Lay Hold to the Anchor

[00:00:00] This audio sermon is provided by AnabaptistSermons.com and may be freely copied and distributed. You may not sell or edit this sermon. Our prayer is that you would be blessed by this ministry. I have been blessed by being here. An amazed, overwhelmed maybe a little bit because I thought I had my message all ready to go and I forget what time it was. [00:00:35] Last night at 8.30 I think. I think I said I'm going to start all over. And I think I know why. Life is rough sometimes, ain't it? [00:01:17] Or is it always rough? It's not always rough. A lot of times it's rough, ain't it? Whether it's sicknesses, disease, whether it's relationships. Anybody else have rough times in the relationships? We do. Ask my children. It's not all bad. [00:01:55] As we work through them, it makes us stronger, draws us closer. I would ask that you would pray for us. We're learning to be honest. We're learning to feel. We're learning to share our feelings. and mom and dad are learning to love unconditionally. [00:02:31] You know that feeling of being loved no matter what? No matter what you do? You know the love of God that when you are sick with cancer, you have faith and hope that does what? What is your anchor? That faith and that hope in God holds you firm. We used to sing that song a lot at Salem, [00:03:05] Will Your Anchor Hold? I think it's song number 46 in the Brown Book. And I always thought that it was talking about God. God is our anchor. If God is our anchor, what's it anchored in? What is your anchor? What is holding you? Do you feel like you're being held in the rough times of life, whether it's relationship or disease or sickness or whatever it is? What's holding you? What holds you there? What makes you feel firm and steadfast and grounded and rooted? If you go out bass fishing to your favorite little spot [00:03:54] and you're in this little rowboat, throw over your little anchor. You want to feel it pull you tight. Strong wind, you're at your favorite spot, you want to stay right there. The wind will blow you right into shore. No fish up at shore. So you throw your anchor over. Have you thrown your anchor this morning? If you have thrown your anchor, and you know what's holding you, [00:04:27] I've got some verses to go with that. I don't know when to share it. I'm all mixed up this morning, and I'm even scared to look down at my notes, thinking it will make me confused. But I feel confused now. So I pray that God will make it all make sense. But you throw your anchor over, you want to feel it pull tight and hold you right there. If you were captain of a ship, and I don't know, what kind of ship, big old ship, [00:05:03] and you got your crew with you, and you're responsible for them, and there is a, I think they call it a gale force wind. What does that mean? Does that just mean huge wind? strong wind and it's pushing you to shore you're headed towards the harbor first of all what's our harbor where are we going where are we headed to anybody know we're headed towards heaven hallelujah that's our destination that's our dry land but we are stuck here on the sea of life [00:05:37] aren't we with sicknesses tosses to and fro and bounces around and stuff But God doesn't want us cast about with every wind of doctrine. He wants us to remain firm and steadfast. But here's this wind blowing us around. The sea's rough and we see the rocks over there. And if our anchor doesn't hold, we'll be smashed in the rocks. [00:06:11] All the crew will die. The ship will go to nothing. or nothing. We will perish. So what is your anchor? The title of the message is Lay Hold to the Anchor. I don't even know where to start. I think I'll read Hebrews 6, 17-20. [00:06:43] I had to think as I was sitting here, what a blessing. I didn't even read, didn't have any verses in Psalms, didn't even look at the Psalms. and LeVon had a verse from Psalm 73. [00:07:15] I didn't follow along, but it said something about it is good to draw near to God and put our trust in Him, put our faith in Him. What is your anchor? What are you holding on to? Or maybe sometimes we hold on to ourselves, Our own reasoning and our own We think we know it all I can handle it myself But we all know that we can't For some reason we're blind Pride blinds us and we think we can hold on to ourselves And so there we are Holding on to everything we've got So that we won't be embarrassed [00:08:01] So that we won't look stupid and feel stupid. That's what we're holding on to. What are we holding on to? Let's read Hebrews 6. Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise. Who are the heirs of promise? That's us. To those that believe. to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability [00:08:35] or the, I want to say the unchangeableness, if that's a word, the immutability of his counsel confirmed it by an oath that by two immutable things, two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, We might have strong consolation or strong comfort who have fled for refuge. Who? Who have fled for refuge? We have. We have fled for refuge. To lay hold of the hope set before us. [00:09:10] Okay, now if we're really, really hungry, say we've fasted for a week, and we go over to Patty's house, and there's this food sitting before us. It's set before us. What are you going to do? Just look at it. You're going to lay hold of that thing now, aren't you? So here it is. The hope set before us. This hope we have as an anchor of the soul. So this hope that's set before us [00:09:43] for us to just take, to have, is our anchor. That's our hope. That's our anchor. This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the presence behind the veil, where the forerunner, who's that? That's Jesus. Where the forerunner has entered for us, [00:10:17] even Jesus, having become high priest, Christ forever according to the order of Melchizedek. Melchizedek. I don't know how to say that. So as you think of, there's so much going through my mind. Okay, so here it is set before us. How do we take it? How are you going to take hold of it? [00:10:51] It's by believing. And believing is what? Believing is faith. Believing is trust. Faith. Believe. Lavan talked a while ago about, I think it was Hebrews 11 and 12, talked about faith. And I wrote it down here, what all he was saying, if I can find it. [00:11:32] He brought up a verse in Hebrews 12, verse 25 in Hebrews 12, it says, See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth. Okay? So, the Israelites refused Moses and what he had to say. And they didn't escape. For if they escaped not, who refused him which spake on earth, much more we, if we turn away from him, that speaketh from heaven. [00:12:11] And then LeVon asked, what kind of punishment are we going to have if we don't believe the voice that speaks straight from heaven? If we don't believe, what's it called? It's not called faith, is it? No, it's not called faith. It's called unbelief. So this hope is basically... Maybe I should have started with my notes. LaVon also referred to reading God's word like eating a Krispy Kreme. [00:12:52] I thought that was a pretty good illustration. Especially you boys. I don't eat a Krispy Kreme by nibbling on it. I know Nate doesn't either. Man, I love Krispy Kremes. No, we're going to devour it. And he even suggested we're going to devour it by reading for hours. Romans 10, 17 [00:13:27] So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. So that's where we get our faith, by hearing. That's it. All we've got to do is hear it. I think that's part of it. What's the other part? We have a choice to believe. We have a choice to lay hold of this faith. So what am I anchored in? [00:14:10] How do I? What makes me feel secure? Am I steadfast and unmovable? What is holding me steadfast? Okay, let's go back in Hebrews. I think we'll, I'm going to fly through Hebrews a little bit. Hopefully you can follow my train of thought. I pray that the Holy Spirit will make it easy for you to understand because this is all new for me since 8.30 of last night. [00:14:45] Well, not all new, but you know what I mean. First of all, in chapter 1, He's explaining here the superiority. How do you say that word? He's superior. Superior. Because of His deity. verse 5 for to which of the angels did he ever say you are my son today I have begotten you [00:15:17] did he say that to the angels verse 6 but when he again brings the firstborn into the world he says let all the angels of God worship him so he's telling the angels to worship his son In verse 8, he says, but to the Son, he says, your throne, O God, and I want to link, I have a little arrow between Son and God. He's calling his Son God. So he is definitely superior to the angels over the prophets in the first part of the chapter. [00:15:54] Then if we go to verse 1 of chapter 2 Therefore, because of that, we must give the more earnest heed Boy, how do you describe that? Have you ever given the most earnest heed? And the fire alarm goes off You give pretty earnest heed or the pager goes off And Dave, he is on the spot right then We must give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest we drift away. [00:16:32] Are we anchored? A question again. Are you anchored? Give the earnest heed to the things we have heard. So what things is he talking about? Latest rumors? Which we can choose to obey or not. Not obey, believe. We can choose to believe them. And how often do we choose to believe something we really don't know about somebody? The same way that we can choose to believe God's Word. [00:17:12] How simple is that? That was kind of a new thought for me. Here I can believe all the ugly stuff about somebody, but it's hard for me to believe that God's Word is really true or that He will really hold me or that if I say that I love Him, I will believe Him. If I believe Him, I'll obey Him. So if I say I love Him and I'm not obeying Him, do I believe Him? Oh yes, I believe God. Am I obeying Him? [00:17:49] So I can believe what I want. Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard. Heard from the Holy Spirit, heard from preachers, heard from parents, heard from friends, heard from brothers and sisters in the church. Give the more earnest heed lest we drift away. For if the words spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward [00:18:26] Now remember what he just got in saying about the angels back here. God never called them sons. So if the angels spoke the word and proved steadfast, Verse 3, How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him. How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? [00:19:00] We all here have heard God speak to us. Every one of us here. How shall we escape if we neglect, if we choose to not believe? Going on to chapter 3, verse 5, And Moses indeed was faithful in all his house as a servant for a testimony of those things which would be spoken afterward. [00:19:36] You ever think of it that way? as fathers maybe. Let's be faithful in all our house as a servant so it can be spoken of us later. So it can be an encouragement to our children. Not for our children to look back and say, why did dad do this? The other thing is, we're not perfect. Even though Christ says we can be perfect. But we're going to make mistakes. We're living in the what? We're living in the flesh. [00:20:06] this wicked flesh and I think that's what makes our hope so more real it's not a hope that boy I wish I could have a new bike or I hope I get a new bike you're not really thinking about that you're really going to hope is expecting something I expect it I expect glory I expect a new body I expect that when I get to heaven I don't have to mess with this flesh anymore resisting this and resisting this and devil comes this way and people say mean things and I gotta fight through all that and trust in the Lord. I'm tired of it. [00:20:44] I can't wait to get the glory. Not that I'm gonna commit suicide or something. That's not what I'm saying. Do you understand what I'm saying? That's the hope that needs to burn within us that is gonna keep us firm. But Christ, verse 6, but Christ has a son over his own house whose house we are if we hold fast. There it is again. Holding on to, lay hold of, to hold fast the confidence [00:21:19] and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end. Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, today if you will hear His voice, if you will hear, that tells me that we can hear or we can't hear. We have a choice. We don't have to hear. We don't have to listen to Him. We don't have to obey Him. He's speaking to us, ain't He? You know when He's speaking to you? [00:21:50] Whether it's in tribulation, sickness, or whether it's in a temptation. He speaks to us. Giving comfort. Giving, look here in my mind. Go on, be strong. Don't give up. Don't give in. That's your anchor. Verse 8. Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion in the day of trial in the wilderness, where your fathers tested me, tried me, and saw my works forty years. [00:22:27] Therefore I was angry with that generation and said, They always go astray in their heart, and they have not known my ways. So I swore in my oath, in my wrath, they shall not enter my rest. Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God, but exhort one another once in a while. What does it say? [00:23:00] Daily. My goodness, how do we do that? Exhort. Encourage. while it is called today lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin for we have become partakers of Christ if we hold there it is again holding the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end [00:23:32] while it is said today if you will hear my voice do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion. Verse 16, For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt, led by Moses? Now with whom was he angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness? And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, [00:24:02] but to those who did not obey? So we see that we could not enter in because of unbelief. Now notice the end of verse 18 and the end of 19. The word obey and unbelief. Those that obeyed could enter. If we obey, we enter. If we disobey, if there is unbelief, we don't enter. [00:24:34] Now verse 4 Therefore since a promise remains of entering his rest let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it for indeed the gospel was preached to us as well This is the key verse here that I would love some discussion on because we all know the verse faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God Right? Look at verse 2 for indeed the gospel was preached to you or to us as well as to them [00:25:05] but the word which they heard did not profit them. Why? Not being mixed with faith in those who heard it. Oh, so we have to have faith too. Yes, it comes by hearing. Yes, it comes from reading. But we must believe. Do we really believe that God loves us? Do we really believe that He cares for us when we have cancer? [00:25:37] Does He really believe that He can give us strength and love for somebody when they wrong us? that unconditional love for your wife, your family, your brethren your enemies you believe that he can do that for you to give you love for your enemies for we who have believed do enter that rest [00:26:17] Verse 9 of chapter 4 There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. For he who has entered his rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from his. [00:26:52] Okay, so that's telling me we need to be working. What is works? What is working? That's believing. We have to believe. Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience. For the word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit and of joints and marrow, [00:27:22] and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. God checks us out. God knows us. and God's Word tells us, tells us where we are at, tells us our thoughts and our intents of our heart. And we need to obey Him when it don't look so pretty. And there is no creature hidden from his sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of him to whom we must give account. [00:28:11] Maybe I'm just repeating, repeating myself, but try and explain the importance of believing, trusting, hoping in God. Seeing then that we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, [00:28:42] Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. If we go to chapter 10, verse 23, it says, Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. Verse 15 of chapter 4, For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. [00:29:14] Let us therefore, because of that, let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. So, where do we find this grace? Mark 16, 16 says, He who believes and is baptized will be saved. That's grace. But he who does not believe will be condemned. In chapter 5, later on in verse 8, talking about Jesus, our high priest. [00:30:04] Though he was a son, yet he learned obedience by the things which he suffered. Sometimes God allows things into our lives. We wonder why he wants us to go through rough times and trials and hard relationships. Here Jesus learned obedience by the things which He suffered. It just gives us an opportunity to believe Him [00:30:39] and to have our faith in Him and to continue to trust in Him. Chapter 6 Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection. Let's mature. We need to mature in Christ. I want to talk a little bit about this anchor. Verse 18 says that by two immutable things, unchangeable things. [00:31:16] I wasn't thinking of an anchor that's on Jim's boat, them little round little things that weigh two pounds or something. You know, I'm thinking of this huge anchor on the side of a ship. I don't know how big they are. They're huge. Maybe you have two of them, one the front, one the back. And, you know, it comes down and they go out, you know, these two fingers, blades or whatever they're called. I don't know what they are. What are those two things that he's talking about here? [00:31:49] He's talking about an anchor and he's talking about two things. What are they? the heirs of promise and he confirmed it by an oath I forgot to write this stuff down that was going through my head so I'm going to have to try and remember but this promise that he's talking about I think is the promise that he will bless Abraham and he will multiply Abraham I forget where it's found now [00:32:23] The promise of Abraham Let's start at verse 11 And we desire that each of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. [00:33:01] For when God made a promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no one greater, he swore by himself. Now I wish that I could even understand that. God swore by himself. Here's a God that is, always has been, all-powerful, all-sufficient, and He swears by Himself. You know, usually you would swear by somebody greater than yourself. Here, God is swearing by the greatest of everything. [00:33:35] That's the oath that He's talking about. verse 14 saying surely blessing I will bless you and multiplying I will multiply you that's what he said to Abraham and so after he had patiently endured he obtained the promise for men indeed swear by the greater and an oath for confirmation is for them an end of all dispute and then he goes on into 17 [00:34:06] So there's the promise and there's the oath. Two unchangeable things. That's our hope. Both sure and steadfast and which enters the presence behind the veil. I was going to talk about unbelief some, but I think I'll save that for later. [00:34:42] So my encouragement to you is, to myself, I can't believe it. God is so good. He is so faithful. My encouragement, God's encouragement to us, Go believe. Believe that He is faithful and just. Believe that He loves us. Believe that He gives us everything that we need in every situation. [00:35:19] When you feel like running, you still can't run from it. I'm sure that, well I'm not sure. I was thinking, Glendon probably wanted to run from his cancer. Can't do that. Sometimes we feel like we want to run from relationships. Can't do that. They're always there. So in rough times, let's believe Him. When God is speaking to us, convicting our hearts, let's believe Him. Let's listen to Him and obey when God speaks to our hearts. Let's pray. [00:36:06] Dear God, I thank You so much. Lord, I thank You so much for who You are. Lord, I thank You for Your promises. Lord, thank you for that hope that we can have in you, expecting. Lord, thank you for speaking to us. We mere humans, you speak to us. Show us how to live and give us strength and power. Lord, I pray that you would help us to lay hold. [00:36:44] of the hope that anchors us to you. Lord, I pray that you would go with us, encourage our hearts today, help us to be servants, be a blessing to others. In Jesus' name, amen.