The Anchor of Assurance in the Sea of Skepticism
Hebrews: Jesus is Greater 2022-2023 • Sermon • Submitted
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Introduction
Introduction
As the expression goes, the only things that you can count on in life are death and taxes - you can be assured of the fact of those two things in life but lots of other things can and do happen do us and they can really make us question things. If you’ve ever been let down by another person, you might question if someone else will let you down too. If you’ve had a bad experience doing a certain thing, you might never want to do that thing again because you’re afraid that it’ll happen again. It’s hard not to be a little skeptical whenever we’ve been burned before and if we’re being honest, we’ve all been burned a time or two and have had our hopes given up. In this sea of skepticism, where can we find genuine hope? After all, that’s what our heart truly craves.
If 2020 taught us anything, it taught us that we can’t find that hope in the things that we do because if that’s what gives us hope, we can lose our hope real quick! We need something that doesn’t change - that cannot be shaken. We need an anchor in this sea of sorrow and this is exactly what we have in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Jesus can provide His people with an unshaking assurance and hope - not because of who we are but because of Who He is! Back in 2020 whenever the world was shaken and it seemed like we all were tossed out into the middle of the sea, it’s fascinating to look at some data. Did you know that YouVersion (the Bible app) had its most active year on record in 2020? Its searches increased by over 80% to over 600 million searches as users read 43.6 billion chapters of Scripture. What verses do you think ranked the most shared and read? Verses like Romans 8:28
28 We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.
6 Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
10 Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you; I will help you; I will hold on to you with my righteous right hand.
Why do you think verses like this were the “go-to” verses during a year of change? Because people craved assurance and hope and these things are exclusively found in Jesus Christ. As we continue walking through Hebrews, today we’re going to be in Hebrews 6:13-20 and we’re going to see how Jesus is still this anchor of hope for us in the middle of the storms of this life. See, God doesn’t promise to remove His people from the storms… but He does promise to walk with us through them. We can have assurance and hope and peace and security even when we might not feel those specific things because He is still with us and He is always good.
13 For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater to swear by, he swore by himself:
14 I will indeed bless you, and I will greatly multiply you.
15 And so, after waiting patiently, Abraham obtained the promise.
16 For people swear by something greater than themselves, and for them a confirming oath ends every dispute.
17 Because God wanted to show his unchangeable purpose even more clearly to the heirs of the promise, he guaranteed it with an oath,
18 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.
19 We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain.
20 Jesus has entered there on our behalf as a forerunner, because he has become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.
Aren’t you thankful that the God of the Bible keeps His promises? Each day of our lives we can rest assured that God hears us, see’s us, knows us, loves us, and is with us as His children. That provides us with lasting hope. If you don’t have that hope and assurance, my prayer for you is that you’d leave this worship service in awe of what Jesus has done and that you’d turn away from the belief that you are good enough as you are and trust fully in Jesus’ goodness for salvation. Let’s pray
We Have Assurance Because of God’s Promise (13-15)
We Have Assurance Because of God’s Promise (13-15)
As humans, we know that we’re not perfect just the way that we are. We know that there are some things that we do that simply aren’t good, yet we do them anyway! It doesn’t take a genius to tell us that we make mistakes and fall short from time to time. One of the biggest ways that we stub our toe is by making promises that we do not entirely keep. Have you ever been guilty of doing that before? Let’s think of some of most commonly broken promises out there:
I’ll be there in 5 minutes (for some people, 5 minutes is really 1-2 minutes but for others, 5 minutes is at least 10). Is that being nit-picky? Maybe. Is it a broken promise? Absolutely!
I’ll pray about it - this is usually Baptist lingo for I’m saying no without saying no
What about heartbreak? Has anyone told you that they love you or that they’ll love you forever and then they break their word? Those things hurt! We’re familiar with broken promises and hurt feelings that come in all sorts of shapes and sizes.
Because of this, sometimes we don’t respond the best to promises. We want to see something with our own eyes before we believe something that someone says. After all, we’re the Show-Me state for a reason, right? What’s interesting as we look at the Bible is that we see that God has made several promises to His people and we looked at some of those earlier in passages like Romans 8:28 as God promises to work all things for our ultimate good as Christians. Isaiah 41:10 tells us that God promises to strengthen and help and hold us up. Let’s look at a few more promises in God’s Word.
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
God promises to forgive us if we trust in Christ and repent.
5 Keep your life free from the love of money. Be satisfied with what you have, for he himself has said, I will never leave you or abandon you.
God promises to never leave His children.
4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
God promises to bring us to glory.
These are promises and the One who made each promise is none other than the star-breathing, planet-creating, heart-forming God who spoke all things into existence! This should give us ultimate confidence that God promises to save us, sustain us, stay with us, and satisfy us forever! That’s awesome news. But, because of our sinfulness and because we live in a fallen, broken world, our heart is prone to wander and it’s easy for us to doubt God’s goodness and God’s promises. As a result of this temptation to doubt - we see reminder after reminder of God’s faithfulness in Scripture from cover to cover. In Hebrews we’ve seen reminder after reminder that Jesus is greater and that He truly saves and changes His people! He makes good on His promises. God’s Promises Demand Personal Patience!
In order to explain this point clearly to his audience, the preacher of Hebrews uses the story of Abraham to highlight the fact that God always comes through, even when it seems doubtful that He will in our human brains. Let’s look at this story all the way back in Genesis 22 and then we’ll make the connection that the preacher of Hebrews is making about how God still comes through on His promises today. Some of you might know the story of Abraham and others might not as much. Back in Genesis 12, you see that God calls this man to leave his homeland and trust in the Lord and to travel across the wilderness. Abraham does exactly this and even though he wasn’t perfect, we see that in general, Abraham has faith in the Lord and follows His path for his life. One of the promises that God makes with Abraham is that he is going to be made into a great nation and be blessed and that all the nations of the world will be blessed through him. This sounds like quite the promise… except for the issue that Abraham is 75 years old and doesn’t have any children at this point. After waiting for 25 years for God to fulfill His promise, Abraham and Sarah have their son, Isaac. God came through, as He promised He would do.
In Genesis 22, though, we see Abraham’s faith put to the test. We don’t always like to talk about God testing us, but we see that truth throughout Scripture. God cannot tempt us to sin because God is not tempted by sin - but God does test us so that we depend more on Him. In Genesis 22 God calls on Abraham to take Isaac to Mount Moriah and to offer him as a sacrifice. We aren’t told that Abraham formed a church committee to debate what to do or anything like that - he simply obeyed. Can you imagine how difficult that would’ve been for Abraham? He loves his son - he had waited on this son for 25+ years! He didn’t want to lose this son. Plus, God had made a promise that from this son would come offspring and that his descendants would fill the earth! How on earth can God keep His promise if this bad thing happens?
Have you ever asked that question? How can God be good if this thing happens or if that person does that? Think of some of the doubts that you have in relation to God. Can God really love me if I’ve messed up big time? Can God really forgive me if I’ve let Him down? Can God really care about me even though I’m a nobody? Is Jesus really the only way to be saved like the Bible says? Is there really an eternal hope and home found in Jesus Christ? Am I really saved in the first place? We’re all tempted to doubt… but in the middle of our doubt, there is assurance. While Abraham waited, we see that he waited patiently in verse 15. See, “God has a purpose for putting us in His waiting room.” George Guthrie. It might be hard to see, but He is always at work - even when we can’t see His hand at work. This is His promise. This is what we see in His Word. The only way for us to grow in our walk with the Lord at times is to sit and wait and trust in Him more and more each day. The example of Abraham shows us that we can trust in God’s promise with patience and peace - even when we don’t fully understand what He’s up to. Even when waiting gets us out of our comfort zones, we can wait in confidence as we trust in the Lord.
Spurgeon shared that we can do 3 things while we wait because of God’s promises
We wait in Prayer
We wait in Faith
We wait in Patience
As Jesus shared with His disciples, we pray, “Not my will… but they will be done!”
It’s easy for us as Christians to say “sign me up” for the mission trip or the spotlight or the worship concert or the mountain top experience… but God grows and strengthens and deepens our faith often more so in the waiting moments where we seek His face day by day than in those brief moments of celebration. The mountain tops are amazing and we celebrate them… but the Lord knows what He’s doing in the valley too. Your waiting isn’t worthless. It’s not in vain. It’s purposeful! Rest assured in God’s promises… 2nd,
We Have Assurance Because of God’s Word (16-18)
We Have Assurance Because of God’s Word (16-18)
One of the reasons that people do not have much in the way of hope is because they are skeptical of literally everything. The word post-modernism has been around for a while in philosophical and societal circles and relates to an attack against objective reality. There is no objective truth. There is no objective right or wrong - it’s all relative. It’s all based on how I feel in the moment - my feelings determine truth. This mentality naturally leads to skepticism. People question truth and right and wrong because they’re searching for their own version of truth rather than genuine truth itself. People today are skeptical about everything and that’s not always a bad thing - God created us to exercise discernment and judgment and not to go with the wind of false teachers… but many people have been negatively influenced by skepticism whenever it comes to the truthfulness of God’s Word. Former pastors like Rob Bell, Joshua Harris, Andy Stanley, and others have grown skeptical of the truthfulness of Scripture. Some no longer attend church and reject Christ as Lord and others are still grappling with what to do because their faith has been shaken by events and things happening around them. Whether it be sexuality, philosophy, or policies, so many people have had their world rocked and they no longer believe in God’s Word.
What if it didn’t have to be that way? For many, their view of Scripture has been changed by things happening in the world. What if, there was a better hope? See, Scripture must change the way that we view our world! How can we be sure of this - especially when so many people have changed their view of scripture I’m recent years?
Think about the court room for a minute. Whenever you give a testimony in court, you are told that you must swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. What do you do with your hand whenever you do this? You put it on the Bible and then you say, “So help me God” at the end! Even in a skeptical, messed up world, this is still commonplace as people even in the back of their brains understand that there is a higher power that we must give an account to at some point or another. As humans, we at times swear by God… so who does God swear by? Verse 13 and 16 tell us that He swears by Himself - there is no one with more authority than Him. Yet, God makes a promise - a covenant - with Abraham as verse 17 tells us - to encourage Him and reassure Him and those who would come after Him as “heirs of the promise.”
Are you ready for some good news, church? If you’re in Christ, you are an heir of this promise. The same God who provided for His people throughout Scripture is the same God who promises to provide for you today. How do we have that kind of hope? How can we know that we’re heirs today? Not because of our last name or our works or actions… but because of the action of our God! Look with me at Galatians 3:29
29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, heirs according to the promise.
Do you belong to Jesus Christ? Have you been saved by grace through faith in Christ today? That means that you’ve been adopted and you have a new family and you have a heavenly Father who loves you and has a purpose for you and He has swore by Himself that you are going to receive your inheritance and spend eternity with Him in glory. That’s great news! That news should give us assurance in this thing called life. Sure, our life isn’t perfect here and now. It’s not always easy. In fact, there are days that it’s really hard… So many of you and your families are suffering and struggling today but you’re here on Sunday. You’re worshipping your Lord and Savior corporately. You’re singing songs of praise. You’re studying God’s Word. You’re spending time in prayer. You’re here and friend, if you’re a Christian, this is where you need to be! This is your place of refuge in the middle of the storms of this life - not a physical building, but with the corporate gathering of this church body. This gathering and this time is a time of refuge and hope Look at what Psalm 91:1 tells us
1 The one who lives under the protection of the Most High dwells in the shadow of the Almighty.
That ought to give us plenty of assurance there, friends! Those who come to God for refuge. Those who are in His family. Those who have been adopted are under His protection and there’s no safer place to be in the whole universe then right there. Isn’t God’s Word amazing? It’s that a comfort to know that if you belong to Christ, you’re His?
How can we KNOW this assurance is legitimate? We see that there are 2 unchangeable things about our God, what are they?
God’s purpose (He does not lose)
God’s character (He cannot lie)
How can we know these things for certain? By studying His Word!
The same God who spoke the universe into existence, formed you in the womb. He has your days numbered and knows the numbers of hair on your head. He has a purpose for your life and that purpose is for you to glorify Him in all that you do and make disciples by proclaiming His Word. This is why you and I are here today. Maybe you think that’s too simple. Well, let’s look at the text which is always what we do as Christians. God demonstrates His unchangeable purpose, how? By coming through on His promises. By saving sinners. By coming through. By doing for us what we could never do for ourselves. If you haven’t experienced that in your life, I dare you to read your Bible and be encouraged by all the times that God comes through for His people - not always the way that His people expected, but He always comes through and works things for His glory and our good. God has a purpose for His people! And, second, God can’t lie. Is anyone else thankful for that truth? If God could lie, He wouldn’t be God. He doesn’t deceive us.
See, Abraham had full confidence in God’s purpose (God is doing something here) and character (God will come through on His promises) that he was willing to sacrifice his son because he had the assurance that God would come through
19 He considered God to be able even to raise someone from the dead; therefore, he received him back, figuratively speaking.
So many look at this or at people like Abraham or David or Paul and they say that those people are super Christian’s, like they are apart of Christianity 2.0 or something… This isn’t next level faith. This is Biblical faith lived out in the life of a sinner saved by God’s grace. This is what God desires from us today - to trust in His purpose and character and to come to Him for refuge and encouragement.
We Have Assurance Because of God’s Son (19-20)
We Have Assurance Because of God’s Son (19-20)
It doesn’t take long for us to realize that many people live day to day with next to no hope. Billions live on a dollar or two each day and tens of millions in our own country struggle to find hope on a daily basis. Our needs as human beings haven’t largely changed over the last 2000 years. Yet, a psych professor at Harvard, 20 years ago shared that we are living in “The Age of Despair” and it’s only gotten more despairing since for many people. If the best that this world has to offer in terms of hope is that we are cosmic accidents that are here for 70 years and that is that - we’re dust and nothing more - then I’d be hopeless too real quick. Skepticism, post-modernism, and naturalism are hope suckers that leave people in pain and searching for the next pill to provide what they’re looking for. Hebrews shares with us that life is not hopeless and that there is lasting hope in knowing Whose we are. See, simply knowing that can be like an anchor in the middle of a storm while out at sea.
Think about an anchor for a moment and the hope that it can bring to a person. Whenever I was around 3 my parents and several people from FBC Springfield did an Alaskan cruise - other than that trip, I’ve never been out at sea. Whenever a ship is about to depart, though, I learned that it must test its anchors because a ship without an anchor is a disaster waiting to happen. The problem, though, is that an anchor is really only truly put to the test in the middle of a storm. That’s when you can tell how strong and sturdy the anchor really is. Think about how an anchor traditionally works for a ship at sea. The anchor is dropped and tethers itself to the earth so that the ship on the top of the surface stays in place and stops from swaying. An anchor is a necessary thing in a storm!
Do you know how many times the word anchor shows up in Scripture? 4x and 3 of them are in Acts 27 as Paul is shipwrecked. Hebrews 6 is the only time that an anchor is given a higher purpose or compared to something of significance. Notice what the preacher of Hebrews says here. Our hope is our anchor. What is our hope? Our hope is Jesus Christ! Jesus serves as our anchor. How can Jesus do this? The usual anchor is dropped and it falls below into the depths of the sea. Is that what Jesus has done? Nope - He’s done the opposite. Follow here: Jesus is our great high priest at the right hand of the throne of God in heaven. Jesus didn’t go down… He went up. Meaning this, our anchor is not holding us down from below, it’s a heavenly anchor that is firm and anchored in the promises and character of God in glory and it is attached to our souls as Christians. In other words, your Christian hope in Jesus doesn’t drag you down, your hope lifts you up!
That’s a unique and important anchor! How can Jesus do this? How can Him being in heaven provide us with hope? Because of what He’s doing in heaven right now. His sacrifice is done, but He’s still our great high priest. He is in the throne room of heaven, He’s behind the curtain, He’s interceding on our behalf right now. He holds us fast - literally - as our anchor in the middle of the storms that we face because we don’t face them alone! Hebrews 4:15 reminds us of this assurance
15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin.
Jesus still serves and saves today, friends. As Jesus does this, He serves as our forerunner or the literal Greek word is the word “prodromos” - pro (before) and dromos (runner). In the ancient world, the prodromos would serve as a scout who would go before the rest of the army and see what lies ahead. This is Who Jesus is. He has gone before us - He has won the victory for us according to Hebrews 2:10. There’s a book called the Garden, the Curtain, and the Cross, parents of little kids, buy it and read it to your kids because its the best book I’ve seen at communicating the Gospel to our children. What exactly has Jesus done? He’s entered behind the curtain. What curtain? In the temple, there was a curtain that separated the Holy of holies from the rest of the sanctuary and this was where the presence of God was in Jewish worship. Leviticus 16:2 is the only other time this phrase is mentioned and it was said to Aaron and told him that he could only go back there 1x per year on the day of atonement or else he would die. Do you know what’s amazing about what Jesus has done? Whenever Jesus died, that curtain tore from the top to the bottom. Our hope penetrated that curtain and because of what Jesus has done, we can enter in and come before our God with boldness.
19 Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have boldness to enter the sanctuary through the blood of Jesus—
20 he has inaugurated for us a new and living way through the curtain (that is, through his flesh)—
21 and since we have a great high priest over the house of God,
22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed in pure water.
23 Let us hold on to the confession of our hope without wavering, since he who promised is faithful.
Aren’t you thankful for Jesus? Jesus is our great high priest who paid it all in our place on the cross. He is our heavenly anchor in the middle of the storms in this life. He credits our accounts with His perfect righteousness. He is interceding before the Father in heaven on our behalf right now. There is assurance and security found in Jesus today. We don’t have to worry and sweat it out hoping that we’ve done enough good works to make it. Jesus has paid it all. He gives His followers assurance today.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Our hope is secure not because of ourselves and our hard work and our actions… but because of Who our God is and because of what our God has done! He holds us fast and because of His presence and power in our lives, we are able to run to Him for refuge, encouragement, and hope. You see 3 application points in our text already that we need in our lives as we look to God’s Promise, Word, and Son to give us assurance and peace as Christians. Maybe you’re here this morning, though, and you’re not a Christian. Perhaps, you’re here and you’re fighting to find hope in something - if that is you, look to Jesus, He’s the author and perfecter of our faith. He’s faithful, He provides us with hope, and He alone can save you.
To borrow from Tim Keller, today we’ve heard the Gospel: “You and I are more sinful and flawed than we ever dared believe but we are more loved than we ever dared hope.”
The hope of the Gospel is in the person and work of Jesus Christ. He’s better at saving than you are at sinning. Trust in Him - place your faith in Him as Lord and experience peace and hope unlike anything you can even imagine!
Jesus gives hope to hopeless
Peace to the anxious
And Restoration to the broken
We’re all searching for something. We all have a void to fill. You can find this out by going to Barnes and noble and looking for the largest section of the store: self-help. We all know that we need help and we all are searching for that solution! Here’s the problem: if self is the problem, self can’t be the solution.
We all need hope. We all need peace. We all need salvation. We all need assurance. We all need help. We all need Jesus. Only God can satisfy that void in our hearts. Only God can provide us with the lasting hope we all need. If you’re feeling hopeless and empty, look to Jesus.
For those of us who do belong to Jesus today, we must be patient and faithful. Waiting is hard… it’s hard to wait when we’re struggling, suffering, or barely even surviving day to day. It’s hard to wait whenever we’ve been waiting for a long time. It’s hard to wait when our circumstances aren’t convenient. But, our waiting is not wasted or worthless. God is at work in our waiting. You can count on it! He is your anchor. He will see you through the storm of sorrow and the sea of suffering.