'So God has given both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us. This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God’s inner sanctuary. Jesus has already gone in there for us. He has become our eternal High Priest in the order of Melchizedek.' (Hebrews 6.18-20, NLT.)
God's promises are unchanging and completely trustworthy because God is unchanging and trustworthy. When promising Abraham a son, God took an oath in His own Name. The oath was as good as God's Name, and God's Name was as good as His divine nature.
The two unchangeable things are God's promise and His oath. God embodies all truth; therefore, He cannot lie. Because God is truth, you can be sure of His promises; you don't need to wonder if He will change His plans. Our hope is secure and immoveable, anchored in God.
When you ask God to forgive you of your sins, He will do it! This truth should give you encouragement, assurance and confidence.
In the Old Testament, the High Priest could only enter the Most Holy Place once a year to stand in God's presence and atone for their sins. But Christ is in God's presence at all times, interceding on our behalf.
So let us stop going over the basic teachings about Christ again and again. Let us go on instead and become mature in our understanding. Surely we don’t need to start again with the fundamental importance of repenting from evil deeds and placing our faith in God. You don’t need further instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And so, God willing, we will move forward to further understanding.
For it is impossible to bring back to repentance those who were once enlightened—those who have experienced the good things of heaven and shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the power of the age to come— and who then turn away from God. It is impossible to bring such people back to repentance; by rejecting the Son of God, they themselves are nailing him to the cross once again and holding him up to public shame. (Hebrews 6:1-6, NLT)
Certain elementary teachings are essential for all believers to understand. Those basics include the importance of faith, the foolishness of trying to be saved by good deeds, the meaning of baptism and spiritual gifts, and the facts of the resurrection and eternal life. To go on to maturity in our understanding, we need to move beyond, but not away from, the elementary teachings to a more complete understanding of faith.
When the ground soaks up the falling rain and bears a good crop for the farmer, it has God’s blessing. But if a field bears thorns and thistles, it is useless. The farmer will soon condemn that field and burn it. (Hebrews 6:7-8, NLT)
Land that produces a good crop receives loving care, but land that produces thistles and thorns has to be burned so the farmer can start over. An unproductive Christian life falls under God’s condemnation. We are not saved by deeds, but what we do is the evidence of our faith. In Mark 11 Jesus saw a fig tree full of leaves and He came hoping to find some figs (v13). But He found nothing but leaves. So many Christians are like that fig tree: all show, all leaves, a lot of shouting, a lot of noise, a lot of emotion. But no fruit, no result, nothing but leaves! This is one of the biggest problems I find today, a highly charged atmosphere, but no fruit. We must be fruitful and produce a good crop for the Lord!