Good morning, church. So good to see all of you. Happy birthday. Give yourselves a hand. We're nine years old, y'all.

Hallelujah. Some of you raise your hands if you've been on the nine year journey with me. There's a right many of you. We haven't run all y'all off. It took us.

We tried for nine years to do it. We just hadn't accomplished it. But happy birthday. So thankful to be with you. This past Friday was our anniversary.

And we're gonna stick around after service and eat together. So if you don't have lunch plans, please hang out with us. We should have plenty to eat. Normally when the Capellettis are involved, there's more than enough. So I think if y'all have been smelling it, wafting, I'm sure there's enough for you.

But we're starting back into this series called Jesus is greater. We got back into it last week, digging into the book of Hebrews together. And we dealt with the first few chapters last year at about this time. So if you missed that series, you can go to Eastgate Church and check that out and see where we've been. But we're picking up today in Hebrews chapter six and part two of, excuse me, of this series on the Book of Hebrews.

So our theme verse has been Hebrews chapter one, verse four, where it says, this shows that the Son is far greater than the angels. Just as the name God gave him is greater than any other name. Greater than their names, in fact. Now, last Sunday we dealt with this warning. And if you were with us for that, it was a challenging text, a warning against what it would mean if we did not grow to christian maturity, that we might fall away and be humiliating, really to the gospel.

This week, however, I've heard some commentators when I was reading this week said, now for the brighter side. And so if you've shown up this week, you're getting the bright side of this argument. You're getting the lighter half, if you will. And so we're moving into this idea now of the writer of Hebrews saying, hey, but I'm pretty sure, I'm pretty confident you're not going to be those types of believers that fall away and don't mature. Now, this whole topic today is about the idea of having a greater hope, a hope that's in something more sure, something more stable, if you will, that there's a greater hope in the christian faith than in any other thing that exists right now.

This is one of those wonderful times every four years where all you see is political mess. And it's probably exhausting to write. Many of you, probably many of you already picked what you're going to do. So it's like, come on, let us just watch regular. We take regular commercials right about now, just, you know, whatever.

And it's nonstop. And you may even feel, like so many of us, that it really is maybe even irrelevant, that who knows who's really in charge? And who knows what skeptical thoughts all of us are having? And this world, no matter how we slice it, feels very unstable. But news to you believers, it's kind of always been that way.

I would say that that's nothing new, that there's been an instability in our world since sin entered our world. And so that's back in Genesis. We've been living in some uncertain times. And these promises that people make, certainly this time of year, you get promise after promise, and many of you have recognized that those promises are not fulfilled, maybe even in people that you trust, maybe friends and family that have made promises, and they meant well. Most of the promises we make to our loved ones, we mean.

And yet stuff comes up. And so you might feel that. That weight of having your hope really crashed at times. Hope that things would be better in your life or hope that somebody would follow through. Maybe you live in a world of broken wedding vows or unfulfilled contracts and broken promises.

Who can we trust? That's where I want to spend my time today with you. And that's where I believe the writer of Hebrews spends his time, that these are uncertain times for them, too. I would argue, in some ways more radically scary. These are a people that could be killed for their faith.

Generally here in America, that is not so. You can be certainly ostracized and made fun of, but I don't know of any believers getting killed for their faith here now it's happening all around the world. It's a dangerous thing to say that I follow Jesus, but in their day, they're feeling the weight of all kinds of turmoil. And the writer now says, hey, I'm confident in this certain hope that you're going to have in Christ Jesus Church. As followers of Christ, we are called to live with a confident hope, a greater hope than we can have in anything else in this life.

We're called to this a hope that's grounded in something way more stable, way more sure, and that's where we're gonna spend time today. Hebrews, chapter six, verse nine through 20. We see the author here encourage believers to not lose heart to cling to a greater hope in the promises of God. Not the promises of man, the promises of God. And we can have this kind of hope?

I think we'll see. The text give us three reasons we can have a greater hope in the promises of God. So let's read together Hebrews six nine through the end of that chapter. Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things. Now that should be a breath of fresh air if you were with us last week.

He says, 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 in serving the saints as you still do. 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 rather imitators of those who, through faith and patience, inherit the promises. Now, what promises? He tells us in verse 13.

For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had a no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself. I love that line, saying, surely I will bless you and multiply you. And thus Abraham, having patiently waited, obtained the promise for God, or, excuse me, for people swear by something greater than themselves. And in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation. So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope that's set before us.

We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek, God bless the reading of his word. Amen. Amen. We can have a greater hope in the promises of Goddesse. Here's the first, the first reason I think that's true, it's because we can be assured by God's justice.

Now, normally that term justice probably scares you. A lot of times justice comes down on you and doesn't help you. A lot of times justice isn't the thing that gives you any sense of assurance. But that is, in fact, what the writer here says in these opening verses is the clear reason we can hope. He says, for goddess is not unjust God is a just and good God, a perfect God, a God who doesn't overlook stuff that you're doing.

He says, God's not unjust. You can have an assurance in this. Now, there's two key words, really, in our text today, the word hope, which appears three times, which is why we've titled it a greater hope. You know, when I'm studying these sermons, that's primarily the first thing I do is, what is this thing about? And when a word starts appearing several times, I start going, it might be about hope, it might be about promise.

That's the other word that appears here several times. Now, last week we had this warning, and now he begins this week's message by saying, though we've been speaking in this way, in your case, I want to give you some better news. I'm believing in better things. That you can have an assurance that God is with you, walking beside you, that God isn't overlooking the work you're doing in his name. He's not going to forget that stuff.

He says in your case, verse nine, beloved. That's the word agape. Toss. It's where we get. We have the word agape.

You may have heard this word. It means unconditional love. The love of God is agape, that greek word. Now he says, beloved, beloved, those who are unconditionally loved by God. Here he is talking, no doubt I, he's talking to believers.

These aren't non believers. Here he's saying, beloved, those beloved by God, you can have an assurance. And he says, first of all, in verse nine, that I, we, we feel sure of better things. What kinds of better things? The things that he says belong to salvation.

The king James renders that verse accompany. That is not so much about conversion, but the things that come with salvation. And this fits very well with where he's been. He says, I want you to go on to be mature in Christ and don't fall away. Don't begin to humiliate the cross by living your own way and not for Christ.

But I'm sure of this, believers, that you're going to move towards him in christian maturity and that you're going to move towards sanctification. Those things which belong to are accompany salvation. Do you know this, believers, that salvation isn't the end point? We think this sometimes. Certainly events we do, certain ways we preach at times are very gospel centered, and we want you to come to Christ.

That is a great thing. A great thing. But it's not the end point. It's the starting point. It's where the race begins.

The writer here of Hebrews is saying, I feel confident that you're going to move on towards those things which accompany salvation. When you come to Christ, you receive the promised Holy Spirit and he begins to move in your life. This is why when you come to Christ, some of you experienced this, that things got slightly harder, not easier. Now, why was that? Some of you might have even been thinking, when I give my life to Jesus, everything, all of my problems are going to wash away.

Unfortunately, that's not often the case. Why? Why? Because sanctification just started, which is this idea of abiding in Christ as he prunes the vine. There was stuff in your life that was dragging you down.

It's the reason in which you crawled to the feet of Jesus in the first place. And you said, I'm a mess. I've got brokenness. I can't make relationships work. I can't seem to always tell the truth.

I do. You fill in the blank. There's a mess in my life, and I come to Christ, and guess what he is going to do? He is going to prune, he is going to cleanse. This is part of those things that belong to salvation, but it's not instantaneous.

In fact, I would argue, believers, the longer you walk with Christ, the deeper the rabbit hole goes. Before long, you're no longer doing the things that were a mess in your life, but they're down deep somewhere, and you're wrestling them with them in your mind. Those temptations, you found out they were way down in the core, and that's where Christ is now sanctifying all the outside. We can look at you and say, man, that person's doing so much better. But you know, there's still a battle in here.

It's all part of your sanctification. The writer's saying, I feel sure of this. I feel sure of better things that you're going to follow through. And I know this verse ten, I know that this God we serve is not unjust. He's not going to overlook your work, the stuff you've been working towards.

In fact, the love that you've been showing to one another in the name of Christ, the love you've been showing in service to the saints. He says, as you still do, some of you work in obscurity, and you feel like I'm not sure any of what I do matters. Sometimes you have a great conversation with a coworker, you have a great conversation with a friend or family member, and you don't see any fruit from that. Maybe you simply just do a nice act for someone out of the kindness of Christ in you. And you're thinking, I just want to love on people and show them the love of God.

And you may see no fruit. You may see nothing come out of that. And yet God is not unjust to overlook your work. I also think the word of God is true. When it says his word never returns void.

That means that little seed you planted isn't dead. It didn't just go in. And the person said, no, there's something that you've started that maybe someone else will get to see grow. Maybe you. No, God is not unjust.

We can be assured of this. In fact, that's where he ends this first section. By saying, this is the big desire. The assurance we feel of better things is in this. That you would show the same earnestness that we're having.

This word earnestness is weird. We don't really use this a lot. It's the idea of with haste. It literally means you're gonna do this with speed. You're trying to run the race with some quickness.

It's the idea of diligence, if you will. He says, I'm desiring that you would have the same diligence I'm having in running the race. And then he finishes by saying, with a full assurance of hope until the end. So that you might not be sluggish. Now, that word sluggish there in verse twelve.

If you were with us last week, we had this word that said, dull of hearing. Same greek word. No, thros. When he said dole of hearing up there in chapter five, verse eleven. He was talking about the idea that you're hearing the words of truth.

You're hearing the gospel. You're hearing a call to a greater life. And you're sluggish with your reaction time. You're being lazy with what you're hearing. That was the accusation.

That was the warning. Now he's saying, and I'm charging you. I'm urging you not to be sluggish. Don't be lazy with your faith. There's a temptation to be lazy in all things, isn't there?

Isn't that one of the great temptations of life. Is to just coast and do very little or nothing? But the writer here says, with your faith, don't do this with your faith. Be imitators instead of those who had faith and patience. And then he's going to get into that.

Who are those people? Those who inherit the promise. He says. Now, here's the incredible thing. We can have this kind of assurance.

It begins with the fact that of who God is. And that's a lot of what we're going to talk about today, is how the character of God actually is why we have this greater hope. That's how the writer does it. He says the reason we can have assurance is because God is not unjust, because God is going to fulfill his promise. Who God is should give us confidence, it should give us hope.

And this is a theme throughout scripture, but I'll give you just one spot and then read a little bit of my friend Charles Spurgeon, who this was actually a reading this week, and I was like, huh? I think that's supposed to fit somehow in this sermon. But God is. The idea of God is, he's not only unjust, but he's both the just and the justifier of our faith. He goes a step further in justifying us.

He will not ever charge us of sin when we come to Christ. Now, here's what it says in romans three. It was to show his God's righteousness at the present time so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. So this is what God has done. He's perfectly just.

He's not going to overlook or forget your good works, the things you've done in serving the saints. He's not going to overlook it, but he's done something way better than that. He looked at you and said, there's a criminal, there's a mess. There's a sinner who is broken, who does not deserve my love, does not deserve my grace and mercy, and said, in spite of that, in Christ Jesus, I'm going to justify that person. So not only is he just, he's just a fire.

This is an incredible thing about who God is. Your assurance, your hope is not in your personal greatness. Oh, thank God. It's not. Thank God that my hope is not in my goodness or my ability to follow through on something.

I'm a mess. Aren't you? Aren't you glad that your hope isn't anchored in your power? It's anchored in someone who is not only perfectly just, but has perfectly justified you by the person of Christ, by the cross of Christ. Spurgeon writing earlier this week, and it's a wonderful devotion if you don't have it, if you're looking for a devotion, it's called morning and evening.

I've really enjoyed it over the years. And he says this about that verse, judgment now decides for the sinner instead of against him. If God be just, I, a sinner, alone and without a substitute, must be punished. But Jesus stands in my stead and is punished for me. And now if God be just, I, a sinner standing in Christ, can never be punished.

God must change his nature before one soul, for whom Jesus was a substitute can ever by any possibility suffer the lash of the law. Do you hear those words? God would have to change who he is before he would ever punish you. And he will not do that. When he looks at you, what does he see?

Believer? He sees Christ in you. When he looks at you, he sees payment, sin, payment paid in full. So where does your assurance lie? It lies in who this God is this just and justifying God.

Now, I've heard this, argued many times, I would agree with this, that our very constitution is built on some of these principles, judeo christian principles, if you will. In fact, I've recently heard even an atheist commentator saying they weren't confident that we could ever be restored to our former greatness unless we were restored to our former Christianity. Now that was a fascinating thing to hear. Why does he say that? Because even John Adams, one of our founding fathers, says, our nation is founded on principles that can only be truly followed by christians.

And when our nation ceases to be christian, it will struggle to rule itself. By these documents, we're seeing that on some levels, maybe many, we have this principle, this very principle of God being just and justifier in this clause. We call it the fifth amendment. Have you ever heard of the double jeopardy clause? I bet you have.

I bet you're familiar with it. It says this, nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb. This is exactly what God has done by the person of Christ. No longer can you be put in double jeopardy. Your debts have already been paid.

So when you feel like the work you're doing for the Lord is wasted, that is not of God, that is the evil one or your flesh telling you a lie. It isn't. So he doesn't overlook your work. He doesn't overlook it. If you're pursuing maturity, maybe you feel a little stuck right now, maybe your prayer life, you're not feeling the Lord speaking.

You're not sensing his presence. Maybe as you read his word, maybe you're in a slump. Yet nothing we do in the Lord is wasted. He's just and justifier of our faith. Show full assurance of that hope.

Don't be sluggish in it. There's a temptation when things get hard, when you hit a wall, when maybe you feel like you're in a slump to just quit. That's the wrong answer. Press on. Be imitators of those who inherit the promise.

So be assured of this hope we have in God through his justice. And then second, the second reason is fantastic. He says, we can be convinced of, by God's character. We can look at who God is and the ways in which he's promised in the past, and we can be convinced by it. Some of you might need convincing today.

I do sometimes. Sometimes I get in my feels. I get in my own way all the time. You ever get in your own way and just can't remember what in the world God was trying to show you? This second reason for a greater hope has everything to do with verse 17, where he says, his unchangeable character, that God made a promise.

He begins this whole sentence here at verse 13 by saying he made a promise to Abraham. All right, so we got to go back. We got to go back to some early things to grab this promise. And who did he swear by? Did you catch it?

He swore to himself, I got news for you. If you make an oath with me and you say, I swear by me, I'm going to go. That's a doubtful oath.

God, though, as the writer here says, who could he swear by greater? He swears by himself, because there is none greater. In fact, when we swear to things, we're always trying to find something more valuable to make an oath unto. He says, I swear unto myself. I make an oath because there is none greater.

And the oath he made with Abraham, which wasn't done with him, and I got news for you. Isn't truly completed yet, but it's well underway. He says, I will bless you and multiply you. Listen to this. This is in Genesis, chapter 22, where this is pulled from the angel of the Lord, then called to Abraham a second time out of heaven and said, by myself, I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son, Abraham was prepared to sacrifice Isaac, which God had told him to do.

He was willing to be open handed with any of his stuff. He left nothing behind from God. He says, because of this, verse 17, blessing, I will bless you and multiplying, I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven, as the sand which is on the seashore. And your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. In your seed, all the nations of the earth shall be blessed because you have obeyed my voice.

Now he kept his promise on that on so many levels. First of all, we have these people throughout our world called jewish people. These people come from the line of Abraham and they are like the sand of the sea. But the greater promise is underneath this. The greater promise is in verse 18 where it says, in your seed.

Paul picks up on this in Galatians 316. He says, and to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. Notice he does not say, and to seeds as of many, but as of one. And to your seed, who is Christ? The promise he made to Abraham is fulfilled much later, but has been fulfilled in Christ.

What has Christ done? The very thing God said he would do. He has blessed the nations. How? By giving us the greatest gift that could be given.

We're made right with a holy God in spite of us. We did nothing to accomplish. There is not a better gift than this church. How could there be that? God said, I am going to pay the debt myself.

This is far better than if somebody showed up one day. All of a sudden you got a letter in the mail and it said your mortgage was paid in full. You'd be like, you'd be dancing. You'd be calling all your relatives. You'd be going nuts.

Probably seeing you running around Rocky Mountain with a sign going, I can't believe you got a better gift than that, though. Church, way better. Your mortgage in heaven has been paid in eternity. Why are you not celebrating? Oh, I have to ask myself this question.

Why would I be so excited to get such a wonderful temporary gift when I've been given this gift? He says to Abraham, a promise that has now been given in Christ Jesus that should start to convince you. That should begin to convince you. And that's where he's going in verses 16 through 17, where he says this oath he made. He wanted it in verse 17 to be more convincing to the heirs of promise.

I wanted this to be something you'd look at and go, wow, I can't not believe, I can't take my eyes off of this. And guess what? The heirs of promise he's speaking of are not only there, but they're now. They're not only the heirs under Abraham, they're you and I. How do I know this?

Well, go on. In Galatians three, it says, and if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring. What heirs according to promise? Are you convinced? Are you convinced?

If not, look further. It says that his unchangeable character, this is the idea that it's unalterable, it's fixed, it's immutable. The character of his purpose, that is the will of God, is unchanging. He did this as a guarantee. Then it says something strange that I had to spend a lot of time on this week.

It says in verse 18, there are then two unchangeable things. Okay, we just saw unchangeable character of your purpose. So purpose is one of those two. And then it literally says after that that God cannot lie. It's impossible for him.

So what are the two unchangeable things? Well, I think the text kind of lays it out plainly. The two accomplished things. This word unchangeable things is literally deeds or accomplished facts. The two things that are unchangeable are his purpose, as he just put, and his promise as he's been outlying.

And that's why he tells us God can't lie to. He's not going to give you a promise, that he's not going to keep two unchangeable things, his purpose and his promise. And then it says something that we have to admit is a bit of a theological conundrum. Have y'all ever heard that God is omnipotent, omniscient, he knows all omnipresent. He is everywhere.

Omnipotent is all powerful. And yet we just found something he cannot do. It is impossible. The word there, as adunitas is where we get the word dynamite. In fact, some have argued, ah, meaning not so he does not have the power to lie.

Now, why is that? This is more the sense of. Not that God would have the power to do something, but rather God does not ever do something that is the opposite of who he is. And let's just. Let's chase that rabbit a little further.

Would you argue that doing something you don't intend to do makes you powerful? Did you follow me there when I do the very thing I tried not to do? When I fall back into temptation or addiction or when I lie, I look at it as a mistake. But do I look at it and go, well, I'm powerful enough to do it? No, there's more power in the person who doesn't do that thing.

I like what one commentator wrote on this. This is Jameson Faucet Brown. This group of commentators said his not being able to deny himself is a proof not of weakness, but of strength. Incomparable. The fact that he will not and cannot lie is his ultimate strength.

And on display, God does not lie. Y'all ever bump into liars? You looked in the mirror lately, sometimes. Sometimes you tell yourself lies, sometimes you tell them to others. You've heard many in your life.

You've made promises you haven't kept. We all have. This is not God. This is a theme repeated throughout scripture. It goes back to numbers, chapter 23, where it says, God is not human, that he should lie, nor a human being, that he should change his mind.

Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and then not fulfill? Speaking of Abraham, Paul wrote in romans four, he says, no unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God. But he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.

Are you convinced by God's character? Do you have hope in him when you begin to waver in your life and go, wow, this sickness might take me, this broken relationship might be the end of me? This dramatic event happened at work. I've lost my job. It's over.

These catastrophic events are happening in all of our lives. Is your hope anchored in those things? Are you convinced that there is a perfect, unchanging God who has made you a promise, not just to Abraham? No, he says, I've convinced it. I'm trying to be more convincing.

To the heirs of promise, who are those in Christ Jesus. Are you convinced the promise was for you? That God said, I am for you? I love you. I have saved you.

I have an eternal destination for you. I have a purpose for you in this life. The stuff you're doing matters, and I'm not gonna forget your work. Do you believe it? Are you convinced the time that God made this initial promise to Abraham, he was already a pretty old dude?

I don't know that this is God's norm. I'd like to think so. That you're still getting promises of God in your seventies. Hallelujah. Like he's giving you new words.

I hope so. And this is Genesis, chapter twelve, where he gets the first promise that I'm gonna bless you and I'm gonna multiply you. He got that at the age 75. And then where we were just earlier in Genesis 22, he is now 100 years old. The Bible says he waited patiently.

Maybe it was out of just sheer like, well, I'm dumbfounded that God would promise me this to begin with. I'm already 75 years old. How in the world am my descendants going to number the sand of the sea? I'm not going to number the sand of the sea soon. And he waits 25 years.

Sarah is so baffled by it. You can read her story, too. She laughs at God. Impossible, she says, and yet she's in her uprage as well. Thus Abraham waited patiently.

Sometimes, my friends, we have to wait and strive and persevere through some stuff. Patiently doesn't mean the promise is unfulfilled. It just means the promise is in the works. There are many promises you can point to here, but one promise is sure, and that is we're anchored in Jesus. And that's the third reason.

The ultimate purpose of his writing here is that we can be anchored in God's son. Anchored in God's son. Let me go ahead and say that this section of scripture right here is like a great parentheses in Hebrews. If you go back to chapter five, verse ten, you see the writer of Hebrews talking about this line, this priestly order of Melchizedek, which isn't a very well known thing, not for us, not even for them, really. He's a minor character in the Old Testament that doesn't last for very long in scripture.

So in chapter five, verse ten, he brings up this Melchizedek guy and then has a parentheses where he says, now, there's some stuff I'm about to tell you that's hard to understand. And if you guys are being deaf and dull of hearing lazy listeners, it ain't gonna make any sense, and you're gonna fall away and you're gonna humiliate Christ. Why is this gonna happen? Because he's here talking to jewish background believers who don't have a complete understanding of who Christ is. And if you don't understand that Jesus is not in the line of Levi, he's something different.

He needs to now tell these jewish believers this new high priest is not a high priest under Aaron, under the line of Levi, he's something new. In fact, he is the lion of Judah, not of the son Levi. So how can you call him a priest at all? They're sitting here questioning it, not understanding it. And if you're being dull of listening, you're not going to get it.

This is where he ends today, by saying this Jesus in the order of Melchizedek, not of Aaron, of a new high priest, or an old one, if you will. That means Jesus is based on a different thing. Who is this Melchizedek? Well, you got to come next week to really get a whole lot more. We're going to get all into who this guy is, and then you can start naming your kids that.

Go for it. You know, I would go with just mail maybe, but we'll know you know, and this is how he finishes, by saying, hey, so now we're gonna get back into it. This is how chapter six finishes. I've given you this parentheses. If you don't pay attention, you're gonna miss it.

Jesus is a different guy. He's something more. He's both priest, king, prophet, savior. He's something bigger than the archetypes you've had in the old testament. So stop saying he's like the angel.

Stop saying he's like Levi, he's like Aaron. Stop that. Now, believers in the room, maybe that's not your hang up. And you know why that is? Cause 2000 years have gone by and we've hopefully got better understanding on some levels.

We may not, but on this, we know that this Jesus is not just in the line of the high priests. He's the son of God. He's something more. So we can be anchored. This is where he concludes.

The statement of how we can have this greater hope is that we can be anchored in God's son. This final reason is really the peace de resistance. It's the greatest thing. And he tells us in verse 18 that we have all as a, as believers. Now we fled.

Look at verse 18. We who have fled for refuge might have a strong encouragement. Hold fast to the hope set before us. This idea of fled for refuge comes from the Old Testament idea of these cities of refuge, that they had this system in the Old Testament, that if you committed, let's say you committed manslaughter, you accidentally killed someone. The family that was in that town had every right to go ahead and take vengeance upon you.

That's how the system worked. And if they did it, no one would accuse them, even if it was accidental. You killed their loved one. So what could you do? You could flee to one of these cities of refuge where you could be tried and stand with an unbiased trial.

It's funny because that jewish system kind of passed on into our government where you get, hopefully, an unbiased trial where your accuser has to stand before those who are not for him or you. That was the idea of refuge. He compares that now to the gospel, one writer says, referring to that fact, that one charged with murder fled to the city of refuge and laid hold of the altar of security. So now we who are guilty and deserving of death have fled to the hopes of the gospel and the redeemer. This is what we've done in Christ Jesus.

This is why I've heard pastors for a long time, preachers for a long time say, you kind of got to help people get lost before you can get them saved. There's a sense of truth to that, that they first have to understand. I have committed sin, I have done wrong, and I need to flee and take refuge in the redeemer. Then finally I can receive for myself this strong encouragement. He goes on in verse 19 to say, anchor.

An anchor. Hebrews two one says, we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard lest we drift away from it. If we don't anchor ourselves, we will drift. We have a tendency, as even believers to anchor ourselves in a lot of things that aren't necessarily the cross of Christ. Sometimes churches, we get too denominational.

I really try to avoid this. Maybe it bothers some people who come in and try to join. They're like, I'm not enough of anything. I'm not baptist enough. I'm not charismatic enough.

I'm certainly not catholic enough. And people go, well, I thought you were a Methodist. I thought you were this. I seem mostly Baptist. I think I'm putting off the baptist aura, but I'm not enough of that for some people.

And we tend to anchor ourselves as christians into the various things. I would encourage you believers in the room, if you're inviting people to church or inviting them, that you would first consider inviting them to Christ before you would ever invite them to church. Let your life story be about helping people come and meet the savior. I'm not him. I try to do the same thing with you here.

But if you're going to invite him to our church, don't tell them, hey, we've got the best worship in town. Hey, we've got the best looking preacher in town. Even if you mean that, all right, don't say that. It's probably not true. There could be various different things that you would anchor yourself.

The reason, what you're really saying is the reason I go to East Gate church because I really like that person. Unless that person is Jesus, your anchor's off and you're going to drift just like people all over. Just drift. No, your anchor should be in the sun. This person who the writer goes on to say he has already run ahead of us into the inner place behind the curtain.

This is wonderful language. This means that in Christ Jesus we can go into the holy of holies. The curtain he's speaking of here is the curtain that breaks up the temple where only the high priest can go. And now it's like we've got a rope around the waist of our savior who has run behind the curtain is now standing before God, standing before the Lord and interceding on our behalf. This is what this is saying.

And so the thing he's asking you to do is hang on. The anchor is set, the rope is on him. He's run through. He's run the course. He's paid the price.

He is now in the inner curtain, interceding for you. What will you hang on to now?

I hope at the end of the day, at the end of this conversation, that you would have a sense that my hope is in nothing less but Christ Jesus, nothing less. That the thing I'm going to link myself to is this one who has already run the race and who is already with the father and is pleading my case. Our hope is in a living person. One Peter, chapter one. It says, blessed be the God and Father, our Lord Jesus Christ.

According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, unfading, and kept in heaven for you, who by God's power, are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. You're locked in, my friend.

This inheritance, it can't be touched, because God is an unchangeable God. Your salvation cannot be thrown out so easily because it's guarded by God's power. Wow. Our hope is sure, then. Our promises are yes in Jesus.

Paul writes in two Corinthians, one, for no matter how many promises God has made, they are yes in Christ. And so through him, the amen is spoken by us to the glory of God. I've heard this for many years, and I've been kind of illustrating it, but our hope is like an anchor. It's like a rope. Our hope is like a rope connected to Christ Jesus.

I want to encourage you, brothers and sisters, I want to encourage you that your hope should be in Jesus, not in your next paycheck, not in good news at a doctor's office, not in this person saying, actually, I do love you. Not in any of that, because those things drift like ocean waves. Your anchor is in Christ. Is it today? Are you convinced of this?

I pray that you are, that your hope will be in something more, even though you may be overwhelmed by life's challenges. Christ is sure, in Hebrews, God's word has given us this powerful encouragement to hold fast, cling to it, because we can be assured by his justice, convinced by his character, and anchored in the finished work of Jesus. Let's pray now together. Church. Heavenly Father, I ask now boldly for your people that you would give them assurance of faith.

You would give them assurance, a full, as you write, a full assurance of hope. I know that there are people in this audience right now, the people in this congregation, who have come here to church today, and maybe they are feeling absolutely overwhelmed and they maybe even lost some hope, maybe lost all hope that things are gonna get better. Maybe they've got some terrible news this week. Maybe they've lived a life where a lot of people have bailed on them, not fulfilled promises. Maybe parents, maybe it started when they were young.

Maybe they've been through a broken relationship. Maybe they've had hard times. Maybe their body is failing them and their hope keeps being in this next thing and this next thing, and they fall short again and again and again. I was hoping for good news and I didn't get it there. I was hoping to get that job and I didn't get it.

I was hoping that person wouldn't leave me, and they did.

Where's your hope at? Heavenly Father, I pray right now that you would pour out such a sense of assurance right now on your people that they would look to you in this very moment and say, hey, God, I know I've been drifting. I've been all over. The ocean has taken me everywhere. The chaos of this life has pushed me all over the place.

And I've not come to you much in my life. But, God, I see you. I'm asking now, Lord, be an anchor in my life. If nothing else, my hope would be in you and nothing less. God, do this in us.

Encourage us now, that brokenhearted person today, even that person who showed up today and they're feeling good, things are well, that you would remind them. Now, hey, check your hope. Check what you're roped to. Is it the anchor of Jesus or is it some other thing, some provision that's gone well for now? That stuff can change at any moment.

God, I pray for your people. I pray for myself that my hope would be built in nothing less than you, God, for that person who's come today. And they've been dealing with the chaos of life and they haven't dealt with it all when it comes to your salvation. They've just been walking this life on their own. Maybe they've heard the good news of Jesus, this good news that you've promised through generations that you would be both just and justifier that you would save us.

Maybe some people have showed up today and they've never really said yes to that at all. They've heard some of it. Maybe they're hearing it clearly today. I pray for them today, Lord, that they would make a decision of faith, a commitment, a confession, if you will, that they believe today, maybe first, for the first time, that God has promised and God has saved and that God's anchor is sure. If that's you, my friend, you know that you've not yet said yes to Christ.

Pray simply with me. As Romans says in chapter ten, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. We believe that as a church. If you're ready today to say that, pray this with me. Jesus, you are lord of my life.

You are lord of all things. You're the king. You're in charge. Jesus, you died on the cross for my sin. I believe that.

My mess, my guilt, my shame, my brokenness, my wrongdoings. Lord, you have paid for them already. You are just and you have justified me and God. I believe that you raised Jesus from the dead. That he is alive today.

As your word says, he is a living hope. And, dear Lord, I'm asking now, give me assurance, give me hope and things that are linked to you and you alone. That I won't drift in this life to and fro, but would have my anchor in Jesus. Dear friend, if you prayed that prayer with me. Welcome to the family of goddess, where we, as your brothers and sisters are praying the same.

That God, you would make a sure anchor in Jesus in our lives. That we would not drift, but would have a hope that is set in stone. We pray all of these things in Jesus name. Amen.