My Soul Is Anchored
Scripture: Matthew 27:50-51: Hebrews 6:17-19;
Introduction
The title of my message this morning is “My Soul Is Anchored”.
Several years ago I was having dinner with a dear friend who had undergone surgery during a stressful time in her life. During that dinner we discussed what God had done for her even though she had to go through the surgery. With tears in her eyes she said that she had to reach beyond the veil for the strength that she needed to make it through what she was dealing with. This morning I want to encourage each of you to ensure you’re anchored while you continue reaching through the veil of hope. You see, some of you are facing some dark days ahead and the storms are raging all around you. I want to encourage you and remind you that your soul is anchored and because your soul is anchored, you too can reach beyond the veil to have a personal interaction with God.
I. The Temple and Veil
The books of Kings and Chronicles tell the story of Solomon building the first temple of the Lord. David, Solomon’s father, wanted to build the temple but God would not allow it because David was a man of war so the job became Solomon’s (1 Kings 5:3). When Solomon built the first temple, it had two courts. The inner court was for the priests and the outer court for the people. On the inside of the temple was the Holy Place. The Holy Place held the ten golden candlesticks, symbolic of God, the light. It also held the tables of showbread and the altar of incense. The next room was the Holy of Holies (Most Holy Place.) Within this room was the Ark of the Covenant. Later it became viewed as the place where God’s Spirit dwelt. The High priest for a given year entered this room once on the Day of Atonement to offer sacrifices to God for the sins of the people. Only the priests could enter into the temple and worship God and only the High Priest of that year could enter into the Holy of Holies.
The Holy Place was separated from the Holy of Holies (Most Holy Place) by a veil. This veil hung from the ceiling to floor and it symbolically separated God from man and his sin. On the Day of Atonement, the priests would prepare the Chief Priest to enter into this room to make the sacrifice for the people. They would tie a rope around his waist just in case something went wrong and he died and they needed to pull him out. Remember, they were not allowed to enter into that room as they were not the Chief Priest. Without the rope, if something went wrong and the Chief Priest was slain, he would have to stay until the next year. This all changed when Christ died on the cross. Matthew 27:50-51 says “And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom, and the earth shook; and the rocks were split.”
When Jesus died, the veil separating God from man was torn in two. No longer was God separated from man because of man’s sin. Jesus paid the price and opened the door for man to have immediate access to God at all times. No longer did man have to wait a year for one man to enter into the presence of God on their behalf. Through Jesus Christ all were given the opportunity to enter into God’s presence for themselves. Think of this like this: if when you came to Church on Sunday you had to stand in the yard because only the ministers could actually enter into the building. You would stand outside in the rain, snow, heat and cold because that was your place when it came to the time for public worship. You would wonder what the priests were doing inside on your behalf, but you would not know. Some of you would not come to worship if you had to stay on the outside, especially if the weather was bad (hence the term fair weather Christians.) But this was the role for many who practiced Judaism prior to Jesus’ crucifixion. They could not enter and had no idea what it was like to be in God’s presence. Now imagine that this opportunity was suddenly given to you. You could enter into the forbidden place and worship and interact with the God that you had heard about but never experienced. You would enter in amazement not knowing what you would be experiencing. This is what we have been given and what we take from granted. Through Jesus Christ we are allowed beyond the veil – into the Holy of Holies because the One who is most holy dwells within us through His Son. His dwelling within us now anchors our souls through all of our storms. It is important that we understand that it is not our spirit that needs anchoring, but our soul; that part of us that tends to shift depending on what is happening around us.
II. My Soul Is Anchored
There is a song Titled “My Soul Is Anchored” and I want to share a few of the words with you. It says:
“Though the storms keep on raging in my life, and sometimes it’s hard to tell the night from day. Still that hope that lies within is reassured, as I keep my eye upon that distant shore I know He’ll lead me safely to that blessed place He has prepared. But if the storms don’t cease, and if the winds they keep on blowing in my life, my soul’s has been anchored in the Lord. I realize that sometimes in this life, we’re gonna be tossed, by the waves and the currents that seem so fierce. But in the word of God, I’ve got an anchor, and it keeps me steadfast and unmovable despite the tide. But if the storms don’t cease, and if the winds they keep on blowing in my life, my soul has been anchored in the Lord. The billows may roll, the breakers may dash, but I shall stray because He holds me fast. Soul don’t dismay, but rise in the sky, I know it’s all right because Jesus is nigh. My soul is anchored.
This song stress what our souls are faced with in this life. We have many opportunities to be stressed, full of doubt and worry in our souls. But if we rely on Jesus Christ, our souls can be anchored thus stabilizing us in the midst of everything that comes toward us. In the natural, an anchor is a heavy object that is used to keep a ship/boat from drifting when the waves are heavy. Without the anchor the boat will drift with every major wave or tide. The anchor is used to stabilize and keep the ship fixed. In order for the anchor to work, it must be dropped before you reach the point where you want to be because the anchor requires movement in order for it to attach itself. It is the same spiritually. Spiritually our anchors are used to stabilize us – to keep us fixed. You see, the way an anchor works is that you drop it and then you drift until it grabs hold and stabilize you. So you never wait until you’re at the place where you want to be held, you have to drop the anchor before you get there and hope that the anchor will grab hold of the bottom before you drift too far. There is a science to when you drop anchor. Our spiritual anchors need to be dropped and in place long before the storm us!
Spiritually we have two problems. First, we do not know when we need to drop our anchors (we delay dropping the anchor while we try to solve the issue ourselves) and second, the anchors we have are not the right size for the boat we are on. In the natural the size of the anchor is matched to the length and weight to the boat. If the anchor is too small, although it might initially grab and hold the boat in place, if a strong enough storm come the anchor will lose its grip and the boat will drift through the storm. Having the right size anchor is more important than knowing when to drop it because if your anchor is not the right size, it will not hold you anyway. Turn with me to Hebrews 6:17-19.
Hebrews 6:17-19: “In the same way God, desiring even more to show to the heirs the promise of the unchangeableness of His purpose, interposed with an oath, in order that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we may have a strong encouragement, we who have fled for refuge in laying hold of the hope set before us. This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one that enters within the veil.”
In order for me to make these verses clear, I want to go back to the temple of Jerusalem. The temple was for the Jews, but non-Jews could come into the “outer” areas of the temple but were not allowed to enter into the temple itself. Within the confines of the temple, there were areas for the Jews who were not priests and then the two rooms for the priests (the Holy Place and Most Holy Place). Everyone one of us would be Gentiles and thus would not have been able to enter into the temple. If the temple was this building, we would be allowed in the parking lot and that would be as close as we would get. Imagine how large a spiritual anchor we would have if we were confined to worshipping God from the parking lot only and never truly entering into His presence? Once you moved from the parking lot you came to the grassy area of the Church property leading to the porch. This would be the areas for the Jews only. They would enjoy these areas and would at least get a little closer to God. Their spiritual anchors would be a little larger as they were at least allowed on the “property” of God. As you enter into the Church foyer, that would represent the Holy Place, for the priests only. They would go through their normal worship rituals as representatives of God for the people so their spiritual anchors would be somewhat larger than the average Jewish person who practiced Judaism. Finally you would pass from the foyer into the sanctuary into God’s presence. The chief priest’s spiritual anchor would be the largest of all because he would have had to go through some special ceremonies and preparations to enter into God’s presence that year. But again, if you were not the chief priest you might never get the opportunity to enter into the God’s presence as only the Chief Priest for that year could enter into God’s presence.
My point is this; the size of your anchor and its ability to hold you in place during a storm is directly proportional to your relationship with the God you serve. If you are worshipping God from the parking lot and never entering into His presence, your anchor is not going to be large enough to hold you steady. If you come into the sanctuary and that is all you do (like the priests who were not the Chief priest that year and were unable to enter into God’s presence) then your anchor is not going to be large enough to hold you. If you want an anchor that is large enough to hold you during the worst storms of your life you must enter into God’s presence at some time. You can know and understand who God is and have a full appreciation for what He will do in your life and never enter into His presence. You can be trying to enter into His presence but struggling to give up the old you and never fully yield to His presence. You can have knowledge of God and have experienced His grace from time to time, but the consistency is just not there and therefore when the storms come you are sometimes tossed to and fro depending on the strength of the winds. You have an anchor, but its ability to hold you is dependent on the strength of the storm you’re walking through. But it does not have to be this way!!! Paul told us that God cannot lie and therefore what He has promised He will deliver. We cannot know what God has promised or is willing to deliver if we never fully enter into His presence. If you come to Church and your mind is somewhere else, you’re not entering into His presence. It is like having a conversation with a family member or friend while you’re watching the football game. It does not work because at any given moment, only one or the other will have your complete attention. God desires and deserves our complete attention. I believe that we disrespect Him when we come into His place and we allow our minds to remain outside. I know some of you believe that it is ok to multitask when you’re “worshipping” God, but God does not agree with you. Until we fully enter into His presence, wholly committed to the experience, we will continue to just “go to Church and go home.” Yes we will have some emotional times and even enjoy the word, but it will equate to just another activity that we completed on our list that week. So, how big is your spiritual anchor? Will it be able to keep you in place during your worst storm?
Conclusion
I want you to imagine a 100 pound chain shackled around your ankle with an anchor attached to the end. While you’re standing right over the anchor the anchor rest peacefully not doing anything but there and ready when you need it. It serves as a foundation for your being steady and stable. When a storm comes in your life and the wind is blowing so hard that you are not able to withstand it and you begin to move, once the chain that attaches your ankle to the anchor is pulled tight you stop moving. The anchor grabs hold of the earth and stabilizes you. Once the anchor grabs hold you no longer move because the anchor secures you. But what happens when the winds of the storm changes direction? You begin to move in the new direction until once again the anchor grabs hold and stabilize you. Remember, the anchor requires force in order for it to grab on so whichever direction the storms blows, you will move in that direction until the anchor grabs and secures you. But here is what I want you to think about.
Imagine the anchor holding you steady from beneath while your hand is reaching through the veil to God. Imagine being in God’s presence and holding on; not moving regardless of how the wind blows because you’re in God’s presence. The anchor serves as a foundational stabilizer while your real strength to withstand the storm comes through that veil when you reach in and enter God’s presence. Paul says that when we take hold of the hope that is right in front of us, the hope that acts as a firm and steady anchor for our souls, that same hope reaches beyond the veil into the presence of God. So with the anchor securing me from below and my hand touching God through the veil, I no longer shift with the direction of the wind. The storms can blow from the east, west, north or south and I will remain steadfast and stable. I will no longer be tossed to and fro with every storm. I will go through the storms knowing that I will see the other side. I will see the Son shining through it all.
Some of you are experiencing some storms right now while others of you are preparing for possible storms that may be coming. If you are in a storm; facing a storm; or coming out of one – keep holding on. Rest in the hope that what God has promised, He will perform. His Word will not return to Him void and will fulfill what it is supposed to do in your life and in mine. We serve a mighty God who will not ever let go of us. As I close this morning, remember you are not walking alone and your strength is not your own. What we learn in God’s word will anchor and stabilize us. As we begin to enter in God’s presence we will not stress over or worry about the storms because they will cease to be internal but external. In the natural, when there is a storm outside, we come in from the storm where it is dry. Spiritually we do the same, we come into God’s presence and when we are in His presence the storms will not be in ours.
May God continue to bless and keep you is my prayer.
