The Basis of Our Spiritual Security

In one paragraph

This message was a wrap-up of several weeks of study in Hebrews, pulling together a diagnosis, a warning, and an encouragement to show what actually holds a believer's faith secure. Pastor Matt walked the congregation back through the parenthetical section they had been in and then landed on what he called the basis of spiritual security. The anchor, he said, is not our own consistency but the...

Read together

1. Psalm 92 song to be sung on the Sabbath day, basis for opening song of praise
2. Exodus 3:14 God's name I AM WHO I AM, the self-existent one, spoken to Moses
3. Genesis 12 proto-gospel, earlier promises made to Abraham
4. Genesis 22 God swears by himself to bless and multiply Abraham's seed after Abraham did not withhold his son
5. Hebrews 5:11 concerning Melchizedek, much to say but the audience had become dull of hearing
6. Hebrews 6:1 leaving behind elementary teachings, pressing on to maturity
7. Hebrews 6:4-6 warning about those who have been enlightened and tasted the heavenly gift then fallen away
8. Hebrews 6:9 beloved, convinced of better things concerning you, things that accompany salvation
9. Hebrews 6:10-12 God is not unjust to forget their work and love, call to show diligence to realize full assurance of hope
10. Hebrews 6:13-15 God made promise to Abraham, swore by himself, Abraham patiently waited and obtained the promise
11. Hebrews 6:16-18 men swear by one greater, God interposed with an oath, two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie
12. Hebrews 6:18-20 we who have taken refuge have hope as an anchor of the soul, sure and steadfast, entering within the veil where Jesus has entered as forerunner and high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek

Talk about it

1. Pastor Matt used the image of logging his diet to illustrate what it means to 'pay more attention to that which you've already heard.' Where in your own life have you noticed yourself drifting when you stopped paying close attention to what you already knew to be true?
2. Pastor Matt said that when someone is in the process of walking away from the faith, there is nothing another person can do by force of will to bring them back, but that we can pray. How do you hold together the tension between caring deeply for someone who is walking away and recognizing the limits of what you can do for them?
3. The sermon described hope in the Bible as 'an absolute certainty that has not yet happened.' How does that definition of hope change the way you think about your own spiritual security, compared to the everyday use of the word hope?
4. Pastor Matt pointed to God's promise and God's oath to Abraham as the two unchangeable things that form the anchor of our souls. What difference does it make to you personally that God grounded your security in His own character rather than in your performance?
5. The sermon closed with the image of Jesus entering within the veil as a forerunner, opening the way for us to follow. Pastor Matt said if you look at your life and see thorns and thistles rather than good fruit, the answer is to go back to the source rather than manufacture fruit on your own. What does that practically look like for you right now?