Hebrews 6:13-20

Order of Service

• Sunday School Lesson — Hebrews 6:13-20
• Prayer of Dismissal

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Sermon Title: The Comforting Promise for God's People

Scripture: Hebrews 6:13-20

I. The Recipients of God's Comforting Promise

A. The passage returns to the theme of promises, connecting to the preceding call to imitate those who "through faith and patience inherit the promises" (Hebrews 6:11-12)

B. God makes his promise to Abraham — an undeserving, formerly pagan member of the fallen human race

1. The promise is unfolded progressively across Genesis 12, 15, 17, and 22
2. Abraham patiently waited and obtained the promise, including seeing the births of Esau and Jacob before his death
3. The near-sacrifice of Isaac in Genesis 22 shows Abraham trusting God to be faithful even under extreme trial; God provides a substitute and reaffirms the promise: "I will surely bless you and multiply you"

C. The true offspring of Abraham are those who share Abraham's faith

1. Galatians 3:7-9 — "It is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham... those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith"
2. New Testament believers — by faith, adopted sons and daughters of God — are inheritors of the same promise made to Abraham
3. The writer of Hebrews takes his readers back to Abraham to show the deep redemptive roots of the promise they are being called to hold fast to

II. The Character of the God Who Offers Comforting Promise

A. God has no one greater than himself by whom to swear, so he swore by himself (Hebrews 6:13)

1. Human oaths are sworn by something greater than oneself; God, having no greater, swears by his own name
2. Argument from lesser to greater: if human oaths confirmed by a greater authority are binding, how much more certain is God's oath?

B. Two unchangeable things make the promise absolutely certain (Hebrews 6:17-18)

1. God's own unchangeable being — it is impossible for God to lie
2. God's unchangeable word — his covenant promise cannot fail
3. Unchangeable added to unchangeable yields what is absolutely unchangeable; the promise cannot be broken

C. The purpose of this certainty: "we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us"

1. Believers flee for refuge from the fallenness of the world, their own hearts, and the sorrow and futility around them
2. Titus 1:1-3 — "God, who never lies, promised [eternal life] before the ages began and at the proper time manifested it in his word"

III. The Forerunner of God's Comforting Promise

A. The hope described in Hebrews 6:19 is a person, not merely an idea

1. "A sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain"
2. The curtain imagery draws on the Most Holy Place in the tabernacle; Christ has entered heaven itself after his resurrection and ascension

B. Christ is called our "forerunner" — a term unique to this passage in the New Testament

1. The word is drawn from nautical practice: a small boat (the forerunner) would carry an anchor over a sandbar into a harbor, securing the large ship until the tide rose and it could safely enter
2. Christ entering heaven as our forerunner is the pledge that we too will one day enter the harbor of God's presence in the New Jerusalem
3. He has torn asunder everything separating the redeemed sinner from God

C. The passage closes by returning to the Priestly ministry of Christ in the order of Melchizedek (Hebrews 6:20), which will be expounded fully in chapter 7

1. Christ has gone behind the curtain as our high priest and forerunner
2. God cannot lie; his word is true; those who rest in Christ and his finished work are secure
3. The Lord preserves his people both by warning (as seen in the preceding passage) and by promise (as seen here)