An Anchor of the Soul

Growing up as a kid, one of the things that my father always liked to do when we'd be on trips or on our way to the feast or out of town, he liked to stop at the memorials, the war memorials, or the monuments that would be along our path, especially if it involved naval ships. So as a teenager, I climbed aboard and down into submarines. I walked the decks of some of our massive battleships. I was able to climb through the narrow doorways inside those ships where you have to duck down and hold on to things as you go through, because those oval doors that we see in movies and things to walk through the actual hallways of the ships. It's quite an experience to do that. And even got to man some of the artillery guns where they would let you turn the cranks and move the guns around on the ship and to go up to the bridge. And to see different parts of these huge naval ships that our military has built. The sheer size of these ships is unlike most other man-made objects when you consider the amount of iron plating that goes into them and the fact that they actually float. That was always a thing that I could not believe. The sheer weight of that metal and yet floats by design. Often when one of these vessels are retired, they are turned into memorials. And often they are put on display somewhere around the United States so that others can go and visit and to learn about our past and our military endeavors that we have taken as a nation. And often you'll see, often by these ships, maybe in a presentation out in front on the land part, often they'll take the anchors off of these ships and they'll place them on shore, maybe with a plaque next to it, but also so you can walk up to and stand next to these anchors, which are just massive, often in size. And you consider, like, just how much weight, how these anchors work to hold that ship in place when they would be used at times. A few weeks back, Gloria and I, we traveled up to Alpina, where we stumbled across a couple different anchors that are up in the harbors there and at the, one is at the lighthouse that we visited. And these anchors are on display and they have the standard shape that we'd all picture in our minds of an anchor. But yet, the sheer weight of these anchors over time has kind of embedded them into the ground. And they're pretty permanent there now because of the weight. And even the chains that connect to them, you try to pick those up, and those chains weigh a ton. And so it's pretty interesting when you compare and consider how these pieces of metal, these pieces of iron, can hold a ship in place. These massive ships held on by a relatively small anchor at times. As I've shared with you over the past couple months, I'm just a little bit excited about our camp program and about our camp starting this summer.

One of the things that was so difficult about last year going through the events that we did was seeing that all of our camps, all of our pre-teen and teen camps, had to be canceled. And this was the first time that we'd ever had this type of event occur where we had to cancel all of our teen camp programs. But as I mentioned, tomorrow, Catubic starts, and there's many people excited that God has brought us through the events of this last year so that we can partake again in this last camp program that he's provided. I don't want to steal the thunder from this year's camp theme, but I think it would be neat to kind of provide an overview of our base scripture, the primary scripture that we are basing our Christian living classes on, kind of as a primer to our teens and those serving on staff. I'm not going to ruin it, so you won't have to fall asleep during Christian living. But I know so many of our parents and so many of our members here, you pray for the camp programs, you're involved wanting to know what our kids are doing, which camps are going to. And so I thought it'd be neat at the eve of our first teen camp starting to share a message, to share a message about our camp program's theme for this year, and just help to start the conversation before we get there and as the kids come back from camp, so you know at a high level our core scripture and core passage for this year. Our overall camp theme this year is to be anchored to God, and it comes from Hebrews chapter 6. And so for the message today, we'll dive into Hebrews chapter 6, this passage. We'll explore it a little bit, and we'll look at how God's Word and the hope that He has placed in our heart is an anchor for our soul. The book of Hebrews appears to be from a later period of the early church history, obviously before the destruction of the temple in 70 AD, and it appears to be written to an audience of Christians who were dealing with severe persecution from both the Jews and the Romans. These people needed encouragement to continue in the faith and to remain steadfast as Christians and as believers in the Messiah. In chapter 6 of the book of Hebrews, we have recorded a passage that speaks to the hope that we have in God and the power in this hope. Hebrews 6, and we'll start reading in chapter 10, or Hebrews 6 verse 10.

Hebrews 6 and verse 10. The title for this section, actually starting in verse 13, the title in my Bible says, The Certainty of God's Promise, another translation titles, that God's Promises Brings Hope.

Hebrews 6 and verse 10. For God is not unjust to forget your works and labor of love.

God has not forgotten the challenges that we go through in life. He has not forgotten the things that we've given up to follow His way. It says He's not unjust to forget your works and your labor of love, which you have shown towards His name, and that you have ministered to the saints and do minister. Sometimes when those challenges hit, we can become discouraged. We can fall back, or we can feel like something's not fair. Where is God? Did He fall asleep? Is He not caring for me the way that I thought He would? But we know that God is never unjust, as we see here in Scripture. He never forgets what we've given up, what we've sacrificed in this physical life, and what we've done for Him. So we know again, verse 10, for God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love. 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. From the New Living Translation, verses 11 and 12 reads this way, our great desire is that you will keep on loving others as long as life lasts, in order to make certain that what you hope for will come true. Then you will not become spiritually dull and indifferent. Instead, you will follow the example of those who are going to inherit God's promises because of their faith and endurance. I'm going to read that last part again, that you will follow the example of those who are going to inherit God's promises because of their faith and endurance. None of us have to look very far to see the sufferings that many right here in our congregation are going through right now. Ones that they've gone through, the challenges over the past month, past six months, the past year. We've seen the example of people battling through difficulty to come back to services and to be here in person.

Everything has been a challenge over this last year, and we're reminded here, don't forget those examples. Those examples of people who have run their race and who are asleep, awaiting the resurrection. Not to forget those examples. The examples of faith that people that we've heard from others when life is hitting them hard from both sides, and we would think they are just oppressed beyond measure. And yet, they're the ones who give us encouragement. They're the ones who say, stay steadfast yourself. They're the ones who say, it's okay. I know God is with me, and I know God will see me through this trial, even if it means my physical life at this time. We can all think of people like that who've been there to offer their encouragement to us. The writer here says, imitate those who have battled and persevered and endured to the end of their lives with their vision steadfast on what awaits them. And what is this hope that the writer here talks about? In verse 13, we can start to see this. For when God made a promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no one greater, he swore by himself, saying, Surely, blessing, I will bless you, and multiplying, I will multiply you. And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. For men and deeds, whereby the greater and an oath for confirmation is for them and into all of all disputes. And here, from verse 17 to verse 20, we get into the core of our Christian living theme that will be shared at teen camp this year. Verse 17, Thus God determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise, the immutability of practice, which means unchangeable or fixed or unalterable, this character of God that is unchangeable, fixed, unalterable. It says of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath, that by two immutable things, these two things, which has his promise and his oath, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us. 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 has entered for us, even Jesus Christ, having become the high priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek.

It's an amazing passage we have here. Again, the hope that is spoken of here in verse 18 and 19, this hope that we have as an anchor for our soul. This hope is eternal life as children of God, with our great Father, who wants to give us everything that we can ever imagine in our minds and so much more. This hope serves as an anchor for our lives. It's sure, it's steadfast, it's immovable, and we place our hope in God, and this hope does something spiritual for us.

Our hope of eternal life remains immovable, anchored in God, and this is why by having our hope placed on God, it brings us this encouragement that we often need. It brings us the assurance that we desire, the confidence that we need as we go forward with our lives.

Consider for a moment this year that we just went through. What is it that kept you from unraveling?

Was it the experts' opinion on COVID? Was it the things that we did to protect ourselves over this past year? Is that what kept you from unraveling and losing your mind? Was it our government leaders and their wisdom that they shared with us? Was it all these things?

What was it that kept us from unraveling? It was only our anchor. It was only our anchor to God and our hope in His faithfulness to forever look after us, to never, ever leave us, and our hope in being children of God for all eternity with Him.

In the New Testament, the Greek word for hope is elpis, which can mean expectation of good or to anticipate. It can also mean a joyful and confident expectation of eternal salvation.

In a spiritual sense, it's a desire and expectation of something much greater than anything offered in this physical life. Barnes' notes on the Bible describes hope as this, hope is a compound emotion made up of a desire for an object and an expectation of obtaining it. If there is no desire for it, or if the object is not pleasant and agreeable, there is no hope.

If there is no expectation of it, but a strong desire, there is no hope.

So it's interesting. It's a two-part emotion. You've got to want something, but you also have to be reality that you could actually receive it as well to truly have hope.

And for real hope, this expectation for you and me must be based on God's word, based on His truth, not just hope that is empty or misplaced on things around us or other human beings.

For example, I personally could hope that I could take a trip to Mars, but is that a realistic expectation for me to be able to find a rocket that could send me, go through the training to be put into that program with everything else that I'm supposed to be doing as a Christian?

It's really not an expectation of something I could really do. Another example, though, is if I study for an exam, or if I do not study for an exam, do I have an expectation of passing that exam? Probably not.

I could hope that I will pass it, but truthfully, I got to recognize I probably won't.

There is a hope that God places into the hearts of those who are called by Him, and this hope is to be children of God and to live eternally with them. We read about this time and time, especially in the words of Jesus and in the New Testament writers. This is why our hope must be securely fashioned to God in His promises, than just like an anchor securely fastens to a boat to whatever it needs to hold on to. We can weather any storm that blows our way.

There is a timelessness to God's word. Going back to the boat or the ship analogy for a moment, if we were to consider the differences of ships over time, much has changed.

We always think back to the movies where they had this big wooden ship with the sails.

That's not how we see ships made today. They're made out of iron. They have engines that move them around. They burn fuel, for the most part, to move around on the seas.

That material of wood, of course, has been replaced by iron. The sails are not there anymore. The size, the dimensions of these ships, are almost ridiculous in size compared to the days of old.

Not only that, but how people navigate. It used to be by the sun, by the moon, by the stars, by a compass. Now we have global positioning satellites that lead and guide the ships on the oceans. Much has changed. But one thing that has remained constant with ships is the anchor.

The anchor still provides that stability to the ships. Even though as time has changed, that anchor is still what fastens it to the ground when it needs to be used. They're still in similar shapes of anchors in the past. Maybe the size has morphed a little bit as these ships have gotten larger, but the anchors remain pretty similar to the times of Paul and other biblical writers and how they saw the ships. One of the things that have always left me awestruck about God is the timelessness of his word. The timelessness of God's word applies to you and to me as much as it did to the Gospel writers who had the Old Testament books, as much as it did to Paul himself as he drew from scripture, from the Old Testament scriptures, as much as the Apostles needed that inspiration and that support from scripture to apply to their life to overcome the challenges that they were going through. As timeless as it is for us, it was timeless for them as well. That's one of the reasons I often will refer to God's work as a work of art, because what other human beings have ever written something in text and in words that you and I can read that has withstood the test of time? Often the writers will read books and there's aspects that they reference or that the thought process that they have, which kind of captures them in like a time capsule, per se, of their time period. And we can say, yeah, I know what they mean, but it doesn't apply for us today. Things have changed. My life is different. Society has changed. But regardless of all these changes that have occurred in the world, God's word has remained timeless. It applies for you and me as much as it has ever applied for anyone throughout history. It's an amazing gift that we have from God. There are two Psalms that speaks to this timelessness of God. God is not limited by time. One is in Psalm 90. Let's turn there first. Psalm 90 and verse 1. Psalm 90 verses 1 and 2. It says a prayer of Moses, the man of God. It says, Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, wherever you had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, you are God. From everlasting, which we can't measure, to everlasting, which we, again, can't measure, God is God. He's unchangeable. He has not wavered. His promises he has not backed off on.

Moses knew this and knew it before he was even alive, knew it before his life had breath in it, that God had existed well before him, and it would exist well after him. The next Psalm is in Psalm 102 verse 25. Psalm 102 verses 25 through 27. Another passage which speaks to the timelessness of God. Psalm 102 verse 25. Of old you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you will endure. Yes, they will all grow old like garments, like a cloak. You will change them, and they will be changed. But you are the same in your years will have no end. This timelessness of God's Word to be our guide, to be our support, to be that anchor that we so desperately need in a world that changes, that wears out, like he says here in clothing that wears out. God knows that clothing wears out. Time lives on. Our lives are not eternal, but God is eternal, and his Word is timeless, and it provides this anchor for our souls. These verses explain that nothing has changed with God.

Who else but God could have inspired the writings that would be as relevant for mankind as they were a thousand years ago? No one else could. But when it comes to seeking knowledge or wisdom that will provide a happy and satisfying life, where else do we turn other than to God's Word? The Word of God is one of our anchors in life because this is where we read about God's promises. This is where we read about the hope that we have in a Savior that we have never physically met as a man ourselves. The disciples, they got to touch Christ. They got to walk with Christ. They got to see the miracles firsthand. None of us sitting here have ever got that opportunity to see Christ's miracles firsthand. But we have it recorded. And this hope that we have because of our faith, the faith that God has put within our hearts, gives us this anchor. This is why we are drawn to the timeless wisdom and instruction in our Bibles because if we read and apply and live according these words, we know our lives will be better. We know that we will remain anchored. Along with the timelessness of God's Word, we know that big anchors hold big ships.

In a popular mechanics article titled, You Don't Want to Get in the Way of a 100,000-ton Aircraft Carriers Anchor, that's the title. It's a long one. You don't want to get in the way of a 100,000-ton Aircraft Carriers Anchor. This is by Kyle Mize Okami from October 19, 2017. In this article, it reads, The USS General R. Ford is America's newest aircraft carrier.

The 1,092-foot ship, which comes out to almost a quarter of a mile long, the ship is, has a crew of 5,500 and carries more than 75 aircraft at a time. It weighs roughly 100,000 tons. And all of that adds to a ship that truly needs a massive anchor and chain to hold steady. The anchor and chain system aboard the USS Ford is very, very heavy. The anchor itself weighs 30,000 pounds. And so, to bring 30,000 pounds down to my mind, I had to look up what is the weight of a Ford F-150 truck. We know what that is. It would be like five and a half Ford F-150 trucks.

So, I imagine me as a little kid with my toy Hot Wheels, if I took a piece of string and wrapped it around five of those, that's the weight of an anchor on this aircraft carrier.

It weighs 30,000 pounds. The chain is 1,440 feet long, and each link weighs 136 pounds. But believe it or not, the article continues, this combination is actually lighter than those fitted on the heavier Nimitz-class carriers. So, I was surprised at that because these ships are larger, but they have smaller anchors.

So, I had to do what? What would be the next thing you do next? I had to Google Nimitz-class carrier anchor to see how big those were. And I found that the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier have a 300 or 30 ton or a 600,000, I'm sorry, 60,000 pound anchor. So, 30 ton, 60,000 pound anchor. So, that would be like tying 11 F-Ford 150 trucks together. That's how much an anchor on the Nimitz-class carrier, the anchor itself, would weigh 11 Ford F-150 trucks. So, needless to say, big anchors hold big ships. Is there a larger anchor in our lives than the hope that we have to be sons and daughters of God?

Is there a bigger anchor than to receive what our Eternal Father wants to give us as His own children? When using the imagery of an anchor, providing the stability it does, the writer of Hebrews chapter 6 could have never envisioned an anchor the size of the ones used on an aircraft carrier.

It would have just been mind-boggling to ever think that a ship could be that great that that would be the size of an anchor it would need. But yet, we know that God's Word and the hope that we have in His promises provides greater holding strength than any physical anchor ever could. We often sit back in awe when someone, again, battles through tremendous challenges in their life. When they are going uphill on something where everybody else is running downhill.

When they remain steadfast to keep the Sabbath, even though it might mean that they lose their job, we have seen people battle through and say, again, it'll all be okay because God's got this. I know He does. What power, what force, can the Christian exhibit when God is that anchor for our soul? Let's look at a couple examples from back to Hebrews again, but this time in Hebrews 11 and verse 1. Because we're not the only ones who have battled through tremendous challenges, as we know in God's Word, we could spend all day going through person by person, account by account of people who stood fast in the face of danger or even their lives being taken.

But here in Hebrews 11 and verse 1, we see how they did that and it was through the faith in God. Hebrews 11 verse 1, we get the definition of faith. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good testimony. By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible. In verse 8, we get to the example of Abraham.

By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out of the place, which he would receive as an inheritance, and he went out not knowing where he was going. By faith he dwelled in the land of promise, as in a foreign country dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise.

For he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. What an amazing example we have. But what about Noah? What about Noah who built the ark with his own hands and with those compared to today, those tools that would have taken most likely 75 to 100 years for him to complete? But day by day, month by month, year by year, Noah continued building.

Noah's faith in God was unwavering, else he would never have completed the project that he started. Let's go back to a few verses, Hebrews 11 and verse 6. We'll read about Noah here in the same chapter, Hebrews 11 verse 6. But without faith it is impossible to please him, for he who comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him.

By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, Noah couldn't see the flood coming.

Not in year 1, not in year 2, not in year 25, not in year 50. He could not see the flood was coming.

He had to operate on faith that it would happen. Being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith. We have Abraham.

We have Noah. We have all the others here listed in chapter 11 who lived their lives with the focus, not on what they could accomplish by their own hands, by their own might, by their own abilities, but they lived their lives in full faith and confidence in what God could do for them both physically, more importantly, spiritually. Let's continue reading in verse 13 now, Hebrews 11 verse 13.

These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, were assured of them, embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers in pilgrims on the earth.

For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland, and truly if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return. But now they desire a better, that is a heavenly country, therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.

In verse 39, and all of these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, meaning they have not yet received eternal life. All of these, in the faith chapter, all of these saints through the Bible, they have not yet received the promise of eternal life. They are still waiting for Christ to return and to be resurrected. It says, though they did not receive the promise, in verse 40, God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us.

Consider again Hebrews 6 and verse 19 that we've already read this hope that we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast. The same hope that anchored those listed in Hebrews chapter 11, those who are in the faith chapter Hall of Fame, as some have titled it, the same hope is what anchors you and me today. Big storms will rise in life, and we need big anchors. Is there a bigger anchor to hold us in place than the hope that we have in Jesus Christ and the promises of God?

Is there a better hope? The March 6, 1999 edition of World Magazine shared a story of a man who made a trip to Russia in 1993.

For those not familiar with the status of Russia in the 1990s, Russia's economy sank into deep depression during the 90s due to a botched reform efforts and low commodity prices globally.

Following the economic collapse of the early 90s, Russia suffered from a sharp increase in the rate of poverty and economic inequality. I was born through that time period, or remember, I was born a few years before that time period. I remember the 90s, and I remember the movies. I remember the illustrations. I remember some of the stories from that time. But back to the story about the man who made the trip to Russia in 1993. The man felt noticeable walking down the streets of Moscow and could not figure out why. He wanted to blend in, but it was obvious that people knew he was not Russian. He asked a group of Russian educators of him who was working whether it was his American clothes, his jeans, and a Chicago Bulls shirt. No, it's not your clothes, they replied. What is it, then, he asked. They huddled together and talked for several minutes. Then one speaking for the group answered politely, it is your face. My face, he laughed. How does my face look different?

They talked again, and then one of the teachers quietly said, you have hope. You have hope.

As you and I continue through our lives, we should be an example of hope that comes from God. And as we gear up for our camp program, which we're so excited to again be hosting, this passage here is going to be our core. That this hope is an anchor to our souls, sure and steadfast, immovable.

And not only are we preaching that to our teens, but we're preaching it to one another.

That we must never lose sight that this hope is what we have in our hearts. God has given us this hope, and we go forward with confidence, knowing that God is going to give us everything that he has promised, because his promises are sure and steadfast. Just like a 300 or a 30,000-ton anchor will hold that aircraft carrier in place, but on such a greater scale, the hope that God has placed in our heart will keep us secure and steadfast for all of eternity. And for our closing scripture, let's go to Isaiah 46 and verse 9.

Because there is only one way that our anchors can remain secure, and that's because God is steadfast. God keeps his promises. God doesn't change, and we can have faith in that and hope for the future. Isaiah 46 verse 9. I'm going to read it from the New Revised Standard Version, which is pretty close to the New King James Version that you have most likely on your laps right now. It's pretty close, so you should be able to follow along. Isaiah 46 and verse 9.

It says, Remember the former things of old, for I am God, and there is no other. I am God, and there is no one like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, My purpose shall stand, and I will fulfill my intention, calling a bird of prey from the east, the man for my purpose from the far country. I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass. I have planned, and I will do it. Our God has never been limited by anything of this physical world that you and I are completely immersed in and limited by. God is without limit. He is without bounds, and our great and amazing Father has promised us eternal life as His own, very own, special children. This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and what a great anchor you and I have.