Hope--The Secure Anchor of Our Soul

HOPE-THE SECURE ANCHOR OF OUR SOUL Spring Valley Mennonite; January 26, 2020; Hebrews 6:13-20 “Who can you trust these days?” How do you know who is telling the truth? I read this week of a wealthy farmer in Missouri who has been making millions marketing organic corn and soybeans. But he found a way to avoid inspection of his production, buying tons of corn and beans that were non-organic and reselling as organic. He spent his ill-gotten wealth on Los Vegas gambling trips and immoral pursuits. His friends, neighbors, and fellow-church members were shocked at this development, as he had successfully put on a front of honesty and community involvement. Who can you trust? In light of the current political and cultural climate, there is a tendency to be skeptical and cynical about life. Can a Christian escape this cynicism and negative outlook about life? What is the basis for any optimism and hope for the future? This morning, I want to explore the subject of Hope. Next Sunday afternoon the Kansas City Chiefs will face the San Francisco Forty-niners in Superbowl LIV (54). I realize that is more important to some of us than to others. But I HOPE the Chiefs win that game. I HOPE this next season that the Royals will win the World Series as they did several years ago. I also have certain hopes regarding the elections of this next year. I HOPE that we will avoid the flooding rains we experienced last year, and I HOPE my basement will remain dry, unlike last year. But, I have no certainty about these things, they are more like “wishes.” These are examples of what the world thinks about when it hears the word “hope”. Kids know about hope. Here’s a poem that links baseball, kids and hope: I passed a sand lot yesterday, Some kids were playing ball I strolled among the third base line Within the fielder’s call; “Say, what’s the score?” I asked. He yelled to beat the stuffin’: “There’s no one out; the bases full, They’re leading forty-two to nothing’!” “You’re getting beat, aren’t you my friend?” And then in no time flat, He answered, “No sir, not as yet! Our side hasn’t been up to bat!” Often the Christian life seems like those kids playing ball; the other side seems to be racking up runs, and we’re still standing in the outfield, wondering when our time at bat will come. It often seems like the bad guys are winning, and the good guys are losing. We get discouraged and beat down, and it is a temptation to slip into a depressed and pessimistic frame of mind. But I believe that Christians have every reason to be unshakable optimists; to be people who can face each day with confidence and joy through whatever life throws at us. I’m talking about the concept of HOPE. Hope is the anchor that keeps us from drifting in the storms and strong currents that would carry us away. “Hope” is the main subject we can carry away from our passage today, Hebrews 6:13-20. I need to read verses 11 and 12 first to give us a context in which to examine the verses following (Read). We are encouraged that we can be assured to the end by our hope as we look to others who through faith and patience inherited the promises of God. With that context, listen and Follow along as I read verses 13-20. Notice especially verse 19: “This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil.” I. WHAT IS CHRISTIAN HOPE? There are only a handful of instances where the New Testament uses the “wishing” definition of hope: King Herod “hoped” that he would see Jesus do some miracle when Pilate sent Jesus to him. The Roman Governor Felix “hoped” Paul would offer him a bribe. Both men were disappointed. This is not what the Bible means by “hope.” In the vast majority of examples, the Bible uses this definition of hope: “Hope is the certain and eager expectation of God fulfilling all His promises.” See the difference? Biblical hope is CERTAINTY THAT GOD WILL KEEP HIS PROMISES. You see, Christian hope is rooted in the very character of God. This is the force of verses 13-15, where the basis of the Abrahamic Covenant, God’s promise to Abraham, is God’s Person. There is no one greater than God. He invented truth. Some of the Jews to which this letter was written were not sure they could fully trust Jesus for their salvation and could abandon Judaism. They were now being taught by the followers of Jesus that the Old Covenant had been fulfilled and superseded by the New Covenant. Could they trust this new teaching completely? We may ask the same question: can we trust Jesus for our eternal salvation? The basis of our hope and trust is the very character of God: When God makes a promise, He not only WILL keep that promise, He MUST keep His promises! Verse 18 states that God cannot lie, He cannot deviate from His promises, so it is IMPOSSIBLE FOR ANYONE WHO TRULY TRUSTS IN CHRIST NOT TO BE SAVED!!! Think about God’s promise to Abraham as stated in verses 14 and 15: I will surely bless you and I will surely multiply you. The context is found in Genesis 22: God has told Abraham to offer Isaac, the son of promise, as a sacrifice. Not understanding but trusting God, Abraham bound Isaac, laid him upon the stone altar and raised his knife to slay him—and God halted him, and provided a ram for the sacrifice. We are told later that Abraham trusted that God would raise Isaac from the dead if he had gone through with the sacrifice. As a result of Abraham’s faith, demonstrated by obedience, God made the promise, and said, “By Myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son, Indeed I will greatly bless you and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens, and as the sand which is on the seashore and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies. And in your seed, all the nations of the earth shall be blessed because you have obeyed My voice.” Did God keep His promise to bless and multiply the descendants of Abraham? Through Isaac, then Jacob and through the 12 tribes of Israel have come the millions of Abraham’s descendants. The fulfillment of that promise is the very story of the Old Testament which continues into the New Testament. The blessing the world enjoys through Christ, forgiveness of sin and salvation, is the fuller answer to the fulfillment of the Covenant. In a lesser sense, as we are salt and light in the world, we bring God’s blessing to those around us. The hospitals founded and run by Christians, the civilizing effect of the gospel, the elevating of the status of women, the waterwheels built by Mark Penner, the reconstruction of buildings in Abonito Puerto Rico, and even the comforters we tied last weekend—all are examples of the world being blessed. II. TWO UNCHANGABLE THINGS SUPPORT OUR HOPE Read vv. 16-18. The two unchangeable things are God’s promise and His pledge, His promise and His oath. They are immutable, without any possibility of change or variance. MacArthur points out, “The term (unchangeable-Greek ametathetos) ( ah-meta-thee-tos) was used in relation to wills. Once properly made, a will was ametathetos, unchangeable by anyone but the maker. God has declared His promise and His pledge to be ametathetos, even by Himself. They cannot be turned around or altered. “You are secure,” He says. “Come to Christ; there’s nothing to fear. I’ll hold you; I’ll never let go of you.” Our security is not in our never letting go of God but in His never letting go of us.1“ III. HOPE IS OUR ANCHOR God speaks to us today in verse 18: we are to take hold of the hope set before us: all that God tells us will take place in our future. This sure hope is to be like an anchor to our souls. Hope always has a focus on the future. Romans 8:24-25 links our future with our hope: “For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one also hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.” As we understand the word picture here in verse 18, we begin to appreciate what God is saying. The illustration of an anchor is taken from the world of sailing vessels and the sea. We have the picture of a ship reaching its destination and entering a harbor for safe anchorage. In the days before man learned how to dredge out channels through the sand in the entrances to harbors, the ships were completely at the mercy of the tides. Today, tug- boats tow ships into harbor. But in those days, often there wasn’t enough water at a lowering tide for a ship to safely get through the entrance to the harbor without grounding out on the sand. If a ship desired to enter a harbor, they had to catch the tide just right, and even then, it was a risky business in finding a favorable wind that would propel them exactly through the narrow opening. If they chose wrong, they could suffer shipwreck on the rocks. It is difficult for us to appreciate the difficulty faced by a ship in those days. Sailors devised an ingenious solution to this problem. When a ship desired to enter such a shallow harbor, it would send a small boat through the shallow entrance carrying a long rope attached to an anchor. The anchor was placed within the harbor in deeper water, or sometimes attached to a large rock. When the tide turned the ship was safely guided by the anchored rope into the harbor. Look now at verse 19: Hope is said to “enter within the veil where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us…” Remember the heavy veil which separated the two parts of the temple, the holy place from the most holy place where the ark rested beneath the two statues of angels. This veil symbolically separated a Holy God from sinful man. Only the High Priest could enter the Holy Place, and that only once a year on the Day of Atonement. The High Priest carried the blood of a sacrificial bull and a sacrificial goat to atone for the sins of the people. This ceremony happened year after year, as it only temporarily covered sin. A remarkable thing happened in the Temple the moment Jesus Christ breathed His last breath: that separating veil was ripped from top to bottom! The way was opened for our direct access to God through the once-for-all sacrifice of Jesus. Jesus died as a final sacrifice for all sin, and when He ascended into heaven, God the Son entered the heavenly temple into the holy presence of God the Father. Verse 20 calls Jesus the “forerunner.” Do you know what they called that small boat which carried the anchor into the harbor of safety? They called it the “Forerunner!” What does this all mean to us? Our relationship with Jesus Christ as Savior assures us that we are anchored by Jesus in heaven. Colossians 1:27 tells us that it is “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Jesus carried the rope and anchor into heaven, and we are tethered to heaven by HOPE: the certainty that God will keep every one of His promises to us. In death, Jesus will pull us in to heaven. What a wonderful illustration God has given us for our future! We are often caught in the tidal currents of circumstances and are in danger of being either swept out to sea or of running aground. Hope is the anchor that holds us steady; the sure certainty that God will fulfill His promises sustains us in the strong currents of circumstances. Hope gives us a heavenly perspective on life today, and for the future. No matter how bad things may get in this life, those things are only temporary. We will live eternally with Jesus if we are anchored to the Rock in heaven. There are many of these anchoring certainties—promises that give our soul stability. There is the certainty that we will be reunited with our loved ones who have died in the faith. There is the certainty that in the resurrection and our eternal home there will be no sin, no death, pain, sorrow, sickness, tears or “good-byes.” God promises the very instant we breathe our last, we will be with Jesus in heaven. Ephesians 1:18 speaks of the “riches of our glorious inheritance.” All these promises anchor our soul in heaven. But there is one certainty that Scripture calls, IV. “THE BLESSED HOPE” Titus 2:13 encourages us to be “looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus…” Jesus promised He would return to earth and establish His Kingdom. As certain as the sun will rise tomorrow morning, Jesus will physically return to earth. The one great event, that which supersedes all others, toward which the Church is to look is the Second Coming of Christ. The events that both precede and follow His glorious appearing provide one of the most fascinating and motivating studies in the Bible. In that day, Jesus Christ will wind up history and usher in His glorious earthly kingdom. The hope of Christ’s return is mentioned over 300 times in the scriptures, on the average, once every 13 verses of the New Testament. This event is to be prepared for, anticipated, prayed for (even so come Lord Jesus), and it is to be a great motivation—perhaps the greatest motivation we have to holy living. The wise Christian will not engage in anything that he would not want the Lord Jesus to find him doing when He returns. This prophetic certainty—this blessed hope—provides a stable anchor to our perspective of human history and for a perspective on present world events. For instance, the Bible says that Israel will be right in the center of the events of the end times, therefore Israel had to be reestablished as a nation and Israel will survive to be around. God promises a blessing to those nations which are friends to Israel. Without knowing the Jesus is going to return, that all evil will be punished, that all accounts will be settles, that all men will bend the knee to King Jesus—without knowing all this will happen, life does not make sense. All the trials and temptations and the seeming random things happening in the world tend to bring only confusion and despair. But we know the end of the story! Jesus is coming back! We will spend eternity with Jesus, living life as we were intended to live, free from sin. We have no idea of the incredible freedom that will give us. This hope should fill each one with great anticipation, optimism and joy, over-shadowing any short-term and temporary problems and disappointments we might experience. Hope is the anchor of our soul: Hope is the certain and eager expectation of God fulfilling all His promises.