Okay. Oh, thank you, Dr. Day, and I hope it does go well. I hope to hear one or two of those along the way. That'll help me a great deal. It's good to see you this morning. Thank you, Dr. McCarty, for the kind and generous introduction and for hosting this morning's service. I appreciate that so very much. And I'm very honored and delighted to have my beautiful wife, Kate, who is here today. I want you to meet her. You've heard me talk about her a little bit along the way. Last October, God brought us together and we were married. And life has been wonderful and I'm grateful for her. So Miss Kate, would you stand? I want her to meet you. And you be sure and you come by and say hello to Miss Kate afterward because she just loves people and she would love to meet with you. And don't tell her anything. Don't tell her anything you don't need to tell her. Don't do that. But just come by and talk to her. She would love to hear from you. Alright, turn with me today to the book of Hebrews. Hebrews chapter 6. I want to do an exposition and application of verses 13 through 20, but we'll begin reading in verse 11 in order to gather the context. Everybody has a favorite book in the Bible. My favorite book is the book of Hebrews. Hebrews chapter 6. We'll begin reading in verse 11. Read to the end of the chapter. And I want to speak to you this morning on the subject, My Anchor Holds. Hebrews chapter 6, beginning in verse 11. And we desire that each one of you should show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you will not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and endurance inherit the promises. For when God made the promise to Abraham, since he could swear by no one greater, he swore by himself, saying, I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply you. And so having patiently waited, Abraham obtained the promise. For men swear by one greater than themselves, and with them an oath given as confirmation is an end of every dispute. In the same way, God, desiring even more to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose, interposed with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope Set before us this hope we have as an anchor of the soul a hope both sure and Steadfast and one which enters within the veil where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek Look Do you see it? yonder on the margin of the ocean, the ship riding the angry waves of the storm. The wind has driven her dangerously close to the rocks. Should her hull be dashed on the reef, it would be splintered into a thousand pieces. Look on her through the blown spume and the drifting spray, and there she lies, a helpless plaything of the elements. Wind and water combine in a deadly tag-team effort to try to send her to the murky bottom. One moment she's tossed aloft on the crest of the wave, but the next she disappears in the hollow, and then suddenly she reappears again. And strangely, the more we observe, she remains unmoved. What is the secret of her safety? Down through those churning waters and firmly attached to the ocean bed is her anchor. And as long as her anchor holds, she has hope. We all live on the heaving seas of life. Currents of circumstances crisscross one another in endless complications. You need an anchor of hope. Listen, do you hear it? From the clickety-clack of countless computer keyboards come thousands of documents, millions of words, but they're really only spelling out one four-word question. Is there any hope? And who will answer? The cynic answered and said, he who lives on hope will die starving. The poet answered and said, hope is the most hopeless thing of all. The philosopher answered and said, what is hope? It's the bait nature uses to get her hook in our nose. Hope. So many people lack it today. Hope, people feel like a bedraggled prisoner of circumstances without any hope today. Hope, people are clawing their way across a desert toward an oasis of hope and only to get close and a mirage it is and it disappears and they're left with nothing but a mouthful of sand. It seems that the dungeon gates on hope have been closed and the key of hope thrown away and that the drapes of hope for many people have been pulled closed forever. Hope. Well, it's a common word, isn't it? We use it every day in our vocabulary. I hope it rains today. I hope it doesn't rain today. I hope we have fried chicken for lunch today. I hope I make an A on that test. I hope I get that promotion at the job. I hope that he will ask me out for a date, or I hope she won't turn me down if I ask her out for a date. We use the word hope all of the time every day in our English language, but our use of that word is descriptive of no settled certainty. Because when we say we hope something may take place, it might happen, but it might not happen. It may occur, but it may not occur. There's no certainty about it. But when we come to the scriptures and that beautiful word in the Greek New Testament, Elpis, the word that you see many times in these verses, that word, hope. That word in the Greek New Testament is a word that means a settled certainty and a confident expectation based upon the promises of God. That's the hope that those of us who are Christians have. And that's the hope that the Bible talks about. And that's the hope that the author of Hebrews is talking about here. It's not a hope so salvation. It's not a maybe I'll get to heaven. No. It's a settled certainty and a confident expectation based upon the promises of God. this hope we have as an anchor of the soul. Well now follow with me and I want us to see what the author of Hebrews has to say and to teach us about this hope and the promises that we have in Christ. Now you know throughout the book of Hebrews that the author is alternatively warning Christians about the deadly danger of drifting spiritually. Chapter 2, verses 1 through 4. He challenges them in chapter 6 that they need to press on to maturity. In fact, that's the major purpose of the book of Hebrews, is actually a book about pressing forward to spiritual maturity. And we see that in Hebrews chapter 6, verse 1. Therefore, laying aside the elementary principles, let us do what? press forward towards spiritual maturity. And then that is followed later in chapter 6 with a warning about the dangers of those who do not press forward to maturity and how if they fall back the dangers of failure to press on and the discipline that believers will receive in their life for failure to press on to maturity. But then comes verse 9 and following and the author says, but I think better of you I don't believe you're going to make that mistake. I believe you're going to do what you need to do." And so he comes in verse 11 and he says this, we desire that each one of you show the same diligence in your Christian life so that you will realize the full confidence of hope until the end. In other words, the author of Hebrews is challenging us today to be diligent in the Christian life. Joshua didn't invade Canaan in a rocking chair, and we don't go to heaven on flowery beds of ease. If we're going to be the Christians God wants us to be, there is a price to pay, and there is effort and work in the process. The key word in the Christian life is not the word perfection, that's what happens at glorification. But the key word in your Christian life today is progression. Are you making progress spiritually? Are you pressing on towards spiritual maturity? One thing about it, you're not doing that unless you are, as the author says in verse 11, being diligent to do so. Showing the same diligence so that you might realize the full assurance. Look at that. God wants you to have confidence. He wants you to have assurance in your Christian life. He wants you to have that full assurance of your hope. A full confidence of our hope in Christ, settled certainty, confident expectation, based on the promises of God. And he wants us to maintain such a disposition in our Christian life, come hell or high water, no matter what, we are to have it, verse 11 says, until the end. Why? And he answers that question in verse 12, so that you will not be sluggish but imitators of those who through faith and endurance inherit the promises." You see, you will either be diligent in your Christian life, verse 11, or you will be sluggish in your Christian life, verse 12. Look at that word, sluggish, for a moment. Interesting word in the Greek New Testament. It is a word that was used in the first century. Among its usages was to describe the numbed limbs of an old lion. The etymology of the word literally means no push. Have you ever gotten up one morning and you just had no push? Physically, I mean you were just dragging physically you just had no push I see that some of you have been there and gotten that t-shirt Well, that's the word that's used here, but the author is applying it not physically, but he's applying it spiritually You see there is a danger that you become sluggish spiritually you can drag spiritually you can lollygag Spiritually you can fail to be diligent and press on to maturity spiritually and so the author says don't do that. I He says, be diligent, verse 11, not sluggish, verse 12. And how is it that we are to be diligent and not sluggish? And the answer is in the remainder of verse 12. Because notice what he says, but be imitators of those who through faith and endurance inherit God's promises. Look at that. We are to be imitators of those great men and women of faith who are revealed in Scripture. He will give a listing of them in chapter 11, God's hall of fame of faith, great men and women who live their life by faith. And God teaches us through them that that's the key to success, is fateful endurance awaiting God's fulfillment of His promises. And notice our relationship to them is such that we are to be imitators of them. It's the word mimeti in Greek, and it's the word from which we get an English word, mimic. To imitate means to mimic. It means to mimic them, to act like they acted. You know what it is to mimic someone, don't you? You know what it is to mimic their mannerisms or to mimic their accent? Well, that's the word that's used here. It's a word that is saying to us that we need to be imitators. We need to mimic the faith and mimic the endurance of great men and women who've gone before us. That's how you be diligent in the Christian life. And then, like a good preacher, because the book of Hebrews is actually a written sermon, the author says in verse 13, let me illustrate. And he gives an illustration. And notice that's introduced by that little word for in verse 13. So here comes an illustration. For when God made the promise to Abraham, So he's going to illustrate this issue of imitating great men and women of faith. He's going to give the illustration from the life of Abraham and Sarah. And notice what he says, For when God made the promise to Abraham, since he could swear by no one greater, he swore by himself, saying, I will surely bless you, I will surely multiply you. And so having patiently endured, Abraham obtained the promise. Now you need to know the backstory here to understand why the author of Hebrews chooses Abraham and Sarah for his illustration. And the backstory begins in Genesis chapter 12. And there in the 12th chapter of Genesis, God comes to a man named Abram who's living over there in Ur of the Chaldees. You say, I don't have a clue where that is. Sure you do. You know exactly where it is. Everyone does since 9-11. They know exactly where Ur of the Chaldees was located. It's right there in the middle of Iraq, in the area of Iraq and Iran, right there. It's where it's located. And everybody knows where that is today. And that's where Abraham and Sarah lived. And guess what? They were pagans. They were moon god worshippers, and they were on up in years. Abraham was about 75 years of age, and his wife, Sarah, a woman never tells her age, but she wasn't very far behind. And one day we're told in Genesis 12 that God came to Abraham, and He said, Abraham, I'm going to do three things for you. Abraham, I'm going to send you to a land. I'm going to give you a new land that you've never been to before and make it your land. And Abraham, I'm going to give you a child, though you and Sarah are barren. Sarah can't have children, but miraculously she's going to have a baby. I'm going to make that possible. And number three, Abraham, through the descendants of your child, I'm going to bless all the nations of the earth. God made a three-fold promise to Abraham in Genesis chapter 12. Can you imagine when Abraham came home that day? And here they are in their retirement years, and Sarah says, where you been? Out. What you been doing? Not much. God talked to me. What? God talked to you, yep. Well, what did he say? Well, he said, we're moving. Moving? What do you mean we're moving? We just got this condo here on the only lake in this God-forsaken desert, and we're retired. What do you mean we're moving? Where did this God say we're moving to anyway? Abraham said, I don't know. You don't know? Now every man in here who's married can understand exactly what that would have been like. And though the Bible doesn't tell us the details of that, we're just obviously surmising there. But nevertheless, the bottom line is Abraham and Sarah left their country and went out by faith following God, not knowing where they were going. And they went out by faith. And God had promised to give them a child. Now watch this. How long did it take for God to make good on that promise? How many years elapsed before God made good on the promise to give them a child? How many? So now Abraham is almost a hundred years old, and a woman never tells her age, but Sarah is not very far behind. And yet they are able to conceive and have a child, and they name him Yitzhak in Hebrew, which of course you know is Isaac, which means laughter. and God brought great joy into their life and there is the son of promise little Isaac is there and some time elapses and Isaac becomes a teenager and then one day we read in Genesis chapter 22 that God comes to Abraham and he says Abraham take your son your only son the son whom you love and then comes the name Isaac in the Hebrew text at the very end take him and sacrifice him to me. What? It's like the bell tolls three times in the Hebrew text for Isaac. Abraham, take your son, Dong, your only son, Dong, the son whom you love, Dong, Isaac, and sacrifice him to me. Now, how can that be? Abraham must have reasoned, wait, I can't have descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and the sands of the sea as you promised if you take his life. And yet we don't have a clue what Abraham thought. We're not told in Scripture what went through his mind. The Bible simply says in Genesis 2, 22, he obeyed implicitly and he took his son and he went out there to Mount Moriah. and he built an altar, and he prepared the wood and the fire, and he took his son and bound him, and he put Isaac on the altar, and he raised the knife, and he was prepared to take his life when God intervened and said, Abraham, don't kill that boy. I never intended for you to take his life. Now I know that you follow me fully. Now I know that you fear me." You see, this was the greatest test of obedience in Abraham's life. And of course Isaac was released and the ram was provided by God. God will provide for himself, my son, a sacrifice. And the ram was taken in place of Isaac. And then at that point, and here's the reason for the back story, at that point God utters these words in Hebrews chapter 6 verse 14 to Abraham. I will surely bless you and I will surely multiply you. And notice in verse 13 God swore an oath stating those words to Abraham. You're not going to read many times in the Bible when God swears an oath. But here is one of them. And watch it. He swore by himself, verse 13, saying this, verse 14, I will bless you and I will surely multiply you, verse 15. And so, watch it, having patiently endured, Abraham obtained the promise. Do you see it? Here is faith and endurance combined in obedience in his walk with God. This is the way God works with his children. There is a trial in Abraham's life. There is a trust element and a time element. He had to wait 25 years for Isaac, and then several years later when he's a teenager, God says, kill him. And so there's a trust element, that trial element, that time element, all coming together. And Abraham and Sarah as well had to walk with God by faith, and so will you. There will come a time in your life at some point, if it has not already come, probably several times in all of our lives as believers, where God is going to intervene, and God is going to test the metal of your faith. He's going to test how strong your faith is, not for the purpose of tearing you down, but for the purpose of building you up. And in that process, God built up Abraham and Sarah. And so, having patiently endured, Abraham obtained the promise. You say, wait a minute. Did God make good on His promise to give Abraham a land? Did God make good on His promise to give him a seed as numerous as the sand of the sea and the stars in the sky? Did God make good on that promise? How many of you know of, live next to, work with someone who's an Ammonite today? Anybody? How about you know someone, you live with someone, you work with someone who is a Philistine? Anybody? Let me see. But how many of you know someone or know someone who lives next to someone or works with someone or you know about someone who's Jewish? Raise your hand. Ah, I see God made good on His promise to Abraham. And you see the point of the passage is we are to be imitators of Abraham and Sarah who by faith trusted God and God made good on His promises to them. God will make good on His promises to you and me. That's the point. And notice now how the author says, let's keep going. Notice what he says in verse 16. He says, men swear by one greater than themselves, and with them an oath given as confirmation ends every argument. Now what on earth is going on there? Well, here's what's happening. When two men are arguing about something, and then one man raises his hand and swears an oath that what he's saying is true, then the other man says, that's it, I agree. For example, you got two old boys out here, they're fishing buddies, and they love to go fishing every week. And they go out on the lake, but one day one of them's ill. He can't go, so his friend goes by himself. And that day, he catches the biggest fish he's ever caught in his entire life. But he forgot to bring his cell phone camera with him. He can't take a picture of it. And so later in the week, he's telling his friend about this huge fish that he caught. I caught the fish and it was this big. And his fishing buddy starts laughing. He says, I know you, you're exaggerating probably about like that. No, it was really, it was this big. No, he just laughs and says, no, I don't believe you. That's a fishy story. He's probably about like that. And then the man who caught the fish raises his hand and swears an oath on something sacred. And says, no, I swear the fish was that big. What happens at that point? Why his friend says, okay, I believe you. End of argument. Why? Because swearing an oath is like raising a verbal lightning rod. When you swear an oath on the veracity of something, you are saying, if I'm not telling the truth, may I be struck dead. And here, if one man says he swears an oath to something, that settles the argument. Now I want you to notice what's going on here. Notice that he says in verse 17, in the same way, God swore an oath to Abraham and to us. In the same way, God does that. You see, when you make a promise The focus is on the content of the promise. But when you swear an oath, the focus is on the character of the one making the promise. You see, if I make a promise, I gave my billfold to Kate, so I can't pull my $10 bill out. That's okay. But suppose I got up here today and I held up a $10 bill. Let's make it a $100 bill. And I just said, you know what? I am independently wealthy. I realize you don't know that. I work at Southwestern. No Baptist are independently wealthy, but I actually am. And because all of you came to the conference, you've been so nice to me today. After the service, meet me out in the foyer. I'm going to give each one of you a nice, new, crisp $100 bill. And so I say that, and you say, Amen, but some of you start snickering and laughing, like you're doing now. You're snickering and laughing because you don't believe that. But suppose I raised that $100 bill, and then I raised my hand and swore an oath on the Scripture that I would give you that $100 bill at the end of this service. At that point, you stop laughing and start getting excited about the reception of your $100 bill. Why? Because now I've not only made a promise, I've sworn an oath to the promise. And you see, if I swear an oath, and then after the service I walk out there, and you say, where's my $100 bill? And I say, oh, I was just kidding. I don't have a $100 bill to give to you. Then what happens? My veracity, my character, my trustworthiness is shot. You wouldn't believe a word I said. Because I swore an oath that something was true, I put my character on the line, and I didn't come through. And thus my integrity is gone. You see the difference between making a promise and swearing an oath? To fulfill the promise. By the way, I do not have a hundred dollar bill to give to each of you after the service today. But if you'll see Dr. McCarty, He actually is independently wealthy, and he'll be very happy to take care of you today. Do you see the difference? You see, God, notice what the author of Hebrews is saying. Look carefully at what he's saying, verse 17, in the same way, God desiring even more to show to the heirs of the promise. Guess what? You and I are the heirs of God's promise to Abraham. We are the heirs with Christ, joint heirs with Christ. We are heirs to that promise. God desiring to show to the heirs of the promise, look at it, the unchangeableness of His purpose. God Himself interposed with an oath. to show the veracity and the unchangeableness of God's promises to all of those of us who are in Christ, that He will make good on that promise, and that the hope that we have is a settled certainty and confident expectation based on the promises of God. God not only made the promise, and by the way, if God promises, that's good enough. But God promises and He swears an oath. So that the author can say in verse 18, by two unchangeable things. What are the two unchangeable things? God's promise and His oath He swore on the promise. By these two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie. There are things God can't do. And one of them is violate his character. And therefore God can never lie. It's impossible for God to lie because God makes good on His promise. Look at it. We, here you are in the text, we May we who have taken refuge through Christ, we may have strong encouragement, look at it, to take hold of the hope set before us. Look at that. Every link of the chain of your life of salvation attached to you, to the anchor of hope, Christ in heaven, every link of that chain has indelibly imprinted on it four words, thus says the Lord. And you are absolutely as secure for heaven today. Your salvation is as secure as it could possibly be. And thus the author says, by these two unchangeable things, it's impossible for God to lie. Those of us who fled for refuge, I wish I had time to develop that, but I don't. We've gone to Christ for refuge, therefore today we may have, look at it, not just encouragement, but strong encouragement. Anybody need encouragement today? Anybody here? Pastors? Anybody? You need some encouragement today? that we may have strong encouragement to do what? To take hold of the, here's our word again, hope set before us. Look at that, to take hold of the hope set before us. Then comes verse 19, where he says, this hope we have, present tense, It's not a pie in the sky, by and by. It's not, well, when I get to heaven, I'll have it. No. Eternal life and the hope we have in Christ is what we have now. It's what we have today. It's a present possession, which hope we have, and look at it, as an anchor of the soul. What a metaphor. What a picture. The hope that we have, which is an anchor of the soul. I love anchors. Some years back, I did a study of anchors. You know what I discovered? I found out many things. You know, anchors come in all shapes and sizes, don't they? I mean, basically, normally an anchor has three parts to it. It has the chain to which it is attached. It has the shaft to which the chain is attached. And then it has the teeth or the flukes of the anchor. And anchors come in all shapes and sizes, don't they? You know, my dad went home to be with Jesus seven years ago, and daddy had a little fiberglass fishing boat that was perfectly fine for the little lakes up in North Georgia where he lived. And you know what he used for an anchor? He used a cement block tied to a rope. That's all he needed. And by the way, in North Georgia when I was growing up, we would call those a cement block. But now I'm a professor of preaching and I have to make sure that I get the emphasis on the right syllable and so I have to say cement block. Otherwise if I say cement block and the president ever hears that, I'll never hear the end of it. So it's a cement block, but that's all daddy used as an anchor. Did you know that the anchors on the Titanic, there were three major anchors, two on the side, 15,000 pounds each, and then the Bower anchor, 30,000 pounds? You know the Bower anchor on the USS Midway weighed 40,000 pounds? The largest maritime anchor in use today weighs 75,000 pounds. The thing's huge. It would fill a good part of the lower part of this floor right here in the front. The thing is huge. It's gigantic. Anchors. And what is the purpose of an anchor? It is to keep the ship secure. That's the purpose of an anchor. You know what else I learned in my study of anchors? Every ship that goes to sea carries at least three anchors with them. They carry first what is called a lunch anchor. It's the smallest anchor on board. If you want to stop in the cove there, and there's no wind, and you want to just kind of hang out for a while, you drop the lunch anchor. And then every ship goes to sea carries what is called the working anchor. It is the anchor that is designed by engineers according to the specifications of the vessel, according to its length, its width, its draft. And that's the working anchor, and it's the normal anchor that's used. But then every ship that goes to sea carries a third anchor. You know what it's called? A storm. And the purpose of this large anchor which is kept in reserve, the largest anchor on board, is when the mother of all storms comes to the sea and that ship finds herself in the middle of the mother of all storms. The lunch anchor won't do, the working anchor won't do. You've got to bring out the storm anchor. And the storm anchor keeps her safe during the midst of the storm, which hope we have as an anchor of the soul. Matt Carter said it well last night when he said that every person is in one of three situations. You are either currently in a storm in your life, or you're on the way out of one, or you're on the way into one. Those of you who have lived long enough, like I have, have been through a storm or two in your life. And you know what that's like. And you need a storm anchor. And when all hell breaks loose, and when the doctor tells you, I have news you don't want to hear, and when the boss comes in and tells you that they're cutting back and you no longer have that job, Or in our case as a pastor, if the deacons meet and decide to relieve you for no reason of your job, or whatever the case may be, whatever the problems, whatever the turmoil, whatever the trial, whatever the difficulty, and they do come and they will come, you need a storm anchor in your life. And there's only one who can suffice, and his name is Jesus, therefore which hope we have as an anchor of the soul." And look at it, it's a hope, both sure and it's steadfast. Those two words, I looked those up in Greek, sure and steadfast. You know, in my study of anchors, I discovered that there are companies that do nothing but test anchors. That's what they do. They take anchors out to various depths of the ocean, different kinds of ocean sediment on the beds of the ocean, and they'll drop those different kinds of anchors overboard, and they'll attach them to the floor, and then with those huge engines they'll put stress on those anchors, and they're testing them before they sell them. And what are they testing them for? Well, I found they're testing them for two things. Number one, they're testing them to make sure that the metal of the anchor won't bend or break under stress. And number two, to make sure that the flukes or the teeth of the anchor will hold so that when stress is put on the anchor, it will not drag or slip. And then I look these two words up in my Greek New Testament, which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, sure. And the word sure in Greek means it won't bend or break. And steadfast, the word steadfast in Greek means it won't drag or slip. Everything they test anchors for today. The author of Hebrews says, the anchor of hope we have Christ. In the midst of the storms in your life will not bend or break, will not drag or slip. He will meet every need you could possibly have today. which hope we have as an anchor of the soul. It's sure. It's steadfast. And then the author changes the metaphor. And notice what he says. He says it's an anchor which enters within the veil where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us. Now the picture changes to the Old Testament tabernacle and temple and the veil that separates the holy place from the holy of holies. And who went behind that veil? The high priest. And when did he go behind that veil? On the day of atonement. And how often did he go behind that veil? Only once a year. And so he goes behind the veil with the blood on the day of atonement. And all of the sins of the nation of Israel are forgiven and rolled forward another year. But he has to go do it again, and again, and again. And then that high priest dies, and they have to have another one. And then he does it, and then he dies, and they have another one. But now the author of Hebrews tells us Jesus is our great high priest. Has come, and he becomes both priest and sacrifice. He dies for our sin. He not only stays dead three days later, he rises from the dead. And as our priest who ever lives to make intercession for us, Hebrews 7, 25, he what? Has ascended into heaven, where the author of Hebrews pictures the holy of holies as the place where Jesus goes and remains. And exactly Jesus ascended to heaven and seated himself at the right hand of the throne of God. And that's where your anchor is. And notice he's gone there as your forerunner. And that's a word in Greek that describes a number of things. It describes a little garrison of men who would cut the trail, blaze the trail for the big army, the full army to follow later. It was used to describe the ship, the little boat that was lowered from the ship across the the harbor and they would place the anchor in that boat and the forerunner would carry the anchor in across the reef and drop the anchor in the harbor and the boat was secured in the harbor. What a beautiful picture of salvation this is which hope we have as an anchor of the soul where Jesus has gone into heaven lives today, seated at the right hand of the Father, and you who are secured to your anchor of hope, Christ, by the chain of salvation, with the words indelibly inscribed, thus says the Lord, you are more secure today in your salvation than you could possibly be. You're as good for heaven as if you were there right now. And because that's true, you can face anything and everything in your life. which hope we have as an anchor of the soul." So what say you, Job? You suffered more than anybody did in the Old Testament. You lost your health. You lost your wealth. You lost your family. What say you, Job? And I hear him as he responds in the book that bears his name. I know that my Redeemer lives and on the earth again shall stand. And though He slay me, yet will I trust Him. My anchor holds. What say you, Paul? You were the missionary to the Gentiles, and you made your way out there preaching the gospel, but Nero had you arrested, and he lopped off your head, and you became a martyr, Paul. What say you?" And Paul says, I'll answer in my swan song in II Timothy, when he said there in those great words that I know, whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day, my anchor holds. What say you, Polycarp? You were the pastor of the church in Smyrna there in Asia Minor. You were a senior adult. You were in your 80s. What say you? When the Romans came and they put a sword at your throat and they said, Polycarp, if you don't renounce Jesus, we're going to take your life. And I hear his words as they reverberate down the corridors of time when Polycarp said, 80 and six years have I served him. He has never wronged me. How then can I now deny my Lord and my King? My anchor holds. What say you, Martin Luther? In April of 1521, your ramshackle cart made its way down those cobblestones to Worms, Germany, where you stood before 250 of the Catholic prelates and leaders, and they had brought you to accuse you of this new heresy, Martin Luther, that you're teaching, a heresy called salvation by grace through faith alone. What say you? And John X had all of Luther's books laid out and was laughing at Luther. And he said, are you ready to recant? And for a moment, Luther turned wide and he said, well, I've written many things, some pastoral and some theological. I need time to think. And they laughed at him. And they said, we'll give you one night to think about recanting, Luther. And he went to his little room that night in his Bible and candlelight fell open to Psalm 46. And he read in psalm 46 the lord is my refuge and strength a very present help in times of trouble Though the mountains be removed and cast into the sea yet I will not be moved and luther came back and stood the next morning before those catholic prelates And he said popes and councils have often contradicted one another my conscience is captive to the word of god here I stand I can do no other god help me and the reformation was off and running as luther said my anchor holds What say you, Jim Elliot? It was you and your five missionary companions who made their way to Equatorial Ecuador to share the gospel with the Alca Indians in 1956. And they came out and you befriended them, and a day later they came out, and the next day, but then on the fourth day when they returned, they came bearing spears. And though you were armed and could defend yourself, yet you did not do so, and they speared you. Nate sank, and they speared you, Jim Elliot, and your body fell in the shallow waters of that equatorial Ecuadorian river. What say you, Jim Elliot?" Jim Elliot says, I'll answer in the words that I had written in my diary when I was a college student. He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain, that which he cannot lose my anchor holds. What say you, Cassie Bernal? You were the 17-year-old girl with the corn silk hair that day in Columbine High School, when the boy with the gun came into your school, and he said, all of you Christians stand up, and you stood up, and he walked over to you. And he pointed the gun at you, and he said, are you a Christian? And you said, yes. And he said, why? And before you had a chance to answer, he pulled the trigger. What say you, Cassie? Cassie says, I'll respond in the words that I had written, and my brother found them a few days later on my desk, where I had written, translation or paraphrase of Philippians 3, 9 and 10. I've now given up on everything else. I found it to be the only way to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his suffering. So whatever it takes, I'll be one who lives in the bright hope of the resurrection of Christ. My anchor holds." And what say you today? You say, well, David, it's hard in my life. Well, what say you? What do you say about it? What if I lose my finances? My anchor holds. Well, what if I lose my friends? What if they betray me? My anchor holds. What if I lose my health? My anchor holds. What if I lose my retirement? My anchor holds. What if I lose my spouse? My anchor holds. But David, what if I lose my life? My anchor holds. His oath, His covenant, His blood support me in the whelming flood. When all around my soul gives way, He then is all my hope and stay. When darkness seems to hide His face, I rest on His unchanging grace. In every high and stormy gale, My anchor holds within the veil. On Christ the solid rock I stand, All other ground is sinking sand. My anchor holds. Heavenly Father, Your Word is powerful and true, and thank you that we have an anchor of hope whose name is Jesus, in whose name we pray. Amen.