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This is day four together of our look through Hebrews chapter six. We're talking
this week about how you and I experience hope, hope in our lives. And in verses
13 to 17, the writer of Hebrews talks to us about one of the key components of
hope in every one of our lives.

It's the component of waiting. It is the experience of waiting. Let me read
these verses and then we'll talk about what they mean and how waiting makes such
a significant difference when it comes to hope in our lives.

Verses 13 to 17. When God made his promise to Abraham, since there was no one
greater for him to swear by, he swore by himself, saying, "I will surely bless
you and give you many descendants. " And so, after waiting patiently, Abraham
received what was promised.

Men swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath confirms what is said
and puts an end to all argument. Because God wanted to make the unchanging
nature of his promise very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed
it with an oath. Now, these verses, 13 to 17, you see right there in the middle
of it, verse 15, after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised.

On either side of it, there are these verses about the oath of God. In this, we
see a fourth key to you and I living a life of hope, and that is, you wait on
the promises of God, you wait on the reliable promises of God. Before we talk
about the waiting, let me just touch on what he talks about on either side of
that, and then we'll come back to that again later.

In some ways, this is a legal passage. He talks about oaths, he talks about
testimonies, it's almost as if he's saying God gave a written affidavit of what
he would do in our lives. God's part of what he's going to do in our lives is
this written guarantee, is his promise, and he swore by himself, because there's
no one greater to swear by.

God's part is the promise. So what's our part? Our part is trusting the promise
and receiving the promise, but in between the trusting and the receiving of the
promise, there is one other decision we have to make, and that is waiting on the
promise.

So our part is trusting, then waiting, then receiving. And there is always a
waiting before the receiving. There's always waiting between the trusting and
the receiving, and waiting is hard.

When we're waiting for the promise, we think, "Why isn't God working? " When
we're waiting for the promise, we think, "What's wrong with me? Maybe I should
be doing something different.

" And I just want to say to you, nothing is wrong. Waiting is a part of God's
working. Maybe you need to memorize that phrase even.

Waiting is a part of God's working. Here is Abraham, the greatest example of
faith in the entire Old Testament. The New Testament tells us he is the father
of our faith.

And the Bible says, "After waiting patiently, he received what was promised. "
Because waiting was a part of God's working. In fact, if you take a close look
at the Bible, you'll see very clearly that you wait for God's promise.

In the Bible, from A to Z, people waited from God's promise. From Abraham, A,
who waited for a son named Isaac, to Zechariah, Z, who waited for a son named
John the Baptist. They both waited until they were old men for their first child
to be born, for God's promise to be seen in their lives.

From first to last in the Bible, people waited. From Genesis to Revelation. From
Noah in Genesis, who waited over a hundred years for the flood to come, to John
in Revelation, who waited on the island of Patmos for Jesus to return again.

You just take a list. Here's just a quick list of some familiar names of people
who waited in the Bible. Paul, Nehemiah, Daniel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel,
Joseph, Mary, Peter, Joseph, different Joseph, David, Elijah, Ezra, Isaiah,
Aaron, Adam, Esther, Ruth, Hannah, Hosea, Gideon, John the Baptist, Sarah, Leah,
Martha, Lazarus, Joshua, Samuel, Caleb, Naaman, Naomi, Job.

How about Job being the one who waited? That's just a partial list. The fact
that you're having to wait for something does not mean something's wrong with
your faith and it does not mean that God is not hearing your prayers.

Waiting was a part of the life of every great person of faith because waiting is
a part of God's working. Now I want you to notice, if we talk about Abraham, he
waited and so he received what was promised. I want you to notice again that on
either side of this verse 15 are these verses about God's promise, the fact that
God swears by himself, the fact that God confirms it with an oath.

And as you look closely at what is being talked about here, the writer of
Hebrews tells us when you see that God has confirmed this with an oath, that he
has sworn by himself, that does two things in our lives when it comes to God's
promise. First it puts an end to all the argument. There's no argument about it.

In verse 16 he says it puts an end to all argument, confirms what is said and
puts an end to all argument. God's promise isn't true. I can't trust God's
promise.

How do I know I can trust God's promise? Because God said you could trust his
promise. Because God swore by himself.

Anybody who wants to argue the circumstances of life and how they prove that God
could not have promised misses the reality of life, the deeper reality than
circumstances and that is who God is and that he's sworn by himself. So that's
one thing that these oaths do. And then the second thing that these oaths do is
in verse 17, they make the unchanging nature of his promises very clear.

They help us to see that these promises lead to God's purposes being fulfilled
in our lives. But waiting is a part of those promises becoming fulfilled
purposes in our lives. That's why God made an oath.

That's why God swore by himself because he wants you to know you're waiting for
some things. You're waiting for heaven. God's promise is sure.

There's no argument about that. There is a certainty about that purpose. You're
waiting for some ministry that you have dreamed of.

You're waiting for some relationship that you're hoping will be healed in your
life or become a reality in your life. You're waiting for growth. You're waiting
for a deeper sense of God's presence in your life.

You can depend on those things happening without argument, with deep certainty
because of the promise of God. Because of the promise of God. Waiting is a part
of God's working in your life.

So to sum this up, as you and I wait this week, wait for God's promises, there
are two things that you need to do as you wait. You need to wait for the Lord
and you need to wait in a crowd. You wait for the Lord.

Now, that's important because when we wait -- when we wait for God to do
something to answer a prayer, when we wait for God to do something to begin a
ministry, when we wait for God to do something to bring a healing, we wait for
God to do something to bring some kind of growth into my life, what you and I
tend to do as human beings is we tend to wait for the answer. "Lord, when's the
answer going to come? When's the answer going to come?

When's the answer going to come? " But the Bible says instead that what we
should do is we should wait for the Lord. Instead of waiting for an answer,
you're waiting for a person.

And the truth of the matter is when you do that, you realize the Lord's with me
all the way through this. He's with me in the receiving of the promise. He's
with me in the waiting for the promise.

And He's with me in the trusting Him in the first place for the promise. He's
with me through it all, through every moment of it. And that does something very
healing in my life and in your life when it comes to waiting.

So instead of saying, "Lord, when's the answer going to come? " You begin to
wait for the Lord and you say, "Lord, the answer's going to come when you want
it to come and that's going to be the perfect time. Is there something I'm doing
that's getting in the way of the answer?

If it is, show me. But if not, I'm waiting for you and I'd rather have the
answer when you want to give it to me than me pushing for it in the wrong time
because I trust you. " Wait for the Lord.

That's a trust. But you also wait in a crowd. That's why I shared with you
earlier all these people from the Bible who had to wait for God's promise.

Wait in a crowd. Realize that as you wait, you are not alone. That's what it
means to be encouraged by fellow believers.

That's what it means to be encouraged by God's word, to realize I'm not alone as
I wait. Now, whatever you're waiting for right now, you've already made it, I'm
sure, many times a matter of prayer. Let's talk to the Lord about it again
together today.

And just in your heart and your mind right now in an attitude of prayer, say,
"Jesus, here it is again what I'm waiting for. This change, this growth, this
happening, this hope. Here's what I'm waiting for.

This person to be saved, this heart to be changed, my heart to be changed. Lord,
here it is. And I realize now I'm waiting on you.

I'm waiting on you to work. So I trust you to work. I trust that you're working
even in the waiting.

And Lord, I pray that you'd help me not to wait alone, to be reminded today of
all these fellow believers throughout scripture who waited for you and to whom
you showed yourself faithful and to be reminded that there's believers all
around me who are discouraged in the waiting sometimes too, who I can encourage
today. Give me somebody to encourage today as they wait. Help me not to wait
alone.

Help me to wait in a crowd. Pray these things. I ask these things in Jesus'
name, amen.

" Tomorrow we're going to look together at the strongest verses about hope in
this chapter. We're going to look at the anchor of hope in our lives.