Anchor of Hope
Hebrews chapter 6:13-20
Good Morning everyone
What are you putting your hope in?
What or who do you trust with your eternal and everlasting things?
When this old world is done and you stand before the Lord of the universe- what will you be placing your hope in?
Now more than ever, we need to answer that question for ourselves-
Would you bow your head in prayer?
Prayer- Fill us with all hope and keep our eyes on Jesus!
Work your way to Hebrews chapter 6
Today is a great day to be alive!
I believe we are living in a time where we have the pleasure and responsibility of seeing the Lord doing new things and He is shaking up the same old same old!
I see the Lord pulling the label off of products saying new and improved and exposing them for what they are as the same thing with a new label.
Bible book of Ecclesiastes, written by Solomon says- “There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under heaven.”
Do you believe that this morning? That God! The creator of the universe has not given over the reigns of your life or my life to any unknown situations that would cause him to sit up in heaven and go now what I am I going to do?
Every time God’s people and God’s church has been put in a spot of discouragement, the Lord has told us to put our trust and hope in Him!
Every time God’s people and God’s church has been put in a dark spot which they cannot see the light of God working, He has told them to fix their eyes on Jesus! The author and finisher of their faith!
“Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.”
“Consider him (Jesus) who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”
Some of you this morning may be thinking I am talking about the election, about Covid-19!
My God is bigger than any of those situations!
I serve a big God! And I want my God to be God over all the things that hinder and keep us from seeing how big a God that I am serving.
He calls his people to persevere and have confidence in the finished work of Jesus Christ!
“Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another- and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”
What day Church?
The return of Jesus Christ! This is not the end of the story and this is not a time for the church to lose its hope in Jesus!
Illustration (SermonCentral)
One day a young mother was feeling down and hopeless and she heard the phone ring and said hello. Honey its mom, I called because I know that you are overwhelmed with three children, and I want to give you some help. I’m going to stop by to clean the house, take care of the baby, and prepare dinner for when the boys get home from school. I want you to be ready to go to my beautician, I paid her already, and she is going to give you the works, your appointment is at 1:00. Give George a call and tell him you will meet him at the Cheesecake factory for dinner, my treat… the young mother interrupted and asked… who is George? Your husband silly. Is this 555-3212? No, this is 555-2212! I’m sorry, I have called the wrong number.! After a long pause, the young mother asked… Does this mean that you are not coming to help me?
We have certainly all been there haven’t we?
All of us get discouraged and all of us need our hope boosted and put back in place - now more than ever, we need to be sensitive to the words of encouragement that the Lord intends for his people to be holding unto. Amen!
Hebrew 6:13-20 Read from Bible
The world does not seem to be offering us much in the way of hope.
With all that is going on there are a lot of people feel discouraged instead of encouraged.
There are a lot of people that struggle to find hope because they are buried in hurts, habits, and turmoil.
They blame politics- the mentality of them verses us.
The truth is they have accepted hopelessness and helplessness as a way of life.
Author Dorothy Sayers says that this growing sense of despair that has been creeping into our psyche, she writes “In the world it is called tolerance but in hell it is called despair.”
The text this morning centers around a promise God made to Abraham. In fact several promises were made to Abraham from God.
Genesis 12:7- God called him out of one place (UR) and took him to unknown place. (75 years old).
Genesis 17:5-6- Promises that many descendants (Future people) would be blessed. (25 years Abraham and Sarah waited. He was now 100 years old.)
His blessings and His promises have come down to us today, the descendants of Abraham through Jesus Christ.
God is not able to swear by anything higher than Himself that… scripture says “Since there was no one greater than himself to swear by, he swear by himself saying, I will surely bless you and give you many descendants.”
And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised.”
There is that hard word patience- “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, and mount up on wings as eagles.”
25 years, I did the math- it is a long time to wait for a promise.
We miss out on the blessings of God because we cannot wait for the blessings of God. (Repeat)
We go ahead of what God wants to do and a lot of times forfeit what God wants to do.
There is no higher authority than God- Amen! He swears on his own reputation that the promises that He has made to us will come to pass. He warns us that swearing by higher authority is dangerous. (You have heard people say- maybe even yourself-)
I swear to God!
I swear on my mother’s grave.
I swear on the life of my child… dangerous because God takes oaths and promises made to Him seriously and holds us to our word.
There are two unchangeable things in God’s oaths to mankind.
God cannot lie.
The promises made to us are binding because of the character of God.
Jesus Christ tells us we have hope!
Our hope is anchored in Jesus.
Anchor was a symbol of hope- large ships depend on their anchor.
An anchor stabilizes you in a storm and won’t let the storm take you away.
You may have to ride out the waves, but it won’t let it capsize and you be lost and floating in the storm.
Illustration-
When I lived in Texas, I went deep sea fishing with some friends from work. I had never been out of the bay and into the ocean that could be some rough water at times.
I was told to take sea-sick medicine.
I was advised to put these patches behind my ear.
Don’t stare at any one spot for long as to catch the motion of the boat.
My friend had gone out many times and laughed because I was concerned about getting sick.
I had heard once you are sick, you will be sick the whole trip.
He said real men don’t get sick
If you do, it doesn’t last long
Just relax. So I was nervous and set out to have a good time but I said a prayer to myself as I got on the boat and trust the Lord for a good time.
To make a long story short- I did not get sick! Praise God! But my friend did. As he began getting a little green around the edges- I began taunting him-
It won’t last long.
Real men don’t get seasick- you must be getting the flu.
Want something to eat?
You need to just relax and enjoy the time.
I know, Jesus has dealt with me about this years ago.
I want my anchor to hold! I want my anchor secure in Jesus and if He wants to double knot the anchor, it is okay with me.
The Psalmist David in Psalm 11:3 “When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do?”
What do you do when unexpected circumstances come your way?
Sickness, rebellion, death, divorce?
When storms beat against the ship of your life, do you have Jesus as your anchor?
When Abraham couldn’t see it, when time was turning into years, Abraham chose to believe God.
Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed God.
He was fully persuaded that God had the power to do what He said He would do and what He had promised.
“The God who calls things that are not as thou they are.”
We have this hope and His name is Jesus!
My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetest frame but wholly lean on Jesus Name.
On Christ the solid Rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.
We want Jesus to be the anchor in the rough times, but He desires to be the anchor of every part of our lives-
Let me read a portion of this text again-
(17)- “Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.”
Don’t miss this!
We are His heirs! We are his children.
He has and will keep all of His promises to His heirs.
It is offered as hope for those times we are discouraged and seem like we are walking in the dark.
The anchor is firm and secure. Amen!
Under old Jewish law and tradition- only the high priest may enter into the holy of holies, the most sacred place of God’s Holy Temple.
Jesus was the forerunner- the Hebrew word forerunner is “Prodromos”-it has three stages of meaning.
One who rushes in
Pioneer
A scout who goes ahead to make sure that it is safe for others to follow.
I do not know of any other way to say it- Before Jesus came to this earth, the high priest was the only one-
The Holy of Holies refers to the back, inner room of the tabernacle starting with Solomon's Temple. The Holy of Holies was a perfect cube, and contained the Ark of the Covenant.
According to the law God gave Moses, only the High Priest could enter the Most Holy Place, and only once per year on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur).
Before entering, the High Priest washed, put on special clothing, and gathered incense and the blood from a sacrificed animal.
Once inside the Holy of Holies, the high priest burned the incense, then he sprinkled the blood on the mercy seat of the ark.
This act was part of a ceremony completed every year where the Israelites as a nation would ask God for forgiveness of their sins.
The Holy of Holies was separated from the rest of the tabernacle by a large veil.
The veil was woven from fine linen and blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, and decorated with intricate embroidery featuring an image of gold cherubim.
The veil guarded the people from accessing the Ark of the Covenant and coming into the presence of God.
When Jesus hung and died on the cross, the veil tore from top to bottom. Matthew 27:50-51 says, "And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split."
By tearing the veil, God dramatically showed that people no longer needed a barrier to keep them from accessing God.
Jesus leads us directly to God. Hebrews 10:19-20 (NIV) says, "we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body."
The Holy of Holies served as a representation of God's presence with the nation of Israel.
The veil protected the sinful people of Israel from God's holiness.
The death of Jesus upon the cross ended the need for this method of forgiveness, opening access to God for all who would believe in Jesus as God's Son (John 3:16).
Hope in Jesus is the anchor of your soul- we need not be troubled by the chaos, danger, around us.
Our lives are steadied by looking forward and upward because of our heavenly calling and following of Jesus Christ.
Our anchor is firm and secure when it is in Jesus- I did not say it- God said it!
God cannot lie- it is his character and though the storm rages His word does not waver.
Just because you at times cannot see the anchor or feel the anchor- it is planted in the solid Rock of Jesus Christ and He will not let you drift far from His promises.
Instead of relying on the blood of an animal covering your sin, you now have Jesus forgiving your sin through His blood on the cross.
It is forgiven and forgotten and being in His presence is the greatest gift God can give each one of us who claims Jesus as Lord.
As we close, we ought to be praising the Lord for what He has done for us!
So many are putting their hope and trust is stuff- Open your heart this morning and let Jesus be Lord and let Him be your anchor in all storms and all decisions of your life.
Prayer-
