Hebrews 6:13-20

Jesus:  the Anchor of Your Soul

The Heidelberg Catechism begins:

Question 1:  What is your only comfort in life and in death?

Answer 1:  That I, with body and soul, both in life and in death, am not my own, but belong to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ, who with His precious blood has fully satisfied for all my sins, and redeemed me from all the power of the devil; and so preserves me that without the will of my Father in heaven not a hair can fall from my head; indeed, that all things must work together for my salvation.  Wherefore, by His Holy Spirit, He also assures me of eternal life, and makes me heartily willing and ready from now on to live unto Him.

Have you ever been plagued with such serious and weighty doubts of your salvation that your troubles could only be described as the "dark night of the soul"?  Have you ever wondered how you could possibly be welcomed into the loving arms of a holy God who dwells in inapproachable light and in whom there is no darkness at all?  Have you ever thought that a sin you have committed was so horrible that God could not possibly forgive you? 

Or, have you ever wondered if it is all true?  Could it be true that a sacrifice of a man 2,000 years ago really affect me today?  Could he have really been raised from the dead and ascended into heaven?  Can the Bible really be trusted or is it just a bunch of words of dead men from days long ago? 

If you find yourself this morning sailing through life without a care in the world, moving from one level of victory to the next in the sanctification process, conquering one battle after another with very little effort, then this sermon is probably not for you.  But if you truly struggle with life itself, often with heavy burdens, eyes filled with tears, a groaning within that never seems to find relief, and questions that never seem to be answered, then by all means, listen on.

For the preacher to the Hebrew Christians writes to those who are so assailed by the burdens and troubles of life that they are willing to throw in the towel.  They have had enough and the pains of life have now become so overwhelming that it seems to them that the only answer is to leave Christ altogether and return to their old life.  They have grown cold to the fiery warmth of the gospel.  The sweetness of Christ no longer is savored in their mouth.  The hearing of the good news is now deadened in their dull hearing.  Times are so bad, that they are actually considering falling away from Christ, crucifying him all over again and putting him to open shame.  When the trials of life become so great, the only answer they can come up with is disloyalty to the Savior who bought them with His precious blood.

So what could the preacher possibly tell them this morning that would provide them with an anchor to keep them from drifting away from the glorious good news they have heard?  What do you need to hear in the dark night of your soul to shine light upon you and keep you from throwing it all away?

In v. 12, the preacher reminds you of the promise of God which can only be received through faith and patience in difficult times.  Faith and Patience!  How could you possibly have that when all the answers seem to be so empty?  How can you possibly hang on yet another day, even another hour?  What could possibly be strong enough to settle you and give you rest in the midst of the storm?

Perhaps the answer is to find some way to deaden your senses to the storm so that you no longer feel the pain.  But you know that the only problem with that answer is that when the medication wears off the tempest will still be crashing in among you and you will need only stronger medication the next time.

Or perhaps the answer is to try and find some way to get rid of the bad circumstances in your life.  To try and find a way to remove them or to just get away from it all and get some peace.  The only problem with that is that you might have something that you can't get rid of or you can't run away from.

So what is the answer?

The preacher wants you to consider father Abraham this morning (READ vv. 13-15).  Put yourself in his shoes for a moment and walk in them long enough that you can see what comforted him in his doubts and in the terror that struck his life in dark times.  This is not the only place where the preacher will use Abraham's life as an illustration for your life.  He will do so again in chaps. 7 & 11, which we will look at a latter time.

But let's consider some of Abraham's journey this morning.  Turn to Gen. 12.  (READ vv. 1-4).  Think about what God commanded Abraham to do:  Abraham was 75 years old when God came to him and told him to leave all that he had ever know and to take his family and go to a land he had no knowledge of.  Without any former knowledge of God, Abraham steps out in faith with only a promise in hand that God would give him a land and a people of his own.  

Through many hardships he finally calls upon the name of the Lord late one night and asks God to give him an assurance that the Lord will do all that he promised Abraham.  So he comes to him and promises Abraham that he will surely do all he said:  READ Gen. 15:5-21. 

Here God not only makes a promise but he takes an oath -- a self-maledictorial oath -- meaning that he promises to do all that he said and God stakes his own life on the promise.  If he doesn't fulfill what he promises Abraham He will become like all the beasts which were cut in two.  Abraham can trust God's word because he stakes his own life on it.

Abraham's faith is tested again but no greater test was he given than the command to sacrifice his only son, Isaac.  READ Gen. 22:1-14.  Then God says to Abraham -- READ vv. 15-18.  Here God renews the promise to Abraham and he once again swears he will fulfill all of it.  The language is the same to the oaths that we are al familiar with in our day and time when we stand up in court, raise our right hand, and swear an oath to tell all the truth and nothing but the truth, so help us God.

God stands before Abraham, raises his right hand, and swears an oath to Abraham that he will fulfill all that he has promised Abraham.  But how could God swear an oath?  An oath is sworn when the one taking the oath must call upon a higher authority as his witness to the truth.  But what higher authority could God appeal to to give testimony to the truth of God?  Whose name would God call upon as a witness that he will fulfill all he said he would do?

That's what the preacher to the Hebrews clarifies in our passage:  when God made his promise to Abraham, since he could swear by no one greater than himself, he took the oath and swore by himself. 

Do you hear this incredible promise to you this morning?  You have probably heard many in your life make promises, maybe you even made some yourself, with no intention of fulfilling them.  But God makes a promise to Abraham and stakes his very life upon the fulfillment of that promise.  God will do it or he will die!  God will give to Abraham and his seed everything he said or He will be no more.  And if God is no more, then what does it matter if the promise is fulfilled or not?

Abraham's unshakable assurance was grounded in God's irrevocable promise.  Abraham could stake the future of the promise in God's Word which cannot fail.  Therefore, even when it seemed as if everything in the world was set against the promise, Abraham could rest assured that God will do all of it.  Because God said it, Abraham could wait patiently on the Lord (v. 15).

Even in the world, we make promises and when we bind ourselves to it with an oath, that promise is as good as done (v. 16).  When we call upon the name of God to confirm a promise that is made, because of the solemnity of the oath we are sure to fulfill it to the best of our ability.  After all, a man is only as good as his word. 

And God confirms his promises the same way -- by taking an oath that He will do it (v. 17).  But notice what the preacher does in v. 17 -- he moves from speaking of the promise originally made to Abraham to you as heirs of that promise.  Because God was moved, even more than to Abraham, to show you -- the heirs of the promise -- that he is as good as his word -- He has given you his oath that he will do it (v. 18).  He has stood before you and taken an oath that He will surely do all He has promised you. 

How can you be sure that Jesus has atoned for all your sins, that his obedience is your obedience, that because he has blazed a new trail into heaven that you will surely have a home in heaven for all eternity?  Because God has promised you and has taken an oath that he will surely do it.

You can be assured forever that your sins are paid in full.  The atoning sacrifice has been made at Calvary.  It is all finished.  You can be sure that His obedience is your obedience.  All the work you need to do is complete in Jesus.  The age to come is yours.  Heaven is yours.  Eternal life is your assured hope. 

How can you be sure?  Because God has said it and taken and oath that he will do it and by these two unchangeable things you can bank your eternity on it -- for it is impossible for God to lie.  You can be sure because Jesus Christ is your unchangeable, unshakable, irrevocable promise of God. 

Any other thing in this world will one day fail and come to nothing.  That includes all your good works and all your laboring in this life.  Your righteousness will become dingy and dirty.  Your love will grow cold.  Your truth telling will become lies.  Your holiness will become sin.  If you are going to bank your eternity on anything found in you, it will prove empty in the end.  So don't flee to your own self-righteousness and good works as your hope of heaven.

Instead flee only to the eternal rock of salvation -- flee for refuge in Christ alone.  That's why God has given you His word -- so that you can have all encouragement and hope to take hold of Christ who is set before you.  God has given you his Son -- what more could he give.

Paul said,

Romans 8:31-39  What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?  32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?  33 Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies;  34 who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.  35 Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?  36 Just as it is written, "FOR YOUR SAKE WE ARE BEING PUT TO DEATH ALL DAY LONG; WE WERE CONSIDERED AS SHEEP TO BE SLAUGHTERED."  37 But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.  38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,  39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Don't hang on to anything else in life -- everything in this world will soon disappoint!  Hang on to only Jesus Christ -- He will never disappoint.  Trust Him.  Be Patient!  He will prove faithful to the very end.

It is this hope -- Jesus Christ -- that God has given to you as an anchor for your soul! (v. 19).  A hope that is both sure and steadfast because it is grounded forever in Christ.

With these nautical terms, you can almost imagine the preacher as a captain of a ship being tossed too and fro by the crashing waves of a terrible storm.  The ship is near shore but the storm is too dangerous to drop down the boats and row to shore.  So the captain cries out to the shipmen to hang on to the rails of the ship.  "Hang on less you be carried away by the storm!" he cries.  And the shipmen think that as long as they hang on they will be safe.  But what they don't know is that the captain has ordered the anchor of the ship to be dropped to floor of the ocean.  And it is the anchor, safely resting on the bottom of the ocean floor that is keeping the ship from be carried away at sea.  While the sailors are holding on for dear life, what is holding them is an anchor safely secure below keeping them alive.

The anchor of your life is Jesus Christ and it is safely secured and at rest in heaven in the holiest of places -- at the very throne of the majesty on high.  Your salvation is anchored to God's throne.  No matter what comes your way -- no matter how terrible the storm of life -- you are going no where but with Jesus because He has you in the palm of his hand.

The preacher further describes your glorious hope in that Jesus has entered in through the veil -- the curtain of the holy place.  The veil of the temple represents an impenetrable wall that God has erected between God and man.  Because God is holy, He has separated himself by a His wall of justice that no man can penetrate.  A barrier that no man can go over or below or around on either side.  A thick curtain that no sinner can ever enter.

So what are we to do?  How can we ever arrive on the other side and enter into fellowship with God?

The answer has been given by God Himself.  He came from heaven and clothed Himself with your flesh -- He became like you in everything except your sin -- so that He might take your punishment upon Himself -- so that your cross would become His.  And He lived the life you should have lived -- He perfectly obeyed God in every way and because of His perfect work God has raised Him from the dead and He has ascended into heaven and broken through that impenetrable wall.  He has torn down the veil and entered in so that through Him heaven's doors have now be swung open to all who enter in through faith. 

Jesus Christ, your heavenly high priest, has entered into the holy place for you.  The sacrifice has been made for all yours sins -- paid in full.  His obedience is yours so that you can actually say, "There is my obedience.  There is my righteousness in Jesus my forerunner who has entered into heaven behind the veil that I may be with him forevermore" (v. 20).  And now through him you will arrive safely within the doors of heaven to have eternal fellowship with God.

There is no doubting this promise -- God has said it and he has forever sealed it with the blood of His Son.  You can rest on the assured promise of God and know that He will do all He has promised -- for it is impossible for God to lie.

Amen!  -SDG-