A Superior Hope

My name is Jeff Bradford, and I'm happy to welcome you again this morning, especially if you're new. We would love a chance to get to know you and to greet you. There's a QR code we've been showing around that shows the bulletin and how to sign up for things. If you want to give us your information, we would love to follow-up with you.

This morning, we're going to be in Hebrews chapter six, verses 11 through 20. I'm going to ask if you would join your voices with mine as we read God's word aloud together. You can follow along in your bulletin on your screen or up here on the screen behind me.

Now we desire each of you to demonstrate the same diligence for the full assurance of your hope until the end so that you won't become lazy but will be imitators of those who inherit the promises through faith and perseverance. For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater to swear by, he swore by himself, I will indeed bless you, and I will greatly multiply you. And so, after waiting patiently, Abraham obtained the promise. For people swear by something greater than themselves, and for them, a confirming oath ends every dispute. Because God wanted to show his unchangeable purpose even more clearly to the heirs of the promise, he guaranteed it with an oath so that through two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to seize the hope set before us. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain. Jesus has entered there on our behalf as a forerunner because he has become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. — Hebrews 6:11-20

This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

Several years ago, my wife started making a weekly meal chart for dinner, and this is important to our family for a couple of reasons. We have a couple of picky eaters who like to know what's coming. Mom's going to make something you really like during the week, but it's not going to be every night, so it's helpful to know how to prepare and adjust your expectations for that.

But if there's one thing that the boys really don't enjoy—actually, I do—there's this one word that shows up on our calendar that the boys sort of roll their eyes at or they try to come up with some other plans. It's this one word: leftovers. It's the night that we pull out all the Tupperware and we clean out the fridge. It's my favorite night. I don't know what's wrong with them, but we finish off what's remaining during the week. Anybody else not like leftovers? Okay. A couple honest people here this morning. Thank you.

I think a lot of people, when we think about that word, we might think about that word in relationship to God too. I think there are a lot of people when we describe the Christian life and your experience of the Christian life who may feel like God has made all these promises, but I don't feel like what I'm getting is the best or the freshest or the good. I feel like I'm getting the leftovers. I'm not going to ask if anybody feels that way about God, but I think that's a very common experience.

This morning, I'm going to skip a little section—we'll come back to it next week—and we're going to look at this part of Hebrews chapter six because I wanted to preach with you this morning about hope: where is our hope, and how do we know hope, and how do we seize hope, as this passage says.

The question really that I want to stir you to ask today is a question I bet that you ask all the time: How can I trust God? How do we trust God? Why should we trust God when we don't know what's going on? When we don't understand God's ways, when all that's on the horizon before us feels like leftovers, feels like something tedious or boring or really hard? How do we trust God? How do we hold on to hope in God?

I have three points today. They all begin with the letter I. Gold Star Sunday. God's immutable purpose, God's impossible action, God's immovable anchor.

God's Immutable Purpose

The author of Hebrews gives us this example from the life of Abraham. Abraham is the most famous name in the Old Testament, the father of the faith. God shows up in his life and calls him to come and follow him. Abraham left behind his homeland. God makes all these promises to Abraham: I'm going to give you a new land, a promised land. I'm going to give you descendants like the stars in the sky, like the sand on the seashore, that many. And I'm always going to be your God. These gigantic promises that he made, that he would never leave him or forsake him.

My favorite part of the passage we just read is where it describes Abraham as a man who waited patiently. Now it's not in dispute that Abraham waited.

When he received the promise that he and his wife would have a baby, they were old, very old, childless, and it was somewhat of a joke that God would make this promise. And they waited twenty-five years, so no dispute that Abraham waited. But patiently? I never think of Abraham as a model of patience. I mean, he's as patient as me. I like things now. I hate traffic. I hate waiting for Amazon packages, and those are instant almost. You know, Abraham was not a model of patience. We see over and over where he took things into his own hands, tried to make God's promises happen according to his own wisdom and timing. We see him lying. This is all through the book of Genesis. Lying to different kings, trying to protect himself, putting his wife at risk, not a model of patience. But okay, I believe the author of Hebrews, after waiting patiently, Abraham received the promise. And the point for you is that if God kept his promises to Abraham, God will keep his promises to you.

Some of you are wondering, what promises has God made? What promises has God made to us? And these are written in all kinds of different ways throughout your Bible. So I'm going to give you a couple of examples. In John 6, Jesus says several statements about the incredible promises of God to you.

Whoever comes to me shall not hunger. Whoever believes in me shall never thirst. All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and whoever comes to Me, I will never cast out. This is the will of Him who sent Me, that I should lose none of those He has given Me, but will raise them up at the last day. — John 6

In John 10, Jesus describes Himself as a good shepherd. The sheep know My voice, they follow Me, but He promises:

I will give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one can snatch them out of My hand. The Father is even greater than all, and no one can snatch them, you, out of the Father's hand. — John 10

I am sure of this, that the one who began a good work in you, he will take it on to completion in Christ Jesus. — Philippians

Or in the book of Hebrews:

I will never leave you or forsake you. — Hebrews

And yet, I think that many of us are people who are callous to God's promises, callous even to the idea of promises. And that may be because people have made promises to you that they've broken or gone back on—maybe as a teacher, maybe as a parent, of course maybe as a politician—or maybe it's you who, with your own words, know that you can't keep your promises. Maybe you're a parent, and you've made promises about safety even though you can't control weather or airplanes or storms or bad dreams. You can have no power over those things. But whatever it is, I think we're very much like Abraham. Abraham came to God and said, "God, how do I know? How will I know that you're telling me the truth?"

Do you feel this? In trying to trust God in your own life, many of you are waiting for things that are really significant, and you've been waiting a long time. Maybe you've been waiting on someone that you love dearly to come to faith in Christ. Maybe you've been waiting for things to finally move ahead with your job, your education, your career, and you're stuck, and you feel so stuck. Maybe in some of your relationships you feel incredibly stuck. You've been waiting. You've been waiting for God to reconcile a difficult relationship, somebody who's estranged from you, somebody who's cut you off. Or maybe you've been just waiting for God to answer prayers, and they've been the same prayers. You feel like you've just been ringing God's bell for years, and nothing is happening. Does anybody—do I have a witness this morning? Anybody know what it's like to wait and say, "How do I know God? How do I know?"

Others of you are thinking, my biggest problem with trusting God is not actually the trusting God part, it's the me part. It's the me part. I'm not trustworthy. See, God promises things by a covenant, by an agreement. But a covenant's a two-way thing, and just because God has sworn to be good to me, there is no comfort because I know that I'm the one who's untrustworthy. I remember sitting with a man years ago at CTK who said every Sunday, "I wonder if having failed God so many times, if I finally run out of his patience with me. How do I know he's still there for me? How can I be sure of his unfailing promise to me when I'm the one who lets him down all the time, all the time?" It's not that I don't trust him. I don't trust me.

And again here, the example of Abraham is really helpful. In Genesis 15, God asks Abraham to do something which sounds completely bizarre to us. God says, "I want you to go get five animals. I want a sheep, a goat, a cow, a pigeon, and a dove. And I want you to bring these animals, and then you're going to kill them." Gross. Then, more gross, you're going to cut them completely in half. Yeah. In half. And I want you to put one half on the right side and one half on the left side.

Make a little row of half animals on each side. And so Abraham does this, and God reiterates his promise to him. Abraham, I promise I will be your god. I'm gonna give you descendants. I'm gonna give you this land. I promise. And god causes Abraham to fall into a deep sleep. And in his sleep, Abraham dreams, and he sees the animals, the two rows. And as he's sleeping, he sees a torch and a fire pot. So picture a big clay pot with smoke coming out the top, and he watches these two objects, and they float down the row in between the pieces, and they come back.

Now that is gory and weird, isn't it? But for Abraham, it was absolutely incredible. Because in Abraham's day, this is how you made an agreement between two parties. Literally, you cut a covenant. This is what people did. They would take animals. They would divide them in half like this, and both of you, if you're gonna make an agreement between the two of you, you walk between the pieces. I know. It's disgusting. Right? But they didn't have computers with DocuSign. So they walked between the pieces. And the purpose of the covenant went like this. It was like, hey. We're really serious about this. And if I don't keep my end of the deal, may I be cut in half like the animal? And if you don't keep your end of the deal, may you be cut in half like the animal? I mean, this is really serious.

Here's what's bizarre. In Abraham's dream, he doesn't walk the pathway. He dreams and he sees—remember the torch and the smoking fire pot? Those symbols, smoke and fire, always symbols of God's personal spirit, his presence. And so what he sees is instead of seeing himself and God walk between the pieces, only God walks between the pieces. As if God is saying, Abraham, this isn't even based on you and what you intend. God is saying to Abraham, Abraham, if I don't keep my end of the deal, may I be cut in half like these animals? And Abraham, if you don't keep your end of the deal, may I be cut in half like these animals?

I like those odds. And we know the writer Isaiah, centuries later, Isaiah 53 talks about Jesus, the one who comes like a lamb, didn't open his mouth before he was being slaughtered, and instead he was cut off from his descendants. What happened at the cross was the son of God receiving the just punishment for all who don't keep our end of the covenant. God is that faithful. When God cuts a covenant with us, He does so entirely in His promise, and it is written for you in the very blood of Jesus upon the cross. Now, I know that's gory, but that's incredible. God's immutable purpose for us. God's incredible promises for us.

The Impossible Action

Now this is a little stretch. You're gonna have to really bear with me in understanding this. This passage talks about something that it's impossible for God to do. There's always that thing that we do as kids. Hey. Is there a rock that God can make that's so big that he can't move it? Like, no. Of course not. God can do anything. Well, there's one thing that God cannot do. We're told right here. It is impossible for God to lie.

It's impossible for God to lie. Listen to verse 18.

Through two unchangeable things, which is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement for the hope set before us. — Hebrews 6:18

First thing, God's promise. Second thing, an oath. God swears. God swears that he will do his promises. Now this is wild. God swears. Think about how you and I try to reinforce our words with one another by means of an oath, or by swearing, assuring somebody we for sure are going to do this. Cross my heart. Hope to die. Stick a needle in my eye. Right? Know this one. Right? I swear on my grandmother's grave. I swear by everything that's holy. May lightning strike me down on this spot if what I'm saying isn't true. We always say those things to add an exclamation point to what we mean. We really, really, really mean it. We're really, really, really gonna do it. It's really, really true.

Now here's the bizarre thing. God swears that he will do all that he says he will do. And since there is no one bigger than God to swear on, he swears on himself. Think about what happens in a courtroom. Maybe you've not been to a courtroom, but you've seen it on TV. Somebody comes in, they put their hand on the bible, I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me, God. They're swearing on God, on his word. They're swearing verbally, I will tell the truth. I promise. They're swearing on something greater than themselves, the certainty of who god is.

Did you know that there's some really weird phrases that are still in the English vocabulary that are ancient swearing? So if you've ever heard somebody say this—sounds like really old people. Ready? Gadzooks. You know what gadzooks means? It means by God's hooks. It's referring to the nails that held Jesus in place on the cross. And people would say, I will do it. By God's nails, I will do it.

Or, zounds, by God's wounds. Or streweth. I love this one. By God's truth, or this is my favorite, odds bodkins. That's a really old one from England that says, by God's little body, Jesus on the cross. What would we swear we swear on God because he is the one unchangeable agent in the entire universe. So people swear on this. And here, God swears on God. God says, I will do everything I promise. I God cannot lie. So God has made his promises to us in Christ.

Can you trust that God will be your God no matter what? I swear. Yes. Can you trust that God will always forgive you when you go to him? I swear. Yes. Can you trust that God will never abandon you? It's like God raising his hand saying, on me. Yes. Can you trust that God's love will always be the same every day? Yes. Can you trust that God you'll never run out of God's love for you, His grace for you, His mercy for you, His kindness toward you, His ear toward you? Can you trust Him? Yes. God swears.

Why can you trust God? God's immutable, unchanging purpose. God's impossible action. He cannot lie to you. And finally, God's immovable anchor.

The Anchor

Now, I don't have a boat, don't know much about sailing, but I know what an anchor is, and I know it's best to have an anchor. That an anchor is really helpful when it's not on deck, when you can't see it. An anchor is most useful when it goes down. When it goes down with the chain into the water, when nobody on the deck can see it because it's down below. Our promise, our Lord, the unseen, they have perfect place to have a life that is steadied and anchored because we can trust him.

An anchor works also when it grabs onto something that is unmovable, something that is not going to go anywhere, something that doesn't change. Here, the anchor is hooked to what? God's immutable promise. God's impossible action never lies. An anchor keeps you from drifting. On a boat, stability, rootedness, fixedness, connectedness only come from an anchor. Everything on the boat is moving. Even in a storm with the anchor down, everything is moving. But the one thing that will prevent you from drifting is the anchor going all the way to the bottom.

You know, what makes a Christian stay and steadfast is not our toughness, it's not our faithfulness, it's not our goodness, it's that we have an anchor, and it's really tied. It's tied deep, and it's hooked on something that's not going to move.

But here's the weird thing about this anchor. Normally, an anchor on a boat goes down. This anchor goes up and in. Can you imagine seeing an anchor on a boat that goes up? You're like, something is really wrong here, but this is an anchor that enters into, says here, the inner place behind the curtain where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf.

Now there's an old hymn that we sing a lot in our church called "The Solid Rock." It was written in 1834 by a man named Edward Mote, and I love the second verse of this hymn. It says this:

When darkness veils his lovely face, I rest on his unchanging grace. In every high and stormy gale, My anchor holds within the veil.

Now I grew up singing that song. Many of you have grown up singing that song. We sing it a lot here. But I've never thought about it before. My anchor holds within the veil. What veil?

Well, that's exactly what's being referred to here in Hebrews chapter six. Veil is another word for curtain, and it's a picture of the curtain in the tabernacle or the temple that protected the regular priests from the holy of holies, the place where the ark of the covenant sat, the place where once a year the high priest would go in with a sacrifice before God and make the sacrifice. Tradition says the high priest had a leash tied around his waist or his ankles so that if he was not holy, if he was not purified, they could drag his dead body out afterward because God is holy.

But this is what is being described here. When Jesus came and died on the cross, here's what we know. It says, the curtain in the temple was torn in two top to bottom. This is what the writer of Hebrews is describing. This is where Jesus, our anchor, went. This is where our hope is, when Jesus sacrificed himself. It's as if the anchor for your soul went through the curtain into the very holy place of God, and the temple, the holy of holies in the temple is modeled on what class? Do you have any idea? Heaven. It's modeled on the very throne room of God in heaven.

So this is what is described for us. We have Jesus. It says here in verse 20, our forerunner. That word in it sounds weird to us, like Toyota forerunner. But that's from this word in Greek that says, prodromos, which is a technical term referring to a body, little body of soldiers. They're always sent ahead of an army to find out the best way for the army to travel. And our high priest, our prodromos, our Jesus has gone ahead of us.

Anchor of your soul, up through the curtain into the holy of holies of the very throne room of God in heaven. This is where your anchor is. This is what's being described in this passage. Up and in. So the anchor of our soul is like a chain that goes straight from you, straight up.

Do you want an anchor to life? So many of us have lives that are up and down every day, every week. They're based on what our boss thinks of us, what other people think of us, what we think of us. An anchored life is one that is joined forever into the very throne room of God where Jesus has gone before us. Abraham had an anchored life because he believed God's promises. He trusted him. He was able to put his hope in all that God said would occur.

Your life is always going to be defined by fears and worries and stresses. The storms are always going to come. The boat is regularly going to feel unsteady. Do you have an anchor? When would you need an anchor? All the time.

Let's go back to this hymn again. There's something interesting about it. It uses the word veil two times. The second time describes the curtain into the holy of holies. The first one describes the experience that you and I have all the time.

When darkness veils his lovely face, when you can't see God, when you can't see what God is up to, I rest on his unchanging grace.

Isn't this our experience? In places of worry, in places of loss, in places of stress, we say, God, where are you? I can't see you. I don't know where you are. What we need seems most absent in those moments—veiled, tossed about in the darkness like a ship at midnight searching for him, for hope, for something stable.

In the midst of those storms, what we need is not a list of spiritual principles on how to row and get your life right. What we need is not a coach who's standing at the prow telling us, go harder, row harder. What we need is an anchor, the invisible hope that ties us to the very throne room of God where Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father. The chain that connects you up will never go anywhere.

What is your soul anchored to? Do you remember? Some of you are like, I remember there was a time when I asked God, Lord, would you be my refuge and my hope and my life? Have you forgotten? Is darkness veiling his lovely face from you today? You have a sure and certain hope.

If you don't have an anchor for your life, this is what's offered to you. Seize hope in this passage. Grab hold. An unanchored life brings a lot of seasickness, and there's going to be a storm that takes you. But we have an anchor. Are you anchored up and in to Jesus?

The Master Chef

Let me conclude this way. The summer after college, Susan and I, my wife and I, worked for a summer serving with Greater Europe Mission at this camp in the French Alps. It was incredible. They took kids from Paris, brought them out to the outdoors, and they got to experience mountain climbing and backpacking and all these things. That summer, I cut the grass, Susan worked in the kitchen, and the students who came to the camp largely ignored us. I can't speak French, so that may have contributed to that, but we were just support staff for the camp.

One of the marvels for me from that camp was the food. When we think of camp food, we think of things like beanie weenies, sloppy joes, not the height of culinary experiences. But the food at a French camp was amazing, especially the soup. I don't even like soup. I find soup really boring. But a highlight for me of that whole summer was soup at lunch. They would bring out this soup with garlic, leeks, onions, cream, heavy cream. It was terrific.

But what was more amazing to me was where the soup came from. My girlfriend, now wife, worked in the kitchen, and she told me something a couple weeks into camp that shocked me. Do you know where that soup came from? Leftovers. From the night before, the cook would take whatever was leftover from dinner, put it in a pot, puree it, and slow cook it. Voila. It was incredible.

In the hands of a master chef, leftovers are a feast. I just want to remind you of this today: when God seems to be giving you not his best, when God seems to be giving you things that don't feel good to you, when God seems to be working things in your life where you have to wait and darkness does veil his lovely face, God is able to bring a feast out of leftovers. God is able to bring good in our lives even out of what feels disappointing and hard. God is that good to his children.

Would you trust him today?

Would you lean on him today, the very anchor of your soul?

Prayer

Would you pray with me? Father, we thank you for your word. There's nothing like your word—or we have lots of words. But we always need to hear from you, and we need to hear of a hope that is sure. Lord, help us today so we leave this place today to not leave these promises sitting on the floor, but to grab hold of them, to seize the hope that's given to us today.

I pray for my brothers and sisters, Lord, this is a week that's been marked by great loss for our church, and we feel it in our bones. We so much need your spirit to remind us of the anchor.

We pray this in his name. Amen.

Stand and respond to God's word and song together.