A Christian's Anchors
by T. Austin-Sparks
by T. Austin-Sparks
["Men indeed swear by the 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 by an oath, that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us. This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil, where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek." (Heb. 6:16-20).
"This charge I commit to you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, having faith and a good conscience, which some having rejected, concerning the faith have suffered shipwreck..." (1 Tim. 1:19).
"Fearing lest we should have fallen upon rocks, they cast four anchors out of the stern, and wished for the day. And as the shipmen were about to flee out of the ship, when they had let down the boat into the sea, under colour as though they would have cast anchors out of the foreship, Paul said to the centurion and to the soldiers, Except these abide in the ship, ye cannot be saved. Then the soldiers cut off the ropes of the boat, and let her fall off." (Acts 27:29-32).]
It seems that this ship, whatever else it carried in cargo, carried a very good cargo of anchors. They put four out at the stern and then it says that the men lowered a boat on the pretext of putting some more out of the foreship, so they were well off for anchors. Evidently they were experienced in what can happen in the Mediterranean. Some of us have seen some of the storms in those waters and have seen the actual point at which this ship broke up, and we know exactly what it can be like.
But there never was a Mediterranean gregale to compare with what you have to encounter in a spiritual way when your soul's eternal welfare is at stake. The forces which are at work to bring a soul to ruin, to prevent a man or a woman reaching God's appointed and desired haven, are far greater and more terrible and persistent than anything that has ever been encountered in the natural realm of storms. Of course, you do not know that until you definitely set yourself in the direction of God's will. A great many people in this world seem to be getting along very well, with not very much trouble, and think that they are going (in that easygoing, carefree way) to get where God wants them to be. That is an illusion. Never yet has there been a definite and serious association with the will of God, the purpose of God, except there has been the rising of terrific conflict and tempest to make that realisation impossible, and I say when a man or a woman does seriously have an understanding with God that His will and purpose is to be realised in their life and that they are abandoned to Him for that, then such a life will know that it is not all plain sailing, easygoing. There will be forces which were not imagined arising to hinder that, to make that impossible.
The course of the salvation of a soul is the course of no less a conflict than all the forces of heaven and hell locked in battle over that soul. That is not exaggerating. Sooner or later it is found that we are not going to get through quite so easily. In the early stages of this story, these people thought they had gained their end - "the south wind blew softly". The thing seemed to be going very well. Oh no, that is not the experience of those who are really in union with God for His purpose, and we shall find that we need a good cargo of anchors before we are through.
If there is one thing that we shall need, it will be anchors. We are going to be put under terrific testing and strain and there has got to be some real holding power or we are going to be on the rocks spiritually, our destiny will be a shipwreck. There are those referred to in the New Testament as those who "concerning the faith have made shipwreck" (1 Tim. 1:19). That is a terrible possibility. But there are those referred to also as having, "an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast and entering into that which is within the veil" (Heb. 6:19). Well, anchors are an important part of our equipment, and in a very simple way I propose to mention to you four of the cargo of anchors absolutely necessary, but, thank God, provided for our security. "They cast four anchors out of the stern", and we shall find that the forces driving on, to carry us headlong to undoing, will have to be countered by these four anchors at least, but I think they will prove sufficient. They are very simple and I think I can say in a sense the New Testament as a whole is taken up with these four things.
The first is this - "Christ died for our sins" (1 Cor. 15:3). That is a statement of fact, that is a mighty and gracious provision of God for our security, for our safety under pressure, under strain, under the drive of the accuser, the one who is ever seeking to bring us under condemnation itself under which we all lie by nature which is a perfectly true thing about us. Until this great fact is something which is apprehended by us, by our faith, we are under condemnation by nature. The whole race lies under judgment by nature and Satan has the ground and the right to accuse, to raise the whole question of our standing before God and our acceptance with God, until we have taken hold of this anchor and made fast: "Christ died for our sins".
Now, have you got that assurance? We have just been singing:
Now, you all sang those words. Did you sing it as true where you are concerned or just as a part of an evening form of worship?
You know, between an anchor and the vessel to be held there must be a connection. Some of you know that we have been doing a little in the North in seeking to help the men on the merchant ships of the conveys for which purpose we have a launch, and this being about the worst non-summer in our history! We have had some terrific storms and gales and in the course of only a few days I lost three anchors and I proved the tremendous value and importance of anchors. The gale got up, moorings were broken, and, not carrying more than two anchors, we put out the two anchors, a large one and a smaller one. One was on an iron cable; the other was on a rope, howbeit a fairly stout rope. The rocks were not many yards away, but the rope which was fastened to the larger anchor simply went in the course of a few hours like thread. That anchor was gone and that connection was broken. Now everything depended upon the cable and the other anchor and we had to do some praying and a lot of praying because naturally the situation was fairly hopeless, we have seen things happen there before. But, thank God, the anchor held and the cable held and that long storm was weathered. But I suppose we had better face it, that, though we prayed and trusted the Lord, we watched with an anxious eye what was going to happen.
"This charge I commit to you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, having faith and a good conscience, which some having rejected, concerning the faith have suffered shipwreck..." (1 Tim. 1:19).
"Fearing lest we should have fallen upon rocks, they cast four anchors out of the stern, and wished for the day. And as the shipmen were about to flee out of the ship, when they had let down the boat into the sea, under colour as though they would have cast anchors out of the foreship, Paul said to the centurion and to the soldiers, Except these abide in the ship, ye cannot be saved. Then the soldiers cut off the ropes of the boat, and let her fall off." (Acts 27:29-32).]
It seems that this ship, whatever else it carried in cargo, carried a very good cargo of anchors. They put four out at the stern and then it says that the men lowered a boat on the pretext of putting some more out of the foreship, so they were well off for anchors. Evidently they were experienced in what can happen in the Mediterranean. Some of us have seen some of the storms in those waters and have seen the actual point at which this ship broke up, and we know exactly what it can be like.
But there never was a Mediterranean gregale to compare with what you have to encounter in a spiritual way when your soul's eternal welfare is at stake. The forces which are at work to bring a soul to ruin, to prevent a man or a woman reaching God's appointed and desired haven, are far greater and more terrible and persistent than anything that has ever been encountered in the natural realm of storms. Of course, you do not know that until you definitely set yourself in the direction of God's will. A great many people in this world seem to be getting along very well, with not very much trouble, and think that they are going (in that easygoing, carefree way) to get where God wants them to be. That is an illusion. Never yet has there been a definite and serious association with the will of God, the purpose of God, except there has been the rising of terrific conflict and tempest to make that realisation impossible, and I say when a man or a woman does seriously have an understanding with God that His will and purpose is to be realised in their life and that they are abandoned to Him for that, then such a life will know that it is not all plain sailing, easygoing. There will be forces which were not imagined arising to hinder that, to make that impossible.
The course of the salvation of a soul is the course of no less a conflict than all the forces of heaven and hell locked in battle over that soul. That is not exaggerating. Sooner or later it is found that we are not going to get through quite so easily. In the early stages of this story, these people thought they had gained their end - "the south wind blew softly". The thing seemed to be going very well. Oh no, that is not the experience of those who are really in union with God for His purpose, and we shall find that we need a good cargo of anchors before we are through.
If there is one thing that we shall need, it will be anchors. We are going to be put under terrific testing and strain and there has got to be some real holding power or we are going to be on the rocks spiritually, our destiny will be a shipwreck. There are those referred to in the New Testament as those who "concerning the faith have made shipwreck" (1 Tim. 1:19). That is a terrible possibility. But there are those referred to also as having, "an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast and entering into that which is within the veil" (Heb. 6:19). Well, anchors are an important part of our equipment, and in a very simple way I propose to mention to you four of the cargo of anchors absolutely necessary, but, thank God, provided for our security. "They cast four anchors out of the stern", and we shall find that the forces driving on, to carry us headlong to undoing, will have to be countered by these four anchors at least, but I think they will prove sufficient. They are very simple and I think I can say in a sense the New Testament as a whole is taken up with these four things.
1. Christ Died for our Sins
Now, have you got that assurance? We have just been singing:
"My sin, oh the bliss of this glorious thought,
My sin, not in part, but the whole,
Is nailed to His Cross and I bear it no more.
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!"
My sin, not in part, but the whole,
Is nailed to His Cross and I bear it no more.
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!"
You know, between an anchor and the vessel to be held there must be a connection. Some of you know that we have been doing a little in the North in seeking to help the men on the merchant ships of the conveys for which purpose we have a launch, and this being about the worst non-summer in our history! We have had some terrific storms and gales and in the course of only a few days I lost three anchors and I proved the tremendous value and importance of anchors. The gale got up, moorings were broken, and, not carrying more than two anchors, we put out the two anchors, a large one and a smaller one. One was on an iron cable; the other was on a rope, howbeit a fairly stout rope. The rocks were not many yards away, but the rope which was fastened to the larger anchor simply went in the course of a few hours like thread. That anchor was gone and that connection was broken. Now everything depended upon the cable and the other anchor and we had to do some praying and a lot of praying because naturally the situation was fairly hopeless, we have seen things happen there before. But, thank God, the anchor held and the cable held and that long storm was weathered. But I suppose we had better face it, that, though we prayed and trusted the Lord, we watched with an anxious eye what was going to happen.
