A Better Hope

Hebrews chapter 6. We're going to wrap up chapter 6. And next week, Lord Willin, we

Hebrews 6 · chapter mention

are going to talk about Melchizedek. We've talked about that a lot here in the last few

months. The author has wanted to get to Melchizedek. And even in the verses we're going to look

at today, he wants to talk about Melchizedek. But he stops. He stops the end of chapter

5 into chapter 6. And he stops for a second and he says, I've got a lot of things I want

to tell you, but I can't tell you those things yet because you are not ready. And he says

they're not ready because they are immature. They're not living right. They're not doing

right. He said, look, you should be living a certain way by now. You know about Jesus.

You know about the word of God, the commands of God, and you should be living for Jesus

Christ. But even though you should be mature, he says you're acting like babies in Christ.

You need to be eating solid food, but instead you're drinking milk. So before I can tell

you the things that are most important, he says I have to deal with your immaturity.

I have to give you a warning. And he does that, a pretty strong warning at the beginning

of chapter 6. He says, look, you're in great danger. You're in danger of drifting away.

He said that in Hebrews chapter 2. You're in danger of turning away from Jesus Christ.

Hebrews 2 · chapter mention

And he gives them a strong warning and he tells them, do not turn away from Jesus Christ.

But he gives them encouragement. He says, you need to stand firm. You need to be strong.

You need to know the God that you serve. Now, let's not forget that the audience here of

the book of Hebrews were Jewish Christians who were under persecution. They were facing

difficulties. They were facing hard times. And in the midst of their difficulties and

hard times, they were tempted to turn away from God. They were tempted to turn away from

Jesus. Now, not turn away from God entirely because they still believed in God, but their

real temptation was is that they were going to turn back to the Old Testament sacrificial

system, the old way of doing things. But the scripture tells us that Jesus come and has

made a new covenant. And so the old things have passed away that we're going to see here

as we continue on in the book of Hebrews. And Jesus has come and he's established that

new covenant. And so our salvation and our hope and our security are in Jesus Christ

alone. But the audience of the book of Hebrews was tempted to turn from Jesus Christ and

go back to an old way, an old way which would not offer them any hope, would not offer them

any salvation. So the author of Hebrews says, you're getting close to going over the edge

here. But he says, I encourage you to stand firm. Don't give up because we serve a God

who is faithful. Even though we may face difficult times, God will not abandon us. He has not

forsaken us. And we talked week before last about the promises of God, that God is a God

who keeps his promises. The author of Hebrews reminds his audience about Abraham, that God

made promises to Abraham and God has kept those promises to Abraham and is still keeping

those promises to Abraham today. And that all nations will be blessed through the descendant

of Abraham who is Jesus Christ. So the author of Hebrews says, stand by the God who has

promised to stand by you. The God who has given you salvation, do not turn from that

God. Do not abandon that God, but stand on those promises. Because it is in the promises

of God that we have hope. And that's what we saw a couple of weeks ago. So he says a

whole lot of stuff here at the end of chapter five and chapter six, really to come to this

point that we're going to look at today. And this will be a relatively short sermon today,

praise the Lord. I say that, we'll see. I think it is though. I think it's going to

be short, amen. But let's read through the text. We'll pray, then we'll talk about these

couple of verses. Hebrews chapter six, verse 18, just the very last little bit of verse

18 there. Hebrews chapter six, verse 18, sees the hope set before us. We have this hope

as an anchor for our lives, safe 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 in the order of Melchizedek. Let's pray. Father God, we thank you for these good

words. And God, maybe in some ways we find ourselves in a situation similar to that of

the book of Hebrews, the people in this book, dear Lord. We might not be tempted to build

temples and offer animal sacrifices and those things, but God, maybe there are other things

in our life that are drawing us away from you. Maybe there are hard times in our life

that are causing us to doubt you, that we wonder if you're with us, if we wonder that

you hear us. But God, I pray that we would hear this message of hope, that we would hear

and know the promises of your word, that we would hear of the gospel and the goodness

and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ this morning. God, I pray that your Holy Spirit would be

among us, that you would be with me as I preach and teach, that it would all be for your glory,

dear Lord, that you would hide me behind the cross. Let us be free of distractions for

these few minutes, that we would hear from you and that your word would be something

that we would hold firm on today. And I ask these things in Jesus' name, amen.

So the author of Hebrews has finished kind of getting onto his audience and giving them

a warning, and he says, but you have hope. I know things are hard in your life right

now, but he says there is hope in the promises of God. And so what does he do? He says, if

you know the promises of God, you need to seize that hope. That is, the hope is the

promises of God. What are the promises of God as they relate to us ultimately? The promises

of God as they relate to us ultimately are that God has offered forgiveness of our sins

through Jesus Christ. That Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has given His life on the cross.

He has suffered and bled and died. He has took the punishment that we deserve. He has

taken the punishment for our sins, so that through Jesus Christ, we may be forgiven of

those sins, so that we will not suffer the wrath of God and the judgment of God for all

of eternity, but that we will receive the blessings of God for all of eternity. That

is the ultimate promise of God that we have received. Now, there may be other things that

we see in God's Word that are good promises that we can hold onto, that are encouraging.

And we looked at verses that talked about some promises of God a couple of weeks ago.

But ultimately, the greatest promise of God is to escape from the mess of this world,

the sin of this world, the death of this world, the sorrow of this world, and to go to a place

where there is no more sin, no more death, and no more sorrow, but only the goodness

of the presence of God for all of eternity. Now, that is the promise of God's Word. Now,

we like the audience of the book of Hebrews may be going through lots of difficulties

in our life. And sometimes we may question God and we may doubt God and we may even be

tempted to turn to things in this world apart from God. But the author of Hebrews says,

look, there is no hope in anything else in this world. The hope that we have comes through

the promises of God, that is Jesus Christ. The promises of God are yes and amen in Jesus

Christ and nothing else. So the author of Hebrews tells his audience to seize the hope,

to seize the promises of God. Do not give up on God. Do not live a life of sin. Do not

live a life of religion, but live a life for Jesus Christ who gave his life for you. Verse

19, we have this hope as an anchor for our lives, safe and secure. It enters the inner

sanctuary behind the curtain. So he says, look, seize the hope that is before you. And

then what does he say of this hope? The hope that we have is in Jesus Christ, that Jesus

has paid it all, that Jesus has done everything that you and I cannot do. Praise the Lord.

God's word commands us all these things to do, things that are right and that are good.

God says, do these things and don't do these things. Inevitably, every day we do the things

that God says not to do and we fail to do the things that God says to do. And that's

a big problem for every single one of us in this room this morning. And praise the Lord

that Jesus came, that God saw our weakness, that he saw that we were incapable of living

the life that he called us to and Jesus came and lived that life for us. Now you don't

have to be perfect today, praise the Lord, and you can't be. But you do have to follow

Jesus Christ. And to follow Jesus Christ is not simply coming to church. It's not just

being dumped in the water. There are lots of people who come to church and who are dumped

in the water, but they don't live for Jesus Christ. They've never trusted in Jesus Christ.

To be a Christian, to come to faith in Jesus Christ says, Jesus, I am going to follow you.

It's not a license to sin. It's not, well, Jesus was perfect, so I don't have to be,

so I'll do what I want. That's not what salvation is. That's not what Christianity is. That's

not what faith in Jesus Christ is. Faith in Jesus Christ is saying, Lord Jesus, I see

your commands and I will seek to live by you and follow your example as best I can. And

yes, there will be days that we will stumble. There will be days that we will sin. But faith

in Jesus Christ is not a license to continue to sin. It's forgiveness for our sins, but

not a license to continue in those sins. Faith in Jesus Christ says, I will strive to live

for you, dear Lord. I will strive to put you first in everything. I will strive to love

my neighbor as myself. I will strive to pray for my enemies. I will strive to take care

of the poor and needy and the widow and the orphans. God, I will strive to take all that

you have given me and use it for the furtherance of your kingdom. That is Christianity. A lot

of people, they come and they hear the word of God and they say, man, this is good stuff

that Jesus died for my sins. And they say, I'm going to say a prayer and I'm going to

get baptized and then I'm going to go and do whatever I want to do. After all, Jesus

gave me forgiveness. Well, yes, Jesus does forgive us, but that is not a license for

us to sin. Salvation in Jesus Christ should meet on our part that we say, Lord Jesus,

I am going to live for you. This is our hope that we have. This is the hope that is before

us in Jesus Christ. And once we have put our hope in Jesus Christ, how does the author

of Hebrews describe this hope? He says, we have this hope as an anchor for our lives.

So hope here is described as an anchor. This is a good illustration. It's simple. It's

basic and it serves its point. Not much needs to be said of this illustration. If you have

ever ridden on a boat before, or even if you have not ever ridden on a boat before, it's

likely you've seen a boat. It's likely you've seen an anchor. What does an anchor do? What

is the purpose of an anchor? An anchor is there to hold a ship in place. An anchor is

there to keep a ship from drifting in the midst of the wind, in the midst of the waves,

in the midst of the storm. When the anchor drops, the ship stops. So it is for you and

I because we're here in this life. And on the good days, the winds of this world and

this life and the winds of God's word guide us where we need to go. God's word blows us

on the right path. If we will simply open our sails and we will let God lead us and

guide us, it will guide us where we need to go on those beautiful days. But then there

are other days in your life where the storms come and you know it. Everybody in here, you

could tell me your storm story. Some of you may be in the middle of it right now. And

when those storms come, oh how they are not good times. We are tossed and we are turned

and we are blown and we wonder when will the storm end. And it's in those days that we

need an anchor in our lives that we can drop. And when that anchor hits, we need to know

that we will not be blown to and fro. That we can stand firm, that we will be firm and

steadfast, safe and secure and we will not be moved to and fro and there was nothing

that will be able to hurt us. And that anchor is the hope that we have in Jesus Christ.

And so the author of Hebrews says, look, we have this hope and it is an anchor for us.

He says we have this hope, it is an anchor for our lives, safe and secure, our firm and

steadfast. Now that's the only hope that we can have today that's going to do anything

for us. That's the only thing that we can come to is Jesus Christ. That's the only thing

that's immovable, that will not be shifted, that will not be moved, that will not be crumbled.

Jesus is a rock that we can stand on in the midst of the storms and the winds and the

waves. Everything else is pulling us in every direction in this world. Life is hard and

it is difficult and it is painful. But when we hold on to the hope of Jesus Christ, when

we hold on to the hope that as our anchor of our lives, we will be able to withstand

whatever we are going through. Jesus Christ is our only hope this morning. He is your

only hope this morning. Some of you have figured that out. Some of you have figured out that

Jesus is your only hope and you figured that out because you've tried to put hope in everything

else. We have a tendency to do that. We try to find hope in lots of things. We try to

find it in our careers. We try to find it in our wealth. We try to find it in our success.

We try to find it in drugs, in alcohol. We try to find it in fame, in fortune, whatever

we can find it in. We try to find these things and use these things to bring us some kind

of hope and just some kind of light at the end of the tunnel because life is so hard

and we turn to this and we turn to that and we turn to this and we turn to that. When

When we do that, we go to bed at night and we still feel hopeless.

We try all of these things, we have all of these things, but they just don't give us

what we need.

They just don't give us what we need because we still feel hopeless.

Too many times we try to anchor our lives down with things of the world that cannot

hold anything.

Things of this world that continue to allow us to blow to and fro in the storm, to continue

our life to be shattered and torn, to continue to lead us into bad decisions and bad choices

with bad consequences.

And that's because too many times we've anchored our lives to something that's not anchored

at all and we're still just drifting along.

But when we put our hope in the anchor of Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ holds on to us.

And that's what the author of Hebrews tells his audience.

He says, look, I know you're in the midst of hard times.

He said, but stand on the promises of God because it's in the promises of God that we

have hope today.

So let the hope of Jesus Christ be the anchor of your life today.

Maybe he is.

Maybe some of you are standing firm on Jesus Christ today and you are safe and secure.

Oh, there's nothing more beautiful.

When you've been tossed to and fro and you've put hope in things of the world only to realize

they are hopeless, when the day comes that we put our hope in Jesus Christ and we find

the safety and security that only comes through the gospel of Jesus Christ, what a glorious

day that is.

Some of you have found that today.

Some of you are anchored in Jesus Christ today.

Perhaps others realize today you've been putting your hope in a lot of things in this world

and you've come to the realization that you're just as hopeless as you were to start with.

But I want to tell you today, there's a better hope than anything that this world has to

offer.

This world can give you fame and success and wealth and all the things you've ever wanted,

but this world cannot give you hope.

That only comes through Jesus Christ and Christ crucified.

I hope that you have put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ today.

Maybe you have in the past and maybe you've just been drifting away.

Maybe you find yourself similar to these Hebrews.

Maybe you're in a bad spot.

Maybe today you just need to be reminded, don't give up on Jesus Christ.

Repent of your sins.

Live for Jesus today.

Maybe you've got your hope in Jesus Christ today and you were safe and secure and steadfast

and you're holding strong.

Praise God.

And maybe there are others today and you have been drifting like a ship without a sail,

going to and fro wherever the world has blown you, but perhaps today God's Word wants to

guide you to the cross of Jesus Christ, the only place where we will find hope today.

If you came into this building hopeless this morning, I pray that today that you'd put

your faith and trust in Jesus Christ.

That you would repent of your sins.

That you would seek to live for Him and that you would trust Him with your life.

Let's pray.

Father God, we come to you today.

We thank you for your good word.

And I pray that you just would bless each of us, dear Lord.

I pray that as we are being tossed and turned around by the things of this world, dear Lord

God, that you would help us to get through.

God, maybe there are days that we doubt you.

Maybe there are days that we choose our sin and we find ourselves in a spot we don't need

to be in, dear Lord.

God, I pray that today that if there is one that knows you and maybe they've just been

living their life in a way that's not right, that they would repent.

That they would just turn back to you today, dear Lord.

God, maybe there are some today that just in the midst of their struggles, they just

wonder if you're there.

They wonder if you hear them.

But God, I pray that they would know without a shadow of a doubt you have not left them.

That your word promises that you are with us.

So let us never doubt, dear Lord.

But let us hold on to that promise because there is hope in that promise, dear Lord.

It may seem easy, dear Lord, to give up on you.

But dear Lord, where will we turn?

If we turn from you, what will we turn to, dear Lord?

There is no hope, God, in anything else but you.

And I pray that we would be reminded of that today.

God, maybe there are some today that do not know Jesus Christ.

They've never put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ.

Maybe today they have tried everything that this world has to offer and they come into

this building today feeling hopeless.

Dear Lord, I pray that they would not leave feeling hopeless.

God, I pray today that they would hear your word and that they would seize the hope that

lies before them this morning.

The hope of forgiveness of sins.

The hope of one who will be with them for all of eternity, dear Lord, and you will be

with them for all of eternity if they put their faith and trust in you.

God, I pray that if there are any in this room that does not know Jesus Christ today,

if your Holy Spirit has spoken to them, that even now, God, they would pray.

They would pray that their sins would be forgiven, that they would repent, dear Lord, to turn

from the things of this world and to turn to you.

That they would stop putting their hope in things that are hopeless, but they would put

their hope in something that will bring them safety and security today.

God, if there are any that do not know Jesus Christ, that have prayed and asked him to

be their Lord and Savior and repented of their sins today, God, I pray that as we prepare

for this time of invitation that they would come forward.

Let us know, dear Lord, where we can celebrate with them, where we can baptize them, just

as your word commands.

God, if you've spoken to us in any way today, I pray that we would respond to you.

I pray that we would leave out of here today, dear Lord, being those who have hope in the

midst of a world that's falling apart, that we have hope in you.

And I ask these things in Jesus' name.

Amen.