Anchored by Hope

Well I ain't afraid of dying, it's the thought of being dead I wanna go on being me once my eulogy's been read Don't spread my ashes out to sea, don't lay me down to rest You can put my mind at ease if you fill my last request

Prop me up beside the jukebox if I die Lord I wanna go to Heaven, but I don't wanna go tonight

We like the idea of heaven, but we don’t want to experience it right away.

Could it be that we don’t think of heaven as a destination because we are not anchored to the One who made a way for us to get there?

Today I want to share with you a single verse that has been on my heart and mind all week.

Hebrews 6:19 (NASB95)

19 This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil,

Anchor

How many of you know what an anchor is?

I find it interesting that there are many different kinds of anchors that are floating around. Well not floating, but dropped into the water in order to hold a ship or boat in its place. That is the purpose of the ancho.

anchor - holds a ship in place

The anchor keeps the ship from being dragged off by the wind and waves. It really is an amazing invention that has been used for thousands of years.

As I mentioned before, there are many different types of anchors not only used for different types of ships or boats, but also for different types of terrain under the water.

From my research there are four main categories for anchors.

Grapnel

Plough

Patent

Stock

According to yachtingnews.com,

“we can’t have an anchor stock for any kind of bottom but we can choose a main anchor, one or two additional ones.”

Depending on the size of the ship, it can have up to three different kinds of anchors in order to keep it from drifting away.

An anchor is simple in design, but powerful in its function.

The anchor is most important as a critical item of safety gear. If you should lose power, it’s the anchor that’s going to keep your boat from drifting into peril, be it rocks or another shoal, or the dangers of a surf-swept shoreline.

Jesus is the Anchor of Hope

I know you are probably thinking, “Pastor, what does this have to do with my life?”

A lot actually.

You see, in life there are waves and storms that come and go. And if we are not anchored properly, it will cause us to get lost in the sea of life.

Think about it.

Life is crazy and things happen beyond our control and sometimes, just like a boat, we can lose power, we can lose steam, and just plain get wore out.

If we do not have an anchor to keep us from drifting into even more chaos, we will be crushed by the waves of life!

Like a ship with more than one anchor, we tend to throw down anything we can find to try and keep us from drifting or keep us from capsizing this boat called life.

Relationships

Money

Drugs

Work

Family

Ministry

Church

I could go on and on. We just hope one of these things will keep us safe and secure from the waves and storms of this life.

But here is the difference between a real anchor, and this anchor of hope that the writer of Hebrews is describing.

There is only One anchor we need.

There is only One anchor we need in this life that will keep you from being dragged out into the sea of life. Especially when you lose power. His name is Jesus.

One Bible commentator says an anchor “was an ancient Christian symbol for safety, security, and hope. It has been found on the walls of the Roman catacombs. This word brings to mind the hymnal Haven of Rest where it says,

"I've anchored my soul in the haven of rest,

I'll sail the wild seas no more.

The tempest may sweep o'er the wild stormy deep,

But in Jesus I'm safe evermore.”

As I mentioned before, Jesus is that anchor. Jesus is the anchor of hope.

Some may be asking this morning, “Why Jesus? Why is He the hope and not someone or something else?”

God’s promises

Short answer. Because of the promises of God.

Let’s go back a few verses. Listen to what the words of the writer.

Hebrews 6:13–18 NASB95

13 For when God made the promise to Abraham, since He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, 14 saying, “I will surely bless you and I will surely multiply you.” 15 And so, having patiently waited, he obtained the promise. 16 For men swear by one greater than themselves, and with them an oath given as confirmation is an end of every dispute. 17 In the same way God, desiring even more to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose, interposed with an oath, 18 so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us.

The key phrase in these passages is “He swore by Himself”. In other words, when God makes a promise, He is dependable in having that promise be fulfilled.

When God swears on Himself, He cannot and will not change His mind.

We see an example of this in the book of Psalms.

Psalm 110:4 NASB95

4 The Lord has sworn and will not change His mind, “You are a priest forever According to the order of Melchizedek.”

Our hope resides in the unchanging character of God! God is who He says He is. God will do what He says He will do. He is unchanging in His promises!

2 Corinthians 1:20 NASB95

20 For as many as are the promises of God, in Him they are yes; therefore also through Him is our Amen to the glory of God through us.

But pastor, I have had people make promises to me before and broke those promises. Me too.

My own mom promised me once to take me to a Chicago Cubs game when I was in grade school. I had won season tickets and finally my mom took me to Wrigley Field and I was excited. I was able to see my favorite Cubs players:

Ryne Sandberg, Andre Dawson, and Mark Grace.

We get to the gate and my mom handed over the tickets and at that moment the gatekeeper said, “You can’t bring in any outside drinks.” My mom brought her own six pack of Diet Pepsi.

You will never guess what happened. She refused to throw it away so we turned around and went home.

I was so close to the promise! And just like that…broken dreams.

Maybe that has happened to you in other ways.

Someone promised to be there and wasn’t

Someone promised to help out and they left you high and dry

Maybe you were promised a new position at work

We all have been let down by people. Side note, I wonder how often we make promises that we don’t fulfill?

But here is the BEST thing about God.

Numbers 23:19 NASB95

19 “God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent; Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?

God is a PROMISE KEEPER!

Say that with me:

God is a PROMISE KEEPER

At the end of the day, God has kept EVERY promise that He has ever made up to this point. There is more coming!

At the beginning of the service I asked the question, “How many are excited to go to Heaven?”

Jesus promises us He will return again for His bride, for His church. He told us

John 14:1–6 NASB95

1 “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 “In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. 3 “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also. 4 “And you know the way where I am going.” 5 Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, how do we know the way?” 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.

Jesus is coming back! That is a promise!

We need to grasp that God has come through every time on every promise and will come through on every promise not yet fulfilled. He does not change. Jesus does not change.

Hebrews 13:8 NASB95

8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

No matter what is going on in this crazy world. In all the division and chaos in this world, we can rest assure Jesus is not going through a mid life crisis or any crisis. He remains the same.

This is why He we should make Him the anchor of our soul!

Hebrews 6:18 NASB95

18 so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us.

Be encouraged today and take hold of Jesus no matter what you are going through. He is not just any hope, but a very specific hope. And like an anchor, He is secure and firm. An anchor for our soul.

Anchor of our Soul

When we come to Christ, we can anchor our souls to Him.

“Hope accomplishes for the soul the same thing which an anchor does for a ship. It makes it fast and secure. An anchor preserves a ship when the waves beat and the wind blows, and as long as the anchor holds, so long the ship is safe, and the mariner apprehends no danger. So with the soul of the Christian. In the tempests and trials of life, his mind is calm as long as his hope of heaven is firm. If that gives way, he feels that all is lost.” - ALbert Barnes (Commentator)

Jesus is the anchor in the waves of life. When your soul is anchored to Christ, all is never lost.

We have to define what soul is to really understand this concept.

The soul is the life that is inside of you. It is what makes you, you. According to the Greek it is:

the seat of the feelings, desires, affections, aversions (dislikes)

Jesus desires to be the anchor of hope in who we are as living creatures.

Think about it. If you are anchored, firm, secured, knowing that you will not drift away, and that anchor is trustworthy, what room is left for anxiety or fear?

When you go through the storms of life and your soul - feelings, desires, likes, dislikes - are anchored in Christ, you will find yourself saying things like “The anchor will hold”.

All this week I have been singing, rather poorly I might add, “The anchor holds”. When I go through the storms of life I find myself saying the phrase, “Keep moving forward”.

I am able to do this because my hope is anchored in Jesus.

Church, when your hope is anchored in Christ, you can rest assure that you will be firm and secured.

Anchored by Hope

We live in such a time of uncertainty, chaos, division, confusion…no wonder that our communities are battling with anxiety, depression, and stress.

Our friends, families, neighbors, are literally grabbing for anything that will hold them down and trying to secure themselves. The problem is everything they grab gives way.

Hope wrongly applied will often leave us worse than when we first started.

This reminds me of when Jesus and Peter walked on water.

Matthew 14:25–31 NASB95

25 And in the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea. 26 When the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out in fear. 27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.” 28 Peter said to Him, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” 29 And He said, “Come!” And Peter got out of the boat, and walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30 But seeing the wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” 31 Immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him, and said to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”

Everything was going fine until Peter took His eyes off of Jesus. Once Peter’s eyes were removed from the anchor, doubt and fear began to set in.

We can learn from this story to keep our eyes locked onto Christ, fastened to the Him, our firm and secure hope.

In a world that is so complex…this is pretty straight forward. And it is Good News.

Just like an anchor is simple in its design and powerful in function, so is the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Simple in design; POWERFUL in its function.

Closing

In a moment I am going to close this message. If the worship team would come up.

For some of you this is going to be a defining moment. You have been going through life’s storm trying to grasp to everything and anything to give you stability. But everything you grab seems to break free and you are just drifting through life being battered by the waves of despair, fear, anxiety, depression.

The Good News is you can get anchored to Christ today no matter how battered and torn you are.

Matthew 11:28–30 NASB95

28 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. 29 “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

In life people will let us down.

Maybe that is you today. Someone you have trusted let you down. They made a promise and never came through on it.

Maybe someone has lied to you, misled you, or even manipulated you.

Maybe you are here this morning and you are dealing with anxiety and depression.

Maybe you are feeling fearful of people, places, or situations. This world is going crazy right now and fear has filled the bow of your life.

If you identify with any of these situations, I want you to know today it doesn’t make you weak, gullible, stupid, or broken.

It simply means you are human.

It means that you are the exact type of person that Jesus came to die for.

In the book of Mark chapter five there is a story of a woman who had a physical affliction with bleeding. For 12 years she spent all her money on doctors with no relief. She was putting her all her hope in people. She was ostracized in her community and even in her family, set a side and forgotten about.

According to the Levitical Law, anything she touched became unclean because she was deemed unclean.

But then Jesus showed up. It was her defining moment. Nothing else worked. Everybody else let her down…but Jesus. She pressed and pushed her way through the crowd in order to just touch the hem of His garment, because she heard the story from someone that He could provide hope for healing.

If I can just get to Jesus! I can find hope and healing.

She does find both.

Jesus restores her not just physically, but socially as well.

Jesus is our hope, firm and secure. And this is the hope we grab onto. Even if it is just the hem of His garment.

If you have Jesus, then that is more than enough.

Have you made Jesus the anchor of your hope yet?

Call to prayer

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