Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to the chapter that we read,
Hebrews chapter 6, and reading for our text verse 19. Verse
19. which hope we have as an anchor
of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that
within the veil. Hebrews chapter 6 and verse 19. The Apostle Paul, as I believe,
is the author of Hebrews, from the manner how it is written,
what things are addressed. He begins the chapter stating
that he desires to leave the basic principles of the Christian
faith and to go on unto perfection. His desire is that those to whom
he writes be so established in the truth that they be able to
stand the storms temptations, distresses, which some, entering
into them, have not stood. And he says in the following
verses of those who had tasted of the powers to come, made partakers
of the Holy Ghost, not savingly, really, but outwardly, they'd
had an outward call, they'd made an outward profession. Others
looking on had seen that, and solemnly. Some of us, we know
those who have been amongst our chapel, sat at the Lord's table,
prayed in our prayer meetings, they have been and shown every
seeming evidence of being a child of God, and not just for a few
days, or it's been several years. And then they've turned their
backs completely, solemnly, completely away from the truth, and are
not walking in it. In fact, they've turned around
and said that it's all lies, it's not true, it's all a mistake. most solemn, solemn characters. And the Apostle doesn't just
say, well, if we are truly saved by grace, then that will never
happen to us. No, he says to his hearers that
I want that you go on from, as it were, having milk as a child,
and you have strong meat. You actually not only have those
truths and the knowledge of them, but how to use those truths for
the good of your soul that shall keep you in those hours of temptation
and those storms. he tells them that God is not
unrighteous to forget their work and labor of love that they've
showed toward his name and he specifically mentions how they
ministered to the saints and His eye was that they continue
in this and to the full assurance of hope. Really where there is
hope, where there is a belief, then there is a using that in
the service of God. in actually walking. All the
time a person is unsure whether they are one of the people of
God or not, where they don't have hope, then they're not effectual
in their ministering to the Word and to others and helping others. All the time they don't have
that confidence and hope themselves. And so he would encourage them
in the exercise of that. If ye are a believer, then act
as a believer, and walk as a believer, and minister to the saints in
that way. But that is not to be. your support
and your strength in time of trouble. When we come into trouble,
we're not to look back and think, well, look at all those wonderful
things I've done, and even a minister, how the Word has been blessed,
and how the Word's been used, and what the Lord has done in
our life, and take that as our comfort and help, and what keeps
our soul in times of trouble. We need more than that. the Apostle
here, he introduces hope, introduces the good hope through grace that
a child of God has, and he tells them that this hope is to be
as an anchor of the soul. Now it's a beautiful illustration
isn't it and if we know what an anchor is on a ship very often
we don't see them deployed we see them tucked up on the sides
of the ship But if that ship gets into a position of danger,
or it wants to just stay in one place without power, just waiting
to come into harbour, then it puts down the anchor. The anchor
is to hold that ship in one place, so that the ship doesn't move. If the anchor is not a good anchor
itself, it won't hold it. It might be a very good anchor,
but if it's just going on sand and something that will not grip,
then that won't hold the ship either. So the anchor needs to
be sure. What it enters into needs to
be sure. And when it's doing its work,
you can't even see the anchor. All you see is the chain going
from the ship down into the sea. You know the anchor is there.
Why? Because the chain is tight and it's pulling and it's stopping
the ship from moving. That's why you know the anchor
is holding. And we have this picture. that
is set before us here by the Apostle. Now, of course, when
we think of the great storm that the Apostle was in when they
were going to Rome, and when they realized that they were
near land and it was the night time, and it was getting shallower
and shallower, what they did, they didn't put just one anchor
in, they cast four anchors out of the stern and hoped for the
morning. They wanted to be held safe and
not battered on the rocks, not destroyed in the night, and so
they wanted a very firm anchor, so they used four of them. And
so this is the illustration that we have here. The teaching, the
word this evening, is not to aid and help a soul going forward,
though it may do that, but specifically for one that is tossed to and
fro, under storms, temptations, and their desire is they don't
want to lose what they already have. They don't want to make
shipwreck. They don't want to go back. They
just want to stay where they are until this storm, this temptation,
this trial is over. Maybe it is like with the pandemic
that we're in now and that's your storm and all that is brought,
all that is surrounding that, you want to ride it out and you
want to come out the other side of it. still a believer, still
in Christ, still not cast away your hope. And so we think also
of this day, the 11th and the Anniversary Remembrance Day,
and those great storms of the war years, Many of the Lord's
dear people passing through those times, they needed such an anchor
that is set before us here. And what is set before us here
is the anchor of the soul. is hope, but not just any hope. Our text begins with which hope? He's already described this hope,
which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast,
and which entereth into that within the veil. So he's taking
a grace, the grace of hope, and He's setting before us a use
of that grace for a specific time like we are going through
now. Times of trouble, times when
we toss to and fro, times when we want to hold our place and
not lose what we have. We have in the letters to the
churches, see that no man take thy crown. And so, with the Lord's
help, I want to look at this word in three points, taking
the very words of the text bit by bit to open it up. So the first point is, which
hope? The first two words of our text,
which hope? That is, the hope described. Under this point I want to describe
the hope itself. The second point will add a bit
more of the text to the first. Which hope we have. These two words, we have. How we know that we have this
hope? It's one thing that there be
a hope, But the important thing is that we have it. So the second
point, which hope we have. And then the last point, we'll
add the rest of the text. Which hope we have as an anchor
of the soul. And going on, both sure and steadfast
and which entereth into that within the veil. So that hope
as an anchor. Well firstly then, which hope? The hope that is actually described. I want to look at this in four
ways. Firstly, the hope that is described
by the Apostle here. is the hope of Christ promised. The hope of Christ promised. As soon as man fell in the Garden
of Eden, then the Lord was pleased to give a promise. And that promise
was the seed to the woman that should bruise the serpent's head. It was a promise of Christ. It
was a promise of hope that Christ would come. It is the beginning
of the raising up of a hope and it was in Christ. Now the Apostle goes on and he
speaks in this chapter of this same hope being strengthened
and given again to Abraham. In verse 13, for when God made
promise to Abraham, the first promise was to Adam, well actually
it was said, words said to Satan, but Adam, he heard what was being
said, and it was a promise that poor fallen man embraced. But here, Abraham, and it refers
back to Genesis 22, We read, For when God made promise to
Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he swore by himself,
saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I
will multiply thee. He had promised to Abraham that
in thee and in thy seed shall all nations be blessed. And Paul,
when he writes to the Galatians, he says that the promise was
not unto seeds as of many, but seed which is Christ. Abraham, our Lord said, saw my
day and he rejoiced at it. He saw it afar off. Along with
all of those others in Hebrews 11, they embraced the promises. They saw the promises in Christ
and they embraced them. They had a hope. through those
promises. And really, though we might say,
well, that's the Old Testament. Saints had a hope in the promises
of Christ, yet the New Testament does as well. And each one, when
the Lord first begins to work in their hearts, when they first
have their eyes open and first have spiritual life, one of the
first graces is to embrace the promises. they see a ray of hope
in what God has promised in the Lord Jesus Christ. Without it,
and any sense of their sinnership and the condemnation due to their
sin, there'd be utter ruin and utter despair. But when the Lord
begins with a sinner, it is raised up a hope in Christ being revealed,
in Christ being shown to them, in an interest in him. So, with
Christ promised, this is what The Church of God went through
the generations, many different scenes, many troubles, many trials,
and all the time that there was this hope reinforced by the Lord
speaking further to the prophets that Christ should come according
to the flesh. We think of Solomon, when he
built the temple, and he says that, will God in very deed dwell
upon the earth? The heaven of heavens cannot
contain him, how much less this house that I have built, and
he says, will God in very deed dwell upon the earth? Dear Job,
he looked for this in his great troubles and his trials, He said,
though worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God. He had that hope of eternal life,
the hope of the resurrection. But He says, I know that my Redeemer
liveth, and that He shall stand the latter day upon the earth. He looked for that too. He had
a hope in that in his trials. So this hope that is described
here, which hope? It is a hope that is a promise
of Christ and the Apostle specifically makes it a hope that was confirmed
by an oath. Those two immutable things in
which it was impossible for God to lie is the promise and the
oath that is confirming that promise. And that He has made this by
the highest authority that could ever be so. Verse 13, when God made promise
to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he swore
by himself. And it also sets forth so clearly
that the Lord Jesus Christ also is the eternal God, true God. So that is the first hope that
is described, is the hope of Christ as set forth right from
the beginning of Scripture that He would come. The second aspect of this hope
is that that first hope has been fulfilled in Christ, in the Lord
Jesus Christ, and that what has been done in His coming, that
is what hope is resting on. So with Christ coming, His very
coming has put a seal upon the first aspect of the hope. When Christ came, the Scriptures
were fulfilled again and again, in His birth where He was born,
in His life and in His death, and the manner of His death were
all fulfilled. The bone of him shall not be
broken. The Lord yielded up his breath.
They went to break the bones of the two thieves. They were
still alive. They broke their legs to hasten
their death. The Lord was dead already. They
did not break his legs. They shall look upon him whom
they pierced. So instead they pierced his side,
and forthwith came out blood and water. The Lord Jesus Christ, in coming,
fulfilled scripture after scripture, the scripture that seemed to
be a strange scripture, cursed is everyone that hangeth upon
a tree. Why should that scripture be
there and lie there for generations? Because when the Lord Jesus Christ
came, instead of being stoned like the Jews would have dispatched
him like they did with Stephen, it was the Romans who crucified
him. And they saw him hanging on a
tree. And that scripture then, God
points to his beloved son, here is one that is bearing the curse
for you. And all of those that had hoped
on that through the generations, that the curse would be borne
away, they see that hope fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ. So,
in this second point, the hope that is fulfilled in Christ,
it is noticing of what was fulfilled in the coming of our Lord and
Saviour, Jesus Christ. But then the hope is that that
which he did will be and is fulfilled. What he has done, what did he
do in his life, born under the law, made of a woman, and to
redeem them that are under the law, made like unto his brethren,
yet sin accepted. in the position of a near kinsman,
of which Boaz is a beautiful type. The Lord Jesus Christ in
His life wrought out a robe of righteousness that shall be given
to believers. In Jeremiah we read two places. One, this is the name wherewith
He, that is the promised Messiah, should be called the Lord our
righteousness. And then this is the name wherewith
she, that is the Church, should be called the Lord Our Righteousness. It was an expectation, a hope
in the coming Messiah that He would be Our Righteousness. And so His whole life, the hope
for the people of God is not in Our Righteousness, but in
Christ's Righteousness being imputed to us. And then there
is the payment on Calvary, the sin-atoning sacrifice, the wrath-ending
sacrifice, that he's put away sin by the sacrifice of himself,
endured the curse, and then God cannot demand a price, a twice
payment. He cannot now put under and leave
under the curse those for whom the Lord endured that curse. So the hope, which hope? It is
a hope that is fulfilled in Christ's coming, fulfilling the Scriptures,
but for what He did when He came, and then rose again from the
dead. The empty tomb, the only one
that by His own power raised from the dead, never to return
again. and then to live everlastingly,
ascending into heaven and sitting at the right hand of the throne
of God on high. When the apostle says, Which
hope? We're describing the hope of
the Scriptures that is concisely contained in the revelation of
the Lord Jesus Christ and all that He did here below and then
ascended up having finished the work that His Father gave Him
to do. This hope is fulfilled in Christ's
coming. That describes the hope. in what Christ has done. The third way that this hope
is described is the hope of His intercession. As Christ is risen
into heaven, the Lord said several things to His dear disciples
and through them to us. The first was that, I will pray
the Father, and He will give you another Comforter, which
shall abide with you for ever. I will not leave you comfortless. If I go not away, the Holy Spirit
shall not come unto you. But if I go, I will send Him
unto you. Then He said to them, Tower ye
at Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high. And
they waited, they waited until the day of Pentecost. And then
the Holy Spirit fell, came upon them in tongues of fire, came
upon them in very evidence of being able to speak very clearly,
in other tongues and in languages that were understood by those
that had come to Jerusalem for that feast of other nations. They said, we hear them speak
in our own language. It's not gibberish, it was a
distinct language. And so, the Church of God has
a very clear evidence that Christ not only has ascended into Heaven,
but He lives in Heaven, and He makes intercession, and He says
what He said that He would do, and pray the Father and give
another Comforter. And we are told of what His work
is in Heaven, that He appears in the presence of God for us. He is our Advocate with the Father,
Jesus Christ the Righteous, that He is as a Lamb which hath been
slain in the midst of the throne. So when we read which hope we
have, which hope is a hope in Christ who lives to carry on
his people's cause above, who is in the presence of God, with authority in that presence.
What beautiful tides we have in Joseph, next unto Pharaoh
Mordecai, next unto King Ahasuerus, speaking peace for all his seed. And we see the effect of Joseph's
intercession. They had the best of the land
of Goshen, and watched over and kept. The Lord is our Heavenly
Joseph. And for the people of God, they
are to know that this is the hope that the Apostle is speaking
of here. So then there is a fourth hope,
which hope we have, and that is the hope of Him coming again. This is the other thing that
the Lord said to His disciples, that He will come again. And
the angels that appeared to the disciples when they stood looking
up into heaven, there stood by them, men in shining garments,
men of Galilee, wise Tangi, gazing up into heaven, He that has gone
shall come in light manner, He shall come with power and great
glory. The New Testament Church looks
for His coming. They hope that He will come again. They have a hope. Just the same
as the Old Testament Church hoped in Christ's first coming, the
New Testament hopes in His second coming. And when the Apostle
says, which hope, In this text, and how we're looking at it,
and looking at it with the end view of being an anchor, this
is the hope that he's speaking of. This is what it is founded
on. It's not founded upon any of
your frames, your feelings, what you have done, your works. It's not founded upon that at
all. It is all in God. In God's work, in the Lord Jesus
Christ, that is where the hope is centered in. And was the Old
Testament Church disappointed in their hope of Christ? No.
Christ did come. Was the Church in Christ day
disappointed? Yes, at first. The two on the
way to Emmaus we trusted. It should have been He that should
have redeemed Israel. Greatly disappointed, as it were,
dismayed. But then by the end of that first
Lord's Day, that first day of the week, them were the disciples
glad when they saw the Lord. Their hope was not disappointed
either. The crown was put on all that
had happened over the years. Now when they returned after
seeing the Lord ascending up on high, it was with joy, with
gladness, that they were found in the temple. Why? They'd lost
their best friend, the Lord was not with them anymore, but their
understanding was so clear. that He lived in heaven, He lived
for them, and that He was out of reach of the Romans, out of
reach of the Jews, and He was sitting in a place of authority
and power for them. And they had this wonderful hope
that He would come again. So when we read in our text,
which hope? We're not left in doubt from
the Scriptures, What the Apostle is speaking of, what kind of
hope, is not a shallow hope, an empty hope, it is a solid
hope, and it is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Secondly then, we're going to
add a couple of words to our first point, and that is the
words we have. Which hope we have. That is vital, isn't it? You can read about a hope that
is detached, but if we can't add that we have, The Church has that, but have
we individually got that? The psalmist in Psalm 71, he
can clearly say, Thou art my hope. The psalmist in Psalm 119 speaks
very much of the Word of God, and specifically in this connection
Remember unto me the Word upon which thou hast caused me to
hope. God has caused the psalmist to
hope through the Word. I wonder how many of you this
evening have been caused to hope through the Word of God, through
it being preached, through it being read, there's been raised
up a hope in your soul. We think also of that description
that is set forth here in verse 18. We have at the end of that
verse, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set
before us. We've been brought into conviction
of sin. We've been brought to see ourselves
as sinners. We've been brought to despair
of hope in ourselves. And the Lord's servants have
come and they've set forth Christ, they've preached Christ, they've
lifted Him up. They've given us a hope that's
been set before us. But more than by the man, the
Lord has attended that word with power. and it's been set before
us by the Holy Spirit, and we've fled to lay hold on that hope. There's been that, that we have
seen it, believed it, and embraced that hope. If ever my poor soul
be saved, His Christ must be the way. This is a hope. There's no hope in anything else. but hope in this one name given
among men, whereby we must be saved." Now Peter, when he writes
in his first epistle, and he says of what a believer is, if
I can turn to it in 1 Peter chapter 1, and he says in verse 21, He says, Who by Him do believe
in God, that raised Him up from the dead and gave Him glory,
that your faith and hope might be in God? A believer is made
a believer by Him, by Christ. When the disciples asked, what
shall we do that we might work the works of God? He said, this
is the work of God that ye believe in Him whom God has sent. And when God raises up one to
believe, then the end, the reason is that your faith and hope might
be in God. So when we are made a believer,
then we have that hope. You might not think you have
that. You might not realize that you
have that hope. I said it before, you who believe
tonight, you do have that hope. Christ is the hope of a believer,
and There's that which is in Ecclesiastes, that he that is
joined to all living, there is hope. A living dog is better
than a dead lion. Why? Because the dog is alive. The lion is dead, though it be
a lion. And so, where the Lord has given
life, There is hope, there is naturally. While someone is living,
it's the day of grace. And there's a possibility they'll
be saved. Many of us have loved ones that
do not know the Lord. They're in ways of rebellion,
ways of sin, and they give no indication that they're ever
likely to be saved. But while there's life, there
is hope. There's the Saul's of Tarsus,
there's John Newton's, there's some of us. that the Lord has
so changed and turned unto him that it seemed impossible and
must have caused much dismay to parents, grandparents, or
those that looked on in our lives at one time. And so when we have
which hope we have, it is made evidently to belong to believers
And those that have this hope, they are told from the Scriptures,
God has caused you to have this hope. He has raised up that hope. The Lord is my portion, Jeremiah
in his lamentation says, saith my soul, therefore will I hope
in Him. If the Lord is our portion, and
we've felt the Lord has taken us like the Levites and said,
this world is not your rest, it is polluted, this is not your
portion, this is not your rest, your portion is above, your rest
is above, that's where you should go. And where we've embraced
that as Christ, our portion, we've gone unto him without the
camp, bearing his reproach. We've said, as for me and my
house, we will serve the Lord, we're like Joshua. And we made
that profession in that way. There's other ways that we can
know as well that we have this hope. One way is that when the
Lord calls a people, calls them by His grace, they're born again
of the Spirit, quickened by the Spirit, and you're able to see
that. Some of the Lord's dear people
can't see their calling very, very clearly. And yet it is vital
that everyone that has this hope are called, and that there is
a new beginning, they have a new birth, they are spiritually alive. Where that is seen, we may say
those that know that they have been called, they do have that
hope, which hope we have. But there's something that will
also decide our calling right through our lives, and that is
that the Lord chastens every son whom he receiveth. We cannot go through life without
God's chastening hand. Whether it be a frown, whether
it be a withdrawing and holding of the blessings that he's given
us, or whether it be in providence, the Lord chastens his people.
He warns them first through the word, and when they don't hearken
and hear, then he lays on the rod and makes them feel the rod. You read Hebrews 12. It's very,
very clear. The Lord chastens His children. Hear ye the rod, and who hath
appointed it? So to those of you this evening,
that you discern the chastening hand of God, Your conscience
has borne witness to things that you've been doing that are wrong,
and ways that you've been doing that are wrong, you haven't listened.
And then the Lord has seen fit to bring things, touching with
illness, touching things in your life, and sometimes with the
people of God. It is not touching things like
the material things that the world would notice. Yes, the
Lord does do that, but what he touches is what the child
of God will notice and in that there's a double token not only
that we are a child by chastening but we are a child because the
manner of chastening is felt by us and what I mean is If the
Lord makes the heavens as brass, and we find that we can find
it so hard to pray and gain the ear of God, we haven't got our
hiding place, we haven't got one, it's as if God says, I don't
want to hear from you, I'll return unto my place until I acknowledge
their sin, and then they shall seek me early in their distress
and trouble. Or it is like in the pandemic
here. Those of us that love the Lord's
house. No, says the Lord, you can't go in there. They love
to join with the people of God. No, you cannot. They love to
meet with their dear aged friends in the pilgrim home. No, you
cannot. Or in Bethesda. No, you can't. And all of these
things, how many of us are actually feeling it? Really, a token of being a child
of God is when the Lord is touching these things, we trust by His
grace He's made precious to us. Singing is worthy praise. You
know, when I was first called in my own home, and Lord bless
my soul, I used to love to get the hymnbook, sit on the piano,
and I'd play and I'd sing. And sometimes I wouldn't sing
from the hymnbook, I'd just take the Bible and I'd just make up
my own tune, and I'd just sing the words of Scripture. And when
you're blessed, when you have the love of God in your soul,
you cannot but sing. And now we say, no, we cannot
sing, at least loudly, in the house of God. Do we feel these
things? And do we feel it as chastening?
Do we come into those paths of the churches in the Revelation?
Thou hast lost thy first love. Thou art lukewarm. I'm going
to spew thee out of my mouth. a people that have grown careless,
that have had those like Jezebel teaching evil things. Those have
the doctrine of Balaam, wrong doctrine in our churches, and
we just don't worry about it. Are we hearing the rod of the
Lord? Because if we do hear it, even
hearing the rod, when we hear it, when we take it to heart,
and we say like Eli, it is the Lord, let him do what seemeth
him good, then We are saying this is the chastening hand and
the Lord says we have hope, which hope we have as a child of God. We have this scriptural hope.
And so we can look at it in Providence as well. Think of that beautiful
text in Romans 8, 28. We know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them that are the
called according to his purpose. Sometimes it's hard to see going
through it, but we know it. And sometimes we can clearly
see And where that is the case, then we can say in our text,
which hope we have. And so dear friend, my prayer
is that those of you that hear this night, that you realize
you do have this hope. God has given you this hope that
is spoken of in our text. Well, I come now to our third
point, which is adding the rest of the verse. which hope we have
as an anchor of the soul. This is what the hope is to be
used for. Now, let's go back to the illustration
that we had. A ship, a boat, when does it
need the anchor? When does a child of God need
the anchor of hope? It is not in times of fair sailing. It's not in times when everything
seems to go flowing to good and the sails filled on the way to
heaven. No, it is in such a storm that
they fear shipwreck. Or it is, as it were, when they're
waiting to go into harbour. Dear aged friends that may be
waiting to go into harbour, waiting to enter into an eternal rest,
and they think, Satan knows my time is short, he's going to
try and attack me, take away my hope, take away my life, before
I get to that haven. Yet can I bear the piercing thought,
what if my name should be left out, when thou for them shalt
call? And that's what this is hope,
is for to hold fast at such a time. When we go through those things
that others that didn't really have the work of God in them,
they cast away their faith. The Lord spoke the parable of
the sower, and he said of those that were on stony ground hearers,
that they sprung up quickly because of shallowness of earth, but
then when temptations, when trials, when troubles came, then by and
by they're offended when persecution came and they cast everything
away. But the Apostle says here, no,
there is an anchor for such a tossed and troubled and endangered soul
that they have an anchor to use at this time. Yes, you won't,
as it were, make headray, but you won't make shipwreck. You stand where you are. Now
some during this time will certainly want to be bettered by the cross,
you want to learn by it, but there'll be others that will
want to weather this storm out and be found at the end of it
still a believer. You think of Peter in Satan's
sieve. Before he was in the sieve, he
loved his Lord and Master, After he was in Satan's sieve, he loved
his Lord and Master. In between, he denied Him, but
he was brought safely through. And what did the Lord say? I
have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not. How many times
would he have had hope in what the Lord had prayed and what
the Lord had said and done for him? What is said here of this anchor,
an anchor of the soul, it is both sure and steadfast. It is sure in that hope itself
is the grace of God. By grace ye are saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. where
God has given that grace of hope, it is sure. I give unto them
eternal life, they shall never perish, neither shall any man
pluck them out of my hand. The Lord doesn't take back His
gifts, He gives them to be used, and if He has given you and I
hope, it is to be used, and it is to be used in the way of our
text in times of storm as an anchor. when Satan tempts, when
afflictions come, when adversity comes, when all things are tossed
to and fro, when we go through Joe's path, even in a measure,
when we go through the path of our Lord and Saviour and have
some fellowship with Him in His sufferings. It is a sure hope. but then it is also steadfast. And remember our text doesn't
just say it is sure, it doesn't just say it's steadfast, it says
both sure and steadfast. We said in our first illustration,
an anchor, if you just had an anchor made out of some little
bits of wood, it wouldn't be very sure, would it? is made
out of cast steel, then it would be very sure. But then it depends on what it
is anchoring in. So we said hope itself is a sure
anchor, but what does it fix onto? And steadfast, and which
entereth into that within the veil. Instead of entering under
the sea and to the sea bottom, this anchor goes up and into
the veil, and it's very clear what is there, who is there.
Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus. The hope is anchoring. in the
Lord Jesus Christ. That is where the hope is fastening
on. The very description of that
hope was a hope in Him that is risen and ascended and shall
come again, but the action of an anchor with that hope is centering
upon the Lord where He is, beyond the reach of any here. but in
a position of power and authority, and who can speak on behalf of
his people, and when he speaks it is done. Speak the word only,
and thy servant shall be healed." The Lord wasn't near that centurion's
servant, several miles away, and now he is In heaven, does
it make any difference the distance, the power is still the same,
the word is still the same, the blessed man is still the same,
his ability to save? And so, in the person of the
Lord Jesus Christ, His precious blood as a lamb, as it had been
slain within the veil, and it is the forerunner, verse 20,
whither the forerunner is forerunner, who's following? Doesn't hope
grasp onto that? If he's the forerunner, there
must be some following. Why not me, who he's begun a
work of grace, who he's chastened, who he's kept, who he's revealed
himself to, who's he raised up hope? Why not me to follow after?
The first begotten of many brethren, may I be one of those brethren? to come unto thee, prayer of
our Lord, Father, I will that they whom thou hast given me
be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory. And all
these promises that are centred upon where the Lord is, and His
intercession, the types of the Old Testament, the Ark in the
holiest of all, hidden from view then, but revealed in Christ,
and now He's hidden, we see not Him. But we know that He is,
by the work, the blessing, attending the Word, the going forth of
the Word into every nation, and every soul that is quickened
into life, every open profession in His name, everyone that is
raised up to this hope, a testimony to the living power of God. We
are living witnesses of the grace of God, of what the Lord has
done. Come and hear, all ye that fear
God, and I will tell what He hath done for my soul. Is that
what some of you could say, but perhaps have not said, but should
say? It's a blessed thing to have
this hope that the Lord Jesus Christ, who on earth said that
no man is able to pluck them out of mine hand, and my Father
is greater than I. No man is able to pluck them
out of my Father's hand. He will keep the feet of His
saints. He will keep that which I have
committed unto Him, says the Apostle, unto that day. Hope is an anchor. It is for such times of trouble,
distress. And this is where the Apostle,
he takes the, shall we say, basic, foundational, fundamental doctrines
of our most holy faith, and of the gifts and graces of God,
and he shows the use of them, and what a help they are for
the people of God, and when they are to be used. This is not a
time when you're so tossed and troubled to cast away your faith. What would you think of a captain
of a ship, that when he got into a storm, he said, well, we need
to lighten the ship, cut the anchor off, that's the heaviest
thing. Going back to Paul and their storm, they cast out many
things before they cast those four anchors out of the stern,
but when they came to need the anchors, they were still there.
They hadn't cast them out. And dear friends, don't cast
away your hope, which hath great recompense of reward. Hope in
God, for I shall yet praise him, who is the help of my countenance
and my God. Which hope we have as an anchor
of the soul, both sure and steadfast, which entereth into that within
the veil. And dear friends, one time we
will be within that veil. We shall not need hope then,
because we will see the Lord as he is. The Lord bless us with
that hope until that time comes. May the Lord add his blessing.
Amen.