The Anchor Of The Soul

Q: What does the Bible say about redemption?

The Bible teaches that redemption is a gift of God's grace and not something we earn. Redemption is a work that God does in and for the sinner, originating from His sovereign grace rather than any merit found in ourselves. It is all of grace, underscoring that our salvation is not contingent on our works but solely on God's mercy. As seen in passages like Ephesians 1:4-5, God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world, demonstrating that our hope and security rest entirely in His redemptive plan rather than our capabilities.

Q: How do we know salvation by grace is true?

Salvation by grace is grounded in Scripture and the character of God, who acts intentionally without our merit. We know salvation by grace is true because it is based on God's unchanging character and His promises revealed in Scripture. God's decision to save is not a response to any good in us, but rather originates entirely from His will and purpose. For instance, John 6:39 emphasizes that none whom the Father gives to Jesus will be lost, indicating a divine assurance rooted in grace rather than human effort. Hence, our confidence lies in God's promises, which assure us of our standing in Christ, not in our failures or successes.

Q: Why is the concept of grace important for Christians?

Grace is vital as it symbolizes God's unmerited favor, grounding believers' identity and hope in Christ. The concept of grace is fundamental for Christians because it defines our relationship with God and illustrates the essence of the Gospel. Grace shows that our salvation is entirely based on God's goodwill towards us and not on our performance or worthiness. This ensures that our confidence is not rooted in ourselves but in the finished work of Christ. As Christians, understanding grace leads to a life marked by gratitude and reliance on God's strength, as we recognize that we have been saved from spiritual death by His unmerited favor, as highlighted in Romans 11:6.

Q: What does the Bible say about human responsibility in light of God's sovereignty?

The Bible teaches that human responsibility exists alongside God's sovereignty, emphasizing our accountability in faith. Scripture clearly presents both God's sovereignty and human responsibility as essential elements of the Christian faith. While God is sovereign in His election and acts of grace, He also holds individuals accountable for their responses to His call. This is evident in Acts 27, where the sailors are responsible for casting anchors despite the promise of God's protection for all on board. Both aspects work in harmony, underscoring that while God is in control and guarantees our salvation, we are called to actively respond in faith and obedience.

Q: How does grace affect our assurance of salvation?

Grace provides the foundation of our assurance, assuring us that salvation is God's work alone. Grace profoundly impacts our assurance of salvation by affirming that it is not based on our fluctuating faithfulness but on God's unchanging character and His promises. The assurance of salvation is rooted in the belief that God is faithful to uphold His promises. Our eternal security rests on His completed work through Christ, as indicated in 1 Peter 1:4-5, where believers are said to have an inheritance kept in heaven. By understanding that our salvation is secured by His grace, we can confidently face life's trials without fear of losing God's favor.

This is the story of the Apostle Paul and
his dangerous and perilous sea voyage towards Rome. many things, many texts in this
particular chapter that would be the basis of what I feel would
be good preaching. Sometimes what I think is good
preaching is not always good preaching to others, but it seems
to me like it would be. I'll read a portion of this and kind of settle on the 29th verse
as a basis for It says that the 15th person, when the ship
was caught and could not bear up into the wind, we let her
drive. Running under a certain island, which is called Claudia,
we had much work to come by the boat. which when they had taken up
they used helps undergirding the ship, and fearing lest they
should fall into the quicksand's straight sail, and so were driven. We being exceedingly tossed with
the tempest, the next day they lightened the ship, and the third
day we cast out with our own hands the tackling of the ship.
when neither sun nor stars in many days appeared, and no small
tempest lay on us, all hope that we should be saved was then taken
away." I thought that would be a good text there. All hope that
we should be saved was then taken away. That's, I believe, the
condition that every man ought to be in at one time in his life. that he'd ever be saved is taken
away from him. He's stripped of everything that
he could lean upon. Everything taken away and is
left there at the mercy of God. If we ever get in that condition,
wife, we'll remember the time that we was without Christ. And
then we'll remember the time when God gave us hope in the
mercy of God in the face of Christ. It says, And after a long abstinence
Paul stood forth in the midst of them, and he said, Sirs, you
should have hearkened unto me, and not have loosed from Crete,
to have gained this harm and loss. Now I exhort you to be
of good cheer, for there shall be no loss of any man's life
among you but of the ship. For there stood by me this night
the angel of God, whose I am and whom I serve." I thought
that was a good text. Whose I am and whom I serve. Paul said, I belong to him and
belonging to him constrains me to serve him. Anyhow, the angel
said, fear not Paul, there must be brought before Thou must be
brought before Caesar, and, lo, God hath given thee all them
that sail with thee. Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer,
for I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me. That is, God is able to perform
that which he promised. No doubt in Paul's mind about
that. Howbeit, we must be cast upon a certain eye. When the
fourteenth night was come, as we were driven up and down in
Adria about midnight, the shipmen deemed that they drew near to
some country, and found it twenty fathoms. But when they had gone
a little further, they sounded again, and found it fifteen fathoms. Then fearing lest we should have
fallen upon rocks, they cast four anchors out of the stern,
and prayed for the day, or wished for the day. Now, in this twenty-ninth
verse, they have come to the place where
they have cast out sounding gear or their line which would indicate
the depth of the water at this particular place. And the first
casting out of the line that would indicate the depth said
20 fathoms. And they came a little further
and they cast the thing out again and it said 15 fathoms. So now
they were in danger of being washed upon these rocks. And
if that would be so, it would probably tear the bottom out
of the ship and they would be utterly consumed by the storm
and by the water. Of course, you and I looking
at it now, we know that that wouldn't come to pass because
the angel of God already told Paul, said, be of good cheer,
said, I've given all these to you and there'll be no loss,
save the ship. Of course, this indicates and certainly teaches
us of human responsibility in light of the sovereignty of God. Now, they were responsible. Paul
could have said, well, God has already told me here that everyone
on the ship is going to be saved, and so don't worry about the
rocks and the shoals out there ahead of us. We're going to be
all right. But that wasn't the case. They threw out four anchors. stopped the ship right in its
tracks to keep the ship from dragging on the rocks and the
bottom being tore out of the ship and them being consumed
by this terrible storm. So it says, they cast out four
anchors, four anchors out of the stern and wished for the
day. Now, I thought of, well, I've
talked about this before, I've thought about this four anchors
and I think that there's an anchor that needs to be cast out by
you and I in order that our life might be on an even keel and
that we might not be consumed by the easy believism of our
day, the socializing Christianity of our
day, the looseness and immorality of so-called Christianity of
our day, this generation. We need to have an anchor. We
need to have an anchor that will hold, something that will hold. As I was thinking about this,
I thought that the best anchor that a man could cast out would
be the anchor of redemption, the anchor of redemption which
is all of grace. Now, you know if you are a recipient
of the Lord Jesus, that is, if God hath made unto you wisdom
and righteousness and sanctification and so forth, it was not because
of something good that God saw in you. redemption, which is all of grace
and the anchor that's cast out, in order that we might not drift,
that we might be solid, we might be consistent, we might continue
on and continue on, day in and day out. I think that's the problem
with a lot of people, that they make an empty profession. They've
been emotionally disturbed. by the threat of hell's fire
and brimstone, or maybe the loss of a member of their family,
or maybe what they would determine as an accident in their family,
and they've made a profession of religion. Hastily they have
made a profession of faith in the Lord Jesus, but their lives
after this profession is a It's just a scattering mess. It's a hop, a skip, and a jump. It's here today and gone tomorrow.
It's these mushroom Christians that rise up overnight and then
disappear. And there's no consistency in
their profession. You rarely see them. They get
real excited if someone dies and they want you to be there.
They want you to be there at the funeral. They want the preacher
to be there. They'll call him up and want
to know why you're not there. Or they'll call the deacons up
or the sisters and want to know why you're not there. Some little,
they have appendicitis operation or a tonsillectomy. They want
to know why you're not in the hospital. But they're never in
their seat. They're never in their pew. They're
not there when you need them, when you depend upon them. They're
never to be found. They haven't got this anchor
that I'm talking about. They haven't got the anchor of
redemption, which is all of grace. Because if they had the anchor
of redemption, which is all of grace, there'd be some consistency
in their lives. I want you to understand, and
I think you do understand this for the most part. Most of you
here, I think, understand this. If you don't, dwell upon it.
Think about it. Pray about it. You are not the
recipient of the favor and the mercy of God in the person of
Jesus Christ because God saw something good in you. He never saw anything good in
you. There never was any good in you, there's not any good
in you now, and there never will be any good in your flesh. Do
you believe that? You're not the recipient of the
favor of God because God saw something good in you. Not now, not tomorrow, not if
you live to be a hundred years old. They'll never be any good
in your flesh. That will be used of God to commend
you to God, you see. The anchor that will hold in
the storms of life will be that anchor of redemption, the anchor
all of the grace of God. Now, you are not one of the recipients
of the favor of God because of God because of something God
saw that you would do. You see, if you were left to
your own will, you would have continued in darkness unto this
day, and even now, if left to yourself, would depart from the
living God. So, you are not a recipient of
the favor of God because of something God saw that you would do. It is no surprise to me when
professors of faith fail and fall. It is rather a miracle
of the grace of God that any should stand. O Lord, with such
a heart as mine, unless you hold me fast, I feel I must decline
and prove like them at last. We're dangerous people, dangerous. If it was left to ourselves,
no telling what we would do. All right. Another thing we need
to learn in regard to this redemption which is all of grace. You are
not one of the favorites of God because God needed you. I told you that this morning
in a roundabout way that God is essentially blessed and happy
in himself and he does not need us in order to add to his happiness
or add to his glory. He does not need us. He is essentially
self-existent and self-sufficient and eternally blessed and happy
in himself, absolutely 100% independent, absolutely independent. He's a law unto himself. He doesn't
need you. He doesn't need me. He does what
he wants to do, when he wants to do it, to whom he wants to
do it to, and woe be unto the rebel that rebels against his
sovereignty. You're not one of God's favorites
because God needed you. Now, I get kind of upset sometimes
and kind of get disturbed when we leave the impression with
anybody, regardless of who it is, When we leave this impression
that God or the Kingdom of God or the Church of the Lord Jesus
Christ can profit in any way from my presence, from my influence,
or for my gifts, we are receivers, we are beggars, and we are bankrupt
sinners, and God doesn't need us. We haven't got anything. that
we did not receive from Him. I read that to you here not so
long ago in the book of 1 Corinthians where it says, What hast thou
that thou didst not receive? You see, it is by the grace of
God that you are what you are. Paul said, It is the grace of
God that I am what I am. It was the grace of God that
set you apart in that covenant of mercy. It was the grace of
God that made you the object of His distinguishing or differing
love. It was His grace that laid hold
of you and laid hold of me while we were in the pit and brought
us to the Lord Jesus Christ. And I'll tell you this, if it
be my lot and if it be your lot to continue in the faith, to
grow in faith, to grow in the love of God that was shed abroad
in our hearts, to die in hope and to be resurrected in glory. It will be by the grace of God.
The stanza of an old hymn says, Here
I raise mine Ebenezer, and hither by thy help I have come, and
I hope by thy good pleasure safely to arrive at home. It's all of
grace, friends. Redemption is all of grace. That's
the anchor. That's the anchor that needs
to be cast out over the stern of the ship in order to keep
the ship from moving with the tide and moving with the storm
and being demolished there and consumed on the rocks. You just
look at yourself as you really are. Doesn't your conscience
rebuke you? Doesn't your conscience, you're
by yourself and you're meditating and reflecting upon yourself,
upon your attitudes, upon your thoughts, upon this inward man,
upon the law of God and your attitude towards it, your attitude
towards the Lord Jesus Christ. Doesn't your conscience point
its finger at you and rebuke you? Certainly it does. Does
not your thousands and thousands of wanderings stand before you
and tell you that you are unworthy to be called a son of God? Certainly it does. Now, if God
has made you anything, are you not taught that it was His free,
sovereign grace that made you to differ? Now, you have a seat
in heaven. I told you here not so long ago
or read to you from the book of, where was it, 1 Peter, where
it tells us about we have a place guaranteed in glory reserved
in heaven for you, reserved. Now, if you be the recipient
of the favor of God, if you are one of God's chosen, the elect
of God, chosen by God in Christ, the foundation of the world,
then you have a seat in heaven. And a seat in heaven one day
will be realized in reality and it will actually be yours, a
place in glory. Jesus taught that in the 14th
chapter of the book of John. He said, I go to prepare a place
for you. I prepare you to be a prepared
place. I prepare it for you. But listen,
If that's so, it will be because and by and through the grace
of God. It will not be because God needed
you. It will not be because God had
to have you. It will be by the grace of God.
You see, a seat in heaven shall be yours one day, but a chain
of hell would be yours right now if the grace of God had not
intervened. The chain of hell would have
been yoked around your throat and you would have been held
incarcerated by the devil and his demons unto that day if the
grace of God had not intervened and broken the chain and freed
you by the substitutionary work of the Lord Jesus Christ. You
see, a chain in hell would be yours if the grace of God had
not changed you. That's the anchor, you see, redemption. It's all grace. You can sing
of His love and His mercy from these hymnals that we use. You can sing there with a heart
filled with love and praise and satisfaction and thanksgiving
unto the God of glory. You can do that, and you do do
that. But listen, did you know that blasphemy and cursing and
bitterness would have been on your lips if His grace had not
changed you. There's not a crime, and I think
of the crimes. You think of the fellow up there
in Chicago we mentioned the other day that enticed young children
into his home and abused them, abused them, and was, I guess,
I'm sure, guilty of killing over 30 children, burying them under
his own house. Isn't that terrible, you think?
That's a terrible crime. Terrible crime. It's so terrible
that men don't even want to talk about it. So terrible. It's not talked about in public,
the crime that that man committed. But listen, there's not a crime
beyond our reach if he had left us to ourselves. Did you know
that? Not one single solitary crime
beyond the reach of the depraved heart of a human being if God
would leave him to himself and leave him satisfy the desires
of his lustful nature, he'd do anything and everything. That's
right. Oh, to Greece, how great a difference. daily I am constrained to thee.
Let thy goodness, like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to thee."
That anchor that I'm talking to you about here, that's all
of grace, redemption, redemption. Let me say a few more things
in regard to this and then I'll let you go. Paul said in that 29th verse, look at that again,
he says, them fearing lest we should have fallen upon rocks
that cast out four anchors. All of grace, that's the anchor
that will hold it. That will keep in its place.
What do you know about it? that salvation is a work which
God does in and for the sinner. Now listen, that may sound trite
to you in elementary, but listen, salvation is a work which God
does in and for the sinner, not something the sinner does for
God. When you talk about redemption, salvation by grace and all of
grace, you've got to understand it's not something that you do
for God. It's something that God does
in and for you Himself. God does it or did it in its
origination. It originated in eternity past,
in the mind of God somewhere in eternity past, before the
world ever was. I know how long ago it's been
in that respect. I can't tell you the days or
the years or the months or even the moons and the seasons. But
I can tell you that God chose His people in Christ, the foundation
of the world. Before God laid the foundation
for this world, before the pillars were set, before anything that
was, that is, God chose unto Himself. That is the origination,
the origin. of our salvation. So our salvation
is not something that the sinner does for God, it is something
that God does in and for that poor sinner. It is all of grace
and that is the anchor that will hold you. And then there is the
execution of that. The execution of that salvation
which God chose before the which is in Christ in substitution.
That is an anchor that will hold you, the substitutionary work
of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord Jesus being made sin for
us. Does not the fifth chapter of
the book of 2 Corinthians say, For him who knew no sin became
sin in our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God
He knew no sin. He knew no sin. He went to the
cross pure and spotless, without blemish, not a trace or taint
of sin in His nature. The only sin He was involved with was your
sin and my sin, and it was on Him that we might become the
righteousness of God in Him. That's the execution. And then
the application of it is the Holy Spirit of God brings the
good news of the gospel to our broken and weary hearts and to
our wounded conscience. The Holy Spirit brings the story,
the good news that Christ died for sinners and paid their debt
and sets them free and gives them hope of eternal life in
Christ Jesus. That's the good news. That's
the application of it. He applies it to you. He applies
it to you. Only the Holy Spirit can apply
that to a man's heart. All right. Another thing I think
we need to know about this anchor that holds within the veil, which
is redemption, all of grace, that salvation is completely
in and through the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. who is our sin offering and our
sacrifice and our mediator. There is one mediator between
God and man, and that is the man Christ Jesus. He ever lives,
God hath highly exalted him and given him a place, given him
a name which is above every name. He is seated on the right hand
of God. We make him nothing. God made
His Christ King. God made His Christ Lord. He's
our Mediator. He's our High Priest. He's our
Prophet. He's our Priest and He's our
King. Our Mediator, He's our Priest. He intercedes for the
people of God. He ever lives to make intercession
for us. So salvation is completely in
and through the person and the work of this Mediator, the Lord
Jesus Christ. Another thing I want you to know,
which has to do with this anchor, is that salvation, which is in
the Lord Jesus Christ, now is not a temporary experience. It is not temporary, but it is
permanent. What God does, He does forever. Boy, that will hold you. If there
is nothing else that I have said tonight, that will do your heart
good. That will do your heart good
if you are the recipient. of the favor of God in the person
of the Lord Jesus Christ, it was not a temporary thing. It was a permanent thing. God does not do anything temporary. He does not do anything piecemeal
or by chance. God does things permanent. And when He spoke peace to your
heart in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, it was a permanent
Word. permanent work, God will keep
you through hell and high water, through all your wanderings and
inconsistencies, through all your darkness and through all
your unbelief and through all your doubts and anxieties. God
will keep you until the end. Why? Because he hath done a permanent
work, not a temporary work, permanent work, you see, in doing this
It reflects to His praise and to His eternal glory. He said,
I believe, in that seventeenth chapter of the book of John,
He said, Of all which He, that's God, of all which He hath given
Me, I have lost nothing. I haven't lost a one of them.
All those that the Father give Me, I've kept. I've lost any
of them. No empty seats in glory. There
will not be an empty seat in heaven. Everyone who is a divine
favorite of God, who the mercy of God has been exercised and
applied to their hearts, and they've tasted the sweetness
of the Lord Jesus Christ, they'll not be disappointed. They'll
not be those in heaven that will be disappointed. But there's
a seat there reserved for you, you see. All which he hath given
me, I haven't lost any of them. Then lastly, lastly, this is
important, I think. You know, about every time I
preach, I include what I'm preaching right now. I include all these
things. I don't think there's a time
when I preach that I don't include this. I don't think that you
can preach unless you include this. I think any time you preach,
and what I've said tonight is not included, you haven't preached
salvation by grace. You might preach about it, but
you haven't preached it. You might preach about Jesus
Christ, but you haven't preached Christ. Preach the Lord Jesus
Christ and salvation by grace and redemption as the anchor
for the soul that will keep a man. A man's got to say this. He's
got to say that everything that God does, He does on purpose. Everything that God does, He
does on purpose. When He saved you, let me ask
you this, when He saved you, was it an accident or did He
do it on purpose? Huh? When He saved you, was it
an accident or did God do it on purpose? Ah, you've got to
admit that God did it on purpose. God did it on purpose. No accidents
but God. Salvation is by grace, not by
accident. You see, everything that God
does, He does on purpose. There's no accidents with God.
And this is the foundation of our comfort, our assurance, and
our desire. And this is the anchor of our
soul. He's the path. The Lord Jesus,
He's the path. If any be misled, He's the robe. If any naked be, If any be hungry,
he is bread. If any be enslaved, he is free. If any be but weak, how strong
is he? To blind men sight, to needy
wealth, to dead men life, and to sick men health. You see,
if Jesus Christ is not valued above all, He is not valued at
all. So Mr. Augustine said. That's
the anchor for the soul. That's the anchor that we need
to have cast out and anchored within the veil. And that'll
hold us. That'll hold us. Salvation is
by the grace of God. Redemption is all of God. And it's His business to keep
us. And if He doesn't, it'll reflect
on His honor. And of course, I'm just saying
that when I say if He doesn't. There's no doubt. I'm like Paul
there. You know, Paul said, why, sirs,
I believe God. I believe God, don't you? I believe
God. I believe that he'll do what
he said he'd do, or said he'd promise. He'll perform that which
he promised. Listen. Oh, that was a bad time out there.
Neither the sun or the stars appeared in many days. There
was no small tempest. A big storm wasn't a small one,
just a little squall. It was a big one. All hope was
taken away. We should be saved. We didn't
have any hope. Everything was so bad, we didn't
have any hope. But oh, Paul said in that 25th verse after God
spoke to him, Paul said, Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer, for I
believe God, and it shall be even as it was told me. I believe him tonight. It'll
be even as he's told me. Salvation's all of grace. It's
all of God. And it's his business to get
me and to get you from earth to eternal glory. And he'll not
fail. For whatever God does, he doesn't
do it temporarily. He does it permanently. And whatever
God does, he does it on purpose. My heart rejoices this evening
that that's my Lord, that's my Savior. He does things on purpose. That anchor will hold you, that
will help you. The Lord bless these remarks.

The Anchor Of The Soul

What does the Bible say about redemption?

How do we know salvation by grace is true?

Why is the concept of grace important for Christians?

What does the Bible say about human responsibility in light of God's sovereignty?

How does grace affect our assurance of salvation?

Sermon Transcript

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The Anchor Of The Soul

What does the Bible say about redemption?

How do we know salvation by grace is true?

Why is the concept of grace important for Christians?

What does the Bible say about human responsibility in light of God's sovereignty?

How does grace affect our assurance of salvation?

Sermon Transcript

About Scott Richardson

Comments

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