Did you know Satan knows the ending so well he's trying to hinder it and I want to go again with you back to Revelation 7 to begin because Satan knows how things are going to turn out I don't think he believes it, but I think he knows what God has on the books one of the great names and the attributes of God, especially that the Apostle Paul loved is God our Savior Now, God is characterized by being a saving God. He is a Savior. And during the darkest time on earth, chapter 6 of Revelation lists the details of a time when people are going to be dying of all types of plagues, all types of cosmic solar events, all types of water poisonings and lacking of food and murder and war. And out of that sixth chapter, chapter 7, is the conclusion to that little time period. Now I want you to look at verse 9. Because Satan knows God has plans to save, and look what it says in verse 9. After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number. of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches on their hands, and crying with a loud voice, saying, Salvation belongs to our God. God is a great Savior. God is a God of salvation. And when the world is the darkest, The glorious gospel shines the brightest. In fact, the fifth through the eighth verses is the twelve-divisioned army of evangelists that God deploys during the tribulation. The twelve tribes, twelve thousand sealed commandos that penetrate what verse nine says. Every nation, every tribe, every people. Did you know there are tribes that have never been penetrated yet on this planet? are people groups that have never had someone come and talk to them yet, and God is sending a personal dispatch, these missionaries to go, and they are going to go to every people and tongue and tribe and nation. And they're going to win souls for Christ. And because Satan knows that, he's trying to thwart God's harvest, he's trying to prevent the world from coming to Christ. Now, that's why at the end, there's going to be so much misinformation, so much false teaching, so many false teachers, and so many signposts pointing in the wrong way. Well, love of the truth, as we saw in 2 Thessalonians, is the proof of salvation. Those who are saved, Paul says, receive the love of the truth. Those who are not saved, never received the love of the truth. So that denominator divides between the saved and the lost. The ones who received the love of the truth, it's not anarthous, it's articular, it is the truth of Christ. Not just, you know, those who are philosophes, philosophers. Philos is a form of liking, and Sophia is wisdom and knowledge. There's those who love to know knowledge. this is the truth this is those who want to know the truth as in John 14 6 I am the way what the truth and the life and so that's why Satan deploys these false teachers now back up now to first Timothy chapter 1 and not very often we back through the Bible but we're going to back up on our way to Hebrews first Timothy chapter 1 Because I told you to not love the truth leads to shipwreck That's how Paul put it in first Timothy 1 in verse 19 Shipwrecking is when your ship that you trusted in to take you across the dangerous waters Fails you it doesn't deliver you to the other shore and usually if while you're crossing a dangerous sea if your ship is fails you, you don't have any hope. It's what you were counting on because we aren't fish and we have trouble crossing oceans without a device like a ship. Well, think of the implications of being in a doomed boat. And that's what Paul says in verse 19. He says, having faith and a good conscience with some who, having rejected this truth, concerning the faith, look at verse 19, have suffered shipwreck. What happens? It's when they reject the truth. They reject the faith. You see this thread that Paul keeps bringing through. He says, if you reject the truth, the faith, once and for all delivered, you become shipwrecked. You have no hope of getting to the other side. And that metaphor is a metaphor of salvation that you need, as we saw in the Old Testament, the ark of safety. You had to believe that What Noah said was true and you could only get saved by going in that ark. And no one believed him and no one got in. They all scoffed and mocked. And that's the few there be that find it. But Paul's saying that salvation is a means of safety and those who reject it are shipwrecked. To whom some, and he names them, Hymenaeus and Alexander, he delivered to Satan. Well, what can cause a soul to be shipwrecked? False teaching. And the most dangerous shipwreck is not one that's merely physical where you have water and sharks to deal with. The most dangerous shipwreck concerning God's perspective and our immortal soul is that our spiritual life be without the anchor of hope and truth that's in Christ. Well, that takes us to how do we avoid, as we get into this time in the world when the world is getting darker, when society is crumbling, In every way, the societal structure, the family units, truth, I mean everything's becoming relative. Everything's being reinterpreted. There are no absolutes. How do we deal with that when truth is dying around us? Well, Jesus said the way we know that, we can make it, is in Hebrews 6. So turn now from Timothy to Titus, go to the right again, we're going the right direction, Philemon, Hebrews chapter 6. Jesus warned us that at the end, There was going to be not only these false teachers, these signposts pointing the wrong way. That's outside and that's to the lost. But do you know what? He said inside the church there are going to be the same things. There are going to be those who are sewing tears. Those who are trying to turn the church into a group of counterfeits just like out there they're teaching this false gospel and so Jesus said watch out when counterfeits multiply when false believing fake Christians multiply you know that the end is near and when that happens it's time for believers to brace themselves because the waves of false doctrine and the attack on the church will only increase and so these are days when we who know and love the Lord Jesus should reach into our hearts and re-examine what it is that holds us. And what holds us is the anchor line, and we should hold it tight and feel it holding us securely. Hebrews chapter 6, and I want to read with you from verse 11 down through verse 20. And I hope that this passage will deeply settle on our hearts as we allow the Spirit of God to open it to us. Verse 11. And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end." That's our heritage as believers. Full assurance. And I told you this morning, full is the word plerao, which means fullness, and phorao, which is an overflowing. It's just like being clothed with something and have it just overflowing. It's just a beautiful word, to overflowingly wear or hold or possess or to have. And he says, I want you to know that you are assured in Christ until the end. Verse 12, that you do not become sluggish. but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promise. For when God made a promise, verse 13, to Abraham, because he could swear by no one greater, he swore by himself, saying, Surely blessing I will bless you, multiplying I will multiply you. And so after he had patiently endured, that's Abraham, he obtained the promise. For men indeed swear by a greater, and an oath for confirmation is for them an end of all dispute. Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath. that by two immutable things, two unchanging things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation." That is great, firm encouragement. It will hold us. It will strengthen us. It will hold us up. This strong, it's a beautiful word, strong consolation. "...who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us. We're going to examine all these words. This is a very powerful passage. Verse 19, We have, and here's what we're looking at tonight, as an anchor of the soul. Our soul is, as I said this morning, lassoed. Wherever you think your soul is, that's the immaterial part of us, it's the eternal part, it's another word for that part of us which is indwelt by the spirit, we call it our spiritual mind, our spirit, our soul, whatever you want to call it, non-material part of you. Our soul, look at this, is anchored, and this anchor is sure and steadfast, that means that nothing can happen to it, and look at this, which enters the presence behind the veil. That is a very powerful, powerful... I mean, Jesus Christ himself is standing guard over our anchored soul, and no one can defeat him. And this is where what we are criticized for, Persuasion they say you're the one saved always save people. Well, I'm thankful that once Christ saves me Christ always saves me Okay, I don't know what they mean by when they criticize but that's what the Bible means It means whoever he saves can't get lost and that's because right here. Look what it says in verse 19 It's inside the veil. It's already home and then look at this where the forerunner has entered for us who's the forerunner even Jesus and And it doesn't just say Jesus, it says He's become the High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. Let's bow for a word of prayer. Father in heaven, I pray that we would realize in an unusual way what it is You've given us, what it is Christ has accomplished, what it is that we are heirs of and what we possess and what this anchor is all about. You, O Christ. you have captured and now are protecting and securing and keeping our immortal, endless lives protected, anchored and we are tied to the holy of holies in heaven. I pray we would feel that tug tonight, that we live this week with that tug heavenward. And when little things remind us of how frail and mortal we are, how sickly, how prone to being fragile and like a vapor, That we just allow you to tug us a little closer and we'll thank you in Jesus name Amen, if you want to take one of your little note sheets or a little piece of paper I want to show you seven truths from this passage Okay from Hebrews 6 starting in verse 18 and they are first we have to flee to Christ as our refuge That's what he says in verse 18. It says The believers are those who have, verse 18, fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope. So the first thing we have to do is flee to Christ for refuge. Secondly, and I'm going to explain this, we need to trust Christ, as it says in verse 19, as the anchor of our soul. You need to trust that He is the anchor of your soul. One of the signs of immaturity, James said, is those who are driven about with every wind and wave of different doctrines, and they're just cast about. They are double-minded, and they're unstable in all their ways, and they're cast to and fro. That is a sign. of not doing what verse 19 says, of not trusting Christ as the anchor of your soul, of not knowing and believing and affirming what He said. Third thing we'll see is we need to know that Christ anchors our soul, look at the end of verse 19, in heaven. I mean, he's anchored us at the destination. It's kind of like if you were going to be doing a reverse parachute jump. You know how parachute, you jump and you fall. Well, it's almost like when you jump out of the airplane, all of a sudden you're being pulled up. That's what this whole idea is. that we are already anchored where we're going and we're being pulled upward. And it's an anchor of our soul and that is in heaven. Verse 20, we need to invite Christ to pull our souls toward heaven. That's what he's saying. It says the forerunner has entered for us. We need to say, Lord, we're so prone to be earthly minded. Now Paul echoes this, Colossians 3. He says, set your mind on things above. You need to allow Christ to draw you heavenward. You know, where your mind is, that's where your body's going. that that's the problem with sin that's a problem with you know satan has has got it down pat what he does is he gets the unregenerate to make up the most intriguing and irresistibly entertaining media movies and you set it to technicolor and sound and action and all that, and then you put in these subtle false messages and lust producers and doubt producers and sin enhancers, and you kind of put that in the mix, kind of like they used to put the drugs into cigarettes to addict people, you know, and get them so they can't stop. That's what Satan does with our media today. And then people can't forget what they're hearing, and seeing in these movies and they actually are in a daze and they kind of live in this dream world and when they hear the truth they can't understand it and it's not interesting to them because it's not in loud 60 foot wide 30 foot high screens with Dolby surround sound and so they can't get it and that's why Jesus wants to pull our minds upward and you know I regularly say that if you spend Saturday night at the movies I don't see how you can worship God on Sunday morning You can't erase all that stuff so fast. It's just too hard. And that's why we should let Jesus, invite Him to pull our souls toward heaven. That's where He is right now, and that's where He wants us to be. At the end of verse 20, we need to rest in Christ's endless care for our soul. Look what it says at the end of verse 20. It says Jesus is a high priest what? Forever. He offers endless care. Endless. Not just 30,000 mile warranty or 60,000 or powertrain if you buy this extra $1,000 thing that will take it 100,000. Jesus says it's forever. You see, we are finite and only through him are infinite. He cares for our souls forever. That's one of the wonderful things about heaven. We need to think about that. That once we get there, he is still keeping us. And it's wonderful and we need to rest in Christ's endless care for our souls. And then we need to understand that God sees us already safely in heaven. And I'm going to take you back to the whole theme of Hebrews in chapter one where Jesus has sat down and it's all over. And then finally we need to worship Christ who anchors our soul. So what we're going to see starting in verse 18 is we need to flee to Christ as our refuge. Verse 19, trust him as the anchor. At the end of verse 19, know he anchors our soul in heaven and then invite him, verse 20, to tug us that way. Christians should be drawn toward heaven. And the way you can test your spiritual temperature is, you're lassoed if you're saved. Are you being pulled this way, kind of kicking and screaming? Or are you headed toward God and inviting Him to pull your soul toward heaven, resting in His endless care? That's what John Newton did. Remember the great hymn writer John Newton? He had Alzheimer's. We would call it Alzheimer's. They just called it dementia and lost his mind. But he spent the last months of his life in bed, under guard because he wandered like they do, and he only remembered two things. And he said it over and over again. Everyone visited him because he had written Amazing Grace and was a chaplain of the Queen. And he'd say, I don't know who you are and I don't know who I am, but I was a great sinner. and Jesus is a great Savior. See, even if you're going to, or I'm going to someday lose my mind, Jesus cares for our souls, and it's amazing what people remember. They remember their anchor, and John Newton to the end, though he lost everything else, he remembered he was a great sinner, and Jesus was a great Savior. That's the endless care for our soul, and we'll look at the implications of that. Okay, look at the beginning of verse 18. That we might have strong consolation who have fled for refuge This picture is so beautiful that I want you to keep your finger here and go with me to to Matthew 28 and verse 9 Just and you can write these verses down and enjoy them later But I want you to see them with me because I want you to see this this picture of what? salvation is for us who really understand and what we do in our private worship and time with the Lord because Salvation is a laying hold of Jesus, and it's pictured so beautifully in the Gospels. In chapter 28, look at verse 9. Well, I'll start in verse 8, 28a. And they went quickly from the tomb in fear and great joy, and they ran to bring His disciples word. And as they went to tell the disciples, behold, Jesus met them, verse 9, saying, Rejoice! And look at this. Here is what it means to lay hold on this joy, this promise that's set before us of Christ, this hope of Christ. Verse 9, And they came and held Him by the feet and worshipped Him. Do you see the picture? You want to know that you're anchored in heaven? Just lay hold of Christ. Just fall before Him and say, Lord, and hold on to His feet just like the disciples did and say, thank you that you're risen. Thank you that you've saved me. You see that picture? Matthew 28, 9? If you don't see it there, go on to Acts 3, 11, because this is a later version of how one who got saved, Acts 3, 11, how he was so excited. Just as the disciples knelt at Christ's feet and held on for joy when they saw Him, the lame man clung for joy to Peter and John after they told him about the name of Jesus. And it says in chapter 3, in verse 11, now the lame man was healed, held on to Peter and John, and all the people ran together. See, he was so excited, he just was saying, thank you. Now, they said, the attention doesn't go to us, but do you see that hard attitude of when we know we're saved, we just can't turn loose of Christ and of the truth of what he's done for us. And so we need to flee to Christ as our refuge. And we who believe and are stricken with our sinfulness, we flee to Jesus as our only refuge for sin. And that's why when Paul shared the gospel and when Peter shared the gospel and then right here when the writer of Hebrews shared the gospel they pictured it as fleeing for salvation fleeing to the one who alone can save and so we who believe in Christ promises flee to him as our refuge and we escape the dread consequences of our sin well back to Hebrews chapter 6 because I want you to see the second one the first one is flee to Christ as your refuge run to him Like our song, we who are poor and needy, we flee to Him to find the cleansing we need. Secondly, look at verse 19. This hope we have as an anchor of our soul. We need to secondly trust Christ to anchor our soul. We have constant access to Christ's presence. In the old covenant, there was only an allowed entrance into God's presence. How many times a year? Once. Could all the people get it? No. Just the high priest came once a year on the Day of Atonement. Yom HaKippurim. On the Day of Atonement, one man came for all, and he said, I'm going to go meet with God for you. Do you know what we all have? we all have continuous access, as often as we want to partake of it, into the very presence of God, through the Holy Spirit, with the indwelling Christ, into God's presence at any time. And you know what? We say, yeah, I've already had my devotions, had those this morning, yeah, I have the half-minute devotions, you know, I just, the thirty-second, you know, or I have the five-minute, I'm just one of these minute managers, you know, I have my five minutes in the presence of Christ. And we wonder why we struggle through life. He says we have unlimited direct access into his presence. How much time a day do we spend there? You have to cultivate this. You have to practice. Remember Brother Lawrence in the monastic kitchen who wrote Practicing the Presence of God, the little devotional book? It's something we learn, it's something that we have to realize, that even though a fallen mortal man, the high priest, could represent the people once a year, we at every moment through the divine and immortal great high priest Jesus have constant access That means, you know, sometimes it gets so good for me, I have to turn off my Bible player. You know, I play it continuously in the car, even the kids. You know, I say, okay, we have a choice. Do you want to listen to the Bible or listen to the Hardy Boys? Oh, you know, it's a hard choice. But they say, listen to the Bible for a little while. And so I turn it back on and we listen to the Bible. But you know, when I'm all alone in the car, I have to turn it off. because it's such a blessing, it just gets my soul. I have to stop hearing and start sharing and worshipping in the divine presence. We need to trust Christ to anchor our soul and let him anchor us in heaven. The end of verse 19, it enters into the presence behind the veil. We're fastened to a rock that can't move. And I'm going to explain to you this whole forerunner idea in just a moment. But the idea in the ancient world was ships had to be anchored to an immovable rock because the storms were so fierce that they had to find something on the shore that wouldn't move. And so we are anchored to the rock. Remember from the Old Testament, He is the rock, His way is perfect. Deuteronomy 32, 4, Jesus is the rock. And even though the storms tear our sails to shreds and the floors of our boat creak and the wind seems to blow us off course, Jesus anchors our soul, look what it says in verse 19, into the presence behind the veil. He forever keeps our souls from drifting away from God. That's what this means. you and I can never drift away from God. That's why we believe in eternal security. That's why we believe it, because it says it here. Our soul is anchored within the veil. That means we are forever unable to drift away from God. That's why true believers are chastened when they sin. Hebrews chapter 12, a little bit later, says that if you don't get chastened by God when you're pulling and tugging and trying to get away from Him, if He doesn't pull your rope short, you're not connected to Him. See, we're anchored. We can't drift away. If you meet someone that says they're a Christian, and they, for the rest of their life, go full speed away from God, into sin, without any turning back, Jesus said, they're illegitimate. In fact, King James swears at us there. You want to see a swear word? It's in the King James, Hebrews 12. They're called an illegitimate child, which there's a nice swear word for that. And it's right in there. That's how bad it is. to say you're a Christian and not be born from above. So we are anchored and He is the one that keeps us forever from drifting away from God and becoming shipwrecked. Look at the beginning of verse 20. Because of this truth, because of the truth that Christ is our refuge, He anchors our souls in heaven, we have to realize that He can pull our souls toward heaven. This is the most beautiful part, and if you aren't a Bible marker, I would encourage you to mark one word, forerunner, in verse 20, okay? You ought to circle that, because I want to tell you a story about it, and you might want to find it later this week. You might even want to tell someone about it, especially if you have the half of Christendom. Did you know that Christendom is right down the middle? Half of them believe you can lose your salvation. basically, you know, the Arminian crowd, the Charismatics are Arminian, the Nazarenes, and all that side. Methodists, a lot of those on this side. And then of course the other side isn't. But if you know anybody on that side that thinks they're losing, say, oh I found this great verse in Hebrews 6 20. It says, where the forerunner for us has gone. This forerunner is Jesus. Jesus is our, and let me give you the Greek word, prodromos. That's what forerunner is, the Greek word prodromos. And that word is a special word that comes right out of the maritime Life of the ancient world. They did not have beautiful harbors like we do with with little little Tires on the outside tugboats to gently nudge you in and get you We were just on a cruise recently and it's amazing how how smooth it is You just pull right up and they push you over and they winch you up and you're just all secure there They didn't have that what they had is a prodromos. You know what a prodromos is a person and It's a person who coiled a rope around themself and dove off the boat while the ship was still out in the open sea and swam with that rope until they got to shore and they waded ashore and they took that rope that they had brought with them that was still tied to the ship and they waded in and they took it and people helped them and they pulled it until they got it to be tied on shore and then they hooked that rope to a winch. And the harbors back then had this big winch where they had a big handle and once they got that rope on there, they would start clicking that thing one notch at a time in a big circle and it would pull the ship in to the harbor. The person that jumped off the boat into the dangerous sea and carried the rope from the boat to the safety of the harbor, tied it to the rock, and pulls him in is called a prodromos. And that's the word forerunner. Now I want you to think about that. Jesus is our forerunner, our prodromos. He has gone to prepare a place for us. The picture here is the forerunner of ancient times helping a vessel enter the harbor safely. He jumped in from the ship. He swam to the harbor. He waded ashore. He fastened the strong rope to a rock along the shore. And then, by means of a winch, the vessel was brought safely in. We're the vessel. We're out on the sea of life. Jesus has gone before us as the forerunner to anchor us, and he's not anchoring us to a harbor on earth, and not anchoring us to a rock on earth. He has gone ahead and anchored the other end of our rope in heaven. And we're tied by a spiritual, unbreakable tie to God here on earth. I was talking to One of my children, they said that they were at a restaurant, a whole group of Christians, and the waitress started talking to them, and all of a sudden became hostile, and he said that one of the people that was with them is not real spiritual, and said, you know what, if I believed in demons, that girl would be demon-possessed. And I was talking it over, I said, you know, demons know who the Christians are. I mean, it's kind of hard to have this big rope going up to heaven and be flying around and not notice it. You know what I mean? These demons see all that. They know, they see that we are sealed by the Holy Spirit and they don't like it. And they resist that and it's very interesting. But keep going to the end of verse 20 because What does Christ do? I want you to see this endless care for our soul. The forerunner has entered for us. That's Jesus. He's our high priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek. Just so, Jesus, our forerunner, has jumped out, gone to heaven, taken the other end of our rope, and he has guided us safely into the Holy of Holies. That's what this great high priest is talking about. The heavenly high priest. That's what he is. In fact, chapter 7, 24, 25 and onward talks about that He is our ever-living to make intercession for us high priests. So where is He? He's in heaven. And He has gone to heaven where He stands ready to guide us safely into the Holy of Holies. Every day we are pulled a notch closer to heaven by the One who proved He is more powerful than death. How do we feel that? Each day, we feel closer to Him as we listen to His voice. You see, He speaks to us. He speaks assurance to us through His Word. That's why we need to, each day, listen to the voice of our Savior that we know through His Word as He holds us, guides us, and stays with us until we reach home. Now, do you understand why it says, the last verse of Matthew, it says, and lo, I am with you always to the end. He says, I'm connected to you and I'm committed to you until I get you safely home. You see, my security is not based on whether I said the right thing in the right way and really meant it. You know, people labor over that. That's why you're supposed to receive Christ like or as a child. You know what's so interesting? This afternoon when I was being drowned by the kids, I have a little tiny one about this high, and so sweet, she says, I'm gonna jump in, are you gonna catch me? I go, uh-huh, okay. They just fearlessly jump. That's what a child is like. You don't need to sign a contract, you know, and make sure that you have insurance, you know, and liability, and show your ID. You just tell them, uh-huh, I will. Watch out, they jump. That's childlike faith that casts itself completely on the one trusted. Jesus says, cast yourself on me. I am your, verse 20, high priest forever. I endlessly care for your soul. I promise to get you safely home. You know, when we celebrate the Lord's Supper, what Jesus said, most people don't even catch what he says. I say it every time. Jesus says, I'll not drink of this cup again until I drink it new with you in heaven. You know what he said? I'm not participating anymore in the Lord's Supper until every one of my children, every one of them, are safely home. And so I've tied you up, I've connected you, I have a rope that goes in to the very holy of holies. I am your high priest, verse 20, forever. I'm holding you, guiding you, I'm staying with you until you reach home safely at last. Now, back up to Hebrews chapter 1 and verse 3, because I want to show you about this high priest deal. And that takes us to our next point. Number one, flee to Christ as your refuge. Verse 18. Number two, trust Him as the anchor of your soul. Verse 19. Number three, know He anchors your soul in heaven. That's the end of verse 19. Invite Him to tug you toward heaven. He's the prodromos. He's gone into harbor and let Him tug you toward heaven. He wants to. That's the beginning of verse 20. The end of verse 20, rest in His endless care. He's a high priest forever. Now, understand this truth, this is the next point, that God sees us as if we're already safely home. See, we're anchored by the one who cannot lie, who has promised he'll never leave us, and he has anchored us in the Holy of Holies. Now, look at that Holy of Holies. Chapter 1, verse 3 of Hebrews. This is Jesus. This is one of my favorite verses. Whenever they say, quote your favorite verse, this is one of the select few I love. It says, who being the brightness of God's glory and the express image of his person and upholding all things by the word of his power. This is the description of Christ. Jesus Christ is the exact representation of God. You want to know what God's like? Look at Jesus. That's why the liberals are so wrong. They say the God of the Old Testament is this mean guy and Jesus is a nice guy in the New Testament. No, no, no. They're the one and the same. He is the brightness of God's glory. He's the express image of the person of God. And he opposed all things by the word of his power. But look at the end of the verse. When he had by himself purged our sins, what does it say? He what? Sat down. That means the heavenly sanctuary is different than the earthly one. I've read, did you know there are more chapters about the Tabernacle and Temple than there are about creation, about anything. I mean, it's one of the largest sections of the Bible, all this verbiage about the Tabernacle and Testimony. And you know what it says? It details every piece of furniture, every curtain, every floorboard, everything. What is there not one of in the tabernacle or temple? No chairs. Why? Because their work was never done. If you read Leviticus, in some of those sacrifices, there are 36 to 40 steps for each sacrifice. I mean, those guys were worse than short order cooks. I mean, they just were cutting and flaying and taking the blood and skinning, you know, and dumping and fire and sprinkling. And when they got done, they had to run back and do the next person's. Cut and skin and and divide and burn and all that stuff. They never got done But look what it says in verse 3 Who being the brightness of his glory the express image of his person upholding all things by the word of his power when he had by himself purged our sins All alone I Might add without Mary's help or the Saints or the church when he had by himself That's why religion is such an affront to God. Religion says God needs a little help. yours or somebody else's. Jesus said, I by myself purged your sins. And when I did, I sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on High. Now listen to this. As believers, our relationship with Christ anchors us to God. The most sacred spot in the temple that God had the Jews construct was called the Holy of Holies. This room was separated by a curtain or a veil from the rest of the temple. Inside that inner room was a box called the Ark of the Covenant which signified the very presence of God You remember had the two cherub cherub beam the plural one cherub on this side one cherub So those cherub beam were looking down at the mercy seat where the blood was poured and that box represented the very presence of God. And if you remember, the Shekinah glory cloud was right over the mercy seat. And it would be right over the Holy of Holies. So it represented the very presence of God. On the day of atonement, the high priest of Israel entered the Holy of Holies. He made an annual atonement for the sins of his people. But look what verse 3 of Hebrews 1 says. But on the cross, Jesus Christ made atonement for us once for all. by one sacrifice. As believers, God sees us as if already secured forever by Christ and placed in the holy of holies of God. God sees us placed in Christ, in heaven, already. That's what we call our position. God sees us as we shall be. Not as we are His spirit deals with us as we are but in christ god the father sees us as we shall be and we are safe at home at last Already amazing once jesus entered the heavenly holy of holies. He did not leave it remember the jewish high priest he had to go in with the little bells on him and they By the way at the end they started tying a rope to their feet because some of those high priests were scoundrels And some of them dropped dead in there because they weren't Cleansed enough to be in the presence of God and so he would walk in dump the blood and get out of there quick And and by the way, they took a little pot of incense. So they were totally surrounded by smoke So that it's almost like they were shielded from God's holy presence and they'd shake that smoke pot dump the blood and get out of there Why because God is so holy But Jesus, look what it says, He didn't leave the heavenly holy of holies as the Jewish high priest did. Rather, verse 3 says, He sat down. He sat down. Wow. He's just sitting there holding the other end of the rope right now in heaven. And if you're saved, Jesus is at the other end of the rope that secures your immortal soul. And He sat down, He's holding it. And every day He goes, And he knows just when. You're going to come to the end of your rope and He's going to meet you, and that's the appointment once to die. He comes to take us safely home when our earthly life is over. It's amazing. As Jesus remains there forever, He's the guardian of our souls, such absolute security is almost incomprehensible. Not only are our souls anchored within the impregnable, inviolable heavenly sanctuary, but our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, stands guard over us as well. I mean, not only did he tie the rope up there, he's the guardian of our souls. So, your security is based on how strong you think Jesus is. It's not how strong, how hard you hold on the rope. He tied it. Kind of like the ark door. As far as we know, in Noah's ark, God shut the door. There were no handles on it. And it was God pulling that door shut. Actually, it says, if you read carefully in the text, God was inside the boat. He just pulled it shut. Pulled the hatch. Sealed it. They couldn't get out. Amazing. That's the picture of salvation. How can a Christian's security be described as anything but eternal? If you understand the Bible, it can't be. Truly, we can entrust our souls with God and the Savior He provided. Well, the conclusion to all this, we should worship the one who anchored our soul. And so, the Christian life at the end of days, which we live, is so much like navigating through a typhoon in an old wooden boat. Our bodies are weak, they're frail, they're creaky, and we're out in this massive typhoon. Trying to enter a rocky coastal harbor during that type of storm would be hopelessly impossible. The waves would be raging, the rocks would be obscuring by the darkness and the foam of the seas, and we would just be tugged along, probably facing imminent disaster. But through the storm we can see a light in a safe harbor, and we can feel the strong tug of the rope that's already tied to our little wooden boat, and we're pulled in. And that truth, by the way, a century ago, caused a hymn writer to write a song. It's called, Will Your Anchor Hold in the Storms of Life. And I just want to read it to you. We can't sing it. But I want to read to you, and as I read these words, Worship Christ. Because the hymn writer wrote this truth about our prodromos, Jesus our forerunner diving in, swimming to shore, tying to the rock, and winching the boat safely in. And this is what the hymn writer wrote a century ago. will your anchor hold by the way the writer was Priscilla Jane Owens and she was a public school teacher in Baltimore Maryland and she wrote two songs this one we have an anchor and the other one we have heard the joyful sound Jesus saves Jesus saves she was a great Here's her hymn. Will your anchor hold in the storms of life when the clouds unfold their wings of strife? When the strong tides lift and the cables strain, will your anchor hold or firm remain? then here's the chorus we have an anchor that keeps the soul steadfast and sure while the billows roll fastened to the rock that cannot move grounded firm and deep in the Savior's love second stanza will your anchor hold in the straits of fear when the breakers roar and the reef is near when the surges rave and the wild winds blow shall the angry waves then your boat or flow the chorus. We have an anchor that keeps our soul steadfast and sure while the billows roll, fastened to the rock which cannot move, grounded firm and deep in the Savior's love. Next stanza. Will your anchor hold in the floods of death? When the water's cold chill your latest breath? On the rising tide you can never fall while your anchor holds within the veil. And then the chorus, we have an anchor that keeps our soul steadfast and sure while the billows roll, fastened to the rock which cannot move, grounded firm and deep in the Savior's love. Last two stanzas. It is safely moored till the storm withstand, for it's well secured by the Savior's hand, and the cables passed from his heart to mine can defy that blast. through the strength divine. Last stanza. Will your eyes behold through the morning light the city of gold and the harbor bright? Will your anchor safe by the heavenly shore when the life storms are past forevermore? The answer, we have an anchor that keeps our soul steadfast and sure while the billows roll, fastened to the rock that cannot move, grounded firm and deep in the Savior's love. That's the first truth of two that are in that verse. The first one is Jesus is the anchor to our soul. The second truth is he wants to be a refuge. Now to 99% of us that probably doesn't ring a bell. The word he used there is the word for the cities of refuge in the Old Testament to which Those accused of crimes could flee. And Jesus wants us to flee to Him while He anchors our soul with whatever we go through in life, because He knows we're going to sin. And He wants us to run to Him. He's going to hold us, but to make it through life as sinners We have to run to Him. Let's bow together before the anchor of our souls. Father in heaven, I thank you for the beauty of your word. I thank you for the writer of Hebrews. Maybe it's good that we're not sure just who it is because what he said was so wonderful. that we can just hear your voice instead of thinking of some person. And we thank you that our hope is sure and steadfast because our souls enter within the veil into the very holy of holies where you, Lord Jesus, are the guardian, the shepherd, the overseer, the protector of our souls. And it is you who keep us secure forever. And all we can say is thank you. We worship you. We worship you. Oh refuge and anchor of our souls. Keep us. Tied tight. Help us to want you to pull us heavenward this week. And I pray that we would rest secure. In your great salvation. In your name Lord Jesus we pray and all God's people said. Amen.