Sermon Central
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An Anchor For The Soul Series
Contributed by Steve Salmon on Oct 9, 2002 (message contributor)
Summary: Jesus provides the only stability we can find for our soul, because he is the first to truly solve our problem of sin.
An Anchor for the Soul
SICC, 7/21/02
Anchors find solid ground.
Anchor for the soul – not anything else. Personal life, financial life, etc.
Secure ground of hope (faith is the assurance of things hoped for.)
God laid himself on the line to give us this hope.
Secure ground of the inner sanctuary (Cf Lev. 16)
The scapegoat never goes into the most holy place.
OUTLINE:
Flee to the hope
Usually when we think about fleeing, we think about fleeing from something. Our author is telling us to flee to something. We flee to the hope. We already know what to flee from. Let’s think of some of the things we flee from.
We flee from insecurity.
We flee from depression.
We flee from worry
We flee from sin.
TRANSITION: Fleeing from sin is key, because sin is the root cause of all of our insecurity.
The hope is an anchor
There are a few places you need an anchor. If you are floating in the sea, especially if there is a storm coming, you might need an anchor. If you are climbing a mountain and the ground or the snow begins to give way underneath of you, you will need an anchor to keep you falling down the mountain. If you are building a tower you will need to anchor guy wires so that the wind won’t blow over the tower. In each case what needs anchored is exposed somehow to the dangers of instability. The ocean is rolling, the ground is moving, the wind is blowing. The anchor will find something solid, sometimes what it finds cannot even be seen, but it finds something solid.
Our hope is an anchor. When we are exposed to the elements of life, like a ship is exposed to the harsh seas, a mountain climber is exposed to unsteady ground, or a tower is exposed to the sea, we need an anchor that will hold us secure to something unmoving. Our author has already told us that Jesus can be that for us. He is uniquely qualified to be God’s final word to us. Heir of all things. Created the universe. Exact representation of God’s being. Sustainor of all things. Redeemer. Occupier of the place of honor next to God. He has surpassed the people of Moses.
Our hope is in fleeing from sin, but why is Jesus able to rescue us from sin?
The hope goes to the inner sanctuary: the hope he gives us comes from the inner sanctuary. Scapegoat was not able to enter into the holy of holies. The high priest who entered into the holy of holies had to atone for his sin. Jesus ws there solely for himself. He was the first and only atoning sacrifice made in the holy of holies. He is the first and only time sin was met head on by God.