The Anchor of Your Soul

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ, based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the Apostle Paul said, �But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.

In short, if you like smooth, watered-down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn�t for you. By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we�re called by the divine trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her King.

Here�s our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth. Welcome to No Compromise Radio ministry. My name is Mike Abendroth, and I�m here in the studio late on a Saturday, needed to record a couple shows and think about my message a little bit, so I do the same thing at the same time.

I do the shows and do the message, and then I thought, �Oh, I finally figured out this Facebook thing, because I can tell who gets it. I�ve been doing a lot of these shows, recorded them, kind of like Todd Friel does, where you can see him, but nobody could see it because I didn�t push the right button.

So I just figured out on Facebook how to do that, because I�m not a Facebook guy. But here it�s to the closed group, because you are the insiders if you get to watch this. Anyway, you can write me if you�d like.

There�s Claudia. She�s watching. You can write me, info at nocompromiseradio .com. So what I�m doing is a simulcast. It�s going up on a video for the closed group, but this show will probably play on the radio in about, oh, a week or so.

God’s Promise-Keeping Character in Hebrews 6

I�ve been thinking a lot about Hebrews chapter 6. And what�s so good about Hebrews chapter 6 is that we initially think, �Well, that�s that passage, and maybe you could lose your salvation, and that�s that warning passage.

And of course, there is a warning passage there. But the passage ends with verses 13 through 20, and it�s such a great passage because it talks about God as a promise-keeping God. I mean, how many people do you know that keep their word?

How many people do you know that have always kept their word? I mean, I would like to keep my word. I have an aspiration for that. I would like to do a lot of things, but I am sinful and my flesh is weak, and I don�t do that.

But can you imagine God has never failed in His promises? And we have to remember that when things don�t seem to be going the way we think they should go. In other words, it�s easy to trust in the Lord when you�ve got everything going your way.

But when things aren�t going your way, it could be health, it could be relationships, it could be job, it could be money, it could be whatever it is, then you start to think, �Well, you know what? Maybe God isn�t as good as He says He is in the Bible.

Maybe I can�t trust in His promises. So, the book of Hebrews has been so great because you can trust in God, and I�ve been talking for the last several Sundays about God as a promise-keeping God. And even though Abraham, despite all circumstances to the contrary, he could trust in who the Lord was and is and His promises back in Genesis 12, 15, 17, and 22.

And even if he might have to slay Isaac, God was going to be faithful. And so, since God is immutable, God doesn�t change, Abraham can trust in the Lord and therefore so can you. And that�s why it�s good to read the Bible because so often we�re trusting in our own selves, our own emotions, our own bank accounts, etc.

And then what does God do? God could just say, �Trust in Me Hebrews 6, verses 13 and following. That would be enough. But God condescends, God is generous and gracious toward us, and He wants to make sure we understand and that we trust in Him.

So, God not only gives us His Word to trust in Him, Hebrews 6, He makes an oath. Can you imagine that? He swears by Himself. There�s no one higher to swear by, and therefore God wants you to know, what does the text say?

�More convincingly. To show us more convincingly. What does He mean there? Well, because God could just say it and it�s true. God gives a promise, it�s even extra true for us, and then He gives a promise and an oath.

That is amazing. God really wants you to understand that if you trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for your salvation, Hebrews chapter 1, �Your sins are purged. If you trust in Him, it�s going to be true.

It�s going to happen, no matter what. And that is good to know, especially in the debates of eternal security, can you lose your salvation? And of course, as I like to teach, if you could lose your salvation, you already would have lost it.

The Sure and Steadfast Anchor of the Soul

And then the writer goes, and this is what we�re going to look at today, Hebrews chapter 6, verse 19, �We have this sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain.

Speaking, I normally don�t have this happening, but now look at that. I�m on the radio and I�ve got my Wretched shirt. And this is a statement here because Friel has not let me host Wretched Radio for quite some time.

The last time I was to host it, I couldn�t get the equipment working, maybe that�s why. Friel told me, he said, �Hey, Mike, you know, no worries. Todd. But I haven�t gotten, you know, you haven�t called me since then.

And you know what I�m going to do? I�ve got the Message Bible. Last time I talked about the Message Bible, Eugene Peterson was still alive, and then the show aired the day I think he died when Steve and I were critiquing the Message Bible.

And so, I just thought, you know, it never has anything to do with the person. I thought, well, that was just kind of bad timing, bad taste and timing, but that was not my fault. That was Steve�s fault.

Susan is watching. Susan, how is your Viennese waltz? That�s my only question. And the Holly family is watching. I�m glad to know that. What does Hebrews chapter 6 say? Remember, we�re talking about God as a promise keeper and an oath maker, a truth teller, a refuge.

And what does it say here? �We who have run for our very lives to God have every reason to grab the promised hope with both hands and never let go. I�m surprised he didn�t say white-knuckle it. �It�s an unbreakable spiritual lifeline.

Remember that old song, �Throw out the lifeline That was as Armenian as you could get. �It�s an unbreakable spiritual lifeline, reaching past all appearances right to the very presence of God, where Jesus, running on ahead of us, has taken up his permanent post as high priest for us in the order of Melchizedek.

Well, frankly, I hate to admit it, but that gives the sense of what�s going on. Of course, it�s not a translation. It�s a paraphrase. But that gives the sense that you can trust the Lord. Now, what has the writer been doing in the book of Hebrews?

He uses all kinds of metaphors and all kinds of Old Testament quotes, and the one he just got done talking about was the city of refuge. Remember that in chapter 6, verse 18? We think a city of refuge, I mean, what do you think of?

I mean, Las Vegas, city of refuge? Newark? Of course you don�t. If you�re thinking like a Jew, here�s how you think. Numbers 35, that if you kill someone unintentionally, accidentally, you can go to one of the six prescribed cities of refuge, Numbers 35, and you�re safe there.

And if the avenger comes, the blood relative to try to kill you for unintentionally killing, I mean, he can�t establish motive yet, you�re safe. You have asylum. If you�re outside the city, he could still kill you, and you�re safe until the high priest dies, and then you can go back to life.

And you can just imagine what�s happening in the book of Hebrews. You are safe in a refuge city if you trust in the Lord, because the city is really the person, and if the high priest dies, you can go back to your normal life.

There�s been an atonement made for you with a type and a shadow of the high priest. And so when you read city of refuge and fleeing to a city of refuge, flee for refuge to the Lord Jesus, that�s the background, Numbers chapter 35.

And even when you read Psalm 46 and every other psalm that has refuge in it, you should be thinking city of refuge, and now, of course, with the New Testament, that person is the Lord Jesus. But now, everything changes, and we go from Abraham and Isaac and promise and oath, and now we move to an anchor.

We move to nautical discussions, and now we see Robert is watching, Paul is watching, Taylor�Taylor, you should be studying, by the way�and Terry Flood. Terry Flood is always watching. I�m always concerned because Terry seems to be always watching.

Oh, here he says, �All right, I finally caught a live one, your second favorite listener in Ohio, and the third biggest giver in Ohio, I might add, too. Hebrew 619, �We have this sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain.

And what the writer is trying to do is just pile up data, information, metaphors, so that you will continue to trust in and hope in the Lord Jesus Christ, to rest in Him. That's the point. I mean, that's a great synonym for faith, for belief, is to rest, to rest in the Lord Jesus Christ.

And when you think of anchors, why would that have to do with rest? What would that have to do with rest? That's a better question. Ben Mercedes, right on, Ben. Josh, good to see you. Josh wrote a book called Expository Parenting.

You ought to get that book. And Ben, Ben ought to write a book on how to film No Compromise Radio. That's what he should do. Ben actually does great videos and films for weddings and other things, so you can always contact me if you need to get a hold of Ben.

But anyway, back to Hebrews 6. Anchors, great metaphor, not only in the old days, but today as well, for stability, for hope, for security, and not just with your boat, but for your soul. You move from city of refuge to anchor, to storm.

And of course, many people talk about their lives as it's like a storm. You know, this is just like, you know, the one day everything was bright and shiny, and then the next day, you know, all purgatory breaks loose.

And you're going to have to have a hope in the Lord Jesus when the storm hits. I was in Israel several years ago, and sometimes they just take you to these offbeat places and they try to sell you, I don't know, sesame seeds or something, or za'tak.

What's that stuff that you dip in? It's a bread that you dip in hyssop, you dip in hyssop. It's so funny. You ever listen to yourself just talk and you go, huh, that's crazy. Za'tar, yes, it's the green hyssop with spices and you dip bread in it.

Anyway, they take you to these places. You know, the bus driver gets a cut, but it's fine. I mean, you're a tourist, so what do you care? And they took us to an anchor museum. That's pretty...Holly just said, I was speaking in tongues, shamana, shamana, pop, pop, pop, chicka, maka, hi, lo, shoulda bought a Honda, or a Honda, that's well, shoulda bought a Holley, shoulda bought a Holley fam, that's right, shoulda bought a Holley fam, shoulda bought a Holley fam.

And they took us to this anchor museum, this is ADD Radio, by the way. And they had tons of anchors of every shape and size. And then they took us outside and they said, you know what, see these bigger anchors, notice anything about these bigger anchors?

No, you know, there's these big stones with a hole in them. And they said, these anchors would sink any ship that was around 2000 years ago. So what were they used for? I don't know what they're used for, fail videos or something, I'm not sure, Darwin Award videos.

And he said, you know what they are? They're idols. People have them around because they need stability, they need security, they need someone in whom they can trust. And this is a good representation.

So this is an idol shaped like an anchor. And I thought, isn't that amazing? You want someone trustworthy, you want someone reliable. You've got children, you've got a family, you've got, I think, children or family usually.

And things are going wrong because it's a fallen, sinful world. And so you've got to turn to someone to trust. You need a safe haven, you need a safe harbor, you need to be secured. And here's the really cool thing about the anchor, think about it this way, anchors, you throw them overboard, you know, they're tied to the ship and you can't see them, right?

So you can't see the Lord Jesus Christ. And you can see how this kind of goes together and I think that's pretty cool. My name is Mike Abendroth, this is No Compromise Radio. You can always write me, info at nocompromiseradio .com.

We try to do a few things on this NoCo deal. And tonight we're talking about promises of God are like spiritual anchors and the ultimate anchor of our soul is the Lord Jesus Christ. And when you are getting dashed on reefs and rocks and other issues, you can imagine it would be good if I told you, you just need to trust in the Lord.

So what the writer does is he builds metaphor upon metaphor upon metaphor, and he's not done yet, but he wants your hope to be fixed on this unseen God. And this anchor, the Lord Jesus Christ and his promises, notice what the text says in Hebrews 6?

It's firm. In other words, it won't get torqued or twisted or bent or it won't break. There's a lot of strain that can be on anchors and this anchor is firm and it's also secure. So you notice what he's trying to do?

He could just say anchor the soul, but it's a firm anchor. It's a secure anchor. The Latin word is anchora. That's kind of nice because if you ever want to learn Latin, I like words that are exactly like the English words or the Greek words.

This anchor, what's it supposed to do? It's supposed to help your faith. And I didn't say faithfulness, remember? The big issue in our world of evangelicalism is faith and faithfulness. Faith has an object, and this object is described here in the book of Hebrews.

Of course, faith leads to faithfulness, but we're talking about faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. This word anchor is used four times in the New Testament, three times in Acts 27 for a real anchor. And here in Hebrews chapter 6, not a literal anchor, but a metaphorical anchor.

And these sworn promises of God point to his faithfulness. Great is thy faithfulness. You've got storms in your life. You know, I always thought it was dumb. These guys are like, the storms in your life, you know, and Jesus calms the storms and Jesus calms the storms in your life.

Well, no, because sometimes he makes storms in your life. But even if he makes the storms in your life, are they caused by evolution, chance, serendipity, fortune, or any other pagan notion, no matter what's going on?

The context here is for you to be able to trust in the Lord, for you to be grounded, for you to be anchored, for you to not do the opposite, and that is worry. And that is be fearful. And that is freak out.

And that is, I'm not sure if I can trust in the Lord. When I researched this week, anchor mistakes for real nautical anchors. Here's some of the anchor mistakes. People buy cheap, chintzy $400 anchors for their $500 ,000 boat.

I thought, that is awful, but that's exactly what I would do. Although, that's one of the lessons I've learned as I've gotten older. There's a time to spend money and there's a time not to. In the old days, it was always just try to just, you know, get out of it for as cheap as you can.

But sometimes when you buy cheap, guess what? You get cheap. And if you buy things that are really, you know, made well, they last, even though they cost a little bit more. Well, you've got to get the right anchor.

You know, that's the biggest problem. Number one mistake in anchoring is you have an inadequate anchor. So if I ask you, listener, Christian, when it comes to the Lord Jesus Christ and He's the anchor of your soul and His promises, is that an inadequate anchor?

I think you know the answer. Second problem with anchoring, common mistake with anchors, is a bad choice of location for the anchor. You've got to choose your anchorage properly. And by the way, who would have ever thought that Anchorage, Alaska would have come from the word anchor?

Did you know that? I want to know sometimes if you, listeners, did you know that anchorage? See, I wasn't even thinking. I wasn't even thinking. Just like with Des Moines, I wasn't thinking about that.

Illinois. Yeah, I learned how to climb telephone poles in Des Moines, Iowa. What's Des Moines, Iowa known for? I think we get no listeners from Des Moines, Iowa, so we better send Ben and an advanced team to Des Moines and we can walk around and ask people questions.

But you know, these days I could probably send Josh or, what's the guy's name in Ohio again? Flood somebody? Terry Flood? Stephen Terry Flood? Choosing an anchorage, you've got to know where to drop that anchor and you've got to figure out all kinds of scope and everything else.

I mean, most of the times people think you just drop an anchor, it goes to the bottom. Well, that anchor's not going to hold unless it's put on correctly and dropped at the right spot and you can just see all the problems when it comes to bad anchoring.

But here we have the anchor of our soul. And so the writer wants you to know, Christian, you have to walk by faith. Now isn't that where we're going? You have to walk by faith and not by sight. You have to trust in the promises of God.

This is the key to Christian living. This is Habakkuk 2, this is Hebrews chapter 10, this is Galatians chapter 3, and this is Romans, right? And chapter 1, the just shall live by faith. Just knowing that the anchor's secure, knowing that the anchor's stable and can be relied on and you can trust in the Lord, He's not going to disappoint you.

Can you imagine? God will never disappoint you. He will never forsake you. He will never leave you. You are never going to be let down. I guess that's a good anchor term, let down, let down the anchor throughout the lifeline.

Sometimes when you're thinking about the steadfastness of the anchor that Hebrews discusses, it's used also in a legal sense, that if you buy something from someone, you get a guarantee. The closest thing I can think of is the other day I went to Best Buy and I needed to buy a subwoofer.

It was big enough, it could have been an anchor, 115-watt subwoofer for the kitchen because we like a lot of bass in the kitchen. It's late. What am I doing at the church at 10 o 'clock at night? A lot of bass in the kitchen.

And so they said, would you like the extended warranty? And I thought, no, I don't want the extended warranty because that's just one more way you can get money out of me. I'll just keep the manufacturer's warranty.

But I was nice. I actually was nicer than that because I talked to this lady and at the end she said, I bless you. And I said, bless you? Who says bless you? And she looked at me like, oh, great. I said, I'm glad you said bless you.

I said, I've been blessed. And I said, I'm a pastor. And she said, oh, really? And so we talked a little bit and then I talked to her about No Compromise Radio. Maybe she's watching now, who knows? But this Steadfast anchor, Steadfast can be used in a legal sense.

I'm talking about a guarantee. You don't need to take out a $40 deal on it, an extended warranty in case it breaks down because it's not going to break down. The Lord Jesus Christ can be trusted. And here, especially fathers, I'm thinking about Ben and Terry and Josh and others.

When your family goes through something, you don't know what to do. And there are situations that I'm in that I don't know what to do. So here's what you do. You get down by the bed. Everybody's on their knees and you pray, God, we don't know what's going on.

God, we are hurting. God, this is difficult. But one thing's for certain, we know we can trust you and we're not going to say anything bad about you. That's one of the things, even when my mom was dying of cancer and other problems came in my life, I thought, you know what, I'm not going to say anything bad about God.

How could I? For all that he's done for me. So I don't know a lot of these other issues that are going on, but I do know that God can be thanked, God can be praised, and God can be trusted, and we can have faith in him.

We can rest in him. This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast, and it enters within the veil. And we're going to talk about that next time on No Compromise Radio, or tomorrow morning if you're here when I preach.

You can trust in him, and especially as men, we need to be leaders, to tell our children and our wives and our loved ones, though he slay me, as Job said, yet I will trust in him. And God could just say one time in the Bible, I'm faithful.

But over and over and over, he talks about his faithfulness and his fidelity, and he gives promises and he gives oaths, and he shows you his track record when it comes to the most difficult, trying times, Daniel and Daniel's friends.

And you think about what he had to go through, and you think about the fiery furnace, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and you think about Abraham with Isaac, and you think about Jesus on the cross, and you'll say to yourself, I don't know what's going on in my life.

You're thinking the right thing, Terry. I just showed it, but you didn't tune in. This is the collector's item of all collector's item right here. I've got that gray one, but I think it's misspelled wrongly.

I think I should get some props. They sent me this, I think, for doing the shows for free. You know, as no co is to wretched, so Laverne and Shirley is to happy days. But see, that's why we don't get any younger listeners, because they don't know what I'm talking about when it comes to pop culture.

Let's see. Ben says, can't wait for some Hebrews exposition in the AM. I cannot wait to talk about this, this anchor and then also the forerunner. What does the text go on to say? And let's just talk about it before we have to wrap up here on No Compromise Radio.

I can't seem to find it. I'm scrolling ahead 500 different ways to Friday, so I'll just open up my Bible and read it. So you have certainty of God's promise where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf.

Can you imagine? You could not get into the Holy of Holies if you were a priest even, except one day a year after all the hullabaloo with sacrifices and offerings and everything else, but now Jesus goes in to the veil, to the Holy of Holies, to the presence of God, and He's the forerunner.

And that means there are afterrunners, and He's going to bring you in safe and secure. You're going to make it. Cancer's not going to stop you. Finances isn't going to stop you. Your doubts, your worry, your sin, the Satan, the world system, none of that's going to stop you.

That's good news. I'm glad to know that. That's a lot better than the theology of glory that you see on TBN with those lying heretic dogs. You want the theology of the cross, and we'll get the glory soon enough.

My name's Mike Abendroth. This is No Compromise Radio. No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life-transforming power of God's Word through verse-by-verse exposition of the sacred text.

Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 1015 and in the evening at 6. We're right on Route 110 in West Boylston. You can check us out online at bbcchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.