God's Eternal Guarantee

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I’d like for us to turn tonight to a passage in preparation for the Lord’s table, and that’s in Hebrews 6.

Recently, we had some problems at our home that needed to be repaired, a small plumbing problem. And we called the plumber, and they came, and it didn’t take them very long to find out what the problem was and make some minor repairs. And I asked the gentleman, as he was leaving, I said, “Well, what do I owe you?” And he said, “Well, let me suggest something.” He said, “Why don’t you sign the work order that no work had been performed, and then cut me a check, personally, for $10 less than you would normally have paid the company?”

Lying and dishonesty has reached epidemic proportions in our society. It’s become evident in recent years, everything from repairmen asking ostensibly to help you - have you lie to the company - all the way to denials at the top office of the country. One writer puts it this way, “Dishonesty has become a way of life in our society. Candy bar wrappers twice the size of the candy, plastic toys that have no chance of surviving a few hours of play, advertisements that ignore a product’s faults and exaggerate its qualities, cheating on automobile repairs, cheating in the classroom, and infidelity in marriage.” In recent surveys, I found some very interesting statistics. 60% of Americans believe lying is sometimes necessary. 93% admitted to lying regularly at work. And a very humorous thing, in a strange sort of way, is 2% even admitted to lying in the survey. I’m not sure exactly what that accomplished.

You know, this whole problem in our culture is not really a surprise because 1 John 5:19 tells us that the world lies in the lap of Satan. It lies within his power. And our Lord said in John 8:44 that Satan is a liar and the father of lies. Of course, God’s people are encouraged in passages like Ephesians 4:25 to put aside all falsehood and to put on the truth. But this relentless pattern of dishonesty in our culture might tempt us to doubt our God. In Hebrews 6, we learn that God isn’t like the people around us, that His promises can be trusted.

The writer of Hebrews is unknown, at least to us. My best guess, personally, is Apollos; you may have your own. He wrote this epistle, whoever he was, he wrote this letter to a group of Jewish people, to a community of Hebrews. And his purpose was very simple, and that was to show that Christ is the fulfillment of the Old Testament ceremonies, and He is infinitely superior to those Old Testament shadows. When we come to chapter 6, he gives a warning. Notice verses 4 through 8. There’s this sort of parenthesis. It’s a warning to unbelieving Jews who enjoyed the advantages of being attached to the church but had not really responded in faith. They were present in a gathering like this one when the church met. They found some things attractive about this Jewish Messiah, but they had not discarded the legalism that was in Judaism of that day and embraced Christ by faith alone. And so, the writer warns them. He warns them of the danger of being present in a body like this one, that’s worshiping the true Christ, and yet not having responded in faith and repentance themselves.

But when you get to verses 9 and 10, the writer acknowledges that there are many true believers in this community to which he’s written. Notice what he says, “But, beloved, we are convinced of better things concerning you, and things that accompany salvation, though we are speaking in this way. For God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown toward His name, in having ministered and in still ministering to the saints.” And then he goes on in verses 11 and 12 to urge them to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises, the promises of forgiveness, the promises of righteousness from God, the promises of an eternal inheritance.

Since the strongest encouragement to faith is the conviction that God’s promise of forgiveness is trustworthy, the author of Hebrews then sets out to prove that very point. In verses 13 to 20, the writer of Hebrews sets out to prove this one basic point: God’s promise to justify believing sinners can be trusted. How can we know that God won’t change His mind or rescind His gracious offer? Have you ever thought about that? How exactly can we know? Well, the writer of Hebrews gives us two foundations on which to build our confidence in God’s promises, our confidence that we have in eternity with Christ awaiting us.

The first foundation he gives us is just this: God’s unchangeable promise. God’s unchangeable promise. Notice what he says in verse 13, “For when God made the promise to Abraham...” Now, the first question that immediately comes to my mind is probably yours is, what promise? What is this unchangeable promise that God has made? Well, of course, he’s referring to the Abrahamic covenant, that promise that was made initially to Abraham in Genesis 12, and again in Genesis 15, and then in Genesis 17, and then chapter 22, reiterated over and over again by God to Abraham. This was an unconditional promise with four basic elements that God made to Abraham. First of all, He promised him seed, He promised him descendants. Secondly, He promised him land. Thirdly, He promised that his descendants would become a great nation. And fourthly, He promised divine blessing.

But when you look at the Abrahamic covenant, it’s very important to remember that it had two aspects. It has a physical aspect, that is, there is in the Abrahamic covenant promises to Abraham’s physical descendants. As we have taught so often, and as you’ve heard so often, God still has a future for Israel. He still has promises yet to fulfill to the nation, the physical descendants of Abraham. But the Abrahamic covenant also has a spiritual aspect as well, promises not to Abraham’s physical offspring, but promises to Abraham’s spiritual offspring.

Turn for a moment to Galatians, Galatians 3. Paul talks about this very issue in Galatians 3. Notice verse 6: “Even so Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.” He quotes, as Paul does, that great verse from Genesis 15:6 and he makes some comments in regard to that. Verse 7, “Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham.” Verse 8: “The Scripture [this is a very interesting verse. Follow carefully] foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, ‘All the nations will be blessed in you.’”

Now, I want you to see the logical connections that Paul makes. First of all, he says... He goes back to Genesis 22:18 and he says that promise that God made to Abraham, in Genesis 22:18 that all nations would be blessed, that promise was the gospel. It was the good news in a sort of seed form. In fact, he says that the gospel in the same verse, he says the gospel is this news that God would justify people by faith.

In verse 9, we’re told that Abraham was the physical father of the Jews, but he was first of all the spiritual father of everyone who believes. So, then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, a believer. Again, notice verse 7, “...those who are of faith who are [the true spiritual] sons of Abraham.” In Romans 4, Paul makes the same point (verse 11). Talking about Abraham again, and he asks in verse 10, “How then was it [this righteousness] credited? [Or at what time?] While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised; and he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while uncircumcised, so that [watch this] he might be the father of all who believe...” Abraham is our spiritual father, just as he is the physical father of the Jewish people.

Back in Galatians 3, Paul makes a further point. Notice verse 16: “Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, ‘And to seeds,’ as referring to many, but rather to one, ‘And to your seed,’ that is, Christ.” In other words, the spiritual aspect of the promise made to Abraham had its ultimate fulfillment in Jesus Christ. And then notice verse 29 of Galatians 3: “And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise.” The promise of justification by faith alone, the promise of the gospel that Paul has alluded to earlier in Galatians 3. This promise given to Abraham belongs to all of those who belong to Jesus Christ. Paul says something very similar in Romans 4:16. He says, “For this reason it is by faith, in order that it may be in accordance with grace, so that the promise will be guaranteed to all the descendants, not only to those who are of the Law [that is, those who were born as Jews], but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all...”

This promise in Hebrews 6, the promise that the writer is referring to, its primary focus is the spiritual aspect of the promise made to Abraham. Notice again in Hebrews 6:17, they’re called “the heirs of the promise”, and in verse 18 they’re defined as those “who have taken refuge in Christ”. If you have taken refuge in Christ, then you’re an heir of this promise. It’s the promise that was first made to Abraham in a sort of seed form, a promise of the good news of the gospel, a promise that justification by faith would come to all the Gentiles, to all nations. So, this is the promise that he’s referring to here: God will declare believing sinners righteous by faith, forgiveness and salvation in Christ. We who have fled for refuge are heirs of it. If you have fled for refuge to Christ, if you belong to Christ, then you’re heirs of this promise, the promise that God made originally to Abraham that He would justify believing sinners. It’s yours!

So, how do we know that the promise is unchangeable, that God will fulfill that promise to us? How can we have confidence that this promise to justify believing sinners is unchangeable? Notice what the writer of Hebrews says. Verse 13: “For when God made the promise to Abraham, since He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself...” We’re told in verse 14 what that oath was: “I will surely bless you and I will surely multiply you [blessing I will bless you, the Hebrew says, and multiplying I will multiply you].”

Notice how the writer puts it. He says God made an oath to accompany His promise. By the way, this comes from Genesis 22:17-18. God made an oath. And verse 15 says, “And so, [Abraham] having patiently waited, he obtained the promise.” Obviously, he obtained a certain degree of the promise through Isaac, the birth of Isaac, the seed that would come. He waited 25 years for that. He waited another 60 years for Jacob to be born. That was only the beginning of what God had promised. When Abraham died, much remained to be fulfilled. But what had Abraham obtained when he died? What did he absolutely obtain? And that was justification by faith. He obtained the promise, first of justification, and then he began to see the rest of God’s promises to his physical descendants fill out as well.

Verse 16: “For men swear [or give an oath] by one greater than themselves, and with them an oath given as confirmation is an end of every dispute.” See that word “confirmation”? That’s a technical term. It literally means legal guarantee. Men take an oath to present to someone else a legal guarantee of the validity of what they’re saying. He says it’s an end of every dispute. That’s court language. That means a sworn statement is a man’s last word on a given subject. It’s that on which he stakes his integrity. And when men swear, when men take an oath to confirm their word, to give a legal guarantee of the verity of what they’re saying, they do it by someone greater.

In the Old Testament, you remember the oath they would take? When they wanted to confirm that what they were saying was true, they would say, “As the Lord lives...” You come to the New Testament, in Matthew 5, and the Pharisees and the religious leaders had begun to encourage a series of oaths all having greater weight, anything from the temple to the gold of the temple. And today, when we want to take a legal guarantee that what we’re saying is true, we say what in the courtroom? “So, help me God.” But God, when He wanted to take an oath, He has no one greater. So, when He wishes to confirm His promise, He swears by Himself, verse 13 says. He swears by Himself because there’s no one greater for Him to confirm His Word by.

Verse 17: “In the same way [just as men swear to confirm their word] God, desiring even more to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose, interposed with an oath...” Just as men take an oath to give a legal guarantee that what they’re saying is true, God did the same thing. Imagine that. God decided to take an oath to make a legal guarantee that what He was saying was true. By the way, the word “interposed” - a better translation of that in the context is guaranteed. God guaranteed His promise with an oath. So, God guaranteed this promise to justify sinners with an oath. Imagine that. The God of the universe, swearing by Himself, that He will in fact justify anyone who believes.

But many humans take an oath, and they don’t keep their word. A promise and an oath are only as good as the person who makes them. But we can know that God’s promise is unchangeable, that His oath is true, not only because He’s taken an oath, but because of His character. Notice verse 17: “In the same way God, desiring even more to show to the heirs of the promise [that’s us] the unchangeableness of His purpose, interposed with an oath [He guaranteed His word, His promise, with an oath], so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us.”

Let me ask you a question. God has made a promise to us, and God has validated that promise. He’s made a legal guarantee of it by taking an oath. What would invalidate God’s promise and oath to us at this point? Only two things. Either God lied to us when He made it, or He changes His mind. And Hebrews says neither of those can happen. Watch what he says. God can’t change. You see, verse 17, the “unchangeableness of his purpose” and in verse 18, “two unchangeable things” which, by the way, are His promise and His oath? Those are the two unchangeable things. He made a promise and then He sealed it with an oath. It can’t be changed.

Those two words, “unchangeableness” and “unchangeable”, are the same Greek word. They’re only used here in the New Testament. But in secular Greek, they were used of a will that could not be altered. The writer of Hebrews is saying, “God has done something that He Himself can’t alter.” God’s purpose, God’s promise, and His oath can’t change. Why? Because God doesn’t change. Psalm 102:26 says, “Even they will perish, but You endure; And all of them will wear out like a garment; Like clothing You will change them and they will be changed. But You are the same, And Your years will not come to an end.” James 1:17 says, “...the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.” In other words, with God there is no shadow caused by His turning, by His changing His mind. Oh, that expression is sometimes used, but it’s not a change of His ultimate purpose. 1 Samuel 15:29, Samuel says to Saul, “Also the Glory of Israel will not lie or change His mind; for He is not a man that He should change His mind.”

Listen, God’s not going to change His mind about you. God has made a promise, and God has sealed that promise with an oath on His own name, on His own character, and He’s not going to change because God is not a God who changes. God can’t change. And the writer of Hebrews goes on to say, “God can’t lie.” God can’t lie. Notice verse 18, “...it is impossible for God to lie...” Titus 1:2 says that, “[we have been saved] in the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago...” Numbers 23:19 says, “God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent; Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?” God will do exactly what He said He would do. Spurgeon - I love how he addresses this issue. He said, “God would have to un-God Himself and step down from His throne before He could rescind the promise that He has made us in Christ.” So, the first foundation of our confidence is God’s unchangeable promise. Forgiveness through Christ is what He’s promised. We can rest on that promise because of His oath and His character.

But why did God do this? Why did God take an oath? And how does He intend that you and I respond to this promise? That introduces us to the second foundation for our confidence that the writer gives us here. Not only God’s unchangeable promise, but, secondly, God’s intended purpose. Notice what God has in mind. God is trustworthy. He doesn’t need to take an oath. He doesn’t need to swear. But He does it to you and to me. Why? Well, He has a purpose. And the writer of Hebrews tells us this purpose that He has. What He’s trying to accomplish has three parts.

First of all, His purpose is to confirm His decision to justify us, to confirm His decision to justify us. Notice verse 17, “...desiring even more to show...” Literally, “desiring to demonstrate even more convincingly.” That’s the reason God took an oath on His own name is because He wanted to convince someone. Notice who it was: “the heirs of the promise”. That’s Abraham’s spiritual descendants. According to Galatians 3:29, that’s us. God wanted to demonstrate convincingly to us, to you. God wanted you to be sure of this. What? He wanted to convince us of the unchangeableness of His purpose. The word “purpose” is the Greek word for will. This is God’s will of decision. God made a decision, and He wants us to know that it is absolutely unchangeable. So, God wanted to convince us of the unalterable nature of His sovereign decision to save us.

Think about that. God decided, as He was talking to Abraham and as He was presenting the gospel in seed form according to the writer of Hebrews, He looked down through the centuries and He saw us sitting here tonight at Countryside Bible Church. And He said, “You know what? They’re going to tend to doubt the promise because it’s so unbelievable that God would justify ungodly sinners. And so, I’m going to swear by My own name because I want to convince them of My decision to justify.”

There’s a second reason, or second part of God’s intended purpose here. Notice verse 18: He wanted to encourage us. “In the same way”, verse 17 says, “God, desiring even more to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose, interposed [guaranteed it] with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things [His promise and His oath] in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge [again, that’s us, those who have come to Christ] would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us.” God guaranteed with an oath in order that, for the purpose of, that we who fled for refuge in Christ...

By the way, there’s a powerful image in that “we who have fled for refuge”. That hearkens back to the Old Testament. You remember the cities of refuge? When a man who had committed a crime, particularly manslaughter, and wanted to flee for safety from the avenger, coming from the family of the man whom he’d slain, he would flee to one of these cities set aside across the country as a place of refuge for such a person. And he would go there to flee the punishment that he really deserved. Even so, we have fled for refuge to Christ. There’s probably also the image of a ship in this. In just a moment, he’s going to speak of an anchor. There’s probably the image of a ship that is absolutely tossed and turned on the mighty waters of an ocean. And it seeks a safe harbor, a place of refuge. We have sought a refuge like that in Christ.

Notice he says, “I made an oath”, or I should say, “[God made an oath in order that] we who have taken refuge [in Christ] would have strong encouragement...” It’s an interesting word, “encouragement”. It occurs 29 times in the New Testament. It’s most frequently translated, “comfort”. God gave an oath about His promise to justify us, so that we might have strong encouragement or comfort. Now, how does God making an oath about His decision to justify us give us encouragement or comfort? Well, simply this: God swore with an oath so that we could know that we will truly find refuge. Refuge, not from some man hunting us down, but refuge from the coming wrath of God. We don’t have to fear it. We really do have a place of refuge, a place of safety. We can have strong encouragement, strong comfort in the knowledge that where we have fled for refuge will in fact protect us.

So, God intended that this oath would confirm His decision to justify us, that it would encourage us, and lastly, He wanted it to give us hope. He wanted it to give us hope. Notice verses 19 and 20: “This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil, where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.” Notice what the writer of Hebrews is saying. God took an oath on His own name, He swore on His own character about this promise to justify believing sinners, so that we who have fled for refuge, literally, in seizing and holding on to the hope set before us. What is this hope set before us? It’s the hope that God created and sustains by the promise He made to us. That’s our hope. God made us a promise and our hope clings to that promise. Our hope is in Christ and eternal salvation through Him.

1 Timothy 1. Turn there for just a moment. 1 Timothy 1:1, Paul says, “[I am an] apostle of Christ Jesus according to the commandment of God our Savior, and of Christ Jesus, who is our hope...” He is our hope. Turn to Titus 1:2. Let’s start in verse 1. Paul writes, “Paul, a bond-servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the faith of those chosen of God and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness, in the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago...” Notice Titus 3:7. He begins in verse 4 with this paragraph. He says, “But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, [verse 7] so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” There’s our hope. Our hope is in Christ. Our hope is in eternal life in Him.

You’ve heard this before but let me just remind you that the English word hope is different than the New Testament word for hope. Our English word for hope has a lot of uncertainty connected to it. I’ve often used the illustration, and I know you ladies are hoping that football season, or some of you anyway, are hoping that football season will soon be over. We use the word hope in a context when a team is driving down the field and there’s only one second left on the scoreboard, and they’re behind by a point. And they have a 45-yard field goal to make, and their kickers never made a kick longer than 40 yards. And we’re sitting there on the edge of our couch, waiting for this kick to be made. And what do we say? “I hope he makes it.” There isn’t a prayer he’s going to make it. It’s not going to happen. And yet, that’s how we use the word hope. That’s not how the New Testament uses the word hope. The New Testament uses the word hope when there is certainty. But it’s a certain thing that has not yet actually been realized. I know it’s going to happen. I’m absolutely convinced and certain of it. I just haven’t tasted it yet. Biblical hope combines desire and certainty. The writer of Hebrews says, “We have hope.” We have absolute certainty; we just haven’t yet tasted it.

Verse 19 tells us that this hope is an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast. Like an anchor that holds a ship safely in position, our hope in Christ guarantees our safety. Notice our hope is fixed in God Himself. It enters within the veil. A ship’s anchor goes down to the ocean bed, and there’s where it finds its source of strength, but the Christian’s hope goes all the way into the heavenly throne room behind the veil and is secured to God Himself.

And then in verse 20 we’re told that this hope we have is secured by Christ. Notice that He has become “a forerunner for us”. The Old Testament high priest went into the Holy of Holies, but he didn’t go as a forerunner because he only went in one time a year and that was after careful cleansing and none of the people could ever go. He went as a representative of the people but never as a forerunner. But Christ, when He entered God’s presence, when He entered into the presence of God, that entrance guaranteed our entrance. That’s our hope. He’s also our eternal high priest. You see that in verse 20? Christ has entered the presence of God as our great high priest, even as we sang about earlier, before the throne of God above.

Tonight, we’re going to partake of the Lord’s table. And the Lord’s table is celebrating the unchangeable promise that God has made to us, the unchangeable promise of justification to the believing sinner that was secured by the death of Christ. It’s remembering all that Christ did to make this promise of justification possible. It’s a celebration of our hope.

Let’s pray together.

Father, we are absolutely overwhelmed with Your goodness. Lord, You are trustworthy. You didn’t need even to make a promise, but You have made a promise that You would justify us if we would believe in Your Son. And yet, Lord, You went farther than that. You didn’t just make us a promise, but You guaranteed that promise by taking an oath on Your own name, on Your own character. Lord, we’re so grateful to know that that promise will take us through the fiery wrath of God, that we will never have to endure but, instead, bring us to the eternal shores of heaven, safe from that wrath, because we have found a refuge for our souls, a refuge in Christ.

Lord, we thank You for the sacrifice of Christ that made this amazing promise possible. Lord, help us to, as You intended, to be convinced that this was what You wanted to do, to take strong encouragement from it, and to have our hope strengthened as a result. Lord, we thank You for all that You have done for us, and we look forward to commemorating it together around Your table. In Jesus’ name, Amen!