The Gathering Surf City

Alrighty. I have an illustration
for you.

Y'all are my kids time this morning.

You ready?

You ready?

All right.

So when I came in here this morning,

I asked Scott to close his eyes.

Scott didn't trust me enough
to close his eyes.

This is a water balloon.

Trudy, come up here a moment.

All right,

turn face to crowd.

Trudy, close your eyes.

Did she?

She trusts me.

Can you believe that?

I mean,

I could just.

Right here,

just. Just pinch .

I won't do that.

Thank you.

All right.

That was my illustration
this morning.

Because today's message really
about trusting God.

It's really just about trusting God for
who he is and what he's done and

what he has said.

Right? And so we're going to be looking
at that in Hebrews chapter six

this morning as we finish up some
of the thoughts from last week,

but also moving on into
our great high priest.

So I want to ask you to bow
with me as we pray.

God, thank you for today and
all that you're doing,

God, what you're accomplishing
in our midst.

But, God,

even more than that,

what you're accomplishing in us,

God, you're doing great
and mighty things.

And your word even teaches us you do
things that we can't even ask or

think about.

So God help us to pay attention.

God help us to stay close.

God help us to recognize when you're dragging
us sometimes where we might

resist you.

But God help us to hear the whisper in
which you nudge us closer to you

and further in the path
that you lead.

God help us to trust you.

Help us to trust what you've said.

Help us to live that trust.

And we pray it in Jesus name.

Amen. All right,

you going to pancakes now,

Trudy? All right,

she's going to pancakes.

Hebrews, chapter six,

verses nine through 20.

It's a rather long passage,

and so I want to go ahead
and read it for you.

And kind of.

It comes on the heels of last week's
security message and God doing

salvation. You know,

at funerals,

I always say I can't get up at
a funeral and save anybody.

Do y'all know that?

You know,

it's interesting to me how pastors will
get up at funerals and try to

preach the deceased into heaven.

And I'm like,

you ain't gonna get him there.

I'm sorry.

Matter of fact,

there's a joke I used to.

I've told this joke so much.

So if you're offended by it,

well, you're just one of many.

Two brothers were just
heinous characters.

I mean,

they were crooked.

They cheated.

They treated people poorly.

They were just terrible.

Well, one of them passed,

and so the brother went to the pastor
who was doing his funeral,

and he said,

look, if you will say that
my brother was a saint,

I'll write your church
a check for $100,000.

And the preacher was like,

huh? All right.

So he got up and he was preaching.

He said,

the guy's a thief.

The guy's a cheat.

The guy's a crook.

But compared to his brother,

he's a saint,

right? You understand
the point of that?

But I do say at most funerals,

God's in charge of salvation.

Not me.

I'm not in charge of salvation.

I'm in charge of preaching the good
news and preaching the gospel and

letting you know what God has
said about salvation.

But I'm not in charge of salvation.

I had a kid once upon a time when
I was doing youth ministry.

He said,

oh, yeah,

Pastor Davenport saved me.

And I told that kid,

I said,

oh, my.

If Pastor Davenport saved you,

then guess what?

You're lost.

Cause only Jesus saves.

So listen to these verses from
Hebrews chapter six,

verses nine to 20.

Even though we are speaking
this way,

dearly loved friends.

And remember that verses one through
eight of Hebrews six is a warning

passage against rejecting faith,

rejecting trusting God for what
he said and what he's done.

And then he says this.

He says,

even though we're speaking this way,

warning you,

dearly loved friends,

in your case,

we are confident of things that are better
and that pertain to salvation.

For God is not unjust.

He'll not forget your work and the love
you demonstrated for his name by

serving the saints and by continuing
to serve them.

Now, we desire each of you to demonstrate
the same diligence.

For the full assurance of
your hope until the end.

So that you won't become lazy,

but will be imitators of those who inherit
the promises through faith and

perseverance.

For when God made a promise
to Abraham,

since he had no one greater
to swear by,

he swore by himself.

I will indeed bless you,

and I will greatly multiply you.

And so,

after waiting patiently,

Abraham obtained the promise.

For people swear by something
greater than themselves,

and for them,

a confirming oath ends
every dispute.

Because God wanted to show his unchangeable
purpose even more clearly to

the heirs of the promise,

he guaranteed it with an oath.

So that through two unchangeable things
in which it is impossible for God

to lie,

we who have fled for refuge might have
strong encouragement to seize the

hope set before us.

We have this hope as an
anchor for the soul,

firm and secure.

It enters the inner sanctuary
behind the curtain.

Jesus has entered there on our behalf
as a forerunner because he has

become a high priest forever,

according to the order
of Melchizedek.

See, we're not even to
chapter seven yet,

so we don't even get to take a look
at who Melchizedek is completely.

But what we do have here is that
God has made a promise.

God has promised salvation.

God has promised this relationship that
we could be his people through

the shed blood of Jesus Christ.

And we've looked at all of this through
the book of Hebrews that God has

spoken in these days through
his son Jesus.

Jesus, his son and heir.

And he is the creator and sustainer.

He is the radiance of God's glory.

He is the exact expression
of the essence of God.

He is king and he is high priest.

Okay, that is sort of.

Not sort of.

There's no sort of to it.

That is God's final word in his plan
of redemption and salvation.

Jesus accomplished it.

When Jesus said,

it is finished on the cross,

you know what that meant?

It's finished.

It's done.

He did it.

Okay, now here's the
question we have.

This is what I'm asking
you this morning.

You don't have to trust me.

I'm not in charge.

But do you trust God?

Do you trust God for the salvation
that he's offered?

You see,

I'm sure that sometime this morning one
of those balloons is going to pop.

That's why I got two.

I got a third one in the back.

I'm just kind of waiting to see who
I get up here to volunteer.

Won't that be fun?

Oh, see,

got a hand went up back there.

All right,

so here's the point of today's message
is that God has spoken.

God has accomplished salvation,

and we in Christ remain secure
in that salvation.

I shared with you last week,

all of the different,

there are four different views
of verses one through eight.

And if you didn't get it,

then go to YouTube or Facebook or wherever
it happens to be recorded.

Because the idea is,

is do I trust that God has
guaranteed my salvation?

Do I trust that God did the work on my
behalf and that I don't have to do

the work to save myself?

I can't earn salvation.

I can't be good enough to get there.

Okay. God is the one who saves.

So is our salvation secure?

And if our salvation
is indeed secure,

right. How?

Why? Why is our salvation secure
because it's based on God.

It's based on the character of God.

It's based on what God
has spoken and said.

So these passages,

this passage nine through 20,

is kind of beyond warning.

The warning is don't reject faith.

Remember, there are four warnings
in the book of Hebrews.

One is be careful not to drift.

Right? Remember,

that was the surfing illustration.

It's really easy to drift if you're
floating out there in the waves.

Right.

The second one was that we're to be careful
of unbelief as in the days of

the rebellion.

And in that passage,

the writer of Hebrews points back to
the wilderness wandering and the

idea that God's people
had seen God work.

They had heard God's voice at the,

at the foot of the mountain.

They had,

they knew the God that
was their God,

but they didn't trust him.

They didn't trust,

they didn't believe that he would
do what he said he would do.

They got to the edge of
the promised land.

He said,

now go take the promised land.

And they went,

nope, we'd rather go back to Egypt
because those guys are big.

And that whole generation
died in the wilderness.

See, they didn't believe God.

So that's what he said.

Be careful of unbelief as in
the days of rebellion.

And then in chapter six,

he says,

be careful not to reject faith.

And I explained to you,

and I'm going to explain it
again in a few minutes,

but what is faith?

Is it just.

Okay. I believe that Jesus lived.

I believe that he died on a cross.

I believe that he rose again.

You know,

I mean,

romans ten nine says that if you confess
with your mouth Jesus is the

Lord and believe in your heart that
God raised him from the dead,

you'll be saved.

Right? So here's my question.

After I answer those things,

I don't believe in work,

salvation. I don't believe you
can earn your salvation.

As a matter of fact,

I don't believe you can
undo what God does.

Okay? If God saves you,

I don't believe you can
unsave yourself.

Okay? That's just me.

You don't have to agree with me.

I told you all this last week.

I'm not going to get mad if
you disagree with me,

but don't you get mad mad
if I disagree with you,

okay? I don't think we can
undo what God does,

all right?

So when I look at this thing,

I'm thinking,

all right,

so why is my salvation secure?

Because God is warning us against,

against drifting,

unbelief and the rejection of faith.

All right,

that's the warning.

And then in this passage,

he said,

but guess what,

brothers and sisters,

dearly loved friends and
a lot of King James.

I would say beloved.

I had a preacher growing up.

He was a retired minister that
attended our church,

and sometimes he'd fill
in for the pastor.

And I noticed this about him when he
wanted to stop and read his notes,

he'd go,

and beloved.

That was sort of his pause,

break. And beloved.

So me and all my friends,

as teenagers and kids,

we'd come out there going,

hey, beloved.

We started calling each
other beloved.

Well, it really is in
the greek text,

it is a term of endearment.

The writer of Hebrews is speaking
to people that he knows.

He's speaking to people
that within the body,

with himself,

that he serves with and
that he cares for.

And he says,

even though we're speaking
about warnings,

dearly loved friends,

in your case,

we're confident of things that are better
and that pertain to salvation.

For God is not unjust.

He will not forget your work and the
love you demonstrated for his name

by serving the saints.

There's a lot in that sentence.

Y'all notice that?

So here's my question.

If you confess with your mouth Jesus
is Lord and believe in your heart

that God raised him from the dead,

you'll be saved.

What does that look like?

This is my challenge.

I'm not telling you to work
your way to heaven,

but I am telling you that if
there's faith within you,

then it'll look like something.

It'll look like love for God.

It'll look like serving
the kingdom of God,

the body of Christ,

serving one another,

serving others.

You see?

And that's what he's
saying right here.

He's saying,

look, we see your faith because of your
love for his name and serving the

saints and continuing to serve them.

Now, we desire each of you to demonstrate
the same diligence for the full

assurance of your hope
until the end.

What he's saying is that
those who endure,

those that persevere to the end,

right? Because it's
a faith statement.

It's a trust in who God is,

that God saved you.

If you're saved,

you will endure,

is what the Bible teaches you will.

That's why I said to you last week that
fourth category of the warning

last week was that I'm afraid that in
churches all over the world right

now, there's some fakers,

there's some people pretending to
be christians and followers.

But at the point that
they don't endure.

What's the truth?

Because what this word is teaching
is that if we're saved,

we will persevere in
the promise of God.

We will persevere.

We will continue in the
promise of God.

Can I just tell y'all something?

Life's tough,

right? If you're not,

if you're here this morning,

you don't believe life's tough,

raise your hand.

See, life's tough.

I hear people all the time say,

well, I just don't know how
people live without Jesus.

Now there's a ton of
people doing it,

right?

And a bunch of times they'll
complain about us.

Cause we go,

well, you know what?

At least Jesus is with me.

At least I can count on God.

At least I can pray.

At least I got somebody to talk to,

you know?

I know.

I know that Jesus died for me.

I'm gonna persevere in that promise.

Last week I shared with you that faith
is this combination of things.

It is.

It is the knowledge of who
and what God has said.

It is to believe that knowledge,

believe what God has
said and who he is.

It is to commit and surrender yourself
to that knowledge and that belief.

And it is in that knowledge,

belief, commitment to have a hope
for what God has established,

you see,

to trust him.

I find that there are christians
who don't trust God.

I struggle with that because people will
say to me things that trouble me

as a pastor,

because I admit,

as a pastor,

people think I'm supposed to
have answers working on it.

But I'll say to them,

I'll say,

do you trust God with it?

You know what they come back?

They say,

I'm trying.

I try to trust God,

at which point I generally will
offer my favorite Yoda quote:

"Do or do not.

There is no try."

Right? See,

God has called us to trust him.

And I think trust is a growth thing.

I think you trust God with this and
able to trust God with something a

little more and a little bigger,

and you continue to grow
your trust in,

first of all,

the identity of who God is.

This is God's revelation of himself.

Folks, if you're not spending time
in the word of God every day,

thank you,

Chris. That was Chris's testimony
yesterday to men's breakfast.

He said,

when I started spending time in
the word of God every day,

it made difference.

If you're not spending time in
the word of God every day,

guess what?

I can almost guarantee that
your faith is weak.

Sorry, is that too blunt
for a preacher to say?

I can almost guarantee?

Yeah. Guess what.

Let's say you only ate
1 hour a week.

You think you'd survive?

No. You've got to get into the word
of God every day in order to build

the strength of faith,

trust the knowledge of who God is,

the believing that he is
who he says he is,

and he's done what he says
he's going to do,

and trusting him with that God's promise
or oath or the testimony that he

gave to Abraham.

And a lot of people get uncomfortable
with this language because they

think, well,

why would God swear?

For when God made a promise,

covenant with Abraham,

since he had no one greater
to swear by,

he swore by himself.

He said,

I will bless you.

I will greatly multiply you.

What is the oath that
God is making there?

He's saying,

look, you can trust me to do it.

You can count on me
to accomplish it.

See, that's the oath
he's making there.

And so,

waiting patiently,

Abraham obtained the promise for people
swear by something greater than

themselves. Now,

he's not talking about
God right there.

He's talking about us.

If you want to make an oath,

you'll swear by something certain,

right? Something solid.

People swear by something
greater than themselves.

For them,

a confirming oath ends the dispute.

What is he saying at the
end of the argument?

I guarantee it,

right? That's the stamp of the oath.

God showing his unchangeable purpose
even more clearly to the heirs of

the promise.

He guaranteed it with an oath so that
two unchangeable things in which

it's impossible for God to lie,

we who have fled for refuge might have
strong encouragement to seize the

hope set before us.

Do you have an anchor in this world?

I mean,

think about it.

Think about some of the anchors.

Some people.

Some people depend on the government.

Yeah, they do.

I know we're all sitting here going,

mm mm.

But some people do.

Some people depend on family.

Anybody ever known family
to let you down?

I'm not even gonna look up
asking that question.

Friends. I ever known friends
to let you down.

Can I go ahead and throw
the other one in there?

Some people depend on church.

Anybody ever know church
to let you down?

Understand, church is
not an organization.

It's people.

And people let you down.

Okay.

God doesn't let us down.

He is.

And listen,

we have this hope as an
anchor for the soul.

Firm and secure.

It enters the inner sanctuary
behind the curtain.

So Jesus,

doing what no other human
being could do,

passed through the heavens,

which is the veil of our atmosphere,

into heaven,

the dwelling place of God,

the inner sanctum the
holy of holies,

and brought the sacrifice that no one
else could bring for our salvation.

Jesus has entered there on our behalf
as a forerunner because he has

become a high priest forever,

according to the order
of Melchizedek.

Did y'all know that?

Anybody know if you've read
ahead in chapter seven?

The name Melchizedek means what?

I looked it up.

King of righteousness.

The name itself means king
of righteousness.

But he's also called
the king of Salem,

right? We get to talk
about that next week.

So here's the question
of the morning.

Do you trust God?

Do you trust eternity to what God
has done unto who God is?

See, you can't earn it.

Can't work hard enough to get there.

But I'm going to offer this
one little caveat,

because I heard a preacher say it,

so I'm going to steal it from him.

You ready?

I'm giving.

I don't want to plagiarize,

but I don't know his name.

But he says I'm going to believe
like it's up to God,

but I'm going to work
like it's up to me.

Can you make that distinction?

God saved us,

so I owe him everything that I am,

and I'm going to work
like it's all his.

Okay. All righty.

Because work's not going to save you.

You can't be good enough.

I love talking to people who say,

well, good people go to heaven.

I go,

really? Which ones?

And they look at me like I go,

how good?

What's the measure of good?

Well, God gave us the measure.

Holy as I am holy.

Right? Remember last week,

I told you all the righteous people,

raise your hands.

We're only righteous because we're
clothed in the righteousness of

Christ. Alrighty.

If you don't know Jesus
this morning,

we want to introduce you to him.

Love it that you're here.

Love it that you gathered.

Love it that you made worship
a priority this morning.

But if you're here and
you don't know Jesus,

that is your single greatest need.

You need Jesus.

And we'd love to introduce you.

Okay, we're going to
sing one more song,

give you the opportunity
to respond to God,

to respond to his word.

All right?

Pray with me.

Father, thank you for today and God,

for all that you have done.

God, I just thank you
for who you are.

Cause, God,

you are at work.

You're at work in us.

You're at work around us.

And, God,

we get to be a part of
what you're doing.

Thank you for the writer of Hebrews.

I thank you for the book of Hebrews,

which knits it all together for us,

God, that you are who you are,

and you have done what you have done.

And Jesus is the final word.

So God help us to pay attention.

Help us to listen.

God help us to trust.

God help us to surrender.

And we pray it in Jesus name.

Amen.