Hope the Anchor of the Soul - Part 1 of 2

The Baptist Bible Hour now comes to you under the direction of Elder LeSaire Bradley, Jr. O for a thousand tongues to sing, my great Redeemer's praise, the praise of my God and King, the triumph of his grace.

This is LeSaire Bradley, Jr. inviting you to stay tuned for another message of God's sovereign grace. Living below in this old sinful world, army of comfort can afford. Striving alone to face temptation's sword, where could I go but to the Lord? Where could I go, where could I go, seeking a refuge for my soul? Needing a friend to save me in the end, where could I go but to the Lord? My fear is grand with friends I love so dear, comfort I get from God's own Word. Yet when I face the chilling hand of death, where could I go but to the Lord? Where could I go, where could I go, seeking a refuge for my soul?

Needing a friend to save me in the end, where could I go but to the Lord? To the Lord. I'm glad you've joined us for the broadcast today, and I pray the message will be a blessing to you. I hope that you'll take time to write and let us know that you have listened, and if you can help with the support of the program, we'll certainly be thankful for it.

We depend on our listeners to help us stay on all of these stations. Our address is Baptist Bible Hour, Box 17037, Cincinnati, Ohio 45217. Or you can make a donation by going to our website at baptistbiblehour.org. There you can also see our publication, The Baptist Witness, and you can hear broadcasts from weeks past, both the Sunday and the daily edition. And now here's a word from Timothy Guest, the managing editor of The Baptist Witness. Now I'm sure everyone listening to the broadcast right now, you are always soaring in your faith in Christ. You rarely, if ever, have a struggle of the soul.

There's not a cloud in your spiritual sky, and I better stop right there, because that simply is not the reality of the Christian experience, both what we live and, more importantly, what Scripture presents to us. To that end, our theme for the next edition of The Baptist Witness is Scripture Medicine for Soul Sickness, because the reality is we still do carry around as believers, if you will, this sickness of the soul. But the good news is that the Bible helps us to deal and treat with these sicknesses. To that end, we have three articles in this edition. The first one is Wrestling with Bitterness by Isaac Guest. Isaac helps us to understand bitterness. He uses the Scripture to help us identify bitterness, and then to biblically equip us to wrestle against it, using a lot of material from the book of 1 Peter. I found myself squirming a little bit on the section of identifying bitterness, but I also found myself very freed as I read about the cure that Christ gives us through his grace for bitterness. Andy Carter writes on a cure for the discontented.

I love this quote from the article. He says, The biblical view of contentment brings a steadiness to the child of God because it is anchored in the eternal, not the uncertain circumstances of this life. He uses a lot of material from the book of Philippians, as Paul learned in whatever state he was in to be content. And then finally, Robert Cale writes on a soul cast down, help for the depressed. Christians can maybe be even ashamed to admit that they struggle with depression. What is depression? Is depression a sin in and of itself?

What are some practical ways to deal with depression? Well, Robert and his article helps us to answer all of those questions. I hope that you'll be blessed by reading this edition of The Baptist Witness. I hope that you'll recommend it to a friend. You can go to BaptistBiblehour.org, and on the front page on the far right-hand corner, you can click on the Baptist Witness tab to read both this edition of The Baptist Witness and previous editions as well. Hope is a beautiful, bright, encouraging word. And biblical hope is not mere optimism or just positive thinking. It is based on truth. It is based on the promises of God, God who cannot lie. God is the God of hope.

So he is the source and the giver of it. The scriptures abound with references to hope. I want to look at just a few of them in way of introducing this message. Psalm 33 verse 18, The hole of the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy. Proverbs 10 28, The hope of the righteous shall be gladness. Romans 8 24, For we are saved by hope, but hope that is seen is not hope. For what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?

But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it. Colossians 1 27, To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the gentiles, which is Christ in you the hope of glory. Hebrews 7 19, For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did, by the which we draw nigh unto God. And for the text of this message, I want us to look at the book of Hebrews chapter 6. The read beginning with verse 16, For men verily swear by the greater, and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife. Wherein God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise, the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath, that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us.

Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enterth into that within the veil, whether the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus made in high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Hope is a wonderful thing to consider. It's a wonderful blessing when you have hope. But let's think just a bit about where you were without hope. Ephesians chapter 2 and the 12th verse says that at that time, ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world.

What a dark picture. In vivid contrast to the joy and comfort we have when we think about hope, to consider being without hope is a depressing, dismal thing to even think about. Colossians chapter 1 of the 21st verse says, and you that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, that's where you were being without God, without hope. You were alienated from him, you were enemies in your mind by wicked works.

Just think about some of the implications of this fact. Being without hope, without God, what does that really mean? It means that God is against you. Can you think of anything more horrific than to consider God being against you?

It's one thing when friends turn against you. It's one thing when you may have enemies of various sorts that would criticize you, but to think of God being against you, that's the state of those that have no hope. And that was the condition of Gentiles, which is here under consideration, apart from what was brought about by the covenants and promises of God. It speaks of the fact that we are to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, because he resists the proud. He rejects the proud. God is against the proud. God is opposed to those in this terrible, darkened state, who are without hope. It means that rather than being justified, which is the state of those who have become believers in Jesus Christ, you're condemned. It means that you have not eternal life, but damnation in view. It speaks of storing up wrath, Romans chapter 2, verse 5. But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasures up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the wrath of God.

I know that reading such a text makes some people terribly uncomfortable. You see, I like to think about God being a God of love. Well, he is a God of love.

In fact, the scriptures say God is love. But he's also a God of holiness. And because he's holy, he hates sin. Because he hates sin, he will pour out his wrath upon it.

Until a person understands the holiness of God, and how dreadful sin is, and something about the wrath of God, they'll never appreciate his saving grace. He speaks of these then, who have a hard heart, they are impenitent, they're treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath and the revelation of the wrath of God. In Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 3 says, you were by nature children of wrath, even as others. It's impossible for us to fathom really what it would be, to be under the wrath of God forever.

Now if somebody gets really upset with you, and they vent their anger, and you can see an extreme form of wrath, that's dreadful enough. But that cannot even compare to what it means for the God of heaven to be full of wrath. Wrath because of his holiness, he must abhor every evil way. He must execute judgment.

He must see that justice is done, that the penalty is paid for violating his law. And then the ultimate end of those upon whom the wrath of God abides. Matthew chapter 25 verse 46, and these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal. Into life eternal. I don't know about you, but I have difficulty getting my mind really wrapped around that which is eternal. To think about eternal heaven is a wonderful thought.

To think of at last being home with the Lord and seeing him face to face. But trying to fathom what it means that that goes on forever, somehow my mind just can't fully grasp it. We sing when we've been there 10,000 years, bright shining as the sun, we've no less days to sing God's praise than when we first begun. 10,000 years. 10,000 years pass and another 10,000 pass and another 10,000 and goes on.

No end, forever. What a happy joyous state. What a happy joyous state for those who are made righteous through the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ and therefore will be with him to enjoy the bliss of heaven. But on the other hand, think about those who come under his wrath.

This isn't just a short-term situation where somebody blows their top, says some harsh, ugly things, strikes fear in your heart. This isn't something that just lasts for a week or a day or 10,000 years or another 10,000 or another 10,000, it lasts forever under the wrath of God. And that's where we all deserve to be by nature because we are fallen sinners. I guess for many years, most of the people with whom I had conversation about spiritual matters were people who had some kind of a religious background, who knew something about the fact that God hates sin, and that he demands perfection and we fall terribly short.

And so we could start our conversation on common ground. But for the last few years, I've had more and more opportunities to talk to people who have little or no religious background, or in a few cases, a religious background where they were taught something that was totally erroneous. And it's just been absolutely amazing to me when I would talk to somebody and knew nothing about them, knew nothing about their background, but we would get into conversation about the fact that they were going to die. And I would say, all right, when you die, what do you expect to happen? Well, I had one lady bluntly enough to say, I guess I'd go straight to hell.

At least she knew she was in deep trouble. But for the most part, people would say, I believe I'd go to heaven. I said, why? Now, I've talked to people from every conceivable walk of life. I've talked to people in prison, I've talked to drug addicts whose lives were in total disarray.

I've talked to college students, I've talked to successful businessmen, and over and over again, I get the same answer. Well, I just believe everything would be all right with me because I'm not perfect, but I haven't done anything all that bad. I talked to an individual like that this week.

He's been in and out of jail, his life is totally, totally chaotic. And when I asked him what it was going to be when he died, he said, oh, let me tell you something. He said, oh, let me tell you, I really spent a lot of time in my life helping other people. My uncle had a lot of problems and I really helped him, and everywhere I go, I try to help people.

I say, you're not going to make it. You don't go to heaven by helping people. You don't go to heaven because you're a little better than somebody else. The scriptures say that even our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.

So you look at your accomplishments and say, maybe not the best person, but I'm not the worst. I've done some pretty good things and I think God will accept it. Without faith, it's impossible to please God. So all of these accomplishments, all of these things that you consider to be righteous acts are filthy on the side of God, but wicked, finally, cast away. The Lord's saying, depart from me, I never knew you, and cast into the lake of fire for everlasting punishment. But in vivid contrast, the hope we have in Christ is certain. In this passage from which we have taken our texts, let's back up a few verses.

Hebrews chapter six, and begin with the 11th verse. And we desire that every one of you do show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope under the end. There's the word again, hope, having full assurance of hope that ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises. For when God made promise to Abraham because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself saying, surely blessing, I will bless thee, and multiplying, I will multiply thee. Our hope is certain because of the promises of God. God's promise, which is absolutely sure, totally dependable.

Which is absolutely sure, totally dependable. Go back to the book of Genesis chapter 22, since what we've just read refers to the promise that God made to Abraham. In the 17th verse, that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven and as the sand, which is upon the seashore, and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed because thou has obeyed my voice. In thy seed, in the seed of Abraham, all the families, all the nations of the earth would be blessed. And this is obviously a messianic reference pointing to the fact that Jesus Christ would be born from this lineage and that through him salvation would be brought to ruined fallen sinners. Galatians chapter 3 verse 8, and the scripture foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham saying, in thee shall all nations be blessed. And that's what we have just read from the book of Genesis. God's promise that in thee shall all nations be blessed, so then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. If you have faith in Jesus Christ today, you are a spiritual Israelite.

You are reaping the benefits of the promise that God made to Abraham long ago. This hope is certain then because of the promises of God. It is certain because God cannot lie. He confirmed it with an oath. Now we know that if God says something, we certainly ought to believe it. All he has to do is make a promise and it's yea and amen.

We can have confidence in it. But God went a step farther. He wanted to give absolute assurance that these promises would not fail. So he confirmed it with an oath.

He could swear by no greater so he swore by himself. So we have God's promise, God's oath that this will stand his purpose in saving sinners. Titus chapter 1 verse 2 says, In hope of eternal life which God that cannot lie promised before the world began. God cannot lie. Sometimes people will ask, is there anything that God cannot do?

Here's what he cannot do. He cannot lie because it would be contrary to his nature, contrary to his holiness. God cannot lie. So God promised this salvation.

He promised it before the foundation of the world. Now I doubt that if I asked today, would anybody like to make a confession? Raise your hand and admit I'm a big liar. I doubt that anybody would want to admit it. But I dare say that you may at times be tempted. You wouldn't want to call it a lie. At least if you would refer to it at all, you'd say well it's a little white lie.

I don't find any such category of sin in the scripture. But are you sometimes prone to just shade the truth a little bit? You bend it. You leave something out. You leave out some important point that if that were included it would give a whole different picture. But you don't want yourself to look bad, so you try to clean it up a little bit.

And you say what you think is best for the occasion. In fact, I have worked with some people that it became evident that lying had been such a part of their life. If they had reached the place they didn't even recognize when they were lying. They believed their own falsehoods.

Just became a habit. They said whatever they felt would suit the occasion wasn't a matter of being truthful. Maybe sometimes it wouldn't be what you said, but it would be when you were filling out your income tax. You weren't completely truthful.

You found out here was a place where you could maybe avoid paying some charge you didn't want to have to pay and so you just didn't report it all. The point I'm trying to make is that as fallen creatures, as sinners by nature, we would be prone to lie in one form or another. But God cannot lie. So when he makes a promise, he makes a covenant, he could mark it down, it's absolutely the truth. He further describes this as being a hope that is sure and steadfast.

It is sure. I'm one of those things where somebody says well I hope we have a sunny day tomorrow. Or I hope I get a raise at work, just kind of a wild guess and a desire but nothing concrete, nothing to base it on. This hope we're talking about is based on the promise of Almighty God who cannot lie. And then it further speaks of his counsel wherein God willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel confirmed it by an oath.

His counsel is unchangeable. He describes us as being heirs of promise. Now heirs do not choose themselves, they are chosen by the one who owns the estate. It might be nice if you could pick out somebody that you knew to be one of the most wealthy men in Cincinnati and call them up on the telephone and say I have decided to be an heir to your estate.

That would be nice if you could make such a transaction but that's not the way it works. The man that owns the estate decides those to whom it will be left. He selects the heirs and so this points to the fact that our sovereign God makes a choice. God has the sovereign right to choose. Indeed our God is sovereign and he bestows grace according to his sovereign pleasure. So there's no room for us to take any credit or glory to ourselves. We must constantly praise his name giving thanks for his amazing grace. I hope that you will write us and until next week at this same time may the Lord richly bless you all.