WEBVTT 00:00:00.479 --> 00:00:03.759 Let me pray for us and the sermon as we get into the book of Hebrews. 00:00:03.919 --> 00:00:05.679 God, thank you for your grace to us. 00:00:05.839 --> 00:00:13.279 Thank you for this passage that though it looks so difficult, it delivers so much promise to us. 00:00:13.519 --> 00:00:21.280 Open our hearts to it and to you that we might rest in greater ways in how good and sufficient you are for us. 00:00:21.440 --> 00:00:22.320 In Jesus' name. 00:00:22.480 --> 00:00:23.039 Amen. 00:00:23.199 --> 00:00:26.239 So this fall we're making our way through the book of Hebrews. 00:00:26.480 --> 00:00:29.920 We are in Hebrews 5, moving into chapter 6. 00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:34.159 It's one of the most difficult passages in the Bible. 00:00:34.320 --> 00:00:47.439 So with that, let's jump in, but we're going to jump in at the end of the passage, chapter 6, verse 19, because as we read chapter 5 and we read some of chapter 6, we're going to hit some really rough passages and text. 00:00:47.520 --> 00:00:50.960 And so we need to know where the writer's taking us. 00:00:51.119 --> 00:00:57.759 We have to know the context to understand any of this in between, or we get who knows what kind of sermon out of this thing. 00:00:57.920 --> 00:01:03.439 So Hebrews 6, 19 is the arc of this text, and this is where the writer takes us. 00:01:03.679 --> 00:01:17.359 We, the beloved, we have this as a, and talking about Jesus, as this sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain. 00:01:17.760 --> 00:01:21.439 Now, that whole phrase, the inner place behind the curtain, is referring back to last week. 00:01:21.519 --> 00:01:26.079 We talked about the high priest, and then again in chapter 7 and 8 coming up, we're going to talk about this more. 00:01:26.239 --> 00:01:35.680 So we're focusing this morning on this first half, this idea of Jesus, our sins put upon him and his finished work on the cross and his righteousness given to us. 00:01:35.760 --> 00:01:40.879 So we're beloved, sure, steadfast and secure as an anchor. 00:01:41.120 --> 00:01:43.599 Well, let's all imagine we're on an airplane. 00:01:43.920 --> 00:01:44.560 You remember that? 00:01:44.640 --> 00:01:46.480 Maybe some of you haven't been on an airplane in a while. 00:01:46.560 --> 00:02:04.159 So imagine you're on an airplane and you're descending, going into like a mountain airport, like you know, in between some mountains, and the pilot gets on, he interrupts your, you know, you're watching a movie, interrupts it, and then you have to listen to him, and he says, you know, hey, you know, coming up on some rough air, we might feel a little turbulence, and so okay, no problem. 00:02:04.239 --> 00:02:08.560 As soon as he gets off, huge drop, boom, I mean, your stomach hits the ceiling, right? 00:02:08.639 --> 00:02:12.400 You know, you grip the armrest, and then you go, okay, it levels back off. 00:02:12.560 --> 00:02:15.759 Another drop, boom, you reach for the barf bag. 00:02:15.840 --> 00:02:21.840 You know, a couple seconds later, another drop, you're emailing your children, I love you, just to say goodbye. 00:02:21.919 --> 00:02:24.639 You know, here's the lawyer's number, I mean, all of that. 00:02:24.879 --> 00:02:37.280 And then the pilot takes this huge left bank, and you feel like you're up against the side, and while you're on the bank, another drop, and you are just white knuckling those armrests, right? 00:02:37.439 --> 00:02:42.719 And then you look up and you see the flight attendants, and they're hanging out, they're talking to each other. 00:02:42.800 --> 00:02:43.840 Hey, are you doing okay? 00:02:43.919 --> 00:02:44.479 How are you? 00:02:44.639 --> 00:02:45.199 You okay? 00:02:45.360 --> 00:02:46.400 Great, no problem. 00:02:46.560 --> 00:02:49.120 Like it's just what is what do they know? 00:02:49.199 --> 00:02:54.319 What do they know that I don't know because I am afraid for my life, tight gripping this thing? 00:02:54.479 --> 00:02:55.759 What do they know? 00:02:56.159 --> 00:02:58.159 Well, they know they do this all the time. 00:02:58.319 --> 00:03:04.400 And they don't expect flying to feel perfect, even though it is incredibly safe. 00:03:05.120 --> 00:03:22.800 And that you're inside of an 80,000-pound flying machine of aluminum with hundreds and thousands of safety checks, and that chair that we're tight gripping right there, that chair is made to hold 3,000 pounds and takes 16 G's of force. 00:03:23.039 --> 00:03:26.960 But we're tight gripping as if that is going to do something. 00:03:27.520 --> 00:03:27.840 Right? 00:03:28.000 --> 00:03:35.840 So, what's clear when we tight grip on an airplane, right, is that we are gripping inside of the grip it has on us. 00:03:36.240 --> 00:03:48.159 And that's the point of this whole passage, we take it as context, is that God's faithfulness to us holds us, and inside of his grip of us, we grip him. 00:03:49.360 --> 00:03:53.759 So let's jump back to the beginning of the passage, Hebrews 5, verse 11. 00:03:54.000 --> 00:03:59.919 About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain since you have become dull of hearing. 00:04:00.159 --> 00:04:06.560 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. 00:04:06.879 --> 00:04:09.039 You need milk, not solid food. 00:04:09.199 --> 00:04:13.919 For everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness since he is a child. 00:04:14.080 --> 00:04:23.120 But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment, trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. 00:04:23.439 --> 00:04:28.879 So, point number one is this by grace we grow more deeply into the great wealth of our identity in Jesus. 00:04:29.040 --> 00:04:34.399 By grace, we grow more deeply into the great wealth of our identity in Jesus. 00:04:34.560 --> 00:04:37.600 We get to grow and mature in faith. 00:04:37.839 --> 00:04:41.199 And growing in faith isn't about becoming more perfect. 00:04:41.279 --> 00:04:42.639 It's never gonna be that. 00:04:42.959 --> 00:04:48.959 It's about growing more deeply into that full welcome that you have in Jesus and his sufficiency for you. 00:04:49.120 --> 00:04:57.759 And in that, we grow in this discernment about who we are and who we aren't, and what's good and right, right and wrong in the world. 00:04:57.920 --> 00:04:59.439 This is all about maturity. 00:04:59.600 --> 00:05:01.680 The writer keeps going, chapter 6, verse 1. 00:05:01.839 --> 00:05:17.439 Therefore, because of this, therefore, let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. 00:05:17.519 --> 00:05:20.560 So those would have been kind of elementary beginning teachings for these people. 00:05:20.639 --> 00:05:23.279 And he says, Oh, we don't have to keep revising that, we can build upon it. 00:05:23.439 --> 00:05:26.560 Verse 3 says, and this we will do if God permits. 00:05:27.120 --> 00:05:28.879 So it's like, oh, what was he saying? 00:05:28.959 --> 00:05:31.279 Like the fundamental things of the gospel don't matter? 00:05:31.519 --> 00:05:32.319 That's not what he's saying. 00:05:32.399 --> 00:05:39.839 Here's what he's saying Imagine you're gonna build a shed in your backyard, or more likely you're gonna have somebody else build a shed in your backyard. 00:05:39.920 --> 00:05:45.439 You're gonna watch them do it, and the first thing that they're gonna do is they're gonna dig down, right? 00:05:45.519 --> 00:05:48.079 And they're gonna pour some little footers. 00:05:48.240 --> 00:05:51.120 They're gonna put footers in, they're gonna build a foundation. 00:05:51.439 --> 00:05:59.680 And then upon that foundation, they will build up, and no matter how high you go up, it will be on top of that foundation. 00:05:59.920 --> 00:06:01.120 That's what this passage is saying. 00:06:01.199 --> 00:06:15.680 Not that we move on from the ABCs of the gospel, but we build upon them to mature in our faith, so that we can know what it means to grow in a secure heart in the Lord and to have discernment in life. 00:06:16.079 --> 00:06:18.560 Verse 4, this is where the passage gets difficult. 00:06:18.639 --> 00:06:24.480 And I'm gonna read a chunk, and then we're forced to keep reading, and you'll see why as I get through into the reading. 00:06:24.639 --> 00:06:45.040 For it is impossible in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the Word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up for contempt. 00:06:45.360 --> 00:06:53.680 For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. 00:06:53.839 --> 00:07:02.319 But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and in its end to be burned. 00:07:02.720 --> 00:07:07.680 So if we just stop there, right, that's where we get all sorts of sermons. 00:07:07.839 --> 00:07:09.680 We get all sorts of beliefs. 00:07:09.839 --> 00:07:14.560 If we take six, four through eight on its own without any context. 00:07:14.720 --> 00:07:15.680 But that's not what this is. 00:07:15.839 --> 00:07:22.560 This writer is writing a train of thought taking us somewhere, and then listen to verse 9 because you can hear the difference, and this matters a lot. 00:07:22.800 --> 00:07:41.360 Though we speak in this way, it's like he catches himself, though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things, things that belong to salvation, for God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name and serving the saints as you still do. 00:07:41.600 --> 00:07:53.920 And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness, to have the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. 00:07:54.399 --> 00:08:05.920 Now we could spend weeks going through this passage and breaking it down, but what we clearly see is there's a different set of people being talked about in verses four through eight than starting in verse nine. 00:08:07.279 --> 00:08:09.360 Seventeen years ago is 4th of July. 00:08:09.439 --> 00:08:13.519 Christy and I had been dating for a year, and I had the ring. 00:08:13.920 --> 00:08:15.279 And I had the plan. 00:08:16.000 --> 00:08:23.360 And the plan was we were going up to my grandmother's lake cabin in the 4th of July on the lake, uh down the lake. 00:08:23.439 --> 00:08:32.399 There's a bunch of fireworks, and so the plan was uh I had the ring, I had some candles, it's gonna be, you know, I was playing it all out, and and Christy and I were gonna get in the boat. 00:08:32.559 --> 00:08:34.399 She didn't know of this, of course, is my plan. 00:08:34.480 --> 00:08:42.320 We're gonna get in the boat, go down for the fireworks, and to the end of the fireworks, this closing fireworks, you know, it's gonna be the moment that I propose. 00:08:42.399 --> 00:08:43.519 It's gonna be so beautiful. 00:08:43.679 --> 00:08:45.200 So I have everything set up. 00:08:45.360 --> 00:08:48.320 I get everything down in the boat and during the day when she's not paying attention. 00:08:48.480 --> 00:08:49.759 I realize I don't have an anchor. 00:08:49.840 --> 00:08:52.799 Like it's a little ski boat, it's not a big like boat with an anchor built. 00:08:52.960 --> 00:08:53.759 I don't have an anchor. 00:08:53.919 --> 00:08:55.360 I look all over the lake cabin. 00:08:55.759 --> 00:08:56.879 We don't have an anchor. 00:08:57.039 --> 00:09:00.480 Finally, I find on the side of the house, I find this chunk of concrete. 00:09:00.559 --> 00:09:03.519 It's like about this big, a little pipe sticking out of it. 00:09:03.919 --> 00:09:05.440 I pick it up, we wait a good bit. 00:09:05.600 --> 00:09:06.639 I think, well, this should work. 00:09:06.720 --> 00:09:09.759 I tie an old ski rope to it, take it down, put it in the boat. 00:09:09.919 --> 00:09:11.519 This should work, not an issue. 00:09:11.679 --> 00:09:13.279 We boat down toward the fire. 00:09:13.360 --> 00:09:21.039 It's it is it is a parking lot of boats down there, and it is like the ocean, and there's lots of drunk people hanging out. 00:09:21.360 --> 00:09:23.200 I'm just thinking we park, we drop the anchor. 00:09:23.279 --> 00:09:34.080 I'm like, this is not the romantic setting I dreamt to propose to my future wife, and the boat starts to drift because my little chunk of concrete ends up not to be an anchor. 00:09:34.159 --> 00:09:38.080 You figured that out, it's just a chunk of concrete, and so we start to drift. 00:09:38.159 --> 00:09:42.960 I'm just I'm a nervous wreck, I'm sweating because this is all going wrong. 00:09:43.039 --> 00:09:44.720 And I said, we gotta move, we gotta move. 00:09:44.799 --> 00:09:45.679 She doesn't understand why. 00:09:45.759 --> 00:09:49.120 She thinks I'm just being a moron at this point, and I pull the anchor up. 00:09:49.279 --> 00:09:51.600 Finally, we find this quiet cove. 00:09:51.840 --> 00:09:54.399 I drop that chunk of concrete back in the water. 00:09:54.480 --> 00:09:55.679 It still does not work. 00:09:55.840 --> 00:10:02.320 We're still drifting, so I have to get out of the boat, tie a rope to a tree, and then finally we're secure in place. 00:10:02.480 --> 00:10:04.960 Amazingly, she says yes, side note to the story. 00:10:05.039 --> 00:10:09.919 This is kind of the big note to the story, but the lesson of the story is the anchor never worked. 00:10:10.080 --> 00:10:12.000 Like that chunk of concrete, right? 00:10:12.480 --> 00:10:13.919 Because it was just a chunk of concrete. 00:10:14.000 --> 00:10:18.480 It turns out anchors are actually built a certain way to accomplish a certain task, right? 00:10:18.559 --> 00:10:22.639 They're built as they tip over, they dig in to hold the object of the way. 00:10:23.279 --> 00:10:30.799 And it's really important that we have the right anchor that can hold us, to be anchored. 00:10:31.440 --> 00:10:38.720 Verses four through eight are not about somebody who knows the anchor of Jesus, and that anchor lets them go. 00:10:39.120 --> 00:10:54.159 Verses four through eight is about people who have tasted in the means of grace, but they've never really relinquished control of their lives, forgiveness of sins, to be right with God, their eternal salvation with God by his grace alone. 00:10:54.399 --> 00:11:03.279 Maybe they've made a confession, maybe they've taken communion, maybe they're baptized, maybe they like the music, maybe, maybe they got a little Holy Spirit fuzzies during a service, maybe any of that. 00:11:03.440 --> 00:11:07.840 But it doesn't have to do with the people who are truly the beloved, verse 9. 00:11:07.919 --> 00:11:10.639 In verse 9 and 19, give us that. 00:11:14.000 --> 00:11:18.320 Yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things, things that belong to salvation. 00:11:18.399 --> 00:11:23.840 So point number two is this in the embrace of God, we are assured by evidences of our love and service. 00:11:23.919 --> 00:11:27.440 In the embrace of God, we are assured by evidences of our love and service. 00:11:27.600 --> 00:11:28.799 Verse 10 give us that. 00:11:28.960 --> 00:11:32.399 The writer is reminding these people hey, you are assured. 00:11:33.200 --> 00:11:36.240 Because we can see your love and we can see your service. 00:11:36.559 --> 00:11:39.279 But love and service are not for our assurance, right? 00:11:39.360 --> 00:11:42.720 Or else we're just thrown back into just anxiety-ridden faith. 00:11:42.960 --> 00:11:47.039 They're not for our assurance, they're because of our assurance. 00:11:47.200 --> 00:11:49.919 Because of our assurance is in this great anchor. 00:11:50.000 --> 00:11:53.440 So we're not in a faith of constant anxiety and questioning. 00:11:53.519 --> 00:11:56.720 We're in a faith that we are assured by Jesus' work for us. 00:11:57.039 --> 00:12:06.240 And because we're safe in Jesus, we are free to love and serve other people, to serve our neighbor and to serve our enemy. 00:12:06.480 --> 00:12:14.480 I mean, what that means, I think, in today's context, perhaps to love our enemy means perhaps you could love somebody even in the three taboo topics of today. 00:12:14.559 --> 00:12:26.240 You know the taboo topics of today because you're trying to avoid them with everybody in your family and friends, and that's Black Lives Matter, the election, and where you should and should not wear a mask, right? 00:12:26.320 --> 00:12:27.759 I mean, those are the three. 00:12:28.080 --> 00:12:29.600 Like you're just trying to avoid them. 00:12:29.759 --> 00:12:35.840 And that person who holds that opinion, the other opinion, you know, the other opinion, the one you don't have. 00:12:36.879 --> 00:12:45.919 Because you're safe and secure in Jesus and you don't have to use your opinions to justify your value, you can love and serve somebody who has a different opinion. 00:12:46.240 --> 00:12:49.679 That's so freeing for our love in this world. 00:12:49.919 --> 00:12:52.879 Point number three is this this is the arc of the passage. 00:12:53.200 --> 00:12:57.039 It's impossible for God to fail his beloved. 00:12:58.240 --> 00:13:02.240 Steve Brown, author and seminary professor, he says this of Hebrews 6. 00:13:03.519 --> 00:13:08.720 God doesn't say, trust me, and then for the rest of your life, make you wonder if you really trusted him. 00:13:09.519 --> 00:13:19.919 The nature of the God of the universe is not to bring you to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, but then to make you wonder for the rest of your life if you have that saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. 00:13:20.159 --> 00:13:25.679 It is God's business and desire for us to have assurance of our salvation. 00:13:26.000 --> 00:13:29.039 That's why the writer takes us through all of this. 00:13:29.440 --> 00:13:34.080 And then at the end he says, Yet for you, I'm certain of better things. 00:13:34.639 --> 00:13:36.080 You have an anchor. 00:13:36.639 --> 00:13:43.600 In our first year as a church, we lost an incredibly important person in our church who died. 00:13:44.080 --> 00:13:46.639 And many of you were there, his name was Stuart. 00:13:46.799 --> 00:13:47.679 It was a tragic death. 00:13:47.759 --> 00:13:49.200 It was traumatic for all of us. 00:13:49.360 --> 00:13:51.039 It was incredibly traumatic. 00:13:51.360 --> 00:14:01.039 We had the funeral at Riverstone Church, about 10 minutes north of here, and I led the service, and Bo from Stonebridge, he led worship, and Bo picked out this song, and I didn't know he was gonna pick it out. 00:14:01.120 --> 00:14:02.960 He picked out the song Cornerstone. 00:14:03.600 --> 00:14:07.840 And I'd always liked the song, but man, that song meant a lot to me that day because I was a mess. 00:14:07.919 --> 00:14:11.279 I didn't let it be seen, but I was a mess. 00:14:11.440 --> 00:14:13.600 That was some traumatic days. 00:14:14.399 --> 00:14:30.480 And we sang that song, and it meant so much to me to sing and to hear and to receive that we have an anchor that is sure and certain in this world, no matter how much of a mess we make of it, and into the next world. 00:14:31.200 --> 00:14:40.320 The song's written from the great hymn in the 1800s: my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. 00:14:41.120 --> 00:14:46.799 I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly trust in Jesus' name. 00:14:47.279 --> 00:14:49.440 My anchor holds within the veil. 00:14:49.679 --> 00:14:59.679 When he shall come with trumpet sound, oh may I then in him be found, addressed in his righteousness alone, faultless to stand before the throne. 00:14:59.919 --> 00:15:00.960 Let's pray together. 00:15:01.279 --> 00:15:07.360 God, thank you that you are our anchor, not our achievements or performance in this world or in faith. 00:15:08.080 --> 00:15:19.679 Thank you that we are free in the sufficiency of Jesus to rest as we are your beloved and to grow more mature in the faith and to love and serve our neighbor. 00:15:20.240 --> 00:15:23.679 What freedom we have to be completely curious. 00:15:25.440 --> 00:15:30.799 Help our lives to be a reflection of the great and perfect grace we have in you. 00:15:31.039 --> 00:15:32.000 In Jesus' name. 00:15:32.559 --> 00:15:33.200 Amen.