“In This Hope” (Romans 8:24a)

Good morning, good to see you. If you’ve got a Bible, please go with me to Romans chapter eight, and we’re going to take another bite of this wonderful chapter. The theme of the entire chapter is assurance for the believer in Christ to actually know that they are in Christ, that they have eternal life, that they will one day receive a resurrected body, and therefore that stokes the intimacy that we have with Jesus. In other words, when life gets hard, or when you stumble, struggle, and experience Romans seven yourself, you’re able to remember that you’re secure in Christ, and therefore run to Him instead of moving away from Him. And so, as we see that, we’re going to dial it in. We’re going to drill down into one simple statement that is going to be in verse 24 but the title of this message is “In This Hope” (Romans 8:24a). “In this hope,” taken directly out of the text Romans 8:22-24, I’m going to start in verse 22 of Romans eight, just so we have some of the immediate context. Paul writes, “For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now, and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for the adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.” And we covered this a couple of weeks ago, where we see this adoption is an already and not yet. We’re still waiting for it, even though we are adopted into the family of God. It’s not complete until we have the redemption of our bodies, that’s at the resurrection, when Jesus returns. The next sentence, which is the next verse, the first part of the next verse is very telling here, because it says, “For in this hope we were saved…” “In this hope.” So, let’s look at it, if we say this “hope”, what hope are we talking about? This hope is talking about what we’re waiting for, the hope of something, namely the resurrection of our bodies, that in this hope we were saved. So, the progression goes something like this. A man hears the gospel and the Holy Spirit gives him faith to believe. He finds himself believing. He’s raised from the dead spiritually, and immediately, what does he have? He has hope, hope that he will not be judged based upon his works, but based upon Christ’s works, and hope of eternal life, namely the hope of a resurrected body. This is the result of the foundation of faith in your life. Now, this hope that we have, though, is not something that is equal in every single believer, because it’s not always realized in every single believer at the same depth, or has it been proven over as much time, and so do you ever struggle? Have you ever struggled with that hope? You think, “I know what the Bible says, I hear this, and I’ve been taught the resurrection of Jesus, and I found myself believing, but yet I struggle.” I get this as a pastor. I get it every Easter. You always hear it at Easter, right? People who visit, then they want to call or they want to email, and they say, “You know, I do believe that, and I just have such a hard time, really, really, really feeling hopeful toward that, because sometimes I struggle. I mean, how can a man stand before God?” And it’s almost like someone who’s afraid that they may have been issued a ticket that will be turned away when they get to the door of the event, that’s much what it’s like, and that insecurity starts breeding in someone’s heart, and when you’re in that condition, you don’t draw closer to the Lord. What do you do? You back up away from you, see, there’s a reverential fear of God that draws you toward Him, and then there’s a terrifying fear, a natural fear, we would call it, that would cause you to move backwards, and it depends on how you’re seeing Him look at you, is it from a biblical lens, or is it from the making of your own mind?

These truths are here in Scripture to bring assurance to the believer, so that when those times come, and I’m talking about when you’re walking out your own personal Romans chapter seven, when you’re looking at your life and you’re saying, “I stumble in this way, I struggle in this way, I fell into this sin, I still do that,” and you look at and you say, “Wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death?” And typically what believers will do that are young in their faith or have never grown in their knowledge of assurance, they’ll do this, they’ll back away. I mean, we see people stop coming to church for a while sometimes, then they’ll show back up six eight weeks later. Where were you? What’s up? “Well, you know, me and my wife, we, we had this fight and we did this thing, and it takes them eight weeks to feel like they qualify to come to church.” Family, you don’t qualify to come to the presence of God, do you? Real, I mean, think about it. We can only go in the presence of God, not because of what we’ve done, but because of what He’s done. That’s the only reason you can go to heaven. It’s the only way a man can get to heaven. And so, I don’t know, sometimes people get scared, they read. You know, let’s just take Matthew seven. I’m not going to go there, but Matthew seven is where.. well, you know where it is. It’s after Matthew six. It’s okay, I’m a professional. Relax. What does Jesus say? He says, “Many will say to me on that day, “Lord, Lord,” and I’ll say to them, “Depart from Me, I never knew you.” And that can scare the heart of a true believer, even. And you can think, “Oh, what if that’s me? What if.. what if I think this is the deal, and then this isn’t the deal?” But I want to point something out to you. If you’re familiar with that story, what does Jesus say the people do? The people, when they speak up on their own behalf, they start talking to the Lord about what they’ve done, don’t they? They said, “Well, wait, Lord, did we not do this? We, you know, we prophesied in Your name, we cast out demons in Your name, we perform these miracles.” In other words, they’re bringing to God their own meritorious deeds. Do you see the difference between that and the plead of this? My righteousness is in Christ, my only surety is in Jesus. I can come here like Alistair Begg, the pastor, the in the Presbyterian, in, I think, I forgot where it’s actually located, Cleveland, I think. He tells a story, just kind of a made-up thing, but he imagines that the thief on the cross, the thief that came to faith in the cross, he gets to heaven and there’s the angel standing there, he says, “Well, why should I let you in?” And his only answer can be this, he says, “Because the man on the middle cross told me I could come.” That’s a good answer, isn’t it? Why should I let you into heaven? Because of what Jesus did, 33 years of perfect law keeping, He laid His life down as a sinless sacrifice. He took it up again to resurrection. Death couldn’t hold Him, the grave couldn’t keep Him, because He was a righteous man. He could die for men that were unrighteous, because He was fully God. He could suffer the wrath of God on my behalf and survive and rise from the dead. And He’s ascended into heaven, and wherever He’s gone, He’s going to bring me with Him. Why? Because I belong to Him. That’s the gospel. That’s the incredibly good news. And you notice it has nothing to do with my works. I didn’t earn it. You can’t earn it, you certainly can’t keep it, and the hope that you’re going to have is going to be rested upon what He has accomplished. So, if hope is to be in the life of a believer, and obviously it is, the scripture is packed with the use of this word, right? Faith, hope, and love – those three continue. Paul writes in Corinthians, right, the greatest of these is love. Why is love greatest? Because you won’t need faith, and you won’t need hope in heaven. You won’t need it, but you’ll still have love. But you need hope here for assurance to walk in intimacy with your Lord and your God.

Let’s look at the essence of where it comes from. This is Hebrews 11:1a. You know this verse, you know this part. Just going to read you the first part. It says this. “Now, faith is the assurance of things hoped for…” “The assurance of things hoped for.” It’s an interesting word that we translate “assurance”, because some translations say “faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things unseen,” but this is an interesting term, this Greek word, and I know you come here for the Greek “hypostasis,” that’s made of two words, that’s a compound word, hypostasis, “hypo” means “under” and “stasis” means “to stand”, in other words, faith stands under hope, and thus hope issues and rests upon faith, that is what that’s talking about. Faith is the foundation, the under the undergirding, if you will. Let’s call it this, the foundation of hope. It’s what hope comes out of. It comes out of faith. So that’s where we get it. And if we’re going to say it’s faith, then it has to be based somewhere. Faith can’t just be in the ether, otherwise your hope will be in the ether, right? Aren’t there two kinds of hope? There are, aren’t there? There’s natural hope and there’s supernatural hope, right? What does natural hope look like? Well, that’s when you just, you’re like, “I hope,” and maybe you’re hoping for something that might happen, like someone might say, “I hope that the Dallas Cowboys can one day win another Super Bowl.” Yeah, sure, I hope that too. That’s clearly natural hope, but a supernatural hope is built upon something that is supernatural, namely it’s based upon the gift of God given to the believer, which is called faith. That is where supernatural hope comes from. Does that mean that every Christian who has true faith always experiences the constant comfort and excitement that hope is? No. Absolutely not, because we have to hold on to it. We have to fix our eyes correctly. There’s lots that needs to be done. Nevertheless, it can waver, and we can somehow sometimes lose hope, particularly if we fix our eyes upon ourselves. This is an interesting Greek word, though – this hypostasis, because in antiquity that means when Greek was used long before the scriptures were penned, when Greek was used, when hypostasis was used in antiquity, and particularly in the Koine Greek, and that would be like normal language, just slang, if you will, normal conversational Greek that people used, hypostasis was used as a legal term, and it was a term that literally meant a body of documents. In fact, Greek scholars have compiled a statement together. I’ll read this to you of what the legal term would have been, what hypostasis would have meant. Here it is. The whole body, listen to this carefully. The whole body of documents bearing on the ownership of a person’s property deposited into archives and forming the evidence of ownership. In other words, what does that sound like? Sounds like a title, doesn’t it? Sounds like a title deed. If you own your home, then there’s a title deed at the courthouse, archived, that says you are the owner. Faith is the title deed of things hoped for. Therefore, the things you’re hoped for are based upon what is written in the title deed. Now I know we’re illustrating it, but it would behoove us to ask the question. Then, so exactly then, what does the title deed look like? What does it look like in scripture? And if your faith is what we’re going to cover here, then your hope is rightly placed, and therefore you have every reason to hope, and it’s based upon faith.

So, let’s look at where the title deed actually comes from. It’s taught explicitly in scripture. There’s no way you’re going to miss this. I’m telling you, if you’re an eight year old in this room, eight year old is going to be going, “Yep, I got it,” because it’s that simple. The Bible shows us how the title deed, the essential of the hypostasis, if you will, came to be. Let’s look at this in Hebrews 6:13-14. Now, before I read the text here, Hebrews was an epistle written to the Hebrews, right? It doesn’t say that in there, but contextually we know it, and so it was written to the Jews, and in the Jewish religion, which was Judaism, obviously the grandest hero you could ever come up with was Abraham, right? Father Abraham, right? And so, when the author wants to talk to Jewish people about the fact that Jesus saves by faith and not by works, they point to Abraham. Well, why is that? Well, because Abraham didn’t do any works, he was counted righteous when he just had faith, he wasn’t circumcised, he wasn’t a Jew yet, there weren’t Jews yet, and we want to see that story, because this is where the title deed of your faith comes from, and to get in touch with this and see the reality of it in your life is where hope will spring from, and my prayer is this weekend many will perhaps even for the rest of their lives lay aside the fear that they’re going to show up to the venue and their tickets going to be turned away, as it were. Here it is, Hebrews chapter six. Let’s start verse 13. “For when God made a promise, (we’re just going to note that He makes a promise. When God made a promise) to Abraham, since He had no one greater by whom to swear. He swore by Himself.” Now, note there are two things here. Number one, He made a promise. Number two, He swore. Right? You say to the child, “After this, we’re going to go get ice cream.” “Do you promise?” “Yes, I promise.” “Do you swear?” That’s called a manipulative kid, or as we would call it, a kid. Listen to me, God not only promised to Abraham, but He also swore. He swore, He made an oath, and here’s what it is: verse 14, saying, “Surely I will bless you and multiply you.” Now we see what that meant. Let’s see how it went. Go back in time with me to Genesis chapter 15. We’re going to look at two things: we’re going to see when God promised, and we’re going to see how He swore, and we’re going to see how those things were fulfilled. And then that will lead us to, well, how does that affect our lives? Here’s the first. This is the promise, Genesis chapter 15. I’m just going to give the synopsis of it in a few verses. Genesis 15:1, “After these things, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision (that’s Abram, Abraham’s name before his name was changed), ‘Fear not, Abram, I am your shield, your reward shall be very great.’” Now, what does the reward look like? Well, go down to Genesis 15:5-6, “And He brought him outside and said, ‘Look toward heaven and number the stars.’” Now think about this: there weren’t any cities nearby that would light up the sky, so he could probably see the stars very clearly, but we, with the Hubble and the James Webb, we can see way more stars than Abraham ever could, and we know, so this, and we know it means basically an infinite multitude, as it were, at least from human observance. He says, “Look up and count the stars if you’re able to number them.” “Then He said to him (watch, here’s the promise, this is going to be the promise) ‘So shall your offspring be.’” “So shall your offspring be.” Now, this, this word offspring is the translation of the Hebrew word “Zera,” and when we read this word in English, we tend to think of, excuse me, we tend to think of it being well, that’s all the children that will come down through the lineage of Isaac, that’s not what this is talking about. In fact, “Zera”, in this verse, this word right here, “offspring” in the Hebrew is a noun, and it is in the singular, not the plural form. It’s in the singular. Let me say it to you this way. This promise is speaking about one person, just one. So, look at it again. “So shall your offspring be. Count the stars if you’re able to number them, Abram. So shall your offspring be.” An individual, it’s only talking about one. Verse six, “And he believed the Lord, and He (that is God) counted it to him (Abram) as righteousness.” What is this a picture of? It’s a picture of salvation. Abraham has not been circumcised yet. He’s not done any righteous works yet, that would be meritorious. Absolutely not. He’s counted righteous simply on what faith he believes the Lord. That is how a man is still saved. He hears God’s Word, he finds himself believing it’s a gift from the Spirit. God counts in that is to that as righteousness, and that is what regeneration is, and you are forever counted judicially righteous, even though you stumble, you struggle, and you have your ups and downs. This is what salvation actually is. You don’t earn it, it’s a free gift, it’s what happened. Okay, so this is still the promise.

Now skip down to Genesis 15:12, let’s see how Abram gets in on the promise, because God’s going to make it a little more sure. He’s going to promise in a way that’s known as a “covenant”. Now, this is not the oath yet, but this is a covenant. Verse 12 says, “As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram, (and then it explains the sleep) and behold, dreadful and great darkness fell upon him.” In other words, this would be your theological term: he blacked out, he’s out, he’s sound asleep, he’s passive. Let’s look at it this way, he’s not doing anything. What happens next in Abraham, in Abram’s life, is going to happen to him, not because of him. Okay? What is it that happened? Skip down to Genesis 15:17-18, “When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces.” Now, what pieces? Okay, I didn’t read what preceded this, but this is what it was. God told Abraham, “Go gather a bunch of animals and some birds.” He didn’t split the birds in half, but all the other animals he cut in half, and he laid on two sides. That’s what he did. Now, this was typical of a covenant. Now, the birds didn’t cut in half, because you want everything left except feather, and so you put one bird over here, one bird over here. After you killed them, and then you take these animals, whatever they were, you’d split them, even one animal, and then you’d make a covenant with someone, and the covenant was saying this: I’m going to promise you this in covenant form, and be this done unto me if I don’t keep my terms of the covenant to be to benefit and bless you, make sense? So, there it is. We have a fire pot and a flaming torch. I can’t go into the details of it, but you can check it out with your own study. These represent God, Father and Son. It’s God who is there with the animals, and what are they doing, passing between these pieces, and that’s what the people would do. If two men made a covenant, they would cut something open, and they would walk between it, back and then forth, and that was sealed. The covenant was sealed in what? In blood, that was the guaranteed. And look at Genesis 15:18, “And on that day the Lord made a covenant (what?) with Abram.” How does that work? Here’s how it works. God made a covenant with Himself, and He brought Abram into it. You notice Abram doesn’t get up and walk back and forth. Abram just receives a promise and is brought into a covenant, listen, based upon the work in the middle of the blood by somebody else saying to your offspring. Again, family, this is singular, Zera, it’s singular in the Hebrew, it’s not plural, “‘To your offspring I give this land (that is to one person) from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates.’” So, He gives it to him because He’s giving him promise, He’s deeding it to him in that sense. Now that’s the promise that Hebrews six is talking about.

What about the oath? What about the swearing? Let’s see that as well. We’re gonna take these two things, and then we’re going to go back to Hebrews six, and we’re going to understand it, Genesis 22:15-17, now this is the story of Abraham bringing his son Isaac onto Mount Moriah. He’s told to sacrifice his son, he raises the knife, and the angel of the Lord stops him, and a ram is provided as a sacrifice, a type of Christ. Right? Let’s pick it up in verse 15, “And the angel of the Lord called to Abraham.” And, by the way, this angel of the Lord – this word “angel” simply means messenger. This is actually a Christophany, because this is an angel that’s going to speak with authority and divine prerogative. So, it’s not just anything, it’s not an angelic being, it’s not a created being. This is like what Pastor Jeff talked about last week. This is a Christophany. “Angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven, and said, ‘By Myself I have sworn, declares (who?) the Lord.’” Yeah, no angel gets to say that. “By Myself I have sworn.” So, here is the swear, here is the oath He’s taken, “‘Because you have done this, and you have not withheld your son, your only son. I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply who your offspring.’” Guess what? It’s singular still. “I’ll bless you, and I’ll multiply one offspring.” So, he must have been talking about Isaac, no, and some of you are way ahead of me. Your mind is already in Galatians chapter three. Don’t get ahead of the preacher, please. Like, don’t mess with Mother Nature, right? You know, don’t mess with Father God. Yeah, we’re going to Galatians three, but I want you to catch this, because most people read this and they just think this is just a whole bunch of people, it’s not. It’s only talking about one person. “‘I’ll multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore, and your Offspring (that’s again singular, shall possess the gate of His enemies.’” Talking about one person, this is what this is, the oath, this is Him swearing, this is God saying, “I swear by Myself, I’m going to do this.” So, how does this pertain? Well, let’s go backwards now. Well, actually, let’s look down at verse 29 no, let’s go forward over to Galatians three. We’re gonna start Galatians 3:16, two verses here. How does this pertain to you? Here’s how it pertains to you and me, look, “Now the promises (there’s the promises they) were made to Abraham and to his (what?) offspring.” And in the Greek, it’s singular. Therefore, the Holy Spirit even helps us further and says this. “It does not say, ‘And to offsprings,’ plural referring to many, but referring to one, ‘And to your offspring,’ who is (who? It’s) Jesus.” Listen, the covenant was made between the Father, and the son Abraham. Then Abraham got in on it, and then God vowed to Abraham, and he made an oath. He not just made a promise, He made an oath, and the promise was going to be to Jesus, it was to Christ, and Abraham would get in on it, and so would you, and so would I, when we were what? Sleeping, what’s that? A picture of it’s a picture of death. It’s a picture of while you were still in your sin, Christ died for you. It’s a picture of the divine decree before the foundation of the world that God would save a people for Christ to be a bride for Him, a love gift from the Father. This is talking about the church, it’s talking about you, and so when you see this, you see that it explicitly says it wasn’t talking about many people, that’s why it’s singular, that’s why Zera is singular in the Hebrew, in those texts it’s talking about one person, in other words, there is a promise. Us, and there’s an oath, and it’s given to one person, who to Jesus, just one to Jesus, Abraham got in on it, and we get in on it only as we’re in that one person now. In still in Galatians 3:29, look at verse 29, “And if you are Christ’s.” Now what does it mean to be Christ’s? That means to be born again by the Spirit, by grace, through faith. You heard the gospel, you’ve repented of your sin, because you see it’s hopeless for you to accomplish your own righteousness, and you have thrown your hope at the Savior, and He saved you, He’s opened your heart to trust Him. You’ve been regenerated by the Spirit, by belief in the gospel, His Spirit’s now in you, the down payment of your salvation, that He will accomplish fully all the way to the resurrection. If you are Christ’s, then you are now. This is going to get a little hard to understand. Then you are Abraham’s offspring. Now this word is singular in the Greek. Why? Because it’s still not about anything you do. It is a free gift. It is something that you’ve been brought into. You’ve been brought into a covenant, and the covenant, the fulfillment of all those things with the fire pot and the smoking furnace, those were fulfilled where on the cross of Jesus Christ, when in His blood He made a covenant that you got in on for the forgiveness of your sins, and even all the way to the glorification of your very body, that is why it pertains to us. “If you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs, (right? Heirs) according to (eternal life).” We’ve been studied that weeks ago. Heirs according to what? “According to the promise.” What promise? I’ll multiply you, your Offspring will possess the gate of His enemies as the stars are of heaven. This pertains to us. It’s not about us, but it pertains to us. Why? Because we’re in Christ. Okay, that’s the intro to my message.

Now we’ll go back to Hebrews 6:13-20 and you’ll understand it. This will slide right into place again. Start verse 13. We’ll see it again. “For when God made a promise, (you remember that when God made a promise) to Abraham, since He had no one greater by whom to swear, He swore by Himself.” Again, one and two, he promised, and he swore double guarantee, saying verse 14, “Surely I will bless you and multiply you.” We know who he’s referring to, Abraham got in on it, but it was to his offspring, therefore it was to Christ. “And thus Abraham, having patiently waited, obtained the promise for people.” Now he obtained the promise right in literal, grammatical, historical, but Christ would be the fulfillment of that. “For people swear by something greater than themselves,” don’t they? Right? People would say, “I swear to,” I don’t even want to speak that, but they take the Lord’s name in vain. Nobody says, “I swear by something lesser,” people swear by something greater, so that the oath looks like you know it really matters, and in fact that greater authority could carry out a sentence if need be. And it says, “And in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation.” So, verse 17, “So when God desired to show more convincingly (more convincingly than what? more convincing than just the promise to Abraham, more convincingly than the oath that was made on Mount Moriah) when he desired to show it more convincingly to (who? To) the heirs of the promise.” And who is that according to Galatians 3:29? It’s you, Christian. “When He wanted to show you more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of His purpose, He guaranteed it with an oath.” And so He makes the promise, and He makes an oath, it’s twofold, because He wants you to see it more assuredly, because you are in Christ, not because of what you’ve done, but because of what He has done, and not because you formed a covenant, but He brought you into covenant relationship through the Son, which was slain, just as He did Abram. This is the assurance of the statement in Romans 8:24a “in this hope we were saved.” This is where the assurance is based upon. This is the picture of the title deed. The title deed is nothing, none other than God Himself, His promise, and His oath, the unchangeable. He wanted to show the heirs of the promise, the unchangeable character of His purpose. He guaranteed it with an oath. Look, “So that by two unchangeable things” and you know what they are now. What are they? They’re a promise, and they’re an oath. “I’m going to do it, I swear it.” “By two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie.” It can’t be a lie. Listen, this is what this is saying to us. If He says He’s going to raise you from the dead because you’re Christ’s, He’s going to raise you from the dead because you’re Christ’s. That’s it. That’s the faith that is the foundation for all the hope. Do you get it? Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the Word of Christ. When we hear the Word, and He says, “I’m going to do this, I’m promising you. And I even made an oath, I made it as far as back to Abram, and we’re going to see later. Even made it as far back as eternity passed, before the ages began.” He purposed to do this. He’s not lying to you, friend. Your ticket’s not going to be punched invalid. Now if you think you’re going to go to heaven based on your works, you have reason to fear, but if you are one here today, and you look at your works, and you look at your character, and you know I do not measure up, I could never gain entry into heaven. I have no feasible argument. I, the only thing I can hope for, is that there’s a Savior, and I’ve put all my chips, as it were, in on Jesus Christ. Listen to me, your ticket is valid, because that’s how a man actually goes to heaven, and the assurance of that is the hope, and the hope breeds the intimacy throughout your sanctification. Impossible for God to lie. “We (who’s that? Who’s the ‘we’? It’s the church. It’s all Christians. It’s all real believers. We who have won) fled for refuge.” Like what Pastor Jeff talked about last week, right? Jericho, right? The people in there were hoping in their wall, their army, their king. And what should they do? They should flee Jericho and run to the living God. It was a picture of what we are to do now. “We who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement (what’s another word for that? Assurance) to hold fast to the hope set before us.” We hold fast to it. That doesn’t mean we’re holding fast our salvation, that means we’re holding fast the enjoyment of the hope, and knowledge brings the ability to do that, knowing what His Word says, knowing what His Word means, knowing how it applies based upon what Jesus has done for you. That’s the title deed, friends. That’s where the hope comes from, because you’re able to say, “Yep, I see myself, I see my weaknesses. I know, I know, I would not have another answer, but I can say this before the throne, my surety stands, and my name is written on His hand, and He loves me, and He died for me.” How do I know that? Because He has opened my eyes to see the scriptures, and you cannot lie. If you feel that assurance, your prayer life changes, your worship life changes, your repenter life changes, your humility changes because you’re no longer proving to earn anything, you’re simply relying on the one who’s good enough to provide it for you. We fled for “might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us.”

Now, look at Hebrews 6:19-20. “We have this.” Now what’s the “this” here? That’s the hope. We have this hope. Some translations add that they add the word “hope” is talking about that, “We have this hope as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul.” Let’s take that backwards. What is the “soul”? The soul is comprised of the mind, the will and the emotions, right? There’s your cognition, there’s your volition, there’s your feelings, that’s your soul. This is the part of you that’s being sanctified. This is your experience on earth until the day that you die, that the Lord is working in you through His Word to sanctify you according to the truth, John 17:17 His Word is truth, and you have that hope. And what does it do? It anchors the soul, it anchors the mind, it anchors the will, and it anchors the emotions. How many of you, you don’t have to raise your hand, how many of you wish that somebody you know would one day get their emotions anchored? That’s called knowing laughter. If that’s your wife, don’t laugh when she’s right by you, or vice versa. Well, how does somebody get their emotions anchored? Well, they get their will anchored. How do they do that? They get their mind anchored, they get their mind renewed. That’s how it works. People want to come right down to this. How do I fix myself emotionally? You start right here with the Word of God, and that hope anchors you. Now, what does an anchor do? Well, you know this. It’s an elementary illustration, isn’t it? It’s something that’s attached to a boat that keeps it steady when the waves are tough, or when the waves try to run into. Against the rocks, whatever it anchors it, so it keeps it in place. It keeps it stable. That’s what hope is. It’s something that keeps you fixed right where you need to be. We don’t need self-help books, we just need to understand what the Bible says and believe it. And this is what it says: it’s an anchor for the soul, and it’s a hope that does what it’s a hope that enters into the inner place. Where is that? Behind the curtain, that’s a picture of the Old Testament, holy of holies. Now, the veil has been torn. I get that, but he’s speaking to the Jews, and he’s saying this. If they could understand it, in other words, this is an anchor that is attached to you, and it’s attached to Jesus, where in the very presence of God, because He’s in heaven, seated at the right hand of the throne of God, and you are forever chained to Him in the best way possible, and it anchors the soul, and the chain is called “hope”. It’s an anchor, it holds you steady. What good is an anchor if it has no chain? That’s just called a paperweight decoration at the bottom of the ocean. It enters into the veil, and what’s going on there? Look at verse 20, “Where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf.” Yep, there again, He lived on our behalf, He died on our behalf, He rose on our behalf, He ascended on our behalf, and guess what? He is there as a forerunner in heaven on our behalf, and He has made the promise, and it is a sure and steady anchor that he will keep His Word, because He’s promised, and He’s vowed with an oath that where He is, we will one day be there also. And what is that? Other than the hope of the resurrection of the body? And presto, we’re all the way back to 8:24 that’s what He’s talking about, “Where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become (a what?) a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.” Melchizedek, that was a Christophany as well, right? It’s not the Aaron’s priesthood, those men died, they had to be replaced, but He has His priesthood perpetually. And what does a priest do? What does the high priest do? A priest is one who goes to God for men, or what does a prophet do? A prophet’s someone that goes to men for God, but Jesus is prophet, priest, and king, and in His priestly role, He ever lives to make intercession for us. In other words, He’s always there before the throne of God. That’s what that lyric says, “Before the throne of God, my surety stands. That’s what that means. Upward I look and see Him there, who made an end of all my sin.” This is rich in its hope. This is rich in its encouragement for the church. I guarantee, if you’re a scoffer, you’re getting puzzled, because, like, “Huh, something about chains and anchors and curtains.” Family, this takes the Holy Spirit’s help. I don’t think we can down all this meal in one in one dose. That’s why we restudy it throughout the week. I encourage you to do it. There’s rich blessing in this, that He’s there as your high priest, and the Bible’s very clear, His blood still speaks right before the throne of God, better than the blood of Abel. What did the Abel was murdered by Cain? What is his blood cry out? Justice. What does the blood of Jesus Christ cry out? Mercy. That’s the plea that’s being made for you.

You say, “Yeah, but I stumble and I struggle and I doubt and I sin, and I’m just.. I’m getting, I’m getting weighed down.” Yes, what you need is, you need a dose of the truth of God’s Word, that your behavior is not what’s going to get you to heaven. Now, your behavior will change as a fruit, but it’s not what pays your ticket. Doesn’t work that way. And, by the way, the victory over those sins that you struggle with is not found in shrinking back from the presence of God and turning over new leaf, and trying to make your life better. The victory is found when you press into those things. The place to deal with your sin, it’s in your heavenly Father’s lap. Don’t run from Him, run to Him. Curtains been torn, top to bottom, God to man, and we get to go with boldness. This is faith in God’s character, that’s the title deed. You say, “The High Priest prayed that for me?” You bet He did. Let me show you these two verses in John chapter 17. This is chapters called, “The High Priestly Prayer.” Let’s see if we can find you in it. Jesus prays to the Father, and He says John 17:20, “”I do not ask for these only (in other words, the disciples that are there, the 11 that were remaining, I do not ask for these only) but also for those who will believe in Me through their Word.’” Well, you’re reading the Word they wrote down. Have you believed through their Word, passed down through the centuries through two millennia? Have you believed the Word of God? Have you heard the gospel and trusted Christ? He’s talking about you, and, by the way, He doesn’t say, “I’m praying for those who might believe.” Jesus knew exactly who He was saving. I’m praying for those who will believe. He’s talking about you, and the priestly prayer is very clear. It’s not just that you would have a church attendance, or that you would clean up some habit, but that you would be taken all the way by His grace from salvation in your spirit born again through the sanctification of your soul, and one day to the glorification of your body, where your adoption and your redemption are absolutely complete. This is what He prays for. Just skip down to John 17:24 He says, “‘Father, I desire that they (that’s all who would hear and believe) that they also, whom You have given Me, may be what with Me, where I am (where is He? At the right hand of the throne of God) I desire that they would be where I am to see My glory that You have given Me.” What does that sound like? That sounds like 1 John 3:2, right? “We shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.” What is that referring to? It’s referring to the resurrection of the body, see Him as He is, and we’ll be made as He is. We won’t be God, but we’ll still have glorified bodies. That’s what He’s talking about, “With Me, where I am, to see My glory that You have given Me, because You loved Me before the foundation of the world.” God has guaranteed this.

I want to end with one verse. You know what it means when a preacher says that? Nothing. Oh, in fact, it’s two verses. This is Titus 1:1-2. You say, “Oh, this couldn’t get any better.” It does get better. It gets more assurancy. Verse one: “Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godlessness.” That’s salvation. That’s a walk of sanctification. Look at the next verse. “In hope of (what?) eternal life (that can mean nothing more than the resurrection of the body in hope of eternal life) which God, who never lies, promised (and He vowed. And when did He do it?) Before the ages began.” I know we see it in Genesis 15, and we see it actually come out, where He makes promises. We see it in 22 of Genesis, where He actually makes that vow. Hebrews chapter six spells it out clear for us. We’re able to understand in its context how it applies to us, but this is what you need to see. It dates back further than Abram. How much more secure does that make you? How much more assurance do you have? That’s the title deed, the divine decree, thus Romans 8:23-24a, “And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for the adoption of sons, the redemption of our body. For in this hope we were saved….” Christian, I want to tell you something. I want to assure you of this based upon the authority of God’s Word, He’s not a man that He would lie. He’s not the son of man that He would repent. If He has said it, He will bring it to pass. He has promised, and He has sworn, and He will accomplish it. Your hope will not be cut off. If your faith is really in the real Jesus and not in your own works, ticket is not going to be rejected. You will have the passage that you actually were purchased in, because the chain of your anchor is already there.

KEYWORDS

Assurance, Hope, Natural Hope, Supernatural Hope, Faith, Love, Hypostatis, Resurrection, Eternal Life, Romans 8, Adopt, Adoption, Redemption, Covenant, Promise, Oath, Title Deed, Covenant, Blood, Promise, Swear, Abram, Abraham, Jesus, Salvation, Sanctification, Angel, Messenger, Angel Of The Lord, Christophany, Zera, Offspring, Offsprings, Gospel, Ticket, God, Flaming Pot, Smoking Furnace, Soul, Mind, Will, Emotions, Anchor, Bible, Bible Church, Non-Denominational Church, Church in Grayson County, Church In Texas, Online Sermon, Bible Sermon

Speaker

Steve LeBlanc