Hebrews 6:13-20: Jesus: An anchor for the soul

Hebrews 6:13-20

Genesis 22:1-19

Jesus: An anchor for the soul

There are some things in this life that you can be 100% assured of:

Like, you just know the poms will win the ashes- 100% certain- maybe not.

You can be certain if the Poms don’t win the ashes, we will whinge and moan- 100% certain.

You can be 100% certain that there will be a thunderstorm on Wednesday 17 December 2025, a localised storm over Krambach. How do you know?- That is the day the carols of Krambach Bible Church are due to take place – outside the church on the grass- 100% it will pour on that day.

Ok may be not…..

But there are some things that you can be 100% certain of- like death and taxes- as much as we try and avoid them, they just keep happening.

Sadly, perhaps the older we get, the less things we can be certain of.

Things that we thought were certain when we were young, we now know that they simply are not certain. Things that we thought we could trust as youngsters, only proved later to be untrustworthy. The friend, the parent, the institute that we thought we could trust and depend upon, proved not to be trustworthy or reliable.

We are in the age of “fake news”, where no-one really knows what to trust any more, no-one is certain of who or what they can trust.

BBC, who were once the gold standard for honest news reporting, are no longer able to be trusted.

Well brothers and sisters, let me remind us once again, that there is one person we can 100% trust, one person who will never let us down, one person who proved throughout history that he always keeps his promises, one person who as the author of Hebrews tells us in verse 19, is a sure and steadfast anchor to our souls- and his name is Jesus.

Friends, no matter what storms may come in your life, no matter what or who may let you down, I want to reassure you today, that Jesus is your reliable, steadfast, immovable anchor for your soul. He is someone you can count on. He is the same yesterday, today and forever- He will never leave you, he will never forsake you, he will always be there for you. And just like an anchor which holds the ground to keep the ship from drifting away, there may be times when Jesus will pull us back to him gently or more aggressively when we begin to drift away.

There will be times when the waters are calm, and there will be times when the waters are raging, but always be assured that Jesus is your anchor for your soul.

And because Jesus is that sure anchor, that means that our lives will continue to recalibrate to him. Our lives will be constantly be changing, as our imperfections constantly realign with the perfection of Jesus.

But how do we know we can trust Jesus?

How do we know we can trust Jesus?

Well, for many of you, like me, you can look back over your life and reflect, just how Jesus has kept you.How he has provided for you, how he has protected you, how he has carried you through stormy waters. And if you haven’t reflected on how Jesus has helped you over your life, I encourage you to do so, because I am sure, like me, Jesus has been there for you also, and perhaps you didn’t even realise it at the time.

Yet, not only can we look back at our own lives and reflect how Jesus has been our sure anchor, but we can also look back through history, through the lens of the scriptures and see how Jesus has always been trustworthy, how he has always kept his promises.

Unlike any other human who is unable to keep his promises, sometimes because of things outside of their control, Jesus is always able to keep his promises, because nothing is outside his control.

Interestingly, the writer of Hebrews looks back to the story of Abraham and Isaac to show us how we can always trust in Jesus.

Look at verses 13 and 14 with me:

For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, saying, “Surely I will bless you and multiply you.”

God made promises to Abraham which were first recorded for us in Genesis 12:1-3. God promised Abraham that he would be a great nation, God promised Abraham land and God promised Abraham that through him, God would be a blessing to the world.

Abraham, that old bloke, that sinner, doubted God’s promise and so God reassured Abraham of his promise a little later on, which is recorded in Genesis 15:1-6.

God promised Abraham again that through him, he would have as many children, as there were stars in the sky. That’s a lot. God wanted Abraham to know that he could trust him and so he promised Abraham twice and then God gave Abraham a visual demonstration with the stars in the sky.

Or to put in business terms- God showed Abraham the vision that he would be a part of. 

As we know, Abraham still didn’t trust God to keep his promise. Since Abraham and his wife Sarah were old, and in human terms past the age of bearing children, Abraham just didn’t quite believe God could keep his promise. Since humanly after all, if Abraham was going to have lots and lots of children, it would help to start with one- and he didn’t even have one child and both he and his wife were well past the age of bearing children.

Abraham didn’t trust God to keep his word and so Abraham literally took matters into his own hands.

He and his wife Sarah, agreed that they would have a son through their servant girl Hagar and they did- Ismael. Abraham thought he could give God a helping hand in order for God to keep his promise to him.

Great- the only problem with this, is this wasn’t what God had promised.

But perhaps the bigger problem was that Abraham was trying to keep God’s promise in his own strength, rather than just waiting and trusting for God to do it in His.

Eventually Sarah became pregnant and had a child Isaac. Isaac was the child that God had promised Abraham. Isaac was the promised child through whom the many descendants of Abraham would come.

God kept his promise to Abraham.

Even though Abraham doubted and tried to do it his own way, God kept his promise.

God always keeps his promise.

And yet after all that.

After those reassurances from God, after the mess that Abraham had made with Hagar and her son Ishmael, and still Isaac had finally arrived and become a young man: God then asked Abraham to do something very strange. God told Abraham to take this child of the promise, - the one whom Abraham and Sarah had prayed and waited for, and God told Abraham to take Isaac to the top of a mountain and kill him.

This is the story that Hebrews 6, verses 13 and 14 is referring to.

This is the story that we heard read to us before from Genesis 22.

Can you imagine what on earth Abraham must have been thinking as he walked Isaac, his son, his only son, (as recorded in Genesis), to the top of mountain, in order to butcher him and offer him as a sacrifice?

Logically it didn’t make any sense.

Why would God promise that it was through this child that his offspring would come, but then he was to kill his son, before he had a chance to even reproduce….it didn’t make any sense.

Wouldn’t it be good to know what Abraham was thinking?

Well, praise God, we do know what Abraham was thinking, as he marched his son to the top of the mountain, knife in hand, ropes at the ready.

Just look at what the God-inspired, Holy Spirit, infused, writer of Hebrews wrote in Hebrews 11:19 says:

He (Abraham) considered that God was able even to raise him (Isaac) from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.

Abraham didn’t doubt God this time.

Abraham was so convinced that God would keep his promises to him, that he believed that if Isaac was killed, that God would raise him back to life in order to keep his promises.

Some would call that stupidity, others like the writer of Hebrews would call it trust.

Trusting in God and his promises, even when it just doesn’t make any sense.

Friends, not even death can cause God’s promises to fail.

Now, after God stopped Abraham at the last minute from killing his son, by telling him to stop as the knife was raised in his hand……God again reassured Abraham of his promise made to him, but this time, God even swore by his own name. God swore by his own name, because he couldn’t swear to anyone greater, because there is nothing or no-one and so he swore by his own name.

You have probably heard people say “I swear to God”, well God said, … “I swear by my name”

Now, God didn’t need to swear by his own name. When God says something, it will happen, He doesn’t need to make any “pinky” promises, and so he swore by his own name for the sake of Abraham, for the sake of us. He wanted Abraham to be assured yet again that he would keep his promise and that he would bless and multiply Abraham’s people.

Humans are needy, God is not.

Humans need reassurance- God doesn’t.

It is amazing that the writer of Hebrews used this very example of Abraham, this very story of Abraham and Isaac, to show that we can trust God now.

The promise that God made to Abraham that day, when he swore by his own name, not only gave Abraham assurance that Abraham could trust God, but it actually gives me and you assurance today, that we can trust God’s son- Jesus.

The son Isaac, the one whom God kept his promises through, was as it says in Hebrews 11:19, in one sense dead and brought back to life. Abraham had probably already conceded in his heart that Isaac was going to die. Isaac didn’t die and eventually it was through the family line of Isaac that the saviour of the world- Jesus came.

The apostle Paul tells us in Galatians 3:16, this:

Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ. 

Friends, if we can look back to the story of Abraham and see that God really does keep his promises, as he did through the child of the promise- Isaac…..How much more confident can we be as we look back to the historical person of Jesus, God’s one and only son, through whom all the promises of God to Abraham find their yes and amen.

Just like Isaac, it seemed for all the world that God had failed in keeping his promises to us, as the Son of God- Jesus laid dead in a tomb…..but praise be to God, death could not keep God from keeping his promises, as three days later, Christ arose from the tomb and the tomb was empty. The offspring of Abraham really did die and come back to life.

Forty days after the tomb became empty, Jesus ascended to heaven from where he  now pours out his Spirit, the Holy Spirit into the hearts of all those who believe and trust in his promises, all those who really are the children of the promise, the children of Abraham.

That offspring of Abraham- Jesus has already made a way for us to be with God forever.

Jesus, the offspring of Abraham is the only way that we too become the offspring of Abraham.

Brothers and sisters God has already kept his promise to us, He has already given us His Spirit, He has already paid the penalty for our sins, he has already gone before us into God’s presence and prepared a place for us……..

However, perhaps, just like Abraham, who at first doubted God’s promise because he hadn’t yet seen his son Isaac, we perhaps also doubt God’s promise to us in Jesus because we haven’t seen Jesus. We haven’t seen the promise with our own eyes in its fullness.

Perhaps like Abraham initially, we doubt God’s way and try and do things our own way. Perhaps we try and reach God ourselves by trying to work harder, do better, come up with our own plan for salvation, perhaps we think along the lines of Donald Trump and think if we can stop enough wars, make enough peace, then perhaps God will let me into heaven.

Friends, that is not what the gospel message is.

The Gospel message is that Jesus has already secured our place in heaven and we just have to trust in Him. Trust that his life, death and resurrection is enough!

We have to do what Abraham learned to do….wait patiently…….

Look at Hebrews 6:15 with me:

“And thus Abraham, having patiently waited, obtained the promise”

Waiting is hard isn’t it?

Waiting on someone or something, is showing that you trust that someone or something to deliver.

The other week, I along with a few of the blokes who were working on the electricity at the church were waiting outside Bent on Food to get a coffee.

The café normally opens at 7:30, but this morning it was 7:45 and it still wasn’t open.

The natives began to get restless, that drug of coffee hadn’t been taken, and so we waited till 7:50 but it still hadn’t opened, even though there were people inside the cafe rushing around…….and so we all went off to Kats’ Kakes to get our coffee fix there.

We needed to get off to work and we didn’t trust that the café would open in time, so we all went off to another café that was open.

Friends, when it comes to being at peace with God, when it comes to being part of God’s family, there is only one way, and that way is Jesus.

There is nowhere else you can go.

Just keep waiting on Him- You can 100% trust in Jesus.