THE FULL ASSURANCE OF HOPE

The speaker is discussing the book of Hebrews, particularly chapter 6, where the author emphasizes the importance of maturity and growth in faith. The Hebrews were tempted to leave Jesus Christ and return to Judaism, but the author encourages them to go on to maturity and not lay again the foundation of repentance. The author emphasizes the hope that should drive believers to maturity. The passage also discusses the impossibility of losing salvation once it is received. The author lists five reasons why it is impossible to lose salvation, including being enlightened with the Gospel, tasting the heavenly gift of salvation, partaking of the Holy Spirit, tasting the good Word of God and the powers of the world to come, and experiencing eternal judgment. The speaker emphasizes that these experiences are once and for all and cannot be undone. Amen. If you have your Bibles this morning, turn to Hebrews 6. Hebrews 6. I couldn't have picked a bunch of better songs and a special today if I had done it myself to go along with the morning message today and finishing out our study in Ephesians where we have been looking at the foundation which is Jesus Christ. And you remember that the Hebrews were wanting to leave Jesus Christ and go back to Judaism. And Paul told us in chapter 5, or I believe Paul wrote Hebrews, but we can't confirm it, so I slip up and say that every once in a while. The author of Hebrews, though we do know there was an author, the author of Hebrews wrote in chapter 5, if you remember way back under, I think we've been ten weeks in this passage of Scripture, the problem was that they were immature. They were lazy. And so he's telling them that they need to go on to maturity. They need to grow up. And he gives us in chapter 6, verses 1 and 2, this foundation of Jesus Christ. It says that doing away with the principles of this laziness and immaturity, he says, let us therefore go on to the doctrine of Christ. Let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, faith toward God, of the doctrines of baptism, of the laying on of hands, and of the resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. And this will we do if God permits. And so he goes from immaturity to laying the foundation of Jesus Christ to now finishing out chapter 6 with hope. And I want us to understand today it is hope that should drive us to maturity. It is what we have yet to expect. I read the passage this morning for our Scripture reading in Romans 8. If we have seen eternity, then guess what? It's not hope. And so our hope is because it is out there. And He's given us the Spirit to drive us to this hope. But I want you to look down at verse 11 because this is the verse that I really want us to focus on and where I've got the title of the message this morning. He says, We desire that every one of you do show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end. In other words, because of our hope, He says I want all of us to be working toward that hope. I want us to see us give diligence. I want us to grow up. I want us to mature because of the hope. And so now we'll go back to verse 4 understanding this idea and this principle, and we see in verse 4, He initiates this hope. In other words, He tells us first of all, that it is impossible to lose your salvation. Once you are saved, you are always saved. You cannot lose it. You cannot give it back. You can't do anything with your salvation. You didn't get it, and you can't lose it. And so I want you to understand before we get into this passage, to know that off the top of everything as we will enforce this and show this principle here in this passage this morning. Now look at what it says in verse 4, for it is impossible, impossible for those who were once enlightened, have tasted of the heavenly gift, were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good Word of God and the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance, seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put Him to an open shame. Impossible means that it cannot happen. It will not happen. And so He starts this section off. It is impossible. And then what does He say? He uses the term to fall away. What does fall away mean? It means to turn aside, to turn away, to deviate from Christ. In other words, if you are a Christian and you have claimed Jesus Christ as your Lord and as your Savior, it is impossible. You will never leave Him and never forsake Him. You cannot turn your back on Jesus Christ. And so you can't lose it. You can't give it back. You can't deny it. It is impossible. Romans 8 that I read from this morning. You go down to verse 38 in that. Paul said, I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from what? The love of God, which is what? In Christ Jesus our Lord. And so He has established this foundation of Jesus Christ. How do we get in Jesus Christ? We repent from our dead works. We have faith toward God. How do we live for Jesus Christ? Through the washings and the laying on of hands. When we see Jesus Christ, we will have a bodily resurrection and we will stand before God and be judged according to our works. That is our hope. That is what we are looking forward to. And that's what He is building on this morning. And so no matter how often their sin was pointed out to them, no matter how much the love or the cross of Christ was proclaimed to them, they would not repent. It comes back to these Jews, these Hebrew people would not repent. You go back and you look in the Old Testament, what would happen? They would turn from God and God would have to bring them into bondage. He would bring them into slavery. He would cause all kinds of stuff to happen to them and discipline them in order that they might what? Repent. But finally, He came to the point and He said what? You will not repent. You have become stiff-necked. You have become rebellious. And what that proved was is that He was never their God to begin with. And so when we look at this, He gives us a list of five things right here that tell us why it is impossible to lose our salvation. First of all, He mentions once for all, to be enlightened with the Gospel. Now why did I put once for all for all of these? I did that because in the Greek, this is in the Aorist tense. And what it means is that this was an act that was in the past, a one-time act that was done one time that was forever. And so, notice what He says, it is impossible for those who were once enlightened. One time in the past, forever enlightened. Now what does it mean to be enlightened? It means the light of the Gospel and salvation. Remember, Jesus Christ is the light. The light came unto men, but men loved what? Darkness rather than the light. And so, we said what? If you don't believe in Jesus Christ, then you remain in darkness and there is no light. You cannot have Jesus Christ unless you receive the light. That is the Gospel. And so you have to see Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. And the light of salvation is what breaks through that darkness of sin, that darkness of death, and this is a one-time act that has happened. It happened, it was fulfilled, and it was completed in your life. That's why I stress to you so many times, there has to be a time and a place that you ask Jesus Christ to come into your heart. A time and a place that you repented of your sins and put your faith and trust in God, and at that very moment, you were saved. And nothing can take that salvation away from you. But it was a one-time act in the past. Repent sees Christ as Savior who died for our sins. Faith toward God sees Christ as Lord who rules in our life. And so once you have been enlightened, it's forever. It's always. Then notice what he says in the next phrase. He says, well, for once and for all, taste its salvation. For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift. What is the heavenly gift? See, when we are convicted of Jesus Christ, this word taste actually means to partake. It means to experience. You cannot know what a chocolate pie tastes like until you taste it. You can smell it, but you don't know what it's like. You can look at it and say, man, that is beautiful, but you don't know if it's good or bad. You do not get able to experience that chocolate pie until what? You put it in your mouth. It becomes an experience. And so look at what he says. He says, have tasted the heavenly gift. You go back to Hebrews 2 and verse 9, and the author uses that same exact word of Jesus Christ. He said, but we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, should what? Taste death for every man. What does it mean that He tasted death? In other words, Jesus Christ not only died on the cross, He experienced it. It was real. It was true. He knows what death is like, but He didn't stay dead, did He? No, He rose from the dead, and that's what 1 Corinthians 15 says. Because He lives, we're going to live. Because He tasted of death, we don't have to experience death. And so we see this heavenly gift being salvation. John 3.16, For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that what? Whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Ephesians 2.8 and 9, For by grace are you saved through faith that not of yourselves, it is what? A gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Once you have tasted of the gift from God, salvation, it is a once and for all experience forever. 1 Peter 2 and verse 2 says, As newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the Word, that you may what? Grow thereby, if so be what? You have tasted that the Lord is gracious, to whom coming as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God and precious. You also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. It was a once and for all experience. Then notice what he says next. Once and for all partaking of the Spirit. We were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, of the Holy Spirit. He tells us in 2 Corinthians 1 and verse 21, Now He which establishes us with you in Christ and hath anointed us is God, who hath also sealed us and given the earnest of the Spirit into our hearts. What's he saying? He's saying that if you are a child of God, if you have accepted Jesus Christ, you have experienced salvation, then guess what? God has sealed you. Nothing can take you out of the Father's hand. And what does He do? He gives you the Holy Spirit as an earnest. What is an earnest? A down payment of the hope when we see Jesus Christ, we shall be like Jesus Christ. And so the fact that we have the Holy Spirit in our lives is a proof of our salvation because the Holy Spirit in Christ is living within us. He tells us in 1 Corinthians 6 and verse 19, Know you not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which you have of God, and you are not your own. In other words, your body is a temple. A temple for what? A temple is the place that man went to meet God, right? And God would come to the temple in order to meet man. But guess what? Once you are saved, then Jesus Christ comes and lives in you through the Holy Spirit, and guess what? We meet with God within us. That relationship is there. And so you are a resident of God. And then he says, once and for all, tasted God's Word. In verse 5, they have tasted the good Word of God. In Acts 20, verse 32, he says, And now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the Word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified. Remember, in our foundation, you cannot be sanctified until you have been saved. You're saved, then you are sanctified, then you are glorified. And so look, how are we sanctified? Through His Word. In other words, when you start reading the Word, Romans 10 is very plain. He says, faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. When you start reading as a Christian, as a believer with the Holy Spirit in you, the Bible becomes alive. The Bible becomes real. And God starts fulfilling it in your life. And your faith gets stronger. Your trust for God gets stronger. Your obedience for God gets stronger. The same way a little bitty old child comes out, they don't come out just all of a sudden trusting everybody in their life. No, you prove it. And the more that you take care of them and change their diaper, the more you feed them, the more you provide for them, guess what? There is a bond that begins to happen where that child should trust you to be obedient to do whatever you ask them to do. It's the same way with us when we're saved. The more we get into the Word of God, it builds our trust with God because God is not a liar. He cannot lie. And so the Word is there. And so this is a once and for all act. You have believed the Word of God, and therefore your faith begins to grow. And then he says, "...and have tasted the powers of the world to come." In 2 Corinthians 12, verse 9, "...and He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee. For My strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, would I rather glory in My infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon Me." What was the two future events that we have? The resurrection of the dead, right? And eternal judgment. And so guess what? How do we know the power of God? Because guess what? I'm going to receive a new body. I'm going to receive a new body when I get to Heaven. And so notice what Paul is saying. Paul had this thorn in the flesh. We don't know what it was, but he asked God, and God three times denied Paul from removing this infirmity in his flesh. And Paul said, you know what? I'm going to accept that infirmity in order that God may be glorified. In other words, we experience His power in everyday life as we go through suffering, trials, and tribulations. We know that God is going to deliver us. He can deliver us. Because did He stay in the grave? No. And so that is our hope. That is this assurance of this hope. Now notice what it says in verse 6 because this is the deal. Understand that it is impossible once you have one time in the past been enlightened to the Gospel, have tasted salvation, have partook of His Spirit, have tasted the Word of God, have experienced the power of God, then He offers a condition. It is impossible once you have done that if they shall fall away to renew them again unto repentance. In other words, it is impossible if you have been saved to lose or reject your salvation or give it back to God. And he says, if you were able to do that. That's the condition. If you were able to get rid of your salvation. So I trusted Jesus Christ when I was nine years old. Now I'm 54 years old and I've decided, you know what? I don't want to follow Christ anymore. I don't want to believe in Christ anymore. I'm going to give my salvation back. I'm going to pledge my allegiance to Satan and I'm going to go on about my life. Guess what? He says, it is impossible. Because if I was able to do that, then guess what? I couldn't have repentance again. And so in that time in the past, if I truly repented, I turned and went the other direction. And you can't just continue to repent because look what He says, every time you continue to repent and turn the directions, you're crucifying Jesus Christ over and over and over. And guess what? When we do that, we put the power of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ to shame. Because it was not sufficient. Either Christ's death was sufficient for past sins, present sins, and future sins, or Christ's death and resurrection was not sufficient. And so we make Him an open shame. And so if you get to that point, then guess what? What the author is telling us here is no, you can't do that. But if you were to do that, then guess what? You never repented to begin with. You were never a believer to begin with. You never once and for all experienced the Gospel. You never once and for all tasted salvation. You never once and for all partook of the Spirit. You never tasted God's Word. You never tasted His power. And so now he gives us an illustration. Because I know sometimes this is hard for us to comprehend. So the author gives us an illustration. Look what he says in verse 7. For the earth which drinketh in the rain, that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs, meat for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessings from God. How do you receive blessings from God? When God gives you the rain, you do what? You partake of the rain. You enjoy the rain. You look at its benefit. But, the contrast, verse 8, but that which beareth thorns and brars is rejected and is nigh unto cursing whose end is to be burned. Now, as I read that, this illustration of what has happened, a once and for all event, and all of a sudden, how is it determined? When the rain comes upon you, do you produce fruit? Or do you produce thorns and thistles? See, the rain is the common denominator that is there. And so, go back to Jesus Christ in John chapter 15. Jesus Christ said, I am the vine, and My Father is the husbandman. Every branch in Me that beareth not fruit, He taketh away. And every branch that beareth fruit, He purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now, you are clean through the Word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in Me, and I in you as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine. No more can you except you abide in Me. I am the vine. You are the branches. He that abideth in Me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. Without Me, you can do nothing. If a man abide not in Me, he is cast forth as a branch and is withered, and men gather them and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My Word is abide in you, you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is My Father glorified that you bear much fruit, and so shall you be My disciple." What makes the difference in a good vine and a bad vine? The sowers. The sowers, right? What makes this soil bring forth fruit in Hebrews, and some of it bring forth thorns and briars? The soil. You remember Jesus gave us a parable about the sower and the soil? You remember He said when a sower went out to sow seed, and you remember what happened to that seed? Some of it fell by the wayside, right? And what happened? When the rains came, thorns and thistles came up and choked that seed out. It wouldn't produce fruit. It wouldn't get going because of all of the thorns and the briars. But He goes on in that thing and He says what? But the seed that falls in the good soil, that hears the Word of God and once and for all receives it, takes in the rain, what happens? He brings forth good fruit. He brings forth good fruit. And so back in this Hebrews, this bad good soil is those that have once and for all drunk in the Word of God and produced fruit for God. They have attached themselves to the vine, Jesus Christ. And once you've attached, you came unattached. And so notice what happens. The bad soil is unbelievers. They drink in the Word of God, but they bring forth thorns and briars. Unbelievers are not affected by the Word of God. They're not affected. They don't care. You know, that's why the atheists, they don't want to discuss the Bible. They don't care what the Bible says because what? They don't believe in a God. So guess what? If they don't believe in a God, they're not going to believe in a Word that was written by that God. Hebrews 12 then says this. You remember? What is Hebrews 11? This example of this hall of faith, right? That's what we call it. All of these individuals in this hall of faith were saved individuals that were perfect individuals. Now, I don't think so. They wasn't perfect, was they? Some of them received the promise. Some of them didn't. But they were all sinners saved by grace. You remember Noah? He found grace. And so what did he do? He obeyed God and he worked on an ark for 400 years, never seeing it rain. And so he goes through this hall of faith. These that had what? They trusted God and they obeyed God because of the hope that was laid before them. Noah didn't work 400 years on an ark because he didn't believe God that it was going to rain. No, he believed God and he built the ark for 400 years because why? God said there was going to be a flood and you need to prepare. And so it was his hope that did what? Made his faith consistent. And he faithfully served God. Abraham. Why did Abraham continue to follow God? He said leave your family, leave your country and what? I will give you a family that is the multitude of the stars in the sky and the sand of the sea. And I will give you a land for your family to dwell in. And so what did Abraham do? I believe you. So what did he do? He left his family and he started out. And then he turns 100 years old and guess what? We're going toward this land. I believe it's out there, but God, You haven't given me no children yet. I'm getting kind of old, right? But God gave him Isaac, didn't He? God gave him a child even when he was past childbearing age. God proved what he was doing. And then you go down there and it wasn't until Jacob, his great-grandson, then had 12 sons that became known as what? The 12 tribes of Israel. And then from the 12 tribes, guess what? Boom! We have the descendants beside, but what was it? Abraham did what he did. He had faith in God to follow God and to believe God because of the hope of the land and the inheritance. And so our faith is driven by our hope. Our hope. What do we believe about the future? So notice what he says. Now we come to chapter 12. And he's summing up this entire book here. He says, "...Wherefore, seeing we also are compassionate about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God." If you'll look at this passage, and Brother Joy brought it out last week in our Defenders Conference, but in actuality, if you read the context of chapter 15, you will see that he goes and he illustrates this by using Jacob and Esau as an example. What was the difference between Jacob and Esau? Was Jacob perfect? No, his name meant trickster. He was a deceitful guy, right? His whole life was deceitful. But what was Jacob interested in? You go back and you find that them two boys had made a promise by God while they were still in the womb. And the promise by God was that the older would serve the younger. And Esau comes into the picture. And Esau comes in from hunting. He hadn't killed anything. He's been working out in the field. He comes in one day and he is near death. And his brother Jacob has got this pottage going on the stove. And he smells that and he says, man, I'm about to die from hunger. He said, if you'll give me some of that, I'll give you my birthright. See, Esau was interested in the physical stuff where Jacob was interested in the spiritual. Even though one of them was perfect, it was their focus. It was their hope. And so when you think about that, that's what he's talking about. And this is the example of Jesus Christ. And we always say, who for the joy that was set before Him and during the cross. Let me tell you, there's nothing joyful about the death of the cross. There was no joy there. Jesus didn't just excitedly go through and say, you know what, man, I cannot wait. I get to die this week. As a matter of fact, we're going to look at His triumphal entry next week on Palm Sunday and we're going to see this. Jesus was not filled with joy to go to the cross. As a matter of fact, the night before when He prayed in the garden, what did He say? As He sweat drops of blood, He said, Father, if there be any other plan than me dying and suffering this humility and this cruelty on the cross of Calvary, He said, let it be that. But then He says, you know what? There is no other plan. This was the plan from the foundation of the world. And so what did He say? He said, nevertheless, not My will, but Thine be done. In other words, He says, you know what, I'm not going to take temporary relief of another plan. I'm going to go on through with the plan that's here. What is Hebrews written all about? Hebrews was written to a bunch of Jewish people that had been saved in what's happened. Persecution has come. They've been pushed out of their homes, their livelihood, their places where they grew up and lived forever. They were facing tremendous amount of suffering. And what were they wont to do? We had it better before we were saved than now that we're saved, right? How many times did they do that in Israel when Moses led them out of Egypt? Oh, we had it better off in Egypt, didn't we? At least there we had a variety of food. Man, here all we've got is this manna. Manna in the morning, manna in the evening, manna at night, right? Manna, manna, manna. And then you get all this manna and we get choked up on all this bread and we don't even have any water, right? At least they gave us water back there when we were slaves, right? And you brought us out here and there's no water to wash this manna down. So what does Moses do? He speaks to the rock and out comes water out of the middle of a desert in a rock. Here comes water gushing out. God took care of them every step of the way. But what did they do? They kept wanting to go back. And what was it about? Every bit of it about was what they wanted in the flesh right now instead of what they could see when they got into the land. They finally got to Cato's Barnea. And Moses sent in twelve spies. What did they do? They come back. Two men toting one bunch of grapes. That's some big grapes. That's a lot of grapes for one cluster that two men have to carry. And he said, man, when they came back and gave the report, this land is everything that God promised it to be. But, instead of looking at what God was wanting to give them, what did they focus on? There's giants in that land. Some of us may lose our lives trying to get this land. We're going to have to fight. These big dudes, they're not going to give this stuff up easily. Right? And what were they doing? They were focusing in on their self. That's immaturity. You know the difference between a child and an adult? A child only wants what they want. They're focused in what they're dealing with. Satan's going through a stage right now. He should be two years old in two weeks. Everything she touches and everything she grabs is mine. And she picks it up and she says, mine, mine, mine. So you know what Papa was trying to teach her? It's not yours. We're going to share. It's ours. Somebody today asked, who was it that asked her for a handful of Smarties? What did she do to you? She immediately handed it to them. Them were her Smarties, but guess what? When he asked for Smarties, she gave it to him. That don't come natural. That comes through training. Because see, you know what Papa does? If Papa takes one package of Smarties from her, then guess what? He goes and finds two more to give back to her. You can have yours, or you can have what Papa has. He's got an unlimited supply. So if you share what you have, then Papa has an unlimited supply. If he don't have any, then guess what? I know where I can get some. See, that's what God does for us, don't He? Quit worrying about what's ours. That's what a child does, what's mine. But what God wants us to do is how can we minister? How can we be for others? That's maturity. Not looking at the situation and the suffering and the problems that we're going through right now, but what are we looking for? We're looking at that hope. That assurance of that hope. Guess what? I may have woke up hurting this morning and in pain, but guess what? I didn't lay in bed sucking about my pain. What did I do? I came to church because why? God's going to give me a new body one of these days. I'm not going to have any pain. I'm not going to have any of that. And so that's what he's talking about. Looking at all of these guys, all of these witnesses that were around. Every one of them was faithful, not because they received the promise, but every one of them was faithful because they continued believing and trusting God, even if they didn't receive what God had promised. That's what we as Christians are supposed to do. We spend most of our time worrying about now and the fleshly stuff. We worry about the present. Ninety percent of our prayers is over physical stuff. Over healing of that. I have never heard anybody in church yet say, Brother Donnie, would you please pray for me that through this suffering, through this treatment, through this, that I might be a testimony for Jesus Christ. And what happens? When we focus on ourself and our suffering, what does it lead to? Depression? Anxiety? All of these problems that we see in society today that what? The pharmaceutical companies and the doctors are more than happy to give you a pill. Right? If I got depressed or I had anxiety when I was a kid, my dad had a pill for me. It was called a belt. Right? Wipe it up. Dry it up. And that's what he goes in and he talks about at the end of chapter 12 this discipline that is there. Look at v. 28 and 29. Wherefore, we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace whereby we may serve acceptably with reverence and godly fear, for our God is a what? Consuming fire. Guess what? You are not going to be judged on today. You're going to be judged if you stand before Jesus Christ. And so when we looked at that eternal judgment, remember? You could have earned rewards and lost them. Because why? You quit believing. You walked away. You gave up too early. And so we have to be faithful. We have to be obedient. Now look back at Hebrews 5 right before this passage of Scripture because look, it gives us this context. Though He were a Son, what are we talking about? Jesus Christ. Though He was a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered. Suffered. And being made perfect, mature, He became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him. Called of God, a high priest after the order of Melchizedek, of whom we have many things to say and hard to be uttered, seeing you are dull of hearing. Remember, what does dull of hearing mean? It's you're lazy. You're lazy. You're focused on life now. You're not focused on later. Why did Jesus Christ endure the cross? Because He wasn't focused on the pleasures of this world and what He could get. He said I didn't come to be served. I am the King, right? Even when He stood before Pilate. And Pilate said, are you a king? Should I bow down and worship you? And He said, I'm not a king of this world. It's not my time to rule. One of these days you'll bow down. As every knee will bow down and every tongue will confess that I'm Lord, but right now I came to die. See, His maturity is what got Him to the cross. But He became mature because why? Through suffering. Through suffering that He did. Now, James 1 and verse 2 says, my brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various divers temptations. In other words, did He say it's going to be joy? It's not what that says, does it? It says for you, when you fall into divers temptations and various troubles and problems, it says consider it joy. Not going to be joy, but consider it joy. And here's why. Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh what? Patience. But let patience have her perfect work that you may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. What does perfect mean? Without sin? No, because we don't become without sin, do we? What's He talking about with perfect? He's talking about maturity. He's talking about maturity. When your faith is tried, your patience is created. But what do we say as Christians? When we say I'm not praying for patience, what we're saying is just like that toddler down there, I don't want to grow up. Right? And guess what? We come to church and we can't get pastors to lead churches anymore. We have a deficit of churches. You know why? Because pastors cannot serve and minister to a bunch of immature children that always want everything their way, how they want it, when they want it. What does James say? Let the trying of your faith work patience that you may want nothing. Paul said later in Philippians, therewith in all things be what? Content. That comes with maturity. You watch how young people today, what's causing most of our deficit? Because our grandparents, my parents' grandparents' age, coming out of the Great Depression, they did what? They built their houses and their lands and everything one piece at a time and they paid for it in cash. Fifty years to accomplish what they accomplished. But then we come to the baby boomers and guess what? We decided we could borrow the money and we could have what they worked 50 years for, we can have it in what? Five years. So we take out a loan. We take out an investment, right? And so we get what they want right now. What is that? That's immaturity. You see how older people all of a sudden, they don't take near the amount of money they live on when they're retired and done because why? They're content with everything that they have. And we laugh at them because they've got this old $10 flip phone, right, Brother Van? Got a $10 flip phone and he's got to punch in like a thousand things to do a text mix. And then if I send emblems, it just looks like a cuss word to them, you know? He said, quit sending me little images and emojis because they don't work on my phone. It looks like you're cussing at me in cartoons, you know, with all the different symbols we take over it. And we laugh and stuff, but what happens? He's mature. He's content. He can do what he needs to do on that phone. And guess what? He's not near as distracted or messed up because of all the things that I can do on my phone. You see the difference between immaturity and maturity? And so look at what he says. He says, be patient therefore, James. Brethren, this is at the last of the book now. That was at the first. Now it's the end of the book. He says, be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of what? The Lord. Quit focusing on every day and what's going on right now and start focusing on what? The coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waited for the precious fruit of the earth and had long patience for it until he received the early and the latter rain. Be you also patient. Establish your hearts for the coming of the Lord what? Draweth nigh. And then look at how do we do that? Grudge not one against another. Grudge not. That's an imperative. You want to know the will of God? Grudge not. Brethren, lest you be what? Condemned. Behold, the judge standeth before the door. Take, my brethren, the prophets who have spoken in the name of the Lord for an example of suffering, affliction, and of patience. Behold, we count them happy which endure. You have heard of the patience of Job. Any of you heard of the patience of Job? He knew that. He said, and you have seen the end of the Lord. What happened at the end of Job's life? Unfortunately, we spend all of our time talking about the first 40 chapters of Job, right? All of his suffering, all of his afflictions, and everything else. We hardly ever here talked about the way that God blessed him in the end, do we? He restored everything to him sevenfold. Even the kids that he lost. He said, I have seen the end of the Lord, and the Lord is very what? Pitiful and of tender mercy. Read the last chapter of Job. And look at the relationship that he had with God. Because he endured what? The suffering. When his friends wanted him to curse God, when his wife wanted him to curse God and die, what did he do? Naked I came into this world and naked I shall return. But what? Blessed be the name of the Lord. I'm going to keep praising God. I didn't have nothing, so I've lost everything. And guess what? God gave it to me to begin with. And he stuck with God. He had faith and he believed in what did God do. At the end, God repaid him. So notice this hope impaled. And we've got to hurry. V. 9-13 We're going to do these real quick. But beloved, we're back in Hebrews now. We are persuaded, better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak. If you have truly been saved, you cannot, it is impossible, to lose or give back your salvation. So that's not the expectation. Don't keep expecting everything to happen your way. Don't keep expecting you're not going to suffer. Don't keep expecting this health, wealth, and prosperity gospel that many are preaching today that you can't outgive God. Yes, you can outgive God. If you're foolish with your finances and stuff and you give it all away, guess what? You're not going to have anything to pay the bills at the end of the week. God didn't say give me everything. He set a standard. He said give me 10%. He said give me 10%. And so there's a standard. The preachers today, give me all your money and God will give it back to you. No, He won't. You're going to be poor. You're going to be broke. Because that's not what He said. But He said, look, we are persuaded, better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak, for God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love which you have showed toward His name in that you have ministered to the saints and do minister. What are we going to stand at the judgment seat of Christ for? We're going to be judged according to our works. What works? Right here. The things that you have done in His name. The love that you have shown. The works that you have done in His name that you have ministered to the saints, to other believers, to unbelievers, and you continue to minister. What's going to happen? All of that's going to be left as gold, silver, and precious stones, right? But what we don't do in His name is what? We're going to go up in wood, hay, and stubble. And He says some are going to be saved. You're going to go to heaven, but you're going to be saved by fire. You ain't going to have nothing to give back to God. You can't lose your salvation. But guess what? You can lose the rewards of your salvation. The fruit of your salvation. Remember those branches that were attached to the vine, but they didn't bear fruit? They were burned. There was nothing left. There was nothing there. Now look, Hebrews 11. And we desire that every one of you do show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end. What he's saying is, how many of you believe Jesus Christ is coming back? How many of you believe in the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ? That we're going to receive a new body? See, all of these things that we've talked about are basic foundational principles about Jesus Christ. Every one of us believe it. If we believe Christ is coming back, if we believe Christ is going to give us a new body, and that we're going to stand before Him in judgment, then why aren't we living based on our hope? Why are we living for today and laying up treasures for ourselves on earth where rust destroys, where moths come in and chew up, and thieves come in and steal? What did he say? Lay up for treasures in heaven where no man can get to them. Because they're protected and guarded by Jesus Christ Himself. Now look what he says in verse 12. And he goes back to this thought that you be not slothful, lazy. Don't be lazy, but be followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises. God's promises have a trust element to them. Every promise that God has, there's faith built in. You've got to believe them before it can be fulfilled. God's promise is that you grasp it by faith. By faith, Abraham believed God in what? Then it was imputed unto him for righteousness. By faith, Noah believed God in what? Built an ark to the saving of what? Him and his entire family. See, it was this trust. You've got to trust me. Noah did for 400 years. He trusted God, building an ark, never seeing it rain. But man, when all of a sudden, God shut him in that door and he started hearing the rain fall. Aren't you glad he trusted God? Do you think Noah suffered during those 400 years? Do you think Noah was light? Do you think he was ridiculed? Do you think he was made fun of? Do you think it was hard work? Have any of you been up to Kentucky and looked at the ark up there? Can you imagine one man and three sons and four wives building? And we don't know how much the sons and wives participated. It doesn't really say. It talks about Noah doing most of the work, and that's why it took him 400 years. But together, all of that wood, to cut all of that wood, to put all of that wood together, everything that he did, you think there was splinters? You think there was hard times? You think he woke up in the morning sore? Man, I need to take a week off. But no, what did he do? He believed that it was going to flood, so he worked and he worked and he worked and he did it. There's this trust element that's grasped by faith. And there's also this time element that is grasped by patience. See, I won't, even John, after he wrote the book of Revelation, he said what? Even so, Lord, come quickly! But guess what? It wasn't God's time to come. That was 2,000 years ago. And Peter told us that God is long-suffering, not willing that any should perish, but that all come to repentance. I want Christ to return. I want a new body, but guess what? There's this time effort. And I've got to be patient. I've got to be patient. So look at what he says in verse 13. For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he swore by himself, saying, surely, blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee. And so after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. Can God lie? No. He cannot lie. But you know what? I haven't been around God forever. Right? I'm still learning to trust God. Right? I'm still trying to make sure, are you tricking me? That's why John said to try the spirits. And so God said, I cannot lie. And I give you a promise, it's there. But he said, guess what? I'm going to follow that up the same way the banker can trust me when I tell him I'm going to pay back the loan, right? He'll trust me. It used to be that way, right? I've watched my grandfather go in and shake hands with the banker and him give him $1,000, $5,000, $10,000, and he'd walk out on a handshake. But now what do we have to do? We have to sign an oath that I'm going to pay it back, right? And God said, I don't lie. But guess what? I'm going to give you a promise. I'm going to sign an oath with you that I'm not going to break that promise. In other words, the surety of the future. The fullness of the hope. It seems like, man, we've got to be patient. Lord, I want God to come back. I want my new body today. But guess what? It's not in God's timing right now. But it's going to happen. Because why? God promised it to me, and then He made an oath. He made an oath. Now look at verse 16. For men barely swear by the greater, and an oath is for confirmation as to them an end of all strife. You told me you were going to pay me back that money. When are you going to pay me back? I want to get it. I want to get it, right? And then there's arguing over when and interest and everything else. So what did God say? When you make an oath, then I promise you I'm going to pay you back this much a month for this long, then guess what? It ends the strife. Because as long as I do what I'm supposed to do, then they're going to be okay with it. They're not going to come calling me unless I skip a payment. As long as I make my payment, guess what? They're not going to come bother me. But the minute I miss a payment, then guess what? They're going to want to collect. And so God says I cannot lie, but I made an oath. And as long as we keep trusting Him day by day, we have to know that all things work together for good to them that are called according to His purpose and His plan. So here is hope instituted in v. 17-20. Wherein God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath that by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us. When you look at this refuge, you're at least talking to Jews, and I don't have time to go into it this morning, but how many of you remember when they laid out the promised land, how many of you remember there was twelve cities of refuge? Six on one side of the Jordan. Six on the other side. What were the city of refuge for? For instance, if you accidentally killed somebody, but you did it by an accident, it wasn't intentional or whatever, then guess what? You could flee to that city of refuge. And as long as you was in that city of refuge, nobody could do anything to you unless they could come up with two or three witnesses to prove that what you did was murder. So the family can't get justice on you because you're in that... So look at what he's saying here. Because God, it is impossible for Him to lie. We might have a strong consolation who have fled for refuge. Where was I at? I'm convicted of sin, ain't I? That's part of repentance, right? Repent from our dead works. I've confessed my sins, so what have I done? I have left this world. I've confessed my sin. Guess what? Guilty or not guilty, what have I done? I have put all of my faith and trust in Jesus Christ. In everything of my life, I am basing my whole entire eternity on what Jesus Christ said. That's the hope before me. And he says lay a hold of this hope. What hope? That I can't lose my salvation. I can't give away my salvation. I can't sin and mess up my salvation. Nothing can happen. That's the hope that we've done. And then look at verse 19. Which hope we have is what? An anchor for the soul. An anchor for the soul. Hope is our anchor. But it's not an anchor for your physical body, because what's going to happen to your physical body? It's going to die and decay in the ground, right? Or else you're going to be raptured. It's going to be changed in the air. But this body is not going on. Look, he says I'm going to anchor the soul. The soul, both sure and steadfast, which endureth into that within the veil. Where's the veil at? The veil separated man from God. And he says, guess what? He says, whether the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus. In other words, that high priest had to go into the veil one time every single year to meet with God. But what happened when Jesus Christ went in? Remember when He cried, It is finished on the cross of Calvary? The veil ripped from top to bottom. Now, all of a sudden, you can see into the presence of God. And He says, Jesus has already done for us. He has already paid the penalty. He has already paved the way. And then look where He goes back to where He started in chapter 5. Even after the order of Melchizedek. Remember, He said I want to teach you about Melchizedek, but I can't teach you because you're lazy. You don't want to learn. You don't want to dig into it. And what happens? We always want to focus on the law, right? We want to focus on the priest. But what He's telling us is, guess what? Melchizedek was before Moses was ever born. Melchizedek was before Moses ever led the people out of Israel to Mount Sinai. Melchizedek was a priest in the day of Abraham. In other words, when Abraham was called to follow God, he did what? He sent him a mediator. Melchizedek sat down with Abraham. Remember, they broke bread together. And what did Abraham do? He paid him a tithe of everything that he had. See, we needed a priest before the law. They needed somebody to get them to God. But Jesus Christ is that priest. He was before the law. And He did it once and for all. He has entered into the veil. So guess what? Every bit of our salvation and eternity falls on who? Jesus Christ. What is the foundation? Repent from dead works. Have faith toward God. Wash yourself. Lay on hands that authority. Do what? Then the resurrection of the dead. And then what? Eternal judgment. It's all on Jesus Christ. And the author is saying, guess what? We need to lay hold of hope. We need to grow up. We need to quit worrying about what's happening right now and what's going on. Because all of this is temporary. Because one day we're going to be with Jesus Christ. And so have patience. Have patience because that patience builds your faith. It makes you stronger. It makes you more trusting. It makes you more obedient. And guess what? If the preachers are right and the Bible is right, that this world is going to get a whole lot more worse than what it's going to get better, then guess what we need? We need some mature Christians that no matter what persecution, no matter what problems, no matter what suffering we might endure, we don't want to focus on the suffering and the problems. What do we focus on? Jesus Christ and the future. That's how we keep from falling away and going back. We want to be faithful till the end. Paul said I have fought a good fight. I have finished my course. I'm not imperfect. David wasn't perfect, but what? David believed the promises of God. He had a heart for God. God doesn't expect us to be perfect. But He does expect us to be faithful. He does expect us to trust Him enough to obey Him. As we stand and have a verse of invitation.