Hope Worth Holding

​Hebrews 6:18-20 ~ “So that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.”
 
The Scriptures are filled with the continual encouragement to have hope. God wants to fill your life, not with religious platitudes that sound nice but are useless and not with empty promises that offer hope without being able to deliver. He wants you to know the reality of a life that is filled with hope, a life that is filled with the One Person who can and does deliver hope to all who have taken hold of Him—He wants your life filled with Christ.
 
Concerning this hope, you need to see three things from Hebrews 6:18-20.
 
Our hope is established in God alone.
 
The very first position we must understand is that God did this. This is not a man-made conception for spiritual optimism. What a wonderful reality, what a profound and incomprehensible truth. God is acting on behalf of men who were helpless to act for themselves. God did this. What did God do? God did “two unchangeable things.” He established the promise of eternal life and confirmed it with an oath. Now that may not seem like much; many people make and break promises. True, but they are not breaking their nature—they are acting in accordance with it. God made the promise, confirmed it with and oath, and for that promise to break God would have to cease being God. What does this mean? It means that our hope is as secure as God himself. Our hope is established in the fact that God will never, nor could ever break His own word.
 
Our hope is an encouragement for those who believe.
 
This encouragement is only for those who have “fled for refuge.” All who reject Jesus Christ as LORD and Savior have also rejected eternal hope. They may have temporary lulls in the cyclones of circumstances, but ultimately, they have no hope. As a Christian, dear ones, you have access to all of the encouragement of God’s promises (see 2 Corinthians 1:20). However, many, are trying to make it in this world without taking seriously the promises of God. You need to open your eyes to the vast assurances that God has given for you. Even the promises of discipline and hardship comes with a promise of benefit for those who belong to Christ. Don’t let the world tell you what kind of life you are to have. At the point where you have become discouraged, examine if you have forgotten some of God’s promises for you. If you take God at His word, then flee to take hold of the hope that is in Christ Jesus.
 
Our hope is as eternal as Christ Jesus.
 
Jesus carried with Him, through the cross, the grave, and into the very sanctuary of Heaven itself, the hope that is for all who will believe. Our hope is complete in Him. Jesus is our hope; He is our peace; His is the sustaining power of our life. Beloved, you can have hope forever because Christ is eternal. If Christ ever changed, if He ever stopped being the Savior, then everyone would be absolutely lost. Now, according to the text, Jesus has done all of this “on our behalf.” If Christ Jesus is the holder of all hope, and He never will pass away, then we can agree with the writer of Hebrews that: “We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul.”
 
All believers have a hope worth holding. God established the fact that any who would come to Him by faith in Christ Jesus can and does have the everlasting hope that is found in Christ the LORD. Every Christian is firm and secure in life through Christ Jesus. The problem arises when we fail to take God at His word. Dear reader, flee the trappings of the world and hold on to the only hope that is given us. You don’t have to be discouraged, simply bring into your remembrance the promises of God and hold onto them with the tenacity of an anchor holding a ship. The storms of life may assail you, but if you are anchored in Christ, you have the hope of eternity—firm and secure.
 
In His Grace
Pastor Michael

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