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HOLY HELP FOR THE HOPELESS FROM THE FAITHFUL GODHebrews 6:13-20INTRODUCTION How many of you own at least one "American Girl" doll? Some of you probably don’t know about "American Girl" dolls. Twenty-one years ago Pleasant Rowland founded "The Pleasant Company" in Middleton, WI, which produced a line of historical dolls with accessories and an historical novella featuring the doll’s character as the heroine of the story. Ms. Rowland had a hit with young girls across America. Almost overnight she became a multi-millionaire. Until Ms. Rowland sold her company to Mattel in 1998 each year the Pleasant Company would open the doors to its warehouse for a one day clearance sale. All of the product in the warehouse would be discounted by 50% or more. This was an enormously popular event. The line to get into the warehouse would begin to form 2-3 days in advance of the sale. We had a friend who would take a tent and camp at the warehouse for a couple of days just to be sure she was among the first people allowed into the warehouse. She wasn't the only one who did this. The line, I've been told would be hundreds of people long, most of them having patiently waited through all kinds of weather for long periods of time, cheerfully. Our friend did this every year and viewed it as one of the highlights of her year. Why were so many people so willing to cheerfully and patiently endure all the hassle of living in a tent outside a warehouse for such extended periods of time? They knew that their waiting was not in vain. They waited because they knew Ms. Rowland had promised to open the warehouse on that day. They were going to get to go into the warehouse and the discounted prices on such treasured items were more than worth the wait. The certain benefits they were going to receive outweighed the costs of patiently waiting. As we have worked our way through this letter to the Hebrews we have seen that these Christians were getting tired of waiting. They were on the edge of packing up their tents and going home, spiritually speaking. The never-ending hassles of being a Christian were weighing upon them and so they were becoming impatient and on the verge of leaving the line. At this point they were not denouncing Christ but rather they were beginning to be less public about their faith. They still wanted to be called Christians; they just weren’t going to associate quit as vigorously with the church and other Christians because of the threat of persecution. The author is laboring, through his letter, to convince them that they should not become impatient and stop waiting for the doors to open. In the previous section of the letter, vv. 4-12 we saw, a couple of weeks ago, that the author was warning them of the dire consequences of quitting. If they leave the line, if they become impatient and go do something else, they are going to be burned up with the fire of God’s wrath in hell forever. Verse 12 is the heart of his exhortation to these people. “We do not want you to become lazy but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.” The author wants to convince these people and us that patiently waiting for God to fulfill his promise to them will not be in vain; it will be worth it. If they will patiently endure the hassles and the hardships that come with being a Christian, they will obtain all the benefits God has promised. MAIN POINT You can be sure that patient endurance for the sake of Jesus will be worth it because…I. God rewarded Abraham’s patience (vv. 13-15) As I just said, at the end of v. 12 he urges Christians to “imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.” As soon as he mentions this group of people who patiently wait and so inherit God’s promises he thinks about the head of this class of people, Abraham. He wants to hold Abraham up as an example of the kind of person he wants us to be. Abraham is the model Christian. He is the one who we each should seek to imitate. (If you are not familiar with Abraham’s story I would urge you to read it in Genesis 12-24.) There are two things that set Abraham apart. First, God freely, graciously, in spite of Abraham's sinfulness, made an unconditional promise to him. While Abram was an idol worshipping pagan, living in the land of Ur, God chose him and told him to leave his home and go to a place that he, God would show him. At that time God promised that he would make Abram into a great nation, that he would bless him and protect him and through his descendants all the nations of the world would be blessed. When he finally arrived in the land of Canaan, the Lord told him that he was going to give the land of Canaan to his descendants as a permanent homeland forever. Then in chapter 15, he told Abram that he was going to have as many descendants as there were stars in the sky. The second thing that sets Abraham apart is this: in response to the promise he would have descendants as numerous as the stars, Abraham believed God and God counted Abraham righteous because he believed the promise. As some of you know it is Abraham’s faith and God’s counting him righteous on the basis of his faith that becomes the evidence that Paul uses in his letter to the Romans (chapter 4) to prove that salvation does not come to us because we obey God's law but only by our faith in Christ. God considered Abraham perfectly righteous and fit for heaven not because of what he did but because he believed God's promise. God first told Abram that he was going to make him into a great nation and give him the land of Canaan when he was 75 years old. It was not until 25 years later, when he was 100 years old that the Lord gave to he and Sarah, long after both of them were biologically capable of bearing children, a son named Isaac. The apostle Paul, writing about the birth of Isaac tells us, “Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, ‘So shall your offspring be.’ Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he promised.” In other words, through that entire 25-year period as his and Sarah’s body got older and older and yet no child appeared, he never doubted. He always believed that what God had said to him, “Your descendants will be as numerous as the stars in the heavens,” was going to happen. He patiently waited through all those years for God to do what God had said he would do. However, I want you to notice something in vv. 13-14. The author quotes from one of the times that God promises to bless and multiply Abraham, but the quote is not from any of the times that God promised Abraham children before the birth of Isaac. Rather God’s swearing an oath that he would surely bless and multiply Abraham is from Genesis 22, following the offering of Isaac on Mt. Moriah, which we just had read for us. God has told Abraham that it would be through Isaac that he would fulfill the promises to Abraham. In other words it would be the descendants of Isaac who would be more numerous than the stars in the heavens. Yet, at the beginning of Genesis 22 God commands Abraham to take Isaac and to offer him as a burnt offering on Mt. Moriah. Abraham does not protest but takes Isaac and a donkey loaded with wood and two servants and a torch with fire on it and a knife and sets out for the mountain. It took him three days to get there and it was during those three days that Abraham figured out what God was going to do. In Hebrews 11:19 we are told that what Abraham figured out was that God was going to raise Isaac from the dead after he killed him and burned him to ash on the altar. He knew that God’s promise could not fail and while he did not understand immediately why God gave the order to kill Isaac, he did know that through Isaac’s children God would bless the nations of the world. Therefore he willingly did what God required. He submitted himself to this test of his faith. He patiently endured this trial. He didn't get out of line because things suddenly took a turn for the worst. It wasn’t until after Abraham had built an altar, arranged the wood on the altar, put the bound Isaac on the altar and taken out the knife to cut Isaac’s throat that the Lord intervened and told Abraham not to harm the boy. Then Abraham saw a ram caught in the bushes and sacrificed the male sheep in the place of his son Isaac. It was at that time that God swore by his own name that he would surely bless and multiply Abraham and cause his descendants to be victorious over their enemies. It is this statement of God's promise that the author to the Hebrews quotes in v. 14. We will talk in the next point about God’s oath taking, his swearing by his own name. What I want us to fix our attention on at the moment is v. 15. It literally says, “And so after waiting patiently he obtained the promise.” There are two questions we must answer about this verse. First, what does it mean that Abraham waited patiently? This is the same thing as saying that he persevered in faith. He never stopped believing that God would do what he promised. He was patient for a long time and he was patient through great trials. God had told him that his descendants would be as numerous as stars and yet he didn’t have a son with Sarah for 25 years. For 25 years he didn’t get out of the line. He continued waiting for the doors to open because he knew they were going to open because God had promised and God cannot lie. Not only did he wait a long time but he also patiently waited through severe trials--the chief trial being God’s command to offer up his only son as a sacrifice. He never wavered in believing that the same God who had brought Isaac to life out of the deadness of Sarah’s womb was also able to bring Isaac back from the literal grave. He patiently accepted this and didn’t get out of line. In other words, he didn’t run away from the mountain but he went towards it immediately because he knew that what God promised was certain and infinitely superior to the suffering involved in sacrificing Isaac. I want you to think about this word “patience”. In the Greek it is a compound word that means, “to restrain anger.” In the Greek translation of the OT it is the word used to translate the Hebrew word, which describes God as “slow to anger”. In the Proverbs the patient man is contrasted with the quick-tempered person, the person who does not restrain his or her anger. We know this about patience, right? To say that I grew impatient with my children is to say that I got mad at them. To say that I am patient with my children is to say that I calmly put up with their childishness and continue to calmly and persistently love and instruct them. To say that I lost my patience standing in the line at the grocery store is to say that I became angry with the clerk or the person in front of me who was holding up the program. Patience means that we submit to less than ideal circumstances without getting angry and quitting. We patiently endure mistreatment and hardship rather than get mad and curse and quit. In other words to say that Abraham was patient is to say that over the course of his life there were many situations that could have provoked him to anger but he never got angry. He accepted the long wait and the command to sacrifice Isaac without complaint; without fighting back or trying to make things work out the way he wanted. He never told God off. He submitted to God’s timetable because he trusted God to do in his time what he promised to do. He stayed in line and never complained for all those years. The second question is this, “what does it mean to say that Abraham obtained the promise?” The promise is that he would have as many descendants as there are stars; that his descendants would possess the land of Canaan, that some of his descendants would be kings, that his descendants would rule over their enemies and that all the nations of the world would be blessed through his descendants. At the end of Abraham’s life was that fulfilled? Obviously not; he had only had one son to whom God made the same promise. He lived in a tent, as a foreigner in the land of promise. While he wasn't being harassed by any enemies, he certainly wasn't ruling over anyone. He had contact with a few of the nations of the world but not all. It gets more complicated because the author of this letter says in 11:13 about Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, “All these died in faith without having received the things promised…” How can v. 15 say Abraham obtained the promise and yet the testimony of Genesis and of the guy that wrote v. 15 is that Abraham didn’t receive the promise? (The answer to this question is one of the most important things to understand about being a Christian. Not understanding this leads to all sorts of bad theology and destructive practices.) There are several ways in which Abraham obtained the promise, but only in part. First, Isaac was born to he and Sarah when he was 100 and she was 90, just as God promised in Genesis 18. Second, Abraham received Isaac "back from the dead" figuratively speaking on Mt. Moriah. Third, God added an oath to his promise as a reward for his obediently offering up Isaac. Finally, and most importantly, Jesus says in John 8 that Abraham saw him when he saw the ram caught in the bushes as God's provision for Isaac's life. At that moment he understood that the way in which one of his descendants would be the source of blessing to all the nations was by dying for others. In addition, the author of this letter says in 11:19 that Abraham saw and welcomed the fulfillment of God's promises "at a distance." In other words, Abraham obtained the promises by faith. He saw by faith the ultimate salvation to which all the promises pointed. He saw beyond the promise of the land of Canaan the new heavens and the new earth where God would dwell with his people who were made holy by the sacrifice of one of his descendants. It was over the course of a life in which he patiently endured all things while waiting for the fulfillment of God's promises that he was enabled to see with clarity the end to which God was bringing all things and the person through whom he was going to bring his salvation. My family has a converted garage that we use as a hunting cabin in Minong, WI located on 40 acres of land that my grandfather homesteaded back in 1904. It is a 4 1/2 hour drive from here. Every November Jordan and I embark on the journey to Minong because of our faith in the promise of good hunting and good camaraderie with my brothers and nephews. We patiently endure the drive. There is a series of hills on Hwy. 53 south of Minong that we travel over. On one of them, as you come over the top of it you can see the village of Minong in the distance. We're still not there but we can see it. As the reward of our patiently enduring the long drive we obtain the promise by a clear view of the object of our desire. While we are not yet at our hunting cabin, our hearts fill with joy and anticipation as we see the end for which we are patiently enduring. It is in this sense that Abraham obtained the promise by his patience. Because he was patient through time and trial he was enabled to see, by faith, from a distance "the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God." Just as Isaac was the down payment on the promise of as many descendants as stars, so we have received the Holy Spirit as the down payment on the promise of eternal life with God in the new heavens and the new earth. Just as Abraham's defeat of the four kings who captured his nephew Lot was not complete dominance over all enemies but only a foreshadowing of that ultimate victory, so we by defeating a few sins here are given a taste of the ultimate victory over sin and death and hell that will be ours in the new creation. Just as Abraham as he patiently endured the trial of offering up Isaac was given a view by faith of the ultimate salvation from a distance, so as we patiently endure the difficulties of this life for the sake of Jesus are given views of that eternal joy that will be ours. This vision of the joy that is coming fills our hearts with the delight of anticipation and thus fuels our commitment to continue to be patient. Like Abraham we also by waiting patiently obtain the promise. While we have obtained the promise we are also waiting for its completion, when Christ returns. You can be sure that patient endurance for the sake of Jesus will be worth it because…
II. God guarantees his promise with an oath (vv. 16-18) After holding up Abraham as the example of patient endurance the author turns his attention to the fact that the Lord, in Genesis 22:16 swore by himself. He begins by describing the function of oath taking within human society. The language used in vv. 16-18 is language taken right out of the courtroom. He is describing something that we still practice in our courts, just as these ancient people did. People go to court because there is a dispute between them. Farmer Sam accuses his neighbor, farmer Joe of stealing one of his cows. Farmer Joe, the accused denies stealing the cow. In court, before the judge, each man presents testimony to prove that he is telling the truth. Each person, prior to giving testimony swears to "tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help me God." What is going on here? The person giving testimony is saying two things by swearing by God. First he is declaring that the all knowing and all seeing God knows that I am telling the truth. God knows that I am not lying and I am calling him as my witness. Second, the witness is declaring that he knows that God will punish him if he is lying. By swearing in the name of God you are submitting yourself to God's judgment and taking upon yourself God's curse if you are lying. What you are taking upon yourself is not only God's anger against liars but also God's anger against those who misuse his name. If you claim that God is happy to verify your truthfulness but in fact you are lying, God is furious with you because you are making him the party to a lie and he never lies but always tells the truth. Our judicial system is built on the assumption that people who take an oath in God's name tell the truth and it is in this manner that disputes are settled. This is the point of the author in v. 16. Now in vv. 17-18 the author informs us that God swore an oath by himself and that he did it for our sake. He took an oath in order to convince us that he is going to do what he promised. What does this mean that God swore by himself? The first thing this means is that someone is disputing God's claim that he is going to create a people as numerous as the stars in the heavens and give that people a secure place to live. Who is disputing that claim? The nation Israel, beginning at Kadesh Barnea disputed that claim. They said God brought them out of Egypt to kill them in the desert. They said God was not going to give them the land but he was going to kill them and their children by the hands of the Canaanites. The people to whom this letter is being written are disputing God's word. They are on the verge of declaring that God's promise is not going to be fulfilled but that they are going to perish if they keep following Jesus. Everyone who lives as if safety, security and happiness are to be found in this life is disputing God's promise. Everyone who refuses to be patient through time and trial for God to fulfill his promise is treating God as if he is a liar. On occasion one of my children has challenged my sincerity, my trustworthiness. My usual reaction is to be angry with them for doubting my word. What is absolutely shocking is that God's response to our disputing his word is not anger but to add an oath to his infallible word. God's love for his people shines forth in his swearing by himself. He has no need to swear. When God speaks, his word ought to be trusted because he cannot lie. However, because he knows our weakness, our small faith and because he does not want us to be overwhelmed by doubt or to become discouraged by the long waiting he swears an oath so that we will be absolutely convinced of the unchangeable nature of his promise. He has promised to create a people for himself and to bring those people to live in the safety of the new creation forever. In order to convince us of the absolute certainty of that promise he takes an oath. In essence he says, "May I, the eternal God, cease to exist if I do not fulfill what I have promised." "May I be exposed as a fraud and may my glorious name become like the name of the most despised of human criminals if I do not fulfill my promise to you." What amazing love and grace is this that the always truthful God would lower himself to take such an oath when his word is the most trustworthy thing in the universe to begin with? This is where assurance of salvation comes from. You will never be sure you are a Christian by looking at yourself and your behavior. Assurance comes as you look at this never lying God who swears an oath so you can be greatly encouraged. However, there is also a threat contained in God's oath taking. If you and I are willing to accept the word of lying humans because they appeal to God as their witness how can we not accept the word of the infallible God when he calls himself to bear witness to his word? If you stop patiently waiting for God to fulfill his promise but you accept the word of untrustworthy humans because they say "so help me God", what does that say about you? How right will it be for God to reject you if you reject his word which he confirms with an oath? While the threat is implied the main point is that we have a certain hope set before us by this promise confirmed with an oath and so we are those who have fled in order to grasp this hope. This description of what it means to be a Christian at the end of v. 18 is quite vivid. The word for flee is the word that is used to describe a person who flees from his or her home due to extreme danger and becomes a refugee. However, we are not homeless and helpless refugees because we have been offered asylum by a great and powerful king in his city. We are those who flee to grasp this certain promise of a new home that is infinitely more secure than the home we have left. The hope we grasp is not some subjective emotion but a certain promise made by a great king who has added to his promise an oath. While the flight from our home that is being destroyed to the city of asylum takes time and trouble, yet the city and the security is a reality. It exists and we can be absolutely sure that when we arrive at the city we will be warmly received and afforded all the resources of this great king and his servants because of his promise that is sealed with an oath. You can be sure that patient endurance for the sake of Jesus will be worth it because…
III. God made Jesus our forerunner (vv. 19-20) Verse 19 begins by using a mixed metaphor. First, the hope we have grasped is compared to a firm and secure anchor. Again, this hope is not an emotion but a certain promise of safety and security with God forever. This hope is a real place and it is an anchor that holds us securely. This is a brilliant picture. We are a ship afloat in storm tossed seas. Without an anchor we will drift into the rocks and so destroyed by the pounding surf or we will be swept out into the middle of the vast ocean where we will perish. However, because we have an anchor firmly and securely embedded in the sea floor while the waves rage around us we are safe. We cannot be harmed. We will not be swept onto the rocks or out to sea. Notice that this anchor is not embedded in the ocean floor but it is firmly attached inside the inner sanctuary of God's temple. The anchor that holds us is in heaven, in the very presence of God and holds us fast to that celestial city of refuge. At this point the author transitions from the promise confirmed by an oath to the ultimate reason that the anchor is firm and secure. He turns his attention back to Jesus. He has not mentioned Jesus since 5:10. The reason the promise and oath are secure is because he has entered into the inner sanctuary as our forerunner. The word that the NIV translates with the phrase, "who went before us" is the word for forerunner. It is the word that is used for the advance scouts of an army or the advance ships in a naval flotilla or the first ripe grapes or figs. In other words the word refers to the first of a group who arrives at a destination. When the forerunner shows up you know that there is a large group following. That large group following are the descendants of Abraham who will be as numerous as the stars in the heavens. Jesus has entered as our forerunner into the Holy of holies and he has done so by becoming our high priest in the order of Melchizedek. The author is returning to the discussion he began back in chapter 5 and which he told them he could not explain to them because they had become dull of hearing. Jesus entering the Holy of Holies as our high priest in the order of Melchizedek is going to be the theme of chapters 7-10. In this verse he is beginning the contrast between Jesus and the high priests of Israel, Aaron and his sons. Aaron could never be described as a forerunner. No one other than Aaron or one of his sons could ever enter into the Holy of Holies. The Jewish high priest could only enter the inner sanctuary one time each year on the Day of Atonement. No one else could ever enter the Holy of Holies where God said that he lived among the Israelites. However, Jesus entered and still is present behind the curtain, in God's presence as the first of a great multitude of people who will also enter into God's very presence. This is something that no one could ever do when Aaron and his sons were high priests and the earthly temple was still standing. Jesus is our forerunner because he is high priest in the order of Melchizedek, not in the order of Aaron. He became our high priest, as we saw in 5:7-10, because of his obedient life and death. He was exalted to God's right hand as our perfect priest because he obeyed God and died for us. Jesus' death and resurrection into the very presence of God secures our entry into God's presence as well. It is because of his obedience that we are secure, not because of our obedience. God swears by himself to fulfill the promise to us because Jesus obeyed and died. So ultimately our confidence is in Christ. Our confident expectation of life forever in God's presence in the new creation is not a vain hope because Christ obeyed and entered God's presence as our forerunner. So don't get out line. Don't go do something else. Keep waiting. The doors are about to open. Christ himself is standing at the door, ready to open it. Salvation is near. When he comes you will be so glad you patiently waited for him. If you go do something else, you will regret it forever. Flee the city of destruction and grasp the hope that is set in front of you. You can be sure that patient endurance for the sake of Jesus will be worth it because…
© Copyright 2007 John Swanson.
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