Gospel Assurance

Reverend Kent Compton's sermon, titled "Gospel" and drawn from Hebrews 6:13-20, focused on the absolute certainty of God's promises and the resulting anchor of hope available to the Christian. Compton began by establishing the context of the passage, where the writer of Hebrews is reminding his readers—who were under immense pressure to revert to Judaism—of the solidity of their faith. He highlighted the example of Abraham, noting that God backed His promise to him with an oath. Since God, by definition, cannot swear by anyone greater than Himself, He swore by His own name, providing two unchangeable things: the promise itself and the confirming oath. For Compton, this demonstrated the ultimate reliability of God's word, designed to give the heirs of the promise "strong encouragement." The certainty of God's word is so ironclad that it is "impossible for God to lie."

Compton then introduced the powerful analogy of the believer's hope as an anchor. This hope is not a mere wish or a psychological desire, but a concrete, fixed object. He stressed that this anchor is "both sure and steadfast," meaning it is reliable and completely secure. He explained that this anchor is cast not into the chaotic sea of the present world, but into the spiritual realm behind the veil, "where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us." The presence of Jesus, our High Priest forever after the order of Melchizedek, guarantees the security of the anchor. Just as a physical anchor grounds a ship, Christ's work, which is securely fixed in the heavenlies, grounds the believer's soul amidst the storms of life.

Finally, Reverend Compton connected the Old Testament concept of the City of Refuge to the New Testament reality of Christ. He explained that in the law of Moses, cities were designated where a person who accidentally killed someone could flee for safety from the "avenger of blood." This act of fleeing for refuge was an act of faith in God's provision. Compton drew the parallel that Christ is the Christian's ultimate, unchangeable refuge. The Christian flees from the deserved judgment for sin and takes shelter in Christ, whose sacrifice as High Priest is final and eternal. This deliberate act of faith, fleeing to Christ, allows the believer to grasp the hope set before them, a hope secured by the unshakeable promise and oath of God, and fixed by the presence of Jesus in heaven.