New Salem Baptist Church

The Full Assurance of Hope

Read Hebrews 6:11-20.

Verse 11 begins: “We desire each one of you to show the same earnestness…”

Who are the “we”? The “we” are never identified in this letter. However, there are telling elements that the apostle Paul is the author and, when Paul writes, he often writes in the third person to include himself and Silvanus (and sometimes Timothy, but not here). Those evidences include the very earliest traditions of the church which identify Paul as the author,[1] the epistle ending with the words, “Grace be with you all.” -  a distinctive way that Paul ends his letters (see Colossians 4:18, for example), and his reference to Timothy as he so often does in many of his letters (13:23).

The desire of the inspired authors are for “each one of you.” The encouragement they are about to give is not only for the extra spiritual ones. It’s not for the super-saint. It’s not just for leaders. It’s for “each one of you.” It is for everyone who calls themself a follower of Christ.

We are to possess and make known “earnestness.” This means serious or zealous intention. Some versions have “diligence.” Zealousness or diligence in what? Let’s read the whole verse again:

¹¹ And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, ^[2]

We need to be diligent in having and keeping “the full assurance of hope.” This is actually another item of evidence for Pauline authorship because no other writer in the New Testament uses the word for full assurance[3] (one Greek word is translated as “full assurance) except Paul. Our author uses two similar expressions:

• the full assurance of hope, and
• the full assurance of faith

By these expressions he means two different things. Faith and hope are themselves, of course, two different things.

Let us consider the full assurance of faith first. This is found in chapter 10, verse 22:

¹⁹ Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, ²⁰ by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, ²¹ and since we have a great priest over the house of God, ²² let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.^[4]

“Here faith in the atoning blood of Christ is supposed to be already possessed in its fullness, and that as giving us boldness to draw near to God continually.”[5] 

We place our confidence in the completed work of the Son of God and not in anything that we do. Because of Christ’s sacrifice on our behalf, not only do we have access to God and are acceptable to Him, but we have bold access! It’s wonderful! This faith brings us assurance! And, this faith comes before our hope.

To repeat, the reason we can have confidence to be in living fellowship with God is because of simple faith in Christ, not by anything that we do.

But here in chapter six we have the full assurance of hope. In context this hope is about inheriting the promises (vs. 12). We have previously seen that

• our inheritance,
• the rest to which the author of Hebrews refers often,
• the Millennium,
• and “our reward”

all refer to the same thing.[6]

Whereas our assurance of faith looks upon Christ’s work, the assurance of hope brings into view our own work and looks forward to the day of reward.

Our sense of hope then strengthens with obedience and steady pursuit of the prize.

¹² so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. ^[7]

So, we ought not to be slugs. Rather, grounded in our faith and patience, we look forward to inheriting what was promised.

The author relates our inheritance to that of Abraham and uses Abraham as an example:

¹³ For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, ¹⁴ saying, “Surely I will bless you and multiply you.” ¹⁵ And thus Abraham, having patiently waited, obtained the promise. ^[8]

It is worthwhile to consider God’s promise to Abraham. Paul (allow me to assume him as the author) quotes God Himself speaking in Genesis 22:

¹⁶ and said, “By myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, ¹⁷ I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, ¹⁸ and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.” ^[9]

Some of these promises were a repetition of what God had promised Abraham previously in Genesis 15:2-5. There, they were only a promise. Now, In Genesis 22, God reaffirms them with an oath.

Hebrews 6:15 says, that after Abraham patiently waited he obtained the promise. Notice that it does not say he obtained what was promised. It is clear that he did not yet obtain what was promised. Rather, he got the promise! That he didn’t receive what was promised while he was alive is made explicit in 11:13.

Abraham didn’t see his multitude of descendants. He only saw Isaac and six children through his second wife, Keturah.

He did not see his descendants possess the gates of their enemies.

He did not see the earth blessed by his seed, that is, Christ.

He did not receive the land that he was promised (11:8). In fact, Acts 7:5 says that he did not even receive one foot of that land!

Therefore, for Abraham to see these things and to personally inherit the land that he was promised, he must be resurrected. The Abrahamic promises must be fulfilled in the Millennium.

Notice, too, that Abraham would receive these things because he obeyed (Genesis 22:18). This is a separate consideration from his justification, which is by faith alone.

Thus, Abraham’s experiences and promises are a mirror to ours. We also are declared to be righteous before God by faith, but our rewards await to the day of rest, the kingdom that is yet to come.

 ¹⁷ So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, ^[10]

This is the oath of Genesis 22.

 ¹⁸ 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.^[11]

What are the two unchangeable things? They are the promise of God and the oath of God. Since it is impossible for God to lie, we have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us! Oh! There is a rest waiting for you! There are rewards waiting for you! There is a kingdom in which to participate! And, Jesus expanded upon this promise:

³² “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.^[12]

Not only are we promised the kingdom for faithful service, but it is the Father’s pleasure to give it! This encourages me because, like Paul, sometimes I think I’m not going to get in (Philippians 3:10-14). Knowing that God wants to give it to me encourages me!

¹⁹ We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, ²⁰ where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. ^[13]

This hope that we have is an anchor for our soul. Why does a ship need an anchor? Because the tides and the flowing of the sea will cause the ship to drift away.

There were a group of five young people, maybe in their 20’s, that rented a 24-ft. yacht and made a scuba-diving excursion to an island about 30 miles off the coast of Florida. It was an island seldom visited but, from what they had heard, had some beautiful underwater scenes. They arrived at the island and thought they might explore it but first wanted to go scuba diving. They let down the anchor and donned their gear and all went into the water. What they didn’t know was that some of the accoutrements of the boat had been switched out in an attempt to modernize the yacht. The older, heavy anchor had been replaced by a smaller, lighter one. The current around the island was rather strong and while they were under water the boat was dragged away out to sea more than a mile away. When they came up they were alarmed. They swam to the island to rest and discussed what to do. One of them was a strong swimmer, so he volunteered to swim out to the boat and retrieve it. It wasn’t easy because as he swam towards the boat it was still being dragged further away. He was able to reach the boat and sail it back to the island. It was a harrowing experience.

We need an anchor for our souls and God has provided the best anchor. The anchor is the hope that he has laid before us. But it is more than just the hope. It is a hope joined with the reality that we have a high priest in the Holy of Holies interceding for us! If it were only our hope of reward we would surely be overcome by discouragement because of our many failures and sins along our journey.

But when we stumble, we have Christ as our great High Priest covering all our sins so that we don’t drift away.

He will even minister bread and wine to you as Melchizedek did to Abraham after his battle with the kings. Bread signifies sustenance. He will strengthen you! Wine signifies enjoyment. After your battles you will receive wine!

Yet, this anchor still consists of our hope in inheriting the promises (6:12). Some Christians wish to downplay the significance of rewards as a motivator for our living for Christ. They think that love should be the only motivation. This is just wrong thinking. Of course love should be our motivation. Even our primary motivation. But it can’t be our only motivation because our love wanes.

The Lord knows our hearts better than we do. Jesus is the one who held out rewards to his followers:

⁵ “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. ⁶ But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. ^[14]

The apostles many times throughout the NT taught about rewards. Our hope for what awaits us is an anchor for our soul so that we will not drift away!

[Application and Conclusion] The apostle began our reading today with an admonition to be earnest (to take the promises seriously) and not to be sluggish.

We do this by setting our hearts on the age to come. This does not mean that we neglect our earthly responsibilities. We work at a job. We may need to complete our education if we are younger. We may even pursue enjoyable distractions. Remember that Paul tells us that God has given us everything to enjoy (I Timothy 6:17). Yet, our vision must not be this life, but the life to come.

How not to be a slug? Set your sights on the day of rewards, the inheriting of the promises. Every day, set your sights on the day to come. When you are about to make a decision, ask “How will this fare regarding my inheritance?”

This is our anchor! And this anchor is not alone. It has our Interceder making it a heavy, reliable anchor!