Seven weeks in Hebrews six, and we still haven't finished it! But there is so much to learn, and so many principles to grasp. We had to foundationalize the basics of Christianity. We had to be reminded to keep living righteously and not fall into sin. We had to be told to keep pressing on in our walk with God, to be diligent.
Remember that the author said in the last verses of our previous study,
Hebr. 6:11-12 And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end, that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
We've got to be diligent to realize the full assurance of hope. We've got to press on and imitate faith and patience of those who inherited the promises God gave to them.
And these are the topics before us as we come to our final study in the sixth chapter of Hebrews: faith, hope, and patience.
Long ago, God spoke to a 75-year-old Gentile named Abraham. "Leave your family and go to a land I will show you. I will bless you and multiply you until you are a great nation" (Gen. 12:1-3). This was great news, especially since up to this point, Abraham's wife Sarah had been barren - she couldn't have children (Gen 11:30). But now God had promised them children and grandchildren - an entire nation of descendants!
Understand that Abraham had not been doing anything to come after God. It was God who came after Abram. And the Lord's promise to Abraham was unconditional. All he had to do was go where the Lord told him to go, and God would do everything He promised.
An unwarranted calling, and an unconditional blessing. This is what God specializes in. The other day, we heard someone on TV say, "The key to a woman's heart is an unexpected gift at an unexpected time." My wife and daughter both heartily agreed with the statement as true. I'll let you in on a little secret: it's true for everyone - both male and female - and God knows it, for He is the one Who formed our hearts!
This is how He has reached our hearts - loving us when we did not love Him, calling us when we did not want to hear from Him, and paying a price for us that we could never pay back.
Rom. 5:8 ...God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Verse 15 tells us that Abraham waited patiently for God's promise to come true. At least, that's the short version of the story! In reality, there were some bumps along the way.
You see, Abraham had many of the same problems that we do. We tend to have a lot of faith to trust God as long as He makes good on His promises right now. But if He makes us wait awhile, then we start to get nervous. We lose faith, get impatient, and that's when we get into trouble.
God had promised to make Abraham into a great nation. But God didn't say exactly when that would happen. God's plan was to give them a son in 25 years!
By the time about ten years had passed, Abraham was in his mid-eighties, and his wife wasn't far behind him. They began to think that maybe the fulfillment of God' promise was up to them to accomplish. Abraham's wife Sarah suggested,
Gen. 16:2-4 ..."Now behold, the LORD has prevented me from bearing {children.} Please go in to my maid; perhaps I shall obtain children through her." And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. And after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Abram's wife Sarai took Hagar the Egyptian, her maid, and gave her to her husband Abram as his wife. And he went in to Hagar, and she conceived...
Well, wouldn't you know it? They had accomplished the promise of God. Abraham was going to have a son!
But God didn't see it their way. He came to Abraham again and said, "Sarah is the woman for you, buddy. And this son is not the one I wanted for you."
Gen. 17:16-19 "And I will bless her, and indeed I will give you a son by her. Then I will bless her, and she shall be {a mother of} nations; kings of peoples shall come from her." Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, "Will a child be born to a man one hundred years old? And will Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear {a child?} " And Abraham said to God, "Oh that Ishmael might live before Thee!" But God said, "No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; and I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.
Abraham was hoping that God would bless Ishmael, his son by the maid. But God doesn't bless the works of the flesh.
As a matter of fact, the works of the flesh lead to all kinds of problems. If you know your Bible history, you know that Ishmael became the father of the Arab nations today, who are constantly in conflict with the Jews, who are the descendants the son originally promised to Abraham.
We never know the terrible consequences of acting in the flesh. One carnal decision affects things for years and even generations to come. If only I could live my life over again and not make those same mistakes. If only I could have truly learned years ago the words of the apostle Paul, saying,
Gal. 3:3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?
Rom. 8:8 ...those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
When God made the promise to Abraham, He swore by Himself. Usually, people swear by things better, more honorable, or more valuable than themselves. "I swear to tell the truth, so help me God," was the phrase that people in times past used to validate what they were saying. Others might say, "I swear on a stack of Bibles," or, "I swear by my mother's good name."
But what could God swear by that was higher than Himself?
Now, I should add that God doesn't want us to swear by His name. In His sermon on the mount, Jesus said,
Matt. 5:33-37 "Again, you have heard that the ancients were told, ‘YOU SHALL NOT MAKE FALSE VOWS, BUT SHALL FULFILL YOUR VOWS TO THE LORD.' But I say to you, make no oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is the footstool of His feet, or by Jerusalem, for it is THE CITY OF THE GREAT KING. Nor shall you make an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. But let your statement be, ‘Yes, yes' {or} ‘No, no'; and anything beyond these is of evil."
If you are honorable to your word, your "yes" or "no" will be enough. If you are dishonoring to your word, than why drag God's name into your mess?
God could swear by Himself because He knew that there was no chance He wouldn't fulfill His promise.
God wanted to reassure Abraham and his descendants, the Jews, that He was going to fulfill His promises to them. It is too bad that much of the church has lost sight of the fact that His purposes are unchangeable. Many denominations today teach that Israel forfeited the promises when they rejected Jesus Christ. They teach that the church is now Israel and we are the recipients of all the promises.
But this is clearly not the case. God's purposes for Israel are unchangeable, just as His purposes for us are. If you read Romans 10 and 11, you can see that Israel and the church are separate entities. We have not replaced Israel - we are here to make Israel jealous. God's plan for this was established long ago.
Rom. 10:19-11:2 ...At the first Moses says, I WILL MAKE YOU JEALOUS BY THAT WHICH IS NOT A NATION, BY A NATION WITHOUT UNDERSTANDING WILL I ANGER YOU." And Isaiah is very bold and says, I WAS FOUND BY THOSE WHO SOUGHT ME NOT, I BECAME MANIFEST TO THOSE WHO DID NOT ASK FOR ME." But as for Israel He says, "ALL THE DAY LONG I HAVE STRETCHED OUT MY HANDS TO A DISOBEDIENT AND OBSTINATE PEOPLE." I say then, God has not rejected His people, has He? May it never be! For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew...
God has been faithful when His people were faithless. His unconditional promises were just that: unconditional. His purposes have not changed.
If God has been this determined to keep His promises to Abraham, and to the Jews, how about you? Have you given up on God's promises to you? He hasn't given up on them. Sure, it may have been quite some time now since He spoke to you about His plans for you. Maybe it's been a few months. Maybe a few years. In Abraham's case, it would be 25 years!
How in the world can you keep pressing on, being diligent, and hoping in the promises of God? Isn't there some kind of time limit to hope? No. You see, hope is something that you consciously take or give away. You give up hope, or you lay hold of hope. You lose hope or you hold fast to hope. Timothy was told,
1Tim. 4:10 For it is for this we labor and strive, because we have fixed our hope on the living God...
Hope is something that you make a conscious decision to have, to grab hold of.
But you may say, "But I haven't gotten any indications that God's still on the plan. He hasn't shown me anything." Remember what Paul said to the Romans?
Rom. 8:2-25 ...hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one also hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.
If it were shown to you, you wouldn't be resting in hope any longer!
Remember, God's purposes are unchangeable. He hasn't abandoned the plan, and you need to hold onto hope.
When you hold onto hope, it is the anchor of your soul. An anchor that keeps you from drifting into doubt and hopelessness.
Near the end of the book of Acts, Paul and Luke were on a ship headed for Italy. They were having difficulty in the voyage, because it was so late in the year, and were facing bad weather conditions.
Finally, they hit a storm on the Adriatic Sea that wouldn't end. It lasted for days, a week, and then two weeks. They couldn't see anything, and didn't know where they were, for the stars and sun had been blocked by the storm clouds for so long. Late one night, the sailors could tell they were approaching land. This was not good news, for the water was getting more and more shallow.
Acts 27:29 And fearing that we might run aground somewhere on the rocks, they cast four anchors from the stern and wished for daybreak.
They knew that the only hope they had to avoid being demolished was to set their anchors. This saved their lives that night.
But the next day, they cast off the anchors. They struck a reef, and the ship was destroyed. All 276 people on board were cast into the sea.
Saints, hope is our anchor of the soul. If we hold onto hope, we keep going. If we cast it off, we become castaways.