The Scripture had been telling us about this incredible high priest, 791 00:44:52,000 --> 00:44:54,000 high priest Jesus, who's better than any priest 792 00:44:54,000 --> 00:44:56,000 that had ever represented us to God. 793 00:44:56,000 --> 00:45:00,000 He isn't an earthly priest that had to sacrifice for his own sins. 794 00:45:00,000 --> 00:45:03,000 He was a perfect priest that never sinned. 795 00:45:03,000 --> 00:45:09,000 He wasn't a priest for a while after the order of Aaron. 796 00:45:09,000 --> 00:45:12,000 He's a priest forever. 797 00:45:12,000 --> 00:45:17,000 He's a kingly royal priest. 798 00:45:17,000 --> 00:45:22,000 Jesus is going to reign and rule from Jerusalem. 799 00:45:22,000 --> 00:45:24,000 He's coming back. 800 00:45:24,000 --> 00:45:28,000 He's coming back. 801 00:45:28,000 --> 00:45:31,000 He's our kingly royal priest forever 802 00:45:31,000 --> 00:45:34,000 after the order of Melchizedek. 803 00:45:34,000 --> 00:45:37,000 He wants to say more about Jesus as priesthood, 804 00:45:37,000 --> 00:45:42,000 but he had paused and said that this is where his readers were dull of hearing and slothful. 805 00:45:42,000 --> 00:45:47,000 He told them that they were immature on a baby food diet and needed to be taught. 806 00:45:47,000 --> 00:45:50,000 They weren't ready for meat, they were stuck on baby food. 807 00:45:50,000 --> 00:45:53,000 So what he was telling when chapter 6 verse 1, 808 00:45:53,000 --> 00:45:56,000 he tells these Jewish believers, in essence, 809 00:45:56,000 --> 00:46:01,000 don't get to doubting that Jesus is everything I'm saying he is. Stop doubting. 810 00:46:01,000 --> 00:46:03,000 Jesus is greater. 811 00:46:03,000 --> 00:46:05,000 He's the greater high priest. 812 00:46:05,000 --> 00:46:07,000 He's better than Moses. He's better than the angels. 813 00:46:07,000 --> 00:46:10,000 And he's saying, you've tasted the heavenly gift. 814 00:46:10,000 --> 00:46:12,000 You already know what the Word of God says. 815 00:46:12,000 --> 00:46:16,000 You already know about this Jesus who's greater. 816 00:46:16,000 --> 00:46:18,000 Don't go backward. 817 00:46:18,000 --> 00:46:21,000 Don't go back to the old ways, the old ceremonies, 818 00:46:21,000 --> 00:46:25,000 the old ways of thinking that you used to have before Jesus came. 819 00:46:25,000 --> 00:46:29,000 Go forward. Why? Because you can trust God. 820 00:46:29,000 --> 00:46:35,000 Don't go back to the past ceremony that pointed to Jesus and missed Jesus. 821 00:46:35,000 --> 00:46:37,000 That's what he's saying. 822 00:46:37,000 --> 00:46:42,000 When God makes a promise, he keeps it. 823 00:46:42,000 --> 00:46:46,000 Move on. Grow up. Be mature. 824 00:46:46,000 --> 00:46:51,000 God the Father has an incredible resume of keeping his promises. 825 00:46:51,000 --> 00:46:54,000 God the Father has an unchanging character. 826 00:46:54,000 --> 00:46:59,000 God the Father has made the promise to us and he cannot lie. 827 00:46:59,000 --> 00:47:04,000 God the Father has given us this incredible hope in Jesus Christ 828 00:47:04,000 --> 00:47:12,000 who now lives, ever lives to make intercession behind the veil. 829 00:47:12,000 --> 00:47:14,000 In the Holy of Holies. 830 00:47:14,000 --> 00:47:15,000 He's where God is. 831 00:47:15,000 --> 00:47:18,000 The priest would go once a year into a veil 832 00:47:18,000 --> 00:47:22,000 and he would pour the blood of the Lamb on the mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant. 833 00:47:22,000 --> 00:47:25,000 And that would where God's manifest presence would be. 834 00:47:25,000 --> 00:47:32,000 And he was representing the people to God. 835 00:47:32,000 --> 00:47:39,000 Jesus is our high priest who has gone to heaven and now sits in the Holy of Holies. 836 00:47:39,000 --> 00:47:51,000 And he represents us to God. 837 00:47:51,000 --> 00:48:00,000 My anchor holds within the veil. 838 00:48:00,000 --> 00:48:07,000 People who wrote hymns read the Bible. 839 00:48:07,000 --> 00:48:12,000 Not just a long time ago, even today. 840 00:48:12,000 --> 00:48:16,000 And this hope isn't unsteady and unsure. 841 00:48:16,000 --> 00:48:20,000 No, this hope is an anchor for our souls. 842 00:48:20,000 --> 00:48:22,000 Sure and steadfast. 843 00:48:22,000 --> 00:48:31,000 We can have a strong consolation because of God's good will for us. 844 00:48:31,000 --> 00:48:38,000 There's a rest there for the people of God. 845 00:48:38,000 --> 00:48:44,000 My faith has found a resting place, not in device or creed. 846 00:48:44,000 --> 00:48:47,000 I trust the ever living one. 847 00:48:47,000 --> 00:48:50,000 His wounds for me shall plead. 848 00:48:50,000 --> 00:48:52,000 I need no other argument. 849 00:48:52,000 --> 00:48:55,000 I need no other plea. 850 00:48:55,000 --> 00:49:02,000 It is enough that Jesus died and that he died for me. 851 00:49:02,000 --> 00:49:06,000 Enough for me that Jesus saves this ends my fear and doubt. 852 00:49:06,000 --> 00:49:09,000 A sinful soul I come to him will never cast me out. 853 00:49:09,000 --> 00:49:13,000 My heart is leaning on the Word, the written Word of God. 854 00:49:13,000 --> 00:49:18,000 My salvation by my Savior's name, salvation through his blood. 855 00:49:18,000 --> 00:49:23,000 My great physician heals the sick, the lost he came to save. 856 00:49:23,000 --> 00:49:26,000 For me his precious blood was shed. 857 00:49:26,000 --> 00:49:28,000 For me his life he gave. 858 00:49:28,000 --> 00:49:31,000 I need no other argument. 859 00:49:31,000 --> 00:49:34,000 I need no other plea. 860 00:49:34,000 --> 00:49:38,000 It is enough that Jesus died. 861 00:49:38,000 --> 00:49:41,000 Point to him he died for two. 862 00:49:41,000 --> 00:49:45,000 He died for me. 863 00:49:45,000 --> 00:50:00,000 If you are living for basketball or for your job, 864 00:50:00,000 --> 00:50:06,000 if your anchor is trying to hold into this economy 865 00:50:06,000 --> 00:50:12,000 or into a political party or to anything other than Jesus, 866 00:50:12,000 --> 00:50:18,000 it is not sheer and steady. 867 00:50:18,000 --> 00:50:27,000 If you are trying to base your salvation on something other than Jesus, 868 00:50:27,000 --> 00:50:34,000 it is not going to work. 869 00:50:34,000 --> 00:50:39,000 Your anchor holds within the veil. 870 00:50:39,000 --> 00:50:42,000 Jesus is your only shop. 871 00:50:42,000 --> 00:50:46,000 Jesus is your only shop. 872 00:50:46,000 --> 00:50:50,000 And then once you realize that and once you live in that 873 00:50:50,000 --> 00:50:55,000 and once you believe that, man life can get like so much better. 874 00:50:55,000 --> 00:50:58,000 Now it doesn't mean that you won't have storms. 875 00:50:58,000 --> 00:51:02,000 He is an anchor. 876 00:51:02,000 --> 00:51:07,000 Ships still go through storms. 877 00:51:07,000 --> 00:51:13,000 But he told us, I'll never leave you nor forsake you. 878 00:51:13,000 --> 00:51:17,000 His promises shall last. 879 00:51:17,000 --> 00:51:20,000 So what's your anchor? 880 00:51:20,000 --> 00:51:22,000 What's your anchor? 881 00:51:22,000 --> 00:51:25,000 I know the Sunday school answer and some of you are saying it is Jesus, 882 00:51:25,000 --> 00:51:27,000 but is it? 883 00:51:27,000 --> 00:51:29,000 Is it? 884 00:51:29,000 --> 00:51:33,000 If you are here today and you don't know Jesus as your savior, 885 00:51:33,000 --> 00:51:36,000 I want you to know this. 886 00:51:36,000 --> 00:51:42,000 God loves you so much that he sent his son Jesus Christ, 887 00:51:42,000 --> 00:51:47,000 fully God and fully man, to come to this earth to live a perfect life. 888 00:51:47,000 --> 00:51:51,000 He never sinned because he can't. 889 00:51:51,000 --> 00:51:53,000 We call that the impeccability of Jesus. 890 00:51:53,000 --> 00:51:55,000 He can't sin. 891 00:51:55,000 --> 00:52:00,000 He was tempted in all points like as we are yet without sin. 892 00:52:00,000 --> 00:52:06,000 He kept the law that you could not keep and died the death that you and I deserve to die. 893 00:52:06,000 --> 00:52:14,000 God poured out his wrath, his anger, his judgment for your sin on Jesus. 894 00:52:14,000 --> 00:52:20,000 And if you would put your faith and trust, you repent from anything you're trusting in other than him. 895 00:52:20,000 --> 00:52:24,000 You repent of you acknowledge your sin, you acknowledge that you're wrong. 896 00:52:24,000 --> 00:52:28,000 You acknowledge that outside of him you have no shot at heaven. 897 00:52:28,000 --> 00:52:34,000 And you put your trust, your faith in God. 898 00:52:34,000 --> 00:52:40,000 I'm telling you, your faith will be well placed. 899 00:52:40,000 --> 00:52:46,000 He's not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. 900 00:52:46,000 --> 00:52:50,000 So when you put your faith in that and your confidence in that, you become one of his kids. 901 00:52:50,000 --> 00:52:52,000 He gives you a new identity. 902 00:52:52,000 --> 00:52:55,000 You're one of his, you're a saint, you're in Christ. 903 00:52:55,000 --> 00:52:57,000 And now you can go out and live. 904 00:52:57,000 --> 00:53:00,000 And it's not that you don't do business and sports and fun. 905 00:53:00,000 --> 00:53:02,000 It's not that you don't go live your life and have a family. 906 00:53:02,000 --> 00:53:05,000 It's just that you do it as someone who's put their faith and trust. 907 00:53:05,000 --> 00:53:10,000 You do it with assurance that those things aren't going to be what makes me right with God. 908 00:53:10,000 --> 00:53:13,000 Those things, even if they go away, they're not my identity. 909 00:53:13,000 --> 00:53:15,000 My identity is in Christ. 910 00:53:15,000 --> 00:53:19,000 He is a sure and steady anchor for me. 911 00:53:19,000 --> 00:53:22,000 And now I don't make idols of my kids. 912 00:53:22,000 --> 00:53:26,000 I worship God and I love my kids. 913 00:53:26,000 --> 00:53:28,000 I don't make idol of my work. 914 00:53:28,000 --> 00:53:30,000 I love my God. 915 00:53:30,000 --> 00:53:38,000 And I see God, I see work as a blessing from God and a platform for God to make a difference in the world for him who loved me and gave himself for me. 916 00:53:38,000 --> 00:53:40,000 Do you get it? 917 00:53:40,000 --> 00:53:48,000 You have a new assurance because creation doesn't replace the Creator. 918 00:53:48,000 --> 00:53:50,000 That's why. 919 00:53:50,000 --> 00:53:58,000 And if for some reason you're worshiping and serving the creature rather than the Creator, something's wrong. 920 00:53:58,000 --> 00:54:06,000 And so, I'm calling you today to put your trust in Christ. 921 00:54:06,000 --> 00:54:08,000 Not just for your salvation. 922 00:54:08,000 --> 00:54:11,000 You're not saying do that, but also for your life. 923 00:54:11,000 --> 00:54:15,000 What are you assured of? 924 00:54:15,000 --> 00:54:16,000 What are you living in? 925 00:54:16,000 --> 00:54:20,000 Where's your confidence? Is it in you or is it in Jesus? 926 00:54:20,000 --> 00:54:49,000 I had to close your eyes.