Turn with me again in your Bibles
to the passage that I just read. I've titled our message this
morning, Christ Our Anchor. The older I get as a believer, The more I feel and see and experience
my need for the Lord Jesus Christ, and I thank God for him showing
me that I do have a need, you're looking at a needy person. And
I can tell you off one that who can supply that need. I have the privilege of doing
that today, to tell you one that can supply all of your needs. That's what he said, according
to his riches in glory. And I say that with confidence.
I know you'd do for each other what you could, but none of us
can supply that great need that we have. And the song that Sister Bobbie
just sang, he's not only the solid rock, but He's the anchor
as well, just as He is the altar and the sacrifice that God provided. He is both. And doesn't that
make what it says in Colossians 3, verse 11 so understandable? Christ is all. He's all our need. In Hebrews 6, In verse 19, which hope we have as an anchor
of the soul, we have this anchor. Did you
notice how the Lord wrote that, the Holy Spirit wrote that? He's
writing this to believers, to those that have a strong consolation,
a good hope, a real hope, an enduring hope, and to those that
have Christ, that anchor. He said, we have, which hope we have as an anchor
of the soul, both sure, both sure and steadfast. Both sure and steadfast. This
hope, this anchor is sure and steadfast as well. and which entereth into that
within the veil." Enter into the heavenlies, into the throne
of God, into the presence of God. When the Scriptures speak
behind the veil or in the veil or through the veil, it's speaking
of the throne room of God. That's what it's always referred
to, pictured to, even the Old Testament types, shadows, and
pictures. That's where Christ is. That's
what it says, verse 20, where the forerunner is for us entered. He entered there for us. Do you get that? Let's take it one step further.
He says here He's entered there for us. We know who us is. It's all the church of the firstborn,
the church of the living God, every believer. But more personally, He has entered
there for me. Can you fit into that? He has
entered there for little old nobody, me. Entered there for me. I can truthfully say by the authority, if you will,
of God's word, that the reason the Lord Jesus Christ has entered
inside the veil in glory as God's living sacrifice, I can say this, hold on, He has entered there
for Tommy Robbins. I've got reason for hope and
a strong consolation. Somewhere and someone, something
outside myself, even in glory, the Lord Jesus Christ, having redeemed me by His own
blood, has entered into the throne room of God with his own blood,
there to appear in the presence of God for me. That's almost overwhelming. And I'm sure that I can't fully
take all of that in. Sometimes it seemed like I could
take it in more than others. Sometimes, to be honest with
you, and I shudder to say this, but
I know that I can speak of this to you and you'll have
some concept of it. Sometimes I don't even think
of it. Isn't that awful? But right now, Right now, the Lord Jesus Christ,
the Lamb in the midst of the throne, revealing His pierced side and His nail-scarred hands, sits
in the presence of very God for me. Life is filled with swift transitions. Nothing, it seems, remains the
same from one day to another. Is that how it is with you? That's
how it is with me. Mortal life is tossed to and
fro like a ship on a stormy sea, and we know that the inevitable is before us, death. Job learned this in his affliction.
He said to Job 14.1, man that is born a woman is a few days
and full of trouble. You see, that which we as natural
men hope for and cling to and live upon today will be very
likely be gone tomorrow. And someday it will all be gone. Life is filled with transition. Relationships that were so sweet
at one time sometimes come to a tragic end. That which we enjoy most as natural
men in this life Sometimes they're snatched from us in a heartbeat. We can't trust these things,
Carlos. We cannot do it. We can't count on these things.
And we can only count on each other to a point, but not for eternal things. Our Lord
told His disciples and us in John 16, 33, these things I have
spoken unto you, that in me you might have peace, for in the
world you shall have tribulation. But be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. Be of good cheer. It's but for
a moment. The trials, the troubles, the
sufferings that the righteous go through are brief, and somehow, whether we
understand it or not, is for our eternal good and for His
eternal glory. We have an anchor of the soul. We won't drift too
far. I know as one that is in a boat
sometimes frequently, I don't have an anchor in the boat that
I have now, but at one time we had an anchor and we dropped
that anchor And the boat would drift, the wind would blow, it
would drift here, it would turn around, it would drift that way
and another way. Finally, we put an anchor on
the other end. But still, it would drift sideways. You could
not stay precisely in the same place when the wind was blowing.
But we stayed in the general vicinity. This is what it is in our life
as believers. We may drift from side to side.
We may drift backward. We may drift forward. We may
be here a while and there a while, but we'll never leave. We'll
never leave the Lord Jesus Christ, and He'll never leave us because
we're anchored to Him. Makes no difference what comes
or goes. Christ is our anchor. That's what our text says. We
have an anchor. We have an anchor. It's sure, it's not going to
break loose. Steadfast, it's not going to change. We have
an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, that entered within
the veil. We're anchored in glory. We're
anchored to the throne of God, to His sovereignty, His power,
His omnipotence, His omnipresence. We're anchored to the Almighty.
We're anchored to God, and the Lord Jesus Christ is that anchor. These things our Lord has ordained
for us, these things we go through in this world. Oh, we should not fight against
them. Sometimes we do, don't we? We complain against them. We get a little bit too anxious
sometimes, and we have sometimes fits of fear and doubt. But it's
these words that give us so much comfort and bring us back and
show us that everything's going to be all right and our ship
is secure. Our soul is secure in Him. In Philippians 129, for
unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe
on Him, but to suffer for His sake. All the suffering a believer
does in this world, not speaking to believers, those that have
an anchor, All of the suffering that we do, no matter what shape,
form, fashion, or size it comes in, all the suffering that a
believer suffers in this world is for His glory, for His sake. It's given to us not only to
believe on Him, but to also suffer for His sake. At one time I thought
that was just If I preached the gospel and somebody put me in
jail for it or killed me for it, that was the suffering that
was intended here. But this intends all suffering.
All suffering. Because everything that happens
in a believer's life, God sins. Everything. The big things. The little things. glory and for our good. The child
of God is afflicted with the same afflictions as all men,
often more. The cares of life press hard,
don't they? The jobs, the relationships,
the pressures, and we spoke earlier of stress, the decisions, oh,
it presses hard sometimes. We're exhausted spiritually,
we're exhausted mentally, we're exhausted physically. We're just
exhausted. This is the Lord's doing. Don't forget it. And it's but for a brief moment. And the more that we suffer,
the more we live in this world as believers. the more we are taught by Him
through these sufferings and these trials to look to Him.
And therefore, the less effect these sufferings have on us.
We can even rejoice in our sufferings. We can rejoice not in the sufferings
themselves, but we can rejoice in Christ being with us through
those sufferings. And some of you know exactly
what I'm saying. And if you don't, you will if you're His. You can
rejoice and you can even thank God for them. You say, I can't do that. Well,
you might not can now, but if you're a believer, you will. You will. He said, we have an
acre of the soul. We have a strong consolation. We have a good hope. All's well. All's well. Believer, believe
what God said. Don't just believe me. For you
and I, as the children of God, everything is running just exactly
right. Everything is running on time.
And there's nothing happening that's not supposed to happen.
Isn't that a great consolation? Some suffer prosperity. Oh, that
can be a trial, can't it? Prosperity to one person might
not be the same as prosperity to another. It don't necessarily
mean great, great wealth or riches. It could mean that, not necessarily,
but sometimes it could be a trial. Some suffer poverty. Some, maybe if your bank account
gets under $50,000, you know, what am I going to do? gets under
$100, I start saying, what am I going to do? If, you know,
if some of your bank accounts are $100,000, you think you've
got plenty. If mine's able to pay all the
bills, I think I've got plenty. Just, oh, boy, I got them all
paid this time. But these things can be those
things, things. It can be a trial and we suffer
in these things. Some suffer poverty. Some suffer
health. You say, how can I suffer health? You're in good health. Everything's
going all right. Sometimes we're prone to forget
God. You got plenty. Good health. Everybody's getting
along. Nobody's fussing and fighting. We're prone to forget. It can
be a trial. Some suffer illness, and it seems
that some suffer perpetual illness. It seems like it never goes away. Bodily pain, suffering. Inward suffering is no stranger
as well. We all suffer inwardly. Here's
something I think believers suffer, unbelief, doubt, fear. And these all can be put under
one heading, the sins of self. We all suffer with these. The child of God desperately
needs stability. We're learning that we can't
depend on ourselves. We're learning we can't count
on ourselves. We're learning that life is changing moment
by moment and nothing stays the same and things that seemed stable
and sure and steadfast are now gone. We need someone we can really
depend on. Really depend on. Someone we
can count on. Someone that is for us. Someone
that will not and cannot change or fail. We need an anchor that
will hold us securely and eternally through the fits of this flesh. That which we need, and that's
what God requires for His people, is one and the same. And He has
provided. We have an anchor of the soul,
both sure and steadfast. And I just want to give you three
or four points. I hope these will be of help to you if they
were to me. In Christ, we have a strong consolation. In Christ,
we have a refuge. In Christ, we have hope. It's impossible for God to lie. He's promised and made that promise
known in two immutable ways. He confirmed it by an oath. He
swore it. It's impossible for God to lie.
We have His word and we have His confirmation by His oath,
sealed by the blood of His Son. In this, we have assurance by
two immutable things, the immutability of His counsel and the confirmation
by His oath. It's impossible for God to lie. Edward Mote, I know you've probably
never heard of him. You've read his words many times,
but he wrote these words in 1834, a long time ago. He wrote this, when darkness
seems to hide his face, I rest on his unchanging grace. In every high and stormy gale,
my anchor holes within the veil. His oath, His covenant, His blood
support me in the whelming flood. When all around my soul gives
way, He then is all my hope and stay. On Christ the solid rock
I stand. He wrote these verses from this
passage that I just read to you. Our ship may be tossed around
and buffeted. It may seem to break loose and
disappear over the horizon or lost in the fog. But behold, when the storm is
past, the light of the sun reveals it is still in the place where
it was before the storm. This wondrous preservation is
not at all owing to the ship. It's all because of the anchor. We're anchored in Christ. In Christ we have a strong constellation. That's what He says here, we
have a strong consolation, we have a refuge, and we have hope. When the storms of life assault
our souls on this earth, we have peace, real peace. Sometimes
we just don't realize it. You know, God's Word is sure
no matter what. situation we're in. God's promise stands sure
and His oath and His Word is steadfast no matter what our
perception of it is or no matter what concept we have at that
particular time. We may be stricken with doubt
and fear, but that doesn't change God. That doesn't change Him
at all. God doesn't change because I
doubt. He doesn't change because I fear. He is still my strong consolation.
Still is. Because we have unbelief, we
don't cease believing. Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief. You say, how can you have unbelief
and believe at the same time? I don't know, but we do. Isn't that amazing? There's many
times. Some of them you know about,
some you don't. But there are many times that I despair, yet
I didn't. There are many times that we
don't believe, yet we do. Only a believer can do that.
Only a child of God. This is the Lord's storm. This is His storm. It's his trouble. It's his affliction. You know
those F3, 4, and 5 tornadoes come through? Oh, we dread to see them coming,
don't we? We turn the weather channel on, we turn our weather
radio on, and we hunt us a place to hide. That makes good sense,
don't it? That just makes good sense. But
you know what? That's His storm. Who does that
storm belong to? See that tornado coming, those
dark clouds, thunder and lightning? They say it's coming. Whose storm
is that? That's His. When the storms of
life come, that's His storm. When troubles come, that's His
troubles. You say, well, this is my trouble. It's mine. Oh,
I'm in trouble. That's His trouble. He sent it. That's His storm. He sent it.
It belongs to Him. When sickness comes, affliction
comes, you say, oh, that's mine. That's mine. It's me. It's His
sickness. It's His affliction. It belongs
to Him. He sent it. That kidney disease,
that cancer, that stroke, whatever, whose is it? It's His. It's His. Do we understand that? It's His.
It belongs to Him. Oh, that's a strong consolation,
ain't it? Especially when death comes.
Yeah, when that day of death comes, we face eternity, face God, lay
on our deathbed, know it's all over. Consciousness comes and
goes and we begin to drift. We know this is it. Whose death
is it? It's His. Precious in the sight
of the Lord is the death of His saints. It's His death. Let me give you a couple of illustrations. There arose a great storm of
wind, and the waves beat against the ship. So it was now full. There was a ship on the sea,
winds blowing, water is now in the ship. It was full. And the Lord Jesus Christ was
in the back of the ship with His head laying on a pillow asleep. And they awake Him and say to
Him, Master, carest Thou not that we perish? And He arose. and rebuked the wind, and said
unto the sea, Peace be still. And the wind ceased, and there
was a great calm." It was his storm. It was his wind. He sent it. He's not anxious about it, so
I don't need to be anxious about it. He said, I'll take care of
it. He took care of it, and he's
going to take care of it. You say, like, I just don't like
losing control. Well, think with me just a moment. Would you rather be in control
or have him in control? Which way would you rather it
be? I'd rather he was in control. I couldn't stop that wind. I
couldn't stop that raging sea. All he had to do, he was asleep.
He got up and said, please be still. The sea became like glass. It's His wind, it's His tempest.
In Mark 6, And when evil was come, the ship was in the midst
of the sea, and He alone on the land. And He saw them toiling
and rowing, for the wind was contrary to them. They just kept
rowing and rowing and couldn't get any closer to the land, because
the wind was blowing them backward. And about the fourth watch of
the night, He cometh unto them. You know what He did? He stood
there and probably watched them. till the fourth watch. He didn't
do it for amusement, but he watched them roll and roll and roll and
roll for hours without any success. He'd done that for their good.
See, all things is for our good. He did that for their good. He
could have easily, as soon as he first saw them, he could easily
have done what he did and what I'm about to read to you, but
he waited. He let them roll a while. He may let us roll a while to
teach us something. And He cometh to them walking
upon the sea. It's no problem for Him. He walked
on the very things they were afraid of, the waves, the billows,
the storm, and would have passed them by. He walked as if He were
going to pass them by. They looked at Him as if He was
going to walk on by. But when they saw Him walk upon
the sea, They supposed it had been a spirit and cried out.
You see how prone to little faith we are? You see how prone to
unbelief? You see how prone we are to let these things become
a dread to our soul and a fear to us? When the Lord is right
there. He's right there. Everything's
going to be all right. We have an anchor. We have a
strong consolation. And they cried out for they all
saw him and were troubled. Immediately he talked with them
and said to them, be of good cheer. It is I, be not afraid. What was he saying? He's saying
this storm, it's I. I did this. I caused this storm. And you're looking at me, it's
I. I'm the one that this is all about. And I'm here for you."
And he went up unto them and to the
ship, and the wind ceased. And they were sore amazed unto
themselves beyond measure and wondered. Oh, I'm amazed at him, aren't
you? Putting up with me. Dealing with me patiently and
kindly when I have so little faith. He's in the storm and He's in
the calm. He is our strong consolation,
2 Thessalonians 2, 16 and 17, and our Lord Jesus Christ Himself
and God, even our Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting
consolation and good hope through grace. Comfort your hearts and
establish you in every good word and work. Establish you, settle
you. calm you down. If therefore there
be any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any
fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, is there
in Christ? Of course there is. I'm sure there is. Consolation suggests troubles
and cares and fears. Doesn't it? For us to need consolation,
there must be troubles and cares and fears. Otherwise, we wouldn't
know anything about consolation. Forgiveness suggests sin, doesn't
it? What need would we have for forgiveness were there not sin?
You see, the Lord Jesus Christ is our all-sufficient anchor,
our Savior. He put it away. He put it away. In Micah 7, 19, he will turn
again. He will have compassion upon
us. He will subdue our iniquities. I like the way he worded that.
He will subdue our iniquities. Subdue them for us. He will,
you know, like an angry dog, biting, barking, furious dog. It must be subdued. He subdues
our sins, our iniquities. And He will cast all our sins
into the depths of the sea. Boy, that's an anchor for the
soul, isn't it? Isn't that sure and steadfast? Cast them all,
as it were, into the depths of the sea. The depths of the sea,
never to be seen no more. No one can go down and bring
them up. The depths, that's out of sight. For He conquered all of our enemies. In Revelation 6, 2, And I saw,
and behold, a white horse. And he that sat on him had a
bow, and a crown was given unto him. He had a bow with no arrow. What good is a bow with no arrow?
It means the arrow's already been shot out of the bow. He's already conquered, already
abolished death. He's already conquered our sin.
And he went forth conquering and to conquer. He's conquering
us now. the sins of this flesh, the sins
of doubt and fear and unbelief. He's conquering it with His Gospel,
with His Word and by His Spirit, by His Gospel and the preaching
of it. He told Isaiah, comfort my people. Tell them their warfare
is over. The war is over. It's ended. He's conquered death, hell, fulfilled
the law for us. 2 Timothy 1. who has saved us
and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but
according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us
in Christ Jesus before the world began, but is now made manifest
by the appearing of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who has abolished
death and brought life and immortality
to life through the gospel. He cares for us. That's an anchor
of our soul, our sin he's taking care of, and he cares for us. He actually cares for his people.
In 1 Peter 5, 7, he said, cast all your care upon me because
I care for you. That's an anchor of the soul.
We all have cares. We talked about that earlier. We all have
troubles. We all have all of these things
that are common to this flesh. and our own sin. He said, cast
all these upon me because I care for you. He said, come to the
throne of grace. Boldly come. You're welcome. Come and welcome to the throne
of grace that you may obtain mercy, experience the mercy of
God in Christ. and find grace to help in their
time of need. The help is there. He's helping
us. He's going to help us. He's not going to stop because
of anything we do, but experience that help and that grace in their
time of need. And oh, I need Him in times like
these. I need Him. He's the only one. Matthew 6,
28, consider the ladies in the field, how they grow. They toil not, neither do they
spend. And yet I say unto you that even
Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
Wherefore, if God so clothed the grass of the field, which
is today and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall He not much
more clothe you? Shall He not give you what you
need? Shall He not feed you and clothe
you and sustain you and provide for you? But providentially and
spiritually, I'm telling you, we have an anchor. We have someone
to look to. An anchor is not only just that
thing. It's not a thing. An anchor is
someone or something we can look to, trust to, depend upon in
any form. And specifically here in our
The text is Christ spiritually in Matthew 11, 28-30. You can
quote that. Come unto me all you that labor
and heavy laden. I used to think that was folks
that didn't know Christ. I used to think that was folks
that were not saved. And I realized one day by His
grace that I'm right now laboring and heavy laden. Right now I
am as a believer. Sure I am. But he said, what
did he say to me and to you as believers? He said, come to me
and I'll give you rest. So here I come. O Lamb of God,
I come. I need Thee every hour. Take
my yoke upon You and learn of me. Learn of me. For I am meek and
lowly in heart. I love you. I condescended. I came down to
where you are. I'm touched with the feelings
of your infirmities. I know your every trial and every weakness.
I sent them to you. I know all about them. And you shall find rest unto
your souls. Let's give Him, if you will,
the occasion to call us to Him He gave us the trial to give
us an occasion to call upon Him. I called upon the Lord in my
trouble, and He heard me. You know, I prayed this prayer.
I prayed, Lord, whatever it takes. And I know God, I know God's
going to save His elect. I know that. And I pray with
understanding. I pray this prayer with understanding.
I know. Lord, whatever it takes to save me, to save my children,
my grandchildren, do it. Whatever it takes. That's not a foolish prayer. Don't we pray His will be done?
That's all I was doing. Lord, whatever it takes, do it. He said, take my yoke upon you
and learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart and you shall
find rest unto your souls. You want rest for your soul? I told you at the outset, I can
tell you. I can tell you who the anchor is. I can tell you
where the rest is. I can tell you where the consolation
is. It's Christ. He said, my yoke is easy and
my burden is light. Oh, the burden's still there,
the yoke's still there. But when we have the experience
of God's grace in our souls and look unto Him, it's easy, much
easier, and it's much lighter. Christ is our refuge. We have
Christ as our refuge and we continue to flee to Christ for our refuge.
Protection and defense. Here's what refuge is. I looked this up and I wrote
it down. A refuge is a shelter or protection. That's what a
refuge is. A sheltered or protected safe
state from something threatening, harmful, or unpleasant. That's
what a refuge is. The most unpleasant thing I know,
Bobby Buckner, is Tommy Robbins. The only time I can escape myself
is when the Lord And grace and mercy brings me into Himself
by the experience of His grace. And I can look to Him without
looking at myself. He's my refuge. A refuge also
means a sheltering place, a place or sometimes a person offering
protection or safe shelter from something. He's my safe place. He's my sheltering
place. God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble. The Lord of hosts is with us.
The God of Jacob is our refuge. In 17 and 14, Charles Wesley
was preaching in the fields. of the parish in County Down,
Ireland. When he was attacked by men because
of what he preached, because of his doctrines, he was literally
physically attacked. He sought refuge in a house located
on what was known as the Island Barn Farm. The farmer's wife
told him to hide in the milk house down in the garden. And the mob
came to her door and demanded Charles Wesley. They said, we
know you're hiding him. We know he's here and we want
him. She offered him refreshments. She offered him food. She offered
him shelter. She didn't ever say he's not
here. She tried to calm them, but her hospitality, they refused. But she had told Mr. Wesley to
go through the rear window and hide under the hedge outside,
which ran, the little brook ran by it. And then that hiding place,
those pursuers was all around him. And he wrote these words. Now, I'm telling you, I've got
a reason for telling you this story. He was in trouble. His
life was at stake. And he wrote these words, Jesus,
lover of my soul, let me to thy bosom fly, while the nearest
waters roll, while the tempest still is high. Hide me, O my
Savior, hide, till the storm of life is past, safe unto the
heaven guide, Oh, receive my soul at last. Other refuge have
I none. Hangs my helpless soul on thee.
Leave, oh, leave me not alone. Still support and comfort me.
All my trust on thee is stayed. All my help from thee I bring. Cover my defenseless head with
the shadow of thy wing. Now, if the Lord had not put
him in that situation, We would never have enjoyed the words
of this immortal hymn. And he would never had the experience
that he had to write this hymn. You see, God sends these things
to show us that we have an anchor, that we can trust him. We can
rely on him. We can count on him. Don't ever
doubt Him. You have no reason to doubt Him. My family, my family, you're
my family, believe me. Everything's going to be all
right. Don't doubt the Lord. And I'm telling myself this as
well. Don't doubt Him. You can count on Him. Though
the host of hell is saved, He's going to be faithful. We have an anchor of the soul,
both sure and steadfast, which is entered in within the veil
of forests. And we're all for His. Do you
know where we're all going to wind up? We're going to wind
up in glory. That's right. We're going to
wind up in heaven knowing each other and knowing Him. And there won't be sorrow, no
sickness, no tears, no crying, no sadness. Everything's going
to be glory. This is just temporary. Just temporary. May the Lord
bless you.