Hold to the Hope

 

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered on Sunday, the 7th of November, 2021, at Pilgrim Reformed Church.  Our YouTube streaming channel is: 

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDIz4WuP8igQstkEOq1AMTg.  Look for the video of our recorded services on our Vimeo channel:  http://vimeo.com/pilgrimreformedchurch.]

There is a lot we don’t know about our New Testament Book of Hebrews.  We don’t know who the author was, although there has been much debate and many names suggested, including the Apostles Paul and Barnabas along with Silas, Apollos, and Clement of Rome.  We don’t know for sure who the letter was written to, although it’s very title indicates its readership would have been the early Jewish converts to Christianity, and most likely those in Italy.  We don’t know when it was written, although most indicators point to sometime in the late 60s.

But we do know that the author displays great literary and rhetorical skills in his writing.  We do know that this letter provided much needed exhortation to those early Christians who were in danger of abandoning the faith in the face of persecution.  We do know that it shows the superiority of Christ and of Christianity by proving that Christ is superior in both His person and His priesthood.  And we know that it also serves as a warning to us all not to let our faith - our hope - waver and degrade so that we fall back into sinful lives.

Please listen and follow along to the message the author of our Book of Hebrews left for us in chapter 6 of that letter.  This is a little long, but please bear with me as I read from the New Living Translation of our Holy Bible…

1 So let us stop going over the basic teachings about Christ again and again. Let us go on instead and become mature in our understanding. Surely we don’t need to start again with the fundamental importance of repenting from evil deeds and placing our faith in God. 2 You don’t need further instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. 3 And so, God willing, we will move forward to further understanding.

4 For it is impossible to bring back to repentance those who were once enlightened — those who have experienced the good things of heaven and shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the power of the age to come — 6 and who then turn away from God. It is impossible to bring such people back to repentance; by rejecting the Son of God, they themselves are nailing Him to the cross once again and holding Him up to public shame.

7 When the ground soaks up the falling rain and bears a good crop for the farmer, it has God’s blessing. 8 But if a field bears thorns and thistles, it is useless. The farmer will soon condemn that field and burn it.

9 Dear friends, even though we are talking this way, we really don’t believe it applies to you. We are confident that you are meant for better things, things that come with salvation. 10 For God is not unjust. He will not forget how hard you have worked for Him and how you have shown your love to Him by caring for other believers, as you still do. 11 Our great desire is that you will keep on loving others as long as life lasts, in order to make certain that what you hope for will come true. 12 Then you will not become spiritually dull and indifferent. Instead, you will follow the example of those who are going to inherit God’s promises because of their faith and endurance.

13 For example, there was God’s promise to Abraham. Since there was no one greater to swear by, God took an oath in His own name, saying:

14 “I will certainly bless you,

and I will multiply your descendants beyond number.”

15 Then Abraham waited patiently, and he received what God had promised.

16 Now when people take an oath, they call on someone greater than themselves to hold them to it. And without any question that oath is binding. 17 God also bound Himself with an oath, so that those who received the promise could be perfectly sure that He would never change His mind. 18 So God has given both His promise and His oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to Him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us. 19 This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God’s inner sanctuary. 20 Jesus has already gone in there for us. He has become our eternal High Priest in the order of Melchizedek.

--Hebrews 6 (NLT)

Let us pray…  Father God, thank You for ensuring that this great letter was saved for us through the ages so that we can share in and learn from the instruction it provides.  From this we see how Your Son Jesus is superior in every way to anything this world might offer.  From this we see why it is necessary that we hold to the hope available only through Him.  Thank You, Father, for the undeserved mercy You have shown us.  Please help us mature in our faith.  Help us hold to the hope of eternal life with You that You promise.  And help us to do as You will and not just what we want to do.  Please keep us strong in our faith and of one purpose in our service to Christ Jesus.  Please keep us healthy and safe through these trying times.  And Father, please guard us from Satan and those who do his bidding.

Speak to us now, Father, that we might hear Your voice through Your Spirit and better understand the message You have for us this morning.  We place all our hope on the promise You made of eternal life with You through Your Son Jesus.  Help us keep that hope alive and strong.  This we pray in the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior.   Amen.

English writer, philosopher, and lay theologian G. K. Chesterton once noted that, "Hope means hoping when things are hopeless, or it is no virtue at all.  As long as matters are really hopeful, hope is mere flattery or platitude; it is only when everything is hopeless that hope begins to be a strength."

Mr. Chesterton says that the virtue of hope is hoping when things are hopeless.  Only when everything is hopeless does hope show its true strength.

Hopelessness, desperation…  I imagine we’ve all tasted those feelings at one time or another, that sense that all is lost, there’s no hope left.  Fact is, when we watch the nightly news or read about what’s going on around us, we may get the sense that there is no longer any hope for this old world.

But I think what Mr. Chesterton is alluding to is that we only feel hopeless if we use the world’s definition of hope.  The world says that hope is the feeling that we will get what we want, that what we want to happen will happen.  It’s almost like a game of chance – either it will happen or it won’t; we’re just hoping that it will.  There’s no guarantee here, just a hope. 

But if we get away from the worldview and shift to our Biblical application of the word, we’ll see hope in a whole new light.  Here we will see hope is the expectation of the fulfillment of promise.  We don’t just hope it will happen, we expect it to happen.  For our true hope is based on God and His word.

Everything God has ever said has come true so far.  Everything He has promised has come to pass to date.  So we have every reason to trust that what He has said will come true, will happen in the future, will indeed come to pass just as He said it will.  This is the basis of our hope, that God’s word is trustworthy and true.

Our problem comes in when, like those early Christians, we start losing that hope, little by little, as the circumstances begin to weigh heavily on us.  Maybe it’s a sense of growing persecution from the unbelieving world, like those early converts experienced.  Maybe it’s a a virus sweeping across the land like the angel of death, infecting even our loved ones, even ourselves.

Slowly our hope begins to fade.  Slowly our complete trust in God shifts toward placing more and more trust in our fellow man.  Our hope begins to slip through our fingers, as hopelessness settles in.

The author of the letter to the Hebrews understood how all this could happen.  He saw it happening to those early converts, and God knew it would happen to us as well.  That’s why the author so strongly encourages them and us to hold to our hope.  He gives us the example of the promise God made to Abraham, a promise made and kept.  And he gives us the fair warning that those who have accepted Jesus, who have shared in the indwelling Holy Spirit, but then turn away from God and reject His Son, they can never be brought back to repentance and salvation.  In their betrayal, they are nailing Jesus to the cross once again, and holding Him up to public ridicule and shame.  This is true hopelessness.

But our author didn’t just leave it at one example, one warning.  A little earlier on in his letter, in chapter 5 verses 1 through 10, our author writes…

1 Every high priest is a man chosen to represent other people in their dealings with God. He presents their gifts to God and offers sacrifices for their sins. 2 And he is able to deal gently with ignorant and wayward people because he himself is subject to the same weaknesses. 3 That is why he must offer sacrifices for his own sins as well as theirs.

4 And no one can become a high priest simply because he wants such an honor. He must be called by God for this work, just as Aaron was. 5 That is why Christ did not honor Himself by assuming He could become High Priest. No, He was chosen by God, who said to Him,

“You are My Son.

Today I have become Your Father.”

6 And in another passage God said to Him,

“You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.”

7 While Jesus was here on earth, He offered prayers and pleadings, with a loud cry and tears, to the One who could rescue Him from death. And God heard His prayers because of His deep reverence for God. 8 Even though Jesus was God’s Son, He learned obedience from the things He suffered. 9 In this way, God qualified Him as a perfect High Priest, and He became the source of eternal salvation for all those who obey Him. 10 And God designated Him to be a High Priest in the order of Melchizedek.

--Hebrews 5:1-10 (NLT)

Now remember that the original audience for this great letter was composed primarily of good Jewish people who had come to believe in Jesus as the Messiah.  Our author used references that they would be familiar with and understand.  In this passage, Psalm 110:4 is cited as an indicator that Jesus had a right to a priesthood that pre-dated the Jewish priesthood begun under Aaron.  Jesus is our great High Priest, and through Him and Him alone we have a direct line straight to God.

Family, I know there is a lot of craziness going on in this world.  The news on TV is filled with it.  We hear of murders, crimes, scams, human trafficking, drug trafficking, use of excessive force by some law enforcement officers, lack of enforcement by others.  We get the latest numbers of infections, hospitalizations, and deaths from the coronavirus along with the health mandates.  Businesses desperately seek employees while supplies shrink and demand grows.  More and more, it just all seems hopeless.  And indeed, if we put our hope in man and mankind, all is truly hopeless.

Our only hope, family, is in God and the promise He made us.  Our only hope is Christ Jesus, who was sacrificed to atone for our sin, whose blood washes us clean.  Our only hope is our continued belief in Jesus, our acceptance of Him as our Lord and Master.  We must hold to that hope, lest we sink into the vast hopelessness of this world.

Hold to the hope, in the blessed name of Christ Jesus, our Lord.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Father God, thank You for always being just and trustworthy.  We can fully trust in You because You have always done just as You said You would.  Thank You, Father, for promising us life eternal with You if we accept Your Son as our Lord.  Please help us hold to the hope You give.  Sometimes, Father, things just seem to be utterly hopeless.  We let the world convince us that we can only depend upon ourselves, upon our fellow man.  Please forgive us those times.  Help us hold Your word in our hearts.  Remind us that You have always kept Your promises.  Help us set the world off to the side and focus only on You and the things of heaven.  Encourage us and strengthen us as we strive to hold on to our hope.  Please keep us strong in our spirit, in our faith, and in our service to You and Jesus.

Please hear us now, Father, as we pause for just a moment to speak to You from our hearts through Your Spirit within us, promising to be more faithful and true, putting all our trust in You and Jesus, and seeking Your help as we do so…

Lord Jesus, it is only through You that we can come and be with our heavenly Father.  By Your blood we are washed clean and by our belief in You we are saved.  Thank You, Jesus, for loving us this much.  Lord, we ask You to help us remain true and faithful to You.  Help us firmly hold to the hope of salvation You offer.  And help us carry on Your work here on earth.  Strengthen our will to do what our Father God wills us to do.  Help us to be more loving, more understanding, kinder to all we encounter each day.  And please help us as we try to show Your love to everyone who crosses our path.  All this we pray in Your blessed name, Christ Jesus our Lord and our Savior.  Amen.